Christopher R Taylor

Looking forward to part 2, but the copy I downloaded had a bunch of messed up audio artifacts, like it was a bad dl or the recording got screwy.
 
Was really interesting though, more going on behind the creation of Image than I had understood.  I liked a lot of the early stuff Image put out but it was extremely obvious in a hurry that these guys were riding on Jolt Cola and youth thinking they could pants their way through years of comic book stories when they had only a few months of ideas.

I like this staggered method. You can use those dice for a lesser effect, but not for a greater effect. If you can't change the power of effect, this would probably be a -1 Limitation (or valueless -0 Limitation if your simply buying the 5 point level, since your stuck at that level).
 
Don't forget that "Mind Control" can also be a special effect. Professor X's "stop everyone in the room except..." power is a Mental Entangle with the special effect of Mind Control. Merrick from Yu-gi-oh has a "Make Mindslave" power which is obviously a Mental Transformation with the Mind Control special effect. If your looking for Mind Control to be that catch all, it is not. Cause there is no catch alls in Hero.
 
...well, maybe except for Variable Power Pool...
 

In any case, this is way off topic.  How about this for a cost structure:
 
Trivial effects (do something you already would like to do, read surface thoughts, just locate a mind, etc); say 5 points per d6 Major effects (do something you're opposed to, read deeper thoughts, show something unexpected or out of context); 7 points per d6 Severe effects (turn someone into a complete puppet, read forgotten memories, etc); 10 points per d6 That way, the top end stuff is 6d6 for a 60 active point campaign (average roll 21, that's double a normal person's EGO and you can basically hold them for a whole combat, or easily make them forget).  Against a high EGO target like a martial artist with mental training, say 18, that's still going to get them, but not hold them for long.  Against another Egoist its just going to bounce.
 
7 points per d6 is awkward to do with 5 point dice, but its a compromise ability.  I'd go with the Transform structure but at 3 points per d6 for trivial effects, 20d6 is ridiculous, it would let you get solid control even on a powerful mentalist.

Hope it turned out OK.
 
Bank robbery is a classic for a reason.
 
I'd try to explicitly NOT have hostages come into the situation. Have the customers escape in the initial chaos and the bank employees cowering in terror or filling empty bags with loot.
 
Some players will shoot right through a hostage to reach a bad guy while others will bend over backwards to save hostages. And some players will take it personally if another player's PC shoots a hostage. You really need to have a better handle on the group dynamic before deliberately having the bad guys take hostages, in my opinion.
 
Even if all the players are onboard with saving the hostages, it's very likely they won't have much of an idea of how to make that happen after the innocents are taken hostage. I think the ideal is to get each of the players into the rhythm of yelling their catchphrases and catching the bad guys much more than having them look at each other helplessly for extended periods of time having no idea what to do next without getting a hostage killed.
 
If the bad guys escape the bank building, give them a get-away car/tank/airplane appropriate to the PC's ability to attempt to stop. If there's any kind of controversy, let it be about how to stop the vehicle without accidentally incinerating the money (rather than be about accidentally incinerating hostages).
 
If it looks like the players might be willing to go in for a second session, make sure the one bad guy or goon who got away actually escaped with the contents of a safety deposit box. And that the rest of the robbery was just a cover for extracting the contents of the box and getting away with it safely. The bank manager running up and breathlessly revealing those facts just as the police are thanking the heroes for their help could set the tone for the second session.

I wish I had my gaming group active and had the energy to run games these days, so I could playtest ideas.  Often when I suggest something new or alternate like this, I get jumped on with both hobnail boots and stomped for daring to question HERO SYSTEM AS WRITTEN like its heresy.  But sometimes, rarely, like with the KA rebuild idea, we have a nice, reasonable, thoughtful discussion as if we're all friends.  I'm hoping this can be one of those times.
 
At present the mental powers structures do not feel like they in any way remotely simulate mental powers in the source material its supposed to simulate.  Further, most mental powers are either overwhelmingly powerful or just worthless.  And it costs a bloody fortune to get effects that are routinely used in source material by everyone with that kind of power (like "they don't remember what happened").  And finally, the EGO+x formula makes doing major effects on a really pathetic willpower roughly the same as someone with strong will.  Since each step is 10, then the original EGO is kind of minimalized in impact.  The difference between 2 and 22 EGO is 20 points, then its just ten point blocks to get more powerful effects.
 
SO I have a potential suggestion that maybe we could discuss?
 
Instead of buying mental powers such as Mental Illusions or Telepathy as an energy blast, buy them as a transform.  Use the conceptual structure and cost framework of Transform rather than Energy blast
 
Mental powers still cost 5 points per d6, but instead of a flat roll for all effects, the cost per die for an effect adjusts how many dice you get to work with to get that result.
In other words, you buy 12d6, but a really powerful effect gives you fewer dice, and a really minor effect gives you more of that pool.  Then you roll to compare the total to the target's Ego (plus mental defense) and if you get more than their Ego, then you get the target effect.
 
The structure could look like this:
Trivial effects (do something you already would like to do, read surface thoughts, just locate a mind, etc); say 5 points per d6 Major effects (do something you're opposed to, read deeper thoughts, show something unexpected or out of context); 10 points per d6 Severe effects (turn someone into a complete puppet, read forgotten memories, etc); 15 points per d6
So if Joe Mentalist has 45 points of Telepathy, he can roll 9d6 to try for a trivial effect, or 3d6 for a severe one
 
Rolling greater an effect than the target's EGO results in success.  Rolling more than double their EGO allows success plus the target has no memory of the manipulation.
Breaking free of a long-term effect works, the same, but for every 5 points of effect you get past the EGO of the target, they are -1 to break free with EGO rolls over time.
 
To me that gives mentalists the power to do something really significant but simple, but be challenged to have a serious game effect, but still plausible.
 
If I can hash this out satisfactorily and make the math work, I want to use it for my fantasy hero setting; rebooting mental powers to be more effective and a better simulation

Well, I mean its not immoral to powergame and its fine if the GM and players are okay with that.  What isn't fun or good is trying to get an unfair or unwanted advantage over everyone else, and "win" by overwhelming the GM's scenario.  Building to efficiency and using the system well is good -- I personally welcome that kind of thing as an interesting challenge, and a way to build scenarios.  But if you're just in it to pwn everyone and everything, well maybe you should go play some other game.

I wish I had my gaming group active and had the energy to run games these days, so I could playtest ideas.  Often when I suggest something new or alternate like this, I get jumped on with both hobnail boots and stomped for daring to question HERO SYSTEM AS WRITTEN like its heresy.  But sometimes, rarely, like with the KA rebuild idea, we have a nice, reasonable, thoughtful discussion as if we're all friends.  I'm hoping this can be one of those times.
 
At present the mental powers structures do not feel like they in any way remotely simulate mental powers in the source material its supposed to simulate.  Further, most mental powers are either overwhelmingly powerful or just worthless.  And it costs a bloody fortune to get effects that are routinely used in source material by everyone with that kind of power (like "they don't remember what happened").  And finally, the EGO+x formula makes doing major effects on a really pathetic willpower roughly the same as someone with strong will.  Since each step is 10, then the original EGO is kind of minimalized in impact.  The difference between 2 and 22 EGO is 20 points, then its just ten point blocks to get more powerful effects.
 
SO I have a potential suggestion that maybe we could discuss?
 
Instead of buying mental powers such as Mental Illusions or Telepathy as an energy blast, buy them as a transform.  Use the conceptual structure and cost framework of Transform rather than Energy blast
 
Mental powers still cost 5 points per d6, but instead of a flat roll for all effects, the cost per die for an effect adjusts how many dice you get to work with to get that result.
In other words, you buy 12d6, but a really powerful effect gives you fewer dice, and a really minor effect gives you more of that pool.  Then you roll to compare the total to the target's Ego (plus mental defense) and if you get more than their Ego, then you get the target effect.
 
The structure could look like this:
Trivial effects (do something you already would like to do, read surface thoughts, just locate a mind, etc); say 5 points per d6 Major effects (do something you're opposed to, read deeper thoughts, show something unexpected or out of context); 10 points per d6 Severe effects (turn someone into a complete puppet, read forgotten memories, etc); 15 points per d6
So if Joe Mentalist has 45 points of Telepathy, he can roll 9d6 to try for a trivial effect, or 3d6 for a severe one
 
Rolling greater an effect than the target's EGO results in success.  Rolling more than double their EGO allows success plus the target has no memory of the manipulation.
Breaking free of a long-term effect works, the same, but for every 5 points of effect you get past the EGO of the target, they are -1 to break free with EGO rolls over time.
 
To me that gives mentalists the power to do something really significant but simple, but be challenged to have a serious game effect, but still plausible.
 
If I can hash this out satisfactorily and make the math work, I want to use it for my fantasy hero setting; rebooting mental powers to be more effective and a better simulation

For a new player in a new game, I think simple is best.  You don't need the world's most bitchen introductory scenario for someone to whom it is all brand new.  You don't need to reinvent the wheel if someone has just now seen a wheel for the first time.  And if they've never done it before, those simple "old" scenarios can be a blast: I get to break up a bank robbery!  With super powers!  So cool!!!

Alternate explanation: its sloppy writing/comic book logic, like how you can have a battle obliterate a city and its fine the next issue.  Which is by far the most reasonable and likely explanation.  That's just how it is, and who cares if it makes sense, we're just having fun here.

I have no memory of this, are you sure I'm the person you're thinking of here?  I don't recall even discussing shapeshift at any point on this board.  But I'm getting old and my memory isn't what it used to be.

We can agonize over the food issue.  We could wonder how Iron Man's armor can actually work, and be broken with parts lying around, yet no one else has been able to figure out how to make the same thing, or at least a suit you can  use to fly to work.  We can question how a blood sample from Steve Rogers can't be analyzed to replicate the Super Soldier Serum, or how Vision's AI can't possibly survive without the Mind Gem when Ultron managed just fine, or why no one else can figure out Pym Particles, or how Starlord's walkman managed to go decades without wearing out (leaving aside where the replacement batteries come from) and why that one cassette has lasted so long.
 
Maybe there is a story in there worth telling.  Perhaps there is not.
 
I can work with "In the course of a fingersnap, Banner was able to scan the universe five years back, pre-Snap and post-Snap, to find that Natasha Romanoff was nowhere to be found, so he could probably ensure people did not appear in mid-air, in the depths of space (the earth moves) or in the ocean (the world turns), and fix up the food chain".  I already accepted a Super-Soldier, Asgardian deities, gamma irradiation causing strength and stamina rather than cancer, that seemingly-magical Iron Man armor and a host of other impossibilities to get this far.

I would think that Psychological Complications would take effect in terms of how likely someone is to want to do something/believe something as well as breakout rolls.  The old "get control then they reject it because of their personal code or beliefs" thing.
 
 
Yeah that is an issue.  If you buy 60 active points of an attack, you effectively can obliterate any normal person instantly.  4d6 KA will murder a normal person on an average roll, for instance.  12d6 blast will put a normal person into -20 stun instantly.  So by that basis a 60 active point mental power should take total control of a normal person on average following the Transform theory: if you can kill someone, you should be able to remake them.
 
So with that in mind, what's a better way of approaching the issue, that will carry out this goal?

A bit of an aside, but I give very little credit to "it's appropriate for my character", "I'm just playing my character" or "that's what the module says".
 
You (player or GM) choose how to design characters.  If they are overpowered or inappropriate for the game, or just ruin the fun for everyone else, that's not on "the character", it's on you for inappropriately designing a character whose fully appropriate abilities are not appropriate for the game.
 
You (the player or GM) chose the character to design and include in the game.  If the character is an a-hole, and drags down the game, then you are an a-hole for building an a-hole character and putting it in the game.  [Some dispensation to GMs as it's often appropriate for an adversarial NPC to be an a-hole]
 
The game is not run by the module writer, it is run by the GM.  Part of the GM's job is to tailor the game to the group's enjoyment.  The module writer cannot envision every circumstance, nor are they perfect, so customize the module to fit your game.  If the module said "kill the entire party here" or "now award them a thousand xp", you'd likely fix that PDQ.  Other things that need fixing may be less obvious.

There are several ways to do it, but it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
 
If what you're trying to just create an origin for a character, then its a story thing and you don't need a power to do it.
 
If you want to do a long-term major change to a character (like granting a regular person superpowers for the duration of an adventure) transform is usually the best option
 
If you want to give someone powers for a little while, like a potion, then you have a few options.
1) using a focus to give someone a power like a power ring works (as long as they have the focus they can use the powers)
2) using Aid can boost someone's existing powers and abilities for a time limit
3) The usable by others advantage can grant someone powers indefinitely, within certain kinds of limits (have to be within a range, or spend END, that kind of thing depending on how it was built)

I wish I had my gaming group active and had the energy to run games these days, so I could playtest ideas.  Often when I suggest something new or alternate like this, I get jumped on with both hobnail boots and stomped for daring to question HERO SYSTEM AS WRITTEN like its heresy.  But sometimes, rarely, like with the KA rebuild idea, we have a nice, reasonable, thoughtful discussion as if we're all friends.  I'm hoping this can be one of those times.
 
At present the mental powers structures do not feel like they in any way remotely simulate mental powers in the source material its supposed to simulate.  Further, most mental powers are either overwhelmingly powerful or just worthless.  And it costs a bloody fortune to get effects that are routinely used in source material by everyone with that kind of power (like "they don't remember what happened").  And finally, the EGO+x formula makes doing major effects on a really pathetic willpower roughly the same as someone with strong will.  Since each step is 10, then the original EGO is kind of minimalized in impact.  The difference between 2 and 22 EGO is 20 points, then its just ten point blocks to get more powerful effects.
 
SO I have a potential suggestion that maybe we could discuss?
 
Instead of buying mental powers such as Mental Illusions or Telepathy as an energy blast, buy them as a transform.  Use the conceptual structure and cost framework of Transform rather than Energy blast
 
Mental powers still cost 5 points per d6, but instead of a flat roll for all effects, the cost per die for an effect adjusts how many dice you get to work with to get that result.
In other words, you buy 12d6, but a really powerful effect gives you fewer dice, and a really minor effect gives you more of that pool.  Then you roll to compare the total to the target's Ego (plus mental defense) and if you get more than their Ego, then you get the target effect.
 
The structure could look like this:
Trivial effects (do something you already would like to do, read surface thoughts, just locate a mind, etc); say 5 points per d6 Major effects (do something you're opposed to, read deeper thoughts, show something unexpected or out of context); 10 points per d6 Severe effects (turn someone into a complete puppet, read forgotten memories, etc); 15 points per d6
So if Joe Mentalist has 45 points of Telepathy, he can roll 9d6 to try for a trivial effect, or 3d6 for a severe one
 
Rolling greater an effect than the target's EGO results in success.  Rolling more than double their EGO allows success plus the target has no memory of the manipulation.
Breaking free of a long-term effect works, the same, but for every 5 points of effect you get past the EGO of the target, they are -1 to break free with EGO rolls over time.
 
To me that gives mentalists the power to do something really significant but simple, but be challenged to have a serious game effect, but still plausible.
 
If I can hash this out satisfactorily and make the math work, I want to use it for my fantasy hero setting; rebooting mental powers to be more effective and a better simulation

I wish I had my gaming group active and had the energy to run games these days, so I could playtest ideas.  Often when I suggest something new or alternate like this, I get jumped on with both hobnail boots and stomped for daring to question HERO SYSTEM AS WRITTEN like its heresy.  But sometimes, rarely, like with the KA rebuild idea, we have a nice, reasonable, thoughtful discussion as if we're all friends.  I'm hoping this can be one of those times.
 
At present the mental powers structures do not feel like they in any way remotely simulate mental powers in the source material its supposed to simulate.  Further, most mental powers are either overwhelmingly powerful or just worthless.  And it costs a bloody fortune to get effects that are routinely used in source material by everyone with that kind of power (like "they don't remember what happened").  And finally, the EGO+x formula makes doing major effects on a really pathetic willpower roughly the same as someone with strong will.  Since each step is 10, then the original EGO is kind of minimalized in impact.  The difference between 2 and 22 EGO is 20 points, then its just ten point blocks to get more powerful effects.
 
SO I have a potential suggestion that maybe we could discuss?
 
Instead of buying mental powers such as Mental Illusions or Telepathy as an energy blast, buy them as a transform.  Use the conceptual structure and cost framework of Transform rather than Energy blast
 
Mental powers still cost 5 points per d6, but instead of a flat roll for all effects, the cost per die for an effect adjusts how many dice you get to work with to get that result.
In other words, you buy 12d6, but a really powerful effect gives you fewer dice, and a really minor effect gives you more of that pool.  Then you roll to compare the total to the target's Ego (plus mental defense) and if you get more than their Ego, then you get the target effect.
 
The structure could look like this:
Trivial effects (do something you already would like to do, read surface thoughts, just locate a mind, etc); say 5 points per d6 Major effects (do something you're opposed to, read deeper thoughts, show something unexpected or out of context); 10 points per d6 Severe effects (turn someone into a complete puppet, read forgotten memories, etc); 15 points per d6
So if Joe Mentalist has 45 points of Telepathy, he can roll 9d6 to try for a trivial effect, or 3d6 for a severe one
 
Rolling greater an effect than the target's EGO results in success.  Rolling more than double their EGO allows success plus the target has no memory of the manipulation.
Breaking free of a long-term effect works, the same, but for every 5 points of effect you get past the EGO of the target, they are -1 to break free with EGO rolls over time.
 
To me that gives mentalists the power to do something really significant but simple, but be challenged to have a serious game effect, but still plausible.
 
If I can hash this out satisfactorily and make the math work, I want to use it for my fantasy hero setting; rebooting mental powers to be more effective and a better simulation

Don't try to sneak anything past your GM. 
 
In the case of your character, I read it and even commented that I would approve it as a GM. You had a set list of Powers for your VPP and they were spelled out clearly. 
 
That's a totally different case from a Transform designed to give Powers to a given target/victim. Case in point:
 
Severe Transform 1 point, Partial Transform (+1/2), Improved Results Group (+1), Damage Over Time, Target's defenses only apply once, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times) (256 damage increments, damage occurs every Segment, +6 1/2) (45 Active Points)
 
That will change a 0 point target(8 BODY Normal, 0 Power Defense) into 600 point hero/villain/monster in just under 5 minutes, it can be used as an easily as any other Attack Power and the Improved Results advantage means that every target can be given a different powerset all for just 45 Active Points. I'll leave the add-on Mental Transform to make them your fanatically eager and obedient ally/follower/pet/slave as an exercise for you.( It costs less and you can link it.) 
 
 

There are several ways to do it, but it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
 
If what you're trying to just create an origin for a character, then its a story thing and you don't need a power to do it.
 
If you want to do a long-term major change to a character (like granting a regular person superpowers for the duration of an adventure) transform is usually the best option
 
If you want to give someone powers for a little while, like a potion, then you have a few options.
1) using a focus to give someone a power like a power ring works (as long as they have the focus they can use the powers)
2) using Aid can boost someone's existing powers and abilities for a time limit
3) The usable by others advantage can grant someone powers indefinitely, within certain kinds of limits (have to be within a range, or spend END, that kind of thing depending on how it was built)

There are several ways to do it, but it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
 
If what you're trying to just create an origin for a character, then its a story thing and you don't need a power to do it.
 
If you want to do a long-term major change to a character (like granting a regular person superpowers for the duration of an adventure) transform is usually the best option
 
If you want to give someone powers for a little while, like a potion, then you have a few options.
1) using a focus to give someone a power like a power ring works (as long as they have the focus they can use the powers)
2) using Aid can boost someone's existing powers and abilities for a time limit
3) The usable by others advantage can grant someone powers indefinitely, within certain kinds of limits (have to be within a range, or spend END, that kind of thing depending on how it was built)

There are several ways to do it, but it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
 
If what you're trying to just create an origin for a character, then its a story thing and you don't need a power to do it.
 
If you want to do a long-term major change to a character (like granting a regular person superpowers for the duration of an adventure) transform is usually the best option
 
If you want to give someone powers for a little while, like a potion, then you have a few options.
1) using a focus to give someone a power like a power ring works (as long as they have the focus they can use the powers)
2) using Aid can boost someone's existing powers and abilities for a time limit
3) The usable by others advantage can grant someone powers indefinitely, within certain kinds of limits (have to be within a range, or spend END, that kind of thing depending on how it was built)

Option #1:  Indiana Jones
 

Hi, got to make this quick. Been out of power since about 15 minutes after my last post however many days ago.
 
If you want TL:DR please go to the end to see my request.
 
A pipe burst in my ceiling however many days ago, been without water and electricity since then. Haven't been capable of cleaning up the mess and the company which way willing hasn't been able to tackle the job due to no generators available.
 
Finally after a long day of scavanging online and driving around in person, my wife scored us a hotel room which would take us and our cats.
 
Skipping over long ordeals between each paragraph.
 
Got to the hotel, checked in. Our room has no heat. Still a HUGE upgrade over what we'd been living in since we had plumbing and could take showers.
 
I spent a lot of time after getting to the hotel convulsing and when not doing that shaking like someone who has Parkinson's really badly due to my health conditions rather than from the cold. My wife was so busy with her back toward me that she didn't notice the convulsions or she'd been trying to get me to a hospital because that's not a normal part of my symptomology.
 
Anyway after midnight, the fire alarm went off so we donned our clothes, gathered purses, wallets, and pet carriers for our three cats and made for the door. I'd previously noticed there was a strong odor in the hall but nothing that smelled the slightest bit dangerous. 
 
My wife and adult daughter got ahead of me because I forgot my rather large bag of medicine.
 
By the time I caught up with them instead of stopping in the lobby area or the adjacent dining room, they'd gone outside into the roughly 27 degree weather. A hotel employee caught me as I was passing and told me there was no emergency.
 
As I got outside I shouted at my family that everything was okay and to come back. My wife was hysterical because the pet carrier she had burst open and Baby, a house cat with zero outside experience had disappeared into the night.
 
Got to cut this shorter. My wife ended up falling on the ice/snow and hurting herself. An ambulance took her to the hospital alone while we continued the search.
 
My daughter who spends a lot of time in a wheelchair, and who was the one whose car flipped, wasn't able to continue long and she went back inside. My other daughter wasn't doing well in the cold but continued with me some time.
 
I rallied like a champ last night and spent over 4 hours outside searching. Caught a glimpse of Baby around 4 am under a car around the back of the hotel but she didn't appear interested in coming to me despite being four feet away and me having wet food for her on the ground in front of me when I saw her. Haven't caught a glimpse of her again.
 
The temp this morning has dropped another six degrees from what it was last night and the wind has picked up and is howling like a banshee. I went out and managed one round of the building and had to call it quits.
 
The hopital this morning couldn't find anything wrong with my wide despite the fact that she can no longer walk and kicked her loose. They after a heroic effort, managed to find a cab to bring her back to the hotel.\\
 
We managed to get her back to the room and into bed after a lot of effort. WE used the power chair which we keep in the van. If couldn't find traction on the snow but did okay after getting inside.
 
I sat for a while in the lobby and dining room area lookng out windows hoping to catch a glimpse of Baby.
 
I really need your thoughts and prayers in this because it's going to take a miracle at this point to get her to come to me. I'm going back outside in a moment to circle the building endlessly looking for her.
 
She's a beautiful Calico who's named after Dr. Tachyon's ship if that helps you focus your thoughts and prayers.
 
Gotta go, Thanks.

You are really having a time of it lately. prayers to turn things around for you being made.

I would lean toward just making them Uncommon, unless they are already uncommon and just subtract 5 points if they are uncommon already.
 
- E

I like completely disunified powers, magic is not science is not mysticism is not chi is not etc.  Science cannot figure out or do magic or vice versa