Phantasma

On page 55 of the Advanced Player's Guide, there is an Advantage option for granting Adjustment Powers the ability to affect multiple special effects. The text implies you would need to take both Variable Effect and Variable Special Effect to do this, however, in the example, AquaChimp does not have Variable Effect as a separate power, only this alternate use of Variable Special Effects at the 1/2 level. Is that example correct?

Also, Variable Special Effect usually changes your own power's special effect, but here it seems to be changing which special effect your power can affect. I would think this should be Variable Effect instead. Is this correct, and if so, how does this work?

Finally, could this be used with Suppress to affect multiple special effects at the same time, provided they are each targeted by separate instances of the power?

Thank you!

Hmmm, now that you mention it, Phantasma, Mute Lifeforce (Eternal Silence) likely wouldn't work on most vehicles, constructs and gear, either, given that most of them have no Lifeforce to degrade.

A more accurate name would be "Mute Energy Source" or something of the sort, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it. By concept, it would be able to 'shut down' powered armor or nullify the magic of an artifact (effectively destroying it), but would have no effect on inert objects such as good ol' fashioned plate armor, or a wall. Like when used on a person and like the linked Muted Power, it has no physical manifestation, but can affect an object's intangible 'power' and potential energy. (It would drive scientists absolutely nuts.) I will consider renaming it.

that would be a Limitation wouldn't it?

I figured that would be under the special effects clause, but if you think it's worthy of a limitation I'd swap it in.

True. I just didn't want the OP to go to the darkside and forgo creativity for pure point effectivness.

I'm a D&D 3.5 veteran who char-oped as a hobby, so I'm very familiar with this issue. It is something that's very important, though, so I appreciate you fighting for it.

My general belief is that while char-op is fun as a thought-experiment and exercise in design, actually playing overtuned characters hurts everybody. No amount of min-maxing will allow you to match the arbitrary power of the DM, who will have to raise the campaign difficulty to compensate, if not rework the campaign entirely. So all you manage to do is make life harder for the rest of the party who isn't optimized, and screw up the DM's story, for no ultimate benefit but for some kind of sadism or short-term power fulfillment (in which case we probably don't want you in our group). 

That said, it is important to fit the creative needs of a concept within a budget, and that the character be competent. It seems much easier to create a non-functional character in such an open-ended system as this. 

On a side note, if anyone wants to know how to get a level 4 character to wield a 56-foot long sword, just ask.

If your character has a Code vs. Killing it makes no sense at all for him to have a Penetrating Killing Attack given that you WILL do BODY to almost anyone you hit with it.

I respectfully disagree with Diamond Spear just above, given that our hero also has

Mute Lifeforce (Hush): Blast raised 7d6 > 10d6; added Reduced Endurance (1/2); added Variable Limitation (No range or Increased Endurance Cost x2)

 

The Penetrating KA works fine on walls, vehicles, gear and such, and can be used at various DC levels.

 

As mentioned, supers don't always choose what they're capable of. And this is a character who, depending on the circumstance, may need to break his code. That aside, like GhostDancer said, the power is also useful for fighting constructs, 'breaking' focuses, etc. I'm not sure using it to destroy walls is an option, given No Knockback and the special effects, though. 

Appreciating the feedback.

So, here's the latest version of Silence.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkZy54JhkHkodG94ZDBlallZbE53alNZTlFpaUlxUEE&usp=sharing
 

Patch Notes 0.95:

 

Characteristics:
Con raised 13 > 18
OCV raised 7 > 9
DCV raised 7 > 9
DMCV reduced 6 > 3
PD raised 3 > 5
ED raised 3 > 5
REC raised 8 > 9

Skills:

Martial Arts (Martial Dodge, Nerve Strike, Passing Strike) > Removed

 

Powers:
Without a Sound: Constant removed (was redundant)
Zone of Silence: Area reduced 3 x 2 areas > 2 x 2 areas; No Range replaced by Limited Power (Sections must be connected and extend outward from Silence)
Muted Effect: Resistant PD and ED raised 12 > 16
Quelling Strike: > Removed (see Mute Lifeforce)
Mute Lifeforce (Hush): Blast raised 7d6 > 10d6; added Reduced Endurance (1/2); added Variable Limitation (No range or Increased Endurance Cost x2)
Mute Lifeforce (Quiet): Renamed Mute Lifeforce (Eternal Silence); RKA raised 2d6 > 2d6+1; added Penetrating; added Affects Desolidified; added Variable Limitation (No range or Increased Endurance Cost x2)

Mute Lifeforce (Eternal Silence): > Removed
New Power: Mute Lifeforce (Quell)

 

The big changes here are a boost to his defenses and OCV, removal of Martial Arts, and reworkings of Zone of Silence and Mute Lifeforce.

Zone of Silence is no longer No Range, but has a Limited power instead. It no longer moves with him, but instead grows from him with each use, and remains in place once set. This is much closer to the original intent of the power. The range has also been reduced, because when it's that low per use anyway, it might as well be minimal. The rules on switching area types is less-than-well layed out (I can only find that one table under Area of Effect), so I'm not sure 1m radius of Darkness actually translates into 2 x 2 any area.

The effect of Quelling Force could be accomplished cheaper by applying it to the power directly as a Variable Disadvantage. The only difference is that he now has to take a phase to switch between reserving his energy and being able to project it at range.

Quiet was reworked to better serve its theme of attacking the opponents animating force directly. While I understand that KAs might not be appropriate on characters with CAK, part of this character's theme is how close he walks the line, and that he may be tempted to cross it. Besides, heroes don't always ask for their powers. The original Eternal Silence was pretty redundant and scrapped, and its name inherited by Quiet.

Quell (another inherited name) is a new power to mechanically allow a way I envisioned Mute Lifeforce being used during stealth missions: From behind walls, taking advantage of Sense Waves. Mechanically, it's identical to Hush, but trades 2d6 Blast for Indirect. The GM can rule just how stealthy this attack can be (too liberal and it could be gamebreaking), though I imagine most will follow the line of, 'they can't see where it's coming from, but they can still feel the general direction you're in', since it's not fully invis'ed.

He's an actual mute, on top of his persistent silence field (which is only active in his hero persona, his natural muteness affects him regardless). It's under senses, No Normal Voice, and why he's 425CP (it's listed as a 25cp sell-back).

very good but if he is mute how does he communicate with pople who don't understand sigh language "?

He has to pantomime, or carry a notepad. 
 

Flight has a Turn Mode, but Leaping is always in a straight line and doesn't turn at all. So Flight is more agile.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

House of the Palindromedary

It comes down to whether leaping has to be done in a single leap or if breaking it down into smaller ones is legal. Otherwise there is Flight with No Turn Mode, though that works out to be significantly more expensive than Leaping.

Thanks everyone.
 

[...]

When he thinks no one is watching, does he loot fallen foes?  

 

Sometimes... yes. Necessity's a *****. 

And   
 

[...]

Powers

Without a sound: power already constant, no need to buy it again, Self only doesn't apply, but no range DOES. Unified power should be something like (Oppressive Darkness, not something different with every power)
Zone of Silence: no personal immunity means that the first power is useless. No range does mean that the power stays centered on the PC. 2 x 3m areas also mean not a lot when the scale is set for 2m per 1" hex.
Muted Power: Dispel shuts down the ability all or nothing. Cumulative just allows you to keep applying dispel till the power is turned off. I am thinking that you might have been better using Drain for this effect. Though as a GM I would be highly likely to say no to this power construct either way. Also you need to choose a special effect that the power drains for the Variable Effect.
Negative Space: Looks ok, but sort of limiting to use in combat. Also be aware the the 3d6 side effect does stun and BODY NND. Also I don't understand your Limited power. A PC has a chance to take damage when TPing into any area they cannot see. (Check the rules on "Blind Teleport). It doesn't seem to fit the theme of Wave control etc.
Sense Waves. I would recommend using Spatial Awareness instead. I think that mechanically it would work better. Neither power would work though the Zone of Silence which apparently suppresses all sound waves.
Superior Agility: doesn't fit the power theme, but might be better done with limited flight. 20 Springing Attack, aka superior Agility:  Flight 50m (50 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Must touch a surface every 10m; -1), Cannot Hover (must move at least 2m per Phase; -1/4)
Muted effect, this power reeks of you realizing the PC needed defences and not being able to fit it into the power conception: How about this. Quelling Waves: 36 Resistant Protection (12 PD/12 ED/6 Power Defense) (45 Active Points); Unified Power (Soundwave Control; -1/4) I dropped the Mental Def it's not enough def to change anything.
[...]

That's quite a bit of effort you've put in. Thanks!

I'd actually think he'd fit better going the energy projector route if I had to choose one, if only for his combat aesthetic (see: my reply to Ninja-Bear).

His power theme is not so much silence as literal sound wave control, but rather silence as a metaphorical concept. To put it in more concrete terms you could probably say it's closer to 'negation' or 'absence'. This manifests most noticeably in the cancellation of sound waves, but is present more abstractly in Muted Power and Mute Lifeforce, and very abstractly in Negative Space.

Concealment is needed for hiding when not moving? I thought it was more Stealth was for hiding yourself and Concealment was for hiding other things.

Re: Powers:

• Self Only is on this because, as I interpreted it, he could otherwise cast a persistent Darkness: Hearing Group on anything he touched, not just himself. Is that wrong?
• How does no personal immunity of Zone of Silence make Without a Sound useless? Redundant, perhaps. The idea is that Without a Sound is always on as long as he's in his Silence persona. Zone of Silence may only be used sometimes. And No Range does imply that it moves with the character? I had thought it meant that the range was touch-only, but it remained a static field once set.
• The reason I shied away from Drain for Muted Power was because of how the increased cost per d6 seemed to skew the time-economy of the power into either being too slow or too costly. Also, the stealthiness of the power would be mitigated if opponents could see their powers becoming steadily weaker. However, I'm not averse to revisiting Drain versions if they would work better.
• The Limited Power of Negative Space is that he cannot use the power while either being observed, not to a location that is being observed (I mechanized this as 'within the range of targeting senses of an attentive being'). Typically, this means he has to break line of sight to use it. The Side Effect (which activates when he, even unwittingly, attempts the power in violation of the limitation) was instated because I realized that without some disincentive the Limited Power would become a backwards way to tell if he, or a location, were being watched. I know Side Effects are NND, but where does it say it would also do BODY?In any case, I'm trying to think of a more thematically-fitting Side Effect for this.
• Sense Waves is not specific to sound waves. It's actually a Touch Group sense. This goes back to how his theme isn't really sound waves, per se; the power is supposed to represent his sensing vibrations via their negation on contact with him, almost like a physical equivalent of a photo negative.
• Re: Superior Agility: Admittedly, this one does break the power theme, although I was thinking it in a similar light to many characters whose powers can be described as, 'general above-average physical abilities, plus theme' (though it fits the stealthy-agile aesthetic), and because he really needs some form of combat movement with how unreliable Negative Space is. I picked Jumping due to turn mode rules with flight, and because it seemed like it required less fiddling to get the desired effect. Is there a particular reason you think Flying works better than Jumping?
• Muted Effect: Hopefully this makes more sense with the clarification of his power theme.

First, I liked the concept.  Yes by all that is Good and Holy buy more PD. My first game I ran, I had 3 PD agents and they got hit with 10D6 normal dice and took body.  It was ugly. Perhaps a level of combat luck? This will stave off some killing attack damage with the special effect of not wearing armor. I also hate half die so you could raise his STR to 15 and add an extra damage class. And speaking of martial arts did you just pull maneuvers that you thought were good? Is it supposed to be a unique style? I just didn't get the feel of why you chose what you chosen. And campaign expectations are sorta critical in looking at characters. A character built in the blind can be very easily underpowered or overpowered without those guidelines-even with the same amount of points.

Thank you.

I picked the martial maneuvers I did to fit his aesthetic of a nimble, evasive character who uses seemingly-light attacks that actually hit at a much deeper level than they appear. The maneuvers were chosen for this aesthetic and because they provided more effective ways to apply his Mute Lifeforce-empowered attacks, rather than more damage.

The campaign will probably be run troupe-style, that is, we will all take turns GMing in a shared world. None of us have prior experience with the system, so the book examples are going to be very influential from a mechanical standpoint.



I'm currently experimenting with tweaking him to not be made of glass, and shifting some of his martial abilities over to more OCV/DCV and Mute Lifeforce (which may be overhauled). Given his aforementioned combat aesthetic I can just invoke 'special effects' as to his prowess in hand-to-hand combat.
Comments are still very much invited. 

Hello all. I'm a newcomer to the Hero system, and while I'm still in the process of becoming familiar with it, I am liking how it looks a lot so far. This is my first attempt at a character, and I figured I'd ask for some feedback.

The character sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkZy54JhkHkodDQxdHZxVnN3ckdueWJIWHBzWXBPanc&usp=sharing

His name is Silence, and he's a hero... mostly.

A mute whose powers reflect this, he seeks to do good. However, his 'career' thus far has left him with little time for a typical income, and indebted to a powerful and less-than-noble figure, and thus he must occasionally find ways to make money however possible... however possible. His nobler acts and talents in stealth have kept him from being pursued by the law, though they are suspicious. He has also caught the attention of members of a certain, more devious organization who believe his willingness to walk the line may represent the capacity to go further. Most of this remains unknown to others, and most know him as a mysterious figure who will appear, aid those in need, and by the time they look back he's vanished.

Special effects of his powers:

 

 

Without a Sound: True to his name, Silence makes no sounds while moving, fighting, or otherwise. This doesn't seem to interfere with his own ability to hear, however...

Zone of Silence: Silence can extend a field of silence outward. Though the area it covers is small, it can be precisely controlled.

 

Muted Power: Silence's signature power. He possesses the ability to disable devices and powers, over time rendering his opponents little more than an ordinary person. The effect is subtle, and they will frequently not realize their powers are silenced until they find themselves unable to utilize them.

 

Negative Space: Silence may traverse the spaces between perception, vanishing and appearing as soon as people turn their backs. He cannot use this power while observed.

 

Sense Waves: As waves are muted against him, Silence can feel and interpret their patterns in a manner similar to passive echolocation. By placing his hand against a wall he can 'see' the movements of objects on the other side through the reverberations, and for nearby objects the mere flow of the air around them can serve as a sign to their location.

 

Superior Agility: Although his physical attributes are all-around superior to a typical person's, nowhere is this more pronounced than his agility. Silence is capable of moving at great speeds, bounding off of walls as he hits and runs. 

 

Muted Effect: Silence's powers can dampen harmful effects against him, however, his powers are not normally strong enough to create this effect without the aid of the amplifier he wears. 

 

Mute Lifeforce: Perhaps his most frightening ability, Silence can mute the very animating force of others. Controlled, he can use it to merely render opponents unconscious, though applied more deeply it can snuff their life out entirely. This effect is completely intangible, and cannot be seen, however a terrible chilling sensation can be felt by the target and even those in contact with it. 

Quelling Strike: Silence can channel his Mute Lifeforce power through his martial strikes, his attacks harming his opponents much more than the force they appear to be hitting with would suggest. Although he can project the power across a distance, using it via direct contact like this is less taxing.

Points of concern:

 

• I'm not sure Zone of Silence does anything particularly useful in its current form. I've kept in in there to fit the character, but am contemplating ways to make it more functional (unless you think it is already). 
   
• I spent a ridiculous amount of time tuning Muted Power. It spent time as a Multipower, Drain, Suppress, etc. etc. and I'm still not entirely sure it functions as intended. I've been trying to strike a balance between accomplishing the intended effect while not being either overpowered or useless. Thoughts?
   
• Quelling Strike exists largely as a way to allow Mute Lifeforce to work with martial attacks (giving him a reason to get up close and use them). As I understand it, Linked is the only way to do this, but I'm not sure it's fair taking limitation points for it then.
   
• Mute Lifeforce seems a little lackluster compared to sample offensive powers, but I'm having a hard time justifying the cost of raising the reserve with what I'd have to remove elsewhere to do it. I'm figuring when combined with martial maneuvers (Quelling Strike) and dispelled defenses via Muted Power, it may balance out...?
   
• Any other thoughts are welcome!

Thanks to Narf the Mouse, Christougher, and Cassandra for helping me with learning the system.