unclevlad

As they say, a broken clock is right twice a day....

Is anyone else a little confused by the amount of advertising going on during the football games today, for HBO Max? These are national telecasts with no significant programming running opposite. They should be high-ratings games...and that means the ads are expensive. They've run several times, tho....

The first of the 3 picks was a gross misread, potentially combined with a receiver running a bad route. 2 receivers too close together...and 5 defenders circling them. There had to be a better place to throw the ball. (Wilson's first pick was this way, too.) The second one was after a drive. It was, again, another careless throw IIRC. The third pick might've been film study and the Fins being overly predictable. So this was...somewhat different, but largely that story, yeah. We don't need to worry about that in this game. Way to go, Russ...another freaking BLIND HEAVE into the end zone with a blanketed receiver. Someone posted the video of Wilson's horrible judgments, a couple weeks ago, and this game's repeated that story *multiple* times. These are Manziel-esque, college-level boneheaded. Might have to look up largest margin of victory for the season to date; who knows, this might threaten it yet. EDIT: Cowboys 40-3 obliteration of the Vikes. Yes, that's at risk. Bronco defense certainly isn't responsible for a big chunk of these points, but they've mailed this one in too.

Can you gift wrap a game any more than Tua and the Dolphins just did? Those picks were HORRIBLE.

For which Lawrence is eternally grateful. I mean, you're kinda assuming Lawrence would succeed with the Jets, and we know that's a stretch.

I could apologize, but you know it'd be as sincere as one from Aaron Rodgers....

So this Is, what, a once a decade occurrence? BTW: FiveThirtyEight and ESPN FPI both give the Jags about a 75% chance to make the playoffs, with the Titans cratering and Tannehill out. Bucs-Panthers, before the game today, is 2-1 Bucs. The last NFC WC slot is wide open; basically a near-even split between Detroit, Seattle, and Washington on FTE; on ESPN, Seattle's got a big edge there, and the Packers are given a somewhat better shot. The AFC WC spots are much less dramatic.

Poor defense, or a blazing hot Dak? Rare as that might be. Philly finishes with the Saints and Giants at home. They'll be major favorites in both. One win gives them the division; 2 wins guarantees the #1 seed. Vikings have Packers and Bears, but on the road. They'll be favorites, but lesser ones for that reason. (Plus, they simply don't win big.) Also for the Eagles, the game against the Giants may be meaningless; they clinch with one more win, and they have the Colts next week. Yeah, ya gotta figure the Eagles weren't real happy with their execution. And could the Raider-Steeler game, on this night, end any other way? A much cleaner play than the Immaculate Reception of course, but same style, as the Steelers yank the victory from the grasp of the Raiders. EDIT: Raiders are not eliminated *yet*, but just about. Must win their last 2; any win by the Chargers or Fins, each with 3 more games, takes away one of the last 2 slots; and need other things to happen, since there's...count em...5 teams at 7-8, altho one will take the AFC South. Still leaves the Pats, Jets, and Steelers...and the Steelers obviously have the head-to-head tie if it comes to that. Raiders deserve to be eliminated tomorrow anyway. EDIT: Oh yeah. NFL Network? You guys committed the absolute worst move since Heidi. WHY???? cut away to a commercial when they're showing the Harris highlights in the stadium? Some people need to be fired. Hey, I'm not a Steelers fan, nor a Harris fan per se, but COME ON. This was a combination of events that almost never happens, and REQUIRED full coverage. Y'all are rank amateurs.

Not sure if we've mentioned this but...Carolina's win today means that the Bucs-Panthers game next week is for the division lead. Carolina finishes with the Bucs and Saints, the 3 teams in contention. They've already beaten both. This is after the Big Trade, where we figured they'd tank. Mind, it is the NFC South, but still. Oh, my bad, I misread the schedule. Saints and Falcons are playing outside the division next week. If the Bucs lose, setting up the 3-way tie, then Carolina wins the division if they beat the Bucs next week and the Saints lose...to the Eagles, who'll want to bounce back, and in Philly, I believe. If Carolina beats the Bucs, they clinch the tiebreaker against the Bucs (head to head) and the Saints (better division record).

WRT RAW Penetrating...if a Penetrating Autofire doesn't kick in the +1 "especially effective" advantage, and I don't think it should, then Penetrating may be effective in Autofire mode. On its own, I do agree: it feels overpriced. In Autofire? It might work out reasonably well. Another one...Penetrating can be good for trained minions, with Coordinated Attack, because the stun total from multiple hits stacks, for determining if the target is stunned. Penetrating rounds might not be too much of a stretch, whereas AVAD or NND might be. YMMV. Back to Hugh's comparison...2d6K w/RAW Penet is 45 points for 2 BODY, and therefore 2 STUN. Even raising Imp Penet to +1, 4d6 Imp Penet is 40 points and doing 4 BODY and 4 STUN. Now, I'll grant: Penetrating is a poor, inefficient choice on a killing attack, much moreso IMO than on a normal attack. Thus it's really hard to draw a direct comparison. At +1 for Imp Penet...as I've mentioned before, what this would dictate to me, is buying maybe 4/4 normal and 3/3 resistant with Impenetrable. It only increases the cost by 4, and would negate penetrating attacks mostly completely. The level of BODY this advantage poses, is just too high to ignore for many characters. OK, Damage Negation, I might not worry about it nearly as much.

If I'm reading the playoff situation right, next week's Jags and Titans games are almost meaningless. a) the game between them in week 18 will decide the division, regardless of next week b) the loser probably has no shot at a WC. That would be their 9th loss, and Miami and the Chargers have 8 wins already. Wins either this week or next, and the loser can't catch them. Sooo....that makes their matchup a prime choice. It's highly meaningful for the 2 teams, the results of every other game doesn't impact this one, and this one doesn't impact any other playoff spot. It's possible that the NFC South will be in a similar position, but that could be a 3-way battle. If that's the case, they'll have all 4 teams playing at the same time. That division is playing in-division for 2 weeks, so the combinations are more than I care to work through right now. BTW, I am officially rooting for Arizona tomorrow night, to beat the Bucs. First, it's the Bucs and I'm TIRED of Brady. Second...this would guarantee a sub-.500 team winning the division. Bucs, Carolina, and the Saints would all be 6-9. Mind, I seriously doubt it'll work out; the Cards might be the best team to face in a must-win scenario. Them or probably Chicago, maybe the Jets. Not Houston, they're playing hard still. Not Denver, they've actually threatened an offense. With Murray, the Cards were Not Very Good; now? They're awful.

Home movie there, Logan?

French toast this morning. Dave's Power Seed...almost the only bread I use as it's lower in net carbs than most, and it's good. Egg, half and half, pumpkin spice. Special secret ingredient...4 drops of orange oil. Lordy I love this stuff. No syrup per se. Got some blueberries at a very nice price, got some strawberries. Those went into the blender; most berries simply keep better that way. So, about 4 oz. of that got zapped with some stevia, cinnamon, a bit of 5 spice, and a bit of water...high blueberry content gels even w/o cooking. Tomorrow's gonna be, the blueberry/strawberry mix turned into a smoothie, along with a frittata using my typical bacon, onion, and mushroom filling...said filling also gonna be added to the red enchilada "casserole", with beef, a diced tomato, and a buncha cheese. Not entirely out of line as a Christmas dinner for this area, and I've got a NY striploin roast for tonight where the leftovers will be serving as the beef source. (

Exciting, to be sure, but also infuriating, if you're asking for teams to actually *execute*. And lo and behold, the Texans foil a last-ditch Hail Mary and BEAT the Titans. Jacksonville now leads the division. Pats move up to the 8 spot, but right now they're 2 back in the loss column to the Fins and Chargers. Fins play tomorrow, Chargers Monday. Jets are probably toast, the CBS talking heads are saying Mike White's almost certainly done for the year. Wilson's a total bust, Flacco's a fiasco. We've seen how that offense works on Thursday, and thinking they can improve enough to compete is a pipe dream. Asking for a present from Santa...well, sorry, too late for that now.

Stupid is as stupid does. The Jan. 6th case for this idiot hadn't come to trial, so it's likely he wasn't facing anything all that serious. NOW? From LA Times: Without looking up the potential sentences...these sound like they should add up to a nice 20-30 year stretch.

Can say that again. Bengals have to force/recover a fumble when Pats have 1st and GOAL, down 4. Bengals pull it out in the end, but wow. And I"m sure everyone here is broken-hearted, but...that other Ohio team lost, and has been eliminated. Tragic...................

Whoa...there are beatdowns, there's taking behind the woodshed, there's raking over the coals... And then there's what the Bengals are doing to the Pats today. Pats: 4 possessions. 15 total plays. 4 punts. Bengals: 5 possessions. 4 scores; one red-zone turnover, but after a 13 play drive. Capped off with an 11 play TD drive in 2 minutes, scoring with 14 seconds left in the half. Yards: 303-70 First downs: 22-3. That's 22 first downs in the half, for the Bengals. Plays: 48-17. (Pats had a couple to run out the clock ending the half.) Again...48 plays in a half. There've been wider margins on the scoreboard, but looking at the overall stat sheets? I don't recall such a totally one-sided game in a long time. Bengals have *owned* each and every possession, offense and defense.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-twitter-finances-debt-tesla-stock/672555/

AVAD against a rare defense doesn't do BODY. That's +2 1/2. Granted you won't get the STUN, so it doesn't rate as high. But it's high. Perhaps a comparison can be made...damage negation and reduction can be bought as STUN only or BODY only, as a -1/2 limitation. So as a target, what do you say to starting from AVAD, Does BODY, BODY ONLY...the STUN is computed against all applicable defenses. It would be 1/2 less of an advantage. Note that even if the normal defense would bounce the attack...the BODY done in the attack also becomes the minimum STUN damage. I'll also bring up a systemic/campaign consideration. If a 35 active point attack (4d6 with your +3/4 Improved Penetrating) can do me 4 BODY...I'll tell you right now, I'm buying my base PD and ED with Impenetrable...or, I'll stage my resistant protection and put put Impenetrable on 6-8 points for PD and ED. It's cheap; it'd cost an additional 2 points, and it would, by and large, bounce this advantage. But you're giving me almost no choice. It's too large a hole, if Improved Penetrating does this much damage, and my counter is too cheap. I'll grant: at higher levels, the risk you face if you don't buy all the special defenses can easily become untenable. This would be adding a fifth 'special' defense...resistant, mental, flash, power, now impenetrable...and it would kick in VERY early. I love building characters I'd be, in my dreams, specifically in Drew Hayes' Super Powereds universe. I have my guidelines, and some accommodations to handle conventions in that world that differ from Hero's. But there's also a massive difference in assumptions: villains will kill heroes. No ifs, ands, or buts. None of this knocking out, they're trying to kill. (Heroes normally try not to, but if circumstances require it...do what you must.) This isn't unique to this universe; in fact, I think, it's the norm for urban fantasy and supers literature. Hero's premise is still tied to the 80s, if not even earlier. But if the goal is to knock out rather than kill, then your Improved Penetrating should philosophically also be substantially more expensive than you suggest.

Nope, or materially not so. The default heal-back is at the rate at which the target would recover BODY. Unless you've bought Regen, this is on the order of days to weeks. Meanwhile, you're completely incapacitated or fundamentally defenseless. If they want you dead at that point, you are dead. Period. So this is a non-starter; the distinction is too minor. Transform is NOT an Adjustment power and does not have the normal fade rate of an adjustment power. 6E1 307: Example: Witchcraft uses her Severe Transform 4d6 (humans into frogs) against Blowtorch (BODY 10, REC 7, no Power Defense). Her first effect roll is 18, not quite enough to fully Transform the flamethrower-wielding villain. Her second roll is a 11, enough to turn Blowtorch into a frog. If Witchcraft has defined the healing condition of her Transform as “target heals back normally,” Blowtorch reverts to human form when he heals 20 BODY — he doesn’t have to heal 29 BODY, even though that’s how much Witchcraft rolled in total. Recognize there is little or no real *in game* difference between complete, extended-term neutralization and killing. If someone's this thoroughly neutralized, they're as much taken out of the game world as they would be if they're dead...especially for NPCs which don't last beyond scenes or chapters anyway. Sure, there's an emotional difference...a difference of acceptabiliy of action. That is, to a degree, a reasonable systemic distinction, *to a point*. Not this far. Your comparison also doesn't recognize that the Transform is going against a less common defense. Nope. Not lots more dice. Multiple actions. I need to do 50 points? 3d6, 5 actions, AKA 1 turn pretty much. 50 points == 25 net BODY, so if you have 15 BODY, I can give you a 50 point power with no complications. Oh, and that's character points...not active. And it'll last *days*. I can't necessarily do this at the point of confrontation...but I can start doing it when I know my enemies are closing in, or I can do it as a relatively routine measure to my trusted minions. And I can do more than 1. Maybe give them an NND where I have the defense, so revolting minions can't use it against me. In this context, compare it to Aid. Transform can give a power the target doesn't have. Transform effectively doesn't fade. Transform doesn't invoke the half effectiveness rule for defensive powers. Transform has no maximum. Transform's cost to add points has the higher baseline threshold, sure, but after that it's at 2/5th cost (since you have to go to 2x "BODY.) Couple that with not invoking the half effectiveness, and to add a defensive power, it's MUCH cheaper...and, of course, you can add a power the recipient doesn't even have, AND you can tailor it. I sympathize with the point that trying to strike a balance among all powers is a terrible objective, but Transform beats RKA, beats Aid, and beats Drain overall. Would you allow a character to have this? 3d6 Severe Transform: add 50% resistant physical damage reduction to target. Power lasts 24 hours, then dissipates completely. That 24 hours is a lot tighter termination condition than most. It's 30 points, so 2 x (BODY + 6) is the amount to be done. It'll need 40-50 points, so 4-5 actions. Again...about a turn. If you allow it at all, do you allow it in a multipower? If the MP slot is switched, does the power remain? Technically, yes, because Transform is an Instant. So OK, my MP has this, and another for energy. I could keep going, of course, but hey, giving every teammate of mine 60 points of defense....and it effectively costs ME *nothing* (beyond trivial slot costs) because I put *my* defenses into the same MP...is nothing but broken. Oh gee. I can also totally break things. Instead of the 2 Reductions separate? I can combine them. 60 active is +12 instead of +6. But I'll have paid the overhead, so it's 1 extra application, 1 extra phase. Targets already have it? Fine, a second slot has, let's say, 6 dice of physical and energy negation. Not a great combination with damage reduction, but hey, still a sizable overall defensive boost. By RAW in 6E, is anything I'm saying wrong here?

When your philosophy or faith says to do something, the problem is, it tends to be an absolute. As such, indirect negative effects become swept under the rug. Human life begins at the moment of conception, AND human life is the highest value of all...no abortion can ever be countenanced. No exception for rape, child abuse, health of the mother, or health of the *child*. No consideration for the social consequences...unwed mothers, unfit mothers, the risk that continuing the pregnancy will lead to both mother and child dying, the medical cost when it's clear the child will be seriously deformed, and may be lucky to live to age 2. It denies even having the discussion about whether a child that would be born with major defects, but would live...should the parents be allowed to abort? Maybe the answer's no...but that's a legitimate debate. The book banning movement is in this group. I think, by and large, they adhere to narrow notions of acceptable. Promotion of anything outside those notions is Not Acceptable and Must Be Eliminated. Consequences? Irrelevant. I think they're pursuing the book bans for 2 reasons: 1. As a general measure to silence opposition voices. This is, IMO, part of the longer-term strategy, by basically controlling the message. If you can control the message sufficiently, you have control. Don't think it works? Fox News. That's far, far more blatant; book banning is part of the very long term strategy. 2. Book bans are far less likely to run afoul of the courts. Banning LGBT books IS a form of discrimination...but the civil rights being violated are more subtle, and thus, book bans are much less likely to be rejected. But make no mistake. The long-term goal, IMO, is to relegate, penalize, and potentially even criminalize what they consider to be Unacceptable Behavior. This isn't a short term goal, it's a very long term goal. They know the social climate isn't sufficiently in their favor to do this. Not now, and not for a long time. But getting the books banned is a move to change the underlying social fabric to be more conducive to their interests...and they don't care about the consequences.

Working against rDEF was worth a -1 1/2 Limitation, tho, so I don't think that's a factor. (C III page 33) The base cost still only gets you All or Nothing, and that in itself is a massive change when they did away with it. What this argument suggests for comparison is a killing attack that works against Power Def...and that would be 15 points per die, with a + 1 1/2 advantage. (We're talking the BODY only, so the base becomes rPD or rED.) That would be cumulative. Transform is a flat 15 points per die and still cumulative. How are these comparable? Yes, there's a tweak: the target isn't dead. Something like Regen will reverse any transformation, given time, but let's also realize that once you're a powerless frog, your opponent can do whatever the heck he wants...many of which will kill you. The transform doesn't...but both barrels of the double barrel shotgun with Dragon's Breath rounds sure will. Or a favorite of mine for D&D...first cast Flesh to Stone, then smash the statue into many pieces. That's largely trivial now. Recover from that. But I'm even less thrilled about using Transform to give others powers. First, this strongly runs into UBO; that's a major red flag right there, IMO. But if it's gonna be done? Make sure to read *carefully*. There's a crucial element: it takes more work. If you're granting an ability, the target's BODY is considered higher by (Char Points - Complication Points) / 5 and then remember, you gotta double that. So if our minion has 10 BODY and you want to add a 30 point power with no complications, you go from needing to do 20 points, to doing 32. Obviously I'm not a fan of this, but IMO the complication would need to be clear and exploitable to be worth anything. Also, OP noted the possibility that the boss could use a Transform, then switch the points around...and the Transform remains; the minion can still use the power. IMO? Forget that noise. That's also ridiculously unbalancing in this context. RAW might allow it; at least, it's relatively silent on this, but it breaks fundamental concepts. Why can't the boss give everyone multiple abilities, then? Because it's totally out of balance.

OK, I was editing my prior answer as you made tweaks. Steps 1-3 are fine. 4 is not. The power is still A's, he's only granting USE of it to B...and C, and D, etc. if it's built that way.

It's simpler than that...mostly. You apply UBO or Usable Simultaneously to the power. You grant the power to the minions of your choice. So long as you keep points in the power, the minions can use it. No, you *can't* switch the VPP away from this. The power source is still you; it's just that the minions get to use it for you. (And you get a WHOLE bunch of people using it independently.) You never 'transfer' the power itself. The limit is how large your VPP is. EDIT: just a brief point on Transform. Me...I loathe it. It's pure cheese when you're trying to use it like this. It's horrendously, grossly ambiguous in this application, and one of the most egregiously exploitable. The book gives an example of transforming a superhero into a frog...and all it takes is getting to 2x BODY???? Are you KIDDING ME? If this was Drain, it'd be several HUNDRED points' worth...but all I gotta do is get to 2x BODY. How can this possibly be balanced? I suspect the reason is the D&D shifting spells, Polymorph Other, Flesh to Stone, and the like...but that's no reason to write TERRIBLE rules.

Penetrating doesn't mention Autofire. Autofire doesn't list Penetrating explicitly, so it's a GM's call if they count as "especially effective." With the normal Penetration...it could go either way, because you're going to run afoul of AP and/or DC issues. If you're looking at 12 DC/60 point caps, then a 3 shot AF, Penetrating...that's +3/4. You can get 6 1/2 dice for 58 points...but this is at full END, so that's an 18 END volley. IF all 3 shots hit, it's a total of ~19 STUN, which is decent, but not all that likely. Remember: against a single target, firing for multiple hits, the "second hit" is at -2, and the "third hit" is at -4. Much of the time you'll only get 2 impacts, so we're talking ~13 STUN. And you're STILL burning 18 END. Yeah, that's the goal, but that doesn't mean a 5d6 does 5 BODY and 5 STUN...and for DARN sure, come on, saying that's just another +1/4? You're at least halfway to saying AVAD, Does BODY. There's no bloody way in heck that's worth just +1/4. An additional +1? Not sure but at least that's a lot closer. Not a chance. For an additional +1/4, even +1/2, the efficiency can't go up that much. Say it's +1/2 so we get the easier +1. What's better, 5d6 Improved Penetration, or 10d6? Depends on your target, of course...but the 10d6 will rarely do BODY against reasonable characters. The net effect? What you're suggesting is, for all intents and purposes, a form of Killing Attack...and one where Resistant Defenses does not apply. Let's also compare this to AVAD, Does BODY, vs. Impenetrable PD...as opposed to Resistant PD. Resistant PD is Uncommon, so that's just +1/2. Impenetrable...? It feels Rare to me, so +1; I could also buy calling it the in-between, since we actually have a step available, and call it +3/4. If that's a +2, well, the advantage is you do get more STUN through per die...but as above, remember that you won't have as many dice available. So this Improved Penetrating feels like +1 1/4 or +1 1/2. For an additional +1/4, I'd probably give 1 BODY for every 3 full BODY dealt, or something like that, if you don't like 1 BODY for each 6 rolled. Automatically dealing BODY is NOT!!! something associated with normal damage attacks, tho. Remember: the roots of the game lie in *not* killing, but knocking out. Something that supports this, needs to be EXPENSIVE.