unclevlad

I'll believe it when it happens...not before.

Well, the local paper is the Sacramento Bee, so it's thematically appropriate.
 
And Sacramento has a minor league team...they're gonna try to share the field, well, we'll see how well THAT works...the Sacramento River Cats.
 
So it's all about the A-B-C's....
 
EDIT...amusing line from an article about the managers on the early hot seat...about Mark Kotsay, the A's manager.
 
 

Mmm...that reminds me of something you might want.  It's damage-based END costs for defenses...AVP I, page 62.  You trade off END for STUN...so, ok, your head's not spinning per se, but after a while you just get beaten to exhaustion.  It's a -1/2 limitation if it's 1 END per 5 STUN or fraction thereof, by the book...so it doesn't use the rounding rules.  6 STUN blocked?  2 END, not 1.  It's a -1/4 limitation if it's 1 END per 10 STUN.
 
You could use this with negation or reduction...at least to a degree.  You might want a complex combo like this...I'm assuming 12d6...
10 defense
2 Negation (no limits)
then 5 or 6 dice of negation that's STUN only, and damage based END cost;  OR, 50% DR that's at least damage based END cost...may or may not be stun only
 
The DR has the advantage that you don't get stunned...as long as you have the END to burn.  When that's gone?  Uh...oh..............
 
If you go with the DBEC on the negation, the trick would be, you'd want to count the pips, not just the BODY, because that can alter the END you have to spend.  This isn't a case where I'd use "standard effect" principles.  If that'd be a pain, then go with the DR.  DBEC actually feels like it was made for DR.
 
Note that there are details about how DBEC works that I haven't mentioned....

NYT Op-ed was written a couple weeks ago now, but a "hey, have you seen this?" email just arrived.
 
The lead:
 
 
And just this week, Cyg posted the Weird History Channel's Gatorade vs. PowerAde video.  Gatorade had that really good, effective, and catchy jingle.
 
Yes, well, conflate the 2, and we have the New Republican Jingle...
 
Sometimes I dream
That he is me
You've got to see that's how I dream to be
I dream I move, I dream I groove
Like Trump
If I could be like Trump

An issue I have with Hero is, there's not much stun-only defense.  There's ways to do it, but they start out expensive.  One of my preferred methods is some Armor, for the BODY, and then Damage Negation, STUN Only;  that's not bad.  Something like 8 armor + 4d6 Negation, STUN only, is 25 points, for 22 total defense.
 
The 2 starter questions:  
--how much BODY defense do I need?  OK, I'm biased as heck here.  It's not 12d6 normal...it's 4d6 killing I want to address.  14 BODY is average, so my target range would be 12-18 resistant, total.  (If you have, say, 3 dice of Negation, I count that as 3 BODY.)  
--stun...how often should I get stunned?  I'm REALLY biased here...because my preference is the more realistic one...just because you go down is a *better* reason to target you...so you don't get back up.  NOT the most common comic trope that a hero that goes down, gets ignored.  So...getting stunned, for me, is VERY, VERY BAD.  
 
So...we start with the damage.  12d6...ok.  What's my CON?  Let's go with 23.  By my lights, a 10% risk of getting stunned is dangerously HIGH.  Anydice.com is a great help here.  On 12d6?  50+ happens 10% of the time.  51+ happens 7.6% of the time, 52+ happens 5.4% of the time.  So for me...I need to block 27 STUN, with my 23 CON...minimum.
We can use other stun frequency numbers easily.  12d6, the damage percentages look like this:
    DEF Needed to avoid STUN Dice Total T % chance >=T CON 18 CON 23 30 98.34 12 7 31 97.46 13 8 32 96.23 14 9 33 94.57 15 10 34 92.4 16 11 35 89.64 17 12 36 86.24 18 13 37 82.17 19 14 38 77.44 20 15 39 72.08 21 16 40 66.19 22 17 41 59.89 23 18 42 53.33 24 19 43 46.67 25 20 44 40.11 26 21 45 33.81 27 22 46 27.92 28 23 47 22.56 29 24 48 17.83 30 25 49 13.76 31 26 50 10.36 32 27 51 7.6 33 28 52 5.43 34 29 53 3.77 35 30  
And obviously, you can tweak the 2 right hand columns easily, as that defense to avoid being stunned is just Damage - CON.  So if you only want to be stunned by 1/4 of the full-strength strikes...you're looking at 23 total DEF with a 23 CON.
 
The 3rd question is more complex...how many hits can I take?  Note that the 27 total defense vs. STUN there...I'm taking 15 STUN per average attack.  Well, am I easy to hit or hard to hit?  Am I likely to be a focus of multiple attackers, or just 1 or 2?  If we're outnumbered, how many of em will have real, worrisome attacks...if there's 3 grunts on me, but they only have 8d6 attacks, well, they're barely gonna affect me.  Also note that the ease with which you can take an extra recovery is a factor...how easy is that for you?  SPD is an issue, but what, if anything, do you have to drop, since you can't take a recovery if you're spending END.  BUT, note that if you're taking 20 STUN a pop, you're not lasting very long unless you've got a LOT of STUN.  And getting KO'd is extra bad.
 

JUST dropped in my inbox...from NYT, an earthquake hit Taiwan.  Tsunami alert for Japan.  Pic from the email:

Some years ago, one of the more odd situations happened back in 2018, when Vontae Davis announced his retirement...at halftime of the 2nd game of the season.  He offered what I thought at the time was a singularly insightful statement:
 
“But in my 10th NFL season, I have been doing what my body has been programmed to do: Get ready to play on game day. I’ve endured multiple surgeries and played through many different injuries throughout my career and, over the last few weeks, this was the latest physical challenge. But today on the field, reality hit me fast and hard: I shouldn’t be out there anymore.”
 
One now has to wonder if...in some measure...his body really was telling him something.  Because he was found dead in his home yesterday.  Cause of death has not been determined yet, pending a full autopsy, but foul play is not suspected.  Davis was only 35.

It isn't the justice system, per se.  The system is designed to minimize the chance that an innocent man gets convicted.  Trump and his legal team simply exploit that.  The insurrection charges...the problem's the vagueness.  And WHO can disqualify?  OK, yeah, I'd love seeing Trump off the Colorado ballot, but the point about potential chaos, allowing individual states to bar a candidate, is valid.  Some of the others...the Georgia charges...the challenges to the DA remaining on the case...uh...how does this damage Trump's defense?  OK, there's ethics issues, but that's separate...and not really germane to Trump's case.
 
The aspect where I'll agree is the degree to which the justice system...civil and criminal...has become a political tool.

The only problem with going to Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch is the nightmares you risk, when you learn about how some of the *non* approved stuff is raised.  Sometimes it's due to fishing practices, such as this:

 
 
But with farmed fish...oh man.  
 
 
Or this
https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendation/tilapia/mozambique-tilapia-1983?species=226
 
since tilapia's the fish being discussed.  
 
So, it's a good idea to look for a Seafood Watch endorsement, or a BAP, MSC, or ASC certification.  

In 5e and 6e, there are no 1 point offensive skill levels;  those are only penalty skill levels.  Granted, you still want to be careful with those, IMO, especially the 2 point PSLs which can cover a small group of attacks.  Potentially much cheaper than buying Half Range Mods or No Range Mods...which also have the downside of increasing the active point cost.

A high OCV can also be fine when the attack damage is low, or at least low-ish.  There's also Counterstrike...+2 DCs and +2 OCV, but only after a Block.  You forego an attack to block, to try to get your opponent to open himself up.  If the Counterstrike does significant damage?  You earned it.
 
A character with relatively low SPD is also less of an issue.  His strikes need to be a little more effective.

150 STR can lift 25M tons...which, according to 1 site (searching for world's heaviest objects) is about 1/2 the weight of the Great Wall of China.  All 13,000 miles of it.   So, not quite Pluto, but still essentially a practical infinity.
 
There's aspects that don't.  That's a big one;  lifting STR is exponential, whereas damage is linear.  What I do is say, ok, the high STR is enough to justify more damage, in and of itself...so you can get a 12d6 punch without Class 100 STR, which is VERY high end.  For me, it's 1d6 per 5 points of STR over 20, is built in.  Your choice of HTH MA additional damage, or HA/HKA, or a mix.  So, a 35 STR gives a base 7d6.  35 is 15 over, so, let's say, +3 DCs HTH with martial arts.  Your +2 DC strikes include Basic, Fast, and Martial...so you're at 12 DCs.  And 14 DCs with some penalties, if the GM's cool with that.  
 
Defenses also are an issue, because you've got to manage that LARGE amount of STUN now.  For 20d6, 77+ STUN happens 20% of the time, and 80+ STUN happens 10%.  If you go with a 28 CON, you need to reduce at least 50 STUN, and that's hard to do.  Along similar lines, the risk related to any defensive hole grows.  No or low Power Def?  10d6 Drains will HAMMER you.  20d6 Mind Control will turn you into a complete puppet.  
 
Essentially, at lower power levels, a substantial amount of the cost of a special attack can be countered by the built-in baselines, or with minor purchases...this is analogous to the first several dice of a Blast are about overcoming defenses.  But once you've done that...it's all smacking down the poor schmuck on the receiving end.  And, sure, the GM can recognize it, and not use Mental Illusions very often, if at all, but this only goes so far, in my book, before it starts feeling contrived...the GM just handing you things you can handle.
 
All point-buy game systems have their sweet spots...areas where the mechanics work well.  Hero's not great at the lower end;  the fact that Heroic rules let you use equipment at no point cost, is a strong indicator.  And too high, and...you can do it, but just recognize that when building an 800 point character, you should *not* expect "twice the power" of a 400 point character.
 
 

It isn't your phone, Ndreare.  Not quite sure what happened, but OP's post formatting got *mangled* somehow.
 
GURPS doesn't scale well to a high-power game.  For example, to get even moderate super strength in GURPS is incredibly expensive, IIRC.  GURPS Basic Lift is (STR * STR / 5) pounds.  Hero's max lift is pretty much GURPS' 2-handed lift, which is 8 * BL.  A 30 STR in Hero can lift 1600 kilos...3500 pounds.  3500 / 8 = 440.  x5 = 2200  SQRT(2200) is 47...which is 370 points.
 
And that's just 1.6 tons...really not that exceptional.  But GURPS' STR scale means a fourfold increase in lifting STR requires doubling your STR score.  
 
Similarly, defenses in GURPS are actually fairly expensive.  If you want to blow off a .30 caliber light machine gun, t'll cost you.  Make it a .50 cal...LOTS more.
 
I do think GURPS is much better for lower-power games because its skill system is far better.  That said, setting up a GURPS character is also FAR more complex...even in just the base rules, the knobs and tweaks are far more complicated.  I have a copy of the GURPS 4E PDF...somewhere, I can't find it at the moment, could be on a different computer.  And a copy of the character builder tool...but even with the tool, it was like...whoa.....this is work!  I was building one of my favorite character types...the 'heavy' martial artist.  Good STR, fairly good defenses.  It was kinda tricky...and got expensive fast, I thought!  
 
To be sure, some of that is far less experience...I vaguely remember a game that was gonna get run in GURPS, but basically, yeah, I've only read the rules.  There's tricks, I'm sure...but OTOH, most melee-only characters are a piece of cake to set up in Hero.  An issue with 6E in particular is trying to be everything at once...GURPS does too, by definition, but it's about 2 levels MORE complicated.
 
 

150 STR can lift 25M tons...which, according to 1 site (searching for world's heaviest objects) is about 1/2 the weight of the Great Wall of China.  All 13,000 miles of it.   So, not quite Pluto, but still essentially a practical infinity.
 
There's aspects that don't.  That's a big one;  lifting STR is exponential, whereas damage is linear.  What I do is say, ok, the high STR is enough to justify more damage, in and of itself...so you can get a 12d6 punch without Class 100 STR, which is VERY high end.  For me, it's 1d6 per 5 points of STR over 20, is built in.  Your choice of HTH MA additional damage, or HA/HKA, or a mix.  So, a 35 STR gives a base 7d6.  35 is 15 over, so, let's say, +3 DCs HTH with martial arts.  Your +2 DC strikes include Basic, Fast, and Martial...so you're at 12 DCs.  And 14 DCs with some penalties, if the GM's cool with that.  
 
Defenses also are an issue, because you've got to manage that LARGE amount of STUN now.  For 20d6, 77+ STUN happens 20% of the time, and 80+ STUN happens 10%.  If you go with a 28 CON, you need to reduce at least 50 STUN, and that's hard to do.  Along similar lines, the risk related to any defensive hole grows.  No or low Power Def?  10d6 Drains will HAMMER you.  20d6 Mind Control will turn you into a complete puppet.  
 
Essentially, at lower power levels, a substantial amount of the cost of a special attack can be countered by the built-in baselines, or with minor purchases...this is analogous to the first several dice of a Blast are about overcoming defenses.  But once you've done that...it's all smacking down the poor schmuck on the receiving end.  And, sure, the GM can recognize it, and not use Mental Illusions very often, if at all, but this only goes so far, in my book, before it starts feeling contrived...the GM just handing you things you can handle.
 
All point-buy game systems have their sweet spots...areas where the mechanics work well.  Hero's not great at the lower end;  the fact that Heroic rules let you use equipment at no point cost, is a strong indicator.  And too high, and...you can do it, but just recognize that when building an 800 point character, you should *not* expect "twice the power" of a 400 point character.
 
 

Boston mom says 3-year-old son with special needs was restrained to chair by teacher

It isn't your phone, Ndreare.  Not quite sure what happened, but OP's post formatting got *mangled* somehow.
 
GURPS doesn't scale well to a high-power game.  For example, to get even moderate super strength in GURPS is incredibly expensive, IIRC.  GURPS Basic Lift is (STR * STR / 5) pounds.  Hero's max lift is pretty much GURPS' 2-handed lift, which is 8 * BL.  A 30 STR in Hero can lift 1600 kilos...3500 pounds.  3500 / 8 = 440.  x5 = 2200  SQRT(2200) is 47...which is 370 points.
 
And that's just 1.6 tons...really not that exceptional.  But GURPS' STR scale means a fourfold increase in lifting STR requires doubling your STR score.  
 
Similarly, defenses in GURPS are actually fairly expensive.  If you want to blow off a .30 caliber light machine gun, t'll cost you.  Make it a .50 cal...LOTS more.
 
I do think GURPS is much better for lower-power games because its skill system is far better.  That said, setting up a GURPS character is also FAR more complex...even in just the base rules, the knobs and tweaks are far more complicated.  I have a copy of the GURPS 4E PDF...somewhere, I can't find it at the moment, could be on a different computer.  And a copy of the character builder tool...but even with the tool, it was like...whoa.....this is work!  I was building one of my favorite character types...the 'heavy' martial artist.  Good STR, fairly good defenses.  It was kinda tricky...and got expensive fast, I thought!  
 
To be sure, some of that is far less experience...I vaguely remember a game that was gonna get run in GURPS, but basically, yeah, I've only read the rules.  There's tricks, I'm sure...but OTOH, most melee-only characters are a piece of cake to set up in Hero.  An issue with 6E in particular is trying to be everything at once...GURPS does too, by definition, but it's about 2 levels MORE complicated.
 
 

It just comes down to 
a)  what you think the undead can be affected by
b)  are the immunities you'll give, worth points?
 
Can an undead be affected by radiation, say?  If you want, sure.  Broadly, perhaps the animating force gets disrupted by radiation.  (Hello, susceptibility.)  Perhaps the skeleton becomes exceptionally stiff in the cold...the END loss still occurs, or perhaps instead of END, it's an accumulating SPD loss, or OCV and DCV loss.  You just don't see these in most fantasy because it's rare for stories to explore these corner nuances.
 
And if the zombie's immune to aging, as you note..."who cares?" is sensible.  Is it ever going to come into play?  I doubt it.  So why should it cost points?  Doesn't need to sleep?  Useful.  Doesn't need to eat?  Ehhhh...maybe, but I'd lean to "never really comes into play."  
 
I'll also note that in most cases, the average skeleton's minion-level.  It's there to be turned into fertilizer.  

And being poisoned by Shelob.  Also...physical or psychological complications from the mental battle against the Ring, and when in Mordor, seeing the Eye.  It's no surprise that he only stays in the Shire for less than 2 years.
 
But he did pick up Favors...really big ones...and Reputation.  So maybe it's close to a wash.

One of the major supervillains in Drew Hayes' Forging Hephaestus is a HIGH end gadgeteer.  He invents a lot of everyday tech...then spends time dumbing it down so it can actually be made by his company, and it'll work for normals.  STILL works better than anything any normal R&D puts together.  He's basically Microsoft and Sony rolled together.
 
And in both of Hayes' universes (this, and the Super Powereds universe)...merchandising.  In the SPU, supers first appeared in the late 50's.  Since then, they've reshaped pop culture greatly.  Heroes have to be licensed...which is a point I like...and get paid...not great, but they do get paid.  They own all the NIL rights, tho.  In Forging Hephaestus, on the heroes' side, there are all kinds of kickbacks and control things...in some ways, it's like The Boys and their corporate handlers in that regard.  And supers are fawned over.  On the villains' side, it's actually organized...it's a guild.  They offer support services behind the scenes, and take a cut.  

Dammit...
 
Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses after being struck by ship. Rescuers search for people in water

And you have to admit...given a long term close relationship, and with Ohtani probably picking up quite a bit of Ippei's expenses on the road *anyway*...embezzlement, lying...it's all entirely plausible.  That gambling can be horribly addictive?  WELL known.  Chasing losses?  Too common.  Hey, I'm sure we've all seen the disclaimers..."if you have a problem setting or holding a limit" etc...I can completely accept that it's all Ippei's fault.  It's entirely believable.
 
Also note that, from the sound of things, Ohtani was pretty heavily flappered by Ippei.  A question might well be...does Ohtani have an American accountant?  For more than just taxes, preferably a full scale financial planner.  Cuz if not...if it's just a tax person, say...he may not have thought *enough* about his money.  
 
Need the 3rd guy in there, Mr. P...Freeman.  Most expensive 1-2-3 batting order *ever*...and almost certainly by a gobsmackin' big amount.

To give an example of what LL's talking about...Glynn Stewart's ONSET series.  Premise:  supernaturals exist.  Mages, vampires, shifters, various other empowerments.  Governments know;  they've suspected for some time.  The earliest records in the US go all the way back to the colonies.  It reached a point in the US where a separate branch was created to handle supernatural affairs...completely black.
 
All well and good for quite some time...but the later you move forward, the less plausible this becomes, because the harder it is to keep this secret.  Not when everyone and their cousin has a phone, and security cams have become more common.  And keeping it quiet also *requires* that there isn't nosy media...media's *always* been nosy, tho, so that's a big issue.  The explanations are fine in isolation...but not in aggregate.  There will be people that won't accept the cover stories...they'll try to dig deeper.  There's an event in the recent past, where *major* force was required to stop a really, really bad situation.  Multiple thousands of soldiers killed...oh, but it's all brushed off.
 
Stewart does offer an explanation for why people don't think supernaturals exist, but...come on.  That part of the premise just never held up that well for me.
 
EDIT:  heck, we can go with something incredibly classic....NO ONE seems to connect that Clark Kent is Superman?  That the glasses are really enough to be a disguise???  When that gets called out, they start inventing absurd explanations, because, well, that's far too established to retcon.  

On this night in 2020, the NBA paused its season for 30 days.
 
This was, for me and I suspect many others, the "ohmigod, it's real" moment...the coronavirus was something Really, Really Serious.
 
It wasn't the first indication;  the WHO called it a pandemic several hours before, and the Warriors had already announced their game on the 12th would be played without fans.
 
But the entire NBA going on hiatus?  Wow.  Just......wow.  That blew my mind.
 
It became the straw that broke the camel's back, in the US;  on the 12th, the next day, the NCAA cancelled the conference basketball tournaments, and thus, the men's basketball tournament...arguably the single largest event on the spring calendar.  MLB shut down spring training.  MLS and NHL announced pauses.  
 
But it was 4 years ago tonight when reality hit.