Steve Long

Re: Four Swalls No.

Re: Skill levels for DCV See 5E 35-36.

Re: NSL and Power Defence follow up Yes, you're correct -- 6 points of Power Defense would counteract six Negative Skill Levels. I think it's under "Combat Skill Levels," but I don't have time to look it up for you.

Re: stun x There’s no maximum unless the GM chooses to impose one.

Re: stun x As explained in the notes on DC 241, 1d6-1 is the standard STUN Multiplier. If you're using Hit Locations, the Hit Location STUNx would substitute for the standard 1d6-1. If an attack has Increased STUN Multiplier (listed as 1d6, 1d6+1, and so on, again as explained on DC 241), that adds to the STUNx, as explained on 5E 124.

Re: Negative CSLs: Like a Suppress or a Drain? It’s like a Suppress, in that the “lost” Levels return immediately once the power ceases to effect the character.

Re: NSLs and Power Defense I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. It works like it says: if a character's attacked with Negative Skill Levels (of whatever type), and he has Power Defense, each point of Power Defense negates one Negative Skill Level. It's no different than using Power Defense to reduce the effects of a Suppress, Drain, or Transform.

Re: Adder question This is a discussion question, not a rules question, so I've moved it so that anyone who's interested can jaw it around.

Re: Body Powers and Adjustment Powers 1. No. KBR is a separate Power from DI, despite the fact that they share some similarities. 2. No. Stretching is a separate Power from Growth, despite the fact that they share some similarities.

Re: Oops, sorry Ok

Re: DEX Roll Contest... The GM's certainly free to consider whatever he likes, but the only officially noted exception is Roll With A Punch, unless and until someone convinces me there should be another exception.

Re: Visibility of Hand Attack No — it’s still perceivable. Something about the attack indicates that the character “punches better than normal.” That ranges from special effects that actually “alter” the character’s fists in some way (e.g., turning to metal, manifesting an energy field) to less overt things — but the power still has to be perceivable.

Re: Environmental Movement Kettle of fish - ha ha ha. No, the "movement rate" applies mainly to things like running on ice or along narrow ledges. It doesn't transform water into air for Running purposes. In an underwater environment, the Talent's mainly for CV and suchlike. But on the flipside, the GM could certainly interpret the Talent more broadly if he felt like. For example, it might be reasonable to say that most characters can only Run at 1" underwater, but someone with Aquatic Movement can move at 3", or 6", or 50% of his full Run, or what have you. I'll see if I can't address this more fully in the Atlantis section of Hidden Lands. Thanx!

Re: Need Star Hero Reference It's not too tricky: just multiply the character's maximum movement rate by his SPD (thus yielding inches/Turn). Multiply that by 300 to get inches/hour. Divide that by 500 to get KPH.

Re: PSLs vs Ranged; Shrinking PER penalties 1. The rules for Shrinking clearly indicate that it is not "Invisibility." Here's the exact wording from the rulebook: 2. Overall Skill Levels can be used to improve PER Rolls. I believe the Rules FAQ states this explicitly. I know that 5ER states it explicitly.

Re: [Release Schedule] Dark Champions Battlegrounds? Sales of SK have been pretty good. If it were a regular book, we'd be really happy with it. But given its low price point, it barely makes any money at all. The hope, of course, is that it leads to sales of other books. It's done that anecdotally, but I don't think there's any statistically measurable effect.

Re: A newb with a problem Since this isn't a rules question -- at least, not of the sort that I can answer in this forum -- I've moved it to the "Discussion" board, where I'm sure that Herodom Assembled will chime in with all sorts of useful advice.

Re: HA and AVLD... Yes, it applies to AVLD. I’m sorry, but I generally don’t answer rules design/philosophy questions.

Re: transport familiarity requirements Well, you can do anything your GM will let you do, but I’d recommend that if you’re using the full rules, you stick with ’em. Trying to mix the slimmed-down SK rules with regular 5E rules might result in some characters getting an unfair benefit. Just to make sure everyone’s on the same page, to use TF: Carts & Carriages, a character also needs a TF for the appropriate riding animal — not Riding, which is a separate Skill. If a character chooses Carts & Carriages as his free TF for Combat Driving, he still needs a TF of the appropriate riding animal to use it. Any equipment a character buys with Character Points, he automatically knows how to use without the need for a Skill — but as covered in the Rules FAQ, TUV, and eventually 5ER, that extends only to that one piece of equipment. Paying points for a cart (a Vehicle) only allows the character to drive that one cart without a Skill; it does not grant him TF: Carts & Carriages.

Re: DC Electric Rounds The difference is the value of the Linked Limitation, which changes based on the relationship between the cost of the greater and lesser powers. Glad to hear the UPS man came through.

Re: Grab and CV modifiers Yes.

Re: Ranged OK for HKA, not for HA JMHammer asked me to post, so voila, here I am. As Archer pointed out, generally I don't answer rules design and philosophy questions, for a whole bunch of reasons. The Q&A from the Rules FAQ that Lightray posted offers about as much explanation of the situation as I think is necessary.

Re: Does Body As a default, no. What the GM’s willing to allow is, as always, up to him.

Re: I amay have asked, but... Atlatls??? See Fantasy Hero, page 174.

Re: Martial Throw See UMA 153.