Stray Cat

I've come up with a character who has a follower that's giving me fits just thinking about it. The character is pretty straight forward, but his follower is more tricky. He is an alien, and his follower is his space ship. It's completely sentient. But it's a space ship. Do I just buy it as a vehicle, slap an AI into it, purchase it as an intelligent vehicle, and go on? Sounds right to me. Although conceivably I could build it as a standard character with appropriate growth and other features, right? The reason I bring up the latter is because the ship can change shape into a person. Perhaps a multiform, right? Or a shapeshift? Is there anything wrong with building a standard character that can carry others INSIDE him? (Flight, UBO?) Is this something that is going to take some major house rules to adopt the vehicular rules to characters? Thanks ahead of time for your help guys! Cat Oh, and one more thing. How would a guy build a base (or vehicle) with an interior like the TARDIS from Doctor Who? voice>

Re: Magmarock's Hideous2.hdc... Justin Timberlake would be proud! But... where's his bag? In our current campaign, the pop star IS Hideous (thanks to Viper)! What a weird and whacky web we weave... BTW cool pics! Cat

Oh not at all! It is one way to do it, but probably not the most satisfactory way. At least not from what I am gathering from your information. The character's personality (read Disads) remain unchanged, no? Then your best bet is to buy the power Instant Change (it's a cosmetic transform as mentioned by prestidigitator above) UNLESS it takes some time to change forms. Either way, you could purchase the character's powers with the limitation Only in Heroic Identity. I believe that's a -1/4 limitation. Cat

I know! And the irony is that Jack is the one with all the regen! Colossus took BODY! Cat

The Regulators are fighting Mechanon(s). Electro, the team leader is the first on the scene of an orphanage where strange radio signals that have been controlling crack-dealing robotic snipers (long story) have originated. The rest of the team arrives and begins evacuating orphans from the the top floor while Electro is in the basement battling an unknown foe. He calls on the radio something to the effect that he's alone in the basement with Mechanon. My character, Colossus, radios back, "Stall!" Later that fight... After the kids have all been safely removed, the team has split up. One group heads downstairs to back up Electro against Mechanon. The others are dealing with another (?!?) Mechanon on the front lawn. Colossus is a larger-than-life-size bronze-skinned brick. Mechanon blasts at him, but only minimal damage is dealt. Colossus says, "Way wrong move, buddy." Mechanon is much faster than Colossus, and he gets another shot. Again, some damage, but nothing Colossus can't deal with. "That was your second mistake," says the bronze giant. "Really?" replies Mechanon, "What will be my next?" "STANDING STILL!" Colossus begins his haymaker attack. It's phase 6 after all. And Colossus' haymaker will land at the end of 7. Surely Mechanon will be squished before he can act on 8.. right? Right? ... Oops... Ummm, Mechanon is speed 7. He flies into the air on 7 and blasts Colossus with much RKAness. The Brass Bastion is out for the night! Last night's rumble was awesome! I bow before Superskrull for making a butt-kicking not only tolerable, but freakin awesome! Cat PS Champsguy, we saved a Mechanon for you!

Now those are some fantastical house rules! Agent X, what are YOU cookin this weekend? Cat

WHAT!?!?! I don't remember any robots like that? Where the heck was Colossus?

I've been reading this thread for a while. It's thoroughly enjoyable. I've had ideas for characters who had what our group calls "Cinematic TK," but always the active points kicked me to the curb. Lord Liaden's points about the invisibility of TK and ways around it has helped particularly. My question for you guys is this: One of our players has a character whose power armor is constructed as a vehicle. Are we saying that TKs could squish him inside the armor? But not if he bought the DEF of the vehicle with the Personal limitation, right? I just want to be certain I'm understanding the rules and the general interpretation of them.. Cat [Edited to correct grammar.]

The side effects are exactly the kind of thing they have examples of in TUV. As for the real weapon limitation.. That doesn't necessarily mean that the weapon has to be based on something close to reality. It simply means that the weapon has limitations similar to real weapons. It needs cleaned and maintained regularly. Now with that said, the limitation itself might not be appropriate for superheroic campaigns, YMMV. I think it's a heroic limitation akin to STR Min. I don't think there's much problem with the Ragnaroks. After all, they are bought with charges (albeit a ton of em) instead of 0END. Depending on the flavor (read lethality) of the campaign, I'd consider going with EBs, ditching the +1 SM, and exchanging the charges for 0END. Two things to consider when determining the appropriateness of the weapons. What are all the other PCs throwing around? And what are his enemies tossing? Could Air Raider handle a burst from his Ragnaroks? I think not. I'm more worried that Air Raider is going to end up unconscious or worse with 9 PD/ED resistant. Cat

Actually, yes. Our team, the Regulators, has had a full plate ever since we picked up Britney and Bagman (hehehe I love that name!). Dunno what SS has planned for us this week, but eventually we'll get back to it! Cat

Certainly it is a semantic issue. It would not be the first time a word with an incongruous meaning was used such a way. I can't speak for the people at HERO, but it does sound to me like the effect being described is a kind of impermeable membrane, perhaps constructed of pure force (or whatever depending on SFX). Maybe the "affects porous" adder should have been called "membrane" or even "affects fluid." However, the practice is set already. The rule in some form or other has been in use for long enough that it will be difficult to change. There certainly does seem to be some confusion about TK between FREd and USPD. I was originally under the impression that the TK Water Control in FREd was actually using water as a special effect. A successful standard TK attack would do damage regardless of the solid object it struck. But the water control TK attack would not even be possible if there were no water to call on. (Side note: I am not sure I would grant that a 1/2 limitation since water is so plentiful, but that's a different story.) If the water control TK attack were to affect a gas or liquid, it would seem according to USPD that the 10-point adder would need to be applied. So the water manipulation TK in FREd cannot affect water? Is that the corner into which we're painted? I call "no way." SFX and GM common sense would surely override litigation on this side of the wire. (Reading on, for TK to affect a gas the power needs not only the 10-point adder, but also the area-effect advantage. Depending on SFX, I'd consider allowing a player in my games to affect gases as described in USPD p.12 without the advantage once or maybe twice in a session as a power stunt provided he or she made successful Power skill rolls. Afterward I'd strongly suggest the Dispel power with telekinetic effects.) Cat

Sounds like Roadkill will hafta pay the Mayhem Boyz a visit... Cat

Last night's game was a hoot! Set-up: The heroes, the Guardians, are located in Miami where an extradimensional invasion has just begun. One of the characters, played by our very own Agent X, is named Argus. He's a brick with a questonite chain. He looks very menacing (and he is very menacing). He drops down and slams the ground, creating mayhem for some XD troops. All but one outside the municipal building are whacked. The last XD soldier is looking right at Argus who says, "Look, you've got two choices. Get out of my way or get the beating of your life. You decide." The XD hesitates long enough for Argus' team-mate Blue Tiger to put him down. Same battle, Argus and Blue Tiger are fighting the remaining XDs inside the municipal building. Argus swings his chain at an XD who is reaching for his belt and yanks the belt off him. He asks, "What were you going to do with this?" And Argus presses the button on the belt. He is instantly teleported to the staging point the the rest of the XD army. Hundreds of XD soldiers, along with their beast/vehicles are surrounding him, pointing guns at him, and speaking in some alien language. Deadpan, Argus says, "Look, you've got two choices..." Cat

How about side effects in the form of a physical limitation disadvantage? Cat

It would seem natural that a character with nanotechnology would be susceptible to mental attacks as multiple classes of minds. A cyberkinetic would be able to manipulate the nanites, even shut them down and cause the character to fall out of heroic identity, right? Cat

Nevermind... I found the FAQ. A wonderful thing that...

Okay guys, needin some help here. Here's the situation. Say this character has an EB, Offensive Damage Shield with Autofire 5. Would you say that I use the HTH attack roll to determine how many of the autofire attacks hit? Or, if the character hit his target, would all 5 attacks hit since it's a damage shield? Cat

Re: Using your real-life city. This is how my first Champs campaign started out. The PCs were all from Oklahoma City or had reason to be in the vicinity. Part of the explanation for why so much was going on in the middle of nowhere was discovery of a large vein of metal from an ancient asteroid impact. At this point we have said the metal was actually uranium, so suddenly Oklahoma City has something worthwhile to export. But I may retcon that and make the material some nifty substance or superalloy. (Any suggestions?) Cat

Wow, that's hard. But not impossible. Sensory overload seems like it would work on almost any sense. Also, in a physical universe (wonderin how philosophical this could get), there would still need to be some form of transmission of sensory information. Maybe it's electromagnetic in nature. Some odd frequency based on the quantum vibrations of each particle of matter in the universe? If that's the case, then funky aberrations in the EM fields would mess with it. And those can be narrowly-enough defined as to keep the power useful without being debilitating, I think. So, near strong magnetic or electric fields he could have difficulties. Neutron's EM static field could cause him grief too. Cat

Hmmm maybe I should use ARGENT too... Cat - no, that's not the canary you hear in my belly...

A long-running campaign with three GMs in our group was founded several years ago. We called it the Tri-City campaign. The Tri-City area is vaguely somewhere in the megalopolis between DC and Boston. The three cities that are in such close proximity are named Metro City, Golden City, and Highcastle. We've also used real cities. My current campaign city is Miami. Another gm is gettin ready to revisit his New York campaign. The east coast is crowded for us. We've also had several west coast campaigns that we'll eventually return to. We have had major crossovers from almost all of them. I guess that sort of thing happens when ya play with the same group for more than ten years.. Another gm is creating a city in the Great Lakes region called Superior City. (I think it's near the real-world city of Duluth, and it doesn't hurt that there is already a municipality named Superior in that location.) I've considered moving my Miami campaign to a fictional city too. I must say I was very impressed with Green Ronin's Freedom City sourcebook. I think it was the generic nature of the material that appealed to me. Cat

Good ideas all. Can't beat what these guys have already said. But I would point out that multipowers can make for good spellbooks. I've played with players whose characters use themed multipowers as tomes that once belonged to past sorcerors. It not only builds flavor, but also can give an estimation of the power levels of said authors of the ancient (or not-so-ancient sometimes) grimoires. Cat

Okay... Doom aside... Children of the Atom... The reference was originally about the *atomic age.* Not about radiation mutations in the parents of the X-Men. Yes there was atomic anxiety during the post-war years. All these monster and horror movies with an atomic theme... Not one of them dealt with the mutated children of someone exposed to radiation. They dealt with the exposed person directly. The worry over the next generation didn't come until later. Are all the mutants in the Marvel Universe that aren't explained specifically supposed to be defaulted to radiation exposure? If that's what the writers at Marvel are doin, then I'm glad I stopped readin their comics regularly about ten years ago. BTW Kristopher, your tone with Doom has not been pleasant. Mutations can occur spontaneously - without radiation. I'd venture to say that more evolutionary progress has been made due to spontaneous mutation than radiation exposure. Cat

Confession: I have only read the last few posts of this thread.. With the aforementioned disclaimer.. I thought mutants like the X-Men were merely the next step in evolution acc. to the Marvel guys. Not necessarily radiation accidents or what-have-ya. I thought that Marvel even went as far as saying that there was a difference between mutants (X-Men) and mutates (Spidey, the FF, Hulk, etc.), or is that just the old TSR MSH game? Cat

I figured you wouldn't mind, Doug. And you're right, there will be other uses for the handy-dandy notebook. At first I did envision it as merely a schtick for new gadget ideas. I'm not certain of the uses in the future yet, but Doc Turbo is so much smarter than I am that he will come up with some. Thanks all for the input! Cat