Stochastic

Re: "Oath" (and "Lie-Punishing") Powers Hey, thanks for replying. In our little gaming group, we previously had a GM who became notorious for 'fudging' NPC numbers (base OCV's would change over the course of a given combat), unrealistically unlikely things would occur, so I like to have everything 'by the books'. #2 Not clear about what you mean by "force someone to fill punish". Keeping the Faith is supposed to bind someone to a verbal promise, such that they will do anything and everything in their power to fulfill it. #3 Not sure how Danger Sense or Detect Lies would reflect the power Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation punishes a person who has broken a verbal promise, at some point in their past, by burdening them with unrelenting guilt about it.

Hello again, all. I have another character idea in the works, whose powers are being very slippery when I try and pin them down. Oath (Preston Emmanuel Wright) is a villain - a serial killer actually, for a 'crime thriller' style story arc - who murders liars (with specific emphasis on those who break promises). I want him to be able to do five things, of which three are being particularly difficult when I try and define them. Power 1) I See Your Lies This one is simple, I want him to be able to see, as a sense, the lies that people have told throughout their life. Lies in the distant past, and lies of relatively little importance are harder to perceive. (White lies that never actually hurt anyone, told fifteen years ago, are nearly invisible. Someone telling a lie for personal gain or to inflict pain right in front of pain would be glaringly obvious). I am currently modeling this with a Detect Lies (Discriminatory, Analyze) as an unusual sense, a Clairsentience (Retrocognitive Only) for the Detect Lies. with Time Modifiers. The only problem is, trying to represent the axes of the lies 'magnitude'. Any thoughts on that? Power 2) Keeping the Faith Preston can make a promise binding, even one that was made under duress or without any real intention of keeping (either due to dishonesty, or it simply being a joke). I want four things to be necessary for Preston to use Keeping the Faith - first, he must know what was promised, he must know to whom it was promised, the promise must still be capable of being kept, and the person must not have been released from their promise by the individual they made the promise to. I really don't know how to go about making this power. Is it mind control or a transform? Mind control tends to be really short acting, and some promises might take a long time to fulfill (say, an Oath of Office, when Keeping the Faith is applied, would make someone faithful to that Oath for the remainder of the Oath's duration). So perhaps a "mental" transform? What about the conditions? How do I represent those? Just 'conditional powers', if so, what kind of limitation value would I put those at? (Like -1/4, -1/2, -3/4 ... ? ) Power 3) Truth and Reconciliation When a promise is broken, it shows up on Preston's "lie vision", and this specific kind of lie can be punished through Preston's powers. This use of his power would require that Preston touch the person and speak about the person(s)/entity(ies)/institution(s) to which the vow was made. (God, a specific priest or person's spouse in the case of an adulterer, God, a specific judge or the State in case of a politician, God or a superior clergyman in the case of a clergyman - or for less formal vows, just the name of the individual who they promised something to or for will suffice). He can get that information from his Lie-vision. Once invoked, the person will gradually be overcome with guilt- they will attempt to make amends and eventually succumb to their guilt and kill themselves. Again, I'm having real trouble trying to model this power. Power 4) Good As My Word Preston cannot break a promise, at least not easily. This is not in the sense that he never wants to break a promise, he simply cannot - events conspire to fulfill his vow, or "oath". In the event that something happens that prevents him from fulfilling his promise or he makes two conflicting promises, he is dealt immense physical pain. I was thinking just a boatload of Luck, but I don't know how to model the Side Effect, because it's not dependent on the luck working per se, as it is on him completing his vow in general - he doesn't need to be lucky, it just helps sometimes. Power 5) I Speak Only The Truth. Preston also cannot tell a lie; even about things he should not know. He can use this to glean the truth, by trying to guess people's names or passcodes and such. Clairsentience (precognitive, incantations)? Doesn't seem like what I want, because it requires him to take the time to babble to himself, and if it's something largely "unguessable", he would never succeed. Thanks so much for your help, all.

Yay! Many thanks. The one teensy tiny thing I might ask is; Does the power Advantage Does Not Cross Intervening Space prohibit Grab's at a distance et al, or just Grab and Drag-To-Myself at a distance specifically? Thanks again.

Greetings, Questions are actually threefold, they all relate to Stretching. I've looked at Fifth Edition Revised pages 220 and 221, and also 388. I tried searching the FAQ for clarification, couldn't find this specific issue (and boy, is it specific). I don't have that Ultimate Martial Artist book, worried that the answer might be in there. First Question: Is Grab-and-drag-to-myself mandatory for a Stretched Grab? From 5ER page 221, left column, first paragraph So, for instance, a character wants to Stretch out, Grab another character, and have him be Grabbed in the Grabbed character's hex. This is going to happen in the short term regardless (if a character's phase can end when he makes a Stretched Grab, without doing the Drag to Myself portion, then obviously the Grabbed character would be Grabbed in the target hex, not in one adjacent to the Grabber). So, say we have a GM who didn't allow our Grabber to Drag as a part of the same attack action, would the Grabber's next action need to be, then, dragging him back? Second Question: If Grab & Drag isn't mandatory, can a power with Does Not Cross Intervening Space (+1/4) then Grab someone at a distance? Also from Fifth Edition Revised p221, this time from right hand column, second paragraph. Since this doesn't cover Grabbing and holding in the Target Hex, it is, thus, somewhat open to interpretation. Third Question: Semantics on the Power Advantage Does Not Cross Intervening Space (+1/4) Somewhat semantic, but because this is probably a question so specific, so far off the beaten path, I should ask: Is it possible that those prohibitions included in the power advantage Does Not Cross Intervening Space (+1/4) are artifacts from some earlier edition (which I don't have. I'm a yung 'un... kind of...) where the power advantage was actually a power Limitation? The only reason I ask is because of the language: Though, this is somewhat important, as I think about it: in essence, if Grab & Drag is not mandatory and Does Not Cross Intervening Space (+1/4) does prohibitGrabbing a character in the Grabbed Character's hex, then can a person with that power advantage use the same Stretching power, but just 'drop' that power advantage (thus making his stretched appendages vulnerable) for a time while he wants to grab? Thanks very much for your time and consideration.

Re: Form/Function Switch. I like that, thanks. Okay, how much would you say that would be worth? (Because I'll be GM'ing that game, so it's not something I can actually ask the GM for a value on).

Re: Form/Function Switch.

Hello all, so it's going to be my turn to GM a story arc soon in our champions game. I have a character idea for our villainess, and how her powers will fit in to the 'mystery' but am still trying to think how I'll build her powers; Her name is Alexia and her 'hero name' is Teleos, her powers are based (loosely) on Aristotlean thoughts regarding function and purpose; her primary ability is to switch the function of two things, while the physical form or 'expression' of their purpose, remain the same. So, for instance, if she has a toaster in one hand and a gun in the other, she can switch their functions, so she has a toaster that shoots bullets and a gun that toasts bread. Her second ability is exclusive from the first; she can refine something to it's 'perfect nature'. So, she can make a gun a 'perfect gun' which is far superior in it's function to a normal gun, but she can't make a toaster a perfect toaster gun, by swapping it's function with that of a perfected gun. So, I think the second power is a transform - but the first power I'm having a lot of trouble with. How would you guys model this? A VPP with certain items premade (unexpected things, and such)? I was thinking about this, but I wanted her to be able to do it in combat, when the PCs inevitably uncover her nefarious scheme. (I wanted her to have some henchmen whose 'abilities' she switched around to suit her current needs). It's not images, I thought of that (just making one thing look like another, because, from an objective observer it might just appear that she made the gun look like a toaster and a toaster look like a gun, instead of actually switching the functions, she just altered their forms - but that's not what she does. If she switches a PCs function with that of a pumpkin, I wanted the PC to be temporarily pumpkinized (to coin a phrase) - so in that way it's like a transform?) Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Re: Luck Based Hero. Origin: Jack Karswell, One-Eyed Jack Some might say that Jack MacCarneigh was born lucky, to unlucky circumstances. Seventh son of Irish South African farmers, Jack's youth was filled with violence and racial tension. In retrospect, Jack's powers might have manifested very early in life – his parents and four of his six brothers perished instantly in a car wreck on his ninth birthday, the other two siblings passing away in their hospital beds within hours of each other, later that night. Jack alone survived, bearing a scar over his left eye – which even then Jack understood to be a reminder of his strange fortunes. But before delving more into his childhood, let us examine Jack Karswell as the man he is today. Physically he is fit; twenty-three, tall and strapping, red hair grown long, emerald green eyes and a fair complexion. Not possessed of any particular stylishness, Jack tends to dress in the same drab colors with which the orphanage clothed its children. As time passed, Jack's suspicions about his involvement in the death of his family grew into a deep-seated guilt complex, which itself manifested as a severe case of Haptephobia. After four years of bouncing from foster family to foster family, the young Jack MacCarneigh found himself in a Catholic orphanage in Port Elizabeth. From the outside, it appeared that Jack's luck was getting worse and worse, and the nuns would often whisper of “that poor, unlucky boy,” as he passed. Yet, even so, as Jack came to understand his abilities, his life steadily improved. Jack excelled at his tests, picking answers at random when the question was one he didn't care about, and always coming out at the top of the class. A few months before Jack turned eighteen, he left for Mega-City four, attending a prestigious law university on scholarship. In his junior year, Jack met the love of his life, Nika Karswell. Despite his somewhat off-putting phobia of touch, Nika was herself attracted to Jack. As Nika became more and more familiar with him, Jack became increasingly concerned for her safety, her hand would raise as if to brush his cheek sometimes. Other times, she leaned in too closely. On a mid-December date, Nika changed Jack's life with a kiss – so long had he been without human touch that it seemed to burn like fire. Mortified that he would now lose Nika, Jack confessed the true reasons for his fears as Nika sat calmly beside him on a park bench turned confessional. After Jack had finished blubbering about how he didn't know what he would do if something happened to her, Nika kissed him again, and with that second kiss it seemed all of Jack's dread melted away. Time flowed on and minutes turned to hours turned to days until finally it seemed that tragedy had forgotten the two of them. Jack would spend his nights amusing Nika with tales of his improbable adventures, showing her card tricks – or her favorite, predicting the outcome of the dice she would roll. Shortly after their graduation, Nika and Jack got married – Jack taking Nika's family name “Karswell”, saying that he didn't want their son to be marked with the misfortune of his surname. Three weeks after they were married, Nika died giving birth to their son Jacob. Overcome by grief, Jack relinquished Jacob to Nika's mother Anna, never having touched his son for fear of destroying the last remnant of Nika. Jack became a professional gambler thereafter, rising through the world of poker with his phenomenal luck and considerable skill at reading people. Supporting from afar, he sends Anna money from his winnings regularly. Jack's main motivation these days is justice – he finds something comforting about the notion of balance, of this for that. Though he could have been a successful lawyer before he became a professional card player, he is currently on the run from the mutant hunting agencies on suspicion of being a mutant. Often playing with some pretty shady characters, he learns about all manner of injustices, and takes it upon himself to reconcile them. [ATTACH]31014[/ATTACH]

Re: Luck Based Hero. Thanks for the help and ideas all! First session was tonight, he was kind of fun to play.

Hey, so for a tabletop game I'm playing, I'm making a character. It's 200 base + 150 disadvantages + 50 experience. I'm trying to make a luck based hero: His background is that he's a world poker champion, but since mutants in this game are persecuted, he was disbarred after it was revealed that his constant run of good luck (and his opponents bad luck) was a result of his mutation. He's got a goodly amount of points in martial arts and a lot in skills, but I still have 15 points left, trying to think of perhaps some more luck based powers. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it. Here is his luck based powers so far. Incredible Luck: Luck 6d6 Improbable Fortunes: Elemental Control, 60-point powers, (30 Active Points); all slots Requires A Luck Roll (-1) Opportune Distractions: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing and Mental Groups , Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2) (60 Active Points); Requires A Luck Roll (-1), Bright Fringe (-1/4) Scales of Fate: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6, Time Delay (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Indirect (Any origin, any direction; +3/4), Damage Shield (Affects Mental And Physical Attackers; Offensive; +1 1/4) (64 Active Points); No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), Requires A Luck Roll (-1), Always On (-1/2) Shield of Fortune: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (60 Active Points); Requires A Luck Roll (-1), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Instant (-1/2) Shield of Fortune: Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (60 Active Points); Requires A Luck Roll (-1), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Instant (-1/2) Shield of Fortune: Mental Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (60 Active Points); Requires A Luck Roll (-1), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Instant (-1/2) The last 3 represent his only real defenses, beyond a goodly DCV. Scales of Fate is supposed to represent that after someone touches the character (Jack Karzwell, "One-Eyed Jack") something bad happens to them in the near future - get hit by a bus, trip and get concussed, et cetera. I was wondering if maybe that should just be a transform to characters with unluck. anyways, thanks for the assistance.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Two DNPCs; Lukas Krieg, Sibling, 28, Mound City. Sofie Krieg, Sibling, 25, Waxhaw. Erik lives in Center City, not far from the courthouse he works at. Works for the Department of Justice as an interpreter in several languages. His work takes him all around the city, as he is sometimes required for criminal depositions around the city.

Re: Powers to make life better I always end up misplacing my keys. I'd take Desolid, no protection versus damage, only works on Doors.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Made some fan fiction type stuff too. Also made a villain character to go along with it. Naturally you don't have to use said villain. Just made it to figure out her powers for the brief encounter. [ATTACH]30939[/ATTACH] The tabs in my story appear to have disappeared though.

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States Oh, and I see it says you live in Corvallis. My condolences. I did four years of hard time there. As an undergraduate. Still, it felt like one big prison. If you don't drink or do the fraternity scene, there's not a great deal to do. It will be a cold, black day in hell before I return for some alumni "jubilee" meeting. I'll mail them a check and we'll be square, thank-you-very-much. PS If you need help escaping I was thinking of starting an underground railroad to smuggle people out of the linn-benton county. Nobody should have to live like that! That or I was thinking of starting a national civil rights movement, centered around the fact that living in Corvallis is Cruel and Unusual.

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States I could make a stick figure panoramic shot in MS Paint. Does that help?

Re: Artificial Intelligence Build Hm. Well I would probably model it with something to the effect of: Ghost In The Machine 60 Desolidification (affected by Electricity, Computer Viruses), Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (90 Active Points); Always On (-1/2) and 45 Invisibility to Sight, Hearing and Smell/Taste Groups , Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (67 Active Points); Always On (-1/2) Artificial Intellect Powers 2 WAN Copy-Out: Teleportation 1", MegaScale (1" = 100,000 km; +1 1/2), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4) (5 Active Points); Restricted Path (Only along established network; -1) 12 LAN Copy-Out: Teleportation 5", x16 Noncombat (25 Active Points); Restricted Path (Only over established network; -1) 50 System Override: Mind Control 15d6 (Machine class of minds) (75 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) Then have him buy an OIF Machine Body and OIF Vehicle Body as Elemental Controls. But really, if he's an AI why does he need to delete himself after he copies out? Far more likely that he would just be part of a distributed intelligence network.

Re: Vehicle - Stilt Suit And firefighter. [ATTACH]30931[/ATTACH]

Re: Vehicle - Stilt Suit

Re: Vehicle - Stilt Suit Aw. Hehe. Thanks, I think? As to Disadvantages I would do that as a Distinctive Feature - Not Concealable, Recognizeable and Always Causes a Reaction. It would make sneakin' difficult. If they are commonly known as being associated with a particular bad group, we can add reputations. Susceptibilities and vulnerabilities are also good. Size 2 is listed as "Chariot" (real helpful, huh?) size 3 is sportscar and 800kg. Here's our moverbot/warehouse model. I added the distinctive feature. [ATTACH]30930[/ATTACH]

Re: Vehicle - Stilt Suit I see. Spoke too soon. [ATTACH]30929[/ATTACH]

Re: Vehicle - Stilt Suit Mass is already reflected in a vehicles Size characteristic. Generally, powered armor is easier to model in an OIF universal foci. But - and I'm guessing now, because there was no size or DEF score listed - but the strength is listed at 35 and 25 points were paid, so going to operate off the assumption that it's a Size 0. This would make it significantly shorter (if we translate 'length' into height) than the expected 8'. If the suit itself changes - and that change takes any time - I would recommend you go with a multiform here. Some things though: PS is a background skill, and RSR for background skills is only -1/2. (Not a biggie, since you're the GM) Do you really want to buy Suppress like that for the fire extinguisher? It would need a +1/4 advantage so that it could effect "Any Fire power one at a time" rather than the base of just effecting a given Power. If the suppress doesn't actually extinguish the fire, then after the continuing charge expires, the fire regains it's strength. I think a 12d6 Dispel Fire AoE, Any one Fire at a Time would be far better. And I do not understand the Rivet Gun. What are the charges supposed to represent? Generally so long as it's compressor is working, a rivet gun can pound any rivet. And why would we add the suit's strength to it's usage? Is that like, clubbing with it? I would say that a rivet is a transform with an IIF expendable (Rivet) into a Riveted Surface. When used in melee, if you were going to try and intentionally 'rivet' someone, you'd need to get close enough for the pneumatics to do real damage. It would probably be a hearing flash combined with a very minor killing attack?

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Oops! Forgot to include the actual character, hehe. [ATTACH]30924[/ATTACH] There.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Hey again! So I reworked him. I put his background and picture into the HDC file. Revision changes are pretty big though. Here is: *Bought up Con by 12 points to 30. My program is saying an OCV 6 Attacker has a ~0.00017% (truncated and rounded) of being stunned by a straight DC11 attack. Closest approach to a 50/50 Stun break point is 17d6. *Because of CON increase, sold off armor, bought up Damage Resistance so as not to exceed previous campaign levels of armor. *Sold off Accurate on Leaping, LS: Immunity to Chemical Warfare, et cetera, to make the character more cohesive. *Sold PRE back down to 18. *The CON increase brought End and REC to 88 and 20 respectively. Sold off 2 Rec to bring it down to previous level of 18, brought END down to 72 (Rec*4) *Bought Organizational Contact of 8- to represent his working closely with the justice system. He might get leads about crimes from people while in the course of his job (interpreting for a witness in a deposition or something). *Increased Interpreter skill by 1 point to 16-.

Re: Catalyst: A Champions campaign on Hero Central Oooh, rainBOWS. I like those. Those are cool. I see, so with 20 defense the probability of being stunned by a 11DC attack diminishes to ~19%. And thats true now that I think about it with regards to 'the bat'. He could mix it up pretty well, but he always preferred to fight smart. Also, on the note about playing characters from comic books - I've decided that I'm just going to play Galactus. That's cool, right? He uses nested multiforms to approach infinite Character Points. Other than that, he's pretty balanced.