Robyn

Re: WWYCD: A Christmas Carol, Champions Style!

I could be mistaken' date=' but I think the player in this case did identify as Buddhist.[/quote']

 

You're right. I missed that in McCoy's older posts and Powerhouse's bold text

 

(Powerhouse - there's a "text balloon" button in the reply editor that will wrap quote tags around selected text, saving you the time of typing all that in yourself.)

 

I am, on occasion, overly vigilant in the cry of "It is possible to play characters whose beliefs we do not share!"

 

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" . . . that would be why they call it roleplaying, no?"

Re: WWYCD - little girls and diplomatic troubles

They'd like to open up trade relations' date=' bring in western dollars into the local economy and export the rare mineral McGuffinainum, used in making cars or microchips or whatever.[/quote']

Well, that settles why Kaja is there

Diplomatic negotiations are underway' date=' and the heroes have been asked to be bodyguards for the diplomats (or go along as a show of "Look at our cool heroes", or perhaps to assist the diplomats if they have any diplomatic and smooth talking skills. Either way, theyre tagging along)[/quote']

Ostensibly, Kaja is there to assist the diplomats, by providing a repository of knowledge on the customs of that island.

 

Inside the borders of this nation' date=' there happens to be an ages old law that simply states that a minor must obey any request of his/her father. Usually this just means washing the dishes and mowing then lawn, but there are some sick, twisted individuals who bend the law for their benefit,[/quote']

Kaja's knowledge of the ancient customs in this land (acquired through spiritual communion with some people who were actually alive back then) indicates that this nation has been moving toward the 21st century; that's why the custom isn't used for anything more than minor chores nowadays. But back when it was introduced, the island was trying to infuse new blood into its dying population by bringing back fertile wives - and children - from neighboring islands. To accelerate reproduction and break down resistance in the captured slaves, they made lack of obedience punishable by law.

Technically it would be kidnapping in the eyes of the primitive law' date=' but of it would be the right thing to do.[/quote']

Kaja would disagree; an act can't be taken out of context:

 

CNN, on the other hand would have a field day with this. Imagine the headlines: "Super heroes kidnap young girl!" And of course - congratulations, you just committed a crime of international proportions, and ruined three years of negotiations - thus forcing the local embassy to be abandoned and the loss of vital mining rights.

Heroes don't enforce justice by targeting every single independent crime - that's called a police state. Laws need to be backed by respect, not fear, and diplomats are in the process of negotiating with a government that will gain respect - and therefore power - by bringing in dollars to the local economy. This law, along with many others, can and will be changed to bring the country fully into the 21st century - but not by sacrificing the instrument of wider change in the name of a single immediate effect!

 

In context, this would amount to nothing more than condemning all the other young children to this fate, in the name of saving one who just happens to be in front of their eyes at this moment. Strike you as suspicious at all?

 

If the practice is common enough for them to observe it in their short time there, the local government has been covering this up, and making a public fuss over it will bring to light the history of that law. Locals in support of it will oppose the trading because they see the foreigners as the instigators of this trouble, and The Home Nation will break off negotiations in response to its local outcry.

 

If the practice is as unusual as the original post indicated, it can't be coincidence that something like this occurred right in front of the heroes' eyes; someone's trying to set them up.

But at least the kid is safe.

 

So - what do you do?

 

Kaja warns the rest of the group, then announces that he's going to the embassy to warn any other heroes there that someone might be trying to sabotage the diplomatic process. He urges the others to exercise caution, and suggests that they track down anyone else with "free time" to give the same warning.

 

Any requests (as he's leaving) that he assist with some action is met with the statement that he won't play into "their" hands like that, and a reminder that the heroes "must not" endanger the long-term hopes for this nation by allowing their impatience to insist on some changes now. They are, after all, so close to giving local officials the power to make a real difference . . .

 

Whether the other heroes take this at face value, or assume that he's trying to leave them alone to do their thing without having to (officially) know about it, is irrelevant to him. As is whether or not they actually decide to (eventually) do anything; if they do, it will cause a diplomatic incident that leads to the collapse of all trading, and if they don't, the information will be "leaked" later on, anyway (at the worst possible time), and the leak blamed on the same mysterious "they" who set up the heroes' encounter with that child in the first place.

 

In the end, diplomatic efforts will be set back for years, and the McGuffin mineral used for making cars or microchips or whatever, will be unavailable to The Home Nation for another few years, holding back the spread of technology . . .

 

What, you thought any of this was Kaja's morality? He's there to sabotage technology, as his true masters desire

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest

Just noticed that my build broke one of the initial rules

Not to worry, it's not like the rest of us have been following them (#3 comes to mind)

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest

Normally 1d6 RKA gets a stun multiplier of [1' date='1,2,3,4,5']. The +2 advantage makes that [3,3,4,5,6,7].

Isn't this 1d6-1, with a minimum of 1? So, the spread would be 1d6+1 [2,3,4,5,6,7].

Re: WWYCD - little girls and diplomatic troubles

Everything transpiring is perfectly legal but it is ethically all screwed up.

(And if your character would normally see this as the very height of morality, something has happened during negotiations that reached down into your character's very soul and reversed this.)

__________________

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest

Especially bad if you share the same SPD as your opponent' date=' because they can't even get a Recovery while it's going off, except for post-12.[/quote']

 

Question - what if they hold their Action until a Phase when the Energy Blast isn't happening?

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll?

I guess I may have a broader definition of nearly dead than you.

I thought we were talking about almost "guaranteed PC death", not nearly "dead"

Re: Transform the final fronteer!b

Transform target into target with additional powers' date=' heals back if additional powers drained for a time period longer than target's natural life, only versus targets with unspent XP[/quote']

 

With a nod to the coolness (and game balancing effect) of that "heal back" condition, what I had in mind was more of a one-use-only Transform power, given to the character; Set Effect, one point.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll?

In the case of a huge failure, even where PC death is almost guarenteed, I just think that its better to extend the playing of the PCs death out.

 

So the rule I suggest doesnt mean the PCs are not going to die in the first encounter, it just means when they do it will be in a proper extended fight not a simple Skill V Skill.

Where the death of all the PC's is nearly guaranteed, I would (as a player) prefer to make a noble sacrifice in a single die roll instead of play it out and watch everyone die.

Re: Transform the final fronteer!b

Or do you mean you want to create a mechanic that permanently adds character points to a target?

This is, by the way, one of the "building blocks of the system" I've got laid out so far; experience is a single-point Transform.

Re: WWYCD: A Christmas Carol, Champions Style!

Maybe there is something I'm not grasping here about your faith.

Please don't talk about players as if they hold the same metaphysical beliefs as their characters. Wait until we identify our beliefs directly (in the 1st person) before attributing those beliefs to the player.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll?

A PC IMO should never die in the skill v skill' date='[/quote']

 

But let them earn serious bonuses if they are willing to die trying to achieve their objectives.

 

This might be a good explanation for why heroes often survive their first encounters with the villains (who easily could be applying their full force to crush the hapless heroes) - the villains don't know how tough the heroes are until after at least the first battle.

Re: The Intangibles... (sounds like a group name, eh?)

if you want to' date=' you can create a sub ruling where they perceive another dimension (the spirit world)[/quote']

 

Shouldn't be necessary to create rules for it; the basic senses can be rebuilt with Transdimensional.

Re: Need help with 5ER and targeting a hex.

Isn't "respectfully submit" a form of submission to the other party (or parties) in a debate?

Yes.

 

"I respectfully submit that you might be envisioning..." is actually the polite way of saying I assume.

Err . . . except that, in a polite debate, you don't simply declare various points and expect them to be challenged qua established truths; you submit propositions for review by the group before they can be deemed acceptable by anyone, much less (as Kirby noted) taken for granted.

Re: I may be overthinking this, but

if there can be truly said to be an optimal level of thinking

The overlooked question, as usual, is scope: is the optimal level of thinking the same for every person, or only for an individual, or only for a group?

Re: A variant of standard effect damage

How about using margin of success?

 

Add one or two points of damage per point you made your to hit by...thus that 15- who rolled a 5 does 10 or 20 extra damage, where if he rolled 15 exactly, he just barely hit, thus no bonus damage...

Involves an extra step of math, where you subtract the roll from the "number needed to hit"; also, it means telling the players what DCV their opponent had, which may be undesirable

Re: Age and Sanction?

Dark Champions? You're kidding' date=' right? [/quote']

 

If the other PC's accept it, why not?

 

I can almost see a Dark Champions "underbelly" to the mainstream Champions universe, where youth heroes and villains go because they need to keep their true identities secret: their parents would ground them if they openly tried to emulate their parents

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest

I was always under the impression that Casual STR happened automatically whenever one was Grabbed' date=' Entangled, or trying to plow through an obstacle. Poring over 5th Edition, that doesn't seem to be the case[/quote']

 

I recall something similar in 5ER, but it wasn't explicitly stated under Casual STR or Entangle; page 387 (the 2nd paragraph, "Escaping From Grabs") notes that a character being grabbed "should be" allowed to make a single immediate breakout roll even if "he doesn't have a Zero Phase Action available", and attributes this to the rules on page 34 for Casual STR.

 

The rules on page 34 say "They can also use Casual STR to shrug off Entangles and Grabs without wasting an Action", then refer us to page 423.

 

But the rules on page 423 are only about "Breaking Out Of Entangles And Grabs" (which doesn't talk about Zero Phase Actions, only how much of an action is left after breaking out of an Entangle by damage) and "Casual Strength" (which repeats that characters may use their Casual STR as a Zero Phase Action to break free from Entangles), nothing clear there on whether the "free 0-Phase Action" applies to Entangles as well as Grabs.

 

Resorting to the 5th Edition Rules FAQ, an answer is found regarding this usage of the power:

 

Q: Is an Entangled character immediately at 0 DCV until he breaks free, regardless of the relative power of the Entangle and himself? For example, could a character attack a “brick” with a measly Entangle 2d6 and reduce him to DCV 0 until the brick’s Phase comes up and he breaks out with Casual STR?

A: An Entangled character’s DCV immediately drops to 0, so yes, technically speaking, the tactic you suggest is a possible one. As always, though, the GM should leaven his interpretation of the rules with some common sense and dramatic sense. For example, the GM might let the Entangled character try to shrug out of it immediately using Casual STR (just as characters who are Grabbed get to, per 5ER 387). However, this may grant an unfair advantage to high-STR characters, unless the GM grants a similar “casual attack” ability to characters with Energy Blast and the like.

Obviously, if PCs start to abuse the “quickie Entangle for 0 DCV” tactic, the GM should forbid it, weaken it, or start using it on them so much they learn the error of their ways.

Re: He's right over... Where'd He Go!

Why bothering statting it up? If the GM needs the guy to escape as a plot device' date=' the guy escapes.[/quote']

 

To know which mechanics can (accidentally or by intent to) block it or interfere with its operation; and because, what if the heroes (PC's) want to take it too?

Re: Need help with 5ER and targeting a hex.

If you are defining the trigger on area effect as going off when the area effect attack hits the floating hex' date=' that is not accurate from a mechanics point of view.[/quote']

 

It also falls prey to the same criticism of "When does the attack know where to explode?"

 

Whether set off by time or distance, the character using such a power would still need to know how to detect their desired point (for example; exactly 9 feet between two of the closing enemy ships so that the spell sets both of them on fire), and either calculate the time for an attack to reach that point, or have Absolute Range Sense to accurately pinpoint the coordinates of its destination point.

 

*yes- it's a polite way of saying that "I'm assuming".

 

Isn't "respectfully submit" a form of submission to the other party (or parties) in a debate? (Keeping in mind that I recognize debates as being useful and, indeed, necessary for more than just disagreements of current beliefs; establishing new beliefs can be arbitrary but also may take place within the framework of a debate, where participants adopt the role of "Devil's Advocate" to test new theories and point out alternatives, and ideas must be proposed against a default of "not existing" with sufficient arguments to prove that they do exist, before they can be formally accepted.)

Re: Need help with 5ER and targeting a hex.

Everything in the system has Abuse written all over it.

Hrm . . . sigged

Re: A variant of standard effect damage

Ok' date=' what would the effect be in just allowing players to swich between standard effect and rolling a truckload of dice at will?[/quote']

 

Very little. I'll use a 2d6 bell curve to demonstrate the distribution, though the effect becomes more pronounced (and is therefore more visible) when dealing with more dice:

 

1,1: 0 Body, 2 Stun

1,2: 1 Body, 3 Stun

1,3: 1 Body, 4 Stun

1,4: 1 Body, 5 Stun

1,5: 1 Body, 6 Stun

1,6: 2 Body, 7 Stun

2,1: 1 Body, 3 Stun

2,2: 2 Body, 4 Stun

2,3: 2 Body, 5 Stun

2,4: 2 Body, 6 Stun

2,5: 2 Body, 7 Stun

2,6: 3 Body, 8 Stun

3,1: 1 Body, 4 Stun

3,2: 2 Body, 5 Stun

3,3: 2 Body, 6 Stun

3,4: 2 Body, 7 Stun

3,5: 2 Body, 8 Stun

3,6: 3 Body, 9 Stun

4,1: 1 Body, 5 Stun

4,2: 2 Body, 6 Stun

4,3: 2 Body, 7 Stun

4,4: 2 Body, 8 Stun

4,5: 2 Body, 9 Stun

4,6: 3 Body, 10 Stun

5,1: 1 Body, 6 Stun

5,2: 2 Body, 7 Stun

5,3: 2 Body, 8 Stun

5,4: 2 Body, 9 Stun

5,5: 2 Body, 10 Stun

5,6: 3 Body, 11 Stun

6,1: 2 Body, 7 Stun

6,2: 3 Body, 8 Stun

6,3: 3 Body, 9 Stun

6,4: 3 Body, 10 Stun

6,5: 3 Body, 11 Stun

6,6: 4 Body, 12 Stun

 

Standard effect is much simpler; 2 Body, 6 Stun. But there's no chance of doing more or less damage.

 

Rolling the dice will tend to hover around the center (notice how 2 Body was an extremely common result in the table above?), and only very rarely will all dice be low or all high.

 

Past threads have discussed similar ideas to what you suggested. Here are a few:

 

3d6 chart

Using d20 instead of 3d6 (DON'T KILL ME!)

3d6 Dice Roll Probabilities

Set Distribution by Rolling 3d6 (or 1d6, 2d6, 4d6, etc.) for All Damage/Effect Rolls

Equalizing Probability Distributions of Different Attacks

Re: A variant of standard effect damage

What happens if your attack roll is a 12 and still hits?

Then you're cheating, or the GM is applying "hidden modifiers"; if the former, expect your GM to notice

A normal attack roll that hits either does standard damage or roll 1d6Xdc to get variable damage at the players discretion.

Too much like a very powerful attack that has Limitations piled on it to reduce the cost. Past discussions on this board have covered the difference in efficiency; for comparison, imagine a 10d6 EB for 50 points, and another Energy Blast at 30 dice with "Activation Roll: 8-" for a -2 Limitation, also costing 50 points. If defenses are sufficient that only a little damage gets through each time with the average 10d6 roll, it may not add up enough to balance out the 30d6 roll - which most of the time does no damage, but occasionally pays off and does a lot of damage.

Your multiplier idea makes it all too easy for characters to roll too high or too low; too low is essentially a "no damage" attack (Activation Roll failed), whereas too high is the critical that does not obey a bell curve.

Re: Santa Claus is coming (and man, is he ever pissed!)

The one by GamePhil in the first thread you linked to was scrambled by a change to the discussion forum configuration.

I think I've heard of it. Is that the one referred to as "the great HTML nerfing"?

Re: A variant of standard effect damage

1. Use standard effect but when you roll 3 you get maximum damage/effect' date=' and when you roll maximum needed to hit you get minimum damage. When the roll is between 3 and max needed to hit you do standard effect.[/quote']

 

I like the Pendragon approach; you get rewarded for rolling in the middle. If you just make your attack, barely, then you get maximum damage.

 

But this wouldn't work the same with HERO's bell curve; 3d6 gets 10 a lot more often than 1d20.

 

Of course, if you want players to do extra damage more often . . .