altamaros

Recently : "Legends of Five Rings" :

The PCs, in the Shadowlands. The Kuni shungenja just meets a horrible death from an Oni :

PC-Kuni - I think i'm dead now ...

PC-2 to the GM : OH, MY GOD, YOU KILLED KUNI !!!!!

all the other PCs : BASTARDS !!!

hi, sorry if it has already been mentioned but one of my worst player habits is :

the "other GM" : this guy is also a GM to your game. He gives GM-only information to the other PCs, tells to the other players that [major official NPC] should not be roleplayed like this, corrects the informations you give to the party at any occasion, etc ....

Originally posted by Vex

If the luck and unluck are random, then I would go with 5-10 levels of luck and the same or less in Unluck (for some unknown reason I am thinking 10 levels of luck and 5 levels of unluck). The other option would be to build a luck multipower with different "luck" effects (plus DCV, Penalty Skill Levels, Indirect EB repping falling pots and pianos, etc) built with the recoverable charges.

The player has a VPP, some nasty ideas, Hero Designer and the USPDB. he sent me his first work today. this character will be pretty funny to come with (built on 230 points in a 300 point game but completly unpredictable, highest primary char at 13).

Originally posted by Vex

BTW, I like the first option because it makes luck "lucky", i.e. out of the character's control, not overpowering and random. It just seems wrong to get drunk and drive so you can have an accident. It isn't an accident if you set up the situation and are hoping for a particular outcome. Anyone can throw a game of cards, so how is that unlucky? If I close my eyes run into traffic is it unlucky if I get hit? No, it would be unlucky if I tried to throw a game of cards and kept hitting blackjack.....it would be unlucky if I was trying to kill myself and all the cars kept missing me.....it would be luck if I crossed a clear one-way street and got hit by a car going the other way.

Yep, I first come to him with the idea X dices of luck and X dices of unluck. The problem is precisely that he wants to keep a limited control over his abilities and not get caught off-hand in a bad moment.

I think Derek's idea is the simplest : some regular dices of luck and extra dices with a lim.

Re: Uncontrolled Powers

Originally posted by Vex

Taking away someone's powers is easy (Transform: from superpowered into no super powers), but the haywire part isn't. Basically, Scrambler supercharges the victims powers until he cannot control them. Transform has rules for adding abilities and allows you to add disadvantages, but what disadvantage would you suggest? I was thinking Physical Limitation, but that doesn't seem random enough. What about Beserk when powers used over 1/2 power, Common +10, Beserk +10, 14- +10, Recover 11- +5 for 35 points?

A susceptibility maybe but the effect is not damage per se but a cosmic VPP :

lets say

Cosmic VPP (40 active points)

Control (20 BP)

+ No skill roll required : +1

+ change powers as a 0-phase action +1

- effect must be related to the target's : -1/2

for a total of 80 points thus :

Susceptibility :

- each time the target wants to use a power (very common circ.) : +10

- Effect : Cosmic VPP effects (80 active points) : +40

Your opinion, Hero Dom ?

Hello Hero-dom

One of my players wants to play a probability manipulator (complicated for a relative newscomer - 4 scenarios played by now with a X-Men's Bishop clone - but why not)

The specificity of his character is this : He can/must trade his luck with the destiny : i.e. he can/must take risk or accept unluck to get his right to luck.

As an example; he must gamble and lose money to "evacuate" unluck and thus gain luck or take risks by driving drunk just to get an accident (unluck) and then gain luck this way (he didn't joke; apparently the player took his inspiration from some comic i don't know and the hero does this.)

He insists on the fact that it should not be a side effect since the hero can simply use his luck without boosting it this way.

He just boosts it this way.

I was thinking about an aid vs luck with side effects but i wonder about the validity of such a concept.

Your opinion, Herodom ?

Sorry if i missed something in the Rulesbook or the FAQ but a player of mine insists to have a clear explanation on that :

How are considered the points gained through absorption or transfer ?

is it an effect similar to aid (points gained fade at the rythm of 5 pts/turn) or is it similar to healing (no fade but you cannot absorb more than your starting value) ?

is it similar to 4ed Aid ?

Is it possible to set the effect at the creation of the power (Aid OR Healing effect) ?

Originally posted by L. Marcus

I´ve heard of KotDT, but I´ve never read it. Rather strange since I have made a hobby of sorts, collecting online comics . . .

it's available on the net :

KotDT online comics

i read it almost daily.

Note : CrosshairCollie; the ability is clearly a bonus so the limitation trick cannot work, sorry but thanks for the help.

Zornwill : i don't exactly catch your solution.

Originally posted by Intrope

Incriminating Memory Eraser: Minor Transform 1d6 (standard effect: 3 points) (Transform Criminal into Criminal with no memory of a specific crime, Healed by reloading memories with the Eraser), Transform applies to EGO (+1/4), Improved Target Group (Remove memories of any set of events; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), BOECV (Mental Defense applies; +1) (32 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Hour, Character May Take No Other Actions, -3 1/4), OAF Immobile Fragile (Large, cumbersome machine; -2 1/4), Concentration (0 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -3/4), No Range (-1/2)

 

Active points: 32, Real cost: 4

I like this write up but it doesn't really solve the problem. i would like the character to have control over his own memory so the transform would have to apply to himself which is something forbidden by Fred.

A shapeshift vs mental sense group doesn't really do the trick either (i have trouble to see how Shapeshift vs Mental Sense Group would interact with Telepathy)

Note that this write-up is for a big device (like the machines from Total Recall) and it will take hours to perform the erasure (1 hour per 3 EGO of the NPC).

Glad you caught the reference;) ; i had the idea watching a reportage on the brand new californian governor. what it's like to see mixed extracts from "Total Recall", "Eraserhead" and "Terminator" at the same time...

Hi Great HeroDom

Iv'e got a NPC with the following abilities :

The NPC is a assassin cyborg (how original !) with a partially electronic memory. He's part of a murder organisation (a bit like I.C.E. in 4ed Dark Champions). Each time the NPC is assigned to a mission, he follows this path :

1 - execute the mission (which is more or less easy to do)

2 - upload his memories of the mission to a central server for verification (and give a proof to the customer).

3 - Erase his memories (electronic and organic) of the event through nanotech so it will be impossible for anyone to probe his mind/memories or confront him with a lie detector.

4 - The NPC will eventually be able to get back his memory later by downloading it from the server.

How to build this in Hero terms ?

any ideas ?

D.

Originally posted by death tribble

I'd say some form of telepathy which works only to work out what his opponent would do in combat and then to counter it.

I would rather say a limited precognitive claisentience, a lot of DCs and combat levels , a obscene "Find Weakness"

Re: Star Boy and Light Lass

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly

For the uninitiate, Star Boy induces mass from the stars into another object/person. In essence this tends to make things too heavy to move (unless you're a Kryptonian or Daxamite) and can make things like walls, buildings, and bridges buckle and collapse under their own weight.

i don't have the USPDB at work so i cannot remember how they did it.

the effect is variable; but i would just use a limited indirect telekinesis with a big amount of STR. or eventually a transform.

all the effects you're describing can be achieved with TK :

- make things too heavy to move : a TK grab without STR damage. Entangle simply doesn't fit there. the "made heavy" character has to make escape (STR) rolls each time he wants to move.

- can make things like walls, buildings, etc... collapse under their own weight : a plain TK grab with STR damage.

- simply make things heavier : major physical transform (10 pts per D6 roughly equivalent to DI); partial transform; increased recovery time.

Light Lass does nearly the opposite...reducing the weight of an object or person (I'm assuming they mean de-gravitating the object, not de-massing it, though some of what was shown in early stories looks a lot more like decreasing the mass instead of shielding it from gravitation).

same thing and exactly the same construct but with opposite limitations (only to make things lighter).

eventually a flight UAA

Re: Would you rather game as a player or a gamemaster, and why?

Originally posted by Kevin

Would you rather game as a player or a gamemaster, and why?

Like Blue :

Hero System : run

other systems : play.

I also GM other games (7th Sea namely) but i don't feel the creative freedom like in Hero (i can really make any NPC i want).

The other players tend also to prefer me as a GM rather as a teammate since i'm too prone to inattention during the play (and sleep during the gaming nights) and my deafness often obliges me to ask for repeats so it tend to irritate a bit the other GMs.

Re: How would you build psychic backlash?

Originally posted by Daryl

Okay, this one has me stumped. I want to build a bad guy with psychic backlash -- you do pain to him, and that pain comes back to you in the form of an ego attack. This should work for any kind of attack -- energy, physical, mental -- but only ones that cause pain (wouldn't work against knockout gas, say). It should work for HTH as well as ranged combat, but the attacker would have to be in line of sight for the backlash to work. It should also work for all attacks hitting in a phase. Finally, it's uncontrolled -- the bad guy can't stop the backlash.

 

This has elements of absorption, missile reflection, and damage shield, but none of those really describe what I'm after. So how would you build it? Thanks for any ideas.

my two pence :

"Feel my pain: touch/mental"

EGO Attack nD6

+ 0 END +1/2

+ continuous : +1

+ uncontrolled: +1/2

+ inherent: +1/4 (does it need "persistent" as well?)

+ Damage shield (mental contact): +1/2

+ damage shield (physical contact): +1/2

- Only if SFX of attack includes pain: -1/4

- limited to amount of STUN done to the character: -1/2

(and eventually 0 END)

"Feel my pain: from a distance"

Detect : "people who just did hurt me"

* mental sense group, active

* sense, targetting, 360°

* a obscene amount of PER rolls bonus.

EGO Attack nD6

+ 0 END: +1/2

+ fixed trigger : +1/4 (when pain inflicted to character)

- only to attacker previously detected : -1/4

- limited to amount of STUN done to the character: -1/2

Re: Interchange power?

Originally posted by Braum

What would be the best direction to take in building this power?

I would suggest you a variant of Lightray' suggestion with Multiform.

Let's take the concept :

"Jones Ricks" (form A) can multiform into "Captain Wonderful" (form .

and then give Jones Ricks

1) a interdimensional psychic bond w/"Captain Wonderful astral form" (mind link w/on spirit, transdimensional, bond; only with other w/mind link) something like 10 pts IIRC.

2) a follower : "Captain Wonderful spirit form" :designed as a computer/spirit(A.I.) based on Captain Wonderful's mental stats, skills and psy. lims (no perks, no physical stats, no powers but mental) and say the follower is only existing in the negative zone.

As for form B, Captain Wonderful, give him

1) a interdimensional psychic bond w/"Jones Ricks' astral form" (mind link w/on spirit, transdimensional, bond; only with other w/mind link) again.

2) a follower : "Jones Ricks' spirit form" :designed as a computer/spirit(A.I.) based on Jones Ricks' mental stats, skills and psy. lims

this way, each form is actually "swapped" to the state of extradimensional follower at each multiform.

This is the simplest way i can think of to design this power even through Duplication (Altered duplicate, cannot recombine) would be better.(each duplicate w/psychic bond and a triggered limited EDM)

Originally posted by JmOz

The Royal Flush Gang is well established, having fought the JLofA mostly (Or various members singularly) sense the 50's

 

There have actualy been two, a red and a black version, the blacks (Clubs IIRC) are the more often encountered

I remember in a old DC comics of mine a Royal Flush Gang (Spades) but they were not a family like in Batman Beyond.

Ten was a former test pilot with no special ability except a powered costume and energy blasts

Jack was a former con man; i dont recall his abilities.

Queen was a former alcoholic actress ("Mona Taylor" i remember the name since the obvious reference to Elisabeth) with a holo-disguise scepter

King was a former homeless with a hypnotic gaze.

Ace was a robot, secretly working for another villain (a big-headed guy named Hammond IIRC).

does that say anything to someone ?

Originally posted by memesis

My vote for most abusive power is the 16384 cultist Followers who have Aid vs. Aid, and the last follower who has Aid vs. the PC's 'Divine powers' Variable Power Pool.

 

All things considered it's pretty cheap, as long as nobody kills off your followers en masse.

Not a problem if, as one of my players once tried, you take your followers with Regeneration, from death (60 AP, 24 real) on each follower...

Re: hhhmmm..

Originally posted by Insaniac99

thnaks got another thing to try against my players!

Apparently i will be soon responsible of another case of cruelty against innocent players ...

(sigh)

sometimes, it's good to be me

I think i gonna talk with this player. a mentalist would probably be more his style of play (stay hidden, use ego attacks)

I'm surprised no one mentioned yet the evacuation systems

- escape pods for underwater/space stations

- tunnels w/ monorails for underground bases

- hidden exits into parkings and/or highway tunnels for urban bases.

- Teleportation bays etc...

- etc...

- maintenance drones (or staff) because someone has to check the plumbery/electricity from time to time.

My current Dark Chmpions campaign is based on 125 pts base + 125 pts disadv.

My upcoming villain campaign will probably based on 200 pts base + 100 disadv.

I tried once as a player a anime fantasy campaign (kinda Shurato/Saint Saiya campaign for those who know) :

1st scenario : the characters based on 50+50 points : the PCs are kids in training

2nd scenario : the PCs have been updated into 100+100 points characters. The PCs are teen-agers in training.

3rd scenario : real start of the campaign : PCs are now 125+125 point characters. the PCs are young adults just "graduated"

Originally posted by CrosshairCollie

If he wanted to go the summon route, he could make them Slavishly Loyal, at which point you might as well let him maintain control of them since they'll do anything he says anyway.

Actually the player doesn't trust any GM at all and is uneasy at letting the GM have control of a part of him.

why : the player is actually a kind guy and a good thinker; unfortunately he has nothing of a quick thinker; thus he panics completly at the first action scene and put himself into troubles almost automatically.

the other GMs know that and are generally gentle with him except that they can't save his butt all the time (it's the game after all).

As a result, he developed a very "unsecure" style of play and the deep conviction that GMs are evil creatures whom only joy in life is to tear his characters apart (i'm barely joking)

That's precisely because he dies so often ( i myself shamefully saved his butt at 7th Sea) that another player suggests him this idea. ("holoduke" style or "holo-arnold" for those who liked "Total Recall"). the base idea in the group is "anything that keeps him from the action scene"

All right, thanks everyone

Actually the player agreed with the "regeneration from death " solution.

and then, i understood what he had in mind :

He plans to use his duplicates as scouts (which is IMHO would me more appropriate for summoned beings but he doesn't seem to trust me about having control of "his" characters ) in dangerous areas.

Only a little concern from the GM (me):

Resurrection

=> final death condition is "at least one duplicate must be still alive to allow resurrection"

(i.e. if all the duplicates are dead at a moment, then they're dead for good).

i think it's fair as long as the PC has 1 to 4 duplicates but when it comes to 8 duplicates ...

i gonna suggest him to take "at least half of the duplicates must be alive ..."

Hello Herodom.

One of my players wants a duplicating character (why not; i don't like them since they tend to slow combat but whatever).

but something in my words worried him: "if your duplicate is killed then you'll lose it forever; you will have to pay XPs to get a new one"

as it is written in the holy Big Black Book.

So he came with that idea :

Duplication (250 pts duplicate)

RC/AC : 50 pts

Healing 1D6 (2 act. pts) to Duplication

+ 0 END +1/2

+ Persistent +1/2

- self only -1/2

- extra time (one turn): -1

RC : 8

AC : 20

so, he says, "even if my duplicate is killed, i can have a new one in 5 minutes"

Would you allow this construct ?

(i know i'm the GM but there i think the idea is interesting)

Your opinion, herodom ?

Originally posted by zornwil

Isn't the character fairly abusive? Can't be hurt physically aside from STUN unless you send somebody miles away. I'm just suggesting a way to model it.

i don't really think this kind of characters ("unkillable people") is abusive.

why ?

because there's nothing in this character that could not be solved with few tens of pounds of cement, a boat and a little trip on the sea ... (mafia style)

(alternatively, you could also use a building under construction and the PC will have to start a empathy with the plumbery)

Originally posted by zornwil

Invisible to touch/sight/etc., so basically the BOD is never targetted when the acting character is. Where the real life force is you can see it and kill it but you have to have that "sight".

uh ?, it's one of the most abusive interpretations of the rules i've ever seen.

Besides, extending your interpretation :

having a IPE strength would make your blows in HTH combat impossible to dodge/block ?

(same thing for EGO in mental combat ?)

Besides, the character is still affected by AoE attacks or Does Boy mental attacks

BTW : to come back to the point :

Mike Surbrook did a write up for Yakumo Fujii a character from the manga/anime 3x3 eyes with simialr abilities (except that his life force is not in an object but in another people)

this is 4ed stuff but it can give you ideas :

link

i did myself a modified version of this character fo a pregenerated vigilante hero (imagine Mel Gibson in the "Lethal weapon" sequels but completly immortal)

i remember i used healing/regen/regrow limbs without limitations; damage reduction (body only), armor (body only) and autofire, triggered, fully indirect stretching (to move severed body parts)

i will find the excel character sheet for those interested

Re: dont get me wrong

Originally posted by Patriot

As for the viper forces....I think they played very well, Im not sure if the Branch feels right.

I think i recall that Steve Long once said on the boards that he considered the 4ed VIPER book as "overpopulated". maybe it's something of the correction (?)

I was fearing myself that my old 4ed VIPER book would become obsolete but frankly i'm quite happy with the change : the two books are actually completing each other. with minor changes, you still can add the characters from the 4ed VB to the 5ed VB.

The questions i've got so far are about dr Blank and Boa Constrictor; apparently COIL doesn't exist yet. i wonder if it will be for a future "Champion Universe year X" product or something. i would like to see the champions universe in movement.

and Patriot, the good thing about Viperia is that now, you(ve got something against Stellar if the player ever comes back to your table.