SCUBA Hero

On 8/17/2006 at 10:27 PM, Narratio said:

So a simple change of spelling like 'D'Laque' might work as a cover. Possibly Spanish? What's Spanish for "of or near a lake"?

Del Mar.  Could use Delmar.

On 7/31/2022 at 1:35 PM, Scott Ruggels said:

How close are you guys to getting this thing into PDF or Print? 

Not close, unfortunately.

While various Herophiles are involved with background/setting and ideas, we don't have a writer or editor to start putting words down on paper.  I intend to start writing the first chapter myself, using material already provided by others and skipping over certain parts (such as the example hero from each age), but that hasn't happened yet.  And I don't have anyone else volunteering to write other parts of the book.  If anyone here is interested, please PM me...

A Multipower with four slots, with 12 Charges and UBO as desired on the reserve.

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

As discussed on page 61 of The Mystic World, the gods of Earth owe their existence and power to Human belief; the gods of other species are similarly dependent on their worshippers [sic]. That means that a god’s supernatural powers cannot directly affect anything or anyone from beyond the Inner Planes defined by that species. This means, for example, that Earth’s gods are largely helpless against Tyrannon and Skarn...

 

[Hulk] Puny god! [/Hulk]

One thing about Damage Negation that I haven't seen discussed here is modeling of armored vehicles and body armor.

Many light armored vehicles have armor designed to stop a 7.62x51mm NATO round or .50 cal MG.  That's 7 or 9 DCs of DN.  Or you could model it with a combo of DN and rDEF - say 6 DCs of DN and 6 rDEF for the .50 cal armor.

Level IIA body armor stops 9mm; that's 4 DCs of DN.  Level II stops .357 Magnum; 5 DCs.

The concept does apply to superhero games as well; the brick who can bounce .50 cal MG bullets off his chest with impunity could be modeled with 6 DCs of DN + 6 rPD.

I had a concept like this that was well-received by the gaming group, but never got off the ground.

Fantasy Hero.  You have a race (like the Blood).  And normal humans.  And Blood-human Offspring.  A feudal setting; the Blood are the high nobles, humans commoners/serfs/slaves, and Offspring the equivalent of Knights.

The key mechanic is that Blood have 12 DCs of Damage Negation and the equivalent of 12 DCs of Deadly Blow - except with both Normal and Killing attacks and in all circumstances.  Offspring had 6 DCs.  Humans, zero.  (There were other powers as well, like RKAs.)

This has the effect that each type affects itself normally, but a human attacking a Blood needs at least a 4d6+1K or 13d6N to even have a *chance* at affecting them.  Offspring-Blood and human-offspring, 2d6+1K or 7d6N.

The players would all have been Offspring, each having their own fief.

This is discussed in 6e1p208-209.

Another option, for those who like the stun volatility, is to roll body dice for normal attacks as usual, then roll a single d6-1 stun multiple.

Now I want to see an epic battle between the rubber duck sculpture and an animated giant ketchup bottle...

I see Changing Speed in 6e2p17.  It talks about voluntarily lowering speed, not requiring it to go to 2 non-combat...

Ah, I think I see it.  6e2p16 under Phase:  "In non-combat situations, everyone is assumed to act at SPD 2 at all times, unless the circumstances require them to use their full SPDs."  I'd simply say that moving at full non-combat speed is a circumstance that requires the use of your full speed.  Watch your endurance usage...

Note that the same text is in 5erp357.

The text is absent from the BBB (4e).

5er and 6e have the same text under Segmented Movement.  5erp366 and 6e2p27.

Moving at non-combat velocity has OCV and DCV penalties, regardless of whether usung segmented movement or not.

Very nice!  So which supervillain agency or supervillain mastermind is behind it???

And what if the duck is some kind of Automaton, waiting for the right time for its controlling master villain or organization to activate it to do who knows what??

5 hours ago, HeroGM said:

The idea behind the spell system, to start, is you either get that spell, or you don't. There is no option of 'well, if it's NOT slotted you can cast it from scratch'. It COULD be tossed in.

 

[The WHY of it is this. I know Hero, she doesn't. She has known D&D since 3rd Edition and OSR material. I know D&D back to 1982 so it's common ground for us both to start from.]

I haven't played D&D for many years now, so this may be out of date... correct as needed for your game...

That may not be a problem, if each spell has Extra Time (x hours, depending on spell level).  So if a first-level spell takes 2 hours to prepare then there's no way to cast it without those 2 hours.  And if you're using Charges in some way, that 2 hour prep can't start until the next day.

16 minutes ago, Ndreare said:

I thought a character specifically not use multiple powers from a framework in a combined attack. I need to go reread that

IIRC, that was true in 5e, removed in 6e.

Edit:  Found it!  5erp311, "However, a character may not combine two or more slots from a single Power Framework as part of a multiple-power attack, even if he has sufficient reserve or base points to use both slots at once."  

6e1p399, "A character can make a Multiple Attack (6E2 73) with two or more slots in a single Power Framework, provided he has enough reserve/Pool points to allocate to the two or more slots used in the attack simultaneously. A character can use slots from two or more different Power Frame - works to perform a Multiple Attack, assuming he obeys all the rules for such attacks."  So it looks like that's already a Multipe Attack, not a Combined Attack, by RAW.

Good points.

The first one could be handled by forbidding Powers >60 AP.

The second one could be handled, as you noted, by forbidding specialized Powers designed to solve uncommon problems.  The MP was listed as "pool of darkness", so just forbidding Powers that don't fit that concept might work.

The third one could be handled by making an attack with 2 or more Powers in the Multipower a Multiple Attack instead of a Combined Attack.  Good catch there - I completely missed it.

Like many things, it comes down to "Is the player looking to have more flexibility (at the cost of the CP spent on the MP Slots), or looking to sneak this in and then abuse it?"

Just had a thought for common sailors - for new/unskilled Deck Hand, regular Ordinary Sailor, and experienced/petty officer/yeoman Able Bodied Sailer.

I know that's not what you're looking for, but I thought I'd share.

22 minutes ago, assault said:

 

Pretty much the first three, although the service in the second case is not necessarily military.

In that case I'd go with retainer.

I like REACT! 👍

"Behold a God who bleeds!"

Retinue?  Retainer?  Vavasour?

Are you defining yeoman as one or more of the following:  A freeholder?  Freeholder who holds land in exchange for military service to a knight or other noble?  Middle class servants to a noble?  Common sailors?

For the first I'd go with farmer.  Second, retainer.  Third, retinue.  Forth... I'm coming up blank here.

Assuming AP limits of 50 or more, it doesn't bother me.  The character is more versatile than another character that's bought, say, 50 point Flight, Armor, and Blast Powers, but they've paid for it with the extra points in each slot.

That looks like a good build to me.

Discriminatory and Analyze give you more information about the thing that is Detected.  6e1p212:  "For example, using Detect Metals, Discriminatory would tell a character that a nearby mass of metal is a nickel/iron composite about 65% nickel, and that it weighs about 200 kilograms."  "If Detect Metals, Analyze, were used on the lump of metal described above, the character would know that the metal is 70% nickel, 23% iron, 4.6% cobalt, and 2.4% iridium; weighs 245.5 kilograms; and is roughly doughnut-shaped with many pits and hollows on the outside."  So I'd say pretty darn detailed!

Note that you're using an Unusual Sense Group, so make sure you tack on all the Modifiers to make it function the way you want it to.   You may or may not want Increased Arc of Perception, Penetrative, Rapid, and/or Telescopic.

Yes, but note that Delayed Effect is commonly used for Powers with lengthy or elaborate preparations to activate it.

So for example a fireball spell with only Delayed Effect on it could be slotted in and cast immediately as well.  As GM, you may or may not want to allow that build...

45 minutes ago, Steve said:

In a superhero universe, perhaps the mascot of the Pittsburgh Penguins is a human-sized anthropomorphic penguin, either from another world or another universe.

 

Think Howard the Duck, only a penguin.

Nice!

Another option is to make him/her a Phillippe Moreau creation... ties in with the CU.