Tech

In my campaign, I use END rules for powers and well as most other rules. Hmm, can't think of any I don't use, except Long-term END (and even then, in very special occasions, I use it.) I allow villains to 'play opossum' but the heroes get a PER roll to see the faking. Let's face it: there are some really lousy actors out there and villains fall into that category, too.

If the villain was faking it, I'd let the hero get a change to see through the deception with a PER roll, or a PER vs PS: Acting or some other skill. Even at 1 STUN, a villain can get a shot off, assuming it didn't know the villain back out. There are tons of stories, movies, etc., where someone wakes back up and takes a shaky shot at the hero.

Originally posted by BNakagawa

Alternately, buy 4d6 EGO attack with stunning 2x and you've got a 60 ap power that hits trivially and stuns Grond on an average roll. (ewwwww)

 

I wouldn't allow this.

$0.02

Assuming you're talking about the 'Stunning' advantage, the entire power with Stunning 1x on 4d6 would be 60 AP. There is no 2x on the advantage (can only buy once). A 6d6 Ego attack is quite powerful, also.

Hmmm...

I'd have to say Mechanon, Prof. Muerte and Mechassassin. Shyeah, right, sure. Enough kidding.

Dragonfly was changed back to normal in my campaign and lives a productive life. Icicle's gone cold turkey on crime. I couldn't resist. Mongoose is quite redeemable, Lancer, Foxbat (some day), the 4e Shrinker (the 5e Shrinker concept is awful), Lady Blue, Cateran and others.

My 2 cents:

I say others because I think a lot of villains could actually turn from crime with the right circumstance. There's relatively few supercriminals who actually just out & out like murdering and killing. Many are greedy, arrogant, insolent, selfish jerks but I doubt they'd go the full distance of murdering a hero. Beat the tar out of them, sure! Murder is different.

The problem is, as long as they don't change and they stay within their world of greed, selfishness and whatever, they'll endure going to jail knowing they left Hero1 & 2 with black eyes with the consolation that they'll be out on the streets in a few to gain more moola than before.

My brother came up with his own advantage called "Stunning". For a +1/2 advantage, the person being struck only gets 1/2 his CON for purposes of being stunned. I think it's well balanced and would use it more but the players don't care for it. (shrugs)

I'd have to say...

I'd go with calculating, clear-thinking killers. Any superhero can deal with a supercriminal with an obvious RKA or HKA. A gun? Destroy it or take it away. A knife, sword, razor-sharp noodle? Likewise. However, take your methodical nutball who takes time to stalk a hero, leaves little messages, find the heroes weakness (whether physical, mental or relational), and you've suddenly got a very motivated hero trying to find the killer before they find you.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention: GM, prepare to have your villain lose his teeth once the hero finds him.

I've been recording Teen Titans. Mod Mad made me stop recording half-way through the extraordinary awful episode. I hated it.

On a different note, where can I specifically pick up back issues of the Teen Titans comics? I'll order from anywhere in the U.S. (please don't say your 'local comic shop'.)

Originally posted by Tom McCarthy

Hot sleep chambers for Stronghold

I can't recall where at the moment but this was described somewhere already. I think a 4e book.

Where are you coming from?

I'm trying to get an understanding of exactly where people are coming from in this so bear with me. Are you saying you shouldn't have to pay 5 pts to apply to a skill because you'd rather spend them on a power? Is it because you think the 5 pt skill is erroneously used and the 3 pt skill is closer to what should be used? Is it because you think KS skills are not as useful as skills such as Stealth? Are there other reasons? I've read the posts but don't see the base reasons.

Okay, having said that, I think 5 pt skill levels are fine. I've got players who utilize their skills in my games, even that KS: Plumbing 8 or less. I think some of the argument for how much should be paid for that level depends on the usefulness of the skills that a character has. Does your adventure purposely use the skills characters have purchased? Do the players use the skills? If skills are largely not used, that's a campaign issue. I can see your suggestion of 3 pt per level but I'll stick with 5 pt skill levels. They can be used with AK, PS, KS or regular skills such as Animal Handling, Shadowing, etc.

Although I've used Stronghold for years, I haven't felt the need to come up with protocols to handle dangerous foci. If asked to, it would go something like:

1) Is the foci known to be dangerous? If yes, the foci would be handled by a Type 2 Robot and taken to a secure area (most likely the Vault) for holding and later, possible examination. If not, the foci would be examined in a lab.

2) Is the foci merely a hi-tech version of a known weapon? In other words, a blaster, a higher powered gun, etc. If so, it'd be taken to a secure area as above. It would be examined sometime in the far future unless it was needed to convict the criminal, which would prevent it's examination for awhile. If it's a strange foci and/or an unknown foci (Cosmic Peashooter), examination would occur immediately for possible danger to people.

3) Is the foci stolen property? If so, it'd be returned to it's owner. If not, it needs to be held and put in a secure area.

And so on and so on. This is just off the top of my head and doesn't hold to any particular legal aspect. Hope this gives you a some ideas.

Already mentioned but I'd like to see (Spidey) Tracers.

Multi-purpose wrist communicators, including triangulating on the person you're speaking to, GPS, etc.

Already mentioned again but a very detailed Shrinking ray. (Ok, they're shrunk. What stats do they have?)

Ice Bullets (melt with no trace)

Judging by the posts, no one here is concerned about their age, right? Naah!

I have to say that I'm impressed that this thread is still active. I guess it simply means that Storn's art rocks.

Interesting... it seems we are neatly spit down the middle here regarding this. I've seen this type of character and think it's a legitimate power. I don't find it cheesy or powergaming. My vote is: it's legal; go ahead and buy it. Regardless of what we think - if your GM agrees to it, go ahead and create the power.

A brother of a friend wanted to create Polaroid - a living camera. He wanted to be able to take pictures with his eyeballs and pull the film out of his stomach...

Mentioned before but there's always the infamous Amoeba Man. He was a taxicab driver who'd change into a giant Amoeba, *blurp* out of his taxicab after crashing it into whatever building the crime was taking place at. Did I mention he crashed it while passengers were still in the backseat and didn't know he could (ahem) shapechange?

I don't have the book in front of me but here goes: the Entangle limitation which states if one person breaks out of an AE Entangle, the entire Entangle is broken is a -1/4 limitation. The cost of a limitation depends on how limiting it is to the power. An AE Entangle is for entangling multiple people at the same time. One person breaking out of the entangle and therefore breaking all out severely limits one of the major aspects of the Advantage Area Effect. I think it certainly deserves more than a measly -1/4. Thoughts?

This is good thread. Just like the threads for hero art on the other boards, this is needed here.

Originally posted by Nato

Heh. Ego-stroking is one things that keeps a lot of us artists happy doing what we do!

 

I enjoy seeing your character designs Storn. Keep up the good work. I've been wanting to share some of my characters too, but my life has been super busy now that I have a baby on the way. In three weeks actually! YIKES! Back to work!

Nato, it sounds like you also create character designs, unless I'm reading into this. Have I missed something?

Originally posted by Blue

Here's an old, old, old picture (I think I did this in... '87?). Since the character it was attached to hasn't been used in 16 years, I'm adapting the picture to another character in my game.

 

She's got a laundry list of naked advantages that she can use with ANY gun of 8DC's or less. She's got a bunch of martial arts that she can perform (Hand-to-hand) that involve disarming, taking guns off opponents, pistol-whipping, and blocking in HTH w/guns. The disarming comes in handy, because she never actually carries a gun; she just takes them off agents/gang members/opponents and uses them against them to better effect than the opponent themselves could.

Excellent picture with cool abilities to boot.

All your suggestions are better than paying 51 pts for a device so simple. As many have said (paraphrased):

"there are many ways of building the same thing in Hero Games..."

to which I add:

"...but some of them should never be built in certain ways in the first place."

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth

I'm the same way, but I'd break it down differently for me. I'm probably 40% narratist, 35% simulationist, and 25% gamist.

I'd say I'm.... 100% me, yup! Actually, I don't care for breaking myself down into easy-to-digest-personality- I'm too complex for that... and that's from my friends.

If you're looking for simplicity, try the Tri-Stat system. I think the Hero Games system works fine, as it has for the past 20 years or so. I'm not for or against Tri-Stat, just suggesting but it's too simplistic for me. I like all the details in Statistics.

Ah yes, Eurostar...

Eurostar has long been the bane of the premier hero group I'm in. (Yes, me, not my hero. j/k ) Many an episode was done where there was not one single instance of one or the other having a categorical victory over the other. Years later, our group got together and in a heated battle, finally, a decisive battle was won - in our hero teams favor. Years of playing later, a victory against Eurostar had been achieved. It was worth it!

"And there was much rejoicing."

"Yea-a-a-ah."

Originally posted by Hugh Neilson

hmmm...don't the bonus DEF need "usable against others" to apply to others so they don't take damage? Probably just left off your list.

 

I was considering Missile Deflection (area effect) with "suck the blasts in" being the special effect. Maybe Ranged, some kind of persistent continuous effect, and penalty skill levels to offset the penalties for deflecting multiple attacks in a phase. That would also put range penalties on his power, so a blast further away from him is more likely to evade his "gravity". Hadn't gotten beyond that point, actually. I didn't realize it also increased his power, but I guess that could be simulated by an Aid (Absorb no longer working as he's not getting hit). It still doesn't get HTH attacks, though.

 

It's a very interesting construct. I'll have to keep it in mind to piece it together some day. I don't see him as a PC, so it doesn't really matter if the points get a bit fuzzy.

Hmm, from what I remember, I nixed the PD/ED needing the Usuable against others, instead treating it as as -0 limitation/advantage. I could easily recreate it as a Limitation on the power, correctly stated, but didn't feel like mucking around with it. The Negative Levels are a good idea. I can add the Aid but the Absorbtion stays, in the likely event (since he's a villain) someone blasts away at him. Again, I'll have to look at his sheet later. He's in the process of being converted to 5th Edition. Did I mention he has an 85 Con? Yeah, it's way WAY up there but I didn't want him being stunned - ever. The high Con is something of a throwback from 1st Edition Density Increase rules but I kept it as I've upgraded him to newer editions over the years. Thanks for the good upgrade ideas. FYI, Con's in my game are usually below 30 so his is unheard of - not that the players know. They just know he's strong, durable, tough and he's never been stunned; just like I want him to be.

Originally posted by Broblawsky

Hunh. How did you build Black Hole's absorption power tech? I'm actually not sure how that would work.

Since you asked (and hopefully no one from my group reads this), I'll try to write it out. I don't have the sheet in front of me right now. It's horrendously expensive but it works:

note: I don't recall if it's 6" or 12"

6d6 Absorbtion vs. PD to Stun, 6" (or 12") Area Effect +

6d6 Absorbtion vs. ED to Stun, 6" (or 12") Area Effect +

+30 ED, 6" (or 12") Area Effect +

+30 PD, 6" (or 12") Area Effect +

Damage Resistance 30 PD, 30 ED 6" (or 12") Area Effect +

some Life Support, 6" (or 12") Area Effect +

stuff I can't recall off-hand

This isn't the full power but it's at least part of the power. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, like Advantages, Limitations & others - I'd have to check later. When Black Hole absorbs 'energy' (whether physical or energy), everybody in the area gets bonus PD/ED because the energy's being redirected towards him. The Area Effect makes sure that if the energy is near him, he gets to Absorb it.

On the pre-made villain side, I'd say my modified version of Ripper from Stronghold always makes heroes worry - alot! I don't even have to bring up Dr. Destroyer, do I now?