Lukeal

Had kind of a weird take on the original character ask. Not sure if it is more expensive or easier or more workable. So, first, no need of having duplication. Buy Clairsentience with appropriate levels of mobile and multiple perception points that you want as "duplicates". Give it a disad of a physical manifestation (a clone of you) if you want people to be able to "attack" it. Or maybe just visible. Maybe some sort of "feedback" if you want damage to come back to you somehow (doesn't sound like it). Basically, you can send out versions of yourself to look around and move them around as you see fit. You'd want to nab targeting on it too. So something like 20 pts for Sight Group, +10 for targeting on Normal Sight via Clairsentience, +5 for normal hearing, +10 for 24m of mobile movement, +5 for two perception points So roughly a 50 point power with a 250" range. You could take Blackout for a (-1/2), and Perceivable (Invis becomes "obvious") (-1/2). SFX of "projecting duplicates of yourself to have a look around" Any powers that you want to manifest through the "clones" could be bought indirect and with an appropriate range/mega-scale to get them to reach the clones and define your range once local. Not sure how to build that best, but running with that is something people are good with here. The main character could just teleport and replace a "clone" because you can actually see that location via clairsentience so you just match your range so you can teleport to it. Might need some TK if you wanted your "clone" to remotely being able to interact with stuff. Probably want an "images" ability so you could communicate through them also (throw your voice to them) but it could be an interesting effect to have them not. That does limit you to using indirect powers through one clone at a time though. But I think it might be a more interesting way of building it.

So, yeah, the "buff" model, in my mind is just a supers model of improved leadership. Just like an Energy Blast that does 10d6 can be a "pistol" SFX in supers. I don't think you would say, "but you should get Weapon Familiarity" and buy a standard equipment pistol, right? The whole point is to build a super power that is better than what a human can do with a basic skill. And the SFX of being a super inspiring leader is not really any different than "because my god granted me the boon" or "I am a really skilled gun fighter", so my guns are 10d6 EBs without focus limits and do double knockback because I am a rootin-tootin cowboy, yeehaw!!! You might think you can disarm me, but you can't (*because I paid for it that way) Or would you call that "faking it out as you are a better shooter because _equipment_ doesn't get better"? Because, it does if you pay for it. (or doesn't if you buy it with that limitation). Adjustment Powers do not necessarily restrict me to a specific SFX for example and the whole point of the power is to make someone else (or yourself) better at something than you are normally. I could have it buff any energy blast (with appropriate build), by saying it increases their steadiness and ability to keep the power on target just a touch longer. Because, "super inspiration/confidence/steadying their nerve". no different than "I have super control over temperature so I can buff fire or ice energy blasts". It is a superhuman justification that doesn't really have to "make sense" when compared to "real equipment". Could you take or build it so you could only buff innate powers? Sure, but saying I have to, because … realism. that is a bit odd tone to me on a champions forum....You could just as easily say I can ONLY buff equipment because I mentally control technology and can just make them work better. There are innumerable real world examples of leadership (of the non-superhuman variety) vastly increasing the combat effectiveness of followers.. and, yes, utter collapse and "gone to hell in a handbasket" when that leader is removed (or never existed). So not going to get into "it isn't realistic for a super power leadership ability" to do x. y, or z... because super power. And effectiveness of a power is not just CV, DCs are also a stand in for effectiveness when you do hit. Or they wouldn't let you basically sacrifice CVs directly for DCs like they do with say, maneuvers. And yeah, it could mean the group is less effective without me.... Just like you could be less effective without your brick. Or a mentalist or blaster or whatever. Like, yeah the character is nice to have around. weird. Why would you make a character that is useful? And in the same manner if the group decided they didn't want to use your brick powers and were better off using the mentalist to tank, well, OK, go ahead. Nobody is forcing your character to take advantage of my brick-like powers. it sure does make the party better if they let the brick, brick though. Which is why I asked for feelings, so I could sort out the sort of landmines I might hit when I bring it up to the actual people I am playing with. And what I am seeing is that making a power that "makes you a good brick" has different feelings issues than a power that "makes you a great leader". That using certain game mechanics to influence if my character being seen as a leader are not OK, while some are. PRE and Leadership.. sure... minor, non-impactful/realistic changes... sure.. Powers... a bribe But that is why I am not spending a huge amount of CP on it and not making my concept effectiveness hinge on it. Just a bit and if it works out and the players like it, have a reason and justification for expanding it. If it doesn't maybe I will shift it to being able to manage crowds of normals/fodder a bit better by giving them some protection (maybe even add in some extra running by making 2 smaller slots in the MPP that I can fire together) as the MPP groes. Would be pretty cool that when he is overseeing an evacuation, they get out faster and with less damage.

So far I am finding it interesting that no one (usually) seems to see a problem with making a character with powers that fit a brick or speedster or mentalist role or whatever other archetype, but one that specifically makes you a better leader (mechanically) seems to push a lot of buttons. Like you don't expect a person playing a brick to actually be super strong in real life but the party leader needs to have real life planning and leadership skills? Reminds me of people disliking investigations skills as "cheats" because the players "should figure it out themselves". Even if they are playing a batman level super-sleuth, it is sometimes feels wrong to solve the crime with a simple roll. Even though it is, again, totally OK for, say the brick, to one-shot haymaker a villain and end the encounter. That one roll is fine, the other, seems to rub people the wrong way. (again, personal playstyles vary) And I am liking that I am getting insight into the kinds of feedback I might get from my group. And it isn't like the concept of a person that just makes everyone they work with better is something outside the bounds of experience. Even more so when you push it to a superhuman ability. It is actually one of the things I think builds of say, Cpt America, miss. Going back to "old school support" ideas, that is exactly what I am trying to avoid... "Hey cleric, hit me with bless, now get out of the way while I violate all the religious tenets of your god using the bonuses you just gave me." I am intending to RP it (yes, after discussion with my group just like I would if I was trying to fill any archetype) that you can take his leadership, and he will make you better, or you can go your own way, no skin off his nose. They have the choice and the buff comes with a cost and not just a gimme, gimme, gimme those sweet steroids that many support type builds devolve into. And I think it is in the vein of many "leader" archetype where the 'troops' don't have to like you personally, but you will, dammit, make sure they get to the top of that hill. I am considering working with the GM to take the "follow my plans" out of my control so he can judge when someone is going rogue to the plan. Not just me deciding as there may be information I don't have. Thinking of a way to avoid it feeling adversarial or like punishment when someone decides to go rogue. Or maybe fold some RP element for them into it... like, they have to believe they are "following the plan". I have some tricksy friends and leaving room for them to improvise is probably a good idea. Also, like the effect of maybe needing to "huddle up" mid-combat to "adjust" the plan to keep the bonuses. On the level, that I think the "must be following the plan" will be a 0 limitation really. The only current campaign limits are that we are starting with low point levels (150 total) and that we can't use any STOP powers, talents or skills (and I am personally assuming no STOP adv/lims though that answer is still pending). So, you could build a glass cannon or something crazy but I am going with the assumed guidelines for a 75/75 character in the book (though without the heroic type limits). The 'world' we are playing in definitely runs the gamut of street to global power scale. But the GM likes to ease the power level of the characters into play. I expect their might be a quick set of earning a lot of xp to start up to a 250pt character so the characters feel more organic and grown. So, I am thinking about a 50AP cap on the power and I can fit it into an Mental Powers MPP I am thinking of for the character.

To be clear, this is as a player not forcing as a GM. Appreciate the concerns around forcing, but isn't skill levels or tactics really just a flavor difference in how you are making them better? One of the challenges of being a leader is that making plans isn't always fun or easy and herding cats can be tiring. I think that providing a motivation for people to follow my lead isn't a bad idea and would intend to be transparent about the very visible strings attached. That, while the actual plan may be simple or even suicidal, following it will have an actual better chance to succeed than winging it or going cowboy. He is just a natural leader and even his bad plans tend to work out better than expected. I was considering a small aid to 4 char (dex, ego, pd, ed) written up as a pep talk or "planning" session or even a "goooo team!" Hands in cheer type thing with it sticking around for maybe 20m to an hour. Maybe a d6 with the max bought up a little to get 10 pts.

Mechanically speaking, I want to make a hero that is a good team leader. I want to give him abilities/powers that actually make other people better "when they are following his plans" basically. And then maybe some portion or later increase when they officially become part of his "team' and potentially more if they recognize him as the team leader. First big question, what do you think about this as a concept as it could be seen as forcing the other people to accept you as leader in some way? Would you resent it as a fellow player? (Note our group often plays a game of "not it" when it comes to leading the group, so I thought I would turn that on its head and not only embrace it, but make it a benefit) Was thinking of maybe a minor set of effects like a 1-2 DCs on their attack, an extra CV, some extra defense. Maybe each of these individually or as a group effect. Basically, not a full core focus of the character, but just that he always makes people working with him better. Maybe small Aid that is AoE? Thinking maybe up to say 15 real point total cost. Trying not to use any STOP power/skill/talent.

One of my favorite oddball concepts came about when I wanted to play a more support class but didn't want to be stuck constantly patching up boo-boos. I wanted people to seriously consider other options before they came to me to get fixed up... The core concept was a semi-brick with powers that revolved around SFX of incredibly rapid healing. To the point were almost all his defense was bought that way. The party initially accepted him because he seemed pretty buff and said he could heal people and tell what was wrong with them just by looking (a medical diagnostic sense/discriminatory/analyze) which was odd enough. The party had a collective heart attack in the first fight when he ran up to the biggest bad on the street and took a massive haymaker. Because of his SFX it appeared that he was flung across the street in a welter of blood, gore and snapped bones. Only to stand up calmly as everything sort of sucked/slithered or snapped back into place with sounds almost as bad as the initial hit... lol.. "just a scratch" I based his healing others off the ability to 'loan' his own powers temporarily to the other person with the side effect that caused him to take exactly whatever damage they healed while they had the power (or his immunity prevented). If they were stabbed, the wound would slowly open up in the same place on him, etc. It did not take the party long to realize his other limitation... he really liked pain. a lot. a really, yeah, inappropriate amount... And was always on the look out for things he hadn't felt before. The team got pretty hesitant to let him heal them when he was asking like a junky... "is that a stab wound? looks like it hurts a lot, never been stabbed with a bowie knife before, I would love to help you with that.. can I mmmmm heal it for you?" Never had to worry about being a band-aid dispenser. heck, some other players wouldn't accept any healing from him at all... Like, nah, I can heal it naturally... Also made for some fun combat "tactics" as he would seek out the opponent who either hit hardest or did damage in a way he hadn't felt before... "ooooh, never been frozen to death yet..." I ended up actually picking up a limitation in play because it became an exploitable issue that he left so much bloody mess (and DNA) everywhere after a fight. But it also made for some unique presence attacks. And, yeah, it ended up that his hero name became "Scratch" because of that indelible scene in the first battle.

So, I have a weird question about a usable as attack teleport with the no relative velocity adder. (not the one you are thinking I am sure). Can it be used to instantly add velocity to a target that is already going to move that far in the phase that you use it on them? For example, a brick is taking a full move of say 20" (he's fast). The teleporter uses Aportation on them after they move 1" and aports them say just 1" (obviously a held action, right ), Can you then adjust their velocity immediately to 20" (instead of the 5" he would normally get for his, so far, 1" move)?

Re: Leaping Has anyone thought of just enabling a slightly new use for "casual STR"? It already let's you shrug aside or run through obstacles. Seems to me that casual str/leap (1/2 your normal leap from Strength only) would cover almost all these situations and simulate the parkour-ish... boing-boing-boing type running or rooftop running without making someone take something silly like flight. I mean, really, if hulk can smash through a door, spidey can hop over and around a few cars. All the characters people are talking about have enough inherent strength that most minor things wouldn't present an obstacle. Heck a 15-20 strength means I could clear 1" high obstacles or 2" long gaps (round up right?) which is pretty darn close to straight up parkour/free-running. So, yeah, everyone could try parkour-ish type stuff, but they don't go very far. You could have a character buy running with the "requires a parkour roll" to get more distance> That is he is skilled at parkour and moving like that. wouldn't change those gaps and distances so it would even model very close to realistic parkour. Seems like this would scale pretty easily too. You could even limit things like most people only get 1 or 2 0 phase uses of casual str/leap but someone who makes a parkour roll could get more.

Re: Question: What makes a team leader? What about making a character that just makes everyone better if they are following his plan (even if it is a crappy plan ) From what I see to date in the thread, people are more talking about the players than any sort of game mechanic (which is totally valid). For example, making powers that have that as a limitation (-? "only if they are following my plan") hmmm, how to rate that limitation though... Having Skill Levels usable by others Aid to attacks, stats, etc (maybe with a "no improvisation" disad that causes all the points to fade immediately if they stop following the plan. maybe on a trigger...) attacks with triggers heck, defenses bought usable by others (yeah, range, blah-blah) Maybe a little bit of "catnip" that gets the herd of cats to decide it is worth it.

Obviously, this is going to be a lot of opinion. But I recently got to thinking that most groups simply do not have a character made to be the team leader. Usually they fall into the role or developed because of situation or concensus. Even in cases where there is a clear leader, it usually isn't about game abilities or design but about the real world group dynamic. Some game systems I have played actually have mechanics that can strongly skew who is the leader (like giving everyone bonus dice if they are following the plan of a character). So, with that in mind, several questions raised in my mind. How has your groups decided on a team leader in the past? (GM Fiat, in character "work it out", by specific design before play, leadership roles (combat, PR, training), etc?) Have you ever made a character specifically to be a team leader? Has that character actually become the team leader? Is the team leader more about the player's personalities/group dynamic? Are there any abilities, skills, disadvantages, or powers that you would deem essential to being a team leader? Are there any abilities, skills, disadvantages, or powers that you would deem prejudicial to being a team leader? Even looking at some of the teams in the source books, the leaders tend to be that because the writer says so rather than any actual ability or skill at leadership.

Re: Help with a character: Singularity Well, they also affect time the closer you get, so a drain or supress of SPD, similarly a drain or supress of movement powers (maybe with explosion on it?) Otherwise, I agree that this affect is best modelled as a Flight- UAA with a defense of flight, gravity powers or being able to grab onto something sturdy (or some such) with explosion (vice AoE since it will get weaker further away) with some sort of limitation that it pulls everything back directly to the source hex (oh and ranged, you'd want ranged on this) Linked: Supress - Movement powers - explosion Linked: darkness vs sight and hearing (light and sound cannot escape either...) make the area smaller maybe even just the one hex (the event horizon?) Linked: Change environment: -X to per rolls (sight/hearing) due to warping effect - make this a larger area or even explosion

Re: First time Champions GM - advice needed One warning I will give is that the very detailed nature of champions lends itself to having major heart-ache where the rules are unclear or contradictory in nature (seemingly). A lot of things are left to GM discretion. So you really do have to have a lot of trust between the players and GM. The players that your judgement is fair and unbiased and you that your players aren't deliberately trying to break something. I would read the rules and find all the many places that say "with GM Approval" and decide whether that is a yes or a no or a we'll have to talk about it. As a personal opinion (while this doesn't seem to be a case for you), people that have played the many iterations of this game tend to not notice when a rule has changed from version to version because they know how it works. If you have players that have done that, it can cause issues. Finally, I would recommend that you shy away from changing or bending the rules too much. The rules are very flexible and you can usually come up with "how that worked" without doing that, but it can be very frustrating to players when they cannot place an action, effect, power, etc within the known framework of the rules. It makes it hard to figure out what you can do to affect, prevent or what have you. If you are going to deus ex machina something, make it clear that is what it is (again going back to trusting the players and you). If you get tripped up, remember comic books retconn all the time, at the start of the next session, change history if you need to

Some quick questions on stretching: 1) does stretching affect line of sight/perception inherently? Or do you need to buy some form of limited clairsentience? example: can I stretch my head out to look around a corner? or stretch my ear out to press against a door? Touch seems obviously inherent, but how would that work if the others don't? Even more basic, if I stretch the top half of my body out, do my range mods for perception go from where my feet are or where my head is? 2) Sweep: if I can stretch and reach multiple targets (thus in "melee' range) can I sweep them? Is it any harder? Does the sweep have to be a "continuous movement" or can it be individual stretches to each? Examples (surrounded by 3 goons): stretch 3" to one in front, return stretch to myself, 2" to 2nd to my left, return stretch to myself, stretch 4" to third behind me, and return. (9" of stretching as returns are free). Or do I have to stretch to goon 1, then stretch to goon 2, then stretch to goon 3. Depending on positioning this could be much farther or shorter (mostly concerned about the farther) Or can you pick and choose either method depending on whether you want to pass through those spaces or use a certain amount of velocity dmg?

OK, so the effect I am looking for is similar in concept to a radar screen or a map app that drops pins on locations that a given effect occurred. Generally: 1) part of a base, so focus/equipmenty 2) plot the effect on a map/display that is scalable 3) maybe show details of the effect/item used 4) plot simultaneously for all instances within range 5) maybe keep a history of information for a short while, maybe searchable 6) ability to work in a cluttered line of sight environment (like a city) 7) nice to have: ability to highlight one specific signature/effect to display the problem I have with any guidelines is that they tend to clairsentience which doesn't meet #4 very well. And is generally too "active" but maybe I am just wrapped up in that power and can't see a decent way to do it. So the example of airplane radar, they can see "blips" on their screen for all planes in a given range with vectors of movement and altitude (yeah I know not really for altitude technically). A specific idea, that I would like is "Uses of Teleport Power" within the range (yeah probably megascale) and be able to pair or string "like" teleports together (so discriminatory) and then look back over the past day or so (if no one was actively monitoring the system) to see where things occurred at or say "find all uses of a teleport matching these parameters" (ie you already know what Bob's teleport looks like on the system). You could replace "Uses of teleport" with "mutants", "alphas", or "crimes (like a police blotter)". A thing to note that I really don't get about senses is what constitutes line of sight type for a lot. It is just unclear, like HRRH isn't really straight LOS and NRay vision seems to imply that is the only way to "see through" things but is built as a relatively simple detect as an example (maybe I am overcomplicating that).

Looked at FAQ and a bunch of responses, and I haven't seen this one addressed or stated very clearly... If one has an MPP with extra time for switching slots, when are the points removed from their current allocation? I can see the different options being equally valid (or maybe an additional lockout type disad?) Example: Character has a 50 pt MPP with extra time Full Phase. A) He begins his phase with 50 pts in slot 1 and decides to swap it to Slot 2 and 3 (25 and 25). Z) At the end of the phase the slot points are in slot 2 and 3 (after the extra time) Now, between A and Z, where are those 50 points? Option 1: Do they stay in Slot 1 (making slot 1 still available during the extra time)? Option 2: Are they "in transit" and no slot has points in it for the full duration of the extra time? Option 3: Are they distributed evenly over the time of the extra time (a longer time could be important)? Option 4: Are they immediately moved to Slot 2 but not yet activated until the end of extra time? Option 5: you worry too much Obviously the longer time between A and Z the more important this question becomes. And the location of the points can matter for drains, suppress and such....