PaladinAg
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Posts posted by PaladinAg
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10 hours ago, assault said:
The obvious question here is: can PCs such magic?
If so, the issue of rareness goes straight out the window, as they will use it routinely, or as routinely as possible.
Isn't that a permanent issue with any low fantasy/swords and sorcery campaign?
Limiting Active Points, insisting on long casting durations, extra END, automatic side effects, slow recovery etc or using something along the lines of Gandalf970's "corruption", or LT Endurance could reduce the usage by PCs.
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18 hours ago, assault said:
I'd suggest getting the fiction right, before you start looking at mechanics.
That is, how magic fits into the setting and its societies. That's particularly important since magic will shape those societies.
Once you've got all that sorted, then you can look at all the crunchy blah blah blah.
Not unreasonable at all. Here are the broad brushes:
1. The land is an island/group of islands and was once part of a large empire that fell about 500 years ago. Since then the land has been divided into a series of states that picked up the pieces and then bickered amongst themselves.
2. Parts of the land were never conquered by the large empire and so have a range of cultures (I'm still undecided if any of these should be non-human, although if they were, they would of the "retreated from interest in normal events" type).
3. In the last 100 years or so the land has been invaded by outsiders from beyond the old empire and these have taken over several kingdoms and are a continuing threat to the other states. This threat can wax and wane.
4. Contact with the neighbouring lands does happen but this is more social/trading rather than conflict.
5. The "epic" bit - one leader has the vision of uniting the land (at least that of the main culture) into a single state.
6. Religion is more about outlook and beliefs rather than magical power. The gods/god/divine spirits, despite calls from worshippers, don't seem to intervene in events.
7. The old, disappeared empire wasn't any particularly more magical than now but they were great makers and builders so weapons etc of those times are still valuable (think LotR special crafted items rather than "magic").
8. There may be really old magic from a time even before that empire but it is very rare.
9. Magic, where present, appears more as great skill, ability to make specially effective tools etc. When it does appear I like Archer's suggestion of limited attack powers, boons and requiring lots of time to pull off. Also include seers and some low level cursing. Practitioners of such "true magic" or "sorcery" are rare.
10. PCs can end up being involved in the conflict between the states, the "epic" vision of one nation, dealing with the outsiders, exploration etc into the non-core culture realms.
12 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:PaladinAG, you might take a look at Hero's The Valdorian Age, which was designed to evoke the kind of fantasy written by the likes of Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, and Fritz Leiber. Several elements from it, particularly its unique magic system, seem applicable to the kind of setting you sound like you want.
Our long-absent forum colleague James Gillen wrote a pretty cogent review of the book: https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11199.phtml
Thanks for that Lord L. I'm not sure I want the sort of summoning magic the review talks about. However, the idea of limiting characters in terms of skill limit levels etc to something looks interesting (I think there are suggestions on how to make these work elsewhere).
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Hi, I've recently spread my wings from Champions to Fantasy Hero and inspired by "The Last Kingdom", I feel inspired to do a low/semi-epic fantasy set in a divided land (although more later medieval rather than Saxon period). Most of the setting information I've seen available is for High Fantasy campaigns, not for low fantasy and I would welcome thoughts on creating one. I would particularly welcome thoughts on low power/subtle magic systems, which would mostly be employed by NPCs.
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On 10/11/2018 at 1:32 AM, dsatow said:
IDa was just thinking of secret/public ids. Here's a few more tidbits I'd thought I'd interject.
I remember the Lex Luther/Flash scene and also Lex Luther and Superman, where Lex uses a massive computer program to determine Superman's real identity and surmises the computer is wrong as Superman would never stoop to being the common reporter, Clark Kent.
People like Doctor Doom have a Secret ID even though everyone know who Doctor Doom is. Without his mask on, no one knows what Doom looks like now except for a very few people.
There are a lot of people who look like each other but are unrelated. In Doctor Who, the Doctor says that it just coincidence and that after living 10+ lifetimes he believes that there are just so many major templates out there in genetics for the way people look. In reality, facial recognition is probably about 90-99% accurate which may sound like a lot, but given a 1000 people that means somewhere from 10-100 people will be wrongly classified. In a small town of 10,000 people that 100-1000 suspects. In a city with a 500,000 people, thats 5000-50000 people.
A lot of TV shows and movies show people enhancing video images to get fairly clear pictures of the target. Unfortunately, that usually doesn't work. Most security cameras record to either tape (and the tape gets reused over and over resulting in grainy images) or are digital. Digital images are usually from cameras that while they can possibly record at high images, for the sake of space, record at a lower image (1024x768 to 640x480). Some security cameras also will only take one picture every second or two, and while the resolution is higher, they are not like your dSLR and the image is still fairly low. Advancements have been made to programmablely extrapolate images based on existing data but the less data there is, the worse the extrapolation. This kind of image extrapolation is cutting edge, university grant level work being done.
While any single vector of classification is not perfect for identifying people (except if your a minority in certain parts of the country - take a knee), most courts attempt use multiple vectors to validate your presence at a crime scene. If each is 95% and there are 5 different things to identify you were there, then out of 4 million people, there is only 1 person it could be. (4000000 * 0.05 * 0.05 * 0.05 * 0.05 * 0.05 = 1.25)
An interesting study in what CCTV can and can't do, particularly when linked to police & intelligence databases has been the recent "reveal" of the Russian agents involved the Salisbury Novichok attack. I wouldn't be at all surprised that more information exists and is being withheld from the public but the ability to pick up and track known persons of interest is quite remarkable, even against trained intelligence agents. It would not take a government agency long to start collating evidence from each appearance of a super (and especially if they arrive by foot or other road vehicle) and, depending on the super's ability to confuse CCTV, disappear from databases or just being supernaturally good at skulking around, they could start narrowing down the number of common appearances fairly quickly if there was a desire to do so. This latter point is quite important from a countervailing perspective. How keen is government to pursue a particular individual and what resource should be used? I suspect that mass destruction supervillains would be prioritised over bank robbers and vengeful vigilantes over "code of hero" good guys.
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One more boost before I put them in the download area.
PaladinAg
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Look! Squirrel!
(Well it beats "Bump")
PaladinAg
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I think you would need to consider this is bit like a hydra or similar. This uses duplication for the secondary heads and reduces the movement down to zero. Here is an alternative example
http://surbrook.devermore.net/original/creatures/grandfather.html
PaladinAg
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I think it is quite simple. The helicarrier is just a flying carrier and a carrier is a vehicle.
Does it move? Yes.
How does it move? By moving x m every phase it is permitted to do so.
How do you determine which phase it moves in? By its SPD characteristic
Does a base have SPD? No
So can a base move? No
Having just checked Champions Complete it says on page 163 that bases have no movement ability.
I would point up as a size 20 vehicle and then treat its hull and operation like a building. Damage puts holes in the vehicle. Operation of the sensors and weapons would be driven by the operator SPD, OCV, etc. It would move as a normal vehicle.
PaladinAg
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OK. Here is the revised Silver Paladin. I kept the multi-form version as the vehicle version I was creating got OTT very quickly and would dominate any group excessively. In the end the changes for this character were a lot less than i orginally expected. The number of CPs associated with the characteristic unfied powers were actually a lot less than i thought they would be. Interestingly, I had to up the firepower of the character as the CV/SPD combination is quite low. I kept the character/unified power combination for the Dragonslayer mode (not, repeat, not, my version of Hulk Buster!) as this sort of ties in with this configuration being quite an extreme one and the weakness to drain that Crusher Bob picked up means that it would be used infrequently, i.e. against the big targets it was intended for.
I'm still looking for comments. Otherwise I will put them up in the download area by the end of the month.
PaladinAg
Silver Paladin 450 (Mode 4) v0.2.HTML
Silver Paladin 450 (Mode 1) v0.2.HTML
Silver Paladin 450 (Mode 3) v0.2.HTML
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In terms of balancing I use a modified form of Crusher Bob's methodology. Character balance score should be a net 0 or +1
:
Sentinel Prime Team 450 with 75 complications
Characteristics 10-50
Active Points no power more than 85
DC SPD CV DEF MenDef
-2 8 4 4 20 10
-1 10 5 6 25 13
0 12 6 8 30 15
+1 14 7 10 35 18
+2 16 8 12 40 20
Sentinel Legion Team 400 with 75 complications
Characteristics 10-40
Active Points no power more than 85
DC SPD CV DEF MenDef
-2 7 3 3 18 9
-1 9 4 5 23 12
0 11 5 7 28 14
+1 13 6 9 33 17
+2 15 7 11 38 19
CVs and DCs are based on the most regularly used attack power (including DCs from MA) and with CV levels on OCV. The CV levels are averaged. I rounded down to get the delta score. I counted 25% Damage Resistance as equivalent to DEF +5.
PaladinAg
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Paragon and Starfist ended up with VPP, making the later a lot closer to Hyperman's GL
. Spectre only needed a little tweaking to get the character balance rightPaladinAg
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Galatea and Quark did not need must adjustment after all.
PaladinAg
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Whilst I'm thinking about how to do Silver Paladin (and waiting for the plumber to come out and fix our boiler!) I've done the Sentinel Legion as well.
Amethyst had a fair amount of adjusting because of the amount of characteristics with unified power. The main issue for Longbow was getting the balance right between offence and defence.
PaladinAg
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Nebula and Mighty Girl next. Nebula, like Persinette, has ended with a big VPP, which made sense as she had a mix of movement and attack powers anyway and the maths made it more sensible. Maybe I have 'unconscious bias' against VPPs?
. Mighty Girl has kept the two power groups separate but with a lot of points going to buy out the characteristic unified power modifiers I decided to emphasise the brick aspects of the character rather than the prehensile hair/scrapper aspect, with the later now mainly aimed at special effects and feats.The last character from the Sentinel's main team is Silver Paladin. Given the debate elsewhere, perhaps I should design him as a vehicle character instead?
PaladinAg
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Here are the new versions of Persinette and Mercury. Mercury hasn't had a big change (although I did tweak his name, it seemed familiar for some reason - he was a felon who had an unwitting role in the 88 US election!). Persinette has changed a lot. Basically having a closely related power pool and a VPP with lots of powers didn't make much sense and it also allowed to put in 'spells' with varying active points and modifiers). It also freed up the points to up her defences (although these are still weighted towards ED and MenD)
PaladinAg
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Next up, the revised versions of Valkyrie and Hornet.
Main changes are a reduction in some of the combat levels and some tweaking to minor powers. Hornet is the only character I've redesigned to date that still has significant characteristics associated with unified power as these are linked to how his powers work.
PaladinAg
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OK. Following Crusher Bob's suggestions on balancing and a more judicious approach to the use of unified power for characteristics. Here are Storm Front and British Lion.
Main changes are a reduction in some of the combat levels and some tweaking to minor powers.
PaladinAg
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Movement for vehicles is free
Putting vehicles into a VPP I suspect would be a no-no.
Under 6E (don't know about 5E), you can buy more vehicles up to CP of the first for 5 CPs for each x2 (so 2 cost 5CP, 4 10 CP, etc).
Vehicle Foci can be bulky without affecting DCV. If is removed from the vehicle it will halve the DCV of the character carrying it.
Penalties for vehicles is that they are much more vulnerable to damage (each BODY done will cause a significant amount of damage) and they are prone to being broken, stolen etc.
PaladinAg
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Champions Powers has a wide range of options available.
PaladinAg
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And here is my suggested Tony Stark as a vehicle build.
Tony Stark
Val Char Cost
10 STR 0
13/18* DEX 23
10/20* CON 16
10/13* BODY 2
23 INT 13
11 EGO 2
15 PRE 5
16 COM 3
3 PD 1
2/4* ED 0
3/4* SPD 11
4/10* REC 3
20 /40* END 0
20/32* STUN 4
*IIF armour under liner (-1/4)
Total Characteristics Cost: 83 Points
Cost Skills
3 Bureaucratics 12-
3 Combat Driving 11-/13-
3 Computer Programming 13-
5 Cramming
3 Electronics 13-
3 High Society 12-
3 Inventor 13-
3 Mechanics 13-
15 Money: Filthy Rich
3 Security Systems 13-
3 Seduction 12-
3 Systems Operation 13-
3 FB: Federal Police Powers
2 Navigation [Air] 14-
3 PS[iNT]: Weapons Designer 14-
2 Rep: Superhero 11-
Total Skills Cost: 60 Points
Cost Powers
45 VPP 25 Points, No Skill Roll (+1), Half Phase (+1/2)
10 JARVIS Computer (60 pt+ Disadv) IIF (-1/4)
44 Iron Man Armour (220 pts+ Disadv)
Total Powers Cost: 112 Points
Total Cost: 250 Points
150+ Disadvantages
5 DNPC: Pepper Potts (Useful Normal) 8-
10 Hunted: Mandarin (As Powerful) 8-
10 Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. (More Powerful/NCI/Watch) 8-
20 Normal Characteristics Maxima
15 PsyL: In Love With Pepper Potts (Common/Strong)
15 PsyL: Overconfidence (Very Common/Moderate)
20 PsyL: Protective Of Innocents (Very Common/Strong)
5 SocL: Famous (Occasionally/Minor)
Total Disadvantages Cost: 250 Points
Iron Man Armour
0 Size 0
55 STR 45
16 DEF 42
18 DEX 24
14 BODY 4
4 SPD 12
Total Characteristic Cost: 127
Cost Power
30 Flight 12” Usable underwater (+1/4)
2 Flight 1", Megascale 1km (+1/4)
18* ES: HRRP, 360 Degree Radar, UV Sight
10* LS: High Pressure, High Radiation, Intense Cold, Intense Heat, Low Pressure/Vacuum, Self Contained
18* END Reserve (160 END 20 REC)
30 Multipower (60 pt Active)
3u Repulsor EB 12d6
3u Laser RKA 4d6
3u Micro Missiles 2 1/2d6 RKA Autofire 5 shots (+1/2) 16 charges
3u Tasers EB 6d6 AVLD (Non-conductive armour or electrical powers) (+1)
3u Explosive Missiles 2 1/2d6 Explosion (+1/2), 16 charges
*OIF Bulky (-1)
Total Power Cost: 123
Total Cost: 250
220+ Disadvantages
10 Hunted: Mandarin (As Powerful) 8-
10 Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. (More Powerful/NCI/Watch) 8-
10 SocL: Famous (Freq/Minor)
I've not scored up the computer as that should be fairly standard. Needless to say, this can be tweaked as the power armour template above, but hopefully the two examples I've put on give an idea of can be achieved if you design your character as a vehicle. Personally, whilst an interesting exercise, I think this approach could be considered a bit OTT and should be very closely examined by GMs before proceeding with them.
PaladinAg
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With Cassandra's blessing I've had my go at Iron Man as a vehicle and Jarvis. As I don't have 5E, I've assumed they are costed up like 4E (i.e. you pay for base costs only ), but you can "double up" at 5 pts a go. I'll let someone else more familiar with 5E to modify them. Here goes:
Tony Stark
Val Char Cost
10 STR 0
13/18* DEX 23
10/20* CON 16
10/13* BODY 2
18 INT 8
11 EGO 2
15 PRE 5
18 COM 4
3 PD 1
2/4* ED 0
3/4* SPD 11
4/10* REC 3
20 /40* END 0
20/32* STUN 4
*IIF armour under liner (-1/4)
Total Characteristics Cost: 79 Points
Cost Skills
3 Bureaucratics 12-
3 Combat Driving 11-/13-
3 Computer Programming 13-
5 Cramming
3 Electronics 13-
3 High Society 12-
3 Inventor 13-
3 Mechanics 13-
15 Money: Filthy Rich
3 Security Systems 13-
3 Seduction 12-
3 Systems Operation 13-
Total Skills Cost: 50 Points
Cost Powers
45 VPP 25 Points, No Skill Roll (+1), Half Phase (+1/2)
18 JARVIS Computer (90 pts +disadv)
49 Iron Man Armour (170 pts + disadv) x 8
Total Powers Cost: 110 Points
Total Cost: 250 Points
150+ Disadvantages
5 DNPC: Pepper Potts (Useful Normal) 8-
10 Hunted: Mandarin (As Powerful) 8-
10 Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. (More Powerful/NCI/Watch) 8-
20 Normal Characteristics Maxima
15 PsyL: In Love With Pepper Potts (Common/Strong)
15 PsyL: Overconfidence (Very Common/Moderate)
20 PsyL: Protective Of Innocents (Very Common/Strong)
5 SocL: Famous (Occasionally/Minor)
Total Disadvantages Cost: 250 Points
Iron Man Armour Example
200 pts
0 Size 0
20 STR 10
14 BODY 4
12 DEF 30
18 DEX 24
4 SPD 12
Total Characteristic Cost: 80
Cost Power
20 Flight 10"
100 VPP 50 Points, No Skill Roll (+1), Half Phase (+1/2), IIF (-1/4)
Total Power Cost: 120
Total Cost: 200
170 + 30 Disadvantages
10 Hunted: Mandarin (As Powerful) 8-
10 Hunted: S.H.I.E.L.D. (More Powerful/NCI/Watch) 8-
10 SocL: Famous (Freq/Minor)
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And now the whole team.
PaladinAg
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Whilst I'm having a second go at my characters following the suggestions from Crusher Bob here the images of the Sentinel Legion:
Quark, Amethyst, Spectre, Galatea, Longbow, Paragon and Starfist.
PaladinAg
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I don't know. I think he can be made to work as a vehicle. When I was looking at Silver Paladin it worked quite well, probably too well. The big challenge is how to get the DEX and SPD right; my "work around" was an IIF under-suit, a bit like a medieval knight's arming doublet. Also with everything being OIF bulky (as it is a vehicle), the cost of the powers drops significantly.
This site shows want can be done http://killershrike.com/HERONet/Goodspeed.aspx
PaladinAg.
Help with character concept
in Champions
Posted
I agree with the list already. I would add some suggestions:
Multiple attacks - rapid attack or autofire. Could also do as extra OCV or combat skill levels
Area attack - selective, area attack
Knock back resistance (assuming you can grab onto something)