Psylint

Re: Free Strike I'm not familiar with DnD Rogues, sorry. The difference between the two versions is the first provides unlimited Free Strikes, where as the second only allows one until the character's next phase. To illustrate. Brick, the brick, is surrounded by 6 ninja from "Bad Ninja Group, Inc." Brick is Speed 2, Dex 15, Running 6", the ninja are Speed 4, Dex 20, Running 14". Without any Free Strike power, the Ninja could attack Brick in hand to hand on Phase 3, and then half move 7" out of melee range on Phase 6 before Brick could act (and attack from range with shuriken or what have you). Similarly they could half move 7" back into melee range and make melee attacks on Phase 9, and flee on Phase 12. So long as the ninja's half move was greater than the target's full move, the target, essentially, can never engage the ninja in melee. If Brick took "Multiple Free Strikes", however, when the ninja fled on Phase 6, Brick would get a free strike on all six ninja as they fled, and then would be able to use his normal Phase 6 actions. If Brick took "Singular Free Strike" Brick would only be able to Free strike 1 ninja as they fled on Phase 6. He could then reset the trigger as a 0 phase action on his Phase 6. The difference is whether the character should be able to make a free strike upon each and every target that leaves melee range, or only the first one.

I was wondering how to combat the problem of high speed hand to hand characters coming in and out of range with lower speed hand to hand characters, such that the lower speed character rarely gets a strike in. My proposed solutions: Multiple Free Strikes: +xd6 Hand Attack, Trigger: Whenever a target moves from melee range as a result of the target's action. Takes no time, resets automagically. +1. Hand to Hand Attack -1/2. Singular Free Strike: +xd6 Hand Attack, Trigger: Whenever a target moves from melee range as a result of the target's action. Takes no time, 0 phase action to reset. +3/4. Hand Attack -1/2. The basic idea is that if someone in melee range flees melee range, the character gets a free strike at their back, but if such a person is removed by some outside agency: e.g. as a result of knockback, or being teleported away, etc. the free strike would not result. Any thoughts, critiques, or criticisms appreciated.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation Easiest way: Life Support: just select the various environments you want to be able to adapt to, take a limitation "Noisy" (at 0 or -1/4 as your GM prefers) to represent obvious, if instantaneous adaptation. This would also allow the character to adapt to "multiple environments" at once. Then add Armor, Forcefield, or whatever other defensive power you choose to deal with damage from hostile environments (for things like walking through lava pits or what have you).

Sorry Steve. During my recent move, I have somehow managed to lose my copy of FRED. Since I can't find an outlet with Hero System stuff to preview it, can anyone tell me, in general terms so as not to offend Steve, the kinds of things I'd be missing if I replaced it with Sidekick instead of FRED? Thanks

Re: About a martial artist type Like most everything in Hero, it depends. Suppose you're running 300 pts. and the average non-martial arts antagonist is operating between 3-5 OCV, then a 10 or 12 DCV makes you essentially unhittable. If, however, you're in a super campaign where the low end OCV tends to be 6 or 7, the average 8 or 9, then a 10 or 12 DCV as a primary means of defense is likely too little. And best it would have to be augmented with a high speed and/or the frequent use of maneuvers such as Defensive Strike. But a lot of it is just balancing that you need to talk to whoever is running the campaign. You also might want to check out the a 3d6 probability table, and remember that whatever the disparity in DEX or CV you can still get hit on a natural 3, and AoE's eat your lunch and laugh. For my two-bits, I wouldn't walk out of my apartment as a DEX-based character unless my natural DCV was at least 2 pts. higher than the highest non-Dex based OCV. But that's me. Peace

Hey Steve. Great stuff, sorry to ask but: If a character has 10" stretching and 10 extra limbs and is surrounded by a circle 10 bad guys 4" away, is it legal for the character to half move each of his 10 limbs to get into hand to hand combat and sweep the bad guys? In other words, is it possible to use stretching to move in multiple directions at once? Thanks

Re: Does anyone use this rule? The answer for me is sometimes. Most often it's a hedge against munchkinism. But finding two constructions that actually end up in the same place is a little hard to come by. Ego Blast, no range -1/2, Requires "normal" combat roll -1/2 or H+H Attack, BOECV +1, -1/2 "h+h" attack, -1/2 requires "normal combat roll" or H+H Attack, AVLD Mental Defense +1 1/2, affects Desolid +1/2 If the character using the power has a significantly higher OCV with the attack than ECV, then "requires normal combat roll" doesn't seem like much of a limitation. But usually I look at the power in the campaign context. If it's conventional for Ego Blasters to toss 6d6 Ego Blasts around, then certainly, 6d6 vrs. Mental Defense in hand to hand is acceptable, maybe as much as 8d6 given the additional limitations (no range, can be blocked, dodged etc.) On the other hand, HKA's AVLD Mental Defense I think should be treated like NND's that do body, as Mental Defense is rarely resistant, so I would limit such an attack to 1 killing dice or 3 DC's. As far as your stealth suit, an alternative construction might be: Images, self only, chameleon effect (i.e. only to display the immediately surrounding area without the character in it) -xPer. This provides an invisibility like effect, but provides a perception roll beyond 2", which is sufficiently different for me to warrant the alternative construction. Kind of like the Predator's invisibility, it was tough to see, but you could see it at a considerable distance if you concentrated, particularly when he moved. Cheers

Re: Would this be an appropriate use of Change Enviornment? I'd disagree. It's more of a subtle mind control or even projective telepathy. And it's a very powerful effect. To replicate it with mind control you need, EGO +20 as a minimum to get the "target thinks it was his idea" thing. You could use it to get rid of guards, the "Hmmm...I could use a cup of coffee, just now." or create a distraction in an opposing direction. I'm with the FRED on this one, if there's a more expensive way to build it, that's usually the right one, and Mind Control would be much more expensive. Besides, a CoE essentially would have no defense, and compelling behavior of another without any defense, just doesn't sit right with me. Even if the behavior is relatively minor. --Peace

Re: Concept help: Zombie Lord How about the wanna-be Satan. Phillip DeMarco was completely unextraordinary loan shark and minor crime boss in Hell' Kitchen, except for his marksmanship. We all have conceits, vices, whatever. With most criminal figures it was greed or lust or drugs or power, but for Phillip it was merely pride. His gold plated, pearl gripped, regulation tournament .357 Magnum went with him everywhere. In his younger days, he attended marksmanship tournaments, raising more than a few eyebrows. Philip is shaking down a borrower who has "come up short." "Now Miro, we went over this. 5% a week, every week until it's paid. This" gesturing to the anemic pile of small bills "won't even cover the interest. Now how am I going to fulfill my obligations, if you don't fulfill yours." Phillip tapped the handle of his pistol. [Long edit]Phillip has a "Devil came down to Georgia" moment, and rather than competing, plugs the Devil in the back of the head, and takes his quill and scroll, which he then uses for "special clients." Keeping their souls in thrall, he rapidly expands his criminal empire, using undead bully boys.

I'm stumbling over building a psionic blade attack. The idea is that the character views the world in a Jungian metaphysics, that is to say that he not only sees the present, but he sees the past "pushing" the present from behind and the various futures "pulling" the present from ahead. The future "pulls" via vibrant silver cords, invisible to anyone who doesn't have this kind of psychic dimensional perception. The attack cuts these silver cords, untethering the target in the present. So while the blade itself is a psionic manifestation, the attack is driven by muscle and bone. Aspects of the power: 1. Hand to Hand attack with an OCV/DCV roll. 2. Can be blocked 3. Mental Defense applies 4. Works against Desolid. I just got a little turned around. At first glance it looks like Hand to Hand Attack, BOECV, requires "attack roll" but that's a whole lot less expensive than Hand to Hand Attack, AVLD, affects Desolid. So what do you guys think? Peace

Re: Realism check: How accurate are lie detectors? In the real world polygraphs are 100% inaccurate at detecting falsehood, because they do not measure falsehood. They measure certain physiological responses such as respiration rate and galvanic skin response. Assuming the theory that these measures correlate to an attempt by the person measured is being deceptive, at best they determine incidences when that person is attempting to deceive. They do not measure falsehood. Have you ever been so sure of something, you could've sworn, and only to find out later that you had been completely wrong? My father swore up and down, there are 7 Sacraments and marriage was one of them. I explained, but Dad, you're an Anglican, Henry VIII, Ann Boelene, the Act of Supremacy, any of this ringing a bell? But he persisted until I showed him in the Book of Common Prayer. If you had put him up to a lie detector, it would not show that he was being deceptive, even though his statement is 100% false. Polygraphs are not admissible as evidence because in the view of the relevant scientific community they are not sufficiently accurate and reliable. Besides, think about it, if polygraphs were so sure-fired reliable, why would the CIA and other folks be using water-boarding? Just hook 'em up to polygraph.

Re: Oracle. Some things that come to mind: Telepathy, limited to surface thoughts, read only "I know why you are here." Missile Deflection, "best block, no be there!" Various forms of Life Support, she is pretty darned close to an Avatar, if you think on it. Flash Defense, "Sure I can't see you now, but I saw you now, before" Armor Piercing and Penetrating attacks, "You always expose your pauldron on that overhead sweep." Analyze Combat style. etc.

Re: Archetype vs. Role It all depends on the campaign, but some common tasks that need to be handled: Pretty Boy: someone to be a public face, deal with press, law enforcement, and other "civilized types" Not so Pretty Boy: someone to be the shadow face deal with the thugs, miscreants, crime bosses, and other "uncivilized types." Idea guy: generally just a smart player, hopefully with a smattering of skills, knowledge, professional and otherwise to give the GM an easy "Ok, here's what I'm laying down" without having to actually say, "Psst... the butler did it!" Can Openner: someone to open up hard targets, whether through throwing lots more dice like your average brick, or having something sneaky, Armor Piercing, Coordinated attacks, NND, etc. Sneaky Rat-Fink.. that character that goes where one is not invited, or reclaims that which isn't precisely theirs in a legal sense. Smart Mouth: What's super heroing without someone making cheesy quips? Other things that are quite useful but not nearly as common: Crowd Control... whether through high speed, high velocity attacks, (martial arts/brick sweeps, autofire/aoe even change environment) something to slow down the on rushing horde of mooks so many uber-villains seem to have. Boy/Girl Brilliant...character with the ability to analyze and find weakness in the opponents to devise a successful strategy and communicate it to the team. Something Unexpected... whether through mental illusions, body modification, change environment, aoe entangle, darkness, etc. a character that literally operates outside the box by fundamentally changing the battle space. In my experience "tanks" don't really work well, after all why would anyone shoot at Mr. Invulnerable, when they could shoot the squishy Egoist instead? And I've rarely found Healing a good fit, just never seems to be getting used. Then again, I also build characters that are pretty much combat self-sufficient. If you allow "pure support" characters, you end up with a lot of problems. If you're support character is packed full of AIDs, the rest of the team tends to steamroller once "juiced up" or collapse if the support gets taken out early. If it's a skill based "support" then you have a combat 5th wheel, and a very difficult time providing any opportunity for any of the other characters to do much of anything during non-combat time.

Re: Instant Unluck UAA What do you want the Unluck to do? You can replicate a lot of "unluck" by things like -CV curses, or drains of various sorts. While it's a neat idea, a repetitive instant of 4d6 Unluck seems to present issues. After all, back in 5th ED, they said unluck was limited to 5d6 because anymore would likely prove fatal. If you're hitting, potentially the same target, with nearly that level of probabilistic bad karma, every few phases, that could get nasty. Also, in general, I think the preferred construction is Transform: Target into Target with 4d6 Unluck. Peace

Re: Fair vs Concept I'd have to say balance. If nothing else, because extreme builds trump the concept of other players. Most folks build a character around a concept with "game mechanics" considerations. Examples: I create a brick who shrugs off most damage, how much pd do I buy? There's usually nothing in the concept that directly addresses that, it's based on what the player expects the average range of attacks coming in will be. A brick with 30 rpd in a campaign with no attacks beyond 12 DC's is a lot more invulnerable than a brick with 40rpd where most attacks are 20 DC's+. To create the "artful dodger" character, what's my DCV? it's primarily based on the expected OCV of one's opponents. So if I plunk down 100 pts to get my 30 Dex, and 12 DCV in Hand to Hand, is it really fair for most folks to have a 10 OCV in hand to hand? And more importantly, if such high OCV's are common, how can my character be the "artful dodger" I envisioned? Same thing if I buy invisibility and most have unusual senses, or Mental Powers and everyone and their uncle has mental defense. Using multiform to get a 1750 pt. character in a 500 pt. campaign, in my opinion, is just a patent abuse. Besides, in my campaigns such a character isn't even possible (50 pts. max per disadvantage category, just doesn't add up to 1750). Characters are created with concept on one hand and an understanding of comparative game mechanics on the other. The second part requires clear communication of the guidelines and fairly strict enforcement and well as the whole "GM eyeball" thing (y'know to avoid the munchkin super builds: autofire, aoe entangles, 1 pip RKA AP, Penetrating, Autofire x32, etc. But honestly a Hulk homage at 1750? Why not just give him desolid, persistent, inherent, and affects physical world on his Strength? Pretty sure I could work that in on 500 points. Peace

Re: Ben 10 type character: questions Just a note: To get the "long recharge time" effect, you can simply run the power off of a Endurance Reserve that has only precisely the amount of Endurance to activate the power once, and a very low Recovery. So you could try something like this: Multiform, Costs End, Costs End to maintain. Endurance Reserve with enough Endurance to last 10 minutes, with a Recovery of 1. Or a Recovery of the total amount of the reserve, delayed for 1 hour or so.

Re: Surviving a Fire Easiest way: Life support: High Heat, Self Contained Breathing and Desolidification: only to protect against fire/heat damage Note, character will still have troubles with stuff collapsing in on him, etc. but should be just dandy relative to the fire itself.

Re: Mental Deflection Just Mental Deflection? Call it block or dodge. But I might be one of few that use "normal" combat maneuvers in mental combat. Peace

Just a thought, I'm pondering Sticky AoE entangles such as: Avalanche, Cold based character causes a huge amount of snow to dump on an area of effect 4" in radius and 1" deep: 3 Def 3d6 Body Entangle, AOE Radius +1, Sticky +1/2; [Active 80] The question I have is, if a person broke out of the entangle and then attempted to proceed across its area of effect, would that person be re-entangled?

How do folks? I'm playing a cold based Avatar of Winter energy projector and seem to need a can openner, i.e. an attack or other power that deals with very high defense targets. Bad guys are packing north of 14 DC's I was thinking of one or more of the following: 1. Brittle: Target is struck with a beam of cold to nearly absolute kelvin, rendering all of the molecular bonds crystalline and fixed and thus brittle (like tossing liquid nitrogen on something). 10d6 Suppress PD and ED simultaneously +1/2 (Active Cost 75) 2. Fling Ice Javelin: Target is struck with an extremely hard, extremely pointy icicle traveling at high velocity. 3d6 RKA, AP +1/2, Reduced Endurance +1/4 (active cost 79) 3. Flash Freeze: Per Brittle. 4d6 Drain Pd and Ed simultaneously, ranged (active 80) S'all that comes to mind. Any thoughts or creative alternative solutions, greatly appreciated.

Re: Information on incoming attacks Point Sean, But rules querry, does variable sfx allow a typed power to cross-type? i.e. if my 10d6 EB variable sfx is bought original as working against PD, can I change it to work against ED? hmmm... Part of the advantage of NND, AVLD, Drains etc. is that their used against uncommon defenses, but should, from a balance perspective, they be completely mysterious? Or should we all invest in "Analyze cause of bodily injury"

Re: Suppress CSL For my two-bits: I have the hand wave/house rule that drained/suppressed/transferred as one sfx is pretty darned broad, so for example one could drain "resistance based defense" which would work against armor, forcefield, damage resistance, pd/ed regardless of sfx. I'd say call the power "drain combat skill levels" at a +1/2 advantage and call it good. And instead of using insane cost to keep it balanced, use "judgment" to balance it out.

Re: Information on incoming attacks So I'm out the other day and Blam get hit with an attack. Seems to me that unless the user of the attack bought it with "invisibility versus effects" I'd know: 1. I got hit by something 2. It hurt 3. How much it hurt 4. What things in my previous experience hurt me in a similar way. So even if I don't have power defense and get hit by a ranged stun drain or something, I know that it isn't a kinetic force, or a burning like fire, nor does it induce migraines, asphyxia, etc. Same thing works the other way, if I hit something with an attack, I should be able to determine how much it hurt them (unless they're actively faking or I've bought "invisible to effects")

Re: Integrating "normal" things into a "Super" world Some ideas I've used: 1. All normal or military weapons take the beam limitation, no knockback, and use standard effect. It speeds things up and allows players to better plan for dealing with "normal" weapons. 2. Apply the standard effect rule to the Stun Multiplier Die roll (3). 3. Spend more on "sucking it up" Peace

Re: Charisma EC Good points Sean. I agree with the continuing effects of mind control and presence attacks being problematic with Dispel. The problem is that Dispel really is precisely the effect that I want. If you went with Aid Ego, then you'd still have to wait at least most of a Turn to see if it was helpful (you probably wouldn't know that Jake was under a mind control effect until after he failed his first one and did something out of character, thus Aid Ego while mechanically effective for breakout rolls, doesn't get the "snap out of it" effect.) Perhaps I should ask Steve. I know it's an "aggressive" use of Dispel, but I'm not sure that it's abusive to treat continuing effects of Mental powers and Presence attacks as "out there" to be Dispelled, any more than it would be abusive to use Dispel against Summon or a power with Trigger Advantage, both of which I think are considered "out there" to be Dispelled. The advantage level may be off, which is why I put the ? by it. You make a very valid point. If you take my approach, then Dispel is much more effective against mental powers with continuing effects than other instant powers like energy blast or Ego Blast. You can't use Dispel to "dispel" the damage of an EB so why should you be able to dispel the "damage"' of a mind control? A very valid point, one that I really hadn't considered. Thanks. As far as lockout vrs. incantations, I'd go with whichever works. If I were to actually build it, the lockout issue would be subsumed in putting all of the powers in ultra slots in a multipower, but thanks for putting it out. I'd also play it so that if the target of the power couldn't hear the Charismatic Leader, then the power would have no effect. So, if either the target or the Charismatic Leader were in a Darkness Field vrs. Hearing, none of the "incantation" powers would work. Similarly, inspiring presence might not work if the Charismatic Leader cannot be perceived.