mrinku

Using Darkness (Surface) also has the nice effect that if the ship is flying around on a planet in daytime it'll stand out like dog's balls, just like a Darkness field does. One potential issue here... how's it managing excess heat?

Whether physical contact happens or not is a good rule of thumb. And as has been discussed, AoE (or Stretching) can allow attacks at a distance without them needing the Ranged modifier.

As a point, AoE can be bought on unmodified HKA (it's not limited to "ranged attacks"). So the choice here is between: HKA; AoE; No Str Bonus (-½) RKA; AoE; No range (-½) Points identical, effects basically the same. IMHO both builds should be considered "ranged" (because most AoE do give limited range and touching the target isn't required). If the AoE was bought as Surface (User or Target) it'd be considered a close combat power. However, special effects inform that. HKA AoE might be defined as spinning a web of steel; clearly THAT is close combat. Flame breath, on the other hand, would normally be treated as ranged. For my mind it's cleaner to use RKA in this situation for Flame Breath, but you might be building a flexible power such as: Flames of the Dragon: 2d6 HKE; Variable Advantage (+1); Variable Limitation (-¼) Which would allow any combination of +½ and -½ modifiers, such as a 16m Cone AoE and No Str Bonus, or Armour Piercing at x2 END.

But which Barrier also does. Barrier also effectively stops STUN.

And if that's what someone wants, they should add them. But NOT having them doesn't make a setting "age of sail" any more than it makes it "Victorian" or "Roman". Instant comms aren't exactly difficult to work out game rules for. And here's the thing - on a planet you DO have fast communications. Unless you're trying to radio another ship below the horizon without a satellite relay in a vacuum, or something.

Just a point here, and I've probably missed a clarification from Steve or some section of 6e I don't have, but when Damage Negation says it works against AVADs, surely that only applies if the AVAD in question is applied to the type of defense that that DN is defined as? In other words, if you have Physical Damage Negation, that's not going to affect Blast with AVAD Flash Defence, any more than your PD would defend against it. If it was Mental Blast AVAD Physical Defense, then yes, the DN would apply before you used PD. DN also specifically doesn't protect against AVADs that don't do damage. Flash AVAD Mental Defense is not affected by Mental Damage Negation. But, "vs Special Effect" is going to stop Physical, Energy, Mental and AVAD attacks of the appropriate special effect, as well as the Drains. that's where I see that list mainly being used. As far as the BODY/STUN Drains go... well, IMHO they'd need to be considered the appropriate attack type for DN to work against them. If you've got DN to show you're invulnerable to Physical attacks, it shouldn't work vs gas, or a mind-blast or a curse, but a martial arts type pressure point BODY Drain would be affected by it. Likewise, STUN Drain from electricity would need Energy Damage Reduction or Electricity Damage Reduction and Mental or Physical DR would be of no use. Oh, and in comparing defences, don't forget Barrier/Force Wall. In some ways Damage Negation can be used as a simpler version of that power to represent protection that stops attacks some distance from the character.

Vale QM. I only knew you for a few months, but you were a good one.

Is it worth pointing out that "Faster Than Light Communication" does NOT actually equate to "instantaneous"? Traveller does, in fact have FTL communication... it just happens to operate at roughly the same speed as the FTL travel. One parsec per week is about 170 times the speed of light. Jump-3 has a pseudospeed of over 500 times lightspeed! In practical terms, courier networks do mean that messages will likely outpace players (especially if they're limited to the usual Jump-1 and Jump-2 Ships). Once they arrive in a system they can pass their information on at lightspeed, so messages can (and typically do) arrive at a planet before the ship that bought them does. Ergo, communication speed exceeds travel speed, even in standard Traveller. By leaving out instant communications, the game is more, rather than less futuristic. Light speed lag IS a problem at planetary distances. Even a simple radio call to the Moon will impose a few seconds delay... to Mars or Venus you'll have minutes to wait between asking a question and getting an answer. 10 hours turnaround on a call to Pluto. Now, that won't impose "age of sail" conditions or stop central control within a system... but what WILL cramp your style as far as projecting a "modern" ethic on the future is when travel itself goes back to taking weeks or months between centres.

I hadn't even heard of DN before this year. My own thoughts on it are that it's not needed in most cases since regular defences basically do the same job. I can see a case for the "vs special effect" version "Fire has no effect on her!", however. As part of the toolkit it has its place, though it possibly would have been better to revise the existing defences into a more unified group (i.e. apply PD, ED, Mental, Power or Special Effect to a new catch-all power of Defense that replaces PD, ED, Power Defence and Mental Defence, with resistance as just an Advantage. I'm sure the idea has been mooted before.)

Normal AoE attacks and DN mesh just fine because the damage is the same regardless of where you are in the area. It's only Explosions that really need special treatment. I'm really not sure why dsatow suggested a different mechanic for AoE in his idea, but since it's a custom rule anyway, he's entitled to impose it as part of that, I guess.

Ogress is too much like my own beloved Big Girl to go past Big Girl disagrees: "Bah!!! Puny Ogress just cheap knock off!!! Meet Big Girl behind Rose's Diner and find out why Big Girl is Mightiest!!!" Glitter Pony all the way! The other two just didn't inspire. Sparkle! Mad Monkey. Not quite Sun Wukong, but reading the spoilers he may have the Monkey King as a Watched, which would be very interesting in itself. The nature of Monkey is... irrepressible!

Is it worth pointing out that without FTL of any sort you also get the effect of island solar systems? It's just in that case the travel between systems takes even longer. As far as using ancient empires as models for future ones... well, they're a heck of a lot easier to research than actual star-spanning empires. And basics such as the need for local autonomy when communications are slow and the tyrrany of distance is in effect apply as equally to the Roman, British or Chinese empires. The same applies for frontier spaces relying on couriers, such as the American West or Colonial Africa, regardless of how sophisticated communications are back in civilisation. And Traveller is very much pitched at a frontier situation. Even with the creation of the official setting, the main focus was always out on the fringe.

Squirrel Girl. She has literally beaten most of the Marvel characters on that list. Even aside from that being a bit of a running gag, she has strength and agility at Spiderman's level or better, claws that can cut through almost indestructible glass and the whole squirrel army thing. Even outside her own book or parody titles, she's beaten Wolverine in a straight fight. Invisible Woman. She's been a powerhouse since the early 80's, even before she updated her name. Mister Fantastic. Not just a brain; may not be top tier power wise, but is literally more flexible than most. Mary Marvel. Captain Marvel Jr. Marvelman/Miracleman. Judge Dredd. Johnny Alpha (Strontium Dog)

Okay, assuming the weapon is a 4d6 hand weapon (NOT +4d6!) with STR min 10, your guy has +20 STR over the minimum and can add +4 DC, up to double the base damage, which in this case is 8d6. The martial maneuver adds to this, BUT as you're already at the x2 damage cap, the extra dice from Legsweep doesn't help. It's 8d6.

Weapons substitute their damage for the STR of the mauneuver, whatever that damage is. In the case of a HA power, it's 10d6 and the mauneuver adds +2d6 for a total of 12d6. Except. That's how it goes in superheroic without Real Weapon, STR Min and so forth. Heroic hand weapons are typically a certain damage amount with bonus damage for high STR. Just work out what damage the weapon would normally do and add 2DC. All the things that might cap damage apply.

As well as this, "age of sail" is a bit too specific for me. The SAME deal of "long range communication is limited to the speed of travel" applies to all periods of history prior to the development of the semaphore networks in the 18th century. The Roman and Chinese Empires had the exact same problems, and are often better models to use for galactic empires (Asimov certainly thought so for Foundation, as did Anderson for his Terran Empire stuff).

Not that I'm aware of. My copy of (unrevised) 5e just says "DCV" not "DCV vs ranged attacks" or other any other qualification.

To stir the realism pot a little more, there's a middle ground between thrown objects and firearms, which are slings and arrows and such. You can *definitely* dodge or shield block an arrow you see coming at range.

The "age of sail" thing is correct to an extent, but shouldn't be overstated. Within a solar system communication is much faster than speed of travel (the flip side of all jumps requiring a week... that applies to in-system jumps, too). Within one or two jumps the effect is negligible for most purposes, so you'll normally play without it coming up to much of an extent.

Unified Power does require a common special effect, so you can't group Mutant Regeneration with a Flight Ring gadget. But you don't need to group powers with the same type of special effect if you don't want. You could have Mutant Might (STR and Leaping) as one Unified Power and Mutant Regeneration (Regeneration and REC) as another. But if a campaign ground rule is that Mutant powers are considered one power and are switched on or off that way, it makes sense to require them to be Unified.

Regular charges covers typical "brew your own" potions just fine. You recharge them back at the lab by brewing more. A character that can enchant them on the fly might take "recoverable charges" with the recovery needing a short while and maybe some common materials.

Worth pointing out that a normal Dodge is free, so when comparing costs, The Martial Dodge is really only a +2 DCV enhancement for its 4 points. Also that the discussion applies to base DCV, not just that obtained from maneuvers. In a realistic campaign you may well rule that you can't dodge bullets... but the implication in HERO terms is that all targets have the same DCV against guns. You can't consistently have it both ways that Joe Civilian (DCV 3) is easier to hit than Mary Agent (DCV 5) if dodging is removed from the equation.

This sounds like a solid idea to me.

DCV and/or 10+ Penalty skill levels vs various things (range, hit location etc) appropriate to the setting and their powers and abilities for making that "shot in a million". Deduction for making a "lucky guess".

Yeah, I didn't really mean cruising speed would be a useful term in the OP scenario (or drowning, for that matter) I mentioned that idea more in terms of general speed reduction stuff. If you have SPD 6, REC 8 and flight that costs 2 END, you might choose SPD 4 for long distance flight.