sentry0

23 minutes ago, mallet said:

Ah, okay. That makes sense. But dang, had my hopes up that someone had invented/figured out a work around so it could be used on a PC. 

You could try Bluestacks...https://www.bluestacks.com/

I have no idea if it would work though...if you can't find the app in their store you should be able to manually install the APK.

8 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

I find these rules tend not to work well in practice - there are too many variables.

 

Some comments here:

Highest AP attack will weight a 6d6 Blast, 0 END, Personal Immunity, Affects all Desolid attack (67 AP) more offensively powerful than a 12d6 Blast.  Which one will have more impact on the character's offensive capabilities?  I'd use Damage Classes.

 

How does the system factor in  velocity damage or martial arts/skill levels?

 

I find a versatile character has an advantage, but this weighting means a 12d6 Blast is the same offense as a dozen different 60 AP attacks in a multipower.

 

Similar issues exist for defensive powers - is a character with 30 Power Defense, 15 PD and 15 ED better defended than one with 25 PD,. ED, Mental Defense, Power Defense and Spatial Awareness (to avoid Flash)?

 

Isn't Damage Reduction a defense power?  Does that mean it counts twice? 

 

50% damage reduction means twice as much STUN has to get past defenses to KO the target (75% means 4x).  Is your formula intended to generate a lower multiple to acknowledge there are likely ways the character will take unreduced STUN?

 

Is 75% Damage Reduction vs Fire Only more potent than 50% energy, physical and mental damage reduction? 

 

Generally, I find rules of X are at best Guidelines - the system is complex, so judgment has to be applied.

All that makes sense.  There's never going to be a substitute for GM eyes on a character.  I think any GM and/or player blindly accepting some variation of the Rule of X calculation as proof a character is ready for playtime is going to be in for a bad time.

The Rule of X is really this games version of horseshoes (or hand grenades) where close counts but there should be an objective way to say you are completely off target, right?

I'm wondering if there isn't a way to come up with a "good enough" calculation that could help get characters in the right general vicinity.  I think it makes sense to combine Offensive and Defensive Rules of X into a single monolithic calculation.

If you look at the old 5th edition tables they list these as factors for power levels:

• Characteristics
• SPD
• CVs
• DCs
• Active Points
• Skill Points
• DEF/rDEF

This is a good starting point but some are just not important and some need to be broken out into separate variables.  Here's what I propose as the main factors in a characters power:

• SPD * 2 (maybe more)
• OCV
• DCV
• DC of highest attack
• AP / 5 of greatest attack power
• (PD + ED) / 2
• (rPD + rED) / 2
• STUN / 5
• AP / 5 of greatest defensive power (including desolidification, deflection, invisibility, etc)
• Maximum velocity meters / 6 (does not count teleportation)

These 10 factors may be the "good enough" variables the monolithic equation needs.  Of course it's not perfect, there's a big difference between 60 AP in power defense and 60 AP in Damage Negation those are where the GM needs to intervene and use their  own judgement.  Their simply is no substitution for human GMs interpretation of a character.

Anyways, this is all just me shooting from the hip here...I want to play around with this some more and run some characters through the equation before I come to any conclusions.

I recently bit the bullet and updated from 5th to 6th edition and have found the changes to 6th to be really refreshing and good.  In particular, I have really liked how DEX has been decoupled from OCV/DCV...I knew that was a thing but actually sitting down and building a character that didn't have superhuman levels of DEX because their concept didn't call for it was gratifying.

The one thing that irks me in 6th is that the rule of x is so vague.  I really liked the old tables that existed in 5th edition (page 15 of the core book) that listed the point costs and character abilities guidelines better than the rule of x IMO.  However, I think the rule of x has so much potential that I want to use it...I just need a more solid calculation

Here's my preliminary thoughts for my rule of x calculations:

Offensive Rule of X

• SPD * 2 (or 3 or higher???  Speed has such a massive impact on combat that I feel it should be weighted)
• OCV
• Highest offensive power/attack AP / 5

Defensive Rule of X

• Highest defensive power AP /5
• DCV
• SPD * 2 (see above)
• STUN / 5 * (1 + (Damage Reduction percentage / 100))

The math nerd in me says that there are many variables, some that interact with other variables, some variables that should be weighted higher, that someone must have done the math on this.

So, does anyone have a really slick rule of x to share or have anything to add to my calculation???

5 hours ago, Hyper-Man said:

The Notes appear to still need a space and/or a hard return added as they currently display immediately after the END costs instead of the next row like they should (IMHO). The Power descriptions also need a space added after the ":" and the actual mechanical build.

I agree that their needs to be a break before notes, I've added that to my TODO list.

I think there is actually a space after the ":" it's just that the font butchers it   I'll look into it though and confirm/deny that.

On 3/31/2018 at 3:56 AM, cptpatriot said:

When looking up the surface area of a human, I got 1.9 square meters. That translates to:

• 1.9 square meters = 2945.006 square inches

That means at that depth, the victim is being subjected to 46,383,844.5 pounds of force or  21039.358 metric tons

 

That's the equivalent of a 98 STR, so 19.5d6 every segment.

 

I came here not knowing what I'd find and leave pleasantly satisfied.

14 hours ago, Hyper-Man said:

Something else I forgot to mention is that John shows the Notes in the Mobile app but Clark and Barry do not. I'll hazard a guess that has something to do with differences between the Heroic and Superheroic templates.

The notes are there for me when I look at Clark.  It looks like they're hidden by default on most of the powers but if you touch a power like "He Can Fly!" they show up.

I don't hide notes on skills in the app.

46 minutes ago, Hyper-Man said:

 

Wow. The latest updates look great on the iPhone and PC.

tested with Clark, Barry and John.

 

2 minor issues:

1) I built Lightning Reflexes as a power instead of talent so its secondary value would appear in the characteristcs block. I also set modifiers to not affect base characteristics.  I think that should keep skill rolls from displaying the invalid 2nd roll value. Otherwise it would be an export specific change needed.

2) The Notes feature is needed or needs a hard break added in some places.

 

Thanks for all the hard work.

I'll add them to my list if things to do.

OTOH...John Wick is another extreme example.  Having 5-7 Moves wouldn't push it out too much...

Maybe I can make it so the MA section only shows non-moves like extra DCs and Weapon Elements.

2 hours ago, Hyper-Man said:

 

I finally dove into cranking up my laptop and doing tons of updates with my one good hand.  I like the Frankenstein way you're picking the best features from several different exports.  The END costs probably need a column label added to make sense.  Martial Arts need cleanup and are one area I recommend doubling up with the standard maneuvers as well as their standard cost listing so players can see ALL their options in one place. 

 

Keep up the good work!

Alright, looks like the MA section had a display bug with lists that I cleaned up and I added in labels for the powers section.  It begs the question should I add labels on other sections....have to play with it a bit more I guess to see what I think.

While I don't disagree with your rationale on the Combat Maneuvers list I don't like adding in the MA into the Combat moves list for 2 reasons:

1. It can push that column out potentially a lot and make a big gap in the template (see where my mouse cursor is pointing in the attached image)
2. It is violating my DRY principle by having the same info in 2 places

 I think the compromise here is to move the Martial Arts section up so it appears right under the maneuvers list??? 

I just posted the 1.0.0 version of the export template

http://www.herogames.com/forums/files/file/452-6e-simple-export-template/

24 minutes ago, MrAgdesh said:

 

Yes, that's it. Just looking at a variety of options. This is something that I've thought of, along with the obvious limiting of Speed. Wondered if anybody might have tried it and if so what conclusions they reached. We haven't even tried it in a trial combat yet.

Mooks and named villains alike don't get recoveries in my games.

I'd rather a player be given the chance to get back on their feet than sit idle while everyone else is having fun.  

8 hours ago, assault said:

How complicated a character would you want to use for a Con game?

 

For example, Hyper-Man's Superman is a very fine print heavy character - not one you can easily sit down and play.

 

Designing a sheet to display simpler characters is, obviously, simpler.

That's true...I like to use the characters Hyper-Man builds while testing because they're complicated and on the extreme end in terms of content.

The characters I'm using at the mini-con are much more simple and fit on a page and half

4 minutes ago, dsatow said:

Since I am a little late to this party, I just quickly skimmed through the posts.  So if I am repeating anything, just ignore it.

 

1) I would suggest you make two more characters than people who will play.  Its really lousy and sours the game when you are the last to choose and you are stuck with the character no one wants.

2) Leave about 15 points unassigned to the character, then when they have chosen their characters ask them to describe the characters then use the reserve points to give them the skills or abilities.  For example, maybe someone's a judo aficionado.  Give them breakfall and Judo maneuvers.

3) Make a simple die chart for rolling to hit.  It can be blank and let them fill in the appropriate numbers.  ie: an 11 = OCV, a 12 = OCV-1, etc.

4) Give them no more than 1 or 2 combat levels if any at all.

 

 

Those are good ideas...I'm always up for building a character too

1 minute ago, Hyper-Man said:

Good luck. I am going sleep if I can. I've been up on steroids to prevent brain swelling and I'm ready to pass out if I can just shut down my brain.

Thanks for your help...get some rest

4 minutes ago, Hyper-Man said:

 

Nice.

 

If you really want to test it I would also try my John Wick build as well.

ick, not pretty.

I'll have to rejig skills/talents/perks I think to make that work

7 minutes ago, Hyper-Man said:

First thing you will want to do is find the HD setting/preference to hide common modifiers on powers when inside a List or Framework and that will remove the redundant Kryptonite and red solar entries. That should clean up a LOT of clutter.

Nice, I didn't know such a thing existed...that made a big difference.

I added in complications to the first screen too...equipment is next then I think it's almost done.

4 minutes ago, Hyper-Man said:

So far so good.  How it displays combat, powers and framework info is the real trick. Especially if there's common modifiers and Notes included like the example character you used.

Here's p2 of the print preview...it has the start of the extensive list you made for Clark.

I've been playing around with writing my own "Simple HTML" export template because I couldn't really find one that I liked or could get to work.  

Some notes:

• Not finished....what do you think of it so far?
• Heavily influenced by the RTF templates Legendsmiths made
• I'm going for a simple uncluttered look but am not sure if I'm hitting the mark
• Trying to keep the template DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)

What do you think....is it suitable for a new player?

3 hours ago, Hyper-Man said:

So was this inspired by the quicksilver scene at the beginning of the last x-men movie? That scene IMHO is more of an enter the speedzone (5e Ultimate speedster / 6e APG) An almost time stop EDM vs non speedsters.  If so why NOT include the safe blind and no velocity advantages? I'm applying a sfx of sorts by asking what happens when this power is used near a character with abilities like Invisible Woman and her invisible barriers? Can he rescue people from a moving vehicle?

 

Just curious.

It was inspired by 3 things:

• The Quicksilver scene, this power is a scaled down version of what Quicksilver did in the movie
• My own experience with Speedsters seemingly always getting put on crowd control in games
• I wanted to showcase something "fancy" for Champions at a mini-con I'm planning to run a table at

I know that there will be hostages running around in the scenario I'm planning and I know that Speedsters are almost always on crowd control because they have high dex and speed.  This ability allows the Speedster character to get people to safety quickly and get back to the action...and is a pretty flashy way to do it too   It also has general utility for diving for cover which is a nice little bonus but it was really designed with crowd control in mind.

I think you're right too, there's no reason not to give position shift and velocity given the special effect.

Alright...reading the UOO rules a bit more carefully I think this version is probably what I'll be going with:

Evacuate!:  Teleportation 24m, Usable Simultaneously (up to 32 people at once; +1 1/2), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor controls the power totally, Recipient must remain close to Grantor, Recipient must be within Limited Range of the Grantor for power to be granted (60 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Must Cross Intervening Space; -1/4)

Providing I'm interrpreting the rules correctly this version should allow the following:

• Recipients must be willing
• A single attack roll is made for all recipients
• All recipients must be within 10m of the grantor
• The grantor can also (optionally) give the power to themselves and teleport themselves

Better version...

Evacuate!:  Teleportation 35m, Usable Simultaneously (up to 32 people at once; +3/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor controls the power totally, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor (61 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Must Cross Intervening Space; -1/4)

3 minutes ago, Hyper-Man said:

If the intent is only a group dive for cover and is not intended to be used as an attack then I don't think are is even needed. Just usable nearby should be enough.

Interesting, that would actually cheapen it up

Evacuate!:  Teleportation 35m, x32 Increased Mass (60 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Must Cross Intervening Space; -1/2), Usable By Other (-1/2), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor controls the power totally, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor

It would absolutely burn through endurance but could totally save civilian lives.

3 minutes ago, Watchman Mk. IV said:

So I'm guessing that opponents would go too if they got within range in time.  (Just hope they're not half-in and half-out; then you're talking about a Stargate transporter.

The AoE is selective so the Speedster can pick who gets it.  You could probably make a case that hostile characters can't be teleported for game balance reasons but I don't know if I would worry about it too much

I created a Speedster that has a group Teleport but am wondering if I have created it correctly.  The special effect is that the speedster moves up to 8 people out of an area in the blink of an eye and then returns to their starting position.  

Evacuate!:  Teleportation 20m, x8 Increased Mass, Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Selective (+1/4) (61 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Must Cross Intervening Space; -1/2), Usable By Other (-1/2), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor controls the power totally, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor

The teleport would move the recipients out of the "close" range that Usable By Other requires, which is fine.

Thoughts, comments, concerns...have I missed something or am I overthinking this?

On a related note what are people's opinions on export templates that are good for first timers? 

I'm thinking they have to be easy to read and well labeled, not necessarily compact.