LoneWolf

One thing that UV could be useful for is identifying people and objects. A person or object may look slightly different to UV. For a person it could be a birthmark that is not visible to normal sight. A person without UV vision would not be aware of this so would not incorporate that into their disguise. The character with UV vision that notices the birthmark is missing would have a better chance to see through the disguise. The other thing it could be used for is to send messages that others do not notice. Basically you have an ink that is not visible to normal sight but anyone with UV vision can see and read it. This thread got me thinking on how to use UV vision. The more I think about it the less important being able to see in the dark becomes.

Humans cannot see in the UV spectrum so all our UV technology is making it visible to the normal spectrum. If someone has the ability to perceive in the UV spectrum this does not need to be done. How they view things are going to be different. I see no reason they could not use ambient UV light to get information about an object. Instead of glowing in a dark room it would probably show up as a slightly different color that someone with normal human vision could not see. In effect normal humans are color blind to UV colors. According to Wikipedia reflective UV photography is used in medicine, dermatology, botany, criminology and theatrical applications. Reflective UV photography can use strong natural sunlight. A filter is used to block visible and infrared light so only the UV light passes through the lens. That is technology we currently have. Imagine what can be done in the future or by a super scientist like reed Richards.

It will be incredibly expensive you will also need the advantage ranged as well. You will need fully indirect and might need to add the +1 Non-Standard Defense to the autofire if the character has any unusual attacks. On the standard 12D6 attack that comes out to 165 points. That also only covers attacks it does not give the ability to swap places with his shadow.

I am not an expert on how UV light works, so the information I am using is from the internet and using the cheap pet urine detectors. The pet urine detector I have uses a couple of AAA batteries and does not seem very bright. That leads me to believe it is not that high intensity. It is also designed to allow someone without any other equipment or the ability to see in the UV spectrum to see body fluids. Someone with the natural ability to see in the UV spectrum probably can use it to detect what the flashlight does. I am not sure how it would show up but I imagine the color would be different because the UV light is being reflected back to the retina of the character. Since UV light is not detectable by normal sight having a source of UV light would allow you to see, but characters without UV vision would not be able to see the light. Maybe the solution would be to change UV Vision to an active sense for the same cost. That would allow it to be used anywhere but would be visible to other with UV vision. That would give each of the three senses some differences and advantages. IR vision would give the ability to see things that are a different temperature and work anywhere but would not be detectable. Night Vision would allow you to see as you normally do in complete darkness and would also not draw attention to you. UV Vision would work everywhere and allow you to some advantages in detecting certain things but would draw attention to you.

In the games I run we keep SPD down and adjust the SPDS of published characters as well. In our campaigns a 6 or higher is what a full speedster is likely to have. 5 SPD is unusual, so 4 SPD is considered average for a PC. As long as everyone respects this the campaign works fairly well. Once we explain that if the players characters buy to high SPD all of the NPC’s will have their SPD adjusted people are usually ok with it. I do agree that the 8 SPD is better than a 5 with summons or duplicates. I view all of those builds as potently problematic and would be inclined to veto all of them. I don’t really see the need to allow more actions because of the shadow clones. From what the original post stated directing the shadow clone took some effort. Considering the shadows are based on images you can have them appear to move as a zero-phase action. Using any of the other powers is going to require Zed to spend an action anyways. Activating a stretching is a zero-phase action so Zed can simply attack through any of the shadows or his own location anytime he wants. I would simply buy Zed’s SPD to an appropriate level and not worry about the origin of the attack. Allow Zed to attack or teleport to any location as he wants. That will actually give Zed more tactical options. Buying extra SPD and limiting Zed to actions to only specific locations does not gain him anything and pointlessly complicates the character.

I am not a big fan of limited SPD or even supper high SPD’s. Having limitations on SPD often cause a lot of problems in the game. If the limitation is something that is constant like only in Hero ID or through a focus inaccessible focus it might be ok. But if it is anything that can change in or varies in combat it is usually a pain. What happens when you cancel a phase to do something that is affected by the limitation? In this case what happens to the phases your shadow goes in when you cancel to an action you want the character to do? Are the phases the shadows go in lost? If you want one of your shadows to cancel does that mean you lose all phases until the shadow goes? Is it ok to attack all out in phase 12 Cancel your 3 to a defensive action in phase 1 and in phase 2 have your shadow make an all-out attack? If you can do that what is your DCV those phases? As a GM I will veto this type of power because it complicates thing too much and focuses too much of the game on a single player. That is also the reason I really dislike extremely high SPD characters. Having lots of actions in a turn sounds great but it also creates a lot of problems. When a character can effectively act a lot more than any other character, that character hogs the spotlight too much. If the character does not have good defenses and is canceling a lot to defensive actions, it is not so bad. But a character that attacks significantly more often than the rest of the character is hogging the spotlight. This often leads to SPD inflation where all the characters end up buying up their SPD. When that happens, everyone gets punished. High also can also mean your END usage go up and can become a problem. Don’t forget that you have to pay END every phase for a lot of powers. That extra 3 SPD could increase your END per turn significantly if you are moving and attacking on each phase. This means you have to spend more points on REC and END or purchase reduced END on all your powers or you end up becoming exhausted too soon.

@Hugh Neilson My point is that a -2 limitation should mean the power is incredibly restricted. Only to calm down to me is not enough to justify a -2 limitation. I was also responding to a mathematical formula being used to justify a value of a limitation that does not actually limit the power as much as the formula says. Each custom limitation should be evaluated by itself based on how much it limits the power. Using a mathematical formula to get an idea is ok, but you still have to look at how much the limitation restricts the power. I used the examples from the book to illustrate that point. I can see a lot of uses for only to calm down besides stopping enraged and berserks. It could be used on a person who is nervous about doing something allowing them to avoid penalties to certain activities. It could be used to get people to listen to other people when they are trying to explain things the person does not want to hear. It could prevent people from panicking during a fire and exit in a calm and orderly manner. It could prevent a fight before it even got started.

It really depends on the campaign. In a science fiction-based game there are probably a lot of infrared and ultraviolet devices. Having those visions will allow you to see them. For example, Infraredvision would allow you to see an infrared signal. In the real world a lot of devices like TV’s and stereo systems have infrared remote controllers. In a high tech setting those are going to be even more common. Infraredvision also allows you to detect heat so can give more information than sight. A character with infraredvision could be able to determine if an electronic device was on by the fact, it has a higher temperature from the heat of the electronics. In a Fantasy campaign it can help you spot an undead creature due to its lack of body heat. Ultraviolet Light also give more information than visible light. Many substances show up differently under ultraviolet light. Ultravioletvision could allow a character to detect those substances easier. For Example, it would be able to detect urine and other body fluids after they have dried. That is how the pet urine detectors work. It can help in determining fakes and counterfeit money. All night vision does is to allow you to see in the dark.

Nightvision specifically states it can see in total darkness, whereas Ultraviolet Perception states it provides not benefit in the absences of UV light. So, Nightvision will allow you to see in the cave where UV (the book states UV does not work in a cave) does not. Basically, Nightvision allows you to see normally in any normal darkness. UV allows you to see where UV light is present and allows you to see UV light itself.

@Marcus your premise is mistaken and is trying to apply a mathematical formula in a manner it should not. This is backed up by the examples in the rule book. In the 6E V1 P383 it gives examples of the limited power limitation. Only works in Darkness is listed as a -1/2 limitation, Does not work in Darkness is listed as a -1/4 limitation. 6E V1 P382 gives some guidelines on the limited power limitation -1/4 limitation is limited about a fourth of the time, -1/2 is limited about a third of the time, -1 the character is limited about half the time, -1 ½ the character is limited over half the time, and finally -2 the character almost never gets to use the power. The last set is what you should be using not some mathematical formula that ignores the examples in the books.

That is not always the case. What you have to do is to look at how limiting the restriction is and what you can do with it. There are multiple ways you can get a person to do what you want them to. If someone is enraged or berserk, I can use other commands besides clam down to prevent them from attacking. I could simply order them not to attack and if I get a high enough roll, they don’t attack despite being berserk. If I can achieve the result, I want without using that command the restriction of not being able to use that command is less restrictive and therefore is worth less. Often only being able to do, or not being able to something is more restrictive than opposite. Take the situation where there are a hundred cars and 1 of them is pink. Not being able to attack the pink car means I still have 99 targets to choose from. If I can only attack the pink car I have only a single target I can attack. Not being able to attack the pink car hardly limits me at all and should be worth little to no limitation. Only being able to attack pink cars on the other hand incredibly restrictive and should be result in a much higher limitation. The command calm down might not even prevent the character from attacking his target even if it achieves EGO +30. If the enraged character would normally attack the target removing the enraged or berserk, they can still do so. In fact, in some cases, it may even work against the target. When a character is enraged or berserk, they do not always choose the best attack option.

Sentient was probably a bad choice of words. I should have just said independent and left it at that. I envision a shadow clone more as an extension of the character than a separate creature. This is based on the fact the clones can only act by the characters mental orders and cannot act on their own. It also prevents the clones from being mind controlled.

Duplication or Summons is not a good fit because the shadows do not seem to be independent sentient creatures; they seem to be more of an extension of the character. Basically, they allow the character to make his normal attacks from several different locations. The original poster also stated he wants to play a Ninja. Most Ninja use martial arts and some weapons to attack. Stretching allows you to do attack from different locations. Start with Images to sight with a -5 to perception roll with the limitations only to create shadows duplicates, Limited Range, Physical Manifestation and Unified for 9 points. Add 15M Stretching with the advantages Fully Invisible and Does Not Cross Intervening Space and the limitations No Velocity Damage and No Noncombat Stretching, Unified Power, Linked to Images for 17 points. Add 15M teleport with Position shift, No Noncombat movement, Unified Power and linked to images for 10 points. For 36 points the character can create one or more shadow duplicates within 15M and attack through them He can also use teleport to swap places with his duplicates.

If it is for your own use then you can probably create anything you want including things under a copy write or trademark. You can probably also share them with your friends as long as you are not charging for them or otherwise profiting from them. Publishing them in a book or on a for profit website is probably not allowed. Hero Games is a company that sells related material so cannot do this. Not sure if you could publish them here.

This seems more like a suite of powers instead of a single power. I would probably start with images as the base power and link abilities to the image powers. Teleport will allow you to swap places with the shadows. Stretching with the advantages Does Not Cross Intervening Space and Invisible power effects will allow you to attack through the shadows. Using Indirect works too, but you may need to buy ranged on some powers. This will increase the active cost of all your powers which could be a problem is you have any active point campaign limitations. You would not be able to attack more times than you can without using the shadows except if you used the multiple attack maneuver. In all honesty this is probably better for the game. Allowing a character to attack more often than their SPD allows with no drawbacks is a bad idea.

Is the limitation only to stop enraged and berserks or only to calm down? Personally, I would be reluctant to allow a limitation on mind control to be limited to stopping enraged and berserks but have no problem with it calming people down. As a general rule a power should be able to be described without using any game terms unless that game term is also a commonly used phrase and being used as the commonly used phrase. From what I can see the terms enraged and berserk is using the game definition not the common usage. If your character (not the player) cannot describe a power to another character without using game terms the power should not be allowed. Only to calm someone down is not worth a -2 limitation much less a -4. A -4 limitation is a single charge that never recovers. A -2 is a single charge. Only to calm down is going to be able to be used more than once in the campaign and could be used multiple times in a session. Only to calm down could be used to prevent someone from panicking and running into danger or prevent a fight before it starts.

If you don’t buy the sense group any sense in that group will “see” you as you really are. The Sight group allows you to look like an orc. The Touch group allows you to you to not only have the proper textures, but also allows you to change your physical shape and mass. Hearing allows you to sound like an orc. Smell allows you to smell like an orc. Mental would make your mind appear to be that of an orc. At minimum you would probably need sight and touch. Hearing and smell would probably also be useful. The book does state that cellular should have touch as one of the senses it affects. Without smell/taste a creature like a dog with discriminatory smell will be able to identify you. Without hearing you will need to make mimicry rolls to sound like a woman or an orc.

When you go against a psychological complication the strength of the complication is used to determine the level of mind control needed. I would suggest that an enraged or berserk look at the recovery to determine the level of control needed. The recovery chance is based on how easy it is for the character to overcome his rage. A recovery of 14 or less might be an EGO +10, an 11 or less an EGO +20 and a 8 or less would be a EGO +30. Straight EGO I feel is inappropriate because the character does have to excerpt some effort to calm down.

About a -1 limitation seems about right. It is fairly limiting on what it causes the target to do, but at the same time it has a lot of applications besides just stopping an enraged or berserk character. Used in the right circumstances it can prevent a lot situations from getting out of hand.

Good point about the Noncombat Acceleration. I think you also have to apply this advantage to the base characteristic as well. That puts the cost to 38 points. But a real Olympic runner would not have that so they would need more movement and or SPD to achieve the same result.

The normal human maximum is the point that above this the character is getting into the superhuman range. Characters with a high SPD that are supposed to be normal humans should consider buying down their movement unless they are supposed to be world class athletes. Part of the problem is that the SPD’s of most published characters are too high. This is probably because the earlier editions of the game most of the opponents were written like that and it carried over into the later editions. What people don’t seem to realize is that SPD is a relative stat. If you lower the SPD of all characters equally the end result is pretty much the same. In fact, it often ends up better for the PC’s because it reduces a lot of problems like END usage and other long-term issues. Don’t forget that almost all actions cost at least 1 END including firing a gun or using a defensive action like dodge or block. Movement also costs END, so a character needs 2 x their SPD in REC or they start losing END quickly. If the character is using powers that require more END than 1 it is even worse.

The other thing that is not factored in is acceleration and deceleration. It takes at least an extra segment to get the even x2 NCM. So, on phase 12 the sprinter can move his full combat movement, on his next phase he can accelerate up to twice his combat movement. As other have pointed out everyman should have a 2 SPD. That means he move 36m in a turn. According to my calculation a character with 2 SPD and 12M running can run at about slightly over 8.5 miles per hour. A quick check through an AI search said the average man runs around 8 MPH. It seems like Hero System is fairly accurate.

Even a non-combat form should be able to keep themselves alive long enough to change forms. Also some technical skills might be used in combat so you cannot completely ignore SPD. Demolitions and some of the other technical skills might need to be done quickly, so 2 SPD might not be enough. Overall skill levels are expensive but very useful for this type of character. Perks and Talents are another thing you will probably want for this type of character. This type of character can actually be fairly expensive because of all the little things they have.

A non-combat multiform can be fairly effective. You have two forms one has all the combat ability and the other has all the out of combat utility. The Hulk is a perfect example of this. Hulk has all the combat ability where Bruce Banner has all the scientific skills. That is probably not what you meant but it is still a non-combat multiform.

Even if you are applying a limitation to the pool of the multipower it comes out more expensive because you have to pay for the individual slots. If you apply the limitation to the multipower it reduces the cost from 128 to 86, but that is still a lot more the 54. What has the extra 32 points bought you? Using any kind of framework only makes sense when it saves your points. Spending extra points for a lesser power is ridiculous and negatively impacts the game because the character is weaker than they should be. Putting only multiform in [b]any framework[/b] is pointless because it gains no real advantage and costs more. Having 2,000 + separate forms is effectively infinite forms. If the character has other powers besides multiform in the framework that is a different story.