Toxxus

Upgrade the non-combat multiplier until you can cover a planetary distance immediately. The level of MegaMovement you'd want for this is a +2 advantage on the teleport. May or may not need to also pick up a detect/sense similarly scaled to make a safe trip to the location. This would also be at a +2 advantage. Might be able to buy it as a Naked Advantage on the characters natural eyesight to cut the cost a bit.

No, but he's been estimated at that value (and often quite a bit higher) by much more financially sound groups than myself such as Forbes. Are you going to pretend he's poor because he's so unlikable? I get it. He's easy to not like. That doesn't make his accomplishments vanish. I hadn't seen that emoluments clause argument against Trump. That made for some interesting reading. Thanks.

That would require a substantial crew considering it's likely over 1000 tons of rock that would have to be broken down into manageable chunks.

I agree that he has caved in ways that make him look beatable in future standoffs. I can't rationally accept that he's a complete incompetent in the deal making department with a net worth north of 2.5 billion among other things. He beat a huge field of Republican contenders to win a presidency that I honestly believe he didn't expect to win.

I built something for my wife's sorceress, but I can't recall where I saw this concept. Basically, running with the idea of Naked Advantage I gave her the D&D equivalent of Sorcery Points to be able to use her spells without their normal limitations. Base powers are a Multipower with 60 active points and shared limitations of (Incantations -1/4, Gestures -1/4, Full Phase - 1/2) for a cost of 30 points plus 3pts per fixed slot. I modeled the Sorcery Points as Naked Advantage (+1 on 60 Active Points to remove the limitations) with the limitations of 6 charges per day, costs endurance, costs extra endurance (x3). Is there a better way to model this?

Ha! You're right. It does seem longer. It's funny because I'm pretty happy with how things are going. Economy is good, the obnoxious intrusive government isn't any worse than it was and for the most part - things are working. But I can't watch the president talk - especially off the cuff - or he drives me insane. Like - finish a f'ing sentence! He speaks like an old dot matrix printer. I actually liked, mostly, the state of the union addresses where he stopped the twitter diarrhea and took on a presidential demeanor, but I can't watch his interviews. All that being said - if the economy doesn't crash before 2020 I suspect he wins a re-election pretty easily.

That's possible, but we're 3.5 years into his Presidency and enjoying the strongest economy we've seen in quite awhile. I know many will say that it was due to the work of the previous office holder, but would they also credit the previous guy if things we're terrible? The guy has a net worth of 2.5 to 3 billion dollars depending on the source. That's not exactly a strong indicator of financial incompetence. The president gets too much blame/credit generally for economic success. The budget and laws that impact regulatory burden and finances are done by Congress which currently has an approval rating slightly lower than malaria.

Not sure if we're "winning", but taking actual actions instead of saber-rattling in an attempt to get a fair trade deal going isn't the worst thing I've ever seen. I'm a big fan of reciprocity. Additionally, there's a very real limit to how hard the USA and China can push each other. We're financially married at this point. A major disruption either way would be bad for both of us. I would expect a lot of unreasonable demands to save face (in both directions) before we settle on something that leaves both parties in a good place.

I highly recommend Variable Power Pools for D&D classes that can swap out their prepared spells each day (Wizards, Clerics, etc.).

That boulder would weigh north of 1 million KG. You'd need an 80+ strength to pick that up, much less throw it.

You are correct. My chart was not exactly the same. Which lead to some interesting reading on the correlation between out-of-marriage child birth and children living in single parent homes. They are pretty tightly correlated so my chart is still a solid rough indicator of the trend. What IS interesting, however, is that the rates of unmarried cohabitation have gone way up in the last several years. Earlier on the rate of unmarried couples raising their children together was extremely low (single digits), but it's up substantially since the early 2000s. You really can learn from your mistakes. Thanks, Lucius. I also agree that liberalism has changed substantially in recent years. Old school (classic) liberals were huge free speech proponents. I suspect a lot of classic liberals would consider themselves libertarians at this point. ~ And I wandered off to read more ~ And I would consider myself a classical liberal while most of my younger friends probably think I'm a conservative. Getting old is weird.

Killer Shrike has converted older editions and his website has TONs of good information. http://www.killershrike.com/ You'll find direct conversions of D&D to HERO somewhat tricky to do because some of the D&D spells are overpowered as !@#$ for their level and the points based nature of HERO makes those spells have to be downgraded substantially. The classic cheese spells of D&D 5th edition (banish, hypnotic pattern, force wall, force cage) can be recreated roughly in HERO, but they won't be as crazily overpowered as their counter-parts. I've done a lot of on-the-fly conversions using some rough rule of thumbs such as: Armor class: Converts directly to Resistant PD / Resistant ED in HERO. Chainmail adds 6 to AC (16) so in HERO it is 6pts of rPD/rED. Plate Armor adds 8 to AC (18) so it is 8pts of rPD/rED. Add the DEX bonus part of AC to DCV. Add the shield bonus part of AC to DCV. Example: You have an NPC with a D&D AC of 20 (10pts above starting value of 10) wearing chainmail and a shield. Chainmail = 6pts rPD/rED and the NPC gets +2 DCV for the shield and +2 DCV for DEX. Spell Levels: Level 1 = 30 active points (max). This goes up by 7.5 pts per level in a medium-magic setting. You could raise it by 10 or more per level in a high magic setting. Ex: Magic Missile (1 pt NND RKA, Autofire, Single Hex, Accurate, Does Body) Level 2 = 37 active points. Ex: Hold Person - Mental Paralysis 1d6 (+1 DEF). Level 3 = 45 active points. Ex: The classic Fireball - 2d6 RKA with an 8 meter AoE Level 4 = 52 active points. Level 5 = 60 active points. Ex: Cone of Cold - 2d6 RKA - Area of Effect Cone - Armor Piercing Level 6 = 67 active points. Level 7 = 75 active points. Level 8 = 82 active points. Level 9 = 90 active points. Ex: Meteor Swarm - 2.5d6 RKA - 8 meter AoE - Autofire Saving Throws: One approach - Add a -1 limitation to all spells that they are either completely negated or their damage is reduced by half if the target ties or wins a characteristic roll vs. casters spell casting ability. Zapperon has a Magic Skill of 15 or less and he blasts Ser Rogerio with Cone of Cold. Ser Rogerio must make a Constitution roll (13 or less for him) and make the roll by the same amount or more than Zapperon to take 1/2 damage. Other Options: To retain a more Saving Throw feel of D&D compare the spellcasters OCV to the targets Characteristic / 3. Ex: Zapperon has an OCV of 7 and Ser Rogerio has a Constitution of 18 (18/3 = 6) so Zapperon will need to roll a 12 or less (11 + 7 OCV - 6 DCV) to do full damage to Ser Rogerio. Reverse rolls for a more "Saving Throw" feel. Ex: Zapperon has an OCV of 7 and Ser Rogerio has a Constitution of 18 (18/3 = 6) so Ser Rogerio will need to make a CON save of 10 or less (11 + 6 for CON - 7 for OCV) to resist 1/2 the damage of the spell. Weapon Damage: Use the weapon charts. It doesn't conver well. Attack Bonus: Remove the STR bonus from an NPCs attack bonus and add that to OCV. Hope that helps a bit.

Firstly, really cool information. Thanks for the post. Secondly, they probably vanished in the manner typical of ancient societies. They chose from the great list of extinction events. 1- They got sick and died via some sort of plague. 2- Famine struck and they starved to death. 3- Another group attacked and slew them all. 4- They fell into civil war and annihilated each other.

Ah, this gives me nostalgia for the old write up for Paek Tu (spelling?) that allowed you to Abort to attack with a +4d6 spinning back kick. Overpowered as !@#$.

It's not clear that they are. There's a whole debate about it and everything. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. " Groups that are very clearly covered: Children born in the country whose parents are citizens. Groups that are not clearly covered: People illegally or legally in the country and subject to the jurisdiction of their country of residence. In fact, in that same amendment, a little further down in the equal protection under the law clause they use "in the jurisdiction" which indicates a decision based on physical location and distinct from "subject to the jurisdiction" which is a legal obligation. Historically the children of foreign officials - diplomats in particular - have not been covered as they are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States.

The original interpretations of the law (there's a decent Wiki article on the topic) wouldn't have covered the 300k-400k children being born to parents here illegally each year. Even in the mid-1800s it was determined that only legal residents of foreign nationals were granted birthright citizenship. Oddly enough, this has caused some problems for Lost Canadians due to the proximity of large Canadian cities with our border and their crossing over for emergency birth care on occasion. If they are born here they are Americans and Canada doesn't recognize them as Canadians. Even if they lived their whole lives in Canada and were born to Canadian parents. Kinda nuts.

Not sure our current implementation of voting is going to work out. We're 23 trillion in debt and have north of 100 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities and our leaders are showing no signs of slowing down their spending. Voting shouldn't be constrained by race or gender (nothing should, really), but I wouldn't mind an IQ test or some other metric required to be passed in order to vote. If I want to fish - I need a license. If I want a concealed handgun license I have to pass a background check; a written test; and prove I can hit a target while rapid-firing at the gun range. If I want to drive a car I have to pass an eye-test, a written test and a driving practical. If I want to vote I just have to make it to 18 years old and suddenly I have the power to pick which officials will determine the law of the land and who will, among other things, decide where our young men and women are sent to kill and die. That really should require a certain level of testable knowledge and decision making.

Nobody would make the assertion that Two Parents Are Always Better. But you can very easily make the scientifically backed assertion that Two Parents are Statistically Better. Lower poverty rates, lower incarceration rates, lower rates of sexual abuse, etc., etc. Not sure how you equate the booming global economy and vastly diminished rate of absolute poverty (both of which are great) as being caused by liberalism and not free markets.

Yes, there certainly has been a small drift downward in the last few years. However, if you extend the time range on the chart you'll see that we are absolutely blowing it by historical standards. And it is BAD beyond belief.

This is not cynicism. This is you being aware of human nature and how the price of things are set. Government subsidizes college and makes student loans available. What happens to the cost of college relative to wages? It skyrockets. The price of college increases by the amount of government assistance. And you're right on the money ( 3 BOD 11 PUN ) about what would happen to rents if they provide this Universal Basic Income. The cost of rents would go up by the amount of "free" money being provided. Also, where would this money come from? Income and payroll taxes (i.e. our money) provides the vast majority of government income. Corporations are able to launch an army of tax loophole lawyers at the problem and pay next to nothing. I'm looking at you Apple and Amazon. Giving away free stuff has had some radically bad social impacts as well. Single parent homes have risen dramatically since social programs made it much easier to survive without having to tolerate your spouse. The results for the children are catastrophic.

Oops! I sure did.

It was pretty clear given the context. Nice research effort though. I was so used to using COM since the late 80s that I didn't even realize that it wasn't in the first Fantasy Hero edition.

And it's this kind of crap that has turned me into a stodgy constitutionalist liberertarian. The government doesn't need to invade every nook and cranny of human activity and decide what the rules are. How about handle the very basics (law enforcement to prevent theft & bodily harm, roads, and national defense) and come back to the table after you've paid the national debt off. This kind of crap is EVERYWHERE. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019/05/14/philadelphia-soda-tax-cut-consumption-by-13-billion-ounces/#3d3706c4a518 Net result: City wanted more tax revenue. They raised soda taxes - a lot - and LOST half of their tax revenue as everyone went to buy their soda somewhere else. Whenever you tax an activity you discourage that activity. The higher the tax rate - the more people will abandon the activity if they can.

I get to compound mine with the fact that my kiddo is turning 10 years old so her growing up ties into the shows and somehow in my brain the ending of these shows is like my kid leaving for college. It's going to be awesome and shitty at the same time.

Big Bang Theory ended. Game of Thrones ended. Marvel finishes up an 11 year story arc. It feels oddly like completing a major chapter in life with the foreboding that the next chapter can't possibly be as good.