PhilFleischmann

Re: Charges on a Multipower's Reserve That's easy enough - you limit the slots that have charges, and don't limit the slots that don't have charges. 30 30-point Multipower Reserve, (example 9) 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 1 u30-point power, 1 Charge 3 u30-point power The first slot can be used 16 times; the second one, eight times; the third, once. After you've used these 25 shots, you can use the fourth slot as many times as you want (though it might cost END).

Re: Shapeshifting Do I really want to get involved in another Shape Shifting debate? My interpretation is to allow SS to have some real effects beyond simply having an altered appearance to one or more senses, especially in light of its increased cost. Examples: Shaping yourself into a ladder, so that your buddies can climb you. Shaping yourself into a man-sized airplaine, so the team brick can throw you as a balanced, aerodynamic object. Squeezing yourself through openings narrower than a normal person could get through (like the bars of a jail cell). AFAIK, there is no power that allows you to do the second of the above examples. This requires some thought on the part of the GM as to what should be allowed with SS, and what requires a separate power purchase. Speaking for myself, I would not allow Shape Shift to provide: Significant Attack Powers (Shaping my fingers into razor-sharp claws) Major Movement Powers (+10" running, turning myself into a cheetah, or a rapidly flowing liquid blob, etc.) Squeezing through *very* narrow openings (such as under most doors, or through keyholes) If a character gets points by taking a disadvantage, the GM should make sure the character is actually disadvantaged in play. If a character saves points by taking a limitation, the GM should make sure the power actually gets limited in play. And for the same reasons, if a character pays points for a power, the GM should make sure that the power is useful in play. "Sometimes a Power receives minor benefits and drawbacks because of its special effects. These minor modifiers don't change the cost of the Power, .... For example, a character with fire powers can keep his friends warm if they're trapped in a freezer. While the character could buy this (as Life Support...), the effect is so minor that the GM should allow him to do it without paying Character Points for it - it's an 'indirect benefit' of his chosen special effect." -- FREd, p70 Because the Shape Shift power is so expensive, I see it as providing a good deal of "indirect benefits."

Re: Charges on a Multipower's Reserve The way I handle it is like this: The Reserve must take the Charges Limitation or Advantage, based on the total number of shots in all of the slots, and the slots take their own limitation (or advantage) for the number of shots they have. Thus the slot limitation will always be lower (more of a limitation) than the Reserve's. Thus, using your examples: Example 1 would be 45 30-point Multipower Reserve, 64 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges That's 57 points for a total of 64 shots. Only 16 for each power. Example 2 would be 45 30-point Multipower Reserve, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges That's 61 points for a total of 64 shots. Unrestricted allocation of charges to the slots. (Plus, you essentially save 2 points due to the slot costs rounding off in your favor. Example 3 would have to be bought like this 60 30-point Multipower Reserve 256 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges 4 u30-point power, 64 Charges Which comes to 76 points (again saving 2 points in roundoffs), which allows 64 shots of each slot. At this point, you're probably better off just buying the whole thing at 0 END (unless one or more of the powers is Autofire). On the limitation side, the numbers might look like this: 37 30-point Multipower Reserve, 32 Charges (example 4) 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges Total: 45 points. Notice that the limitations on the slots add up to an Advantage on the Reserve. 30 30-point Multipower Reserve, 16 Charges (example 5) 1 u30-point power, 4 Charges 1 u30-point power, 4 Charges 1 u30-point power, 4 Charges 1 u30-point power, 4 Charges Total 34 points (again, saving 2 points due to roundoffs). Now the -1 lims add up to no lim. 15 30-point Multipower Reserve, 4 Charges (example 6) 1 u30-point power, 1 Charge 1 u30-point power, 1 Charge 1 u30-point power, 1 Charge 1 u30-point power, 1 Charge Total: 19 points. -2 lim on each slot, -1 lim on the reserve. You could also allow for partial flexibility by reducing the lim on the slots: 30 30-point Multipower Reserve, 16 Charges (example 7) 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges 2 u30-point power, 8 Charges Total: 38 points. Now the whole MP can be used 16 times, each slot can be used up to 8 times. This provides more flexibility than example 5, but not as much as: 30 30-point Multipower Reserve, 16 Charges (example 8) 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges 3 u30-point power, 16 Charges Total: 42 points. The whole MP can be used 16 times, freely allocating the slots. This seems the fairest way to me.

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions? It isn't so much that "modern Judaism" is opposed to the death penalty, but rather that many modern Jews (mostly secular) are opposed to the death penalty. The Jewish Bible (the Old Testament to you goyim), is very much in favor of the death penalty. That you must execute murderers is the only commandment repeated in all five books of the Torah. Later, Talmudic (or rabbinic) tradition placed so many restrictions on it that they essentially removed the death penalty all together. The requirement of two witnesses and a warning is not in the bible anywhere. Nor is the claim that one execution in seven (or seventy) years constitutes a murderous court. But back to the topic at hand: One type of execution that might make for an interesting situation in a FRPG is the kind where the victim must execute himself, or it's his own action that keeps him alive until he gives up, such as having his arms bound behind his back and hanging by his teeth over a precipice. How long can his jaw muscles hold out? This one is admittedly not too sick or disgusting, but I'm sure you can think of some that are, if you're so inclined. The sandpaper treadmill that someone mentioned earlier is one example. *If the Nazis had managed to get all the way to Ireland, they probably would have made leprechauns wear orange stars, pink hearts, green clovers, blue diamonds,... I am ashamed of my own sick sense of humor.

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions? Oh goody! No one posted mine yet! This one I got from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, and I've actually incorporated it into my campaign, and it even inspired a bit of world history. The Hook. Picture a typical hanging gallows, but instead of the rope, there's a big fixed metal hook, like an upside-down question mark. The criminal is impaled through the abdomen on the thing and left there. In my FH campaign world, in the kingdom of Virbenland, there are hooks in public squares in most major cities, usually near courthouses or prisons. Fortunately, the current government is fairly just, wise, and merciful, so they don't see much use anymore. However, they were extensively used in the past. Why? There was a period known as the "Demon Wars" when the land and government was infiltrated by shape-shifting demons who could appear as humans. The hooks, being made of cold iron, were just as effective on demons as on mortals.

Re: How to: Reverse persistant? The Real Lemming is correct in pointing out that reverting to Desolid when unconscious is probably advantageous most of the time, and therefore should not give you any points back, either as a Limitation or as a Disadvantage. I wouldn't necessarily construct this the same way he did, however. I'd say Desolid, 0 END, Persistant, Always On (Maybe Inherent or not), and then buy off the Always On. This would result in the same total cost as not having bought the Always On in the first place. Then maybe buy something to reflect that the power turns back on when K.O.ed. ...or maybe not. After all, if you're normally Desolid, whatever K.O.ed you can probably still hurt you, otherwise what were you doing solid while you were being attacked? And if you are K.O.ed, you might be in pretty bad shape, such as "GM Option-land" of negative STUN, or seriously injured or even at negative BODY. Since you've reverted to a desolid state, when the paramedics come, they won't even be able to pick you up to put you on the stretcher, let alone give you medical care. "I don't feel a pulse. I don't even feel a body!" If doctors can't touch you while you're dying, you're going to die. In this case, reverting to desolid may be a big disadvantage. So maybe it balances out and isn't worth points either way, neither Advantage nor Limitation. In which case either don't buy always on, or buy off the Always On as a separate power (same price either way), and then just define Desolid as your normal state.

Re: Improved Absorption? There are two issues here: For total invulnerability to energy, the best you can do is buy tons of ED. But for a faster/more effecient Absorption, the way you propose is about right. I've done this before, too. Xd6 Absorption and Xd6 Aid, Trigger (+1/4), Linked (-1/4*), Self Only (-1/2), Only up to amount Absorbed (-1/2)**, (and some combination of Continuous, Uncontrolled, and hand waving like with Regeneration, or the Trigger resetting options that I think will be included in FREd-revised). Or you could buy the Aid as some sort of hand-waved Damage Shield that affects you when you're hit by energy attacks, but that gets a little strange and more complicated. * I think, since the Aid AP will be more than the Absorption AP. ** I think this value is right. Adjust as appropriate.

Re: slots with different limitations I agree with JM and Hugh. I'd ignore the FAQ on this one. Let's look at the numbers: Regular MP: 60 Reserve, 60 AP 6 Ultra Slot A, 60 AP 6 Ultra Slot B, 60 AP 6 Ultra Slot C, 60 AP 65 total points for three spells with no limitations - very flexible. Variable Limit MP: 40 Reserve, 60 AP, -1 of Variable Limitaions (-1/2) 4 Ultra Slot, A 60 AP -1 of Variable Limitaions (-1/2) 4 Ultra Slot, B 60 AP -1 of Variable Limitaions (-1/2) 4 Ultra Slot, C 60 AP -1 of Variable Limitaions (-1/2) 52 total points for three spells with -1 of variable limitations - fairly flexible. Foxx's MP: 40 Reserve, 60 AP, -1 of Variable Limitaions (-1/2) 3 Ultra Slot, A 60 AP -1 of Fixed Limitaions (-1) 3 Ultra Slot, B 60 AP -1 of Fixed Limitaions (-1) 3 Ultra Slot, C 60 AP -1 of Fixed Limitaions (-1) 49 total points for three spells each with -1 of different limitations - less flexible. Limited MP: 30 Reserve, 60 AP, -1 of Fixed Limitaions, the same for all slots (-1) 3 Ultra Slot, A 60 AP -1 of Fixed Limitaions (-1) 3 Ultra Slot, B 60 AP -1 of Fixed Limitaions (-1) 3 Ultra Slot, C 60 AP -1 of Fixed Limitaions (-1) 39 total points for three spells that all have the same -1 of limitations - even less flexible. The above constructs form a contiuous spectrum of decreasing flexibility for decreasing point costs - exactly as it should be. Foxx's proposed MP fits right in where it should, even though it is illegal according to the FAQ. She only saves 3 points out of the 52 she'd spend for the perfectly legal construct - less than 1/17. I would not consider that at all abusive. Therefore, I'd ignore the FAQ. Common sense takes priority. Yes, you still need to watch out for abuses of this construct, such as the example Gary gave. But his example is abusive even if you constuct it legally: Standard Power: 50 AP 50 total points Variable Limitations MP: 40 Reserve, 50 AP -1/2 in Variable Limitations (-1/4) 4 Ultra Slot A, 50 AP -1/2 in Variable Limitations (-1/4) "Only in daytime" 4 Ultra Slot B, 50 AP -1/2 in Variable Limitations (-1/4) "Only at nighttime" 48 total points for the exact same functionality! And legal according to the FAQ! Variable Limitations Single Power: 40, 50 AP -1/2 in Variable Limitations (-1/4) "Only at night" during the day, and "Only during the day" at night 40 total points for the exact same functionality! Without any MP at all! The conclusion to be drawn here is not about what limitations can be applied to the reserve of a MultiPower, but what limitations are inapporpriate to take for a Variable Limitation. Namely: Never allow "Only works in X circumstance" nor "Doesn't work in X circumstance"-type limitations as Variable Limitations. (or alternately, allow them, but at -0) You can always come up with such limitations that aren't limiting, like "Only works on October 27, 2004 between 3:00 and 4:00 Pacific Standard Time, and only while in southern California."

Re: Is Force Feild Overpriced?

Re: What is up with falling? That's funny. I thought it works better for HERO than for deendee. In the latter, you get another die of hit points every level, but in HERO, your BODY goes up relatively slowly. I remember being in old deendee games where people deliberately would fall knowing they could take it. Want to escape from the tower? Just jump out the window! I had a halfling thief (with a fairly high Constitution) who was grabbed and carried off by some flying monster (I don't rememberwhat kind). I just stabbed it until it let go. Sure, I took some damage from the fall, but not nearly enough to kill me. When making rules for environmental effects (like falling damage), I say it's best to start with realism - make it as realistic as possible. Then, using reality as a baseline, adjust for genre, heroicness, superheroicness, and game balance. And it seems to me that kinetic energy directly corresponding to damage makes the most sense and is the most realistic. I think only a true super-human (not Batmanm, not Daredevil, probably not even Spiderman) should be able to survive a 60-meter free-fall onto a hard surface. And why wouldn't it work for Champions? IIRC, it worked just fine for 4th edition Champions. What will happen if distance=kinetic energy=damage in 5th ed. Champs? Will the Champions Universe blow up?

Re: Turakian Age: Why should I buy it? A related question, while we're on the subject of illustrations: What is that on the cover of the TA book? Where is it? What part of Ambrethel is depicted? Who are those people? Anyone important to the Turakian Age?

Re: Turakian Age: Why should I buy it? I agree that you don't need much art in a rule book or a genre book or a generic source book, but for a setting book you do. Also for a character book. An illustration can really give a feel for the personality of a place or person more than text.

Re: HERE THERE BE DRAGONS: A Medieval Bestiary Yay! This is great! I've long wondered why some of the more obscure heraldic animals were never included in any FRPG bestiary. Sure, we've all heard of dragons and gryphons, but what about the lindworm and the yale? I've been including these in my FH world for a long time. It's good to see someone else's take on them. I didn't have time now to read this whole thing, but I didn't see the halcyon - a bird which nests at sea and has the power to calm rough waters - another one from myth that I use.

Re: What is up with falling? I prefer the plain old 1d6/1" fallen. This corresponds exactly to the kinetic energy at impact. And it can max out at a specified terminal velocity. Also, "natural armor" doesn't help much in a fall anyway. A rhino, a tortoise, and an armadillo may have thick hide or a shell, but their internal organs are just as squishy as yours and mine. To survive a fall you need one or more - of the following: - To cushion your fall, i.e., to slow down the decceleration from intantaneous to a longer fraction of a second. This can be done with a soft pad to land on, or your legs if you're upright, or padded armor. A fall from the top of the Empire State Building would require impossibly strong legs or very very very thick padding. A football helmet or plush carpeting wouldn't do it. - Especially resiliant internal organs - normally not available to humans or earth animals. Perhaps Density Increase might help depending on SFX. Ironclad's physiology might be able to take it. - To reduce your kinetic energy, which can be done in two ways slowing your fall (parachute, scaping against the wall, updraft) or by reducing your mass. Shrinking might help. An ant might survive the fall because it won't build up much kinetic energy, plus even small air currents are likely to slow its fall. I like the AVLD idea.

Re: Is Force Feild Overpriced?

Re: The Big Arguments Are you referring to my house rule? According to FREd, if you want to affect the physical world in any way while Desolid, you must pay for the +2 Advantage on something, even if you take a limitation "Only thru cracks" or "Not thru solid objects" or "Affected by any attack" on your Desolid. If you use some Power other than Desolid to impliment your malleable/gelatinous body, then you don't need Affects Physical.

Re: Creative use of Ablative? If I'm understanding you correctly, you might want to try Susceptibility. Instead of Susc doing regular damage, it can also be applied against powers/characteristics, etc. In this case the thing you're Susceptible to is BODY damage, and the effect is to lose some ability (which could be pre-defined or determined by the GM on a case-by-case basis based on common sense - hit location, SFX of the power used, etc.).

Re: The Big Arguments I'm not sure what you mean by this question, but I'll try to answer anyway: When you buy Desolid, Only to fit through small openings (-X), you aren't really buying Desolid anymore. Based on the SFX of a malleable body that can squeeze though holes, you should still be able to affect and be affected by the physical world. If you use Desolid to achieve this effect, you have to buy Affects Physical World for yur STR and other powers. Not a big deal perhaps. But it seems to me that there is a significant difference between becoming completely intangible and simply being able to squeeze through cracks. That's all I meant. House rule of mine: With Desolid, you can take a +0/-0 Advantage/Limitation which allows to you fully effect the physical world, but in return, you are also fully effected by the physical world. The only things you're "immune" to are walls, entangles, and grabs, and other barriers to movement. You must define a resonably common SFX or type of "barrier" that still effects you. And of course, you're still effected by any power bought with "Affects Desolid." A Plasticman type character could define the barrier as "anything that doesn't have any holes or cracks larger than a certain minimum size."

Re: Turakian Age: Why should I buy it? I'm not saying to not describe them at all, but a shorter, overall might have sufficed. Then they can be fleshed out further in a subsequent source book. You could run a good campaign for years without ever leaving the Westerlands. Without ever confronting Kal-Turak, or the evil wizards of Thun. And if all the buildings are generic, why bother describing them with words either? Give us some scenery to bring the places and people to life. We don't need scribbly pictures of "This is what a generic dwarf looks like. This is what a generic elf looks like. etc." I've seen fantasy art before. There are a few of us out there that even saw a recent movie you may have heard of. We know what elves and dwarves and hobbits, er, excuse me, halflings look like. The only "generic" illustrations you "need" are of the unique or unusual races or monsters, like the drakine (though why they have cat-like legs and feet is still a mystery to me). Better yet, don't include *ANY* generic illustrations. Let every illustation show a specific character, place, or thing. Not "a drakine," but "Locoron Bonecarver, the drakine general at the Battle of Hantagshire." Not "a castle," but "Ciprio Hall, the Royal Palace of King Dajor XVIII, built by his ancestor, Dajor VI, overlooking the city of Selask and the Selask River." It's a matter of priorities. I think they chose the wrong ones. The lack of illustrations is a sad missed opportunity. And no, they shouldn't have made the type size any smaller, just to save space, IMO. I fully understand that the main expense comes in producing the artwork (paying the artists and the added printing costs), not simply in the number of pages.

Re: The Big Arguments I agree that the Desolid/Shriking to fit through tiny cracks is kludgey. You have to hand-wave too many modifiers that completely negate the main indea of the Power. I'm Shrinking, but I'm not really shrinking - my mass and overall size stays the same, I'm no harder to hit or to see. I'm Desolid, but I'm not really desolid - I can still be affected by all attacks, (and can still attack others). One way I've been using to adjudicate this is as an ability that comes with Stretching. Each +X points of Stretching allows you to fit into a hole 1/2 the size. (I don't remember what I decided X was, I think it was 10.) So I'm not giving "fits through tiny cracks" for free - because it is a useful ability that characters should pay for in some way - but it will take quite a bit of Stretching before they can slither through a 1 mm diameter hole. And another thing that I've always found to be missing is Density Decrease - there is no power that allows you to reduce your mass while keeping your size the same. Sure, you can just buy various abilities to reflect this and then hand wave the reduced mass as a SFX, but actually changing mass seems like too significant of a change to get for "free."

Re: Dodgy area I say #3. Everyone in your hex gets +1 DCV. Not really a big deal when you consider that for your allies to gain the benefit, they have to remain pretty close to you. How many people can fit in a hex anyway? And how many if they are still supposed to fight and defend themselves effectively? Also, because you didn't buy UBO, it applies to your enemies as well. So you and the opponent you're engaged in HTH combat with are both harder to hit. It has no effect on powers that are targeted against the hex itself. Yes. AE can be used to sorta-kinda give you a UBO effect, but you have to keep in mind the two drawbacks: it works on friends and foes alike, and they have to remain within the area. UBO is much more useful to empower others, because you get to pick who gets the benefit, and they can go about their business much more freely.

Re: Turakian Age: Why should I buy it? Oh, and one more complaint: 4. Some illustrations would have helped a lot. A picture is worth a thousand words. They devoted quite a few words describing cities that are "a jumbled mish-mash of houses and shops, and even residents can get lost," and "clean, bright, well-organized cities with wide paved roads," and the royal palace Fnokirolis built by King Hufarb (Why didn'y he name it after himself?), and "gloomy dark neighborhoods infested with criminal activity" and "grand market places selling exotic goods from all over the world" and "mysterious ancient sacred monoliths inscribed with indecipherable runes" etc. Why aren't there any pictures of these things? Can you imagine a guidebook to New York City that doesn't include a picture of the skyline? Or a picture of the Statue of Liberty? Or pictures of the dozens of distictive buildings, places, and people of the city? The Guggenheim? The Empire State Building? Central Park? Times Square? Line of cabs? Street hot dog vendor? How else does one get a feel for what the place is really like? (Well, of course, you can always go there and experience it directly, but that option is not available for Aarn.) That's why they have postcards - come to LA and get a postcard of babes on the beach, the Hollywood sign, surfers, etc. These are all pictures, not words. Pictures bring the place to life, give it personality and atmosphere. I think the book would have been much better if they had left out, say all of the continent of Mitharia and Kumasia, and replaced those pages with pictures. Is Steve Long reading this?

Re: The Big Arguments Maybe this is simply a matter of where we draw the line. I would allow the ladder trick, the water-scooping bucket trick, but not the hang glider trick. The rope would depend on what he was going to do with it (Climbing, UBO - Yes; Entangle - No, Swinging - No; make it easier to hold onto a non-struggling person or object - yes). A normal person can only hold a small amount of water in their cupped hands, but a guy who can shape himself into a bathtub can hold several gallons. I'd let him do this with Shape Shift. Another thought about this power, on a slightly different topic, just to clarify my understanding: To change shapes, you'd need to by SS for Sight, Touch, Hearing, and Radar at a minimum. (Although, in a fantasy setting radar probably doesn't exist, so you wouldn't have to buy it in that case.) To change color/texture but not shape, you'd need Sight and/or Touch only. To alter your voice you don't need anything - everyone can change their voice. To change your voice or the sounds you could make to include sounds that can't notmally be made by the human voice (like various animal sounds, machine sounds, etc.), you'd need SS for Hearing only. To imitate specific peoples' voices, you need SS for Hearing and the Imitation adder. However, I might give a discount for this, since this is a fairly common and not too difficult ability. For a guy who is simply good at doing impressions of people's voices, I might have him buy just the Imitation adder, since anyone can alter their voice normally. To actually fool the high-tech voice analyzer, you'd need the Cellular adder as well. If you just want to cover your presense with a hologram, all you need is SS for Sight (though Images might be better in this case).

Re: Turakian Age: Why should I buy it? I liked it, but I do have a few complaints about it: 1. Not enough maps - or rather, not enough information presented in the maps. It would have been nice and useful to have a few extra world maps that showed the religious/racial/economic/governmental divisions, at a glance. I'd like to be able to quicly determine (or be reminded) which kingdoms are the generally "good" kingdoms - relatively peaceful, benevelant ruler, subjects have some rights, reasonably tolerant of travellers, etc., and which are the "bad" guys - practice slavery, make constant war on neighboring lands, tyrant ruler, worship "dark, evil gods," have oppressive laws and restrictions, etc. Also, there is no key to the maps. Eventually, you'll figure out that the round dots are "human" cities, the diamond dots are drakine cities, the tree shapes are elf cities and the axe shapes are dwarven cities. But where are the gnome and halfling cities? Also, there is at least one area where I can't quite tell from the map which way the rivers flow. 2. Almost all of the names of people, places, and things seem to have no rhyme or reason to them. The place names seem to be nothing more than made-up words bearing no relationship to what they are. Most place names ITRW mean something, like a city being named after its founder. If there was some explanation of what the names meant, they would be easier to remember. As it is, many references in the book give no context to help the reader know what is being referred to. 3. In the description of the different lands' resources, they use too many generic terms. Just about every one uses one or more of the following: farming, herding, fishing, mining, craftwork. This isn't the most useful way to describe a nations economy. I would have liked more specific descriptions: precisely what craftworks do they do? Are they known for woodworking? Silversmithing? Armoring? Weaving? Leatherwork? Musical instruments? What exactly do they mine for? Gold? Diamonds? Iron? Copper? Plotdeviceium? Other than that, I was pretty impressed with the book. The scope of the book is so huge, you could game in the world for a whole lifetime. There's lots of stuff going on in the Turakian Age, even besides the looming threat of Kal-Turak himself!

Re: Really Quick Question It's interesting that this topic should come up. Just the other day I was set upon by sixteen thousand mutant squirrels. It was a harrowing experience.