PhilFleischmann

All salient observations, Dean.   Regarding the Tarnwater specifically, while the map does appear to show the river skirting Mount Melgar, for my own game use I decided the river would actually pass underground at that point, through the caverns that TA p. 79 indicates exist beneath the mountain. The passage goes on to state that no one has succeeded in exploring them. That feature, as well as the Tarnwater bordering the Whispering Waste, would likely dissuade most people from traveling on the river. However, for those who might want or need to follow it underground, they'd discover why p. 283 says explorers have never returned:

Well, the Valician Hills and Drakine Mountains sure look like one geological feature on the large-scale map. Then there's the Glimwash River that cuts across a corner of the mountains of Skeld (p. 50) and an unlabeled portion of the Ordring-Tarnwater-Loskell river complex cuts across a spur of the Nagyrian Mountains (p. 60). The Tarnwater also has a rather unusual course, flowing right up to the end of Hangclaw Mountains and Mount Melgar (ibid.)
 
Now, there are RL rivers that cut through mountain ranges. The Columbia and the Danube do this twice. But these rivers also have no alternate paths, and there are fairly simple geological processes that account for them. (The Columbia's case is especially clear. As the Cascade Mts rose, the preexisting Columbia cut through them; then again with the even younger Coastal Ranges. The Danube's case is probably more complicated.)
 
It seems especially unlikely to me that the minimum-energy path for the Tarnwater would happen to be right at the base of a mountain range. Erosion and uplift usually result in the land near a mountain range being higher than the land further away.
 
But then, Ambrethel is a world still shaped by the Godwars. It is possible that Earth at this time doesn't have plate tectonics. (It might even not be 4.5 billion years old: That history and geology is the retroactive result of the magical cataclysms thant ended the Turakian and/or Atlantean Ages.) For instance, the Glimwater's mouth might occupy the spot where Kilbern's sword struck the ground after cleaving Krim's arm. (Or some similar legend.) Turn it from a bug to a feature.
 
Dean Shomshak

Not even close.  Numbers behave themselves.   A +1 to a target number that you want to roll that or less, is no different that +1 added to the roll that you want to roll a target number or higher.
 
"I need an 11 or less."
"But because of circumstance X, you get +1."
"So I need a 12 or less."
 
"I need to roll 10 or higher."
"But because of circumstance X, you get +1."
"So I add 1 to my roll."
 
The latter is no less intuitive, and for many people, it's more intuitive.
 
With roll-high, you set a single difficulty level, and each character's own modifiers, skill level, and other circumstances are applied to the roll.  With roll-low, each character has his own target number, and then more modifiers may be piled on top of that.
 
The GM decides that every member of the party needs to make a Climbing roll.  With the roll-low system,
Mountaineer Mike has a 14- roll,
Climby McClimberson has a 15- roll, but he's injured so he takes a -3,
Joe Genero has an 11- roll.
Feeble Felix has an 8- roll, but gets a +2 because Mike and Joe are helping him.
And everyone takes an additional -1 because of the strong winds blowing.
 
With a roll-high system, the GM sets the target number at 11, due to the strong wind blowing, so everyone needs an 11 or higher.
Mountaineer Mike has Climbing +3.
Climby McClimberson has Climbing +4, but takes -3 due to injury.
Joe Genero makes an unmodified roll.
Feeble Felix is at -3, but +2 for being assisted = -1.

This is where the approach of "Bury it in Limitations, then buy them off" comes into play. 
20-30 CP is a lot.  Let's start with a upper-end power that clocks in at 30 AP. 
Now let's call this super-special maneuver a work in progress, and stick it with 1 Recoverable Charge (I can only try once per fight), a 13- Activation Roll (I generally do it right), a Minor Side Effect that always occurs (I hurt myself a little to do this), Cannot Use Targeting (I'm learning to do it at all, I'll stop aiming wherever-I-can later), and Extra Time: Delayed Phase (I can't do it fast yet).  That's -3 worth of Limitations and brings it down to 7 real cost.  That's easy enough to grab a few sessions in and rip the Limitations off from there as I learn what I'm doing.  Once I've trimmed the Limitation pile down and am happy with how it's performing, I turn my points towards picking up the next maneuver. 

Because he is the only one close enough - or because his teammates can't hear him yell over the noise of the machinery.
 
The one whose main purpose in life is to kick the kryptonite out of the way provide ongoing descriptions so Man-Bat is never disadvantaged due to his blindness.
 

Well you seem to assume that man-bat’s teammates are doing everything for man-bat. Why are they always around? I didn’t say man-bat would face ALL those situations. I said was that there are several situations that could arise in a factory setting. Straw man? No. You claimed that clever  PCs could avoid Man-bats disadvantage. I just point out ways which a GM could have his disadvantage come into play. Heck in a factory everyone would be at a disadvantage of some sort.

Well, he DID make it to Spider-Man #39 before the Green Goblin hit him with a gas that dulled his Spidey-Sense.  It's failed more than once over the years.
 
 
That's not the player's job, although better players play their characters' weaknesses, not just their strengths. 
 
I have rarely seen a disadvantage which would not naturally come up in play - if it would not come up, it would not belong on the sheet.  The GM gets to do a bit more work to involve Hunteds or DNPCs (but that is as simple as designing the story arcs, and watching for places where that DNPC could logically be during the various scenarios).  A GM would have to include Chartreuse Copywritonite Meteors - if you take a Susceptibility to those, expect them to exist in the game world.
 
If you take a Vulnerability to Solar-Powered Cold Beams fired by Green and Purple Froglike Martians at "Very Common", expect the campaign to have a title like "Invasion of the Green and Purple Froglike Martians wielding Solar-Powered Cold Weapons".
 
If,, as a GM, I expect something is never going to come up, then it is not worth points.  That goes for complications and disadvantages, but also for skills - KS:  Jane Austen may well be free if I can't see it having any game relevance, just like you don't have to pay for being a redhead or having green eyes.

Maybe I'm missing your point here.  What exactly are you arguing?  That a character who is blind (or has some other disadvantage) can do various things to compensate?  Yes, of course he can.  No one is claiming otherwise.  Are you arguing that anything a player character does to enable himself must always work perfectly?  That the GM can never throw any challenge at the character that he hasn't already figured out how to compensate for?  That if a blind character has a seeing-eye teammate, the GM must never incapacitate that teammate?

I have no problem with a Multipower of sword tricks, but I wouldn't build it directly from Talents.  You have to take into consideration the Active Cost of the abilities, not just the final Real Cost of an ability built as a Talent.
 
Does anything distinguish this Sword Tricks MP from a Sword Tricks Martial Art?  You might be able to do everything you want with Martial Arts, for fewer points.

Talents are often built with a lot of limitations.  If I were to place them in an MP, I'd probably want to break out the build for purposes of costing the MP pool and slots.
 
If casters can use multipowers, I'd let non-casters have combat trick MPs, although a lot of those combat tricks are built with Naked Advantages, so consider whether you want to override the usual rule that a naked advantage can't be a framework slot.

I personally use roll high for combat, because combat rolls are always calculated and the arithmetic is slightly easier... but roll low for skills, because the target number is nearly always static and its easy enough just to roll against it.
 
I tell players to roll however they are comfortable. Just tell me the DCV you hit and we're good. I haven't had a new Hero player in ages so teaching is kind of a moot point for me.
 
 

I work in a factory and here’s some ideas for Man-Bat I thought of last night. Premise-Viper took over factory. Loud machines! There a whole bunch of noises and bells and whistles going on. Real world wise I’m not sure how much that affects echo location but I’m sure it got to. Buttons are color coded. What if man-bat needs to stop a line cause there’s a victim on it? What button is he going going to press? Or what if he needs to start it?  What if the “button” is on a computer screen?  Does echo location allow you to see through plexiglass? My line has machines which are maiming enclosed in Plexiglass so the agent could see through but man-bat couldn’t see them.  (Not all our lines are like this.) We have caustic chemicals in storage. Hopefully man-bat does hit one. How would he know what’s in it? Oh sidekick guy? Is he always following man-bat around.  Is he awake or KO’ed?  Or did go after the Nest Leader? Just a few thoughts. Oh and since I work at a chocolate factory we have a hot end (mounding) and cold end (wrapping and packing), IR man could be at a penalty to in some spots.

Blatant?  Man-Bat has sonar.  Is that a blatant attempt to circumvent an opponent with a sight-based Flash or Darkness Field, or is it an ability consistent with his character concept?
 
In that undercover situation, when the fellow previously seen only on video or in photographs, walks through the door, does the sighted character say "Hey, that's the guy we saw in the files we broke in and looked over last week?"  Even making perfect accommodations for blindness creates a form of distinctive features.  Hmmm...there's a blind Super in the team making life difficult for our organization, and suddenly we have this blind guy showing up with...the same number of friends/colleagues that blind Super has as teammates.  But that could only be a coincidence, right?
 
 
He can delay.  That is a disadvantage if his opponents now get to attack before him, instead of after him.  Who says he should attack the same guy the teammate attacks?  Now that Teammate pointed at one opponent, that opponent can abort to a defensive action while his teammate uses his held action.
 
I will bet that Man-Bat does not have workplace accommodations that assist with his superheroics.  Does he have a secret ID?  All the characters have personal lives - do the bad guys and other events all wait quietly while the team gets together so a teammate can be there to act as Man-Bat's eyes?
 
For that matter, does he never fly around a corner ahead of his teammates?
 
It's the GM's job to work disadvantages/complications into a story.   I view a character with Life Support (or Sonar) as paying points to say "I want to see situations in-game where my immunity to this environmental condition (unique sense) is advantageous, and makes my character shine".  By the same token, by taking points for a vulnerability to fire (or Blindness), he is saying "I want to see situations in-game where my character must deal with the extra challenges posed by his weakness to fire attacks (lack of sight)".
 
6e reduced required Complication points, and I think it was pretty clearly said that this was to allow only those items that were central to the character to be required to fill that quota of complications.
 
It is a hallmark of the rules, from 1e to present day, that a Disadvantage (Complication) which does not disadvantage the character (complicate his life) is not worth any points.
 
 
Or toss in a character who makes it tougher for that communication to happen?  A Silence field?  Loud noises (make a PER roll to hear what Teammate said)?  Ventriloquism?  Images/Illusions to take advantage of the fact that Man-Bat is a trained attack pet for the character who guides him?
 
I don't know that I have ever designed a situation specifically around a disadvantage/complication, but I do keep my eyes open for situations where they could reasonably crop up.  And they typically do crop up.  Maybe not as often as die rolls would dictate (no, that 8- Hunted does not attack every fourth game session), but they definitely crop up.  If there were not situations where they would crop up, they would not be worth points.

And that’s a problem how? Doesn’t every Super  hero have at least one enemy that uses  a power that works against his or her weakness? Now if every agent and thug on the street has Silence grenades well that’s one thing. But to have Man-Bat face it once in awhile say facing Armadillo-cause that would make sense or Howler then that’s fine. I’ve myself had my ninja-Shadow fight against Brick (and there was no way for me to knock him out or against a mentalist (which I have no mental defense). Was it challenging? Yes, was it hard? Yes. And you know what? It’s also very memorable. 

Parties get split all the time without anyone having an obsession with it.
 
If you've disadvantaged yourself to save points or have greater power in some other area, any good GM is going to make that matter once in a while - without ever being "obsessed".

A Silence field works pretty well.
 
There are social situations where one character cannot reasonably provide "described video" for another.
 
Which opponent should Man-Bat attack?  His sighted teammates do not know what features are perceived through echolocation, and probably fall into "the red costume" pretty easily.
 
Spectra fires different-coloured energy blasts.  By the time Man-Bat's seeing eye teammate tells him what blast she is using, it's probably too late for him to react.
 
Do his teammates not have work or family commitments?  They stay with Man-Bat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?   Man-bat is starting to seem less a teammate and more a DNPC.
 
Or, if it is no hindrance, then it is not complicating his life, so it is not worth points as a Complication, is it?

Parties get split all the time without anyone having an obsession with it.
 
If you've disadvantaged yourself to save points or have greater power in some other area, any good GM is going to make that matter once in a while - without ever being "obsessed".

No matter what time period it is you'll find someone with a sword.

I'd just assume that every character with a soul was capital-c Created with a 0-point Complication that their soul goes to whichever appropriate place upon death.
 

50CP to get 4d6 HKA, since everyone starts with 10CP of STR. 
 
My sticking point is the bizarre relationship between HA and HKA compared to EB and RKA.  EB and RKA get range, STR doesn't add, there's no inherent Limitation.  HA gets no range, STR adds, and it has a built in -1/2 (or -1/4).  HKA gets no range, STR adds, and it has no inherent Limitation (WHY?). 
If HKA got the same Lim that HA does, it'd immediately open up the concept space again.  STR 45 HKA 1d6 Man would pay more than STR 15 HKA 3d6 Man, which is correct because STR 45 HKA 1d6 Man is getting more flexibility. 

Blind is no longer a complication.  It is a sellback, like -2 meters of running or -3 INT.
 
You do not get a discount to Radar Sense because you already have targeting sight and can perceive a lot with other senses.  Why should you have a reduced sellback for losing Sight?

Cheesy player construct, meet cheesy GM ruling:
 
"Grond strikes you with his mighty fists.  Immediately before taking the damage, you Teleport 2 meters away.  On materializing, [clatter of dice] you take 65 STUN, 19 BOD and 24 meters of knockback from Grond's attack."
 
Hey, if you don't take the damage, then the Teleport isn't triggered - it's triggered immediately before taking damage, remember?

Assuming the target wants to go to heaven, they can simply "stand still" and voluntarily take the hit.  Just like you don't have to roll to hit with a Healing power on someone who wants to be healed.
 
There could even be a limitation: Willing Targets only, so that those with "unfinished business" can remain behind as ghosts.
 
The real question is, how do you build a flashlight in heaven?

Other than in character creation, it is rare for a character to want to round down.  By 'character' I mean anyone with PC in their description, even if that is preceded by a 'N'.
 
So, if a character with an odd numbered DCV is at half DCV, round up.  If a character with an odd numbered OCV is at half OCV, round up.  Round in favour of the character (PC or NPC) that is applying the modifier.  Attacker or defender, no matter.  PCs do not get a better deal from the rules than NPCs do.
 
That's my take, anyway.

Stepping away for a bit from that whole Shaanda River kick I've been on lately , I wanted to address Nolgroth's concerns about finding interesting character "hooks" in the standard fantasy-game races included in Ambrethel. We've touched on a few of the more distinctive elements of their TA versions already on this thread, but for the moment I'd like to focus on the Dwarves. While they do conform to many of the D&D-isms we're all familiar with, there are a number of distinctive elements spelled out in the source book, with further implications, which could be woven into character backgrounds and plot lines.
 
Of all the non-humans in Ambrethel, the Dwarves may be the most numerous and widespread. Twenty named kingdoms of Dwarves are scattered across both continents. They frequently engage in trade with the realms of Men, or are hired by them for special construction projects, and in some cases have even closer relations. For example, the Dwarves of Blinndighaime, in the Snowthorn Mountains, made for Tassar (king) Borvyg of Khirkovy, his favorite weapon, the war-hammer Sitenka ("victory") (TA p 63). Those from Deepingdelve have been contracted to strengthen the defenses of the Mezendrian city of Athford in anticipation of an attack from Keldravia (p. 65). The kings of the Dwarf realms of Algarhaime and Noross in the Thurisian Mountains are personal friends of Crown Prince Wolfgang of Thurgandia, and he often spends time with the Dwarves, who gifted him with his enchanted helmet. (p. 314)
 
The Tornathian city-state of Hanoreth has strong trade alliances with Hordarsa and Zarkoreng, in the Ironheart Mountains, and the Great Ecclesiarch (theocratic ruler of Hanoreth) is frequently a guest of the kings of those Dwarf lands, and hosts them in return (p. 77). The human kingdom of Brabantia has an even closer alliance with the Dwarves of Korregdar, based on providing their craftsmen with Brabantian silver. The Dwarves have even gone to war to help defend Brabantia from aggression, and Dwarves from anywhere are generally warmly welcomed in Brabantia (pp. 139-40). [I have to wonder what will happen when Brabantian silver mines play out...]
 
OTOH some lands of the Dwarves have more complicated relations with Men, even approaching open hostility. The Dwarves of Delgalakh, Harkonn, and Rodathur are between the Sirrenic Empire and the Hargeshite Empire of Vashkhor, in the Skyclaw Mountains, and trade with both realms; but are concerned they may be forced to choose sides if the rivalry between the two empires of Men boils over into war. (p. 280) They may also have to contend with the frequent distrust, and in some cases fanatical hatred, by Vashkhorans toward races other than Men, no nations of whom have adopted Hargeshism. (p. 223)  OTOH Gunru and Tarkoll, in the mountain range called the Ayn Alach, are said to "keep to themselves at most times." (p. 108) In the case of Gunru that's understandable -- the map on p. 106 shows it bounded by the Chekuru Jungle and the Hargeshite Devastation. OTOH Tarkoll is proximate to both Vashkhor and Shar, suggesting something else may be behind their attitude.
 
Despite their friendship with the Prince of Thurgandia, the Dwarves of Algarhaime and Noross charge dearly to anyone for use of the secret passes they know through the Thurisian Mountains, and even blindfold travelers part of the way (p. 283). Garaktora does something similar with those who would pass through their territory in the Maha Torend mountain range, between Teretheim and Central Mitharia (p. 154 sidebar). Teretheim and Garaktora actually went to war over tarifs at the Teretha border city of Durgau, and although that was over four hundred years ago some Durgauans remain suspicious of all Dwarves. The impoverished kingdom of Nurenthia has little in the way of productive mines, because the Dwarves of Gabanaldazar control all the best mining in the region (p. 95).
 
As revealed on pp. 34 and 280, the Dwarven realm of Gasharth secretly aided the Lord of the Graven Spear, and thereby "descended into evil." They're currently strongly allied with Valicia, and while that might be considered a "good" relationship, the aspirations of conquest by the Valician king bode ill for the whole region. While Gasharth backing the Spearlord isn't widely known, many Dwarves are aware of it, which might lead to stigma for any Gasharthan encountering other Dwarves, whether or not they condone their nation's history and policies.
 
The contact and good relations between Dwarves and the Men of Brabantia,  Mezendria, Hanoreth, and Thurgandia could prompt certain Dwarves to sample more of Men's lands. OTOH others might have tragic histories through encounters with distrust, resentment, or hatred from Nurenthians, Teretha, or Vashkhorans. A Dwarf from Gunru or Tarkoll may grow frustrated with their nation's isolationism, or one from Korregdar with their dependence on Brabantian silver rather than exploring for new sources of their own.
 
The frequent contact with the Great Ecclesiarch of Hanoreth and his entourage could prompt a Dwarf from Zarkoreng or Hordarsa to convert to the High Church, even take up a crusade to promote and defend the Church. I can only speculate on how their fellow Dwarves might react to such a change of faith. The reaction could be even more extreme toward a Dwarf who became a Hargeshite -- it's debatable whether they would be accepted anywhere.
 
More Dwarven musings to come. 🧙‍♂️