mattingly

Re: Duplicator without Duplication Did. Haymaker #11. I lost those files long ago. And searching on the wayback machine, I've only been able to dig up part of the online version of the article. There was originally more to this article, but remember that it's all done in 4th Edition, back on '94 or so... DUPLICATION Playing or Running a Dupe Duplication is the costliest power in Hero. Duplication Cost: Base character must pay 2 Character Points for every 5 total points possessed by a second form, minimum cost 20 Character Points. Each additional form costs 1 Character Point for every 5 total points, minimum cost 10 points. No form can have more total points than the total points of the base character minus the costs for Duplication. Duplication costs no END to use. An open question: by "minus the costs for Duplication" do they mean the real or active points? For a 250-point character with 150 active points of duplication that has a -1 limitation on it, is that 250 - 150 = 100 or 250 - 75 = 175? To clarify terminology in this article, I will refer to the base character who creates duplicates as the original, and the characters who are newly created by the duplication power as duplicates. A dupe refers to either a duplicate or to the original, without specifying which. Example: Multoid buys 3 100-point duplicates for 40 + 20 + 20 = 80 points, which gives him a total of 4 dupes. Duplication is a unique power in the Hero System. Living creatures (or even non-living, such as robots or zombies) can be created from nothing. The only power that even comes close to this is summon, but summoned creatures are not friendly to the summoner. As another way to model duplication, imagine a +2 advantage onto summon, such that the summoned creatures are completely friendly and cooperative to the summoner. Unlike duplication, however, a summon would be able to double the number of creatures with +5 points per multiple, and has no upper limit on creatures. Duplication gets no such cost break for large numbers of duplicates, though, but since many duplicator character concepts call for a whole lot of dupes, some workarounds will be presented later. Duplicates can come from various places: another dimension -- alternate selves who normally spend their time in different worlds, but can "cross over" when needed (these other selves can also make a good watched or DNPC, since the original might sometimes be called into a different dimension to help his other selves); another time -- time travelers might be able to travel from tomorrow to today so that they both exist at once (of course, when tomorrow gets here, they'll have to remember to go back in time or else this won't have happened); limbo or some other semi-place -- perhaps a pocket dimension where they're stored until needed; perhaps the duplicates did not exist at all beforehand and are created the instant they're needed. Some duplication special effects call for each dupe to be completely identical, and some special effects will call for each dupe to be slightly or completely different. Each situation has its own advantages and disadvantages. Different dupes will, of course, have different powers, skills, special effects, etc. Identical dupes are great for confusing the location of the original, or even exchanging which dupe really is the original. Example: Multoid in his non-duplicated state is usually Gary. Gary can split into Gary and Larry, then Larry can reabsorb Gary, leaving Multoid as just Larry. Sometimes, even with identical dupes, each dupe will have a distinct name and personality, otherwise the character himself may get confused about which of him is which (everyone else certainly will often enough). Characters with duplication have a chance at many unique role-playing situations and issues: If a dupe is suspected for a crime, each dupe must establish an alibi, which can be impossible if not all of them were even created at the time. If one dupe catches some disease such as a cold, do they all? Can individual dupes have enemies/hunteds, or should the entire character be hunted (with the disad applying only to the base character)? Dupes can be used as hostages against other dupes (imagine being your own DNPC). Do dupes consider themselves more of a team than an individual, with the original acting as coach? Power accidents, radiation accidents, or plot devices involving duplicators could possibly cause the dupes to temporarily lose the ability to split, to recombine, to spread damage, or to share memories. If the original character is in love, will all the dupes feel the same way? Can each duplicate have his or her own girlfriend or boyfriend? Will the dupes occasionally trade places with each other? If the dupes are of different sex, can they fall in love with each other? Can they mate with each other, or would that be taboo? What will happen if some of the dupes have an argument? Even identical twins don't always agree on everything. Even one person can have internal quarrels with himself. Duplication gives the opportunity to takes different sides of an issue at the same time. When dupes do quarrel, can they refuse to be reabsorbed? Can a duplicate run away from "home"? Can a duplicate mutiny, and try to take over as the original? Perhaps a dupe could go renegade and hunt the rest ("We have met the enemy, and he is us.") Is the base character more of a job than a person? Can just any dupe be considered the base character? The "revolving original" could be a justification for multiform (discussed later). How will a character react when a dupe dies? If the original dies, will the GM allow one of the dupes to "assume the mantle" of the original? Perhaps the dupes will continue in the campaign as DNPCs. Can dupes have a "personnel change"? Maybe one of the dupes dies or leaves, and an entirely different one takes his place. In Comics Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox) from Marvel's X-Factor has 40 agent-level human dupes; each duplicate is completely identical to the original; he can normally only double in number per action phase (1 -> 2 -> 4 -> 8 -> 16 -> 32 -> 40); duplication requires gestures or is triggered by impact, so that either someone can hit him or he can hit himself (which can possibly bypass the previous limitation, maybe a large autofire attack would take him from 1 to 40 all at once); as long as he still has dupes "in reserve," he has armor (special effect is that the attack didn't hurt him, it split him in two). "Multiple Man, Multiple Man, doing the things a multiple can. What's he like? It's not important, Multiple Man. Is he a lot or is he alone? A super clown or a super clone? His own beginning and his own end, his own best friend, Multiple Man." Antibody (Dr. Randall O'Brien) from Marvel's New Universe D.P.7 usually has around 4 to 6 duplicates which are normally intangible and can fly but cannot speak; each duplicate appears identical to the others, but not to the original; Randy, at least initially, had limited control over the duplicates -- he had to coax them to come out, and once they were out, he had to convince them to do things; his duplicates are "wearable" -- he can step inside his intangible duplicate to gain its strength and defense and its ability to fly; his duplicates have a dependency on the original, their host body; his duplicates have individual names and personalities (all are just aspects of Randy's personality, though); in times of anxiety, Randy can exhibit several dozen cannon fodder duplicates (described below). Triplicate Girl from DC's Legion of Superheroes could split into three dupes which each had a different personality; she discovered that one of the dupes would sometimes go off on her own and not share her memories when she came back, due to her multiple personality disorder; her two duplicates have since died, leaving only the original. Gemini from Marvel's Defenders (part of a zodiac created by Scorpio, Nick Fury's brother), has one duplicate which is semi-opposite to the original -- one is a creature of reason, the other of emotion; he often splits in two to make decisions, so that Reason can reach the logical conclusion while Emotion can fully explore the emotions involved; when not duplicated, he has a no range energy blast; when duplicated, his blast is increased significantly when both dupes touch the same target. Psi-Hawk (Emmett Proudhawk) from Marvel's New Universe Psi-Force is one duplicate created by five people (the team of five splits the cost of the duplication, just like teams can split the cost of a base or a vehicle); five psionic teens grasp a medallion to create a being which has a combination of all their powers at a much higher level; Psi-Hawk can be created by more or less than five people, but five is optimum; the Psi-Hawk's powers correspond to his creators' powers; the five creators can rotate membership (as one leaves, another can take the place, and Psi-Hawk's powers will change accordingly). Multiplex from DC's Firestorm is fission, as opposed to Firestorm's fusion. Multiplex can create three normal duplicates, or when overloaded with energy, many shrunk duplicates. Combat Uses One of the uses of duplication in combat is to outnumber one's foes. A group of agent-level characters properly designed and run can prove a challenge to a single superheroic-level character. Dupes can fan out and attack from several directions, and can be effective whether they have the same or different attacks. Duplication leads to a few advantageous combat mechanics. Coordinated attacks require that the attackers have trained together extensively. Even the harshest GM should concede that dupes have trained together sufficiently. Many GMs will even allow the multiple attacker bonus for hand-to-hand combatants, which provides a +1 OCV per attacker after the first. Example: Multoid's four identical dupes attack Draco. Each dupe tries to punch Draco, at +3 OCV from multiple attacker bonus. Three of the dupes hit, with 12, 8, and 9 STUN getting through Draco's defenses. Using the coordinated attacks rule, 12 + 8 + 9 = 29 STUN, which is higher than Draco's 25 CON, so Draco is stunned. A duplicate can appear either in the same hex as or in a hex adjacent to the original. Each successive duplicate can then appear in the same hex as or adjacent to any other dupe -- either the original or one of the duplicates. A tactic available to those with several dupes is to surround the target. By spending half a phase to create enough duplicates to circle the target, the second half of the phase will remain free for an attack. Some GMs may allow an additional +1 OCV or so for those surrounding dupes who attack the target from the rear. Duplication also can be used to simulate a high speed. By holding actions, several dupes can alternate action segments so that one of the dupes attacks each segment. Example: Multoid's four dupes are speed 3. When wishing to continually attack a target, Gary acts on 1, 5, and 9; Larry acts on 2, 6, and 10; Harry acts on 3, 7, and 11; and Barry acts on 4, 8, and 12. The Duplication power can also be justification to purchase Cannon Fodder Duplicates (CFDs). CFDs are disposable dupes intended to soak up damage aimed for the real character or to perform other undesirable functions. CFDs can be represented by a continuous force wall, telekinesis, energy blast, or other power. Bodyguard CFDs can be created around a dupe when he realizes that he's amid enemy blasters. The CFDs will then bear the brunt of the attacks. Once enough of the CFDs have been knocked out or killed, the force wall goes down (ablative is an appropriate limitation for this example). CFDs can also be sent out to attack via a continuous area affect energy blast (with the way to stop the blast being to kill the CFDs). Example: Multoid can create up to 100 CFDs (with his multipower of Continuous Force Wall and Continuous Selective Area Effect Telekinesis). Since he's expecting guests in 10 minutes, he uses his telekinesis to clean his entire home, rake the leaves, do the dishes and laundry, walk the dogs, and perform several other mundane tasks while the original Multoid relaxes in the shower.

Re: Duplicator without Duplication Muhc like the "force field" spell from the old College of Animal Magic. "I love me little animal friends." A random bunny leaps in front of an arrow aimed at the mage. "They're so friendly."

Re: Sneaky TV Tribute in The Algernon Files And don't forget, all the character artwork is available for free viewing/downloading at http://www.blackwyrm.com on the Extas page.

Re: Sneaky TV Tribute in The Algernon Files He'll get even with you for that little crack.

Re: Duplicator without Duplication If you keep doing that, you'll be Flashed.

Re: Duplicator without Duplication Don't forget Contact: Self. That way, you can have as many as you want!

Re: Kamarathin Hard Copies! Yikes. Be careful, those of you who might want to use Lulu's preview the book feature while you're at work. Color illo of nudity on a page.

Re: Speeding Up Combat What works for me is high DCs, low DEFs. Plus, as a GM, I know which of my players are slow when it comes to figuring out how much to roll, remembering their OCV, whether they have Flash Defense, etc. So I keep a chart with everyone's relevant numbers. That way, for those who need that gentle nudge, I can tell them to roll a 12 or less to hit, or whatever.

Re: The Mentalist Wrestler Here are Chi-Force's relevant abilities. 47 Chi-Force: Multipower, 70-point Reserve; Eye Contact Required (-½) 3u 1) Chi-Strike: HA +4d6; BOECV (versus Mental Defense, +1), Does BODY (+1), Reduced Endurance (½ END, +¼), Variable Special Effects (Various Martial Arts Attacks, +¼); Eye Contact Required (-½), Hand Attack (-½) 3 4u 2) Chi-Psyche: Mental Illusions 10d6 + 3½d6 (Set Effect on 3½d6 = 10); Must Use +10 Modifier that Target Remembers Illusion as “Real” (-¼), Eye Contact Required (-½) 7

Re: Hex grid Board for use in Champions??

Re: The Mentalist Wrestler Well, he doesn't want people to know that he's a mentalist, since tactics against him would change. By keeping his true powers a secret, he can take advantage of the element of surprise. Besides, actually puching someone with his limited knowledge of martial arts, and then hitting them with a mental illusion that he just hit them and it hurt a lot, is just loads of fun, and also pretty effective.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine And here's a link (since it's not DCU art) to an almost identical character. http://www.blackwyrm.com/Extras/Algernon/Art/Villain%20-%20Heartbreaker.png

Re: The Mentalist Wrestler I had a similar character, and what worked tremendously well was to grab a target and then hit them with the Mental Illusion "You're Grabbed." Then they'd stay "grabbed" in their own minds, unable to break out, until they made their EGO Roll.

Re: Hex grid Board for use in Champions?? Chessex also sells 1.5" hex maps.

Re: Image request

Re: Super-accurate with ranged attacks You could also go for Missile Deflection (knocking attacks out of the air before they hit) Find Weakness with All Ranged Attacks, No Range Modifier Plus, some good Range Fu martial arts, to allow diarms, trips, and extra bonuses.

Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found And here's one more artist's rendering.

Re: Illegal Aliens...? It's no fun bein' an illegal alien.

Re: superuseless superpowers Genital-Fall-Off-Boy didn't even apply for the team.

Re: Favorite 60-point Power Construction I like Missile Reflection at Any Target.

Re: superuseless superpowers I need to start using Smoots as a measurement again...

Re: Jokes

Re: superuseless superpowers It's so passe to make your colors blend with the environment. The cutting edge is to chameleon blend everything around you. The reasonable chameleon adapts himself to fit his environment. The unreasonable chameleon adapts his environment to fit himself. All progress, therefore, depends on the unreasonable chameleon.

Re: Utter humiliation power Urine Trouble: 4d6 PRE Drain, Ranged (+1/2); Must Target Hit Location 13 (-1) Udder humiliation would only work on cows.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Latvia? Dr. Doom is up to something...