Pattern Ghost

Re: Cool Guns for your Games

I believe that should be "anti-materiel." As in vehicles, fortifications and such. There should be an accent mark above the second "e" but I don't know how to do accent marks.

 

I know--I fail at accents.

If you were a pokémon master, you'd know this! (It's alt+130 on the numberpad)

Re: Cool Guns for your Games

Of course in defense of the Beretta the SEALs put a lot of rounds through their guns' date=' it was pointed out that in just a few years the Beretta involved had fired more rounds than most military issue pistols will fire in a lifetime of service. [/quote']

 

I was in at the time, and discussed this with the high level armorer in our brigade. It was a plain and simple parts failure. It wasn't in an area that would normally see wear to that degree during normal use.

 

Disks were installed to strengthen the weak point and later purchases were free of the defect. I'm not sure what the cause of the defect was, exactly, other than maybe a bad batch of steel, or bad heat treats. Almost certainly a result of increasing production runs exponentially to fill the military contract.

Re: Justifying Playable SPD

I think this is another case of NCM intruding on the supers genre, mixed with a case of some concepts that are viable in comics not making for a viable game character.

In regards to the SPD score itself, I think the standard spread works. Normal folks with no combat training get a 2, cops, military, agents and others with some combat or athletic prowess get a 3, "slower" supers start at around 4, those trained or experienced in combat get a 5, and the martial artists types get a 6, all justifiable as being in the "human" range. To the rest of the campaign world, the 4 and 5 guys are going to look like action heroes, and the 6 guys like kung-fu movie heroes. Which is OK, because this is a very cinematic genre.

So, what about that concept that has a character with no enhanced abilities, and no background or experience in combat? Well.... scrap it. Let's face it, those types get their butts handed to them in the comics, too. Then they get "trained by Captain America in basic hand to hand combat" tacked on to their description at some point and suddenly become able to hold their own.

The solution to justifying whatever speed you want is simple: "Trained in basic hand to hand combat by Captain America." There ya go.

Now, one thing I think we don't see a balance of on the whole is that the vast lump of comics characters fall into the 4 or 5 range, with a lot more of them as 4s than 5s, unlike Champs games where they tend to drift to 5s. But that's OK, you can still play a 4 speed perfectly viably, and by comparison to the 5s and up, you'll look more like one of those normals that got trained by Cap.

Re: Marvel to HERO

Just to stir up the hornet's nest further, I'm going to put down what I'd most likely use as stats if I were statting up Spidey and Cap. My numbers and comments in bold.

Sure. Here's what they list for Spidey

 

Intelligence: Gifted - INT 16-21 18

Strength: Superhuman Class 1 - STR 32-43 50

Stamina: Superhuman - CON 29-34 30, END 71-89 60, REC 50-65 15

Durability: Enhanced Human - BODY 29-39 20, STUN 50-90 60, PD/ED 21-35 25

Agility: Superhuman - DEX 29-37 35

Reflexes: Superhuman - SPD 9-10 7-8

 

Based on the comics I might push Spidey's STR to Superhuman Class 2 - STR 44-50. But otherwise I think it works pretty well.

 

Here's Cap:

 

Intelligence: Above Normal - INT 12-15 13

Strength: Peak Human - STR 16-20 25

Stamina: Peak Human - CON 18-23 23, END 36-50 50, REC 18-25 15

Durability: Peak Human - BODY 16-20 25, STUN 30-50 50, PD/ED 7-10 15

Agility: Peak Human - DEX 18-22 26

Reflexes: Peak Human - SPD 5-6 6

 

Based on the comics I would have put Cap at Enhanced Human for Stamina, and Durability; but I could live with this.

 

I'd give Cap some Overall levels to account for his higher PER than his INT indicates, and for his laundry list of skills. I'd give him half or 0 END on his STR if he's got the Super Soldier serum in his system, since it eliminates fatigue poisons.

 

 

And here's She-Hulk:

I don't really know She-Hulk all that well, but from what I've seen, I'd peg her DEX and SPD lower. Probably 23-25 DEX/5 SPD (yeah, everyone takes those lol).

Re: Marvel to HERO

Intelligence: Better simulated in Hero with a combination of INT and skills. I think for the most part that the Handbooks refer to the character's Intelligence as more the character's ability to do whiz-bang stuff, and scientific knowledge than actual IQ. Since Hero INT doesn't model IQ anyway, you may want to cap INT a little lower, and make up the difference with skills and for higher levels, powers.

Strength: Seems OK, if boosted by 5 as mentioned already.

Stamina to CON: Seems OK. Most PCs and most Marvel supers are going to stop at Metahuman anyway. I might fudge it upwards a bit for Peak Human, putting that at about 25, but you've got it at 23, which is probably close enough for government work.

Stamina to END: It looks like it's about double the CON scores, a bit more in a few cases. That works for me.

Recovery: This is skewed way high. Remember, the NCM for Recovery is 10. Peak human shouldn't be more than 12 or 15 tops, depending on how you want to define that benchmark.

Reflexes to SPD: I'm honestly not sure if these map over at all. A better measure would be combat skill, which I know used to be used in the Handbook type stats. I'd probably go something like:

Below Normal: 1

Normal: 2

Athlete: 3

Peak Human: 4-5

Enhanced Human: 6-7

Superhuman: 8-8

Metahuman: 10-12

Though I'm not sure I like mapping SPD to Reflexes. If I did this for a campaign, I'd just lay out a chart of characters and assign SPD by hierarchy of relative levels of combat ability, speed and agility type powers, etc.

Agility to DEX: I'd put Peak Human a little higher, up to 23, and bump Enhanced up to 30.

Durability to ETC: No comment. That's too complex for me to fool with at the moment. There are too many variables in Hero for me to consider mapping them directly like this, though I appreciate the effort you put into it. I'll have to look it over again when I'm more awake.

Re: Marvel to HERO

Generally, I'd say +5 pts would work, since it doubles the lift.

Looking at some of your character examples, posted up thread, I'd advise two things:

First, use a different scale for different stats. It seems like some stats are a bit on the high side, like those REC scores someone mentioned. Sure, Spidey doesn't often get tired, but that's true of most comics characters. Mary Jane rarely gets tired when exerting herself either. I really don't think Peter heals back nearly 2 Body per day. He does heal fast, though.

Second, "Max Human" isn't "NCM" in Marvel. These are comic book characters, so they probably at least go up to Legendary levels (25-30ish) while still being considered "normal."

Side note: Spider-Man is Class 1 in STR? I thought the Handbooks used Class 10 (basically the tonnage) for the Strength scores? Spidey has always been Class 10 Strength on those things (and cards) AFAIK. Weird.

In regards to FASERIP Marvel: Don't overlook it as a resource because you don't like the system. Whether you like the game mechanics or not, the actual stat blocks were pretty valid for 1980s era Marvel characters, so they can be a handy reference point. Take a gander at the Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe series. The PDFs are online.

I'm going to redownload that document and look at it more closely. I'll post some more feedback in a bit.

Re: Marvel to HERO

QM, that's for that piss-poor game Marvel turned out about 20 years ago. Adventurer's Club had a conversion system for it, way back in the day.

 

Still, it's good to know. Thanks.

The game wasn't piss-poor by any standard, including in comparison to Champions/Hero. It's worth a look, as it has a ton of write ups available and they were pretty accurate as to relative power levels. All the material is freely available online. (Apparently with TSR's blessing.)

Re: Marvel to HERO

One note: Hero STR is how much the character can barely lift and stagger around. Marvel STR is how much the character can lift over their head. So, you'll need to up the STR chart a bit on the Hero side of things from what I see here.

Re: Does the Champions Universe have a Power Broker type?

Thanks! Rep for all.

Re: Golden Girl

I agree with the above posts. Also, a couple things I noticed:

1. You have 200 base points, and 140 points of Disadvantages, with 314 points spent. . . but the sheet says Unspent Points: 0??? Ok, that's just confusing me.

2. You have several PRE skills, but you only bought PRE to 12 when 13 would get you +1 to all of those. Maybe a mis-click or type-o? Either way, I'd bump that up by a point.

3. You have +2 with Flight for 2 points, and it's listed as a CSL? That should be 4 pts and not a CSL unless I'm missing something.

Re: Creating chracters in Champs Online

Let's hope they don't. They should create a secondary name. Giving out half of someone's login info is not good security. CoH/V uses a global chat handle that's generated in game and isn't a match for your login (unless you're stupid enough to do so yourself), so I think that's the approach they'll use here.

Re: Escaped Python Loose in Everglades!

Oh, also... don't forget the skunk apes. =)

Re: Escaped Python Loose in Everglades!

The Everglades has all kinds of interesting formerly-kept things in it.

I remember a story a while back about a Burmese python and Gator fight. Thing went on for hours. I'm not sure if there was a clear victor there, both were pretty messed up at the end IIRC.

I never did pick up the setting material for 5th, and I can't think of one per se from 4th, but does the CU have a Power Broker type character? (The guy from Marvel who sells (or sold, I think the Scourge got him) treatments to boost people to superhuman physical stats.)

Re: Open Beta in Mid-August?

grats!

Re: so... i'm in closed beta...

I'll echo the warnings about the NDA. Be careful not to lose your beta access.

Re: Absolute Range Sense... ever use it?

I don't believe I've ever taken ARS' date=' but there are plenty of abilities with no defined combat effect that are still relevant.[/quote']

 

I never mentioned combat. Just lack of game mechanics to support the ability.

 

Edit: Which is to say, I also like non-combat abilities being relevant, so I agree with your post. I was just clarifying that.

Re: Human Power Generator

I'd go with either Side Effect or a Physical Disadvantage + small Stun-only Susceptibility.

Re: Creating chracters in Champs Online

Yeah, the Rate My Champions page is just displaying characters that are in the beta test. You can create an account on the site and apply for beta, but getting into beta is the only way you can do it for now. Those are actual models used by player characters in game.

Re: 6E Rules changes confirmed so far

Yeah, I know you were framing it as part of a larger example, but it's been mentioned a few times as adding complexity, and that just baffles me. I still do roughs on paper and use HD to finish up. I was under the impression that most of us on the boards pretty much had all the normal Hero calculations down pat, kind of a limited form of Lightning Calculator, Only for Hero System Calculations (-1).

Re: 6E Rules changes confirmed so far

Is calculating the figured really all that hard of an extra step? I'm not picking on GamePhil's post in particular, but I've seen this listed as an "extra step" people who like figureds will be forced to go through several other times. Have folks become so dependent on the software that this is a real burden?

Re: Absolute Range Sense... ever use it?

Mechanically' date=' Hero does not care if you know a distance accurately or not so if you take ARS it is up to the GM to make it worth the 3 points in the story.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I can find no mechanics concerning it. I don't think I've seen any rules reference to using a fog of war concept on the hex map (if used), even. That's one way to use it, and going with somewhat uncertain distances is an interesting concept. What other ways have you found to make it interesting for your players?

Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #1: ACV And AVAD

Not to mention, you can't house rule it if you don't think of it first.

Re: Absolute Range Sense... ever use it?

Thanks for the link, Wolfe. Interesting thread. I had no idea so many GMs didn't allow hex counting.

Or maybe it's a lot of people saying, "If you want to make ARS useful, then don't allow hex counting."

I wonder which? Who here doesn't allow players to count hexes before attacking or moving?

The title is pretty much the question. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't find a mechanic that's supported by Absolute Range Sense. As far as I can tell, it's only useful in situations where the range of something needs to be known. In most campaigns, I don't see that coming up too often.

Now, if I were building a sniper character, I'd take it for flavor.

So, who uses/has used this talent in game before? Tell me about it. =)