Pattern Ghost

I'm wondering what your logic is. I'd assume walls did normal damage for the most part.

I think AOE would work. The attack's supposed to clear the area, so an AOE would make people Dive For Cover unless they wanted to get tagged.

GL seems like he has trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time in regards to ring usage, so I suggested the Multi over the EC. Either one works, though.

Do'h! I totally forgot the shapeshift when I typed it all up.

Dex + lots of Unluck works too for Flash. Good idea. On his STR, if the Gorilla is 400 lbs, that'd be near the max lift for a 15. That's lift and stagger a bit. Although he kind of huffed and puffed, he wasn't really that put out by carrying him at full speed. I wouldn't allow a push in that situation, myself, too extended. 18's good, but I don't like rolling a half die, so I went up a little. Still, putting him at 20 is pretty much where I'd put Bats, and I don't think he's as strong...and this is why I'm trying to avoid the numbers up front.

Things you might add/squeeze in (with no regard to point totals): Life Support: Cold. Change Environment: Cold. Breaking out the Entangle to its own EC slot might be good, b/c you can still MPA with them. I'm not sure how kosher a combined slot in an EC is under 5th. Good skills for a Detective/Cop: Deduction Conversation and/or Interrogation Shadowing Bugging Paramedics might go well, though he probably deals with people who aren't in need of this skill a lot. Maybe a Contact or three. The two KS skills seem less than useful compared to the standard skills. Knowing about Crime Scene Investigation and Investigation and Deduction isn't the same as doing them. I'd umbrella both of those under the PS. Breakfall would go well with Acrobatics. Most acrobats/gymnasts would probably have this one, and it's handy for dealing with knockback. Not at all vital though. I'm assuming you know the low CON with the buy ups in REC, END and STUN is inefficient, so the character concept is that he's not very much tougher or harder to Stun than a normal. He could take the Vuln. to Knockback and Falling Damage as a Disad to simulate this as well. ("Normal Guy" Disad package in Champs 5th.)

OK, I've gotten caught up on the JLA now that Cartoon Network has them on week nights. Aside from some really good stuff in the scripting, I've noticed...these are Champions JLA characters! Seriously: Nobody has an absolute defense, even Supes. Damage from energy attacks behaves differently, i.e., some characters obviously have lower ED than PD. Characters routinely take knockback. The Flash blows his DEX rolls --- often. Area Effect attacks can take out the speedster. Surprise attacks can take out Bats. Etc... Basically, all of the combats I've seen so far can be gameable, and on not a ton of points. So, I'm thinking, let's build them. There's probably a thread somewhere on this board or the old one on building the animated JLA, but I'm starting this one for two reasons: 1. The search function requires four characters, making searching for "JLA" a pain. And I didn't feel like looking for "animated," or other likely suspects b/c the last two times I tried to find a thread by guessing related terms were a waste. I'm probably just not good at it. 2. I am less interested in particular builds -- though that's welcome -- than I am in listing what we've seen the characters doing on the show. For example, I don't care if your Flash has a DEX of 23 or 42, I just want to know if you think Hawkgirl has more or less DEX than he does, etc. IOW, talking about numbers is cool, but talking about relative power levels is preferred. (At least to me. I wouldn't dare suggest a thread stay on topic. That way lies madness...) OK, here are a few of my observations: General: Characters generally have lower EDs, especially the Bricks. Resistant defenses are uncommon; we only see Supes actually bouncing bullets off his body, and GL using his Force Field or Force Walls -- often shielding the whole team with the latter. WW deflects, Bats avoids, Flash avoids, and I haven't caught MM or Hawkgirl getting smacked by gunfire. I'm using gunfire as the baseline b/c we can all agree bullets are killing attacks, while energy beams can be arguable. Most of the characters interact with everything/everyone else at relatively normal speed. The only characters who get a huge margin of extra actions seem to be the Flash (can be explained with multiple move bys/passing strikes though) and Manhunter's trick of popping up behind someone and rapidly switching back and forth between desolid and solid (can be simulated with powers though.) Mostly, it takes some time and effort to go through hordes of lower level threats than you'd expect compared to comic appearances of the same characters. Nobody's damage is off the scale, except maybe Hawkgirl's mace. I don't think even Supe's punches can drop someone as fast, though the mace may have extra KB from the energy. None of the characters are particularly imaginative with their powers. GL is the classic example, here. That should make some write ups much simpler. Although the JLA doesn't seem to actually kill anyone, most of them don't hesitate to take actions that can be fatal to even normals. Example is shooting down airplanes. Most of the time, Supes or someone will catch a falling aircraft, but I get the feeling it's more to protect civilians. Currently, Savage Time story arc is playing, and Supes and Hawkgirl have been shooting down German planes with abandon. I doubt if many of the JLA in this version have a strong CVK. Hawkgirl seems to pretty much lack one altogether, and dishes out massive damage without hesistation. Superman We'll start with a classic here. He's MUCH less powerful than the comics version. You don't even need to cheese out with characteristics in an EC to get him in under a reasonable point cost. He also seems to lack a few of his more off the wall powers, but on the other hand, he tends to remember he has the powers he exhibits on the show. He's more consistant that way. I LIKE the JLA animated version of Supes. He's the strongest JLA member, but WW isn't too far behind. He can probably lift a LOT more than Wondy, putting him about ten to fifteen STR ahead of her, though he doesn't seem to dish out significantly more damage than she does. He's got heat vision. He usually reserves it for machines, vehicles, and really tough opponents. I'd build it as a laser, big KA, maybe Pen. or AP, with no KB (haven't seen it knock anything back yet, looks more like it cuts) and Beam limits. Cold breath? I'm pretty sure I saw him freeze something with his breath on at least one episode, but I can't remember which one. It may have been the trial one. Doesn't seem to do it much. Superspeed...doesn't seem to have it. Senses. He's not shown using his gazillion senses much, and doesn't seem especially hard to surprise. Maybe the writers are just not putting him in situations where he needs them often, but maybe he doesn't have them? Failing any examples, I'd just give him some overall PER levels and move on. Flight. He seems to have decent flight speed, enough to overtake vehicles. Defense. He seems to be able to shrug off gunfire, and to take a "campaign" average hit with no damage, but sometimes knockback, but he gets con-stunned (or just Stunned for folks who like the official term better) fairly regularly. Anything big and scary-looking (above average damage) seems capable of stunning him. Energy attacks tend to do more damage or look like they are on average. I'd set his PD higher than ED. Personality. He seems to be pretty serious about his duties, but to have a sense of humor. He's definately got the boy scout reputation and attitude, as seen when he tries to get rough interrogating Copperhead, which leaves him asking "How does Batman do it?" He just won't cross the line and the villains know it. On the other hand, he had little problem telling Hawkgirl to cut loose on the Nazi fighter planes and destroying quite a few himself (though they did aime for mostly wings and other non-cockpit areas, people could have died), so he's probably not got an absolute code. I can't see this version wandering off into space if a few Nazis happen to fall to their deaths, even though the cartoon tends to gloss over those type of consequences most of the time. Skills. He seems to have decent leadership skills, and probably journalistic skills. He doesn't seem to have much Kryptonian super science background though. For combat, he probably has levels with hand to hand, but no MA training. DEX/SPD: He seems to be a little slower to react than Hawkgirl (who's impulsive, though) and Wonder Woman. He seems very agile, but not more so than Bats, WW, or Hawkgirl. He's probably a little more agile than Flash or GL. His SPD doesn't seem to be anything outstanding. For example, when he gets knocked back then shakes it off, I get the definate impression that he's lost a phase of action, and he doesn't sem to "make up for it" very quickly, unlike the Flash, who tends to get up pretty quick after a non-stunning fall and zip off. Batman Ok, next up, the Batman! He's pretty straightforward, really. Honestly. Just leave the numbers out of it. =) Skills: He's got all of his Detective skills, as well as his Science and Engineering skills. The JLA Bats is the guy who invented all the cool toys, not the guy who bought all the cool toys. He's the team go-to guy for pretty much any skill. For example, he stayed at the lab in the Metamorpho episode to figure out how to take out the big goop monster by analyzing some of the mutagen. He's also got decent PRE-based skills outside of intimidation. In the one where Luthor assembles the "Injustice Society" crew, he gets Solomon Grundy to pound on the Ultra Humanite, seduces Cheetah (at least a little, he definately plays her), and bribes the Ultra Humanite. (Very cool! May as well put that Wayne fortune to use...this post brought to you by a grant from the Ultra Humanite...) Gadgets: Most of the time the team uses the JLA planes, but I've seen the Bat plane. He likes to use his Batarangs a lot, including exploding ones. I haven't seen him use a whole lot of other things from his belt, other than for evidence gathering. The utility belt being booby-trapped is a good gimmick. Combat ability: Definately a great MA, with tons of Stealth, including the "Batman teleport" ability, but his defenses aren't that high. He seems to lack resistant defenses but to have a great dodge and dive for cover. He also gets sucker punched more often than you'd expect. His damage level seems to be pretty far below most of the team, except Flash. He's not really the best guy in a straight brawl with supers, but let him sneak around, and he gets dangerous. Definately seems to fall into the let him plan and he gets real dangerous mode. Basically, he's got brawn, but everyone fears his brain more. As it should be. Personality: Definately grim, though he does seem to have a sense of humor. He also cares a lot more for his teammates than he wants to let on. He was pretty freaked out in the Gorilla City episode when he thought WW had bought it, then played it off. His ethics seem to lead him to non-lethal solutions, but non-lethal, doesn't mean non-painful, either. Overall, I'd load him up with skills, but not go too far into building exotic MA special abilities. Just use maneuvers with the calculated damage. Wonder Woman Mmm...Wonder Woman! Amazonian Babe! Strength. Seems a bit lower than Supes. She grunts when she throws a truck, probably in the 2-3 ton range, but she tosses it pretty far. (Savage Time) She's also been able to stop things like huge missles with tons of thrust behind them (Gorilla City episode). Overall, pretty decent. Defenses. Seems to have a high durability, but doesn't show much in the way of resistant defenses. She has the ultimate Missle Deflect roll, though. Speed/DEX. She seems fast and agile. Probably has an edge on Supes in this department. The Lasso: What's up with the Lasso? Seems to have lost its umph. Has anyone seen the truth power yet? Or the "you can't remove it" power? Other Powers: Aside from Flight , she doesn't seem to have any other powers, just the bracers and lasso. Skills. I'd definately give her some MA maneuvers. Not sure what else to give her, as she seems pretty naive in general Probably some cultural skills for being an Amazon. Hawkgirl Wings and a BIG mace... Brick-ness: Hawkgirl definately falls into the brick range for STR and durability. I'd say she's not nearly as strong as WW, but definately in brick-land on STR, and pretty durable. She was run over by a WWII fighter on last night's episode and it didn't slow her down much at all. That Mace...OK, the mace is pretty potent. I'd say it's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, attacks in the show. She's smacked down the energy blast from a planet-busting gun in the War World show, and broken more stuff than any two of her teammates combined. I've yet to see her hit a character with the mace w/out doing a good amount of knockback. In fact, although the energy/electric sparks are just visual shorthand for "big bad weapon," I'd say it probably has extra knockback. Fighting Prowess. I'd say she has a movement-based martial art. He fighting style just screams "charge" and "passing strike" to me. I'd give her a mix of movement based MA maneuvers and some standards like martial block and martial dodge. Skills: I get the impression she's the Thangarian cop version of Hawkgirl. I'd say she has some police skills, but not at a high level. She strikes me as more of the beat a confession out type than a detective work type. She did make a comment on her world being very warlike on one episode, so being a law enforcement officer is probably somewhat different there. Flight. Pretty cut and dry. Doesn't seem to outpace anyone else who flies. Might be somewhere between Supes and WW in flight speed. Might write her up as faster since that's her schtick, though. Personality: She's definately got a "likes to hit things with mace" psych lim. Very direct. Love her reparte with Flash. She's sort of rough and tumble, can be "one of the guys" with the best of bad barracks humor. Green Lantern Power ring! VPP or Multi? Really, I think you could do it as an OIF multipower, b/c he doesn't do much with the ring. He's got FF/Fly mode. EB mode. FW mode. He seems to drop the personal FF when he's doing FW/Entangles or EBs. So, maybe a multi with a big enough pool to run a couple small powers and a big one at lower power, or just one big power. Defenses: Aside from force field constructs, GL doesn't seem to really have the associated boost to defenses the ring's supposed to grant. I'd say he's got a decent defense for a "normal" and a decent CON, though. Skills. He's a marine. Seems like a capable hand to hand fighter w/out the ring, though I'd not give extra DCs to him. He's probably got a slew of military skills he never shows much on the show, like weapon and transport familiarties, navigation (land, maybe sea), tactics, breakfall, climbing, survival, paramedics, a little extra running, etc. Personality: Seems to have a stick jammed up his uniform sometimes. Extremely committed to duty, seems to be a bit of a perfectionist. Definatley a tough customer with ring or without. Lots of will power of course. Pretty rock stupid in the trial episode, IMO. Might have some sort of awe of authority type lim. The Flash Powers: He runs. Fast. Classic running multi with over walls and over water variants. I've seen him do the wind funnel trick at least once (at Etrigan's direction) and he's done an arm windmill to blow away gases on at least two shows I've seen. So, I'd toss those into a multi with the running. Offensively, I've seen him do what looks like an autofire hand attack, running circles around someone and punching them repeatedly (Ares on Paradise Island episode) and lots and lots of multiple move bys and passing disarms on mooks. He was able to carry the good gorilla on the Grodd episode, and I think the weight the ape quoted would have clocked him in around a 20 STR to carry at full speed. Fair non-resistant defenses, but he stuns himself a lot from tripping, usually over some debris thrown up in front of him. SPD would be pretty fast, but not obscene b/c everyone else is pretty modest in that area. Dex would probably be less than say Hawkgirl or Bats, but still moderately high. He blows too many DEX rolls to put him into Spidey range though. Skills: Well, seduction isn't one. =) Actually, I've never seen him use a skill other than the ability to tick off his teammates or get into trouble. Of course, there's the "I outsmarted a super genius!" Priceless. Personality: Class clown all the way. Impulsive to the max. The other team members should probably put him in a dual harness with Hawkgirl to get them both on leashes. But that'd annoy Hawkgirl to no end... Martian Manhunter What can you say? He's big, he's green, and the team already has two heavy bricks and a briquette. Poor guy gets to be the whipping boy in a lot of episodes. Brick-ness: Honestly, I can't tell. He's a LOT less bricky than in the comics. He's pretty bricky when he gets denser. When he's not dense, he's been clocked on several occasions by characters that really aren't at the same strength level as he is in the comics. I'd make him maybe a little sronger than Hawkgirl or a little less, depending. Probably go for something in the 40ish to 50ish range, plus his DI. Powers: Which ones doesn't he have? He's got a HUGE Mindscan, some Telepathy, but perhaps not a great Ego, considering how soundly he was trashed by Morgana. The Telepathy seems to be a secondary thing to his Martian body control powers. Speaking of which: I've seen him fly, be desolid, and get denser. Offhand, I can't think of any other powers shown, though he can do quite a bit with that combo. Personality: He's pretty depressing. The whole last member of his race thing and all. Other than that, he's pretty typically heroic with good teamwork. Skills: I'm not sure he's been shown to have any, really? Any ideas there are welcome. Well, there's a rough start. I'm sure there are more things to add to each character, so let's see what we've seen them do on the show, at least once, twice is better.

I'd be interested to hear the rationale on STR (or HA) that affects desolid, though. Doesn't seem very bricky. Unless it's only vs. certain types of desolid, such as wind/smoke type desolid (clapping hands), but that might be better off being an EB and letting the description of those kinds of desolids handle that.

You could do it as a Hand Attack multi. He can add his STR up to the # of dice in the attack. So, buy some dice of HA at half his normal STR with the advantages on it, and he's set.

Winzip will span floppies. You just have to ask it nicely.

Actually, on this primative 15" display, it's totally unreadable. Very cool write up. =)

On the deflection, I'd go with a force wall, maybe with feedback for the KB effect.

There were two explanations offered in the X-2 thread, both of which make sense: 1. She can't pick herself up by her bootstraps and fly. Since she lifted the jet to clear it from the onrushing water while it was powering up, she had to be outside, b/c she couldn't lift it with herself in it. 2. The Phoenix Force told her to. She looks like she's having some internal conflict right before she decides to do it..or is that showing communication with the Phoenix Force? Maybe she made a deal, her life/body for her friends? Also interesting to note that although the characters discussed it, nobody brought it up as being a limitation of her powers, other than the mention of her previously feeling inhibited in cutting loose with her powers. So, it may be that she was able to cut loose, but didn't feel she had enough control to do so in the confined space of the plane. I'd guess that she's definately going to become the Phoenix (and hopefully Dark Phoenix for some real fun), and that the explanation will be (based on the voiceover at the end) that she's further mutated, spontaneously evolved. Maybe have her in a TK coccoon at the bottom of the lake. Of course, that explanation will make it slightly tougher to de-power her later, but that bridge can be burned when they get to it.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Updating Ethnic Superfriends No, no, no. Australian supers should be NINJAS!

You're thinking of Turett's. AS is believed to be a form of autism. Some of the symptoms include a lack of social skills/development, preference for sameness/resistance to change, inability to read body language cues, tendancy to take things very literally, and so on. On the "up" side, AS patients can be highly skilled in certain areas and show a high degree of intelligence, though not all. Typically seen as very naive. Not quite "Rain Man" level, but some people think it may be another form of High Functioning Autism. Heck, I think a lot of gamers have it. =) Seriously, on the RP aspects, it does make an interesting basis for a character. I'd play up the literal-minded aspects and naivity, and to a lesser extent the resistance to change/need for a routine (that'd be the most disruptive in a group game). I'm guessing the character will be a savant in some area? I'd take the limitation as a physical one, since there is no EGO roll which will circumvent the limitation.

I see! How about making it a Side Effect to the extra STUN? He changes class of minds as a SFX (no point value) and gains a Physical Limit to represent the AI's limitations (i.e., runs off of a program, has pre-set priorities or orders to follow, basically limits the char's actions).

Re: Cramming goodness into 500 words To be fair, these are just small scenes. The last two Hero ones are some of the better stuff IMO. Actually, nothing happens, except I gripe about it, so they don't need to do anything, but it'd be nice if they improved a couple of things. Some of the victories have been pretty lame, though I suppose the pulling a rabbit out of a hat thing is in genre.

I thought you were also gaining the ability for the pilot to be knocked out, and have the suit continue to function? That's a lot more bang for the buck than changing class of minds. As for the problem with creating two whole characters: Aside from Skills, it's going to be the same character. Just give the PA character all of the same basic stats and powers, and some automaton powers, and ditch non-combat related skills. Shouldn't be that hard. On the other hand, you might use the Only In Hero (or in this case Autopilot) ID on some additional powers. You'd probably want instachange. The Hero ID and Insta-Change combo should be sufficient justification to change the class of minds. Then, you can buy extra STUN or Takes No STUN, OIHID, Trigger (Pilot at incapacitated). You might buy down some of your pilot's non-combat skills with OIHID (Pilot) to reflect that they're not available to the autopilot, if the GM allows limitations on skills. You might want to buy extra BODY as well, so the suit can be "killed" without necessarily killing the character. That part of it is a little tricky. Interesting problem.

Heck, I'll do a blow by blow. This is a character I made to practice creating a lower-powered, 50 + 50 heroic type for a science fiction campaign. First off, I made some assumptions about the campaign ground rules. Normally, you'll get these from the GM (unless you are the GM). First, I'm going with 50 pts plus up to 50 pts in Disadvantages for the build total. Second, I'm assuming typical NCM for 0 pts for a heroic game. Third, I'm going to assume a few of the options like Hit Locations and Impairing are turned "on" for this game, so it's a bit more lethal than say a supers game. Next, I decide on a concept. I'm going to go with a veteran combat pilot, a rough and tumble sort of guy, but not an Arnie type either. I decide he's the kind of guy who's down on his luck all the time, always looking for the next job, and might be wanted, probably for bad debt. Concept in mind, I rough out some skills: Combat Pilot, a no brainer Navigation (Air, Space), another necessity Transport Familiarity (Combat aircraft, space ships), another no brainer Mechanics, to keep things running (figruing any ship he's on is going to need regular repairs) Electronics, also to keep things running Systems Operation, to know how to run things (ship's life support, artificial gravity if in the setting, navigation system, etc. space ships should have plenty of complex systems) Tactics, he's a combat pilot after all Trading, to negotiate contracts PS: Pilot, for those mundane aspects of being a professional pilot, such as record keeping, knowing various regulations, etc. Language: Trade Argot, this assumes the existance of some kind of pidgin language used by people for trading, but might just be changed to the second most common language in the setting, depending on what the GM has in mind, one pt for basic conversation WF: Blades, General Purpose/Heavy Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers, Small Arms, Vehicle Weapons, ex-military, so he's got basic training in some weapons, though I added Blades b/c he's the sort of guy who'd have one stuffed down his boot, just in case the blaster gave out. 1 Level with All Combat, for his general rough and tumbleness and combat piloting abilities. He's no combat monster, but he has a level he can toss anywhere, which is handy. Fringe Benefit: Starship License, going to need one of these if he's going to get work AK: Spaceways Good to know where you're going. I could call this Trade Routes, Known Space, Local System, whatever. Just his general area of operation. I also considered Gambling, Seduction (womanizing), and KS: Bar Jokes, to add some more flavor, but decided I didn't want him to be a professional at being rowdy, it's just a character trait. I also wanted to have some decent stats. Next, I did the characteristics: STR. Went with a 15 here. He's a big boy, and packs a mean left hook. DEX. Went with a 14 here. He's a capable pilot, so he has good coordination and reaction times, but he's no Bruce Lee. CON. Decided that a bit above average is in order, for dealing with G-forces, so I picked 13. Mainly settled on 13 b/c I want to buy up his BODY score (assuming somewhat lethal campaign), and b/c it rounds evenly and I like nice round numbers. BODY. Giving him a 15. He's a pretty tough guy, and the setting will probably be low on resistant defenses and high on killing damage. And I don't want him to die. INT. Have to be fairly smart to be a pilot, so I set it to 13 to get a 12- on all of those INT skills he has. EGO. It's hard to resist buying a point of EGO to get that ECV bonus, so I gave him an 11 EGO. By concept, there's no particular reason for him to buy up EGO, but then again, there's not particular reason not to buy a point. PRE: He's kind of personable, but not particularly imposing, so I gave him a 13 PRE. That gives him a 12- on his PRE Skills. This also makes things easy for me: Most of his skills are DEX, INT, and PRE based, so having them all at 12- makes it pretty easy for me to remember what his roll is with any given skill...they're all the same! COM: I decide he's got rugged good looks, but he's no sissy model type, and give him a 14 COM. PD and ED: I randomly set these both to 5. He's pretty tough, but he's not a professional boxer or anything. SPD: I set it to 3. He's a good pilot, has some military training, but he's no ace. Just a working stiff. REC, END and STUN: I used the figureds of 6, 26, and 30. Running: I bought his running up an extra inch to 7"...why fight the bad guys when you can outrun them? Next, I picked some Disadvantages: NCM comes for 0 pts in most heroic level games, so I note that. Next, I decide to give him a Psych Limit: Sticks to the Contract. I set it to Moderate level so he doesn't annoy the other PCs too much with the "That'll cost you extra" aspect of it. Of course, the "We got paid to do the job, so we're going to do it, even if there's an Imperial Navy fleet between us and the objective," part is a bit more noble, but...also inconvenient. Kind of helps define who he is. I don't want a bunch of Psych Lims or really to have any duplicate categories, so next, I give him a Rivalry, another freelance pilot who's a professional rival, for 5 pts. I give him a social limitation, "disreputable sort" to reflect that he's got a below average social status. I took this instead of poverty to reflect the down on his luck aspect of the character, because it sucks to actually be poor. He's just on the edge of poor. I gave him an 8- hunted by organized criminals, more powerful, limited area. Probably limited to one or a few planets in the area he operates in. I haven't decided what he's done to tick these guys off, but can work that out with the GM when I know more about the setting. I'm thinking at this point, that maybe he found out he'd been tricked into carrying some illicit cargo and didn't want to take the fall for smuggling, so just turned it over to the authorities. (Not a violation of his psych limit, b/c that'd be a breach of contract by the other guys.) Finally, you can't be unlucky without a die of unluck, so I gave him 1d6. So, right now I have a good idea of his recent history, his motivations, and his personality. Enough to start playing. More background detail than that should be worked out with the GM so that he can best fit into the campaign world. That's pretty much how I go about creating characters.

The main problem with this approach is that you're gaining advantages as a part of a Disadvantage. I'd say buy a Duplication with Trigger and the appropriate limitations. Would have to check the rules on Duplication and see what happens when the main character is knocked out, though. (Not a power I use much at all.)

The GOO one has a serious flaw: No freaking setting. It just launches into dialogue about events taking place that haven't been shown, in a place that hasn't been described. That'd be fine, but the dialogue fails to get the job done in that regard. The HERO one was written a bit better, but pulling a dragon out of the hat without any preamble was a bit lame. Both companies need to bring up the level of writing on these things.

The avatar of.... smackdown! And toads. Same guy.

It doesn't have to if people leave their attitudes and personal accusations at the door. That tends to be a problem with gamers. Everyone involved in a debate is usually highly intelligent, and convinced that they're 200% in the right in their opinions. I think one of the biggest problems here is in identifying which argument everyone is in.

OK, I'll clean it up.

Politeness? A little late to take the high road after you've chosen to respond initially by using the word "crap" to describe another member's post and made the comment that. "This is a roleplaying game, NOT A COMBAT GAME! " both of which are insulting. Let me make this clear: Had you questioned the concept in a less insulting manner, you would have gotten a response that was a [heck] of a lot more polite and would have explained what you so obviously missed. Aside from the fact that you went off half-cocked with the "crap" comment, you also have no [fornicating] idea how I play any game, and the "NOT A COMBAT GAME!" yelling is absurd and childish, especially since that wasn't the point of the [fornicating] comment in the first place. If your concept is that you have all of the effects of a high dex and you turn in a character sheet that's a major pain in the [posterior] to read, then that gets in the way of gameplay. You seem to think that the word "gameplay" means "combat." I was referring to the concept that a clean character sheet lets you get on with the business of roleplaying. If the concept is that the character has uncanny accuracy, but not whole body coordination above the norm, then CLS are appropriate. We basically agree on this point, but you decided to reply with an attitude that would only end up costing you some teeth in a face to face conversation. So, again, pull your [fornicating] head out of your [posterior]and leave your snide attitude at the door.