Pattern Ghost

http://www.varmouries.com/ Lots of armor pics here, by period.

Oh, and arm your NPCs with weapons that can generate 3d6 to 4d6 damage when they add their STR, their CSLs and their MA to them. Not all of them, just the leaders or tougher brawlers, to give your tanks a tough time every now and then. Make impact weapons like maces, flails, and hammers killing attacks with increased stun multipliers, at least +2. That will ring their bells from time to time without being instantly fatal.

Chain is actually more difficult to move in than plate. Simple reason: Chain was worn with significant padding beneath it, and plate was jointed. Here are some ways to mess with the armored types if you're going for a mixed armor types environment: 1. Require familiarities of increasing point values for different levels of armor. If the character doesn't have the appropriate armor familiarity, impose a big CV penalty, and limit movement, especially leaping. Armor requires training to use to full effect. Even as far back as Roman times, you'll find records explicitly outlining mobility training such as vaulting, etc., for armored troops. 2. Impose double the penalties listed for heat environmental penalties for anyone wearing chain or plate armor. 3. Double END cost for STR use when in chain or plate armor. 4. Require a certain level of Wealth to own any metal armor. Say, 3 or 5 pts for chain, and 5 or 10 pts for plate. Don't just give the stuff away. 5. Impose big PER penalties to those wearing helmets. Hit those not wearing helmets in the head frequently. =) None of these bring the great STR debate into it, b/c you're not using the Encumberance rules to mess with the armored types.

Xandarr... thanks! Actually, I screwed up! =) 1. I thought that Haymakers landed on the beginning of the next segment. Oops. 2. I also thought that KB was a 1d6 base roll. Oops. That's what I get for skimming when I'm reading. You did, however, prove that I'm psychic, because I predicted someone would come along and correct any bonehead errors I made. I'll see if anyone else spots some more boneheadedness, then I'll edit the posts. Thanks.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Round 2! New Turn! Segment 1: WL uses his held phase. WL makes a half move around Shock Mouse and attempts an Offensive Strike against MC. He puts his levels into defense, giving him an OCV of 7 and DCV of 12. He spends 1 END for the move and 2 END for the attack. He needs 11 + 7 - 4 = 14 or less to hit. He rolls...11. The damage roll is... 31 STUN and 9 BODY. That knocks a whopping 1 STUN off of MC, putting him down by 25. Since WL is acting to defend Shock Mouse, we'll see if he did any KB. (KB would be a *good* thing right about now.) So, we roll 2d6 for the KB dice (MA move gets another d6) and get a 10. Even without MC's KB resistance, no KB is done. Segment 2: WL has a phase. WL's player decides it's time to push, with a walking wall getting ready to smash his partner, he figures that it's about time. GM decides that it's appropriate. WL pushes his STR for 10 pts and takes another shot with his Offensive Strike. WL spends 12 END for STR this phase. He still needs a 14 or less to hit. He rolls... 12. He rolls damage. 38 STUN and 11 BODY. MC takes 8 STUN, putting him down by 33. KB roll is 4, so 11 - 4 - 5 = 2". MC goes tottering back 2 hexes, and is at half DCV. (DCV 2 at the moment). Segment 3: Shock Mouse and Microceph have a phase. Shock Mouse holds her action. She decides to Haymaker her Ball Lightning again, so lets MC act first so he won't move and spoil the haymaker this phase. MC takes his action, uses a half phase to get back up. He shifts his HTH levels into Defense, putting him at 7 OCV, 12 DCV, and then half moves up to WL to get ready to smack him back. (He can't attack b/c of the wasted half phase recovering from the KB, so he's moving and going defensive, bobbing and weaving in front of WL.) (You'll soon see he'd have been better off either putting distance between him and SM's ranged attacks, or trying to move through on her, but he's only got a 5 INT so he's a very in your face type fighter, no strategist.) SM makes her haymakered ball lightning attack. The haymaker maneuver gives her an OCV of 10 and DCV of 7. She needs 11 + 10 - 7 (His H2H levels don't count against ranged attacks, so he's at base DCV) = 14- to hit. She rolls...11! She spends 4 END for the attack. Segment 4: SM's haymaker lands, and WL has a phase. SM rolls 13d6 damage for her haymakered EB...52 STUN and 15 BODY. That puts MC down by 55! He's hurtin' for certain. She rolls her KB dice.. a 2. She does 15 - 2 - 5 = 8" KB, and the brute goes flying back, possibly hitting the side wall of the aqueduct. Ok, let's just say he did since we're not using maps. He smashes into the reinforced concrete wall (8 DEF ,5 BODY) which is 6" away. The wall is 1" deep and holds back packed soil (4 DEF, 3 BODY -- I figured it's about as hard as "Home outside wall" since it's packed dirt. It might be tougher, I'm just guessing. And it doesn't matter anyway, really.) Ok, he smashes into the concrete, which has a DEF and BODY total of 13, so he'll take 1d6 per inch of KB, b/c the max he could take is 13d6. (I'm sure I could have written that better, but you get the idea.) So, SM rolls KB damage of 8d6...31 STUN and 9 BODY. That puts MC down by 56 STUN, only 4 left. He plows into the wall and through it, making a big brick-shaped hole. Now it's WL's turn. He decides to go for broke and pushes his STR again to Charge MC and hopefully finish him off. The GM allows the push since he knows he's just going to give burn a recovery phase after recovering from the KB, and the anthropomorphic duo will be in deep doodoo when he starts haymakering for 16 dice. WL puts his levels into OCV. He needs an 11 + 11 - 4 = 18 or less to hit. He rolls...14. (An 18 would still miss, of course, even on an 18- or greater to hit roll.) WL charges over and slams into Microceph for ... 10d6 damage. He rolls... 45 STUN, 12 BODY! The Formerly Amazing Microceph takes 15 STUN, putting him down by 71, or at -11 STUN. He's K-Oed! Well, our heroes won, barely. Had they not had good luck with the dice, things would have turned out very differently, since Microceph would have just used two phases that turn to recover and the only one who could do significant damage -- Shock Mouse -- would have run out of steam pretty fast. Anyway, this concludes our combat example, with Knockback, Pushing, END use, and GM Fudging. Just so new players can see what this looks like without all the mechanics -- which really aren't that time consuming live, and which don't need to be shown much at all in PBEM -- I'll write up a narrative version of the fight with minimal gamespeak as soon as I have a chance.

OK, here's the first part. Stoopid Skool has been a pain this week, so I'm a little slow. Plus, typing this stuff is a lot slower than just rolling it. Our Heroes acrobatically tumble down the slanted walls of the aquaduct and skid to a halt in front of Microceph. Our Heroes come to a stop 10" from the dasterdly dummy. The heroes make a soliloquy which is returned by insults, leading to the inevitable brawl. First, DEX order: White Lion (DEX 27) Shock Mouse (DEX 24) Microceph (DEX 20) Segment 12: White Lion goes first. He decides to Charge the Amazing Microceph while the big dummy still has the truck over his head. He doesn't stop to consider what might happen if the big dummy drops the truck when he's hit, so he might be a bit premature in thinking of Microceph as the big dummy. WL has an OCV of 9, and a DCV of 9 for the move, b/c he puts his two MA levels into DCV to offset the maneuver penalty. His damage will be 8d6. 6d6 for the move, and he can accellerate to 10" velocity, so 2d6 for the velocity component. Microceph was just strolling around, and probably paused a second, so he's not going at any appreciable speed. If he were moving as well, we'd get to add his velocity to the formula too. Microceph allocates his CSLs now, as a Zero Phase action. He's not too concerned with the hairy little man charging him, so decides he's just going to throw them all to OCV so he can smack him once he's in close. So, Microceph will have an OCV of 12 and a DCV of 7 this phase. WL uses 2 END for the attack and burns up 2 END for running, for a total of 4 END spent this phase. WL needs 11 + 9 - 7 = 13 or less to hit. He rolls...16! He misses. The GM describes it: "You charge straight for the Bulk that Walks, ready to give him a taste of your Lion Fu, when he suddenly twists to the side! You glance off his right hip and end up standing beside him. He smiles a very large smile for such a small head. Ok, Thunder Rat, what do you do?" Next up is Shock Mouse! She decides that the armor truck looks mighty conductive, and asks the GM if that will give her any kind of edge with her electrical attacks. The GM thinks about that for a minute, and decides that it'd probably tend to attract electricity. He knows she's way overmatched anyway, so to make himself look generous, and perhaps earn more snack food, he says, "OK, you can ignore range penalties for your attack this phase, BUT (he doesn't want to look *too* generous) if your attack would have missed with the range penalty applied, it will hit the truck and do -1 DC damage." Shock Mouse's player is happy and the GM sees much pizza in his future. Shock mouse winds up with her patented Hi Amps attack (remember, it's not the volts, it's the amps), hoping to score some Stun damage on Microceph. Since the big guy was agile enough to elude her partner, she puts her levels into OCV, for a total OCV of 10 and DCV of 8. Microceph still has a DCV of 7. SM burns up 4 END for her attack. SM needs 11 + 10 - 7 = 14 or less to hit Microceph. She rolls...14! She hits. She rolls for damage. Her base killing attack is 1d6, and she gets a 5 for BODY. Her Stun roll is 1d6-1 +4 for increased stun multiplier. She rolls 3 -1 + 4 = 6, for a total of 30 STUN. (Note, applying the -1 usually doesn't matter, but according to the FAQ, it does matter for rolls of 1.) Now, the GM had told her if her roll would have missed with the range penalties, it'd hit the truck and do less damage. Since her damage isn't enough to harm Microceph in the first place, he doesn't bother with it. GM describes the shot: "Your High Amp blast shoots out, and arcs up to the armored truck that Microceph is holding. Electricity arcs off of it in all directions, and you can see the current racing down Microceph's arms. His short hair stands up on top of his somewhat pointed little head. He laughs at you, and says, 'Why don't you two go home if this is the best you've got?'" Some non-capitulating ensues, and Microceph is forced to go on the offensive. Microceph considers smashing White Lion with the truck, but he decides that he'd rather not dent it because the last time he smacked a hero with something he was supposed to bring to Azzbrain, he got yelled at for denting it all up. (Micro makes a successful PS: Thug roll to get this much thinking done, as he's a might slow on the uptake.) So, Microceph holds the truck overhead in his left hand, and attempts to punch White Lion with his right hand. The GM figures that although the weight of the truck isn't a big problem for Microceph, it's worth a penalty to his OCV for being off balance. (If you wanted to actually look up the weight of an armored truck, you could apply a DCV penalty per the encumberance chart in Fred, in fact, could have for the last two attacks. However, in this case it seems best for the players to give him a small OCV penalty instead, and it's still somewhat logical.) So, GM assigns a -1 OCV for the strike at WL. Microceph needs 11 + 10 - 9 - 1 = 11 or less to hit. He rolls...12! He swings, and misses. Microceph burns 6 END for using his STR this phase. Post Segment 12: WL recovers all of his spent END (Rec 10, spent 4) SM recovers all of her spent END (Rec 5, spent 4) Microceph recovers all of his spent END (Rec 20, spent 6) Nobody worries about recovering damage, because everybody missed this phase. (I'm using actual die rolls to vary the results, so weirdness like this is going to happen.) Segment 2: WL has a phase. He decides to use Find Weakness this round, with his Offensive Strike. He puts his levels into Defense. That gives him an OCV of 7 and a DCV of 12. He rolls for Find Weakness... a 10! Of course, he gets a penalty for Microceph's Lack of Weakness of -5, so he fails. He decides to kick Microceph anyway, and lets fly with his Offensive Strike. He needs an 11 or less (11 + 7 - 7). He rolls...10! The damage is a paltry 20 STUN and 6 BODY (He rolled a couple of 1's and no sixes to offset them.) He doesn't get any damage past Microceph's 30 PD. WL uses 2 END for his STR on that attack. Now, someone's finally been hit. How about Knockback? Well, I personally wouldn't roll KB in this case. Why? First, this was a pretty whimpy hit, generating only 6 BODY. Second, Microceph has 5" of KB reduction. Third, Martial Attacks do less knockback anyway. Finally, even if Microceph takes any knockback, it's highly unlikely to knock him far enough to either hit a wall or be outside anyone's half move range, so it'd have no net effect anyway. So, let's see if all of that is correct and calculate KB anyway: First, take 2d6, then add the 1d6 modifier for MA. Then, toss those 3d6 for... 8. Subtract that from the Body done, for -2. Subract that 5" of KB reduction, for -7...well, you get the idea. Even on an outstanding hit from WL, knockback will either be nonexistant or trivial. Plug in say a 12 BODY (tough to get on 8d6 but possible), and a 3 for the KB roll, and you still get only 4" KB. Point being, you don't have to roll KB for every hit. Even if the character could reasonbly expect to do significant Knockback, you don't really have to roll it for every hit, b/c it slows things down quite a bit. Generally, I'd roll KB if the attack roll was a great success, if the BODY total was above average on the dice, if it was dramatically appropriate (you'd probably want to roll for a rooftop fight, for example), or if the character is trying to deliberately knock someone back (including if the character bought double knockback for an attack). Ok, back to our regularly scheduled brawl... Segment 3:Both Shock Mouse and Microceph have a phase. Shock Mouse goes first, and decides to try her Ball Lightning attack. She makes a half move of 5", placing her 5" away from Microceph, giving her -2 for a range penalty. Now that she's seen how tough Microceph is, she doesn't really want that truck to help her hit, so she asks the GM if she can just shoot him without the chance of hitting the truck and consequently reducing the DC of the attack. The GM is starting to think that maybe he's mismatched his players, so he says that's fine. He's an easy-going type of GM, and he doesn't care if he's 100% consistant. At this point, MC could rearrange his levels, but the GM decides to leave them in OCV since MC is starting to get annoyed and really wants to smack the puny humans. Shock Mouse declares her Ball Lightning attack, and decides to Push AND Haymaker for more damage. She's got a Strong Psych Limit "Protective of White Lion" and her player figures that it's kicking in at this point, so she's trying to take down MC before he can seriously damage WL. She puts her levels into OCV. Her OCV is 8, DCV 7 (DCV levels and Haymaker penalty), and her damage is 15d6 (9 DC attack, + 4DC Haymaker, +2DC Push). Her END will be 4 for the attack, +10 for Pushing, +1 for the movement, for a total of 15 END spent. She needs 11 + 8 - 7 = 12 or less to hit. She rolls...10! Of course, the attack doesn't go off until the next segment. For this segement, the FX would be Shock Mouse building a huge charge of electricity. Meanwhile, Microceph, not being smart enough to know he's about to get pasted by a 15 DC attack, decides to smash WL. This time, he decides that if he's really careful, he can nail him with the armored truck and probably not dent it. So, he winds up with the truck, and swings! MC needs 11 + 12 - 3 = 20 or less to hit. (He's using the truck to smack the hex.) At this point, WL decides he does NOT want to be standing in that hex, and aborts his next phase to Dive For Cover. He picks a square 2" away and makes his DEX roll with a -2 penalty. So, he needs a 12 or less. He rolls...12! He barely makes it. He spends 1 END for the movement. MC swings the truck through the hex, spending 6 END for his STR use. [it'd be a good idea to just write these END expenditures down on scratch paper.] Of course, WL isn't in that hex anymore, so there's no need to roll damage. Segment 4: SM's Haymakered EB lands, and WL has a phase. Now, for Shock Mouse's Damage: 54 STUN and 13 BODY. Microceph takes 24 STUN and no BODY after applying Defenses. Since this was a big attack, we'll roll KB: 2d6 = 6, so 13 - 6 - 5 = 2" of knockback, moving Microceph to a spot 3" or so away from WL (we'll say he jumped back one direction, and MC flew straight back from SM, so the difference is 3") and 7" away from SM. MC loses his balance and topples over. (He also takes 1d6 of KB damage, but that's not worth rolling with a 30 PD)He's at half DCV until he burns half a phase to stand up. White Lion aborted on 2, so he's already used this phase. Nothing to see here, move along. Segment 5: Shock Mouse has a phase. SM decides to take another shot at MC. She's going to use a regular strength ball lightning this time. (She's not going to push b/c of END cost, and b/c pushing should only be done in extremis, and with MC down and shoved back a bit, her moment of panic has passed.) She puts her levels into OCV again. She spends 4 more END on the blast. She needs 11 + 10 - 4 - 2 (range penalty) = 15- She rolls...10! Damage is 39 STUN and 10 BODY. MC takes 9 more Stun. (He's down by 33 STUN now, and getting annoyed.) Segment 6: WL and MC both have a phase. White Lion goes first. He's not going to pass up the chance to take a cheap shot while MC is down, so he decides to use an Offensive Strike. MC could reallocate his levels now, but he's planning on smashing someone, so he's going to keep things they way they are. White Lion makes a half move 3" and winds up to kick Microceph in the teeth. (SFX, not called shot.) WL puts his levels into DCV, fully expecting to get smacked in return. That puts him at OCV 7, DCV 12. He needs 11 + 7 - 4 = 14 or less to hit. He spends 1 END on the half move and 2 END for STR this phase. He winds up...and rolls an 8! Damage is 35 STUN, 9 BODY. MC takes 5 STUN, putting him down by 38. MC takes a half phase action to stand up. Then, he decides to pulp WL's head. He's back up to his full DCV, levels still in OCV. Putting him at 12/7. He uses a standard Strike to hopefully knock WL to the moon. He'll spend 6 END for his STR this Phase. He needs 11 or less. (12 OCV and 12 DCV cancel out.) He rolls...11! Right on the money. Damage is 46 STUN and 13 BODY. Ouch. WL takes 26 STUN and no BODY. He's now Stunned. We roll KB, get a 3. So, 13 - 3 = 10" of KB. WL flies up and over Shock Mouse's head, and lands 3" behind her. He'd like to roll his Breakfall to avoid the KB damage and land on his feet, but he's Stunned. So, he takes 5d6 as he splats into the concrete. He takes 23 STUN and 7 BODY, with 3 STUN getting past his PD. He's down by 29 STUN now. Segment 8: Shock Mouse and White Lion both have a phase. The situation looks a lot like a typical Champions book cover, with a gloating brick standing on one side, and a woozy martial artist laying dazed on the ground behind a purty heroine...and I didn't even plan it that way! Shock Mouse's player decides that SM is probably getting really burned about the beating her partner is taking, and asks the GM if it's OK if she Pushes again. The GM figures that'd be OK. (She's spend 19 END so far. Pushing her EB will cost her another 14, putting her at 33 END spent this turn. She's got 17 left....good thing I had her buy some extra. Not that I planned it that way. Buying tons of END just to Push alot isn't a good idea, b/c the GM shouldn't allow that much Pushing. That makes it less heroic, doesn't it?) SM puts her levels in OCV, giving her an OCV of 10 and a DCV of 12. She needs an 11 + 10 - 7 - 2 (range penalty) = 12 or less to hit. She rolls...12! Exactly what she needed. She's pushed her attack, so she rolls 11d6 for damage. She rolls 38 STUN and 10 BODY. So, MC takes 8 STUN, and no body. The KB roll is a 6, so no KB this time. (10 - 6 -5 = no KB b/c of the KB resistance.) White Lion spends the phase crawling to his feet and trying not to puke his guts out after that punch. (Techically, WL recovers from being Stunned on his DEX order, but no baddies have a Phase this Segment, and Shock Mouse's actions were more interesting, so I wrote those first.) Segment 9. The Amazing Microceph now has a phase all to himself. Bet you were wondering where that Amazing went, weren't you? It's still there, yeah baby. He cracks his knuckles and smiles at the pair of foolhardy heroes. Then he does something unexpected. He takes a breather. So, let's see where he is now... He's down by 46 STUN and 12 END so far. He's got a nice Bricky REC of 20, so he recovers 20 STUN, putting him down by 26 (or 34 remaining, but it's easier to say he's down by some and when the number hits his STUN, he's out). He Recovers all of his END. Segment 10. Shock Mouse has a phase. She decides to blast the big dummy again. Pushing won't be allowed this time. She keeps her levels the same, so still needs a 12 or less to hit. She rolls...10! She does 44 STUN and 12 BODY! The dice must love her tonight. Knockback roll is... 1! So, KB is 12 - 1 -5 = 6"! Knockback damage is only 3d6,so no point in rolling. That puts MC down by 40 STUN, and at half DCV. SM spends 4 END on the attack, putting her down by 37. MC is now 13" away from SM and 16" away from WL. Segment 12. Everybody goes! WL goes first and decides to hold his phase since he can't reach MC. SM decides that the good old Ball Lightning is as good as anything else she has up her sleeve, and lobs another at MC. She's going to have a Range Penalty of -4. So, she'll need... 11 + 10 - 4 - 4 = 13 or less. She rolls... a 9. She spends 4 END again to attack, putting her down by 41. Damage is 34 STUN, 10 BODY, putting MC down by 44 STUN. (No point in rolling for KB since he's already down and the KB damage would be insignificant.) Microceph uses a half phase action to get back up. He's getting really annoyed by Shock Mouse, and decides to do a Move Through on her with his Leaping. First, he targets SM's hex, and needs 11 + 7 (ocv) - 3 (DCV of a hex) - 4 (range mod) = 11 or less. He rolls... 11! Now, he rolls for his Move Through. His velocity is 15", giving -3 OCV for the Move Through. His DCV is also -3 (not based on velocity, though, just a flat penalty.), making his OCV 9 and DCV 4 for the maneuver. SM has a DCV of 12, so MC needs 11 + 9 - 12 = 8 or less to hit. He rolls...a 10, and misses, landing in SM's hex. He spent 6 END for the attack and 1 END for the movement. Post Segment 12: White Lion Recovers. He's down 29 STUN and 5 END this turn. His REC is 10, so he's now down 19 STUN and back to full END. Shock Mouse Recovers. She's down no STUN and 41 END. She has a mousey little 5 REC, so she's now down by 36 END. That's what she gets for pushing twice. The Amazing Microceph is down by 44 STUN and 7 END. He has a 20 REC, so he's now down by 24 STUN and no END. COMING SOON.... TURN 2! Wil our heroes prevail? Will they become extra-tenderized lion and mouse meat? Did the GM do everything right? Stay tuned to find out the answers to these questions and more!

OK, for this fight, we'll use the Amazing Microceph (drawn by Rob Leifield), a villainous brick, and our two heroes, Shock Mouse (a blaster w/electric powers), and White Lion (a MA). Unfortunately for our heroes, they're built on less points than the Amazing Microceph. Here's everyone's basic stats: The Amazing Microceph 60 STR 20 DEX 30 CON 15 BDY 5 INT 8 EGO 20 PRE 2 COM 30 PD 30 ED 4 SPD 20 REC 60 END 60 STN Damage Resistance to 30 PD and 30 ED Hardened PD and ED Lack of Weakness -5 Life Support: Vacuum, High Pressure, Radiation, Heat, Cold Mental Defense +15 (puny brain is tough to target) +3" Leaping (15" total) +5 Levels with Hand to Hand Combat PS: Thug 11- Various big dumb guy skills =============================================== Shock Mouse 10 STR 24 DEX 15 CON 10 BDY 13 INT 11 EGO 15 PRE 18 COM 15 PD 30 ED 5 SPD 5 REC 50 END 25 STN Shocking Multi: 45 Pt.Reserve u. Low Amps: 6d6NND (+1/2, Defense is CON-Roll) u. High Amps: 1d61RKA, +4 STUN Multiplier u. Ball Lightning: 9d6 EB Mouse Reflexes: +4 DCV Mouse Scurry: +3" Running (9" total) Mouse Ears: +2 to Hearing PER +2 Levels w/Multipower Various Mouse Skills ================================================= White Lion 20 STR 27 DEX 20 CON 15 BDY 13 INT 14 EGO 18 PRE 12 COM 20 PD 10 ED 6 SPD 10 REC 40 END 35 STN Lion Fu Offensive Strike -2/+1 8d6 Charge +0/-2 6d6 + V/5, FMove Fast Strike +2/+0 6d6 Martial Block +2/+2, Block, Abort Killing Strike -2/+0 1d6+1 HKA Find Weakness w/MA 14- Running +6" (10" total) Leaping +4" (8" total) +1 to all PER +2 w/MA Various Lion Skills ================================================= OK, I'm going to post our contestants, then hit the hay. Tomorrow, I'll post the battle. The setup: Mouse and Lion are patrolling their rooftop haunts when they see the Amazing Micro-Ceph carrying an armored truck through an unused aquaduct (as in T2). Poor Microceph hasn't figured out how to open the thing since he stole it, so he's taking it to his friend Dr. Azzbrain to figure out how to get to the goods. Visuals: Microceph is an extraordinarily muscular man with a teeny-tiny head. Lion and Mouse are a male/female team who wear themed spandex costumes. Lion's tawny spandex has a mane and a claw logo across the front, and Mouse's is gray with mouse ears on top. Her logo would be a copyright infringement if it weren't permanently wrinkled beyond recognition by her comic book curves. Stay tuned!

Well, you've got the cartoon, the card game and the video game versions. The video game pikachu can level up, so he theoretically can be as "good" as the TV show pikachu (still not a great choice), but almost all iterations of the card game pikachu are pretty weak (low HP). Uh, enough of that... Thanks for the praise. I'm almost 200% sure that there are others (many many others) better qualified to do one. OTOH, I have some mice to thaw out, so I may as well write another example with END rules. Since Heroic level games tend to be low SPD, usually 2-4 range, and low-END (though making spellcasters and other Power users pay extra END for spells and powers is an appealing idea to me), it's usually not a huge issue. I'll do a two on one supers fight instead. First, have to get those mice out of the freezer...brb

Tell the Pikachu player to use the TV version b/c the rest of the Pikachus suck =)

I should probably add that although I skipped the STUN multiplier rolls for the hits that put the Orcs at negative BODY, technically it's possible that a bad roll there could leave them at -BODY but positive STUN, basically conscious but bleeding to death. Since I was cheaping out and streamlining things, I didn't roll the multipliers. Against a major villain or monster, it might be a good idea to roll STUN every time, though, just in case.

OK, I'll take a shot at a simple combat example. I'll use some Heroic level types and keep things very simple. We'll skip hit locations, encumberance,knockdown, bleeding, impairment, Endurance tracking, and basically anything that would slow us down. Just barebones stuff, which should be sufficient to run a few sample battles to get the basics out there. The good guys will be a fighting type and a really crappy mage with one spell. The opposition will be three smelly orcs. We're doing this on the cheap, and groomed orcs simply cost too much. First, some basic stats: Fighter Guy 20 STR 18 DEX 15 CON 12 BDY 8 PD 4 ED 3 SPD 7 REC 30 STN 7" Running Armor: Chain, Def 6, 11- (Helmet and hauberk) Weapon: Sword, Damage 1d6+1, StrMin 12 (Gets +1 DC for STR, total of 1.5d6) Levels: +1 w/All Combat, +2 w/Swords (3 pt. level) Magic Guy 10 STR 15 DEX 13 CON 10 BDY 5 PD 5 ED 3 SPD 5 REC 22 STN 6" Running Armor: Magic Robes, Def 4, 14- (Long robes) Weapon: Dagger, Damage 1d6-1, StrMin 6 Spell: Flame Wad: 6d6EB, Area Effect: Hex. Gestures, Incantations, 4 Charges. Levels: +1 w/Dagger (2 pt. level) Smelly Orcs 15 STR 12 DEX 13 CON 10 BDY 5 PD 3 ED 2 SPD 6 REC 25 STN 6" Running Armor: Smelly Hides, Def 4, 11- (Hides cover heads, hands, lower legs) Weapon: Battle Axe, Damage 2d6, StrMin 13 Levels: +1 w/Axes (3 pt. level) Ok, our smelly orcs are walking down the 10 foot wide corridor looking for intruders, and our fighter and magic type are intruding in another 10 foot wide corridor that runs parallel. The two groups each reach the head of their respective corridors at the same time. They look both ways before crossing, and spot each other. No need to roll Perception checks, since featureless ten foot wide corridors are so boring that almost anything stands out like a sore thumb. The two groups are 5" apart (10 meters). The Fighter and Mage are side by side, the Orcs marching in single file. Combat begins on Phase 12. Dex order is: Fighter (18) Mage (15) Orcs (12) Phase 12: The Fighter decides to wait for the orcs to close before attacking, and holds his action. The Mage makes a bunch of annoying sounds, hops around a bit, and casts his Fire Wad at the leading Orc. The glowing globe of wizardly flame flies from his hand. He needs to hit a Hex, so the DCV is 3. Since the Range is 5", the Mage has a -2 penalty to OCV. So... He needs to roll 11 + OCV (5-2) - DCV (3) = 11 or less to hit the hex. He rolls a 13, a miss. (I told you he was a crappy mage...). He missed, to the GM decides the shot was a little short, and hit the hex in front of the lead orc. This only took a half phase, but since he attacked, the Mage is done for the phase. Orc 1 is a bit ticked by the Fire Wad, and decides to advance on the mage so he can chop him up. We're not worrying about which Orc goes first, because they're all minor guys, and it makes sense to move them in their march order. Orc 1 makes a half move and holds his second half phase, putting him 3" closer to the invaders, or 2" away. His companions do likewise, forming an inverted V behind him. The Fighter decides to step up to the plate and take out the lead orc. He moves up to the Orc, which is a half move b/c he hasn't moved over half his 7" movement (4"), then he takes a swing. The orc decides to use his held half phase action to Block. The fighter puts all of his levels in offense, giving him an OCV of 9 (6 base, plus 3 levels), and a DCV of 6 (base only). The Orc puts his level into OCV, giving him an OCV of 5 and a DCV of 4. Since the Block will negate the Fighter's attack if it succeeds, we'll roll that first: Orc rolls an OCV vs. OCV attack roll. 11 + OCV (5) - OCV (9) = 7 or less. Orc rolls an 11, and fails to block. Now, the Fighter rolls his attack: 11 + OCV (9) - DCV (4) = 16 or less to hit. Fighter rolls a 7, which is ironic b/c that'd have worked for the Orc. Now, instead of hit location, I've given the armor activation values per the armor table in Fred. So, we'll roll to see if the armor "activates," or to determine if the fighter hit an armored or unarmored area on the Orc. Activation roll is... a 5. Whew, good for the Orc. The fighter rolls damage: A 2 and for the half die a 1 = 3 BODY. Stun multiplier roll is 5-1 = 4, so 12 STUN. The Orc's 4 rPD stops the Body damage, and his total of 9 PD stops most of the STUN. Only 3 STUN get through. The remaining two Orcs still have half a phase left, and decide to run down the edges of the corridor (squeeeeezing past the Fighter) to flank the Mage. That ends their phase. POST Segment 12. Everyone gets a Post Segment 12 Recovery. Since we're not tracking END, we don't sweat it, just Recover STUN. Orc 1 has 3 STUN damage, and a Recovery of 6. So, he's back up to snuff post 12. The next segment anyone can act is Phase 4. Both the Fighter and Mage can act. Phase 4: The Fighter goes first again. He decides to shift two of his levels to DCV this turn, and take another stab at Orc 1. That sets his OCV to 7 and DCV to 8. The Orc is still at DCV of 4, so the Fighter needs 11 + 7 - 4 = 14 or less to hit. He rolls a 10. We check the armor activation again an d get a 13! The fighter has landed a shot in an unarmored location. (We'll decide what it is after rolling damage.) The damage roll is (1.5d6) 7 BODY, and the STUN roll is (1d6-1) 4-1 = 3 for 21 STUN. Since the armor doesn't defend against the attack, the Orc takes the full brunt of the damage, dropping him to 3 BODY and 4 STUN. The Orc takes more STUN damage than his CON and is also Stunned. The Orc's DCV is halved to 2, and he cannot act until his next phase(segment 6), which he'll have to burn to recover from being Stunned. Of course, the Orc could have aborted to a Block or Dodge, but the GM (me) decided that his last phase made him a little overconfident, and besides, he's a minor character. Since I've decided the armor doesn't cover the lower arms or legs, and his neck/face, I'll just say the sword ripped a huge gash out of the Orc's thigh, sinking deep into muscle and bone. (Just for the sake of description, since we're not using the options for hit location and impairment. Can still do an on the fly call and say that the Orc's running will be impeded by the wound, but he's likely to die pretty soon anyway, so we won't bother.) The Mage acts next. He decides to toast one of the orcs with another shot of Fire Wad. This time, he'll be attacking an adjacent hex (DCV 0), and have no range penalty. A smart orc would abort to a Dive For Cover at this point, but these aren't smart orcs and Dive for Cover is an optional move, so we're not using it right now. (But it's handy to keep in mind.) So, the Mage needs 11 + 4 (OCV) - 0 (DCV) = 15 or less. He rolls...11! Orc 2 takes a 6d6 FireWad to the ... well, to the orc, since it fills the hex. So, we roll Activation for the Armor (event though the special effect is partial coverage, the activation roll is still made), and get...11. So, the armor applies. Damage rolled is 23 STUN and 6 BODY, for a total of 13 STUN and no BODY damage. Orc 2 now has 12 STUN left. Next segment anyone acts is on 6, which is the Orcs' turn. We'll let Orc1 go first. He uses a full phase to recover from being Stunned. Orc2, the Orc of Toastyness, decides to Grab the Mage to stop all that hopping around and waving of arms. He needs 11 + (4-1) - 5 = 9 or less to Grab the Mage. The Grab maneuver puts him at a DCV of 3. He rolls an...11. Oops. Orc3 laughs at his bleeding and toasty partners and takes a swipe at the Mage, putting his level in OCV. He needs 11 + 5 - 5 = 11 or less to hit. He rolls...15. Some days Orcs have no luck. Next... Phase 8. Fighter and Mage are up. Fighter goes first, decides to finish off Orc1. Orc1 is bac k up to full DCV, having recovered from being Stunned on Phase 6. The Fighter decides to put all of his levels into OCV, so he needs 11 + 9 - 4 = 16 or less to hit. He rolls...11. Armor activation roll is 9. Damage roll is 5 BODY and for STUN he rolls 1-1 = 0 (minimum stun multiple is 1) for a total of 5 STUN. The Orc takes 1 BODY, dropping him to 2 BODY, and no STUN. The Mage is next up, and decides to try to take out Orc2. He still needs a 15- to hit, and rolls a 6. Activation roll for the Orc's armor is a 7, so it activates. Damage is 26 STUN and 6 BODY. 17 STUN gets through the Orc's defenses (and no BODY), which is enough to K-O him, dropping him to -5 STUN. The mage has only one shot left of his Fire Wad spell. Next phase anyone can go is 12. Everyone goes on 12. Everyone always goes on 12. Except Orc 2, since he's out cold. If he was a PC and not a minor Orc, we'd give him a post-12 Recovery, but since he's a bit player, we'll leave him out of the fight. Fighter goes first, and takes another shot at Orc1, this time putting two levels with Swords into damage and the all combat level into OCV. This gives him an OCV 7, DCV 6, and a damage of 2d6. He needs an 11 + 7 - 4 = 14 or less to hit. He rolls... 8, and hits. Activation roll for the Orc's armor is a 14...going to REALLY suck to be an Orc. Damage roll is 8 BODY and .... well, Stun is immaterial since the Orc was just knocked to -6 BODY. Unless the PCs are really feeling generous and take time out to make a Paramedic roll, we'll just count him as dead. (Even though we're not using the Bleeding rule, common sense says... dead orc bit player, barring generous PCs.) Mage goes next, and decides to use that last Firewad to soften up Orc3. Orc3 got cocky way back on Phase 6 and took a whack at the Mage, so he's still adjacent. So, that means the Mage still only needs a 15 or less to hit. He rolls...14. Activation for the Orc's armor is...a 10. Damage is 18 STUN and 3 BODY. The roll was three 5's and three 1's and ones don't do BODY. (Sixes do 2 BODY, and 2 thru 5 does 1 BODY, but you knew that b/c you read the book, right?) So, Orc3 takes 11 STUN after applying Armor and ED. That's not enough to Stun him. Orc3 is up next. If he was a smart orc, he'd probably just surrender or run away, but he's not. He decides to take a shot at the Mage and try to take him out. He uses a Haymaker, which will add 4 DCs to his damage, and give him -5 on his DCV. He puts his level into OCV, giving him: 5 OCV, 0 DCV, and 3d6+1 damage. Orc3 needs 11 + 5 - 5 = 11 or less to hit. He rolls... 7! The attack won't land until Segment 1, however. POST-Segment 12: Mage Recovers 5 STUN, putting him at -8. Orc3 Recovers 6 STUN, putting him at 20. Segment 1, Haymaker Lands: The Mage rolls activation for his Magic Robes...9. Damage is 11 Body and 44 STUN. The Mage takes 7 BODY and 35 STUN. Mage folds up like a cheap tent, and is at -13 STUN and 3 BODY. Next Phase is 4. We'd probably want to stop the Mage from bleeding out at this point, but we're not using Bleeding rules, so... Fighter decides to hack up Orc3. He moves 2" or so, and then Haymakers with his attack, throwing all three levels into DCV. This gives him an OCV of 6, DCV of 4, and Damage of 3d6+1 (Total of five DCs added. The sword is 1d6+1, which is 5 DCs, so the max that can be added is another 5 DCs from all sources, so Fighter can't use levels to boost damage since his STR and the Haymaker add up to 5 extra DCs) So, he needs... 11 + 6 - 0 = 17 or less. He rolls...8. Orc's armor activation roll is 15. Ouch. Going to suck to be him. Damage roll is...11 BODY and ... well, STUN doesn't matter, since the Orc is now at -1 BODY and out of the fight. Fight's over. Time to bandage up Gimpy the Mage and hole up for a while... Of course, that was way simplified and not terribly interesting from a game standpoint, b/c it was just a straight up head to head brawl. But combat can go pretty quick without all of the optional rules and by not tracking END. You can add in rules as you get used to the system to spice things up. Instead of armor based on Activation rolls, you can easily roll Hit Location and apply modifiers based on where the blow lands, though that requires a bit more looking up. Knowing me, I made some stupid error in here, so if that happened, someone will hopefully correct it.

I'd say get a starter and a couple boosters to start playing, then buy singles online once you have the rules down. It really doesn't take that many figs to build a team. Their site has all of the dials (stats) on it, so you can figure out what you want to try on your teams from the site.

Not really. The rules for building maneuvers are in there, but it's probably best to learn the system before delving into that end of things. As for styles, all you need to do is select a group of martial art maneuvers that fit the style you want, and viola! Martial style. There are more rules in UMA that are specific to a Martial Arts campaign that involve styles, but they're really optional for most other genres. Just for an example, let's take Judo. Basically, your elements of Judo are grappling, including throws, takedowns, and mat work, with maybe a defensive strike. So, you'd pick martial versions of Throw, Disarm, Grab, and Escape. Toss in a Defensive Strike, and you have a martial art. Of course, you may pick other maneuvers, which is fine, too. And don't forget that martial artists still have access to all of the standard maneuvers. You can also buy 3 point skill levels with your Martial Arts, which you can shift around between OCV and DCV. If you want to specialize in a technique, you can buy Penalty Skill Levels. For example, a character good at fighting multiple opponents might buy PSLs with Sweep. The 5th Edition core rules have plenty of options to play around with. UMA is a good resource, but can wait. Hero Designer provides a full list of MA moves, including those found in UMA, so if you're looking at a next purchase, that might be a good one, as it saves a lot of number crunching AND has more MA manuevers.

He actually lost the levitation fairly early on, they had a scene showing that. I think he held onto the darkness and faerie fire pretty much through the series, though.

Mmm... Rosalinda.... She's definately hot. Give her a few acting lessons and she might be decent. Finally saw the show myself tonight. It didn't make much impression (aside from the duly noted hottie), but maybe it just wasn't a good episode. I might give it another shot.

I'm not sure on Crimson Skies, but Battletech clix are quite a bit more complex than Heroclix or Mage Knight. The company makes good product, so I'm sure they'll do it justice. The only thing I find a bit offputting is the pilot figs that are way bigger than the planes...that strikes me as odd.

Distinctive Features: Virgin. Actually, it's really just a sight gag, but if you wanted to play it, just inflict nosebleeds on any male virgin characters.

Just smells like cheese. I haven't tasted it yet. I'd have to compare it to other ways of getting the same result and see if it really is cheese. Not feeling really mathy today, though.

Might be in the book, but negative CSLs smell like cheese to me. Not quite lindberg, but maybe an aged munster...

page 259, last paragraph under Move Through maneuver description. Weapon takes the damage. EDIT: I should add that there is more to the rule to apply damage to the weapon, I just didn't feel like typing the whole rule, plus didn't want to step on any copyright toes.

Big DEX Drain, with a custom limitation that it only affects CV. AFAIK, you can't directly Drain CV. DEX affects CV, initiative, SPD, and DEX-Based Skills. If you only want to affect CV, then maybe a -1 Limitation would be in order. If that's too unbalancing, then -1/3 might be more appropriate.

I did a little way up. Dispel with Damage Shield, or maybe Trigger. With trigger you have to worry about resets. With Damage Shield, you have to be "touched" to trigger it, but you can probably handwave that as a campaign rule. Building MR in Hero is a bit tricky. Might google for dungeon hero and see if they have anything on MR on there.

MIne too, I haven't played since 1st Edition.

Just buy a chunk of PRE with the limitation "Only for Defense (-1)" Then when the character is subjected to a PRE attack, you get to compare it to the higher PRE value. Say a character has a PRE of 10. He's not big on social graces, but he's not easy to intimidate, either. You buy him +10 PRE, Only for Defense (-1). So, when he's hit with a PRE attack, the attacker has to roll over 20 rather than 10. But his PRE skills are all going to be base 11- instead of the 13- a 20 PRE would give him. Basically, it just adds another level of detail to the stat.

I was describing how Drizz't used it in the books, which translates more into offsetting darkness penalties. Either way works. EDIT: I got bored and checked the d20 system reference document thingy. Here's the current version of Faerie Fire for reference.