Pattern Ghost

If the blast is close enough to break windows, the radiation poisoning is your biggest worry.

That last part I don't regret. I hate that song.

Not so much for me. Maybe it came from being stationed in Berlin, but I never felt like the Soviets becoming the Russians really ended their threat. In the moment, in '91, there was a great feeling of a big F-U to the Soviet system, but I never expected the remnants to suddenly become a Westernized Democracy we could sit around a camp fire and sing Kumbaya with.

All over again? It never ended.

Well and Yoda wasn't being a jerk who didn't want to train anyone.  He was being reluctant to take on a student because he wanted to see if the student really cared and was trying to test their dedication and willingness to learn.  The fact that Luke was a bit petulant and immature made him sympathetic and realistic rather than "oh we don't need the sacred texts, she's Mary Sue and is better than all this anyway."  There's really no comparison between the two other than the superficiality of Episode XIII trying to remake the best Star Wars film ever made.

Lucas is, putting it kindly, inconsistent when it comes to the Star Wars films.  Depending on when you ask him and what the context is, he'll trot out any of ten different versions of what he had planned or intended.  His first Star Wars script was incomprehensible mess and contained way too much for a single film, it was only with the work of editors and writers that they managed to get anything remotely coherent out of his ideas.  Then they used the rest of the ideas for his one Star Wars film to make the next two, but with better writers.  Then he started pretending it was always meant to be 9 films, but when called on it didn't really even have a plan or storyline.
 
And the prequels show it.  They just suck significantly less than the newest films.  The problem is that because he made so much money and had such a bankroll of rep and expectations he was given nearly free rein with those three movies and as a result they just did not stack up like the first three, not at all.  There are moments, but most of it is awful.

Black Adam's flip-flopped a few times in the comics, IIRC.

Man, I dunno. The Trek reboot isn’t bad but I’m seriously tired of franchises that aren’t Marvel. 

Which India will then outsource to China. They've been doing that for years. Hard to find the story I read before b/c Google is stuck on the guy that outsourced his job to China article, but here's a small example.

I think it's entirely reasonable for constant powers to cost End every phase.  Not only does it make actually playing the game much simpler, but it makes a certain amount of sense in real life as well.
 
About six months ago, I decided to get into shape.  So I joined a Taekwondo gym (I went before as a kid and liked it) and have been going 2-3 times per week.  You know one of the toughest things for me?  When the class starts, you do various stretches, and then a bunch of practice kicks, and you count out loud in Korean.  I found that the simple act of counting makes it so much harder.  Normally counting is a 0 End activity, but trying to manage your breathing while you're in a deep stretch or doing a side kick, that wears me out faster than the kicking does.
 
Doing an additional task, even an easy one, while you're pushing yourself at a higher level of physical activity is very difficult.  If you just want to sit there all day with your Force Field on, that's pretty simple.  Voluntarily drop your Speed to 2 and have at it.  Captain Force Field (Speed 6) isn't operating at his full Speed when he's hanging around the base.  He only goes up to his normal Speed when he's flying, dodging, blasting, whatever.  Then he's moving as fast as he can, and the normal minimal level of exertion to keep his force field up becomes a lot more significant.
 

You are looking for ways to make higher SPD cost less END while ignoring the fact that higher SPD is definitely better than lower.
 
Glowbug doesn't have to last as long as Aegis because in one turn he accomplishes as much as Aegis does in three. 
 
Higher SPD is a choice and I've never before in a  thread seen it discussed a making a character weaker. In situations that require less END use, the higher SPD character can lower their SPD to conserve END. Not so, if the situation is reversed, the lower SPD is just left behind and SOL.
 
Perhaps some the higher SPD builds with these problems should change the way their powers are constructed rather than changing the rules of the game to help an edge case.
 
Sorry if this seems harsh, but it's very simple. Higher SPD is better than lower. That's why it costs more. The only drawback is END use so why would you take away the one thing that somewhat balances this?

There is also the advantage Costs end to activate (+1/4).

The examples of Smoke Screens, Potions of Giant Strength that were given are charge-based examples.  Thus, they should really be bought as Continuing Charges to completely preclude END-related issues.  (In the case of a Potion of Giant Strength where you don't want the added strength to cost the user added END, simply make the potion a Compound Power that has the amount of conferred Strength bought @0 END for the user a la a Naked Power Advantage being part of the compound power.)

And Dsatow's citation of Costs end to activate (+1/4) ... is one that completely resolves the Force Field concerns raised above.

So what, exactly, is wrong/missing with judicious use of RAW, again???

This is not a problem; it is to balance a high SPD character.   Don’t forget that a character with a high SPD can also use more constant powers in a turn than a lower SPD character.  So if my SPD is double that of a slower character I can throw twice as many smoke screens as the slower character.  
 
Where the real problem is, is that most of the time players don’t take into account their END usage so high SPD characters end up running out of steam earlier than they should.  The best way to handle this is to build the character with this in mind.   As dsatow points out cost End only to activate is only a ¼ modifier.  Between this and taking half or 0 End on your powers should solve the problem.   Being able to cover more of the board in a smoke screen should cost more, this is just one way it does.

I'm not so much cranky as sad. I figure writing this might help. 
 
Last week, on Halloween night, a black cat tried to adopt me.
 
I thought it belonged to a neighbor because I've seen it around before, but apparently it's just a neighborhood cat. It was the nicest cat I've ever met, not scared at all. I ended up petting it much longer than I should have because Dex (my tabby) is quite territorial and hates other cats. It tried to come in, but I wouldn't let it. It seems it stayed outside of my window for the rest of the night.
 
A couple days later I saw it again, and I petted it. It's a long hair and the fur is matted with bits of sticks in it. Again, so friendly. It has one bad eye and a bit of ear is missing. All it wants is some human attention and care. I can't adopt it though because of Dex. I totally would if I could, it's very sweet.
 
Then it found the back of the house and the cat door. It came inside and started eating Dex's food. Fortunately Dex was lazing elsewhere and didn't see it. I had to put it out and give it a bit of a scare to get it to stay out, which was very tough. That night it came back and tried to get in again, but Dex was there. The resulting cat fight was so loud it woke me up at the other end of the house.
 
I haven't seen the cat since. I think Dex made his point clear. I can't help but feel that I raised a bully. This poor black cat was no danger to anyone, it was just alone and scared. My heart is still breaking over it. Then that poor black cat on MNF made the news and I nearly cried thinking about how scared my little friend was.
 
I hope he's not gone from the neighborhood, even if I can't adopt him myself. I wish so much Dex could tolerate other cats, but there's nothing to be done for that now.
 
I even named the poor black cat, though it doesn't know that. I'm heartbroken.

The plan currently is i tell the daughter, and the daughter calls the police. *nod*
 
OH definitely, but as we can't prove it yet to the folks with power... frustration abounds.
She's also never been a particularly nice woman on top of it.
I've got a front row seat to watching it ruin 3 lives 
 
 
And thanks guys. I just needed to vent once more...
and maybe put it down for the tally books

Saw this last night:
 
https://www.zdnet.com/article/halloween-scare-google-discloses-chrome-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/
 
Do a manual update to latest, which should be Chrome 78.0.3904.87

Saw this last night:
 
https://www.zdnet.com/article/halloween-scare-google-discloses-chrome-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/
 
Do a manual update to latest, which should be Chrome 78.0.3904.87

Saw this last night:
 
https://www.zdnet.com/article/halloween-scare-google-discloses-chrome-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/
 
Do a manual update to latest, which should be Chrome 78.0.3904.87

Those two words don't usually appear next to each other in the context of CW shows.

Saw this last night:
 
https://www.zdnet.com/article/halloween-scare-google-discloses-chrome-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild/
 
Do a manual update to latest, which should be Chrome 78.0.3904.87

Those two words don't usually appear next to each other in the context of CW shows.

And also not accepting that all people, including themselves, are flawed.

And also not accepting that all people, including themselves, are flawed.