Grow-Arm-Hair Lad

Is there a place in Champions lore that is an analog for either K'un-Lun or Shangri-La?

I have been planning a 5e fantasy game. I generally play only two systems: AD&D 1e and Hero 5e. Here are some of my ideas.

The idea of alignment, I'd run it as a Psychological Limitation. Give everyone 20 points but they are held to whatever the alignment description says. I read your discussion on this thread and I wasn't sure if you were doing it that way, or if what I'm saying is obvious, so I apologize!

I'd let everyone have their own magic system. I'd forget about package deals (I don't mean that you should forget about package deals--I'm just 'splaining my angle). So if you have a woman that can only shoot fireballs but is stealthy and can pick locks, another woman who has a magic wand (focus) that stats out a Wand of Wonder from AD&D but also carries a soul-stealing sword and she also can do the paladin "lay on hands" thing... What I mean is, the beauty of Hero is that you can build anything.

I had a recent experience in 6e where I built a character, and I had just been playing a lot of AD&D 1e right before that. I realized I could use Hero to make a character that makes up for the perceived shortcomings of Dungeons and Dragons. I could make a character who wears armor who can pick locks, move silently, cast spells, and be built like Conan. Or, I could go even crazier: I could make a wizard who carried a sword and also wore armor and who had one of those Krull throwing stars and could shapeshift into different animal forms...

Anyway, the idea of playing D&D modules and using Hero to build the characters, I think it's a great idea. 

Can I be in this game? I'm a long-time Hero gamer. I have played a little 6e but most of my experience has been with 5e and 4e.

I have the Turakian book, but in 5e. Not sure how much was reworked after 5e. 

(i.e. I know the rule differences between 5e and 6e, I just mean I'm not sure how much lore was altered between 5e and 6e.)

I'm thinking of a playing an Erqigdlit: the dog- or wolf-headed humanoids from the far north. Probably a Ranger?

Let me know if there are still openings.

25 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

He's an Ai with a holodeck-style body, sure, but the body is pure SFX.  And by implication, an AI has a personality.

 

There isn't a lot of difference, in many ways, from having a biological doctor, no, but one is that the AI generally has a narrower focus WRT knowledge and interests, particularly when it's purpose-built.  It's hard to see why the Doctor would be in most scenes.  Mind, there was little reason for McCoy to be on the bridge as often as he was...and less for him to be on away teams, save that he was a principle character.  

Another way to allow the Doctor to have a scene presence on the away team is a flunky NPC science tech guy with whatever sensors you want...they feed back to the ship, and are therefore available to the Doctor.

Yes, you're lined up with what I was thinking. The medical hologram has been activated. The PC's are on a secret mission: they are a Defiant-class ship that has just a skeleton crew. The question "Why would the medical holo go on an away mission?" can be answered with the same kind of logic as "Why was McCoy on so many away missions?" My answer: The holo doc is a main character and the player wants to be on the away missions!

10 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

Why would he ever need to be brought back anyway?  I hated Voyager's premises so I almost never watched more than bits and pieces, but why would the Doctor ever be in a physical confrontation?  And if he's an AI, his 'death' wouldn't be from disrupting his projected body anyway.

 

Realistically, I don't see much more than some Really GOOD skill rolls...science skills xenobiology and medicine, paramedic, that sort.  Eidetic memory.  Speed reading.

 

Yeah, I agree. It's better if he has only "one life to live," as they say. Physical confrontation? Maybe. He's a PC, able to go on away missions, so he'll be in combat about as much as McCoy.

I agree that he has to have a lot of skills....I might skimp on his STR, but raise his SPD a bit above normal...Eidetic makes sense...

2 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

I'd also consider building him as an AI;  believe you can build a character on that basis.  He's basically gonna be a set of skills.  The hologram, as has been noted, is just the user interface.

 

Realistically, what's the goal of building a full sheet for the Doctor?  He is an AI in the show, IIRC, which means his responsibilities are sharply circumscribed.  

Good question. The goal is to make the character as a PC, aiming for the 75 + 75 disads = 150 point value

Just to reiterate, I realized I can save mucho points by saying he cannot Resurrect, which is perfectly fine with me. (He's a unique prototype with no comprehensive external backup.)

Yes, you pointed out some major disads I hadn't considered.

I love the Multiform/light bee idea. Definitely I have to work that. It could be a shrinking to whatever size--he could fly through  little space....maybe flight in all forms--hovering to a certain height above a surface would suffice and would keep the costs and power level down.

Life Support most def. Hadn't thought of that.

The Resurrection thing made me realize...what if the prototype is *the* light bee, and there is no backup. Once he's destroyed, he's destroyed. There is a backup of information equivalent to a body cam on a cop, but the bee *is* him and that's it. So I can save points there. He can die.

PS: The campaign takes place just after Star Trek: Nemesis

Also, although the doctor is a hologram, he can touch things. Like, he uses force field tech to make this work. I'd definitely need the PC to touch things. So...since it's a tiny projector inside of a force field, the doctor will have many of the limitations of a normal human--maybe almost all of them. He could still have Stun and Body, and, in fact, maybe the Stun is when his light bee is jarred to the point where he has to reboot (Recover from unconscious) and maybe death is when the Body damage destroys his light bee.

If it's a light bee (a tiny floating projector) it would eliminate the possibility to phase through walls etc. so I wouldn't need Desolidify, as Duke already stated. (Duke got here so fast!)

These are exactly the ideas I was hoping to hear. This is very encouraging. Duke, if your post set the tone then I am grateful!

Hugh, I will elaborate so you know the parameters I am dealing with.

The GM intends that my character can leave the ship. He wants to use a Red Dwarf conceit, that the holo-doc has a "light bee" like Rimmer from Red Dwarf.

This next thing is more difficult: the other PC's are at 150 points (75 points plus 75 disads). He said, ideally, that I should try to build the auto-doc on those numbers. But...he likes the idea so much that he wants to see what I come up with and maybe he can boost my points if necessary.

I definitely like the suggestions already. The Clairsentience etc. is not an angle I thought of, and it's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to glean from posting here. I'm good at the Hero System, especially 5th, but I haven't got a full grasp on the Voyager character.

To be clear, it will not be a "clone" of Robert Picardo's character....I can justify a lower-level version as a prototype of a different approach to the same problem. But it should have as much of the "powers" of Picardo as I can muster.

Also, I can cut points by saying there are glitches or that there was a virus introduced. I am truly looking for a "low budget" version.

I'm in a Star Trek campaign using Hero 5e. I want to stat up a version of the hologrammatic doctor from Voyager.

(I considered posting this in Star Hero and I'm okay if this needs to be moved.)

Thoughts:

I'm thinking of a Multipower, yeah, but I want to build him like a character to be played (not an AI as part of a base etc.). 

I had planned to make all the things that the ship itself "lends" to him as freebies, I think. Like, he wouldn't pay points to be able to send a message through subspace, it would be the ship. (Stuff the vehicle does and he accesses should be free.)

PS: No wrong answers here. I'm just looking for the cheapest way to do it. I can lose some of the "powers" that appeared in the series, but anything he did repeatedly and routinely is what I am most interested in.

PS: I have the 5e booklet for Star Trek. It's called TNGHero.pdf and it's helpful.

On 11/7/2022 at 6:34 PM, Durzan Malakim said:

I prefer in-person games to VTT games and VTT-games over no-games at all. I like telling stories with dice where I can see the effects of our choices in real time, and where I can interact with multiple people simultaneously. Can you have that experience in play-by-mail? Maybe, probably, I just long ago gave up on that method of game play for other more immediate modes that better feed my addiction.

Yeah, your response does make sense. I do remember having good time with my gaming groups in person. But I've been in a really small town for several years, and I haven't managed to drum up a group. So I switched to email games. I guess what I found is that I can have a group of friends that are not gamers, and then I can focus purely on the gaming in the email campaigns.

But yeah, maybe I'm kidding myself that play-by-email is better than the camaraderie of a good in-person gaming group.

That being said, there is something nice about a "pure" experience where almost every syllable is dedicated to gameplay and furthering the plot. That's one thing that I do appreciate about playing by email: the players are all focused on writing concise responses to keep the game moving forward, where--in my experience--gaming groups in person sometimes get sidetracked by topics.

10 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Is it actual e-mail or is it forum based?

It's actually by email. I use forums for some of my games but not this one.

I'm running an email game of Champions fifth edition. I consider my play-by-email experience of the game superior and more fun than when I played face-to-face.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

By the way, here's a link to my game ad on the forums here, still openings:

Playing this by email.....fifth edition.....some highlights:

• Foxbat is the team's current quarry. Foxbat has become murderous. How do you deal with a Foxbat with no qualms about killing?
• Also in play are Professor Muerte, Halfjack, VIPER, and a bunch of other classic Champions characters and organizations.
• Using a lot of Allston's Strike Force stuff for inspiration.
• We're looking for players. Send me a message or post a reply.