Silbeg

Re: Self-Exiled Angel -- Character Background Brainstorming

Re: Self-Exiled Angel -- Character Background Brainstorming Interesting ideas, all... now maybe I'll jump in! You state that she exiled herself during WWII... as an Angel of War, it could be that she had reached a saturation point during the horrors of that war. From the Holocaust, to the Bataan Death March, to the cold-blooded carpet bombing of German and Japanese cities, she saw the worst that humanity had to offer. When the Americans dropped the Atom Bomb(s) on Japan, she finally realized that war had ceased to be something noble (if it ever was), and had become something horrific. It would probably be safe to assume that the war that raged on Earth was mirrored somehow in the heavens above, and that something she had been forced to do was mirrored in the atomic attacks. It was at this time, that she realized that she could as easily be a force of evil as good, and began to doubt her role in the heavens. Knowing that she was an embodiment warfare in the heavens, she chose to throw down her mantel, and set aside her fiery sword, and took upon herself a human form, so as to learn from humanity. Being a divine creature, she was not able to diminish herself to the lvel of a "normal" human, and so still has several remarkable powers (such as wings for flight... which can be hidden, and awesome PREsence, etc). With the rise of the superhumans, she watched with a new curiousity. She soon realized that these superhumans, be they hero or villain, wielded such power that they put all of the "lesser" mortals at risk. Not able, or willing, to return to the heavens, she chose to take up cause of the innocents, and now is trying to defend mankind against those who cannot see them, blinded by the bright flame of their super-powered opponents... I could go on, but I guess I'll leave it at this..

Re: The "Whoops" Thread Interestingly, until recently the team in my current campaign didn't really have any specialists (save a GM-PC that was a brick). There was the mystic-martial artist, the very powerful (but only SPD 3) blaster/brick/movement specialist, generalist super-mage (who was planned to be a move-through specialist!), "I'm not a martial artist, I am a shield specialist" guy with the 29 DEX, and the super-agent. An additional character, was perhaps over-specialized, in that he powers are all teleportation (no direct attacks!) They have suffered for the lack of fliers, and especially for their deficiencies in ranged attacks. Now, the mage has been focusing on the mentalist role, and the shield guy has learned an agent-busting AE thrown attack, and the super-agent has been replaced by a tough brick (which, of course, reduced their ranged abilities!). And as a whole, they are sorely lacking in non-combat skills. See them at the North Force Home Page.

Re: Flamethrower tricks Cool ideas... Where is the multiform to Lion? Unfortunately, you have the points all screwed up. Remember, that the reserve limits the total ACTIVE points, not real. So: 30 Flamethrower: Multipower, 60-point reserve, (60 Active Points); all slots OAF (Flamethrower; -1) 2u 1) Concentrated Attack: RKA 2 1/2d6, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 6 2u 2) Straight Blast: RKA 2d6, Area Of Effect (12" Line; +1) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 6 2u 3) Fan Pattern Blast: RKA 2d6, Area Of Effect (7" Cone; +1) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 6 2u 4) Blast-off!: Flight 30" (60 Active Points); Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2) No range is melee range. I am sure this has already been answered... this would be the same as the other AE attacks... the hex the character is in can be excluded. I would add a side-effect that caused 2d6 RKA (fire) damage to everything in a 6" line (or so) from the nozzle... there should be environmental effects from this usage (note: you would have to watch that the character doesn't use the limitation as an advantage) Hmmm, while I understand why you put the no range on everything, I would still have a standard attack. You could also put a sticky, continuing,uncontrolled attack in there... Heh.

Re: Teleporter 'location' I get what you are saying, but I think that if the mode of the floating location is one or the other, it should be ok. If the car, then as was said before, you really don't have control of where the car is... just better hope it isn't in a lake, a car crusher, under Gargantuan's left boot! On the other hand, the absolute location will give you an exactl location, but that may not be ideal... "What? I thought we were driving through Connecticut, not New Jersey, last week!"

Re: Limb Paralysis I might go a different route... I would probably use a tranform to create this sort of paralysis, figure it would likely be a minor (10/d6), depending on the effect. Not gonna stat it out now, but this seems to be a typical way of handling it in HERO

Re: Tips for New GMs

Re: Healing BODY Limit In other words, you are using the "Simplified Healing" optional rules? I prefer this as well, especially for damage healing. I have suggested to the characters that they keep track of their wounds individually, so that they can be individually healed. Seems like no one is willing to go into battle anymore with BODY damage... I remember a period of months, back in a campaign, when I was playing my character Electro, who had sufferred massive damage... after a short time playing a backup character (he had been at negative BODY, so was hospitalized), I got Electro back, and played him through the painful recuperation period. He braved it out (guess he had read Spiderman, and realized that if Spidey could do it, he could!), and while he was a little more fragile (we had misinterpreted the rules back then, in that every BODY damage point reduced your max STUN by 1), but this was not extraordinary for the character who would charge into battle ad take the early brunt (ok, tactics were never his strong point... and he was rather overconfident... ), and spent more time KO'd than any other character. Was reasonably common for Energy Projectors in that campaign, as I recall...

Re: Teleporter 'location' I would have to say that it would depend at least partially on the special effects. If the character had the ability to portal through a different dimension (hyperspace, crossroads, whatever), then the absolute position of where the car was would be the anchor, in my opinion. "I walk through my portal, at this vector, for this long, and end up exactly where I was last night..." However, if the anchoring is a mystical "knowledge" of the area (rather than a vectoring as described above) then the anchoring would definately be to the car. As GM, I would work with the character to define how the t-port works, which would suggest a style of anchor (not using game terms on porpose, BTW). Then, the anchors would always work the same way, which leads to less arguments. Both have their advantages, and limitations.

Re: Running Combat & Combat Management Sheet Technically, the ordering is random after DEX. If you are using Dark Champions, there are options to add PRE and/or INT into the tie break (I like PRE, myself... there are already more than enough reasons to munchkin INT).

Re: Immortal Questions Um, silly question, here... but if you are going to require the PC to have Regeneration, why not just take off the -1/2 Resurrection Only? Also, in this case, for immortality, if you are looking for only the ability to revive the body (not regen limbs), why not take off the "Can Heal Limbs" adder... As I recall, a "Highlander" type immortal wouldn't have this anyways.

Re: A Twist on the 'Patriot' Archetype: The Embodiment of Weapons You should definately have "Lord of Axes"... which were among the earliest of manufactured weapons. Make the "Lord of Edges" more "Lord of Blades", which would be more fitting (and a different techological leap). Other interesting options would be "Lord of Tactics", "Lord of Logistics", "Lord of Strategy". All of these are different issues that would be important in warfare (though not necessarily as much in one-on-one combat). It could be interesting to see a "Lord of Politics", "Lord of Diplomacy", or even a "Lord of Law" (or what about a "Lord of Trade"). All these ideas have had marked effects on human history. Again, if there are archetypes, there should probably be ones that cover the non-violent sides of humanity...

Re: Adding value to COM On interaction skills, you could use a COM roll as a complementary skill if appropriate. Note, "if appropriate" could mean a lot of things, and not just interaction with a person of the opposite gender, regardless of gender preferrences.

Re: Eiditic Memory, Speed Reading and Cramming ?!? I would handle it a little differently... I would not treat Eiditic Memory as cramming... if the player can adequate provide a reason why the character would remember something (a KS-type skill), they would be able to get a roll... however, having a KS paid for would still provide more insight into the subject. Cramming can also be used for things that Eiditic Memory cannot... like gaining a temporary familiarity with a language, or other skill (say, he crams by reading an automotive repair manual, getting a crammed 8- Mechanics roll... the best E.Mem. would give is KS: Auto Repair (8-, whatever)) As for interaction with speed reading, there are several in game effects... Cramming can happen faster Filter through large stacks of paper to find information [*}Learn a skill faster, generally, that can be learned by reading (depends on how you allow XP to be spen Eiditic Memory does have certain uses as well... especially when the character is processing what happened at an event... "Oh, wait, now that I think about it, the license plate on the getaway car was 856 KYJ, which I recall seeing parked in front of my realtor's office last week..."

Re: Suggestions for online dice roller Not bad... I like that you can create a list of rolls... may end up using that for random rolls to speed up situations, or whatever. Hmm... now that I think of it, shouldn't be too tough to right something that can do that.

Re: Fog Sight Ah, now I get it. Thus the comments about clairsentience. That would make sense, then. Only issue there would be that clairsentience with a mobile perception point might be a little expensive? Not sure... haven't run the numbers. Touch group darkness, eh? That is a little unusual... don't quite understand the SFX there, but you are the GM.... I'd replace Touch group with smell/taste group, myself. How about doing something a little less dramatic? Just give him a radio based sense (radar)? That would solve the issue right there... of course, you'd have to explain the SFX...

Re: Fog Sight Well, then there are two issues here, which to me means two separate power constructs are needed. The first is the darkness field. I would say that this merits Personal Immunity, on Darkness... Perhaps as a SFX, he is only immune while actually in the field. On the other hand, with the following power, the Personal Immunity may not be needed... The second is the extended sight/perception. Depending on the SFX of the character. There are many ways this could be done, depending on what you need. If his fog is something that is actually part of himself, maybe have the following power: 21: Detect Objects in Fog Field [PER roll] (no Sense Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Targeting, Sense, Only While in Fog Field (-1/2) It is expensive, but probably close to what you want. Issues: The limitation is probably more like a -1/4, assuming he will always stay in the field. No Sense Group is cheesey... but represents his ability to sense what is in the field. Sense is really required, for it to work properly Could be linked to the Fog Field, but that would likely be only a -1/4 linking. Is range required for the sense, if it is no sense group? I don't recall...

Re: Rattles Now, that wouldn't be a bad way of doing it, to get the cinematic effect. Good call!

Re: Rattles I believe that it should be bought as Images (which is really what it is, with a sound affect). The more pluses you buy on it, the more likely that it will be noticed. Perhaps a better construct would be something like this: 50 PRE, Only to distract (-1), OAF (-1) 1 recoverable charge (-1 1/4) Cost would be 12 points... a 10d6 PRE attack would average 35 effect, and would cause most villains to lose a half or full phase. I don't realistically think they would continue searching for a rattle (rather than dealing with the PCs attacking), but this would give the momentary distraction effect. Yes, I believe I like this construct! Now, for a character who can use it!

Re: Twins Some extra ideas to deal with some of the issues: Have a KS/PS of acting like the other twin... to cover the fact that they act like each other. Twins often have a "secret twin language"... maybe have them buy that (of course, this would just be for characterization... no real in game effect). Add personal immunity to the purple bolt (they would then both be immune). I would move the flight, FF, and EB/Drain into an EC... (something like this) 30 Purple Aura Abilities: Elemental Control, 60-point powers 30 1) Purple Aura: FF (25 PD/15 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) 30 2) Flight 20", Variable Advantage (+1/4 Advantages; +1/2) 50 3) Purple Bolt: (Total: 87 Active Cost, 75 Real Cost) RKA 2d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Penetrating (+1/2) plus Drain END 2d6, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Ranged (+1/2) (35 Active Points); Linked (Purple Bolt) Note that the variable advantage on the flight is perhaps the cheesiest part of this, but is a really cool construct (can't recall who pointed this out to me)... allows them to use MegaScale when needed, otherwise it will usually be used for 0-turn mode or 1/2 END. The personal immunity gives the right feel, to me, much like Cyclops and Havok, but even more so, since their powers are identical. Note that the Drain does need ranged for the linking... otherwise I believe you cannot use them together in an MPA (making the linked power useless).

Re: Speeding things up Kind of a pseudo-standard effect chart? Unless you are assuming that BODY = # of dice rolled, you should have a column for BODY. One other thing that could be useful... but requires multiple colors of dice in a set... 1 color for 3d6 "to-hit" roll 1 color for xd6 damage 1 color (if needed) for KA StunX die 1 color for 1/2 die (if needed) 1 color for KB dice (perhaps an additional color for the annoying clinging character) Roll 'em all at once... if you don't hit, it don't matter... if you do, you have all the dice rolled already. If you are being sneaky, it also helps to hide the number of dice really being rolled!!!

Re: Speeding things up Now that I have a Mondo-Mat (the monstrous 5'X8' battle mat from Chessex), my players have taken keeping track of this stuff on the battle mat. Now, I just need to make sure that the pens they grab are vis-a-vis, rather than a sharpie. I recall an incident from 15 years ago, with a Huey that got drawn on the battle map. Thanks to our efforts to remove it, that area of the mat has no hexes but still has the Huey. Or, perhaps more dramatically... keep the villains simple. While having overly complicated villains makes them interesting powers-wise, you rarely get to use the "cool" power. Just last weekend, I created a character who was possessed by an earth elemental, and as a signature power, I gave him an Entangle Damage shield. However, by the time that he was in HtH range, I realized he didn't have the 5END/phase to run it, and still remain effective in combat. Sometimes simple is better. Yes, and Yes!!! Whenever possible, I do this. There are certain players in the group I tend to burden with this, but the NPC heroes are frequent guest stars in the game, to they know what the capabilities are (mostly my version of the character Starwell from one of the 4E Enemies books, can't recall which). This is usually a good idea, anyways. There is nothing less heroic than the heroes blasting the downed villains "just one more time to make sure they are really out". Comic book heroes don't perform a coup de grace, neither should Champions heroes (villains may be another story... ) Other tools: create a cheat sheet of those things missing on the shield, have players look up rules while you continue. Also, it is always a good idea to be at least as familiar with the rules as your best player... not always possible, but helps. Thanks for the great ideas, Rapier... just had to comment on a few, myself. Made me think about a few things (such as the "clever ideas" I tend to come up with... which rarely work out as well as I thought). later!

Re: Speeding things up Hmm... good question. 1) I use a home-brewed speedchart app that I wrote to run the speed chart. Usually helps, at least a bit. 2) Knowing the villains/NPCs always helps (preparation)... when I am using complicated published characters, it sometimes takes a little longer to figure out what the villain is going to do. 3) Make sure your players know their characters. Sometimes complex characters are a problem! 4) Keep defenses low when compared to attacks... the higher the defenses (especially when Damage Reduction is in play), the longer the battles. Of course, players hate it when you try and lower their defenses...

Re: Good Champions 5e modules? It definately is... and I am itching to run it in my campaign. Champions Battlegrounds has been pretty good (have just the final chapter to run), but there were a good number of holes in the plot lines to fill... especially if your characters don't happen to have exactly the right amount of luck and/or skills. BUt, still, it has been very good. In general, Champions-type modules (or mini-campaigns, whatever) have never had the same appeal that D&D dungeon-crawl modules have had. Something about the genre demanding a more complete plot line than a series of rooms with beasties to kill.

Re: "Classes of Minds" (for Mental Powers) I apologize if this has been talked to death, but I look at it more like: Human => Minds that work similar to normal humans (Mechanon is probably affected as a human rather than machine mind) Animal => Animals that are considered "non-sentient" - a "superanimal" would probably have a human type mind Machine => Typical AIs and/or computers. More usable for automaton-like machine minds than self-willed, but really depends on the construct (like Mechanon) Alien => I would probably break this down to multiple types - I also add "Demon" which includes extra-dimensional creatures... one would assume that an Earth Elemental doesn't think like a human... This may also be broken down into subtypes, but I really haven't thought that through as much...