Reality Czech

Re: Unofficial Welcome Mat (For New Members)

Re: Unofficial Welcome Mat (For New Members) I want to, but looking in the online store all it says is I just want to make sure if I burn 25 bucks on this I end up with the actualt software, preferably including a disk, and not just a service agreement for software I still don't have. This may be semantics, but I'd rather ask the question and have the answer be: "Yes, of course... are you kidding me?" instead of: "No, it's a good thing you asked because I made the same mistake and now I look back on it and lament my lack of attention to detail."

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? Thoughtfully and succintly answered ; I agree with the power defense conflict. Either Power defense ought to have it's SFX described as a mandatory entry, or (probably better yet) removed and the adjustment powers have a mandatory defense entry. I get the feeling I've inspired your interest with this power concept; that's a good feeling. If I haven't, you're even more fascinated by the intellectual persuit of examining minutae for its own sake than I am.

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? Thanks again... you answered the question I asked. Too bad the question I asked isn't the one I meant. I need to get better at asking unambigous questions... The mechanical answer is "Power Defense" for both EDM and change environment, right? With possible exceptions defined by the SFX?

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? Ok, so what defense (if any) would protect against reduced movement in Change environment? While we're at it, what would protect against EDM: usabale as attack?

Re: Ogre NND Question I think this basically nails the issue in any reality vs. mechanics conflict. If the player and GM can't agree on a SFX justification for the power/effect as written, it needs to be re-written to satisfy. The crux of this is it's an agreement between one GM and (probably) one player and that's all. If looking at Ogre's NND attack dosen't allow you to suspend disbelief, then it's inadequately written. At the end of the day, either you choose to accept it or you don't. In Jurassic Park, dinosaurs were running around eating people, which most would agree is unrealistic (There are currently no dinosaurs in real life), but for the purposes of the movie it was acceptable. Disbelief was suspended. Now imagine the heroes are cornered by a T-Rex and a flying saucer hovers down and vaporizes the T-Rex. Most people would have a problem with this in a Jurassic Park movie because it's not consistent with the agreed-upon reality of the movie; but if none of the audience complained (Hard to imagine this, but just for example) there'd be no issue. The arrival of a flying saucer is no more "unrealistic" than the presence of the T-Rex, so provided everyone agrees the flying saucer's arrival is a palatable event, arguing the "realism" of the event is unnecessary. Note I don't say arguing it is useless, stupid, a waste of time, etc. I only state that it's unnecessary.

Re: What is STUN? In my mind, you can draw a parallel between STUN and many real-life injuries. The fact that the relationship between the game system and real life is not always 100% accurate should be undisputed... I hope noone here is going to claim that they can draw a parallel betwen the system and real life that cannot be questioned, refuted, or brought into question with "what ifs" and destructive logic. I still contend that the fact that there is not a 100% parity between real life and the mechanics of STUN and BOD damage in the game does not mean that STUN must be relegated to "It's only a game mechanic and nothing else" status. Viewed in the right (wrong?) light, virtually any rule, power, effect, or mechanic can be reasonably called into question, but in my opinion saying STUN is only a game mechanic and has no parallel with real life opens up every mechanic in the game for this kind of destructive reasoning. Nothing in HERO is 100% infallable, but if we discard anything and everything we can find any flaw with, we'll be reduced to verbal-only gaming Player: "I shoot the agent with my warp strike." GM: "You miss." Player: "that's the 5th time in a row you've said I missed... are you sure we can't go back to using dice?"

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection Ok, final power as I see it based on this input and not constrained by cost (not sure what I'd do to palatably reduce the cost anyhow) Shoot Me... I Dare you: Missile Reflection (Any Ranged Attack), Reflect At Any Target, Triggered by any percieveable incoming ranged attack (No trigger activation time, automatic reset after it activates; +1), Based On EGO Combat Value (Standard Defenses apply; +1) (102 Active Points)(102 real points). Locus can redirect any ranged attack he percieves at the attacker or any other target within range, attacks are based on ECV but applied against standard defenses for whatever the attack was which was intended for him. I made it applicable to any target to take advantage of the special effects of multiple attacks (i.e. "Fire Lad's" attacks get tossed at "Professor Freeze" and vice versa) and based on ECV to better replicate the "just think about it and it happens" Nature of this defensive power (Besides, I see Locus as more mentally apt then dexterous, so why not use his strengths?)

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection Now that's just mean-spirited

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection ROFL, was "Stop Hitting Yourself" your naming idea or someone else's? That literally had me laughing at work and getting funny looks from my coworkers.

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection I suppose it's possible, I come from a long line of bachelors.

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? I know where you're coming from; this isn't the way I normally approach character design, this is an excercise in "Widest application set I can imagine" development. Antoher idea I had slong these lines was someone that convert thermal energy to kinetic energy and vice versa, your mention of increasing/decreasing the density of matter and energy are (froma physics standpoint) almost the same thing.

Re: Master List of Scales in HERO Wow, with enough mathematics thrown in, even a flame war can resemble rational discourse

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? First, thanks to all who extended their welcome

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection Oddhat wrote: Wow, 2 power build questions and I get something worthy of asking Steve Long? Sean Waters wrote: I think what you're asking here is how can someone reflect an attack (aim an attack elsewhere vice just not getting hit by it) without it costing an action at all, writable power or not. Or put another way, "You may be able to create a power that does this, but how can you justify your hero doing it without thinking about it?" If that's what you're asking, I'll try to clarify what I'm thinking of. My spatial distortion concept (Locus) hero can shape space... he can strech, compress, and/or bend space with his will. He can apply 4-dimensional topology to 3-dimesional space. In theory, space is curved by mass, he simply has the ability to apply curvature temporarily that wasn't there before. If you want to see some of the other applications I've thought of that could be used with this basic power set, you can look here. The justification I see for him being able to "Unthinkingly" redirect attacks at a specific target is that his inherent understanding of space and movement makes it basically just a thought, not an action to redirect the attack. If he can percieve the attack, he can think about it going elsewhere. I'd probably have the reflection based on ECV to reflect this, but that's more of a preference than a requirement. By the way, how are you guys quoting me and others where the quote includes a hyperlink to the originally quoted post? I can't seem to find that function, or I don't recognize it as the function by its name.

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection I'm pretty sure the trigger would be the more expensive option, but it allows for reflection of any number of attacks, which is what I'd really like to see... certainly much less complex than the duplication concept. A triggered power would allow reflection of the "4 guys firing guns" example so long as our hero percieved all 4 attackers, so I think that's a good one.

Re: Seeking build suggestions for "Always on" missile deflection I'm impressed, Oddhat. That's certainly simpler and less bulky... Now I think I sould have added more detail though. I said deflection, but that was because I was examing reflection as a future upgrade to the power when the points were available. If I want to reflect attacks I can't just add the DCV bonus anymore, I need to actually redirect the incoming ranged attacks. Your answer was fantastic, it was my question that was flawed.

Yet another power build question... I'm trying to figure out a way to allow an individual to deflect ranged attacks as a reflexive action. Looking at Checkmate's response to Saiyanslayer's "Extra arms for blocking" thread, the answer that seems to fit the best would be duplication. Example: Checkmate said The 200-point build is an example, not necessarily a predicted or calculated cost. Missile deflection power and bare-bones attributes would be all the duplicate needed. Exception: I'm thinking the duplicate would need a 12 SPD if you expected to ALWAYS be able to deflect missiles, and that would still disallow deflection of simultaneous attacks unless you also bought missile deflection for the "Primary" character and two simultanous attacks occured when the Pirmary had an action available. So- my character has, say, a 4 SPD. Under a standard build he'd be able to use deflection anytime he was attacked with something he could deflect and aborted an action to the deflect. With the addition of the duplicate, he could not only deflect when he didn't have an action (as long as the duplicate did) he could continue to act normally on his initiaves, since he's not expending actions using the deflection power. If the duplicate had a 12 SPD, deflection could occur on any inititave, almost simulating a field around the character that deflects missiles without need for any real conscious effort. Extending the original reasoning, would you ahve to keep creating more duplicates with the same power set in order to deflect multiple simultaneous attacks? I.e. 4 guys fire guns at our hero... do I need 4 duplicates activating their missile deflection power to service all 4 incoming attacks at the same time? I hope this makes my intent clear, I'd love feedback on whether this is a fair and reasonable application of the rules and if anyone can think of a more elegant solution.

Re: How would you build this power? I hate to throw more complexity into the equation (ok, so that's a blatant falsehood) but something occurred to me about these missiles. I know if built as an actual physical missile with segmented movement it can be shot down, but does doing this prohibit the use of a missile deflection power to avoid the damage? I understand a martial artist can't just bat a shrike missile away and expect to take no damage, regardless of their reflexes, but what about a telekinetic that brushes aside fire blasts and cosmic blasts? can the same justification allow the deflecter to redirect a missile that can autonomously target and "chase" the intended victim? Discuss.

Re: And this is my special eff... er, I mean, my Sidekick. OddHat said: I think this describes most of my girlfriends pretty well (well, not always the "youngster" bit)

Re: What is STUN? I'm in the Army, and one of the most important injuries all soldiers are taught to treat for is shock. Shock is the body's response to just about any unnatural environment, state, injury, or trauma. Shock is actually a defensive mechanism, but it's sort of a "panic response". It's like a fire alarm in the body... it's good to pull the fire alarm if there is a fire, but pulling it when there is none can actually worsen the situation in the building (body). A relatively minor wound (flesh wound) can knock a person unconscious due to shock, and shock alone can cause death if not controlled through tratment. I think you could definitely draw a parallel between shock and STUN; even using your boxer analogy. One reason a professional boxer is able to get punched for 10 rounds straight is he has conditioned his body and mind to learn that getting punched isn't a disaster... it just hurts. An inexperienced person taking most of the blows a boxed routinely absorbs would stand a good chance of going into shock as a result of the "unexpected" trauma to their system. Most of a boxer's ability to absorb damage comes from deflecting blows and not taking them on the chin, but part of it is simply that their body has learned that it's going to regularly going to take punishment and not to "panic". Looked at another way, anyone who has played a contact sport (wrestling, football, soccer, etc. can look back to the first time they were thrown/knocked on their back and they might remember how they felt like they weren't ever getting up again. Years later however, after being repeatedlt pummeled and knocked down, a kick in the shins or body check from behind just dosen't have the same... impact. Sure, it hurts, but it no longer feels like the end of the world. Your body has stopped going into mild shock every time someone throws you on your back. I think OddHat's comments are pretty well-reasoned (it's mainly a game mechanic), but if I were held down and forced to commit to an answer I'd probably say that STUN is shock, and a higher STUN rating on a character is due to conditioning... some of the old time soldiers I know are able to function pretty well after having been shot, shelled, hit with shrapnel, basically because their body isn't reacting with "OH NO!!! Injury! Panic!", but rather with "Great, not this again."

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? I'm not sure what EDM stands for, so i can only comment on the first question you asked regarding range modifiers and not on your statement regarding EDM (Whatever it is). The spatial distortion field I'm imagining wouldn't be a consistent thing; i.e. while the step directly in front of you might be 100 yards, a step to the left or right wouldn't hinder you at all. Looking at it in a 4-dimensional sense, the area wouldn't be a big bulge (uniform expansion) but rather an irregular, bumpy area ("random" expansion and contraction). Based on this concept, range modifiers could be assessed, OCV and DCV penalties could be assessed, but it's not a strict requirement. Since Locus (The dimensional distortion guy) is intentionally shaping space in real time around his opponent to slow him down, the lack of range/OCV/DCV penalties could be explained as "Locus would certaintly like to not get shot at, but what he's doing to slow opponent X is complicated enough" In other words, I see where the special effects could certainly create a range penalty if you could figure out a way to write that power, but it's not inherently required as a result of the special effect. Speaking of which, if you wanted to write that power (range penalties) would you just use change environment? Negatives to OCV, limitation: only ranged attacks? That's what popped into my head when I was writing the rest of this novella.

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? Just for fun, some of the powers I was thinking about would be: Telekinesis (Redirect/focus gravity to crush, throw, or lift) Flight (Redirect gravity and "fall" where you want to go) Teleportation (Fold Space and step forward, usable against others if you want to be really nasty) Force Shield and/or wall (Create a thin layer of space that randomly redirects and redistributes any energy, dampening or stopping the attack) Missile Reflection (Shape the path of attacks to have them land where you wish) Clinging ("Down" is relative... I know there's a lot of movement powers, but if you could shape space wouldn't you want a lot of ways to apply it to your own movement?) Energy blast/RKA as desired (Rapidly fluctuating sphere of space flung at a target, NND attack that randomly and rapidly makes small changes in distance inside an opponent's body, "Thunderclaps" caused by separating the air with increased distance and letting it rush back together, Slicing things apart by creating a rift between two parts, etc.)

Re: Reducing Movment speed... Drain or Entangle? Wow, both are great suggestions... not sure how I missed the reply by DiTenebras the first time I looked but I'll look at both ways of doing it. Basically this guy was supposed to be my "Magneto"... a simple concept with wide-ranging and powerful applications.