dsatow

Ok, read the USP pg 37, so the question I have is this

The character has 40" accurate superleap. He half moves straight up for 20" and shoots a villain ending his action. On the next segment he falls 5", the segment after he falls 10" more. The next segment, he gets his action and uses his superleap to cushion the velocity of the fall (15"). Is his landing considered accurate or not due to the gravity? (does he land in the spot he wanted)

On a sidenote, can he buy inches of superleap to rebound from knockback? IE: Ironclad knocks the villainous Bounder 22" into a brick wall. Bounder uses his 22" superleap to bounce off the wall onto the other side of Ironclad.

Re: Immunity to Electric Attacks

I'd also go for the extra ED vs electricity, mainly because dependent on the amount of power in the electrical strike would determine whether the rubber would survive or just be reduced to ash. Another solution is instead of outright defenses only, DCV vs electrical attacks (-1) might also be good as being made of rubber you are less likely to be hit by lightning having little conductive on you (electricity likes to travel the path of least resistance).

Re: Extremely high Charactaristic used in REQUIRES SKILL ROLL

Personally it would depend, The questions you have to ask yourself is this

1) Can someone else use the power? If yes and the limitation would affect them, its probably still at least -1/4.

2) Can the skill roll be modified such that with average penalties in combat its at or below at 15-? If yes, its probably at least worth a -1/4.

3) Finally, ask him when the limitation would limit his power. If he can't come up with a reasonable scenario or if he begins stretching common sense, then its worth a -0 limitation. An example would be the classic does not work in a vacuum for -1/4. This would be appropriate if say you were in the justice league/avengers as their missions would sometimes go out into space. It would not be if you were in a 1920's roaring gang buster style campaign in Chicago (even if Capone could have built a vacuum chamber to trap the heroes, why would he).

Whoa, did gravity just change on me?

If someone jumps 20" straight up, wouldn't he take 3 segments to fall back to earth. 1 segment 5", next segment 15" (+5" acceleration, velocity 10", distance 15") and finally splat (distance 20", velocity 15"). And if he gets an action, couldn't he use his superleap to cushion the fall?

A hero full moves around a corner and sees a dinosaur roar which does PRE+30 a hero.

Does the Hero just stand there at 0 DCV and get chomped by said Dino or can the Hero abort their next phase to dodge or run away from the Dino's Big Pointy teeth?

Can Change Environment have NND?

In HERO you can't do more than 2x base damage with manuevers and other things which add to the base damage. The Combat Handbook says you can ignore this in your campaign for martial arts so as to have weak masters who can split trees (lots of bonus MA dice). In ignoring this for MA, how does this affect powers?

Thus given a character with

20 Str

Martial Strike +0,+2,+5d6

Martial Throw +0,+1,+3d6+v/5

(+3 DC martial arts added in)

+2d6 AP HA

1d6 HKA

1d6 HKA at Range

What is base and total damage of these combinations assuming max strength used

20 Str +2d6 AP HA = ?

20 Str + Martial Strike =?

20 Str + Martial Strike + 2d6 AP HA =?

20 Str + 1d6 HKA + Martial Throw (target running at 15") =?

And strangely can you do 20 Str + Martial Strike + 1d6 HKA at Range? What is the base and how much bonus dice?

if a duplicate is aided to say twice his stun and recombines, what happens to the aided stats? Does the base character get none of the aid, 1/2 the aid, or all the aid.

If I buy duplication with Variable Advantage, is it legal to create my duplicate at 0 end using the VA and then recombine the duplicate at range using the VA later?

Say I buy duplication to rapidly create 4 duplicates in a half phase. If I put the limitation costs end to activate, does the end cost change if I do not create the maximum number of duplicates I can produce at a time. In other words, if I make only 2 duplicates instead of 4 in a half phase, does it cost only 1/2 as much end?

Just for clarification:

If you have lack of weakness resistant and you pick up that Viper force belt, does your lack of weakness cover the force belt? (I am generally thinking no but would like to know for sure)

If Psykill has a RKA BoECV DBody with find weakness, does he need to find weakness against IronWill's mental defense and mental force field (ie: is there such a thing as resistant mental defense or even resistant power defense).

Re: What defines Hero ID

So here's a question I've been mulling in my head for a bit. In Iron Man the movie, the Iron Man suit is OHID as it seems you need some elaborate way to take off the suit (thus not a OIF).

The Question has a glue on mask which can't be removed without a special solvent and the mask supposedly can act as a filter (Life Support), making it OHID.

Obviously, the Question really doen't have instachange as his clothes don't change. So he gets a -1/4 limitation to put on the mask.

Poor Tony Stark though has to have everything bolted onto him which looks to take at least a turn. Shouldn't he get more for the limitation?

If some supervillain is across the street from the Cafe where Tony and the Question are eating lunch, the Question will get to the supervillain before Tony. Tony's OHID to me seems like a larger problem than the Question's.

BTW: How long does changing identity take? 1 Turn? 1 Minute? 1 Phase? I think Mythbusters showed it taking from 2 Turns to 1.5 Minutes in a phone booth.

(Ack! This is why I always disallowed speed changes until phase 12)

OK, sorry to keep questioning this stuff about Speed up. I will be running a game where Speed maybe affected.

1. Can you choose not to accept Aid?
   

• Lactose Intolerant Man-Boy is allergic to cheese and takes 3d6 every phase from being near cheese. Lickity Split Person has aid 6d6 and 12d6 suppress to Speed as his ability to control Speedforces. If LIMB is taking damage from his susceptibility, can LiSP aid his Speed to make him take more damage? If LIMB is Spd 5 and gets aided by 20 points to speed 7 on phase 2 by LiSP, will LIMB take damage every phase on Spd 7 or can he choose to stay at Spd 5? If he's at Spd 7, he won't get to do anything until 12, taking up to 5 phases of damage.
  
  
• If you can choose not to accept Aid, if LIMB is mind controlled into being my loyal henchmen, does that mean he won't accept an aid from Zen (who imparts peace) to Ego to help break out of the mind control effects? Afterall, a loyal henchmen wouldn't allow such a thing.
  
  

1. If drains and suppresses work immediately on Spd but Aid waits,
   

• 
  
  • What happens if LiSP aids Stutter to 7 and then suppresses him down to 5. Then releases the surpress to allow him to go back to 7. ad naseum.
    
  • If the rule only applies to going upwards in speed, then wouldn't dropping a person to say speed 1 from 5 using a surpress and then releasing the surpress before phase 7 mean that the character never gets to go (speed 1s don't have a phase 12, only a 7).
    
    • Side note: Doesn't the rule for speed mean that a Spd 1 can never hit a normal speed from aid. Basically, they'd have to go from 1 to Spd 9?
      

Not on speed but Aid. Will Power Defense work on Aid? LiSP has very dumb followers who don't know any better. If LIMB aids LiSP's followers in to comprehending what they are doing is bad, can LiSP give them say Power Defense devices to prevent this.

From what I read in the Speed changing rules (change speed in turn requires the target to wait until both speeds share a common phase), if a speed 5 character gets hit by a speed aid on phase 2 and goes up to speed 7 (20 points of aid), he does not get to do anything until phase 12 (the only common phase between Spd 5 and Spd 7). Am I reading this correct?

Phases for Speed 5 = 3 5 8 10 12

Phases for Speed 7 = 2 4 6 7 9 11 12

RE:#2 Question: So if I buy a trigger that resets automatically, in an multipower slot, from what I read and I think you are implying is, the power will not reset unless the slot is accessed. So theoretically, one would never want to have the trigger reset automatically on a slot in a multipower.

If you have a power in a multipower and it has a trigger, what happens when

1. The power is set and the multipower is reallocated?

(ie: The Mad Bomber sets a 20d6 Explosion with trigger from his multipower of bombs. If he uses a different slot, what happens to the blast he set?)

2. The power is triggered and the multipower is not on the slot of the power (assuming you can do this), what happens about the reset portion? (ie: The Mad Bomber has triggered the explosion against Road Runner, the trigger is set to automatically reset immediately. Does it actually reset or does he have to actually shift his multipower into that slot?

3. If the trigger is designed to react to an attack, does the triggering attack work first or does the triggered power work first? Example, if you have defenses set with a trigger. (Ex: The Mad Bomber has a trap set for Road Runner. When Road Runner attempts to move through him, it triggers a force wall to come up and defend him against Road Runner. Is the Mad Bomber crazy or crazy like a fox?)

Re: Believe it or not!

LOL: I actually remember the old art with all same the bulges in the pants on ALL the figures. Sorry, trying not to be vulgar here. I think the art has gone through a massive improvement since Champions I.

Re: Cleanse the Planet

If the entire planet is covered with something, how would you get rid of it ?

Heh, I thought, 150d6 KA AoE should destroy the planet fairly well.

Just wondering...

It's well documented that for every 5 points in Strength, the character's carry capacity or lift doubles. The question is, does this apply to all primary characteristics? Thus is a person with 15 Int twice as smart as a person with a 10 Int. Is a 15 Con twice as healthy as a 10 Con person and so on?

If yes, what about secondary characteristics?

Lastly, many long time GMs and Players associate this also to powers such as EB and KA. Since damage output between a 50 Str and 10d6 EB are equal, should we think that a 10d6 EB has an equivalent power output in terms of physics?

Re: Shtick!

Sounds heavily abuse-able but what the hell. It's a nice concept for an in-house campaign where the GM can moderate it. It's a scary idea for a GM getting a character from someone else's campaign to their own or who is running the game at a convention.

I personally would probably allow a single schtick per character so as to not unbalance things, and in a way I agree/disagree about skill twids (as we call them where I GM) effectiveness in a campaign. While skill twids do have a tough time in combat, they usually outshine others in role-playing problems.

Before I proceed, I do think its a usable concept if you are comfortable with your players and know how they play and control their experiences and actions. In a round robin GM group, this might be problematic if one GM allows one set of skills and another doesn't.

However, I assume you need a devils advocate here, so...

1) What to prevent a schtick from being used abusively? World's greatest detective could be cool like Batman or kill mystery campaigns out of the water. How about World's Greatest Scientist? A plague threatens the city, WGS comes to the rescue. Villain about to blow up the world, WGS deactivates the bomb. Aliens threaten the earth, WGS comes up with the ultimate weapon. etc.

2) How about multiple schticks? I am WGS, World's Greatest Detective, Sorcerer Supreme, etc. Any problem beside combat, I am your man!

3) What if your view on the schtick and their view don't match? Vamp might be interpreted as sexual predator. Vamp might be interpreted as Goth Girl. vamp might be interpreted as a real Vampire. Seduction may be in all these schticks, but in one version may not have a social retribution skill which a sexual predator vamp might have.

Sounds silly, but here is the most common type of situation.

I have bought armor built as the special effect luck in not getting hit as bad as first thought.

Does the special effect hide the power from the agents firing at him? In this case the agents will continue to use their guns with the massive ammo supply and lower damage vs. their rocket packs which though do more damage, are less accurate and have a severely restricted number of uses.

I have often used the reverse logic, you have armor which is clearly visible as heavy armor, so the agents begin use with the heavier firepower.

Or

I have a limitation on my damage shield not usable in vacuum; its a fire damage shield. Its based on the fact that fire can not combust without oxygen but the hero has life support need not breath. As part of the special effect, it produces an amount of smoke (light/heat, smoke, smell of smoke) In a "sealed" room or garage, can he burn out all the oxygen or otherwise asphyxiate agents without the need for the power skill (after all, he isn't using the power in any special way).

Re: Dodge Giant Blows

Personally I think diving for cover is fine for this. Just give the gnome character +2 levels for DCV/dive for cover (10 points) only vs Giants (-1). This makes the gnome more capable of diving for cover or dodging and gives the option to the gnome.

Re: More Abusive characters

Here is one that caught us by surprise. We had a new player who wanted to play a 10 yr. old boy who could transform into a giant 4 armed monster.

Sounds like one of Ben10's forms.

I thought, "ok this should be easy to create." I started with Extra Limbs, Extra Limbs directed me to Ambidexterity, Ambidexterity directed me to Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-weapon Fighting directed me to WF: Off-Hand and Rapid Attack. No biggie right? Here is what you get.

 

5 pts. Extra Limbs (able to perform normally impossible maneuvers such as holding someone then hitting them)

0 pts. Ambidexterity (no penalties with off-hands, free with two-weapon fighting)

10 pts. Two-Weapon Fighting (only -2 DCV while Sweeping, no penalties with off-hand, no penalty for first Sweep attack)

5 pts. Rapid Attack (can perform Sweeps as a Half-Phase action, such as after a Half-Move)

1 pt. WF: Off-hand (+1 DCV)

 

Because we fight tons of minions and the player was new to the system, it wasn't obvious at first what we had built. A few months into the game (during which time the new but smart player capped his END), this is what we ended up with...

 

A character that could take a half-move (Rapid Attack) then perform multiple manuevers such as two Strikes (Sweep) or Grabbing and Striking a target at the same time (Sweep plus Extra Limbs) or Grabbing and Sqeezing the same foe twice (making escapes nearly impossible without the right powers) or performing a a double Haymaker on a Stunned foe (you get the idea), all for 21 pts. and a total penalty of -1 DCV (just make sure you have enough END). Nice huh?

I could be wrong but I am under the assumption that you always go with the worst DCV modifier. So in the case of the "double" haymaker, your DCV should be halved with the additional -1 DCV on top. Not sure if you meant that or not. Also, normally WF:Off hand is used for heroic level games, I would have had him buy a 5 pt DCV level or a 3 pt DCV only in HTH level.

Question: Why is ambidexterity 0 pt.?

Re: Silver bullets, garlic grenades, and all that stuff

Many a superhero world has vampires, werewolves, and similar monsters of legend featured therein. Obviously, in such a world, it's advantageous to have garlic, silver, and other substances on hand that can repulse or harm them. So how would you write these things up in game terms?

 

The hard part is that these weaknesses are usually reflected on the creatures' character sheets, but these things are reasonably well-known and there's not really any other reason to do them this way.

I don't agree. I believe its better as a disadvantage.

In building villains or heroes, it is usually better to build to react to an outside influence than it is to affect a target. When you react to an outside influence, then, it become easier to adjudicate when an effect happens what happens to the target rather than constantly deciding each build's effect for a situation. Does each bullet have the same damage bonus? Why should a .22 do +1d6K when a .50 is a much bigger round only doing +1d6. Should a shotgun do +1d6 too or should it be based on the number of pellets striking the target. If the damage is low, then wouldn't the amount of damage also be lower? Etc.

By building an affect attack, you also open the doors to the infamous (though I admit fun from a mental exercise) how many points as a wooden chair? Is it TK only used to prop up a character? Should it be a "shotgun" like attack if the legs were somewhat sharpened against a vampire? Should that cross beam in the chair work as a cross to repel vampires? Etc.

Finally, the disadvantages already reflect how common/common knowledge the vuln./sus. is. Werewolves suffer a very common allergy to silver because it is common knowledge not because silver bullets are common.

Now you may not have a trouble with this and each gaming group is different. Your gaming group may play perfectly well with this method. However, I believe it better to simply adjust the character than each possible attack. This leads to in my eyes a simpler game and a game/campaign which is more portable allowing players to come and go with less hassle. (as in a convention game or an open game recruiting new "blood" so to speak)

Re: Question about Velicoty based Hero

My group has just recently started using the Hero system. So there are some aspects to the rules we are still hazy on. One of our group decided to play a speedster, and after a few sessions it seems that his character is far more powerful than the rest of ours with the same number of points put into the build.

 

He has put almost all his points into movement and damage reduction. He bought a large portion of his damage reduction with the disadvatage that it only protects him from damage dealt to himself by his move attacks. So with this build he is able to deal massive damage with his move bys and move through with no risk of hurting himself due to his damage reduction. It seems to me that we must be missing something..

Assuming a Str 10, 30" movement, 5 PD, 3/4 PD Reduction Resistant.

He should on the average do 5" knock back on a move through and take 4 stun. If your numbers do not match, then yes, you are doing some calculation wrong.

Tips on speedsters. When judging whether a speedster is abusive or not, treat them like martial artists and calculate damage as if a move through was a offensive strike and a move by a defensive strike. Also, if he didn't buy the movement as running (i.e. flight), check his turn mod. Note that advantages to flight for turn mod make it more effective and thus should count as part of the active point of the attack.

Strategies against the speedster.

1. The obvious delay and throw the character. A martial throw generally adds to the damage based on the velocity of the target. Also a martial throw is generally used as a sort of block against speedsters.
   
2. The martial block works just as well against speedsters as it does against other melee people.
   
3. Damage shields are useful against all sorts of melee people but in 5th the costs make thier effectiveness low. Still a 1d6 entangle damage shield can ruin a lot of weak strength melee artists plans.
   
4. A combo move in a team is great for taking out a speedster/high DCV martial artist. The first person sets up the victim a DCV reducing move such as entangle, flash, or knock back. The second person finishes the target off at the reduced DCV.
   
5. Against move through artists, bracing against knockback with strength is a common move by GMs where I played. Its basically the manuever you see in comics where the brick leans into the attack and the ground suffers beneath him.
   
6. Knockback resistance ruins many move throughs. Just 6 points can do wonders.
   
7. AoE entangle sticky is the fly paper against move by/through artists.
   
8. Remember, you can always abort to go desolid or teleport away. This is effectively useful if they are trying to do a suicide run into a wall with you in between.