pawsplay

CE could work of it's something noxious to insects; they would take a penalty to their Ego roll to avoid being inclined to move, although it's not Mind Control and this may not work on controlled swarms. Mind Control for an Anti-Insect Barrier. Expensive, but effective, decisive, and generally useful. Might work on giant insects, if they exist. Might even work on insectoid "people" if they exist, too. You can do this with Barrier, for a type of control that has a very specific effect of not letting them cross, with appropriate modifiers.

1-2. Usually. Maybe not bounces for grittier games. 3. Obviously. You take a nice, long shot, leaving yourself vulnerable, and opening the possibility of the target moving, and hit it where it counts. 4. Yes, although some spells will have Limitations or casting requirements that might preclude this. Also burning End, charges, and expendable foci and having the target simply move is going to hurt. If you allow Dive for Cover, these spells are going to be moderately easy to avoid, just a Dex roll at -1.

Bolster?

I would probably avoid flat bonuses or anything that could be accomplished with Teamwork or team attacks. For RSR: Tactics, I would be thinking more along the lines of: - Rally: Aid END - Distract: Drain DCV - Outmaneuver: Change Environment - One Move Ahead: Telepathy, surface thoughts only, receive only For playability reasons, I would avoid actions that cause him to simply stand around and grant bonuses.

Make very large "loans" to rogue governments.

1. No, because firstly, clearly it wouldn't be simultaneous in most cases. Second, this just isn't what the rules say and I don't know why you would want to make this change. 2. Yes, most games are stupendously generous as it is, in terms of how tiring it is to fight with arms and armor.

I would say it's more like our Iron Cross... a formerly neutral military symbol that was used to replace images of a disfavored government, but which was immediately co-opted by people in piece time to ambiguously signal their allegiance in the peacetime after.

Although I have radically shifted in my overall views, my personal roots are in libtertarianism. One thing I have learned is that the division between Democrats and Republicans at least creates some space in the middle to make a case for strong free speech. I am about as free speech as you can get. But I have grown towards a more encompassing view of incitement. "I kind of like Nazis," is free speech. Having a parade with swastikas in a racially diverse city is a threat.

Bookmarked!

I remember Top Secret/SI. Lots of fiddly derived values.

I strongly suggest coming up with an entirely new abbreviation.

Why is it too late to change it? Just change it.

could it be Superior Individual Data File perhaps?

Who puts these out? I'm wondering because I want to suggest a name change. SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and it's a real mood killer every time I see that pop up in the feed.

Well literally it just means from another place. NYC is exotic to someone from Beaumont, Texas. Ah yes, the Tiffany Problem.

I would build it as a gradual effect that affects the whole planet, and treat its spreading as a Limitation.

Chainmail allowed magic-users to use magical weaponry. So "the source material" is essentially Basic and Advanced D&D, not original D&D, nor any of the literary inspirations listed by Gygax in Appendix N.

Of course. I see you correctly identified I was referring to the Martial Arts rules. Of course, Weapon Master is based on CSLs and therefore represents the same kind of training as a Martial Arts build, with a slightly different mechanical focus.

I haven't really followed what is state-of-the-art or popular in firearms in a couple of decades. Where's a good place to catch up?

Short answer: No. My suggestion: I think this proposed ability could be built as the ability to Transform the person or object with the power. Since Megascale is mandatory, you are essentially making the Q-bomb from a device with Transform: AoE to one with Transform: AoE, Megascale. At +1 BODY per 5 CP added, this is going to be costly, but for a Doomsday Device, cost is likely not an object.

Maybe? Weapon Master has only a familial relationship to Weapon Specialization, whereas Deadly Blow reflects things I've been doing for decades. Every since 4e Ninja Hero gave me to go nuts with modifying skill levels, I've been doing all kinds of stuff. +2 PSL, only versus vitals is the closest thing to D&D sneak attack, but it's a completely vanilla Hero option. I think Weapon Master was added so someone with STR 15 could reliably put down an orc in one or two hits, like they do in the movies, as an alternative to Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting.

I avoid Biblical, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon names in games that aren't heavily inspired by ancient and medieval Europe. But even my pastiched homebrew setting uses mostly made-up names, usually with phonetic themes.

Yeah, and I'm not saying those games don't exist. I own a d20 supplement that puts social combat in D&D 3e. The question at hand is how much precedent there is for turning Background skills into full-fledged skills because they are "important to the setting." Reality check: If it's a Background skill, it's important to the setting. If it were not impactful at all you wouldn't spend a single point on it. I think you are the one getting hung up. There are game sessions that could hinge on whether someone knows French. That doesn't mean French should be a general skill. Hero System has rules in place to cover dancing, painting, being an expert on heraldry, and so forth, and it's Background skills. In general, any skill that could be described as "a cultural activity, a specific one" is a Background skill. General adroitness is covered by High Society, Conversation, etc. I can think of zero, zero, examples of Hero System products suggesting you take a background skill and make it into a general skill because you expect it to feature prominently in some sessions.

It's not a matter of being useful, but of being generally useful, and having specific, discrete effects in challenges.

Tell me more about this social combat. Also, I would love to hear a better explanation why Pendragon, alone among all other genres from Fantasy Hero to Champions, doesn't have Background skills.