Nekkidcarpenter

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero Umm, if it bothers you then maybe you're playing the wrong game because that is EXACTLY what Speed does in Hero. There are ways to buy powers that let you accomplish noncombat things faster than normal, but buying up your Speed plain and simply makes you faster in a fight. If you think about it, you'll see that keeping Speeds in a narrow group based around NCM is the way comics deal with Speed as well. A Big Splash page with a whole group of AIM guys firing at Spidey. Over the course of a turn while the agents are firing at him, how many different actions does he take relative to thiers? Yes, he attacks several of them, but is he performing a Sweep or is he actually devoting phases to each guy? More importantly, can he attack with his swingline, move across the room, open a door, walk inside, sit at a computer, make a Computer roll, go back outside, web some guys, move up the side of the building out of sight on a balcony, check his blackberry, etc. while the goons have only fired once? It's pretty rare in comics to see characters that you can verifiably say have more than a point of Speed over someone else. Even Megavillains don't literally run rings around normals, or if they do its usually a special effect of high Dex rather than ridiculously high Speed. So look again at the chart. Decide each character's ability to deal with high pressure situations relative to the baseline (Speed 2). Then everyone in the game chops their Speed back to a sane level and saves 20 points. Then they no longer need a ridiculous End Reserve and they save 10 more points, and another 10 points off their Rec and End. And pretty soon they have enough points saved up to buy up their Speed.

I was helping someone make a character for the Champions campaign I'm starting and I had what seemed like my millionth discussion about this apparently controversial topic. Me: Speed 6 huh? That seems high. What's your character origin again? Player: I'm a scientist that got hit by a bolt of lightning. Me: And you've done a lot of fighting in your life? You realize that Speed is basically a combat stat. Player: Well, 6 Speed is easy to keep track of. Me: Ok, I started playing Hero games with guys who listened to character concept first and then built characters based on that instead of on what was most efficient. And that led to this interpretation of the Speed chart. You are not a quick thinker or a good combatant. You react slowly in pressure situations. You are Speed 1. You are a typical person. You react at normal speeds in pressure situation. You are Speed 2. You have been in many fights. You have been trained to think more clearly and act more efficiently in tense situations. Perhaps you are a police officer or fireman. You are Speed 3. You have received extensive combat training. You may be a black belt or a member of a elite fighting unit. You are Speed 4. You make those pathetic Rangers and Seals look like lardasses. You can outthink and move faster than Tito Ortiz. You are John Rambo. You are Speed 5. Normal people can barely see you move in a fight. They sure as hell can't keep up with you. You are Morpheus or Trinity IN The Matrix. You are Speed 6. Trained agents can't keep track of you. You are at least partially made of energy. You are an Agent in The Matrix. You are Speed 7. Faster than that. 8+. This is based on the premise that NCM is Speed 4, and on the overall Hero principle of 5 active points doubles a power. If players and GM's follow these guidelines it will be easier to compare characters across all genres. Yes, superheroes are faster and more competent than normals, but having 60 strength is not actually a justification for being able to act more often in combat than a Navy Seal.

Re: Favorite All Time Hero/Villian/Group Favorite Hero Group: The Doom Patrol. Wierd, wacky, and perennially overmatched and outclassed, these guys saved us from The Quiz (he has every superpower you never thought of) and the Scissormen. Favorite Villain Group: Hydra and The Serpent Society. Got to love the fanatical wierdos yelling out 'cut off one limb....'etc. And snakes really creep me out.

Re: [Character] Triage I thought of a pain based power for another character that you might like. The special effect is that of increasing already existing pain caused to a character. 2d6 NND (Defense is hardened mental Def, having a machine mind or otherwise immune to pain), usable by others, indirect, linked to attack, only does damage to when character takes stun from another attack. This should also increase the chance of stunning an enemy, and if you increase the number of people its usable by the extra damage can add up fast.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... During a huge extradimensional invasion ............ Emerald Dragon- Was that the Demon Prince of Wusses? Sister Payback (stunned next to the leering Prince of Foulness)- I'm not going to look! You can't make me, I don't have to take a Recovery if I don't want to! Mantis - So all we have to do when the Crowns of Krynn get here is have someone dress up like Tacophonix the Lich. Emerald Dragon - I'll do it.

Re: High power magic (Brainstorming welcome and requested) Thou Shall Not Take The Name Of The Lord Thy God In Vain Body Drain, 1d6, AoE Radius (gigantic), persistent, inherent, continuos, 0 end, cumulative (96 pts), Delayed Return rate (5/century),Trigger (no time to activate, resets immediately) -When Blaspheming Deity. Only affects Deitys followers, 8- activation. You can usually get away with it. Usually. Melee land Change Environment, Huge Radius with huge minus to Sight perception, Only to make things appear in a different location, Inverted Explosion. The further something is away the bigger the penalty, so it makes Ranged combat and LoS attacks basically impossible.

Re: House Rule: SFX Default For Adjustment Powers IMO this shouldn't even be considered a 'house rule'. It should just be the way it the game works, as Adjustment powers on Powers instead of stats should only effect sfx and not individual powers. For example, the game currently allows Ginny the Buff Goddess to buy an Aid to EB. Icky the Ice Donkey has a Penetrating No KB EB that is defined as making tiny little spheres of absolute zero appear inside the target Bobby the Bullet Donkey has a Beam effect Slingshot with No Range mods Susan the Sound Donkey has an AoE one hex NND Sonic EB Damien the Druggy Donkey has a Reduced Penetrating Damage Shield EB Oh you get the point These abilities are all COMPLETELY UNRELATED and they are all bought as EB Thats why Hero is awesome And why non stat affecting Adjustment powers should be based on SFX

Re: Your character gets 50 points for a base Pretty much the Solar System just becomes my base. I buy a lot of doublings on my totally loyal Normal servants, 150 points buys a Billion. And I have quite a few DNPCs. Congratulations, you're now my servant. Peel me a grape.

I want my character to act on odd phases but not necessarily more often than anyone else. If I wanted to go on 1,2,5,7,10,12 do I need to buy 12 Spd and put limitations on it? And what would be their value if thats true?