kridenow

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

I'm not for KISS' date=' I'm for KTCSS = = = Keep The Character Sheet Simple.[/quote']

 

Eh, that was also somewhat my concern

I originally thought about a multipower, then pondered I'd have to write slots to cover the various situations, which led me to the VPP solution instead.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

Here's my take. It's an NPC. It can do what you' date=' the GM, need it to do. Why bother to stat it at all?[/quote']

 

Why bothering with a rulebook, by the same logic ?

 

Now, I understand what you mean and, certainly, I could always handwave things and focus on the intended result instead of the rules. So your take is right about managing the situation in a game.

 

However, I am still interested by how the rules can handle such a power. It might not be fully useful in this very case but it can serve later for other ideas and/or inspiration.

Or if, simply, a player ends asking "oh, that's a cool power, next character I do will have something similar". Where the rules might then become more important.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

By "ignoring the question" I was meaning that I simply decided to think about that later Not that I had a rule allowing me to ignore it. Sorry for the confusion

The thing is the NPC has no control over the "adaptation". So while on one hand it has to be seen as an advantage the fact it triggers out of phase, on the other hand, the advantage is limited by the total lack of control over the actual changes.

But here, I'm going beyond my original question...

Strictly speaking and according to the expressed theme, it's true it's far more an advantage than a limitation.

About your last suggestion, defenses (as opposed to LS here) aren't that much of a problem.

As you said, Armor is always active and as long as it counts against the attack, the visual and the description is just flavor added (even if I guess I could make things a little more complex by adding Hardened to counter some situations)

So if I understand you correctly, the idea would then to add a tailored limitation on the LS types and the number running at once (or the Active Point cost, whatever).

But it wouldn't really solve the problem of the instant reaction to a change in environment (granted those sudden changes are unlikely in the real world but in a world full of people flying and shooting energy...).

You'd still have the character change from a selection of LS to another.

Unless you also put a limitation modeled on the VPP one (no choice regarding when and how) ?

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

No, there aren't many different LS environment, that's why a multipower is an acceptable way.

It's just that, technically, the NPC won't be able to resist anything with a multipower but only what is listed. So it's no longer the ability to counter any sort of hostile environment, just the ability to counter the known and expected hostile environments.

For gaming, in practice, both are close enough but still not the same.

However, I admit it's rather nitpicking

I don't know about the ultra slotting. While the LS types don't have a use of flexible slotting (since they are "all or nothing" either you have the LS, either you don't), I could use a flexible slotting for defenses, which are variable like dropping the PD to boost ED in some circumstances (as far as the multipower allows).

And the other way round, dropping the PD/ED part (when no direct attack happens) to cover more LS types.

Or make two multipower, one with ultra slots for LS types, one with flexible slots for defenses. Just one can't pour point into the other, should the need arise.

Since you raised the topic, how would you manage an instant, reactive change, out of the character action phase ?

A VPP allowed me to more or less ignore the question with the inability to choose how and when but a multipower ... ?

I was thinking about a -1 No Conscious Control limitation.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

Still seems like limited Life Support/Defenses (or a multipower) but that's just my opinion. I

That was my first thinking. But the multipower, even with flexible slots, will have to contain every single Life Support entry and base defense type.

The VPP looks more flexible for the simple reason you are not bound to what you put in at first, leaving the NPC able to counter the alien virus or the odd extra-dimensional environment.

But the multipower should be an acceptable way for most of the cases.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

Does the character's adaption kick in instantly before he takes any damage or does he suffer from his surroundings first?

That's a question I have in mind since a moment

The inability to choose the How and the When left wondering when the power triggers.

Because even a Zero-phase change still suppose technically the character is able to perform an action. However, since the When is ucontrolled, it would suppose that, at best, it happens as a zero-phase when the character can act.

So I was considering a Trigger but it looked to me a bit conflicting with the absence of control over the When.

In theory, the NPC body should react reflexively and instinctively but also instantly.

Is it because the body is hurt or because the character realize the danger ? I must admit I didn't set my mind on it.

It doesn't suffer any from environmental damage at all that he "adapts" to it is really just a special effect. The mechanical result is the same as having life support.

Of course. Actually, visually, the character will display physical changes for cosmetic and description purposes.

I used "adaptation" just to have the readers picture a bit what I am looking to build here.

The character might get some small limitation to it since it is at least theoretically possible to catch him without his "adaptation" (NND Vs Life Supports might still effect him for instance, at least once).

Oh yes, there are probably ways to bypass the ability to react and change to resist any agression.

(even if the obvious way here is to overwhelm with different types of threats, since the VPP is limited in size, by theme and mechanically, the NPC won't be able to "adapt" to too many different threats at once).

If you were going to go the VPP route I think Limited type of Powers would be a better fit limitation wise than "can't select powers" unless the character also gets additional modification aside from defenses and Life Supports such as he gets fins (Swimming boosts) in the water or Nightvision in extreme darkness, etc.

Yes, good catch.

I guess having a Limited Selection without being able to choose is quite useless.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

The NPC would be resistant to 2-3 environmental threats at once. So the power should accodomate several resistance/life support effects at once, coming from sometimes different environment (in a world of supers, everything can happen).

And then comes the thing about direct attacks.

The main theme is "I can resist anything, just don't pile too much on me at once".

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

But then, you'd have to pick every Life Support entries, protected against all environment troubles at once.

The character won't be immune to high pressure at an instant and the following day no longer immune to high pressure (because, at this very moment, the character is already protected againt other type of envrionmental threats and his adaptation cannot manage more, new threat types).

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

I would consider the simplest solution possible. KISS' date=' is a very good rule to employ with the HERO system. VPPs tend to be a lot of overhead and 'tweaking' to get the power defined.[/quote']

 

Well, I'm not trying to prove anything or convince anyone I'm really interested by options and, maybe, if someone already built a similar power.

 

What you are describing can be simply be defined as a variable power (-1, or -3/4) "only vs current environmental attacks". Buy PD/ED or desolid(continuous) with this limitation.

 

Yes, that's basically the idea, hence the VPP attractiveness.

It would still imply all possible Life Support entries are taken (and possibly some new to cover what life Support doesn't mention... like "all toxic elements, alien, terestrial or whatever").

Now the limitation might not really apply to Life Support since, by nature, Life Support works to protect against various environmental conditions ?

It looks to me a bit like having a "works only against Fire" limitation on a Fire Immunity Power.

Unless you see this limitations only for PD/ED.

 

So, about the PD/ED, it would be probably more justified but maybe it can be debated if direct attacks fall under the limitation condition (would an extreme gravity based EB seen as "environmental attack" ?).

 

So, while in a volcano, you would be defended vs lava/heat/fire.

While in Canada you would be defended vs Ice/cold/polarbears.

 

Eh, yes

The polar bear mention is good, actually.

What you describe is roughly how I picture the power.

 

The above and proposed limitation looks should work against environmental attacks.

Now do you see polar bears claws and fangs as being a valid threats for this power (or poisonous frogs you mention later) ?

 

This is the simplest case, not necss the best case. But you're villian is good to go with only two or three powers in every case.

 

It's not even for a villain but for a secondary NPC

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

VPP's the way to go. Granted' date=' some stuff isn't usually allowed in a VPP, as 'GM permission only' -- [/quote']

 

Well, it's destined to a NPC and I'm the GM so...

 

but considering you're restricting the pool considerably, I think it's a good idea. You MIGHT want to make it pretty sizeable, for those times when the only way to adapt is to have the legendary 'Desolidification, Only Vs. X'. Toss the guy into the Sun, and sure, he'll survive....

 

My idea is to write a serie of "adaptations" to various environmental and direct threats and, considering the NPC could adapt to 2-3 at once, adding the points of the most expensive, to serve as a base for the VPP.

But yes, the VPP size might end being high, especially with the advantages for being zero-phase and without roll.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

Even with the limitations, the VPP strikes me as needlessly expensive for what you are trying to do.

If the character INSTANTLY adapts to any hostile environment, then that's just the special effect of his Life Support.

Oh, the cost isn't a problem since it's destined to be used as a NPC power construction and I don't aim at balancing (for the record, it's the only power of the said NPC).

Now, I am not so sure about the final cost.

Piling Life Support (and potential other, regular, defenses) can add up quickly.

The character is conceptually supposed to be able to adapt to a limited number of hostile conditions at once. Say... 2 or 3.

So it might be cheaper to have a VPP allowing to switch from Life Support entries to the others as required, compared to having them all.

If you add in the various poisons, fumes, gas and other intoxicants, I really wonder if a VPP isn't cheaper for that purpose.

If you want him to be able to walk through lava or something, that's just defenses. If these defenses only protect him from environmental damage and not related attacks, then that's a limitation on those defenses.

Actually, both. Being protected from the hostile environment/conditions and related, regular attack (a lava pool and a magma EB, for example).

While defenses are less numerous (actually, PD and ED, I wonder if Power Defense or Mental Defense could, again conceptually, fit in), it might also be better to have the NPC able to shift the defenses according to the threat, rather than having them all.

A VPP should also allow to distribute the character points according to the exact conditions. Say there are several environmental threats at once and no direct (EB like) threats, everything can pour into Life SUpport.

Likewise, being under several different assault types while no environmental conditions is threatening, allows to focus on building defenses (Life Support isn't required for now).

The way you're describing the power distribution is also right.

I just felt intuitively it might be better to rely on a VPP to cover every cases possible, instead of buying every defense and life support possible.

Re: Ultimate Adaptation

I originally thought about making it a multipower. But then the slots would have to cover every hostile environment possible (same if powers are built individually). The VPP looks to me to allow more flexibility.

Hello there,

I'm writing several NPCs for a coming Champions game (I'm actually introducing City of Heroes players to Champions, because the Champions Online MMO is on their radar).

One of the characters I have in mind should have the abilities to adapt to any hostile environment, quickly and reflexively.

So I was considering building it as a Variable Power Pool with the Cosmic advantage and the Limitations Character has no Choice Regarding on When and How Powers change and Slightly Limited Class of Powers (Only Defenses).

The Cosmic advantage (which is allowing a Zero-phase change of the pool and no Skill roll)... simply because I want it to be instantaneous and reliable.

Only Defenses because it's a personal adaptation aimed at survival (so covering various strict defenses and Life Support).

I'd go for a pool allowing the NPC to sustain/adapt to at least a couple of different hostile environments at once.

Do any of you see something that should be added there to make it work according to the rules ?

(or another way to build it)

Thanks for reading.

Re: Meanwhile...

Since they have used a Star Trek Online picture done by Perpetual Enterainment, previously, the clue was quite obvious. But it could have been devious too

Seems the trekmovie.com site also announced it more or less formally some times ago.

Anyway... it's Star Trek Online.

Re: Justiciar is up

I pronounce it just-TISS-ee-ar' date=' which seems to follow my French dictionary -- Scott can confirm where the name comes from, but I assume it's a slightly-altered version of the French word for "righter of wrongs."[/quote']

 

I pronounce it the same way... on the other hand, I'm french.

And yes, it looks (and sounds) quite like the french word "justicier".

Re: Cryptic Q&A For March 28

This part was informative about intents about the game system :

"

For those unfamiliar with Champions PnP, will the game interface be one that is intuitive and easily understood, or will we need to read through all sorts of source material to understand how to make a character effective?

Jackalope: We definitely want people to make a hero and play without any prior knowledge of the Champions RPG or the HERO System. We have a saying (well, I keep saying it) – "zero to hero in no time flat." I want people to be able to get into the game and have fun as quickly as possible.

However, we are adding lots more knobs for people to play with, as opposed to our previous titles. We do adopt a lot of the Hero Games elements in character creation, but players don't need to crunch numbers in order to make their character.

I'll elaborate a little here. In the Champions pen-and-paper RPG, one doesn't create a Fire Blast. A player instead starts with the generic Energy Blast power and then adds Power Advantages and Limitations to it. There's a ton of tweaking that could be done during this step to get a power "just right." In Champions Online, a player selects a Fire Blast with some predetermined effects. Following the familiar theme, fire has an additional DoT (damage over time) component. In the pen-and-paper RPG, a player would need to calculate that effect separately as an advantage and then calculate the new cost of the "Energy Blast." In the computer game, a player takes Fire Blast. When a player wants a more powerful Fire Blast, he'll take the next rank up in it.

But Champions Online is all about customization. So a player can take that Fire Blast and, over time, add Advantages and Limitations to it. These aren't necessarily going to be identical to the ones in the HERO System, but they'll be familiar. Some Advantages can add new damage types, increase the chance of a critical, or perhaps add some new wrinkle under particular conditions (imagine a power that does something extra but only at night …)

When I say "over time," I mean that as a character gains levels, the player will have the option to add these advantages onto his or her powers (as well as be required to add some disadvantages, too). In the Champions RPG, a player does the vast majority of this work at character creation; later changes are somewhat smaller. But in Champions Online, a character can evolve greatly over time.

But what if you're a hard core Champions RPG or Hero Games fan, or maybe just a number cruncher. Is there ever going to be an option to open up the hood and fiddle with the engine? Let's just say we totally know that some people would love to have this and we're keeping our opt"

So we do get Advantages and Limitations to make the powers vary. Yes, not the one from HERO (which is a moot point sinec it isn't the HERO system) but I'm glad the idea was kept and used for Champions Online.

It's generally a boon for roleplayers to be able to differentiate from others who are, mechanically speaking, playing the same classe/role/archetype/whatever.

The hints about conditionnal advantages (so probably limitations ?) are also very promising.

Re: Jack Emmert On "Identifying With Your Heroes"

The Nemesis concept might be the only way to help identification, to me.

All other NPC dialogues, as interesting as they can be, are served to absolutely every other hero.

Which create the unfortunate (and silly) case where you can't really say your character has a friendship/relationship with a NPC, based on past experience since everyone else pontentially also has it.

So, as long as NPCs are "generic", having a "generic dialogue", destined to the "generic heroes" we will be, I can really identify to the character on screen, speaking to those NPCs.

However, the Nemesis might be an unique experience. Noone else will share that relationship/opposition.

That's where, I believe, most attention to dialogues should be put, to make lines of your Nemesis truly personnalized.

If the Nemesis refers to your powers, your past encounters with him/her and so on, you'll feel special.

More than if the Nemesis is serving generic lines, being only personnalized, for you, because of its powers and look.

The difference would be between :

"Damn you ! This time, you will not stop me !"

and

"Damn you, , unlike when we met during , even your won't stop me this time !"

In the second case, you feel the Nemesis talks to your character, at least and this line is likely to be almost unique.

(I guess you can drop in your Nemesis lines many references that are specific to the characters, references to successes, failures, powers, advantages, flaws, skills etc)

It isn't much, but it would help me to identify to my character.

Re: Hero System - Champions - Fluff

See it the good way...

The Champions Universe will provide a solid, complete and rich background Cryptic will draw from.

Now, if they can also deliver an interesting game engine, it will be a good game overall.

The Champions IP can only improve their production.

Re: Stronghold Concept Art

Old' date=' green, looks like an underground sewer... very CoX. [/quote']

 

That was my thought too

Re: Character Portraits as Card Stand-Ups

My problem with CoH screen capture is I always considered my character was either too far, either too close when zooming out/in

Possibly, the best is at character creation but then you have an ugly background for your portrait and a static pose.

Re: Why are so many people upset that Cryptic is only using the Champions IP?

If something similar to advantages and limitations could find its way in, I'd be happy.

With "power templates" for guidance and quick selection of the most common/expected choices.

Or the ability to create your own templates to add to your personnal list... so you don't have to redo them for future characters... (just save the combination localy, not on server).

Well, it depends a lot of the ambitions of the game and the difficulty to achieve the desired balance...

Re: Heroic battles

One that I've wanted to do for a while is a fight inside a large plane. Be it a cargo plane with the bay doors open or a passenger plane where one side gets blown out. The former provides the hazards of falling out and damaging the plane causing a crash. The latter adds the elements of pressurizing the cabin' date=' much more restricted room to move and a lot of innocent bystanders that cannot get out of the way.[/quote']

 

Hmm... maybe crates set loose could also provide a changing environment (now you're under cover, now you aren't, now you are, now... dodge this one !)... I'm not sure it could work for a cargo plane but for a cargo ship, it should...

Re: Heroic battles

Come to think of it I need to run more aerial battlegrounds.

A long time ago (a very long time ago), I remember running Champions and taking the phone lines in consideration for aerial pursuits in towns.

Back then it was done a bit the silly way but the idea might have been good.

Of course, nowadays, phone lines tend to disappear.

Yet, I wonder if a power station might also provide a nice environment. With all those cables and power, better to plot your course carefully...

Re: Heroic battles

Spring to my mind a more rules related question (well, even.. rules or just dramatic effect)...

Would you bother with tinkering with power effects, depending on the source and the environmental effect (if significant) ?

I tend to like to weave on side effects of powers, not just as collateral damage but also unexpceted effects... You know... like the old trick of the electrical power underwater...

Just curiosity...

Re: Heroic battles

Several of your ideas rely on the sense of urgency or ultimate danger should the heroes fail but how does it make the fight particularly different than, say, fighting in a mall or in plan street ?

Preventing the Villain to do something awful with the nuclear plant is the goal. The plant itself is scenery. But the way the characters will handle the action scene might still be regular.

I'm not sure I'm clear on this...