BoloOfEarth

400 points for 6th Ed, but be sure to put a 12 DC/60AP cap on powers, make sure every knows they are expected to spend AT LEAST 60 points in Skills NOT INCLUDING COMBAT SKILL LEVELS,  and be sure players are aware of your campaign's CV norms.
 
Also make sure they know they are each expected to have several NPC Contacts.

"Mental Paralysis (Entangle that goes against EGO, not STR)"
 
My gaming group calls that one "The I Win Button."  We don't disallow it, but anyone who uses it buys beer & pizza for the whole table next session.

How were you reading it before - with your eyes closed? 

Covers eyes?  Flash defense, often telescopic, occasionally microscopic.  If character is weapons-oriented (guns and whatnot), maybe a couple of skill levels via a targeting system of some sort.  Sometimes recording devices for gathering Intel or reviewing something for further clues. 
 
Covers face?  Add on some life support against poison gasses and the like.  Face-covering helmet?  Flash defense against hearing, radio communication. Voice scrambler not uncommon, and megaphone in about half the helmets. 
 
Obviously there are many one-offs that go in different directions, etc, but these are the most common, mixed differently from character to character. 
 
 
Duke 

That should be Bush 2x as well, counting both Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Beyond its use on heroes themselves or their foes / innocent bystanders, a PC having Healing raises some interesting potential issues.  Does he spend his free time going to hospitals and helping out all the people there?  If his ability to Heal is known, is he inundated by requests / demands to heal the wealthy / loved ones / famous people?  And as a GM, how do you handle things like incurable cancer?  (FYI I did it as a DoT Drain of not only BODY but also CON, STR, DEX, and/or other things.  So the PC's Healing (BODY) may buy the person some time, but the DoT continues and the person still slides downhill even after the Healing is done.)
 
BTW, I'm not saying you shouldn't allow Healing at all.  That's your call.  But you may want to think long and hard about it.
 
As to balance, having good lines of communication with your players and common-sense application of rules is a good part of it.  But as Gnome Body pointed out, you'll also want to make sure CVs and damage levels aren't unbalanced.

This touches one of the smaller story arcs I have planned about a superpowered evangelical faith healer who uses his incredible healing powers only to extort ludicruos amounts of wealth and power from his believers. Is that evil or is he operating a tolerable grey area or is he even truly blessed by a higher power? 🙂 It's up to the players to decide and/or find out  what's really going on. 🙂

Margarita Man

Nibblin' on sponge cake
Helping a thug make
The smartest decision he's made in some time
Yeah he'll get off scott free
But that doesn't bug me
'Cause the three he'll turn in are the worst kinds of slime.

Savin' the day again, I'm Margarita Man
Scanning for some good deed I can do
Some people claim the fact I'm here is a shame,
But I know, that they don't have a clue.

That mugger was stalking
A young woman walking
But now he's freaked out and his mind's come unglued
She's a real beauty
A Mexican cutie
She's had a close call, but she hasn't a clue.

Savin' the day again, I'm Margarita Man
Scanning for some good deed I can do
Some people claim the fact I'm here is a shame,
But I know, that they don't have a clue.
 
My fights, I must pick 'em
I can't save each victim
And mind reading psychopaths drives me to drink
But if you ask how come
Some killers get so dumb
And finally get caught, well now, what do you think?
 
Savin' the day again, I'm Margarita Man
Scanning for some good deed I can do
Some people claim the fact I'm here is a shame,
But I know, that they don't have a clue.
 
 
 

Lucius Alexander

Some people claim that Jimmy Buffet's to blame,
But I know, it's the palindromedary's fault.

This thought has given rise to a general guideline in my games.  If I wouldn't want the players to use a particular power writeup, then I shouldn't use it (or something similar to it) against them.  And vice versa - if a player is wanting a questionable power, ask him how he'll feel when (not if) something similar is used against him.

This thought has given rise to a general guideline in my games.  If I wouldn't want the players to use a particular power writeup, then I shouldn't use it (or something similar to it) against them.  And vice versa - if a player is wanting a questionable power, ask him how he'll feel when (not if) something similar is used against him.

Hello,
 
I've been lurking in this forum for some time now and I never bothered to create an account. But my group and I finally get around to start our first Champions game next week.
 
I'm the GM and my Champions Universe is a mixture of the written Universe and the City of Heroes Universe (mostly for enemy groups like the Skulls Gang and the Malta Group which I find much more interesting than the Champions gangs and corporations). The major difference is that almost all heroes besides the low powered one like Silver Avenger Sanchez just mysteriously vanish due to a plan of the still presumed to be dead Dr. Destroyer. But I want to make use of several established Champions characters:
 
Black Paladin and Entropy are the first Master Villains behind the Skulls with the Monster as their premier enforcer. Black Paladin is much weaker right now because he is still in the process of regaining his weaponry and armor. This is also the plot hook for the first story arc I planned. Warlord and the Warmachine as a constant threat looming over their heads. Warlord threshes the group during their first encounters but gets much more mangeable over time as they grow in strength. Dr. Destroyer is the big bad in the background. His time is about to finally run out (he has just 24 hours of life time left, so he spends almost all time in stasis) and he made basically every noteworthy hero disappear in a mysterious way. So he gains free reign at achieving immortality. Molnya and a less cruel but funnier Beek start out as enemies and allies of Warlord but become rather dependable frienemies of the group over the course of the campaign. Blackguard, Cateran and Bulldozer are recurring and rather light-hearted opponents who are supposed to be comic relief or even romantic interests (well, not Bulldozer, he's just there for the laughs 😂) for the group. Panzer, Garguntua and the Ultimates are supposed to have major guest appereances but not necessarily in combat encounters/arcs.  
I have 6 players and our campaigns tend to run for 5+ years if we stick with a game so I plan accordingly. The players are all very genre savvy and put a big emphasize on teamwork without going down the minmax route. We all like to start small and grow strong over time.
 
The lineup so far is mystic Weaponmaster with teleportation, superstrong mind reader with low toughness, mystical standard Brick, energy projector with a water flavor and some healing powers, force field projector for defense and offense, gadgeteer with a focus on information gathering and scouting.
 
What would be an appropriate CP value for such a group? I'm not spoiling the numbers I've got in my mind so I get your unbiased responses. 😃
 
Also: What is a good starting CP value if you want to play Champions (6th Edition - "Complete") "by the book" where even Alpha- and Beta-Level villains (with some mook support) pose a threat for a group of seasoned players.

I second steriaca's recommendation of the Hero Martial Arts book.  That's probably the one I use the most after 6E1 and Powers.
 
I would recommend either avoiding or at least strongly regulating the following:
Healing - Having this available seemed to give my players a "who cares?" attitude toward BODY damage (both to themselves as well as what they did to bad guys, and often what was done to normals), as the mage would just heal it after the battle was over. VPP without limits on what powers are available -- particularly one that can be changed without a roll in combat, in the hands of someone familiar with the system.  It can provide an instant band-aid for anything and everything. Usable by others, particularly for defensive powers.  I'll second Durzan's "Teleportation Usable as Attack."  This can be a major pain in the arse. Any power combo that can give rise to the Mentalist Sniper Syndrome (e.g. Invisibility to multiple sense groups + mental powers, huge Mind Scan, etc.).  Someone here posted an amusing Margarita Man concept - a mentalist who sits on a tropical beach, sipping margaritas and mind-scanning for targets halfway across the planet, then blasting them mentally.  Mental Paralysis (Entangle that goes against EGO, not STR) Any character with multiple different NNDs / AVADs.  ("Oh, you're protected against my NND gas attack?  Let's see if you're insulated against my electrical NND.  Or my AVAD against Resistant Power Defense...")

The Game Basics section on page 8 of Champions Complete explains the four icons you can see for certain rules. Rules with exclamation points and stop signs are the ones I suggest you pay the most attention to. It's possible to build some "I win" power combinations where there is little to no defense against it. For example, making a teleport power usable as an attack that you use to port enemies away or into harm's way. Or an attack with no normal defense that does body damage. Players may think it's great to use such a power on others, but they generally don't like it used on them. In general, every attack should have a defense. I suggest violating that rule sparingly so that when it occurs it has dramatic consequences. There are already plenty of power mechanics and interactions for you and your players to learn, and you can always add in more complex builds as you become more comfortable with the rules. There is a recent thread about Cheesy-munchkiny builds you've seen that will give you an idea of the kind of powers you may want to avoid.
 

I second steriaca's recommendation of the Hero Martial Arts book.  That's probably the one I use the most after 6E1 and Powers.
 
I would recommend either avoiding or at least strongly regulating the following:
Healing - Having this available seemed to give my players a "who cares?" attitude toward BODY damage (both to themselves as well as what they did to bad guys, and often what was done to normals), as the mage would just heal it after the battle was over. VPP without limits on what powers are available -- particularly one that can be changed without a roll in combat, in the hands of someone familiar with the system.  It can provide an instant band-aid for anything and everything. Usable by others, particularly for defensive powers.  I'll second Durzan's "Teleportation Usable as Attack."  This can be a major pain in the arse. Any power combo that can give rise to the Mentalist Sniper Syndrome (e.g. Invisibility to multiple sense groups + mental powers, huge Mind Scan, etc.).  Someone here posted an amusing Margarita Man concept - a mentalist who sits on a tropical beach, sipping margaritas and mind-scanning for targets halfway across the planet, then blasting them mentally.  Mental Paralysis (Entangle that goes against EGO, not STR) Any character with multiple different NNDs / AVADs.  ("Oh, you're protected against my NND gas attack?  Let's see if you're insulated against my electrical NND.  Or my AVAD against Resistant Power Defense...")

Don't assume the time dilation between the alternate Earth and your Earth/V'Ha-1 has always been a constant.  Assume they all started with time flows at about the same speed.  Over the course of eons, the Alternate Earth drifted away from the other dimensions.  The farther away it drifts from Earth or V'Ha-1, the larger the time dilation.
 
If I had time (see what I did there? ) I'd come up with a more techno-babbleish explanation using healthy doses of General Relativity and Kaluza-Klein Theory.  I'm sort of remembering how time dilation can change as a function of gravitational potential energy as I write this.

[Edit to add:  Posted before seeing LL's post]
 
My overall inclination regarding the Empress is that I'd like the heroes to have a decent chance to keep her locked away, so I don't want her to have things in place to quickly escape from such a dimensional exile.  (IMO that's a dick move for a GM.)  However, I also don't want the PC heroes to, say, decide to dump captured supervillains there instead of taking them to Stronghold.  So I'll have to figure out a way to make the players disinclined to try that.
 
She's called the Empress of a Billion Dimensions for a reason, so I'd think she would have previously discovered such a world (though perhaps by random chance she hasn't, and again by random chance the heroes have).  I could see her being cautious about such information, and fearful of her enemies learning it inadvertently from her people.  But I could also see her dumping, say, a research crew there to figure out a way off-world in case she gets trapped there.  Regardless, I could definitely see her monitoring possible incursions to that world, especially when she already knows the PC heroes have been playing around with dimensional travel.
 
I wasn't figuring the EM would cause cell mutation, but rather have that come from the odd background radiation.  But overall, I'd rather any denizens of that world be early homo sapiens so there's less for the Empress to take advantage of.  (Though I can't deny the appeal of a semi-modern steampunk culture being found there.)
 
As a side note, I'm fearful that the players may decide to go there themselves and get trapped (or more properly make it so I have to write in a way for them to escape, which would also mean the Empress has a possible means of escape).  But I figure I can trigger player paranoia to keep them from having their characters go there in person.

Go for it.  I had it as initially a Mechanon plot (though at a larger scale and meant to cause planet-wide extinction), stolen by a villain team and scaled down.  And having a bunch of tiny satellites working in concert, rather than one large satellite, meant the heroes wouldn't be able to just shoot it down easily.  At the first sign of attack, they could scatter and then regroup later.
 


Too true, at least as far as cell phones are concerned. 
 
Though to be honest, I basically stole that phone / electrical line idea straight from a Lois and Clark episode.

Spaaaaaaace Ghosst!
 

However, such a bridge would make an excellent target for sabotage by the PCs, once she was already in the dimension. Blow it up REAL good, so it can't just be patched together. If the empire starts to disintegrate, there may not be time or resources to devote to rebuilding the bridge. If it had to be built at a particular "weak spot" between dimensions, that would become a key battleground between loyalists and rebels. But if you want to end the campaign there, you can leave all that to them.

Does the EM field interfere with all means (SFX) of Extradimensional Movement?  Does it interfere with all forms of cross-dimensional contact (e.g. Clairsentience with Transdimensional)?  Does it interfere with psionics and/or magic?  Can it be overpowered in some way?  I'm certain the Empress (meaning, her people) would have researched all of those, and such would have led to the existence of the abovementioned extradimensional bridge, but if she can do it so can others.  

It's a pity I can't like something more than once. 
 
Well done.  Very well done. 
 
Eel does talk a lot, though, especially during a fight.  Might want to consider maybe adding a mention before the solar plexus shot that of course he's been punching Mister Brute repeatedly while lecturing him.
 
But I loved that lecture. 

Stealing a page from Marvel: magically transforming a city and all its inhabitants into ancient history equivalents.  (So the police become city guards, most of the inhabitants become peasants, etc.)  To everybody in the city, and anyone entering the city, they've *always* been that way and have no recollection of the modern world.
 
Launching hundreds of small (textbook-sized) satellites into orbit, each of which can generate a localized gravity field.  Combined, they can create a giant gravity lens capable of focusing the sun's energy into a massive (half a kilometer wide) laser-like beam directed at any point on the Earth's surface.
 
Cause everybody on Earth to become uncontrollably able to read the minds of everybody near them, ostensibly to stop crime and foster peace world-wide.  However, the chaos (as people hear what others *really* think about them) would be unbelievable.
 
Use cell phones and electrical lines to generate fields that interfere with the intelligence and common sense of anybody nearby.