Jachra

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas You know, that'd be a lot like lighting the powder magazine of a sailing vessel. KAPOW.

Re: Skill and Vehicles Knew the rest of that. Thanks!

Do combat skill levels add to Vehicular DCV?

Can an attacker do anything to change his or her action once a target dives for cover?

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas I'd go with aether that isn't particularly harmful. In fact, breathable like air. Gives you the excuse to have great big ole Treasure Planet ships and starry vistas. In fact, damn it, run this online so I can play. ;D

Re: Damage for lightsabers I wouldn't necessarily make Missile Deflection an inherent part of the weapon. Any schmuck can pick up a lightsaber and learn to use it, but only a Jedi (someone with, say, Spatial Awareness or whatever appropriate sense) can use it to Deflect. No, Missile Deflection should be a seperate power, bought with OAF Lightsaber. They lose the lightsaber, they lose the power. Might be able to do what Vader did and buy "Missile Deflection, OAF Armor Glove." But he has points coming out his metal arse, so he doesn't count.

Re: Can't Touch This (Except Slowly!) It really shouldn't apply to Dune anyway. Knockback is... a lot of distance. Knockdown would be fine. Also, I've never seen stats for a flamethrower in the main book, so, really, take the highest Killing Attack done by any player and set the maximum damage they can deal as your value. KEY EDIT: They should probably require the Pulling a Punch manuever. Melee only. Though might want to houserule some stiffer penalties.

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas Err... so basically you're saying gravity originates in the center of the earth? How's this work on other planets? Do you 'fall' towards the earth if you're on the wrong side of the planet? I suggest dropping this idea as is and A) making it so that gravity 'extends' into space and is cancelled out by other bodies. Doing it normally and permitting them to have a 'gravitoelectric generator.' Finally, Victorian is best, Pulp Era is almost as good. Modern is a definite no.

Re: How fast should various things be? Cute answer, which doesn't help in personal scale combat. ;D Or in a more strategically oriented game. This Bestiary you speak of might help.

Horses of varying breeds... dogs... elephants...

Re: Can't Touch This (Except Slowly!)

Re: Can't Touch This (Except Slowly!) I kinda preferred the DCV version, much more elegant, though it didn't prevent AoE like this one. 20 PD really is fairly necessary, I s'pose. A schmuck with a battle axe and Offensive Strike could conceivably deal as much... and consistently has in one of my games. Stinker. Not sure 20 ED is, though. I mean, really, how many energy attacks in Dune that aren't lasers are going to rack up 20 BODY? I think 12 would probably be safe, if, say, a flamethrower is 2d6 killing. If you're using anti-tank weapons on a Dune shield... well, I really have no idea how it'd work anyway. I'm not sure they ever discuss that. However, any direct hit from an antitank weapon shouldn't really be rolling damage on a Heroic person anyway. C'mon, a season? Really, I can see maybe a month. More likely, a week, or even a day. Can put Fragile and Expendable (Difficult) in there. It's an instrument of questionable durability with advanced parts. Also, Knockback is not applicable in Heroic campaigns. Restrainable does not cover the particular limitation; that's Limited Power. Make it "Does not Operate in High Static-Discharge Environment." Limited Coverage does not apply, that only affects the direction the attack comes from. Probably something like "Requires Martial Manuever Slow Attack" or "Requires melee attackers to take -3 OCV penalty to penetrate." Throw in Gestures (turn shield on.) There, down to 164 Active and 38 Real points

Re: Can't Touch This (Except Slowly!) Right, I considered the 'laser timer' thing a long time ago. APPARENTLY, House shields are not vulnerable, at least one of the wikis says so. Frankly, I can't see any reason other than (largely nonexistent) chivalry why flamers wouldn't be used. And yeah, there are those explosive effects.

Re: Can't Touch This (Except Slowly!) The explosion would not be EB. It would be RKA. Because people will die. Anyway, I can see that, yes, that's a much simpler way to go about it. Still ignores the question of what value I would assess for the Holtzmann Boom. Also, wouldn't the greater value be on a limitation? Also, I don't recall the focus being in any way obvious, at least from the movies, and what I read in the book. Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't Obvious Focus only when the Focus is obviously seen to be generating the effect?

All right, here's the request... The shields from Dune. Please, nothing other than the original book if you can avoid it. *shudder* I presume Force Field for the small ones. IIF, Visible, Independent (though I s'pose this isn't entirely necessary), Continuing Fuel Charge (1 hour, say? I can't remember any particular limit. May even be forever..). High enough Hardened PD to stop any man-portable projectile attack used. Limitations I'm unsure of: The Holtzman Effect and the Minimum Velocity requirement. (Curious thought, I doubt they'd be very effective against flame throwers. Sure, the rapid-moving plasma particles of the actual flame aren't likely to get to them, but what about the jelly?) (Also, KA tends to do a chunk of STUN, and the target shouldn't be taking any STUN. How would one get around this?) Force Wall for the large ones, no doubt. Wikipedia seems to indicate these ones can be set to accept a much lower minimum velocity... IIF, Immobile, Visible, Independent, Restricted Shape... Wouldn't need charges, likely wouldn't work without a generator on hand. How does one factor in something like a generator? Throw in the Holtzman effect and it'd be good, I think. Thought on the minimum velocity... My first thought was a trigger, but that's no good since the shield is on or it isn't, and too bad for you if someone shoots you while it's down. Custom limitation of some sort, perhaps. Where's the line drawn, though? 2 DC, Melee Only? The only thing I can think of for the Holtzman would be a custom Limitation, along with guidelines for determining at which point(s) the detonation(s) take place. 1/2d6, likely, 1: lasgun, 2: shield, 3: both. Anywhere from 6-10 KA Explosion (How wide depending on whether it's the ground shield or the personal shield... probably Penetrating.) Well! Anything I'm missing? Mistakes?

Re: Reducing Endurance Naked Advantage? There it is. I am clearly a poor reader of the text, thankee.

Re: Reducing Endurance Oh, I've been here before. ;D Magical. It also grants some PSLs for offsetting various poor footing penalties and considering tossing in something like limited life support (for walking on hot/cold stuff). And no, it doesn't enhance running. (I'm the GM, pondering minor magical items. GM means I don't give out fun things like that. ;D)

On a person's Run attribute. Here's the thing... with an Independent item. I thought it would be fairly easy, but I must honestly say I'm unsure how I would do it.

Re: Genie Perhaps a bit too radical, besides, you forget that I SHOULD be able to leave a genie somewhere and act on orders without my knowledge. With Amicable +1 and no END, is all I have to do to get more services is order him to be dismissed and then resummon him as often as I please? Assuming I don't take Charges.

Re: Genie That would require relying on the good graces of a GM to provide me a suitably powerful Genie... let alone ANY. Follower would be fine, yes, but it's not Summon.

Re: Genie Right, but if it's a Specific Person in that bottle, then if he's suffered any damage it'll carry it over. Or is the fact that he can gain experience along with me even more dangerous? (In either case, I'm compelled by my own sense of this that it should be specific person. Djinni don't just bottle swap for the heck of it. ;D)

Re: Genie *bangs head repeatedly* Of course, the most obvious solution, Summon. I'll give it a look. And yes, I know Independent is risky. I'm not doing it for the points, I'm doing it because it's a GENIE. And I'll have other tools. A 'spirit bound into a ring' schtick for Armor purposes, for one. I'd only be able to do the last if I were the genie, which would suck. Hum. Do you think arguing that "Specific Being" would reasonably be +0 rather than +1? I can't genuinely see any advantage in it. With Amicable +1 and no END, is all I have to do to get more services is order him to be dismissed and then resummon him as often as I please? Assuming I don't take Charges.

So! I had the bright idea to make a character who relied almost exclusively on a genie to get things done. We're talking the 'go build me a castle' or 'go bring me some fatted calf' or 'smite that brigand' type, not the three wishes type. At first, it was smooth sailing, I decided the Follower perk would apply, then I ran into that niggling little point limit issue, and wondered if I'd have enough, so the bright idea came to see if my GM would accept Limitations applying to the totality of points given. He did, and I took Gestures -1/4 (must hold bottle when giving orders), Incantation -1/4 (must give order loudly and clearly, and preface with genie's name), Independent -2 (bottle, whoever holds gets to control.) First off, is this fair, to take these limitations on Follower? Second off, is there a simpler way I can get what I want that I'm just not seeing? (Perhaps the more important of the two questions. ;D) And yeah, I could just get multiple followers, but that kinda defeats the whole 'genie' schtick (which is the most important part.)