Dust Raven

I'm creating a blind pre-teen who's just developing his psychic powers. He's an ESPer with a talent for precognition. I want one of his "tricks" to be the ability to dodge nearly any attack leveled against him, but still have trouble navigating an unfamiliar room. Mechanically, I don't want him to have any targeting senses, but I still want him to maintain full DCV (plus dodge bonuses) in combat without the need for making Skill Rolls. Any ideas on how I should approach this?

The cost seems a bit steep, especially for a once a session (which could be only a few hours up to years in game time). If it was unlimited uses (though you couldn't retry, similar to Find Weakness or the use of Mental Powers) and based on a Skill Roll, I'd say 15 points, +1 to the roll cost 2 points. Effectively costing the same as the Healing version with a RSR plus the cost of the Power Skill. If you wanted to limit it per day, you could take this cost and apply the Charges Limitation.

I hadn't though of that. Good point! I like your No Free Will rules. I might just adopt them.

I never thought of making it a skill. It seems a bit too powerful though, in that it will allow you to do what several other skills can do and in much less time. Then again, I could always add RSR to the Power...

Thanks for all the help guys! I was thinking Transform as well, but decided to go with Healing because of that rule for Transform (can't buy Transform to do what another Power already does). To answer LL: It's mean to make a quick, but lasting, fix to minor malfunctions. Something 1-3 BODY might fix. The character can't "thump" together wrecked car. He's also likely to have the other half of the Fonz's power of thump, but in the form of a 4d6 Mind Control vs machines.

I have a player that wants his character to have a "thump" ability. That is, to thump a mechanical device that isn't working, and have it suddenly work. I was originally think Mind Control, but now I'm thinking Healing. Healing would better represent "fixing" something a bit better. Here's what I got: Thump!: Healing Machines/Gadgets 1d6, Any Mechanical/Gadget SFX, One Power At A Time (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2) (17 Active Points), Gestures (-1/4) Total Cost: 14.

It's sounding almost as if the target of the soul stealing is killed by the effect (body turning to dust and such). The soul stealing could just be part of the SFX of a massive Killing Attack or BODY Drain. Alternatively, you can still make it a transform, meaning that the target isn't dead, just stolen, and can be recovered by some extraordinary (though easily identifiable) means (such as killing the demon, making a deal, or casting a really spiffy spell). Utilizing the souls is easily a Summon. If the soul must assume physical form, then you just summon the original character. From your post, it seems that the souls aren't obligated to obey the demon, so any kind of loyalty modifier wouldn't be necessary. It sounds like it would need the Specific Person modifier though, so you can determine which exact soul comes out when requested. Naturally, you'd need to buy the Summon high enough to cover some really high point characters depending upon who all he's got trapped already (or may trap in the future). If all you can summon is a spirit/mind of the soul, you can essentially save points just by buying the Summon as summoning AI computers, representing the disembodied souls and their skills and memories.

Well, in your campaign, what is a "soul?" If you're gonna have characters running around who can steal them (player character or not) on a regular basis (rather than a plot hook) you'll need to define exactly what represents the soul in game terms. Alternatively, decide what the effects of having your soul stolen would have on a character. Usually, that alone will define how it's taken. Some suggestions: The EGO Characteristic, or rather an "echo" of it. Really, EGO can be an echo of the actual soul. You can Drain/Transfer SOUL (which would always be equal to the character's normal EGO). The soul is a (meta)physical characteristic/ability such as the ability to see or having a certain number of limbs. You can take the soul by using the Transform Power (using the Mind Transfer power from USPD as a basis on how to build it, only witout the side effects). Of course, it the taking of souls is only gonna be a plot device, even in the hand of a player character, there's no real need to write it up at all, just say it happens, or can happen, when the need arrised. All you need to do is define what the results would be.

Ghost-Angel: I almost always require the Slavishly Loyal Advantage for such summonings. If you use Summon to summon a zombie or telekinetic construct or even a vehicle, the "creature" is by definition "slavishly loyal" and should be purchased with that Advantage. If it's just a crossbow, even a psychic crossbow, unless it acts completely automotously(sp?) of the character, it should probably be bought as an Attack Power with some clever Modifiers.

The crossbow is a creature? With complete stats including Characteristics and stuff?

It was worth a shot

Okay, lets just stop arguing about what to call the revised FREd. Let's just call it the BBB and be done with it. It's gonna be big. It's gonna be black (I assume) and it's gonna be a book. So what if that's what we called the old Champions hardcover. I hardly see any references it anymore, and if we need to it can be the "old BBB." So whadaya say HEROfans? Is it the BBB?

I like the LS: Immunity or the CHAR Roll at -1/10AC (or other arbitrary number, some diseases have over 100 active points). If it's just the CHAR Roll, I'd say it's just a straight roll. An 11- is reasonably common, but a 6- isn't.

Grabs, especialy ones from a giant, typically to generalized damage. If the shield would cover most of the character, it might still apply (asuming there aren't any other Limitation restricting it). Based on SFX though, a shield probably wouldn't provide much defense against such an attack, if any at all. SFX typically overrides the rules, but the final say is yours. Personally, I'd say the shield wouldn't protect the character unless he comes up with some clever use of it that sounds even remotely reasonable.

It's only for communication, with a chance for reaching the wrong person (although they can always had the phone over). Now that I think of it, the character shouldn't be able to reach just anybody, but only people he knows well enough. Mind Link, no LOS and some Side Effects might just do the trick.

Only it's not that simple. You won't necessarily contact the person you are looking for. Someone else might answer the phone, or possibly no one will answer (but it still rings, so it's not a failed attempt).

I've always used them seperately. Concealment is used for hiding things (including people and oneself) from view/detection. Stealth is for when you don't want someone to hear you. As for detection, both are defeated with a PER roll, but Concealment can be substuted (or used as a complimentary skill) for finding hidden things/people.

I suggested that we could call Sidekick "Mini-FREd" but I think I like Arthur better.

Mind Scan sounds highly appropriate. How about a weak Mind Control vs machines to force the phone to dial an appripriate number?

I don't recall what they cost in the Beastiary, but I would think and Air Elemental would cost about the same as Fire, if not more. After all, while Fire has to buy all those immunities to Fire, Air has to buy immunities to just about everything (Desol with APW on everything else). Ever try to burn, stab or punch air? Doesn't work too well.

How would you do this power: The ability to pick up the phone (any phone, except maybe cell phones), and have it automaticaly dial the phone nearest (except maybe cell phones) whoever you want to call. This would happend subconsciously for the most part, so the character wouldn't even know where he was calling, only that the phone starts ringing as he picks it up and someone answers (not necessarily the person he wants, just whoever answers the phone that rings).

All you need is Systems Operation and Inventor (or substitute Power (Gadgeteering) which is just a specilized Inventor Skill).

If it was a larger reserve for the MP, you could easily use Desol for the uber-dodge. According to FREd, you can abort to it (to avoid an attack) and the SFX could simply be that you move really, really fast (although you might actually need IPE). One thing I did a while back to simulate the "full extent" of wire-fu in a Champions setting was a Multipower with slots to simulate various techniques. I dileberately left all of the slots more or less without Limitations, so that the same Power could represent several techinques (within reason, the SFX "wire-fu maneuvers" only goes so far). Things I included were the Desol dodge above, as well as a No Range EB (a punch so fast it has to be missile deflected instead of blocked, and could be spread to hit several targets at once), Flight with "Near A Surface" (to simulate impossible leaps and the ability to run up walls) and a number of other nifty tricks.

An insteresting construct I've seen is a very high powered attack (or other Power) with the Limitations 1 Charge & Cost END. I've also seen it done just by putting Increased END x5 or x10 on it to represent the strain it puts on the character. But if it's something that is done rather easily, but only as a "last resort" you could just use Charges.

If the imaginary friend really doesn't do anything (can't look around a corner and tell the character what he sees, or move anything for examples), then this could simply be a Psych Lim, and/or a Distinctive Feature. If the imaginary friend can do anything useful for the character, then you can either write it up as a selection of Powers, or as a Follower (or even a Duplicate, but don't push it). I'd recomend using No Conscious Control Powers rather than a Follower though. Example: 12 Imaginary Friend: Multipower (37 point reserve) No Conscious Control (-2) u1 No, He's Over THERE!: Clairsentience (Normal Sight & Hearing) 125" Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2) u1 Don't Touch That!: TK 10 STR Fine Manipulation, Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2) 14 Total Cost Alternately, you can buy it with Variable Limitations -2 (NCC, Activation Roll or RSR, Incantations) for a total cost of 22 points to simulate the frequent use of persuasion to get the imaginary friend to do exactly what you want.