Dust Raven

Originally posted by prestidigitator

Hmm. I would call that a pretty direct contradiction with the DCV chart. Maybe a question on the Rules board is appropriate.

I'm a bit confused....what contradiction with the DCV chart? What chart?

Originally posted by prestidigitator

Except that Penalty Skill Levels can not be used to cancel the OCV penalties that you take from performing a maneuver. That's because the maneuver modifiers aren't "penalties," persay.

Sure you can...and if a reduction in Combat Value isn't a penalty....I'd hate to see what is.

Originally posted by prestidigitator

Wrong. Your next normal Phase is taken up while you are, "recovering from being stunned." If you look really carefully at the chart that describes modifiers to DCV, you'll see 1/2 DCV and 1/2 targetting penalties for not only, "Stunned," but also, "Recovering From Being Stunned." That means:

1. I stun you in 6.
2. Your Phase is on 9, which is the action you must use up recovering from being stunned.
3. Your next Phase is on 12, which is when you are finally able to act, can activate your non-persistent powers, and finally get back your full DCV.

You lose your powers and DCV not only at the point I hit you, but for the Phase you lost as well.

Um...Right.

Page 274 of FREd: "He regains his full DCV (and placed shot modifiers return to normal), but he still cannot act until his next Phase; recovering from being Stunned is all he can do that phase. However, after recovering from being Stunned, a character my, if he wishes, Abort to a defensive Action (even in the same Segment in which he recovers from being Stunned).

+4 Vs. Interaction Penalties do to Culture, Race, Backgrount, etc w/ All Skills: 12 Points.

This should even cover racial, cultrual hatreds and even make up for how the character is dressed at the time.

I have a house rule that covers this. I allow characters to Push up to their EGO with no adverse effects (other than END loss). Then I give them the option to Push even more, with an Ego roll, adding 5 more points to the amount they Push for every point they make their Ego Roll by (though I'm thinking of changing this to 5 points for every 2 points they make the roll by). The side effect there is that the Power they Push is then effectively Drained by the ammount Pushed, and then recoveres normally, causing it to effectively burn out for a while.

Originally posted by TheFool1972

Quote:

"I'd even rate the Duplicate as identical, because he is except for the loss of certain abilities...the only new thing he gets is a small size."

 

Umn, wanna bet?

Sure.

On page 101 of FREd: "You may build Dupliates on less than the base character's full points if you want; this does not require an Advantage."

Since there is the change of one Disadvantage (small size) and one Power (extra DCV), combined with the severe limitations inherant in the brain box, I'd so it still doesn't require an Advantage. Of course, if you want to built it "by the book" it would still only be a +1/4.

The brain box of course has all of the skills and basic mental attributes of the character. Also has most of the basic flaws and perks.

 

The robot body is a combat suit of power armor in humanoid form, about 8 feet tall and over a ton in weight.

 

He has to be out of the chassie for regular maintence and repair, and tends to get forcfully ejected if his body takes too much damage, due to the safety systems built into the body.

Using Duplication, you'd buy the full Robot, complete with Brain Box as the base character. Then you buy the just the Brain Box as the Duplicate. But a Limitation on the Duplication Power, or a Disadvantage on the Robot to simulte that the Robot form becomes innoperable if the Brain Box is removed. You can also put an Accidental Change to simulate the Brain Box automatically ejecting under certain circumstances (such as taking a certain about of damage).

Side note: Wait... You don't get as much because you have a robot body? What about a character that can move normally and interact with the world with a power suit? Why even take the brain-in-the-box concept? Sorry, the suit should count as a tool in this case. He has no built in powers to the box to overcome his disability. Otherwise, you have to start penalizing characters who buy armor because they don't have it naturally...

 

The Fool

"I'll take point, use me as cover."

Keep in mind that buying Powers that make up for Disadvantages reduce the value of the Disads. A good example is taking No Arms or Legs, and then taking Telekinesis with Fine Manipulation and some Flight. That No Arms or Legs is still a valid Disad, but not worth as much as it would be on a character without the TK abilities. It should be rated on how often it occures, and how limiting it actually is. A Disadvantage that isn't a disadvantage isn't worth any points.

Wow...look at all the talk about Elemental Controls!

Originally posted by Kristopher

I'd give Batman I boosted PER, above what his raw INT would give him.

 

Anyway, as to Danger Sense, I've read the section in the book. IN MY OPINION (that was the "IMO" part), Danger Sense should be reserved for those with some kind of non-normal ability to sense danger, and generally not used to simulate the perceptive or the paranoid.

I hqve to disagree here. That's like saying Energy Blast should be reserved for characters who can fire beams of energy from their eyes and hands. Danger Sense is the ability to sense danger. Nowhere does it say that the SFX can't be "highly perceptive" or "paranoid."

Personally though...I'd just give Batman the Intuition Danger Sense to simulate that "hunch" that something's not right, but he doesn't know quite what. Then he'd also get a bonus to his PER roll, maybe even limited to making a Danger Sense Roll...to locate the source of the danger.

Batman senses something is not quite right...he pauses and glances to his left in time to see a shadow moving outside the window...

Originally posted by austenandrews

For that matter, is it legal to Dispel STUN? Just wondering.

 

-AA

I brought this up with Steve some time ago in the Questions forum.

You can't Dispel Stun because it's a Characteristic, not a Power. You can Drain or Suppress it though. And targets can be Stunned if the effect rolled is higher than their CON.

50 Points is far too high...especially if he has a robot body at his disposal.

I ran a short game a while back with a character as you describe. He usually stayed in his body and was only in the "brain in a jar" state if someone forcibly removed him (or they were running tests back at HQ or someting). It was bought as a Physical LImitation: Brain Box can be removed (infrequently, fully) for 15 points.

Another way to do it, especially if someone takes the brain box for walks a lot, is to write up the normal character inside the robot body, and then write up the brain as a Duplicate. This is really only worth it if the brain box is still aware of his surroundings and can do some things (even if it's only communicate). I'd even rate the Duplicate as identical, because he is except for the loss of certain abilities...the only new thing he gets is a small size.

I'm using the 5th Ed version of Regen too.

Four reasons:

1: It's what 5th Ed told me to do, so I figured I'd try it first. I like it. I'm usually of the opinion that if you can do it without creating a new Power, do it. Even if it means tweaking things a bit for playability.

2: It more easily goes into those Elemental Controls now, because of the high Active Point Cost. Speaking of high APs, it makes low level of Regen harder to Suppress/Drain.

3: It's marginally cheeper.

4: If I really felt like it, I can take off the Extra Time LImitation and have it apply per Phase. I rarely do this...but occasionally I like to build the unkillable villain, and it's just easier to increase the Real Cost than quadrupling the Active Cost.

Edit for 4th reason:

Lots of lists...but none of them say OAF or OIF or IAF or such things though...

Basically, it all depends upon how the item functions in combat (as an object) and upon player preferences.

I'd normally say a mask, as an object, is Accessible Focus. I've seen them ripped off quite easily in the movies. If it's bolted down in some way, like Darth Vader's helmet....it might be an Inaccessible Focus. The bottom line is how quickly (or how often) it has a chance of being taken away or damaged.

Accessible: Easy...can happen in combat by targeting the item (-2 OCV) with an attack or grab.

Inaccessible: Difficult...usually happens out of combat, or after the character has been suitably restrained.

Check the CV Mods for Move Through and Move By for the penalties.

10 points gets you a +5 OCV with a single attack, where +5d6 HA for 15 points gets you 5 additional dice of damage on all hand to hand attacks, including Move Through, Move By, Haymaker and any Martial Arts Maneuvers you happen to have.

Now that I think about it...isn't there a formal warning about making new maneuvers in the UM about the effeciency of Martial Art Maneuvers and keeping balance in the game?

Heck with it....I'm just buying 8 levels in HTH and being done with it. 40 points and I can assign them any way I want among by OCV, DCV or damage. Still can't to NND stuff though...

I would say to use the 3 point Penalty Skill Levels.

You can Sweep...specifically Sweep, not Rapid Fire, and use the bonuses to counter the penalties to OCV, DCV or both. Only you'd have to use two levels to add +1 to DCV (because it's halved from the maneuver).

This is much less of a hack, and better suits the Sword Master motif.

Originally posted by prestidigitator

Sounds like a pretty limited form of Clairsentience. You could even define it as a (non-targetting) special Sense Group which is "whatever trees can perceive."

See one of my above posts....It's almost exactly what I did (I just wrote in "unique" though").

Originally posted by prestidigitator

Hah! All my charcters are super-mentalists with earth-shattering Ints and Egos. Why should they be limited mentally?

Psych LIms are the same as psychological disorders. I'd say anyone with that high of strength and skill of mind is likely to have at least one or two social oriented limitations.

Besides....one of the defining attributes of modern-day heroes is the adhearence to a higher code of ethics and morality. Psy LIms like Code Against Killing, Protective of Innocents and Honorable are the cornerstone Disads of the Superheroic genre. Then again...if your theme is more along the lines of a street-level vigilante game....Code of Vengence, Hatred of [target antagonist group] and such might be fore appropriate.

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

Also keep in mind that a mentalist who wants a DCV competitive with that of other characters in the campaign, or uses a physical power in addition to Mental Powers, will still want to buy up his Dexterity in addition to his Ego score. So in practice, mentalists don't usually get much of a cost break - their players may actually end up investing more Character Points to make their characters viable in both CV and ECV.

My mentallists usually just buy Precognative Intuition: DCV +X. They also buy either Defense Maneuver 1V or just buy Persistant on the DCV to it applies out of combat too.

I'd just run it at a Two Levels Down on the Charges teble, like Recoverable Charges.

As far as Autofire goes....so long as the first hits, all charges used in the attack are used up, regardless of wether or not all actually hit.

And this is why my players like to make characters with high CONs.

Originally posted by dugfromthearth

+5 OCV for a 5pt maneuver is more obscene the +5d6 dmg for a 5pt maneuver?

 

 

I can easily consider both to be obscene, I don't think the OCV is worse then the extra damage.

To be honest, they are equally obsene in a low powered or Heroic level game. LIke one where the max damage is around 6 dice. I tend to run Superheroic games where an extra 5 dice boots an attack by quite a bit, but not enough to fly head and shoulders over what is "normal".

A +5 OCV though, is always obsene. It turns an 8- chance to hit (24.6% chance of a hit) into a 13- (84.6%). And it will do this regardless of power level. As far as I'm concerned, +5 OCV with a single maneuver costa 10 points, plus the cost of the attack and movement used with it.

Besides...aren't there rules concerning the attacker's velocity reducing OCV?

I'm well aware that players like to simulate 2 weak attacks by buying a large attack and putting Reduced Penetration on it. I can understand why too....you get to keep to total STUN rolled vs the defenses.

I was wondering is anybody but myself uses Reduced Penetration for anything else?

There's another thread about a whip/lash attack that could easily be bought Red Pen, though I personally feel it should be a Red Pen HKA and a Linked NND.

I use Red Pen for claws and other animal attacks, but not to simulate the D&D claw/claw effect. It's to simulate that the claws, though sharp, aren't long enough to dig past armor. I also use it for several magic spells designed to knockout armored targets, and kill unarmored ones.

So how do the rest of you us it?

Originally posted by badger3k

I think the FAQ answers a similar question on range - the no range limit can be used like hth attacks - you can target the hex next to you. I'd still require a roll to hit - otherwise it's a cheap automatic hit power. Still DCV 3 isn't that hard (and it gives the defender a chance to dodge the effect).

Adjacent Hexes are 0 DCV.

One of the character's in my old game has a AE 3" Radius Flash attack centerd in himself and no Personal Immunty..then again...he also has lots of Flash Defense.

I have another character with a Darkness Field centered on herself, but she's got the PI.

The game is Superheroic (standard 200+150). I'm the GM and I'm working on this for one of my players.

I see this as a unique talent. Trees are living things with spirits and such, but they're not sentient or self aware. This power seems to work more like psychometry, but with the SFX of talking trees that only the character can hear (everyone can hear the character talk back and ask questions). All the limitations of having such information come from a third party, hearsay point of view, and from such a third party that doesn't always understand what its observing.

High damage means nothing it the attack doesn't hit. Granted, the opposite can be said as well, but character's are already likely to have a decent CV or else the rest of their attacks will be useless. And getting a +3 OCV just because you have 15" Running and spend 5 or less points on a maneuver is a bit much; +5 OCV would be obsene.

Originally posted by Dr Divago

Well, mi idea is to make thing simple, BUT meantime show that is different have SPD 2 or 3

 

You can do this and still make all of the PCs the same SPD. Just make a few of the knock-over villains with a SPD a point or two lower than the PCs.

I do it just as Lord Liaden does and always have. If a characters really want to do everything, including physical, based off their EGO, then I have them buy Lightning Reflexes as Talon suggests.