Mestopheles

Re: "Matrix" Sentinel build?

LOL, I should have known that'd draw commentary... does it make it worse that they're both my roommates?

Re: "Matrix" Sentinel build?

Will do, I work a lot and have 2 girlfriends so it'll take me a while probably, but I'll get around to it.

Re: The Ultimates Bundle

The problem I have with Genre books is I tend to blend genres a lot. The game I'm getting ready to run borrows elements From Fantasy, Champions, SciFi, and Gritty "Dark Heroes-esque" material, flavor, and power sets.

I don't particularly want to buy all of those, I think between my ideas and the HM files available online I can find enough builds for utility that I'm not sure what else I'd be getting out of the genre books.

Maybe I'm underestimating the broad utility of the genre books though.

Hey guys, I was browsing the online store and found the Ultimates Bundle:

The Ultimate Vehicle

Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook

Ultimate Brick

Ultimate Mystic

Ultimate Metamorph

Ultimate Speedster,Ultimate Mentalist

Ultimate Skill

Ultimate Energy Projector

Total price: $200.

I know this is a bargain in terms of overall cost, but assuming that $200 is more or lessa hand-wave and all I have at the moment is the base book, would this be a good first purchace to round out my HERO stuff?

In other words, if you only had the Big Black Book and 200 bucks to spend, would you spend it on this bundle?

Re: Does anyone have any idea why this is legal?

This raises another question I'd like to ask. For long distance Teleporters (like those who can "teleport anywhere on Earth")' date=' do you make them buy enough Teleportation + Megascale to cover the Earth's Circumference or Diameter?[/quote']

 

Assuming you can teleport in any direction, you should only have to travel its diameter. Any other point on earth is closer than that.

Also, teleporting "99.9% of the way around the world to wind up 15' away" shouldn't work under most SFX, since the curvature of the earth won't usually be relavant to calculating the distance traveled.

Re: 8pt CSL

It's just another option. Once you factor in NCM, added damage capabilities, and the choice of how you apply your bonuses each action, it's almost as good as DEX even without the bump to your SPD. IME and IMO it's fairly balanced, but it's slightly more effective when NCM apply.

It also lets you model characters more accurately that:

-are skilled in combat but not unusually "graceful"

-armor that defelects some attacks

-attacks that are larger that normal but fall shjort of a 1-hex AoE

And so on.

Of course DEX and SPD are desireable, but they may not fit the concept you're trying to model.

Re: "Matrix" Sentinel build?

I smell what you're cooking. Since I'm not actually trying to build an exact replica of the sentinels that'll be more than enough to get a good start on it, thanks.

Anyone made or seen a write-up for the sentinel squid-like robots in The Matrix movies? I'm thinking of a BBEG that's going to borrow liberally from that basic concept. (at least in gross physical form)

In my opionion:

If you don't want a player re-trying ad infinitum to succeed where it's not reasonable or in keeping with your plot, impose consequences for failure, fudge the difficulty, or give them an explained or unexplained failure that makes it clear further attempts will fail as well.

If no reason exists for preventing the further attempts (including common sense), just let them keep trying.

Re: The great debate, this time with Java!

... And of course' date=' a 1/4 or so chance of doing virtually nothing at all, depending on the opponent.[/quote']

I'm not doubting this claim, but I'm missing the reference. How do KA's have a 25% chance of being ineffective based on the target?

Re: Simple questions on AP caps

Thanks guys, I have 4 players (and maybe a fifth) and none have played HERO before. Fortunately they all seem to grasp the underlying theme of chargen (to wit, anything is fine the concept isn't consistent with the campaign and setting. Let me worry about how t's written and I'll show you what I'm doing to help you learn)

One of the guys is asking if he can base his character on "Sonny" (the robot) in I, robot. This is a little amusing because it recalls a question I've though of in the past- To those of you who have seen the movie, what is Sonny's DEX anyway? It's clearly superhuman, but what would you rate it at?

Re: Simple questions on AP caps

Well, that's easy to do; if you don't pump up defenses and Stun totals and the like, almost any reasonable super tends to flatten normals pretty reliably in Hero. In most cases that's true even of agents. Classically, they've been heavy enough offense to offer concern, but go down easy.

 

 

 

Just be aware that because of the way Recovery works, this can make for _very_ drawn out fights; if an opponent has 32 PD and ED and his attackers are using 10 dice, he's only accumulating 3 stun per successful attack, for example, and he likely bleeds off somewhere in the 6-10 range at the end of every round.

Thanks for the reminder... I wasn't looking at making things quite that turtley though

Re: Simple questions on AP caps

I tend to divide the total starting points (Base + Disadvantages) by 5' date=' with the PC's gaining +1 AP for every +5 CP they gain in play.[/quote']

 

So in my case you'd just make the AP cap 50 across-the-board and adjust it upward on a 1/5th total basis? That makes a lot of sense in terms of simplicity. Thanks and repped.

Re: Simple questions on AP caps

I would suggest looking at 5ER p28.

Thanks, I knew there had to be a chart somewhere with guidelines.

"Technically" your 125/125 is the "Very Powerful" Heroic level... low powered Superhero would more typically be 150/100.

 

The guidelines listed there should be pretty good for the power levels you are looking for...

I'm starting with 125/125 because I'm envisioning a relatively rapid climb in experience to begin with (First session or two will be "normal" exp gain, then bumped up to double ot triple gain for possibly 2-10 sessions as appropriate, then back to normal gain). The 125/125 lends itself to character expansion slightly more readily than 150/100, because once you get some more experience, you're going to be very similar to a typical 250/150 build.

But' date=' personally, I don't get too bogged down with active point caps, since that does tend to limit exotic powers too much. I try to see how things balance...[/quote']

I agree on this, but I'd prefer to give players a cap and then adjust on case-by-case if necessary rather than planning in advance to "nerf" a lot of proposed powers.

 

On the other hand' date=' this does typically mean that the max attack is 12d6 (or the equivalent) in my campaign... allowing up to 14d6 for bricks.[/quote']

I don't have my book in front of me (I'm at work atm)... are you saying that at 125/125 the book reccomends a 60 AP cap as a guidline?

Re: Simple questions on AP caps

An issue to consider with defenses is how you want typical fights to play out. Killing attacks tend to confuse this because the standard rule gives them so bloody much variance' date=' but the closer the defenses are to the expected damage with normal dice, the longer the fights will go, and the less often you'll see stun results; at the other end, if you have too much damage relative to defense, you get too much opportunity for whoever gets the first shot off to be too decisive.[/quote']

 

I think I'm going to start by:

1. Making "mook" fights really easy (the players are all new to HERO and I want them to appriciate how extraordinary their abilities are)

2. Making BBEG fights long in duration (Defenses are close to expected damage) so the players can learn the real value of tactics, cordinating attacks, teamwork, END conservation, etc.

 

This will make a broad scale of challenge, but both favor the players since mooks are very little threat and BBEGs can't one-shot players or be one-shotted.

 

As time goes on, I may:

1. Make mooks a bit tougher so the don't feel like like absolute cannon fodder and

2. bump (super)heroic offense (on both sides) up in relation to defenses.

 

If attacks exceed defenses by a wider margin, "playing smart" starts to count for a lot more. If defenses are relatively high, making a dumb mistake is less likely to be fatal, but tactical excellence is also not rewarded since your brilliantly executed offensive is blunted by the BBEG's defense.

Hey all, I'm starting a supers campaign where I want to start out the players at 125 points and 125 possible disads. A few quick questions-

1. What's a "typical" or advisable AP cap for that tier of power?

2. What cap should I put on defenses as a rule of thumb?

3. I intend to "start small" and award experience more liberally to start with so the players can "grow into" their character concepts. Assuming they grow into the next tier of power, should I adjust the AP caps up at some point? When?

4. Where could I have found these answers myself?

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

GM: "If you guys don't calm down you're going to find yourselves each fighting your wieght in weasels."

Elf: Even me?

GM: "Even you."

Monk: "So... two weasels."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

From a male character: "I gather information using my attack ovaries."

Re: Thoughts on having more than one liaison

This thread made me think of the campaign I'm getting ready to run...

I've seen the value of having police contacts in the past, but in my campaign most "police" are corporate security acting as law enforcement in the corporate sectors of the city.

Quick background: Imagine Norfolk, VA has been divided between 4 or 5 corporations and most of the real estate is the direct property of one of these corps. In a given region, if the area belongs to say, FORGE, Inc., any cop you see is going to be wearing a FORGE badge. Two questions about this...

1) If you wanted to have a finger on the pulse of significant events on the area, would you just take multiple liasons and/or contacts? That's the only solution I see since there's no "main office" for law enforcement of the whole city.

2a) What complications can you see in having multiple contacts from competing corps providing you information (I can think of a few, but I'd love to see if you guys can think of more and make me look smarter later).

2b) What are some examples of good info sources you can think of in a heavily urbanized environment that could provide info on the whole city, when almost all the law enforcement, public works, and utility functions are run by sector by different organizations?

Sorry for the derail, and thanks in advance for your input.

Re: Navy Plots Unmanned, Heavily Armed Fleet

Creeps me out' date=' tho. The more distant we are from doing our own dirty work, the easier it is to forget that there are actually human beings at the other end of the barrel, so to speak.[/quote']

I see where you're coming from, but speaking as a combat vet, sometimes killing is necessary*. If there's a need for it, and we can reduce the risk to soldiers, I think it's a good thing if properly used.

Addressing the idea of "...forgetting that there are actually human beings at the other end of the barrel...", If the kill needs to happen* and we can do it without visiting that emotional trauma on a few servicemembers, I'm for that as well.

 

*This is a moral opinion only, if you disagree I probably already know why and I can see your point. That being said, feel free to disagree.

Re: Navy Plots Unmanned, Heavily Armed Fleet

...Unless' date=' yeah, we could sell somebody some robots and then fight 'em![/quote']

 

And then tape it and play it on pay-per-view!

Re: Who's doing that?

I need a sudden takedown because otherwise the culprit will be the one still standing still when everyone else starts runnning and screaming

Why not just run and scream along with everyone else? Too undignified?

Re: U.N. Armament

Well' date=' lucky for the rest of us there are people in the world, whether civilian or soldier, who have the guts to speak their mind.[/quote']

I'm a person in the world (soldier) that had the "guts to speak my mind" and you take offense. Is it only "lucky for us" if those people submit views that support your beliefs?

Believe it or not' date=' there are soldiers out there who think their sense of responsibility goes to more than just that of the military. [/quote']

Unless I'm misreading your tone here what you're saying here is that I have a misguided sense of responsibility. If I'm right, I'd like to offer you a chance to outline what you've sacrificed for the people, ideals, and perspectives you are implying that I neglect. I know what I've done, where I've been, and what I've lost. I know what my responsibilities are to my fellow man and I have absolutely zero doubt that I'm "caught up" on social responsibility.

You have completely missed the point. Butler wasn't speaking out against soldiers (since' date=' y'know, he [i']was one[/i]), he was speaking out against the people who run the military (like, oh I don't know, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney) who thrust those soldiers into a conflict solely for the benefit of turning a profit.

I didn't say he was "speaking out against soldiers"... what I meant here was the things you choose to address say things about what you view as "second best". If you are in a car wreck and your wife dies and you constantly talk about the cost of replacing the car, people will assume you don't miss your wife (or don't miss her much). Similarly, complaining about profiteering while soldiers are dying fails to highlight their noble sacrifice by spotlighting the financial aspect of the problem. I didn't accuse him of attacking soldiers, only of exhibiting what was (in my opinion) bad taste by choosing what to complain about.

 

No' date=' it is not presumptuous of me, sir. Smedley Butler was a decorated war hero with more than 30 years experience in at least five US military excursions, wrote a book seventy years ago that is still in print, had a [i']Marine base[/i] named in his honor, and topical discussions about the man taking place 67 years after his death.

 

And you are...?

If you don't know who I am, then you don't know my qualifications. If you don't know my qualifications, then you presume (that's the root of the word presumptious, FYI) to know my qualifications but can't base your statements on facts (since they're unavailable). Basing statements on presumptions not supported by fact is the practice that created the need for the word presumptuous in the first place.

 

Here- let me explain it another way...

pre•sume

–verb (used with object)

1. to take for granted, assume, or suppose: "I presume you're tired after your drive."

 

pre•sump•tu•ous

–adjective

1. full of, characterized by, or showing presumption or readiness to presume in conduct or thought.

In other words, if you draw a conclusion based on your opinions or previous experience rather than empirical data it can be said you presume. The most common adjective to describe one who presumes is presumptuous.

Ergo, if you:

A) Don't know,

Admit you don't know,

C) Form an opinion anyway:

you have made a presumption. It's a word whose purpose it is to describe those actions.

If you

D) share this opinion with others,

some of them may describe this as presumptuous. Most actions (verbs) have a modified form to describe a tendancy toward that action or an instance of committing that action (adjective).

So- in English, using the Rules As Written, this is going to have to fall under "presumptuous". Sorry.

Don't worry though, there is hope! If you aren't comfortable being described as presumptuous, do a quick check before you post and verify you haven't followed these steps. That way, if someone calls you presumptuous, you can show them the dictionary and prove that they chose an inappropriate word.

Nice try. No' date=' I wasn't "offended" and, no, I didn't "lash out" at you. I made a simple statement of fact, nothing more nor less.[/quote']

I'm not sure what I was "trying" other than to appologize in my last post. Also, when discussing politics, anything you (or anyone) view as a "simple statement of fact" is subject to interpretation. If you bring up complex issues like this, some people will disagree with you and you're going to have to learn to live with that. If you usually have no problem dealing with this and it's just my statements that bother you, I suggest you ignore me; it's likely the sun will come up in the morning whether we agree or not.

This time' date=' however, you were completely offensive on a number of levels. You can consider my utter disgust [u']this[/u] time as "lashing out", if you like.

I'll try to sleep tonight knowing I've disgusted you.

Oh' date=' and apology accepted. [/quote']

Childish.

Re: Never GMed HERO before, a few pointers?

Mestopheles' date=' you are in great luck! There happen to already be very substantial, cheap-to-free HERO resources available for just the kind of campaign setting you describe...[/quote']

Repped. Thanks so much for your time and effort. I'm sure not all will be applicable to my game, but you just did ~85% of the research I eventually intended failed to do on this board. I really appriciate you finding all that material that addresses my game world concept and points me to so much quality work by other gifted members.

Re: What rule don't people know?

I've often used this one "All laws are optional in the absence of enforcement"

This reminds me of one of my favorite answers to uncomfortable questions about task completion in the workplace:

"Provided you have absolutely no follow-up questions whatsoever; yes."