Tonio

Re: Energy Staff, Martial Arts Well, I ended up deciding to use Ranged MAs after all. In case anybody's curious, here's the end result: http://www.mythosys.com/hero/gax.html (Yah, his HtH damage is kinda, um, high... but the GM fully endorses using HA like this, not to mention that in a 600pt campaign having defenses against a 19d6 HtH strike is nowhere near inconceivable!) I'd appreciate any and all comments regarding this character, especially regarding his MAs. Thanks to all of you for your help! =D

Re: Energy Staff, Martial Arts 6d6 because it's 3d6 from STR, 3d6 from the staff's HA, and it'd be 2d6 from the Martial Disarm (which says +10 STR to roll), so it'd end up being 8d6?

Re: Energy Staff, Martial Arts Hm... I notice that in Ranged Disarms, you use the DC's of the attack power as STR. Does the same apply to normal Disarms? Say I have 15 STR and am using a +3d6 HA, OAF (Staff) and I execute a disarm using that staff. Is my STR for the purposes of disarm 15, or 30 (plus whatever the maneuver gives me, if anything)?

Re: Energy Staff, Martial Arts That helps, somewhat. My main concern was the Martial Arts, specifically mixing Ranged and HtH, though. You seem to be paying 1pt for the WE: Staffs... is that standard? From what I understand, that means you can use those maneuvers either barehanded or with staffs. If it were only with staffs, wouldn't it be the default WE, and therefore free?

Re: Energy Staff, Martial Arts Thanks! Fiddling around with the character, I ended up using only a HtH MA, since I felt the Ranged MA Maneuvers were innappropriate, except for maybe one or two, and I didn't want to cherry pick maneuvers in a MA. It still feels somehow wrong to use MA with TK; feels like I should be using Stretching instead, especially with the "doesn't cross intervening space" advantage. In any case, I think I'll just opt for HtH MA only. If mixing Ranged and HtH in a single MA were allowed, I'd add a couple of Ranged Maneuvers; I especially like the Ranged Disarms... is there a "free" ranged disarm, or can Disarm be used with Ranged attacks? From what I gather from UMA and 5ER, no... but mebbe I'm missing something?

Re: Bag of Holding The Transform would work pretty well for a different SFX: a bag that "shrinks" items put into it. Items with PowDef would naturally be harder to "shrink", so would more massive items (higher BODY). But for a "standard" bag of holding (a la D&D), it introduces iffy limitations... how come items with PowDef, or more massive (but not larger) items won't fit? (Trivial point: the Transform couldn't be into "nothingness", since then you couldn't grab it to pull it out... but it could simply be into a "teeny tiny copy of itself", or a marble, or whatever.)

Re: Lucha Hero Also, check out Jack Black's movie, Nacho Libre. ;D

Re: Hitting or attacking Endurance

Re: Hitting or attacking Endurance I don't get it... why isn't this just a regular END Drain? Is there a rule that you can't Recover END lost to Drains? (Note that the tone of this post is not sarcastic, even if it might seem to be!)

I'm building a Superheroic character who has a "weapon" that's basically a staff (HA) that can shoot energy (EB) and use said energy to move stuff around (TK). First off, would a MP be appropriate? (First reaction would be "yes", but mebbe not, since they're to be used with martial arts?) Second, I want martial arts for use with this staff... would a style mixing HtH and Ranged maneuvers be appropriate, valid, legal, non-abusive/munchkiny? (I'm thinking "yes".) And would I need to buy two weapon elements for it (it's only one weapon, but it can be used two ways)? (I'm thinking "no", one WE works.) Third, can I use the MA maneuvers with the TK from the staff? (I'm thinking "no way in hell".) Please bear in mind I'm not trying to abuse the system or be a munchkin... I'd be more than willing to buy this as separate powers (no MP), no MAs (just CSLs or whatever), MAs with two weapon elements, only HtH martial arts, whatever... I just want to capture the "feel" of the character. I realize the GM is free to allow any normally disallowed constructs, and disallow any normally allowed ones, but I'm asking from a "RAW, general opinion" point of view.

Re: [CHaracter] Shaper PC, meant for a Galactic/Cosmic type campaign. He's got nothing to do with actual improvised prison knives, hehe... he just makes little blades and throws them. I just named them "shivs" for lack of a better word. Yeah, the vuln. to entangles is potentially crippling, but he'll be part of a team (who can help him get out of the entangle), and I'll be playing two characters, so having one disabled won't be so bad for me as a player. There's little chance of the GM "making a habit" out of it, since it's probably going to be a 1-shot campaign. The combat levels are mostly due to CV inflation... my gaming group tends towards absurdly high CVs. I don't like it, but I DO have to deal with it. The basic idea, though, was sorta Yoda-ish (in Episode, um... 2? where Yoda fights with Dooku) in that he'll be a slow old man until he starts fighting, where he displays unexpected skill. The ranged martial arts were mostly for flavor... I'd have no problems removing them (or trading them for CSLs, not that I need more, I think). The sketchy and lacking background story/personality are also due to the 1-shot nature of the campaign... I'm sort of hesistant to invest overly in a character that probably won't see more than 3-4 gaming sessions.

Re: Hitting or attacking Endurance I thought that's what END Drain or Suppress did... although I haven't checked recently. (That is, haven't checked in a couple of editions, they might've changed it!)

Re: Constant duration AoE, UAA issue As far as I know, AoE doesn't change what you can target, but rather how much is affected. You can target a Hex with a non-AoE attack, and you can target a character with an AoE attack.

Re: Clinging, UAA

Re: Constant duration AoE, UAA issue 5ER, pg 275, 2nd column, under "Using the Attack; Defenses": "Usable As Attack requires an Attack Roll against the target" "The target" is the target character in the case you describe, not the target Hex (although it COULD be the target Hex, if the owner of the power wants to, in which case he'd roll against the DCV of the Hex).

Re: another call for help.... I'll second the BOECV Entangle. Gotta make sure you pick what Power(s) to use to model your power based on the actual effect, not how that effect is acheived (that would be SFX).

Re: Combat Options Well, spreading makes sense, since the medium to cause damage is not a solid object. (If it is, the power should have a Limitation indicating it can't be spread.) The reasoning behind Spreading is that instead of a tight "beam" (or however your power manifests), you widen it in a sort of cone, becoming a small AoE, which makes it easier to hit, but since the medium is thinned out, the damage is less. I guess if you're a Blob-type character you could justify Spreading melee attacks (make your fist wider but less dense/thick... hit easier but with less weight), but for normal weapons and HtH attacks, it can't really work. Hitting with, say, your whole arm instead of your fist won't work, either, since it's a non-standard way of attacking, making it clumsier rather than more accurate.

Re: Evil Corporations They can be slipping chemicals (or biological agents, or whatever) into some city's (cities', maybe?) water works (or spraying them into the air, or tainting the food supplies, etc.) in an attempt to generate mutations into superhumans. They'd monitor the population closely and kidnap any that appear to be going super, to brainwash them and turn them into supervillains under their control. Lots of normals might be developing weird (or known) diseases from these chemicals, even dying. Hell, the corp. might even develop a cure for these, and make money from selling it.

Re: [Character] Yttrank Yeah, I pretty much abandoned this character... too flawed in both concept and mechanics. The concept's good for a villain, but I'm not the GM. =)

http://www.mythosys.com/hero/shaper.html Comments, critiques, etc., please!

Re: Is Critical Success/Failure on dice mechanics a core rule

Re: Is Critical Success/Failure on dice mechanics a core rule Well, I guess the term "CON Stunned" comes about from trying to clarify that we're talking about the condition when the STUN damage you take is more than your CON stat, as opposed to the condition when the STUN damage you take is more than your current STUN total ("Knocked Out"). Yes, "Stunned" and "Knocked Out" are clear, but since both come about from taking STUN damage, it's conceivable that someone might be confused upong hearing "Stunned". It's not really analogous to saying "BODY Dead" since there's really only one result from taking BODY damage: dying. Additionally, the word "dead", or "dying", is not similar to "BODY"; a different situation from "STUN" and "Stunned".

Re: Catching cars Isn't there a Limitation called "Can be Missile Deflected", for use with powers like thrown granades, that are AE's or Explosions, but can be Missle Deflected? Wouldn't it be safe to assume that a thrown car has that limitation, if used as a thrown object of opportunity? Or to force the character to pick the Limitation when building the power to throw big stuff?

Re: Help with Growth: Footprint Oh really! I always thought it was the Hyperion Shrike your name made reference to!

Re: Clinging, UAA Well, I meant more like "the usual reason why people choose UAA", but you're right. What about: Clinging: You are able to use your surface based movement without penalty on surfaces other than flat ground. You can resist being pulled off whatever surface you are currently attached to. Clinging UAA: You make someone else be able to use their surface based movement without penalty on surfaces other than flat ground. You make someome else resist being pulled off whatever surface they are currently attached to. ? All (most?) powers "allow" you to do something. When you buy the power, you decide when that happens. When someone else buys it UAA, and hits you with it, they decide when it happens. Flight allows you to fly. Flight UAA a) grants the power of flight (allows the target to fly), and leaves whoever bought the power in control of said power of flight (the user of the power decides when and where to the target flies). Same with Clinging. Clinging UAA grants the power to attach to surfaces, but leaves whoever bought the power in control of it: they decide when and what to the target attaches. If I buy Clinging UAA, not only can I give you the ability to attach to surfaces, but I also control that ability. I decide whether you resist being pulled off or not. I can't (and this is what I've been recently convinced of) decide whether you move along the surface or not, since Clinging doesn't move you, or stop you from moving, along a surface. But I can decide you won't be moved off it, not without a STR vs STR contest. Well, there's Movement and then there's movement. By Movement I mean any use of a Movement power (Running, Leaping, Flight, etc.). By movement I mean moving your body, even if you're not leaving your current position (waving your hands, performing Gestures, bending over, Dodging, etc.). Clinging UAA prevents Movement off the surface while allowing full movement and (IMO) Movement along the surface, while Entangle prevents Movement and movement. Change Environment affects Movement, but not movement, but it reduces, rather than prevents, moving off the surface (sorta like Drain/Suppress vs Dispel).