Tonio

Re: Not Taking Advantage

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! Ah ok... this is perfect, exactly what I wanted. Initially, a lot of confusion and reduced DCVs (or Suprise Move bonuses), then the opponents would adapt, and while still not knowing who is being targetted until it hits, the combat reaction would be normal (i.e. no bonuses or reduced DCV). Thanks! =)

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! Tenticle? Freudian slip?

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! Ok, you win. But still, it's terribly inconvenient to have my tentacle always come out there. =/

Re: Not Taking Advantage

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! Ok, I certainly see your point. Wouldn't the fact that it goes through the ground, and hence is virtually invisible while doing so, cost me something? It shouldn't be "any origin", I see that now, since it wouldn't go through barriers (around, yes, but not through)... but going through the ground makes it impossible to see who's being targetted until they're actually hit (and this is part of the concept). Maybe just buy a couple of OCV levels to represent this and leave it at that?

Re: Can Trigger do this? Triggered events don't take up actions to execute, but they do (or can, rather) to set up. If the Trigger resets automatically, then everything happens without you using up any actions. The action targets whoever triggered it. If your HA trigger is defined as "Whenever someone hits me", your HA will automatically target whoever just hit you, and you've just re-build the Damage Shield Advantage. I may be mistaken, but I believe the trigger WILL go off if you're unconscious, but it won't reset.

Re: Not Taking Advantage I'd say the canonical example of this would be Damage Shield! On the other hand, NPAs offer more utility than might be wanted. For example, I buy four EBs, then I buy a NPA defined as AoE for up to XX of EB, and I can apply it to any of the 4 EBs. What if I only want one of those to be AoE-able? Well, I guess I could Link it... would that work? I dunno, a part of me wants optional advantages, another part says "no". I think the part of me that says "no" is the part that says "there's already a way to do this, and it's not too weird or unbalancing". Or maybe it's the part that says "Sean's insane, don't listen to what he says!".

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! But 'down' isn't a location, but a direction.

Re: Not Taking Advantage

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack!

Re: Not Taking Advantage I don't like it, but then I think of Advantages not as "added mechanics" but as changing how the power works. What you're describing, though... doesn't that work exactly like an NPA, except for the purposes of positive adjustment powers?

Re: Change the focus from KO to Killing Has anybody tried ignoring STUN damage, except to determine Stunning? Means you simply can't KO anybody, you have to kill them to stop them.

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! Thanks, KS, but that's not quite what I'm trying to build. It's more like... well, the character can elongate an arm, while making his hand into a sharp point. The way he uses this is to "punch" the ground, which makes his arm go in, burrowing-like, then, underground, move towards the target, then come up under the target, stabbing him from below, then retracting all the way back. Like this (and please excuse the absolute lack of quality of the drawing... not only am I not good at drawing stuff, I'm also using a crappy mouse!):

Re: Ground Tentacle Attack! Readthing thru Indirect in 5ER, it bothers me that there are 4 levels, composed of two levels of two categories each: location and direction, same and any; but "direction - same" is always "away from attacker". Why? Why can't I define an attack that always fires from 3 feet in front of me, and always fires upward? In my case, for example, do I need to pay for the +3/4 Advantage, THEN limit it so that it can only come from the ground? Or can I pay for the +1/2 and fudge it, turning "always aimed/fired away from attacker" into "always aimed/fired upwards"?

Ever play Starcraft? Remember the Zerg Sunken Colonies? Well, I'm trying to build an attack like that. RKA, Indirect sounds about right. Thing is, part of the concept is that you don't know who the character is targetting until the attack hits. Like, you see him sink a tentacle into the ground... then suddenly SNIKKT! someone's impaled, could be you! Would Indirect cover that? And if it does... should the attack get an OCV bonus? Surprise bonus? ZOMG-this-RAWX bonus?

The GM. To clarify.... I agree. The mechanic either lends itself to abuse, and is probably too vague. But it works for many things, and I think it's not that difficult to adjudicate.

Re: Knockback on a speedster I disagree. When using Flight, you can hover w/o using any actions (or as an action that takes no time? Or zero phase action?), and you can't turn Flight off to do that (or else you'd plummet). Always On does not define how you must use your power, only that you must. You don't even have to use it at full power.

Re: Teleport Tactics Not quite, because in those cases it'd still be recognizable. That's why you study for a Turn, not a Zero Phase Action. Dunno what I'd do about someone using the Disguise skill, tho. =/

Re: Decoupling Figured Characteristics

Re: Teleport Tactics

Re: Knockback on a speedster You know what happens when you turn Flight on? Well, that, but all the time. Seriously, though... yeah, you can't land (you CAN touch the ground, of course... but you're always in flight). Think of a balloon filled with mostly air, some helium, so that it has neutral bouyancy in air. It also has little paddles it can move around to move through the air. Or imagine a Powered Suit that has a device that turns off gravity in a small field around it, in addition to rocket boosters. The gravity device is broken, and won't shut off.

Re: Decoupling Figured Characteristics Right... getting rid of Figureds actually does streamline things. Well, not so much with HERO Designer, but if you're doing things by hand, it's a coupla less expressions to evaluate. Sure, you don't get free characteristics, but that shouldn't be a problem... you can just buy them right up, up to whatever value you want. You'd just be trading "calculating figureds" for "buying figureds up", which is probably simpler, anyway.

Re: Discussion on costs of Characteristics But it IS negative points, in many circumstances. Just like Limitations give you negative points, just like buying back characteristics give you negative points, and yes, just like the EC base cost gives you, in effect, negative points. The reason STR is singled out here is that it's the only construct (well, along with, probably, other characteristics) that BENEFITS you while giving you negative points, rather than hindering you.

Re: Teleportation, Triggered Did you mean the original, or the Zero Phase version? I dunno, I think the Zero Phase version is pretty balanced, since all it does is let you do a full teleport at the beginning of every phase. Meaning you could t-port then sweep, t-port then run... what else? t-port then attack was always doable (only now you get full move rather than half).