Sundansyr

Re: Reviews... Resurrecting an old thread, but yes, that was the review I was looking for, thanks. I went ahead and just ordered the 'damaged' book from the HG store and it's damage? A slightly dinted corner on the cover... and I do mean *slightly*. Now I can get my light reading in with my heavy lifting workout... ;D

Re: How Annoying?

Re: Power Frameworks & Advantages Hmmm, perhaps I was not clear (the points made concerning EC & VPP help, tho). As the rulebook puts it, the powers within a MP framework cannot exceed the Reserve cost (60pt, here), and advantages on the Reserve translate to the powers in the reserve (as I see it because you have a fixed pool of CP to draw from to 'create' each active power, but the powers are not alterable like VPP... but then I am very, very unfamiliar with VPP). Since limitations are only to calculate Real Cost and not factored into the Active Cost of a power they're applied per slot to determine actual cost of the slot. I informed the player that before he put any power into his MP he had to calculate its Active Cost, as well as it's base cost, to make sure it would fit and be within the 120 AP limit and remains within the Pool limit. We just had some confusion over the math more than anything else, and how to set up his power framework logically and efficiently. In the end it was a 180 pt reserve (since there are no campaign limits on framework costs) limited to 60 base point (120 ap) powers. We had to come up with 'EP'... 'Effective Points' to make the difference between AP, RP, and modified multipower slot costs.

In the 5th ed rulebook it states the following: Advantages applied to the maintainance pool of a Multipower are applied to all slots within the multipower but are not calculated on a per-slot basis for active point costs. Limitations applied to the pool ARE calculated on the real-cost of the slot. EG: 60 pt Multipower Reserve, +1/2 variable advantage (+1) = 120 ap. Slot 1: 12d6 EB = 60ap, but has the VA applied without affecting the cost of the slot (120 'effective' AP). Slot 2: 12d6 EB, OAF (-1) = 30 rp, but still gets the VA without the +1 cost modifier (120 'effective' AP). This confused the dickens out of one of my players, and had me stymied for a while, too... but... Does the same apply to EC and VPP? Advantages on the pool cost are applied, but not cost calculated, to all subsequent slots while limitations on the pool ARE calculated per slot?

Re: How Annoying? Hmmm, all salient points to ponder. 'Range' seems to be a sticky issue, not that the thugs would worry about the damage since they'd have enough armor to resist it. My concern is that the thug is the only one left standing the AoE; easy target. How would 'range based on STR' work with a bulky foci? As for a condition to turn it off, I guess that would have to be applied to whatever the SFX is, right? Extiguisher for a fire explosion, EMP being 'grounded', sonic with a blanket... ect? It looks like I could drop some of the advantages to balance out removing the 'bulky' foci limitation, and change the range to 'based on STR'... Guess that gas grenade, with an adjusted SFX, works much better (and it's NND to boot!). Then just make the effect sticky, and pretty much pulp the entire population of softies if the Hero's are not acting zippy to counter the grenades. With the power being persistent & continuous, the grenade would keep going off if the thug were knocked out, but with the 'range based on STR' would it turn off if the thug runs out of that range or if the stickied victim ran away? I did not purchase it 'uncontrolled' specifically so that the thug can deactivate (and potentially recover) the device.

Re: How Annoying? And juuuuust to make it really, really scary: Buy it 'sticky'...

Re: How Annoying? Adjusted - Penetrating cannot be applied to the Body of a Normal Damage attack (P 266), switched to Armor Piercing. As for 'being caught in it'... Thug A puts it in place, Thug B (with the activator) triggers it from beyond the blast range. I was under the impression that 'Zero Range' meant that it had no range from the point of initiation (the foci, which being 'independant' can be placed away from the owner... or am I wrong?). Indestructable is a must otherwise it would destroy itself quickly, or perhaps be forced to by 'personal immunity' for the foci. Yes, it's bulky so difficult to smuggle in... normally. No one pays much attention to UPS guys wheeling in deliveries, especially during the busy holidays. The conditions to turn it off? Find the Thug that bought it (paid the points, so posseses the 'activator' since it is not purchased 'universal'), jam the activator frequency, drain/suppress the foci itself (or the thug w/ the activator), TK it out of the area, or just pick it up if the person can resist the KB by sheer use of STR (successful grapple roll to retain it each time it 'explodes', which given it's bought by a low/mid level thug is on a SPD of 3 or 4, at most). Since it is 'armor piercing' it would end up going through the floor pretty quickly, and through the subfloors, and the bedrock... how long before the density of natural media can resist its damage output?

Just how annoying would this power be... A continuous grenade? 3d6 EB + 3/4 : Explosion (3 levels falloff) + 1 : Continuous + 1/2 : Persistent + 1/2 : 0 END + 1/2 : Armor Piercing - 3 1/2 : OAF (Independant), Bulky, Indestructable - 3/4 : Does no STUN - 1/2 : No Range (Item must be placed or thrown) Active Points: 64 Real Cost: 11 A handful of these thrown into (or planted in) a crowded mall during the busy shopping season by your friendly neighborhood 'thug' level villain(s)! The thugs have to remain within a certain range with the activator to keep the things running... but how the activator works, or where it is (or where the thugs are!) is not at all easy to pinpoint.

Re: Entangle Hurm... okay. This is all taken into account for the concept. As for using EGO to break out... what if the target of the entangle has no mental attacks? Do they just use their raw ego as one uses their normal strength in a regular non-martial punch?

Re: disadvantages Unfortunately when attempting to unzip the file it returns a fault error. "Unknown method in Master List of Limitations." "No files to extract."

One of my players is a mentalist and was wanting to construct an entangle v/ ECV, but I could not figure out how to do that since the entagle would have no body for the target to affect. How would that function? Or would it be a suppress v/ movment based on ECV?

Re: Knock back damages rules As with 'casual STR', however, I would assume that if the guy gets knocked back into a wall half way through his 13" he punches through it. If the body of the wall is less than 1/2 his defenses he punches through it as if it's not even there and doesn't slow down (goes the full 13", ignoring the wall entirely).

Re: Shapeshifting One of my players came up with that exact concept of perfect imitation, with the caveat that he transfers his identity onto the person whose identity he stole, with 0-end persistant on the transfer (i.e. he can permanently steal their ident, and fix them with whichever one he's wearing at the moment). To perfectly copy someone a mimicry skill is needed, however, if the shapeshift is merely copying a person that was seen, and even then the idiomatic traits of the individual have to be observed for some time... unless they have a mental identity copy power (same as above, but based on ECV?)

Re: Constant duration AoE, UAA issue Area-Affecting Constant Powers (5th ED Rev, Page 99/100) If a Constant Power affects an area (either inherently or because the character purchases the Area Of Eff ect or Explosion Advantages for it), the Power remains in effect in the Segments between the attacker’s Phases. Any target who enters the area takes damage or is affected in the Segment he enters and every time the attacker’s Phase occurs while the target remains within the area. If a character enters a Constant area-affecting power’s field of effect more than once per Phase, he does not suffer the damage (or other effect) multiple times. However, he does continue to suffer from any ongoing circumstance the power creates (such as the penalties caused by a Change Environment, or the “blindness” created by Darkness to the Sight Group). Once established, an area-affecting Constant Power cannot be moved unless the power has the Mobile Advantage (page 250) or the GM allows it to move for no additional cost. At the GM’s option, an area-affecting Constant Power with No Range (i.e., which centers on the character who creates it) may move with the character as he moves for no additional cost (this is particularly appropriate for Change Environment, Darkness, and Images). (To create an area-Affecting Constant Power that “sticks to” another character and moves as he moves, use the Usable As Attack Advantage.) Though I would look at multi-phase duration powers in two ways: Constant - Independant of the character (i.e. a Molotov Coctail). Once thrown, either at the target hex or the target itself, continues to burn until it's built-in endurance pool is exhausted (I would not allow an attack power to be 0-END continuous). It is completely independant of the attacker and if it's AoE it can be used against the attacker if they did not buy personal immunity!! The attacker pays no END and does not need to maintain any sense of the target whatsoever. It's damage is applied on each of the attacker's action phases, even if they are no longer present, conscious, et al. Continuous - Not independant of the character (i.e. a Flame Thrower). Once discharged it continues to dish out damage on each of the attacker's action phases so long as A: the character pays END and B: the character maintains a targeting sense on the target. Within the limits of the attack itself (flame throwers don't go through glass or intervening obstacles very well, even if the attacker can still sense the target with whatever targeting sense they wish to use). If the attacker wants intervening obstacles not to impede their attack it will have to be purchased with the appropriate advantages (indirect, mental attack, et al) unless it's special effects can ignore certain types of barriers (lasers going through glass, as an example). They must still pay endurance each phase the attack deals damage.

Re: Bag of Holding Wow! Some pretty good, and pretty complex, ideas to work with. Essentially, for those that asked, it is nothing more than a portable storage space though the size of the apeture was not given. The visual effect was a garish sequined clutch purse with the nasty habit of always clashing with any outfit the character chose to wear. Overall internal space was, hrm, 3x3x3 meters (10'x) so pretty much anything 'hand held' would fit into it. Taking anything out requires a skill roll (as with it's clashing nature, the purse does not give up the wanted goods willingly... the character stole it from some mage or other). The campaign is 250pts, with conventional equipment (for PCs & NPCs) being purchased with cash, not points, and a relatively low damage class (5d6) making for more broadly skilled, or powered, heroes.

The character sheet has a stock male & female hero silhouette... ... any suggestions where I can find different ones still fitting within the basic silhouette template? Yes, I've got just absolute scads of art off the net, but most of it is 'finished' and not really adequite for the players to customize for themselves.

I'm creating a low-level superheroic campaign and one of the character concepts had a portable extra-dimensional storage item (bag of holding), but I have utterly no idea how I would go about building it. As the characters can just buy what they need rather than spending points for conventional goods (depending, OFC, on their resource access level), a VPP to reflect things hauled out of the bag would be more limiting for the char than enabling... if her VPP has to pay points for a pistol and Thug does not, she's penalized for a good idea. Any suggestions?

Re: Multipower in 5th ed. Hmm, I'm not sure where the 100 active points come in. A 500 point multiform, based on whatever base point & disad spred chosen, should still cost 120 active points, no? Or am I only 'paying' for the 300 point base, and the points from disads are 'free' (as in the base form pays no active points?). I created the power using Hero Designer 3, and it calced the active point cost to 120 points. Also... Multiforms cost end only during the change process, correct? In the rulebook it says that if a multiform were to suffer a major transformation or major lasting injury it would be essentially 'trapped' in that form until the condition was removed? Alternately it stated that some transforms (blindness, cosmetic changes, et al) transferred across all forms in the multiform, so I find myself a tad confused. Some of the examples in the book are far from clear. In the concept I created the multiform itself has a set list of limitations, which all of the subforms within also have. Within each particular form there are disadvantages, 150 points of which are pretty much identical and 50 points of varied disadvantages to make each form a little more unique. Though this still begs to question: Why create a sub-500 point form within the multipower if I still pay 5 points for the extra form(s) regardless of point spread... that 500 point mouse is just freakish (but not to be used, only an experiment).

Re: Multipower in 5th ed. With limitations on the power it came out to 48pts real cost, but takes 2 full phases to make a transition. Using 4th edition rules I was able to do the same thing for only 35 points for 9 forms between 200-500 points (ultra slots within multipower just for the sake of keeping the disadvantages for all forms within a set group of special effects). Outside the MP the price was not a whole loght higher, but took a full page just to list the limitations on each form Each form has is 300 + 200 with a common theme across the lot (essentially 150 points of the disads are always the same). This is true, I will have to see what the GM says about the whole power... but even if he limits it to 300 point multis it's possible to create a scary group of versatile forms. Unfortunately in a 500 point campaign 300 point chars would get stomped quickly and often. Since each multiform costs exactly the same, why would a player be motivated to create 'lesser' powered forms as the rulebook example portrayed? Under 4th edition it was very difficult to create so many 'equally strong' forms and stay below the 'primary form's character points'. This might require some in-house tweaking. What in-house rules do other GM's use to keep Multiform in check?

Re: suppress Supression can be used against... well, anything. Even if the char didn't pay for the power (heroic). You can supress a gun, for example. IMO suppression vs/ characteristics is counterable by healing/aid as well as counter-supress since the aid power adjusts the suppressed characteristics rather than supressing the power that's lowered them... if the aid is directed at the suppressed power/characteristic. So there are more defenses/counters to suppress than the single power itself. Supression v/ supression should be limited to supressing the power itself (the opponent's supress), not the result on the hapless target already supressed. Vs. Characteristics: If it's bought with more than an hour of delayed-return I would make it more costly to supress the target as it's affects are more like a major transform. At standard 5pts/turn the supress costs normal, up to 5pts/5min or thereabouts. Beyond that the supress has a 2-for-1 ratio. If pushed past 5pts/day it's a major transformation, not supress, as it criples the victim. Considering... it's a heck of a lot cheaper to supress the opponent's Body than use a Killing Attack or Transform. A powerful supress thrown against a low-characteristic rapidly pushes them deep into the negatives, unless house-rules limit the supress power to a limit of zero active points. The rulebook takes into account a supress v/ Body, but from my PoV a supress should never take a core characteristic below zero, even taking into account wounds. Eg: A 30 Body target recieves 17 points from wounds. The supress would then only be able to affect the remaining 13 points, whether it's 4d6 supress or 20d6. A sustained loss of Body from further attacks would still act as if against the effective 13 body, essentially adding that 13 to the depth of their negative attribute. So long as the target does not go into -43 body he will 'recover' when the supress fades. Unless the supress, of course, lasts days before it fades. Then it's just a killing attack in the guise of suppress and would cost 6 points (or more, depending on delayed recovery level) to supress 1 point of Body

Here I seem to be having some... confusion. Building a 500pt superhero I chose multiform for him. By 4th edition rules this was a very difficult power to make work with a good many multiple forms due to the limits on subform points and prime form. Under 5th ed, I was able to create 16x 500pt(?!!) multiforms for considerably less than 100 active points. Are *ALL* of these subforms capable of being 500 points, or is there some sort of limitation on them? The example in the book was far from clear, listing the sampled multiforms in a progressively decending order of point costs. Since doubling the number of available subforms only costs 5 points, this quickly gets to be amazingly overpowered as, with 16 available forms for this hero I was, essentially, able to create an entire toolbox of varied superheroes... essentially I was able to use almost every power in the book among them all, which I view as a little destabalizing for the poor GM as I could (haven't used him yet) pull something for pretty much anything the GM could throw at me. Even a 500 point MOUSE!

While looking for someplace to buy the 5th ed rulebook 'undamaged' I came across one review, I don't know who by, that exhaustively took apart the 5th ed, comparing the new rules to the 4th ed rules. The good & the bad. Unfortunately I can no longer find it to compare the reviewers impressions with my own on-hand examination of the PDF. Does anyone know the review which I can no longer find?