Acroyear

We can finally stop calling him "Shaft Grayson" and "Rod Grayson." Dick is finally getting the respect he deserves from the profanity filter. This is not an invitation for everyone to turn into a bunch of Nightwings and start being rude and vulgar!

Unfortunately, unless the transaction can be proven as bank error or the criminal signs off on it... that would be illegal. So essentially, you've just paid off the criminal and he'll have full access to the money once he's paid his dues in prison (and he's less likely to get shivved in the shower now that he can promise payment for protection). And that's just in the States, not counting high security "untouchable" accounts like those fancy shmancy Swiss ones.

Deflection at the thrown level could be handy and isn't expensive. Will help vs shuriken, thrown rocks and bottles, chairs, spears, etc. I would rely on the dodge, though. With what I wrote up, and with levels, you hit 13DCV. A fast guy, 21 DEX and 2 levels only has a 7 or less to hit you. 9 or less if he has a +2 OCV maneuver. If there are guns then combat luck is much more important.

JmOz, Find Weakness stuff and Reduction could eat up 100 points very fast. I don't think combat luck is needed with no killing attacks, but it could boost the def at a decent discount... I just don't think the ED part will be needed much, so it might not be very cost effective. Just remember, KA... this guy isn't going to be taking a beating. You will have to fight defensively to last more than a couple phases. If someone goes the strongman route with 20 STR and an Offensive strike that's 8d6 (on average you take 2 Body and 22 Stun...stunned and almost KOed in one hit. They should be slower, though, and have a tough time hitting you, hopefully). You probably won't be the fastest, either, but hopefully the faster guys can'thit as hard. Expect attacks in the 5-8d6 range, mostly. If you had the offensive strike maneuver, you would go from 6d6 to 8d6. And can get 9d6 (iirc) if you put your levels into damage... see how quick it escalates? If you drop the 10 points in hobby skills, you might consider 3 Int (for the Perception roll and +1 to your concealment) and maybe a couple more PD. Another 5 points can go to offensive strike or a couple more Body pips (keeps you alive longer and adds some to the meager Stun total). With the total points that low a lot of supers players will go all combat. Devoting 10% of your points to non-combat stuff will likely make you the most useful guy in the group (I strongly suggest Paramedics as one of the skills, Climbing might not be bad either... it could help you escape a rough fight if the other guy can't climb well "I'm a rock climber on my free sundays"). Aside from those areas that could use some help, you might also look into the defense maneuver ability.

High power: Assuming the description was complete... I'd just go grab the guy in an energy bubble and fly away with him. Even if he booms in the grabbing or flying, I'd doubt it could get through the def of the bubble. Then just toss him in the drink. If he goes boom (drowns or something) well, no loss and no one got hurt. Oh, wait... you said heroes, right? Eh, probably the same thing. Low power: I'd run in and dismantle the bomb before he knew what happened (speedsters with transform rock). Then punch him a few dozen times in the noggin by the time he says "hwha?" and be posing for the cameras before he hits the floor unconscious.

Champs Universe is kind of the world-view campaign setting (a city book is in the works). If you really, really need those agent stats... then yeah (or wait for their own books). If you're willing to slap together your own agents... nah. Champs Universe was an ok read, but ultimately it went to the bookshelf and hasn't come off since. I don't need a campaign setting, myself. Your mileage may vary.

My first pass. Now this isn't a lot of points and this guy will kick the crap out of your average shmoe... but he has to be careful fighting other martial artists... stay on the defensive side, because a 15 STR guy with an Offensive Strike will do 1 Body to you per hit. 1" of running gives you +1 to your half move. Important. A couple of levels and bare bones martial arts (mostly defenses... block, dodge, and grab to set up other people or just to stop them from smacking you) makes for a pretty decent fighter. As someone who isn't going to take a beating with sticks... the concealment and stealth are very handy to hide with. I pretty much consider the 4 SPD a must in such a campaign. 15 STR 5 18 DEX 24 15 CON 10 10 BODY 0 10 INT 0 10 EGO 0 13 PRE 3 10 COM 0 6 PD 3 3 ED 0 4 SPD 12 6 REC 0 30 END 0 26 STUN 0 7" RUN 2 2" SWIM 0 3" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 59 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver 4 Martial Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort 4 Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 3 Martial Grab: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, +10 STR for holding on 4 Martial Strike: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, STR +2d6 Strike Martial Arts Cost: 15 Cost Skill 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Concealment 11- 1 KS: Martial Arts style of choice 8- 10 Other Skills (hobbies, professional skills, whatever) 3 Stealth 13- 6 +2 With Martial Arts Skills Cost: 26 Total Character Cost: 100

I think they list some basic stats for Viper & Until thugs in Champions Universe. There's a whole book devoted to Viper on the release schedule this year, too. Re: Your Ego Attack does body - yes, work it out like an EB. It's not really that unbalanced because it costs more, thus less dice to begin with and probably averages close to the same end result. A 3d6 Ego Attack that does body is 60 points. We'll assume no mental defense - that's 11 Stun on Average. A 12d6 Energy Blast costs 60 points. We'll assume an average 20 Defense. That's 22 Stun getting through... twice as much! Even if you jack up the target's def to 30, it's still doing 1 more Stun damage than the mental attack.

Ok, this discussion has made me think a lot about the idea and I don't think it'd work well as originally presented (unless someone comes up with a super keen idea to share). However, I'm still kind of wanting to fiddle with something new (especially since we use Hero for, like, everything... so it's pretty much been Hero every weekend and then some for over twenty years). All DCs do 1 BDY & 3 STN (KA's do 3 BDY per die plus multiplier). It's a little below the actual average, but it cuts out rounding for those odd DCs. For every +1 you hit by, you can adjust your hit location by 1 pip. Hit by 3 and rolled a 9 (shoulder)? You can bump it to 12 (gut) or 6 (hand). This will provide the variance to damage and still account for the better you hit by, the better you hit (or worse you hit, if desired). Hit even on and you play it where it lands. Remember, this group is already used to using the hit loc chart so this isn't added rolling for them. There's still a reason to call shots if you like that stuff (because unless you hit by a lot, you aren't going to bump a foot shot to the chest), it works for autofires, and AE's don't use hit loc, anyway, so it's just flat damage. Whatcha think?

Re: Re: Coming... Up... For... Air... lol I was thinking the same thing. I think that was supposed to be tan colored armor-y stuff....

My group is 10 + GM. No dice trouble here either.

Well, if you have a guy with a Code Vs Killing (com/tot), it's harder to get him to kill someone than the guy who is only reluctant to kill or the guy who's shown he doesn't mind it, at all. The narrower example is easier to see. However, many people take pretty wide/vague lims, too. Code of the Chinese Knight/Chivalry/Honorable/Places the lives of innocents above his own type stuff. These people have personalities more fiercely against doing "bad stuff" out of line and are harder to mind control to do them (and if they have a "total commitment" type psych, I usually consider them borderline, if not over the line, insane anyway). Part of something like the Mind Control scale has a built in "guess" part. "Something the character is willing to do. Something the character is opposed to doing. Something the character is violently opposed to doing" etc. I would imagine, and have always played, that psychs play a huge role there (PRE attacks, too). And the oppsing side, it makes it easier to get them to do things that fall into line with their psychs (which makes things like Illusions far more potent against them than someone who is indifferent). Someone with a big ol "greedy" psych is going to be harder to pull away from a big fat load of cash with MC or PRE than someone who isn't as greedy, for example. At least how I see it, anyway. This is a great discussion.

I like this method. "Hi, I'm Tony. This is an aluminum baseball bat we've filled with lead powder." *bonk to the head* "Hey, Tony... that guy is starting to stir...." *bonk to the head* We could wipe out unemployment!

That's part of the joy... it's not based on the character's perception of good and evil, at all. It's pre-programmed by an outside entity. Thanks for laying out your take on it - and thanks for everyone who's contributed so far (also would still be appreciative of comments from anyone joining us in progress) Would you have the same opinions if it was a psych (total) which, also, makes it more difficult for something like a mind control to work rather than an absolute stop? All psychs essentially have this positive effect that it's increasingly difficult to force them to do the opposite (above and beyond the Ego+X scale), moreso for broad psychs like "code of chivalry" or "driven to be heroic" and such.

The blind part was in reference to images. Dr. Illusion can't trick a blind guy into hitting the wrong person. Also flashes, darkness, many forms of shapeshift (now that it's bought by sense) and the invisible man... all useless against Blind Avenger who might not have any powers to counter the sight impairment, but just relies on skill levels or something like Zatoichi (a blind samurai swordsman) and non targeting perception. So now my question is, are mind controls to do evil things common enough to warrant reduced value in the disad compared to the other examples... or are the other examples already have this reduction figured in to their value? Not trying to be argumentative here, but if I form an opinion on a yes/no... I'd like to be able to support it in discussion one way or the other

I like your religion.

He's all the rage at the local rave.

Good point. I'm not sure it really is, though, Geoff, because the value of many physicals (blind, deaf, etc) is the same if you are playing soap opera, secret agents, fantasy, or supers from what I've seen. The frequency of free protections they might offer varies wildly by setting (psychs, too...it's harder to mind control someone who is "Devoted to opposing injustice" to do something bad than someone who doesn't have such a psych... yet psychs like that maintain their value from genre to genre). It's certainly a healthy way to look at it, however. Would you suggest Infrequent/Total? Or reduce it even further based on your take on it? The player in question, however, has earned the nickname "Body Count" and, uh, a lot of that count isn't the bad guys... so I'm sure he'll want to do the bad stuff often. The disad is kind of a way of self policing, perhaps, in addition to being an interesting background thingy.

HFO = Hero Form Only Predates the BBB, don't know if was ever spelled out that way... but it's a lim we always used - maybe came from the original Hero crew (we played in the same place for a while). We still used the "Hose" advantage a few years into the BBB days. Hose was kind of like an autofire attack that was just a stream, think getting sprayed with a fire hose rather than multiple bullets or something. HFO is shorter to write (vs OIHID) and we all know what it means. I sometimes slip on the boards. Sorry.

Oh. I got it because I saw it. On purpose. In the theaters.

Not a bad idea, at all, FlyBoy

Some examples I thought of that might help demonstrate my idea: Simon Phoenix couldn't shoot Dr. Cocteau no matter how much he was willing to in Demolition Man. Robocop had that hidden directive in the first flick concerning senior officers of OCP. That sort of thing.

One of the reasons I was asking for opinions and explained that aspect. He can still be mind controlled, just not to do anything evil, himself. However, we don't diminish the value of "Phys: Blind" if you can't see images or flashes, aren't affected by darkness, and target that invisible guy like anyone else nor "deaf" if you can't hear a Mind Control command (not all of them are telepathic). "Evil" would be in a sort of golden age morality kind of way. He can still bust into villain's lairs, fight with them, etc... but he's not torturing people by hanging them off buildings, being violent beyond need ("I hit him again! The bastid!"), etc

Well, I have it as 2 (can do no evil and must right wrongs) because just because you are out there righting wrongs, doesn't mean you don't disintigrate bad guys and beat muggers into a pulp. Also trying to simulate that they were 2 different parts of an influence outside of his control. I don't recall ever being involved in a hook with a partial phys lim repression...but I figured if separate it might be interesting if one of the two broke (a vicious galactic thug who "must right wrongs" isn't going to be a boyscout in his methods). Maybe I'll throw some amnesia in there (failed attempt to alter his personality into a good person) so that even he thinks he's a super moral guy... "What do you mean I eat infants?!"

What is more depressing, that I get the joke in the title or that there was someone to tell the joke and to get the joke?