austenandrews

As the corollary to Teleporting without teleporting, how about Stretching without stretching (Does Not Cross Intervening Space)? Of course there's Hand-to-Hand Killing Attack, Usable At Range, and Ranged Killing Attack, No Range. And Leaping, Doesn't Improve Vertical Leap. Silly stuff. -AA

Q: How does the latest cereal, Extreme Bran, affect your colon? A: And that, my friends, is a sad, sad way to reach 1000 posts. -AA

Interesting, Farkling. I'd not read that paragraph. It's infinitely better than the Ablative "Activation Roll" rules, which I always thought were useless. It's still not quite the same as Entangle (can't be taken down by one big attack, for instance) but you're right, it would probably be more "GM safe" than using Entangle as a defense. Definitely a good fit for Dust Raven's needs. -AA

I use Entangle as a defensive power in my fantasy game. The mechanics of "chipping away" are much more interesting than the usual "flat" defenses. Then again, I routinely scoff at the notion that you can only use a restricted set of powers to achieve a desired effect (like defense). I think it's silly to twist yourself into knots trying to make Force Field or Force Wall behave like Entangle, when you already have Entangle. I think Personal Immunity sounds fine for what you want. However, that's only if you want to use it as a regular Entangle, too. If I were your GM, I'd suggest buying an attack version of the power and an armor version. For the armor, I'd probably allow "Does Not Restrain" as a -0 Limitation. That's because in terms of cost versus points of defense, Entangle sucks compared to other powers (unless the DEF is really high, in which case the stacking effects can make it very effective). The other caveat is, I haven't worked out the balance issues if you're using it to give defenses to other characters. I'd have to stack it against similar constructs using UBO. -AA

I have to say, as a GM I find optimized PC stats to be convenient, because I can more easily stat my NPCs according to their function. Example: If I make my bad guys have a 12 DEX, I'm pretty sure most of the PCs are going to go first. If I give them a 16 DEX, I'm pretty sure they'll go before most PCs. It's easier to plot out a battle scene that way. Since I don't usually tally the point cost of NPCs, this is much more useful than the cost benefits of point breaks. Also, having non-optimized NPCs spreads out the action a little better. Otherwise you get three PCs rolling off every Phase with three NPCs to see who goes first. It's worth budging from the optimal breaks just to avoid that nightmare. And as Tech's swimming example pointed out, stats aren't just for determining rolls. Just as raw DEX determines the order of actions, I often make GM decisions based on other raw stats. For example, the character with the highest raw INT often gets to make the skill roll to figure out some clue, the person with the highest raw STR gets to be the one who forces open the door first, the person with the highest CON wakes up first from the Plot Device sleeping gas, etc. -AA

I assume you mean to build something like a Jedi. I've got a type of magic in my FH game that works out somewhat like that. One of the biggest factors is simply +3 Overall Skill Levels. That simulates a lot of Force-like effects. For cost efficiency I might stick them in a MP (see below). Probably add in more CSLs for lightsaber, though not in the MP. A high DEX seems like a must. Then I'd add a Senses EC (if that's still allowed?) with Combat Sense, Danger Sense (maybe), Clairvoyance and perhaps a couple others. For the more overt abilities I'd make a MP (probably around 40 pts) with the following: - TK - Missile Reflection - A slot with tons of DCV levels (to simulate casually deflecting lots of laser blasts without Reflecting them) - A slot with more Overall Skill Levels bought with Concentration (to simulate Luke's Death Star shot, Obi-Wan killing Darth Maul, Yoda meditating, etc.) - Superleap - Mind Control Then one or more slots with the following (though I'm not sure if the power level will make them practical): - Telepathy - Mind Scan - etc. On 150 points, though, you're going to have to play a lot with the numbers to come up with a convincing Jedi. -AA

Q: I computed the intersection of every drawing on Elfwood. Guess what I came up with? A: Three thousand years and still smoking! -AA

Q: What happened when South Dakota connected to the interstate highway system? A: A very rich, charming, generous, gorgeous naked man.

Q: What is the second most common title for a Star Trek fanfic? A: The intestinal tract of a civet

Q: When my girlfriend got mad at me, why did she keep the Victoria's Secret collection but slice up her Visa card and the tires on her car? A: Sixteen times a day, or one 6-hour Continuing Charge.

Q: How does a sand flea get her kicks? A: Pinhead angels

Q: What are the leading icons being considered to market a new line of contraceptives to geeks? A: Huge hands, tiny feet

Q: Name two rejected Borg characters from Star Trek: Voyager. A: He keeps me in stitches.

Q: Name the saddest nostalgia act of 2022. A: Ten thousand women screaming your name at one time.

Q: How do comedy writers view Arnold Schwarzeneggar's candidacy? A: This time I'll take it stirred, not shaken.

Q: Who could simultaneously handle a cruise missile, a condom and the Green Bay Packers? A: Start at the bottom of the list.

Q: Who once shot a million political opponents in his pajamas? A: Carbon-based life forms

Q: When did the media start obsessing about the private lives of athletes? A: A teddy bear and the Adromeda Galaxy

Q: What's the best way to describe the Star Wars prequels? A: Blue lagoon -AA

What's SOB? -AA

Q: How did Elmer Fudd turn down a Presidential nomination? A: Blackerry jammed thumb -AA

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Answers & Questions Question: What WMDs have we found so far in Iraq? Answer: An infinite number of monkeys -AA

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Answers & Questions Question: How can we milk yet more money out of the Led Zeppelin franchise? Answer: Starbucks and AD&D. -AA

Not to be difficult, but if Oriental monsters are fantasy creatures, why shouldn't you put them in the fantasy creature book? At least the popular ones people would expect to find. It seems silly to me to ask for suggestions about filling out "extra pages" when you've got whole stables of critters that people will probably expect. Small rant: There seems to be a trend in Hero now to spread material out across multiple books. As far as I can tell, it has something to do with being able to categorize rules by function rather than genre. I confess, it's a little irksome to me. It's not as if the genre books don't have large enough page counts to encompass every aspect of each genre. Yet I have to buy The Ultimate Vehicle to get the full rules on vehicles. Fantasy Hero refers the reader to the Grimoire for spell systems, instead of including spell system writeups. The basic 5E rulebook doesn't even have sample characters (!) presumably because we're supposed to buy other products for that. Maybe this is a marketing strategy to get us to buy more books, but for me it's producing diminishing returns. I can't bring myself to buy TUV simply for the fifteen or so pages that I want. I have no idea what the difference is between The Ultimate Martial Artist and Ninja Hero, but I'm certainly not going to buy NH to find out. Instead, I'm house-ruling the stuff that's not in the basic genre books. So if you ask me what I want in Hero's Monster Manual, here's my answer: I want every type of fantasy creature I need for my FH game. I don't want to be referred to books I haven't bought. (I won't even get into the inconvenience of e-books.) Okay, rant over. -AA

I once ran a GA campaign where the PCs got involved with tank battles in North Africa (after tracking a shipment of mummy-soldiers through the desert, created by King Ibis to aid Hitler's cause). They also dealt with the French Underground (and another team of heroes who had been hypnotized by the Nazis to join Zee Fazerland) and participated in the Allies' invasion of Sicily (alongside the Devil's Brigade, the infamous commando unit comprised of patriotic gangsters who, amusingly enough, the PCs had sent to prison at the beginning of the campaign). Along the way they helped with tin collection, hawked war bonds and received an experimental B-29 to use as a flying base. Probably my best GA run to date. -AA