The_GeeK

I have played the magic-multipower-adding-to-free-weapons. And yes, it did turn out to be far, far more cost effective than anyone expected. IIRC, the one limitation was RSR (Magic Skill). 30 pt MP. Did not take 'Requires a focus' for the naked advantage slot. So, Could throw a 2D6 RKA fireball ... but more effective was dropping an advantage - or extra damage - on top of sword or bow. (Hail of arrows was a particular favourite: AE on 1½D6 Longbow) I do find it offensive that the original player was trying to justify buying the AP advantage for large amounts because they didn't want to do the math. Seriously? Buy your advantage for the sword. Assuming a 60 pt cap on attacks, the most you should be looking at is ~11 pts, a +¼ advantage on a 3D6 K. (Excluding the reduced END, which seems kinda questionable). Then just work out what the attacks are, using each maneuver. 2D6 Sword 6DC), 15 STR (3DC), Martial Strike (+2DC) => divide the 5DC by AP cost, to get 4DC. Substitute Offensive Strike (+4DC), divide 7DC to get 5.6 ... I'd round up, but I'm a generous GM. There are all sorts of warnings and stop signs regarding how advantages should be applied to things like STR & Martial Maneuvers, when you haven't explicitly paid for them. Spending 1 minute before hand, doing the above math, solves *all* the problems. And, as a laugh, once built a STR 15 martial artist ... Find Weakness (I miss ya!), AP on STR (0 END), Autofire on STR, Offensive Strike, Two Extra DC on Martial Maneuvers, ... got played by someone else, who came back wondering why the character's attacks seemed to be stomping the bad guys. Yeah, essentially a 90 AP attack, combined with Find Weakness.

> Armor +15 rPD +15 rED, OIF (-1/2) Cost 30 Points > ES: HRRP, Telescopic Sight +2, 360 Degree Radar, UV Sight, OIF (-1/2) Cost 27 Points > Flash Defense [sight] 5 Points, OIF (-1/2) Cost 3 Points > LS: High Pressure, High Radiation, Intense Cold, Intense Heat, Low Pressure/Vacuum, > Self Contained, OIF (-1/2) Cost 13 Points Solid. No complaints. Well, maybe with the telescopic sight ... > EC [Powered Armor]-15 Points, OIF (-1/2) Cost 10 Points > 1) EB 10d6 Cost 23 Points > 2) Flight 10", Variable Advantages (+1/2), [Megascale 1km, 1/2 END, Use Underwater Only (-1/4)] Cost 9 Points > 3) STR +30 Cost 10 Points But this ... often things like these are much better in a multipower. From a pure point viewpoint, it's hard to beat an EC ... but one of the hallmarks of power armour types is versatility: e.g. MP (75 Active, 50 Real) 3u 10D6 EB 3u 6D6 EB, Ex 2u 2D6 EB, Autofire (+1), Damage Field (+½), NND (+1) (vs FF) 3u Missile Reflect 4m Flight (10") 1u Flight (Megascale) 4m Swimming 1u STR +20 1u HKA (1D6+1) 1u Telescopic Sight, +6 Per, Vision Group 1u Microscopic, x10,000, Vision Group One other option is to have some of the attacks as OAF. Blaster Rifle, Flash Grenades, Takedown Net. YMMV

Have a character who uses teleportation to enhance their movement, similar to the Marvel character Sidewinder, and was modeling some of the effects as Desolid, activate 14-, reflecting that while people could see him moving, hitting him was very difficult. The question arose as to whether he should have the 'Affects Physical World' advantage on his attacks (e.g. STR) or not. Is this a GM call, or something covered elsewhere?

I like the de-coupling, allows for more flexibility. e.g. A super-strong character, with normal PD. Yeah, it could be done under previous versions, but actually required more work. (Selling off figured characteristics (not to mention the limit on how many you could sell back)) That said ... Growth, WTF? That was the exact opposite, where things were coupled together that, for many, many character concepts, truly don't make sense. I miss the simplicity of Transfer. Drain + VPP + (optionally) Aid is one heck of a lot more complex than one power.

Out in the infamous RW, there's a concept called skip or stagger loading, where one alternates different types of ammo. e.g. A 12 gauge firing a three round burst, usually buckshot and flechette, but variants often included slug rounds. e.g. The MP7 (SMG) was designed specifically to penetrate body armour. The predecessor, the MP5, was experimented with, in which clips were loaded Glaser/Normal/AP rounds. Is there an easy way to model this in HERO? Multiple attack requires a character to buy three separate attacks, and adds OCV/DCV penalties that are out of line with simple autofire. Having three linked attacks works, but is extremely expensive. Variable Effect seems to be specifically excluded by 6E1 143.

What is the correct way to handle the case where the period for the Regen and the Adders (Limbs, Resurrection) are different? For example Regen (1/Hour) : 8 pts Heal Limbs & Resurrection (25 pts) taking 1 Day Can the extra time limitation be applied to just the adders? And, if so, at what level ... 1 Day (-4) or the difference in time values between the Regen and the Adders (-1 in this case) There's the limitation Resurrect Only (-2) ... would the player need to buy Regen (Day) with the Adders in addition to the other Regen (Hour) to use it?

If a character has purchase Area of Effect, Selective, on their STR, as a naked advantage (SFX:tentacles), how would multiple attack work - e.g. would there be a separate multiple attack for each target? Or does the usual -2 OCV per target after the first still apply?

A level of Growth is listed as giving '+3 Defs' If a character has additional defenses with an activation roll, e.g. Resistant Protection 5/5, Activation Roll 11-, would that defense also increase? (Thematically, it probably should, but conversely would seem to be giving a character extra bonuses not covered in the Growth cost.)

Re: Getting Stronger and Tougher the More I Get Hurt For 54 points: Absorption (1 pt Phys, 2 pt Max), Defense (+1), Fade Rate 1/Turn (+1), Expanded Effect 3 items (+1½) (Feeding this absorption, STR, and rPD), Increased Maximum 8 pts (+½). Repeat, with increasing fade rates of 1/Min, 1/5 Min, 1/20 Min, and 1/Hr. Repeat again for Energy attacks, with the points going to rED instead. You'll suck back only 5 pts from incoming attacks. At first. Each Absorption doubles in effect every 5-6 points absorbed. It's essentially a cheap 'Hulk' build.

Re: Energy Absorber/Blaster One clarification here - the maximum amount of Aid can be increased only by buying extra dice, with the (-1) limitation 'Only for Increasing Maximum'. Absorption has the 'Increased Maximum' advantage (+¼), doubling the maximum number of points one can absorb. So 1 pt will absorb 1 pt, with a 2 pt max. The 'Increased Maximum' works on the base max (e.g the '2 pt' figure). So, if one had an Absorption that could add 16 pts to itself, and cost less (active, not real) than 16, it should, theoretically, be infinite.

Re: Energy Absorber/Blaster Could you cite the rule/page for that? I re-read Absorption, and the section on adjustment powers, and didn't see anything like that.

Re: Agents If you're designing agents specifically as anti-supers, then there's two other items you can throw in the mix: Area Effect weapons. e.g. grenades, sonic cone rifle, gas grenades Mobility affecters: Entangles (with appropriate advantages to allow the super to still be hurt), Drains/Suppresses vs. DCV/Movement Anything which makes the group of agents, as a whole, more effective, can force the PCs to take the mooks more seriously.

Re: Energy Absorber/Blaster Absorption offers one other possibility. If you lower the base amount, and use the Expanded Effect advantage to include the Absorption itself, you can achieve an open-ended power. e.g. Absorption (1 pt), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Minute; +1), Expanded Effect (4 Abilities, +2), Increased Maximum 16 pts (+3/4), Defense (+1) ... Real Cost 5pts. After absorbing 5 pts, your power just doubled. This is open to abuse. But it does lend itself to a) Phoenix or simply more efficient builds. Extra points could be used for a defenses, to better represent your concept.

Re: Has Anybody used any of the stranger powers from the Advanced Player's Guide I an Used a power nearly identical to replay years back. Very, very dangerous for the GM, since it allowed for the outcome he didn't want to occur far more often. But insanely fun from a RP perspective! The character also had the ability to pop someone five minutes into the future ... again, fun, but its utility was far out of line with the points spent. As in, far, far too effective.