CrosshairCollie

Work this out with your fellow players ... if it looks like your character has died, but there's no definite body, make sure someone, if not everyone, says the magic words ... "Nobody could have survived that!" This is comic book slang for 'He's coming back in a few issues'.

TF: Automobile (Driver's Ed). Yeah, I know that's cheating.

I use Minis and a battlemat ... it's practically a necessity for me, 'cause there's no way I can keep track of who's going where, when and how without it! I have some old cardboard triangle minis from the old Marvel Supers RPG Advanced Set, the 4th Edition GM's Screen minis, a few HeroClix, and some Digimon minis that are about the right size. Champions minis sound nifty, but I'm not sure how economically feasible they'd be ...

Hi there. It's me, the pest, again. I'm finally settling on a character for an upcoming game (eyes six completed Hero Designer files), and I've decided on one that's just out of high school, and just entering college. Unfortunately, being 32, I simply can *not* remember what, if anything, I learned in high school. I can't even remember what year I graduated. Anyways, to adopt a bit of Peter Parkerism, I'm thinking of having him lean fairly heavily into physical sciences for when he got to his 'elective' classes in his Junior and Senior years. So, anyway ... here's my request, for which many cookies shall be dispersed ... what do you gentlebeings think would be an appropriate set of skills for a High School Graduate, academically speaking (as opposed to extracurricular things like KS: Video Games)? Thanks in advance!

Closing the open characters seems to have done the trick (I didn't even realize they were open!). Thanks!

This one only sucks because of an uncertain rules interpretation: That if you have a Damage Shield with Area Effect, when it goes off, you suck the damage too. Well, someone made this character, thinking that the AE Damage Shield (always on, no less) meant he was surrounded by a 3" aura of flame at all times. It was, like 4d6 Energy Killing Attack ... unfortunately, he didn't realize that he was going to have to eat the damage when he got slugged, along with everything within about twenty feet of him. Neither he, nor the guy who hit him, had any resistant defenses ...

Keneton has it right. The damage dealt with an Improvised Weapon (IW from here) is equal to either: 1. the STR damage of the character using it, or 2. the total Body + Def of the IW ... whichever is lower. This is why the Hulk doesn't use a lead pipe. The main benefit to a brick using an IW is the chance to hit things that are either out of reach (using a lightpole or car to smack a flying target) or using larger IWs as Area Effects so they can paste high-DCV targets like Martial Artists or Speedsters. INDIRECTLY, he does more damage because of the IW ... because without it, he wouldn't be able to deal damage at all because he can't hit the guy he wants to. If you want to do extra damage with an IW, buy some HA or Extra STR with a OIF: Improvised Weapons limit, I'd say.

Clairsentience's 'viewing point' is stable, actually, so the x1000 rapid modifier just means he really picks up that area in a hurry. The USPD puts forth the 'mobile perception point' adder for Clairsentience, which lets it move around, +5 points for a 6" 'Flight'. I'm not entirely certain Rapid is legal on Clairsentience, though ... on the other hand, I can't say for sure to the contrary. With TK and Ranged Touch/Clairsentient Touch, you still aren't making contact with the burning object, so you take no damage (unless you have some odd limitation on said power). 'Standard' TK is a perfectly safe way to move burning objects and radioactive materials. As far as the last question goes, I'm pretty liberal on 'rewrites' of the sheet, so long as it's a re-arrangement rather than a re-creation (turning an MP into an EC or VPP, or moving a slot out of an MP into an EC, for example, doesn't require a Radiation Accident). Just figure up the new cost and gather the XP.

Three times in the last three days, I've opened up Hero Designer to put together a big, bad, nasty, horrendous baddie for my game. Every time, Hero Designer crashes on me. I'm starting to think someone's trying to tell me something. Steve Long, why hast thou forsaken me?!

If you do decide to keep the big KAs, I'd advise ... 1. Making them unwieldy to use for some reason (Concentrate, extra END, etc) and give them Normal damage backup attacks, and 2. Have them use the KAs in conjuction with a Presence Attack in the first appearance, on an inanimate object ... if the 6d6+1 KA guy slices an armored car in half effortlessly, you know that your PCs (and their players) know that this guy is DANGEROUS and to treat him as such (assuming they don't just run).

*snickers* Reminds me of my last Fantasy Hero game ... we had a swashbuckler. A darn good one ... defenses not so good, of course, but his DCV was positively ridiculous; he was damn near impossible to hit ... unless someone had a hammer. Then, he would always get hit, at least once ... in Location 13. This running joke STILL plagues him.

Attacking someone from the flank (aka 'behind') hardly requires a tactical mind. Any idiot with more common sense than Foxbat knows that attacking someone from behind, when they can't see you, improves the likelihood that they won't dodge. It also doesn't do anything for your good-guy rep, but hey, sometimes, you gotta (*pause to drool as Howler pic comes up in the sidebar ... *slobber**) put honor aside and go for the win. If I were pressed for any kind of reason why a character of mine would think to attack from the back, I'd just shrug and say something on the order of, "I watch westerns ... someone ALWAYS gets shot in the back in westerns, so it seemed like a good idea." If the GM says, however, that your justification for having your character desolidifying with his VPP doesn't fly, though, then it doesn't fly. On the other hand, the GM needs to make sure HE'S not saying that it's impossible just 'cause it'll screw up his plot/fight/battle plan. I've had some pretty ludicrous game calls made because of a power the GM didn't take into account ... and, as a side note, more than a few really stupid D&D game rulings because I play inventive spellcasters and tactical fighters, but that's another story.

Stoic, nigh-emotionless character falling prey to a big, well-rolled Presence Attack ... turns to a teammate ... "I just wet your pants. I'm not sure how."

This one's probably been done, but I'm gonna put it up here anyway ... THE ULTIMATE FOXBAT!

Unfortunately, I'm only familiar with the ones from Marvel Comics (who, of course, worked for Apocalypse).

I don't get it. But judging from the last panel, it's not something that can be explained on these boards.

*nods to SirViss* Which is how I came up with Touch, since you'd feel the vibrations in your feet.

Hmmm ... now, this is gonna sound REALLY weird, but ... try some permutation of Ranged, 360-degree N-Ray ... Touch, only vs targets on or underground. Since the devices sense vibrations (which seems more like a 'feel' than a hear to me). Or if the idea of Ranged Touch freaks you out, make it a specialized Sense Vibrations custom-detect, perhaps. I think the last version of Stronghold I saw cut straight through the crap and just said 'Detect Tunnelling'.

Various drains for most of it, Flashes for the blindness/deafness, a Dex suppress or quick-returning Drain for the vertigo ... pretty standard fare, I think. Alternately, while this is definitely *not* a point-saving move, Transformations could work.

The quickest way to get a PCs to spend points on skills is to make sure you run games where skills are more important than powers every now and again. I've had more than one game grind to a halt with something like this: PC: "Great, all the information we need to find out the villain's plan is in this computer! Let's get it!" Me: "Okay, make a Computer Programming roll." PC: "Uh ... I don't have that ... uh, you? No ... uh, Jeff, do you ... uh ... Say, do you have ... no? Uhm ..." Me: *drums fingers on table* PC: "$%*@!" Sadly, I've also played in games where noncombat skills were utterly and completely wasted points. It's generally my experience that many (not all, but many) players will simply buy Whatever-It-Was-That-The-Previous-Game-Made-Them-Realize-They-Didn't-Have. Just watch sometime, and listen for things like, "Man ... if only I had an NND ..." or "Gah ... if we could entangle this guy, I'd pound him!" Now, to a degree, it's logical. If you can figure out a tactical deficiency, then find a way to cover it, that's perfectly logical and sensible. But you must make sure that the PC is keeping to his concept and powers!

Re: Forgotten Flagsuits The Fighting ... *snicker* *giggle**snort* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I vote JLA, on two levels ... 1. Power. DC characters tend to be more 'iconic', which usually translates to most powerful. Flash is 'the fastest man alive'. Captain Marvel (Shazam) is 'The World's Mightest Mortal'. Batman is the 'greatest detective'. GL's ring is 'the mightiest weapon in the universe'. Their headliners are almost universally (DCU, at least) considered and acknowledged as 'the best'. Whenever someone has a little tagline like that, in the DCU, they usually mean it. Marvel's heroes tend to be more human, which gives them greater weaknesses and requires them to be kept down to a level that the reader can identify with. The X-Men, traditionally, are the biggest bundle of twitchy nerve endings that ever walked the face of the Earth, or they have serious power drawbacks. Cyclops can't control his power. Storm is claustrophobic. Beast is ostracized. Wolverine's just a nutcase. Rogue can't touch someone without stealing their powers, memories, and probably their wallet. 2. I. Hate. Wolverine.

You know, that's the problem with the USPD ... so many 'So How Do I Model This Character' threads got shot down in their prime thanks to that one book. How dare you print such a useful game supplement! What were you thinking?

I would ... Buy his Flamethrower as a standard OIF. Give him a Multipower of Fire Control effects ... I would actually build his ability to create fire elementals (so to speak) as a summon, Slavishly Loyal.

I haven't played a human character in years, so all of mine are going be CGI.