CrosshairCollie

Last time I ran FH, I didn't worry about it much. I looked at it this way ... it's my job to challenge the players and their characters. If their characters keep steadily rising in power, so will the opposition, to keep things challenging (I apply the same theory when I run D&D, so I don't care if people powergame). The tougher you get, the tougher they get.

I generally make people buy 'living' foci as Followers. While it may seem cheap to have a Power Battery following you around, it does have some significant drawbacks ... 1. Once people realize that you get your powers from the Follower, they're going to be real keen on messing with him, even moreso than they can be with Foci. And Foci can't be Mind Controlled or affected by Transforms or Mental Illusions ("Well, I THOUGHT I was lending Captain Outrageous my Dragon Catastrophe attack ..." "It's okay, Timmy, I'm sure Doctor Burnination appreciated it ...") 2. Followers are their own characters, even if the GM lets the player control them in general. Eventually, there's going to be a conflict between the Follower and the Hero; a difference of ideologies, or even a simple 'who do we save first' situation. At which point, Mr. Hero is bereft of his powers ... and possibly even having them used against him. 3. A broken Focus can be replaced; even a lost Unbreakable Focus is usually replaceable in fairly short order. However, a broken Follower is usually *dead*, and unless someone has Healing: Resurrection, that means that your power source is gone-gone-gone, probably not for good, but it's gonna be REAL hard to replace.

I tried working on something like this myself once ... I wound up trying to create a new power called Stun Blast. I couldn't find a cost that was right for it, though ... 5 per die seemed too cheap, 10 too expensive. The basic power was that you rolled the dice, subtracted Power Defense, and if the result exceeded the target's CON, he got Stunned. This was under 4E when I was making it, but I was figuring that a 50 active Stun Blast at 5/die would be 35, which would stun darn near anybody, but at 10/die, it'd come up to be 17, which would Stun normals, but that's it. Really, it kinda sucked. I think either Mind Control or a very temporary Entangle on ECV would be the best ways to go about it.

Well, young man, first and foremost, having a pet Grond is a big responsibility. You have to feed it, water it, take it for walks, get him to the vet for shots, clean out his litter box, and discipline him when he goes on a city-levelling berserk rampage. If you can't take care of him, we'll have to take him back to the pound. Back to the point ... the thing with Grond is that he's very stupid. Admittedly, the PCs have done him a colossal favor and he does owe them big ... however, his tiny brain probably can't hold onto that thought for more than a week without constant reminders. ("Grond like Captain Super. Grond like Captain Super. Grond like ... oooh, SHINY!") Anything the heroes do that could be taken negatively probably will be. I'm reminded of an old comic book where The Hulk and Drax The Destroyer (brain-damaged model) were getting along after a fight, and the Hulk did the 'friendly punch on the arm' move, which Drax took as a provocation and slugged Hulk in the jaw. The kind of friendly 'insult-jibing' that friends do with each other could be taken personally, resulting in great carnage. The heroes don't *quite* have a big green bodyguard. Let's also not forget that even without the circuitry, Grond is very ... manipulatable, if that's a word. A clever villain could use Grond against the PCs in a variety of ways ... I, personally, would love to see Black Harlequin through some pepper in a hero's face, and then say, "Quickly, Grond, your friend is choking! You must save him! Slap him on the back as hard as you can!" *CRUNCH* "Oops." You have been given a unique opportunity ... to show your PCs the trials of parenthood in a really TWISTED manner. Exploit it like there's no tomorrow.

Hmm ... for some reason, I'm confused here ... let me make sure I'm doing this right. You can have a 'naked' power outside of a Multipower accumulate with a power in a Multipower into a single attack. So, if I had ... 60pt Multipower 6u 1> 12d6 EB (other MP slots) and +6d6 EB I could accumulate them into a single 18d6 Energy Blast, rather than performing a 12d6 EB + a 6d6 EB as a Multiple-Power-Attack? However, if the 6d6 EB was in another Framework, it could not accumulate with the 12d6 EB, right?

I've seen it once or twice ... my personal favorite involved my wife's character, an alien unicorn-ish being, performing a move-through on Shamrock (4th Edition). Now, this was a high-powered game ... this pushed move-through was going to be in the 23 or 24 dice range ... but if she did knockback, which was virtually guaranteed, she would only take a few stun in recoil. Shamrock, however, had an action saved, and used it to dig in against Knockback in her direction ... and she rolled pretty damn fluffy on the dice to boot. Cue Street Fighter Announcer Guy Voice: DOUBLE K.O.!

Another possible option might be to buy a Force Wall with Feedback (assuming he has nerve endings in his wings), and Opaque to Sight, No Range, with limitations about its maximum size ... could form a wall for shielding others, you could possibly wrap the wings around someone you're in HTH combat with so they couldn't run away, since it blocks sight it could even provide some cover against mentalists ...

Re: Speed 12! Say WHAT?!

To avoid creating another thread on a very similar topic ... who's the cat-guy and the purple guy in the sideart? I mean, while we're on the subject.

What kind of limitation would you think this would be? I'm making a character, and drawing heavily on Mr. Surbrook's DBZ Hero for it, and including the Chi Summoning power; however, for the way I'm envisioning this, if the character gets KOed, the aid fades instantly (though it can obviously be re-charged). I'm thinking about a -1/2 ... any other opinions out there?

If he wanted to go the summon route, he could make them Slavishly Loyal, at which point you might as well let him maintain control of them since they'll do anything he says anyway.

Well, first and foremost, my buddy Brian, who is possibly the world's biggest Steelers fan, would be hacked off beyond all belief. I'd suspect that the Millenium City project would continue apace there, too, myself ...

Welcome aboard! I got lucky when I started ... the game was well-established, many veteran players, so I could just ask people what was going on between turns and be sure I got good answers. I also just 'pitched' my character to the GM, and we worked together to make it, though he did all the math and I just answered questions. That said, I would, in fact, recommend using the extant characters to start with, just for 2 or 3 game sessions while everybody gets used to the system ... I'd even advise using The Champions, as provided in the book. They're good (if not stellar) characters, with non-convoluted backgrounds, uncomplicated powers, and already exist as a team. Run a simple session or two first; a 'danger room' scenario with robots (take some characters from CKC and change kills to normal/stun only attacks), slowly and step-by-step, to get people used to combat. Explain things as you go! That has maddened me when learning new game systems (when I don't own the books) for years! For example, don't just say "Roll 3d6 to hit" and say whether he hit or miss. Talk them through the process ... and I recommend providing 'cheat sheets' of frequently needed formulas or charts, both for yourself and your players (like the to-hit formula).

Hmm ... a while back, there was an Adventurer's Club article about Team Psychology. There were four basic roles ... the Leader, the Lieutenant, The Soldier, and The Rebel. Each is pretty much what it sounds like ... and it sounds like most of the above examples don't have a Leader, someone to set the groups 'tone', and take initiative, and remind everybody "Hey, while we're here arguing, the villains are out taking over the world."

VIPER's new Artillerly Overkill Legion "Welcome! You've Got Rail!"

A few quick ideas, in order ... 1. In Love With (Other Character), mirrored, possibly Social Limitation: Married (not sure how big a lim this might be). 2. Protective of (Other Character) in a normal parent-child relationship. 3. An unmirrored In Love With (Other Character). 4. Social Limitation: pwned ... er, Owned/Slave. 5. The 'underling' PCs have Social Lim: Subject to Orders from (PC), whereas the PC may have Subject to Orders from his superiors. 6. Assuming a typical family relationship, Protective Of or Loyal To (name) Family could cover it.

I would permit ECV-based Martial Arts just so I could hear someone declare a Mental Block.

I can support a hero killing if there is no other choice. I mean, absolutely, positively, zero-zip-zilch-at-all-no-way-no-choice. Of course, there's almost always a way that the DM hasn't thought of, assuming that the characters have something besides blast-powers. The team I'm running right now has both a telepath, and a character with a very large VPP of Force Field powers (a la the Invisible Woman) ... they can handle hostage situations. However, that's the ONLY time I would accept killing. I play RPGs for the escapism of it. I don't want moral relativity, excessive gray areas, needless brutality, and that sort of thing ... I can watch the news and get all that. I like my heroes at least in the 'mostly-shiny' category, and do not foresee ever playing a Champions character without at least a 10 point CvK (sadly, I don't foresee ever *playing* Champs again). I also think playing a CvK hero is more rewarding because it's harder. You have to try to think your way out of more situations, because taking the easy way is often the wrong way. Yeah, you could just pop the hostage-taker in the face with a KA. But it's a challenge to find a way to save the hostage and not kill the hostage-taker, which is more rewarding for me.

I have, fortunately, had few instances of 'Killer PCs'. Of course, I tend to come down pretty hard on them. I had one game where I had CLOWN dress up in costumes to LARP Champions ... I forgave the one PC for Moving-Through Dot in the tin-foil Mechanon Costume and causing Body, as he had legitimate reason to think that was Mechanon. However, this came up later ... well after the costumes had been discarded, this same PC was Tag-ged, and got belted hard; her forcefield dropped, which meant another shot from Tag was going to inflict some heavy-duty Body damage. Toe-Tapper tags a nearby inanimate object to divert Tag from pounding the heroine ... and when she un-stuns, she belts Toe-Tapper with a pushed attack and takes off over half his Body, and she was going to do it again except Tag jumped in to take the shot for him (and laughed it off, for the most part). Now, at this point, it became attempted murder. This is CLOWN, well known for not hurting civilians, and one of them had just gone out of his way to prevent a hero from getting pulped. The player retired the character (who I intended to bring back as a villain, but never did) and made a new one.

I did something similar ... all true noncombatant normals had a 20 point Phys Lim called 'Mere Mortal', which meant things like suffering real effects from radiation exposure (the rare person sans this disadvantage would become a super), and I briefly considered pulling a 'double stun/body from all attacks' because people were getting very nonchalant about crowd scenes ('2 Defense, 10 body? A 12d6 blast won't kill him, fire away').

There are a few other things I can think of ... 1. Did he kill Soulfire in one shot? If not, did he restrain himself after the first attack? A one-shot kill may be an accident; you can't accidentally blast someone six times. Well, you could, but you'd be REALLY clumsy. 2. How was he reacting during the fight? Was he being inordinantly aggressive/belligerent before the killing strike, or was he pulling the 'don't make me hurt you' line? 3. How experienced is he with his powers, and has he fought similar villains before without pulping them? Now, if the answer to 1 is 'one shot', 2 is 'not belligerently', and 3 is 'not very', you could probably go with Negligent Homicide (it was an accident), which is still pretty steep. Unless it was premeditated, it can't be murder, I don't think.

I usually only sweat the movement-added velocity for martial maneuvers (like the 4e Flying Tackle), or if the character is a move-through/move-by machine. Most of these are a dead giveaway because they take things like 2 point OCV levels with Move-Throughs and extra defenses, only against 'recoil' damage. It's kind of like the Champions book has the idea of the 'power booster' .... extra dice, only used in rare occassions. Sometimes going over cap/normal damage output is fine ... doing it on a regular basis is bad.

Hmm ... lemmee compare a 4d6 RKA and a 12d6 EB ... 12d6 EB averages 12 Body, 42 Stun, 5" Knockback 4d6 EKA averages 14 Body, 37 Stun, 3" Knockback The thing to remember is that the StunX die is weighted; the die outcome is 1,1,2,3,4,5, not 1,2,3,4,5, so you're twice as likely to roll a 1 than any other result. The average multiplier is therefore 2.66666666 (etc) rather than 3. Going simply off game mechanics, KAs do more Body, Normal Attacks do more Stun and Knockback. Going off game genre, it's usually a lot better to use Normal attacks because they don't seriously injure people as often. As far as 'high defense' targets go, I prefer to back up my Normal Attacks with an NND or Drain instead of a KA.

I, personally, would do something like ... 10d6 Aid, Standard Effect (30 points) to STR, return rate 5pts/20 minute, Self Only, 4 charges, (Pillbox Focus), gestures (must swallow pill). It makes more sense to me (though it's a LOT pricier), since the continuous charges require some way to deactivate them (a stun or knockout, maybe?), and the Aid will just, y'know, be there. This will last at full effect for 20 minutes, then fade (you could possibly put another limitation that it all fades at once?), which is pretty close to what you wanted.

As a GM, I've never had a problem with Find Weakness, nor have my players ... mostly because whenever any villain's action is described as a detailed study of a hero (or whatever), that villain rarely remains conscious long enough to make use of what he learned, as everybody and their French Poodle turns around and beats him senseless.