CrosshairCollie

Tunnelling at a low rate of movement, but a high DEF, as you melt your way through the walls.

Having a flair for playing robots of late (particularly those resembling the Reploids from the Mega Man X series of games, which are animal-based robots with names like Neon Tiger and Cyber Peacock), I'm desperately wanting to play a renegade creation of the Warlord named War Wolf (of course, a pun to top it all off). Not quite the 'Vision/Ultron' setup, but moderately close.

I'm looking forward to using the Crowns of Krim, myself, just because all my players from 4th Edition will soil their spandex. ("Dark Seraph has a TEAM??!!") The only downside is that I always liked to partner up Black Paladin and Dark Seraph ... maybe I'll create a 'Knight' for each of the other Crowns. I like the War Machine just for the way they're named. I'm a sucker for cheesy gimmicks like that. The fact that it's a military organization that's actually RUN like one helps ... the leader isn't a psychotic loon. Well, he IS, but he's not irrational about it. It's probably going to take some effort for some PCs to get used to the reused-name-but-different-character stuff, like Vibron. I once teamed up the Classic Enemies 'solo losers' into a team that turned out to be memorable somehow, and Vibron was on it. My last point of curiosity has to be wondering why Bulldozer doesn't actually have that old Vulnerability to being smacked around by women. That'll actually throw some people off, given that one of the biggest laughs we all got once was three female supers coordinating two 18d6 attacks and a 14d6 attack on him.

Re: Re: Team Leaders? H0ly cr4p. I was just trying to create a Captain America 'Tactical Genius' power rather than precognition, but yeah, I see where that'd be nifty. Also really frackin' expensive ... but that'd be the ultimate 'teamwork' character, to be sure.

There's also a certain degree of sadistic glee you get out of a scenario like, say, building up an intense hatred between a villain and a hero team (or just a specific hero on that team), and then they both show up at Sanctuary together. Imagine the joy of that villain counting the bulging veins on the hero's head as he desperately wants to, but knows he shouldn't, throttle the guy. Brings a fair tear to me eye, it does.

Sigh ... I was trying to respond to a post on another thread, and somehow started a new one. It won't let me delete it for some reason, either ... if a board-boss swings by, just delete this thread for me, please?

Sounds like Moron ... I mean, Moriah ... and Bulldozer should team up.

Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that. I'm just having trouble getting players who will both accept that I run Silver Age style games, and act appropriately during said games.

Hey now, some of us *like* the Silver Age mentality. That's all I run or play in. Seriously, even if they do reprint/recreate Neutral Ground, just 'cause it's there you don't have to use it. However, if there's enough demand, as someone said, that means there'd be a market, and it can be sold. You don't like it, just don't buy it.

Well, really, where that 'line' is is gonna vary from game to game ... I've always been of the 'anybody who kills crossed the line', but I'm not a Dark kinda guy. A lot of what the Harbinger is or isn't depends on your GM and style of game. If the PCs are all of the 'kill 'em all and let the mythological powers sort 'em out' type, then his particular brand of overkill is fine. If your game's more moderate, and you're trying to pull the 'There, but for the grace of said mythological powers, go I', where you're trying to show the PCs the result of a lack of moderation, then he's your sterling example of crossing the line.

INSPIRATION! On another thread, I mentioned that I wanted to raise the MIA Champions-4 crew to 350 points and do something with 'em. At the same time, my wife wants me to run a 5th Edition 'demo' game so she can see what's different between the editions before she tries running it. So, thus begins ... THE CRISIS ON INFINITE EDITIONS! On Earth-4 , a massive battle with Dr. Destroyer over Detroit was fought to a bitter, bloody end ... however, the city wasn't levelled. When all was said and done, however, only Defender was left standing. He wept for his lost teammates, who gave their lives in defense of the innocent, and flew off to contemplate his fate. But you *know* it ain't gonna be that easy. Enter Malachite, the 4th-Edition-Version. The evil mad scientist sort, he wouldn't miss an opportunity like this. He gathered cell samples from the bodies, and created clones more powerful than the originals, with abilities the originals had never concieved of. With the clones hanging in sensory deprivation, it was easy to brainwash them so that they would loathe Defender and curse him with every breath. Then ... *FOOSH* ... the White Event. Realities overlaid, and people change ... some never were, some who were never meant to be are ... and while Malachite doesn't exist in that form, the Champions of Vengeance live with a single goal in their minds ... "DEATH TO DEFENDER!" And if he thinks he can hide by just changing his armor's color scheme, he's sorely mistaken!

The Harbinger of Beatdown? Honestly, I think the Harbinger was there for two reasons: 1. Kind of a Smorgasbord. Excepting the infinite-gun VPP dealy, he had a little of everything skill-power-talent wise, so someone who hit a mental block could look over his sheet and go, 'A-HA! THAT'S what I'm missing!' 2. Plot device. He's there to lure the PCs places you want them to go, give cryptic advice, and/or get shot to pieces so your PCs know that they're in deep kimchee now. Just what is 'dark' varies, I think. Depending on the writer, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Batman are as Dark Champs as the Punisher; they just don't use guns. I think it's more a matter of setting and atmosphere than powers, points, or abilities. There's nothing saying Dark Champs characters have to be gun-toting killers. I remember an old Captain America miniseries where he went street-level investigating the drug trade. Sounds like something the Punisher does ... but it was good ol' Cap. Things got a *lot* more complicated, but anyway, let's move on, shall we? For instance, Spider-Man very often is Dark Champs; down on the street-level of importance and influence, not making a huge difference in the way people's lives are lived, that sort of thing. Then, he guest stars in Avengers or joins the latest Cosmic Crossover (a la Secret Wars), and converts to Four-Color Mode.

Gamephil: I don't know if I'm joking or not. I was History major. I don't know squat about advanced mathematics. By 'inexistant characteristics' (I'm not sure inexistant is a word ... I think it's 'nonexistant'), I'm thinking it's kind of like the way Undead and Constructs in D&D don't have Constitution scores ... not a score of zero, but they lack the ability altogether. Actually, that's kinda like Automatons and EGO in Hero system, too.

Not really a 'point shave', but 17" is a good movement rate, getting you +6d6 damage on a Move-Through but only a -3 on the OCV ... assuming you're into that sort of thing.

That's something else that gets me. When they appoint you leader and then ignore you, which is kind of like giving you a paper cut on the unmentionables and throwing you in a lake of lemon juice. Just out of curiosity, has anybody, in any game, regardless of genre/setting/whatever, ever actually held a team vote of some sort and ejected a character who was being a pain (bonus points if the player was being a pain, too). Of course, in the right circumstances, the GM can be a wonderful helper in the 'you should have followed orders' lesson. "Oh, great, Spastic Lad just ran off headfirst into battle before we could recon or cook up a plan." "Well, we have a plan, then. It's called 'send in a decoy while the rest of us flank them'. He just volunteered for it pre-emptively."

It's comforting to know that this sort of thing happens to other people, really. Misery loves company or something. Part of me wonders if the Teamwork skill (having to pay points to be able to Coordinate) will make teamwork happen even less. I actually consider raw Coordination useful, but I've generally discovered that using set-up powers is superior (for example, Flashes, Entangles, Martial Throws, Martial Grabs) if you can follow up with something else. There are few things more depressing than missing a Pushed shot (especially if you have a 'Megapush-once-a-day-x10-END' power) and miss. AE Hex Entangles are your friend!

I hadn't really planned on it, though under the right circumstances, I'd think the GM might encourage me to lend out my spare Carbine. I think I'm the only person in the game who's really considered the benefits of Stun Only in conjunction with a 20 point Code vs Killing.

A quick question I need to ask about a character (in fact, this character right here!) ... Crosshair has a Gadget Pool, generally used for guns. Suppose I want to hike around with two identical guns at the same time. I recall (though for some reason I can't find it, argh!) that you can simply pay +5 points for a duplicate of the same piece of equipment as a character now (like you can for redundant vehicle/base devices). Would I just stick that in the VPP? For example, my favorite gun: Magnetic Carbine: 8d6 EB, Armor Piercing, Stun Only, 2clips of 6 charges, OAF Carbine (24 points) is in there. Would I just take another 5 points out of the pool to go double-pistol-packin'? Or would I pay 5 points out of my 'other' points (not in the pool) to be able to double any one thing in the pool, or how would that work?

In the past, when new editions of a game have come out, I've resorted to what's called a 'White Event', taken from the short-lived Marvel Comics New Universe titles. Basically, a huge white light in the sky flashed, then people started getting powers. Essentially, call a mass re-write. Leave everybody's overall points/experience the same, and just rebuild them from scratch. This is also handy for things that work differently from one edition to the next (prime example: Summoning with linked Mind Control to Summoning with the various 'friendly' advantages).

--Meaningless opinion of random nobody to follow-- Remember, it's your game world. Unless you're submitting it to HERO for official publication, you can do whatever you want. Me? I'm gonna 350 the 'Forgotten Champions' from 4th Edition and do ... somethin' with 'em. Trying to decide if I want another hero team or a new villain team ...

I was in a 260 point game for a long time. A really high-powered 260 point game. The bricks had 26 Dex'es. The maximum attack DC was 18. And every last character was streamlined for power. At best, you had 10 points of noncombat skills, which was fine for some backgrounds, but others were just shafted. Only one person on the team had full-time powers (me). Everybody else was Hero-IDed or OIFed from head to toe. Now, 350 game ... mmmm, sweetness. No more scrounging for points for things crucial to your concept (or sacrificing your concept!). People with OIF Battle Armor can actually have the skills appropriate to having built it! People who shouldn't have Hero ID don't have to take it (most of those old Hero IDs would be Multiforms now, anyways). Sure, you're gonna have some power-twinks who just use it to ramp up their attacks and defenses, but that's what GM supervision is for. "Might I suggest, instead of another 40 STR on top of your 70, that you purchase a Shockwave?"

Hmm ... not a bad idea, really. The question becomes, do you apply this for only the base/starting character level, or as the campaign progresses and PCs have more overall points? Another idea might be to divide the base points (not counting disads) by 100 to get the 'base' number from the XP chart (the 'you showed up' number), so a 100+150 4th-style game would have 1 automatic, and a 200+150 5th-style game would have 2 automatic, then apply the other mods.

This is an old problem of mine, but it still lingers in many ways. This is from my perspective as a player, rather than a GM. The following things seem to be true: 1. If my character is even remotely qualified, my character is the team leader. 2. If my character is not qualified to be team leader, there simply isn't one. Does this happen to anybody else? It got so bad at one point I actually played remarkably slow, stupid brick type just to officially declare 'I AM NOT IN CHARGE HERE!'. And everybody was still looking for me for tactical advice ('What do we do?' 'HIT STUFF!'). You'd think that someone would have learned from watching me. Now that I'm running more than playing, it's even more annoying because they're not learning from getting thumped. It remains 'everybody pick a target' instead of coordinating, choosing the RIGHT target, and using powers in tandem to take people out faster ('Entangle-Haymaker GOOD!'). On a quasi related note ... who thinks this is interesting: +2 Combat Levels, Usable By 4 Others At Range, RSR: Tactics and Teamwork (only the power's owner needs to roll, not the recipients), only if commands are obeyed

D-Man: Points don't always tell the tale. Having been playing Champions since the halcyon days of Champs III, I can tell you that. I've seen a 250 point character that could floor Dr. Destroyer in 1 round. I've a critical eye for twinky characters, and the presence or absence of frameworks and point-savings doesn't make something 'broken'. I've never seen a character who became obscenely effective or points-efficient for having a huge EC. I usually think of them as being pretty wasteful. Why is it you don't have problems with MPs when you hate ECs? From your argument, MPs save *more* points. At any rate, what I guess I'm saying is, don't sweat the points, theoretical or practical. When you're determining a character's suitability for a campaign, the end result is the important part. Whether you get a 30d6 attack from a super-pushed Haymaker or a massive Energy Blast in an EC is irrelevant ... it's still too much. Then again, I'm a bookmonger. I'm more inclined to go along with the book than my gut feelings, figuring that, hey, people spent months and years playtesting this ... I shouldn't lightly alter their decision without knowing how they got there.

I rather like Elemental Controls, especially now that they do have that combined weakness problem (one Drain/Suppress/etc ruins your whole day) ... and I have no issues with the point-savings. The EC + MP combo is the traditional Energy Projector in every game I've ever been in. And for the most part, barring sweeping limitations (like the OIF armor guy or the 'only in sunlight' kinda deals), a brick-type and a blaster-type will be fairly well balanced. Like someone said, the Bricks get kickbacks in terms of REC and STUN that they get 'free' (not to open the whole 'STR is too cheap' can of worms). Besides, I've seen a pretty large number of 'Conglomeration Man' builds where I wish they *had* a concept, much less a tight one. P.S. Maybe not EC: Super Soldier, but EC: Enhanced Physique might go ... though I'd probably never permit statistics in an EC, which is what'd mostly be there. Sorry, Cap, gotta buy your stats the hard way. Now, EC: Shield ... THAT we can do!