Captain Obvious

Is it there yet? Is it there yet? Is it there yet?

How long ago did Dragon #259 come out? My FLGS has a sizable stack of back issues, but it would be nice to narrow the search....

Just have your combat magic set up as individual powers, while your specialized spells that will only be used once or twice throughout the campaign are set up in a VPP. Another possible option: Mystic Masters (4th ed) had multipower spells with common special effects but varying powers. Example: The Eleven Lights of Luathon has a Change Environment (light) slot, a Flash slot, an Images slot, an N-ray Vision slot, a Detect (invisibility) slot, a Suppress invisibility slot, an Energy Blast AVLD Flash Defense slot, an Energy Blast 1 hex slot, a Dispel darkness slot, a Mind Control slot, and aN RKA slot. That's a lot of versatility and a lot of savings in the MP framework. Maybe a few spells like that would fit into your campaign....

I'd say that the correct answer to your original question is just what you did. Real world physics or not, it was a highly cinematic effect, and the players seemed to enjoy it. Isn't the first rule of gaming to have fun?

Discourse on Berserkers Berserkers were created by a race now known only as the Builders, in the distant past to defeat an enemy known only as the Red Race. At this point in history, the Builders and the Red Race are extinct, and only their machines have survived. Berserkers may have originally been built in "classes", ie Nimitz class, etc, but after so many millennia of battle, repairs, jury-rigs, salvage operations, and new construction, there is virtually no unifying theme. Berserkers range in size from star-mobile planetoids to repair units the size of a dinner plate. Some are specialized as landers to root out defenders from underground bunkers, some are flyers, there is even a record of one that was nothing more than a mobile nuclear pile whose only purpose was to move to a life-infested area and melt down. The only thing they have in common is their programming: to destroy all life. A Berserker finds it as important to destroy the algae-like slime growing on a shallow-water planet as to destroy intelligent races. The only exception is goodlife, intelligent lifeforms that agree to help the Berserker in its longterm goals. Firepower is almost never the way to defeat a Berserker. A large Berserker is too powerful to engage without a fleet, and a small Berserker is typically clever enough to remain hidden or hold hostages. In the past, Berserkers have been defeated by vegetables (Pressure), misinformation (The Annihilation of Angkor Apeiron), and a terraforming AI system (A Teardrop Falls). In game terms, an adventure involving Berserkers should be largely similar to a horror adventure, with the characters unable to stand against the enemy, or unable to find it and meet it on their own terms. In addition, paranoia about goodlife should often pop up, with characters unable to fully trust those they don't know well, and often being accused of being goodlife themselves. There should be victories as well as defeats, however, and the more bizarre and unexpected the victory, the better. The machines have never been able to fully understand human frailties, and that is where the best victories come from....

You can give the rat an END reserve for its powers, and make it run with its own physical END....

Re: CHA and rats Plot idea: The heroes are drawn into a long-running war between the mutant tunnel children and the humanoid rats living under the city. Peace must be worked out, one way or another, before the underground struggles collapse the very foundations of the Windy City.

How about a flame projector in a cow costume? Seriously, though, having only read the first page of this thread, this is some really good stuff, and something that might eventually need a Digital Hero article....

Yeah, but they tend to eat back until you kill them real good...

I agree with jtelson on this one. If you want a game mechanic to represent Spidey running out of webs after using up a lot of fluid, I'd probably just tack a Burnout roll onto some of the most fluid-intensive attacks.

If you want to make the squire so loyal that he's a hindrance, then that's good too. If Sir Strong the Mighty takes part in secret talks to end the ages-long war between Empireland and Kingdomonia, and his squire is caught skulking around to make sure his liege isn't betrayed in some way (you can't trust a Kingdomonian), what will this little spy do to the peace process?

Thinking some more about that nerve pinch, it occurs to me that not only does Spock only use it against basically stationary targets, but they usually don't fall unconscious immediately either. He grabs them, they tense up for a second or two (as if stunned for a Phase), then they drop. How about making this attack 5d6 NND (+1), Reduced END (+1/4), Continuous (+1), Concentration throughout (1/2 DCV, -1/2), HTH attack only (-1/2), humanoids only (-1/2) for 81 Active Points and 46 Total Points. Or 10d6 NND (+1), Reduced END (+1/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV, -1/4), HTH attack only (-1/2), humanoids only (-1/2), Extra Time (extra phase, -3/4) for 112 Active and 37 Total cost (although the extra time limitation doesn't quite portray the time delay as well as a continuous attack).

Counting up dice can be quick and easy. Just group them by 10's (a 6 and a 4 together, a 5 and a 5 together, etc). Count the 10's and whatever was left over and didn't fit into a 10 group and you're done. For counting BODY on normal attack dice, group 8's and 1's together, take out any leftover 1's, and count up the number of dice, making sure to count leftover 6's twice. Actually, you should know how many dice you rolled to start with, so just add one for every leftover 6 or subtract one for every leftover 1. This is all quite obvious (that's my schtick after all). Other than that, I honestly don't know why people think Hero combat is so damn slow. Granted, I've never been really into any rules-light game where three die rolls determines the whole combat, but even so, Hero is at least as fast as d20, where you spend low levels rolling again and again just trying to get the one hit it will take to kill the enemy, and you spend high levels hitting every time for a miniscule fraction of the damage it will take to kill the enemy....

If you're walking carefully and using stealth, you get the penalty of your skill roll (however much you made the roll by) AND a -3 penalty to apply against whoever you're sneaking past. Doesn't it make sense when sneaking up on someone regardless of your skill to move slowly rather than sprint?

Because with Flash, the target gets a DCV penalty since he can't see you. With an area effect Darkness, you get an OCV penalty because you can't see him.

So you're saying you don't think there'd be a market for my Russian Novel Hero genre book I've been working on? And I spent all that time reading The Brothers' Karamozov?

Well, as long as we're talking about monkeys... The M&M adventure Time of Crisis has the characters traveling to several parallel Earths to keep some pan-dimensional entity from destroying the multiverse. One of the parallel Earths is Ape World... Can your character stand up to the Iron Monkey, Elasti-Gibbon, or Chimpanzoom? http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/slideshow.php?prod=ToC&pic=5

I was just looking at your TOS file again (nice work, once again), and thinking about your writeups for the Vulcan nerve pinch, and I think you can add the Concentration limitation to bring those points down some. Spock never really seemed to use the nerve pinch in the middle of a highly acrobatic fight...usually as a surprise move against a bored guard or a combatant who's being held by Kirk. Still pretty expensive this way, but saving a few points here and there can't hurt. Maybe someone else can suggest some other appropriate limitations and we can tame this beast....

Yeah, I actually tracked down and talked to the manager of my FLGS (mentioned in another thread...Recommend a FLGS), and he blamed the lack of Hero stock in his store on small print runs. He says he is usually able to get new stuff, but it's hard to get otherwise

Well, they're less appreciative in that case. They're also not too keen on sharks or barracudas.

LOL... Don't forget Neon-Clothing Lad, with his Continuous Uncontrolled Flash attack....

Maybe there are more. I'll pull out my player's guide later on and check it out. Right now I need to get some more sleep.

Weird Mystic: How about Nightmare? An extradimensional beast from the Dream Realms (or alternately, a human lucid dreamer who has somehow gained the ability to apply lucid dreaming to the real world). Some suggested powers: "If you hit the ground, you'll die" Teleport 20" straight up, usable against others "Something's chasing me..." Mental Illusions to cause fear, linked with an EB or RKA (only if target doesn't flee) "...and I can't get away" Mental entangle "How can you hold the world hostage if you're naked?" PRE Drain linked to RKA only vs clothing (Okay so this one is more than a little tongue in cheek) A small VPP to allow other effects is also in line...a little STR here to pick up a house, a little Flight there to grow wings and chase an escaping villain....

Here's a list. I don't know if you'll be able to get a full writeup on these online, what with legal concerns and all. Most of them overlap Vampire or Werewolf Merits and Flaws anyway. http://www.darkshire.org/~jhkim/rpg/freerpgs/bykeyword/src/ranma/Merits.htm

Generally speaking, if a Focus is an OAF, then it can be damaged in combat by targeting it specifically. If it's an OIF, then some sort of power for specifically taking out devices is more in line. If the Focus is Inobvious, then obviously there's no way to take it out unless the attacker is somehow in the know....