bigbywolfe

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

Well said.

Re: Questions on HTH enviorment modifiers

I believe someone in a different thread mentioned that the Fantasy Hero book had some extra detail on sword fighting. I think it was in the thread about forcing opponents to take a step back or to move making HtH less static. You may want to ask around as to whether or not that might be where Hyper-Man saw the uneven ground issue discussed (the book, not the thread, I mean).

Re: Victorian Era, Mystery Driven, Paranormal Campaign… Help?

Wow, lot's of great resources, thanks guys. I probably won't be taking time to read any full novels (at least not as research) but one of my plot ideas was inspired by Carr's The Alienist. One of the earlier adventures is going to be a "werewolf killer" story, where the killer ends up being, not a creature, but a psychopath. It, along with many of the stories for this campaign, are going to be set in a southern port city loosely based on New Orleans, (extremely loosely based, I'm going for tone, not "Historical Fiction Hero"). With a large black population, many with Haitian roots, I can introduce voodoo as a constant issue, both as a supernatural story hook, and as a religious issue. That combined with the racial issues of the time period, the distinct social class issues, and the fact that none of the PCs are from that area should lend itself to plenty of opportunity for social interaction/blunders as well.

Re: Victorian Era, Mystery Driven, Paranormal Campaign… Help?

Cool, thanks for the imput. The point value is so high because I haven't run much Hero stuff before, and by the time I realised that 100+100 might be overdoing it we had already had two PCs created. I'm compensating by strongly encouraging the use of many skills.

So, I’m setting up a campaign to take place in the 1880’s or 90’s with a heavy emphasis on mystery and which will have a lot of supernatural/horrific elements. It’s going to be set the U.S. and I don’t want to fall into the Classic English Victorian or Wild West themes that could easily sneak into a campaign set in that era. I’m wondering if A) does anyone have any resources for weapons, prices, etcetera from that time period, and if I post some of the individual adventure ideas if you guys would mind giving me some feedback?

Note, this is a heroic campaign (100, +100). It will be largely focused on the mystery aspect, yet combat will abound at some point every adventure. The mysteries will range from strange, unexplainable phenomenon being investigated, to grizzly, somewhat disturbing murders. The catch? This isn’t call of Cthulu, not every horrific death, or even every seemingly supernatural occurrence will have a paranormal/supernatural solution. At the same time, it’s not ScoobieDoo either, and every ghost, witch, vampire, poltergeist, etcetera, won’t end up being the butler. Part of my goal is to keep the players guessing at what is and what isn’t supernatural, which will hopefully curb the “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality and help keep the focus on the mystery aspect.

I’ll post some of the ideas I have for adventures in this setting later to try to better convey the feel I’m looking for, but until then, does anyone have experience playing this sort of scenario, either time period wise, or supernatural-yet-noy-quite-horror-mystery wise?

Re: Disadvantages...lists anyone?

That list is freaking amazing!

Re: Animal facilitated clairsentience and more…

So, maybe this is a little better for the clairsentience, (note, I’m not at home so I don’t have HD to check my math, but here it goes):

Eyes of the Beasts: Clairsentience (Sight Group and Normal Hearing), Mobile Perception Point (6” or speed of creature sensed through), 4xRange, Reduced Endurance (0END; + ½) (55 Active Points); OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Hard to Obtain New Focus; -2 ¼) Arrangement -¼, Only through sense of others (Undomesticated Felines, Canines, Ursine, and Raptors; - ½, Incantations (Throughout) - ½ (10 Real Point Cost).

The 4xRange allows him to use any animal within 900” which would give the power a 3.6kl diameter, 1.8kl radius in any direction.

While this setup does not allow the entranced character to control the movement of the animal he is using as a focal point, which was originally intended, in hindsight I think its better that way, as the ability is supposed to mimic a “vision-quest” type experience. It also allows the Mobile Perception Point to move faster than 6” if attached to an animal going faster than that (say, an Eagle in flight) but also limits it to less than that for an animal not on the move (say, a tired bear moseying around).

but I'm not familiar with the 'arrangement' limitation.

In 5ER “Arrangement” is an option for Focus, not sure why Hero Designer lists it separately in the longhand write-up.

I’m less concerned about fixing the healing since it’s for an NPC and will more likely be used as a saving element if the PC’s screw up to badly in an early campaign, he won’t pop up very often. I might still write it up just to see if it sounds more balanced later.

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

Just say Normal Sight has Discriminatory and save everyone the bloody headache.

Would this measure also make all other senses non-Discriminatory? That's the only porblem I have with the idea...

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

I posted this in my very first post on this thread:

"The Discriminatory effect provided by the Sight Group is not the full Discriminatory obtained by buying that Sense Modifier, but rather an effect of somewhat cruder degree. For example, a character can tell two people apart based on their visual appearance, but cannot always determine a person's ethnicity or religion through sight. Characters can make Normal Sight (or the entire Sight Sense Group) fully Discriminatory by paying the usual cost." - 5er pg. 161

The book says virtually the same thing for hearing. My comment had absolutely nothing to do with SteveZilla’s post about taste/smell, and even though I understand you don’t have 5er the post with direct quote was there. The book, however, does also say that human smell/taste is discriminatory in the same limited way that sight and hearing is. I can smell the difference between black pepper and cinnamon can’t you? We can taste salty/sweet/bitter/sour. It’s the difference between discriminatory modeled after actual human senses, and Discriminatory, the almost supernatural sense modifier.

Ghostangel, I agree with you for the most part, but I think simply having a better definition of discriminatory of a “cruder degree” and Discriminatory you buy would be better than making sight fully Discriminatory and scrapping discriminatory in every other sense…just my opinion. I think the problem is definition, not the ability itself.

Re: Sell my friends on DCV

I think rreay pretty much hit the nail on the head, you're not dodging bullets, you're dodging someone shooting at you. If either of your friends hunt, ask them which is easier to shoot, a still or moving target. Hell, even if they just play First Person Shooters, no matter how good you are it's easier to hit the noob sitting in the corner than the experienced guy crouching, weaving, jumping, etc.

You may not convince them, and that's fine if the rest of the group agrees and they go along with it, but if they keep bringing up, especially in-game, and it's killing the mood or starting arguments mid-battle, then maybe they just aren't right for your gaming group.

Re: Disadvantages...lists anyone?

Are you wanting more types of disadvantages not listed in the book, or are you looking for a list of physical dis ads, psychological disads, etcetera, with there values?

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

I think what ghost-angel said in essence what I was attempting do describe with rather poor examples. I'm pretty much in agreement with his definition as I think it most accurately portrays the ability as described in the rules.

(And BTW, according to FREd, I *do* have Discriminatory Hearing, as do all normal humans.)

Once again, the rules in 5er very clearly state that the discriminatory hearing we all share as human beings is limited and of a "much cruder nature" than that granted by the ability modifier "Discriminatory" which is why I capitalized it, referring to the bought ability not the natural ability which is somewhat self evident.

P.S. I meant that the natural limited discriminatory hearing was self evident, not my intention when capitalizing the words...

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

Here's an interesting question for you (and the answer is, surprisingly, not in the book, but is fundamental to our understanding of the discriminatory problem):

 

What is it that normal sight detects?

The physical appearance of an object? Visible spectrum light reflecting off of things? Amounts of light, shadow, and contrast? How specific/abstract are we talking here?

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

You're saying that if you had no musical knowledge and had never heard a flute before, then one day you hear a wooden flute, then the next week you hear a metal flute, you would instantly know that it was a different instrument, even though you only heard each once and with a deal of time inbetween? I find that hard to believe. Maybe I have really bad hearing, or maybe you actually have Discrimanatory Hearing Sense.

As for the religious example in the book, I thought of a couple possibilities. In the midwest US some people mix up Amish and Menonite (Sp?). Both cultural/religious groups have men with beards, women with covered hair, very simple clothing, etc. Now if you know nothing about either group, yet you have Discriminatory you would probably notice that one group never wears any colors, while the other only wears single solid color garments, or that one group doesn't wear buttons. Yes, anyone who repeatedly runs into these groups would eventually pick up these details, but (the way I read it) someone with Discriminatory Sight would know on first sight that individuals from each group are from different religions/cultures, even if he doesn't have the knowledge of those cultures to apply that information to anything. Maybe I'm way off base, or using the definition in 5er to literally. What does everyone else think?

P.S. I misread, I thought you said it was the same definition in both books. Didn't realize you were asking if it was. Sorry if I came across as snooty

Re: Normal Smell/Taste one sense?

Hmmm... I don't know if this is anothe non-change change from 5e to 5er' date=' but FREd says that by default, normal humans have Disciminatory Sight and Hearing. This is why they have police line-ups - you can identify by sight, the person who robbed you. That's Discriminatory Sight.[/quote']

 

 

"The Discriminatory effect provided by the Sight Group is not the full Discriminatory obtained by buying that Sense Modifier, but rather an effect of somewhat cruder degree. For example, a character can tell two people apart based on their visual appearance, but cannot always determine a person's ethnicity or religion through sight. Characters can make Normal Sight (or the entire Sight Sense Group) fully Discriminatory by paying the usual cost." - 5er pg. 161

 

It’s important to read the entire definition. Quite frankly “Discriminatory” is very powerful for how cheap it is, IMO. Yes, sight and hearing are somewhat discriminatory, but there’s a difference between telling the difference between an average man and woman (regular sight), people of only slightly different ethnicities or cultural backgrounds (fully Discriminatory sight), and the difference between, say, an Irishman and Scotsman, by sight alone (bordering on Analyze). Likewise, anyone (or almost anyone) can tell the difference between a bird and a trombone, but with no musical knowledge you would need full Discriminatory hearing to tell the difference between a metal and wooden flute, unless you heard them at the same time to compare.

 

EDIT: Just realized that I had commented on what others have stated and not the actual topic of the post. I think Uthanar's understanding of Discriminatory is correct.

Re: The Sacketts

Forgive my ignorance, what series is this from?

Re: Tips for Evil Cult Members

Speaking for the Guild of Evil Dieities: No. That ain't gonna do it. You want to loosen up the rules of your religion just because they're inconvenient to your lifestyle? We've got Episcopalianism for you already.

Wow, glad I work alone at night so no one was around to hear me crack up laughing...

Re: Animal facilitated clairsentience and more…

Cool, thanks for the imput. If I don't use charges how would you suggest limiting the use of the healing ability? I mean, it's really hard to find the supplies needed, but how do I stop someone from, say, stockpiling the stuff? Or being stuck with only being able to use it once and then having to take a month to go find supplies?

I think I'll take your advice about changing the clairsentience, that sounds little better.

Re: Darth Vader vs. The Hulk

They do? As in "could there exist circumstances under which the Hulk might beat Galactus" or "the Hulk and Galactus meet in an alley - the Hulk might win"? Because if I said the latter seems implausible' date=' it would be a gamma-irradiated understatement from my not-reading-comics-in-ages perspective.[/quote']

 

More along the lines of "Could Galactus destroy the Hulk?".

 

 

Back to the topic at hand, comparing those two character sheets I can't believe Vader could possibly win...

Re: Darth Vader vs. The Hulk

[/font][/color]

 

Who smoked what to come up with that? But let's say for a moment that the fall into a black hole wouldn't kill the Hulk (who'd have pretty much all of eternity to chill out and maybe change back - not to mention the eventual speed-of-light impact at the bottom - how many dice of damage is that?), he'd have a heck of a time getting out - or does the Hulk have FTL Superleap now?

 

 

Which just tells me it's the Hulk has been ridiculously poorly written. Possibly even worse than the 'planet-pushing' Superman.

If I remember correctly the black hole acted as a portal or wormhole and spit him out somewhere else (a common scifi contrivance) and the miraculous part was that traveling through it hadn't killed him.

As for being poorly written, both Superman and Hulk started out much weaker than their current incarnations. You can't blame Stan Lee, or what's-his-name who created Superman. It's decades of writers, all with different views and ideas about the characters, combined with ageless characters that never really age, that screwed up. It's the biggest flaw of the comic book superhero genre...

Re: Dropping defences

Wasn't sure if I had misunderstood or what. I still think that having the defense be just that, defense, makes sense and maybe having a limitation if it affects helpful effects, but that's just my opinion and I have much less experience with Hero so I'll probably just go with whatever the consensus is...if one is reached.

Re: Dropping defences

I think the answer' date=' for me at least, would be to be able to better define your Power (and other) defences at teh time of build. So, the base assumption is that a defence is like a wall and, while it stands, nothing can pass through in either direction BUT if you buy your defence with an adder, for 5 points, it acts like a valve or dodge and you get to choose on a case by case basis without having to drop the whole thing. There seems to be a clear difference in utility and so there should be a difference in cost.[/quote']

 

"Nothing can pass through in either direction"? That would imply that a character could not use a power that works against power defense while having his own power defense active. That really does not seem to make sense to me unless I'm misreading that...

 

I would say just go with the rules clarification listed above from the faq unless the character is specifically built to not be help-able (err, is built to not be able to be helped?) for some strange reason.

Re: Solo Campaign...suggestions

Another option for fleshing out a character in a solo campaign is if he has any limitations, particularly psychological ones, he wants to buy off with experience points (if you allow PCs in your campaign to buy off Dis). Rather than just randomly buying off or lessoning a disadvantage when he earns enough points, work the disadvantage into the scenario. Maybe his fear of heights allows a villain to escape or his enrage/berserk endangers an innocent bystander or DNPC. In a solo campaign the PC can take time to research phobias and reduce his psych lim: fear of heights, total, to fear of heights greatly impairing or minor impairing, so he has a chance of over coming it with an ego role. Maybe he can come to terms with the cause of his anger and reduce his chance of becoming enraged or increase his chance of coming back to normal after he has gone enraged. This suggestion might be worthless if he has no limits he wants to get rid of, or if you don’t allow disadvantages to be bought off in your campaigns, but if he does and you do it fills the character out more showing how he dealt with his issues rather than just randomly not being afraid of heights one day because he saved up enough points. These are very generic examples, but I hope you get what I mean.

I’m going to be running a Victorian mystery/supernatural campaign set in America. It’s a heroic level game (100/+100 points) with the PCs having little or no supernatural powers and having to deal with murders and mysteries which may or may not have supernatural elements on a case by case basis. Anyway, I wrote up a few abilities for an NPC and I was wondering if someone more experienced than me could check them out and see if there was anything wrong with them.

The first is for an Apache Medicine Man NPC who has limited Clairsentience by going into a trance and seeing through the eyes of animals. While in the trance he has limited control of the animal he is looking through (mostly for movement and direction, he can’t make the animals attack people or anything). He needs to have certain herbs and such and chant in a secluded place with a fire as he enters the trance. This is what I came up with using the Hero Designer program, does it look right? If not, any suggestions?

Eyes of the Beasts: Clairsentience (Sight And Hearing Groups), +2 to PER Roll, 2 Perception Points, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (55 Active Points); OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -2 1/4), Arrangement (-1/4), Extra Time (5 Minutes, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/4), Only Through The Senses Of Others (Sees through the eyes of undomesticated canines, ursines, felines, and birds of prey; -1/2), Incantations (Meditating Chant; -1/4)

Real point cost was 9 or 10

Mind of the Beast: Mind Control 2d6 (Animal class of minds), Linked (Eyes of the Beasts; Lesser Instant Power can be used in any Phase in which greater Constant Power is in use; Lesser Power need not be used proportionally to Power with which it is Linked; +0), Telepathic (+1/4) (12 Active Points); Limited Class Of Minds [subset of a class] (Wolves/Coyote, Hawks/Eagles, Bears, Wild Cats; -1/2), Incantations (Meditating Chant; -1/4), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4)

Real point cost was 6

The next is a healing Indian remedy for the same character. Just wondering if anyone sees any problems with it…

Herbal Indian Cure: Healing BODY 3 1/2d6 (35 Active Points); OAF Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; Healing Herb Powder; -1 1/4), Arrangement (-1/4), Extra Time (1 Minute, Only to Activate, -3/4), 12 Charges (-1/4)

Don’t remember the actual cost after Dis.

Re: Darth Vader vs. The Hulk

Well he gets glimpses of the future' date=' can move [i']anything[/i] with his TK, and has access to the full force of the Empire.

Vader cannot move "anything" with his TK. Hulk could lift and move much heavier/larger objects than Vader could with the force.

Actually, everything mentioned above is a great reason for a dead hulk. I think superman is a less tired worn out character than Hulk. Sure, power level in a straight up fight, Hulk wins.

 

I'll give the nod to Vader for just being more interesting, having at least some definition. Thats more important than actual power levels as far as match ups go.

 

Frankly, Vader's too smart not to find some way to take care of Hulk. And anything other than an 'instant combat', Banner would probably never make the transformation to Hulk.

 

Again, it comes down to where the fight is staged. On the pages of a Hulk magazine..well, Hulk Smash, FTW. Anywhere else..hmm, Darth Hulkious, newest servant of the Sith anyone?

There is absolutely no way that Banner would not make the transformation in time. Banner has been shot with a high powered/high velocity sniper rifle and he transformed before the bullet got farther than his teeth. And he didn’t even know he had been shot at.

I've never seen the Hulk as a hero. There's really nothign heroic about him..nor Banner, for that matter in a consistant fashion.

 

Really, Hulk is one of the characters I wish Marvel had killed off. Nothing would be missed about that.

Hulk has helped topple almost every major villain at various times in Marvel's history, that's not heroic? Prior to "World War Hulk", which I haven't read, he had never intentionally killed a human and despite massive property damage and many injuries has never killed a civilian (unless, as I stated, it has happened very recently). He has served with the Avengers and I believe the Defenders as well. Plus, Banner's motivation (on and off) through much of the comic's history has been to find a cure. Not to mention he is the Hulk because he risked his life to save someone else's. How is Banner/Hulk not heroic?

Yes Dr Doom could beat the Hulk' date=' easily. It doesn't happen because, well, that's not how comic books work but if the question is could he just based on abilities without regard to plot device or author's whim then yes. He'd watch video, interrogate old associates, make a plan and then one day the Hulk would be dead. There might be a fight but probably not. It'd be a pretty boring read, except maybe from the point of view of the people trying to figure out why the Hulk was dead; that might be something worth running. now that I think about it.[/quote']

 

There is no conceivable way Doom could defeat Hulk. His tech isn't advanced enough and his magic isn't powerful enough. While Hulk may be more vulnerable to magic than other forms of attack, he has taken direct hit’s from Odin and still got back up.

 

There is only one way I see Vader beating the Hulk.

 

After expending numerous minions and reccon assets scouting the target, Vader borrows the Death Star from the Emperor. They blow up the planet, catch the Hulk in a tractor beam, set him at the focus point for the superlaser, and fire it again.

 

If that doesn't do it, keep the tractor beam on and set course for Kessel. Drop the Hulk into the Maw (a cluster of black holes).

 

But really, that's a case of the Empire beating the Hulk, not Vader per se.

 

Black hole wouldn't necessarily stop Hulk, which I believe was illustrated in “Planet Hulk”.

 

 

 

Hulk’s power is not some contrivance to keep the character alive against all odds. Hulk is so powerful writers have to contrive more and more ridiculous things just to make it seem like he is really in danger. It’s so hard to find a decent villain for hulk that almost a year worth of story-arch in the late 90’s or early 2000’s was spent dealing with Banner’s psychological issues and Hulk’s multiple personality issues. Vader simply can’t compare. Mind control? If classic “Hulk Angry” had the mental whammy put on him “Professor Hulk” or Joe Fixit (Grey Hulk) would emerge instead. Light Saber cut his head off? Are you serious? Adamantium can barely scratch him, and the strongest energy attacks usually just disorient or annoy him. Most of the times Hulk has been defeated in a fight (and by defeated I mean knocked out) has been by sucker-punches, often when he was already calming down (like the one time Doc Samson dropped him). Frankly, Vader has nothing going for him other than an excellent dodge.

Comic aficionados argue whether or not Galactus could defeat Hulk, and he survived the entropy of a dying universe and the “Big Bang” that created ours. Vader? I don’t think so.