TheEmerged

Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age I forget the exact issue number, but THE classic bad Silver Age issue is an issue of The Brave and The Bold that has Wonder Woman and Batgirl fighting over Batman -- and Batman complaining about it.

Re: Fine Manipulation My rule-of-thumb: Without Fine Manipulation, you can perform anything "an infinitely flat, infinitely flexible 2x4" could do without turning it. So you could hit the stereotypical "big button", but if you try to type on a keyboard you'll hit multiple keys. It's an imperfect but workable standard for me I've used for several years. It allows for Strike damage (slapping them with the board), Grabs (wrapping it around them), disarms, and most other generic tricks. With Fine Manipulation -- you can do anything you could do with a hand, but you're still subject to any penalties or skill roll the hand would be subject to. In particular, I sometimes feel it is appropriate to enforce a ranged penalty, or to require a characteristic check if "feedback" is part of the skill -- although I void the later if the character buys "ranged touch" to represent the TK being able to give the feedback information. So if you're using TK to disarm a bomb, you still have to make the Demolitions check. If I feel that the inability to feel what you're touching is a problem, there's either going to be a penalty to that check -- or a Power skill roll if there isn't an applicable skill.

Re: Summon to simulate seeking projectiles Of course, this is HERO so you're going to have people wanting to do both

Re: Summon to simulate seeking projectiles I built a whole series of powers using this basic construct for MasterMime. He basically uses this construct to simulate his ability to create "Invisible (whatever)" for his attack powers -- like the invisible dog to carry people away, the invisible hawk to do the same to fliers, invisible snakes to tie opponents up... Sometimes you can do some darn-near abusive things with this construct -- the "invisible snakes" power in particular comes dangerously close to overpowering Entangle for similar costs. If you use this construct, you have to make sure you're putting the appropriate advantages on the Summon. If your "invisible snake" can only do one thing, it should take the +1 since it is effectively "slavishly loyal" -- it does exactly one thing. You also have to make sure the summoned construct has the appropriate powers and defenses; if it can't be stunned it should take that power and the resulting increase to DEF costs.

Re: Tetrodotoxin I've always used Mental Illusions for this effect myself, since at +30 EGO they can't do anything that affects the real world. Your poison effect would probably be Based on CON, with additional limitations that they can still perceive the real world and must hit the +30 level of effect. For a dart effect adding Linked and/or requiring a point of BODY to be done by a MPA'd attack can be used as well. It's expensive in terms of active points (although the real cost can easily be brought done with limitations), and arguably should be given the things you can do to/with a helpless opponent.

Re: Of course we're criminals. We have to be. Okay, I'll begin with an important factor: the PC's in my current campaign are Supervillains. ===================== In NeoChampions, the Nova Registration Act was passed by President Carter after the villain MindBender nearly succeeded in taking over the world before anybody realized -- and (at least in popular opinion, it's actually more complicated than this) got voted out of office because of it. While Reagan rendered it nearly toothless, he was never able to get quite enough support to get it overturned. After the Battle of Detroit cost George Bush the election, Clinton was able to add what by comparison were draconian 'teeth' to the law. George W. Bush has made noises about "reexamining" it but that's all he's made. As a result, it is a federal felony to be a nova (person with superpowers) and not register within 2 weeks of eruption. While there has been resistance to this, the lack of a central, popular leader for the movement has doomed it to fragmentation over methods (cf "Brave New World", the game not the novel). PRIMUS is the federal agency in charge of enforcing the NRA (originally known as The Detroit Act, a title that has lost popularity). Under the auspices of the SAT (Superhuman America Team) program, various novas have been given official status -- of course you have to be registered to be official. You don't necessarily have to be a member of PRIMUS to have SAT approval, but many do (for example, Defender, Ironclad, Solitaire, and Jaguar are -- but KnightSeeker and Sapphire aren't). PRIMUS is quite jealous about this -- although there are exceptions, as a rule most PRIMUS members view it as their duty to track down vigilantes. A few "defiant" novas have gotten suspended sentences in return for joining up after having their 'secret identities' revealed to the public, but most respond to having the ID's blown (which PRIMUS does with glee) by moving to Sanctuary. Other countries of course vary on their local version of the NRA; The United Kingdom for example is just as harsh as the US, but Australia still has a "toothless" version (you have to register but there are no special penalties for not registering). The United Nations requires a form of registration before allowing novas to join Project Utopia and/or Team Tomorrow. And some of the more draconian nations have actually outlawed novas -- although most allow exile in defference to the UN (because they know what happened to Libya). ============= RE: Secret ID's. Most PRIMUS officials view this as a challenge; if a nova runs around with a mask as a vigilante, the average Silver Avenger is going to make a point of trying to find their ID. What's more, most tabloids and many newspapers (one exception: The Washington Post, which has always been anti-registration) go out of their way to try and scoop PRIMUS on this. Although it's not universal, the public at large views it as something they don't necessarily like but don't dislike enough to fight against. The "J. Jonah Jameson" view (comics did exist in NeoChampions), that "If they're a hero, why wear a mask" is especially hard to argue against in a world where being a nova can make you an easy celebrity. Take the Black Mask of Michtendorf. She is not registered. Her "secret identity" is an open secret among the upper echelons of the intelligence community -- but she's widely believed not to be a nova (she in fact is) and therefore not within PRIMUS's jurisdiction. The current Golden Avenger has decided that it would not be good press to bring national icon down -- for now. If BM ever crossed the GA in the wrong way, GA would personally bring her in. On the flip side, the police in Michtendorf all but cheer her on. In the city of Righteous Indignation, you'd never convince anyone she's a nova anyway -- and while the feds have made noises, no one on the police force is going to arrest this icon. A few make a show of pointing their guns in her direction and saying she's "under arrest" but everyone knows they'd never actually do it. Nationally however she's the exception, and generally viewed as such. Except for a corrupt town which is basically run behind the scenes by a nova terrorist group, you could count the number of vigilantes enjoying a similar status in the USA on one hand and not need all the fingers. Of course, not every nova fights crime: about 5 in 7 novas are 'employables' who simply use their powers in day-to-day life, or live around them. Karl Bensom uses his nova Savant powers and Universal Translation to be an expert book restorer and expert on obscure languages and alphabets. Carter Crossover on the other hand is just a corporate accountant who happens to be 8ft tall and weigh nearly half a ton of solid muscle. Both are registered, which causes unique problems for each. Carter for example suffers from "truck liability" -- everyone in the neighborhood knows he's a nova (it's pretty obvious) and as a result gets asked to help any time a neighbor needs a heavy object moved. Karl on the other hand gets called in for questioning any time something odd happens around the library he works at; the police know he's a savant nova with an eidetic memory and want to know every detail he might have seen...

Re: Activation Roll vs. Required Skill Roll RE: Activation rolls for continuous powers. Well, speaking for myself I just ignore the bit about requiring an activation each phase -- I only require activation rolls when the power, um, activates or is tested. The difference is just not that great in my opinion.

Re: Biggest whine about HERO RE: The Genre Books I hate to agree, but find that I have to -- with the exception of Ninja HERO, I feel that I didn't get my money's worth with those I've purchased (Star HERO, Fantasy HERO, Ninja HERO, and Champions). There's one chart in Champions I found useful, and I found that I ended up making my own version of it. I haven't had a reason to open it since. Even with Ninja HERO I found that there was too much redundency...

Re: Cyborg and mental powers On my HalfJack rewrite (a cyborg NPC from previous editions of Champions), I gave him 50% MD Reduction with the limitation "Not vs a MD power that can affect both the machine and human class of mind" -- only -1/4 because this is a fairly rare combination. This is paired with a 10-pt Physical Limit "Also affected as the Machine class of mind."

Re: EMP - Dispell or Suppress Speaking as someone who allows the "Dispel breaks Foci" option -- I allow/require appropriate skill checks to "fix" it in the field. For example, Weaponsmith for Dispelled weapons... It's a great way to make battlesuit characters take the skills they logically should have taken in the first place To me, as someone else mentioned, this is a necessary part of Foci balance.

Re: Biggest whine about HERO /tangent on That's an easy one. God can create a rock so heavy he can't lift it. He can then turn around and lift it. In order to be truly omnipotent God would have to be capable of paradox, otherwise logic is more powerful than God.

Re: Favorite Abuse Book Legal: The "Mind Mole". Tunnelling + X-Ray + ECV Attacks... "Bouncing Boy". Moderate-High STR + Moderate-High Movement + Absorption PD into STR (and sometimes Absorption ED into Movement). Takes advantage of the "blowback" damage of Move By and Move Thru to make your character do more damage each time they hit something... Book Legal, and don't even THINK of running these by me... Megascale on a AE:One Hex power. This one has seen print (the Mind Control Laser in Champions) Trigger, "Whenever I need it" -- has seen print as an example in FREd Entangle, NND -- Ditto Flash NND to a lesser extent Honorable Mention "Book Legal But Doesn't Work the Way You Think It Does" Dispel to Knockback Resist, Does KB, Double KB. Powers which adjust a defense still have the defense applied to that attack...

Re: Biggest whine about HERO #1> Front-loaded complexity. This is a feature, not a flaw, in my opinion. I'd rather take a week to build a character than waste 10 minutes looking up what a spell does during actual gameplay myself. But for the people used to banging out a character in under a minute, this is an issue. #2> No Good Licenses. Not that great licenses have helped some companies, but HERO appears to not even want to compete here sometimes. I mean, the only one I've ever heard were some noises about a Witchcraft license during the Cybergames era. A T&A comic is the best they can do? #3> Too Many House Rules. I get this one most from the d20 crowd, ironically enough ("Pot? Kettle. Kettle? Pot.") The complaint is that just about every little pocket of HERO fandom runs by its own set of rules, making character portability difficult. Again, from where I type this is a feature not a flaw -- I happen to LIKE the idea that the system's openness means people can run very different campaign styles with the same system. #4> The Math. I know I should pity people on this, but I can't. It's junior-high math at most, people. #5> The scalability problems in lower-point campaigns. This one I have to actually grant people; in hindsight, maybe skills should have been built on 5+(Cha/5) and the NCM set at 25-30 instead of 20. Someday I hope to actually test that standard... #6> The lack of absolutes. I know one person locally whose main argument for why he hates HERO is that it doesn't easily handle absolutes -- a spell that always hits, a defense that absolutely protects or causes an automatic miss, and so forth. Personally I think he's just being contrary, though...

Re: Character for Review - Avatar Remember that under 5th Edition, LoW is subject to categories of defense -- kinda like Flash Defense only protects the sense group it's defined for. Now I can't answer for FREder, but FREd wasn't too clear on what those categories were. I rule them as natural (your own PD/ED), close equipment (Armor or PD/ED from a Focus), external (Force Field or Force Wall), mental, and unusual (power and flash). RE: The EC's. I can't speak for GM's other than myself -- and don't take this as an attack because it's not meant as one -- but I've deducted character points off of sheets for less than that, especially the SPD thing. Then again, I'm pretty explicit about what I'll allow in what power frameworks. Now, I *might* think about allowing those EC's -- if there were a defined reason other than an adjustment power why they wouldn't always be up. Like losing the powers around green rocks, having a secret ID, or somesuch.

Re: EMP - Dispell or Suppress I have both on the same character, actually. Dispel works best for a "do it now" effect, Suppress works better for a "reduce its effectiveness for a while" effect.

Re: At what point does a character become unrecognizable due to XP? RE:Becoming unrecognizable. This usually isn't due to XP, in my experience. Granted we've only had a few campaigns exceed the 3 year mark (the current one soon will), though... Usually it's a function of the player deciding to go in a different direction, or succumbing to the homogeny ("I really should give my heat-based character flight, I mean, every heat-based character flies..."). To me the "Jump the Shark" moment is most obvious when the player starts talking about buying off disadvantages. Sometimes the issue is that the initial concept isn't broad enough; among the current PC's in the campaign I could see this becoming a problem for our "bouncing boy" martial artist. The PC is built around a gamey aspect; the character itself has always been a little lacking (even the player admits that). Thankfully the player has decided to spend more of his experience on the 'insect' aspect of the concept -- what some would call "fluff" but I don't believe that's a fair statement. ---------------------------------------------------------------- RE: Suggestions for Z'lf. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you see her more as a gymnist than a speedster, right? Too bad, there's no shortage of speedster tricks out there Maybe adding some "athletic" schticks would be a possibility -- make her more of an Olympian than "just" gymnastics. One example might be +STR with some disadvantages to reflect a 'power stunt' instead of something she'd use constantly (RSR, Increased END)... Another might be to add some PSL's to adjust Skill checks to reflect the ease with which she can do thing -- such as levels against the penalty for being prone. Of course this only works if your GM belongs to the same rule with regards to skill rolls I am...

Re: How would you simulate this power? RE: Aid costing an attack action. I seem to recall there's an option mentioned for 'basically trivial' powers that target the user being allowed to not take the attack action or even no action at all -- it's part of the Instant Change (as Transform) build, I believe. I've allowed Aid/Transfer with Self Only to be used as a normal (non-attack) action for a while now, and IMO it's closer to balance. And yes, there really are times to use a Transfer on yourself...

Re: [Newbie] Abort to block? /nitpick on Slight but important correction: Alibear should have used the word "segment", not "phase". /nitpick off

Re: Chasing Missles (from Superman: The Movie) RE: Grabbing the missile. Let's also not forget that the missile, at least built in the HERO system, is either using Megascale or NonCombatant Multipliers -- and may have a DCV penalty too. Further, at least for the missile from Superman, it filled several hexes and therefore was also easier to hit.

Re: How Much Of A Tinkerer Are You? I'm dangerously close to a 10 here. 9.5 at minimum. I've tested a *lot* of the house rules I've seen on the boards, and tried to create things I'm the type that I can't resist the need to correct any imbalance I see -- it's just that there are some things I don't see as a problem (insert crack about the "unrealistic" firearm rules here).

Re: Is it possible to Aid OCV? I didn't say CSL/UBO was clunky, I said it comes out a little more expensive than I feel it is useful.

Re: Stretching + HTH Attack + Move By? One of the players in my campaign is fond of a power construct he calls "Bouncing Boy", after the Legion of Super Heroes character (DC). Basically it's built around low-to-moderate brick STR, moderate-to-high movement, and Absorption -- the character performs multiple Move By/Thru, with the "blowback" damage feeding his Absorption into Strength. The more often he hits, the harder he hits... I say this only to say I have some experience with Move By oddities What follows is my opinion -- no more, no less... RE: HA and Move By/Thru. I'm from the school that says HA represents STR with No Figured more than EB No Range. As such I'd require a Darn Good Reason for an HA to be figured outside the halving -- ditto with Martial Damage Classes. If your interpretation of HA is different? You're welcome to your opinion; I've certainly changed mine a few times on other issues. However I'd like to hear your reasoning as to why RKA and HKA have the same cost but HA and EB don't. (Tone note: I'm being serious/curious, not catty/sarcastic) RE: Stretching Velocity Damage. The player mentioned above has mentioned the possibility of adding Stretching to his EC -- as soon as he can justify it under the theme of "Humanoid Insect Powers" Now, as I understand the logic of 'stretching velocity' it's based on the idea that your fist is moving faster as being stretched. As such, I'd allow it to be added *as an outright bonus* -- for the first hit, and maybe a second hit if the character has the Two-Weapon (or Fisted) Fighting or Rapid Attack skills to represent hitting each opponent with a different fist. Any subsequent blows in the Move By/Thru chain however do not get this bonus. And I'd definitely apply the off-handed penalty to the second blow... One more thing: I'm not sure I'd allow this on a Move Thru for thematic reasons. At the very least I'd apply -1d6 to the KB roll. RE: Stretching on Move By. Can you say, "Area Effect Clothesline"? I knew you could. However I treat it as being non-selective -- he has to make a full to-hit roll (against the character, not the hex) unless the victim is so large as to fill more than one hex.

Re: Is it possible to Aid OCV? Officially, Change Environment can't give bonuses. Unofficially, I ran a few tests on allowing this and IMO it comes out a little too cheaply for the effect -- on the other hand, CSL's with UBO are a little more expensive than I care for. Maybe if I made Selective a +1/2 advantage instead of +1/4...

Re: A couple definition topics RE: Plot Device Only 2000? My Dr. Destroyer rewrite clocks well over this before perks...

Re: Sweet Mystery Of Life...Your Favorite Damsel In Distress Moments... I've pulled the classic "love interest is actually a government spy" trick, the "love interest is actually a history grad-student using time travel to do research" trick, the "love interest is actually Leaper's secret identity" -- no, really -- the ever popular "love interest is a reporter with a hostage fetish who ends up getting tragically killed" trick... and if I kept it up I could probably remember a few dozen. *Leaper is from 4th Edition's "Champions of the North", effectively the Canadian Foxbat. For some reason the players preferred him to Foxbat and he's turned into a recurring character for us...