TheEmerged

Good rule of thumb: if the effect only disguises the user, it's invisibility. Remember that Darkness blocks a sense it affects just like a wall was there. Consider this: X_____Y______Z If X is a danger to Z, and Y has Darkness to Danger Sense, Z can't detect the danger X presents.

/humor on Just my opinion, you're certainly welcome to yours, but if Stan Lee were ever to be up for the death penalty he'd better hope the prosecution doesn't use that issue as evidence against his character... /humor off

One of my players likes to run "Bouncing Boy" types -- characters built around Move-By & Move Thru, combined with Absorb against the "blow back" so they get tougher as they're hit. Is Move By/Thru abusable? Kinda. Personally I wouldn't allow someone in a campaign with a 12DC cap that already has a 12DC attack to have more than 15 or 20 hexes of movement, anymore than I'd allow someone with a significant "avoid getting hit" power like Invisibility or a self-focused Darkness Field to also have capped DEF scores. How to correct? It sounds bad on the surface, but the bottom line is that you have to handle it the way you do any other advantage the PC's have -- plan around it. Knockback resistance exists for a reason, use it. Also, be very hesitant if a player comes to you with not-quite-capped STR, DEF, and Movement -- and then asks for Penalty Skill levels for Move By & Move Thru. I let the player in question do this, and I'm beginning to question the wisdom of that decision...

First he'd make a skill roll (Demoltions 17-) to determine if the device was signal=blow or no-signal=blow. If necessary he'd use his Discriminatroy/Analyze Technology Sense to make sure. He'd then either use his Gremlin Ray to short out the fuse or make something that can fool the pulse sensor with his MacGuyver Ray. Chances are he can deal with the Joker-Style gadgets once the real threat is over with. Did I mention my GM-PC is a gadgeteer? Once finished he'd kill the sucker for bothering him; Did I mention my GM-PC is a villain?

I agree with the comment that they're there as an example, to be used if you want to use them. I kept Defender, Sapphire, and Ironclad pretty much as listed. I renamed Nighthawk to NightSeeker, renamed some of his special effects (he doesn't have batons he has sais, he doesn't have pellets he has shuriken). Witchcraft just doesn't do anything for me so I brought Solitaire back (although the actual writeup is somewhere between the traditional Soli & WC's) -- but then, I've always had a soft spot for Soli. I've ended up adding Jaguar back to the team partially to counteract some of my PC's powers. What I want to know is, who's responsible for Solitaire being a barmaid/waitress now? (CU5 pg 148, picture)

Yeah, I have to agree that Sapphire is quickly becoming the Seeker of the modern Champions in the eyes of my players, too. When the players start pining for Quantum, you know you have a problem. On the other hand, Ironclad has gone over fairly well.

One of my PC's (Hexadecimal) has 17 characters, all told "Janie", the base form, which happens to have the ability to create 15 duplicates of herself (minus her Multiform) and 16 multiforms (one of which she can't enter willingly). At a total of 17 forms, an average of two pages per form... You get the picture

Re: Hmmm We really need the "rolling" smiley on this board In fairness, the Cincinnati Garfields have been to the Super Bowl twice, and were competitive both times. How many teams can say that? BTW, if we really want to make Superman related Bengal jokes, I think we all know how it would have worked. a> Mike Brown would pass him up in the draft for Ambush Bug b> The league would immediately legalize Kryptonite Footballs (cf changes to mitigate their "hurry up" offense in the late 80's) c> He'd get injured in his second season and never play the same d> He'd try to leave the team, but get "franchise slapped" (I think the Bengals lead the NFL in the number of different players they've franchised...) e>...or he'd be gone the first time he opened his mouth to say anything except "Brown is great, Brown is good..." no matter how long he'd been with the team or how much he'd done for the team (cf Lee Johnson) f>...or he'd be placed on waivers if a hot prospect rumored to be faster than 2 speeding bullets came out, regardless of evidence to the contrary (cf Jim Breech) g> He'd end up playing most of his NFL games for another club (something only Detroit is worse at than the Bengals).

We've been using HeroClix figures too -- occasionally a couple we've attempted to repaint (emphasis: attempted). I've got a semi-massive "scrub" repainting project going right now, as a matter of fact.

Being a history nut, I've always prefered the elseworlds that deal with WHEN he arrives myself :-P The Japanese and Civil War stories are among my personal favorites. Elseworlds Rant! Why is it that in every elseworlds were Batman is the main character, Superman is played as the villain (or a tragically mis-guided character)? If he had landed in SW Ohio? Hard to say, we don't have some of the obvious stereotypes here other areas do (even though we sometimes seem to get an unfair share of scandals related to hypocrisy of public figures)... None that I'm aware of, anyway.

RE: Evil Twins. I used to joke that, since I have a goatee, I'm the evil one. Then I discovered I share my first and last name with a serial killer who is trying to say it was his other personality that did the killings (so thank GOD for middle names...). I don't make that joke anymore Can't find the picture anymore, but he's clean-shaven... Soap Opera Comparison. I've said for years that the soaps and comics have something in common as far as vices go -- it's all about the characters. Once they're under your skin you can never really let them go. I've been buying Green Lanter, for example, out of sheer loyalty for the last couple of years. Which brings me to the other similarity -- nothing destroys your enjoyment of the stories like a new writer determined to make "his/her mark" on the character...

By the time I finally saw a copy of S&P at a flea market, I had long since learned my lesson from the infamous "Yes, stupid me bought Eurpoean Enemies over Strike Force" incident and snapped it up quickly It's my favorite adventure module that I actually own...

The philosphical answer to the question probably runs something like this: To make duplication work more like it tends to work in fiction. The x2 Duplicates for +5 points goes a long way toward that. What's more, fictional duplication powers generally don't create duplicates that differ from the "base" form much, if at all.

Officially, power defense works regardless of what power/characteristic is being targetted. However, some people feel this allows Power Defense to counteract adjustment powers too cheaply, and therefore make a house rule that Power Defense has to be bought for each power/framework. Aaron Allston (creator of Strike Force and the author of Champions) has this in his house rules if I recall. Personally, my experience dictates otherwise. Unlike Flash Defense and Lack of Weakness (which were too cheap in 4th Edition, IMHO anyway), there is a 5-point-per-d6 power that works against Power Defense -- Suppress. In fact, there's even a 3-point-per-d6 power that works against Power Defense -- the horribly underrated Dispel (in practice Dispel almost always has at least a +1/4 advantage on it so it's closer to 4-point-per-d6). Now, I'll admit that my experience is probably different than most GM's but I've seen a lot more Suppresses and Dispels than Drains & Transfers from my players. I'll grant that Transform is common as the get-out, though. Editted to add -- took the time to dig up the PDF I had downloaded off Aaron's site with his campaign rules, dated 1995. I need to make a slight clarification due to my faulty memory. Aaron requires that Power Defense be bought with one of 2 possible -2 limitations. The PowDef either defends one specific power/characteristic against any power that might affect it, or the PowDef defends against a specific power with a specific special effect (like Dispel Magic for example).

Please don't get me started on the "official examples" rant. Please

Multiform doesn't cost END to use, and therefore is a poor choice to allow in ANY power framework -- let alone a VPP. I agree that a Multiform with a large number of duplicates is probably your best bet here. It only takes a Half Phase to shift them, after all. Be warned that this can create a lot of work for the GM or player running that character; for example, the player running Hexadecimal (the villain with 16 forms!) still hasn't gotten 5 of the forms done and the campaign is 2 adventures and several tests old Another possibility is to go with an "outsized" Multipower (one that has a pool size larger than any one slot) and/or one with a number of variable slots. This may *sound* like a simpler option (and it doesn't require the half phases) -- but in practice, it slows down combat by increasing decision making.

Here's my take. Hit Location Chart. This is always used in campaigns in which the characters have Normal Characteristic Maxima by default (henceforth, NCM-default campaigns). In super-heroic campaigns, it is used for determining the Stun Mod of Killing Attacks and as a benchmark for "called shots" to specific body locations. The Body Multiplier is not used in Superheroic campaigns. Rapid Fire. Working better (more balanced) than I expected. It dramatically increases the ability of the PC's to mow through agent-level types. The players that took Autofire slots haven't stopped using them in favor of Rapid Attacks yet. Officially the jury is still out, but it's not as suspicious as it was at the outset. Blazing Away. Only came up once, player didn't connect a single blow. Fact that it hits only on a 3 and can't be modified with skills means it doesn't appeal to my players. Club Weapon. Hasn't come up yet (villain campaign, reducing killing attacks minor issue if at all). Definitely expected to be more of an issue in appropriate NCM-default campaigns. Cover. Never understood why this one is optional... Dive for Cover. A mixed bag. Only good for avoiding area effects -- which by their nature aren't doing as much as an outright attack anyway. Players tend to feel that the DEX roll is too easy to make and that this option makes Area Effect less than viable -- unless they're the ones Diving, anyway Hurry & Hipshot. This is actually becoming more of an issue than Rapid Attack The fixed penalties absolutely scream "Penalty Skill Level", and two of my players have expressed interest in spending experience that way. I don't like the way it comes too close to resembling an every-turn initiative roll; I've started trying to work on a rule based on Hurry's final paragraph. Pulling a Punch. Hasn't come up in current campaign (cf Club Weapon), but it has a nice effect in higher-point campaigns where not hurting the opponent too badly is an issue. Not nearly the issue in NCM-default campaigns the rules make it sound like. Roll with a Punch. Again, the set-in-stone OCV penalty screams "PSL!" If you've got a character with an out-of-whack OCV advantage this one can get problematic. Make sure the players know they can't keep doing this -- its a once per phase kind of thing. Still, it's a great tool for the PC's in "boss" fights and one you should be prepared for if you allow it. Suppression Fire. If you allow Rapid Fire, you pretty much have to allow this one to keep the balance in check. Sweep. Insert "why is this optional" joke here, except for the whole "sweep against one target" nonsense.

Speaking as one of those vocal CLOWN supporters (side rant, why is it always the minority that's described as vocal?), I hadn't heard it was OFFICIAL but given the direction of the DOJ Champions Universe I'm not surprised. Personally, I blame the way most GM's use them to try and embarrass the PC's more than that "comic relief" factor. I've always used CLOWN as a kind of 'political cartoon' to the campaign's 'newspaper', if you will, and the results have been good enough that in at least 2 campaigns I've run the PC's joined CLOWN. Then again, maybe I just have weirder PC's

I usually use the "multiform with duplication" variant myself.

RE: Jaguar being in North Carolina. The first few times I put the PC's agaisnt the Champions, I hadn't put him back in. One of the PC's is surrounded by a darkness field (and the other PC's all have ways around it), and this proved somewhat problematic against the Champions. As such, I figured the "targetting scent" Jaguar (not 100% official or realistic, I know) would make a nice foil for that character on the Champions. I needed to decide where he'd been, and the idea that he was a Domestic Defender assigned to a city he didn't get along with occured to me. I picked a city at random and Charlotte, North Carolina won. Probably *should* have been Jacksonville, Florida I suppose, but the PC's wouldn't have stopped riding me about football fanboism And thanks, the adventure went nicely. Nicely enough the PC's decided to follow it up instead of moving on to another thread. The only spot in the adventure that was a little disappointing was when they found themselves in the middle of a debate between Patriot, the Yellow Journalist, and the Velociraptor about the future of the Defiants (the "American Resistance" against the Nova Registration Act, lifted from the Brave New World continuity) -- the PC's went passive instead of joining in. Looks like they're going to be caught in the middle of that faction war RE: Opportunity List. It might be overkill, but here's something to consider. I'm running a "villain" campaign, so I can't motivate them the normal ways. I can't just say, "Giant Robots are attacking the city -- Avengers Assemble!" One of the strengths of running a villain campaign is that it allows the PC's to be more proactive; but, in true Theseus Principle fashion, that's also the biggest weakness of villain campaigns. I've found that this method works rather well with the players -- start out with a lot of opportunities for them to choose from, and then from session to session expand on the previous ones. It does an admirable job of foreshadowing, and gives me a great chance to establish campaign flavor.

Of the more than a dozen potential adventure threads I offered them (linked here), the PC's picked the one that's going to have them coming into contact with 2 of the campaign's world-shakers (1278 and 1335), could well involve contact with a powerful superhero team (the PC's are villains), and if they aren't careful in the middle of a 'faction war' between the Nova Warriors (think domestic terrorists with superpowers) and the Defiants Proper (think resistance group with superpowers). I've had to make over 15 character writeups in the last two days, and I've got another 10 to go before 2PM Sunday. Maybe you oughta be wishing *me* luck

RE: Telios. Huh. Thanks for pointing that out, I guess I was still in that "Dr. D's supposed to be the smartest in the world" mode. 'Course, I haven't yet decided what (if any) role Telios plays in the NeoChampion Universe (my campaign)... That may be something I have to correct. RE: PRE 60. Again, it goes to show how different some campaigns are. I have an NPC named "The Creep" that's designed as a 250-pt "Level 1" nova -- who's main power is a 60 PRE (30 of which normal, 30 of which costs END) combined with a PRE Suppression field.

We got onto the "Batman has a DEX of 20" argument again?

Know what I think is funny? One of my PC's has a higher INT. That's gonna have interesting ramifications when the inevitable happens

Best thing in the genre book, my opinion, is the Vulnerability Frequencies chart on page 159. I photocopied this and stuck it in FREd, and haven't opened it since.