Mr. Gridlock

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity" Remember to separate Public ID from a Watched by the Media (or the like). Just because you have a Public ID, doesn't mean that the paparazzi is camping out on your doorstep. I'd have to see a combination of positive/negative Reputation, Hunted (Watched), etc. for that level of scrutiny. To not have either Secret or Public ID means to me that while your ID COULD be figured out with some basic detective work, no one is particularly interested enough unless you MAKE them. While you don't start out with any inherent disadvantages re: your ID, you can earn them through game play depending on how much you flout your privacy. If you basically work at it (not to the level that you would have to if you had a Secret ID), no one's going to get the scoop on ya, they don't think of it, they don't care, etc.

Re: How to Simulate: Martial Arts Masters NND attacks? Don't forget to buy the Penetrating for all the Active Points in your attack, not just your STR (if you're using MA maneuvers).

Re: I need help with a Magic System This sound exactly like the Delayed Effect Advantage. You set the number of spells a PC can have "stored" (an example is INT/5). The Advantage allows you go to through all the lengthy prep (Incantations, Gestures, etc.) and either use it then or store it in a slot for later use. See 5ER pg. 255

Re: How to Simulate: Martial Arts Masters NND attacks? Penetrating will get STUN through on a Normal attack and BODY through on a Killing Attack. Buy it multiple times to overcome Hardened. Buy both versions (normal/killing) as slots in a Multipower. Lower the cost with Requires a Skill Roll and/or Concentration.

Re: Innate Defense vs Power Limitations I think this is rather straight forward and once again is an issue of SFX. All characters start out from the same place, i.e. whether you're a vampire or a super-soldier you have to buy benefits and take detriments as a Disadvantage. If the super-solider is immune to disease, he has to buy it. So does a robot. If you're a vampire, you take your vulnerabilities as Disads. That way you can say that I'm an android who's not automatically vulnerable to electrical attacks, or a vampire who can cross running water, etc. There's no difference between the super-soldier and the robot. It's just SFX.

Re: "takes no damage" entangle - underpriced? Don't you need Continuous to make this work? Otherwise the attacker has to keep using another charge and then he's just as paralyzed as the victim. And then I'm not sure about clips with this because where's the penalty for changing clips?

Re: Discussing Entangles I agree with you about the zero-sum Ads/Lims for powers re: SFX. Personally, I think the game should encourage the use of SFX because that's what the genre is all about (at least as far as supers goes). For that matter, I think you should be able to use your powers to counter attacks, i.e. Hydro-Man countering Human Torch's fireball with a water blast. But that's me. I might build these Entangles a little differently. Perhaps the cube is being trapped inside a Force Wall? The plant life might just entangle the feet, unless you specify it grabs the whole person. Just the feet would be worth a Lim, natch. The foam seems the most restrictive (ala The Incredibles) which would need Blocks Senses, too. I think you just need to take each of these situations on a case by case basis and adjudicate based on A) what's desired, what's bought, C) SFX, D) player satisfaction, and E) GM satisfaction.

Re: "takes no damage" entangle - underpriced? It's 75 Active Points. That's equal to a 15d6 EB! I'm not sure I would allow the AoE of Cone for a "dart" gun. Perhaps AoE One Hex (Accurate). That makes better sense to me. Also remember it's an OAF. All someone has to see is the dart gun work once to know that this guy needs to be targeted (him or the OAF itself). Also remember that after the 3rd shot, he'll have to spend some time to swap clips. I would disallow the "recovers under limited circumstances" since the charges weren't bought with the Recoverable advantage. It's only a 4-point difference if it were though, but as it stands it's not a legal build without it IMO. It's not really an NND at all since a character with sufficient STR can break out, even with Casual STR (which he gets the instant he's attacked).

Re: Discussing Entangles I think SFX has to matter. Otherwise there's no difference between a fire EB and a cold EB and thereby there's way to set things on fire. I think from way back I've always used the idea that every power has inherent (free) advantages and limitations. To me, they are all balanced. Some will be better in some circumstances and weaker in others. Some players fight this. A Human Torch-y types says that he wants his fire to burn in space because he didn't specifically buy the limitation that says he needs oxygen to burn. Okay, but then he also doesn't get any extra DCs from an oxygen-rich environment (say, in a hospital). If SFX doesn't matter, then I think the game is lessened and characters lose individuality. Specifically to Entangles, I've always run it that the entangled get an immediate Casual STR roll. I would not allow MA to help in breaking out of an Entangle. And if you want to stymie someone, hit them with a Mental Paralysis. Most characters do not have sufficient EGO to break out in one phase (though it costs a bit more).

Re: Extremely high Charactaristic used in REQUIRES SKILL ROLL I always compare RSR against Activation Rolls. If a 15- Activation is worth -1/4 than anything much higher than that is not going to get much of a Limitation. Of course this is without an Active Points penalty. If you have an Active Points penalty, then base your appropriate Limitation on what the net roll usually will be (most often).

Re: Find Weakness, again I think the system assumes that everything has weaknesses and if it doesn't then you can buy Lack of Weakness for it. Which is much cheaper than Hardened. AP with RSR ends up being cheaper than Find Weakness, though this might be balanced by the fact that FW can do multiple halvings. Just what are people's objections to Find Weakness? I don't see any problem with it. If it's the multiple halvings, I would say this is balanced by how cheap LoW is, and that it takes extra phases to do so, which makes the Finder of Weakness vulnerable to attack. This seems balanced to me....

Re: Useless Hero Facts Calculus? Bah. Try P. Chem. It collapses card tables.

Re: Oh She with the Prehensile Hair I was thinking more if her hair was cut, i.e. severed. Example: she's holding someone immobile and another character comes up and slices through her hair with a sword to free his compatriot. I was thinking that could cause Feedback. Just as an interesting vulnerability she'd have to work around. If the TK+PM took too long to reform (or if it had to actually grow back) that would be too limiting. I don't think the text states what happens when the PM is attacked (other than how much Def it has).

Medusa was always one of my favorite Silver Age characters and I'm finally getting a chance to play a character with prehensile hair. Question: If I want her hair to have a sort of "feedback" effect in that if it were directly targeted, would you build that with a Susceptibility is that just built into Stretching because it's her part of her (and would have her natural PD/ED)? The other way I had thought to build her hair was to use TK with a Physical Manifestation and a Side Effect (for the feedback). Question: how long does it take to reform her hair once it's been attacked (as per Physical Manifestation, which doesn't specify)? A Phase? PS12? Has to be healed back per her REC/month? Val Char Points Total Roll Notes 15 STR 5 25 14- HTH Damage 5d6 END [1] 20 DEX 30 20 13- OCV 7 DCV 7 20 CON 20 20 13- 13 BODY 6 13 12- 18 INT 8 18 13- PER Roll 13- 14 EGO 8 14 12- ECV: 5 18 PRE 8 18 13- PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6 18 COM 4 18 13- 8 PD 5 8/14 8/14 PD (0/6 rPD) 8 ED 4 8/14 8/14 ED (0/6 rED) 4 SPD 10 4 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 8 REC 2 8 40 END 0 40 31 STUN 0 31 6" Running 0 11" 2" Swimming 0 2" 5" Leaping 0 5" Total Characteristics Cost: 110 Cost Powers END Prehensile Hair 6 1) Extra Limbs (10), Inherent (+1/4) (6 Active Points) 25 2) Stretching 5", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (37 Active Points); no Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), Limited Body Parts (Extra Limbs; -1/4) 8 3) +10 STR, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (15 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Linked (Extra Limbs; -1/4) 8 4) Missile Deflection (Physical Attacks) (15 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2), Will Not Work Against Heavy Missiles (-1/4) 10 Hair Movement: Multipower, 10-point reserve 1u 1) Running +5" (11" total) (10 Active Points); no Noncombat movement (-1/4) 1u 2) Clinging (normal STR) (10 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2) 1u 3) Swinging 10" (10 Active Points); no Noncombat movement (-1/4) 6 [i]Iron Will:[/i] Mental Defense (10 points total) (7 Active Points); Nonpersistent (-1/4) 0 Hair Fighting 4 1) Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort 4 2) Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 45 STR to Disarm 3 3) Legsweep: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -1 DCV, 8d6 Strike, Target Falls 5 4) Hair Pummel: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 11d6 Strike 4 5) Squeeze: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 11d6 Crush, Must Follow Grab 4 6) Hair Smash: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 9d6 Strike 4 7) Wraparound Choke: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, Grab One Limb; 3d6 NND 5 8) Wraparound: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, 45 STR , Grab Four Limbs; 8 9) +2 HTH Damage Class(es) Perks 1 Fringe Benefit: Licensed Social Worker 3 Well-Connected 4 1) Contact: William Dunne, attorney (Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Contact has very useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact) (5 Active Points) 8- 4 2) Contacts (5 Active Points) 11- 1 Money: Well Off Talents 12 Combat Luck (6 PD/6 ED) 5 Lightning Reflexes: +3 DEX to act first with Prehensile Hair Skills 20 [i]Can Put Her Mind to it:[/i] +2 Overall 6 [i]Prehensile Hair Advantage: [/i]+2 with Martial Maneuvers 8 [i]Prehensile Hair Advantage: [/i]+4 with Sweep maneuver 5 [i]Socially Adept:[/i] +1 with Interaction Skills 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Bureaucratics 13- 3 CK: City 13- 3 Conversation 13- 3 High Society 13- 3 Jack of All Trades 1 1) PS: Cooking (2 Active Points) 11- 2 2) PS: Fundraiser (3 Active Points) 13- 3 3) PS: Social Worker (4 Active Points) 14- 3 KS: City Politics 13- 3 KS: The Legal System 13- 4 Language: Spanish (completely fluent; literate) 3 Lockpicking 13- Notes: She uses her hair as the lockpicks 2 Musical Instrument Familiarity 11- 3 Oratory 13- 3 Persuasion 13- 5 Rapid Attack (HTH) 2 SS: Psychology 11- 3 Seduction 13- 3 Streetwise 13- 3 Tactics 13- 3 Teamwork 13- Total Powers & Skills Cost: 240 Total Cost: 350 200+ Disadvantages 20 Dependent NPC: Street Kids from her Shelter 8- (Normal; Group DNPC: x4 DNPCs) 10 Distinctive Features: "Now that's a full head of hair!" (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Virtually Everyone) 5 Hunted: City Police 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Limited Geographical Area, Watching) 10 Hunted: Various people/criminals she's crossed paths with 8- (As Pow, Harshly Punish) 20 Normal Characteristic Maxima 20 Psychological Limitation: Code Against Killing (Common, Total) 20 Psychological Limitation: Protective of Children (Common, Total) 10 Reputation: Meddlesome Social Worker , 11- 15 Social Limitation: Public ID (Frequently, Major) Total Disadvantages Points: 130

Re: Intuitive Aptitude? I would use Detect with Discriminatory and Analyze. To keep effects clean, I would use separate ones for each system. Then perhaps some Overall levels and Cramming?