Talon

As someone who's running a 3E campaign for the same reason you're playing in one, yeah, I can relate. It's a constant battle to evaluate feats/classes/items that players want to bring from the d20 supplement of the week. Not that I blame the players -- my policy is that I'll potentially accept anything, but it has to be run by me first (with at least a 1 session lead time; no on-the-spot rulings). I combined the PHB gods and races with a homegrown map/history, and so far things are making pretty decent sense. I have specialty weapons (i.e., named items that are growing in power) as well as PC-constructed stuff, various and sundry plot lines, prophecies, etc. However, there's only so far I can take it -- the players have to carry their end as well. Good thing this is a rant thread so I don't need a point here!

There isn't a more "elegant" way to build this power -- it's a sense, you use Enhanced Senses. Analyze gives you a lot of info on the items sensed; even normal sight isn't fully Discriminatory. You could probably drop it and gain 5 points. When you bought the power, you would choose a Sense Group to put it in (subject to GM approval). The choice depends on how he does it -- off-hand I'd say it's an Unusual Sense, which means that it's nearly impossible to affect with Flash or Darkness. This may seem expensive, but you're really getting a pretty kick-a** power for your 40-odd points. Flash, Invisibility, Darkness, and Images will probably be useless against the character.

Heh...I bet you would have had more responses if these aliens used light sabers.

I would buy the effect. Characters of this race have KS: Past Life Memories 14- and whatever relevant skills (knowledge or otherwise) may have been passed along. Decide on an appropriate number of points to spend (at some point the individuals probably get "skill overload"). Could include extra INT/PRE/EGO and Skill Levels as well, to represent collected wisdom and balance. You'd then buy some sort of Telepathy or Mind Link to transmit memories from a dying individual -- depends on the specifics of the race.

Buy a computer for the armor, let it run the armor's systems (buy Running and STR if you need to, even limit them so that they don't add to the character's stats) when the character is absent. Make it a simple computer so it can't crimefight on its own; it needs constant input over the link.

DEX is reallllly good: DEX skills, CV, and determining who goes first. It's good enough that I thought about going to x5.

When I tried this, I did: STR x1 DEX x4 [and people still bought it in droves) CON x1 BODY x2 INT x1 EGO x2 PRE x1 COM x0 [no longer a stat] [figured stats as listed] Generally it was a success. It does still present the problem that 5 point INT or PRE Skill levels are the same cost as buying up the stat; didn't come up with a good solution for that.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/05/04/offbeat.masked.man.reut/index.html

The mind control ray is working! Muahaha!!!

Note to self: Shrike knows too much...

<Devil's Advocate> 1. The Summon summons a specific being, which is banned in the rules. 2. He has to define the creature being Summoned when the Trigger is set, so the improvements can't be in response to whatever killed him. </Devil's Advocate> Looks good to me.

There is -- get rid of the figured characteristic formulae and just buy each stat on its own.

Pages 142-3 of Star Hero have tech level breakdowns in Energy Production, Information, Medicine, Transportation, and Weaponry.

No, because the power technically does not work as written. What Steve is trying to do is encourage people to do some of this "hand waving" in circumstances where strict adherence to the rules isn't necessary (in this case, because a master villain like Mechanon has all the points he needs). This may upset your sense of rules-logic (it does mine!), but that's how Steve has chosen to present things. As he once put it, when you put your life savings on the line to buy the game system, you can do it the way you want. This kind of thing bugs me too...but it's such an improvement over the previous generations of Hero that I'm willing to let it slide. Never in the life of the Hero System has there been such support from the company, not only in terms of supplemental material published but also in the use of the game's rules to appropriately describe the game world.

If it's some sort of special energy in a clip/battery, can enterprising PCs hook up the ship's power system to recharge it?

I've found there to be a significant correlation between this power construct and munchkins. (Non-munchkins will usually have some sort of limitation already built-in.) Personally, I'd err on the side of caution and not allow it unless (as has been stated above) the duration of the Desolid was short, the damage level of the attack was low, or some other mitigating factors apply. If you do allow it, you should let the player take advantage of it -- they did pay a lot of points for it, after all. The difficulty lies in making sure they get enough use, but not too much.

1) Do Terran Empire Displacer & Hyperdrives require the listed amount of END every Phase, or just once per usage? (the rules would imply just once, but that seems like a rather low power requirement for the effect) 2) Plasma weapons on starships do not require any power to fire (just charges) -- is this right, and what's the special effect? (I'm seeing "photon torpedoes".)

See pages 179-80 of 5th Edition for the math on applying Limitations. If no one can tell that the coat is providing the powers, even when the powers are being used, then its definitely an IIF, since the source of the powers is Inobvious. (The fact that no one can take his coat off makes it Inaccessible.) Still IIF; once they know they can damage them, but they still can't tell without a close examination. You might want to take Invisible Power Effects for any coat powers which cost END; otherwise, the power must have "Special Effects" which may make it obvious that they are coming from the coat.

The Sensor and Communications Systems block on page 201 of Star Hero (and reproducted in Terran Empire) has MegaScale 1LY/active point and +20 Range modifier for senses. Do these "stack", so that sensors have -0 PER out to 4096 light-years? The Nuclear Missile on page 195 of Star Hero has a x10,000 NCM but only 1-2 minutes of fuel. How long does it take to reach its maximum speed?

I think this is what you want; if so, this is how you build it. Cost Power 16 Malus Armor: Armor (8 PD/8 ED) (24 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) (added to Secondary Value) 9 Malus Spring-Holster: Fast Draw (19 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 14- (-1/2) 17- 3 Malus Exoskeleton: +6 STR (6 Active Points); No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), OIF (-1/2) (added to Primary Value) Powers Cost: 28

I do my best to play this up in-game. For example, a thief with high Climbing and Stealth will be a good burglar...but will miss a lot of details (the merchant is out of his house every Sunday /except/ the fourth of the month...) without PS: Burglary.

I found that removing the figured characteristics calculations and keeping STR at 1 point was a good way to go. I think raising HA to 10 points is a bad idea; people will just buy EB no range, or HKA works vs. non-resistant defenses to get around the hike. I do definitely feel that some change is warranted, however, so congrats for taking the plunge!

"If they want it done with discretion, why did they come to us?"

Linked attacks use a single Attack roll, so if the first attack hits, so does the second.

There is a table for damaged equipment (gains an Activation roll), or the rules state the GM can decide whether or not it works. "Loses 1 power every time it takes BODY" and "Loses 1 power for each Impairing wound" both seem like reasonable options.