Talon

Re: Telekinesis with Weapons, +STR? By the rules as written, PCs can pick up agent's blasters and keep them forever...unless the GM rules that they need to pay points for them. Similarly, you can wield your HKA focus at range...unless the GM rules that you need to pay points for it.

Re: Shorthand for character personality? I tend to use a personal shorthand (a few descriptive words) which lets me recall enough of what I meant their personality to be. This seems like an interesting system; I'd suggest trying it and modifying it based on what works for you.

Re: The Ultimate Summoner I agree Hugh and wouldn't consider Specific Person necessary for this construct. (Summoning the "same" spirit each time rather than a random one is discussed in Valdorian Age I believe, and I don't recall it requiring a modifier.)

Re: Need help deciding points for physical limitation First question is, how likely is it that the character will be injured enough to draw blood? If it's a high-defense supers game and the character has 20 PD/ED Armor, it might not be worth more than 5 points; if defenses are lower, it will be worth more. The "penalties to normal healing methods" can potentially be significant, as it could kill the character in a bad circumstance. I'd call it Frequent, Slight and thus 10 points. The fact that it marks him as a Mutant should be Distinctive Features, and since he already has electric orbs for eyes, I'm guessing he has DF already. I wouldn't raise the value any higher for the blood unless the chance of him bleeding is really high.

Re: Telekinesis with Weapons, +STR?

Re: Telekinesis with Weapons, +STR?

Re: Change Environment: Personal Immunity or Envirnomental Movement This is in the book; you just need the Multiple Combat Effects adder (5ER p.137).

Re: Change Environment: Personal Immunity or Envirnomental Movement I would not apply such penalties to a Desolid character (unless, of course, the special effect of the CE was the "weakness" defined for that instance of Desol).

Re: Attunement Modifier? I suggest you read "Differing Modifers" on page 276 of 5ER. For example, say you want to "attune" a sword with the ability to deliver a blinding Flash 4 times a day. Start with: Sight Group Flash 6d6 (30 Active Points); 4 Charges (-1), OAF (attuned sword; -1), No Range (-1/2), Real Cost 8 points. [you could add Linked to sword attack; I didn't, if someone wants they can just tap someone with the sword.] Then use the Differing Modifiers rules to apply the following to those 8 points: Usable As Attack (Ranged, x8 targets; +2 1/4), 26 Active Cost. Extra Time: Full Phase (only to activate; -1/4), Real Cost 21 points. (Defense for Usable As Attack is not picking up the sword.) [Add other "activation" limitations like Gestures or Incantations as needed.] Voila, the character can grant the Flash power to up to 8 different swords. Since the "granting" power does not use a Focus, I would say the character can withdraw the power even if the Foci are lost. (Also, I'm choosing to use the option that powers granted through a Focus don't require LOS to maintain; the GM could instead require 0 END and Persistent, or Uncontrolled, on the power. See page 273-4.)

Re: Attunement Modifier? I think this is Usable By Others (probably the "Differing Modifiers" section. I wouldn't consider it a Focus on the ability to create the power, since the attuner can end the effect at any time, even if the weapons are not present.

Re: Change Environment: Personal Immunity or Envirnomental Movement Paying points for a power that gives you the ability to run across ice seems like a good reason to let you, well, run across ice. I fully admit this is a subjective call -- by the book, there's no reason to do so. Just giving my perspective. OTOH, if you /want/ EM to stop the power completely, I would give a Limitation for that (probably -1/4); use those points to buy EM and you are all set! The idea of buying "enhanced" EM is also a good one -- since it just consists of PSLs, buy enough of those to cover all the penalties your CE creates, add 3" of Running, done. You could even buy the whole thing Usable By Others, OIF (cleats) and hand them out to buddies. Good answer. I like the idea of the character handing out cleats (with his logo on them, of course!), but that's just me.

Re: Change Environment: Personal Immunity or Envirnomental Movement Change Environment says that if it affects a characteristic roll, the character is required to make at least one roll when entering the field of effect -- so if your power involves a penalty to DEX rolls, characters will have to make a DEX roll or fall down when they enter it (or if they are in the effect when you activate it). In a supers game where you are paying points for the power, I would require Personal Immunity rather than Environmental Movement. I would also require Environmental Movement to walk on all ice (or some other power; if you have Running based on creating an ice slide, for example, I would probably just give you Environmental Movement for free in most supers games). 12 points seems like a lot...except that in every fight you might be doing this, and ignoring the penalties that everyone else incurs is a big deal. I wouldn't let Environmental Movement negate the power unless you took a limitation to that effect (I would have it reduce the penalties, and I would make that clear to the player taking the power so they don't feel cheated -- he could take the same thing if he didn't want to go with PI). To make other characters immune to the effect would involve some sort of Power setup...and I'd be more curious about the concept justification for it.

Re: Building Whirlwind Attack Also, I would not allow the Linked limitation in the original post (or at best it would be -1/4, linking a greater power to a lesser power), and I would note that Full Phase plus Delayed Phase for -3/4 is the same limitation value as Extra Phase (-3/4); depending on the character, I might consider the Delayed Phase to be not worth a limitation.

Re: Building Whirlwind Attack Whirlwind Attack would also be Selective Area of Effect, I believe.

Re: Suseptibilty vs. Vulnerability Most importantly, Vulnerability only works against things that cause damage of some sort (i.e., Attack Powers). If a character takes damage from something else, that's Susceptibility. Susceptibility is nice because it lets you choose the effect level and frequency, so you can model "can only be out of water for X hours" for pretty much any value of X. Vulnerabilities can be nasty because multiplying damage totals can result in a lot of damage. I played a character at a con with "2x STUN from physical attacks"; one bullet and she was at -45 STUN. I prefer (both as a GM and a player) to point people toward Susceptibility since it's a "kinder" disad most of the time. Vulnerability is good for villains with an Achilles heel, and it does make sense for some PCs.

Re: Partial Multiforms I personally wouldn't allow such a limitation, in part because drawing the line of when to apply it would create as many problems as it solved. For example, when the switch between forms is constrained in some way, having access to certain basic abilities is probably an advantage, not a limitation. Someone shouldn't get a cost break because they want their Force Field to exist in both forms.

Re: Talking to the duplicates It's a trust issue, and an enjoyment issue. Few players like being told what their characters do...and good players will "play along" if something happens that their character would do even if it hurts the character. As GM, I will use escalating hints "you REALLY find his words convincing", but in the end it's the player's call. A player who consistently ignores his character's background/personality probably won't enjoy my games anyway...and I'll find other ways to mess with them. I also apply the same logic to NPCs; sometimes a really good Interaction roll will fail because of an NPC's background (obviously this is far more likely to happen with more important NPCs, since they are likely to have more background info). As for superskills...that's a different game mechanic, and I would describe it accordingly ("you can't help yourself"), etc.

Re: Hero Sales Figures, new blood?

Re: Talking to the duplicates I'd say the best you can do is convince whatever copies are actually present, and hope they can convince the other duplicates. Or, buy Sticky on your Oratory.

Re: Partial Multiforms I would be unlikely to allow this; if I were to allow it, the follower's attacks would need Usable by Other. Of course, if you're going down that path, why bother? Just give the follower SPD and OCV equal to your own, and you get double Phases!

Re: Partial Multiforms Gotta disagree with the disagreement with respect to your respecting of...oh bother. Multiform is based on "forms"; you look at how much a /character/ costs, not "the stuff that you want to have change". It even says that forms don't get to share anything for free. I'd say sharing characteristics and skills would fall under that clause. In the "Vari-armor" case, I assume that the Multiform includes all of the other character's abilities and stats...they just don't change between forms.

Re: help with a character build Personally, I think many of the example limitations in 5ER are under-rated. I would give "only in darkness" -1 most likely; "only vs fire" seems closer to -2 than -1 IMO.

Re: help with a character build A lot depends on the game; if it's a "heroes defend the city" game and the villains can time their attacks for early morning, big limitation. If it's a vigilante game where the heroes are taking the initiative most of the time, not so much. I chose arbitrary numbers that made the math work well.

Re: help with a character build I would totally have a villain arrange to have a special time zone law passed just before a major crime.

Re: help with a character build You can use partially limited powers...just buy parts of each power with a different limitation. Flight 3" (only from 6 am onward, -1/4), 5 points Flight 3" (only from noon onward, -1/2), 4 points Flight 6" (only from 6 pm onward, -1) 6 points That's all one power, with differing limitations applied to different amounts. The less complex way is to make an aggregate limitation "loses 100% before 6am, 75% before noon, 50% before 6 pm" and apply it to the whole thing, but that seems less precise to me.