Doc Democracy

On 4/12/2020 at 11:06 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

I think it depends on what you want from the power.  The "summon" model means that each part gets its own actions and operates independently, so he can have one arm attacking the Bad Guy while his other arm is hauling Reporter Nellie Nale off the bhuilding ledge to which she is precariously clinging.  Meanwhile, his right eye is following that henchman who just ran off with the Maguffin so we can retrieve it later, and the rest of him is doing a Move Through against another Bad Guy.

 

That's a lot more utility than Stretching, and more complex, mandating a completely different build.

I think you have to think of the downside just as much as the utility.

If you detach your hand, you lose the use of that hand, even if it does add utility.  How would you implement the limitation?  A custom limitation "physically impedes the user"??  How much would it be worth for losing a hand?  An eye?? A leg??  If there is no limitation then we assume the character is able to function normally despite having sent half his limbs off on reconnaissance??

🙂

Doc

4 hours ago, Badger said:

Interestingly, mentioned in the paper, that there are 3 rural counties here in VA, still yet to have a case.  If I lived in one of those counties, it would be hard for me not to feel like that I am being buried into financial ruin, so some politicians can pat themselves on the back.  

*Speechless*

My biggest problem is that the US has had very little socialism in relation to this crisis.

I am sure the curfew and suspended privileges would be less intrusive if they came with job security and universal basic income.

As far as food limits go, I think that was more of an example of untrammeled capitalism, folk buying what they wanted rather than needed.

The only place place socialism has raised its head in the US has been for those poor suffering corporations and billionaire class.

😞

Doc

Authenticity

8 hours ago, ScottishFox said:

Buy a pool of BOD / STUN for the 2nd form ABOVE what the normal body has.  That way when it runs out and the druid reverts to their natural form they're at their normal starting values

I'm with Scottish Fox on this.  If the wild shape is essentially just additional hit points, then you buy additional hit points.  I would be tempted by a small VPP to provide one or two things an animal form might be expected to have (tough hide, killing attack, extra STR, extra running, flight etc).

Doc

2 hours ago, Grailknight said:

If Capt Invulnerable want to use a Block to shield a character, that's edgy.

Not so edgy, it is in the rules

Quote

BLOCKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE A character can Block for someone else — a useful tactic when he wants to defend an injured or defenseless person from an attacker. To do this, a character must be within Reach of either the attacker or the target (either naturally, or because he can extend his Reach with a weapon or some other way).

2 hours ago, Grailknight said:

Stopping an attack, which would pass right through a Desolid character without this "limitation", and taking KB is definitely interacting with the world.

Of course it is, I limited the bit of the desolid power that stopped me interacting with the real world.  I would require some element, strength or something else to have the advantage that allowed it to be used while desolid that would allow him to block.

obviously he is cover, if the person behind is small enough or the captain big enough the cover should be enough to ensure the cover is complete...

On 5/3/2020 at 12:44 AM, Cygnia said:

*maskpalm*

Dont touch your mask!!  We need another sign of despair!!!

39 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Hey Doc fwiw the last game I got to play this year,  The GM has a house rule that  no matter the sfx Desolid can affect Desolid. So Shadow Dragon was able to affect Vibron and vice vests.

I think I hate that even more than the blanket affect desolid!  😄

I guess it could RAW be rationalised as one of the reasonably common SFX that allows desolid to be countered.

What would the opinion be of someone buying Desolid twice, once for the usual reasons and once to affect the special effects etc that the other desolid did not cover?  Would be expensive but deservedly so....

Doc

18 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

If mister invulnerable is giving up going through walls then affects Desolid shouldn’t automatically affect him.

I was with you until this bit.

Affects Desolid, as an advantage, means that an attack that would otherwise do no damage to a desolid character, does damage to a desolid character.  It is keyed into an aspect of the power that is not affected by the limitation you put on the desolid.

I am one of those that requires affect desolid powers to indicate what they are and why they affect a desolid character, many of those effects would probably also work against CPT INVULNERABLE.  Freaky interplay of powers.  I would also give players a clue that their freaky affect desolid power may have effect (unless, of course, the desolid was bought invisible).

The question of walking into traffic is a good one but CPT INVULNERABLE does interact with solid matter, he just is not harmed by it.  I would rule that it does the same as anyone else that walks into traffic.  He would be hit, the car would take damage as if it had hit a normal person.  Unless he had some ability to avoid it, the good captain would take knockback, he just would not take damage.

I would also say that, of course he can block for others, just like anyone else that can interact with materials from the solid world can.  It is no great advantage, anyone is allowed to block and they take no damage by doing so.  Jumping in front of an attack is simply a block on behalf of an attack directed at someone else, it is not affected by the desolid power.

Someone using the captain as cover would be using their noggin.  The man IS INVULNERABLE after all. 🙂 But beware of knockback....

Doc

11 minutes ago, Doc Democracy said:

 

I am trying not to split hairs.  Are you saying that if CPT INVULNERABLE (Desolid version) leapt in front of a DNPC to save them, the bullets would not hit the DNPC? 

I will answer that,it is an antagonistic question for which I apologise.

You would not because you would not have allowed it in your game.  I am hoping though that you can see, for folk that have seen past any hard coded SFX, that this is a legitimate construct with different pros and cons to LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE.

(I see you have just responded, will finish before reading).

Doc

1 minute ago, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

And could you please show me where in that post I made any mention at all of hitting somebody behind the target? 

I am trying not to split hairs.  Are you saying that if CPT INVULNERABLE (Desolid version) leapt in front of a DNPC to save them, the bullets would not hit the DNPC? 

8 minutes ago, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

 

 

@Doc Democracy That doesn't happen at sensible damage scales.  "Whoops, Captain Invulnerable got blasted by the GhostBust5500, guess he wasn't invulnerable after all" does. 

If you were going to allow LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE, which probably breaks campaign guidelines, why would you not allow LARGE NUMBER ATTACK which would damage CPT INVULNERABLE?

On 4/24/2020 at 12:25 AM, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

The problem is that, as Ragitsu mentions, attacks that fail due to desolid pass right through.  Even Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects doesn't help with this.  Which makes it pretty obvious what's going on, and is absolutely not the "Superman Effect". 

This and Ragitsu talk about attacks passing through. It would be obvious that if you knew CPT Invulnerable was desolid, you could attack the person behind them.

Doc

2 minutes ago, massey said:

The real problem is that people are assigning special effects to a power and absolutely refusing to let people change it.

 

There is no game mechanic for an attack passing through a target and hitting someone behind them.  That doesn't exist.  So why are people trying to assign that penalty to a desolid character?

To be fair, what is coming into question is that Superman will often fly in front of a target and protect it by allowing machine gun bullets to fly off his chest.  If your invulnerability is defined as Desolid (not to pass through walls) can you do that kind of thing??

In my mind, yes, it would be part of the contract I made with the player when I allowed an invulnerability power using that mechanic.  Of course it provides the SFX of invulnerability.  I can see the argument against that, mechanically you might say that he cannot do that and so disallow the mechanic to be used for an invulnerability power.

Doc

2 minutes ago, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

Please demonstrate that Desolid is "closer" to "invulnerable" than [LARGENUMBER] rDEF Hardened x[LARGENUMBER], 100% Damage Reduction, and other such defense constructs. 

Not that I am a huge proponent of the construct but...

Desolid against campaign average attack - no damage

[LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE] against campaign average attack - no damage

Desolid against 2x campaign average attack - no damage

[LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE] against 2x campaign average attack - no damage

Desolid against 10x campaign average attack - no damage

[LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE] against 10x campaign average attack - some damage perhaps lots

Desolid against 100x campaign average attack - no damage

[LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE] against 100x campaign average attack - wiped out, possibly dead

Now this is hero, there are places where LARGE NUMBER DEFENCE is going to be better and paces where it is going to be just as good.  However, against the core concept of piling up normal damage then Desolid has the edge because it has an absolute effect against that where other things do not.  Of course there are ways round it, that is the nature of the beast that is HERO.  It is however quite possible to say that a mechanic with an absolute effect is closer to accomplishing an absolute power than a mechanic that does not possess an absolute effect...

Doc

8 hours ago, Badger said:

I just know in my area we have 16 total cases.  Seems we only get a new every 2-3 days.  with 70-80K population.  It means only 1 in 4K or so getting it.

 

Of course, 2 neighboring counties have just gotten their 1st cases, in the last week or so.

As a microbiologist, my worry is that there are such cases appearing.  Where are they coming from? 

It probably means there are significantly more than 1 in 4K getting it, there are obviously folk with minor or no symptoms transmitting the virus and it is only those with serious enough symptoms that are being recorded.

This would be an ideal time for your area to test and contact trace - there are probably few enough that you could find everyone with the virus and stop even the small amount of spread being reported.  And then noone would need the masks.

Problem is that when the impact is so small, there is little incentive to spend the cash to stamp it out completely but when the incentive is big enough, it is too big to stamp out completely...

He has 15/15 Damage Resistance...

6 hours ago, dsatow said:

I would say, if you wanted a misleading special effect, you should buy the power as Inobvious or Fully Invisible.

I totally agree.  The worst aspect of using desolid for invulnerability would be if, in game, the players were misled into thinking that more of the same kind of damage might be effective.  It is also unsatisfactory if this is the place where Mr MultiTool switches to his affect desolid blast and circumvents the plotline where the characters go to InvulnerableGuy's home planet to learn of his backstory and how to counter the super-armour.

Obviously all that can indeed be done in other ways.  DreadDomain has a real point but I do think there is value in a lot of the tricksy builds.  I think THAT is simply another manifestation of the HERO System not being a game to play but an engine to build a game to play.

Doc

1 minute ago, Tjack said:

    The original post referenced the pic of a bottle of chewable Clorox bleach.   “Now in fruit flavors for kids!”

I guess if they take their kids with them....

14 hours ago, DShomshak said:

I have difficulty imagining a compelling argument or self-interest for why companies, across the board, should pay more if they can get away with suppressing wage

I think I posted it before but it bears repeating.  This guy is a hero...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-51332811

Doc

13 hours ago, Badger said:

Well, the quarantine experiment is a one time thing.  Humanity or at least civilization cant survive doing it everytime this or something like it comes around.    

I disagree.  I think both humanity AND civilisation can survive.  I think we might even end with a better civilisation if this was a regular occurrence. 

Humanity survived for thousands of years in its battle with disease and our civilisation has just been (economically/socially) inoculated on how to deal with this.  It also flushes out incompetents in ways that are difficult to disown.

We would be better at it next time and better again the time after that.  Once we swallow the initial impact we adapt. It's what makes us so resilient.

I am determined to approach this with a level of optimism.

Doc

10 hours ago, Tjack said:

       Great!  Stupid people are finally killing themselves off and thus making future generations a little bit smarter.

Usually they do things like drive drunk or fail to vaccinate their litters of kids, killing off stupid and smart randomly.

Nothing in the story suggests they are killing themselves PRIOR to procreation... 🙂

On 4/24/2020 at 12:12 AM, Ragitsu said:

Correct me if I am incorrect, but...isn't Mr. "I'm technically invincible, but also quite intangible." going to make for a dreadful "human" shield?

If I had allowed Desolid, cannot pass through solid material as a power with the SFX of invulnerability, then the character by definition would be a good human shield.  He is invulnerable.

It would be inconsistent to allow it in there, as described and not allow it to be used in that way.

Doc

1 hour ago, Sketchpad said:

 

It's an interesting idea, Doc. I'm almost wondering if the whole thing just doesn't warrant a new Advantage all together. 

It is what limited power is all about.  Make one up.  You are limiting the effectiveness of the area effect...the value is probably somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2. 😄

Oh yes, the attack, the primary one, is under your control but your ability to make the next attack is not.

I understand that there IS an element of volition about hitting a second target if the first attack is successful but this is a reduced form of volition.  There are gradations of NCC, this is probably only 1/4  or 1/2 and ONLY on the cost of area effect.

Doc