Doc Democracy

Have you considered making this illusory duplicate an actual duplicate? It should not take a LOT of points to create a phantom with effectively no powers beyond images (only to look like using powers of duplicate). I would think you need desolidification (invisible effects) and you could probably buy down most of the stats to minimum (not INT, EGO PRE I think). You might want multiple duplicates in the event one gets injured and killed (and so a Regen - come back from dead would be valuable here). Thus you would have an illusory duplicate that actually exists and can act independently of the character, looking like it is doing things the character can do. If a duplicate is physically disrupted it can take a while for the main character to get it back together again.... Doc

I didn't mean to confuse. If you think in real life, small walkie talkies have a much lower range than bigger more powerful ones. I reckon talking over radio would carry further than talking in sound waves do and would have the advantage of few folk being able to listen in. Those handsets allow you to listen to powerful enough signals generated 100s or 1000s of miles away, I would not give them more than a few miles range to transmit. It is something not truly covered in comms stuff.

VPP is really the tool for this. My concern as GM would be that the player wants a character with all the options, constantly wanting to be the best in every situation, making the rest of the team redundant.

I find a change of system is often most easily accomplished when a session did not go well because the players felt a bit constrained by the rules. You then go back to the session and say - I would like to try that adventure again with a different system (one you think would handle it better). If you are right you have good evidence that a system change for the next campaign might be a good idea. 🙂

well, your ability to percieve radio is essentially the same as your ability to see light. A dim light source may be effectively invisible to most people but visible to a sharp eyed individual. You would have to make perception rolls to 'see' individual signals. I would charge an adder to make signals transmit images as well as sound. You can buy levels with PER and levels to offset range penalties for folk listening to you (you shout loud).

I quite like the idea of a low level, damage over time, area effect transform which applies an increasingly lower activation roll on inanimate machinery (no personal foci, nothing with INT or EGO). What that means is that things that would once do as they were unopposed to, do not do that, if the activation roll is missed by more than 5 then rather than just not doing what it is being asked to, it may exhibit alternative behaviour. Doc

Just so we are straight, as far as the characters are concerned here, we have a character, or the computer, able to give up to eight people wristbands that allow them to hear and transmit in the radio sense group? I think those people will be in control of the power once they have the band and will be able to give the band to others. The users will also be able to travel away from the owner of the power but will need to be within reach to acquire the power?

You have what is known as a problem that is less than fascinating to the forum! 🙂 I remember looking and thinking, too much thinking, not enough to tickle my imagination. When I have time I will go and look at my books. I think that you have something that allows you to see (but not transmit?) radio group. I need to look at your use simultaneously as to whether those folk would need access to the focus, a focus of their own and how far they can be from you when using it. I would be up for allowing you to buy it through the computer but I think you would find the GM making more difficulty for you to use (you did after all pay fewer points).

One of the things my group does not do is immersion. We often use I rather than my character but it is almost never at a point where I think anyone is unaware that they are playing in a game with their friends. I do think that questioning someone's character actions can be tricky, even when it is within the game rules - we can see that whenever we talk social conflict, where the game system might suggest that a character is convinced of a fact that the player is not... 🙂 Doc

So, less than a week after the USA celebrates getting rid of an English monarch we get this...

Well, obviously the story is about the leak rather than the assessment. It is nonetheless interesting that such assessment is being made in Westminster, that the Prime Minister has said she does not agree with it BUT has said she has every confidence in the Ambassador. 🙂 Some difficult conversations being had in London and Washington today...

No offence taken, I think! 🙂 Doc

Despite everything I tell her, my wife still believes that NASA have a room (in a building, on the ground) in which they can switch off gravity to train astronauts.... 😭

That would do it. TK only for someone hit with the chainsaw, only to keep them close. Breaking free of the TK would be what would end the continuous element of the attack... Doc

Is noone covering the less than glowing report from Britain's Ambassador in Washington about the Trump Presidency to the UK Government?? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7220335/Britains-man-says-Trump-inept-Cables-ambassador-say-dysfunctional.html I would not normally post a link to the Daily Mail as it is a horrid little paper whose editorial content is driven by "Who do we hate, why do we hate them, what should we fear" but this is a story they broke... Doc

One of the things that struck me when I used a chainsaw the first few times was that the saw really did pull me closer to the thing I was cutting if I had not placed it properly, once it has a target it digs into it. I like the idea that it not only does you constant damage, it holds you there while it does it... It is a horrid weapon and I do not think anyone would want to come close when they see it do damage, it is inherently a killing, lethal attack weapon, it should be scary to get close to and everyone should worry about being hit with it, if it does not do you damage right away then it should begin degrading your defences until it does do you damage... 🙂 Have a nice day! Doc

Drought is really the time when things don’t work, don’t grow, wither and die. I would think that he would suit a whole suite of drain, suppress and transformation attacks.

My problem with this is that you pay points to make your power worse...

I have similar issues with the use of Time Limit. As with everything in HERO though, there is nothing absolutely forbidden (did you see what I did there?!). When you are looking at something unusual you cast around to find similar kinds of things and come up with a rough approximation of how much things are worth. when doing things like this a good sense check is to compare the cost of your power with the base power. Think how you will use the power in game. If your modified power is much cheaper than the base and not significantly affected in play, you have gotten things wrong. With Lucius’ build, the base is an 8D6 blast, which uses 4 END and costs 40 points. Lucius’ build provides an 8D6 blast which can be fired as often within a five minute time frame as desired but then cannot be used for an hour. It costs 25 points and I am unsure whether it costs END (charges normally do not). Is the limitation worth almost 50% discount? That is a decision for your GM. I would be inclined to say that it is too cheap if it is gaining 0 END. If it costs END then I reckon the costing is fine. Dont be Leary of using the custom limitation facility, it is often necessary to get just the right nuance, just be careful in costing it. Doc

That IS a point, perhaps your next character should have a small, accurate, doubly penetrating attack. Doesn't need a huge number of dice as it would not have to overcome defences....

Well, if you set the END Reserve up such that it has enough END to power the weapon for a chunk of uses and limit the Recovery such that the battery "only recovers in Cool-down mode, 1 hour". What that means is that you get to use the END for as long as you want and then put the weapon into cooldown, at which point it begins Recovering and will be unusable for 1 hour. You can look at Lucius' build for continuing charges to get an idea of what the limitations should be. Doc

I feel I need more. So we have a core character that creates duplicates, yes? Those duplicates are inferior to the main character but can act independently of it? You want to know how the core character can switch out from wherever he is to one of those duplicates and bring all his skills to a situation? I think Cassandra has it. If both the duplicate and the core character has duplication you can have a synchronised teleport. The main character would have the limitation on his teleport that he could only TP to a location where there is a duplicate TPing to his location. The duplicate would have a No Conscious Control TP that only went to the location of the main character. I think, for seemless use, you would want Invisible Power Effects on both and would need duplicates that were mind linked to the main character. Doc

I am not quite sure what you are trying to achieve with your build. If a player gave that to me, with no explanation I am not sure I would understand what he was wanting to achieve. I might get to the point where I had a blast power that used 8 END for 8D6 damage. I could only use that when the END reserve was available (from the linked) and the END reserve could be activated six times a day for periods of 5 minutes and no charge could be expended within an hour of a previous one. As GM I would question the linked limitations you are using - the END reserve and the Blast are linked - it feels like you are limiting them because the blast only uses the reserve and the reserve only feeds the blast. I am also not sure you get the cooldown aspect you are looking for, why only six times a day if it only takes an hour to cool down?? I would give the gun a limitation based on Burn-out (you find that within activation roll text). So, first shot is free, for every shot that is within five minutes of the previous one you have a chance to burn out the weapon, which would need an hour to cool down enough to fire again. What is the limitation? Not sure. 🙂 Firing it once, no limitation, no chance to burn out. Firing it twice, burn-out chance over 17 on 3d6?? over 15? This is where you begin. Every subsequent shot reduces the number needed for the weapon to burn out. Doc

have backed it as a gift to my friend who has runa all the C&S in our group and who, for financial reasons would not be able to back it himself...

I think Bolo has it. Stick with the characters you like but get something in there that increases your ability to bounce back - if you are going to be dumped on, it is good to have the resources to get yourself back in the game. You might have a friendly ghost that comes and heals you, you might have amazing regenerative abilities, you might be a mechanoid with a reset button that someone can push to re-boot you (bundle of STUN and REC with an activation roll of some kind, or a continuous Aid to STUN and END that kicks in if someone else pushes the reset button). There are a number of ways it can be done but it is definitely no fun to be dumped out of the game and have to sit and watch. You might also have a duplication triggered by a KO (perhaps this would be the friendly ghost that can heal...) Just rambling now, I will go back to work... Doc