Derek Hiemforth

No one said Background Skills aren't useful. It was said that they're not perceived as being as useful as other Skills, or as useful in as wide a variety of situations.

Background Skills aren't perceived as being as generally useful as other Skills. Also, you can buy a Background Skill for 2 points for an 11- roll, and it would seem counter-intuitive for a +1 to the roll to cost as much as the Skill itself cost. I'm not sure what you mean by "grandfathered in," but if you mean, "Has this always been the cost of +1 to Background Skills?" then the answer is yes.

Originally posted by Zaratustra

I dislike the Only Against Special Effect set on stone in the power, since some SFXs are more rare than the others: Would you set Only Against Fire and Only Against Cheese at the same level?

No. I should have elaborated more. I'd say that if you take 100% Damage Reduction, then you have to define a single, reasonably common, SFX that it works against. Examples might be Physical Damage Reduction that works against bludgeoning weapons or against slashing weapons, or Energy Damage Reduction that works against fire or electricity. If the SFX it works against is less common than this (for example, PD DR vs. one particular weapon, or against a Martial Arts style, or ED DR vs. Gamma Radiation or unholy magical fire), then it can apply a Limitation based on how much less common it is (in the judgement of the GM).

I wouldn't mind seeing the available options for Damage Reduction expanded a bit, although I'd probably go with something like this...

[b]Fraction[/b] [b]Percentage[/b] [b]Normal[/b] [b]Resistant[/b]
 1/4       25%       10      15
 1/3       33%       15      20
 1/2       50%       20      30
 2/3       67%       35      50
 3/4       75%       40      60
  1       100%*      40*     60*

Going strictly by the logical mathematical progression from the existing Damage Reduction values, the 1/3 and 2/3 Normal Damage Reductions would actually come out to 13 points and 34 points respectively, but I've rounded them up to the nearest 5-point-level to keep it clean.

 

* For 100% Damage Reduction, I would allow it at the same cost as 75% Damage Reduction, but with the stipulation that it can only work vs. one SFX, and it gets no Limitation for that. So for 60 points, you could get 75% Damage Reduction against all Energy attacks, or you could get 100% Damage Reduction against, say, Fire Attacks.

Another, more philosophical, factor to consider is its relationship to Drain. At its core, Aid is the reverse of Drain. (And Succor is the reverse of Suppress.) Therefore, it's logical to expect it to cost the same as Drain (and Succor to cost the same as Suppress) unless there are other mitigating factors. Their mechanics are a little different, but the trade-offs seem about balanced: Aid doesn't cost END, but Drain doesn't have a ceiling on its effect. I don't see any pressing reason why Aid should have a different cost than Drain.

Originally posted by Aroooo

Maybe a +1 advantage 1.5x defense vs. special effect. My 10 ED fire suit gets standard 10 def vs. an electrical attack, but 15 vs. a flame thrower.

That particular modifier wouldn't work too well, I'm afraid. At a +1 Advantage, your 10 ED fire suit could be a 20 ED fire suit for the same cost, and it would work against all Energy attacks, not just fire.

 

Mathematically, it would make more sense for 1.5x defense vs a special effect to be +1/4, and 2x to be +1/2. Here's why...

 

If you bought 10 ED normally, then another 5 ED, Only Vs. Fire (-1), that would cost you 12 points (10 points for 10 ED, 2.5 points (rounded down to 2) for the extra ED only vs. fire). 10 ED at a +1/4 Advantage is also 12 points.

 

Likewise, if you bought 10 ED normally, then another 10 ED Only vs. Fire (-1), that would cost you 15 points. 10 ED at a +1/2 Advantage is also 15 points.

 

'Course this points out the fact that you could just buy extra DEF with the Limitation...

Originally posted by Shadowpup

what's RTF and hdc?

RTF is Rich Text Format. It's a file format readable by most word processors.

 

HDC is Hero Designer Character. It's the character file format created by Hero Designer.

Originally posted by lemming

Derek, would that happen to be Gator Games in San Mateo?

Nope. (Although Gator Games is a good store, and does carry some older and used stuff, I don't recall seeing Robot Warriors there recently.)

 

The store I'm thinking of is Recycle Books in San Jose. It's actually a used bookstore, not a game store. But they have a fair amount of used RPG books among their voluminous stock, and I think I recall seeing Robot Warriors the last time I was there a couple of months ago.

Re: Champs campaign hoover vacuum is at it again.

 

Originally posted by Lord Mhoram

I'm mostly interested in other Gurps supers stuff (I don't even know how many supplements they put out for supers).

Any advice is welcome.

I have these GURPS Supers books...

 

GURPS Supers: I.S.T. - International Super Teams by Robert M. Schroeck. This is their default world setting (their equivalent of Champions Universe, in a way. It's got some worthwhile ideas in it. Essentially, most superhero teams are UN-affiliated, and there are IST bases all around the world. (Imagine U.N.T.I.L. with superteams instead of just agents.)

 

GURPS Supers: IST Kingston by Scott D. Pinkham and Robert M. Schroeck (published by Modern Myth Publishing, not SJG). This is a relatively short book detailing the IST base and superteam in Jamaica. I only picked it up because I got it for $.50 at a store close-out sale. Its focus is much narrower than I would normally buy. It's okay. If you just happen to need a superhero team and base in an island paradise, I guess it's worth a look.

 

GURPS Supers: Mixed Doubles by Spike Y. Jones. I like this one. It's a book of characters -- some heroes, some villains, some neutrals. Its "hook" is that the characters are presented in pairs that are linked in some way. It may be a hero and his arch-enemy, a character and the mad scientist who created him, two rival characters with similar powers, etc. Definitely worth a buy.

 

GURPS Supers: School Of Hard Knocks by Aaron Allston. This is an adventure module focusing on groups of teenage supers. One of the best supers adventures I've seen in print. Good stuff.

 

GURPS Supers; Super Scum by Mark Johnson. A book of villains. About the same quality as most of Hero's Enemies books. Some hits and some misses. Worth picking up on the cheap somewhere, but I wouldn't lose sleep chasing it down.

Originally posted by MarkusDark

Actually, an Ego Entangle doesn't drain any stat. You just can't "Wake up" or free yourself until you break the entangle.

But it doesn't put you to sleep. There's nothing about being caught in an Ego Entangle that causes you to lose consciousness. You can't really just chalk it up to special effect, because unconsciousness has specific effects, and an Ego Entangle doesn't cause them.

Originally posted by Klytus

This solution is so clean and elegant, I think I'd make an exception in my 5th Edition games.

Actually, you could get a similar effect and still stay "book legal" by just buying Energy Blast, defining it as Stun Only, and applying a -1 Limitation, "All Or Nothing." If you reduce their STUN to 0 or less, it works. If you don't, it does nothing.

 

It would be slightly cheaper than Dispel (2.5 points per 1d6 instead of 3), but you'd have to buy a couple of extra dice to overcome their ED. So it probably works out to about the same cost in the end.

Chart 1 (25% less damage for x2 points)
Red%	Frac	Cost	Res
25%	3/4	10	15
33%	2/3	15	22
50%	1/2	20	30
66%	1/3	30	54
75%	1/4	40	60
83%	1/6	50	75
90%	1/10	60	90
95%	1/20	70	105
100%	0	80	120

Chart 2 (Halves damage for +20 points)
Red%	Frac	Cost	Res
25%	3/4	10	15
33%	2/3	15	22
50%	1/2	20	30
66%	1/3	30	54
75%	1/4	40	60
87%	1/8	60	90
91%	1/12	70	105
94%	1/16	80	120
96%	1/24	90	135
97%	1/32	100	150
etc.

Good find, Lord Liaden! That's probably the way for you to go if you want it right away, Ozz*. I won't be able to check the bookstore for a week or so, because it's about 120 miles from where I am now. I won't be able to check it until the next time I'm down there for work.

Also, if you're interested in Robot Gladiators (the only followup book to Robot Warriors) I see that Noble Knight Games has a copy of that. Check out this page, about 3/4's of the way down.

 

http://www.nobleknight.com/BrowseAndSearch/Browse_Process.Asp?Line=160

Is this the book you're looking for?

 

 

If so, I don't personally have an extra copy, but I know of a used bookstore that I think has one. Send me your contact info in an email (my address is in my profile), and I'll see if they still have it. If they do, I'll let you know how much they want for it. If you want it at their price, I'll buy it for you, you can send me the money to cover the book and shipping, and I'll ship it to you.

He does not automatically control it. He can try to persuade it to help him, Mind Control it, etc. Or he can buy an Advantage on Summon that makes it friendly. There's a lot of information in the Summon power description about this... too much to go into in detail here. Read the whole Summon write up on pages 142-144 of H5E.

In the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, there's a very spoiled little bratty girl named Veruca Salt (from whence the band gets its name). In one scene, there are geese that lay golden eggs, and a device that analyzes each egg to see if it's good or not. Veruca gets up on the device, it judges her to be a "bad egg," and she goes down the garbage chute.

I think Transform or Mind Control are the best ways to go. NND's, EGO Attacks, STUN Drains, etc. all lower the STUN stat, which isn't really what you're after. And some of the other proposals, like the EGO Entangle, don't necessarily include anything that justifies the target being asleep.

 

Overall, I think Transform is probably best. That way, you don't have to deal with Mind Control breakout rolls, either.

 

The way to reverse the Transform would simply be to wake the person up. Since this is such an easy and obvious way to "cure" the Transform, I might even give you a small Limitation for that if I was the GM.

 

To me, the hardest question is whether this would be a Major or Minor Transform. Objectively, it should probably be Minor. Changing the target into itself, but asleep, isn't that profound a change in "real life." But in game terms, it would also mean that the target might then be easily slain, making it a more Major effect.

 

If I was running, I'd probably rule that it was a Minor Transform, but also rule that all the normal means of waking up applied (definitely including being awoken by loud noises, combat around you, or falling down while asleep. Therefore, if you tried to put someone to sleep in the midst of combat, they'd just wake up again when they fell down.

 

You'd get more mileage out of it if you used it more subtly...

Originally posted by TheImperialKhan

Derek very kindly printed the long explanation above. He's such a good egg.

Whew! Now I won't be joining Veruca Salt in the garbage chute.

 

Myself I perfer the term 5E for 5th Edition.

I do too, generally. (Or H5E.)

Originally posted by tiger

Now to find/make a quick conversion and we have it made;)

I was actually working on a conversion system for Icon System to HERO System a while back. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a response from anyone at Wizards Of The Coast (who now presumably own the rights to the system) regarding publishing such a conversion system anywhere.

 

However, I do have permission from Decipher for a Coda System to HERO System conversion. Now I just need to find time to write it.

 

Maybe I need to post less around here...

I actually like "Fantastic Roleplaying Encyclopedia by DOJ."

 

Here's a more complete history that I wrote for the Haymaker APAzine a while back...

 

For the benefit of anyone who hasn’t heard the etymology of the nickname “FREd†for the HERO System 5th Edition (or FRED or Fred, etc.), here’s the story…

 

As it became clear that DOJ was actually going to publish this blasted book, a thread sprang up on the message boards at herogames.com concerning what its nickname should be (in the manner that "BBB" became the nickname for the 4th Edition Champions hardcover). Steve Long posted a reply at one point, offering his thoughts and then saying, "Heck, as long as you buy a copy, you can call it "Fred" as far as I'm concerned. :)"

 

The name stuck.

 

In an effort to tie the new nickname to the actual product, acronyms were retroactively applied. The two that appear to be the most popular are "Fifth Rules EDition" and "Fifth Revised EDition."

I generally don't incorporate "real life" events into my games. Maybe I'm just worried that if I incorporate a specific real world terrorist attack or something into my game world, then Doctor Destroyer will appear in the real world and start trying to take over...

According to the Spacedock netbook for LUG's version of the Trek RPG (written by our very own Steve Long), the Galaxy-class ships like the Enterprise D have a standard complement of 25 shuttles, 12 shuttlepads, 3 shuttle bays (the main shuttlebay in the saucer section, and two smaller bays in the engineering section), plus a "Captain's Yacht."

Wow! That's really cool of you, John! I'll have to at least buy you lunch or something!

Originally posted by Starcorp Man

He was using a first and second edition screen (grey, with two people fighting).

Well, the 2nd Edition screen was two pieces... one with the Speed Chart and old Hero Games logo on the panel with "Gamemasters Screen for Champions," and one with two people fighting on that panel. So it may have just been the 2nd edition screen...