Derek Hiemforth

Re: Jedi Powers

 

Originally posted by tiger

Telepathy - surface thoughts only

This may have some kind of activation roll or something, because I always thought it was amazing that Yoda and Mace Windu at the end of The Phantom Menace could be talking about the evil Sith Lord, and standing right next to Palpatine, and not sense the waves of immense evil from three feet away. (Or perhaps that was just a plot oversight. )

What else would you add.

Danger Sense ("There's a disturbance in the Force..." "I've got a bad feeling about this...")

Precognitive Clairsentience with some kind of Limited Conscious Control Limitation ("Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future...")

Luck for Jedi, Unluck for Sith.

Originally posted by SuperBlue

Even placing the OIHID limit on my SPD (costed 80 Points instead of 100)

Yowza! What were you trying to make your DEX and SPD be? 100 points will buy you 10 SPD, and that gets you up to a SPD of 12 right there even if you leave your DEX at 10.

The Watchmen is based in Lakeside, a fictional Chicago-analogue.

I have 4 copies of FREd here in the same room with me. One is my standard working copy. One is a copy that I had cut from the binding and coil-bound at Kinko's so I could lay it flat (such as if I wanted to refer to it while typing). One is a pristine copy of the 1st printing that I'm collecting autographs on. And one is an extra copy that I'm keeping for when my day-to-day copy gets too ragged.

 

Does that make me a geek?

Originally posted by EvilGM

I think in those cases, however, their races as a whole weren't affected by them, so it might have been a racial, not just a good EGO thing.

Well, maybe. But it doesn't say so in the films, and Jabba berates his lackey for being a "weak-minded fool" (which presumably he wouldn't do if he knew his own immunity stemmed only from his species). Also, why would the Jedis bother to try it on them if they knew it didn't work on their species? Luke's inexperience might explain it with Jabba, but I'd think Qui-Gon would have known better with Watto.

My first instinct is to go the other way around. I think all Jedi Mind Controls & Mental Illusions have a standard Limitation that they don't work on targets above about a 15 EGO. Several times, it's mentioned that the Jedi Mind Trick only works on the "weak-minded". Jabba and Watto were immune, but perhaps not because they had Mental Defense... just because they had good EGO scores.

 

Under this setup, Jedi would of course be immune, simply because they all have EGOs of 15 or higher.

 

The Telepathy wouldn't have this restriction, and would only need to roll an effect equal to their EGO to read surface emotions, hence the "open-book" effect...

If the computer and the hologram exist simultaneously, then it might be a computer with Duplication rather than Multiform. But otherwise sure, why not?

Originally posted by Chaosliege

I think everyone has got you taken care of, but I just wanted to point out that if you're talking about guys like scientists and doctors, they sound more like DNPCs to me. They would be little use on mission and would actualy get in the way most of the time.

Well, only assuming that the missions are very action-oriented. If the "experts" are providing the character with skill sets he doesn't have himself, and they rarely cause trouble for him, then they should be Followers.

 

For example, I have a Dark Champions character named Black Arrow. (Okay, so I'm a Copier. So sue me. ) He doesn't know much about computers and high-tech stuff, but he has a friend who does. She doesn't venture into the field with him... she generally communicates with him via radio when he's in the field. But she provides him with access to skills he doesn't have, and she's much more helpful than she is troublesome, so she's a Follower.

Here's kind of an odd thought...

 

I wonder if it would be feasible or desirable to do "combo" genre books for genres that might be narrow enough (in scope or in popularity) to make a whole genre book more problematic, as long at the genres being "comboed" in the book have some kind of quasi-logical link.

 

For example, you might be able to do a half-and-half book with Western Hero and Victorian Age Hero, because they're largely set in the same time period. While the feel of the stories is usually pretty different, there would be enough material applicable to both (due to similar technology levels, world events, and so on) that it might not seem unreasonable.

 

Likewise, you might be able to do a half-and-half book of Swashbuckling Hero and Revolutionary Hero (both high-adventure genres set more-or-less in the Renaissance), or a combo book of Cyber Hero and Post-Holocaust Hero (both near-future settings with a dark flavor).

 

Just musing...

 

Note: I wrote this before I saw Steve's post about Western Hero. I certainly don't wanna discourage Steve from doing a whole western book if he wants to.

Re: Price Check: What's this lim worth?

 

Originally posted by Acroyear

I was only valuing it at -1/2, but it might be worth more than that. Whatcha think?

I'd say -1/2 is about right. If it's for a Champions game, I'd say it's definitely only a -1/2, because on the superhuman level, most things that will be truly dangerous will be other superhumans anyway. "Natural" dangers or commonplace accidents are less threatening to a super.

Awright, so it was a dumb idea. It was 7:30 in the morning. I wasn't thinking straight yet.

If you want all light and darkness effects in a particular world setting to work this way, I think it's easier to just apply it as a ground rule. Rather than buying extra Powers or applying extra Limitations, you could just make it an axiom of the world that darkness and light effects cancel each other out up the Active Points in the power.

 

So if someone cast a 40 Active Point light effect on a 30 Active Point darkness effect, there would be a net 10 Active Points of light remaining (which you could then increase if you wished by casting again). If the darkness was 50 Active Points, then the light spell would have diminished it to 10, but it would still be dark, and so on.

Re: Rules Question

 

Originally posted by JmOz

My question is this: If a character is buying a base with personel AND a group of followers to adventure with does he buy followers once or twice

Followers are Followers. It doesn't matter what duties you assign them to. Saying that they're assigned to the base doesn't make them any less expensive; likea Computer, you pay the cost of them separately from the cost of the Base itself. So if you've got 4 commandos and 12 experts, and the most expensive of them is 100 Base Points before Disads, then buy Followers for 40 points. 20 points for the first 100-point Follower, +20 for 16x as many Followers.

Misterdeath mentioned something in another thread that got me thinking...

 

Basing a Magic Skill roll on END would have some interesting effects. It would make it easy to cast spells when you were well-rested, and gradually harder and harder as you got tired. Then, as you rested, it would gradually get easier again.

 

If you based the roll on the usual 9+(CHA/5), then your base Magic Skill roll would never be less than 9- (plus whatever amount you may have bought it up), so your ability to cast would never go away completely, no matter how tired you were. But it might be an interesting way to simulate the fact that it's probably easier to cast that big world-alteration spell when you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

 

And actually, if you used the Mana and Mana Recovery stats from Fantasy Hero Companion II, that might work even better...

 

Any thoughts?

Re: Prolly done a million times before...

 

Originally posted by SuperBlue

how would one handle being able to pull a Flash and run accross the ocean, up virtical surfaces, etc...

The way Mister Vimes suggests is one of the standard ways, and is the least expensive. However, if you don't want to deal with having a Turn Mode, you might also consider something like this:

 

Cost	Power	END
34	Superspeed: Multipower, 34-point reserve
3u	1) Superspeed Running: Running +17" (23" total)	3
1u	2) Running Over Water: Swimming +21" (23" total); Surface Only (-1)	2
4	Can Run Up Sheer Surfaces: Clinging (normal STR); Linked To Running (-1/2), Only With Feet (-1/2), Cannot Resist Knockback (-1/4)

Powers Cost: 42

Also, how would one write up the JLA version of Flash's Tornado hands (don't really know what to call it...).

Since he can't really "Grab" things with that effect, it might be easier to combine all that into one power...

 

Cost	Power	END
67	Tornado Hands: Dispel 15d6 vs Any Gas or Fire SFX One At A Time (+1/4), Does Knockback (+1/4)	7

Powers Cost: 67

Originally posted by Willpower

Yes, didn't Steve Jackson actually help develop the Hero system.

Not to my knowledge. (I'm 97% sure he did not.) However, he did borrow a lot of concepts from Hero for GURPS, and he mentions Champions as one of GURPS' main influences in the main GURPS book. (Perhaps that mention was the source of the idea that he was "linked to" the Hero System.)

Check out the sector designing software!

 

http://www.herogames.com/FreeStuff/Other%20Software/index.htm

I think you have some interesting ideas... worth trying out. I'd expand your DCV bonus idea to saying that a character gets +1 DCV on the first attack against him if he has either moved out of the attacker's hex to an adjacent hex, or moved from one adjacent hex to another (changing the angle of attack). Likewise, an attacker would get a +1 OCV on their first H-T-H attack after entering a defender's hex, if he ended a previous Phase in an adjacent hex. (So he wouldn't get the bonus just for making the first attack of a melee, but if he had already been fighting this opponent and presses the attack against him, then he does get the bonus.)

 

Also, Acrobatics can get you OCV bonus for surprise maneuvers. You could alter that slightly, and rule that a melee participant that moves at least one hex and combines it with a successful Acrobatics roll can get either +1 OCV on the first melee attack they make afterwards, or a +1 DCV against the first melee attack against them afterwards (their choice).

 

You could also rule that Tactics could be used the same way as Acrobatics described above (with the movements simulating skillful feints and blind-side attacks rather than agility).

Originally posted by gorman

Anyway, I've played GURPS for years (abandoned it in the past year, they really ought to do a new edition), don't particularly love d20 games (nor dislike them, mind).

Based on this, I really think you'd be happier with Hero. Hero overall isn't that similar to GURPS (it's more flexible, more powerful, and more universal, IMO), but enough of the core concepts are similar that you'd find learning Hero fairly easy.

Re: Re: Re: Not fair

 

Originally posted by DocMan

Under what option? I don't see any reference to Title.

"Custom User Text" under Edit Profile.

I know you said to only name one, but...

 

GURPS Time Travel and All Our Yesterdays (Last Unicorn Games' time travel sourcebook for their Star Trek RPG) are both solid books with overviews of time travel considerations and "how-to's."

I would respond to your question with a question. Do you ever plan to run anything besides superheroes? The answer to that may help you decide.

 

If you never plan to run anything but superheroes, both M&M and Hero have a lot to recommend them. M&M is probably faster and simpler, while Hero is more detailed and has a bigger support base to draw from.

 

However, if you think you might run something other than supers somtime, and you're interested in doing that without changing rules engines, definitely go with Hero. M&M is purely a superhero game. It's core mechanic is d20 System-based, but there's enough difference between it and other d20 games that you might almost as well be changing rules systems when you switch between them.

 

Hero has a much stronger "out of the box" ability to handle multiple genres and power levels, and in fact already has genre books out for Sci-Fi and Martial Arts in addition to Supers (with Fantasy coming this summer).

 

Plus, there is no canned setting available yet for M&M (if that matters to you). The Freedom City book is now about four months behind its originally announced shipping date. For Champions, on the other hand, the Champions Universe setting book and a huge book of villains (Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks) are already on game store shelves, with the Millenium City book due out soon.

Originally posted by Me

Maybe a question for Steve.

D'oh! That'll teach me to post a question on the questions section without checking the FAQ first. This has already been answered, and you can.

Can Breakfall be used to regain your feet as a 0-Phase action any time you're prone, or only immediately following a fall or being knocked back? Thanks!

I'm not so sure... I've always assumed that Breakfall used the momentum to help you roll to your feet. In other words, you can use Breakfall to regain your feet, but only if you've just fallen or been knocked back. I'm not sure it's supposed to let you gain your feet in a 0-Phase if you were just prone for some other reason (such as having previously been knocked out.)

 

Maybe a question for Steve.