TheDux

Re: Knowledge/Profession/Science Skill question That is more or less my thinking. Only reason I would see buying these would be IF we end up on the planet and the majority of the game takes place there. Or if the alien's religion picks up a following... But as is, the Religion is a Disadvantage (code of conduct)...and mostly used for quotes and philosophy. "By Shadena!" Shadena being the deity...anyway...

Re: Knowledge/Profession/Science Skill question I would personally not want to spend points on these (seeing as they will not benefit me in game). But at the same time, with specialized knowledge and skills such as these...

I was thinking about this recently. If a character is a religious leader of an alien culture, comes to earth and joins a group of heroes, would the player need to buy all the KSs related to that culture? Example: KS: Shaayd History KS: Shaayd PS: Sh'ila (Priest) Now, it would seem that in most games this would have minimal effect in a game based on earth with only this one character from that race. How would you, as a DM have the player buy these skills? Keeping in mind that if this was set on the Alien's home world, these would all have +3 or more to the roll.

Ok, this is two topics in one. The first topic: What inspires you? Where do you come up with your character concepts? Random epiphany? Inspiration derived from a need? Inspiration from unlikely places? I think with HERO being an RPG, Inspiration derived from a need will be fairly common. You GM sets up a world/story and you have to figure out a way to address it. I don't see players bringing characters to GM and then the GM making a game around that character. I am more of a "inspiration from unlikely places" kinda guy. I see a step stool, realize that the leg is cracked, think about fixing it or buying a new one, wonder if I should take your car or bike, realize that I wish you had a motorcycle because of the gas prices, think about alternate fuels, solar power comes to mind, think it would be cool to have superpowers based around solar power, and boom I came up with Solar Wind, the flying cosmic avenger. I am also a "doodler". Orginally it started with just doodling figures and adding a line that looked cool, that then turned into a spear/gun/energy blast/familar/followe/log/etc and then from there a whole character errupted. I guess this is similar to the other one above, but more active. In recent months I have been playing around with HeroMachine programs. HM 2.5 and Modern Hero are excellent for coming up with character designs. The new Lordi and Zombi machines are also great for coming up with more monstrous heroes (see Vrtra attachment). Which brings me to my next topic: While HeroMachine and the various other programs offered on ugo.com, I have found them to become pretty limiting. While I use them for just fairly vague designs (and later customize them with Adobe Photoshop (or just MS Paint)), I would like to find more programs that are similar. Is there anything that anyone uses?

Re: If not for this Suit...I would destroy the world Ok triple post...but...sue me The entire story involves a large section of our universe. So one planet being blown up (at worse), only means that the rest of the story takes place somewhere other than earth to complete the entire objective of several campaigns. Also the majority of earth has a good evacuation plan and enough ships to transport humans to the Moon and Mars colonies + friendly aliens from other solar systems can help out.

Re: If not for this Suit...I would destroy the world Phone Call from GM: Keep it simple Stupid. And from that... OK, Armageddon Blast will be a Physical Disadvantage. While I was thinking of the suit as an OIF, in reality it is effectively his own skin. So I have chosen to buy up his BODY, add some Armor, Damage Reduction/Resistance/what-have-you. And then add a Regeneration effect. And while he is going to be played as a speedster brick (taking full advantage of the GM 9 SPD cap), Now the Physical Limitation works as such: When Dr. Hadron (new name for the time being) has lost 80% of his BODY, a tear forms in his suit and releases energy. This first manifests as a Continuous EB Cone AoE in the direction of the attack that caused the BODY loss. It will not end until the tear has been repaired. If the tear is not repaired after 1 turn then a nuclear wave powerful enough to destroy a planet the size of Earth will begin to spread from his body. It will take 1 day for the wave to cover the planet/travel the equivalent distance on a flat plane. From there the GM is building the actual blast so that other heroes might be able to stop it with Force Fields/Drain/Etc. Now I will build a the Continuous Cone EB and call it a day.

Re: If not for this Suit...I would destroy the world Some quick notes: 1) GMs quote: "Ok guys, new campaign in 3 weeks! Superheroic (details at the end) with some special rules. Here is the big twist. I need you to build 3 characters each with of causing major destruction, putting allies in danager, etc. I will pick which drawbacks I like from each players 3 characters and approve them based mostly on that." Based on that I am assuming that the GM wants something earth shattering or to cause major problems FROM the heroes. This is part 2 of a three part story (each part about a 3 month campaign), the last one ended with a climactic fight where one of my allies transforming everyone in the immediate area (New York City) into stone. Very much a last resort effort 1 "second" before the bomb was armed and the baddie hit the launch button and sent the planet spiraling into a world war. 2) Something I forgot to mention: The blast has the potential to destroy earth, not just "oh no, boom, gone". Basically it will spread from his point and other heroes, governments, etc will have a means of containing the blast (ie: energy field similar to the suit). 3) Yeah names and concepts are going to change. I hadn't taken the time to come up with his real name nor his heroic alias so I went corny and/or pun worthy. I saw his personality as an Anti-Reed Richards but gained powers under similar circumstances (for the good of man/science, miscalculation/accident). 4) If something were to happen and there be another breach in the suit, it would repair itself (hopefully) before the energy blast, which would take place 1 turn after the tear occurred. Once I have this power fleshed out I am going to work on a system for energy to be released every phase that it is not repaired, for less damage. 5) The suit is very durable and has a self repair function. So a dagger thrust, snagging it on a tree branch, etc won't cause it. This is meant to be a VERY rare thing that could be used as a last resort. In our last campaign we lost a very expensive ship, out of the four players three had to make new characters after others either died, lost powers, or otherwise became useless.

Crude background story. Ok, so here is the idea. The man has basically been transformed into a nuclear blast with a conscience mind trapped within a suit. He is the pinnacle of human strength and speed (beat Hulk in an arm wrestling match same day he beat Flash in a foot race....exageration but you get the idea). But if anything were to happen to his suit that would cause his nuclear form to be released it would cause a blast large enough to shatter the earth. Think Dr. Manhattan but spontaneously combusts if not in a special suit. Give or take. Now i need to find a very cheap way to build a power that will destroy the earth along with the suit and the suits ability to try and repair itself. Armageddon Blast - Energy Blast or Transform? Advantages: Megascale, Explosion, Trigger (?) Limitations: 1 charge, Impossible To Recharge, Kills User,Extra Time (turn), Gradual Effect (?), NCC(?), No Range -I guess I could put this into a multipower along with other "Nuclear Blast" attacks, but how would you build this? I need to blow up a planet as cheap as possible. Containment Suit - Armor Limitations: OIF, Real Armor -Now I need a way to link a "tear" in the armor to Armageddon Blast. Ideas? Self Repairing Suit - Healing/Aid/Transform/Something Else? Advantage: Trigger, Uncontrolled Limitations: No END, Only to repair "tears" in Suit -At a loss here. So ideas? Thanks in advance...depending on a call I make now I might not be bothering you guys for a week or so...or I might be free to bug you tomorrow. Thanks again.

Re: Psychic Disruption It is a Supeheroic level, 250 Base Point, 175 Disadvantage (25 minimal required that we do not get credit for). Con is ranging from 10-60. This character has 15 (in one form, 50 in second form), the party average is about 25-30. One villain we are suspecting had about 60 Con. Again, the norm is about 25-30.

Re: Reverse Gravity For a true "reverse" of gravity you could go change environment and have the GM choose how high the victims float. You could also build a special form of fly, usable on others, Instant, Vertical Only. I would say: What Goes Up... - Telekinesis 30 (lift 1600KG (16 average people)), Affects Porous, AoE (Radius) (110 Active Points); Only to move object vertically (-1/2 or -3/4) Season to taste. This (by move rules) would lift each person 24" each phase. Someone correct me if that is wrong. Could be fun to lift a truck far out of site and drop it on someone unexpectedly. You could also pin people down with this attack.

So I am kicking around some ideas for my character, Cracky. The powered armor aspect is pretty strait forward (Armor, Slight enhanced STR, slight energy blast ability) but I am working on the Technopath aspect. Anyone with ideas or advice, feel free to combat. GM has a problem with putting his campaign details on public forums but I will say that this character is based around the fact that the main villain runs a company that is dominated by technology, has robot/android/cyborg guards/workers, and such. I sent my GM the concept and he said to treat EGO and Mental Powers as the basis of computers and technology. Mental Defense will be treated as computer security for example. He also said to take the limitation -1/2 "Only usable on electronics/computer". Also he wants "How's It Work?" and "Interface" as separate powers (one is "hardware" the other is "software"). Computer is defined as anything with a "processor". My power ideas: How's It Work? - Telepathy, Receive Only, No Range, Only Usable on Electronics SFX: Just by touching an electric device (TV/Computer/etc) Cracky can determine exactly how something works or if/what is making it not work. Interface - Telepathy, No Range, Only Usable on Computers SFX: Cracky mentally delves into computer and retrieves or adds what he is able to. Program/Disable Device - Mind Control, Telepathic, No Range, Only Usable on Electronics SFX: Cracky telepathically programs or reprograms any electronic he come in contact with. This include manipulating computers, disabling electronically lock doors, security alarms. Crash - Ego Attack, Autofire, No Range, Only Usable on Electronics SFX: When reprogramming fails, Cracky falls back on simply crashing the device. Wifi - Mind Link, Group of Minds (The Internet), Megascale (Planet), Concntration (0 DCV, Completely Unaware) SFX: Cracky's mind can connect to the internet, and while connected he can use Interface to communicate. Computer Security - Mental Defense, Only Against Computer Attacks (virus, hacking, etc) SFX: Cracky's unique mind acts like a cross between a human mind and a computer and as such is subject to computer attack. Unique Mind - Mental Defense SFX: Anyone attempting an attack on Cracky's mind will have trouble due to its unusal nature. 01001100011001010110000101110000 (Leap) - Teleportation 10", No Relative Velocity, MegaScale (anywhere on Earth or the Moon) PLUS Clairsentience (Wifi/Internet), Targeting Sense, Megascale (same), Can Only See Through Internet/Wifi Connection Ok, so these are some of my ideas. GM has approved basic concepts. I need some more ideas so I can pick and choose which ons I like best. So anyone with an idea or comment, I would love to hear it. Keep in mind that GM has implied that noncombat abilities are going to be required as much/more than combat. One thing I need is a way of making Cracky vulnerable to viruses and being "hacked". Physical Limitation (Human/Computer)?

Re: Psychic Disruption Not sure if the Ego Attack would be enough to really get the effect I am looking for. Would the target not be able to act normally while the attack is maintained?

Concept: -Mental Attack that brings the target to their knees and breaks their concentration and prevents them from acting without difficulty. As a base I have something like: Kind of stretched Set Effect (Empathy) to fit...but questions: Anything illegal here? Will this work? Is there a better way to do it?

Re: Psionic Rage (Simple power - Complex Twists) Sean: Perfect except INT/EGO drain would only apply IF the activation failed, not just by using the power. Hyper: I was thinking of multiform, but was trying to avoid it. Though right now it seems to be looking better.

Spoiler is fluff but may contain useful information, so skip down to "The Power" section for the root of the post. Note: This character is a project for a comic I am working on. I have been using HERO to flesh out the characters. The Power (Psionic Rage) (Almost No fluff): Ok here is the deal. I need to build a power, alter a disadvantage. Keep in mind that this is not a typical "barbarian rage" where you "get angry, you get strong". Similar, but there is more to it. While she is a skilled warrior, her power lies in Psionic Rage. She must activate the power through a quick meditation. Her psionic skill is crude and she could faill to activate the power. Here is the outline of the power (Note 75 Active Point limit is my goal, but that can vary): -Power triggers Enaged -Enraged triggers Power -Density Increase (30 points) -Incease Speed (30 Points) -Must be used at full strength. -Triggers Enraged Disadvantage -Failed attempt to enrage or to leave enrage drains all EGO and Mental Defense -Failed attempts also leaves Avlona mindless, she CANNOT act at all unless under the command of another or she is otherwise snapped out of the Mental Lock. I was thinking of taking the Disadvantage: "Enraged at Will (Very Common), go 14-, recover 14-; 25 Points" Then taking the Limitation: "Power is active as long as character is Enraged. Cannot turn off power." From there I will need a way of setting up the side effect. I was thinking an EGO and Mental Defense Drain and a Mind Control side effect. SPD and DI should be at 30 points each. This doubles her base speed and STR and gives the bonus perks of DI. Can someone help me hash out this power?

Re: Healing: Can Heal Limbs - Only 1 limb or multiple? I didn't plan on actually building this character, but I did, passed it off to my GM as a "possible" character I would use in a game (using his guideline for the game). Well thats his ruling.

Friend is building his first character. It is a Samurai who possesses an ancient sword passed down through the family. The sword grants mystical powers using the spirit of his ancestors. Problem is that while his his family was very honorable, mindful, and self disciplined, this character is far from. He is taking a serious Psychological Limitation to represent his arrogant, hot headed, self absorbed temperament. His attitude does not please his ancestors, and they often try to intervene in some of his rash and destructive decisions. I see the power as a chance for the GM to give the character a second/better chance to succeed a roll against the Psychological Limitation. The activation is dependent on the GM (NCC). Example of when it would be used: Admiral Justice has a plan to sneak inside the headquarters of D.E.T.H., the evil corporation trying to enslave America's youth, turning them into zombies. Ronny the Ronin, a member of Admiral Justice's team, wants to burst in through the front door and get through the mission the quickest way possible, but Admiral Justice quickly dismissed the plan with a curt "No". When the time comes, Ronny the Ronin feels the impulse to go through with his plan and disregard the agreed plan. >GM CALLS FOR A PSY LIMIT ROLL. Ronny fails. As Ronny the Ronin is about to charge for the door, his ancestors sigh and shake thier heads from the after world. They make an attempt to get through his thick skull that Admiral Justice's plan is the best course and to rethink his actions. One idea that I was thinking of was: Mind Control - NCC - Self Only - Only to Overcome Psycological Limitations. The other was to build a very weak follower to represent the ancestors with fairly strong persuasion skill knowledge skill, and telepathy.

Re: Healing: Can Heal Limbs - Only 1 limb or multiple? Ok, since there seems to be no ruling (and this is hypothetical and my GMs want to see the build before making to ruling), I am going for each must be heal separately. I should have put more detail into my question though. SFX would be more or less... Starfish Man and his team are facing off against the deadly Barbericaand her terrifying meat cleaver (5 foot massive blade resembling a butcher's meat cleaver). During the fight Starfish Man takes some devastating blows that leave on arm dangling by a skin, and his leg completely severed. His companions are able to get him to safety and hold off Barberica so he can attempt to regrow his limbs. Realizing that he cannot do much for the dangling arm, he chooses to sacrifice it and attempt to grow a new one. Through intense concentration and a large amount of energy, he is able to regenerate a new limb identical to the one before. Once both limbs are restored he is back in the fight. Your right, should have caught that. As an additional note... Wouldn't healing a limb in this fashion be a transform? You don't have the limb and you are adding it. Transforme No Arm into Arm. This sounds like a transform, but it is its own version of healing. I just find it interesting. Is this where we use the phrases "Theres more than one way to skin a cat/paint a barn"? NOTE: These phrase might be a southern thing...some of you yanks might be confused. NOTE: I do not condone skinning cats. NOTE: I also do not condone physical labor such as painting a barn.

NOTE: I only have my 5E book with me atm (grabbed wrong one on my way out, not sure if 5ER addresses this (boo for rushing out the door)). This is purely out of curiosity. Lets say that Starfish Man loses 2 limbs (10 BODY per limb (20 for both)). When he finally gets enough cover to take the time to regenerate his limbs he rolls his 5d6 Healing (only to recover limbs) an get 20. Does he regenerate both limbs or just 1? If you have a page # to refrence for when I get back home, that would be great.

Ok, so thre are two powers I want to create, one I can use Summon, the other I am not sure if I need to build a real power, but I would like to construct in case (even if my GM deems it worth 0 CP). The character creats spawn from "eggs" constructed from energy. The eggs hatch in 1 phase to hatch and 1 phase to grow to full size. The spawn fuction similar to summoned creatures and the summoner can form ech one to fit his needs. They are more or less altered clones with a very quick rate of growth and die very quick (life span of about 1 hour unless killed before hand or the summon desides to make the summon stronger). This is pretty easy to construct. The next is a bit harder. Simply put rather than a summon that hatches quickly and dies quickly, he puts all of his energy into the egg that will hatch after a set period of time and ages at a normal rate. This kills the summoner but most of himself lives on in the new creation. If I built this as a very limited duplication/summon/multiform it would only cost 1 CP (maybe 0 because of HOW limiting it is). Reason for a power so limited? The game will be seperated into several different campaiges, each set about 10-50 years apart (each lasting about 4-8 weeks of gaming). So this character might appear in campaign 1 (year 1920), "die" during campaigne 2 (as an NPC)(1947), little mention in campaigne 3 (2001), and return in campaigne 4 (2020). The GM wants to represent differet eras of comic heros with one on going story, and he is a stickler for "if your characer can do it, it must be built even if it is worth 0 points". I was thinking Duplication Character base points/5, Side Effect (kills user, cannot be reserected), Extra Time (50 years for egg to hatch), Cannot be recombined Would that work?

Re: N-Ray with Senses having the opposite effect? Strangely enough, I have seen many HERO players who are not into any related genre at all (except maybe Fantasy) but play Champions, ect. Guy at my comic/game shop doesn't read comics but is a gaming guru. Anyway, yeah thats how cerebro works more or less. It is a large machine that enhances a telepath's power so that they can locate others around the globe. Mostly used to locate mutants, but Sapians can be found just as well. External MD would work. Wish I could give you more insight about your other issues. EDIT: What beast said

Cartomancy = Tarot = Divination with cards For use in the game Cartomancy might be misdefined to some extent. *Prepost Rambling before leading up to the point* Wow, about to complete my first full campaign (3 months, 1-2 times a week) and about to start another with the same GM. I also got invited to a "newb" campaign as the "seasoned newb", excited about that one. And I am getting back into a game I had to quit because of the evil people at work who changed my schedule. Now this is where I make my point... *End rambling* The game I am getting back into there are two important things to note. I played an energy blaster that was killed (explanation for him leaving the mission), and Mentalist are a big part of society. The new character I am coming back as is going to be the brother/cousin/something of my previous character. But he is going to be a mentalist. He is getting a typical array of mentalist powers but with one or two Cartomancy Multipowers (two different decks) depending on how the build starts going. The way I want the powers to work is like this: He lays out the cards in front of them (on a magical/invisible table). The cards are all blank, depending on the cards placed one of the powers from the multipower will activate. What I think would be a cool idea is if I used a small deck of cards (A-4/5), different card for each set of powers (offense, defense, maybe a utility deck). When I use one of the powers I draw three cards. Each power would have a moderate activation roll. Depending on what I draw will decide what power I use using the following rules: If all three cards are the same the power doesn't require activation roll. If two cards are the same that power is the one that is used. Each Ace adds a +1 to activation roll. If two cards are the ace, treat the odd card as the power card, activation roll is treated as rule below. If all cards are different then the first card drawn decides the power. You get -1 to activation roll. Each Ace adds +1 to activation roll. If first card is an ace, threat second card as the first card. In case you were wondering about a case where 3 aces come up, 3 Aces are the combination for the "ultimate" power in that set. So (for example) A = Ultimate Power | 2 = Fire Spell | 3 = Poison Gas | 4 = Mental Distortion 111 - Fire Spell activates automatically 211 - Fire Spell will activate with successful roll A11 - Fire Spell will activate with successful roll with a +1 advantage AA1 - Fire Spell Activates with a successful roll with a -1 disadvantage and a +2 advantage 123 - Fire Spell Activates with a successful roll with a -1 Disadvantage A13 - Fire Spell Activates with a successful roll AAA - Ultimate Power I honestly think my GM would go for this, I don't see this taking to much time out of the game, especial since the GM is good at filling dead time with more detail. I have "play tested" this concept and it takes about 7 seconds if I reference the sheet, 5 if I have it memorized. Depending on how it works out I might add a couple more cards, or makes rules for 3 card flush/strait. The powers listed above are just off the top of my head, still need to sketch this character out. So, ideas? Comments? Anyone else try something like this?

Re: Distinctive Feature: Always Shows Up In Tarot Divinations as Individualized Card I find it funny. Everyone seems to agree that it depends on how often tarot comes into play in the game. And I agree. But for most it seems like they don't see this happening often. And you are considering this a DF. While in a game I am playing: Cartomancy is very common (mental powers/mentalist are vry important aspects of society). There are two kinds of Cartomancy. The run of the meal, corny, "I'll put on a good show for your money", and then "REAL" Cartomance (real in the sense of the game setting, want to make that clear so that tarot buffs don't misunderstand). Real Cartomancy uses decks with blank cards and the answers (symbolicly) appear in the cards, and it is typical for others to appear in the cards, even as a form of communication. My character actually got killed in the game (I had to take a break and didn't know if I would be back. But I can play again regularly and this has given me an idea for a set of powers. Well enough of my rambling, cool idea, run with it. I would say 10 points max, but I can see 0 just as well.

Re: N-Ray with Senses having the opposite effect? You could assign Mental Defense as the block. Since Mental Defense is more or less a "block" against other mental powers. And while you are buying it as a sense, the SFX is more or less mental based. Can anyone else second this? EDIT: Would this be like Cerebro (X-Men), but as a power at a smaller scale (local rather than global). Similar as what Prof. X/Emma/Jean/Any Other Mentalist use. Just want to make sure I am understanding this right.

*Mostly Off Topic* Found a GM who wants mostly new/newish players, but he is out of town and the other players are depending on me to help with builds...so I am depending on you wonderful people on the forums. *Back on topic* This can be applied to follower and summons. One of the guys want to play a Native American shaman/mystic of some sort. He has a Spirit Bear as a companion. The bear is cool, slightly higher intelligence than typical bear, much larger and stronger, EDM, and can even heal. The character has limited mind control, energy blasts, illusions, and such. He hasn't fully got the character down, but what he knows he wants is a Spirit Merge. Spirit Merge is Multiform power where he and his bear become one entity. Basically a stronger form than either of them. He takes the bears strength and advantages while retaining some of his powers and higher intelligence, but loses ability to speak and some of his powers. A limitation we will add to this is something along the lines of "bear is dismissed until the Spirit Merge is deactivated". The question is: Do both the character and follower have to buy this power? He was also talking about a power where he and the bear power up an energy blast together. This seem like a power they both might need to take.