Wyrm Ouroboros

Re: Outside the Box powers

I just want to say that this threw me, laughing, onto the floor, wrestled me into submission, and tickled me pink for hours.

Re: Upstarts looking to go big time

Sounds ... very non-Silver-Age, though. I like the idea, I just don't think you should present it in quite that manner, that's all...

Re: How to deal with a multiform pregnancy?

What form were they in during the intercourse? I'm presuming they were in dragon form.

Now, if you're looking for 'seriously scary crap', then I'd say that yes, 'she' is pregnant - with a dragonic child or children. However, while she may change forms, the child(ren) do not - which means that the developing egg(s) are always going to be the same size, no matter which bodily form she takes. As the time from insemination to egg-laying approaches, the character cannot shapechange into the humanoid form, lest she endanger the eggs - or, just as bad, herself. And as it gets very near, she can't even change into the 'small dragon' form, for the same reasons. Once the eggs are out, of course, everything's back to normal - unless it's decided that dragons need to 'sit' on their eggs to keep them at a very particular temperature, and thus the male has to do it as well ... or perhaps the male dragon is the one that has the right body-temperature, and has by default some sort of quasi-marsupial pouch to keep them at just the right temperature.

Which means that while she's producing the eggs, she can't go out adventuring ... and once the eggs are out, he can't go out adventuring.

Re: Outside the Box powers

Err, not ... exactly. As written, he's specifying that that is how the power works. He could have 'rPD, Gestures' simply be bullets going into a wall or the ground, but he's specified that the bullets hit a 'casual/innocent bystander' that he's helped/cursed in the past. I don't care about the Named NPC/Teammate thing; causing them to be part of the effects is IMO possible, and consequently they'd get targeted by the attack and have to defend. (Dodge, whatever.) Presuming he's got enough PD to avoid the whole attack (possible, but not automatic), then the 'new defender' has to scramble for it.

Would I allow this power? Absolutely. Would the special effects have severe, several, and significant consequences? Absolutely. "Wizard Wastes Washerwoman!! Sorcerer Sends Shots Into Sudster!! Spider-Man A Menace!!" Wizard gains, for no point return, a hunted by the local PDs, wanted for murder - why? Because - going by the supposed effects - he clearly had control over the direction the bullets went, and could have not sent them into the crowd. Etc. etc. He gains (again, without point return) a negative Reputation, and is thought of as a DFV, perhaps. Or a casual killer. Or, well - non-heroic in whatever way is appropriate.

Re: Help modeling a power

I'd go with Collie's effect, yeah. The 'passing through' is F/X; ignore the Desolid unless it's absolutely required by the rest of the concept and build, and something that he possesses anyhow.

Re: Tracking Bugs

I like that build but I do not think that the Bug itself is a Focus. It messes with the way the concept of focus works. You are stating that it gives the user of the tracking device +2 to the roll' date=' but if it is a focus then by the rules the fact that they do not have the bug means they do not get the bonus. This is something I have seen several times. Not all "items" are foci. This power cannot be "removed" from the person using it by using the focus rules (it can be removed from the target, but that is very different). Of course you can fudge the focus rules in your games to make something like this work if you wish but it is definitely not RAW.[/quote']

 

Actually, it messes with the way your concept of 'Focus' works. The Focus Limitation does not specify that the individual must possess the item; it simply states that benefit from the item is applied to the character. This dichotomy is stated most readily by the following:

 

An Accessible Focus is one that’s easily taken away from the character, or of whose benefit the character can easily be deprived.

 

The RAW is somewhat fuzzy on whether or not a person has to have a focus 'in hand'. What is notable is that deprivation of the benefits of the power are dependent upon, well, control of the focus. The version of a bug in FREd uses a Focus:

 

Throwable Tracking Bug: Images to Radio Group, +4 to PER Rolls, Increased Size (32” radius; +1¼), Usable As Attack (allows character to “stick” the Image to a target; +1), Range Based On STR (+¼),1 Continuing Recoverable Charge lasting 1 Week (stops functioning if it gets wet or experiences severe radio interference; +1) (76 Active Points); IAF (-½), Set Effect (detectable signal; -1), Image Only Perceivable On Special Radio Frequencies (-0). Total cost: 30 points.

 

The implication here is that the Focus is thrown or stuck to a target, and though that throwing physically removes the Focus from the possession of the character, the benefit is applicable to the character - or, similarly, that it is the Focus itself that is being detected (which is true, and which concept the Mind Scan power build also uses). The Focus, Inobvious though it is, can be simply picked off and tossed away (or destroyed), and though the character can still find the Focus, because it has been removed from the target its benefit (to wit, finding the target) is no longer applicable.

 

This build, of course, depends on the rules defining the advantage/disadvantage of seeing something of great size from a distance to work, and still requires your radio-perception power - possibly with Telescopic at some several levels. Considering the example above, which is a removable and recoverable bug, i.e. Focus, we should alter the Mind Scan power build to read as follows:

 

Tracking Unit: Mind Scan 5d6 (Machine class of minds), +8 ECV, Sense Affected As Another Sense (Radio; +0), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Cumulative (60 points; +3/4), One Way Link (+1) (133 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Location Only (-1), Sense Affected As More Than One Sense Sight (-1/2), Can Only Locate Coded Tracking Bugs Below (-1/2), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4): 29 Points

 

Coded Tracking Bug: Penalty Skill Levels: +2 vs. Size/Qty Modifiers with OECV to Locate, Usable As Attack (+1) (12 Active Points); IAF Fragile (-3/4), 8 clips of 1 Recoverable Charge (-1/2): 5 Points

 

I might suggest that the penalty to only locate coded tracking bugs might be worth more, since by dropping that disad for only 4 points it could simply locate any electronic emission/"brain" ... such as their cell phone or computer.

Re: Alternative Necromancy

I always enjoyed Morr, god of death and dreams, in Warhammer FRP. So much so, eventually, that one of my characters became dedicated to him as one of his few Knights Templar. There's nothing to spread more dread on a battlefield than being the target of the attack of 'only' a dozen knights in black-enameled armor charging you in utter silence - not even hoof-beats. And the silence spread as they came ... so many units would break from that ...

Granted, necromancy was still pretty much forbidden, but there are certainly 'good' elements to it.

Re: Tracking Bugs

This is elegant. I am also intrigued by the mind scan variant.

Tracking Device: Mind Scan 5d6 (Machine class of minds), +8 ECV, Sense Affected As Another Sense (Radio; +0), Cumulative (60 points; +3/4) (72 Active Points); OAF Fragile (-1 1/4), Neither Character nor Target Can Attack Through Link (-1), Sense Affected As More Than One Sense (Sight; -1/2), Can Only Locate Coded Bugs (-1/2), Maximum Effect EGO +10 (Direction and Distance; -1/4), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4): 15 Points.

Coded Tracking Bug: Penalty Skill Levels: +2 vs. Size/Quantity Modifiers with with OECV to Locate (6 Active Points); Bug (Must Be Placed On Target To Track; -1), IIF Fragile (-1/2): 2 points.

Re: Sci-Fi Melee Weapons: Bat'leth, Lirpas, Lightsabres, Rykk Blades, Koltari, Denn'B

5E:

[TABLE=width: 1000, align: left]

[TR]

[TD]16

[/TD]

[TD]Lightsaber: Elemental Control, 118-point powers, all slots -1 Decreased STUN Multiplier (+0) (59 Active Points); all slots OAF Durable (-1), EGO Minimum 18 (CV penalties as though STR Minimum) (-1), No Knockback (-1/4), No Bleeding (-1/4), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4)

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]13

[/TD]

[TD]1) Lightsaber: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2 1/2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), AVLD vs. Combat Luck, Dodge-Based Defense, or Force Field/Wall (+3/4), Does BODY (+1) (130 Active Points); EGO Minimum 18 (CV penalties as though STR Minimum) (-1), OAF Durable (-1), EGO Minimum 18 (CV penalties as though STR Minimum) (-1), No STR Bonus (Adds Martial DCs at 4:1) (-1/2), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), No Bleeding (-1/4), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4)

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]11

[/TD]

[TD]2) Active Lightsaber: Killing Attack - Ranged 1 1/2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Damage Shield (+1/2), AVLD (vs. Combat Luck, Dodge-Based Defense, or Force Field; +3/4), Does BODY (+1), Continuous (+1) (119 Active Points); EGO Minimum 18 (CV penalties as though STR Minimum) (-1), OAF Durable (-1), EGO Minimum 18 (CV penalties as though STR Minimum) (-1), Specific Beam Only (Only With Block / Missile Deflection / Beam Touched) (-1/4), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), No Bleeding (-1/4), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4)

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield

The question then becomes: What is the attack roll required when attempting to contact someone with said Force Wall + Damage Shield?

In essence, just a standard Ranged Attack roll. I would probably allow them to simply have to target that hex (DCV 3) with whatever range modifiers are appropriate; I might give it a bonus to hit that was dependent on the size of the Force Wall.

Re: Tracking Bugs

Your power build, so far as I can tell, looks valid.

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield

Moving Wall of Fire:

Total: 135 Active Cost, 120 Real Cost. 6 END.

The Force Wall cannot push people (i.e. exert force); it can only come into contact with them, which contact then triggers the Offensive Damage Shield.

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield

... wait. Are you making the Force Wall the thing that is used to attack with? I.e. Thunderfist hits Barrier Boy, and though he clobbered BB, BB's powers have reacted and put a Force Wall up around Thunderfist?

... that, technically, is allowable. Without UAA, because FW is already UAA.

If, on the other hand, you have a Force Wall that has a linked Damage Shield - I.e. an EB or RKA or some other attack - and you have the Mobile (GM-defined, but for a defensive power that has a Damage Shield, I'd call that +1) Advantage on the Force Wall, and Offensive on the damage shield - then yes, you can move the Force Wall into contact with a person, and then the Damage Shield will affect them.

Re: The Non Sequitor Thread

Look, term, sixteen thousand iterations all say you're both boneheaded and wrong. It's computer fact, man, you can't avoid it.

Re: Tracking Bugs

I tend to go with Mind Scan for that one, putting some bonus/negative ECV for the scanner to find it onto the bug itself (IIF, Radio not Mental, Coded Frequency Only). That way, you can get at least a general direction starting out, then get it refined with a solid 'where'. Obviously you can't attack through it, but with just a little more mod, you could see through it.

Mind Scan already has a significant (planetary) range; without more information on your campaign, I couldn't say if that was too much, but if it was, you could certainly reduce it to a 'slightly limited' or 'standard' range, at -1/4 to -1/2; 'slightly limited' might be considered equivalent to a quasi-megascale 1" = 1km or 10km or so.

Re: Designing a starship that is bigger on the inside than the outside: what...

I believe one of the Advanced Player Guides (II, I think?) has just such a sort of power - Extradimensional Space. Excellent use for 'hammerspace', really - building a Decanter of Endless Water (of a sort), or a Bag of Holding. Or a TARDIS. 5 points for 1 cubic meter, +5 points for x2 volume.

Hm. Essentially, for every 15 points after the initial investment, your 'extant lwh' doubles. At 5 points, your space is 1m x 1m x 1m; at 20 points, you have a 2m x 2m x 2m space. At 200 points, your space is 8192m on a side - just about 550 billion cubic meters. On a ship, that's spending 40 points on your Extradimensional Space ... ? You can place additional negatives onto it, such as 'limited access' They limit theirs by physical size; I'd be inclined to take that with something of a grain of salt, since you cannot (after all) get the Titantic into the TARDIS, no matter how hard you try; it just won't fit in the front door. Sounds like a -1/4 or -1/2 disadvantage to me. Extra Time is also possible, indicating that you have to hunt around inside for whatever-it-is you're looking for ...

Re: EB vs EB

Page 197 in the 5e book; pay attention to the 'Sustained Attack' option in the column prior.

Pretty good, and pretty much how I'd run it.

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield

Mobile doesn't exist in 5th Edition.

Mobile (Stop Sign Advantage): "(Hero System Fifth Edition Rule Book Revised, page 250; Fantasy Hero, page 124-125) This Advantage allows a character to move an area-affecting Power after it has been established."

This is applicable to Force Walls. You cannot push someone with it - it has no Strength - but you can move it into contact with someone, which would trigger an Offensive Damage Shield.

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster

Hmm. I wasn't aware there was a framework for doing that. I presumed rushing a job (moving it 1 step faster) was a -2 for some reason, but ... that's a nice use.

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster

I prefer to do this with increased movement (or other appropriate powers) to avoid dealing with SPD changes during game time. That gets a little clunky for me. (Granted' date=' not for other people necessarily, this is just a matter of preference.)[/quote']

 

That's one way of doing it, but sometimes you need more actions, not just more distance. It's typically understood, though - a -0 Disadvantage, if you will - that you can only put the power into effect on Phase 12. Then you sustain it Turn-by-Turn. Because SPD doesn't usually cost END, I give it a -1/4 effect of 'costs END every Turn' - kind of a crossover between END every Phase and Delayed END Cost.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

She's certainly better than the other two options.

Re: Hero Central Down for??

Dan, is there any way for a game owner / GM to be sent the data from their game(s)?

Re: Fox of Crime info

Back in the day' date=' I teamed the Fox of Crime with Panda and Racoon. Fun group of super-thieves, and surprisingly effective.[/quote']

 

... I don't know Panda and Raccoon. But it sounds ... useful.

Re: 12 months, 12 characters. January. The Speedster

There are certain powers I've associated with Speedsters, but the one that I've always thought of as being key was actually something along these lines:

Can't Slow Down: +2 SPD, Inherent (+1/4) (25 Active Points); Always On (-1/2): 17 real cost.

Most people will think this is a con of some sort, but for 3 points, it means that if you hit the speedster with anything that affects them on their SPD, such as a gas or drowning, it affects them much faster than anyone else who can voluntarily lower their SPD to 2.

There's also 'increased SPD, costs END' for pushing themselves to be even faster.

As for flight or teleportation, there are a dozen or more such tricks: moving so fast you can run across water or up any surface (Flight, only in contact with surface, must make at least half-move); running so fast people don't see you get from A to B (Teleportation, Must pass through intervening space); running so incredibly fast you can cover continents in the blink of an eye (Teleportation, megascale, must pass etc.). Other tricks include hitting everyone around you by moving really fast (AoE on a hand attack punch of some sort), hitting them with a sonic boom (make a HA into an energy attack or Flash), setting up a harmonic wave and disrupting it (HKA, only vs. rigid targets, extra time), getting out of the way (force field/combat luck), speed-reading (very rapidly - x100,000?) moving so fast you dodge bullets without even looking like it (Desolidification, affected by full AOE (not AOE Accurate) attacks), moving so fast you're functionally in multiple places at once (Duplication with Feedback), missile deflection, and even making your senses into full AoE (looking everywhere at once, or even touching everything at once, incredibly quickly).

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield

If you have the Damage Shield properly linked to the Force Wall, and you have 'Offensive' on it, yes. If you have to move the Force Wall to hit them (as compared to constructing the Force Wall around them directly), you obviously need Mobile on the Force Wall.