Wyrm Ouroboros

Actually, to 'take down' an AT-AT, all you have to do is remove a foot; with only two 'bars' to take out, that's (comparatively) easily done. (And the things blow up when they fall over, remember?) As for the area-effect explosions, well -- rightfully the Jedi's LIGHTSABER deflection should be given the 'Will Not Work Against Heavy Missiles (-1/4)' limitation. You can deflect blaster bolts, bullets, arrows, and knives, but when it comes to massive objects (like TOW missiles or the like) you're going to have to use the Force to 'TK Missile Deflect' it.

 

Otherwise, just like normal Missile Deflection, if the attack is carried in a bullet, a grenade, or a blaster bolt -- which go off when they hit the targetted hex -- you can deflect it before it goes off. Obviously the wise choice would to take an AoE Line starting from the barrel of the weapon -- but that gets expensive, and in all rights is itself a Bad Idea. Not letting the Jedi deflect/reflect such blasts is, well ... seems to me to be antithetical to the entire reason why they're taking a Jedi at all. If you can't deflect blaster bolts, even AT-AT-sized ones, then what's the point? The higher you go on the Star Wars 'size scale', though, the more difficult (or disallowed) it should be. You shouldn't be able to Reflect the Death Star Planet Killer blast, though it'd be cool if you could...

 

Wisely, I'll stay out of the 'X is CRAP!!!!' debate. My own opinions on it are clear: you win some, you lose some.

So keep on the lookout for Corwin or Random, okay?

Originally posted by Captain Obvious

... throw hordes of small nasties ... like D&D kobolds ... then swarm the PCs for an encounter, or heck a whole adventure. If the PCs actually start taking enough damage to make survival look bleak, you can always have the small cowardly monsters break and run....

*pleased sigh* Ah, yes. Tucker's Kobolds. The worst group of monsters known to roleplayers, and the most dreaded. Anybody can defeat a dragon or a demon, even an intelligently-played one. What is really dangerous is a whole clan (or three) of small near-human-intelligence monsters who don't play homme's game, running around in an 8' tall corridor.

 

Always remember what the 'human average' on intelligence is, and what even semi-stupid people can come up with. Realize that 'small monsters' are semi-humans, and somewhat intelligent to boot -- and they want to survive. The worst thing in any gaming world is a clan with a plan...

Egads. Really, I wouldn't say 'questonite'; considering how valuable a material it is, I sure as heck wouldn't use it in a 'one-shot' weapon like a missile.

 

My offering, though...

Safecracker

Tunnelling, 1" (5) through 16 DEF material (50 Active Points),

Extra Time (1 Minute, -1 1/2), OAF Bulky Fragile (-1 3/4), 4 Charges (-1), Requires a Skill Roll (Demolitions, -1 penalty per 20 active points (-2 penalty), -1/4) [9 Real Points]

 

This 'machine' is a large-but-fragile network of smaller gizmos that attach to various places upon the door of any sized safe. Requiring the user to have some knowledge of the best way to crack such a thing (Demolitions), this interconnected sonic-based gadget does take some time to set up. It is believed that the individuals who broke into the safe-deposit section of First Republic, the personal safe of Tyler Goodson, and the main vault of Millenium City Bank all in one night were employing this particular gadget; the aforementioned unknown group got away with over ten million in valueables. The safecracker was since taken into police possession, but (in what is believed to be an 'inside job') was then used to break into the 'special weapons' vault downtown. Fifty weapons of various potencies were removed and spirited out of the building, along with the Safecracker.

There's a reason Transform has a stop sign next to it. On the second page, second colum, it has comments about adding or removing abilities with the Transform -- something about needing 1 extra Body for every 5 points the character has in powers. Considering I prefer to keep Powers separate from Skills separate from etc. etc. etc., I'd certainly have added a few BODY to Photon for purposes of Transforming him!!

 

Unless, of course, his powers are all Foci...

Monetarily, sure. Legally? Har!

Were this being built IMG, I'd go with 'Multiform'. For the 'Control Pod/Remote Start-Up', I'd lay it out like this:

 

Remote Start-Up (Robotic Form 'Starts Up' at Current Physical Location) (+0), Restricted Start-Up (Human Form Must Be In Control Pod for Multiform to Work) (-0)

 

I'd also add in a few other 'gimmies', such as 'Robot Always Exposed to BODY Damage (-0)' and a 'Mind Link: To Robot(s), Target Must Have Mind Link, One Planet, 0 Points'.

 

While I agree that God is in the details... hmmm. If you want to get really picky, make 'Remote Start-Up' a +1/2 Advantage, the 'Restricted Start-Up' a -1/2 Limitation, the 'Robot Exposed' as a -1/2 limitation, and then make them buy the Mind Link with 'No LOS Needed' and 'IIF Immobile'. I'd also buy the Mind Link as Feedback, to reflect the fact that knocking the Robot Body around is going to 'knock around' the fleshy body.

 

As a side note, this DOES mean that the character needs to keep track of the STUN done to the robot separately from the STUN done to the flesh body; the robot's REC may be faster/higher than the character's, which means that the robot's repair systems might be all finished while the person in the control pod may be still going 'woogy woogy woogy'.

 

Yes, this DOES mean that the robot jockey is going to have a lot more flexibility; one always has more flexibility when one's working with foci, that's just the way it is. But Mr. Mutant can't be caught with his 'power suit' off, now, can he? It also means that sometimes yon in-the-field heros are going to be going, 'C'mon, he's getting away!!' when the robot has been knocked cold -- and they probably can't just casually pick the robot up and lug him along until Ms. Pretty back at base wakes up from her coma.

To be honest, I'm of two minds about this. I originally designed the lightsaber as an Energy HKA, AP x3 / Penetrating. Then I found the RKA NND version, came up with the RKA Limited AVLD version on my own, and -- reading fun stuff about Mecha and the like -- am wondering which/where, exactly, it's going to work.

 

Question for y'all: how would you handle a 'Limited Impact vs. Size'? The situation I'm thinking about involves the example Mecha on p. 227 of the Star Hero book. The vehicle has 25 BODY and 20 DEF; a 3d6 NND/AVLD RKA is going to tear that apart in two or three swings, (average of 12 straight to Body) while a 3d6 AP RKA is going to take maybe a dozen. You might think that a dozen is a lot, especially with the pilot doing his best to blow you away or stomp on you, but if you're rapid-striking or something, you can rip the huge thing apart in a very short time.

 

While I agree it's cool seeing Luke (Expanded Universe time) deflect mondo blaster bolts from an AT-AT with his lightsaber or hand, a lightsaber can STILL only reach so far when it comes to slicing apart a massive mecha/vehicle/whatever. Should one have a rule for this? A limitation, to reflect the comparative size of the attack vs. the victim? A 'game ruling' on it? Or is there something else, perhaps in the hit locations, that comments on how to handle this sort of thing?

 

---- Edited in ----

 

Thinking about this for a little bit, I recognize that there's a difference between 'slicing it into bitty bitty pieces' and 'disabling the vehicle'. Even with the NND/AVLD lightsaber, it's going to take you some time to slice an 80' battlewagon into scrap metal, but it isn't NECESSARILY going to take you very long to disable the thing. A slice to a foot, and the thing falls over; a couple cuts around the 'power box' (or whatever) and it don't work no more.

 

Thoughts? Comments? Ridicule??

Duh. Good point; I feel like such a chump for missing that one...

I hate be that guy who says 'me too', but in regard to WFRP, 'me, too!!' WFRP, IMO, actually does have a good system (which is why, for fantasy, I prefer it over anything else), but what it really has is a most excellent atmosphere. With a good GM (and I had one of the best), 'good' translates into 'phenomenal'...

d12 every Phase, then reset? I like that. I might use that...

Guys, I really don't think there's 'only one right way' to build the damn thing; I give my ideas, Champsguy has his own mindset on it. I disagree on Champsguy's interpretation, including how all the rest of it works, but I've read the other 'Expanded Universe' goodies, I like to think I have a bit more clear idea on 'the way things work'. Still, what's supposed to happen is that it fits YOUR game. This isn't worth a flame war over, really.

 

"There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no death, there is the Force."

-- The Jedi Code

Originally posted by NuSoardGraphite

Light as a feather: -3 STR Min

Heavy blade: +3STR Min/+1 StunX

 

...(obviously the Light as a Feather, and Heavy blade bonuses are inclusive).

EXclusive.

 

So what sort of prices would you make each one of these?

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

If she has any Disadvantages associated with her soulless state, you might let her save up enough Experience to buy them off (perhaps partly acquired on a quest to earn a soul), then let her experience a "radiation accident" to buy them all off at once.

 

Agree/disagree. I agree that there is a massive potential for a 'radiation accident'; I don't know the particulars of Eternia (is she a robot? Clone? What??) but unless she's transforming 'states of matter', i.e. robot-with-computer to flesh-and-brain, she shouldn't be changing powers. Her 'soulless state' Disadvantages should instead be replaced by new ones, and preferably very severe ones; children feel everything more passionately. A quirk might become a moderate PsychLim, a 'poderate' may become a 'strong', a 'strong' may become 'total'. Me, I'd switch them around instead of let her just buy them off.

 

IMO, Eternia's 'quest to get ... a soul' should be a matter of very, very good roleplaying; remember, this is the superheroic equivalent to Pinocchio's quest to be 'a real boy'. It isn't a matter of a power, a dying hero (Whose Soul Is It Anyway?), or something 'technical'; it shouldn't even be a clinical matter of 'do X, Y, and Z, and something wondrous will happen!!' You, the GM, should decide what sort of experiences/passions/hopes/dreams Eternia should experience or believe in order to 'gain a soul'. It might be interesting if she had to 'find religion'; after all, faith is just about the only 'proof' we have of the soul, mystic relics notwithstanding. (See Steven Brust's 'Issola' for an interesting diatribe on what 'the soul' is.)

 

Once you believe the character is ready, take the player aside and inform her. Remind her that as a 'new soul' she is, or should be, full of innocence and wonder, child-like in many things. Doesn't mean she's stupid, just means that all that pre-programmed cynicism should be wiped out of the database...

Originally posted by archer

Have you heard of the Kardashev system? Nikolai Kardashev was an an astronomer in the Soviet Union who came up with three (or, technically four if you count type 0) ways of classifying how societies collect and make use of energy...

Ummm... wasn't this the Dyson scale? A Dyson sphere being one of the hallmarks of the 'TL 2' civilization...

Interesting. However:

Lesser Power need not be used proportionally to Power with which it is Linked (+1/4) ... Damage Shield (+1/2)

As far as I can tell, if you have the latter (Damage Shield) it doesn't matter what your 'Linked-to' power is used at. For this weapon, wielded by Biff the Terror, if ol' Biff is attacked by a host of zombies or skeletons (that don't have weapons) he can just parry-parry-parry until the weapon's innate 2d6 Energy RKA (with +1 stun -- against the undead, why bother?) explodes them all one after the other.

 

Instead of the 'Lesser Power not in proportion (+1/4)', you may be meaning to instead use 'Shield Damage can be done to targets with HTH attacks other than Grab/Parry (+1/4)'. This, of course, would be really bad for sticking your sword in them and just letting the sucker stay there -- damage every one of the target's phases, or for a weak person just pressing the sword against their flesh. Which, I suppose, IS a grab, but still.

 

Q: Just swinging the weapon, would you do the Damage Shield damage to the zombie ON TOP OF the sword's regular damage, or is that just too malevolent to consider?

Special effects are the spirit of the game.

 

I like being reminded of your point, though. The difference between AD&D and WFRP, of course, is the difference between Champions and Dark Champions -- you never quite lose the sense of impending doom, and the three ratlings with crossbows really can make you worry.

 

Okay, so I far prefer WFRP. It's a style/SFX thing. Sue me.

Happened a while ago, but...

 

Thor Clone winds up with his trusty mystic mace and brings the doomhammer down upon the villianous flying brick's head. First time we'd ever encountered these people, and as a consequence the TC didn't know exactly what his opponent (Taurus, one of 12 based off the houses of astrology) could do. *Wham!!*

 

TC: *rolls dice* "Okay, 16 Body, 52 STUN, and ..." *rolls 1d6 for Flying Knockback* "... 14 inches of Knockback."

GM: "He doesn't go anywhere. In fact, he only bobbles a little in the air, then sort of growls at you."

TC: *eyes widen, then pantomimes whipping out a comb, fixing the guy's hair, then grabbing the mace and waggling it* "Let me try that again..."

Originally posted by Willpower

This type of villain, CAN work in a Champions game, but it is hard, as it requires the players to play in character, and a lot of good planning on the GM's part. For instance, when Joker poisoned Lois Lane, it might have been easy for the Hero in question, if it were a player, to just say, "Ok, I kill him." Which then unless, as a GM, you planned on backing up the plan of the villain, and making all sorts of trouble, legal and psychological for the hero, there isn't much bite to the plan.

I'd just like to point out that if the players aren't playing their Psychological Limitations, playing In Character, etc. etc., well, what are you giving them XP for? A couple times of that, and the big ol' subtle GM croquet mallet comes swooping in to smack their ankles, like so:

 

'Well, Wally, looks like your character, Mr. Marvel, has just blown away his third city-threatening supervillian on live 'News at Noon'. Say, didn't you have three levels of a Reputation Perq, 'Honorable Do-Gooder'? And the usual 'understood' 'Reluctance to Kill' psych lim?'

 

"Uuuuh ... *checks sheet* Yeah?"

 

'Let me take a look at that for a moment, then. ...hmmm. Thought so -- says here you also have the Disadvantage Reputation of 'Honorable Do-Gooder, 11- Extreme', too. We're going to put a little editing on that. *write write write* Okay, there you go.'

 

"Hey, whaddadoin'?!? Now Mr. Marvel's Rep Perq is 'Cold-Blooded Killer', got a psych lim of 'Casual Killer', and his Disad Reputation is 'Murderous Anti-Hero, 14-'!!"

 

'Yeah, well, that's what you've been playing, man. Oh, yeah, one better -- you got a free 'Hunted'. Local Police, 14-, Less Powerful, Non-Combat Influence, Limited Area. And the Chief isn't gonna wanna answer your calls no more...'

 

"Gaaah!!"

They're allowed to play their characters any way they want, I agree -- but you, as the GM, are required to shape the world around them in response to their actions. Sometimes that means changing what they wrote on their sheets in order to reflect what they've been playing. Never, ever, EVER let a player get away with murder -- or rather, 'inappropriate (for the character) behavior' -- without having your NPCs respond appropriately. Mr. Marvel is going to be the 'sweetheart' of the Nightly News for weeks...

Originally posted by Marchwarden

...and that was when the team leader made the "OH ****!" face as he realized that "Baker's Dozen" was the final part of the riddle. The next 5 minutes were played out in Champions combat time: phase by phase. It was the tensest roleplay I'd ever seen: players wiping their sweaty palms on their jeans, looking ill, spilling their Cokes...

 

...but when they disarmed the 13th nuke on phase 8 of Turn 25 (Timer stuck at 00:04), they felt like gods. I was worried that it would drag out too long or that they'd get frustrated, but it turned into one of those "our finest hour" sessions.

 

As far as I'm concerned, it was just another old-style Champions marathon fight scene, with the clock as the enemy.

 

*sniff* *sob* I love you, man!!

 

No, seriously. This is the sort of wicked-assed GM that I want to play under. That's just too excellent.

You really should edit your quote to include that. This is what, the fifth time you've been asked?

Good articles. Also, good suggestions re: the 'bash 'em when you see 'em' heros. And remember -- the heros have to 'see' 'em first.

If you're using the Focus + Independent rules for magic items in Fantasy Hero -- which I presume you are -- then remember the suggestion in the explanation for 'Independent'. Particularly for fantasy settings, they suggest that one can find 'raw materials' that 'contain' CP that may be used to create Focus + Independent items.

 

Generally, one requires exotic materials to create magic items; these exotic materials may, by GM fiat, 'contain' the necessary CP to create the items. Of course, these materials probably fall into the 'extremely rare' and 'dangerous' categories...

Actually, I'm considering making the lightsaber have a 'Minimum Ego' the way other weapons have a 'Minimum Strength'. OCV penalties if you've got a weak mind ...

When Luke hit (the first time, Ep. 5 'Empire'), he 'clipped' him. There aren't really any rules for that in Champions, wherein if you hit, you hit, and you do damage. One might suggest that the 'saber Luke was using was only 1d6, and he rolled poorly; whatever. It's accepted that when Luke lopped off Vader's hand (Ep. 6, 'Return'), Vader actually used a Force power to reduce the damage from being killed to being injured/maimed.

 

In the WEG editions of the SW RPG, it's stated that 'blasters are deadly'. If you're hit but damage isn't done (due to your Body roll), you've been clipped (e.g. Leia at the bunker in Ep. 6) but not really hurt. While ChampsGuy suggests that people (e.g. Stormtroopers) in SW don't have Resistant Defenses, my question is this: have we ever seen a Stormtrooper funeral? Stormtroopers weren't killed by one or two rocks. Overborne, yes, but killed? Captured, I expect. The ones that are constantly blasted throughout the movies, well, we never see them being pulled out of their armor, pulses checked, and given the coup. Hell, they might just be knocked out from the STUN, right? Can Joe Stormtrooper (10rPD) take a mid-to-high 2d6 RKA blaster shot with a 5 or 6 on the Stun die and NOT keel over? Hey, he took no body, but he took 10 * 4 = 40 - 10r = 30 stun...

 

In any case. What works in your game. It matters to me; I'm running a web-based Dark-Champions-style campaign right now, and my GMC is a 'Jedi' with a lightsaber. My view: consider what you do to Normals. If you do damage equivalent to the heaviest publically available firearm (i.e. shotguns or .50 rifles, 2½d6 RKAs, or 15 BODY at a shot) to the Normal, then that's about the cap on the attack power. It's a very 'street' campaign, so they aren't going to be running into Superman or Iron Man any time soon.