Wyrm Ouroboros

Re: No Consess Control At A -1/2 Or -1/4 Level

At -1/2 and -1/4, it's no longer a 'No Conscious Control*' power. It may be something of the sort of 'Can Be Activated Externally' or some sort of Activation roll, but NCC indicates that, well, the character can't control it. At all, at the -2 level; at the -1 level they can activate it, but what happens then is up to the GM.

* - 'Consess'? Really? It's right there.

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

The paradox was paradoctored.

In a lot of this sort of thing, however, it's presumed that once you actually manage to time-travel, you have a sort of 'causal immunity' to paradox; you can accidentally wipe out the creator of the Great Gizmo of Power (which you now wield) before he can create the GGoP, kill your ancestors, etc. and you and your GGoP are personally immune to the effects. Not so anyone else, but you, yes. This is best explained in the fantastic RPG "Feng Shui".

That said, I believe that in Champions, Champions Earth (and its dimension) is the linchpin/breaking point of the entire multiverse. You can only cross the boundaries so heavily, you can only send so much of an invasion force onto Sol III, without stressing that breaking point. And if you go for broke, well, what you 'broke' is the entire multiverse, and cause and effect collapses or everyone gets locked into their current dimension or whatever.

So around Champions Earth, you have to walk very lightly, and as a result a comparatively minor force can defeat an army culled from a hundred thousand universes. It's the 300 at Thermopylae, except there's no goat path, and the route up is even narrower than what it actually is, and you can't really sail around the damn thing. To for certain be able to get all the rest of everywhere, you have to take that break point ...

Re: International (HeroCentral Rallying Point)

Presuming this is RocEter ...

You misunderstand my meaning. I love - love - the character design process, the power building, all of it, which is why I was so hard on pretty much everyone - to get a clear idea of their character, and not just what their skills and all were. You wrote your character concept and background very well just to start with, so I really didn't have to hammer you so hard.

What I meant, just in general, is that your character's powers 'follow' what your character's personality is - how he thinks, how he feels and desires and all. Adrian is a geek; his powers very much follow the lines of who and what he is.

Okay, for those of you who don't know - yes, I'm Micronaut, and Micronaut means me. ... and that's all I'll quote Gandalf.

This-yere thread's for rallying allayouse what're waiting on HC to come back. No, I don't intend on running International here on the HG board, but that doesn't mean we can't poke at the backgrounds and the like some more. Or rather, you lot can't keep thinking about your interviews, and injections and Threadings ...

Now, for all of you who aren't part of the aforementioned campaign on HeroCentral but decided to read this thread anyhow, well - since HC is on hiatus, this is the perfect chance for you, yes, YOU to decide you really want to apply and play a Teen Champions game where the fate of the world rests in the hands of you and ... uh ... okay, thousands others like you. International is a 5e Teen Champions 'battle school' campaign.

I wish I'd copied the information from HC, but the gist of it is a crossover between the movie Battle: Los Angeles and pretty much every battle-school alien-invasion anime out there. Battle: Los Angeles shows the start of the invasion in 2065 - treat it as as close of a documentary as they've been able to make. Unfortunately, two days after the events of that movie - the day after the 'new day' at the end of the movie - the second wave hit. It wasn't much bigger than the first wave, but the aliens learned too. This isn't to say that the aliens wiped out humanity in the first week - or even the first year. Humanity fought tenaciously, and though they've been pushed back and away from many cities on many coastlines, they still have ships out there (not too many), and plenty of cities. Few cities over 50k have escaped being at least somewhat attacked, but humanity controls almost everything away from the water - and, almost as important, under the water.

However, for two years humanity was on the slowly-losing side. Salt water was what the aliens used best, so they remain strongest along the oceans, but even their use returns the water (by diverse routes) into the ecosystem. (No, they're not returning it to orbit; they're here to _stay_.) That's when Professor Karl Schein - a mad genius with nonexistent morals - turned over to the UN (now in de facto planetary command, even though nations still have their say) the thing they needed - the way to make basic physically-enhanced super-soldiers. Unfortunately, you couldn't use the serum on full adults; it killed them.

Schein experimented (both secretly and illegally) on adolescents, and emerged with, like, half-a-dozen classic-superhuman (flight, energy beams, etc.) young adults. It worked best on newly-adolescent young people, but it would work somewhat later on. A continuing issue, though, is that 55% of injections result in no effect, 30% result in the teen's death, 10% result in transformation psychosis requiring the, erm, killing of the teen, 4% result in minor enhancements, and only 1% result in the true superhuman. It's now been 10 years since the invasion. For 7 years children have been volunteering for the injections; the one-percenters go to schools for training in their skills, then advance to the battlefield to start driving the invaders back, to destroy them, to regain the planet.

The interviews of parent and adolescent to get to the point of receiving the injection are brutal, especially for the young adult; the interviewers are instructed to break the adolescent swiftly and brutally during the interview, analyzing how they react, and making the decision there as to whether or not the 12- to 14-year-old will be allowed to be injected. Both parent and adolescent have to want the child to run that 40% death rate; the adult less so than the child, but the child deeply and ferociously. If there is any uncertainty on the adolescent's part, any reluctance, they're turned down.

The PCs are, presumably, one-percenters. Right now, ICly, some have described their interviews, and have gotten to the events of what is described as 're-Threading' - when the KS Serum starts to take apart and recombine the 'threads' of their DNA. Campaign instructions follow.

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Re: Hero Central Down for??

Hmm. Y'know, I'm not sure where to put a rallying-point Post ... hmm. Hell, right here in the Champions Genre board.

Re: World's Greatest Tactician Helps Others???

I believe I preferred this one, originally written (I believe) by ... well, it says 'Bill Keyes', but which was for MilkmanDan's Marvel-28669 'BunnyVerse' campaign. I've modified it so as to a) be able to be used by everyone within his voice range (32") he can direct, and so that it takes no real time or requirement to hit except for the tactical analysis (i.e. two Zero-Phase actions):

Master Tactician... If You Do As I Say: +2 with All Combat, Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action to reset; Giving Orders / Analyzing the Combat; +1/2), Usable As Attack (+1), Area Of Effect (32" Radius; +1 3/4), Selective (+1/4); Works Only If Individual Does As Directed (-1/2), Requires A Tactics Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4)

Re: no one stronger then me

I'd buy it straight bonus STR, Only To Be 5 STR Stronger than anyone within ... 100m or so. Theoretically, you should already have a high STR; this just makes sure you're always the top-end guy in a fight.

Re: Hero Central Down for??

Moderately sure you're looking at it.

Re: Spinning Pulp Racism Into Something Productive

Don't go to 'black africa' when you have so very much good Black America right at your fingertips. Black Americans were every bit as interesting, intelligent, well-educated, dastardly, thoughtful, etc. etc. as White Americans; it's just that White America sat in the halls of political power and thereby thought they had it all. If you want some interesting reading/listening, look up the takes-place-just-pre-WWI musical 'Ragtime'. Understand that from the end of the Civil War through the 1880s, blacks were one of the significant political power blocs in the Deep South - which is why the white politicians made such a concerted effort at that point to make it so that it was incredibly difficult for them to vote.

That said, the cultures were very much seperate. Jews tended to stick with Jews, the Irish with the Irish, the Italians with the Italians, the Blacks with the Blacks, the Chinese with the Chinese. They all had their own neighborhoods, their own power structures. A New Yorker could travel around the world without ever leaving the boroughs.

Make 'a gangster'. Or 'a scientist'. Or 'a dame'. Mention in passing that she is black - or Jewish, or whatever - and suddenly your group has to deal with an entirely different social group. If they don't know Italian as a language, or had a parent who had to emigrate because of the Potato Blight, or have dark skin, then they need to figure out the power structure, and work with what they have. And do some research. Blacks, especially during the time that we consider the Pulp Era to take place, could be very proud of what power and success they acquired - and as a consequence, very sensitive to insults against that power and success. The more gained, in fact, the more sensitive - but then, you had that with La Cosa Nostra, too.

Re: The Red Queen Effect and Superhumans

In the 'Wolverine Sniffles' issue, it is presumed that virii and/or bacteria are 'out to get him' - so to speak. This isn't true; virii and bacteria are simply out to survive and replicate, and that on a macroscopic level. In that particular case, it is easier to consider the 'Healing Factor' as being a competing supervirus or -bacteria - one which actively preys on other virii and bacteria. If a normal virus escapes the Healing Factor, then you'd consider it lucky - but it isn't likely to do so in any case. Yes, diseases have been created which specifically target the mutant genome - but they went specifically after that X-factor, and left normal humans alone because that genome was either unexpressed or nonexistent.

In regards to the superhumans in general, the question becomes whether or not the related species are a) capable of interbreeding (which they are), and capable of completely eliminating the other species - total annihilation - which, again, they are. One also needs to wonder whether or not the genetic complex being expressed is innate, inherent, or evolved. If it's innate, then it's there, but unexpressed - and the best way for mutants to wipe out all humans is to get their X-gene to express. If it's inherent, then it requires x' to meet with x' to create X' - a recessive that's been around for a long, long time, that not everyone actually has the potential to express, but that virtually everyone carries. In both these cases, humanity can never win completely - mutants will always be popping up, either because circumstances force their gene to express, or because two recessives combined to make an active (X') 'mutant complex'. In the third case, humans could possibly win - because it's an evolutionary response to something or another, and if you manage to cull all that out, you can remove that entire 'line' of possibile evolution; a dead end.

Understand, however, that so long as humanity outnumbers mutants by a significant amount, all the rest of your critters from virii to bacteria and up, will be still trying to adapt to humans. And, with the flu season right around the corner, mostly succeeding, at least enough to survive until their next generational go-round. It's when you have a very large population that the wee nasties get to adapting to People With Powers. Genosha in particular would have been the breeding-ground for natural super-virii that could have wiped out baseline humanity. Stuff like this - and because 'small numbers' has always made for a more compelling story for the line - is quite possibly one additional reason why Marvel wiped out the 50 million mutants that existed...

Re: Starship Automation

Actually, I'd build this as an advantage/disadvantage upon the points spent for the ship itself. Come up with a set-up that defines how much is 'Standard (+0)', then the people can take either an Advantage - Moderately (+1/4), Notably (+1/2), or Highly Automated (+1) - or a Disadvantage - Lightly (-1/4), Barely (-1/2), or Unautomated (-1) - that helps define how thoroughly automated they are. Perhaps the now-standard RMN ship is Notably Automated (+1/2), with its cutting-edge ships being Highly Automated (+1). The Havenite ships, lagging on the tech curve, are standard automated (+0), but the Solarian League junk-heaps are Barely Automated (-1/2).

The real issue comes with defining what that means. Perhaps, along with points for the ship, you have to pay points for your crew - so in addition to building a 300-point ship, you're building 125-point crew members - and for your class of ship, you need 1026 of them for Standard Automation. Perhaps each level of automation means you can cut down a x2 multiplier - so that same ship, cutting-edge Highly Automated, only needs a minimum of 128 crew members. Or, if you get MORE crew members than what your automation needs are, the ship can operate at the same level despite greater losses (whether in battle or losses from prize crews) without combat or high-level-travel penalties. For that class of ship, though, the mothballed Solarian ships require x32 more - 4,100 crew members for the same 'level' of ship that you can run with 130.

Re: Rebel 6E (HC: Guardians Unlimited II)

I had problems and I was using the guidelines

problem is too many chefs to stir the pot and you almost have to please all of them

I just took it as a challenge and kept coming up with better and better builds till there was no more

Micronought(AKA The Wyrm Ouroboros yep he changed his name) is the worst

Micronaut - if you're going to diss me, do it right. And I assumed a second one for personal reasons; I've never been shy about saying who I am, and everyone over there who can write coherently over there calls me by both names, so nobody's being bloody deceived.

As well, Beastttt, I'm sorry that you think your builds are 'better and better'; both your builds and your backgrounds tend towards the 'craptastic' end of the spectrum. I require quasi-realistic reactions from NPCs and believability in consequences; I had issues with the above character's background, yes, just like I did with Ghost Cat. No, I don't need to worry about either of them, and yes, in Circle you DO have to please all of us - but all of us want similar things.

Blip doesn't have a background of 'Built by supergeniuses, raised by supercops, orphaned and ran away to live in the streets, superspy/Robin Hood/awesomesauce vigilante'; hell, even Ghost Cat didn't have that. We raised questions; Question Man declined to answer them to our satisfaction, declined to modify the background in order to satisfy our concerns. ChristopherG@HC claimed privately to me that:

I have in fact the absolute controll over those things: By taking or not taking a complciation. If GA has no Hunted "people who want her tech", then all relevant potential hunteds have accepted that it is simply not worth the effort (she too good a protecting them and giving you a blody nose for trying). If all Faries in CU have Vulnerability "Iron" (Body and Stun; Very Common) and LF only has Vulnerability "Cold smithed Iron" (Stun; uncommon) this could be because of her subrace, that she discared her nautral form or both - but mainly because I choose it to be that way.

This is utterly incorrect. The GM has absolute control, because the GM has to have absolute control. The GM is, and needs to be, final arbiter over what's acceptable in his campaign world, and yes, in a shared campaign like Circle, that's quintuply a concern, because all the GMs have to agree. To play a background or a character build Without Alteration and/or Input From The GM, one generally needs to be the GM yourself.

But feel free to complain.

Re: Religion in Science-Fiction?

It's also referenced fairly often in the EU that cloning Force-Sensitive individuals is extremely difficult' date=' and rarely pulled off successfully. Witness Joruus C'baoth.[/quote']

 

Joruus C'baoth being -- in that pre-prequel version of the wonderfulness that the prequels could have been, was but one of thousands of Jedi who were cloned. Again in that version, the 'Clone' part of the Clone Wars (note the plural) wasn't about the Grand Army of the Republic being made up of clones; it was the fact that cloned Jedi went mad and started making their own little kingdoms, enthralling the citizenry, etc. etc. Jedi went against cloned Jedi, mass chaos ensued, and Palpatine rose to power by manipulating the fears of a galaxy. The Grand Army (and Navy) had always existed; you simply could not have had a unified government across that much space without one to keep the peace.

 

Mad clones, though, are why Palpatine could hunt down Jedi, and why the Senate would applaud him -- 'X could be a mad clone!! Kill it!!' *Usagi Yojimbo death rattle* "YAY, IT'S DEAD!!"

 

Once again, Geo. Lucas grablixes things up.

Re: how to block a teleporter

I don't have 6e yet, so I'm still speaking in 5e terms.

The manacles being used on the Prisoner/Terrorist/Kid (hereafter 'Prisoner') should be at the very least 'cannot be escaped with teleportation'. Considering you typically need upgraded bonds to deal with Powered villains, it is likely that they will tend to all be either power-suppressive and/or power-resistant. If they're the latter, then they're going to have DEF and Power Defense out the wazoo, and an interesting GM-interpretive point is that it might be that objects with Power Def have to have that PowDef overcome if they're going to be affected by things like 'non-offensive powers', e.g. teleportation.

Alternatively, and considering you want this to be a running semi-battle (the two parent supervillains focusing mostly on each other) which means the kid needs to be teleported, just not megascale teleported, go with the idea that the manacles resist any attempts at megascaled movement. Which means the transport goes only a certain speed, too ... making it easier to be taken down.

Re: Star Wars Jedi (and light sabers)

Remember the flavor of the thing, though; in Star Wars parlance, it slices through almost everything. If you're porting that ability over to a superheroic campaign, then yes -- 'real powerful sword that cuts incredibly/magically deep' is probably what you're looking at. If, on the other hand, you're still looking for the flavor, then something that pretty much ignores defenses and gets straight to the body -- but can be a) avoided or blocked entirely might be your cup of tea...

Re: How (un)realistic are Street Samurai?

At least someone besides me gets it. Now if you'll excuse me' date=' I'm gonna go ride a dinosaur through downtown Dallas.[/quote']

 

Downtown Chicago -- don't you read the Dresden Files?

 

The idea of the katana-wielding street samurai is iconic for the genre, and particularly for the Shadowrun game world itself. What I am reading a lot of is an entire gauging of the real advantages and disadvantages of a firearm (speed, range, accuracy, often damage and penetration, ammo-carried restrictions, can be loud) compared to the real advantages and disadvantages of a high-tech katana blade (relatively silent, cuts through kevlar, doesn't run out of ammo, no range, etc.). I know the arguments, I've made the arguments, I've taken advantage of the arguments and differences. I've played everything SR has to offer, and then some.

 

The reason for carrying a katana or other melee weapon has nothing to do with efficacy; we developed guns because swords were too damn slow and dangerous to ourselves. The reason is all to do with an unquantifiable which changes from table to table, GM to GM:

 

Honor.

 

While it doesn't often come into play in the middle of a 'run, a street samurai / ronin might -- by indication, implication, or just plain direct challenge -- call out a member of the opposing force in a duel of skill. The call is to honor, not to efficiency. Sometimes it's a stand-in for the rest of the combat; 'if I win, we do it my way' sort of thing, whether that's letting the 'runners go, answering their questions, or turning over the gizmo. Sometimes it's just a classic High Noon moment; sometimes charging four light machine guns and fifty troops with assault rifles while pretty much naked and armed only with katana and wakizashi while the rest of your team is using bullets is the only thing your character can do to cleanse his honor of the taint of the slaughter of the last dozen days.

 

The street samurai / street ronin is a matter of style; there are plenty of other options, from weapons expert to mercenary to ganger, to choose from. A difference in honor is all that really separates one from the other from the last; the katana, whether it's useful or useless, is physically representative of that for the street samurai. It's also recognized by other denizens, of course, helped along by the strong Japanese cultural influence the SR world contains. Everyone immediately recognizes what the sword means, whether it's in the trideo show, on the simchip, or even in the street.

 

 

Which is why it can be damn irritating when some punk who's finally managed to afford the cash to get one challenges you in the street and you barely manage to pull the strike that would have split him from shoulder to hip because he's got no skill...

Re: Star Wars Jedi (and light sabers)

Let me see if I have mine handy ...

Lightsaber: Elemental Control, 72-point powers, (36 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), -1 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/4): 9 points

1) Lightsaber: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6-1 (vs. ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), AVLD vs. Combat Luck, Dodge-Based Defense, or Energy-Based ED Force Field/Wall (+3/4), Does BODY (+1) (81 Active Points); OAF Durable (-1), EGO Minimum 18 (CV penalties as though STR Minimum) (-1), No STR Bonus (Adds Martial DCs at 4:1) (-1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), No Bleeding (-1/4), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4), -1 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/4): 10 points

2) Active Lightsaber: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6 (vs. ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Damage Shield (+1/2), AVLD (vs. Dodge-Based Defense (e.g. Combat Luck) or Energy-Based Force Field/Wall; +3/4), Continuous (+1), Does BODY (+1) (71 Active Points); 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), No Knockback (-1/4), No Bleeding (-1/4), Untunable (Always Max Dice) (-1/4), -1 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/4)

Notes: Note that this does damage to physical missiles struck with Missile Deflection. Most small items -- bullets and the like -- will be virtually disintegrated on impact, with an average of 4-5 BODY. Larger items will be severely damaged, especially as the damage done completely avoids their DEF.

So what you essentially have is something that, unless you get out of its way or you have an energy-based field/wall, will severely mess you up. Advantages (missile deflection, improving its power, etc.) are all via the Force.

Re: Star Wars: Fading Light at Hero Central

are the Jedi PC's one of the destined to fall to the darkside clones? I ask because the jedi Abilities package has the Disad "15 Psychological Limitation: Lure of the Dark Side (Common; Strong)". A strong Psyc is resisted at -5 on the Ego Roll which makes it pretty much impossible to ever make that roll. Which means that all Jedi will be falling prey to the Dark Side. Perhaps Moderate would be a better level?

 

Yes I am interested in playing. I have a Miraluka Jedi, starship engineer that I would like to play. She was quite fun, and is a Counselor and not a Warrior (though she can still fight with her Light saber). I have to rework her somewhat to fit your power writeups.

I believe you have your Limitation strengths somewhat confused. In 5th Edition, a Moderate intensity psych lim allows you a +5 bonus to your EGO Roll to avoid, while a Strong intensity requires a straight EGO roll. Only a Total intensity receives a -5 penalty to the EGO Roll (if one is given at all) to not succumb.

I am not entirely familiar with the Miraluka. I will say that though the game has been slow to form, the Jedi can define themselves as they wish -- though they will be placed together as a 'strike force' to bring to justice the various rogue 'Dark Jedi' clones, whether by stealth, diplomacy, or open battle ...

Re: Blasters: why?

I grant that I didn't read the entire thread ...

... and though I agree to a certain extent with the bit about Ewoks &c, I blame Lucas, because the entire theory behind armor in the SW universe is that though it doesn't do much against energy weapons like blasters, it rocks (pun intended) against physical projectiles...

... one of the things at least about Star Wars is that it's not actually a laser/whatever, driven by a power pack -- it's a particle packet sourced by 'blaster gas'. Gas under extraordinarily high pressure, though, means that instead of having 15 bullets in a pistol, you can have 50 (or 500) blaster shots in a pistol. And if you're shooting bullets, well, then you have to really contend against stormtrooper armor instead of blasting it apart.

Re: Star Wars: Fading Light at Hero Central

5e knowledge is not strictly necessary.

Re: Dark Jedi

Personally, I think you're trying to do it all in one fell swoop -- and too much, at that. Sixteen feet tall, naturally inclined to the Dark Side (?!?), four limbs, flight ... does he shoot blaster bolts from his eyes, too?

Star Wars species tend to have one, maybe two things that are especially useful in combat; if they have more, then there's a cultural reason why they don't use them. Wookies have great strength, but to use their claws against anything but droids is a breach of their honor code. Toydarians are immune to the Force, but while they can fly, it's basically walking, they're small, have low strength, can't carry much, etc. etc.

As for the rest, well -- like I said, too much, too fast, etc. etc. Remember also that the 'Darksaber' (which is, let's face it, a fumbled mashup of sword and lightsaber) is an 'ancient precursor' to the lightsaber. It is, for all intents and purposes, inferior.

Re: Personality Change

I would suggest Possession from the get-go. The possessing 'personality/skills' code is sent by the central AI; upon arrival, the Possessing persona uses the bioroid form's innate Shapeshifting to change height/size (can't change weight), hair, eyes, skin, etc. Even the appearance of clothing could be created. That program continues to possess the bioroid until 'overriden' or recalled, and the shapeshift would either fade back to the standard form, or perhaps remain until a new personality writes it over.So you would need to define a) a baseline bioroid body setup (maximum physical attributes, a few physical-based skills, perhaps) and then the various 'possessing' program sets. What makes this useful is that if your PCs enter the park, it works precisely the same way -- and if they are capable, they can 'jump bodies'.

Re: Star Wars: Fading Light at Hero Central

Still looking for players for Star Wars: Fading Light on Hero Central.

Campaign now open on Hero Central: Star Wars: Fading Light

The Republic is fracturing under the pressure of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cloned Jedi Knights. Made insane by the cloning growth process, these faux-Jedi have access to the Force, and have begun seizing power in systems and colonies across the Galaxy. Jedi and Grand Army alike are dedicated to finding and stopping them -- but for very different reasons ...

Fading Light is a 5e game. Players will be playing two characters, a Jedi Knight and a Republic agent, on different teams. Clone Wars, yes, but by the Expanded Universe timeline; specifically, it was suggested/implied in Timothy Zahn's 'Grand Admiral Thrawn' trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command), then more or less codified in West End Games' d6 Star Wars RPG Second Edition.

Re: My Elves Are Different!

The best way (IMO) to vary your elves is via their origin. Ageless First People, mutations, feline-extract humanoids ... Romans, Nazis, whatever.