Dr. MID-Nite

Re: Kill Bill Of course most of what you say is true, but the hard part of building most characters is simulating their great strengths, not their weaknesses. For the O-Ren fight, I'd say The Bride lost Long Term END given the length of the fight with the minions. As for the snake in the suitcase trick, well....Elle certainly had an easier time dealing with Bud than she might otherwise have. I'd say she was just playing it safe. She may or may not be afraid of Bud in a fair fight, but Elle(or any of them really) aren't the type of people who fight fair. I don't really think Go-Go was stronger. The scene with the chain is hardly definitive as The Bride was at a complete disadvantage in terms of leverage. Having said that, the Bride's most important stats are DEX and SPD, with the rest open to lots of interpretation. I'd also add lots of BODY. Rob

Re: Kill Bill

Re: VOICE of DOOM Fair enough. My campaign has somewhat lower attacks than most(8-12d6 attacks), so I'm probably just being a stick in the mud. If it works for you, what can I say? I'd probably drop the defenses a bit for my own game though. Rob

Re: Kill Bill

Re: Kill Bill Interesting. I assume this particular version is designed for a Heroic level game. Even so...you might justify a 6 SPD.....making her take approximately twice as many actions as your standard thug. Rob

Re: VOICE of DOOM Fair enough reasoning, but by 5th Edition standards, her defenses are better than Durak's, which just doesn't seem to gel, especially as she seems geared for SPD and DEX. I mean 35 defenses basically bounces your average 10d6 attack 100% of the time! I mean the Angel is designed for flight too, but if Rogue punches him, it's going to hurt. The villaness designed above would laugh at that. I know in 4th(and 3rd) defenses were generally higher, but if one is going to bother with a 5th edition update, it might as well conform to 5th edition standards(lower defenses being one). Ah well, to each their own I suppose....just that I wouldn't use the version as written. Rob

Re: Kill Bill

Re: VOICE of DOOM The PD and ED seem a bit high for what is essentially a gadgeteer, but otherwise looks good.Rob

Re: Kill Bill Actually, I think the line is more like {giggle} " You can beg better than that. " Period.(In response to The Bride saying...I beg you to walk away.) The line itself isn't bad at all IMO. The problem is the giggle is out of place given the circumstances. The giggle is also totally lacking in any kind of menace...making it seem even more out of place. I'd think maybe a brief "Ha" or "heh heh" proceeding the line would have been better....mainly as it seems more like what a teen would do as opposed to the giggle...which seems like what an 8 year old would do. Rob

Re: Kill Bill Ah yes...now I recall. She DID smash other swords on occasion. I'd still leave this up to called shots and the like. Giving the sword Penetrating would be too reliable....and it's not like EVERY sword she struck broke. Wow...the more I think about the more I realize The Bride would be uber strong even for a superheroic game. Only real drawback is lack of an "real" powers and no true resistant defenses. Rob

Re: Kill Bill Good point. Though in fairness, I think it was something like 13 hours. But...what I'm hearing so far is high DEX, CON, and BODY, and probably reasonable SPD too. Granted, given the opposition, a high DEX might be something like 20-25. CON? No clue. Rob

Re: Kill Bill Well, I think it was a twisted take on the old anime "school girl" heroine. In short, I thought she was written to be annoying....because most of the heroic sterotypes on which Go-Go was based are also similiarly annoying. Rob

Re: Kill Bill I'm not sure about the Penetrating. Afterall, she used her sword almost entirely on unarmored opponents. My take was she's just incredibly skilled with the sword. In game terms, possibly using levels to improve the BODY damage...and...of course striking hit locations enough to make most players envious forever. Was there any point in either movie where she used her sword on something solid enough to justify Penetrating? I remember her hitting a baseball, but that hardly requires Penetrating. Rob

Re: Kill Bill Well, I figured that would go without saying..... Rob

Anyone ever try to make Uma Thurman's character from Kill Bill up in Hero? My take is the following: Martial arts(obviously) Levels up the wazoo(enough to nail hit locations on every sword swipe on average opponents) Great Acrobatics roll...along with Breakfall, Climbing, Weapon Familiarity, and Two Weapon Fighting. Defense Talent(Maximum level) Stats.....not sure....but I'd go with good DEX, SPD, and BODY. Rest is open to writer interpretation. Anyone care to add to this list? Rob

Re: Taking Characters from books and making them your own... I borrow characters from other books all the time. Afterall, that's what they're there for. If one of my older Hero products or a product from another company has something I want to use....I use it. Most of the time, I'll alter the character somewhat(as well as updating to 5th), but if the character is cool to me as is....then I'll leave him/her that way. Rob

Re: Egyptian villain name needed Along those lines, how about Monolith? Rob

Re: Egyptian villain name needed Well...if he's a brick and you really want a decent name that's not too "Egyptian" sounding...how about something like Desert Fury? Rob

Re: Escape From Stronghold scenario

Re: UNITY 2010: A New Champions Campaign Thanks. Rob

Re: UNITY 2010: A New Champions Campaign Dumb question of the day: What does FTF mean? Rob

Re: Need ideas for Excalibur I'd probably make it AP or Penetraing, but not both. If you use the idea that Excalibur is a holy sword, it might have the ability to produce light and dispel magic on anything it hits(Dispel-Linked). In theory it's unbreakable as long as it's used for a noble purpose or buy those pure of heart. Rob

Re: What should I get? I would get CKC. The writeups really are excellent. On another note, the writeup for Doc Destroyer is in there, not Champions Universe. Champs Universe does have a cool writeup for Teleios, the 5th Edition upgrade for Malachite. Rob

Re: A question about Kaiju (Big Big Monstery things) Well....as the current Godzilla seems more like an elemental force than a true living being, it is of course awe inspiringly powerful. He's almost in the realm of plot device these days in his power. I mean he's obviously got STR in excess of 100 area of effect, is darn near invulnerable(and can regen to boot), and his radioactive ray can shatter mountains. He's not versatile, but in terms of what he CAN do....he's pretty hard to stop. A staple of the genre is even mental powers can't control such primal forces for very long....so even psi abilities are a bust here. For your campaign, I'd honestly wing it. if an attack seems like it would hurt the big G....then let it. Otherwise, he shrugs it off without even noticing. In the old Marvel comic book version, not much seemed to hurt him beyond Thor's hammer and Yellowjacket and The wasp flying inside his inner ear and firing full power stings. Overall, if you want to maintain the true "feel" of kaiju....then it has to be made clear that even the best the heroes can do will only stop the beast on a temporary basis. Japanese films tend to favor man being weak compared to the monsters. We unleashed forces beyond our control and now we're paying for it. Rob

Okay....having finally got the book for myself. I'm going to briefly state my thoughts on it. I have no real concern for the implications of referencing real world religions in the book....so you'll see nothing about that here. Now.... The Good: 1) Nice discussion of the various magical archetypes present in most games, along with ideas on building such characters. 2) Magical styles covered in detail. The info on Shamanism alone had me totally redesign a character I had previously built with that theme. 3) Probably the most comprehensive look at creating the "Astral Form" available in any Hero system product. The Bad: 1) Much of the information seems redundant if you have The Mystic World and/or Arcane Enemies.....especially Mystic World. 2) The section on designing dimensions seemed superficial and probably should have been covered in its own book(an updated Champions in 3D perhaps). 3) The sections on gods was very scant....offering only the very basics in how to design such characters. How strong are the Greek Gods for example?(My 5th edition version of Zeus was 1500 points for the record). The only real example we've seen is from Arcane Enemies and we've little to determine if that 1700 point character is low end or high end(though I'd guess high end). Granted, the purpose of the book probably isn't to tell us how to create "divine" characters, but if you're going to bring the subject up...you should be prepared to give us the details. The Ugly: 1) A lot....LOT of recycled art. Overall impression: Some parts are very useful, but the book seems better if you look at is as the third part of a mystical trilogy involving Arcane Enemies and Mystic World. Among them, this book would rank as the least useful overall, but there is certainly info that would benefit many gamers....I just wouldn't let this book take precedent over the other two. Rob