12 Months, 12 characters. The armour character

[death tribble]

Despite the fact that several are not finished July is here and so onto the next one.

Now we have the suit of armour like Iron Man.

So for the version for the boards the first question is Just how powerful should our version be ?

Will it be singing and dancing i.e. have flight, enhanced strength and be able to survivve in space or will there be limits to it ? What do the masses (i.e. you) want ?

Should the armour protection be the same for physical and energy attacks or should it be more effective against one or other ?

Should the armour have a multi power for attack purposes ?

I have used different versions so we could have something powerful or something limited. Budget again is 350-400 points total

[Hyper-Man]

This is actually one of the more difficult types of characters to 'get right'. If you go the Iron Man/Defender route with a character who actually designed the armor (meaning requisite science & engineering skills) you almost have to go the OIF route to start out with. Going with OIF (vs. OIHID) also means you need to make sure the defenses are near impregnable to BODY damage since ANY Body taken means a Power is lost (and a Framework that is part of the Focus is considered 1 Power for this purpose I believe). This usually results with a character that while not quite as All-or-Nothing as a cosmic widget archetype (ex: Green Lantern, Quasar) it will still be more front loaded in their abilities than other types with less of a chance to recover after initial defeat due to real damage in combat in a story. In some ways building a Powered Armor character brings together the challenges of building Batman & Superman on 1 character sheet.

[death tribble]

This is actually one of the more difficult types of characters to 'get right'. If you go the Iron Man/Defender route with a character who actually designed the armor (meaning requisite science & engineering skills) you almost have to go the OIF route to start out with. Going with OIF (vs. OIHID) also means you need to make sure the defenses are near impregnable to BODY damage since ANY Body taken means a Power is lost (and a Framework that is part of the Focus is considered 1 Power for this purpose I believe). This usually results with a character that while not quite as All-or-Nothing as a cosmic widget archetype (ex: Green Lantern, Quasar) it will still be more front loaded in their abilities than other types with less of a chance to recover after initial defeat due to real damage in combat in a story. In some ways building a Powered Armor character brings together the challenges of building Batman & Superman on 1 character sheet.

That is interesting. Did this come in with 6th edition as I have never come across that before. Drains, transfers, negation and transform leading to loss of power yes but loss of power due to taking body

[Hyper-Man]

from 6e1 379

 

Any Focus that provides defenses to a character is automatically hit by any attack that hits the character based on a successful Attack Roll (or that hits the Area in which the character is standing, in the case of powers with the Area Of Effect Advantage). (Defenses on a Required Roll that don’t “activate†wouldn’t be hit by an attack they don’t provide protection against.) Of course, the Focus gets its PD/ED or the defense it provides to the character (whichever is higher) against the attack. (To speed game play, and avoid breaking Foci on a regular basis, GMs may choose to ignore this rule. In such a case, Foci are only hit and damaged by attacks that specifically target them.)

 

If a character has multiple Foci, all Foci are “outside†of any defenses they don’t provide. For example, if Lorraine has OAF goggles that give her Telescopic Sight, the defenses provided by her powered armor wouldn’t protect the goggles from damage. (Of course she could have made the goggles OIF, and thus a part of the suit and protected by its defenses, but that would have cost more points.)

 

When an attack hits a Breakable Focus, each attack that penetrates the PD/ED of the Focus and does BODY damage destroys one of the powers bought through the Focus. The amount of BODY done is unimportant — one power is destroyed whether the attack did 1 BODY or 15. The GM should determine which power is destroyed; usually it’s the largest one in the Focus or one chosen randomly. The special effects of the attack or the Focus may help the GM decide which powers are affected. For this purpose, a Multipower counts as one power (with Active Points equal to the value of its reserve, +1 point for each slot); and a Variable Power Pool counts as one power (with Active Points equal to the value of the points in its Pool). All the powers with the Unified Power Limitation bought through the same Focus count as one power (with Active Points equal to the value of the Active Points in the largest power, +1 point for each additional power);

from 5er page 294

 

Any Focus that provides defenses to a character is automatically hit by any attack that hits the character based on a successful Attack Roll (or that hits the hex in which the character is standing, in the case of powers with the Area Of Effect or Explosion Advantages). (Defenses on an Activation Roll or Required Skill Roll that don’t “activate†wouldn’t be hit by an attack they don’t provide protection against.) Of course, the Focus gets its DEF or the defense it provides to the character (whichever is higher) against the attack. (To speed game play, and avoid breaking Foci on a regular basis, GMs may choose to ignore this rule. In such a case, Foci are only hit and damaged by attacks that specifically target them.)

 

If a character has multiple Foci, all Foci are “outside†of any defenses they don’t provide. For example, if Lorraine has OAF goggles that give her Telescopic Sight, the defenses provided by her powered armor wouldn’t protect the goggles from damage. (Of course she could have made the goggles OIF, and thus a part of the suit and protected by its defenses, but that would have cost more points.)

 

When an attack hits a Breakable Focus, each attack that penetrates the DEF of the Focus and does BODY damage destroys one of the powers bought through the Focus. Th e amount of BODY done is unimportant — one power is destroyed whether the attack did 1 BODY or 15. The GM should determine which power is destroyed; usually it’s the largest one in the Focus or one chosen randomly. The special effects of the attack or the Focus may help the GM decide which powers are affected. For this purpose, a Multipower counts as one power (with Active Points equal to the value of its reserve, +1 point for each slot); an Elemental Control counts as one power (with Active Points equal to the value of the Active Points in the largest power in the EC, +1 point for each additional power); and a Variable Power Pool counts as one power (with Active Points equal to the value of the points in its Pool).

 

The only difference between editions is the change from Elemental Control to Unified Power.

[death tribble]

Thanks for this. Worth noting.

As for stats on the STR I am thinking that if the base is 10 for STR then STR should be something like 25, 40, 55 or 70. Don't wamt to go overboard on this.

DEX again I would fix at 23 and Spd as 5 unless anyone can come up with a good reason why.

I would say INT can either be 10 if the person in the armour did not make it or perhaps 23 if they did make it. This leads to Inventor skill or somesuch plus other skills like mechanical or other engineering.

EGO would be again dependent on whether the person who is in the armour made it. I would say if INT is 10 then EGO is 10. Otherwise it should be higher.

CON would be linked to STR. The higher the STR the higher the CON. I would say a minimum of 20 but probably in the range 23-28.

PD and ED would be low and dependent on the armour itself.

I am in favour of some Mental Def or Power Def the more powerful the armour is and certainly if INT and EGO are 10 then it should have some protection. Thoughts please.

[Greywind]

Thanks for this. Worth noting.

 

As for stats on the STR I am thinking that if the base is 10 for STR then STR should be something like 25, 40, 55 or 70. Don't wamt to go overboard on this.

DEX again I would fix at 23 and Spd as 5 unless anyone can come up with a good reason why.

I would say INT can either be 10 if the person in the armour did not make it or perhaps 23 if they did make it. This leads to Inventor skill or somesuch plus other skills like mechanical or other engineering.

EGO would be again dependent on whether the person who is in the armour made it. I would say if INT is 10 then EGO is 10. Otherwise it should be higher.

CON would be linked to STR. The higher the STR the higher the CON. I would say a minimum of 20 but probably in the range 23-28.

PD and ED would be low and dependent on the armour itself.

I am in favour of some Mental Def or Power Def the more powerful the armour is and certainly if INT and EGO are 10 then it should have some protection.

Thoughts please.

Honestly, build the character before you build the armor. Even the builder can have an INT of 10 and sufficiently high skills to build with, rather than a high INT and cheaper skills to same effect. All depends on what you want.

[Trebuchet]

Thanks for this. Worth noting.

 

As for stats on the STR I am thinking that if the base is 10 for STR then STR should be something like 25, 40, 55 or 70. Don't wamt to go overboard on this.

DEX again I would fix at 23 and Spd as 5 unless anyone can come up with a good reason why.

I would say INT can either be 10 if the person in the armour did not make it or perhaps 23 if they did make it. This leads to Inventor skill or somesuch plus other skills like mechanical or other engineering.

EGO would be again dependent on whether the person who is in the armour made it. I would say if INT is 10 then EGO is 10. Otherwise it should be higher.

CON would be linked to STR. The higher the STR the higher the CON. I would say a minimum of 20 but probably in the range 23-28.

PD and ED would be low and dependent on the armour itself.

I am in favour of some Mental Def or Power Def the more powerful the armour is and certainly if INT and EGO are 10 then it should have some protection.

Thoughts please.

 

Like Greywind seems to, I've always preferred the "normal man in a suit" approach to building powered armor characters, which means I prefer to leave DEX, CON, and SPD the same both in and out of the armor and just increase defenses in the armor; and both the "powered armor" players in my MidGuard campaign concur. We feel it makes the man wearing the suit a better character. To improve combat ability a "combat computer" can be included to add Combat Skill Levels; similarly Damage Reduction (or perhaps Damage Negation in 6E) can be substituted for increased CON. (Why would armor increase the ability to resist being Stunned from mental or NND attacks?) Power Defense seems a natural, Mental Defense seems justifiable as well.

 

I also much prefer the "I'm the genius designer/builder" approach to the "I'm wearing a suit some smart guy built." In Champions I like highly intelligent characters (I don't think I've ever played one with an INT of less than 18. My powered armor character, Ranger, had an INT of 28, but he was supposed to be a Tony Stark-level genius); although given the definition of INT in Hero an 18 is quite adequate. INT 23 or higher is just gravy.

 

Flight seems almost de rigueur, and perhaps some life Support and Enhanced Senses.

 

Just my $0.02 worth. I've always loved powered armor characters, although I haven't played one since before 4th Edition was released.

[Greywind]

Thanks for this. Worth noting.

 

As for stats on the STR I am thinking that if the base is 10 for STR then STR should be something like 25, 40, 55 or 70. Don't wamt to go overboard on this.

DEX again I would fix at 23 and Spd as 5 unless anyone can come up with a good reason why.

I would say INT can either be 10 if the person in the armour did not make it or perhaps 23 if they did make it. This leads to Inventor skill or somesuch plus other skills like mechanical or other engineering.

EGO would be again dependent on whether the person who is in the armour made it. I would say if INT is 10 then EGO is 10. Otherwise it should be higher.

CON would be linked to STR. The higher the STR the higher the CON. I would say a minimum of 20 but probably in the range 23-28.

PD and ED would be low and dependent on the armour itself.

I am in favour of some Mental Def or Power Def the more powerful the armour is and certainly if INT and EGO are 10 then it should have some protection.

Thoughts please.

 

Like Greywind seems to, I've always preferred the "normal man in a suit" approach to building powered armor characters, which means I prefer to leave DEX, CON, and SPD the same both in and out of the armor and just increase defenses in the armor; and both the "powered armor" players in my MidGuard campaign concur. We feel it makes the man wearing the suit a better character. To improve combat ability a "combat computer" can be included to add Combat Skill Levels; similarly Damage Reduction (or perhaps Damage Negation in 6E) can be substituted for increased CON. (Why would armor increase the ability to resist being Stunned from mental or NND attacks?) Power Defense seems a natural, Mental Defense seems justifiable as well.

 

I also much prefer the "I'm the genius designer/builder" approach to the "I'm wearing a suit some smart guy built." In Champions I like highly intelligent characters (I don't think I've ever played one with an INT of less than 18. My powered armor character, Ranger, had an INT of 28, but he was supposed to be a Tony Stark-level genius); although given the definition of INT in Hero an 18 is quite adequate. INT 23 or higher is just gravy.

 

Flight seems almost de rigueur, and perhaps some life Support and Enhanced Senses.

 

Just my $0.02 worth. I've always loved powered armor characters, although I haven't played one since before 4th Edition was released.

Depends on the game and the characters. Sometimes the armor will have accelerators built in to bring the character up to campaign norms for supers.

[DusterBoy]

Build it as a vehicle... that's how I built the BLACKJACK powered armour suit.

 

And I think NATO reporting names for Russian aircraft are good names for armour suits.

[Hyper-Man]

The vehicle route has all of the downside of the OIF route (Body damage past defenses disables a power) plus it does not allow for a good method for the "armor" to enhance the "pilot's" DEX & SPD. Arguably, it also means that the "pilot" must make Piloting or System rolls to actively use any ability of the "Armor" . I can see it as an option via a Multiform of various "armors" but a starting character should probably begin with OIHID or OIF.

[death tribble]

While the vehicle is an idea for some players, Hyper-Man's point is that you should be able to use the character at any level of experience and that is what I intended for all the characters in the project.

[fr2itus]

I like putting angry midgets inside my ninja-bots, but thats just me.

[death tribble]

I like putting angry midgets inside my ninja-bots, but thats just me.

One of my commissions to Storn Cook was the Turtle. Used by a dwarf the bot is based on the Star Wars AT-AT

[death tribble]

On studying the other armours in Villains book 3, I noted that STR, DEX, CON, SPD, PD and ED could all potentially be boosted by the armour focus but not body.

Interesting to note.

What sort of skills and talents should the armour wearer have ?

Absolute Time Sense/Direction ? Inventor ? Electrical/Mechanical Engineering ?

[death tribble]

So here is what I am thinking.

Normal STR 15. With the armour STR 45. The villains in Volume 3 had STR 50 in a couple of cases so I figure this is ok.

CON, Normal 13 and with armour 25

DEX Normal 15 but with armour 27

SPD normal 2 but with armour 5

[death tribble]

Artwork wise do people want the armour to be male, female or unisex ?

[death tribble]

Alright so we go with a suit that can fly but do we want smooth looking like Iron Man's later suits or something bulky with perhaps a form or jet or rocket pack that can be jettisonned ?

Thoughts ?

Please ?

[death tribble]

Due to the problems of late can people please give me feedback on posts 12 and 13

[Christopher]

Despite the fact that several are not finished July is here and so onto the next one.

Now we have the suit of armour like Iron Man.

So for the version for the boards the first question is Just how powerful should our version be ?

Will it be singing and dancing i.e. have flight, enhanced strength and be able to survivve in space or will there be limits to it ? What do the masses (i.e. you) want ?

Should the armour protection be the same for physical and energy attacks or should it be more effective against one or other ?

Should the armour have a multi power for attack purposes ?

I have used different versions so we could have something powerful or something limited. Budget again is 350-400 points total

The thing is that all recent incarnations don't have "a" armor per see. He either has a whole bunch of armors (whole armories full on them) or a very adaptable armor. His armors are like Batmans-Batsuit's or Utility Belt. Or Spiderman special Webfluids. He has like one for every extreme condition avalible and some specifically for specific Foes (Space Armor, Stealth Armor, Hulkbuster Armor, Cold Armor). He is a designated solo character who has special gear for any foe but somewhat lacking all purpose gear. You can often classify them as either "Powerset Armors"/Role Armors or "Environmental Armors".

 

When he is in a group (like the Avengers) we rarely see him don anything but 1-2 different Armors per Season, with his "Blaster Armor" being the default. Usually they are Environmental Armors rather then Role-Armors. They might still be there, but he would walk into other heroes Shticks with most of them: Stealth is redundant with Black Panther or Black Widdow. Hulkbuster is redundant with having Hulk or Thor as Brick on the Team, etc.

 

If you want to build the teamplayer version of Mr.. Stark, I see two viable Paths:

Use Multiform with Focus:

It should not be hard to figure out wich part of the Alternate Forms characteristics come from the Armor and wich from the Man inside, so you could even still apply the "Power loss on Focus Damage" Rule. Additional Multiforms (each form with it's own Focus) just an adder. He only needs 1-4 additional Armors in a team, most of them Enviromental in Nature

 

VPP, changeable at base:

Some time ago I noticed that a Chracter doesn't needs all Life Supports, he just needs a Small VPP to buy the Specific LS/Limited Defenses for a given situation.

Hence:

Buy the Primary Powers (Repulsors, normal Armor) with OIAID. This prevents them from taking damage (they may still take visible damage, but they will continue to work and he can just replace them at base againt undamaged versions).

 

14 Adaptive Armor Systems, VPP, 12 Control, 8 Pool, Only Changeable at Base (-1/2), All Slots OIF (-1/2)

Ice Armor Setting:

1 - LS: Cold, 2 AP; OIF (-1/2)

plus

7 - 8 rED, 12 AP; Only vs. Cold (-1/4), OIF (-1/2)

 

Space Armor Setting:

8 - LS: Self Container Breathing, Safe Environment: Low Pressure, 12 AP; OIF (-1/2)

 

I choose OIF since "the Environmental System being Compromised" is a pretty Common Theme with his Environmental Armors, you can of course let it out.

I also put "only vs. X" at -1/4, as the times he has his Cold Armor on you can expect him to be attacked with Cold Powers

Unfortunately this approach does not cover speciall Attacks. Like the "Heat beams" of his Arctic Armor.

 

This is actually one of the more difficult types of characters to 'get right'. If you go the Iron Man/Defender route with a character who actually designed the armor (meaning requisite science & engineering skills) you almost have to go the OIF route to start out with. Going with OIF (vs. OIHID) also means you need to make sure the defenses are near impregnable to BODY damage since ANY Body taken means a Power is lost [...]

While the rule is there, I am not certain how often it is actually used in gameplay.

Also it should not be forgotten that using KA against Characters is rather uncommon thing in Superheroic games by design*. If it has around 12-24 PD it will be practically immune to Blast Body damage anyway. The only way to still take damage KA's. Wich I personally asume to be designed for damaging Foci in the first place*.

 

*Yes I know, your campaigns are different. But unless we make some asumption about the game we will be here for the next 20 pages just arguing whose setting is right/better/more likely. And the only campagin rules we can somewhat agree on are the asumption in default Champions where KA simply aren't supposed to be used on Characters regulary, but to break Foci, Entangles and the like. If they were a viable battle options, more Characters had them at full DC and without Limitations.

[death tribble]

For the artwork gow do we make the armour different to Iron Man ?

I had an AT-AT like one called the Turtle from Storn and another for high altitude which had weaponry like pods similar to what military jets have. So again it needs to be different

[kahuna's bro]

may I suggest armor with a detachable jet pack"

make the armor look retro a cross between defender and commando cody

[Greywind]

[kahuna's bro]

now that's what icall armor

[death tribble]

Unfortunately that armour demonstrates a weakness I despise in some armour and robot designs. The waist and arm joints can be easily targeted and the armour thus taken out of commission.

 

But thanks to Greywind for the time and trouble in putting the picture up.

[Greywind]

It's a tank.