Balabanto

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. I posted a secret origin for Jesus, The Nuclear Whale on the "Rejected Superhero Names' thread.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... That reminds me of a San Diego Knights adventure I ran several years ago called "The Man Who Sold the Earth..." A villain calling himself the Earth Master sold the Earth on the Alton Internet Auction Service for 2,931 dollars and 27 cents, and Alien Villains came to collect. Mesa: What do you mean you SOLD it? Earth Master: I have a receipt right here! Steel Thunder: You HAVE to be kidding me, do you have a check? Earth Master: Of course! (Fight starts as Earth Master and the PC's begin duking it out while alien villains try to get ahold of the receipt. The PC's lost and found themselves in space, but that's a story for another time.)

Re: Repercussions of a VIPER Assault on PRIMUS (S-Squad, STAY OUT!) Primus would respond with surgical strikes against key personnel based on information from agents captured in the raid. They would not engage in all out retaliation without the direct support of the President and/or the legislative branch of government. Whether or not this prompts COIL or other agencies to interfere depends on WHO is captured, WHAT they know, WHY they know it, and WHERE the operations and key personnel in question are located. I don't have Primus in my game anymore, as much as I might like to, because of A) Possible publication issues and The question of superprisons on American Soil being run by non-US personnel. The key things to remember here are 1) Primus will NOT respond with high grades of military force in civilian areas without the appropriate military responses for civilians, 2) Primus will only act overseas in Black operations capacities with or without the consent of the federal government. Chances are, if VIPER is running a big operation in Malaysia, the information will be turned over to UNTIL if you're running "Nice PRIMUS" or kept to themselves if you run "Classic UNTIL is a bunch of Jackasses" PRIMUS, 3) PRIMUS will often encourage local supers to act as support for their forces, which gives you the ability to throw the PC's right into the plot regardless of how you swing it.

Re: [Fight Club] Firewing vs Gravitar I'm going to agree with Hugh on that one. You can't get a power advantage for free unless it's your SFX RELATED to THEIR SFX, and that's always a GM call. Yeah, if bob has magnetic powers, and Thunderfist the brick throws a big chunk of ferrous iron at him, he should get an OCV bonus if Bob has a magnetic force field up and he's not deflecting. No, this isn't one of those cases.

Re: Rejected Superhero Names Well, Reality Czech came up with this one, so I'll add it to the infamous list. Jesus, the Nuclear Whale! Thought murdered by the Romans, he was really placed in suspended animation, until his body was found by the mysterious Doctor Minde. Doctor Minde decided that the best way to prevent himself from going to hell was to transplant Jesus's brain into a large sperm whale, and bombard it with radiation, destroying his mind and turning the messiah into his loyal minion. Unfortunately, there were two flaws in Minde's plan. Jesus still considered himself a jew, and not the messiah, and two, Jesus's divinely granted powers saved his transplanted brain from death. Blasting Doctor Minde with radiation from his big flipper tail and defeating him he now fights crime as... Jesus, the Nuclear Whale! Twitch...shudder...did I just write that...

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. Dude, you just said it right there... JESUS, THE NUCLEAR WHALE! He's the worst hero ever!

Re: [Fight Club] Firewing vs Gravitar Hyper Man is correct. The real reason things need to work this way is that it gives people a reason to buy a DEX below the top of the chart. Rewarding DEX escalation is not in the best interests of your game, or the game as a whole. Plus, the game becomes not fun, seriously not fun, when the right of way goes to the guy with the highest OCV, who is, not coincidentally, by virtue of his high DEX, the guy with the highest DCV. Missile Deflection is relatively tiny in the scheme of things. Also, the way the rules have been reworked, missile deflection is the ONLY, and I repeat, the ONLY way that a low dex character can act before a high dex character in a phase and not be outmatched, since you can deflect twice and THEN attack, but you can't hold actions over. Let me repeat the following two sets of actions. Previous to 5th edition I wait for the villain to come up the stairs, and then blast the stairs out from under him. 5th edition I perform a cover maneuver on the stairs at -2. The trigger for my action is the villain coming into sight. This penalizes low DEX characters enough, thank you. It's already bad enough that this rule produces ridiculous amounts of mexican standoffs where everyone is covering everyone else at -2, but that penalty is enough to blow up your gameworld when that nuclear missile is about to launch. If this were "Realistic System, 5th edition Revised," Mitchell, I'd probably support you. But this is HERO system. Where's the heroism there? Missile Deflection at least provides for the possibility that the little guy can beat the big guy. And that's part of what being a hero is all about.

Re: [book Review] Champions Universe: News Of The World And any other sonic based character who happened to have a similar effect.

Re: Foxbat....Where can I find Him? Twitch...shudder. New Millennium. Anathema...twitch...poison...gkkk...must...finish..Foxbat...For President...restore...greatness...to minions...sputter...hkkt. (Yeah. working now...)

Re: [book Review] Champions Universe: News Of The World Metaphysician, the Personal Immunity advantage is a difficult one to run, and it is really GM dependant. In certain GM styles, or in certain gameworlds, it's nearly useless. In a world where magically generated fire is considered only fire, and not fire and magic, etc, Personal immunity is a little more useful. In a world where magic is the base justification for everything, like the CU, Personal Immunity may be less useful or more useful depending on how you interpret that concept. In a world where no supers come from magic at all, Personal Immunity may be a ridiculously powerful advantage, and you might want to consider increasing the cost based on the commonality of the effect. I really don't know. I've seen VERY few players take personal immunity in my 26 years with Champions, and it's come up precisely twice in game. (And for those who know me, I've got a very long running game.)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... After a battle where one of the characters (Prestige) discovers the SID of another character,(Silver Sentinel) and goes to confront them about it. Prestige: Wow, Sarah, I had no idea you were really Gideon. Sarah (Thought Balloon) Crap...I'm screwed. She knows. She's just playing. What the hell.... "Yes I am!" Prestige: Well, let's see Gideon then. Sarah generates a hologram of Gideon, with the voice and everything that says "Now, young lady, it just won't do to have you goin' round humpin' puppies..." Prestige: No, really, Sarah, it was either Gideon, Romula, or Silver Sentinel. And I know you're Silver Sentinel...I was just kidding...why didn't you tell me?.... ---------------------------------------------

Re: Foxbat....Where can I find Him? It's Enemies Assemble, I think. I don't remember off the top of my head, which is TRULY sad and stupid because I USED this book for almost ALL of the redesigned sheets for Foxbat for President as my primary source. (I took a little trip back to Adventurer's Club #1 for Leroy on a lot of stuff) And let me tell you, true believers. It took a LONG time.

Re: Ponderance.... You don't need to re-abort once a constant power is ON. Force Field, Force Wall, and every other constant power in the game work this way. Why should Missile Deflection be different? When it says "His next phase," His next phase SHOULD mean "When he acts next," not the phase in which he goes. Technically, as far as I've been led to understand in EVERY campaign I've played and GMed in for 26 years, it's not your phase until your action. Firewing's phase 2 goes on Dex 30, SPD 6. Gravitar's phase doesn't start until Dex 25, SPD 6. There SHOULD be no need to abort a second time, since the character has ALREADY aborted. Now, you COULD argue that Firewing's heat NND is not visible to sight until after the first couple tries and you really know what to look for. Then she couldn't deflect it and the question is moot, but that's a SFX call based on what the GM says.

Re: Ponderance.... No, she doesn't. Missile deflection lasts until your next action. You don't have to take it. You're considered missile deflecting until your action resets. That rolls over, because Missile deflection is constant, not instant.

Re: Ponderance.... Okay. If he's faster than me, and I have Missile deflect vs. anything, I use this tactic anyway. He's a single opponent. If he turns out to be slower than me, I fry him on phase 2. If he turns out to be faster than me, I'm safe. Plus, remember, by the time phase 6 happens, Gravitar will be something like 34" away. That's the -8 range category (You half move away every phase once he's in the land of squeezy goodness) . Add that to the half OCV for a grabbed character, and his chances of landing a shot are OCV 7 vs DCV 18 on 4 (Add range penalties), and a whopping DCV of 20 on phase 6 or 7. (These include range penalties.) Yes, he can spread, but if he spreads that much, he'll get hosed. And don't forget, Gravitar can move him into other exciting objects, like high tension cables that deal 5d6 RKA, for even more ridiculous amounts of damage once he's in the cables and returning to the squeezy goodness.

Re: Ponderance.... Actually, Firewing gets clobbered. Gravitar will simply missile deflect the NND. This can go on FOREVER. If she can deflect 2 NNDs, she wins. She can REFLECT only physical missiles. She can DEFLECT anything. Look at the point cost on the power. It's her 16 vs his 15+ range penalties. So on phase 2, since her missile deflection is still active until her action, since she doesn't have to re-abort unless she chooses to, Gravitar hits Firewing with... 100 STR TK, AND puts him in a 10/10 Force Wall. That's right. She can do both, because Telekinesis is automatically indirect. All she has to do is close the distance to 4", put Firewing in her TK and erect the force wall in front of her. Then, it's 20d6 of squeezy goodness until the fight's over. Then, once Gravitar has Firewing in her clutches, she'll capture him and romance him. Being one of the most powerful supervillains on earth is one thing. Being in control of the most powerful baby ever....? Well...that's cake icing. Say hello to Heavy Fire, the most absurd character ever! No. I'm not gonna build it. I'm not even gonna try.....

Re: Ykygpw____ykyrgpw You know you've got problems when... The Master Villain sends his henchmen after you and they know exactly how to beat you. You know you've really got problems when after they beat you, they gloat about how easy it was to figure out your powers and abilities from the porn they downloaded on the internet.

Re: Ykygpw____ykyrgpw That depends on the level at which he bought the vulnerability. If it's COMMON, guess what? The player should shut up and take it. That means that it should pretty much be appearing one in every two sessions. The GM might want to pull the player aside and ask him to change his vulnerability in a case like this by buying it down with experience points, but if someone paid for 30 points of 1.5 x Stun and Body from Electricity, he should eat it.

Re: Tuala Morn Discussion I was markedly pleased with this book. It finally crossed my shelf today. !#$%!, one of these days my LGS will get this stuff on time. Unlike many other settings, this one is actually worth running.

Re: Nightwind: A Proper Fit for the Champions? Mitchell, this is yet another case where you have this thing called assault with intent. Yes. Clearly players do not believe that the attempt to kill them can succeed, and you as a GM might not either. But quite frankly, it annoys me greatly that a killing attack in some games is not immediately recognizable as such. Can the PC or NPC LAUGH at the weak KA? Sure. But the point, I guess is that maybe that NPC's reaction might be different. He or she now knows that someone attempted to end his life. So let the consequences begin.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Heh. On that note, let me give you a preview of a "housewife" from my Paul Revere High teen champions stuff that may make it to Dave Mattingly sometime before the end of the year... Head of History Gene Robards: If ever there was an award for the most boring man in the world, Gene Robards would be certain to receive it. Gene Robards just drones. He can’t help it. His knowledge of history, especially military history, is phenomenal. Unfortunately, he has the oratorical skills of a half-asleep zombie. Gene Robards is a thoroughly unexciting man with a thoroughly unexciting wife. GM Information: Sucker! Gene Robards wife is the supervillainess Countdown. Marrying Gene was the perfect cover. He was so boring that naturally, everyone would suspect that she was boring, too. She has several swiss bank accounts, and is looking forward to collecting on her early retirement, along with whatever monies Gene Robards can afford to pay her in alimony. Gene himself is completely boring and oblivious to Countdown’s evil schemes. To roleplay Gene Robards, drone like Ben Stein. To not roleplay Gene Robards, drone like Ben Stein anyway.

Re: Nightwind: A Proper Fit for the Champions? Look. Time for a reality check. Yes, lethal force is not an only option. Yes, a 12d6 EB stands a better chance of killing a normal than a 2d6+1 RKA. BUT.... A killing attack is STILL a KILLING attack. It is obvious that it is a KILLING attack. The villains know you are trying to kill them. YOU know you are trying to kill them. But these aren't the only situations in the game. Last night, I was playing in an online game, where someone informed me that a DINER WINDOW (Somehow made bulletproof) was DEF 12, BODY 1. Now, I was like...holy !@#$$%!. A DINER WINDOW? So, yes, my character could do 16d6 of move through damage TO HEROICALLY CRASH THROUGH THE WINDOW IN A DRAMATICALLY APPROPRIATE MANNER! There are a lot of things in the game that don't always make sense, and yes, my character took 15 stun for crashing through the window. That was stupid too. But please don't bash the game designers for the design before reading the background in conjunction with the sheet, and immediately assume he's going to resort to the KA as the first option. When it comes to mechanics and presentation, I disagree with Steve and Darren a lot. Sometimes too much. But for god's sake let them present the material and read it THOROUGHLY before you make a judgement.

Re: Would you allow this power The problem here is that once he gets knocked out, he never gets back up. Ever. He might as well be named "The amazing coma man." If you take the side effect limitation, however, he simply becomes "Torpor King," as he will simply have colossal amounts of negative end and burn stun for everything.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From the Mind over Matter playtests Skybolt: Now just think, if you had been a hero instead of a villain, you might not be sitting here right now under anaesthesia, with a strange looking collander on your head. ---------------------- Gideon: Eiko, Romula just stepped on a land mine down here in the sewers. Can you walk me through disarming it from back at base? Eiko: Nooooooooooooope...! --------------------------- Ember: I'm sorry. My witty banter is off today! As Eiko approaches the land mine from above ground...BOOOOOOOM! (Eiko facepalms) --------------------------- Captain Unity (Over the phone): No. Yes. No. NO! My bra size is NOT up for discussion! Eiko: And they are rather magnificent. Captain Unity: Why thank you, Eiko. -----------------------------