unclevlad

And note that you can toss on limitations like 1/2 DCV and Full Phase (to activate). This shaves off a great deal of points, altho it might be tougher to include in a multipower that's reasonable. Even a 1/4 limitation on a 100 point power takes 20 off.

And for an amusing character notion... Duplication, creating 2 duplicates, tied to Shrinking, one 3-point level. So it's a constant-mass style...there's 1 full-size or 3 compact-size. Happened to be watching the tail end of the Tour, so that probably triggered the notion of calling the power Tricolor. Like the French flag. From there, the first thought was Red, Green, Blue...but...ehh. Nah. Human skin, hair, and eyes are combinations of different types of melanin...there's black and brown eumelanin, and red pheomelanin. Yeah..... So the combined form has very rich, dark brown skin and black hair. Split, one's gold skin and golden blond hair with green-amber eyes; one's got super-dark, very black skin (there are a few population groups that have this) and hair, and peat-brown eyes; and the third has light pink-red hair with very light, pink-tinted skin...the type that looks like it sunburns in seconds. The hair here is probably the least natural-looking. I think weird things, but I like this one.

Big time OOOOPS!!!! Mets are playing the Pirates. Pirates have the bases loaded. Batter hits a little dribbler down the third base line. Starts foul, but it's rolling...rolling. Pitcher darts off the mound, sweeps it with his glove to keep it foul. Only one slight problem. The ball had skittered back onto the chalk line...which means it was a fair ball. Mets lose it when the home plate ump, who was looking right down the line, called it fair, and prefer to argue rather than chase the *live* ball. 3 runs score. Mets manager comes out screaming and gets tossed. The ump was right. There was a replay angle right down the line, and it wasn't close; the ball was completely on the line. I do take a perverse delight when teams lose it thinking the call's wrong, and they only focus on the call, or similar brain farts.

One of the traditions I quite like happens...well, rather soon now at the start of the last stage of the Tour. IIRC, it's just the winning team, but a bottle of bubbly gets popped, and all the team members have some. Anyone who completes the Tour has earned something like this. They've gone through 3 weeks of sheer torture. I dunno how it was 50 years ago, but all the recently retired riders always say the same thing...you get up, have your team meeting to discuss tactics, wring yourself dry over the next 5 hours, go through your recovery protocols, eat (and meals now are highly tailored, most teams have private chefs), and crash. To repeat the next day. Oh, and let us not forget the drug testing. And for a diversion, a trip to medical to take care of a half dozen road rashes.

HOLY MOLY!!!! https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/nationals/2021/07/17/nationals-park-shooting-mlb-game-padres-washington-dc/8005989002/ At this point, there's not a lot of info about motive. Kudos to the Nats for their handling of the whole mess. On top of that, there was this...this one is another piece of egregious fan behavior: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/nationals/2021/07/17/nationals-park-shooting-mlb-game-padres-washington-dc/8005989002/ I suspect the Yankees know who it is, and doubt he'll ever be allowed back in. Some form of, probably misdemeanor, charges will also be filed.

So I'm finishing up implementing APG Shrinking in HD. There's a bug left in displaying the DCV adjustment but the rest looks to be working. So APG shrinking is 3 points per level, and 2 levels gives 1/2 height and therefore 1/8 mass. That part was easy enough to do. Still did a double take as I was thrashing out the adjusted height and weight...because 1 level of shrinking means: 71 inches (5'11", pretty average) --> 51 inches. OK, no problem. Square root of 1/2 is .7071, yep. 200 pounds --> 69 pounds (!!) Yep. .7 * .7 * .7 is .343. I knew that, I'd gone through all that in my head. Just seeing it was like...oh. Really. Wow. Yeah it is that dramatic. It actually makes for a somewhat rude combo for someone considering DI. The mass shift of 2 levels of DI is basically negated by this 'half-level' of Shrinking...200 pounds base mass, * 4 for the DI, basically divided by 3 for the Shrinking...so right around 270. That's nothing unusual. And the character's just...call it compact, rather than doll-sized. Anyway...nothing novel, just caught me.

Despite the general loosening of restrictions in many places, and the desire to say it's over... 7000 people are still dying from Covid-19 every day. While this is a vast improvement from the 14,000 in January... It's still 2.5 million people a year. And as we've said throughout...deaths is the most obvious negative measure but clearly not the only one. If it's 2.5 million dead, then it's, what 5 to 10 million people who will suffer severe problems. We can argue the whys and wherefores until we're hoarse. Not my intent to rehash this here and now. Just to point out that there's no way we can return to the pre-pandemic norms while the consequences remain this serious. Last spring, my feeling was there was no way we could return to normal before 2022. This spring, when I was getting my first shot, I felt we'd *mostly* return to normal by Labor Day...more or less, the start of the new school year. Now...that "mostly" may still hold but it's not as far along as before. And 1Q 2022? Not looking that way. Optimistically...maybe July 2022. But if the slow pace of converting from Pandemic to Problematic But Manageable remains, we'll have restrictions, contract tracing, quarantines and the like through all of 2022, I'm afraid.

Well, certainly if construction in South Florida is any evidence. No, there's no real risk that humanity will make the planet permanently uninhabitable. But I take no comfort from the fact that it might be fixed in 100,000 years.

Yes, we are well aware of that. The rules don't include it, therefore in RAW it is not. However, what we do not know is whether it would be, when subjected to the kinds of alterations being discussed in the APG that you want to adapt. First big change: Regen's unit is characteristic points, not character points. This is fine because there's only 1 characteristic in question. If you change from BODY to something else, the logical underpinning behind the cost of Regen changes. Should Regen CON have the same cost as Regen OCV? Before you even start with the defensive ability aspect, there is the major difference in the CP to characteristic point conversion. The one area where we veered from the main point is considering the implications, and spotting a horrific, abusive one. I haven't checked the math, but it's probably largely correct. The individual time steps might not be, but heck, that's fine. As a unique, isolated power, I'd rather the steps were uniform. That wasn't the explicit construction per se but it captured the point. And *in this model* the assignment of 1 characteristic point for the standard effect clearly suggested that the halving rule on defensive powers made sense. We started looking at the potential abuse of applying it to END...and careful analysis, not a brief sound bite level of analysis, said it's a problem when Regen is allowed to move up to per phase. And moving to a basis of constant/persistent Healing immediately shifts the discussion from character points, on which Regen is based, to character points. We may have veered, here and there...but it was necessary because BODY (and STUN) changes in ways NO OTHER characteristic does. As does END, in its way. And these must be considered. Your assertion that "restore" was separate from "raise" also sent things off course.

There is a setting in HD that is "max active points in an attack." But that's HD, and only for attacks...not all powers. And it can be set to whatever anyway...including "high enough that no one cares." Like the default upper limit on a characteristic; it's 999.

Well, you did say "eventually." With no timeline...yes, probably true. But it will be horribly slow. The rain forests are extremely complex environments. The reason they're such incredible carbon sinks is at least in part due to the multi-layered vegetation. Where it's gone, the soil will be trashed quickly, and conversely will take HOW long to reconstitute? It quickly gets stripped, so it'll only reconstitute from the edges. And the larger the area, the more likely that it'll go the other way around. And the process of reversal itself needs the carbon sinking. The oceans are another aspect. Increased atmospheric CO2 translates directly into increased ocean acidity. What does this cause? Shell-like structures don't like it. So, shellfish small and large get hurt...and this includes tiny sea snails at the base of the food chain. Coral becomes more fragile; the reefs are already showing serious damage. Coral reefs are the rain forests of the underwater world, hosting enormous biodiversity. Jellyfish like the warmer waters, and sea surface temperatures have been rising alarmingly. So what we get when this is all done, is probably QUITE a bit different from what we have now. The other piece of news...no one's mentioned this, but the roof of a Miami condo collapsed 2 days ago. Obviously this raises concerns about the safety of ALL south Florida condos. Once is accident; twice is coincidence. Third time is enemy action...the enemy here being warm, humid, salty air. I also wonder if even slightly rising sea levels is subtly disturbing the limited stability of the ground in the region.

Ahhh. Well, we can see how important Fox News considers this, can't we?

Joshua

I spent several minutes trying to find this story on Fox News. I failed. And it wasn't for lack of trying.

They're getting everyone back fairly soon. It really hasn't been their problem; they aren't hitting. Period. Their staff ERA is 11th; particularly at home, they don't hit. They're 23rd in slugging percentage at home. And their defense is poor. And they can't manufacture runs. Besides, the first serious entrant in the race to the bottom has announced itself...the Cubs. Sorry Mr. P, the Rockies don't count. They've been long-term residents. Rockies bullpen ERA is 28th. One problem is, they've blown a ton of saves. They're 16 for 32 in save opportunities, which might be more important. No one cares if you give up 2, when you have a 4 run lead. It's the blown saves, and 50% save conversion is terrible. That said, the D'Backs have 9 saves in 26 chances. I have no clue how horrible this is historically but it's FAR worse than any other team this year. Looked like the Marlins have the 2nd worst percentage...and they're 16 for 34, just under 50%...not barely hanging above 1 out of 3. The Orioles' #1 problem is their starters. Worst ERA in the majors, and it's by a huge margin. They're at 6.20; the 5 worst behind them range from 5.22 to 5.44.

What's happened there is a major reason why I'm fundamentally pessimistic. We've done too much damage, and this has been undercutting any ability to repair the situation.

Marion G. Harmon's Wearing the Cape series has a metamorphic tank. HTH type, the usual Str, Con, defenses. The metamorphing part is options like claws, adding more Dex, Spd, and possibly ground movement, buffing Str and defenses, etc. You can do quite a bit with a 40-50 point multipower with no slot over 20. A step further is a VPP where the control cost is 30, say, and the pool size is 60...with Requires a Skill Roll, it'd be 90 active. So a trio of 30 pointers, or a nice balance of +10 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +2 OCV and DCV, +2 SPD, and boosts to REC and END. Or whatever. I think DCs are more important to keep contained than AP. Sometimes APs just blow up. Summon (with a high Amicable advantage especially). Duplication. Multiform. Desolid with selective desolid. OK, should a character sheet with anything this big, draw some extra scrutiny? Probably, yeah. So? Any character sheet should be carefully sanity-checked on a few levels.

So as the second half starts, the AL is split into 3 groups: --White Sox, Red Sox, Astros, TB, and A's are at the top, in that order. The A's are only 3 1/2 back of the White Sox. --Seattle, Cleveland, Toronto, Yankees, and Angels are separated by 2 games. Seattle is 3 1/2 back of the A's. --Tigers, Twins, Royals, Rangers, and Orioles are playing out the string, nothing more. Tigers and Twins are 6 back of the Angels, 11 1/2 behind the wild card. And they'd have to leapfrog so many teams ahead of them. In the NL, it's not a lot better. The 3 West teams, Brewers, and Mets. The Reds are 4 back of the Brewers, so...not too bad. Philly and Atlanta could chase down the Mets, altho the Braves lost Acuna. That's a big hole to patch over. Schedule's off to an unfortunate start...last night's game postponed to covid, the game today postponed by rain.

From Cycling News: And the team said there was no search warrant. On the one hand, unfortunately, there's FAR too much history of this to dismiss it altogether. On the other, executing such a search on unsubstantiated allegations strikes me as WAY out of line. But as noted, this is only Bahrain Victorious. They do have 2 stage wins, so it will have some impact...and clearly if they are proven to be doping, that's another big black mark...but it won't be another Floyd Landis situation.

"Every single patient that we have admitted [to the hospital] has not been fully vaccinated." At this point, I wish the insurance companies could flat out deny all claims for covid, if the patient was eligible for the vaccine but was not vaccinated. And even more, I wish there was some mechanism to hold jurisdictions that actively impede vaccination efforts fiscally accountable. Because we ALL pay for it.

What about STUN? Abilities that recover STUN more rapidly than REC would can be just as much an issue. The key difference is that, for the most part, I choose when my END is diminished, but even then I can use STUN to get more END. Note that the adjustment powers section lumpos END and STUN in "expendable abilities". Yes, but they're different in a few ways. #1: simply the cost difference. 2 CP of END is 10 END, which is itself 1.5 to 2 phases' worth of END, even with no reduced END. Could be It'd only be 4 STUN, and that's not particularly likely to make a difference. #2: STUN expenditure is more erratic. It can be significantly higher in a short span in 'normal' play, and NOT by the player's choice. Yeah, something like a 5-shot autofire burst at full END might be built in, but that's typically a desperation tactic...or I suppose, pre-emptive style. It's clearly not a routine, repeatable choice. (Of course, a 3-shot AF burst could easily be the opening phase 12 salvo because you know you'll get most of the END back immediately.) #3: the massive difference between END and everything else is the existence of Reduced END, and its enormous applicability. Particularly at higher power levels...END expenditure per turn doesn't increase linearly with power level, it increases faster. Active points in attacks rise, raising END; but SPD rises too. So, anything that notably increases END recovery may *save* points by letting significant other changes that are no less effective, but notably cheaper. Now, if this is never allowed to occur more than once per turn, it's FAR less of an issue. It may be a non-issue but it'll depend on proposed implementation. Most of what we've seen so far, tho...would be more expensive than simply raising REC. But in general, I don't like Heal or Regen being extended to REC or STUN that have been expended by normal means, because that's what REC is for. I'm absolutely not a fan of trying to contort a power to duplicate something else that's relatively straightforward. I have no issue with Healing or Regen helping to recover from a Drain; I could readily see, say, a "life energy" healer-type who has no more than marginal Power Def, but whose body shakes off the effect of a Drain a lot faster.

That's ONE potential problem, but it's by no means the only one. Mild limitations on the multiform knock a great deal off the real cost very quickly, and the cost can be quite bearable if you build with that in mind. As Grail and I both pointed out...DON'T build two general-purpose characters, build one that's combat-capable and another that's...other things. And with no limitations, you can make the non-combat type the 'base form'...and if 500 is the standard, you can build a WHOLE LOT of non-combat effectiveness for 400 points and still have a full, 500 point combat type. Now, ok...active point limit? Be prepared to waive it for Multiform or Duplication, if that's the root of your issue. You can keep the active point limit in a framework if you like; that just means Multiform probably becomes a Special Power in effect. No further ramifications, no new issues created. Changing the costing has ramifications and may well introduce OTHER problems...and that is the LAST thing you want on such a complex power. And a power that I think many of us feel *should* be a Stop Sign power. You can potentially make a better argument for Summon because amicability is SO expensive...but by the same token, a summoned critter gives more actions, so it needs to be expensive...especially with the 2x critters for just +5 points, as was noted.

I disagree. A stat started at 8, now it's 9. That stat has been raised. You're trying to parse "restore"...but semantically, "restore" is a subset of "raise." And ok, let's allow the notion that "restore" might not mean "raise" per se, or at least that your interpretation is plausible. Fine...then by damn, MAKE IT EXPLICIT! Because the core statement for me still remains the text on page 135, and the distinction between "raise" and "restore" is much too nebulous. This is an example of why the rules are considered so complex. The bare statement on 135 forces me to 141...then the Healing power listing and I *still* have to parse semantically similar terms? That is a MESS. It also doesn't help that Heal is a kludge anyway, as has been mentioned. Maybe in part because it's trying to allow too many options/try to avoid excessive bookkeeping. (Like, "can only Heal the BODY from any given attack once" means you have to track the BODY from each attack. UGH.) The fact that Healing was driven by fixing BODY damage makes it fundamentally different from anything else, so using it as a basis is not a great idea. A completely different basis offers chances for a better final power.

This discussion is presuming it's Self Only healing. And the Healing is specifically only to END. Me: So when SPECIFICALLY discussing Heal END, self only, limited to per turn...what is the functional difference between this and buying more REC? If being allowed to buy it to per phase is abusive, limiting it to per turn is useful only versus relatively longer-duration Drains, compared to just buying REC. On the other point and "check other rules"..."Healing doesn't raise or lower stats"...yes it does. It raises them. The fact that it has a limit doesn't change that. OK, while I don't agree there's ambiguity when comparing 135 to 141...if Healing is expected to be separate from this rule, MAKE IT EXPLICIT, and not based on a potentially very self-serving, hair-splitting interpretation of what "increase" means. If we really have to parse the rules language to this degree then the rules are badly written. OTOH...the issues are tied to 2 things. #1: going faster than once per Turn. For one thing, there's a massive variation in impact...because it's now based on a character's SPD. Note that Damage Over Time *doesn't* use phases. For the other, it ignores the in-game impact. The difference between per minute and per 5 minutes is marginal at best. The difference between per turn and per minute is...well, generally no more than mild, at least in a supers game where speeds of 4+ are in play...there's too many actions. Just sticking to BODY Regen...when SPD 2 is the norm, getting back 1 BODY per turn is...pretty useful. When SPD 5 is? Not so much. But NOW...when it's per phase...5 BODY Regen per turn is *quite* a bit, and clearly hugely more than the 1 BODY per turn. Note that this applies to both Healing and Regen. #2 applies to Healing. With Regen, the unit is the characteristic; the interpretation is actually "standard effect" but rounded DOWN for a change. 1d6 Healing...standard effect is 3. Hey...half of 3 is 1.5, and the metarule is to round in the character's favor...so round UP. But it's not done that way. And even if you take the pessimistic halving interpretation, we get that 1d6+1 --> 4 points, and that clearly means 2 CP, ergo 2 BODY, 10 END, or 4 STUN. That's clearly a massive jump. Regen dispenses with that completely. All things considered...if you want to expand Regen to other characteristics... 1. Switch to a unit of d6's...maybe allowing half dice, but NOT allowing +1 or d6-1. 2. No faster than per turn, without a SERIOUS increase. Use the Regen per turn as the base, and making it per phase is at least a +1. (Note that it's STILL cheaper than buying 2 BODY Regen per turn.) 3. Straight d6 character points, not characteristic points, with the halving rule. Without it, a 1d6 CON Regen would almost completely wipe out the max effect of -12 CON (returning every 5 minutes) in 3 turns. 4. The points can't be used to regain END spent. Anything else...I think is OK, even STUN. 5. If Variable Effect is applied, then the Regen ONLY counters Drain or equivalent losses. 6. And, yes, this becomes an Adjustment Power, as well as a Special Power.

Take a 500 point character. Buy Multiform; put it into a 2-slot multipower, 100 active. The other slot is a compound power that is 100 points' worth of characteristics. Now I have 480 points' worth of combat-effective and another 500 points' worth of whatever else I want...or vice versa. (The form paying for the Multipower loses 20 points to cover the slot costs.) OK, the point about active point caps in a framework MIGHT come into play, and might need reconsideration...when they're in use, and when they'd be exceeded. That's a far narrower issue, tho, and a far narrower house rule can be made. If that's the issue, re-costing Multiform just to solve this problem is like using a .30-06 to shoot a squirrel. And you aren't getting less, assuming your multiform is the same cost as your base. You're getting relatively the same amount. BOTH aspects are getting reduced, sure but that doesn't change the relative influence, and the cost to cover the multiform is causing a proportionate reduction, by and large, regardless of version.