unclevlad

The DC Beltway. Cuz no one in the NFL moves on the ground anyway.

Problem is, will he accept the results of that election should he lose? Altho I agree that even if another nominal conservative is picked, it's not at all clear how he/she would go on procedural matters like this. Of course. They always have time to get their pick in place. McConnell's proven repeatedly that he has no ethics when it comes to governance.

You are joking, right? Make it "only until" because there is NO WAY this isn't gonna be done before the election. The confirmation hearings will be pro forma. This is McConnell; due diligence? Advise and consent? Not. Also remember that Trump was talking about prospective nominees for the next term, so the names are quite likely lined up. The only doubt I'd have is if the Democrats can manage to filibuster under the existing rules.

The 7 day rolling average started going up, but I wouldn't call it a sharp increase. Still, it is the first time the rolling average has flipped direction and started increasing again since mid July...and THAT is what worries me. Also, we have 200K dead on just under 6.9M cases...and most of the cases have been in the last 6 weeks, so it's harder to assert it's tied to the elderly, as one might've been able to argue back in April. So the fatality rate is more like 3%. Which means...not 25,000 but closer to 70,000 or so. Even if it's 2%, that's 50,000 more. If this is the start of another wave, tho...yes, it's likely we'll exceed 300K deaths by the end of the year, but it's not certain IMO. New case numbers did decline for several weeks; we can hope deaths might, too. That said, it seems very likely that, at the least, we'll be very close to that.

It is MUCH too early to read too much into this but... New cases had a small uptick yesterday, relative to the last couple weeks. With 4 hours left in the WorldOMeters reporting day, we're at 43,000+, which would be about average...so we're very likely looking at a more significant uptick today. From my observations, another 10,000 cases is quite possible in these late afternoon/early evening hours. If so, this'd be the highest number of cases in a day since mid-August; Sept. 4th was a touch under 53,000, but you have to go back to Aug. 14th or 15th to find another day with notably over 50K.

The scenarios you're describing involve ranged autofire, where the teleport won't even trigger (or would trigger to no effect, if the intent is it's only versus melee.) HTH autofire can easily be: --extra limbs --TK --advanced martial arts --speedster --instantaneous "duplication" Can also argue that very high Running or perhaps Lightning Reflexes involve moving limbs extra-fast...so, OK, autofire punches. Or that you use your Stretching to punch with your fist and jab with an elbow. Probably others too. I don't think any of these is an affront to genre conventions. Autofire is nice but expensive (due to END cost, or the increased cost of Reduced END, if nothing else). If someone wants to pay for it, as long as the justification is halfway reasonable, I'll probably go, sure, why not, as long as it's still a reasonably balanced attack.

Yeah, but then you started worrying about 1/2 DCV. There aren't many maneuvers where that happens; Multiple Attack is one of them. So when you connected them, I was (eventually) trying to figure out why.

Another aspect of the extensive use of the RP, or allowing manipulation of the power skill, is that it creates an uneven playing field...not based on the characters, but on the players. And how creative and they are, specifically. The extreme example here is Images. If the player's good at thinking on the fly, the illusionist style is generally FAR more effective than against a pretty straightforward thinker. It's the same comparison as the smooth talker using his patter to get past security, versus the guy who's out of his depth, either because he's not got great personal skills, or maybe because he's unfamiliar with the situation. And it's not like we're saying you can't ever do it. One of my most memorable sessions at Gen Con was that my character HATED!!!!!! his father. (Yes, for THAT reason.) So, boom, all of a sudden, I see him across the clearing. Grunts between me and him. So I tell the DM I'm cutting my bloody damn way through those grunts!!! So he gave me a Cleave on the fly...in 2nd Ed D&D where Cleave did not exist. Just because the grunts were nothing, and the fight between the two of us was a Very Big Deal. We were both in the low single digits when I got the last strike in...dropped him into major negatives...and I figured at that point the adrenaline rush would evaporate...so I collapsed. I might buy the Power Skill use as mentioned, but I personally would say that it's modified by the active point cost. And if you miss the power skill roll? The whole power fails. Spend the END. I'd also be more inclined to let you do things if you've shown dynamism in the power you're trying to use...like, if you have a single target Blast and a Radius Blast, I'd probably let you try for a Cone or Line from time to time, on the fly.

It wasn't a supposition, it was simply defining the relative characteristics so the example could be completely defined. I picked an OCV slightly higher than yours, on the expectation that most bricks have lower DCVs than average. If the bad guys actually have OCVs of 9 and 10, then you're in mediocre shape BEFORE the Growth. Wait a sec. Grab's just -2 DCV...so, what, you're trying to pull off Multiple Attack using Grab? If that's the case, I suspect you're trying to do too much for the point level.

If your base DCV is only 7, AND you have 2 levels of Growth....the 1/2 DCV basically means almost nothing. (My bad on the order, didn't want to double check. I avoid 1/2 OCV or DCV as much as I can.) If the other guys start with, let's say, a base 8 OCV, they're 12 against you. They hit on a 16-, which means they MISS 1 time in....54. IOW, basically, they don't. 3d6 has 216 outcomes 17- hits 215 (so over 99%) 16 -- 212 (98%) 15 -- 206 (~95%) 14 -- 196 (~90%) 13 -- 181 (~ 83%) 12 -- 160 (~ 74%) 11 -- 135 (62.5%) 10 -- 108 (50%) So you're almost constantly taking STUN...and the +12 from the Growth isn't gonna go very far, most likely. Let's just say the opponents have SPD 5 and 8 OCV. If I've got an 8 DCV, and with my defenses, I take 18 STUN...shouldn't be enough to stun me...that's 54 STUN per turn, cuz I'll typically get hit 3 times. For you to take the same total STUN in the turn, you need to knock the damage down to 11 per. So, you need a bit more BEFORE tacking on the Def from Growth to achieve the same level, using these numbers. And if my typical DCV is even 9...I get hit 2.5 times to your 5 times. I take about 45 STUN per turn...so you need to knock it down to 9 per phase.

Exactly. Why would there be separation? One of my favorite builds has Extra Limbs (MANY, because they're not biological, they're energy limbs) extra STR with the limbs Stretching with the limbs So his autofire punch is defined as 3 'fists' all spread out to hit multiple times. He's also got a Triple Punch where 3 of em are attacking as one, with a couple extra dice OR doing double knockback. His autofire has no time lag even in concept. Plus, you're basically trying to say that your villain's power has immediate effect...it's faster than that second punch. If the punches have slight delay, why doesn't the teleport away, between recognition, activation, and effect? You're trying to impose 'reality' on one side only.

Yeah, he's gonna have fun in the water, isn't he. I built a character with 2 diametrically opposite multiforms...one was a stellar core (sort of), the other was solar wind (alternate desolid from APG, always on). The stellar core...I think the last build was 3 levels of APG shrinking (think 1 1/2 levels of regular shrinking, so ~ 1/3 height)...and around 8 levels of DI. Yeah...2' 2", 2500 lbs. Density's in the 250 range. This is Always On (in this form). What does that suggest? INSANE hardness and toughness, getting this material to shift would be...not gonna happen. Well, he can, but that's different. Deforming it with a blow? HA! So he's bought down to 0 PD and 0 ED, and has damage negation, resistant defenses with no advantages, and a good-sized chunk of rPD with both hardened and impenetrable. It's kind of a pain to build to meet the concept because, if you're trying to honor the notion, the defenses need to be REALLY high, at least IMO.

When a maneuver says you're at 1/2 DCV, yes, it's intended to be NASTY. IIRC, the order is 1. add any bonuses to DCV (from other things) 2. apply the 1/2 DCV 3. apply any other penalties to DCV If you're planning to emphasize Slams and Throws, you build a Tank/Brick who takes a full .50 caliber vehicle mounted machine gun burst in his back and goes, "thanks, I had an itch back there!" Building very large, *playable* characters isn't easy, especially going past the first level. Both the 20' tall and 5 ton mass impose some serious staging limits.

That's why I used that particular metaphor. I accept gold and silver tokens of appreciation. But some of you might have realized that..... *shut up, Loiosh....*

But not among a subsection that has no clue about the environment, and views everything like this through rose-colored blinders. Wild Areas Must Be WIld!!!! <sigh> They go ballistic because...yeah, going on in, thinning trees and undergrowth, maybe even doing a controlled burn (PROPERLY, let me specify...controlled burns have gone out of control) will disturb all the little creatures that are there! They don't even consider the consequence down the line. I still remember...rather a LONG time ago...pine beetles took out a fairly large chunk of trees that happened to be on public lands, technically. Nothing was done...so there was...gosh, I don't remember...probably few thousand square foot chunk of dead trees, with dried out needes, with pine sap pushed forward because that's how the trees fought back. The branches would've been bone dry too; the trunks would go up like an inverted matchstick from the sap. So several households got together and cleared them all out...before a major fire did, one that would've practically...probably even literally...have exploded within minutes to cover the entire area. And then spread. I believe several of Colorado's fires have similar stories; getting in to clear out what NEEDS to get cleared out, is often made much more difficult than it should be.

They can't if California and Oregon state governments don't release the restrictions. Overall, tho...anyone else notice several teams are questioning whether they can play...or outright cancelling? Already? Just flashed that Penn State has 50 positive tests among its athletes...about 1 in 15 of them. Ohhhhh but they're gonna continue to push to play!!!! Couple other schools have reported a fair number of cases in the football program and that's led to question marks about continuing. Several games have been cancelled, or at least postponed for several weeks. What the Big 10 did was fold under pressure, as neatly and completely as the Clippers did.

Another reason for SFX is that, sometimes, they directly interact. You can buy...let's say, Absorption, Energy, with the limitation Only Vs. Fire. If my energy blast is defined with an SFX of "fire"...you get to absorb. If it isn't, you're SOL. Vulnerability and Susceptibility also are often tied to specific SFX.

But if they want to read your chart, they need the net. I've generally gone the other way, I suppose. ; I goof around a lot with shrinking and DI combos. Lessee...I don't want him TOO small...if I say 70% height, base 6' goes to 4' 2"...small but OK from an image perspective. 70% height...0.7 cubed is 0.343, so call it 1/3 mass. So...6' and 180 pounds --> 4'2" and 60 pounds. Cool, that works for me. I tend to start with "where do I want the character to be" then see what the mechanical implications end up being...especially if I'm gonna do this with Always On, where I get to build the mechanics as I like, using the powers I'm mimicking as guides.

Or you're perhaps misunderstanding the basis for building advantaged maneuvers. I get your point, but isn't it a WHOLE lot cleaner to say it works as written, and you don't have to go through a pretty confusing deconstruction? The effectiveness is tied to the final, net damage; there's no good point in basing the cost on anything but that. So if anything, I'd argue that the material on 106 and 107 isn't entirely clear, and even that different types of advantaged maneuvers might use different methodologies. For me, Whirlwind Strike (and Unavoidable Blow on 151) behave exactly like Naked Advantages, where the cost basis is the total damage. Also, note this text from Unavoidable Blow: So if you buy it on a 10d6 Offensive Strike, it's 17. If you buy it on a 10d6 Defensive Strike, it's 17. It doesn't matter how you get to 10d6; what matters is that's where you're at. Oh, and this is a case where I would allow the maneuver itself to be improved...if the damage basis for the strike increases. NOT by switchng it to a different strike. As I say, conceptually treat this as a Naked Advantage of a sort.

Dude, they jive. It's bought on the overall total DCs...because this also includes the STR, any HA in question, any HTH DCs, AND the damage bonus from Martial Strike. The condition says it ONLY applies to Martial Strike, not, say, Offensive Strike too. And because you're getting the AoE benefit, the costing is based on the total damage, as is entirely sensible.

I actually have Lightning Calc...or used to, these days I'm not so sure...but beyond that, I've got spreadsheets, or calculators. The ranges are there so you're not stuck on just one value; even 2 characters with a normal height of, say, 6 feet, with 1 level of shrinking, might pick slightly different heights...say, 3' for one, 3'4" for the other, and go with slightly different masses. That's just cosmetic. The mechanical aspects are the same for both. I also don't think any GM is gonna care if mass is a little tweaked, if there are no mechanics associated with that, so instead of 1/8th mass, maybe you do 1/6th. (96 kg --> 16 kg instead of 12 kg.) And I've got no issue with any of that. For giggles I use this site: https://bodyvisualizer.com/male.html to get a rough weight based on height and definitely build. But even in the real world, there are plenty of variables, so this is just a starting point that I'll tweak at need. And with supers, there are other factors. High STR can be attributed to extraordinarily dense muscle...so a normal looking build might still be 10 or 20% heavier than usual. Or with a different character that STR is tied to, let's say, being electromagnetically powered, so the character's weight is gonna be in the normal range.

No, it wouldn't. There is 0 time between the first, second and third attacks. The trigger suggestion IS the natural way to do this. Teleport however many inches Usable As Attack Trigger, when you're struck in melee, with whatever reset conditions you want to apply Hero comes in, smacks your villain, then finds himself suddenly ELSEWHERE. This isn't like D&D where the attacks are discrete. Autofire and Multiple Attack are themselves atomic actions, even if there are multiple dice rolls involved, unless the power's purchased with some sort of Limitation changing it. I think even the extra-time maneuvers (usually, +1 segment) wouldn't affect that; they'd affect when the attack action goes off, but at that point, it'd be atomic. Or disallowed within an Autofire or Multiple Attack action.

1. No, many advantages don't increase the DCs. AoE, Indirect, and the like that affect targeting, don't. Armor Piercing, Penetrating, AVAD that change the impact of the damage, do change the DCs. 2. Yes, if you buy it as a Naked Advantage you now get the option to NOT use it. If it's bought directly onto the STR, you don't. However, note that a Naked Advantage is a Special Power, and that means there are some purchase limitations. (Can't be done in a framework is the big one.)

Two weeks ago? I think it had to be farther back than that. Aug. 23rd is 3 weeks ago, and we were at ~180,000 deaths. And average deaths per day were down a bit, but still close to 1000. Now, of course, one can ask WHOSE projections... If we go back further...in early July the death numbers had dropped quite a bit, and new cases were only starting to be *quite* scary. July was the disaster month. August wasn't a lot better; numbers did trend down but they were SO high at the July peak. We've pretty much been near the worst-case projections, I suspect, for that period. Another aspect is that the average daily death rate has remained high now for 2 months; for August it was 1000 a day. Again, probably only aligned with the pessimistic projections.

My take too. Having to jump from practice speed to full-game speed. That said, I looked at the injury list, and didn't think it was all that unusual. Been true for several years now that the first 3-4 games are ramp-up time for quite a few teams; they're not that indicative of a team's overall level. This year, I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like 5, perhaps 6 weeks before everyone's at full speed.