unclevlad

Not meaningful. I'm not criticizing you, but you're showing an active desire to punish people from buying DI, it reads to me, and you're making the mass increase SEVERELY punitive. So of course no one's gonna buy it; your interpretations make the power almost completely unplayable. Hugh: I think the basis for calling RAW's price on DI might be flawed, but a similar argument might also show that 5's a bit much. So which is it? Hero is so wide open that there are inevitable loopholes even without getting into oddball Limited Powers such as the "only to not crush things" on the Flight, and how you attempt to deconstruct a costing on a compound power like this is a factor in balanced cost estimation. If things are just a touch off? No big deal. There's WAY larger issues. So if you wanted to charge me 5 instead of 4...fine.

Honestly, I think even the mass issue tends to be strongly downplayed because what is said is so vague. OK, it can cause problems. At what point, in what circumstances? OK, walking out on an icy lake is a Very Bad Idea. Springboard diving means springboard splintering. But where are the lines? And how much detail is now required of the GM? The front stairs of the building I worked in were long, freestanding stone steps rather than a monolithic construct. What was their load limit? I have no clue. So how much hassle am I creating for myself if I try to inject the realism I'm not competent to inject? I also wonder if DI isn't used much because a) people don't like that kind of brick that much? b) people think even more basic...like, sitting down in a chair when you're 900 pounds is risky. Or leaning against a table. People may create the expectation of a problem very quickly. c) bad associations? The classic DI examples are probably Hulk and Thing...neither overly positive.

I think you're pushing realism much further than most. Mind, I get what you're saying. I remember quite well, the day when a good-sized CNC milling machine was delivered into the enclosed back lot...with very low grade asphalt paving. Not only are we talking a heavy machine, but shipped in a steel i-beam cage. MORE weight. They tried to move it with a large forklift with LONG front forks. Yes, well, this put most of the weight onto the front tires, naturally, and drove them a good 18-24" into the concrete. It was a sight, let me tell you. I doubt many GMs or players give any thought to the pressure aspect; they never had it brought up, or quite possibly just forgot it. I get your point, but how many people have a clue as to the load bearing capacity of a residence vs. an office building, of a ground floor vs. an upper floor?

How often do people think of the pressure argument, tho? Also, isn't it true that floors will be designed to distribute the load? We'd built a significant presentation room...several projectors, several screens, multiple computers to run everything, all switchable. Lots of cabling. Ergo: raised floor. With those ugly liftable tiles set into steel framing, so pressure on a tile is distributed into the entire framework. I think the most common issue is the sheer mass. Consider the oldie from HS physics. Just how much pressure does a woman wearing high heels exert? You're into the thousands because the heel area is so small...much higher than your examples. So it's not just pressure.

Sometimes you can't use just advantages and limitations because they're not reciprocal. Start with the baseline, which is the characteristics. To go from DI's benefits to pure STR and defense, you need to add 0 END, Persistent. +3/4. So 4 points of DI now becomes 7 points of purchased characteristics. Trying to evaluate STR, Costs END, gives different numbers because it has a different cost, and because the math is not entirely reciprocal. So what about the cost of the KB resistance and the increased mass? My opinion, they're just saying they cancel. What is a proper price for the KB resistance in the DI? You're running seriously afoul of the granularity issues because of the small numbers involved. Hugh's 6 levels computation is coming out at 4.333 points per DI level....well, we can't do fractional points. So, yeah, it might be a slight break, but not much. To the point about how much it's used.....I have a terrible habit of looking for ways to deny weaknesses, and not leave an avenue to exploit. In this context, that means DI and Shrinking. Shrinking doesn't cost movement, it doesn't lower Str. Arguably it doesn't have to be bought Persistent...but even if you do, you can buy it Linked to the DI...or better still, make them a Unified Power and get 1/4 off both. Something like 4 levels DI, 1 level Shrinking. Unified, both Persistent. 30 points for +20 STR, +4 PD/ED, +2 DCV, -2 to opps' PER, -2m KB, for 2x mass. And if you want to go cheaper...it's quite workable to have them be Always On. Now you're down to 22. OK, maybe you can't buy Secret ID...so go Public ID instead. You're getting a heckuva lot of nice stuff for cheap that can easily be rolled into any melee-focused combatant.

Having even one of the carriers in port for whatever reason, is probably enough by itself to consider alternate timelines, and to consider that the US gets heavily involved in Europe well before the Pacific push. And yeah...I don't remember how much was known when, about Japanese massacres, but there would've been details to potentially ignite the fervor of even a recalcitrant USA, say with no Pearl Harbor. The Bataan Death March is *still* memorialized every year. It's rather hard to see Japan ever coming out of things intact. Not impossible, but trying to control that much ground, with no collaborative support to speak of....? Almost inconceivable. Another path here is the US never does all that much, but much of East Asia turns into a massive guerilla action, with a truly horrific death count. MUCH higher than Hitler or Stalin were responsible for.

Long was populist, but yeah, he was doing stuff in Louisiana that would've been problematic in a presidential run. And, remember, he was going against a sitting president for the nomination.

It's also not clear Roosevelt would've lost in 1936. And if we assume Landon won...Long would have had to run as a 3rd party candidate, and that means Fat Chance...what I'm reading about him is a mixed bag on intervention/engagement vs. isolation. It is interesting to read the articles about the 1936 and 1940 elections. Landon was apparently a terrible campaigner, and he got his butt whupped. WORSE than Mondale vs. Reagan, or McGovern vs. Nixon, in terms of the electoral college. In 1940, Wilkie apparently didn't have a message beyond "don't break 2 terms" and had the taint of Big Business and how it brought about the Depression. At either point, if a stronger, more isolationist Republican could have won......that probably changes everything.

That kind of capitulation is rare, I think. The French didn't fold from lack of resolve in 1940, but from awful planning and overconfidence. Britain never cracked despite the Blitz. 9/11. My understanding is that Bush expected the Iranians to welcome the US as they overthrew Hussein...forget it. Not gonna happen. 9/11 was.........I was literally in emotional shock for 3 or 4 days. Seeing the 2nd tower collapse...LIVE...was indescribable, even more, I think, than seeing the video of the 2nd plane impacting because I believe I didn't see that live. And seeing it live, KNOWING IT'S REAL!!! Now, ok, video is POWERFUL. We're learning that, albeit slowly. Still...remember that in 1940, military service was still a point of considerable pride. We haven't had Korea or Viet Nam, which were messes. "Only" 2200 killed, but it darn sure looked and sounded worse. But the ship losses......attacking the battleships was sound enough given that the carriers weren't there, but....the Arizona, the Oklahoma, the West Virginia, and the California were all sunk. Note the significance of the names. If the goal for our exercise is to envision a world where Japan holds a great deal more sway, then the best trigger is that Hitler triggers another Lusitania incident, so the US goes east with fervor, but there's no such emotional investment to cross the Pacific. Whether the US would still have done so, when Japan goes after the Philippines...that might be a matter of timing, but the Philippines could've waited. (The attack there started the day after Pearl Harbor.) But if the US is building up the Atlantic fleet.......it feels plausible that Japan could've taken over the Philippines while the US was stuck in the bloody, bloody Italian effort. Maybe. But all of this talks about successful initial actions. Long-term occupation is much, much harder...ask the Soviets about Afghanistan. The Germans had big problems with the French resistance. Actually holding China and the Philippines would not be easy *at all* and was probably a major overrreach, as Hitler's move on Russia was. Japan may have succeeded in holding them long-term by co-opting the locals, if that was possible; the Germans did as well as they did in France because of that. I don't think that was possible given the Japanese mindset, the race relations in play, or the geographic dispersion. But, ok, say it was working for at least a while. As Hugh noted, we get wildly hypothetical very quickly, but it's definitely true that we have to establish the preliminaries...not just how the war ends, but how we go from the tensions of summer 1941 (in the Pacific) to the fall of Germany. Or if Hitler had half a brain, a Germany that controlled most of central Europe...much of France, the Low Countries, Austria, and the Balkans. That world is probably not stable, tho.

The opposite of a tautology is doublespeak. Anyone else read Marc Stiegler's Brain Trust books? Politically not as much of a reach as one might fear. Trump sees the world through blinders, and thinks no one can do anything to retaliate. What scares me more, tho, is that his approval ratings remain so high. And THIS is why the whole alt-right aspect is scary. Perhaps they don't have the public support...but they have the climate planted, watered, weeded, and maintained by Trump working in their favor to grow behind the scenes, like any other noxious and toxic weed.

I can see skipping Australia too, but...why would India be a big prize? The islands were for oil. Going after India...steel? Maybe but you're stretching further and further away. They've already got a TON of hostile territory to control in eastern China. I can see them going after the Philippines, but getting to India would probably mean controlling Indochina and Thailand. UGLY, as we found out, to fight in those jungles. At least at first, I think they'd just go with political pressure and have them be a puppet state as a buffer. Granted, these are the Imperial Japanese nutjobs, so they may not, but going after India would, I think, lead to long-term failure as they overextend. One thing to remember about Japan ever trying to attack the US is sheer distance. The greatest asset for the US has been geographic isolation; it's why the Cuban Missile Crisis caused such a major panic. It's 5100 miles from Tokyo to San Francisco, with very darn little in between. Even if you can establish a toehold on the West Coast, you still have great difficulty supplying, whereas the US can construct, supply, and stage fairly easily. The Sierras are a logistical problem for ground forces, but that also works against the Japanese. Similarly, ok, concede the Germans have the bomb. They still have to cover massive territory, and they have to retain forces to keep their occupied territories pacified. In military mission language, there are 2 words that might sound similar, but are *totally* different: Clear and Secure. Clear means you go through and take out all hostile forces. Secure means you neutralize them....and KEEP THEM that way. At least for a time. Clear is to move troops through; it's often a prelude to Secure, which is a prelude to Occupy. The US geographic isolation is much like the sheer immensity of Russia in terms of the difficulties implicit in conquering either.

Madame Patissier Her power is to create, en masse, the pastry of your dreams...be it a simple glazed or fancy maple bacon donut, eclair, or even an elaborate napoleon or torte. And the Mind Control that locks your attention on the savory, luscious delight, so you can do nothing but savor its taste, its texture...you always want just that one more bite, and it's always there....... All while she clears out the jewelry cases and cash register, lifts a wallet or two, and saunters off completely undisturbed. The cops particularly dislike her because her donuts, of course, trigger their fundamental Psych Lim.

Hugh, Alternate Desolid from APG lets you pass through completely solid objects too. Can't pass through solids still requires you to take Affects Physical World, or Selective Desolid. And we're still talking all or nothing. This power, I hope, largely provides a path from Selective Desolid, Can't Pass Through Solids, to close to a pure Selective Desolid.

Yeah, I don't remember any such treaty, and checking wikipedia doesn't show anything. US-Japan relations were very poor; the US was sending material support to aid China, and in 1940 cut oil and steel to Japan...which was critical, because Japan lacks those. And in summer 1941, the US, Great Britain, and the Netherlands (Dutch East Indies) froze ALL oil exports to Japan. That is not an environment for friendly talks.

It's a tossup on the KB, yeah. The notion is he's so light, he's easier to knock around, but yeah, it's tough to make solid contact. That KB is in Alternate Desolid. I could drop it to 1" per level or just get rid of it; I'm not wedded to it.

AHHH. OK. Found that...Notepad++ manages this kind of formatting reasonably well too. I think I can work it out from here. Thanks, Dan. I shall make sure to save the jar before going crazy, but this should be amusing to play with.

The point of the power is a scaling alternative to Desolid. APG's Alternate Desolid doesn't make that much sense, in that for 5 points you can, if slowly, pass through completely solid objects. That's like you're phasing into a different dimension. Here, the notion is you're becoming dispersed; all parts of you are solid matter, but now with gaps/spaces.

The size change is not actual. There's no Shrinking going on, per se. The "size change" is for determining how readily you can pass through things...so, for example, with 1 level you can't pass through a chain link fence. You're still too solid.

Looking for feedback. Alternate Desolid from APG doesn't really work for me; being Desolid is more about damage negation or reduction than straight PD or ED to me. Reduction would probably work IF I went with the expanded Damage Reduction charts/power choices, but I first thought of this as using damage negation. So...what I'm considering. Quasi Solid is purchased in levels, like Shrinking or DI. Each level gives: 1 DC physical and energy Damage Negation. This does NOT apply to powers with Affects Desolid. (Like the PD/ED from Alternate Desolid.) x1/2 Mass x1/2 Size, only for purposes of passing through non-solid objects. I define a standard character box, for this purpose, as 2m by 1/2 meter by 1/2 meter. So with 3 levels of quasi solid, you can pass through bars 3" apart. +2" Knockback. This affects distance only, not velocity or velocity-related damage. (This is straight from Alternate Desolid.) The power is Constant and costs END. For the time being, I assigned a temporary price of 12 points per level; the damage negation is 10 on its own, but normally doesn't cost END. The small size helps infiltration often enough to be worth something...but perhaps not as much as I'm thinking. The move through solids of Alternate Desolid is generally stronger. So I could certainly see making this 10 points per level. Note that this is not Desolid, and you don't need to buy anything with Affects Desolid. It has no Life Support issues. So it's closer to Desolid with Selective Desolidification. It probably only makes mechanical sense if buying around 3-6 levels; more, and you're probably better off buying Desolid and Selected Desolidification, even if it feels like a dodge (and it does to me, I'm not a big fan of Selective Desolid). Less, and heck, just buy the Damage Negation. The size aspect won't help *that* much. Thoughts? Modifications? Change how you pass through objects somehow? I'm not saying this is perfect, but it at least does scale, and I don't like Alternate Desolid's allowance of passing through completely solid, if not terribly robust, items. I want this closer to Not Through Solids...with something scaling to say your penetration ability improves as you buy more.

Alternate Desolidification is in APG I. I like the approach, but I can't see how to incorporate it into HD. Gone through the HD docs. Custom Power doesn't seem to work. There's no Character Pack for APG per se. So...is it in a different Char Pack I can grab...or am I just missing something on how to do it? EDIT: I suppose I can just define the whole thing as "25 points Alternate Desolid" as a Custom Power, and list all the game effects in the Notes. Right now this looks to be my best choice, if not exactly elegant, because there's gonna be Usable Simultaneously on this, along with (possibly) some limitations if I need them for costing.

On the subject of possibly Japan using chemical and biological weapons... It's not reasonable they can "win" this way. They can stop the advance, but they can't win. The plagues aren't going to make it back to the US coast; they'll be noted long before then, and isolated. Even if it does, it's a major leap to say that this creates a Mad Max, post-Holocaustal situation. Bioweapons are very tricky at best. If Japan uses a bioweapon...well, when? Against what? Bioweapons and chemical weapons are both better used against ground forces. OK, so...during the island hopping? It gets reported, and almost certainly, the affected Marines are monitored closely and in isolation on the island. Plus, if Japan does use a bioweapon, well forget ANY chance of peace. Ever. Even if the Manhattan Project hadn't really kicked off...it would be now. And I really, really doubt it would be used with the restraint shown historically. Good bye Tokyo FIRST, is my guess. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were as much about forcing the Japanese to surrender to *save* lives...on both sides...from the radical, fundamentally insane component that was all Death Before Dishonor. That was totally established during the island hopping. Well, if they're willing to drop a bioweapon....???? That's No Quarter time. EDIT: if you don't have the Manhattan Project kick back in, then SEVERAL fire bomb raids would be another option. I'm just saying that the US would feel justified in getting MUCH uglier in their actions.

Is that suitable for a Minor Transform, or as Greywind notes, is this just Oratory and Persuasion?

Lots of abilities, but she was a goddess after all. And never once used them nicely that I can recall, altho it's been decades since I read Greek or Roman mythology. To be sure, the best you could say about any of the Greek gods is they were narcissistic. Oh, you actually, ACCIDENTALLY, see your goddess naked. Of course she turns you into a stag to be ripped apart by your own hunting dogs.

Probably People to Animals for the major Transform. Pretty common retaliation in Greek myth, and IIRC, Hera did do this to some of Zeus' amorous targets. For the minor...not sure. That's a TON of minor transform...not sure what that's for. Perhaps in response to hubris...but even that drew Major Transform responses. Arachne claimed to be the greatest weaver...greater than the gods. She got turned into a spider. Cassandra perhaps. She had the gift of prophecy, and said something a goddess took offense to...even tho it was the truth. So Cassandra was cursed to never be believed.

Yeah, a lot depends on when things change. People have talked about Pearl Harbor, but another turning point would've been Midway. Say the Japanese took less damage in the Battle of the Coral Sea, which then led to a victory at Midway. The US push is seriously blunted. With that, the US pulls back and has to concentrate on building up the fleet...again...while concentrating on Europe first. So, the relative timelines shift, enough so the Nazi atrocities in Europe are allowed to come to light *before* the island-hopping in the Pacific can advance. The Russia-US aspect of the alliance gets shaky. So...the US starts worrying more about the European situation. Russia (say) is not as hammered, so a larger presence is necessary. This, along with the urgent rebuilding, and the Holocaust aftermath, put the Pacific on a lesser footing. Japan consolidates the eastern Pacific and coastal China, and doesn't become...an ally...but as the Communist Menace starts to loom, it's viewed as more expedient to let Japan and Russia battle it out. Especially as this keeps the Chinese Communists more contained. In this construction, the war with Japan never really ends. Japan 'wins' by holding onto the old colonial holdings. The islands (Marshalls, Gilberts, Wake, Midway) form the effective DMZ. The Korean War, if it happens at all, has no US involvement. The Cuban crisis, on the other hand, DOES recur because the Russians are feeling even more boxed in. Here, tho, the US response is likely much more forceful, and Castro's tossed out. Cuba becomes a protectorate. Now, an interesting twist: with Cuba and Puerto Rico controlled, and the ongoing decline of British influence, Jamaica and Bermuda agree to a Caribbean alliance, to which Haiti and the Dom Republic eventually join...it's a mini EU. Cuba's economy never tanks. South Florida develops much more slowly. Moving forward...if the Russians remain belligerent...so they stomp in Hungary and Czechoslovakia as they did...then an uneasy truce, if not a full alliance, can firm up between the US and Japan, with the goal of keeping the Communists contained...especially if the Russian system of gulags is fanned to create an image of a Second Holocaust. Would this be stable? No. The US never drops atomics here; that creates different tensions. Fundamentally, tho...I don't see Japan ever trying to occupy more than this: http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/imperial_powers_pacific.htm They never had territorial ambitions further west.