CrosshairCollie

Re: What defines a Superhuman? I don't think you can necessarily equate points total to age or even experience. Admittedly, yes, it tends to work that way in both games and fiction, but in theory there's nothing stopping a nine year old from having The Power Cosmic, and a 400 point super could be a total rookie; this would be represented in how he's built (no skill levels, Psych Lims representing inexperience and just the way the player plays him). It's more just a matter of what power level you want your game at.

Re: Draining Life Support I agree with this. And for the case of the character's LS provided by an energy field, it should probably be Linked instead of Unified. Most 'Drain Power-By-Name' powers are rather wonky in any event. I can't think of any way to Drain Life Support, or most individual Powers. It seems to be more of a side effect of things like using 'Drain All Cosmic Energy Powers' on a cosmic character or 'Drain All Technological Powers' on someone with a battlesuit (which tend to have some Life Support powers). Edit: thinking about it more, I can't think of any scenario in which LS: Longevity has ever mattered in a game i've run or played in. I may make that one just a no-points background element ...

Re: How would you do Fear Horror & Madness? No, but Presence Attacks aren't just about intimidation. They also include encouragement and inspiration, and courageous people can certainly be inspiring.

Re: Denying a character his OIF There are FEW absolutes in HERO. Desolidification (you desolid or you ain't), and Life Support (you have to breathe or you don't) are examples. What HERO doesn't have, in terms of absolutes, are absolutely attacks and absolute defenses. You can't just have an attack that will automatically kill a person, though you can pile on enough dice to make it very likely. You can't just write down 'immune to fire' as a power, but you can pile on enough defenses only vs fire that it seems like it. But the other guys can always buy more BODY, or another few d6 of Fire attack and eventually deal you damage.

Re: How would you do Fear Horror & Madness? IMHO ... Presence is Courage, Ego is Willpower. Both defend against PRE attacks, just in different ways.

Re: What defines a Superhuman?

Re: How would you write this up? Are you obligated to help them? Are there negative consequences if you refuse or are unable to assist them? You use the word 'recruited', which implies to me that you have no, or limited, choice in the matter. If this is the case, then I'd probably go with a Social Limitation ('At the beck and call of (name of organization)', a variant of Subject to Orders).

Re: Denying a character his OIF Ideally, I think, there should be the established level of trust between player and GM that the player understands that it's the GM's responsibility to invoke Disads and Limitations, and that the GM understands it's his responsibility to do so in a way that doesn't amount to a total screwjob. Ideally. How often this happens is a matter for conjecture.

Re: Ok GM's weigh in. We've been talking players CvK...how do you handle these things

Re: Ok GM's weigh in. We've been talking players CvK...how do you handle these things

Re: Ok GM's weigh in. We've been talking players CvK...how do you handle these things The problem with the Gilt Complex scenario is that it's so blatant and heavy-handed that it doesn't teach anybody anything. It's like when a movie beats you over the head with the message. "Message, here's the MESSAGE, make sure you don't miss the MESSAAAAAAGE!" and just results in you not caring. The 'Takes body from Ego attacks' thing is especially egregious (*drink*).

Re: Ok GM's weigh in. We've been talking players CvK...how do you handle these things Thanks, I couldn't remember the team name/scenario name. Always thought that was some of the worst advice I'd ever seen ...

Re: Ok GM's weigh in. We've been talking players CvK...how do you handle these things There is a point to be made there. How often, in a game, do your PCs encounter enemies whose defenses are so low that there is actually a risk of Body damage being done, outside of 'bait and switch' scenarios where you have an opponent who looks like a credible threat but isn't, or arguably worse, the 'Gold' team scenario from a very bad Adventurer's Club article where you have enemies with 20 DC attacks, but 4 PDs and the inexplicable Phys Lim 'Takes Body from Ego Attacks'? Ideally, I think, in a game where someone has a CvK, this should happen times other than just when laying a trap, and you should tell the players up front that they cannot assume that all enemies will be capable of taking 12-14 dice normal (or whatever your upper PC damage range is) without taking Body damage. I've been in games where my 20pt CvK didn't matter much because every-single-enemy had at least 25 defenses, at least 20 Resistant, including agents. Unless I was tripping a Vulnerability and rolled crazy, or was applying an upper-end Killing attack, there was zip risk of dealing Body damage. Edit: At some point, i'm going to go through my Enemies books and see just how many villains don't have at least 20 Defenses ...

Re: What is MIGHTY Hunky?

Re: Ok GM's weigh in. We've been talking players CvK...how do you handle these things Some level of CvK is assumed. At the very least, you get the zero point 'Reluctance to Kill'; I don't allow Casual Killer, Prefers to Kill, or anything on that side of the spectrum for PCs. I generally don't use mass murderers as villains; I tend not to find them very interesting. If a villain gets captured, typically you don't see them again for a long time. If they escape, you might, but I generally don't fart around with escape scenarios or 'insanity defense' shenanigans. Your villainy butt probably goes to Stronghold, see you in a few years if then. Now, I will be honest and say I'm thinking about, sometime, running Reality Storm and having the villains crack Stronghold wide open ... but that's slightly different from revolving door prisons. Yeah, in my game world, the justice system generally works ... villains rarely if ever get off on technicalities unless the PCs are, for whatever reason, acting questionably in how they go about stuff.

Re: Is Kinetik a casual killer? That's more 'Likes to Kill' or 'Psychopath' to me ... but I'm picking nits again. I tend to think of it like: 0- "If he's not using lethal force, I won't ... but if he is using lethal force, I won't feel bad about using it if I NEED to, but I won't use it if it's not necessary.' Casual Killer- "He's an enemy, he's fighting me. I have no compunction against the use of lethal force." Likes to Kill - "I have no compunction against the use of lethal force in any circumstance. No, I would not like fries with that. *stab*"

Re: What defines a Superhuman?

Re: What defines a Superhuman? You didn't, that was just my way of saying 'I agree with you'. As in, 'I have no argument against what you say'.

Re: Call Weapon Until we know if it's one weapon or any weapon, it's hard to say a definitive answer. If it's just the one weapon, then I agree with 'buy it as a power without the Focus limitation', but with Restrainable. If it works for any weapon, that's a bit more complicated. The most direct version I can think of would be 'Detect Weapon' and a long-range Fully Indirect Teleport Useable As Attack only for the weapon. This is, however, likely to be far too expensive for its utility, especially since IME PCs are rarely separated from their weapons for long.

Re: How would you do Fear Horror & Madness? Small Transformation from 'character' to 'character with Psych Lim Gibberingly Insane' or 'Terrified of his own Shadow' or 'Vulnerable: 2x Effect from Presence Attacks or Mind Control to induce fear'. PREsence and EGO Drains.

Re: Is Kinetik a casual killer? Pardon my repetitiveness, but I think Tom's got it there, on all three paragraphs. I definitely agree that a 20pt CvK (aka 'Nobody's killing ANYBODY') should be a rare duck. Few people have that level of commitment to anything, and a Total Psych Lim is one of those that defines a person utterly, the kind of person you call 'that guy who ...' when you can't remember his name. I've considered not allowing Total commitment Psych Lims simply because that level of attachment, being utterly unable to do otherwise or consider other options regardless of how dire the situation is strikes me as being, well, kind of crazy. It's the kind of fanaticism that can screw up a game because your PC cannot and will not, however begrudgingly, go along with a contrary plan, even if it's the only solution.

Re: Is Kinetik a casual killer? I think Hugh has it about right. Simplified Example: CvK Character: "We don't kill." Casual Killer Character: "You're a weak fool!" Cvk Character: "We don't kill." No Psych Lim Either Way Character: "Whatevs."

Re: Scanning for Suitable Targets I think the Detect is the way to go for this one. Detect Minds, with Discriminatory and Analyze seems to fit the bill.

Re: What defines a Superhuman? No arguments. I prefer to reserve the 'super-' prefix for characters who either have superpowers or use super-technology. So, Iron Man and Green Lantern would qualify as Superheroes, despite not being superhuman, but Batman and Captain America would not. I like to use the term 'Paranormal' for them. Para- meaning 'beside' rather than super-'s 'beyond'. But it's by and large semantics.

Re: Campaign Damage Caps, Code vs. Killing & Pulling a Punch My personal opinion, a cap's a cap. It doesn't matter if the character will hold off against people; there's still the expected damage range for dealing with automatons, barriers, Entangles and such. If the cap is 12 DC, then the cap is 12 DC and a character should not be able to regularly exceed that without significant drawback (increased END costs, combat maneuver penalties).