Vulcan

Re: When your superhero group became powerful enough to rule the world?

Re: When your superhero group became powerful enough to rule the world? That particular player lined that up, mostly in 'between adventures' RP. The rest of us...well, didn't know that the guy running for President was the same guy in the Sovereign power armor (in character, anyway!).

Re: You. Make. The Call. I would probably tell the player that he should restrict his slots to 1/2 the points of the MP. So for the 150 point MP, 75 point slots wouldn't be too unbalancing and he could always have two up at full power, which would simplify playing the character enormously. Or if he needed to move and shoot, he'd need to take points off either FF or EB/TK... That seems much more balanced to me.

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon "I abort to bleed.": PC is waaaaaay out, usually down BODY too. "JIM ROLL!": For the longest time, our GM could not seem to make a damage roll with an average higher than 2.5 on the die. This term drifted to other groups at our game shop as well... and they didn't know who 'Jim' was! "It's a 300-point snotling.": A character that should be as powerful as the party, but really is nowhere close... "Stingray, speak to me!" (spoken in a high, squeaky voice): Character knocked out in one hit, usually from a humerous circumstance. "What does that have to do with Chapter 32?" Derives from a game where one of the players was writing a story based on campaign events, from his character's POV. Used to say "Why are we still taking about this instead of gaming?"

Re: When your superhero group became powerful enough to rule the world? One of our characters became President of the United States in the current game... is that close enough?

Re: Inceptum Terminus: Chronicles of the New Confederation I haven't seen the actual draft copy yet, but I've been talking to The_Patriot about the setting. The intent is for normals to also be 350 points, but not allowed to purchase powers. "Super skills" might be allowed, depending on GM interpretation (I haven't heard anything official from The_Patriot on the subject), and most of the points spent on gear - much like in a standard Superheroic game. Much of it is still in process, I am under the impression that little is fully 'set in stone' right now.

Re: Need advice on Growth That's your first problem, superheroic games are not designed to deal with called shots. So long as there are called shots, Growth characters are (at best!) paper tigers. Next: has the GM disallowed DR generally, or has he specifically said no to your concept? You might try bouncing it off of him, pointing out that the character has such a low DCV that he needs something for balance. If he says no, then go for raw PD/ED. If he disallows that, then maybe he doesn't like your concept and you should make a different character. 2-3 CSL's max? So he expects you to all be relatively inexperienced in working with your powers then? I take it this is a 'Teen Chapions/Recently acquired powers' game?

Re: teleporter attacking fliers

Re: Weakness Question Without our technology, we're awfully soft and squishy...

Re: "takes no damage" entangle - underpriced? What do you mean, friends can't help the target? I think you misunderstand the nature of the 'takes no damage from attack' advantage. Quoting 5E, p.109. Takes No Damage From Attacks (+1/4, +1/2): An Entangle with this advantage is transparent to attacks - attackers can damage the Entangled character normally without damaging the Entangle itself. If an attacker targets the Entangle specifically (at a -3 OCV), the damage affects the Entagle and then the Entangled character, as with a normal Entangle. What 'takes no damage from attacks' means is that you can attack the Entagled target without damaging the entagle, not that no one outside the Entagle can damage it, period. It is used to simulate methods of restraining a character that do not provide protection to the target - such as handcuffs, or a lariat. A paralysis-drugged dart should be built as 'BOECV' and 'Mental Power based on CON.' 'Takes no damage' probably should not enter into it.

Re: What does 'Magic' mean to you? I would look at the character in question closely, and we probably can come up with an answer based on the power builds. For example, say a character has 'Vulnerable to magic.' If he has them listed as very common, then yeah, a magical fireball would count. If he has it listed as uncommon, then an FX of magic fire might be counted as fire, not magic. In the case of the guy with the common vulnerability, he's more 'allergic' to it, so even trace amounts would affect him, where 'uncommon' means that it pretty much has to be direct application of magical energy, not using magic to conjure other effects.

Re: "takes no damage" entangle - underpriced? The other thing to bear in mind about all this is that most GM's will be quick to disallow the whole kit 'n' kaboodle as soon as they figure out how unbalancing it is. You may actually get one use out of it, but don't count on the GM letting you use it a second time. There are many ways to make unbalanced, unfair, or just plain wrongpower builds. The GM is the final line of defense against them.

Re: What does 'Magic' mean to you? I feel magic is an SFX that is defined by it's limitations, much like Gadgets (defined by foci) are. The defining limitations are: Incantations + Gestures (almost always), Actvation/Requires Skill Roll (pretty common), and Side Effect (not too uncommon, especially on high AP effects). Regardless of the presence of 'RSR' on powers, the charcter usually has skills pertaining to the knowledge, use, and control of magic - much like the Gadgeteer has skills pertaining to the knowledge, use, and control of technology.

Re: Unmaking There is that. If the 'vortex' totally undoes the life of anyone it absorbs, then when it absorbed it's creator, it would have undone its own creation. The hero throwing himself into it is just plain dumb, in that case.

Re: Discussing Entangles Handcuffs and bolas (and the 'pinning shot too, I guess) would take the 'only restrains two limbs' limitation.

Re: What to play, what to play ... That show was priceless! I may have to go get it now... assuming it has been released on DVD. That kind of thing would work wonderfully in a Teen Champions game, where most characters really don't have full control over their powers...

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Since someone PM'ed me about the unobtainium parasol... In a fairly large battle, my Phoenix Hawk got caught in the open by a Battlemaster. I potshotted him with the large laser, and cringed waiting for the return fire. One of my friends says, "Wait a minute!" He mimes pulling out a miniature umbrella (like you'd find in a mixed drink ), opening it up, and handing it to me. "Here, you'll need this!" With nothing to loose, I mime taking it and holding it out against the oncoming fire. Which all misses! Sure, the Battlemaster got me next turn, but the legend of the Unobtainium Parasol lives on...

Re: What to play, what to play ... And a little bit like the Greatest American Hero...

Re: Villain Campaign: need help Read Or Die! was the anime. I reccomend watching it to see what the player is thinking about, and it's pretty good on it's own merits as well - assuming you like anime in the first place.

Re: Villain Campaign: need help This is the core of your situation. What has happened is that your players percieve the superhero genre as 'wait for the supervillians to do something and then go fight them.' They have forgotten Batman: He does not wait for the villians to act, he acts himself to go find them. Investigation is the core of a proactive superhero game. It allows the heroes to set the pace, rather than waiting for the villians to do so!

Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found A term which translates to "One who will do and say anything to sell the story."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The only Battletech story I have belongs in the Darwin Awards. BTW, never, ever put any ammo in the Center Torso. Period. I take it back, there's always the story of the Unobtainium parasol...

Re: Giant Snake Fossil Found Which, when you read the actual quotes from the scientists involved, is what they almost always actually say.

Re: Life Imitates Action Adventure Role Playing Games Well, I just gained a new plotline for my 'Military Characters playing D&D in their downtime' game!

Re: Extremely high Charactaristic used in REQUIRES SKILL ROLL I think RSR has it's place as well. For example, one of my characters (who had a weakness for friendly women...) had a talent for talking women into doing things for him. () I bought it as Mind Control with RSR vs. Seduction (along with a bunch of other limitations), with an opposed skill roll. GM ruled that if they beat me on a Seduction roll (as opposed to a default PRE roll for those without Seduction), they talked me into something instead... It was fun either way!