Vulcan

Re: [Horror] Sometimes it's the little things... It sounds like once the catepillars get done, there's not much of a jungle left!

Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. Okay, guys, I've already conceeded that torture is only going to be effective when the GM says it is, and it's only a good option when the GM has stripped all the other options away. What more do you want? If you want me to ignore the direction the GM wants to take with the game to fit your 'superhero morality' then I'm afraid you're going to be a bit disappointed...

Re: Martial Arts Idea It's an interesting idea, but implementing it in game could be difficult. You'd have to commit to the maneuver at the beginning of the phase so that you could take advantage of acting sooner... That's one of my problems with limited forms of Lightning Reflexes as well (and don't get m started on mentalists going 'on their EGO's'). I look at Lightning Reflexes the same way I do KB Resistance: if it's too cheap then everyone has it - and not everyone should. High DEX concepts don't need it. Slow concepts shouldn't want it. It should be for things like weaponmasters - you know, normals who run with supers based on 'extraordinary skill.' Guys with normal DEX's.

Re: "I can't bring myself to kill, but..." Personal foul... roughing the listener...

Re: "Hull? I can't be in Hull!" Me: Oh, no, now the GM's going to trot out the whole Obelisk plotline again! (Three times in our GM's continuing world someone has either had powers involving time or a background as being from another time, and at some point these Obelisks show up all over the world to either a) set the timestream back to what it's supposed to be, or destroy the world. But Option A always seems to have a high price for everyone else to pay as well... aside from going through this ridiculous plotline yet again!)

Re: "I can't bring myself to kill, but..." I have to say, the power armor guy is a very tempting character to play a lot, because he is sooooo easy to build. I mean, getting OIF or OIHID on all your powers makes building the character a cinch, and the GM won't give you grief about how OIHID really doesn't make sense for the character (in his eyes, anyway; he's just looking at all the points you saved, not whether it makes sense to you...). One of the most interesting characters I played was a (very rough) translation of a Heroes Unlimited character. And for those who are lucky enough never to have played it (it's the Palladium Supers game), powers are rolled randomly, so you have to figure out how they all fit together logically on your own. So sometimes, if you're stuck for a character, a couple random rolls on a chart in another game might inspire some fresh ideas... as well as demonstrate how a character might well have powers they would never want to use!

Re: Magic of the Fey As I recall, fey magic was mostly about deception and illusion. So anything along those lines is fair game.

Re: Super-accurate with ranged attacks Ranged Trip and Ranged Disarm aren't so bad. But things like Far Shot (5 points; +1 OCV, -1 DCV, +4 RSL), Defensive Shot (3; -1/+2/0), Moving Shot (5; -1/0/0, Full Move) and Offensive Shot (4; -1/-1/0, +4 DC's) are a bit much to me. Admittedly this might be a bit hypocritical of me, considering I love playing conventional martial artists over bricks...

Re: [Horror] Sometimes it's the little things... I would think a steamroller would take care of the little b*****ds adequitely.

Re: Utility Belts Exactly. If the GM is going to cap MP utility belts like this, I expect to see all MP's capped as well. And then I'll just spend the points for a VPP.

Re: Super-accurate with ranged attacks The Ultimate Martial Artist has a section on 'ranged martial arts maneuvers.' Basically, a series of 3-5 point maneuvers similar to HTH martial maneuvers but for use with ranged attacks. There are also examples of ranged martial arts like Shurikenjustsu and Zen Riflery. Not my favorite part of the book, and I'd never allow it, but it's there and officially part of the rules.

Re: Utility Belts While I agree to some extent with the 'common sense says you can't carry 50 items on a utility belt' idea, well, wouldn't limiting the number of slots available at a time be a limitation on the MP? It seems to me like you're forcing a limitation on the character regardless of concept. Lord knows I could come up with several concepts that would logically be able to bypass a 'common sense' limitation on MP slots, including: Atom (the DC character), who shrinks gear down to miniature size and enlarges it when he needs it... A character with SS: Micro(whatever) Technology who just knows how to build it smaller or in a collapsable form...

Re: The Spy Factory

Re: Advice on building a brick character Never forget the utility of simple KB resistance. It can be the difference between being able to punch someone with full OCV, or being forced to do a move-through that will likely miss!

Re: DC-What if you had to draft a superpower registration act?

Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. But as you say, yes. The GM decides what works and what doesn't, and when torture is the only thing that he decides woll work quickly enough... Well, there you go.

Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps.

Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. Thinking about it, I'm just going to go ahead and conceed that the use of systematic torture to gather information as a tactic by heroes is going to be very GM specific. However, I do note that (as has been metioned) 'roughing up the villian a little' is a time-honored tradition in the various source materials.

Re: Order of the Stick Even as a commoner, a 17th level character is a bit of a bad-a$$ - they're a EL 16, which is not exactly a pushover! Give one a scythe and a couple combat feats and watch out! No match for a 16th level fighter, but can be a TPK against an 8-10th level party...

Re: When time is an issue... Tried it. Tried it, it comes with a (GM imposed, not purchased limitation) roll, he failed. Assuming access to the full lab (law enforcement is not really friendly with any supers in our game), sure. When the GM rules otherwise... Tried and failed - bad rolls by the hacker, the 'time control' guy couldn't go back far enough to 'watch him do it.' And if he goes forward to watch something (like looking for where the bomb is by seeing where it goes off) 'fixes' what he sees into the timeline (this is another GM imposed limitation). You have a distinct point here. The GM wants us to be 'silver age heroes' attemptiing to redeem the reputation of supers - but the Iron Age world we're presented with is very hostile to such characters. Been there, done that, bought the crummy t-shirt. Well, it's not like I let him go once the plot was foiled... (did I mention Vigil was a sorta reformed villian?)

Re: When time is an issue... Spinning it, Houston GM? Let's go back back to the beginning of the exchange. The bolded part is the key to my position. No access to telepathy or such. So, looking at your latest post with that in mind: The only one of your assumptions that holds water. Assuming there is one on the team (and let's face it, these are specialist builds), and the GM allows VPP (some don't) or they allow a VPP that can be changed that quicky (some don't). Our group has had two that can do this trick. Both are long retired as we got tired of the schtick. So we are back to 'assuming one is on the team.' What makes you think these tests can be done in minutes? In real life they can take weeks! And that assumes that the Skillmonkey is a Forensic Specialist or Computer Hacker, not a Science God (a la Reed Richards). And what kind of villian drives his car to a crime? Hack his OnStar... Aside from the bit about one not being available, you assume that all GM's would be willing to allow a speedster that can go that fast. Not all do. I believe this has already been covered, hasn't it? Yes, it is. And when we 'don't have access to TP's or other such solutions, (which was where this line of thought started!), well there you go. Pleaser read the whole conversation, not just the part you want to use to make me look bad. PS: Our current team has two bricks (one a 24 COM social goddess, one with 'Detect Lie'), one Power Armor social b*****d a la Iron Man, one 'Time Controller', one 'gun guy' with contacts, my reformed (sorta) villian who is a hacker from he!!, and one Energy Projector... who happens to also be a 'SkillMonkey speciaizing in Criminology and Forensics. And there still came a point in the campain where everything else had failed, and the timer was running out. So Vigil snuck the guy out and tortured the guy for the information. Not terribly heroic, to be sure. But the plot was foiled. (It didn't actually involve a little girl or a bomb, it was a wee bit grander in scale, but the point remains.)

Re: Back up battery Actually, I don't think you get that -2 limitation on the END, you just get it on the REC...

Re: Favorite 60-point Power Construction I thought HERO, like most RPG's, was about having fun...

Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. Why do you assume that I'm an idiot? I said, by any means necessary. If any of these means are available, then we try them. If we can think of any other ways (and our group is pretty good at it), then we try them too. If none of them work... well, then someone might be in for a rough time.

Re: Code vs Killing, but Gods a little fuzzy about kneecaps. The thing is, a proper interrogation takes time. Sometimes quite a lot of it. If I'm sure the little girl in question can spare the time, then sure, traditional interrogation methods are up first. Or we run down a telepath, or hypnotize him, or whatever. But when the clock is almost down to zero, what then?