Vulcan

Re: Smarter than your average Brick Oh, of course there are counters for anything a brick - even a smart brick - can do. And the thrown object can certainly be 'shot' off course (unless the brick bought a Object of Opportunity E-Blast, in which case that would require Missile Deflection). The thing we're discussing here is ideas for a smart brick to use as tactics. And a smart brick would consider how these tactics could be countered, and how to counter the counters... SO: How do we counter the 'shoot-down improvised missile' tactic? For the manhole cover it's easier than one might think. A skilled frisbee thrower can make one do all sort of interesting turns and stuff on a throw. One of my favorites (when I was in moderately good shape and played with frisbees semi-regualrly) was to throw it low so it skimmed only a few inches over the ground, and popped up to head height in the last few feet before getting to the reciever. If the reciever didn't expect it, he would be crouching down to catch the low shot and it would sail over his head. Another good trick it to skip it off something. I used to skip frisbees off concrete all the time, similar to skipping stones across a pond. Skipping a manhole cover should be possible, making it look like you botched the throw only to have it slam into the target after the skip. Bouncing a manhole cover probably won't work. It would likely just imbed itself in whatever you're trying to bounce it off of, unless it's Unobtanium or Yeahrightium of whatever ultrahard material is out there.

Re: New Advantage: Stunning Well, yes, that's one of the big reasons they bought the CON in the first place. It would be unfair to make their purchase of a high CON useless because everyone and their uncle has a Stunning attack in their MP. The game changes to a strategy of 'dump CON for DEX and have a big END Reserve...'

Re: New Advantage: Stunning The STUN Lotto hopefully will be fixed in 6E. In my opinion, that's by far and away the biggest thing that needs fixing in HEROS. As far as the STUNNED -> KO tranformation, that generally works better on Energy Projectors and Mentalists (who generally have non-persistent FF as their main defense) than say, bricks and power armor (who have Armor instead). Martial artists and speedsters generally avoid being hit in the first place - and are usually KO'd on the first hit anyway. SO the Stunning advantage seems like a way to hurt Energy Projectors and Mentalists more than anything else.

Re: Smarter than your average Brick Yeah, it's not like the manhole cover can abort to dodge or anything. And the brick can handle it with casual STR...

Re: No shadow kick! So your 'soft block' martial artist will definitely want to dodge that one...

Re: Tips on my First Character Not bad at all. I had to double-check the characteristics cost, your post made it look like the 30 DEX only cost 33 points but I realized that it was 21 DEX outside the armor (33 points as listed) and +9 in suit (listed separately). Same with CON and SPD. Had me confused for a moment but I worked through it. For future posting though, you might want to try: "21 DEX 33 (+9 DEX OIF, see below)" to avoid future confusion. Okay. Now for the bad news. 30 DEX and 8 SPD may be excessive for the concept you have in mind. The GM may ask you to bring it down a bit. Do not despair, because this can be a good thing. Spend a couple of those points on a HA option for the MP, then get a few more combat skill levels. You're a bit light there. 8-point Overall Combat levels are your friend.

Re: Executioner Most of my characters have been either ex-cops or ex-soldiers (and one reformed villian). None of them would have any problem being one of the three. Siberian Tiger would tell the state not to bother with the other two, he is perfectly willing to do the job himself. Oh, and they can forgo the fancy machinery too...

Re: Physcial menifestations of mental attacks - did I build this right? Actually I would consider NND or AVLD (Hearing Flash Defense) more appropriate than BOECV for this type of thing. But that's just me...

Re: AOE: Line plus Teleportation That's not an unreasonable build for it. But you might get more milage with just buying Penlty Skill Levels vs. Multiple Move-Bys. Of course, with the move-bys people have the option to hold and (try to) interrupt your action somewhere in the middle, the AOE Line/Teleport has the advantage of being 'all at once'. Or course, they opposition can just Dive for Cover 1" away from the line... BUT, if you do do the AOE Line/Teleport route, put Trigger on the T-port. Since movement is supposed to come before attacks...

Re: Tips on my First Character First off, you'll want to decide a few things about that bodysuit. Namely, OIF, IIF, or OIHID. OIF - Obvious, Inaccessable Focus - gives you the biggest limitation, allowing you to pack more stuff onto your character. But it does come with a price: It is obvious that the powers derive from the suit. SO if you get taken down, someone will know to strip the suit of you and deprive you of it's powers. IIF - Inobvious, Inaccessable Focus - gives you less of a limitation. But it also hides the origin of the power, so people don't know if it is the suit or if it is you. However, you have to define a way for someone to figure it out (or a sense that can detect it), at which point someone who figures out it's a focus will (once again) know to strip you down. OIHID - Only In Hero ID - can be used to simulate a focus to an extent. Case in point: Thor's hammer seems to be a focus for his powers at first glance. BUT it returns to him on command, and no one else can pick it up, so it can't be truly disarmed. That makes it OIHID. Going this route doesn't save you any points over IIF, but means that once you're in the suit, the opposition cannot just strip you out of it. That means to make you pay for it (and that's the down side of any limitation; the GM will make you pay for it sooner or later) the GM has to find ways to make it hard for you to get into Hero ID in the first place. For the build you're desctibing, I would probably go IIF, but it's a matter of personal taste as much as anything.

Re: "Neat" Pictures "I REFUSE TO GO QUIETLY!!" Who's trying to eat who here?

Re: Who was WWII's most important leader? I almost made a flip reply to this saying the Russians would have managed it just fine - it would simply have taken them a bit longer without the Germans having to divert some of their forces from the Eastern front in the last year of the war. But then, if England had fallen, would Russian have still been able to fight? Lend-lease sent a lot of material to Russia across the Atlantic. If the British fleet hadn't been able to assist (or worse, had been turned against us! ) could we have still sent that material to Russia? And would Russia have held Stalingrad or Moscow without it?

Re: Smarter than your average Brick Or nail 'em with a couple manhole covers, that shoul take the fight out of them!

Re: Underpowered tropes? I'm well aware of that, thank you. One might even say... painfully aware. He had a pretty good run, until he was executed by mutant-hating government thugs - while he was already unconscious from a lucky shot. However, given the character's role in the game and some of his NPC contacts, there is a chance he might be brought back from the dead at some point. Not sure whether to hope for that or not, though. Recent game events could very well have turned him from a reluctant hero back to a full-fledged villian again...

Re: (WWYCD) Superhero Assaination... Assuming your campaign point-levels and (villian) power levels don't force you into being a one-trick pony (just so you'll have one attack that will be effective!).

Re: Underpowered tropes? Funny - my 11 DEF 15 (effective) DCV martial artists was often the last man standing in our games... Although that may be because our GM things 24-28 DEF is Brick-level high in a 70 AP game...

Re: A Thread for Random Videos I have got to get one of those!

Re: A Thread for Random Videos FINALLY! Someone does that piece CORRECTLY!

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Re: (WWYCD) Superhero Assaination...

! Whoops, I misread it, my bad!

Re: "Neat" Pictures No, but it gets shown quite clearly in the show once.

Re: (WWYCD) Superhero Assaination... So the Secret Service can kill a would-be assassin in the act, but a Superhero who does the same is no longer a superhero?

Re: What does a "20 Comeliness" look like to YOU? And that is the proper way to handle that. Rather than have the rules say flat-out what 'human maximum' is, it should be handled by the GM. Not to say the rules can't have suggestions, mind you. But they should be just that: suggestions.

Re: (WWYCD) Superhero Assaination... Ah, yes, the old 'disappearance' game. Vigil did it occasionally (and when Vigil made someone 'disappear' you could be sure they were not coming back). Works really good on people who don't have an entire government agnecy looking out for their safety. But when the SS is involved, either you've leave behind a bunch of witnesses... Or 'disappear' a lot of innocent law-enforcement officials, something that even Vigil shyed away from.