Doc Democracy

Re: Pain I once created a villain whose punches were so hard that he bruised the people he hit - those bruises made the victim more likely to be hurt subsequently. I modelled that with a small PD drain (only versus STUN). That is another way to show that prior injuries or pain may make subsequent attacks more effective. Doc

Re: Pain I was trying to get an idea of how we might approach building pain based attacks. Most attacks are done with NND normal attacks. Wounding, like suffocation is a mechanic that is used in the system but is not available directly to be used in power building. It might be useful for such things to be a component part of the toolkit rather than an effect accessed through the application of damage. Chris - what mechanic are you using to apply the penalties? Transform?? Doc

I am going to sound like Sean here. I was driving from Cornwall to London at the weekend and the thought that was keeping me awake was what pain actually is in the system. I was trying to think what pain actually is. From my limited experience, pain is a distraction - it prevents me from concentrating on stuff but that is in non-stress situations. When trying to do something that requires concentration (writing a paper, for example) chronic pain makes me less efficient. Pain is also limits physical actions - when playing football a sharp pain in my ankle will prevent me from running and limit my manoueverability. Extreme pain may result in someone doing nothing but curl in a ball. So, how do we model this in HERO. Straight STUN damage does not seem to do any of these things. I thought that I would concentrate on the last of these as it seemed easier. Extreme pain - not all pain makes you immobile but it may make you more likely to go that way. I was thinking that STUN suppress would be a good model - if the pain is extreme enough it will overcome your STUN and leave you in a ball on the floor. If it is not, then it makes you more susceptible to being knocked unconcious. Not a brilliant fit but IMO better than STUN damage. That's as far as I got. A couple of hours with no ability to flick through books limits me....anyone want to add to my HERO definition of pain? Doc

Re: Reverse Gravity Looking at what you have written here:

Re: My Bodyguard

Re: running combat with the speed chart Even here there is method in Sean's madness - none of his players dare to focus anywhere other than the gaming table! Doc

Re: Restricting Aspects of Character Creation It is for this reason that I think HERO characters (Champions characters in particular) should have two character sheets. On one sheet there should be the full working mechanics of the character including power names and stuff. On the second sheet there should be the description of powers and only the basic numbers. One sheet is used for building the character and paying attention to the mechanics etc, the second sheet describes the power in real words where it should be obvious what works and what does not. I have used varieties of character sheets - have a look at this one called Ironclad attached to the mail and identify it for me.... Doc

Re: running combat with the speed chart I'm sorry, Sean's game has a five year waiting list... He has a special arrangement with the local courts on what counts as community service for pretty girl criminals.... Doc

Re: running combat with the speed chart

Re: running combat with the speed chart I suggested something ages ago that I have not had the opportunity to play with - Give each player a green card when they are able to act. When they declare an action, they give the GM the card. If a character aborts he gets a red card which the GM takes back when the phase aborted has passed. Good visual clue and gets players thinking about actions rather than the speed chart - puts the speed chart in the responsibility of the GM. Doc

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage Then we definitely do not agree. Arithmetically it is certain that a 30 point base attack with +1 in advantages (60) costs more than a 15 point base attack with +2 in advantages (45)... Those extra advantages cost 30 points for the base 30 attack and cost half that much for the 15 point attack with a maximum effect advantage. You might want to run it past me again how there is no difference mathematically. Doc PS: sorry - should read to the end before replying - JmOz was there a good half hour before me...

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage Not entirely. It looks more elegant but it is a bargain for attacks where other advantages are added to the base - so if maximum damage was the only advantage I prefer it. If you add AP and Red END or anything else then the whole cost aspect goes out of whack. But the maximum damage thing we are talking about is an advantage. An adder would not scale with the attack - though I suppose the adder could be per die of damage? That way the 'advantage stacking' complaint goes away. The base cost of 1D6 maximum damage Energy Blast would be 10 (which would increase the costs of all advantages applied to the power). The base cost of 1D6 maximum damage Killing Attack would be 30. Doc

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage Nope it isn't. I can't believe those words fell from your keyboard Mr Sean "Re-write" Watters! Doc

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage OK. I was thinking that KS was saying that a +1 advantage changed the base points against which advantages would be applied. A closer reading of his post showed that he was not, however... I think that your awarding even -1/4 limitation is generous. After all 12 BODY would be equivalent to standard effect (-0). Thus the price of the limited 4D6 versus the advantaged 2D6 is 90 real to 75 real. The reduced endurance adds 30 points to the power cost whereas it adds only 15 points to the advantaged power. I prefer the advantage route because it looks much more elegant - with standard effect you take out the dice rolling and the crappy result possibility. It would be nice to have certain things change the base cost against which other advantages would apply - that would remove the discrepancy. Doc

Re: Weapon always does maximum damage Since when? Not something that I remember...

Re: Restricting Aspects of Character Creation Dropblack has already started a thread here.

Re: Usable by other question Hyperman - I think you missed the point where Sean went beyond the OP question into the theory of whether utility belts should be represented in a particular fashion... That's how we know it is Sean and not some nefarious imposter... Doc

Re: Seeing Through Invisibility

Re: Usable by other question In which case the UBO question is more open to other answers, no? If you have a completely unrelated set of powers in your multipower and the slots are the only ones that have UBO on them, does that mean that they can take that slot and use it but not switch between powers? Does putting UBO on the reserve mean that you hand control over which power you currently have to hand to someone else? If the reserve and several of the slots have UBO then you hand over control of switching the reserve between those slots that also have UBO? Makes it more interesting, no? Doc [EDIT] PS: Obviously I have not gone and looked at the rulebook here, like what swotty Sean has!

Re: Usable by other question I think it would be better if the first thought was that the framework power was a single power that the GM loosened on good reason than the current state where people see frameworks simply as a way to reduce the cost of their character. But you are correct - the requirement is on the EC, and the mechanics follow that... Doc

Re: Usable by other question I think one of the things that questions like this highlight is that people do not have the concept that a power pool, or a multipower, or an elemental control are supposed, by concept, to be a single power. If that was better established in our heads then it would be obvious that the advantage should apply to the whole power - not just an aspect of it. Unless of course you only want to apply the advantage to a limited aspect - would be a good way of having a multipower that, when someone else used it, was more limited in application... Doc

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... What!!?? You're saying DT is your current girlfriend - news for all of NGD I think.... (Sorry Tribble - I couldn't resist the set-up....) Doc