Doc Democracy

I was not saying it was a great option, just that it should be an option. :-)

Whoa! Are you ascribing special effects to a game mechanic here (regardless that the naming of the mechanic appears to do so)? If you are wielding a HtH weapon and I leap 2m backwards (flipping as I go) then that might be described by a number of different game mechanics. It might be dodge, or moving dodge, or even dive for cover. It might even be block. What would matter is the mechanical state I am looking to achieve and what I need to get there. There are obvious issues with each of the options. With dodge and moving dodge the issue of whether I am hit still essentially rests with how well my opponent rolls and opposes his OCV versus my DCV. With block I am risking OCV versus OCV and seeking an advantage in the next action and, if I fail, I take damage. With Dive for cover, the issue on whether I am hit is entirely within my ambit, though I will be considered prone (half DCV) until my next action. Those are all decisions I make as player and convert them into how it looks in the real world. I do think that in 6th, Steve should have put more thought into stripping the SFX from the game mechanical options - though I fully understand why he did not. Doc

I am pleased to see that Steve has taken my advice - gone back in time and updated 6th Edition to reflect that sagacious enlightenment I have just espoused. :-) Doc

Ooh! It has never come up in a game I have played in (and so thinking the first time) but CON should be classed as a defensive power for the purposes of drain, heal etc? Doc

Yup. :-). But it is not the power as described. Probably close enough though. :-)

Not a compulsion, an opportunity. If they act or take damage then they don't recover, it is, however, a good reason for making it an attack power, or for not making it an attack power but requiring the recipient to acquiesce.

If the GM was willing to nod it through, as there is a LOT of handwavery here, you could buy +1 SPD, usable as an attack, must be used immediately, only to take a recovery, only once per turn per person. I would see this working purely as allowing someone to use the current (or very next segment if they had already moved that segment) for a recovery. If not used immediately (or if they act or take damage that segment) then the opportunity is lost. I like this better for the description because it actually does the recovery thing. I realise that it dismisses the whole SPD change rules but it is not really intended for changing SPD. It is an instant power. And doing it this way means that the power will vary with the REC of the recipient, just like it should. :-) Doc

So, been to the site. The background is interesting if the players are up for that kind of campaign. The build guidelines are pretty sparse, I guess you guys are long running and have a decent understanding of base rules? My question would be whether you expect the heroes to be more competent/powerful than the villains they face (to compensate for being outnumbered). If I was a hero here, I would want an ability to abort to a safe place at any time, accept defeat but live another day. It can get tiring if you are running and hiding all the time, more uplifting to have some way to strike from the shadows to accomplish a task and quickly fade back into them whether things go well or badly. :-) Doc

Sean is in a dormant phase, I think we can speak freely....

I think if you want to have something to pay for access to the cellular phone network then you should think about a perk or licence. It can be worth whatever you want without reference to skill rolls etc, just time to sign in.

You could also have a conditional recovery for the END Reserve. That would mean that the REC would kick in if damage from the Hammer was blocked by PD, and limited based on the amount of damage blocked. I would also have the END reserve leak END (it was a custom limitation when I last built something like this) but the reserve will slowly empty if not used - that reflects the Hammer cooling down. Doc

I do think it is a campaign decision to be made. Experience or no experience. Like many other topics, discussed in reasonable depth previously. I don't think I play long enough campaigns for it to be a useful thing... I am also coming to the conclusion that if I want a high-powered Champions game, I don't want to wait for the characters to get there, I just give em the points. I think I would be open to some campaign development goals but probably more social than power focussed. Doc

I think that it might not be entirely natural. Magical creatures and societies might have an incentive to "encourage forgetfulness" during magical droughts...

Ha, good point. I think the default rule of changes take place in Post-segment 12 works for this. I would hate to do anything that discouraged players from changing speed at that time...

Hmm. I might be remembering a ruling under 5th edition but the example text in 6th Ed (I dont have a digital CC to reference). "Suppose the cheetah form was SPD 7. After Storvak changes form on his SPD 3 phase in segment 4, SPD 7's next phase would be in segment 6. Normally it would also get a phase in Segment 7 but SPD 3 hasn't got another phase yet, so Storvak cannot act. SPD 3 gets its next phase in segment 8. Since SPD 7 doesn't get a phase in segment 8, Storvak still can't act. In segment 9, SPD 7 gets its next phase and that means Storvak can act." That is your interpretation - it does not push it all the way back to segment 12 but it does indicate that the next segment that the higher speed can act is the first segment after the lower speed would have been able to act again (the same segment if the segments phases begin coincide). I will see if I can find the older ruling that I obviously still have in my brain... Doc PS: it was indeed the RAW for 5th Edition though all the references I got to that were in discussions about 6th Edition referencing back to 5th...

Nope. In the official interpretation of that text a SPD 4 character deciding to switch SPD 6 on segment 6 would next act on segment 12 as segment 9 is not common to SPD 6. With my rule, the next action is segment 9. With my rule the player would gain 5 actions that turn: 3,6,9,10 and 12 as opposed to the official interpretation where he would have 3 actions: 3,6 and 12.

Is this not a fantasy equivalent of Iain Banks' Culture? I guess the golems were created by humans, became cleverer until they were cleverer than their creators and effectively took control. The question is whether these golems are actually independently sentient and more could be created. You need to consider whether Banks' consideration that more intelligence is equivalent to better....and be driving toward a socialist dream society. There would obviously be people against such a society and possibly for the best of motivations. I like the idea that the golems might manifest the gestalt identity of a huge segment of the population and so fundamentally flawed but blessed with the wisdom of the crowd through which they make decisions in the interest of their identities. Doc

I have been trying to think of a form of words that is not too long but covers the potential for switching to minmax the speed chart. The best .I have so far is.. "When you change speed mid-turn, look at the next phase for both current and new speeds. Your next action will take place on whichever of those phases is later in the turn, you will then use your new speed's action phases exclusively. Like an attack, changing speed ends your current phase". That will be my house rule on speed changing. Doc

yeah, it is a mix-up of terminology. In Alibear's world, magic use swings between a high and low level but never reaches the ubiquity of a High Fantasy magic campaign. :-)

That was the topic of a good thread a little while ago. Some folks argued that magic was fantasy's technology equivalent, subject to the same tropes of research, reproducibility and communication. Others thought that magic should be less reliable, less predictable and much more of an art. In Alibear's world it would make sense for magic to be closer to the latter than the former. It is also worth pointing out that, during high magic, gold is not a source of magic, it is ambient and ubiquitous for those sensitive to it and able to use it. signal to noise would be faint at best and there would be no reliable sensory apparatus nor the coherent community and global resource to create something like the Large Hadron Collider. There is also the master/apprentice style learning scheme where there is more incentive to keep secrets than to share them. That kind of thing can quickly collapse into supposition and hearsay when things begin to stop working. Doc

Yup, just because we know the rationale doesn't mean anyone else does. Gold could be the common factor in successful hideaways but no one is around doing double blind randomised trials. :-) Some people simply know that being around dragons is a good way to keep "warm" while others have elaborate rituals that simply manage to eke out enough to allow them to winter. Treasure hunters simply know that hoards of gold exist to be found...

Massey has given you the correct official interpretation. I do it differently. In that circumstance the next action phase on SPD6 would activate on segment 8, on SPD4 would activate on segment 9. Segment 9 would therefore be active for both SPDs and so I would allow actions on 9 and 12. Doc

The use of gold is a great idea - giving it a value beyond the usual economic. :-) It also allows you to have areas of high magic even in the depths of the magical winter, though the practitioners would need to think about husbanding their resources for future need (and in the case of dragons, future survival). :-) I like that there is a potential, as magic runs down for magical creatures to be seeking arks where they might sit out the winter, dragon hoards being an obvious one. You might also get unlikely alliances as groups come together to create their own bunkers against the drought. You might get cuckoos looking to infiltrate and then kick others out. You will get ants and grasshoppers. :-) You will also have treasure seekers, knowing that magical defences will be low towards the end of the winter. Doc

I think the biggest and most fundamental change was the loss of figured characteristics. I have played Champions through every edition. My friend decided to run a fourth edition game after the recent bundle of holding and I am actually amazed at how annoyed I am that the system almost demands that my heroes have higher strength and constitution than I want for them because it would be so inefficient not to buy them.... I think losing figured characteristics made the system closer to its core principle of purchasing game effect and applying SFX on top. Doc

I am with megaplayboy. I think the special effect here is an attack that cannot be healed by conventional means. What you are, in game terms, doing is changing the base state of the victim to someone that has a lower STUN/BODY baseline. The transform is the cause and only by tackling the transform can you 'heal the damage'. Doc