See, I've been working under the assumption that to take recoveries, I had to drop everything Pulse was doing that didn't happen in line with Phase 12. So that might be a significant reason for why I do dumb stuff. :P
Re: Hit a wall: Being smacked around doesn't tell us how much damage we did. We know the force we applied, but we don't know what we did past their defenses. We need the enemies to show when they're winded and the like, just as we as players need to try to show when we are - sans things like acting rolls. But that's just IMO.
Recovery Action is on page 424 of the book I have.
Short version: You must declare a recovery on your dex, you can't delay. The recovery doesn't trigger until the end of that segment, and any damage you take before then interrupts it. At GM option, non-stun or body damage can also interrupt recoveries.
Taking a recovery is a full phase action that occurs at the end of the segment. The character may do nothing else, not even maintaining a constant power or action that costs no end or takes no time. They may still use zero phase actions to turn off a power. While recovering a character is at 1/2 DCV and all modifiers for placed shots are halved as well.
So I was working under the assumption she couldn't keep the wall up -and- take a recovery. So as long as she was in there, she was stuck. That's why I've kept dumping my everything every time I had to take a recovery.
I think obvious caveats likely apply, like Rocket shouldn't have to take off his real armor to recover. I'd think persistent powers are likely also not really included in this.
You do make a good point that having to land to recover is a thing, but I think that also makes sense in a way.
*sigh*
Sorry folks, either that's another change, or a house rule we had for 10 years playing 3rd/5th then.
Yeah, it's fine, kitty :) We're just operating on different assumptions. Being able to keep things up is significantly cooler and adds a lot more options, but not knowing that's how you were playing it really impacted a lot of my tactical processes. Like 'Mind Controller can't recover while Aegis is being controlled' is something we're pretty much banking on at this point. That... or she's bought her end so low that it doesn't matter. Which is really the only way to keep up a long-term mental power, which is also one of the balancing factors in my mind. You have to pay a -lot- more for a persistent mind control like Kilgrave has.
KOing the mentalist is a reasonable solution in most cases for freeing an ally, right? If it's not persistent it ends?
Worth noting: The book I'm using is 5th Edition Revised, which may be the wrong version.
Control doesn't work that way, it's not a maintained power. No more than an energy blast is maintained to keep your stun off. It's just effect and done.
A continuous mental power would keep attacking every phase, using it's highest rolled effect and the roll to break free would never degrade.
That sounds awful.
So Vi doesn't need to pay end to maintain her mind control on a target (i.e. the guards)? That's what Pulse was trying to ask about in character a little bit ago, but phrased it badly and felt she got the answer she wanted, which may be the wrong answer after all. :P
Also bear in mind that at least Blaze and myself, while experienced players, are also very heavy roleplayers when it comes to our characters, and thus might not always do what is most dice- and combat- efficient.
If it gets frustrating for players or GM's, let us know, and we'll adjust, I'm sure. But the crowds we cut our teeth on were very much in the "play your character, not the dice" vein.
I actually found the lines in mental powers that say what you said pretty much. They happen, then they keep happening, with no need to maintain. Yeesh.
Vi, less about how you play your character, than to let the GM know ahead of the big fight that you don't plan to use all your powers so he pegs the combat more effectively. :)
And coaching the other players OOC helps, even if you don't use your insights on your own characters.
Are we moving forward with the ability to recover with powers active or no? :)
Still waiting on Blaze, then Aegis. I suspect most of Blaze's choices are 'pass'.
I hope we don’t play that you can recover while using active powers. It messes up the long term usage math, because it only accounts for post 12 recoveries.
What are your thoughts on characters that are mostly one-trick ponies?
Like, I have a really old character called Feebers. Her whole schtick is teleportation. As a result her power set looks something like:
X" Teleportation, Usable as Attack (+1), Variable Advantages (+4.5), Variable Limitations (-0) (Gate), Visible Limitation (Bright Pink Flash/Gate Fringe), Increased Mass (+10) (4 people).
Splice!: Special Effect: Teleporting things into things. (Damage stuff here).
That covers base Radius and Continuous, with enough space to spare for something like the first level of megascale... but then also allows her access to several ranks of megascale, reduced end, autofire, armor piercing, and so on. It's really expensive, but an entire massive toolkit. Then an attack power that lets her also function as a blender.
One cool idea is that she has to use gates to travel 'safely' to locations that aren't 'stored', which really limits her capabilities for long range teleportation... but it might still be better to just buy safe blind teleport.
Sorry, meltdown with my dad this weekend, and then meltdown at work I had to take care of.
We'll move forward with the 'not recover while active' going forward.
A single special effect that is used for multiple abilities is not a one-trick pony. A single power is a one trick pony.
Everything better now, Kitty?
Are there caveats for that? Cause I feel like there should be. Like worn armor having to be taken off to recover is odd. I feel like anything persistent shouldn't need to be shut off.
I'm going to be out of state for Thanksgiving. I'll have my kindle with me as well as my cell phone, but no reliable access to a real PC. It shouldn't affect my post rates too much, as I figure most people will want to do things during my normal work timeframe.
If you've got your Kindle, I've got a book... ;)
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Yup. That's the only book I currently have on it. It's that and the rulebook for this that I'll be focusing on.
So, what are everyone's Thanksgiving plans?
How are things with your dad, Kitty?
387th verse, same as the first.
As to Turkey Day, having some people over tomorrow.
1 18.5 pound turkey (home cooked)
1 pot of Spicy Chicken Tikka Masalla (home made)
1 pot of Bland Chicken Tikka Masalla (for the wife)
1 pot of Spicy Tofu Tikka Masalla (For the GM's vegetarian daughter)
1 set of rolls
4 sets of Naan bread
1 large bowl of mixed brown/white jasmine rice
1 salad
1 plate of Beef Bacon (to make the GM's husband go 'oooh ooh ooh')
1 plate of deviled eggs (made by my mom)
Plus whatever the GM & her husband bring for side dishes
Plus whatever the wife's work wife brings for desert
I know that feel. My dad is wanting to 'reconnect'. And I mostly want nothing to do with it. But feel like I should want something to do with it..
I have had the rolls and bacon and devilled eggs. Rolls are my jam. I don't like devilled eggs. Bacon really depends. I'm a chewy bacon heathen.
I've never had any of those other things. I've no idea on the noms list this year. Other than my aunt's Mac and cheese. and I'm really looking forward to that.
Have you made much tofu based food? I couldn't figure out cooking with it when I was a vegetarian. I suspect I either don't like tofu or am an awful cook (more likely)
What are they gming?
Beef bacon tends toward a mix of chewy/crunchy.
First time I've cooked with Tofu myself. However, I have been cooking for 25 years, and always do research. The secret to cooking with tofu is marination. Tofu has no taste, it soaks up the taste of whatever it's in contact with. So you need to marinade it over night.
Tikka Masalla is an americanized Indian (Hindu, not native) dish.
1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger (or ginger paste)
2 pinches of salt
2 chicken breasts, cubed.
Cube chicken breasts, mix all other ingredients together and then mix cubed chicken in (or Tofu). Leave in bowl in fridge overnight so flavor soaks in.
Next day, put a tablespoon of butter and a minced clove of garlic in a pan, along with a minced jalapeno. Saute for a few minutes. Add in 1 cup crushed tomatoes, 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon paprika. Stir and bring to a simmer.
While sauce is simmering, cook chicken in a sauce pan on high heat until cooked through (or tofu). If you like spicy, cook with marinade still intact. If you prefer less spice, omit the jalapeno and lightly rinse the chicken before cooking (not all the marinade off, but most).
Add cooked meat to sauce, simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
To really soak flavor in, leave meat in sauce over night and reheat.
Serve on jasmine or basmati rice, with buttered naan bread.
They GM Pathfinder or D&D mostly. Right now we are starting a Traveller campaign being run by the 3rd GM (who's having thanksgiving with his family and fiance)
.... How have you never had Tikka Masala?
I mean...
HOW?
I live in rural Tennessee. The only place that serves it is open like 4 hours a day.
I've probably had like a frozen dinner kind, but I am certain that doesn't count. :P
I have family from rural Tennessee.
I am so, so sorry for your lack of culinary options.
If I could, I'd airlift you a full on Mumbai feast.
It doesn't count.
You should also, next time you go to a real city, try :
Garlic Naan (Naan bread with garlic)
Onion Kulcha (Indian bread stuffed with onions)
Paneer Pratha (Indian bread stuffed with chick peas)
Gyro Platter (Greek lamb/beef mixture with tzatziki sauce, lettus, onions, and hummus)
Dolmathes (grape leaves stuffed with rice and lamb)
Spanakapita (filo dough stuffed with spinach, feta, onions)
Tiropitakia (filo dough stuffed with feta cheese)
Baklava (filo dough stuffed with chopped nuts and honey)
Chicken Souvlaki (spicy Greek chicken with tzatziki sauce)
I don't like baklava. The texture and richness throw me. I'll keep the rest in mind. I may get to pick what sort of food we get Friday. :)
There are a TON of different kinds of Baklava/Baghlava, depending on the region of the world you get it from. Greek is different from Turkish is different from Afghani. Trust me on this. I know my Baklava.
If you can ever get a chance to get your hands on real Afghani Shawarma or kebabs, do it. Your mouth will love you forever.
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I've been reading your book, and it really is good. The weakest story so far is turned round one time too many (story 2). It's not weak in that it isn't good - it's weak in that it's hard for me to fully follow due to the linguistic shift - the conscious choice to embrace the rural colloquialisms that make it hard for me to read. And that's really my only criticism. It acting as a focal point for all the other stories to play off of, to add this inherent flow and the literary epiphanies I love so much doesn't mean it's bad in it's weakness, but that the overall work so far is very, very good.
The first story was exceedingly good and spoke to something I wrote a poem about during a bad time. But then it took it further. It gave the Animus of the city a voice. It put to words something that I understood but only as a feeling. This place where I grew up was once hope incarnate, there was no fear, no darkness, no threats, only golden days spent with friends. Until the world eroded that and left me so much a pebble in a stream, the edges worn smooth, but my nerves laid bear. But it isn't just me that has changed. The city itself has. What was once bright and hopefully has been replaced by decay and 'it is what it is'. Acceptance for what it has become, and still worse - the cloying feeling of paranoia and fear. The ever present threat of a city where some part of you is afraid of being noticed.
Then came chapter three. I caught on quickly, and I quickly grew to enjoy it, then you left me with that melancholy. You jerk.
And then chapter four took that melancholy to eleven. It was so, so good.
Thank you.
You humble me.
Thank YOU.
-Edit-
If you feel up to putting a review in when you're done, I'd be ever so grateful. My rating (and thus my visibility) is a combination of purchases and reviews, and if I'm going to convince agents I'm worth taking a chance on, I'll need them.
And again, you humble me. Thank you.
Wow. There's another author on Kindle that has my name, but I assure you, is NOT me.
Now I'm all creeped out.
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The Last Stop was exceedingly good and not at all what I expected. It reminded me of how little creative writing and creation I've been doing. It highlighted the hole that has grown from my changed jobs. I'd previously spent the days Imagining while I autopiloted my way through taking care of animals, but now I feel as though I don't really have Time for anything.
Open 24 hours has left me wanting more. Perhaps it's unintentional, but it really feels like a good pilot episode. Or the group coming together in an RP. Just old friends coming together to pay their respects... and then things going on from there. It'd be a good intro for a game or a show.
I'm torn on one for the road. It was a good call to end with it, but I'm torn on positioning, all the same. Jacob from Mind the Fence along with RJ just after the tying together with Dana and Jeff in the previous story was all solid. On that note, you did a great job of tying them all together. But while I liked Boots and RJ, I'm not sure they do as well as a closer.
See, open 24 hours left me wanting more, but while One for the Road is a call to adventure and cool, I think that your strongest works were definitely last stop, 24 hours and mind the fence. I think 24 hours is definitely strengthened by moving day.
I'd like to see more of Dana and Jacob and RJ in particular. Jeff and Aria would be nice to see more of as well, but somehow feels wrong unless done right. Bobby Ray was hurt by too many verbal things that messed with me, but I enjoyed his character and his callbacks. I'd also like to see more of your sitegeist. And I liked your fey girl.
In particular, your fey girl makes me want to share more of Skylar Neet. I wish I were a more consistent DM. I have so many stories to tell.
Honestly, the whole thing scratched an itch and left me wanting more.
I should take more time to read and write.
I haven't reviewed it yet, but I will once I have a keyboard.
I'm also gonna pop over to my wrath of the righteous game to plug you...
So, to the other topic of rules: Is there a solid way to create powers that scale up with both limitations and advantages more easily?
Like, a character that can scry, and the more limitations she takes, the further she can scry of the more accurately?
Essentially, I'd like a detect that can go from line of site to top down with a map to extra time for following all the right rules... and so on.
What I'd really like to build is a Dresden style wizard, with a focus on potions and foci and rituals, with probably some 'evocations'. Really limited, but strong powers, with a few powers usable for allies with charges.
Have I mentioned how much I love Dresden Files? Like, there is so much beauty in that dark world just because of the world building. And this mental image of a character following a cat around with an empty vial and stoppering it after a few minutes because they need the sound of a cat's footfalls for an invisibility potion is just... Elegant in its poetry. I love that potion making is so romantic.
On the first:
Again, thank you. You humble me, and you're not the first to want more of Dana The Ghostbuster.
I just don't know if I could do her properly for an entire book. And I don't want to do wrong by her.
On the second:
There's a way to make a power with increasing "oomph" by way of cascading activation rolls. Basically, your first X points are on no roll, your next X points on, say, a 14-, and then an increasing X for a decreasing Y roll. So to get the full oomph, you have to hit your rolls in sequence:
Clear,
18-
14-
11-
8-
6-
And then boom, you're seeing to Rigel Kentaurius.
Not sure if that's what you're after, but it's a way to do it.
Yeah, that's why I tell stories as a player or DM, not a writer. I can't really do characters Justice in long time frames unless I focus on them. That's likely more of an issue with nailing down world building.
Not quite what I had in mind. I was thinking something more like crystal scrying from charmed, with the dangly pendant and maps. And then otherwise just being able to 'detect magic'. I think it'd be really powerful and useful to have a character that could detect other metas.
Targeting rolls definitely does cover finding them from megascale down to normal, though!
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While in Michigan I had the opportunity to get some of what was referred to as 'Middle Eastern' food. Being socially awkward, I didn't ask which country it was from, which I suspect would greatly impact the overall flavor. All I know is that it's been there for forever.
Here's what I had:
Potato Curry
Chicken Cream Chop
Schawarma
Garlic Paste
Hummus with Pita
Chicken Tikka
Kebab (chicken and beef)
Jasmine Rice
All of it was outstanding, and I have a small treasure trove of it in my fridge. The potato curry didn't make the trip and busted open in the bag (thanks amdog, for stomping all over my food!), so I mourn its loss.
We also had Five Guys (We don't have that down here), which was a pretty darn good burger for being fast food. We have a local restaurant that's basically the same, though. We also stopped at a place called New York Bagel at my request, which was this place with a line 10 people long, but a wait of only like 5 minutes, with amazingly good bagels. It's been there for three or more decades.
Since the XP fairy is likely to be coming around sooner or later, Zoey and I have been working on what we want from mdSANtA.
What do you think of buying Aegis flight, only in contact with the ground, with the special effect 'reinforcing the floor', so that she isn't -wrecking- the surface she's walking on? If it were bought that way, would her resistance to alteration power defense provide any defense for reinforcing the floor in the event of a flight suppress or drain?
Is it better to buy no-turn-mode or usable as running?
If she bought it usable-as-running, could her normal running be 'sold back'? If it were sold back, and she was hit by a flight drain/suppress/etc, would that also drain her running from the power?
Curry is, generally, Indian food. Chicken Tikka (and Korma) is also Indian.
Jasmine rice is mostly a Taiwan thing, but they export a lot of it to Indian, and Indian food is generally served with Jasmine rice.
Shawarma and the rest of it can be European (Greek) or Middle Eastern (Turkey, Kuwait, Iraq, etc), depending on how it's cooked/made/spices. It originated with the Ottomans, so it got around a lot.
What's the most DR you'd let aegis take?
Aegis doesn't need DR, she already is the hardest member of the group to damage. She has high armor and can go desolid.
She might want to train on some mental defense, to help with mind control situations.
What do you think of buying Aegis flight, only in contact with the ground, with the special effect 'reinforcing the floor', so that she isn't -wrecking- the surface she's walking on? If it were bought that way, would her resistance to alteration power defense provide any defense for reinforcing the floor in the event of a flight suppress or drain?
Is it better to buy no-turn-mode or usable as running?
If she bought it usable-as-running, could her normal running be 'sold back'? If it were sold back, and she was hit by a flight drain/suppress/etc, would that also drain her running from the power?
Bumping, since it probably got missed due to the food talks. :)
Sorry, did miss it.
If she wants to not break the floor, she could do flight, but then that would mean she'd take 1d6 more knock back in fights (if you have active flight your knockback reduction is reduced by 1d6).
The proper way to handle it would be 'invisible power effects' on the density. Then she's super dense, but doesn't look superdense (hitting her still reveals she's dense!). Higher levels of IPE would make it harder to notice (Superman for example has fully invisible density increase, which is why Clark can get knocked down or shake hands with people and nobody realizes how dense his body is).
If she did do it, usable as running would be the way.
Yes, she could buy back her normal running. Yes, the flight is 'as running' not 'running' so drain/suppress flight would still suppress/drain it and leave her unable to move.
So her density is currently visible to sight (damages the things around her), Touch (like hitting a brick wall) and what else?
X-ray/unusual.
Yes, she could buy back her normal running. Yes, the flight is 'as running' not 'running' so drain/suppress flight would still suppress/drain it and leave her unable to move.
However, on the up-side, as suppresses or drains against running are far more common than against flight, it would really, really mess with people who, say, turned the ground to muck, or filled the area with sticky foam, or caltrops, etc., because her "running" wouldn't be impeded by their attack.
Which is great for psychological warfare against the bad guys.
How would that affect Aegis when it comes to being really heavy, though? Like, she's still going to break the floor if it can't support her, right?
Fully invisible power effects?
It means there are no environmental effects to her Density Increase. At all. She can swim, float on her back, get picked up by someone who should be easily able to pick her up normally, all that.
But if someone hauls off and clocks her one, they're going to break their hand (and possibly their entire arm) unless she rolls with the punch.
If she wants to suppress the IPE, she can, it's at her desire. So she can choose to break the floor, or feel like she's got marble instead of skin if someone touches her, or stop x-rays from passing through her, but it's her choice.
Would 'doesn't break the floor' be touch?
No, more of a visual thing (crushed carpet, etc).
Not sure if you've ever watched the old Six Million Dollar Man TV shows. THey had an episode about this.
Can't find a vid clip unfortunately, but Oscar Goldman was replaced with a robot duplicate. The robot was very lifelike, but weighed 500 lbs. Steve notices that when the bot paces on the carpet, it leaves footprints in the carpet. When the robot turns around, he flips a pencil onto the floor where the robot is pacing. The robot steps on it and crushes it into splinters, letting Steve know that Oscar has been replaced with a robot.