Yeah, we're not really boned at all. We just didn't get the ambush we were hoping for, and now they're ready for us (which means that the hold-an-action change would have them all dogpile us the second we get in, but I'd say right now we still have the advantage because we know far more about them than we know about us).
It would take Janice two phases to break through the roof—one to change to flying form and fly up, one to dive and kick (or, alternately, one to change to tree form and start a haymaker, and one to finish it)—so if Whip can blast one on her phase 5, Janice can swing through and scout in spider-plant form on phase 6.
@Violet: It's a fun show, but the more you watch it, the more you realize it could be so much better...
I'm a few seasons in, at this point. I'm more than a tad disappointed with the misogynistic angles that permeate the culprit lists. If there's a female suspect, 90% of the time, she's the one who did it.
I was shown a later series episode (with the "Superheroes"), and as they did the big reveal ("let's call the last numbers that called the flower shop to find the murderer!"), I screamed at the screen: "Why didn't they do that in the first five minutes?!"
Literally, it would have short-circuited the entire episode.
And the "everything revolves around Gibbs and his tortured past" is getting old, quick.
I can kind of see where my friend was coming from with the resemblance to Abby, but it's not a 100% thing.
Eh, it happens. I tried to make a character for this game based on my favorite superhero, and instead wound up making a character based on myself. (Except for the "superhero" part)
MDT. Is it low risk for Mud to use his 3Rd phase held action to recover in 5th knowing that he's got a 6th phase action?
Mud hasn't got the signal to enter so doesn't know what to do.
Cheers
Not boned. *sigh* That get's really really old.
You never specified how high you flew up, so I can't be for sure how much you can see. You could have flown up to 1/4 your flight distance high.
Sorry, but I'm new to the system. I'm seeing eveyone getting ripped by this meta we can't touch and she's slipping around us doing damage we can't avoid.
I'm feeling like a new player with a fighter being attacked by an incorporeal, and have no idea that the oil of magic weapon in my inventory can help.
And I'm supposed to be the tactician.
Sorry, but I'm new to the system. I'm seeing eveyone getting ripped by this meta we can't touch and she's slipping around us doing damage we can't avoid.
I'm feeling like a new player with a fighter being attacked by an incorporeal, and have no idea that the oil of magic weapon in my inventory can help.
I've never played HERO before, but I did read the rules through twice. And as far as I can tell, this is how you're supposed to feel.
Incorporeal teleporter tearing through the party? Don't know how to fight it? But of course, (especially in this campaign, where all the metas are secret!) everyone's power is mostly a secret to everyone else.
So, what can we throw at a meta like that? No idea. But Whip might conceivably hit her with an explosive, see if the energy shockwave does damage. Hotaru's got enough KS (comics) to possibly remember how the Flash is vulnerable to liquid nitrogen, and suggest we hit her with an ice attack (not easy, but if Violet can briefly mind control either her or Snowjob, maybe maneuvering one into the other—or if Snowy emits a field of cold, Aegis or I can throw him at her)... Janice is a daredevil who solves problems by hitting them, so she's willing to try kicking Celerity on the off-chance that her desolidification only works when offensively-concentrating, not defensively.
What else? We take a recovery every phase once the other guys are out, and wait until Celerity runs out of endurance, then clobber her as she slows down. Or Violet puts her to sleep, or mind-controls her.
Aegis, being the one actually experiencing Celerity's attacks, is in the best place to make a (highly-skilled) Deduction roll to learn things about her we might have missed. Aegis also has a ton of math and engineering knowledge that might be helpful.
...Sorry, Rocket, I can't think of any ways you could deal with this speedster.
But those are just ideas off the top of my head. I've got a feeling the GM wants us to do some creative thinking, while also not keeping our eyes off the fact that there's a whole TEAM of these guys whom we know nothing about.
You were told specifically that speedsters are the way to go with the girl 'tearing you up' by your allies...
@Mud - You can't use a held action to recover, you have to recover when your dex comes up on the phase.
@Whip - I still need to know how high you flew before I can answer your quesiton about what you see. And yes, I understand you're frustrated, it's a new system. It's just hard as the GM when you get that comment over and over again and you know it's not true. Instead of that, how about you just ask for pointers on your powers/etc and ask if Whip thinks they are losing based on tactics? In Champions, you are supposed to get hit with stun a lot. Notice that right now, although everyone has been hit, and two people constunned, only one person has actually taken any real damage (Aegis), and that's because of a disadvantage her character has, not because the enemy actually hurt her.
Since I'm desolid could they attack me and hit the speedster?
If they can hit the speedster while she's desolid and do damage, yes.
If not, they could miss you both. :)
Just a note, as you learn more about the system, there's nuances you need to be aware of.
If you are moving, you have to choose to either stop at the end of your turn, or maintain velocity.
A) Stop - You spend the last N inches of movement slowing down (5" per 1" you travel). You are at a stop, and must build up velocity again.
B) Maintain Velocity - You maintain a velocity at the end of your movement (for example, if you have 20" of movement, you can end your movement at any velocity between 1" and 20"). To get back up to velocity requires 1" for every 5" of velocity you need to increase.
This mostly affects Rocket and other speedsters. But when you're going long distances, or non-combat, it matters. Dropping velocity means you're moving in spurts, run to here, stop, run forward again. You lose velocity (and potential move-by/move-thru damage). Maintaining means you don't lose velocity, but, it forces you to move on your next action (as you have velocity to bleed off).
I'm guessing sudden stops are also a (painful) thing? :)
How is the damage of flying into a building calculated?
If I'm running forward and hit by a knock back do I simply subtract the knock back from my velocity/add it to my velocity depending on directional influence?
If the former is true, do you still need to break fall or similar to avoid road rash?
Okay. I'll see how this goes.
I would have gone high as I could and still thrown the quill to make sure I was clear of the explosion.
As for then diving down to a side door, I would move fast as possible while still maintaining stealth. If that means half defense, that's fine. Hopefully they're blinded.
Slamming into a wall : 101
Rocket is running forward at 20" per segment, and maintains his velocity. Forcemaiden throws a force-wall up around him as a dome. The dome has a PD of 10, and ED of 0, and a body of 4.
Rocket slams into the wall, and takes 14D6 damage from hitting the wall (the PD of the wall + the body). He then blows through the wall, and if still conscious, continues running. If he is constunned or unconscious, he would bounce along the ground for another 6", taking 3d6 more damage.
Yeah, ew. And that's why cars have crumple zones to prevent such instant deceleration.
Not that its something likely to fit into Hotaru's skillset, but is it possible to make force walls that act more like cushions?
Can't move my marker while I'm at work, but I'm not sure where another side door is anyway. Just as long as it's not on the same side as where the fight is taking place.
The only doors are on top and where the others are fighting.
Whip noticed there are four entrances on the outside of the building, plus the single roof entrance.
You said there are four entrances. I'll just go to one of the others.
All four are on the same side of the building. The white spots. :). It's a loading bay area. :)
What sparkyfingers said.
OOC strategy regroup,
- Whip's idea of going through an unwatched door won't work since all the doors are side by side.
Some options I see:
(A) It looks like it'll take Snapdragon another 2 phases to bust a hole in the roof (possibly just 1, on a good roll). If we want to go all with that strategy, we should try to get the team up there, ready to drop through when it opens.
(B) Go in through one of the front doors. Disadvantage: they're presumably ready to pounce/shoot as soon as we do.
(C) Have Mud and/or Aegis bust us a new door. Ideally:
. . at a specific spot that Whip remembers might be strategic to enter (e.g. somewhere with cover)
. . with all of us already gathered around and ready to rush it.
I lean toward C right now. What do yall think? What am I missing?
Does Violet need line of sight? I was kind of hoping she'd be able to give back-up.
But yeah, right now everyone's running to the same entrance, which means our tactics are sort of going out the door. And the longer everyone sits around, the more time they'll have to prepare for us entering. And Snapdragon didn't make it through the roof in one kick, which means now they can hear her coming, so, wuh oh. (Upside, I've got decent DCV, and as long as I keep making my acrobatics rolls, I won't lose it when I break through or will possibly even be able to do an aerial dodge).
(I can probably make it through on the next phase, if I push; need 11 body damage, and do an average of 10, without pushing)
C) only seems to make any sense if you can either punch through the wall in a single phase, or split up.
Except the speedster, I think they're all waiting for us inside. If they continue their tactics (which seem to be working for them so why stop) then the speedster will return. I'm happy for Mud being bait, because the speedster kind of tickles.
We need Vi and Rocket to pounce on the speedster while he's outside and take him down. Then we can go inside. What's the hurry? Do you think that they can be more ready for us?
That's my two cents.
Cheers
If Aegis and Mud used teamwork successfully they could punch through in a round...but I'm not sure if either has bought yet, and at best they probably have an 8- familiarity... But even without teamwork they should be able to do it in one round, working together.
The other advantage is that we could enter together. (I'm assuming that's an advantage, so they can't gang up on us...but it does open us up to AoE attacks).
My fear about the roof at this stage if that you bust in my yourself, with STUN and END somewhat depleted...and then it's just you versus all of them, maybe for several rounds.
EDIT: +1 to trying to deal with Celerity first.
Well... you're ignoring the fact that if we all enter together, they get to explode us all at once with all of their AoE's. Same entrance is a -bad- idea. We need to deal with Celerity/make her tuck tail.
Pretending for a moment that none of them have fire, Snapdragon 'dying' and making them waste their abilities is actually sort of a positive for us. :)
Also, I'm pretty sure Aegis could break through in one round, just by going solid on the roof... maybe.
You guys are forgetting that Snapdragon can fly, though. I expose myself, just slightly, for one phase, then I'm zipping back out onto the roof or dropkicking baddies off catwalks. If I open a hole in the roof that they can't patch easily, that's also a second entrance, and one Whip could easily fire AoE explosives through from a safe distance.
It's definitely risky, and it might be the wrong call. But nobody's told her to try anything different, and she's hoping they won't have all their guns trained on the ceiling.
Okay, I'm trusting you that the speedster's not doing that much damage to us, she's just annoying.
Also, if I'm understanding the system right, she's got to be using a lot of her Endurance to keep this up. (Unless she's got some sort of, "my natural state is phasing so it only costs me Endurance to go solid" kind of cheese.) So we should be able to outlast her on these hit-and-fade kind of attacks, right?
Nope! You can actually buy a 'this costs me nothing' advantage.
Likewise, as long as she can repeatedly get to cover, and spend some time unphased, even if she were spending endurance, she's capable of recovering everything through recovery actions.
Frell.
Well, we're going to have to keep her guessing, then.
Also, I'm pretty sure Aegis could break through in one round, just by going solid on the roof... maybe.
Aegis would likely -destroy- that roof if she steps on it but you have to get her up there.
Is there any way to roll to out-guess her? Assuming that she doesn't have some way of seeing through walls?
Which, unfortunately, she probably can do.
Until Violet can learn to modulate her power levels (buy her Multipower slots as Multi and not Ultra slots), she needs LOS for most of her powers. I needed to both give her room to grow, and give her mental powers that would be of at least average effectiveness at any given moment. So, Ultra slots (and LOS) it is for now.
Whip can take another tactics check if she would like to.
Shoulda stayed on the roof.
Although, this might be enough stress to nudge Violet's flight into action, so that might be good.
Can Mud take a recovery phase while desolid?
thanks
You cannot maintain any effect that costs Endurance and take a Recovery Action at the same time. You have to turn off all of the things that cost END.
Rocket runs down the face of the building, slowing to drop off Vi and then pausing to look for Celerity.
mdt, I wrote my post hastily from a phone so it might've been unclear, but I was trying to drop off Vi and then hold the remainder of my action for when I saw Celerity.
Mud, for future, if allowed by mdt, you could buy it as "costs END only to activate". It wouldn't actually cost any more points. Then you'd pay 4 END to turn it on, but zero to maintain it. (You'd still lose it if you got stunned, and would have to pay 4 END to turn it back on at that point, but otherwise it would stay on until you wanted to turn it off.)
It was clear Rocket, but it was 19 inches to reach the ground, so you didn't have any 'remainder of an action' after dropping her off. Technically, I should have charged you a move action to put her on her feet...
Ahhh, cool, thanks for explaining!
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Alternately, he forgets and doesn't. And that's how Vi learned she could fly.
Alternately, he forgets and doesn't. And that's how Vi learned she could fly.
I'd love to read that post!
Really, it's going to be her Depression Voice telling her that she's failing again and that she has to get away from the scene before she gets everyone killed.
That "run away, you're useless" urge will be what pushes her to leaving as quickly as possible, which will likely result in a "full" move - straight up.
-Edit- Assuming we don't have another round of "stun lock the psychic" on our hands, that is. Not that they'd know she's psychic. I paid points for that Secret ID, darn it. ;)
Which means that they don't know who Vi is.
There's all sorts of ways they could have twigged to you being a psychic. You have been using your powers without much regard to who might sense them around you. Anyone with Mental Awareness would have a really good idea you are. And anyone you mind scanned who had mental awareness would know for certain you are.
They wouldn't know your name of course.
Is it possible to ready an action to use a power in a multi power, while using the other?
Specifically, I'd like for Hotaru to stop Jamming once she sees Celerity again, and instead attempt to suppress her, in case she's a Sparky. Do I have to end the radio perception decrease, and then wait, or can it be an immediate switch?
Oh, I know there's ways for them to figure out Violet's a psychic. But so far, she hasn't been mind-scanning anyone (in this building) from a position from where they could actually see her - so while it's not a stretch that they'd be able to say "Oh, hey! THAT'S the psychic!" at some point, I'm just being super hopeful they haven't somehow figured out who she is sight-unseen and are dedicated to locking her down at all costs.
Really, I was hoping that winky-face would show that I was saying that in a good-natured tone and attempting to lighten up the conversation from all the doom-and-gloom. But the dry, dry, dry medium of text once again bites me. No worries. :)
No complaints from me on this end. I'm dutifully trying to figure out how to be effective in the face of a villain who can put us down in short order, and whose NND has thus far perplexed us. It's all good. :)
Well, there's also the squishy mage trope. All other things being equal, the easily broken thing is almost always the most powerful... And simply removing one opponent, even if they aren't a powerhouse, tends to be a good choice. :)
What we know: she got stuck in Aegis. Whether intentional or not. It also hurt Aegis, though.
It's possible that we're fighting an astral projection or the like, as well. Alternately, living lightning. Not entirely sure.
Well, you were in the middle of a mind scan the first time you got con-stunned, which immediately shut the power off...
@Pulse - Had to check your MP. Ok, so, since you don't have time limits on your MP, you can change the powers as a 0-phase action. So, you can ready an action to 'change MP to <blah> and do <blah> with it'. If it took a half or full phase, you could not do so.
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Not really sure what to have Aegis do here if I go solid I risk getting telefraged and Ifor I go inside I'll likely aggro other meta if they in there suggestions?
Also since Aegis can stay desolid without paYing end can she recover with desolid?
Yes, but she'd still be at 0 DCV. So if anyone has an electrical attack, they'd have an easy time hitting her with it.
Well, you were in the middle of a mind scan the first time you got con-stunned, which immediately shut the power off...
<Perfect Tommy Voice> You have a point, there. </Perfect Tommy Voice>