(2) - Dawn of the Metahumans

Game Master mdt

Ok, so...

Everyone has had a bit to see what their characters can do, and how the game system works.

I'm going to let everyone decide if they want to make a few tweaks to their characters, or switch them out completely at this point. Also going to allow people to switch tables, if they want to (in equal numbers, want to keep the tables even).

I've posted a sheet with what I was originally shooting for with characters, but due to a lot of crush making all the characters, and some pushback that was understandable when you consider people didn't know the system or how I run things, the characters didn't end up quite as balanced as I would have liked.

And velocity adds 1d6 per square you move through, to a maximum of your speed/5? So, for Taru with her 8, If she took off running, she could drop kick aegis for +1d6 (8/5... or does this round?). Would it take two rounds to reach that speed?

Also. I want more! I'm happy with Taru as is. :)

I know I'm the weakest combat link, but someone has to be. Plus she's sort of brickish so far.

Hotaru would take 2" of actual running to reach her maximum 8" of velocity, and would add +2d6 if doing a move-by, or +3d6 if doing a move-thru (Move_By is v/5, Move-Thru is v/3). Stretching and growth add +1d6/5" stretched/grown.

Hex 0 : Standing Still
Hex 1 : Moved one Inch, Velocity 5"
Hex 2 : Moved two Inches, Velocity 8"
Hex 3 : Moved three Inches, Velocity 8"
Hex 4 : Moved four Inches, Velocity 8"
Hex 5 : Moved five Inches, Velocity 8"
Hex 6 : Moved six Inches, Velocity 8"
Hex 7 : Moved seven Inches, Velocity 3"
Hex 8 : Moved eight Inches, Velocity 0"

I was going to say something about my potential damage output being rather lackluster for my claws (Average of 2d6 HKA with average Stun Multiplier is only around 18-21 Stun), but you have my damage output being pretty high on your chart there. I assume that's based on the 10d6 web blobs? Average there is 30-35 Stun, which is a fair bit more respectable.

Hmm. If game balance demands it, I could lower DEX a bit and make up for it with 5-point DEX skill levels, and maybe buy CSLS later (though as it stands I didn't do very well with my attacks in the first fight).

Also; as I've said in the other thread, OCV/DCV guidelines for Martial Artists feel pretty low. A typical, non-super human martial artist with a point buy of several hundred might be looking at 15-20 DEX (5-7 OCV/DCV), but martial arts strikes would bring that up to around 7-9 OCV, and CSLs boosting things higher. Were the NPCs here built at 200/150, or a higher point buy?

* * *

Meanwhile, I know more people at Table 1, but don't have any issues with table 2; if someone's itching to switch, I'd be willing to, but don't have any special desire of my own. My frantic post rate currently probably matches table 1 a bit more than table 2, but I'm doing some stuff in November that'll leave me a bit more busy.

So, looking at the 'what you currently have' vs 'what I had envisioned', we see a few outliers.

Pulse & Pixie aren't on, but they do 7HP per action, so Pixie does about 42 per turn. However, she also has low defense and low stun, and she takes an extra 6" of knockback when hit, almost guaranteeing she's knocked out when hit. So that's ok. Pulse does about 28HP per turn in stun, with her NND.

Chess specifically requested not to do damage, so he doesn't.

Rocket is a little high on his numbers, although it appears the dice roller is intent on ensuring that's moot. At least so far. :)

Aegis is a little bit low, but I think increasing speed to 4 would resolve that.

Goo is at about 50% for a brick, but, that's ok, because he is all but immune to physical damage, and so that's an even trade off for less damage (plus he managed to hit Cat in the jaw! Awesome bit!). :)

Whippoorwill is a bit low for a martial artist. Part of that is the additional ranged ability flexibility. I think the pin feathers work well to balance that out (battlefield manipulation helps make up a lot!).

Snapdragon is kind of a cross between a speedster and a martial artist. She's almost useless against bricks, but very good against speedsters and projectors. Given her inherent flexibility, I think she balances out well being slightly under for either class she's a mix of.

Drider is, quite obviously, the big gun and probably needs to be toned back a bit. Quite honestly, she would have dominated the fight if she'd been using her web shots instead of entangles.

Jack's performing a bit under, although I'm sure he feels like he's performing a lot under. The dice roller hated him in the combat, with forethought and malice. I think Jack either needs another speed (to 5) or another DC in his martial arts.

THoughts eveyrone?

I was going to say something about my potential damage output being rather lackluster for my claws (Average of 2d6 HKA with average Stun Multiplier is only around 18-21 Stun), but you have my damage output being pretty high on your chart there. I assume that's based on the 10d6 web blobs? Average there is 30-35 Stun, which is a fair bit more respectable.

Yep. Oh, something I missed in the fight due to being distracted. Your STR is not autofire, so you only get Strength damage on the first HKA of the round, the rest are 1d6 only. I'm really not concerned about the HKAs, they are not all that powerful unless you're slicing up unarmed normals.

The big cannon is the one power you didn't really use. :) That big 9OCV 10D6 Web Cannon!

I'm thinking we lower the dice, but put an advantage on it, maybe reduced endurance? I can look at a few others if you'd like options.

If you are happy with Goo, I am happy with Goo. I would like to be faster but I don't want to take points from anywhere so perhaps when he gains experience I'll address that. In the combat I should have used entangle to disrupt peoples actions more. Also, I Can Brick for a little bit but it eats up END.

I agree Aegis needs to increase her Speed or her Strength.
Rocket is going to be a beast when he is on.
Also, you didn't mention violet in your synopsis.

Also. I want more! I'm happy with Taru as is. :)

I know I'm the weakest combat link, but someone has to be. Plus she's sort of brickish so far.

Excuse me, but I think I have that honor. ;)

Pulse has gotten to act at least once. Violet has been Rocket-Chow since the opening volley.

THoughts eveyrone?

I note Violet's not in your list of performance factors - should I take this to mean there isn't enough data about her due to the fact that Rocket used her for Mythbusting practice (a-la Buster vs the Jetcar), or is this an ominous foreshadowing of character death to come? ;)

No, it means I hadn't finished your analysis, and it's complicated because you're a mentalist

Working on it.

If anything, I feel there are too many outs for shutting down my nnd -and- my blind. A pair of sunglasses will quite often wreck my flash (hyperbolic). I'd rather focus on bumping up making other people awesome, but I'd love, very much, for my flash to be more reliable. Since that's mostly it's purpose.

Going forward, though I'd like to focus on team play more than offense. That means mobility would be cool (metal surfing!), along with some sort of heal or aid (seems more likely), and more coms. Possibly RC summons would be really fun, too.

On the note of Violet being 'weak', that's more that she was directly targeted, probably -because- she's scary. Basically everyone in the party is shut down if Vi targets them.

No, it means I hadn't finished your analysis, and it's complicated because you're a mentalist

Working on it.

Oh, I figured it was that and not anything else. I'm just trying to remain upbeat, for obvious reasons. :D

On the note of Violet being 'weak', that's more that she was directly targeted, probably -because- she's scary. Basically everyone in the party is shut down if Vi targets them.

You are very likely right, and I as a player can see that, but Violet as a character is going to be despondent for quite a while after this.

Ok, so, Violet...

Violet is a mentalist, and with a very high Ego. She's basically going to hit 75% of the time as long as she doesn't attack a mentalist. ANd she's going to do an average of 21 stun per attack (enough to con-stun most enemies). She has very high defenses (20/24), and a high dex (6 OCV/DCV). Coupled with that, she has a non-existent CON, and 31 points of stun.

Basically, Violet is a glass cannon. She's going to blast the heck out of an enemy (or mind control or illusion) and then get dog-piled by the enemy, and the first person hitting her is going to take her down.

If anything, I feel there are too many outs for shutting down my nnd -and- my blind. A pair of sunglasses will quite often wreck my flash (hyperbolic). I'd rather focus on bumping up making other people awesome, but I'd love, very much, for my flash to be more reliable. Since that's mostly it's purpose.

Going forward, though I'd like to focus on team play more than offense. That means mobility would be cool (metal surfing!), along with some sort of heal or aid (seems more likely), and more coms. Possibly RC summons would be really fun, too.

On the note of Violet being 'weak', that's more that she was directly targeted, probably -because- she's scary. Basically everyone in the party is shut down if Vi targets them.

Shades don't work. :)

Of the people in the fight, that were *not* immune to your attack, you never targeted...

Shadowcat and Kestrel (she did have flash defense). The only two you couldn't affect were Ace (while flying) and Transducer (activation on armor, flash defense). Given she's a light based character, her having flash defense is not a surprise. :)

Shadowcat should have been your biggest target. She had damage reduction, but you'd have been doing damage every time.

@Hotaru I think you might have more utility (team play) if you changed your forcefield to force wall.

While I do want to up her Defense later on Right now I agree that speed should be her biggest thing, what would I have to give up to increase her speed?

also @Goo Aegis has 60 str at full density so I don't think that's a worry atm

Force walls can be very very dangerous. The problem with them is they go down as soon as they take body. From any kind of attack. Penetrating attacks shatter them, leaving the character completely defenseless.

I could see her developing one in her MP, to toss up in front of allies, but I would not change her FF to one...

I made some slight tweaks, in green, to the assumptions for everyone's character. That would bring them more in line with what I was expecting. What would you all think of those tweaks? In addition to any others you'd like to think about.

Ok, so, Violet...

Violet is a mentalist, and with a very high Ego. She's basically going to hit 75% of the time as long as she doesn't attack a mentalist. ANd she's going to do an average of 21 stun per attack (enough to con-stun most enemies). She has very high defenses (20/24), and a high dex (6 OCV/DCV). Coupled with that, she has a non-existent CON, and 31 points of stun.

Basically, Violet is a glass cannon. She's going to blast the heck out of an enemy (or mind control or illusion) and then get dog-piled by the enemy, and the first person hitting her is going to take her down.

This is more or less how I wanted her to start out, and if that's problematic for you as a GM, I can adjust her numbers here and there to give her more solidity. Totally flexible, me.

Part of what I was hoping for in her evolution was that she would have an experience like this one (yay!), which would then get her focused on improving herself - playing to her psych limitations, and all that.

Thoughts?

Force wall is insanely expensive from what I understand, though.

Likewise, I think cat was at a range to make her difficult for Pulse to affect. Not without overextending. Cat was definitely my main target... after rocket. The goal with hitting transducer is that Hotaru was trying to reduce the number of enemies -now-.

Hotaru was also intended to focus more on the EM spectrum, as Transducer seems to, and less on sticky clingy. But I'm pleased with how she's playing out.

How do you feel about people's stuns, endurance, and recovery in relation to their expenditures?

While I do want to up her Defense later on Right now I agree that speed should be her biggest thing, what would I have to give up to increase her speed?

also @Goo Aegis has 60 str at full density so I don't think that's a worry atm

I think, reducing her power defense a tiny bit, buying back one of her blocks, and spending an experience point or two would work.

mdt wrote:

Ok, so, Violet...

Violet is a mentalist, and with a very high Ego. She's basically going to hit 75% of the time as long as she doesn't attack a mentalist. ANd she's going to do an average of 21 stun per attack (enough to con-stun most enemies). She has very high defenses (20/24), and a high dex (6 OCV/DCV). Coupled with that, she has a non-existent CON, and 31 points of stun.

Basically, Violet is a glass cannon. She's going to blast the heck out of an enemy (or mind control or illusion) and then get dog-piled by the enemy, and the first person hitting her is going to take her down.

This is more or less how I wanted her to start out, and if that's problematic for you as a GM, I can adjust her numbers here and there to give her more solidity. Totally flexible, me.

Part of what I was hoping for in her evolution was that she would have an experience like this one (yay!), which would then get her focused on improving herself - playing to her psych limitations, and all that.

Thoughts?

I'm ok with it, as long as you are walking into it full eyes open. :) Just expect to play 'pinball' a lot.

Force wall is insanely expensive from what I understand, though.

Likewise, I think cat was at a range to make her difficult for Pulse to affect. Not without overextending. Cat was definitely my main target... after rocket. The goal with hitting transducer is that Hotaru was trying to reduce the number of enemies -now-.

Hotaru was also intended to focus more on the EM spectrum, as Transducer seems to, and less on sticky clingy. But I'm pleased with how she's playing out.

How do you feel about people's stuns, endurance, and recovery in relation to their expenditures?

Transducer is actually light based. IR, UV (you never saw her peta-watt laser attack, her entire body turns to light, and does a move-through on you, nasty).

As to stuns/endurance/recover, that's all mostly ok. Aegis is less than I'd like, but, she's also got desolidification, which is basically "I want to get out of jail free card" for a brick, so not too worried about it (she's also 28 vs 25 armor).

Rocket needs to watch his endurance, he's a nova. That's common on speedsters.

Ok, talk amongst yourselves, I need to get groceries.

Yes, I'm feeling underwhelmed with Jack. To get 5 Speed, it will blow his Normal Characteristics limitation and take points from other things. Don't know. Maybe dump the TK, then he's just a bland martist.

The combat reminded me that I preferred speed bricks. Our table doesn't have a brick per se, so there might be a good fit.

I like your pictures, MDT. Do you have one or two places where you look? If we can change characters, I would look there and some other places for a cool picture, and then build a character around it.

I'm out all day with the family tomorrow, so I'll be thinking. For the record, I don't want to slow the game down with a character change.

cheers

I like the idea of force wall going into my power set. It'll add a lot more flexibility. I'll look into how a force wall would affect a crazed rocket, as well. ;)

Pinball is -my- job. :o

What else do you guys think Hotaru needs?

@Aegis sorry I thought your STR was only 50 my bad.

@Hotaru I can't think much I would have you change, I like your concept.

How is Goo, any changes, advice?

In combat mobility seems to be a weakness. Not that you care about the time it takes to move into position for the most part. Invest in coke bottles. :)

I specifically do not want to sell my personal shield, but expanding to a wall as well that must be centered on self, seems like a good investment in my multipower. It'd allow me to buddy up a bit more with Vi, especially, and would provide me with a more reliable use for my multiplayer, and hopefully leave me scrambling around less.

I agree about mobility, I like the idea of being thrown by Aegis or even carried by rocket. Also, I read the rules on the Growth Power a little today and when enlarged my movement increases to 12" so I can be a little more mobile. However, shrinking and growing takes END so I have to be careful how I use them. But as an opening maneuver it makes sense because of the Post 12 recovery.

And honestly, transforming into a huge black tidal wave and crashing forward is... terrifying. Just like grabbing and pulling yourself at slingshot speeds.

Pixie will probably have to try harder to prevent people throwing things at her. Ironically, she'll probably be a lot safer if she stays in melee.

Back from my RL game night. Lots to catch up on.

I'm not sure if I understand the combat enough. Right now, I feel that either I don't understand the system to the point that I'm always making suboptimal choices (which really hurts when you're playing someone allegedly experienced with tactics), or that Whip's a suboptimal build as she is.

I mean, I saw two crits in our fight. Ace had Rocket bamboozled for a fortnight, but with my crit I mildly inconvenienced him. What's up with that?

So I think I need some sort of outsider guidance. If Whippoorwill's a decent build, what do I need to do so she is able to show it? And if not, what do I need to change? Or is my concept so fundamentally flawed that it's impossible to make what I want her to be in this system (keeping in mind that she's a port from an entirely different system).

I never really imagined Drider as damage dealing web artillery, more melee. Preferably she'd be somewhere between a Martial Artist and a Brick, a balance of DCV and DEF rather than one or the other. I like the entangles, helps disrupt annoying targets and allows me to get in range.

So altering the build to focus more on her Claws would be my take on it.

@Whip, I think your concept is fine. There is very little we could have done against this group. We could work on tactics a bit but I think against villains that are point appropriate you should fair well.

I'm reading over how STR interacts with Advantaged Killing Attacks and I can get the extra damage from STR on my autofires, it just takes more strength to get to that extra +1d6.

Normally HKAs get an extra +1d6 of damage per 15 strength used with it (Drider has double that at 30). To calculate how much strength is needed to get +1d6, the section says to calculate what the cost of 5 Strength would be with whatever advantages are present.

In this case, Autofire is a +1/2 advantage, meaning the 5 Strength would cost half again as much for 7.5. To get the extra +1d6 on my Claws, I'd need 22.5 Strength, which I have more than enough to qualify.

Autofire eats the hell out of endurance, and only provides a chance at extra hits. If I miss, I waste 11 END for nothing (3 for STR and 2 for each attack). I kind of like the fact that I can be EXTREMELY dangerous if RNGesus wills it, but the claws base damage is still a bit lack luster.

If you gave the claws a +1 Stun Multiplier, that would bring the average Stun output to around even with 8DCs at 24 Stun. The minimum damage at that point would be 4 (snake eyes times 2), while the max would be 72 (boxcars times 6). It's a +1/4 advantage, bringing the cost of the Claws up to 15 (advantages and limitations would cancel out) and raises the minimum STR for the extra +1d6 to between 9 and 10 (not sure on the exact fraction at the moment), meaning Drider's 30 Str would be JUST enough to keep the extra die.

@Whip: Concept seemed fine. You just crit with a less 'omg' power than Ace. He was at 10d6. You were at 1. Using the smoke grenades to obscure team mates with alternate senses seems wise. Like, if Violet picks up 'detect mental' or something (is that a thing?), and Hotaru has Radar, that lets us both hit outside of obfuscation, and gives us some degree of cover. Just in the event of them coordinating, also diving for cover in your own smoke bomb would have been wise. (You can move, -then- attack, unless you bought a full round power).

@Drider: Are your Autofires Ultra or Flex? Like, can you just fire a second claw for significantly less expense, but without the extreme swing of damage?

I agree about mobility, I like the idea of being thrown[b] by Aegis or even [b]carried by rocket.

I AM GOO!

The plan is to throw the goo? THE PLAN IS ALWAYS TO THROW THE GOO! NOW THROW THE GOO!

I mean, I saw two crits in our fight. Ace had Rocket bamboozled for a fortnight, but with my crit I mildly inconvenienced him. What's up with that?

So I think I need some sort of outsider guidance. If Whippoorwill's a decent build, what do I need to do so she is able to show it? And if not, what do I need to change? Or is my concept so fundamentally flawed that it's impossible to make what I want her to be in this system (keeping in mind that she's a port from an entirely different system).

You set yourself up as a martial artist, but ended up using your backup attacks the whole time. Hitting him with a crit on the acid only maxed your acid, which is only 1d6. A 1d6 crit, even a killing attack, isn't going to do much against a full armored up guy (well, it did do 2 body to him, which was the signal to start working with teamwork).

You have high mobility and martial maneuvers, you need to be closing rapidly and then punching the crud out of people. :) A martial artist isn't a ranged person, which is the big problem you had in combat, you were keeping your distance and staying up high, which is not what a martial character does. If you think of yourself as a rapid response melee character, your tactics will bear significantly more fruit.

However, it makes perfect sense for your character to be confused, they are used to think in terms of firing guns, not punching tanks.

@Whip, I think your concept is fine. There is very little we could have done against this group. We could work on tactics a bit but I think against villains that are point appropriate you should fair well.

It's less about point appropriateness. SHadowcat is 325, Ace is 325, Shadowcat is 325, and Transducer is 400(? iffy on this one).

There's several things going on, and it's all perfectly normal.

A) You are new to the system (as a group, some of you have played it before, but are rusty).
B) The bad guys were working as a team, setting you guys up (Kestrel blinding then someone else attacking, Ace mentally blinding, etc). Ace was holding his action at the start to counteract any mind control or illusions Violet tried. They could also communicate mentally, and you couldn't, so they had much better coordination of tactics.
C) The GM is playing them using all his GM tricks, because they know them. They've been doing it awhile.
D) The builds need some tweaking. This is pretty normal. It takes a good bit of experience to realize that shiny glass cannon doesn't work so well in actual combat. :)

Hey Whip, of course we're still early in mastering the system. (I've played it years ago, but am just beginning to gett my sea-legs back). I think--while Whip is good at fighting normals--it's not unreasonable that she's just learning to fight metahumans, and to best utilize her own powers.

I thought that mdt did a great job of making that an educational (if humbling) trouncing we got there.

Some of my notes:
- My attacks that don't come with minuses (e.g. my non-velocity based punches) don't really do anything against even middling defenses.
- My powerful attacks (e.g. movethrough) come with very significant minuses to hit (-5!) and to DCV. That means I'm best using them against someone who's DCV is low (either always or temporarily due to Flash or Stunned or Grabbed or somesuch)
- This means me coordinating with Pulse could be huge. I'd have to wait for her to Flash someone, and then (even if it only effected them for this one segment, and even if they'd already attacked this phase) I'd get a great chance to hit, even with an attack that comes with heavy minuses to hit.
- Generalizing a bit, I think our strength will come from coordinating. Hotaru was looking for synergies before the combat started. I'll add a few more (with the benefit of hindsight):
. . Hotaru briefly blinding someone, and then everyone dogpiling them.
. . Goo grabbing a flyer out of the air, and then everyone dogpiling them.
. . Rocket bringing an ally (especially a shrunk one, like Goo) with him to engage quickly.
. . I bet we’ll come up with a ton more ways of coordinating over time (which, again, is realistic).
- Be tricky! This can mean bluffing, or acrobatic tricks, or other surprise moves--all of which can grant nice bonuses to hit. Skills are interesting and (unlike in Pathfinder) often free to try to use to our advantage. I’m remembering slowly that (in general) Hero games *incentivizes* out of the box ideas with various bonuses.
- Learn the Teamwork skill. As we've talked about, *this* is the way that a team of people overcomes someone who is very hard to hit, or has very tough defenses. (We couldn't realistically have had it before, but we certainly can train for it now.)
- Hold actions! I think this could be particularly useful with your smoke feathers. e.g. declare “I’m waiting to see what ShadowCat does. The moment she appears somewhere, I encase that area in darkness, ideally leaving Cat just inside the darkness but my allies outside of it.” Something like that could completely ruin her attack.

EDIT: I see mdt has replied above, making some similar points.

If I give up the defensive block on Aegis how low will I have to drop her def to get +1 speed?

@Drider - Yep, however, you have to remember that it's 15 STR to get another HKA +1d6.

A character may add +1d6 to his HKA for every 15 points of STR used with it (or, to put it another way, +1 Damage Class for every 5 points of STR used with it). However, he cannot do more than double the Damage Classes of his HKA (see page 405 for further information).

So, to add the STR with autofire would be 1.5 * 15, which is 22.5, as you said. So I think you had the right idea, just typed it in wrong. Wanted to make sure you understood it though. (Basically, an HKA is 15 pts for 1d6, to make it 2d6 requires another 15pts of STR).

My only concern with upping the stun is that killing attacks only go up against resistant defenses. I've put in your current HKA calculation (2d6HKA is equivalent to 6d6 on average, 7x3.5 = 24.5 vs 6x3.5 = 21), and adjusted it for autofire and percentage chance to hit on consecutives, then adjusted the AC to represent resistant AC is usually lower than normal defense. You'll see you're doing, currently, about as well as a speedster, but actually hurting bricks.

Oh, Drider, also note, you pay endurance for your str at the rate of autofire as well, as if you had the advantage on the str. So 15 STR = 2 End x N attacks. Basically, each attack with the claws takes 2+2 = 4 End.

If I give up the defensive block on Aegis how low will I have to drop her def to get +1 speed?

If you drop the 4 pt block, drop 5 points of power defense, and then spend 2 exp, you'd be at 4 speed.

Yes, I'm feeling underwhelmed with Jack. To get 5 Speed, it will blow his Normal Characteristics limitation and take points from other things. Don't know. Maybe dump the TK, then he's just a bland martist.

The combat reminded me that I preferred speed bricks. Our table doesn't have a brick per se, so there might be a good fit.

I like your pictures, MDT. Do you have one or two places where you look? If we can change characters, I would look there and some other places for a cool picture, and then build a character around it.

I'm out all day with the family tomorrow, so I'll be thinking. For the record, I don't want to slow the game down with a character change.

cheers

DeviantArt is usually a good place for pics, but you have to wade through a ton of drek. :) Google Images with 'SUperhero Concept Art' or 'Superhero Character Art' (those give you two different ones!) works as well too.

Jack does need a bit of tweaking, but he's a decent character. The biggest problem is you're mixed focus, sorta martial sorta mentalist, and mixing those two is very difficult to pull of. Think of it like an oracle/monk gestalt, there's no dump stat. :)

Saffron "Aegis" Sinclair wrote:

If I give up the defensive block on Aegis how low will I have to drop her def to get +1 speed?

If you drop the 4 pt block, drop 5 points of power defense, and then spend 2 exp, you'd be at 4 speed.

I'd like to make that change that speed was really killing me during that fight

So, Rocket. Let me give you some Champions Speedster Tips, from someone who's made a ton of Speedsters in his games.

Edit: These suggestions are basically ways to get around the "I need to move a lot and have a high STR to affect the bad guys" issue. The key is remembering that you have to be inventive with how your powers work. Everything in HERO boils down to Special Effects.

* Buy your STR with Area Effect Radius, maybe 1" or 2" radius, and give it SFX: Speed Doubles. You move so fast, you can affect an entire area with your Strength. You leave after-images of yourself in all the hexes you are affecting. Maybe buy it Selective Target so that you can choose whether or not you want to punch someone in a particular hex. An ally, for instance. I'm not mdt, so I won't make a GM call and say you'd be able to hit multiple people in an area with it (though technically you could use your Strength as an AOE in this regard), but at the very least, you can do cool things like bust up furniture and affect the environment.

Alternately, buy Extra Limbs or AOE TK for the same effect.

* Buy additional dice of Hand-to-Hand Attack, that you can only use after moving at least 6". SFX this as "Zero To Sixty" - you break the laws of physics to accelerate beyond all rational limits and you do (N) acceleration in a 6-hex distance. Zoom-pow!

* Buy a single-target Endurance or STUN Drain, SFX: Whirlwind, requires at least 6" movement. You rush at your opponent and carry them briefly aloft in a superspeed vortex. When they land, they are exhausted from the velocity and motion.

These are some tricks that I've used for speedsters in games I've run, and games I've played in. They've been particularly effective. I have a few more, but they all involve martial arts, extra knockback, and minimum movement.

What else do you guys think Hotaru needs?

So I think I need some sort of outsider guidance. If Whippoorwill's a decent build, what do I need to do so she is able to show it? And if not, what do I need to change?

I think both of you are fine, from a player and character perspective. Again, not the GM, but we can't expect to be 100% effective right out of the gate. We're starting characters. We're supposed to fail a few times before we hit our stride and become big damn heroes.

I'm seriously considering losing my Speedster Tricks attack multipower, and swearing off Move Throughs, in place of the Speedster Martial Arts listed in Ultimate Speedster

This loses the AOE 2" radius "whirlwind punch everyone around me" ability (which I'd miss sometimes) and the massive KB (which I think is one of the funnest parts of Champions)...but in exchange I'd be much less swingy: Instead of a choice between 13d6 w/+5" knockback at the cost of rarely hitting and being easy to hit (-5 OCV/-3 DCV) OR keeping my defenses high but having anemic strikes (~6d6) that rarely even do STUN, I have a variety of choices I can make...and I keep my DCV high, which is good since I have the lowest PD/ED of the team.

mdt (or others) what do you think? (I wouldn't take all of those maneuvers, just listing the ones I'd consider.)

BTW, I believe I understand all of them except for Flying Throw. For that one, here's my understanding: the advantage over Passing Throw is that I can pick someone up and carry them to where I want to throw them (which sounds sweet!) The disadvantage(s): beside the -1/-2 penalties, does this take two rolls (one to grab and one to throw)? Does it actually take two phases (one to grab and one to throw)?

Actually, another Q: Move-by explicitly allows multiple move-bys at a cumulative -2 / target penalty. Several of these maneuvers seem *similar* to Move-bys...but would you allow the same thing (multiple moveby for a cumulative -2 penalty)? I can't find anywhere in Ultimate Speedster that answers that explicitly.

BTW, if you don't have the book let me know; I can email you a PDF.

EDIT: Violet, thanks for the tips! I'll play with them and see what I can do.

EDIT 2: Also Vi, I'm going to be training hard with you to build up some mental defenses. I'm debating between just building straight MD and needing to meditate to activate it (nonpersistent -1/4, full phase to activate a constant power -1/4). Either way, I know Ace critted me with that mental attack but still, I don't want to let that happen again!