This actually seems pretty cool and having the numbers handled for me is a nice bonus. Looked at the sample character sheet and pretty much knew right away that there's no way I'm pulling that off on my own. Had a couple of questions I didn't see an answer to when I looked over the thread though. Hopefully I'm not repeating anyone.
What's the tone of the game? Serious, light, dark?
How useful can I expect a character with little combat skill to be? Will there be chances for sneaky heroes, social heroes, or supportive heroes to do their things or is the focus on fighting?
How do you feel about a character that's already been captured by the government once already? One of my ideas was for a hero that was turned over early, studied and experimented on, and eventually turned into a walking, talking 'enhanced interrogation technique' for the government.
@Nevaal - Technology isn't there yet for that. It's set in the modern world, with modern tech. However, if you're just wanting to have that be a special effect of his powers, and make him a projector, that is possible. IE: He wouldn't actually be loading guns with hyper tech rounds, it would be a special effect of his powers. He'd actually manifest a gun and bullet, load them, and fire, but it wouldn't be an actual weapon. Anyone else who tried to use it would find it rapidly broke down into nothing in their hands.
@haruhik88 - As stated above, modern world. So, no aliens or alien groups starting off as power sources. However, if you wanted that power set, along with a ring that he feels helps him focus/activate his powers, that's doable. It'd be kind of like several other submissions where the person thinks one thing, but it's something else. I just don't want to add in an alien group that can be involved/called in/etc.
@Therasiph - Modern tech...
Looks like you bought your slots as Ultras based on the slot costs? That means you have to use them at full power if you activate that slot, so it would always be the maximum cost in active points, so 'up to' is meaningless. If you want to be able to adjust them, they have to be bought as normal slots at the higher rate. Honestly, after looking at the multipower, I think you might be better off with a VPP and limited to 'plant powers'. Let me see what I can do, and show it to you, and you decide. Background looks good, but I reserve the right to have her idea of the plant being alien to be delusional and part of her powers activating. :)
@Snape-dragon: Story seems good and your utter lack of 'Broodiness' is impressive. :)
Granted, being a planty brood symbiote is pretty close :p
I especially like the fact that she's unsure whether she's a plant pretending to be a person, or a person pretending to be a plant. Sort of existential. :)
@Calmlight - Mix, honestly. Sometimes things will be dark (finding half-eaten corpses), other times light (dealing with hormonal mutant teenagers when babysitting), usually serious but with humor. Yes, the game will be a mix of combat and non combat, so non-combat people are useful, but your character should be able to survive being around battling mutants, even if they don't contribute to the fight. Fine with someone who's already been captured and managed to escape. I'd need more specifics on the 'walking talking interrogation technique' to answer that last question.
That's reasonable, I completely forgot about the alien aspect for a moment, but that's comics for you. I was thinking more along the lines of like a power gauntlet or mysterious military grade prosthetic limb I woke up with one day that also let me summon some kind of lightning based minion that's made out of lightning (an x-ray might show that the limb just has one word on it... Tesla). If it's just a floating orb of electricity that's perfectly cool. But that was one aspect, I much prefer force fields etc, just made of lightning.
Seem to be plenty of submissions with possible Distinctive Features. Monstrous Mutant Support Group?
- IMHO, his Dexterity is too low for a Martist or Jedi. Is there a way to put Dex into the Multi-power, so he is supernaturally Dexterous when he is not focusing on other Jedi powers? He's using his mutant Telekinesis powers to be all-around supernaturally Dexterous, while he is not trying another Force power.
- Mind Tricks: Is Persuasion 16- going to be enough to persuade a Stormtrooper sergeant who is looking for the droids to NOT examine the droids with him? Or get a drug dealer to go home and re-examine his life?
- Combat Sense and Danger Sense: I don't quite remember what these do, but they take up a bunch of points. I would be okay faking the bad feelings. OR could you put Clairvoyance (present) in the Multi, so if he's blind he could "see" right in front of him OR "see" what another person is doing? It wouldn't be passive, he would need to "concentrate" on it.
- Double-jointed?
- Jedi Mind Trance: what's extended breathing?
- Multi-power: What about Jumping and Gliding? I would prefer the "concentration" come from him becoming less Dexterous (i.e. switching from his bonus Dexterity slot) than the concentration disad, which would affect his jumping and gliding allowing him to fall any distance without damage.
- I would prefer to eliminate the collapsible baton and add another +1 HTH DC. I find it too expensive for the flavor.
- If you dramatically increase his Dex (without affecting Speed) using the Multi-power, do you want to reduce his Defenses for game balance?
- Bottomline, I would prefer to move points from the Senses and Baton, into a Force powers Multi-power.
- As for disads, I could see something like vulnerability to lightning attacks or "Dark Side Force" powers to simulate extra anguish of facing a Sith Master
Thanks and Cheers
Jubal, Extended Breathing means you can hold your breath for longer than a normal human.
Hotaru Hoshi
Nineteen, College Freshman and Waitress
Projector/Scout specialization.
Instead, they had fled northwards and away from the oncoming storm, to stay with family until everything blew over. They'd taken those things they most cherished, thankfully, because everything they had worked for would be gone once they returned. But that's not what this is about. The first time Hotaru's powers kicked in was the night she'd left her home. Perhaps it was the immense stress of it all, but she was up all night listening to the radio steadily feed her information about the oncoming storm, the warnings and predictions of danger, the steady barrage of information that wouldn't quiet down. Worse... the radio wasn't even on.
She didn't sleep the following days, either. The steady arrival of information, landfall, of levees failing, of places being flooded, of destruction of the place she called her home, of blame and pain, sound bites, government officials on vacation, superstars spouting bigotry... and she was subjected to all of that. If it was bad for Hotaru, you could imagine how bad it must have been for the parents of a child who had no idea what was going on. She had always had headaches on occasion, frequently complained of her ears ringing, of staticky noises. The doctors diagnosed her with mild, nondangerous aural hallucinations; it wasn't really all that uncommon. Everyone heard the occasional voice, or fell victim to an ear worm or an altitude change.
After Katrina, Hotaru became a bit of a troubled child, though. She and her family moved to the suburbs of Memphis, where they decided to set up shop. Their old home had been completely destroyed along with everything in it. She had difficulty concentrating on the topic at hand, and frequently slipped into day dreams, fueled by the slow barrage of information that everyone blamed on an overactive imagination imprinted upon by other conversations. No one ever really tried to understand what was going on... so she retreated into fantasy. Video games, young adult fiction, and comic books became her pastimes as she mostly retreated.
She had other hobbies, as well, she was physically active, though not interested in sports, she helped with her parent's business, though not much more than being a gopher for tools. She enjoyed the idea of building things, and took several of the 'boy' classes in school, primarily shop and comp sci. By the time she had graduated from high school, her home life had stabilized considerably, though her family was still on the lower end of middle class; enough to pay down loans on her father's shop and their home, but not enough so that she could attend college without financial aid... which she didn't qualify for, due to being middle class. Luckily, her grades had been passable enough to get her a small scholarship at Tennessee Tech on the other side of the state, at least enough to pay for dorm and books.
To compensate, she took a heavy course load (to finish more quickly), took out student loans, and tacked on a job as a waitress. Steadily, her rapport with people improved... but so did her powers. As the stress of having a completely full semester, a late-night job, and absolutely no social life began to overwhelm her, the voices that she'd managed to mostly shut down with a cocktail of ADHD and Anti-Psychotic medication began to grow more boisterous. At its worst, there were many, many more voices. Concentration became harder and harder, and it was getting difficult to keep up with her job, which she compensated for with a notepad. She'd never really needed to take notes to remember things when she could be bothered to pay attention, but the voices were almost always worst at work.
But it was due to work that she discovered what was going on. She wasn't hearing voices per se... she was hearing cell phones. All of the conversations people were having in the tiny diner on her cell phones, she was picking up. Pieces fell into place. She was hearing AM radio when she was little. She could perceive radio and cell phone signals. That was amazing! She had to tell someone! No... that was a terrible idea. She settled on keeping her secret to herself, and tried to tease and tweak her power to see what she could actually get from it.
She could triangulate with cell phone towers. She could intercept calls and radiowaves. She could likewise turn them off, or send information through them. With work, it became like another language that she spoke... several, very complicated languages, that only ever existed fully in her head. She discovered she could create deadzones for such devices, and likewise discovered that attempting to connect to wireless was well beyond her ability to interpret, just now. She also learned, the hard way, that she could wipe hard drives with her frustration, when she lost an entire term paper and everything else on her computer.
All of this she did while managing to go to school, bike to work, and sleep around four hours a day. Worse, though, was that knowing that she could do these things made her question whether or not she was doing the right thing with her life. Sure, becoming an engineer and making sure that there was one more person double checking the structural integrity would save countless lives... but there were also lives to be saved on a smaller level. Hearing panicked nine-one-one calls in the middle of the night made it quite difficult to push down her ingrained good samaritan, and worse, she couldn't ever get her favorite motto to die down in her head. with great power, comes great responsibility.
But what could she do against an armed gunman? Worse, her life was so very, very in the way of training to become a hero. All she could do was try to be moral support.
************************
Once I have a better idea of what I'll be working with, I can probably move forward a bit with her timeline, powers, how she reacted, and the like. :)
Luckily, for origin purposes, her powers mostly fly under the radar. Haha, get it? Ha... ha...
Stat weights as I see them are Int-Dex-Con-Body, other... I think. She should still be personable, not monstrous, but neither a skilled manipulator, but with an average ego; susceptible to peer pressure, slight self-doubt, but still with drive. Strength probably on the lower end; physically fit like a runner, not a bodybuilder.
@Jem: Whoa, that's a really fast fly speed
Well it may get a lot slower depending on how my points work out after toning down the Mental Multipower. We'll see.
Oh, and Jubal - not sure if you are entirely familiar with the math in HERO, but a 16 or less Persuasion roll is actually quite good. You're looking for 16 or lower on 3D6 - mdt might then allow the Stormtrooper/National Guardsman a roll of some type to resist, but usually that's not going to happen. If your target does get a roll, you'll very likely have a rather large margin of success against him and succeed by a landslide.
I haven't seen your character, but do you have any skill levels? Skill Levels on Presence Based Skills might do you some good if you're nervous about such things.
Oh, question for mdt:
If you want to figure out who wins a thumb war, you compare DEX rolls.
If you want to figure out who spotted something first, you compare PERCEPTION rolls.
If you want to find out who can drink who under the table, you compare CON rolls.
But if you want to figure out who wins and arm wrestling match, you are suddenly rolling Casual Strength and doing damage to your opponent, even if only of the symbolic kind.
It's long been my experience that Casual Strength seems to be a rule put into the game by one of the designers who appeared to want a way to have grapple/damage-shield based martial artists take down bricks. Adding DC's to STR, Martial Maneuvers that give you additional dice of STR for holds, etc - couple those with Damage Shields and you have effective take-downs. But for figuring out "can you beat someone in an arm wrestling match," it doesn't really work. Contests of characteristics should all be determined the same way, imho, and Casual Strength doesn't do that.
Anyway, just a thought.
I'll try to have a modified sheet before too much longer, but work must come first.
I thought casual strength was just to determine what your character could casually pick up with no time by cutting your strength in half and using that number's carrying capacity. A 20 Strength, for example, could casually pick up their injured ally, since 10 Strength is enough to lift a human being.
I thought casual strength was just to determine what your character could casually pick up with no time by cutting your strength in half and using that number's carrying capacity. A 20 Strength, for example, could casually pick up their injured ally, since 10 Strength is enough to lift a human being.
It's also used to determine if you can break out of/keep a hold, a bind, or other things. It's entirely possible to keep hold of someone via Casual and they can never break out because they can't overcome it.
I'll play with the rule in the game, it's just never sat well with me.
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The way I handle it is this. Active grapples are str vs str, either stat check or damage check, either or, as the player prefers. Casual Str is what you use to do something as a zero phase action. In other words, Mr. Martial Artist with his 25STR martial grab tries to hold onto Stupor Brick with his 80 STR. Stupor can use 40 str as casual str to break the grapple as a zero phase action. Either via check or counting body on dice.
That works. Thank you for the info. :)
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Thanks Jemstone. It's been over 20 years since I've played Champs, which is why I asked. Embedded in the question is also about how MDT effectively handles Charm Person, because there's variation. I want to be on the same page as him with the character.
Cheers
- IMHO, his Dexterity is too low for a Martist or Jedi. Is there a way to put Dex into the Multi-power, so he is supernaturally Dexterous when he is not focusing on other Jedi powers? He's using his mutant Telekinesis powers to be all-around supernaturally Dexterous, while he is not trying another Force power.
20 is normal human maximum. So he's up there with Bruce Lee. If you really wanted to boost it more, I can do that, but then we'll need to pull your damage level's back some.
- Mind Tricks: Is Persuasion 16- going to be enough to persuade a Stormtrooper sergeant who is looking for the droids to NOT examine the droids with him? Or get a drug dealer to go home and re-examine his life?
It won't work on someone who has a very good reason to be suspicious (like, a cop who's actively looking for someone that perfectly fits Jack's description for murder). However, it should allow him to talk his way out of most situations. You had said you wanted martial more than mentalist. Short of actual mind control, that's the best simulation I could do for it.
- Combat Sense and Danger Sense: I don't quite remember what these do, but they take up a bunch of points. I would be okay faking the bad feelings. OR could you put Clairvoyance (present) in the Multi, so if he's blind he could "see" right in front of him OR "see" what another person is doing? It wouldn't be passive, he would need to "concentrate" on it.
Combat Sense literally is 'I fight normal while blind'. You make a combat sense check, and if successful, you fight HTH without penalty at all. It very accurately represents that 'Force guide my movements' thing. I don't like using clairvoyance as it would just duplicate the same power, and do it cheaper, which you're not supposed to do, to be honest. You don't want to make it concentrate, as that would negate the benefit (concentrate halves your DCV at least, which is the same as being blind).
Danger sense is spidey sense, the force warning him before he is ambushed or hurt in combat.
- Double-jointed?
+3 bonus to Contortion skill (if you pick it up), and occassionally Breakfall. We can drop it if you want.
- Jedi Mind Trance: what's extended breathing?
You slow your body so you don't need as much oxygen. Rather than losing 1 endurance per phase for holding your breath, you lose 1 per turn. Basically you can hold your breath for a lot longer than most people (Almost 7 minutes).
- Multi-power: What about Jumping and Gliding? I would prefer the "concentration" come from him becoming less Dexterous (i.e. switching from his bonus Dexterity slot) than the concentration disad, which would affect his jumping and gliding allowing him to fall any distance without damage.
I already bought you some running, jumping, and even swimming, up to human maximum. Not that he's at human maximum, but that he's using his jedi powers to unconsciously boost his running/swimming/leaping. I would really like to avoid putting non-TK powers into the MP for now, especially not characteristics. I could see adding some flight with a limitation something like 'only to avoid falling and knockback' if you like. That would be him using TK to slow his fall or keep from being knocked around.
- I would prefer to eliminate the collapsible baton and add another +1 HTH DC. I find it too expensive for the flavor.
That's fine, we can do that.
- If you dramatically increase his Dex (without affecting Speed) using the Multi-power, do you want to reduce his Defenses for game balance?
It would be his HTH damage that would need to be reduced, his dex going up would boost his defense and his offense.
- Bottomline, I would prefer to move points from the Senses and Baton, into a Force powers Multi-power.
That's fine, if you like, but honestly he's already a very powerful martial artist. He could go toe-to-toe with a brick as he is.
- As for disads, I could see something like vulnerability to lightning attacks or "Dark Side Force" powers to simulate extra anguish of facing a Sith Master
Vulnerability to lightning would work.
Thanks Jemstone. It's been over 20 years since I've played Champs, which is why I asked. Embedded in the question is also about how MDT effectively handles Charm Person, because there's variation. I want to be on the same page as him with the character.
Cheers
Again, I haven't seen your character, so forgive me if I'm asking something you've covered. Does your character have any kind of Mind Control? Mind Control would be something more akin to Charm Person, while Persuasion as a Skill is more in line with "He was dead when I got here, I swear!"
I have to say I'm really excited to see how your character shapes up. It's similar to an idea I'd bounced around in my head for another game years ago, but never got around to pulling off. :)
(Edit)
I see mdt answered my questions for me. :)
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I think the ideas I'm tossing around right now are:
Megaton, a girl able to shift her own density from super dense (able to shrug off bullets and crush enemies just by landing on them) to super light (able to leap great distances and even go so far as to pass through solid objects). She's learned to alter the mass of her fists as she punches too, increasing their weight a hundredfold just before impact.
Overclock, a female speedster whose superspeed generates a lot of excess heat, which has the double-edged side effect of adding additional heat-based damage to her strikes, but also limiting just how long she can stay at her maximum speed. Use it too much, and she starts to get burned by her own power!
Both are characters I've played in other superhero games (City of Heroes being the number one), and I'd love to get the chance to play either of them again.
I have a bunch more ideas, but those two are the ones I'm most enthused by at the moment.
I disagree about Silver spider, if you switch the payload of the gun to sticky net and remove the servos he works fine, of course I would want to upgrade the gun when higher tech became available
@Jemstone, MDT linked my character here
Mind Trick - Thanks for the clarification. Don't you think the "Stormtrooper - droid" example fits your "cop who's actively looking for someone that perfectly fits Jack's description for murder" example? If yes, can we put Mind Control in the Multi-power and call it Force Powers instead of just TK?
Danger Sense and Combat Sense - You're right. Those powers model the Jedi well.
Jumping & Gliding - I would be fine with base 7" move; I didn't see the points spent on increasing base movements on the sheet. I would really like a big Leap ability and a little Gliding to allow him to fall without damage if possible. I'm just imagining those big leaps and falls by Luke, Obi-Wan and Anakin. Have you played Star Wars Saga edition with the Surge Force Power (like Move Object & Mind Trick Force Powers)? That's what I'm thinking. This could fit in a Force Powers Multi, too; maybe in one slot or two non-maximum slots to work together. I don't imagine any Knockback resistance, and would be OK following in Obi-Wan's footsteps running to catch up to the fight after he was knocked back.
Extended Breathing & Double-Jointed - I'm not familiar with associating these power with Jedi. I thought they always used to those Rebreathers and lightsabers.
Thanks for all the effort. Hope you're enjoying the character creation, too. Cheers!
I'd missed the link of your character, but honestly I probably wouldn't have read it at all - I tend to keep my eyes off of other people's sheets unless specifically asked to do so. Personal preference, mostly. :)
When I'm not at work I'll take a gander at it, though. :)
@mdt: Ah, That's a mistake of notation on my part (I used "flex" and "fixed" instead of "ultra" and "multi"). Growth and Shape Shift are priced as ultras; everything else is multi/flexible (and one or two things were underpriced, I've double-checked that and corrected a few points/lowered my stun a tiny bit to compensate). My big reason for picking MP over VPP is the 48-active point-cost investment of shape shifting; but also VPPs strike me as a little vague and difficult to use. (Also, I've got abilities like Growth, Density Increase and Fly capped at a level that's unusual but doesn't defy physics by a ton, and I'd prefer to not be tempted to allow them to go higher unless something kicks her powers up another notch).
As for "alien," fair enough; I meant less "space alien" and more "she has no idea what it is," but a delusion that she's outer space-powered seems pretty reasonable. "Bitten by radioactive kudzu" also works, but I leave it up to whatever sinister agency/corporation/invaders/genetics quirk is giving humans powers behind the scenes; being skilled at plant genetics might help her to figure it out once it makes sense to in the plot.
(Also, are my OCV/DCV values reasonable? I started with higher dex, but my combat skills seemed too high for someone with little formal martial arts training yet, and I decreased strength to a human level while figuring I could get a bit of boost out of growth/density if necessary)
@Hotaru: Thanks! I've gotten a bit tired of creating new characters who are serious and broody (Teniel is, in his mind, a bundle of joy and laughter, but he's also part-soul-sucking shadow monster, so it's a bit relative). I figure a great way to keep a character jolly is for them to suddenly discover they're better at everything (a la the plot of all 18 spidermen reboots), and perfect disguise/healing factor is a great way to get rid of the fears normal new-heroes tend to worry about. (Also, I think it'll be fun to play my favorite comic book character, though I added weakness to salt/water and the jolly fun ability to radiate an aura of hay fever. "Person pretending to be plant" vs. "plant pretending to be person" was a major plot for Black Orchid and Swamp Thing, and both cases turned out to be the latter, though I think Poison Ivy's still the former)
Also, taking ADHD medicine and antipsychotics together is usually a pretty bad idea (you're combining a stimulant and narcotic), and certainly not great for a "hearing voices" problem, although IIRC some doctors will prescribe antipsychotics for some of ritalin's side effects.
@Jubal: Earlier in the recruitment, mdt said "No skills above 15- without special circumstances." So 16- Persuasion is pretty freakin' good. I've built a master of disguise over here, and I'm still looking at 14- or 15- in all the relevant skills probably qualifying as "master."
OK, I'm going all in on a speedster! Should be fun, I've wanted to play one in Champions for many years and never have.
Will be a runner with plenty of speed tricks, so needs to stay on the ground but can run up walls or on the surface of water, and can spin people around to make them dizzy, pack a punch on a moveby or movethrough (though will feel the pain himself as well), take in the details of a situation in slow-mo, etc.
I'll work on a rough draft of crunch and start to work up fluff as well. More to come!
Ok, one last try, and then I'll switch it out, as you request.
Here's the thing, the 'jedi mind trick' is VERY hard to do in Champions.
Let's take a bog standard human guard (EGO 10).
To convince the storm trooper the droids you have aren't the droids he's looking for, you have to beat his EGO by a certain amount...
Results
> EGO : Target will perform actions he’s inclined to perform anyway
Target believes any statement which doesn’t contradict prior
knowledge
EGO+10 : Target will perform actions he wouldn’t mind doing
Target will believe any statement that doesn’t contradict reality
under direct observation
EGO+20 : Target will perform actions he is normally against doing
Target will believe any statement that does not contradict
strongly held personal beliefs or principles (such as Psychological
Limitations)
EGO+30 : Target will perform actions he is violently opposed to doing
Target will believe statements that contradict strongly held personal
beliefs or principles (including Psychological Limitations)
or that contradict reality under direct observation.
So, we need to get EGO+30 right there, since he's looking at the droids. Might drop it to +25 since he doesn't *know* the droids are the ones he wants, but they fit the description.
Modifiers (can be applied at any level)
-5 Order is worded in an exceptionally convincing manner
+5 Order is poorly conceived or contradictory
-10 Order matches target’s Psychological Limitations
+10 Order contradicts target’s Psychological Limitations
+10 Target will not remember actions
+20 Target will remember actions and think they were natural
Now we get to the modifiers, if you don't go with the +10 or +20 route, he'll remember the actions, but remember he didn't want to not check the droids until you said something. It'll stick out in his mind. +20 if there's a witness who'll ask him about it later (like in the scene in Star Wars).
So, we need EGO+50, which equals 60. And you have to get 60 on your dice roll. So, if you have 10D6 of mind control (remember, our game is aiming for about 10 or 12 dice of attack powers) then that mind control must roll all 6's to get what you need. Or mostly 6's if it's just one guy by himself.
That's why I went with the Persuasion skill above average in effect, because that's all normal, no special need to roll really high. So, where do you want to pull the 60 points from for your 12D6 Mind control to have a very slim chance of pulling this off?
As to the dex, I'm ok moving it up to 20. For the flight/gliding, I've already said I'd be fine adding in a slot on the multipower for flight (only to safely fall), which should work yes?
The running is 10", not 7". Just to give you an idea of how fast that is...
If you run every action, that's 20" x 4 per turn, or 80" per turn. Each inch is 2 meters, so 160 meters per turn. Each turn is 12 seconds long, and there are 5 turns per minute. So, 160x5 = 800meters per minute (not quite the minute kilometer, but it is a 2 minute mile). Sixty minutes in an hour, which is 60*800 = 48000, or 48KM per hour (30 miles an hour). To put that in perspective, the best marathon runners in the world today do a 10K in 30 minutes, that's 20KM per hour. I think you're exceedingly jedi fast.
:) Yeah, I should run things like that by my pharmacy friends before I just suggest them. Who knows, maybe my character is just crazy. :)
At the moment, it's still very much in development. I'm hoping for a sort of organic build, and very open to suggestions for how it grows, once Almighty Kittiface reaches me. :)
Whippoorwill
Still needs another 30 pts of disads. For the ranged attacks, I went with pinfeathers that grow in her wings, which she flings from the wings, similar to what Archangel does. They grow back every week, so she has to be ab it careful on how she uses them, but she's got 8 of each pinfeather. About half are area of effect, so she isn't too worried about hitting. The ones that don't say area of effect on them are direct wound weapons (mostly the Armor Piercing, Penetrating, and 9D6 one). I think it get's the flavor of the character, in the points alloted, without being overpowered, overcheesed on limitations, or under-skilled for her background. I threw in some basic conversation in a half-dozen languages given her mercenary background.
@Stalwart: Hmm... Whippoorwill seems below human maxima in all characteristics. I believe there's a 20-pt disadv for that, but I'm not sure if it's a limit you'd want to surpass later instead.
@MDT: How are you creating those character sheets? Is there an obviously-public fillable PDF I've somehow missed? (I'm having fun with the google sheets version, but not sure if I should standardize it)
Is there anything you'd need from me to get a rough draft of Drider, MDT?
@Thunderbeard - I intentionally didn't give Whippoorwill that limitation. I didn't want to limit the character, as I foresee her boost dex and speed down the road. However, if the player wants to take them, it is in deed a 20 pt limitation and would help toward disad totals.
@Thunderbeard - They are created by Hero Designer version 3. It's an application you can buy on the Hero website. I can link if you're interested.
@Hat-Trick - Not yet, I'm working down my list in the order I got them on the list. You're coming up. But I'm also busy at work, and it takes an hour or so to make each one. Even with the program. Creating a character without it can take half a day. Complex system (math attacks! It's especially effective!).
Goo
Ok, so here's how I went about it. Goo has desolidification, but it only works against physical damage. Bullets, punches, telekinesis, etc. However, cold and acid still affect him normally. Normally, powers that affect others have to be bought at triple cost if you're desolid (because they can't affect you). I doubled the cost instead, because you can be affected by energy attacks (half the cost of desolid, half the cost of affects physical world, half the benefit of desolid). You only have 30 str normally, this makes you stronger than a normal human, but you can't pick up a car and throw it (you can pick up and throw a motorcycle). However, you can grow, gaining strength and pick up and throw a car, but only for a limited time (endurance runs out and you pass out). You can also shrink your form down small, to the size of a test tube about, for a limited time. You can move through anything that isn't solid (even if it's only a thimble sized hole). You can stretch up to 10 inches (20 meters). You can entangle someone by wrapping around them, but your lack of physical body means they can break free rather easily unless they are a normal human. You can shape shift into any shape you want, and you'll look like it, feel like it, and sound like. You just are always black, so you need to be careful what you pick. You have some decent life support (no need to breath or sleep, safe in high pressure, safe in zero G, safe in high radiation, and immune to all diseases and biowarfare agents (mainly due to the lack of blood, organs, and nervous system)).
Yeah, I figured it was a matter of time. I know how long it can take to put together a HERO character. I just wanted to make sure you had what you needed from me.
If I get in the game I'll probably buy this app. These sheets look very cool and I like the system (at least what I can remember of it! Lol). As for my character, ideas being discussed with the GM and loving the concept so far.
** spoiler omitted **
One thing on the sheet I noticed: is there a sixth pinfeather ability name that got left off? My best guess is it's the flare quill.
So, 30 points of disadvantages. Hmm. One thing I may suggest is some sort of Insomnia/nightmares, that gives her a decreased resistance to sleep attacks.
There's also the possibility of her former mercenary organization that would be looking to track her down, once they learn of her. Maybe the mercs also got exposed to the same mutagenic compound and are now all powered (possibly the original intent of the mission in the first place?).
Otherwise, I don't know enough about the system to comment on everything else. I do like the skill set and the languages. I watch the Agents of Shield, so it makes me feel like she's on the level of Melinda May or Bobbi. :)
I will be working on his background a little more, if I have any questions I'll run them by you.
@Stalwart: Hmm... Whippoorwill seems below human maxima in all characteristics. I believe there's a 20-pt disadv for that, but I'm not sure if it's a limit you'd want to surpass later instead.
She's mostly human, with the exception of her wings and certain flight adaptations. I'm okay with her being below human maximums, as long as she can hold her own in a fight. I'd like her to be close to peak human in fighting ability since she's been fighting and training all her life and is a combat veteran.
I'm not familiar with this system. What I'm getting is that you're suggesting that a 20-point disad could be taken that would have her always be below human maximums. I'm not sure about that either, since I'd like her to be peak human in terms of fighting.
** spoiler omitted **
Okay, dropping the Multipower to 50 Active and taking Flight and Mind Link out put me way over 350 (Mind Link alone was 40 points). I've nuked Mind Link entirely, and used the remaining points to do a few changes:
The Ego Attack is now 5D6, bringing it to the requisite 50 Active Points.
Violet now has an aid to Presence, allowing her to be spooky and creepy and Bad Cop when necessary.
She also has a (standard effect) Mental Illusions power.
I've upped the END Reserve to 60 End with a 5 REC.
I've lowered the Universal Translator from 16 or Less to 14 or Less.
I've added Lightsleep, as it can be hard to sneak up on a Mentalist, even when sleeping.
I went ahead and pushed Comeliness up to 16, why bother with half a point?
Shareable link is here
I can drop any of these changes if they don't fit. Taking a couple of them out would enable me to drop a disadvantage, actually, which would put me in at less than 350, but I don't mind. :)
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The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is the high Oratory, because it doesn't fit my Jedi concept.
Those 9 points for the +3 for Conversation, Oratory & Persuasion. Would you consider 6 pts for +3 Persuasion and 3 pts for +X Persuasion (with the limitation that the extra bonuses only offset penalties)? Or 4 pts and 5 pts with the limitation? Therefore, he would focus only on Persuasion, and the base roll would be less than 17- while being able to say more suspicious things.
Thanks again.
EDIT Reading Danger Sense, I would be alright with adding Intuitional -5 to his Danger Sense. I don't want to launch premeditated attacks just have full defense.
EDIT Just thinking. Does he need so high an EGO? Cheers
BTW, I found an electronic copy of Hero System 5th edition Revised on the Net.
Cheers
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Everything looks fine. Just to make sure, you are aware the powers have to be powered by the reserve, or your personal endurance, one or the other right? MP counts as one power (so all the slots would be off the same thing). I just noticed you bumped your endurance up to 49 as well, so wanted to make sure you were aware of that. There's an advantage
Power Can Draw END From Character Or Endurance Reserve (+¼): A power that can draw END from either the character’s personal END or the Endurance Reserve is bought with a +¼ Advantage (which, as usual, increases the END cost of the power). Buy this Advantage for the power that draws END, not the Endurance Reserve.
Other than that, I'm ok with the build.
** spoiler omitted **
BTW, I found an electronic copy of Hero System 5th edition Revised on the Net.
Cheers
Thanks for the link.
** spoiler omitted **
Yep, I'm on top of that.
All the powers in the Multi-power should be drawing on the reserve. Anything outside the Multi-power should be drawing from her personal Endurance.
I did this deliberately so that I'd have to be careful about what I threw around, and when. Given the "Emergent Powers" nature of your world, I wanted to limit the character in some way so as to fit that genre.
I don't foresee needing that advantage, but I didn't know about it at all, so I'm considering whether or not to add it at a later point.
Glad you like the build. If you want, I can mail you the .hdc file. Drop me a PM. :)
Submission Requests will be officially allowed through Midnight tonight.
Then, assuming my work schedule allows, I'll get the characters all built and finalized by Friday.
Then I'll make my decision this weekend.
That doesn't mean you have to have your character done by today.
It means if you've posted interest already, or before midnight today, you will get a chance to finalize your character for consideration. The exact day of recruitment end will depend on when I can get them done.
Submission List
Character's Built
Jubal Breakbottle - Jedi Jack - Martial Artist/(Minor) Mentalist
Jemstone - Violet - Mentalist
Stalwart - Whippoorwill - Flying Projector
Gaming Ranger - Dark Goo - Morpher
Character's being built
Hat-Trick - Drider - Multi-Type focused on Defense/Entangles
Character's to be built
Hotaru-face - Magnetic Projector
Arch-lich - Battlefield Controller
Newbonomicon - Bio-Energy Projector
Zoey-face - Density Control Brick
Calmlight - Shadow based Scout
Gyrfalcon - Speedster
Still awaiting decisions on what to submit
Korak - ????
Morphling - Density or Speedster or ????
If I missed anyone, let me know.
Submission List
Character's Built
Jubal Breakbottle - Jedi Jack - Martial Artist/(Minor) Mentalist
Jemstone - Violet - Mentalist
Stalwart - Whippoorwill - Flying Projector
Gaming Ranger - Dark Goo - Morpher
Character's being built
Hat-Trick - Drider - Multi-Type focused on Defense/Entangles
Thunderbeard - Snapdragon - Plant based Morpher
Character's to be built
Hotaru-face - Magnetic Projector
Arch-lich - Battlefield Controller
Newbonomicon - Bio-Energy Projector
Zoey-face - Density Control Brick
Calmlight - Shadow based Scout
Gyrfalcon - Speedster
Still awaiting decisions on what to submit
Korak - ????
Morphling - Density or Speedster or ????
If I missed anyone, let me know.
I've had a chance to look over the character more this morning, some feedback. Sorry I left you off the first list, since you built your own it wasn't on my 'I need to build' list. :)
1 - Defenses : The way your defenses are built, you'll be almost unable to use your MP for anything other than defense in a combat situation, otherwise you'll go down hard and fast.
2 - Dex/SPD/Damage : It's hard to tell how much damage you're kicking out. It might be fine, it might be a bit high, or a bit low. Do you think you could figure out for me what you think you'd be cranking based on your current build?
I still think a focused VPP with specific power layouts would be the best way to handle this. Basically, the VPP would have the limit of 'Fixed Power Sets Only'. Then you'd just pick a power set. It would certainly be no more complicated than a multipower built with multi slots rather than ultras. Probably less so, since all the math would be done ahead of time, and the only thing to do is pick which power set you're using at any given time. So, I'll ask again, if I can use your current as a base and do a 'how about this' on the VPP idea.
Drider
Ok, so she's still 35 pts of disads short, so we'll need to figure out some more disadvantages. Maybe some vulnerabilities or something.
She can swing, leap, cling to sheer surfaces, just like a spider. :) She has an autofire killing attack (not that I expect her to use it a lot). It says 5 shots, but it's really 4 (one for each leg). She has chitinous armor. She has the ability to grab things with a web line (up to 10" away), she can entangle things, and she can throw hardened webbing balls at things. She can also make silk cloth.
Take your time, mdt! I'm loving the sheets I'm seeing (and confessedly learning with them... Hehe).
When puberty began, Jack discovered the Force was real. He started moving small things with his mind. At first, he tried to show his parents and friends, but the Force wouldn’t work when he knew someone was paying attention. They made fun of him, so he kept it to himself. In that bottle inside himself where he kept his knowledge of the Force grew an overwhelming concern to avoid falling to the Dark Side. He watched Episode V over and over again to duplicate the training of Luke by Yoda and Episodes I to III as a warning of what could happen. He memorized all of the wisdom of Yoda and the other Jedi Masters. He practiced avoiding fear, which leads to anger, which leads to hate, which leads to the Dark Side.
Outwardly, Jack continued to be a relatively normal kid in high school. He was a short guard on the junior varsity basketball team who never missed when he needed to make a bucket. He was a full back in soccer who was very stingy on defense. Deft use of telekinesis helps in ball games. Overall, he was not a star in academics, society, or sports. However, he did begin to train in the local Karate dojo. In private, Jack trained himself in the use of the Force.
While Jack has read everything there is to read about the Star Wars universe, he has problems imagining Force powers that he has not seen in the movies. Therefore, his current repertoire of powers are only from the movies. Using the Force, Jack earned a black belt at his dojo before graduating high school.
In college, Jack majors in philosophy specializing on Eastern philosophies that underpin the Force. He minors in English focusing on hero story-telling. He has taken language classes in Mandarin, Korean and Japanese but is not terribly proficient. He belongs to several clubs of languages and books that discuss his interests, while he continues training at a Taekwondo dojo that focuses on the five tenets that he finds resemble the Jedi Code.
* Courtesy Showing courtesy to all, respecting others, having manners as well as maintaining the appropriate etiquette at all times, both within and outside the designated training area.
* Integrity means not only to determine what is right or wrong but also having the conscience to feel guilty if one has done wrong and to have the integrity stand up for what is right.
* Perseverance One will persevere time and time again until they have achieved a result which is adequate towards what one was trying to achieve.
* Self-control means to not only have control over one's physical acts, but also their mental thoughts and actions.
* Indomitable spirit means to have the courage to stand up for what you believe in, no matter what odds you are up against, and to always give 100% effort in whatever you do.
While he regularly quotes the Star Wars movies, he avoids using movie quotations when he wants to sound serious. He accepts that most people think the Force is not real, so he hides his belief with historical corollaries. However, he attempts to live by the codes of the Jedi:
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.
Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.
Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect.
Jedi respect all life, in any form.
Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.
Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.
Actuality Jack is a mutant mentalist. His powers could have developed in any number of ways but now express themselves as Force powers. While he has never been hit by lightning, it will most certainly cause him additional mental anguish, because the association with Dark Side of the Force. He is 20 years old. I will situate his suburban childhood and college when we identify the campaign setting. He has never considered becoming a super hero, so he doesn’t have a nom de guerre picked out. Maybe “Jedi”, but he doesn’t want a lawsuit from Disney. However, he is the archetype hero character.
Development In the future, he will continue to train himself in the ways of the Force, because he still considers himself a Padawan. He probably will spend his first experience points developing skills that he uses in the game, e.g. Stealth. Eventually, I could see him developing a “knight’s quest” to defeat an enemy, such that he would consider himself a Jedi Knight.
Role-playing opportunity Potentially in one of the first adventures, a villain who would become Jack’s “knight’s quest” would accidently/purposefully kill Jack’s father. Then, Jack would start imagining his father talking to him like Luke and Obi-Wan.
Thanks again for all the build effort in character development.
PS I EDITed my previous post about Intuitional Danger Sense in case you missed it. Cheers
Also, the Spin Silk power mentions Time as I believe it's "healing" clause? Does that mean any cloth she makes out of it is temporary, or will last as long as normal cloth would?
Disad wise, I remember something about Spiders getting drunk off caffeine, could work that into a susceptibility? The only other idea I can think of is vulnerability to scent based powers or aversion to strong scents from looking up Spider repelling techniques.
Interesting thing I've learned: Antipsychotics have seen a huge increase in use in combating ADHD and the like. One study found that the amount of antipsychotics prescribed to young adults (most of which for adhd, weird!) jumped seven-fold from the nineties to the mid 2ks. Given that Katrina hit in 2k5, this means it's not only reasonable, but likely (65% of antipsychotics in 2k9, prescribed to 9 year olds, were for ADHD. The source being 'ghost sounds' only reinforces the probability) that Hotaru was put on an antipsychotic (as opposed to Ritalin) to begin with. Crazy.