I agree still has a grate use you thinking of stacking it with another power?
If you read the previous power I posted, you'll see how it lines up.
This will all be in an array.
Current plan:
Sub-Vocal Hypnosis [Array]
Power Feats: Subtle
Flaws: Language-Dependent, Sense-Dependent (hearing)
Drawbacks: Power Loss (requires voice)
The yet unnamed character has, through extensive study of hypnosis and sub-vocal techniques, developed a means of modulating her voice in a way that makes the subject's mind easy to manipulate. The uncanny ability of the human mind to rationalise acts performed under hypnosis means that most do not realise they were ever controlled and tend to believe they just dreamed what occured or pass it off as a lapse of judgement.
Source: Training
Descriptors: Aural, Hypnosis
Cost: 1 pp/2 ranks + 1 pp per alternate power
- Hypnotic Persuasion [Mind Control]
Extras: Conscious, Insidious
Flaws: Duration (instant)The subject is given a brief verbal command, laced with sub-vocal imperatives that hypnotically override the decision-making parts of the mind.
Cost: 3 pp/rank
- Hypnotic Trance [Transform]
Power Options: Mental Transform (memory and personality)
Extras: Range (perception)
Flaws: Action (full action)The classic trick of hypnotists, this trance places the subject in a state where they believe they are someone else and act accordingly, a suggestion implanted into their mind. Such a drastic dissonance means that after being dehypnotised, subjects recall that they were under a trance and know that is why they were acting strangely.
Cost: 3 pp/rank
- Incite Emotion [Emotion Control]
Extras: InsidiousA few key words can bring about a riotous change in the subject's emotional state, leaving them with no knowledge of why they feel that way.
Cost: 3 pp/rank
- Malleate Will [Drain]
Power Options: One Trait (will)
Extras: Alternate Save (will), Insidious, Range (perception)
Flaws: Action (full action)The subject is given subtle suggestions that makes them more malleable and easily influenced by other hypnotic imperatives.
Cost: 3 pp/rank
- Modify Memory [Transform]
Power Options: Mental Transform (memory and recollection)
Extras: Insidious, Range (perception)
Flaws: Action (full action)With a brief exchange of words, a section of the subject's memory may be altered to depict recalled events differently or even blank out entire stretches of time. While the subject will eventually regain these memories, they will not realise why they forgot them.
Cost: 3 pp/rank
- Uncanny Insight [Mind Reading] (default)
Extras: Action (move), Duration (sustained), Insidious
Flaws: Limited to Surface ThoughtsMerely by observing a subject, sufficient subtle cues that would be missed by the untrained can be gathered to determine what he or she is thinking at the time.
Cost: 3 pp/rank
Awesome array Umbral also understandable and keeps a tight theme :)
Special Commission North America
The Great War is over and peace has settled over the majority of the world once again. But the war has changed the world. The sky is grayer. A bit of innocence is lost. Everyone has a sense that things are not the same. Long held hatreds still bubble just beneath the service. The war has awakened something else.
The League of Nations struggles to hold this precarious peace together against threats both mundane and not so mundane. You have been chosen as part of an elite group operating in North America to investigate what are best described as 'weird' possible threats to the peace and security of the world.
PL 8 / 120pp
Normally I ask for character backgrounds. But they can often be pretentious and boring. Some people just do not like writing them. So this time, I am not going to ask for backgrounds. Like some great novels and movies, we will uncover backgrounds through flashbacks. This can keep them from slowing down the pace until they are relevant. Reserve 5pp to add Feats/Skills you may decide to make part of your background at an appropriate time in game.
Most everyone wanted to play a 'good guy', so I expect your characters to act accordingly. In addition, I want another driving motivation for each character. Why does the character do what they do? Did their father drill a sense of duty into them? Did something awful happen to their sister and they swore to never let it happen to anyone again?
In addition, I want an named NPC for each PC; someone that PC cares deeply about. No one is an island.
In my experience, combat in a PBP game is a long, drawn out affair. I am not much of a fan of combat anyway, so it will not be a focus of this campaign. That is not to say there will not be any combat. I expect everyone to hit their caps. When combat does happen, I do not want anyone sitting on the sideline.
This campaign will focus on investigation and interpersonal relationships.
Of important note, my enthusiasm for this campaign is inversely proportional to the level of effort I must apply to challenge your characters mechanically. What I mean by that is that if I have to put a lot of time and energy trying to figure out how to work around your abilities, I am going to loose interest and likely wander off. If you really want to play in this campaign, work with me. I promise not to screw your character over. In fact, I may go so far as to simply let you narrate how you defeat mooks and reserve big fights for big finales.
I am seriously considering implementing the Soap Opera plug in from Amagi Games. I am thinking, if I do this, you do not get your usual Hero Point at the start of the game. You would get 3 + additional ones from Luck for adding or escalating a relationship. I am not married to this idea yet and I am open to feedback. I do ask that before you flip out and run screaming in fear of such a radical change that you give it thoughtful consideration. Again, I am not out to screw over players and devise some way to rob them of Hero Points. In fact, I plan to be overly generous with them. I simply want to reward what I find to be one of the most appealing aspects of role playing games: character interaction.
Rather than a sudden flood of full on character builds, I would like people to discuss what role they want their character to fill. Combat is not a role. Everyone will be capable of fighting. What does your character bring to the table that no one else can? I think it is important that everyone discuss this before people start building characters so they do not step on each other's toes. I am not asking who is playing the healer. I do not care if you do not have a healer. I will adjust the adventures to the roles you do fill. One person has already made a claim for manipulator, so others should be careful not to make a character that can also manipulate.
Some notes on proposed characters/power builds:
I have 4-6 PCs of 120 pp and now, possibly 5 more summoned NPCs of exactly 120 pp? No thank you. You may be thinking, '...but you control them!' Well yes, but I have my own NPCs to juggle. I do not want 5 more tossed on my plate. Especially since I am going to ask each player to give me at least one. Not to mention, with your own nearly equal team, you have made the rest of the group irrelevant. Please reconsider.
Malleate Will - In order to throw an obstacle at the group that you can not simply control, I give someone some defenses. But you just breeze through that as well. Perhaps I am missing something. How do you envision this combo not being a win button 90% of the time?
As I said earlier, I am not interested in making the challenges mechanically difficult. No one needs to optimise. I want to tell an interesting story. And the story can not be interesting if nothing ever goes wrong for the protagonists.
If I have not run everyone off, let's discuss the Soap Opera add on and roles!
Do I ever shut up?
I forgot to discuss origins. I left it vague because I want to leave it up to the individuals. 'Weird' things started appearing at the end of the Great War. The vast majority of people are unaware. Certain government agencies and conspiracy cooks have taken note. The most anyone knows is that something happened during the war and now some people (and things?) seem to possess supernatural abilities. Some people seem capable of magic. Advanced technologies are beginning to appear. Reports of vampires and werewolves are on the rise. No one really seems to know how or why.
I sorta get the soap opera plug in and I don't mind it, but (this sounds whiny to me) but it seems to require a lot and seems very overwhelming, but really I am up for it.
As for roles hmm... no idea really as long as I don't get a leader roll type thing, I am really bad at it. I usually prefer slightly strange characters those that are outsiders and different from the rest, but I have to think of it a bit more.
Ohh and it is better you never shut up then that you vanish or takes a hand off approach ;)
Is it really any more difficult than keeping track of the myriad of conditions?
Keeping track on the paper is not, it's the 7 NPC you have to keep track of, make up, involve, etc. I can also imagine from your point that you suddenly have a gallery of 42 different NPC that people probably want involved a lot with escalating consequences to be rather overpowering, especially when you also have to move the overall story along. Maybe it is just me, but I am willing to give it a try.
I'm keeping my overall concept in tact, a spy chameleon type, several disguises that are at least semi fleshed out. Will have Telepathy, and most likely Super-Senses. Not sure what other Powers I'll take.
Going to take the feats Connected, Contacts and Well-Informed, along with the one that lets you change disguises faster. Was thinking about taking Minions as well, but that might be too much for the GM to handle and isn't a must.
Would the rest of the party and GM be ok with my being a mob boss, or should I ditch that aspect of the character? Either is fine with me.
Are the characters supposed to be part of some sort of organization or anything? I think being part of some sort of covert organization would be a good way to tie the party together and dish out plot hooks.
Characters could obviously have their own lives and interests outside of the organization, but be on call for when they were needed to investigate various weird events.
When I ran my 1920s pulp game the characters were all members of the National Geographic Society.
As another example, In the spirit of the century rpg it is assumed that the characters are members of the Century club and that each PC was born on the first day of the 20th century.
In the Conspiracy X rpg characters are member of AGEIS etc...
I could see maybe the organization recruited Monkeygod's character because they knew that he had a vast network of contacts at his disposal and they figured that would be a useful asset.
Yep happy to lose the NPCs, moving to the idea of Johnny have some kind of HP Lovecraft dream lands thing, with the pages of his book making illusions based on a targets/subjects dreams. that would drop the NPCs, Dreams being played out in the real, like an live performance. Johnny would offer two rules then
1: A maker of non real Illustrations, Illusions to confound and distract others or hid the team.
2: May be Movement by using dreams the team can pass from real to dream to real if need be, this I would make random or limited dream places.
So how dos
Illistion sound (Dreams)
Magic - dreams
Affects all senses types/DC18, Distracting,
feats -
Progression area 8 (2500 feet radios) 8
Progression 8 Subjects. 8
Note: Im thinking of adding exhaustion to this so as Johnny makes a bigger area, long time or more subject the more exhaustion he suffers.
Its harder to do bigger, longer etc. that would add to game play much more and add drama. yes he could make the titanic appear for an hour but then have to spend the next week in bed in a near coma.
Flaws-
Phantasms -Int1 or more to be affected by them -1/r
Distracting -1/r
then Second power
Magic (Dreams)
Ill make a number of spells that fit with dreams etc.
So nothing johnny makes is real, it can no harm just fool.
Johnny himself is a dream being, hes only half real, that's hes great problem and gift, Johnny fight in the dream land to keep bad dreams away from his family and friends there, He found out the bad dreams now seek to come into the real and attack the grate dreamers here, (Humans) To keep his home safe he fights to keep them out of the real, and his home safe. Johnny dos this by means of the Bible of Dreams and with the held of a young agent and the Enemy Aliens Registration Section. A young man called J. Edgar Hoover who Johnny care about for very much because he has been helping Johnny be safe and in his work fighting the dark dreams .
Also no way to can scare me off with odd games system changes I love em, so im still in, like all your ideas and the combat being handled by the players to make the "story work" with low level stuff. very nice, in fact so nice if I may Im just going to nick it as you put it so much better than me.
I can also imagine from your point that you suddenly have a gallery of 42 different NPC that people probably want involved a lot with escalating consequences to be rather overpowering, especially when you also have to move the overall story along.
A valid point. My thought was that everyone does not want (need) to involve all six NPCs every chapter. Also, these 42 different NPCs give me 42 different hooks to involve the PCs with.
Would the rest of the party and GM be ok with my being a mob boss, or should I ditch that aspect of the character?
I am fine with you being a mob boss as long as are not actually evil. Most everyone wanted to play the good guys. It would be easy enough to rationalize his actions. He was just doing what he thought he had to survive.
Are the characters supposed to be part of some sort of organization or anything?
The PCs work for the League of Nations as members of a special commission.
I have been thinking about the film Inception and the fact the Coob has things from his past come into his dreams, I think I would like Johnny to have the same, wile hes making a waking dream for others, bits of his past come in a flash backs. Johnny past is not a clean as he makes out.
I see your point about Malleate Will. The intent was that the character's distinct theme and both weakness and strength is an astonishing ability to affect the mind... but nothing else (aside from normal combat skills, which will probably consist of firearm specialisation and some equipment to fill in the gap). I'll remove it if you feel it would remove the challenge.
As for descriptors and countering, I have been considering putting a 'nullify mental effects' power in there. Descriptively, a hypnotist's 'snap out of it'. Would the descriptors in the powers themselves already be sufficient to act as a counter in those cases or would you prefer that I build a nullify power specifically?
Other than that, I assume you find the concept of a 'super-hypnotist' reasonable?
Beyond that above post wherein I briefly outlined my character, what else do you need from me atm?
Johnny past is not a clean as he makes out.
Does he sometimes see her in waking hours as well? How firm is his grasp of the distinction between dream and reality?
I'll remove it if you feel it would remove the challenge.
I do think it is a bit overkill. The challenges I expect you to manipulate will not have any defenses and the ones I specifically do not want you to manipulate will have defenses. Without it, I will not have to give them stupid, ridiculous defenses. All or nothing powers always cause this problem.
Would the descriptors in the powers themselves already be sufficient to act as a counter in those cases or would you prefer that I build a nullify power specifically?
Go ahead and build a Nullify, but be sure that it is more of a 'snap out of it' than a 'no one can use mental powers while I am around'.
Other than that, I assume you find the concept of a 'super-hypnotist' reasonable?
Honestly, Mind Control and Telepathy are always a concern for me. They are easy to abuse. They also make it exceedingly difficult to run a mystery campaign. However, I am willing to allow the concept and see how it plays out.
Beyond that above post wherein I briefly outlined my character, what else do you need from me atm?
Well, actually, I would have much rather people discussed roles first before they created characters in a vacuum. Umbral already has Telepathy, so it seems you are drifting into her niche. What super senses did you have in mind? Telepathy + decent sense suite makes a mystery type campaign all but impossible. So if we are not killing things and taking their stuff, and any mystery is solved in the first scene, what sort of campaign do you guys envision me running?
I also asked for a motivation and an NPC that is important to the character and why.
The concept I had in mind was a scientist/inventor sort. His motivation would be to learn more about what is going on in the world and general scientific discovery. Any weirdness he'd encounter he would be more interested in first studying or trying to communicate with than destroying. For instance, if he encountered a werewolf, he'd want to try and bring it in for examination.
His body was always very weak physically- maybe some sort of disease like MS. Instead of trying to research a cure for the disease he's used his brilliance to create an entirely new body for himself. He's built a android type form that looks very human, but is made from rubbers and plastics (very advanced materials for the 1920s), He's been able to transfer his conscience into this body. His real body now stays in stasis container. He can transfer his conscious back to it, but he has to hook up to a machine to do so, and it is a complex process that takes an hour or so to set up.
His android body is slightly better than a human's. It is a little stronger, faster and more durable. Its biggest feature is that is a bit rubbery. It can stretch a little and absorb physcial impacts somewhat. However, it is not nearly as stretchy or plasticy as say Mr. Fantastic- not even close. 10' reach at best.
He was recruited for the League of Nations due to his scientific achievements.
Not to be a jerk, but since ya brought it up, technically Reaver is drifting into my niche, as I posted first about having Telepathy.
However, I see our characters as very different and thus able to coexist.
I'm building a spy type so I have Telepathy in order to steal information from your mind.
Reaver is building a manipulator, so he has it to better make people do what he wants. It would seem.
My role is information gatherer, that guy who knows stuff and people. The connected guy, able to call in favors and friends to help out.
My personal real life motto works perfectly for this character "Its not what you know, its who know...and I know everybody"
Right now (actually since I said I had an idea back in one of the first posts :P)I am leaning towards a stealth character of sorts. But overall I am probably going to make the char someone with powers that effect the environment on a massive scale rather then one that works on an individual level, like filling a city wide area with fog (partial concealment) or something. I guess that means team wise it be a support/debuff type char in MMO terms.
… technically Reaver is drifting into my niche, as I posted first about having Telepathy.
So you did. My apologies.
However, I see our characters as very different and thus able to coexist.
My concern is that the players feel their character contributes something to the group. So if the two of you are good with it, then I am good with it.
My role is information gatherer, that guy who knows stuff and people.
Right. Let me first say I am not trying to be a jerk and I am certainly not saying, 'no'. My concern is how do we keep this from becoming 'Grab someone who knows something, rape his mind, solve the mystery, profit'? If we do not want to play a mystery game, that is fine. I will just have to figure out what type of campaign this should be.
With Telepathy, you do not even need your contacts. And, for the record, I have the same concerns with Umbral's Telepathy. Even if she completely drops it, Swap Telepathy with Mind Controlling people into telling us what we want. Or am I just wrongly assuming this is going to become the group's go to power? It is entirely possible. I have been burned a few times before.
His motivation would be to learn more about what is going on in the world and general scientific discovery.
Awesome. Important NPC? Perhaps a college professor…mentor/associate?
I am leaning towards a stealth character of sorts.
Monkeygod had mentioned chameleon before. Did he mean infiltration, or was that simply for maintaining different identities for all of his contacts?
I guess that means team wise it be a support/debuff type char in MMO terms.
That is fine, but I still expect him to be capable in combat.
I am leaning towards a stealth character of sorts.Monkeygod had mentioned chameleon before. Did he mean infiltration, or was that simply for maintaining different identities for all of his contacts?
That is kindda why I mentioned it, since he started talking about being a spy etc, then went on to say chameleon which seems more of a multiple identity or shapeshifting thing and fianlly he talked about having tons of contacts etc. So I wanted to mention what it was I was working on to see how it matched/clashed.
I guess that means team wise it be a support/debuff type char in MMO terms.That is fine, but I still expect him to be capable in combat.
Of course, combat is important but it will be one with fewer options in combat in terms of ways to take down an opponent then someone specializing in single targets. TO make sure it is good I will probably run to Umbral and beg pitifully "please help me make a good character!".
I think that my character, Herman Gettle, I think is his name, would have several academic contacts. I think he has a wife and maybe a kid. He would have a close colleague who helped him invent his android body. During the great war he was a forced to work for the military in the area of weapons development, and might still have a contact or two in the army- weapons aren't really his passion though, at least not weapons that kill. He might end up having a gun that shoots a plastic goo to subdue his enemies, as he's into plastics and weird polymers.
I have to point out that I don't have telepathy anywhere on my character concept.
I have to point out that I don't have telepathy anywhere on my character concept.
My mistake. I closely associate Mind Reading with Telepathy. In Hero, there is only Telepathy which sends and receives. You have to put the Limitation on it to only receive.
In terms of adventures, I think that the php format is much better for investigative and social interaction scenarios than combat ones, though it can handle a bit of combat as long as it is fairly narrative and not too tactical. I think M&M can do narrative type combat well, so IMO it's a pretty good potential system for php.
I see the characters engaging in investigative type missions where they deal with a lot of weird phenomena- pulpy "Weird Science and Strange Tales type stuff." Some of it might have a bit of a Call of Cthulhu feel, but it could also deal with things like aliens, lost cities and other traditional pulp type stuff. There are several pulp type adventures available on pdf that would serve as good inspiration. The "Thrilling Tales" series has some good ideas, but all those adventures need serious fleshing out. The Goodman Games, Age of Cthulhu series is pretty pulpy, and there is also a few pulp style Cthulhu adventures for the Trail of Cthulhu rpg. In addition there is a series of pulp adventures for the Savage Worlds rpg, I think it is called Daring Tales of Adventure. There's probably lots of other good stuff out there too, but those are the ones that pop into mind.
Correct me if I am off base here.
Monkeygod – Mob boss with his tendrils reaching into everything
Chris Mortika – Mob boss with amphibious underlings
Umbral Reaver – Hypnotist extraordinaire
GSV "Yet more Gravitas" – Preacher(?) and dream walker
P.H. Dungeon – Scientist driving a special Edgar suit
Zouron – Cat burglar with weather manipulation?
My experience with PBP is that, assuming I stay around (snicker) we will lose at least two players early in the game. Four is a good size for me. If everyone hangs on, well, I shall do my best.
I guess I will go ahead and open the flood gates for The Coolest Characters Eva!©. Please reserve at least 5pp for adjustments later. I am not too strict about changing characters later if something is not working out. As a GM, I feel my priority is ensuring everyone is having fun. Failing that, is ensuring as many people are having as much fun as is reasonable. You know, 'cause there is always that one person who wants to ruin it for everyone else.
Please include a physical description so we know what The Coolest Characters Eva!© look like. Also include your character's driving motivation and at least one NPC what is important to your character. Thank you, P.H. Dungeon, but put it again with your character sheet so I only have to look in one place later.
Am I forgetting anything?
Johnny past is not a clean as he makes out.
Does he sometimes see her in waking hours as well? How firm is his grasp of the distinction between dream and reality?
Yes I like idea he sees her, I think he may see her most of the time but pretend shes not there, she may even talk to him.
GSV "Yet more Gravitas" – yep Johnny Panic is a just that a magic based mad Preacher and dream walker.
he even has a song
I dream of heaven
I dream of heaven
I dream of heaven, yeah
High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man
And the lovetrain rides from coast to coast
D.J.'s the man we love the most
Could you be, could you be squeaky clean
And smash any hope of democracry ?
As the headline says you're free to choose
There's egg on your face and mud on your shoe
One of these days they're gonna call it the blues
Johnny Panic
Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams
I get excited by the news of today
What seems unstable may be able to stay
Johnny Panic
Johnny Panic and The Bible Of Dreams
I dream of heaven, yeah
I spy tears in thier eyes
They look to the skies for some kind of divine intervention
Food goes to waste !
So nice to eat, so nice to taste
Politician Grannie with your high ideals
Have you no idea how the Majority feels ?
So without love and a promise land
We're fools to the rules of a Goverment plan
Kick out the style ! Bring back the jam !
Bring back the jam !
My flame is heart, My baby do as she please
What good is living, when you live in disease
Johnny Panic
Johnny Panic and The Bible Of Dreams
I dream of heaven, it's a heavenly place
Why fall in love? when you can fall from grace
With Johnny Panic
Johnny Panic and The Bible Of Dreams
I dream of heaven
I dream of heaven
I dream of heaven, yeah
-Tears for fears-
Zouron, I can't get to my private messages at the moment, I'm afraid. I am accessing Paizo through a proxy since for some reason it seems to be blocked on this ISP. This limits my ability to post and use options.
That suffocation power does not represent strangulation very well since it works by making a target suffocate even while not touching them, after the initial poke to initiate the power. What you want is a good grapple score and the chokehold feat. That better represents what you're trying to achieve. If you don't want to make a super-strong character, there's a feat that changes your grapple from melee attack bonus + strength to melee attack bonus + dexterity. Dexterity is not capped by attack bonus like strength is, so a very high dex can give you a grapple much higher than that of a strength-based character.
Alright so grapple instead of that :) I just saw something like it on a NPC and thought that was the way to go.
Suffocation is: I touch you and you start suffocating. I can walk away and you keep suffocating until I stop concentrating.
Chokehold is: I grab hold of you and strangle you into unconsciousness. If I let go, you recover.
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(logging on briefly...)
Monkeygod, it looks like we're also building sort of the same niche -- maybe that's just the stereotype of a mob boss, somebody who depends on his connections.
If you want your character to focus more on connections to people, I can focus my PC more towards things. If P.H.Dungeon's scientist needs a hyper-rheostat, or a client needs a good copy of the charts that Prester John made on his journey to Hawaii, then my organization can find it and obtain it.
The PC gets called in to deal with matters when the normal acquisition process gets stuck.
Most everyone wanted to play a 'good guy', so I expect your characters to act accordingly. In addition, I want another driving motivation for each character. Why does the character do what they do? Did their father drill a sense of duty into them? Did something awful happen to their sister and they swore to never let it happen to anyone again? In addition, I want an named NPC for each PC; someone that PC cares deeply about. No one is an island.
This character isn't particularly a good guy. He is only the most recent boss of this family -- its origins go back centuries -- and he feels a responsibility to make sure he passes along a stronger organization to his successors than he received. His position is similar to an Executive Officer, with a great deal of latitide from the "Board of Directors" who dwell under the sea. But if things were to start falling apart, and if the Board was to take notice, his position wouldn't be absolutely secure. And nobody ever just walks away from the family.
The previous boss surrounded himself with brothers and nephews. But this generation is different. The PC has chosen a quartet of lieutenants, known as the High Five, for their competence and personal loyalty. He'd take a bullet for each of them, and until last year, he'd been sure that each of them would do the same for him.
But there used to be five. Last year, Guiseppi Fagani, Joey the Goose, turned, leaking the organization's secrets to the other mobs and to the feds. (Feel free to use some of those old leaks as the leverage that the League of Nations is using to enlist his cooperation.) Joey's dead now, and his seat in the Five is left unfilled. Officially, that's because we're still in morning. But some of the stuff he was leaking was also news to my PC; the kind of news that makes him suspect that the High Five isn't cleared of dangerous men.
You say nobody's an island. But he sure feels that way sometime.
I'm currently in the process of transferring my pdf collection books, which includes a sizable amount of M&M from my old laptop to my new one. Once done, I should be able to give a much more in depth look at my character n concept.
I'm going to drop magic, and focus of dreams, I will take super movement "dream walking" with the feat to take others, that way he can take the group v dreams to any place he can find a dream about, that's harder than you think. hes also part dream himself, Johnny can do not harm to others, he has no means to attack or defiance other than hiding and Regen in dreams that night. he has a 20 Cha and in 12 + no tech skills.
I may drop out of this one. I'm still around if people still want to ask me how to build things.
That's a shame Umbral :(
It was my song right, to 80s
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Spent some time thinking about names last night.
The PC -- Phineas Thialley, head of the Profondo mob, expert in dealing with authorities and other threats.
The current High Five:
Joey Waite -- boss of half the dockyards on the Atlantic seaboard. He is able to store in his memory the current manifests of a hundred ships. Joey is Phineas' closest friend, and each has saved the other's life on several occaissions.
Berek "Barry" Gilman -- overboss of shipping insurance. Manages protection money to keep major sea-going vessels safe from piracy. Also oversees the salvage of sunken vessels. Phineas put Barry in his current position, replacing a corrupt, useless lieutennant. Barry has some aggressive ideas about expanding the business, which Phineas encourages. Phineas is also a patriotic American when it doesn't interfere with business, and Barry shares this alliegance.
Zebulon Eliot -- boss of "esoteric communication". Smallest group, mostly low-level psychics who can generate a very low-level field over a great area. Unable to read a single mind, but very good at forming connections among the memories of a dozen partial witnesses. Amoral and efficient, Zebulon makes few friends, but has gone out of his way to secure Phineas' position.
Arnon Marsh -- boss of prostitution and narcotics. Many of his "girls" are subaquatic horrors with human glamours. Marsh has developed new recreational drugs that weaken the will against Eliot's psychics. Arnon has respectfully challenged Phineas in council on several occaissions, sometimes going out of his way to get Phineas to commit to a dangerous position before calling him on his directions. But it seems to be "all in fun"; Phineas considers Arnon to be "the loyal opposition", raising the bar to make Phineas a better leader.
So, I'm not sure how to make this character work in M&M. I know how to buy his personal abilities, and I know how to build a general organization, but I'm not sure how to represent the resources he has at his disposal.
I guess that depends... ifyou expect to be able to draw on each of these lieutenants in combat you need to buy them as minions, either one minion and you can change which one you use with suitable intervals I guess or if all at once, then buy each up as minions... the minions they bring I guess you have to buy them up as well.
For the money and info and all isn't that a case of using the benefit feat for each "benefit" you can draw on?
And finally maybe you need to use the headquarter feat to get a hotel/house of operations with extra features?
Ohh an possibly use the well-informed feat to "simulate" that you have a lot of "dirt" on a lot of people.
…that way he can take the group v dreams to any place he can find a dream about…
…hes also part dream himself, Johnny can do not harm to others, he has no means to attack or defiance…
Would you elaborate on what you mean that he is part dream. I get the impression you are going with Insubstantial here where he can not affect the physical world, but if that is the case, how can he transport others? Maybe you mean a clairsentience usuable on others.
I may drop out of this one.
I am sorry to hear that, Umbral. I appreciate the help.
So, I'm not sure how to make this character work in M&M.
I do not get the impression that any of these underbosses are going to accompany Phineas on his missions, so you would not need to buy them as Minions. At this point, they are just fleshed out NPCs. Now, if you want them or any of the hundreds of lower level thugs to consistently aid in combat, then you will need to buy them as Minions.
All I see here are the Feats Benefit (Wealth), Connected and Contacts. If you do not want him to have to bother with Diplomacy to call in favors with Connected (why would he have to be diplomatic with underlings?) we could discuss substituting Benefit (Mob Boss) and each rank gives you a +4 to the roll. It would cost the same, but instead of representing what a likeable guy he is, it represents he is just the boss and they do what he tells them.
Now that I think about it, there should be some other benefit as well; Diplomacy has other uses. I will have to think about that.
Nope hes substantial but has Resurrection, 1 day, in other words when body in the real is destroyed it shifts back the dreaming where he can heal and re-enter the world by a dreamer local to where he wants to be or by means of another party member.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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So, I'm not sure how to make this character work in M&M.
I do not get the impression that any of these underbosses are going to accompany Phineas on his missions, so you would not need to buy them as Minions. At this point, they are just fleshed out NPCs. Now, if you want them or any of the hundreds of lower level thugs to consistently aid in combat, then you will need to buy them as Minions.
(nods) Accompany Phineas into danger, probably only Joey Waite, and even he not often. But the PC should be able to, as you say, get the others to do as he asks. After some point, I'm not sure how different "conduct an hour-long ritual to locate the rifle that shot President Cleveland" is from "tell Zebulon to conduct the ritual and report the results". If the former is worth points, the latter should be, as well.
After some point, I'm not sure how different "conduct an hour-long ritual to locate the rifle that shot President Cleveland" is from "tell Zebulon to conduct the ritual and report the results". If the former is worth points, the latter should be, as well.
The only different is that you do not have to be present for one of them, but otherwise they are pretty much identical to my mind as well.
(nods) Accompany Phineas into danger, probably only Joey Waite, and even he not often.
Three ranks in Benefit (Mob Boss), Connected and Contacts and call it a day? If you need extra firepower, you can call some goons in, but they are no more loyal than any other friendly NPCs. Mob NPCs would not consider going into a gun fight all that much more dangerous than their average day and are already predisposed to be helpful. If you treat them badly and use them as guinea pigs, they might turn on you.
Reading these last few posts it seems Chris and I are building very similar characters and I wonder if I should even bother playing. Having two mob bosses in the same party seems kinda odd and pointless...
Even if power wise we're different the fact that we both have contacts, connections, etc seems very redundant. Annoying too, cuz I'm pretty sure I posted this concept first.
Alas, the only other M&M concept I have in mind prorbably wouldn't work, as its based on magetisim, computers and technology.
I'm not officially calling it quits as I want to look a few things over, but figured id post my discontentment...
I accept some blame because I did originally pitch a gangster campaign. I really do wish groups would talk about roles and broad concepts first before submitting fully formed characters. I encounter this same problem with table top groups.
I have something new in mind, something I'm actually rather excited about, but until I get home and look things over, I'm gonna wait to say what it is.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Reading these last few posts it seems Chris and I are building very similar characters and I wonder if I should even bother playing. Having two mob bosses in the same party seems kinda odd and pointless...
Well, at one point on Page One, we were discussing the possibility of us all playing some sort of mob bosses.
Even if power wise we're different the fact that we both have contacts, connections, etc seems very redundant. Annoying too, cuz I'm pretty sure I posted this concept first.
I think we'll be quite different. But I agree that "mob boss" forces a lot of similar choices.
I'm thinking maybe some minor mental powers, along with maybe some mimic abilities and shapechanging, though that might be based on skills n feats plus items.
My character doesn't have much in the way of personal powers at all. I tried to design the mental powers that Zebulon's team controls to overlap your telepathy as little as possible.
The find things. The window dressing for how they do this is mind reading, but all they do is sift memories, and only to find memories of the object. So:
- A woman barely noticed a man in a green "zoot suit" jacket, going into a post office with a long package.
- An old man remembers an evening shoot-out between a big-nosed cop and a guy in a ridiculous green suit who was leaving a restaurant, a block away from the post office. Both died, and there was no package.
- The postal clerk has already forgotten the man in the jacket, who sent the package to an address in Boston.
- A young girl on her way to the dentist saw a man in a green jacket break into a tan sedan and steal a stick, and then go running north on Jupiter.
- Another clerk absent-mindedly set the package in the corner of the back office.
- Mickey O'Malley remembers receiving his brother's championship pool cue and placing it in the back seat of his car, a tan sedan.
Even though the thief is dead, Zebulon's team can track the item. Their power isn't strong enough to get any distinct thoughts. They don't know the name of any of the witnesses, for example, nor would they know about the green jacket the thief was wearing. But they sort through the collective unconsciousness and if they roll well enough, they report that the pool cue is in a package in the back corner of the local post office.
I'm not officially calling it quits as I want to look a few things over, but figured id post my discontentment...
Come, be the Profundo mob's friendly rival.
I accept some blame because I did originally pitch a gangster campaign. I really do wish groups would talk about roles and broad concepts first before submitting fully formed characters. I encounter this same problem with table top groups.
Well the mob boss are hold overs from the gangster campaign option, the point then is making them different, one could be an Italia classic mafia with all the classic trait of that, while another might be a group of say Irish people striving to survive despite the family influence, just examples.
Just like two people making a superhero, they are the say they have a lot in common but they do things differently and approach things differently, example DC Superman and Marvel's Spiderman, they are both classical heroes, save people etc, but they are not very much alike in approach.
I suppose if a gangster family relies on spells and dark rituals they probably don't spend as much time have awesome informants, since they can just divine the answer in the entrails of a pig and their contacts will probably be more in the occult then in the political/police area. Their modus operandi will probably also be more scare/dark magic then running up with blazing tommyguns. Just a thought.
Ohh and we did try to discuss roles briefly, but I certainly feel constraint when talking about roles, but I think we tried a bit but didn't really get off the ground since we are not talking combat. Which reminds me I should be posting something about my own character soon.
Court could you tell us a bit more about our connection to the league of nations, like when did we start work for them, and if we have worked for them for awhile what have we been doing, what kind of organisation type are we talking about, undercover spooks or detectives or law enforces or military assets, etc? And why would we be chosen, is it because we have super powers or some other selection process? doesn't have to be specific for each individual, just a general recruiting basis.
Ok, looked into what I had in mind, and it will work, but it needs slight DM approval.
What I want to play is super lucky hero, similar to Longshot/Mr Terrific.
I plan on taking the Fortune feats, as well as the Luck Control power, at least as a base. Got some other stuff in mind as well, but need to actually build the character to see how much I left.