[The Human Element] Radio Chatter

Lady Jane

Senior Member
Greetings and welcome to you all!


Any questions about the system and setting, don't hesitate to ask.
 
There was a question in a previous thread, but it was right when a new thread was opening I think, so I didn't see the answer... you say each character needs at least two complications, but complications aren't something players can add to their character. They just happen any time you decide they happen. Did you mean Drawbacks, or are you wanting us to design "hooks" you can use to trigger complications on us? (like, for example, a power that malfunctions less often than the Unreliable flaw would indicate, which the book says is better treated as a complication, since it's only worth a fraction of a power point.) I mean, complications are awesome, as free hero points are worth it, I'm just not sure what you meant.


Update: My character is mostly done, awaiting this clarification and me finishing up his last power (and his defining one ._. ) and rounding him out. I'd post what I have so far in the character profiles section, but I'm still working on a name for him. I'll give you a brief run-down of what he's like so far, though...

Stats are just above average human, modifiers almost all +2


Skills are many and varied, as low as 1 rank (disguise, medicine, pilot) up to 12 (computers, disable device) with many investigative-type skills around 8 (bluff, investigate, notice, search, sense motive)


Feats focus on his intense training, and are where he derives most of his combat ability. Instead of a general attack bonus or defense bonus, he has ranks of Attack Focus (ranged) and Dodge Focus, making his entire ability to avoid damage rely on him being able to move. He's got things like Defensive Roll, Blind-fight, Evasion, Move-by Action, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Uncanny Dodge to round out his combat skills.


Powers: As a general feature, he has a head computer granting various low-level effects, including Eidetic Memory, Quickness (mental tasks only), and Enhanced Will.


Uniform is a device granting Protection, Immunity (to most environmental stuff), low-level Flight, a reasonable-range Teleport, and Enhanced Fortitude (blood-filters and an auto-doc ready to drop adrenaline or whatever he needs into his blood stream).


His weapon, the HK Adaptable Munitions Multi-Use Ordinance Custom is currently stuck in one of three forms (it has three selector buttons, one for area-affect, one for non-lethal, and one for lethal: normally they're reprogrammable, but he doesn't know how, so he's stuck on the last three he used):


Rage Inhibiting Optical Telemetry configure is a cone Dazzle, Calm, and Fatigue using light patterns and brightness to momentarily reprogram the targets' brains and then overwhelm their eyes.


Slumber-inducing Liquids Enabling Extraction or Protection configuration fires tranquilizer darts with a moderate-level Fatigue effect.


Light Enhanced To Hurt And Liquefy configuration is a high-power laser doing lethal damage.


I'm still working on his tether, but it'll give some informative and protective powers. I'll spend whatever's left rounding him out, probably boosting his base saves or making sure he HAS a Reflex save from somewhere (he doesn't currently) and possibly raising his base Save DC Modifier if I can find the room.


EDIT2: How common are the temporal and dimensional descriptors in your world? I realized Nullify doesn't really work the way I want his protection to work, so I'm thinking I'll just give him a Limited Immunity instead. Not sure how many points it'll cost, though...
 
Ah, sorry I think I remember that question being posed, but I might have spaced on answering it. I'm usually pretty good about it, but if I dot that again, bug me till you get your answer xD


As per pg 122 of the core book: "Complications are essentially setbacks players choose for their heroes in advance. Comic books are full of personal complications, and players are encouraged to come up with some for their heroes. When a complications causes a significant setback for a hero, it's worth a hero point award. Possible complications, are..." And then it lists things like Enemy, Fame, Obsession, Responsibility, Rivalry, etc.


As for Drawbacks, (pg 124): "Drawbacks are weaknesses for characters to overcome. They're the flip side of a character's skills, feats, and powers. Drawbacks serve two main purposes. First, they provide characters with additional depth and a degree of vulnerability which can be important for heroes able to move mountains or bounce bullets off their chests. Second, drawbacks give you additional power points during character creation to spend on improving your character's traits. They maximum number of points you can get from drawbacks is generally equal to the campaign's power level, as set by the GM."


Essentially, Drawbacks limit you in some way. Some examples listed are a disability (think Professor X), or a normal identity (so, like Hulk or Captain Marvel. Hulk's also pretty classic for Involuntary Transformation). They net you extra power points in character creation. If it's something that isn't really going to actually limit you in a certain frequency or intensity, then it's better suited as a Complication. That won't get you any extra power points, but it will get you a hero point when it comes up. As they explain it (also pg 124): "Many things that might be considered drawbacks in other games are actually complications in Mutants & Masterminds. For example, having a secret identity, an unrelenting code of justice, unquenchable curiosity, or an elderly aunt in need of your support are not drawbacks, but they are potential complications, which can earn you hero points during the game. As a general rule, complications are things you roleplay: your hero's attitudes, relationships, personal issues, and so forth. Drawbacks have defined game effects, usually physical ones."


I hope that answers that. Basically, I just want to see something that drives your character, something that'll push him/her to greater heights. Something that may leave him/her vulnerable to manipulation, but will ultimately give him/her strength to move on and beat the bad guys.


I'm liking your concept so far. A time-traveling super-cop is always useful. Also, Drake's gonna be drooling over your tech. Possibly make some off-handed comment about taking you apart to see how you tick--in a way that it's difficult to tell if he's kidding or not.


Temporal and Dimensional descriptors definitely exist, thought they're largely not that well understood, and people are actively trying not to break the space-time continuum. (In my head, a super genius and your average football jock arguing quantum mechanics is really funny, especially when the jock is right, he just can't explain it.) In the past, people have existed that can manipulate time and space to the point of being able to create pockets of suspended time within our space-time continuum--think like the power Pocket Dimension. There have also been those completely immune to the effects of time manipulation. Not immune to aging, because that's a natural effect of time, but if someone were to use Time-Stop or something like that, it simply wouldn't work. So, if I understand your question correctly, the answer would be you'd need 10 ranks in Immunity to be unaffected by time control. Teleportation also falls under this category, btw, and seeing how that's a very common method of transport, I might even recommend applying a Duration Flaw to it (pg 114), taking it from Permanent to Continuous. The cost also goes from 10pp to 5pp.


I hope that answered your questions. If you need further clarification, let me know.
 
Hrm, that's going to be more than I want devote to Temporal immunity, I expected to be an "uncommon power descriptor". Dimensional I was planning on only getting limited defense against anyway, as it's a bit broader (and would also hamstring you a bit - what if you had a plot where we all get flung into an alternate dimension?). As far as Teleport, while of course in your game you're welcome to rule that all Teleports use that descriptor, I figured it would be one of the least common ones. Especially since you hinted strongly at introducing magic that could use all kinds of other ways to get from point A to B... I could see temporal (freezing time, moving to a new location, and restoring time), purely magical (your "Essence pattern" or "cosmic signature" is simply moved along the leylines at the speed of magic), some other technological (your body is digitized and sent via laser transmission to another location where it's reconstituted, probably best with the Anchor limitation), etc... Dimensional Immunity shouldn't be Teleport Immunity at all, not if there are creative NPCs running around :D


I'll play with that later and give the tether an activated (sustained) force-field style Nullify instead. Perhaps the passive immunities burned out when the device tried to hold him in his own timeline during the jump. The more of his tech is damaged, that's more places to spend power (and hero!) points later. I'll keep some more investigative powers, the Immunity was more for show anyway. A few ranks in Postcognition and maybe a single rank in Precognition will fit his information-gathering much better. I'll leave those WAY low on the list, of course - high ranks in those powers are very annoying to GMs :P


I have no clue how I managed to totally forget that section on Complications was there. And I have a Side Effect on one of my powers now that would be better resolved as a complication, too - I'd prefer it damage me a bit less often than 50% of the time, so I'm thinking maybe a rising 20% chance to damage me per use (so, first use only damages me on a 4 or lower, next on an 8, then a 12...), and when it gets past 100% I take an injured condition per use with the leftover percent chance of having to make a Toughness save or be staggered, if I decide to keep pushing it that far.


And I intend to string poor Drake along with only the barest sniffs of my tech - particularly the stuff from even farther into the future than myself, like my uniform and a few of the currently-inaccessible settings on the AMMO - while I decide how big a breach of Chronokeeper protocol it would be to share it and how likely I am to Butterfly-effect and demolish the whole timeline :/


Huh, I think I might have decided on two complications already. One will be my conflicting responsibilities to both Delta Division and the Chronokeepers, I could have my attempts to advance or earn the trust of Delta blocked by my unwillingness to share my toys (because I'm really not supposed to, I could more harm than good!), or face the personal crisis of knowing that I could well be the last Keeper and I'm betraying their code by sharing stuff (although that's less likely to earn me a hero point :P ). For the second... well, is the theme of this game mature enough to handle prejudices of color or creed? I'd roughly based the character - though only roughly - on a particular novel main character who was a member of a group that wouldn't be considered politically correct, and originally I was going to just leave that as background and have him adapt, but it's sitting there on the list of sample complications, just taunting me...


I realize this is making it worse, but I just wanted to apologize because I finished typing and noticed that HOLY CRAP WALL OF TEXT.
 
Ever see the show Continuum? Basic plot: cop from the future gets tossed into roughly our time and she's got to figure out what to do with the criminals that got thrown there along with her. She's got a bunch of futuristic tech that aids her in investigation, even a set of sort of contacts that predict levels of danger and calculates the possibility of things going wrong. Or...I could just be getting that mixed up with an episode of Eureka.


And who said Drake's gonna ask ;) It's easier to apologize than ask permission :P Actually, he'd probably see your point about protecting the space-time continuum.


Mature content is not something I have a problem with. It is the 2080's so one would hope we've gotten past some current issues, but we all known human nature doesn't change. Hell, the only reason anti-metahuman groups are reduced to powerless protest is because of Sam's preemptive PR campaign. Another thing about human nature is that they'll believe anything that a talking box will tell them.
 
Ah, well... you can likely guess where I'm coming from already, especially if you've read Lightning by Dean Koontz, but just in case you don't already see it...

In his timeline, Germany won WWII. He's never seen someone accepted in society that wasn't fair skinned, blond haired, and blue eyed - perhaps the very rare green, which is officially only 'tolerated' but is seen as kind of exotic in a world where everyone's largely the same.
 
Oooh, that's gonna make things so much fun, especially given Drake's heritage. They may have been on the same side at the time, but I can't see that lasting long. I haven't read that book, but I do like a good Deen Koontz novel.
 
[QUOTE="Lady Jane]Ever see the show Continuum? Basic plot: cop from the future gets tossed into roughly our time and she's got to figure out what to do with the criminals that got thrown there along with her. She's got a bunch of futuristic tech that aids her in investigation, even a set of sort of contacts that predict levels of danger and calculates the possibility of things going wrong. Or...I could just be getting that mixed up with an episode of Eureka.
.

[/QUOTE]
I was thinking something along the lines of Quantum leap...
 
Well, been building out the character, but the powers are really confusing me. No problems with the stats and skills, no problem with feats or complications. But, the concept I have on powers is really confusing to me, so I will post the character here very soon, but the powers will be kinda blank. I will post the power, the description, and the effects that I am looking for, and maybe you can help me work them out point wise.
 
I REALLY sugest downloading the trial version of hero lab and using the generator there. It will calculate the point cost and what not for you. However it wont save the charecter unless you buy the full license. Alternately you can tell me what kind of powers you would like to try and build and how many points you have available to spend on them and I can see what i can do to make it.
 
I'd be glad to help you figure out what powers and modifiers best represent the effects you're looking for, it takes some toying with it. One of my powers ended up with like a paragraph of modifiers...


Emotion Control defaults to being a mental effect where you project your mind to touch anyone else you can see and alter their emotions. But I wanted to be able to fire it from a gun using specific light patterns to affect a cone away from me. So, I applied a few modifiers...


Flaw: Range x 2 (Perception to Ranged, Ranged to Touch - so it originates from me instead of from anywhere)


Extra: Area (general cone - to get the shape I wanted)


Power Feat: Progression (to cone range, to get the range I wanted)


Extra: Independent (so that I didn't have to concentrate to make it last, it automatically lasts a while and fades with this setting)


Drawback: Noticeable (instead of a silent mind effect, it's now a bright burst of flashing lights - everyone knows I'm doing it)


Flaw: Sight-dependent (opponents who can't see the lights are unaffected)


Power Feat: Slow Fade x2 (so it lasts around a minute instead of twelve seconds)


Flaw: Limited to Calm only (because it was intended to END riots, not start them)


The end effect does the same thing as when it started - it calms people - but it does it in a MUCH different way. Most of your powers won't need that level of tinkering to get them right, that one was just extra-annoying to get it to function the way I liked. I didn't list it above, but it also has Extra: Linked causing it to be fired together with two other similar effects, intended to impede (but not harm) rioting civilians or other low-level characters in large groups to bring order to the streets, and they both took some playing with as well. It Calms, Fatigues, and then Blinds them all. It's hard to riot when you're tired and not angry anymore and can't see the windows you were trying to break. (the blind is very temporary - usually less than 18 seconds)
 
Thanks for the assist, guys! (<3 RP communities) My online presence is a little sketch on Mondays, so I'll answer any questions I find probably tomorrow.
 
Okay, I posted some of the basics for Grace Romanelli. Yes, she is two superheroes. One is in full support of Delta Division, and the other a complete secret. The GM may choose to have Girl Prodigy "stay home" on missions that are too dangerous, but include her as a freelance member as Red Raven. Powers will be very different, and not useable across hero ID, however both use the same skills and stats and drawbacks.


Now, as I build the powers over the next couple days, I would like some help to get them spec'ed out properly. I know the d20 system, but the M&M power system is a little strange to me. I may spec some of the powers out one way, only to have people tell me it doesn't work that way. Most of GP's and RR's powers will be devices with the limitation that they are not easily removed, and they only work in her presence. That means someone could take her bracers and shoot her with them, but they couldn't take them away and incorporate them into his powers because as soon as they left her "awareness" they would just stop working. However, if she was watching someone on TV in real time without tape delay, they might just suddenly start working again.
 
So, the first power is kinda strange. She has these little robots that fight for her. The body is about the size of a deck of cards, but when she activates them, they grow 6 long legs and two striking arms, they self-immolate, and run off to attack her opponents. So it takes a full round to activate each one, but I can have multiples running around (up to a max of 5). They last for about 5 minutes until the power winds down and they collapse, until she recharges them (not something she could do in the field). She can't activate them if they get wet. Light rain or a spritz of water wouldn't be enough, but getting soaked or hard rain would.


The little robots look like flaming preying mantis. They have no real defenses to speak of, except they are quick. They can run up and down walls and uneven terrain like the bugs they are, and they are on fire so they are immune to fire. They are also immune to most FORT effects since they are machines and don't suffer from poisons and the like. They can be extinguished fairly easily by dousing them with water, if you can hit them. They have little flaming claws they can strike at you with and are pretty nimble with those strikes.


Anyway, for those of you who know what you are doing, you can look on her character sheet and see what I did, then determine if what I did looks right. Its only a 2 point power, so try to keep it around that level. The bots are supposed to be anti-personel things to give the thugs with guns something to shoot at or chase while she goes after the bad guy, or in some cases to distract the bad guy enough to get a good set of attacks in. This isn't a major power, and the things will probably get sashed up easily, but it just might buy her enough time to get in a few attacks of her own.
 
My character is close to done, but I had two things I was wondering about in general that I might add in. The first is an idea that is probably familiar to some, but I was curious if it was possible to use anatomic seperation in conjunction to a morph/metamorph or shapeshift power in such a way to turn yourself into a ground of animals. So splitting yourself up and then turning the separate body parts into small complete animals for each.


My second question was to some more specific uses of Dimensional Pocket. Can a pocket user freely suck themselves into their own pocket? If so would they need a successful roll to leave or just be allowed to exit freely? If not, could they enter via dimensional movement? If either is true, could they move in the pocket dimension and come out somewhere else in their normal dimension? Finally, how much of the descriptors of the internals of the pocket dimension are up to the player and how much is just a normal blankness?
 
Am I free to post in the Mission thread? Or do I need to wait for something, also am I free to create a discription of vampires and clarify what they are for others to get a better idea, obviously you would be free alter things where you want.
 
@Belial: Go ahead and post in the Mission thread. I was thinking an ancient social/biological experiment created millennia ago, but from there, knock yourself out. I'll tweak it later to make sure it fits the setting.


@Monalfie: I wonder how well Alternate Form in a swarm would work for that, or perhaps your creatures will be too big... not sure, I'll check my books later when I get home from work. For now, I can tell you, coming from their pocket dimension, they'd end up either where they started, or somewhere within their teleportation range from that location. The look of your pocket dimension is up to you.


@Solyrflair: I'm not ignoring you, I promise :D I'll look more thoroughly into your powers later this after noon, see if I can't get things figured out for you.
 
Okay, Monalfie, I'm trying to get a feel for exactly what you're going for here. You mean like, breaking off a finger and turning it into a squirrel or something? Or something more like the summon power?
 
I was thinking basically alien experiment thing, eons ago that basically created one of the first, albeit highly malfunction, meta-humans that had the power to essentially manipulate its genetics to hyper adapt to its surroundings and make itself more powerful, albeit highly riddled with allergies and physical ailments.
 
Kinda, more like, separating into different parts and each becoming a bird. So the power with enough ranks would let you split up your body into say, ten or so equally sized parts. Then have each part turn into an animal from a morph/metamorph/shapeshift power. Each able to move and see separately. So more like the first thing you said.
 
Monalfie, how important is it that your tiny critters be able to act independently of each other? You might just want an Alternate Form that makes you a swarm of critters, and let the breaking-into-pieces aspect just be cosmetic.


EDIT: Nvm, you seem to have answered my question while I was asking it. I'll look around later and see how I'd represent that.
 
You could also just go with an Insubstantial with the flaw that you take damage as corporeal from area effects or something like that. You wouldn't be one solid mass, so swinging a sword would go right through, but having something explode would damage enough of you to work.
 
Nah, Monalfie doesn't want them to move as a single swarm but as multiple independent creatures. I'm thinking probably either Anatomic Separation / Metamorph or MAYBE Alternate Form + Gestalt, to split into multiple creatures that can combine or recombine in differing power levels. I just haven't gotten into the books to see which way works best for them yet.
 
I think you're right, Gestalt would be the best way to represent that. Apply the gestalt points to the form of the animal. Is there just the one creature you split apart into? Or is there multiple different kinds?
 

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