Mini Campaign: Mutants and Masterminds (OOC)

Xathan · April 22, 2008, 07:33:05 PM

I like a lot so far, crit! I'm guessing you're going to be putting a weakness to pollution and such in there? And what's Foxfire? Different name/description for Hellfire? Or something else?

Numinous · April 22, 2008, 08:05:07 PM

Quote from: Xathan WorldsmithI like a lot so far, crit! I'm guessing you're going to be putting a weakness to pollution and such in there? And what's Foxfire? Different name/description for Hellfire? Or something else?

A weakness to pollution and iron, certainly. I haven't even opened my book yet for this character, but foxfire would be conjured flames of a magical nature, likely capable of distracting and hypnotizing a little more than you're average candle, but capable of doing some real damage if necessary.

Xathan · April 22, 2008, 08:16:23 PM

Quote from: Rose Of Montague
Quote from: Xathan WorldsmithI like a lot so far, crit! I'm guessing you're going to be putting a weakness to pollution and such in there? And what's Foxfire? Different name/description for Hellfire? Or something else?
A weakness to pollution and iron, certainly. I haven't even opened my book yet for this character, but foxfire would be conjured flames of a magical nature, likely capable of distracting and hypnotizing a little more than you're average candle, but capable of doing some real damage if necessary.

Coolness. I'm looking forward to seeing more. :)

Xeviat · April 22, 2008, 08:58:55 PM

My group are known as the Enlightened. They believe in strict non-interference in people's ascension; they are a group of people trying to ascend, but they aren't in contact with those who have. They don't publish books on how to do it (aside from some newage theological stuff that members may have written before they discovered they were on the path).

I think I'm going to go with the paralyzed aspect. I find the idea of being a Psychic Steven Hawkings to be fun.

Belabras · April 24, 2008, 01:25:32 AM

Still working on the Char. Just checking in.

Xathan · April 24, 2008, 09:30:18 PM

Eee, totally missed these posts.

Xev: Sounds really nice....and yes, the Psychic Steven Hawkings is a very cool idea. Out of curiosity, are you going Astral Form or Alternate Form (Projection)?

Belabras: Thanks for the heads up - I'm looking forward to seeing your character.

As a general notice to all, I'm going to be out of town this weekend, going on vacation with my girlfriend. As such, odds are good I won't be around from Friday afternoon till Sunday night. (though I might be on and off briefly) If you guys could get your character sheets to me through PM by sunday night so I can see what you guys are mechanically, that'd be awesome - if not, then no worries, and no need to rush on the back stories. (consider the sheets you turn in to be "first drafts" of your characters - I'd just like to see where you guys are headed in a more concrete mechanical form.)

Xeviat · April 24, 2008, 10:48:51 PM

I need some help with what drawbacks symptoms of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (as it turns out, Stephen Hawking doesn't have MS, he has this) would have. My character doesn't actually have the disorder, but his ever increasing reliance upon his brain is causing his body to slowly shut down.

And I will be using Alternate Form (Projection), as Astral Form has many effects I'm not looking for.

Xathan · April 24, 2008, 11:09:21 PM

Plus, Astral Form is bloody expensive for what it does. :-P

For the drawback, because you have a power that compensates, it'd be an uncommon, minor drawback. Having to speak through a machine would be an uncommon, moderate drawback, since there would be some penalties with interaction skills using it. Since he can kind of move, I'd go with a Str and Dex of 1 each, which is where the drawback really comes in. :)

Xeviat · April 25, 2008, 12:46:39 AM

Okay, cool, that works for me. So mute and his inability to walk are only going to be 1 point drawbacks. I can't wait to see what his +25ish Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate are like translated through his speaker.

I'm trying to get everything to work, but I drew myself into a corner. I may have to use action reduction to increase the action to activate my Mental Projection in order to reduce its cost. Right now I have it as a move action and projection, reducing the cost to 3/rank.

The container removes the paralysis, grants flight, adds an AP teleportation to his psychic power array, removes his con, gives him Regeneration (true resurrection) in 5 hours (to cover if his psychic form is killed; this way he'll have a chance of regaining consciousness every 5 hours if he succeeds on the con check, I even bought up the recovery bonus since its the form that has to regenerate), immunity (life support), a force field granting toughness and reflex saves, and some defense bonus.

But logic says this form should have immunity to fort saves, since it is an unliving body composed of solid mental energy. Life support covers a large amount of fort effects (poison, environment, disease), but not attacks that are meant to target fort (and not all of those are given the "only affects living" flaw). But in order to add in the 30 points Immunity (Fort) costs, I would need to increase the activation action of the container to Standard, thus reducing the cost to 2/rank.

I am asking about what to do here because I don't want to be unfair here. As a GM, I would find issues with someone having a container's cost reduced by an activation cost, especially a character like mine who fully intends on doing all of his adventuring with his alternate form. The action could become an issue for him, but I don't see it becoming one easily. Thus I don't want to reduce the cost that way; heck, I feel bad using the Move Action flaw to reduce its cost.

But the character's skills ended up costing a good amount, and I was forced to leave his two-way mental communication power outside of his psychic array so he could use it in combat and along with his enhanced charisma and social skills.

Xathan, what should I do?

Xeviat · April 29, 2008, 09:09:37 AM

Just a bump so Xathan can find us again.

Xathan · April 29, 2008, 09:32:27 AM

Quote from: Kap'n XeviatI am asking about what to do here because I don't want to be unfair here. As a GM, I would find issues with someone having a container's cost reduced by an activation cost, especially a character like mine who fully intends on doing all of his adventuring with his alternate form. The action could become an issue for him, but I don't see it becoming one easily. Thus I don't want to reduce the cost that way; heck, I feel bad using the Move Action flaw to reduce its cost.

But the character's skills ended up costing a good amount, and I was forced to leave his two-way mental communication power outside of his psychic array so he could use it in combat and along with his enhanced charisma and social skills.

Xathan, what should I do?

Ahh, thanks for bumping, I would have missed this otherwise.

You're right...I do feel it is somewhat unfair to use the action for more than move here, simply because it's hard to think of a scenario where your character wouldn't already be in his alternate form. Here's some ideas for flaws that might fit:

Check Required: From Ultimate Power, you have to make a skill check to activate the power. I'd go with Concentration. The check DC is 10+power rank. Normally I don't allow this flaw, but I'm betting you're going to have a very high rank alternate form, so the DC would still be reasonable without being an auto-succeed.

Unreliable: Entering the Alternate Form is hard, so 50% of the time, fails. This would have a similar effect to Check Required, only more random and a bit more balanced, but also less in flavor.

Side Effect: This would be a -2, so you could bump the action back up to move. When you re-enter your body, you suffer a Side Effect of some sort: a Dazzle to all of your senses as your body readjusts, an int/wis/cha (all at once) drain from the snap back into your body, a Stun/Nauseate, or something similar. I'd make it affect you when you re-enter your body, not leave it, because this seems like it a) makes the most sense and b) is the most likely to actually impact you, since if you're reentering your body in a hurry, you're probably going to want to be able to see and react to your surroundings.

Any of those seem good to you?

[ooc]For an overall update:

Right now, I have character sheets from Belabras and Posiedon, and I know where Xev is now. I need an update from Crit when he gets the chance :) As of now, I'm still looking at next Monday as a starting date, since this weekend will be packed for me - does that work for everyone?[/ooc]

Belabras · April 29, 2008, 09:48:49 AM

Sounds good. It'll give me a chance to go over some of the issues you talked about in your PM too :)

Poseptune · April 29, 2008, 10:07:35 AM

Quote from: Xathan Worldsmith[ooc]For an overall update:

Right now, I have character sheets from Belabras and Posiedon, and I know where Xev is now. I need an update from Crit when he gets the chance :) As of now, I'm still looking at next Monday as a starting date, since this weekend will be packed for me - does that work for everyone?[/ooc]

Works for me as well. It'll give me a chance to get over this writers block issue I'm having with my character's background...

Xeviat · April 29, 2008, 01:43:22 PM

Xathan: Check required might be a solution for point saving. As a GM, I'm actually fine with someone taking "Check Required" as a flaw even if they auto succeed on the skill check. My reasoning is that they had to spend points on the skill and ability modifiers to get it to the point of auto success, so it's almost a little like APing the skill; almost.

Side Effect actually sounds cool; perhaps I wouldn't have my powers for some time upon returning?

I really have a hard time judging what's a Flaw and what's a Drawback. I'll see what I can do about shaving some points off, as I made the alternate form worth much more than I originally had intended.

Xathan · April 29, 2008, 03:49:06 PM

Quote from: Kap'n XeviatXathan: Check required might be a solution for point saving. As a GM, I'm actually fine with someone taking "Check Required" as a flaw even if they auto succeed on the skill check. My reasoning is that they had to spend points on the skill and ability modifiers to get it to the point of auto success, so it's almost a little like APing the skill; almost.

Side Effect actually sounds cool; perhaps I wouldn't have my powers for some time upon returning?

I really have a hard time judging what's a Flaw and what's a Drawback. I'll see what I can do about shaving some points off, as I made the alternate form worth much more than I originally had intended.

Yeah, you hit why I'm fine with it as a flaw. I'm never quite comfortable with an auto succeed, since skills usually have a much lower cost than powers and also have other uses...though Concentration would be different, since it's less useful (IMO) than other skills.

That would work as a side effect - it'd be a nullify (all powers) hitting you when you return to your body.

I have the same problem as a player, so I understand. Don't worry about it too much: My primary goal as a DM is for y'all to have fun, and if that means just taking Action as a flaw a second time, I'm cool with that as a final way to dealing with it. :)

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Mini Campaign: Mutants and Masterminds (OOC)

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