Transcendence Now - M&M Game [Resumed!]

[Festy_Dog]

Festy -> Looks good initially, although I don't think you can drain saves directly, just the ability score they're based off of. Edit-Oh, and yeah, the technology level is not much higher than ours. Governments and big organizations might have access to energy type weapons but other than that, very few other people do atm. That said, I think it may possibly be okay to give it to you as a penalty that evens out with Immovability, because there aren't many supers around who can toss you around or such yet either. Like everything else, if it becomes underpowered/overpowered in the future we can revisit it. Edit2 -> Curiously, take a look at the Vampiric extra in the book, it may be to your liking.

Ah, so as the immovability becomes more of a bonus the non-energy element of the force field will become more of a weakness, makes sense but I think I'll just switch to a standard all-encompassing field and drop the immovability until another time in the near future.

Yes, it is possible to target saves, but keep in mind that draining saves doesn't have an innate effect like draining Wisdom to 0 to put someone into a coma. An example of a drain on someone's saves is the corrosion power. Corrosion is a Drain Toughness linked to a Strike, which each cost 1pp/rank, for a total corrosion cost of 2pp/rank. You should also keep in mind what exactly is contributing to a person's saves. You can drain a person's toughness to a max of -5, but if they are wearing actual physical armor it still should give its protection, it really just depends on what exactly goes on with the power.

The above is according to the book, but you should bear in mind that direct drains to saves are pretty powerful especially at low levels, and Sollir already nixed corrosion which has a toughness drain in it.

Shalimar/Festy -> I didn't quite 'nix' corrosion in all cases, just in that particular build it was looking nasty (I think it was an area effect power). If someone's mutant had corrosion, but it were limited in other ways, such as it only worked through 'touch' I'd be fine, but overall its a very tough power and at this stage in the game the world is just not ready for overpowered mutants Edit-Also, are drains not limited by PL and caps? Unless you have a tradeoff, a 7 point drain would be 1 point too high, no?

Ah, you are indeed correct. It's a typo left over from when I was making changes, I'll fix that.

I can't help but be somewhat hesitant about taking drain now, it's starting to feel possibly a tad too powerful? I'd select draining attributes but I just can't be sure about it, are there any alternatives with as much of a 'negative energy debuff' feel to them?

Edit: I've posted Lukas in the Rogues' Gallery, but I have the intention of fleshing out Lukas' background further when my presently tough schedule eases up a little.

 

[RobotRobotI]

Reading the book, it seems to imply that the Wealth System is an optional rule that can replace the equipment feat. What is the point of having wealth if you still have to spend feats to buy stuff?

Rereading it, it doesn't explicitly say one way or the other. Sounds like a MM ruling to me!

Also-Thanks for the compliments and good thoughts for my dog.

He isn't the one in the picture, but he is doing much better now.

Everyone has wealth, to begin with - it's more of a system for getting stuff during play than picking stuff to start off with at character creation, I think.

With the Wealth system, everyone gets 8 points of Wealth (which can be increased through feats.) I'm partial to Wealth because it doesn't make me go 'Well, my character wants to buy a cell phone, so I have to sacrifice [feats/skills/powers/etc] to buy it.' Although I do think equipment that is a major part of the character should come from your PP, I don't think stuff like phones or cars really should. Hence, wealth.

 

[KentArnold]

Everyone has wealth, to begin with - it's more of a system for getting stuff during play than picking stuff to start off with at character creation, I think.

With the Wealth system, everyone gets 8 points of Wealth (which can be increased through feats.) I'm partial to Wealth because it doesn't make me go 'Well, my character wants to buy a cell phone, so I have to sacrifice [feats/skills/powers/etc] to buy it.' Although I do think equipment that is a major part of the character should come from your PP, I don't think stuff like phones or cars really should. Hence, wealth.

Wealth of course is an optional rule, and its meant mostly for stuff that isnt used in combat for the most part. IE cell phones, computers, cars, you get the picture. Its also an excuse for having some of the high tech toys available, like uh battlesuits.

If you bought all your equipment via wealth, then its a GM call on whether you have to pick them up as Equipment or whether Wealth will suffice. Personally, me, I think wealth should be restricted to non-combat stuff. But that's just me personally. Also, there are some things you can't buy, no matter what your wealth level is, that's what PP are for.

 

[Shalimar]

With the Wealth system, everyone gets 8 points of Wealth (which can be increased through feats.) I'm partial to Wealth because it doesn't make me go 'Well, my character wants to buy a cell phone, so I have to sacrifice [feats/skills/powers/etc] to buy it.' Although I do think equipment that is a major part of the character should come from your PP, I don't think stuff like phones or cars really should. Hence, wealth.

I'm against wealth because it breaks things down to much and makes it feel like accounting. I agree with you that cellphones, cars, and every other everyday thing shouldn't have to be paid for with PP via the Equipment feat, but I do think the things that are important to characters like weapons and armor since they have a very meaningful affect should require the equipment feat. Its not like Equipment costs a lot of PP since 1pp buys you 5 Equipment points. Look at Makenzie, she has 20pp worth of equipment.

I just like the more abstract nature of not using the wealth system. It does require the players to be reasonable, but really, the only time it should come up is if the GM says a specific purchase isn't very reasonable for a certain person, otherwise it should just be a flavor thing. If we are going with the wealth system that would free up some power points from needing to be equipment.

I do believe that EP price of the shot gun is off however. Blast 6 with an ap should equal 13EP not 11.

 

[RobotRobotI]

As long as characters are given reasonable lee-way with their money, I don't really mind ditching the Wealth system, although I would have to do something with the Benefit feat if that's the case. Maleck's from a relatively well-off family, so it'd be pretty odd if she went to buy a new microwave and it turns out she can't 'cuz she doesn't have any extra PP to spend.

I agree with Shalimar that everyday stuff shouldn't need to be bought with PP, but that important things like weapons and combat gear should. Beyond that, I like the Wealth feat because it lets me know if I can afford to buy a Jaguar comfortably, or if it's gonna put a dent in my savings.

I will happily point out that Maleck will be very unhappy if she watches some guy's head get shot off. D:

I think it's kind odd that firearms still default to nonlethal damage... I don't see how you can nonlethally shoot someone with a shotgun.

 

[Shalimar]

I can't help but be somewhat hesitant about taking drain now, it's starting to feel possibly a tad too powerful? I'd select draining attributes but I just can't be sure about it, are there any alternatives with as much of a 'negative energy debuff' feel to them?

I like the drain personally, but I'd stick with an attribute drain so it only drops a few off of people's ability modifiers, the other thing that I'd do would be to require at least 2 hits to drain someone to the dregs. If you do feel that it might be a little much, maybe you could drop it to 4 ranks so that it would take getting hit 3 times to totally debilitate the average person (ie kill). Another option would be to make it poison, but a touch poison? ie:

Drain (All Atributes) 4, Melee +4 (Modifier: Poison; PF: Accurate, Reversible, Slow Fade 2(1/min); 20pp)

That wouldn't be as powerful as being able to drain at range, but thematically it might work better for you, you wouldn't be trying to actually hit them with a fist so much as creating negative energy around your hands and then trying to get the negative energy around you to latch onto them.

 

[Shalimar]

I will happily point out that Maleck will be very unhappy if she watches some guy's head get shot off. D:

I think it's kind odd that firearms still default to nonlethal damage... I don't see how you can nonlethally shoot someone with a shotgun.

Actually, they don't default to non-lethal, all attacks can be either lethal or non-lethal chosen at the time of the attack. Guns however (equipment guns, not device guns) require the Stun Ammo feature (+1ep) to be able to use non-lethal rounds.

 

[RobotRobotI]

Actually, they don't default to non-lethal, all attacks can be either lethal or non-lethal chosen at the time of the attack. Guns however (equipment guns, not device guns) require the Stun Ammo feature (+1ep) to be able to use non-lethal rounds.

Oh, okay. Heheh. I just gave the equipment rules a quick overview, since Mal doesn't have any, and I guess I missed that.

 

[ByteRynn]

Mostly, the shotgun and pick-up truck were there to showcase that Dr. Emerson Walden was still in touch enough with his roots to have a pick-up truck with a gunrack in back. The shotgun wasn't really so much there to shoot people (in self-defense, sure, but not until then) as it was there to scare people into not shooting us. I would be surely willing to buy my shotgun as a EP feat purchase, though, I'd gladly give up my computer and pick-up if we abandon the Wealth system altogether.

I'm pretty easy either way, and I see both sides of the argument.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

When I agreed to use the Wealth system I looked at the list of items that the purchase DCs were for and thought they were mostly non-combat. I kind of like the idea of an in-game mechanic to see if you can buy something instead of it being completely up to me if you can buy it-it also gives some kind of rationale so I can be fair with everything. That said, I think combat equipment should be bought with the Equipment feat, whereas items like cell phones/pick up trucks, etc... that aren't necessarily combat related should be bought with the Wealth feat. Sound fair?

Festy -> Yeah, Drain can be fairly nasty. If you're simply looking for a debuff, perhaps consider Fatigue? Otherwise, I'm sure we can work something through, and then adjust everything in retrospect if it proves too overpowered.

The question of what you expect from me/what are you looking to see in this game still stands, I don't believe everyone has answered it yet I'm currently brainstorming NPCs and initial plothooks, and later tonight I'll probably post what groups you guys were teamed together in.