Characters receive 1xp for each day in which they post (character post, not ooc posts, so xp started accruing when the "training camp" thread went up).

Edit: also, occasional pts will be awarded for cool stuff.

This will build quickly, I know, but it also encourages active play.

Also, Novas are powerhouses, and I really don't mind them getting a lot of XP.



As far as advancement goes, you will be able to put points in things you work on.  During training you will have it easy, in that points can be justified almost anywhere (though skills and atts are especially appropriate).  As time moves on, and you become more experienced, you will have to work harder to justify purchases.  If you want a new power, after training, you will have to work for many scenes in character (or have something really dramatic happen...) to get it.

Not that I plan on being overly harsh with this.  As long as you show some roleplay in a general direction, I'm happy.  I just would like the advancement to fit the story (and your personal stories).  If you have any questions regarding your characters advancement and things you want to purchase, just let me know via pm, and I'll help you out.


Finally, I'm always open to new ideas, so if people have any suggestions in this arena, let me know.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:26, Thu 30 Apr 2009.

I has a question, and i'm not sure where it should go, but since i'm going to be spending xp on it for character advancement this seemed to be the best place for it.  Maybe a new thread for discussing powers/crunch would be useful?
The Momentum Manipulation powers (p117, PG) have been shomshanked something fierce.  Momentum swap lacks what appears to be two paragraphs of crunch, rotation lacks fluff, whereas Transformation seems to be complete.  Further, for a power that effects entire objects that are presumably 3d, why is the area measured in meters?  Not square meters, or cubic meters, but meters.  I think cubic meters makes the most sense, but then i always think i make sense...Also, the suite only has 3 powers, so I think some new ones must be cooked up.  Could i get a ST ruling on what, exactly rotation does and what the area of my powers is, and can i cook up some kewl new powrz for Momentum mastery?

In reply to Impetus (msg #2):

I can't see it really being a problem, Aberrant powers are made to be messed with already. I'll dig out my PG and take a look, see if I can help too. That is, unless my copy of MoEP: Infernals comes today like I expect it too. heh.

i'll look into the rules on that.

and yes, it needs more techniques, and we can look at taking some from the other power suites.

Here is some Official PG Errata on Momentum Control that might help:

http://www.nprime.net/downloads/errata.html

Player's Guide Errata
Momentum Control should read as follows.

Momentum Control
     Level: 3
     Quantum Minimum: 4
     Dice Pool: Variable
     Range: Variable
     Area: Variable
     Duration: Variable
     Effect: Character can manipulate inertia in the area.
     Multipile Action: Yes
     Description: A Nova with this power affects how objects interact with the universe around them, controlling their speed, acceleration and direction. Momentum Control doesn't change the target's mass, the local gravity or even the minds of any people it effects. The nova simply rewrites the balance of physical forces and then lets the laws of physics take their course.
     The nova concentrates on two nearby objects and exchanges their momentum. Each now moves at the speed and in the direction the other was moving, multiplied by the difference in their masses. The heavier target can weigh no more than twice what the smaller target does, doubling for each level of Inertia Control after the first: twice as much at 1 dot, four times as much at 2 dots, eight times as much at 3 dots and so on. It takes just one success to perform the Momentum Swap. The nova can use extra successes to reduce the speed of one target or the other. Each success spent halves one target's speed; the excess inertia manifests as a slight warming throughout the nova's range.



Does anyone know if there is any other PG Errata out there? My google-fu revealed nothing, and there are a few errors still unaccounted for in the book.

Finding anything Aeon this late in the game is quite difficult. Took me almost a year of scrounging before I got my hands on a Trinity Players Guide. That, and I don't know if there's even any to find.

In reply to Solitaire (msg #6):

Yeah, I know several people that just use electronic versions b/c they can't find any hard copies.

Whats amusing is most of the hard to get stuff I have, Both Players Guides, two copies of Adventure!, a original copy of Trinity when it was still Aeon. Its the more common stuff I have trouble with >_<.

so, according to that errata, i can't speed up the lighter object?

I think it says that the lighter object does speed up, as they move in the direction and speed multiplied by the difference in mass, but that you can slow it down if you so choose.

Slowing down i understand is usually the better option, but what if i wanted to radically increase teh speed of the smaller object, like take the momentum of a 3600lb truck moving at 60mph, then (with momentum control 4) apply it to a 200lb human, who would then move at 860mph.  Then use the successes on the roll to further up the smaller object's (in this case, Imp's) speed?  This would form the basis of Imp figuring things out like flight and hypermove.  Of course i guess i could just take flight or hypermove and say that imp is absorbing some of the momentum of the earth as it travels through space to affect his own movement.  That seems so much more elegant...

In reply to Impetus (msg #11):

hi, folks. new guy here. still trying to work out my own PC details, but just wanted to help if I could, maybe offer a little advice.

hope I'm not completely out in left field on this since I'm still brushing back up on everything, but couldn't Imp just use his momentum power as an unbought technique to duplicate those other powers?

sure you pay extra in quantum cost and the difficulty goes up, but I remember using my old PC powers like that several times.

the trick was to just "flavor" the power with your own abilities you already have, like he draws on and uses the Earth's rotational momentum to fly, etc.

this was what I loved about aberrant, that you could try out new stuff all the time and experiment with your powers (kinda like MtA, if you had the ranks and spheres of influence, you could do just about anything you could imagine if it was related. best magic system evar!).

if it worked out and became something you used a lot, you could just buy it when you had enough experience to cover it as a new technique under your power.

hope maybe this helps and I'm not barking at the moon here.

In reply to chromalfean (msg #12):

Welcom to the game, chromalfean. I do remember the books recomending exactly what you've mentioned, so it sounds like a good idea.

On a side note, but related to this thread, are we simply tallying xp every day? Or will you award it at the end of a scene?

I've been tallying xp daily, I've got an entry on my sheet.

Noted.

what gravitas said.

Since Comstock's first post was on the 31st of March, I am counting 27 XP for Comstock as of today.  Sound right?

Sounds about right, I've got 25, but I've missed a few days here and there.

So, when do we get to spend the stuff?

You can spend them whenever you like, just try and work mainly on things you've had a chance to develop.  If you want to develop powers, we are going to working on those soon over in the training camp thread.

Questions:
I'm looking at taking flight, with the underwater extra(thus L3).  I'm also looking a taking hypermove at L3 so it will affect both my flight and running speeds.  Will the hypermove flight allow me to "fly" at 500kph underwater, due to my underwater extra?
I'm also looking at the Dex knack enhanced movement.  with hypermove+enhanced movement I'll run at dex(5)x12+20=80meters per action.  This is assuming E.Dex 2.  This knack does not affect my flight speed, but does affect my swim speed (p.158) so, would this mean that my flight speed would be lower than either running or swimming?
Also, hypermove states that it gives a flat 500kph per dot speed.  Enhanced movement says that it is cumulative with the effects of hypermove.  Does enhanced movement affect the 500kph from hyperspeed, or is there no way to up hypermove speeds (without momentum mastery chicanery)?
Am not trying to be twinky here, not trying to finesse the system to get the most bang for my buck.  just asking questions.
Oh, last question:
P155 (ab core) states that "when a nova buys a mega attribute he may select one enhancement for free. If he wants additional enhancements he can purchase them at the costs..."  does this mean that we just get the first extra for free when we buy the first dot, then must buy more, or that we get a free one with each mega att purchase?
This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Thu 30 Apr 2009.

I can field a few of these.

First, Mega-Att's. When you get the first dot of a Mega-Att you automatically gain one Enhancement at no additional cost. Any further increases to the Mega-Att do not add more Enhancement, they're purchased separately (I think for 5xp).

As for Hypermove, I couldn't say for certain if the hypermove as a level 3 power would allow for superfast swimming, I would assume it does. Even if it does not, this seems like a harmless enough perk to allow, particularly since you're taking both as level 3 powers.

Enhanced Movement would appear to modify that 500kph/dot amount by multiplying it by (M.Dex+1). The enhanacement does not explicitly modify flight, this would seem to me to be thematic. As a Mega-Dex enhancement, this Enhancement is presumably allowing you to move your limbs ultra-quickly to allow for faster movement. Flight is almost always accomplished via some other medium, or like Solitare, through no apparent medium at all (since she just sort of flies).  The advantage of flight is, of course, in a combination of z-axis movement and being able to travel 'as the crow flies' by not being limited to roads/paths/etc.

Still, flying at 500kph per dot in Hypermove (flight) makes you stupidly fast. The speed of sound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound) at sea level is about 1225 kph and is about 1062 kph at the cruising altitude of most jetliners. A mere two dot investiment has you right up on top of that and three dots makes you supersonic. For those more familiar with units we Americans use, each dot of hyperspeed is about 310mph outside of combat.

Also, you specify what mode of movement Hypermovement affects; Hyperflying, Hyperrunning, Hyperswimming. Not all three.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:56, Thu 30 Apr 2009.

You do indeed have to specify which movement hypermove affects.  My quesion is, if i take flight as a level 3 power i can use my flight speed underwater.  If I have taken hypermove flight does it affect this as i am, technically, flying under water?

Don't see why not. Hyperflight is an enhancement of Flight, and you can fly underwater.

everyone has already said this, but yes, flight underwater is still flight, and thus still modified by hypermove: flight.

I just realized we have no freaky psychic people.

Probably a blessing really, but does anyone plan on going down that path?  Not many of you really have powers in that direction, but a few of your mega-atts reflect the potential at least.

Oh, also remember that I am allowing Brainwaves and Forceful Personalities mega-enhancements (though I do want to approve things individually).  For those that don't know, brainwaves was to be the first in a line of mega-att based books but only the outline got done before the line got cancelled.  FP is a fan supplement, but is really solid, and several of the devs gave the online community responsible for it thumbs up, both on the aberrant and trinity lines.

where do we find those?

No plans for that here.  Precisely zero.  Comstock's brain is becoming less compatible with human models, not more.

On the subject of Hyperflgiht, it occurs to me that choosing anything but flight as your mode of transport is an unnecessary constraint and the benefit-maximizing choice will always be flight.  Not that I find this to be a problem, since the other choices exist for more narrow superhero concepts like the Flash, just amusing.

As to where ... I would have assumed Eon Online, but they look like they are down ...

I think that's where I found them. If they're not there for whatever reason, I can also host them at one of my sites.

In reply to Prodigal (msg #29):

NO!!!!  I liked that site :(

I have FP. Friend has BW, I will get it from him (actually, I had it, but don't know what happened to it...) and then hand both out, as they are free to distribute I'm pretty sure.  Or ask Avil/Gravitas, I think he has both as well.  And may have a better way of getting the files transferred.

well if either/both of you wouldn't mind I'd like to at least glance. :-)

I wish I had taken the time to save those wonderful documents to my hard drive.  All that knowledge ...

EDITS: Found One.  Brainwaves is here (http://www.rpg-post.com/ubbthr...7325/Brainwaves.html)

Forceful personalities is beyond my reach.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:21, Fri 01 May 2009.

I'm planning on exploring the mentalist/psychic tree to some degree or another, but undecided yet how far. at least to begin with as it relates to the temporal (intuition, premonition, pretercognition, etc.), but might take it further due to other mega-enhancements that would allow for further development, depending on how much they factor in to character development. have to wait and see on that one, but could get pretty heavy in that direction.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:00, Fri 01 May 2009.

yay!

I have FP, I just don't know how to get it to peoples.

Once I'm home I can post them for download. Eon online may only be down temporarily.

Working on it. ;)



Taint affect?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:25, Sat 02 May 2009.

Over time, yeah.  Right now, just my explanation for one dot of Psychic Shield.  Essentially, it's cancer.  I envision the metal spreading and spreading until he's decidedly not human.  I'll be raising his Intelligence in parallel to this development to hammer the point home.

This could take quite a while though.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Sat 02 May 2009.

Did some digging, it looks like the eononline.net account was suspended by their hosting service. I shot off an email to the listed administrative contact for the domain since we're probably some of the only people still playing these games and he might not otherwise notice for months.

I'll go ahead and get some of those fan supplements I have posted and supply links here once they're up.

Got an auto-bounceback on that email, oh well.

Here are the three fan supplements I've got:
http://www.lostknightsrpg.org/temp/

You should be able to get an index page that has links to the three files from there.

Ouch. Quite tragic, that. Is there no hope for Comstock?

nice, tnx. got 'em saved for later reference, but to be honest, there's probably already more than enough canon source material to keep Harley busy for quite some time, still, much appreciated none the less
This message was last edited by the player at 11:22, Sat 02 May 2009.

Define hope.  Either way, the topic is for another thread.  Moving to OOC!

Bought: 1st dot of Hypermove (flight and afoot)and flight (air and aquatic) as 3rd lvl powers. A second dot of momentum manipulation (immobilize), and epic App 2. Total 30xp.
Question, should we be reporting this stuff here?

In reply to Impetus (msg #45):

sounds right to me.  You can report here if you want to tell people how you are advancing, or you can just pm me when you make changes.  Whichever you prefer.

XP Tracking: 29 spent.
Brawl     2->3               4xp
Firearms  1->2               2xp
Academics 0->1               3xp
Science   0->1               3xp
Streetwise 1->2              2xp
Mega Stamina 2->3           10xp
Enhancement (Mega-Stamina)   5xp
                             29xp spent

These dots are formally gained after the next training montage.  When I have some time to actually learn (or relearn in the case of firearms) something.

Edit: Eon Online is back.  GRAB EVERYTHING JUST IN CASE IT DIES AGAIN.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Sun 03 May 2009.

Torrents are also your friends.

Could you point me at a link for said torrent?  my torrentz fu is weak today

In reply to Impetus (msg #49):

http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Ad...57405b7f6acae7f9eabf

Here is one. I, of course, only publicly advocate downloading the free, fan stuff, or material made free by WW or its writers. (You can choose which files you want while downloading.) Note that the Trinity Player's Guide is not included.

People should probably also consider some skill points, at least a dot or two, in the other stuff they are spending time doing: construction activities (engineering and crafts), all the social skills, stuff like that.

I was thinking of doing something really freaky with Samuel. As time goes on, he will eventually lose the ability to speak entirely, a side-effect of getting struck by that bolt of lightning. For abilities, I'd like to increase his understanding engineering, technology and electricity in general. To offset the loss of speach, he'll need telepathy. Technopathy, weather manipulation. But maybe I should stick with one line of powers, considering just how much you can do with electricity.

do what makes you happy with the character. isn't that the point of this game? to explore? can't speak for any others, but I'm not planning to limit myself any more than is necessary in terms of my character achieving his goals (motivation, desires, etc.). in other words, I think most of us are planning to "branch out", at least to some degree or another, so if it strikes you as appropriate to your character, then I'd say do it.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #52):

Technopathy would be very interesting, and also an appropriate branch out from basic electricity control. And it would give you an alternate mode of communication.

I definitely hope to see characters branch out, but I do want them to all stay in theme with their powers/concepts.  I think that everyone is balancing out pretty well so far though.

In reply to Rydi (msg #54):

Awww... But what about his phenomenal cosmic powah?

You know ... I figured that as Comstock played around with his voice and high-end electromagnetic scan I would eventually pick up Hyperenhanced Hearing.  Really just radio and microwaves.  Mostly because I liked the paranoia/hilarity of turning him into a radio transmitter and receiver.  "This is Radio Comstock, here from the Mojave Desert.  I can hear you police talking about me on your radios.  Don't make me come over there."

If Sam is having this problem ... with speaking ... would it be useful for me to pick it up soon?  So Comstock can play interpreter for static and electric garble?  Come to think of it, Sam could probably carry around a speaker use it to translate electronic impulse into voice.

Still creepy though.

Kinda like people who got a tracheotomy and have an artificial voice box.  Anybody else remembering that old Dennis Leary sketch?

Laughed out loud there.  I had nearly forgotten that one.

I do like the evolution of "speech impediment" to "incapable of speech," though.  Nice growth.

I think everyone will end up with that :)

Define "cosmic power"? Gravity is pretty cosmic. *flex*

Summoning demons isn't cosmic enough? :P

Anyway, xp breakdown so far

Mega-Int enhancement: 5 (Discerning Mind, Brainwaves p.48)
Mega-Int enhancement: 5 (Fast Learner, Brainwaves p.48)
Mega-Int enhancement: 5 (Analyze Weakness, Main p.165)
Mega-Int @ 2: 5
Mega-Manip @ 2: 5

All of these are in the core concept for the character, just didn't have the points at character creation.  Though several of the enhancements have been getting some training in game (resisting Impetus instinctive charm, and catching Dillons Voice for Discerning mind; all the education we are recieving for Fast Learner).

Ugh. Now I've got a problem. He's already loosing his speech, but he won't actually be able to gain cyberkinesis until he has a Quantum of 4. I suppose I could boost his Quantum by one and take Telepathy, but that doesn't really fit with his power set. Hrm. Guess I sorta wrote myself into a corner.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #62):

If you want to spend the points on it, but only use it to do little stuff (you know, like talk, slightly manipulate systems, etc.) I'll let you buy the power then buy the quantum later.  Just show your learning to use the ability in that fashion through rp.

Not really.  With electricity alone you should be able to talk through any stereo speaker.  Heck, just shock Comstock until your words come out of his mouth.  He's durable enough to take it, made of conductive material and we've already established some of his weird electro-vocal qualities.  Once someone has an idea of what's happened to Sam, we can get you a temporary fix until you figure out the Cyberkinesis or Telepathy.

This could also be a temporary thing. Like maybe he's just unable to talk for stretches of time but gets his voice back intermittently until such time as you've got some other method to 'offload' your voice to entirely.

In reply to Gravitas (msg #65):

that isn't a bad idea either.

It's really not a bad idea, but turning his voice on and off would seem rather rather hard to keep track of, and inconvenient. One way or the other seems the best choice. Though it doesn't need to be permanent all at once; it could be a very gradual process.

I'm planning on cashing in my XP tommorow, then I'll have 30 xp points, but I'm not sure what to spend it on. I'd love to give him some more powers, but I'm not entirely clear on how to roleplay power gain. Does anyone have any advice?

An unexpected, "hey, I can do this now." works for new powers, as does a conscious attempt to channel quantum in the new way. The initial uses are often clumsy and blunt, hard to control, and are usually accompanied by headaches as your Node goes into overdrive.

What were you planning on getting? Specific examples get specific feedback.

Nothing specifc just yet, I'm still working on other stuff. I'm just here to rest my brain. ^_^

I know the feeling, I'm currently waffling over energy Absorption or Quantum Imprint. What she does in unconsciously channel quantum through her body, giving her super strength, dexterity and stamina, as well as boosting her senses and allowing her to alter her appearance, as well as fly. Eventually, she will learn to consciously channel energy, possibly leading to powers like Disrupt, or other direct Quantum manipulation powers.

Hrmm, maybe I'll take both, if I montage it right.

The powers class is, I think, going to give some chance for people to do that sort of thing (expand). And probably give some folks a chance to showcase stuff that they can do but haven't demonstrated.

The way powers work in Aberrant is all dependent upon the perception of that specific nova. Just knowing that you're channeling quantum power is great and all, but most characters don't really see that, in spite of being told it point blank. They just know that they 'eat fire' or 'can fly' or something similar.

My own character is a great example. He knows (probably better than anyone with his Mega-Int and physics background) that he is channeling quantum forces to achieve specific affects. But when he goes to use his powers, its all gravity. He may know that he's channeling quantum no a conscious level, but his subconscious is breaking it all down into gravity. His mega-atts aren't something he consciously recognizes, so they're a bit different. They simple represent a transcendence of the base human physiological model into something a little more (well, mostly, a few of them are still 'gravity', particularly the physical ones). Most any of the 'invisible' powers that I pick for Gravitas (mega-socials and mentals are prime examples) are based on his mega-int. He understands more now - knows how they work. Or, in the case of Mega-Perception, he really can just see gravity.

Anyhoo, the point is that power growth is intended to represent a logical extrapolation of the character's starting abilities that are all - at least in the character's head - related. The book suggests that entirely new powers should be gained after maxing to try to use the power a few times (rules for power maxing are on pg147 of the core book)

Good catch, I'd forgotten about maxing.

Rydi?

How long would it take Zero to make an army of robot soldiers? (Or their reasonable facsimile there of.)

At one point, someone mentioned turning in power in exchange for others. How is that done?

You mean swapping one for another? I don't believe you can.

[edit] Barring St intervention, that is.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:24, Thu 07 May 2009.

Yeah, usually they aren't so much exchanged, as one upgrades to newer powers (while retaining the older ones).

For trading in powers, it is usually just upgrading.  So, for example, if Sam gets the quantum req and decides that he wants elemental anima/mastery, he could trade in a lesser power, using the xp it gives toward the new power (and most likely taking the old power as a technique for the new one).  It's really mostly on a case by case.

For Solitaire, it seems like Absorption would be fitting with the personality of the character.  Life punches you, you punch it back harder sort of thing.  Q.Imprint isn't out of the question either, though you might consider Node Spark instead.  It really just depends on how you view the quantum manip powers: is it more inline with the character to steal someone else's shticks or to burn a bunch of quantum and spontaneously get cooler?  (p. 127 Teragen for Node Spark btw)
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:34, Thu 07 May 2009.

I have a couple different paths I'm considering. I'll post a more in depth thing tomorrow sometime, the move to the Quantum Manip powers mostly stems from the fact that Solitaire has no specific "paradigm" so to speak. She intuitively channels Quantum to make herself harder, better, faster, stronger, ect... Mostly I'm considering how to make the jump from intuitive use of the energy to conscious use of it. Absorption seems more fitting at the moment to me, but only slightly. Does she get hit with a energy blast and feel the energy coursing through her, empowering her further and sparking an awareness of the energy that flows though and how it does? Or does she touch a fellow Nova and feel the patterns of energy about them, instinctively harmonizing herself with it and gaining a mimicked ability?

I'll write up a bit of fluff from the Aberrant War era, showcasing a possible scenario.

Also, I'll check out Node Spark, but I don't have my Teragen book on me atm and cant remember what it does, though I do seem to recall it being cool.

0.o

*blink* oh! I get it. TARGET PRACTICE! great idea doc!


and are teragen powers available to us? I have the book and yes, some of their powers are very cool, but I was steering clear since they were supposed to be exclusive to teragen characters.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:21, Thu 07 May 2009.

In reply to Harley Logan (msg #80):

Just depends. Right now xp should probably just be expanding base powers, skills, and mega-atts.  As time goes by, teragen, at least some of it, will open up.

Army of robots = long time. Need proper facilities to mass produce them really.

also depends on what you define as an "army". could just spent a turn and 5 quantum for 5 clones. lol. man, I got quit giving him ideas!

Having another problem. In the book, there are two separate XP charts for new traits, and increasing traits. When buying a new trait, I'm assuming I'd use the new trait list, regardless of how many dots I buy in it, correct?

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #83):

New trait for the first dot, multiplier for every dot after the first.

Its just like buying a new ability in Exalted. (Which is 3xp for the first dot and ratingx2 for dots thereafter). So for buying up a Mega attribute (we'll use an example mega-att that doesn't exist), you pay 6xp for the first dot of Mega-Cool (and also pick up an enhancement, we'll chose Awesome! for that) and then you'd pay 5 xp for the second dot of Mega-Cool, 10 for the third, etc. If you wanted to pick up the Rad! enhancement for it, that's a flat 5xp cost. So, after spending a total of 6+5+10+5+5=31 xp on your Mega-Cool, you've got:
Mega-Cool 3 (Awesome!, Rad!)

Given his growth towards "hero" behavior, any objections to Comstock picking up Mega-Charisma 1 (Commanding Presence)?  He wants to be an example, but I also don't want to make him some crappy Pax or Cyclops-esque 'team-leader.'

nothing really wrong with either of them....they just get overshadowed by BA characters that are around them.

There's plenty wrong with both, really. Pax is a gloryhound who's all about his image, and Cyclops is mostly a loser. :P

Yeah, but Cyclops usually gets panned as a "goody two-shoes" pushy obnoxious "leader."  Least around my usual circles, I'll admit I never read that much X-men.  Pax, on the other hand, won't let anyone overshadow him and wants nothing more than for everyone to acknowledge him as Earth's biggest badass.

yeah, cyclops gets cast as a boy scout most of the time, which is what the tried to fix in M, but failed (imho)

Well, Node Spark is nifty. I'll look into it in the future. I think I'm getting a head of myself though. Its only been about a week game time. I'll bank some xp till I get hit with a energy blast though. Think I'll stick with Mega-Atts at the moment.

[EDIT] Sidetracked by the Cool Powaz. Shame on me.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Thu 07 May 2009.

Node spark is exceptionally cool. Its also Quantum 5 =\

In reply to Gravitas (msg #88):

as far as them being cast as leaders I don't think there is anything wrong with them, cyclops is only a loser in comparison to the other people on the team i.e. wolverine*shudder* , jean, nightcrawler,gambit and so on.

Pax is a little different, but none the less is fine for leader, except we at least I never saw him as taking the responsibilty for when things actually went negative with the team, if he does that then he is in fact a good leader, and good leaders should get credit when it is due to them and their team working well together.

I personaly think that would be cool.



 Watch out for Taint.

The problem with Cyclopse is his problems are over. He's wife's back from the dead and pretty close to immortal and invincible, and sending his son to the future paid off at the lose of the whole father hood thing. His borther is doing good on his own. They didn't even give him an archnemises.

There is nothing left really to do with Cyclopse. The writer's are too lazy to dream up anything new for him that isn't a little out there, like "poof! You have another brother! And he's evil! And he's taking over the Universe! And he's god like! OMG!"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:01, Thu 07 May 2009.

uh...did you miss the whole being with Emma thing? (i'm not sure if that has officially stopped or not i'm a little out of comics atm) He is also running the school, had to deal with a bunch of students getting killed and  bunch losing their abilities...his archnemisis is Sinister...

In reply to Prodigal (msg #95):

they try too hard w/scott.  I actually used to like him as the irritating boyscout that everyone rebelled against.  Now everyone is just following his league, he's even more of a mega-asshole, and his plans are shitty... but no one is rebelling against him, despite the fact that he is primarily meant to be a foil for other characters. Meh.

Oh, and I miss jean.  And the phoenix.  I loved endsong.  And hated warsong.

))))))))))

On another note, I really do like how different everyone is so far.  Powers overlap in places, and no one is really trying to "fill roles".  Which is good, because it's aberrant, not WoW.  While comstock is pretty clearly a tank, he's also got a lot of subtle versatility going on.  Pretty much the same for everyone else.  Hopefully powers keep being interesting, and people keep expanding on their initial themes, as things are shaping up well.

I love this group.  I really do.  Everyone came to the table with complimentary characters -- both in skill choice and personality -- without any real discussion of the matter.  We've got mysterious backgrounds, costume fetishist, past trauma, ambitious scientist, rock star, new loner guy ... a bit of everything.  And none of it overdone.  Comstock's just getting a disproportionate amount of screen-time right now because I don't have class today and would rather not be writing this term paper.

I don't hear any objections, so the dot of Mega-Charisma is going on my tab.

In reply to Comstock (msg #97):

Works for me.  One thing I really do like about the mega-att system is that it lets you spend points to just be normal+.  Excess points can go there, and you get better, kind of larger than life like comic characters.  Everyone in comics has mega-atts, an if you notice, most of the aberrant npc's they've written up have a great many pts in their mega-atts as well.

Okay. Here's how I'm gonna spend my xp:

1 point of tainted quantum: 8 xp
1 tainted dot in Bodymorph (Movement): 3 xp
1 regular dot in Bodymorph (Blast): 5 xp
1 extra dot in Body Modification (electric tendril): 3 xp
1 dot in mega perception: 5 xp
Quantum Attunement Enhancement: 5 xp

This leaves me with 2 xp to spare. How's this look?

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #99):

lets see...

Well, first off I would recommend highly that you only buy tainted dots of level 3+ powers, or Quantum.  Taint is a valuable commodity, and using it to cut 2xp isn't worth it really unless you just want to get some aberrations really badly or something. Also, if we ever go above Q5, or you want higher node, you will end up getting more taint that way.

For enhanced senses I would recommend EM sight, just because of your power suite, but if you prefer quantum, I can see that being appropriate as well.

the bodymorphs are good, I assume it will be an energy form.

I would avoid buying another point in tendril, simply because it does nothing.  It just extends your reach with the tendril a little.  But if you are specifically wanting a longer tendril, then go for it.

Did you consider Immolate?  I know we were talking about it way back in character ccreation.  The electricity show you are putting on right now seems kind of like immolate.

Oh, and a note on bodymorph. It is best for maintained powers like immolate, flight, density control, etc. all of those flip on at once, and are technically aspects of bodymorph.  Blast and other activated aggressive powers are better taken separately. lets you advance them without running into the limit set by the bodymorph power (you only get as many dots as you have in bodymorph, and that maxes out at 5).  Attack powers generally scale more than the maintenance type powers, making them more valuable to have at higher levels.

So.  Hope that helped.  You are welcome to go with the progression you've listed if you like, though you might consider some of this as well.

As a clarification about bodymorph though, you only get as many points out of its associated powers as you allocate from your bodymorph rating. The example in the book shows a character with bodymorph (gas) 4 that has three of those dots allocated to density (decrease) and one to Storm (a technique from Elemental Mastery).

If you have a lot of powers you want at low levels, Bodymorph is good for that. If you want to, for example, do a lot of damage with Immolate, it should still be purchased separately as it will never really do as much as a part of bodymorph.

Actually, he already has EM vision, took that at chargen. ^_^

And if I'm not going to get tainted bodymorph, then I'll need to take that extra dot out of tendril just to avoid owing xp. The only reason I got it in the first place was to serve as sort of "sidekick" thing, since it's basically a manifestation of his subconcious.

And good call on the immolation and flight, I'm taking those instead.

Thanks for the help Rydi.

You make a good point Grav. I'll keep flight, but I'll need to think on the other power. Hm.

Bodymorph can still be good for something like Immolate, but its going to be doing more of a low level constant amount (probably fries baselines either way), but when you look at the soak that people like Comstock are packing, you're not even going to phase them if it isn't a separate power. Admitedly, Comstock is built for soaking. Still, it isn't unreasonably for a fair number of novas to have soaks in the 15-25 range for a lot of things (given how many characters are likely to have some combination of Mega-Stam, Force Field, some level 3 power that has a shield effect, armor, or invulnerability).

Though I suppose it really doesn't matter what power I choose right now. If I use this character for long enough, then... well... <.<  >.> Quantum Supremacy

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #105):

*covers ears*
lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

Heh. Question. How exactly does the "Radio Scan" aspect of EM Hearing work? It says you can transmit radio waves, but what can they do?

I am curious about that myself.

as a wireless engineering tech who's spent 20 years working with communication and navigation systems, I could possibly give some personal insight if wanted. just let me review it, but the thing I like about White Wolf is that for the most part, they seem to do at least some basic homework, unlike other systems I've played that are so far off base and out in left field they make it a real pain to make sense out of such things.

Personal insight? Lay it on me.

'k, the easiest way I can try to explain this is radio broadcasting at it's most basic level is divided into "analog" and "digital". analog is the most basic consisting of amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM). cell phones used analog in the very earliest development, but almost all now are digital, as are many types of radio transmissions. I'd think that a nova who can perceive and manipulate radio waves would be able to operate in "analog" mode, only being able to make sense of those transmissions and decode them.

most digital signals in use now are highly complex with very high sampling bit rates, specialized spectrum and phase division and encryption techniques. maybe with some mega-intelligence enhancement or another that allows for a specialization in cryptography, a nova *might* be able to make some sense of a digital signal, but the difficulty would be very high, I would think. the digital stuff requires very specialized circuitry for analog encoding and decoding of digital signals.

so basically, I'd say without taking up to much space, you could do basic AM/FM, analog cell phone (as in the old "analog roaming" mode), doppler (weather) and other radar/sonar that operates in an analog mode (basically just bouncing very high or low frequency radio waves off objects and calculating "bounce" time), and maybe make some use of some satellite (GPS? even though they are digitally encoded, might still be able to perceive the signals and use some form of triangulation which is basically what the receivers do) signals, along with over-the-air analog television broadcasts (could "hear" the audio portion and maybe with EM vision somehow make out the video), main thing is to remember we're dealing with 2001 tech vs. today's standards, but stuff like military radio frequencies even as far back as the mid-to-late 20th century used encryption and spread spectrum "frequency-hopping" techniques so I'd say commercial stuff? yes. military grade? probably not. hope that helps.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:39, Fri 08 May 2009.

In reply to Harley Logan (msg #111):

Pretty accurate.  I would add that if you develop technopathy you would then be able to interpret the digital stuff as well with your radioscan.

oh, yeah, didn't even think about that, and as far as system goes, I'd say you can do "basic" stuff (AM/FM commercial radio, etc.) pretty easy and add difficulty from there, say commercial analog video/cellular +1, radar/sonar +2, satellite/GPS +3, etc, and use mega-dice to drop the difficulty number back down would probably be the easiest system

Would you be opposed to a variation on Face of Terror that doesn't change Solitaire's appearance, but just makes her really damn scary in a 'beautiful and terrible' sort of way?

so would the technopathy we were discussing lower the difficulty of those rolls like on a 1-to-1 basis (each dot in technopathy reduces the difficulty back down by one), or would one dot be enough to reduce all difficulty penalties to decode encrypted digital transmissions back down to the base (removing all difficulty penalties)?

Any decryption would involve a normal (Int or Wits, depending on speed)+Computer roll without a specialized technique from either Cyberkinesis or Information Manipulation. Neither the core or player's guide have such a technique listed, so it may not actually be an option. That said, most mundane encryption techniques probably won't take a mega-intelligent nova more than an hour or two to crack.

If you're talking about just general digital signals using the radioscan ability, I'd say the AM/FM stuff would work, as would some computer and cell signals (since the description of the ability explicitly allows this without any notably difficulty change). I'd say that really complex stuff (networking with satellites, remote computer use, etc) would require Cyberkinesis and probably an actual physical device to generate a signal with (even something like a cellphone). Radio scan is pretty much communication-only. Anything more is outside of the scope of Mega-Perception or its enhancements.

In reply to Gravitas (msg #116):

The diffs shouldn't be reduced I don't think, probably more of a technique, as already stated, though it would have to be a custom technique since it's not listed already.  Or perhaps a mega-int/wits enhancement could do it too.  Just for listening/decoding anyway, b/c interfacing is something completely different.

And yes, I think that "terrible beauty" would be cool. There are several ways to approach that of course.  Awe, face of terror, several others really.  Up to you.

Was thinking of both Awe-Inspiring and Face of Terror, then I could be super-awesome, and super-bad ass. Face of Terror changes your appearance though. Wanted to make sure I could tweak it to a more super-threatening effect.

In reply to Solitaire (msg #118):

Yeah.  People may still run from you, but the memory will be of a terrible beauty instead of a slavering monster or whatever.

That's probably some of my CS background kicking in. There's a different between the terms 'decrypt' and 'decode'. Decryption implies that there is some sort of cipher in place. To decrypt you have to figure out what the cipher is, discover the key, and then run the message and key through a decryption algorithm. By contrast encoding and decoding are processes used to transform signals (from serial to parallel for example, or from analogue to digital).

Radioscan does the later, but the former is not addressed by any power that I could find in the book. One could probably develop a custom Mega-Int enhancement or Cyber-K/Info Manip technique to deal with cryptography (though I'd argue that Mathematical Prodigy probably serves this function already). Sending/receiving signals for the purpose of communication (not manipulation) is covered by Radioscan, and does not intrinsically involve any roll at all.

In reply to Gravitas (msg #120):

I should really go re-read the enhancement.  I would think that something more would be required for the transformation of digital into usable data.  But yeah, the decryption makes sense.  It would be an InfoManip power, or an enhancement.

What powers could duplicate Anibal Buendia's creation of Eufiber? It's make out of inorganic materials, but it is alive, so I'm not sure if a specialized form of Matter Manipulation would work or not. (It doesn't help with clarity that Mater Manipulation also works on trees.;P)

planning to mess with the suit?

It's probably some sort of custom, highly expensive body modification.

In reply to Harley Logan (msg #123):

More like expand on it, after I buy it to level 5.

In reply to Dr. Zero (msg #122):

I always thought that was just matter creation.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #126):

Body mod probably.  It really isn't covered of course, but that's what I'd go with to actually make it, as the only other stuff that could cover it is level 4+.  One could probably use mega-int + science to play with it though, or breed new stuff.  Something like biomanipulation could also probably play with it.

Yeah, it really isn't matter creation unless it is severely limited. The only stuff that talks about him really just mentions the eufiber secretion thing. They don't really talk about him being able to make anything else. Also, it comes out of his skin. Kinda gross in a way.

Think about it like those wig companies that some hair salons donate teh trimmings to, so that chemo patients can have a wig made from real hair.  Only weirder, and nastier.  Far far weirder and nastier.

There are a few things that I plan on unlocking over time.  An example I just remembered: combat styles from the trinity setting material (players guide I think).  If people grow into combat, I will be opening those fighting styles, assuming training warrants them.

GM already knows, but figured I'd share that I'm just going to keep upping mega-atts for a while, as practice pushes them.

Mega-stam @ 2: 5xp
Mega-man @ 3: 10xp

coming soon: wits, dex, per, int.  Then powers.  I think.

Buying:

Face of Terror: 5xp
Awe-Inspiring: 5xp
Lifter: 5xp
Armor 2>3: 10xp
[EDIT] and Mega-App 1>2: 5xp
This message was last edited by the player at 20:54, Wed 20 May 2009.

In reply to Solitaire (msg #132):

Works for me.

Getting 2 dots in Quantum Bolt. Should be... 11 xp. Excess of one 1 xp. I REALLY want Shapeshift... I have a sensible reason in mind, but I don't want Sam stepping on Phantasms thunder, since she has it as well apparently.

Bought two dots of Q.Bolt as well.

Shapeshift will probably be fine, it just depends on style.  Phantasm's shapeshift will almost entirely be internal or humanoid... actually, she should get limiter points if that's all it's going to be.  Hmm... I'll have to think about that.  I could see her moving toward manifesting forms out of people's nightmares too.  But I don't see her just turning into a bear or anything like that.

So if you have a different take on the power, by all means, go for it.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:01, Thu 21 May 2009.

kinda what I had in mind for mirage and telepathy.

I'm interested in seeing the way people diverge in powers.  One of the nice things about the char creation rules we used is that we were more rounded out in mega-atts (also much more similar to the way they stat out characters in the books), but we also ended up cherry picking a lot of the same stuff.  Like adaptability for example.   Powers seem like the place people are going to grow apart.  Though megas do show some difference too, with Solitaire's Appearance, Gravitas' Int, my Manip, and so on.

Yeah, Gravity control may be Quentin's most obvious ability, but his evolution of mind is undoubtedly the most profound change he went through, and it informs almost everything he does. He is inescapably an analyst now, his mind virtually forced to know more and to figure out how everything works and, perhaps most importantly, to put that knowledge to use.

Bleh, need more xp to buy like every Mega-Int enhancement in the book =\

Phantasm is almost as smart as Gravitas, but her abilities revolve around figuring stuff out to put it to immediate use, planning around different scenarios, and generally staying on top of situations, rather than letting them get the better of her.  Stemming of course from the negative earlier experiences of being out witted, out manipulated, and overpowered by a psychotic nova.

Originally I was going to go the inventive genius path, but I may ditch that and just become more of a manipulator.  Shape people/society maybe.

I am very curious to find out where people wind up in 50 more xp.  Particularly people like Zero, Harley and Solitaire.  The rest of the party have pretty obvious power suites that they are pursuing: Grav the intellectual, Comstock the metal colossus, Phantasm the disturbing Quantum mastery chick, Prodigal the angelic/demonic juxtaoposition, Sam the storm.
Initially I had pictured Imp as being very cerebral, but as i wrote his backstory that became less and less important, as i continue to play him i realize that he isn't about being pretty, his emotional hangups drive his evolution towards being what he subconsciously believes what everybody wants him to be, groundless as that may be.

Yeah, I am a bit surprised at how much niche protection I seem to be getting.  The nearest to Comstock's capabilities is Solitaire, though a few of the rest of you have Lifter and so do a good job covering the strength aspects.  In another 50xp I should have the colossus thing down and be moving towards the acquisition of Molecular Manipulation.

Rather than simply "The Storm" I'd like to try throwing in some actual Native American mythology. Something akin to a "Storm Spirit". Spirits have been known to change their shape, possess people, and if we're going by nWoD spirits, just generaly be fuckin' crazy, and do crazy things with that crazy. And probably some other stuff I haven't thought of yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:22, Thu 21 May 2009.

thunder bird, cool. nice touch. might have to change your name to that. think I like that better than blitzkreig. would suit you better too, I think (imho)

*edit*
just curious, but is that where the 'voices' thing is going? an ancestral spirit, totem or whatnot? kinda reminiscient of M:tA

*edit*
off to bed, but in 50 xp? Harley will just be scratching the surface of the monster he is to become. what I have in mind? the angel of death. father time. the one force that even the fastest nova can't outrun.

also, curious to see how our aggressor takes Harley's threat and whether he takes it seriously or not. fully expect Harley to get jacked up giving the others a chance to come to his aid. just basing that on if someone said what he said to me, and I totally outclassed them the way this nova obviously does?

I'd take it serious enough to be like, "yeah, you might be right you little shit, so just to save me the inconvenience of having to watch my back and look over my shoulder to make sure your punk ass doesn't get off a lucky shot one day? I think I'll just kill you now." can anybody say "Carlito's Way?" remember that one? that's why you don't let little shits like Harley live. 'cause one day, maybe, just maybe.

'course, also wondering when the "future" Harley's will start showing up too ... lol ... seriously, heh. be really cool/funny/weird if that little voice in Sam's head ended up being "future" Harley mentally projecting his quantum conciousness back through time. ooh, the possibilities, but does tend to make the brain hurt.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:08, Thu 21 May 2009.

I completely like the idea of Quetzalcoatl if that's where you are going with that...

Ancestral spirit? Mmm... Yes and no. It's rather complicated.

And Quetzalcoatl is kinda sorta what I'm going for.

I second the Thunderbird codename.

Yeah, I see the next 50xp really differentiating the characters, and setting them into their own.  People will be buying up multiple dots in their existing powers, buying into their specialized mega-atts, and getting Q up higher to get some other stuff.

I do want people to further develop what they have as well as branching out into new stuff.  Solitaire just bumped up her stuff, made me happy.  Also, it makes her more durable, which will be useful to the team.

))))))))))))
One thing I want to offer to Samuel specifically:
When you made your character, you were new to the system.  If you want to buy some more flaws, and/or re-do a couple of things, you are welcome to do so.  Elemental Mastery seems like a place you want to be, especially with some of the powers you've mentioned via PM.  So if you want to work with me, I'm fine with that. Playing with the merits/flaws would be the easiest way to modify things, since you can afford a few more flaws, and haven't really used your merits at all.  And that could get you nearer the Q level you need.

Also, you mentioned shapeshift.  As already stated, there is room for two shifters, just needs to be a difference in feel.  And if all you want is a single form (thunderbird, or whatever) that would reduce the rating of the power significantly, making it more affordable.
)))))))))))

I'm very interested in seeing what directions Zero and Harley go in.  Having seen their characters, there is some difference there already.

Yeah, I generally don't buy new stuff until I have a chance to work it into the story. You mentioned bullets not really doing any damage, good time to up armor, emotional manipulation made her really pissed off, good time to make her awesome and scary. A nearby car to throw, lets go with Lifter.

Had she been hit by an energy blast or something, would've gone with Absorption, probably. There's a number of powers I'd like to see her get, but the order in which I do has a lot to do with the direction the story takes.

I love the idea of a single form. Would you minf working with me on that? I'm not exactly sure how that would work.

along those lines of angel of death and father time, the one image I can conjure that accurately reflects both is the grim reaper, so what about it for Harley? codename "Reaper"? conveys a sense of fatality, finality and mortality, no?

and the other subject of node "ping" Rydi? what are your thoughts? I use "ping" 'cause that's what I keep hearing it refered to as. gives me a sense of radar/sonar? so what about node "ping" as a type of quantum signature radar/sonar? using it normally would be like passive mode where you just sense for active quantum signature returns. on the subject of maxing maybe use quantum to fuel the sense making it "active" sending out an active quantum pulse, but would alert other novas in the area to it's use? would that make sense?

Sure, I'll work with you on a single form for Samuel, just tell me what you want the form to be/do, and we'll go from there.

As far as the QSight thing goes, I think I'll make it another enhancement of perception to be able to discern details on location, powers use, and such.  Suggestions on mechanics from people?

*edit*
just seems to me Q Atunement already pretty much covers most of those bases. combine that with node ping, and just seems kinda redundant. don't see the sense in re-inventing the wheel (imho). just my two cents.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Thu 21 May 2009.

In reply to Harley Logan (msg #152):

I think this is how I'll do it:

Q.Attunement can be purchased twice.  The first purchase is as per the book.  Second purchase makes it so that you don't have to focus on a particular nova, and makes most expenditures of quantum obvious as long as the enhancement is active, with the auto scan area equal to [Perception + Quantum] X 10meters.

Comments, complaints, questions?

ah, yeah, nice. that works.

Sounds fair to me.

Quantum Radar
Dice pool of Node+Perception, can oppose with Dormancy, costs 1 quantum to activate, can buy additional Sux at a 1 per 2 Quantum ratio? Cannot buy more sux than your Quantum rating. Essentially overcharging your 'Ping' to get a better signal. Range of Quantum x 30 meters? Cannot detect a 4 dot Dormed nova at over half distance, or a 5 dot Dormed nova at over a quarter. Only gives position.

Node is at best 5 dice at a 50 meter range.

This at best would be 15 dice plus [10] at 300 meter range, but at Quantum 10, I hardly see that as overpowered, thoughts?

I don't see a problem with those rules, its really rather expensive to use.  We can use that as a house rule.  However, I'll keep the additional level of Q.Attunement as well, b/c it is better and cheaper, so some people might want it.

Ah, was writing that when you posted, yeah that works.

For both of these, how long do they last? Quantum Attunement itself is active only in rounds for which you spend the QP for it. Node ping, on the other hand, requires a full action of concentration.

In reply to Gravitas (msg #159):

The same time as normal I would think.

I don't remember, were there/are there any abilities off limits to us now?

Not much really.  Still no Q over 5.  I prefer people increase things they've used rather than expand their power suite out too much, though a little of that is fine too, since these early experiences are still defining your powers (and are letting you flesh out your concepts, for those that didn't have enough pts at char creation).

think David/Prodigal might be referring to the Teragen-specific stuff?

Who knows? Depending on how all this plays out, the whole team might join Teragen.

If we go that route, the whole team will be the Teragen.

Which returns us to the question of how to kill Divis Mal ... something we might regret in the waaaay distant future, but I doubt it.

Crosstime Travel to a plane that Mal isn't a giant ass?

Sure, Mr. Mercer.  Whatever you say.

O_O

How did you find out?

got it covered

XP

Lucky guess?

Slightly more on topic for this thread, just two weeks until Comstock hits Quantum 5.  Long as I don't miss a day, that is.

I'm voting Teragen at this point...damn humans and their shooting people who are better than them...

But ... we could be good shepherds to all mankind!  And we are all God's creations.

Damn, what happens if half the group heads one way and half the group heads the other?  Do we become our own antagonists?  Fighting each other for the fate of the world while the ungrateful humans try to kill us all?

Hrm.  Come to think of it, that is the canon plot, isn't it?

We are indeed a microcosm for Ab.  Quantum 5 hunh?  Wow, that's a pretty big expenditure, I'm guessing your first dot in Molecular manipulation is only 9 days after that?

That's the idea.  Trying to get that aspect of the character established so I don't become a one trick pony.

This is a big interest of mine. I would love Z to fight Divis in a big DBZ/Bleach/OMG/Over9,ooo! blowout. It doesn't necessarily have to win, but the effort would be nice and dramatic.

And Mal as published isn't totally unapproachable. He doesn't have Temporal Manipulation mentioned, and his Mega-Attributes are listed as 3 to 5.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Wed 27 May 2009.

ROFL and [nerd out]

OVER 9000!!11!!1!!

"Harley!  What does the scouter say about his power level???"

When Dr. Zero takes his suit off, do we discover that it was weighted all along? [/ nerd out]



I think I am going to hell for that.

omfgz ...

dunno which is more disturbing? that or the fact I understood it? might call for ritual suicide

So, apparently it's a good thing that i didn't understand any of that?
On an unrelated not, I have a day off and was going through adding attribute qualities to my cha (you know, those things that make 10s special) and I saw and took the strength quality "well built."  It fits the cha, sounds hunky, but really, what the hell kind of roll would well built affect?  A pose off?
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Mon 01 June 2009.

What I want to know is: Where is everybody getting all this xp? We get one point of experience for each day we post, right? So why does it seem like I have so much less?

You may have just missed some days in your calculations.  We've been playing for around 2 months now, and if you've posted everyday... well, you can do the math.

Even the less prolific posters should still be in the high 40's to low 50's.


And I have no idea what Well-Built would do.  Help with charisma?  Oh, I know, Str+Might to win a weight lifting contest!
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:24, Fri 29 May 2009.

Yeah, I'm sitting on 49 right now, mostly its just timing.

I'm finding Sam's tendril/snake-thing rather boring, if only because he can't really do anything with it, other than a bit of bashing damage... and grabbing on to stuff. Is there a way I could improve it?

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #183):

Meh.  I'd just trade it in for something else, as your powers evolve and instead of a tendril that manifests a will of its own, you start to shapeshift into an entirely different entity (making the tendril superfluous).  Though if you wanted you could probably buy a dot or three in stun, or some other power, and link it to the tendril (requiring the tendril to hit in combat before the power works).

Eh. I think I'll hold onto it. I suppose I could link Stun to it, and possibly Quantum Leech, and... Disentigration if Sam has a mind to use it. I think I can make this work.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #185):

Works for me.

This message was deleted by the player at 03:06, Thu 04 June 2009.

moved to misc cha stuff
This message was last edited by the player at 04:28, Thu 04 June 2009.

I should have put this here instead of the other thread.

Does anyone know the rules for 2nd Generation Novas? I believe it was found in a blurb in the Player's Guide, but I'm not sure and can't find it. Any help is appreciated.

Page 68 contains a throw away reference in the taint permutations section. I thought I remembered reading more about it somewhere else too. Checking this a bit more and then I think I'll check the Teragen book as it seems the next most likely place to have that.

Your thinking A Breed Apart, which deals with things like that. Another of the EonOnline books I think.

I want to say that the trinity storytellers guide may have something on them as well.  I know I've read more though...

From what I remember, the M-R node is basically spread out and integrated across the entire body, making them perfect Q conduits and highly resistant to the warping of taint.  They also were supposed to be more naturally powerful, which I read as better starting mega-atts and more variety in their powers. Probably an easier time reaching >Q5.

I'm reading over A Breed Apart right now. I had no idea the "aeon-verse" was so interesting.

The whole setting is great, Aberrant, while awesome, is the weakest of the three Aeon-verse games in my opinion. Adventure! is still engaged in a 3 way tie for my top pick, along with Wraith: the Oblivion and Changeling: the Lost.

Makes me sad I never got to see Bright Continent. :(

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #193):

In many ways I find it to be the best of WW's products.  System is less wonky and bogged down than Exalted, story is more coherent than OWoD, yet there is more metaplot than NWoD.  It's a favorite of mine.  The only thing that would make me like it a bit better is if they would change the dice mechanics on Psi, but other than that I think it's great.

Why is it that I hear so little about it then? The first I heard of it was off-hand references in the Exalted forums on the WW site. Well... there and Aberrant D20, but I'm under the impression that we don't talk about that.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #196):

SciFi and Supers tend to have a lesser following than Fantasy and Horror in the gaming community (or at least since the 90's), and to sell fewer books.  I think this is due to preconceptions regarding the genres, and to difficulty of getting into the flavor of the settings (whereas most fantasy is just a caricature of medieval europe, and Horror is usually modern-with-monsters).

Due to lower demand than its other lines, WW canceled the Aeon line (also didn't help that MTV sued over the use of "Aeon", despite it being totally different conceptually and an entirely bullshit lawsuit; since MTV's lawyers were bigger, WW backed down and changed the name, confusing people).

Since then, they have done nothing to support it on their boards, and only the love from the authors and the fan community have kept it going.  It does have a fairly loyal fan following, but as time goes by since cancellation, the fans dwindle.

And no, we don't talk about d20.  Some things were never meant to be created... Aeonvers d20 is an abomination that was rightfully put down.

Buying:
Survival @2
Medicine @2
Bureaucracy @1
=3xp

Survival and medicine were learned in field, while bureaucracy is just from dealing with Utopia and its general red tape.

Costs are reduced by Fast Learner enhancement (p. 48, Brainwaves).  I recommend it for people looking to get a few points in all the Int based abilities, or who want to have a really bright character without all the "I'm Reed Richards" enhancements.

but ... but ... I *am* Reed Richards ... lol ...

That's good advice! I think I should snag that.



I original tried to play Zero as a 'Doctor Doom' kind of guy in table top, but it's hard to do in Aberrant, as you're dependent on down time to make gadgets, so I'm been going 'Batman' instead. I've not regretted this decision, as 'Batman' types work easily in Aberrant. I'll try a little mad scientist latter, like Batman in that OMAC stuff.

At the risk of sounding ignorant, what is OMAC?

I might have a large part of this wrong, because I have not been directly reading the comics, but OMAC was a highly advanced spy satellite Batman built before the Infinity Crisis arc for the DC universe. This satellite is really, really advanced when compared to the standard level of Batman's technology, and, to me, temporarily brought Batman from street vigilante level, with cleaver and expensive gizzmos, to Dr. Doom/Reed Richards level of Mad Science.

Hell, I'd argue it took him above them. The satellite had a powerful AI. It was made out of Batman's increasing paranoia about meta-humans. The thing decided to take it's maker's goal further, and started spawning insanely powerful androids to run around attacking meta-humans, and also started infecting people (ala Borg) and turning them into cyborgs to aid in it's crusade. Somehow it was being manipulated by the secret big bad of the Infinity Crisis arc. I forget how.

Pretty much it.

I love Batman, and I actually really like "super-genius" Batman that can go against even cosmic level baddies.  But OMAC was still kinda dumb I think, especially since we already saw Batman's contingency plans implemented in the JLA a while back, 'tower of babel' arc or somewhere around then.

Alright ... finally there.

Quantum 4->5      32 xp

Taint is now sitting at 4.  I have a list of Aberrations to work with, but I cannot find if there is any mechanical distinction between High, Medium, and Low Aberrations.

First on the list is: Sensory Dysfunction!  No more taste or smell.  Comstock's body is replacing those useless parts of the brain with a more streamlined and sophisticated set of tissues that will allow him to influence matter more directly.

Later on, we're looking at Hardened Skin and Disturbing Voice.  Any objections, Rydi?

The main difference between high medium and low aberrations is when you get them.
Taint 4-5: Low level aberrations
Taint 6-7: Medium level aberrations
Taint 8+: High level aberrations
(If I recall, this is from memory)

Huh.  Haven't seen any specific text on that, but it sounds reasonable.  The ones I have listed are High, High and Low respectively.  Technically, the loss of taste and smell could be considered two separate aberrations if I am reading this right, but that's stupid, especially considering the construction of the brain.

Guess I'll note on here that I purchased my second dot in shapeshift.  It was more efficient than buying mega-physicals up higher.  I also want to buy my second dot of wits and/or a dot of Rapport.  Not sure if I want to do it immediately though.

Buying one dot in Mega Interlligence, Mega Appearance, and Mega Strength, all for 18 xp. Incidentally, if Sam took Shapeshift and only used one form, what would be the changes in requirements for Shapeshift? Also, while he would have access to a single form, could he still use Shapeshift to manifest only certain aspects of that form? Changing into a gigantic, winged serpent that spits lightning and farts thunder isn't always practical.

Minimums would stay the same.  Partial shifts into that same form (manifesting things you can normally manifest at your level of Shapeshift, but without manifesting all of them) would reduce the limiter on the power (and thus the free goodies you get out of it, unless you find some other way of limiting it), since it wouldn't be as limiting at that point.

I assume that Zeus is transforming your body to give you your new mega-atts?

What sort of free goodies are we talkin' about here? Cuz I do loves me some free goodies. And yeah, that's pretty much was Zeus is doin'.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #210):

Its already factored into that thing i sent you.  basically, weaknesses reduce the level of a power, and give you various options to strengthen the power.  Its all in the players guide, right after all the god powers.

In this case, by being able to do the partial shifts you would lose one of the successes I gave you as an ad hoc bonus.  That's all really.  It would otherwise stay a lvl 2 power.

Forgot to mention the enhancements Sam's taking. Awe-Inspiring for Mega-Appearance, Self-Analysis for Mega-Inelligence, and... not sure about Mega-Strength yet.

7 spent on the 2nd dot of hypermove bought as an L3 power.

Lol, I loved Sam shedding his old form.  'twas great.

Hyperflight 3, 10 xp

Holy crap. I actually found a good representation of nWoD's Hisil. It's right here: http://pillarsoffaith.comicgen...imensionweaving.html. That's some crazy stuff.

In reply to Samuel Wolfson (msg #216):

Interesting.  That power might need to be a Q6 power though, but it was pretty neat.

Okay I'm stuck between Quantm Leap (:P) and Precision for Mega Strength. Leaping is a fast and free mode of travel, but doesn't allow for a whole lo... Srew it I'm taking Precision.

Spending xp on linguistics. 1-2, not sure yet.

Given the saturation of psychic influence about, any objections to Comstock upgrading his Psychic Shield from 1 to 2 for 3xp?  I am enjoying the contrast between that and his Willpower at 3.

Heck no. In fact, I encourage it. The last thing we need is Comstock turning on us and grinding us into paste.

But that would be quite the challenge!

And my trump card when I go evil. (Sad.)

Psy Shield.  A better level 1 power hasn't been created.  Except for Luck perhaps.

The mind of the Comstock is a complicated and increasingly non-organic thing.  I have enough XP for two levels of Molecular Manipulation, but we need the right moment for it to manifest.

Just bought quantum 5(tainted) mega dex 2 and mega str 1.  Enhancement for str is precision.  Finally got the first dot of all the megas.  Stage 1 of beyond human perfection at everything is finally finished!
The tainted quantum will push my taint from 1 to 3 (1 for Q5, 1 for it being tainted).
This message was last edited by the player at 15:18, Fri 10 July 2009.

Congrats, you are now better, stronger, faster than a baseline.

I haven't spent any xp in a while.  Not sure what to spend it on really.  I guess just rounding out the megas at 2ish.  Meh.

oops, forgot i still needed mega manip.  traded out the second dot of dex for the first dot of mega manip, also took the persuader enhancement.

Seems a good time to pick up Mega-Charisma, enhancement is commanding presence. 6 xp spent
This message was last edited by the player at 01:31, Mon 13 July 2009.

I decided to spend my remaining xp.  I have a vignette for it later.

6 mega-str 1
10 mega stam 3
3 psyshield 2
6 maimed health levels x 4

Question: What is the Duration for the Molecular Manipulation technique of Molecular Alteration? It is keyworded as Permanent, but the end of the description gives it the same hours duration as Matter Creation. (Kind of hopping it's Permanent. I have an insane urge to channel some FullMetal Alchemist before reaching Q-6. ;))
This message was last edited by the player at 04:46, Mon 13 July 2009.

I'm not a big fan of the durations on molecular manip.  Technically, it's duration is only permanent if you expend a permanent willpower point.  I may alter the power (if someone ever picks it up) by increasing the duration a bit.  Or making it so that non-exotic/radioactive/whatever materials can be made permanent more easily.  Or something.

Hehehe ... Molecular Manipulation for ALL.

I was looking over the Players Guide today: if I restricted my Molecular Manipulation to primarily metallic compounds -- thematically I think the objective in this is obvious, but chemically I know this is a painful definition -- would that be sufficient target restriction to reduce the cost of the power?  I am not certain how many points of weakness I should apply in the case of a broad power such as Molecular Manipulation.  It also indicates that three points of weakness allow an extra to be purchased for three nova points but gives no XP equivalent.  Should I be heading for five points of weakness for a full level reduction for the power if I want an XP break?

This is probably more effort than it is worth.  If anyone's got thoughts, I'd love some input though.

Part of the logic for my loss of taste and smell was that Comstock's Nova-brain has cannibalized that space for new, more sophisticated chemical analysis/alteration organs.  I've never played around with extras, strengths and weaknesses very much, so this seemed like a good time.  Molecular Manip doesn't really loan itself to extras, from the look of it, but I'm looking for that bit of definition.

--

Also, on a complete tangent, I got into a discussion with a friend of mine about Quantum Bolt versus Quantum Inferno.  I argue Quantum Bolt more efficient all in all.  Any tips on how to maximize the effectiveness of the Q-Bolt with Extras and the like?  I notice that the Quantum 6 and higher rules allow a ridiculous number of extras to be added, and I really don't know why before today I hadn't really read the Mastery Extra.

Put 2 levels of Mastery into Qbolt and it explodes things, and for a level 4 power nonetheless.

Yeah, pretty much. The use of extras is non-optional once you buy them, for example if you buy the Area extra for a power it will ALWAYS be invoked with the area effect, so the best way to just flat out boost most powers without changing fundamental aspects of them is Mastery, which of course requires Q6+

Some powers can also be boosted a bit with general stuff such as range or duration, generally adding area is probably not a good idea (unless its a dedicated area blast or something).

Q.Bolt ftw.

Anyway, "only metal" would suffice as perhaps a 3pt weakness.  You would require more to get a full level reduction I would think.  Perhaps dropping range or damage?  It is usually worth it to go to 5pts, and it also would allow you to apply an extra to a level 3 power before Q6.

The Weakness/Strength system is a very good way to alter powers btw.  I will reserve veto rights on totally broken things, but I'm in favor of using the system generally.

I thought i'd put something witty here to make it seem like i was doing something other than posting for the sake of pushing us to an even 2500 but i figured honesty was the best policy.

Actually, I think "only metals" should be a 4pt.

Buying a dot in Command, for all the crowd control I've been getting up to.

Bought Synergy, Commanding Presence, and Awe Inspiring: all enhancements, 5 xp each.  Bought the first dot of command.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:52, Tue 28 July 2009.

Is it possible to buy off flaws?  If so, how many xp per flaw point?

Tricky question, I'm not sure how much I want to cost that at.  Most of the other systems in storyteller use x3, but they also don't have nova pts and xp that can be spent to buy the power of the gods.

What do people think the cost should be?

Oh, and you of course have to play out your flaw removal, whatever that will be.

Quantum 4 (tainted) 12xp
Absorption (Energy, with Extra Energy Magnet) 9xp
Absorption 2 7xp
Adaptation 5xp

33 spent
This message was last edited by the player at 05:12, Sun 02 Aug 2009.

For flaw removal, I would just keep it x3 xp.  The use of Nova points throughout the material annoys me.

Speaking of which.

I am finally doing the spend-xp-dance.  Molecular Manipulation is here, but I still need to clear a few things with you, Rydi.  First, some objectives:

Objective: Comstock is already capable of changing the properties of the matter in his own body.  He is essentially becoming a being of living metal and impossible biology with some ability to manipulate matter like himself at a distance.  Objectives here are the ability to change shape, bond things together, whack people with bits of rebarb popped out of the pavement, and increase his soak with even more matter tacked on whenever he needs it.  Assembling building frames and being able to change the properties of metal (like change aluminum into magnetic AlNiCo) are pluses.  In the long run Magnetic Mastery would be a wonderful complement to these powers, but that's the very long run after Comstock learns things like science since he'd have to approach magnetism by way metals and matter.

Techniques that obviously fit here are: Second Skin, Molecular Alteration and Shape Alteration (Molecular Manipulation ... these are the big three, and Shape Alteration alone achieves most of my objectives); Crush, and Imprison (Elemental Mastery); and Magnetic Levitation (Magnetic Mastery ... this would be Comstock trying to keep up with the team by changing the properties of his own body and probably showering all sorts of heavy elements across the landscape in the process).

Problem: This is something of a terrible hybrid of Molecular Manip Techniques and Elemental Mastery techniques on a very specific set of targets.  Rules are a bit shakey on the best way to handle it, and I'd prefer not to buy heavily customized versions of both Molec.Manip. and Elem. Mastery just to do it, since a lot of the techniques in there don't make any sense with the concept.

I have no interest in Animation, Destruction, or the various 'bolt' style attacks out the Elemental Mastery.  I reason that, when it comes down to it, if I want Comstock firing bits of hypervelocity metal around that will be a late-era innovation better represented by the purchase of Quantum Bolt with some modification.  He would literally be firing pieces of himself ... or maybe (with an extra) pieces of metal from around the landscape at unpredictable angles.  Dissolving bonds (as in the Destruction power) doesn't fit at all: if Comstock is going to tear a building apart, it would be by making the metal in it twist its way out.  Or just by punching it.  Maybe transmute a sturdy metal into a soft metal.  Things like that.  And, just to bookend nicely with my thoughts, Animation would only make sense if Comstock became a genius, in which case I would buy up a new level 3 or 4 power covering the manufacture of permanent, self-replicating Von Neumann machines.

Let's hope that last part doesn't happen.

Other questions:

1. Players Guide page 143, as I mentioned before, states that 3 points of weakness allow an extra to be purchased for 3 nova points.  That annoying Nova-point conversion thing again.

2. In light of this, would "Metals" still qualify as a 3 or 4 point weakness?  Comstock can create additional material for his operations by bleeding it out of himself, but the need for material to be present is a major weakness here.  Catch him in the desert or the ocean and this set of powers is awfully useless.

3. If you are still cool on "Metals" being a 4-point weakness, awesome.  One point more of weakness gets me a free extra.  Problem: if I play with duration, either Strengthening it or Weakening it, what happens?  All powers effected?  Only some?  By the rules, it seems like any changes I make via Strengths and Weaknesses effect all techniques within that power, but I don't want to step on any toes.  Especially since Increased Duration is an extra in the core rules as well.

In the list of desired techniques above, Imprison, Second Skin, and Magnetic Levitation have durations of Maintenance.  Others are sorta-Permanent, Permanent with a dot of Willpower, and Instant with non-instant duration making no sense.  Permanent seems appropriate for the three maintenance powers, since they all are essentially specialized uses of Shape or Molecular Alteration, but what do I have to trade or pay to get it?

4. The Extended Range Extra on page 112 of the Player's Guide states ([Quantum + Power Rating] Kilometers).  Same question as above: would all techniques reach out that far?  Would that be acceptable for Comstock's Metal-empathy?  (i.e. pull apart steel-framed buildings at a range of a mile)

5. It seems like there ought to be an extra for this kind of power that enhances the mass Comstock can effect with one action.  Thoughts?  Guidelines?  Would Mastery I do the trick under the Scope aspect of the extra?



Whew that post got long ... still with me?

Given all of this crazy ... would it be simplest to simply call the techniques I listed above the complete pool of techniques for a new Level 3 power and have done with it?

Final Sidenote: was it ever figured out if Crush rolls Dexterity or Intelligence?  It contradicts itself and I don't remember seeing it in the errata.

Hmm.  It seems like you want both Molecular and Magnetic manipulation.  I already have seen Moleculars limited listed powers become problematic in a tabletop I played in.  It just doesn't represent the scope of the power well, and the durations are wonky.

So, here's how this will work:
a. "only metals" is a 4pt flaw.
b. "Permanent" Strength will get rid of the weird durations, but only for stable molecular shifts, such as to iron or nickel (and not francium or some exotic material not formerly conceived of).
Durations for the more normal powers will be upped normally, though some of the combat effective ones I am ruling will still require some expenditure (if you want a second skin you might have to pay for it once a day, instead of as a Maintenance power; the alternative to that would be if you could Attune the entire chunk of metal covering you).
c. For most purposes, unless stated otherwise, nova point to xp conversion is 1:3.
d. Mix Magnetic, Molecular, and Elemental extras as is appropriate to the power you have in mind (this goes for everyone btw... the extras really are kind of mix/match).

As to your other questions
Yes, Mastery would be the best choice for extending scope of metal effected,
Yes, extra range is fine,
Yes, Extras/Strengths/Weaknesses apply to all techs they can possibly apply to,
Not sure on crush, I'm fine with either as the tech kinda sucks anyway

Flaws will remain x3

I have a fun power to buy, but should I wait for a good moment in game, or just do it in a vignette?  Any opinions/preferences?

Depends.  If it is something that Phantasm would have discovered in the time between 2001 and 2003, then probably build a Vignette.  Inviting other people to vignettes hasn't been bad.  If you want to keep it a secret and a surprise, wait for actual play.

Hmm.  Decisions decisions.  We'll see.

Bought Almost Live and bought off my Lusty flaw.  8 xp total.

1xp for linguistics 2
5xp for linguistic genius
5xp for m.wits
5xp for m.per

10xp and my mental alterations will be complete...  at least until I find some cool mega-per and mega-wits enhancements.

Also, in answer to Imp's earlier question, what about getting some enhanced perception, like modulated sight, or enhanced hearing?

(August 9th, 2009)
Intelligence 1-2              4xp
Psychic Shield 2-4           15xp
Molecular Manipulation 0-2   16xp
--Extra (Reduced Cost)        9xp
Dexterity 2-3                 8xp
Martial Arts 0-1              3xp
Enhancement (Mega-Int.)       5xp   (Discerning Mind)
                                 60xp spent

Gave Magnetic Mastery a good look over.  It probably sums up just about everything nicely, so Comstock will pick up some weak levels of it in the future.  I suppose I didn't look there first out of some odd desire to not be Magneto.  He sort of cornered that field.

Submitted for your approval and comment, team and ST, the Strengths/Weaknesses/Extras Wish List:


Molecular Manip.
Weakness: -4 Metal Only
Strength: +1 Duration (Maintenance becomes Permanent
Strenght: +3 Extra (Reduced Cost)  [with 9xp]
At Q6:
Extra (Selective Mastery) -- Target specific elements
Extra (Extended Range) -- (Quantum + Power)km
(Note: Trading away the Animation technique, grabbing the Imprison technique)

Magnetic Mastery
Strength (+1 Duration)
Weakness (-1 Must have armor and density powers active and visible ... cannot use while fleshy)
At Q6:
Extra (Extended Range)
Extra (Selective Mastery) -- Target Specific Elements

Density Control
Extra (Extreme Density)
Strength (Maintenance to Permanent)

Armor
Extra (Impervious)
Extra (Super-Heavy)



Observations:
-- Permanent Duration on things like Second Skin, Density Control, and Forcefield really does need to be "daily" or "scene."  The alternative gets strange.
-- The extras, strengths and weaknesses system seems to prompt me to overcomplicate things.
-- Buying extended duration as a strength is quite a bit cheaper than buying it as an extra.  It might be fine for this game, but if I were running table top I might consider adjustments.
-- Comstock can do quite a bit now ... but has poor die-pools with most of them.
-- Reduced Cost purchased for Molecular Manipulation should reduce each use to 1 Quantum.  Would Reduced cost make the 1q "sniffer" technique integral to the power free?
-- The future of Comstock is building out his attributes and MA skills so he can actually use his bizarre new powers.

Stock, your "At Q6" line is in reference to the future, yes, not the present?  Which leads me to a question directed at Rydi, when should q6 start becoming a possibility?  6 months from now?  After our first chrysalis?

References for the future.  I just don't want to have to dig through the lists again so I wrote it all down now.

As of World Wide Phase 1 (taking place between Autumn 2008 and Autumn 2010), Pax is Q6 and has ridiculous stats in a variety of things, so ... I would guess that by 2006-2007 he had hit that Q6 sweet spot.  We shouldn't be too far off from that if we want to keep pace with the setting.

Believe me, I'm in no hurry to pull down buildings with my mind.  I just like visualizing the difference between T2M Comstock and Transcendent Super-Being Comstock with the extras:  Comstock of the future will be able to sort gold from lead from over a mile away.

Sometime between 2008 and 2012.  Thing is, only Mal, Pax, and a couple of Terragen members are actually that high before the 2015 period.  That might change a bit due to the extreme events of the Equatorial Wars, but there was still a great deal of fighting in the regular timeline which could have pushed the limits of novas, so that isn't even a terribly credible reason to go to Q6+.

And I would like the whole party to be firmly at Q5 first.  The entire game changes at Q6, and I've seen games die in part due to having players on both sides of the dividing line.  Also, the super high Q levels tend to prevent people from using their little stuff to good effect, so I'm in no hurry for it to get here.

I'd say we've got at least another 6 months IMO before we have to worry about that.

That was what I was thinking, god knows I've got at least a hundred to two hundred xp charted out, and that doesn't even bring me close to the power levels I imagine lead to q6, although perhaps that just means I'm not min maxing enough...

Yeah ... min-maxing in this system is using all your Nova points to 5 out your attributes and relevant skills.  The XP to benefit ratio is tremendous there, with the biggest return on investment in the long run.

This is true, it's what, 3 att points per nova point or 3 nova points for 1 mega att, and the experience point cost is roughly similar.  Somebody was asleep at the switch when the nova point table was put in front of them...

To be honest, White Wolf is notorious for things like that. But I generally don't play for the mechanics.

There's a reason I scrap Bonus points and use XP whenever possible.  Just fairer to the people who don't understand what they're getting into.  Exalted in particular benefits a lot from that treatment.

Picked up mega appearance 3 for 10xp, and a shameless post # 3000.

Everyone that started the game at the beginning has Resources 4 1/2 for free (except Sol, and the dead people of course, though if you count the Utopia Memorial DVD/CD/Book sales and the royalties they would have recieved, they probably would be right there with you).  Several of you will end up with resources 5 soon.  Comstock (lots of add work), Zero (entertainment industry), Phantasm (focus on brand and marketability) should all be there soon.  Grav will probably get there when he buys up his finance enough to start doing naughty things on the stock market, and Imp... What does Imp get paid for?  Does he do underwear ads? He may be in the 5 range too.  Sol will stay a level below her other teammates as long as she doesn't keep much herself and stays out of the public eye... Just split 5 dots between Resources and Contacts: Charity/Gov/Business in whatever manner you want to.

New people start at whatever base utopia salary gives you, though you will likely be beyond that within a few years of game time, unless you want to buy it sooner (not really advisable, but if you reeeeally are impatient it's an option).
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:37, Fri 28 Aug 2009.

There actually isn't a Finance skill on the default sheet - would that fall under Biz instead, or some specialized Int-based skill (Biz is actually Wits based).

Imp ... what does Imp need money for?  People probably just pay him and don't even know why they're doing it.

Imp needs money, do you know how much he spends on hair care products, skin care products, and clothes?!  Hunh do ya?!  It costs a lot of money to look this good mister... Grin.
Imp is a model, Armani, Calvin Klein, Rolex, luxury sports cars, Save the Children, Project Utpoia (he doesn't get paid for those last two) primarily.  Or spokesmodel(cringe) if you wanna use that word.  I'm thinking about just jacking my mega app to 5, if you've read the JMS comic Rising Stars there's a woman who is, quite literally, the most beautiful woman ever, people pay just to see her, I have similar plans for Imp.  Among others.
Also, Mr. Stock, people know damn well why they're giving Imp money, because he's a hottie, and looking at beautiful people actually triggers endorphins that make you feel good, so he's visual cocaine.
Ye Gods do I sound arrogant....

Mega-App 3 does does tend to do that.

The arrogance? The visual crack? Both?

Either, both, take your pick.

Both it is.  I loves being me.

A drug.  Exactly!  They're so disoriented that the money leaves their hands before they even think about it!  If it weren't for the increasingly alien nature of 'stock's biology, he'd be having his first homosexual thoughts just from being around the guy.

Interestingly, that is something I see as a flaw that Imp will develop, at pretty high taint/chrysalis his seductive powers will be always on and affect both men and women.

Mega-Dex 1-2: 5 xp
Mega-Percep 2-3: 10 xp
Mega-Stam 2-3: 10 xp

Mega app 4, 15xp.

Yay actual Xp to spend!  Psy shield 4 (9xp)

psy shield 4?  wow, I'm really starting to think that getting some anti psycher stuff is a good idea, y'know, to be one of the cool kids.

It's so sweet, my players are growing up... Their stat lines are starting to look like a nova from the printed materials...

And for the most part it only took having over 100xp to do it... *sigh* The printed novas are so overpowered.

Well, yeah.  Although there are some cheap ways of getting around some of it.  Sizemorph grow and density control increase will let you hit mstr5 pretty easily.  That being said i just took a quick scan through the T2M book and they are really really scary.  I figure it will take at least another 100xp for me to get close to equalling somebody like Geisha, well maybe only 75.  Mind you i guess that does make the T2Mers have something like 250+xp by 2009.  We should easily be beyond that by then.... Fuck we're gonna be monsters...
This message was last edited by the player at 09:04, Mon 07 Sept 2009.

Well I have a long time before I pull away from noobdom, but I think I can kick some lackey butt while the rest of you take down supervillans or something.

I'm taking healing (lvl 1) since I don't think any pc's have it yet. Now I'm going to go use it until I faint. Hee hee (9 pts new lvl 3 ability)

In reply to Flare (msg #279):

do note that:
1) "...This power may be employed only once per victim per scene."
2) "The character may heal a number of bashing hl's up to twice her power rating, or a number of lethal hl's up to her power rating."

Healing is great, but it requires some investment.  Oh, and I will be allowing it to heal agg, just at a higher ratio (2q/lvl, up to 1/2 levels in the power, rounded down).

Finally, you should have some sort of conceptual reason for getting a power like that out of the blue, since it is kind of far off from your initial power suite.  Just fyi.  You are welcome to purchase it, just need some reasoning behind it and way of making it fit into character concept and powers... Vignettes have been used to do this in the past for other characters.

do note that:
1) "...This power may be employed only once per victim per scene."
2) "The character may heal a number of bashing hl's up to twice her power rating, or a number of lethal hl's up to her power rating."

Finally, you should have some sort of conceptual reason for getting a power like that out of the blue, since it is kind of far off from your initial power suite.  Just fyi.  You are welcome to purchase it, just need some reasoning behind it and way of making it fit into character concept and powers... Vignettes have been used to do this in the past for other characters.
</quote>

All cool, I figured that this would do very little at first, but pay off in the end. I'll work up the gaining of the power.  I figured the scene at the cantina would be the optimum place for manifesting something like this, since several injured baselines are around.

Hey Rydi, some questions.
As the vignette i just posted shows, Imp is looking for someone to teach him how to keep psychers out.  With training is it possible for him to develop either psych shield or invulnerability(mental) even though it is far outside his established power suite? Also, having shattered his hands on rocks out in the desert would it be possible to start working on psychokinesis as an outgrowth of his momentum controlling abilities?
peace

In reply to Impetus (msg #282):

hmm.  I'd be better with it as an enhancement on mega charisma actually, sort of your personality pounding back, or creating a feedback loop or something.  I'd like to lean away from it since several people already have it going, and try some more interesting stuff.  Shoot something by me and we'll work on it.  That goes for everyone, I can see ways to expand/extend all of your powers to give some sort of psychic protection, so if interested in developing it, I'm open to it.  I think I'd just like to do something more interesting than just more psyshield.

PK is fine, simply as an outgrowth of your powers.  Basically just fine control on what you already do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:06, Thu 10 Sept 2009.

cool biscuits.  Maybe call it indomitable self, have it run off mega cha, granting 1 more die or 1 auto sux per dot in Mcha?

In reply to Impetus (msg #284):

Hmm.  Something like that...  How about this:

[name]
1q activation, reflexive
Add sux = 1/2 m.cha, rounded down, to all rolls to resist psychic influence, or attempts to sway emotions or feelings (see brainwaves: Discerning m.int enh for exactly what is covered).
If an opponent succeeds at piercing the nova's mental defenses, the defending nova may make a charisma+command action against the attacker's mental defense.  If successful, the attacker becomes subject to the consequences of their own attack.

Or:

Dreadful Mien +
1q activation, reflexive
When a psychic presence touches your mind, or someone attempts to manipulate you [within the same room normally, or with appropriate enhancements, so long as they can sense some aspect of your presence], they cannot help but be overwhelmed by your raw charisma... You may use Dreadful Mien to divert the attack/manipulation.

Spent 16xp, 11 on telekinesis 1 and 2, 5 on M.dex 2.

Mega Charisma: 1-2 5xp
Performance: 2-3 4xp
Specialty (violin): 1xp

10xp

I've been meaning to do that forever.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:01, Mon 28 Sept 2009.

Of note, Zero suggested I look at Background Enhancements from Adventure! forever ago, and I finally got around to it.

With appropriate roleplay, I'm willing to insert these into the game.  Just fyi.

 The stress of trying to heal a significantly damaged teammate, while in the midst of a fight, and while people (Zero and Juan) are duking it out right next to her, are traumatic enough that Flare grinds out another level of Healing.

Healing 1-2; 7xp

Bought Mdex 3 for 10 xp.

Am looking at buying the following powers:
MCha 3&4
MDex 4
the Cha based mental defense enhancement
Enhanced movement (Mdex)
and maybe force field as a progression of Imp's telekinetic powers
Note that I have nowhere near enough xp banked for all this currently, just looking to the future...
Does this seem reasonable?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:07, Wed 07 Oct 2009.

Spending 8 experiece to add the Armor Piercing extra to my claws making it a level 3 power.

Also spending  14 experience to raise Claws from 2-3, after the purchase of Armor Piercing.

22 total experience used.

Spent 10xp to buy M. Charisma 3.  Also, 500 posts, woot!

I was thinking about the Teras/xp cost reduction issue and the following thoughts struck me.  What about having us go through a chrysalis at some point if we want to, but simply allowing us to buy powers as if they were tainted (in terms of xp costs) but that we could choose what aberrations we picked up from doing so?  For example, if Imp picks up m cha and app 5 he would do so for a total of 20 xp, but would also have to take things like inhuman beauty and halo since he's now at taint 4.  or if someone picked up q6 from doing on they'd get 2 dots on the track, one to represent the normal point of taint accrued for Q6, the other for the xp benefit?  Further, that aberrations accrued via normal taint and Chrysalis run off different tracks as normal, but you'd have to hit 10 in either one to become unplayable. A drawback to this would be that people would probably wait until they had a big ticket item they wanted to buy (5th dot in a power/att/quantum) and just buy that last very expensive dot via chrysalis, but it does make the chrysalis process much less powerful, which is good.
thoughts?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Mon 02 Nov 2009.

15 xp spent on M. Cha 4.

I realized that I hadn't spent xp in a while, like mid August I think.  I'm buying this stuff, but it won't take affect until after the fight, for fairness:

10 regen, healthy
15 m.wits 3, quickness
14 shapeshift 3
5 speed reading

Figured I'd buy up s.shift, since I've been using it more, pick up some of the regularly shifted enhancements and focus on her high stamina, and show her hyperactive mental processes a bit more.

I think I'm going to go for mega stamina 4, and maybe manipulation 4.  But other than that, and one other thing that I STILL (been waiting since the start of the game) haven't found the right time to get, I don't have plans.  So I figure I'll just get loads of enhancements.

Any suggestions beyond these for future purchases?
Dexterity: Catfooted, Perfect Balance
Stamina: Hardbody
Perception: Ultraperipheral Perception, Fast Sense, Body Awareness, Holographic Awareness
Intelligence: Eidetic Memory, Mathematical Savant
Wits: Lie Detector, Enhanced Initiative, Hypercognition, Mind Over Matter, Unfazeable
Manipulation: Persuader

I'd be better able to offer advice if i knew where you were heading.  What flavour of character you're going for.  All of your enhancement picks are cool, but I don't know how they will reinforce you character.  So, spill the beans, unless that'd be letting loose The Deep Dark Secret(TM)

She is becoming Luna itself and will spawn races of changing-breeds and a few Exalted champions.

What? [/joke]

Haven't spent XP in a long time.  I was going to make some character changing purchases for Comstock (lots of skills), but those particular developments haven't reached fruition yet.  And they'll be much, MUCH cheaper bought with banked XP through Connections, so we'll try that instead.  Just assume he's digging through science journals and generally spending time trying to round out his education and be more like Quentin (Super-Scientist, you're my hero!)

So:

Psychic Shield 4->5          12 xp
Mega-Stamina 3->4           15 xp
Molecular Manip. 2->3       14 xp
Armor 3->4                       15 xp
                                   ___________
                                     56 xp

This is bringing Comstock's physical evolution nearer and nearer to its conclusion, and nicely reflects the sort of stresses to which he's been subjected.

In reply to Impetus (msg #297):

No real secrets.  I want her to be manipulative, and an incredibly fast thinker, smart but not "super-scientist" per se.  And one of the most enduring novas out there in terms of stamina.  Enhancements mostly reflect the above themes, and I've actually got a lot of points in flavorful enhancements (speed reading, fast learner, linguistic genius.

Powers are Q.Construct, which needs to get better, but isn't pressing (and despite all the weaknesses I took, it's still an expensive level 3 power b/c of sentience and the soul eating thing); forcefield, which could use a few more dots but is pretty much good as is; and, Shapeshift, which I eventually want at 5.  Oh, and I have Intuition at 1, which I have used... Never.  And Psychic Shield, which will see increases eventually.  No new powers I'm interested in, though I'm open to suggestions.

Phantasm was just a mostly normal kid when she erupted, did some athletics in school, was kind of nerdy, not popular but not a reject either.  Her family was poor, and didn't have a whole lot, and she got lost in the middle of her siblings.  Her powers not only were perfect for getting away from the crazy psychic, but also were an escape from her totally uneventful and mostly unfulfilled life.  They let her create her own fantasy life, be whatever she wanted, and deny her other existence.

----

Comstocks powers seem to be coming to an end in their progression, lots of 4's.  What you going to do after those all cap?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:32, Thu 12 Nov 2009.

Increase intelligence again.  He's been making strides in that, and I've tried to reflect his changing intelligence score through the story.  Way back he used the words 'like', 'you know', and 'something' more than he does now.  Now he's Int 2, soon to be Mega-Int 2, and that is slowly fading out.  Sure, some of it is finally receiving some higher education.  But the Mega side of things comes out now and again.

Also, my attributes and skills are rubbish.  Didn't spend any Nova points on them at char-gen since Dillon was just a young punk and shouldn't have had any of those skills.  Future XP will probably get devoured by the effort to bring those up to speed (which is another reason the idea of getting discounts on them).

Fast Learner is on the list of possible additions.  Some day Comstock may be able to reduce parts of himself to hard-memory and read directly off of hard disks.  If that day comes, he will become a very different person.

Back in August I also made a list of future Extras for his powers.  You can scroll up to find it (msg #251).

In reply to Phantasm (msg #296):

In that case I'd go for MoM, perfect balance, and Body awareness.  Being someone who can alter their body at will it makes sense that you'd have near total control over it's funtions and motion.  I'f you're not aiming for super scientist chick, analyse weakness and some to the prodigies may fit.  I do love the enhancements, I just wish they were as cheap/broken to acquire as they are in Scion.

Yeah, they overlap with some of the other stuff I've got, but they also make sense.

It seems like people are starting to move into their full powers, maxing out the stuff they started with and all that.  I wonder where people are going to go now, what new stuff they are going to branch into... I started with a lot of powers, so I still have a ways to go, but it looks like some people will have to find new places to expand.

If comstock goes into intelligence/computery stuff, does that mean we can wipe his character sheet clean with an EMP?

ERROR!  EERRROOORRR!!!  I.  AM.  NOMAD!

I've still got a long way to go with the stuff I've got as well, none of my powers are beyond 2 dots, and, while I've almost gotten 3 mega atts to 4, the other 6 are sitting at 1 each.  I'm gonna probably buy empathic manipulation as a continuation of Imp's social voodoo powers and then get to work on buying up the stuff I have now.  I figure in 150 xp I'll have kitted him out with the powers and abilities that he should have.  Wow ramble.  Must drink some coffee.

For my part, I like that characters are specializing somewhat in mega-atts, and not just getting everything at 3.  Generalists are nice, but it makes characters less unique, and takes away from the ACTUAL generalists, like Zero, with a bunch of lower level megas instead of a bunch of focus on one.

Powers still have a ways to go on most people actually, now that I've gone and checked people's sheets.  The mega-atts were too tempting apparently, as that is where the biggest chunk of xp has gone for several months now.  But since the mega-atts that form the core of people's concepts are getting full, powers are probably going to start filling out again.

A few people have taken some new turns in power development, but for the most part i think the 2004-2006 period will probably be people filling out what theyve already started on.  Unless we start seeing chrysalises, then we'll get 6 armed mutant freaks with node spark and quantum leach randomly popping up.

Ahem, 7-armed. Prime numbers, you know.

But... is that 7th one really an "arm"?

No comment.

Actually, the 7th one should be the hentacle of the node being that has replaced the top of our head, and is vying for control of the meat body beneath it.  If you're gonna be a taint ridden monstrosity, go all the way.

Investigation 2-4, 10pts

A question.  Is it possible to create a mega charisma enhancement that mimics almost live, from mega appearance?  One that would allow a nova (imp, in this case) to use the full power of his social mojo on people who watch him on tv/hear him on the radio?  Does it seem like it might be a bit overpowering for a mega charismatic nova to be able to mindfuck the entire viewing audience at once?  My gut reaction is yes, but still...
Wow, rambling, need more caffeinated beverage....

Mega Wits 0-2: 11
    Enhanced Initiative
Enhanced Initiative (2nd): 5
Unfazeable: 5

21 spent

Because really, its needed.


[Edit] Oh, and Social-Fu of that magnitude might be just a bit broken yes, it seems almost like something Information Manipulation might cover, but that's a bit of a stretch. Almost live really just lets you scare people or run a awesome fashion show.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:53, Mon 23 Nov 2009.

In reply to Impetus (msg #311):

Yes, but it would be significantly reduced in magnitude (no mindless zombies, more of a subconscious implant that subtly influences).

I'm starting to accumulate some XP and I wanted to know if there was any way I could expand the range on Gale's elemental shield so that she can protect teammates or bystanders.

I'm currently thinking maybe getting a couple dots of the Area strength, but I'm not sure how much XP that would cost or even if that's the best way to do it.  Especially since right now her shield functions like the Elemental Control version of shield.

Also, I know I get a free trait with each new dot of Elemental Anima, but what if I just want to pick up a trait without spending all the XP to get a new dot?  Is that possible?

Any ideas?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:49, Sat 19 Dec 2009.

In reply to Gale (msg #314):

Buying the Wall extra for Forcefield (along with Forcefield of course) might be a good way to go, and would give you a higher defense (technically stacking with the Elemental Shield).

I'm not aware of a way to get new techniques without increasing the level of the power, though it might be viable to pay half what you would pay for the next dot, and just take the technique without the power increase.  If you wanted to up the actual power level, you could just pay the other half later.

You can access the other abilities in the power suite, even if you haven't taken the power, iirc, but you do have to pay double (usually 6 quantum) to do so.

One thing I was thinking about recently was getting Quantum Bolt linked to my Claws. Give Suzukaze more of an anime/manga character feel.

True, you can always use them at double cost.

And that would be fine, getting a quantum bolt to go with your claws that is.

Spending 9 points to gain Quantum Bolt as a level 3 power with the Armor Piercing extra. Having it do leathal damage. It is linked to Claws for 2 levels of weakness that it cannot be used unless claws is already in use.

Spending 7 points to add a second dot in Quantum Bolt.

Spending 20 points total on the folowing enhancements. For meg-wits: Redirection, Enhanced Initiative and Quickness (2nd quickness). For meg-dex: Rapid Strike.

Total points spent for everything: 36

In reply to Suzukaze (msg #319):

sounds good.  What were you buying with the weakness levels?  just extra damage, or something else?

In reply to Rydi (msg #320):

I was just looking under linked powers in the players guide and didn't pay attention to the strengths part. After looking at it I'm going to go for the extra damage. So that would be +2 damage dice I believe.

Ok, after some more thinking and looking at the book, I think I'll just skip getting the extra trait on Elemental Anima.

I do think I'll do the Force Field with the Wall Extra.  That sounds like what I was actually going for. So, spending 9 XP to get that.

So, is everyone up to speed on xp?  Are we saving for things, or emptying pools?

For a recap, everyone over 200xp should be on the 1:2 xp per day of posting schedule.  I'm kind of hoping to get people to empty pools unless they are saving for something in particular, so we can use this as sort of a demarcation in the power progression.

Grav recently suggested that he wanted to start saving for higher quantum, big power purchases, and chrysalis.  This is a good idea (though I won't be upping quantum cap of 5 any time soon), and I suggest people begin putting aside a portion of their xp toward either chrysalis or connection (depending on your chosen path), as more downtime will likely occur in between bursts of action as we speed on in time a bit.  By mid year, I would like to have us firmly into 2007-2008 range (though we'll see how that plan holds up once posting resumes; crazy things could happen to slow things down dramatically), and it would be nice if you guys could use some of that downtime for spending chrysalis/connection time.  But as I said, I'd like you to empty pools first, so that everyone is working from the same starting position, or at the very least not spend the stuff you've previously accrued on chrysalis/connection when the time comes.

I must say, I'm very happy with everyone's progress so far, and the responsible and flavorful xpenditure of xp.  I look forward to seeing where everyone ends up.

So by mid year we're going to advance 4 years?  Wow.  Also, can I officially throw my hat into the ring for the saving for crys club?  Also, a question about crys, we cannot go to Q6 after our first crys, correct?

He's set a cap of Q5 for everyone at this point. Raising that bar is a dangerous, dangerous thing. We observed its effects in a tabletop game once. Once that line is crossed, its a whole different ballgame. Its like getting Essence 6 in Exalted. The charms are just out of control. Its largely fine if -everyone- is that way. But if not, those that have that raw power start to overshadow everyone else.

I'm inclined to agree.  All hell breaks loose.  Before that, however, there's all kinds of things for your XP.  I've got a bucketload of Extras to grab.

I've got just about all my future XP earmarked for different expenditures.  Everything else ... I guess if I delay, I can buy some of it at discount in Connections.  Happy Comstock builds backgrounds, becomes man of the people, is betrayed by his faith in humanity, and eventually conspires with Gravitas to increase the Gravitational Constant of the Planet, destroying everyone.

Or something.  Hey, I'm just having fun digging back through all of this.

Spending 9 xp to get 1 dot in Weather Manip with technique Fog.  I just got enough, and I wanted to buy this in case we decide we need it on the Mexico mission.

To give a general idea of where I'm going with this, Gale will probably end up becoming an air elemental with weather/climate control.  Eventually going to give her density control too.  Just thought I'd give a heads up.

Finally eked out enough to bump up to Mega-Int 5. Hurray!

Nice work on hitting MI5, grav, I don't have a single att that high yet.  Bought MDex4.  Also, Rydi, were my hijinks at the new year's party marvelous enough to qualify for getting my first point in Crysalis?

In reply to Impetus (msg #329):

Hmm...  Debatable.  Imo, the Marvel is not about raw social-fu, or just moving people about, however cool.  It is about doing things that make others gasp in awe and wonder, heralding in something new and transcendent, and about innovation (not in terms of grand schemes or inventions, but social/emotional innovation).  The New Year's Eve stuff wasn't quite there, especially given that it doesn't represent anything new for Impetus, just par for the course.

But if you feel otherwise or disagree, I'm willing to allow it, considering your many past actions that would have qualified.

In reply to Rydi (msg #330):

I'm saving Xp until I get to an opportune point for healing 3, but I don't have much saved beyond that.

In reply to Rydi (msg #330):

Ok, that seems reasonable.  Say, for example, Imp had whipped the crowd int a frenzy, then pushed them even further so that they entered some sort of trance/state of altered perception and not played it safe by bringing them to the cusp and quelling them, that would qualify?  I was reading through some of my exalted stuff, high end presence and performance charms, and the stuff that changed natures, instilled or warped motivations, rewrote societies, that seems to be things that should count as going over the top in the right way, am I correct here or way off base?

I'd say so.  Really, do anything that in Exalted would get you a cult.  If people worship you, are driven to do things in your name or out of some emotion related to you, etc.

Does that grok with your thinking, Rydi?

Yeah, pretty much.  And it doesn't even have to be that "you" centered if you are trying to take a more pro-social/altruistic stance with Imp.  Instilling transcendent insight/epiphany, feelings of oneness, or self-discovery are all viable things for Imp to encourage in people.  Really its more about the Wonder and the Change, not necessarily the direction that takes.

In further response to the chrysalis stuff, Imp's most recent vignette is more in line with what I see for gaining chrys, assuming that is the type of thing you are going to earn it off of anyway (there are many other ways, even for marvels).

He used his powers intensely, did something that could potentially reshape society, and furthered his own personal self-concept.  He became something more, in that hour he was talking.

Spent 5 xp on Natural Agitator.  Go go social-fu.

For her arduous, relative saving fiasco,Flare gains Hypermovement 1, Healing 3, and MegaStr 1.

Hypermovement 1: 6xp
Healing 3: 14xp
MegaStr 1: 6xp

Also acquired:
Medicine 1: 3xp

Total xp used: 29