Cool! Character description is up (pending GM approval).

In reply to Xander (msg # 13):

Description up pending GM approval. Character sheet within the next day or 2.

In reply to Flux (msg # 14):

I think there is a typo on one of the forms... unless Magento is a superhero I was hereto unaware of.

In reply to Hero-In-The-Making (msg # 15):

As our team exemplifies, heroism is in the eye of the beholder :p

Also- See The Exiles!

Fear the purplish-pink haze of his rage!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 17):

You mean you didn't collect Magento merch as a kid?

Lame.

In reply to Batallion (msg # 18):

Common Materials and their Strengths

Feeble -- Cloth, paper, brush, glass
Poor -- Plastic, crystal, wood
Typical -- Rubber, soft metal, ice, interior walls
Good -- Brick, aluminum, asphalt, high-strength plastic, light machinery
Excellent -- Conrete, iron, bulletproof glass/clothing, exterior walls
Remarkable -- Steel, reinforced concrete
Incredible -- Stone, vibranium, volcanic rock
Amazing -- High-strength steel, granite
Monstrous -- Diamond, super-heavy alloys
Unearthly -- Adamantium, some mystic elements
Class 1000 -- Virtually indestructable materials (Mjolnir, Capt America's shield)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 19):

How is Captain America's shield so much stronger than vibranium?

In reply to Batallion (msg # 20):

Because when this game was made they hadn't cheapened it by making it be made out of a known, harvestable substance. That came later.

Dude... It's made of Unobtainium

In reply to Xander (msg # 22):

New House Rule: All "1-10 stun" results greats than 2 are reduced to 2.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 23):

Combat rules from the simulator:

1) Fake-Outs and Feints

If you wanted to "fake someone out" in a mechanically meaningful way, you'd have to roll for it. If you did anything other than move afterward, you'd have to take a multiaction penalty on both your second action and the fake-out itself.

Since you aren't using a power (like Illusion Casting) for this, it's going to be an opposed Reason check. This is very, very different from D&D... you aren't going to compare your roll to his. Instead, you're going to see what color you got (white, green, yellow, or red). This sets his difficulty. He has to get the same color or better to overcome your diversion, or suffer penalties (in this case, -CS to him combat the next round).

2) Grappling, Charging, and Punching

We've mostly done standard slugfest combat to-date, which meant that you rolled Fighting to see if you hit, dealing Strength damage. There are other options though.

Charging: If you want to slam into someone and maybe knock them down (or out), you roll your Endurance instead of your Fighting. If you roll high enough, you knock your target down or maybe even put them out for the count.

Grappling: If you want to grab someone and wrestle them or grapple them, that's Strength, not Fighting. Grappling is really difficult to do, because as you can see, you need yellow results to get anything done. Only really, really strong people should bother grappling with any regularity. Once you've achieved a "hold" result, you can apply your strength damage to the target every turn for as long as they are held. The upside is that they can't do anything while being held except try to break the hold. The downside is that you're basically tangled up in that activity for the duration, as well, unless/until one or both of you decide to Escape.

Important: "Grabbing" on the table refers to snatching a pistol or clipboard or something from someone's hand. That's why red is "break". You'll use the Grappling table for all things wrestling.

Note that these options have their own sections on the Universal Table to determine what happens, along with the related ability underneath them.

Worth mentioning is that there are defenses that correspond to each technique, as well. You can do any of these instead of attacking if you want:

Evading: If you want to not be punched, you're Evading and that's a Fighting check.
Dodging: If you want to not be shot at range, you're Dodging and that's an Agility check.
Blocking: If you want to lesson the damage you're taking, you can attempt to block the blow. Doing this reduces incoming damage by your Strength.
Escaping: If you want to break a grapple, flee a wrestling situation, or grab an opponent back, that's a Strength check.

Lots of this information is available for free online here: https://www.copy.com/s/t%3AeCU...uced.pdf%3Boid%3A194

The fun starts on page 17, and wrestling is on page 22-23. Defensive action explanations begin on page 24.

Finally, I do not believe it is possible to gain extra attacks unless you have a power for it, even if you wanted to take a penalty to your rolls for the privilege. A normal person can only attack once and move once in any 6-second window, and without a power saying otherwise, you're only a normal person in that regard.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:43, Mon 19 Oct 2015.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 24):

Death and Dying

UPDATED 07/05/2023

After reviewing some of our more recent combats, it seems I revised the death/dying system sometime between the beginning of the game and now. The revised version is significantly streamlined, and we'll be using it from now on.

Here are the changes:

- REMOVED the immediate Endurance roll vs Kill upon becoming defeated.

- REMOVED the Endurance roll vs Stun on your actions to get back up again.

- ADDED an Endurance roll to stabilize at the start of your next action. Results:
-- White: Still Dying (-1CS to Endurance; must repeat this action next round; turn ends)
-- Green: Near-Death Situation (-1CS to Endurance; become Stunned X; turn ends)
-- Yellow/Red: Stabilized (set health = Endurance; become Stunned X-1; turn ends)

X still equals the number of times you've been downed during the current encounter.

If you end up with "Stun 0", that just means you'll get to act normally next round.

The remaining rules (that are not crossed out) are still in effect.

(Old Rules)
When a character hits 0 or less, they must:

quote:

-Make an Endurance roll on against the Kill table:
--White = Dying: Endurance Loss (-1CS/round)
--Green = Near-Death Situation: Endurance Loss (-1CS) + Unconscious/Stunned for X rounds)
--Yellow/Red = Defeated: Unconscious/Stunned for X rounds

X = the number of times you've been defeated in the current encounter. I'll track it on the initiative sheet.

If your Endurance ever reaches Shift-0, you're dead for good -- and any Endurance Loss suffered in this way is gone for a long time. I recommend spending karma on your Endurance roll to ensure a yellow/red result, but hey, it's entirely up to you.

Options for the dying:


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:38, Wed 05 July 2023.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 25):

Impromptu Power FEATs

You can use a FEAT related to an existing power even if you haven't learned it yet. Doing so costs 100 karma per roll, and rolls are made at -1CS of the parent power's intensity. Check in with me before making such an attempt so we can discuss the particulars.



You can spend karma beyond the 100 to assist the roll as normal, but doing so voids the ability to immediately learn it on a red result (discounted or otherwise).
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:55, Thu 15 Dec 2016.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 26):

FAQS



Depends on the situation. The easy answer is this: If the slam dealt damage (loss of health), then the attacker chooses the direction. If not, the victim does.

Related information:

- The target of a Slam gets an Endurance FEAT to resist it (see the "Slam?" column on the table)

- If the target fails (white), they are knocked a number of AREAS equal to the attacker's Strength (so, 5 areas if you have Amazing strength). A green is still a failure, but you're only knocked into an adjacent area. Yellow and Red negate the Slam but not the damage dealt from the attack itself.

-- If you're Slammed and the direction you're moving in would punch you through a wall, the person flying through the air makes a Strength FEAT. Success means they break through the wall (taking no extra damage) and keep going. Repeat as needed. Failure means they hit the wall, suffer damage, and stop there.

- Slams, Stuns, and Kill results can only affect someone if the damage being dealt is greater than or equal to your protection from the attack.

-- By this I mean, if a Good (10) attack goes against Excellent (20) body armor, your strength is outmatched and therefore you can't stun or slam or kill the target, either.

-- If a Good (10) attack goes against Good (10) body armor, though, you're at parity. And thus, you're still at risk for a Stun, Slam, or Kill result even though it didn't deal any damage.

- There are talents that let you ignore the above rules, so don't discount your enemies by thinking you're immune to these sorts of attacks



- Karma is gained primarily through "heroic actions". It's not straight-up experience points, so you won't get it just for killing things or achieving objectives.

- When you declare the intention to spend karma on something, you're committing to spending at least 10 points no matter how well you roll.

- You have to say what color you're committing to when you declare the intention to spend karma, too. So rather than saying "spending karma on my psychic shield this round" you'd say "boosting all psychic shield rolls to Yellow this round".

- Villains have karma pools, too

- You cannot use karma if you are "blindsided" or surprised. This often means you won't be able to use karma until your second action of any given combat encounter, and occasionally means you can't use it in the middle of combat if faced with an unforeseen or unforeseeable threat.



How good you are at running is controlled by your Endurance, as follows:

- FE (2): 1 area/round
- PR (4) through EX (20): 2 areas/round
- RM (30) or better: 3 areas/round

If you have super speed or flight or leaping or something, you can move even faster.

Vertical movement is harder. Most characters can only move about 1 story upward or downward a turn (unless you decide to fall, in which case it's 10 stories per turn with a sudden stop at the bottom). If you have RM (30) or better endurance, you can climb or carefully descend about 2 stories per turn instead.

If you DO start free-falling, an Agility FEAT is needed to stop yourself (circumstances depending). The color you need depends on your agility (RM+ needs green; EX+ needs  yellow; anything else needs red).

Yes, this means we probably make some mistakes during the Dr. Olsen chase scene, but they were CONSISTENT mistakes and we'll just do it right from now on :)

NOTE: Recall that same-area movement is automatically assumed when you make an attack. If you want to change areas during combat, that's all you're doing that turn. You can think of moving to another area as a full-round action if it helps.



Charging combat involves ramming into an opponent like a battering ram. The character making the charging attack may move and attack on the same turn.

Charging is considered an Endurance FEAT and uses the Endurance ability. Certain bad guys, like Juggernaut and Rhino, use the charging attack almost all the time.

A character must move at least one area to make a charging attack, but may move his entire movement rate. For each area the character moves through before reaching his target, the attacker gets a + 1CS bonus to the attack, up to a maximum of + 3CS (even if the character moved through more than three areas).

A charging character may choose to reduce the damage he inflicts, but not the result color. A charging attack may have a miss, hit, slam, or stun result.

- White: The would-be attacker misses his target and keeps on moving for one area beyond it in a straight line (this usually plants you into a solid wall). A second FEAT, this
time for Agility, would prevent the individual from hitting (and potentially breaking) a wall.

- Green: The attacker hits his target and inflicts damage equal to either his Endurance or his Body Armor (if any), whichever is higher. In addition, the target takes 2 points of additional damage for each area the attacker moved through before striking him.

- Yellow: A successful hit, the same as a Green result, and the target must also check against his Endurance or be slammed.

- Red: A successful hit, the same as a Green result, and the target must check against his Endurance or be stunned.

Charging characters who slam (either intentionally or inadvertently) into inanimate objects will damage them as they would living targets . The material strength, rather than Health , determines if the hero breaks through the obstacle.



Material Strengths of Common Objects

Feeble -- Cloth, paper, brush, glass
Poor -- Plastic, crystal, wood
Typical -- Rubber, soft metal, ice, interior walls
Good -- Brick, aluminum, asphalt, high-strength plastic, light machinery
Excellent -- Conrete, iron, bulletproof glass/clothing, exterior walls
Remarkable -- Steel, reinforced concrete
Incredible -- Stone, vibranium, volcanic rock
Amazing -- High-strength steel, granite
Monstrous -- Diamond, super-heavy alloys
Unearthly -- Adamantium, some mystic elements
Class 1000 -- Virtually indestructable materials (Mjolnir, Capt America's shield)

Breaking Things

When a character tries to break something, the Judge decides what the thing's intensity is. Heroes can easily (automatically, that is) break through materials with intensities three or more ranks less than their Strength ability (have you ever seen a brick wall slow down the Thing?)

Similarly, items more than one rank stronger than the hero's Strength cannot be affected by the hero (even the Hulk cannot bend Captain America's shield).

Thickness Matters

Materials are moved up or down that strength chart based on thickness.

* < 1 inch: -1CS
* > 1 foot: +1CS
* > 2 feet: +2CS



Sure...let's talk about rasslin'

Grabbing an opponent and holding him (as opposed to just hitting him) is wrestling combat and requires Strength FEATs to succeed. This includes restraining a foe, grappling with him, squeezing or crushing him, etc.

As with Fighting maneuvers, the opponents in a wrestling attack must be adjacent or have powers, weapons, or abilities that allow the attacker to reach the defender.

A grappling attack is designed to hold down an opponent, prevent him from moving, and possibly inflict damage upon him. An attacker may always choose to inflict less than maximum damage on his foe and to reduce the effect (from Red to Yellow, for example).

A grappling attack may result in a miss, a partial hold, or a hold.

White
The attacker misses the target.

Green
The attacker misses the target.

Yellow
The attacker gets a partial hold on the opponent; he's grabbed hold of an arm, leg, or something else that limits the opponent's movement.

No damage is inflicted on the target, but he suffers an immediate -2CS on all FEATs for as long as he is held. If the attacker's Strength is greater than the defender's Strength, then the defender cannot move, either.

Red
The attacker gets a full hold on the opponent, preventing most actions and potentially inflicting damage. The target cannot move for the rest of the turn. Further, the only action the defender can take in the next turn is to try to escape the hold.

The attacker, in the next turn, can inflict up to his full Strength rank number in damage to the held opponent and take one additional action besides.

quote:

If I have a partial hold on someone, how long does it last? Can I get a better grip on my next turn? Could an ally run in and grapple the same target? Could they assist me with my grapple instead?

Once you have someone held (yellow or red), you keep 'em there until you decide to do something else or the target escapes. If you have a yellow hold and you want to try for a red one, you'd roll normally and get whatever result you roll -- this does mean you could lose the hold you have in your efforts to get a better grip.

Allies can grapple a target you're already grappling just like they could punch a target you're already punching. Penalties for being held stack. Your ally could also just assist you with your efforts, which works like all assistance rolls do (a modest +CS bonus to the person being helped).



Absolutely.

These all have their own results area on the chart, but I admit it's confusing. Here's the details:

Dodging

Make an Agility FEAT. All ranged attacks targeting you suffer a -0/-2/-4/-6CS penalty (white/green/yellow/red result) until your next turn. This bonus doesn't affect targets who blindside you.

You may take an action on the same turn you declared Dodging, regardless your result. You'll suffer a -2CS penalty to whatever you do, though.

Evading

Pick a specific target that you are able to engage in melee combat. Roll a Fighting FEAT. If you roll a white, you guarantee that person will land a green hit (minimum) if they roll a melee attack on you on their turn.

If you roll green, you block the next melee attack that the target would have landed (no damage dealt).

Yellow or red grants you the green effect plus a +1/+2CS (yellow/red) bonus to the first Fighting attack you use on that target next turn. This applies only to hit, not to damage.

If you choose to Evade, that consumes your action.

Blocking

Make a Strength FEAT. Treat your STR (-6/-4/-2/+1 for white/green/yellow/red) as specialized body armor until the your next turn begins. This stacks with whatever body armor you might already be wearing.

Your "Block Armor" cannot reduce the damage from Shooting, Energy, or Wrestling attacks, but works against most other sources (within reason, DM's call).

You may attempt to shield a target ally in the same area while Blocking. If you do so, your Blocking roll takes -2CS but all Shooting, Throwing, or Charging attacks directed at the targeted ally will strike you instead.

If you choose to Block, that consumes your action.

The TLDR of the above is:

DODGING makes it harder for anyone to hit you with a ranged attack for 1 turn. This is the only one of the three abilities you can use and still take another action afterward, though it'll be weaker than normal as a penalty.

EVADING means you're jabbing, hemming, and hawing in melee combat against a single melee opponent hoping to foil an attack and gain an advantage on your next turn.

BLOCKING means you're bulking up and attempting to use your raw strength to deflect all incoming attacks from specific sources.



Dodging affects all incoming attacks of a certain type. (This is a hit/miss ability)

Blocking affects all incoming attacks of a certain type. (This is a damage-reduction ability)

Evading affects exactly exactly 1 incoming attack of a certain type from exactly 1 target, and might grant a combat bonus on top of that. (This is a hit/miss ability with offensive implications).

quote:

Are there offensive tactics?

Yes! The most common is this one:

Combined Attack
- Everyone involved must be within 1 rank of each other's Strength and adjacent to the target.
- Each assistant makes an agility FEAT. On green or better, the "finisher" gets +1CS for damage against the target that round.
- Only the "finisher" needs to make a Fighting roll to hit the target.



This is a complicated question and will have a complicated answer. Take a look:

Travel Time from Earth (in days)



20th Century Probe

- Mercury: 156.9d
- Venus: 52d
- EROS: 54.5d
- Factory: 54.5d
- Mars: 109d
- Ceres: 174.4d
- Jupiter: 1 yr
- Saturn: 1.8yrs
- Uranus: 3.8 yrs
- Neptune: 5.9 yrs
- Pluto: 7.8 yrs</quote>

MTH Standard Ion Engine

- Mercury: 108.3
- Venus: 43d
- EROS: 45d
- Factory: 45d
- Mars: 90d
- Ceres: 144d
- Jupiter: 303d
- Saturn: 1.5yr
- Uranus: 3.1yr
- Neptune: 4.9yr
- Pluto: 6.5 yrs</quote>

Military-Grade Ion Engine

- Mercury: 41.1d
- Venus: 14d
- EROS: 14.5d
- Factory: 14.5d
- Mars: 29d
- Ceres: 46.4d
- Jupiter: 100d
- Saturn: 179d
- Uranus: 1yr
- Neptune: 1.6yr
- Pluto: 2.1yr

Stolen Prototype Version Plasma Drive

- Mercury: 12.7d
- Venus: 4.3d
- EROS: 4.5d
- Factory: 4.5d
- Mars: 9d
- Ceres: 14.4d
- Jupiter: 31d
- Saturn: 55d
- Uranus: 113 d
- Neptune: 179d
- Pluto: 238d

Viceroy's Upgraded Plasma Drive

- Mercury: 3.2d
- Venus: 1.08d
- EROS: 1.1d
- Factory: 1.1d
- Mars: 2.3d
- Ceres: 3.6d
- Jupiter: 7.8d
- Saturn: 13.8d
- Uranus: 28.3d
- Neptune: 44.8d
- Pluto: 59.5d</quote>

TLDR: It depends what you're flying.



Resources & How They Work

Resources is a reflection of how wealthy and/or well-connected a character is: how easily can he can buy a new car/get necessary lab equipment/take the SHIELD helicarrier out for a spin. It has both a Rank and a rank number.

Rather than forcing players to keep complicated records of their characters' finances (which is too much like real life), the Resource ability is checked when purchasing major items.

Resources are variable because they can change, often regardless of how successful the player character has been in his heroic identity. When playing the game, a hero may suddenly win the lottery or lose a fortune. The Watcher controls how much is spent and how.

As opposed to making players keep track of funds (and whether those funds are invested, in CDs, in savivings, or in checking), a resource rank is assigned to show the character's relative wealth . This will effect whether the hero can afford things.

It is generally assumed that a hero can afford the lifestyle he is currently living at-paying the bills, buying groceries, repairing the funky super-hero outfit, etc.

Resources reflect the ability to buy other things, like cars, plane tickets, small corporations, restaurants, and the like.

Consult the table of typical Resource FEATs. This is a partial list, but gives a feeling for what is involved. If the hero must pay for something, make a Resource FEAT roll against the intensity of the cost.

Items more than one rank higher than the character's Resources can not be normally bought, at least not on the spur of the moment. The character can try again next week.

Characters can chip in to buy something, much in the same way they pool their attacks in battle. The two Resource ranks must be within one rank of each other. The higher rank is then increased by one rank.

You can get loans of up to AM (50) from a typical bank, but you must then be able to afford loan payments (likely equal to one rank less than the loan per month for 12 months). Failure to repay results in a destroyed credit rating (drops Resources score by 1 rank) and REPO men and other badness.



I think that covers that, but resources are flexible so it's possible further elaboration will be needed at some point.



Correct! He's a rundown of some of the biggest.

Nonprofits

The United Nations
Vastly expanded from its present role, the United Nations now has the power to levy taxes, raise armies, ratify treaties, mint currency, and regulate trade. It has an embassy with every country on the planet, and claims to maintain relations with every colony in the solar system, as well. Nonprofit, funded by member nations*. *All nations are member nations. This is not a choice, a fact that The Confederation of Liberty learned by the hard way in an extremely ironic war fought over the issue.

Extraterrestrial Colonization and Expansion Agency
Maintains centralized records on all the colonies that we have and where we might want to explore next. Nonprofit, funded by UN.

The Interplanetary Defense Agency
The United Nations, flush with operating capital and political clout for the first time in history, created an international organization dedicated to protecting and securing vital interests across local space. If ever a fleet is needed to defend Earth and its surrounding planets from alien aggression, the bulk of that fleet would be the IDA. Think of it as a combination of the American, Russian, and Chinese space programs, except actually funded. Nonprofit, funded by the UN but with an autonomous defense charter.

G.E.N.O.M.E.
The Genetic Engineering and Nurturing Organization for Mankind's Evolution is a powerful nonprofit organization dedicated to registering, cataloging, researching, and developing mutants and altered humans. All registered mutants are guaranteed certain political and civil rights. Unregistered mutants are considered criminals -- though the only penalty for those caught is typically "registration and rehabilitation."

HeartworX International
A Red Cross-like organization that provides humanitarian and disaster-relief efforts to the victims of poverty, war, and famine. Run by a man named Cornelius Husker, who has at times been accused of causing the poverty, war, famine, etc. that his organization fixes. As a donation-driven humanitarian organization accused of profiteering, HeartworX is in a complicated PR relationship with most governments and organizations.

The Alliance of Sol
This is more of a terrorist organization than a non-profit, but I didn't see it listed elsewhere. Its membership is dedicated to keeping all of the various planets as close to "normal" as possible. That makes them anti-expansionist, anti-terraformation, anti-colonial, etc. They do a lot of kidnappings and ransomings and bombings, and have an impressive space-faring presence based in largely on asteroids and man-made stations. Not everyone who joins the Alliance shares its vision; some just really like the autonomy and the perks.

The Heritage Group
A well-known arm of the Alliance of Sol, this organization lobbies governments for the kinds of changes that the AoS would want. A sort of hyperconservative think tank.



Ship Sizes
Listed from small to large

Civilian Ships
- Starster (sporty 1- or 2-man racing ships like Billy's first one)
- Shuttle
- Staryacht
- Freighter
- Starliner

***

Military Ships
- Starfighter
- Shuttle
- Transport
- Freighter
- Heavy cruiser
- Destroyer (capital)
- Starcruiser (capital)
- Battleship (capital)
- Dreadnought (capital)
- Carrier (capital)
- Superdreadnought (capital, hypothetical)
- Supercarrier (capital, hypothetical)



How Hacking Works

The AI will put up a countermeasure. The hacker will attempt to pit their Reason (vs Code Gates), Intuition (vs Barriers), Psyche (vs Sentries), or hacking talent/ability of their choice (vs active AIs) against it and perform an opposed roll. Better color wins. Ties cause both sides to take damage equal to half the intensity they were defending against.

The winner deals damage equal to the winning intensity to the loser. Sometimes the system will get additional bonuses if they win a particular exchange, as well.

Your health is equal to the sum of your RIP stats for these purposes.

Reduce the system to 0, and you're completely in. If you are reduced to 0, you're kicked offline and suffer damage equal to your RIP stats added together.

If you want to jack out before a losing fight becomes lethal, there are two options:

1) After resolving a round of hacking, but before the next round begins, say you're jacking out. This is automatically successful. Note that jacking out will result in the system healing itself.

2) After you've seen a countermeasure, you can jack out instead of trying to defeat it. Use your hacking power or talent and roll to jack out. Green is success. Otherwise, you fail and have to face the countermeasure normally (remember you can jack out immediately AFTER this if you wish for free).

Sample system that can be hacked:



Hacking System 2.0

1) Hacking requires an AI or enabling piece of equipment, program, hardware, whatever.

2) Hacking works as follows:

- All systems are protected by some combination of countermeasures, all of which provide a benefit to the system
- These countermeasures must be attacked in the correct way in order to drop their benefit and leave the system more vulnerable
- Attack rolls use your hacking skill rather than Fighting
- Damage dealt is equal to either your R, I, or Hacking stat, depending on the target of your hack
-- Barriers must be attacked with Reason
-- Code Gates must be attacked with Intuition
-- Sentries must be attacked with Psyche
-- AI/Automation must be attacked with your Hacking stat (this is not the same as the OS!)

3) Each countermeasure has an intensity, which is not its health pool. Unless otherwise stated, a single green or better "hit" will drop a countermeasure to 0, at which point it will start "healing" back up to its intensity. It remains OFF until it reaches that intensity, at which point it turns back ON.

3a) The system itself cannot be harmed unless at least one countermeasure is OFF, at which point damage dealt to the "defeated" countermeasure on subsequent attacks bleeds through to the system itself.

3b) If a RM (30) Barrier is attacked and hit, it becomes OFF. It then heals by the OS's stated amount per round, remaining OFF until it reaches 30+. If the Barrier it attacked and hit again, any "healing" done during the reboot is lost, and the difference between the lost health and the attack's value is dealt to the system as damage.

4) Every system has an OS. This is not a "countermeasure", but rather is the system's health. Most OS can heal themselves and other systems, and all of them will attempt to damage the attacker every round.

5) Once a system has been reduced to 0, all countermeasures drop to 0. The OS then begins healing them, starting with the weakest countermeasure, at its normal regeneration rate. Once all countermeasures are fully healed, the OS is restored and any access gained by the hacker is lost.

5b) If the Hacker's pool (R+I+P) is reduced to 0, they are ejected from the system and take damage equal to the OS's remaining health. Their pool regenerates at a rate of Psyche per hour.

6) Intensities matter. The System gets different effects based on its countermeasures. The hacker enjoys the following:

If the system was ON:

-White: whiff. Nothing happens.
-Green: system hit! It goes offline, and its reboot health is set to 0.
-Yellow: green effect + deal damage equal to related stat - reboot max health to system
-Red: yellow effect + STUN the system (it cannot attack or heal that round)

If the system was OFF:

-White: whiff. Nothing happens.
-Green: Hit! Deal damage to the system equal to your related stat minus countermeasure's reboot health, then zero the reboot health.
-Yellow: As green, but "freeze" countermeasure so it cannot be healed this turn.
-Red: As yellow, but STUN the system (it cannot attack or heal that round)

6b) AI are more resistant to stuns than most...see OS for details.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:33, Wed 13 Dec 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 27):

Vehicular Stats

Vehicles don't use FASERIP. They use CSBP, as follows:




Vehicles that take damage in excess of their Body (which is only breached by attacks that penetrate Protection) can cause those within them to take damage as well. Especially in space. Whenever you want to manuever a vehicle in a strenuous way, you make a Control roll equal to the pilot's agility or the craft's Control, whichever is LOWER. Failure means craft goes "out of control," which is bad.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:42, Thu 06 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 28):

Slams and Consciousness

If the force of a Slamming blow is enough to render the target unconscious, they don't get to roll endurance to resist being slammed.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 29):

Falling Damage

Characters who are subject to Earth (or Earth-like) gravity and free-fall travel 10 stories per round, and suffer the following consequences when they land:

1) 10 damage per story fallen (up to a max of 120 damage, mitigated by body armor)
2) Endurance FEAT (green or better avoids being knocked unconscious)

Characters in free-fall may make an agility check to attempt to catch themselves on something (if such a thing even exists). The difficulty is red; spending karma is advised.

Sample system that can be hacked:



Hacking System 2.0

1) Hacking requires an AI or enabling piece of equipment, program, hardware, whatever.

2) Hacking works as follows:

- All systems are protected by some combination of countermeasures, all of which provide a benefit to the system
- These countermeasures must be attacked in the correct way in order to drop their benefit and leave the system more vulnerable
- Attack rolls use your hacking skill rather than Fighting
- Damage dealt is equal to either your R, I, or Hacking stat, depending on the target of your hack
-- Barriers must be attacked with Reason
-- Code Gates must be attacked with Intuition
-- Sentries must be attacked with Psyche
-- AI/Automation must be attacked with your Hacking stat (this is not the same as the OS!)

3) Each countermeasure has an intensity, which is not its health pool. Unless otherwise stated, a single green or better "hit" will drop a countermeasure to 0, at which point it will start "healing" back up to its intensity. It remains OFF until it reaches that intensity, at which point it turns back ON.

3a) The system itself cannot be harmed unless at least one countermeasure is OFF, at which point damage dealt to the "defeated" countermeasure on subsequent attacks bleeds through to the system itself.

3b) If a RM (30) Barrier is attacked and hit, it becomes OFF. It then heals by the OS's stated amount per round, remaining OFF until it reaches 30+. If the Barrier it attacked and hit again, any "healing" done during the reboot is lost, and the difference between the lost health and the attack's value is dealt to the system as damage.

4) Every system has an OS. This is not a "countermeasure", but rather is the system's health. Most OS can heal themselves and other systems, and all of them will attempt to damage the attacker every round.

5) Once a system has been reduced to 0, all countermeasures drop to 0. The OS then begins healing them, starting with the weakest countermeasure, at its normal regeneration rate. Once all countermeasures are fully healed, the OS is restored and any access gained by the hacker is lost.

5b) If the Hacker's pool (R+I+P) is reduced to 0, they are ejected from the system and take damage equal to the OS's remaining health. Their pool regenerates at a rate of Psyche per hour.

6) Intensities matter. The System gets different effects based on its countermeasures. The hacker enjoys the following:

If the system was ON:

-White: whiff. Nothing happens.
-Green: system hit! It goes offline, and its reboot health is set to 0.
-Yellow: green effect + deal damage equal to related stat - reboot max health to system
-Red: yellow effect + STUN the system (it cannot attack or heal that round)

If the system was OFF:

-White: whiff. Nothing happens.
-Green: Hit! Deal damage to the system equal to your related stat minus countermeasure's reboot health, then zero the reboot health.
-Yellow: As green, but "freeze" countermeasure so it cannot be healed this turn.
-Red: As yellow, but STUN the system (it cannot attack or heal that round)

6b) AI are more resistant to stuns than most...see OS for details.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Wed 12 July 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 31):

Weapons, Blunt Attacks, and Edged Attacks

Blunt weapons add +1CS to damage dealt by Fighting attacks using them, but only if the weapon has material strength greater than or equal to the wielder's strength.

A hero with FE (2) strength wielding a whiffle bat made of PR (4) plastic will gain the bonus damage (and likely break the weapon against whatever was struck by it in the process, if it has greater strength than the bat).

A hero with MN (75) strength wielding the same weapon will gain no bonus damage, and still break the weapon against whatever is struck by it (on the basis of the hero's own strength rather than the material strength of what was hit).

***

Edged weapons deal damage equal to their material strength or the strength of the wielder, whichever is less. Instead of adding "bonus" damage, they have a minimum damage value they always deal to the target, regardless of strength, provided the target's strength is not greater than the strength of the weapon.

So if you have a knife with minimum damage of 10 made of EX (20) material and you have strength of TY (6), it'll deal GD (10) damage to the target. A stronger wielder could get EX (20) damage out of it, but no more.

Edged weapons can break just like blunt weapons can if they are used against too strong a target, but they do not break on the basis of the hero's strength (because they slice instead of slam, so the impact is distributed differently).
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:58, Tue 01 Aug 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 32):

Other Tactics

In addition to being able to Dodge, Block, Evade, and use a Combined Attack, there are a couple other tactics in the rulebook that seem to have been buried/forgotten. I wanted to record them somewhere so folks could see them and use them if they wanted to.

Remember, these are not FEATs. They are tactics, just like Dodge, Block, etc., and anybody can do them:













If you like any of these tactics a lot, it's possible to create an "improved" version as an actual FEAT tied to a related power or weapon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:05, Thu 25 Jan 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 33):

Body Armor vs Force Fields

There are several substantive differences between these protective countermeasures.






This message was last edited by the GM at 12:46, Thu 25 Jan 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 34):

Flight Speed Table & Flying Distance



And a reminder on how running works:



And finally, remember that if your non-vehicular movement takes you into a new area, you cannot take a normal action during that round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:26, Thu 12 Apr 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 35):

Ground Vehicle Speed Table & Distances

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 36):

Run Speed Reminder
How good you are at running is controlled by your Endurance, as follows:

- FE (2): 1 area/round
- PR (4) through EX (20): 2 areas/round
- RM (30) or better: 3 areas/round

Throwing is based on STR.


Attacking At Range
Almost all powers are limited to the same area only unless otherwise specified by the power (or the weapon). If you have a power you believe should be ranged that doesn't have one listed, ping me and I'll provide you with its range.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:14, Tue 27 June 2023.