Yeah, it is just the principle of the thing. Gotta be opposed to anything that might get the foster character hurt.

I think the 'spirit' of V&V is something like...
It's lighthearted, not nec a 1-hit kill game.
Villains get 'death touch', not heroes, for a specific reason.
Combat should last at leats a few rounds
-- unless you're fighting SuperduperscooperflooperMan with a carry cap of 10 bazillion lbs.
:)

To be honest, I wasn't concerned with whether or not Nightmare hit his target.
I just thought it was cool to have him shoot from both hands. Technically, once he gets close enough to someone for an action, he could shoot them twice, in the head, with little chance of missing, unless we have a good mechanic to restrict such things. Not to mention the infamous Heightened Attack that makes leveling up even more dangerous.

@ Nightmare - Might I suggest as a 'power stunt' as you level up, the ability to shoot both guns at one target?  Since it's only 1d8 each, seems reasonable (and pretty cool).

Sorry guys, just got back in from a long weekend away.

Personally, I am fine with a '5' for HTH attacks.  Vosper's inaccuracy isn't her target number, it's the dice roller.  ;)

But as our GM knows, I tend to be a "Rules As Written" kinda GM. ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 04:30, Tue 22 Apr 2014.

I compliment your consistency!  ANOTHER 20?!?!
:D

Actually, I think Nightmare's gonna get a sniper rifle. First, he'll make everybody feel like they don't care. Then while they're sitting around being good targets, the invisable stalker will shoot them in the head.
Can you imagine how much damage an invisible sniper could do? As soon as I get that minimal teleport spell going I'll be a terror.

Oh hush you. :p

Actually though, I have thought a lot about Heightened Attack. Of all the "Heightened" things around combat it is the only one that breaks consistency. Heightened Defense gives -4 to be hit by all attacks, Heightened Expertise gives +4 to hit with a specified amount of weapons/attacks, but Heightened Attack gives +1 to damage per level. For consistency's sake what it *should* do is give a +4 to all damage, putting it in parity with the other 2 Heightened combat powers. I am not saying I am going to change it, but it does make sense to alter it. Since no one is higher than level 4 (ha-ha...) changing it wouldn't impact anyone right now. There is only one player with it (Nightmare) so if there were any changes to it I would negotiate it with him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:39, Wed 23 Apr 2014.

As a power stunt it *might* be a possibility. It could be done similarly to auto-fire in that you only get the damage bonus on the first bullet but not the second, modeling that you can't aim two weapons equally well with two eyes. You'd still need the two rolls to hit since it is two separate weapons and in this case it would be if one misses both miss like Multiple Attacks in the rules.


Yeah the dice roller has been really hateful to a lot of the party. I think there have been 4 or 5 rolls of a 20 in the two turns of combat and then Vosper with a couple 18's as well. It is almost against the laws of probability but it *is* a program as opposed to actual dice.

Going by the feedback above I will just keep the base HTH to hit roll at 6 instead of bumping it to 7. Just figured I'd throw it out there though, thanks for the input.

Just to let people know, I am back in the work week so I will get the action for Mindwrack done and write a summary post as soon as I can. So please to be patient, then Poco and Amaranth will be up (granted she is just encased in ice freezing...).

Latest update is up, Poco goes then Singularity, then Oscillator, and finally a trio of Soviets to finish off the turn.

If it's a 'power stunt', you could theoretically let either attack miss and the other still have a chance of hitting.  No reason NOT to, except that other 'multiple attacks' don't work that way.


People, before you roll your ACTUAL ROLL, type "faking dice roller" on the roll and roll once just to get rid of those cursed 20's!!!  :D

No idea if that'll work -- shouldn't, really -- but at least Vosper should be trying it!  HA

Man.....it has been a SLOW day today and precious little has been going on in any of the V&V games. I have to say the lack of discussion was driving me a bit batty today.

Actually, I was thinking of training the ability to 'grab' things with the whip. But several other ideas popped into my head so I'm still thinking about it.

I *think* you would already be able to try and grab things with the whip. Just like trying to get a hold on a target with your hands it would require a special attack (2 successful rolls to hit) to achieve.

I am not sure where Poco has been and I would prefer not to NPC him in this instance. He has been wanting to hit Usurper but is aware of Backlash's willingness to take a hit for her. Likewise he knows if he tries to hit Backlash it would have the same effect. He could I suppose try and hit Mindwrack who tried to hurt him last turn or I could hold his action to at least let Singularity and Oscillator go. I hope everything is OK with Poco's player, he usually isn't away for this long.

Does Backlash have a held action?

The whole reason Onyx attacked him was because he had used his action to attack, which meant he could not absorb a hit.

If Poco is aware of this, then that means an attack on either Usurper or Backlash would not be absorbed.

Backlash still has his held action plus his last action of the turn coming up. So he is still able to use that held action to absorb an attack and will still be able to act as well. Yes he took the chance taking the damage from your hit, but he knows what Poco can do and that Poco has been targeting Usurper so he has his focus.

Did not notice the held action at the top of the order.

Also forgot that you don't have to expend a held action before taking your next phase. I think in my mind you have to use a held action before your next phase -- even though the rules do not have that requirement.

When Backlash made the attack, I figured that meant he had no held action.

So, at one point does he have to use that held action. Onyx attacked him. If he had rolled more damage, could Backlash have decided to absorb it instead of take the hit?

Or did he have to decide to absorb before the damage was rolled?

I don't believe there is any sequence in which you need to use your held actions (will have to look when I get a chance) other than needing to use it by the end of the turn or it goes *poof*.

For your other question it is much easier to look at in a tabletop situation because you have to make a decision in the moment where in PbP unless the person states "I am attacking so and so" you don't know what is being done and therefore the absorption can appear retroactive. Technically he would need to choose to absorb your attack before the damage is rolled but as people tend to do attacks and damage in the same post that is hard to do.

Now, the Soviet team *does* have intel on your team (as you have intel on *some* of them) and from their observations of Poco's ferocity and general accuracy he is the larger threat over Onyx (Poco averages 21 damage vs. Onyx's 13 damage per hit). Therefore Backlash took the chance on letting your attack hit him (even if you had rolled higher damage).

In a nutshell, people need to trust that I am not playing fast and loose with them and the rules. I hope that people *do* trust me as the GM because if not what would be the point of playing. :p

On a related note, I edited the most recent initiative order so it is clear Backlash still has a held action.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:55, Thu 24 Apr 2014.

I have never had any issues with your GMing.  Your incessant rules tinkering makes my head spin sometimes, but that's not a complaint, just a smartass comment. :)

Consider Vosper to have hemmorhoids with the Heightened Speed modifier. ;)

Did not mean to imply lack of trust.

Just trying to understand.

Sorry if I came across otherwise.

You are correct on not needing to use held actions in order. That was my bad memory.

In reply to Onyx (msg # 46):

No need to apologize, I know it is tricky in a PbP because it would be easy to cheat things in favor of the NPCs (or PCs) whereas in a tabletop game everything moves a lot quicker with live interaction. The whole held action-absorb damage thing can be easy to abuse so I understand a little curiousity around the process.