Geez3r

I got the 4e books, and personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with the system per se, but it just doesn't feel right. I have yet to play, so I can't say for sure, but it really doesn't feel D&D-esque. Then again the past few years of my D&D career have been really, really off the cuff, and 4e just feels too pigeoned holed. Like the last session we had in our 3.5 game, we entered the Temple of Doom to kill an evil god. Our druid weilded the Rapier of Fantastic, which was an artifact given to us by the god of being incredibly good looking and overly dramatic, whose power was to make you better at things that were impossible, but worse at things that were possible, so the fact that he was not proficient with it in fact made him better at using it. And because we were entering the Temple of Doom, the Rapier of Fantasic became a whip, the druid got a permanent 5 o'clock shadow, and his animal compainion became a small asian boy. We were accompanied by Biggs and Wedge, the most famous and faaaantastic adventuring duo in the world, but only because they were so good at convincing the public they had done everything, and to top it all off, they were based off Team Rocket. We also got a club that did 4d8 damage, at 15ft reach, and would ignore all DR if you made a tree based pun when you attacked. So the fact that 4e emphasizes balance while sending versatility to the chopping block is a bit of a turn off. The whole point of our games is just shenanigans, not balance. Then again, we'll probably make a farce of the whole thing in all of about 5 minutes anways, and make up anything we need. Like the second to last boss in the aforementioned Temple was a giant ostrich thing with a shovel with the ability to manipulate time and space that only had a Charisma score. We broke most of the rules with that one, so no real big deal I guess. I just realized that I should have stopped talking at the end of the first paragraph.

Alright, this is going to be a little long so bear with me. The Vignettes got me thinking and I want to point Malice in a slightly different direction, and when I first joined the forums, I was still very new to the system, so I would like to stream-line a few things, and I wanted to wait until I wasn't involved in an ongoing game to do so. First, the fluffy things: Can you change the current picture with this one: http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/888/brassbycarlobarberixq2.th.jpg[ /img][ /url] ? Under which can you place this phrase (excluding quotes): “(Brass by Carlos Barberi)â€Â. Got to give credit where credit is due. If you’re going to start a revolution then you need to look memorable. Secondly, can you re-title the “Arms of Malice†as the “Mantle of Freedom†? =========================================== Next we move onto spending the new PP. I’ll use both of them on skills, raising Diplomacy and Knowledge: Technology by 4 ranks each. Making Diplomacy be 4 (+6) and Tech be 7 (+12). You can’t lead a revolution if you can’t get people to like you and you can win one if your opponent has better weapons. =========================================== Then we move onto the stat-fu portion of the program. What I’m going to be doing here is changing the properties of the Mantle of Freedom, but keep it to the same total cost, assuming I can do such a thing. If I can’t, then kindly ignore as much of the following as you deem necessary. The end result of moving these points around is as follows: If you want to see how I got from point A to B, you’ve unfortunately got a bit of reading to do. Firstly, get rid of Regeneration entirely. When I first made the character, I thought I knew how regeneration worked, but I later discovered that I didn’t (thanks to UP). Also, I can’t really justify why a weapons engineer would know that much about medicine. So that frees up 8 points. Next, remove the Area Extra on Communication, and then change it to rank 4. I now have a net total of 10 free points. Then I’ll spend 6 points to give the suit some toys in the form of Super Senses 6 (Darkvision, Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Time Sense, Ultra Hearing) leaving me with 4 more points lying around. Also, I’ll increase my Protection to rank 9, but decrease my Impervious to 8. This is representing more of a focus on taking very powerful shots at the expense of disregarding vulnerabilities to weaker attacks, because metas are Malice’s primary focus, and they hit HARD. I’ve got 3 points left. Next, lower my Flight rank to 5 because while having the weapons on the outside looks really cool, it’s not exactly aerodynamic. 5 points left. Speaking of the Weapons, the array is next, and last. It should now read: Enhanced Strength 28, Super-Strength 4 – Righteous Riot {36} AP: Blast 11, PF: Indirect x3, Extras: Targeted Area-Burst, Selective, Flaws: Distracting – Liberation Cannon {1} AP: Concealment 10, Enhanced Skills 6 (Stealth 12 ranks, Disable Device 4 ranks, Notice 8 ranks), Subtle Power Feat for Flight – Stealth Mode{1} AP: Blast 12, Extras: Auto-fire – The 2nd Amendment{1} Weapon Descriptions: Liberation Cannon – Malice releases a barrage of mini sidewinder missiles that fly through the air with insane maneuverability and can devastate targets from nearly any angle. The downside is that the suit doesn’t quite have enough RAM to run all of these targeting systems simultaneously and there is a bit of lag time in the HUD meaning attacks can get much closer before Malice even knows they’re on their way. 2nd Amendment - What do you get when you cross a gattling gun with a rail gun? Malice’s pride and joy. Seriously, he loves this thing. 1500 , 30mm rounds a minute, yes please. Mounted on his right arm, this thing will scare anyone with the slightest bit of common sense. He’s got a second one hidden in his left arm and he can use two at the same time, but doing so is a huge draw on the power reserves so he uses that as a last ditch effort (ie. Extra Effort). Stealth Mode – Living proof that sometimes the greatest victory is the battle not fought. Using highly advanced (and personalized) cloaking and stealth technology originally designed for jets and missiles, Malice can render himself nigh undetectable. He also uses the spare power to significantly amp up his senses and fine tune some of his breaking and entering tools. This mode vastly increases Malice's skills in the fields of Black Ops and Reconnaissance. Updated by V_M

Malice groaned weakly in the hole he was lying in which had just so recently been made with his face. He sits up every so gingerly and sees Wonder being hurled through the air. "Oh thank God." says a very thankful Malice as he slumbs back against the ground. Every idiot light that his suit was blazing; had Wonder hit him about 4 inches to the left, then the charge gathered for the Malice Cannon would have rebounded into his system, shorting out literally everything in the best case scenario. "That was way too close." Malice grunts as he gets gingerly to his feet. He staggers awkwardly for a moment before the sirens snap him back into reality and it becomes very much a good idea to not be anywhere near here. He blasts off into the air without a second glance back, hoping to make it back to his bunker before company arrives. ========================= Back home, Eric Micheals looks over a newspaper clipping about Captain Wonder and another about Fred Fawcett, while nursing his shoulder with a bag frozen peas. He looked across the table where he had various clippings about most of the supers in Freedom City. One would think Eric would be happy about finding the identity of one of these supers but he wasn't. He was tired. He had finally realized the situation he was in. The number of potential targets he had, just doubled.

Down in the Riverside, people are having cookouts in their backyards, swapping stories with their neighbors and generally just celebrating the holiday. Being the relative new guy on the block, Eric was at one of the cookouts, using it as a meet and greet… that and he was a horrible cook. The discussion eventually led to what everyone does for a living. Charlie was a construction worker, Amy was a DJ, Dan had a desk job at an insurance firm and so on. Just about everyone had a normal every day job, except for Eric. He had the pleasure of saying “I’m one of the lead developers for Darts Inc.†Someone knew that it was a weapons company and the conversation got a little more strained. It seemed that people didn’t mind the destructive power the Freedom League got handed, but if someone worked at getting the ability to make something blow up, suddenly they were the dangerous ones. It’s not they had more practice and knowledge or anything. Eric excused himself from the festivities and returned home not too much longer. He walked down into his basement, and got in to the secret elevator, whistling “Let Freedom Ring†as he rode it down. When the door opens, the lights kick on and Eric’s eyes come to rest on his own personal, multi-million dollar death machine. “Heh. If they only knew.†Seeing the suit reminded Eric, yet again of why he did what he did. Not a day went by without some Technicolor wonder being lauded over as if they were a national treasure. These heroes were thought of as the nation’s, even the world’s, defenders. Eric knew the real truth however, these so called heroes were the true tyrant rulers of this world. Every time the heroes “saved the world†Eric knew all they were really doing is protecting their own property, which is what any man would do. These heroes had taken over the world by sheer laziness on the part of the rest of mankind. A select few were randomly bestowed great powers and vaulted themselves to near god status, while the rest of mankind just sat back and let it happen. Eric refused to let that stand. He had been making these weapons for all these years to give the masses a way to rattle their cages and to take back their freedom, but this was in vain. The laziness was all consuming, and they did not even gather the energy to truly think about what this world was coming too. So, if the people were too lazy to act themselves, then a champion needed to arise and lead them to victory. Eric would be that champion. He became a crusader for freedom, fighting a war that the rest of the world wasn’t even aware of. To them, Malice was just another megalomaniac abusing his power for personal gain instead of a higher calling. That irony hurt Eric more than any of the broken bones, more than the shrapnel he pulled out of his body, and more than the humiliation of any of his defeats, but he would endure. He needed to endure, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of freedom. Eric looked at the suit for a moment as if he was truly seeing it for the first time. “It’s missing something.†A half hour later, Eric stood back and admired his handiwork. The Arms of Malice was a bad name as it turns out. True, Eric did hate the supers, but he hated them for a reason. He hated them for robbing mankind of its drive and its freedom. That is why the Arms of Malice is now called the Mantle of Freedom, and Eric will wear its red, white, and blue proudly as he starts the new Revolution.

I thought we were doing the actions simultaneously, and resolving them at the same time. And my attack is a full round action, and yours is a full round action, then they should go off at the same time, right? But as for the Concentration check, I... don't know. Let me check. Might need a ref's ruling.

Yeah, that's a Disintegration 10 with a Power Attack 5, villains are nasty like that. And I'm spending my freebie VP to get rid of stunned.

As Wonder gains speed, Malice prepares an attack of his own. The 5 fins on his helmet detatch and hover in front of him, forming a star. Five panels on Malice's chest open up and a violent amount of electritvy comes puring out into the end of each of the points of the star. A small space in the center of the star appears as the fins seperate slightly. In this gap, writhing ball of energy slowly grows. In the suit Eric mutters "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on." as the guage on screen slowly builds and Wonder comes plummeting towards him. The gauge turns green as the power caps out and the star, along with the energy ball slam into a recess in Malice's torso. As Malice locks onto the blue eyes mere feet away he shouts "FIRE!". Malice takes Wonder's attack quare in the chest. The pair go hurtling through the streets as Malice unloads his most powerful attack, trying to keep his wits about him as Wonder tries to crush his lungs.

I was actually going to suggest a hero point for each, but you beat me to it The best of luck. Heroes first.

If we're going to end this, might as well do out with a bang. The challenge I'm talking about is 2 simultaneous attacks, both resolved at the exact same time. That is of course if Wonder accepts and I didn't trigger the readied action.

If Wonder were to strain his ears right now, he could hear the very satisfying sound of a jaw hitting the inside of a certain helmet. Malice looks repeatedly between the building he had been thrown through, the man who threw him through it and the people approaching the scene of the fight. Utterly flabbergasted, Malice shakes his head and is unable to come up with anything better than "Oh you suck." He puts his hands on his hips and looks down at the scene, assessing the mess he's gotten himself into. With a bit of what can only be described as aerial pacing, Malice starts muttering to himself, using one of his arms to gesture every now and then, and some times stopping all together just to let out a long sigh. Okay, okay, okay. What the hell do I do now? I'm screwed. Shut up. Ummmm... He's giving me a chance, should I take it? He's got the upper hand. He doesn't even have to win, he's just got to stall me. But me? I've got to kick the crap out of one of the most iconic heroes of all time, deal with like half of the FCPD, and then try and outrun the Freedom League. That's what we call a snowball's chance. But I can't just run can I? I know I'm in better shape than him; I've got to be, but he's not exactly hurting either. Do I really want to give him the win? But won't it be a win for me if I get away. But there's no guarentee that he won't follow me. Wait, I think I got it. "Okay Wonder. One attack. We'll let one last attack decide it. You hit me with everything you got, and I blast you with everything I got. The winner is whoever can stand afterwards. If we both win, we both go on our merry way, no more fighting tonight. If I lose, I'm waking up in orbit. If you lose, well, why ruin the surprise? Both lose? A race back to consciousness. So Wonder, do you think you can take the best I've got? Do you think you can put me down with one shot?"

Sitting up, Malice tries to gather his wits. He could feel the Arms of Malice repairing some of the damage done to his ribs from that last attack, it was still a very weird sensation, and would most definately leave him feeling sore in the morning. That particular system was a great pain to design and the earlier models, well they were counter productive to say the least. Still, Malice knew he couldn't keep taking hits like that, he couldn't fix broken bones too easily. Then with a start Malice realized that Wonder hadn't capitalized on his injured state. Jerking his head upward, he was the supposed hero hovering in the air, just waiting for him. Why the heck is he just waiting up there? Is something else going on? Nah he's focused too much on me. Then what's stopping him? As answer to his question, the building groans and strains. Looking around, Malice notices the great number of sharp, heavy and pointy (that's the important part) things all around him, threatening to come down. Ask a stupid question. Alright, let's see if we can end this. Malice gets to his feet and blasts up through the holes in the building which were shaped a little too much like him for his own liking. He stops his ascent at a height equal to Wonder's, but about 30ft away from Wonder. "What's the matter? A few decades on the job and you just now realized collateral damage is bad?"

Failed by 9 so I'm stunned and I'm staying as such for the round.

Malice is so taken aback by Wonder's change of tactics that he doesn't even dodge the truck, and winds up taking the blow full on. The force of the blow and the additional weight puts Malice through yet another floor as the steel from the truck wraps around Malice's power armor. Malice winds up flat on his back with a nose of a truck on his chest. The truck falls over to one side like a giant domino. For a moment, everything's quiet, then the car alarm starts blaring. With a very agitated groan, Malice peels his arms out of the ground, and starts massaging his pounding head. Observing the damage around him, Malice thinks Either Fawcett's furious, or that's not Fawcett.... and why the heck did I bother sneaking in?

Technically throwing is a move action, so ordinarily grappling someone and then throwing them is a full round action, but we'll let it slide this time via the rule of cool. And I wished I had saved that 20 :'( Also, isn't your grapple modifier +26 I'm counting +10 Str, +10 Atk bonus, +6 Super-Strength? You win either way, but I'm a little confused where you got 33 from. Just a standard unarmed attack DC 25.

Malice can tell Wonder felt that last one but then again, Malice would probably turn tail and run if it hadn't. Malice is glad Wonder decided to hit him in the stomach instead of the head again; his armor was thicker there than around his helmet. The smirk that appeared on his face as he was able to take Wonder's last blow was quickly replaced by wide-eyed shock as Wonder latches onto his arms. Malice fights with everything he has but with his power divereted to his weapons systems, he is simply no match for that level of strength and is sent hurtling towards the ground at break neck speeds. Malice crashes through the skylight, sending glass cascading down to the floor below it, before Malice crashes through it. He keeps hurtleling and crashes through a second floor, before coming to a stop at the third floor surrounded by remanants of the previous 2 floors. For a moment everything is still, before a voice says "Beat-stick mode" from underneath the rubble. The rubble is sent flying every which way as Malice gets to his feet and more than one piece of office furniture goes flying through the windows and down to the empty streets below. As Malice stands in the pale moonlight streaming through the 3 holes his body just made, he looks long and hard at Wonder, who happens to look very much like a very bright star at this distance. Marveling at the fact that he is unhurt from such a fall, as a dramatic gesture, he takes a moment to dust himself off, albeit with limited actual success. He eases himself into a fighting stance and gets ready for round two. Okay, my blasters are barely able to hurt this guy. Gotta change my strategy a little. I might even have to break out the Malice Cannon, but I got to wait for an opening, the Cannon leaves me a little too wide open.

Oh by all means, go nuts. That's a yes by the way.

You linked to your sense motive twice, but after a bit of fanagling, I found the attack roll result: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1629571/ Not that it really matters as you spent a hero point. So a DC 35 Toughness save back at you, i've only got 1 level of autofire.

If the situation wasn't so incredibly hazardous to his health, Malice would be laughing with mad glee at rattling a hero as infamous as Captain Wonder. As it stands however, there's a very real possibility of having one's head taken off by a monstrous assualt. But Malice is able to cushion the blow by spinning like a top in the air, rolling with the blow. Malice uses his own spin to put his blasters practically down Wonder's mouth before unleasing a full power blast a point blank range. No wity banter this time around, if Wonder's getting serious, so is Malice.

A cannon is a bit of an understatement as Malice reels from the blow. But, with some quick thinking Malice activates his flight boots and lessens the impact of the blow a little though there is a second impressive dent in Malice's armor now. Malice tries to bait Wonder into thinking he's very injured by playing dead for a moment. After waiting for his ruse to either take effect or to be discovered, Malice springs up and unloads with his blasters that appear out of his arms. As he fires he shouts "How dare you stand in my way! I have abandoned too much to be stopped by the likes of you! You will pay for crossing me FAWCETT!"

Gonna burn my villain point to reroll that toughness save.

As Captain Wonder nears Malice, his body becomes visibly slack as every fiber of his being is consumed with shock and realization. That's probably the reason why Malice took no evasive action as Wonder's fist crushes Malice's face in. A dull thrumming sound is heard as the suit diffuses some of the impact, unfortunately for the man inside, there was a lot of impact. Malice wobbles precariously in the air, his attention more focused on keeping his teeth in his mouth than his suit in the air. ...Fawcett? Can it... nah... but... the eyes.... A very confused Malice tilts his head at Wonder in a manner to suggest saying "What the heck just happened?" but something must have gotten lost in translation because the message Wonder gets is "Hit me again."

I'll stay stunned for this round. I'm assuming that was your standard unarmed attack so the DC was 25, so I failed by 9 meaning stunned and bruised, but I have regen so I heal the bruise.

:shock: Weird, I'm listening to Elanor Rigby remixed by Pain. Before that, Master of Puppets by Metallica and before that Pork and Beans by Weezer. Yeah, my tastes in music are a little screwy.

Notice check (1d20+4=22) and just in case Initiative (1d20=15) I'm having trouble with Invisible castle, for some reason the name isn't showing up, even though I put it in, and I can't get the search function to work either. Just a heads up.

Okay, that looks like 11th down there... and because that's 16th, that must mean that that way's North. So if I go on 11th... then I'll be on 85th, I think. ... Why did I want to be on 85th again? Grrr... I miss my GPS... *Sigh* "... That can't be good." Malice slowly turns on the spot and sees the rapidly approaching golden oldie that he had seen so many times when researching Scarab, Captain Wonder himself. Old Codger must've had some League buddies on speed dial. Alright, got to be careful about this. He may be only just be out of retirement, but he's been doing this for decades. Let's see if I can get him to let his guard down... "Yeah, what do you want?" Malice responds, hands at his sides, while the HUD inside his helment is making preparations for battle as discretely as possible.