Lord Fell

It also occurred to me that Wealth could be a descriptor of other feats. Why are you (famous, connected, have so many contacts, have so much equipment)? I'm loaded like Keifer Sutherland on Headbutt Night. I got green like a produce farmer. I don't keep my cold hard cash in the freezer, I have to rent a warehouse in the arctic. Alternatively, just treat it like the Connected feat, only the Feat is strictly for getting equipment. Wealthy, Rich, and Just Silly would reflect the characters lifestyle. Each level would also work like a Hero Point to acquire or gain access to a piece of equipment or goods on the fly, limited to the Thread. Eg. The Supervillain is getting away because he nullified your Flight. You march into the Harley Dealership, with your Platinum Card at the ready. ...as for my character, I just built him to concept while under caps. He's supposed to be superhumanly hot, and Attractive 1 isn't sufficient for that concept.

Come now, my good man... it was a Uwe Bol movie!!! There's a lot of interesting names associated with that movie though. Jason Statham was already a big enough star that he didn't have to get involved in this turkey, I usually enjoy Matthew Lillard's work, and of course we had The Burt.

That causes me a problem, Doc. Pompadour is currently at Diplomacy (4/+12 Attractive) and I intend for him to purchase wealth ASAP, to represent the lifestyle I envision him having. How does that work logistically? "Nope, you're too good looking, you're not allowed to have any money." I bet no one every said that to Scarlet Johannsen. To be honest, I'd like to improve his Bluff and Diplomacy so that they're more useful to those folks who aren't swayed by his Attractive, but I can't because he's capped. Perhaps situational bonuses should only count for half-caps? In my example, I'd consider my current rank as +8 instead of +12.

Attractive gives a +4 per rank roughly half the time (to anyone who would find you attractive). Wealth, as something that would aid interaction would work "most" of the time (there might be folks who resent your wealth, but I'm sure they'd be happier if you shared some of it with them), so that ought to drop it to a +2 per rank. In addition, Wealth has the more nebulous bonus of being a "I have nice stuff" descriptor, but since it's nebulous, let's not worry about it. Attractive gives a +4 to Diplomacy and Bluff... Wealth gives a +2 to Gather Information and Diplomacy (which is about equivalent with the +4, effective half the time). If we wanted to say that Wealth can also add to Intimidate (if someone can be leveraged economically) or Bluff (if someone will take a bribe), we should probably drop it down to a +1 per Rank (but remember the "nice stuff" descriptor). Diplomacy and Gather Information already add to Contacts and Connected feat, yes?

An afternoon among the Circling Sharks Pompadour crossed the lobby of the Mercury Building in the commercial maze that is Wading Way. He'd spoken with his agent numerous times in the past six months, but never set foot in the building. He checked with the security desk for directions, then waited for the elevator. The building was stately, but antiquated... the elevator seemed to take forever. Up on the 7th floor, he had little difficulty finding the offices of Mandy Karlson Consulting, where his Agent dwelled. The receptionist was twirling her hair around an unsharpened pencil when he arrived. She invited him to sign in, with a thorough disinterest... but within a few minutes, she was leaning over the desk to touch his hand, with extra buttons popped to show cleavage, and laughing like a jackass at his mildest jibes. She looked thoroughly offended when Mandy came out of her office to collect her client. At least I know my super-stud powers are still working. Mandy Karlson was a pleasant looking woman in her late 30s. Pompadour was more than a little surprised, having only talked to her over the phone before now. When a dog goes down on its back, the fight is over, when a man goes down on his back, the fight's just getting started she had told him. The ruthlessness didn't seem to fit with her mint-coloured blouse and pencil-skirt. There were two men waiting for them in her office, a petite Asian man in a dark blue suit with rich plum-coloured pin-stripes, and a silver-haired man in a Glencheck sports jacket. "Brett, I'd like to introduce you to Gerald 'Hard' Case," she indicated the Asian man, "and Randolph Craig." He shook each man's hand in turn. "Alright, you're probably not ready for a lot of detail yet. Fresh out of the system, you probably need some time to think and get yourself sorted out. I'm just going to bring you up to speed with what I was able to arrange while you were a Ward of the State." Mandy lifted a stack of manila folders off her desk. "First... name change. Goodbye Craig Spurgess, Hello Brett Mason. Nice and legal, now. Here's your Driver's License, Social Security, Credit Cards, yada yada with your new legal name." She passed him a small case, closed the folder and then gestured to Gerald. "Mr. Case can take it from here..." Pompadour regarded the man, as he sorted his new identity into his bill-fold. The little man favoured him with a toothy smile. "Ah, yes. Ms. Karlson tells us that you're probably eager to get out and enjoy your freedom as quickly as possible. So, I'll cut through the legalese and lay it down straight for you. You signed a Liability Waiver for the Mega Makeover people, but that doesn't protect them against reckless endangerment. The primary parties associated with the show disappeared like cockroaches when the kitchen light comes on. We still managed to seize some assets though. However, there were a lot of big, legitimate companies involved in that tragic mess, and they're very sorry about how everything turned out." Gerald opened another folder, and showed Pompadour a list of companies and figures... big figures. "Did I mention that they were very sorry?" The man's smirk was oily and feral. "All you need to do is agree that they were unaware that the products they supplied Mega Makeover were going to be used on you, not mention their names in the press, and agree not to pursue further legal action." Out of the corner of his eyes, Pompadour could see his agent and the other man, the silver wolf, nodding eagerly. He shrugged. Gerald turned to the older man, "Randolph, would you like to take over?" The older man adjusted his jacket before speaking. "Mr. Mason, I'm an investment banker with Southern Glory. Ms. Karlson approached me to put together a portfolio for you based on projected settlement numbers. There are... a lot of factors here. Annuities, Amortization, Accrued Interest..." vague hand gestures "businessy crap, really. The bottom line is, you will have a respectable income for the remainder of your days, provided you don't live past 127. At Ms. Karlson's instruction, I also set aside a fair chunk of capital to finance your growth as a Celebrity Brand. At the moment... you have no money. Papers need to be signed, notorized and thoroughly scrutinized. A formality, but it will take a few months to put money in your hands. In the meantime, I have arranged a large line of credit with Southern Glory. Also, to facilitate your immediate enjoyment of your new freedom, I've arranged for you to stay in a luxury Mid-town condo." The man pulled a small envelope out of his jacket and slid it across the table to Pompadour. There was an address with a small map, and two sets of keys; one of which was for a car. Pompadour arced an eyebrow at the man. "The car is a gift from my bank. You'll find it in the parkade, stall 201. Honestly, your account is very lucrative, and it's the least we could do." Slightly numb, Pompadour shot a questioning look over at his agent, who nodded subtly. He shrugged again slightly, and began signing an army of papers that the two men began marching in front of him.

A morning with the Tank... "Tank!" "Pomp!" The hug that followed was exceptionally manly, with plenty of back-slapping. "So, are we going back to work on that sleeve?" "You betcha." Pompadour hung his jacket up, and settled into the tattoo artist's chair. The bulky, bespectacled artist donned a pair of gloves and swabbed Pompadour's arm with an alcohol cloth. "So, you're free and clear now, right?" "You betcha. Last day was today. That was a colossal waste of time anyways." Trevor 'Tank' Hancock said nothing, but his eyes regarded the former supervillain over his glasses thoughtfully. Pompadour's lips quirked. "Don't give me that look... no, it's like this. Before the Raven caught me, I was completely raving. That stuff she injected me with cured me, and if it hadn't I'd still be doing what I was doing. None of the counseling sessions, or self esteem workshops, or sharing circles would have done me a damn bit of good if I were still crazed." Pompadour glanced over at his friend. "The truth is, the only worthwhile therapy I got over the last six months happened in this chair." Tank didn't respond, his attention on working some bright orange ink into the flames surrounding an eyeball. "Seriously, man. I've shared more real feelings, and gotten more insights about how I should see the world talking to you than I did at McNider. I mean... when I was using my hair to open doors, or write in my Journal, it made them all nervous and they told me they were worried my therapy wasn't going well. You helped me figure out that it was them and not me. Just as soon as I stopped using my hair to do stuff, that made them all happy and they told me I was doing better." Tank paused, and shifted his thick glasses back up his nose. "S'projection, Man. Psych 101. Doctors, Psych Nurses... they're still human. O'course they afraid." Pompadour nodded. "Anyways... I know we're almost done that sleeve, and I'm not sure if I'm going to get more work or not yet... but I think it's important that I stay in touch." "Howzat, man?" Tank paused, his buzzing needle suspended in air. "Sometimes I remember stuff. I have dreams. All of that... stuff at McNider was bogus, y'know? But... I think it's important that someone who knows me can keep tabs. If you think that... I might not be myself, I want you to call someone." Pompadour looked searchingly at his friend. "Can you do that for me?" Tank met his eyes, measure for measure. "Bro, I got you covered."

Pompadour would like very much to get in on one of these... which is to say, he'd like to know if he's bullet-proof BEFORE he mouths off to the thug pointing a gun at him.

The Graduate Pompadour found it easier to pretend to be paying attention if he imagined the man's head exploding. One moment, droning away like a moronic bumblebee, the next... Splortch! 'Mah brainz asplode!' When the droning came to an end, Pompadour clapped enthusiastically with the rest of his class, and joined the procession to receive his "mental health" diploma. Man, I am so ready to blow this popsicle stand and get on with my life. Pompadour milled around a bit, after the ceremony was over. He felt some definite mixed feelings. His group-therapy classes were artificial. People with anger or anxiety issues, socialization problems... to them, he was just one of the bunch. They accepted him, because he was one of them. He had not really interacted with anyone outside his class since the Raven stopped him. But, he wasn't really one of them. The changes that turned him into The Sinister Pompadour turned him into a maniac, but the serum that the Raven injected him with turned off the crazy like flipping a switch. He just had to get through the court ordered therapy. Pompadour considered his fellow classmates... they all seemed happy, but did they really change over the last six months? Did he? This was just delaying the inevitable. It was time to get out of here, and get back to the real world. He disengaged himself from one of his well-wishing former classmates, and headed for the door. Outside the McNider Memorial Hospital, Pompadour stepped into a phone booth -his diploma already sinking to the depths of the first waste basket he passed. His first call was to his agent, confirming his appointment later that afternoon, his second call was to his friend "Tank" confirming his appointment later that morning. He stepped out of the phonebooth, and looked up at the bright morning sky. He considered swinging through the streets on tendrils of his hair... but frowned and discarded that idea. Hailing a taxi, he headed cross town.

Big G in da hizzouse!

I can't believe I forgot to add this to my list... The Admin of this board are volunteers. They aren't paid to work here, and they are here to have fun like everyone else. ...To some degree, this means that you will see bias, or at the very least preference. Once I submit Pompadour, I got the character approved in less than a week. I make no apology for that, either. Here's my thinking.... My first submissions have been unsuitable as characters, so I've been waiting to get an approved character for almost two months. I also visit Chat often, so I have the social connection with the people here. I was able to get my first approval by chatting through the character sheet with Sandman in about ten minutes. Then, I unabashedly asked Ecal if he could do the 2nd one, "hey man, can you do me a favour?" "What do you need?" tada! I had noticed you were online A LOT. You never come visit the chat. I also read A LOT of Hellbound posts, because there is both Quantity and Quality. Having said that... there are days when you make new solo posts every hour (or less). You cannot expect any Player or Admin to match that kind of volume... and the cold hard truth is, once you go from Player to Admin, and see behind the velvet curtain, and get saddled with a stack of responsibilities... you suddenly feel less creative. Hanging out in Chat, or doing some of the "silly useless crap" that goes on at Freedom City pbp is sort of the equivalent of having a beer after some jackass drops a Metamorph with four distinct forms on your lap and asks you to audit it (that would be me, FYI).

When people sit down to game with each other, there should always be some sort of 'social contract' that players adhere to. To facilitate the fun, and to help avoid disputes. The last of these rules is that when you're no longer having fun, you have to pack up your toys and go home. Having a certain understanding of the rest of the rules should help you avoid ever getting to this point. Here are some of the other rules (or guidelines if you prefer) to help players enjoy their time here, or in any other gaming environment... 1. This is a game. If you're not having fun, then you need to step back, do something else, then come back when you have a fresh perspective. 2. This is a game. I recently lamented to a friend that gaming was so much easier 25 years ago, when all my fellow players lived spitting distance from each other, and didn't have anything more important than homework to occupy our time. But a lot of us here are adults, and that means we have "Real World Obligations." I know that Eyeonthemountain was disappointed that one of his (few) threads died; his fellow player has been busy, and his GM went AWOL. This happens, because Real World > Game World. When this happens, you can either wait until your fellow players are free to play again, and/or request a new GM help you resolve the thread. 3. You get back from playing here what you put in. Unlike a sit-down RPG, with one GM that spoon-feeds you plots, most of what happens here is player driven. Don't wait for things to happen, take some initiative and make things happen. 4. Roleplaying should be a social hobby. Take advantage of the Chat function. Meet some people 'in real time.' Use it to plan future adventures. 5. When you are getting frustrated with someone you need to relax, and and try to see things from the other side. I was more than a little distraught at how quickly that Mutant Mafia thread went from collaborative to confrontational. There's just no reason this should happen.

M'Lord Judge, Doctor Archeville, if I may? Lord Barrister Fell for the Defendant. *harumph* Yes, I know this is highly unusual, but I've chatted about this case with yon Maze and feel compelled to take it, pro bono. If I may... First, I would like to contrast the character Jen'la to the proposed metamorph Miz. Jen'la is a noble savage, with limited understanding of this world. In this case, her being a savage has to do with her warrior background, and being essentially a primitive. Her character arc will be learning about the world, losing her primitive status, and redefining herself as a warrior or better, a hero in this world. On the other hand, Miz is ignoble, with a thorough and cynical understanding of the world. She is not strictly speaking a savage, in a berserker sense. It would be more accurate to say that Miz is the Id to Prodigy's Ego. Miz will do the things that Prodigy unconsciously wants to do... she might stomp a teacher's car flat, because that teacher criticized Prodigy. She might eat an entire roast pig, because all Prodigy eats are Tasteless Complete Meals. Miz might date the entire football team, because Prodigy is too caught up in being a super genius to notice boys, even if she has hormonal responses to their pheremones. Secondly, Miz becomes a foil to Prodigy. At first this development to the character will be a mystery. Strange dreams of doing things entirely unlike her will start to plague Prodigy, as Miz starts to plague Claremont. Sooner or later, Prodigy will be forced to confront herself. Why does my alter-ego get up in the middle of the night, to go out and party, pick fights, get drunk, eat greasy foods and kiss greasier boys??? Answer... because that's what Prodigy wants to do. O rly? Ya rly. No wai. Ya wai! ... Noooooooooooooo!!!!! It's also worth noting that the 'Miz Development' is part of a thread planned out ahead by Sandman and Maze for their characters Quark and Prodigy. Personally, I see Miz's genesis working as a catalyst between a budding romance between those two -Quark and Prodigy being a natural fit, as partners, each is one of the few potential mates smart enough to engage the other. It would also be disappointing for a planned thread to be canceled, because Miz isn't approved. I have a vision of Quark waking up in a panic, with Miz pinning him to his bed. "You're a cute little baker," the giantess purred "and I'd like my muffin buttered." "Kitchen. Main Floor. Please don't hurt me." Squeaked Quark. Finally Sir, I appeal to your sense of fun. Maze thought that this would be a fun development for Prodigy... and that is a compelling reason to allow it. Miz definitely needs a new thread for approval, so Maze will need to start one. Alternatively, as a character that only appears at nights, and only occasionally, allow the planned thread in which Miz appears to terrorize Claremont, but soft-stat the character much as a non-recurring NPC. Miz may or may not appear to complicate Prodigy(and Quark)'s life often enough to merit stats.

Yeah... forcefields confuse the heck out of me. I had tentatively come to the conclusion that adding Selective to a forcefield meant that you had the option of letting certain effects through and not others. It looked to me like if you wanted to use your forcefield to affect someone else, you needed to add Ranged to it. But, if you project your forcefield at range, do you lose it yourself? Or, perhaps more effectively add an Area to it, and make it Selective so you can pick and choose who it protects (including yourself, I would think). Of course, there's also the problem of what one players forcefield does to another players toughness cap. Someone over at ATT suggested that Create Objects is a good way to design forcefield effects... Check out The Invisible Woman and another well respected user's Jean Grey build for more ideas.

My first character build here was The Rattler (NPC PL6). Initially, I had used Equipment to buy a very basic car and a cell phone. Sandman did the initial review of the character, and told me I didn't really need to spend points on 'the basics.'

Heritage pointed out to me the Prehensile Hair power from Ultimate Powers (p184). This seems to be an array that adds levels of elongation or additional limbs to a characters hair, at 1pp per level. Clearly, it's intended that the additional limbs and elongation are limited to hair, but it's also clear that the array is not providing any points break for the Limitation. Which brings us back to... while it seems book legal to take the Limitation, how limiting is it really? In any case, I shuffled some points and bought it without flaws. Only being able to stretch my hair is now just a descriptor.

I was told that everyone has certain basics -shelter, transportation, food, and someway to phone people. At its most basic level, Wealth is probably a descriptor of those things. At reduced wealth, it means a flop-house (or a garbage bag draped over a park bench if things get really tight), a bus pass or a bicycle, a stash of granola bars in a back-pack, and a disposable cell-phone that's two generations old or a favourite payphone. Basic wealth means you have a decent apartment, a car that's not too old or unreliable, you bring home groceries every week and you have a land-line and/or cellphone. Apply variations to taste; nice place - crappier car, etc. At wealth five, your descriptors should be opulent. Your homes are a two-story penthouse and a mansion in the posh end of town.You probably have access to as many as 4 vehicles, but frequently opt for a limo service. Your chef (or his assistants) by food and prepare meals. Your secretary or answering service screens your calls, and you only talk to people you want or need to. Mechanics wise, there isn't really any difference in the above examples. I wonder if wealth could be treated like Hero Points, but only in regards to having access to things? "I need an armoured car for this thread." Wealth 5? No problem. Wealth 0, No wai.

The one thing that pops into my head, is the more layers of organization you have, the more people are required to be in the organization. So... if you have a Big Boss, a stack of Under Bosses, and each Under Boss has some Cappos, and Each Cappo has a bunch of Lieutenants, and Each Lieutenant has a few Right Hands... well, Freedom City is metahuman heavy, but that's still a lot of mutants. I suggest trim it down to one Boss (or Don), a Cappo for each Neighbourhood, and each Cappo will have a few lieutenants based on the size of their neighbourhood. Some neighbourhoods might be merged under the same Cappo. You might want to elevate Tony B. to be the Cappo of his neighbourhood. Being PL9 makes him a fairly powerful superhuman, even if weaker than the typical player. ...I'm just offering suggestions, so take what you like and disregard the rest.

I thought that The Don was the head of the family..? Cappos (captains) would run territories?

Ah... I was sure I read something like this... and here it is... The capitalization on Limited is straight from the book, which suggests to me it's referring to the actual Flaw. Further reading in Additional Limbs also suggests other Alternate Powers which can be Limited to the additional Limb.

I guess I can accept that. To be honest, I was more concerned or curious with limiting Speed to a Super Movement.

Well, he could do that... but he couldn't "stretch out" of grapples, in any case.

re: Elongation, The Grapple bonus specifically. I'd gain no bonus because I can't just stretch myself out of a hold, or wrap around someone like a rubber band. Also, a thoroughly stretchy person could use their head (or just their eyeball!) to sneak a peek around a corner or as a periscope. There's also the general (but much more nebulous in terms of point value) benefit of being able to use hands or feet in a stretchy way.

Specific to a current build I'm working on... I have a character with groovy super hair powers. He has a 4pp array of tricks he can do with his hair, and I wanted to write up an AP thusly... AP: Speed 4 (Flaw: Limited to Swinging) [2] + Super Movement: Swinging [2] To my thinking, this is legitimate because in any instance that I can't Swing (Lake, Open Field, or Indoors) I'm limited to normal speed. If the Speed were not limited to the Swinging, I'd just revert to ground speed, which is still 100mph. A similar question about elongation for the same build. The character isn't stretchy, but his hair is. Can I buy elongation limited to his hair? Again, I think this is a legitimate limitation, in that he will lose a lot of the inherent bonuses of Elongation if only part of him is stretchy.

I spotted a character that has mental quickness limited to specific skills. Quickness can be -1 Flawed to either Mental or Physical, limiting that again to a specific skill is worth a -2 Flaw. Of course, if you have two or more skills that you want Quickened, it's cheaper to just buy (limited to mental), so the only reason to do that is concept modeling. When it comes to character maintenance, most GMs in most games should be somewhat flexible. In D&D "you know, I took 12 ranks of Rope Use, but I haven't used it once in the campaign. Can I reshuffle some of those skill points?" In super hero games, flexibility is even more genre appropriate... "So, this story arc... uhm... since when can Power Girl communicate telepathicly with animals?" "You mean she can't?" (facepalm) ...because comic writers either make mistakes in what a characters powers are, or because they need to fudge them to make the story work.

Although I've been around for quite a while, I never did post here. Part of the reason for that is I tend to be pretty private, I generally don't like to confuse my online life, online characters with "the real world." Typically "I live in western Canada" is as much personal information as I am comfortable sharing... but more sneaks out as I get to know people. The Lord Fell persona has been my gaming ID for about a decade as well. Originally, he was my character for an "Internet Wrestling Federation." I strongly suspect that I was the only player to be bigger in real life than my character in the e-Fed. My geek credentials... I've been gaming since 1982. I've played pretty much every genre, and I've tried a LOT of systems. Heck, I own copies of Macho Women with Guns (and all the supplements), It Came from the Late, Late Show, Toon, and most of the usual suspects. I've been to Gen*Con, and helped my university gaming club put on several Cons, and GM'd a bunch of events, and wrote a few tournament modules.