Fangs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In relation to the stock pile situation. Make them
> spend it by. 1pitting them up against more
> powerful villains. Place them in situations where
> they could potentially loose all the stockpiled
> karma..... Also. Don't give out as much. You will
> find that doing this will whittle down what they
> have..... Or you could find out what they are
> saving it up for..... In any case look up in the
> book on ways to lose karma

So why exactly shouldn't a player be able to stockpile karma for his character? What with that being how you manage to advance the character as that's the only certain way given in the book all others are dependent on GM whim. You have no choice but to store up karma if you want to add a new power or advance existing stats. It's a really big screw-over if your GM is forcing you to use it up or denying it to you completely so you can't ever grow your character or feel like you ever accomplished anything.

Which is why I also suggested that the gm find out what they are looking to spend it on. The point that I think was being raised by the gm was the large amounts of karma being stored up. If they are storing up karma maybe the issue is that as the gm you are giving out too much karma. That said remember as the gm you run all the bad guys.... In short find out what your players are wanting from the game and work with them.

Coming from a more constrained grid movement system, and getting tired of seeing how often players seem to movement creep (each round they move a little bit more when not on a map) I'm planning of defining movement more for next game into squares (grid inches)

(Feeble, Poor = 2 squares; Typical, Good = 3 squares, Excellent, Remarkable = 5 squares; Incredible, Amazing = 7 Squares; Monstrous, Unearthly = 10 squares).
I also have ton of gridded maps already so reusing a resource is pleasing to me.

Which will also spread it out a bit more variance between ranks which I like the idea of.

I'm also thinking of allowing an agility feat role to use agility in place of endurance for movement rate - stimulating skill at somersaults etc. failed FEAT would have movement penalty, perhaps -1 CS. Depends if it's too fiddly & bogs down the flow of action too much.

which system for Intiative does every one use. The Advanced where rank numbers are involved and every one gets the bonus or,do you use I.E. i have good intuition and opponent has Excellent so the higher Intuition gets+1 to intiative.
What house rules do you use.

I'm not sure if someone has posted a similiar Houserule.

The Column Shift House Rule(Fighting, Agility, Stength, Endurance)

The reasoning behind this house rule is to show the differences between combatants attributes and actually make those differences a significant advantage both offensively and defensively for or against players. This can apply to any attribute in almost any situation.

Simplistic- For every Rank higher than opponnent get a bonus +1CS to the check, for every rank lower than opponnent get a -1CS penalty.

Fighting Example: Swat Member Excellent Attributes vs a Typical human, Swat Member punches at Typical Human, because Typical Humans fighting is 2 Ranks lower than Swat Member, Typical Human is easier to hit. Swat Member shifts his Fighting accuracy column up 2 Ranks to incredible. This is to symbolize how lesser skilled people are at more of a disadvantage than just a couple points on the Table.

Example-
Standard Rule- Typical human can hit Swat Member on a 51 or higher, Swat Member hits on a 41 or higher normally. Not a big difference considering the difference in training.

Revised Rule- Due to the differences in their Ranks Typical human now hits Swat Member on the Feeble Column 61 or higher. Swat Member hits on the Incredible column 31 or higher.

So this rule not only shows how a higher skilled fighter gets increased accuracy against a lower skilled opponnent but also lowers the lesser skilled opponnents accuracy to give the higher skilled fighter a defensive advantage.

In the above example a typical human unskilled in combat verses a highly trained swat member would not stand a chance.

Example- Slams and Stuns can also benefit from this rule example. The Thing vs Hercules- The Thing Incredible Fighting punches at Hercules Unearthly Fighting, due to Hercules superior skill The Things Fighting is -3CS on the Good Column and needs a 46 or higher to hit Hercules. The Thing hits Hercules with a 77 a Yellow Slam result and causes damage. Hercules must make a Yellow Slam check or be Slammed, Hercules has a Unearthly Endurance, The Thing has a Monstrous Strength(for this example) 1 Rank lower than his Endurance, giving Hercules a +1CS on his Slam check on the Shift-X column. Hercules makes his Yellow check with a 45 and is not slammed. Hercules punches back at The Thing because of his Superior Fighting he gets a +3CS to accuracy under the Shift-Z column, Hercules hits with a 56 a Yellow Slam result and causes damage. The Thing must make a Yellow Slam check or be Slammed, The Things Endurance is Monstrous 1 Rank lower than Hercules Strength, he suffers a -1CS to his slam check and rolls on the Amazing column, the Thing rolls a 40 and is slammed 1 area and knocked on his butt.

This also shows how higher ranked damage becomes more difficult to resist as the difference becomes greater. Example- Hercules punches a Remarkable Villain, with an Unearthly Strength Punch and gets a Red Result, The Remarkable Villain's Endurance is 4CS lower than Hercules Strength, The Villain must roll his Slam and Stun check on the poor column and must roll a 86 or above or be slammed and stunned. Unearthly Force is not easily resisted.

This is a House Rule I like to use, hopefully some of you will like it too.

daver33gtr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure if someone has posted a similiar
> Houserule.
>
> The Column Shift House Rule(Fighting, Agility,
> Stength, Endurance)
>
> The reasoning behind this house rule is to show
> the differences between combatants attributes and
> actually make those differences a significant
> advantage both offensively and defensively for or
> against players. This can apply to any attribute
> in almost any situation.
>
> Simplistic- For every Rank higher than opponnent
> get a bonus +1CS to the check, for every rank
> lower than opponnent get a -1CS penalty.
>
> Fighting Example: Swat Member Excellent Attributes
> vs a Typical human, Swat Member punches at Typical
> Human, because Typical Humans fighting is 2 Ranks
> lower than Swat Member, Typical Human is easier to
> hit. Swat Member shifts his Fighting accuracy
> column up 2 Ranks to incredible. This is to
> symbolize how lesser skilled people are at more of
> a disadvantage than just a couple points on the
> Table.
>
> Example-
> Standard Rule- Typical human can hit Swat Member
> on a 51 or higher, Swat Member hits on a 41 or
> higher normally. Not a big difference considering
> the difference in training.
>
> Revised Rule- Due to the differences in their
> Ranks Typical human now hits Swat Member on the
> Feeble Column 61 or higher. Swat Member hits on
> the Incredible column 31 or higher.
>
> So this rule not only shows how a higher skilled
> fighter gets increased accuracy against a lower
> skilled opponnent but also lowers the lesser
> skilled opponnents accuracy to give the higher
> skilled fighter a defensive advantage.
>
> In the above example a typical human unskilled in
> combat verses a highly trained swat member would
> not stand a chance.
>
> Example- Slams and Stuns can also benefit from
> this rule example. The Thing vs Hercules- The
> Thing Incredible Fighting punches at Hercules
> Unearthly Fighting, due to Hercules superior skill
> The Things Fighting is -3CS on the Good Column and
> needs a 46 or higher to hit Hercules. The Thing
> hits Hercules with a 77 a Yellow Slam result and
> causes damage. Hercules must make a Yellow Slam
> check or be Slammed, Hercules has a Unearthly
> Endurance, The Thing has a Monstrous Strength(for
> this example) 1 Rank lower than his Endurance,
> giving Hercules a +1CS on his Slam check on the
> Shift-X column. Hercules makes his Yellow check
> with a 45 and is not slammed. Hercules punches
> back at The Thing because of his Superior Fighting
> he gets a +3CS to accuracy under the Shift-Z
> column, Hercules hits with a 56 a Yellow Slam
> result and causes damage. The Thing must make a
> Yellow Slam check or be Slammed, The Things
> Endurance is Monstrous 1 Rank lower than Hercules
> Strength, he suffers a -1CS to his slam check and
> rolls on the Amazing column, the Thing rolls a 40
> and is slammed 1 area and knocked on his butt.
>
> This also shows how higher ranked damage becomes
> more difficult to resist as the difference becomes
> greater. Example- Hercules punches a Remarkable
> Villain, with an Unearthly Strength Punch and gets
> a Red Result, The Remarkable Villain's Endurance
> is 4CS lower than Hercules Strength, The Villain
> must roll his Slam and Stun check on the poor
> column and must roll a 86 or above or be slammed
> and stunned. Unearthly Force is not easily
> resisted.
>
> This is a House Rule I like to use, hopefully some
> of you will like it too.

There doesn't seem to be any point to this house rule, the Excellent rank of the one character vs the typical civilian already covers the fact that it's easier for the Excellent ranked character to hit the Typical rank one. Same with Thing vs someone like Hercules, he's already got less chance of successfully hitting than Hercules or inflicting slams or stuns there's no value in such a house rule that just seems designed to penalize whoever has a lower rank at the time and weight things even more in favor of the character with the higher rank.

It also discourages building characters that aren't high ranked in their FASE, even if they want to play a genius or power-based sort like Professor X or the Human Torch. Few people are going to want to play a character with Typical Rank Fighting when the GM's response is 'well that means this guy gets an extra 3CS to pound you into the ground with, on top of any other bonuses he may have, just because.'.

I found a similiar rule, on the House rules here on the Classicmarvelforever site. Which uses points instead of Column shifts. By Redman II. Now I'm sure there will be those that say theres no point after all if you have Excellent fighting, and your opponnent has Remarkable theres a difference already. But what if a excellent opponnent is punching at a Unearthly Fighter, Does the Unearthly Fighter need to go on full defensive and Evade to avoid being hit by the excellent fighter who only Needs a 41 to hit. I say no. A Unearthly fighter could easily avoid the Excellent punches and not need to expend all his actions on Evading, this rule takes that into account.

The Column Shift House Rule(Fighting, Agility, Stength, Endurance)

Also this rule takes into account increased force.

Standard Rule- If a guy with Remarkable Endurance gets punched by a Incredible strength, he might have to make a slam & stun check, if he gets punched by a Unearthly strength he makes the same check no penalty, Yes of course he takes more damage but shouldnt it be more difficult to resist the Higher rank attack, of course it should. If your friend punches you in the stomach you might not move much, if you get hit by a car you have NO chance of not being affected.

There are various way of doing this you could do a Column shift, you could +10/10 or +5/-5 for every rank difference, there doesnt have to be one way, you can pick the best that fits for you.

This rule can take into account such things as Agility, If a Gunman with Excellent Agility fires at a Amazing Agility Hero he only needs to role a 41 or higher thats a pretty good chance to hit. The only way he could decrease that chance is by Dodging with a random-2/-4/-6CS and expend all of his actions but one.

Under the new rule the Gunman receives a penalty to hit of -3CS due to the Amazing Agility of the hero who can dodge bullets with ease. Now the Gunman hits on the Poor Column and needs 56 to hit still a good chance to hit, but if the hero has to dodge he now has a better chance at the attempt.

Some of you will not like this rule, but you cannot deny it could have its uses. The Standard Rules do not address the differences in Rank, if a Amazing fighter is attacking a equally skilled Amazing fighter they are evenly matched, and both have the same to hit chance. Now what happens when one Amazing fighter attacks a Typical thug, is his to hit chance no better than against the Amazing fighter? Under the Standard Rules the Amazing Fighter has the same chance to miss. So this does not take into account the superior skill of the Amazing Fighter sufficiently.

Hopefully some of you will like it.


Combat: Attack Rolls

By Redman II

The attack roll is modified based on the two opponent's comparative Fighting ability.

Compare the two foes' Fighting abilities in order to get a modifier to the attack roll. The character with the higher Fighting gets a bonus to his attack rolls equal to the difference between the two characters' Fighting ranks. Likewise, the lesser-ranked opponent suffers a penalty to his attack rolls equal to the difference.

Example: Captain America, with Amazing Fighting, is slugging it out with a random ninja with Excellent Fighting. When Cap attacks, he gets a +30 bonus to his rolls on the Amazing column. The ninja likewise suffers a -30 to his rolls on the Excellent column.

If a GM and players find it useful for their games, and it doesn't detract from their fun, then it's all good. Over time, we try various ideas to see what makes sense to us without slowing things down.

Thank you, daver33gtr, for sharing your idea with us.

Or you could use a variant of the automatic Feats option..

Say we use the above as an exmple Capain Americ Vs. a Ninja with Ex fightng.

According to the Automatic feats rule, Ex is 3CS or more below Cap's Am Fighting (Mn with talents, and Un with shield.) So Cap auto hits the Ex ranked (and below) Ninja. Remarkable and above roll normally.

Though you can still give the Ex ranked Ninja Fighter a chance to hit Cap. (as he should get that chance) ignoring the more than Plus one CS is an impossible hit.

Very true Redman II.

Hey Chrono,
I didnt think about the Automatic hit option that could definitely help cut down on excessive rolls. So would that work for Checks such as slams and stuns too? Incredible punch gets yellow result, against a good Endurance, would that be a automatic Slam etc.

Could definitely speed things up less rolling. Thanks for the replies.

Chronomancer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or you could use a variant of the automatic Feats
> option..
>
> Say we use the above as an exmple Capain Americ
> Vs. a Ninja with Ex fightng.
>
> According to the Automatic feats rule, Ex is 3CS
> or more below Cap's Am Fighting (Mn with talents,
> and Un with shield.) So Cap auto hits the Ex
> ranked (and below) Ninja. Remarkable and above
> roll normally.
>
> Though you can still give the Ex ranked Ninja
> Fighter a chance to hit Cap. (as he should get
> that chance) ignoring the more than Plus one CS is
> an impossible hit.

Which among other things would render defensive actions worthless as you couldn't defend against someone unless they were equal to or less than you in ability. Even Captain America is shown missing sometimes against mooks in the comics and even Batman gets hit by mooks fairly often. Which is why one shouldn't be applying the automatic/impossible feats rules to combat: they were never written or meant to be used in such a fashion because of how illogical and just plain wrong it would make things into.

Hence a variant of the rules mask. You could also apply modifiers to the rule every 5-10 enemy combatents gans a +1cs to ther fighting stat. That would explain how th standard mook gets the occasional hit against uber fighters reflecting the chaos of group combat Attacking multiple opponents still has the -4cs apply of course.

Chronomancer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Attacking multiple opponents still has the -4cs apply of course.


Precisely. And if attacking multiple foes, that -4cs drops Cap's Unearthly skill with his shield down to Remarkable, at which point anyone with Good or Excellent Fighting would no longer be an Automatic Feat if employing that idea.

Also keep in mind that a successful check for Multiple Attacks applies a -1cs penalty to each of those multiple attacks, meaning some foes that might be an Automatic Feat if using that idea may no longer be Automatic.

All in all, highly skilled fighters like Cap, DD, Wolvie, etc. mow through nameless flunkies and goons far more often than not.

Thank you Red

You got what I meant, and expounded on what I was trying to say perfectly...

It is a rule that does speed up game play and is balanced in it's formation as there is already precidence in other situations within the rule settings.

And as mentioned earlier, using the Automatic Feats rule but NOT the Impossible Feats rule still gives your standard Mook/Hand/Assassin/Hydra Agent attacks against the hero.

Semi-Random character Generation

There have been a few mentions in the forums on character gen’ variants, and I thought I would share our house rules on character gen.

The aim of these rules to nudge people out of their comfort zones a little (keeping the game fresh), whilst letting them create the type of character they are still interested in playing. They are a little complicated at first glance, but these changes have been honed on backs of battle hardened veterans of many gaming groups and GMs over the decades.

We use the ultimate powers book

Players may choose for one of the following two options

Players may either

1) choose the type of hero they are (mutant etc.) or roll randomly
a. Deities etc. (column five on the stats table) cannot be selected; you must roll randomly if you want to play one of these and hope you get lucky
b. All other powers are then rolled randomly

2) Players may choose the class of power (fighting, travel etc.) they want for one power only
a. The number of powers generated is the maximum value in the power generation table, but I don't allow rolls above 50% of the total number of powers available (the percentile die roll is halved to get the random number)
b. PCs may roll randomly in a chosen class of power once; and then roll randomly for all other power classes and the individual power
i. Duplicates can be re-rolled at the PCs discretion (see horse trading to see why they may not want to)
ii. Single/double power slot rules apply as usual
c. Related powers of randomly generated powers, as described in the text, may be selected instead of rolling randomly; provided you have enough ‘power slots’ left to select the related power.
d. Players may decide not to spend a power slot, and instead save that slot for a ‘completed power stunt’ (i.e. no karma cost is needed to do the power stunt) to use in game

Talents are treated the same way but get a GMs fudge factor added: - I balance the group at this stage so that players with larger number of powers get the minimum number of talents, or vica-versa (from years of experience this works well to help players who feel a need for game-balance in the party)

Contacts Everyone gets the maximum number of contacts permitted (either through character origin generated or randomly rolled on the table). Contacts are only listed as numbers on the PCs sheet, and are generated ‘in-game’ as and when they are needed by that PC (helps to push the plot along and is a real gift for the GM, I would say it fits the feel of the comic book story genre very well)

Once your random (ish) powers and FASERIP stats have been created, you can then start horse trading

Horse trading — you may boost any ranked stat or power as follows

A. Any rank up to a maximum of Amazing can be increased +1CS by sacrificing -3CS from a single other ranked character trait/power
a. Note FASERIP stats are limited by racial maximums still, unless you have some good justification for it (like perhaps your body 'armour power' is now powered armour to increase strength perhaps?)
B. To increase a rank to Monstrous or higher requires the sacrifice of -5CS from a single other ranked character trait/power
C. Powers can be exchanged for Talents, such exchanged talents can be selected by the player (no need to random roll for these) — makes martial Arts characters far more interesting
D. The complete loss of a power always gives a +1CS to any single other ranked character trait/power
a. Yes, I know that means you can, if your lucky/clever, get rid of something like Shift-zero Levitation and get a +1CS increase one another ranked item that may be monstrous or higher; but trust me, this does work well in the game play later!
E. Weaknesses and Limitations are rolled randomly as well, but should be tailored to fit the PC concept

I think thats about it, if I have missed anything I will come back and edit this post.

Give ‘em a go and let me know what you think



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2014 05:12AM by NikMak.

"There have been a few mentions in the forums on character gen’ variants, and I thought I would share our house rules on character gen." Might as well join that crowd.

Basically if you let the dice make choices you get character points. Those can be used to up your character. You also can get 4 points for 4 quirks. And there is a disadvantage table you can roll on (decide how many times you are going to that table before you roll). There are also random advantages you can get.

hi Mike, looks interesting. My experience of disadvantages is a little mixed in other systems, as some players take disadvantages that never seem to impact their player character... so much so that I know GMs who have set limits like no more than 1 disadvantage each (in other systems)

On the other hand I know other GMs who have random tables to determine which PC disadvantage will star in this weeks episode and the players quickly learn to never take any disadvantages!

It makes me a little cautious of adding disadvantages to the game as is, especially if your using the weakness generation rues as well (i see you weakness generation as an option, recently I have made it compulsory, but may yet change my mind on that).

out of curiosity how much advantage do your advantages tend to give? it looks like they are a much bigger benefit in lower powered games at first glance (+1d10 agility to Typical is a relay big deal)

The characters in my campaign are tougher. As they have anywhere from 8 to 64 disadvantages. They get to choose the two players that chose 59 and 64 pretty much need a baby sitter, and have about 60-70 additional points in stats.

One thing I did not post was how I run the disadvantages. Diane (who went 38 disadvantages) has good samaritan three times.

When chasing the villian they pass someone with a flat. Diane needs to make three psyche feats to chase the villian otherwise the Good Samaritian need takes over.

I track what disadvantages the players choose to bring into play and give karma rewards.

So if Diane had her character find someone to help that day, I might not force that roll, and give her extra karma for playing her character.

interesting, no issues with the multiple psyche rolls slowing down the action? also does that mean high psyche characters are less disadvantaged by those types disadvantages?!

may be interesting to plot out the increase in Psyche needed Vs the amount the loss/benefit of the psychological disadvantage, and see if your system breaks

and I assume you have an equivalent endurance feat to fight of some physical disadvantages, so the same exercise could be good there as well (increase in endurance vs probability roll to fight off drug addiction disadvantage for example).

The big issue seems to be the psychological disadvantages, and the reason I have people with 38, 49, and 64 trips to the disadvantage table was trying to break it. If you grab three sets of different colored percentiles it's not too bad speed wise.

I need to do a chart of how some of them work. For example if you don't get your addiction (and could be to caffine) every 24 hours. You take a CS across the board to everything, which increases each day (as it's a disadvantage you can't break the addiction)

And yes I would love your feedback.

Attached a file of a character I made under these rules.

I will take a look at it some time over the next few days (I hope! life gets in the way sometimes)

I assume there is an endurance (or psyche) roll to overcome the addiction each day, which is not impacted by the -1CS (or is it? that makes a for a very dark spiral of doom if it does. it could almost be a plot device:- new super drug hits the street, and the mechanism is that this drug also impacts your endurance roll to resist the addiction impact)


----------

edit - just looked at the walkthrough character, two questions

1) the +8 reason gets adedd at the end right? so his reason is actually 16 (excellent) now
2) the "Cant Pull Punch" is *3, so if he wants to pull a punch he must succeed in three separate psyche rolls; is that correct?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2014 07:36AM by NikMak.

NikMak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will take a look at it some time over the next
> few days (I hope! life gets in the way sometimes)
>
>
> I assume there is an endurance (or psyche) roll
> to overcome the addiction each day, which is not
> impacted by the -1CS (or is it? that makes a for
> a very dark spiral of doom if it does. it could
> almost be a plot device:- new super drug hits the
> street, and the mechanism is that this drug also
> impacts your endurance roll to resist the
> addiction impact)
>
>
> ----------
>
> edit - just looked at the walkthrough character,
> two questions
>
> 1) the +8 reason gets adedd at the end right? so
> his reason is actually 16 (excellent) now
> 2) the "Cant Pull Punch" is *3, so if he wants to
> pull a punch he must succeed in three separate
> psyche rolls; is that correct?

Yes and Yes - he does not make the psyche rolls until he tries to pull it
THUD

I was predicting people going 15-20 trips to the disadvantage table. Which in my opinion creates a more enjoyable character - but we had three players basically challenge themselves how far they can go.

Getting points back for letting dice chose - why I did that was to make character creation a bit of a roller coaster with the challenge being how many dips do I take.

Finally got around taking a look at this, took me quite a long time to get my head around how to handle it!

Anyway this analysis examines what happens if someone takes a paired disadvantage/advantage combination (so for example; physical addiction requires endurance rolls to overcome the pull of the drug, and the PC puts all his points into endurance)
I have done this to ‘stress test’ the system, as I realise that as written the odds of anyone actually rolling +15d10 on endurance is very slim, however its always a good to check the robustness of a system for possible breakages by looking at extreme examples, and its an obvious tweak of the house rules to let PC decide what stat they put the points onto and, being Players, sooner or later they will ask!


the short version is this:- the first few times you take the paired ad/disad it works fine (probability falls in a uniform way) but as you take it more times it starts to do some odd things, and in some circumstances you are (slightly) better off taking the paired combo an additional time to improve your odds of success!

oh yeah, disclaimer, my maths is notoriously flaky!

So case # 1, starting endurance of Typical 5, takes the paired endurance boost a endurance multiple roll check combo, and case #2 starts at Rem 26

Typical starting endurance


Rem starting endurance


all the numbers

Has anyone tried the House Rule on this site where the difference in Fighting Rank number can assign a penalty or bonus directly to a character roll? How did that work out in play?

I need someone to create a rule mechanic that happens when a character rolls doubles- a special effect or action happens!!

one for failed roll doubles like : ( 11 or 22- or perhaps 33 )

and success doubles ( 66 or 99 or 00 )

a cool bad thing or good thing happens ( a bonus or mishap )