Hey, ladies!! So, I used to play City of Heroes, a MMORPG. I had a character with a power named Super Reflexes. Dude was untouchable... Until he was... His health would hit zero sometimes. But most of the time, the baddies couldn't lay a finger on him. I tried to model him into the MU and I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. And then, Eureka (props to my man, Archimedes)!

Warning: 3rd Grade Mathematical Calculations to Follow If anything short of long division makes you feel stupid, stop reading right now.

Hence Untouchable:

Untouchable: Power Rank (xx) This power is a composite of automatically functioning powers: telepathy, empathy, precognition, and hyper-speed. It reduces the chances to hit (Hero) with Fighting, Grappling, Ranged and Charging Attacks. Reduce raw attack rolls, regardless of origin, by the Power Rank: example: (1d100–xx). (Hero) must perform a successful Psyche FEAT to activate Untouchable. This power is mentally draining and (Hero) must wait 1d10 rounds to reactivate it. This power becomes less effective by increments of (-10) per Attack Intensity Rank above the Power Rank. Example: (Untouchable Power Rank +1) Intensity Attack roll reduced by (xx-10), (Untouchable Power Rank +2) Intensity Attack roll reduced by (xx-20), etc. To maintain Untouchable longer than 5 rounds, (Hero) must perform a Psyche check of (Hero's Psyche Rank) Intensity for rounds 6-10, (Hero's Psyche Rank +1) Intensity for rounds 11-15. Failure means a loss of 10% Health points and a loss of -1CS Psyche for 24 hours.

It works well paired with Beyond Redline, also a modeled power based on the Super Reflexes hero I played in CoH.

Beyond Redline: Power Rank (xx) When he faces overwhelming odds, (Hero) can enter a radically heightened state that allows him to exceed his normal physical/mental limitations for 2-10 rounds (1d10, 2 Round minimum duration). Beyond Redline elevates Strength, Agility, and Untouchable to Beyond Redline Power Rank or +1CS normal, whichever is greater. Beyond Redline also grants Hyper-Speed at Poor (4), which acts as a multiplier at Power Rank Number for all movement points and number of FEATs allowed per round.
• Crash and Cooldown: After the Beyond Redline Power elapses, (Hero) loses consciousness for 1d10 rounds. In order to regain consciousness, (Hero) must make a Yellow Endurance FEAT, after which he must perform a Psyche FEAT which determines the acute impact for 24 Hours: White = FASE -4CS, Green = FASE -3CS, Yellow = FASE -2CS, Red = FASE =1CS . Psyche is reduced -1CS for 24 hours. For each time (Hero) activates Beyond Redline more than once per 24-hour period, his Psyche is permanently reduced -1CS.

I realize these powers are fairly complex, that is to say, you would have to stop drinking bong water and eating frito pie long enough to use a calculator or carry a one. I'm sure a 3rd grader could do it. Positive, in fact.

Why not just have danger sense? Doesn't that do almost everything you want here? Add in the psyche roll and 1d10 limitations for a boost to base danger sense would be fine by me.

And as a gm I would almost certainly allow your 'beyond redline power' (any better names?) as a power stunt of danger sense, as described for this form of the power

Telepathic/Empathic + fast reflexes to avoid attacks? Certainly sounds like danger sense to me, with the warning of danger being specifically received as mental impressions of the attacker's intent rather than something unique like Spider-Man's "tingling" or "buzzing" sensation.

NikMak Wrote:
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Why not just have danger sense? Doesn't that do almost everything you want here?

It has a few similarities to danger sense, but Danger Sense does not reduce the raw dice roll of the attacker. You would have to be playing a highly modified version of the game for that. I felt like it wouldn't be true to the character to model him with Danger Sense, but I see your point.

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Add in the psyche roll and 1d10 limitations for a boost to base danger sense would be fine by me.

Wow! You're quite generous. I think a player would have to produce a pretty good argument for me to allow this as a Power Stunt.

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your 'beyond redline power' (any better names?)

Okay... Sooooo... First off, I'm a "gear head" and Beyond Redline speaks to pushing an engine beyond the safety margins. Extra performance in a critical period will help you win a race, but at substantial cost. I'm sure someone could come up with a better name... So, go for it.

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And as a gm I would almost certainly allow your 'beyond redline power' (any better names?) as a power stunt of danger sense, as described for this form of the power

And maybe you didn't read closely enough (or maybe you did), but Beyond Redline (in the case of the modeled character) boosts Fighting, Agility and Untouchable to Beyond Redline Power Rank... I suppose it could be modified to boost a different power or different Physical Abilities. That is an enormous boon for a Power Stunt. So, if Beyond Redline Power Rank is Wondrous (90), all incoming attack rolls are reduced by 90, Strength and Endurance could be boosted to Wondrous (90) and the character demonstrates Hyper Speed at Poor (4), multiplying number of attacks, defensive moves and movement points by 4 during the period Beyond Redline is active... Getting into the numbers like this, it would be too big of a bonus for me to allow as a Power Stunt. As a matter of fact, I might want it to be a 2-slot power.

I understand what Power Stunts are, how they work, their origins from comics and their value to the game. I believe these two powers to be too great of a bonus and they deserve their own distinction. I certainly understand if you view it differently.

I probably wouldn't allow Beyond Redline as a power stunt of Danger Sense alone... but if it were combined with something else that produces stat bonuses (Hulk's adrenaline surge and Silver Surfer's power cosmic come to mind), I'd probably allow that.

Thrudjelmer Wrote:
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Telepathic/Empathic + fast reflexes to avoid attacks? Certainly sounds like danger sense to me, with the warning of danger being specifically received as mental impressions of the attacker's intent rather than something unique like Spider-Man's "tingling" or "buzzing" sensation.

Sure, it is similar (not exact) in narrative, but different (vastly) in function and mechanics. I used the definition from the UPB to help me model this power. I'm not sorry for it.

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Telepathic/Empathic + fast reflexes to avoid attacks? Certainly sounds like danger sense to me

From the UPB
It is a combination of automatically functioning
Psionic Powers (Telepathy, Empathy, and
Precognition) that warns the hero about
impending danger.

There is no mention of fast reflexes to avoid attacks in the UPB Danger Sense narrative. Sure, you can say, "Well, indirectly it has to do with fast reflexes, because (Insert Reasoning Here)", but I think that reasoning is heavily influenced by Spider Man's Spidey-sense and his uncanny agility.

So, I had originally written my own narrative for Untouchable, but I didn't like it as much as the one I derived from the UPB. It went something like: A composite of hyper-speed, acute vision, hyper-synaptic nerve response, and... something else. You get the idea. I didn't like it as much. In truth, it really only needs to be a composite of tactical precognition and hyper-speed. And yes, I realize that even in that iteration it still holds similarities to Danger Sense, but Untouchable has different mechanics, which I'm sure you hate and wouldn't allow.

Brymin Wrote:
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> Sure, it is similar (not exact) in narrative, but
> different (vastly) in function and mechanics. I
> used the definition from the UPB to help me
> model this power. I'm not sorry for it.

No apologies necessary. It's your game, not mine. I just try to take the path of least resistance when it comes to new rules... so if there's something else that works that fits, I'd try to make that work for me than come up with something new. That works for me and my group because if the rules have the same feel, then it doesn't feel jarring during gameplay to introduce it all of a sudden.



Brymin Wrote:
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> And yes, I realize that even in that iteration
> it still holds similarities to Danger Sense, but
> Untouchable has different mechanics, which
> I'm sure you hate and wouldn't allow.

Half right. In my game I wouldn't allow it, but it's not about hate. I just have a different preference for handling things than other people, and I recognize that. I usually encourage people to try to keep changes simple because I feel it works into the flow of the existing rules better, but if someone comes up with something radically different that works for their game, I'm not going to hate it because it's not the rules as written or even how I'd change it.