General Character Discussion Thread

[Papa Bear]

We'll use this thread to have a conversation about the generalities of our characters and the make-up of the group and their relationship to each other at the time that the game begins.

[RedRajah]

Any required Complications like Secret ID or Code vs Killing?

 

How does the law feel about vigilantes? The general public?

 

Will our characters be new to the setting? Has this city had heroes before and what happened to them?

 

[Whitehart09]

I would love to participate in a superhero game. That being said, I have only a 5% knowledge base of Champions (that 5% is just that it is a superhero game).

Knowing this, I purchased the book because why not? Would you suggest this game for beginners?

[Papa Bear]

2 hours ago, RedRajah said:

Any required Complications like Secret ID or Code vs Killing?

None, but I do like Code vs. Killing... that's kind of a super hero basic. Yes, a Punisher in a group can be fun (well, Punisher from marvel Max... he used Rubber Bullets in the regular U, which is stupid) but a group of anti-heroes gets tiresome, I think. Wolverine was great surrounded by the rest of the much more wholesome X-Men.

2 hours ago, RedRajah said:

How does the law feel about vigilantes? The general public?

Its mixed on both counts. Some police are thrilled that something is being done about the worst of the scum on the street that the cops can't do but others either feel A) vigilantism is a crime too (and technically it is) and are "lawful good" if D&D Alignments can be applied or B) Afraid of the loss of power because its hard to control these very powerful individuals (this would be a lot, but not all, of the politicians both in SC and the rest of the nation, especially at the higher levels). Those who really follow the politics in SC think the city council is primed to take action against the 'heroes', just waiting for someone to make a big 'mistake' and swing more of the public against heroes.

The general public is close to 60/40 in favor and generally based on personal experience. Most people think its nice to have 'heroes' looking out for them who can take action much more quickly than a 911 call. Many think its dangerous to grant police power to people without accountability or training. Some just hate the 'heroes' as much as the villains because a 'hero' didn't save a loved one or accidentally contributed to a loved one's death (or smashing up their house or something).

2 hours ago, RedRajah said:

Will our characters be new to the setting? Has this city had heroes before and what happened to them?

In my other game, I think I mentioned that the world was sans supers until a meteorite strike.

But in this version of Sovereign City, no. That's kind of the adventure there, this is going to be more straight up, like Marvel's New York or DC's Metropolis... but much less supers who live there... more like DC's Gotham except Batman doesn't chase other heroes out of the city.

There will be a few other supers in SC besides your heroes of varying power levels. One character, Superion, is a weaker version of Superman in this world and lives in SC. He's generally thought of as the most powerful hero in the world, but not at Superman levels.

Superion

How deep your character's roots are to SC is up to you. How long they've been doing this probably ought to depend on how many talents, perks, contacts and skills you have (you've learned a lot along the way) vs. raw super power (He look mom, I can fly!), but there are no rules, requirements, or restrictions regarding that.

SC has been taking a turn for the bad as far as crime. As any major metropolitan area, its always had its fair share, but lately its spiraling out of control. A lot of people blame the city council for bad policy decisions and funding for the SCPD (and Fire department, but that's another story). This helped springboard Mayor Arron Buckman into office as he has taken a pro-police, pro-vigilante stance.

1 hour ago, Whitehart09 said:

I would love to participate in a superhero game. That being said, I have only a 5% knowledge base of Champions (that 5% is just that it is a superhero game).

Knowing this, I purchased the book because why not? Would you suggest this game for beginners?

Heh, in champions, that 5% is probably more like 1%. Its not an easy system. That said, the basics are not so far from any other system. You roll dice at a target number, in this case, 3d6 below to achieve success. Damage and other effects roll xd6 (where x is a true variable based on whatever power or ability) and attempt to roll high, such as to produce damage or to take over someone's mind or how strongly that gooey entangling substance you lobbed at someone affects them.

Did you purchase 6e? The one or two volume book? Or Champions Complete? I hope complete, its cheaper and smaller, easier to look things up. Of course, if you went with the big dog, then you've got pretty much everything. Champions is a fantastic system. Complicated, yes... but most of that is all the math involved in character creation because of all the customizations that you can add to develop your powers/abilities. I buy 2d6 Energy Blast for my toon for 10 points, I add armor piercing (halves defenses) for a +1/2 cost multiplier, that increases the cost to 15 (10*1.5) but then make it a part of my hero's armor by adding an IIF (Inobvious Inaccessible Focus... its small in the gauntlets, so small it doesn't necessarily LOOK like its IN the gauntlets. But if you lose the gauntlets, you temporarily loose acess to the power... that's where the cost reduction comes into play) which is a -1/4 limitation (15/1.25) for a final cost of 12 points (nice, just 6 points per +1d6 increased damage!)

So, the math gets tricky when you add in more and more cool stuff to define your powers and there's no limit to how many modifications you can put on a power other than the "Active Points" (which is 50 - 60 max for this game)... Active Points are determined by the + Multipliers (so the Active points of that energy blast would be 15), the - Multipliers just save you points.

For Beginners? Yikes... that depends on how good you are at learning from reading (as opposed to a hands on or show me learner). Generally, I'd say no... but that said, I was a beginner at one point. I had a great teacher who helped me learn the system and I will try to be that for you. I know people dislike using pre-gen characters, but in Champions, its a pretty good idea (but not necessary) for beginners.

[dbcowboy]

Is the goal to be a team? Should we reserve points for comm units, vehicle, base, etc?

[Whitehart09]

2 hours ago, Papa Bear said:

Did you purchase 6e? The one or two volume book? Or Champions Complete? I hope complete, its cheaper and smaller, easier to look things up. Of course, if you went with the big dog, then you've got pretty much everything.

I got Champions Complete. I am just used to Mutants and Masterminds is all.

[RedRajah]

A video that may or may not have relevance... ;)

[hakootoko]

I might be more out of date with this than I remember... derived stats are no longer derived.

[Papa Bear]

2 hours ago, hakootoko said:

I might be more out of date with this than I remember... derived stats are no longer derived.

No more figured characteristics, not in sixth edition. To balance this, a lot of the point costs for Characteristics have been reduced (most significantly, DEX now costs 2 cp per +1 instead of 3).

[Papa Bear]

What I am thinking, generally speaking, is that your heroes have been working a district for some number of years or so. You've probably run into one or two of each other and maybe you even worked together on something. How and who willl be up to you. You are free to be / do what / who you want but remember, Superior is in the city and you don't want him coming after you. He leaves a lot to "save the world" so your work is still very important plus he can't be everywhere... He doesn't have Superman's super speed (though he has a speed of six ). So, if you are too violent and the cops issue a warrant for your arrest for killing and mayhem, Superior will probably notice too. But remember, a lot of law is enforcement are 'on your side'... Don't make them regret it.

 

Or do and change the game dramatically

[leons1701]

Looking at benchmarks, (50-60AP, average 20 PD/ED), what sort of OCV/DCV should we be shooting for?

[hakootoko]

He has a sample character in Character Creation Rules. I was planning to compare to that for various stats.

[leons1701]

I looked at that, but the sample is a 400/75 character, we're building 300/60 characters. Also, one character doesn't necessarily tell you if they're supposed to be on the high end of combat ability or just "average" (for a superhero, of course).

[hakootoko]

Good catch. I didn't notice that was a 400/75 character. I was just thinking it was on the high end of combat stats.

[Papa Bear]

Oh, that toon was for someone who wanted a format. I used my last update from a dead game .. that wasn't supposed to be a sample.

 

You are right, I should have put in an ocv/dcv. Let's do 8