Dr Archeville

I'd also suggest With, for several reasons. 1) She's who you want to play 2) She's a mystic, and would probably fit in well here. She'd have more chance of knowing what's going on, at least. 3) As a Mystic, the heroes can blame her (and Exile) for what all's gone wrong! ;)

That does make it. (It was a Drain Strength 6 effect, DC 16 Fort save.) Ghost senses no traps on the pedestal.

You make the roll when you make the plan.

Skill Mastery cannot be used for Master Plan-based Knowledge/Tactics checks. Nor can Quickness allow you to make the check/plan faster.

Archeville murmured half-formed thoughts as he used the "scrying pool" to scout out his surroundings. He did not yet see any familiar faces, so as far as he could tell he was here alone. ">" he thought out loud, ">" He let out an exasperated sigh, ">" "" The Doktor paced around the pool for a bit, examining what facts he had gathered, forming and discarding dozens of theories as to how and why he was here. After a few minutes, he stopped, and turned back to scrying devices. ">"

I just noticed this. Nice work! :)

I believe Angel had wanted you to look at Witch, too. And I do have a request, or rather I am going back (partially) on something I'd said earlier. You had said you were going to do the Ref's chars first, and I asked you not do that for me, that I'd be fine with waiting while others go first. But, I plan on hitting Platinum at the end of the month, and bringing in Dead Head as my third PC, so I'm asking he get shambled up closer to the front of the line.

As of now: Initiative & Conditions 26 -- Chain-Ghoul -- 4 Bruises (2 are Incurable) 15 -- Ghost -- 2 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Fatigued 10 -- Belphegor -- 0 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Staggered, Stunned Ghost does another holy-charged attack, and the Chain-Ghoul's Toughness save is... 9, failing by 15, knocking it Unconscious! Bel is Stunned, does nothing. End Round 8. Chain-Ghoul is Unconscious, can do nothing for 10 rounds. Go ahead and make your second Fort save for the Poison. It'll hit ten rounds after the first save, so in about 54 seconds. We'll probably be out of Kapetelis' house by then ;)

Even Ghost himself was impressed at the sight of what happened next. The coin he kicked bounced off one of the Chain-Ghoul's whirling chains, which not only caused the coin to bounce off and dislodge another loose bit of rune-covered concrete, but also caused the chain to go wide and kick up some of the rune-covered debris from the floor. Then all these pieces collided with the Chain-Ghoul's head, cracking its skulls and sending it down to the ground with a THUD. Belphegor untangles the thing's spiked chains from around his neck, then drops to one knee. He's hurt, badly, but he's not out yet. Which is good, since Ghost would hate to have to drag him out, and who knows what might happen if he left him behind.

Thanks for the update, AA, but you missed a few things: Doc's still listed as having 4 unspent pps! Power Level: 14 (206/206 pp) Trade-Offs: -2 Defense for +2 Toughness Unspent PPs: 0 Totals: Abilities 27 + Combat 32 + Saves 12 + Skills 37 (148r) + Feats 22 + Powers 76 - Drawbacks 0 = 206/206 Total Cost 11 unspent pps for Belphegor :twisted: 4pp to increase his Attack and Defense by +1 each (see below) 1pp for 3 ranks in Craft/Structural and 1 rank in Languages (for Latin). 2pp on feats: Ritualist and Well-Connected 3pp to remove the Limited/Half Effect Flaw from his Immunities. 1pp for 1 more rank in Protection (to Protection 4) Combat: [10 on Attack, 10 on Defense = 20pp] Attack: +11, +13 w/ "Internal Infernal Combustion" (+5 without Powers) Grapple: +20, +28 with "Unfettered Might" (+5 without Powers) Defense: +11 (+4 flat-footed) (+5 without Powers [+2 flat-footed]) Knockback: -5, -11 “charged” (-0 without Powers) Initiative: +3 (+0 without Powers) Saves: [6+2+6 = 14pp] Toughness +11 (Impervious 11 “charged”) (+0 without Powers) Powers Also, two of his APs under his Demonic Powers array should be changed. changed to and this changed to this Power Level: 11 (169/169pp) Trade-Offs: None Unspent PP: 0 Totals: Abilities 6 + Combat 20 + Saves 14 + Skills 19 (76 ranks) + Feats 7 + Powers 113 - Drawbacks 10 = 169/169pp DONE BY SHÆNTHEBRAIN

Thing's Jewishness is only a recent retcon (2002, according to TV Tropes), though it could be argued he was always meant to be Jewish (has a Jewish name [benjamin Jacob], resembles the Golem legend, and grew up in a Yancy Street neighborhood resembling New York's Lower East Side). The Floating Super-Hero Poker Game was first shown in 1979. Perhaps due to Thing's newfound-but-really-had-it-all-along religion, the latest shown instance of the FSHPG was held on a Wednesday night.

Ghost does manage to unlock the door, but as he does one of the clicks he hears isn't from the mechanism of the lock. It's from the needle that's sprung out and jabbed him in the hand. He can see a dark substance on the needle, and around the wound on his hand, but he does not feel any ill effects. Perhaps Lady Luck is looking after him... or perhaps it's an insidious, slow-acting poison. Opening the door and shining his flashlight in, Ghost sees what he assumes is the object of his mission. There, on a satin pillow atop a pedestal in the middle of the small room, is a single golden coin with a ram's head embossed on it. Around the pedestal are small chests and caskets; some are open because they are so filled with coins and gems and jewelry and other small assorted treasures they could not be closed! Belphegor continues trying to curb-stomp the chain-ghoul, but his last hit, while it did connect, was at just the wrong angle to do nothing to the guardian. "What do you see, Ghost? Did you find th- HURK!" There's a sudden whirl of movement, and when Ghost looks back, he sees Belphegor had been knocked back several feet from the guardian, had one of its spiked chains wrapped around his throat, and the demon's blood was flowing from the wounds and into the undead, empowering it! It rose from the floor on which the demon had been pounding on it for so long, and looked back and forth between Ghost and Belphegor, unsure of which one to go for next.

As of now: Initiative & Conditions 26 -- Chain-Ghoul -- 5 Bruises (2 Incurable), Stunned 15 -- Ghost -- 2 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Fatigued 10 -- Belphegor -- 1 VPs -- 4 Bruises Ghost unlocks door, opens it, finds glittering prizes. Bel power-stomps the stunned & still-prone Chain-Ghoul (-5 attack/+5 damage). Gets a 16 on attack, that hits. Its Toughness save is... a natural 20, 25 total, no damage. End Round 7. Chain-Ghoul tries to attack Bel with its blood-draining chains. Attacking in melee while prone imposes a -4 on attack, but that's not enough penalty b/c it hits 18, which hits Bel. Toughness save... I roll a natural 1, 4 total, which would put Bel Unconscious. I'll use my 1 VP to re-roll, and get... another natural 1! But that works out to a 14 total, which fails by 11, putting Bel at Staggered & Stunned. Due to the Vampiric nature of the chains, the Chain-Ghoul heals one of its (non-Incurable) Bruises (no need to roll, the bonus it gets to its recovery roll is enough to pass). Bel is also knocked back 5 feet from the Chain-Ghoul. It then spends its Move Action getting up from prone. As of now: Initiative & Conditions 26 -- Chain-Ghoul -- 4 Bruises (2 are Incurable) 15 -- Ghost -- 2 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Fatigued 10 -- Belphegor -- 0 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Staggered, Stunned

4 unspent pp for Doc 1pp to add 1 rank each to his three Craft skills and Know/Technology: Craft (chemical) 13 (+20, +26 at HQ or with E.S.; +27/+33 w/ Enhanced Int) Craft (electronics) 13 (+20, +26 at HQ or with E.S.; +27/+33 w/ Enhanced Int) Craft (mechanical) 13 (+20, +26 at HQ or with E.S.; +27/+33 w/ Enhanced Int) Knowledge (technology) 13 (+20, +26 at HQ or with E.S.; +27/+33 w/ Enhanced Int) 1pp to add 1 rank of Equipment, to Equipment 6 (30ep) Equipment: 2pp on two new PFs for his Pseudonaturally Enhanced Mind array: AP: Comprehend 4 (codes, languages 3 [speak any one at a time, understand any/all at once, read any]) ("Linguistic Analysis") and Enhanced Intelligence 6 (to 30/+10) AP: Enhanced Attack 4, Enhanced Defense 2, and Enhanced Feats 2 (Dodge Focus 2). Attack becomes +12, Defense +12 (+5 flat-footed). ("Combat Mode") DONE BY AVENGERASSEMBLED

No effect from the very sharp needles that sprung out from the handle. If Ghost checks it out, he does see some dark goo on the needles, most likely some sort of poison.

A transmission ont he police bands suddenly burst across RRG's radio, "Request backup... ASTRO Laksshhh... men down... big metaksssh... kssshhbug... not going... several rounds... backup nAUGH!" And then there was nothing but a static hiss.

So how much did you want to play out the "Jos makes a Magic Mirror" thing? Unless something Terribly Important happens while he's working, we can just fast forward to when he's done & starts using it to search for the Mysterious Woman in Red.

*bump to keep the Avenger/Geckoman Tango going*

I'm a tad confused on this point, too. Is Doc supposed to be confused, or did I (the player) misread something?

Hello? *echo*

Most of you know of The Questionnaire of Doom. But did you also know about the Reputation Charts? They're a fine way to establish who might know what about you. And if you do one, the Refs might even reward ya! ;)

Fort save, please, as you trigger the trap on the door. (If only you'd Searched first... )

Belphegor is ready to train some new René Belloqs He's also curious about the dental plan.

Okay, first off, a broader question: are y'all okay with the "let's keep things like the DCAU cartoons" thing? Not as campy as Silver Age, not as grimdark & hyperviolent as Iron Age, but straddling some middle ground -- which, IMO at least, the assorted DCAU series did pretty well, and which we can do if we all agree to certain things. If folks are not okay with this, if there's some other cartoon or series you'd like to see us emulate, please speak up now. Secondly, it looks like folks would like a more clearly defined roles for their villains, to know ahead of time whether a given adventure will be one where the villains (PC at least, maybe NPC as well) will be able to succeed or it's one where they're foiled (barring strings of unusually high or unusually low die rolls, though maybe not even then, either). That the OOC threads should perhaps have a basic summary of what the person running it is hoping to do. I like this idea. Killing. Killing could and did happen in the DCAU, both on-screen and off. I believe the two most famous on-screen ones were in a Superman ep where Darkseid killed Dan Turpin with his Omega Beams as a parting "FU" to Superman, and in an ep of JLU where a panicking Deadman possessed Batman and used a gun to shoot Devil Ray dead before that villain could shoot another hero. Offscreen deaths, the one that immediately springs to mind is the ep where Felix Faust was introduced, and we saw the petrified (and pain-wracked) heads of some of his former colleagues. Then there were the assorted alien invasions and disasters, in which I imagine some people would have died. But the focus wasn't on how many were killed, it was on how many the Leaguers could save. How does this translate to the FC PbP games? If it's something that drives a story or character -- John Fraser became Arrowhawk b/c he saw Malice kill his parents -- I think that'd be okay. If it's something happening between PCs, and all concerned agree to it -- I get tired of playing Doktor Archeville, so Avalon & I agree to let Vestige sacrifice him in some Evil Ritual, or Warmonger & I agree that Ronin assassinates him -- I think that would be okay, too. Acceptable Targets -- undead & robots & demons -- are, wall, acceptable targets for all. On the surface, the "if a villain kills, heroes take the kid gloves off when dealing with them, but if the villain is largely non-violent, the heroes go easier" seems okay. Ghost has never killed anyone, he's mostly a B&E man, so the cops & superheroes shouldn't be as concerned about him as they would be with, say, Belphegor or Captain Knievel or Malice, who've caused lots of damage to people and property. But I fear a "Villain A killed Bystander B, Hero C kills Villain A, Villain D kills Hero C in revenge, Hero E kills Villain D, Villain F kills Hero E, Hero G kills Villain F, ad infinitum" case of escalation, where everyone becomes "hardcore" and this slides into the Iron Age. I'm not sure how to address that issue. Consequences (aside from having heroes/cops come after you to put you down) is the other big issue I still don't know how to properly address. The Refs had been working on a Suicide Squad/Task Force X-type thing for captured villains, so the players could continue playing even after their villains are caught and sent to jail; they'd still be under a leash (or several leashes), so it will be clear they're not free & clear. But this doesn't necessarily work for all villains. Suggestions?

I was sure I had said something to this effect, some months ago, in chat if not also here on the boards. I'll be the first to admit I've had Bel cross lines that he really should not have been allowed to cross. Part of it is because of what he is, but largely it's b/c -- like the Trial thread -- the Refs (well, I, at least) are still learning what works and what doesn't, what flies and what s(t)inks. I do sincerely apologize for the confusion and hypocrisy. (I'd also put demons in the "acceptable targets" category, along with Undead and Animals.) *continues reading & pondering*