Dr Archeville

I just now realized the title of these threads has been Braniacs, not Brainiacs. :o

Unarchived per player request.

Well, I'd prefer not to be a copycat, so how about

PL 11 Belphegor has 2 tasty pps. And he's now PL 11. They can go to his Hellfire Control, bumping it from 11 to 12. Demonic Powers 12 (24pp powers; PFs: 6 APs) [30pp] BE: Hellfire Control 11 (PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2) (“Hellfire Bolt”) AP: Create Object 5 (Extras: Independent, Total Fade [lasts for 10 rounds]; PFs: Precise, Slow Fade 8/1 week [objects fade after 10 weeks], Subtle) (“Object of Desire”) AP: Comprehend 1 (languages 1 [understand any/all at once]) plus Enhanced Feats 4 (Attractive 2 [+8 Bluff & Diplomacy], Fascinate 2 [bluff and Diplomacy]) plus Enhanced Skills 8 (Gather Information +8) plus Morph 6 (any humanoid, +30 Disguise) plus Mind Shield 8 (Flaw: Only applies to mental effects that try to uncover his true nature) (“Evil Takes Many Pleasing Forms”) AP: Emotion Control 11 (PF: Mind Blank, Subtle) (“Dark Passions”) AP: Enhanced Strength 8 (to 32/+11) plus Super-Strength 3 (to Super-Strength 5 [effective Str 57, Hvy Load 24+ tons]; PFs: Groundstrike, Shockwave) (“Unfettered Might”) AP: Impervious Toughness 10 (note: Sustained duration) and Penetrating Strength 7 (PFs: Accurate [+12 attack], Affects Insubstantial 2, Incurable, Takedown Attack 2) (“Internal Infernal Combustion”) AP: Comprehend 1 (languages 1 [understand any/all at once]) plus Morph 6 (any humanoid, +30 Disguise; Extra: Duration/Continuous) plus Mind Shield 8 (Flaw: Only applies to mental effects that try to uncover his true nature) (“Less Flashy, but Longer-Lasting, Form-Altering”) Demon powers for the demon!

Yeah, decisions on something like this shouldn't be rushed through in half a day. :P

That looks pretty decent. Hrm, both Knievel and Malice have added some Regeneration to themselves (and Vestige already has some).

On the one hand, yes, you're a horribly disruptive person. (Kidding!) On the other hand, you are correct in pointing out that there is some imbalance here. And while we do want folks to have fun here, we do also want things to be semi-balanced. (Though there'll always be some imbalance due to the fact some players post more and thus earn pps much faster than others *glances at Electra, Avenger, and alderwitch*) On the other other hand... tentacles! *ahem*

Who with the what now?!

Nevermind, I found what he came up with:

Sorry, I'd meant "we know what we're doing, what our objective is", not "we know exactly what we're getting in to". D'oh! No Save Perception range effect? I hope not! Spending some of your new points on bumping his Know/Arcane Lore? Ask Shaen how to build it, he knows.

Our reservation -- well, my reservation, at least -- in handing out too many PLs or pps is twofold. One, it can raise characters very high very quickly. Many street-level adventures lose some impact when you jump past PL 11 or 12. We do want to escalate things, but not in huge leaps. Two, there's the concern that once a character hits the PL/pp caps, a player would lose interest in playing them, since they cannot advance any more. Adding lots of PLs/pps makes that point arrive sooner. Other than that, there's nothing I can think of that we wouldn't want to see which isn't already covered elsewhere. Other Refs may have things to add, though.

I had a feeling that's what you'd say. With his (adjusted) +12 modifiers on Craft/Artistic and Knowledge/Arcane Lore, Belphegor can Take 10 (if not jury-rigging) and make a 12pp Item (taking 48 hours). Could be a Hard to Lose Device 3, or an Easy to Lose Device 4 (as I assume the House Rule we do use for these feats -- that you can make Devices -- is still in effect here). Sooo many choices.... Alright, from the IC discussion it appears our chars do all know what we're getting into, so is there anything we need which we're lacking that the toy-boys can make?

Well, it'd be more work for me, since I'd need to whittle 1 PL (and 13pp) off my demon Seriously, though, the biggest issue with the Gold and Platinum rewards was in making sure it was equally attractive to all players. That's why, for Platinum, we gave so many choices: something for folks who had two chars and wanted a third, something for folks who had two chars but didn't want a third or who had one but wanted a second, and something for folks who had just one char and didn't want a second. Gold should be similar: something that's (roughly) equally attractive to those who have two chars, those who have one and do want a second, and those who have one but aren't interested in a second. So... moar suggestions, folks?

Still wanted word from Geez3r: will those of us with Artificer (Belphegor), Inventor (Malice), or Ritualist (Vestige) be allowed to whip up something beforehand? EDIT: And if so, would we still be bound by this?

Funny thing about that: if we did have "+2 PL/+30pp" as the Gold reward, this is what we'd get: Belphegor would be PL 9 (137 pp) Ghost would be PL 10 (151 pp) Grimalkin would be PL 10 (152 pp) Quark would be PL 10 (154 pp)

But that is the point: how common/readily available should a cape that is strong & light enough to [*:1ejgi9rl]Allow the wearer to glide [*:1ejgi9rl]Enhance their defensive ability [*:1ejgi9rl]Occasionally completely deflect thrown projectiles and arrows [*:1ejgi9rl]And still look like a cape and not a hang glider-thing be in this setting? Yes, I am asking you, all of you (but primarily the other five Refs, speaking as Refs and not players), what level of... "mail order superhero-ness" do you feel is fitting for this board's setting?

What does your PL let you do?

I'm not seeing your logic here, since the book describes shields as being Deflect/Shield. If you'd asked for a golden bracer or glowing green ring with the same Shield and Deflect, damn skippy there'd be concern. EDIT: Also, I did say that how common/available something is will be a factor on if it's Equipment or a Device, not just how "realistic" a given item is.

First off, I think we need to see just who is Gold around here. Me (Belphegor) Geez3r (though I think he said he might retire Red Star and just make a new PL 10 guy) Heritage (Grimalkin) MBCE (Ghost) Sandman (Quark) (and Heridfel, MarkK, Shadowboxer, and Thevshi.) I miss anyone?

Sounds reasonable to me.

Yes, you're all horrible people for breaking our finely-tuned system I could probably get behind the idea of having a portion transfer over. (Then again, I'm biased, since I had a PL 6 char who lost lots of earned pps when he graduated to PL 10.)

If you're Taking 10, you're not rolling, so you don't get a second chance to not roll.

That'd depend on if those Flaws would apply every round the Alt Form is active, or only once it's activated. I.e., does a Tiring Alternate Form make you fatigued when you activate it, or every round it's active? Does an Unreliable Alt Form have a 50/50 chance of shutting off every round, or just a 50/50 chance of not activating when you try to switch it on?

*pokes a demonic head in* Room for one more? Lucky for me, Belphegor just hit PL 11. +22 pp (20 +2 unspent he earned this month) +6pp to bump Str, Con, and Wis all by +2 (Str 26/+8, Con 26/+8, Wis 14/+2; Toughness +11, Fort +14, Will +8; Str is 32/+11 w/ "Unfettered Might") +2pp to bump Base Attack by +1 (to +11) +2pp to bump Base Defense by +1 (to +11) +2pp to add 6r in Craft/Artistic and 2r in Know/Arcane Lore (bringing those both to +12 total) +2pp to bump Demonic Powers Array from 11 to 12 +1pp to bump Flight from 2 to 3 +3pp to round out his Immunities +2pp to bump Super-Str from 2 to 3 (effective str 41, 62 w/ "Unfettered Might") Will those of us with Artificer or Inventor be allowed to whip up something beforehand?