Shinken - PL 11 - Toptomcat

[Dr Archeville]

One thing not directly linked to anything you posted above: Connected is not a ranked feat, so you don't need/can't have it twice.

Nearly any combat feat or physical skill. Most non-magical Sensory effects. Most Movement effects not including dimensional travel or teleportation- including Flight if truly necessary, at rank 3ish, but mostly acrobatic/super-ninja effects like Leaping, Speed, Slow Fall, and the like. No Mental effects with the possible exception of Confuse drugs and a significantly flawed Mind Shield.

Typical patrol configuration:

Speed 3

Leaping 3

Super-Strength 2

Datalink 8 (Flaw: Headquarters computer only)

Enhanced Fortitude Save 3

An excellent example, thank you; if you can stick that under the VP in a lil' quote box that'd be perfect.

But that seems to add up to 17 points, and so is 2 over what VP 3 could get. A suggested fix: go with Super-Senses (Communication Link w/ HQ), bringing it down to 14 points; this'd mean you'd also need to add that same Power as a Feature to the HQ.

Very well. I will temporarily drop the transport jet, later paying for it with standard Equipment: for the security force's vehicles, reduce the discretionary point allotment for one out of every five of the guards from five to four, paying for the vehicles out of their pocket.

That'd work. However, like any sort of Minion, their PL is limited to half of what your is. I'm guessing you'd want them based off the Soldier archetype from the core book, which coincidentally are PL 5. There is a small snag, though, in that they could not fully benefit from the "Commercial Battlesuit" you have written, not unless you reduce their Attack and either their Constitution or their Defense. As taken straight from the book, though, they could fully benefit from something like this:

Device 5 (Shinsengumi-class commercial battlesuit; 25 points; Hard to Lose) [20pp; brings Soldier to 59/75pp]

[Enhanced Strength 3 (to 16/+3)

Enhanced Dexterity 3 (to 15/+2)

Protection 4 (to Toughness +5)

Integrated assault rifle: Blast 5 with Autofire extra]

An acceptable kludge, so long as you feel okay about a Benefit feat that allows the Personnel to assist in the event of alien invasions, mass supervillian attacks, and similar catastrophic, world-ending emergencies.

I'd be inclined to allow that, sure.

I'm much less inclined to allow the external 20mm external autocannon (which is or can be pointing out towards the city?) on the HQ, though. That's pretty much a military-grade weapon, and as such should only be allowed on military installations, not private security firms. Would his HQ be classified as a military installation? (The internal .50 caliber autoturrents get a pass since they're internal; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.)

The suit is airtight by any sensible definition, but no seal is truly, totally impermeable, and even the smallest quantity of poison will put a serious strain on Benjiro's system.

As for expanding the weakness, it would be fine by me- but any blood or contact toxin getting through the armor to actually physically touch Benjiro would have to be delivered by a lethal attack inflicting at least a Disabled status, and ingested toxins would be non-heroing territory, which would make the drawback debatably point-worthy and more Complication territory.

I'd say an Injury, not Disabled; that seems to be how bite-delivered toxins are stated for the Serpent Men. Though biokinetics who can transmute some of a target's blood into a toxic substance, or who can directly manipulate a living being's nervous system (which, while rare in FC, would balance the non-heroing ingestion of toxins so it is worth that extra point), would be a different matter.

Yes, Uncommon frequency. An EMP that relied on brute force, such as one from a villain with electricity powers, would probably not qualify: a pulse specifically designed to slag equipment, pulsed, and modulated to bypass simple protections, like one from an evil inventor's gadget, would.

Alrighty. What about other software-based attacks? Would a digital entity/ghost in the machine controlling/possessing your suit (with effects like blinding you or shutting down the targeting system by setting the sensors into a feedback loop, or crippling you by shutting down/interfering with the strength or dex enhancers, or Paralyzing him by altering the software so it locks the nano-musculature) count?

[Toptomcat]

One thing not directly linked to anything you posted above: Connected is not a ranked feat, so you don't need/can't have it twice.

An excellent example, thank you; if you can stick that under the VP in a lil' quote box that'd be perfect.

But that seems to add up to 17 points, and so is 2 over what VP 3 could get. A suggested fix: go with Super-Senses (Communication Link w/ HQ), bringing it down to 14 points; this'd mean you'd also need to add that same Power as a Feature to the HQ.

That would seem redundant with the extant Communications power. I lowered the ranks on the Datalink and Enhanced Fortitude Save slightly, instead.

That'd work. However, like any sort of Minion, their PL is limited to half of what your is. I'm guessing you'd want them based off the Soldier archetype from the core book, which coincidentally are PL 5. There is a small snag, though, in that they could not fully benefit from the "Commercial Battlesuit" you have written, not unless you reduce their Attack and either their Constitution or their Defense. As taken straight from the book, though, they could fully benefit from something like this:

Device 5 (Shinsengumi-class commercial battlesuit; 25 points; Hard to Lose) [20pp; brings Soldier to 59/75pp]

[Enhanced Strength 3 (to 16/+3)

Enhanced Dexterity 3 (to 15/+2)

Protection 4 (to Toughness +5)

Integrated assault rifle: Blast 5 with Autofire extra]

Add four ranks in Notice and Stealth, as well as Improved Initiative and Improved Aim, to the Soldier archetype, as well as your revised battlesuit, and that will work fine by me.

I'd be inclined to allow that, sure.

I'm much less inclined to allow the external 20mm external autocannon (which is or can be pointing out towards the city?) on the HQ, though. That's pretty much a military-grade weapon, and as such should only be allowed on military installations, not private security firms. Would his HQ be classified as a military installation? (The internal .50 caliber autoturrents get a pass since they're internal; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.)

That's what Contacts are for. Weapons laws can be bent, especially for facilities owned by private military companies that can reasonably expect to come under supervillian attack.

If you like, a feature can be included that causes the cannon rounds to harmlessly self-destruct before passing the property line. Making everything that happens effectively 'in Vegas', as it were.

Note that this isn't a residential neighborhood- it's a converted auto factory in a bloc of abandoned auto factories.

I'd say an Injury, not Disabled; that seems to be how bite-delivered toxins are stated for the Serpent Men. Though biokinetics who can transmute some of a target's blood into a toxic substance, or who can directly manipulate a living being's nervous system (which, while rare in FC, would balance the non-heroing ingestion of toxins so it is worth that extra point), would be a different matter.

Most heroes don't have the vast majority of their Toughness coming from a suit of armor, such that any significant injury to the man inside would require a major breach of integrity. However, I didn't actually mean Disabled: that was a misreading of the tables. I meant Stunned from a lethal attack.

Additionally conceding the point about biokinetics, I will add a point to the Drawback.

Alrighty. What about other software-based attacks? Would a digital entity/ghost in the machine controlling/possessing your suit (with effects like blinding you or shutting down the targeting system by setting the sensors into a feedback loop, or crippling you by shutting down/interfering with the strength or dex enhancers, or Paralyzing him by altering the software so it locks the nano-musculature) count?

Absolutely.

[Dr Archeville]

That would seem redundant with the extant Communications power. I lowered the ranks on the Datalink and Enhanced Fortitude Save slightly, instead.

Ah, you're quite right on the Communications thing.

Add four ranks in Notice and Stealth, as well as Improved Initiative and Improved Aim, to the Soldier archetype, as well as your revised battlesuit, and that will work fine by me.

Groovy.

That's what Contacts are for. Weapons laws can be bent, especially for facilities owned by private military companies that can reasonably expect to come under supervillian attack.

If you like, a feature can be included that causes the cannon rounds to harmlessly self-destruct before passing the property line. Making everything that happens effectively 'in Vegas', as it were.

Note that this isn't a residential neighborhood- it's a converted auto factory in a bloc of abandoned auto factories.

I think you mean Connected; Contacts just lets you make Gather Info checks faster. And weapons laws can only be bent so far. Yes, you can reasonably expect to come under supervillain attack, but you can just as reasonably expect superheroes to come to your aid.

That being said, your feature will work (and the gun allowed) if the HQ is either outside of (or at closest just on the outer edge of city limits), and not within the city itself.

You've mentioned "property line" and "grounds" a few times: how big are you wanting these grounds to be? I believe that HQ just covers the building itself (and maybe a sidewalk around it).

There is one other thing I meant to mention earlier (and I do apologize for letting this slip 'til now): I'm not sure your HQ can actually hold 100 soldiers. The Living Space features lets (your PL) in people live there comfortably, "possibly more, at the GM's discretion," but holding ten times that is a big stretch.

Most heroes don't have the vast majority of their Toughness coming from a suit of armor, such that any significant injury to the man inside would require a major breach of integrity. However, I didn't actually mean Disabled: that was a misreading of the tables. I meant Stunned from a lethal attack.

Additionally conceding the point about biokinetics, I will add a point to the Drawback.

Stunned by a lethal or nonlethal attack. Since we try and keep things at least a tad Silver Age-y here, any and all damage (including from things like daggers) is considered nonlethal unless the player explicitly says otherwise during combat (or the attack is bought with the Lethal Only drawback).

[Toptomcat]

I think you mean Connected; Contacts just lets you make Gather Info checks faster. And weapons laws can only be bent so far. Yes, you can reasonably expect to come under supervillain attack, but you can just as reasonably expect superheroes to come to your aid.

That being said, your feature will work (and the gun allowed) if the HQ is either outside of (or at closest just on the outer edge of city limits), and not within the city itself.

You've mentioned "property line" and "grounds" a few times: how big are you wanting these grounds to be? I believe that HQ just covers the building itself (and maybe a sidewalk around it).

There is one other thing I meant to mention earlier (and I do apologize for letting this slip 'til now): I'm not sure your HQ can actually hold 100 soldiers. The Living Space features lets (your PL) in people live there comfortably, "possibly more, at the GM's discretion," but holding ten times that is a big stretch.

Making the headquarters Large should be enough to address both concerns, adding enough grounds to establish a kill zone for the autocannons and sufficient space for outbuildings to house the personnel.

As for the city limits, a call to a senator or two should ensure that if it wasn't technically outside of city limits before, it damn well is now.

Stunned by a lethal or nonlethal attack. Since we try and keep things at least a tad Silver Age-y here, any and all damage (including from things like daggers) is considered nonlethal unless the player explicitly says otherwise during combat (or the attack is bought with the Lethal Only drawback).

Fair enough.

[Dr Archeville]

Alright, that'll work. Here's your first re-approval.

[MBCE]

Let's see if I can get you back in the game.

His fortitude and reflex saves need to be fixed.

Fortitude: +4; -3 out of suit (+3/-3 Con, +0)

Reflex: +7; -2 out of suit (+5/-2 Dex, +0)

Below are the corrected version.

Fortitude: +4; -3 out of suit (+4/-3 Con, +0)

Reflex: +7; -2 out of suit (+7/-2 Dex, +0)

Skills: 72r = 18pp

See Powers: also

Computers 8 (+12)

Craft (electronic) 12 (+16)

Craft (mechanical) 12 (+16)

Diplomacy 8 (+9)

Gather Information 8 (+9)

Knowledge (Business) 10 (+14)

Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 4 (+8)

Knowledge (technology) 8 (+12)

Language 2 (English, Mandarin Chinese; Japanese is native)

Sense Motive 4 (+4)

I'm counting 76 ranks which makes it 19pps.

You have the number correct in the totals area, but not in the title of skills. Please fix.

EDIT: Actually went ahead and did the changes for you as they were fairly minor to begin with. Took me some time to read everything, but reading the work you did with the Doc, helped a lot get this moved through quickly.

re-Approved

[Dr Archeville]

Archived due to player absence.