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Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer
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Old September 12th, 2010, 04:09 AM
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Originally Posted by charlieluce View Post
One thing we learned in our post-UP games was that in terms of effectiveness Targeted Areas are almost always better than General Areas; not only do you get to use your Attack/Damage trade-off (great for the minion-sweeping that Area is often used for), but you get to avoid those near-impossible to reduce Reflex saves and the nigh-partial-immunity of Evasion in favor of the much easier to mess with Defense score. We ruled that Target Areas couldn't Critical Hit, but I don't think that's actually in the rules, so if your GM allows that it's even better.

You do have the disadvantage that you'll likely miss the potential targets that are Concealed, though.
My current GM HATES General AoE precisely because it's a minion-sweeper. For a short time I had Wayfarer using a ranged Drain vs REF Save (as well as their Rng Atk Mod & Acrobatics Skill ) against the super-dodge/acrobatic type foes to knock down them down a peg or two before using the General-type AoE but that was just adding a layer of complexity (as the GM now had to track who had their REF Save reduced if it worked) and usually meant the battle was over thanks to my team mates before I ever got to unleash the AoE.

So now I've just resigned myself that the General-type AoE is just not going to work against the Evasive/super DEXtrous. *sigh*

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer
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Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer
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Old September 12th, 2010, 04:12 AM
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Originally Posted by JDRook View Post
There's nothing wrong with that in my book. I usually create characters in HL using the NPC setting (Character > Configure Hero > Create NPC). That way I can play around with unlimited points and HL tells me the power level as I fiddle around. Of course, normally I just play around with character concepts and try to find the PL I think works best for them, so this system works well for me.

You may want to consider building Dragon Master in Hero Lab with the NPC setting on, atlarman.
In the games I'm in we are have kept the PL set at a certain level but still award Power Points so I don't see anything wrong with that. In a way it's a good thing since it "forces" one to spend those points elsewhere, like Character Feats, Skills, etc. if you've already set your powers at the PL-limits.
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Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer
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Old September 12th, 2010, 04:20 AM
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Originally Posted by atlarman View Post
TO Nigel-

I meant to ask this earlier on ....Am I correct in assuming the reasons your GM wouldnt allow DM in either of his games is all the "freebies"?

I guess I can understand how some could find that upsetting in a group situation.


I'm just curious as to his reasoning for dis allowing the character out of hand.:
LOL Oh, no. The reason he'd disallow Dragon Master is because you have too much darn variety in what you can do (Wayfarer already drives him crazy in that department) and you have done this by having things "at such a low rank" (again, that's how Wayfarer could afford his variety).

Our GM is used to all the other players pushing their two or three "attack" Powers to the PL limit and thus he sees them as easy to manage...and plan for.

Characters like Dragon Master and Wayfarer, who are designed to be flexible & deal with just about any situation, make it hard for him to "design a challenging scenario." lol

I can't speak for you but I tend to find any scenario challenging partly from trying to handle things as the character would even if I, as a player, can clearly see that what he's about to do isn't the most efficient way OR might even make things worse for the team and partly because having a large variety of responses to choose from, it can be hard to decide which to use.

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer

Last edited by Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer; September 12th, 2010 at 04:24 AM.
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atlarman
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Old September 12th, 2010, 07:22 AM
you're spot on nigel... i find the character driven stuff the most interesting and challenging personally, i find meta or power gamers more frustarting to deal with as a GM... usually those that are character driven tend to police themselves balance wise very well.

P.S.- I had to add this thought....If your Gm were to be honest, Is it REALLY THAT HARD to create "challenging" encounters large array of powers/choices or not?? when you consider that npcs/ villans arent strickly bound to any limits at all- sounds like your gm has found his comfort zone and gotten a tad lazy .( Guess its good to be the GM haha)

Last edited by atlarman; September 12th, 2010 at 06:41 PM. Reason: added a thought
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Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer
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Old September 13th, 2010, 05:36 AM
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Originally Posted by atlarman View Post
you're spot on nigel... i find the character driven stuff the most interesting and challenging personally, i find meta or power gamers more frustarting to deal with as a GM... usually those that are character driven tend to police themselves balance wise very well.

P.S.- I had to add this thought....If your Gm were to be honest, Is it REALLY THAT HARD to create "challenging" encounters large array of powers/choices or not?? when you consider that npcs/ villans arent strickly bound to any limits at all- sounds like your gm has found his comfort zone and gotten a tad lazy .( Guess its good to be the GM haha)
Just to publicly set the record straight: I think the guy GM'ing the two games I am in does a fine job both adjudicating things for the motley crew that are on the hero team rosters and that he has big, detailed, long term story arcs within his game universe....as one would expect, a blend of DC, Marvel and his own creations.

It's just that in terms of this Forum, my "complaints" and the rules.....I think 2E M&M works best when all of the rules are in play since the system is so "interlocked" and he likes making House Rules that selectively modify or remove things. That is his right as GM to do so, however, I feel that this "solution" often accidentally gives an advantage to one or two characters that others don't get and it sometimes leads to new House Rules to "fix" the unforeseen ripple-effect caused by the initial House Rule.

To his credit, he has become better about announcing his displeasure with a thing, saying what House Rule he plans to do to "fix" it and getting our feedback before either doing it, modifying the proposed House Rule or dropping the H.R. altogether once he's shown that there really isn't a problem.

Bottom line for my fellow Forum members: he's a good guy so please don't take my "complaints" as a condemnation of him as a GM.

Nigel Fogg, the Wayfarer
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atlarman
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Old September 13th, 2010, 08:48 AM
I didnt mean for My comments to be a total condemnation of your gms skills.... only a statement of my limited opniion on how his policy on diverse character design comes across... from what ya wrote above I envy ya nigel...id love to have a regular GM w/ that much vision and attention to detail.

Last edited by atlarman; September 13th, 2010 at 08:51 AM.
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