Because I Cannot Believe I Am Working On This Right Now (or darn you, Splintered Realm Community, darn you to heck!)

Look at this! Look at what you are making me do! I can’t even right now….

Lord Valar, The High Inquisitor of Terra System

Chaotic Terran Dark Templar 9

AC 20; HD 10d6 (hp 99); Move 40’; Feat +16; Templar’s Greatsword (+8/1d12+7)

                STR 12 (+3); INT 12 (+3); WIS 20 (+7)

                DEX 10 (+2); CON 14 (+4); CHA 14 (+4)

Traits:  Body Armor (+3); Dark Templar’s Sword (1d8); Source Attunement (Shadow)

Talents: Armor Use; Quick Strike; Two-Handed Attack; Weapon Mastery

One of the five high inquisitors serving the Grand Inquisitor, Lord Valar rules with an iron fist. His attunement with the Shadow Source allows him to perform five Source Stunts each turn, rolling 1d20+20 for each attempted stunt.

As a terran templar, you are an adherent of an ancient code, a follower of the Source of Light, and a champion of justice in an unjust galaxy. As a Dark Templar, you are an adherent of the Source of Shadow, bringing darkness to all you touch.

The Source

A powerful energy field, the source is residue energy from the destruction of the goddess of light. The opposite, the Shadow Source, allows you to tap into the residual dark energy that contributed to her destruction.

As a wielder of the source, you get to do a number of things:

Add your WIS modifier to damage rolls when wielding source weapons (instead of STR).

Use the Source to perform Source Events

Source Events

Your attunement to the source allows you to perform a number of special actions each turn, manipulating it for a special effect a number of times each turn equal to your LM. As a terran templar 7, you have 4 opportunities per turn to manipulate the source to perform a special effect called an Event. (or maybe 'Stunt' would be better)

Compel Shadow/Compel Light. You channel your attunement to the Source to control beings of pure shadow or pure light (as applicable), either holding them at bay or forcing them to flee from your presence for 1 turn.

Control. You channel your ability into mentally manipulating a thinking target with whom you can communicate. You can do this up to 10’ per WIS modifier. You force the target to roll a Feat, modified by your WIS modifier, to resist your control.

Focus. You channel your ability with the source into a situational bonus for 1 round. You can elect to add your WIS modifier to your AC, to attack rolls, to damage rolls, or to Feats (or distribute these as needed). For instance, with WIS 14 (+4), you could elect to add +1 to your AC (dodging a strike that would have hit you), +1 to a Feat (narrowly making a sense Feat), and +2 to damage (dealing extra damage with your source blade).

Heal (light only). You channel your ability into a healing touch that restores 1d6 + your WIS modifier hit points to a living creature.

Wound (shadow only). You channel your ability into a wounding touch that deals 1d6 + your WIS modifier hit points to a living creature; no resist is allowed, and no hit roll is required.

Telekinesis. You can move objects with your mind, up to 10’ x your WIS score distant.

- As a standard check (target 20), move an object weighing up to 100 lbs. (notably less would give up to +4 to the check; notably more would force up to -4 to the check)

- As a titanic check (target 30), move an object weighting up to 10 tons. (notably less would give up to +4 to the check; notably more would force up to -4 to the check)

For instance, a small goblin-like light source wielder of level 12 with WIS 24 could lift an interceptor out of a bog pretty easily, needing only a roll of 6 on the die to lift an object weighting up to 10 tons (the typical interceptor weighs about half that much ... and YES I looked it up!).

On Superhuman Charisma

I did a blog post about a few weeks ago discussing superhuman INT and how it can have cool effects in play. I liked how this brought new options in play for characters with superhuman ratings in what might be considered a 'dump stat', and I wanted to do the same for the other perceived dump stat, Charisma.

Charisma reflects the power of your personality, and how you can exert your influence upon others. While mechanics exist that tie Charisma to traits using manipulation (an important first step in making less dumpy), I'd like to do more with it. The groovy gang on the Splintered Realm Community got me thinking about this, and I've since clarified it a bit more... this is another something that will eventually make its way into the GMs sourcebook....

Since half of your hit points represent willpower, determination and mental toughness, it seems reasonable that this 'half' of your hit points can be attacked directly in ways that diminish your willpower or directly impact your mental toughness. CHA is the solution.

Superhuman CHA gives you the opportunity to deal damage that comes off of the half of hp representing willpower/determination. I think of the dragon Smaug and the power of its personality 'wearing down' Bilbo over time through its wordplay and manipulation. You'd be able to deal up to half of a creature's hp total in damage through 'CHA combat' in this way. With exceptional CHA (14+), you can use 1 round to deal social damage equal to your CHA rating. The target may roll a FEAT for half damage. A target will never take more than 1/2 of its hp total in such damage. You can do this a number of times per turn equal to your LM.

For example, Lex Luthor, with CHA 16 and at level 10, can potentially deal 80 hp of social damage each turn, as he stands back and tells Superman what he's going to do to Metropolis, how he's going to scar Lois Lane's pretty face with acid, how the Daily Planet is going to become the Daily Luthor, and how he's going to scour space for the remains of Krypton and poop on it. Meanwhile a bunch of Luthor bots are beating on Superman.

I'd also like to introduce a new Talent, Taunt, that allows you do either make one bonus attack per turn (if you have CHA 14+) or take on this special application of CHA even with CHA 13 or lower. For example, Spiderman has CHA 9 or so, but with Taunt, he can get under the skin of Doc Ock, badgering him during combat, dealing 9 points of damage with each taunt.

Using you CHA to make willpower attacks in this way would be a minor action, meaning that you can do this and take a simultaneous attack at -2. Spidey can jaw at Doc Ock while also firing webs at him, taking -2 to the simultaneous attack action.

On Superhuman Intelligence

My daughter wanted to watch Mr. Peabody & Sherman yesterday on Netflix, and I liked how they portrayed Mr. Peabody’s hyper intelligence, similar to how it’s portrayed in various current depictions of Sherlock Holmes. You slow down the world to see how quickly the character is able to calculate a number of factors simultaneously. As with all things, this got me thinking about gaming...

In Sentinels of Echo City, Mr. Sherman would have an INT score somewhere around 18, giving him amazing-level intellect. I was trying to figure out how to use this in the game, and I think the solution is tying hyper intelligence to stunts. As a character with INT 14+, you are able to use your INT score in place of any other attribute when you use a Resolve point as a stunt.

For instance, you are punching a foe, and you only have STR 6. You’re going to have a base modifier of +0 with that punch. However, your INT 18 (+6) allows you to quickly determine that your foe is leaning just a little to the left; you are able to immediately deduce that he must have suffered a ligament sprain in his right knee (probably a football injury - you know statistically speaking that these injuries are due to football-related hits 63% of the time, so you’d take the odds on this one - and the scars on his knuckles are characteristic of those experienced by offensive linemen, probably played right guard based on the uneven distribution of scarring between his hands). If you place your punch 7.2” lower than you were going to, you can hit a muscle group that has been overcompensating for that old injury, causing a ripple effect that will deal quite a bit of pain.

You just replaced your STR modifier (+0) with your INT modifier (+6) on the attack and damage rolls for that punch, and still get to take the +1d6 to the damage roll as well. That was a resolve point well spent, and reflects the coolness of hyper intelligence.

In the same way, you could sub your INT in for your DEX (you normally wouldn’t be able to roll a DEX check to balance on the tightrope, but you were able to successfully gauge the wind speed to use it to your advantage and steady your walk) or CON (you cannot hold your breath for that long, but by quickly gathering bubbles that had gathered on nearby seaweed, and using a clamshell you quickly modify to  inhale them, you are able to give yourself another minute of air). You can use this for a CHA check (normally, you wouldn’t be very persuasive in this situation, but your awareness of the target’s tattoo, and its linkage to a specific military branch, and your ability to quickly ask about his service in that, specifically recalling the heroic deeds his platoon carried out in May of last year, allows you to endear yourself to this officer at this moment) or a straight up STR check (you can’t hold up the collapsing bridge, of course, but you could use a piece of debris and perfect leverage to erect a temporary buttress that will prevent the collapse for 7.8 seconds more, allowing the civilians to escape).

Suddenly, I really want to play a character with hyper intelligence!

By the way, these concepts will eventually make their way into the game… probably in the GMs guide....

We're Number One!

I woke up this morning to see that Absolute Power is the top seller on RPGNow! I am so grateful to everyone who has been so enthusiastic about my work, and it's great to see it getting into the hands (or at least onto the laptops and tablets) of so many people.

I am having so much fun right now designing games and publishing comics, I almost can't believe it. You know that saying about 'living the dream'? This guy right here.

Absolute Power Now Live

Absolute Power is now live on RPGNow.

Absolute Power is the first full sourcebook for the Sentinels of Echo City RPG, expanding on the character creation rules from the core game. Included are all the rules you need for using pre-generated characters, guidelines for modeling characters from comics and movies, and a robust random character generation system. You can use this to build characters for your Sentinels of Echo City game, or you can do like I do all the time, and just use this to make hundreds of wonky random supers for fun.

Don’t judge me.

Since it uses the OGL, the basic mechanics and terms should be familiar, and because it’s released under a Creative Commons Share-Alike License, you can publish your own supers anywhere and anyhow you’d like.

Also, because of the incredible support of the Splintered Realm Community, I’m offering this as a pay-what-you-want download. You can spend the day making superheroes, and do it for free! It’s like Christmas in July. Only without the Christmas. Or the July.

A copy of the character sheet on one page is also available, posted at http://www.splinteredrealm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/SoEC-Character-Record-Revised.pdf

Revised Character Sheet

The peeps over on the Google + Community have posted some excellent character sheets, but I couldn't help myself, and had to make a revision of my own for the new Absolute Power. You can never have too many character sheets, right? This one will be a full page (split over two pages in the book), but here it is for your use effective immediately...

I have to admit that I borrowed liberally bits and pieces from how others had solved their own variations, and this is part of the big Creative Commons chains of awesomeness that is the Share-Alike License.

Ladybug

Here is ladybug, who appears in Absolute Power as the sample of character creation... I actually rolled her up, and only fudged one time! (I re-rolled exceptional human to get something with powers, and ended up with altered human)... other than that, all rolls were what I actually got!

Ladybug (Hero 3)

Mercy Lewis; High School Student; Altered Human; Resources 7

AC 16; HD 3d6 (hp 20); Move 40’; Feat +9;

                Strike (+6/1d6+4) or Mind Blast (2d6 damage/30’/5x per turn)

                STR 14 (+4); INT 12 (+3); PWR 16 (+5)

                DEX 14 (+4); CON 12 (+3); CHA 9 (+1)

Traits:                   Mind Blast; Nullify; Regenerate; Remote Sensing;

                                                Temporary Surge; Wall Crawling

Talents:                Improved Dice (Strike); Photographic Memory

Drawback:           Dependent

Mercy is a high school student who volunteered to take part in a clinical trial involving the healing properties of ladybug bio-receptors that paid $500. She did this to help support her younger brother, since their parents are deceased. The trial went horribly wrong, and she ended up in a coma for several weeks. When she awoke, she had been awarded a large settlement (in a trust fund). A few weeks later, she discovered that she started to develop superhuman abilities as a result of the experiment. She now masquerades as Ladybug, but hopes one day to be rid of her powers.

                Her temporary surge grants +2 to her DEX (and +1 to AC) when she is reduced to half of her hit points or fewer (10 or fewer).