Supers character question.

[Rowan]

I've been thinking of beginning a Super's campaign, but I need a little help. Reading through the old IST book (3e) it gives the starting WW2 campaign at 250 points with a 100 point Unusual Background cost. Would it be fine to 'keep' that point total, or does it need to be increased because of the doubled cost of IQ and DX?

I'm looking to begin a 'superpowers' just emerged kind of feel to the game. I'm also concerned about high strength since super human strength seems to be a 'hallmark' power for a lot of players in games like this. Can a reasonably superstrong human be made on 250 points (the extra 100 points being UB cost, so that can't be used.. and should I uses 100 points for an UB cost? )

What would cost, for instance for a superhuman to be able to lift .. say a ford mustang and toss it? How about a ford explorer? I assume the 'easiest' way is you use the enhanced ST advantage in powers (forgive me, I cannot recall the name of it, but I believe it's a +400% advantage).

Any help would be appreciated thanks. =)

[t@nya]

The recommended points for disadvantages has gone up to half of the total character points, due in part to the increased cost of IQ and DX. The disadvantage points in your case would go up from 100 to 125, half of the 250 total.

In the case of the UB this would leave the characters with 25 points to play with, making their characters more distinct, so I would keep the UB cost the same (100).

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Rowan

I'm looking to begin a 'superpowers' just emerged kind of feel to the game. I'm also concerned about high strength since super human strength seems to be a 'hallmark' power for a lot of players in games like this. Can a reasonably superstrong human be made on 250 points (the extra 100 points being UB cost, so that can't be used.. and should I uses 100 points for an UB cost? )

If all characters are to pay the cost, you can pretty much waive it. It has little function. Point value is really there to make things fair between player characters.

[nmoody]

I use more of a sliding scale, for disadvantages.

Points>Disads
0-200>50
201-500>75
501-1000>100

It keeps things more sane and makes it easier for me to keep track (if they have 50 points, most likely, it'll be one biggie a dn afew smaller ones).

I see no real problem w/the RAW though.

One thing I'll say about 4th ed. It seems to do high=point values better. Not sure how, but all the rules changes must combine to make 1000 pt PCs easier to handle.

[Rowan]

Hm, thanks for the replies, but I have another question.. more of a follow up. As I said originally super strength is something of a hallmark power to most comic genre fans .. but I wonder if it's feasible at certian power levels.

For instance, if I 'nix' the UB cost, and simply make the campaign limit 250 points, for 'beginning' supers, I know I can make some 'really' nice super humans on that total, but is super strength feasible in the area of 'lifting'? As I asked in the first post is it realistic to expect a super built at that level to be able to lift say a sports car (like a ford mustang) and throw it some distance? Or is super strength that looks like super strength not realistic at this level? What about 300 points? 350 points?

[Pomphis]

If you start with ST10, you need Lifting ST+90 [270] for a BL of 2,000 lb.
With Extra Effort you need less. OTOH if you want to throw stuff to do damage, Lifting ST isn´t enough and you should buy regular ST, though can sell back the HPs, so that you pay only [8] per point.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Rowan

I've been thinking of beginning a Super's campaign, but I need a little help. Reading through the old IST book (3e) it gives the starting WW2 campaign at 250 points with a 100 point Unusual Background cost. Would it be fine to 'keep' that point total, or does it need to be increased because of the doubled cost of IQ and DX?

I'm looking to begin a 'superpowers' just emerged kind of feel to the game. I'm also concerned about high strength since super human strength seems to be a 'hallmark' power for a lot of players in games like this. Can a reasonably superstrong human be made on 250 points (the extra 100 points being UB cost, so that can't be used.. and should I uses 100 points for an UB cost? )

What would cost, for instance for a superhuman to be able to lift .. say a ford mustang and toss it? How about a ford explorer? I assume the 'easiest' way is you use the enhanced ST advantage in powers (forgive me, I cannot recall the name of it, but I believe it's a +400% advantage).

All of this will be addressed in more detail when GURPS Supers comes out. But for a quick summary, we ended up with a recommendation of UB 50 for a "rare supers" campaign, and an optional 100, 200, or 300 for D-scale, C-scale, and M-scale supers. And it looked as if you could build a pretty decent Brick for 1,000 points; that's where the Brick template is based.

Bill Stoddard

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Rowan

I've been thinking of beginning a Super's campaign, but I need a little help. Reading through the old IST book (3e) it gives the starting WW2 campaign at 250 points with a 100 point Unusual Background cost. Would it be fine to 'keep' that point total, or does it need to be increased because of the doubled cost of IQ and DX?

250 points (w/o the UB) is more like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Daredevil, and the original Heroes for Hire power level. You'll either have a few notable powers or be incredibly talented. It's not a bad power level.

I'm looking to begin a 'superpowers' just emerged kind of feel to the game. I'm also concerned about high strength since super human strength seems to be a 'hallmark' power for a lot of players in games like this. Can a reasonably superstrong human be made on 250 points (the extra 100 points being UB cost, so that can't be used.. and should I uses 100 points for an UB cost? )

250 + 100 UB- yes... Strong is generally more expensive than straight damage, so he won't be very tough if he's very strong. High lifting ST will cost 105+ points then you'll need to add an innate attack or Striking ST.

UBs are useful if you're going to mix in characters that have different buying restrictions. Otherwise, don't bother. My website has the UBs that I used to differentiate between normals, aliens (fixed set of powers), gadgeteers (no internal powers), and generic supers (one of a kind combos).

What would cost, for instance for a superhuman to be able to lift .. say a ford mustang and toss it? How about a ford explorer? I assume the 'easiest' way is you use the enhanced ST advantage in powers (forgive me, I cannot recall the name of it, but I believe it's a +400% advantage).

Not quite sure what a mustang weighs. Total Lifting ST around 50 will let you throw 5000lbs. The most inexpensive way to hit that would be Lifting ST 7 (Super Effort +400%) for around 105 points, though it's not much more expensive to pay for Lifting ST +40 outright (120 points). Less than Lifting ST 50 the +400% mod isn't cost effective.

[Kaldrin]

Most of my heroic fantasy campaigns start at 150(75) with 75 being the max disadvantages. This gives me a reference to view what I would consider super.

I personally would start a burgeoning supers campaign with 350(100). I've always thought the UB was kind of pointless if everyone has powers. I don't bother unless the campaign is going to be dealing with more normals than supers, which a burgeoning campaign probably will. I would set a powers user as needing a 50pt UB to buy powers.

If I were running a four-colour superhero campaign I'd use 1000(150)... or Champions. :)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by naloth

Not quite sure what a mustang weighs. Total Lifting ST around 50 will let you throw 5000lbs. The most inexpensive way to hit that would be Lifting ST 7 (Super Effort +400%) for around 105 points, though it's not much more expensive to pay for Lifting ST +40 outright (120 points). Less than Lifting ST 50 the +400% mod isn't cost effective.

Actually, no, Lifting ST doesn't help with throwing. Kromm made that clear before the playtest started. The paradigm of Lifting ST is a forklift or other piece of heavy equipment, which can raise heavy things off the ground and drop them, but not heave them.

We went over and over ST and throwing during the playtest, and finally we settled on the requirement that you take both Lifting ST and Striking ST to gain enhanced throwing. Lifting ST by itself is a slow contraction that doesn't let you move things fast enough to do a lot of damage; the best you can do is pick up something heavy and drop it. Striking ST by itself doesn't let you lift heavy things, though it lets you throw light things harder. We also added in Super Throw, roughly parallel to Super Jump.

Bill Stoddard