Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

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Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Been reading through some of the books lately and came across this power in the back end of PU3.

It struck me then as it had in the past, that this power was a great concept, but the writing for it was... scattered and dis-congregant. Some aspects were reduced two thirds. Some three fourths, some four fifths, seemingly at random, etc. Also the 'range' on the power was not even technically enough to cover a medium sized room, much less as written to be going through air vents and over a building etc.

So I took a few minutes to re-write it with an eye for uniformity (Powers etc are reduced by a uniform amount) and addressed the range issue to make it more functional in a room larger than a medium sized (Private/home) Bathroom.

Swarm-Selves:
The character can cause himself to split apart into a swarm of mini-selves, each with a fraction of the power of the whole. Each Swarm-Self is about the size of a 6 inch (15 cm) children's action figure. These mini-selves share the super being's thoughts, memories, personality, and mental attributes (I.Q., M.A. and M.E.) in a sort of group mind. In fact, when the swarm forms back into one whole person, the experiences of each miniature Swarm-Self will be remembered as if it were the personal experience of the individual super being.

Swarm Attributes: The character's P.P., P.E., and P.B./appearance are unchanged in the miniature versions, but P.S. is reduced to one third of what it is in human size; round up. (For example: If the character has a P.S. of 47 in his normal form, each of his Swarm-Selves will have a P.S. of 16.) As strange as it may seem, when the character "swarms," the miniselves are all dressed exactly as the original was when he divided into the swarm and the Swarm-Selves will be armed with mini versions of whatever weapons and equipment the original was armed with. Each of the mini-selves will be just a half pound (0.225 kg) and their (normal/ordinary) Spd attribute remains unchanged.

Attacks per Melee: Each Swarm-Self has two attacks per melee round regardless of what the character my have in human size, but each also has an automatic dodge (roll to dodge as always, but the act of dodging does not use up a melee attack/action).

Other Super Abilities: Reduce all aspects of other super abilities (their range, damage, duration, Spd, etc.) by 66%. One third, of what they were before. That means super speedsters will run (or fly) at a third of their usual super-speed.

Combat Bonuses: Reduce combat bonuses to one third, except as noted under Bonuses & Limitations, below.

Number of Swarm-Selves: The number of mini-selves is based on the character's Hit Points; divide the number of Hit Points by Three (rounded down) to get the number of Swarm-Selves created.

Hit Points and S.D.C: Each Swarm-Self will have a total of five Hit Points and 50 S.D.C! The hero's A.R. (if any) remains unchanged. The character's normal S.D.C, is not used in his swarm form and damage done to the S.D.C, of the Swarm-Selves does not affect his normal S.D.C, in any way, nor does the loss of normal S.D.C, affect the S.D.C, of the swarm.
(Note if a power gives bonus SDC, such as APS,etc it -does- still do so, but at one third the normal amount. If the character gains 300SDC via a power, each of the Swarm-Selves will have 100SDC (Not 150)
On the other hand, the loss of Hit Points in human-size reduces the number of Swarm-Selves that are created and the loss of Swarm-Selves reduces the hero's total Hit Points when he transforms back to normal. When only one Swarm-Self is remaining the character is forced to return to his human size and form. The character cannot split up again into his Swarm-Selves, until he has healed back up to a minimum of 6 Hit Points.

Range: Self. One of the major limitations of this power is that the Swarm-Selves operate as a swarm, fighting in unison, and must stay within moderate proximity of one another. The maximum distance that they may venture apart is 50 feet per additional Swarm Self. If he splits into 2 (Original+1 more) He can travel 50 feet apart. 3 selves would be 100 feet apart. 4 selves would be 150 feet, and so on. This is accomplished in a 'chain'. Swarm Self A can be 50ft from Swarm Self B, and Swarm Self C can be 50 feet from B. So in total A and C are 100 feet apart, but still with in 50ft of at least 1 other 'self'. The range is omnidirectional, meaning horizontal or vertical. Also, the more swarm selves you have, the further apart they can venture, but all in all they need to be pretty close. Even someone with 50hp would only be able to spread out about 750ft apart.

If a member of the swarm nears the maximum range (50ft from at least 1 other member of the Swarm) they start to get a tingle. At 45 feet the sensation starts, and the closer they get to the max range of 50ft, the stronger the sensation. If a member of the swarm exceeds their maximum range, a sickening feeling of dread washes over them. That dread is powerful and not mistakable for anything else. He or she knows that they need to get back in range ASAP. The member of the swarm has a short window, out side of his or her maximum range. 1D6 minutes out side of combat or 1D6 Melees in combat.

If they remain out side of their maximum range longer than that they will collapse and lapse into a coma state, reviving only upon being brought back into proximity of the rest of the swarm, and will die within 1D6+10 minutes if not reunited. (The human-sized super being has to recover from the loss of Hit Points as if he or she had been injured, but once they're healed, that self can be created again.) Note, a member of the swarm can be forced out side of the maximum range by foes or circumstances. There’s no sort of magical magnetic effect that ‘keeps’ them with in range. An enemy for example could grab one of the 6 inch tall characters and FLING them 100 feet away. That member of the swarm would feel that sensation of dread and know they only have a very short amount of time to reunite with his or her fellows, or lapse into that coma state. So they better scamper with a quickness to get back in range.

Duration: Can function as a swarm for up to one hour per level of experience.

Bonuses and Limitations: The small size of the Swarm-Selves make them ideal for spying, reconnaissance, surveillance, searches and rescue missions, as well as ambush and theft. They can also engage in combat, but have limited range, strength and ability, even when fighting in unison as a swarm. +6 to automatic dodge, +20% to Prowl/hide, Tailing, Detect Ambush, and Camouflage, and +1D6+3 to Hit Points.
Due to their small size and relative toughness, the Swarm-Selves take only half the normal damage from physical attacks, including punches, kicks, stomp attacks, and all blunt attacks. Full damage from blade weapons, guns, energy attacks, explosions, magic, psionics and anything else. The diminutive selves can't use full-sized guns and advanced weapons with accuracy (-4 to strike, parry and disarm even on a Called Shot). Weapons that are miniaturized with them only do one third of the damage they do at full size. (Roll normal amount of dice, divide after damage is rolled (Round up). Makes it a lot easier than trying to divide dice)

Swarm Combat Tactics: Due to the number of Swarm- Selves and their small size, the character has a number of special attacks available to him when in swarm form.

1. Swarm Attack: The swarming attack is the most basic form of attack where all the Swarm-Selves attack one opponent from several different locations, heights and angles, like a swarm of angry bees or fire ants. Tactics usually involve trying to disable, confuse, and separate their target from his teammates.

2. Distract, lure and hide. Another favorite ploy is to make noise, or even shout to make it sound like someone (big) is in the room or nearby and lure one or two opponents out to see who's there or to attack an intruder. ("Who's there? Show yourself." "Hey Joe, did you hear that?" "Sounded like it came from over there.") By hiding, like rats, there seems to be nobody there, but the victim has been lured away from his post or can be continued to be lured farther (or into a trap or ambush) by continuing the noise and hide tactic.

3. Trip Attack: Most humans don't expect to be attacked by a swarm of action figure-sized opponents at the foot or ankle level, and are usually taken by surprise from such attacks. This means an opponent is usually easily tripped and knocked to the ground. 1D6 damage from the fall, the victim loses initiative and two melee attacks, and has a 01-50% chance of dropping whatever he was holding when he fell (weapon, flashlight, important document or evidence, etc.).

4. The Gulliver Attack: After a successful trip attack, the swarm can use any available strings/wire/cords to tie the victim up as he flounders on the ground. They can also swarm and attack while he's off balance using punches, miniature weapons or other powers (if any).

5. Bump and Grab: Another ploy is to have part of the group attack or lure the subject away while the others grab important evidence and make a run for it, hiding in the shadows, under a desk or table, etc., until they can join their other selves and make a break for it, ideally, unseen.
Last edited by Pepsi Jedi on Wed May 09, 2018 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

Was this a major? You don't indicate it as such.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Yes. A Major. :) Sorry.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Nightmartree »

When it comes to area is it, +50ft to the distance any one self may be from the swarm (so that distance from the approximate center of the group), +50ft to the distance they can be from any 1 other swarmling (a chain of swarmlings as long as they have at least 1 that close to the others), or do they all have to be within base range+50ft of every other swarmling (so draw a circle with the two furthest swarmlings at the edge and that's as far as they can go)?

and I've always found this power to be wonderful but way too limited for what it should be...
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Nightmartree wrote:When it comes to area is it, +50ft to the distance any one self may be from the swarm (so that distance from the approximate center of the group), +50ft to the distance they can be from any 1 other swarmling (a chain of swarmlings as long as they have at least 1 that close to the others), or do they all have to be within base range+50ft of every other swarmling (so draw a circle with the two furthest swarmlings at the edge and that's as far as they can go)?

and I've always found this power to be wonderful but way too limited for what it should be...


Right the limitation of them all having to be in a small to maybe medium size room is what really limits the power.

The way I have it written would be the "Chain" option.

A can be 50ft from B.
B can be 50ft from C

So in total A is 100ft from C, but both are with in 50ft of B.

So yeah you can daisy chain it out.

A hero with 20 HP could make 6 Swarm-selves. Thus if they were in a single directional chain
A-B-C-D-E-F
A and B could be 50 feet from one another. but in that direct chain A could be 250ft from F.

To a point the direction need not always be linear. For such things as Airvents you could go vertical. Horizontal, Vertical and all in all have a self a few stories up and 100 to 150 feet over. Depending on spacing.

If one wants to get into diagonals they can but that's a bit annoying. Lets be honest we're going to eyeball it anyway. Seldom will people be breaking out rulers. It's only going to come up directly if a GM purposefully builds something to 'exceed' your maximum range and puts you in that custom sort of situation. I can think of how to do it, but it's literally building a contrivance to purposefully block a power's usefullness. I'd guess 49 times out of 50 You'll get something to the tune of "Traveling the route indicated your last self starts to feel that tingle, that they're about to exceed their safe distance arouuuuunnnnnnnd here." That 50th time.... will be the purposeful contrivance.

So at 50ft of spacing from the closest other swarm self you're still acting in close proximity. Just not a single bathroom or smallish child's bedroom. You're likely to chain out 150+ feet should you need to.

That makes the power ever so much more useful.

Then you just have to get around reducing all 'other' powers to a third. This is the 'main' restriction to the Major Powe. At low level that's really going to sting, but you DO get more than one 'shot' with the much weakened powers. Working as a swarm/squad you can 'focus fire' to make up for that limitation.

Just a for instance Energy Expulsion Fire starts at 2D6 damage+1D6 per level if memory serves so at first lvl at full size you'd do 3D6 damage, but splitting into swarm selves you'd reduce it by to a third.

If you split into 3 selves. You'd each do a third of your max damage (3D6) but you'd need to focus your fire to apply it to one target for similar results. Hince the 'swarm' selves.

(( instead of trying to have dice always divide by 3 (HIGHLY unlikely) it's much easier to roll the normal amount and just divide the results by 3. So if your normal power has 5D6 damage, trying to figure out how much to roll for that would be annoying and you'd end up rounding up or down, either dong a bonus die or being shorted a die. So instead just roll the 5D6 and once you get the sum, divide by 3. Much easier that way. And yes, sometimes that means the little guys may only be dong a few points damage per blast/power, but that's part of the power. The individuals are weaker than the whole, and limited.

It's 'why' this is 'one' major power.

if you want full strength mini's you can do it via Multiplebeings/Selves major power and EITHER... "Shrink" (A second major power) or alot 'cheeper' by having Multiple Beings/Selves major and the minor "Flight Insect' (and you get flight out of it)

That way each multiple could fire off full blasts, not be restricted as to distance, and ... could fly.

But again it's a Major and a minor instead of a single major.

It's a flavor distinction mostly. And you might want to use that minor for something else. (The Multiple Beings/selves gives multiples a bit slower too, but... each one is either full strength or full strength -an experience level.)

So... One should choose the option they like best. Nothing wrong with "Multiple Beings/Selves+ Flight insect. Your slower to ramp up in multiples but each multiple is 3 times as strong.

Or Multiple beings/shrink for more size verisitility.

It's sort of like the difference between APS Fire, APS Plasma and APS Lava. There's a lot of overlap. They do many of the same things, but it's what flavor do you want it to be? Which little quirks do you want to play out. Which restrictions are you ok with. Which ones do you not like.

Choose the flavor you like best. :D

For me I love the Swarm Selves power, but as I stipulated above it was .... some what badly written and inconsistent. Once you place in the consistency and address the 'range' issue, it becomes much more viable and attractive. (Previously you'd be hard pressed to ever chose Swarm selves, as the restrictions and inconsistencies were annoying and it'd be MUCH better to choose Multiple beings/Selves and toss um Flight insect. With my changes hopefully Swarmselves better 'plays' like it's write up and mental image.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Nightmartree »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:The way I have it written would be the "Chain" option.

Choose the flavor you like best. :D

For me I love the Swarm Selves power, but as I stipulated above it was .... some what badly written and inconsistent.


Thanks for the clarification, and hehe swarm selves+giant? personally I like something like Swarm Selves+ Multiple Selves, then add in things like superhuman PS, Extraordinary PE, Healing Factor (Or other HP increasing skills, if youd prefer) and by that point your a one man army, a small army but if you break up into squads or groups of them...your looking at about a dozen swarm selves per multi self, so even low level your doing good, also since you come equipped with the big you's weapons...have you ever seen a swarm of mini me's with RPGs...every battle is a war on an epic scale against giants

That's what I like about swarm selves, one character can fufill the dramatic needs and epicness of a large scale battle, give a guy instant wardrobe and weapon multi self, swarm self, and a hp boost and an army can attack your foes, men can fall in glorious battle, medics can tend to people, heros can fell giants and yes my character is doing all of it just because...its so cool

I've also considered doing one as a scientist, can you imagine a "Swarm Self" except instead of a bunch of little guys its a bunch of little guys piloting man sized robots? Miniaturization is easier when your to scale, not easy but easier

(That said had to modify a few things just for it to make sense as a power and my GM at the time 100% agreed with my requested changes)
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Well Swarm Selves+Multiple selves are two majors, then three more minors.. that's a lot of powers on one Char. There's probably a way to acheive it but that's not going to be a standard loadout.

Usually things top out around 2 majors and 1 minor. ( I'm aware once in a while people will get 3 majors, or the 'evolving' powers where they get more powers every few levels but those require high level builds to stack the powers)

There's also a point where many GM's are going to get annoied. Alot of GM's don't like Multiple selves because you're basicly playing a number of characters all undr one control. Swarm selves are weaker so it tends to go over a little better but can still be annoying by annoying people.

Adding them both and it might be cool in concept. "Multiple Swarms" But then you're talking about dozens of attack rolls per round all done by one player, while the rest of the group groan and get bored and start flipping through their phones or something.

The mini weapons are cool but their power gets reduced too. So even if they had RPGs, it'd be about like shooting a person with a normal pistol. lol.

A fun one that's not too terribly twinkish would be "Swarm Selves+Toy control"

You could shift down to action figure size and then use ... Action figure vehicles and stuff to get around. Everything from RC cars (Some of which can get DAMN fast) to Modern Day Drones for high altitude and Ariel options.

Even if you don't take the toy control power, As you pointed out, miniaturization is easier when you're to scale. it would be a relatively simple few rolls to put the "Remote control" for the vehicles. IN or ON said Vehicles. (Depending on how crude you wanted to be it wouldn't even be a roll but instead a few strips of duct tape in your full sized form.)

Imagine a 'swarm' of heroes coming zipping up and repelling off a drone, or flying around on a drone giving covering fire, or even a swarm of heroes using a swarm of drones to attack. lol

If you watched the latest opening ceremony for the Olympics, drone flight was showcased there in high precision.

Give your char: "Pilot RC vehicles" or something as a hobby skill and ZIP! You'd really need to watch your spacing. 1) To not clip one another adn 2) For your range. It's easy to fly more than 50 feet from one another. But as a gm I give the char a few melees/minutes to get back "in range"

It's not like at 49ft and 11 inches you're fine. 50ft your fine.. but at 50ft and 1 inch suddenly you drop as if your strings are cut. You get a sort of tingle when you're nearing the limit and if you go over the limit you get a sickening feeling and you need to get back IN range ASAP ( If I were to asign numbers I'd say 1D6 Minutes out side of combat, or 1D6 Melees in combat)

If you stay out side that range longer than that (For ease lets call it 6 minutes or 6 melees(in combat) Then yeah the self passes out.

Matter of fact that's important enough to add to the actual power. Fixing a bit more of the write up. *Goes to edit*
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Edited: Addressing Range, and penalty for exceeding maximum range.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Nightmartree »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:
Spoiler:
Well Swarm Selves+Multiple selves are two majors, then three more minors.. that's a lot of powers on one Char. There's probably a way to acheive it but that's not going to be a standard loadout.

Usually things top out around 2 majors and 1 minor. ( I'm aware once in a while people will get 3 majors, or the 'evolving' powers where they get more powers every few levels but those require high level builds to stack the powers)

There's also a point where many GM's are going to get annoied. Alot of GM's don't like Multiple selves because you're basicly playing a number of characters all undr one control. Swarm selves are weaker so it tends to go over a little better but can still be annoying by annoying people.

Adding them both and it might be cool in concept. "Multiple Swarms" But then you're talking about dozens of attack rolls per round all done by one player, while the rest of the group groan and get bored and start flipping through their phones or something.

The mini weapons are cool but their power gets reduced too. So even if they had RPGs, it'd be about like shooting a person with a normal pistol. lol.

A fun one that's not too terribly twinkish would be "Swarm Selves+Toy control"

You could shift down to action figure size and then use ... Action figure vehicles and stuff to get around. Everything from RC cars (Some of which can get DAMN fast) to Modern Day Drones for high altitude and Ariel options.

Even if you don't take the toy control power, As you pointed out, miniaturization is easier when you're to scale. it would be a relatively simple few rolls to put the "Remote control" for the vehicles. IN or ON said Vehicles. (Depending on how crude you wanted to be it wouldn't even be a roll but instead a few strips of duct tape in your full sized form.)

Imagine a 'swarm' of heroes coming zipping up and repelling off a drone, or flying around on a drone giving covering fire, or even a swarm of heroes using a swarm of drones to attack. lol

If you watched the latest opening ceremony for the Olympics, drone flight was showcased there in high precision.

Give your char: "Pilot RC vehicles" or something as a hobby skill and ZIP! You'd really need to watch your spacing. 1) To not clip one another adn 2) For your range. It's easy to fly more than 50 feet from one another. But as a gm I give the char a few melees/minutes to get back "in range"

It's not like at 49ft and 11 inches you're fine. 50ft your fine.. but at 50ft and 1 inch suddenly you drop as if your strings are cut. You get a sort of tingle when you're nearing the limit and if you go over the limit you get a sickening feeling and you need to get back IN range ASAP ( If I were to asign numbers I'd say 1D6 Minutes out side of combat, or 1D6 Melees in combat)

If you stay out side that range longer than that (For ease lets call it 6 minutes or 6 melees(in combat) Then yeah the self passes out.

Matter of fact that's important enough to add to the actual power. Fixing a bit more of the write up. *Goes to edit*


True that the multiple selves+swarms+others is a lot, but i wasn't planning on it being a rolled character and there are a few (Not a lot) of the power categories that will let you get about that, especially if your gm is lenient. Also an Rpg or Law is 1D4x100 or so, even at 1/10th damage it would be a 1D4x10 shot, which is a singe use consumable, but if a dozen mini's fire at once....also full auto and burst fire, you'll burn through a LOT of ammo, but you have a lot more bullets when there are multiples of you.

Quantity is a Quality all its own, and i don't actually consider multiple selves for its combat elements...for one as sad as it is even if you gave me a high level multiple selves character i likely would not be out damaging anything in my group. For two we tend to treat swarms and multiple selves as one "unit" during combat, so it cuts down on die rolls, parts of the swarm can do something else aside from the main, but i'm not taking 20+ actions every time i come up in the rotation....

So far we've handled it okay, but then again i'm the "minion" person in the group so i enjoy keeping track of numerous allies and using them to the best effect, and if they're slowing down the game thats not fun (i'm no slower than our combat guy who has to break out a calculator to make sure he has his damage straight, and yes, he does deal that much damage when he pulls the string on a bandolier of grenades he is wearing). My recomendation is fire and forget, give your allies/minions/selves a job or goal and then check with the GM later to see if they've made it or hit difficulties, and group rolls of like minions whenever they gather in large groups (or have 10D20 on hand and mass roll).

Personally i like the toy control idea, have you considered anatomical seperation like some people have suggested? it lets you seperate parts of your body to do your own thing, so a swarm self as a part of you could wander off on their own. Even without that you'd have some very small non-mechanical camera/microphones (assuming you can recollect them in time)
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

If I'm 100% honest, on the few occassions I've played swarm selves I've asked the GM to just nix the 'range' and every time the GM has said "Sure". So it didn't come up for me IN GAME so far. The above was written to try and make the power more viable for 'everyone else'. If multiple beings/selves can travel to the other side of the planet with unlimited duration and what not, it's pretty easy to justify the swarm selves not having an 'enforced' range limit. (Other than the distance a 6 inch character can move. lol)

And yeah some power combos are down right deadly.

As for your comment about the RPGs... Yeah... the number in the GM guide says 1D4X100, which is also the damage for a Medium nuclear missile(Pg 82 core)

So... there's some strange... damage issues with those.

Sadly most of my groups are not government funded and those that are tend to be a little hesitant to pass out rocket launchers to -my- chars.

I have no idea why. :D :D :D
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Nightmartree »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:As for your comment about the RPGs... Yeah... the number in the GM guide says 1D4X100, which is also the damage for a Medium nuclear missile(Pg 82 core)

So... there's some strange... damage issues with those.

Sadly most of my groups are not government funded and those that are tend to be a little hesitant to pass out rocket launchers to -my- chars.

I have no idea why. :D :D :D


Ya the GM call thing kinda makes many powers different, my GM basically threw out over half the written parts of swarm selves and just went with it. I really need to relook through the GM guide, is it 1d4x100 sdc for those missiles? and if I recall the tank SDC the rpg is about right for dealing serious damage to one, a nuke should obliterate it and most of the surrounding area (Something like the APS:Fire self detonation I think...). But all that's off the top of my head and could be very very wrong.

And most of my advanced weapons are homemade (If I can't make them someone else can), and I like "acquiring" items from people who shouldn't have such contraband. I'd say over 90% of my weapons are made in team or fell off the back of a bad guys truck. And really, you don't go outside with an rpg unless you need to bring an rpg. More often a nice "pocket nuke" or a few high tech grenades tied together with one string and handed to our groups not-so-suicide-bomber will handle that...again what do you do with the guy who can take a massive explosion to the face? You strap explosives to him and throw him at a target...

All this said I once wanted to make an alien race with the swarm self power (based on the immortal power category too...) who served as one man swat teams taking down crime and raiding evil space farers with robots and high tech weapons.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

If you like the idea of the "one man swat/spec forces team, there's a good build for it

Use the Super-soldier option from Powers Unlimited 2
Attributes: Norm
HP and SDC: Norm
Backgrounds
Sponsoring Org: Whichever, but if you're purposefully building, Branch of the military/Government might be optimal, or private industry
Motive: This one has some options. Military/Combat, Military/Espionage/spy/Special forces, Crime-frighting/police/law enforcement being clear stand outs
Nature of procedure: Which ever you feel fits best.
Nature of test subject: The "Mutant' option doesn't really fit here. I mean it 'can' but it's sort of like doubling down and the super soldier gets a bunch of stuff already so, Normal guy or even weak/fat guy is best here.
Status: Depends on your game and setting for your team.
Replication of the Super-soldier process: This one is largely to taste but the "Failed or abandoned project with one success" Best replicates the Captain America one. (Yes I know there were various attempts to replicate it, but Cap is the stand out CAP, and this option keeps there from being 100s of guys with 1000s of swarm selves running round.)
Number and Type of super abilities; This one is open to the player/setting. What you 'Need' though is at least 1 major. To get the swarm selves. Other majors or minors are icing on the cake. Two majors for instance could get you swarm selves and an APS... which would just be deadly. Or other combos. But you "need' at least 1 major for the build
Special Super-soldier Enhancement table: It says 1D4 but lets be honest we all get 4 of these.
In order of importance/preference
1: Increased Leaping Ability. With this your 6 inch swarm selves get astounding mobility. they can leap up to 6+feet. Which gets them on top of tables and book cases and shoulders and heads and such. Into and out of airvents. With out the Flight power. (Note if you DO have flight power this one can be passed up fo something else but if you don't have flight this makes your 6 inch guys awesome. You don't need to 'scale/climb' a table like a 10 story building. You just hop up onto it. This one is invaluable to the build. (Unless you have flight. Of course)
2: Attempt to make the character invulnerable. Makes your swarm selves tougher, And most impoirtantly adds to HP which adds swarm selves. More selves more offense and defense able to be put forth. Some might rank this at #1, but I still think the added mobility of the leaping out weighs it. But depending on play style your milage may vary. If you have a GM that just lets the 6 inch guys go anywhere with out a roll, you might not need the leaping as much. A GM that's like "How are you going to get onto that counter? You're 6 inches tall with no rope and the sides of the table legs are "Under" the lip of the counter" you'll surely need it more
3: Increased physical Agility and dexterity. (Much added stats to primary combat modifiers)
4: Physical transformation: The 'Steve Rogers effect" Turns a 80lbs weakling or a 300lbs overweight normal guy, into the Super solder.

With these 4, and the 1 major of Swarm selves you're going to be pretty BadA. Added minors and majors just make it that much more. But with the super soldier option it gets even better.

Battle armor/Hero costume: For the Swat/Squad of commandos build, the Costume with hidden modern armor fits well. There IS the "Portable force field belt" option and the twink inside us would 'want' that every time. I mean. It's awesome right? but it IS kinda twinky to pour on top of everything else so I personally stear a little clear of it. Unless in a VERY high powered game.

Special weapons: Whoooo the options here are vast. If you're still working for the government/military/law, the Mini missile launcher is pretty cool. It adds to the punch when in swarmself form.

But so are rechargeable laser pistols or rifles.

Personally for me it's never any contest. I go for the light sabers.

There's also a captain America shield if you're really going for that look. But depending on preferences, many of the weapons could work.. but come on.... Light sabers!

Then you get a prototype vehicle as well. Much like the Force field Belt, the anti grav belt is tempting, and surely useful. But again it feels like a bit much to me. Not that it's not viable, but wow, free unlimited flight as well? I find the Rocket cycle to be a nice one. Can hover or fly a bit above the ground, and books it along at a pretty good clip. Even shrunken down with your swam selves you're looking at 100mph, and abler to hover 1 to 6 and a half feet off the ground. The image of a bunch of lil guys zipping around on hover bikes appeals. it gives them 'off road' capability, especially when "off road" may have foliage taller than your char. A vacant lot might be like a jungle. But if you can hover 6 and a half feet up. that gets you over most anything but an Actual jungle and you can fly through an actual jungle like the speeder bikes on Endor.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Regularguy »

I wonder if Swarm Selves plus Transmutation should allow for permanent effects with no lasting damage to the regular human form?
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Well if the swarm selves 'die' while swarmed you lose the HP till you heal it back.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Regularguy »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:Well if the swarm selves 'die' while swarmed you lose the HP till you heal it back.


That’s the idea: have some of the swarm selves ‘die’ by permanently transmuting stuff, and then have the normal-sized human recuperate back to full health, and then do it again.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Ehhh I'd say no. I'd say the hero would lose those hp.
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

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Pepsi Jedi wrote:Ehhh I'd say no. I'd say the hero would lose those hp.


But if various Swarm Selves get killed upon being poisoned or hacked apart or burned to death or whatever, the regular-sized hero can later heal back up to his original hp total before once again sending out a full swarm of full-health selves, right?
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Nightmartree »

Regularguy wrote:
Pepsi Jedi wrote:Ehhh I'd say no. I'd say the hero would lose those hp.


But if various Swarm Selves get killed upon being poisoned or hacked apart or burned to death or whatever, the regular-sized hero can later heal back up to his original hp total before once again sending out a full swarm of full-health selves, right?


He's probably doing a "game balance" call on this not a "Powers as written" call
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Pepsi Jedi »

Nightmartree wrote:
Regularguy wrote:
Pepsi Jedi wrote:Ehhh I'd say no. I'd say the hero would lose those hp.


But if various Swarm Selves get killed upon being poisoned or hacked apart or burned to death or whatever, the regular-sized hero can later heal back up to his original hp total before once again sending out a full swarm of full-health selves, right?


He's probably doing a "game balance" call on this not a "Powers as written" call


Pretty much. I have firm limits on twinkery.... it's not a line etched in stone but more like two fixed points with string between them with a lot of play in the middle. You can stretch it one way or another for a bit of give and take but there is a limit to how that string can stretch or move. When you hit that limit, no more.

So I try and not let powers be 'abused'

Fun combos? Totally. Love those. But combos built to purposefully circumvent or 'break' the system or 'game' the system? That gets you swatted with the book.

Oh yes.. I have the hardcover. TWACK!!!
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Re: Power Revision: Swarm Selves.

Unread post by Nightmartree »

Pepsi Jedi wrote:Pretty much. I have firm limits on twinkery.... it's not a line etched in stone but more like two fixed points with string between them with a lot of play in the middle. You can stretch it one way or another for a bit of give and take but there is a limit to how that string can stretch or move. When you hit that limit, no more.

So I try and not let powers be 'abused'

Fun combos? Totally. Love those. But combos built to purposefully circumvent or 'break' the system or 'game' the system? That gets you swatted with the book.

Oh yes.. I have the hardcover. TWACK!!!


In other words ask him if you can remove or rework the HP penalty to permanently transform things so it's a usable but not broken form of the power and just skip the whole "are you trying to break the game via power combo" debate. There are a lot of ways to handle a permanent transformation power without making it a death trap or gold mine...you may get better results if you fall back on GM bribery with pizza, alcohol and other goodies...
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