ozbot.typepad.com/spideyguide/Thanks for the feedback so far, it is always appreciated. Here are some replies to comments so far:
Stevie:We're glad that we leave you wanting more (as opposed to less). We understand your point regarding Statecraft, but unfortunately it was important for us to include because Silver Sable has this action, and we don't want to assume that everyone who download has the Avengers book and it's a complex enough action to warrant description. The reason that we chose not to include the suggested actions was for the same reason that you sited; both are relatively easy to cook up. Cop doesn't really warrant much explanation (in our opinion). It would be a variation of Private Eye which would include a number of relevant specialties as well as a basic knowledge of legal procedure. Leaping was an action that we actually HAD considered including (for Frogman, and Speedball), but opted not to. It's basically a limited version of Acrobatics, which allows for leaping only. Still no description required: You'd use your rank on the Area/Leaping row to determine the distance you could leap. (Not sure how you'd price it though, since it's already at AN which seems to be the lowest price. I guess you could invent a -1 level action modifier to simulate the limited nature of this Action.) With the number of other Actions and options that we felt did require some explanation, Leaping took a back seat. Anyway, we hope you understand, and we thank you for your comments and support.
Kaimontfendo:We don't consider your comments to be "rants and complaints" and we don't consider them as such. We consider them to be constructive criticism, which we appreciate tremendously. We're glad that we got this out to you in time for your Thanksgiving Dinner.
Clairvoyance:
Our version of Clairvoyance was originally designed in a similar fashion to what you describe, but we changed it so that we could incorporate Danny's Difficulty/Range chart, which seemed to be a nice touch.
Clairvoyance is intended to be fully customizable, just in a reverse sense; instead of adding on options, you add limits to the power to create your desired effect. Our second, third, and fourth options for this action should be -2, not -1 options. So if you want to create a character who can ONLY see into the past OR future OR at a distance you take that as a -2 option. But if you want the character to have the ability to see 2 of these, it would be a -1 option instead.
Admittedly the wording of our second and third options also could have been less confusing. They should have simply read: "Can only look into the past"
and "Can only look into the future."
The limitations regarding a person or object (in range 1) were meant to apply to ALL attempts to see past and future, not just to characters who have these options. In other words, any character who uses Clairvoyance, can only sense future or past events of a person or object in the immediate vicinity. (Though the GM could allow +1 modifier to eliminate the need for such a medium altogether.) We'll revise our wording so that all of this is clearer in our next updated version.
Corrosive Touch:
Ok, here's another goof we made. Corrosive Touch should ignore Armor and Toughness, but NOT Reflexive Dodge. Reflexive dodge applies normally. (So defense against a Corrosive touch attack would equal Durability + Reflexive
dodge.) This effect simulates that your target can always try to dodge the attack, but if do you manage to touch them, the corrosive effect eats away at their physical defenses.
But is it too expensive? We don't think so. It's true; Corrosive Touch requires that you touch your opponent first. Drain energy is the same, for only +1 cost. But if you were to make it an attack vs. your opponent's ability (for +6 levels) you'd get a total cost of +7. (See Game Guide, page 40) And that's not even taking into account the fact that Corrosive Touch damages white stones, not just red stones, which makes it even more dangerous!
When you look at it that way, our price is quite a bargain! While we could have set it even higher, when considering all of the available options we didn't want the cost getting out of hand. So we opted to keep it at +3 level cost. It's not cheap, but it's still affordable, and gives you room for option upgrades.
In answer to your questions:
We'd say no, they must actively touch their target (which is how it works for Namorita). But ultimately that would be a decision for the player and each individual GM.
Your question is not confusing. And no, they do not have to be allocated before you know whether you hit or not. It functions the same as Drain Energy.
Regarding Nerve Punch:
No there is nothing huge that you're missing. We originally had that as a +3 power and changed it to +4 to make it about the same cost as Iron Fist. However, your argument makes a lot of sense. (Thanks for breaking that down for us; we totally overlooked those points!) We'll lower the cost to Action Number + 2 Levels for our updated version.
Mastery of Kung Fu and Mastery Questions:
Masteries are always Action Number + Number of Options.
Yes there is precedence for the one stone cost for Electro's ability to negate Spidey's Wall-Crawling, and Dagger's ability to transfer stones to Cloak. Unfortunately we neglected to add it in. You'll find it as part of our update under New Action Options: Mastery of Elements.
Regarding Stealth:
Good points (and not ones that we hadn't considered). We had a tough time finding a way to implement that kind of system for the simple reason that some senses (like Radar Sense) are priced according to level while some (like Prescience) are not. And, since this particular modifier also has no level or ranks, (precedence by the fact that it appears in the main guide without one) we had to determine a set price for it.
We felt it would be unfair to allow a character to be able to completely bypass Daredevil's Radar sense, or Spidey's Prescience with just a few red stones, so we set the price at 10 white stones for simplicity's sake. The cost of 10 white stones also helps limit abuse (where players build an effective combat machine who can also become invisible to normal sight as well as the multiple senses of large groups of characters) This cost encourages that the modifier be used in the way it was intended, namely to simulate characters who can either 1) Become "invisible" to one particular enhanced sense (of any character) or 2) Ignore the enhanced sense of a particular recurring Arch-Enemy. (All 3 characters featured with this ability Carnage, Typhoid Mary, and Venom are examples of this.)
On the flip side, while it's true that Clairvoyance (and possibly other senses) can get even more expensive than the ability to ignore them, the ability to be undetectable to that sense still only has limited value, so in this case we still feel that the price we've set is still appropriate. The GM may, however, may modify the price as he or she sees fit, depending on the needs of the campaign. (A campaign that allows a mutant to be invisible to all Sentinals "Sense Mutants" modifier will be less useful in a modern day setting than it will in a "Days of Future Past" futuristic campaign, where mutants are rounded up by Sentinals on a daily basis and herded into concentration camps.)
Regarding Summon/Control Animals:
Thank you! There's actually precedent for this power in previous supplements. We just took the information we found there and expanded upon it. Coming up in our updated section (which will include Supplemental Rules and Clarifications) you can expect to find expanded rules which will allow characters with this action to control vast armies of creatures as well.
Regarding Weapons Morphing:
We're glad you like it! Also consider the fact that Carnage, (the only character who has this modifier in the book), doesn't even have stretching. We originally wrote Sandman up with this modifier as well, but then we thought what he did was better simulated by stretching. They are 2 similar yet different abilities: Stretching allows you to elongate your entire body and assume virtually any shape. Weapons Morphing strictly allows you to form weapons (similar to Bone Weapons, though more versatile) which offer a free stones to your attack.
Control Trajectories and Hunt/Seek are 2 advantages that will appear as part of the Supplemental Rules and Clarifications in our update. (To be released shortly.)
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We just want to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to download and review our latest section. Please continue to post your thoughts and comments... we love to hear what you think of our project... and based on past releases, we have made many changes based on this feedback.
- Unofficial Spider-Man Guide To New York Development Team
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The character that you missed; we kind of cheated on, due to the fact that we listed it as one of his PA powers. Take a closer look at… Stiltman!!