This is the notes for using EABA v2 to create ASE superheros. You will note that the powers are described, but not quantified. I am hoping for a little crowdsourcing here. I have my own ideas as to what the powers should look like in terms of their component modifiers, but I do not want to influence you the playtesters with my preconceptions.

Edit: January 26 2012
I've adjusted starting points for characters and started to design a few of the powers to give you a reference for your own designs. There are some other edits where I have added or elaborated on things, as ASE is very much a work in progress. Note that I have also tweaked EABA v2 chapter 6 a little. The "additive armor" modifier is now +4 instead of +1 to make it more attractive, and Toughness as a target is now -3 instead of -4. This means if Toughness is a defense against a power it is actually a +1 instead of +0.

One idea has occurred to me in terms of character creation, specifically in defining the character's ethos.

List one or more real world situations/events that have happened and then briefly describe what your character would have done in them or about them.

For example, when creating "SuperMax", a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for years and has become a crusader against injustice who punishes the people who wrong the powerless and the system doesn't punish, I'd say that in the situation where guards at Cochran state prison in California were found to be deliberately staging "gladiator fights" between prisoners and shooting prisoners during fights the guards had arranged in a series of events that became known as "gladiator days", Supermax would have gone to personally punish the guards and the prosecutors who had refused to try them despite clear evidence of abuse and murder of prisoners because he, being a victim of the system's injustice, now is driven to punish those who the system should punish but will not.

That's just a thought on defining a character's ethos in terms relating to the real world so the GM and other players can understand them. Other examples might be that "Captain Capitalism" would go to crush protests over economic injustice and "Socialist Person" would have protected such protests from anyone trying to shut them down.

Head to the top of the EABA v2 chapter 6 thread for the latest edit of chapter 6. No substantive changes, but just enough has been added to allow power creation from scratch rather than just editing the existing ones. This should be sufficient for most ASE needs. Playtesters should use this rather than wading through the old 100 page version of the full power rules.

Based on what I've got from my own work and emailed comments, this is the list of predesigned powers for ASE. Am I missing anything?

absorption (turn X energy into Y power)
animate
armor
blur (enhanced dodging)
bypass blast (ignores conventional defenses)
channeling
clairsentience (scrying)
claws
climbing (or clinging)
combat sense (like blindfolded but still able to fight)
costume (so you don't have to run into an back alley)
damage wall (does damage but does not hinder anything)
energy wall (force field wall)
enhanced sense
flight
force field
healing
invisibility
leaping
lethal blast
life support
mental blast
mental scan
mental shield
morph (general shapeshift)
phasing (like Hero desolidification)
precognition (or danger sense)
radio
reduction (reduce the value of a game quantity without doing damage)
regeneration
running
sensory blast
sensory shield
size minus (shrink)
size plus (growth)
specialized defense
stamina blast
stun blast
swimming
telekinesis
teleport
tunneling
wiring (travel through a "conduit" like an electrical wire)

Little idea here, Greg: Can you buy a "sidekick" during character creating? Seriously, batman had robin, you know. (Not to mention the joker's harlequin.)

I was thinking maybe a hero could buy a sidekick who would be a sport or agent level character for a fairly small price, but the GM would maybe create and stat out the sidekick in accordance with some general guidelines the buying player gets to lay out.

The GM would also get to have the sidekick have a few annoying traits and get in trouble once in a while, but in all fairness he should be played at least somewhat as the player specified.

So maybe a sport would cost less than an agent level sidekick (Kato was not a sidekick, he was a partner, BTW) and if you pay extra points the GM gets less of a "Hassle you for free" card as the sidekick is more competent, loyal, etc.

That's an idea. How would you suggest it be done? And knowing you, let me clarify: How would it be done simply and with the minimum level of detail required?

Ok, to keep it simple as possible, here goes:

Your basic sidekick is a sport, and you pay 1P for him/her/it. A sidekick can be like robin, bucky or even Ace the bat hound, I.E. an animal sidekick (This last bit might mandate creating rules for animals, so you might want to forgo it, but it's funny to put it out and see people go "Wait, batman had a dog?!")

You get to design the sidekick in general terms (I.e he's a really good acrobat and fighter or he's a real brainy whiz kid who knows some kung fu and is great with a slingshot) and the GM basically stats him out for you and runs him as an NPC. Plus the GM may give him some boons along with banes to cover them. (and make him more interesting to run.)


If you pay 2P for a sidekick, you get to design his stats, boons and banes so he is a sport made to your personal tastes and the GM doesn't get to surprise you as much. In any event having a sidekick gives you at least some obligation to care about him and gives your enemies someone to target if you're too tough.

The sidekick must share either the same ethos as the character or one close to it. Also, while a sidekick may have annoying traits, he will generally be quite loyal to the main character. Moreso than a minion or henchman.

In general, a sidekick should be more than a minion or henchman to the hero or villain. There should be some sort of thematic connection between the two, such as batman and robin both having their parents murdered by criminal scum, and the main character should have some sort of connection to/investment in the sidekick.

If a sidekick dies it should be a traumatic experience for the super, he might even develop a disorder over it due to guilt, obsession with avenging the fallen sidekick, etc.

If the main character dies what happens to the sidekick? Good question. I'd say let the GM decide, and possibly develop the sidekick into a new NPC. Hell, robin eventually became the alien megahottie banging Nightwing, after all.


That's the basic idea, you pay 1P and get a loyal NPC who has 1P worth of power and can occasionally be annoying, get in the way, etc but is at least usually helpful to you. You pay 2P and get one a little more tailored to your style and less of a free "Hassle the player" card for the GM.



If you wanted to expand that, I suppose you could have a sidekick that was at least one level lower than you. So an agent can have a sport sidekick, a super could have an agent but an agent could cost like 5 points and possibly be more of a partner than a sidekick. (Kato was a partner, robin was a sidekick.) I suppose an agent partner could cost like 5P but be more effective than a sidekick. (For 5P I'd let the player design the agent sidekick/partner for his hero.)

As a game setting note, "sidekicks" probably fall under the "side effect of the Charleston" heading. This might precluse an ultra from having a hero sidekick as only sports and agents were side effects.

Seeing this almost makes me regret ASE won't have rules for animals becoming empowered.



Plus it was so cute and slightly game related I was just looking for an excuse to share it.