green lantern help! an essay of questions! :p

[chao-ren]

Thanks for the help! But where are you getting the #s for the train from? Is 12 the mass + speed? How do i figure out speed ranks?

I was just making a base assumption that the train has 12 strength and was moving at speed 6. Looking in the book I see that trains have strength 10 and travel at speed 5, so we'll pretend my example was a super-train. Whatever stats you use, the challenge concept is basically the same.

ty. where can i find a chart for speed ranks? If i want to maker my own super train that goes5k miles/hr or something? Thanks for the help again!

[Monolith]

The foot cuffs are just a snare. The weight is just create hovering over Hal, with Hal using a create to stop it from crushing it. If Hal were more experienced he'd just roll the boulders off his create wall and get over it.

The gravity thing is just Kilowog using move object to try and pull Hal (move object indirect) and Hal using his move object to counter/resist Kilowog's.

[Monolith]

ty. where can i find a chart for speed ranks? If i want to maker my own super train that goes5k miles/hr or something? Thanks for the help again!

Page 11 of the book shows you ranks and tells you how they convert to mph.

[chao-ren]

The weight is just create hovering over Hal, with Hal using a create to stop it from crushing it. If Hal were more experienced he'd just roll the boulders off his create wall and get over it.

The gravity thing is just Kilowog using move object to try and pull Hal (move object indirect) and Hal using his move object to counter/resist Kilowog's.

Dood, you are being soo helpful and i really appreciate it! If it's not too much trouble, could you break down some examples for me please?

basically the 2 things i quoted, how would those rolls break down?

Page 11 of the book shows you ranks and tells you how they convert to mph.

It says distance and time. i think im misunderstanding something here... How would i know the rank of something that moves 10k miles/hr? is it the appropriate distance rank minus the time? so in this case rank 2? That doesn't seem right.

[Monolith]

Kilowog shoots Hal with an affliction: ranged affliction x (dodge/damage, hindered, immobile), limited degree. Hal fails the dodge and becomes immobile.

Kilowog uses his create to make boulders of x mass. He drops them on Hal with a simple attack roll to hit. Hal throws up a create wall which is strong enough to resist the mass of both boulders, barely. There's really no save rolls here. It's just 2 people using their powers; though Hal might have used a hero point to get the create wall up quickly, or he might have had a saved action, as they were facing off and Hal was waiting to see what Kilowog would do.

The gravity well is an indirect move object. Kilowog grabs Hal with move object and Hal does a counter. It's an opposing check: Hal rolls 1d20 and adds his move object and Kilowog does the same. The visual effect is that Hal is resisting being pulled by the gravity well. In game terms it didn't effect him because he successfully countered.

The thing to remember about m&m is that the visuals of what happens vary. Someone can punch you in the nose, and your nose be bleeding, but it could be considered a save on the toughness check, meaning you took no damage. The visual of the blood is just dramatic effect that has no bearing on any damage actually taken. It's the same with the gravity well. Kilowog attacked, Hal countered, and the visual effect is that Hal is drifting on the air even though nothing happened mechanically to him.

As far as movement, you get mph by taking rank of movement and adding 9, as per pages 11/12. So rank 5 moving 1 hour (rank 9) equals speed 14, or 60 mph. Something moving 2,000 mph would be rank 19, subtracting 9 for 1 hour, leaves rank 10. So the thing moving 2,000 mph has 10 ranks of movement ability.

[chao-ren]

Monolith, you are a prince on a throne of awesomeness. Thank you. A real big heartfelt thank you. You put up with my noobness and ensured this game will run smoothly. You, my friend, are awesome.

Last question in this scenario!

Kilowog uses his create to make boulders of x mass. He drops them on Hal with a simple attack roll to hit.

You say killowog dropped a boulder of x mass. Is x the "create" power rank? (So create 14 is 400 tons (mass 14)?) and the attack roll is his power ring attack? (so if we used john stewart from H+V 1 page 243 instead of killowog, it'd be create boulder, rank 14 (I know increased mass lets you carry more, in this example would it also make it heavier?), then a d20 +11 to hit? Could he do both of those in one turn without an extra effort since it's just falling on him from where it was created as opposed to actually 'attacking'?

Now, the attack roll would get a +5 vs Hal's wall, right? Because it has no dodge, so as long as you don't roll a 1 you get a critical. So the wall would roll vs what for toughness? Would It's mass rank= its damage?

There's really no save rolls here.

So would it just compare power ranks instead of rolling as i just asked? ^^

[Monolith]

You say killowog dropped a boulder of x mass. Is x the "create" power rank? (So create 14 is 400 tons (mass 14)?) and the attack roll is his power ring attack? (so if we used john stewart from H+V 1 page 243 instead of killowog, it'd be create boulder, rank 14 (I know increased mass lets you carry more, in this example would it also make it heavier?), then a d20 +11 to hit? Could he do both of those in one turn without an extra effort since it's just falling on him from where it was created as opposed to actually 'attacking'?

Now, the attack roll would get a +5 vs Hal's wall, right? Because it has no dodge, so as long as you don't roll a 1 you get a critical. So the wall would roll vs what for toughness? Would It's mass rank= its damage?

Within the context of the story we need to understand that Kilowog wasn't trying to hurt Hal. He wasn't maxing-out his create because he knew Hal wasn't really trained to use his will yet.

Kilowog uses his round to make a create boulder. He makes it at a mass he thinks Hal can withstand. He makes a normal attack roll: his attack value +1d20. Hal is snared, probably vulnerable, so he only has half his dodge. Hal uses his standard action in the round to put up a create shield. The boulder is weaker then Hal's create and causes no damage.

Round 2 has Kilowog making another boulder, he's now using more of his create to push the newb harder. Another attack roll more weight hits Hal's wall. It starts to buckle but Hal uses more will and makes support beams. IE, he uses more create to counter the extra weight.

Round 3 has Kilowog blowing out the support beams with a ranged attack that also hits Hal and sends him flying back. Let's assume that Hal gets hit hard enough to be dazed. Hal recovers from his daze and gets up.

Round 4 Kilowog makes the gravity well with move object. Hal counters.

So would it just compare power ranks instead of rolling as i just asked? ^^

I meant there was no saves because Kilowog probably wasn't trying to really hurt him. He was testing to see how strong of a create Hal could put up. He wanted to see how strong Hal's will was. It was just dramatic effect.

The game is never going to play out like a movie because players aren't going to intentionally blow actions or not take actions for dramatic affect. If we assume the combat started on round 1 with Kilowog making the affliction attack the person playing Hal would never not do something on his turn in the round but just sit there and wait for Kilowog to make a boulder on round 2 to drop it on him. In the movie those dramatic effects make sense because the writer knows Hal isn't going to get hurt. In the game the player could roll a 20 or a 1. The player could look like Superman or get creamed all based on a die roll.

That's just my long winded way of saying: if you're hoping m&m is going to completely emulate everything you see in movies, cartoons, and comics you're going to be disappointed, because those things are full of writer's fiat: writers bending logic or rules for dramatic effect.