LLH in the DC Heroes RPG System: Dexterity
Dexterity is one of three Physical Attributes (DEX, STR, and BODY). It has the role of the "Action Attribute". If you want to do/hit something with your body, you use Dexterity.
The Third Edition of the DC Heroes RPG System describes the scale of Dexterity.
Benchmarks
1-2. The person has normal agility and can perform the attributes of daily living.
3-4. The individual has agility equivalent to one who practices athletic abilities beyond what is required for daily living: police officers, firemen, clowns, stage performers, dancers.
5-6. This person possesses agility equivalent to individuals who are well honed in athletic prowess such as gymnasts, stuntmen and circus aerialists.
7-8. This individual is agile enough to be a medal-winning Olympic gymnast.
9-10. This person posseses the best agility humanly possible and could easily become a record-setting gold medal Olympic gymnast.
11-12. This is a superhuman level of athletic prowess where the individual can actually dodge high-velocity projectiles such as arrows and bullets aimed directly at him or her with moderate effort.
13-15: This level of agility allows the dodging of laser fire and the ability to sight and catch slower moving projectiles, such as arrows and bullets.
16-18: This person is capable of athletic maneuvers that seem to defy the ability of humanoid structure. His or her reactions are so swift laser fire appears in slow motion.
19-21: Reaction time and coordination are so attuned that the individuals thoughts and actions are simultaneous.
22-24: The character's actions begin before the human brain can complete a thought.
25-27: A person with agility of this magnitude sees his surroundings, even energy, as motionless and can easily dodge multiple laser fire.
28-30: A level of agility where the individual's reactions occur as if he or she was clairvoyant.
A few comments about DEX before we start ranking people.
1) There is a skill called Martial Arts which can substitute its values for DEX in combat (as well as STR and other Attributes). So just because a Legionnaire has a DEX of 2 doesn't mean that's what their effective DEX in combat is. My personal feeling is that the Martial Arts skill set should be reserved for those people who are properly thought of as Martial Artists: Tiffany, Sandi, or Brittany and not just hand out the Martial Arts skill like candy.
2) There is a stat that BG hasn't indicated: Initiative, which is the value
INIT = DEX + INT + INF
Basically, you add up all three Action attributes to get Initiative. The character with the highest Initiative score in a fight goes first in combat.
Let's see where people fall on the scale and see if it meets the smell test.
DEX only
15: Stacy, Julia *
12: Charles **
10: Fran
7: Brittany, Mack
6: Jane, Tiffany, Karen
5: Sandi ***, Jamie
4: Quinn, Trent, Jodie
3: Daria, Tom *
* - There are cases where the character can tap a change in this stat due to their powers. Tom's list of powers includes speed (and his full list is speed, strength, flight, shape vision, flash vision and invulnerability, but with only emphasis on one power at a time). Julia can tap the Speed Force for a bonus.
** - Charles's DEX here is probably linked to an array of shape-changing powers, but I can believe that this power (like Fran's) is basically an "always on" type of power. One could set a restriction that if he loses his chameleon powers he falls down to a DEX = 4 or 5, but I suspect that Charles has a "default body" that he can maintain with zero effort and that this body is the one with a DEX of 12.
*** - This is another case where a character can tap a power, which is basically an Energy Bank power. However, this is Sandi's "untapped" version of DEX.
The list looks good to me.
Now, let's calculate Initiative scores.
Initiative scores
37: Julia
34: Daria
32: Quinn
36: Stacy
32: Jodie
29: Charles **
25: Mack
23: Fran
22: Jamie, Karen, Jane
17: Brittany, Tom
16: Sandi ***
15: Tiffany
14: Trent
It goes to show you that the INF stat is very important when it comes to who goes first in combat. I suppose you can justify it by saying "who imposes his or her speed, smart, and influence on the battlefield?", in this case influence being used in a very literal sense. Initiative should reflect all of the skills that someone brings to a fight, not just speed.
Julia ranks at #1. I can see that as plausible with her speed powers, wings, tactical skills and genius.
Daria and Quinn are very high up. Daria being high up surprises me.
Mack high up surprises me. Then again, it's hard to ignore a comet.
The real fighters: Brittany, Sandi, Tiffany - are actually pretty low. Martial Arts doesn't change Attributes permanently, it allows you to substitute the points of the skill for attacking, or striking, or blocking, or determining damage, and for only one of those things in a round, with the person forced to declare which substitution will be made before they start rolling the dice.
However, it does add a permanent +2 to Initiative, which would bring Brittany to 19, Sandi to 18 and Tiffany to 17. This would move Tom to next to bottom (only ahead of Trent), which makes a lot more sense.
The Third Edition of the DC Heroes RPG System describes the scale of Dexterity.
Benchmarks
1-2. The person has normal agility and can perform the attributes of daily living.
3-4. The individual has agility equivalent to one who practices athletic abilities beyond what is required for daily living: police officers, firemen, clowns, stage performers, dancers.
5-6. This person possesses agility equivalent to individuals who are well honed in athletic prowess such as gymnasts, stuntmen and circus aerialists.
7-8. This individual is agile enough to be a medal-winning Olympic gymnast.
9-10. This person posseses the best agility humanly possible and could easily become a record-setting gold medal Olympic gymnast.
11-12. This is a superhuman level of athletic prowess where the individual can actually dodge high-velocity projectiles such as arrows and bullets aimed directly at him or her with moderate effort.
13-15: This level of agility allows the dodging of laser fire and the ability to sight and catch slower moving projectiles, such as arrows and bullets.
16-18: This person is capable of athletic maneuvers that seem to defy the ability of humanoid structure. His or her reactions are so swift laser fire appears in slow motion.
19-21: Reaction time and coordination are so attuned that the individuals thoughts and actions are simultaneous.
22-24: The character's actions begin before the human brain can complete a thought.
25-27: A person with agility of this magnitude sees his surroundings, even energy, as motionless and can easily dodge multiple laser fire.
28-30: A level of agility where the individual's reactions occur as if he or she was clairvoyant.
A few comments about DEX before we start ranking people.
1) There is a skill called Martial Arts which can substitute its values for DEX in combat (as well as STR and other Attributes). So just because a Legionnaire has a DEX of 2 doesn't mean that's what their effective DEX in combat is. My personal feeling is that the Martial Arts skill set should be reserved for those people who are properly thought of as Martial Artists: Tiffany, Sandi, or Brittany and not just hand out the Martial Arts skill like candy.
2) There is a stat that BG hasn't indicated: Initiative, which is the value
INIT = DEX + INT + INF
Basically, you add up all three Action attributes to get Initiative. The character with the highest Initiative score in a fight goes first in combat.
Let's see where people fall on the scale and see if it meets the smell test.
DEX only
15: Stacy, Julia *
12: Charles **
10: Fran
7: Brittany, Mack
6: Jane, Tiffany, Karen
5: Sandi ***, Jamie
4: Quinn, Trent, Jodie
3: Daria, Tom *
* - There are cases where the character can tap a change in this stat due to their powers. Tom's list of powers includes speed (and his full list is speed, strength, flight, shape vision, flash vision and invulnerability, but with only emphasis on one power at a time). Julia can tap the Speed Force for a bonus.
** - Charles's DEX here is probably linked to an array of shape-changing powers, but I can believe that this power (like Fran's) is basically an "always on" type of power. One could set a restriction that if he loses his chameleon powers he falls down to a DEX = 4 or 5, but I suspect that Charles has a "default body" that he can maintain with zero effort and that this body is the one with a DEX of 12.
*** - This is another case where a character can tap a power, which is basically an Energy Bank power. However, this is Sandi's "untapped" version of DEX.
The list looks good to me.
Now, let's calculate Initiative scores.
Initiative scores
37: Julia
34: Daria
32: Quinn
36: Stacy
32: Jodie
29: Charles **
25: Mack
23: Fran
22: Jamie, Karen, Jane
17: Brittany, Tom
16: Sandi ***
15: Tiffany
14: Trent
It goes to show you that the INF stat is very important when it comes to who goes first in combat. I suppose you can justify it by saying "who imposes his or her speed, smart, and influence on the battlefield?", in this case influence being used in a very literal sense. Initiative should reflect all of the skills that someone brings to a fight, not just speed.
Julia ranks at #1. I can see that as plausible with her speed powers, wings, tactical skills and genius.
Daria and Quinn are very high up. Daria being high up surprises me.
Mack high up surprises me. Then again, it's hard to ignore a comet.
The real fighters: Brittany, Sandi, Tiffany - are actually pretty low. Martial Arts doesn't change Attributes permanently, it allows you to substitute the points of the skill for attacking, or striking, or blocking, or determining damage, and for only one of those things in a round, with the person forced to declare which substitution will be made before they start rolling the dice.
However, it does add a permanent +2 to Initiative, which would bring Brittany to 19, Sandi to 18 and Tiffany to 17. This would move Tom to next to bottom (only ahead of Trent), which makes a lot more sense.
I'm in the process of doing The Alliance. They're SCARY - and I'm trying to hold them to the lowest scores possible... which makes the Legionnaires scary, also.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that I missed Initiative. It wasn't on the list from the website that i was using...
'Mack high up surprises me. Then again, it's hard to ignore a comet.'
ReplyDelete(chuckles for the next few minutes...)
If I remember right, initiative and also be boosted by certain factors such as does the character have super speed which can add to that initiative or the lightning reflexes advantage which if I remember right increases the characters initiative by two points.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I noticed that if Karen overclocks, her initiative should be at about a 30 for a very brief time. Of course the same would probably hold true for someone like Tom if he uses his powers in combat.Boosting his initiative Beyond what he can normally do.
ReplyDelete