In 2001, on the heels of Michael Surbrook's well-received debugging of European Enemies, I decided to give a similar treatment to The Zodiac Conspiracy. At one time, the debugged Zodiac was hosted on Michael's site alongside his update of European Enemies. When DoJ took up the Hero Games standard, they gave Michael permission to continue hosting European Enemies, but not the Zodiac. (I'm not sure why... possibilities include not owning the rights to the characters, an intention to do a new Zodiac at some point, or even the possibility that they might re-use this one in some form.)
At any rate, those updated character sheets can no longer be provided. However, for the benefit of anyone who might find it useful, here is the log of changes and notes made during the "debugging" process. It won't be useful in any way without a copy of The Zodiac Conspiracy, but if you have a copy of that book, and want to apply the changes yourself, here you go. :) (Apologies for the ugly format, but I don't want to spend a bunch of time making it pretty. WYSIWYG. ;)
(Also, note that this a debugging of a 4th edition supplement, and was done using 4th Edition rules. There's no 5th Edition material here.)
-- Derek Hiemforth, December 2004.
Rules for Debugging The Zodiac Conspiracy
1. The printed values for all items are assumed to be correct if they are
possible. In other words, if an ability and a cost don't match, it's
assumed that the ability is correct and the cost is wrong. This goes for
Characteristic values, Skill rolls, etc. If there is a discrepancy, the
fault is assumed to always lie in the cost.
2. The Three-I Rule Illegal, impossible, or inexplicable items will be
altered to be legal, possible or explicable (or will be removed if that
cannot be done).
3. If the prose description of the character (especially the Powers and
Tactics section) mentions the character having abilities that do not
appear on the character sheet, then the description is assumed to take
precidence over the character sheet and the character will be given the
abilities in question.
4. Powers that logically belong in a framework will placed in one.
Conversely, illogical, or illegal frameworks will be broken apart.
5. Disadvantages will be edited as needed to make them conform to the
rules. If it is unclear how a Disadvantage value was arrived at, a
logical "best guess" will be made.
6. Document all changes.
***** AQUARIUS *****
Change Documentation
1. Cost of CON decreased from 60 to 40.
2. Cost of Change Environment decreased from 93 to 85. I have no
idea how they arrived at the cost of 93. It does not reflect
any valid combination I could find of IAF, Gestures, and
Incantations. Since CE is a Constant Power, I defaulted to
setting the value of Gestures and Incantations at -1/2.
3. Cost of TK increased from 20 to 21.
4. Added 1/2 END Cost to the Darkness. The point cost and the
listed END cost reflected this Advantage already, though it
wasn't listed.
5. Added Gestures, Incantations, and IAF to the Flash. This is
logical, since it is Linked to a Power that already has these
Limitations, plus the cost listed in the original matched up
correctly if these Limitations were added. (In other words,
they were supposed to be there, but had been left off the
sheet.)
6. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
7. Cost of KS History (11-) decreased from 5 to 2.
8. Powers & Skills cost decreased from 284 to 283.
9. Total Cost decreased from 402 to 401.
10. Added Villain Bonus of 206 to make points balance.
Other Notes
* As he is currently designed, all of his weather control
powers go away completely if he is deprived of his IAF Gold
Mask. This doesn't seem to match his description, where it
says "it was found that the boy grew in power and control
near the element of gold." It sounds like he should have
Partially Limited powers instead, where some amount is bought
normally, and an additional amount is bought with the IAF.
However, I wouldn't have a clue as to how much should be of
each, so I didn't change anything. (Perhaps he has grown
totally dependent on the gold over the years or something...)
* It seems clear that the Uncontrolled and Continuous Advs.
on his Missile Deflection are intended to make it work all
the time without his having to use an action to deflect.
Whether this is legal/desirable, etc. is certainly open to
question.
* On a game mechanicky note related to the Missile Deflection,
if another 22 points worth of stuff could be added to the
Missile Deflection (perhaps increasing the roll or making it
usable vs. adjacent attacks), then the entire Elemental
Control could be raised to 37 points, saving almost 20 points
on his Total Cost.
* If anyone can actually get close to him, Aquarius is an
incredible pansy. A DCV of 3 and all his powers through an
Accessible Focus...
***** ARIES *****
Change Documentation
1. Cost of STUN increased from 10 to 12.
2. Characteristics cost increased from 183 to 185.
3. Cost of Armor increased from 2 to 4.
4. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
5. Powers and Skills cost increased from 104 to 114.
6. Total cost increased from 287 to 299.
7. Changed Public Identity name from Linda Shane to Karl Knudsen,
in keeping with the name he is called throughout his text
description. (Who is Linda Shane???)
8. Added Villain Bonus of 39 points to balance costs.
Other Notes
* His description mentions repeatedly how much he likes to
use Presence Attacks. Perhaps his PRE should be higher
than 15.
* If he went out into the world at age 16, was unsuccessful
at everything to the point of throwing tantrums all the
time, and was unemployed, how exactly did he manage to
have an apartment in New York City and a television on
which to watch pro wrestling?
* His Vital Statistics description seems confused about
whether his Growth works all the time or not.
***** CANCER *****
Change Documentation
1. Cost of PD increased from 2 to 4.
2. Characteristics cost increased from 145 to 147.
3. Added "Life Support Immune to Aging" since he is described
as being Immortal.
4. This may or may not be a change, since the original was not
explicit about whether it was a Psych Lim or a Phys Lim, but
I made his "Poor understanding of Earth culture" a Phys Lim.
He cannot simply will himself to understand better...
5. Villain Bonus increased from 87 to 89.
6. Total cost increased from 307 to 309.
Other Notes
* His Background seems to imply that his spaceship was ruined
in the crash that left him on Earth. If so, his Mind Link is
not useful and should probably be removed. If not, then he
should have a Vehicle and pay the points for it.
* Since he was genetically designed to be a combat unit, perhaps
his Tactics roll should be better than an 8-.
***** CAPRICORN *****
Change Documentation
1. Variable Power Pool cost increased from 120 to 122. (It appears
that the original was calculating the value of the Incantations
Limitation as -1/2...the value it would be on a Constant power.
But since the VPP can have Instant powers too, the lowest common
value needs to be applied to the whole thing.)
2. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
3. Skill roll of Conversation increased from 12- to 13-, since there
is no way to buy Conversation on 12- for him.
4. Skills and Powers cost increased from 179 to 184.
5. Total cost increased from 324 to 329.
6. Villain Bonus increased from 129 to 134.
Other Notes
* In order to be as useful as it seems it should be from the text
descriptions, the Variable Power Pool should probably have the
Change Powers as a 0 Phase Action Advantage.
* He should perhaps have a PS Novelist, since it says he writes
fantasy novels for a living. But I didn't give it to him, because
I've read some pretty bad fantasy writing, and he *is* writing
from experience... ;-)
* Should probably have the Scholar Skill Enhancer.
***** GEMINI *****
Change Documentation
1. Cost of STUN increased from 4 to 7.
2. Characteristics Cost decreased from 154 to 147.
3. Applying a Limitation like "Half power when duplicated" on
the entire Elemental Control is not the correct way to buy
the desired effect. The correct way is to buy it as a
Partially Limited Power half of the Power bought normally,
and half bought "Not when duplicated." Changed cost and
structure of the Elemental Control to this model.
4. Guessed that -1/2 was the value of the Limitation "Not on
Holy Ground"
5. Cost of Duplication decreased from 142 to 130. (I believe
they had incorrectly given the Duplicate all of the same
Powers and applied the same "Not when duplicated" Limitations
to them, rather than simply not giving the Duplicate the
Powers that don't work when duplicated. Fixed that.)
6. Removed "Not when Duplicated" Limitation from Mind Link, and
replaced it with the correct "Target must have Mind Link"
Limitation.
7. Cost of Interrogation increased from 3 to 7.
8. Cost of all Weapon Familiarities increased from 18 to 19.
(Why on earth does he have these??)
9. There is no Skill simply called "Science" as listed on the
sheet in the book, so I took it to mean "SCI General
Science" and bought it as such.
10. Removed "Must be together 1/day or take 3d6" Disad, since it
would not be worth any points as a Dependence or a
Susceptability.
11. Added Villain Bonus of 261 points.
12. Added Life Support Immune to Aging, justificed by this quote
from the Vital Statistics descripion "Ageless...Immortal".
13. Added Money Wealthy, justified by this quote from the
Appearance description "As Damien Connors...he has...millions
of dollars and a huge estate in the Colorado Rockies."
14. Increased Powers & Skills cost from 343 to 364.
15. Increased Total Cost from 497 to 511.
Other Notes
* Given his background, his Demolitions, Mechanics, and
Weaponsmith Skills should probably have higher rolls, and the
SCI General Science should be bought based on INT rather than
paying more points to get a lower roll.
* The Skills that come from Lohwegg's personality (the scientific
skills) should probably be bought "Not when Duplicated" (so
that Ahrgash doesn't retain them when they split), then Lohwegg
(the Duplicate) shouldn't buy the Skills that come from Ahrgash's
personality. In other words, when they're split, they should
have different skill sets.
***** LEO *****
Change Documentation
1. Cost of REC decreased from 6 to -2.
2. Characteristics cost decreased from 183 to 173.
3. All through his prose description, his Martial Arts are referred
to as "Karate." In the character sheet, they're referred to as
"Kung Fu." Whatever. I just gave him the five maneuvers listed
in the original writeup. Call the art whatever you want. Leo-
Fu. -)
4. "ES Infrared Vision" cost increased from 3 to 5.
5. Added "LS Immune to Aging" because Leo, like all of the Zodiac,
is Immortal.
6. Added "PS Guitar," (based on DEX) justified by this quote from
the Background description "Leo himself learned to be an
accomplished guitar player."
7. Powers & Skills cost decreased from 183 to 172.
8. Value of "Reputation Bloodthirsty" reduced from 15 to 10,
because there is no way to make an 8- Reputation worth 15 points.
9. Villain Bonus increased from 81 to 85.
10. Total Cost decreased from 346 to 345.
Other Notes
* Why does Leo -- ostensibly the group's combat leader -- have no
Combat Skill Levels and no Tactics skill?
* Since he uses two swords, maybe he should have +2 with Sweep or
something to reflect that.
* The whole Public ID/Secret ID is a little weird.
***** LIBRA *****
Change Documentation
1. Slot cost of Shape Shift decreased from 5 to 4.
2. Added "Transfer from EGO to END" to Multipower, justified by
this quote from the Powers & Tactics description "Libra uses
her Power Transfer to take the Egos of those with little
willpower and place it within her own Endurance."
3. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
4. Powers and Skills cost increased from 206 to 216.
5. Total Cost increased from 337 to 347.
6. Villain Bonus increased from 122 to 132.
Other Notes
* I waffled about whether to add the Transfer (since it seems
to have nothing to do with the rest of her powers), but it
is clearly stated in the text writeup that she can do this,
and I had said I would go by the text, so...
* Based on the amount of hardship she has gone through according
to her description, as well as the fact that she has Mental
Defense, her EGO should probably be higher than 10.
* Her power set is very unusual...I wish the Powers and Tactics
description was more detailed about what she supposedly does
with them.
***** PISCES *****
Change Documentation
1. Characteristics Cost decreased from 111 to 106.
2. Added a Sonic NND Energy Blast, justified by this quote
from the Powers and Tactics description "If there is a
possibility of damage to her suit, however, she will...
retreat, using her sonic attack defensively...".
3. Cost of UV Vision increased from 2 to 3.
4. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
5. Powers and Skills cost increased from 189 to 207.
6. Total Cost increased from 300 to 313.
7. Value of her Vulnerability to Heat Attacks increased from
10 to 20. A value of 10 indicates that such attacks are
"Uncommon;" in most Champions games, all such attacks
would very likely add up to a Common Vulnerability.
8. Villain Bonus increased from 50 to 58.
Other Notes
* Her mental powers against aquatics are almost worthless.
Even assuming fish and such to be of EGO 0, she'd almost
never roll enough to make them do anything much against
their will with the Mind Control, or be able to read into
their memory with the Telepathy. Under pre-4th-Edition
rules -- when mental powers went against multiples of EGO
instead of EGO+x -- this would have been okay, but under
4th Ed. rules, she can't get more than EGO+10 on them very
often.
* It seems odd that her ability to change into any aquatic
shape isn't mentioned at all in her description. I wonder
if she's really supposed to have that power...
***** SAGITTARIUS *****
Change Documentation
1. Slot costs of all Multipwer slots decreased by one except the
RKA, which was decreased by two.
2. In the original, the Flash is listed as being against the
"Vision Group". However, a 3d6 Flash vs All Sight in a Radius
wouldn't fit in the Multipower, so I've assumed it was supposed
to be a Normal Sight Flash.
3. IR Vision cost increased from 2 to 3.
4. UV Vision cost increased from 2 to 3.
5. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
6. PS Model cost increased from 3 to 4.
7. Skill roll of Seduction increased from 12- to 15-, since there
is no way to buy Seduction for her with a 12- roll.
8. Stealth cost increased from 3 to 5.
9. Powers and Skills cost increased fom 121 to 123.
10. Total Cost increased from 261 to 263.
11. Villain Bonus increased from 61 to 63.
Other Notes
* I realize that CV value norms vary from game to game, and that
with her 30 DEX and 2 levels with Ranged Combat she still has
a fine OCV. But still...doesn't it seem like a character whose
signature power is archery skill of super-world-class should
have more than 2 levels?
* How is she supposedly maintaining her successful modeling career
if she's hunted by the police as Angel Stevens and has a rep as
a cold-blooded killer?
* Her defenses are awfully low to be in a high-powered villain
group like the Zodiac. In fact, in my own Champions campaign,
the original Sagittarius has been replaced, since this Angel
Stevens Sagittarius was killed the third or fourth time I used
The Zodiac.
***** SCORPIO *****
Change Documentation
1. REC cost decreased from 4 to 0.
2. STUN cost increased from 2 to 3.
3. Added Darkness to the Elemental Control, justified by this quote
from the Powers and Tactics description "He has learned some
mastery of ninja magics...such as...the skills of summoning the
night (Darkness)."
4. NND EB cost decreased from 16 to 14.
5. Added LS Immune to Aging. The Zodiac are all Immortal.
6. Added 0 END Advantage to the Stretching, since there was no END
cost listed for it in the original, and it seems logical that it
would not cost END.
7. Added OIF (Tail) to the Stretching since it clearly comes from
the tail.
8. Skill Roll of Sleight of Hand increased to 14-, since there is
no way to give him an 11- roll as listed in the original.
9. Powers and Skills cost increased from 212 to 233.
10. Total cost increased from 357 to 378.
11. Villain Bonus increased from 137 to 158.
Other Notes
* Why does he have a 30 STR? Nothing in his background explains
having superhuman or even near-superhuman strength. Likewise,
why does he have 23 PD/20 ED?
* Why does he have KS Business on a 15- (a skill that seemingly
has nothing to do with his background), while he's missing such
skills as Acrobatics, KS Ninjutsu, KS Ninja Mysticism, etc.?
***** TAURUS *****
Change Documentation
1. Cost of STUN increased from 4 to 7.
2. Characteristics cost increased from 208 to 211.
3. Slot cost of HA slot in Axe Multipower decreased from 2 to 1.
4. Added Variable Power Pool, justified by this quote from the Powers
and Tactics description "Taurus was given a 'gift' by his father
in the form of Divine Power. Now, whenever be becomes enraged or
emotionally charged, he has access to a 50 point Variable Power
Pool which may be placed anywhere, though it most often goes to
his Strength."
5. Added Life Support Immune to Aging, justified by this quote from
the Vital Statistics description "Over 3000 years old (Immortal)"
6. Added several Knowledge and Science skills as noted inline,
justified by this quote from the Background description "Taurus
wandered the Earth...that he might learn...from its greatest
scholars...Demosthenes (KS Political Science), Euclid (SCI
Mathematics), Kepler and Copernicus (SCI Astronomy)...he studied
with Newton...Einstein (SCI Physics), Brahms...Beethoven (KS
Music), DaVinci...Michaelangelo (KS Art)"
7. Added SCI Psychology, justified by this quote from the Background
description "He came to understand humans and their motivations
in a way that few mortals ever have."
8. Added Electronics and Mechanics at INT-level, as well as
Inventor, justified by these quotes from the Background
description "Taurus was also able to consolidate the latest
technological achievements from all over the globe, keeping well
ahead of human technology" and "In 1608, Taurus stumbled over
radio technology"
9. Added the Scholar and Scientist Skill Enhancers, since it is now
logical to do so.
10. Cost of Language English decreased from 5 to 4.
11. Added Contact Zodiakos Kyklos. I decided to do this rather than
purchase it as a Base or a Follower because of this quote from
the Rationale and Self-Motivation section of Zodiakos Kyklos'
description "Taurus has persuaded it that he is fighting for the
greater good of humanity...he has artfully left out the part
about taking the world over through force. Should the base learn
this, it would certainly leave Taurus". Since the "base" is
sentient and has its own agenda that may not always coincide with
Taurus', this seemed the best way to go. (Better than paying
nothing at all for the base, which is how it was originally
written up.)
12. Powers & Skills cost increased from 168 to 325.
13. Total Cost increased from 376 to 536.
14. Removed his Dependence/Susceptability (not clear which it was
supposed to be) regarding praying to Zeus. As described, it
would have been worth no points.
15. Added Psych Lim Actively Tries to Avoid Using VPP, justified by
this quote from his Powers and Tactics description "It will
manifest itself only for a short time...Taurus wishes to refuse
the old gods for their rejection, and has accordingly learned to
control his anger." (I figured that purposely trying to invoke
a Limitation that cancels out a 100-point Power was worth a
Disad...)
16. Villain Bonus increased from 121 to 271.
Other Notes
* Given his background, he should probably have many, many more
Languages, Contacts, Knowledge Skills, etc.
* Given how his skill at dealing with the other members of the
group is described, I would probably have given him Persuasion
if I was creating the character.
* I suspect that the Atomic Axe was supposed to have some kind of
non-damaging power like Entangle or some kind of freeze-ray.
The Powers and Tactics description talks about it "immobilizing"
the opposing leader. But it's not clear enough, so I didn't
add or change anything based on this.
***** VIRGO *****
Change Documentation
1. Slot cost of Invisibility descreased from 3 to 2.
2. Added Mind Scan, justified by this quote from the Background
description "She was formally trained in...Mind Scanning."
3. Added Force Wall, justified by this quote from the Powers
and Tactics description "she will hit an opponent with a
Power that won't hurt them, but will keep them out of the
combat (Force Wall is a good one)."
2. Added "LS Immune to Aging". The Zodiac are all Immortal.
3. Powers & Skills cost increased from 179 to 195.
4. Total Cost increased from 287 to 303.
5. Villain Bonus increased from 79 to 98.
Other Notes
* This is strictly a game-mechanicky thing, but I probably
wouldn't have put the Requires A Skill Roll Limitation on
her Multipower. It saves her 21 points, but she then has
to turn around and spend 17 of them on the required skill.
So it only nets her 4 points. That doesn't seem like much
savings for having a chance of failure on the source of
nearly all your offensive and defensive powers...
* Given the fact that she has both Cramming and Eidetic
Memory, Virgo should probably have an impressive array of
Skills...especially Knowledge Skills. Her Background
description mentions many skills that her sheet doesn't have,
but I didn't give them to her because I wasn't sure if they
were "just" the result of the Cramming. (But anything she
learns short-term through the Cramming should be remembered
because of the Eidetic Memory!)