Silver Surfer and Boost

[Roman Virtue]

I've always wondered this;

Silver Surfer is listed as having Ability Boost (All). Now under this power discriptor, it states that the points of Ability Boost are added to the ability in question up to a limit of 20. But the Surfer already has scores of 20 for his Str and Agl!

Are these abilities then non-boostible? Are they then really only for his Int and Will? Or can he (or other characters) break the statistical limit of 20 for a short time? Or for that matter *is* there a statisical limit at all?

[Trakx2]

There are stunts that let you go beyond 20, to a new maximum of 25, but he doesn't have them (though he conceiveably could).

In this case, they don't go above 20, so it would seem that it's useless - EXCEPT if anyone were to drain his Strength or Agility then his Ability Boost would act as a reserve tank, boosting to the boost maximum to top his tank back off at 20.

Game wise, it isn't useless for that reason, though I certainly wouldn't allocate my cards/points that way.

Character concept wise, I think they just threw that in there.

[Roman Virtue]

Thanks Trakx2!!

I hadn't considered the draining thing. Thanks for clearing up the stastisical limit thing too!

[Trakx]

I was "Trakx2" because I updated my profile, but I didn't have access to my e-mail address to confirm the changes.

But it was me.

[Roman Virtue]

Aw, and here I thought you had a fan of your very own! ;D

Thanks again!!

[Tommy Brownell]

FWIW, on the Silver Surfer wikipedia entry, they list Surfer as being capable of using the Power Cosmic to boost his strength on par of that of an "enraged Hulk"...so I'd definitely call him apable of hitting a Strength of 25.

[Roman Virtue]

so as far as character creation, if I were to make a similar character, I'd be better off getting an immunity to drain attacks and the feats to attain a Str of 25?

Assuming there are no 'house rules' for stats getting that high anyway...

[Trakx]

By "feats", I assume you meant "Stunts".

And I belieeeeeeeve that "Cosmic Boosting" is a real stunt of Ability Boost, though it may be listed on a character write-up in one of the rosters, not necessarily in the main book under Ability Boost. Maybe Hulk?

[Roman Virtue]

Yeah, sorry... using M&M terminology...

[daddystabz]

The Surfer should be able to go to 25. In the original Marvel RPG by TSR his Str is listed as Unearthly 100, meaning he can normally bench press 100 tons. This points his Str on par with the Hulk (at his normal unangry levels) and Hercules, the later version of Thor, etc.

He could use the power cosmic in the game to boost his Str to Shift X 150 (meaning he could no press 150 tons). This is a well known ability of the Surfer and should be modeled in SAGA....just one of the reasons I think the original rpg is superior to the SAGA one.

[Trakx]

20, in any ability, is intended to be the maximum possible. 20 Strength doesn't equate to lifting 100,000 tons necessarily. It could be any extreme weight - lifting the Titanic, uprooting the Golden Gate Bridge, etc.

Once you start getting into the 21+'s you enter a new realm. You lift weight in mass. You can shift the plates in the planet, offset gravatational force, and other such super-superhuman phenomina.

d**n, I gotta go.

[oninowon]

daddystabz said:

He could use the power cosmic in the game to boost his Str to Shift X 150 (meaning he could no press 150 tons). This is a well known ability of the Surfer and should be modeled in SAGA....just one of the reasons I think the original rpg is superior to the SAGA one.

With each iteration of Marvel RPG, the writeup of Marvel characters have always been at the whim of Marvel Inc. I'll take your word that the classic RPG has Silver Surfer able to boost his strength beyond Hulk's. In MSHAG, Hulk can potentially achieve higher strength than Silver Surfer. Yet, MURPG has that Silver Surfer can eek out strength wise against the Hulk. Interpretation depends on who is in charge at Marvel at the time of writeup.