Post originally by Buzz at 2004-09-03 21:30:53
Converted from Phorums BB System

<i>Given the number of important comics characters who have "Missile Deflection", or a variant thereof, I really wonder how they arrived at the decision to exclude it from 'Sidekick'!</i>

Missile Deflection, like some of the other powers left out of Sidekick, are "!" powers, i.e., the ones marked in 5e as potentialy unbalancing and/or more complicated. The point of Sidekick is to be an introductory version of HERO that eases people into the system. Any reduction of HERO to a subset was going to necessitate leaving something out. They chose to leave out some powers that might overwhelm newbies.

I also think claiming that Missile Deflection is so prevalent in the supers genre is an incredible overstatement, not to mention that Sidekick is *not exclusively a supers RPG*. It also ignores the fact that, e.g., simply buying Armor and having "deflects missiles" as the special effect will suffice for a Sidekick-based game.

It also seems hardly relevant to bring this up when discussing GURPS Lite in comparison, seeing as GURPS Lite (both 3e and 4e) contain *no power mechanics whatsoever*.

I also don't see the point in continually griping about Sidekick in this manner, seeing as, for $9.95, you're getting a ridiculously complete RPG that, adjusting for inflation, costs about 30% of what the first few editions of Champions did.

If it were $29.95, you'd have reason to gripe. Fortunately, it's not. If anything, it probably one of the best buys in gaming right now.