Example low fantasy characters

[Mesa Virga]

I'm evaluating HERO to see if I can make it "my generic system of choice" but (as other threads on this site indicate) I like relatively low powered games and I'm not sure how well these will work.

The next thing I need to do is run a bunch of sample combats with some 100-odd point characters to see how differentiated they are. I have HeroDesigner but it will take me several hours to figure out how to create these blighters without examples. Can anyone direct me to any resources for this sort of thing?

Does Fantasy Hero have many low powered examples in the book? (...eyes up credit card speculatively...)

[Nevenall]

With 100 points you'll be able to make sufficiently distinct characters. After all it's all about what you buy not how many points you have.

Fantasy Hero has a few sample 150 pt characters, as I recall, but if you just want sample characters what would help you more is Monsters Minions and Marauders. That has a section with 12 generic human characters like bandit, merchant, and wizard, mostly build on 50 to 80 points.

[Mesa Virga]

Ah thanks, I'll see how well my credit card is feeling...

I think I've more-or-less sold myself on HERO anyway. I have spent the whole weekend vacillating between using HERO, GURPS, CORPS, EABA and my own incomplete system as the system of choice for the forseeable future, and have become increasingly frustrated with everything. I might just have found the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'd give you reputation, but I have no idea how it works, and anyway I don't seem to have any to hand out yet (unsurprisingly)... :rolleyes:

[Super Squirrel]

If you need sample characters with less than your typical 75 + 75 points, feel free to use them from my webpage, Aldaric Gaming. Characters were started originally at -25 + 10 and almost all characters were built well below the 150 point total.

NPCs: http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=npc
PCs: http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=player
Threats: http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=threat

[Mesa Virga]

Now, this is what I'm looking for. Many thanks, SS!

[Super Squirrel]

Not a problem.

[Super Squirrel]

Pretty well actually. They were more dependent on tactics instead of rushing in and doing the kill. For the Fort Raid, Rehson used Rapid Fire to keep pumping two shots at the archers. The archers couldn't tell how many people there were down below on the ground and kept shooting blindly.

Beemish crawled up the cesspit and snuck around the inside of the fort. He bum rushed the guards on the door and opened it so the rest of the group could rush inside. By catching the guards off guard with this tactic, they did a phenominal job.

[Killer Shrike]

I mostly do High Fantasy, but the Warhammer 2nd Edition Conversion I did is pretty low, and its a 50+50 range. It is playable as is even if you don't convert from WH2e.

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/ConversionWH2e/conversionWH2e.shtml

[Killer Shrike]

Ill also take this opportunity for my obligatory "its all relative" statement. You can play low or high powered at any point level -- the PC's abilities relative to everyone else are the prime determinant of whether the game feels low or high powered. If the PCs are 350 points but most of their opposition are around 500 points, they are effectively low powered. Vice versa, if the PCs are 125 points but almost everyone else is 50 points or less then the PC's feel high powered.

[Susano]

I'm evaluating HERO to see if I can make it "my generic system of choice" but (as other threads on this site indicate) I like relatively low powered games and I'm not sure how well these will work.

The next thing I need to do is run a bunch of sample combats with some 100-odd point characters to see how differentiated they are. I have HeroDesigner but it will take me several hours to figure out how to create these blighters without examples. Can anyone direct me to any resources for this sort of thing?

Try here:

http://surbrook.devermore.net/original/michael_limner.html
http://surbrook.devermore.net/original/jiro.html
http://surbrook.devermore.net/original/merriya.html

And feel free to poke around here:
http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/archive.html

[AliceTheOwl]

If you need sample characters with less than your typical 75 + 75 points, feel free to use them from my webpage, Aldaric Gaming. Characters were started originally at -25 + 10 and almost all characters were built well below the 150 point total.

NPCs: http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=npc
PCs: http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=player
Threats: http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=threat
(Psst: click on his google ads while you're there. It's how he gets money for his contribution.)

^ v ^

Being one of the relatively low-powered characters, I actually found it a lot EASIER to create a character at such a low level. There were enough points for a PS, to inflate one stat a smidge, and a specialty. No mucking about with, "should these points go into DEX or another power skill?" Really straightforward.

Of course, our threats have also been relatively low-powered. We've met 2 150-point NPCs, and engaged neither in combat. That's a very important distinction to make; we're low-powered because EVERYONE is low-powered. At our current levels, we'd've been able to walk all over the guys in our first encounter.

[Susano]

(Psst: click on his google ads while you're there. It's how he gets money for his contribution.)

I wish....

[AliceTheOwl]

I wish....
What?

Apparently it's pretty easy to set up text ads on your website and get paid per click.

And I often get a pretty good giggle out of what pops up. Last night I got an ad for love spells and "Fear no man" when I pulled up my character sheet.

[Susano]

What?

Apparently it's pretty easy to set up text ads on your website and get paid per click.

And I often get a pretty good giggle out of what pops up. Last night I got an ad for love spells and "Fear no man" when I pulled up my character sheet.

Well.... I don't pay for my server space, so I'd rather not abuse things.

[AliceTheOwl]

Ah . . .

That's probably wise.

[Killer Shrike]

What?

Apparently it's pretty easy to set up text ads on your website and get paid per click.

And I often get a pretty good giggle out of what pops up. Last night I got an ad for love spells and "Fear no man" when I pulled up my character sheet.
POP UP ADS ARE EVIL!!!!

[AliceTheOwl]

POP UP ADS ARE EVIL!!!!
Ah. They're not popups. Wrong choice of words. They're text ads, off to the side of the screen where you don't even notice them unless you're looking at them.

[Super Squirrel]

I hate Pop Ups. You will never see them on my webpage.

Oh, I apologize for the mess on some of the Player Character sheets. RPMiller and I are in the process of making an export template that is autoformatted by the Ivory Tower system. Some of the character sheets such as Kiliam's (http://aldaric.com/easthaven?type=character&keyword=kiliam) are working where others like Squeek's are not.

[Killer Shrike]

That should be a very easy export template; its just a scrolling page dump.

[Super Squirrel]

It isn't. The problem with it is two fold. I disable HTML code in the system for security purposes and use, essentually, BBC codes. I have to manually install them. The template itself is relatively simple right now but better than what we had been doing.

[Super Squirrel]

I hope you don't mind Killer Shrike, but I started linking to your webpage resources in my Useful Links section.

http://aldaric.com/guidelines?keyword=links

[Killer Shrike]

I hope you don't mind Killer Shrike, but I started linking to your webpage resources in my Useful Links section.

http://aldaric.com/guidelines?keyword=links
Link away, thats what the site is for -- to be a resource ;)

[AmadanNaBriona]

Ill also take this opportunity for my obligatory "its all relative" statement. You can play low or high powered at any point level -- the PC's abilities relative to everyone else are the prime determinant of whether the game feels low or high powered. If the PCs are 350 points but most of their opposition are around 500 points, they are effectively low powered. Vice versa, if the PCs are 125 points but almost everyone else is 50 points or less then the PC's feel high powered.
I really have to back up KS's comment here...
OK, so I don't REALLY have to, as he's kinda a FH guru, but its all about the way the game is layed out, ground rules, and power levels. I once ran a rather successful Low Fantasy game set in Lankhmar where the characters were built on 100 base +150 disads, and it still worked out fine. Just kept the inherent tropes of "Magic is rare and dangerous" and "Even thugs should be a threat" and it all worked out. Having a luxury of points doesn't always have to mean high powered characters... It can mean very detailed ones.