House Rules? Typical point totals? Newbie questions.

[Geryon]

I have just gotten into Hero, and I was wondering if there were any commonly used house rules which I couldn't do without. I would particularly appreciate any regarding game balance. I switched to this system because I heard it was very balanced, and so far I have been pretty impressed overall, and particularly with that aspect of the game. What house rules (especially balance related ones) have you all implemented with success that you think really improve the game?

I have heard a lot of talk about ER, and I downloaded the excel sheet. Is there a way I can get the document which goes along with it without purchasing DH#3?

Finally, what is a typical point total for different Hero settings? I was thinking of starting my Champions game at 250 points total and allow either 100 or 150 disads. What is an acceptable level for fantasy hero? That is what I am planning to run next. 100 points total, 50 disads?

Thanks in advance.

[Chaosliege]

Originally posted by Geryon
I have just gotten into Hero, and I was wondering if there were any commonly used house rules which I couldn't do without. I would particularly appreciate any regarding game balance. I switched to this system because I heard it was very balanced, and so far I have been pretty impressed overall, and particularly with that aspect of the game. What house rules (especially balance related ones) have you all implemented with success that you think really improve the game?

I have heard a lot of talk about ER, and I downloaded the excel sheet. Is there a way I can get the document which goes along with it without purchasing DH#3?

Finally, what is a typical point total for different Hero settings? I was thinking of starting my Champions game at 250 points total and allow either 100 or 150 disads. What is an acceptable level for fantasy hero? That is what I am planning to run next. 100 points total, 50 disads?

Thanks in advance.

Well, before FREd we always started our Supers out at 250, and this is a respectable place to start for a low-powered game. But we also kept the vilains around 250ish (except the main one of course). Now we run our guys off of the Standard Superhero template(HD). 200 base +150 In disadvantages, for a total of 350. For Fantasy I think 100 total is a good starting place. At least I wouldn't go any higher than that. We tried running a fantasy game at 150 starting once and our guys just semed too powerful for starting characters. But this depends entirely on what kind of game you want to run. If they're going to be fighting a lot of realy tough creatures, then you might think about raising that a little.

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by Geryon
I have just gotten into Hero, and I was wondering if there were any commonly used house rules which I couldn't do without. I would particularly appreciate any regarding game balance. I switched to this system because I heard it was very balanced, and so far I have been pretty impressed overall, and particularly with that aspect of the game. What house rules (especially balance related ones) have you all implemented with success that you think really improve the game?

I have heard a lot of talk about ER, and I downloaded the excel sheet. Is there a way I can get the document which goes along with it without purchasing DH#3?

Finally, what is a typical point total for different Hero settings? I was thinking of starting my Champions game at 250 points total and allow either 100 or 150 disads. What is an acceptable level for fantasy hero? That is what I am planning to run next. 100 points total, 50 disads?

Thanks in advance.

Lemme ask you this, so as to answer your questions better....
(as Choasleige already alluded to)
What type of campaign are you going to run? I'm not asking about point totals,etc, just will it be high fantasy, low fantasy, LOTS of mega-powerful-uber-spells? Or will it be something more 'down to earth' like, say, Ladyhawke ?

[Geryon]

I will probably run the game in the Forgotten Realms setting, a fairly high fantasy game, in a world where magic is common, but not usually powerful. I've been working a little on some guidelines for magic, and I was just wondering what sorts of point totals are "typical" for most Fantasy Hero games.

Also, after looking at a few characters with similar point totals online, I think I am going to run with the 200+150 disads. Thanks chaosliege.

Also, I am still interested if you guys have any good house rules to help dictate balance in the game. I know a friend of mine recommended I restrict multiple uses of find weakness or possibly make FW a full phase action, what are your thoughts on this or other house rules?

Also, regarding the ER spreadsheet, is the "Capabilities" section asking for how many different ranged attacks? That is what it seems to me but since many of the other fields want active points i wasn't sure.

Thanks,

[JohnTaber]

Hi Geryon,

Let's see...before FREd I used 200 (100+100) for Champs (very low) and 125 (75+50) for FH (also low). My new Champs campaign with FREd is 350 (200+150). If I was gonna run FH again I would use (75+75).

In a lot of ways I think FH is much harder to control than Champs. With Champs simply sticking to the settings mentioned in the book works great for me. For FH you need to be careful as the magic can make things really unbalanced. Since I like low power for FH I used a set of limitations that must be taken AND set active limits and such. I also have some pretty harsh rules for FH like 1 END/5 Active points and double the cost for defensive powers. I do these to make mages a bit retrained. The defense change is to prevent every mage from having 10 PD ED Mental force fields. I also force a min amount of points in spells as I want mages to be mages and fighters to be fighters. I had a big problem with mystically enhanced fighters for a while.

I would suggest trying Champs first. Get a feel then work on FH. When you think you are ready for FH post the magic system and let folks comment. You might get some good advice. The only other FH comment is this...don't let D&D bias you. For example, I love the fact that simply END restrains the amount of times you can cast spells. That's neat. Very UN-D&D...

Enjoy!

[SleepyDrug]

I generally follow the book's guidelines. I've found that those work best. Tinkering with point numbers for characters has always gotten me in trouble in the past.

I have Attribute Range Guidelines that I developed for converting comic book characters. This is not a "Rule of X" thing but more of a chart comparing 80 popular comic book characters so i can use it as a reference for creating or converting other characters.

I use a Presence Defense Attribute (PrD = EGO/2 + PRE/2; +2 PrD for 1 point)

I use modifications to Entangle and Shape Shift that other people on this board have suggested. Thats it. Most of my house rules covered items that 5th ed includes but were not in 4th ed; so i don't need them anymore.

[MarkusDark]

He told me about a system that uses an 'overall damage per TURN' idea. This idea is that the faster a character moves, the less damage he does and this helps to balance everything overall. For example, to have a 300 point turn means that you could have a speed 6 character that has a total of 50 active points in an attack, a speed 5 that has 60 active points or a speed 3 that has 100 active points in an attack.

Something my gaming group is getting around lately, or perhaps it is an old trick, that they purchase low dexes then add levels for a single attack, usually involving a martial manuver. So suddenly the lumbering brick with a CV of 4 has an 11 OCV with his haymaker.

I have always thought of levels being bonuses from extensive training. I plan on balancing them by stating that certain level limits will be in place depending upon their backgrounds. For example, a tough street fighter who's been around the block for the last decade could get a maximum of a +3 on any of his combative abilities. The same street fighter who joins the army could get another +2 on top of that for military training and, if he left the army and found a martial arts master, he could get another +2.

For the record, I hate OVERALL levels. They just don't make sense to me.

Also, by having large numbers of levels means that they have started to become experts in that area, and probably should develop a rep for it - and have people looking to try their hand at taking the title away from them.

[Tech]

I have a very general power level houserule:
10-12 SPD - We'll decide that if it happens
8-9 SPD - roughly 8 dice of damage
6-7 SPD - roughly 9-12 dice of damage
5 SPD - depending on concept, 11-15 dice of damage
4 SPD - up to 20 dice of damage
That's it. Some of you might be gawking and saying 'That's it? Your players will run rampant.' Actually, I really glad to have a great campaign with seasoned players. I almost never have to concern myself with limits because the players limit each other, freeing the GM to do what he should be able to do in the first place - concentrate on running the campaign.

Originally posted by MarkusDark
For the record, I hate OVERALL levels. They just don't make sense to me.

I think OVERALL levels are for the guy or girl who's good at anything he does. I knew a guy in high school like that: A+ honors in everything, top athlete (though my brother beat him in Archery. ), student body president, usual good-looking jock, etc etc. Kinda makes you sick, doesn't it?

[Keneton]

Originally posted by Geryon
Also, regarding the ER spreadsheet, is the "Capabilities" section asking for how many different ranged attacks? That is what it seems to me but since many of the other fields want active points i wasn't sure.

Thanks,

Here is your answer: Add 1 and only 1 for each capability you have. If you have 2 energy attacks for example, that still rates 1. If you have any area attacks that rates 1 (etc.)


Here is the ER's take on power levels and campaign limits. Hope it helps.

Campaign Type ER OCV/DCV Act. Points Skill Roll Per Roll

Low Heroic 40 12/15 40 15- 15-
Standard Heroic 50 13/16 40 16- 16-
High Heroic 60 14/17 50 18- 18-
Legendary Heroic 70 15/18 50 18- 18-
Low Superhero 80 15/18 60 18- 18-
Superhero 100 18/21 90 18- 18-
Legendary
Superhero 120 20/23 120 18- 20-
Cosmic 150 20/23 150 18- 24-

[Geryon]

Thanks a lot Keneton! I do mean to buy that issue of DH, but there are other things higher on the totem pole, like star hero and automobile repairs (yes, in that order).

[Starcorp Man]

In the beginning, we usually used the suggested starting, for 1st to 2nd edition, 200 to 225, 3rd to 4th 250. After awhile I started 275, w/ 25 points had to be spent on skills then 325 (175+150). With the FREd edition, we use the 350, 200 + 150.