A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System
I know the title is very ambitious, but this is what I intend to accomplish.
Why do an overhaul?
I happen to think that Hero System is a darn good RPG system, possibly the finest in the world. And in truth it works most of the time. About 3 decades of play has shown that it has stood the test of time. However, there are a few things that I don’t like about the Combat and Skill systems:
1) It’s not granular enough. There isn’t enough differentiation and precision built into the system, especially at the heroic level.
2) Every +1 to a roll has an extremely high effect. Adding +1 OCV to an equal OCV/DCV situation results in a 11.6% increase in to hit. Adding +1 DCV to the same situation decreases the to hit probabilities by 12.5%. That’s a heck of a lot for a single CSL.
3) Related to the above is that just a few points of CV differential can make a character almost always hit or be almost impossible to hit. +4 OCV differential means you’ll miss less than 5% of the time. +6 DCV differential means you’ll be hit less than 5% of the time.
4) The cost/benefit effectiveness of Dex is massively skewed compared to skill levels for combat and non-combat.
5) Mentalists who use non-Ego Blast Mental Powers tend to be super weak or super strong depending on active points of the power. At 40 points, it’s relatively ineffective compared to other 40 pt powers. At 60-70 points, it’s relatively balanced. At 100 points, it’s wildly overpowered.
6) Find Weakness is unbalanced in general
7) I believe the Skills System can use some improvement. It’s got a fair number of oddities at the moment.
I believe my proposed system addresses the above issues. It may create new issues, but that is why I’m throwing out the system for review. To find possible issues and perhaps improve my system.
Guiding Philosophy
1) Playability is the number one issue. Any new system should be at least comparable to the current system in terms of ease of use and understanding.
2) I believe I should make as little change as possible to the character creation process. Ideally, I can use my system with existing character sheets with minimal problems.
3) Costs shouldn’t be changed. I want to keep existing costs if possible unless a cost becomes ridiculous under the new system.
4) Balance is kept.
Basics
All Characteristics have a Characteristic Number. Abbreviation will be ChrN. So your Dex Number will be abbreviated as DexN. This ChrN is equal to the Chr/3. So a Dex of 26 gives you DexN of 9. For the most part, the only ChrNs that matter are Dex, Int, Ego, and Pre.
Attack Draws
The Attack Roll is replaced with an Attack Draw. First get something like a GO set with lots of black and white beads. You can use cards or different colored dice instead, as long as they’re all the same size, shape, and weight. The basic Attack Draw uses OCV and DCV as follows:
For each point of OCV, pull a black bead. For each point of DCV, pull a white bead. Put the total in an opaque container of some sort, shake, and draw a bead at random. If a black is pulled, the attack is a hit. If a white is pulled, the attack is a miss.
Design note:
Equal CVs means a 50% chance of a hit instead of 62.5% under the new system. This is a deliberate design change since the chance of a runaway DCV score making a character virtually impossible to hit has been greatly diminished and thus there is no need for the increase in basic to hit probability. Plus 50% is more balanced and symmetric.
A character’s base OCV/DCV is equal to his DexN.
Example:
Snake has a DexN of 9 and attacks Rock who has a DexN of 5. 9 black beads and 5 white beads are thrown into the container. Snake will hit if he draws a black and miss if he draws a white. If Rock attacks Snake, there will be 5 blacks and 9 whites in his draw pile.
Combat Modifiers
All combat modifiers except for CSLs are applied as follows:
CV Penalties: All CV penalties take away one from your CV and adds one to the opponent’s CV. The minimum CV is 1.
Example:
Using the above example, Snake uses Offensive Strike on Rock. This gives -2 OCV penalty. Snake loses 2 from his OCV and Rock adds 2 to his DCV. The resulting draw pile goes from 9B5W to 7B7W.
CV Bonuses: All CV bonuses add +2 to the relevant CV. Any Dodge type maneuver also subtracts 1 from the opposing CV for every bonus above +3. So Martial Dodge subtracts 2 from the opposing CV and Flying Dodge subtracts 1 from the opposing CV.
Example:
Snake has used Offensive Strike which gives +1 DCV normally on Rock. Rock strikes back. His 5B9W draw pile goes to 5B11W. If Snake did a martial dodge, Rock’s draw pile would be 3B19W!
Design Note: The differentiation between CV penalties and CV bonuses is intentional. This meshes with the rest of the system better and the maneuvers with CV penalties are generally more powerful if a hit lands than a regular maneuver. Thus they should be penalized more and can result in a very small chance of a hit if the attacker is too aggressive. Martial Dodge and Flying Dodge get additional benefits since otherwise they don’t give enough benefit for the cost.
Combat Skill Levels
2 and 3 point CSLs can only be used to add +2 CV. 5, 8, and 10 pt CSLs and bonuses from Spreading attacks are first used to cancel any penalties in effect. After that, the user has a choice of adding +2 CV or +1 CV and -1 to the opposing CV. CSLs can never reduce the opposing CV to less than half fractions rounded down (FRD) their DexN. All relevant 2 and 3 point CSLs from both sides cancel out appropriately and the same for 5, 8, and 10 pt CSLs plus bonuses from Spreading attacks before further calculations are done.
Example:
Snake has 2 3 pt levels with martial arts and conducts the Offensive Strike. His draw pile goes from 7B7W to 11B7W. If they were 5 pt HTH levels, they would cancel the -2 Offensive Strike Penalty first and his draw pile would be 9B5W. If he had 4 HTH CSLs, the first 2 would cancel out penalties, and the other 2 can be used as he pleases. He could use them for +4 OCV, +3 OCV -1 Rock DCV, or +2 OCV and -2 Rock DCV. No matter how many CSLs he has, he cannot reduce Rock’s DCV below 2 (half FRD his DexN) If Snake has 4 HTH CSLs in attack and Rock has 1 in defense, then 3 of Snake’s HTH CSLs would be used to cancel penalties plus Rock’s HTH level, leaving only 1 CSL free.
Design Note: Each individual point of CV is worth less than under the current system, thus each +1 or -1 from a maneuver or CSL has double effect to maintain balance. 5+ pt levels are given more flexibility than 2-3 pt levels because of their increased cost and need for balance.
CSLs are treated differently compared to maneuvers with regard to how much CV can be reduced because using a maneuver is a conscious choice by the attacker/defender whereas using a CSL to reduce an opponent’s CV isn’t something easy to protect against. Otherwise it’d be too easy to use a bunch of 5 pt CSLs to make yourself hitproof or autohitting the foe. CSLs under this system are balanced with Dex for the same cost.
Half CV
If a combat circumstance or maneuver dictates that the character has half CV, reduce his appropriate color by half FRU. Thus if Snake rapid fires, his 9 whites in defense drops to 5 since his DCV is halved in this circumstance.
Rule of 10 (R10)
If either color of the draw pile is 10 or greater, then halve each color. If there are 10+ of a color, then halve the color FRU. If there are fewer than 10, then halve the color FRD. Repeat as necessary until both draw piles are below 10. R10 is the ONLY way that a character’s CV can be reduced to 0 aside from certain Powers.
Example:
From the Martial Dodge example above, the draw pile is 3B19W. After applying R10, the draw pile becomes 1B10W. Since one of the colors is still 10+, it gets applied again to 0B5W. If Snake used 2 HTH CSLs defensively and was attacked by a Normal with OCV 3, his normal 3B9W draw pile can be changed to 1B11W. After applying R10, the draw pile becomes 0B6W. The Normal literally cannot hit Snake fighting defensively!
Design Notes:
1) The main reason for R10 is to simplify. It could bog down the game if 2 people with a bunch of CSLs and MA maneuvers get a draw pile of 17B25W for example.
2) R10 gives a small bonus to people with higher CVs.
3) R10 can allow for a Spiderman or Flash character to be completely immune to attacks from ordinary OCV 3 Normals without having to increase their DCV to completely ridiculous levels.
4) A GM can rule that only mooks and normals can be reduced to 0 CV through R10. PCs and important NPCs should have a minimum of 1 CV.
Autofire
For Autofire attacks, use the original Draw Pile. DO NOT APPLY R10. If the attacker pulls a black, he gets a hit. Add 1 white and leave the black out. Continue this process until he draws a White which ends the attack or if he runs out of shots. If he would normally be guaranteed a hit due to R10, he gets a minimum of 1 hit.
Example:
Snake throws 3 shuriken at Rock. His draw pile after all CSLs and maneuvers is 13B5W. If he draws a white, he misses. If he draws black and then white, he hits once. If he draws BBW, he hits twice. If he draws BBB, he hits 3 times which is the max. After the first black, the pile is 12B6W. After the 2nd, the pile is 11B7W. After the 3rd, the pile is 10B8W in case he had further shots.
Skill Draws
Skills use the mechanics of the above combat system. Skill Rolls are replaced by Skill Draws. All Skills cost as follows:
1 pt gives you 1/3 of your ChrN as your Skill Number.
2 pts gives you 2/3 of your ChrN as your Skill Number.
3 pts gives you your ChrN as your Skill Number, and you’re allowed to apply SLs for that Skill.
Example:
Snake has a 26 Dex and thus a DexN of 9. He wants to buy Breakfall. For 1 pt, he gets a Breakfall skill of 3. For 2 pts, his Breakfall skill is 6. For 3 pts, his Breakfall skill is 9.
Joe Normal has a 10 Dex and DexN of 3. For 1 pt, he gets a Breakfall of 1. For 2 pts, he gets a Breakfall of 2. 3 pts gets a Breakfall of 3 and allows him to apply additional SLs with Breakfall.
Opposed Skills
If one Skill is being opposed by another, the system for combat is used with the opposing Skill Numbers being used to determine the draw piles.
Example:
Snake is trying to Stealth past Rock who has a Perception number of 4. Snake’s Stealth number is 9. Snake draws from a 9B4W draw pile.
Unopposed Skills
If a skill isn’t actively opposed, the base is 3 whites in the pile. All net circumstance bonuses to the skill adds 2 blacks per +1. All net circumstance penalties remove 1 black and adds 1 white. A draw pile can be reduced all the way to 0 blacks through penalties. Thus for an Impossible (-10) skill roll, 10 blacks are removed and 10 whites are added! The character had better purchase a lot of Skill Levels…
Skill Levels
All SLs retain their current cost structure. All SLs no matter what their cost can be used to cancel penalties, and they can be used to either add +2 blacks or add +1 black and -1 white to the pile. You can’t reduce the pile below half FRD the original white total for Skills using SLs. However, R10 can reduce the final pile to 0 as usual.
Example:
Snake has 2 SLs with Stealth in the above example. He chooses to add +2 and apply -2 to Rock. Now his pile is 11B2W. After R10, the pile is 6B1W.
Made Skill by X
In cases of Skills where making the roll at all is good and making it by more is beneficial, use the autofire methodology. Drawing the first B is equivalent to making the roll exactly. Each additional black drawn counts as an additional 2 that the skill was made by. As usual, you need to add an additional white every time a black is drawn while not replacing the black.
Example:
Fatwell the Televangelist is trying to use Oratory to get the crowd to donate. The GM rules that the amount donated depends on how much Fatwell makes his Oratory roll by. Fatwell has an Oratory of 7 with 2 SLs and the GM rules that the crowd has an average 3 for defense. Fatwell uses his 2 SLs to change the draw pile from 7B3W to 9B1W. Fatwell draws 3 Blacks before finally pulling a White. The draw pile while he was pulling went from 9B1W to 8B2W to 7B3W before he finally drew white. This counts the same as if Fatwell had made his Oratory by 4 (1 Black for the original success and 2 per additional Black drawn). Fatwell could have hypothetically drawn 9 Blacks in a row which would mean making the roll by 16! However, this is VERY unlikely…
Design Notes:
I gave added flexibility for even the 2 pt SLs because they aren’t terribly cost effective under the current system.
Characteristic Draws
Characteristic Draws are treated the same as Skill Draws unless another rule supersedes it.
Find Weakness
10 pts gives you basic FW which gives you 3 Black vs a 3 White draw pile against targets without LW. Each level costs 5 pts and gives you +2 Blacks. Each point of LW costs 1 pt and removes 1 black and adds 1 white to the pile, to a minimum of 1 black but no maximum number of whites. Now if you bought enough LW so that R10 applies, then the black can ultimately drop to 0. The draw pile after each success drops by 2B and adds 2W. So base FW against a target with no LW has a 3B3W pile. After 1 success, you have 1B5W. It’s impossible to get a 3rd success with base level FW (what do you expect for 10 lousy points?).
Design notes:
I wanted FW to be useful without being overwhelming. I added +/-2 instead of 1 after each success because each FW is extremely powerful. I wanted it to be difficult to have multiple FW successes.
Mental Powers
Mental powers use OECV vs DECV using the combat mechanics described above. If a Mind Scan, Mental Illusion, Mind Control, or Telepathy attack hits, roll effects as normal. The target draws to Breakout using his EgoN vs the mentalist’s EgoN to determine draw pile. Every 5 pts rolled by the mentalist above what was needed adds 2 white to the draw pile. For any mental power where modifiers would apply, add 2 to the relevant color for every 5 on the chart on the mind control table in 5ER. For a non-maintained mental power, each step down the time chart adds 2 blacks to the target and removes 2 whites from the mentalist during that breakout attempt.
Example:
Brain Hulk decides to Mind Control Night Hawk into attacking Defender. He gets +35 on the effects roll. The GM rules that he needed to roll +30 for this effect, so he gets +5 over what he needed. BH has a 9 EgoN and Night Hawk has 6. Night Hawk normally would have 6B9W for his draw pile. However, Brain Hulk had +5 above what he needed which adds +2 to the W pile. In addition, the GM has seen NH and Defender quarreling over the past few adventures and rules that since Defender was getting on NH’s nerves, that applies an additional +2 to the W pile. NH’s new draw pile is 6B13W. After R10, it becomes 3B7W.
Example:
After one full turn, Night Hawk gets another chance to Breakout. Since Brain Hulk wasn’t paying the End to maintain the MC, that adds 2 blacks and removes 2 whites. In addition, Sapphire had made an impassioned plea to NH and the GM rules that to be worth +2 blacks to NH’s pile. His 6B13W pile becomes 10B11W which after R10 is 5B6W. A much better chance of breaking out.
Design Notes:
I didn’t allow the mentalist to reduce the target’s black numbers other than by R10 for game balance reasons. I already made lower level mental effects much more likely to succeed since the target uses the mentalist’s EgoN as the opposing factor. Conversely, very high active points of mental powers gives the target a better chance of breaking out because of the diminishing returns effect of this new mechanic.
Optional Rule:
A mentalist can affect the target even if he doesn’t get the effects roll needed. Each 1 pt below what’s needed removes 1 from his draw pile and adds 1 to his opponent’s draw pile.
Example:
From the above example, let’s suppose Brain Hulk only got +27. He’s 3 pts short of what’s needed so Night Hawk’s breakout roll instead of being 6B13W, becomes 9B10W. After R10, it becomes 4B5W.
Design note:
This optional rule allows even lower level mental powers to have a chance. Finally, a low level mental power is balanced with low level other attack powers. And this rule doesn’t affect high level mental powers at all.
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Originally Posted by prestidigitator; Legendary Creature -- Poster; 2UU (courtesy of Dr. Anomaly's amazing magic cards)
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