Do it has been a long long time since I played. Many rules have changed but thanks to your Chill example I think I have a MUCH better understanding of the current idea behind this edition. You you be will to look over my 1st go at using HD and refamiliarizing myself with the rules/mechanics ?

The next few stats were originally call figured stats or figured characteristics because their base value was derived from the characteristics we purchased in the entry before (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution). In previous editions, you could buy back some of the figured characteristics to save some points or if the concept didn't match your version of the character. You were allowed to only buy back one stat though. This was in 5th edition and prior editions. 6th edition made this simpler by removing the figured values. Because the starting values are set, there is no need to restrict how many stats you may want to buy down but then again, I wouldn't suggest buying any down below the starting values unless you have a good reason to and have enough experience with the game system to know how it will affect your character. We've already calculated OCV and DCV earlier. These stats and the next two were originally not characteristics prior to 6th edition. They were derived from Dexterity and Ego respectively. OMCV and DMCV are the mental combat version of OCV and DCV. Since we are not making a character with strange mental powers like Professor X or the Martian Manhunter, we are going to leave these values as is. If we wanted to make the character a little harder to mentally access, we could raise the DMCV value, but as noted perviously, I just don't see this character as very willful or psychically aware. Unless you are creating a mentalist ( a person with mental powers), it would be a waste to raise your OMCV. It has no use unless you have some power or the GM allows you to mentally block someone without training. The next two stats are PD (physical defense) and ED (energy defense). TBW

For the next few stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Ego, Presence), your value will be probably somewhere from 8-20. If you were designing prior to 6th edition, you already set a value for Dexterity as part of setting your base OCV/DCV. We are designing a 6th edition character for now. An average, run of the mill human has a value of 10 in these stats. A value of 13-15 get you noticed with comments, "that person's fairly smart" or "they go to the gym". A value of 18-20 makes that one of the characteristics which kind of define you. Comments like "that ones a genius" or "they are a professional body builder/athlete" come up. Again these are levels for a normal person or even a heroic person. But for our example, Chill is a superhero. If you've read comic books, the smartest superhero there make a normal human genius look dumb by comparison. In those stats, you better off upping those comic book stats by about 10. This doesn't mean that if Chill isn't exceptionally smart, he should have a 20 Intelligence. No, rather, if he's noted in that characteristic, you should probably set the value 10 over normal. There are 3 stats where a value of 13 or 18 make more sense than a 15 and 20 respectively due to cost savings. Those stats are Dexterity, Intelligence, and Presence. The reason these stats can save you points is because they are the primary stats for skills. Especially for Intelligence. A Presence of 15 is a little more useful because it gives you a better Presence attack And a high Dexterity means you go earlier in a phase, but these aren't essential. In skills, a value of 13 or 15 (likewise with 18 or 20) are equal; they both give the same benefit to skills relating to those values. While there is not an urgent need right now on saving points, it helps to be prepared. So at times, I will choose a 13 or 18 for Chill just because its more efficient. One last note. In the first paragraph in this entry, you'd note I stated your values is somewhere between 8-20. What about that below average 8? If you want to be below average in a stat, 8 is probably the lowest you should go. 8 is a value where you are not considered disabled but your ability is mediocre at best. The overweight person who gets out of breath going to the refrigerator to grab the last piece of cake probably has a Constitution of 8. The person who barely graduated high school with a GPA below 2 and thinks the chicken of the sea is actually chicken is probably an 8 Intelligence. A value of 8 is substandard yet still functional. I would not suggest going below an 8. An 8 is effectively a disadvantage in play. Going less than that can severely hamper you in many ways. If you still want to go that route, in 6th edition, the two characteristics that you can probably go below that amount is Dexterity and Intelligence. Again, I would warn you not to do it though. Going back to Chill. I see him drawn as fairly buff and going routinely to the gym. He doesn't look like an professional body builder but you wouldn't think him physically weak in any sense of the word. So, I'd give him a 15. In comic book terms, he isn't doing any type of physical fighting or doing heroic feats of strength, so there isn't really a reason to bump this up any higher. He's not known for his strength, so no +10 here. Dexterity helps people go first before others. It helps set your initiative. So, in general, the higher up on the initiative table you are, the sooner you get to go or react to situations. Dexterity is the main stat which represents how graceful you are and how much balance you have. Chill isn't a klutz and I can see him dance pretty well on the dance floor. He isn't an Olympic gymnast or professional dancer but he has better reaction times than a normal person. I'd give him probably a 13. Constitution is very superheroic. If they didn't have super hero levels of Constitution, then every time they get hit with an attack, they'd just crumple up into a ball and wait till combat is over. Given that, if he wasn't heroic, I'd probably give him a 15. He goes regularly to the gym and engages in strength and endurance exercises. So, being in a superheroic game, I'd buff this by 10 giving a final stat of 25. Intelligence is hard to quantify for some people. Just using IQ score would probably put most people around 8-13, but it isn't relative to heroic action movies and comics. Besides which, Intelligence is not just about memory recall and logic. It also represents speed of learning and attention to details. I see Chill as being capable of going to college and probably a college student. He's probably quick on the uptake as far as more mundane things, but can't wrap his head around more esoteric items. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and place him at 13. Ego is strength of will. While not impulsively buying stuff from the home shopping network, I don't see him resisting strong temptations or shrugging off mental controls either. I'll just leave him as average at a 10. Finally Presence. Presence is the ability to take command of a room just by entering it. The ability to face fear in the eye and not blink. Chill is a comic book character and is probably less afraid of being hurt. He has the confidence of his powers. So a base of 15 + another 10 since this is a superheroic stat. A 25. This is a very good presence but in concept he could probably be toned down by 5 compared to other heroes. For now, we'll keep him at 25.

Next is a question of Speed. How fast is fast enough? Speed is the number of actions you can take every 12 seconds. Its not only how fast you are, it also represents how quickly respond to difficult situations. You can have a low dexterity but have a high speed. So a combat veteran may be used to combat and act 4 times in a turn (speed 4) but still only have an 11 Dex. A 18 Dex ballerina may never have had to deal with combat and thus only have a speed of 2. Personally, I believe if you know you can bounce bullets you feel a bit more invulnerable and won't hesitate as much when the fighting starts. So I tend to give characters with good resistant defenses a higher speed than what a normal human can achieve. Top that off with training and real combat experience, I believe most superheroes can easily hit a 5 speed. In our example, we are going to keep with the average of a 5 speed. There is a second reason to go with the game average, one which isn't talked about enough. If you make a character with say a 3 speed and every other player is sporting a 6 speed, you are going to be bored for a lot of the game. Unlike games like D&D/Pathfinder, instead of making all you actions occur on your time in a round, HERO micromanages actions. You don't get 5 attacks in 1 turn on your action like in D&D. You get 5 actions spread out evenly over the turn, interspersed with everyone else's actions. Unless you understand this and how it affects your play, I do not recommend going more than 1 speed below average.

OK, so we know what our power level is. We start to buy characteristics. The first characteristic I buy is OCV/DCV. It's your main mode to hit in combat. In games prior to 6th edition, this would mean buying Dex. In 6th edition, OCV and DCV is separated out. We are using an average of 8 in both CVs. So we set the value to 8. We have a starting value of 3 and it costs +5 points to go up or -5 points to go down. To go up to 8 means paying 25 points for OCV and 25 points for DCV. This is great for this example, but what if we want to hit a little more often or be more nimble and not be hit? Well, you could add one or two more OCV. In general, when you go up in CV, the GM expects you to give a little in another way. So, if you go up in OCV then most GMs will expect you to go down in the number of dice you do. Thus, in this example, if we wanted to have a 9 OCV, the GM might expect us to lower our damage from 12d6 to 11d6. With a 10 OCV, the GM might be expecting us to lower our damage to 10d6 and so on. Some GMs might allow a drop in speed so that you can hit more often but have less chances to do so. In comparison, if you want to raise your DCV, you should lower your PD and ED. Every 1 you increase your DCV over average, your PD and ED should drop about 3.5 on average. So for a 9 DCV, your PD and ED should be about 23-24. A 10 DCV and your PD/ED should be 20. So how effective is +1 OCV or +1 DCV over the game average? On OCV, +1 over the average means you will hit 12% more or go from a 62.5% chance to 74% chance( a difference of 11.5%). But going to +2 OCV over average just means going to 83.8% (a difference of 21.3%). And going +3 OCV over average is a difference of only 28.2%. So what is happening? Well, HERO uses a bell curve instead of a linear to hit chart. In D&D/Pathfinder, a +1 means a 5% increase in a chance to hit. This is a linear progression mainly because you are using a single twenty sided die. So a +3 in D&D is a +15% increase in your chance to hit. In HERO, the farther you get from a 10 on three dice, the less effective the bonus becomes. You don't need major bonuses to hit to change the odds in your favor. SImilarly, a +1, +2, +3 over average DCV will result in getting hit by an average OCV of 8 at 50%, 37.5%, and 25.93% on average. It's a balancing game for the GM who wants to make sure everyone has fun and are about equal. To be fair, this is much harder than just making a character. A GM usually has to do this for EACH villain and also make sure the players do not run roughshod over the game.

My first step usually is to find out the power level of the game. In this example, I'll assume a standard superhero game which would be 400 pts with 75 points in complications. The power level is basically the average number of dice thrown at what CVs and at what speed. For our example, the average power level is 12DC, at an 8 CV and 5 Speed. Sometimes, GMs will give you a maximum power level. If the GM gives you this, they generally don't want you to make all your abilities hit these maximums on a regular basis. This means, that without pushing, using maneuvers you will be using often, your damage and CV should not exceed these numbers. As an example, say a GM has denoted a maximum of 15DC at a 8CV. You create a character with a 60 strength. This is well within the power level right? But you add 60m(30") of flight and you move through targets a lot doing 18d6 of damage, the GM might have issues with that amount of damage despite the penalties to your CVs. At 12d6 average damage, if we assume about 15 stun on average past defenses, that would mean 27 points of defense. This is calculated by multiplying 12 by 3.5, the average on a 1d6 and subtracting the amount of stun we would take on an average hit. The big takeaway from this is that we should have 27 PD/ED on average. For more on this calculation read the next paragraph, but all you really need to know is the number 27 for defenses. 15 points of stun done on average is in most games a good gauge as to the amount of damage the GM wants to occur. This makes about 3 hits on a player with 40 stun on average before they go unconscious. Let's look at what happens if you increase your defenses to 30. At 30 points, only 12 will get through on average. A 40 stun PC would then expect to take about 4 hits. Go to 33, then it's about 5 hits. At 35, only 7 points of stun is leaking through and it would take 6 hits before going unconscious. Now this is all well and good from just calculating damage, but you need to remember that most attacks will have around a 62.50% chance to hit if you are at average DCV. So you can effectively double the amount of hits to attacks. So at 30 points of defense, 4 hits would be about 8 attacks or about 2 turns of combat. Most combats last about 1-2 turns, really. Combatants start to run out of end, charges, and/or stun by the second turn on average. You can do better calculations at 62.50% but for the most part doubling works fine.

So I figure I'd make a how to build a hero topic. This is just how I build a hero. Other people may build a hero differently. If you already know how to build a hero easily, the poll is not for you. It's for people new to HERO. This is for 6th edition, but most editions I do the same.

Ran this character as a blackmailed superhero. Didn't do a lot of damage as the hero was trying to avoid doing damage to the PC heroes, but when it came time to do damage, was fairly effective. Though he ran through about 2/3 of his arrows.

Ran her as a blackmailed superhero to fight the PCs. She did a hell of a lot of damage grown but she kept pulling her punches and then exactly hitting her targets (which means full damage).

So in response to a thread in Hero System Discussion (link), I made this character. Power Level: Game Average: 12DC, 8 CV, 5 Spd Sex: Male Age: 23 Height: 178cm (5'10") Weight: 60kg (132.28 lbs) Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Black Handed: Right Background: Beau Long was playing with his cowboys and indian toys. He always like the indians and how they use bows and arrows instead of a gun. While playing he heard shouting outside in his bedroom window and saw a family of three get attacked by a robber. The robber killed the parent and fled. Beau went to bed thinking if there were indians there, the poor boy wouldn't have become an orphan. On that day, Beau Long decided he would become like Robin Hood and the Indians and fight injustice with bow and arrows. Personality/Motivation: OK, so he's a nut case vigilante. At least his heart is in the right place. Quote: You have failed this city! Heh, sorry, always wanted to say that. Powers/Tactics: Outside in the city he will use mostly sniping tactics and move. In more confined areas where can not use the swing line arrow, he will resort to martial arts. He always delays until before his next segment in case he needs to dodge or dive for cover. While his DCV is very good, he can be a bit quishy when hit. Appearance: He's 5'10 and athletically fit. Dressed in black leather and wielding a aluminum composite folding longbow, he looks straight out of some gritty television or movie TV show. Notes: With the quiver, Longbow has a fairly good arsenal for about 3 turns of combat just in shooting. With or without his bow as a club, his martial arts also make him a very effective close in fighter. His one big problem is his actual defenses are a bit low for a 12DC game. A 62 act. pt 10d6 AoE 4m Radius attack will only just barely not stun on average him doing 15 points of stun past defenses. A straight up 12d6 attack will most likely stun him doing 22 points past defenses. The background is total cheese. And not even real cheese but pasteurized prepared cheese product. If you use this character as a base for your own personal character, please come up with something better. Logbow.pdf

Thinking of using her in a encounter with PCs in a game I run...

So a long time ago (about 15 years IIRC) in a gaming house now but a distant memory, I ran a 5th game and introduced a lowered powered hero NPC trying to get into the main hero's roster. That hero was MinMax. When 6th came out, the new cost challenges for growth made that a bit difficult. I think I finally got it down where I think power, CV, and damage variability is still playable. She may still require some tweaking but on the whole seems okay. Sadly, I am the only GM I know doing Hero right now and the only one doing 6th so she may be on hold for a while. Power Level: Game Average: 12DC, 8 CV, 5 Spd Sex: Female Age: 18 Height: 157cm (5'2") Weight: 51kg (112.5 lbs) Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Black Handed: Right Background: Maxine Ming is a mutant teenager with the size changing power. She found that within a limited range of her body, she could shrink herself and things she has to about the size of an ant. Later on, she found that she could enlarge herself. She trained a unique fighting style involving her shrinking/growth and the martial arts she studied her entire life. Now, with a new suit (which shee keeps in an altoids small tin), she fights in the San Francisco bay area as MinMax. Personality/Motivation: She's always had the push to be a doctor or lawyer from her parents. Now in college, she's studying to be an engineer (an acceptable profession) but what she really wants to be is a superhero. So she hides her adventuring behind a mask and suit while slowly earning an engineering degree. Quote: I'm MinMax. Powers/Tactics: Inside buidlings, she tends to stay small and use martial arts. Her costume can change colors to help blend into the background. Outside, if she needs a push in damage, she can grow to about 2 stories. Appearance: She's 5'2" and weighs 112#. She's fairly curvy for an Asian woman with a petite frame. Notes: Against opponents using only direct attacks, she's pretty unstoppable. Shrunk, her DCV is around 24. In normal size mode, her DCV can be on the average 12 assuming she's doing a martial punch and making her acrobatics roll. She doesn't fly and that is something I'm a bit torn on. Flight might be incredibly useful. When she's big, her martial punch can land a whopping 14d6. Her defenses go up to 20 points, and with 6 damage negation classes, an average 12d6 attack should do a point or two of stun on the average. Her big weakness is area of effects. When shrunk or normal sized, the area of effects negate her DCV. When grown, while her PD/ED still go up to 20, she no longer gets her damage negation. Combined with the bonus to hit her at that size, she's at a disadvantage with a cheap area effect being just +1/4 on 10d6 normal (doing 15 stun when grown or 21 at any other time against her 15 Con). MinMax.pdf

This seems like a good idea, a nice place and in accordance with the rules let me say now.....Nazi’s suck. P.S. So does Hydra. P.P.S. Although watching them get their butts kicked does make for a fun night of gaming or a fine evening of programming on the History Channel.

This club will not tolerate pro-nazi or pedophilia posts. Posts which contain Nazis and Pedophiles in a a bad light (like villains) and where they are defeated is fine. Pulp and modern action heroes fighting the good fight against Nazis is the reason for this post as clarification. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance