HERO System 6th Edition Rules Questions

6,880 questions in this forum

1. Simulate Death

   These may seem a bit silly, but here goes anyway... When a character is in a Simulate Death trance, do non-persistant powers continue to function? Can END be spent on anything? I'm presuming that a character in such a trance has no awareness of their surroundings, but it doesn't specify either way in FRED. Should they be allowed Hearing PER rolls? Sight PER rolls (if they keep their eyes open the whole time -- -- ouch)? As their metabolism is operating at 1/10 normal rate, does this mean that the character has the equivalant of 1 point each of Extended Breathing, Diminished Eating (& Drinking?), and Diminished Sleep, and 3 points of Longevity for the d…

   Asked by Victor, February 23, 2003

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   1 answer
2. leaping

   In a heroic game, does a character buy up his leap distance from 2" or his STR distance from the chart, and if the latter, how do you determine the doubleing point?

   Asked by Dino, February 23, 2003

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3. Another Damage Shield / AOE question

   There was an earlier post by "Professor M@ss" that read... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Damage Shield and Area of Effect Is there any reason a character couldn't buy Damage Shield with an Area of Effect, so that people don't actually have to touch him to have the Damage Shield take effect? e.g. The Living Fireball has a flaming aura - he bellows "Fireball On!" and is sheathed in flame. Is it legal to buy this as, say, a RKA with Damage Shield +1/2, Continuous +1 (making it constant), and Area of Effect: Hex +1/2, for a total of +2? --->M@ss ----------------------------------------------------------------…

   Asked by FOUNDATION, February 23, 2003

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4. does no stun vs decreased stun multiple

   Why is it that a killing attack with a 1d6-5 stun multiple gets a -1 limitation, while if it did no stun, it would have a -3/4 limitation? Shouldn't the decreased stun multiple for killing attacks be limited to -1/2 or -3/4?

   Asked by Gary, February 23, 2003

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5. Damage shield staying on

   Steve, forgive me if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it in the FAQ or another post here. In order to aply the Damge Shield advantage the power must be bought as continuous or 0 END/Persistant. In my case, I wanted the power to be 0 END so it was cheaper to add the Persistant advantage rather than Continuous. But I want the character to have to actively control the power, so if he's knocked out, the power shuts of. I could put Concentration/required throughout use of constant power at -1/2, but that isn't the effect I'm looking for. Could I put a limitation on the power that defines this? If so, would -1/4 be the apropriate limitation value? Thank…

   Asked by Chaosliege, February 22, 2003

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6. multiple power attack and two weapon fighting

   Can a character with two hand to hand weapons do a multiple power attack? Example: Two scimitar guy wants to strike a single opponent with both blades at once. Can two scimitar guy use multiple power attack to do this, or does he have to use the sweep maneuver? If he can use multiple power attack and also has access to the sweep maneuver( either from purchasing two weapon fighting, or because the GM allows sweep as a standard option), can he do a sweeped multiple power attack with his two weapons? Given that this could get very abusive, would you make an exception to the rule of only paying END for the maximum ammount of strength used in a phase regardless…

   Asked by feywulf, February 22, 2003

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7. Elemental Control question

   "Elemental control should not be used to lessen the cost of powrs that dont cost END" What if put the limitation "cost end to activate"? Is this okay, or would it typically be frowned upon?

   Asked by Guest Newbie gamer, February 22, 2003

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8. Ablative follow-up

   Steve Said: "No -- as the text states, the determining factor is whether the attack could, if a high enough roll were achieved, do BODY damage. It doesn't have to actually roll that high. As long as it has the potential to roll that high, it ablates some of the defense." So, if a 3d6 RKA attacks a vehicle with 25 armor (ablative), since the max 3d6 could do is 18 body (generally), there would be no ablative effect. But if the same 3d6 RKA attacked a vehicle with 10 armor (ablative), the armor degrades no matter how much damage is done - 4 body or 12 body. Do I have that right?

   Asked by Aroooo, February 22, 2003

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9. Ablative Optional Rule

   Steve, could you expand on the somewhat cryptic explanation of the optional Ablative rules on pg 78 of FRED: "...for a -1 limitation, every shot against which an Ablative Defense Power provides protection and which could, if a good enough roll were achieved, do BODY damage to the target will reduce the Defense Power by 5 Active Points, regardless of whether the target itself takes damage." Does this mean the attack has to exceed (penetrate) the defense and damage the target in order to reduce the defense 5 active points? What if the attack does not exceed the defense? No reduction? Thanks!

   Asked by Aroooo, February 22, 2003

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10. Standard Rounding

    Per the FAQ: Q: Are the END costs for Powers subject to the standard rounding rules? For example, does a Power with 15 Active Points cost 1 END or 2? A: The standard rounding rules apply to END cost calculations. A character using a 15 Active Point ability pays 1 END; a character using a 45 Active Point ability pays 4 END. It has been my experience that in "standard rounding", .5 always rounded up to the next integer. So the END cost for a 15 AP power should become 15/10=1.5 rounded to 1. Does the System use its own standard rounding? If so, where is it defined?

    Asked by Ben Seeman, February 22, 2003

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11. Effects of Zero Speed

    Ok, maybe I am new. I loved the description of what the effects of negative chars/fig in the 5th edition. Except that they all noted mechanics effects except Speed. It only says that a character is "frozen and unable to move." For me this immediately generated the question "What is their OCV/DCV?" Secondly, it doesn't address the effects of persistant powers (like an attack that does continious damage). since this recurrence is based on your speed does the power turn off? does it do damage on post 12 only (I believe you still get your post 12 when at 0 speed)?

    Asked by Lukeal, February 21, 2003

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12. Sweep Multiple-Power Attacks

    Can you Sweep a Multiple-Power Attack? I would say yes, but all targets will be attacked with all Powers in the Multiple Power Attack; e.g., a character who has an EB and a Flash can perform a Multiple-Power Attack with them; that character could Sweep the Multiple-Power Attack, but both powers would attack each target in the Sweep.

    Asked by Peregrine, February 21, 2003

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13. HHA Damage Sheild Part 2

    Um... I don't have the 5e Rulebook (wouldn't do me any good anyway cuz the game I'm in is 4e :-p

    Asked by SuperBlue, February 21, 2003

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14. Champions at Gamestorm 2003

    I live in Portland, and have signed up for Gamestorm 2003. I would REALLY want to play in your game, that you had on your news that you are planning on running. I looked at the Gamestorm 2003 schedule of events, and didn't see a listing yet. I was wondering what day you had plan on running. If you had given them the info and they didn't post it yet. Or if you hadn't decided yet. Any case I'm REALLY looking forward to play in a game run by the creator of the game.

    Asked by davenx01, February 21, 2003

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15. Multiattack

    I think I know the answer, but if I can get it straight from the creater's fingers. So I could end an arguement with one of my players. Would be apperciated. Under Multiattack, it mentions that the attacks need to use different powers. (i.e. EB, and RKA). My player thinks this means as long as the F/X for both is different you could use the same power. For example, A guy has two guns, one is a ballastic bullet gun, and one is an energy rifle. Both are seperate Multipowers The guy fires a 12d6 EB from the left gun, and a 10d6 EB from the right gun, Would that be considered a valid multiattack, or invalid, since they are using the same power EB for both.…

    Asked by davenx01, February 21, 2003

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16. Teleport Question Followup

    I knew that applied to entangles, but would that apply to other types of defenses? For example, an area is completely surrounded by a force wall on all side including top and bottom. It seems to me that as long a person with teleporation has LOS, they could teleport inside the force wall, or for that matter if he has Useable as Attack, teleport a person out of the force wall area. Can the force wall have the Can not be escaped with teleporation advantages, so that some can not teleport in or out of the area? Or am I overthinking this and just should apply SFX reasoning to the situation, as I can see cases where some types of teleporation SFX could get in and other type…

    Asked by nblade, February 21, 2003

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17. Flight altitude limitations

    Why is Only within 4" of a surface (ultimate vehicle) a -1/2 limitation, when Only in contact with a surface is only a -1/4?

    Asked by Dino, February 21, 2003

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18. Sweep & 2 pt CSL question

    Looking at the FAQ, you say that using PSL's to counteract OCV penalties 'granted' by combat maneuvers is forbidden, and you should use 2pt skill levels to model that sort of thing. So, my question is this: I want to be good at sweeps. Now, is sweep its own maneuver and as such 2 point CSLs are adequate regardless of what I'm sweeping with, or do I need 3/5 point skill levels depending on what I plan on combining?

    Asked by ferat, February 21, 2003

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19. Teleportation Question.

    After reviewing the FRED, and the FAQ, I couldn't find a reference to Teleporation vs Something that has Hardened DEF. I thought there was. Finally I pulled out the BBB and there it was saying you can't teleport into a space that has hardened DEF, unless the teleport has AP. Is this still true in 5th Ed or has that be wiped away?

    Asked by nblade, February 21, 2003

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20. How Much of a Limitation?

    Steve, I have a darkness based character who has taken the limitation "Power only works at 1/2 effect during daylight" with a limitation of -1. Does this seem reasonable to you, or should this be more/less of a limitation? I always have a hard time adjudicating custom limitations, and would appreciate your opinion. Thanks! Spideyguy

    Asked by Spideyguy, February 20, 2003

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21. Body Multipliers

    Hello I am wondering if you use the hit location rules do the multipliers to how much damage is done come before or after subtracting Armor

    Asked by Ndreare, February 20, 2003

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22. Altered SFX duplicates

    If a character has n Duplicates without the advantage "altered duplicates"; that basically means : all the character points are affected the same way on all dupes. does it also include SFX ? i.e. if Season Man has 4 dupes (winter, summer, spring, autumn) can Winter has a EB w/cold SFX and summer the same EB with heat SFX ?

    Asked by altamaros, February 20, 2003

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23. NND Tunneling

    a) Is it possible to take the NND advantage for tunneling ? (basically allows the tunneler to go through anything except the defined defense) One of my players wants to create that to simulate a "merge with matter" power. Daniel

    Asked by altamaros, February 20, 2003

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24. CSL Question

    Can a character use a three point skill level for a ranged and a HtH attack, if the F/X is simmilar. In example Can Renard Dumas, the great fencer, use a CSL with his Rapier if he throws it at someone? Another example would be flamefist, who in his MP has both a HtH attack and a Ranged attack

    Asked by JmOz, February 20, 2003

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25. Resurrection question

    At what point is a dead character that Resurrection Healing is applied to considered "officially" alive again? It is the point when BODY becomes positive again (i.e. at least 1), or the point when BODY is restored to greater than negative its starting value? If the latter, if the character is considered alive again, but with negative BODY, does he immediately begin "bleeding to death" all over again? To clarify: Fighter Tom has 10 BODY. An ogre whacks him with a huge sword and reduces him to -15, killing him. Cleric Bob throws a Resurrection Healing spell at Fighter Tom that restores 7 BODY. Is Fighter Tom considered to be still dead at -8 BODY, alive at -8 BODY…

    Asked by Yamo, February 20, 2003

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    1 answer