What point total for an FH game?

[assault]

What point totals have you used in your FH games? What worked, what didn't, and what are the pros and cons for each power level?

 

For context, I am considering a fairly simple Swords and Sorcery game and thinking of starting at about 100 or 125 points, depending on which edition I decide to use. That's including Disadvantages/Complications of course.

 

Obviously you should specify which edition(s) you refer to for clarity.

 

And no, I won't be using a published setting, so references to them aren't terribly useful.

[Ninja-Bear]

1 hour ago, assault said:

What point totals have you used in your FH games? What worked, what didn't, and what are the pros and cons for each power level?

 

For context, I am considering a fairly simple Swords and Sorcery game and thinking of starting at about 100 or 125 points, depending on which edition I decide to use. That's including Disadvantages/Complications of course.

 

Obviously you should specify which edition(s) you refer to for clarity.

 

And no, I won't be using a published setting, so references to them aren't terribly useful.

Are you using any non-humans? I know typically S&S don’t but if you decide to do that may increase the point totals. And I’ve ran 4th Ed 100 pt. Seaver’s that went fine.

[assault]

I've thought about that. What is an Elf aside from someone with pointy ears and a bow?

[L. Marcus]

From a roleplaying perspective, an elf can be very different -- and in different ways, depending on the kinds of elves in the world.

[assault]

Of course. Mechanically, given the duration of a campaign?

[L. Marcus]

Perhaps only certain kinds of folk have access to certain power builds? Maybe only elves have access to Ranged Martial Arts, and only dwarves have access to certain Earth Spells. You know -- small condiment packs, to give flavor to specific character builds.

[assault]

Given the way you described them... no non-humans!

Unless the players are willing to be dipped in small condiment packs.

[drunkonduty]

I choose tomato sauce. It's mostly sugar and should wash off pretty easily. Also, unlike say chili sauce, it won't sting if it gets in a cut or something.

[Tjack]

For the non-humans I agree package deals are the way to go. Just try to make sure that the the limitations make the costs vs. disads balance out to as near zero as you can.  That should keep any power gamers away from playing them just for the advantages.

[Ninja-Bear]

1 hour ago, assault said:

Of course. Mechanically, given the duration of a campaign?

How long do you see it going on?

How about elves are the only ones to know magic?

[HeroGM]

6th Ed - 175 normal, 225 if I want the players to have a little extra oomph.

[Christopher R Taylor]

The official suggestions for all campaigns are a bit high in my opinion, but as others have said, it depends a lot on what you're thinking in terms of power level and range of abilities.  The easiest and simplest way to decide point values is to determine what kind of enemies the characters are likely to face.  If they are running up against giant ants and goblins, you can go lower.  If you want them to battle dragons and liches, you're going to need to hand out more points.  But as always, how the points are spent matters a lot as well.

 

75-100 will give you beginners, people who have almost no training and are basically normals with a few extra skills.  This is roughly 1-3rd level D&D characters

100-150 will give you a nice low end starting adventurer, the kind who has some training but isn't super capable.  This is kind of like 3-5th level D&D. 

 

Quote

I've thought about that. What is an Elf aside from someone with pointy ears and a bow?

 

Well that depends.  You can make them as alien as you want or as normal as you want.  Ideally, as Tjack says, they shouldn't be more powerful than humans, but again if you want them to be more interesting than you describe, they have to do and have things humans do not.

 

For example, Tolkien's elves had better senses, could run on the top of snow and mud, and lived much, much MUCH longer.  Elves in Elder Scrolls have odd personal abilities like absorbing magic and summoning ancestor ghosts.  In Tunnels and Trolls they are small and green almost like faeries.

[Tjack]

1 hour ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

Well that depends.  You can make them as alien as you want or as normal as you want.  Ideally, as Tjack says, they shouldn't be more powerful than humans, but again if you want them to be more interesting than you describe, they have to do and have things humans do not.

 

For example, Tolkien's elves had better senses, could run on the top of snow and mud, and lived much, much MUCH longer.  Elves in Elder Scrolls have odd personal abilities like absorbing magic and summoning ancestor ghosts.  In Tunnels and Trolls they are small and green almost like faeries.

   Right, so you want to balance that off by possibly making them a bit more fragile than the more robust human or less numerous and more secluded, thus being more discriminated against in human lands and cities.   (Lower Body and Str. maximum & Watcheds)  Otherwise there’s no downside and you’re stuck with an entire party playing Elves or Dwarves or whatever.  And frankly those ultra long life expectancies....who cares. It’s a nice idea in a novel but no one who goes on D&D type adventures is figuring on dying of old age anyway.

[Christopher R Taylor]

There is a very slim chance that some monster might have an aging attack transform, which an elf would shrug at, but there's a reason Life Support vs aging is so cheap.

[Scott Ruggels]

I was doing 150 points  for FH, plus disads, but my games were combat and skill heavy.  

[Ninja-Bear]

6 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

There is a very slim chance that some monster might have an aging attack transform, which an elf would shrug at, but there's a reason Life Support vs aging is so cheap.

For how rare that is you could just define that the aging power has no affect on Elves and possibly Dwarves.

[Ninja-Bear]

@assault, what type of magic are you using? Does the caster need to pay for each spell or is Perk based?

[assault]

Tricky question.

 

None to start with. I've thrown a bit of a tantrum over that.

 

More generally, Multipower based. Characters will be paying pretty close to full cost for that. New spells = new slots.

[Ninja-Bear]

5 hours ago, assault said:

Tricky question.

 

None to start with. I've thrown a bit of a tantrum over that.

 

More generally, Multipower based. Characters will be paying pretty close to full cost for that. New spells = new slots.

See if you want elves to be more magical you could have them have spells with -1 per 20 ACT or no penalty to roll whereas humans have the standard -1 per 10 ACT.

[assault]

2 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

See if you want elves to be more magical you could have them have spells with -1 per 20 ACT or no penalty to roll whereas humans have the standard -1 per 10 ACT.

 

I want elves to die in fire, actually. I'd only include them to placate whiny players, and they wouldn't get anything humans don't.

[Ninja-Bear]

1 hour ago, assault said:

 

I want elves to die in fire, actually. I'd only include them to placate whiny players, and they wouldn't get anything humans don't.

Well I’m that case, how about elves that are really hobbits? 😁

[Mr. R]

I have been making a few FH NPCs to test if it is feasible, and trying to stay at about 125 pts (5th ed) is HARD.  I don't want them to be too competent, but giving them even a modicum of power adds up real fast.  The only good point is that I can easily see where I would spend future points if I was a caster!

[assault]

Heh. I said 125 to cover 6e. 5e characters were meant to be 100 points!

 

100, in 5e, would allow 70 points worth of characteristics and 30 of skills etc. Casters would have to cut heavily into these totals.

I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of your characters if it's not too much drama.

[Ninja-Bear]

@assaultdo you happen to have Fantasy Hero for 4th? My 100pt dwarves were average dwarf from Fantasy Bestiary plus Profession. I remember editing a few things to taste.

[Ninja-Bear]

@assault, what’s up with the elves? Just wondering.