Spirit Rules

[aikiman]

Are there any rules for representing PCs or NPCs as Spirits? 

[Asperion]

During an earlier edition,  they attempted to make official spirit rules.  These worked great,  but players didn't get behind them.  As a result,  during the current edition,  those rules have been officially done away with. 

[L. Marcus]

For NPC spirits, you could buy them as AI Computers or Contacts or Followers, depending on how the GM sees spirits working within the campaign.

 

For PCs, you'd have to buy the Powers that you think spirits should have; Invisibility and Desolid are popular choices. But it all depends on what spirits do in the campaign.

[aikiman]

What if I wanted to make a Ringwraith, a la the lord of the rings?

[unclevlad]

The big starting point is Desolid, Affects Phys World, 0 END, Persistent, Always On.  I think the second biggest is the fear aura, which could be done in several ways.  Drain EGO, No Range AoE, Always On perhaps;  also maybe switch the defense from Power Def to Ego Def.  

[L. Marcus]

Ooo ...

 

No Desolid. Invisibility, yes, and at 0 END Cost and Constant, but you'd have to decide how you want to handle the times when they wrap up in robes to become visible -- the robes can be seen while being worn.

 

They have a Drain Attack, either EGO or PRE or both. I'd give it Explosion with a large radius. It can be turned on and off -- Gaffer Gamgee certainly found his close encounter with one of them unpleasant, but he didn't have a heart attack. On top of that, they have a big PRE Attack --  their signature Nazgûl scream.

 

They have large rPD and rED stats, but are susceptible to light and fire attacks and "blessed" (for lack of a better word) weapons. It's either a Disad on the Resistant Defense (worth -0) or a Complication on the character as a whole. I'd say it's a Complication -- Merry's stab at the Witch-King's knee temporarily dispelled the Defense, allowing Éowyn to finish the job.

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Asperion said:

During an earlier edition,  they attempted to make official spirit rules.  These worked great,  but players didn't get behind them.  As a result,  during the current edition,  those rules have been officially done away with. 

 

Those rules are fully laid out in two supplementary source books for Fourth Edition HERO System: Hero System Almanac I, and Horror Hero: Endless Nightmares. Both are available in this website's online store, at very reasonable prices.

 

Our sometime forum colleague and Hero Games author, Michael "Susano" Surbrook, hosts a full 4E write-up for the Lord of the Nazgul using the Spirit Rules, on his tremendous HERO System website, Surbrook's Stuff.

[unclevlad]

Merry struck with, IIRC, the blade from the barrow wight, a blade of Westernesse.  Effectively a blessed weapon, to use your word.  Arguably a blade designed to disrupt spirits, tying together multiple bits and pieces.  Those were forged by Elves who'd lived in Valinor, so being *seriously* effective against wraith-like critters would make sense.  Yeah, some sort of combination of Dispel on the blade, plus a Vulnerability to the SFX, cuz while Dispel is cheap enough, it's all or nothing, so you need rather a LOT of it.

 

I'd still go with the Drain EGO (or PRE)...but you can keep the dice low, and/or maybe do Extra Time.  The encounter didn't last long enough to give the Gaffer a heart attack.  

[aikiman]

4 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Those rules are fully laid out in two supplementary source books for Fourth Edition HERO System: Hero System Almanac I, and Horror Hero: Endless Nightmares. Both are available in this website's online store, at very reasonable prices.

 

Our sometime forum colleague and Hero Games author, Michael "Susano" Surbrook, hosts a full 4E write-up for the Lord of the Nazgul using the Spirit Rules, on his tremendous HERO System website, Surbrook's Stuff.

How compatible are these with 6th ed?

[Lord Liaden]

They're essentially a distinct subset of the rules, optional to the main rules. You'll have to adjust the cost of a few things like Characteristics, and add in CV/MCV which used to be figured from DEX and EGO, respectively. Otherwise I don't think they'd be problematic.

[aikiman]

21 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

They're essentially a distinct subset of the rules, optional to the main rules. You'll have to adjust the cost of a few things like Characteristics, and add in CV/MCV which used to be figured from DEX and EGO, respectively. Otherwise I don't think they'd be problematic.

I checked out the website you mentioned...very nice. Lots of neat ideas. Thanks!