New to HERO and a little confused on something...

[Vorvodoss]

Could someone point me to a good explanation on Active Points (or explaing it to me themselves)?

 

What I'm referring to is the Active Point cost for Powers. I'm not able to figure out how we know how many points we have to spend, how we figure that, or how they recover, etc. I have looked through the book but if someone knows the exact page number or a good thread that could explain this, I'd be very grateful.

 

So far, I'm loving the system...just this one point has me confused. Thanks!!!

[Steve Long]

I've moved this to the "Discussion" board so that other fans can chime in to offer their own helpful explanation. Here's my brief take on the matter.

 

The Active Points in a power is the total cost of a power after all Adders and Advantages are applied (without reducing the cost via Limitations or other modifiers). For example, an Energy Blast 8d6 has 40 Active Points (8 x (5 points per d6)); an Energy Blast 8d6, AP has 60 Active Points ((8 x (5 points per d6)) x1.5).

 

After you determine the Active Points, you can, if you wish, apply Limitations to reduce the cost of the ability. That tells you the Real Points -- the final amount of Character Points you have to spend to buy that ability. If you don't apply any Limitations, then Active Points = Real Points.

 

Continuing the example above, suppose you want to buy a Blaster Pistol. You want the pistol to do 8d6 of damage. So, here's what you buy: Energy Blast 8d6 (40 Active Points); OAF (-1), 12 Charges (-1/4). Real Points (and thus the cost to your character to buy this pistol): 18 points.

 

In terms of "how many points does my character get to buy things?", that's determined by the GM. Page 15 of the rulebook has a table with some of the many possibilities, but the standard totals are 350 points for Superheroic characters and 150 points for Heroic characters.

 

The points you have to spend on a given Power depend on the rules for that Power, and usually vary depending on how effective you want that Power to be. For example, the more points you spend on Energy Blast, the more dice of damage you can do. That's not necessarily the same thing as Active Points, though, as explained above. A few Powers, such as Desolidification, have a set cost, but most have flexible costs, so that the more points you spend, the more "power" you get.

 

You don't lose or recover Active Points (though sometimes other powers, like Drain or Transfer, may alter them temporarily). Active Points are simply one step in the calculation of how much a specific ability costs your character -- and, to a lesser extent, a measurement of the relative effectiveness and power of an ability.

 

If that doesn't clear things up for you, please keep posting questions, and I'll keep posting answers until it is. Once you "grok" this, it'll all seem pretty simple, I promise.

[Vorvodoss]

OK...I think I'm starting to get it.

 

I thought Active Points were something along the lines of power points used to activate the particular powers. I reviewed the rules and saw that isn't exactly it. As the book says, Active Points are simple a way to 1. balance and 2. judge how powerful a power is when compared to other powers.

 

LOL...I'm still doing my best to "grok" everything but it's slow going. I've been deeply entrenched in another system for 3+ years (I won't say what it is but it uses a d20...hehe) and this system is drastically different in almost all respects.

 

Thanks for the help. I'll keep posting if I run into any more snags.

 

Hey, actually, maybe you could explain something else real quick. In the area of changing speed, on p.233 of the Fifth Ed. rules, an example is given that involves a character changing his speed temporarily to SPD 2 to avoid drowning. How does this make sense exactly? Why does lowring his speed prevent him from drowning? Wouldn't time continue at the same rate no matter what his particular speed is? Feel free to move this part to another area, just though I'd save time. ^.^

[Southern Cross]

True enough,but a character who is more active uses up more oxygen,and so drowns faster.Reducing SPD,in this instance,just means the character uses less END per turn,and takes longer to drown.(Which is why it isn't possible to reduce your character's SPD to 1 to take even longer to die.It also means that a SPD 1 character ,if someone were silly enough to buid one,would drown as fast as a SPD 2 character).

[pinecone]

In Hero the way drowning works (and strangling etc) is that you cannot recover, once you are out of END you start to burn STUN, then after you pass out you start to die...by lowering your speed you are taking fewer actions, thus spending less END and staving off the point where things get ugly...it is realistic in a way...after all if I got locked in a vault I would avoid moving around to preserve oxegin and "in system" I can reprisent this as owering my speed.....

[Vorvodoss]

That makes perfect sense. I guess what I wasn't understanding is that the lower your speed, the less energy your use. So, effectively, if you were a SPD 12 character you would be burning a LOT more END, right?

 

Follow-up question: Does END recover along with STUN and BODY as a result of taking a recover or a post-segment 12 recovery?

[pinecone]

Well Stun and END Recover but body heals back slower...unless you've got regeneration...I usually say you heal your REC in Body per month and pro-rate per day.....

[Monolith]

Originally posted by Vorvodoss

So, effectively, if you were a SPD 12 character you would be burning a LOT more END, right?

Yes, in most cases a SPD 12 character will use more END than a slower SPD character, and he will drown faster if he continues to attempt to act as a SPD 12 character.

 

Follow-up question: Does END recover along with STUN and BODY as a result of taking a recover or a post-segment 12 recovery?

Only END and STUN recover when taking a Recovery. BODY must heal back normally unless the character has Regeneration.

[Steve Long]

As I expected, the fans have gotten to your follow-up questions quicker than I have.

 

If you encounter more difficulties or have other questions, please post 'em here. One of the great things about Hero players is that they're willing and eager to help other people learn the game.