Low-Hero Combat

[Rapier]

About six months ago we hopped into the wayback machine and started a new campaign in the late 19th century. The campaign is, well, I guess you would most closely classify it as Horror. Lots of zombies, werewolves, vampires and demons lurking in dark alleys. All players are in the Standard Hero range (75 + 75).

 

We are having a much better time than we ever did with Champions, except for combat. We played Fantasy Hero for a while and the extreme bloodiness of combat was not too big of a deal thanks to the friendly-neighbourhood-cleric-in-tow. But these characters don't have that benefit.

 

We have tried adding a magic charm or three, but that is rather hokey and contra-genre. We tried boosting combat ratings with Martial Arts. We tried changing the DEF rating for standard armour types. We tried changing the base damage of weapons. Nothing seems to be quite evening out. It either ends up nerfing combat where noone takes damage, or not making any difference.

 

I'm at my wits end. My players are having more fun than ever, and I really enjoy working the new genre. But the recuperative delay between games (game time. The trail of the evil demonologist goes cold while half the team is healing in hospital) is really putting a crimp in the story line.

 

How do you handle this?

[Fitz]

You could use the option for allowing a good Paramedic roll to return one or two BODY instead of just stabilizing the character. Also, you could bump up the standard healing rate from REC/month to REC/week. These still allow for a character to be taken out by combat damage, but they're not going to be out of action for months while their ruptured spleens and shattered femurs heal.

[BobGreenwade]

You might also consider letting them have Combat Luck and Combat Levels with DCV. Don't give these things to the bad guys; just let the PCs pick them up with their Experience Points. This should help mitigate some of the damage.

 

You might also want to suggest to the players that they make ample use of the Block and Dodge maneuvers.

[Herolover]

I am sorrry to ask this, but are you wanting completely bloodless combat?

 

First, I assume that you are NOT using any of the optional rules such as Wouding, Bleeding, etc. You could use Hit-Locations, but just use them as flavor text. All of the above add quickly to the deadliness of combat.

 

Have you PC's make frequent use of block, dodge, and Dive for Cover. Remember, in the 19th Century there were to major defenses for not dying in combat. No getting hit (DCV or Manuevers) or using a lot of armor (high DEF).

 

Remember a person is not DEAD until they reach negative their normal BODY number. In other word a person with a 10 BODY is not DEAD until they reach -10 BODY.

 

Other than this, without you giving more information, I am not sure what to tell you. I have never found normal, standard, HERO combat to be deadly far from it.

 

Assuming you use standard weapon damages and standard armor defenses an attack from a 19th Century weapon will do 3-4 BODY meaning a character can take 3-4 hits before thay are out of the fight and even then if the PC's can take a phase they can stop the PC from dying.

 

I am going to apologize for the next statment ahead of time, because I do understand what it implies, however in my years of using HERO I have had the problem that combat at low levels wasn't deadly enough.

 

It sounds to me like either the "villans" and creatures you are using are to powerful or there is a rule somewhere that you are using, not using, or using improperly.

[austenandrews]

It depends on the tone of your campaign. If you're looking at a Van Helsing-style action-adventure game, I like Combat Luck, Paramedic restoring BODY and increased healing rates. Maybe it's also an equipment problem. If the characters are getting into regular hand-to-hand combat, it makes sense that they'd equip themselves for it (with adequate armor in particular). Herolover's point is also quite pertinent, that maybe your critters are too powerful for the tone you want. After all, 75+75 will get you a considerably butch character. A team of them should be able to take care of themselves.

 

If you've got an actual horror game (as opposed to an action game with monsters), maybe you're just running too much combat. In real horror the protagonists avoid getting caught by the sharp-clawed nasties, because the odds are they're going to get carved up. Instead of action sequences where you try to knock out/kill the monster before it knocks out/kills you, horror is more involved with knocking out/killing the monster before it gets its hands on you. Consider that getting into combat is the equivalent of losing a battle -- odds are it's going to set your plans back quite a bit. (I know that's a different tone from most games, but I'm a bit of a horror purist that way.)

 

In either case I'd suggest designing your scenarios with longer time periods in mind. The evil high priest's plot to summon an elder demon is going to take two months instead of one night, and it unfolds in various stages. The vampire's domination of the sleepy seaside town is more like supernatural seige warfare rather than a sudden assault. That way if/when some PCs get knocked below 0 BODY, losing a couple of weeks to convalesce doesn't ruin the plotline. In other words, it's up to you to make sure the demonologist's trail doesn't go cold while the PCs are in the hospital.

 

Also, design your encounters such that the PCs can press on when wounded. Often in games there's a tendency to only face danger at full strength. Without the healing resources of more common fantasy settings, full strength is a luxury PCs can't often afford. Anyway in a horror story, the heroes are often so far below the bad guys in combat ability that it doesn't particularly change much even if they are at full strength; so limping onward against the monster is not such a big deal.

 

-AA

[Arthur]

Allow the characters to purchase Regeneration, but at a maximum of 1 per 6 hours (or 1 per hour, tops). Call it "Rapid Healing".

 

Allow the characters to buy very limited amounts of Resistant Defenses (1/1 or 2/2, tops). Call it "Toughness".

 

I have used both, and they go a long way toward modeling the Cinematic Tough Guy Type.

[CourtFool]

Originally posted by Arthur

Allow the characters to purchase Regeneration, but at a maximum of 1 per 6 hours (or 1 per hour, tops). Call it "Rapid Healing".

 

Allow the characters to buy very limited amounts of Resistant Defenses (1/1 or 2/2, tops). Call it "Toughness".

 

I would suggest allowing Regeneration at 1 per Day. You may also consider allowing Damage Reduction 25%. Call it "Bruiser".

[Marcus Impudite]

If you got a character who can hold his own in a fight but doesn't look like much, try something like this:

 

Frequently Underestemated: +3 with Combat, (24 Active Points), Only Versus First Time Opponents (-1/4), Not Versus Characters With Danger Sense (-1/4) Cost: 16-points

[Tom Carman]

Originally posted by Fitz

You could use the option for allowing a good Paramedic roll to return one or two BODY instead of just stabilizing the character. Also, you could bump up the standard healing rate from REC/month to REC/week. These still allow for a character to be taken out by combat damage, but they're not going to be out of action for months while their ruptured spleens and shattered femurs heal.

Western Hero had some ideas along these lines. First was to track damage as separate injuries. A successful Paramedic roll could take 1 Body off each individual wound. a 1-Body injury is a "minor wound", and characters get to heal up to their REC in minor wounds per day.