Why should I play HERO?

[CourtFool]

Welcome aboard, you smelly n00b!

 

I have a feeling the HERO community is more mature and laid back' date=' just from all of your replies.[/quote']

 

(looking up in surprise having been caught biting Mad Irishman's head off) What?! He said the 'F' word!

[Tech]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Reasons to play HERO:

 

1) Champions was voted into the Gamer's Hall of Fame.

2) Champions was voted by the Inquest gaming magazine as #1 of the top 100 rpg games.

3) There is a massive fan-base for anyone who has a question or just wants to throw out ideas.

4) Hero Games continues to sell books for multiple genres (superhero, sci-fi, etc)

5) We all here on the forum think it's pretty cool.

6) Why not?

 

In my opinion, it really is the best overall game system out there.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

And the BEST reason to play HERO is this:

 

You can make whatever you want with FREd (stands for the First Revised Edition). Just daydreamed a crazy gun that shoots negatively-charged candy cane lasers? Well, you can make one in HERO. It may take a while in the case of a very complicated item, but you can make anything. Same with characters, vehicles, and the like. You want your own race of elves or aliens? Why, you can make one.

 

You can't do that with most other systems and still have the item/ creature/ vehicle you created fit into the game world properly. It may end up being too expensive, too cheap, too powerful, or just not working the way you wanted. Fortunately, FREd gives you the power to carefully measure and quantify everything you create, so you know (generally) how powerful it is, and what it will do.

 

Most systems do no such thing. d20, especially, provides no guidance on creating new spells -- let alone new magic systems -- and most especially impossible in d20 is to create your own classes or "prestige classes" for a given rules set. By contrast, a large portion of FREd is devoted to Powers, the building blocks you'll use to create spells, superpowers, vehicles, toasters, pistols, transporters, flamethrowers, Bunsen burners, magic potions, psionic abilities, or anything else you desire. And it's a classless game system. You as the GM can create some guidelines for players, but beyond that, they have unlimited freedom of choice.

[MorpheousXO]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

I just had the interesting idea of making a level based game with Hero... not that I'll ever do it though, as I don't like level bases very much!

 

Anyways, welcome, ye olde mad_irishman! As someone who just got the revised book (like two days ago) and started with the sidekick, I must say that this system fits most of my rpg needs! I'm still digesting ReFRED, since I have chosen to read it cover to cover But, much goodness inside. Hope you have fun with it!

[Mad_Irishman]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Well I just got the Side Kick today, and I'm taking it all in. I must say that I'm somewhat confused with all the acronyms, but the task resolution seems cut and dry. The only hard part is making a character, but that will come with time. Thanks for the push I needed, I'm happy so far and when I get the bucks, the big book will be mine, or moab Now all I need is someone to play it with, cause my four year old is a little to young, maybe when he is five . Thanks.

 

 

-Ian

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Yeah, the acronyms and other terms take some getting used to. Hope you found the Glossary in Sidekick - you'll probably have to refer to it fairly often at first, but it won't take long for it all to sink in.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

'Ello and Welcome!

 

As you get into and absorb everything I might suggest the following.

 

Get a Genre Book and possibly an Ultimate Series book.

 

One or both of those types of books are so chock full of exmaples on how to build things and how to set up a genre convention that you'll save yourself some headache in development.

 

I use the Ultimate series as idea jumpers for all sorts of things.

 

[Or better yet... who needs to make house payments? Get everything DOJ has put out!]

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

HERO constantly impresses me with it versitility and flexiblity, you can do anything you want with it

[Egyptoid]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

the king is dead.

LONG LIVE THE KING

 

my buddies mutants and masterminds campaign has ended.

 

NOW I CAN RUN HERO IN HIS TIME SLOT. WOO HOO.

 

Back in the saddle again after many years....

 

[John Desmarais]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

the king is dead.

LONG LIVE THE KING

 

my buddies mutants and masterminds campaign has ended.

 

NOW I CAN RUN HERO IN HIS TIME SLOT. WOO HOO.

 

Back in the saddle again after many years....

 

 

And what, pray tell, are you going to be throwing your players into?

[Tae Kwon Dan]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Let me preface this by saying that I have completely ditched d20 in favor of HERO and see no reason to go back. I was also a long standing poster on the WotC boards so I've spent my fair shair of time debating d20 product before going completely to HERO. You're making a good choice if you move to this system as the flexibility in and of itself is part of what excites me about.

 

However I have a long standing quest against misundestandings and thus must drag something up from earlier on this thread.

 

 

Most systems do no such thing. d20, especially, provides no guidance on creating new spells -- let alone new magic systems

 

Untrue. Unearthed Arcana gave an attempt at both of these as did the 3.5 DMG. Now, if you want to tell me that they didn't provide any good guidance on how to do this then we have reached a concord.

 

-- and most especially impossible in d20 is to create your own classes or "prestige classes" for a given rules set.

 

Well to be fair they don't know what makes for balanced classes within their own design team. Remember this is the group of folks that keep pushing that a Fighter 10 and a Cleric 10 are of equal party value. However, there are some rough guidelines on making your own and you can reverse engineer a lot of the design philosophy (however flawed it may be) with minimal effort.

 

Remember just because the guidelines suck doesn't mean they aren't there.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

plus it's hard to make new magic items. I wanted to make a cape that constantly recast the "darkness" spell, but that was nearly impossible and required me asking WoC for clarification

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

plus it's hard to make new magic items. I wanted to make a cape that constantly recast the "darkness" spell' date=' but that was nearly impossible and required me asking WoC for clarification[/quote']

 

Customizing WotC items and ensuring that they are balanced is like cleaning your car with a toothbrush dipped in whisky.

[Tae Kwon Dan]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Spell level x Caster level x 1,800 GP if the cloak is Command Word activated.

 

Spell level x Caster level x 2,000 GP is the cloask is Continuous.

 

We're not exactly splitting an atom here guys.

 

Like I said, I can't stand D&D, but let's hold up some actual faults here. The stuff listed so far is not that complicated.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Spell level x Caster level x 1,800 GP if the cloak is Command Word activated.

 

Spell level x Caster level x 2,000 GP is the cloask is Continuous.

 

We're not exactly splitting an atom here guys.

 

Like I said, I can't stand D&D, but let's hold up some actual faults here. The stuff listed so far is not that complicated.

 

I was damn near born holding the original Dungeons and Dragons DM Guide, Player Guide, and MM, and I have every incarnation of D&D ever released: D&D, AD&D, AD&D 2nd, D&D 3e, and D&D 3.5e. Yet I've always had problems customizing the items.

 

It's true that WotC gives you a formula for creating magic items, scrolls, and the like. However, when it comes to creating new CLASSES, PRESTIGE CLASSES, new VEHICLES, or even new SPELLS, the process gets very difficult. It all depends on which items WotC gives us instructions to make, and which they don't.

[Tae Kwon Dan]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

The guidelines for creating new base classes were called Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Sorceror, and Wizard. Remember 3.0 and 3.5 were based on the, exceedingly faulty, 10 levels of Class Y is equal to 10 levels of Class X is equal to 5 levels each of classes Y and X. Of course their design team failed miserably at this, but it was a guideline. Usually I based new classes on the Rogue as I felt it was the best balanced 20 level class in the game.

 

The same applies for PrC's, of course the balance issues became even more disparate between the PrC's depending on requirements and the designers. I'm not calling these good guidelines, but they were there. WotC was fairly close lipped about their design guidelines, because they hadn't released those as open content. But I know plenty of experienced D&D players that have had no problems making their own classes, PrC's, and spells.

 

It is not as easy as HERO(part of the reason I made the switch), but it's not as hopeless as being painted in here either.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

i felt that by about lvl 11 the wizard/sorc was a more powerful pick and that gap only widdend as they proceeded in lvl.

 

Yes there will be things with spell resistance. Yes some things are immune to some energies.

 

But a sword at lvl 11 is doing 1d8+2d6+10 maybe, for an average of 21.5

vs. the Fireball doing 35 damage on average (10d6) (albit with a save)

 

Knock beats lockpicking most of the time, lightning bolt and disintegrate or ethereal travel beat the other 19% (with 1% of the time you really do need a rouge)

 

got traps? use summon monster.

 

Etc. I really does tend to be a problem

[Tae Kwon Dan]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

i felt that by about lvl 11 the wizard/sorc was a more powerful pick and that gap only widdend as they proceeded in lvl.

 

Other than the Sorceror part I'm in complete agreeance here. Without house rules there are basically 3 classes you should ever play in D&D right now Cleric, Druid, or Wizard and the Druid basically wins at all things by like level 12. 3.0 and 3.5 completely break at levels 11 and above.

 

But a sword at lvl 11 is doing 1d8+2d6+10 maybe, for an average of 21.5

vs. the Fireball doing 35 damage on average (10d6) (albit with a save)

 

You're wasting time if you're casting Fireball at 11th level when you have so many other juicy cheestastic things you could be doing. You have Greater Planer Binding at this point which can summon multiple things that cost Fireball at will or you could just force Efreeti to give you wishes. And an appropriately min\maxed fighting character should deal exceedingly more damage than that, but he'll always lose to the Wizard and his pet Outsiders.

 

Knock beats lockpicking most of the time, lightning bolt and disintegrate or ethereal travel beat the other 19% (with 1% of the time you really do need a rouge)

 

got traps? use summon monster.

 

Etc. I really does tend to be a problem

 

Oh don't knock the Rogue too hard if the spellcasters weren't so biggidy-broken he would be pretty swank. He's about the best balanced class in the game and can go in several different directions in terms of character concept. He also has the distinct honor of being the only other base class besides the Druid where your friends shouldn't punch you in the mouth for taking all 20 levels of instead of going into a PrC or multi-classing. (Not even the Cleric or the Wizard have this honor. Trust me there are a couple of PrC's that you pretty much should always take with those guys just to take your kick buttedness up a couple of notches.)

 

Besides he's the party master of Diplomacy and as written that Skill trumps like everything.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Besides he's the party master of Diplomacy and as written that Skill trumps like everything.

 

i played d20 Spycraft last year (version 1), i had a +9 bluff and diplomacy at lvl 1 and that was +17 by lvl 5. Diplomacy is NPC mind control

[Shike019]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

I have to agree with the arguments that DND 3.5 is not as terrible as some make it seem, though I find myself more interested in Hero at this point.

 

On a side note, I find that I have better flexibility with the Sorcerer than the Wizard. In that Even though you know fewer spells, you cast more and cast what ever it is you know, instead of trying to plan ahead (or randomly figure out what in the world you Might be going up against), you have the option of choosing which spell you wish to cast as you cast it, not at the begining of a game day.

 

Also, my current group and I found that the monk class is one of the best "skirmish" fighting classes in the game. At 15th level and ability that allows you to decide when a character dies, at 7th level self healing, multiple abilites to armor class, etc. Though I am prone to those types of fighters than the full plate greatsword weilding ones.

 

But back to topic, I'm glad that there is a new herophyle in the world (considering I only began playing the system 3 months ago) and am encouraged that the general gamer population (at least in my area) seems to be growing.

[shadow_walker]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Question are you the same Mad_Irishman from the lords of the battlefield??

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Also' date=' my current group and I found that the monk class is one of the best "skirmish" fighting classes in the game. At 15th level and ability that allows you to decide when a character dies, at 7th level self healing, multiple abilites to armor class, etc. Though I am prone to those types of fighters than the full plate greatsword weilding ones.[/quote']

 

Tumbling, spring attack and huge movement - never take an attack of oppportunity, and they can't get close enough to retaliate.

[Tae Kwon Dan]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Tumbling' date=' spring attack and huge movement - never take an attack of oppportunity, and they can't get close enough to retaliate.[/quote']

 

And you'll never hit anything, because your BAB is mediocre and you had to ditch your best stat into WIS and then maybe DEX, because you're a close combat fighter made of paper mache' who can't wear armor. But hey can use flurry of blows to miss more times as a full attack action if that's what melts your butter. Not to mention all of that is negated by a spellcaster with Fly going. I hope you have some magical sling stones handy.

 

Folks the Monk is straight up ass. Seriously he spends his day thanking the design gods that somebody wrote the Bard so that he's not the absolute biggest bag of suck in the game.

[stan da ork]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Not that I want to continue the great d20 debate (I despise the system), but I did play it pretty continuously from the moment 3rd Ed was released until about six months ago. As far as I'm concerned, the Cleric is the most powerful class pre-level 20, hands down. He is ridiculously versatile, has good hit points, good saves, and if he doesn't waste all his spells every day healing the idiot fighters, he can buff himself up to the point where he can take just about anyone else one on one. Post level 20 (aka. Epic levels), the Wizard wins, thanks to the horribly poorly implemented Epic spellcasting mechanics. And at any point in the game, a Wizard is far more flexible and powerful than a Sorceror. The only purpose of the Sorceror is so that new players and players who don't want to do any planning ahead can play a spellslinger type. Anyway, that's all I've got to say about d20, so I'll shut up now.

[Vorsch]

Re: Why should I play HERO?

 

Hero has a few flaws when it come to heroic level games ( sci fi, fantasy ) you will find yourself with alot of strong characters, its simply a very good buy.

 

And its useful as well.

 

skills are not thought out correctly.

 

Nothing exists as a item, you pay points for it, but how much does a stardrive cost? weigh?, Tech level simply dosent exist.

 

even the most trivial item can ( and some say must ) be stated.

 

Its not all plain sailing in hero, its good but at its heart it a superhero game and as such the rules reflect this.