CE clarification

[Mancer]

Steve,

First off i'd like to say thank you very much to you and your staff for bringing the Hero System back after all these years and in an even better incarnation than the last (didn't think it was possible).

 

I'd like to get some clarification on something it says in the rules FAQ; Here it is:

Q: The text under Change Environment says the power “cannot provide positive effects or bonuses to any character[.]†What does this mean? Does it, for example, prevent a character from establishing an area of “springtime mild weather and delightfulness,†which is a “positive†sort of thing?

 

A: “Positive effects or bonuses†mean things like plusses to OCV, Characteristic Rolls, or Skill Rolls — direct combat-effecting sorts of bonuses and the like. It certainly doesn’t prevent characters from creating environments they consider “positive†in a general sense — after all, any effect that hinders or harms an enemy is sort of “positive†from the character’s viewpoint.

 

Now here's the question: can Change Environment be used to "negate" penalties from, for instance, natural environmental effects such as rain or fog? For example, the GM says to the players, "weather conditions are severe, and all characters receive a -2 to their sight PER rolls" could Stormlord negate that -2 by changing the weather to something more agreeable (with his Change Environment, +1 Broad Group "Weather Effects")?

 

Although the FAQ can be interpreted as allowing this, it seems to conflict with FrED's rule about creating light, i.e. it can’t be done with Change Environment. What’s the difference between negating the effects of darkness (i.e. -6 to normal sight), which is not allowed, and negating the effects (i.e. penalties) of a thick fog, booming thunder, or other environmentally inconvenient phenomena?

 

Is this something that is unique to light (perhaps because of FrED's expansion of the Images power), or is this not allowed at all? Or am I just missing something completely?

 

Thanks in advance and keep up the great work,

Mancer

[Steve Long]

While CE can’t be used to create “positive effects” (such as an OCV bonus or an increase in a character’s inches of Running) out of the blue (i.e., where no negative condition exists), I think that in most instances GMs should allow CE to cancel out a negative modifier that it could impose, provided that it’s within the special effect/scope of the CE. For example, if a character has CE (change the weather), he could use that to heat up an area, melt ice, and eliminate (or reduce) the DEX Roll penalty for walking across that ice.

 

But there’s one exception: PER Rolls. The HERO System already has a mechanic for increasing PER Rolls over an area — Images — so characters should use that instead of CE to eliminate PER Roll penalties (which includes, of course, generating light). As always, GMs are free to change this in the interest of common sense, dramatic sense, or game balance if they feel it’s necessary to do so.