Aid & Transforms specifically in FH

[Thia Halmades]

Good morning, Steve, and happy holidays to you!

 

This morning I've got two questions which occured to me over the weekend while Kareem & I were breaking down rules to do a Marilith conversion from d20 to HERO. One of her spells is Magic Weapon, which she can cast "at will" which really means either tying it to END or giving her a phat stack of charges. I finally settled on a variaion of Wizard's Whetstone at 30 points for the "1st level" version of the spell. So now, question one:

 

1. Using AID on an HKA or RKA, do the normal rules apply in terms of DC? So if I have 3d6, and happen to cough up a 10, do I add two DCs to the weapon that has been enchanted, and further, I'm assuming those DCs stack on the base damage, otherwise the whole thing makes little to no sense.

 

2. In an AID based "Help You Hit" spell, it seems that all a caster would need to do is buy, say, 3d6 worth of AID OCV (+2) - would this follow the rules for a normal CSL, meaning that the caster would have to specify at the time the spell was created precisely what those +2 OCVs are for, thus sidestepping the massive cheese potential? Or, if he were to purchase higher-end CSLs for the AID (so every 5 points of AID were to add a normal 5 point CSL) would that give the recipient "full knowledge" of the CSL at that time, and then fade normally?

 

3. In developing a "Mage Armor" spell I came across something that concerned me. As a neophyte HEROite, I'm aware that Defense is dirt cheap compared to offense. Groovy. But what's keeping my caster from coughing up a 30/30 Armor spell for 90 points? In a fantasy setting that would render him nigh invulnerable; would it create a "suit of armor?" It seems like a bizarre thing to cap, so I'm looking for mechanical reasons why it wouldn't work the exact obvious way. It would also defeat the purpose of all those extra crazy defense spells, so I'm certain this isn't the be-all, end-all solution, but if you could give me a hint as to why, it'd be greatly appreciated.

 

Second verse! Multiform & Transform.

 

In FRED it specifically states "thou shalt not Usable on Others multiform - thou shalt call this Transform." Good enough, except that I want my casters to be able to Transform a willing target and call that "polymorph" and to convert an unwilling target would be "baleful polymorph." Would I buy the ability for a Sorceror to turn a Fighter into a Dragon a Multiform, or would I go through the gymnastics to make it a Transform?

 

Second Transform question (this one is cake) -

 

I want to convert a weapon from "normal" to "Cold Iron." This is a 10 point Transform, yes? Now if I want to make the weapon magical, say using a variation on the concept of "Magic Weapon," would I Transform it into a magical version of itself, or simply hand wave the boost and call it a magical weapon for the duration of the spell?

 

Corallary to the abovetransform/aid question (because I wansn't sure how to do it). In d20 we all know that you add "+X" as a bonus, and obviously HERO's bell curve eschews this, although a normal "+1 OCV, +1 DC" argument could be made without bending the rules too hard. What's the best way to do that? As an AID? As a CSL, created as a spell and cast on the weapon? I couldn't find a convenient clean way of handling it.

 

Thanks as always, and good morning!

[Steve Long]

Re: Aid & Transforms specifically in FH

 

Good morning to you!

 

1. As discussed on 5ER 105, a positive Adjustment Power applies to the Active Points of whatever it’s affecting. As discussed on 5ER 107, this may entail accounting for Advantages the power being affected already has. Thus, an Aid of 10 points to a plain HKA 1d6 (15 Active Points) increases it to 25 Active Points, or 1½d6; if the HKA was Armor Piercing (+1/2) (22 Active Points), the same 10 points, by increasing it to 32 Active Points, would only improve it to HKA 1d6+1 because you have to account for the AP Advantage.

 

2. You cannot Aid OCV. OCV is not a Characteristic, Power, or anything else — it’s just a calculation derived from DEX. To improve OCV, Aid DEX and then put a Limitation on the Power restricting the effect to improving OCV only, or buy Combat Skill Levels with some form of the Usable On Others Advantage.

 

3. What’s mostly keeping a character from buying a 90 point power in FH is that he only has 150 points to spend and will likely be useless in most circumstances. Beyond that, this is an issue for discussion, so I’d encourage you to start a thread on the FH board about applying point and/or effectiveness ceilings to defense.

 

4. Willing or unwilling, changing others’ shape in the way you describe requires Transform. The GM could certainly be more lenient about having the spellcaster make Attack Rolls or Effect Rolls with a willing target if he wanted to, though. If you want the spellcaster to be able to use the spell on himself, buy it as a Multipower with one slot Transform, one slot Multiform.

 

5. What type of Transform a particular effect requires is up to the GM, but I think most GMs would rule that Transform a steel weapon to Cold Iron is a Minor Transform (10 Character Points per 1d6). Transforming a weapon into a magical blade is either (a) an application of Aid, some other power, a Usable On Others power, or ( a Transform (almost certainly a Major Transform in most campaigns). There are so many ways to define “magic weapon” that there’s no one right answer to that question. Again, I’d suggest starting a thread on the FH boards to discuss the possibilities.