Deaf disadvantage

[Lord Kilsco]

Hello,

 

One of my players would like to create a PC who is deaf (but can lipread).

My first idea is a Deaf disadvantage :

 

Physical Limitation : Deaf (All the Time, Fully Impairing) for 25 points

 

My only doubt is about the level of this limitation : is it Fully Impairing (the character can't hear at all) or Greatly Impairing (he can lipread what people say) ?

 

What's your opinion ?

[ghost-angel]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

I would actually put it at Most Of The Time; Fully Impairing as he is effectively "not deaf" in regards to being able to lip read (and thus understand conversation) but it Fully Impaired when it comes to any other aspected "hearing" anything.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

The interpretation of "Deaf" as a Physical Limitation from The Master List Of Limitations calls it All the Time, Greatly Impairing for 20 points. I would support Greatly over Fully Impairing, since there are practical steps that a character can take to reduce the restrictions of deafness.

 

The description from the Master List includes some interesting suggestions for how to run it.

[Lord Kilsco]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

The interpretation of "Deaf" as a Physical Limitation from The Master List Of Limitations calls it All the Time, Greatly Impairing for 20 points. I would support Greatly over Fully Impairing, since there are practical steps that a character can take to reduce the restrictions of deafness.

 

The description from the Master List includes some interesting suggestions for how to run it.

Thanks you very much for this link, I didn't know this The Master List Of Limitations. Very useful, thanks again !

[Vorsch]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

Build hearing as a sense and then that how many point you save for not having it

 

detect sence analyse 360degrees . all adds up

 

sights even better to lose cos its targeting

[Dust Raven]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

Actually, the cost of normal senses is based on how much of a Disad it is not to have them, as per the rules. Kinda weird though. Nothing saying you can't make yourself Deaf and Blind for 45 points in Disads, and then just buy Spatial Awareness and add in vibrations and discriminatory for +10 points and have effectivley targeting sight and hearing and have saved nearly 15 points in doing so.

 

On the other side, the cost of buying the normal sense of touch is nowhere near what it should be worth as a Disad not to have.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

20 points sounds right - a bit less than Blind seems fair.

[Gary]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

The "official" ruling seems to be 20 pts for Deafness.

 

http://herogames.com/digitalHero/Samples/dh31heroglyphs.jsp

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

This is in the Rule book under Combat & Adventuring in the Before Combat section, under SENSES IN THE HERO SYSTEM -> Sense Groups -> THE HEARING SENSE GROUP->final paragraph.

 

This works out to Page 350 in 5ER.

 

Its worth 20 points.

 

Th entire Senses section is very important and should be carefully read and understood. Among other things it explains how Perception works in the HERO System, describes how many points each Sense is worth as a Power, and conversely how much it is worth to lack that Sense (the same amount of points btw).

 

 

It is also possible for characters to do things like buy a Sense that they already have a second time as a special sense, which pretty much outright defeats almost all Sensory Affecting Powers.

 

As an example I roughed out this character for WilyQuixote to use in a PBeM campaign a while ago around the idea of a "Third Eye", also known as the Pineal gland. He has a Duplicate Sight Power, among other things:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/MiscCharacters/Misc/Epiphysis.HTML

[Lord Kilsco]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

This is in the Rule book under Combat & Adventuring in the Before Combat section, under SENSES IN THE HERO SYSTEM -> Sense Groups -> THE HEARING SENSE GROUP->final paragraph.

 

This works out to Page 350 in 5ER.

 

Its worth 20 points.

 

Th entire Senses section is very important and should be carefully read and understood. Among other things it explains how Perception works in the HERO System, describes how many points each Sense is worth as a Power, and conversely how much it is worth to lack that Sense (the same amount of points btw).

Hum, it seems I didn't read carefully my Hero System 5th Edition corebook. Sorry for this question I could have answered myself easily by reading the book.

 

Thanks again to everyone for your answers.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Deaf disadvantage

 

Is there a practical difference between a character who once had hearing but lost it (due to aciident, injuury or illness) and one who was born deaf (for whom "sound" and "hearing" are alien concepts)?

 

And are there some powers that, when "Sonic" is one of their special effects, will have less or no effect on a deaf person, and others that would still be just as effective regardless of the target's ability to hear? It seems to me that if you can't hear the Pied Piper, you're not going to blindly follow him into the mountainside, but Howler's Shout will hurt you whether you can hear it or not.