Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

[dropblack]

I’m trying to create a character with six arms that is capable of six competent attacks per phase using either a blade in each hand, a pistol in each hand, or a combination of both. Though I understand that this involves incorporating the Extra Limbs Power (5 points gets you as many limbs as you want), the Two-Weapon Fighting Skill and the Rapid Fire/Sweep attack combat maneuvers, augmented with Combat Skill levels, I’m not sure of the best way to put it all together. So far I can think of two ways of doing this (advice is greatly appreciated :)

 

Method One (the expensive method):

Buy 6 separate HKAs, one for each limb and 6 separate RKAs, one for each limb, as well as the Two-Weapon Fighting Skill.

 

Then, in order to remove the –2 cumulative penalty to OCV inherent to the Rapid Fire and Sweep Combat Maneuvers (applicable to the second and third pair of limbs), buy

 

two 3-point CSLs for a +2 OCV for the third attack (6 points)

four 3-point CSLs for a +4 OCV for the fourth attack (12 points)

six 3-point CSLs for a +6 OCV for the fifth attack (18 points)

eight 3-point CSLs for a +8 OCV for the sixth attack (24… 60 total points of CSLs)

 

Furthermore, I want to buy-off that aspect of the Rapid Fire and Sweep Combat Maneuvers that mandates “If he misses any of his Attack Rolls, all remaining attacks in that sequence automatically miss also”, but don’t know how to (I want each attack to be independent of the others and equally deadly).

 

Method Two (the economic method):

Buy 6 separate HKAs, one for each limb and 6 separate RKAs, one for each limb.

Buy the Two-Weapon Fighting Skill 3 times, one for each pair of limbs.

 

I don’t know if either of these is the ‘proper’ use of the rules, so once again, please chime in if you have any ideas. Thanks!

 

S

[prestidigitator]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

First off, you might tone down the bold text of your posts. It makes the eyes water.

 

There isn't necessarily any need to do this with Sweep/Rapid Fire, especially if you don't like the mechanic of one miss preventing the rest of the attacks. It could be the SFX of a high Speed (possibly with some Limitations or reduced Movement so the character isn't necessarily a, "speedster"), or you could buy Autofire Attacks (that can be spread to multiple targets, so Autofire Sklls might also be appropriate in that case).

 

I don't think you need to buy a separate Attack Power for each limb unless you plan on making Multiple Power Attacks with them. Indirect might be appropriate though, so you can shift the Point of Origin of the attack to any limb. If you buy them as separate powers or use Indirect, I don't think there's any need to buy the Ambidexterity portion of Two-Weapon Fighting, by the way; you've paid for the Attack Powers, which should be enough.

 

A lot of this is probably also going to depend on the style of game you are running. For example, the solution might look quite different in a Heroic game where equipment is used and the Sweep manuever isn't allowed vs. a Superheroic game in which you pay for all attacks and can execute Sweeps. If you aren't the GM for the game in which this character is to be used, I'd be consuting pretty heavily with the person who is.

[Talon]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

If you really really want a character that can do six things at once (not just attack, but other stuff like drive a car, play poker, and juggle while also wielding a sword and shooting a gun, consider getting Duplication with the special effect that the Duplicates are "merged together" -- effectively, each arm is a Duplicate or something like that.

[OddHat]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

If you're using Sweep, you only need to buy the attack power once.

 

The GM is free to forbid you to use it at all.

 

If you pay points for six separate attack powers, you don't need to sweep, you just make a multipower attack.

 

The GM can nerf this as well.

 

Basically, make sure he's OK with it before you start.

[dropblack]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

Thanks for the responses! Just for clarification I’m planning on Game Mastering, though as is probably obvious, I have yet to run Hero System. This character is to be an NPC.

And sorry about the bold type! I don’t know why that happened. Probably has something to do with me composing my emails and what not in a word doc first and then cutting and pasting.

I appreciate all of the suggestions. I’ll look into Multipower Attack, Duplicate, the Auto Fire attack and skills, as well as Indirect. I had a feeling I didn’t have to buy a separate attack for each limb but wasn’t certain.

Do people ever post characters on this forum to be reviewed by other players? If so in what format? I have Hero Designer if that makes it easier. It would be helpful get feedback that way.

Thanks again!

Steve

[Spidey88]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

I've done similar things with characters. The way I did it basically involved purchasing Rapid fire, Two-weapon fighting, and several Penalty skill levels (cheaper than a bunch of separate CSL's, and more suited to what you want to do) that applied to canceling out the penalty inherent in making extra attacks past the first two with the extra arms. Been a while since I did it, but I'm pretty sure that's all I had to do, and I remember having pored over the rules for hours making sure I wasn't missing any technicalites. I didn't bother dealing with the one miss=all misses afterwards mess - seemed too potentially expensive.

 

Hope I wasn;t too late to post my thoughts on this one - it's a subject I'd liek feedback on too!

[prestidigitator]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

I've done similar things with characters. The way I did it basically involved purchasing Rapid fire, Two-weapon fighting, and several Penalty skill levels (cheaper than a bunch of separate CSL's, and more suited to what you want to do) that applied to canceling out the penalty inherent in making extra attacks past the first two with the extra arms. Been a while since I did it, but I'm pretty sure that's all I had to do, and I remember having pored over the rules for hours making sure I wasn't missing any technicalites. I didn't bother dealing with the one miss=all misses afterwards mess - seemed too potentially expensive.

 

Hope I wasn;t too late to post my thoughts on this one - it's a subject I'd liek feedback on too!

It's never too late. FYI some answers by Steve Long have made it quite clear that Penalty Skill Levels cannot act in this way as the cumulative -2 OCV adjustment is inherent to the maneuver rather than being a conditional penalty.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

Thanks for the responses! Just for clarification I’m planning on Game Mastering, though as is probably obvious, I have yet to run Hero System. This character is to be an NPC.

In that case I suggest you think carefully about the restrictions and guidelines you are going to want the players to stick to, and only break them as far as necessary to create the NPC. It gives a better idea of how the power levels match, and may also leave the players with less of a bitter taste in their mouths.

 

And sorry about the bold type! I don’t know why that happened. Probably has something to do with me composing my emails and what not in a word doc first and then cutting and pasting.

No problem. It happens. We get to tease you about it though. Otherwise, how would you learn?

 

Do people ever post characters on this forum to be reviewed by other players? If so in what format? I have Hero Designer if that makes it easier. It would be helpful get feedback that way.

All the time. Plain text works best as not all people have access to Hero Designer, and not all people have HTML processing turned on in their forum preferences (if there is even such an option anymore). That, or host it someplace else as HTML and provide a link. That certainly works.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

It's never too late. FYI some answers by Steve Long have made it quite clear that Penalty Skill Levels cannot act in this way as the cumulative -2 OCV adjustment is inherent to the maneuver rather than being a conditional penalty.

 

Well, yes and no. I can't buy PSL's to cancel out the -2 for additional Sweep attacks. Nothing prevents me buying +10 levels w/ Sweep, only to cancel OCV penalties (-1/2), must use a separate weapon for each attack in the sweep (-1/2) = 2.5 points per level.

 

With this in mind, however, a PC should be allowed to buy similar levels to simulate their own ability to attack rapidly. It will cost a bit more (unless he's a 6 armed PC) to get 6 attacks per phase, but if it's acceptable for an NPC to have this ability, it would sit wrong with me to prohibit PC's making similar purchases.

 

To the original concept, the Duplication approach is likely the closest replication of the desired ability. I suppose one could also build a complex power structure with the Trigger advantage, self-resetting, so making one attack would trigger five more, but this would also be expensive.

 

However, I think it's important to be aware that this SHOULD BE expensive. This character can attack six times to his opponent's one, without penalty to OCV, DCV or DC, and without a miss ending the sequence. That's a powerful ability, and it should carry a significant point cost accordingly.

[OddHat]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

Actually, penalty levels vs. sweep appeared in USPD II iirc, in the Speedster Powers section. Steve may have changed his mind since then.

[dropblack]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Penalty Skill Levels. Seems like the key to Hero System is being familiar with ALL of its facets as well as their myriad interactions.

 

This multi-armed villain is meant to be dangerous enough to challenge four standard super-heroic PCs at once, and by himself at that (my justification for creating such high-powered villain). He’s also more of an exercise for me to learn the rules of character creation than anything else. (Ahem… this is rather embarrassing but he’s my first character…). Mentioning guidelines for character creation brings up another concern of mine. I don’t want to dictate blanket-mandates restricting powers with ! or STOP but I’m still new and am not confidently sure how such powers can end up unbalanced.

 

So far as I can tell it looks like Duplicate (three duplicates each with the Two-Weapon Fighting Skill merged together, like the hydra example) is the easiest and closest remedy. I suppose I could assume such an NPC (being composed of Duplicates) would have by default 360-degree vision, though the special effect of the power dictates otherwise.

 

When I get Shiva Jr. finished I’ll post him for evaluation!

[Frenchman]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

You'll need to buy plenty of skill levels with sweep, as you've noticed, and you'll need to buy two-weapon fighting twice (once for HTH, and once for Ranged). For the extra attacks you can either buy even more skill levels with sweep or a couple duplicates (as was also recommended)

One method I don't think I saw was that you could buy some extra speed, only for attacking.

Assuming that this character has a speed of 3, then buying, say, +6 Speed (only for attacks w/extra arms) would allow you to have 'em attack 18 times per turn at a rate of two attacks per phase, same total as they would with speed 3 at 6/phase. Also, this gives you a bit more flexibility with their actions. She can still sweep for more than two attacks per phase if you want her to, giving her an insane number of attacks, you could also change the limitation on the speed a little and she has a whole lot of extra phases to abort for blocks or other defensive actions.

[dropblack]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

So I finally found the time to do a first draft of this guy. Comments and suggestions are welcome--

 

Kaushal Nehru

Player: NPC

Val Char Cost

21 STR 11

21 DEX 33

20 CON 20

30 BODY 40

12 INT 2

15 EGO 10

15 PRE 5

18 COM 4

7/15 PD 3

7/15 ED 3

3 SPD 0

8 REC 0

40 END 0

51 STUN 0

6" RUN 0

2" SWIM 0

4" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 131

Cost Power

30 Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR)

30 Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6

75 Duplication (creates 2 350-point Duplicates), Cannot Recombine (+0)

11 Kevlar Body Armor: Armor (8 PD/8 ED) (24 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4)

Powers Cost: 146

 

Cost Skill

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH)

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranged)

0 Language: Hindustani (fluent conversation; literate) (3 Active Points)

3 Fast Draw 13-

3 High Society 12-

9 Disguise 14-

7 KS: Music 15-

5 +1 with HTH Combat

3 Climbing 13-

3 Language: English (fluent conversation; literate)

Skills Cost: 53

 

Total Character Cost: 330

Pts. Disadvantage

15 Distinctive Features: 6 arms (Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) [Notes: Shiva will sometimes hide 4 of his arms beneath a full-length leather trench coat, or bound tightly beneath a girdle.]

20 Dependent NPC: Shanti Nehru (daughter age 9) 8- (Incompetent; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID)

25 Enraged Berserker Trance: Combat (Very Common), go 11-, recover 11-

25 Hunted: FBI 11- (Mo Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)

5 Reputation: Son of a wealthy Embassador, 8-

15 Dependence: Heroin -30 Active Points from Affected Power (Difficult To Obtain, 6 Hours)

10 Reputation: Cold-blooded killer, 11-

15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Frequently, Major)

Disadvantage Points: 130

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

BACKGROUND

Kaushal was born in 1970, to the horror of his father and mother. The

six-armed infant was an embarrassment that neither parents were willing

divulge.

Kaushal’s father Aabheer Obalesh, the Indian Ambassador to the United

States and his mother Jahanara were unwilling to publicly accept a mutant

son, and immediately hid the child’s affliction from public view. Doctor’s

and nurses were paid off with bribes--Kaushal became the Obalesh family’s

darkest secret. They took great pains to keep the boy from interacting

with anyone but the closest family members and servants, providing him

with private tutors and binding his extra arms painfully beneath tight

girdles when necessity called for public appearances. For many years

Kaushal wished his parents had smothered him in his cradle instead

providing for him with the childhood he was forced to endure. His only

solace was in his piano lessons, and though his music teacher forbid him

to play with more than two hands, Kaushal practiced on his own, using all

six.

In an attempt to save Kaushal from a life of purgatorial monotony, his

father’s bodyguard Osman Ottakoothan began to teach Kaushal the martial

use of the saber. Kaushal proved to be an apt student and soon showed

great interest and aptitude in the use of pistols. Soon Kaushal felt more

at home with Osman and Osman’s daughter Jasodhara than with his own

family. In time even a secret romance developed between him and Jasodhara.

The night when Osman threw himself into the path of an assassin’s bullet

in order save Aabheer’s life proved to be the end of Kaushal’s hope in

finding happiness.

 

Kaushal confronted his father and blamed him for Osman’s death. Aabheer’s cavalier response to Osman’s death threw Kaushal into a rage and the mutant nearly slew his own father. Unable to bring himself to finish the deed, Kaushal ran a way, unaware that Jasodhara was pregnant with his daughter.

 

Kaushal disappeared into America’s underground where heroin became is only reprieve. Now filled with regret for how he had treated his son, Aabheer hired detectives to bring his Kaushal back to him, but to no avail. Kaushal soon found that his skills could earn him comfortable living as an assassin, as well as provide him with an outlet for his simmering rage. Shiva was born.

 

When Jasodhara died giving birth to Kaushal's daughter Shanti, the mutant emerged to take his daughter and resume the charade of being his father's son. Aabheer welcomed him back, in denial of his suspicions that his son and the infamous Shiva were one and the same.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

So I finally found the time to do a first draft of this guy. Comments and suggestions are welcome--

 

Kaushal Nehru

Player: NPC

Val Char Cost

21 STR 11

21 DEX 33

20 CON 20

30 BODY 40

 

That's a lot of BOD, IMO.

 

12 INT 2

15 EGO 10

15 PRE 5

 

That's not a lot of PRE, however. PRE attacks could be very dangerous to thisn character.

 

18 COM 4

7/15 PD 3

7/15 ED 3

 

With relatively poor defenses, and an average to poor DCV, this character will need to strike from surprise to be successful. As long as that's what you're looking for, maybe that's no big deal.

 

A 10d6 attack needs only one point above average damage to Stun him, and higher dice will stun him on even below average rolls. A lot depends on average DC in your game in this regard.

 

3 SPD 0

 

This is pretty slow. For the 75 points you spend on Duplication, he could have a 10 Speed instead, or a 12 Speed with 9 phases usable only for attacks for less than 75 points. That would seem to simulate his multiple attacks just as effectively. You might want more END (or reduced END) in this case.

 

With a 3 SPD, being Stunned, or losing a phase to a PRE attack, would pretty much mean game over. As noted above, these occurences seem pretty likely.

 

8 REC 0

40 END 0

51 STUN 0

6" RUN 0

2" SWIM 0

4" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 131

Cost Power

 

With no real movement powers, he's going to be hard pressed to get away after a surprise attack if his target isn't taken out, or if his target has friends.

 

30 Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR)

30 Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6

 

I thought he used weaponry, but his KA's aren't focused, and his RKA's never require reloading??

 

BTW, he uses 3 END per attack (5 for HKA's). Each duplicate will presumably attack twice per phase, so he's spending 18 - 30 END per turn just to attack, plus a bit to move in all likelihood. I guess the fact he can't last two turns in combat without running out of END won't matter much given his defenses.

 

75 Duplication (creates 2 350-point Duplicates)' date=' Cannot Recombine (+0)[/font']

 

There's likely some more description appropriate here to indicate that he's not "actually" duplicated - ie once the single body hits 0 STUN, he's out.

 

11 Kevlar Body Armor: Armor (8 PD/8 ED) (24 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)' date=' Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4)[/font']

Powers Cost: 146

 

This worsens his defenses further - about 20% of the time, he'll have no resistant defenses, and 7 defenses overall. A failed activation roll is reasonably likely to hospitalize or kill him.

 

Cost Skill

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH)

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranged)

0 Language: Hindustani (fluent conversation; literate) (3 Active Points)

3 Fast Draw 13-

3 High Society 12-

9 Disguise 14-

7 KS: Music 15-

5 +1 with HTH Combat

 

Although he'll get a lot of attacks, a 7 or 8 OCV means a considerable portion of them will likely miss Super targets.

 

3 Climbing 13-

3 Language: English (fluent conversation; literate)

Skills Cost: 53

 

Total Character Cost: 330

Pts. Disadvantage

15 Distinctive Features: 6 arms (Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) [Notes: Shiva will sometimes hide 4 of his arms beneath a full-length leather trench coat, or bound tightly beneath a girdle.]

20 Dependent NPC: Shanti Nehru (daughter age 9) 8- (Incompetent; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID)

 

Does this mean she doesn't know Daddy has 6 arms, or just that she doesn't know what Daddy does for a living?

 

25 Enraged Berserker Trance: Combat (Very Common)' date=' go 11-, recover 11-[/font']

 

Once enraged, he'll attack his target to the exclusion of all other actions. Given his suitability for quick assassinations rather than protracted combat, this goes even further to guaranteeing defeat and capture (if he even survives) sooner rather than later.

 

25 Hunted: FBI 11- (Mo Pow' date=' PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)[/font']

 

If he's that easy to find, how is it his father has only suspicions, at best, or his identity?

 

5 Reputation: Son of a wealthy Embassador' date=' 8-[/font']

 

This implies his assassin identity is well known, since those hiring him should be aware of his reputation.

 

15 Dependence: Heroin -30 Active Points from Affected Power (Difficult To Obtain' date=' 6 Hours)[/font']

10 Reputation: Cold-blooded killer, 11-

15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Frequently, Major)

 

This is not consistent with his FBI Hunted description having Public ID/easy to find.

 

Overall, I think there are two ways to go with this character. A greater focus on stealth and sneak attacks to get in, hit the target and get out fast would seem reasonable given he's a pretty soft target. This would require getting rid of that Enraged, and beefing up stealth skills.

 

The other is a real combat monster, which probably means ditching the "stealthy assassin" component of his background, beefing up his defenses and, maybe, END. Adding some martial arts training with the sabres (ie martial maneuvers) would also make a lot of sense.

[TaxiMan]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

How about an Area of Effect attack, Selective? Limit to adjacent hexes only, 6 attacks max & ... you're done? As GM, I'd OK violating any limit to Active Points, if the effect is what you want.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

How about an Area of Effect attack' date=' Selective? Limit to adjacent hexes only, 6 attacks max & ... you're done? As GM, I'd OK violating any limit to Active Points, if the effect is what you want.[/quote']

 

I think he wants to be able to attack a single target multiple times, not just be able to attack 6 different targets.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

How about an Area of Effect attack' date=' Selective? Limit to adjacent hexes only, 6 attacks max & ... you're done? As GM, I'd OK violating any limit to Active Points, if the effect is what you want.[/quote']

Good idea. You could even throw an (expensive!) Autofire in there if you wanted to hit each target more than once.

[dropblack]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

I really appreciate you guys looking at Kaushal-- a special thanks to Hugh Neilson for the time you took! (I would have responded sooner but I’ve been on the road for the last three days)

I’ll go over the NPC (and the rule book) again.

[SteveZilla]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

If you really really want a character that can do six things at once (not just attack' date=' but other stuff like drive a car, play poker, and juggle while also wielding a sword and shooting a gun, consider getting Duplication with the special effect that the Duplicates are "merged together" -- effectively, each arm is a Duplicate or something like that.[/quote']

 

That's what I'd do -- Buy 2 Duplicates (all three characters have two arms, after all ). The "Nine-Headed Hydra" power example on p 152 of 5re uses Duplication for just this effect.

 

Just buy the attendant skills that allows each to attack with two weapons (the Duplicates will have them also, of course).

 

10 HtH Two-Weapon Fighting

10 Ranged Two-Weapon Fighting

5 Rapid Attack (HtH)

5 Rapid Attack (Ranged)

 

Then buy the attacks as Swords (buy once and use +5 to double the equipment), and do the same with a Gun. The Duplicates will have them also.

[SteveZilla]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

I thought he used weaponry, but his KA's aren't focused, and his RKA's never require reloading??

 

I agree. I'd suggest:

 

22 Sword: HKA 2D6 + Zero Endurance(+½), OAF(-1)

5 Second Sword

 

13 Pistol: RKA 2D6 - 8 Charges, 2 Clips(-¼), OAF(-1)

5 Second Pistol

 

This greatly reduces the END usage. I'd also suggest buying Half Endurance on Strength, taking it from 2 END to 1. That way, he's only using a *max* of 1 End per Phase, per Duplicate for attacks. Strength's END is only paid once per Phase, regardless of how many times or ways it's used in that phase.

 

There's likely some more description appropriate here to indicate that he's not "actually" duplicated - ie once the single body hits 0 STUN' date=' he's out.[/quote']

 

How about "Duplicates Share All Characteristics with Primary Character(-1)"?

That way, Stunned or K.O.ed is that way for all the "limbs", and a Drain affects them all. To avoid Min-Maxing, Aid/Succor wouldn't "stack" across all three characters.

 

AFAIK, the combined character, despite only having one set of legs, can still *move* for each Duplicate -- which effectively triples the movement purchased.

 

This worsens his defenses further - about 20% of the time' date=' he'll have no resistant defenses, and 7 defenses overall. A failed activation roll is reasonably likely to hospitalize or kill him.[/quote']

 

I've seen a character die from failing an armor activation roll before -- from having Dr. Destroyer knocked back into her after taking 20" of knockback. Activation Roll on Defenses is not a good idea IMO!

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

How about "Duplicates Share All Characteristics with Primary Character(-1)"?

That way, Stunned or K.O.ed is that way for all the "limbs", and a Drain affects them all. To avoid Min-Maxing, Aid/Succor wouldn't "stack" across all three characters.

 

What limitation did the Hydra get? It uses the same construct.

 

AFAIK' date=' the combined character, despite only having one set of legs, can still *move* for each Duplicate -- which effectively triples the movement purchased. [/quote']

 

That would be buried in the Hydra construct as well.

 

If one Duplicate dies and the others do not, that would be two incapacitated arms for this character. Again, solved the same way.

 

I've seen a character die from failing an armor activation roll before -- from having Dr. Destroyer knocked back into her after taking 20" of knockback. Activation Roll on Defenses is not a good idea IMO!

 

On the defenses you rely on to keep you alive, anyway. Some extra defenses on activation, which perhaps move the character from a bit below average defenses to quite a bit above isn't a big deal, as even below average defenses normally allow survival. This character's defenses are low to begin with, though.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

Just for clarification I’m planning on Game Mastering' date=' though as is probably obvious, I have yet to run Hero System. [/quote']

If this is your first attempt at GMing Hero, I would suggest keeping the build as simple as possible. Either Autofire or just lots of Speed. The build you have looks fine (especially as a chargen exercise), but has the potential to slow combat down pretty seriously if you're not an experienced GM. I don't mean to scare you or insult your abilities as a GM. But I'd hate to see you +/or your players put off by their first Hero game because the combat took so long and was so complicated.

 

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Penalty Skill Levels. Seems like the key to Hero System is being familiar with ALL of its facets as well as their myriad interactions.

Don't expect that to happen overnight. But just because there are a ton of options in Hero doesn't mean you have to try and use them all first time out. Don't be afraid to keep things simple until you're more confident.

 

Mentioning guidelines for character creation brings up another concern of mine. I don’t want to dictate blanket-mandates restricting powers with ! or STOP but I’m still new and am not confidently sure how such powers can end up unbalanced.

Depends on the campaign, obviously, and how munchkiney your players are. If you're worried about any particular Powers, my advice would be to search the forum for threads on that Power for discussion of how to keep it from being abused. Or start your own thread on the subject.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

What limitation did the Hydra get? It uses the same construct.

 

That would be buried in the Hydra construct as well.

I'm not sure this is true. IIRC the hydra is built as a true compound creature: if you kill one head, the others can continue fighting. I'm being too lazy to pull out my Bestiary ATM though.

[dropblack]

Re: (The Return of the) Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

So it’s been a little while since I’ve worked on this NPC.

As a reminder, I’m new to Hero and have been trying to get familiar with the system by creating characters. The duty of learning the system falls on me, so that I might teach my friends (unfortunately I don’t know anyone who knows how to play this game).

The limitless options and combinations the system has to offer, in conjunction with my lack of experience in intuiting how the numerical values of the myriad components of a character interact with/affect each other, and translate into game mechanics, has (I confess) inspired me to go out and purchase Mutants & Masterminds. I hate giving up though, and can tell that this is an awesome game, so here I am again. I guess, in the end there’s always ro-sham-bo.

Below is the latest iteration of Kaushal, and experiment in character creation. Many people on this forum have offered much appreciated advice and I’ve tried to apply it.

In order to simulate multiple attacks from a multi-armed NPC I’ve decided to stick with the Duplication power. I raised his END but did not apply a reduced END modifier because, though he is capable of attacking 6 times per phase, 4 phases a round, I want such a furious attack to be taxing. (I also understand the combat rounds will take hours to complete if I’m rolling 24 attacks per… but like a said this is just an exercise. Who knows, when/if I actually use him in a game I might put a cappuccino and a smoke in to two of his six hands.)

I wanted to equip him with 2 clips of 8 charges each for his pistols, but while using Hero Designer, plugging in 8 charges inadvertently leaves me with 128 clips. Don’t really know how to fix that…

Right now I’m not concerned with his overall point cost, just that his various aspects are semi-balanced with each other and make some kind of sense.

Anyway here he is again, the return of the Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart. As usual, all comments are greatly appreciated.

 

Kaushal Nehru

 

 

Player: NPC

 

 

Val Char Cost

 

21 STR 11

 

21 DEX 33

 

20 CON 20

 

20 BODY 20

 

12 INT 2

 

15 EGO 10

 

22 PRE 12

 

18 COM 4

 

 

10/20 PD 6

 

10/20 ED 6

 

4 SPD 9

 

8 REC 0

 

60 END 10

 

41 STUN 0

 

 

10" RUN 8

 

2" SWIM 0

 

10" LEAP 6

 

Characteristics Cost: 157

 

 

Cost Power

 

15 Scimitars: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR) (30 Active Points); OAF Durable Expendable (Easy to obtain new Focus; -1)

 

22 Pistols: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, 128 clips of 8 Charges (+1/2) (45 Active Points); OAF (-1)

 

75 Six arms: Duplication (creates 2 350-point Duplicates), Cannot Recombine (+0) [Notes: Once the single body hits 0 STUN, he's out.]

 

30 Tough: Armor (10 PD/10 ED)

 

Powers Cost: 142

 

 

 

Cost Skill

 

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH)

 

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranged)

 

0 Language: Hindustani (fluent conversation; literate) (3 Active Points)

 

3 Fast Draw 13-

 

3 High Society 13-

 

9 Disguise 14-

 

7 KS: Music 15-

 

5 +1 with HTH Combat

 

3 Climbing 13-

 

3 Language: English (fluent conversation; literate)

 

8 +1 with All Combat

 

Skills Cost: 61

 

 

 

Cost Talent

 

3 Ambidexterity (-2 Off Hand penalty)

 

Talents Cost: 3

 

 

Total Character Cost: 363

 

 

Pts. Disadvantage

 

15 Distinctive Features: 6 arms (Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) [Notes: Shiva will sometimes hide 4 of his arms beneath a full-length leather trench coat, or bound tightly beneath a girdle.]

 

25 Hunted: FBI 11- (Mo Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)

 

15 Dependence: Heroin -30 Active Points from Affected Power (Difficult To Obtain, 6 Hours)

 

10 Reputation: Cold-blooded killer, 11-

 

15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Frequently, Major)

 

Disadvantage Points: 80

 

Base Points: 200

 

Experience Required: 83

 

Total Experience Available: 0

 

Experience Unspent: 0

[bigdamnhero]

Re: (The Return of the) Six-Armed Ginsu Cuisinart

 

I think it looks like a solid build. His attacks may be a little weak for a "standard" Champions campaign - doesn't do much good to have six attacks if all six of them are going to bounce off. But that depends on what defenses your heroes have. If I expected him to stand up to more than one 350-point superhero at a time, I would probably either give him a couple additional skill levels, up his defenses a bit more, or both. But for one-on-one, I think he looks like a fine villain.

 

The limitless options and combinations the system has to offer' date=' in conjunction with my lack of experience in intuiting how the numerical values of the myriad components of a character interact with/affect each other, and translate into game mechanics, has (I confess) inspired me to go out and purchase Mutants & Masterminds. I hate giving up though, and can tell that this is an awesome game, so here I am again. I guess, in the end there’s always ro-sham-bo.[/quote']

Well, if throwing a little $$ at the problem is an option for you, you could just pick up a copy of Conquerers, Killers & Crooks and use pre-genned villains until you think you've got a better feel for things. But really, I think you're doing better than you think; Ginsu-Man looks a lot better than MY first Hero character attempts.

(Granted my first characters were carved onto stone tablets with flint knives... )

 

I wanted to equip him with 2 clips of 8 charges each for his pistols' date=' but while using Hero Designer, plugging in 8 charges inadvertently leaves me with 128 clips. Don’t really know how to fix that…[/quote']

That's odd. Put "8" in the Options field, then check the "2 clips" adder; should give you a -1/4 Lim.