Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

[Ryhope Wood]

Hi all

 

Coming from a d20 background I find the free form nature of disadvantages a a bit challenging to define and to balance. I'm currently converting the Conan RPG to HERO and have been working through a few disadvantages based on the d20 penalties in racial descriptions. I would appreciate your thoughts on these and whether or not I am going along the right lines.

 

Example 1

 

-2 racial penalty to save against hypnotism of any kind. This is for cultural reasons. The folk of the East have a long tradition of tales and superstitions regarding the power of hypnotism, which tends to reinforce the power of the hypnotist.

 

Easily Hypnotised (Psychological Limitation)

Value: 10 points (Uncommon, Strong)

This character has a limited version of Weak Willed (see Master List of Limitations at http://www.globalguardians.com) that applies only in situations involving overt hypnosis and mesmerism. It stems from a cultural weakness where the folk of the East have a long tradition of tales and superstitions regarding the power of hypnotism, which tends to reinforce the power of the hypnotist.

 

Example 2

 

-1 morale penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks made during the hours of daylight. The Wazuli are so close to being nocturnal that they function poorly during the daytime.

 

Nocturnal Body Clock (Physical Limitation)

Value: 8 points (Frequently, Greatly)

You are so close to being nocturnal that you function poorly during the daytime. You suffer -1 to all combat rolls and skill rolls during the daylight hours. The cost of this disadvantage is the same as the cost of buying a +1 Overall Skill Level with the limitation Only in Daylight (-¼).

 

Has anyone any guidelines or rules of thumb for handling the severity or intensity of a limitation as a negative modifier to certain characteristic or skill checks?

 

Your thoughts very much appreciated,

 

Ian

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

I just do it by feel. I stay with 5 point increments however, to keep the math easy.

 

Race Conversions

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Hi all

 

Coming from a d20 background I find the free form nature of disadvantages a a bit challenging to define and to balance. I'm currently converting the Conan RPG to HERO and have been working through a few disadvantages based on the d20 penalties in racial descriptions. I would appreciate your thoughts on these and whether or not I am going along the right lines.

 

Example 1

 

-2 racial penalty to save against hypnotism of any kind. This is for cultural reasons. The folk of the East have a long tradition of tales and superstitions regarding the power of hypnotism, which tends to reinforce the power of the hypnotist.

 

Easily Hypnotised (Psychological Limitation)

Value: 10 points (Uncommon, Strong)

This character has a limited version of Weak Willed (see Master List of Limitations at http://www.globalguardians.com) that applies only in situations involving overt hypnosis and mesmerism. It stems from a cultural weakness where the folk of the East have a long tradition of tales and superstitions regarding the power of hypnotism, which tends to reinforce the power of the hypnotist.

 

I would buy this as a Vulnerability to Hypnotism, myself, but yours works too.

 

Example 2

 

-1 morale penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks made during the hours of daylight. The Wazuli are so close to being nocturnal that they function poorly during the daytime.

 

Nocturnal Body Clock (Physical Limitation)

Value: 8 points (Frequently, Greatly)

You are so close to being nocturnal that you function poorly during the daytime. You suffer -1 to all combat rolls and skill rolls during the daylight hours. The cost of this disadvantage is the same as the cost of buying a +1 Overall Skill Level with the limitation Only in Daylight (-¼).

 

Has anyone any guidelines or rules of thumb for handling the severity or intensity of a limitation as a negative modifier to certain characteristic or skill checks?

 

Your thoughts very much appreciated,

 

Ian

 

I'd just make this one 10 points as normal. Limitations on Disadvantages don't work for me, personally.

[The Souljourner]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

To be precise about modifiers to rolls... +2 in D&D is approximately equal to +1 in Hero. It's not a definite conversion given that hero is bell curved and D&D is not, but in general, that's a good measure.

 

-Nate

[Ryhope Wood]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

To be precise about modifiers to rolls... +2 in D&D is approximately equal to +1 in Hero. It's not a definite conversion given that hero is bell curved and D&D is not, but in general, that's a good measure.

 

-Nate

 

Thanks for the advice Nate.

 

So a good rule-of-thumb would be that +1/+2 in D&D for skills equals +1 in HERO for skills, +3/+4 in D&D equals +2 in HERO and so on. To be honest, I had just converted on a like for like basis but I'll go back and recalculate now.

 

Ian

[Curufea]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

I'd make it logarithmic-

 

+1 = +1,2

+2 = +3,4,5

+3 = +6,7,8,9,10

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Eh, you can do this any number of ways. I agree with the dog, though, that this makes more sense to me as a Vulnerability. KS has a whole website, I have my own racial packages (there's another thread around here somewhere where I go into detail about that) and we're all here to help. Mostly.

 

I am not helping. I'm just waiting to steal your Quickening.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Do you mean Skill bonuses or Ranks?

 

 

Anyway I cover Skill Conversion from D&D3 in this doc:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/Conversion3e/Conversion3eStep4.shtml

[Ryhope Wood]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Do you mean Skill bonuses or Ranks?

 

Skill bonuses.

 

Although I found your guide to skill ranks very useful (as I do many of the other ideas on your site!), your package deals don't pick up the racial bonuses to skill checks. For example, your high elf package doesn't reflect the +2 racial bonus on Search checks (presumably a +1 skill bonus to Concealment). BTW I am not saying your packages are wrong - far from it!Such bonuses are probably not very important in the core D&D races but in a lot of D20 settings such as Conan RPG and Midnight they become much more numerous and important.

 

Eh' date=' you can do this any number of ways. I agree with the dog, though, that this makes more sense to me as a Vulnerability.[/quote']

 

I originally modelled the weakness to hypnotism as a susceptibility:

 

Susceptibility (suffer Drain 2d6 EGO instantly when subject to attempted hypnosis, Uncommon) Value: 10 points.

 

To be honest I hadn't read far enough through the description of Vulnerability and made the connection that "damage" includes dice for mind control etc.

 

However, I went away from using Susceptibility after reviewing the Master List of Limitations and disadvantages such as Weak Willed, which is simply a Psychological Limitation. In the Conan RPG certain cultures are assumed to be predisposed to hypnotism because of a tradition of believing in it. This is probably better as a Psychological Limitation because it could be overcome with a Mind Control etc unlike a Susceptability or Vulnerability.

 

Ian

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Skill bonuses.

 

Although I found your guide to skill ranks very useful (as I do many of the other ideas on your site!), your package deals don't pick up the racial bonuses to skill checks. For example, your high elf package doesn't reflect the +2 racial bonus on Search checks (presumably a +1 skill bonus to Concealment). BTW I am not saying your packages are wrong - far from it!Such bonuses are probably not very important in the core D&D races but in a lot of D20 settings such as Conan RPG and Midnight they become much more numerous and important.

 

Well,

 

A. the Race Packages are both generic and replaceable with some other version that suits your needs

 

B. High Elves get:

3 Elven Senses: +1 PER All Senses

 

Which should cover a "Search" bonus well enough for most purposes, among other things.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

I think I gave mine +2, but that's semantics. KS has been playing the game far longer than I have, and it's very true that the Bell Curve adjusts for bonuses differently than a straight percentile roll (such as a d20). So it's semantics, really.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

+2 in D&D 3e is basically 10%

The first +1 in the HERO System is basically 12%.

 

http://www.killershrike.com/GeneralHERO/BellCurveVsLinear.shtml

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Semantics vs. Hard Math. FIGHT. However, query, old son: I'm assuming you're going from 11- to 12-, correct? Since because it is a Bell Curve, going from 13- to 14- isn't as big a leap, n'est pas?

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Converting D20 Modifiers to HERO

 

Semantics vs. Hard Math. FIGHT. However' date=' query, old son: I'm assuming you're going from 11- to 12-, correct? Since because it is a Bell Curve, going from 13- to 14- isn't as big a leap, n'est pas?[/quote']

 

Right. 11- is the assumed default in the HERO System, so if you have +1 more than nothing, its generally safe to assume that you're going from 11- to 12-. In practice you could be going from whatever to whatever, but its a place to start when doing theoretical probabilities on the Bell Curve. That's what I mean by "the first +1", and why 11- is highlighted on the table.

 

Also, if you want to get really particular, the High Elf Package Deal in question also grants +2 INT, which will generally round to another +1 PER from INT as well. So, in effect, a High Elf using that Package is quite a bit more perceptive than a baseline character.