Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

[dkellis]

Hallo. I'd like to mention a few disclaimers before I proceed. (This might take a while; feel free to skip over, but I've been yelled at before for not mentioning things like these right out.)

 

I came over from the Champions Online forum (the one run by Cryptic), and there from City of Heroes, and I'm probably as much of a newbie at the HERO System as can reasonably be. I bought the books (in PDF format, being that I have no more shelf space) about a week ago, and spent a lot of that inhaling all 592 pages of the 5ER rulebook. (More precisely about 572 pages, not counting table of contents and the index.)

 

My experience with superheroic concepts generally comes from the anime/manga direction; not high-speed ninja battles or martial arts, but more of the magical girl genre. In short, not Bleach, but definitely Slayers. So if there's a reference to "like So-and-so comics character", I might need a simpler explanation. (On the other hand, if it's "like So-and-so anime character", chances are I'll get it almost immediately.)

 

I'm not in a game. I've never been in a game using the HERO ruleset in any form. I know of nobody in my area (Singapore) who is interested in running or organizing a Champions game. (I've had a look at the other settings, and while intriguing, I really like the Champions metaplot.) Therefore, when the rules tell me to ask my non-existent GM, I have no idea what to do. Using my own judgement requires experience in the system, of which I have none.

 

Okay, disclaimers over.

 

I've succumbed to a sort of mild insanity which compels me to create characters ostensibly to familiarize myself with the HERO System ruleset, even though these serve no ultimate purpose, since, well, no game. Each character takes me about three days of hard work, which I usually avoid. In this endeavour, I came across a few questions I'd like cleared up.

 

First, the background: the character in question is supposed to be a Magical Girl, who magical-girls into a brick-type. She wields a really, really big sword. I tried (and mostly succeeded) in keeping myself to Standard Superheroic in terms of character points given.

 

1. For a brick with the Armour power, is it better to pump points into Armour and leave the un-Armoured PD/ED low, or the other way around?
    
   
2. Are there any restrictions spelled out in the rules (as opposed to GM rulings) on Reduced Endurance 0? Or can I apply that Advantage to everything and end up paying only for Strength? If I apply Reduced Endurance 0 to my Flight power, do I still spend endurance to fly?
    
   
3. I'm handwaving her sword to be magical, and so even though I'm using a greatsword as a base, it can do Normal damage instead of only HKA. However, I was wondering: is there a way for it to do Stun-only damage while still applying Strength? I'm not sure if I should use NND, since then I'd have to define it as "NND (Any Defense)", which kind of defeats the purpose.
    
   
4. To signify her boosts in stats when she transforms, I'm using Multiform. (The alternate form also keeps to Standard Superheroic 200-point 150-Disadvantages.) The net effect is that she's essentially the same person, but her physical stats get boosted, and she gets to use more powers. Is this acceptable, or are there other, better methods for a magical girl transformation?
    
   
5. Only In Heroic ID mentions that it should be taken instead of Focus if the Focus never seems to be lost. However, my character's abilities come from a magical ring which can be lost (her rival, in fact, states outright that she aims to obtain it for herself by any means necessary). Along with the bit about having some powers only in her alternate form (via Multiform) and not in her true form, does this count as OIHID? Or should I just forget about OIHID altogether?
    
   
6. The character has a crush, whom I'm defining as a DNPC (Normal, Unaware of Secret Identity, Useful Non-Combat Skills). The DNPC gets into a lot of trouble, resulting in the character's Magical Girl form saving him. The character's civilian form, however, doesn't have that Disadvantage, since the DNPC doesn't notice her in civilian form, and she's too shy to approach him. (Her Shyness is a Common Strong Disadvantage, actually.) In short, heroic identity has the DNPC Disadvantage, regular identity does not. Is this acceptable rules-wise? (Remember, no GM.)
    
   
7. Assuming a Magical Girl story on a Standard Superheroic scale, requiring the characters to blast away at Monsters Of The Week, what sort of Active Point limits are considered normal? I've managed to keep almost everything to 60 Active Points at most, except for Multiform at 75 Active Points (70 for a 350-point alternate form, plus a 5 point Adder for Instant Change). Would a hypothetical Average GM find this reasonable?
   

 

Any help and advice received much appreciated.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

I came over from the Champions Online forum (the one run by Cryptic)' date=' and there from [i']City of Heroes[/i], and I'm probably as much of a newbie at the HERO System as can reasonably be. I bought the books (in PDF format, being that I have no more shelf space) about a week ago, and spent a lot of that inhaling all 592 pages of the 5ER rulebook. (More precisely about 572 pages, not counting table of contents and the index.)

 

Welcome!

 

1. For a brick with the Armour power, is it better to pump points into Armour and leave the un-Armoured PD/ED low, or the other way around?

 

It depends. If you're looking at running into more Killing Attacks, Armor is the way to go. If you're looking at more Normal attacks, you'll want to go with less Armor and more normal PD/ED. You'll probably want enough Armor (or, more generally, resistant PD/ED) to bounce the BODY from the typical Killing Attack you're going to face.

 

2. Are there any restrictions spelled out in the rules (as opposed to GM rulings) on Reduced Endurance 0? Or can I apply that Advantage to everything and end up paying only for Strength? If I apply Reduced Endurance 0 to my Flight power, do I still spend endurance to fly?

 

Nothing in the rules, no. If you apply Reduced Endurance Cost: 0 END to your Flight Power, it costs you no Endurance to fly.

 

Edit: I take that back. There can be some restrictions on things like Continuous and Uncontrolled Powers; also note that 'continuing' Mental Powers have their own rules for handling Endurance expenditure.

 

3. I'm handwaving her sword to be magical, and so even though I'm using a greatsword as a base, it can do Normal damage instead of only HKA. However, I was wondering: is there a way for it to do Stun-only damage while still applying Strength? I'm not sure if I should use NND, since then I'd have to define it as "NND (Any Defense)", which kind of defeats the purpose.

 

Build it as Hand-to-hand Attack and buy it Stun Only. (-0 Limitation)

 

4. To signify her boosts in stats when she transforms, I'm using Multiform. (The alternate form also keeps to Standard Superheroic 200-point 150-Disadvantages.) The net effect is that she's essentially the same person, but her physical stats get boosted, and she gets to use more powers. Is this acceptable, or are there other, better methods for a magical girl transformation?

 

Multiform is workable, as is Only In Hero ID.

 

5. Only In Heroic ID mentions that it should be taken instead of Focus if the Focus never seems to be lost. However, my character's abilities come from a magical ring which can be lost (her rival, in fact, states outright that she aims to obtain it for herself by any means necessary). Along with the bit about having some powers only in her alternate form (via Multiform) and not in her true form, does this count as OIHID? Or should I just forget about OIHID altogether?

 

If taking OIHID you need to define some kind of method for stopping you from switching, which can be fairly rare. You could do it either with Multiform via Focus or with OIHID.

 

6. The character has a crush, whom I'm defining as a DNPC (Normal, Unaware of Secret Identity, Useful Non-Combat Skills). The DNPC gets into a lot of trouble, resulting in the character's Magical Girl form saving him. The character's civilian form, however, doesn't have that Disadvantage, since the DNPC doesn't notice her in civilian form, and she's too shy to approach him. (Her Shyness is a Common Strong Disadvantage, actually.) In short, heroic identity has the DNPC Disadvantage, regular identity does not. Is this acceptable rules-wise?

 

The question is, does the DNPC still get in trouble when you're in civilian form, and will you then switch to powered form to save him? Rules wise yes it is acceptable, but I'm not sure how much sense it makes campaign wise. I'd probably recommend taking the Disadvantage in both forms.

 

Look at it this way: does she still have a crush on him in both forms? Does he still get into trouble when she is in either form? Does she try to save him in either form? If the answer is yes, then the Disadvantage would likely carry over. This might be a data point in favor of OIHID rather than Multiform.

 

7. Assuming a Magical Girl story on a Standard Superheroic scale, requiring the characters to blast away at Monsters Of The Week, what sort of Active Point limits are considered normal? I've managed to keep almost everything to 60 Active Points at most, except for Multiform at 75 Active Points (70 for a 350-point alternate form, plus a 5 point Adder for Instant Change). Would a hypothetical Average GM find this reasonable?

 

Looks okay to me. Since you only have the one alternate form, having the alternate at a full 350 is probably fine, especially if the "base form" doesn't have a huge amount of greatly useful abilities.

[SteveZilla]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

Welcome to the website for The Ultimate Gamer's Toolkit!

 

I'm handwaving her sword to be magical' date=' and so even though I'm using a greatsword as a base, it can do Normal damage instead of only HKA. However, I was wondering: is there a way for it to do Stun-only damage while still applying Strength? I'm not sure if I should use NND, since then I'd have to define it as "NND (Any Defense)", which kind of defeats the purpose.[/quote']

 

Build it as Hand-to-hand Attack and buy it Stun Only. (-0 Limitation)

 

"Magic Sword" is just a Special Effect, like "Plasma Sword", so that's okay. Does the sword *only* do Normal damage, or can it switch between Lethal and Normal?

 

Using either H-t-H Attack like Chris suggests, or Hand Killing Attack (HKA), and applying "Stun Only" will allow it to utilize STR and do only Stun damage. It may seem counterintuitive for a Killing Attack to not do Body (and thus not be lethal), but it would follow the same rules as a regular Killing Attack, just without the Body damage component. I.e., if they don't have resistant defenses, they would take *all* of the Stun damage.

 

 

Assuming a Magical Girl story on a Standard Superheroic scale' date=' requiring the characters to blast away at Monsters Of The Week, what sort of Active Point limits are considered normal? I've managed to keep almost everything to 60 Active Points at most, [i']except[/i] for Multiform at 75 Active Points (70 for a 350-point alternate form, plus a 5 point Adder for Instant Change). Would a hypothetical Average GM find this reasonable?

 

About 60 Active Points for attacks, between 20-30 points of defenses (not Active Points), between 4-6 Speed would be quite "in the ballpark", IMO. Certain powers like Multiform would be needlessly hobbled if they were limited in the same manner as Attack Powers. IMO each individual form that the Multiform grants should obey the campaign limits (like the 60 AP for attacks, etc.).

[dkellis]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

"Magic Sword" is just a Special Effect, like "Plasma Sword", so that's okay. Does the sword *only* do Normal damage, or can it switch between Lethal and Normal?

 

Using either H-t-H Attack like Chris suggests, or Hand Killing Attack (HKA), and applying "Stun Only" will allow it to utilize STR and do only Stun damage. It may seem counterintuitive for a Killing Attack to not do Body (and thus not be lethal), but it would follow the same rules as a regular Killing Attack, just without the Body damage component. I.e., if they don't have resistant defenses, they would take *all* of the Stun damage.

 

I worked it up as a Multipower: one attack does Normal HTH, one attack does HKA (which she'll use to bust through walls; I might swap it out for Tunnelling, but it doesn't matter that much).

 

My confusion stemmed from the fact that Stun Only -0 was listed under Energy Blast, and nowhere else. Therefore, I wasn't sure if I could apply it to HTH attacks.

 

About 60 Active Points for attacks, between 20-30 points of defenses (not Active Points), between 4-6 Speed would be quite "in the ballpark", IMO. Certain powers like Multiform would be needlessly hobbled if they were limited in the same manner as Attack Powers. IMO each individual form that the Multiform grants should obey the campaign limits (like the 60 AP for attacks, etc.).

The darkly amusing thing is that I'm creating more characters (the brick's teammates), and decided that I might as well go for the 75 Active Points limit. Otherwise, the Energy Projector is going to be decidedly underpowered.

 

Again, it's not like I've got a GM to ask, so I can technically set a 600 Active Point limit, but I figured I should probably train myself to get used to "real" limits.

[SteveZilla]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

Don't forget to utilize the FAQ here, as well as doing searches in the various boards, like the HERO System 5th Edition Rules Questions board.

 

They all contribute to better understanding the Hero System.

[SteveZilla]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

My confusion stemmed from the fact that Stun Only -0 was listed under Energy Blast' date=' and [i']nowhere else[/i]. Therefore, I wasn't sure if I could apply it to HTH attacks.

 

I don't see why it couldn't be applied to other attack powers that do both Stun and Body damage. It's a valid Limitation on all of them.

[dkellis]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

I don't see why it couldn't be applied to other attack powers that do both Stun and Body damage. It's a valid Limitation on all of them.

 

Possibly, but I was making sure, since there might be some arcane balance reason why not.

 

Another confirmation question, since it doesn't seem to be explicitly stated: for Teleport, assuming that a character wants to be able to carry along willing targets by grabbing them, and only willing targets, all that she needs to do is use the xWhatever mass adder, right? Or does she still need to use Usable As Attack/Usable Simultaneously?

[SteveZilla]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

IIRC, To teleport others takes UBO (for willing) and UAA (for unwilling). But the best thing to do is to check the FAQ and the rules question board, because I am not certain about that currently.

[dkellis]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

IIRC' date=' To teleport others takes UBO (for willing) and UAA (for unwilling). But the best thing to do is to check the FAQ and the rules question board, because I am not certain about that currently.[/quote']

 

As far as I can determine and interpret, UBO is for letting others Teleport without needing to grab them, while UAA is if the target is unwilling. However, I'm not sure, since I can't find anything which confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that to Teleport a willing, grabbed person needs UBO (or otherwise).

[SteveZilla]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

From my research just now, I'm pretty sure that the Teleporter can teleport a willing person along with them by having only Increased Mass purchased (and IIRC after grabbing them). Though if they are willing, it's all but given that you'll hit their DCV 0 since they are letting you do it, and can use 0 STR to hold them since they aren't trying to break out.

 

If you want to enable someone else to teleport *themselves* under *their* control (using *their* END), add Useable By Others or Useable Simultaneously.

 

If you want to teleport someone against their will, you have to use Useable As Attack.

[Susano]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

Hallo. I'd like to mention a few disclaimers before I proceed. (This might take a while; feel free to skip over, but I've been yelled at before for not mentioning things like these right out.)

 

I came over from the Champions Online forum (the one run by Cryptic), and there from City of Heroes, and I'm probably as much of a newbie at the HERO System as can reasonably be. I bought the books (in PDF format, being that I have no more shelf space) about a week ago, and spent a lot of that inhaling all 592 pages of the 5ER rulebook. (More precisely about 572 pages, not counting table of contents and the index.)

 

My experience with superheroic concepts generally comes from the anime/manga direction; not high-speed ninja battles or martial arts, but more of the magical girl genre. In short, not Bleach, but definitely Slayers. So if there's a reference to "like So-and-so comics character", I might need a simpler explanation. (On the other hand, if it's "like So-and-so anime character", chances are I'll get it almost immediately.)

 

I'm not in a game. I've never been in a game using the HERO ruleset in any form. I know of nobody in my area (Singapore) who is interested in running or organizing a Champions game. (I've had a look at the other settings, and while intriguing, I really like the Champions metaplot.) Therefore, when the rules tell me to ask my non-existent GM, I have no idea what to do. Using my own judgement requires experience in the system, of which I have none.

 

If you want to see what things look like in Hero, take a look at this character archive:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/archive.html

 

Specifically the anime archive:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsanime/animechar.html

 

There's also this guide to translating fictional characters to Hero:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/herosource/adaptions.html

 

I hope these help.

[JmOz]

Re: Miscellaneous questions from a newbie.

 

Carry someone along is extra mass

 

Send someone (willingly) somewhere else without you UBO (technicaly they would control the where they went, but as it is willing I can definatly see some handwaving)

 

Send someone somewhere not willing UAA (technicaly for you to control where they went it should be UAA not UBO, but cost/benefit ratio says differently to me)