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Sixth Edition Showcase #7: Damage Over Time and Time Limit

Steve Long

By Steve Long
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Steve Long Grand Master

Steve Long

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A Statement Of Purpose: As we build up to the release of 6E, I thought it would be fun to showcase something in the 6E rules that I think HERO fans will particularly like or find useful. The Sixth Edition Showcases won’t be lengthy or detail-filled, but hopefully they’ll whet your appetite for 6E. I plan to post one a week, though not necessarily on the same day each week.

 

Naturally, you’re welcome to discuss each Showcase to your heart’s content — praise it, complain about it, whatever you like. However, generally speaking, I’m not going to participate in the conversation or answer any questions. I’ll say pretty much all I want to say in each Showcase post. ;)

 

So, on to this week’s Showcase! Actually I guess it should just be “today’s Showcase,” since I’m sort of breaking out of my once-a-week schedule to get another one or two in. ;) The subject:

 

Damage Over Time And Time Limit

 

One of the things I’ve never been entirely satisfied with in HERO is creating powers that work for a defined period of time, which is a very common sort of effect in most games. The HERO System thinks primarily in terms of combat time and System-defined time parameters — Segment, Turn, and so on. However, many gamers, particularly those new to HERO, are more likely to think in the more “real world” terms that many games use: “I want this power to work for thirty seconds,” or what have you. There are ways to do that with HERO as it stands, but they’re not immediately obvious.

 

So I set out to correct that. I think something that elemental should be fairly obvious as one scans over the list of game elements, and in 6E I believe it is. The key is two new Power Modifiers, Damage Over Time and Time Limit. Either can be an Advantage or a Limitation, depending on how the various modifiers used to “build” them stack up for the power you have in mind.

 

Damage Over Time (“DoT”) replaces the Gradual Effect Limitation; in some ways it could be thought of as Gradual Effect all grown up and made more useful. ;) Basically you define how many increments of damage you want over what period of time, and that tells you whether you’ve got an Advantage or a Limitation (and what its value is). If you want a lot of damage increments that accrue quickly, or if you want each damage increment to do a lot of damage by itself, this will get mighty expensive mighty fast. It’s cheaper (and more “flavorful”) when you accrue small amounts of damage quickly, or large amounts of damage over a long period of time.

 

Time Limit basically lets you define a time duration for a power, and even to vary that duration based upon some factor (typically, how much a Skill Roll succeeds by, but there are lots of possibilities). This makes it easy to build, for example, a spell that lasts for 1 Minute, plus another minute for every point a Magic Roll succeeds by, or every point of INT the caster has, or what have you. It’s primarily intended for “utility” abilities, like Life Support and Senses; for attacks you’re likely to be better off with DoT or one of the standard Duration Advantages/Limitations.

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Hugh Neilson Grand Master

Hugh Neilson

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Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #7: Damage Over Time and Time Limit

 

Well' date=' actually, the "Sexy" modifiers would be the new [i']Gettin' Some[/i] Advantage and the Booty Call Power Framework. :eek::nonp::D

 

I think you might need to get some sleep Steve. :)

 

Sounds like there's a need to get some...maybe not sleep, though.

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BobGreenwade Grand Master

BobGreenwade

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Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #7: Damage Over Time and Time Limit

 

Okay, this new bit seriously rocks. There's a hint here that one could build things like Green Lantern, Roger Ramjet, and similar concepts using Time Limit -- and, if not, that at least the general structure is in place for later fiddling.

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Steve Long Grand Master

Steve Long

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Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #7: Damage Over Time and Time Limit

 

Yes, you could build those guys I suppose, depending on how you wanted to structure their powers. I think Time Limit will see most of its use in building utility spells for FH games, though. DoT also tends to see a lot of FH use, though it's also great for poisons, acids, and similar attacks in general.

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Eodin Proficient

Eodin

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Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #7: Damage Over Time and Time Limit

 

Steve,

I have to say, this is great stuff. :)

Even though it means redesigning lots of things in our Star Hero universe project books. Can't wait to see what you've done with megascale ;) for our starship weapons treatment.

 

DoT and plasma blobs, mmm, the possibilities for my Trek Hero books...

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Hierax Experienced

Hierax

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Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #7: Damage Over Time and Time Limit

 

Excellent!

 

Damage over time sounds more flexible and therefore a better tool and, as a bonus, you're even talking about it from a Fantasy perspective too! So many spell possibilities should open open .

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