Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

[humantorch101]

I have been away from the hero system, for a long while and would like a rundown on the changes between 5th and 6th and a bit of comment on why the changes were made (in your opinion).

 

Im looking at purchasing the new edition and would like a heads up to make a decision.

 

Also whats been put out for the new edition so far? whats the quality like?

 

thanks guys in advance.

[Barwickian]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

The biggest changes are that there are now no figured characteristics. Raising your DEX does not automatically raise your OCV, DCV and SPD.

 

Instead, you buy OCV, END, STUN, REC and all the other old figured characteristics independently. As a result the cost of what used to be the primary characteristics has changed as well (now 1pt per point, except DEX, which is 2pts).

 

Comeliness has gone, replaced by a perk.

 

The typical point allowances have also changed to reflect the fact you need to buy more characteristics. A Standard Heroic character is now 175pts, including 50 points of matching Complications (the new word for Disadvantages).

 

Hero no longer uses hexes and inches, or the 1" = 2m scale. Instead, everything is measured in metres.

 

The STUN multiplier for Killing Attacks is now 1/2D6, not 1D6-1.

 

Changes to some skill and skill costs. CSLs are now little more expensive. Rapid Attack and Two-handed Attack work a little differently. Various other changes as well.

 

Numerous changes to powers and power modifiers - most minor, some more extensive. The Environment Control multipower is no more. A number of defensive powers have been folded into a couple of new ones (eg Armour and Force Field are both now aspects of Resistant Protection).

 

There's no DEF any more. Objects have PD and ED instead.

 

Oh, and the rules are now in two gorgeous full-colour volumes printed on high-quality cardstock.

 

Edit: Or I could have just said see this thread

[Tasha]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

also Elemental Controls have been replaced by a Limit "Unified Power" -1/4 which does the same thing that EC's do in 5e, but with no limits on what powers can have the limitation.

 

Removing figured chars, ends the problem of some characteristics being too cheap for the secondary stats they give. Also they give a player more leeway to make a character that fits their vision. Also OCV/DCV are their own stats and aren't figured from DEX and OMCV/DMCV(Offensive and Defensive Mental Combat Values) are divorced from Ego

 

Comeliness was the odd characteristic out and it worked wierdly as a stat. Now with the talent "Striking Appearance" you can choose to be Ugly, Pretty, Trustworthy or whatever you can think of for something called Striking appearance. It now gives extra dice of Presence for those occasions when it it applicable.

 

1m being the basis for movement and not 1" = 2m is both Hero trying to untie itself from miniatures and to allow GMs to define their own scales. This makes it much easier to use GURPS maps which are 1" to the yard scale. It's also pretty easy to define stuff as the old scale if you like.

 

The stun multiple thing applies to games that don't use Hit Location. Basically in Superheroic games, the stun lotto was getting out of hand with many players deciding that the small chance of getting x4 and x5 multiple was worth taking the power even if the character wasn't really a KA type of character. With the lower stun mults KA's do decent body and can do ok Stun on a lucky roll.

 

If you want to restart an argument about the 6e changes, please search for one of the 6e change threads in this sub board. There's a couple of threads of 50+ pages of well thought out arguments on both sides and a whole lot of emotion.

 

2 volumes of rules was because Hero decided to try a color presentation inside of it's rule books. With the extra art and the slightly larger typeface the book couldn't fit into one volume. So we have the Char gen in one volume and all of the how to play rules in another.

[RexMundi]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

A lot easier for newer players, especially d20 converts to grasp is a major selling point in my circle of folk.

 

~Rex

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Also, the rules for adding DC's to an attack have been mercifully simplified.

[Tasha]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Also' date=' the rules for adding DC's to an attack have been mercifully simplified.[/quote']

 

Yeah I think that it has been reverted to how it was in 1st Ed Fantasy Hero. easy peasy almost no math.

[purple justice]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Wouah !! That is a lot of changes.

I actually learn BR 6th... And some people who answer - and help - me use the previous HS version.

This topic help me to more understand some things.

 

I now understand why the higher DEX begins the combat instead of the higher Speed.

SPD was a characteristc based on DEX before 6th.

 

Do you think previous books - like the ultimate energy projector , the ultimate martial artist or the ultimate mentalist - could be read by a full beginer without disturbing his HS 6th learning ? And are theses compatible ?

My RPG's shop only have 3 HS books 6th ( Main rules and Basics ) ... And approximatively 20 HS books 5th.

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Comeliness was the odd characteristic out and it worked wierdly as a stat. Now with the talent "Striking Appearance" you can choose to be Ugly' date=' Pretty, Trustworthy or whatever you can think of for something called Striking appearance. It now gives extra dice of Presence for those occasions when it it applicable.[/quote']

And yet for many of us (myself included), replacing Comeliness with a craptastic GURPSish Talent was the final nail in 6th Edition's coffin.

[Barwickian]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

There is a good degree of cross-compatibility, if you're aware of the rules differences.

 

Not all Hero support books are rules-intensive; I bought several 5th edition books after 6th came out. But in some cases, you'd be better served by asking your shop to get yoy a copy of the 6th edition book - in particular, Hero System Martial Arts (written for 6th edition) is rules intensive and gives you updated material from both the older Ultimate Martial Artist and Ninja Hero (so you get two books in one). Likewise the 6th edition bestiary is character-intensive, and combines creature from the 5th edition Bestiary with ones from Minions Monsters & Marauders and the Asian Bestiaries.

 

If I were you, if you're seriously thinking of getting a 5th edition book to support your 6th edition rules, I'd ask about that particular book's compatibility on these boards.

[Tasha]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Wouah !! That is a lot of changes.

I actually learn BR 6th... And some people who answer - and help - me use the previous HS version.

This topic help me to more understand some things.

 

I now understand why the higher DEX begins the combat instead of the higher Speed.

SPD was a characteristc based on DEX before 6th.

 

Do you think previous books - like the ultimate energy projector , the ultimate martial artist or the ultimate mentalist - could be read by a full beginer without disturbing his HS 6th learning ? And are theses compatible ?

My RPG's shop only have 3 HS books 6th ( Main rules and Basics ) ... And approximatively 20 HS books 5th.

 

I would recommend Champions Powers over the Ultimate books. The only exception being Ultimate Base which is fairly 6e friendly. The reason you shop doesn't have many 6e books is there isn't many yet. It's been less than year since 6e shipped. So there are the various Champions books, Fantasy Hero, HS Martial Arts, and HS Beastiary. We have HS Equipment Guide, HS Grimoire (Fantasy Spells), and Star Hero coming soon.

[RexMundi]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Some of the Ultimate books, especially Mentalist and Speedster, have some pretty good Role Play material in there for rookies. I lean towards Champions Powers though as well. Ultimate Skill from 5th Ed gets a workout in my game, though the second I can buy a book version of the Hero System Skill book I'll pick that up. Besitary has a lot of nifty stuff in it and one of the better Fae write ups I've seen in a lot of critter books. HSMA is a great book, though I think it could have been oh, 100 pages larger, heh. Still one of the better bangs for your buck in the current HEro line up though.

 

~Rex

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

I would recommend Champions Powers over the Ultimate books. The only exception being Ultimate Base which is fairly 6e friendly. The reason you shop doesn't have many 6e books is there isn't many yet. It's been less than year since 6e shipped. So there are the various Champions books' date=' Fantasy Hero, HS Martial Arts, and HS Beastiary. We have HS Equipment Guide, HS Grimoire (Fantasy Spells), and Star Hero coming soon.[/quote']

 

Actually, 6e was released at GenCon in 2009. The Ultimate Base was converted to 6e prior to publication. HSEG and HSG are available to download now, and the dead tree versions will be out soon. Star Hero is scheduled to be released at GenCon this year.

[Tasha]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Actually' date=' 6e was released at GenCon in 2009. [i']The Ultimate Base[/i] was converted to 6e prior to publication. HSEG and HSG are available to download now, and the dead tree versions will be out soon. Star Hero is scheduled to be released at GenCon this year.

 

I was talking about the dead tree version of HS Equipment Guide, and HS Grimoire. That's what most people are looking for. esp since the OP was talking about buying books at his FLGS.

 

Forgot that it's been nearly 2 years since Hero 6e shipped. Probably because they were only taking Preorders for Dead Tree editions at GenCon, and had CD's with the PDFs for the PDF/Dead Tree bundle edition. I hope that Hard copy Star Hero is available at GenCon

[Steve Long]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

There is a summary document listing the 5E to 6E changes posted at the top of this forum, as well as several other forums here on the boards.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

There is a summary document listing the 5E to 6E changes posted at the top of this forum' date=' as well as several other forums here on the boards.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the reminder! That's got character creation covered.

 

I was wondering if there's anything similar posted for the changes to combat rules? Sometimes I have trouble keeping it all straight.

 

Many thanks.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Thanks for the reminder! That's got character creation covered.

 

I was wondering if there's anything similar posted for the changes to combat rules? Sometimes I have trouble keeping it all straight.

 

Many thanks.

 

The only real change to combat is how damage is added.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

The only real change to combat is how damage is added.

 

Well, that and the range chart. And the 1/2d6 stun multiple on KA's. And whatever else I haven't thought of. A complete list really would be helpful....

[Escafarc]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

The rules for Blocking Ranged Attacks has changed.

[purple justice]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Congratulations for Steve S Long's works !

I saw he posted here. And I would like to congratulate him for his 30 years' work.

[Tasha]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Congratulations for Steve S Long's works !

I saw he posted here. And I would like to congratulate him for his 30 years' work.

 

More like 13+ years (based on Dark Champions 1st edition being published in 1993). Steve Long isn't the original Hero System Author. He is the guy that is currently writing and updating the rules. That's pretty cool in itself. He's also one of the current owners of the System as well. He's done much to make the rules more clear than they have ever been. Also he's like a writing god, with an amazing amount of output.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

alright, a little more thorough look at Combat Changes in 6E:

 

Maneuver Changes:

-Block now works against Ranged Attacks equally as against Hand To Hand Attacks. Some restrictions apply, your campaign parameters determine SFX Interaction

-Multiple Attack; takes Sweep, Multiple Power Attack, and other combinations that involve multiple attacks, or targets and puts them under one rule (including mixing kinds of attacks: punching one guy, shooting another, and mind blasting a third in one attack.)

 

Maneuver Additions:

-Shove

-Strafe

-Throw

-Trip

 

Maneuver Removals:

-Blazing Away

-Hurry

 

Damage Adding:

+1 Damage Class is always +1 Damage Class, no matter what kind of attack or "base attack" is inolved.

Advantages prorate accordingly for all added Damage Classes, the book has a handy chart

 

Also - the Range Modifier Table has NOT Changed, as was said earlier. It's been converted to Meters.

 

I have not encountered or found any other changes to combat.

[Steve Long]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Congratulations for Steve S Long's works !

I saw he posted here. And I would like to congratulate him for his 30 years' work.

 

Thanx! But I can't take credit for the original design of HERO; that was done by Steve Peterson, George Macdonald, and Ray Greer. I've only been writing RPGs/supplements for about 20 years (my first, the original Dark Champions, was published in 1993). Maybe in a couple of years I'll have to whip up something special to celebrate my 20th anniversary!

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Tell me whats changed in 6th edition please

 

Thanx! But I can't take credit for the original design of HERO; that was done by Steve Peterson' date=' George Macdonald, and Ray Greer. I've only been writing RPGs/supplements for about 20 years (my first, the original [i']Dark Champions,[/i] was published in 1993). Maybe in a couple of years I'll have to whip up something special to celebrate my 20th anniversary!

 

That would be 2013 (I'm an accountant, so you can trust my math...). Can you work up an appropriate anniversary date for the release of 6e Dark Champions?