Help

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Help

 

Since there is no such thing as a weapon "made out of darkness" in the real world' date=' [b']what such a weapon could do is entirely up to you. This is the case with about half of your questions.[/b]As to the running it would depend on what the character's SPD is. I'm pretty sure there is instructions in the book for converting meters per turn to mph/kph. Do you have the rule book?

 

Bolded for emphasis. Hero does not list out abilities like "long prehensile tentacles", "sword of darkness" or "great, gnarly fangs" and then stat out what each can do in terms of game mechanics. Instead, it provides game mechanics divorced from special effects. The player then decides that their character will have "long prehensile tentacles", a "sword of darkness" and/or "great, gnarly fangs", and decides what game mechanics those abilities will provide. So one may decide a "Sword of Darkness" is a standard Killing Attack, while another might decide the Sword of Darkness inflicts no physical injury, but Transforms its victims into a Shadow Form, while a third may decide it assaults the target's mind, rather than his Body (perhaps an attack that targets Mental DCV using physical OCV and acting against Mental Defense), then decides whether it will be potentially lethal (whether or not to add Does BOD).

 

You seem to ask questions expecting an answer like "Sword of Darkness is on Page 274 of Hero Weapon Powers III, and is a 1 1/2d6 Killing Attack, 0 END, with +1 meter of Stretching (no non-combat) and provides +5 points of Distinctive Features because all Swords of Darkness emit an eerie hum and disquiet those around them". That's not the way Hero works. You don't pick from a list of pre-defined abilities. You define the abilities. What do you envision the Sword of Darkness doing to its opponents? Having decided the effect on the opponents, you reason from effect and select the mechanics to best match the effect you envision. Even Hero's books of pre-designed powers (whether superpowers, equipment, spells or what have you) provide various options to customize those pre-fab powers.

 

Yes I do. Where would I look in the rules book then?

 

Start with the index, perhaps? I'd probably check under the Movement section. Looking at the Index, Vol 2 covers movement in general (6e Vol 1 generally covers character building, while Vol 2 generally covers use of character abilities, interaction with other characters and the world, etc.). Sure enough, page 25 provides conversion instructions. Your Speed will impact your sustained velocity. You may find it most effective to have a movement power for tactical movement and a second (or larger noncombat multiples) for out of combat travel.

 

With an 18m movement speed (which, by the way, is +6 m, not +4 m), x32 noncombat, he can move 576 meters per phase. Assuming a 5 speed, that's 2,880 meters per turn, 14,400 meters per minute and 864,000 meters per hour. That equates to 864 kph and about 537 mph, so you're well over your target 65 mph. Take away three NCM doublings (so x4 instead of x32) and he can run 67.125 mph. Or take away all four and buy base movement to 36 meters (+24 meters, so the same 24 AP) and he runs about 67 mph out of combat

 

Would having highly flexible prehensile nightmarish looking tentacles in place of arms allow him to use items that humans can use?

 

Re-read bigbywolfe's statement which I have bolded above. I'll wait.

 

Re-read it? Good. Then you have the answer - YOU define the effects of "having highly flexible prehensile nightmarish looking tentacles in place of arms" so you decide whether these do, or do not, "allow him to use items that humans can use". If you decide they do, that would be the default. If you decide they prevent use of items used by humans, you would take a complication (physical complication in this case) to reflect a deviation from the norm for all characters which is disadvantageous to the character.

 

How much of a complication would the following be? In the center of his forehead is a shining star-like wound that trickles a seep of foul blood. The wound drips the seep of foul blood at least once a minute.

 

Read the complication "Distinctive Features". It seems like being a half human, half worm is going to be non-concealable on its own, with or without an unhealing wound. Whether it causes a major reaction or prejudice, or causes an extreme reaction? I again refer you to the bolded section of bigbywolfe's comments. A discussion with your GM and fellow players may also be helpful to put this in context of the campaign world. What I see, in aggregate, is a freakshow that would likely cause people to flee, vomit or otherwise react in an extremely negative fashion, so 15 + 10 = 25 points. It will also pretty much universally prevent the character taking part in components of any game requiring interaction (investigation, for example), traveling incognito, etc. If those are a big part of the game, this may easily render the character unsuitable for that game.

 

In such case, a Multiform or Only In Alternate ID approach may merit consideration to have a less distinctive alternative for the character (in which case the Distinctive Features become more easily concealable, or apply only to the Monster form).

 

RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS Since you have the books, I suggest you read pages 7 - 11 (Introduction and Hero System Philosophy) and pages 122 - 123, which discusses reasoning from special effects. These outline the framework of the system, in non-mechanical terms, and may help you to "get" the aspects you seem to struggle with, as many posters have pointed out. Hopefully, with that understanding, you'll have a better sense of how to use the Hero rules to translate the characters you imagine into the game system.