Character Help? Making a Giles from Buffy like character.

[MrWigggles]

Okay, so here is Edwin Abbot Abbot draft 2. 

So I correct my spending, on Intellect skills. Upped my speed, bought down my running. And have 15pts left over for spells. Maybe I should just not do magic, and reinvest those 24 points in Perks. 

Edwin Abbot Abbot Draft 2.pdf

Edited December 8, 2017 by MrWigggles
Changed the post, from a question I answer, to posting the seocnd draft so I wouldnt double post

[MrWigggles]

So because i didnt want to do a double post, and just edited the above, I dont think anyone knows that I posed a nother draft, so I guess I am double posting.

[MrWigggles]

So here are my attempts at making some spells! They're probably horribly wrong.

 

 

So this HEAL spell, is meant to be something for my character to cast on another from a safe not engage in combat distance.

Spells: 

HEAL!
Aid
Active Points: 18
Real Cost: 7
Type: Adjustment Power
Preceivability: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Target: Target's DCV
Range: Ranged
Cost END: Yes - Cost 2 End
Cost 6cp per 1d6 of Aid

Heals 2d6 to either just Body, or just Stun, I dont know which is more important, at a range if
the caster has one hand free for the gestures.

Advantage: 1.5
No Range to Ranged  +1/2
Requires A Roll (0) ?
--- (-1/2) Skill Roll (Power), (+1/4) Characer Can Choose between Two Rolls
--- (+1/4) less Limitation 12-

Limitation: 2.5
Only Aid Others (-1/2)
Incantation (-1/4)
Only Restores to Starting  Values (-1/2)
Side Effect (-1/4)
--- (-1/4) Side Effect Strength Medium, 15 Active Points or forth of AP in power

-----------------------------

And this is meant to be a similar attempt for a Defensive Spell to be cast on nother person from a safe, not engage in melee distance. I'm somewhat sure, this is wrong. 

 

Defense Spell!
Aid
Active Points: 27
Real Cost: 8
Type: Adjustment Power
Preceivability: Obvious
Duration: Constant
Target: Target's DCV
Range: Ranged
Cost END: Yes - Cost 3 End / 1 END to maintain
Cost 6cp per 1d6 of Aid

Increases the Target's Physical Defense by 2d6 points.

Advantages: 2.25
Hardened +1/4
No Range to Ranged +1/2
Instant to Constant +1/2

 

Limitation: 3.25
Only Aid Others (-1/2)
Gestures Both Hands (-1/2)
Side Effect (-1/2)
--- (-1/2) Side Effect Strength Medium, 30 Active Points or forth of AP in power
Requires a Roll (-3/4) Min. Value (-1/4)
--- (-1/2) Skill Roll (Power), +1/4 less limitation 12-, -1/2 Jammed
Cost Endurance to Maintain (-1/4) Half END cost to maintain
Physical Manifestation -1/4
 

[Lucius]

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 3:38 AM, MrWigggles said:

Okay, so here is Edwin Abbot Abbot draft 2. 

So I correct my spending, on Intellect skills. Upped my speed, bought down my running. And have 15pts left over for spells. Maybe I should just not do magic, and reinvest those 24 points in Perks. 

Edwin Abbot Abbot Draft 2.pdf

 

Spells or not spells, there's probably other things more useful than Perks to invest in.

 

11 hours ago, MrWigggles said:

So here are my attempts at making some spells! They're probably horribly wrong.

 

 

So this HEAL spell, is meant to be something for my character to cast on another from a safe not engage in combat distance.

Spells: 

HEAL!
Aid
Active Points: 18
Real Cost: 7
Type: Adjustment Power
Preceivability: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Target: Target's DCV
Range: Ranged
Cost END: Yes - Cost 2 End
Cost 6cp per 1d6 of Aid

Heals 2d6 to either just Body, or just Stun, I dont know which is more important, at a range if
the caster has one hand free for the gestures.

Advantage: 1.5
No Range to Ranged  +1/2
Requires A Roll (0) ?
--- (-1/2) Skill Roll (Power), (+1/4) Characer Can Choose between Two Rolls
--- (+1/4) less Limitation 12-

Limitation: 2.5
Only Aid Others (-1/2)
Incantation (-1/4)
Only Restores to Starting  Values (-1/2)
Side Effect (-1/4)
--- (-1/4) Side Effect Strength Medium, 15 Active Points or forth of AP in power

-----------------------------

 

 

I find the format hard to parse, but I think I understand most of that.

You seem to be using the Aid power to heal. The problem with that is that Aid is a very temporary boost. Unless you get the Advantage that extends the "return rate" then it's like trying to fill up a bucket with no bottom. The points you give drain away at a rate of 5 Active Points every Turn.

There's another problem. STUN and BOD are both "Defensive Characteristics" meaning that Adjustment Powers have half effect. That ALSO applies if you use the specific power Healing. And Healing has yet another head ache to it - if you have say 2d6 Healing and heal someone for, say 7 pts, and then again for another 7, they only get the benefit of 12 pts - the max you could roll on the 2d6. Once they have that much benefit, you can't help them again until the next day, unless you got an Advantage that shortens that time.

 

So yeah, making a Healing spell that works worth a darn is more expensive than you might think.

 

A digression on STUN and BODy:

BODy is "Hits to kill." Lost BOD represents physical injury and when at 0 BOD or below the character is "dying" and loses another 1 pt of BOD every Turn, until hitting negative BOD, that is, a number as far below zero as the starting number is above zero. At that point, the character is dead. Note that is it entirely possible to be below zero on BOD and still conscious, active, running around, fighting, etc. (Not necessarily advisable if you have the option to try to bind your own wounds instead, but if you expect to die anyway maybe you can take someone down with you.) BOD lost to injury is regained only very slowly; think in terms of days, weeks, or months, not minutes or hours.

 

STUN is "Hits to knockout." Lost STUN can be blood loss or shock or bruising, not broken bones or serious physical injuries. If you take as much STUN in one attack as your CON score, you are "stunned" and lose a phase; your DCV is at half for that phase too. If your STUN is below zero you are unconscious; possibly not dangerously hurt but definitely knocked out and unable to act. STUN is regained very quickly; your REC score tells how much STUN you regain every single TURN. Note that if you are deeply unconscious, you don't regain STUN that quickly. But if you take a lot of STUN and no BODy, you can be knocked out, come to, and in a couple minutes of regaining consciousness be as good as new.

 

Most attacks do BOTH STUN and BODy, in different proportions. You can expect an Ogre's club to do more STUN and a Weretiger's claws to do more BOD.

 

I'm not sure what you think you are getting with "Character can choose between two rolls." That would be for something like having a choice between using the Magic Skill or Paramedic Skill or something.

 

Side Effects have to be specified. What exactly happens if you fail the roll?

 

Also, you mention Gestures but don't list Gestures among the Limitations.

 

11 hours ago, MrWigggles said:

So here are my attempts at making some spells! They're probably horribly wrong.

-----------------------------

And this is meant to be a similar attempt for a Defensive Spell to be cast on nother person from a safe, not engage in melee distance. I'm somewhat sure, this is wrong. 

 

Defense Spell!
Aid
Active Points: 27
Real Cost: 8
Type: Adjustment Power
Preceivability: Obvious
Duration: Constant
Target: Target's DCV
Range: Ranged
Cost END: Yes - Cost 3 End / 1 END to maintain
Cost 6cp per 1d6 of Aid

Increases the Target's Physical Defense by 2d6 points.

Advantages: 2.25
Hardened +1/4
No Range to Ranged +1/2
Instant to Constant +1/2

 

Limitation: 3.25
Only Aid Others (-1/2)
Gestures Both Hands (-1/2)
Side Effect (-1/2)
--- (-1/2) Side Effect Strength Medium, 30 Active Points or forth of AP in power
Requires a Roll (-3/4) Min. Value (-1/4)
--- (-1/2) Skill Roll (Power), +1/4 less limitation 12-, -1/2 Jammed
Cost Endurance to Maintain (-1/4) Half END cost to maintain
Physical Manifestation -1/4
 

 

Okay, I'm going to have the check the book and make sure I grasp some things, but again, you need so specify what the Side Effects are exactly, and what is it you think Physical Manifestation does here? What Physical Manifestation means is that there is something that materializes as part of the Power, that can be independently targeted and attacked and, if destroyed, causes the power to fail. Is this something like a shield that appears and blocks incoming attacks for the protected character that an attacker can choose to focus on and destroy?

An "Jammed" means that if you fail the Skill Roll to activate the ability, you can't activate it until you "unjam" it, whatever that means in context. It might mean you can't use the power again until next day.

But it looks like you're starting to find your way around in Hero System.

 

edit: Okay, looked up how Aid works. Applying constant means you can keep rolling the dice as long as you maintain the power and adding until it hits the max, in this case, 12 pts. The END cost to maintain means you don't have to worry about the "Fade rate" - as long as you keep pumping out the END, the target character gets the bonus. Unfortunately the "half effect for defensive abilities" rule applies here too, and the most you can do is give someone a +1 to their DCV. 12 Active Points halved is 6, and each points of DCV costs 5 points.

 

But you may be on the right track towards getting a spell that will be worth the points invested under the house rules you have to work with.

 

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary and I are going to consult the book now.

 

 

[dsatow]

OK, this might help:

 

15 Healing BODY/STUN 2d6, Decreased Re-use Duration (1 Turn; +1 1/2) (50 Active Points); OAF (Material Components; -1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll, -1 per 20 Active Points modifier; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4)

 

With 2d6, you can define one die represents BODY and one die represents STUN(or you can just split the points down the center).  The BODY die will heal 1-3 Body after halving and the STUN Die will heal 1-6 Stun after halving.  To use the spell, you will be -2 to your magic roll.  The spell costs 5 end.   You can use this spell on any given target about once per turn.  Healing is kind of funky in that once applied you need to roll higher to gain additional benefit before it resets.  The reset is the reuse duration which in the above spell is 1 turn.

 

This is fine, but I tend to want a little more oomph for ~15 points.  Here's what I would do and how it works.

 

13 Healing BODY/STUN 7d6 (70 Active Points); OAF (Material Components; -1), 4 Charges (-1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll, -1 per 20 Active Points modifier; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4)

 

This spell takes your full phase at 1/2 DCV and is slightly more difficult but with a bigger payoff.  Again, we are splitting the healing between BODY and STUN evenly.  This costs 7 end instead of 5 and is -3 to your magic roll.  It can typically only be used effectively once per day per target (unless you roll bad, healing is funky that way - ask, if you want it explained) and even then you only have enough material components per day to do it 4 times.  However, it has over 3 times the effective power of the previous spell.  I find that one bigger heal per combat is more effective than many smaller heals over multiple turns.  But this is my own opinion.  Other people tend to have different feelings towards this.

 

I'm pretty exhausted today.  If you want I can do the same breakdown for the defensive spell tomorrow.  Please note that defensive stats are halved when adjusted by adjustment powers like aid.  So 2d6 will average 7 points, halved to 3.5 which will not give a bonus to DCV. 

[MrWigggles]

Well, the goal of the healing spell, is to do combat healing. I must be blind, because I looked for a healing and wasnt find it. 8/ And also, healing spells are very expensive. 

[Lucius]

On ‎12‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 4:29 AM, MrWigggles said:

 

And the other GM notes on CG:

Characteristics

PD and ED: Cannot be purchase - gear / magic only

 

Skills: No Skill CAP directly, your maxima will cap at 13-

CSL: Not restricted but CV's are capped 7 from all sources

DC: Max is 8 from all sources/maneuvers

AP: 40

 

Magic: 

Must have the magic skill to learn/use spells

3cp for base INT roll 2cp +1 This can be the one 16- skill

Requires Roll limiation - 1/4 less limitation

---Must have the 0 Limitation "only make one" for activation roll

---Must have the 1/2 less limitation "-1 10 AP" modifers

Must use END (1 per 10 AP) - cannot AVD it off.

Must either use "Gestures" or "Incatations" modifers

Must use side effects modifers - see table

 

Powers:

No Stop Sign or Exclmation powers, AP max at 40

Powers are subject to GM approval

Powers are only gained by Rippertech or Magic

Ripper tech must have -1 worth of limtations

 

So the above are the rules we have to work with.

 

The more I look at it, the more I think it's just a complicated way of saying "Don't bother using magic, try 'rippertech.'"

 

But I will take a stab at a couple worthwhile spells.

 

Tell me your True Name!:  (Total: 22 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) +1 with All Attacks, Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Usable Nearby (+3/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used (22 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Conditional Power Only usable in direct opposition to current enemy (-1/4), 1 Recoverable Continuing Charge lasting 5 Minutes (-1/4), Side Effects (-1/4) (Real Cost: 5)

The mage expends 6 END and makes a Skill roll at -2, and utters a verbal demand backed by a powerful psychic emanation to compel enemies to reveal their True Names. If successful, all foes within 8 meters are compelled to reveal, not their complete True Names, but enough of their own Names to be disadvantaged; the mage and allies have a Combat Skill Level usable for this combat to add to OCV or DCV at will. If the Skill roll fails, the foes are aware of what was attempted and will be furious, fighting with +1 OCV for the rest of the encounter. This spell is so psychically stressful to cast that it may only be attempted once per a given combat or encounter.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Bob! cries the palindromedary

 

 

 

[Lucius]

 

 

Here's a couple appropriate spells

 

Redirect to Flatland:  (Total: 20 Active Cost, 7 Real Cost) Deflection (20 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Side Effects (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Limited Range (50 m.; -1/4), Only Works Against Attacks lacking Indirect (-1/4) (Real Cost: 7)

By uttering certain arcane formula accompanied by appropriate gestures, Abbot may expend 2 END and make a Magic roll at -2 to be able to Block any attack against anyone within a 50 meter radius by translating that attack into a two dimensional realm (Flatland) in which it becomes a hurtling point. Once cast, the spell allows Abbot to continue to block attacks until missing a Block roll. Failing the Skill roll may mean that Abbott or perhaps whoever he was trying to protect is temporarily translated into Flatland, or an inhabitant of Flatland gains a third dimension and temporarily appears in the game's world.

 

Round Trip to Flatland:  (Total: 25 Active Cost, 7 Real Cost) Teleportation 15m, Position Shift, Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4) (25 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Skill roll; Jammed; -1), Conditional Power Must follow reasonably flat surface (-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x4 END; Only In Certain Circumstances Uncommon; The less smooth the surface, the more END it costs; -1/2), no Noncombat movement (-1/4), Side Effects (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost: 7)

After making a magic roll at -2, Abbott may become a silhouette of sorts, a two dimensional figure on a wall or floor, and travel in this form to another location withint 15 meters before returning to the game world. This costs 2 END up to 8 END depending on how smooth and flat the surface is; along a grassy field might be 8 END but a normal indoor floor is 2. The distance is measured along the surface; if faced with a chasm 13 meters across but 30 meters deep, Abbott cannot cross with one casting; he would have to teleport down 15 meters, then again down, across, and then up twice, to get to the far side. If the Skill roll fails, Abbott comes out in the wrong place, perhaps back where he began, having gotten disoriented in Flatland.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says that first spell probably needs a bonus to Block built into it too.....

 

Redirect to Flatland:  (Total: 32 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) Deflection (20 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Side Effects (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Limited Range (50 m.; -1/4), Only Works Against Attacks lacking Indirect (-1/4) (Real Cost: 7) <b>plus</b> +6 with Block (12 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Side Effects (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) (Real Cost: 5)

 

That may seem a waste as the bonus brings you over the campaign limit for Combat Value, but each successive Block takes a -2 penalty so this is not as wasteful as it looks.

[MrWigggles]

Those are very clever, thank for the example, they're helping get a handle on the system. 

[dsatow]

One trick I like is the aid to recovery.  Its fairly subtle in use but would probably help a heroic level a lot more.  Its less offensive to the average GM, but it can help characters in many ways.  Just be sure to make the aid last 5 points per minute (-1 point per turn).