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Hacking Field & Powerful Radar


Daisuke

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Hello, I just have a question on how to create the powers Hacking Field & Powerful Radar. I'm trying to make a character I saw in an anime who is built for electrical warfare. The Hacking Field ability is to allow the character to hack any computer system, Androids and humans, blocking or unblocking memories and abilities. Powerful Radar is supposed to give the character a wide scale to detect any electrical devises and more like blueprint layout of a building and analyzing the components in the air to detect certain types of gases. I'm still new to Hero 6th Edition so building certain powers is a bit difficult. So I wanted to reach out for help.

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Welcome to Hero! We hope you enjoy it.

 

I am not familiar with the anime you describe (or any anime, really), so my suggestions are based on your brief descriptions. Hopefully someone here on the boards knows the anime and can comment more authoritatively. ;)

 

For the Hacking Field, I suggest checking out the Cyberkinesis rules in The Advanced Player's Guide for powers that work against devices. For affecting humans you may need to buy other abilities, such as a Major Transform to alter or remove memories. In cases where you want to use the same power against both devices and humans (such as Mind Control), you can probably just buy it once (to work against humans) and then also buy the Multiple Classes Adder to add the Machine class of minds to the ability (thus creating a form of Cyberkinesis).

 

For the Powerful Radar, to start with you probably need either Spatial Awareness, or Radar that's Fully Penetrative (so that you can "see through" walls to get a "blueprint" of a building). To that you may need to add several different kinds of Detects:  Detect Electrical Devices, Detect Air Composition, and for some GMs maybe even "Detect Blueprint Of Building" (if the GM thinks a "blueprint" is too much info to provide from Spatial Awareness/Radar alone).

 

Anyone else out there have any ideas? :)

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One of the key principles that you need to be aware of is that the design of the campaign really influences the playability of it.  If the GM has put some effort into thinking about things then you should find building characters like this easier.

 

When you say you want the power to "allow the character to hack any computer system, Androids and humans, blocking or unblocking memories and abilities" there are a few flags that rise in my GM brain. 

 

One is the use of "any".  That means that the character will have to have all the powers necessary to affect anything that might be thought to have memories or abilities.  There are ways to do it but it can get costly and it can get complicated OR the campaign will have to have a single mechanism for anything that might be thought to have memories or abilities so that the character can hack those things with a single power (then it just needs to be strong enough).

 

Another thing is the talk of hacking humans.  I am not sure what that might mean in game.

 

Another is the talk of blocking or unblocking memories and abilities.  What do you mean by that?  There are numerous ways such things might be done and did you intend to be able to utilise (or make the owner utilise) those powers on your behalf??

 

The "radar" is another flag.  You say electrical devices.  Does that mean anything where electricity flows along wires?  Steve's suggestion covers a lot of that but HERO works best when you have (or develop) a detailed idea of what you mean (and what you don't mean).  Then the power of the system can be applied to deliver that in-game.  

 

If you can come back with a definite idea of what the power is and some examples of how you would see it working in a game.

 

I often find that me and a player agree 100% on a build until they try to use in particular ways in a game that the build does not allow.  That means we did not communicate well enough, we need to go back and think again what the player actually wanted.  It is often best not to think in terms of the HERO system but in terms of what you want to do in the game.  THEN you go to the system to design that, and where everyone here will proffer numerous suggestions on how to do that.

 

Doc

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While I'm not entirely certain what it is that you are looking for, the first thing that jumps to mind when you mention hacking people and cyborgs and what not is simply using the higher Target Presence Attacks. As always with these, the character gets some manner of resistance, but typically will obey a command as long as it is not too far outside the bounds of what it's "Normally" okay with. Even that vanishes at higher hits. Granted this is not "Hacking" but if I am understanding what you are intending, that is the closest that springs to mind.

 

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Disclaimer:  I still play 5th edition, so anything I say here might be just a little out of date.  6th edition has changed certain things, and I don't know off the top of my head if the costs have changed.

 

Let's take your description of "powerful radar".

 

Quote

Powerful Radar is supposed to give the character a wide scale to detect any electrical devises and more like blueprint layout of a building and analyzing the components in the air to detect certain types of gases. 

 

This sounds like a few different things, operating together.  First, you've got the ability to detect electrical devices.  That's easy.  Under the "Enhanced Senses" section, there's a power called Detect.  When you buy Detect, you define what it is that your sense helps you locate.  So you buy Detect: Electrical Devices, and there you go.

 

At its base level, Detect will allow you to sense electrical devices that are right on top of you.  You take a half phase to use your power, and if you're basically within touching range, you can sense if there are any electrical devices there.  Not very effective, but hell you only spent 3 points.  So you could basically sit there, concentrate, and you'd be able to tell if there are any electronics within arm's reach.  To upgrade this power, you need to spend more points.  For 2 more points, you can turn your Detect (which requires a half-phase to use) into a Sense.  Instead of having to actively look for electronics, you will automatically sense if they are there.  You no longer have to spend a half phase, now you just sense if electronics are present.  So now you've spent 5 points.

 

So far, so good.  But maybe you want to sense electronics that are farther away than arm's reach.  Now you buy Range on your Detect.  That's 5 more points.  Now it works more like eyesight (not exactly like it, we'll get to that later).  You can now sense electronics at a distance.

 

Now there are some extra things to consider.  I'm not sure exactly how your powers are supposed to work (I don't watch anime, and have no idea what character you are trying to duplicate), but it kinda sounds like one of the following may apply (you don't have to buy all of these, each can be purchased separately):

 

360 degree sense -- for 5 more points, your sense radiates out from you in all directions (like hearing) instead of in a limited field (like vision)

Targeting -- for 10 more points, you can sense electronics with enough precision to shoot at them at a distance, even if your other senses aren't working

Discriminatory -- for 5 more points, you can discriminate between types of electronics.  You can tell the difference between a cell phone and a TV

Analyze -- (must have Discriminatory first) for 5 more points, you can determine super levels of detail about the different electronics

N-Ray -- for another 10 points, you can detect electronics through walls

 

 

To me, it sounds like your power would probably have all of those.  Detect: Electronics (3 pts), Sense (2 pts), Range (5 pts), 360 degrees (5 pts), Targeting (10 pts), Discriminatory and Analyze (10 pts), N-Ray (10 pts).  That's 45 points, which is a lot for an enhanced sense.  But it allows you to sense all electronic devices within normal human visual range (to boost the range, you buy levels of Telescopic Sense), in all directions, you can distinguish what they are and how they work, you can see them through walls, and you know where they are with enough precision that you can shoot robots blindfolded.  Now there are some ways to save points, but I need a better idea of exactly what the power looks like before I can apply those.

 

--

 

That's the first part of the power that you've described.  Getting a blueprint layout of nearby buildings is going to require sensing things other than electronics.  After all, you don't detect concrete, or chairs, or bathrooms.  You only detect electronics.  Your character would probably be able to see all the electrical wiring in a building, but you wouldn't know where ordinary doors were.  I would suggest adding the power Spatial Awareness (22 points) to allow you to sense physical objects that are nearby.  Or just the regular Radar power (15 points), which operates like normal radar.

 

Finally, you've got analyzing the components of the air?  I don't understand how that is related to a radar sense, or sensing electronics, but I haven't seen the anime so I don't know.  This will probably have to be an entirely separate power.  So we're back to buying another Detect.  Let's go with Detect: Air, with the Ranged, Discriminatory, and Analyze additions.  Now this takes a half phase action for you to take a look at the air and figure out if there are any weird gases or anything in it.  It'll tell you the precise makeup of whatever air you're currently sensing.  So that's 18 more points.

 

--

 

So total, you're spending 45 points for the Detect: Electronics, another 15 for basic Radar sense, and 18 for Detect: Air.  That's 78 points, which is a huuuuge amount to spend on Enhanced Senses.  Again, there are some pretty easy ways to bring those costs down.  You can get some of those add-ons for free, depending on how you set it up.  But I don't have enough info to do that at the moment.  And it may be that whatever cool thing the guy did in the anime, might be simulated far more inexpensively.  The "brute force" method of Hero character creation often leads to really expensive character builds, because somebody over-engineers the thing.  The effect that you are imagining might be done a whole lot cheaper.   We just need more info.

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Thank You, Everyone, who responded. And you didn't pull me away Doc. Sorry for not responding sooner guys, I realized that the power I was trying to build for my character wasn't explained properly and I probably described it in a way where it's too overpowered and misunderstood, because it's not like controlling them or possessing them, it's more like tampering with certain brainwave and motor functions. So I've decided to rewatch the anime and respond back to your replies. I'm already over half of the show now. 

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8 hours ago, Christopher Derosla said:

Thank You, Everyone, who responded. And you didn't pull me away Doc. Sorry for not responding sooner guys, I realized that the power I was trying to build for my character wasn't explained properly and I probably described it in a way where it's too overpowered and misunderstood, because it's not like controlling them or possessing them, it's more like tampering with certain brainwave and motor functions. So I've decided to rewatch the anime and respond back to your replies. I'm already over half of the show now. 

A lot of us watch anime.  If you denote the character and show, it would probably help generate a better response.

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This manga, correct?  Please note for people thinking of looking at the manga, ecchi is usually something rated between a PG13 (panty shots) to NC17 (tentacles ... err you get the idea).

 

http://www.mangahere.cc/manga/sora_no_otoshimono/

 

Addendum: Having read about 18 chapters of the manga, the manga itself is at the level of a PG13/R rating mostly for the Fast Times at Ridgemont High antics of the main character.

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I've finished reading the first 18 chapters of the manga.  So far, I don't see anything I disagree with or really can add to the others suggestions.  Detects, telepathy, mind control, Cyberkinesis should all fit the bill.  The only thing I can add is a bit of advice into making this a playable character.

 

I'll use Dragonball Z as an example as I have not seen the anime you mentioned.  A lot of players would love to play Goku or Vegeta, and really who can blame them.  The fight scenes are usually quite spectacular.  But in creating the character, you also need to adjust the power level into the campaign and understand that the game is designed to not generally have absolutes.  In other words, even though Goku can blow off the top off a mountain with his Kamehameha blast, the campaign might limit it to a 12d6 EB and if you use that blast, it might not be as spectacular as it is in the anime (you might blast someone and he goes no where (no knockback) or maybe flies 2m back in a anime where just about everyone flies back 10m or more).  The game will however give the same sense of excitement as the battle rages back and forth.  Now I am not saying that a campaign can't exist at a power level where you can make craters in the Earth the size of Disneyland parking lots, its just that they are probably very rare and very hard to find.  

 

Most villains who will engage with you will have an even chance of winning against you mainly because the GM will create characters about the same power level as you, using the same general restrictions as you.  While your Goku might not be able to make a spirit bomb the size of a moon, your GM's Freeza will not be able to take out a planet either.  But the battle and the maneuvers in the fight will be very similar or at least have a similar feel except that instead of just a one on one, the other members of the campaign will probably help in the fight which will hopefully lead to your victory.

 

So, when making the Phoenix, though the comics say she can hear and see the molecules bouncing around the universe, the character doesn't need to be able to do that but she does need to have a powerful TK and Telepathy/Mental Blast within the relative limits of the game.

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