Developing a Cartoon Hero

[Hopping Vampire]

So I'm working on a character right now just referred to as the hopping vampire. He is a cartoon character created by another super known as The Animator. Suffering a heart attack 95 years old, The Animator's powers exploded outward, and he was reincarnated as The Animated and then pretty much buggered off from there.

 

The Hopping Vampire in the world was a cartoon that its first season or two was mostly just gag episodes. Generally it revolved around Hop going around and defeating the forces of evil, usually with comical results. It ends up featuring a number of villains that Hop manages to easily defeat through trickery and the resist almost any attack through cartoon shenanigans. Then it had some of that cerebus syndrom when they introduced a villain known as the Inquisitor,  who actually has some of the ability to deal real damage to Hop in the cartoon. 

When the Animator, who created the show, died, The cast of Hopping vampire was released into the world, along with other cartoons. While most kinda just went and made their own world, others became heroes and villains. 

So here are my questions with the system here, how do I go about making the character's mechanics?

Generally speaking, the character with the rest of the group would adopt a more 'non-violence' approach to problem solving. He'll throw pies, use seltzer water, or a number of other classic gags that you see the likes with Bugs Bunny or Rodger Rabbit. If he ever ends up getting caught or in a situation he can't run away, he uses a mochi mallet to beat his foes. (Kinda like into the spiderverse's spiderham)

 

One thing I'm kinda wanting to do is the whole cartoon bit where character can come apart as well. Like if a villain uses a slashing weapon, it cuts off Hopp's head, and he has to spend some time being cut apart like that. 

 

[Oruncrest]

Throwing Pies would be Flash.

Seltzer Water would be Flash again, but this time with double knockback (+3/4 to base cost).

The Banana gag would of course be Change Environment with Luck & Unluck changing the odds.

The Mochi Mallet would be a straight Blast that does no BODY to living beings (-0).

Finally, the 'Off With His Head' routine is LOTS of Resistant Defense with the Limitation Susceptibility: Change Environment (Stunned for as many phases as the attack had D6 plus 1 (Hop can recover if an ally assists him for a phase).

 

Hope that helps

[Doc Democracy]

With HERO it is all about the game effect that you want to achieve.  If you throw a pie at an opponent, what do you want to happen?  Ignore the special effect at first and focus on the game effect you want to achieve.  

 

As Oruncrest said, an obvious game effect from throwing a pie might be rendering someone unable to see for a short time (we use Flash to achieve that).  You might want other stuff, like it enrages the target or embarrasses him or something else.

 

The coming apart routine is a complication (if you are not really trying to simulate being chopped up and healing).  I would have a complication that indicates that when you are successfully attacked by a slashing weapon you suffer some kind of "separation" with resultant disabilities (head means you have a different perspective with regard to your body; arm means you have only one arm to use, etc) until you spend a phase with parts in the same hex...

 

Doc

[dsatow]

On 3/7/2019 at 2:28 AM, Doc Democracy said:

As Oruncrest said, an obvious game effect from throwing a pie might be rendering someone unable to see for a short time (we use Flash to achieve that).  You might want other stuff, like it enrages the target or embarrasses him or something else.

 

I had a villain with a cream pie power like that.  A standard drain on Presence.  It did not flash, it instead made you look so stupid you had a hard time doing presence attacks.

[Hopping Vampire]

Yeah we went with a flash attack for pies, and currently a blast attack for the mallet. 

Character has a 50% damage reduction for Normal and Energy Damage, plus a 15 resist on both at the moment. Then full life support for everything including dismemberment. In a sense, I've become the secondary tank for the team, though my damage output is pretty weak and likely will stay such. Instead I'm going to focus more on status effects on enemies. 

 

[Christopher]

On 3/6/2019 at 8:18 PM, Hopping Vampire said:

One thing I'm kinda wanting to do is the whole cartoon bit where character can come apart as well. Like if a villain uses a slashing weapon, it cuts off Hopp's head, and he has to spend some time being cut apart like that. 

Generally Superheroics tend towards the non-Lethal area. Between high Resistant Defenses and Code vs Killing, mostly normal damage will be used.

Killing Damage is usually reserved against Foci, Entangles and the odd enemy where killing is not a concern (most Toyman Robots, Parademons, generally non-sentient foes).

But that is only usually and your group might see it differently. Or this might not be superheroic.

 

There is one way to do this I have theorized: Buy high Defenses against Body but not quite so high against stun. Possibly take some limiation like "only vs BODY" on part of the defenses.

I developed that idea for Schlock from Schlock Mercenary. His body can be dispersed into pieces incapable of doing anything, but will then try to re-coalesce.

A waterhose. A Ethanol/low yield fusion explosion. Most grenades. A Elephant stepping into him. Explosive Ammo. Even some turreted weapons. They will maybe disperse his body, but not deal lasting damage. In game terms: They got him to 0 STUN, but did little to no body damage. The time to "pull himself back together was him recovering to positive STUN. The only minor issues is that he still technically has full senses while this happens, wich might cause some game balance issues.

Stuff like bullets will just pass through him, not even doing STUN damage.

But stuff like Antimater Grenades or vehicle/ship scale weapons can totally deal body damage (I asume they are build with Killing Damage, Armor Piercing or Penetrating - or just on Active Points beyond his defenses).

 

Indeed I would build Zombies a similar way. Most people would give them "Takes no STUN". But I would just give them high BODY defenses and have stuff like them "being thrown over" simulated via the Knockout Mechanic.

 

On 3/8/2019 at 4:52 PM, Hopping Vampire said:

Yeah we went with a flash attack for pies, and currently a blast attack for the mallet. 

Character has a 50% damage reduction for Normal and Energy Damage, plus a 15 resist on both at the moment. Then full life support for everything including dismemberment. In a sense, I've become the secondary tank for the team, though my damage output is pretty weak and likely will stay such. Instead I'm going to focus more on status effects on enemies. 

Most tanking in Hero (and PvP games) is done via Status Effects and involuntary movement.

I mean a Brick can punch the target for 12d6 normal damage. Or can hold the target in a 60 STR Grab, wich most targets will find more dangerous. Or can even just try to get into Grab range, forcing the enemy to move or focus on him.

 

I know of some game Systems that have a "Taunt" mechanic ported from MMO's. They do not actually force an attack on the Taunter. What those actually do is penalize attacks against other targets. "-2 OCV, does not apply when hitting user." or something to similar effect.

 

On 3/6/2019 at 8:18 PM, Hopping Vampire said:

Generally speaking, the character with the rest of the group would adopt a more 'non-violence' approach to problem solving. He'll throw pies, use seltzer water, or a number of other classic gags that you see the likes with Bugs Bunny or Rodger Rabbit. If he ever ends up getting caught or in a situation he can't run away, he uses a mochi mallet to beat his foes. (Kinda like into the spiderverse's spiderham)

There is one Power I think is underused a bit. A power I would put on any of my Superheroic archer Builds: Telekinesis.

Stuff like "nailing a enemy to the wall" or "tripping an enemy with a sudden arrow in the ground" can all be done on Range via TK.

 

One maneuver people always tend to forget is "Shove". A lot of people try to build a "move the target" power with a Blast that has lots of Extra Knockback (but not nessesarily damage). I would build it as Shove, applied on range via TK.