[5th Edition]Building an attacking tail

[Tywyll]

So I'm converting some characters from another game (TFT) and one of them has a tail that they can use to attack targets behind them, even while attacking targets in front of them (at a penalty).

 

Clearly this is extra limbs. How would I handle the rear attack? Should I just fluff it as two weapon fighting? I don't want to buy it as extra speed, tail only or anything weird like that. 

[Doc Democracy]

Well, you could purchase a second attack which, within the rules could be used in a multiple attack.  That carries some penalties of its own.  You could buy autofire on your STR with the limitation on, only once per arm/tail.  That would also give you what you are looking for.

 

I am sure there will be others ready to provide other solutions.

[Tywyll]

25 minutes ago, Doc Democracy said:

Well, you could purchase a second attack which, within the rules could be used in a multiple attack.  That carries some penalties of its own.  You could buy autofire on your STR with the limitation on, only once per arm/tail.  That would also give you what you are looking for.

 

I am sure there will be others ready to provide other solutions.

 

So if I wrote it as, say, +2d6HA, Only to targets in rear hexes, etc, etc they could then Multiattack that with their primary HKA in the front?

 

I've never understood multiple attacks to be honest, we've never really used them. 

 

What penalties would doing that impose on the character? Would attacking behind them suffer any penalties?

[Ninja-Bear]

Have you looked into Area effect? One Hex and Selective.

[Duke Bushido]

If you are not doing Multiple Attacks, then you don't need to build it at all.  The tail is simply a second special effect for striking someone.  Unless you specifically want the tail to do something that an arm or a leg can't, then there's absolutely no reason to build it.

[Ninja-Bear]

Tywyll if you just want to be able to attack from the rear with a Tail then to me just having extra limb would cover this.  If you wanted to be more point picky then I’d just use alter origin point for powers. My AoE idea was so you could hit some one behind you while hitting someone in front of you. You are still limited to one hit per person.

[Tywyll]

I want it to be able to hit someone behind while attacking someone in the front. I guess that's multiple attack? How does that work and what penalties would the rear attack suffer? In the source material it is like two weapon fighting, penalty wise.

[Duke Bushido]

Yes; that's multiple attack. 

 

Though honestly, that naked AOE on STR would have fewer penalties and still be a reasonably clean build. 

[LoneWolf]

Direct conversions from another game system are usually going to a problem.  Usually the problem is that that the two game systems handle things completely differently.  For example in Hero system a segment is a single second, in many other systems a round is a lot longer.  So let’s say I am trying to convert something from Pathfinder.  My character in Pathfinder is a monk that gets a lot of attacks.  I create a Hero system character that uses martial arts and has a high SPD.  I look at the Monk from Pathfinder and want to get multiple attacks.  I want my Hero system character to do the same thing so my first instinct is to purchase some ability to get multiple attacks.  In reality my character already has this ability and I am actually giving him something he did not have in the other system.

 

I would probably simply purchase extra limb and leave it at that.  If the tail does more damage than his STR or has extra capabilities of some sort than you should buy it as a power.  But if all it does is allow him to use his STR to damage you don’t need to purchase anything else.  If you want to attack with the tail while using another attack, use the rules for multiple attacks.  This situation is pretty much what they were designed for.

 

All the suggestions for how to purchase it while being completely legal are probably not necessary.  The AOE on STR for example works quite well, but is not really what you described in the original post. 

[Lucius]

Tail:  (Total: 5 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action to reset; Trigger condition: Someone behind you; +1/2) (5 Active Points) applied to STR (Real Cost: 5)

 

Note, the actual cost depends on what your STR is.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

No one is behind the palindromedary. Ever.

 

[Tywyll]

1 hour ago, Lucius said:

Tail:  (Total: 5 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action to reset; Trigger condition: Someone behind you; +1/2) (5 Active Points) applied to STR (Real Cost: 5)

 

Note, the actual cost depends on what your STR is.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

No one is behind the palindromedary. Ever.

 

That sounds good. Would there be penalties to that attack since the target is behind you?

[Lucius]

9 hours ago, Tywyll said:

That sounds good. Would there be penalties to that attack since the target is behind you?

 

That's up to whoever is running the game, but I wouldn't think so. This is a power specifically designed to work on someone behind you

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And thus useless to a palindromedary