Simon

It's in the Powers list (in all built-in templates) between Telekinesis and Teleportation...

None of those actions will have any impact on the issue. Neither HD nor Java are filtering the drives that are shown - it’s purely a permissions issue

side note: was highly amused that one of the concerns was with people that may argue the mask mandate in the building. My response: we're blacksmiths. We have 2000 degree steel and hammers, there is no argument. Also, if they try to say that they have a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask, they definitely should not be in a forge with coal smoke.

Was glad to see that come through -- on a local level, I _just_ managed to get the historic society to say that we're going to require masks at the forge and museum starting tomorrow, so this was good timing.

You can, certainly. You likely installed it for the current user only when putting it on your system, which is fine, it just means that it will go into the Library folder on beneath your user directory. Uninstalling and reinstalling should prompt you to grant permissions to Java when you first run it, so you can give it full drive access that way.

The first image just confirms that HD doesn't have permissions to view your icloud drive (through java). The second image is more worrying -- you'll need to determine where you've installed java in your system so that you can manually add it into the full disk access permissions. It's likely already present under the files and folders section, but you don't get too much insight from that. Look under the Library directory in your user folder to start...

When you start talking about the filesystem (especially networked drives), it's getting into that marvelous gray area between Java and the native OS. There's nothing in HD's code that would limit or filter the drives that you can see (at all)...but you'll likely want to look at the permissions that you're giving to Java within MacOS. I don't like recommending it, but I haven't found a better way on my own systems than giving Java full disk access. Go to Settings -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy tab

In a word: no. You're essentially talking about a Differing Modifiers setup. Per the rules on Differing Modifiers: continuing from the RAW:

Yes...and if you haven't been able to reproduce the issue, it was likely due to an error in HD (my money would be on out of memory -- strange things start happening when that occurs). No way to tell without the trace.log file, which I'm assuming has been overwritten at this point...and likely nothing to be done within HD since it would be reproducible if it were a code issue.

I have no idea what you're saying here.

Are you looking to spend END every Phase that the Power has been activated (regardless of use)? So go through the activation routine (whatever that entails -- Incantations, Gestures, Extra Time, Activation Roll, etc.)...and then spend END regardless of whether you actually use the ability or not. Don't spend END? The ability goes down and you need to go through all of the activation routine again. If that's what you're after, that is new...or something that I've missed...and fundamentally changes the conversation (the importance of being clear in what you're after). We can get into how to best approach this concept once you confirm that it's what you're after. If you're not after the above but looking for something that you can activate (go through all the steps needed) and then just sit on until you need it (or some time limit elapses) then all of the above answers apply -- you're not looking to change or alter the duration of the Power in any way, shape, or form -- you're only changing the behavior of the Limitations on the Power.

What you've described is wanting to have an Instant Power (e.g. Blast) with setup/activation Limitation that do not apply every time the ability is used -- the ability can be setup and "readied" (going through the appropriate steps dictated by the various Limitations) and then used at will for some time thereafter. That is NOT a Constant Power...and has nothing to do with a Constant Power. It's an Instant Power with a variation of the setup/activation Modifiers. There are very well-established rules for setup/activation Modifiers on Constant Powers -- variations that allow them to only apply to the initial activation, or to have them apply throughout the Power's use. That's not what you're after, from the sound of things...since you're not dealing with Constant Powers and don't want to change the Instant Powers to Constant Powers (since that brings along a LOT of additional rules....some of which you've stated you do not want to have). So stop thinking about changing the Power's duration -- you're not looking to do that.

The problem that OP is running into is mainly one of definition. Fundamentally, he's looking to have various setup/activation Limitations on an ability...but not have them be quite as Limiting as they are by default (e.g. they're not required every time the ability is used). As has been stated in multiple ways by multiple people in this thread, there are a number of perfectly rules-legal ways to approach this idea....what you do NOT need to do is start creating your own rules. You also do not need to alter the duration of the ability in question, since that is explicitly not what you're after for an effect. Easiest (IMO): based on how often the character needs to go through the setup/activation process for the ability, reduce the net Limitation for all of the activation process (e.g. Incantations, Gestures, Extra Time, etc.) based on how much the character is limited. Use Conditional Power or Limited Power instead of the individual setup limitations. The value for the Limited Power Limitation may be -0...or could be up to -1/2 or -1, depending on how Limiting it is to the character. If it's something that the character needs to do when they wake up in the morning and then the ability/abilities are ready for the day, then it's likely just flavor and worth -0. If it's something that the character needs to do within 5 minutes of using the ability and is time-prohibitive to perform in active combat, then you could be looking at up to a -1 depending on GM input. Invoking some slightly tweaked rules from the supplements, you get another perfectly viable option: Time Limit. As with Differing Modifiers, OP is not understanding the intent of the Modifier here....in particular the implication of applying Time Limit on an Instant Power. This has been established by Steve and is intended for precisely what has been described. My main hesitation with using this approach is that it increases the Active Cost of the ability without actually providing any Advantage to the ability itself (again, we're not looking to Advantage the ability, we're looking to lessen the Limitation(s)). Others have proposed equally valid ways to approach it -- pick whatever works best for your taste/flavor....just try to avoid creating or altering core rules when there's no need to do so (and apparent lack of understanding/misunderstanding of the rules being modified).

It's the number of increments to advance in each iteration of a loop. You'd use it along with START (and potentially STOP) to, say, have all even numbered items out of a given array printed out in one column and all odd numbered items in a second column.

There's a lot of additional baggage that goes along with changing the Duration of an ability -- I wouldn't recommend creating your own rules unless you're up to speed on all of those.

This is not so much a Rules Question as it is a How-To, so I'm moving it to the discussion forum. To provide at least a partial response: 1. Differing Modifiers are NOT intended for that. They are intended for a Power that you can grant to others where the granting of the Power comes with different Modifiers that the Power itself has (for the user of said Power). 2. If you're looking to take Incantations, Extra Time, Gestures, etc. and have them required for each use of the Power but not as the Power is used (e.g. power up your fist with cosmic energy, some time passes, you decide to use said cosmic energy in a punch....and now have to power it up again before you can punch someone else) then I would recommend reducing the appropriate Limitation value based on the relative effectiveness of being able to prepare that first use in advance (extra time for a Full Turn? that's going to go down pretty significantly in value. Incantations? Likely not going to change in value much at all). Or just agree with the GM that you can prepare an ability in advance for that first use and leave the Limitations alone. 3. If you're looking to take Incantations, Extra Time, Gestures, etc. and have them required once only in order to "power up" rather than on each use of the Power, then you're changing the way those Limitations work -- they're no longer operating in accordance with the RAW and are likely best represented by a Limited Power Limitation (with value set on how much it's actually going to limit you, which is likely not very much at all). For example, having to perform Gestures and Incantations at some point prior to going into battle with your Power Glove doesn't really limit you all that much -- you're best off using them as just part of the SFX of the ability (take a -0 Limitation if you need to spell it out on paper) and taking any additional Limitations as appropriate (e.g. Focus).

Here's an example of how it's intended to be used...though HD is not a replacement for knowledge of the rules. The Gift of Flight: (Total: 36 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) Flight 20m; Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2) (Real Cost: 13) plus Usable By Other (+1/4); OAF (Magic Wand; -1), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) for up to 13 Points of Flight (Real Cost: -8) differingmods.hdc

You'd typically want to include the base Power with the Differing Modifiers build...it was part of the reason for the inclusion of Compound Powers. The alternative would be to have the user write in the full base Power to the "Applies to" text field, which is unwieldy and was generally thought to be a bad idea...hence the approach taken.

I'll also point out that Differing Modifiers does take into account the 1 point minimum cost rule -- the net cost of the base Power plus Differing Modifiers will never drop below 1 point, no matter how many Limitations you place on Differing Modifiers. So Differing Modifiers with -20 in Limitations applied to a 13 point Power will show as -12 points. Net cost to the character? 1 point.

6E1 page 359. Before you ask, no, he didn't apply UOO to his build. While that is the primary intention of Differing Modifiers, Steve didn't want them to be locked into that...so they're not.

For distinguishing between fixed and variable slots, you can combine the already mentioned IS_MP with some clever use of ATTRIBUTE_VALUE and the isUltra() method (part of com.hero.objects.GenericObject) -- that will return true/false (as a string)....if true, you're dealing with a fixed slot. If false, you're dealing with a variable slot.

He's not building a Naked Advantage, he's building a Differing Modifier. Per the rules, Differing Modifiers are applied to the Real Cost (the cost after all Adders, Advantages, and Limitations on the base Power are applied) and represent the difference in cost (hence the name, presumably). They are not factored into the original Power cost calculation (Advantages adding into the Active Cost calculation before Limitations are added into the Real Cost calculation) -- again, by the rules.

You’re building Differing Modifiers - have you read the rules regarding how those work? 9/(1+2.25) = 9/3.25 = 2.76 = 3 points That’s the cost of the Power with the Limitations added. Guess what the difference is between 3 points and the 9 point Power you specified? -6 points - exactly what HD shows. The only difference between this and the example used in the Differing Modifiers portion of the rulebook is that you need to have already purchased the 9 point Power that you're applying Differing Modifiers to (i.e. used HD to get the Real Cost of the ability that Differing Modifiers are applying to). The 5 points listed in the rulebook for the example Power is the net cost between a 13 point Power purchased along with Differing Modifiers (UOO and -2 in Limitations) costing -8 points. To take a more practical example, take a 1/2d6 Blast (3 points base cost) and apply -20 in Limitations. The real cost? 1 point. Again, HD is performing all math in accordance with the Hero System rules.

No, it does not…no matter how many Limitations you care to pile on. “HD math” is HERO System math - it follows all the rules of the system.

That is correct according to the rules of the system (6E1 page 133).