Simon

Err...no it doesn't. If you have a 24 DEX, you have a base SPD of 3.4. If you buy it up to 5, you have spent 16 points on your SPD. If you then increase your DEX (with experience, or whatever) to 25, you have a base SPD of 3.5. Your +2 SPD now costs you 15 points rather than 16. This is, of course, assuming you bought the +2 SPD as a Characteristic, not a Power. Actually, if you have a 15 DEX and 3 SPD and purchase +8 DEX, OIHID and +1 SPD, OIHID, you are left with: 23 DEX (total) 3.3 base SPD 4 SPD (total) The +1 SPD costs you 10 points because it is a Power (it has Modifiers on it). This is per Steve and according to the rules of the system. If you purchase the +8 DEX and tell HD to have it add into the secondary total, then you have (assuming the +1 SPD is also added into the secondary total): 15/23 DEX (total) 2.5/3.3 base SPD 2/4 SPD (total) Outside of werewolf form, the character has 15 DEX and 2 SPD (correct). In werewolf form, he has 23 DEX and 4 SPD (correct). There is no breakdown.

You seem to be under the impression that (a) this is difficult to work around in HD and ( that this is a new rule. Neither is the case.

You'll find that these boards are a fantastic resource for any questions that you run into. If you have any questions on Hero Designer, just let me know and I'll do what I can to help out

You have two options, that I can see: 1. Purchase the Aid outside of the EC and link it to each slot. 2. Purchase the Aid multiple times....adding it into each slot as a Compound Power. Each slot is then a new power which is a combination of the original power and an Aid. From what you describe, (2) is likely the best way to do things, though if you're talking about a large-scale Aid it may get pricey.

Yes and no. You can buy the negative Skill Levels and apply the Lims just fine. The only issue that you'll run into is if you place everything into a Compound Power -- HD will total the Active Costs of each component Power to come up with the total Active Cost. Because the negative Skill Levels have a negative Active Cost, the value that HD lists for the overall Active Cost of the ability will be less than the value listed in FREd. There's some ambiguity in FREd as to which method is correct....

More notes: As noted on page 333, OCV penalties are bought as 5-point "negative" Skill Levels on a Focus (OAF; -1). This changes the math you have posted above. -2 OCV (as in the example with the Derringer) is -10 Active and -5 Real Cost.

I've worked through most of them (in the process of checking over HD) and they all work out (or are noted as errors in the Errata). I'll use the .38 Special as an example, since it's simpler than the .38 Derringer in that it does not include negative skill levels: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6 + 1; STR Minimum 7 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -1), OAF (-1), 6 Charges (-3/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), Beam (-1/4) Active Cost: 20 Real Cost: 5 Just like FREd states. In working out the .38 Derringer, if memory serves, the Real Cost total will actually work out to a negative value, due to the OCV and RMod values. The minimum cost for anything, however, is 1 point, so the total Real Cost for the weapon is 1 point.

Just realized: don't build your Automaton with Absorption to a Defense....it's not worth it. First (assuming you've got a "true Automaton" with Takes No STUN), the cost of all Defense Powers is tripled. Then you halve the effect of your Absorption. So you'll only go up by 1 PD for every 6 BODY Absorbed....

Well whaddya know....never even noticed that one ;-) I'll just stick to handling the character creation software and leave the combat software to other folks

I am aware of no such rule. Absorption adds to Defenses just like any other Power. The only statement in FREd (to my knowledge) about Absorption and Defenses is "...but if the Absorption increases any defenses applicable to the attack, only the pre-Absorption amount of defenses protects him that Segment..." -- I followed this in the "example" above. Absorption adds in 1 Character Point for every BODY Absorbed. PD is 1 Character Point per +1, therefore it is a 1/1 with the BODY Absorbed.

OK...an example: I've got a guy with 10d6 Absorption versus Physical Damage. The Absorption goes to his PD. The character has a natural 20 PD (for the sake of argument). Combat begins. He's hit by a punch, taking 12d6 damage. The roll is average and he takes 42 STUN and 12 BODY. His Absorption give him +12 PD now. He takes 22 STUN from the attack. So far so good. Next time he's hit by the same attack, he takes only 10 STUN, and his PD goes up another 12 points. He's now at a respectable 44 PD. After only 2 hits. Third hit does the same damage. He no longer takes any STUN from the attack (he shrugs off the attack) and his PD is now at a whopping 56. This will continue until he maxes out his Absorption (+60 PD for a total of 80 PD). Not too shabby of a Power, if you ask me.

Yup.

The values posted above are all correct. Figured Characteristics, as the name implies, are "figured" from the primary characteristic values. For example (as noted above): PD = STR / 5 As your strength goes up, so does your PD. Your base PD. Primary characteristics have a fixed "base" value (10). Figured Characteristics have a varying base value, determined by the actual value of the Characteristics that they are based off of. Your PD's base value changes with your Strength. You can also buy up your Figured Characteristics beyond their base value, the same way you can buy up primary Characteristics beyond their base value. The only point at which Figured Characteristics really vary from the primary Characteristics (other than having a varying base value) is that you can only sell off one Figured Characteristic. You can't, for example, reduce both PD and ED to 2 in the example you gave above.

Looks legal to me, though it would depend on the Telepathy not being in the MP (or any other Power Framework). You cannot Link two different slots of a Power Framework (or two slots of different Power Frameworks). One of the drawbacks of a Power Framework. I also wouldn't give the "Must communicate verbally" a -1/2. The cases in which this actually limits you are pretty rare, and the limitation is not terribly "limiting"....I'd call it a -1/4 tops. Unless you also want this to mean that you can only get to conscious thoughts....it would be very difficult to "verbalize" some subconscious thoughts.... One comment on the "Mind Control should not give Telepathy-like abilities": while I applaud the sentiment of not allowing one Power to overlap on another, using Mind Control to tell someone to "tell me the truth about X" is not the same as Telepathy. Simple example: You roll your Mind Control and give your command. The target tells you about X. Is it the truth? You have no real way of knowing...it depends entirely on whether you made your roll -- something you don't know in this case. The target might just be "playing along" and lying through their teeth, having successfully resisted the attempt to control them. With Telepathy, you don't have this problem. You're not relying on them telling you the truth, you're reading directly into their thoughts.

I would say that it's not worth anything....it's not limiting the character in any way. How much are you using your senses when you're unconscious? About the only thing it does is open the character up to Drains and Suppresses (Flashes are already applicable). The chances of running into a Drain or Suppress for a given sense (instead of a Flash) are negligible....and the effect is the same as a Flash (pretty much), so the net disadvantage/limitation is nill. Call it a -0 Limitation or a 0-point Disad, if you want.....

HDv2 is now beginning its public test phase! Here's the deal: If you have a full (purchased) copy of HDv1, you can upgrade it to v2. The upgraded version will be fully functional. The only limitation will be that you must be online whenever you start it up so that it can check its version against the test server. Anytime I change the version, you will need to pull down the new update before you can start up again. Beyond that, it will be a fully functioning copy of v2. If you do not have a full copy of HDv1, you can still try things out with the new demo version that is up there. The demo version is a bit limited in its abilities: you cannot open files, save files, or export/print files. Everything else in the app is fully functional, however, so you will be able to see how the program works and what it can do. The main point in all of this is to get as many eyes on the software as possible for the next few months (before it goes on sale). If you're interested, the Hero Designer site (http://www.herodesigner.com) is now taking open registrations. Just head on over and click on the "Register" link. Enjoy!

HDv2 is now beginning its public test phase! Here's the deal: If you have a full (purchased) copy of HDv1, you can upgrade it to v2. The upgraded version will be fully functional. The only limitation will be that you must be online whenever you start it up so that it can check its version against the test server. Anytime I change the version, you will need to pull down the new update before you can start up again. Beyond that, it will be a fully functioning copy of v2. If you do not have a full copy of HDv1, you can still try things out with the new demo version that is up there. The demo version is a bit limited in its abilities: you cannot open files, save files, or export/print files. Everything else in the app is fully functional, however, so you will be able to see how the program works and what it can do. The main point in all of this is to get as many eyes on the software as possible for the next few months (before it goes on sale). If you're interested, the Hero Designer site (http://www.herodesigner.com) is now taking open registrations. Just head on over and click on the "Register" link. Enjoy!

What Sense Group did he define the Detect as belonging to? If it's the Unusual Group, then your job in blocking it will be harder, but he would have had to have purchased Range, Targeting Sense, etc. Since he bought "Sense", it sounds like this is they method he chose (since Sense is automatic when it's assigned to any Sense Group except for Unusual and Mental). If it's been assigned to one of the other Sense Groups (like the Sight Group), then you can always just do a Flash against that Sense Group (you can't buy a Flash against the Unusual Group). If it's been assigned to the Unusual Group or "no Sense Group", then you'll need to work on something else....like have someone with a high degree of Stealth sneak up on him. Even if he is _able_ to perceive someone, he still needs to make a PER Roll.

Try checking out Hero Central (http://www.herocentral.net)....you'll find a number of games running (many of them Champions). I believe that there are several that are currently looking for players...or you can start a new one up. You also may want to try the Player Finder section of the forums.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Character for review - Shiori HD's value for the SPD is correct. You do not get points back for "partial SPD". Per Steve. If you have a 15 DEX (giving you a 2.5 base SPD), and you sell your SPD to 1, you get 10 points back. The .5 only exists for the purposes of discounting the first upwards increment of SPD.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Character for review - Shiori (edited because I'm a dope) He's got the Powers adding into the primary values. +3 SPD as a Power should give him a total of 5. He has a total of 3, however, so he sold off 2 SPD on the characteristics tab (leaving him an overall total of 3). +20 PRE as a Power should give him a total of 30. He has a total of 26, however, so he sold off 4 PRE on the characteristics tab (leaving him an overall total of 26).

The reason (or at least part of it) for all of the complexity is that the reduction in cost from an EC is taken from the Active Cost of a slot (before Limitations are applied). When you're dealing with a Compound Power, where the Limitations and Active Costs of each part vary, you need to "balance" things in such a way that the overall reduction in cost is inline with what the EC should provide and each individual part of the Compound Power is reduced in proportion to its Active Cost. Because this reduction in cost is based on the Active Cost (not the Real Cost) of each part and is performed before Limitations are applied (just like with any other slot), things become a bit complicated. Toss onto that the basic rule that you cannot reduce a slot to an Active Cost which is less than the Active Cost of the EC itself, and you get even more complexity. Trust me, it was a royal pain in the arse to code in ;-)

To simply verbalize the rules on this (which I should have done originally): Definitions: CP The Compound Power that we're dealing with part An individual component of the CP Effect Active Cost The Active Cost of the part after it is adjusted by subtracting the EC discount For each part of the CP, you need to calculate the percentage of the overall discount from the EC to apply. This percentage is determined by the ratio of the part's Active Points to the overall Active Points of the CP. For example: EC value/"discount": 20 Total AP of the CP: 40 AP for a given part: 15 15/40 = 3/8 3/8 * 20 = 7.5 = discount for this part. 15 - 7.5 = 7.5 = effective active cost for this part If the "discount" for a given part is greater than one half of the Active Cost of that part, then you adjust the effective active cost to be equal to the discount. In other words, the following must always hold true: effective active cost >= discount*2 Once you have determined the effective active cost for each part of the CP, you apply the limitations to each part's effective active cost (rounding rules apply here). This gives you the real cost for each part. Add together the real costs of each part, and you will get the total real cost for the CP.

It's close...but not quite there. Each power in a compound power is reduced proportionally to its active points. In your example, you have 20 points of total reduction to deal with from the EC. You have 40 total Active Points of Powers in your compound power (or partially limited power -- same thing). So far, so good. Power 1 has 15 AP. 15/40 = 3/8. (3/8)*20 = 7.5 AP (effective) Power 2 has 10 AP. 10/40 = 1/4. (1/4)*20 = 5 AP (effective) Power 3 has 10 AP. 10/40 = 1/4. (1/4)*20 = 5 AP (effective) Power 4 has 5 AP. 5/40 = 1/8. (1/8)*20 = 2.5 AP (effective) Now we apply Limitations: Power 1 = 7.5 AP = 7.5 RC Power 2 = 5 AP / (1+.5) = 5/1.5 = 3.3 RC Power 3 = 5 AP / (1+1) = 5/2 = 2.5 RC Power 4 = 2 AP / (1+1.5) = 2.5/2.5 = 1 RC Add these up, and your total Real Cost for the slot is 14 points. Note that this entire process is considered one "calculation", so rounding only occurs at the end. The 'effective active" is not a calculation in itself, as you're not calculating the active points, you're just doing the first part of the single calculation to determine the portion of the discount that the ability will get from the EC.

Neither wrong nor a house rule, though I suspect we may be saying the same thing here. I'll go into some detail below to hopefully clear up any confusion..... If you place the Charges Limitation on the MP as a whole (reducing the cost of the MP itself), the the sum total of the charges for the MP (all slots combined) is the number of Charges that you have selected. Each slot gains the benefit of 0-END from the Charges, but the cost of the slot is unaffected by the Charges Limitation. If you place the Charges Limitation on an individual slot within the MP (not reducing the cost of the MP itself), the that one slot has the number of Charges specified. The cost of the slot is altered, but the cost of the MP is not affected at all. For example: If you have a blaster rifle with four different settings and the rifle only has enough charge for four shots, regardless of type, then you would place the Charges Limitation on the MP for the blaster. The cost of the MP would be reduced. The cost of the individual slots would not be affected, though they would get the benefit of the 0-END from the Charges. You could fire off four rounds of a single type, one of each type, or any combination therein, so long as the total shots fired did not exceed four. If, however, you have a bow and arrow with several different types of arrows, then the MP for the bow would not get the Charges Limitation....the Charges Limitation would be placed on each slot, representing the number of each type of arrow that you had. The cost of the MP as a whole is not affected, just the cost of each slot. I've spent quite some time going over the rules for Charges with Steve....this is the way they are supposed to work.