Ice9

I like the earth/stone idea. Possible direct attack powers: * Earthen Fist - Blast, Indirect (from below), possibly Double Knockback * Stone Shards - RKA * Sand/Dust Storm - Flash * Magma Eruption - RKA, Damage Over Time or Uncontrolled * Sudden Pit - Blast + Tunneling UaA * Area effect versions of all the above Possible Control-Type Powers: Way too many to even count - myriad forms of Entangle, Barrier, Control Environment, Darkness (sand/dust cloud), TK, even Images (make figures out of dirt, fool people using radar/spatial awareness to see through dust storms). Movement: Tunneling Moving "wave" of earth for increased Running, possibly with "doesn't have to be standing / move legs" advantage. Also possibly shareable. Possible Defense: Shield of orbiting stone shards: ResDef, Protects Carried, RAR Barrier + See Through Earth/Stone + Indirect Tunneling + See Through Earth/Stone + Indirect; Ultra effective in the right conditions Barrier with Trigger Just be nimble as hell, confusing people who think "stone = slow"; Combat Luck, Flying Dodge, etc.

Re: A power to swap places with someone.

Re: A power to swap places with someone. Actually, since you can use UaA powers on yourself, what about: Switch Places: Teleport 30m, Usable as Attack, Limited Range, Only to Trade Places Rapid Attack, Only for Switch Places +2 CSLs with Switch Places Then when using it, you just do a Multiple Attack on both yourself and the intended target. Not much of a price difference at the current strength, but useful if you want to make the range longer.

Re: "Must cross intervening space" It doesn't include having to get there normally. For instance, it could represent turning into a beam of light. The thing that was being fudged in the Dark Champions power is the requirement to be able to move there even semi-normally.

Re: Most PCs... I'd agree that VPPs should definitely have a reasonably limited "portfolio", as opposed to something ultra-broad (at least in most cases). Often a lot of that is in how well the special effect is defined. For example: Shapeshifting Powers: Potentially ultra-board. Shapeshifting with conservation of mass, can only get realistically tough/strong/fast, and doesn't grant mystic powers like a basilisk stare: Reasonable, even fairly limited. Necromancy: Usually pretty limited Necromancy that includes summoning ghosts with expert skills/knowledge for any subject, and forming any object out of shadow: Pretty damn broad

Re: Most PCs... I find it interesting that the argument against Multipowers is that it favors certain concepts - when removing them favors particular concepts to a much larger degree. In a world without Multipowers: Elemental Man: Skin of Stone, Wings of Air, Nimbus of Fire, Water Blast. Result: Works great Elemental Man: Hail of Stone, Hurricane Breath, Sword of Fire, Water Blast. Result: Cruddy Unless, of course, you let the latter combine all his attacks into one giant Combined Attack, which vaporizes anything set up for a more typical level of offense. Even with no limits, you have a similar issue - the concept that can combine all its powers together beats the one that can't.

Re: Most PCs...

Re: Discussion: 'Dive for Cover' and Non-Area Attacks DfC is independent of the opponent's chance to hit. If your opponent hits you on a 17-, DfC becomes a lot better, comparatively. Also, in some situations, you can DfC to safety (through a door that closes behind you, onto a transporter, into the range of an ally's defensive powers), which can make the negative effects moot - or at least worth it. With Teleport (and SBT) this becomes a lot more common. But when facing multiple roughly-even foes, it's not usually the best choice.

Re: Most PCs... I feel like even most "single-power" characters in comics have - in HERO terms - more than one way to use their power, which a Multipower is a good way to model. Sure, the Power skill can handle it to an extent, but a lot of the time you've got more than one commonly used version, which makes building it explicitly a better idea, IMO. For example - super-speed, eye beams, ___-kinesis, and many morphic powers all fall into this category.

Re: Base Power, Disadvantage or just sfx For the darkness - no cost, that's just the absence of lighting. Buying the power would only be necessary if it was actually impossible to bring lighting down there. For the atmosphere - I like LS: Alternate Atmosphere. Shouldn't be many points, but seems reasonable. Upgrading this to LS: Self-Contained Breathing would make the base airtight and prevent leaks, which may be a good idea. For being underground and hard to access, the existing cost modifier works fine there. The circumstances do give the character an advantage, but that advantage has already been paid for - by buying the appropriate powers on the character. Also, it's not a pure advantage for the base, as it prevents certain uses (keeping people you want to protect there, for example).

Re: Minimalist HERO? It depends a lot on what the objectives are: * Easier for new players? * Easier to GM? * Faster to make character? * Faster gameplay? * Smaller rulebook? Those all have possible solutions, that only partially overlap.

Re: Outside the Box powers I think he's saying that the victims are just part of the SFX - only existing for the purpose of this ability - so presumably you couldn't use this on a specific enemy that already exists. Similar to if you had a "Summon random citizens to help you" power, you couldn't just decide it was summoning your arch-nemesis.

Re: 5e Rules question Forcewall and damage shield

Re: Attacks of Opportunity (d20) in Hero Matches my experience - if you have something that can stop people moving, you can intercept with it, but for a normal attack there's little actual difference from readying an action (for that purpose). In practice, it seems like in HERO, positional tactics are very much secondary to timing tactics - not inherently a bad thing, but if you want formations to matter you may want to make some adjustments.

Re: Remote Control Yeah, if they're like SR drones, you can just give them orders and let the AI do the specific fighting/moving, or you can control them manually. The advantage to direct control is that it makes them more effective (assuming you have good piloting skills). I think either Follower or Summon would work for this, with Mind Link (Radio group) used to issue commands. Jamming would be Darkness or Change Environment to that group, hacking would be Mind Control, and the requirement to be connected would just be the drone AI having a low INT, so they can't do much on their own initiative. That looks like a good Mind Control list, although I might switch the first two entries - gaining access to their communications seems like a prerequisite for controlling their motion.

Re: Hypersonic, 450 points speedster Interesting character. One thing that comes to mind is that if "Hostage Rescue" represents moving past and grabbing them so fast the holder can't react - as opposed to a literal teleport - then Rapid Perception or Clinging would make more sense as defenses than the current ones. On the VPP, I think "Speedster Tricks Only" would probably count as a -1/2 - it's definitely more narrow than "Magic". Therefore, you could potentially go: 30 base + 45 control, Zero-Phase Change (+1), Speedster Tricks Only (-1/2), Unified Power (-1/4) => 56 real points Which seems like it would fit as many of the examples aren't things that would need time to activate.

Re: Shard 5E (350) - Mystic Sorcerer True - probably better to drop it to a lower END multiple then, so it won't be completely debilitating in a surprise situation. Actually, now that I look at it, x3 END on a power that takes an hour to activate is a bit dubious - if you have time to change form, you definitely can wait the extra few seconds to recover enough END. Merging the Astral Form into the multiform would free up enough points to get rid of that. For a similar limitation that seems more legitimate, you could instead have a Side Effect (Drain END, slower recovery rate) so that you'd be enervated for the first few hours after changing.

Re: Shard 5E (350) - Mystic Sorcerer You're right on the elemental forms not really being emergency-useful (they seem more like "adapt to an unusual environment in advance" type of abilities) but the basic setup without them might be enough, depending on the campaign. In a standard 60AP environment, the Thaumaturgy attacks will be weak and his defenses low, but if the other characters (and foes) are sporting similar defenses and attacks, that's not an issue. Also, while the amulet is expensive to activate, it can be kept running at no cost, so it would probably be pre-activated when entering a dangerous situation. Actually, the only time I'd see turning it off is when trying to be incognito. Also, Thaumaturgy can be used to supplement those defenses (Charm of Hummingbird Alertness: Danger Sense + Combat Luck). If it is for a "standard superheroic" stat environment, then this is definitely more of a utility/investigation character than a direct combat type. If you wanted to beef it up, I'd start by merging the Astral Projection into the Multiform (as a 5th form, which is the astral body, with the physical body being a Physical Limitation / DNPC). That should free up some points, to give the 1/day shard-boost the Trigger advantage (so you can use it without giving up a round), and make Thaumaturgy changeable as a zero-phase action. Also, the way you're buying Sense Magic has its benefits (it lets you see invisible things, or see magic things even in darkness/fog) but is overkill if you just want to identify stuff you can already see as magical - put it in the Sight group in that case.

Re: Clone Drones Yeah, I'd say Summon (if they're replaceable without too much trouble) or Followers (if it's more difficult) would work. They're automatons with Int 0, but some of the higher-end models have an AI with basic programs for handling disconnection. This would also handle the case that you could be piloting a drone body fairly different than your own, or have several drones with different capabilities.

Re: no one stronger then me The simplest way would be to build for the highest possible strength (in a street level game, the GM could probably apply the "absolute effect" rule at 30 Str or so), and limit it based on how uncommon that amount of strength would be. For a rough estimate: Str 10 (+5) - Very common, no limitation Str 15 (+8) - Less common, maybe -1/2 Str 20 (+10) - Fairly uncommon, let's say -1 Str 25 (+13) - Rare, I'll call it -2 Str 30 (+15) - Very rare, -3 That gives a cost of 5 + 3 * 2/3 + 2 * 1/2 + 3 * 1/3 + 2 * 1/4 = 9 1/2 That's pretty close to a -1/2 limit overall, so I'd write the final power as: +15 Strength, Only up to Half the Highest Strength Around (-1/2); 10 points.

Re: Passing Strike That's how I've always played it (not taking damage), but on an occasion when itwas questioned, I realized there was no definite source. Re: The lance though, the knight already wouldn't take damage with a Move-by - the weapon would.

Re: Passing Strike One thing I've never been completely able to determine about Passing Strike (as I've never seen a description, just a table entry) is whether the striker takes damage as with a move-by. On the one hand - Move-by results in damage, and this is like an improved Move-by. On the other hand, the table says nothing about taking damage yourself, and possibly that's an intended perk of the maneuver.

Re: HKA's and STR in Champions Complete I don't know where you're getting that - flaming swords would be as allowable in 6E as any previous edition, and adding strength damage would be simpler, to boot. Actually, I feel like "add as much as you have" is a more logical situation for martial artists and other skill-based damaging types. The idea that a character with say "Deadly Precision: +10 CSLs, Only to Add DCs, Only vs Targets with Anatomy" would need to use a greatsword instead of a stiletto to achieve full effect seems pretty bass-akwards to me.

Re: VPs, charges, triggers & multiforms The way it's written now does have one potentially big advantage - it works like D&D Arcane Sight, allowing you to "see" invisible or hidden creatures/things if they have a magic aura. Not well enough to target them accurately, but enough to drop an AoE on them. If it's not being used that way though, it definitely could be Sight group.

Re: Trying to Understand 6E I don't think you need to worry much about the free equipment. I guess if the flight rings provide a good flight speed, then someone with inherent flying powers is losing out a little, but they know that's part of the campaign, so there's no reason they would be spending much points on it anyway. If someone does seem to be missing out, you could let them take a different piece of team equipment instead. But inherently, any free resources are going to be more useful to some characters than others. Team gets a base with state of the art medical systems? Doesn't really help the guy who regenerates himself. It's not usually a big issue.