Ice9

Re: Summon vs. Follower Agreed. I mean, I can understand treating each combat as a separate task, that's kinda reasonable. But when you're talking about literally an entire day vs a few seconds, that's too big a disconnect for me. However, I could see modifying how many "tasks" something took by what it was. For example: * Basic - 1 task * Tedious or Difficult - 2 tasks * Unpleasant or Slightly Dangerous - 3 tasks * Significantly Dangerous - 5 tasks What category something falls into is going to vary by the summoned thing. For example, I'm pretty sure a demon would consider "work in a soup kitchen for a day (without doing anything evil)" to be more tasks than "kill these guys who can't even really injure you". If you were doing it this way, it might make sense to have "Slavishly Devoted" make everything just cost 1 task, instead of increasing the total number.

Re: Ars Tactica Another one I've seen be pretty effective is Martial Throw against unsuspecting speedsters (or anyone moving fast, mounted knights for instance). It's most easily done with Telekinesis, but can also be done with Concealment and being in the right place. With a high-Strength thrower, this can be devastating, but even without that it should deal decent damage and ruin their plans for the phase. And since you don't have to beat their strength, it's a good tactic for hindering foes that outclass you.

Re: Has anybody experimented with removing Speed? Having all the PCs at the same speed can work fine (and IMO they shouldn't be more than 1-2 points apart in any case), but Speed is very useful for reflecting things like armies of goons, bystanders, very dangerous foes, and so forth. You could, however, keep things to few simple speed bands - Slow (mooks, bystanders), Normal (the PCs, most foes), and Fast (powerful solo villains). If those were set at SPD 2, 4, and 8, for example, you don't even need the full chart.

Re: Ars Tactica Yeah, Entangle is quite nasty. In fact, I think even getting a casual strength attempt when initially hit is a (fairly common) house-rule; by the rules, even a 1/1 Entangle will ruin your day. Here's one I've noticed - the Cover maneuver. There's no reason you can't make that your SOP - instead of shooting people, Cover them and then take the shot immediately. Saves on ammunition, gives you the option to trigger it at an inconvenient moment, and there's not really any downside, AFAICT. Obviously this one depends on having powerful enough abilities, but air juggling has always seemed pretty effective. Delay your actions a bit to spread them out, and then use knockback to keep someone airborn. If they can't fly, they're unable to do much, and at half DCV (or arguably, 0 DCV). Grab-By can be used to quickly convey your slower teammates into battle, as well as moving foes out of it. Combine them both and put your bricks in close quarters with their ranged types, away from any reinforcements.

Re: Has anyone built The Doctor from Doctor Who? For the TARDIS, I usually build that kind of thing as a Base, Location: Other Dimension, with this power: Time/Space Gateway - EDM (Any Dimension, Any Location), Usable by Others, Continuous, Gate, Physical Manifestation (at target location) Depending on how durable the "phone box" is, Physical Manifestation might only be worth -0, as the default version is pretty fragile. It doesn't seem like the concept would be too hard on 350p; the TARDIS benefits from the lower Vehicle/Base rate and Regeneration isn't too expensive. The only sticking points are the screwdriver (a small VPP is affordable, but you may not be able to get one large enough for everything it does on the show; Transform and Cumulative are your friends here), and the skills (consider Overall levels if you're buying more than a couple past the base value).

Re: VPP discusion I don't think that makes sense. Consider a Magical Staff, represented as a VPP with the OAF limitation. Certainly, the staff itself can be taken. However, the slots within the VPP do not have their own separate focuses that can be separately taken. When you make a utility belt VPP, the same thing is the case. Now this does imply that if your utility belt contains a knife, then that knife shouldn't have OAF, just the base OIF of the utility belt. As far as the ruling - I don't agree with it. It seems like a reaction to the term "multipower" in there, but this is really just a cosmic VPP with some limitations to which powers can be selected. Given that the alternative is "Schrodinger's Utility Belt", where anything can be pulled from it on a whim, I would say this is definitely worth a limitation! If anything, I think the "powers can only be changed at base" limitation is significantly undervalued. And it seems to miss the point that you could already have a VPP that worked like a Multipower, except much better, just by not having that one limitation.

Re: Material Girl I agree that it's a powerful concept, and should be considered carefully by the GM, but I don't think there's a problem fitting into a normal amount of points. Using a variation on the first method suggested: 1) Summon Material Construct, Slavishly Devoted, Expanded Class (any material) 2) EDM, Triggered (by summoning, or ending the summon) 3) Transdimensional for senses, as above. 4) Transdimensional Mind Link, with the summoned construct, possibly Triggered. Total cost - not all that much (somewhere around 200p, I think), because the most expensive power (the Summon) doesn't need Transdimensional (you summon it while still present, which is what triggers the EDM to leave). Alternately, you could base it around Desolidification instead - either replace the senses with Clairsentience, or add Clinging, Affects Physical World to ride around inside your construct.

Re: Teleport Dodge, did I do it right? Avoiding AoE would work - if the Teleport distance is long enough. As for an opponent trying to bluff you, I'd figure something like Acting (or in some cases Sleight of Hand) vs PER to feint an attack, then just do the real attack once you move.

Re: Teleport Dodge, did I do it right? Instead of No Conscious Control, I think you want the "User Doesn't Control When Trigger Activates" modifier on Trigger, which would make it cost 1/4 less (so +3/4 total). If the Teleport is in a random direction, then you could use the -1 version of No Conscious Control (user decides when to activate power, but not its effects).

Re: VPPs and Variable SFX I feel similarly - in fact, I usually house-rule adjustment powers to work on a somewhat different basis: * The default is "any one power of the specified SFX" * Expanded Effect works normally, from that starting point * To affect other SFX, get the Variable SFX advantage * Affecting only a specific power, or small set of powers, is a -1/4 limitation Characteristics are a bit funny. It hasn't come up, but I think I'd say that "all characteristics" is more than a single SFX for this purpose, thus requiring an advantage. But related characteristics, like a Temporal Acceleration Boost improving Dex/OCV/DCV/Speed, seems reasonable. As does, for example, a "Drain Electronics" power draining cybernetically-enhanced characteristics. For which reason, I like to distinguish how much of a character's stats are from which SFX, even if there's no specific advantages/limitations on them.

Just a thought I had about VPPs - how much flexibility in SFX / meta-SFX is already included, and when would an advantage be required? Case #1: The Collector Let's say you have a character with effectively a Bag of Holding, represented by a VPP. In this storage space, he has magical, technological, and biological devices gathered from the many worlds he's visited. So for example, if he's facing a mage who can counter any spell, he pulls out a neutron pistol. If he's facing a technokinetic, he pulls out a wand of firey doom. Is this something that would require a Variable SFX advantage (on the control cost, presumably), or is it subsumed in not buying Limited Class of Powers? Case #2: The Poison Master Now consider a similar character, but his bag contains only poisons, still in a wide range of types - magical, chemical, living, nanotech, and so forth. Given that he does have Limited Class of Powers, would he need Variable SFX? Finally, if you answered "no" to the previous two questions, could a character whose VPP only had powers of a given "meta-SFX" take a limitation for this, in addition to Limited Class of Powers if applicable? I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer, but I'm curious what people think.

Re: Images vs. Shape Shift or something else That's where I'm getting confused - the powers in HERO are components, to be used in constructing the power as it exists in the game world. The name in the book has no meaning in the game world. For example - as mentioned, an Energy Blast doesn't necessarily involve energy. Running is used for wheeled motion. Telekinesis can represent many forms of action at a distance, such as remote-controlled robots. Obviously yes, controlling light couldn't give you physical shapeshifting. But the Shapeshift power isn't just about physical shapeshifting - it covers any change in appearance to one or more senses (and in fact, it doesn't fully encompass physical shapeshifting).

Re: Images vs. Shape Shift or something else In fact, Shape Shift is not even a physical change unless it includes the Touch group (and even then, it's not mandatory). For someone manipulating light, a Sight-group Shapeshift seems completely accurate.

Re: Takes No Stun and Absorption as a Defense Personally, I go with the "Divide PD/ED by 3, instead of increasing cost" method for everything. It works a lot better for powers like Growth, where the other effects shouldn't be any more expensive.

Re: Do You Allow Damage Reduction for Other Defenses? I would. In fact, I'd give it a discount, because in most campaigns Flash/Power Defense is significantly lower than PD/ED, both on average and at maximum. Since you have to buy FD for each sense group, I guess FDR would work the same way.

Re: Communicates by pheromens That. And maybe also Discriminatory for smell, Only for Pheromones.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing I think this is a bit of a red herring. The player's abilities do have an effect on combat, it's just their skill at tactics and familiarity with the game rules that apply, not their physical fitness. Saying that "player ability means physical fitness" in combat is like saying that "player ability means physical attractiveness" is social situations. And by that standard, ruling that a good speech by the player grants auto-victory would still be "character ability" because the player's appearance didn't count. So I would rephrase the statement as "Just like a combat-focused character with a distracted newbie player will perform better in combat than a character with limited combat ability run by a veteran player who likes wargaming." which is not as self-evidently true. Now there could be a legitimate question on "how much effect should the player's tactics have in combat", and it does vary from game to game, but I think the answer is at least "more than zero."

Re: Cassandra's Corner Well, if it's as much effort as would be required for someone with the Secret ID Complication, that's fine. If it's easier, then that goes against what Complications mean.

Re: Cassandra's Corner It's a Complication. Complications don't give benefits. If you have a Secret ID, but not the complication, then your identity is at least as difficult to find as somebody who did take the limitation. Which does not necessarily mean impossible, but it doesn't mean easy either. Just like "Marathon Man", who gets 20m of Running with no limitations can move just as fast as "Super Sprinter" who gets 20m of Running with x3 END.

Re: Cassandra's Corner While it's possible to have a Secret ID tracked down in the course of play, similar to gaining a Hunted, I dispute that not having the Secret ID complication would make it easier. If anything, somebody without the complication might have a better Secret ID, which never causes problems for them. In terms of "difficulty to discover", I would rate it like this: 1) Public ID (with or without the Complication) 2) Secret ID Complication 3) Secret ID, no complication Also note that discovering an ID is not the same as being able to capitalize on it. For instance, an example character with a public ID and no Complication would be a recently arrived alien. He lives at a PRIMUS base, and doesn't have a "normal" job or family. So it's easy to find out who he is, but that doesn't really help his foes.

Re: Can Only Attack With Powers That Attack Him I think a VPP works well for this effect. You don't even need to worry about statting up common cases, because whatever power you get will already have stats - on the enemy's character sheet. However, you might want to keep a chart of DCs by Advantage level at hand (i.e. your pool is 50 points, so you get 10 DCs base, or 8 at +1/4, or 6.5 at +1/2, or 5.5 at +3/4, or 5 at +1, and so forth), as it's quite possible the enemy power is >50 AP and you need to scale it down.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing Fair enough, hastily thought up example is hastily though up. I have a better example I normally use, but it's for D&D and doesn't translate exactly. I'll come up with a more complete one if people want me to, but the point is simply that: 1) In HERO (or any RPG with tactical combat) there are better and worse moves to make in combat. 2) A savvy player will make the better moves (even wolves use flanking, so it's not like the character needs to be a genius either), and thus perform more effectively. Some players are just bad at (or don't care about) tactics, even once they learn the game, and so they'll end up making worse moves and being less effective. Short of playing their character for them, nobody can really change this. 3) The character's INT, Tactics skill, and background have pretty much no effect on this. Result: Combat is not entirely about the character's skills and abilities. The tactical ability of the player has a significant effect. Opinion: Therefore, it's not unreasonable for the player's choices to have a significant effect in other areas, such as social situations.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing I think I miscommunicated there. I'm not saying that Barbarian Bob should have better tactics, or that I would make it the case IMC, I'm saying that he would be more tactically effective, right now, in the current HERO system rules (and in any other RPG with non-abstract tactical combat rules), if he was played by a somewhat experienced player and Sun Tzu was played by a noob (or just somebody who's bad at tactics). Here's a concrete example: Barbarian Bob - Shouts out "cowards, none of you could even slow me down!", and delays action. He's standing where only the front-most enemy will reach him. After they attack, he goes for a Haymaker, which they can do nothing about. Highly effective. Sun Tzu - Moves right into the middle of the foes and attacks one, who hasn't acted yet and successfully blocks. He has accomplished nothing and will now get dogpiled. Unless the player is willing to have the GM literally tell them where to go and who to attack, that Tactics 20- has no real effect in phase-by-phase combat.

Re: Balancing social skills and role playing I think there's two related but significantly different things going on here: 1) The Content. 2) The Presentation. Talking in character and making a nice sounding introduction to the Duke is presentation. Telling him that the Earl consorts with goblins is content. I prefer to handle things the same way I do for combat - presentation is a small bonus (because I like to encourage it), but content is a big factor - sometimes a deciding factor: Actually having proof and showing it to the Duke? Success, unless the Duke distrusts you, and even then he might investigate it himself. Slapping the Duke in the face and shouting "Attack the Earl, you dumbass!" Fail. Maybe if you're the god of social skills you can manage to spin this so nothing bad happens, but it's definitely not success.* I don't think this is unfair to the characters' abilities or skills any more than the normal combat system is. Describe it how you like, but what you do in combat is more important than your OCV or skills. Barbarian Bob, played competently, is going to be more tactically effective than Sun Tzu played by somebody who makes terrible moves. * Ok, if you have Exalted-level UMI skills, it could be success, but that's pretty much mind control.

Re: Martial Arts Disarm maneuvers That is odd. There's an anti-grab maneuver, so why not an anti-disarm one? Or possibly, Martial Disarm should just give you the Strength both for purposes of disarming and resisting disarming.