Wizard

Re: Do opposed skill rolls work?

The way I see it is that for there to be a opposed skill roll there has to be a clear initiator of the action, someone who declares I am trying to do something. I refer to the initiator as the attacker in the examples below. There also has to be someone that declares they are going to stop the attacker from doing something, the defender.

A burglar is trying to sneak past a guard. This makes the burglar the attacker and the guard the defender. If the burglar fails his skill roll he automatically gets noticed by the guard.

A guard is trying to find a burglar as he has reason to believe someone is in the building. This makes the guard the attacker and the burglar the defender. If the guard fails his skill roll, he automatically fails to locate the burglar.

The guard and burglar now sit down to a game of chess (yeah, the burglar got caught). Neither the guard (chess skill 11-) or burglar (chess skill 9-) are the initiators so instead of an opposed skill roll they both roll skill rolls. The guard rolls a 14 and the burglar rolls a 10. Both failed their skills and both played terrible games, but as the burglar failed by the least amount, he won the chess game.

In the case of a draw in a chess game, I suppose you declare a stalemate. For actions that need someone to win, then either the win goes to the character with the highest controlling attribute or just re-roll.

Another way to handle the chess game would be by using the Task Difficulty rules on page 23 of the APG. The guard and burglar would just keep rolling until their Task Difficulty reaches zero.

In other words an opposed skill roll does not apply where two or more characters are trying to achieve the same result. If five characters sit down to play poker they are all trying to win for themselves. Their main goal is not to stop someone else from winning, even though by definition that is what would happen, but it is for them to win. Hopefully that makes sense.

Re: FANTASY HERO Sneak Peek #1: The Cover!

Awesome cover. Very inspiring .

Re: 6th Edition Books on eReader?

I just got my Kindle Dx today' date=' the main reason for its purchase was RPG PDFs [/quote']

 

Same here, I purchased the Kindle DX (the old white model) a few months ago just to read RPG PDFs. Since I sit in front of a computer all day the last thing I need to do is sit in front of another monitor (iPad or netbook) to do my reading. Way to much strain for my eyes .

 

I find the Kindle does not strain my eyes since it's screen is passive and basically acts like a real book (you need an external light source to read it). Plus an added bonus is that it is still readable in sunlight.

 

I have tried some novels as well and basically now spend my train trips to and from work reading HERO for the first half and a novel for the second. Easy to do as it is all in one nice compact slate. The need to charge it only every 2 weeks adds to its usability. The ability to share novels on the same account is also great, it lets other family members read the same novel at the same time. Yeah, I purchased one of the smaller Kindles for the lovely wife and she enjoys reading novels on it as well.

 

The one downside I see to it is that it may be a bit slow as a reference at the gaming table, but for reading it's great .

Re: Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

The Ultimate Skill is the only 5E book to sit among my 6E books on the bookshelf. Great to hear that it's going to get the 6E treatment .

Just a thought, since the page numbers are going to be kept that means we will see Charm on page 293, between Security Systems and Shadowing.

Re: Strength Minimum

how about weapon breaking rules based on STR Minimum

This could be an option. Something I need to think about. Thanks for the idea.

Re: Strength Minimum

While some weapons are the same except for the Strength Minimum' date=' in most cases a higher Strength Minimum corresponds to higher base damage, and so is already a trade-off. Should a giant hammer really be more accurate than a longsword?[/quote']

 

If that was always true I would be happy. But it's not. Take the example of the Butterfly Sword and the Broad Sword. They both do the same damage, but as the Butterfly Sword has a lower STR Min it has the capacity to do more damage making it the superior weapon. This just seems wrong to me.

Re: Strength Minimum

Back to the OP' date=' I'd have to agree with Hugh, I don't see any reason to penalize someone with a lighter, easier to wield weapon, unless it's to reinforce a genre convention. Since I normally run games with a fair amount of fencing in them, this wouldn't work at all for me.[/quote']

 

My thoughts are that if both combatants are both 'effectively' wielding there weapons, I would expect the lighter weapon to have a disadvantage. This is what I am trying to do with this rule. Basically I am assuming the light weapon has no advantage over the heavier weapon as the wielder of the heavier weapon has sufficient strength to maneuver his weapon just a effectively. The heavier weapon has the advantage as it can more easily brush aside the lighter weapon.

Re: Strength Minimum

Isn't there already a mechanic that makes using a weapon with a lower strength min more advantageous. I don't do fantasy games too often, and I don't have my books with me, but I would swear that I recall reading that any strength above the strength min of a weapon gets added to the damage of the attack. So the example you posted above. broad sword and butterfly sword. some characters would get an extra pip of damage out of the butterfly sword, but not the broad sword.

 

I might be mis-remembering, but I think that is how it works.

Yeah there is. This is my whole problem. The Butterfly Sword has an advantage over the Broad Sword. If both are being wielded effectively I would expect the Broad Sword to have the advantage over the Butterfly Sword.

Re: Strength Minimum

1 penalty skill level to offset the OCV penalty later, and away we go.

 

The weapon with the higher STR min is heavier, clumsier or otherwise harder to wield in combat. Why should the character with the lighter, easier to wield weapon suffer a penalty to hit?

The way I see it is that the person wielding the higher STR Min weapon is wielding it just as effectively as the person with the lower STR Min weapon as he has sufficient strength to do so. So both combatants are at an equal skill level. The difference is that the higher STR Min weapon has more chance to deflect or otherwise counter the lower STR Min weapon.

Re: Strength Minimum

I think it's a good houserule if you want to reflect in game mechanics the impact of strength minimum.

Then it's a good rule . Yeah, my main aim is to reflect the strength minimum so players have a reason to make a choice.

However, I think that I won't reflect this in the game : some of the weapons in the lists are from different times, and even for 2 weapons of the same period, I imagine that they were not all designed equally. Perhaps some great blacksmith techniques allow them to design lighter lethal weapons, but a low-level blacksmith must design heavier weapons to do the same damage.

I understand what you are saying but I suppose I am more interested in the game mechanic side of things and as I am not playing a historical game those things don't matter that much to me.

If I went to a blacksmith today, told him to make me a Butterfly and a Broad Sword that reflect the statistics in the list. I personally would expect the Butterfly Sword to be better in some situations than the Broad Sword and vice versa. I like to believe similiar items, even if they are not equal, tend to balance themselves out. It all depends on the circumstances.

Re: Strength Minimum

I don't believe that STR Min actually indicates "superior" or "inferior" weapons' date=' especially since it's been effectively decoupled from any weapon damage calculations for 5th ed and up.[/quote']

 

I meant 'superior' and 'inferior' within the context of the rule, not as an overall judgement of a weapon. As with the example a Butterfly Sword would be less effective against someone wielding a Broad Sword, but more effective against someone that is unarmed as it is more likely that it will add DCs due to the characters Strength.

 

It all centers on what you want to model in your game. If you're looking for hulking swordsmen with huge swords, then adding a rule like yours will encourage those genre conventions. If you're looking for a swashbuckling game, then it probably wouldn't be a good idea to penalize the more agile fighters.

 

My main reason is to give the players a game mechanic reason to choose a Broad Sword over a Butterfly Sword. Swashbuckling is not something I am aiming for so I don't mind if it suffers a bit.

I have been pondering about the effect of Strength Minimum on various weapons. For instance the Butterfly Sword from HSMA has the same stats as a Broad Sword but has a STR Min of 9 compared to 12. Not a great difference but still a difference. This got me thinking that maybe there should be a gaming mechanic that gives the players a choice between the two weapons. I was thinking of something like:

The way I am looking at it is that a character wielding a weapon with a higher STR Min than his opponents has a combat advantage as long as his strength is high enough to wield the ‘superior’ weapon. I suppose you could say that the higher STR Min weapon has an intimidating effect on the wielder of the ‘inferior’ weapon who now needs to take extra care to get a hit in.

Re: A/R Cost of a Broad Sword

Ahhh, of couse, my silly mistake .

So it should be 31/12. So that makes the HSMA entry correct and the one in 6E2 incorrect. I will report it as errata.

I am fairly new to the HERO System and trying to get my head around things.

I was looking at the entry for the Broad Sword on 6E2 204 and it has an A/R Cost of 32/13.

Then I looked at the Butterfly sword on HSMA 257 and even though it has the same characteristics as a Broad Sword its A/R Cost is 31/12.

Then when I work it out I get 31/11.

HKA 1d6+1 (20 Points), Reach +1m (1 Point), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (31 Active Points)

OAF (-1), STR Minimum (12; -½), Real Weapon (-¼) (total cost: 11 points)

Is there something I am forgetting or are the entries in the tables incorrect?

DCV Modifiers Table (6E2 37). There are a number of entries, such as Entangle and Sleeping, with a DCV listed as -0. I expect these should be just 0 (no minus sign).

Is this the best place to report errata related issues?

Re: Abstract Money System?

like in a free market where prices are not set?

Yeap, plus I want to add a bit of a fun factor to it as well. I think I have the concept but I need to flesh the details out to make sure it all fits together. I will share if it all works out so I can get some feedback.

Re: Abstract Money System?

There's also the optional Resource Point system at the end of the Advanced Player's Guide' date=' which while not dealing with game-world money directly basically allows characters to collect whatever gear they come across for later but puts a point limit on how much of that they can have available as their 'kit' for a given adventure. (You can earn increases to that limit much like you can experience, or you can just throw character points at it to get more Resource Points than the campaign standard in the first place.)[/quote']

 

I was going to use the Resource Point system initially but I want to appeal to my players sense of greed . So I am after something a bit more tangible but want to avoid all the modern day money issues such as credit cards, discounts, scams, etc.

Re: Abstract Money System?

Looking for something like a cross between what is used in d20 Modern and World of Darkness. I am working on a concept at the moment that relies on rolling some dice when you purchase/sell things and am basically looking for ideas so I can flesh it out a bit better.

I am trying to come up with an abstract Money system for my Dark Champions campaign. Just wondering if anyone knows of any systems out there?

Re: Champions Powers PDF in Store

Just downloaded it. 391 pages full of powers! This is great, especially for me as I am fairly new to HERO. This will help me get my head around all the powers. Also happy that the PDF comes with a nice shinny color cover (unlike HSMA).

I remember that last year there was lots of rumblings of Champions MMO coming to the Xbox 360. Lately I haven't heard much. Just wondering if anyone knows if and possibly when it might happen.

Re: HERO System Martial Arts

Just downloaded the HSMA PDF and had a quick look inside. Looks great, lots of juicy info. Can't wait to get some time to give it a good read. Well done!

The only thing I don't like is that it looks naked. Yeap, put it in the same directory with the other HS6 PDFs and it doesn't fit in. Every other PDF is colorful while HSMA is just black and white. I imagine the cover was not put on to make it smaller, but for me I rather have the extra size and a nice colorful cover.

Binary can duplicate himself. Binary has taken 6 Body in damage, when he duplicates, Binary will have 3 Body in damage as will his duplicate.

If no Body is healed or damaged for either Binary or his duplicate when they recombine, Binary will have 6 Body in damage.

If the duplicate takes 1 extra Body in damage, when they recombine he will have (3+4)/2 = 3 Body in damage.

What am I missing, it doesn't seem right that Binary can heal when his duplicate has taken extra damage?

Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #3: Area Of Effect And Damage Shield

I am just getting back into the HERO System, after many years. I have picked up a few PDFs for the Fifth edition to bring me up to speed while I wait for the Sixth Edition.

I appreciate the way the Fifth edition is clearly laid out and to the point. This preview of the Sixth edition has proved you can have color and great layout. Well done!