Gary

Re: Takofane's Undead Minions Here is the 500 point Death Knight: 45 Str 35 26 Dex 48 28 Con 36 15 Body 10 18 Int 8 18 Ego 16 20 Pre 10 2 Com -4 13 PD 4 13 ED 7 6 SPD 24 15 Rec 0 56 End 0 52 Stun 0 194 30 15 PD 15 ED Armor OIF 30 2d6 HKA Armor Piercing (+1/2) 0 End (+1/2) OAF Sword (-1) (4d6 with Str) 10 10/10 Damage Resistance 7 +3 DCV OIF Shield (-1/2) Only Frontal Attacks (-1/2) 22 Spatial Awareness Life Sense 10 10 Pts Power Defense 10 14 Pts Mental Defense 2 +1" Running 50 Full Life Support 52 65 Multipower Darkest Sorcery All Slots Incantations (-1/4) 2 Power Word Kill 4d6 RKA 3 Chgs (-1.25) 2 Power Word Blind 6d6 Flash Area Effect Cone (+1) 3 Chgs (-1.25) 2 Power Word Stun 5d6 AVLD Power Defense (+1.5) 3 Chgs (-1.25) 5 Dispel Magic 17d6 Dispel Any 1 Magic Effect (+1/4) 5 Fear 3d6 Pre Drain Area Effect Cone (+1) 5 Weakness 3d6 Str Drain Area Effect Cone (+1) 5 Darkness 4" to Sight 0 End (+1/2) 5 Wall of Force 10/10 Force Wall 1/2 End (+1/4) 2" Width 5 Combat Teleport 21" Teleport 0 End (+1/2) 5 Long Range Teleport 5" X500 (5 km) Safe Blind (+1/4) 2 Extradimensional Movement Anywhere in Lower Planes 266 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Oratory 13- 3 Riding 14- 3 Tactics 13- 4 +2 OCV with Sword 20 Universal Translator 13- 4 WF Common Melee Common Missile 40 Total Skills Cost 500 This version of the Death Knight can be used to fight starting characters, as long as it isn't 1 on 1. He has lower overall defenses than his big brothers and is not quite as tough. As a note, Death Knights shouldn't be less than 500 pts as a rule. They are command creatures and shouldn't be cannon fodder.

Re: Takofane's Undead Minions Here is the 600 point Death Knight: 45 Str 35 26 Dex 48 28 Con 36 20 Body 20 18 Int 8 18 Ego 16 25 Pre 15 2 Com -4 9 PD 0 9 ED 3 6 SPD 24 15 Rec 0 56 End 0 57 Stun 0 201 30 15 PD 15 ED Armor OIF 30 2d6 HKA Armor Piercing (+1/2) 0 End (+1/2) OAF Sword (-1) (4d6 with Str) 60 1/2 Damage Reduction Physical and Energy Resistant 10 10/10 Damage Resistance 7 +3 DCV OIF Shield (-1/2) Only Frontal Attacks (-1/2) 22 Spatial Awareness Life Sense 5 8 Pts Flash Defense OIF Visor (-1/2) 10 5" Knockback Resistance 10 10 Pts Power Defense 10 14 Pts Mental Defense 2 +1" Running 50 Full Life Support 60 75 Multipower Darkest Sorcery All Slots Incantations (-1/4) 3 Power Word Kill 5d6 RKA 3 Chgs (-1.25) 3 Power Word Blind 7.5d6 Flash Area Effect Cone (+1) 3 Chgs (-1.25) 3 Power Word Stun 6d6 AVLD Power Defense (+1.5) 3 Chgs (-1.25) 6 Dispel Magic 20d6 Dispel Any 1 Magic Effect (+1/4) 6 Fear 3 1/2d6 Pre Drain Area Effect Cone (+1) 6 Weakness 3 1/2d6 Str Drain Area Effect Cone (+1) 6 Darkness 5" to Sight 0 End (+1/2) 6 Wall of Force 11/11 Force Wall 1/2 End (+1/4) 3" Width 6 Combat Teleport 25" Teleport 0 End (+1/2) 6 Long Range Teleport 5" X2000 (20 km) Safe Blind (+1/4) 2 Extradimensional Movement Anywhere in Lower Planes 359 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Oratory 14- 3 Riding 14- 3 Tactics 13- 4 +2 OCV with Sword 20 Universal Translator 13- 4 WF Common Melee Common Missile 40 Total Skills Cost 600 The 600 point Death Knight is like his big brother except somewhat lower power level and no magic pool. Tactically and personalitywise, he works the same way.

Re: Takofane's Undead Minions Here is the 800 pt Death Knight: 50 Str 40 26 Dex 48 33 Con 46 20 Body 20 18 Int 8 20 Ego 20 30 Pre 20 2 Com -4 10 PD 0 10 ED 3 6 SPD 24 17 Rec 0 66 End 0 62 Stun 0 225 30 15 PD 15 ED Armor OIF 45 3d6 HKA Armor Piercing (+1/2) 0 End (+1/2) OAF Sword (-1) (5d6 with Str) 60 1/2 Damage Reduction Physical and Energy Resistant 10 10/10 Damage Resistance 7 +3 DCV OIF Shield (-1/2) Only Frontal Attacks (-1/2) 22 Spatial Awareness Life Sense 15 Find Weakness 12- with Sword 5 8 Pts Flash Defense OIF Visor (-1/2) 10 5" Knockback Resistance 10 10 Pts Power Defense 10 14 Pts Mental Defense 2 +1" Running 50 Full Life Support 72 90 Multipower Darkest Sorcery All Slots Incantations (-1/4) 4 Power Word Kill 6d6 RKA 3 Chgs (-1.25) 4 Power Word Blind 9d6 Flash Area Effect Cone (+1) 3 Chgs (-1.25) 4 Power Word Stun 7d6 AVLD Power Defense (+1.5) 3 Chgs (-1.25) 7 Dispel Magic 24d6 Dispel Any 1 Magic Effect (+1/4) 7 Fear 4 1/2d6 Pre Drain Area Effect Cone (+1) 7 Weakness 4 1/2d6 Str Drain Area Effect Cone (+1) 7 Darkness 6" to Sight 0 End (+1/2) 7 Wall of Force 13/13 Force Wall 1/2 End (+1/4) 4" Width 7 Combat Teleport 30" Teleport 0 End (+1/2) 7 Long Range Teleport 10" X2000 (40 km) Safe Blind (+1/4) 2 Extradimensional Movement Anywhere in Lower Planes 45 VPP Lesser Sorceries 53 Control Cost Cosmic (+2) Magic Only (-1/4) 509 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Oratory 15- 3 Riding 14- 3 Tactics 13- 4 +2 OCV with Sword 6 +2 CSL with Darkest Sorcery 10 +2 CSL with HTH 10 +1 Overall Level 20 Universal Translator 13- 4 WF Common Melee Common Missile 66 Total Skills Cost 800 The 800 pt Death Knight represents one of the many great warriors who challenged Takofanes in the past and lost. He has been infused with mighty necromantic energy in his unlife. In a word, he is a killing machine usually leading a small army of undead when dealing with powerful opposition. He is adept tactically and can improvise when fighting superpowered opposition. He might also be the 2nd in command of a critical mission led by a lich. In combat, he usually leads off with Power Word Blind against a team of supers. He relishes fighting with his sword, but usually doesn't try to find weakness unless his opponent is tougher than expected. The Darkness gives him a great advantage in combat because his Life Sense can see through it.

Re: Takofane's Undead Minions Here is the 500 pt version of the Lich: 25 Str 15 20 Dex 30 23 Con 26 15 Body 10 28 Int 18 20 Ego 20 20 Pre 10 2 Com -4 20 PD 15 20 ED 15 5 SPD 20 10 Rec 0 46 End 0 40 Stun 0 175 60 VPP 48 Control Cost Magic Only Change as 0 Phase 15 Magic Skill 21- 50 Full Life Support 35 Detect Life and Magic Targetting Sense Range Analyze 20 Healing Regeneration 1 body Resurrection (Phylactory) 0 End Persistent Self Only (-1/2) Extra Time 1 Body/Turn (-1) Resurrection Only (-1/2) 60 50% DR Physical and Energy 10 Damage Resistance 10/10 10 Power Defense 10 pts 8 Mental Defense 12 pts 3 Scholar 2 Necromancy 15- 2 Demonology 15- 2 Turakanian Theurgy 15- The Turakanian Age produce many archmages of great power. Sadly many of them died trying to defeat Takofanes. Here is one of the many sorcerors who tried and failed. The big difference in this version is that he has only a 60 pt magic pool and fewer skill levels. He's also a better match if facing a starting 350 pt party. As a note, liches shouldn't be less than 500 pts as a rule. They are command creatures and shouldn't be cannon fodder.

Re: Takofane's Undead Minions Here is the 600 point Lich: 25 Str 15 20 Dex 30 23 Con 26 15 Body 10 28 Int 18 20 Ego 20 20 Pre 10 2 Com -4 20 PD 15 20 ED 15 5 SPD 20 10 Rec 0 46 End 0 40 Stun 0 175 80 VPP 64 Control Cost Magic Only Change as 0 Phase 19 Magic Skill 23- 50 Full Life Support 35 Detect Life and Magic Targetting Sense Range Analyze 20 Healing Regeneration 1 body Resurrection (Phylactory) 0 End Persistent Self Only (-1/2) Extra Time 1 Body/Turn (-1) Resurrection Only (-1/2) 60 50% DR Physical and Energy 20 Damage Resistance 20/20 10 Power Defense 10 pts 10 Mental Defense 14 pts 10 Knockback Resistance -5" 5 +10 Pre Defense Only 3 Scholar 5 Necromancy 18- 5 Demonology 18- 5 Turakanian Theurgy 18- 4 2 more Knowledge Skills at 15- 20 2 Overall Levels 425 600 The 600 point lich is in most ways like his big brother, just not as powerful. The biggest changes are that he has no magic item magic pool and has only a 80 pt VPP instead of 100. These are greater sorcerers who were enslaved in the past, or avatars when Tak doesn't want to spare the power. They lead missions of moderate importance or when Tak needs to deal with lower powered super opposition. Otherwise treat their personalities the same as the 800 pt version.

I've been toying around with various Takofanes Undead minions. For the most part, they're tougher than the equivalent undead from the Bestiary since they're built to challenge Supers rather than Heroic level characters. For today, I'm going to post up 3 versions of the Lich, Death Knight, and Ghost. I'll do other undead at a later date. Here is the 800 point Lich: 25 Str 15 20 Dex 30 23 Con 26 15 Body 10 28 Int 18 20 Ego 20 20 Pre 10 2 Com -4 20 PD 15 20 ED 15 6 SPD 30 10 Rec 0 46 End 0 40 Stun 0 185 100 VPP 80 Control Cost Magic Only Change as 0 Phase 23 Magic Skill 25- 40 Magic Item Pool 10 Control Cost OIF at least changes between adventures 50 Full Life Support 35 Detect Life and Magic Targetting Sense Range Analyze 20 Healing Regeneration 1 body Resurrection (Phylactory) 0 End Persistent Self Only (-1/2) Extra Time 1 Body/Turn (-1) Resurrection Only (-1/2) 60 50% DR Physical and Energy 20 Damage Resistance 20/20 15 Power Defense 15 pts 15 Mental Defense 19 pts 20 Knockback Resistance -10" 10 +20 Pre Defense Only 30 15" Flight 0 end OIF 20 Universal Translator 15- 3 Scholar 7 Necromancy 20- 7 Demonology 20- 7 Turakanian Theurgy 20- 4 2 more Knowledge Skills at 15- 9 3 more Skills at 15- 30 3 Overall Levels 615 800 Total Points This Lich is one of Takofane's mightiest minions. He was either an opposing sorceror who Tak enslaved (in a process similar to the Taken in Glen Cook's Black Company series) or is a simulacra or avatar of Tak himself. He's pretty tough and shouldn't be sent against starting characters with a 100 pt VPP, 40 pt Magic Item gadget pool, and fairly tough defenses. The 800 point Lich takes charge of special missions such as when Tak needs possession of an major artifact or elimination of a bothersome superhero team. He usually controls a team of 4-8 lesser undead and might have a Death Knight assigned as a bodyguard when expecting heavy opposition. These undead are fairly valuable to Tak since there is a limited number of sorcerors that he has enslaved. If he uses an avatar of himself instead of an enslaved sorceror, then he loses a bit of power if the avatar dies. This is really tough to do however, if the party doesn't find the Lich's phylactory. Personalitywise, treat the 800 point Lich as a lesser version of Takofanes himself. He's very intelligent and not quite as contemptuous of lesser creatures if only because he recognizes that he's not as powerful as Tak and that teams of lessers or single entities of great power can overwhelm him. For any given mission, allocate his magic item gadget pool to deal with whatever opposition he expects in his mission.

Re: Beholder The 4th Edition Beholder also has an aura. Every enemy within the aura gets attacked by a random eye ray at the start of its turn. Very nasty, and it does simulate that an entire party can be devastated by a single Beholder.

Re: New Advantage: Rate of Fire Yes, absolutely! 90 points could also buy you a 18d6 EB which is substantially more damaging than the ROF3 9d6 EB. Or it could purchase 12d6 AF5 or 14D6 AF3 which is substantially better in general. ROF is not as good as an Autofire attack in general, so it needs to compensate in other areas. It's not meant to be a replacement for Autofire. And it should be limited in scope. It's meant to simulate kewl ideas such as Beholders and Prismatic Sprays which are very hard to recreate in Hero at a reasonable cost and still be balanced.

Re: Beholder I don't have the 4E MM in front of me, but I seem to remember that the 4E version is suitably nasty. They are solo monsters, so they have 5 times the usual hit points (about 1000 I think). They have 2 action points, so they could potentially act twice in 2 consecutive rounds, and they could potentially use multiple eyes even without action points. Some of the eyestalks such as the flesh to stone one causes petrification with 2 failed saves, and most people only save on a 10... If you want to talk truly nasty, 4E Tiamat gets 6 attacks each round PLUS has 2 action points. And each attack does gobs of damage...

Re: Beholder I just checked my copy of the Monster Manual 3.5. Beholders can use 3 eyestalks in any 90 degree arc. They could potentially use all 10 eyestalks if completely surrounded by foes.

Re: Beholder Actually, the original version of the Beholder could only fire 1-4 eyestalks at a man sized target per round. I'm not sure about the newer versions.

Re: New Advantage: Rate of Fire What's the difference in using a 3d6 RKA and 9d6 EB as 2 separate slots in a MP, vs 2 3d6 RKAs? Both are 90 total points of power, and the 1st person did pay extra for the slots compared to the 2nd person. Remember, there's no guarantee that you'll even get a 2nd shot in any particular attack sequence.

Re: New Advantage: Rate of Fire 1) The randomness is part of the fun. 2) Yes, you can continue attacking even if you miss as long as you maintain RIF. 3) See my previous post. 4) If you're paying +1/4 to +1 on an advantage, you're not getting that much damage through against credible opponents per shot, unless you use something like a NND which has its own balancing mechanism in my Advantage.

Re: New Advantage: Rate of Fire From my point of view, throwing a RKA and a EB isn't vastly superior to throwing 2 RKAs. An exception might be a flash or entangle followed by a RKA or EB. But that can be fixed as stating that the target retains its original DCV until all attacks are resolved. The only truly unbalancing effect would be if you threw repeated NNDs or Ego Attacks, or Drains, or other non-standard attacks. That's why I included a specific mechanism for balancing that. That would nerf the advantage far too much. Yes it's possible that someone gets 10 shots in a row. It's also possible that the same person gets only 1 shot each in 10 separate attacks. Overall, the probabilities should wash out.

Re: New Advantage: Rate of Fire I'd use the version in the Beholder thread. I've made a few refinements in the power since the original post, including using a 4th die for the roll and reducing ROF by 1 for non-standard attacks. It seems more balanced this way.

Re: Beholder Autofire doesn't allow you to switch between different attacks with multiple shots, especially different attacks in the same multipower.

Re: Beholder ROF 1 averages 1.2 shots ROF 2 averages 1.5 shots ROF 3 averages 2 shots ROF 4 averages 3 shots ROF 5 averages 6 shots I'd say ROF 4 would be a +2 Advantage and ROF 5 would be a +5 Advantage, if you allow it at all. I wouldn't recomment anything above 3 since it can bog the game down and be potentially highly unbalancing, especially for stuff like Drains, NNDs, and Ego Attacks.

Re: Beholder The Beholder is perfect for the Rate of Fire advantage that I designed. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39488 New Advantage Rate of Fire (+1/4, +1/2, or +1) An attack that purchases this Advantage must roll 1 die that is of different color than the other 3 dice in an attack roll. Ths 4th die is not counted in the attack roll, but is solely used to determine whether the character can attack again. If that die roll is less than or equal to the Rate of Fire level, the attacker can attack again with no loss in attacking ability. End is expended once per shot made. Rate of Fire 1 is a +1/4 advantage, ROF 2 is a +1/2 advantage, and ROF 3 is a +1 advantage. There is no additional cost for Reduced End as there would be for Autofire. If ROF is used for a nonstandard attack such as Ego Attack or NND, the ROF number is reduced by 1 for that shot. IE, a character paying +1 for ROF 3 would only get to attack again if he rolls a 1 or 2 on the colored die when using a NND. Example: The 100 handed ones in Greek Myth have the potential to hit a target 100 times in a phase. However, that many hands seriously interfere with each other and any given phase might have varying amounts of hands in position to make an effective attack on a man sized target. They purchase +8d6 HA ROF 3 (+1) HA (-1/2) for a total of 53 pts. After adding Str, the 100 handed one can make a 16d6 attack. If he rolls 3 or less on the colored die, he can continue to keep attacking until he finally makes an attack roll with a 4-6 on the colored die. If a character has purchased multiple attacks with ROF, even if they're in a Multipower or EC, he may switch attacks with a successful ROF. Example: A Beholder has 10 attacks in a multipower, each with ROF 2 for a +1/2 Advantage. However, it's fairly difficult for it to hit a single target with all its eyes due to the eyestalks interfering with each other. But it can potentially (although highly unlikely) hit a target 10 times in the same phase. If its attack roll results in a 1-2 with the colored die, the beholder can attack again, and even use another attack slot in its multipower that has purchased this advantage at level 2 or 3. Note that the beholder cannot "downgrade". If it uses a ROF 2 attack, it cannot later switch to a ROF 1 attack even if it rolled a 1 on the colored die. If the Beholder chooses to use a nonstandard attack eyestalk, he still pays for ROF 2, but only gets an additional attack of a 1 is rolled on the colored die. A GM is free to put a logical limit in the total number of attacks made, such as limiting the beholder to 10 attacks.

Re: A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System

Can you use 2 half moves using different movement powers per half move? For example, someone with flight surfaces only half moves using flight and then switches to running in order to be able to turn on a dime. If the above was legal, can you do something like Fly non-combat for a half move and then Teleport using No Relative Velocity to instantly stop?

Re: A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System One thing to note is that each CV is worth about 1/2 the amount of a current CV under my system. Thus going from DCV 4 to 8 is the equivalent of 2 CSLs. So reducing by 17% for 2 CSLs seems right to me.

Re: A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System I've done so. With a little practice, it doesn't take very long. It takes even less time if you roll dice as suggested in post 10 of this thread.

Re: A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System Yes, there is a diminishing returns aspect to CV and Levels. However at the most common CV levels 5-15, the system probabilities work quite well. At CV 30 for each participant (Flash vs Reverse Flash?), a Martial Dodge still changes the pile from 30B30W to 28B40W. After R10, the final pile would change from 8B8W to 3B5W. Still a significant bonus, but not as good as if you started with 8 CV each. From a probability standpoint, the math is easy. You want to remove whites if you have equal or higher blacks, and you want to add blacks if your pile has fewer blacks even after adding the extra blacks. Honestly, the choice doesn't make that much difference from a probability point of view unless one of the piles is already very low. However, the system is set up so that having skill levels is very appealing. I see this as a feature, not a bug. I've practiced, and it takes surprising little time to draw a few beads once you're used to it. And you can change it to a dice system. See my above post.

Re: A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System If you read further, I've taken care of the problem with the Rule of 10. You never have to worry about drawing more than 9 of each color for any roll. I figure gamers who are used to rolling 10-15d6 every attack shouldn't have any problems drawing a few beads... If you really must go for dice, it's easy. Just take the total number of beads in the draw pile and roll the appropriate dice type. For example, a final 4B5W pile has 9 total beads and would roll a d10. A 1-4 is a hit and 5-9 is a miss. 10's would be rerolled. Nice and quick. Autofire attacks would have to pull the full beads, but that's rare enough that it shouldn't slow down play.

A Complete Overhaul of the Hero System Combat and Skill System I know the title is very ambitious, but this is what I intend to accomplish. Why do an overhaul? I happen to think that Hero System is a darn good RPG system, possibly the finest in the world. And in truth it works most of the time. About 3 decades of play has shown that it has stood the test of time. However, there are a few things that I don’t like about the Combat and Skill systems: 1) It’s not granular enough. There isn’t enough differentiation and precision built into the system, especially at the heroic level. 2) Every +1 to a roll has an extremely high effect. Adding +1 OCV to an equal OCV/DCV situation results in a 11.6% increase in to hit. Adding +1 DCV to the same situation decreases the to hit probabilities by 12.5%. That’s a heck of a lot for a single CSL. 3) Related to the above is that just a few points of CV differential can make a character almost always hit or be almost impossible to hit. +4 OCV differential means you’ll miss less than 5% of the time. +6 DCV differential means you’ll be hit less than 5% of the time. 4) The cost/benefit effectiveness of Dex is massively skewed compared to skill levels for combat and non-combat. 5) Mentalists who use non-Ego Blast Mental Powers tend to be super weak or super strong depending on active points of the power. At 40 points, it’s relatively ineffective compared to other 40 pt powers. At 60-70 points, it’s relatively balanced. At 100 points, it’s wildly overpowered. 6) Find Weakness is unbalanced in general 7) I believe the Skills System can use some improvement. It’s got a fair number of oddities at the moment. I believe my proposed system addresses the above issues. It may create new issues, but that is why I’m throwing out the system for review. To find possible issues and perhaps improve my system. Guiding Philosophy 1) Playability is the number one issue. Any new system should be at least comparable to the current system in terms of ease of use and understanding. 2) I believe I should make as little change as possible to the character creation process. Ideally, I can use my system with existing character sheets with minimal problems. 3) Costs shouldn’t be changed. I want to keep existing costs if possible unless a cost becomes ridiculous under the new system. 4) Balance is kept. Basics All Characteristics have a Characteristic Number. Abbreviation will be ChrN. So your Dex Number will be abbreviated as DexN. This ChrN is equal to the Chr/3. So a Dex of 26 gives you DexN of 9. For the most part, the only ChrNs that matter are Dex, Int, Ego, and Pre. Attack Draws The Attack Roll is replaced with an Attack Draw. First get something like a GO set with lots of black and white beads. You can use cards or different colored dice instead, as long as they’re all the same size, shape, and weight. The basic Attack Draw uses OCV and DCV as follows: For each point of OCV, pull a black bead. For each point of DCV, pull a white bead. Put the total in an opaque container of some sort, shake, and draw a bead at random. If a black is pulled, the attack is a hit. If a white is pulled, the attack is a miss. Design note: Equal CVs means a 50% chance of a hit instead of 62.5% under the new system. This is a deliberate design change since the chance of a runaway DCV score making a character virtually impossible to hit has been greatly diminished and thus there is no need for the increase in basic to hit probability. Plus 50% is more balanced and symmetric. A character’s base OCV/DCV is equal to his DexN. Example: Snake has a DexN of 9 and attacks Rock who has a DexN of 5. 9 black beads and 5 white beads are thrown into the container. Snake will hit if he draws a black and miss if he draws a white. If Rock attacks Snake, there will be 5 blacks and 9 whites in his draw pile. Combat Modifiers All combat modifiers except for CSLs are applied as follows: CV Penalties: All CV penalties take away one from your CV and adds one to the opponent’s CV. The minimum CV is 1. Example: Using the above example, Snake uses Offensive Strike on Rock. This gives -2 OCV penalty. Snake loses 2 from his OCV and Rock adds 2 to his DCV. The resulting draw pile goes from 9B5W to 7B7W. CV Bonuses: All CV bonuses add +2 to the relevant CV. Any Dodge type maneuver also subtracts 1 from the opposing CV for every bonus above +3. So Martial Dodge subtracts 2 from the opposing CV and Flying Dodge subtracts 1 from the opposing CV. Example: Snake has used Offensive Strike which gives +1 DCV normally on Rock. Rock strikes back. His 5B9W draw pile goes to 5B11W. If Snake did a martial dodge, Rock’s draw pile would be 3B19W! Design Note: The differentiation between CV penalties and CV bonuses is intentional. This meshes with the rest of the system better and the maneuvers with CV penalties are generally more powerful if a hit lands than a regular maneuver. Thus they should be penalized more and can result in a very small chance of a hit if the attacker is too aggressive. Martial Dodge and Flying Dodge get additional benefits since otherwise they don’t give enough benefit for the cost. Combat Skill Levels 2 and 3 point CSLs can only be used to add +2 CV. 5, 8, and 10 pt CSLs and bonuses from Spreading attacks are first used to cancel any penalties in effect. After that, the user has a choice of adding +2 CV or +1 CV and -1 to the opposing CV. CSLs can never reduce the opposing CV to less than half fractions rounded down (FRD) their DexN. All relevant 2 and 3 point CSLs from both sides cancel out appropriately and the same for 5, 8, and 10 pt CSLs plus bonuses from Spreading attacks before further calculations are done. Example: Snake has 2 3 pt levels with martial arts and conducts the Offensive Strike. His draw pile goes from 7B7W to 11B7W. If they were 5 pt HTH levels, they would cancel the -2 Offensive Strike Penalty first and his draw pile would be 9B5W. If he had 4 HTH CSLs, the first 2 would cancel out penalties, and the other 2 can be used as he pleases. He could use them for +4 OCV, +3 OCV -1 Rock DCV, or +2 OCV and -2 Rock DCV. No matter how many CSLs he has, he cannot reduce Rock’s DCV below 2 (half FRD his DexN) If Snake has 4 HTH CSLs in attack and Rock has 1 in defense, then 3 of Snake’s HTH CSLs would be used to cancel penalties plus Rock’s HTH level, leaving only 1 CSL free. Design Note: Each individual point of CV is worth less than under the current system, thus each +1 or -1 from a maneuver or CSL has double effect to maintain balance. 5+ pt levels are given more flexibility than 2-3 pt levels because of their increased cost and need for balance. CSLs are treated differently compared to maneuvers with regard to how much CV can be reduced because using a maneuver is a conscious choice by the attacker/defender whereas using a CSL to reduce an opponent’s CV isn’t something easy to protect against. Otherwise it’d be too easy to use a bunch of 5 pt CSLs to make yourself hitproof or autohitting the foe. CSLs under this system are balanced with Dex for the same cost. Half CV If a combat circumstance or maneuver dictates that the character has half CV, reduce his appropriate color by half FRU. Thus if Snake rapid fires, his 9 whites in defense drops to 5 since his DCV is halved in this circumstance. Rule of 10 (R10) If either color of the draw pile is 10 or greater, then halve each color. If there are 10+ of a color, then halve the color FRU. If there are fewer than 10, then halve the color FRD. Repeat as necessary until both draw piles are below 10. R10 is the ONLY way that a character’s CV can be reduced to 0 aside from certain Powers. Example: From the Martial Dodge example above, the draw pile is 3B19W. After applying R10, the draw pile becomes 1B10W. Since one of the colors is still 10+, it gets applied again to 0B5W. If Snake used 2 HTH CSLs defensively and was attacked by a Normal with OCV 3, his normal 3B9W draw pile can be changed to 1B11W. After applying R10, the draw pile becomes 0B6W. The Normal literally cannot hit Snake fighting defensively! Design Notes: 1) The main reason for R10 is to simplify. It could bog down the game if 2 people with a bunch of CSLs and MA maneuvers get a draw pile of 17B25W for example. 2) R10 gives a small bonus to people with higher CVs. 3) R10 can allow for a Spiderman or Flash character to be completely immune to attacks from ordinary OCV 3 Normals without having to increase their DCV to completely ridiculous levels. 4) A GM can rule that only mooks and normals can be reduced to 0 CV through R10. PCs and important NPCs should have a minimum of 1 CV. Autofire For Autofire attacks, use the original Draw Pile. DO NOT APPLY R10. If the attacker pulls a black, he gets a hit. Add 1 white and leave the black out. Continue this process until he draws a White which ends the attack or if he runs out of shots. If he would normally be guaranteed a hit due to R10, he gets a minimum of 1 hit. Example: Snake throws 3 shuriken at Rock. His draw pile after all CSLs and maneuvers is 13B5W. If he draws a white, he misses. If he draws black and then white, he hits once. If he draws BBW, he hits twice. If he draws BBB, he hits 3 times which is the max. After the first black, the pile is 12B6W. After the 2nd, the pile is 11B7W. After the 3rd, the pile is 10B8W in case he had further shots. Skill Draws Skills use the mechanics of the above combat system. Skill Rolls are replaced by Skill Draws. All Skills cost as follows: 1 pt gives you 1/3 of your ChrN as your Skill Number. 2 pts gives you 2/3 of your ChrN as your Skill Number. 3 pts gives you your ChrN as your Skill Number, and you’re allowed to apply SLs for that Skill. Example: Snake has a 26 Dex and thus a DexN of 9. He wants to buy Breakfall. For 1 pt, he gets a Breakfall skill of 3. For 2 pts, his Breakfall skill is 6. For 3 pts, his Breakfall skill is 9. Joe Normal has a 10 Dex and DexN of 3. For 1 pt, he gets a Breakfall of 1. For 2 pts, he gets a Breakfall of 2. 3 pts gets a Breakfall of 3 and allows him to apply additional SLs with Breakfall. Opposed Skills If one Skill is being opposed by another, the system for combat is used with the opposing Skill Numbers being used to determine the draw piles. Example: Snake is trying to Stealth past Rock who has a Perception number of 4. Snake’s Stealth number is 9. Snake draws from a 9B4W draw pile. Unopposed Skills If a skill isn’t actively opposed, the base is 3 whites in the pile. All net circumstance bonuses to the skill adds 2 blacks per +1. All net circumstance penalties remove 1 black and adds 1 white. A draw pile can be reduced all the way to 0 blacks through penalties. Thus for an Impossible (-10) skill roll, 10 blacks are removed and 10 whites are added! The character had better purchase a lot of Skill Levels… Skill Levels All SLs retain their current cost structure. All SLs no matter what their cost can be used to cancel penalties, and they can be used to either add +2 blacks or add +1 black and -1 white to the pile. You can’t reduce the pile below half FRD the original white total for Skills using SLs. However, R10 can reduce the final pile to 0 as usual. Example: Snake has 2 SLs with Stealth in the above example. He chooses to add +2 and apply -2 to Rock. Now his pile is 11B2W. After R10, the pile is 6B1W. Made Skill by X In cases of Skills where making the roll at all is good and making it by more is beneficial, use the autofire methodology. Drawing the first B is equivalent to making the roll exactly. Each additional black drawn counts as an additional 2 that the skill was made by. As usual, you need to add an additional white every time a black is drawn while not replacing the black. Example: Fatwell the Televangelist is trying to use Oratory to get the crowd to donate. The GM rules that the amount donated depends on how much Fatwell makes his Oratory roll by. Fatwell has an Oratory of 7 with 2 SLs and the GM rules that the crowd has an average 3 for defense. Fatwell uses his 2 SLs to change the draw pile from 7B3W to 9B1W. Fatwell draws 3 Blacks before finally pulling a White. The draw pile while he was pulling went from 9B1W to 8B2W to 7B3W before he finally drew white. This counts the same as if Fatwell had made his Oratory by 4 (1 Black for the original success and 2 per additional Black drawn). Fatwell could have hypothetically drawn 9 Blacks in a row which would mean making the roll by 16! However, this is VERY unlikely… Design Notes: I gave added flexibility for even the 2 pt SLs because they aren’t terribly cost effective under the current system. Characteristic Draws Characteristic Draws are treated the same as Skill Draws unless another rule supersedes it. Find Weakness 10 pts gives you basic FW which gives you 3 Black vs a 3 White draw pile against targets without LW. Each level costs 5 pts and gives you +2 Blacks. Each point of LW costs 1 pt and removes 1 black and adds 1 white to the pile, to a minimum of 1 black but no maximum number of whites. Now if you bought enough LW so that R10 applies, then the black can ultimately drop to 0. The draw pile after each success drops by 2B and adds 2W. So base FW against a target with no LW has a 3B3W pile. After 1 success, you have 1B5W. It’s impossible to get a 3rd success with base level FW (what do you expect for 10 lousy points?). Design notes: I wanted FW to be useful without being overwhelming. I added +/-2 instead of 1 after each success because each FW is extremely powerful. I wanted it to be difficult to have multiple FW successes. Mental Powers Mental powers use OECV vs DECV using the combat mechanics described above. If a Mind Scan, Mental Illusion, Mind Control, or Telepathy attack hits, roll effects as normal. The target draws to Breakout using his EgoN vs the mentalist’s EgoN to determine draw pile. Every 5 pts rolled by the mentalist above what was needed adds 2 white to the draw pile. For any mental power where modifiers would apply, add 2 to the relevant color for every 5 on the chart on the mind control table in 5ER. For a non-maintained mental power, each step down the time chart adds 2 blacks to the target and removes 2 whites from the mentalist during that breakout attempt. Example: Brain Hulk decides to Mind Control Night Hawk into attacking Defender. He gets +35 on the effects roll. The GM rules that he needed to roll +30 for this effect, so he gets +5 over what he needed. BH has a 9 EgoN and Night Hawk has 6. Night Hawk normally would have 6B9W for his draw pile. However, Brain Hulk had +5 above what he needed which adds +2 to the W pile. In addition, the GM has seen NH and Defender quarreling over the past few adventures and rules that since Defender was getting on NH’s nerves, that applies an additional +2 to the W pile. NH’s new draw pile is 6B13W. After R10, it becomes 3B7W. Example: After one full turn, Night Hawk gets another chance to Breakout. Since Brain Hulk wasn’t paying the End to maintain the MC, that adds 2 blacks and removes 2 whites. In addition, Sapphire had made an impassioned plea to NH and the GM rules that to be worth +2 blacks to NH’s pile. His 6B13W pile becomes 10B11W which after R10 is 5B6W. A much better chance of breaking out. Design Notes: I didn’t allow the mentalist to reduce the target’s black numbers other than by R10 for game balance reasons. I already made lower level mental effects much more likely to succeed since the target uses the mentalist’s EgoN as the opposing factor. Conversely, very high active points of mental powers gives the target a better chance of breaking out because of the diminishing returns effect of this new mechanic. Optional Rule: A mentalist can affect the target even if he doesn’t get the effects roll needed. Each 1 pt below what’s needed removes 1 from his draw pile and adds 1 to his opponent’s draw pile. Example: From the above example, let’s suppose Brain Hulk only got +27. He’s 3 pts short of what’s needed so Night Hawk’s breakout roll instead of being 6B13W, becomes 9B10W. After R10, it becomes 4B5W. Design note: This optional rule allows even lower level mental powers to have a chance. Finally, a low level mental power is balanced with low level other attack powers. And this rule doesn’t affect high level mental powers at all.