Citizen Keen

Re: How far to stretch a core system? I think a lot of the "HERO is sacrosanct" mentality stems from a need for a Unified Hero Theory (UHT) on the boards. If we all were to start posing questions, and get really bogged down in our personal house rules, the community would be less able to help. Imagine the following post: Not an easy one to answer. Solvable, but harder than if we all operate with a UHT. People are more than welcome to toolkit in their games, I just think that on the boards, for ease of communication, we generally abide by the notion that 5R is infallible, save for certain threads discussing the merits of certain rules, in order to salvage some sanity in regards to the rules.

Re: HERO System question The general rule I've noticed is that characters in Heroic games can buy things with money, but only normal things. To use a Fantasy specific example, Fred the Barbarian can use a normal ax sin Experience Points. That's what Fred does - he uses an ax. Fred gets a Flashy Magic Ax, and suddenly, he must spend character points, because it is relatively unique. Joe the Wizard has a quarterstaff, no XP. Joe the Wizard has a Flashy Magic Staff - XP. Normal boots, no XP. Magic boots - XP. Etc.

Re: TK build question Or buy it as Flight with the Limitations Must Succeed With Grab Attack Roll Against Flying Character, -1/2, and possiblt No Conscious Control at the -1 level to refect that the character can't control where they're going - they go where the flyer goes.

Re: My DNPC versus my Base's DNPC Huh. That wasn't my understanding of the rules, but I'll buy it. Cool - thanks!

Re: My DNPC versus my Base's DNPC Agreed. But, I guess it comes down to GM arbitration. Many GMs allow the Power Skill to let characters make unique uses of their special effects once in a grand while. Would you GMs allow me to buy a Follower for a Base (and the Base has nothing to do with the game - it's a bar, with no secret Danger Rooms or anything. If anything, the alcohol counts as a Conversation 13-), assuming he's just there to keep out the riffraff and I'll never ask him on a mission (unless, perhaps, the Bases DNPC has been kidnapped and will most definitely die, in which case the bouncer at the bar might feel obligated to help). But if he never, and I mean never, joins in the adventuring career, would you let it happen? I jsut want to make a bar-owner as a character. Trying to get a feel from other players before I pitch it.

Re: My DNPC versus my Base's DNPC Bases can't have Followers, per se. Any Followers belonging to the Base have to be paid for in full by the Character. So, if you want a Base with a bunch of Followers, those points have to be paid for by the character (1/5), instead of by the Base (which would cost the character 1/25 of the points, granted).

Re: My DNPC versus my Base's DNPC And as a related tangent to this conversation, I'd like to know why Bases can have DNPCs, but not Followers? I want to build a bar as a Base. The Bartender is a DNPC, who makes good drinks but is otherwise a hapless chap. I also want the bar to have a bouncer. The bouncer would be pretty good in combat against normals, but would fall against Heroes and Superheroes. Would you allow the base to buy the Follower, since he'll never accompany my character on adventures?

Assuming my character has a base, and I don't share it with my teammates (not greedy, just assume it's the Batcave and I'm in the JLA), how do I decide whether a DNPC my character cares about who never leaves the base is a DNPC of my character or of the base? Curious how GMs arbitrate this.

Re: [Newbie] Some help with combat maneuvers Sweep is in some ways a modifier of other maneuvers. The basic Sweep is, in fact, a Sweep Strike. Sweep takes any Zero Phase or Half Phase Maneuver, and allows you to do it multiple times. Doing it multiple times makes it take a Full Phase. So, a Disarm takes a Half Phase. A Sweep Disarm takes a Full Phase, to do many Disarms. Don't think of it as doing a Sweep and then doing a Disarm, which would take 1 1/2 Phases. Think of it as a completely different maneuver - a Sweep Disarm. Same applies to Sweep Grab, Sweep Strike, etc. Maneuvers which take longer than a Full Phase (Haymaker, etc.) cannot be Swept. That's my understanding, I could be wrong.

Re: Absorbtion Burst

Re: Absorbtion Burst That sounds like what I'm looking for! Thanks!

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms Like 'em. Maybe edit the formatting to make the subtitles like "Imperial" and "Barbaric Races" stand out a little more. (size=3)(/size) or some such.

Re: fitting into the Turakian Age It's obvious that Steve modeled the elven language after the names of the chemical compounds in some of the more popular psychedelic substances that can be found in the alley behind the hotel at GenCon every year.

Re: Absorbtion Burst Again, clarification: I want an Absorbtion that feeds into Strength. But when the character uses a powerful burst, all the Absorbed Strength fades away.

Re: Absorbtion Burst I should clarify: First - the burst is a good thing. My character will suddenly hunch up, and BOOM! Second - I want the burst's strength to be dependent upon the points in the Absorbtion. If the Absorbtion pool is empty, the burst is 0d6. Third - I want to be able to control the points converted from pool. So, I can leave some in the pool. I'm wondering if I should do Boostable Charges on the burst, refilled via absorbtion.

Re: Partial Body Strength I wanted to know so badly I went out and procured The Ultimate Brick today. It answers all my questions, and more! David and Steve - congratulations on a job well done!

Re: Feelin' philosophical... I would agree with this as well.

I was reading through the Ultimate Brick, and I was struck by inspiration. (Funny how that works.) I want to make a brick (duh) who absorbs powers, and is strong. Can do that so far. But I want to make it so he can cause a burst of power that drains his absorbtion pool. I can't figure out whether this should be a built into the Absorption as being able to aid STR or a No Range, Explosive EB, or... Should I build the NR, Exp EB with a Side Effect: Drains Absorbtion Pool? And if I go with the second option, how big a side effect should it be?

Re: Feelin' philosophical... Personally, I think the major difference between people in their teens and people in their thirties (those in the twenties can go either way) is that the thirties can go without the splendid graphics. Teens and early twenties expect splashy products, in whatever medium. They expect video games with good graphics, and roleplaying games with splashy covers. HERO isn't targeted at the 16 year old game - it's too dry. 16 year olds (as a rule - no offense to any on the boards) are going to go buy Wizards products, with their glossy, full color pages and wild fonts. Nobody in that age group wants a giant rules tome. My $.02

Re: <My fantacy World> Magic My favorite line of all time... A: "Who're we going with?" B: "Don't end a sentence with a preposition." *pause* A: "Who're we going with, a$$hole."

Re: <My fantacy World> Magic First piece of advice: fantasy.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Package deal - no deal? I like Packages because it prevents players munchkining. I, the GM, decide to run a campaign in which players will hunt down vampires in their free time. It will be set in Hudson City, and I inform the players that I want it to be very realistic. Skills you have need to be justified - no librarians with 30 points in Martial Arts. Player A decides to be a cop - a good justification for combat skills. He buys PS: Cop and a 1 point Perk: Cop. He takes a 5 point Watched. Thus, he is a cop. Player B also decides to be a cop - he thinks the contact will allow him to discover where the vampires are hunting. He buys PS: Cop, a 1 point Perk, and the Watched. He also buys Interrogation, KS: The Law, SS: Forensics, Bureaucracy and Combat Driving. He buys a Contact: Frankie from Homicide, and a Favor from the Police Commissioner. Now, it feels to me that Player B made the more realistic cop. You can make the argument that you can't force roleplaying. True. You can also make the argument that it's the GMs job to ensure that a character fits in with the game setting - also true. Which is one of the number one arguments for Packages - they force munchkin players to craft characters who have skills that aren't necessarily immediately useful. No, you don't have to take the deal, but then, you can't be a Cop. Or a Firefighter. Or a Doctor. Or a CEO of a major company. Or a Dean of a College. Why? Because most jobs come with a built in level of expectations. There's no way you could be a CEO or a Dean without a good level of Bureaucracy. There's no way you could be a Firefighter or a Doctor without a good knowledge of Science skills (Firefighters study Thermodynamics extensively, even if only in its practical applications - or so I understand.) $.02 I understand the irony of a GM demanding a realistic campaign about Vampire Hunters.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Why in God's name do you have a mouthful of cheese? A: Watch and learn, monkey. Watch and learn.