zagman

Re: D&D Magic Items 3.5 to HERO

How about albative on the armors, and minimum strengths on the weapons.

Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be?

Cylinder, one axis of rotation with sufficient continuous gravity. 15miles long by 1mile radius. Roughly 47square miles and can have an external engine mount.

Re: The patriot

That looks much better. Still more powerful than I think you would expect for a 200pt game. How about dropping the FF 0end adv and dropping the protection to compensate. Drop the strength by 5-10, Dex by 3 and spend the pts on skills.

Re: TEAM ALPHA PBP game

Start date for Team Alpha?

Re: TEAM ALPHA PBP game

Valens, here. Please give me some feedback on my character.

Valens

Player:

Val Char Cost

40 STR 30

26 DEX 48

25 CON 30

19 BODY 18

25 INT 15

20 EGO 20

18 PRE 8

22 COM 6

8 PD 0

8 ED 3

4 SPD 4

15 REC 4

50 END 0

52 STUN 0

8" RUN 4

2" SWIM 0

8" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 190

Cost Power

3 +1 PER with all Sense Groups

2 Healing 0 BODY, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (6 Active Points); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2)

4 Mental Defense (8 points total)

15 Telekinetic Armor: Damage Resistance (8 PD/8 ED/8 Mental Def.), Hardened (+1/4) (15 Active Points)

4 Life Support (Longevity: 800 Years; Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per week)

22 Mental Powers: Elemental Control, 44-point powers

14 1) Force Wall (10 PD/10 ED), Hardened (+1/4) (62 Active Points); Restrainable (-1/2), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Restricted Shape (Dome, in direction of hands; -1/4)

15 2) Telekinesis (35 STR) (53 Active Points); Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Restrainable (-1/2)

23 3) Flight 10", x8 Noncombat, combat acceleration/deceleration (+1/4), rapid Noncombat movement (+1/4) (45 Active Points)

Powers Cost: 102

Cost Martial Arts Maneuver

AFS - Analytical Fighting Style

3 1) Basic Strike: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +0 DCV, 11d6 Strike

3 2) Martial Grab: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 55 STR for holding on

3 3) Martial Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 9d6 +v/5, Target Falls

4 4) +1 HTH Damage Class(es)

Martial Arts Cost: 13

Cost Skill

10 +2 with HTH Combat

0 KS 8-

0 PS: Appraise 8-

3 Acrobatics 14-

0 Acting 8-

1 Breakfall 8-

0 Climbing 8-

1 Combat Driving 8-

1 Computer Programming 8-

0 Concealment 8-

3 Conversation 13-

5 Deduction 15-

3 Electronics 14-

2 KS: Bodybuilding 11-

2 KS: Mathamatics 11-

2 KS: Sports 11-

0 Language (completely fluent; literate) (4 Active Points)

1 Language: Latin (basic conversation; literate) (2 Active Points); OAF Fragile Expendable (Easy to obtain new Focus; English/Latin Dictionary; -1 1/4)

0 Paramedics 8-

0 Persuasion 8-

1 SS: Biology 8-

1 SS: Chemistry 8-

1 SS: Physics 8-

0 Shadowing 8-

0 Stealth 8-

0 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles

Skills Cost: 37

Cost Talent

Advanced Brain

3 1) Eidetic Memory (5 Active Points); Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2)

2 2) Lightning Calculator (3 Active Points); Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4)

3 3) Speed Reading (x10) (4 Active Points); Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4)

Talents Cost: 8

Total Character Cost: 350

Pts. Disadvantage

15 Secret Identity - Zachary Smith: Secret Identity (Frequently, Major)

15 Psychological Limitation- Overconfidence: Overconfidence (Common, Strong)

15 Psychological Limitation: Superiority Complex (Common, Strong)

10 Psychological Limitation - Emotionally Withdrawn: (Uncommon, Strong)

15 Dependent NPC: Milton Ford 11- (Normal; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID)

5 Social Limitation- Avoid: Avoid Doctors and Hospitals (Occasionally, Minor)

10 Social Limitation: Dysfunctional Family (Occasionally, Major)

15 Psychological Limitation : Dislike Harming Women (Common, Strong)

Disadvantage Points: 100

Base Points: 300

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

Re: So why was the old man killed?

Ledger, in basement wedged between heating duct and wooden ceiling. Xrays don't differentiate well between wood and paper.

Leger contains information on Pappas' transactions. Pappas purchased stolen gems of low quality and sold them off to four different buyers. In reality the thief had no knowledge that the gems were in fact a form of holographic data storage formerly in the possession of a government scientist. One of the crystals contains access codes and information related to Metahuman experiments in the early 60s, one of which showed promise in curing cancer. Same theif, same buyer.

Re: I killed a PC.

Once in a Star Wars RPG game I was running, the PCs, inmates staging a jail break in our first session, decided that brute force was all that was necessary. Well being nearly defenseless at a low level against many storm trooper whom of which in my games act intelligently didn't go well. When a certain force sensitive died I rewound the scenario to the pc waking up from a bad dream the day of their attempt. I changed certain details of the compound to keep them on their toes. Needless to say the next time around they chose a scalpel instead of a hammer with only one pc on death's door. If the PC had any sort of precognition etc it is always a possibility.

Otherwise, dead is dead. If pcs don't have a fear of death they tend to act without thinking which usually brings down the enjoyment and excitement of playing(Genre Specific of course).

Re: Question reguarding To Hit probability

Thanks for the responses and discussion guys. With the changes that that 6th ed has made it take part of what I was talking about out of the equation by just setting a DCV OCV range.

To PhilFleichmann: I understand what you are saying about preserving the bell curve and of all the options you present 3d8 is the best one, though it still causes a large distortion to the probabilities involved in combat. Same idea, two ways of going about it. I tweaked the curve while you just made it bigger.

Thanks again.

Re: 250 point Dark Champions Green Hornet type advice?

Looks pretty good, but could use Mechanics, KS Gaming, KS Nerd Culture. Maybe even Fam Shadowing and Fam Bugging.

This sounds like a similar genre to one I am trying to get some friends started on. If you guys could use another player I have a character that would be just about perfect. Hes a jack of all trades baby-brick/weak tk/B level martial artist with an interestingly pessimistic perspective on life.

Re: Question reguarding To Hit probability

Oh oh' date=' he said realism. If you want the 17 dex guy to be realistic give him 3 or 4 dcv and the 4 or 5 ocv cop can still set/brace and hit him with his 9mm.[/quote']

 

I say realism and playability. I still want to be able to use the default OCV and DCV values generated by their Dex without arbitrarily changing them for realism when a simple change of dice alleviates the problem. Setting and Bracing is fine except for our spd 2 cop it is going to take him an entire turn to do, 1/2phase to move to suitable location, 1/2phase to brace, 1 phase to set. That just seems like a lot to do to give you a reasonable chance of hitting a guy 20meters away.

Re: Question reguarding To Hit probability

I just limit the CVs in a game to a tighter range. Only on rare occasions (Drama!) should CVs move too far from each other.

 

8-12 is a good range for Supers I've found.

Or put another way - a Four Point Spread can make the crack shot feel awesome, while still not being a gimme.

You are suggesting imposing limitations on the pcs while I suggest something that softens the system a little for the extremes. A four point crack shot on 3d6 is 16.2% to 21% on 2d10, still just about the same feeling.

2d10 also makes those skill check of say a 16(98.1%) a little assured with 2d10 90% giving characters more incentive to spend a couple of extra skill points without changing the chances of success for the 8-14 range too much.

Re: Question reguarding To Hit probability

The basic answer is that all the PCs and major bad guys (not the mooks) shouldn't have that wide a range of CV differences. If the highest is 10, the lowest should be no less than, say 6. (This is a rough guideline only, YMMV.)

 

However, there are ways around this - Area Effect attacks (or Explosions) are great for hitting that hard-to-hit Artful Dodger. Or you can at least make him waste his phases Diving for Cover. Then again there's also Mental Powers which target ECV (MCV).

 

If you want to change the dice rolls, I'd recommend something I've been toying with for a long time - partially because of the exact problem you mention: use "bigger" dice. I recommend 3d12. It preserves the exact same shaped bell curve, only bigger and more granular. The base attack roll then becomes 20- instead of 11-. A Familiarity roll then becomes 15- instead of 8-, and a 14- roll becomes a 25- roll, for example. This way the chances of hitting change by smaller steps. Instead of jumping from 50% at 10- to 62.5% at 11-, you go from 50% at 19- to 56.3% at 20-.

Unless I am misunderstanding something your 3d12 system does Far more to distort combat than switching to 2D10 does. A difference of say 4 with 3d6 is 16.2%, with 2d10 it is 21% while using 3d12 it becomes 31.7% chance of hitting. Now a difference of 8 with 3d6 is .46% with 2d10 it is 3% while 3d12 is 12.7%. You also change the chance of a "critical" to roughly 1 in 2000. This increased die size without corresponding changes to the calculation of OCV/DCV and combat modifies does far more to distort the likelihood of success or failure in combat far more than using 2d10. Though the shape of your bell curve won't change you are decreasing the relative size of your sampling due to the structure of combat modifiers. By using 2d10 it is purposefully meant to distort the bell curve, but only slightly making rolling those threes and fours a little easier while making those 14s and 15s less of a gimme.

My intent is that using 2d10 has a minimal change on combat for realitively balanced characters(10- on 3d6 is 50% and 45% with 2d10) while making it easier on those less agile characters without imposing harsh limitations on characters OCV and DCV values giving more pc freedom of design or changing the calculated OCV/DCV of NPCs.

Re: Question reguarding To Hit probability

Very rarely do we need to change the rules just use the ones we have better.

 

What about instead of changing the dice we use we modify the characters so the OCVs and DCVs are closer together thus increasing the chance of hitting?

 

A difference of 6-8 is absolutely massive in Hero. That is like Spiderman going toe to toe with a beat cop or something equally unbalanced.

Just to be clear - I think the 3d6 bell curve is such a cornerstone of Hero that if you removed it you'd be playing a different game. I doubt too many people here would be happy to lose it either.

Firstly, I absolutely agree that a bell curve is essential to Hero. That is why I though of a 2D10 roll since it is still offers a bell curve, just a more forgiving one. A difference of 6 is simply a Dex 13 police officer firing at a dex 17 criminal at 18meters or an dex 8 criminal dodging; said cop who is above average would have to fire 21 times to hit said criminal or 2 minutes straight firing; 2D10s make it a 1 in 10. At 34meters that becomes a difference of 8 meaning a 1 in 216 chance of hitting. With 2D10 he has a 3 in 100. There are countless other situations where something like this occurs, but can be altered in favor of playability and/or realism.

I agree: a flatter distribution means that more extreme results are possible' date=' but that is not a good thing IMO: if a six year old child is fighting a pro wrestler, the pro wrestler is going to win, EOS (unless it is a 'Home Alone' type movie game).[/quote']

I agree, that is why I dislike a D20 system as a whole. Granted a 2D10 roll is somewhat flatter distribution along the bell curve, but it is no where near flat. Of course a 6 year old isn't going to beat a pro wrestler, same result either way. And To Hit isn't the question here since there won't be a large limit on the dex of the child, mainly if the child could damage the adult which they really couldn't. The scenario you provided is less about hitting and more about hurting.

Hi guys, new to hero systems and the champions universe. I apologize if this has been brought up before but it is the only thing that bugs me. Been going through the rules and play testing for a while now and one thing jumps out is how easily you can end up with a large difference between the effective OCV and DCV of two characters expecially in champions where super agility and combat skills are rather common making the chances of a hit highly unlikely or almost certain. A difference of only 6 means that there is less than a 5% chance of hitting and a difference of 8 makes it about half a percent or a 1/216 chance of autohitting.

What about modding the TH system from a 3d6 into a 2d10 system. Rolling 2d10 gives a range rather close to that of 3d6 while being more evenly distributed without running into the problems that D20 faces. The single d20 system has always bothered me especially where skills are concerned. Here is a little breakdown using common targets.

Result 3D6 2D10 D20

Crit .46% 1% 5%

6- 9.26% 15% 30%

8- 25.93% 28% 40%

10- 50% 45% 50%

11- 62.5% 55% 55%

14- 90.74 79% 70%

My main questions are:

What do you guys think of using a 2d10 TH system?

Is there anything in the game that this breaks?