Daltwisney

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton? Summon is an Instant Power, yes. It also has several sections devoted to methods of banishment, one section of which is entitled 'Dispel' (6E1, 290). It is specifically an exception to the 'effects of Instant Powers' restriction on Dispel. Sadly, what that section fails to mention is a clear method of banishing 'one of multiple' Summons, the examples and text seem to assume a single target Summon. How you might go about banishing 'one of multiple' rather than the whole group is the purpose of the original question, and while your XDM, UAA method also fulfills that, your assertion that you 'cannot Dispel a summoned creature' is false according to the RAW. Referring to House Rules without specifying them as such, or erroneously quoting the RAW without actually reading or researching them just confuses people who are looking for advice.

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton? 9 Active 3 Real actually, but that's just being nitpicky Also requires a resisted Ego vs Ego roll, the winning of which will allow the Summoner to give the Skeleton his/her EGO/5 in tasks to perform (Kill them! Kill them all!" or "Go get me an ice cream cone!").

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton?

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton? By the way, a 30 pt Skeleton is pretty weak. The skeleton writeup in Hero System Bestiary (a 5E book) puts them at 179 pts(which probably won't change much converting to 6E, possibly 200 pts or so - mainly it's the Automaton Powers boosting the cost). So: Summon 16 179-point Skeleton, Slavishly Devoted (+1) (112 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), OAF - Summoning Circle Arrangement (-1 1/4), Gestures (Requires both hands; -1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Requires A Roll (Skill roll - Necromancy; -1/2), Real Cost: 22 As an example, I realize you have been working on a slightly different Focus system. Very tough to Dispel (112 Active pts - for an average roll, that's 32d6 of Dispel). Your initial example: Summon 16 30-point Skeleton, Slavishly Devoted (+1) (52 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), OAF - Summoning Circle Arrangement (-1 1/4), Gestures (Requires both hands; -1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Requires A Roll (Skill roll - Necromancy; -1/2) Real Cost: 10 So, with 15d6 of Dispel, you could counter this (on average). If we allow the 'single target' Dispel (based on the Summon with no Adders) you would need 4d6 to Dispel a single 30 pt Skeleton (12 Active pts) or 21d6 to Dispel a 179 pt Skeleton (72 Active pts). I used Slavishly Devoted because Skeletons are generally fairly mindless Undead, so they do what they are told. This boosts the cost considerably. If you want to go the Ego vs Ego Rolls route, that will lower the costs a LOT.

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton?

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton? So the more skeletons that are summoned, the easier they are to Dispel? So... I could build a wand as 6d6 Blast, 16 Charges, and you would allow a 2 point of effect Dispel to 'negate' each shot? After all, 30 Active Points divided by 16 shots would mean each shot is only 2 Active Points each (following your logic). I guess I'm not seeing the point of this. What would the results of 'winning' such a roll be?

Re: Can you dispel just one skeleton?

Re: cancelling out the source of their mystic power

Re: "Tightening the Curve" on damage

Re: Waking up with not-so-super powers

Re: Cannot Combine Duplication You've answered your own question: The benefits of not being able to recombine = none The drawbacks of being not being able to recombine = insignificant Thus they are close enough to 'zero' to balance out. Perhaps it is a poor choice of phrasing in the text, implying that benefits exist instead of just saying the drawbacks aren't worth anything, but the end result is the same.

Re: Cannot Combine Duplication I don't think you are missing anything, I think it's just a matter of interpretation. Not the benefits and limitations of 'not being able to recombine' but the benefit of Duplication, with the drawback of 'not being able to recombine'. The overall 'benefit' is the duplicate itself. Regardless of whether they are extensions of the same character, or individuals who believe themselves twins, you essentially have twice the 'manpower' available, with twice the actions (both in combat and out). This is balanced by the rarer occasions when you have limited resources (say food, water, air), and recombining would allow you to halve your consumption. In this interpretation, the benefits actually far outweigh the drawbacks, in my opinion. YMMV.

Re: Penetrating + Reduced Penetration = Broken? +1 pip on an attack die is defined to be 0, but a 1 pip attack is defined to do a penetrating BODY of 1 (6E1, 342). If you wish to allow a zero range Autofire attack to automatically hit the maximum number of times, feel free. a 1/2d6 Penetrating does 1 BODY on a 4,5,6. (6E1, 342) Thus .500 average. so 2 x 1/2d6 = average of 1.000 penetrating.

Re: Limitation For Growth (5thr)

Re: Velocity and area of effect attacks No, the -1 OCV for a Half-move went away in 5th, it hasn't returned for 6E.

Re: Velocity and area of effect attacks Not just speedsters, Granny in her walker gives her hex a 4 DCV, even moving at a mighty 1m/TURN.

Re: Cars as weapons in 6E Basically, in 6E, if an object is 'tougher' than your strength can break with an average attack, it may help you do more damage. If your average attack would break it, then it won't. Also, remember that 'hitting someone with a car' is not the same thing as 'being hit by a car'. The velocity component in the first case is completely supplied by the character's strength, not a driver speeding along at 100 mph, or gravity acting from significant height.

Re: 'Desolid' till next phase after teleporting There are usually several ways to build something in Hero, the most appropriate is often dictated by other factors in the character build. The original request (as I understood it) was for a power that lasted UNTIL the character's next Phase, not this phase and the next (simply pointed out for clarity). I don't think this makes either build invalid. I agree that without some form of startup limitations, the (-3) value is too high, and I would likely downgrade it to a lower value, based on my understanding of the rest of the character build.

Re: 'Desolid' till next phase after teleporting Extra Time doesn't really work, as it refers to the time to activate the power. In 6E, what you want is the Time Limit modifier, which for persistent powers which cost no END, or only cost END to activate (Resistant Protection and Damage Reduction both fit this profile) is a Limitation. So: 1) Teleport Xm 2) Some Defense Power, Triggered (Character uses Teleport, Activating the Trigger takes no Time, Trigger resets automatically after Use; +1), Time Limit (until next phase; -3)

Re: A Suppress that constantly triggers so long as someone is in AOE (6E) Exactly, 1 Charge (recovers when Circle is redrawn), OIF Arrangement + Expendable

Re: A Suppress that constantly triggers so long as someone is in AOE (6E) Mostly the same in 6E. The mobility options for a Focus fall into 4 categories: 1) Standard Focus - can be carried and used easily 2) Bulky - may require 2 hands, usually unbalanced. Character is at 1/2 DCV. 3) Immobile - the Focus exists in one spot. Period. 4) Arrangement - the Focus exists in one spot, and takes time to set up. It can be moved, but must be set up again before it can be used. While you may be able to build this without Charges, using Charges is reasonable and makes sense, so applying them to lower the cost is not superfluous. 4 out of 5 Wizards agree: "The cheaper spell is the best spell". (The 5th Wizard was interrupted while binding a Spirit of Babbling Idiocy, and now just sits in the remains of his Circle drooling).

Re: A Suppress that constantly triggers so long as someone is in AOE (6E) This is kind of what I was suggesting earlier, though upon further reflection, I think I can clarify it some. I think the 1 Charge (-2) works well here, especially if you include "Charge only recovers as a result of scribing a new Circle". Adding some form of 'Difficult to recover' would not be out of line, as magic is supposed to be Rare, and thus could require some effort to replenish the materials used. As for Expendable, I think that is perfect here, and works well if you think about the Focus like this: As an Arrangement, it is easy to envision this consisting of multiple components, ie the material(s) the circle is drawn with (blood, chalk, sand), maybe some candles or incense, etc., all of which make up the complete Focus. All of the parts are necessary to initiate the Summoning, but parts of it are Expendable to power the one time effects, such as the Entangle and the Summon, but the non-Expendable parts remain to Power the Suppression Field. Once the Ritual is complete or abandoned, the caster could gather any re-usable parts of the Circle, but would have to re-initiate the spell and redraw the Circle (including replacing any consumed materials) before they could use it again.

Re: A Suppress that constantly triggers so long as someone is in AOE (6E) I still have a problem with the '1 Charge which never recovers'. It pretty much means that once you've used the power, you have to buy it again to recast it. The limitation works well for items such as Scrolls or Potions, or perhaps something like a Fire Elemental which explodes upon death, but for a Character to spend 15 points every time they want to be able to cast this spell seems like a recipe for unhappy Players. Maybe I'm reading into it wrong, but I think the implication is that any particular Summoning Circle only contains enough power to trap a single spirit a single time, I don't think this limitation provides that. Too bad we don't have any other opinions...

Re: A Suppress that constantly triggers so long as someone is in AOE (6E) That is the impression I get when I read into it, yes. I'm still concerned about the END issue, if you are maintaining 5 instances of the Suppress for example, that is ~30 END a phase without taking the Transform into account. If the Binding Ritual does indeed take an hour to complete (which is ALOT of transform castings, even at 1d6 or 1/2d6) I don't see anyone short of a deity having those sorts of END reserves.

Re: Penetrating + Reduced Penetration = Broken?