Grue

Yeah pretty much what I did. I pretty much expanded Bump of Direction to a large class of things (direction, position, places of interest), with the limitation of only places the user has visited/traveled (while wearing pip-boy) at a 1/2. VATS I just used penalty skill levels, both targeting and range at 2 levels apiece, and attached a small endurance reserve to it.

What it says on the tin;-). I pretty much have everything else squared away but I'm not sure how to do the Pip-boy's mapping function and VATS. The core of it is as a wearable computer. VATS I was thinking some combination of CSLs usable by other (with an end reserve), but the mapping thing I'm not sure 'bump of direction' fits very well or if there is a better solution. Thoughts?

Assuming a character has enough time, can a power with the limitation 1 charge be slotted multiple times using delayed effect and used more than once in the same day at a latter date?

Would a transform that is described as "transform creature closer to physical ideal of its species, increases must be compensated for by experience expenditure of target or spell fails" be a Major or Minor transform? The intent of the power is to allow a quick and permanent (with variable healing method) increase in a characteristic but only up to normal character maxima modified by the target's racial package deal. Thanks

Hero system and the old FH sources only provide a menu of components and a core framework. Some guidelines are suggested, but it's totally up to the GM to set the limits and keep things balanced. It's a positive and a negative, with the negative being overcome if the GM has the time, effort, and most importantly judgement to put into his campaign. I also didn’t say other systems were better balanced than Hero, just that they were standardized and required less preparation and care as a result. Not that I consider 2nd ed or Runequest paragons of Game Design and Game Balance. Both were designed in the 70’s and somewhat influenced by tabletop wargaming (innovative at the time but both carried certain sacred cows up through their multiple editions). Runequest’s big innovation was monster equality (where monsters could get the same training and receive experience just like PCs could). It also wasn’t “human-centric†like D&D was. You could play a troll…or a duck if the GM allowed. Whether this was fair or not was left up to the GM (as in Hero), but the work of laying out racial packages was already done and the effects on the campaign generally predictable. I don’t know any DM that was insane enough to use or allow every supplement pushed out TSR’s doors during the era of the second edition. Not to nitpick, but your reference to playing a Cavalier over a Fighter was a 1st edition thing (from Unearthed Arcana which was rushed to publication to get TSR out of some deep financial trouble… while the book itself had some good ideas and interesting crunchy bits it was far from polished). In 2nd ed itself the only ‘standard’ rules were those not outlined in blue in the PHB and DMG, fairly simple and playable. Everything else was optional (including the slew of Complete Whatever books and the awful Players Options books). In 3e the same thing goes… only the core rulebooks (or rather the SRD) are official, everything else is ‘optional’. A point buy system for stats has always been an option throughout all of its editions. Not that most DMs don’t do their own tweaking and adjustments, but if they wanted to play a pickup game on the spur of the moment they could do so with much less prep than it would take with a Fantasy Hero game (assuming of course you don’t have a stack of pregens lying around that you’ve already invested the time in drawing up;-). VtM and it’s ilk have more in common with improv theater and the early troupe games (like Ars Magica) than other rpgs which fall a little closer to their table-top wargaming roots. Fairness and game balance were totally secondary concerns to their design in favor of storytelling (at least for the initial creators). Life isn’t fair in a game of personal horror, but really in the realm of rpgs the comparison between Hero and VtM is more of and apples and oranges thing. The greatest strength and weakness of Hero is the freedom it gives within its rules set without being freeform. I didn’t say other systems didn’t require GM input, I said that Hero requires proportionally more input than many systems on a whole menu of items. By way of example in 3e….there are certain assumptions of what a 5th level party can handle (and in most cases these assumptions are reasonably close…. like which monsters are generally a equal fight, traps and encounters within skill levels, and what level of magic items and spells are generally accessible to the PCs). In Hero, judging what a 125 pt. party can do is an artform. While most players don’t create 125 pt. wine tasters, a GM has to know their capabilities intimately. While I suppose you could set up a game without the GM “setting arbitrary limitsâ€, unless your groups have always consisted of roleplaying saints or you are some sort of Hero god, the amount of thought and work you would have to put into keeping a group that was allowed to buy anything they wanted (+8 ocv with great swords, a spell that tunnels, closes behind and is usable as an attack, or the myriad of power suggestions present on these boards) challenged I think would put a serious strain on your time and campaign

Yup. The Hero system is totally dependent on the GM to balance things out. Both towards the PCs and any opposition they may face. In a good number of other rpgs, play balance is somewhat 'hard wired' (at least in the non-troupe style ones). Powers, npcs, and items are standardized straight out of published materials and hopefully have been somewhat playtested. In Hero it's up to the gm to set the limits. The GM has to be very careful on what powers and abilities are allowed into the campaign and what can be done in context with the group as a whole. And then has to be very careful what sort of obstacles are in a given scenario. It's generally a lot more work and more of an artform. Balance issues normally aren't too hard to control in champions if the gm has some experience and finesse. Superheroes generally have counters to powers already developed or should be able to buy them with experience after figuring out how to fit the new power in with the characters overall scheme. Fantasy Hero is much easier to keep a handle on at lower point levels than Champions but starts to break down around the 200 point level unless the GM has done his homework (at least in campaigns with a moderate+ amount of magic). Our group has typically used magic items to give some survivalability to the party, but dependency on 'Ye Olde Magic Shoppe' can stretch a little thin. We're currently toying with the idea that pcs raised in a magical world would either have or be able to develop some magical resistance....even to the extent where everything is magic dependent (ala Earthdawn). Or requiring all spells and similar powers have a limitation that allows it to be fully or partially negated by a successful characteristic roll (adjusted by the AP of the power....but perhaps a bit too D&Dish). I'm looking forward to the upcoming 5e Fantasy Hero supplement to see if it has a simplier solution.

I first started playing Hero with a group of veterans about five years ago (still playing). Even after reading through the ruleset(s) the first thing I noticed was the learning curve was very steep (even in comparison to 1st ed Twilight 2000).... while I picked up the dice conventions within a session, it took me roughly three months to figure out how to use the combat maneuvers and timing out attacks with speeds. Another three months to figure out how to draw up powers effectively (And stop the "...he's a mighty cleric, he has Two spells!" ribbing). While my first Hero character was very memorable from an rping standpoint, he was little more than a damage sponge for the party in combat (and honestly how many successful fantasy games don’t have at least one combat a session?). I like the fact you can practically do anything with the Hero System (at least until points come into playJ). It’s exacting if a bit clunky (like Russian technology…it’s ugly but functional somehow:-)) but it works and by its nature Hero encourages problem solving other than by combat. It’s not a system I could recommend to a group where less than half of the players are veterans though. And newbies should almost never be the ones to draw up their character concepts. I’ve run a D&D campaign since 3e came out. In comparison and my experience, Hero works best with in a gritty low magic campaign and is an increasing amount of work as you get to higher magic levels. It’s a lot easier to run magic and a epic storyline (the no built in safety net in Hero can lead to a TPK in a periphery encounter after a series of bad rolls or really good rolls) in D&D. As you start seeing 40-60 AP powers, characters with no magical abilities must begin developing magical defenses. While the group’s magical support can lend some protection their companions, the party generally is nearly always outnumbered or faces too many threats to have a reasonable chance to defend against more than a few possibilities. Combat in Hero also has a tendency to become an ‘all or nothing’ affair especially at higher point levels. A group of 20 goblins in D&D can be a dink down encounter for even a 7th level party (eating up a healing spell or two, a low level magic item use or combat spell). In Hero, unless one of the goblins gets very lucky (odds of hitting and doing real damage are much less than the 5% chance it is in a stand up fight in D&D), it’s rare to see more than recoverable stun done in damage to a group in my experience. Unless there are a lot of low point creatures, it’s generally not worth running the encounter in the first place (and large fights in Hero are in general a major pain and much slower in comparison to D&D). The tried and true tactic of running away from an opponent that you aren’t prepared for is difficult when one of your companions goes down in the first phase. Or gets grabbed, mind controlled, transformed, flashed, etc. It’s generally difficult to buy stats above 20 in our Hero game and nearly impossible to have one above 30. Monsters with 40 strength or more aren’t that uncommon however. Even with contortionist or martial escape (or rarely a strength aid), we’ve had more than our share of characters killed when they were used by the grabbing beastie to block a blow. It has been a work in progress trying to balance out how to do a standard high fantasy campaign in the Hero system without the severe attrition rates or fighters relegated to secondary roles (or the game turning into Fantasy Champions). While rewarding to tinker with the Hero system, d20 is a lot less work to get a mid-to-high magic\point (level) game running.

How often can contortionist be used to escape a grab if the first attempt fails? Once every phase the character acts (Any Phase after an opponent Grabs a character with this Skill, he can use Contortionist to help him break out. pg37)? Or only 'until the situation changes in the character's favor' (pg 26).