Panpiper

Re: Faith, Courage and Humble Obedience Kwai Chang Caine clearly was a humble man. I dare say however he had great strength of will. Lack of pride does not mean lack of 'Ego' as it is used in the Hero System. That said, the fact that Turn Undead is based on Presence is a fair indicator that Presence has more to do with faith than does Ego in the Hero System. Indeed, a television preacher is even used as the very example of presence. It does make great sense to me that will power and self discipline (Ego) should be usable to resist presence attacks. However Presence has mostly to do with self confidence than anything else, and faith can most certainly be a big factor in self confidence.

Re: 'Peasant Campaign' using Maptools Heh, yes, no worries. This is something else. I have long been a fan of computers and computer games, so this is a way of merging interests.

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird Yes, but I wanted to make it abundantly clear that it amounts to the same thing. Pamelaisley had spent 'more' than 12 points buying up skill rolls individually. I wanted for her to understand that she could get the same effect by picking up an overall skill level which was a far more useful thing than buying up each skill, and ultimately gets you the same skill rolls. Conceptually I have a harder time believing that your character would 'throw' an entangle. I see it more as projecting cold, causing moisture in the air to form an ice coat around the area of the entangle. Buying a straight entangle is completely believable to me. Also on that note, that cold projection could very easily justify a 'no normal defense' attack, defense being; having life support: immunity to cold, having cold powers, or being in a sealed environment (like a power suit).

Re: Talk to me about: Haymaker I got hit with a haymaker once, for real, real life, in reality. So haymakers do really work, given the right circumstances. I was at a community center event, a dance, back when I was 17. A friend of mine was being one of the doormen and had to take a leak. He asked me if I could watch his post for a few minutes. "No problem," says I. Off he goes, a goodly distance down the hall, and he's gone. I lounge at the door side for maybe all of thirty seconds when all of a sudden a huge crowd of people come boiling out of the dance hall. The front hall where I was rapidly filled with people leaving the dance area. I stand there quite stunned by my perplexity. Then the reason for their egress comes charging out of the dance hall, a drunk to high heaven, 250 pound football player swinging wildly at anyone nearby. He charges into the crowd and keeps swinging his wild haymakers. The crowd of course keeps their distance, but there are so many of them that I cannot see the drunk, I just know where he is by the state of the crowd. All this happens in a matter of seconds. Then it dawns on me that my friend being the bouncer, and me having 'replaced' him for the moment, it is technically 'my' job to deal with this drunk. So off I go, wading into the crowd, my hands separating people as I step through them, leading with my chin. And of course the crowd parts at exactly the correct moment, with me in exactly the right spot, chin out, to see a haymaker flying right at me and catch me square on the jaw! Very fortunately for the state of my jaw and possibly neck, I had had several years of rather intense martial arts training by that point, and my physical conditioning and dexterity was such that I was literally being trained with an eye to the Olympics in gymnastics. So physically my stats (at that time) were probably in the agent category for that situation. And so I was able to abort to a 'roll with the blow'. I distinctly recall the room spinning twice under the impact. (Actually the spin was my roll, but that was how intensely I had to roll to counter the impact.) I landed in stance, the drunk having now stopped, and the two of us stared at each other for a brief second. And then the two of us got jumped by a half dozen other bouncers that I did not know were present, and that was the end of the situation. So haymakers can indeed connect. And 'roll with the blow' really does work as well.

Re: Firearms in fantasy? Napoleonic era, a good soldier could load and fire his weapon three times a minute, or two turns per shot. A more primitive arquebus might well take as much as a minute. So it is pretty much in the context of Hero, a fire once and close to melee weapon. Early arquebus fired large bullets at a relatively low velocity and were not actually very good at penetrating good plate armor. (It was quite common for good armor at a certain point to have a pistol shot indentation somewhere on the armor, having actually been shot by the armor maker as proof of it's ability to actually stop the shot.) So give it a very high damage due to the size of the shot, but with reduced penetration.

Re: Dancing Weapon This could work well with a summon perhaps?

I am very strongly considering starting an online game using Maptools http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=downloads As I am still in the very early stages of learning the software, this may take a while for me to get off the ground. The beauty of it is that it appears that much can be done online as quickly as it might be done around a table, meaning a weekly game could actually be played in a few hours, resolving much the same degree of play as a regular table top game. In all likelihood I would also be using some sort of voice chat software along side the Maptools graphical program, as that will make things flow 'much' faster. I usually describe my play style as being combat heavy. But I just started a tabletop game last week and the first game of four hours had not a single instance of speed chart, so I may be overstating my combat emphases. That said, while roleplaying is easy sitting around a table, I'm not sure how easy it will be in this environment, so I expect this really will be more of a tactical combat game than a roleplaying game. When I am playing a game myself as a player, the one thing I enjoy most of all, is spending experience points. I can never have enough experience points to play with. Of course, if a GM hands out too many of them, a regular hero can grow far too quickly out of the bounds of what the world can handle. And so my thinking for this game, is to start out well below hero level, but because we are starting so low, to hand out much larger quantities of experience than would be normal, likely on the order of twice as much. I am thinking that we could start with 25 character points, spent with very few restrictions. I mean, how abusive can one really be with just 25 points? (Yes, I'd love it if people were to take that as a challenge. But expect me to nix any character that 'wins' that challenge. ) I as the GM will add an extra 10 points of non-combat skills to each character, in keeping with their conception. Characters may take complications if it truly fits their conception, but they gain no benefit from doing so. (No required complications, no bonus points.) This would be a 'Peasant Campaign' (credit to JmOz for the concept), where all the players have characters who were born in the same peasant village. For cohesion, players are all of roughly the same age, teenagers wanting to be seen as adults. The game starts with them living in the village and many of the first adventures would be centered there. (This is also because it enables me to slowly develop the Maptools world around that village.) No one starts with any wealth, armor or weapons other than what peasants might have. The village wise woman knows how to read and so people might have availed themselves of her to gain some education. One could define a character conception as having gone elsewhere so as to have learned stuff, but ultimately returned to the village, so someone could have 'soldier' skills but still not have armor and weapons, as such equipment was issued to them but not owned by them. For magic, if you're buying the effect 'the hard way' (without frameworks) it's probably fine. If you want to use frameworks, grab a system from http://www.killershrike.info/AllPages.aspx?Cat=Magic%20System and in fact pretty much anything listed on KS' site would probably be fine http://www.killershrike.com/ . (I reserve the right to change my mind if I get in over my head.) The developed 'framework' available for Maptools is built for 5th edition, so we would probably stick with that for now. Here are some sample character concepts I came up with myself while thinking of this campaign: Soldier Boy Peasant boy, big for his age left while still young and signed up with a military. He got 'basic' training and served for a short while, but ultimately returned to his village. 13 Str 3 11 Dex 3 13 Con 6 10 Body 8 Int -2 8 Ego -4 10 Pre 10 Com 3 Pd 3 Ed 3 Spd 9 6 Rec 26 End 24 Stun Total Stats: 15 4 Familiarity with Common Melee & Missile Weapons 2 Familiarity with Armor (Up to Medium) 2 +1 Level with OCV in Hand to Hand 2 +1 Level with DCV in Hand to Hand Total Combat: 10 *GM Added* *3 Tactics *1 Familiarity: Riding 8- *2 AK: National Region 11- *1 KS: National History 8- *1 KS: National Politics 8- *1 KS: Farming 8- *1 PS: Farmer Total Non-Combat: Total: 25 + 10 Grunt Big and dumb. Really big and really dumb. Very good with animals however. 20 Str 10 11 Dex 3 13 Con 6 12 Body 4 5 Int -5 8 Ego -4 10 Pre 10 Com 5 Pd 1 3 Ed 2 Spd 7 Rec 26 End 29 Stun Total Stats: 15 -2 -2" Swimming 4 "Hard-bitten" 2PD/2ED Resistant, Does Not Protect Vs. The First Point Of Body Or STUN From Each Separate Increment Of Damage Taken [-1/2] 4 "Heroic Toughness" 2PD/2ED Resistant; Only stops half the body of an attack, up to 2 body. -1/2 4 +2 OCV with Club Total Combat: 10 *GM Added* *3 Perk: Positive Reputation with Domestic Animals (Grunt smells right) *3 Animal Handler - Common Domestic Animals *2 Transport Familiarity: Muscle-Powered Ground Vehicles *2 PS: Animal Handler Total Non-Combat: 10 Total: 25 + 10 Natural Hunter Born in the village, but as his mother died in childbirth, he was largely raised in the forest by his father who was a hunter and had to continue working. He is as adapted to living in a forest as a human being could possibly be. 10 Str 11 Dex 3 10 Con 10 Body 10 Int 8 Ego -4 10 Pre 10 Com 2 Pd 2 Ed 3 Spd 9 4 Rec 20 End 20 Stun Total Stats: 8 9 1D6 RKA, Weapon of Opportunity -1/2, Beam -1/4 2 +1 Level with OCV with RKA 3 +2 Penalty Skill Levels Versus Range Modifiers with RKA Total Combat: 14 3 Stealth *GM Added* *2 KS: Stone Tool Making *2 Weaponsmith: All Stone Musclepowered, Stone Tooled Only -1 *2 Survival: Temperate/Subtropical *2 Environment Movement: Forest *2 PS: Hunter (May be upgraded to Ranger later.) Total Non-Combat: 3 +10 Total: 25 + 10 Apprentice Blacksmith Born as the second son to the village blacksmith, he does not stand to inherit the family business, but he has learned the trade. 15 Str 5 11 Dex 3 13 Con 6 11 Body 2 10 Int 10 Ego 10 Pre 10 Com 4 Pd 1 3 Ed 2 Spd 6 Rec 26 End 27 Stun Total Stats: 17 1 Familiarity with Axes, Maces, Hammers, and Picks 3 "Tough Skin" 1PD/1ED Resistant Defense 2 +1 OCV in HtH 2 +1 DCV in HtH Total Combat: 8 *GM Added* *1 Familiarity with Armorsmith *1 Familiarity with Weaponsmith *2 KS: Prospecting *2 KS: Mining *2 KS: Quality Metalwork *2 PS: Blacksmith (Apprentice) Total Skills: 10 Grand Total: 25 + 10 Prodigy Mage Apprentice Found alone as a baby and adopted as an orphan by the village wise woman, she has evinced far more aptitude for magic than should be likely. It calls into question just who her parents might have been. 8 Str -2 11 Dex 3 10 Con 8 Body -4 10 Int 10 Ego 10 Pre 18 Com 4 2 Pd 2 Ed 2 Spd 4 Rec 20 End 17 Stun Total Stats: 1 17 "Eldrich Fire": 1D6 RKA +1/2 Variable Advantage (30AP); 2 Hand Gestures -1/2, Incantations -1/4 4 "Eldrich Aura" 2PD/2ED Resistant Defense Linked to +3 Presence (9AP), 2 Hand Gestures -1/2, Incantations -1/4, Endurance to activate -1/4 3 "Eldrich Aid" 2D6 Healing; 2 Hand Gestures -1/2, Incantations -1/4, One Day Extra Time for Effect (Not to Cast) -4 Total Combat: 24 Total Skills: *GM Added* *1 Lang: Literate *1 KS: Magic Theory *1 KS: Nature Religion *2 KS: Herbalism *3 Healer 11- *2 PS: Healer Grand Total: 25 + 10

Re: Talk to me about: Haymaker The team is engaged with the boss super villain, the henchmen are all down. Through extraordinary skill and good luck, the team has managed to stun the boss! The brick winds up with a Haymaker. The boss can't abort if he's stunned.

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird One Overall Skill Level (+1 to everything, including combat) (12 points) Acrobatics 14 (3) Deduction 15 (5) Inventor 15 (5) Language (French, Fluent) (2) SS: Biology 15 (4) SS: Biochemistry 15 (4) SS: Chemistry 15 (4) High Society 13 (3) Stealth 14 (3) Eidetic Memory (5) Striking Appearance (Attractive, 2d6) (6) Environmental Movement, Ice (2) This gives you an extra skill point AND it gives you a level you can use in combat. Or... If you want to be even more point efficient: One Overall Skill Level (+1 to everything, including combat) (12 points) Acrobatics 14 (3) Deduction 15 (3) Inventor 15 (3) Language (French, Fluent) (2) SS: Biology 15 (3) SS: Biochemistry 15 (3) SS: Chemistry 15 (3) High Society 13 (3) Stealth 14 (3) Eidetic Memory (5) Striking Appearance (Attractive, 2d6) (6) Environmental Movement, Ice (2) Add +5 points to Intelligence This gives you three extra skill points plus a level you can use in combat, AND it gives you a higher perception roll among other things. And finally: One Overall Skill Level (+1 to everything, including combat) (12 points) Acrobatics 14 (3) Deduction 15 (3) Inventor 15 (3) Language (French, Fluent) (2) Scientist (3) SS: Biology 15 (2) SS: Biochemistry 15 (2) SS: Chemistry 15 (2) High Society 13 (3) Stealth 14 (3) Eidetic Memory (5) Striking Appearance (Attractive, 2d6) (6) Environmental Movement, Ice (2) Add +5 points to Intelligence The purchase of 'scientist' does not save you any points, but neither does it lower any skills. What it does do is allow you to buy a new science skill later for less cost, should you ever choose to do so. And I think it is perfectly reasonable for a character with a 15 or less roll in three separate sciences to be considered a scientist. And you've still got three character points to spend.

Re: Postapocalytpic Antarctica (Problems/Questions)? How about postulating that what caused the 'apocalypse' was not something man made. I know, that runs against fashion, as we like to imagine that we cause our own destruction. But for the sake of a fantasy game, I have an idea that might make the players think that they are not on Earth at all. The cause of the catastrophe was a rogue extra solar moon that wandered into the solar system and just barely missed the Earth. It interacted with the Earth/Moon system however in a major way and got captured, the Earth now has two moons. Our original moon is now in a much lower orbit and slightly elliptical, and the other moon is in a highly elliptical orbit and well off the plane of ecliptic. The result on the Earth was catastrophic, causing massive volcanic activity and, most importantly, an axial shift. This would have been in the distant past, allowing the Earth to have settled somewhat, how distant depends on how you wish to postulate the remains/evidence of current earth technology. But there is no biological reason to inhibit placing your game a hundred thousand years or more into the future. The tides would be much stronger, and there would be more volcanic activity, especially when the new moon swung close by on it's orbit every few months.

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird

Re: Wolves Lair

Re: THE ULTIMATE BASE Now Available In PDF In The Online Store Count me in as one of those people. I absolutely want the book. But I would buy a book/pdf bundle now, even knowing it might take a couple of months for the book to arrive.

Re: THE ULTIMATE BASE Now Available In PDF In The Online Store Is this the 'Kingdoms' game I heard you (Steve) mention in a chat recently?

Re: Wolves Lair I think you would make a wonderful GM Savinien and I would be mortified if you did not GM the game you envisioned. I agree however that we have very different ideas about gaming, and I think the best thing for me to do is to learn the Maptool software for me to start my own game. You are more than welcome to join that game (which will probably be built as a 'Peasants' type game, with people starting with very few points, but gaining a significantly larger number of XP each game so as to grow more quickly into proper heroes. Because people would start with so few points, I would have very little restrictions on how people spend them. I'm trying to take a lesson from Killer Shrike in not restricting players overly much but rather exploiting weaknesses that over specialization inevitably causes, in order to create challenge. I figure a starting total of 25 points, with me spending 10 points myself on each character afterwards to round them out as proper 'peasants' would be a good start. No one starts with any wealth, armor or weapons other than what peasants might have. The village wise woman knows how to read and so people might have availed themselves of her to gain some education. One could define a character conception as having gone elsewhere so as to have learned stuff, but ultimately returned to the village, so someone could have 'soldier' skills but still not have armor and weapons, as such equipment was issued to them but not owned by them. For magic, if you're buying the effect 'the hard way' (without frameworks) it's probably fine. If you want to use frameworks, grab a system from http://www.killershrike.info/AllPages.aspx?Cat=Magic%20System and in fact pretty much anything listed on KS' site would probably be fine http://www.killershrike.com/ . (I reserve the right to change my mind if I get in over my head.) The developed 'framework' available for Maptools is built for 5th edition, so we would probably stick with that for now. Is a starting total of 25 points in 5th Ed. the right amount do you think? These are after all exceptional peasants, hero peasants! However I figure starting everyone out as teenagers in the village (which I suppose might rule out returning soldiers) and aging a few months between scenarios maybe, which could account for relatively rapid stat growth.

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird Doh! I just noticed that I made a pretty big mistake when I built my version or your character. I spent 45 points on each of OCV and DCV so as to bring them to the 9 OCV and 9 DCV you had originally written into your character. I was doing this before I consumed adequate coffee apparantly. The way I spent points there, that character would have 12 OCV and 12 DCV, putting her nicely into the stratosphere of combat machines. This may not be in keeping with your character conception and might well violate the campaign limits of whichever GM you hook up with. You could either leave them there, or drop them back doen to 9 each and have an extra 30 points to spend elsewhere. I'll edit my original post to show them at 12 each. Edit: (And you just posted, having spotted my error.)

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird That's because the limitations on the multipower; ( Unified -1/4, Linked to Ice Shield -1/4, Gestures -1/4 ) also apply to any slots that are purchased.

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird How I would build her... 13 Str 3 20 Dex 20 18 Con 8 10 Body 18 Int 8 14 Ego 4 20 Pre 10 12 Ocv 45 12 Dcv 45 3 Omcv 3 Omdv 8 PD 6 8 ED 6 5 Spd 30 20 Rec 16 60 End 10 40 Stun 10 Total Stats: 221 35 Ice Shield (Resistant Protection, 10 PD / 10 ED) Unified -1/4, Perceivable -1/4, PLUS (Resistant Protection, 10 PD / 10 ED) Ablative -1/2, Unified -1/4, Perceivable -1/4 21 Flight (21M); 1/2 Endurance Cost +1/4, Difficult To Dispel +1/4, Unified -1/4 Linked to Ice Shield -1/4 43 Ice Multipowers (75 points reserve); Unified -1/4, Linked to Ice Shield -1/4, Gestures -1/4 4u Ice Blast (Blast 12d6) 1/2 Endurance 3u Entangling Ice (Entangle, 7d7, 7 PD / 7 ED), Vulnerable to Fire and Heat, -1) 4u Ice Cone (Blast 10d6, Cone +1/2) 4u Ice Blast II (Blast 10d6) Zero Endurance 4u Killing Ice Blast (RKA 4d6, ED) 1/2 Endurance 4u Ice Sheet (Change Environment, -6 Dex for Surface Movement, Radius 32 M, +1); 1/2 Endurance 2u Ice Wall (Barrier, 10m long, 4m high, 1/2m thick, 15 Body, 10 PD / 10 ED; Configurable +1/4, Ablative -1/2, Vulnerable to Fire and Heat, -1); 2u Total Combat: 120 12 One Overall Level (+1 Usable on Everything) Overall Level Factored in to Skill Rolls 3 Inventor Int: 14 3 Deduction Int: 14 3 Stealth Dex 14 3 High Society Pre 14 3 Acrobatics Dex 14 3 Scientist 2 SS: Biology Int: 14 2 SS: Biochemistry Int: 14 2 SS: Chemistry Int: 14 5 Eidetic Memory 2 Language (French, Fluent) 2 Environmental Movement, Ice 6 Striking Appearance (Attractive, 2d6) 5 Courageous (+10 Presence) Only for Defense from Presence Attacks -1 Total Skills: 55 Grand Total: 400

Re: My First Hero System Character: Bluebird "Ice Shield (Resistant Protection, 10 PD / 10 ED, End 0 +1/2); 45" If this is simply bought as regular resistant defense, it does not cost endurance, and so does not need to be bought down to zero endurance. Your skill costs are all wrong, you've spent far more on them than they actually cost. A standard skill costs 3 points and that gets you a skill roll based upon the characteristic it is associated with. 3 points on a science skill gets you an Int roll for that science. Spend two more points on Int to get it to 18 and all your Int based skills, including the sciences, will be at 13 or less. A few of your stats need tweaking, most especially speed. A speed of 3 for a 400 point super is a snail's crawl. Don't even consider anything less than a 4 and strongly consider 5 or 6. And a Stun of 30 and a Con of 14 means you are going to be stunned by even the feeblest of hits and be out of the fight if you get hit twice. I note as well that you paid for an endurance reserve, which I presume your multipower is powered by. Yet you also significantly bought up your regular endurance. You should do one or the other, but not both. Either power your powers through an endurance reserve and not worry about your regular or do away completely with the endurance reserve and boost your regular endurance 'and' your regular recovery. This last is usually the way to go, as that extra recovery will help your character recover stun lost in combat as well.

Re: Divine Magic System: Incarnism I've been looking at those Incarnations of Luuz with an eye to how they might be defined. I've gone back several times hoping that inspiration would strike. I fear however that they are an extraordinarily complex set of avatars that do not lend themselves easily to my muse. I am hoping the 5lippers has been, while he was writing them, giving thought to how those incarnations might manifest. I doubt I could do them justice myself.

Re: Combat Value Benchmarks In 6E

Re: A way to fend off attackers 22 Real Points - Naked advantage on 45 AP of HtH Killing Attack; 4 Meter Radius Area of Effect +1/4, Selective +1/4, Constant +1/2 (total 45 AP); OIF Spear of Opportunity -1/2, Full Phase -1/2 It won't 'stop' an enemy from moving to attack, but it will subject any enemy to a 'free' attack by the character, simply by moving into that area, which may or may not influence their decision to move into the area. Generally a bad guy will go after the target that presents the least danger to them in attacking, and the most danger from 'not' attacking. A character who is using their entire phase to create a 'damage field' about them is being very defensive and not immediately presenting a danger to the enemy, unless the enemy chooses to attack them, at which point they pose the most severe danger as they get an instant and automatic attack upon the enemy who moves into the area of effect. Conversely other characters who are not using their full phase to create a defensive field, are likely to be more offensive, and pose more of an immediate threat to an enemy. Hence an intelligent enemy will attack other characters given a choice, rather than the one with the damage field. Pretty much the effect described by the OP. Given the automatic attack they are subjected to simply by moving into the area of effect, it would be reasonable for the GM to adjudicate that an enemy might need an ego roll to actually move into the area of effect. Possibly leading to one or more enemies dancing outside of it, unwilling to attack. Exactly the effect described by the OP. It should also be obvious that maintaining the level of physical exertion necessary to fend off multiple attackers in a whirling frenzy of spear slashes and thrusts, will burn endurance fast.

Re: Combat Luck when you cannot be surprised Don't be too hard on combat luck. Rather perhaps just limit the number of levels of it a character can buy. (And in my games, it must be bought with the -1/2 limitation, 'does not stack with armor'.) Remember that for 4 points, a character can buy a couple of Penalty Skill Levels to counter DCV penalties from wearing armor. They can then don def 6-8 armor that works whether they know an attack is coming or not. And that is a lot less expensive than buying 6PD/6ED combat luck. Yes, there will be times when combat luck won't apply. But those should be quite a bit rarer than catching the character out of their armor. Just my opinion.

Re: Combat Value Benchmarks In 6E I do not understand why you think dropping combat values would be desirable or necessary. Certainly enforcing unfamiliar weapons rules and such is a good idea (I always have myself), and certainly maneuvers and levels play a major role, indeed the largest role in determining final combat values (at least they do now with 6th Ed. rules). But the base OCV and DCV in 6th Ed. are simply other ways of defining combat potential, no different at all than buying combat levels. For 10 points I can get a combat level that can be applied in all combat, in any of OCV, DCV or damage classes. If I put a limitation of -1 on it, only usable for DCV, it becomes five points, 5 points for +1 DCV. So skip the extra math and just let people buy OCV and DCV normally, in addition to whatever acrobatics they wish to apply to 'other' skill levels. Just my opinion.