Panpiper

Re: Weight of equipment Thank you Matt Holck. My ease with numbers has grown insufficient to actually lay it out in table form and as simply as you did.

Re: Weight of equipment Yes. The surface area of the object expands at half the rate of the internal volume, which is what accounts for the mass. If the thickness of the armor increased at the same rate, there would be no difference, but if the armor thickness increases, so would the defense value. If the defense value remains the same, that means that it is the same thickness of armor. If a 100 Kilo mass requires 50 Kilos of armor to get an armor coverage of 8, a 400 kilo mass will only require 100 Kilos of the same thickness armor to cover it. The inverse is also true however. A 25 Kilo mass would need 25 Kilos of armor plate. Maybe there is someone around with better algebra skills who can explain it better with math. Unfortunately my algebra days are thirty years past me. Volume= 4/3 pi r^3 Anyone want to solve for a volume of 100 and a volume of 400? Then calculate the area of the two spheres? The area of the 400 volume sphere should be exactly twice that of the 100 volume sphere. Area = 4 pi r^2 Unless I've forgotten a lot more than I thought I did after thirty years.

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee Yes, but I don't have enough 'points' as a starting character to build the 'actual' Legolas. Give me 250 experience points and maybe we can talk. This is Legolas at age 20 (maybe), not age 400 or whatever he is in the books/movies.

Re: New Product: Who Would Win? [card game] Sounds like a good 'car' game for families on long trips. Of course it would have to be a family with sufficiently educated and intelligent kids to recognize who those characters are in the first place.

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee A beginning for Legolas (5th Ed. stats, sorry.) 10 Str 20 Dex 30 13 Con 6 13 Body 6 13 Int 3 10 Ego 13 Pre 3 Com NA 2 Pd 2 Ed 4 Spd 10 5 Rec 26 End 25 Stun 8 Combat Luck 6 PD/6 ED Does not stack with armor -1/2 30 3D6 RKA bow of opportunity -1/2 8 Offensive Combat Penalty Skill Levels w Placed Shots 6 Offensive Combat Penalty Skill Levels w Range Penalties with RKA 6 Penalty Skill Levels w Sight Range Modifiers 10 +5 OCV with RKA 3 Fastdraw: Arrows 3 Stealth 3 Concealment 2 Forest Survival 2 PS: Ranger Total: 139 with room for chrome... Edit: Hmm... I suppose technically, he doesn't need fastdraw, does he. His RKA is not a real weapon. He just needs to have a bow. Technically he doesn't even need arrows!

Re: Weight of equipment

Re: Alas, no more Independent!

Re: Alas, no more Independent! I really like your approach Teh Bunneh, as I feel it allows me to give out magical treasure occassionally without fear that I am going to completely blow the balance of my campaign out the window. A question; I have a player who for roleplaying reasons (good player) has equipped himself with a lowly shortsword rather than the big bastard sword his character should normally be able to wield. He is at a disadvantage facing lowly goblins, let alone anything scarier, solely due to his choice to stay in character. I want to conspire to have him find or otherwise aquire a shortsword that will both compensate for his lack of melee power and reward him for being such a dedicated roleplayer. If I have him find a +1 shortsword, how aught I handle that? Give him a 25AP KA for free (that would be a +1 DC bonus over a regular shortsword) and let him buy more than that with points if he wants, adding to the base 25AP? Would it be too much if I also included a +1 OCV in the free build, or aught I have him pay for that?

Re: What do you have in your coinpurse? Traditionally, in ports where many currencies would often be found, virtually any currency would be accepted, as long as it were known that the currency was of reasonably pure metal. Merchants would simply weigh the currency metal to determine it's actual value and the transaction would proceed. So it is very feasible to have many currencies in use and they all be accepted. No self respecting merchant would turn down perfectly good silver or gold, just because it happened to be an odd sized 'nugget'. The only reason they would, wold be if the ruler had declared that illegal, which would instantly have a massive chilling effect upon trade with any nation other than one's own (virtually freezing it in fact).

Re: Player Control of Followers That's a useful talent in a GM if I happen to be a player. I can be reasonable, but sometimes need to be cajoled into being reasonable, like 'not' buying 8 Offensive Penalty Levels with Placed Shots.

Re: Castle Base and Followers I figured a 15 point Wealth aught to cover it. What do you think, DNPC or Contact? (Or both?) The Prince 18 Str 8 11 Dex 3 13 Con 6 10 Body 10 Int 8 Ego -4 13 Pre 3 Com NA 4 Pd 3 Ed 3 Spd 9 7 Rec 26 End 26 Stun 45 8x150pt Followers Bought as 150pt Captain, 150pt Warhorse, 12X125pt Soldiers, (Captain and Soldiers ride regular warhorses, not 'follower' horses.) 30 Castle Base (Castle has it's own followers, but do not go out on 'patrol' with the Prince.) 15 Wealth 5 Perk: High Nobility 3 High Society 3 Bureaucratics 3 Familiarity with Common Melee Weapons & Lance 3 Familiarity with Heavy Armor & Shield (Full Plate & Shield) 2 +5 Strength only for weapon & armor Str minimums, does not add to damage (-1/2), no figured stats (-1/2). 4 +2 Penalty levels with Armor 6 Passive Blocking: +3 DCV Conditional Power (Vs. Melee Combat Only; -1), OIF (Melee Weapon of Opportunity; -½) 6 +3 OCV with Bastard Sword 3 Riding Total: 153

Re: Online Fantasy HERO: Campaign genre http://rpol.net/ I know nothing about it, just found it is all.

Re: Natural Toughness ability, how to balance...

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee I should retract my reticence with a ten point talent. I forgot about the acrobatics roll. That is almost exactly the correct point cost for six 5 point DCV levels with a -1 limitation for only to counter DCV penalty when firing bows, and a -1/2 for requiring a skill roll.

Re: Traveler's Purse - Magic Item You are an evil person Hierax.

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee Ten points is definitely cheaper than buying DCV levels "only for when firing bows" as one would have to buy two for each DCV lost, in order to counter the halving effect from concentration.. I could not live with 2 points for such a talent, if for no other reason than because every archer would then pick it up in a weekend seminar. Becoming Legolas should represent a serious investment of time and practice, in other words, points. If there were a consensus opinion here that ten points was reasonable, I would probably allow a player to take it, but without such an acclamation from the body at large (or proclamation by Steven Long), I would require that a player buy DCV levels with a limitation and thereby spend even more than ten points for it. They would be better investing in a sword to compliment their bow.

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee The OP specifically asked a question referring to the situation that would exist with a bowman 'actively engaged' in melee combat with melee fighters. Steve answered as if the question was one of what modifiers one should apply if one happened to be a bowman, "standing off to one side", firing into the general melee. He did not answer the OP's question. That is what I meant when I said he had dropped the ball, not that he didn't understand his game or the rules. Where on earth did you get the notion that I was criticizing the "system as a whole"? You are bringing baggage to the table. The Hero System is the greatest game system on the face of the planet, bar none; All other systems pale to utter insignificance in comparison. That is my opinion of the Hero System. I am at rest but with my sword out of the scabbard. The archer has an arrow notched but not drawn and aimed. Unless the archer aborts to dodge, and never tries to draw that bow (in other words, they melee with a stick), they are dead. If my sword is scabbarded and they have no arrow drawn, they have zero chance unless they abort to dodge and melee. I can draw and strike much faster than they could possibly draw an arrow, notch it, draw aim and fire. Yes, an archer can abort to dodge. And they had better. But having done so, they are now in a melee against a sword fighter, and they have a stick. If an archer in that situation were to try none the less to fire his bow, while I am so engaged with them, yes, it is "absolutely impossible" short of the earth opening up and swallowing me (I roll an 18), that I would miss them. "A loaded weapon ready to fire..." In other words a held action, already aimed. If an archer is already drawn (held action) against a melee fighter who is at range from them, and the fighter moves into range to engage them, the archer should get his full OCV against the charging melee fighter with that shot. They can then abort to dodge and proceed to melee with their stick (or more rationally draw a proper melee weapon). This is assuming however, for all intents, that the archer had a held action. It is however well understood in Reality Based Self Defense circles, that if you have a knife armed opponent fifteen feet from you and you attempt to draw and fire your gun, they can close the distance and kill you with their knife before you can kill them with your gun. If you are already holding them at gun point, the situation is of course very different. But neither the OP nor I was talking about situations with archers having held actions with their arrows already aimed.

Re: Traveler's Purse - Magic Item

Re: What do you have in your coinpurse? I think that's called 'necro' Blue Jogger, when you resurrect a thread six years dead. It just so happens however that I've been putting together my own currency system for my own world and, well, here it is: I'm building a currency system that is largely based on real world historical values and ratios. In order to keep it intuitive for the players, I am naming the currency units after what they already understand, to some degree. The most common coin used for normal daily transactions would be the penny, which is a large copper coin larger than a US quarter. One penny is enough to buy a small loaf of bread. There are also technically 'tenthpence' which are small copper coins roughly the size of a dime which is used for even smaller transactions and making change. The most common coin that players would concern themselves with is the 'Dime' also refereed to as a 'Silver'. This is a silver coin the size of today's US dimes. It represents one day's wages for a typical unskilled laborer and is enough to buy common room shelter and enough basic gruel to survive. A day's stay in a decent inn with a small lockable private room, three meals, three drinks, and stabling for a horse would cost 3 dimes, 2 if you are willing to slum it. Next up would be a Quarter, a silver coin worth two and a half dimes and sized just like today's US quarters. And finally, there comes the silver Dollar, an unusual coin for the common man on the street, but an oft used measure among the nobility and wealthy merchants. Gold coins exist but are seldom used except for very large transactions. They exist in two denominations, the more common and much smaller coin is the Ducat (sometimes simply referred to as a gold piece) the same size as a dime and finally the much larger Dubloon, the same size as a silver Dollar but obviously worth much more. A Ducat is worth ten dollars and a Dubloon is worth one hundred Dollars. So to restate in perhaps a more legible form: 2 Tenthpence = Mug of weak ale. Dime sized copper. 10 Tenthpence = 1 Penny (Small loaf of bread) Dollar sized copper. 10 Pennies = 1 Silver Piece/Dime (Day's unskilled wages) Dime sized silver. 25 Pennies = 1 Quarter Quarter sized silver. 10 Dimes = 1 Dollar (Three day's lodging and stabling at a nice Inn.) Dollar sized silver. 10 Dollars = 1 Gold Piece/Ducat (A month's wages for a skilled craftsman.) Dime sized gold. 10 Ducats = 1 Dubloon (A month's allowance for pampered nobility.) Dollar sized gold. A simplification of the above system, in keeping with actual currency values would be to simply refer to coppers, silvers and gold pieces. Assume that 100 coppers equals a silver and that 100 silvers equals a gold piece. All coins are approximately the same size (I recommend dime sized) Price for a fine suit of heavy full plate, ornate, fully fluted, gothic articulation and gold leaf embossing: 4 Dubloons, or 4000 Silvers.

Re: Traveler's Purse - Magic Item Actually, my dirty little secret, is that the traveler's purse actually works by 'stealing' the brand new minted coins out of the king's mint. But shh... Don't tell my players!

Re: Player Control of Followers Or buy multiform, so he can be combat worthy in one form and non-combat worthy in the other.

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee I could live with such a talent. Gotta account for that Legolas trick after all. ;-) Now, how to build such a talent...

Ok, I want to use a weapon that has a built in -2 OCV modifier. I want to use the martial arts maneuver 'Offensive Strike' with this weapon. Can I buy two Offensive Penalty Skill Levels for two character points to compensate for the -2 OCV of the specific weapon? And can I then for another two character points buy two more Offensive Penalty Skill Levels to compensate for the -2 OCV modifier imposed the the 'Offensive Strike' martial arts maneuver? I expect the answer is yes on all counts, but I just want to confirm. I'll get over my newbieness someday...

Say I've got a player who wants a follower. He wants a mage and a warrior, one is the follower of the other. The mage is almost exclusively non-combat utility magic (low on skills, high on 60AP - extra time - spells), the other is almost exclusively a melee tank. They can easily be built such that one is the main and the other the follower. Which way should I have him go? If I give him control of the mage (and I take the melee) then he is twiddling his thumbs in combat. If I give him the tank and the mage is the follower, I am doing most of his non-combat roleplaying for him. I have a bit of a conundrum here. An extremely related question of course is; just how much control do you give players to any followers they have purchased? Do you let them play those followers as if they had two characters (that wold solve my conundrum)? Do you let them play their followers so some degree but with restraints imposed, or do you take full control of those followers yourself as the GM?

Re: Certain Followers Bought with Limitations? I should have been more clear. I was not referring to character disadvantages/complications. I was referring rather to 'power' limitations, such that the point cost for buying a 150 point follower which would normally be 30 character points might instead become 10 character points after applying a limitation like a -2 (only available 1/3 of the time).