Panpiper

Are we assuming standard power levels at ~400 points? Of course that does not mean GMs can't use higher or lower point characters or that we couldn't provide such.

Just saw this thread now. I've spent the last hour trying to just get that Hero Designer thing to work and have failed utterly. I am disinclined at this point to continue. It does not help that I do not enjoy those illustrations one bit. I expect if I submit characters, I will leave it to others to add art to them. I also have zero experience editing Wiki, other than correcting typos and misspellings, and that is mostly just finding the text entry. Not sure at this point just how helpful I will be.

Well, I disagree with this advice. Just because it was written somewhere in pre-internet days does not make it any more official than an opinion in a post here. I could invest 15 points of XP into more resistant PD/ED, 5 points into each of mental, power and flash defense, up to 40 points in life support, etc., and I wouldn't be even 'close' to invulnerable to everything. Now, what if I took all those points and just poured it into attack power and OCV? Which do you think would be more imbalancing? Never mind the fact that the VAST majority of games never get even close to having 70 XP spent. I find most GMs are so terrified of power gamers that they turn into virtual tyrants when it comes to how people build characters. That is a serious fun killer. My habit is as long as a player has put obvious effort into having a personality, motive and backstory context for their character, I'll let them do pretty much whatever they want with their XP, with the 'exception' of buying up their attack power, which I will judiciously allow. That said, I will also tweak player character builds to better fit a game I have planned, which is a GM's prerogative. If a character is too powerful for a group, I will tone them down. If they are too weak, I will tone them up. In fact with me, a smart power player is best advised to turn in a weak character, as I as GM am perfectly willing to play with gratuitous limitations and other tricks when toning up a weak character. In the example of this post, I spent 3 character points to get one single solitary extra die to roll defensively in unusual circumstances. That allows me to break out of a special attack in two or three turns rather than be out of the game for the rest of the fight. This is hardly game breaking or my character becoming invulnerable to the attack. Do you honestly think that me retiring from the gaming table if a particular bad guy decides to target me, constitutes a good gaming experience for anyone? If not, please do not rain on my parade.

Forgive me for asking a question about Hero mechanics on the Hero forums.

That's all fine @LoneWolf, but when you are building a character you can't just write down on the character sheet, "carries a big gun". If you don't write down RKA, etc., your GM has to do it for you. Furthermore, when defining powers and limitations, it really helps when you can be precise. I've been in situations where I left things to the GM's discretion and not had it happen in five years of gameplay! To that end, I find when defining the 'mechanics' of a power, it is very helpful to refer to actual 'mechanics', instead of stuff that is 'not' mechanics. The 'chrome' in my opinion is usually best for titling powers and adding in notes.

That is even more concise. My sin was clearly that I defined a power based on mechanics instead of the larger special effect. Perhaps that is because I have never, not once in nearly 40 years of Hero, seen anyone, ever, be restrained by any mental power 'other' than ego entangle. I prefer to be concise when I define powers so they are unambiguous to any who read it, and 'only versus ego entangles' sounded quite precise, especially as it never even occurred to me that some other power mechanic might be used to do the same thing.

You know, an awful lot of typing could have been prevented if you had simply suggested changing the limitation to "limited to mental powers which would prevent her free movement", instead of "only versus ego entangles", especially seeing as how I only took a -1 on it anyway.

A strength requirement means that a character needs to have that much strength to do the listed damage. If they have that strength, they do the full listed damage, it does NOT do "less" damage. If the character has 5 or more points of strength 'higher' than the strength minimum, each 5 points more adds an extra damage class, so it does 'more' damage, not less.

I swear by Hero Designer. You made the right call getting it.

Third fight our new game was in, my character got nailed with exactly that from a magic mentalist. Fortunately I had an ego of 18 and the GM generously allowed me to roll 4 dice attempting to break out. It took a few tries to wear it down. Now I could likely get out in two. We won the fight, but the mentalist got away, so my character's power is growing/adapting itself to fight the last fight, in the grand tradition of militaries everywhere. I do expect to encounter the mentalist again, likely soon.

Well, I just submitted my character to my GM with: Wild Will: +7 EGO (7 Active Points); Only usable versus Ego Entangles. Power loses about half of its effectiveness (-1) Not only did he not bat an eye at it, he told me he thought it was a good idea. (My character already has an ego of 18, bought normally.) Would it be effective against other forms of mind restraint? GM's call. I would not expect it, but then I only put a -1 on it, so maybe he'll feel generous. I've been playing Hero since the first edition back in the 80's, more campaigns than I can remember, supers, fantasy, and all sorts of others, many lasting years. In that time I have seen ego entangles used numerous times. I have however never seen any other mind power be used expressly as a simple restraint.

Just like buying a force field would be a "desperate attempt" to justify "I don't want bullets to kill me". And this would NOT render a character 'immune' to such entangles, just more able to break free after being entangled, rather than spending the rest of the game waiting for other characters to hopefully take out whoever cast the entangle.

How about; She has a wild will that yearns to be free of restraint. That makes it quite useless for ego rolls to control her behavior but great for breaking an ego entangle.

If I were to buy extra ego and give it the limitation "Only usable versus ego entangles", how much would that be worth in your estimation? Similarly, in theory one could buy 'armor piercing' on ego so as to better penetrate the 'defense' of an ego entangle. That's an awfully high cost though. Would any similar limitation as the above be applicable for armor piercing?

Pretty sure that would be a yes, though of course final word is Zarthose's. Go ahead and get started on character ideas, so you can accelerate the process of getting you in. We are playing using webcam on Zoom, Wednesdays from 6PM to ~10-11PM EST.

Alahandra - Amazon Fighter - Fantasy An exceedingly versatile soldier from another world, geased to fulfil an unknown quest. Alahandra_Amazon.hdc Alahandra's Character Sheet.pdf

With the new build, there is no overage to ignore, so all is good.

Hero System has been my favorite pastime for several decades, just to put the following into context. That said, I consider Hero Designer to be the best $25. I have ever spent in my life. No exageration.

Does that include damage added from martial maneuvers? Someone with a strength of 50 who used a martial offensive strike would hit for 14d6, for example. I ask because I want to work on bumping Lilith's strength to 50 from its current 45. Right now she punches using the martial fast strike for 11d6. With a 50 strength, she'll do 12d6. The problem is with a 50 strength, with her claws she would wind up doing 4d6+1, which is technically 13 damage classes. I do not have sufficient XP at the moment to make the full jump. What I am doing in the interim is adding a +1d6 Hand to Hand attack boost inside her OIAID which I can afford right now for 3 points (which would boost her non killing punch damage to 12d6). With two more points later, I will sell that back and just add 5 strength to Lilith outside of her OIAID. SCREECH!!! Never mind. I just discovered Hero Designer will let me buy a Killing Attack for my claws but with ZERO damage classes added, and it reduces the cost to 1 point only, basically allowing me to do 12DC of either normal or killing. I am going to go that route, which will allow me to bump the strength to 50 immediately without the interim +1d6 hand to hand boost. Lilith Lefey's Dark Champions Character Sheet.pdf

Black Hole - Champions A security guard / bouncer transformed into a brick able to fly between planets. Dark Matter's Character Sheet.pdf Dark Matter.hdc

Lilith Lefey AKA Hellbane - Demon Succubus - Champions The highest paid escort in the city, able to transform into a winged demon succubus. Hellbane's Character Sheet.pdf Hellbane.hdc

Peter Tremain - Stone Molder Mage - Fantasy A mage ideally suited to constructing elaborate or impossibly fantastic structures out of stone. https://www.mediafire.com/file/0gv6mbfvfhyehd0/Stone+Molder+w+Golem.hdc/file https://www.mediafire.com/file/w17vzoye4c11kj7/Stone+Molder.pdf/file

Hecate - Cursed Warlock - Fantasy A healer who inadvertently sold her soul in a moment of desperation. Could be encountered as a mere nurse tending to wounded, or at the head of an army of mutated orcs and goblins, inexplicably fighting for the good guys. Hecate's Character Sheet.pdf Hecate.hdc

Brunt - Sheer Brawn Fighter - Fantasy A monster of a club wielding man, easily mistaken for an ogre, except for his human face. Odd encounter being treated as a slave in a village inn, or keeping it's basement free of vermin. Brunt_175.hdc Brunt's Character Sheet.pdf

Wode Irongrip - Dwarven Fighter - Fantasy A mountain dwarf master smith, living and working with humans. Great if you need someone capable of creating 'excellent' armor and weapons. Wode Irongrip's Character Sheet.pdf Wode Irongrip.hdc