Demonsong

What information should you give players? I ran my regular Super Mercenaries game on Saturday. I got a little disorganized during the big battle and that slowed things down a little, but I see where my problems are and I am taking steps to increase the flow of the battle. All things considered every thing else went well. However something did come up during the battle that left me wondering. An NPC Mentalist of some power has a 7D6 Ego attack, with the Visible Limitation on it. The power is defined has Mind Razors (all so the NPC Name: Mind Razor). Blades of mental energy appear in front of Razor, one blade for each D6 of ego attack, and spinning at insane speed fly thought the victims head causing intense pain, and then disappear. I like it. Any way during the early stages of the battle Razor use this power on the groups Martial Artist, Raven. Now Raven had seen what these Razors had done to one of the bricks in the party already said he wanted to Martial Dodge. This is where I think I messed up. I simply told him it was a mental attack and that he couldn’t dodge. I think what I should have done is let him dodge and then have the razors hit him any way (provided of course that Mind Razor made his attack roll). Because Raven had no way of knowing that it was a mental attack. This may seam like a small thing because it didn’t really have an effect on the outcome of the battle. But I think I reduced the whole over flavor of the game and battle a little. Or maybe I am just beating my self up for nothing. As a GM how would you have handled it?

Touch at range? An energy manipulator can feel the flow of all energy around him. Described as touch at range. Would you need to make it discriminatory? Thoughts? Thanks

Regeneration: 1 / Min +2 Variable Effects (Heal any thing one at a time) +1/2 END =0 +1/2 Persistent -1/2 Self Only -1 ¼ Extra Time: 1min -1 Only at night Active points 40 points Real cost 11points Then you have all night to heal all the different type of damage done to you.

I would go with this. Good answer. Remember that 12†is length, max height half that, 6â€

Accedential change in to were-wolf form: Yes 2 of them, -Extreme Stress 8- -Takes Body Damage 14-

Thanks for the input guys.

Only in Hero ID and Distinctive Features A Were-Wolf that keeps his personality, skills, and knowledge in wolf form. Sound more like Only in Hero ID, more them multi-form to me. So going with that how would you do the Distinctive Features (Were-Wolf)? Would you just apply them the same -1/4 Disadvantage as powers? Thus decreasing the value of the disadvantage? I can't find anything in the FAQ or the book to handle this. Thoughts?

To get ready for a game I make sure I have: 1-copys of all my players character sheets, and major NPC’s character sheets 2-my GM Cheat Sheet. 3-my PC Cheat Sheet 4-a very board and general plan of what is going to happen be cause I have yet to plan an adventure that went as scheduled. I don’t use the speed chart at all. 1-All PC’s and NPC’s get an action in order of DEX 2-start over, if a PC and NPC is out of actions (=SPD) they don’t get to go again. This speeds thing up a lot. It’s not perfect, but I can live with it if because is speeds up combat so much.

The world that the game is taking place in is some what different than the normal champion’s world. Think Shadow Run or Rifts, in a run down, free for all, part of a Mega City where government cops and corporation security just don’t go. It’s the bad lands of the city, a modern DMZ, where if you have the power or guns you can get away with murder and no one is going to call the police because there are no police to call. I do like the unluck thing; it is defiantly worth thinking about. And as I right this, maybe a there is a team of vigilantes types that might be noticing the groups activities….hummm. Demonsong

Hello all, It every ones favorite Demon….err, um, I mean GM with another question for all you other GM’s out there. How do you handle characters not role playing there Disadvantages. I have an example: A character with Code vs. Killing. Holding an agent (that surrendered) still so another party member could shoot him in the head. He defended his actions by saying that his code against killing was personal and did not count because he did not kill the poor SOB the other guy did. No, this really happened!!! Well what do you think? As a side note my campaign is generally not that insane but these two players are loose cannons.

I would probably put a stop to that also.

I use the following steps. Although if it is really bad I just jump to step 4. 1- Sometimes the power is kind of OK; it can just be abused if the GM lets it. In that case I give the player a warning. This has worked for me once, but most of the time it does not work. So I move on to step 2. (As a matter of fact I am GMing a guy right now that has the summon power to summon Shadow Demons, I have warned him about the miss use of this power. I will be interested to see if he listens to that warning or not. Only time will tell.) 2- If the power is just a little out of wack, I modify it so it fits in the campaign better. 3- I squash the power cut it out of the game all together. 4- If all else fails, the character slips on a banana peal and breaks his neck. Or get teleported in to the sun. Or any one of a number of fun things gm’s can use to squash an unbalanced/abusive character.

Wyrm: I am afraid that I must disagree with you Wyrm. I can not fathom how you could not see it as a disadvantage, but to each his own. Your version is much more clunky and cumbersome than my version, by far. A lot of unnecessary effects and adders, where my version is very stream line and simply gets the desired effect across. The desired effect being he transfers STR and visibly gets stronger, that is to say larger and heavier which is by definition a disadvantage and there fore could be use as a side effect. What I asked for if, you read my post, is personal perception on what any given individual would find more intimidating as a brick between two given choices. But the thread turned in to a how to mess with bricks thread. Which is fine as long as I can still get some general feed back on the original question. And I did, so I am generaly happy. I simply put the mechanics down so every on new where I was coming form. I did not put the mechanics down asking for a Power critique. Although I am happy to listen to any ones reasonable suggestions. I am well aware of the fact that my mechanics may not be perfect, but they are certainly less cumbersome that what you purposed. And if you read Monolith’s posts he did not disagree about size and mass increases being a side effect disadvantage. He as was afraid I was taking it as a Side Effect of the power and a separate Disadvantage. But I think the best thing to do is agree to disagree. Every one else: Thanks for your input.

You mean apply common since? What an appalling notion!

I don’t need to calm down, because I am not calmed up Reading your post isn’t quite enough to get me excited. Any way if you read my original post it states.. Implying that the character is relatively normal size and weight until the power is used. There is no double dipping involved and the description of the side effect could be described either as distinctive features or as a physical limitation depending on your point of view. And I am not a new gamer. Thank you very much. I have been playing various games including HERO for over 15 years. I cut my teeth on Champions in like 87. Sure this is the first time I have Played 5th Edition. But it’s not that different. And I assure that I know how to build characters correctly. I think the problem here is that weather you mean to do it or know you come off very condescending. You should work on that. May be take a step out side and realize that you are not your persona. Just a thought. Nothing personal.

What part of it is not a disadvantage! The power is limited probably more that half the time. If he is in any sort of enclosed environment (read inside any normal building here) he had better think of the repercussions of using his power or he is going to have a real difficult time maneuvering at the very least . At the worst he will put his head thought the ceiling. The same thing goes when he is not standing on solid earth, sudden weight increases can be hazardous to your health if you’re on a very solid surface. And that not even mentioning the fact that the bigger a character is PC or NPC the bigger bullet (or any attack) magnet he/she becomes. And this is a freaking NPC. Its not like I am trying to pull the wool over my own eyes and trick the GM (my self) in to have an over powered character. I am saving like 22 points with this Side Effect that always takes effect when ever the power is use. That’s hardly abusive. What, exactly is excitable in your eyes, as a suitably limiting disadvantage. The character chokes to death on his own blood if he ever uses the power? Tom I bet your right. But I think I am going to stay with the STR to STR.

No, it not growth because I don’t want them to get that big. It a Physical Limitation: Large and Heavy and Distinctive Features. That can’t be turned off and always happens when ever the characters power is used. There is no advantage to that other than to look scary. To me that is not Growth.

What is would scare a brick more? As I have mentioned before I am running a campaign consisting of mostly brick type characters. And although I am not having any problems dealing with that kind of power in the group. I do want to keep the pressure turned up and at lest keep them worried. So I have am designing a brick to be part of there next super powered run in. So my question is all about what you folks think is intimidating. Or what would intimidate your brick style character more in any random campaign, just in terms of special effect? 1- Said NPC brick jumping in the middle of the party and screaming maniacally and emitting a sickly green light the envelops the characters and makes them weaker as he gets larger and stronger. Area Effect-Radius, Personal Immunity, 4D6 STR Transfer to STR, Maximum effect 50 points, Visible, Side Effects: grows larger and gets heavier the higher his STR goes. We are not talking about Growth, just a size and weight increases. Normally 6’ 1â€, 237lb, but at max STR is 13’ tall and 1400lb. 2-Said NPC brick just standing there waiting to be attacked laughing at the PC. Then suddenly growing larger and stronger every time he gets hit. Adsorption 4D6 Energy to STR and Adsorption 4D6 Physical to STR, Side Effects: grows larger and gets heavier the higher his STR goes. We are not talking about Growth, just a size and weight increases. Normally 6’ 1â€, 237lb, but at max STR is 13’ tall and 1400lb. I only need one for the group as I already have the rest of the bad guys all flushed out. Including a mentalist with an AFX3 EGO attack. Which is just what the doctor ordered, when dealing with a party bricks. If you’re wondering I actually expect the party to win then encounter, as long as they don’t get caught up in there own egos and work together as some sort of a team. If not, well them I will get to pound them in to the dirt, which is all fun for the GM (ME) Thoughts?

A “VERY†small part of the Hulk defined. Not wanting to get in to the in and outs of the movies. I was very disappointed in it. I did have one question. How would you define the Hulks transformation in HERO, Multi-Form or Only In Hero ID? I am personally leaning toward OIHID. Thoughts? Thanks

Your work copy? How many copies of Fred do you own? Now that’s a loyalist!!!

All right, we will have none of that Palladium bashing. You guys play HERO, I would think that a concept as simple as S.D.C and M.D.C. wouldn’t overwhelm you. It’s a good system. Not perfect by any means but It’s not that Bad! Demonsong

tesuji is totally correct here. There is no grabbing (Grab maneuver) involved. The PC in question makes a half move to teleport in to a hex right next to the innocent, then makes a half move to teleport out. As long as the inclement is willing and does not exceed the PCs mass limit. There should be no problem.

I think that's just bad Game Mastering. All my PC makes their character with me there. We work form concept, and build up from there. I know my world, so I know what will and will not work. The end result is I generally have all the PC character sheets memorized. If that's not possible for a GM then he/she should at least take the time to study the character first. Off topic sorry. I just think if some one is going to take the time to run a game they should do it right.

Don’t do that!!! Why destroy your fun?

Mega-Scale Overkill!!! At what point does Mega-Scale become ridicules? A Brick with STR of 50, leap of 10â€. The leaping is his only movement. Aside from normal walk/running speed of 6â€. So he wants to buy. Megascale 1km on up to 10†leap (2.5pts), -1 End X3 (2.5/2=1.25=1pts) So for 1 point and 3 END the character can now leap 10 km. Some how that just seams wrong to me. Am I overreacting? I mean he can only use it as minimum of 1km but still. What do you guys think??