Pegasus40218

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... If you were JUST a barkeep, would you tell an ogre that he can't come in?

Re: Maximus Decimus Meridus I'd probably drop the "WF: Thrown sword" (he only did it once), and add "Sword Tricks".

Re: The Treasure Thread If you can find it, Dragon magazine issue #168 from 1991 had probably the best article on treasure I've come across in my years of gaming. The title of the article was "Treasure More Real", and it was all about the fact that the vast majority of treasure should NOT be coinage. For example: look around your house. How much cash do you have just lying around? You might have a few bucks stashed away in a drawer for emergency, some cash in your wallet, and a jar or two collecting loose change...But you also probably have a lot of STUFF that has value (if not to everyone, it at least has value to you). That "stuff" is what most games tend to ignore. You probably have quite a bit of your net worth tied up in your stuff: furniture, computer, clothing, tools, books, gadgets, DVDs, CDs, MP3 players, gaming consoles, video games, headphones, controllers, food, storage containers, cooking utensils, dishes, bar ware, etc. The list is practically endless. There are probably tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff in your home...and very little cash. And that's simply how people live. Most of their equity will be tied up in the things that make their lives better. So, why shouldn't it be the same for the "monsters" whose homes the PCs invade? Of course, they may have a VERY different idea about what is "valuable" or improves their quality of life than the PCs do. But things can really get interesting when the most valuable piece of treasure in a treasure horde is a decorative marble column with gold inlay weighing 2000 lbs or more. Watching the PCs try to figure out how to take it can be entertaining.

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested Well, the paragraphs being used to argue facing basically boil down to 6E2 p50: "...But if the character knows about or can see an opponent, that opponent can’t get a Surprised bonus just by making a Half Move behind the character before attacking. The opponent might get the bonus if the character is distracted (for example, if he’s already fighting one foe who’s in front of him)..." This is why they wait for the opponent to attack, so he's "fighting one foe who's in front of him". Not only this, but they wait until he attacks so he also has no option to abort to a defensive action. Gotta love a room full of rules lawyers...

Re: Ars Tactica I'm VERY interested in this topic, and this is a great example of the type of thinking/advice that I'm looking for. Being relatively new to the system and trying to run a Fantasy Hero (low-fantasy) game, I've been struggling a bit with combat tactics. Most of the encounters so far, the PCs have not been out-numbered by their opponents. I have 5 PCs, and the combats so far have been against 3, 4, or 5 opponents. Generally speaking, to increase the challenge level of an encounter, is it more effective to have more opponents or more powerful opponents?

Re: GM vs Player narrative authority I'm relatively new to the system, but I tend to side with the GM on this one. Also, some information is missing from the discussion. For example, what are the character's OCV and DCV with skill levels? The increased penalty from -2 to -3 could be a net loss in effectiveness of less than 0.5% if the PC is at either end of the scale. At worst, it's a drop of about 12.5% in the odds of success...again, not all that stiff. As for those questioning how important it is to the campaign, I'd say it depends on the campaign. If you're running a fairly realistic game, and the character kills or seriously injures somebody, particularly somebody with influential connections, well -- you've got another story line to pursue in your game. Somebody just picked up a "hunted" or a "rival"! It would also depend on the tone and morality you want in your game. If you're running a game where actions have consequences, and you want to discourage the PCs from behaving stupidly just because they're tougher than everybody else...well, then getting into drunken brawls - especially on a regular basis - should have some sort of in-game consequences (negative reputation would seem appropriate).

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested Another question: is there a way to limit what I'll call "daisy chaining"? What I'm talking about is the tendency of characters with high DEX to hold their actions and wait for the opponents to engage someone. Then, they immediately take their held action to move behind one of the opponents putting him at 1/2 DCV. In terms of game mechanics, it's a decent tactic; but if everyone uses it, you end up with long lines of combatants and everyone attacking someone else's back...and then the first guy in the chain does a half move to the back of the line and the process starts all over again. Mechanically, it makes tactical sense, but when you look at it in terms of how combats really work, it just looks...wrong.

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested OK...for anyone interested, here's an update on how things are going: Mediocre. I have relaxed my original Characteristic Maxima limitations from 3/4ths of the "Normal Characteristic Maxima" suggested in 6E1, to simply use the 6E1 maximas (basically 20 in the physical and mental characterstics, etc). In our first attempt at character creation, the players were given the suggested "heroic" level of character points: 175. I wound up with (as someone so eloquently put it) a collection of "combat wombats" with ridiculous combat capabilities, and only the background skills and options that I basically forced the players to take. It did not work well for a relatively gritty low-fantasy game at all. In round 2, the characters were rebuilt on 100 points. No real surprises there -- the combat capabilities of the group were greatly toned down, but the background skills and options all but disappeared as well. So, we did round 3. 125-point builds. Combat capabilities increased somewhat, but I was able to get most of the characters to add back in a few background skills and abilities. However, most of the characters are still only good for one thing: combat. One of the greatest struggles I'm having is getting the players to think in terms of creating a CHARACTER rather than a collection of combat statistics, and choosing skills and abilities that simply make sense for that characters. For example, one player built a character who is NOT combat-oriented -- a significant step forward -- however, he also bought 4 +1 OCV CSLs with the shield only for use in blocking...and that's pretty much the extent of his combat capabilities: use a shield to block anything and everything near him. There are aspects of this that I like, but also things that I don't. I like the fact that it promotes teamwork (he routinely tries to position himself to be able to block for other characters) and shows a certain amount of cleverness. However, considering that his character supposedly comes from a culture of "enlightened philosophers", I have a hard time fathoming the level of training that these shield CSLs represent..."So let me get this straight. You spent months practicing using a shield to learn how to block, but never learned how to pick up a stick and hit someone with it? Is your culture entirely composed of strict pacifists? How has it not been wiped out?" Simply put, I see this as a rather blatant attempt to manipulate game mechanics, albeit in a rather clever way (since most players opt for offense over defense). Fortunately, I do have one player who has put some effort into developing a character, complete with background material, appropriate skills, etc. At this point in the game, the story line is developing around that character's background, and I'm starting to weave in elements to tie in the remainder of the group. So far, the gaming sessions that have been run have averaged 3-4 "scenes" with one scene per session involving combat; so I'm trying to emphasize role-playing and non-combat skills (hopefully, the players will use the experience they're gaining to acquire some useful non-combat skills -- only time will tell). I have also run into an interesting question regarding CSLs for weapons that have Range Based on Strength (RBS), such as spears or hand axes: If a character has a CSL for such a weapon, does it ONLY apply to either using the weapon in HTH or Ranged combat, or would it apply to both? In other words is it 2-point CSL (Spear - HTH) or 2-point CSL (spear -Ranged) or just 2-point CSL (Spear - both ranged and HTH)? I would think that a WF skill would apply to using it both ways, but not necessarily a CSL...or am I over-thinking things?

Re: 6E - Low Fantasy Hero - Game Balance Issues - Advice Requested Yes, I've picked up on that, which is why I've imposed some of the limits that I have. Thanks for the info on this. I was not aware that Combat Luck was hardened and impenetrable. I did know that the defender had to be aware of the incoming attack for it to apply. At this point, I'm leaning in the direction of #3, though #1 might apply if the character is attacking a single target. How would that work with PSLs to offset the DCV penalty for multiple attacks and the DCV modifiers for combat maneuvers? Can PSLs be bought to offset the halving penalty to DCV and OCV penalties for multiple attacks? In my original post, you'll see that the OCV and DCV limits DO include CSLs, but NOT OCV and DCV bonuses from combat maneuvers. I didn't want to try to impose limits on what actions the characters could take, but I wanted to try to restrict the builds for game balance purposes. I'm using the "normal characteristic maximas", which someone else referred to as a "soft cap"; meaning that up to 15, the characteristics are normal cost, but beyond 15, the costs double. 6E doesn't have figured characteristics any more. OCV and DCV are bought and treated similarly to other characteristics. The maximas I've set for my campaign are as follows: STR: 15 DEX: 15 CON: 15 INT: 15 EGO: 15 PRE: 15 OCV: 6 DCV: 6 OMCV: 6 DMCV: 6 SPD: 3 PD: 6 ED: 6 REC: 8 END: 40 BODY: 15 STUN: 40 Running: 15m Swimming: 8m Leaping: 8m I have every intention of doing that. More on this later. Thanks. I think this answers my earlier question about how the halving would apply to PSLs. I hadn't even considered the points on weapon levels and drawing an equivalence between those points and the points spent on other skills. I'll have to give this some thought. Adding "combat wombat" to my official gaming lexicon! Thanks! I'm liking the idea of not stacking Combat Luck with armor, though I don't expect to have the same problems with armor that I had in my first attempt to run Fantasy Hero due to the change in the campaign setting. More on this later. Great advice; but, until my players learn to embrace the concept of creating interesting "balanced" characters, I have to impose some limits, or I'm going to have a group of warriors with strengths of 40 or better, who, with their base OCV/DCV, combat maneuver modifications, and skill levels figured in will never miss except on an 18, never be hit except on a 3, and will pretty much kill everything (including dragons and greater demons) with a single blow. They haven't demonstrated that they are willing or able to impose limits on themselves, so it's up to me to do it for them...for now. Again, being relatively new, I thought the "Standard Heroic" level would be a decent starting point. I'll have to consider lowering the starting character points. Several have suggested that Combat Luck and armor should not stack. I definitely like this idea. As for the campaign setting, I wanted to run things relatively low-tech compared to most fantasy games. The setting is "iron age / dark ages" -- think Roman Empire or shortly thereafter (900-1100). That's going to limit the amount of resistant defense from Armor to about 6 or 7. When discussing the campaign with the players, they decided that they wanted a "gladiator" campaign...which I think will work well for me (provided I can keep the initial power of the PCs to a reasonable level). I intend to run a lot of political intrigue and such to draw focus away from combat; but, if the players start to get bored and need something to entertain them, I can always throw them into the arena...which should provide sufficient entertainment for the "combat wombats" in the group. Everyone in the group has said that they want to give it a try; but from the start it has been clear that most of them have never played a "low fantasy" game. One player, in particular, didn't grasp the concept -- he immediately wanted to play a wizard and then griped about not being able to cast fireballs every phase...But, I think we've already worked past that initial hurdle. My main desire for running / playing a low-fantasy game is I've grown tired of virtually every campaign eventually devolving into "how is the wizard/priest going to solve [x]?", effectively relegating non-spellcasters to supporting characters at best.

I've been going through the forums and found several threads on two-weapon fighting. Most seem, in my opinion, focused on point efficiency (essentially min-maxing of the characters). I'm coming at this from a different perspective: that of a (relatively new to the system) GM; so my primary concern is with game balance. Let me start by describing the type of game I'm wanting to run. I'm creating a "low fantasy" Fantasy Hero Campaign. I want the game to have a somewhat gritty, semi-realistic feel to it. One "beef" I have with the books that are available so far is they make relatively "vague" references to the fact that such a campaign can be constructed, such as recommending "effective caps", but not providing any guidance on what that would actually look like. I went online and managed to find several very old versions of Fantasy Hero that I could order...the most useful of which was Rob Bell's "Fantasy Hero" published by I.C.E. in 1990. Using that book and adapting for 6th Edition, my campaign is running with the following parameters: 175 point characters (including 50 points of complications) [standard Heroic Characters] I've reduced to the normal Characteristic Maximas to about 3/4 of the values suggested in 6e1 (most Characteristics have a maxima of 15 instead of 20) I've also put the following restrictions in place: OCV/DCV (including CSLs): beggining range: 5-9; max for campaign: 13 Speed: beggining range: 2-4; max for campaign: 5 Weapon Damage: beginning range: 2-6 DCs; max for campaign: 9 DCs Skills: beginning range: 8- to 14-; max for campaign: 17-; Spells: begging range: 20-30 Active points; Max for campaign: 40 Active points* For Spells, I've implemented the following limits: Attack Spell (normal damage): Average 4d6; Maximum 6d6 Attack Spell (killing damage): Average 1d6+1; Maximum 2d6 Defenses: Average +4PD/+4ED; Maximum +6PD/+6ED Other Spells: Average 30 Active Points; Maximum 40 Active Points Now, after reading several of the threads on two-weapon fighting, most of you will probably see these limitations as somewhat extreme; but consider the following: 1) I'm relatively new to the system, so I'm still learning exactly what these limits actually MEAN in-game. 2) Pretty much my entire gaming group comes from a D&D / Pathfinder background, and they all min-max combat abilities to the hilt. Everything they do is planned and built to deal out maximum damage as quickly as possible and making their characters all but impervious to all damage. To give you an idea what this looks like, in my first attempt to run Fantasy Hero with this group, we had a Knight in the party who had 21 points of resistant defense. (If I remember correctly, it broke down to something like 9 points of rPD/rED from armor + 4 levels Combat Luck for 12 rPD/12rED.) Unless I built something specifically to ignore the armor (which would most likely be lethal to everyone else in the group), he was pretty much impervious to damage. In the campaign I am currently building, I'm only allowing the characters to purchase Combat Luck once! This will help address the problem above, but I can also guarantee that pretty much EVERY character will have it. So...the question about Two-weapon fighting. One of the characters in my current game is built as a two-weapon fighter. One dispute came up over whether or not he could use Penalty Skill Levels (PSLs) to offset the 1/2 DCV penalty for two-weapon fighting. In the Advanced Players Guide 2 (p14) it states "Characters cannot use Defensive PSLs to counteract the DCV penalty imposed by a Combat or Martial Maneuver, such as a Grab or Leg sweep." Now, this runs counter to what many of the other threads on Two-Weapon Fighting assert (meaning that many other posters were building characters with PSLs to offset these penalties -- which is fine if their GM allows it). Now, this character is also built with base OCV and DCV of 6, with 4 3-point CSLs with his preferred weapons which can be used to increase OCV/DCV or DCs. The character also took some martial arts, specifically, Defensive Strike, Offensive Strike, and Killing Strike (I'm assuming with Weapon Elements -- I'll have to re-check the players character sheet)...and all of this is being used while fighting with two weapons...oh, and did I mention that the character also has the Off-Hand Defense which gives him +1 DCV whenever fighting with a weapon in his off-hand? So, net result, I have a character striking twice per phase with 7 OCV (6 OCV base, +1 for Defensive Strike, with the -2 OCV penalty for multiple attacks cancelled by Two-Weapon Fighting), and 13 DCV (6 DCV, +3 CSLs, +3 DCV for Defensive Strike, +1 DCV for the off-hand defense). Now, compare that to what should be a relatively "tough" fight one-on-one: a lion. Base OCV 6, DCV 5, +1 HTH CSL. Going pretty much straight offensive, the lion can ONLY hit the character on a 5 or less on 3d6 (4.63% chance to hit). This character is going to shred lions by the dozen. "OK...There are a dozen lions in the arena. You walk into the arena, draw your weapons and a little under two and half minutes later, all of the lions are dead, and you walk out of the arena." Does that sound like fun to you? It sounds pretty boring to me...And all of this is technically within the "severe" limitations I imposed above (the limits do not include the OCV and DCV modifiers for combat maneuvers). For anyone with a d20 background, how much fun is a game going to be if your character can only be hit on a natural 20? The odds of that are better than the odds or rolling 5- on 3d6... On one hand, I'm tempted to rule that the player can't get the +1 DCV for Off-Hand Defense AND also attack with the weapon in the off-hand (either it's being used offensively OR it's being used defensively, but not both at the same time). But, being a rules-lawyer, I KNOW I'm going to be getting an argument about that. For this player, it's ALL about min-maxing. Maybe I'm over looking something. Maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way. Maybe invulnerable, unstoppable killing machines is how it's supposed to be...Maybe I'm just frustrated. Maybe I'm just in the wrong group with the wrong type of players. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs GREAT! This is pretty much the kind of thing I was looking for...though, sadly...it's something of a moot point at the moment -- the Fantasy HERO game I was running sort of blew up...the players created characters and then chose to play them in such a way that they hated each other...So, in an effort to remove some of the complexity (by eliminating some of the optional rules), we're now trying to get a Champions game running; so the above advice won't go entirely to waste. I hope to get back to Fantasy HERO after the group gets more comfortable with the system. My next problem is how to get hack-and-slash players to use their imaginations and role-play...

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs Funny...I expected that last one to show up AFTER my other responses...

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs Sorry for the multiple posts everybody...I couldn't figure out why my responses weren't showing up...I just noticed the "your response won't be visible until reviewed by a moderator"...Ooops...

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs We are using hit locations (but not the rules on wounding and bleeding...yet). Let me tell you, I've never seen more shots to the arm in my life! But, I think the problem has been that my mooks have too much PD. This problem stemmed from an attitudinal problem on my part. I had been trying to treat HERO like every other (level-based) system I have every played or run. I thought of the characters as "low-level" characters rather than "heroes". Consequently, I felt that as low-level characters, a "standard normal" with a weapon would be a credible threat. To enable them to stand up to the PCs, any NPC in a combat role would have Combat Luck (3rPD/3rED) - just like the PCs did. I had something of an epiphany about this after the last gaming session and have decided to scale things back a bit. After all, the PCs are supposed to be heroes...the average NPC is not. When I read the 6E books, I noticed that many of the changes were relatively minor; and, since 6E Fantasy HERO wasn't due out until August (GenCon, I believe), I have picked up a number of 5E resources including: Fantasy HERO, Ultimate Skill, Ninja HERO, HS Equipment Guide, HS Resource Kit, Valdorian Age, and the Book of Dragons. I've read Fantasy HERO cover-to-cover, the others I've mainly used for reference. The only real problem I've run into is the difference between 6E's description of Stealth v. Concealment and that provided in Ultimate Skill. For the time being, I've opted to use the simpler interpretation: Stealth for hiding yourself, Concealment for hiding objects (Ultimate skil indicates that Concealment is the proper skill if you're going to remain hidden for more than 1 turn). I purchased HD early on, but had some troubles with the installation. I finally figured out that for some reason, it was downloading and saving as a .zip file instead of a .jar. Once I changed the file extension, it installed without a hitch. I have run into one problem with it: The Points & Matching Complications don't appear to work as described in the manual. For example: When I create a new "heroic" character for 6E, it defaults to 200 "Points" and 150 "Matching Complications" (which I would expect to equate to a 350-point character). If I go to the Characteristics tab, at the bottom it shows 0/200 points spent. This is OK. I then go to the Complications tab and purchase a 15-point complication. I return to the Characteristics tab and it still shows 0/200 points spent. I would have expected 0/215. So, instead of "Points" being "Base Points" - the number of "free" points you get to work with, "Points" seems to be "Total Points" including complication that you get to work with...Or am I doing something wrong?

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs We have been using the hit location rules. I have to admit, I've seen a LOT of arm and hand shots so far -- far more than the odds would predict. That said, I don't think bad luck has been the entirety of the problem. I have purchased a number of 5E sources (PDFs when possible, otherwise softcover) includuing: Fantasy Hero, Ultimate Skill, Equipment Guide, Resource Kit, HS Beastiary, Ninja Hero, and the Book of Dragons. I have read Fantasy Hero and the Resource Kit. The others I have used mainly for reference. I have purchased HD, but until this week, I'd had problems installing it. I finally noticed that when I downloaded it, for some reason it downloaded as a .zip instead of a .jar. Once I figured that out, and changed the file extension, it installed without a hitch. A quick look at it, and the only thing I've had a problem with is that there appears to be a discrepancy between how the software works and how the help file says it works. Specifically, on the Basic Info tab - the "Points" and "Matching Complications" fields. The user guide indicates that there should be a "Base Points" field that represents the "free" points you get to build a character. The software seems to be behaving as if the "Points" field is the "total points" (including matching complications) that you get to work with. For example, if I choose to create a "heroic" character, it defaults to 200 Points and 150 "Matching complications". If I look at the characteristics tab, it indicates that I've spent 0/200 points. If I go to the complications tab and buy a 10-point complication, then return to the characteristics tab, it still shows that I 've spent 0/200, not 0/210 (which is what I would have expected). Don't know if that's a bug, or I'm just confused on how it's supposed to work.

Re: Tools / Assistance for New GMs I've purchased a number of 5E products in PDF (if available) and softcover, including: Fantasy Hero, Ultimate Skill, Equipment Guide, Resource Kit, Book of Dragons, Ninja Hero, Valdorian Age, and the HS Beastiary. I have also purchased Hero Designer, but I had some difficulty with the setup (mainly because my PC downloaded it as a .zip instead of a .jar...once I figured that out, the installation was a snap). I've taken a quick look at it, but I'm a little confused with the points on the BASIC INFO tab...The helpfile mentions a "Base Points" field, and a "Max. Disads" field. The UI has a "Points" field, which I assume is the Base points...but the software seems to be have differently than described in the help file. Help indicates that Base Points are the "free" points you have to work with, so it'd be Base + Disads + Experience = total....But the software seems to be have as if the points field = Base + Disads, so it'd be Points + Experience = Total...I'll figure it out once I use it a bit more.

Hey everybody! I'm relatively new to the Hero System -- I played in a short Champions (4th ed. I think) campaign back around 1994 -- and I'm trying to run a weekly Fantasy Hero (low fantasy) campaign for a group of 5 players, most of whom have never played the system. I started preparing for the campaign by reading all of the 6th Edition books from cover to cover (Character Creation, Combat & Adventuring, and Advanced Players Guide); so, I have at least a passing familiarity with all of the rules, but in-depth knowledge of relatively few of them. To get the campaign started, we spent a couple of game sessions creating the characters and then running them through a few "scenarios" to get a feel for the game mechanics (a couple of "mock" combats, over-coming obstacles / cliff-climbing, social interraction / information gathering, and stealth activities -- the stuff that will come into play in most fantasy campaigns). The campaign has been running for a couple of weeks now, and there are a few problems I'd like to figure out how to address: 1) Combat seems to run slowly. It's not so much that it takes a long time for each individual to act, it just seems to take a long time for the fights to end. It may be that the PCs don't have enough DCs in their attacks, or that the NPCs have too much rPD/rED...I tried to use the guidelines I found of about 2-3 points of defense per DC in the average attack. The PCs average about 5 or 6 DCs in their attacks (max is 9), and the NPCs they've been battling typically have 9(6) PD(rPD). Is this too much? Are there any other "tricks" to speeding up combat? 2) I typically work 45-60 hours / week, so I have relatively little time to prepare for my weekly game sessions. I've found that having to create full character sheets for "throw-away" NPCs too time-consuming, so I'm trying to find a "stripped down" character sheet suitable for such NPCs, but I haven't had too much luck. I'm looking for any tools I can find that can help with creating and managing a stable of NPCs, as well as tips to streamline the actual running of the game. Any help / advice that can be provided will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, C.