Armitage

Who says Punk and Metal can't get along?

Until Champions Complete came out, I never realized that Followers earned experience like normal characters. Having never played a character with a Follower, I assumed that they were improved by the main character spending their own xp to increase the Follower's point total, just like when they're initially purchased. There was a thread I started in 2012, Rules You Didn't Know Until Champions Complete, which included that as well as the rule that improvised weapons add to your Strength damage if their PD + BODY is greater than your base damage classes. (Which, after the first couple posts, turned into a debate on the merit of the latter rule.)

Way back in 2011, I asked a question about the Active Point total of a Power built with Differing Modifiers. http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/79758-active-point-total-for-differing-modifiers/ I based my question on the Gift of Flight Spell described on 6E1 359. Flight 20m (20 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2). Total cost: 13 points. 13 Base Points, Usable By Other (+1/4) (16 Active Points); OAF (Magic Wand; -1), Requires A Roll (Magic roll; -1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4). Total cost: 5 points. I asked if the Power would be considered 16 Active Points (granting flight) or 36 Active Points (flight + granting flight). Your answer was "The Active Point cost of 36 is correct." I've just realized that the Areomancy spells in Hero System Grimoire (and Fantasy Hero Grimoire II) seem to conflict with this. For example: Augmented Accuracy (The base spell doesn't list total Active Points, so I'll use one of the variants.) "Strong Spell: Increase to +3 with All Combat. 65 Active Points; total cost 17 points." +3 with All Attacks (30 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2). Total cost: 20 points. 20 Base Points, Usable Simultaneously (up to 250 people at once; +2 1/4) (65 Active Points); OAF Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; shard of a sword-blade that’s drawn blood in combat,; -1 1/4), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Requires A Roll (Magic roll; -1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4). Total cost: 17 points. The listed cost of 65 Active Points (instead of 95) would seem to indicate that the Active Points of the granted power aren't considered part of the power, which significantly affects things like Power Frameworks.

Bloodstone, from the Crowns of Krim, has a power called "Weeping Blood", which causes the target to bleed from all of their pores and orifices. It's an RKA, NND (Power defense or not having blood), Does BODY, Constant, Cannot Use Targeting, No Knockback.

I've never really been clear on the nature of Virtuoso's powers, and the original description in the adventure wasn't particularly helpful. Is he just a general reality warper, like Cosmo or the Infinite Man, but requiring artistic expression to focus it? If not for the use of a musical instrument, he could almost be a superhuman version of Simon from "Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings". "Well you know my name is Simon. And the things I draw come true."

I figured that it was meant to be something like the Stinking Vapors power in Champions Powers. (Change Environment that only works if the target fails a CON Roll.) After "x" drinks, make a CON Roll to avoid becoming intoxicated. Each additional drink after "x" imposes a penalty. Some drinks are weak and give a bonus; other drinks are potent and impose a penalty. 6E1 44 mentions making a CON Roll to resist poisons or diseases, but none of the write-ups for those attacks include that mechanism. e.g., the poisons in the Hero System Equipment Guide.

In reading through the PDF of Fantasy Hero Complete, I realized that 5e Fantasy Hero, 6e Fantasy Hero, and Fantasy Hero Complete all give centaurs the Complication Prone To Intoxication (-3 on CON Rolls to resist drunkenness). The problem is...I can't recall any rule that involves making a CON Roll to avoid getting drunk. 4e had a write-up for alcohol, but it was just an INT, DEX, and CON Drain, with no roll to resist. Maybe an optional rule in Digital Hero that I'm not recalling? There are OCV and DCV penalties for being intoxicated, but no rules for becoming intoxicated. Is it really a Complication if you have a penalty for a rule that doesn't actually exist?

I had always assumed that the increase in points in 5e was because of a shift in the character design paradigm toward spending more points on skills. e.g. A 5e plain vanilla VIPER agent has 55 points of skills, compared to 3 points for the same agent in 4e.

There's the variant Armor Piercing from the Advanced Player's Guide. +1/4 for 1/2 defenses. +3/4 for 1/4. +1 1/2 for 1/8. The trick is building it so that it only affects a single target, only applies one level per attempt, and requires a roll for each level. I think I remember DCV bought with Only Against A Single Opponent in one of the books, but I can't remember where. Let's call it -1 for now. Let's see... Find Weakness I: Armor Piercing (+1/4) for Martial Punch, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Time Limit (1 Battle; +3/4) (16 Active Points); Only Against A Single Target (-1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Extra Time (Half Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4). Total cost 6 points. plus Find Weakness II: Armor Piercing (1/4 Defenses) (+1/2) for Martial Punch, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Time Limit (1 Battle; +3/4) (34 Active Points); Only Against A Single Target (-1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Only Against Target Affected By Find Weakness I (-1/2), Extra Time (Half Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4). Total cost: 10 points. plus Find Weakness III: Armor Piercing (1/8 Defenses) (+3/4) for Martial Punch, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Time Limit (1 Battle; +3/4) (49 Active Points); Only Against A Single Target (-1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll; -1/2), Only Against Target Affected By Find Weakness II (-1/2), Extra Time (Half Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4). Total cost 15 points. Total cost: 31 points. The character spends a Half Phase and makes a Skill roll at -2. If successful, a single target's defenses are halved against one attack for the duration of the battle. A Half Phase and a second Skill roll at -3 quarters the defenses. A Half Phase and another Skill roll at -5 eighths the defenses. This doesn't quite match the Base roll, -2, and -4 of the original Find Weakness. If you change Requires a Skill Roll to -1 per 20 Active Points, the power is 33 points and the rolls are -1, -2, and -2. If a roll fails, it can be retried according to the normal rules for retrying skills, most likely by taking more time, which probably wouldn't be practical in combat.

Earlier editions had a tendency to give characters superhuman or near-superhuman characteristics when there was no real reason for them and they didn't fit the origin or character concept. Rainbow Archer, anyone? For those not familiar with her, she was essentially a villainous Green Arrow. She was a normal human with a bow and trick arrows...and a 35 DEX.

The Ultimate Skill (and whatever the updated version is called...Hero System Skill?) has a table of modifiers based on the size of the object and where it's kept. 51% - 75% the size of a hand is -0. 76% - 100% is -1 and each additional +10% size is another -1. Anything more than 140% the size of a hand is classed as "Generally not possible". Being in a belt pouch or a fanny pack is +1, which I would say is comparable to a scabbard. An interior jacket pocket is -1 and a tight pocket is -1, so a shoulder holster might be -2.

At least "10 years away" is better than the "20 years away" we've been hearing every few years since the 1950s. That's progress, sort of.

How do people feel about a team of PC heroes with an NPC member? What experiences have you had with the situation? Obviously, there's the risk that the NPC will transform into a GMPC, with the GM trying to run the game and play in it at the same time, and possibly accidentally or intentionally putting more emphasis on the NPC than the PCs. On the other hand, it can help to add extra firepower to the team, or provide the GM with a readily available way to "nudge" the players if they get stuck during an investigation. That has pitfalls itself though, if the players become too dependant on the NPC when they don't feel like solving a mystery themselves. Dragon #170 had an article, "The Pitfalls of Gamemastering". One of them was: I was once in a game in which the GM had planned to introduce a sapient telepathic sheepdog (the result of a VIPER experiment). It was intemded that the PCs would think he was just a stray dog that had adopted the team, he would secretly use his powers to help us when he could, and he would eventually reveal his true nature. Unfortunately, the team mentalist mind blasted the dog the moment he appeared, for no particular reason (he was that type of player), so the secret lasted about 30 seconds. The dog wasn't as powerful as the PCs and he didn't act publically, since he was in hiding, so his main edge was in stealth operations, since people thought he was a normal dog. He got along well with the team, except the mentalist PC. Imagine that. The PC was a cyborg whose mental powers derived from his brain implants and he had the highly imaginative name "Psi-Borg". The dog called him "Toaster".

I was once in a campaign in which one of the PCs was pretty much a one-trick pony. Her name was Timestopper and she had a radius selective target Speed Suppress. Once she was active long enough for it to become publically known what her power was, most villains with the resources, particularly gadgeteers and other VPP types, equipped themselves with Power Defense if they thought there was a chance of encountering her.

The Advanced Player's Guide 1 had two modifiers for Requires A Skill Roll that could be relevant. Enhanced Success 1/4 less Limitation: The power gains +5% Active Points for every point the roll succeeds by, maximum of +25%. 1/2 less Limitation: The power gains +10% Active Points for every point the roll succeeds by, maximum of +50%. 1 less Limitation: The power gains +20% Active Points for every point the roll succeeds by, maximum of +100%. Reduced Effect for Failure 1/4 less Limitation: If the skill roll fails, the power still works, but only at 25% of its Active Points. 1/2 less Limitation: The power works at 50% of its Active Points. 1 less Limitation: The power works at 75% of its Active Points.

During the Cosmic Spider-Man storyline (when Spider-Man had the Captain Universe powers), Spider-Man accidentally punched the Gray Hulk into orbit. He was more concerned about dying when he changed back into Banner at sunrise than he was about running out of air himself. I would say that while he needs to breathe, if he has the opportunity to take a breath he can hold it for a long time.

Someone asked Steve the same question back in 2010. The answer was...less than clear.

When Force Wall became Barrier, a power that creates a permanent wall, the wall creation aspect of Entangle was removed.

Champions Powers has a bridge-building power that uses Barrier, with the Limitation Horizontal only (-1). For stairs, the same book had Ice Slide Rescue, which was Flight with Usable On Others, Area of Effect covering the length and width of the slide, and Physical Manifestation. The actual power was Usable As Attack, but that's because the ice-creating character controls the creation of the slide and the movement of the people on it.

5th Edition Follow-Through Attack: Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger requires a Half Phase Action to reset; when character kills an opponent in battle; +1/4) for up to 60 Active Points of HKA (15 Active Points); OIF (weapons of opportunity; -1/2) Total cost: 10 points. The 5e version missed the fact that you can't perform a Zero Phase action after an attack, so the value of Trigger was +1/4 too little. 6E increased it to +1/2 for an action that takes no time, which made it 30 AP and 20 RP.

The Stinking Vapor power in Champions Powers and other places has Only Applies If Victim Fails CON Roll (-1/2). Digital Hero #18 had optional rules for implementing "Saving Throws" in Hero System. A somewhat complex Limitation with multiple factors determing the value, and an added die roll. It's questionable whether the gain during play would be worth the added complexity. The base limitation ranges from -1/2 to -1 1/2, depending on how much a successful roll reduces the effect of the Power, from "up to 49%" to 100%. There's an additional modifier ranging from an additional -1 for a +4 bonus to the roll to reducing the Limitation by 1 for a -4 penalty on the roll. For example, a poison that allows a CON Roll at -2 to take 25% normal damage would have a -1/2 Limitation; -1 for 50-75% reduction and 1/2 less Limitation for a -2 penalty.

But "Foundation: A World in Black and White" was an excellent d20 superhero game. Far better than the later Mutants & Masterminds. How can you not admire a game that includes heroines' cup sizes in their descriptions? (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

It's like the old joke about drive-through ATMs having Braille on the keys. The reality is that it's not worth the expense to create separate ATMs for walk-up and drive-through, so they use one machine, with Braille, for both. The number of ATMs robbed using superpowers would likely be so small that it wouldn't be worth the expense to make them supervillain resistant.