Pteryx

Chapter One, broken down Because part of doing one's homework is writing stuff to prove you get it. The Basics of Character Creation: You buy various stuff with points which will be detailed later. There are two basic modes of play, Heroic (which skews the rules in favor of simulating "ordinary" movie/TV physics) and Superheroic (which skews the rules in favor of simulating the superheroic genre and anything related). One of the differences is that superheroes need to buy practically everything that'll be useful in the game with points while normal heroes can buy equipment with cash instead. Character Conception: How many points one has to spend and the kinds of things they can be spent on depends on the campaign and the character. Powerful superheroes are built with more points than ordinary cops. Some of these points are free while others are only made available through Disadvantages, discussed later. The GM may also provide sets of abilities he prefers or requires all characters of a given type to buy, called "Package Deals", which can simulate classes, races, and the like if you're into that sort of thing. Characteristics: There are eight Base Characteristics, priced more or less by usefulness, which have a base value of 10 (vaguely above average) which can be bought up with points or sold back to get more points. There may be a cap of a value of 20 after which these Characteristics cost double; most often you'll see this in Heroic campaigns. Furthermore, there are six Figured Characteristics. You use the formulae given to find out their base value (these are calculated from your Base Characteristics), rounding halves up except for Speed, where any decimal is rounded down. Afterwards, you may buy up or sell back these Figured Characteristics like you did before; these, however, each have different Maxima. Skills: Here's a bunch of ordinary stuff you can do. Having an 8- (8 or less on 3d6) roll in a skill costs 1 point, having your skill be based on the appropriate Characteristic roll (for a 10 stat, 11-) costs 3 points, and improving a skill by 1 from there costs 1 point. There are no unskilled checks, though a GM may provide a standard bunch of free 8- skills to all characters for this purpose (Everyman Skills). Perquisites (Perks): This is how you can buy NPC friends who primarily help you, unusual licences, cool cars, and the like. Talents: These are some small, standardized bonuses and semi-ordinary abilities your GM may allow even when he doesn't allow Powers. He may also build a few of his own using Powers and/or Skills. Powers: This is probably where you got confused. There are two difficult things about Powers. One, the name of the Power does not necessarily reflect what it's going to be bought to simulate. For example, the Images power can be bought such that it makes sounds instead of images. "Functions" might be a more decriptive, but more cumbersome name. Two, the Powers in the book can be altered as they're purchased by what are called Power Modifiers, discussed later, to make them behave more like you envisioned. Figuring out the cost of the modified power involves math. Got that? Then here are two easier things to chew on. First is the concept of "special effects". You don't buy fire abilities; you buy generic Powers, call them fire-based upon purchase (this can't be changed later), and they interact with other stuff that's bought to react differently to fire (this demon has 50% Energy Damage Resistance, only vs. fire, but the evil Icecube has the Disadvantage "Vulnerability, x1 1/2 BODY Damage from Fire Attacks"). It's the same thing seen in most other RPGs, only with the curtain pulled back. The second simple thing to get is that Powers are generally bought in increments. If you can float around a bit, that might be 3" (6 meters per Phase, Phases being a character's times to act during a Turn of 12 seconds/Segments) of Flight. Flight costs 2 character points per inch. Thus, you spend 6 Character Points on Flight. Adjustment Powers: These are basically "meta-Powers" -- they're Powers for changing Characteristics (both types) and other Powers. The number rolled on the dice generally equal the Character Points worth of effect -- it's easier to Aid Comeliness than Dexterity, because Dexterity is much more powerful. Attack Powers: These are powers for hurting or hindering foes and are pretty strightforward. Note how you count Normal Damage: the total rolled is the STUN inflicted, the number of dice plus sixes rolled minus ones rolled is the BODY inflicted. Body-Affecting Powers: These are powers that change your body. (Oh, and ignore the book -- Shape Shift is Sense-Affecting, not Body-Affecting. Trust me on this one.) Defense Powers: These are powers that primarily protect you. If they protect from damage, they may protect just from Normal Damage (Normal) or from both Normal and Killing Damage (Resistant). They can be bought to only help versus certain special effects (a Force Field can represent an anti-ice spell). Mental Powers: These powers deal with the mind directly, work on a Line of Sight basis (being far away doesn't make someone's mind harder to read), are bought to affect certain classes of minds (you may be able to read the minds of animals, or of AIs, or of certain classes of aliens), require a dice roll to find out how effectively you did it (it's easier to read someone's name than to drudge up memories of abuse), and have complex rules for interaction with each other. Movement Powers: These powers help you get from place to place. As mentioned, 1" in HERO parlance means 2 meters for the characters; this is so miniatures can be used if desired. Furthermore, by default the number of inches bought are the amount you can move while still dodging and weaving. If you have to just get somewhere fast, you can by default move twice as far, but you're easier to hit that way. Sense-Affecting Powers: These mess with people's ability to perceive things. They're bought to affect specific senses or Sense Groups. How much they cost depends on whether the senses affected are normally Targeting or Nontargeting. Usually that translates to "Sight vs. everything else", but in a game where everyone plays, say, furries, Smell might typically be Targeting, and thus Sense-Affecting Powers that affect Smell would cost more. Sensory Powers: These let you perceive more things. Size Powers: Growth and Shrinking. 'Nuff said. Special Powers: GMs should think twice before letting these into Power Frameworks, a group of cost-saving mechanisms discussed later. Standard Powers: Doesn't seem to mean much. From here through almost another quarter of the book, the rules for Powers and any Modifiers that only make sense in the context of those particular Powers are given. Power Modifiers: These are your means by which to make the generic Powers less generic. They change how they work and what they cost to buy. They cannot be changed at will (unless you're talking about Variable Advantages, Variable Special Effects, or Variable Limitations, which are specifically listed). Powers don't have to be bought with Modifiers, but it helps. First, you pick out any appropriate Advantages, which make a Power stronger or more versatile. You add up the value of all of these plus 1, then multiply the base cost by this number to find out the Active Point cost of a power, which determines how costly it is to use and how likely it is that the GM will allow it. (The "plus 1" is because any number multiplied by 1 is the same number.) Note that 1/4 = .25, so any cheap calculator will do. Next, pick out Limitations for a power, which make a power weaker or less versatile. Add up the values (they are positive; the minus sign is to make them easy to recognize as Limitations) plus 1 and divide the Active Points you calculated earlier by this total. This is what you actually pay in Character Points for the power, its Real Cost. About another tenth of the book is Advantages and Limitations. Power Frameworks: These are means by which to make powers that fit together cheaper, but limits them in some way. Elemental Controls are for variations on a single power which you want to be able to use together without restriction, Multipowers are a means of buying a lot of powers cheap but not being able to use them all at once at full power (frequently, only one at a time), and Variable Power Pools are for, well, any powers too variable to predefine (transforming into any animal, copying other people's attacks, The Right Gadget For The Job, etc.). If these confuse you, they're entirely skippable. Disadvantages: You've probably seen these in other points-based RPGs. You take them, and they hinder you periodically, but you get Character Points back as part of the deal -- up to a certain limit. Does this help? -- Pteryx

OK, everyone, how big a break would you give someone with TK with one of these Limitations? I'm thinking -1/4 and -1/2 respectively. -- Pteryx, who is gettng more confident! Really!

Indeed, that was exactly the point (though the example I thought of was making someone on a rope bridge so heavy that the whole thing breaks ). It'd be good for slowing someone down (see the Encumbrance table on page 250 of FREd), but not for stopping them. What's a good Limitation value for "Cannot Lift"? I'm inclined to guess -1/4... -- Pteryx

As far as Powers go, I find it easiest to think of them as functions in a scripting language. The names are labels, not summaries. What sort of past RP experience do you have? That can help us help you out. There's a couple of sample combats here (look for Pattern Ghost's posts): http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3210 And a summary of HERO's basics aimed at someone with d20 experience here (look for Killer Shrike's post): http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3512 Hope this helps. -- Pteryx

I'll have to remember those. And look and see how TK, Only Downward compares with a UAA Ranged Density Increase with linked Drain STR... (And figure out what "Only Downward" and "Only to Pin" would be worth anyway.) -- Pteryx

Is there anything that an Elemental Control can do that a Multipower can't do cheaper and with fewer restrictions and drawbacks? I'm not sure what the point of Elemental Controls is, mechanically... Could somebody please explain? -- Pteryx

Do you really need seperate "Water Blast" and "Strong Water Blast" powers when neither have modifiers? Even if the slots are ultras, you can choose not to use all the dice you have available, right? -- Pteryx

Strangely, Characteristics Usable By Other seem to cost a lot less than Succor -- less still if you make it cost END like Succor does. For example, +10 Ego Usable By Other is 25 points (17 if is Costs END), while Succor 7d6 is 35 points. I'm surprised to find a loophole of this size. Are there any similar "gotchas" a newbie should be aware of? -- Pteryx

I believe it's in the Adjustment Powers or Mental Powers section. Somewhere near the top, anyway. ...And don't I feel silly... I thought of a much cheaper way to do what I want for a non-mentalist (+x EGO, Ranged, Usable By Other, Only To Improve Breakout Rolls, plus any other applicable modifiers) while travelling to my FLGS today. Ah well, it's certainly not too late. Now to figure out what "Only To Improve Breakout Rolls" is worth as a limitation... -- Pteryx

Due to his large suite of Enhanced Senses and his outstanding skill at determining one's honesty, it'd have to either really be her or be a duplicate with roughly the same composition (robotic if a robot, a clone if human) and darned good Acting and Persuasion rolls to have any effect. It's not impossible to fool him, but it's certainly not easy. Provided it wasn't a ploy he could easily see through, he'd probably do exactly what the supervillain likely wants -- collapse into a crying heap, making good use of the tear ducts he had installed because of the pain living and working the supervillain family he came from had caused him (and the pain that their continued activities still do). Now, upon finally having experienced what romantic love is and how fulfilling it is to his soft heart, he finds out that his girlfriend is evil, too?... At least he's ready for whatever his family does. Unless someone else were with him, divine intervention kicked in (he'd have 3d6 Luck in HERO), or the GM were kind enough to consider his crying to be the equivalent of a Presence Attack in this situation, he'd probably be in deep trouble. After all, it'd take him a couple of Phases to get over it enough to try to capture her. And if he got that far, he wouldn't take her to the authorities... he'd take her someplace private to speak with her (which he could do effectively; he has a good bit of self-control when actually prepared). There'd be a lot of questions, attempts at understanding, and looking for opportunities to subtly convince her to change. -- Pteryx

Re: Non-Inherent Senses Hence why I was thinking that those would constitute Transforms instead... dsimon, setting up Drains was exactly what I was thinking of; it'd be more potent than a Flash because a Flash wouldn't last so long compared to a Drain. In fact, that's probably precisely what the normal rule is trying to prevent. (Suppress also has uses, but not so many since Darkness already covers most.) Anyway, in a normal campaign I might agree with you, but I'm considering this as a mandatory Disadvantage for robots in a setting where sapient robots are actually rather common... thus, it'd actually be possible, however unlikely, that you'd run into this situation. -- Pteryx

...is the bit I was referring to that says Dispelling wouldn't work. Of course, I also see the one you're referring to, bjbrown: ...though as I understand it, that method would involve targetting the cause, not the effect, so the mechanics wouldn't quite agree with the desired SFX here. Thanks for the input from both of you, anyway! Though I still need to choose between -1 1/2, -1 3/4, and -2... hrm. (Good thing I'm the GM and just preparing magical belts for the characters, hrm? ) -- Pteryx

Except that it says in the FAQ that Dispel doesn't work in quite that way against Mental Powers... hence the construct I proposed up there. -- Pteryx

Mind Control with this Limitation seems like the only way to simulate a "mind-healing" effect. Thus, I'm asking for help from those more experienced yet again; how big a limitation would you call this? And am I overlooking anything? -- Pteryx

And don't forget... ...the chance of a small (say, 50-point) Summon of basically anything that fits the point total. -- Pteryx

FREd page 227, first paragraph under "Sense Groups", which is why I got thinking about it. -- Pteryx

OK, everyone, how much do you think normal Senses that weren't Inherent (say, a robot's) would be worth as a Disadvantage? I think it's safe to say it'd be an Uncommon circumstance for this weakness to come up, but how limiting would it be (I'm inclined to think either Greatly or Fully)? -- Pteryx (OTOH, I'd probably require at least some of a robot's PD/ED to be bought Inherent. After all, how do you Dispel, Drain, or Suppress something happening to be made of metal?)

Say a character has Targeting Hearing, but also is particularly sensitive to loud noises such that something that would be merely uncomfortable to normal ears would effectively Flash this character (and, by extension, actual Hearing Group Flashes with the loud noise special effect would be more effective). It stands to reason that a Susceptibility should be taken. However, there is the question of how many dice would equal 10 Active Points in this case. Would it be 2d6 (for a Targeting Sense, which Hearing is for this character) or 3 1/2d6 (because it's not a Targeting Sense for anyone else, despite the fact that this Susceptibility is by definition a weakness of this one character)? -- Pteryx

Lest people forget the point of this thread... Of course, if that's too difficult (I certainly wouldn't know where to start, but then, I'm still learning), here's a considerably simpler challenge: A robot meant to be evil who, through some programming oversight, shortsightedness, or accidental loophole, eventually wound up good. Since I'd like to see how you people would deal with individual parts of my pet character. -- Pteryx

Could the "All or Nothing" Limitation from the Transform Power be reasonably applied to Drain or Suppress in order to achieve the effect that if the Power doesn't bring a Characteristic to 0 or less, it has no effect at all? If not, then how should this be done? -- Pteryx

...So today, I happened to randomly open FREd to a page that happened to show a sample black bear, lion, and light warhorse. How embarassing... Anyway, thanks, everyone -- particularly you, Pattern Ghost. Hopefully I can manage to do this... (And believe me, I'd get the Bestiary right now if I could, but even FREd had to be special-ordered -- plus there's the trouble of saving up the money, too.) -- Pteryx

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have that, either (nor the means by which to run it)... -- Pteryx

I saw the illustration on FREd 159... that's why I'm confused. You see, that shows the cone starting in the same hex, which isn't what the rules say (and wouldn't the person take damage that way besides unless they also bought Personal Immunity?). And yet, if it starts in an adjacent hex, it can't point at the character. The closest I can figure out to a non-Indirect No Range Cone on a hex grid is one that starts a couple of hexes away -- unless, of course, you're big enough to take up 7 hexes anyway, which I'd expect of a dragon, which is the most obvious test critter for rangeless cones, which may be why this hasn't come up yet. But seriously, I'm still confused... -- Pteryx

OK, I've kind of painted myself into a corner here... I said I'd GM HERO, but I'm still getting familiar with the system, don't have the Bestiary, and am not sure if I can pull off the stats of a few animals should I need them (and I should, given that I'm planning to run a transworld fantasy game in a world primarily of talking animals). Any tips, links to a sample animal or two to work from, etc.? -- Pteryx

You mean you missed the picture of the voodoo doll on the same two-page spread as Indirect, Invisible Power Effects, and Megascale? But seriously, those three advantages on Energy Blasts, RKAs, and perhaps Telekinesis or limited Mind Control (for posing a person by posing the doll) would be a start. -- Pteryx