CorpCommander

I have to disagree. The strength of the wielder is monumentally important. I wouldn't want to see a ten year old have the same ability to lasso and hold onto an enraged bull as, say, Hoss from Bonanza! The Lasso should give you a strength bonus due to the overall mechanics involved but even so, if I were lassoed by the 10 year old, that kid would be going for a drag. Their 80lbs would not be much of a match for my 215lbs. Unless of course you are talking cinematically. That changes everything. If so then you are right -- in the movies things don't work that way.

The rule for explosion says "the damange done by or effect of the power is one DC or 5 active points less for every 1 inch." For an EB this is easy because 1 die = 1 DC. For a killing attack however it's not the case. Can you tell me if I am handling it correctly? I think it would be resolved like this: If I have a 2d6 RKA Ex. and I roll '3','4' then the damage is: Target Hex +1 hex +2 hex +3 hex +4 hex +5 hex 7 body 6 4 3 2 1 2D6 2D6-1 1D6+1 1D6 1D6-1 1 pip It seems to work right but with one odd exceptions. A DC of 1 on a KA does 1 pip. A DC of 2 does D6-1. If a '1' were rolled would that mean a DC of 2 has a chance at doing less damage than a DC of 1 (in this case 0)? For example, in the case of a '1','1' roll the damage is 2,1,1,0,1. It may seem like an extreme case but it was what got me to thinking I might not be doing it right. I have used in my above calculations the +1/-1 varient of KA DC's as there is less math to do than with the 1/2 die varient. With better die rolls it does result in more damage than the 1/2 die varient. There isn't any guidance on the subject that I was able to find in FREd.

Damn, gotta buy off these INCOMPETENT DNPC's and get COMPETENT ONES!!!! ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!! ÎÛÄËÂØ ËØÞ×ÃÃœ ÇÉÙØ!!!!!!!!!

Re: Re: My Gods! Thanks, I originally did it as a joke but I've been thinking about it all day. Perhaps they would be good for a Post-Apocalyptic game. I am reading "The Elegant Universe" and that was what prompted me to write them up. Let me know if you want help writing them up.

Isn't the standard rule D6-1 x Body = Stun of KA?

Magic Items in my world Here is how I handle Magic Items in my world. A.: They are extremely rare. Thousands of gp per real point of cost. B.: They are either based on charges or have a lifespan. A magic sword, for instance, will eventually just stop being magical. Much like a magnet stops being very magnetic after a lot of wear and tear. The stronger the magnetic alignment the longer it lasts and thus the more active points in an item the longer it lasts. I don't tell players how long they will last, just that they won't last forever. This isn't treated as a limitation - its in the realm of GM Fiat. This is mainly for found items. Character created items, especially if they were imbued with personal character points, will last the length of the campaign. C.: Most magic items are created with components. 1pt of magic components costs 100 - 500gp. It depends on supply and demand. You also need a lab and tools and expert knowlege of what you are making. Magic swords are imbued with magic when made not after the fact so if the wizard isn't a master swordmaker he has to work with one. More often than not the components necessary in the quantity necessary are tied up - the Churches and the government and the wizard guild get first dibs. More often than not its a controlled substance. Not like drugs. More like URANIUM. D.: if a Character wants to put his own experience into a magic item creation it goes at the rate of 1 character point for 3 magical points. (the "Independent" limitation is factored in this generous exchange rate.)

My Gods! Hmm if you want really wierd Gods how about these: Primary Order Gods: First Order: God of Gravitational Forces (a God that affects everyone) Second Order: God of Weak Forces (a God that maintains Chaos over Order, Decay) Third Order: God of Strong Forces (a God that that maintains Order over Chaos, Stability) Forth Order: God of Electromagnitism (a God of Light and information) Secondary Order Gods: 1st Minor God of Dimention 2nd Minor God of Time 3rd Minor God of Unity (who tries to unite all the Gods) If Unity were to ever succeed then that God would become the ruler of all the other Gods. Enjoy!

You DARE QUESTSION THE STATE!!! GUARDS! SIEZE HIM!

Hey all, I posted a review of Fantasy Hero up at Do or Dice. of course it is positive. There are lots of other Hero products that need some advocacy. Let me know what you think of the review: Fantasy Hero Review

If it makes sense, how is this a bad thing? In most games there aren't a lot of HTH martial arts experts like there would be in a japanese game. I guess I don't really understand how it was a problem - how it broke play and made it either unrealistic or not fun. Could you illustrate your point with some extended examples?

The NPCOk here is my attempt at the sorcerous necromantic 15 year old girl that kicks holy ass and has a defensive dispel. Any comments appreciated. The character here is NOT a good copy of the one in the Witchfire Trilogy D20 module. In fact this one is WAY more powerful. Alexia in Witchfire is about 10th level and as written up doesn't have quite a few of the things listed. Oddly, she is attributed several abilities in the module that are outside of her offical writeup. For example in the module she can turn air to stone (Form Stoneshape.) She is also attributed with powers capable of kicking down reinforced steel enclosures and breaking through major spell warded tombs. The offical write up has nothing so powerful and I assume the write up was for completeness and done as an afterthought. Clearly major hand waving by the author. In spite of that critisism I do highly recommend Witchfire - its one of the best written D20 modules I've had the pleasure of reading.Enjoy!(Many thanks to Killer Shrike for his template) Combat Information Page Character Name: Alexia Cinannor Alternate Identities: The White Witch Player Name: NPC CHARACTERISTICS CHARACTER IMAGE Val Char Base Points Total Roll Notes 8 STR 10 -2 8 11- HTH Damage 1 1/2d6 END [2] 14 DEX 10 12 14 12- OCV 5 DCV 5 10 CON 10 0 10 11- 10 BODY 10 0 10 11- 18 INT 10 8 18 13- PER Roll 13- 14 EGO 10 8 14 12- ECV: 5 10 PRE 10 0 10 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 20 COM 10 5 20 13- 8 PD 2 0 8 8 PD (6 rPD) 8 ED 2 0 8 8 ED (6 rED) 4 SPD 2.4 16 4 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 6 REC 4 4 6 20 END 20 0 20 30 STUN 19 11 30 6" Running 6 0 6" 2" Swimming 2 0 2" 1 1/2"/0 1/2"" Leaping 2 0 1 1/2" 62 Total Characteristics Points EXPERIENCE POINTS Total earned: 100 Spent: 100 Unspent: 0 Base Points: 125 Disad Points: 125 Total Points: 350 MOVEMENT Type Total Run (6) 6" [12" NC] Swim (2) 2" [4" NC] H. Leap (2") 1 1/2" V. Leap (1") 0 1/2" Flight 25" [50" NC] APPEARANCE Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Grey Height: 5' 5" Weight: 120 lbs Description: DEFENSES Type Amount Notes Physical Defense 8 Current BODY: Res. Phys. Defense 6 Energy Defense 8 Current END: Res. Energy Defense 6 Mental Defense 11 Current STUN: Power Defense 0 COMBAT INFORMATION OCV: 5 DCV: 5 Combat Skill Levels: +3 On Sorcery Multipower COMBAT MANEUVERS Maneuver Phase OCV DCV Effect Block 1/2 +0 +0 Block, abort Brace 0 +2 1/2 +2 vs. Range Mod. Disarm 1/2 -2 +0 Can disarm Dodge 1/2 -- +3 Abort, vs. all attacks Grab 1/2 -1 -2 Grab two limbs Grab By 1/2 -3 -4 Move and Grab Haymaker 1/2* +0 -5 +4 DC attack damage Move By 1/2 -2 -2 STR/2 + v/5 Move Through 1/2 -v/5 -3 STR + v/3 Set 1 +1 +0 Ranged Attacks only Strike 1/2 +0 +0 STR or weapon COMBAT MODIFIERS Range 0-4 5-8 9-16 17-32 33-64 65-128 RMOD 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 POWERS Cost Power END 25 Mental Powers: Multipower, 25-point reserve 2u 1) Clairsentience (Sight Group And Normal Hearing) (25 Active Points) (uses END Reserve) 2 2u 2) Flash 8d6 (Mental Group) (24 Active Points) (uses END Reserve) 2 1u 3) Mind Scan 5d6 (25 Active Points); Neither Character nor Target Can Attack Through Link (-1), Stops Working If Mentalist Is Stunned (-1/2), Costs END To Maintain Full END Cost (-1/2) (uses END Reserve) 2 2u 4) Suppress Telepathy 2d6, Uncontrolled (+1/2), Continuous (+1) (25 Active Points) (uses END Reserve) 2 2u 5) Telepathy 5d6 (25 Active Points) (uses END Reserve) 2 7 Telepathy Reserve: Endurance Reserve (20 END, 5 REC) (7 Active Points) 8 +8 Mental Defense (11 points total) 100 Sorcery: Multipower, 100-point reserve 3u 1) Sense Magical Aura: Detect Magic 13-, Analyze, Discriminatory, Range, Sense, Targeting Sense, Tracking (35 Active Points) 3u 2) Flight 25", Combat Acceleration/Deceleration (+1/4) (62 Active Points); Extra Time Extra Segment (-1/2), Visible: Comet Trail (-1/4) (uses END Reserve) 6 2u 3) Shield of Life: Life Support , Eating: Character only has to eat once per week, Safe in High Pressure, Safe in High Radiation, Safe in Intense Cold, Safe in Intense Heat, Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum, Self-Contained Breathing, Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per year (22 Active Points); Activation Roll 15- (-1/4) 3u 4) Air to Stone: Transform 5d6 (Major) (75 Active Points); No Range: must be in ajacent hex (-1/2), Side Effects: 3d6 STR Drain (-1/2), Activation Roll 15- (-1/4) (uses Personal END) 7 3u 5) Magnetic Vortex: Energy Blast 10d6 (vs. ED), Armor Piercing x1 (+1/2), No Range Modifier (+1/2) (100 Active Points); Only vs. Metal Objects Power loses almost all of its effectiveness (-2) (uses END Reserve) 10 11m 6) Lightning: Energy Blast 20d6 (vs. ED) (100 Active Points); Beam (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), Cannot Be Used With Multiple-Power Attacks (-1/4) (uses END Reserve) 10 4u 7) Icy Grip: Entangle 5 1/2d6, 5 DEF, Area Of Effect Nonselective Target (6" Radius; +3/4) (96 Active Points); Vulnerable: Heat based attacks Common (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4) (uses END Reserve) 10 2u 8) Invisibility to Sight Group, Normal Hearing (23 Active Points) (uses END Reserve) 2 10u 9) Dispel 15d6, Enhanced Arc of perception 360 sight, All Magic One At A Time (+1/4), Trigger on Magical Attack (+1/4), Cumulative (x1 max.) (+1/2) (100 Active Points) (uses Personal END) 10 3m 10) Summon 250-point, Amicable Slavishly Devoted (+1) (100 Active Points); Extra Time 20 Minutes (-2 1/2), Character May Take No Other Actions (-1/4), OAF Fragile Expendable (Focus: Full skeleton parts; Very Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Limited Power Only Skeletal/Zombie based undead (-1), Arrives Under Own Power (-1/2), Lockout Caster cannot use or maintain other spells (-1/2) (uses END Reserve) 10 15 Sorcery Reserve: Endurance Reserve (50 END, 10 REC) (15 Active Points) 208 Total Powers Cost EQUIPMENT Equipment END Tomb Seal Ward: Force Wall (9 PD/9 ED), Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (90 Active Points); OAF Immobile (Focus: Tomb; -2), No Range (-1/2) Notes: This is a special tomb manufactured by the Church of Morrow to hold dangerous items or those who are dead who would pose an extreme risk in unlife. This is the Ward that Alexia must dispel before getting the Witchfire. PERKS Cost Name 3 Church Grounds: Access 15 Necromancy HQ: Secret Base (x2, 50 Base, 50 Disad) 18 Total Perks Cost TALENTS Cost Name 12 Combat Luck (6 PD/6 ED) 12 Total Talents Cost SKILLS Cost Name 3 Acting 11- 4 Bureaucratics (9 Active Points); Limited Power: Church Bureaucratics Power loses about half of its effectiveness (-1) 14- 9 Aura of Protection: +3 On Sorcery Multipower 1 Contortionist 8- 5 Cramming 3 Glyph Reading: Cryptography 13- 3 Disguise 13- 2 Forgery (Documents) 13- 2 AK: Church Grounds 11- 2 KS: Church Hierarchy 11- 2 KS: Magical Constructs 11- 3 PS: Library Research (INT-based) 13- 3 Riding 12- 3 Seduction 11- 3 Stealth 12- 2 WF: Blades, Two-Handed Weapons 50 Total Skills Cost DISADVANTAGES Cost Disadvantage 10 Distinctive Features: Kick Ass Teen Necromancer - tends to draw the eye (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 25 Enraged: Upon seeing Borloch or his crew (Uncommon), go 14-, recover 8- 10 Hunted: City Watch 11- (As Pow; Harshly Punish; Limited Geographical Area) 5 Hunted: The PC Party 11- (Less Pow; Watching; Extensive Non-Combat Influence) 25 Psychological Limitation: Driven by Revenge for Mother's Death (Very Common; Total) 20 Reputation: The White Witch 14- (Extreme) 15 Psychological Limitation: Hatred for the wicked city of Corvis (Common; Strong) 15 Rivalry: Professional (Vahn Oberen wants to kill alexia and reclaim the Witchfire; Rival is More Powerful; Seek to Harm or Kill Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry) 0 Normal Characteristic Maxima 125 Total Disadvantages Cost Height: 5' 5" Hair: Black Weight: 120 lbs Eyes: Grey Appearance: Personality: Quote: Background: 15 year old Alexia is Father Dumas' niece. Her mother, Pandor's sister in law, was leader of the Corvis Coven and was executed a decade ago. Along with the rest of the witches. Alexia inherited her magical abilities and has become a powerful sorceress. In fact she is a prodigy, having immense skill at a young age. She is motivated by a desire for revenge - revenge on Borloch, who orchestrated the trial, and revenge on Corvis, which she considers a wicked city. The first part of her master plan is stealing the blade Witchfire. In part II she will use it to complete the restoration of the coven and then she will turn her attention on Magistrate Borlock! Powers/Tactics: Campaign Use: Character created with Hero Designer (version 1.47)

Great discussion This discussion is great. I am not very experienced with the system but I used to play a lot a long time ago. I've been running a fantasy game for a good group of role players for about 6 weeks now. Everyone is slowly coming up to speed. I've been reading and participating in discussions here as much as possible. Anyway, this is a little lesson blurb I am sending to my crew. Let me know if I have made a mistake with anything. Thanks! -------------------------- Here are some notes to help with the next combat. Hero allows for some great tactical surprises and these notes may help your party survive the Thrall filled dungeon without me having to fudge anything. Heavy hint on MAY. The basic martial manuver is the Strike. This has no effect to OCV or DCV. Your attack roll is still <= 11 + your OCV minus their DCV. The Manuver we were using a lot last time is the Sweep. A sweep allows for multiple HTH (hand to hand) attacks. There is an artificial limit of 3 attacks that I've imposed (highly suggested by the guy who wrote the system.) For each extra attack the OCV penalty is -2. Also, its a FULL MOVE action meaning you can't do anything other than 0-phase actions (turning on powers, defense,etc.) So you can't move and Sweep. Also your DCV is cut in half. Lets take a look at Akram. He has a dagger and a CV of 7 (CV = OCV and DCV starting values.) If Akram decides to make 3 HTH attacks he is at -4 OCV and 1/2 DCV. So his OCV = 3 and his DCV = 3.5 (rounding favors the character so this becomes 4). This would mean that against 3 Thralls with DCV of 4 he would need a 10 or less on 3D6 to get hits. If your character has the Rapid Attack skill you can turn Sweep into a half-phase action. If you have two weapons you can fight with both of them, but your off hand weapon has a -3 OCV penalty. If you have Ambidexterous as a talent then the penalty goes to -2 (down to 0 OCV penalty if you buy more levels.) Some characters, like Hellwig have Two-Weapon Fighting as a skill. You get to fully offset the -3 off hand penalty and the first -2 Sweep Penalty. Thus you can do 2 attacks at no OCV penalty. You could do 3 attacks at -2 OCV for all of them, or 4 attacks at -4 OCV. This makes Sgt. Damon Hellwig impressive in combat. He is still at 1/2 DCV (if his CV is 6 then 4 attacks put him at 2 OCV, 3 DCV.) Here is where it gets interesting. You can do different manuevers with your attacks. One type can be used for each hand. That means that Hellwig could do a Strike with one hand and a block with the other! The worst DCV modifier applies. I will come up with a list of which manuevers can be combined - it will be restrictive but balancing.

Many Bane Thralls Well the big battle is coming up. Probably not for a Month in real time but certainly soon... i suppose it could be, ah, fun. I will post the various Thralls here. I ran some Thralls last night and realized I didn't purchase them with the ability to ignore stun. Clearly necessary for skeletons!

Hi, A question came up last night on rounding damage reduction. Do you round mathmatically, in favor of the defender or in favor of the attacker. For example which column is correct for a 25% damage reduction? Damage RN FD FA 1 1 0 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 3 4 3 3 3 5 4 3 4 6 5 4 5 7 5 5 6 8 6 6 6 9 7 6 7 10 8 6 8 RN = Round Normal, FD = Favor Defender, FA = Favor Attacker

I assume you mean "offensive" here as in "it leans toward and supports more aggressive actions and tactics" rather than "the rules suck." I agree, hense why I pointed out common sense rules. We had a battle last night in which the party was overtaken by twice their number in foes. This lead to everyone either trying to sweep OR the non-combat types trying to dodge. The sweepers found to their joy that multiple attacks are fun. Personally I would only allow two types of manuevers in total for two handed combatants. Add one per extra limb. The rule that your DCV gets set to the worst DCV of all the manuevers is a great limiter. It is worth setting up a mock fight and running through it a few times with some of your players before you do the real thing. This will allow you all the time to look up rules, familiarize yourself with tactics and figure out how to best deal with this situation.

I think so... I am not Steve Long or even very experienced running Hero yet but from what I read you get two attacks with no written or implied limitation on the types of attacks. Common Sense prevails of course. The example on pg. 53 of FREd shows a character using two different manuevers with a sort of daisho (twin Katanas) and shows varying OCV for each attack. The DCV is impacted by the worst DCV penalty (+0 in the example) and then 1/2 DCV is applied since this is a form of sweep. Now then, given that - a block looks inviting. I think it is legal. Just make sure your offensive manuever isn't one that raises DCV - that would be a waste since block is +0 DCV.

Hmmm now that is interesting! I hadn't thought of that! That does make it more useful. I think I also will allow abort to defensive dispel. It feels right. It fits in with my preconcieved notions of how it should work in the world I am running and ads more of a dueling aspect to spellcraft. The implications of dispel vs. foci are also interesting. Thanks

Thanks Thnks Badger,that is useful. I am the GM but I am "new" to Hero. By that I mean I haven't run in or run a Hero game since 1991. However it is slowly all coming back to me know. The best thing about this website is the community is very sophisticated and I must say this has been fantastic at getting me back over the learning curve. Hero is not like riding a bike. If you leave the system for a long time you do have to relearn how to ride it! It's given me a lot to think about. It is obvious it isn't a rules problem - its simply the rules allow great flexibility and you have to know when to apply that flexibility and when to limit it. Thanks to everyone.

Ok - that makes sense. Clearly in the world I am GMing I'd have to state that all powers bought with the special effect Magic can be dispelled. In rereading PP. 99-100 I did see that Steve explicity states Dispel can be used on incoming attacks but must have a held action to do this. He also states it must apply to the type of attack. So dispel magic won't work aganinst an EB if the special effect is Mighty Normal Bow. I also note that if you dispel a power in a character they can turn it right back on. This seems kind of useless. If on segment 12 you go before they do and dispel their power they can use it right away unless there is preperation. I suppose Continuous is the way to go with that if you want the power shutdown for more than just your part of the segment. In fact without continuous I don't see how it is at all useful against most powers. To dispel a framework I am guessing you need to dispel all of its active points along with all of the active points of all the things in the frame work. (Read:Not bloody likely.) The limitations you pointed out on trigger are useful and I had not thought of. Certainly being aware of the attack is important. With enhanced senses you can get 360 degrees enhanced arc of perception with one sense. It isn't book legal but I can see that being applied here as well. This has been interesting. I am finding dispel is much weaker than I had originally thought.

Here is another question Instead of dispelling a power an opponent has, can I dispel the effect once they have used it? For example, lets say my friend the rogue was caught trying to steal a dragon's egg from the wizard and the wizard Transformed the rogue into a frog. Can I dispel the effect of the transform and turn the thief back to normal? Can I set up a trigger such that when I am attacked by a magic spell the dispel goes off and attempts to "shoot down" the offensive spell? I think I can looking at the book. I believe that I could wake up in the morning, spend the END on the triggered dispel then wander about town. When the wizard finds out I un-polymorphed the rogue and decides to ambush me with his Fireball spell the trigger kicks off and I attempt to dispell the fireball before it hits me. Whether I am successful or not, I would need to spend the END again to reset the trigger. If Trigger is not appropriate, could I instead abort and dispel as a defensive action? If you were the GM would you allow this? I don't think that is abusive but I am also not sure if its against the spirit of the rules. It doesn't appear to be against the letter of the rules. Thanks

Re: Thanks oops never mind, just realized that you don't have to name the particular power. Thanks again for the help.

Thanks Thanks, that is what I was looking for. I assume you have to name the 4 powers for the +1 or no? Pete

Blatantly OT Having listened to the tape of that statement I can assure you that the esteemed president from Massachusetts said "Haaaad" not "Hard"!

I am thinking of putting an advantage on dispel. Instead of dispeling a particular power I'd like to be able to dispel all powers using a particular special effect. For example, dispel all fire powers. What would that be worth? +1?

More dwarf stories BACK IN THE DAY... when I was running Warhammer Fantasy there were two dwarven characters: Axe and Smash. After seeing a crest commercial they took up a new battle cry: "We Make Holes in Teeth!" And they did! Plus holes in skulls, in torsos, in legs, in chests (both on enemies and the things you store loot in), and doors, and oranguatangs and breakfast cereals and...