whitekeys

That seems to be what I had minus Uncontrolled. Looks fine to me While some Foci are the typical staff or sword used for some kind of Attack Power, there are some powers that need magical components, like herbs for a potion or a crystal for some kind of incantation. I think of Focus in this context as "something you need for the power to work". I think of your beetle juice door like this: the wall is a "component" of the power.

Some good suggestions. I definitely agree that the roll should determine success. Good answer from Lucius. And, now that other options apart from poison have been suggested, the special effects of the poison could also be a determinant. with a success of +12, it wouldn't surprise me that some people might die off, unless they concocted a poison that was specifically designed to just make people sick for a long time. However, my personal style is do not-doing. I would either let the PC's decide, or make it up as I go along. And when I say "let the PC's decide", I mean only if they are reasonable people. A lot of people are frightened when I tell them I leave many of these decisions up to the PCs because they're used to certain gamer types taking advantage, but good gamers know that ruins all the fun! The second option would be to take it day by day, and decide based on dramatic sense whether people are healing up or not.

This is very true, but it did come to mind that this might be a power used for a group of NPCs, like Angels, or a race of Elves, that has the ability once in their lifetime to restore the life of someone else. It could be a game changer.

True, and if it's only really for people, then we can drop the Increased Mass adder. I don't think Limited Power is correct. If a case like this, if you feel like any flat surface would do, the Focus can be defined as such - it doesn't have to be a particular wall, nor does it have to be in his "possession". Because it's Bulky and Immoblie, it's automaically Inaccessible. However, once the power is used, the fact that the gate is being drawn on a flat surface, wall or otherwise, makes it very obvious in my opinion. Someone strong enough, or wielding a wrecking ball/missile type weapon, could target the wall thereafter. If Beetle Juice needs something of that nature, it should be a Focus. As for the writing utensil, these can be combined in the same focus, I think, like a weapon and ammo. Chalk and chalk board? I think so.

Just to be cheeky, I'd like to point out that you forgot to calculate the cost of SPD, which would be an additional charge of 20 points necessary to go the velocity you calculated, and which wouldn't reduce based on any limitations you put on. You don't need a SPD of any value in particular to buy FTL. I feel like the atmosphere rule is a big difference. Though you could extend Hugh Neilson's thought and put some more limitations on the power, like Only In Space to attempt to acheive parity between the powers. We'd need more build comparisons to figure it out. Like what propels you in the atmosphere - does it work in outer space? What of the intervening "stuff" that exists in the atmosphere - what effect does that have on you travelling at such high velocities? It seems to me that, while it could have been done away with and replaced with MegaScale Flight, FTL was meant to represent a cliche sci-fi standard of space travel for which you wouldn't need to ask questions about the physical effects of travelling at such high speeds or what if you hit something? That's probably why Steve wrote it in a somewhat vague fashion, and just left it up to the GM to determine stuff like turn modes and acceleration/decceleration.

I was also going to mention Alterable Origin Point as a way of building multiple natural weapons, but I'm not sure how that effects the rules of Combined Attack. It would seem to me, that if the GM and the PC both agree that the power is being built to represents two sets of claws and a set of teeth, and there's nothing inherently illegal about the build itself, then the GM would permit them to be used with Combined Attack, given the special effect. However, that's exactly like Multiple Attack, isn't it?. But, the original example could be changed to have poison fangs, or soul-sucking claws.

Okay, so I actually went back and read some of the posts, including your original one (the title was so descriptive, it just filled me with confidence ) You did mention a few things that you felt were Bulky. I'm not going to suggest anything specific. But you also asked for some examples of play, so I thought I'd type one out for you as an extension of my last post. Keeping in mind that this is an example of play that not only has removed the SPD chart, but removed the idea of "turns" altogether, and I use turn here in the children's way, not the HERO way. (Prophylactic) I'm not sure why turn-taking and measuring of precise increments of time is so important when it comes to combat anyway, aside from someone's idea of fairness. The following is essentially a non-combat version of combat. (/Prophylactic) GM: Guard droids are swarming down the hallway toward you, maybe 30 of them, some wielding blasters, some wielding stun rods, others clawing their way up the wall and over the ceiling. They'll be on you in a few seconds! Strombo: I grit my teeth, reach up with my left hand to grab the folds of my capote. I tear it away, revealing my luchador bright blue and yellow sequined outfit and my snake mascara. "Pleassse, get in line", I say calmly. Rady: It's time! "I've crushed cans bigger than you on my forehead for breakfast!" I yell as I charge toward the mass of clinking robots. GM: A stream of blaster fire sears through the air toward you, Rady. Rady: I dodge, combat rolling forward and coming up crouched. I jump up over the first of the bots and land in the thick of them ready for a 360 leg sweep of the baton holders. Hyaw! GM: One of them drops from the ceiling and successfully lands on your back; it grips your throat , the cold steel makes it hard to know if you've been cut or not. As you grasp at the droid's arm and claw, a stun baton gets you in the gut and doubles you over. Then suddenly all the surrounding droids are dog piling on top of you. Rady: Perfect time to jump the heck out of here. I go straight up and I take the whole lot of them with me, smashing a few into the ceiling above and hopefully breaking out of the Grab. GM: Sweet! Success! Strombo, over to you. The first few wall climbers pass Rady by as he charges, and head straight for you. Strombo: I hold an action to grab the first one that reaches me and I crush its head down into its chest. GM: The next one rolls towards you, bearing its claws, but it just misses to the left. Blaster fire continues to whiz past, and a few of the bolts bounce off your sequined outfit. Gotta love sequins. Strombo: And Spanish accents! Alright, I grab the next one nearest me and I pin it down on the ground, get on top of it, pull its head back and it's leg up: "Say Uncle, scum circuit" GM: The bolts holding it together simply rip under the force and it's head and leg come off, destroying it utterly. Strombo: "Aha! Another 1 count for Strombo! Too bad, so sad" GM: "Kill the flamboyant one!" you hear the robotic vocoder spit as it flails its stun baton in your general direction. Strombo: "Flamboyant? Why... Caida!" [executes some crazy high-flying wrestling move that crushes a number of nearby droids] GM: You catch a glimpse of Rady and he's pretty surrounded by droids, moreso than you. Strombo: I run in the opposite direction and I call out "Parejas Lucharan". I come up against a group of droids that had gathered behind me, and I drop my shoulder, leaning into them. The group of them sways backward against the force, but, just like the elastic ropes on the luchador ring, they counter act my shove and send me hurtling in toward Rady. Rady: I hear the call for tag team and I do the same thing. GM: As you run toward each other, the mass of droids falls in behind each of you. [as they pass, they link arms and send themselves into a spiraly swing, just as the mass of droids closes in on them. The Parejas Luchador's feet fling out to the side as if they were on some spinning theme park ride, and they twirl around, kicking all the robots in the face and sending them flying out in all directions. They land hard on their stomachs in a cloud of dust] "Ganamos!" /scene. So that was basically just to demonstrate how you can move back and forth from one character to another, giving each a few "turns" to do their thing and respond to the opponents. It was missing a lot of the basic calculations, so the scene could have turned out differently, and yes, I also realize it was missing a few of the options for blocking attacks, etc. But you can still fit that all in while focusing on one character, and adjudicate what-happens-when as is dramatically appropriate. Just apply all of the same stuff that happens in non-combat scenes to combat, like who-says-what before the other person, or when exactly you come into ear shot of a conversation, etc. P.S. I had fun with that. Feel free to use the characters, anyone!

In a way, it's rules themselves that aren't streamlined. Everyone has to learn them, and if you do something contrary, then you have to pause and fix it, etc. Think of rules each like a tight rope, all lined up beside each other running parallel: it's hard to get everyone on the right track at the same time! I would simply remove rules to streamline, rather than find alternates, but that's just me. Which parts of HERO are feeling Bulky or Immobile for you? The conversation lately has been about SPD and Segments... I do combat how I see it in the movies. I go from player to player and they each get a few chances to do what they do and for the enemy to attack. When it makes sense to switch more frequently, like when players want to Coordinate attacks, or call to each other across the battle zone, then I do that. I tend to have another "rule" which is that if I don't actually know what the rule is, then I make it up on the spot. I use it as an opportunity to go back later and learn it for real, so next time I have the answer to the question immediately, rather than stopping to look it up then. Just keep going. Also, shave your head, get one of those speed skater body suits, and adopt a slightly crouched position from now on. That will streamline more than just HERO - you could even get to work faster.

The OP asked Steve this the other day. He responded yesterday with: #2 answers the question about minimum distance and also one of the big differences between FTL and Flight, MegaScale.

Semi-official, just like the board meetings at the anarchist community bike shop I'm part of! I guess psionic would be cleaner, but I'd have to think of how limiting that would actually be in the campaign.

Almost, see below. It's hard for any feedback to be accurate if we don't know exactly what you were trying to accomplish. You could have put anything on there and it would have looked legit. What kind of power are you trying to make beyond a resurrection spell? How is it used? Your incantations should only be worth -1/2, and gestures only -1. The complexity of the Incantation or the Gesture does not increase its limitation value. If you were thinking that users of this ability had to learn the gestures or incantations, and their complexity had some game effect relating to this process, you would have to come up with some other kind of limitation, though limitation doesn't exactly seem appropriate for that, either. I have this at 70 AP and 9 RC. A couple of things to note: You have to define a reasonable way for Resurrection to be prevented. For example, characters that are decapitated cannot be resurrected. Also, Resurrection may not eliminate the cause of death. For example, a disease kills a PC: once resurrected, they may not have been cured of the disease and will die again shortly. I'm not even sure how that rule is supposed to work, myself, but just wanted to remind you

Campaign settings are great. That's probably 100% of why D&D is so well-known IF we ignore the place it has held historically. I think the obvious choice would be a Champions setting of some kind, kind of a throw back, but it's classic. In that setting you could include different "locations" that are almost paradimensional in that they are different genres, including looks, characters, and narrative standards and visual effects, but you could still travel to them as a superhero, just like going one state over. Later real life superhero stuff was already mixed with Star Hero elements, Fantasy, and Pulp; Dark Champions and Teen Champions are pretty similar settings, too. Add a few more and you've got a complete cross-genre campaign setting that fits with the universal system of HERO. It actually shouldn't be that hard with all of the supplemental media they've produced over the years. After all, the Monster Manual of D&D is a key element in the setting, stating things of historical value (like the fued between Giants and Dwarves) and where things come from (like other planes of existence).

11 Transform: Shape Shift (Sight and Hearing Groups, any shape), Imitation (33 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Skill roll; PER, Analyze, to imitate; -1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Requires a Roll (Power Skill, to improvise shape sifting; -1/2), Perceivable (Retains some semblance of Ditto's true form, such as facial features, provides PER bonus to perceive; -1/4), Must Be Used At Full Power (Cannot mix and match Shape Shifting abilities while imitating; -1/4) 3 So that's what I have so far for the Shape Shift. But I see a slight problem here in that there are two main ways that this power is used: One is to only imitate things it see, whether that is another pokemon for battle, or a rock for sleeping (and Ditto MUST be able to see them in order to properly Imitate the shape, hence the Required PER Roll) and the other is regular shape shifting, which in the context of Ditto, I'm calling "improvised" shape shifting. I want Ditto to be able to Imitate very well, but be really clumsy when attempting to imitate from memory or improvise. But since Imitation is an Adder, Ditto can still technically shape shift into whatever other shape he wants with no restriction. The Imitation adder allows him to copy very specific details about a particular shape, but otherwise he can adopt gross characteristics at any point. I thought about putting on a limitation Only to Imitate, but that leads me to the second main use of the power. I want Ditto to be able to transform from memory and to improvise certain features. So the broader use of Shape Shift is still effective, and the Only to Imitate Limitation is not appropriate. At this point, PER Roll is still required to imitate from memory, both at first contact and to "perceive" one's own memory (which I would obviously apply a penalty to). But I wanted the improvised shifting to be unreliable. For example, a ditto that has never seen wings would not be able to shift into a wing shape by memory, but I could try and convey the idea of flight somehow. As another example "Ditto, transform into something scary to frighten these children..." Ditto could transform into some monstrous pokemon that it's seen in the past, but it could also transform into something completely unique and original. The "scary" might not come out. Maybe it gets it wrong and it's actually funny or adorable. Technically, by the power build, it's able to do all of this with no restriction, and so I thought a separate Requires a Roll limitation would be appropriate, to represent the unreliability of this improvisation. Furthermore, I see its Imitation ability being used Only At Full Value (that is, if it wants to imitate, it must imitate everything it sees, whole hog), but in terms of improvisation, it should be able to different parts of its body into different things, as per normal Shape Shift. So my question is... can I just put a limitation on an adder, or can I limit the whole power multiple times for different uses of the power, or is Variable Limitations appropriate here. Or something else? (keep in mind, we're still just talking about the basic physical form shape shifting, ..getting into powers and other abilities will come later).

Shape Shift works so much better for what I had in mind: It costs END to shift and to stay in a shifted shape It is open to any number of shapes for much cheaper It has a built-in Imitation function It gives option for various Limitations, like needing to perceive a shape in order to Imitate it, limiting the mix-and-match function, and keeping the Shape Shift Perceivable, etc. So you guys opened up the possibility of linking the other powers I might need to the Shape Shift, with Transform as a special effect of the overarching power, and possibly putting some of them in a VPP, but I'll report back with whether that's even necessary.

YES! the VPP pool is definitely the way to go. "Transforming" is a special effect! It doesn't even need to purchase a number of different attacks: since the baseline damaging move in my campaign is a straight Blast: Ditto can buy this for itself with variable special effects and "transform" as a fundamental special effect of the power, to cover all its bases. It could buy a naked advantage variable special effect for defining its own type and defenses, and since we're now separating the actual transform from the abilities, I think it would need to buy Shape Shift to cover the alteration of its physical body. I think this is more than a special effect. It can buy a series of Characteristics and STUN linked to Growth or Shrinking. It could then Link a number of other powers to its Shapeshift ability, like if it shape shifts into a pokemon with wings, it would have a linked Flight. I think the "mix and match" problem could be solved with a simple Limitation. Brilliant! Thanks everyone

Mental Illusions I can see being very useful as a special effect of some of the other, more common, Drain attacks that are a "staple" of pokemon battles. Same for the suggestion about defensive powers. I like Invisibility, Psionic (-1/2) ... Is it really a limitation, though? Or could that limitation be something else, like AVAD, Works Against EGO? Thanks for the suggestions!

It's not a jab at anyone else, but I'm the kind of person who's happy with what he's got. Nothing is perfect, so I feel really happy about 6th edition. I have fun playing it with my friends I don't protest fixing things, or streamlining things, and if there's a really good idea about how to do something differently then I don't mind running with it. I don't feel an urgency, or even a need at all, for a 7th edition to come out, or any other supplemental books. The idea of publishing something once a month is interesting, assuming that "published" doesn't necessarily mean "must buy to view". I'd like to see some stories! A send-in series where groups can write down snippets of their adventures at particularly exciting moments, or hilarious moments, or dramatic moments, in order to be shared with the rest of the community. Then we can all vicariously enjoy all of the genres we love but are not currently playing. EDIT: I totally would have sent in the ending to my last fantasy campaign.... one group of Knights of the Rose fighting a suicide battle against a Lich only for the purpose of distracting it while two treasure hunter nemeses are forced to work together to find the phylactery and destroy it, lest the Lich become too powerful and execute an evil reign over the land. And through many wonderful magical traps and puzzles, each experienced differently by each character (which I made up on the spot /brag), they managed to find it, illuminated on a pedestal, at the end of a gently flowing underground river. And as the blow was struck to the phylactery, shattering it and extinguishing the soul within, so was a blow struck to the last standing Knight of the Rose! It was epic.

This is a pretty cool idea. I'm gonna double check the rules and get back to you. hang on! EDIT: Okay, read up on Gate. Does the Beetle Juice door actually work both ways? or is it really just for Beetle Juice to go down into the underworld? EDIT 2: Also, how does the gate stop working? is it in effect for a certain period of time? Does beetle juice need to do something specific to turn it off, or does it conveniently shut off automatically once they don't need it anymore for the scene? Does he just think it and it closes? This is what I have so far: 30 Beetle Juice Door: Extra-Dimensional Movement (Single Dimension), x4 Increased Weight, Safe Blind Travel (+1/4), Area Of Effect (2m Radius; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Usable By Other (+1/2), Grantor can take back power at any time, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2) (105 Active Points); OIF Immobile (Wall; -1 1/2), Extra Time (Extra Phase, Only to Activate, -1/2), Gestures (Must draw the Gate; -1/4), Gate (-1/4) 0 x4 Mass: Can't remember who else uses the beetle juice door. I never actually watched it. Area of Effect: standard for Gate Constant: standard for gate Usable by Other: Standard for Gate Uncontrolled: Not sure... still not quite sure what the rules are on how this Gate is supposed to stop functioning. I guess, if it's a constant power, it should stop whenever Beetle Juice decides it should stop. So, from that, I thought it would more sense that he could draw the door and then not worry about it after that "pay" (but not really because it's END 0) an amount of END to keep the door open for a reasonable amount of time, and then it would shut off. But I asked about the shut-off condition, so waiting to hear back from the OP OIF: I assume he needs a wall in order to open the door, as mentioned in the OP Trigger shouldn't be appropriate, since it's bought as a Focus, the focus can be defined as Universal, and therefore automatically usable by others. It's a bit of a weird dynamic here... can't quite wrap my head around it right now.

If you weren't short on points, what sort of psychic abilities would you buy for a psychic-type pokemon? These powers would include moves for battling, but also non-combat powers which you would most likely see in the pokemon anime, or in a home-brewed RPG of pokemon based on all pokemon media sources.

You know you've been skimming too many HERO Forum posts when... ... I read this as "..we really didn't realize that for a year or two. Hand Attack!)"

Right. Now that you mention this in conjunction with Multiple Attack, I think I knew that, but it never came to mind. I'm not sure if it's much different, but here I'm thinking of two very different effects coming from one attack. Maybe that's overcomplicating it, but Linked seems to suffice for the purpose.

Interesting. I suppose I hadn't understood what Steve meant what he said "over-arching 'meta-power'" in the rule book, although it does then go on at length about negative adjustment powers. Oops! So it's not necessarily the case that a two Unified attack powers can be used at the same time? They have to be Linked? I was actually waiting on a response from Steve on this, but maybe he's taking a really long time to retract his hand after slamming it hard against him forehead .. lol

Interesting. I suppose I hadn't understood what Steve meant what he said "over-arching 'meta-power'" in the rule book, although it does then go on at length about negative adjustment powers. Oops! So it's not necessarily the case that a two Unified attack powers can be used at the same time? They have to be linked? I was actually waiting on a response from Steve on this, but maybe he's taking a really long time to retract his hand after slamming it hard against him forehead .. lol

While this is true, I thought I would add that, while the video game featured Ditto with only 1 move (Transform), I think the RPG milieu would certainly allow for Ditto to learn other things in its natural form, like possibly a melee attack, or some Power tricks arising from its amorphous body (like stretching or dodging) - things that would be of great out-of-combat and role-play value, too.