Beast

Project Update!

I have written the introduction to the product. I have also created outlines for the contents for the various groups. I have even completed the first character sheet! (T't'shlr from ARL/METE.) T't'shlr has allowed me to develop a rough idea as how I want to present any characters who don't have complete background (searches of Aaron's data archive pulls up a lot of names, but not a lot of data).
 
BTW -- want a sense of scale as to Aaron's Strike Force universe? I have a spreadsheet showing ALL of Aaron's Strike Force characters (created by him and others). It has 4,000+ rows!

was on the 2016 KS for Strike Force
and will most likely get this  too

I disagree a bit, Dean. It's more than Instant Change, as it primarily protects a hero from destroying their costume with their own powers.

Greetings everyone. I wanted to announce the official start of my work on Strike Force Organizations, a sequel to 2016's Aaron Allston’s Strike Force.
  The book will focus on three groups, the Blood, the Circle, and METE (all previous presented in Champions Organization products for early editions of Champions. My intent is to combine the content written for the PDFs with content Aaron wrote for his proposed (but never complete) Strike Force Universe series of books.
  I intend to update the content to HERO 6e, update the text to correct any errors and issues, and update any references to current game mechanics. I will not fill in any gaps -- I am not so arrogant as to assume what Aaron would have wanted, but I will acknowledge areas where content is lacking (if such a need arrives). I hope to find updated character sheets for many of the early NPCs, but will work with what I have.
  I also intend to present bases, vehicles, scenarios, and villains, just as they all appeared in the early releases.
  I will change names (for example, METE will be called Alien Research Laboratories) in accordance to Aaron's wishes and per his list of corrections for setting names.
  This product will be released as a collaborative work between Surbrook Press and High Rock Press.
Finally, the book will contain stats for Prowlers & Paragons UE and I hope to have a P&PUE add-on detailing all of the characters from Aaron Allston’s Strike Force.

PS: that last item has already been discussed with Jason. I am seeking to support two systems that I greatly enjoy and I hope to draw both fan-bases together to support this product.

PSS: I will endeavor to provide frequent updates. Please bug me via this thread if I forget.

I have always understood this rule as Gauntlet has described, and we always used it as so in our campaigns. If you think that a human could not remove a head with an ordinary sword, I refer you to the Japanese Samurai, there are too many tales of them doing so to ignore and if you require an example closer to home culturally I present Richard the third also known as the Lionheart. A story supported by 6 references (3 primary and 3 secondary) ascribe the following; as the heat of battle grew Richard struck a man while ahorse from his right shoulder through his body and out his left hip and as the horse continued past the body fell atwain to either side of the horse. Now admittedly Richard was a superior human, brighter than most, faster and stronger he was still human. Thus it is possible for a man to remove the head of a dragon, a vampire or that of a werewolf with a single blow. By the way the chap copped in half was reportedly wearing chain and leather. 

One comic I particularly liked was Wally feeling a pressure against the back of his neck.  Then he noticed that everyone in the movie theater, and the movie, were frozen.  He'd had someone shoot him, the bullet touched him, and he went into super speed mode defensively, so fast everything was frozen.
 
And Wally was never as powerful as Barry.  No, the Flash shouldn't ever be hit, but its very difficult to find a challenge for someone as powerful as DC makes their heroes.  So their powers vary wildly between comic to comic and even page to page in the same comic.  That happened constantly in the Flash TV show, he was either faster than a bullet or wasn't, depending on what the scene required.  Drove me nuts.

One of the things to consider is that in the in the comic books a character is often more powerful in their own comic than they are in someone or when they are part of a team. Often they will come up with a reason but as a rule a character is always more powerful in their own stories.  A good example of this is in a Dr. Strange comic Dr. Strange beat Wolverine in hand to hand combat.  The justification was that Wolverine was possessed by a magic spirit that caused him to fight less efficiently.  If I remember correctly Strange did not use his magic on Wolverine because the sprit gave Wolverine protection vs magic.   
 
That means when you are basing your character on a concept from the comic books you need to base it off the character as they are in team comic or another character's comic.   If you want to play the Flash you need to play the one character in the JLA comic, not the one in Flash.   
 

Death for decapitation

severing a limb you need to look at the inpairment rules in 6th ed

2m x 2mx 1m extra dimensional space from APG1
base 15pts
IAF(key fob,etc...)-1/2
0 dcv -1/2
extra time (extra phase only to activate -1/4)
Limited Power (no living matter  may be held in this space; -1/4)
 
Custom Power (15 Active Points); IAF (-1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Gestures (Requires both hands; pulling it to correct size; -1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (no living matter  may be held in this space; -1/4)
real cost 5pts

Well I think there might be a false dichotomy being promoted here of either you are really tightly built with every point squeezed to its limit to make the most efficient and effective character possible... or you make a concept character that is a hapless clod incompetent in every way.  I see it more as a combination of elements.  You can have a fairly effective conceptual character and a conceptual efficient character.  
 
The character who builds in less efficient portions (such as the 10 CON mentalist) might not have quite as many points to spend on everything but its not crippling, either.  And a tight concept might be more effective than the super efficient build simply because it is tight and works well as a package.  And of course, there's the effect of role playing, where even if a character isn't the most powerful combat machine imaginable, they have other aspects and the game is about more than beating up the next bad guy.  I mean, ideally.
 
And then there's the GM who has the power to make things right.  A good GM is not like a computer game, they can adjust the encounters, setting, events, and circumstances to give the "weaker character" a chance to shine and be useful or important even in the combat they may not excel in.
 
 
Well, let's put it this way: if your concept is the full potential of a comic book speedster when logically followed through to their natural consequences and the way they are on occasion depicted... nobody has that many points and you cannot build that character.
 
But you can build a speedster that acts much like a comic book speedster in most of their encounters.  No, there's no chance anyone can shoot their freeze ray gun faster than the Flash can dodge it.  No, Mirror Master could not reach over and push buttons on his wrist before the Flash could run around the world seven times, eat a pizza, and read a book, then stop the button pushing.
 
And both of those things happen in the comics: the freeze ray goes off before Flash acts, Mirror Master pushes his silly buttons before the Flash can stop him.

There is a great apocalyptic scenario in the 4th edition VIPER book in which they postulate a situation where superbeings engage in so much war and conflict that they basically destroy everything except a few domed cities ruled, of course, by superbeings.  Basically the supervillains won, and are dictators over cities which are isolated between wasteland and the city states are technological marvels.  An uneasy truce remains between the cities.
 
The PCs are a band of rebels who fight against the supers, obviously lose, and are exiled to the wastelands, where they have to try to survive.  but they stumble upon an intact Viper base, hidden in the ruins not far away, and start using that equipment as a campaign against the supers, liberating their city, then moving on to other cities if they win.

I was always enormously intrigued by this concept and wanted to run it as a campaign but my attempt only lasted one session.

Here's the Discord:

https://discord.gg/HcUJvJH

True.  But...
 
6e2 has a number of pregen characters in the HERO System Genre By Genre section.  6e1 has multiple sets of Characteristics guidelines by power levels on pages 35 and 48.  And then there's us, here at the boards and on the Discord server. 
 
And there's a ton more information available in the other supporting books. Champions, Fantasy Hero, Star Hero for 6th edition alone.  Champions Complete and Fantasy Hero Complete.
 
A person new to 5th edition is going to be in exactly the same place as a person new to 6th edition with respect to expectations of where stats should be.  In this regard, reducing the amount of math by eliminating Figured Characteristics is reducing the mental load.  I can't comprehend how the opposite could be true.

The animation was based on a discussion that basically said there's no point putting Vadar up against a normal space marine as they can't do much against the force powers, what would happen if he fought one of the space marine librarians (psychic/wizard, there isn't much difference in 40k).
 
Which made a cool animation, but also rendered the question a bit pointless - psychics in 40k range from 'it would hardly make a difference versus Vadar' to ridiculously over powered army killers who would squish him like a bug. So you basically get to just choose which side wins at that point. 

And remember, Fantasy Heto is not D&D. 
 
I get a little depressed, every time some young player tries to cobble together a 3.5 or 5e TSR build. It never works or is never an efficient use of points. 

A spell casters real advantage is the ability to use non-standard attacks.  The 2d6 HKA of a warrior always goes against resistant PD and in most cases has no advantage.  With the right weapon you might get AP or a +1 Stun multiple, but that is about it.  The weapon also has a STR MIN so you need near a 20 STR just to use it.  
 
Take a wizard with the ability to create a sword made of flame.   He buys it as a 1d6 HKA.  The spell has the following limitations OAF expendable easily replaced (Small piece of flint), requires a skill roll, incantations, gestures.   The sword goes against ED instead of PD and cost 5 points.  If the wizard has a 15 STR it does 2d6 damage.  Adding the advantage AP increases the cost to 6 and means I need a 17 STR to get it to 2d6.   My wizard also has a STR spell that gives him +7 STR for 2 points.   
 
Compare this to a warrior using a Greatsword.  The warrior needs 17 STR to use the Greatsword which costs 7 points.  He also needs WF with blades for 1 point.  He gets the Greatsword for no points and can do 2d6 damage targeting PD.  Both characters spent 8 points and have the same STR score.   The wizards attack targets ED instead of PD and gets to cut the ED in half unless the target has hardened defenses.  The warrior is visibly armed and draws attention for being dangerous.   The wizard is carrying some flint and steel (the expendable focus for the STR spell) to light fires.  
The wizard is coming out ahead in spite of the fact he has to pay for his spells.  The cost of the magic skill and booting it up high enough will be an additional cost for the wizard, but that investment gets him so much versatility and power it is well worth the points.        
 
Looking at it further the warrior is already near the normal maximum for STR where the wizard can still buy 10 more points.  This makes it easier for the wizard to increase his damage.  The wizard can also simply pay the points to increase the damage of the spells.  for an additional 10 points I can increase the damage on the spell to 2d6 and the STR to +20 to boost the damage to 4d6 AP HKA.  For the warrior to boost the damage he needs skill levels, martial maneuvers or talents.   Weapon Mastery for a very limited group costs 12 points to add +1d6, it costs 18 points to get 6 skill levels for a second dice.  At this point the wizard has spent less than half the points for a better attack.   The skill levels do give the warrior more versatility, but the wizard has 18 points unspent so can easily purchase 6 skill levels and now has better damage.  
 
The idea the wizard is at a disadvantage because he has to purchase his spells is an illusion.  In reality he will often have the advantage of having way more versatility.  This is not even factoring in the fact the wizard has a huge advantage out of combat.     
 

I understand what you are saying; I do.
 
However, you are still stuck in that mindset:
 
 
I don't wish to in any way appear as offensive when I say this. But doe this particular mini-conversation, I would take it as a personal favor of we just avoided any discussion of HERO's "Martial Arts System."  I have a grindstone with me, obviously, but I did not bring that particular axe with me this time.
 
 
 
Why do you feel it is mandatory that spells cost points or be expensive?  That is the D and D prejudice showing through.
 
If I have a computer programming skill, I have a chance to use any computer I encounter.
 
What, anywhere in the HERO System Rules stops me from building a universe where the only rhing differentiating magic users from anyone else is five points of "manipulate magic" skill, allowing them the chance to use any naturslly-occuring source of magic or magic item?
 
What, specifically, says I can't do that? 
 
What says magic has to work _any_ particular way, or that magic can't just be a pool of points that I buy from which I can build whatever spell I want?
 
Or maybe all magic in this world comes from spell books and nowhere else, and only those who can read can wield magic?  Or perhaps spells are one point each, limited only by the endurance of the caster, or a special Endurance pool--
 
Or, again, only those with "use magic" skill for dive points, etc. If that is how your world works,  then magic weapons are just normal weapons unless wielded by a magician. (Borrwed that feom a mini campaign I ran for my son's friends:  all magic comes,from music; only skilled musicians can wield it-- they are in the school band, obviously.)
 
If you have decided that magic must cost xharacter points, that is not the rules; that is _you_.  If you have decided that magic spells are bought individually and are super-HERO expensive, that is also _not_ the rules; that is _you_.
 
 
 
 

if the item is paid for the GM should have it so the character can find it when they escape
 

Different take on the above. If a player pays points, then the item paid in points for, will return to the character. They cannot lose it permenantly. Items paid for in money can be lost, stolen, or damaged,permanently. This was discussed 6-9 months ago already. 

If you get the "Complete" versions of the books, you get 4th edition level brevity with 6th edition detail, I think its the best of both worlds.  Could do with a bit better presentation and tone, but they do the job for rules.  Hero's biggest problem is lack of market presence and too few adventures.  We independent people are trying to fill in the gaps, but the company really needs to step up.  You cannot even find Hero on the shelf anywhere, sitting on line and offering POD is not good enough for a game company.

I would add Superpowered by Stellagama it is a 2d6 Quantum Engine based game
fairly rules light to medium crunch

It's been weird and disappointing that the mainstreaming of superheroes and D&D hasn't translated into a resurgence of superhero TTRPGs (if not Champions in particular).  Near as I can tell the supers RPG landscape suffers from fracturing--or maybe pulverization is a better word.  Just glancing at /r/rpg some RPG options are:
 
Marvel Multiverse RPG (2023) aka D616
Marvel Heroic (2012) (literally never heard of this until today, seems to be well received)
Marvel Super Heroes aka MSH aka FASERIP (1984)
Marvel Superhero Adventure Game aka SAGA ("uses cards")
Sentinel Comics RPG
Masks
Mutants and Masterminds 2e
Mutants and Masterminds 3e (seems like there's a feud between the 2e/3e players)
ICONS
Worlds in Peril
GURPS (seriously there are some folks out there using this for supers)
Prowler & Paragon
Cypher
Four Color Heroics from Spectrum Games
Supers! Revised
DC Heroes
Ascendant. (EDIT--it appears the author/publisher of this game is some kind of alt right agitator, proceed with caution)
Heroes Unlimited (Palladium)
Villains & Vigilantes
Spectaculars
...and Hero.
 
Work is bugging me so I don't have time to google these, bring back a report if you do. 

That's fair. I never used published characters either, and regarded the Enemies books just as sources of ideas to field-strip and recombine.
 
Dean Shomshak

Yes please