JMHammer

Another CLASSIC TREK Phaser Construction Pistol Phaser from CLASSIC Star Trek 30 .. 60-point Multipower Reserve, OAF: Phaser Pistol 3u .. Stun: 12d6 EB, Stun Only, OAF: Phaser Pistol 3u .. Kill: 4d6 RKA, OAF: Phaser Pistol, No Knockback [sFX: Anything reduced to -(Full Body Value) is considered disintegrated - completely gone.] 3u .. Heat: 2 1/2d6 RKA, Penetrating, OAF: Phaser Pistol, No Knockback, Max Range = 10" 1u .. Overload: 8d6 EB, Explosion, OAF: Phaser Pistol, 1 Charge, Use Destroys Weapon (and one power pack but not "extra" power packs - see below), Range Based on STR, Makes Annoying Warning Sound Before Detonation (+1 to Dive-for-Cover rolls) [sFX: Can Make Annoying Warning Sound For Up To One Minute Without Detonation At Character's Option] 2 .. No recoil: +1 OCV w/Phaser Pistol, OAF: Phaser Pistol 8 .. Endurance Reserve: 120 END, OIF: Hand Phaser / Power Pack 8 .. Endurance Reserve: 120 END, OIF: Hand Phaser / Power Pack 8 .. Endurance Reserve: 120 END, OIF: Hand Phaser / Power Pack Special Effect: One Hand Phaser / Power Pack is in the Phaser Pistol to start. A fresh one can be swapped in using the same rules for changing clips. A Hand Phaser can also be used alone; it is identical to a Phaser Pistol but does not have the +1 OCV (it's awkward to hold and aim even through it has no recoil) and uses twice as much Endurance per shot, but it is easily concealable. The Hand Phasers / Power Packs recharge "at the ship" and for game purposes can be assumed to be an "overnight charge" when "plugged in" if that ever becomes important. Total Cost: 68

Reforming your "entangle armor" is an attack action. Making ablative armor using Entangle sounds like a very neat idea and fits your character conception very well. There are advantages to Entangle-based armor, so I would be sure to enforce one of the basic rules on making an Entangle: Doing so is an attack action, and therefore requires a half-phase action that ends your phase. Therefore, unlike an armor special effect using Armor or Force Field or Force Wall, you will not be able to raise your armor effect and attack in the same phase. John H edit: On the other hand, I would allow the same Entangle power w/Personal Immunity that creates your armor effect to be used to throw normal Entangles so that you wouldn't have to buy it twice.

What's the limitation? BlueBuddha said: What could a character not do with this Variable Power Pool? I don't see how "only magic" is a limitation. Your concept sounds interesting, but I don't understand this part. John H

Silly math name quibble Hugh said: One googol is 10^100. That's represented by a 1 with one-hundred zeroes following it. One googolplex is 10^googol, or (10)^(10^100). That's represented by a 1 with a googol zeroes following it - which cannot be represented as there are only about 10^80 (I could be off by a little here... ) atoms in the universe. John H

Instead of Costs END I think that if extra SPD costs END, then it should cost that END each phase. On the other hand, I think you can use another Limitation to represent, "After I finish with hypermode, I'm exhausted." Remove the costs END Limitation and add this -1/4 Limitation: The only Recoveries the character may take while the power is in effect are post-12 Recoveries. The character will use more END than normal simply because he's got more Phases to burn, and not being able to take a Recovery as an action will mean he'll probably be low on END when the power is turned off - it will probably be the reason he turns off the power. Sure, the character can do nothing on a phase, but using no END isn't as good as getting some back from a Recovery action. John H

Here's a magic system I've used in the past and been very happy with as GM. Players seemed to like it, too. This isn't complete, but should give the reader a feel for how it works: How to Do Magic: Most magic-using characters, and all magic-using player characters, use a Variable Power Pool, a Power: Magic Skill called Spellcasting, and spells represented by individual 1-point Knowledge Skills (some 2-point and 3-point "spell groups" are available). Exceptions for certain PCs and PC types might be made on an individual basis depending on campaign and player justification. The Variable Power Pool: 1- The Variable Power Pool may be of any size the character wishes to purchase. 2- The active points of any one spell are NOT limited by the number of real points in the pool. 3- The control cost of the Variable Power Pool must take the following advantages and limitations: No Skill Roll Required to Change Powers (+1), Zero-Phase Action Required to Change Powers (+1), Casting (starting a power) Requires a Spellcasting Skill Roll at -1 per 10 Active Points (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Non-Expendable, Personal, Breakable/Durable (use DEF/BODY of object instead of regular focus rules), OAF (character's choice but nominally a staff, requires one week of crafting to make, cannot have ready spares available, -1), May Only Use Powers Defined by Known Spells (-1/4), May Cast Only One Spell per Phase (spells cast in earlier Phases may be maintained while a new spell is cast, -1/4), All Spells Require at Least 1/2-Phase to Cast and Any Cast is Considered an Attack Action and Therefore Ends the Character's Phase (-0). 4- Many spells use the shorthand, "Standard Limitations (-2)," which refers to Spellcasting Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), OAF (-1) as in item (3) above. The Power: Magic Skill- Spellcasting: 1- Spellcasting costs 3 points for a base 9 + (INT/5) roll, 2 points per +1 to the roll. 2- Spellcasting is required to cast any spell. The roll is modified by -1 for every 10 active points in the spell being cast. Minimum END Cost: 1- The minimum END cost to cast a spell is 1 END. 2- Spells which are 0 END, either because all the powers which compose the spell are 0 END or all powers are bought with the 0 END Advantage, still require 1 END on the Phase in which they are cast. Replacing Limitations: 1- The Limitations on a spell which are among those assigned to the Variable Power Pool may be replaced with Extra Endurance, Extra Time, Gestures, Incantations, and Concentration Limitations (see (3) below for details). 2- The Limitations assigned to a particular spell which are not also part of the Limitations assigned to the Variable Power Pool (the "Standard Limitations") may not be so replaced. 3- Add the Limitation value of all Limitations which are to be replaced. Then apply a total Limitation value double that sum and composed entirely of Extra Endurance, Extra Time, Gestures, Incantations, and Concentration. 4- Whenever any Limitations are replaced in this fashion for a particular casting, 1 LTE is expended. This applies only to casting, not to the maintenance of any spells. 5- The Spellcasting Roll can be made easier or eliminated entirely using this Limitation value replacement process. Changing the default -1/10AP to -1/20AP is a change of Limitation value of (-1/4) ((-1/2) - (-1/4) = (-1/4)) and therefore requires (-1/2) total of replacement Limitations. Eliminating the Spellcasting Roll for a particular casting is a change of Limitation value of (-1/2) and therefore requires (-1) of replacement Limitations. Spells: 1- Spells are 1-point Knowledge Skills which represent a configuration of Powers, Advantages, and Limitations. A character may not cast a spell he does not know. 2- Characters may purchase any of the spells from the available list during character creation. Additional spells from the available list can be purchased later via examination and duplication; finding, buying, or being given the spell by another; or via research. 3- Characters may create spells of their own, but each such spell is subject to GM approval. Such spells can only be created via research, and creating such a spell from scratch takes twice as long as researching an existing spell. All player characters are encouraged to design and purchase one spell which is uniquely their own during the character creation process. 4- Spells are not assigned an active point total or a real point cost. Instead, a character may allocate as many real points to the spell as he wishes and as might be available in his Variable Power Pool. Therefore, spells describe an effect but not the power level at which they are cast. See (5) below for an example and explanation. 5- Example spell- Bartuc's Dragonbreath: Energy Blast, AE-line (+1), Standard Limitations (-2). On a particular Phase, a character wishes to cast this spell with 6d6 of effect. 6d6 EB (30), Advantages +1 (60), Limitations -2 (20). The character must have a Variable Power Pool of at least 20 available real points not already allocated to some other spell in order to cast Bartuc's Dragonbreath at this level of effect. Well, there's lot's more, but that should give you the gist of it. I think this system avoids the unpleasant plot effects that Variable Power Pools often otherwise have on a game, especially a heroic-level game, while still providing a great deal of flexibility. Most of the 3-point spell "packages" allow for a huge variety of low-power effects, what some folks here have called cantrips. One example- The Many Hands of Dendrifer: The spellcaster may create any telekinetic special effect with an active point cost no greater than 20 and a real point cost no greater than 5. Note that it's "telekinetic special effect," not "using the Telekinesis power," so a small Entangle, or Extra Limbs, or any of a number of other effects would be possible. O, and during play I will not allow a player to use an effect from a Variable Power Pool unless it's written up and cleared by me in advance in all particulars including total active points and total real points. I do make exceptions but will not allow allocations made on the fly to slow down play. John H

Yeah, but... It will still work with the +2 return rate Advantage. The dice of effect, and therefore the max points of Absorption, will just compound more slowly. But it's true that the power is even more effective without the delayed return rate, given the extremely high (read: infinite) number of points it can add. I just put that mod in there to make it even more outrageous. John H

Hitting a gun More than 20 years playing Hero and I still have hiccups like this... Isn't targeting an accessible focus a -2 OCV attack? Isn't someone's gun a focus for this purpose whether they paid points for it or not? John H

Why did you think you applied that limitation? The Limitation you applied is pretty clear: You can only use actions with your mental powers on those "extra" phases. A Recovery action is not use of a mental power. Therefore: NO, you may not use a Recovery action during one of those limited phases. Intelligent and well-informed people do often come to different conclusions; it's what makes the world go 'round. But you're definitely being a weasel trying to use your extra speed for a purpose pretty clearly out of bounds by the definition of your applied Limitation, and a double weasel for fishing for munchkin support from players who aren't even in your game. John H [i meant "weasel" in the nicest way, of course. ]

A decade ago, and far away... That might be true, and if so provides even more evidence that good 'ol Steve purposely drove his "partners" out of business. I shouldn't have brought it up. I am SO glad I don't play that game anymore, or have anything to do with Stevie or the Cole-bots. It's over for me, thank god, I hadn't thought about this nonsense for years, and I've decided I don't want to think about it now. I'll just back toward the door now. Stepping out, yessir, didn't mean to step in here. Now I'll have to buy new shoes... John H

Poor Steve Jackson It's a good thing SJG has such a good portfolio of other products so ADB can't ruin that company the way they did TFG. I'd be very interested to learn some of the details of that contract, such as who has final say on content and who controls publication. Former SFB Goober, John H

Just don't allow it Well, as much as a GM should avoid draconian or "Just 'cause I says so!" rulings, you don't necessarily have to convince a player that something isn't permissable in your game. Pretty much anything a player can come up with that creates an infinite-loop situation, has no common or at least obvious defense or vulnerability, or is otherwise a fairly obvious power-gaming abuse of the rules should just be ruled ineligible for your game. That's also the point of this thread, I think: Legal - yet hopefully interesting - power constructs that a GM oughtn't allow in a game. There are a good number of characters in fiction that, in any game terms, are simply too powerful to permit an accurate rendering of those powers within a game for control by a player. I recall running a series of adventures in Piers Anthony's world of Xanth a good many years ago. (Don't mock me too harshly; the first four books were good...) Modeling Bink was pretty easy, but it wasn't possible to allow a player to control that character. His power, "Cannot be harmed, directly or indirectly, by magic; cannot suffer permanent harm from anything; amazing good luck; no conscious control on any of this; power protects itself from discovery by acting through seeming coincidence," may sound boring to play. Compared to Trent (transform any animal - including humans and "magical" animals - into any other animal), Dor (impart personalities to non-living things and give them the power of human speech; no conscious control over the ascribed personalities), or Smash the Ogre (typical strength, toughness, etc.), it IS boring. But except for GM fiat in service of plot, the character of Bink is immune to everything and to some extent that immunity is shared by his entire family and anyone else he cares about. Made for great fiction, especially in the first two books of the series whose plots, for all intents and purposes, were driven by this amazing luck power; but was absolutely awful for the game. John H

My TWF houserule To make Two-Weapon Fighting worth its points, I use the rule as written and add the following: 1- If a character with TWF makes a sweep attack composed of exactly two attacks defined as one attack from each of the two weapons in use, and makes both of these attacks against the same target, the character does not suffer any DCV penalty from the sweep. 2- If a character with TWF (HTH) has one valid weapon in each hand, but uses only one of them - or neither of them - to attack, he gains +1 DCV vs HTH attacks and +1 OCV to perform the Block maneuver. This bonus is not cumulative with any DCV bonus that might be provided by the weapon type, such as that provided by a main-gauche. 3- A character with TWF may ready for combat use two weapons already on his person with a single half-phase action unless some other rule or accepted practice allows this to occur more quickly. I don't allow many Multiple Power Attacks, which makes TWF even more valuable in my games. I do allow characters that have, say, both Energy Blast and Flash - defined as different settings on the same weapon or different aspects of their innate ability to zap things our of their own bodies - to define using both as an MPA. Similarly, a character with a no-range Drain can apply that effect plus a punch or other HTH maneuver with the Drain as an MPA in most cases, depending on special effect. However, Tommy Two-Guns can't have a pair of Colt Peacemakers and MPA with them. John H

Defeat in detail I'm not a big fan of things like Combat Luck as it just doesn't feel right to me. If you want to avoid damage, you should avoid the damage with DCV, levels, or whatnot - not by buying damage resistance/reduction with a "Missed me!" special effect. I tend to allow it only for characters who have Super Luck as a power or some precognition, and even then I don't like it very much. Anyway... I've found that access to fairly easy healing makes for a better game, almost without regard to the genre unless I'm simulating "reality" or purposely trying for a more realistic, or at least grittier, game. Easy healing might not make for the best fiction, but players appreciate being able to keep their characters in play. Out-of-battle healing, even if it's not instantaneous, goes a long way toward keeping everyone happy. In-battle healing is OK but tends to make players sloppy and far more reckless than they would be otherwise. In a game, if you know your character will get beaten to a pulp but can be all but raised from the dead you'll go ahead and take the damage in order to accomplish the objective. A person in real life, or a character in fiction, unless totally insensate, at least hesitates before absorbing that kind of punishment even if he knows there will be no long-term consequences. Most fantasy games I've played involve the players defeating the enemy in small groups, rather than taking on every baddy at once. This divide and conquer approach makes sense for small unit tactics as well as big battles. Healing takes the place of reinforcements and permits the story to continue to unfold without undue delay caused by a need to sit around for a month or two while healing naturally. I also like the "paramedic" rule where each character can heal 1 BODY from each wound given a bit of time out of combat to a maximum of REC in BODY per day. John H

Almost anything that loops is a problem 2d6 Absorption vs Physical Damage (10), applies to STR, PD, ED, and Absorption (PD) simultaneously (+1), delayed return rate 5/month (+2). Subtotal Cost: 40 2d6 Absorption vs Energy Damage (10), applies to STR, PD, ED, and Absorption (ED) simultaneously (+1), delayed return rate 5/month (+2). Subtotal Cost: 40 Grand Total Cost: 80 Totally legal, but essentially permanently raises the character's STR, PD, and ED to infinite levels. All the character has to do is bang his head against a wall, stand in a fire, jump off some buildings, or perform some other nonsense in order to "charge up" and the charge lasts for a month! Which is plenty of time to charge up again and never lose power. Need to save points? Dump the ED Absorption and the total cost drops to a measly 40! Next challenge: Build a legal but unallowable power using Entangle. John H

Excellent Omnigadget Conversion Your conversion is excellent, I think. You might care to add an additional -1/2 to represent that the powers aren't inherent to the character but all work through some sort of gadget; an OIF or OAF, I suppose. You might also want to limit it to only one gadget at a time, which is probably worth another -1/2 or so. You might want to permit the character to violate the official rule which restricts any individual power built with the VPP from having an active cost greater than the real points in the pool. Otherwise, your 20-point "omnigadget" will actually be several different, albeit individually weaker, gadgets. John H

Keith is right, plus... Klutus said: Your basic distance formula: S = 1/2 A T^2 S = Distance A = Acceleration due to gravity T = Time Solving for T in order to answer your question, the formula is: T = (2 S / A)^(1/2) [Read: T equals the square root of (two times S divided by A)] Example: Working in metric and using nice round numbers, A is 10 m/s/s. Let's say S is 180 m. 2 S = 360. 360 / 10 = 36. 36^(1/2) = 6. So, your heroes have 6 seconds to save the falling character. How you'll handle this in-game is another story. If it were me, I'd say that if any character can get to the falling character's position at the beginning of the segment of the saving character's phase, or below that position, he may attempt to catch the falling character and use his strength (and unused movement as strength) to reduce / eliminate damage. If you want more realism, a character's strength isn't going to do jack to prevent falling damage. All those "snatched inches from the ground" images from TV and the comics are as fantastical as the antigrav flying people and laser eyes - when I see it on the animated JL, it makes me wince. A careful catch from a fall reduces damage in the same way that falling onto a rubber sheet reduces damage: Velocity from FAST to zero occurs over a longer time (a good fraction of a second instead of instantly), i.e.less acceleration (or, as you might care to describe, deceleration) is applied to the impacting body. "It's not the fall that kills you, it's hitting the ground at the bottom," or, "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the huge acceleration that occurs near-instantaneously at the bottom." See Good Source of Info for terminal velocity information. John H

Encumbrance and Armor and Penalties Now that I've had FH5 for a few days, I've been thinking about how I might adapt my old rules regarding armor to Hero 5E. I'm looking for some realism but I'm more concerned with encouraging people to have diverse character types, use/wear diverse equipment, etc. So, I've been thinking that the encumbrance penalties can't be reduced in any way. Unless you put your gear in a wheelbarrow, on a horse, or in a bag of holding, carrying gear and wearing armor and whatnot with the encumbrance values as described in FH5 will result in the penalties to DCV, Dex Roll, Movement, and END use modifiers described in FH5. (FWIW, I use the END per turn from encumbrance to modify post-segment-12 recoveries as applied to END.) Furthermore, regardless of strength, DEF 3 and DEF 4 armor imposes a penalty of -1 DCV and -1 DEX roll; DEF 5 and DEF 6 armor imposes a penalty of -2 DCV and -2 DEX roll; DEF 7 armor imposes a penalty of -3 DCV and -3 DEX roll; DEF 8 armor imposes a penalty of -4 DCV and -4 DEX roll. Each +1 DEF beyond that imposes a penalty of -1 beyond that imposed by DEF 8. These armor-type-based penalties are NOT cumulative with the DCV and DEX roll penalties of encumbrance; the affected character must use the WORSE of the two which apply. (Previous paragraph assumes "average" non-magical armor built for a human-size wearer.) Finally, characters may spend points on "Armor Familiarity" to offset these additional armor modifiers. This skill functions much like penalty skill levels. This skill will not offset encumbrance penalties; it will only offset the additional armor penalties. 1 point will offset up to -1 of the DCV/DEX roll penalties from armor; 3 points will offset up to -2 of the DCV/DEX roll penalties from armor; 6 points will offset up to -3 of the DCV/DEX roll penalties from armor; 10 points will offset up to -4 of the DCV/DEX roll penalties from armor; etc. [1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5...] Example: Conan has Armor Familiarity +1 for which he spent 1 character point. His strength is phenomenal and he can wear any normal armor without worrying too much about encumbrance penalties. If he wears chain mail (DEF 6), he will suffer a -1 to his DCV and DEX rolls because DEF 6 normal armor usually applies a -2 penalty but his +1 Armor Familiarity changes that to only -1. Naturally, if he wears anything from his famous loincloth through ring mail (DEF 4), he will suffer no penalty at all since the -1 DCV/DEX roll penalty from DEF 3 or DEF 4 armor is completely offset by his +1 Armor Familiarity. If Conan wears full plate (DEF 8), he will be at -3 DCV and DEX rolls (-4 +1 = -3). Example: Roland the Paladin is wearing full plate (DEF 8) and carrying quite a bit of gear, so that even with his great strength he is encumbered to the -1 DCV/-1 DEX roll level. Roland has purchased Armor Familiarity +4, which completely offsets the -4 DCV/DEX roll penalty from the amor. His Armor Familiarity does nothing for the -1 DCV/-1 DEX roll penalty from his encumbrance, however, and so he continues to suffer those penalties. If he enters combat, it might - depending on circumstances - be a good idea for him to take a half phase to drop his pack to unload that weight, not to mention another half phase to get his weapon and shield ready. This permits pretty much anyone to use light armor without any worries beyond standard encumbrance. It permits most characters to spend a point or three to be able to wear medium armor. But the heaviest armor can only be worn without additional non-encumbrance penalites by those who've spent some serious points in offsetting those penalties. Note also that these Armor Familiarity levels do not offset any perception modifiers or other such penalties which might be imposed by having one's body covered by leather or metal in important places. They will help the character to prevent making additional creaking or clanking noises, whether from the armor moving against itself or against the floor or another surface, as expressed by the reduction in penalty to DEX rolls. John H

Thank you... for delivering a tool for the Mac users in the Hero audience. We are legion.

Doh! Woops. You're right, of course, Bartman. For some reason I factored it backwards. edit: Added an addendum with the correction to my original message. FWIW, Georesearch satellite GFZ-1, which was designed to use the lowest possible orbits to meet its mission requirements, was tracked at 230km.

It can't be linear The following has no bearing on reality - it assumes your bat and ball can handle all the punishment, ignores the way gravity really works, bastardizes ballistics, and certainly doesn't follow the default throwing/leaping rules: OK, let's say a good home-run hitter can smack a ball 400 feet over a wall consistently. Let's say he can get it up 300 feet in the air. (Why these numbers? Why not!) That gives him the ability to smack a baseball 100 meters, or 50 game inches, upwards. Let's also say that this ballplayer has a STR of 15. A good bit better than average, certainly not superhuman but it is the STR level which most players tend to choose to represent a well-conditioned athlete. We'll assume that distances one can smack a baseball are not linear, instead doubling with each 5 points of STR to match lifting capacity increases. This is not how the default game rules handle jumping and throwing, but let's do it this way for this example. The Hubble Space Telescope is in low Earth orbit, average altitude 368 miles or, let's just say, 130 kilometers. That's 130,000 meters, or 65,000 game inches. If a character with STR 15 can smack a ball 50 inches upwards, STR 20 can get it to 100 inches; STR 25 to 200; etc. STR 65 gets you to 51,200 game inches. STR 70 gets you to 102,400 game inches. So, it seems that STR 68 is about right. So, a baseball hit with a STR of 68 will fly up, tap the Hubble gently (if it hits at all), and then fall back to Earth, eventually impacting the ground or someone's head at terminal velocity (if it didn't burn up on the way up, it won't burn up on the way down). It won't go into orbit because it has no tangential velocity (it was hit more-or-less straight up). Any STR in excess of STR 68 applied to the swing can cause damage to the target. Uselessly yours, John H edit: Bartman points out I converted miles to kilometers incorrectly. He is right; 368 miles is closer to 600km, not 130km. That makes it between STR 80 and STR 85; say STR 83 to tap the satellite.

Showing my age again "If I can't see it, it must be there!" Reminds me of a Legion of Super-Heroes story of 20 or more years ago. Ultraboy is on the run from the rest of the Legionairres, who think he has murdered an old flame of his. He's hiding out in a room lined with lead. (FYI, Ultraboy's Penetra-vision, his X-ray Vision equivalent, can see through anything except certain energy fields.) Mon-el and Superboy are searching the entire planet for him using their X-ray Vision and other super-vision senses. One of the other Legionairres asks a smart-aleck question along the lines of, "How do you think you're going to find him? He's not stupid; he'll be hiding in a lead-lined room!" To which they reply, "That's why we're looking for lead-lined rooms. And one of them has Penetra-vision beams coming out of it!" So they swoop down and mayhem ensues. Many old Superman stories also had Supes finding the bad guy's hideout by looking for large lead chambers in the middle of mountains, deep underground, etc. He figured there'd be little reason for something like that to be there unless someone had built it specifically to hide from his X-ray vision. And of course he was usually right! Meaninglessly yours, John H

Age Disadvantage In most games, it's probably best to either force all PCs to take the Normal Characteristic Maxima disadvantage at no points, or to disallow the Normal Characteristic Maxima disadvantage completely. Characters that take this disadvantage in games where it is optional don't lose anything by doing so - the player doesn't intend to boost the characteristics beyond the NCM limit anyway and so gets a free 20 points. Similarly, the Age Disadvantage should not provide any changes to Characteristic Maxima. Although some age limits can be severe, they provide increased Characteristic Maxima for some traits and, again, the Disadvantage will be used in such a way by players and only with certain characters such that it will not really be a disadvantage to those characters at all. Again, free points for nothing, which ought to be avoided. Age should be worth something in terms of Disadvantage points: Very young characters can't get a driver's license, won't get taken seriously as hostage negotiators, are too short for some rides, and aren't eligible for senior citizen discounts. Very old characters can't go undercover at the high school, won't be eligible to join NASA's astronaut training program, and aren't going to make the cut for the next season of Real World. For all the other effects of real-world aging or lack thereof, such as memory loss, "crotchety-ness," or being under parental control, use other Disadvantages such as Physical Limitations and Social Limitations. And adjust the character's actual Characteristic values, not the Maxima applied to each Characteristic defining the point beyond which double points must be paid. John H

Stun Dmg = End Dmg ??? Herolover said: Is this some new rule in 5E Fantasy Hero (which I do not have yet)? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but I'm certain that a target, when hit, does not lose an equal amount of End when Stun damage is taken. Perhaps you meant that when HW uses End, after his End is zero, he'll be burning Stun (1d6 Stun for each 2 End, if memory serves). John H

When Can I Dodge? MrThou said: You can also just declare a Dodge as part of your regular phase so that it will remain in effect from that point until the beginning of your next phase or until you abort to some other maneuver, are knocked out, etc. But yes, if you Dodge in a phase - whether due to an abort or a regular use of a half-phase action - you can't attack in that same phase. John H