BlackCobra

Actually, there's a HUGE section that helps you figure out everything about how you want to do a magic system, starting with the feel and flavor and then getting to the actual rules specifics later. I was REALLY impressed with this section. I've been playing Hero for [actual number of years deleted: too long], and although I was thrilled to buy another Fantasy Hero, I wasn't sure there was going to be much in it. Well, there's plenty, and the Magic section was worth it for me. I'm working on a new Fantasy Hero campaign and the book came out at exactly the right time.

I'm working on a campaign I expect to debut in a few months. I started out the characters playing gods in a new world that they helped to shape, including choosing the races, deciding generally how magic worked and what religions they would promote. And some of the cosmology. I had expected that I would then run a fantasy campaign troupe-style with appearences by their deific characters, but that didn't work out. So, I'm rolling time forward 10,000 years, coming up with some kingdoms, a cosmic threat and adding in a bunch of surprises. This is a high fantasy campaign, lots of magic. In fact, so much magic that there's everyman-magic. I'm working up a small number of spells in the 5-10 active point range, which everyone (generally) has a skill to use it. This includes spells for: cleaning, lighting fires, cooling liquids, heating liquids, light, etc. Everyone can do basic things with these spells -- but a talented mage (one who takes a higher skill) can do much more with it. One odd aspect of magic is that magical energy naturally pools in anything that forms a circle. Obviously, this is something that trained mages take advantage of -- create a chalk circle and wait for it to fill with magic. However, it has some interesting implications when you consider trees. I decided that this is the source of power often used for healing & nature magic. It also means that the use of wood goes way down. I expect I'll be posting more about what I'm doing as I create more. Stayed tuned.

I've been told that by my FLGS that they'll have Fantasy Hero in on Monday (Tuesday at the latest) -- which for them is nothing short of amazing. I just got my copies of the Database and the Spacer's Toolkit this past Thursday. In fact, they're so notorious for being slow, I often joke that I buy my books with a -1/4 limit Extra Time. What makes this even funnier is that I get a regular discount from them.

Am I missing something? Wouldn't the best way to build this power be: - EB (physical), Damage Shield, only as many dice as hit with. - Armor, trigger, only to simulate blocked attacks (perhaps a skill roll) Was I missing something in that thread and this one? This melee deflecting power seems very straight-forward to me.

I rather liked the supplement, but did find that most of them didn't fare too well in my 500-pt multidimensional campaign (as I'm sure you can imagine). However, having said that, and for those of you with the book, picture Hades with the Thunderbolts backed up by Aphrodite. They gave my hellishly high-powered superheroes a run for their money.

combat ramp-up As a suggestion that might help get new players familiar with combat, I'd recommend the tried and true Danger Room. If you have the time, run the characters through a variety of combat-intensive training sessions -- not just for them, but for their characters, too. This has lots of anciliary effects: they learn the combat system, they learn more about each other, and they (hopefully) learn more about working as a team. The only problem with this is time. It also (unless done really really well) takes away from the rest of the campaign. However, if you're starting up all new players, and the campaign is starting off fairly fresh, you might be able to run this as a slow introduction to the system and particularly the (sometimes complicated) combat system. Hope that helps -- and good luck!

Bad, bad, bad Ok -- I can claim two such powers, both from the same player (he oopsed, largely) and both radically changed the nature of the campaigns. One: the character's mutant ability allowed him to mimic the mutant abilities of others. Any others. This was done with a variable power pool for the powers and a series of Aids to various things (characteristics, powers). We did not at that time realize how obnoxious Aid could be. In a Danger Room scenario, this character (having a little time to prepare) powered up. He then cleaned the clock of all the members of the opposing team. The character was a little old monk guy (lesson #2 of Martial Arts Movies: always beware the little old guy). The player voluntary retired the character not long after that. Two: character had the mutant ability to "fix" or "enhance" devices. This was purchased as a Transform (BBB) any object into more useful object (I believe it was Major). Essentially it made him a super gadgeteer. And it also meant that any technology near him could be warped to whatever end he needed. Open the Super Prison cell door from the inside? Sure! Fix the alien computer? Sure! Secretly run the base from my cell phone? Sure! I think it lead to my campaign having a more mystical theme. (Yeah, gadget this, pal!) It helped that the player was particularly gifted at using the power extremely effectively.

I would heartily second and third the books of Lois McMaster Bujold, whom I only discovered recently and was completely swept away by. I would also second the Elizabeth Moon books, particularly the ones she did with Anne McCaffrey (Sassinak, Generation Warriors, etc). David Weber also wrote a good, if odd, military sci-fi book called Mutineer's Moon. It's a mix of high-end military SF and good old fashioned space-opera. It does have the distinction of the largest space ships ever seen in science-fiction (and I mean ALL of science-fiction).

I'd say, decide first how your metaphysics work. If Life Energy is tied to the health of the body, they should definitely be able, given sufficient time, to diagnose and proscribe treatment for an individual who fits the parameters of the ability. Now, the really sticky question is how super powers, mutations and mutant powers tie in to Life Energy, if at all. I'd write down what you consider the major types of powers and abilities and work out how (if at all) they tie into Life Energy. For instance, Magic -- does it have anything at all to do with someone's Life Energy? A power full mage might be unusually healthy, but I'd say they wouldn't otherwise seem unusual. On the other hand, in my book, a powerful mutant with regeneration would be like a small beacon. I don't know that there are any hard-and-fast Hero rules for this situation (which is one of the great things about it as a system, really), so you'll have to figure most of this out for yourself. I'd be wary of letting the person turn this one power into too much of a Swiss-Army knife. Hope that helps!

May I recommend, if you have access to the software, using the Newsletter template in Microsoft Publisher? I don't normally care much for MS software, but Publisher is a really simple program to use and their templates are handy. The Newsletter format is a four-page document (designed to go on 11x17 paper and then be folded in half), with lots of space for articles and pictures (clip-art is nice, or random internet pictures). It is some work to put something that big together -- if you have less time and/or inspiration, you can just use the front page for a big story or two. I especially liked it when I was running to liberally sprinkle clues to upcoming events or introduce villains/heroes encountered by others.

Designer, by a long margin. I was never happy with Creator -- it's interface is clunky, it's got some strange holes and it doesn't do print-outs very well (although it has been a while since I've used it). Designer is slow, sure. But the interface is easy to use, and it has lots of print-out options.

Actually, in my campaigns anyway, there's a HUGE difference (a GULF) between someone having a high natural stat and actually having the skill in question. I'd allow someone who actually has the skill to do a whole lot more with it. In the case of stealth, I'd let them not only move quietly, but avoid the arc of the automatic cameras, move upwind of the gaurd dogs and know instinctively how to move behind someone so they don't notice they're there (as some examples). Someone without Stealth could try the same things, but they're going to have to make a much harder roll and they're going to have to do lesser versions of things.

I don't have a lot of time to write this, so I'll be cosmically brief: Delayed Effect hope that helps.

Hmmm, maybe I'm missing the point, maybe your missing the point --- I don't know but somebody is missing something. Just because your TK effects an area doesn't mean you can pick up everything that happens to be in that area -- just as with regular (non-AoE) TK you couldn't pick up anything so heavy you couldn't lift it. I'm also missing the whole reasoning on adding up how much weight you're effecting simultaneously. Would you add up how many targets you hit with a 6D6 Radius attack and then add up all the dice together to determine how strong an attack it is? I think what Steve is saying in his ruling is that the TK effects everything simultaneously, you lift what you can lift and anything else stays put. If you want to choose which specific objects in the area you pick up, you need Selective Target. Anyway, hope that didn't come out gripey -- I'm just confused.

Well the character I'm currently playing in the only Hero/Champions campaign our group is playing (small whine) completely relates to this quetsion, so here's how my GM and I reasoned things. All the Black Tiger's major gadgets are very James Bond-themed. He has a pen camera, his belt does swinging, he has smoke-buttons, and recently he got the fabled magnetic watch. All of these are IAF, Inobvious Accessible foci. Our reasoning was that each of these objects really does whatever it's supposed to do (the pen writes, the belt holds up his pants, the buttons keep his shirt on), but it also can do these other things (swinging, editic memory, darkness). Sure the power is obvious once you use it, but the object always remains what it looks like (generally speaking). However, because they are something he takes out and uses, they can be knocked out of his hand. Now this Inobvious thing has several advantages. When he's in his tux (IIF armor), his pen, his inhalor (self-contained breathing) and all his other neat little gadgets are likely to be overlooked if he's searched for various things like guns or "gadgets". The villain or his agents are going to have to know him pretty well before they start taking EVERYTHING away from him. They still might -- jail will always be kind of a pain, since they insist on really emptying pockets. However, the Inobvious thing also has some downsides -- if he accidentally lends his pen to someone and forgets to get it back (or gets back the wrong one), he's going to have some trouble with his Secret ID. Or if he drops his acyteline-torch lighter (which looks just like any other lighter) and someone picks it up... This reasoning may not work for everyone. But I think the focus rules are flexible enough to handle any situation. (Amusing side-note, the watch actually doesn't work because, in typical me fashion, I forgot to buy him Absolute Time Sense on the thing. You get what you pay for in Hero.)

I always like the idea of a supergroup with the Zodiac theme. But instead of having a special super with specific abilities for each sign, how about a group of twelve supers whose actual personnel changes? The signs would be titles instead of just super-names. Various supers would be asked to step in and take up a particular "chair" or role, with some nod given to what requirements there would be for that role. For instance, the Sagittarian would be archer or missle-weapon focused and the Virgo might be water-focused (even if that meant someone like Aquaman). This gives you several interesting origins for the group: - The Zodiacs could be Earth's mystic defense force, with membership taken from a variety of mystical and a few non-mystical supers. - The Zodiacs is a group that started in the Pulp era and continues to this day. They help stop World-threatening crime and swoop in to help in times of natural or unnatural disaster. -- The Zodiacs are a supers team who protect the Sol system (in a SciFi supers setting), with membership taken from various plantery systems (Jupiter, Mars, Saturn).

While the reasoning may change for different special effects, I think if TK is based on the idea that the character is projecting energy/force to lift and/or damage the target, then what happens when you apply the AOE advantage is that you go from having one such TK projection to having many. In effect, you go from having one lifting cable to having many lifting cables. Now, because you only bought 20 STR TK (for instance), that means that any one of your "cables" is only capable of lifting or exerting 20 STR. That's the way I think of it anyway, and I would like to think it might help others visualize how the Effect (or result) works in Hero.

One of my favorite villains (and my players' favorites) of all time is from my very fist Fantasy Hero campaign -- and believe me, he'd work well in Champions. He was known as the White Lord - a Necromancer of unparalleled power. Those who had seen him (and lived to tell) were few, but they all agreed that he was very tall and extremely pale (thus the name). He commanded thousands and thousands of undead troops and was a terrible threat to the living nations. Standard Liche stuff, right? Well, my players spent a lot of time collecting anti-undead artifacts and magic. Along the way, they found out that a powerful Crown had turned up -- and that the White Lord wanted it badly. They raced to the scene, encountered the White Lord in person, and immediately let loose with the anti-undead magic (acorns that disintegrated the unliving). They bounced off. What my players didn't know is that the White Lord was an escapee Fey - whose race had been imprisoned by the Dragon millenia ago. He was building up the Undead army to eventually win over the Dragons (who were also pretty Bad) -- and was a normal Fey (elf/sidhe) himself. The trick was that the undead were immune to the kind of mental control the Dragons exerted. Don't get me wrong, though. He was still Bad. Or Ruthless, anyway. How's that for a mystical supervillain? I imagine that in the Champs universe, he'd be crossing over into our world to swell the ranks of his armies. And he'd have LOTS of Summoning.

Actually, I really like the idea of the Change Environment to negate weather effects -- that might even provide some serious combat advantages if the character can stand around un-mussed in a hurricane. Of course, you might have to buy more CE for that to work. Otherwise, I'd have to agree -- go with the full-on persistent transform for all the effects.

I had a player a long time back who wanted to play a vampire as a hero (do-able, with work). This was in 4th Ed, before the Resurrect option was available. So we built the power as a Major Transform (dead him to alive him) and bought it Independent (since it was also before Inherent). He also had Regeneration, which turned out to be a real problem. Follow the bouncing logic ball here: character dies. Transform gradually turns him back alive. All Transforms (in 4th Ed, anyway) recover by healing. Character has Regeneration. Based on character's speed, this means he's dying and coming back to life every 2 minutes 30 seconds. Hilarity ensues. Anyway, if you use this kind of power construction, I highly recommend Personal Immunity on the Regeneration (it saves headaches) -- and the character only dies once or twice a month (regular healing).

Me: yes, big is very very good. The more chunky Hero goodness available the better. Others: assuming that the potential buyer(s) knows that it's a Genre book (with lots of non-rules stuff in it) and not a Rules book (particularly), I think the bigger book would be a distinct attraction. I realize that for us, Fantasy Hero will also include lots of good rules specific to the fantasy genre, but really they're just examples of how to do various fantasy bits. To my mind, that's more in the line of a source book rather than a Rules book, if you see what you mean. On the other hand, I understand that this is also definitely not in the line of the Steve Jackson setting/source books -- which are chunky on content and generally kind of light on rules. Based on what I saw in Star Hero, I expect Fantasy Hero will be just what I want: a book which will let me build the fantasy campaign world I want. Mmmmm. It'll be nice to get back to a Fantasy Hero campaign. Haven't played one in quite a while. And I really think 5th flatters the Heroic end much more than any previous edition (which for some reason in 4th Ed always seemed a little like after-thoughts).

I'd say, buy the computer as a follower (especially if it's a real AI), give it all the skills & programs necessary to run the armor, and define it as being inside the armor. Then it's up the GM how he acts and reacts. And, er, Good Luck.

Well, if you can't see the person's face or general body shape too well, then effectively your character would be a 0-8 COM in the armor. However, if the suit enhances his musculature, back-lights his face really well and looks sleek & cool -- THEN you want to buy extra COM through the armor. Actually, I have a character who's taken the Tuxedo package: +4 COM, OIF, fragile +5 PRE, OIF, fragile Every super-spy or pulp hero should have a Tux! (Don't crash a supervillain's party without one!)

Yes, yes, yes! It's giving me ideas for doing my own magic system for a non-D&D thing I may be running in the future. It's also making me think I could take my Epic-level campaign and convert it to Hero. Assuming the players didn't push me down the stairs for even suggesting it!

I've seen a group of 200-pt (total) villains, each with one relatively middling power (or weapon) take down an entire supergroup, simply through the use of good tactics --- even when those same villains were surprised in the midst of their robbery attempt. Because they assumed, in a world with superheroes, that they MIGHT get jumped, and so planned backups accordingly.