UltraRob

(Since I misread the other thread title about hot guys when I first glanced at it, I thought I'd turn it into a real thread...)

I vote for The Blob from X-men.

Can anyone do better?

Rob

Since it's as much Fantasy as anything else, I thought I'd post here about the magic style shown in the first few volumes of the Magic Teacher Negima manga. This is skipping the whole Partner business, because that's where it becomes more of a superheroic setup.

As I see it, the magic for Negima seems to function as follows:

Magisters (wizards) usually require a physical focus to channel their power through when casting, this is normally a special magic staff. The staff is very literally acting as a focus, and in fact if the wizard channels more power through the staff or other item than it can take it will be destroyed in the process. Different items can handle different amounts of power before being destroyed, for example, as a backup Negi carried his "training wand" into a fight, and then when he used it to cast a large spell it was destroyed. Thus Magisters need to carry more than one focus to prevent this. (Note: There are characters who cast without foci, but most do have them that I've seen.)

Magisters must speak while casting, and the more powerful spells seem to take longer. Specifically, offensive spells take at least twice as long as defensive spells to cast, leaving the caster quite open to attack by other means. This isn't helped by magic being relatively instant, and sustained magic requiring sustained focus and limited ability to do other spells. Again, in the comic, it was more practical for advanced magisters to use offensive magic instead of defensive magic to counter other offensive magic. (Because once the mage had committed to attacking offensively, going defensive was giving up the initiative and risking being defeated.)

Spells can and do fail due to caster ability and go awry.

Magisters seem to have a large number of spells, but since spells are largely instant don't seem to use more than one at once. Lower level minor spells seem to call on the user's own power, higher level spells have elemental and spiritual components, invoking outside forces. The exception seems to be things like Flight spells and other movement spells or minor support spells.

Magic items like potions and scrolls and such are used by magisters who can't cast or need something fast, but are 1-shot spells that burn themselves up in the process.

So, based on the above writeup, I believe in HERO a normal human Magister's writeup would include:

Multipower with ultra slots only.

• OAF- Focus Item
  
• Gestures
  
• Incantations
  
• 0 DCV Concentration throughout
  
• Requires a Magic Skll Roll
  
• If a spells active points/5 exceeds the body of the focus item, the item is destroyed during the casting process.
  

Notes:

• All Offensive spells must also take at least 1 phase extra time.
  
• Minor spells, totalling 30 active points or less may be bought outside of the multipower, but are still subject to standard limitations.
  
• Spells with more than 30 active points should pick an elemental focus and spiritual focus (ie Water Nymph Archers!) which will determine their special effects and possible other minor in-game effects. No cost modifier for this.
  
• All mages should buy (with points) a personal magic staff or similar focus item which has sufficient strength to withstand being used for casting at their level of power.
  
• All mages should chose a code-phrase which starts and personalizes their particular spells. "ie "Klatuu Barada Nikto! Ten Nymph Archers of Ice!"
  

Any thoughts? I'm not currently planning to use this, but since I began to read the comic recently I naturally started to break it down in HERO terms and thought I'd clarify my ideas here.

Rob

Re: Lyrical Nanoha

This almost sounds like a classic Elemental Control vs Multipower Magic situation.

The Velka users would have EC's instead of Multipowers, which would both show their more focussed and limited natures and also allow you to do more creative power builds. (ie Extra effect with increased END or Charges)

The Michilda users would be Multipower users, able to have more types of powers, but more limited in how they could use them and not able to boost them like the Velka users could. They get versatility, and probably more abilities, but can't put the kick in that Velka users can with their charges.

Rob

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

Nothing wrong with that. I think we've got a workable system here, but I would propose a couple more changes...

 

DEX: base = 10, cost = 1:1

SPD: base = 2, not connected to DEX

CV: base = 0, not connected to DEX or EGO

 

What do you think?

I think it would work 100%. It would be interesting to see what numbers like this would look-like or result-in in most campaigns, though. I could still see people buying the DEX up to get initiative, but that's also reasonable. As you say, DEX is now just like INT.

Rob

Re: Character: Captain Jiranee Jenvirava

Or' date=' if you prefer "Must be Of Proper Sexual Orientation."[/quote']

 

There was a Lone Wolf and Cub story where a female assassin did exactly this, she fought topless so it distracted the male samurai during the fights and it helped her win. That, and the spectacular tatoos she had covering her torso to heighten the effect.

 

A perfectly viable power build, methinks.

 

Rob

Re: Superhero Podcasts

Thanks UltraManRob. I wasn't aware of the X-Men podcast. What's the general tone? Is it four-color? Iron? Rust? Is it generally accessible, or do you need to be a dedicated X-Fan to get the plots?

 

Keith "Pendant Production's Bibbo, next heard serving coffee in Episodes 28 & 32" Curtis

The X-Men one is literally direct adaptions of the comics written by Claremont himself, very literally. It's a little bit funny, old (pre 90's) Marvel comics were narrated so heavily I always thought they'd work find without the pictures, and then this guy went and proved it by literally just taking the dialogue and narration directly and adding sound effects! If you had the Days of Future Past comic in front of you as you listened, you could literally follow along!

The newer one, Rubicon, is from the 90's when Claremont was at war with Lee for control of the book, and it was becoming more art-oriented. The production isn't bad, but the original book was a mess story-wise (it was laying the ground for a second X-book as well as ) and the narration is minimal, so it might be harder to follow if someone didn't know the cast already.

Still, they're good X-men flashback fun!

Ultra(no man) Rob

Re: Character: Captain Jiranee Jenvirava

Dang! Those "ears" are lethal weapons! I'm sure many a man died while staring a them when he should have been watching the polearm.

Rob

Since the age of podcasting is upon us, I thought I'd point out there are a few fairly high quality superhero podcasts/audio dramas out there some people on here might enjoy. Much like fanfilms, fan radio plays are starting to become quite an industry unto themselves, and are often high quality too! My own original ones can be found in my sig, but I thought I'd highlight some others out there worth your attention.

Circus 13's X-Men Fan Radio Plays

Pendant Productions Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman Plays

Decoder Ring Theatre is modern detective and superhero stuff.

And if you really develop a taste for them, check Dramapod for more!

Enjoy!

Rob

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

I'd rather increase the cost of SPD over DEX in that case' date=' due to the value of the stat.[/quote']

 

Still doesn't fix the problem, because it still becomes cheaper for everyone to invest in 20pts of neo-DEX instead of putting points into SPD. If the point was to reduce DEX abuse by reducing it's ulitlity, this won't work. You'd have to uncouple SPD and DEX entirely to make this system work and say everyone started with base SPD of 1.

 

Rob

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

So what happens if you take the attribute out of the equation?

 

1. Everybody has CV=0 unless they pay otherwise (CSLs)

2. DEX impacts SPD, DEX Rolls, and Initiative

3. DEX becomes essentially as valuable as INT - should cost 1:1

 

It isn't a bad idea, really.

Excellent idea, but I'd say make it 2:1 for the simple reason that if you don't then why would anyone buy SPD? I can pay 20 points for DEX and get DX:30 and associated bonuses and SPD:4, or pay the same 20 points to get...SPD:4.

Rob

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

I have to say my jaw hits the table when I hear DEXes range from 30 - 50. 50!?! You gonna drop 120 in just DEX!?!

I had players wanting that back when I ran HERO in the 80's with 250pt characters! DEX is the WIN stat, and why else do players seem to play supers games?

It's why I always capped DEX at 30, and unsurprisingly, most players seemed to be quite happy to pay the 60 points for it. ("So, it lets me kick the asses of most published villians? I am SO there!") As has been noted elsewhere, DEX and SPD are seemingly costly, but the returns are so damn high why not invest in them? No powergamer I know (who couldn't have the VPP they wanted) would go without maxed DEX, high speed and an uberweapon to go with it. Surprise, they also beat the pants out of any character remotely balanced!

Yes, I know that's where the GM comes in, and making noncombat scenarios, but after 20 years of fighting players trying to exploit the system, it just gets tiring. It's also why I gave up trying to use HERO for supers years ago, sad to say.

[sorry for the rant... ]

Rob

Re: magic system

Steph,

The only problem I see with that is the high lethality rates will make it so nobody will want to be a mage, and you can get things like your NPC mages suddenly blowing themselves up during a big fight! ("I guess we don't need to kill the Wizard King after all! Back to the tavern boys!" )

I've thought about similar limitations on wizards, but I keep being reminded that if I limit them too much, there's no reason for anyone to play one! Even a 16< skill roll with a side effect on a failure will make most mages hesitate if it's a big one! Better to just run it with normal skill rolls and say that an 18 is always a failure, then you have the danger without the lethality even if they buy up their skills.

Rob

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

If the CSL/DEX balance is off, then, then one of them needs to either become more expensive or cheaper. It's that simple. Obviously however, there will probably be no agreement either way (since things haven't changed in the last 3 editions!), and unless the editors make a decision (which will probably piss off half the people here) nothing will change. So I guess DEX:23 it is!

Although this does make me consider halving the price of CSLs to try and make them more viable...

Rob

Re: DEX levels in your campaign.

Has anyone just sat down with their group at the start of the campaign and said... "Okay, DEX is nice and all, and helps you go first, but CSLs are much cheaper, let you hit just as well, and even let you do more damage and do other tricks. You blow all those points on DEX, but in the end the guy who paid 40% your cost for CSLs can still hit your butt just as easily, but with rebound shots for extra bonuses that your high DEX doesn't let you do. Unless you're an acrobat, buy CSLs instead."

The more I read this thread, the more I think DEX has become a hinderance instead of a help in the HERO system. Why should everyone pay an extra 39 points to get DEX:23 if EVERYONE has DEX:23 anyways! Maybe in 6th Edition DEX should cost 5pts/level, that will suddenly make CSLs the way to go and keep those rampant DEXs down! GURPS doubled the cost of it's "Uber Stats" in 4th edition, and it was probably the best thing they ever did!

Rob

Re: [GM Resource] Anatomy of the Orcish Host

Well said! Well said!

Rob

Re: [GM Resource] Anatomy of the Orcish Host

That is one badass host! Hardly the unthinking horde I'm used to seeing in Fantasy! These guys are really scary! I almost wonder how Caithness still exists!

Rob

Re: [super Team] Young Titans - GenCon 2007

Apparently I give Oddhat too much rep...Who knew?

Regardless, great thread, ideas and characters!

Keep up the good work!

Rob

Re: Lyrical Nanoha

You're not the only ones, I never touched Nanoha before, writing it off as a "magical girls show", but happened to see the first episode of Striker S two weeks back and it totally blew me away. There is seriously a setting suited to both gaming, and HERO gaming! I've always been a fan of the "superheroes on a colony world" genre the Japanese seem to like doing from time to time, and this one really brings that home.

From what my friend who is a fan of the show tells me, those foci they're using with "charges" seem to be one of the more interesting use of charges I've seen. Essentially the mage creates a series of "one shot batteries" of their own energies which they use to power their spells, using as many charges as needed for each spell. This allows them to whip off some hugely powerful spells, but at the cost of going through their supply really fast. The "techno" side of if seems mostly a way of more efficiently regulating what the mages are naturally capable of.

I guess for Nanoha's charge system, you'd either have it as actual charges which can be double or triple shotted, or you could just say it's an END Battery system that has the special effect of new charges being used every 10 of so points of END.

All mages would also require an OAF or OIF (in the case of Subaru's glove) foci which is the channel for their powers.

Not sure if I'll go back and watch the previous two, but Striker S is on my watch list for the next 11 weeks!

Rob

Re: Space Wizards (info, advice, & suggestions sought)

Ooohhh......

Well I knew I didn't need to tell YOU this!

Rob

Re: Stacking a power?

Well' date=' I think mechanically speaking, Aid is exactly what I'm looking for, but in this case, its rediculously expensive. As I pointed out earler, it'd be cheaper to buy the RKA power at full 4d6, than buying a power that added 2d6 to an existing 2d6. And, it's not even a LITTLE cheaper. [/quote']

 

Agreed, it seems wrong when the cheapest build is to just buy the power at full level (say 4D6), and then say it's just there to override the normal damage of that weapon. However, I guess the alternative is open to massive abuse, ala Deadly Blow.

 

UltraRob, yeah... sorry to be so quick on the draw there.

 

Nah, it was my screw up and you just winged me...gonna go lay down now...

 

Rob

Re: Stacking a power?

RKA 2d6 would require 30 points standard effect' date=' right? That's 10d6, at 10 points per die. That's 100 points (revised 5th ed.)[/quote']

 

Sigh. Yep. (I deleted my message once I'd double checked, but too late.) I'm a 4th player, and keep forgetting AID is 10pts for 1D6 now!

 

You're right, that does seem rather expensive considering how limited AID now is. It's almost a "why would anyone use this?" power now.

 

Rob

Re: Star Fantasy, some ideas please?

Well, your most basic questions are:

• Are there starships? If so, what type? Crystal Solar Windships powered by magic? "real-ish" Starships that could come out of Star Wars and just look funky or maybe have a funky power/FTL/navigation source? If not, is interstellar travel via Stargates or funky teleportation points that access the galactic ley lines on each world? (This is good if you want to sidestep the starship issue.)
   
  
• What is the common tech level? Pseudo rennaisance or Victorian with magic? Ultratech?
   
  
• What overall power level are the PCs? Are they a first level D&D party or a party of WuXia Space Vikings who can fight ships with their bare hands? Something in between?
  

Once these questions are answered, the rest is really cake. Worldbuilding is about building to suit your imgination and your campaign, after all. I'm sure you have a lot of details in mind, and these should help you gell them a little bit.

Rob

Re: Space Wizards (info, advice, & suggestions sought)

ORION is perhaps the most detailed (OVERDETAILED) science fantasy story ever done, and apparently is being reprinted right now! Rarely mentioned, barely understood, and quite a trippy read.

Rob

Re: Team Iron Angel-BDGA: A Superheroic Audio Adventure Serial

Very cool.

 

Now, I just need an MP3 player... or a couple hours to myself with my sound system... but this *would* be an excuse to get an MP3 player....

There is no better excuse to get an MP3 player (and a dog to walk as you listen) than Podcasts!

Rob

Re: FH Gripes

hahahahah Good story Keith! That does indeed bear repeating! Thanks for telling such a painful tale again!

Rob