Earen

Re: Suggested Point Caps

I guess here is where I mention that when I first started with the HERO system, it was when supers were built with 100+100 ... and we liked it! My recent FH campaign was heroic with 75+75 and no active cap ... though we threw out the first traditional fantasy characters (warrior, priest, archer) and restarted with circus performers ... to encourage a less combat-oriented style of play.

The traditional characters wandered through an entire cave complex and came out in decent shape. The circus performers were seriously challenged by a couple goblins and a hobgoblin ... but I think the players felt more satisfied with the win.

So I guess it depends on the players ... do they want to be facing down Balrogs their first adventure out? Or do they want to work their way up from relatively normal to something special?

Re: Did anyone else...

I don't know. A loincloth on a skeleton seems a little silly to me.

Little necromancer girls like to play dress-up with their Ken dolls too

Re: Alternate encumbrance rules (house rules)

I was just looking over it ... it looks good, personally. I'll be digging up my encumbrance rules and comparing tomorrow to see how it might work in my campaign.

Re: The great armour race...

I don't know why so many GM's say that Armor would be frowned upon in a town in a "fantasy" world? I mean some really metropolitan place and some special types' date=' but in general Armor would be normal. Town Gaurds, anyone who leaves town or is coming into town, which would be a constant daily occurance. People in a fantasy world HAVE to go armed and armored when leaving the "safety" of a town, even farmers and merchants and whoever wants to live.[/quote']

 

It depends on the setting. If you're running a campaign that's basically a fantasy Europe ... i.e. medieval Europe with "all the legends are true" added to it ... then no, armor would not be that common. The "saftety" of a town as you put it would be provided by the militia or the army of the local lord and they would be the ones who would wear armor ... maybe. A farmer wouldn't have the money to spend on armor ... they would just avoid the haunted forest with the werewolves in it on their way to town to sell their grain or whatever.

 

Conversely, I've had characters arrested for having weapons on them inside of towns. They were supposed to have turned in all their weapons at the gate. It helps to keep the peace when only the town guard is armed. The local townsfolk would laugh at someone walking the streets in full plate with no weapon in that type of setting ...

Re: Smart Missiles

I like the Summon construct better actually ... here's why ...

In both "real life" and fiction:

1. Missiles have a rate of movement. They can be outrun (though rarely).
   
2. Missiles have a turn rate. They can be outmaneuvered (more common).
   
3. Missiles are a physical object. They can be blown up.
   

With the Seeking advantage you have an attack that:

1. Instantly reaches the target. It can't be outrun or outmaneuvered.
   
2. Isn't a physical attack. It can't be blown up.
   

Both of the above can be fixed with Missile Deflection ... but that seems a very non-genre way of solving the problem. If you outrun or outmaneuver a missile, you could be halfway across the solar system by the time you do ... and out of the fight though you live to fight another day. With Missile Deflection, you're in exactly the same spot as you were before.

And that doesn't even get into the idea of how to simulate countermeasures or heavily-armored missiles ... all of which are much easier to deal with if a missile is a Summon.

Re: Help me build a power

Hero: Wait' date=' he must have an office around here. I zip around the nearby 10 kilometers area looking for the office building that was described.[/quote']

 

GM: Ok ... aren't you out of END by now?

 

Seriously, MegaScale isn't really used for things like that. From FREd page 169: "The tradeoff for MegaScale is this: you can't use the Power on a personal level anymore. ... A character with MegaTeleportation can teleport from the Earth to the next galaxy in the blink of an eye, and can even reduce his power so that he's only teleporting 1" ... but he can't Teleport across the street."

 

So he can search the surrounding 10km in 1km increments. But since Teleport means that "one doesn't travel through the intervening space" ... I would rule that they can't be searching it either.

 

Personally, I'd do the whole thing with bonuses to PER rolls and possibly Penalty Skill Levels with PER to offset range modifiers. Maybe add Indirect to the base Senses.

Re: Suddenly Alone on the Stations

For a soft-pedaled look at this sort of "survivor economy"' date=' I'd reccomend checking out the origianl 16-part [i']Battlestar Galactica[/i] TV series. Sure, the ships are mobile, but they face many of the same problems that stations would. For trying to survive in a world drastically changed beyond recognition, check out The Nitrogen Fix by Hal Clement.

To add to the "literature as a source of ideas" portion ... the book Fallen Angels by Niven, Pournelle and Flynn.

Re: Using COMliness

I question the plausibility of 30 Com in anyone' date=' though. That means the character if 400% more attractive than the most attractive non-supers on the planet.[/quote']

 

Actually, "Rising Stars" by J.M. Stracynski (hope I'm spelling that right) has a super in it whose only power is to be the most beautiful person the viewer has ever seen.

 

If you want to go beyond that' date=' you should supplement with some kind of 0 end, area of effect, low-power Mind Control.[/quote']

 

If the above had some sort of set effect ... as in "fall in love with X" ... then yes, I'd agree. But I would tend to say that with the varying reactions that people would give ... some lust, some jealousy, some would think that the super is just a bubble-head ... I would say that the ultra-high COM is better for the special effect.

Re: New Limitation: Does not Stack. Gm's please look

Where it becomes problematic is when throwing up one simple 2PD/2ED Force Field' date=' 0 END, Persistant is extremely effective when combined with armor.[/quote']

 

... which is one of the reasons why I don't allow spells that don't require END at least to activate and typically to maintain. I understand the desire for a "does not stack" limitation and it is one way to balance armor and armor-like spells if it is getting out of hand ... but I think it's not the best way.

Re: What Would Your Character Do? #63

An 18 year old with the mentality of a small child? No thanks' date=' we have enough of those in the real world. [/quote']

 

Yep ... completely agree ...

 

And seriously, most of my characters would sympathize, but send him back ...

 

Maybe a couple of them would detain him until his parents/the authorities could arrive and then counsel the people in charge to turn him back.

Re: Preliminary Skilled Magic System

I did something very similar to the Ambience Magic System that Killer Shrike just posted ... though without the requirement for study. All spells were bought through a multipower. All spells required END. All spells were powered from an END Reserve (though mine have REC). Thin or thick spots existed ... as well as Mana Slaves (because all living things collect mana ... whether they can use it or not is a different story). I even have a city where they have a "mana tax" ... the tax collector comes around to package up the mana from each citizen into a little bauble that can be used by the ruling body to power spells (thereby keeping them even more firmly under their boot).

I handled the REC in such a way that there was a maximum "flow" in a particular area ... you could use your REC or the area's REC, whichever is lower. I kind of like Shrike's system better for the REC thing though ...

Re: Authority supplement cover shot

Yep. In fact it was Chaosium's Super World using the RuneQuest game system which is actually very similar to Hero System.

I had SuperWorld a long time ago ... and if you mean "very similar" as in "having virtually the same constructs and power list (albeit with different names) and pretty much identical overall design" then yes, I would concur.

Re: GEM Fighters

Kind of a cool idea ... maybe if the campaign were resurrected, give the players a motivation to "bond" their gems together and share power. A collective boost or what have you ... but keeps everyone more even.

Re: What Books do I need for Fantasy hero

I do have the Besitary' date=' but it's the 4th edition Besitary. Is it worth my while to get the 5th edtion Besitary? Is there anything new in it besides updating the creatures to conform with 5th edition?[/quote']

 

Here's the response when I asked the same question.

Re: DEX vs. CSLs

Ok ... to summarize, what I'm seeing here is that Level Lad is going to be better than Dextrous Dan in Level Lad's area of expertise ... as constructed, that happens to be HtH combat. But, conversely Level Lad is going to be worse than Dextrous Dan outside that area of expertise, i.e. ranged combat.

This would seem to me to be balanced ... for the same amount of points, I can decide if I want to be decent at all combat (Dextrous Dan) or very good at a particular type of combat (hoping that I can keep it to that type of combat the majority of the time).

The examples above showed me where I remember CSL's flexibility coming from though. In the straight-up fight between DD and LL, LL had the flexibility to choose how to approach things ... and the skill to make it work. DD just had to "makes his rolls and takes his (albeit good) chances ..."

Thanks everyone for the scads of input ... I'm feeling much better about my knowledge in this area now

Re: Preliminary Skilled Magic System

A new talent will exist in this campaign' date=' called Magic Aura Sight. ... Magic Aura Sight costs 15 pts, and 1pt for a +1 PER with Magic Aura Sight.[/quote']

 

Is this built from the Enhanced Senses rules as a Detect? It would seem to be: Magic Aura Sight: Detect Magic (Sight Group), Discriminatory, Analyze? Or is it more of a mental skill and is not Sight Group-based? Keep in mind that if it is Sight Group-based and a mage gets (Sight Group) Flashed, they won't be able to exercise this +2 bonus to their Magic Skill roll.

 

Even if it isn't a Sight Group sense, it can still be Flashed ... or Darknessed ... etc etc

 

Not a criticism, just something to think about ...

Re: What Books do I need for Fantasy hero

I would say that the Fantasy Hero Grimoire has been more useful than Monsters, Minions and Marauders in my campaign ... so I would recommend the Grimoire first before MMM. On the other hand, I also have to say that MMM has been very nice for pre-made creatures that most people haven't seen before. If you have players that are guessing what awaits them before you get halfway through the flavor text ... then tossing something at them from MMM is a good way to catch them off guard.

Though I would say the thing that I have used more than everything besides Hero 5th Ed and the Fantasy Hero genre book itself is Hero Designer. You will not believe how much easier it makes things until you get it. (Especially if you have players that sometimes have better things to do than keep track of character sheets ... hehe.)

Re: Star System Generators

That's pretty cool! If you don't mind' date=' I'm going to put a link to it over at starherofandom. Better still, I'd love to wrap your code into the site itself (taking your code and putting the SHF header/footer on it).[/quote']

 

Sure ... just credit me

Re: Alternative to Aid?

My main concern is what "full control of the power" means. If you buy STR UAA' date=' can you make someone punch or leap as you please? If you buy INT UAA, can you [i']force[/i] someone to come to notice something? If you buy PRE UAA, can you make them PRE Attack anyone you choose? These seem to boarder (if not entirely duplicate) Mind Control.

Yeah ... unless someone comes up with a decent use, I think adding an entry into my House Rules document ruling out the use of Characteristics UAA would be prudent

Re: Star System Generators

Thank you!... this is so neat...

Is there any way you could script it in say... javascript so I can us it in my local browser while at a game.

Done ... and attached.

Re: THE ULTIMATE BRICK -- What Do *You* Want To See?

One thing I'd like to see that I don't think has been captured yet are potential drawbacks of brick-ness, sources of disadvantages, or just general flavor. I remember in the new Superman origin story done by John Byrne (it had Krypton in the title ... other than that, I'm drawing a blank) done in the late eighties there was a scene where Clark Kent had to go into the bathroom and turn on a razor and use his heat vision and a special mirror to shave because earthly razors wouldn't be able to cut his hair. Rising Stars #1 (by JM Straczynski) had a person who was invulnerable but that meant that his sense of touch was nigh nonexistent.

Maybe a small section ...

Re: Star System Generators

Looks like a good program.

Now I just have to figure out about figuring distances between systems (I guess it's setting up a "Route" between the two)

I needed something to do, so I tossed together a 3D distance calculator. So long as you're using a 3D Cartesian coordinate system ... it'll calculate the distances for you in whatever units you're using for the coordinate system. It's not pretty, but it works ...

Re: My FTL drive: comments?

This set my munchkin sense tingling! Imagine a spaceship with a very fine mist (difficult to detect) antimatter sprayer. Now imagine using this on opponent ships in T-space. If it's a fine enough mist' date=' they might not realize this was done (it causes them no harm in T-space). Now they shift back to normal space. Coated in antimatter [/quote']

 

Actually the T-Space shield would probably hold out any antimatter ... if T-Space doesn't "recognize" the difference between matter and antimatter, then there would be no reason for matter and antimatter to not commingle in T-Space. In which case random antimatter particles could end up within the space of the ship when the shift back to normal space occurred. Or maybe I took the wrong ball and ran with it anyway

Re: DEX vs. CSLs

Thanks everyone for the responses ... I'm glad to see that there wasn't much that I missed

Am I the only one who sees one as nature' date=' and the other as nurture?[/quote']

 

No, I don't think you are. (And BTW, I'm running a Heroic-level Fantasy campaign ... not that the superheroic examples don't apply.) This was the first thing mentioned to my power-gaming player, but he insisted that "getting the most out of the system" wasn't power-gaming ... despite the fact that I was most excited to have him in the group because he was the one to come up with the most solid, well-thought-out character concept (a big, brick-type who's "good at combat"). Well ... that concept went out the window after the first night ... then he wanted a still-kinda-big, but pretty fast martial arts type.

 

That'll teach me to help make characters for beginning Hero players ...

 

Anyway, thanks again for all the help guys

I've recently been bringing some long-time roleplayers, but first-time Hero players into the fold. And I was brought up with the idea (from one of the old Adventurer's Club articles) that Combat Skill Levels are generally better overall than raw DEX because they offer more flexibility. Now, personally, I don't need any convincing ... but I've got a rules-lawyer-type player (who insists that he's just "learning the system" not being a rules lawyer ... uh-huh) for whom it boils down to this:

• 3 points of DEX = +1 OCV and +1 DCV
  
• 3 points of DEX costs 9 Character Points
  
• 1 Overall CSL = +1 OCV or +1 DCV
  
• 1 Overall CSL costs 8 Character Points
  

I've pointed out that CSLs can be combined to increase the DC of weapons and that one is typically concerned with OCV or DCV, but not both. I've also pointed out that DEX is subject to Drains, Supresses and Transfers whereas CSLs are, though theoretically possible, a much rarer target. But he's just not buying it. In his opinion ... DEX is what it's all about, character concept be damned.

So ... what am I missing here? Obviously, I've been around Hero for a long time ... but it's been a long while since I've had anybody to play Hero System games with. Can anybody help with some examples of where CSLs are more flexible than raw DEX and worth the "extra" cost?