Christopher

It is a plot device. Or plot enabler. In other words, the heroes have only control over what the item does when you want them too. And then it is only to solve a problem cause by not having control over the thing in the first place. If the Characters want to control that power, they have to buy the Hero System Power EDM. This could take teh special effect and limitations fitting for the cube. Or it could be something totally unrelated, like a interdimensional portal the Gadgeteer made in his Base(ment). This Power the players have control over, that is what has the Stop Sign. If you do not want them to have free EDM, jsut say "No" at that point. One of the core rules for equipement in superheroic games: You can only use what you paid points for. You can not regulary lend your items to another hero. You can maybe use the item once or twice a campaign. But anything beyond that and you have to buy the proper power. And it is subject to GM approval.

I have seen the shrinking thrown around a lot on these Forums. And while not making perfect thematic sense, it does make perfect mechanical sense: http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/92590-help-me-build-certain-objects/?p=2474520

That is why I invoked the most direct brother - gravity powers. A special effect that can do, what no balanced hero power should be able to do. There is just some stuff you can not model without concessions. For example, just asume that Gravitons Gravity Powers in the well known Avengers vs Graviton fight was plain TK: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xj07hc_avengers-earth-s-mightiest-heroes-graviton_school It makes total sense that Ironman was trying to use his thursters (movement) to boost his strenght to break the grab (and continous shove). Or maybe using the thursters was the special effect for trying to break the TK Grab with Strenght? It makes total sense that Hulk was able to overcome the gravity, considering that he had that much strenght (compared to Thor, he does not need a magical hammer to do deal Campaign Limit DC).

First we have to define the setting: Heroic or Superheroic? In Superheroics "death does not stick" is so common. Heck, character death is unheard off in most Hero campaigns. Unless it is a plotpoint (and temporary), a origin or a "way to retire a character heroically". It should not "just happen" in normal adventuring. So I would argue such a power should not even cost points in Superheroics. In heroics, such a power might be unfeasibly expensive to begin with. Ways to avoid the Volcano problem: Teleportation, Megascaled, 1 Fixed Location, Triggered upon death. Your body would still lie around where you fell, but your "regenration core", "disembodied soul" or whatever ported to a save location. Where a new body would form around it. However, in the end this is a game of walls and ladders. And the GM has infinite points for his ladders. He just has to put the volcano in another dimension or be made of "magical" rock, that somehow blocks teleportation and you are back to square one. Or just let the villain know where you will resurrect. Or let the enemy burry you alive. First ask if this kind of ressurection is even wanted by the GM. Then ask if he could actually make it "worth it's cost" to have that power. Maybe character death is not even a consideration for the campaign? FYI, for the regenerating hero I would not use high levels of regeneration (or resurrection). Just buy resistant defenses with the special effect "he heals most wounds to fast to bother". Plus a bit of regeneration (1 body per turn) for anything that goes past. Wolverine was not immortal. There were cases where his healing factor was "canceled out" through exessive use of a attack. Sounds like it was not a absolute to begin with. But thanks to his high (regeneration special effect) defenses, it took a real lot of damage to do so.

Idea: Just follow RAW. Interpret it heroically. Back in Temple of Death, Indiana Jones was subject to another poision attack: Poisioned Date Fruits. However, he was saved because the small pet monkey of the NPC of the week ate a Date first, died and alarmed his host and he stopped indi from eating a date. Game effect: Trigger used attackers OCV. He did not passed Indianas DCV* Special effect: What I described above. *That is what happens if you let low level NPC do the poisioning One thing we should not forget, is that trigger is supposed ot be a advantage. DCV includes a lot of factors, including luck and plot armor.

Shadowrun 4E+5E. Direct brother to Hero as far as turn/phase resolution goes. However, SR has the advantage of much more granular roll system. 3 dies out of 15 lost is only a 20% decrese in average result (5 average hits to 4 average hits). Wich can also be offset by gear, situation, Luck and a ton of other small modifiers. It has effect, but not decisive effect on it's own. But as I keep saying for people trying to relearn from D&D: Every +/- 2 in D&D more then equals a +/-1 in Hero. We would have to put so much body room between the penalty tresholds, it would still feel artificial. And yes, I do find the seperation of Stun and End to be more interesting. it is one thing to define a custom Limitation. It is a totally different thing to roll a Advantage and Limtiation into the modifier. The only time this ever happened in RAW was with charges - wich has a 0 End counterweighted by lack of useability. And they had how many editions to balance out any kinks with that one?

"What has quantum physics ever done that affects my real life?" Do you own a USB stick, SSD or any other Flash Memory like a Smartphone SD card? Quantum Tunnelling Effect! Without Quantum Physics we would have had no small, shockproof, persistent memory to put into those smartphones. Meaning no smartphones as we understand them today. Kinda like how Quantum Physics allows us to understand how Cold Fusion/LENR might be working.

The one arrow power build that should never be forgotten IMHO: Telekinesis, Instant (or 1 phase maybe). Telekinesis allows you to use any Normal Maneuver on range. Inlcuding trip and disarm, two staples of "stuff Archers do in the source material". There are other nice maneuvers like "shove", nailing somebody to the wall with thier clothing (a form of Telekinetic grab). It is all about having maximum effect with minimal application of force.

You can use SPD drain. But you ideally should not. The drain mechanics in general are "that rule" of Hero you should ideally avoid: http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0233.html http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0343.html It is over 10 pages just general Adjusment Power rules. That are cut down to 1-2 pages for most shorter books. Changing SPD has added complexity on top of that. Not the best place to start as a new GM While you can build just about anything, keep in mind that some special effects can do what no balanced hero power should be allowed to do (Gravity Powers come to mind as the ultimative example; but time is a close runner up). Simpler alternatives: Instead of affecting SPD, how about affecting other stuff? Like OCV and DCV? If the actions and reactions are slower, it is harder to dodge and easier to be dodged. You can basically do inverse matrix fighting (where the enemy is slow, while you are not). Roll for Cover should be unaffected (after all the attack has to enter the "slowed time" zone. Drain movement or Enviromental Change (to reduce movement) might fit as well. But you can just leave that out for now.

I like to say: AP is just how strong that power is. Hitting or exceeding AP limits is a warning sign for the GM. Of course the whole question boils down too: Do we really need 0 End in the first place? Or is End+Stun Side effect acceptable? Yeah, I realized that mistake too late myself. Stil there is a different between End and Stun. Loosing Stun can be avoided (within limits). While you can not avoid using End unless, you sacrifice 1/3 of the powers strenght at buildtime and the option to push it. Endurance acts as a limiter on power use in combat. Having both seperate + extra body count (as opposed to the drain mechanic of Shadowrun magic) is a big feature. We should not carelessly throw it out. Way back when beginning I had a similar concept - powers whose use weakens the character (would do stun damage by D&D or Shadowrun rules). But I realised that a simple "Extra Enduranc Cost" can do the same. Burning through End faster means having to burn stun instead of end that much earlier. It models the problem perfectly.

That. Just do the same thing you already do with physical attacks and physical defenses. Only thing I can add is: Consider increasing the cost for Mental Defenses too. All pricing asumes a sort of "default Hero Campaign". Your campaign deviates from the default, by placing more focus on mental powers then the pricing could ever account for. There are explicit provisions in the rules for adapting pricing if it fits your campaign better. The best example I can think of is a underwater campaign: Effectively Flight and Swimming switch places (and should switch pricing). Underwater swimming is like flying. While flying is useless until you enter the "rare" element air. It could go as far as everyone having "breath underwater" as natural as "breath in air" - at the cost of needing LS: Surface Breathing.

We do not know if a induced coma would count as "sleep" for this power. It might actually be the one way to incarcerate this guy (aside from keeping the bookworm awake). Plus forcing the bookworm into a induced coma would be kinda a form of illegal restraint.

It is a absolute effect, in the sense that there is no damage mitigation. One of the most problematic decisions for D&D was "Armor does not reduce damage"*. The whole cleric class derives directly from that fact. And then they added damage dealing and absolute effect spells (like the one that insta-kills you if you fail the throw). Hence Saving throws had to be invented to solve the issue. *The goal seems to have been speeding up combat resolution. That it propably still does. It just creates some wierd artifacts (like the Rogue/Monk/3.5 Ranger in a 2x2 room not being burned by the Fireball - at all!).

A working Unified Field Theory (or similar terminology) would be just that. "Holy Grail" is the closest approximation they have. It is like the P vs NP problem of mathematics (find one P solution for any NP-complete problem, you found a P solution for all NP-complete problems). There is just no way to explain why either thing is important for those scientists, unless you are one of those scientists. They need to have something to explain "this is really important for us". And it will give us a imeasurable progress if we figure that out.

For flying or growing Characters: No miniskirts. Or at least wear unoffensive underwear. http://evil-inc.com/comic/skirt-the-issue/ Personally I prefer the more practical modern Costumes. Stuff like Wonder Womans Costume in teh "Justice League War" continuity: http://www.watchcartoononline.com/justice-league-war-2014 The Jack Snider Superman and Batman interpretations make a lot of sense for me too, especially from the Costume perspective. Just his Wonder Women looks a bit wierd with all the Bronze. Or the Avengers Costumes. A few months ago there was a thread about "practical superhero costumes" made by a designer. It had some good examples too (but I fail to find it).

It think you got it backwards. This is a game with 300 point superheroes. The Dream Self is the actuall character, not the bookworm. One of the core rules is: Always model the game effects of a power first. Model the Special Effect last and do not let it force anything about the Build (inlcuding limitations and Complications). What you could model is a Hero with a Physical Limitation "vanishes at the worst possible times". Wich could be near unplayably bad or a freeby, depending on the GM. I would personally go the DNCP route. "I used to only be able to manifest when he slept. But now my powers have evolved beyond that limitation."

(One of the)first rule(s) of building a Hero power is: Always model the game effect first. Special effect last. Never let the special effect decide anything about powers, not even limitations. Just build him like any other "Gadgeteer Hero" with Clockwork Special Effect. Big selections of powers are usually done with the Power Frameworks - multipower and Variable Power Pool (VPP). Multipower let's you write them down beforehand and buy each "Slot" properly, but as upside costs a 0-Phase Action to change slots by default. VPP can take "every imaginable power within the Ruleset". But comes at steep cost and a default "Needs Skill Roll and Full Phase to switch" rule (that can be bought off, +1 Advantage each).

Please no D&D concepts to Hero. Saving throws were invented to fix a bug in D&D, caused by many earlier design decisions. Hero lacks the bug, it does not need the fix. Poision has to be build at least with IPE to be inobvious. Drastically reducing it's power. Poision can also not run indefinitely. The effect is limited and will heal normally. Atribute Damage style D&D poision needs Drain with a very low Fade rate. Mind Control Poision in Hero still has to overcome EGO+10 too EGO+30 theshold. Lack of absolute effects, means no need for "Absolute Effect Avoiders" (what Saving throws are).

This is not a Multiform (and thinking about it that way is propably a dead end). Multiform is for Characters, not items. One of the core rules when building powers is to always start with the game effect first, not the special effect. And looking at multiform is looking right at the wrong end there It is a weapon that allows multiple attack modes. Not so different from the Phaser with Stun and Kill/Varporize Settings. Wich is naturally build as Multipower. The HTH-Attack or Killing Attack (HTH) costs less base points. But you also have to factor in that you have to buy +1/2 0 END on that power. Plus maybe reach*. Example: 60 Reserve Multipower, all slots Focus(-?): 60 AP Blast Slot, Focus (-?); fixed slot 60 AP Killing Attack Slot, Focus (-?); fixed slot 40 Base Points HTH Attack, 0 End (+1/2) = 60 AP, Focus (-?); fixed slot I do not think Variable SFX is nessesary here. As you have 3 distinct powers, each of wich can have it's own special effect. *Limited version of Stretching used for weapons. Depends on if this is a heroic or superheroic setting. It aplies more to heroic. If the item can instead take the shape of "every weapon the user can imagine", then you would have to use a Varriable Power Pool. Wich goes complicated and expensive quickly. We need a bit more data about the intended game effect to give you more information.

The big problem here is: It could be a advantage or limitation depending on the situation. In combat it is clearly a limitation (because you use up your stun when you need it) Out of combat, it is clearly an advatage to use Stun instead of End (because you recover stun in paralell to Endurance and you do not need your Stun). Perhaps my anime modelling idea can help you: I thought about drastically increasing the Long Term Endurance (LTE) Loss during battle (currently it is calculated by average per 15 minutes compared to Rec). And also allowing players to take a "Cost Long Term Endurance" variant of the Extra Endurance Cost. LTE recovers on a totally different speed from Stun and End. Not having enough End (during combat) will mean Stun damage has to be taken instead. It is always a limitation to loose LTE instead of only "normal" endurance, if it is combat or not.

Please. In the US they manage to cause mass injury during pillow fights: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/05/us/west-point-pillow-fight/

Ah yes, the eternal conflict between Poachers and Kings. Animal style this time.

Some points in no particular order: 1. Triggered powers always take important (nessesry) abilities from the user: Including stuff like O(M)CV, senses to do Perception with, the Per skills to make the Percetpion tests with, etc. With OMCV we can asume it is at default (3). Selling it back would be very munchkini (to the point where I would not allow it). 2. If you do not want the alchemsit to "stand in" for his brews, you can enter the area of Automatons/Self acting Focus*. The the AP directly correlates to the penalty on the skill roll to make it. 3. Compund power. The actuall effect + OMCV, both with Charges. For this specific attack the Alchemist OMCV is considered higher then what the sheet says (and we can propably lock in his "brewing time OMCV" too). Again, direct correlation between AP and potency of the brew. You could also use "Combat Skill Levels, Sugestion Potions" as a 3-2 point CSL. 4. You could just wave the attack roll. I mean seriously, he has to get the target to drink the potion. Wich either means buying it very inobvious (poision to put into meals) or literally shooving it down his throat. "Hitting" someone with a power he ingested himself is like trying to hit your own hex with a 1 hex AoE. *Part of the Advanced Focus building rules in APG (II?) is a "Focus with Speed". Basically a mini-automation. Originally for stuff like self-guiding missiles, but could be adapted here.

When somebody ridicules your name, stomp him/her/it into the ground till they stop finding it funny - Supervillain moto for naming. Merrimac could also be ridiculed to "Merry Mac".

I doubt that will work as intended. The goal was to make a area bigger on the inside then the outside, to impair movement and ranged attacks comming through/out of it. Now you would need an area as big as the "shown size". to be affected. And the end result would be...nothing? So the area distances appear smaler then they are, but really they are still the same? How does that help you in any way?