prestidigitator

Re: The Force I would certainly lower the value of Real Weapon to -0 for lightsabers. While it my be true that they have to be charged and such, there's very little they can't do as a weapon given the Star Wars mythos and the nature of the blade. In fact, removing or reducing the value of Real Weapon might account for the ability to essentially chop down doors when many other weapons cannot, even without Advantages like Penetrating. It could also explain the ability to block other lightsabers when most weapons cannot.

Re: Creation Ex Nihilo In some Heroic games it might be reasonable to get secondary effects from the creation of some material. In Superheroic games it is usually more appropriate to pay for just about all effect you have on your surroundings. It's going to depend a lot on the particular game you are in.

Re: Uncanny Valley If I made it a separate Complication at all (and I say that because it's possible it might fit better wrapped into other Complications such as Physical or Social Complications) I'd call it a Distinctive Feature that is only detectable by "unusual senses", only the "unusual senses" in this case can be covered by things like Deduction or a difficult Per roll or whatever (with rolls that are close giving you a strange intuitive uneasiness). In a way it is like a category BELOW "Easily Concealable" in that you normally don't have to conceal it at all for it to go unnoticed (instead other people have to be lucky, very observant, or actively looking for it). Certainly positive benefits such as Striking Appearance or otherwise limited Presence could be added to the character as well.

Re: Meadyaon Anything really. You imagination and the bounds of the game he will be used in are the only limits. Perhaps the weapon can be stuck in the ground or water to create a spreading area of frozen ice (most likely a Change Environment). If twirled perhaps it acts as additional defense or can create a barrier (most likely Resistant Protection or Barrier). Perhaps it creates an awe inspiring aura around its wielder (most likely extra Presence). There are all kinds of possibilities. Sure. If you build it as a Focus after all, make it an Unbreakable Focus. Otherwise it's probably just Special Effects. How it looks isn't really a question of system mechanics; it is Special Effects. Sure, it can have a point made of ice. It could be made entirely of ice, or have a swirling aura of snowflakes around it, or whatever. Anything that makes sense for the game and setting. Probably as a Follower. The Beastiary may be a good source of ideas and builds. I'm pretty sure it has mammoths and saber-toothed tigers and things like that. This all depends on your game and your setting. The GM has to figure out what the definitions of "god" and "demi-god" are, or if those terms even apply.

Re: What does routine skill check, easy skill check & difficult skill check mean to y Well, we pamper our children until they are 18 these days, in terms of a lot more than just their sexuality. Doesn't that make them more competent? More studious? More well-rounded? We're a much more civilized, peaceful, motivated society these d...oh, or not. But in any case the bar has been...well, moved. I just don't know that it works that well to measure the morality of different eras with the same stick like that. Anyway, back on topic. I don't require rolls for "routine" tasks unless there are very stressful and complicating circumstances and/or the cost of failing is very significant. For "easy" rolls I require a roll when they are performed under stress but usually not otherwise. "Difficult" rolls always require a roll unless there is no cost for failure and you can try over and over and over again and it makes sense that you would eventually succeed. That's about how I break things down. Heh.

Re: Changing the roll low to hit and skill check to a roll high to hit and skill chec

Re: Changing the roll low to hit and skill check to a roll high to hit and skill chec I just replace "make by half" with "make by at least 5". Good enough.

Re: Meadyaon I think the throwable spear could still be a Focus, depending on the corner cases. Normal spears are Foci, as are guns. One is thrown and cannot be re-used unless retrieved; IMO this is best handled through a Recoverable Charge, and the Focus bit means there may be situational difficulties with using the weapon (e.g. tight spaces, Entangles, having to draw the weapon...), it can be taken from the character before it is used, etc. The gun shoots projectiles. Both are Foci because they can be taken away from the character. So the next question I would ask is: does the spear only return to the character under specific circumstances (like when he purposefully throws it), or can he summon it from anywhere under any circumstances? If it only returns to him under specific circumstances I would argue that a Focus is probably still appropriate, but not Charges. If he can always summon it, Restrainable (the character could be Grabbed, tight spaces and such might still be a problem, maybe some kind of field or limited circumstances can prevent the spear from returning to the character...) or no Limitation at all might be more appropriate. I would never put Gestures on a spear.

Re: Vox Populi's Hypnotic Voice I'd go with Limited Skill Levels ("Skills bought as Powers") in Oratory and Persuasion (and possibly a couple other related Skills) myself.

Re: Could FATE Aspects Work In HERO? In my experience the momentary focus on that character and his/her storyline/background is often reward enough. YMMV though.

Re: Fantasy Hero - Talents - Storm of Steel (for up to HKA 4d6) Sorry. I should clarify. When I say "surcharges" I mean things like doubling the cost of Reduced Endurance for powers with Autofire, adding an extra +1 Advantage value for Autofire attacks that do not require a normal attack roll or do not apply against normal defenses, etc.

Re: The Force I would probably just put some form of Inaccurate Limitation on TK Force powers. That makes them difficult to use on animate targets who are at full DCV, but using them on unaware targets (e.g. Luke in Jabba's Palace or on C3PO in the Ewok Village), targets who know they will be dealt with in any case if they try to resist (e.g. Darth Vader vs. Empire lackeys), or to Grab inanimate objects (e.g. Darth Vader throwing things at Luke in Episode 5; then again, maybe he just bought off or partially bought off the Limitation) is another story. You could also simply make liberal use of the suggestion that, "At the GM’s discretion, RAR Skill Rolls are also subject to Skill Versus Skill Contests" (6E1CC p. 389).

Re: Changing the roll low to hit and skill check to a roll high to hit and skill chec I've been using a roll-high method for years. Works great. No problem for versatile Hero players to adapt to, and new players have much less trouble with it in my experience.

Re: Fantasy Hero - Talents - Storm of Steel (for up to HKA 4d6) I usually use 1 End per 5 Str in heroic games, and in that case the End cost of enough Str to meet the Str Min is usually about the same as the cost of the attack anyway (e.g. 3 End for a weapon with a 15 Str Min vs. 3-4 End for a 2-3d6 HKA). So I'd personally consider weapons not to have the Reduced Endurance Advantage when considering the cost of Autofire. That makes it easy. (Personally I've never been fond of the surcharges in any case; I believe it would better be handled through something like multiplicative rather than pseudo-additive Modifiers.)

Re: Personality Change No, I don't think any of those Limitations belong on the Multiform itself; by its nature a Multiform gives you a whole new character. But they certainly could go on the VPP to limit what kind of Multiforms can be put into it, and that's the means by which you can tie it back to the original character and analyze how much the Multiform "changes" it.

Re: Personality Change

Re: Personality Change Oh. Okay. Hmm. A Multiform-only VPP, limited if you wish to personality changes only? EDIT: Oh, plus possibly Accidental Change and No Conscious Control to taste, of course. That would be loads of fun.

Re: Powers with Built-in Skill Roll penalties You mean aside from the standard Requires a Roll penalty for Skill-based rolls that is based on the number of Active Points in the Power being activated?

Re: Psychokinetic Controls Story, not points. Make sure there are disadvantages to match the benefits. Your enemies can't pilot the vehicle, but neither can (most) of your friends if they have to. You may be able to walk around the ship while you pilot it, but what happens when you fly into a field that dampens psychokinetic activity? All kinds of interesting story hooks for no points at all!

Re: Spell of Deflection I'd probably go with either the DCV idea or a Desolidification (affected by AoEs, etc.) build of some sort with Requires a Roll for the, "block." They are both passive (don't require you to use up your Phases or take extra Speed), don't require you introduce a Computer or Automaton (with the added complexity of questions about what happens when the extra character you're introducing is targeted by some form of attack), and have the chance of, "deflecting," or evading all attacks coming your way.

Re: Personality Change Multiform?

Re: Create Light and the 17 Point Light Spell that isn't Hoy. The Nightvision idea was interesting, and got me thinking to other solutions involving Enhanced Perception. How about something like a (very) Limited Transmit Adder on Sight? It'd certainly be dirt cheap.

Re: A DRAIN that powers AID or REGENERATION Are the points Drained from the character who owns the power ("I give some of my life force to you..."), from the character being Aided ("This will confuse your mind for a while, but will help your body to heal its wounds..."), or from potentially an enemy or something ("I will take the life force of my enemy and give it to my ally")? The former two cases would probably best be modeled using Side Effects, while the last would be two powers that are (generally) beneficial to the owning character that are somehow linked or limited by the use of the other (i.e. a Transfer construct or something similar). Others have given good suggestions for the last case, but I wanted to mention Side Effects for the others.

Re: False Personal Information Hmm. Another thought puzzle. What if a character was believed by a local community (e.g. a village) to be the king? That character would certainly enjoy a lot of social benefits...for a little while. They would constantly be having to maintain the lie, and would have to become more and more fearful of getting caught out over time. Certainly any time soldiers or messengers or the like who might have seen or know about the true king and his whereabouts come through town, the character is going to have to scramble. And when they ARE caught, they are going to have a "royal" mess to deal with: debts incurred, hatred from every corner, perhaps even a lynch mob and being hunted by legal authorities. Should this character have to pay for the initial "advantage"?

Re: False Personal Information Hmm. If she's so adamant about keeping up the illusion of those weaknesses, it's almost acting like a weakness anyway, since she really cannot act in a way that someone with the weakness couldn't. Thus I'd think twice about charging points for it. Maybe a Social Complication along the lines of, "has a dark secret," but not so extreme. But I'd personally be inclined to just make it part of the character's background, myself.