CourtFool

Re: FH Gripes

I Disagree

I, most certainly, am not!

Flavour and Danger How about anytime one of the dice shows a 5 the defender is automatically K.O.ed. Anytime two die show 3's, the defender is killed. Anytime one of the dice shows a 1, the attacker drops their weapon on their foot and takes an imparing wound.

Re: STR and Damage Shield are too expensive I am sold on schtick preservation. My problem is that I have never been able to get my players to agree to what their schtick will be before play. Maybe I just need to demand a better, non-character sheet driven, concept before I actually let players crunch numbers.

I knew that would get someone's attention. I have seen countless threads stating that X is too cheap or outright broken. To prove a point, the poster will submit an example with a crazy number of levels or a convoluted build. Under the conditions provided, X does appear to buckle. Shortly after the example is presented, another poster will suggest that it is the GM's responsibility to not allow such munchkinism. As a GM, I have often wondered how I am to keep up with every new and ingenious spirit of the rules raping my players present to me. Vetting characters is probably my least favorite responsibility as a GM. There seems to be a common theme in all of the examples presented: extremism. So, should I use this as my lens to hunt for the munchkinism that will ultimately rain ruin upon my campaign? Is there an arbitrary number I could use? Say, more than four levels in Perks, Skills or Talents. More than four different Advantages or Limitations on a Power? Characteristics more than double the campaign baseline? This is not meant as a fix for any of the suspected broken Advantages, Characteristics, Limitations, Perks, Powers, Skills or Talents. Merely a tool to help us overwhelmed GMs recognize stop sign builds on the fly.

Re: What have I missed?

Re: FH Gripes The two Fantasy Hero campaigns I ran were killed by the magic wielding characters. That may be why I am so bitter on balancing magic. I really did not encounter the other issues you did. One campaign, I used a home-brewed world. The other, Eberron. I did not have a lot of monsters in my campaigns so I really did not need to lean on the official publications. Obviously, I did not use official campaign setting, so I do not know if my players would have been as unimpressed with them as yours were. None of the characters had outrageous characteristics. In fact, I do not think anyone had anything above a 20. As I have mentioned before I have never had a problem with the length of combat. I play with small groups and run fairly cinematic games, so I expect the PCs to one or two shot the mooks. Combats rarely last longer than a few Turns. Hero is flexible. With that flexibility comes a lot of opportunity for abuse. You can attempt to band-aid each and every rule as your players find and exploit them, but do you really want to be dragged into an arms race? (Note: there is no perfectly balanced system that I am aware of.) Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but it sounds like you are frustrated with your powergamers and not so much with the system. Please note this is not meant as an attack on you, your players or the style of game you are running. With the exception of the lack of interest in the official settings, I think you might be able to correct a lot of these problems by having a long heart-to-heart with your players. Of course, if you feel that just changing systems would correct your problems (say, you believe The Game Which Shall Not Be Mentioned is better balanced), then by all means, play what works for you. I just think trying to house-rule your players into submission will ultimately ruin the game for all involved.

Re: Critical Hits? What exactly do you want from critical hits? Do you want someone (PC or NPC) to occasionally be dropped by a lucky hit? I think the Hit Location chart would do this nicely for you. You could adjust the multiple if you want it to be even more deadly. Or are you looking for awesoming up the PCs and allowing them to make called shots and take down mooks? There are optional rules that can be used for mooks or you could allow PCs to have the Deadly Blow talent right out of the Fantasy Hero book.

Try the Player Finder list [Fantasy Hero] Tuala Morn via ScreenMonkey [star Hero]Firefly (Hero Central) Champions on OPENRPG O.k...I am spent. I have used mIRC and Yahoo Messenger with some success.

d02 is teh r0x0rz!!111!!111 Forget the crunch and convert the fluff!

Re: What have I missed? Forgive me Steve for I know not what I say.

Re: What have I missed? It's o.k. I mean...it's not like it gives you an in depth analysis of every single skill including how it can be used, time frames to use a skill or equipment needed to perform a skill. Nor does it give you any new and creative ways to use a skill. Nor does it give you any new and creative means of purchasing skills or new ways of handling unskilled attempts.

Re: Stretching + Autofire STR: how would you handle it? Area Affect, Selective anyone?

Re: A seed What I see…something that causes damage so BODY Drain, HKA, RKA or Transform. Take your pick. Does not penetrate energy type defenses…just tack on a Limitation. Does not cause damage until it eats through defenses…just tack on another Limitation. This could be more complicated if you really want to model the reduction of defenses too; an Armor Drain or somesuch. Halted by the removal of the acid…yet again another Limitation. This is obviously not the only way to do it. I am just saying, why make something more complicated than it really needs to be.

Boromir's foley Still not king.

Re: Balancing Magic Use Thank you, OddHat. Some excellent guidelines. I have seen a lot of posts considering discounts or Power Frameworks for spells but not many at all calling for the same to apply to Super Skills and Talents. Deadly Blow at 1/5 cost…weeeeeeee! I think number 4 might kill a lot of Fantasy campaigns. No 'Flight' spells? Or how would you make Flight available outside of magic items? Or are you including magic items? Wings maybe…but I would think Winged Folk would not be as plentiful as magic.

Re: This is why I play Fantasy Hero

Balancing Magic Use is a myth

Re: This is why I play Fantasy Hero I do not understand. Do you mean to say that if I insist that my players come up with a 100 word description of their attack for every attack that it will kill the mood? I would completely agree with that. Or do you mean to say that if I insist that my players come up with something other than "I attack it with my sword" every time that it will kill the mood? I could even agree with that. I would like the players to do something other than "I attack it with my sword" most of the time. Not every time. I think showing some creativity should be rewarded and I do not think it will kill the mood. A simple "thrust to the midsection" is preferable (not considering hit locations) to "I attack it with my sword" at least in my opinion. I really do not think that will kill the mood.

Re: This is why I play Fantasy Hero

Magic Users r0x0rs!!!11!!!11 Magic Users will always be more powerful. Just accept it. Your life will be so much easier.

Re: Idea - Hero Points

Maybe Batman is not as expensive as we once thought I love VPP's as much as the next power hungry player, but essentially all skills, including Area, Knowledge, Professional and Science skills for 5 points? I gotta cry foul on that one.

Re: Point Level for Spy Game I would like the characters to have access to a 'super skill' or two. I was thinking a maximum of 50 points from Disadvantages because there are fewer appropriate Disadvantages in this type of campaign. I have no problem raising the base points to compensate for this.