Lord Liaden

Re: Kim Possible - Modern Day Pulp Heroine? Anytime someone here asks for a HERO writeup of "X," Surbrook's Stuff is usually the first place I check. His archive has become vast and incredibly diverse, and the writeups on it are always well thought out and of high quality.

Re: Why do we have skills?

Re: Why do we have skills? I think that what bothers me the most about them is that they run against what had been clearly established in Fifth Edition as reasonable campaign genre parameters. For campaigns that are fairly realistic in terms of what characters can do, Skills are appropriate. For very powerful characters with nonrealistic abilities such as from supers or high fantasy, Powers let you accomplish their feats. For campaigns that allow for extraordinary feats that are still within the realm of the humanly possible, such as filmic "action heroes," Talents are the choice in between the other two. 5E even gave us precedents for designing our own original Talents. Super-Skills as a separate category completely leapfrog over Talents, which IMO was mostly unnecessary and undesirable.

Re: THE ULTIMATE MENTALIST -- What Do *You* Want To See? There is indeed, but that's the edition of the book for 4E HERO System. Almost all of it is still compatible with 5E; in fact some of the innovations from UM, like Classes Of Minds, made their way into the core 5E rules. (No surprise considering who wrote both books.) It does still have lots of useful optional bits, though.

Re: Kim Possible - Modern Day Pulp Heroine? Well, you can see how Mike "Susano" Surbrook designed the characters: Kim Possible Ron Stoppable Discounting using points for gadgetry, you and Mike seem to be in the same ballpark.

Re: Detect Minds and Barriers Mental Defense would seem to be one obvious option. Along with any other masking Powers which affect the Mental Sense group (Invisibility, Darkness, Images, Shape Shift). A Mental Defense Force Wall could conceivably block off a whole area. Large crowds would be another possibility. Enough people generating psychic "background noise" could drown out any single mind. Along similar lines, an area or object where some extremely traumatic event has taken place may have a residual imprint from it that masks any other mind present. You might also include certain materials which have traditional occult properties in folklore, such as silver or jade, to be effective deterrents.

Re: ORCS! What makes them our favourite enemies??? And we seem to have come back to lawyers again.

Re: ORCS! What makes them our favourite enemies??? Well, not exactly. Lawyers are more individualistic; at most they travel in packs, like jackals or vampires. Except of course for lawyers who have seen the light and become game writers.

Re: ORCS! What makes them our favourite enemies??? No disputing any of the preceding points, but to add one other observation: orcs often appear in hordes, like army ants, despoiling everything in their path. This adds to their terrifying aspect, since killing any number of individuals doesn't stop the advance of the horde. OTOH since they are for the most part faceless destroyers devoid of individual personality (aside from exceptional individuals or when the plot requires it) , you can kill them in numbers without qualm, and even boast about it like Gimli and Legolas keeping score. And let's face it, no scenario says "warrior hero" better than a few brave souls standing up to a rampaging horde.

Re: Is HERO an ideal or even an adequate game for those new to RPGs? Should it be? "HERO: The 'No-Limit Texas Hold'em' of RPGs."

Re: Pushing a HA with Advantages "Pragmatism? Is that the best you can come up with?" (From Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead) [P.S. Love the new smilie.]

Re: Pushing a HA with Advantages TMM, you raise what could be a very relevant distinction. Despite Hand To Hand Attack being listed as a separate Power, it's also a Limitation that's described as "essentially Limited STR." So if you're Pushing a HA, are you Pushing a Power that's separate from STR, in which case the HA is Base Damage which you could "pair" with a comparable amount of STR? Or is it really Limited STR, in which case Pushing it is just Pushing your STR?

Re: Pushing a HA with Advantages Hey, I just go by what's written for HERO System. The fine points of the Lucasverse are a different subject altogether. If that's the effect you're going for, though, HKA would be more along those lines. Pushing a HKA would increase the Base Damage of it, and hence its maximum possible Damage, allowing you to apply more STR to raise it to its maximum. Now that I think of it, the same thing would indeed work for a HA where the double-damage limit applies: Push it and you can add more STR, assuming you have enough available to reach the maximum limit.

Re: Pushing a HA with Advantages

Re: Getting Rid of Killing Attacks

Re: Pushing a HA with Advantages Just to clarify, I took this passage from the FAQ: Question: If a character Pushes a power or Characteristic that has an Advantage, does the Advantage automatically apply to the dice obtained from Pushing? Answer: Yes; the character doesn’t have to “pay” or “account” for the Advantage. For example, if a character has an EB 8d6, Armor Piercing and he Pushes it for 10 Character Points, he fires an EB 10d6, Armor Piercing.

Re: Why do we have skills?

Re: Why do we have skills? For me, it often comes down to the "feel" that a particular method gives me in accomplishing my goals. Sometimes a Power feels like the right thing to use, other times a Skill feels better. Speaking more pragmatically, Skills are often cheaper than Powers which effectively do the same thing, which makes them a more practical option for lower-point games, including most of the heroic-level ones. Another nice thing about Skills is that they're predefined in what they do (and now with The Ultimate Skill are even more defined), whereas Powers have to be customized for the effect that you want each time you bring them into a game. Skills are simpler and faster to add to a character sheet, and sometimes you just want that. Like many HEROphiles I also like having multiple options for doing the same thing to choose from.

Re: Spaceship/Starship Volume A volumetric hex is explicitly defined as an hexagonal prism, two meters from flat side to opposing flat side, and two meters tall. It has a volume of 7 cubic meters. I hope that helps.

Re: Pushing a HA with Advantages Actually, there are a couple of issues here that need to be addressed first. What a lot of folks miss with Hand-To-Hand Attacks is that they are not prorated for Strength. IOW the amount of STR you apply to a HA will increase the Base Damage of the HA by an equal amount, no matter how many Advantages the HA has on it. However, in a superheroic campaign, unless the character has the same Advantages on his STR as are on the HA, he can only do a maximum of double the Base Damage of the HA. So in the case you cite the attack will still only do 8d6 damage at most before Pushing, because the character's STR is unAdvantaged. How does this affect your Pushing scenario? I would say that if the character's STR doesn't have all the Advantages of the HA, Pushing could not exceed the 8d6 cap for the HA, so it would have no effect. If the character's STR does have all the same Advantages, then Pushing either his STR or his HA will add 10 Base Points plus Advantages to the DC his attack does.

Re: You cannot defeat me! My personal favorite moment of this kind was from a Champions campaign about, oh, nine years ago, under Fourth Edition. That used a lot of the material from the Champs sourcebook Champions In 3-D, dealing with the Dreamzone. For those of you not familiar with that book, the Dreamzone is the dimension where people's consciousness goes when they dream. It reshapes itself in appearance and physical properties according to the dreamer's desire. The Dreamzone is inhabited by Dreamshadows, beings who take on forms and abilities from the dreamer's imagination to act out the scenario from his dreams. One particularly powerful and malevolent Dreamshadow deliberately creates nightmare forms and scenes to terrify dreamers. He's known as the Bogeyman. The adventure arc took place about six months (game time) after the PCs had bested Doctor Destroyer by hurling him into his prototype reality-warping device, apparently disintegrating him. One PC, then gradually all of them, started having vivid recurring nightmares about Doctor Destroyer conquering the world. Shortly after they discovered that they (and several NPCs) were sharing the same dream, they were visited by the Bogeyman, whom they had fought before. This time, though, the Bogeyman had come seeking their help. Dr. Destroyer's device had actually hurled him into the Dreamzone. In the intervening months Destroyer had virtually conquered the entire dimension and enslaved the Dreamshadows. He had reshaped them into an army of conquest, and was currently working to open a physical portal into the waking world through which he would lead them. In the meantime the Doctor was creating dreams of his conquest to sap the resistance of humans in preparation for his coming. As you might imagine, the PCs decided to journey to the Dreamzone to overthrow Destroyer before he could complete his plan. They found that the Doctor had used his powerful mind and sophisticated technology to reshape the dimension into a totalitarian horror: endless cities of featureless grey geometric buildings and arrow-straight streets; grotesque robots and automated vehicles marching along the thoroughfares; armed Dreamshadow troopers herding cowering crowds of their fellows. Destroyer's image was everywhere, on billboards, statues, giant projection screens. The heroes went through several scenarios of fighting Destroyer's minions and raising a rebellion among the Dreamshadows before finally leading an attack on the Doctor's citadel. When they finally confronted him, though, they discovered that DD had augmented his armor with technology crafted from and powered by the stuff of the Dreamzone itself. He laughed off the PCs' mightiest assaults while smashing them down with devastating attacks. I had left clues for the players during the adventure as to several tactics they could try to defeat Destroyer. The one they chose was part of Destroyer's defenses: projectors which filled whole areas with a powerful psychic field which caused the victims to experience their deepest nightmares (aka big@$$ Mental Illusions) - this was for the classic "overcome your own fears" comic scenario. A couple of the players thought to commandeer one of these projectors and turn it on the Doctor himself point-blank. Dr. D was overcome with horror at what he saw (I dropped a couple of hints, but never told the players exactly what that was, heh heh), and fled the Dreamzone through his dimensional portal.

Re: Brainstorming time: the high tech toys list! How about a few "techno-ninja" weapons? ----------------------------------------------- Falcon Bow: Although it resembles a powerful modern repeating crossbow, the Falcon Bow is an even more sophisticated weapon. The bow and quarrels are made of composite materials which dampen the sounds of its use, and contain an active targetting and guidance system which, once locked onto a target, adjusts the quarrel's flight path to it. Together they make the Falcon Bow an exceptional sniping weapon. The quarrels are fitted with either an armor-piercing head, or a fragmentation warhead. Users will often carry one clip of each type of ammunition which they can interchange as needed (with GM's permission). RKA 2d6, Armor Piercing or Explosion (+1/2), No Range Modifier (+1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Hearing Sense Group; +1/4) (67 Active Points); OAF (-1), 2 Clips of 8 Charges Each (-1/4). Total Cost: 30 points. Lightning Lash: This vicious weapons consists of a short (1 meter) length of supple metal cable attached to a heavy stock containing the power source, with a protective basket hilt. When swung at an opponent the cable releases an electrical charge on contact, at a frequency optimized to disrupt the target's nervous system. The result is violent and painful muscle spasms which tear the victim's tissues, and result in death after prolonged or repeated exposure. A single charge will continue to affect a victim for several seconds, looking like tendrils of electricity writhing over his body. The charge can be dissipated by grounding the target with any conductor, such as a cable or metal pole. Energy RKA 1d6, AVLD Does BODY Damage (defense is Power Defense or ED Force Field; +2 1/2), Continuous (+1), 16 Continuing Charges Lasting 1 Turn Each (+1/2) (75 Active Points); OAF (-1), No Range (-1/2). Total Cost: 30 points. (Non-Lethal Variant: Remove the "Does BODY Damage" part of the AVLD Advantage, and substitute "+4 STUN Multiplier.") Singing Stars: These shuriken-like throwing weapons contain small but powerful motors which give the stars tremendous rotational velocity, greatly enhancing their effective range and allowing them to penetrate most forms of protective armor. The motors produce a high-pitched whine which inspired the weapon's name. Singing Stars come in two varieties. Small stars (about 3" in diameter) can be hurled up to three at once, at one or multiple targets. Large stars (4" across) have variable gyroscopic stabilizers allowing for "trick throws," such as over or around barriers or even arcing back to strike targets from behind. Small Stars: RKA 2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Autofire (3 shots; +1/4), 24 Charges (+1/4) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1). Total cost: 30 points. Large Stars: RKA 2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Indirect (always originates with character, but can attack from any angle; +1/2), 16 Charges (+0) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1). Total cost: 30 points. (Non-Lethal Variant: Change the RKA to 6d6 Normal Damage, and Penetrating to Armor Piercing. These could be blunt-edged throwing discs - "Dirge Discs?" ) Thunder Sticks: Resembling bulky nunchakus, these weapons are wielded in a similar manner. However, the damage the Thunder Sticks do is the product of a series of shaped charges which detonate on impact with a solid object, in a powerful, deafening but tightly-focussed blast. HKA 2d6, +4 Stun Multiplier (+1), 16 Charges (+0) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), No STR Bonus (-1/2) (total cost: 24 points) plus Hearing Group Flash 5d6, 16 Charges (+0) (15 Active Points); OAF (-1), No Range (-1/2) (total cost: 6 points). Total cost: 30 points. Note: GMs who want a weapon with heavy stopping power can eliminate the Flash component and give the weapon a straight +6 STUN Multiplier for the same Active Points. (Non-Lethal Variant: Change the HKA and STUN Multiplier to a 6d6 Normal Damage Attack, NND [Hearing Sense Group Flash Defense], making the Thunder Sticks a wholly sonic-based attack.) Whispering Sword: A brilliant marriage of modern technology with traditional swordcraft makes this wakizashi-like blade one of the deadliest hand-to-hand weapons known. Forged of advanced alloy, with an edge lazer-honed to near monomolecular thinness, the blade can cut through almost any material. The Whispering Sword's aerodynamic properties are so exceptional that it barely disturbs the air it passes through, making its stroke virtually noiseless. Lightweight and superbly balanced, it's the keenness of the sword's edge, and the skill of its wielder, that determines the blade's damage; mere strength adds little. HKA 2d6, Armor Piercing (+1/2), Penetrating (+1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Hearing Sense Group; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (75 Active Points); OAF (-1), No STR Bonus (-1/2). Total Cost: 30 points.

Re: Working on New Constantinople Nice set of crooks there. There's really no reason why a GM couldn't use more than one of them, or even all three. I've noticed that other city sourcebooks feature rival crime lords, which adds to the possible complications that PCs can find themselves in.

Re: grabbed by multiple characters Here's what I could find in the FAQ on this subject: Q: What happens when a character (A) wants to Grab a character ( who’s already Grabbed by another character ©? A: If C is willing to have A help him hold B, A simply makes a normal Attack Roll against B’s DCV (which is reduced by the Grab, of course). If C doesn’t want A to Grab B (maybe A is trying to pull B free), A has to make his Attack Roll against the higher of C’s DCV or A’s DCV. If A succeeds, he can then engage in a STR Versus STR Contest with C to free B (B takes no damage from this, unless the GM feels it would be appropriate to apply some measure of the STR involved to reflect the tugging on B’s fragile body). Q: What happens when a character (A) wants to Grab a character ( who’s already himself performing a Grab on another character ©? A: That depends on A’s declared intent. If A wants to help B hold on to C, or simply hold on to B and stop him from moving, the Grab takes effect as normal. If C wants to break out, he has to defeat the higher of A’s and B’s STRs. If A is trying to help C escape, he makes a Grab attack against B as normal. He may then pit his STR against B in a STR Versus STR Contest to pry B’s arms from around C, and if he succeeds, he frees C. Q: If Character A Grabs the arms of Character C, and Character B Grabs the legs of Character C, how does Character C break free? A: If the Grabbed victim wants to escape both Grabs at once, add the Grabbers’ lifting capacity (not STR, lifting capacity based on STR) together, then consult the STR Table to determine how much STR is required to lift that much. That’s their “group STR” against which the victim must struggle to escape. If the victim only wants to free the two limbs Grabbed by one person, he has to make his STR Roll versus that person’s STR, but if he succeeds he only frees those limbs.

Re: Traveller for Hero... Congratulations! I know this has been a labor of love for you and your group, so the upcoming conclusion must be very gratifying.