Lord Liaden

Re: mass group combat

Re: HELP - Question on Desolid I do like ghost-angel's ruling, but I would add the rules for system shock damage from teleporting into a solid object from 5E p. 240/5ER p. 368. I'd use whatever movement method the character has to get out of the object as the basis for modifiying the Teleportation Damage table.

Re: [power help] Reversing costs endurance There's another rules-legal way to do this. It's been in circulation in the HERO community for a long time, but Steve Long has also endorsed it for Fifth Edition. Buy whichever of the ghost's Powers you want to always be active to 0 END, Persistant (and perhaps Inherent), and apply the Always On Limitation. Calculate how many points you saved on the construct by taking Always On, and then add that number of Character Points to the character's sheet - essentially buying off Always On. You can now apply any further Limitations to those points that you feel reflects the conditions under which the ghost can turn off the Power, including Costs Endurance and Increased Endurance.

Re: Valdorian Age, Turakian Age Well, I think that VA is evocative of much of the sorcery that appears in the Conan stories, specifically the calling up of spirits/demons/etc. to do stuff for you. It's just that Conan often plows right through entities that would be unstoppable by a normal man (although luck and smarts sometimes help him out a lot in that regard). I think the sorcery system works really well for Elric's summoning of elementals, animal master types and the like, if you remember that Elric has the benefit of ancient pacts forged with these beings by his ancestors, that allow him to call on some of the mightiest of them pretty much whenever he wants. I remember when Elric had his final confrontation with the wizard Theleb Ka'arna, that wizard bartered his soul like crazy for the aid of a fire elemental lord to protect him from Elric's attack. Of course Elric often interacts with true major gods, whose powers transcend any mortal sorcery.

Re: Scouters from DBZ That's pretty much the build that Michael "Susano" Surbrook gives the scouter in his excellent web sourcebook for running DBZ using HERO System, Dragonball Z HERO. Here's where you can read the scouter writeup: http://surbrook.devermore.net/dbzhero/dbzgadgets.html

Re: Scouters from DBZ If I were going to actually run something like this in a game, I'd probably just use our boardmate nyakki's Combat Rating System computer app: http://www.trimira.com/hero_stuff/combat_rating.html# nyakki even gives instructions on how to copy the system directly into your own computer: http://www.trimira.com/hero_stuff/combat_rating_text.html

Re: mass group combat Yes, the rules are detailed in the Fantasy HERO genre book. Essentially they treat "units" of multiple people as single characters, with some of the same stats as normal characters, and who move, fight and take damage as if they're a single entity. The number of individuals in a unit, and the scale of hexes used, can be increased to accomodate military forces of almost any size.

Re: Why buy aid.... Um, I don't think I'd go so far as to say it's "intended for use on other people" - there's nothing preventing you from using it on yourself too, unless it's so Limited. IMHO it would be more appropriate to say that it's intended for use on other people in addition to yourself.

Re: The Atlantean Age Not yet. It's one possible setting for Fantasy HERO that Steve Long might be interested in doing if and when the opportunity presents itself; but at this point it's barely a gleam in his eye. Here's what Steve had to say the last time this subject came up:

Re: Why buy aid.... And in fact, Aid under Fifth Edition does not cost Endurance to activate.

Re: History of the HERO System And that lovely multi-genre George Perez cover didn't hurt either. "Sigh" With Perez being so popular and Hero Games being so cash-strapped, I doubt the days of Hero books with Perez covers will ever return.

Re: Why buy aid.... The cost-effectiveness of Aid doesn't really kick in when you're looking just at Self-Only effects on a single Characteristic. Un-Limited Aid lets you pass the benefits on to any number of other people, and unlike Characteristics Usable On Others you can just "fire and forget" - once someone is Aided they have the benefits without requiring your further involvement. And once you start putting Advantages on Aid to increase the number of Characteristics you can affect with that single Power, it really becomes the most cost-effective option. That said, I think that Self-Only for Aid should be -1 rather than -1/2; not only because of the disparity that you point out, but because -1 is supposed to represent reducing the effectiveness of the Power by half, and "Self Only" and "Others Only" are the only two choices there are for Aid.

Re: History of the HERO System Judgement call, of course, but since Derek titled his essay "History of the HERO System," I think it's reasonable to leave out Fuzion. Now if he'd called it "History of Hero Games," one would have cause to protest.

Re: Ten Most Powerful Champions Villains - Thoughts! Well, having given it some more thought, and looking at all the abilities and resources given for each character, I think I would rank the ten most dangerous CU villains written up in the contemporary Champions Universe (again, in no particular order) as: The Dragon Vulshoth Dr. Destroyer Takofanes Tyrannon The Supreme Serpent The Edomite Istvatha V'han Arvad Skarn Lots of folks could have very legitimate reasons for disagreeing with this list; and some of my choices were problematic for me. For example, I was very tempted to include Menton. The only reason I left him off was that he doesn't have the kind of support and resources that most of the other characters do, so that he mostly works subtly behind the scenes. I've read all the hype about "he may already be ruling the world but no-one knows it," but the only scheme mentioned so far in which he tried to take direct control of a country, his homeland of Spain, was thwarted; and there are at least two heroic mentalist characters mentioned as being able to duel Menton effectively. So I don't think he quite lives up to his press. Also, all of these choices are for villains listed as "master" class or as "independents." I left off those villains who are treated as part of a team, like Dark Seraph and Fiacho, even though those teams represent major threats.

Re: Teen Champions PCs vs Minuteman. Assuming we're talking about the Minuteman writeup from Champions Universe, there's a very interesting element to it. Even though it's described as having "subroutines so advanced it almost seems like a living human" (CU p. 146), that's not how it's written. The robot has the full suite of Automaton Powers, meaning that it's immune to Mental Powers, but normally can only follow a number of simple commands equal to its INT score. More flexible, sophisticated responses would require a Computer brain, but the Minuteman writeup doesn't have one. (I once asked Steve Long about this, and he said that he intended to include one, but just forgot.) Essentially, then, you'd already have to modify this writeup to make the robot as capable as its background describes it. However, as others have pointed out, there's no reason why the IHA has to use the most sophisticated version of this robot available (of which they may have limited numbers), especially against a bunch of kids. So you have justification to play the Minuteman "stupid." A few logical extensions of that: The robot has been given a less sophisticated Computer brain, rather than a full Artificial Intelligence device; The robot is being given orders remotely via radio link. If the teen supers can detect the transmission and jam it (Flash, Darkness etc.), the robot will either stop functioning while awaiting orders, or blindly follow its last command; There are IHA operatives nearby commanding the robot. Taking them out would give the same results as above. Of course, if the youngsters prove capable enough to take down this more limited Minuteman, the next one the IHA sends after them will be top of the line and smart as a whip.

Re: How to handle Western Hero Duels/Showdowns I know the 4E Western HERO had a specific approach to this, but it's been so long since I've seen it that I can't remember. Never actually owned the book.

Re: Ten Most Powerful Champions Villains - Thoughts! Hmm... always something of a judgement call when you want to limit the list. It appears that your definition of "most powerful" incorporates both personal power and resources; otherwise there's no way Istvatha V'han and the Warlord would rank with the others. Taking everything into account, I'd say you'd also have to give serious consideration to Holocaust, Firewing, the Supreme Serpent, the Edomite, Tezcatlipoca, Arvad the Betrayer, Eclipsar, and Therakiel to make it somewhere on the list. As the only King of Edom with a full writeup, Vulshoth would certainly have to be on there. Of course this is assuming you're just dealing with the present-day Champions Universe. Everything gets overturned if you include the Galactic Champions-era characters.

Re: Attention: Veterans of the Battle of Detroit! The Marksman from CNM is a NPC in my campaign; rather than surviving the Proprietor War as in that book, I made him a survivor of Detroit. The parallels for the character make it a very easy change.

Re: Traveler Hero Since I've seen a number of Star HERO players ask for more detailed starship building rules, I would expect that feature to be particularly popular.

Re: Anybody out there playing Doctor Who Hero? I've often thought it would be fun to have a group of characters stumble across an abandoned TARDIS. Without knowing how to properly control it they could end up scooting all over time and space, meeting many classic Who menaces, without a Time Lord to either overshadow them or bail them out. That would also open the party up to recruiting members with widely varied backgrounds. A more focussed campaign could be the quest to find the original owner of the TARDIS, or perhaps keep it out of the hands of whatever menace disposed of the Time Lord in the first place.

Re: Hrmm... (Speed Zone Aliens) Hmm... sounds like cool SFX for a variety of Side Effects that could be applied to the Power. SPD Drain is one that comes to mind - the creatures feed on speed energy from visitors to the Zone. Seriously imparing to a speedster character. How about one of these things piggybacking on the character when he returns to the real world - only invisibly, inside the character? That could cause physical or behavioral changes; I'd probably run it as Transform giving the character Physical or Psych Disads, or Enraged, or Accidental Change.

Re: Traveler Hero Well, if you were Searching, it helps to put in a second "L" (even though your spelling is also correct.) http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45219 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46233 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45440

Re: Coastal City Cool! I hope Hermit sees this - he wanted that thread to benefit others, so I'm sure he'll be pleased.

Re: Attention: Veterans of the Battle of Detroit! The history of ChukG's character, Horus-Re, which you can read on this thread, includes his participation in the Battle of Detroit. Pretty compelling story IMO.

Re: Fictional Cities