Lord Liaden

Re: Power writeup: Alter Reality, Radius Effect Looking at your comments, megaplayboy, I find myself still wanting more specifics about what you want the power to do. For example: How big an area is being affected? Is everything in the area affected simultaneously and equally, or can the character pick and choose what he wants to effect, and how? Does the character with the power control the specifics of how any target is affected, or do the effects vary within general parameters, or is the result completely outside the character's control? How are affected people changed? Physical abilities and characteristics? Thoughts and/or memories? Social status and/or resources? Are people affected by the change aware that a change has occurred? Is the physical environment in the area altered? If so, is it altered in a way that could have combat effects on people within it? What sort of effects? Is the change tied to the area, so that anyone entering it is affected? What about someone who leaves it? Is there any way for someone to be protected from the change so that it doesn't affect him?

Re: Unlucky in Love? Scott Bennie posted some very interesting ideas for modifying Luck to specialized uses, including Luck-based Talents. Not exactly what you're suggesting, but probably adaptable to those purposes: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=440594

Re: Who are the greatest (?) super villains? As long as we're bringing up personal favorite villains, I'll put in a word for my own, DC's Brother Blood. He came across as a master schemer on par with Doctor Doom, but with more patience and less arrogance; he was quite willing to accept a short-term setback if it advanced his long-term goals. And he was the first villain for a mainstream comic series to use a cult as his major schtick. I always found his approach to world conquest to be more practical and sustainable than Doom's - rather than compel service through force and fear, Blood sought to convert people to his worship so that they would be willing servants. His semitragic origin, sinister costume, and that resonant name all just worked for me. I'm only sorry that he fell prey to DC's nasty habit of killing, retiring or in some other way neutering characters with the potential to become great master villains. Their stable of those is rather thin, particularly in comparison to Marvel's.

Re: Mental combat - when would dice be rolled here? Yep, I can feel the glaze settling over my own retinas already. prestidigitator, I agree with your point on classifications, and I apologize if it sounded like I was trying to label any group of gamers. I'm probably getting too fatigued to contribute anything more coherent to the debate anyway, so I guess I should catch some z's for a while.

Re: Mental combat - when would dice be rolled here? Robyn, keep in mind that you're at the nexus of one of the most "simulationist" gaming communities on the Internet. For many of them, narrativism wouldn't be the most natural way to approach gaming. In fact I wouldn't discount the possibility that some folks around here just haven't had that much exposure to narrativist games. You may at times have been the recipient of genuine unfamiliarity with the concept.

Re: Proto-Supers Of course, there's always the possibility that some of those JSA characters were relatively original inventions in their own right...

Re: Proto-Supers Said cartoon was created by and based on the one who IMO was the direct inspiration for the Golden Age Atom, the legendary Charles Atlas: http://www.sandowmuseum.com/atlas.html

Re: Thrown non-killing weapon I've actually never seen that one before. Pretty clever, and probably book-legal. Left unModified, though, the Endurance on that EB would be pretty ugly.

Re: Thrown non-killing weapon As I indicated in my previous post, AFAICT the Ranged Advantage and the HA Limitation effectively cancel each other out, leaving you with an attack with all the benefits of Energy Blast plus Hand-To-Hand Attack, for the same Real Points as Energy Blast alone. A STR-based Advantage on EB or Ranged on HKA significantly raises the Active/Real Points of both.

Re: Mental combat - when would dice be rolled here? Actually, what Robyn is describing sounds rather like some "narrativist" game systems such as Storyteller, where the way you describe something happening is often as fundamental to resolving various situations as any random die mechanic. Having mechanics for almost everything, as HERO does, is sometimes referred to in the wider gaming community as "simulationist" gaming. The two are often viewed as being at odds, but Robyn certainly isn't the first person (or game designer) that I've read who wants to give each its due place. In any case, from what I've seen narrativism is pretty solidly in the gaming mainstream nowadays.

Re: Ruling on this situation... If the FAQ ruling above isn't enough for you, have the villain who makes the Grab use one arm to hold on (-5 STR according to FRED p. 256/ 5ER p. 387), then use the other hand to hang onto something solid - if he's strong enough he can even dig his hand into the ground/pavement. The flyer will have to break out of the villain's Grab normally, or do enough STR damage to the Body of the object to break it.. or he ain't goin' nowhere. If the hero is known for this tactic, here's an alternative nasty surprise: as the hero powerdives with the villain, the latter (being prepared for this tactic) executes a STR and/or DEX roll to flip the hero under him just before impact, so that the hero takes the full force of it. Speaking as GM, though, I would say that the rulebook and the FAQ support you being well within your rights to say that this tactic won't work in this particular instance.

Re: Thrown non-killing weapon Well, I suppose adding Ranged to a Power with the HA Limitation is kind of a contradiction in terms, since HA would change a ranged EB to one with No Range. Putting on the Ranged Advantage (+1/2), then Limiting it (-1/2), would give you a ranged EB which you can also add your STR damage to... for the same Real Points as a normal EB alone. That doesn't sound too balanced. Wait, that gives me an idea. Let's look at the other Power construct you gave as an example, HKA with the Ranged Advantage. HKA is made up of the base Damage you buy for it, plus additional damage you can add with your Strength. With the Ranged Advantage you add a third component, the ability to do all that damage at range. With a standard Energy Blast you already have two of those components, base Damage plus Range. How about adding the third via a Custom Advantage, "STR Adds To Damage?" Let's make it +1/2, the same as Ranged - I see that you came to the same conclusion as to how much that Advantage would be worth. Now we have a construct based on EB with the same Active Points and same mechanics as a Ranged HKA of equal Damage Class. That seems fair and reasonable to me.

Re: Kingpin Maybe these would help: http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Kingpin1-gr.txt http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Kingpin2-gr.txt

Re: Replacing the AP Advantage Ah, well. I guess I should mention that Piercing is also described and costed in Steve's "Heroglyphs" column in Digital Hero #13, along with optional variants on Armor Piercing. Not described to the same degree as in DC, but essentially the same.

Re: Tuala Morn Frankly, if I had the choice to call myself a Sisal (how whimpy does that sound?!), a Flax (you make cloth out of that), or a Jute, I'd rather be a macho-sounding Jute.

Re: Tuala Morn That sounds like the book from the now-defunct Bard Games, which also published the original Talislanta. A very fine tome and setting, particularly for the era. You might be interested to know that a newer game publisher, Morrigan Press, acquired the rights to that property and has recently released Atlantis: The Second Age, a spiffy update of the classic world book. It uses the Omni System, based on the game mechanics from Talislanta Fourth Edition. If it sells well Morrigan plans to publish further world expansions.

Re: Replacing the AP Advantage Anyone have the Combat Handbook handy? Did Piercing make it into that book?

Re: Mental combat - when would dice be rolled here? Except that the new Ultimate Mentalist isn't scheduled until "late 2006." Based on past precedent, and considering that there are two other Ultimate books in the queue ahead of it, I'd expect TUM to be at least six months away, even it even makes it under the wire this year. But consider: Steve's responsible for both books, so it's unlikely that he'll change any of the optional mechanical stuff substantially from the 4E version. OTOH he has promised to greatly expand the book with new material. And the 4E PDF is only $10.00. So there's plenty of reason to buy both.

Re: Energy Output of Attacks Our board colleague Bartman created a detailed Damage Class to Real World conversion matrix inspired by the material from "The Flavor of the Game," and included some of the assumptions on which he based his calculations. As he remarks, his figures and those of "Flavor" are pretty close, but his include more specific parallel examples. Maybe that would help clarify things. I saved the matrix as a Document file - I'll attach it below:

Re: Mental combat - when would dice be rolled here? Even though some elements of TUM were integrated into basic Fifth Edition, e.g. the Classes of Minds, TUM still has an additional ton of clarifications, optional rules, Skills, Modifiers and other neat stuff. Almost all of said stuff would function perfectly well under Fifth Edition. I'd say it's pretty much de rigeur for a mentalist-heavy HERO game, and can add spice to playing mentalists in any genre. And at $9.95 US for a 160-page PDF, it's a bargain. As if you needed further incentive , TUM also includes some basic conversion notes for general level-based D20 games, as well as for Shadowrun, GURPS Psionics (Third Edition), and Storyteller System (particularly Mage).

Re: Question about Star Hero Nice going, gamerz123. Just the sort of fleshing out that the Star HERO line needs. Maybe more of us should look into creating products like this to bolster our favorite Hero settings or genres.

Re: Mental combat - when would dice be rolled here? I would say that this narrative could be represented mechanically by the optional Mind To Mind mental combat maneuvers from The Ultimate Mentalist. The particular effects you describe could simply be the SFX of a given Offensive or Defensive Maneuver which the characters employ. To use your narrative: As mentioned previously, probably the character's Mental Awareness alerting him to the use of Mind Scan in the area, perhaps scanning a nearby mind. The Mind Scanner didn't roll well enough to detect the character, but he's likely using the Mind Search Maneuver, which allows the attacker to gain some "vague information" about the target's location even if the Effect Roll normally required isn't achieved. The defender uses an additional Defensive Maneuver to increase his MD or DECV - the maneuver bonuses are cumulative. I'd say Defensive Effort in this case, which requires shutting off all perception of the physical world. The character adds the benefits of a Defensive Push, requiring an Ego Roll to Push his Mental Defense. I would call this the SFX of the limited awareness that someone targetted by a Mental Power will have of his attacker. The defender switches tactics, using an active maneuver, Mind Bar (essentially a mental Block, OECV vs OECV) to completely negate the attacker's Mind Scan. Apparently the Mind Bar was successful. There's more to each MTM Combat Maneuver than I've described here - we are talking Hero Games's IP after all - but you should get the gist of it.

Re: Don't Look Into the Light... Darkness is Better

Re: Got it.

Re: Got it. Actually, you can't lower your Speed below 2 without GM permission (FREd p. 233/ 5ER p. 357). It's like this, Schwarzwald: While you're holding your breath, you can't take a Recovery, which is the mechanism by which you regain any Endurance that you've expended through exerting yourself, and any Stun you may have taken through being the recipient of an attack or other means. Also, when holding your breath you expend a minimum of 1 END per Phase, a Phase being the number of times that you can act in a Turn - which is determined by your Speed. Since you're expending END without being able to Recover, you'll eventually run out END. Once you do that, you'll begin to lose Stun at the same rate, until you run out of Stun and pass out. After that happens you begin to lose Body at the same rate, until you die. Bottom line: you drown. Voluntarily reducing your Speed to 2 is comparable to slowing down your physical activity, reducing your rate of exertion and hence the rate you use up oxygen, so that it will take longer for you to drown. Pretty real-world reasonable, actually.