Lord Liaden

Fair enough. That's an accurate analysis as far as average damage goes. What I think needs to be considered, though, is what this Advantage does to the minimum and maximum range for damage in each case. To use your example: 15D6 EB: Minimum 15, Maximum 90. 12D6 +1 Stun/DC: Minimum 24, Maximum 84. 10D6 +2 Stun/DC: Minimum 30, Maximum 80. Although the upper limit in these three cases is not that different, the lower limit increases rapidly. And because the extra Stun amounts to a set quantity added to each die roll, the range of possible results is actually fewer than with the higher base point Power. That might balance out the difference in Knockback and Body damage done. And I do think that the effect of other Advantages added on to this one needs to be taken into account; that applies to any Advantage IMO. Like I said, though, I appreciate the input, as I still haven't made up my mind.

Noted and edited for correction. Thanks.

Excellent thesis, MfH! You've obviously given this quite a bit of thought. Good points to keep in mind in the real world, too.

There's quite a lot written on Chiquador in the 4E Dark Champions supplement Justice, Not Law. Since Steve Long wrote both books, and almost all the given details about Chiquador are the same in both, I feel safe in saying that the background given in JNL applies to the new CU as well. To quote: "Chiquadoraos (as the people are known) use several languages. The principal language is Portuguese, but Spanish, French, and English are also spoken by many people." (JNL p. 57)

There are a few vocal CLOWN supporters who have posted to the boards in the past, but for the majority of those who have expressed an opinion on them, that opinion has ranged from dislike to outright loathing. Sadly for the 5th Ed. future of CLOWN, Steve Long seems to be in the latter camp. But JmOz is right: they're easy enough to update to 5E if you want to continue to use them. I do think that the characters themselves are unique and diverse enough that using one or two at a time could make for interesting change-of-pace game sessions, but more than that at once is too much for me, too. Then again, I don't have the highest tolerance for gonzo gaming.

The +1 STUN/DC was given as an optional +1/2 Advantage for Normal Damage attacks in Adventurers Club #27, and I've used it since then. With the changeover to +1/4 for Increased Stun Multiplier in 5E, I've debated making this optional Adv. into +1/4 as well. My current thinking is to leave it at +1/2, because with Normal Damage there's no randomness of result as with the KA Stun Multiplier; you're adding +1 for each die of damage you roll, increasing the damage your attack can do by a significant and reliable amount. I'd welcome other opinions on this, though. Mind you, I'm one of those people who has applied a "fix" to the Stun Multiplier for KA: I roll 3D6 rather than 1D6, and divide the result by 3 before subtracting 1to get the result (I have a small chart handy with the roundings for all the possible results). This creates a pronounced bell curve with the average centering around 2.75, with the result that a KA reliably does more Body but less Stun than a normal-damage attack of the same DC, which is supposed to be the difference between them.

Don't have the new Champions handy so I can't check if there were any changes, but in the old BBB the last incarnation of the Champions paid for their base and team vehicle just as Mr. Vimes describes. I've always followed that pattern in my own games; since everyone on the team shares in the benefit of these things together, it seems fair.

Well, the +1 Variable Effect is not a small Advantage, certainly, but Change Environment is a relatively inexpensive Power, primarily because its effects on combat are limited. It's more intended to add color and to fill in useful but not highly damaging effects that aren't well simulated by some of the other, more combat-effective Powers. One of the more popular examples since the current CE rules came up is to create an icy or oily surface that makes movement on it more treacherous (penalties to DEX rolls, etc). Trying to do that with Drains, Entangles etc. always proved clumsy, and very costly in Active Points for what you get. For the kind of multiple simultaneous storm effects you're looking for, you might consider a Multipower large enough to use two or more of these Power slots simutaneously, or an Elemental Control. You could fit the main Change Environment into the Framework to bring down the cost. Still expensive, I know, but the kind of multi-power attack you're discussing can be pretty potent.

Mechanically, I like the suggestion by The Mad GM (and aren't they all? ) As far as running one character controlled by five players, how about giving each player a successive Phase during which they decide the character's actions? If you have territorial or blame-laying players that might cause a problem, but if everyone is a decent role player who's willing to share the spotlight, I could see that being a lot of fun.

Do you mean, excluding the "HERO Links" at the top of the page? Here are a few of my favorites that aren't listed there: The Master Lists of Limitations: http://www.globalguardians.com/master%20lists/ Hosted by the Global Guardians PBEM, this is a vast archive of custom Physical, Mental and Social Limitations created by HERO gamers. If you've wanted to give your character an unusual Disadvantage but weren't sure how it should work or what it would cost, chances are you'll find something useful here. Hero Games Product List: http://rhinobunny.com/derek/champions/herogameslist.html Derek Hiemforth has compiled this virtually complete list of all books, modules, and e-books that contain HERO System material, from every edition, by every publisher. Thorough and well-organized, this list is a must for the completist collector. Random Character Generator: http://www.trimira.com/hero_stuff/hero_stuff.html Fellow board member niakki has created this wonderful generator for Champions and FH characters. Very flexible and customizable, just the thing for whipping up an NPC on short notice, or givng a design-challenged player a PC to work with. The Great Net Book of Real Heroes: http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/index.html A huge but coherently organized collection of comic-book and other characters from multiple sources, converted to HERO System stats. Submitted by many authors, often resulting in multiple interpretations of the same character. Many of these are still in 4E HERO, but are easy enough to update.

I don't believe those benchmarks are listed in FREd, but yes, INT 51+ is the boundary of "superhuman". Same thing for EGO and PRE, but all the other Primary Char. are at 30+ for superhuman. It's worth noting that in Champions "superhuman" refers to those levels that humans cannot achieve without some extraordinary augmentation. I believe that the high upper levels in those three categories were put in place to allow for those fictional (or perhaps in some cases, historical) individuals with extraordinary insight or perceptiveness, unbreakable will, or incredible ability to sway crowds or intimidate opponents, but who are otherwise human with human limits. Considering all the Normal Characteristic Maxima debates these boards have seen, that was probably a prudent move. I think the upper limits in those three are a little high myself, but it's the sort of thing that's easy to house-rule, so I'm not concerned by it.

As I've understood the HERO Universe metasetting and subsequent discussions of it on the boards, the possibility of people achieving truly "superhuman abilities" of any form, including mutations, "radiation accidents", and radical techno breakthroughs, is predicated on the amount of probability-altering ambient magical energy, which tends to wax and wane periodically. A waxing period started on Earth just before WW II, but is supposed to wane again by the middle of the 21st Century. So, there are no superhumans in the HERO Universe right through the Terran Empire period. However, by the time of the Galactic Federation a millenium from now, magic will be on the rise again, allowing for the creation of Galactic Champions.

I know where you're coming from. I guess it's a question of whether you define "super-intelligent" as simply being far superior to the human average, or "superhuman" i.e. beyond the achievement of Homo Sapiens without augmentation. HERO seems to take the former view. The only character I've yet seen with an INT of 50 is Teleios, in Champions Universe. His other stats are at the upper limit of Legendary as well, since he's supposed to be "the Perfect Man". The next closest I ever saw was the Ultimate Master Mind (Binder of the Ultimates, accidentally boosted in Enemies Assemble), with a 43 INT. Reed Richards would probably be close to 50, though, and maybe Bruce Wayne.

Ahh, I see what you're getting at: you're looking for the benchmarks as to how characters' abilities compare to each other. Well, that I may be able to help you with. There are a couple of ways to deal with this. One would be to compare the Skill Rolls that characters can have, according to the "Degrees of Skill" sidebars beginning on FREd p. 28. That describes how each level of Skill Roll relates to the character's ability with that Skill, from basic Familiarity up to Incredibly Skilled (20- or more), which is the realm of the superhuman. Of course, a particular Skill Roll can be affected by Levels as well as raw Characteristics, so it's not a perfect method. OTOH, both Champions and Champions Universe lists categories for all Characteristics, going from Weak up to Legendary (the greatest figures from myth or history), and into Superhuman. Champions describes what these categories mean relative to each other. For Intelligence for example, the range is Weak 1-2, Challenged 3-5, Average 6-10, Skilled 11-13, Competent 14-20, Legendary 21-50, and Superhuman 51+. I know that you aren't fond of looking for data in other than the core rulebook, but if you want relative comparisons for Characteristics, that's where you'll find them.

Speaking of luck... I picked up the now ultra-rare Champions adventure Wings of the Valkyrie when it was first released, but foolishly sold it a couple of years later. I was under extreme emotional stress at the time and not thinking clearly. After I came to my senses I tried to find another copy, but of course they'd all been recalled by that time due to the infamous controversy. I finally wrote to Wings author Rob Bell, who had become HERO line editor for ICE by that time, to ask him if he knew where I could find a copy. Rob sent me one of his own, signed, free of charge. IIRC Rob Bell was the first one to use that "Be a Hero" tag line, which is how he signed my book.

I've seen this question raised on the boards before, and the short answer is that there hasn't been any official quantification of other Characteristics in that way in any HERO book to this point. I have to ask, though: in the real world, how would your measure multiples of Smartness, for example? IQ scores? Processing speed? Memory capacity? Creativity? IQ is the only one of those that pretends to provide a scale ranking, and it's been rather thoroughly discredited as being too tied to class-based assumptions. I couldn't imagine how to measure Charisma in the real world, and Comeliness is a whole 'nother argument in itself. Strength is really the only Characteristic that readily lends itself to a quantification within game terms, since the amount of force a person can exert can be objectively measured and a number assigned to it. Other physical abilities are far more nebulous. It's tempting to raise this question since HERO assigns a numerical value to those abilities for gaming purposes, but trying to figure out how many points it takes to be "twice as smart" is a meta-gaming concept that doesn't have a lot of relevance to reality. If you really want such a measure, you'd probably be as well off assigning a number that seems reasonable to you.

Unfortunately, most of those articles were already lost when I discovered the archive, well before DoJ took over. Sorry I can't help you there. One thing that I have used with Falling Damage in more realistic campaigns is to use Hit Locations to determine what part of the body the character lands on; this allows for both instantly fatal landings, and those "miraculous" falls that "no-one could have survived". Alternatively, you could rule that a character falling a significant distance automatically takes a X2 damage multiplier unless he makes a successful Breakfall or DEX roll. To keep armored characters from walking away from a fall without any Body damage, you could try applying the Hit Location multiplier before subtracting defenses, rather than after.

The HERO System can handle multiple combatants quite effectively, but when using a lot of "realistic" details such as Hit Locations, keeping track of all elements of the battle can be time-consuming. Fortunately, the core HERO rulebook includes a very useful sidebar section, "Nine Ways to Speed Up Combat" starting on p. 252. Applying any of these guidelines will hasten the progress of combat considerably. As to Ultimate Martial Artist, that book greatly expands and clarifies the options for the use of Martial Arts, with new maneuvers, rules for modifying Powers to simulate various MA effects, and a vast selection of pre-generate MA styles from around the world. If you have the 5th Edition core rulebook none of this stuff is absolutely necessary, but if you have a serious interest in using martial arts in your games, UMA will greatly enrich your experience.

So, you would like to build the effect of Piercing in such a way as to not disturb too many players from other games, or require too many character rewrites. Is that the essence of your concern? I don't know if this would be what you were looking for, but back in Adventurers Club #20, Steve Perrin in his "GM's Discretion" column proposed a variant on the Armor Piercing Advantage. Steve suggested that this form or Armor Piercing subtract the amount of Body rolled on the attack from a character's Defenses before he takes damage from it. Double AP would double the amount of Defense ignored based on the die roll. While this approach would not be applicable point by point as with the old Piercing Power, it would scale to the size of the attack it's applied to, and the change would be easy for new users to deal with since it uses the standard Modifier structure. Hope that's of some use to you.

I think the book was called The Armory, and I'm pretty sure it was published by Firebird Ltd., the same company that produced the original Golden Age of Champions. There may have been a sequel published with even more weapons, but I'm not sure.

There are a limited number of "official" alien species that will be detailed in the Champions Universe, which I think is good in principle: keeps the details manageable. However, as far as possible races for use in your games goes, your estimate is rather low, Hermit. As it says on p. 95 of CU, "As of 2002, Humans are aware of at least a dozen other species native to the Milky Way Galaxy." The map of the Hero Universe on CU p. 132 outlines the territories of eleven other peoples: Malvans, Mon'dabi, Mandaarians, Xenovores, Thorgons, Hzeel, Perseids, Se'ecra, Vanranyi, and the Velarian Confederation. Since they are shown there, I'd expect most if not all of these races to be treated in detail in either the Champions or Star HERO lines. CU also mentions the Sirians (the "War of the Worlds" invading Martians), the Qularr (who attempted conquest with giant monsters), the Gadroon (who sound much like Marvel's Badoon), and the ancient alien sorcerors, the Thane (a holdover from the old CU). There's also quite a bit of space between the territories of the established races to fill in with races of your own design. A really useful conceit which appeared often in older Champions books, was the "alien race that just discovered FTL travel" premise. Great for introducing heretofore-unknown aliens to Earth. For my part, I've followed the official CU party line since before it became official: humanity is aware of other races, but formal contact is not yet official. For my new campaign, I have IIRC ten alien species who have had contact with Earth in one fashion or another, mostly based on ones introduced in earlier Champions products. I haven't decided yet how much of the new "galactic community" I want to incorporate into my games.

4th Edition of Star HERO There actually was a playtest manuscript circulated for a 4E compatible Star HERO. Unfortunately, Iron Crown Enterprises who had the HERO property at the time, didn't follow through on publishing it. The manuscript was in rough form, and not as comprehensive as the new SH, but still a fine piece of work. If you're curious, the playtest copy is still in the old Red October archives on the Mactyres' website as a downloadable zip file. You could find it here: http://www.mactyre.net/october/HEROTEST/Files.html , and click on STRHRO.ZIP .

I've heard nothing but praise from people who have read Star HERO. With this book HERO Games has taken a big stride toward shedding the "only Champions" stigma that it's carried for so long. After two or three more support books for SH come out (assuming they're of comparable quality, which I frankly expect), HERO should be well established in the sci-fi RPG niche.

Well, how about this... Someone discovers the legendary Horn or Plenty, which provides an unending supply of food: Summon food, variable result (any natural food), 0 END Persistant, Continuous. AP wouldn't have to be too high, since the amount produced at one time would be less important than the fact that it never stops producing it. Anywhere the Horn appears, there would surely be conflict between different factions striving to possess it: the promise of enough food for everyone is powerful incentive, and that promise being wrapped up in a single item that only one party can own is a powerful temptation. If it showed up in a developing country, it would probably be kept in the hands of the "haves" until the "have nots" demanded their fair share, leading to rebellion and open warfare. The developed nations would likely step in on "humanitarian" grounds, in order to "secure this resource for the benefit of the whole world." Which would likely fuel resentment in Third World countries and spark a wider pseudo-holy war between First World and Third. If the Horn was discovered in a developed country, the government would seize it to study and "manage" it. Humanitarian lobby groups would demand that the food it produces be shared with the planet's needy, but government and business would declare shipping that much food to not be "cost efficient", which would probably cause mass demonstrations and violence. Meanwhile, the poorer nations would accuse the possessor of the Horn of hoarding while their people starved, which would again stir up widespread anger leading to terrorist acts or war. Whoever did end up with the Horn, however powerful and/or well-intentioned, would certainly be the target of jealousy and distrust by every party that thought someone else should possess it; some of those could unite against the possessor. The situation might get straightened out eventually, but not before the world was a war-ravaged mess.

Depending on how addicted to this drug you want these agents to be, another approach might be to buy the agents with the heightened REC, END and/or STUN that you want them to have when using it, then give them all a Dependence on the drug leading to Weakness in those Characteristics. BTW, Mr. Vimes, I'm familiar with the history of Miraclo, but who uses (ick!) mongoose blood?!