phydaux

I seem to recall an old 2nd or 3rd Ed. module with a write up for Anti Claus. He wore a black & white outfit instead of red & white, and he had powers like "Sees you when you're sleeping" and "Knows when you're awake."

"Let's say the pool is larger (the number isn't important) and that a VPP could allow a character to have a number of spells that, say, give him a shield, a movement ability, an attack, invisibility, etc., all active at once if they are constant." Well, the short answer is "Yes, and CAN have all those powers active at once." But to have all those powers active at the same time they would each have to be so small that they are, in practice, utterly ineffective. Going back to the earlier example of the man-at-arms in a dust-up with Mr. Mega Mage - Like I said before, the man-at-arms has his sword, his STR, his Combat Skill Levels, and his Advantages. Roll all those together and the well constructed melee specialist should be swinging 3d6 HtH RKA. That's 45 active points. So using that as a guide, I allow my mage PCs a pool of 45 active points as well for their magic powers. If we assume that's a 45 pip VPP, and for sake of simplicity we do Mystic Blast (an attack power), Wings of Mana (a movement power), and Sorcerer's Shield (a defense). Well, it's likely that your defense spell will offer the same, or less, rPD & rED than the man-at-arms's chain mail hauberk, the Flight you buy will be less than the man-at-arms's base Running plus whatever extra he buys, and your Mystic Blast won't penetrate that chain mail hauberk that the man-at-arms is wearing. "No problem," says the mage. "I'll reshuffle my VPP on the fly into a the Magical Mega Ka-Boom and drop this chump." Well, if you bought your VPP with Requires a Skill Roll to Change then that comes with a penalty of -1 for every 10 active points. That's -4 for a 45 point power. With an INT of 15 and 3 points in the Magic skill, Mr. Mega Mage would have to roll an 8 or less on 3d6 to pull that particular rabbit out of his, um, hat. That thing you fear just isn't quite the boogyman you make it out to be. And the level of complication that VPPs add to an already complicated game... IIRC you said you were trying to make things easy for new players. I don't feel like this is it.

"I forgot to mention something else about VPPs--they're hard to play." This. When I GM I insist that players with VPPs do exactly what you did.

Burn the Witch!

"I think one of the problems that others have with a VPP is that it allows starting characters a lot of spells." Well, now we're back to having to writing a sourcebook for your campaign, but try this: Magic is a multipower. In order for a PC to add a slot to their multipower they must know the "source code" for the spell they are trying to "learn." To do this, they have to find, buy, or be given the spell formula. This is a way for GMs to limit the number of slots in a PC's multipower, and provides plot hooks for future adventures. But it eliminates mages having to lug around bulky spell books because once they know a spell they don't have to re-memorize it again - It's a slot in their multipower for ever.

"I'm trying to teach Fantasy Hero to new players who are familiar with D&D and Pathfinder, but little else. I want to show them how endlessly flexible Fantasy Hero is by comparison, precisely because it doesn't have classes, levels, pre-determined spells, etc." If you want easy, and I'm a HUGE fan of easy, then you want a multipower. On reflection I actually think that we could all be satisfied with a combination of a VPP, a few creative limitations on the Control Pool, and all powers running off of a slowly recharge END Reserve. But one of the problems I have with VPPs isn't a problem with the VPP themselves, but lazy players who use having a VPP as an excuse for being able to do whatever they want whenever they want, and when you ask them how they're constructing their power they just shrug and say "It's a VPP. I can fit this power in with enough disadvantages." I've let a few of my Champions players run VPPs, but I make them write a "spell book" ahead of time with common power constructions that they plan to use. In my experience most players just aren't familiar enough with the rules to build VPP powers "on the fly."

Also, when I have my players build their mages, I assume they are going to power their spells off their regular END, just like fighters swinging their swords. But there is another option.... Have the mage PCs buy an END battery with, say, a 50 point cap. All their magic spells must run off that end battery. Then have that battery recharge at a rate of 10 END per DAY. This allows mages to run lots of small spells that only burn a little END, or small spells that take up their WHOLE pool because they're built to cost zero END, or they could throw powerful KA-BOOM magic around for a few phases, and then be tapped out (except for their zero END spells, which can still be significant). Even after the tapped out wizard rests he still can't throw around all that much Ka-Boom magic, at least not until after he rests for several days. "A Balrog," muttered Gandalf. "Now I understand. What an evil fortune! And I am already weary."

I get what you guys are saying, but one of the things I try to avoid is having to write a whole sourcebook for a single campaign. ALTHOUGH I have had many discussions with players who bought VPP control pools with the limitation "Magic Powers Only" about why no, they may NOT have Lightning Bolt or Fireball spells in their Magic ONLY VPP, but they COULD have MANA Bolt or MANAball spells. "compare Harry in his first year to Dumbledore, for example, and how hard it is for the children to learn basic spells and then struggle with consistency" I hear you. So Year One students get a 5 pip multipower and have no slots. As they "learn" they get XP, and can either buy slots or up their pool. The cap on the pool goes up 5 points a year, so by Prisoner of Azhaban they have 15 point multipowers (if they spend the points to up the pool total) and by Deathly Hallows they could have 35 point pools. Avada Kadavra (2d6 EGO RKA) would take a powerful wizard with a 60 point multipower. Harry would also have to up the points in each slot, otherwise the Stupify spell Harry learned in Goblet of Fire (Mental Attack? Fourth Year, so 20 active point max) would STILL have a 20 active point cap in Deathly Hallows even though Harry's multipower has 35 points in it. But we're getting close now to having to write a sourcebook for a Hogwarts campaign.

"I'd require a caster to have to spend at least half an hour to make a change to the pool--anything less than that and casters become unstoppable swiss army knives for noncombat situations." The same can be said about the Rogue/Bard who invested most of his character points in 3-point non-combat skills. And they can use any of those skills at the drop of a hat. IMO you shouldn't punish a player for having a well constructed PC. If the PCs are too powerful for the campaign then drop the points threshold by 25 points.

"I'm trying to limit how many spells are available to cast on any given day" Do you also limit how many times a fighter can swing his sword on any given day? Limiting the number of spells a mage can cast in a single day is fine if you're trying to recreate D&D inside Hero System. I don't really feel the need to limit mage players OTHER THAN making them use a multipower and prohibiting VPPs. VPPs are just TOO powerful and too flexible for a fantasy setting. ​Like I said, a 3d6 HtHKA is not out of reach for a properly constructed melee specialist, and the fighter can keep that up for as long as he has the END to keep swinging. I feel the mage should have the same prerogative. 3d6 HtHKA is 45 active points, so I put a 45 point cap on magic multipowers. Players can learn as many spells (have as many slots in their multipower) as they like. Yes, at some point it is more cost effective to reconstruct the character and put the points into a VPP. Too bad. Fighters & Rogues don't have that option. They just have their stats, skills, and advantages. No reason to have mages, and only mages, suddenly morph into demigods once they reach a particular XP threshold. Depending on how they build their multipower then they can have one massive spell and nothing else going on, or several small spells going on all at the same time.

IMO VPPs are too powerful in a fantasy setting. In my game magic is a multipower. You learn spells by buying slots in your multipower. That way you can cast any spell you know any time you have the END to pay for it, but ONLY the spells you have taken the time (spent the XP points) to learn. And spell users are forbidden from converting their multipower into a VPP. Also, IMO, a 3d6 HtHKA is not out of the question for a properly constructed melee type (Sword plus STR plus Advantages) so I cap magic user's multipowers at 45 points. That gives magic users plenty of points for KA-BOOM powers, as well as enough points to play with for some nice subtle powers.

TV Tropes would say it needs to be a Five Man Band. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FiveManBand

Getting back to OP, IIRC there were TWO teams, maybe even THREE. One doing a frontal assault on Big D's fortress or whatever as a distraction, one doing an "end around" attacking the satellite, and a final team (the PCs) doing a sneaky back door attack. Also, IIRC, the team doing the frontal assault got brutalized with something like 50 hero deaths. A suitable "pep talk" along the lines of "While the Space Team attacks the satellite, the rest of us will be fighting Gigaton and the army of Desdroids. I DON'T expect many of us to survive. But those two distractions should buy your team an opportunity to sneak in and finish your objective. We will be buying you that time with our LIVES. We're trusting you not to squander our sacrifice."

This. They're super heroes. They fight the supervillian even when they know it's hopeless. That's what super heroes do. I ran Island of Dr. Destroyer not all that long ago as a demo game. The floating island was 500 miles off shore of southern California with an army of Desdroids on it. Dr. Destroyer was planning on invading and taking over the USA. PCs were suppose to fly a hoverjet at wave top level to avoid the island's radar while the Navy provided a diversion. Player biffed his Combat Piloting skill, popped up and got acquired by the island's radar. One SAM later all the PCs were at 0 STUN and bobbing like apples a miles from the beach. They make their way to the island and set off trying to find the power plant. The plan is if they can shut down and disable the island's nuclear reactor while the island is still well off shore then there will be no radar and no propulsion. Then the Navy can mop up the disabled island and the army of Desdroids on it. Naturally the good Doctor figures out what the PCs are trying to do and he meets then in the reactor control building. A fight ensues with The Destroyer dropping massive AOE after massive AOE. Two of the PCs fall into negative STUN AND negative BODY, the other two are barely standing. One more hit from that AOE and the entire party will be finished. One of them, who happened to be playing Witchcraft, was up next. "We're in the Reactor Room right?" "Yeah. Your team mates are badly injured. You just have time to escape." "OK. Can I figure out what piece of equipment is the reactor coolant pump?" "Um, yes. All pipes and equipment are clearly labeled for the convenience of the technicians." "OK, Mystic Blast into the reactor Coolant Pump." "You're not going to escape and save yourself?" "No. I'm going to destroy the reactor and save southern California." It was a really cool moment. I decided that the PCs were blasted into comas but when Dr. Destroyer realized that he was thwarted he decided to escape himself rather than finish them off. They were found by the Marines, and choppered to UCLA Medical Center.

I commute from Concord, NH to Andover, MA daily. Hour and a half each way. Unless it snows. If it's drive time and it's snowing then I don't even TRY to get to work that day. If i'm already AT work and it snows for the drive home then it's three hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic, IN THE SNOW. MINIMUM.

You could have SAID something!

I was playing in a pulp campaign, and I made a female character for the sole purpose of being rescued every session. I even bought her Ambidexterity, Rapid Attack and Hit Location - SLAP so that she could fire off four Called Shot slaps to the face every action phase with her STR of 7. Not enough STUN to get through the villain's PD, but just the image of her yelling "You brute! You brute!" while firing off SLAP - SLAP - SLAP - SLAP made me smile.

it's from the character's backstory. The Nightwalker PC is actually Nightwalker II, the original Nightwalker being her mother. Think Silk Specter II from Watchmen - A teenage girl forced into being a superhero by a mother trying to recapture her glory days by living vicariously through her daughter.

Yeah, but exclusive territories eliminated the opportunity for direct competition. For example: PCs get word of vampire attacks in Dog Patch Iowa. They go to Dog Patch, meet with the family of the first victim, put down the attacking young vamp. There they find evidence of OTHER vampires in the area. That's session one. Then MHI shows up. "We've got it from here, noobs. Go home." Now it's a race to find all the local nests of young vamps. That's session two & three. Sooner or later one PC realizes that, with all these young vampires around, there must be a master vamp around somewhere. Session four is the legwork session, heavily depending on all those non-combat related skills & talents that the PCs bought. Because they DID buy non-combat related skills & talents, RIGHT? 'Cause if they didn't then session four will be a BITCH, and rightly so. This is where the "romance" plot points are developed between some PCs and some of the locals. Session five is the preemptive attack by the forces of the master vampire on both the PCs AND the MHI hunters. Done right, the PCs will be presented with a change to save the lives of the MHI hunters. Or not save them. Session 6 is more leg work finding the master vamp's true lair. Also, this is where the PCs leave false clues for the MHI team to find and go off on a wild goose chase. Session six ends with the romance NPS getting kidnapped by the master vamp and taken to its lair. Session seven is the assault on the lair of the master vamp and his minions by the PCs and the rescue of the romance NPCs.

See, that's my thought, too. The PCs should be the upstarts looking to show up the establishment.

Yeah, the source material is ANYTHING but realistic. Zombies take multiple 12 gauge shots to the head before going gown, and zombies are the LEAST of what they're facing. Wrights are a lot tougher, and vampires come across as damn near unkillable. Now granted that a lot of that is "plot armor" but STILL, As I'm reading I'm thinking in my head "AK-47 is 2d6 RKA, Weapon Master: Guns takes it to 3d6, Auto 5, skill levels to offset range penalties, skill levels to offset Hit Location penalties.. Hell, it's NOT ENOUGH!"

Personal END, same as the fighters.

I'm 3 books into the source material. As I'm reading, my question isn't "Should my PC have Weaponmaster: Guns?" but rather "How many LEVELS should my PC buy?"

How common is it in your campaigns for a PC to have Weaponmaster: Guns?