phydaux

Yeah, that's me using MMO RPG terms in a PnP RPG again. A clothie is a character that wears cloth armor, like a mage or a priest. If i ban Deadly Blow but still let mages have 45 point multipowers then they will be slinging 9 DCs while the melee types will get 6 max. So I don't really want to go that route as it will make mages too powerful.

"Hero System/Champions... This is the game I have the most experience with. And the main problem with it, is that character generation can become consumed by serious amounts of complication. So much that it can be off-putting to even gamers who have serious experience with it." Maybe it's because I've been playing since Champions I-II-III, but I can whip up a rough character draft in ~5 minutes, and have him fully polished in another 15. So can most of the other players in my regular gaming group. That said, we do have one guy who takes ~3 DAYS to make a 350 point 5th ed character. But my observation is that his brain just does not work in the same way as everyone elses. He gets all wrapped up in the details of the SFX and how it's all tied into his origin story, then gets overwhelmed at trying to represent the tiniest details through game mechanics. "How do I represent that my character was molested at age 12 by his youth pastor? Would I get more points having been molested by a Catholic priest, since it's a larger and more powerful organisation?"

I've got a question for all you Fantasy Hero GMs out there: I'm gonna run a campaign, and I have a point level in mind. And I'm going to run magic as a Multipower, with spells bought as uSlots in the Multipower. So my question is what is your campaign point total, and what size magic pool do you allow?

I can always have the PCs buy more PD & ED. It's getting them rPD & rED that's the trick. The armor charts in Fantasy Hero 5th ed are fairly stingy with rPD & rED if the PCs & monsters are gonna be hurling around 9 DCs of KA. In my head it comes down to how much magic I allow. I want a lot of magic. So I could: Allow 45 pip multipowers, and tell everyone to buy Deadly Blow & Combat Luck. Ban Deadly Blow & Combat Luck and ratchet magic multipowers down to 30 pips. That seems like the most balanced approach, particularly at 175 points. But is that "enough" magic? And speaking of, can someone do some math for me? 30 active point multipower, 1-H G & I, Thaumaturgy skill roll to change slots, Sorcery skill roll activate powers, all slots X2 END Final real cost is? ( Plus 3 for the Thaumaturgy skill & 3 for the Sorcery skill, and another 1 for Literacy and 2 for High Elven, 'cause all magic text books & spell formula are traditionally written in either High Elven or Black Speech)

I see what you're saying. That will seriously tone down the muscle-powered PCs. But the clothies will still be slinging 3d6 KAs. If I ban Deadly Blow then I'll have to ratchet down the magic multipower to 30 active points cap (1-H gestures & incantations, Thaumaturgy skill roll to change slots, Sorcery skill roll to activate powers, all powers X2 END cost). AND the active points cap for "feats." That kinda lowers the tone of the whole campaign. It's hard enough as it is to pull off "high fantasy" at 175 points.

Thanks for the reply, Chris. I'm not sure I understand your numbers. A "clothie" will have PD/ED of ~4, with maybe rPD/rED of +2. A "light fighter" will have PD/ED of ~4, with maybe rPD/rED of +4. A "heavy melee" will have PD/ED of ~6, with maybe rPD/rED of +6. That light fighter will have a bow or a short sword that does 1d6 KA. With some version of Deadly Blow added in they're averaging 7 BOD & 21 STUN per hit. A clothie that isn't pushing himself will do about the same (2d6 RKA 0 END for 45 active points). A heavy melee will be swinging a Greatsword with Deadly Blow for 3d6 KA, same for the clothie if he's pushing himself (3d6 RKA for 45 active points). That's 10 BOD & 30 STUN (and 8 END a pop for the clothie!). If we assume all PCs have a 15 CON, then light fighters are being CON'ed every time they are hit. Clothies risk being one-shot'ed by heavy melee or other clothies. Even heavy melee are being CON'ed by other heavy melee or pushing clothies. So I guess the short answer is that at 175 points combat is deadly as all hell. UNLESS PCs buy a whole bunch of CSLs and become unhittable. Which "breaks" the game. My initial thought was for 200 point characters, but I thought that might be a bit TOO much.

(Preface - We use 5th ed) Right now I'm a player in a Fantasy Hero campaign. GM is looking to take a break, so I said I'd get an alternate fantasy campaign going. I want to give the players some guidelines for character creating for my campaign. See, the current GM didn't give character creating guidelines other than "normal human characteristics maximums," and frankly I am breaking his campaign. One of the things I'm noticing is that it's really hard to balance attack with defense. Players will have a PD/ED of around 4-6, with armor that gives 4-8 rPD/rED, and NPCs much less. But here my PC is with 18 STR, a greatsword, and the Deadly Blow talent. I'm swinging 3d6 HtHKA, and one-shotting every mook I encounter. I'm thinking I overbuilt the character. I'd like to have some good character creation guidelines for my players. Now, in the campaign I want to run I want to have sort of an "epic fantasy" feel. I'm thinking 125 points for free, with up to 50 more points from disadds. For "feats" I want to have a 30-45 active points cap. For spells I'm thinking 30-45 point multipower, 1-H gestures & incantations, Thaumaturgy skill roll to change slots, Sorcery skill roll to activate powers, all powers X2 END cost. But that just tells me that mages will be throwing 3d6 RKA left, right & center, dropping mook after mook. Can you guys give me some pointers for running a ~175 point "epic fantasy" campaign that won't be a cake-walk but at the same time won't overwhelm the players? Can you give me some good "monster generation" guidelines?

Wow. And I thought imbedding that video would be cool. Sorry guys.

In Fantasy Hero 5th ed the 2-Handed Sword is listed as having +1 OCV. Is that because of reach? Is there ever a time when I would lose that, or get a minus? Do the rules take into account half-swording in close combat?

1) Live Action Superhero TV Show? Classic '60 Batman 2) Animated Superhero TV Show? Justice League/Justice League Unlimited Bruce Timm just GETS it. But Young Justice runs a close second. 3) Live Action Superhero Movie? Tie- Watchmen and Kick Ass 4) Animated Superhero Movie (Including Director To DVD)? I haven't watched Batman Returns vol I&II yet, but is that doesn't become my favorite then I will be sorely disappointed. For right now it's The Incredibles.

Five PCs including mine - Mage, Bard, Rogue, Scout/Archer and me. My character has all the skills you would expect to find in a courtly knight who also is a heavy, armored fighter. Aside from that he is a highly specialized melee combat monster. No ranged attacks at all. He does have the Lance weapon familiarity, but he focuses on fighting afoot rather than mounted fighting. And nearly all his skill levels, plus his Deadly Blow, are all Sword Only. The biggest problem the other PCs have in combat is overcoming armor. Most of them are using weapons like short bow or rapier, so they're rolling at most 1d6+1 for damage where I'm rolling 3d6. So they're taking entire turns to bring down one enemy while I'm one-shoting a mook every action phase. It's funny, too, because my toon doesn't have the highest SPD (mage does(?)) or the highest DEX (archer does). And he has no outdoor skills to speak of. But he does have the highest STR by far.

Also, most of the mooks the GM has us fighting are CV of 4 and the PCs are just clowning them. At least my PC is. I'm going to recommend to the GM that he assume all melee mooks have shields (+2 DCV) and +2 skill levels with their primary weapon (just 6 points). And maybe use weapons that have a built in +1 OCV. So they'll be rocking OCV 7 DCV 6 and maybe I won't outshine then so bad. As it is I've been trying to talk the other players into buying Deadly Blow for their PCs, and they all seem rather obstinate in their refusal to do so. The more XP the GM awards, the less bad I feel about outshining them in combat.

What page is the optional disabling rules on?

BTW, check out this video for REPEATED running shield bashes. MAJORLY lol-worthy.

Yes, 5th ed. I should have specified. So standing, with my STR, I do a 3d6 shield bash? And a 5th ed running shield bash would be +1d6 for every inch? So with my STR and +3" Running I could do a 12d6 running shield bash? That doesn't sound right. That's enough to knock out a warhorse.

A quick question regarding shield bashing. Say I have a character with an 18 STR, a medium shield (min. STR 13), and +3" Running. How much damage do I do with a standing shield bash? How much damage do I do with a running shield bash (Move Through)?

Anyway, the GM has been very generous with XP,. I've got 10 points free, so I'm wondering how to develop the character. There's a good argument to be made for making the character more well rounded - Upgrading the Sword skill levels to full melee skill levels, or upgrading Swordmaster to full Deadly Blow. Or perhaps adding outdoor skills like Tracking. Although I'm kind of enjoying being the "one trick pony." I'm thinking real hard about sword only skill levels for hit location only. 2 points each? Called shot to the head is cool. and called shot to unarmored body parts to bypass armor. What would a called shot to a limb do for me? I don't recall rules for loping off limbs. Will a called shot to the leg knock someone down? Will a called shot to the arm or hand knock something out of someone's hand? Called shot to the neck to cut off a head? T-Ball, anyone?

Hey guys! OK, I've got my fantasy swordsman up and running. STR 18 (so he can swing a bastard sword 1-handed) , DEX 18, SPD 4, PD/ED 6, half END cost on STR, chainmail (6 resistant PD/ED), bastard sword, medium steel shield (+2 DCV), Swordsman (+1d6K with all swords), +2 melee skill levels, and +4 skill levels with swords. With a base CV of 6 and +2 DCV from the shield, I use 1 skill level for +1 DCV, 3 skill levels for +3 OCV, and 2 skill levels for +1DC. So he's rocking a 9 OCV, 9 DCV and hitting for 3d6 HtHKA. I've got to say the guy is just wading through NPC bad buys like a Cuisinart, and really outshining the other 150-point player characters, who don't hit that often, get hit a lot, and take a long time to overcome their adversaries. I actually think a few of the other players have hurt feelings. Although last night I rolled trip-sixes for an attack roll, and the GM ruled that my bastard sword went flying. First time in four sessions that I even missed with an attack. Oh well. Bye-bye, most of my character points. LOL! My character ran around for the rest of the combat, yelling "A SWORD! Someone give me a SWORD!" We all had a good laugh that "the combat monster" got his comeuppance.

I thought this was called Code Against Mercy.

paragraphs. how do they work?

What's RAW?

FWIW most of my toons who have CvK and aren't specfically Silver Age throwbacks buy the 15 point version, allowing them to kill Joker rather than have him get away only to blow up a short bus full of retarted children tomorrow.

Here's a quick rules question, mostly because I haven't run a multipower-based toon since the days of Champions I-II-III. (5th ed, if that matters) Say I have a toon, let's call him, I don't know, Pulsar. And he has a 60 pip multipower with Flight, Energy Blast and Force Field. And let's make it easy and say all three slots are Ultra. At the start of his action phase his multipower is set to Force Field. He takes a 0-Phase action to switch to Flight and flys a half-move closer to his target. When he lands he takes a 0-Phase action and switches the multipower back to Force Field, and then holds his remaining half-phase action. A few DEX ticks down the speed chart later he sees his oportunity, takes a 0-Phase action to switch to Energy Blast and shots at his target. Now his action is over until his next action phase and he can take no other actions including switching around the powers in his multipower. A few more DEX ticks go by. Pulsar's action phase hasn't come yet, but he find himself the target of an attack. Pulsar's choices are: 1) Eat the attack with his FF down and hope for the best 2) Abort his next action and Dodge. My question is if Pulsar Aborts, may he also take a 0-Phase action and raise his FF?

See, doing it that way allows the powers in my VPP, by virtue of their "limitation," to have amplified effect against Superman AND Mr. Freeze. That's not a limitation, that's an advantage.

And I'm fine with that provided you didn't buy your powers in a framework that has the limitation Magic Only. If you have a multipower that is defined as Magic Powers but you paid full price for it and one slot is AOE EB Fireball and another is RKA Lightning Bolt then I'm fine with that, too. My whole point is that the VPP limitation Magic Only must limit the powers in a real way. VSFX could be seen as a cheesy way around that limitation but I think I'm ok with it.