Fedifensor

Which only points out how illogical the restrictions are. You can't put Armor in an EC, but you can put a 0 END Force Field in one. You can even make that Force Field Persistant with the GM's permission, making it just as good as Armor with no END cost. Better, since several NND's don't work against Force Fields. You could also just buy an Endurance Reserve with enough END and Recovery to make it effectively a 0 END power. For that matter, you can buy enough END and REC on your character so it isn't an issue. I don't see a restriction on powers with Costs END, as long as you don't add the Reduced Endurance advantage to them. In short, Steve has gone through a lot of convoluted steps that still won't stop munchkins, but does leech out any flavor that EC's once had.

Of course, you can still take those powers by adding Costs END and 0 END...which isn't much of a hinderance.

I'd rather see Aaron update Strike Force for 5th edition. They managed to pull him away from X-Wing novels long enough to write Champions, so there's always the possibility... Since Strike Force isn't set in the Champions Universe, it could actually have a section on house rules, similar to what was in the original Strike Force handbook. Heck, some things in Aaron's game were incorporated into newer editions of Champions, such as buying Martial Arts as maneuvers instead of a single "power". I'd really like to see what house rules he uses for 5E.

I got lucky several years ago. Aaron Allston was selling off some of the copies of his works, so I got it directly from him...signed and everything! Check Ebay every few months, and do web searches to see if game stores with an online presence have a copy...it's bound to pop up eventually.

Well, actually, my current situation can be summed up rather quickly... THUMP! That's the sound my Hero System 5th Edition book makes when I drop it onto the gaming table. The eyes of my players widen when they see how big the book is. One eventually comments, "Well, I'm assuming not all of that is the rules. There's an adventure, or world background, or some other fluff in there...right?" I reply, "Nope. The first 334 pages are rules, and then there is a small (25-page) section on gamemastering and tweaking the rules." "Er, right. So, when are you running D&D...?" "Come on, at least flip through the book..." (flip, flip) "Man, I've seen stereo instructions that are less work to read. Look at pages 106 to 108...three pages to describe how to tie someone up?" "Well, it's a flexible system...." "Flexible? Look at all the Combat Modifiers! Is there a rule that tells you how your character goes to the bathroom, too? Sheesh! Look, it's either D&D, or I walk." (heavy sigh) "Okay, let me get my $200 worth of D&D rulebooks so I can start working on an adventure..." "Yeah, whatever. I noticed you've got about $200 of Hero books on your shelf, too. So much for the one book argument."

Also remember that if it is all types of energy, a drain of any energy type will affect it.

I posted some of the things that bug me about 5E in another thread, but I'll restate them here: Characteristics - STR and DEX are too efficient, CON is efficient but useless if bought with No Figured Characteristics. Shape Shift - horrendously-expensive, way more complicated and less useful than the 4th edition version. Healing-as-Regeneration - It would have taken less space to put Regeneration as a separate power (with Heal Limbs and Resurrection as adders). Much less complex, and more useful (4th edition Regeneration healed Drain damage, which fits characters like Wolverine). Force Walls - I hate Force Walls with Power Defense that disintegrate if someone tries to speak with you telepathically or shines a bright light your way. Exotic defenses should be individual additions that are unrelated. Damage Shield - only useful when people go on an "advantage-stacking" spree. A EB Damage Shield costs too much to do anything with, but an NND Autofire Damage Shield remains at least somewhat effective. Noncombat movement - pay lots of points to travel at 100 MPH...but you can go supersonic speeds for less than 10 points (Flight 5", Megascale). Additive and Multiplicative Scaling - Every 5 points of Strength *doubles* your lifting power, but only gives you an extra hex or two of throwing distance. Moving at Mach 1 will splat any character in existence, since velocity damage is additive instead of exponential. EC Restrictions - The must cost END crusade bugs me. A lot. Flavor powers like +20 ED Armor, only versus fire fit certain concepts perfectly, but become far more expensive than they're worth when outside an EC. Champions used to reward tight character conceptions - now the rules actively discourage them. Multiple-power attacks - This just bugs me. It also throws active point limits out the window, since characters can just buy several attacks at the active point limits and throw them all in one massive strike.

You may want to address is combat length and defenses. The default attacks and defenses indicated by 5th edition HERO for superheroes leads to short fights, decided in a few blows. Sounds great, right? Well, if I'm playing in an epic-scale game, I want longer combats, where the villains have to work hard to take me down. Also, when you get to huge VPP's, you may want to require heroes to define their powers in advance. This doesn't mean writing every single combo up, but every power should be listed by the player. Thus you may have Magic Blast (10-20d6 EB, special effect chosen at time of casting) and other powers so the player doesn't spend an hour defining what their cosmic VPP will be this phase.

I really enjoy the HERO system, but I've only experienced it twice over the past several years (ran it once at a convention, and played it once at another convention). I can't get my fellow gamers to even give it a try, and I was thinking about the reasons: 1) Complicated character generation. Let's face it, HERO is much more complicated than class-based systems such as D&D. Even more freeform systems (such as Storyteller) are significantly less work. Even superhero games such as Aberrant have simpler chargen than trying to make a starting 350-point super. Sure, you could just roll randomly on the tables in the Champions book, but personalizing a character in HERO takes much longer than adjusting a few skills or feats in D&D. 2) Rules-heavy. Oddly, D&D is beginning to emulate HERO in this respect. There's a trend to have a rule (as opposed to a guideline) for everything. Want to pick up something while moving? Suddenly you have to figure out if you can do so while in motion, and apply various modifiers to the roll. Heaven forbid you want to do something like peek out from behind a wall, fire a gun, and slip back behind the wall before the bad guys can get a bead on you... 3) Too much reading. The section on character creation in 5E HERO covers pages 11-224, or 214 pages. The latest rules FAQ available for download from the website is 155 pages! That's over 350 pages of material you're expected to go through to make sure you have a "legal" character. 4) Logic gaps and unnecessary complexity. I respect Steve Long for the titanic task of updating HERO to 5th edition, but there are some real pain-in-the-you-know-what rules that defy common sense. A horrendously-expensive Shape Shift that is way more complicated and less useful than the 4th edition version. A description of Healing-as-Regeneration that takes more space in the book than the entire 4th edition writeup of Regeneration as a separate power. Force Walls with Power Defense that disintegrate if someone tries to speak with you telepathically or shines a bright light your way. Noncombat movement that costs lots of points to travel at 100 MPH...but you can go supersonic speeds for less than 10 points (Flight 5", Megascale). It isn't restricted to power writeups, either. Every 5 points of Strength *doubles* your lifting power, but only gives you an extra hex or two of throwing distance. It's these sort of things that makes HERO a hard-sell. Sure, a good GM can overcome much of this by taking on the extra workload and making judgment calls or house rules, but players who want to learn the system are going to hit all of these pitfalls.

Re: Re: Solo game needs ideas If you don't want to subscribe to an email newsletter, you can get the same info at the Roleplaying Tips website (http://www.roleplayingtips.com).

While the other ones seem reasonable, I think this is excessive. There's no real reason for it to go against Power Defense instead of Resistant ED, from what I see in the writeup. Even if you let that slide, a better option would be an NND with one of the defenses being "non-human body structure", since it can't be optomized to disrupt a nervous system unless it has a reasonable idea of what that nervous system is...if the target even has one! As it stands, it's a character-killer that fails the logic tests. Electric-based supers would be particularly peeved if it bypasses their defenses.

Start with a single aspect, and develop the other aspects over time. It may be difficult for Hermes to focus more than one aspect through a mortal frame. That'll help keep a tight character conception, and give you room to expand later.

***SPOILER SPACE*** ---------- I was rather annoyed to find a "mystical" origin for VIPER. The A.I. version in the 4e book may not have been perfect, but it had a better fit for a high-tech organization. Well, maybe when the DEMON book comes out we'll discover that it was founded by robots from outer space...

From a Champions point of view, the Teen Titans are an incredibly balanced superteam: Robin - Martial Artist (+ gadgets) Starfire - Energy Projector (and light Brick) Cyborg - Brick (+ Energy Protector + Gadgeteer) Beast Boy - Shapeshifting Growth-based Brick Raven - Mentalist (specializing in Telekinesis) Two Bricks, one Energy Projector, one Martial Artist, and one Mentalist. I could only pray to get such a balanced group in my campaign...

A few quick thoughts from someone who hasn't bought SoB yet: * Color Artwork - Seems rather pointless for a PDF product. Color covers are to draw someone's eye when they're browsing in a store. But someone buying a PDF product is looking for meat, not glitz. Plus, the 1 MB buffer on my Okidata laser printer makes it hard to print the cover, even though it's printing out in black and white. * Artwork in general - See comment about about meat versus glitz. There are required pieces of artwork - pictures of the main villains and NPC's, maps, and other things a GM would need. But action scenes, pictures of generic heroes standing around, and similar things are unnecessary. * Marketing - What is the percentage of registered users on the message boards to the number of copies of 5th edition that have been sold to date? Because if you don't come to the website on a regular basis, you won't know about SoB. * Timing - D&D 3.5 just came out. That's nearly $100 of books to buy all at once, and it probably got more people playing it to try the revised rules. Right now, I couldn't get a HERO game started in my area to save my soul, and I normally don't buy adventures until I need ideas as a GM. It sounds like your biggest cost was artwork. I think putting lots of art into a PDF is a mistake - it can raise the price beyond what many people are willing to pay in this economy.

A few thoughts: Superman is like a WWF wrestler in most of the fights. He gets slapped around a lot, but just when you think he's on the ropes he comes back and triumphs. High Recovery, Regeneration, or even Aid (Aid to STUN, only when at 1/4 STUN or less and Aid to BODY, only when at 1/2 BODY or less). I would design Wonder Woman's bracelets with both Missile Deflection, and Armor on an Activation roll. That should adequately simulate them without a clunky use of Desolid. Both Flash and Superman should have SuperSpeed. The difference is that Superman just uses it to get from one place to another in the blink of an eye (Teleport?). Flash does virtually anything you can think of with it - disassembling machines, creating air vortexes, etc. As far as resistant defenses go, look and see who gets bloody in the combats. Superman, surprisingly, sheds more blood than anyone else in the JL, even though he can bounce bullets. On the flip side, the Flash hardly ever takes BODY damage, even though he routinely trips/is tripped while running at supersonic speeds. Makes you wonder...

I believe Steve said that you could make MegaScale "switchable" for an extra +1/4 advantage...thus, you would have the choice whether to use the advantage on your jump.

Never mind the fact that Ogre could do a sqeeze and just as easily take Nighthawk out. With the advent of MegaScale movement, this isn't as much of a concern as it once was. Plus, if it takes long enough to do the initial throw, it balances the "remove from combat" factor. First, you get rid of the "Grab and Throw" ability currently in the rules. Throw becomes a separate attack action. Second, make a "noncombat" throw like a noncombat teleport, requiring an extra phase to accomplish it. That's at least two phases for the target to make a Contortionist roll, Teleport, use an attack power on the target, or similar attempts to get out of the target's grasp. Given standard Champions attacks and defenses, most bricks could render an immobilized opponent unconscious within two phases. Third, reduce the damage a character takes from a long-distance throw. I attemped to cover this in my system by splitting the throw into velocity and segments of movement. This means that you may get thrown 40", but it's actually 10" for 4 segments. 10d6 damage is much different than 30d6 (from hitting solid earth on landing). Sure, it's a bit more work to create a functional throwing system, but Champions players aren't ones to shy away from a bit of complexity.

Seems a weak excuse for poor rules, to me. The easiest way around this is to design a system where you can do shorter throws in combat, and longer throws once your target is immobilized. After all, if you're holding a tank in such a way that it cannot attack you, it's effectively out of the combat. At that point, you should be able to throw it a long way if you're strong enough. Similar to how Transform was designed on RKA, reasoning that if you can do enough damage to kill something, you should be able to transform it for about the same amount of power.

There are some *old* (created in 1993) alternate throwing rules on my website, at the following URL: http://www.peakpeak.com/~fedifensor/games/hero/throwfar.htm I'd probably revise them significantly now, but it's a good starting point if you want to give an object a flight speed. -Casey

An advantage I created years ago, that may do what you're looking for: Seeking (+1/2) - This Advantage allows an attack that has missed a target to keep making attack rolls in successive Phases until it hits. END is paid for each phase, and the character must dedicate a half-Phase attack action each Phase to maintain the power. Each shot is as if the character was firing from the hex occupied by the target in the previous phase, including range penalties - in other words, don't stand still if you're the target of a seeking blast. By combining this power with Uncontrolled, 'fire and forget' attacks can be made. The condition for stopping an Uncontrolled Seeking attack is usually to dodge out of the way when next to a hard surface, or making an attack roll at the firing character's DCV +2 (treating the attack as if it was a focus). It comes from my Wonders of Energy Blast article, which can be found at the following URL: http://www.peakpeak.com/~fedifensor/games/hero/eb.htm

Okay, I've posted the question to Steve on the Hero System rules forum, under the following heading: Switching Mental Class: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4023

A battlesuit character wants to simulate the computer in his suit taking over when he's knocked out. However, he doesn't want to deal with more than one character sheet (via triggered Multiform, etc) or other complicated mechanics. The character has 25 base STUN, and buys 25 extra STUN through the OIF (the character could also be a cyborg, which means the extra STUN wouldn't be bought via a focus). He then adds the Physical Limitation "Switches to robotic mindset when below 1/2 STUN", which switches his Psych Lims to an equal point value of Psych Lims appropriate to the robot form, and switches his mental class from human to machine. The human form being knocked out is simply a special effect of going below 1/2 STUN. Is this legal, and if not is there an alternate way to do this without resorting to Multiform? Furthermore, what powers (as opposed to disadvantages) are available in the game system to switch the mental class of a character? I would assume that a Transform would work, but I'm not sure what else could accomplish this.

"Accounting wise, you buy the character with the battlesuit and buy an AI that runs the battlesuit. Oh, and give both pilot and Copilot some levels in teamwork skills." I keep hearing "have the AI run the battlesuit", but computers don't have STUN. That leads to either a rules nightmare or a game balance nightmare when the computer takes over.

Depending on how much I flesh out their skills and minor equipment (suit radio, etc), standard agents range from 100-150 points. This is for a standard superhero (350-point) game. I also have elite agents, that border on superhero capabilities. Often, these agents have innate capabilities or full-fledged battlesuits. They normally run about 200 points, and have sufficient defenses to take a hit or two without dropping.