Sean Waters

Re: Sex as a skill Depends what sort of campaign you are running, but I ran a campaign where the main villain had sex powers, and the main effect was that every time he had sex with someone he did a small transform attack that 'addicted' them to him so they kept coming back for more, and by rationing his favours he had half the local government and law enforcement working for him or owing him favours. If it isn't that sort of campaign, I wouldn't go with a DEX roll. I'd think it would be PRE, with COM as a complementary skill (sex isn't about what you can do with your body, it is about what you can make other people want to do with it). To make it realistic, max the roll out at 11- unless you have bought a relevant skill. Most people have low enough expectations that that will be plenty.

Re: Social "Combat' and "Duels" I think there is often more role playing involved with a player who IS socially adept and intelligent playing a character who is not. It is easy to just make hilarious* social gaffs and do incredibly amusing* stupid things, but actually playing a character who is not bright or witty is a real challenge. Seeing the key to the plot and finding some way to bring it to the groups attention without either telling them out of character or having the character just come up with it (albeit in a slow, slurred voice with lots of 'duuurrr's in) is a real challenge. We don't insist that players of combat specialists characters actually be good at ju-jitsu, players of world renowned mathematicians have the calculus, so I'm always a little unsure as to why we think players of superspies ought to be able to do debonair. The trouble with rewarding someone who comes up with good lines as against someone who doesn't is thatyou might as well just average IQ and EQ of the player and set their character social skills based on that. I'm not saying that you should ignore good approaches to social skills any more than I am suggesting that you should ignore a well thought out tactical approach to combat. I just think that there isn't anything wrong with just rolling the dice if that is the way you want to play it, and that a character with 15- conversation should almost always get more information out of a mark than a character with 11- conversation, no matter the relative abilities of the players. There. That's how I'm approaching this. Let's roll the dice and see who wins... * NOT!

If you have two linked attacks and you want to apply skill levels, do you need skill levels that apply to both attacks (like a multiple power attack) or just to the carrier power?

If Phaser is maintaining a constant attack power against Firefly, does the constant power cause damage at the end of Phaser's phase or whenever he likes in the phase?

Re: Shield of Confusion If you are suggesting that is one phase worth of action, I'm pretty sure you are out with the second 'damage shield kicks in'. If you are saying it is two phases, fine, yes, the damage shield is a continuous attack, the common way to stop it happening is to not be grabbed any more. So long as you pay the END for a continuous attack it continues to do damage and you can do other stuff. I am indeed saying you are making two attacks, as though the damage shield is linked to the grab manoeuvre. It only really matters because I like to know what is going on. If it is 'something else', what is it? If it is an attack it would have to be the last thing that happens in the phase, so if someone escapes your grab by aborting to an escape, you can't do damage that phase, whereas if it is not an attack you can do it any time, and, even if someone escapes during your phase they still take the damage. I would allow an abort to full strength but it then becomes your action for that phase, or your next one - it wouldn't be 'free'. I'm pretty sure you need to grab (unless you pay the higher cost in which case any HTH attack, damaging or not would be the conduit for the ds damage), so I think a choke hold would be fine to cause damage shield damage. I think that if you have only paid for the +1/2 advantage, you need a grab. The point of the example was the (slight) absurdity of someone clinging to a large character not transmitting damage becasue they have not done a grab. Of course you could rule you need to do a grab to hold on even if you do have clinging, which makes the clinging kind of pointless.

Re: Social "Combat' and "Duels"

Re: Advice needed: Multi->One Character.

You may have spotted a post or three in the 5th Ed System Rules Questions board: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24393 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24396 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24428 I’m concerned that, if you have two damage shields on and damage someone with then both by grabbing a target, you are in fact doing a multiple power attack, so I can not see how (without special permission) you can use two damage shields in the same EC at the same time, as the rule is clearly that two powers in an EC can not be used for a multiple power attack. Multiple power attacks are simply the use of multiple powers to attack a single target at one time with a single roll. You would (in the above example) clearly be using multiple powers, so if it is legal to multiple power attack with two powers in an EC I can only assume that you are not, in fact, an attack…or that there is a special case rule I am unaware of. So, what I can not get my head around is this…can any of you help to resolve my confusion: When you damage someone with a damage shield by grabbing them, are you using the damage shield as an attack? There would seem to be two possible answers: 1. Yes, you are. The power is an attack power. You are using it to cause damage by touching someone when charged, which is an attack. The fact that you can continue to cause damage without further attack rolls after the first (assuming that you manage to hold on) is irrelevant: continuous attacks do the same thing, in fact part of damage shield is that it is continuous. If this was NOT an attack then you would not be able to attack with an attack power, which would contradict the point of it being an attack power (adding advantages doesn’t change the base type of the power). 2. No, you are not. The grab is the attack, the damage from the damage shield is just a consequence of that, and is not an attack in its own right Other questions about grabs and damage shields you may be able to help me with. A. When you are grabbed can you make an immediate ‘free’ attempt to break out with your full strength or can you only use casual strength? B. Do you have to succeed in a STR v. STR roll to do damage shield damage with a grab, or is it sufficient to gave succeeded in the grab attack roll? C. If you are attacking Mountain, a 120 foot tall villain, you’ve jumped onto his back and you are clinging there (using the power of the same name), does your damage shield automatically effect him even though you have not technically made a grab roll, or any kind of attack roll against him (apart from against DCV 3 to land on that hex of him: he’s BIG).

Re: Well blow me down

Re: Social "Combat' and "Duels" Social STUN would be PRE + EGO/2 +INT/2 + COM/3, with PRE acting as social BODY. You could use (points in relevant skill) x 2 (or INT/2 if you don't have a relevant skill) as DEX and STR and EGO as CON. Social and psych lims would provide either vulnerability or damage resistance. ...maybe...

From the FAQ: It may not come up often as you can make a PRE attack before an attack action and then use the result of the attack action as a modifier to the PRE attack, but can you make a presence attack after an attack action in the same phase, and if so is this an exception to the rule on FRED 237 that you can't take any action after an attack action in the same phase (a PRE attack being a 'no time' action, according to the actions table?

Re: Well blow me down So here's what we'll do. Make 2xKB a +1/4 advantage. It doubles KB ONLY FOR DISTANCE and ONLY if KB would have been caused anyway. It doesn't change the damage you do if you hit an object - it may make it more likely that you'll hit something because you are going further, but it retains the comic book feel (massive KB is definitely a feature of any number of comics and is incredibly genre appropriate). It doesn't even knock targets down more often. In a few situations it could be incredibly useful, but in most it would just make the whole thing taste better. This form certainly wouldn't suit every game, but, as a flavour advantage (and there aren't many of those in HERO), it would enhance some games significantly. Thoughts?

Re: Shapeshifting The 'powers' of multiform are the powers you buy for the form. Shifting shape/size/appearance/composition/whatever is a sfx of multiform. You get it FOR FREE. Even if you are a perfect imitation of someone specific (George Bush multiform, anyone?) I'm not saying shape shift should be free. I am saying that shapeshifting should be cheaper. Or maybe I'm saying that the bits of shapeshifting you prize are best dealt with by adders to or modifications of other powers and shape shift doesn't have a place in Hero at all. I'm all depressed now.

Re: Ranged OK for HKA, not for HA Yeah, but Bill Hicks would have hated that, so it can't be right. We could call it 'Orange Drink'.

Re: Did you kill Malone? Hitth!

Re: Penetrating Killing/BOD Attacks A very interesting construct. I think I rather like it, you know. Well done.

Re: Penetrating Killing/BOD Attacks Completely with you on the tank example, but then I wouldn't call that a personal defence. I'd disagree with the shield though: unless the target is standing still with the shield held at arms's length. In combat it would be impossible to work out where the gap is between a rapidly moving target and their even more rapidly moving target. If the shield is on an activation roll I might let the indirect attack reduce the activation level in proportion to the number of points that they would have got for a surprise attack- but like a surprise attack that trick would rapidly get less effective with use. FRED 167 specifically says that indirect can not bypass personal defences and whilst you can always overrule anything, it isn't a 'legal' use of the power advantage.

Re: Shapeshifting I think you nailed that in one!

Re: Shapeshifting I've thought of a use for shape shift! Super acting. By the power and subtlety of your acting abilty you persuade your audience to suspend their disbelief and utterly convince them that you are what ever you 'shape shift' into, even though nothing actually happens, and everyone feels a bit cheated afterwards when they read the reviews and/or watch it on DVD.

Damage Shield is an attack power. A Multiple Power Attack involves using more than one attack power in a phase. Grabbing someone is an attack with a damage shield. If you have two damage shields on and grab someone then you are using two attack powers on the same phase against a target and there is a single attack roll, so you are fulfilling the criteria fo doing a multiple power attack, and so unless I'm wrong (usually a reasonably safe bet) you are doing a multpile power attack. The default rule for attack power slots in the same EC is that you can not use them to make a multiple power attack. If you have two damage shields in an EC and you can turn them both on simultaneously and grab someone and have them deliver damage you are doing a multiple power attack with two slots of an EC which violates the rule in FRED. If grabbing someone whilst you've got two damage shields on is a multiple power attack, and doing it with two DSs from the same EC is a rules violation, it makes no sense to allow you to turn on two damage shields from the same EC at the same time and let them both effect a single target, whether grabbed or attacking you.

Re: Have you ever taken a fall? An excellent point. Of course your could have your villains wear badges like 'I'm EGO 8; why not dominate me?' ...or is that just too much of an insight into my dark side?

Re: Have you ever taken a fall? I made you say that.

Re: Have you ever taken a fall?

Re: Autofire and Reduced Endurance on STR. I think if you bought reduced END for your strength (or HA) (at the 'normal, not x2 level) and autofire, the reduced END would ]automatically not work for autofire, becasue you have not paid the points for a reduced END autofire, which is what I think you are trying to accomplish. Quite END expensive though:5 END per 10 STR, so you may be better going with HA: Say for a autofire 10d6 attack, with STR it would cost 25 END, with HA it would cost 15 END. Up to you, really.

Re: Shapeshifting Ah well, vive le difference. Mind you, if Images had a 10 or 15 point adder 'Perfect (no automatic PER roll to detect)', we wouldn't need Shape Shift at all, would we? I mean, reasoning from effects-wise. One other thing, if you did turn yourself into a ladder, assuming you are about 6 foot tall, the maximum you could make it with Shape Shift would be about 6 foot 8 inches. Sure other people could climb up it, but...well, it would have to be a funny looking ladder to accomodate all that mass!