Sean Waters

We play a game that involves dice: that is how you model weird stuff that actually happens in real life. I mean, this whole thing could be represented by Bertolo shooting and hitting every time and any return fire missing entirely or doing very minor damage. This is not a scenario where, in a Hero game Bertolo is likely to succeed, but then in real life he wasn't likely to succeed either. In both Hero and real life he can/did. Sometimes real life is cinematic as all hell.

I'd like to offer a couple of other 'fail options': 1. Take a shot. 2. Take a beating. What? Players can get rowdy when they blow it. Mind you, after opting for #1 a few times I reckon they start failing on purpose.

Science! Why should I be prevented from experimenting on living brains? Some will suffer, but many will benefit! Madness! They're coming through the walls! Can't you see them? Existential Dread! When the population reaches 10 billion, it will be impossible to stop Climate Change/The Return of The Demon Azararoth/The Intergalactic Invasion! Single Issue Politics! Whatever hysterical headline the paper is carrying today! Collection! I simply must have another flyer for my Superhero Zoo! Property Rights! I know there is an alien spaceship buried under Manhattan but can't get drilling permission...

Hmm. So, how about this: ambush takes place, the Germans think they've done it, they drop out of combat. When Bertolo pops up they are Surprised and Out Of Combat, so half DCV. I'm assuming everyone is a trained soldier and equally competent, so they may have OCV and DCV of (say) 4. So Bertolo is attacking at 4 OCV, they are defending at 2 DCV. A generous GM might also give Bertolo a Surprise Move bonus. Say +2. Bertolo makes a Multiple Attack, shooting at three of the opponents. He is at -4 OCV, but it is OCV 6 due to the Surprise Move and they are DCV 2, so he only needs 11- on each shot to hit. Tricky but not impossible. That leaves him and three opponents. Hero is not clear about what a Surprised character can do if they are Out of Combat, but let us assume they either miss a phase or, if they do return fire, they miss. We have completed Segment 12. Everyone is the same SPD, say 3, so next phase is on Segment 4, and Bertolo gets a PRE attack in first. To be really effective he needs to get EGO +20. Let us assume that everyone has PRE of 10, so Bertolo needs to score 30 on his roll. He gets 2d6 to start with, and I'm going to assume he makes a good roll and averages 4 rather than 3.5 per die. He is going to need 8 dice, or 6 dice in bonuses. He was loyal to his squad, so we'll give him a strong psychological complication bonus. That is +2 dice. Four to go. He has just killed three men right in front of them, so I'll give that an Extremely Violent Action, for 2 more dice. 2 to go. The targets were surprised and still shaking that off, so another +1, maybe he makes a great soliloquy for another 2. Technically he is still at a disadvantage (which is -1) because he is still outnumbered, and it is arguable whether the Germans are in combat yet (which would be another -1 if they were) but we are about there. The Germans miss their next phase and are 1/2 DCV. Bertolo could do what he did before and Multiple Attack the remaining three OR he could play it safe and just attack 2 (at 13- to hit each); if he does that it is then one on one and he has an even chance of finishing off the last opponent. Of course all of this requires the shots to do enough damage to put the Germans out of the fight, which is another factor, but if you are using all the optional rules for heroic games, that isn't impossible. Yes it requires luck, but it is a very unusual event, so luck almost certainly played a part. I think HERO can explain it well enough though Stranger things have happened!

Noice.

I’m not sure I entirely follow the logic: pistol bullets travel at 400m/s, a punch maybe 10m/s and a sword tip maybe 40m/s: if you can dodge bullets, you can dodge pretty much anything short of a laser. That aside, them’s the rules, so… There are various ways to simulate what I think you are after. First off, can you tell me what the hard cap on OCV is and what a typical DCV would be? Also does the hard cap include combat manoeuvres and combat modifiers? The simplest way to get +1 OCV is to Set. Full phase action, you get the OCV bonus. That might help. You can also Brace but that only helps against range modifiers. Otherwise you have to make the opponent easier to hit. Lots of ways you can do that, but the simplest is one hex AOE. You are attacking DCV 3 – SFX that you shoot lots of bullets. In fact pretty much any power you build is going to need AoE to hit, unless your GM allows you to use your uncapped OCV for attacks that are not damage shots. You could use Entangle, Drain, Flash, whatever you like, really. One option would be to build Darkness (which is already AOE) with personal immunity, the SFX being that you have ‘blinded’ the target with your GunFu by distracting them so much that their DCV drops to half. They are not actually blind, they just can’t see your other attacks. The only other way I can think of is mental powers – with the sfx that what you are doing is more akin to psychological warfare than actual telepathy and such. You could use either mind control or mental illusions to get a target to reduce their DCV.

This has all been very helpful and clarified my thinking. I'm happy that the main power of the character is SFX, that the character should carry over a 'past lives' skill and some personality complications. I hadn't thought of it as a 'radiation accident': I like that too. Thank you all!

So, Starfinder is based on Pathfinder, which should have been obvious ?. Looking at the Pathfinder Rules, Paralysis is a condition defined as: A paralysed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralysed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions…. There is more but that is the important bit. That references another condition: helpless. Pathfinder defines that as follows: A helpless character is paralysed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious or otherwise completely at an opponent’s mercy….as a full round action, an enemy can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless foe… A coup de grace is an automatic hit, critical damage and an automatic death chance. HERO does not have a coup de grace mechanism as such. So, I would say that, in HERO terms, the paralysed target can not move physically and is easier to hit, which Entangle gives you, but is also takes extra damage, which Entangle does not give you. Being Stunned (can we please change that term to Dazed, or somesuch?) does all of that too (albeit differently: ½ DCV rather than 0 DCV), but your non-persistent powers drop at the end of the segment. Pathfinder paralysis specifically says you can take mental actions, which (in HERO) would include maintaining powers, so that’s not quite right either. The nearest effect that I can see to simulate extra damage (pretty much the only way you can score extra damage if you are not using hit locations – actually, are you, because if you are then you can add levels to make it an automatic hit on a high-damage area…) is surprised outside combat and that is not something you can easily engineer. I’m not entirely sure that we can manage the effect precisely and at a reasonable price, especially in 5ER, without taking some liberties… Mental Paralysis in 5ER was problematic. It worked by adding the following advantages: takes no damage from physical attacks (+1/4), works against EGO not STR (+1/4) and cannot form barriers (-1/4). That does not really work because 5ER did not have the +1 level of ‘takes no damage from attacks’ so, technically, that build still allows the entangle to be targeted by physical attacks. As a pseudo-mental power you could then add ‘works against CON (-1)’, but it isn’t REALLY a mental power, so I’d handwave replacing EGO with CON, probably and….well, I wouldn’t do it like that, I’d do it like this: Entrancing Scent: Mind Control 1d6, Telepathic (+1/4), Cumulative (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Area Of Effect (Hone Hex x 4: 4" Radius; +1), Invisible to Hearing, and Sight Groups, Hide effects of Power (+1 1/2) (34 Active Points); Based on CON (Defense: PD; -1), Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Set Effect (Stand still and take no physical actions; -1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Once a breakout roll is made, the target is immune for 24 hours; -1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Target must have a sense of smell and be able to smell; -1/4), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Breakout roll every turn; -1/4) 34 Active points 7 Character points It is cumulative so you may have to be in the area for a couple of turns (or you could up the number of dice). You probably need about CON+10 because you want the victim to remain standing still, but if the target were to be attacked then they would get a breakout roll at +4 to shake off the effects. Or you could shoot for CON+30 to start with – it would take longer but the target would not get an additional breakout roll. In a heroic game, CON+10 may be around 25, which would require the target to be exposed for 5 or 6 turns. You could always give the tree a SPD 12…alternatively you could halve the time by doubling the dice (67 AP/15 CP). This makes individual trees reasonably easy to avoid, but a copse of them can be dangerous. The only perceivable SFX is smell, and the effect is not obvious until it happens. You should probably give PCs hints: you smell something unusual, a scent, it is really quite lovely, and you want to stop and identify just what it is… So, not the same, but a pretty good copy. You automatically get a breakout roll before the Mind Control takes effect.

HERO has Oratory, but it would be replaced in the above suggestion by the six interaction skills. You could certainly use 'PS: Orator' as a complementary skill in addressing crowds. That is probably the cleaner way to do it rather than use a custom mechanic for that particular situation. You've talked me round, Hugh

This is a new character so, what you see below is backstory, basically. Novate (pronounced Nova Te, latin for 'a new you') is not suicidal. When she dies she 'awakens' in a new body, but it is the body of another living person. She is initially a 'passenger/observer', unable to influence the host at all. Her personality slowly (or sometimes quickly) takes over. The host often thinks they are going mad. The host body develops superpowers, again, over time, sometimes before she takes over, sometimes after, but usually as it is happening. Sometimes she has limited communication with the host, and usually the host becomes a passenger in their former body before fading away completely. On one occasion she never took over, and remained a passenger until the host died and she moved on. It is a horrible experience for both of them so she is not going to kill herself just to change up her powers. She has no control over the powers she gets (although, obviously, I do, building her). Theoretically she could awaken in a body that already had superpowers, but it has not happened yet. Theoretically she could awaken in the body of a team mate, or the campaign villain. Sometimes the awakening is almost instant, sometimes it takes days or weeks before she becomes aware again. The longest it has ever taken is just under a year. She can awaken anywhere in the world. She has only limited access to the memories of the host. Her appearance remains that of the host unless she develops the ability to shapeshift. Her personality is her own although some hosts seem to come with baggage she is saddled with while she inhabits them. She feels a responsibility to use her powers for good. She can not usually pick up her old life in a new body because, well, she's in a new body. What normally kills her is a creature called Nocere (latin for 'harm') who always eventually finds her. Nocere is a More Powerful Hunter. In the past she has tried to run and hide from Nocere, not drawing any attention to herself, but it finds her anyway, eventually. Novate does not know how her ability works and has not been able to find a way to stop it working. When and whether she dies will very much be in the hands of the GM, as will all the other details (host location, for example, emergence time). The longest she has lived in a host before being killed was just over eight years. Nocere does not just march up and rip her head off: it stalks her and will often defeat her in combat then leave her several times before delivering the coup de grace. It likes to taunt and torture her before the kill. She does not know why. I've got some ideas, but the character does not. So the next question was going to be whether the possession and transformation of a host should be built as powers or whether they too are really just the SFX of building a new character. Obviously I'll run all this past the GM but I want to get it straight in my own head, because I too could go either way.

Yes, I would. I'd build it as a Major Transform.

Say a longsword costs 8gp in your game, as a one off cost, and you have it pretty much all the time. Have the mage pay 32gp to learn the spell, as a one off cost. To be honest I can't remember any character in a fantasy game getting through more than a couple of mundane weapons in their career, or, for that matter, the cost of a mundane weapon ever really being a bar to having one. Bear in mind, having the spell does not always mean you have a sword handy. If the spell requires gestures or incantations, you may be restrained or silenced. Hugh Neilson points out that producing a sword with a spell may well be less convenient than simply drawing it from a scabbard. I'd go as far as saying, and this probably won't be popular, in a fantasy game where magic is common, spells should be treated like equipment - something you can just buy, not something you have to pay character points for. I mean, why should the warrior get a longsword, armour and shield and still have all the starting character points to spend, and the mage have to fork out character points for the spells FlameHand, Armour of Artemis and Protego? The game balance would then come from the GM building a spell list like they have to build an equipment list. Those spells should not be more effective, on balance, than mundane equipment. What is so special about spells?

You don't though, and that should make a difference. In a superheroic game if you want a 1d6+1 HKA with a STR minimum and a +1 OCV you pay full points for it because, well, because you do. In a Heroic game you can go to the local blacksmith and buy the same thing for 8 gold pieces or, you know, whatever. Warrior characters do not have to become less effective warriors just to afford a longsword, much like EVERY OTHER RPG. That, in effect is what makes HERO unique. Ish. Don't like free stuff? Pay for the power in full then. Also not a problem. This is all down to what you think the game should be played like. Me, I'd say that what you are getting is the ability to have a sword with you most of the time, which is what you can get from buying a sword with gold.

Don't knock it if it works - I didn't know about it, now I do , and I'm downloading it as I type

Fish Champions: I've haddock nuff of that one.

I want to build a character. When she dies, she is reborn in another body, with different powers. The process can take some time and she can be reborn anywhere, but she retains her memories, or at least some of them – she is the same person, just different. So, quick question, should I build that as part of her powers (Resurrection and Teleport, VPP Multiform and so on) or just handwave it as, if a character dies, you are normally allowed to build another one and just keep playing and you (the player) know what the old character knew anyway. I have more questions about the build, but let us start there and gain some insight ?

What do you want this flying platform to be able to do when you are not riding it? Carry other people? Grab other people? Ram other people? All of those things would be covered by the Telekinesis power, only you would not be actually controlling the flier - the flier would be, in effect, the SFX for your telekinesis power. I mean, you could build it as a Multipower in a focus: SLOT 1 - Flight SLOT 2 - Telekinesis That way when you are not using it to fly yourself, you could pick someone else up and move them, damage them or whatever you like (i.e. you are using the second slot not the first). What you would not be doing is using your TK to pick up the flier and move it about - that is all just the way the TK power looks, the SFX. I mean, you COULD do that, but it seems unnecessarily complicated, mechanically. What you describe is 'real world' logical, but is not necessarily the way HERO would approach the problem. You would have to decide if the flier can be targeted and destroyed, or if it is effectively unbreakable and can not be prevented from returning from you. It is either part of the focus or it is pure SFX, and the ring is the focus. I'd probably allow you to take the ring as a focus (In/obvious, Inaccessible) but ALSO take 'Restrainable' to represent someone getting hold of the flier. You can do that with the GM's permission, by RAW.

Hello Hugh – again useful stuff. The CHAR-2 was probably unnecessary as you point out as all social interactions kills would normally be Everyman Skills and so everyone would a have at least Familiarity and that is a level of defence. That made me look up Familiarity and, well, this bit: A Familiarity can serve as a Complementary Skill, but other Skills can’t be Complementary to a Familiarity unless the GM allows it. As a GM I’m pretty sure I would allow other skills to be complimentary to social interaction familiarities as a matter of course. I can not see how that would be easily abused, although I’m sure someone will manage it ? It also reminded me of this, which I had completely forgotten: With the GM’s permission, characters may also buy Proficiency with a Characteristic-Based Skill. A Proficiency functions just like Familiarity, but provides a 10- roll for 2 Character Points. (Background skills that you spend 2 points on you get an 11- (non CHAR based) roll and it is considered a ‘full blown’ skill anyway) That could be useful for building NPCs that are a bit more switched on than average but still not fully ‘trained/experienced’ in social manipulation. I’m not sure though how much the level of distinction will necessarily be appreciated by players, but it will make me feel better as a GM ? Yep, that is definitely the way forward. The cost of affecting crowds, I think we need to discuss more. One option would be to have PS: Orator and have that cover addressing crowds, much like PS: Streetwise covers dealing with ‘street’ people. That would mean that you could use your interaction skills on, well, many people, without penalty, and the size of the crowd wouldn’t matter, unless you accounted for it in some other way, with a different modifier. The thing about great oratory though is that it probably already has a lot of bonuses built in – most speeches will be prepared in advance, giving a time bonus, there will probably be scriptwriters, giving bonuses akin to Complimentary skills and there will be lots of other preparations, like PA systems, seating arrangements, publicity and so on that all provide considerable bonuses, not to mention that it will quite often be that the crowd you are addressing came to see you so is already willing to take on what you have to say. I think being able to extend your social interaction skills to large groups of people so as to sway them to your intent without any preparation or back-up probably should cost quite a bit, as a barrier to entry. Add to that the fact that 10 points to address a crowd of 1000 without penalty is a reasonable investment, meaning most people probably won’t spend the points on it, but I don’t have a problem with most characters, even high PRE characters not being able to affect large groups easily – they can still try and, with the right modifiers, may well succeed, but only a few are really good at it. Of course you don’t have to spend 10 points. 20 points allows you to avoid the penalties on addressing 1 million people (if you could reach them), 5 points negates the penalties for 32 people (and halves the penalty for 1000). It feels more granular than simply making it a separate situational skill. Then, of course, you’d have the problem of HOW to apply the modifier: do you apply it to the initial interaction skill roll, meaning that roll is less likely to succeed, or do you apply it to the reaction roll (probably Confidence) meaning that a crowd is more resistant to attempt to sway them than individuals? Probably the first one, to be fair.

OK then…I’ll probably be re-hashing ideas that have already been hashed, as I’m late to the party but how I did this would very much depend on whether this is a heroic game, where you don’t normally pay character points for ‘normal’ weapons, or whether it is a game where you pay for everything. If you pay for everything then you pay for the power that reflects what the sword can do: being a sword is just SFX. That would probably be a Useable By Others Hand Killing Attack, possibly with variable SFX if you wanted to be able to conjure various weapons and had a tight GM. So 1d6 HKA UOO (up to 4 others, one at a time for up to X minutes) 22 AP. Boom. I mean, you can add +1 OCV, which will add another 8 points if you like. You get quite a special sword as it does not have a STR minimum and so can churn out more damage than most real swords in practice. If you would not normally pay for weapons though, I don’t see why you should here. It is trite, but trite and tested (?) but making something out of nothing is Transform. I mean, object creation is literally in the write-up. Creating a normal tool in the world is a major transform, probably, although HERO is slightly schizophrenic on that and ‘creating something out of nothing’ is an example of a Major Transform (as is granting abilities the target does not have), but turning a weapon into a snowflake is an example of a Severe Transform. Either way – consult your GM (I would allow Major Transform here) – you are looking at a 10 or 15 point spell, to start off with. That only allows you to create swords but for +1/4 you can increase the results group to cover any weapon or similar implement. Then you have to decide how many points you have to roll on the dice to create the item in question. Again, HERO is a bit schizophrenic here: creating a 6 foot pole out of nothing so you can probe the murky pool probably only requires a point or two of Body to be rolled – easily covered by a single die, using standard effect rules. Mind you if you want to hit someone with it, it is now a +1 OCV 4d6 HtH attack Quarterstaff. I’m not even going to try and explain the rules for granting powers and what that costs in terms of what you have to roll – someone else who understands them can do that. My simple mind thinks that, in a heroic fantasy game (which I am presuming this is), a power like this is only occasionally useful and so I’m going to make it cheap – you pay for utility, after all. I would suggest that a single die of Major Transform using standard effect can create any ‘simple’ weapon or similar item from a dagger to a lance. By simple, I mean mechanically simple, basically a single piece that acts as a lever or cutting/stabbing implement or something similar. I probably would not allow bows and arrows or windlass crossbows, but if you did it wouldn’t be particularly objectionable, it just does not quite feel right – I mean it really isn’t making the power much more effective because you could still conjure a dagger you could throw, so it isn’t an injunction against ranged weapons. So: 1d6 Major Transform (10 points) +1/4 (Increased Results Group) 12 AP – add whatever spell bits you want to that to bring the cost down. If you want a weapon that is better than the sort of thing you could normally buy in the shop i.e the sort of thing you normally carry, I’d probably make it 2d6 Major Transform to add +1 more OCV, or an extra DC of damage OR, and this could work, add Requires Skill Roll and you need an appropriate crafting skill so you could actually make the weapon you want given sufficient time and resources – and this is just a temporary shortcut. I’m stopping now because I can feel myself digressing, but you get the idea.

So, this made me look up 'Deduction': Deduction, an Intellect Skill, represents the ability to take several facts and leap to an inobvious conclusion — the classic detective’s skill. Complementary Skills include any Skill directly connected with the problem confronting the character (such as Bureaucratics for a paperwork mystery). That made me look up 'Bureaucratics': A character with this Interaction Skill can deal with bureaucrats, cut through red tape, and extract information from bureaucracies. He also knows the right people to talk to (for just about anything) and how to reach them. Bureaucratics comes in handy when characters need travel papers in a foreign country, go through Customs, have to arrange an appointment, and so on. Bureaucratic procedures usually take time, from several hours to several days. Whilst it may not be immediately intuitive, canvassing witnesses for information is mainly an exercise in repetitive paperwork and organisation, with some social and background skills thrown in. I reckon what you are after is, in fact Bureaucratics with AK: City / PS: Police Work / Conversation / Streetwise as complimentary skills. It can take time, sometimes a lot of time, but a good roll may cut that time down on the time chart considerably. Once you have gathered the information, that is when the Deduction comes in handy

One way to achieve this would be to make Interaction Skills always be Skill Versus Skill, even if the 'Skill' they are against is a characteristic roll. That way the player never has all the information - they know how well they did but not how well the other party played their hand. This would maintain the mystery and suspense of not knowing until you actually know. Of course if a lie gets past someone who has a 90% chance of detecting it they may be more convinced of its truth than someone with only a 40% chance of detecting it; I think that is actually pretty realistic.

Thank you for reading it and your helpful comments and observations. So currently we have (ignoring Mimicry and Animal Training) 5 'base' interactions skills (Acting, Charm, Conversation, Interrogation, and Persuasion) and 6 'specialist situation' interactions kills (Bribery, Bureaucratics, High Society, Oratory, Streetwise and Trading). I might add Gambling to that, even though Hero treats it as an INT skill: lots of gamblers would agree you need to know the odds, but would suggest that what will determine the real winners is psychology. So, HERO has about half the skills I'm suggesting - in what I'm suggesting, things like Bribery, Streetwise and such would be covered by appropriate Knowledge or Professional Skills. First let me say that the large number of skills was deliberate as I think they all do different things - in some cases only slightly - or at least do similar things in different ways. HERO is all about building the character you want and more general skill descriptions mean that you could have two characters with quite different rationales and concepts built in very similar ways. Still, I take the point. If I were going to chop some out, I might start with the idea that influencing/manipulating someone is all about PRE, but reading/understaning someone is all about INT (which, of course, controls Perception - which should be a skill - but this is neither the time nor the place). That would actually fit in well with how HERO treats Gambling. The problem with this is that you have to be smart to be good at understanding people. Hmm. You can buy limited INT, or skill levels. I digress. Obviously. I'm digression in human form. Um... Working with that starting point, we could reduce the list to this: Persuasion (PRE) - the ability to make someone do something - often give you information. Resisted by Persuasion or Social Observation or PRE or INT -2. Dissembling (PRE) - the ability to make someone believe you - often, but not always, an untruth. Resisted by Social Observation or INT -2 Social Observation (aka: Cross Examination/Lying) (INT) - the ability to assess whether someone believes what they are saying is true or not and to gain insight into there emotional drives. Usually a reaction but resisted by Dissembling, Influence or Impress or PRE -2. Influence (aka Inspire/Oppress) (PRE) - the ability to make someone feel something about themselves. Resisted by Confidence or EGO-2 Impress (aka Charm/Intimidate/Engage) (PRE) - the ability to make someone feel something about you. Resisted by Confidence EGO-2. Confidence (aka Cynicism/Social Resilience/Emotional Toughness) (EGO) - the ability to spot and resist attempts at changing your emotional state. Usually a reaction but resisted by Dissembling, Influence or Impress or EGO -2 So that is, in effect, four PRE skills governing influencing others, an observation (INT) skill and an EGO skill, because that's something new. I took several away but did sneak another one in. So, and I may have gone too far the other way here, we now have Persuasion (making someone do something), Dissembling (seeming believable), Influence (making someone feel something about themselves) and Impress (making someone feel something about you) PLUS Social Observation and Confidence: four PRE skills and an INT skill and an EGO skill. I could go further and make Influence and Impress a single skill (Influence), but that seems a bridge too far. I think they are sufficiently distinct. You have several things you can do with the force of your personality which are then resisted by your intellect or self confidence. What I would suggest then is to buy these skills at the normal cost (3 points for the skill, 2 points for +1) but allow another buy option for skill levels: +1 CP = +1 for a particular situation. So you could buy Impress 3 points +5 (Fear only) for 5 points total. That way you are impressive when you want to be, at least as far as your PRE allows, but you are really good at making people afraid afraid of you. This may help you (as a complimentary skill in the right situation) with Persuasion, or to disperse a crowd with a straight roll by making them so afraid of you they run way. On the subject of crowds, I would suggest penalties as follows: 2 targets = -1; 4 targets =-2; 8 targets =-3; 16 targets =-4 and so on (so up to 1024 targets would be -10). You can buy skill levels at the 1 point level (see above) with the 'situation' being 'to offset multiple opponent penalties. That is how you would build PRE attacks - PRE, by itself, is only really good for individuals or, at most, small groups. You would then have situational skills that act as complimentary skills to those base skills: KS: Streetwise would mean that you know who is who in the underworld, where to find certain things and certain people - the sort of information you could get from reading a report. PS: Streetwise would mean that you are actually familiar with the street, how to read whether the bar is about to explode into violence or song, how to approach someone so that they respect you - be it threats or deference. The difference, to my mind, is that the KS is knowing the chemical formula for alcohol, how it is made, sterilisation techniques and so on and the PS is knowing how to actually cope with drinking. Although PS, in HERO, means 'Professional Skill', I would change that (I really am having a go at the skill system, aren't I?) to Practical Skill. Maybe that is going too far, too. Perhaps a PS in the relevant background should be enough. That would mean that someone might be of mediocre social skill but have a decent PS: Streetwise skill, so consistently get a +1 to +3 bonus to the roll in that situation, probably outdoing (on average) someone who is a bit better at social skills generally but does not have that background. Social Skill use is always a Skill Versus Skill Contest. This would mean (for example) that two characters who are equally 'Street' would (on average) cancel each others bonuses from PS: Streetwise out. It also means that, even if the Player would rather allow an attempt at inspiring him to succeed, he still has to run it past his character's EGO. All the above are always Everyman Skills, and most NPCs will, at least, buy one or two Interaction Skills at the 3 point level. Complications can have a profound effect on Interaction Skills. Every 5 points in a relevant Complication (in most cases Psychological Complications, but sometimes DNPC and technically any relevant Complication) should translate to at least a + or - 2 to the appropriate Interaction Skill Roll, although GMs will have to monitor that to make sure it is not abused. You get points for Complications - generally the trade off should be that it makes things more complicated for you. Hmm. I'll stop there. What do you think?

Kids today, eh? To blow my own trumpet here, a little, in this thread: I suggested replacing all of the existing social interaction skills with, well, this: Skill name: Feel free to change this to better reflect your character, but changing the name does not change what the skill does, just the flavour of the skill. Definition: What the skill allows you to do. Characteristic base: the characteristic that the skill roll is based on. Resistance: what the subject of the skill attempt can use to try and reduce or remove the effect of the skill in a skill v skill contest. In addition to whatever is listed, the subject can always use a characteristic roll at -2 (usually the same as the characteristic base for the skill to resist the effect of the skill use). Skill name: Argument Definition: The ability to make someone accept information (and act on that information) using logic. Characteristic base: INT Resistance: Argument, Cross Examination and any relevant Psychological Complication. Skill name: Cross Examination Definition: Finding any inconsistencies or errors in a statement. Characteristic base: INT Resistance: Lying. Skill name: Lying Definition: The ability to tell a consistent lie or avoid providing certain information. Characteristic base: INT Resistance: Cross Examination Skill name: Persuasion Definition: The ability to make someone accept information (and act on that information) based on emotion. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Persuasion, Insight or any relevant Psychological Complication Skill name: Insight Definition: The ability to determine someone’s true emotional state and whether they are trying to emotionally influence you. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Persuasion or Dissembling. Skill name: Dissembling Definition: The ability to conceal your true feelings or intentions. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Insight Skill name: Charm Definition: the ability to make someone feel positive toward you. Generally people that you charm will feel well disposed toward you and be willing to see the best in you. This can act as a Complimentary Skill for many other Social interaction Skills. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Insight, or Psychological Complications Skill name: Intimidate Definition: the ability to make someone feel negative toward you. Generally people that you intimidate become fearful of you. This can act as a Complimentary Skill for many other Social interaction Skills. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Insight, or Psychological Complications Skill name: Imitation/Mimicry Definition: the ability to observe and copy the physical mannerisms of another person or thing. Characteristic base: INT Resistance: Insight or Cross Examination Skill name: Oppress Definition: the ability to make someone feel a negative emotion about themselves Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Psychological Limitations Skill name: Inspire Definition: the ability to make someone feel a positive emotion about themselves Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Psychological Limitations Skill name: Engage Definition: The ability to draw and hold someone’s attention, which can be useful for distracting them and may act as a complimentary skill in some social situations. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Psychological Limitations Skill name: Animal Training Definition: The ability to condition an animal to do what you want it to. Characteristic base: INT Resistance: Pychological Complications Skill name: Animal Empathy Definition: The ability to understand the emotions of an animal and react appropriately. Characteristic base: PRE Resistance: Psychological Complications OK, I know that is not going to happen until, at the earliest, 7e, but the advantage of that approach is it allows for more nuance and would potentially replace PRE attacks: intimidating someone would be a combination of Intimidate and Oppress. In itself it would not do anything other than make your target feel afraid of you and that there is little they can do about it - you would need another social skill to direct those feelings (probably Persuasion, maybe Argument or Oratory). Equally you could Inspire good feelings in someone and/or about you with Inspire and Charm. You could even mix it up and make someone feel worthless (Oppress) but that you are their lifeline (Charm). Someone who is afraid of you but not directed would act that way - not attacking, maybe trying to get away from you, maybe even attacking you is they had the right Psychological Complications. It also works pretty well for the Good Cop Bad Cop situation - you have the big threatening dumb one and the reasonable quiet and friendly one. Hmm. Anyway. That is not really an answer to how to make things work in the existing framework, but I offer it for your consideration anyway.

What Christopher said. The rest of the entry makes it clear that what we are talking about is the ability to physically and mentally torture someone. Sure you can apply psychological manipulation in polite company but it is going to be far less effective if you are unable to really make overt threats. It is clearly not what Interrogation was built for. In fact I'd be happier if they did just call it torture because interrogation really is a separate skill, more akin to a good cross examination in Court. It is all about approaching the same subject from different angles and comparing answers for consistency to determine if someone is telling the truth.

They really are quite granular, but still don't address a cost break (as far as I can see) for a focus that is difficult and/or costly to replace, so you would still be left with a focus that gave you the same cost break as the common Low Spell Level focus, even though you could probably replace that focus at little or no cost in a few minutes out of combat, whereas if you lost a Middle Spell Level focus you would be without the power for much longer. Still, I have not looked at that for quite a while and will now have to play abut with it, so thank you. Who needs sleep anyway? I stayed up last night to see the Super Blood Wolf Moon but it was cloudy.