Black Rose

Looks like I was unclear again. This is a recurring flaw of mine; comes of overthinking how I'm going to write the post up. I'll use a defensive effect as an example: Low Level = 15-20 AP; you could have 25% rDR, Resistant Protection 6 PD/4 ED, or DN (-3 DCs). Middle Level = 30-40 AP; looking at 50% rDR (or 25% rPD & 25% r ED), or Resistant Protection 8 PD/8 ED Protects Carried Items, or DN (-6 DCs). The Specific Focus would fit the "theme" of protection; it might be a shield-shaped brooch, or a charm bracelet, or a dreamcatcher made of rather more durable materials than usual. High Level = 60+ AP; so 75% rDR, or Resistant Protection 20 PD/20 ED, or DN (-6 DCs Physical, -6 DCs Energy). Still has the Specific Focus, but now you have to use... I dunno, a scale from a mountain drake every time you cast the spell. What I'm asking here is, if you already have a required "I'm a wizard!" Focus, and another Focus that might (pretty rarely) Burn Out after using it at some point -- like Burnout from RAR, or Conserved Charges (APG 143); basically a low-percentage chance that the caster will have to find/make his do-hickey again to be able to access that ability again -- how would you represent that?

In this magic system , spells can be "broken down" into three general categories -- Low Level, Middle Level, and High Level. The parameters vary based on the power level of the caster themselves; what counts as a Low Level spell for a Master may well be a High Level spell for an Apprentice. Basic Idea Breakdown: All spells require an OAF Personal Focus -- fairly straightforward concept, could be a staff, or wand, or big ol' Eye Of Agamotto-looking pendant. Spells that are Middle Level and higher require what I call a Specific Focus, which are needed to cast that specific spell, or possibly a small group of spells (the Multipowers in Superheroic Thaumaturgy would be a good example of just how many spells and how tightly connected they should be). A Specific Focus has a chance to burn out after being used (just like Burnout in Requires A Roll) but this is pretty rare. Otherwise it acts as an enchanted item that the caster keeps refueling to make work. High Level spells all require Expendable Foci -- this is more "thousands of dollars in reagents and rare materials", "flawless gem", or "human sacrifice" than "bat guano" or "amber rod and piece of animal fur". I'm trying to figure out how best to represent the Middle Level Specific Focus concept. Anyone have a good idea?

I'll have to look into those. I didn't know that about the Elephant Man, As far as genre, think cinematic Very Powerful Heroic/Low Powered Superheroic. There might be things (power armor, magic devices, esper powers... actually, that's it, really) that grant the effect of someone having STR 45, but an actual human simply can't contain that kind of power. They'd tear themselves apart. Like, imagine if the Spartans had been ale to continue their "we're gonna turn ourselves unto perfect warriors, and have slaves deal with all that other stuff, like raising crops" plan for another 2,500 years, what would they even look like? I mean, aside from their amazing hair; seriously, look it up, they taunted the Persians by basically doing stretches and making sure their hair was immaculate. And, not really relevant for this discussion, but... for this setting, even if someone had enough "superhuman strength" to one-hand lift a 20' shipping container (2300 kg), they're not built to hold themselves together under that kind of strain. The weight would tear it apart around your hand.

I've been trying to figure out how best to convey this idea, so here goes. Lets say that, over the course of the last 5,000 years -- some starting at the very beginning, and others coming in later -- various groups have attempted to create "perfect humans". In this case, "perfect" means "better than normal people". The methods used vary, but in the end they boil down to Breeding and Training. For Training, there are virtually unlimited options, and I would make extensive use of 5e Pulp HERO and Dark Champions Super-Skills, as well as some of the special abilities from 6e Ultimate Martial Artist as good sources. Although, if you have interesting ideas on that front, please share them. What I want to focus on, though, is the idea of Breeding. Without getting into some kind of Captain America ludicrousness, what would be the plausible physical limits achievable by humans solely based on their genetics? I was going over my copy of GURPS Biotech, and there is a wealth of information there. But I prefer HERO, and their power build system just doesn't work for me, so I know we have the Characteristic Maxima Table (6e1 50), but aside from those basic points (all 239 of them... sheesh), what else could be considered "natural" maximums for humans; by which I mean the limit past which you're slipping into the superpowers section of town? Many of the Talents could simply be "things I can do" -- I know several people who just have Bump Of Direction -- but I think you would have to actually have a reason for Danger Sense. I'll start a list of the maximums as I think of them; if any of you have suggestions, please give them and I'll list the ones that work for me.

No to the living guy in a coma. I'm aiming for a dead body, but where the decay doesn't really matter. Let's say Returno Lass can come back to life after one full season has passed. She gets killed in the wilderness near the beginning of summer, so has to wait through the rest of summer and all of autumn; call it 5 months. In that time, she decays, bugs and bacteria eat her soft bits, some animals eat the meat off of her. By the first day of winter, there's not much left. But then she comes back to life and is as good as new, or at least she's not scattered bones across several acres of scrub land.

When I first read this, I thought, "damn, I didn't get my point across." But then I reread it, and I see I did get my point across. This is a weird, but entirely effective way to produce the effect of "I died, but came back to life after a given (fairly long) period of time". Which is exactly what I wanted. It's not so much the Regen frequency I'm concerned about (and yeah, 5th Ed'? Worst. Regen. Ever.) as wanting the character to stay dead for a while, then come back to life, but the amount of time isn't exactly related to how much damage they took. Forex: Rebirth Guy (10 BODY) takes 21 BODY damage. This is just barely enough damage to "kill" him. But Rebirth Guy has a power that lets him resurrect after seven days. And so, seven days later, he comes back to life. Later that month, Rebirth Guy takes 100 BODY damage. This also "kills" him (and leaves a nasty stain). But, just like last time, he's up and running after seven days.

Trying to figure out how to get this effect right. Let me say first that I know I could use Healing, but I really didn't like Fifth Edition's Regeneration build. This pulls from Champions Powers, specifically Immortality Syndrome (pg. 379). I want the character to be able to "die" (go below un-adjusted negative BODY), then Regenerate back up to 0 BODY, and then Recover from there. But I want it to take a long time before they can come back to life, even if they have fully recovered all the negative BODY damage. To reference the example from Champions Powers, Immorto (15 BODY) suffers 35 BODY damage, enough to take him below his un-adjusted negative BODY by 5. His Regeneration... regenerates... 20 BODY, bringing him to 0 un-adjusted BODY after four minutes. But the Limitation I want means that, for example, they cannot come back to life until "a day, a night, and a day" has passed. Or seven days, or a month, or nine months (they must be "spiritually reborn"). Or whatever I want. Specifically, the time frames I'm thinking of are: 1 Year 9 Months 1 Season 1 Month 3 Days 1 Day Extra Time doesn't seem quite right, but I can't think of anything else that doesn't seem kind of fiat. HEROdom Assembled, any thoughts

Okay, I'm willing to admit I probably missed something basic her, but I'm asking anyway. What is the game effect of missing sleep? As in, if I created an attack that simulated the target not sleeping for a week (or whatever), what would that effect be? TIA

Damn. Another good one lost. He will be missed.

The latest in my never-ending quest to over-complicate things! How would HEROdom Assembled simulate a character having a second mouth. This mouth doesn't necessarily have a special bite or anything, but you can buy that if you want. It can do all the things your regular mouth can do -- breathe, eat, speak, lick things I guess... and that's it. It does make it a little harder to gag or suffocate someone. My thought was just use Extra Limb and call it a mouth. Does that seem reasonable?

Ah, finally found it under Physical Limitation. Very frustrating that it never came up anywhere else, especially considering the sheer number of Harry Dresden quotes in the book. OTOH, the description suggests using, "Suppress, usually from 1-3d6 (similar to the amount of Unluck dice as outlined above), Damage Shield, Invisible Power Effects, Reduced Endurance, Persistent, Always On, Only Affects Technology (-1)." Since you gotta keep the END cost for Suppress now, that won't quite work. I suppose you could use Drain... If you Drain an inanimate thing down to "nothing", and then the Drained points return, is it fine?

Replying so late it's damn near necromancy.... Yes, this was exactly what I was looking for. <sigh> There was a time where I was looking at the forums and Killer Shrike's site at about the same rate; that is my only defense for not realizing it was on his site and not here.

I dunno, that makes sense to me. I'd say that only unimportant things can be permanently broken using Drain, though. This was actually in a book. Unless I've reached the point where I am dreaming so lucidly I can actually read it. I mean, I can actually see (in my head) the text in the right-hand column and everything.

This is one of my least-preferred threads to find -- the "I read this somewhere, but now I can't find it. Find it for meee!" request. My apologies. I am 99.9% sure (though that is slowly shrinking) that I read in a HERO System book a short (maybe a column or so) discussion of a spell casters' aura interfering with technology. I might be wrong about this point, but I think there was an example of both a "pure Complication, can't twist it to your use" version and a "PITA, but can sometimes use it for your own benefit" version. I first found it looking for a good example of a gremlin to use for a summoning spell; I was surprised that the Bestiary doesn't have one. I have also seen a thread here that used a 1-pt RKA Damage Shield, with a Suppress to... well, suppress the effect to a degree. Can anyone help?

@Doc Democracy if it were just an attack, that'd be fine. Actually, I love builds like that, and except for the complication of seeing it on a sheet, I prefer it for most things (especially spells). In this case, though, the idea is that, instead of one effect (e.g., lightning bolt) that gets bigger the better the roll, you've got multiple variable effects (how big, how much weather change, how long does it last). I think I'm going to have to just go with a Multipower, with variable access to the base pool depending on the MoS of the roll; the better the roll, the more options (more AoE, greater CE potency, more points in Long-Lasting, etc...) available. I wanted to be able to throw all the spells into a limited VPP, but I guess that's not viable here.

I really like the idea of the Proportional Advantage and Proportional Result Limitation (APG 139-40 and 144-45), at least as I think they work. The way it's described is using a werewolf (who gets stronger during the full moon) and Sir Gwethon of Arthurian legend (who was apparently cut from my copy, but gets stronger the closer to noon it is, IIRC). Essentially, I like the idea of sliding effect. In this case, what I'm looking for is how to represent the ability (specifically for a weather control spell) to increase the potency of effect/area covered/duration of the spell based on the margin of success of your skill roll. Kind of like Time Limit can have "5 Minutes, +1 Minute per point of margin of success", but more '+/-1 Temperature Level or Wind Level, +1 per point of margin of success", or "8 km radius, +1 km per point of margin of success", or "1 Hour, +1 Hour per point of margin of success". The more successful your roll is, the more effect you can have, and you could prioritize certain parts, such as having the area covered be the most important, and then the strength of effect, and finally duration. This is the base write-up I'm starting from (yanked from Champions Powers and altered slightly) Weather Magic: Change Environment (±10 Temperature Levels), Varying Combat Effects; Area Of Effect (16m Radius; +¾), MegaArea (1m = 1 km broad and wide; +1), Varying Effect (+1); Can Only Alter Existing Weather, Not Create Weather (-¼), Extra Time (time required depends on the severity of the change in the weather the character wants to create, but minimum of 1 Hour -3), No Range (-½), Requires A Roll (Power: Celestial Hekau; -1 per 20 AP; -¼). AP/RC: 150/30

Well, the original source has it as two forms: temporary, where you draw or scratch a door on a surface and basically use it once permanent, where you carve a door into a surface and can use it whenever you pay for it I decided to mostly ditch the temporary mode, and focus on the permanent form. My intention is that you create (carve) a door, charge it up (pay END to set up), and can use it here in this place. If you want to do it somewhere else, you need to make a new one. I suppose a Floating Location that can only work with a pre-made door in an area. I had originally intended your first point (forever and always the same space), but now I'm leaning toward the second (can use any space as long as it has been defined in advance) That could work. Originally I was going to use something like Tunneling, but that really wouldn't work for the needed range. Now that I think about it, strip out the fluff, and it's like a Star Trek transporter that can only work on the ship and you have to be by a wall... okay, not much like one, but you get the idea. I'm trying to see if Star HERO has any good ideas.

The effect(s) I'm trying to replicate is as follows: The character can enter into a prepared physical space - usually defined as a carved or drawn door - and "come out" of a surface anywhere within an "area". For simplicity's sake, "areas" are usually something like a building, but could also be an aircraft or ship. If I understand the character right, it's kinda like Mirror Master, but the special effects are a bit different - not actually mirrors and in a predefined space. I'd use something like UMA's Castle Without Walls, but aside from a step or two, it's almost instant. Any thoughts?

I really love the Cumulative and Effect Over Time Advantages. I mean, a lot. They help simulate the slow buildup effect that I like to see in my preferred settings -- low-Active Point (if not low power level) Urban Fantasy, Espers (think Sense8 and Firestarter), and Champions (think a lot of Spiderman: Homecoming or the Netflix Marvel shows) -- in a way that just clicks visually for me. Write-ups working visually is important for me, and I dig "normals with powers" settings, if that makes sense. I'm trying to figure out how best to simulate this kind of build that I see in a lot of published material; the Super Skill where Mind Control, Telepathy, or Transform is being used, but it's not really Mind Control, Telepathy., or Transform as you'd see it in a Four-Color setting Usually, this is done like so (nicked from the 5e Dark Champs genre book): Reading The Opposition: Telepathy 8d6; 0 END (+½); Can Only Read Surface Thoughts (-½), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-¼), Extra Time (5 Minutes; -2), Instant (-½), Limited Range (6m; -½), Requires A Roll (Gambling; -½) plus Telepathy +6d6; 0 END (+½); Can Only Read Surface Thoughts (-½), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-¼), Extra Time (5 Minutes; -2), Instant (-½), Limited Range (6m; -½), Only To Achieve +20 “Target Cannot Detect Telepathy” Modifier (-½), Requires A Roll (Gambling; -½). AP/RC: 60/11 + 45/8 = 105/19 What I want to know from HEROdom Assembled is, if I tweaked the build thusly: Reading The Opposition, Option 1: Telepathy 3d6; 0 END (+½), Cumulative (72 pts; +1); 20 Pts Of Effect Must Be Dedicated To “Target Cannot Detect Telepathy” Modifier (-X), Can Only Read Surface Thoughts (-½), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-¼), Extra Time (1 Minute; -1½), Instant (-½), Limited Range (6m; -½), Requires A Roll (Gambling; -½). AP/RC: 37/?? or other thusly? Reading The Opposition, Option 2: Telepathy 3d6; 0 END (+½), Effect Over Time (4 effect increments, effect occurs every Minute, "locked out" until all effect increments accrued; +¾); 20 Pts Of Effect Must Be Dedicated To “Target Cannot Detect Telepathy” Modifier (-X), Can Only Read Surface Thoughts (-½), Does Not Provide Mental Awareness (-¼), Instant (-½), Limited Range (6m; -½), Requires A Roll (Gambling; -½). AP/RC: 34/?? I prefer the first build over the second -- it allows for quicker use on a weaker-willed opponent, and just feels "cleaner". Just how much do you think "20 Pts Of Effect Must Be Dedicated To “Target Cannot Detect Telepathy” Modifier (-X)" is worth, in these cases?

I think which Rivalry you use depends on where the arena of conflict will be. I also think Romantic should be renamed Social. As your example shows, the area of rivalry isn't really "job-related"; and yes, I know being a parent is a job. One could argue that the Rivalry should be "Professional and Social", to reflect that you want others (the kids, and possibly others in your community) to both "see you as a better parent (Professional)" and "like you more than mommy/daddy (Social)", or simply one or the other. Just as an aside, reading Rivalry's listing (6e1 426-7) in terms of a custody battle sounds waaaaaaay too plausible.

Some point back, I was reading a thread here; can't recall the title, if I could, I wouldn't be asking this question. IIRC, the topic had something to do with which Defenses people preferred; specifically, Damage Negation, Damage Reduction, and Resistant Protection. At some point, someone (I keep thinking it was Tasha, but I could be wrong) gave a really well-thought-out breakdown of where each one best stood out. The final conclusion was that, while each had their good points, the best was a (roughly equal) mix of all three. Now, since I "know" that, I could stop here. Thing is, I'd really like to reread that thread, and also copy'n'paste the info for my own records. Does anyone else recall this, and would you please point me towards it? Thank you, HEROdom Assembled.

How would y'all simulate this effect? Assuming a currently-running 60 AP Constant spell, the ability to "hand over" both control and END costs to a willing person. I'm leaning toward something using UBO, but that doesn't really let you do it after it starts, y'know? Any thoughts, Herodom Assembled?

Steve answered my question -- yay!!! -- so this is pretty much handled. I like the Alterable (+1/4) idea, considering that I'm using it for a lot of low-end spells (starting below 30 AP), and +5 CP really crunched some of them badly.

I posted the following in the Hero System 6th Edition Rules Questions subforum, but I wanted to see the answers I'd get here. Here we go... Any ideas, Herodom Assmbled?

Hi, Steve. Now, I want to be sure I get this right. On 6e1 319: "The character must choose the type and size of Area Of Effect he wants when he purchases the Power, and cannot change it thereafter (or alter it from use to use during the game)." Okay, that makes sense. You can't decide you want a Cone now, and a Line later. Got it. And on 6e1 128: "At the GM’s option, a character can buy a +5 Character Point Adder, Alterable Size, that allows him to change the size of an Area-affecting Constant Power this way." So, you can shift the size of a Constant AoE power; this makes sense to me, as Constant powers simulate a thing that you set off and they keep going. What I want to know is, how do you simulate an Instant AoE power (let's say Radius, but any of them really) that you can change the size of from shot to shot. Part of me says that, since it's Instant, just shift it as you use it Phase to Phase. Alternately, I could throw Alterable Size on it anyway. For some reason, I have some writeups that put a +1/4 advantage called Adjustable onto AoE (really not sure where I came up with that, if I even did.) Help me out, Steve.