Black Rose

Surbrook can make even MPL:FIM HERO-compatible.

I think I'd kinda like playing a MLP:FIM campaign using HERO.

So- they "make magic safe" by making it so incredibly dangerous you are likely to get hurt?

Sorry, no, I meant to say that performing magic outside of a ley line-affected area would have damaging side effects if not done very well (I was thinking make your skill roll by 3+ or something), and performing magic inside of a ley line-affected area would have... more embarrassing Side Effects if not successful. Less "boom" and more "wah-wah-waaaaaaah."

I'm not really clear on this. I gather tapping a line is not like tapping a node, and you want the latter but not the former to be a common ability?

 

Because if they're the same thing, I don't see how using arcanitecture to construct a "lesser node" helps you unless you actually have the power to tap into it for something.

I really love it when someone whose opinion I respect asks me to clarify my "posted in the middle of the night, thought it made sense but clearly didn't" ramblings.

Okay, receiving the passive benefits from being on a ley line or node (safer magic, possible skill boost and/or minor Aid to spells) is normal for mages. It's the active "use the power of this line/node to fuel my big ol' magic/top up my Reserve inside of a minute or so" that I want to keep uncommon. If you assume a small magically active population (say, 350,000 in the US), maybe one in 20 know how to really directly use a line or node like this; everyone else just knows to avoid the places that magic is weak and that you can build your house/village/town in such a way that it does the whole "arcanitecture" (I like that) thing, even if they themselves have no idea exactly how you do that. Like, I know that it's good for a house to have a lot of windows to give southern exposure, that the winds blow West to East here, and that solar panels would be a benefit to my power bill -- I have no idea how to build a house to take advantage of my "knowledge".

Just throwing out a few suggestions:

 

Summon Base. For this purpose maybe you don't even need the "slavish loyal" Advantage, since it helps everyone indiscriminately.

 

Change Environment. It can work because you are NOT buying the helpful elements via Change Environment; you are buying them as their own Powers with a Limitation "only near Ley Line" or whatever, and then changing the environment to one in which those Powers work. Which leads us to,

 

Variable Limitation. For those able to construct their own Lines and/or Nodes, instead of the Conditional Limitation "needs nodes" use a Variable Limitation: either use an existing node or use some combination of Limitations that represents what you need to create one (I'd go for Extra Time only to Start, Concentration only to Start, Costs Mana/END (or extra Mana) only to Start.)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Now you Node, says the palindromedary, and Noding is half the battle

Jesus, Summon Base? That's it? Gah, I feel like an idiot. I kept trying to do something with Transform, maybe with AoE Trail to shape the lines, or END Reserve, REC only, Usable Simultaneously (128 at once; +2) to represent a whole bunch of people being able to use it; I figured, if you can't actually cram as many people as can use it into the area by the line, you're probably covered. This seems much easier.

The Change Environment is inspired, I love it. And with the Summon Base, I won't really need to figure out how to build a Node beyond "here's the effect I want it to have, and it happens right here in the Base". Brilliant.

And your sig is both corny and wonderful.

Here's a totally different approach. It sounds like you can - if you have the right mojo - tap into ley lines and nodes. If I read it correctly, ley lines make magic safe to use, but do little else, while nodes allow you to amplify your magical capacity in different ways. At the same time, if the ley line is too strong, it can be dangerous to use. Lucius has already indicated that the text is a little confusing here.

 

I'd suggest simplifying and rationalising your description and it's not hard to do that in a way that meshes with old ley line lore. Namely that ley lines allow magic to be used safely, and that more power can be found in old, deep ley lines and at nodes. Tapping that extra power though, can be dangerous.

 

This does not actually sound like a power you should build for PCs - instead it's part of the game world and the powers that PCs need are those to safely tap the power.

 

I'd define all magic as having side effects (whether based on a skill roll, activation roll or always when used is up to you) when used outside a "ley affect area". Whether the limitation is -1/4, -1/2 or -1 is again up to you depending on how severe the side effects can be.

 

Additionally, I would note that nodes and particularly deep ley lines can provide an Aid, with the Variable special effect advantage (at the +2 level?). The Aid is not a PC power: it's inherent in the node or ley line itself. This lets you tap some extra power, which you can use for a variety of purposes (up to +1 in advantages). It doesn't help you, though unless you are already some kind of spellcaster, since you need to have a power to Aid. The catch, of course is that this Aid comes with a side effect (I'd suggest that this one be based on a skill roll, with a penalty based on active points, maybe at the -1 per 5 active points level, so the more powerful the source you draw on, the greater the risk of magical meltdown). This gives mages a variety of ways to tap into this extra power safely. They can just blow the points on an increased skill roll. They can create rituals (extra time, incantations, foci, etc) to do so more cheaply. You could even, as Lucius suggests, build a base on a powerful node and use the base to harness it, by building a bonus to skill rolls into it. A mage could choose to make the extra power available to others via the variable advantage, or selfishly hoard it.

 

This should give the feeling you want, while providing an easy-to-run solution. Instead of buying the Aid itself, mages would want to buy spells to detect, analyse and tame nodes and powerful ley lines. For those mages who want to build arcane architecture to generate their own ley lines, they can build a base containing a similar Aid power.

 

cheers, Mark

This is very good, and I am going to happily yoink it. Once I have things more codified in my notes, I'll post it here.

Thank you both for the help.

Okay, in my modern-day urban magic setting there are ley lines. If there's no nearby ley lines, then magic is unreliable and dangerous (Side Effects, usually damaging ones). The "deeper" the ley line, the further away it's "aura" projects and no need to worry about your magic going awry. Ley lines have Nodes, which often have strange effects around them and can boost magic in various ways; making magic easier to cast (bonus to skill rolls), more powerful (Aid Magic), or more usually, both. Mages can tap a nearby ley line to either fuel a spell effect or simply refill one's inner reserve.

In places untouched by man (very rare) the lines are like massive rivers of mana, very strong and "deep", and tend to follow major natural features; mountain ranges, rivers, large forests, volcanoes, etc. These lines make magic safe for kilometers around them. Trying to use one of these lines without a very well-constructed ritual to take the pressure off is like trying to refill your canteen from Niagara Falls -- possible but reckless, and you will probably get hurt. But if you can, the power is immense.

In the civilized world the ley lines are more diffused and "shallow", less a river and more a marsh, all but useless for more than making magic safe within them and for meters around. If magic is used repeatedly in such areas, however, the diffused "marsh" becomes more like an irrigation system or a web -- the area is still safe for casting and there might even be some small bonuses here and there. Needless to say, casually fueling spells or refilling one's reserve is much safer, if slower.

Now, you ask, this is all nice and background-like, but what does it have to do with me? Well, these are my build problems:

Most elegant solution for tapping ley lines -- do I go with Aid END Reserve REC, must be near ley line or perhaps END Reserve, REC only, must be near ley line* as a spell, or one-or-the-other as an in-built power build. Thing is, I'd rather keep it as a spell, since I want the ability to tap ley lines directly to be somewhat uncommon. Its much more common in this setting to use arcane architecture to build a web of smaller ley lines that acts as a lesser Node and just live/work around that.

* This is what I've got now, but I'm not married to it.

Most elegant solution for building/breaking ley lines -- it's fine to leave the ley lines as GM fiat, but I want to be able to let PCs (and NPCs as well) actually build their own. I guess here, the question is "how do I create something like a positive Change Environment, accessible by anyone in the area?" I want to be able to give a skill bonus to anyone in the area -- Skill Levels Area of Effect, Useable By Others, Useable By Nearby, or what? Likewise, if I want an Aid Magic to be open to everyone in an area, what's the best way to do that? And how would you dismantle such a thing -- Dispel, Drain, Transform, other?

Thanks for any help in advance.

I have a setting that allows for superhuman (30+) Strength. However, it's "realistic" in that, just because you have the physical strength to grab a 30 foot long stone pillar at one end and swing it like a wiffle-ball bat, that doesn't mean it won't snap off in your hands.

But I want a way to "buy out" of that setting rule. Is there an already-established way to do that? Barring that, does anyone have a good way to do it, and any other setting rules I might come across?

For the first option, I need more data as to what the powers and reserve are.

For the second, make powers 1-3 variable slots that have a set reduction when power 4 is turned on.

The powers are:

Multipower, 110-point pool; with some lims

1. DCV +1 to +5 (the characteristic, not CSLs) [25]
2. Lightning Reflexes (all actions) +5 to +25 [25]
3. Running 12m to 60m [60]
4. Speed +1 to +5 [50]

The reserve is large enough to handle (1)-(2)-(3) at their highest levels simultaneously. The idea is that I can run (1)-(2)-(3) together, but for every level of (4) I want to run, I lose access to a level off the top of (1)-(2)-(3).

Okay, I have two concepts I'm trying to simulate. Technically, only one is multipower-specific, but I'm using the other one in a multipower, and it kinda doesn't make sense otherwise, so...

First -- what would be the build and cost for a multipower that you can turn on (by burning a couple BODY's worth of your blood) for a limited amount of time (5 minutes in this case) and use any of the abilities within the multipower while it's running"? I'm thinking "Continuing Charge Lasting 5 Minutes", but here's the catch -- it's not that hard to recover the Charge in question (you just burn more blood). I was originally doing it with Time Delay, since all the powers are Persistent anyway... but I'm beginning to think it's not the most elegant approach. TBH, I find myself falling back on Time Delay A Lot these days.

Second -- this involves the Lockout disadvantage. I want to have several powers in multiple levels. One of these powers cuts off access to the higher levels of all the other powers. But some of the powers in question aren't expensive enough for the point cost to Lemme demonstrate:

Multipower: enough points to handle powers 1-3 simultaneously; some -1/2 limitation.

4v    Power 1: Blast 6d6

2v    Power 2: Running +15m

4v    Power 3: Damage Negation (6 DC Physical)

1f     Power 4; Flight 24m; Lockout

Now, power 4 doesn't cost enough to make powers 1-3 have to run at a lower level, it just blocks off 2d6 of the Blast, +5m of the Running, and 2 DCs of the Damage Negation. Any ideas? I had thought of having a lower-powered slot for each one, and simple let Power 4 Lockout the higher-powered slot, but again, it lacks elegance IMO.

Thanks to everyone in advance.

EDM sounds like the answer because it answers the immediate question of how you "move into an object and out of the current reality".  The question I see is, what do you want to be able to do when you are in there?  If you are simply contained then I see EDM as the perfect solution.  If you want to do more than that then it may become less and less the right power.

 

 

Doc

Well, at the moment, the only thing the character can do aside from sit in a thing and be unnoticed (not really an intended ability, more of a consequence of how I see the power working) is go unconscious and Regenerate... very slowly... like 1 BODY per 6 Hours slow. The Regen is part of the character, not the object. It's really not supposed to be that big a power.

I can see Desolidification working as well, depending on what can affect the character while they are desolid. 

I thought about that, but you really can't see the character without the right power, and they can't automatically sense anything outside the object.

-----

I really saw this as a way for the character to slowly heal up and be easily moved around while avoiding some relatively minor PhysComps.

I've done both the HERO Forum and the Google search (and if there's a better way to do this, please let me know) and still couldn't find a satisfactory answer. Here's what I'm trying to do...

I want the ability to possess or inhabit an object, but not be able to move it around or anything like that. The objects are "special"; you could Inhabit a single specific Colt .45 revolver, but not every gun, every pistol, or even every Colt .45 revolver.

SFX: the character touches the object, turns intangible, and flows into it. They can't be hurt while in it, but the object doesn't necessarily have defenses beyond what would be normal for it. If the object is destroyed or even significantly damaged, the character is ejected from the object.

Ex: Dude touches a painting and inhabits it. Guy comes up and whacks it with a baton, doing no real damage (maybe splintering the frame a bit). He then pulls out a knife and slashes the canvas itself, causing Dude to be expelled.

At the moment, I'm feeling forced into using the Sin of Sins...

Extra-Dimensional Movement

I know, I know. The thing is, its the only way that seems to make sense, thematically and mechanically. If Dude were traveling to the Microverse, I'd use EDM. And if the object in question were seriously damaged, him being expelled would make sense. If the Dude went through a Wardrobe into Narnia©, I could see him being trapped if the Wardrobe were destroyed, but being forced back could also make sense.

So... any ideas?

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.

And Sherman's March would have taken on an entirely new dimension.

Yes. Two-dimensional.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

This shows up on late night cable quite a bit:

 

I was going to mention this, but the sad fact that I actually knew about it slowed my response time.

Oh, how I yearn for the day when you can perform a global find-and-delete on your own brain, and then a defrag.

Re: "real" Magic resources

Little Lord Fauntleroy references I was not expecting.....I should probably rep you for surprising me.

Sadly, I didn't see this for three and a half years. And even more sadly, I wasn't referencing Little Lord Fauntleroy, but Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens, specifically Anathema Device, who mentions that her ancestress' book of predictions (all 100% accurate, if a tad... focused) was written in Old, before they invented spelling. It's possible that either Gaiman or Pratchett knew the origin, but I was merely being a fanboy.

And while the Voynich Manuscript may not be "magical", it is sufficiently weird enough to play it in Peoria. I'd totally believe it was a grimoire, or at least a herbary from some other world, possibly Faerie.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

"My name is Inigo Skywalker. I am your father. Prepare to die."

The Princess Leia Bride

No, no. It's "My name is Inigo Skywalker... you are my father... prepare to die."

The NecronomiComiCon

I do believe I've attended that particular convention. We host it here in San Diego.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

The Gilmore Girls Gone Wild

Now THIS is a campaign concept I can get behind! More the mom, really, but the daughter is cute, too.

Re: Harry Potter Characters

My take on the Accio spell:

6 Accio - Basic: Summon 100-point Anything that exists (20 Active Points); OAF (Wand; -1), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Item must exist (-1/4)

 

7 Accio - Quiet: Summon 100-point Anything that exists (20 Active Points); OAF (Wand; -1), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Item must exist (-1/4)

 

7 Accio - Skilled: Summon 100-point Anything that exists (20 Active Points); OAF (Wand; -1), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Requires A Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4), Item must exist (-1/4)

 

7 Accio - Very Skilled: Summon 100-point Anything that exists, Requires A Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll; +0) (20 Active Points); OAF (Wand; -1), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Item must exist (-1/4)

 

I put the RSR in there as it gives a chance for the spell to fail, which does happen.

Not to show my utter Harry Potter geekitude, but Accio just drags something from one place to another. It looks impressive in Goblet of Fire, because Harry summons a broom all the way from Hogwarts to where they are holding the challenge -- and that's supposed to be a very long way -- but in the end, Accio is just a "come here" spell, and should usually be done with TK.

Now for impressiveness, you could throw some Megascale Range on it, and some way to target things where you know the location, but aren't actually looking at it it right now -- "I know my Firebolt is on its hooks by my bed, but that's about a mile away..."

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Dark Shadows over Camelot: Follows the adventures of Sir Barnabas

of Collinswood, a Knight of the Round Table, as he attempts to fulfill his

duty to King Arthur while keeping his vampiric nature a secret from his

fellow Knights.

 

 

Major Tom

"I don't drink...wine."

I'd watch/read/play it.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

If only you did not know me so well....

Like there would be many complainers here if the twins were a pair of hot, smirking redheads engaging in barely (and often not even that) concealed sapphic erotic subtext.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Those Malfoy Twins will be no end of trouble.

 

(OHSHC was one of the series responsible for bringing a term into the fannish lexicon that I'd really rather wasn't in it....)

Do you mean "twincest"?

Though I have to admit, since I'm in a serious Harry Potter Fic phase, when I saw the first episode of OHSHC, the twins made me think of Fred and George... though I admit they are a bit Slytherin-ish, aren't they?

Re: Appearance Shifting For Items

I have to admit, the car was a bit of a tangent.

I am working on a character who has a couple items - specifically a pair of boots and a cloak - that can appear as anything reasonably similar. For example, the boots could look like polished dress shoes, cowboy boots, loafers, Birkenstocks, Doc Martens s**tkickers, folded-at-the-knee pirate boots, whatever. But they're just as effective no matter their appearance.

Likewise the cloak could look like a bathrobe, long jacket, cape, full voluminous cloak with spooky hood, duster, whatever. Still the same article of clothing.

Sadly, this guy doesn't have a shirt and a pair of pants that do the same.

What's the "best" build for items that can change their overall appearance?

Examples:

• a sprts car that can appear as a muscle car or a sedan
  
• a coat that can look like a robe or a cloak
  
• boots that can be anything from sneakers to thigh-highs
  

Now, part of me - a big part - thinks I'm over analyzing this and should just assume it's a feature of the object. Or perhaps add a Disguise skill or something. This is the same part that says there's no way in Hell I'm paying out for Shapeshift for a pair of boots to look different. Even the Images route seems extreme.

Any thoughts?

Looking for help from HEROdom assembled.

The effect is certain magic items that cannot be used (or only used at lesser effect) unless you possess "membership" in the group that made them.

Example: a ring that creates light when willed (okay, it's a torch-ring, happy?). If you are a "member", it can make more light, and also produce a Flash effect.

The thing is, it doesn't completely lock out non-members; you have to be pretty powerful to get the higher abilities out if you don't belong, but your power level is irrelevant if you are.

Example: a staff has four abilities of increasing usefulness and power (say, +2" Running; +2 OCV; 5d6 EB, x2 END; 6 DEF FW, one hex one). The basest "member" apprentice can use all the abilities, regardless of their power level, but if you weren't a member, you'd need to be almost a journeyman to use the first power, halfway through your journey for the second, almost a master for the third, and an established master for the fourth. Whatever those power levels were for your world.

Any idea on how to quantify this? The "membership" doesn't cost much (only about 5 points) but if you don't have it when you start you probably aren't going to be able to get it later. And membership has it's own drawbacks.

Re: New Mechanic: Gradual Activation

So the idea here is that, as Force Wall Man (SPD 3) you power up your 15 DEF Force Wall (which takes a minute to bring up all the way), you get 1 DEF per Phase?

Huh.

Actually, I can see that being kind of useful, in certain situations.

Re: 6th Edition Hero System

I'm not overly fond of the idea of yet another Edition.

 

It was how many years between Champions 4th ED and 5th ED?

 

Hint: Champions, 4th Edition was published in 1989

 

So there were some 13 years between editions?

 

Talk to me again about 6th Ed around 2015!

OTOH, it was how many years between

• 1st and 2nd edition
  
• 2nd and 3rd edition, and
  
• 3rd and 4th edition?
  

The time between the 4th and 5th editions was not deliberate. We should have had a 5th edition of some kind by, what, 1996? HERO grognards, can you verify a time-frame when there was a pretty-much-finished manuscript for the other 5th edition?

Though I will say, if HERO 6th were going to end up anything like DnD 3.5, I'd say wait. Personally, I would rather have a humongous tome, possibly even three to four inches thick, where each rule has a note on the effects it causes in the game, each section has the basics from the Ultimate books (full list of maneuvers and the build rules from UMA, detailed expanded STR chart and materials chart from TUB, all the new skills from DC and TUSk, etc etc), with a seriously expanded section on fiddling with the rules to get the effect you want.

Basically, I want Super!book, and I'm willing to pay $120 for it. Anyone else?

Re: Grimoire books content

My advice? Become reasonably comfortable with the main rule book. You don't need to be able to quote it or anything, but a certain degree of familiarity is key.

Start with Character Creation, then Skills, finally Combat. Once you know how to make a non-powered guy who can do some stuff and you know how to make him attack, defend, and move about a bit, then you can start to get "complicated." Look at the Talents; they are built using the Power system used by HERO. See how they took an idea - always knowing where you're going, or being able to overcome a detrimental environment - and built it. Then play with the Powers section. Go to Killer Shrike's homepage, and Susano's, and anybody else that has characters posted. See how they created their effects. I especially recommend Susano's as he has "popular media" write-ups there, and you can say, "Hey, I saw that in the movie! Cool."

Once you feel pretty confident with the system, pick up either Ultimate Martial Artist or Ultimate Skill. Personally, I prefer TUMA over TUSk, but that's me. If you have a friendly local game store that carries HERO, peruse the books there to see what you want next.

Welcome to the boards kridenow, glad to have you.

Re: Spell Law: Monk Lists

Or possibly he means the "kuji-kiri" thing that Naruto has made so popular; a series of precise finger postures to stimulate one's inner power into producing an effect. Which covers the whole point of a somatic component nicely, yes?

Re: My yang needs a little help

Sounds like some of you guys are getting your yin and yang mixed up.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

I was thinking that myself. Aside from the terminology, though, the PC seems fairly stereotypically "yang". If it were me (and I have worked on Yin-based characters before) I'd go for soft-style Tai Ch'i elements, especially defensive tricks based off of "touching hands". Either straightforward PD requiring contact with the attacker, or possibly some Defensive Absorption. Think of water when coming up with powers; flowing, never directly resisting, but able to wear down mountains.