Vondy

Eh? An opponent who is stunned and knocked to the ground is dead in a remotely realistic setting. He's down for the count and a called shot to a weak point in the armor is easy. Futher, plate armor should make it hard to be killed outright from a single blow. That's what it was designed to do. People wore it for a reason. If you take a sword and beat on a guy wearing a full suit of maxamillian plate you are far more likely to bludgeon and knock him around until he goes down than to kill him outright. That or you train for techniques that go for weak points and jam your weapon in their. The evolution of several specialized weapons occured because of plate armor. Military hammers and picks, which were designed to penetrate and the like. Crossbows, picks, and their ilk should probably be given an AP bonus, but beyond that I think plate is fine where its at. It doesn't take much to kill a downed foe. I know that's not "heroic", but it is realistic

In general the rule that paroles cannot associate with one another is true, but there are a number of official exceptions, such as court ordered or state approved programs, or even programs the parole officer signs off on. Someone who wanted to run such a business could probably get approval from the state parole or corrections board as an official exemption. There would be some monitoring involved, of course, but it could be done. Different states have different restrictions. Some don't allow them to go into taverns, for instance, or to live in old neigborhoods. Don't forget that they also have the traditional felon/ex-con limitations: cannot vote, get a passport, own a firearm, etc.

A mace with a really long handle.

What about a concealed entry/panel that can only be opened by pressing the correct pattern of heiroglyphs on the wall. The pattern could be dependent on time of day. It could even be a design they lifted from an ancient tomb (hence no gadgeteer needed) that effortlessly swings a 50 ton block of limestone (disguised as a part of the wall of course) out of the way, revealing the entry.

I'd go with -1/2

Add at least 2 fodder cars that the heroes can take out with creative uses of the combat driving skill... The Victoria Games James Bond Game actually had chase resolution rules that required a certain number of vehicles be destroyed before the chase ended! Oh, and have a semi, big construction rig, or other vehicle back out in front of them so they have to take evasive actions. And windy roads with cliffs on one side are good, as is having to take a jump, or to zig and zag through alleys, parking garages, and glass fronted shopping malls. I recommend watching gone in 60 seconds.

I'd go with -1/4

Half phase skill/perception roll. Not an attack.

So, based on Tina's remarks, is the acronym for fantasy hero: BAB?

Re: what values would be good guidelines for the limitations? Traditionally Presence purchased as "defense only" has taken a -1 limitation, so I was assuming the same for "offense only" As for "only verus undead" it should be adjusted for frequency, but unless you are running a "vampire" style game, or a game where the heroes are running into undead in every other adventure it would probably be worth -1. Otherwise I'd shoot for -1/2 or -3/4. Just my 2AP.

I have traditionally designed my undead with the built in physical limitation: can be turned by a person with true faith. That way a person with the correct psych lims (who plays them properly) or a costly perquisite (10 Points). If thats too nebulous you could build them with the limitation X2 effect from presence attacks defined as power of true faith (uncommon, X2 effect), and then allow priests to purchase +30 Presence, Only To Turn Undead (-2) for 10 points. This option has the power of allowing the character to grow or reduce in "faith" (offensive presence versus undead) as their relationship with the great beyond waxes and wanes.

My long term game centered on the government's classified paramilitary operations team (metahumans) that worked for the nation's intelligence community. They had operation reviews after every mission, during which their use of force was evaluated. Much like an internal review board. The players were aware of this and their characters became very... professional. In 13 years we had 1 character who actually faced criminal charges (he spent three years in jail), but there were occasions where internal disciplinary actions occured (suspensions without pay, mostly). We also had 1 cover up (very ugly). In your case the question the DA would ask: would a reasonable person have perceived a threat of seriously bodily injury or death to themselves or another?

Re: Question for our UK brethren http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm

Actually, I'm having these issues with HERO these days, too. I found star hero to be chalk full of good ideas, all of which required me to go spend days (or even weeks) building things from the ground up that I didn't want to have to build. I can crunch numbers with the best of them, but I don't enjoy it. I'd rather have a book of stuff I can pick and choose what to tweak from that to build everything from the ground up. I wouldn't even mind a good setting book if it had enough pregenerated materials for me to steal mercilessly from. So far the genre books have been long on ideas and short on substance. I have my own ideas so I don't find them useful. I want concrete guidelines and source material I can pillage to flesh those ideas out with. I can get that out of books o' stuff and setting books. I have yet to figure out what I need a genre book for. The only books I've purchased to date, other than FRED, are The Ultimate Martial Artist, The Ultimate Vehicle, The Bestiary, and Ninja Hero. I'll be taking a look at the Spacer's Tool Kit, the Grimoire, and the setting books. Its one of the reasons I am, for the first time in years, playing something other than HERO (for non-supers and modern action stuff). The genre books have slowed the production schedule for the other books down. I'm waiting and watching, but I'm not a kid anymore, and between a wife, two children, and a job I don't have time to engage the Godly art of building everything in existance from nothing.

Except that its in the USs backyard. We don't mind normal junta coups in inconsequental bannana republics, but how would we react to one pulled off by superhumans?

Lets see.... Socialist Values.... Fairly Volatile Domestic Situation.... Weak Economy.... Industrial Potential.... Government Engageing In Payback For Racial Oppression.... Disgruntled Minority Who Used To Be In Power.... South Africa

I'll take a look at it, but I don't know. I tend to aim for mechanical simplicity and minimal mechanical design time (as opposed to world building) when doing non-supers genres and have another system I've been using for fantasy. If I like the execution and it cuts down on the work I have to do to run fantasy in hero I might consider buying it. We'll see.

I am a huge low fantasy fan. My campaign is centered on a late bronze age to early iron age planet (moon, actually, but that's another issue) and has subtle magic based on "riding the dream". It can be very powerful, but it has limited combat applications (it generally takes to long to enter the lucid dream) and little in the way of high-fantasy flash-bang effect. Its also more expensive than other skills so playing a mage means you won't progress as fast as other archetypes, and becoming powerful generally means forgoing breadth. Its just more cost effective to be something else. Its also less of a pain in the tuches because most cultures take people with the potential and indoctrinate them into societies/cults that cultivate the skill (so there's usually social baggage). There are monsters and the supernatural (esp. the demons from beyond the veil of dreams who manifest in the waking world), but they are their for dash and story, not for everyday fodder. I don't know how gritty it is, though. People do get killed, but I tend to favor cinematic action and use a system that has built in mechanics for script immunity, die rolling conventions that favor characters with more important roles to play (PCs, Major Henchmen, Arch-Villains) over the extras (goons, peasants, etc), and the like. I've never really used Hero for fantasy very much, but I may give it a try.

I think there should be a penalty for wearing armor applied to many skills. I don't think there should be a limitation applied to reduce the price of skills for it. GM applied limitation: delicate skill in armor -4.

There are ~1000 known/active metahumans in the Freedom Patrol Universe. About 50% of these are in North America. I have no idea how many unknown/inactive metahumans there are. I never bothered to give it much thought. Its my nebulously infinite reserve.

And yet, as we see in the source material (comics), they never do...

There's only one problem you keep overlooking. That huge psych lim. Even a second lewey with a compass and an 8 INT would opt for the fool proof tactic. Goad him into doing something stupid. I measure intelligence in success. Doom, Luthor, all the big villian geniousess... they let their emotions and ego lead them into NOT applying their intelligence. Not so smart.

Only according to one way of thinking. The skill description seems to imply that it is used for evaluating the other guy's intentions and coming up with a plan on the fly (it even points out strategic planning is its own skill). If we measure points in skill as experience then the more talented tactician with the same skill roll as the less talented one is also the less experienced of the two. Spock (about Khan): "His movements thus far indicate 2 dimensional thinking. He is intelligent, but he lacks experience"

Smartest? It occurs to me, that despite these characters massive intellects, they all have psychological limitations that are intense enough to impede their ability to utilize it successfully. In addition, intelligence is a measure of raw processing power, not necessarily ability (though most of these guys have skill rolls high enough to demonstrate extreme ability). Still, if you get so riled up that you don't think in critical situations your ability to apply that intelligence is marginalized. I'd say a character with 10 INT, 20- Skill Rolls (or skill levels), and NO major psychological limitations is actually smarter than any of them. Case in point: Kirk and Khan. Khan was a genetically engineered superman who was "smarter", "faster", "stronger", but he was also so unhinged (20 point psych lim) that he was stupid enough not to use his intellect and allowed his passions to rule him. In other words, despite having a brain the size of a planet he used about as much gray matter as a chimpanzee. He'd have been better off flinging poop. The same is true of Doc Doom. He's smarter than Reed, but his passions cause him to make tactical errors a second lieutenant with a compass wouldn't make. I'd say a character with 10 INT, 20- Skill Rolls (or skill levels), and NO major psychological limitations is actually smarter than any of them. A comparison: Tactician #1: INT 50, Tactics 20-, Psychological Limitation: Arrogant Maniac (Common, Total) Tactician #2: INT 10, Tactics 20- Who do you want leading YOUR army?

Use the bleeding option & hit locations and get back to me about that stilletto not being lethal.