Zephrosyne

I have a question about Change Environment: Create Radiation. For the sake of argument, we can use the Radioactive Zone power (Champions Powers pg. 251) as an example. If my character has this power, he generates 300 rads in a 32 meter radius. Anyone in the Area Of Effect when I unleash this power is hit with 300 rads and I consult the table for radiation effects and compare their Constitutions to determine the effects. For the record, I am using the table in Hero System 6E2 (pg. 154), instead of Champions Powers, since the Con/Body loss is a little less severe in that it takes a little longer to fully effect the character. Lets say Sam the Butcher of LA is in the zone I create. He has a Constitution of 25 and is immediately bombarded with 300 rads. According to the table, that would be greater than 10 times his Con and he would suffer a loss of 2d6 Con. He would lose 1d3 immediately and the remainder of what is rolled at a rate of 1 Con per hour. Ok, Sam is not very bright and hangs around in the radiactive zone long enough to be there for my next phase to occur. As per the rules for powers with a Constant duration, he would be bombarded again with 300 rads. My question is this, would he suffer the same effects as the first segment he was affected by the radiation--2d6 loss Con, 1-3 immediately and the remainder rolled at a rate of 1 Con per hour (actually 2 per hour since this is his second exposure)--or would I treat Sam as though he were exposed to 600 rads of radiation and consult the table again. In other words, do the rads add up for each phase of exposure or do you use the same number of rads and just keep adding the Con loss as per the table for the 300 rads for as long as someone is stupid enough to stay in the zone. Thanks.

I am a little confused about the Fantasy Hero/Hero System Grimoire use of the Area Of Effect Advantage to make curses. Fantasy Hero (pg. 280) mentions using Area Of Effect (1 meter radius, Accurate) and sufficient amounts of Mega Scale to create a spell that can sweep the planet and inflict a curse on a single individual. However, wouldn't such a spell/power require a version of Indirect, similar to what is used for the Microwave Blast in Champions Powers (pg. 210)? Since barriers stop non-Indirect powers, even if they are not direct damaging powers (e.g. most Drains, Transform, etc.), a person who just happens to be inside his house when the spell is cast would be perfectly safe since the caster is the Point of Origin of the power. Even worse, if the caster is inside his castle, the spell would never leave the confines of his domain because it would be blocked by the stone walls of the castle. Also, if you strip away the Accurate part of Area Of Effect, wouldn't the same non-Indirect curse be able to afflict every single individual on the planet? Basically, it seems like I am missing a rule somewhere and I can't seem to find it. I thought maybe Accurate somehow circumvented barriers but that doesn't seem to be the case, nor does Mega Scale Area. What am I missing here? Is this one of those common sense, special effect, dramatic sense type judgement calls and I'm just overthinking this? Thanks.

Re: Elephant's Strength Thank you all for taking the time to reply. I was just curious.

I know this is gonna seem like a silly question, but I just have to ask. I was reading the Hero System Bestiary and I came up on the entry for elephants. Do elephants really have a Strength of 45? I know African elephant bulls can be impressive creatures. But are they really that strong? Just wondering how accurate that number is. Thanks.

Re: Stunning attack Well, I don't know if he has it or not but the original poster could use the Change Environment Adder, Stunning, in the Advanced Player's Guide (pg. 83). You could simply change the duration to Instant if appropriate to the effect you are trying to achieve. Unless I am misunderstanding what the original poster wants, this seems like it would work.

Re: 6ed Transfer: Is It Just More Than An Aid Linked To Drain? I have a question since we are on the subject of Transfer. What is the mechanical reason for needing Trigger? They are already Linked, so don't both Aid and Drain go off at the same time? Is the Trigger Advantage necessary because Aid and Drain affect two different targets (Aid being the character and Drain being the victim)? Just wondering. I re-read Linked and Trigger and could not really come up with the reason on my own. Thanks.

Re: Empathic Character with no Damaging powers Just my opinion, but -1/2 seems very generous for "Only Versus Beings With Minds/Emotions" in most of those examples. In the instances of Mental Powers such as Mind Control and Telepathy, I would not allow the Limitation at all since you have to select a Class of Minds thus requiring a "mind/emotion" by default. Nor would I allow it for the Mental Transform since you already took a Limitation for it working on the minds of sentient beings. You are sorta double dipping there. You've also described the Aid as working on "any one emotion-related Characteristic at a time," so why would the Limitation apply to that? That is like having an Aid that works on "any super power" and taking the Limitation "Only On People With Powers." Frankly, I think it is questionable for the ACV Entangle as well and I would probably lower it to -1/4 for the Dispel. I can see the Limitation for Fearful Haste and You Won't Hit Me So Fiercely since those affect a broad category of targets by default, even then I would probably go with only -1/4. Then again, I can be a bit stingy like that.

Re: Why is Speed so unpopular? I've always thought that Speed was a bit too cheap. I apply the Characteristic Maxima to it no matter what type of campaign I am running. You wanna "go" a lot, pay for it. I do admit that the speed table is a little more of a task to keep up with than "ok, it's round two, John goes first followed by Sally, Charlie, and Matt," but it's also more interesting. The way that it works with Movement Powers is a bit weird in that the guy with the most meters of movement is not necessarily the fastest but it is what it is. You also have a lot more to keep up with mentally when you get into things like Aborting and things that happen at the end of the segment (or the next segment like Haymaker) or stuff like that. It's just too easy to forget something or someone if you are really focused on what you are doing. As for face time, I don't really have that much of a problem with my players. Of course, I usually let other players do some of my rolling (usually not any crucial rolls), especially a player who is unconcious or not in the scene. I have no qualms about drafting a little helper. I let them roll a lot for friendly NPCs and some of my not-so-important unfriendly NPCs. You should see the looks on their faces when they nail a fellow player or nearly get a friendly NPC killed. They also high five each other when the roll well for the friendly NPC. It works out great.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You? Mythic Hero all the way and I'll pledge whatever the hell the book cost! This assumes that the statted gods are not namby pamby weaklings!

Re: Notes on current Legion of Super-Heroes members I really look forward to seeing your work here. The Legion is my favorite superhero team. I actually discovered the team when I bought a supplement for the Mayfair DC Heroes game (late 80's) and started grabbing old, worn copies of their comics from a local used book store.

What level of Transform is required to blind a target? The reason I am asking is because two different rulebooks give contradictory answers within the books themselves. Under Transform (6E1 pg. 304, 2nd column) it states that someone can blind a subject by removing his sight as a Major Transform. Yet, under Major Transform it says that Major Transform can give or remove 20 points worth of a Complication. Blindness is a 35 point complication. In fairness it does say a Major Transform can give possibly more than 20 points of a Complication, at the gm's option. In Champions Powers (pg 9), under the power, Blinding Acid, a Severe Transform is used to turn a person into a blind person. However, on page 191, the power, Ultraviolet Flare, uses a Major Transform to turn a person into a blind person. It seems like the same end result. What accounts for the difference? Basically, if you were running a campaign, would you consider blinding a subject a Major Transform or a Severe Transform? Thanks.

Re: [Character] Behemoth....not for the point squeamish Enforcer, I've read a lot of your builds. I really like how you are willing to go and make the build as powerful as you want it to be. Good for you! However, I would have made his PD and ED higher, lol.

Re: Champions Villains Volume 2: Villain Teams I agree it's good to see Eurostar up to snuff again but why Visigoth? What does he really bring to the table? You already have Fiacho, Scorpia, Durak, and Pantera on the ground and in melee. Fiacho seems to be a bit picky about who he lets on his team, why not go for someone who brings something to the team they don't have. Hell, I would've been nice if they retconned Bora being killed and putter her back on the team instead of Visigoth. Then again, maybe not, the cat fights between her and Scorpia for mirror time would be unbearable. Still, they could have gotten someone who actually added something to the team.

Re: Hmmm. More on Special Effects Well, I am not a very experienced Hero System gm but to me a lot of this comes down to the gm setting campaign standards. When I gm'ed the game, I basically said, what (as in power) can and can not be used for what (as in effect) as well as what exist and what does not exist. For example, I would never allow Teleport (the power) to be used to simulate the effect "telling someone to come here." While books like Champions Powers and its 5th Edition equivalent were great supplements, I made it perfectly clear to players that just because a power construct is in that book doesn't mean that it is appropriate for the campaign. The desired effect might be ok, but I might not permit how it is constructed. I didn't overwhelm my players with a lot of excessive information at the table, but I did have some guidelines for myself that I kept handy. It allowed me to make most of the decisions quickly and keep things consistent. Basically, I think a little advanced planning and deciding how you want things to work in the campaign can go a long way to reigning in some of the wide openness of the system.

Re: Teleport an Object to me You can't take No Noncombat Movement as a Limitation. That is inherent anytime a Movement Power is Usable As Attack.

Re: Superhero Showdown #11: Justice Society of America v. The Avengers Actually, I like the Avengers more than I do the JSA but there is no way in hell the Avengers could defeat the JSA. It would be a friggin joke!

Re: Banish Demon with Extradimensional Movement (6E) Ah, got ya. I was looking at the Advantage instead of the Power in question. Thanks for the correction.

Re: Banish Demon with Extradimensional Movement (6E) Since demons are not inanimate objects, weight of the demons should not be an issue. Instead, the modifier should be based on the number of demons banished (see 6E1 pg. 355).

I have a question about Defensive Aborption. I looked in the FAQ but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. I am not sure exactly how it works so I am hoping you can clarify with the example below: Lets take a character called Power Guy. He has Absorption (energy) 30 BODY and the Advantage, Defensive Aborption, Resistant. Ok, lets say that he is hit with a lightning bolt that does 12 BODY and 45 Stun. Now he can Aborb 12 BODY from the attack and increase whatever (lets say Strength). How much of a defense (from the Absorption) does he get against the Lighting Bolt? In other words, is his effective ED against the attack 12 (the amount he absorbed from the attack in question) or 30 (the total BODY of Absorption)? The description under the Advantage says "BODY of the Absorption," which makes me think the answer is 30 but I wanted to be sure. Thank you.

Re: A Superhuman Registration World I would do everything that I could to avoid registering. If I am sufficiently powerful, I would have absolutely no problem using deadly force if necessary, though I would prefer subterfuge. If I didn't have a means (via power or subterfuge) of avoiding registration and/or draft, I would do every treacherous thing that I could to undermine the system. I would have absolutely no interest in being a superhero or whatever passes for one in the world in question. It just isn't my nature.

Re: Olympic Records in HERO I'm not an expert nor do I know anything about track and field; but didn't Usain Bolt in 2008 run like 28 mph (100 meter sprint or whatever it's called)?

Hi, I have a question about Constant Powers that have an Area or Range that is Mega Scaled. Under the rules for Mega Scale, it states that when you use a Power that has the Mega Scale Advantage (Area or Range), the Power requires a Full Phase Action and the character is at 1/2 DCV. Does this apply every phase the Power is active? For example, if I have a character with Clairsentience and the Range is Mega Scaled, do I need to use a Full Phase Action to maintain it every phase the Power is active and am I at 1/2 DCV every phase until I turn the power off? Or, do I just use a Full Phase the phase I turn it on and then maintain it like any other Constant power (just pay Endurance but no further Actions) and only suffer the 1/2 DCV until my next phase? Thank you.

Re: Opinions on the cost of Strength and Speed for superheroic

Re: Opinions on the cost of Strength and Speed for superheroic I don't really have a problem with Strength. I do think Speed is underpriced. I apply the Characteristic Maxima to Speed no matter what the campaign. Works out fine.

Re: Adjusment Powers versus Defenses Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.