Tasha

"Allows a character to Coordinate (page 146) attacks with others, and generally work well as part of a team. Examples include superheroes who practice team tactics in “danger room” scenarios, soldiers trained to fight as a unit, and wolves employing pack attacks against their prey." -CC pg 35 So the Skill's scope has increased. Though it's primary function is still Coordination very dex based to me. I would still recommend that a PC have KS Team Tactics to keep it all straight.

It's part of it's pedigree as a Superheroic Maneuver. IMHO it's of limited use in most Heroic games. Ex being Genres (ie Fantasy) that have super tough(ie High Def) opponents. I guess it's handy for multiple attacker bonuses.

It's Dex based because it's used to coordinate Attacks. ie Making sure your attacks hit the target at the same time. IMHO VERY much the poster child of what should be dex based skill. Now if the group has tactics etc they use to try and gain surprise that would be an Knowledge skill. One that as a GM I MIGHT allow to be used as a complementary skill to Teamwork.

The Fantastic Four don't have a tragic Origin. I guess Ben's transformation into an Orange lumpy man was tragic, but the group's life was pretty decent after that. No verison of "My uncle died, so I must fight crime to make his death make sense" or any other thing like that. The Xmen Fight crime to prove that they are "good people", but no real tragedy in thier origins. The new MsMarvel fights crime because she has powers and she's inspired by her idle (former Ms Marvel, current Capt. Marvel). I suspect that Doc Savage wasn't popular in comics because DC and Marvel didn't have a licence to use him in a comic (until much later). So they made Characters that were "homages" of him. Doc is popular enough to spawn over 20 novels, he's been in Comic series though the years, He's currently being published in a comic. Superman has been a HUGE seller without being very relatable, and being superpowerful and good at everything. Batman while he has a tragic origin, he's still a millionaire playboy that dresses up as a bat to jump on the roofs of Gotham City. Also not very relatable.

The big one for me is: Does the change actually make the game easier and faster to play? A pool of points that you subtract damage from is really simple. Taking damage is really a multiple step process. ie Find out Stun Damage,. Subtract PD or ED as required, does that remaining damage exceed the Con Stat? (if so the Character is stunned), Subtract that damage from remaining stun total. While it's multiple steps, it is all very simple math. Thing is that you don't fix a problem that isn't a problem. I know that you want to noodle about how to change the damage system, but I am not sure that anyone has really thought about it. Also, I don't really know what YOU mean by a Damage Threshold System. Do you mean if someone takes X damage they must roll a stat to avoid a penalty to the same roll later? The only way to make great damage rolls relevant is to give a penalty to the stat roll with a high damage number. Because if you add division to taking damage then you have a more difficult math problem. How does PD and ED play into the system? Also what is the GOAL of this change? What are you trying to simulate?

There is a mechanic in place for stunning someone (ie taking enough damage in a single blow the "ring the character's bell"). Do you want someone to be Knocked Unconscious easier? Not sure there is a good system for what you want to do. The Stun system actually works pretty well and players "get it" pretty well. How do you change something without making one stat way more important than it is now? Perhaps describe the problem that you have about the current system, and that will suggest a solution.

Actually the book recommends x2 DC to 2.5xDC as the range. From there you can extrapolate the average Con (ie one more than the Average Stun done by a DC12 attack minus defenses. ie 21 CON). Most stuff assumed fully resistant defenses or close enough to fully resistant defenses to be negligable). Dex 23 was about the average in those days. so CV 8+1 skill level equals CV 9 (Assuming 2 skill levels that can be applied to one or both). My Signature actually explains the numbers. Still sick a bit which reduces my ability to post long things.

Like Chris pointed out, if they want to play something like D&D they will play D&D (or a direct clone). What Hero has to offer players is more customizable character and foes that aren't cookie cutters of one another. Any Fantasy Hero should be built with standard fantasy Races and Pseudo-medieval culture. Having those things in place gives people what they expect from a fantasy game. All of the standard Fantasy tropes work fine even with "non standard" motivations. ie Races that aren't automatically evil. It would be nice to see the human kingdom that wasn't evil because it consorted with Demons, but who wanted to eliminate another Civilization and started worshipping demons to gain the power to get advantage. Or the Orc Tribe that raids human settlements because they are resource starved, or just that their civilization thinks that war if the pinnacle of valor and go to war with their neighbors to prove their prowess (and the lootz are good too). Then GM's can either go simple or embrace the more complex motivations. Once people get used to Hero's brand of complexity, they will see how much nicer it is. In many ways it's a much simpler System than Pathfinder. Possible marketing: "Are you tired of playing someone else's vision of your character? Would you like to play the character that you envision in YOUR head? Play Fantasy Hero, where you decide everything about your character."

I think that we have all come to the conclusion that you can't turn hero into GURPS where the construction of every power is hidden. esp for Fantasy games where you need to see the build for other abilities to work correctly in the system. You CAN have pregenerated abilities that players can choose from a menu to make Character Gen easier. Also in games where equipment is important, you CAN hide most of the complexity from players. They really don't need to know that their M82 Barrett Sniper Rifle with the Telescopic nightvision scope is 100active points (just pulling a number, don't get caught up on this). Made up with 3 abilities etc. They just want to see Barrett .50 Sniper Rifle +1 OCV +2 RM, 3d6 RKA +1 Stun Multiple, 6 Shots. StrMin 15 Telescopic Scope +2 OCV, +6 RM. IN this case it's assumed people know OAF Gun, Real Weapon, Charges 6, etc.

I actually like that question. Are the Orcs raiding humans because they are want the humans land, money and slaves or is it because something is driving them into human lands? I hate the simplicity of "X race is inherently evil". I think that's totally boring. I don't run my D&D games that way and I don't run my Fantasy Hero Games that way. I like challenging my players on more levels than just difficult combats. Black and White worlds are boring. Probably why I tend to shy away from Champions villians that are "Evil" without anything else to give that evil reason. BTW If I want to kill lots of NPCs for the Lulz, then I will play videogames. When I get together for a PnP RPG, I want something a bit more complicated and nuanced. I can't casually play at the drop of the hat anymore. So I want those games to actually be quality games that I Can't get from other Media.

D&D was designed by Wargaming Geeks to be a fun, light romp though the GM's Dungeon. It's why so many of the original Modules were PC Meatgrinders. The original game was all about the gm coming up with amusing ways to kill PCs. With everyone laughing when the Party TPKs. Lots of people still play in this way treating characters as little more than playing pieces. The first evolution of the game came with players who Identified with their characters. Then the meat grinder Dungeons because something that wasn't fun for them. Gamers schismed into the Murderhobo players who also spawned the Montie Haul style of gaming (ie kill the monsters for great treasure, rinse/repeat) and the earlier solve puzzles and get killed in amusing ways for the lulz. You also started to see the Players and GMs that started to be more concerned about storylines and character development (not just power development, but actual mental, personality etc development as the PC interacted with the Plotlines of the GMs.)

Fury's parents were superheroes, she grew up on a supers base surrounded by Superheroes. Her powers manifested early (ie when she was a toddler), so she has always had powers and been around powered people. Her rolemodels all protected normal people and put supercriminals in prison. So when she got old enough she first joined a "teen" supers group then later transitioned into an adult supergroup. By then her parents and the team they were on, went off to fight crime in space. Keeping earth safe from aggressive aliens. So no tragedy for her. Pretty much every other heroine that I have has tragedy or hardship in their background. I guess that Metalstorm has a pretty tragedy free life despite being rebuilt by the nano machines she created and that were loosed on her. Once she was able to control her powers she lives a pretty normal superheroic life.

re Mecha. Whether you go Automaton(though if you do this, just buy it as a vehicle). or as a different form for the PC (aka Multiform) depends on the universe and the tech. IMHO Macross Mecha don't seem to have that brain connection and would just be a vehicle. The Jagers from Pacific Rim, the Pilots are intimately connected to the bot and each other. They could be Stunned and KOed by enough damage. IMHO that would make the Mecha more like a character with ALL of the stats (Con, Stun etc). Like all conversions, take a long look at the source and see what happens to the pilots of the mecha. That will tell you if it should be a vehicle or something like a Mutliform form/ OIAID Character.

re: the OP. Presence is great for vehicles that are intimidating all by themselves. ie Abrams MBT or a Battleship, Giant Robot etc. You could even make a case for a motorvehicle that just looks so perfect, fast etc that it inspires awe parked. Int and Ego are for vehicles that have their own computers on board(Int only for dumb computer, Int/Ego for AI's) this would be like KITT as an Int/Ego vehicle. You could make the case for most modern Vehicles with their computer packages having Int and programs.

Pretty sure that TUV is "official" for 6e too. Kind of like Ultimate Skill is the same book as HS Skills (ex the name change on one skill Seduction to Charm)

Fixed in my post. I should have known better. I did get spelled Artie right. persnick away!

Without standing up and going to look, I am pretty sure that both characters were Stated out in Western Hero. Probably renamed to prevent lawsuits.

Also most Artists don't like to work for free. I don't really blame them. Now, IF DOJ were doing the product they do seem to own some artwork stuff that has been used in products though the years.

Wasn't even talking about draining Non Magical Equipment. I was talking about Draining/Suppressing etc Magical Spells and Magical Equipment. Also Poisons and Diseases are purchased as Drains. I don't believe that we need Active Costs for non specialized equipment. Just Body and Defense. Because destroying those items are always defined as Damage to the item.

Unfortunatly the powers section of the game has a builtin bias toward knowing active costs. That bias is built into Adjustment powers. It's very difficult to impossible to build Curses, Dispels, Supression field spells and others without knowing Active costs. I guess you should set up other spells with a specific active point limit and base Adjustment power costs from that. Also having stats being based on 1 for 1 cost could simplify draining stats.

The Show was a genre mashup of the very popular Super Spy which was ruling TV at the time and of course Westerns which had always been popular. It was a very well done show with great characters and good writing. It would have stayed on the air longer, but IIRC Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon) had a heart attack and couldn't continue. It's great RPG fodder esp if the players are into the Wild West and are looking for something different than the regular Western Storylines. As an RPG it could be fun doing a mashup between this show and Mission Impossible(Tv Show over the Movies). Where the players are "Secret Service" agents who unravel plots put there by enemies of the US Government. Give it all a slight Steampunk veneer with some fantastic critters tossed in to keep it interesting. You have the Gun Fighter, the Disguise expert, Demolitions expert, Faceperson, Technician. etc. Keep the character types spy feeling, but give it a western spin/flavoring edited to Fix spelling on Artie's name.

Watch the YouTube video of Kevin Smith talking about his Superman Script. He talks about WildWildWest and how Producers and Studio Execs sometimes turn something good into crap. Language is NSFW

Also it's hard to create something by committee without someone who is in charge. A "producer" who takes everything that has been decided and keeps track of who is responsible for getting it done.

The system doesn't really have a mechanic in place for items to become addictive. IF it did it would probably be a Transformation attack. Which gives the character the appropriate Complication that causes physical symptoms when the substance isn't being used. So to prevent that Transformation attack would be Power Defense vs Addiction.

+3 to Ego roll vs becoming addicted to substances.