Tasha

I wish I could point you at the Archives where all of the 6e stuff was discussed before Steve wrote it. Steve doesn't talk about design stuff anymore, so don't think he would be able to enlighten you. I guess you could ask why Elemental Controls were replaced in 6e.

XP less games in D20 or other level based games work because the PCs are getting advancement. They just get their XP rewards when the GM thinks they need to advance a level. D&D/D20 is the only system that I have seen that has that different system. None of the point based systems work that way mostly because PCs can buy so many things with their points and Advancement isn't set and linear. You could set up such a system, but it would take a lot of work to come up with an alternate advancement system. IMHO too much work for too little gain. The D&D/D20 system without XP actually reduces GM and PLayer work. People don't have to keep track of XP or figure the XP out for every encounter.

Another reason to use 2m hexes is the size of your maps can be smaller. They can cover more area in a smaller Real World space. 1m Hexes are great for getting extra defination for inside spaces, but outside 2m/hex is better. Also with 2m hexes are VERY close to 5' squares so using maps for D&D and other d20 games becomes MUCH easier.

Because so many people keep missing this point I will make it bold. ECs exist to balance out the deep discounts on secondary stats that Melee characters get with Figured Characteristics. If you aren't using Figured characteristics (which have their own major issues IMHO), then you are giving all non-melee a huge discount on their powers that isn't counterbalanced by melee getting a discount on their abilities. So by keeping them around in 6e you are making it disadvantageous to write up melee characters. I can point out that ECs were so advantageous that many of the melee characters would take them as well, which circumvented their reason for being. You can see that Philosophy in the costing of a lot of things in 5e and 6e. ie Cha losing the rounding benefit in 5e, Dex being 2pts per pip (instead of the 1:1 other primary stats cost. Growth is more expensive in 6e expensive because it includes stats and bunch of other benefits, Skill levels are more expensive in 6e, I like unified power because it's easier to use IMHO. If I decide that I want my PC to have all of their powers to be drained by a single adjustment power, I take the limitation. If I don't I leave it off. It works the same as any other limitation now. No getting a pile of free points for. Yes, there are plenty of things with the reminder that the GM can make a different ruling. Removing one of those is a nice thing. It means that it's one less thing I have to negotiate with the GM (or Players if I am GM). ECs are kind of an annoying Skill enhancers weren't built by Steve. Also, I make a point about that concept being about powers. I can also point out that giving a player an incentive to buy something they wouldn't normally buy is VERY different from giving players a cost discount for taking powers they would already be taking. As a GM I REALLY want my players to have a bunch of KSs, PSs, SS, CK, AKs etc. They are pretty darned expensive to buy more than one. esp since many will never be used by a PC. Skill enhancers are built on the same philosophy as Package Bonuses were. Which was to reward players for taking limits and skills they wouldn't normally take by giving them a discount for taking them. Steve's philosophy is different, so I don't know why he left the Skill enchancers alone ex that perhaps he thought that it was a good mechanic for getting players to take skills they wouldn't take otherwise. YMMV.

I liked Elemental Controls well enough. I abused them as much as any other Hero System Player. They were annoying to use and forced particular powerlevels on powers. I LOVE Unified Power and how I can apply it to any and all powers that I deem to be close enough in special effect that they belong together and would all be effected at the same time if Drained or dispelled. Adding it back into 6e gives away a lot of points to PCs that ECs fit for and penalized melee PCs that don't often if ever have a powerset that can fit into an EC.

Again Elemental Controls were added to make things a bit more fair for non melee characters who couldn't take advantage of the HUGE discounts on Secondary Stats. Until 5th edition they did nothing else mechanically. Also they were a nightmare for GMs because some powers were disallowed "unless the GM says it's ok". Removing EC's makes it easier for both Players and GMs because they don't have to worry about what powers are and are not allowable in an EC. Also, there's less pushback on what is an allowable type. Is Mutant Powers a good enough EC? How about Magical Powers? Alien Species? etc. With Unified power you could allow Mutant Power Unified Powers because you could come up with abilities that drain/dispel etc Mutant powers as a single thing. Another reason for the change is a change of philosophy for buying powers. Steve took the whole "If something doesn't limit a power it isn't worth points" to heart. The whole system was rebuilt with that philosophy, which IMHO is another reason that Secondary Characteristics were decoupled from the primaries. In 6e you get the stuff you pay for nothing else. Your limitations limit the power's usefulness. Advantages are advanageous Skill Enhancers exist to give players an incentive to actually buy multiple "Background Skills". Players don't need incentives to buy powers they are generally useful. Background skills tend to be very dependent on circumstance as to whether they are useful. So in Early editions it would be a miracle if a PC had even a single PS and that tended to be on an 11- roll at best.

Can't have coherent discussions of the Rules without C&Ping paragraphs. I am certain that what we copy into these discussion are also covered under Fair Use. Just don't copy the whole writeup of a power out of 6e1 and you should be pretty safe.

EC's were there to balance how OP Figured characteristics were to Str/Con Based and Dex/Spd characters (AKA Bricks, Martial Artists and Speedsters). WIthout EC's in 5e and earlier, Melee characters would become way more point efficient than Energy Projectors/Mentalists. Which is why Steve was able to remove the framework in 6e.

Nearly impossible to enforce. Taken literally you couldn't even transmit the Character sheet to PCs or many other things. Copy/pasting passages out of the rulebook which happens constantly on these boards would be actionable. Also I don't think that copying a chart by hand into a spreadsheet would be an issue. I guess you COULD just download the GM's screen inserts available in Downloads. I choose to believe that the Copyright notice in the front of the book really means don't pirate this book by any means. Including Scanning, photographing, etc. You could go ask Steve or Jason, but I am pretty certain they would say that printing out that chart or making a doc that includes that chart is OK as long as you don't sell it. The latter MAY be relaxed if you license the System.

If it's collateral damage then it's just a Side Effect on the Resistant Defenses. If he's actively reflecting (ie like Hyper Man talked about), then he's got Deflection/Reflection.

So for 6e I would probably go with 150+50. I HATE Zero to Hero. I have done it so many times as GM and Player. Probably an artifact of short lived campaigns. I like the PC's to start out as competent heroines/heroes. I like that in 6e you have fewer Complications so you can concentrate on the important ones. I MAY someday run a Campaign at Superheroic levels. Basically the PCs would be the Iconic Characters that appear in the Forgotten Realms novels. Fighting Avatars of the Gods, Full sized Dragons etc.

Also you could just copy the table into your favorite spreadsheet and print. Voila, no copywrite problems. The Benefit of doing it that way is that you can control sizing and formatting.

In 6e anyone can Deflect Ranged attacks (as long as the GM oks it). Reflection is a power to add to the Free Deflection. In 5e and earlier Missle Deflection was a power that had an adder for Reflection Barrier is basically a redesigned Force Wall, that makes permanent Barriers. Also it adds the ability to add body to the defense of a Barrier. To make a Force wall you just limit the Barrier to be a constant instead of an instant (ie you pay end every Phase)

Yeah I would keep all of those things for 6e and I would use the 6e structure for buying characteristics. Which fixes a TON of balance issues. Which would mean losing EC's and subbing Unified Power. for it. Which pretty much makes the game 6e and why should I spend all of that time converting to the early edition. Also the rules chimera won't have any character gen software support.

I used to call it "Duct" tape too, but it's IS actually Duck Tape after the Manufacture that first made it. It's kind of like thinking that wire cutters are nicknamed "Dykes" and not "Diags". Easy to mistake one word for the other. If you buy shitty Duck tape you end up with Adhesive problems. Always buy good quality tools and materials. It will always save you time and money in the long run. Lets see. Healing (taping stuff together including wounds) could also be an Aid to body. The Aid might be best because things "fixed" with duct tape tend to deteriorate back to their broken state eventually. Flash vs Sight (taping their eyes shut) Darkness vs Sound Single target (Taping their mouth shut) Entangle, hands or feet only (taping either wrists or ankles together) Supply your own numbers, but use of Duck Tape should take at least a full Phase if not longer. With Concentration 1/2 DCV. None of this should be usable in combat. IMHO

My opinion is that I would allow it, but it would only be worth half damage. Otherwise it is VERY VERY unbalanced. I have a PC that had a HA that I used with movebys without the halving and it was very very over powered.

Wow this is an interesting quote "(Even though HA is in effect built from STR, generally speaking you shouldn’t treat it like STR — treat it like the distinct Power that it is. It’s not affected by Adjustment Powers that raise/lower STR, doesn’t add to a character’s STR for Grabbing or Squeezing targets, doesn’t apply to Move By/Through damage without the GM’s permission, can’t affect how much damage characters in Heroic campaigns do with weapons, and so on.)" 6e1 pg 231 So technically this is not a problem.

LOL No, I mean she's one of my favorite PCs. She's a martial artist with Wormhole based Teleportation. My Second favorite character is a Metal Shaper that uses a Nanate swarm for her abilities.

Teleportation Regeneration rDef as instant healing Full Life Support That's what I would want Which is the in a nutshell powerset of one of my favorite characters.

Did you buy it on DriveThru RPG? (or RPGnow... same thing).

Well Vader doesn't buy stuff for the Imperial forces. That is up to the Regional Governors (AKA The Moffs). I can't imagine that they would waste money on armor that didn't actually work. Esp since it was pretty clear that it made a difference during the Clone Wars. On top of that everyone ASSUMES that the hit kills the Stormtrooper. They could just be Wounded and KOed.

By the time of ep IV the Clonetroopers were all dead or really really old. So Stormtroopers are actually recruited humans. Stormtrooper Armor is probably around 7PD and ED. It doesn't really make logical sense to have armor that doesn't protect the wearer. It's pretty clear from the games and Books that Trooper armor is protective. Blaster Pistols being 3d6 RKA (given the damage that Han did to poor Greedo), or 9d6 in "Stun mode" Blaster Rifles are probably 3 1/2 D6 RKA up to 4d6 RKA. They are all pretty darned deadly. PCs should probably have extra DCV as "combat Luck" and/or a level or two of Regular Combat luck 3rPD/rED. YMMV I tend to err on the side of making a fun game that makes logical sense, instead of slavishly trying to emulate what you see on the screen. Info on Stormtroopers http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Stormtrooper PS I would also recommend checking other versions of the Star Wars RPG to see how they build Stormtrooper armor. Those were build under licence by Lucas and were placed under quite a bit of scrutiny before release

For the first 4 sessions or so, I will let a player totally rebuild their character as long as they keep the basic powerset the same. I find that even with more than 30 Years of experience with the system. That sometimes powersets and individual constructs don't work as well as we imagine when the Character is made. Sometimes you have to come at an ability in a different way. Also, during that time (and later if I have to) I as GM reserve the right to retroactively disallow a power construct that proves unbalanced.

You can build the campaign of your dream, switch genres as often as you like. All without needing to learn a new game system. The Game also defaults to a more cinematic feel that allows for PC's mistakes to not be immediately deadly. With that you can add included variations to both increase or decrease lethality. That I can build the character of my dreams without having to take stuff that was part of someone else's vision of that kind of character. Hero System is Freedom.

Steve Only answers Questions about the full 6e Rulebooks. I don't think he wants to deal with the edited down Complete books. (Please DON'T start a whole discussion about this, it's a really dead horse that has gotten people banned ) Like most of the smaller companies Hero doesn't have the money to run huge advertising campaigns. Even if they did where would they run those ads? Adventures really don't make that much money, not as much as Core Rules, Genre books and Game Worlds. Because all players will buy those three. Adventures are only purchased by GMs. We do have champions Adventures and Supplements coming out of BlackWyrm Games. Perhaps someone will write some adventures for FHC's little campaign world.