ghost-angel

The complete books barely address the concept at all, giving a scant "some campaigns apply a maximum" paragraph before moving on (in both cases) to Character Basics. 6E1, p50 addresses it directly and states that normally Characteristics gained through Powers and Adjustment Powers are not affected by the doubling cost rule. Personally, if the situation in a campaign with establish maximums has campaign-ways built in that could exceed them, it comes down to how Large the campaign wants to go with such things. A Sword & Sorcery game where even the best of magics is still pretty limited, I would say that Adjustment Powers would also incur the Doubles Beyond Maximum cost. In a more cinematic, heroic, and grand campaign, I would not have Powers incur the doubling cost. Not doing so also makes the on-the-fly math easier, so there's that.

http://kotaku.com/teenage-girls-are-playing-video-games-you-just-might-n-1724547085 The number of young women playing video games is not only a significant market factor, but they're almost completely invisible within. The article doesn't do a lot of speculating; but the numbers are alarming as to the number of girls who play vs the number who actually vocalize that. Given everything else in our culture, I'll (probably correctly) speculate it's because the second a woman voices the fact that she is a woman she is immediately and relentlessly attacked in almost every single case. From simple incredulity to out right threats. It's more than a little frightening to think how our society treats women. Especially within a community that already believes itself marginalized.

Ineed, the trap is to avoid building mundane items, and just defining them. Flashlight: Illuminates a cone in front of you for 6m (or whatever) Gun: Does X Damage. Body Armor: Provides Y and Z defenses. SCBA/SCUBA: allows you to breath in unhealthy environments. and so on.

She has a point, since last fall I've rewatched a couple 'classic' movies that played way better in my memory of what they were, than they did on the screen. Mad Max: this is a Sloooooowwwwwwwww film. Like, practically dead in pace. My Memory: CARS & MOTORCYCLES EVERYWHERE! Blade Runner: not quite as slow, but it takes a while to spin up, and really does show its age. The thing about a movie like Blade Runner is that it is a classic only within the context in which is first existed; through a historical eye it is an above average movie (except the part where the voice over was dropped in, that was a bad idea) with some decently relevant themes for an emergent internet-age concept. William Gibson watched the movie and said that was almost exactly how he pictured the Sprawl... for better or worse it, like a lot of Cyberpunk, is firmly a thing of its time. So while I love the movie, because I came out of that era (I was a kid when it was released, but it still had impact on the sci-fi movies I would end up seeing as I grew a little older); I think she's right, it shows its age, spins up slowly, and ultimately, is not that interesting to anyone who isn't either a PKD fan or was older than 4 for most of the 80s.

They will be unable to use Running, as it will likely be reduced to 0 or less in the majority of cases. But they will be able to use all Attack Power not linked to/relying on Running, or any other Movement Power (if you use this on someone with Flight, it's not going to help a lot in slowing them down).

The books I pull out the most are the Genre Books; It's worth finding a copy of Fantasy Hero if you want it in hardcopy, the PDF is available in the store. Same with Champions. The 5th Edition Genre books are also good investments, even without the conversion of any included crunch, the advice and other genre-related information in them is an invaluable tool for any gamer emulating a variety of genres.

You can disagree. But you're still wrong.

It's not actually that simple in its entirety. There are formatting & layout issues to consider if DriveThru and RPGNow don't offer the exact same size for which the original 6E documents were formatted for print for... if there's even a 1/4 Difference in one dimension it would be best practice to redo layout to account for it. Which is a money/time investment to get the books done correctly...

This fails to separate Mechanic from Effect. Charges is a Mechanic by which we state a Power can only be Used X Number Of Times; the Special Effect of that Charge is independent of the Mechanic and must be determined and applied appropriately to the Power when creating it. Like any other Special Effect for any other Power. This is akin to the old argument that "Energy Blast" could not be a physical attack because the word 'Energy' was in the Power Name (and the reason it was renamed to Blast); it's an incorrect assumption forcing Effect on Mechanic; and not very Hero-System like.

The current edition of the rules are the Sixth Edition; Be that in the form of the Character Creation/Combat & Adventuring 2-volume set; Champions Complete; Fantasy Complete; Monster Hunter International; or Narosia: Sea Of Tears. All of these books contain complete rules within their pages, some more comprehensive, some more specifically oriented to the material at hand. All of them say "Hero System Sixth Edition" on the back cover. The argument quoted in the OP is a tired, misguided, and incorrect, argument regarding "the current in print rules" as they stand. (as for me, I don't have any more space for gaming books, the record collection is chewing it up slowly, and I prefer electronic gaming books these days, as it also means I can always have all my books at the gaming table with me.)

Speed and Dex; let's not forget Dex - all things being equal Dex determiens order of action (and that whole thing where because of that is now costs twice what other characteristics cost - I'd digress but it's a sticking point for me); The two factors together are the RAW for the entirety of the Initiative System in Hero - which is a much more complex, nuanced, and in truth, useful system than merely rolling a dice, writing down an order of action, and then trading blows for a while.... It's certainly a defining aspect of Hero Combat...

The speed chart allowing for one Character to have more actions than another Character in a 12-Phase Period is not simply initiative, and there are few mitigating effects to just the actions allowed alone (what one does with those actions is a different matter completely though).

There are a lot of things unique to Hero (like the Speed mechanic); But to me the essential quality that is the foundation of the System, the defining point, is Reasoning From Effect. Generic constructs around which you wrap a Special Effect to build towards, and that the same construct can represent any number of visual storytelling ideas, is the true core. And the key to its flexibility & frustration.

Yes, but can you dance to it?

On the idea of charges: Reasoning From Effect 101; Take a normal blaster, the magazine holds the ammunition, be it bullets or blaster-juice, it's just Special Effects for "this weapon can only fire X Number Of Times before needing reloading"; Now, move the Magazine to something else, it's still a magazine and the mechanical effect is "this weapon can only fire X Number Of Times", where the ammunition comes from is Special Effects. (this effect can also be just as easily modeled with END Reserve/REC as a 'battery' for blaster-juice; same overall effect, but some additional mechanics come into play.) Now, we'll make the blaster a gauntlet; the ammunition is in a belt; but the end mechanic we're working with is "X Number Of Shots"; but we also want to model some additional Special Effects. First, Charges: recovery is typically between scenes (or game sessions, depending on the GM, the game, and other considerations). Endurance Reserve recovery is as defined: either per Time Frame or Special Conditions (back at base, for example as a Special Effect of the Reserve Recovery). Second, Mechanics; The Belt holds the ammo, as Special Effects; normally there's no particular need to model this beyond Focus, or Multiple Focus if you wish to get that detailed. Third, the exploding belt, and loss of ammunition from the 'over-charge'; That's a Blast:Explosion thing, easily enough. It requires the Belt, that's a Focus; but additionally it deprives the gauntlet of its ammo source (now we're moving away from the ammo being just Special Effect into requiring a Mechanical Model); Charges are easy to work with, apply them to the Gauntlet, add an additional Limitation of some nature that when the Belt is gone, it uses all the remaining Charges of the Gauntlet. END Reserve is also easy to work with, but tying it to the same Blast as the Belt might require some additional thought, as that's two powers on one Focus (instead of two focii needed for one Power). We could model the belt this way: Multipower: Blaster-Juice Belt; Focus On All Slots 1) END Reserver + REC 2) Blast; 1 Charge We still need a way to remove the use of the END Reserve when the belt is overloaded and explodes; Possibly putting a Limitation on the whole construct "END Reserve depleted 100% and cannot recover until belt is replaced" - or similar. Either way you model it; From a SFX To Mechanics Point Of View END Reserve and Charges are equally valid constructs to model this with; though some will prefer one over the other, it is likely no due strictly to cost savings. I certainly find the Charges Method much easier to deal with in game and mechanically, it's more straight forward in my thoughts on the matter. Though as we can see, not the only answer available.

"Here one second, gone the next" Teleport: Must be able to pass through intervening space (the old, the Commissioner turns around and Batman is Gone trick) [Requires Stealth Roll added if appropriate] I Am The Shadows: Invisibility, Sight Group, No Fringe, Only In Shadows, Requires a Stealth Roll.

But it's not a long stretch. It's an expansion of the base idea, really.

Here's one idea: Gauntlet: Blast; Charges; Focus; Lockout (stays in effect until belt replaced after it is used) Belt: Blast; Area Of Effect, Explosion, Focus; 1 Charge (possibly recoverable depending on how easy it is to get a new belt) [The lockout may go on the Belt, I don't have the book with me and I forget the exact specifics of the Limitation; but it prevents one Power from being used while another is Active, in this case extending it until the 'Active' Power's Charge is recovered, which a GM may decide is worth more than normal.]

Ah, I see my point went screaming past you ... it also wouldn't be unreasonable for another character to have both Speed 6 and DC 10 (max both) in the theoretical 8-10DCs and 3-6SPD campaign. Which Rule Of X more often than not prevents from happening (which is what the 2nd part of that sentence said). Anyway, this is thread drift, so unless I have something else to contribute to the original topic I'll ignore further posts along these lines.

Campaign Guidelines are absolutely a good thing; even required for Hero. Because the system neither cares nor accounts for them at the System Level. This part of what I mean when I say "The system is not your babysitter" - it requires the group to come up with, and set out, the expectations for the game they are playing. Good guidelines are a range of numbers, so if the GM says "8-10 DCs" with Speeds of "3-6" expected it wouldn't be unreasonable for someone to go full out Speed 6 and to do so sacrifice some points in the DC area to get the extra bit to hit the top range; but it should not be a requirement (which is what Rule Of X often does: if you max out one area you're almost always forced to hit minimum level in another to fit into some randomly chosen end point number). Once you set guidelines for a campaign all discussions become easier as well, as you go from a theoretical discussion (the effects of allowing extra dice to raise the average has drastically different effects on a game using 6DCs/30APs versus a game using 18DCs/90APs). And all too often we default to the "classic champions" range of 10-12DCs; which may or may not be helpful, but without the context of campaign guidelines almost all of us have experience with that range by virtue of playing with groups who have been using that for 20+ years now. tl;dr: Campaign Guidelines: these are the laws of system-physics upon which the game is built. Rule Of X: these are merely telling you how to build your character based on (nearly) arbitrary decisions.

I really dislike these ... I specifically don't use them because if I wanted someone to tell me how to build my character I'd be playing a class-based system. They are, in my experience, absolutely useless for any scenario that isn't directly tied to the specific X Formula, even detrimental to the discussion, and the System itself does not count on or use such a faulty mechanic. There's no reason a high defense character can't also have a high OCV. Or a high Speed character should have low DCs. It's nothing more than a cage and a crutch.

Switching gears a little to your typical Heroic game that uses Hit Locations, along similar lines to use skill to try and inflict more damage; we tried in one campaign where Skill Levels allowed you to walk your Hit Location Roll up or down based on success over the needed target. It worked pretty well, though often enough you were close enough to either a Vital or Head shot that you could easily move that hit there if you concentrated on it (it was at the same rate as adding Damage Classes: 2 Skills Levels = 1 Movement); mooks and low level enemies went down in one hit, which felt pretty epic a lot of the time. You could do the same with well placed hits, though I wouldn't use the same conversion as Skill Levels, every 3 over allows you to move the Hit Location Roll one point up or down.

I was not replying to any of the conversation directly before my post, or I would have quoted it; I was replying to the OP. Who said "Count the best 12 of a 12+Extra Roll" - which is exactly why I was pointing out as not actually being all that unbalancing. 1) I didn't say I saw anything wrong with it. But the topic is about rewarding a really successful hit. I think it's an interesting idea. On a meta level players like really good rolls to do really spectacular things. We have it built into Skills that the more you succeed a skill roll by the better the success from it is... why not Attacks as well. 2) Unless you're going by pure Speed Characteristic where 'bricks' simply have less action; I see no reason that archetype should 'hit less often' and I see no reason why a speedster type should 'do less damage' (in fact, I see no reason why buying up speed should in any way involve buying a smaller attack...). I find the entire idea that bricks should have a lower OCV simply because of the archetype to be not just absurd, but offensive. More often than not archetypes become code for 'class based limitations' when we don't have that in this game and therefore shouldn't be much of a consideration outside the context of a Campaign (which this discussion is). Which brings me to my last point: The OP asked for ideas to reward a really successful Attack Roll, instead of crapping all over the idea with statistics, how about we offer up ideas for them to use with both pros and cons.

Been thinking on this one a little bit, a lot of balance issues have been brought up... I don't share the concern that adding dice for the purpose of trying to approach the cap is that unbalancing; as noted you're not taking 12D6 and capping it at the top of 10D6, you're taking 12D6 and choosing the best 10 (assuming I read the original proposal correctly). Which is different. I think, if you want to balance out Epic Rolls with Game Balance... every +3 over the OCV allows rerolling of low numbers. Make OCV by 3-5 and any 1s on Damage you get are rerolled. By 6-8 more and any 1s and 2s on damage are rerolled. 9+ and any 1s, 2s, and 3s are rerolled. I'd stop there. Or more simply, if you make the attack roll by 3 or more all 1s become 2s on the dice. at 6+ all 1s become 2s, 2s become 3s (not counting the upticked 1s, only rolled 2s); and at 9+ a truly epic hit has occured (precision, brute strength, found the weak spot...SFX vary) then rolled 3s become 4s (and previous effects). That raises the average damage without exceeding or changing the amount of dice rolled. Better hits guarantee a certain level of better damage (that can still be obtained with a really good roll anyway). You're not really doing extra damage, so much as preventing a really good Attack Roll from doing poor damage. It feels more balanced personally.

Well, then: 1D6 KA, Penetrating + 9D6 Blast, Stun Only, Linked: KA