Penthau

I'm sorry, I should have posted an update, but the game didn't work out.

My house rule for killing attacks is based on the idea that killing attacks that get through resistant defenses hurt a lot more. A bullet that doesn't penetrate a vest is going to hurt, but nothing like the bullet that didn't encounter the vest. What I do is a fixed stun multiplier of 2 for the BODY of the KA, but add 2x stun for every body done to the victim. So for an attack of 10 body/20 stun vs 10 resistant PD, the attack would do 0 body/10 stun. Against 10 PD/5 resistant, it would do 5 body and 10 stun + 10 more for the 5 body that got through. Against 10 PD/0 resistant, it would do 10 body/10 stun + 20 more for the 10 body that got through. It also has the advantage of being quick to calculate, with just maybe a couple of multiplying by 2.

I am looking for a player for a 6e game of Champions set in a fantasy campaign. It will be similar to a Fantasy Hero game, but using superheroic rules with 300 points. I am using the Pathfinder setting of Golarion for the maps, culture and deities. So far the players seem to be interested in being affiliated with the Pathfinder Society for support and guidance. The game hasn't started yet. Most of the game will be in Discord text chat until we have an encounter that is more complex. If it turns into a combat, I will use Hero Combat manager and theater of the mind. If it is too much for that, I will switch to Fantasy Grounds just to track locations. I haven't been able to find a VTT with a good ruleset for Hero.

As I was thinking about what stun multiplier to use for killing attacks, it occurred to me that not much hurts less than a killing attack that doesn't penetrate resistant defenses and not much hurts more than a killing attack that doesn't meet any resistant defenses. For instance, even a hard stab with a dagger against rigid armor that stops the body completely wouldn't hurt very much, but a deep wound with the same dagger would hurt a lot. So I thought about how to model that. I am considering using a stun multiplier of 2 on the base attack, then the same multiplier on any body that gets past resistant defenses. The stun for the body done would be extra stun against no defenses. Increasing the stun multiplier would increase the multiplier on both parts of the attack. For example, a killing attack that did 8 body, 16 stun vs 8 PD, 8 resistant PD would do 0 body, 8 stun. If it was vs someone with just 8 PD, 0 rPD, it would do 8 body, 8 stun, then another 16 for the 8 body done.

Some of the wording in the breakfall skill description make it appear to apply only to people who are standing up on the ground. After being knocked back in flight and being disoriented, can a flying character use breakfall to right themselves as a 0 phase action instead of a half phase action?

It also subtracts dice from AP, Penetrating and AVAD attacks before they are applied to your defenses, even if you don't have the defense. So the standard +1 NND has dice subtracted (10 AP worth) from it instead of taking it all because you don't have that specific defense. The guy that reduces his dice to put AP and penetrating on his attack is going to be especially affected by damage negation. I don't allow it except as a special effect defense, like vs fire, magic or lasers, especially attacks that can have a variety of modifiers on them.

Can you add an RSS feed?

Can an attacker make a mental blast attack if his only targeting sense has been flashed? What effect does it have on the attack roll?

My plan was to have them be more like superheroes than the classic murder hobo fantasy group. They wouldn't be running dungeons as much as assaulting a base of operations of the big bad evil guy. I want to get their feedback on what they would like to do, but either something like protect the kingdom from marauding demons or dimension hopping in a spelljammer ship to stop major threats. Their opponents would be in the same league as they are, evil outsiders, aberrations, etc., along with their hordes of minions.

I was thinking about starting a game of Fantasy Hero, but at a superheroic level. Instead of finding and/or stealing gear, they would pay for it with points. The magic system would be more freeform than the usual FH game. I see them as employees of a powerful patron or freelancers dealing with things that local soldiers can't handle. Has anyone tried this? Are there any pitfalls to avoid?

I was rewriting some old VIPER weapons from 5e to 6e and came across one gun that was an NND with the defense of force field with ED. When I went to the charts, it would be one step down on the rarity list (+1/2), then -1/2 for being an NND. That would have made a 9d6 blast into a 9d6 NND with the same active point cost, fitting into the same multipower. It seemed like 9d6 would be a pretty brutal NND against anyone who didn't have a force field. I bumped the advantage up to +1/4 because it is a little rarer than just resistant ED, but that's still 7d6 NND in a 45 pt MP slot. Am I doing this right? That seems a bit much, compared to back in the day of NND being half the dice of a regular blast and still being worth it.

OK, this helps. If DMCV is like mentally avoiding leaving an opening that lets the attack slip through, then an area of effect would get around this. I was visualizing DMCV as a mental toughness, gritting your teeth against the attack, but that would be EGO or MD, it seems. Thanks.

I am having trouble imagining an area of effect mental blast that wouldn't require a roll to hit each target in the area. It feels odd that a OMCV of 3 would be able to hit a DMCV of 10 by just placing an area in a hex. The rules seem to support the autohit of targets in areas even if they are mental attacks. Am I remembering a rule from a previous edition or am I just going to be forcing the player to take the selective modifier?

The examples in the book don't seem to make any sense. If I read them right, the original with 12 body damage splits into 4 bodies, each with 3 body damage. If they come back together immediately, the original still has 12 damage. If one of them gets even 1 point of healing, the damage when recombined becomes (3+3+3+2)/4 = 2.75 = 3. So 1 point of healing causes 9 points of healing to the whole?? It seems to me that the body damage would just add back up, so that the combined whole would have 11 damage. I could see using an average if each duplicate had the same damage as the original. What am I missing?

Isn't there a limitation about the defenses not protecting the passengers that could be applied?

Make a new stat called Sanity. Certain spells use it as a resource for casting, like END, but it recovers very slowly or only when you do certain actions, if at all. When you run out, you are insane and it stops recovering it. If you use dangerous spells too frequently, you are more likely to become insane. Infrequent use is relatively safe, but maybe have a side effect of increased use on a failed roll.

From p 105 of 6E2 "Recovering from being Stunned requires a Full Phase, and is the only thing the character can do during that Phase. A character can recover from being Stunned in the Segment in which he was Stunned if he had a Phase in that Segment and his Phase has not yet occurred (in that case his Constant Powers won’t turn off, since he won’t still be Stunned at the end of the Segment)." "A character may be hit by an attack in the Phase in which he’ll recover from being Stunned before getting to do so (i.e.,by another character whose DEX is higher than his). If the character takes no damage from the attack after applying his defenses, he may still recover from being Stunned as normal. However, if the character takes any STUN or BODY damage from the attack, he cannot recover from being Stunned that Phase; he must try to do so on his next Phase instead." The first rules excerpt allows the stunned character to recover in the same segment he took damage and is stunned. The second says that in a segment he takes damage, he can't recover. They seem to contradict each other. Also, the second quote doesn't put a limit on the number of times this can happen. It appears that you could "stun lock" someone by attacking them in the phase they are due to recover and keep them stunned forever by pushing their recovery back a phase each time. Although it has been a while since I played, I don't recall this rule from earlier editions. I can't find my 5e rulebooks but it is not in 4e. A stunned target is already in enough trouble if you are using hit location from all the head and groin shots, but now to add in a way to trivially easily keep them stun locked until they are out, pass.

"Doesn’t Work On [Defined Type Of Damage] (-¼ to -1):Healing BODY works against not just normal injuries, but loss of BODY from other effects such as Drains. Healing with this Limitation doesn’t work against one or more types of damage (whether defined by the type of Power that causes the damage, or the nature of the attack or phenomenon that causes damage). The value of this Limitation depends on how frequently the character is likely to encounter that type of damage: if it’s a Rare attack (Life Force Energy, Dimensional Manipulation attacks), -1; an Uncommon attack (Sonic, Telekinetic, poisons), -¾; a Common attack (Electricity, Fire, Magic), -½; and a Very Common attack (Blasts, Killing Attacks, energy, punches), -¼. " This is from the healing power. If I am reading it right, the more rare the attack that it can't heal, the higher the limitation. So a heal that won't heal killing attack damage only gets a -1/4. It feels backwards.

From p 105 of 6E2 "Recovering from being Stunned requires a Full Phase, and is the only thing the character can do during that Phase. A character can recover from being Stunned in the Segment in which he was Stunned if he had a Phase in that Segment and his Phase has not yet occurred (in that case his Constant Powers won’t turn off, since he won’t still be Stunned at the end of the Segment)." "A character may be hit by an attack in the Phase in which he’ll recover from being Stunned before getting to do so (i.e.,by another character whose DEX is higher than his). If the character takes no damage from the attack after applying his defenses, he may still recover from being Stunned as normal. However, if the character takes any STUN or BODY damage from the attack, he cannot recover from being Stunned that Phase; he must try to do so on his next Phase instead." The first rules excerpt allows the stunned character to recover in the same segment he is stunned. The second says that in a segment he takes damage, he can't recover. They seem to contradict each other. Also, the second quote doesn't put a limit on the number of times this can happen. It appears that you could "stun lock" someone by attacking them in the phase they are due to recover and keep them stunned forever by pushing their recovery back a phase each time.

Re: Facing and Passing The way that you stop this kind of thing from happening in a wargame is by using a "zone of control", the hexes directly adjacent to a unit. Some games lock units from moving or more appropriately in this situation, slow movement through the zone. Since you are having to be careful moving so close to an active opponent, movement is doubled though the hexes. Maybe levels of OCV could be used to increase the movement rate, for instance every 2 levels used for ZOC increases movement rate by 1 per hex. Reach and some powers might increase the radius.

I already have the softcover 5e Fantasy Hero and was considering the 6e version (probably PDF) but didn't want to buy it if it was 95% the same as the 5e version. Can anyone who has both give an idea of how similar they are?

I was considering running a superheroic fantasy game and wondered if anyone else had tried this before and had any pointers? I have been "forced" to run 4e D&D too much recently and I was trying to get away from the classic D&D tropes of kill everything you see and take their stuff. After some thought, I decided that superheroic would take away those incentives, but still allow play at the high powered end of the scale. There is no reason to waste time with avoidable fights that offer neither xp or usable treasure. The opponents would be pretty powerful too, so most missions would be epic in scale, fighting demons on their plane, etc.

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon "Just don't drop the truck". Indicates a task so easy that only a critical failure could fail. Arose when a brick wanted to drop a truck on a prone villian in a nearby hex. When asked what he needed to roll, the GM said, "Just don't drop the truck." Of course he rolled an 18 and dropped the truck. This is especially confusing to new players in a D&D game. :-) "Pinged". A completely ineffective attack. "It pings off me."