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Hyper-Man

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Posts posted by Hyper-Man

  1. Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

     

    Hard? Of course it's hard. It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard' date=' everyone would do it. The "hard" is what makes it great.[/quote']

    I probably felt this way in the past too. Today's roleplayers don't want to know 'how' or 'why' something works. They just want it to work period. 'City of Heroes' is probably a good examle. It uses a leveling engine because it is quick and simple. For what it tries to do, it does well.

     

    Another analogy that has probably been posted before is that D&D/D20 is like the AOL of ISP's. Yeah you can get to the internet, but you are going through AOL's 'internet'. Most other ISP's just connect you to the internet and you are on your own so to speak. HERO was almost as bad until the release of the GREAT book Sidekick which specifically addressed new player problems at a very reasonable price.

  3. Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

     

    Maybe the name of this thread should be changed from "Hero is Hard" to "D20 is too easy". Combat resolution based on 'Hit points' derived from level advancement takes all player control of character combat interaction away. A level based character with say 50 hit points in a game where a starting character may begin with 10-15 is tougher because he is supposed to be avoiding the brunt of damage from any attack that hits him. In a sense hit points are the most complicated form of damage reduction ever devised.

     

     

    The rules are not even consistent. A 50 hit point fighter could be 'assassinated' in his sleep with only a dagger to the throat but the hit points of most monsters are described in the rules as being an almost exact match of the BODY score from HERO. Do I need to bring up Armor Class vs. Combat Value? If hit points represent a character's skill in avoiding extreme damage why can't the character sometimes avoid ALL the damage from an HTH attack without declaring a special maneuver? It does not make any sense!

  4. Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

     

    There are a lot of things even i would need to "look up" if i wanted to consider my options for spending even 3 cp.

    Since this is a comparison of D&D to hero powers like life support should be left out of the discussion unless we are talking about spell creation rules.

     

    With regard to a 'Fantasy Hero' application of spending 3 experience points. I as a player only need to learn the choices "1" time. 'Feats' and other leveling options as they have been explained to me are different for the 'level' or 'exalted' status of the character and seem to require far more reference to the rulebooks than HERO would in the long run.

  6. Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

     

    First off let me say that I have not taken a 'serious' look at a D&D book since 2nd edition.

     

    With that said, and my breif glimpses at the 'feats' rules, HERO still has a much easier method of handling XP progression once the characters are created. And of course that is the real trick now.

     

    Yes, creating the exact set of abilities within point constraints can be a challenge. But this is time well spent. By working out how you as a player want your character to begin as well as to improve with experience via a 1 on 1 with the GM you eliminate much of the cumbersome details of XP advancement of other 'level' based systems.

     

    GM "ok Bob, 'Rapid-Reactor' did a good job in this adventure. I am giving him a 1 point 'AF city' for the time spent searching for the hostages and 3 points to spend as you like
    within reason"
    Bob "Cool, thanks!"

     

    Bob now can choose to buy a 3 point skill, improve a characteristic or two or save up for improving or buying a new power. No table to consult. WOW! isn't that easy?

  8. How many points?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: How many points?

     

    An outright bribe is not a Perk. That's why I generally bring a 2 foot long submarine sandwich to our monthly games. Feeding the king is a survival trait. That's why lionesses feed the male lion first. :D

    Sometimes blackmailing the GM can be as much if not more fun, it might even require the use of a martial cringe!

  10. Martial Cringe

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Martial Cringe

     

    How about a specialized Block-linked power that causes the deliverer to soften it as they react to the cringe?
    How's this?

     

    A bonus to a specialized 'hesitate' form of 'presense attack'

    +10 or +20 PRE only to cause attacker to hesitate or pull punch by faking surrender.

    +2 to DEX/initiative rolls vs. attacker if 'hesitate' is sucessfull

     

    not too far from manuevers in Jackie Chan's drunken master style in some ways.

  19. The cranky thread

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: The cranky thread

     

    This thread is a godsend. Take this afternoon for instance. I'm walking down the street' date=' and I make eye contact with an attractive woman. So, I go up to her and ask her to give me her panties, and she totally flips out and slaps me. How rude![/quote']

    How dare that girl for not drinking her coffee earlier and being on the 'perky' end of the caffiene curve to help balance out your 'cranky' mood.

     

    wait, I don't think you meant 'that' type of cranky..

    my baaad.. (wrong thread too!)

  20. Fiddling With 6th - Skills (first of ??)

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Fiddling With 6th - Skills (first of ??)

     

    The other ways that have been brought up on this thread are also good.

    I like this idea just a little better than the others based mainly on the fact that it requires the least amount of modifications to existing rules to get a lot of the same effects.

     

    The fact that it gives a bonus to characters with a high stat relevant to the skill bears watching for abuse though.

  21. Help with a power

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Help with a power

     

    Hi, I just wanted to comment on the supposed cost of this ability. If it is in fact supposed to be close in power to that of the 'charmed' character it could be argued that it should have a reasonable cost (but high active cost) since that character's ability is linked to her proximity to the other 'witches'. A similar thread talked about this type of limitation with regards to twins.

     

    Anyway, way back when, before champions had rules for transform I wanted to play a 'Firestorm' clone in a long running game. This GM was big on winging balance, not so much on points. We ended up basing the power on a modified entangle/RKA that only affected non-living things (not too different than current rules in hindsight) and had fun with it without it becoming too powerful.

     

    Seems like you are running into a similar situation. The ability to stop time just by its name and association with a certain D&D spell seems to impy a LOT of power there. It is basically the ultimate 'get out of jail free card' for what it affects so it should cost a lot of (active)points however it is constructed. :think:

  22. Help with a power

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Help with a power

     

    I think a 'paralytic' entangle with 'takes no damage from attacks (+1/2)' would be the way to go. Maybe include charges with duration or a set effect that can disable it then. Not the most accurate method but probably the easiest to manage.

  24. Character creation problems solved

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Character creation problems solved

     

    I don't think that changing the existing normal character max rules is necessary to get good spreads among characters if you just ask you players to choose a nich just as in a good supers game and by default have a good spread of character arch-types.

     

    A spell caster is just not gonna get that much out of a dex much higher than 15-18 if he has spells that involve concentrate. If he has invested in the use of magic and has access to basic defensive spells he will depend on them more often than having a high base DCV. A spell caster arguably should have the lowest Str and Dex scores in a group.

     

    On the other end, if a fighter wants to spend 30 points for a 30 Str or an acrobat/rogue type wants to spend 48 points for a 23 Dex they should be allowed. 30 Str works out almost exactly to the old 1st edition D&D 18/00 Str and should be allowed for someone. In a 75/75 game this is a major expenditure of points and dictates that the character is going to have other weaknesses. The 23 Dex character could easily meet a 20 Dex opponent who has 6 extra points in lightning reflexes giving +4 Dex for initiative only (24 Initiative/Dex for a total cost of 36 vs 48 for the 23 Dex character).

     

    Back to Str, certain weapon's Str minimum's actually work out better with odd levels of Str. Steer you min/max players towards this and 17, 22 or 24 Str amounts might be seen.

  25. Unluck

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Unluck

     

    I would just try to apply unluck in situations that the affected character takes for granted as being 'a given', sort of like almost any time that you ever see Indiana Jones smile and he then gets smacked upside the head by the hand of fate ( reaching for his missing gun when facing several swordsmen, having the biggest german he's ever seen just happen to be guarding 'that' plane, etc...)

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