Legendsmiths

That's fine, but I guess it depends on the amount of realism you seek and the lengths to which you are willing to go to acheive it. Certainly, a uniform area affect attack would affect all parts of the body equally... hardly a fun thing to game. I've done it before, in GURPS, and pretty much any significant blast left an undamaged, but limbless, armored torso. I like my games a little more heroic, hence why I'm playing Hero. If you want to do a true average, do the following: Look at the armor chart in FH for DEF 4, which has a mass of 10 kg. This basically gives you the % contribution of any location. So, if a location has a mass of 4.75 kg, then it is 47.5% of the armor's DEF. Multiply actual DEF of that location by this percentage and add them up. This avoids the mass or magic armor issue by determining the average DEF from all contributing pieces.

I'd go with entangle or a multipower entangle and flight if you don't allow people to walk across entangles as bridges. If the water freezes to slowly to trap something, then make the entangle only to create barriers. If it can trap something, but still takes time, just add extra time... most things will then get out of the way unless you hold them there. I think entangle is your best choice. It's easy to determine how much it can hold (it has DEF + BODY) if you allow people to stand on it (calculate the average BODY damage exterted by the STR required to lift the object per hex).

Another option that I have used would be to use Desolidification as a defense, vs. magic only. This is definitely a stop-sign power, but it does the trick. Then assign an activation roll to reflect the level of spell resistance. However, since SR is a level check of the caster vs. the target, you could base the roll off "Requires Skill Roll: Skill vs. Skill" . For example: Cost Power END 45 Spell Resistance: Desolidification , Only vs. Magic (Desolid as a Defense; +0), Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (90 Active Points); Always On (-1/2), Requires A Skill Roll (RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests, Variable RSR Attacker's Magic Skill with a penalty of Activation Roll - 8 Limitation or -8 if no activation roll limitation; -1/2) [Notes: The activation roll represents the increased likelihood of spell penetration, and thus the reduction in effectiveness of spell resistance. An 8- Activation roll means the attacker need only make an unmodified Magic skill roll to succeed, whereas the default (w/ no Activation Roll Lim) requires the mage to take a -8 penalty to his roll. Mages could buy penalty skill levels to offset this penalty, but considering the cost of the Magic skill is 2/+1, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If you want to make a Talent called Spell Penetration that grants +1 for 1 point, that might be cool, but don't let anyone buy more than 1 or 2 levels of it. My costs on desolid might be wrong cuz I don't have my book with me and can't remember if there is a special mod for desolid as a defense. I don't think so, but it may be +1. The idea is that as a GM you allow desolid to be used in this way, and since they can't walk through walls and such, they don't have to buy the inverse of "Affects Desolid" for their powers, nor are they truely desolid, so no one needs "Affects Desolid" to attack them. Desolid, like invisibility or images, is one of those powers that can simulate a lot of things very well, if you allow it to. However, you need to be careful about allowing this as a character acquired power. It isn't inappropriate, but should have set limitations that make it fit the world.

If you want to calculate average armor, this is a pretty good method. I also suggest using this same method if you are applying any kind of light/med/heavy armor penalties. Where you run aground however is when you have magically lightened materials. Personally, I don't think avg DEF is necessary. Just go with whatever is on the torso, which is the heaviest piece anyway, and that is usually enough.

Your answer seems inappropriate for the power effect I was going for, so I will stop being so general. I create a power called "immolate". It consumes a target (i.e. Accurate) in flame and then continues to burn (EB: Fire) as long as I spend END. My question is can the target simply leave the AE and escape the flame? I don't want him to be able to do that, so: 1. Is the special effect of the accurate advantage enough to allow the continuous power to stay on the target? 2. You mentioned UAA. Is that really necessary in this situation?

To create a power that is easily targeted and then follows the target whereever he may go, are these the only advantages necessary, or does the power require Mobility? I assume such a medly would be a STOP SIGN, but is this a correct blending of advantages?

You could apply an activation roll to Immunity, be it a set amount or a CON roll of some kind. But this doesn't vary by disease, nor represent that some strains are stronger than others.

It's pretty obvious how to handle immunity, but what about resistance? Poison I am not so concerned about, as poisons generally affect everyone, some survive and some don't, but everyone suffers (unless they're immune). Disease however is a different story. People can encounter a virus once, not be affected, only to encounter it again a year later and get sick. Diseases in Hero are typically modeled as NND Drains and NND RKAs. This results in everyone being affected everytime. Imposing a Resistance Roll seems appropriate, but does it make sense in terms of doing things hero-style. So, what do you guys think? What's the best approach?

You pretty much read it write. We do double cost for STR. Buying a martial art is a good way to go, but requires a bigger point expenditure (at least 10 points), and you end up paying points for essentially multiple bonuses (e.g. 3 different strike maneuvers at 4 pts each). DEX is also good, but only to a point. Penalty skill levels are also ignored, which encourages creative expertise. You and I essentially are doing the same thing, it's just a matter of where we want our focus to be.

Total Points/20 + 7. So, a 150 pt character would have a rule of X of 7.5 + 7 = 15.

But cats are everywhere, as are dogs, and have been pets for a very long time. Monkeys are only in a few regions of the world, but I understand they have been pets there as well. Regardless, I'm sure this is more of an irrational thing than anything. I like my animals to be animals and my races to be unique. Your argument about monkeys/humans is relevant however, and if I owned a monkey it might mean more to me.

That's essentially the same as my formula (points/20 + 7 = STR/5 + CV + Skill +2 for MA). I originally had an almost identical formual, slaughter, but I found dealing with weapons and damage advantages got way whacky. Since it was for a heroic game, everyone had access to weapons and so on equally, so why not accept that as a constant and simply use STR as the base. Skill includes combat skill levels, including DCV only levels, but not penalty skill levels or shields, nor magical enchantments of any kind. I don't add in specific maneuver bonuses, just a blanket +2 if the character knows a martial art. This does offer a slight advantage to the martial artist (since a +2 OCV +2 DC maneuver isn't that uncommon), but I balance this with the fact they have to spend a fair number of points on the MA to begin with. This has worked very well for us, and balances highly skilled fighters with brutes.

I agree with the Killer to a certain extent, but guidlines help if for no other reason than setting the tone. I use my rule of X to guide my creation of NPCs so I know what levels will be challenging. Otherwise, without any guidelines it is too easy to simply create 25 pt thugs that are as good as a marginally rounded 75pt character in combat. I also feel it is important to keep some sense of balance within the party. If you have a kick-butt fighter who is 4-6 OCV and 2-3 DC above the next character, any combats you make are going to either be too easy for the fighter or too deadly for the others. I agree that the sense of character and tone of the game should drive what abilities are allowed, and if you are comfortable with a 75pt character having a 14 OCV and 9 damage classes then great. I personally prefer to keep things a little more toned down. I'd like to believe the system can balance itself, but it can't. As the GM you have to provide that balance. You can do it in play, as Killer describes, but as I've seen it done it usually ends up with the players either having fun because they lack the abilities to resolve the conflict. Is that enough to get them to see the error of their ways? Probably not. I see the guidelines as an aid to promoting some balance in characters without letting things get out of control. Especially at the 150 pt level, things can be crazy without any limits or even with selective GM imposed limits.

I use a rule of X: Total Points/20 + 7 = STR/5 + CV + Skill +2 (if martial artist) Weapons and Magic Items do not change this. This scales fairly well. You can adjust it as necessary. It balances skill with strength. This also applies to skills: Total Points/20 + 9 I also start my games at 25 base + 50 disads.

Another group is putting it out. It is an Officially Licensed Hero setting. http://www.narosia.com but all we have is a splash page up now. We're finalizing the content for open playtest hopefully starting in January, when the website will be up. In-house playtest has been going on at Legendsmiths, Inc. for the past year or so, and we've been demoing at cons (Origins, GenCon, and Ucon) with much success. We're confident the setting will appeal to many gamers, Hero and non-Hero alike.

I think one of the things you are missing Dino is a setting. I agree that the Grimoire and FH books go a long way to providing the tools you need, but there are a lot of options and these options were meant to be filtered for a specific setting. Two settings are coming out in the near future: 1. Turakian Age. I think it is on the calendar for Jan/Feb. This will be a classic "D&D-esque" fantasy setting. 2. Narosia: Sea of Tears. That should be more in the April/May timeframe. Less tolkein and more unique it too is a "D&D-esque" fantasy setting. Both of these settings might assist in converting your players as they will have a story and background from which to draw.

The biggest challenge of creating non-tolkeinesque races is how they fit in the world and how players will understand to play them. If you put a good amount of effort into understanding and communicating how these races work, the players will dig it. If you just throw out a bunch of racial packages, you'll lose the flavor. Personally, I dislike animorphic races, especially for common household pets. It raises really odd situations. For example, if you have a feline race, can people own cats? Will the feline race own cats? Are their activists? How do cats react to the feline race and vice-versa? Oddly enough, lizard races don't bother me, but that may just be tradition. I like the suggestion of Star Wars races, they have quite a few and would work very well. You could also look at Talislanta. The latest edition would be pretty easily translated into Hero. Or Jorune.

Here is an interesting article on the impact of "magic". Just substitute magic for nanotechnolgy in the article and you can get a pretty good idea of how economies can change. http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/002838.html

As for coin weight, 100 coins should weigh 1 kilo. That's about a quarter sized coin. So, a chest of gold could hold 20 kg? That's 2000 coin.

I am definitely in the camp of the Hero Enc rules are broken. Having done a lot of hiking for pleasure and military I can tell you that a 70lb pack is far more encumbering than -1 DCV. Like Alcamtar we use a casual STR variant. For armor I combine that with an armor penalty to DEX/DCV in addtion to the Enc penalty. The armor penalty can be bought off with Armor Expertise but the Enc never goes away. I use the same Enc chart as in the rules, but with the following mods: .0625 none .125 light .25 medium .5 heavy .75 xheavy 1 lift This is based on the idea that you can use your casual STR as a 0-phase action. Anything above that (.75 or 1x lift) is taking a STR action. Heavy is pretty much the most that people would carry without essentially "power lifting" every step. This puts it at 50 kg for a 10 STR guy. That's 56-110 lbs for a -3 DEX/DCV and movement penalty. That seemed about right to me when I've carried that much and as a soldier would say that I have at least a 10 STR. This means a 10 STR person can carry 6.25 kilos without being encumbered. Now, all this is well and good, BUT is it dramatic/cinematic? You be the judge. I like a little element of realism myself. Also, a very important thing to remember. Knights in armor were well trained (so assume no penalty from the armor itself) and going into battle with a single weapon. At 15 STR, a 40 kg suit of armor + 2 kg weapon would be medium enc. That's only a -2 DCV/DEX penalty, easily offset by a 7 kg shield. A knight didn't have to contend with adventuring gear. This has lead to my "heavy" fighter players wearing only a breastplate while travelling, with heavy leathers on arms, legs, and head. This gives them mobility. If they know they are going into a big fight, they ditch their gear, strap on the plates, and head on in. But they are not carrying food, a 10' pole, and 50' of rope. That's what hirelings are for. You need to decide whether this level of realism is fun. I personally enjoy it and it is easy to do with the Hero rules. YMMV. FYI, Armor Penalties are based on the weight of the armor. <7.5 kg is -1 7.6-20 kg is -2 21kg+ is -3 This allows people to mix armor DEF types.

I did a search on the forums and checked the FAQ but I didn't see this issue addressed directly. SPD 4 vs. SPD 3. SPD 4 guy has higher DEX. Seg 11, SPD 4 uses held action to attack SPD 3. SPD 3 aborts to a block (successful). Seg 12 SPD 4 Holds. Seg 2 SPD 4 Attacks SPD 3. SPD 3 blocks again at -2 (successful). Seg 3 SPD 4 holds Seg 4 SPD 4 attacks. Seg 4 SPD 3 ??? The question concerns Seg 4. Because of the successful blocks IF SPD 4 and SPD 3 had a phase in the same segment, SPD 3 would go first. However, since SPD 4 is holding his action at the begining of Seg 4 and technically does not have a phase in the same segment as SPD 3, SPD 3 is still considered blocking, and can't preempt SPD 4's Seg 4 action even though the blocks were successful. If SPD 4 decides to not attack, holding his action on Seg 4 instead, then SPD 3's phase comes around and he can take any normal action, but the fact that he had successfully blocked is irrelevant. Is this correct?

I actually mentioned Wierd War II because I think it has a section talking about Supers. World War II is also great. It's kind of a "WWII for Dummies" w/ stats.

GURPS Wierd War II has some really fun ideas about the wierder aspects of WWII.

My take on it that has been working pretty good is as follows: 1. Stats are included in package deals, but generally not more than +3. Enough to get the flavor of a stat, but not over the top (unless the race really warrants it). 2. Then, if the race really is predisposed to being that much better with a stat, I change the maxima, using the Age disadvantage as a guideline. Maxima only change if it is a net 0 change in my opinion, or a disadvantage. Point 1 allows you to simply apply the package to a standard normal template and now have a standard normal racial template. There is value in that. Point 2 allows a race to excel with balance. Dwarves, for example, get a boost in STR and CON. They have a 5 point Disad for Altered Char Maxima (23 CON, 17 DEX, 3" Leaping, 8" Running). There are probably a few other mods that I'm forgetting. What this says is that your average dwarf is a little stronger than the average human, but his potential is the same. He is tougher and potentially tougher still. He is no more clumsy than the average man, but his potential dexterity is not that great. These are subtle changes, with subtle impact on the character development, but work very well for capturing flavor. Any racial disads apply towards the character's total disads, otherwise IMO races are too unbalanced. YMMV

from the FAQ: With this interpretation, I would say no. However, he could grab with the claws, doing no damage, and use them to hold the player while they bite, while simultaneously doing a Shove with their tail, which may be an area attack as well. LIke it says above, the idea is to create multiple interesting effects, not necessarily to deal more damage.