Greenstar

I had considered the Herbalism using Trigger as well, but wanted to try and make it a bit more distinct from Alchemy - Herbalism is more primitive and more requiring of the casters immediate involvement. Wizardry and Thaumaturgy were split mainly so it would require 2 skills vice one. I do plan for the multiple person rituals, as one of the very common Thauturmaic spells is going to be an END Transfer, only from willing targets. Likewise, I may need to cobble up a table to allow bonuses to the skill roll for having assistants present. And yes, the specific powers and advantages need to be further delineated. I was just lazy Thanks for the comments!

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I'm working on a brand new FH campaign, characters starting out at 50+50. The general atmosphere is fairly low fantasy, but with some exceptional individuals or groups capable of some impressive magic. Technology is (in the most civilized areas) about the equivalent of 1200-1300 AD. I've worked up some basic magic house rules, and would like feedback. I suspect the first thing I'll get is "wow, mages will blow everything else away", but I'm not so sure of myself as to not want to get a second, thied, etc. opinion. I'm striving for a "realistic" feel as much as possible here, with magic being rare and frightening. ALL spells have to have GM approval, of course. The attachment is an MS-Word documnet, about 3 pages. If you need it in another format, please email me.

There are also metagame ways to restrict the armor that several epople have touched on. I'm just cranking up a FH game, and to try and avoid these same problems I'm looking at doing the following: 1. Armor is expensive. Particularly the heavy stuff. REALLY expensive. 2. Armor makes a statement, and that statement is "Let's fight!" It's not going to be worn casually at all (save perhaps DEF 1 stuff like leather or furs in cold weather) 3. Armor takes END to fight in. Still working out the details, as I'll use sectional armor, but it'll be along the lines of the 4th ed. table 4. Armor takes even MORE END in hot weather. And it slows your running, leaping, etc. Plus long-term wear will give you injuries, rashes, and make you smell bad. 5. Armor can be damaged, and must be fixed. Still working out the details to balance easy of play with game effects. 6. Helmets, in particular, will reduce PER rolls, sometimes a lot (depending on the type of helmet worn). Now, all this will restrict the tank somewhat. But really - knights were armored like that for a reason - it gave them a huge edge in combat. They could just wade through the groundlings and not worry too much about getting hurt. That's why knights tended to fight each other, as the commoners were "beneath them". But when it had it's drawbacks, they were big ones (the mud at Agincourt, for example).

I didn't think you could use Dispel against something that did an attack-type damage? Or did I read things wrong?

Thanks for the suggestions. Now another question - how to create a poison antidote? Doing a Transform is one way, but it's an expensive way (Transform person to person without poison, "healed" by getting poisoned again). I was thinking that most poisons do damage as an NND Killing Attack perhaps linked to a Drain to one or more stats, Gradual Effect. One way to keep a character alive would be to Aid BODY, Limited only to poison damage, and shift it down on the time chart. The poisoned person would still suffer the Drain effects (if any), but should at least survive if the antidote is given to them in time. Let's say that poison X does a CON Drain 4d6 linked to a NND HKA 4d6 (defense is LS), Gradual Effect, 1 minute. Let's further say that I have the spell set to Aid BODY only vs. poison, 3d6, and it takes a minute to prepare the herbs. 1st minute, the poison rolls a 4 and a 3, so lose 2 CON, 3 BODY, 9 STUN. Next minute the spell is there, and the roll is 11...so there's 3 points of "real" body damage already that's not healed, but the next 11 BODY come off the Aid. So, next minute, the rolls are 2 and 5, so the victim loses 1 more CON, 5 BODY (but this is from the Aid) and 15 STUN. Next minute, a 4 and a 2, so 2 more CON and 2 BODY from the Aid plus 6 STUN. Final minute, 4 and 3, so 2 more CON and 3 BODY plus 9 STUN. So, that's 10 more BODY total, but it's all from the Aid, and the sTUN comes back quickly. At the end of it all, the victim is down 3 BODY and 7 CON. Sound right?

I am the GM I don't want to use this in a Power Framework - that was how I first approached it, but the spells are very limited, and it's just not very cost effective. Plus which, the characer in question really don't plan to hav every many spells at all. I like the Dispel Disease - that one I'd not thought of. The problem with the LS usable by others is really an fx kind of thing. The concept is that the character whips out some herb, mixing bowl, silver rod, sping water, whatever, and makes an infusion that is a vehicle to the magical energies. This is applied to the target, and it lasts for a while on it's own. Wait a minute...LS - all poisons, useable by others, 1 continuing charge (1 Day)...that might work. Heck, maybe I limit it to natural venoms, though the cost break isn't much...hmmm...

The Transform idea is good - I assume that it would be a minor as opposed to major transform, and that it could be cast several times to get the cumulative effect. Oddly, the folks with lots of BODY would be *harder* to heal, but, well, OK, I could live with that. I don't like the idea that everyone in the whole world would carry around 1 pt. of LS just so they could be Aided by spells like these, though.

(Not sure if this should go here, the Rules forum, or the Fantasy Hero Forum. I rolled a die and this forum won out I'm working on a Heroic Level campaign (FH type, actually) and I've got a character that can activate some limited magical abilities via Herbalism (druid priestess type). The spells all require extra time (usually 1 or 5 minutes) and expendable OAF (the herbs). Mostly they'll be limited to AIDs and HEALs. Dilemma 1: I'd like to create something to help resist toxins. Normally, I'd think this would be a 10 pt. Life Support, so I could create an AID to that, and shift it way down on the time scale. Trouble is, AID can't grant a power that the character deosn't already have. TRANSFORM doesn't seem to fit the bill either, as it's horridly expensive for this limted effect, and it lasts far too long. Dilemma 2: It'd be nice for the same charcter to have a spell that can help cure disease. It wouldn't actually heal any damage already done, just check the further progression of the disease's gradual effect. Most diseases are DRAINS I'd think, so how would this be defined - AID to Power Defense with Variable Advantage? Again, though, almost no one will have any Power Defense, so...

A valid point, and I've thought of 2 ways around it: 1. Light armor should be very cheap in comparison to heavy armor. 2. I'm seriously thinking of making this a chance per penetrating hit rather than a certainty. Call it 50%. Not nearly so elegant as the suggestions posted about the armor itself taking damage and tracking DEF loss that way, but it does have the saving grace of not requiring that yet another number be tracked. Several numbers, actually, as I'll be using sectional armor...leading to: 3. You'd only have to repair/replace the areas that were damaged, not the whole suit. Assuming you are even alive to do so, that is....

My plans for armor damage were much more simplistic - but a lot easier to keep track of. Each time a location was hit and penetrated (e.g. the character took BODY damage), the rDEF of the armor in that location would drop by 1 until it was repaired. Nope, it's not nrealy as realisitic as what's been proposed here (and very good proposals they are, too!), but it may save me a few more calculations in a game that's already filled with them. Some of my players just aren't good with "mechanics" so I'll be doing a lot of that as the GM, freeing them up to just RP.

I don't have my FREd book here, so this may already be covered, but...I plan to have characters in armor spend END when in combat time each phase depending on the weight of armor they carry. I suspect this s covered in the encumberance rules, but as I said, I'm not sure (don't have my books at work ) I'm coupling this with a slight change to the basic rules - I'm not allowing END recovery in the post-12 segment. STUN, bleeding, etc. will all happen, but if you want to recover END, you have to use a phase to do so. So far in testing, it seems to make fights a bit more"realistic".

Good point. My preference would be for realism, but that's just me. So in my world, he eats rat For the FH campaighn I'm working on, I may tweak the DEF and BODY of things a bit with some house rules to make 'em a bit more durable.

Why do polearms have so much more DEF than spears? I can see a bit more, but more than double? Either spears are too low, or polearms are too high. Anyone else notice that it's ridiculously easy to break a foe's weapon? A broadsword is usually 4 DEF, 4 BODY. Someone with a greatsword doing no extra STR damage will almost destroy one in a single blow. Somehow, I don't think they were that fragile. Also, isn't heavy plate listed as rPD=8? That's the same DEF as a bank vault? Huh? Methinks the DEF and BODY values *are* seriously off.

It's still a handwave, but maybe you could rule on the type of damage needed - for example, to chop down a door, you need cutting damage. The DEF/BODY of the door is normal against this damage. Ditto for, say, fire (it's wood, after all). For "inappropriate" damage types apply a multiplier to the BODY of the item. Say, 5x BODY if you are going at it with a sword, and even 20X if a spear.

Just have to mention a couple of books that give some great ideas for post-apoc critters and such: "Heiro's Journey" By Sterling Lanier. A surprisingly good read, too, though more thna a bit over the top. The world just *begs* to be made into an RPG, though. "The Jungle" by David Drake. Lots of VERY nasty plants and such. Ditto "Redliners" by the same author. "Deathworld" by Harry Harrison. It's actually a trilogy, as I recall. "Hothouse Planet" by Brian Aldiss. Another set of VERY nasty mutated plants. "Beowulf's Children" by Pournelle and Stirling, I think. Just the one critter, but it's a doozy.

Keep the crads behind the GM screen and turn the discards face-down. Use 12 cards instead of 6 (a regular deck of cards, 1 suit, no King) to make card-counting harder. Discard face-down .

I didn't mean everyone drew different cards. The GM draws, and the phases get shuffled about. You still go on your normal phase, you just aren't sure when it'll come up. I'll take the caveat also that I don't play Supers games; I far prefer Fantasy or Swashbuckling or Modern or Post-Apocalyptic. So no one has over a SPD 5 at the best. as for house rules that are hated, hey, the idea is for everyone to have fun, right? Otherwise, why p;ay? I'd never tyr and force my players to put up with something they totally hated. Sure I'd try and convince them, but if I couldn't, well, toss it!

I'm not so sure. I've considered things, and I can't seee a horrid objection to the "deck of cards 1-12" method. It adds a small amount of randomness to the play and helps cut down ont he metagaming aspect (and please, don't use the "IC vs. OOC issue here. That's impossible to really adjudicate well) without crucifying the system. But the bottom line is, why not use what works for you? There seems to be a lot of "religious war" sentiment in this thread.

It's been a while, but as I recall, Richard had a "change of heart" after his near-death experience. Jonh never became king, Arthur survived and succeeded Richard, I think. Not sure it ever talked about the Magna Carta, but I got the imoression that it wasn't as "needed" because Arthur was more leineint than John with the barons. Also note that there apparently was no Hundred Year's War, and instead the Angevin Empire sort of absorbed the rest of France and such. At the time of the stories they own Great Britain, France, "New England" (North America) and "New France" (South America). The Scandanavian nations are alled to them, Germany ( a collection of small states) is neutral. Poland seems to own most all of eastern Europs and probably Russia to the Urals. Not at all sure about what happened to Italy and Spain.

The "Lord D'Arcy" novels (Randall Garrett, I think) very accurately portray this kind of world. They are basically detetive stories (the title character is a Sherlock Holmes equivalent) but the premise is that laws of magic were codified starting around the 12th century. Also, Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) didn't die at Chaluz but lived, became a good king, and now the Anglo-French Empire is the world "superpower" though the Poles are their foil. An excellent, excellent series of stories and now back in print I think.

1. Something on religions, gods, mythology, etc. would be nice. Particularly how to handle "Gods are vvery active" vs. "Who knows if gods are real" vs. "something in between" 2. Armor and weaponry lists, plus maybe some rules on "cheap" and "fine" equipment. 3. Some martial arts styles with weapons, yes. 4. LOTS of magic examples