AlHazred

I believe you can find those elvish fonts here.

Of course. I like to go right to the source. In which case, I would use the Absolute Effect Rule. My post was meant to bring up the idea that just declaring, "My character has an X Class mind" should not be enough. It cheapens the definitions. There ought to be real roleplaying challenges involved, otherwise it suffers the same devaluation as the classic fantasy "races": dwarves, elves, and whatnot are just humans with minor physical differences; their personalities are readily recognizable and easily established. Having an Animal or Machine Class of mind ought to lead to real differences in how the character is played. I do the same with Animal Class minds in my Hârn Hero game, adding +10 to the Effect Level needed and adding +3 to the ECV of the target. Machine Minds and Alien Minds are beyond reach, however. If you're willing to do some handwaving, start a new class of minds, call it Unreachable. I was just trying to find a way using existing rules.

In many cases, actually, it is disadvantageous. That's because having an Animal Mind or a Machine Mind goes beyond just being a different "class." An Animal Mind can't reason with the same logic humans do, frequently can't create intricate tools (beyond the lever), or plan effectively for the future. Or practice self-restraint as easily. A Machine Mind must be programmed specifically for any particular task. Now, all that being said, saying, "My character has a Machine Mind" has other consequences. If there are mentalist PCs, they won't be able to Mind Link with your PC. You'd likely have a hefty penalty with impromptu social interactions. You might find it difficult to adjust to unexpected occurances. In fact, you might take a lot more time than Humans when it comes to changing your mind; the GM might rule that you should come up with some very generic Decision Trees to determine your likely action in any particular circumstance. An Animal Mind would have other problems. He could react quickly to changing circumstances, but would probably react only with the "Fight or Flight" reflex. ("I'll think about it later, maybe. Right now, I'll [RUN/ATTACK]!") He'd definitely have penalties in many social situations where precise responses are dictated, i.e. both High Society and Streetwise will take hits. Both of these characters will have different sets of Everyman Abilities. It's reasonable to give the Machine Mind no Everyman Skills at all; only if he's specifically programmed with an ability does he have it. For Animal Mind Everyman Skills, see the HERO System Bestiary. If it were up to me, I'd use the Absolute Effect Rule from Fantasy Hero, page 250. If Steve doesn't mind, I'd even give you specifics on how that fine tome recommends to do it. Incidentally, Steve, different Classes of Minds and their effects on Character Construction would make for a dandy Digital Hero column, don't you think?

I once was agonizing so much over a climactic battle in a Fantasy Hero game I was running that, a few days before the event, I had a lucid dream where I played everything out: villain actions, PC reactions, dialogue, etc. I was stoked; as soon as I woke up, I wrote it all down while half-asleep. The day of the game, I got to my friend's house early, pulled out my notes, and gave them the once over. It made NO SENSE. None of them. In my dream, I had accepted things quite naturally that made absolutely no logical sense and would have blown the players' sense of suspended disbelief. On the other hand, at least my gauging of the players' reactions to events would have been spot on...

Hey, I also like all your HD stuff. I just get them from Star Hero Fandom now, so as to minimize my use of HG's bandwidth. Maybe you could post a link in your sig?

I wonder if there's enough interest to generate an Online Fantasy Hero Grimoire, sort of like the USPD and Spacer's Toolkit extensions. It'd be a good way to popularize the Turakian Age setting. And I'm sure it would get a lot of submissions...

I'd probably buy a die or two of HA through the board as well. Take it from me, those things hurt when someone runs into you at high speed...

I believe he's talking about Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, which I've heard classified as Transhuman Sci-Fi. Haven't read them myself. What're they about?

I think the gun in Eraser is a great candidate for Indirect, myself. It neatly ignores intervening barricades or body armor to damage the target; pretty much the definition of Indirect...

I'd call the Skill Psychohistory, but that's pretty much what I was thinking. Nice work, Sociotard.

As a GM, I've broken myself of the pigeon-holing habit, where every NPC became a stereotype. I did it by making sure to think of every NPC's personality two ways, positive and negative. Now, they take too long for me to role-play properly, since they've got fully developed personalities. Bah!

For the Voodoo doll, check out Doll Magic in Fantasy Hero Grimoire, in the Witchcraft section. A huge number of points, as it should be for such powerful effects.

Yep, more quality stuff from Fitz. Makes being a slacker like myself easy...

I've designed everything from a 0+25 point retired Roman centurion to a 750+250 Cosmic Superhero, and it's all in the GM. I run a Harn Hero game that started at 50+50 and has now reached the 200-point region, and I'm participating in a Very Powerful Heroic cross-genre game that started at 150+100. And what makes or breaks a game is always the GM: he stacks the deck to make the challenges challenging, which a good GM can do at any power level.

FWIW, I've found a couple of good sites for info on Time Travel; some of these ideas might be of use to you. This site reviews movies with Time Travel themes and does a good job untwisting them. Mind you, comic book time travel is a lot less rigorous than this guy, but your campaign might be more "realistic" in which case it's a good reference. Time War is a game that will be coming out this year from Argent Games. I first ran across it a year or so ago, when the author had the whole system on the Web. Obviously, since then, he's found a publisher. I remember he had really good "mechanics" for describing time travel and its complications. Sadly, that material's no longer available, at least until it's published...

It's a little late to put my 0.02 in, but what the hey, that's what the boards are for. It doesn't bother me as much that Greatsword wielders can do more DCs. I think the best reflection of Lightsabres is the Energy Blade from Star Hero, which is NND, Does BODY. That's pretty sick! If you did something to a Greatsword to make it NND, Does BODY (say, something similar to a Brilliant Energy weapon a la D&D), I'd say it also has to take STR Doesn't Add Damage on top of it, since it's not the power of the blow doing the cutting; it'd then do 2d6 Killing, a full d6 less than the Energy Blade. We can imagine the superior construction of the lightsabre is responsible for the added damage...

Gee, zarglif69, that was very... constructive. I don't really remember much about the robots from I, Robot, but I remember R. Daneel Olivaw from The Caves Of Steel. He'd be pretty interesting to write up, along with his human partner...

Hey, Fitz, any chance of posting the .hdc file for this critter?

Since most spells only have a penalty of -1 per 10 Active Points and I usually use VPP Magic Pools, mages usually only have, at most, a -6 or -7 penalty to their Magic Skill. By the time they've had a chance to train, they usually get their Magic Skill rolls up to 16 or 17 or less, and use Complementary Rolls and "Spell Focuses" (2-point Magic Skill roll bonses, OAF, Only With One School Of Magic) to better their roll. They also learn to do more with smaller spells; a 30-point spell has a penalty of -3, almost never failing for a mage with a 17- roll. I don't allow PSLs for that, since they can more cheaply buy bonuses to Magic Skill. I do allow 1-point bonuses (1 Real point per +1) with the Only With One School Of Magic (-1) limit.

It'd be a form of Invisibility, with a hefty Usable Simultaneously, and equally hefty limitations (RSR, Mech Only, etc.) Similar in spirit to buying your SPD up, but only with regards to your vehicle.

Rather than starting with the D20 version, shouldn't you start with the original? That way it won't be twice-filtered, like my coffee...

I like it! We don't see enough truly different magical styles on the Boards. Nice work, KS.

The Shantak: Mike, I think you forgot to actually apply the limitation modifier to the cost of the FTL Travel Power; it should probably be 15 points.

The Hunting Horror.

Multiple Combat Effects an Adder on Change Environment that was added in later (yeah, I know, but they've been good about including it in sidebars of later products so I've forgiven them). You can find it in a number of places, including the UNTIL SuperPowers Database and I believe the Fantasy Hero Grimoire. When I get home, I'll send you the writeup, it's pretty short.