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JohnTaber

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Posts posted by JohnTaber

  1. How would you do this: Big sheet of ice?

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: How would you do this: Big sheet of ice?

     

    This comes up all the time and there are a bunch of different ways to do it. I'll mention a simple one...

     

    Change Environment, -1 Characteristic Roll and all Skill Rolls based on Dex, -1 DCV, Multiple Combat Effects, Only When Target On Surface, etc.

     

    You could up the penalites etc...but you get the idea...

     

    FYI. I would also search the boards. Also look for marbles. ;)

  2. A general question? What about Shields?

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: A general question? What about Shields?

     

    You can definitely borrow it. :) I really need to get a copy of your Traveller stuff...where is that link...I'll check your sig when I get out of this post. ;)

     

    I actually use this for ship shields AND for personal shields. For character shields it allows them to take one good hit then they better get behind cover. It has worked very well for me. ;)

     

    Forgot! It makes fighters with tiny autofire attacks useful too. ;) Imaging 10 fighters on one side of a capital ship. They will knock down the shields fairly effectively...allowing the big guns to blast in. Hehehe. :D

  3. A general question? What about Shields?

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: A general question? What about Shields?

     

    Hi Folks: Here is something I am doing. This is really simply another application of Side Effect that is just more defined. First I'll paste in the text from my campaign doc then I'll show you an example:

     

     

    1.1.1.1 Fragmenting Defense

     

    This is a new limitation that can be taken on defensive powers. It is used to reflect a defense that chips away as it is struck. In essence this is a very specific form of the Side Effect limitation. I got the idea from an article in Digital Hero and modified it to suit my needs.

     

    Fragmenting is a base –1 limitation. When struck a fragmenting defense loses 1 point of PD or ED based on the attack type. For every point of Body done that exceeds the defenses given by the power an additional point of PD or ED must be removed. The adjustment in the defense is done after the effects of the damage are applied. Here is a brief example. An energy attack that does 8 Body hits a 10 PD/10 ED Force Field. No Body gets through and the target gets to use the full 10 ED for soaking the damage. After the attack the Force Field is considers 10 PD/9 ED. If the attack did 12 Body the resulting Force Field would be 10 PD/7 ED.

     

    At the end of each turn the power recovers 1 point of PD or ED. The recovery rate can be changed by moving up or down the time chart. For each move up the chart a –1/4 additional limitation is granted. For each move down the chart a +1/4 move is made in the value of the limitation.

     

    Here is an example:

    Shields - Fore: FF (20 PD/20 ED), Adjustable (Faceable; +1/4) (50 Active Points); OIF Bulky (Shield Generator; -1), Fragmenting Defense (-1), Limited Coverage 90 Degrees (-1/2)

     

    I just buy that four times.

  8. Magic System Crunch

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Magic System Crunch

     

    Hi Katal: I would also decide if a certain amount of real point expenditure is required to get spells. For example, spellcasters have at least 20 points spent on spells. This prevents what my group calls, "The Mystically Enhanced Fighter Syndrome". PC will get Str, Force Field, and IR spells only. They spend a bit of points and end up with a really effective fighter. If you don't care that's fine...just a heads up. ;)

  9. Starting a SH campeign

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Starting a SH campeign

     

    It is very tough starting a sci-fi campaign. I actually ran an entire Champs campaign while I was working on my Star Hero. I wrestled with many of these questions. I did some things which helped my control some of these factors but I wanted to talk with you about something I did which had the most impact.

     

    I created a detailed outline with answers to many of the questions you asked based on the immediate location of the PCs. I gave this to the PC a couple of WEEKS before the first session.

     

    Re: Location. For example, in my game the PC started on an asteroid mining colony. Thus I had to do a lot of prep work around that factility, nearby space, local laws, politics, borders, tech, recent history, slang, etc but not a lot of information on other areas initially.

     

    Re: Giving Material Early. That was a HUGE plus as in almost every case a player wanted knowledge about a certain thing. For example, one player wanted a psi. He worked up the idea then had questions about it. The two of us worked out details on the setting which was neat! The player also loved being involved in the process and ended up writing a very spiffy corporate backround for me. ;)

     

    I don't want to scare you but my current campaing doc is in something like it's 20 iteration and it tops 70 pages. You can get it on my site (the link is below). It keeps getting updated as we go along and folks ask questions. For example, last week one of the PC asked if there was psi dampening drugs. Ok...another paragraph added to the doc. ;)

  12. Help with villain power

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Help with villain power

     

    As with everything in Hero there are a bunch of different ways you can attack this power. I had a villain who could apply hexes and I used one of two powers. I either used an EB (for falling stuff, wires, etc) with variable special effect OR dex train (trips on wires, etc). It worked great.

  13. Power build question

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Power build question

     

    Depending on the effect you want you could also link in a PD/ED drain. This is good if you want to represent the fact that the structure itself is now more fragile. I did this for an ice character once. He could freeze objects and make them brittle. ;)

  16. I am hot!

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: I am hot!

     

    Hi Hi Guyz,

     

    This is my first post so go easy on me. k? LOL

     

    I want to make a special entangle, so that like sirens of old could mezmerize a male. Can I use entangle and drain speed?

     

    So 1d6 would take away that many actions? Help me out how can I make that work.

     

    thanks all!

     

    Hi Siren!

     

    Welcome to the board and Hero. Likely you will get several replies as the board is pretty active. Hopefully you will also find it pretty friendly. ;)

     

    As you will soon find there are a bunch of ways to build things in Hero. That is a strength of the system not a weakness IMHO.

     

    You could build a siren song with entangle and/or speed drain or with other powers as well. Entangle will already make the player spend phases breaking out. Drain would cause the effects to linger after breaking out of it. Just to get you thinking you could also do something like this with mind control too. :)

     

    What about this...

     

    Entangle (Cannot Be Escaped With Teleport +1/4, Takes No Damage From Attacks +1/2)

     

    That would work on one person. Add it area affect or explosion to get more than one person. You could get really fancy and add personal immunity and explosion with no range to get everyone that can hear it. ;)

  18. AstroSynthesis?

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: AstroSynthesis?

     

    Hi Gents: I wanted to throw in my comment about Astrosynthesis. I personally think it take a LOT of commitment to use it. As it is in 3 dimensions I found it very hard to actually utilize it in my sessions or even to setup my megaverse. It is very hard to explain unless you really sit down with it for a while. My suggestion is to download the demo and play with it quite a bit before buying it. I bought it...messed with it for a month...then stopped using it. If you REALLY want 3D maps and are willing to work with it then Astrosyth is fine.

     

    Just my take...

  21. What I Learned Being a Star Hero GM

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: What I Learned Being a Star Hero GM

     

    Here is what I learned / am learning...

     

    Some players want to solve every problem with a hack or a high-tech device instead of their brains and clever role-playing.

     

    I'm lucky as my players really kick butt. This is the first space opera campaign I have a run and it is very challenging. One of my players started doing this so badly that one of the players chastised him for it. Gotta love it when other players help keep things in perspective. :)

  22. How to stat this out... if I should?

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: How to stat this out... if I should?

     

    If the character is an NPC I definitely would not worry about it. If a PC really wants this power I might ask him to hold some experience and maybe start with less points than the rest of the PC...expecially if folks die a lot in this particular campaign. Unless you run a dangerous Champs game death is not common... ;)

     

    My only concern if one of my players wanted this power would be gaining the "knowledge" not the powers. Does that mean Inheritor gains memories too? If that is the case I might buy a massive triggered telepathy with lots of limitations to mimic that effect. You could throw in heaps of limitations to really drive down the cost.

  24. Build me a power - Paralyzing Touch

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Build me a power - Paralyzing Touch

     

    For this kind of attack/SFX I've always liked Transform (please don't hit me). The idea is that the Transform represents striking a number of nerve clusters (or one rather significant cluster) and "transforming" a self mobile target into a paralysed one. The transform is undone though a repeated use of the power' date=' or a successful appropriate skill roll made by another (such as Chinese Healing, Chiatsu, KS: Pressure Points or somesuch). It's bought with a Limitation that it's versus rPD rather than Power Defense.[/quote']

     

    POW! <- Virtual hit. Come on! Do folks try and use transform for EVERYTHING! :idjit:

  25. skills question

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: skills question

     

    I use my common sense and go from there. If the feat is something the character would not have a chance of performing then I don't even give them a roll. For example, they find a computer and want to hack it for information. If they do not have computer programming they get no chance at it. In cases where it might be possible I give them an appropriate roll with heavy subtractions. I also severely restrict the use of skill levels in these cases unless they are completely applicable.

     

    PS This is a great topic for the Ultimate Skills book. I would definitely cross post this thread if possible. ;)

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