Zanthis

Re: Move Through/Move By Question: Does movement take time? You could just house-rule all Full Move attack actions to intrinsically have the limitation Extra Time: Delayed Phase.

Re: Limit to Selling Strength? (or any attribute) I've found a lot of players try and buy down "unnecessary" stats. I've used the following guideline: Without buying that stat down, can your character do something he should not, by concept, be able to do? Spirit characters and such often fail this check and I suggest not buying down the offending attribute. On the other hand, if you're an elf owl and a high STR allows you to carry ridicously loads, then by all means buy down the stat. I don't have a problem with this, especially for quasi-standard animals since they tend to have strengths and weaknesses in their concept that the point buy-back for STR or whatever doesn't really cause much abuse. Unless they decide to buy RKA BOECV Continous and true Invisibility and tack them on their Multi-form mouse. But then that isn't really a standard animal.

Re: Proper use of Hardened & Defenses Tony 1 is the version to use. It protects the character against BODY and STUN of nearly any attack, even those using Armor Piercing, Penetrating or Indirect. Given those stats, the following would be required to hurt Tony: To deal at least one BODY: 3 1/2d6 Killing Attack vs PD: Up to 1 BODY dealt, 55 Active Points 10 1/2d6 Energy Blast vs PD: Up to 1 BODY dealt, 55 Active Points To deal at least one STUN: 1d6 Killing Attack vs PD: Up to 5 STUN dealth, 15 Active Points 3 1/2d6 Energy Blast vs PD: Up to 1 STUN dealth, 17 Active Points If you really want to make Tony immune to bullets, there is an entire thread that popped up recently talking about just that subject. Edit: Adding link to bulletproof thread.

Re: Are Oaths too general for triggers? A situation that would occur only if the mook happened to have KS: HERO 5th Edition rules 15- and made a check to reveal that the power that had just been used on him was a trigger rather than a summon invisible "curse" creature to observer (physically and mentally) that the mook doesn't break the oath. I cannot, as a GM, justify to myself (or my players) a mook ever pulling this off. Do it to Dr. D on the other hand and yes he'll find a way to break it given a bit of time to think on it. I don't have my book on me, so I cannot read up on the details of trigger ATM, but I seem to recall the AOE explosion example. However, I also have a recollection of range being required on a power set by a trigger on a moving target (a person) versus a stationary target (the spot right in front of a door) which would not require a ranged power. Of course, that could also just be an old house rule mucking things up in my memory . As far as the to hit roll goes, I'd be fairly strict on this power because it is a variable advantage and not a standard power of the character. I think fudging the rules for dramatic effect in this case gives a flexible power too much benefit. It's flexibility should be its benefit. In cases like adding AP or Double Knockback, the extra cost of the Variable Advantage reduces the overall effect of the power. But in cases such as Trigger or Variable Special Effect (inside Variable Advantage) for example, effects can occur that far eclipse the value of the Variable Advantage. This I believe is one of those cases. Munchkin fun with Trigger: Nano Grenades 1 pip HKA [5 Base Cost] Area Effect (5" Radius, Selective Target, +1 1/4), Penetrating (+1/2), Variable Advantage (+3 3/4 Advantages, +7 1/2) [Active Points 51]; Charges (4, -1), Concentration (1/2 DCV, -1/4), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), OAF (Grenade, -1), No STR Bonus (-1/2) [Real Points 12] Standard setup for the 3 3/4 points worth of advantages would be: Affects Desolid (Only Spirits, +1/4) Autofire (40 shots, Nonstandard Attack, +3) Variable Special Effect (Any SFX, +1/2) Occasional setup for 3 3/4 points worth of advantages: Affects Desolid (Any form, +1/2) Megascale (1" = 1000km, +1) Penetrating (4 more for a total of 5, +2) Trigger (Set Trigger: "I touch or look at you with intent to kill", +1/4) Using the occasional setup, trigger it say 300 or so times over the course of a few days (its radius is greater than that of Earth) and anyone you meet from then on will die instantly when you touch or look at them and wish for them to die. As a bonus, you can still use the grenades against non-terrestrial foes in their standard nearly-as-lethal configuration.

Re: Armour Piercing as an Adder Just out of curiousity I played with the numbers treating the effect (reducing resistant defenses) as both an adder (-1rPD for 2 points) and at a set of limitations (-1.5 total) bought on additional RKA dice using Standard Effect (thanks Hugh). The adder is always superiour no matter what combination of additional limitations and advantages are applied to the power. This is true in terms of both real cost and active points. In a very few instances if you buy no advantages and and add some additional limitations you can save a single point or so using -1.5 limitations on extra dice versus the adder method. The increased simplicity of the adder makes it the clear winner IMO. Then again, since it appears in Dark Champions I guess someone already went through all the trouble of figuring this out .

Re: Are Oaths too general for triggers? First, the "trigger" won't work like he wants: 1) He hasn't taken the attack yet. He just set the trigger. When the trigger condition is met the attack will then occur (requiring a to hit roll, etc). 2) I'm not convinced it would work unless the Martial Artist was in range at the time the Trigger is triggered. If the martial artist was in range however when the oath was broken, then a fist or foot might suddenly shoot out from him and strike the poor villian. It would likely be a surprise to the MA and could be a problem if he was doing something important (climbing a ladder) at the time. 3) Further, if he changes the Variable Advantage to something other than Trigger, the existing set trigger will go away, freeing the target of the "curse". 4) As already mentioned, he must be able to perceive the event in order for the trigger to work so it would have to be pretty obvious. Clever thought on the player's part, and with some extra points spent he could come up with a workable "curse" Chi power. But I don't believe this fits the bill.

Re: Armour Piercing as an Adder Aside from an adder, the limitations "Does No STUN" (-1/2) and "BODY only contributes to counter defenses" (-1) on the rifle RKA could work. So I might buy: 2d6 RKA [30 Real/Active Points] +2d6 RKA [30 Active Points] Does No Stun(-1/2), BODY only contributes to counter defenses(-1); [12 Points] That would let me ignore on average 7rPD for the cost of 12 Points. Compare to your method which would cost 17.5 points for the same ability. I personally think the adder might be too expensive at -2rPD/5 Points considering you also are getting no extra STUN from the points. Further, if you apply advantages to your Rifle, it'll become much more expensive than going a limitation route. Conversely, adding limitations to a Rifle with your Adder will make it noticably cheaper than if you used limitations for the Armor Piercing effect. You may also want to check out Dark Champions Piercing advantage. Don't have the book so I can't say for sure if that's what you want.

Re: So, why is longevity so expensive? While not in HEROs, I have played in several campaigns where age was important. While character's never retired (permanently) as a result of old age, longer lived characters were able to take advanatge of several magical items and spells (wish for example) that aged them. Wizards engaging in researching magical spells and items tended to eat up time months in half-year blocks every two levels. In one campaign, to keep the game going we ended up with a pocket dimension to research in. Time still passed inside the dimension, just at x12 normal rate. So if I needed 18 months to research new spells, the other characters only needed to justify 45 days of goofing off or sole adventuring (in which I lost out on the xp btw). Ultimately, age ended up being a resource. You "spent" it to acquire more spells, items or powers. Some classes were better at this than others. No one ever ran out unless it killed them. There are several ways to reverse aging and we made as much use of them as we could. But the advantage of the elf wizard over the human wizard could become noticable around 5th-7th level. And when we came back two years later and replayed old characters that had aged 20 years (with the appropriate stat reductions for old age) some characters were better off than others. But that was just a one-shot.

Re: So, why is longevity so expensive? And don't forget you can cover the cost of it with a Distinctive Feature: Long Life (assuming you are really old at the start of the game). This would include things like having a birth certificate but no death certificate and other similar stuff that someone researching your character's paper trail could figure out and cause them to start asking questions and compromise your character's identity.

Re: Multiple Power Attacks: Abused? This is due to the author's Psychological Disadv: Occasionally Obfuscates Ordinances (Very Common, Moderate). This was necessary to support the Perks: Published Author, Money and Babes. Whether it's munchkiny or not is personal opinion.

Re: Multiple Power Attacks: Abused? One quick "END only once/phase for STR" exception from the FAQ: Q: Since a character only pays END once per Phase for all uses of STR, does that mean if he has an Autofire STR-based attack (such as Autofire for his Punch, HA, or HKA), that he only has to pay END once no matter how many punches he throws? A: No, he has to pay END for every punch. You correctly cite the general rule, but the potential abusiveness of that rule in this situation is obvious, so the GM should apply the standard END rule for Autofire attacks.

Re: Multiple Power Attacks: Abused? An interesting point I've made is on character design. When my players keep their characters in concept, building their powers (and picking new powers with xp) by designing through effect, that's how I build the villians. When they build with just HERO base powers and slap a SFX that might work on later, then I build my villians that way instead. Villians built the with the latter method are signifigantly more dangerous, annoying and unfun. I mean, it can be great fun to go against Mr. Ice, who has all manner of icy powers. But going against Mr. Ice whose got an answer to everything and the defense for everything and had the SFX "ice" slapped on it all gets pretty damn annoying. "He has Ice Goggles that give him Flash Defense!? How the hell did he get resistant Mental Defense?! His Ice is a natural barrier to Mental Powers???? WTF!"

Re: SPD based on Active Cost Since Phases can be used for both Offensive action (EB) or Defensive Action (Dodge) they cannot exclusively be included on the Offensive side of the calculation. Imagine building a character with 12 SPD and Martial Dodge, the plan being you expect to Abort to Martial Dodge half of your 12 actions, so effectively your paying 65 points for +5 DCV. Except you won't always need to do that, so if the bad guys don't keep the pressure on you you'll wipe the floor with 12 attacks per turn. Further, END is a big consideration in balance as even if I have 12 SPD, if I can only EB at full power 4 times in a turn before I'm at 0 END that extra SPD is a lot less useful. All in all it is way too complicated to put a variable cost on SPD. As close as you come is Autofire with non-standard attacks. Leave the cost of SPD alone and when its worth it for characters to buy more SPD they will, and when it isn't they won't (in general). I've yet to find anything too unbalancing with very high SPD (excepting possibly movement).

Re: Hero System is Just Alright With Me I cannot imagine anyone playing a slash-n-grab style game with no (or next to no) combat. They'd get bored quite quickly. In fact, many online RPGs are facing this very problem. They wrote an entirely slash-n-grab system and are finding that isn't sufficient to keep people playing. The average length of time someone plays such a game is likely around one year. People here (and elsewhere too) have played some pencil & paper games for 20+ years! There's something more than slash-n-grab going on to keep people's attention that long. As far as system rewards go, XP for kills (combat victories) is meaningless. I say this because most players will fight, enjoy it, and when they get XP it doesn't really matter if it came from the number of kills or just some total based on their performance. Actually, in most AD&D games I played we quickly moved away from awarding XP after fights because it slowed down the game (with people leveling in mid adventure etc). Once we moved to lump awards at the end of a session it didn't take long before we moved away from set XP amounts based on kills, because we found they didn't accurately reflect the difficulty of a battle*. However, I will say treasure rewards have been a giant headache in D&D (and many similar systems). The HEROs method of paying for everything even if you find it leads to a much nicer environment and less insane behaviour by players and GMs. In fact, it is this reason and this reason alone I try and bring any new player in using HEROs (Fantasy) instead of D&D. This is the sole area I could see an argument made that D&D encourages slash-n-grab, but even then in more mature (as in experienced, not necessarily older players) groups the item distribution becomes a lot more low-key and a much lesser focus since players start crafting their own equipment tailored exactly as they desire it. We even moved to submitting magical item preferences to the DM so that we had a chance of finding some items that we really felt would work well with our character concept. Certainly not things players new Role-Playing in general are going to be capable of. So I think I'd say D&D encourages slash-n-grab in terms of equipment (so more grabbing than slashing) in groups new to role-playing or of a fairly young age. HEROs aims even very young players at a career in mathmatics...j/k . HEROs aims even young players toward a self-directed character concept approach. Experienced players however, will play the way they want to regardless of the system. * One encounter I can vividly recall involved muck dwellers and needlemen. Neither particularly tough on their own. The needlemen did damage, but were easily killed. The muckdwellers couldn't do any damage we'd ever notice and also were easily killed. However, a muck dweller's attack stunned you for a round making you unable to take any action. Since we were fighting quite a few, the entire party spent round after round unable to act as the needlemen landed attack after attack until we could finally pull back. After an insane fight, XP was totalled and the GM refused to even tell us how embarrisingly low the number was and just made something up that matched the actual difficult of the fight.

Re: SPD based on Active Cost Once you start down that route, you need to apply the same to defenses. If I have tons of defense, I can deliver my fairly moderate offense longer. You end up with some DEF * OFF = EFFECTIVENESS formula that can be extremely tricky to: a) create in the first place, use during character creation. Ultimately, it is far easier to balance everything out regularly and understand that some configurations will be more powerful than others. Not everything in life is fair, nor is everything fair in RPGs. Learn to work with it and everything is good. Trying and work against it, or change it, and you'll likely find you're in an even worse position. Of course, if you enjoy tinkering, then go right ahead and have fun .

Re: Hero System is Just Alright With Me I'm not sure why so many people get worked up when RPGs involve a lot of combat. D&D is a popular target, but many others are mentioned too. In nearly every system, you have literally hundreds of pages on how to deal with combat. Is it any surprise that games tend to have combat be the ultimate solution to their problems? To those who (apparently) play games without combat, why play HEROs at all? Or any other RPG in specific? Without combat, you need next to no rules at all to have an enjoyable session. When it comes to game sessions, I'd rather have them require combat as the solution (or else an extremely clever non-combat solution the GM hasn't considered) rather than not. If I'm playing a RPG and intending to get into fights (and I am, otherwise I'd be playing Monopoly) I appreciate it when the GM makes this easy to do storywise. Sure, if the adventure involves no fighting I can always attack the local police deptment for no reason, but that's not really a "good" thing and would not be in character for any character I've ever played. But give me an unthinking beast eating children and I can exercise all 1,000 pages of rules and the hours of character creation without worrying about the tougher ethical considerations. After all, I'm playing a game for enjoyment, not trying to explain to people why both presidential canidates suck and how in a given 5 minute period you can expect 2d6 lies and no less than 10 incorrect word choices (decimate being a favorite). Like it or not, D&D and HEROs have a lot more similarities than differences. I'd say the main reason for slash-n-grab in D&D is the types of players playing D&D versus the types playing HEROs. Many HEROs players have it as their second (or third, or 482nd) system and have learned to expaned their adventuring content. The basic new player in D&D follows the predictable path of least resistance: 300 pages of combat rules? Guess we'll be doing some combat. Only after they've gained experience and realized how much wider their games can become to they start experimenting with other systems and hit games such as HEROs.

Re: Multiple Power Attacks: Abused? I believe you are missing at least one IIRC it has to do with the various moving attacks.

Re: Multiple Power Attacks: Abused? If you've got 600-700 point characters, I wouldn't worry too much about MPAs. But for starting supers, if one player does a bunch of 0 END attacks (or some with Charges) his MPA can quickly leave everyone else in the dust. Mainly this applies against targets with little or no defenses. Early game MPAs with killing attacks (two swords anyone?) can deal massive damage well over campaign damage caps*. Consider two 2d6+1 HKA, 0 END wielded by a character with a 35 STR. He can MPA for two 4.5d6 attacks, effectively delivering 140 Real Points in attack damage for only 3 END! He spends 129 Points to do so (assuming no limitations like OAF). Against a foe with 6rPD he'll deal an average 20 BODY and 42.7 STUN. This is like having a 7d6+1 Killing Attack (110 Active Points) for 3 END. Optionally, what if you wanted to do the same with Reduced Penetration? Still with a 35 STR, but now a 6.5d6 HKA would allow a 9d6 Killing attack (split in half) for only 3 END. That costs 125 Points, just 4 less points. So cost wise they are nearly the same, but don't forget Active Points! In the MPA case the character spent at most 52 Active Points in any power. In the Reduced Penetration case cost a whooping 125 Active Points! Far above most starting game AP caps. But my personal house rule (which doesn't just apply to MPAs) is you pay for Strength whenever you use it. Period. It is just too confusing to do otherwise and lends itself to some abuses by a few of my more creative players. I hate having to house rule that, but it is such a minor thing most of my players don't ever notice. And by the way, I'd view this house rule as reducing complexity of the game overall, not adding to it. I challenge anyone who disagrees to name off the top of his (or her) head under what circumstances a character must pay additional END for STR used more than once in a Phase . *One of about 10,000 reasons I don't like, approve of, or use caps of any kind.

Re: Multiple Power Attacks: Abused? I have to agree. As long as the attacks in question cost END, I don't find MPAs to be too bad (assuming you don't allow cheap equipment doubling). Using them repeatedly can rack up huge END drain very fast. But charges or 0 END on attacks that are MPA'd can be very bad. Also, big END reserves to cover the powers can also be dangerous. I can't remember if you need to pay END for the STR used in multiple MA manuavers in a MPA at the moment (my mind is blanking) but I've had a few issues with that rule in the past so I always require END to be paid for each use of STR. And if your players overuse MPAs, Martial Dodge is a nice way to screw them. With all that firepower combined into a single attack roll, the +5 DCV is extremely rude. If you thought missing was bad, trying missing with a triple power MPA that cost you 18 END.

Re: Hero System is Just Alright With Me I'd say 80%, but I general don't find it worth it to house rule the last 20% at the moment. Mainly because my play group are such inexperienced RPers that taking it away from the book rules is just too confusing right now. In response to Killer Shrike's comments (with which I agree), you forgot about my favorite non-intuitive attack: Hand Killing Attack: Ranged (for knives and other thrown weapons that add Strength). Everyone, and I mean every single new player, goes straight to RKA when they want to make throwing knives. a) Normal / Killing damage Ranged / HtH c) Add STR / Don't Add STR For each attack, pick one from a, b and c. I think I'd favor making two attack powers based on Range and HtH so as to up the base cost of ranged damage so stacked advantages on ranged powers are heavier. Killing Damage could easily be tweaked so that it could work just fine as a +2 advantage. And Add STR could also easily be an advantage.

Re: End Reserve and alternate REC for it If you want them to not blow their entire END reserve, how about 100 END Reserve, 1 REC, Extra Time: 1 hour +2 REC, Extra Time: 1 hour, Only when Reserve has at least 50 END in it already +3 REC, Extra Time: 1 hour, Only when Reserve has at least 75 END in it already -OR- 100 END Reserve, 2 REC, Extra Time: 1 hour Reduce Extra Time on REC to 10 minutes, Only when Reserve has at least 50 END in it already The second option has less granularity since when the "at least" condition is met, you get x6 REC (although I can't remember all the straight 5E time chart steps of the top of my head so it might not be so bad). Either option would allow you to add in additional recovery (or buydown of Extra Time) via a Meditation roll.

Re: Internet and cell phones I don't think you're heroes will turn up much infomation on the internet they couldn't have gotten elsewhere. For example: http://www.google.com/search?q=plasma+cannon+homemade failed to yield any details on how to actually build a plasma cannon. I don't know why, though, since I'm certain most evil villians have: Disadv: Blueprints of weapons available on internet Disadv: Secret base's location shows up in local property tax search As to cell phones, there are enough issues with them that you can make them work when you want, and not work when you don't. If they complain, tell them to spend points on them. Examples of problems I've personally had: 1) Cell phone left on for more than 24 hours locks up. It looks fine, but cannot recieve calls. If you attempt to call out, you will quickly realize that no button you push does anything. The manufacture said this was a known defect and I should just turn it on and off once a day. 2) Newest phone randomly resets about once a week, accompanied by a very LOUD *@#$ song. No matter how low I have the volume turned, the Power On song doesn't appear to obey my volume setting. Wouldn't that suck right as you sneak up on the bad guys? 3) Battery life sucks. I've never had a battery in any cell last for more than 6 months without it going to only holding a charge for at most about 8-12 hours. If I actually make calls on it I generally get only 5-20 minutes of talk time. Again, this only happens after some wear and tear on the battery. 4) Wireless store hours often suck. They frequently close at random times at night (6pm on Mon & Wed, 6:30 Tue, 7:30 Thurs & Fri!?!?). Getting in there to replace a battery can be a hassle. 5) Cell phone companies. I cannot begin to explain the frustration of having to deal with them. Without some serious skill points invested, expect to get randomly charged for calls you never made and services you don't have. Just mention: "Hey, your cell bill came in and they say you called Romania twice this month and owe $237.11" If they ignore it, have it turn out some crook spoofed their cell and have the cops come calling thinking the Hero made these calls to the criminal underground in Romania. 6) Next time a Hero needs to make an emergency call (Dinos chasing him) have him dial and press Send. Then, have him recieve an incoming call, preferably from the guy he's calling. He'll hear the call waiting sound, but on some phones, it isn't easy to switch to it while a call is connecting because Send/End can cancel your call! Plus, you can't see whose calling because it is still connecting. So if he cancels his call to his bud and switches to the incoming call, oops, wrong number. If he doesn't, his buddies in the same situation and one of them fumbles their KS: Using latest cell phone roll and accidentally hangs up on the other and cancels their own call! Wee, aren't cell phones fun!

Re: Your house rules you do NOT want to see as system rules Hate to continue the derailing, but any chase you could convince the GM to throw in a villian with a Mental Damage Shield that triggers Teleport Usable As Attack, Only to Floating Location: Right in front of me? Nothing like suddenly appearing in the middle of a battle, in a sitting position (but without a chair) holding a latte.

Re: Your house rules you do NOT want to see as system rules Wouldn't it be funny if the party encountered a villian who's also a mental sniper? And as the villians minions battle the PCs with assistance from their absent evil mastermind, the PC mentalist and the archvillian realize at the same moment that they are both drinking their latte's in the same coffe shop only one table away?

Re: Affliction Power in HERO Wouldn't a Stun Blast just be a limitation on an EB: "Only to Stun target, does no Body or STUN damage (-2)". That means in a 60 AP game I can roll 12d6 against my target, subtract his PD/ED and if I total greater than his CON he's Stunned. Either way, I do zero damage. It would only cost 20 points. I guess the main problem with this is active point caps. Since it is handled via a Limitation the Active Points/die are high. Where as, a power at 3 points per d6 (roll just like the above limited EB) would allow a 60 AP game to have a 20d6 Stun Blast for 60 Active/Real Points. Average of 70 STUN is likely going to Stun in such a campaign. Of course you did just spend 60 points. 3 points/die isn't the same as the -2 limitation (3 points/2 dice would be more accurate) but I can't see someone tossing a 40d6 Stun Blast in a 60 AP cap game. Hmm, a Stun Blast also kinda makes me think of Flash.