Claire Redfield

I suppose you might be able to work out something like that for a ghost in this setting. They're all undead, for whatever might affect only undead stuff, and I think the Camera would only work on things defined as "ghosts," rather than any desolidified being. If I were to port the Camera into a supers setting, though, I'd probably extend it to any incorporeal creature. You could probably make a Package deal for ghosts in Fatal Frame, though I'm not 100% sure what it'd be. I imagine various Complications like an inability to leave the various places they haunt, and compulsions to either carry out the things that occurred when they died or attack the living (in the case of hostile ghosts).

Ghosts in this setting are (as you might expect) restless spirits of the dead, some more powerful and more malicious than others. They are inherently always desolidified, and can't be hurt by much. There are a couple things in the setting that do affect ghosts, like the Camera Obscura and a few sacred charms and things. It takes some kind of supernatural force to harm them, though. Also, the malicious ones can cause harm to living characters, though whether it's actual physical damage or something more spiritual, I'm not sure.

Does that help?

I statted up the Camera Obscura from the Fatal Frame series in both nWoD and M&M system terms (the latter can be found here), but I think HERO would make a good fit for it. The question is how do I build the device, and in particular because it seems to me like it should have an attack function, the sensory abilities, but also a Multipower to represent the different lenses. Here is what the Camera Obscura can do:

• Looking through the viewfinder allows the user to see ghosts and also see through ghostly illusions.

• The Camera sports a special filament that glows blue in the presence of benign ghosts or illusions, and red in the presence of hostile ghosts.

• By snapping pictures of a ghost, the Camera damages them, and if they are defeated, ghosts are (literally) captured on its film. In the games, film serves as your "ammo," the conservation of which can be crucial, so Charges may be a factor here.

• The Camera also has various other functions, like special lenses, capable of slowing or stopping a ghost temporarily, knocking them back further, or weakening their defenses against further attacks.

In the first game, you can also increase its basic function like damage, capture circle size and so on, but that's pretty easy, just adding points to various things. It's these other functions I'm more concerned with.

How would you build this device in HERO 6E terms? I appreciate any help you can give me, and I'll post up Rei Kurosawa from Fatal Frame III with the Camera after I figure it out.

Okay, so I'm revisiting this build and I have a few questions about various elements. First, we have the acid blood:

Acid Blood: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6 (standard effect: 6 BODY, 12 STUN), Area Of Effect (1m Radius; +1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Penetrating (+1/2), Damage Over Time (3 damage increments, damage occurs every four Segments, can be negated by Chemical neutralizer, removing burning gear; +2) (135 Active Points); 4 Recoverable Charges (Recovers Under Limited Circumstances; Recoverable by healing BODY damage; -1 1/2)

Originally I had Constant and Persistent on there, because it's always on (at least while the creature is alive), and automatic. But I thought, would Damage Over Time be redundant with Constant, which makes it do damage every phase, anyway, right?

Second, what about this Hive Mind power:

Hive Mind: Mind Link , Specific Group of Minds, No LOS Needed, Number of Minds (x1,024) (70 Active Points); Limited Class Of Minds Hive Xenomorphs Only (-1), Only With Others Who Have Mind Link (-1)

Would Psychic Bond taken on this power apply to all the minds? The idea is that the hive is in constant communication, rather than having to fire it up one at a time.

Re: HERO: Combat Evolved [Equipment Posts & Comments]

What's the demand level for HALO: Combat Evolved 6th Ed?

I'd like to see it. I might get Halo 4 for the multiplayer, if I get an Xbox again. I wasn't really a fan of the series until Reach, which I really enjoyed.

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Hmmm... In that case you might consider both a charge and the high END cost. While charge normally supersedes the need for END' date=' as I recall there's a way to do both. No, it wasn't the OVA. As I recall, there were two different series (I want to say Bio-Booster Armor Guyver and Guyver: Out of Control) which both covered the same thing but G:OoC being bloodier and less coherent[1']. I do remember the series being fun but leaving a lot of unanswered questions, but that was pretty typical of anime at the time.

Yeah, the newer series is definitely better. I don't remember what its name is, I'll have to check again. I'm due for a re-watch.

I assume it has lots of Penetrating or Armor Piercing. Heck, I might give it a "lightsaber" build (AVAD + Does Body).

 

As for the adding damage rules, it's because you're effectively adding all those same advantages onto your STR when you add in STR damage to your HKA.

 

[1] - We'll pretend the live-action movies never happened.

As it is right now, I gave the Vibroblade NND, with force field or another vibroblade to block being the required defense. Mostly because it murderizes anything that gets in its way.

I would build this as a "Computer" with some fairly limited skills and "programs". If you have the right books' date=' some of the starship computers that can work as autopilots should give you an idea of where to start.[/quote']

 

Where in the books (and HD) might I find this?

 

Well, with enough regular STR, you'll do that. Remember a normal human is only going to have 2-8 PD. So, doing 10+ normal damage is going to get Body through. You can increase this by either having extra STR or HA for certain "maneuvers".

 

Now, it will need to be quite a bit extra to do that to a Zoanoid due to the higher Body and PD, so if you want to make the STR Killing, you'd basically have to add an HKA to the build for the appropriate amount of damage. That's basically the way Martial Arts in the Hero System model lethal attacks.

 

Hm. So no kind of killing attack martial arts strike or anything? Guyver crush Zoanoid skulls or snap limbs with their terrible strength all the time.

 

That seems a bit too powerful for the Mega-Smasher. Be aware that the realm of a 1 kilo-ton nuclear explosion is around 13D6K damage.

 

Funny enough, that seems a bit low to me for a nuke. But even if not, the Mega-Smasher being in that ballpark is actually fine, it makes sense for me—it doesn't cover near the area. If it did, however, the damage would probably be pretty comparable. The Mega-Smasher smashes whatever it hits but good.

 

Has the author listed the power output of the Mega-Smasher in any supplemental material? Granted' date=' it's been years since I've read the manga. Saw about half of the newer version of the series a few years ago (I would like to get it on DVD or Blu Ray eventually). I would probably make the Mega-Smasher around 7D6K with copious amounts of Armor Piercing and Penetrating. I would even consider AVLD (Force Field) Does Body for it. Is the beam it fires really 10 meters high?[/quote']

 

I could lower the height, I think. I just wanted to be covered. It does spread a bit, though, so it hits 10 meters wide, I'm sure. And yeah, AVAD might fit—generally, one has a force field or insane power (like Alcanfel, to whom a Mega-Smasher might as well be a stiff breeze) to survive it. Even so, it has to do enough damage to vaporize walls, vehicles, Zoanoids in one hit. I figure a lot of Zoanoids have higher than average Body, but much of their toughness comes from defenses.

 

I would build the Vibroblades as 3D6 HKA with double Armor Piercing. The typical Zoanoid should have hardened Armor or Resistant Defenses so that normal soldiers even with AP round would be very ineffective against them' date=' but the Guyver's vibroblades cut through them like butter.[/quote']

 

I like the idea on the Zoanoid defenses, because you're right: regular AP rounds and small arms fire is about useless against them, but vibroblades kill even most Hyper-Zoanoids in one deadly stroke. 3d6 HKA seems pretty low for that kind of deadliness, even with Strength, doesn't it?

 

I think there have been three Guyver Animations; Guyver: Out of Control which was a 1-shot movie' date=' a 12-episode OAV series based on the first 4 volumes of the manga and the newer 26 episode tv series based on the first 10 volumes of the manga. Many old skool anime fans probably prefer the older 12 episode OAV series as that is what gave The Guyver it's status outside of Japan. The manga was less well-known over here (though fans of the anime probably eventually read the manga). I personally prefer the newer 26 episode series because it was a bit more faithful to the manga than the OAV series and was better executed IMO.[/quote']

 

I prefer the newer series, as well. I like the manga best, but I haven't been able to collect it all yet. There is some really great stuff therein, though.

 

Murakami is my favorite character, or was for a while, anyway. And I think Guyver III looks ridiculously cool. Though I am liking the new "Guyver IV", the female Guyver. I wish we had more of those!

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Care to share 'em here, Rex?

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Berserk?

Close, but doesn't quite fit. The Guyver unit, when it's in control, isn't berserk, just coldly calculating. It doesn't forgo defense, just tries to kill any nearby enemies as quickly as possible (like with the Mega-Smasher). It's like an AI or something, that only comes online in certain situations—when the host is dead or unconscious but the Guyver unit still functions.

Also, is there a way for regular HTH attacks to do killing damage? Like, with just regular punches and grapples, the Guyver is strong enough to break bones and so on, doing lethal damage.

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

So, I'm not quite sure how to model the Guyver's self-defense mode. Basically, for those who aren't familiar with it, in the transformed state, if the Guyver's host is incapacitated, the unit itself will take over control until the host regains consciousness. It acts with ruthless efficiency, destroying anything nearby that it deems a threat. The armor also won't release until its host is healed enough that he or she can survive—in Guyver mode, you might have much of your chest blasted out. While transformed, you can survive this, and will regenerate. If the armor was to release and revert you to human form, you'd die, so it won't release until you're healed enough.

The best example is when Sho Fukamachi, Guyver I, was attacked by his own father, who had been unwillingly transformed into a Zoanoid. Sho wouldn't fight back, and ultimately the Zoanoid, Enzyme, smashed out most of his skull and brain. The Guyver was down, and within it, Sho was technically dead. However, since the control metal was intact, the Guyver was slowly regenerating Sho's damaged brain. In the meantime, the Guyver was still able to act (since its AI is based in the control metal), and it quickly destroyed Enzyme, since it saw not Sho's father, but only a threat.

Would Intelligence limited to only being active in certain situations cover this?

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

The main diff between doing it with a large END Cost vs a Charge is that END can be used for other things while the charge would specifically be only for the Mega-Smasher. So' date=' if using the MS leaves him exhausted with less energy for other tricks or he can't use it if he's already expended a lot of energy doing other things, then go with END. Otherwise, I'd recommend a charge.[/quote']

 

It does leave them pretty drained, generally. It also slows down their Regeneration, which I put as a Side Effect on the Mega-Smasher. Right now, it burns 90 END to do the Mega-Smasher. I think that only allows for doing it once, but I suppose one could recover some END in short order and do it again (being left with nearly nothing). So maybe a charge would work better, and still keep the Side Effect.

 

I'm not really familiar with the manga and mostly remember the older anime from the late 80s/early 90s. However' date=' keep in mind the rules for how much area of an object gets destroyed: once you've exceeded the body of a wall, the size of the hole doubles for each +1 BODY (6E2 173). Considering the generally excessive damage of the MS, I'd be willing to apply that rule to a mountain top. So, stone has 10 ED and 19 Body per cubic meter. The average damage roll on your MS write-up is 35 body, or 6 doublings. Even if you just go with a 4m x 4m area to start with, you'll end up at 256m x 256m from the average roll. A quarter-km diameter is a respectable amount of real estate.[/quote']

 

The OVA was pretty bad, so hopefully that's not the one you saw. There was an older series that didn't cover much, but had some interesting stuff. The newer, 26-episode anime is much better, though it still only goes so far, but at least you get to the Guyver Gigantic and the epic battle between Gyro and Alcanfel.

 

I'd expect him to be pretty much a Competent Normal at best.

 

Yeah, I gave him a few extra points in some physical abilities like running and swimming, since he's got a bit of natural athlete, I think. And I gave him a couple points in Ego, since he's got a bit of the strong-willed shonen hero thing going on. Overall, though, very few points. Then he turns into a walking engine of destruction!

 

Oh, that reminds me. I have one last thing to model, I think, then I can post it for review: the ability of the Guyver to take control when the host is unconscious or technically dead (but regenerating).

 

Also, the Vibroblades ended up being really expensive, too. But that's because they're really, really strong. The Guyver one-shots Zoanoids and Hyper-Zoanoids with them. Most normal animals would be dead in one hit, even an African elephant. I'm afraid I'm having a hard time parsing the "adding damage to advantaged attacks" section of the rules, though. I know that the advantages on the Vibroblades make it so that the 45 Strength only adds 1d6 damage to the HKA, instead of 3d6, but I can't really grok why.

 

Sure. You should see some of the Street Fighter and DBZ write-ups on Surbrook's site. Ryu clocks in at near 500 under the 5e rules and Bison ends up near 1000. You can imagine where some of the DBZ characters end up.

 

Oh yeah. I had someone make a sample Super Saiyan in 6E that clocked in at like 1900 points and was just ridiculous.

 

Well' date=' that's the thing about a lot of manga and anime... You start at the ability to casually level a few city blocks for your low end heroes and villains and scale up from there.[/quote']

 

Yeah, by the time we hit Guyver Gigantic and Alcanfel levels... I have no idea what the points will be, but the amount will be ungodly.

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Typically, with multiform, you do one character sheet for each form.

 

Also, I would expect the Mega-Smasher to be expensive. However, the 10m height and width seems a little large to me. I don't recall it being 33 feet across. I seem to remember it being only a little larger than man-sized. I'd probably give it Extra Time as it seemed to require a slight warm-up after opening the chamber and probably 1 recoverable charge as it seemed to take a while to re-charge.

Ah, yes, you're right. I forgot that it has Extra Time (Full Phase), too. I just gave it a huge END cost rather than a charge, but that could work, too.

As far as the size of the blast, it's hard to find a good picture or clip from the anime, but

What's funny is, despite how insanely powerful the Multiform is, this is still just the basic Guyver transformation. Sho Fukamachi, unassuming high school student, barely hits 80 points (and that's stretching it a bit). With the Guyver, he's pushing 1000 points. Someone more dangerous in human form, like Agito Makishima, is correspondingly more dangerous in Guyver mode, too. Zoalords can challenge and even defeat these Guyvers, however, and certain Hyper-Zoanoids and the like can also prove a challenge.

Alcanfel, leader of the Zoalords, makes Guyvers look like weaklings. It's said that even if all 11 other Zoalords attack him in concert, they would lose. The Mega-Smasher is a joke to him. Plus, he looks elfy!

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

What is the standard model for listing characters with Multiform? Do you just list the base character (with the Multiform power under her Powers), and then list the stuff the Multiform gives you? Do you do two character sheets, one of normal form and the other with the full transformed character sheet?

Basically, if I have Sho Fukamachi, a low-powered regular character with Strength 10 and stuff, with Multiform, do I just do one sheet where I put a section listing all the traits he gets from Multiform (+35 Str, etc.)? Or do I do a second sheet to show his transformed state with all the changes already factored in?

Also, the Mega-Smasher is turning out quite expensive. 450 active points so far! But I want to get it just right. I have it as an RKA 10d6 right now, line area, with Increased Maximum Range (1500m), 10m height and width, nonselective with Concentration and Gestures (and there will probably be some other limitations).

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

It will work. If I recall the sheet correctly' date=' we built a guyver using Only in Hero ID instead of Multiform.[/quote']

 

What's the difference there? And would you do the same with Zoaforms?

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Well, my friend got me HERO Designer and set it up. So what I was doing with it is making Sho Fukamachi in human form, with the Multiform power. Multiform lets you associate another character file with it, so I opened a new character file to represent the Guyver transformed state, with the Multiform power removed from that one. Is that about right so far?

Re: Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Thanks! I really appreciate it. I want to do some Guyver gaming stuff and HERO is my system of choice, but besides using Multiform and stuff, I'm still a bit lost.

... again. There are several older threads on it, but relatively few writeups of the Guyver units themselves (the Zoanoids are easier), and a couple I saw didn't do it for me.

So, if you know the manga well (or the most recent anime series), will you help me build a Guyver character? I've been trying, but I'm not very good at building stuff yet. I can provide an extensively detailed list of capabilities. For those who don't know it, the basic idea is a biological suit of armor that transforms the wearer into a being of godlike power.

I'd like to use HERO to do a Guyver-based game sometime, but it's trickier than I thought to get this right.

I am building Sir Daniel Fortesque from the great MediEvil games. Dan has a really fun little story and makes a great hero. For those who don't know, he is a knight skeleton reanimated by necromantic magic. He has no flesh at all, only one eye and he's missing his jawbone, but that doesn't stop him from saving the land of Gallowmere!

Dan is super-strong (he wields a hammer whose head is bigger than his torso with one hand and can move large objects without straining), doesn't tire, is fairly durable with his armor and undead body (except fire, fire is a problem) and is pretty fast. He can also do things like pop his own arm off and use it as a makeshift club (he only does this early in the game, when he has no weapons) or throw it at an enemy. He can also pop off his skull and put it on these little ambulatory severed hands, which allows him to perceive stuff he couldn't by having "Dan Hand" crawl into holes in the wall or tiny crevasses. In the game, you can switch back and forth between Dan's head and Dan's headless body and control either. His body seems a little less coordinated but mostly can operate okay. In the second game, his head can also get stolen by pesky birds.

So how would you do these two abilities: Dan Hand and "This attack cost me an arm and a l... well, no, just an arm."? In the case of "Dan Hand", it doesn't have to be specifically for those Thing-like hands: really, he could pull his skull off and put it somewhere to gain a perspective he wouldn't have otherwise, putting it in a hole in the wall, throwing it up onto a ledge, etc. The hands would either be really cheap sidekicks or just things that run around that he uses sometimes.

Thanks!

Re: Tolkien Elves in Hero

Yes, most of the Elves left in Middle-Earth during the end of the Third Age are less powerful than the First Age Noldor. Most of the really super-badass Elves were Noldor, and they were not to be trifled with. Fingolfin's last ride is my favorite part of that book, and he went and gave Morgoth some serious trouble. Ecthelion killed multiple Balrogs before he and Gothmog, lord of the Balrogs, killed each other in personal combat, which is something that seems to happen a lot. Lúthien put Morgoth to sleep with a spell, and he was far and away the most powerful being in Middle-Earth. Glorfindel didn't do much, but when he revealed his wrath, even the Ringwraiths were taken aback.

The most powerful of the Elves were pretty awesome, and greater than most other beings to walk Middle-Earth. Fingolfin would have thrown down Sauron in single combat, while Ecthelion of the Fountain would have laughed in the face of but a single diminished Balrog. There are other examples, but one of the biggest lessons to take away from The Silmarillion is "Don't f@#% with the First Age Elves."

Re: Tolkien Elves in Hero

Nothing wrong with slashfic, though if you want to just find some passages from the books, it's annoying to have to try to wade through it.

Re: [New Product] Champions Complete

Gah! I am behind the times.

Re: [New Product] Champions Complete

Hm. This book will have the full 6E rules, right? So does that include the rules for Heroic characters, which despite the delineation between them and Superheroic, can and do show up in superheroic stories?

Re: Kara Loft: Lost In The Sands Of Egypt

Double post, but now I am finding I really want to play through this scenario. I'd play my Kara Loft build and would be fine with keeping her as just an intrepid adventuress even among a group of actually super-powered individuals.

Though if I was to make her some kind of super-being, I am on a demigod kick lately, so maybe a demigoddess of some kind, daughter of one of the Greek gods. Hm. Makes me want to rebuild her with some demigodlike abilities.

Re: Kara Loft: Lost In The Sands Of Egypt

(It occurs to me that I never responded with any kind of detail what Kara would do!)

________________

Kara starts as though woken from a dream. She looks down at herself and then around at the gathered heroes. "Oh, no. No, no, no! I was so close." Already mumbling to herself, deep in thought, she absently moves to her gear and begins to dress. "It would be polite to turn your heads so a lady can get dressed," she says with a smirk.

"Hm? What was I close to? Well, you see, while I was under the spell, I was deciphering the language they use to shape their magic. I heard this chanting, very strange. It is quite unlike anything else I have encountered before, and it is most definitely not ancient Egyptian, though there seems to be a relation. Same with the hieroglyphics." She nods toward the hieroglyphics lining the walls. "Oh, my. That is most definitely new, and somewhat perplexing. Well, I shall keep trying to decipher their language, but we mustn't waste any time if we are to catch up to my would-be captors."

Kara is already dressed and has her gear stowed and is moving deeper into the tomb as she speaks.

"Hm? What do you mean, 'who?'? Why, the mummies, of course! The personal guard of the lost Pharaoh. Quit asking silly questions... the sands are slipping through the glass while we tarry!"

Re: [New Product] Champions Complete

Oh, I'm going to start with an Earth-based Champions game. Cosmic can come later. I'm the biggest cosmic fan of my friends, anyway. Most of them just don't like it as much.

So, Champions! I'll need Champions Complete, Champions Universe and some of those other good resources.

Re: [New Product] Champions Complete

Don't Champions Beyond and Book of the Empress help scratch that itch? Or do you mean "cosmic" as over the top powerful?

 

After these two books I'd say Champions Powers if you want tons of predefine powers (may speed up character creation quite a bit) and the Villains book if you want and extensive rogue gallery to draw from.

 

The third tier mostly depends on what you want the game to focus on. Book of the Empress, Book of the Machine and Book of the Destroyer (the last two published under 5th but setting wise it's up to date) for even more depth on master villains and Beyond for supers in space. On top of it there is a lot of useful books published under 5th (including Galactic Champions) that are mostly 90-95% useable.

Cosmic both as in strange space-based stuff as well as power level.

Thanks for the recommendations, people!

Do you mean a new player with an experienced GM (introducing a new player) or do you mean pretty much everyone playing will be new to the game?

Everyone involved will be experienced roleplayers, and I am an experienced GM, but most of us are pretty new to the HERO system.