eepjr24

I definitely agree with campaign caps.
 
As for the view that I am saving massive points with 3 point levels, well, it is cheaper than buying OCV and DCV.  But it is also limited.
 
Oh, you need to scale a wall?  Your DCV can't be enhanced when you can't, or aren't, holding your special weapon of choice.  All those Sword levels aren't much use when the enemy attacks from range - guess you are down to half moves and dodges.  Too bad there is very difficult terrain between you and those archers, huh?  It's going to be pretty hard to close in.  Too bad you are so specialized in melee combat and suck fighting at range.
 
Being Disarmed sucks when your DCV drops radically because those levels are no longer in use.  Or if you just had to make a full move, or otherwise use your action on something other than an attack with that weapon last phase.  Or if you just wanted to hold your phase.  Or you had to recover from being Stunned.

Numerous ways to do this. With what you have above, I would probably do a multipower with the entangle (maybe you are thinking grab, really?) and HKA in one slot and swinging in another slot, build them both as Fixed slots and add lockout if needed. 
 
I would probably use the chain as stretching and +STR for GRAB only. Then link the HKA to it and you are done. Thereafter if the GRAB is still in effect you just make an attack roll at 1/2 DCV versus the grabbed hero.
 
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Yep, that is a consideration for some of the attack spells where the dice can easily be adjusted and defense or movement which generally scale pretty easily. Not as much of an option on utility powers like summon or change environment. And it can get hairy on low CP powers with high AP because of large amounts of advantages.

@eepjr24another point which I didn’t realize til I helped my brother is that you can unless specified not to, lower your power in the spell which lowers the spell penalty. Ie if the spell is bought at 10 D6 blast, I can choose to cast it at 6d6.

I agree with what you are saying, maybe with different emphasis as we likely have different experiences that have shaped our opinions. I just don't see much of the second instance. I do see people warning about problems they have had with a specific construct, I certainly do that. But I also try to point out ways to mitigate or work around those issues, whether in the official rules or not. Sometimes people have bad days and it might come across otherwise, maybe they have seen the exact same construct used abusively in their games and maybe they should be taking a break from the forum... =P I did that for a while because life started stressing me out and I found myself getting snippy over things. 
 
Anyway, I don't think we are arguing really different points here, just maybe emphasizing different aspects. I use house rules, not as much as Shrike, although I do appreciate the cogent way that he lays out which he is using and why he adopted them. I tend to answer with an official rule if there is one, not because I think house rules are bad, but because I think you will be able to make much more nuanced decisions about which to use and when to use them if you know the content and intent of the applicable "official" rules. 

I already have some mechanisms in place to control power creep (RSR and other school specific limitations, END Reserves, Limited Spell creation, etc.). What I am trying to provide is variety without having a "class" system and allowing more organic character growth. I want magic to be common and powerful, but not to the point that it replaces other types of fighting. If someone wants to mix the two, that should be valid as well, without being overpowering (it's difficult in 175 points to do in this setting). I also want the spells to be flavorful for the school and not just the same spells reskinned for an element or domain.
 
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I agree with what you are saying, maybe with different emphasis as we likely have different experiences that have shaped our opinions. I just don't see much of the second instance. I do see people warning about problems they have had with a specific construct, I certainly do that. But I also try to point out ways to mitigate or work around those issues, whether in the official rules or not. Sometimes people have bad days and it might come across otherwise, maybe they have seen the exact same construct used abusively in their games and maybe they should be taking a break from the forum... =P I did that for a while because life started stressing me out and I found myself getting snippy over things. 
 
Anyway, I don't think we are arguing really different points here, just maybe emphasizing different aspects. I use house rules, not as much as Shrike, although I do appreciate the cogent way that he lays out which he is using and why he adopted them. I tend to answer with an official rule if there is one, not because I think house rules are bad, but because I think you will be able to make much more nuanced decisions about which to use and when to use them if you know the content and intent of the applicable "official" rules. 

Two solutions come to mind. The first is that the "heat seeking" is just a special effect of a missile that is very accurate. It doesn't really matter that it is using IR as a targeting mechanism.
 
So something like: +8 OCV, only versus targets with a heat signature (-0), OIF (-0), etc. 8 RP
If the fact that it might not hit until a later phase become extremely important you could implement this as either a subset of Damage Over Time or Delayed Effect. You might have to house rule parts of it to make it fit your exact requirements.
 
The second would be if the exact method where it flies around looking for a particular target heat signature is important over multiple phases... build it as a vehicle with an AI. It should not require a lot of points, mostly it's a detect, RKA, and flight with some bonuses to perception to avoid other things. Note that this has the advantage / disadvantage of allowing it to be attacked and destroyed.
 
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First off, apologies to the original poster as this is pretty far from your original question. I think that you have a point here, Duke, and I agree that everyone should do what works for them in their game.
 
But I think the flip side here is that the official rules are there for a reason, so that everyone has a baseline to work from. Other official publications should hew to those rules, which then allows the local house rules to be applied in a consistent manner as well. If the "official" rules have 3 different ways to interpret something it gets very difficult to figure out which one a particular instance is referring to and even more difficult to apply your own house rules or modifications to it. I am greatly in favor of having more "optional" rules, although I would have liked it if they were all compiled somewhere so you could just have a check list of which optional or house rules you use. @Killer Shrike does an outstanding job of this on his campaign / setting pages, for instance. It's not that any one interpretation is "right", but it does allow for consistency, ease of common understanding and ease of adaptation.
 
Back to the original posters question: I played with the BBB for years and loved it. I played 3e for years and loved it. I have played 6e for years and love it as well. I find that the experience granted by years of the authors playing it and receiving feedback have encountered more potential issues than my individual experience and that gives them insight that would otherwise be lacking. To me, this makes for a more complete ruleset and is desirable for that reason. Does that mean any particular version is perfect? No. Do I still have house rules or things I prefer to play differently? Yes.
 
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First off, apologies to the original poster as this is pretty far from your original question. I think that you have a point here, Duke, and I agree that everyone should do what works for them in their game.
 
But I think the flip side here is that the official rules are there for a reason, so that everyone has a baseline to work from. Other official publications should hew to those rules, which then allows the local house rules to be applied in a consistent manner as well. If the "official" rules have 3 different ways to interpret something it gets very difficult to figure out which one a particular instance is referring to and even more difficult to apply your own house rules or modifications to it. I am greatly in favor of having more "optional" rules, although I would have liked it if they were all compiled somewhere so you could just have a check list of which optional or house rules you use. @Killer Shrike does an outstanding job of this on his campaign / setting pages, for instance. It's not that any one interpretation is "right", but it does allow for consistency, ease of common understanding and ease of adaptation.
 
Back to the original posters question: I played with the BBB for years and loved it. I played 3e for years and loved it. I have played 6e for years and love it as well. I find that the experience granted by years of the authors playing it and receiving feedback have encountered more potential issues than my individual experience and that gives them insight that would otherwise be lacking. To me, this makes for a more complete ruleset and is desirable for that reason. Does that mean any particular version is perfect? No. Do I still have house rules or things I prefer to play differently? Yes.
 
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I'd go with something combining the above.
 
Change Environment
[4] -1 to DEX rolls and all rolls based on DEX
[9] -3 to CON rolls
[4] Long Lasting: 1 Turn
[3] -1 PER rolls
20 points
No Range (-1/2)
No effect versus those with Acrobatics, Teleportation, EDM, FTL (-1/2) 
10 RP
AND
Flash 3d6 Sight
NND: Not versus those with Acrobatics, Teleportation, EDM, FTL (+0)
[15 AP]
No Range (-1/2)
Linked to CE (-1/2)
7 RP
Total: 17 RP
 
Effect is that unless you have one of the stated defenses, you take a 3d6 Sight Flash and for the next turn you have to make a CON roll at -3 to remain standing. If you fail, you fall. If you don't have the defenses, you suffer -3 to all CON rolls, -1 to DEX rolls and associated skills as well as -1 PER. Talk to your GM about whether the defenses are common enough to qualify in your campaign, but generally having a 3 point skill would qualify.
 
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That's great for your game.
 
Keep in mind  that we are answering questions for new posters here. Better they should learn the actual  RAW first and then expose them to house rules.
 
Because, in general, everyone's house rules are different. NOBODY'S house rules are wrong in their game but using them to answer questions about RAW always is.
 
Though I may be tilting at a windmill, I want to grow HERO and that can't happen without promoting the game as published and then explaining the ways to customize it.

Good Reads has a shelf for that.
 
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/non-magical-fantasy

Hrm. How do you prevent things like signal tower arrays? These can actually transmit small amounts of information over vast distances quickly. For a fantasy take on that, see Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal".
 
Also, if you have speedsters or folks who can easily fly or teleport, letter delivery gets much faster.
 
If you leave combustion engines on the table then planes are around and also speed transport and news. If you take it off, are you resorting to horses or does Steam Punk / mysticism step in?
 
Additional Thoughts:
 
If you leave electricity on the table but have a change in the ionization of metals such that below a certain volume / area they cannot carry signal you could leave internal combustion engines and many other older versions of things still working but nothing with a computer or really anything below a circuit board that has say 12ga wire runs on it? Or perhaps some other material works but it is so expensive and rare that it is basically a military or ultra elite type of thing? Generators are fine, but you can't transmit more than say 1 amp (about 1/20th of current capacity) over a 12 gauge extension cord. And line loss is higher as well. DC become more the norm because of line loss.
 
Or make it logarithmic, perhaps an inverted n^2? The smaller the gauge, the less electricity it will carry until it reaches 0 at some size, say 32 gauge?
 
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roll20.net works great as well.

Hrm. How do you prevent things like signal tower arrays? These can actually transmit small amounts of information over vast distances quickly. For a fantasy take on that, see Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal".
 
Also, if you have speedsters or folks who can easily fly or teleport, letter delivery gets much faster.
 
If you leave combustion engines on the table then planes are around and also speed transport and news. If you take it off, are you resorting to horses or does Steam Punk / mysticism step in?
 
Additional Thoughts:
 
If you leave electricity on the table but have a change in the ionization of metals such that below a certain volume / area they cannot carry signal you could leave internal combustion engines and many other older versions of things still working but nothing with a computer or really anything below a circuit board that has say 12ga wire runs on it? Or perhaps some other material works but it is so expensive and rare that it is basically a military or ultra elite type of thing? Generators are fine, but you can't transmit more than say 1 amp (about 1/20th of current capacity) over a 12 gauge extension cord. And line loss is higher as well. DC become more the norm because of line loss.
 
Or make it logarithmic, perhaps an inverted n^2? The smaller the gauge, the less electricity it will carry until it reaches 0 at some size, say 32 gauge?
 
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We use roll20 and pretty much no headsets. Everyone is on speakers and mics, which does get some background noise once in a while but no heavy breathing. I feel you on that on.
 
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Hrm. How do you prevent things like signal tower arrays? These can actually transmit small amounts of information over vast distances quickly. For a fantasy take on that, see Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal".
 
Also, if you have speedsters or folks who can easily fly or teleport, letter delivery gets much faster.
 
If you leave combustion engines on the table then planes are around and also speed transport and news. If you take it off, are you resorting to horses or does Steam Punk / mysticism step in?
 
Additional Thoughts:
 
If you leave electricity on the table but have a change in the ionization of metals such that below a certain volume / area they cannot carry signal you could leave internal combustion engines and many other older versions of things still working but nothing with a computer or really anything below a circuit board that has say 12ga wire runs on it? Or perhaps some other material works but it is so expensive and rare that it is basically a military or ultra elite type of thing? Generators are fine, but you can't transmit more than say 1 amp (about 1/20th of current capacity) over a 12 gauge extension cord. And line loss is higher as well. DC become more the norm because of line loss.
 
Or make it logarithmic, perhaps an inverted n^2? The smaller the gauge, the less electricity it will carry until it reaches 0 at some size, say 32 gauge?
 
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Link: https://surbrook.devermore.com/adaptationsvehicles/vehicle.html
 
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Drain did not really work differently, although it was not specific on the active points issue, as you point out. You still had to specify a power or characteristic. Champs 3 had the SFX thing, but so does 6e, see 142 for Expanded Effect and Limited SFX.
 
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Personally, I am fond of having the options there. As a GM you can reduce the costs for them if you don't feel they are justified. But the flexibility to have two points spread across OCV or DCV or add a DC of damage at 0 END to any attack seems to be a fair trade off in flexibility. 
 
18 MPP - 2 All Combat Skills
2m +2 OCV - 10 AP
2m +2 DCV - 10 AP
2f  2d6 aid, standard effect (7 points), Variable Effect: Any attack that does DC (+1/2), SFX: Adds one DC at 0 End for 7 AP.
 
That's as close as I can get to the effect without a lot more effort. That's 24 points, so +1 would be about 12. Now, if you don't want all that flexibility, you can certainly buy whatever you want instead or tinker with the costs if you are the GM. And as you already found out, Steve does not discuss why he did things, I think with good reason to avoid having people endlessly question his decisions (which they do anyway, but at least he doesn't have to read it all in the rules forum).
 
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I'd generally agree with this one, as long as the player confines his limits to things he could detect with his senses. I don't see how a power with no other modifiers knows who is color blind or whose great great grandmother had an affair with a lesser noble. But it is a valid question, I'll raise it in the rules forum.
 
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6e? My condolences...

With Hero, there is almost always more than one way to do things, even officially. Two have already been outlined (MPP adding and Partially limited powers) above besides the one you mention. Each has advantages and disadvantages that will help you figure out which fits your particular situation better.
 
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Here you go. Probably the word document has more of what Steriaca is interested in (background and whatnot).
 
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avis.pdf