Chris Goodwin

It can cycle 6 times a day, for 10ly each, so 60 ly a day assuming it has the END. 

According to my trusty calculator, it'll take (100,000/60) 1666 and 2/3 days.

30 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Most of what magic feel magical in Hero is focusing on the special effects and description rather than mechanics.  I mean you can buid all the D&D spells with Hero, but there's a big difference between "8d6 blast vs ED (fire) Area Effect Radius Explosion -3 to Magic Skill roll" and "a spark of fire flies from his fingertips and erupts into a gigantic ball of flame!"

I think you'll want the spells to have evocative names, and even to an extent write down specifics of Gestures, Incantations, and Focus.  You'll want casters to describe the actions they're taking:  "With my right hand I wave my staff in a circle while with my left I reach into my pouch, pull out some dried mistletoe, and crumble it to fragments while scattering it in the wind.  I then beseech the wind to Destroy My Enemies!" with the latter three words being the name of the spell in question. 

1 hour ago, Gauntlet said:

 

Problem I have with this one is that it adds more work to the GM which can make combats incredibly slow, especially if you have multiple magi. Now a random side effect that is rolled by the player may be an idea. But even with this it still could make the combats long and should a magi always pay a penalty for casting a spell, why play a magi?

Those are probably issues inherent to this style of magic, I'm thinking. 

Should a mage always pay a penalty for casting a spell?  You want the ability to know the secrets of the universe and wield powers beyond those of mortals?  There's always a cost for power.

Hero being an effects-based system helps here. 

I know I'm on record as pooh-poohing the idea, but I'm going to make a good faith suggestion. 

You'll want the following:

• SFX decided by the GM. The spell is a Blast, let's say, but the GM decides what form it takes. 
• It takes some amount of Extra Time, either to cast or to strike.  Not so much that it would make a combat spell useless, but it might not hit in the Segment you cast it in.  But if your combat roll to hit succeeds, then the spell will hit them.
• The GM rolls your Magic Skill Roll behind the screen, and doesn't tell you whether it's objectively successful, instead describing the result in-character.  The time at which the spell would take effect is when the caster will know success or failure; the GM should describe what the caster senses about it on every Segment until it hits.  SFX would still happen: the winds might gather, maybe even kicking up dust, inflicting a minor OCV penalty on ranged attacks from friend and foe alike.
• Optionally, a Side Effect decided by the GM at casting time.  "All magic comes with a price!"  It might not be paid by the caster right then, but it will come due at some point, and if the caster can't pay it at that time then it will be extracted in some other way.

How do these sound? 

Absent a specific exception, and a GM decision otherwise, the general rules still apply.  A character's defenses would apply against the damage from Backlash. 

Regarding Hit Locations, the general rules would still apply as mentioned.  Assuming the game is using Hit Locations, and assuming a Hit Location is used to make the attack (as in a punch or a kick), and assuming special effects, dramatic sense, and common sense allow for it, Hit Locations could indeed apply.  (For instance, a Barrier or Entangle (with Backlash)  defined as a hard surface might apply hand-to-hand damage directly to the hand, while one defined as a reflective surface that returns energy attacks might not.)  And as always, the GM's decision should be final.

I one played a character with it. 

Always On is a Limitation, after all, so yes, there should be some drawbacks to it.  People don't get out of your way in crowds.  You should be very careful when crossing the street.  Are your retinas invisible, rendering you blind?  (That last would be good rationale for taking a Physical Complication; there's nothing in Invisibility or Always On requiring you to be blind.)

15 hours ago, Phoenix said:

The sentences I'm stuck on are: 

"Many physical attacks may glance off the hull, due to its slickness. Anyone attacking the hull must make a DEX roll. If the DEX roll is failed the attack will be decreased by 15 active points per point the DEX roll was failed by. Extra time could be used to set, for an additional 1 to 3 levels."  

 

So how should this work mechanically, or should I just reluctantly hand-wave it.

You could handwave it.  But that seems unsatisfying and not what you're looking for.  So let's look at it a little more closely.

"...attack will be decreased by 15 Active Points..." sounds like Damage Negation for 3 Damage Classes.  "Slick Hull" also sounds like the perfect SFX for the Damage Negation Power.

"...per point the DEX Roll is failed by..." sounds like Requires A Roll (RAR), with some slight modifications. 

From a mathematical standpoint, the power user's roll to activate is the same as the target's (or in the case of a defense power, the attacker's) roll to avoid.  This definitely has "must be made each Phase or use" modifier (-1/2 more Limitation) for -1 total.  "Uses Characteristic Roll" doesn't modify the value.  Normally there would be an Active Point penalty to the user of the power, which can translate to an Active Point bonus to the attacker.  We can reduce the initial value of the RAR Limitation to compensate, to -1/2.

In this case, the user of the power (the UFO) gets some effect on a failed roll (or, a successful roll by the attacker).  How to handle this?  Multiple buys of Damage Negation, with increasing difficulty. 

Essentially, you're buying 3 DC worth of Damage Negation, with "Only If Attacker Fails DEX Roll", another 3 DC with "Only If Attacker Fails DEX Roll by more than 1", another 3 DC with "Only If Attacker Fails DEX Roll by more than 2", and so on. 

I'd put the value of the Limitation for the initial buy at -1/2, per Requires A Roll, and probably -1/4 per additional reduction.  Make sure to factor the previous Limitation values in, so -1/2 for the first, -3/4 for the second, -1 for the third, and so on. 

Allowing Extra Time to grant bonuses is already handled in the Skill Use rules; I'd use the current rules rather than the ones given in the original writeup.

If they're also Desolidified you can affect them.  However, you'd need to either buy Affects Physical World on the Desolidification to make a solid person desolid while you're using it, or deactivate your Desolidification before reactivating it to affect yourself and the target simultaneously.

There is a maneuver called Cover which seems to be what you're looking for.  It's on 6e2 p. 85.

On 12/29/2023 at 7:09 AM, Ninja-Bear said:

@Duke Bushido, the pamphlet on the Resource kit isn’t the rules though. It’s just a summary of the costs of Powers, Skills, and Characteristics. It doesn’t explain how they work (or don’t). 

If you were to combine my "How to Play HERO System" with it...

Except "How to Play" is for 6e.  Knowing that they're the peanut butter and chocolate of a HERO System near-free game has me feeling a little uncomfortable about saying that.  Because for $5 you'd have the game.  Which is good if you're buying, but not so much if you're Hero Games.

On 2/17/2024 at 11:04 AM, Duke Bushido said:

Anyway, for that reason and many others, if I ever think Chris is being anything but courteous, I always assume I missed somw important context.

I should admit, it was me being a bit grumpy, and a bit less courteous than I ought to have been.  @Doc Democracy I hope you'll accept my apologies for that.  And I hope in my latter post I was less grumpy about it.  

On 2/16/2024 at 3:04 AM, Doc Democracy said:

Not sure what point you are making Chris.  It feels like what I said turns you off Glorantha?  That a fantasy setting choosing not to have a scientific basis for things would be a detriment to your enjoyment?

Ultimately, yes.  If the setting points out that that's the in-universe explanation, I've lost interest.  

In large part, the same thing turns me off of Spelljammer.  Space in a D&D game?  Sign me up!  Except it's... not.  Not what I'm looking for, really.  

It's not so much "yay, science!"  It's that the world has to have the feeling of a world I could live in.  A world where diseases are caused by evil spirits, or planets are surrounded by crystal shells and phlogiston-powered wooden ships fly through the aether, isn't that kind of world.  It feels like something obviously constructed, like an amusement park ride.  

I'm not just looking for something I can throw fireballs and hack enemies apart with swords.  I'd like something that I can look at the conditions and draw conclusions from them.  

I found a post on another forum that sums it up for me, enough that I've got it bookmarked. 

Quote

When the consequences of real world physics are things that are fun world building elements, then it can be good to go with them instead of inventing something else entirely. The tides following the moon is familiar; the tides following the three moons in a pattern is gameable; the tides happening completely by the whims of Zeboim doesn't seem like it gives as much emergent setting.

Fun world building elements, emergent setting, things that to me seem like they could happen.  I can anticipate things that might happen and characters that could exist in a world that functions according to familiar natural laws, or at least feels like a place I could visit.  Like an idea I've had in my pocket for a fantasy world: in cities, where construction is largely of wood, and there are people packed in, and there are spells that can easily prevent fires, treat disease, purify water, nonlethally stop thieves, light streetlamps at night, and so forth, cities will pay a premium for casters who can cast those.  Anyone who can do so gets a reduced entry fee into the city, and reduced even more if they take a few volunteer shifts on watch.  This is something that's gameable, that I can hang plot hooks on, that can exist in the background and occasionally come to the notice of PCs even if they're not directly involved.

If tides are entirely the whims of Zeboim, then I have no idea what else might be, and just that fact is enough to make me not care.  

2 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

In Glorantha, there is no germ theory, disease is caused by disease spirits. I have increasingly refused to allow magic to be used in scientific ways, or for scientific principles to reliably reproduce results. 🙂

I was unaware of this about Glorantha... and, while I haven't had a whole lot of interest in it over the years it's been around, now I have zero. 

1 hour ago, Doc Democracy said:

you have hit the Godwin's Law of HERO boards, when you suggest Transform, you lose the argument! 🙂

You have to throw in Extradimensional Movement as well!

1 hour ago, Gauntlet said:

 

How so? Not sure what you mean.

It's a very unstated rule, humorous in nature.  A few of us used to throw around a joke... once a thread got long enough, someone would suggest Transform or Extradimensional Movement as the "if nothing else works" solution. 

Clairsentience would work.  It would let you put your sense point outside the Darkness.  Note that if the Darkness affects any of the Clair- senses, then you won't be able to perceive into the Darkness area, but you'll still be able to perceive outside of it.

16 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

I need a quick clarification for 6e:  if the character pays specifically dor Targetting on a normal-not-targetting sense (which, given the nature of rhe five normal,senses, means "olfactory senses"), is it not treated as a Targetting sense after that with regard to Darkness?

If they've bought Darkness vs. taste/smell, it would cover that sense group even if the group was bought with Targeting.  The cost of the Darkness assumes the 'normal human suite' regardless of what extras (i.e. Targeting) the target might have bought. 

18 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

unless there is a meaning for catobleps with which I am not familiar (amd please enlighten me of that is the case), it is either "catoblepas" or "Katobleps."
 

A cat blep is where the cat's tongue is merely sticking out.  As opposed to a cat mlem, where the tongue is engaged in an action. 

Or: blep is a Delayed Phase, while a mlem is the Phase being used.  😹

Seriously, it's a thing!

On 10/5/2023 at 12:25 AM, Cloppy Clip said:

@Chris Goodwin Sorry I'm a little slow on the uptake here. What would Delayed Effect do differently to Trigger in this specific case? (It doesn't help that I can struggle to tell them apart at the best of times)

It looks like I completely failed to answer this; my apologies!

The main differences are intent and implied special effects.  Delayed Effect was intended to replicate a Vancian, early edition D&D style magic system with prepared spells.  You would prepare the spell and then release it at will later.  Trigger was intended more to replicate things like land mines, or other weapons or items that you might place somewhere, with a strong implication that it would be Triggered by someone else, and affect the target where they Triggered it.  You need to set up a condition that sets off the Triggered power, which you define at the time you build the power unless you pay extra. 

The mechanical differences are:

• A Delayed Effect power can't be Drained or Dispelled, while a Triggered power can. 
• A Delayed Effect power is always activated by the character while a Triggered power is activated by an external condition (even if the Triggered power is activated at the character's location).  Further, a Triggered power can't rely on any senses for activation that the character doesn't possess, though they can buy Enhanced Senses that are Limited to only activate a Triggered power.
• A Delayed Effect power requires the GM to determine how many total "slots" a character can prepare, while Trigger doesn't (though the GM can set limits in the latter case).

The differences are pretty subtle, and took me a while to figure out myself. 

Seems to be a bit of the old necromancy going around lately... 😅

I wrote a thing, specifically for this campaign style! 

I was pretty strident about it when I originally wrote it.  I'm less so now, and if I were writing it today I'd probably put the parts about powers in an appendix or leave them out entirely.  But here it is, warts and all.

HERO System Low Heroic Protocols

57 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

Though my favorite, from Captain Carrot, was A Certain Really Ominous Secret Throng Inevitably Christened-  this _was_ funny, since the intentional acrostic was-- well, you can all read, but the poking fun at the xinvention was quite nice.

My favorite was League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments In Naughtiness.  (From Phineas and Ferb.)

I still haven't taken the time to do any of that design work, not even to work out scale issues (i.e. hand weapons vs. ships, snubfighter weapons vs. capital ships, etc.).  I appreciate any and all of this!

1 hour ago, greysword said:

Thanks Chris!

Combined attack would be if, for instance, a sorcerer who is also a fencer, were to attack with the flat of his sword while channeling a lightning bolt down the blade. 

1.  Two separate powers... but the additional detail in 6e2 specifies that these would be a Multiple Attack rather than a Combined Attack.

2.  This would more properly be a Multiple Attack; a Combined Attack would be something like attacking with a Blast and a Flash that are built as separate powers.  6e2 p. 73 goes into a lot more detail than Champions Complete.

3. That would be 1d6+1d6 adjudicated separately.  👍

The 5 point doubling rule for Foci freely allows them to be used for Multiple Attacks and Two Weapon Fighting; 6e2 p. 181 talks about it more.

21 hours ago, tkdguy said:

A couple of other details. Alcatraz will be called The Citadel, and will still be used as a prison. One of the taverns near the docks is called the Blue Nereid (Blue Mermaid irl). A comely barmaid named Brandy works there. She's a fine girl.

This is a fantasy setting based around San Francisco?

On 9/13/2023 at 7:14 AM, Hugh Neilson said:

 

Now, is the annoying part that the character is hard to hit, can easily escape and requires considering new tactical options to defeat...

 

or that the character spends his phases humiliating the PC by dumping beverages on him? You can run well past the speed of sound, and the best use you can think to put that do is dumping fast food on people?  That's worse than the character who designs and builds super-scientific devices and uses them to rob jewellery stores and banks.

This points up a problem I'm starting to have with suspension of disbelief around superheroes.  Why would someone with powers choose to use them to be annoying at best or just plain evil?  (Actually, the same people who IRL try to get away with "It was just a prank!" would probably be the ones who would, I dunno, accidentally cause widespread collateral damage and claim it was a joke.)

Let me emphasize that I love superheroes, love playing them, love the MCU movies and quite enjoyed the DC ones. 

I can still turn that part of my brain off, but afterwards, or in places like this thread, I have to remind myself: buy the premise, buy the bit, as Johnny Carson used to say. 

In the tragically short Champions game I ran for some friends in 2018 or so, I think I started failing to buy the premise.  And while my players had all seen and loved the MCU films, they didn't really want to play superheroes. 

Thread tax: one of my best friends, my first Champions GM, and the best GM I know, had a slight arms race tendency, and a bigger annoying villain tendency.  He'd been playing Champions longer and is generally smarter than me.  (I'm certainly not dumb, but he's got me beat by at least 20 IQ points.)  His villains were always tougher and more coordinated, and just when I was about to have them down (one on one games usually, or one on two with his brother sometimes), one of them would scoop up his teammates and teleport out.  On the few occasions they did make it to capture, they'd escape from custody sometime after. 

The most annoying one, though, was the Silver Paladin.  Dumb as a box of rocks, he thought the heroes were villains and vice versa.  His catch phrases were a singsong  "Hey hee hee HO HO!" and, to the heroes, "Halt, villain!" in the most annoyingly heroic voice you can think of.  (Anyone on the Mutants and Masterminds forums back in the early 2000's would probably recognize him; Geoff used to post there a lot.)

CLOWN as written are exactly those jerks we've all had run-ins with who, when called out on their jerkitude, deflect responsibility with "It was just a joke!" regardless of any harm it may have caused. 

As a wise man once said...

Quote

A "practical joker" deserves applause for his wit according to its quality. Bastinado is about right.  For exceptional wit one might grant keelhauling. But staking him out on an anthill should be reserved for the very wittiest.

From the Notebooks of Lazarus Long