Chris Goodwin

Ahhh. I have a house rule that you can define incoming points from Transfer as acting like either Aid or Healing. I guess I was thinking of that when I posted.

If you can turn them off and back on again, consider Fuel Charges.

Is there a reason Transfer would not work?

I'd go either way on it, but if you wanted to be totally sure, buy Clairsentience with the same modifiers as the Teleportation.

By that argument, everything should cost only 1 point, because hey, it's the GM's job to make sure that things aren't being abused and that characters aren't stepping on each others toes. But we can go even further. Why bother to have points at all? Why bother to roll dice or even have rules? Why doesn't everyone just make everything up? We have point costs to (theoretically, at least) provide an objective benchmark against which everything can be measured. The whole point of the 2 point STR crowd is that the benchmark needs to be adjusted to make certain other parts of the system work better. I don't think that a desire to see it work better needs to be dismissed with the statement, "However, points costs shouldn't substitute for GM discretion."

I was thinking recently about the existence of Mental Powers. We have a common mechanic defining what is essentially a common set of SFX. Herein I will use "psionic(s)" to refer to the SFX and "Mental Powers" to refer to the same thing that the HERO System refers to as "Mental Powers". As written, the system does not support taking other Powers and turning them into Mental Powers, even though the other Powers could be defined as psionic in nature. (Note I said "as written". I'm not saying you can't house rule it, and in fact I have.) One can easily take Mental Powers and, either as is or with a Limitation, define them as not being psionic in nature. Why did the original designers settle on that specific set of SFX, and no other (for example, magic) to be represented by a separate set of mechanics? Note that there is no other unique mechanic for Magical Powers, not like there is for Mental Powers. There's no characteristic for Magical Ability, nor is there an MCV nor any Powers that are based specifically upon it. But what if there were? I don't have a problem with it, by the way. I'm just curious.

In some fantasy literature, characters perform the equivalent of aborting to Dispel. I'd allow it in the right kinds of campaigns.

Very simple. Build your weapon as you normally would, but buy it without the Real Weapon Limitation. If it can be taken away, build it as a Focus, but if not (i.e. if he can summon it) don't use Focus.

Two words: Rust monsters.

In real life, "plate mail" was rare. It was expensive as hell, which is why the only guys who owned it were nobles. In most fantasy fiction, it is rare as well. As I mentioned to Yamo in another thread, if you want it to be more lethal, restrict armor DEF. Plain and simple. If you're the GM, you can do that. I don't buy complaints that combat isn't lethal enough when you're letting characters have 8 DEF armor.

Operation Chaos and its sequel Operation Luna by Poul Anderson. The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, Harry Turtledove "Elemental" by Geoffrey Landis, published in Analog in December, 1984. It used to be available on the net, but the site that hosted it appears to no longer exist. (You can buy it for $1.99 at http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook267.htm )

If you're going for Saving Private Ryan with crossbows, and want a very gritty game in general, I have to question why you're letting guys run around with 8 DEF armor. Aside from that, use Impairing/Disabling wounds and the full bleeding rules.

I haven't mathed it out or anything, but to a brief glance it looks good.

I know for darn sure that, if I ever run a business, my attitude will be that there are people out there with money, and my job is to convince them that they want to give it to me. Anything I do to make it harder for them reduces the chance that they will do it.

Rapid Fire is effectively Sweep for ranged attacks. sbarron is correct.

Yes. Yes. You'd just buy the Powers with the Linked Limitation. You don't necessarily need the Linked Limitation to be able to use two Powers together, by the way.

Re: To much BODY? Not at all. Guys with 16 BODY are pretty tough and are supposed to be hard to take down.

Re: Burns when hit, vehicular phys lim and reputation As has already been mentioned, Physical Limitation. It would be a Reputation. Reputations don't necessarily hurt the character's feelings; they give other people negative information about the character (or in this case the vehicle) that they wouldn't otherwise have. Reputation: Firetrap 11- (Bad) would be it. Alternately, you could give it Distinctive Features or even Public ID to represent that everyone recognizes it.

Thus it is Distinctive Features. The ability to give someone this curse would be built as a Transform. Transform to give the target Distinctive Features. You can build this as a Power with the Usable As Attack Advantage. It could also be done by Transforming the character. Hero System Almanac I for 4th edition (watch ebay for it) discusses using the Usable As Attack Advantage to simulate curses.

Re: Powers as disadvantages Side Effects. Distinctive Features Very iffy, but it would be a Distinctive Feature. Side Effects.

Let's say, for example, you had a 10d6 Flash Linked to a 10d6 Energy Blast, the special effect being bright light. The Powers list would look like this: Bright Light: 10d6 Energy Blast Bright Light: 10d6 Flash, Linked to 10d6 Energy Blast (-1/2). In this case, you could use the 10d6 Energy Blast by itself, or you could use the 10d6 Flash along with it. If you did this: Bright Light: 10d6 Energy Blast, Linked to 10d6 Flash (-1/4) Bright Light: 10d6 Flash, Linked to 10d6 Energy Blast (-1/2). the two Powers have to be used together; you couldn't use either of them without the other. The rules don't say anything about whether one powers or boosts the other. I believe it specifically states whether you can link Multipower slots together; I believe the answer to that is no. You can link an external Power to a Multipower slot, however. Does this help?

The Master Lists of Physical, Psychological, and Social Limitations can be found at http://www.globalguardians.com/master%20lists/ This should provide plenty of good ideas.

My advice to you would be to buy Hero 5th and, when you can, the new Fantasy Hero. Then go out to your garage and pull out the old rulebook. Bear heavily in mind that there will be many, many changes from the old rules, mostly in how spells (Powers) are handled. But reread the first edition FH book to learn how to play the system. Once you've done that, then jump into 5th edition. To be honest, you could go with first edition Fantasy Hero (I assume that's the one you have, because you mentioned rules) and play it and enjoy it thoroughly. But when you read Hero 5th, you won't want to go back to previous editions.

You're right, and I apologize. I've made and played my share of interesting characters on 75+25 in FH1, which is about equivalent to 50+50 nowadays. A technique I use when I need basic characters in a hurry is to take the Competent Normal and add a package deal. It takes some customization, but since the Competent Normal is 50+25, adding a package gets you almost all the way there. You need to customize the 25 points of disads it comes with and add 25 more, but you're already most of the way there, and the combination should leave you with a few extra points to spend.

So? Does that mean people shouldn't ask questions about how to do 50+50 games? If you didn't want to provide some helpful information, why did you post?