Chris Goodwin

As one of the folks involved in the creation of Teenagers From Outer Space, back in the day, it was a humor based cosmetic transform, much like the Ranma Saotome effect, where there was no possibility of any hanky panky and played strictly for humor.  So it was a Minor transform as it changed no stats or powers.

Given the "heals back" mandate of Transform, I don't see it becoming a years-long problem.  Socially, I don't see it-- _as suggested in the first post_ being too much of a serious problem, either:
 
OP Didn't say "turns them into someone else," but "swaps their genders."  Immediately springing to mind is the fact that I don't think anyone has failed to recognize Eric Idle as being Eric Idle even when in drag.  Yes; playing a woman, not being a woman, but still: as suggested, that's about the level of effect I understand:  Johnny!  You've gone and grown bewbies!  What happened, Mate?"
 
Going to something more close to the source of the inspiration:
 
The cast of Ranma 1/2 was freakin' _huge_!  Even for a cartoon, there was a shocking number of characters over the years.
 
Only _one_ of them failed to recognize Ranma as Ranma when he swapped genders.
 
In a world with super powers, green-and-purple skinned monsters, aliens, mole people, and lost lands of dinosaurs, the "well, my fingerprints are still mine; my DNA is still mine save that extra leg on the Y chromosome..."   In a world of stuff like this?   This is a straight-up joke power.
 
I have no idea what the nature of OP's campaign is, though, and that's the heart of the problem:  only OP does know.
 
 

A Cosmetic transform can add or subtract up to 2 levels of Striking Appearance.  It can adjust Distinctive Features or other appearance-related complications by up to 5 points.  It can change hair, eye or skin colour.  All of these seem likely to have in-game effects similar to a switch in gender.  A major change to one's DNA?  Sure - but that is a special effect, not a game effect.  Serious impact on social situations?  Sure - but try maintaining your secret ID as an American Indian when, suddenly, you are Asian instead.  That's without the possibility that your skin instead is turned flourescent orange.
 
We're not changing SFX, adding CVs, defenses, skills, DCs, advantages or complications, which covers most examples of Minor transforms.  Major?  Blindness, Fire Blast is now a heatstroke Drain, swapping limbs, creating objects out of thin air or bigger changes to CVs, defenses, skills, DCs, advantages or complications.
 
Unless there is some reason that the in-game impact will be markedly greater than purple skin (not "changes in biology which are more substantial", "game effects that are more significant"), it seems like a Cosmetic transform to me. 
 
"But what if the character was female and pregnant?"  Well, as a Cosmetic Transform, I will suggest that the pregnancy is on hiatus while the character is male, and on returning to female form, is still pregnant with no ill effects. 
 
"But she was VERY pregnant - and 'he' can't be!"  True - looks like we got rid of 5 points' worth of Distinctive Features in the course of the Transform.  Not that I think the GM gave the expectant mother 5 extra CP to spend in the obvious part of her pregnancy anyway.
 
As to "summon infant", which member of the couple has the Power, and which one is a Focus/Special effect?  That seems like dangerous territory.  I don't feel the need to stat up the power of transforming blood sugar and oxygen into energy, so I'll pass on statting up natural reproductive processes, no more necessary and potentially a lot more inflammatory, as well.

With the boy/girl gun we're talking about turning a target into a gender-swapped version of their self.  
 
A Severe Transform can turn a human being into a frog, a stone statue, a shrubbery, or thin air.  Severe is overkill.  
 
A Major Transform can grant a human the ability to shoot fire blasts from their hands or fly with wings.  
 
A Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a different human.  I'll stipulate that a Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a human of the opposite gender in appearance only...
 
Is turning a human into the same human of a different gender, qualitatively the same as granting them the ability to fly or shoot fire?
 
(Have any of you seriously played in or run games where the ability to become pregnant and give birth amounts to a Power for which the character should pay points?)
 
Minor Transform is enough to "work minor changes on the target's functions".  How is changing someone's gender not this?  Especially compared to the ability to fly or throw energy blasts?
 

With the boy/girl gun we're talking about turning a target into a gender-swapped version of their self.  
 
A Severe Transform can turn a human being into a frog, a stone statue, a shrubbery, or thin air.  Severe is overkill.  
 
A Major Transform can grant a human the ability to shoot fire blasts from their hands or fly with wings.  
 
A Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a different human.  I'll stipulate that a Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a human of the opposite gender in appearance only...
 
Is turning a human into the same human of a different gender, qualitatively the same as granting them the ability to fly or shoot fire?
 
(Have any of you seriously played in or run games where the ability to become pregnant and give birth amounts to a Power for which the character should pay points?)
 
Minor Transform is enough to "work minor changes on the target's functions".  How is changing someone's gender not this?  Especially compared to the ability to fly or throw energy blasts?
 

As Chris and others have alluded, the value of a transform is tied directly to its in-game effects. 
 
Frankly, with the heal-back mandate of Transform in the first place, and given that gender has no in-game mechanic, if it wasn't for the potential of game-derailing abuse-for-humour, I'd feel bad about charging for it, period. 
 
For me, this falls under the "because it _can_ be built,, it _must_ be built" fallacy. 
 
But as you can see above, everyone's mileage _will_ vary. 

With the boy/girl gun we're talking about turning a target into a gender-swapped version of their self.  
 
A Severe Transform can turn a human being into a frog, a stone statue, a shrubbery, or thin air.  Severe is overkill.  
 
A Major Transform can grant a human the ability to shoot fire blasts from their hands or fly with wings.  
 
A Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a different human.  I'll stipulate that a Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a human of the opposite gender in appearance only...
 
Is turning a human into the same human of a different gender, qualitatively the same as granting them the ability to fly or shoot fire?
 
(Have any of you seriously played in or run games where the ability to become pregnant and give birth amounts to a Power for which the character should pay points?)
 
Minor Transform is enough to "work minor changes on the target's functions".  How is changing someone's gender not this?  Especially compared to the ability to fly or throw energy blasts?
 

With the boy/girl gun we're talking about turning a target into a gender-swapped version of their self.  
 
A Severe Transform can turn a human being into a frog, a stone statue, a shrubbery, or thin air.  Severe is overkill.  
 
A Major Transform can grant a human the ability to shoot fire blasts from their hands or fly with wings.  
 
A Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a different human.  I'll stipulate that a Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a human of the opposite gender in appearance only...
 
Is turning a human into the same human of a different gender, qualitatively the same as granting them the ability to fly or shoot fire?
 
(Have any of you seriously played in or run games where the ability to become pregnant and give birth amounts to a Power for which the character should pay points?)
 
Minor Transform is enough to "work minor changes on the target's functions".  How is changing someone's gender not this?  Especially compared to the ability to fly or throw energy blasts?
 

If it's "technology," it's cash. If it's a powerful item, it's magic and costs points. So, for instance, in Tolkien, a mithril shirt is magic, and costs points. But in a setting where the city watch wears mithril shirts and has repeating crossbows, that's all cash.
One way to avoid all this is to avoid trivial magical items and situations that require them entirely. Heroic fantasy usually works better if characters invest in CSLs rather than "+2 broadswords" and such. A better magical sword is Armor-Piercing, or intelligent, or ignores non-living armor and cuts only flesh, or simply sheds heatless light without fuel.

Thank you for that overview.   I still find it disappointing that the company has not managed to give some full examples in 6 editions, but what you put there is very helpful to get started. 

Thank you for the hard work, Duke.

This work started it in the early 1990’s with the goal of using Robot Warriors mecha construction and combat rules with 4th edition Champions and the HERO System Rulesbook. It has been updated and enhanced to help you do the same—with any current edition of HERO!
Convert Robot Warriors characters to the 4th, 5th, or 6th editions of the HERO System! Use Robot Warriors robot writeups—as is—in current editions! Build new robots using the old rules and take advantage of new rules! Convert robots from Robot Warriors to the Vehicle rules of the HERO edition of your choice!  
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/327714/Robot-Warriors-to-HERO-System-Current-Editions
 
Now available as Pay What You Want through DriveThruRPG!

The manuscript for Western Hero is at Hero HQ and being worked over, with a new cover being created for it.  I don't know any realistic release date but I hope it will be out by Christmas.  This is to be an official Hero Games product, not a Hall of Champions fan bit or self pub job like my other work.
 
I have a few release ideas set up for it, when it hits the shelves including an adventure module.  As I get more news and information I'll pass it along here.  So stay tuned, pardner.
 

This is purely dependent on how serious you want it to be. 
 
That’s it. That’s my whole answer. Comedy is minor, if we start getting into the hormones and how men and women are actually quite different, moderate. I don’t see it as major as it’s not adding or removing powers.
 
Wow. I just realized @dmjalund avatar changes colors all by itself. I feel lame now.

I'm in! 

Duke, thank you for doing all of the scanning.  I've been reading through the AC's, and there's a lot of good material there.  I haven't gotten through many of the others yet, but I can't imagine there not being as much good material in those.  
 

Duke, thank you for doing all of the scanning.  I've been reading through the AC's, and there's a lot of good material there.  I haven't gotten through many of the others yet, but I can't imagine there not being as much good material in those.  
 

Duke, thank you for doing all of the scanning.  I've been reading through the AC's, and there's a lot of good material there.  I haven't gotten through many of the others yet, but I can't imagine there not being as much good material in those.  
 

To be honest, I don't know of any examples of play, other than the "Example:" paragraphs in the various books.  I know those probably aren't drawn from actual play and are used to illustrate a single rules-piece.  I've written enough both criticizing and extending the vehicle rules over the years that one might think I knew what I was talking about, but I haven't actually played with them very much.  
 
I have used the dogfighting rules (mostly haven't changed from the very first appearance in Champions II to the very last in 6th edition in the Advanced Players' Guide, p. 188) and they work very well for dogfight-style combat.  They abstract away most of the movement, though, and break everything out to full 12-second combat Turns.  They're essentially ongoing, opposed Piloting vs. Piloting rolls to improve one vehicle's position enough against its opponent to get that sweet, sweet "Tail chase, attack every Phase" at which point you can blow them out of the sky.  
 
Vehicles move at DEX and SPD each equal to the lower of that of their driver or themselves.  They automatically have a Turn Mode when moving.  For the most part, as long as a vehicle is moving within the parameters of its Turn Mode, and not trying to do anything too crazy, and not trying to attack or do things while being attacked, the driver doesn't have to make a Driving or Piloting roll.  For every one of those conditions not in effect, the roll is required, with bigger penalties for the more of those that don't apply.   (Generally speaking, if you've ever played with Hot Wheels cars, and made the tire screeching noises while doing so... you probably have some idea of when to require a Driving Roll.   )
 
Aside from that, I'd recommend busting out the Hot Wheels or the Car Wars chits, and a hex map, and gaming something out!  If you call a Car Wars scale map 1" = 4 meters, you can keep some semblance of HERO System movement with it, while having something of a gameable scale.  Keep playing until you run into something you're not sure about; once you hit one of those, write it down, then make a GM ruling to keep the game going, and write down what the ruling was.  If at any time you think to yourself, a vehicle shouldn't be able to do that, then call for a Driving Roll.  Then come back here and tell us what the rulings were and the cases that brought them about.   
 
Besides The Ultimate Vehicle, The Ultimate Speedster has some bits that might be useful, including better ideas of when you might call for a Driving or Piloting roll.  TUS gives some examples of character movement that might require a Control Roll (basically a DEX roll made by a fast moving character) that are certainly adaptable to vehicles, and also give some alternate ideas for movement including breaking vehicular movement out into Segments rather than Phases.  
 
I hope that helps.

I mean, you can build everything yourself regardless, but for me?
 
6th. I came in with 5th. I loved 5th. 6th is bigger, broader, messier in some ways if for no other reason than its scope, but it’s possibly the most refined of all the editions, and hands down my favorite. 
 
That said, if you like 4, do 4. If you have 5th & 6th and there’s a rule that you want to import, you know, do that.
Contemplating further, Persona would not be capable to its level of refinement outside of 5th or 6th. I twisted a lot of rules into new shapes but the ground work for those changes meant that things remained sufficiently balanced.

I prefer an Entangle to a Stretching Grab because Grab comes with that halved DCV for the user of the chain.  Unless you want his DCV halved while he is running a charge through his opponent.  An Entangle with only one BOD would simulate opposed STR to escape, much like a Grab.
 
The electric attack could have many mechanics – Blast, Blast, Stun Only, NND, KA, whatever.  Take Chris’ approach and it could be a Constant entangle mitigating the need for an Entangle caused by the chain itself, or even an Entangle based on a stat other than STR.  The one element here that no one seems to have mentioned is making the electric attack AoE, Surface (whether limited to the chain as the surface, or limited to metal objects if the character, rather than the chain, provides the electricity).  That removes the need for Trigger or Constant to maintain the autohit with the electricity.  This also allows for anyone touching the chain to also take the electrical damage.
 
Swinging it around is definitely that easy AoE with either a hole in the middle or personal immunity.  Or, if the electricity is NND, as simple as him having the defense.

I'd give him a no-range electrical attack (Blast, NND, etc.), and then a few meters of Stretching through a Focus.  "Entangling" with the chain could as easily be a Grab with the Stretched "limb", and then zappo with the electricity.  Simplest is best IMO.
 
Edit to add:  Also, consider AC current, which tends to cause muscles to jerk (and can increase Knockback or have other effects) versus DC current, which causes them to lock in place (paralysis-type separate Entangle or other effects).

I'd give him a no-range electrical attack (Blast, NND, etc.), and then a few meters of Stretching through a Focus.  "Entangling" with the chain could as easily be a Grab with the Stretched "limb", and then zappo with the electricity.  Simplest is best IMO.
 
Edit to add:  Also, consider AC current, which tends to cause muscles to jerk (and can increase Knockback or have other effects) versus DC current, which causes them to lock in place (paralysis-type separate Entangle or other effects).

Yes; indeed, OP!  My apologies as well.  Honestly, I hadn't expected that commentary to receive the attention it did.
 
 
 
Of course.  I am not saying "the rules are rubbish and should be thrown away" or trying to imply that they have no value.  It's the automatic reaction that published rule trumps house rule, period, or that house rules are inherently inferior because they are not published rules-- and all the while without really appreciating just what, at their core, the published rules _are_.  And it's not just HERO, mind you: any game that has gone through a revamping (or five) is essentially the same thing:  the original game, modified by a long run of house rules that have been found to work, for lack of a more specific word, "better" than did the previous published rule that this one has replaced.
 
For example:  LL mentioned that the original author _hated_ Limited SPD (which we can agree has it's potential for abuse, but is it really at higher risk than anything else?).   How many of us did it anyway, long before the official rules said it was okay?   So were those of use using this or a similar house rule doing something inferior to the published rules, and if so, why are the published rules now _different_, so different as to become the house rule we've been puttering along with for forty years or so?
 
_that's_ the thing that gets under my saddle.  As I said, there are some really creative, really insightful people here, some of whom have even done "official" things for the brand.  (And of course, there are a few lunatic hacks like me.     .)  When someone asks for an official rule, then by all means, give him one.  When he just wants to know "how can I make this work," condemning offered ideas simply because book 5 of the published rules addresses it specifically....  Sure, tell him "Hey, book 5, page 9 says the official method is your-offered-assistance-here."  That's excellent.  But it's not _more_ excellent because it's official.   You can handle this two ways:
 
"Hey, book 5, page 9 says whatever-it-is-that-it-says-that-you-believe-will-be-helpful-to-the-person-asking."
 
Wonderful stuff right there; that's people looking out for each other, and I support it completely.
 
Then there's this:
 
"That's a questionable construct, there; it's clearly just someone's house rule.  The correct way to handle this is on-and-on-and-on, per the rules.  You shouldn't use the house rule because there is an official one."
 
 
HERO has been around a long time.  Not a lot of other games have six editions.  And even if you don't read them, the simple page count of the various editions would instantly suggest that those official rules change _a lot_.  Heck:  the last two editions have changes from one to the other, and they were written by the same guy!   The first three editions?  Same thing!
 
As someone noted above, HERO, perhaps more than any other game system, _requires_ judgement calls and case-by-case decisions.  I just don't get how shooting down someone for doing just that is right.
 
Final example?   How many people point to Shrike's page as examples of great ways to do this or that or the other?  How many of them are spelled out just that way in the rules?
 
Okay, that's a bit unfair, because the rules state "uhm, you should probably design your own magic system, tailor-fitted to your campaign or group."    But the rules-- every edition so far-- say "change what doesn't work for you (paraphrased, both times)."  I find it goes against the nature of what "helping" is to denigrate suggestions _specifically_ because they haven't been printed on paper for mass consumption.
 
 
That is all.
 
 
 
 
 
Agreed, but that also drives home the point:  if you have multiple "official" rules for the same thing, how can we accept that _all_ of them are superior than a house rule designed specifically for how your group wants that "thing" resolved?
 
 
 
So much that, right there.....  
 
When I first heard there was going to be a Player's Guide, my first thought was "perhaps the primary rule books could have been streamlined by simply picking _one_ rule for each of the situations, and compiling all the optional rules into a separate "GM's Guide" or something like that-- not only would that have made the core rules _slightly_ less intimidating (and perhaps potentially more attractive to new players), but it would have had all the optionals right in one place, easy to search, easy to peruse, and probably just a lot more fun to read through now and again when searching for inspiration.
 
Oh well.  maybe the seventh edition....   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Yes, indeed.
 
For what it's worth, I think most of the long-time members of this board started with either 3e or 4e, what with those two editions having been printed in much larger quantity and give much further distribution than any other edition.  It doesn't hurt that they were both printed during the heyday of the RPG hobby, either.
 
4e remains popular, and from a personal opinion standpoint, I personally think it is the easiest edition from which to convert both forwards or backwards.  So much so, in fact, that as a general rule, when I do conversions of characters or adventures from other systems, I usually write them up in 4e if I plan to spread them around to fellow GMs who play at my tables.  The funny part is that I don't play 4e myself (specifically, I don't play _any_ "edition":  my games are 2e-based, but feature stuff from everything from 1st to 6th).  As someone noted above, learn _any_ edition.  The only really strong differences are in character generation and few of the more toward-the-edge combat situations.  In terms of game play, the only differences you're likely going to notice is how to determine range, END expenditure, and how pretty you are (or aren't).  These are so minor as to not be worthy of mention. 
 
 
 
Agreed, and for more reasons than just those you stated. 
(Sorry, Z; I'm all out of rep, but I've added you to the list )
 
 
 
I would love to address this a bit more fully, but I am already quite regretful of how much of the OP's thread I've derailed. 
 
 
(Sorry, OP.  Short version:  Any edition, _in play_, feels like any other.  At worst, you might think "why are my END costs wonky?," but that's about it.  Outside of that, it's a matter of how complicated you want character generation to be)
 
 

For those who don't subscribe, the BOH went up today with the Adventurers Club and a lot of other material! 
 
I don't know what it looks like yet: I only did the scanning; clean-up was left to other volunteers.  Still, it's the cheapest way there is to read the old stuff!