Killer Shrike

" isn't going to look horrible printed "...that's kind of subjective...care to provide examples of something you like vs something you don't?

There are css properties for page break behavior that can be used for clean pagination w/ html...however it is a pain w/ dynamically generated html such as is emitted from HD to figure out where to programatically insert the page breaks. I actually spent a couple hours about a decade ago now attempting to approximate something of the sort for one of my multipage HD html templates and did get something that more or less worked by just hacking around the problem but it was horribly brute force and unreliable so I just went with paginating by section and accepting that some edge case characters are going to have rollover. Playing around with printer zoom settings for certain characters to, say, set print size to 85-90% is usually sufficient for most characters that have rollover. On some characters with large chunks of text in their biographical fields, I often wrap the content in HD in <span style="font-size:smaller;">...</span> to help compress the text. And so on. If you are trying to print out a "character" that is just a lengthy list of spells or equipment, or whatever, then you will obviously have pagination issues. However, you can use HD to output the HTML which does most of the heavy lifting, and then just edit the HTML directly to insert page breaks (and subheaders if you want them) where you want them. Rather trivial to do for something that doesn't require frequent updates. Alternately, you could use multiple "characters", spreading the abilities across them in such a way that the print out of each takes exactly one page. Then you would just output all the files and combine them in the order you see fit to compose your "multi page list". And, if you just really like PDF's for some reason, if you can get something to first print to HTML in a format you can live with, you can generally render that via browser and then print to PDF from the browser...or use an online PDF converter. A bit time consuming, but doable.

I would hesitate to let magic items be "free"; personally in HtbM I allow magic items with non-recoverable charges to be taken in an Equipment pool, and all other magic items must be taken in a Mystic pool.

Not a terrible idea at all. You could certainly do that and see how it goes. However, I will note that I haven't found there to be a real dichotomy between professionals and mystics in the HtbM set up. While non-professionals have a wider variety of possibilities, pros tend to be competent and deadly. One thing to note is that as I have it set up, high end custom gear must be bought in a professional pool vs an equipment pool, which is another outlet for character capabilities available to pros. There are also some things exclusive to pros like Deadly Blow / Weapon Master, discounted Overall Levels, and the `Professional Edge` talent which offer some advantages as well. But if you wanted to do a 2:1 ratio on your version of a professional pool and see how it goes there's no harm in it. Twiddle all the dials is my Hero System philosophy.

Thanks. Almost all of them saw play to some extent or the other, though the magic systems that have been used by PC's have gotten more actual playtime than some that were only used by NPC's. A couple of them were mentioned and were "in play" but due to the vagaries of campaign flow the players never wandered into an area or scenario where it became relevant. Magecraft is one of my favorites, and has been used by both NPC's and PC's. Other people have sent me emails over the years indicating that they used it in whole or part to good success. The `Ars Mysterium` type of magic in Here There Be Monsters is adapted from it and may be a cleaner representation. Generally speaking, the various magic systems listed in Here There Be Monsters for Mystics to use are my current working set, and if I were to ever revisit the Fantasy Hero material again I would rebase off of the HtbM set rather than going back to the original 5e versions in the fantasy section of the site. You might want to check them out.

I have some magic...oh, never mind...

This is the state of each character heading into Act II of Arc 4: Jack Maywood Slayer / Alchemist Lord Maggot Joey Manegarm Lokispawn Scything Beretta Colt Final Girl Steve Drew Altman Lucky Operator WilyQ Murgatroyd Arcanist Durzan Killroy Sniper / Cabalist King Red @L0rd_Magg0t @Scything @Steve @WilyQ @Durzan Malakim @King Red

Welcome back...

Sorry to be lagging behind...a lot going on in real life currently. I'd really like to be doing the session write ups but I just don't have the time currently. If someone else wants to take a stab at it on this thread, I don't mind at all. We played last Saturday night, ending Act 1 of the arc. As it was a significant session and a milestone, 5 XP was on the table...King Red got 4 XP, Lord Maggot got 6 XP due to above and beyond play as a possessed version of Jack and also taking on running Daryll and his zombies in the nights big fight scene. Everyone else got 5 XP. Scything and Steve had a split vote for MVP and they both did great things in the session so rather than break the tie I awarded it to both of them.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...

Possessed Jack is fearsome...

See ya'll tomorrow at 5pm

@Territan Both 1d6-1 and 1/2d6 are 2 Damage Classes (DC). Traditionally Hero used half dies. Somewhere around I think 5th edition the option to instead use 1d6-1 was introduced for people who struggle with or just don't like half dies. But, I believe, 1/2d6 is still the default assumption. At the table when you play, you could chose to treat a 1/2d6 as 1d6-1 however. The trade off of course is that while 1d6-1 has better peak (5) and average (2.5) there is also the chance that it will do 0 damage which some people have a psychological issue with. Mathematically, the 1d6-1 option is more effective overall. If it bothers you enough, you can double click the Power text in the listing and type over 3 1/2 d6 with 4d6-1 One thing I will point out is, you are applying "Real Weapon" to this but very few real weapons do 3d6 damage. Also, if it is a muscle powered HKA you generally should be applying a Strength Minimum...which will also affect the amount of bonus damage you get from STR.

Yes, "Demon Jack" was my favorite part of the night as well in general, and the glue bomb situation in particular. My favorite thing about having @L0rd_Magg0t at the table is how flexible and willing to roll with the story he is.

Session 2 of Qlippothic Philosophic was played last evening...the Hunters traveled to Shreveport, LA to take a job at a casino having problems with someone cheating...with some kind of magic! Joey & Killroy were awarded 2 XP each. Beretta, Drew, Jack, and Murgatroyd were each awarded 3 XP. Jack, played by @L0rd_Magg0t was voted MVP for the second session in a row. It was communicated that there was an XP spending freeze in effect until the Hunters resolve Act I of the arc.

I'm planning to be @ At Ease Games tomorrow at 5pm to run a session. @WilyQ and @Scything will be there as well.

Yeah, it's a good place for shenanigans.

"I have it and could make it available", and "I don't know but probably busily".

Do you have an opinion on this format? http://www.killershrike.com/HereThereBeMonsters/Characters/LordMaggot/JackMaywood/193/Jacks Armored Van.html This is the print preview:

Yes, it may well be a thing that many roleplayers tend to be sensitive to being bossed / bullied / told what to do. A fellow player attempting to lead, even with the best of intentions, and incorporating that into their character concept often triggers at least one person at the table at some level. There are ways to do it, of course, but if one or more people like that are in your group the game mechanics isn't the problem...it's a social contract issue. On the other hand in some groups it isn't a problem at all, and if that is your case then there are the obvious buff / support type abilities available to allow the "leader" to incentivize people following their lead. In 5e you can also do interesting things with Negative Skill Levels, such as this ability: 13 2) Hit Him In The Gut -- He's Weak There: Negative Combat Skill Levels (-2 to opponent's DCV), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Ranged (+1/2), IPE (Fully Invisible; +1) (30 Active Points); Only Vs Opponent Which Find Weakness Has Succeeded Against (-1), Must Be Able To Communicate "Weak Spot" To Others For Them To Take Advantage Of It (-1/4) And other "shot caller" type abilities that allow the "leader" to single out the target they want the rest of the team to focus on...those team members who follow the leaders direction benefit from it and those who do their own thing don't. There are also "rally" type abilities, such as the following (this is a 6e build but the same type of thing is avail in 5e...the character this comes from has a suite of "Only Usable In Hopeless Situations" abilities, of which this is just one) which allow a "leader" type character to reinvigorate their team under various circumstances...such as on the brink of a total party wipe or when things have gone very wrong: 36 24) Inspirational : Aid STUN 5d6, Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger requires a Turn or more to reset, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; When "Only In Hopeless Situations" Abilities Become Available; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Area Of Effect (16m Radius; +3/4), Selective (+1/4) (82 Active Points); Only Usable In Hopeless Situations (-1) Communication abilities are also obviously very useful to a leader...so that their team can receive their directions. Etc. Another approach is find out if your playgroup is cool with you making a flag suit or explicit team leader upfront and if they are ask them how they would expect you as the leader to support the team. Make a list, and try to include some of that into your build. The other players are more likely to be receptive to you using such abilities if they themselves suggested them.

Oh the subject, I remembered this character who is an edge case exception...a character with Only In Hero ID that used All Combat levels in the "hero" form instead of form specific OCV / DCV. Kind of gimmicky, but the ability to trade in CSL's for damage when the situation allowed for it boosts the characters fit as the "glass cannon" of their team and is a fun little mechanical variation. http://www.killershrike.com/SybylyneConspiracy/Timelines/Charlie/War-Man.html Also, the character has some AoE options on his main attack, so throwing lvls into DCV or DCV and +dmg was situationally viable. Similarly at extreme range, the character could through it all into OCV and rely on range to keep themselves safe. Etc. A lot of situational configurability.

Joe Tactical (the generic soldier / agent / secforce sheet) was sub par, so I gave the write up a bump. Feedback welcome. Joe Tactical (click picture)

@Steve wrote up everyone's favorite executive assistant Laverne... Laverne (click picture)

I would say no; you are just paying back the points on the lim itself and applying modifiers to the points you saved by taking the lim. It's basically an accounting trick. A particularly interesting case to consider in fact would be, partially buying off the Costs Endurance limitation itself. Lets say you had a power that normally doesn't cost END but you've applied Costs Endurance to it, but if you have an item (Foci) that helps you use that power it does not cost END...you partially buy off the Costs Endurance lim and apply Foci to the buy off. If the partial buyoff of the lim cost END itself then it wouldn't be very viable. If it doesn't cost END itself, then it might be viable.

The first real session of Arc 4 occurred yesterday. It went in a different direction than planned (the scripted adventure was in Shreveport , LA, but the session ended up being about interacting with a vampiric presence in Boston), so it was almost entirely improv, but it was fun and hopefully people enjoyed it. It was entirely my own fault; I was trying to seed story elements as bait for future adventure to be re-visited later after the team returned to Boston from Shreveport, but I messed up the timing of it and the group jumped on the hook early. It may actually work out better this way in the long run, but I was under-prepared in the moment and had to wing it. The players rolled with it and made it work; they're great and a pleasure to game with. Everyone got 4 XP, and @L0rd_Magg0t was voted the MVP due to taking charge of the situation when the group decided to assault a vamp in their own lair (at night), and empowering the team to succeed with his alchemical acumen. It was the first episode where Jack really got to shine, and neither the character nor the player disappointed. Honorable mentions, Murgatroyd also had a lot of great scenes, and @Durzan Malakim carried a lot of the weight of the emerging story for the group. @WilyQ ended up running all the bad guys as Drew was off camera the entire session, @Steve made up and ran Laverne, the team's new secretary and a big hit at the table. @King Red stepped up and demonstrated that Killroy is more than just a guy with a big gun...he was putting Killroy through his paces and using a lot more of the character sheet. And @Scything 's skilling up of Joey's computer abilities paid off as he was able to get a lot of information and keep the team moving forward with good intel. There is an XP spending freeze in effect. I'm looking forward to next session when we may find the Hunters in Shreveport as expected...if the loa's be kind of course.