Yamo

Some curses could be explained by modified characteristics. Let's say you want a character that horrible with the opposite sex. Maybe you could buy -10 PRE and -6 COM only against the Opposite sex. But somehow that seems kludgy.

You have it a little backwards. The proper way to do this would be to buy his natural COM very low and then purchase extra COM with something like a "Not Versus The Opposite Sex (-1)" Limitation.

Is there a way to shoot two different targets with two different weapons in the same Phase?

If I want to shoot them both with the same weapon, I can Rapid Fire it.

If I want to shoot one of them with two different weapons at once, I can use a Multiple Power Attack.

But what if I have, say, a magnum revolver in one hand and a laser pistol in the other and I want to shoot a different thug with each one simultaneously. Is there a rules-legal way to do that?

I ask because I'm working on a character that routinely "dual wields" mismatched weapons of various types and this particular stunt is a big part of the fighting style I have in mind.

AaaAAaaaAAAaand if two people try to lift somethin' heavy?

Just add the amount of weight their STRs allow them to lift together to see if they can lift it and use their combined STR for damage?

Neat character. Seems kind of like a cross between Wonder Woman and a female Thor.

Sorry, I just couldn't let this one go by. Ockham's Razor is the test of multiplying assumptions beyond necessity; another way of putting this is that the simplest explanation is the most likely. Which is the simplest explanation: that the companies colluded to fix the voting, or that we just ended up with a tie?

Maybe you're right. In this case, though, the simplest explaination is massively improbable because of both the sheer odds involved and the many motivations outlined above to engineer this specific outcome.

It IS possible to tie, why assume the worst?

Why?

a) Occam's Razor. A genuine tie is possible, but extremely unlikely. A manufactured tie is extremely plausable once you factor in other motivators like:

The desire of both companies to have their cake and eat it too by having a "contest" for publicity where both are guaranteed not to lose face by coming in second.

c) The desire of both company's to not give partisan fans ammo in a "my system is better than yours because it won the Showdown" context. Generates ill will. Why would they want that?

d) The desire of both companies to attempt a clever marketing ploy of leaving the contest tied as a sort of a "cliffhanger" leading up to the Reality Storm release.

So you can believe what you like, but I prefer to believe that I'm wise enough to see and acknowledge what's right in front of my face (and festooned with bells and flashing neon signs, in this case). Call it a rude notion if you like, but it really is that obvious to me and I make no bones about it.

Yamo, my apologies. My remark did come out too flippant. You are entitled to your opinion, and I respect that. I don't agree, but I'd rather not make a debate out of that - it's only a game, after all. I enjoyed the contest, and I'm sorry the outcome spoiled that for you.

At the same time, though, I'm just calling it as I see it. I'm NOT trying to be rude, and I apologize if I came off that way in the heat of my irritation over this issue.

Don't worry, be happy.

As I was saying...

Sir, if you honestly believe that both Firewing and General Winter recieved the exact same amount of votes, I have a bridge to sell you.

Really, that's just daft. It's a painfully-obvious sham. I expect better from you, LL. Even if you do love to tow the party line, so to speak. Think, man.

Boo! I wanted an overall winner declared between HERO and SAS! The Firewing/General Winter "match" was clearly fixed to insure an artificial tie. I feel like an idiot because none of my votes really counted for anything. They wasted my time.

Oh, man, I am such an idiot. I must have not been paying attention with that first post.

In fact, I'd say that buying Running that only provides NCM is easily stripping it of half its net functionality. A -1 Limitation might even be in order.

The Limitation is a problem. You can't have one smaller than -1/4, but it shouldn't totally pay off the 1/2 END, as you're still benefiting from the Advantage during NCM. -1/2 is right out. You're actually getting points back for Reduced Endurance then.

I would just take my lumps, err on the side of caution and change the Limitation to -0.

Regarding Doc Oc: I'm a little bummed. I liked his original costume. Street clothes (even if a kewl trenchcoat is involved), just aren't very supervillianish.

Regarding the Batman thing: Just wanted to emphasize that that's from a short (less than ten minute) fan film, not from any kind of upcoming major motion picture. Heck, the rest of it is (no joke) Bats fighting aliens and the Predator.

A GM new to the system wouldn't have the faintest idea how to set up AP limits and power frameworks and limitations to get the feel that he wants.

Hmm. I had never played HERO before the 5th Edition and I haven't had any trouble setting AP limits and such.

Maybe you should give people more credit?

So without any sarcasm, what I'm saying is that yes, I have a HERO toolkit, and yes, I can build anything I damn well want with it. But if I haven't got the time to build my campaign from scratch or hunt through all the crap that's out on the web, it would be nice if I could quickly assemble it from some ready-made options. Especially if I'm new to GMing Hero and I don't know what the hell I'm doing. This takes nothing away from the universality of Hero and makes it easy for busy, lazy, or new GMs.

It sounds to me like there's already a ton of books that fit what you want.

Champions Universe (premade superhero setting)

Conquerors, Killers and Crooks (premade superhero villians)

Millenium City (premade campaign city)

UNTIL Superpowers Database (thousands of premade Powers)

Terran Empire (premade sci-fi setting)

Spacer's Toolkit (premade sci-fi gear, vehicles and ships)

Ultimate Martial Artist (premade martial arts styles and Powers)

Ultimate Vehicle (premade vehicles)

That's eight products in the last year that aren't genre books. Any one of them meets your criteria of "campaign options that a GM can pick from a list on his lunch break."

Coming up in the next few months we have:

Champions Battlegrounds (premade superhero adventures)

Fantasy Hero Grimoire (premade fantasy spells)

VIPER sourcebook (a premade villian organization for superhero campaigns)

Monsters, Minions and Marauders (premade fantasy villians)

It sounds to me like you're just spoiled. If you really begrudge the rest of HEROdom one or two genre books a year just because they mean that you get ONLY eight or nine books of drag-and-drop stuff that's useful to you, well, that's just weak.

Your whining is misplaced for two reasons:

a) There's more than one HERO player out there. Many of us love the genre books. If you don't, don't buy them. Which leads neatly to number two...

You're already getting plenty of what you want. 2/3 or more of the release schedule is made up of non-genre book products intended to provide premade bits for campaigns. That's a distinct majority of new HERO material and it ought to be enough to please anyone even remotely fair and realistic about this issue.

Every book isn't made for you. If it was, DoJ would have exactly one customer.

Desolid + Persistant + Inherent + Only Versus X (-1) = 45 points

Most reasonable GMs will waive the need for Affects Physical World as per the option in FREd. Provided you don't try to take this ability for multiple special effects or for an unreasonably broad special effect (like "energy" ).

Another problem with the Desolid method as it's been written is this:

There's no invisibility effect, so a 6'4, 230 pound man trying to Desolid/Cling possess a 5'1, 120 pound woman is going to have various "bits" of him that overlap the subject jutting out everywhere for all the world to see.

Even if the possessor is small enough to hide completely within the subject, Desolid doesn't let you see through solid objects you're inside of or even breathe. How does the possessor see where he's going and breath?

For the published version to really work, you need a host of Powers. Desolid, Clinging, Invisibility, N-Ray Vision and Self-Contained Breathing for starters.

I just don't think it's the most elegant way to do it. Again, the method I advocate:

1. EDM to the target's mind with a Limitation that the user is automatically subjected to all Mental Powers the target is.

2. Big Mind Control with Telepathic and Transdimensional.

3. Telepathy with Transdimension if the possession lets the user sift through the target's memories.

What about EDM into the target's mind along with a big Mind Control and some Telepathy? You'd need a Limitation on it that the possessor was automatically effected by all Mental Powers used on the target, of course.

I never likes the clunkiness of Desolid/Clinging. EDM seems cleaner to me.

Problems with a VPP:

The quantity and variety of potions and such the character can make should be limited by in-game time, money and components, not Active/Real points.

For example, if the character has the know-how and materials to make five types of potions, he shouldn't be limited to four because the fifth won't fit in his Pool right then.

Secondly, there's the problem of existing potions either vanishing somehow when the Pool changes or the Pool not being able to change as long as existing potions remain unused.

VPP won't work.

Looking for rules legal ways to translate these concepts into HERO properly.

In D&D, wizards can make single-use scrolls and potions (and other such disposable items) that replicate the effects of almost any spell they know.

How to represent this in HERO? The only option I can see is to buy each spell you want to be able to make an item out of as a seperate Power with Trigger, OAF Expendable, etc, but buying two versions of every spell is just too expensive.

Using Independent is problematic, too. A single one-use scroll with a powerful spell on it (say 90 AP) will cost 11 points even with -8 worth of Limitations on it, which is just ridiculous, even for something you can only use once. No sane wizard would choose would drop eleven character points permanently just to have an item that lets him cast a single spell he can already cast once. That's loco. Maybe a couple points, but no more.

Any ideas?

I'm going to throw my lot in with the "too superhero/anime/video game/D&D 3E 'dungeonpunk' looking" crowd.

I would have preferred something a little more like the classic Elmore or Easley-style works that graced both earlier Fantasy HERO and D&D editions. Something detailed, beautiful, but fundamentally very traditional.

I just find the style used vaguely undignified in a fantasy context. Hard to put my finger on why.

Mr. Cook did an okay job, but I would have preferred that he back off on the crowding, over-the-top combative posing and S&M-style costuming.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Personally, I almost always convert falling damage dice to Killing. Much more realistic that way and solves most of these problems.

Give the creature a big Endurance Reserve. Add the Usable By Other Advantage so that the creature's summoner can use it. Add a Limitation to reflect that the END in the Reserve can only be used for Summons and only if it's the sole source of END for a particular use of a Summon.

Considered just disallowing noncombat Leaping?

Yamo, have you looked at my suggestion for melee deflection/reflection? Is that too expensive? If so, how cheap do you think melee deflection/reflection should be?

That makes sense. I've never heard of a naked Advantage UAA. Interesting.

And Steve did address the Magic Missile construct in his HEROglyphs column in DH #2. It's actually a concept which has precedent outside of gaming, e.g. in myth Thor's hammer Mjollnir would never fail to hit its target when thrown. One of the big selling points for the HERO System is that you supposedly can create any ability you can conceive of (at least approximately, if not precisely). Sometimes it takes some system gymnastics, though, and who can make HERO do a triple twisting backflip dismount better than the guy who wrote the book?

Can I get a brief summary of how he did it if it's not too much trouble? Don't cut and paste the whole article, or anything. Just a brief description of how the Power was written-up.

Bingo! Specific individual Summon linked to MegaScale Teleport!

w00t!