Mr Reasonable

Re: Advantage i almost never use: IPE I'm really not sure: purple is so 4th edition. You could update the look with black tendrils (or perhaps grey/rust) for a 5ed look or something primary or shiny metallic for 6e.

Re: Advantage i almost never use: IPE Dr Divago - to answer your question - if it is always obvious that a power is being used (and, broadly, what that power is) and where the power is coming from then you do not need IPE, no matter what SFX you have. However, that is not to say that a particular description will always make sense. TK works through walls and windows, and I can see a lot of situations where you could use the TK you describe and no one would know that you were the source or where you were i.e. you are standing the other side of a window, or even out of sight behind a a packing crate. That sounds like some level of IPE to me, but it depends to an extent on how the power is used in practice.

Re: Advantage i almost never use: IPE IPE is a bit useless for a lot of purposes. It would be nice if we had an alternative: an advantage that means that it is harder to interpret the information that using a power gives. Example - a power that you can see if you are looking for, or if you have good senses or some sort of deduction roll. So, a gun with a silencer isn't an 'invisible' power, and can be detected with normal senses. It isn't easy though. TK that doesn't have purple tendrils but which you can still, by observation and deduction, work out the source of. 6e's use of 'obvious/inobvious' addresses this to an extent, but it doesn't necessarily Work well.for.modelling all the concepts we come up with. It requires a more fundamental breakdown of what we want to model. You may take the view that you can fluff around it, get something close enough and call it good. That's quitter talk though. Hardcore Hero needs definition. Grrrr.

Re: Discriminatory IR vision? I believe that IR that works through the sight simulated sense group is as discriminatory as normal sight i.e. you would have no difficulty telling people apart. If it is bought on its own however, or as part of a simulated sense group that is not normally discriminatory, all you can tell is that some places are hotter than others. In fact, bought 'on its own' it is not a sense and has no range. I think of non-discriminatory senses as entirely 'black or white' - no gray or color. They tell you that what you detect is present or absent at a given location, but little else on their own. Anything above a threshold level would register on the sense, anything below that threshold level would not. Most senses are pretty useless without some level of 'discriminatory' attached, in my opinion. Even without 'discriminatory' though you can get some useful information, coupled with other circumstantial evidence (that particular blob of heat is moving rapidly toward me...) you can often tell living targets from non-living ones. Obviously you'll need 'range' on that to make it work.

Re: Rapid Clotting I quite agree in practice: that works out at about 9 points (or less with extra time or activation rolls), built this way: Healing BODY 1d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; +3/4) (22 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about two-thirds of its effectiveness (Only to stop bleeding; -1 1/2) which is less than I'd have been willing to pay for it as a part of Life Support. It does not work well for a character who bleeds slowly, but does not necessarily clot any more effectively, but again that is not what was being asked about. I do think it would be nice to see all the mechanical game effects, like bleeding, suffocation, and even endurance and such like actually built using the Hero system (so 'bleeding' would be a damage over time effect triggered by an attack). I can dream...of course that may well double the page count of an already weighty volume!

Re: Sensory Input (5e) Sorry, you're quite right; I had not looked at it for a while. However, if I have this right, the 'cost' of vision is not calculated correctly. I make vision: 10 Large class of things detect 5 Ranged 2 Sense 10 Targeting 3 Discriminatory (-1/2: partial) That comes out at 30 points and Book 2 says it is worth 35. Not a major issue - but anyone have any idea where the other 5 points come in?

Re: Sensory Input (5e) This is an old Hero saw. If you can not see, that is worth a disadvantage/complication even if you replace the missing sense with a comparable other, because you have to pay for that other sense. The best way to deal with it, a way Hero unfortunately does not approve, is to buy back your vision and buy up your other sense.

Re: Rapid Clotting It remains messy to build someone who clots faster though; stopping bleeding isn't too much of a problem (although more than it need be in heroic games). What you can not easily do is build someone who stops bleeding on a 1 or 2, for example, or bleeds less often than once per turn. To do that I would use a custom power or talent, and I'd probably anchor it to Life Support, based on the costs for 'no breathing'. Maybe 1 point let's you roll to bleed after an extra turn. For 2 points you get an extra +1 on your roll to stop bleeding. I'd also like to see rules to integrate bleeding as part of an attack. You can do that with damage over time, but getting it to work with the bleeding rules is problematic. For that matter I think the bleeding rules could be looked at again globally but that is outside the scope of this thread.

Re: Rapid Clotting It remains messy to build someone who clots faster though; stopping bleeding isn't too much of a problem (although more than it need be in heroic games). What you can not easily do is build someone who stops bleeding on a 1 or 2, for example, or bleeds less often than once per turn. To do that I would use a custom power or talent, and I'd probably anchor it to Life Support, based on the costs for 'no breathing'. Maybe 1 point let's you roll to bleed after an extra turn. For 2 points you get an extra +1 on your roll to stop bleeding. I'd also like to see rules to integrate bleeding as part of an attack. You can do that with damage over time, but getting it to work with the bleeding rules is problematic. For that matter I think the bleeding rules could be looked at again globally but that is outside the scope of this thread.

Re: Rapid Clotting Bleeding remains an oddity in Hero in that it is a meta system; it isn't built using the Hero System, and it could be. Shame. Anyway, regeneration kind of clashes, doesn't bleed plus limitations is great but, despite automaton powers being in with the rest, you're still not really supposed to use them for characters i.e. the people not keen on their use are the developers. A paramedics skill plus modifiers is probably the best bet.

Re: The application of added effort Quoted for truth. Perhaps, in addition to the power skill, or instead of it, you could have a campaign Perk that allowed you greater flexibility with powers. Base the cost on what it would cost to actually build it: as a naked advantage on 60 points of Blast, you'd spend 3 points* to add a specified +1/4 advantage that cost 10x END on a roll of 11-. Make the 'Flexible Power' perk cost 3 points, have it apply to a small number of powers or advantages for 5 points, a large number of powers or advantages for 8 points and a large number of powers and advantages for 12 points. That way only people whose concept includes flexible powers buy power flexibility and have them. *Naked Advantage: Armor Piercing (+1/4) for up to 60 Active Points (15 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x10 END; -4), Requires A Roll (11- roll; -1/2) 15 active and 3 real

Re: Dog of War That is very funny. Still, if they will insist on painting their cars with bulletproof gravy, what do they expect?

Re: A great Pulp monster... Of course you could use the creature as an intelligence test for the characters: it only attacks when they are eating fruit.

Re: The application of added effort If you want this as a campaign rule, I would use the pushing rules, as that seems closest to what you are after. Perhaps you can add a +1/4 advantage for 5 END as a push and a +1/2 advantage for 10 END, and you could use a Power Skill roll rather than an Ego roll. This will substantially affect the relative values of advantages and END in your campaign, so you'll want to monitor excessive expenditure on END or REC. To combat this you could apply a -1 to the roll for a +1/4 advantage and a -2 for a +1/2. If you think that is too powerful, you might leverage the Power Skill roll a bit more: for each +1 you buy for it you can add a specific advantage, and if you try to apply that advantage then you do not get the advantage of the +1 for that roll. If you blow the roll you spend the END anyway and he power does not work at all, not even the base effect. For example you might want to add armor piercing to your roll, a +1/4 advantage in sixth edition, so you need to have bought at least Power Skill +1 and dedicated that +1 to 'armor piercing' to have any chance of accomplishing it on a Power Skill roll at -1, and it would cost 5 extra END and, if you fail to apply the advantage effectively, the power does not work at all, but you spend the END and take the time you normally would have for an attack action. You would have to play with the application in practice to see if that is too advantageous or not worth it or just right.

Re: How to build: Aliens Alien acid is nasty because it burns through almost anything, but not necessarily quickly. Try this (built using Hero Designer with a custom modifier, Drip, and costing 21 points after all modifiers): Alien Acid: Blast 1d6, Area Of Effect Nonselective (2m Cone; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Constant (+1/2), Uncontrolled (Acid keeps working until neutralised, sufficiently diluted or for a number of phases based on how much is applied (max 2 phases per Body damage done); +1/2), Drip (If it destroys what it hits and is still active, the acid may 'drip' onto anything below; +1/2), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Defences against acid; All Or Nothing; +1), Does BODY (+1), Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates; Acid sprays from any wound that causes Body damage, back toward the wound causing event; +1) (31 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) It is pretty close to your build anyway. The 'non-selective' means that you may, but do not necessarily, get hit, even if you are in range, which is 2 meters.

Re: New Gamers

Re: The Non Sequitor Thread Damn, made it...u after t except in non-se?

Re: The Non Sequitor Thread **trying for post 619**

Re: New Gamers Why do you think they are the same thing, or even decent parallels? Hero is a specific product, role playing is something that even people who've never seen a die with more than 6 sides have their heads round and have since the mid 80s. I'm not trying to belittle the idea, I'm simply saying I doubt that, if you went out and picked 100 people at random on the street, ANY of them would answer the question "Can you tell me what the phrase 'role playing' means?" with blank incomprehension. Some might get the pacing all wrong, but even then SOMEONE would be dressed up as Wonder Woman. You'd be lucky to get anyone who could tell you what 'Hero the RPG' was. The best introduction to a new experience is actually doing it, not talking about it. Especially when it comes to dressing up as Wonder Woman. See above. I honestly believe that you might struggle to find anyone who can't give you some sort of definition of what 'role playing game' means*. It might differ from your own definition, perhaps by a wide margin, but then I believe that actively constricting a definition of something so fluid and personal could be seriously damaging to the game: rpgs and Hero in particular is all about options and differences of opinion - that is simply healthy, and good for the game and those playing it. Definition only matters where there is something we have to agree on to get along. I've not seen a rpg intro that says 'Some people love to powergame and that is OK', because powergaming is generally seen as evil. It isn't though. I've played with and as a powergamer and enjoyed the experience, and I've played with and as a roleplayer and enjoyed the experience. A section on 'How to deal with people who do not share your views as to how it ought to be done' might be useful to some, but you'd have to be so careful writing it that it wouldn't even taste of vanilla. If you can not include everyone in the introduction and, believe me you can not because there simply is not enough ink in the world, you are better off leaving it out. *Apart from that guy over there who, frankly, looks a bit weird to me. Weirdo's don't get role playing, which is a major turnaround from the '70s.

Re: New Gamers Yes, something like that, but very much a stripped down, new player oriented version. A showcase of what is great in the game, demonstrating both versatility and depth. That would be a real asset to the books in my opinion. I think that there is an awful lot in the books that doe not need to be there and, possibly because Hero has been going so long, a lot that should be there but isn't.

Re: New Gamers

Re: Death Touch Does a 'death touch' have to be instant? Death touch: Drain BODY 2d6, Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Death magic defences; +0), Persistent (+1/4), Constant (+1/2), Uncontrolled (Turned off by any healing magic; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Expanded Effect (Body and CON simultaneously) (+1/2) (65 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Reduced effect through clothing (half effect through normal clothing, 1/3 effect through heavy clothing, no effect through thicker clothing); -1/2)

Re: New Gamers This is an interesting point to bring up. Here's my take: telling people what a role playing game is is almost insulting. It assumes that they can not understand basic language. Painting a picture of what a role playing game can encompass is interesting advertising and, as such, should be on the outside of the covers or on a poster somewhere. If I were writing Hero, and I'm not, then I might weave some enthusiasm through the text, but I would not devote a separate section to the idea of what role playing is: too existential, too knowing, too 'Foxtrot Oscar'. To move beyond the scope of the original question, here's what I WOULD put in the introduction pages to Hero (and, thinking on it, I'd probably put this bit on-line as a taster rather than use up page-count): four PCs, three villains and a villain agent and a short introductory scenario built with introducing rules concepts in mind. The characters would have nothing but 'play numbers' included i.e. they would not show how they were built (again you could place the full build on-line somewhere). Then I would follow it with the same thing again, using a different genre, spiced and seasoned to feel as different as possible. So: two genres (let us assume superheroes and fantasy, for the purposes of illustration), both interpreted in Hero, but actively demonstrating that the final product, even though it has been through the same manufacturing process, can look and feel very different. Is that not what Hero is?

Re: Protection Power Wouldn't a force wall with feedback be the very thing? You would also need a naked advantage: indirect, useable by others, or your ally could not attack, but basically until the protection is broken by a powerful enough attack, you take the damage that hits him.

Re: OHID vs Shape Shift OIHID is a limitation. It presents you with some difficulty in activating your powers. It does not cause a change of appearance. Activating a power CAN be defined as changing your appearance. Generally I am happy to let people be more or less unrecogniseable in 'hero id', although people who know them well or have studied them might discern clues. What power activation cannot do, in my book, is make you look like someone specific - i.e. the only way it can be used to fool someone is to make them think that secret ID you and hero ID you are not the same person - apparently. Shapeshift allows you to fool people. Rather unfortunately the basic version only allows a single other shape - which is why this problem arises. What I would say is this though - if you activate a power you might well look different but it is obvious that you are using powers. I would not allow power activation to simply change you into another person; if you use shapeshift to look like someone else then it isn't obvious that you are using a power (well, TECHNICALLY there should be visible sfx for shapeshift, but I largely ignore that as silly). I think we can often do without OIHID. If you need a magic word to transform, pick your biggest power that wil always be in use, buy it with incantations, then link everything else to it. If you need a magic ring to tranform, take a focus limitation on the same basis, but halve it as you only need the focus to tranform. If it just takes a while, take extra time to activate on one power, and link the rest to it.