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Hierax

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  3. Looking For Input On Potential New Fantasy Product

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Looking For Input On Potential New Fantasy Product

     

    give me three reasons why playing Fantasy Hero is superior to playing D&D' date=' Pathfinder, and their ilk. Please try to be brief and concise. I will be compiling together all of your answers and taking them into account when and if this project gets the green light.[/quote']

     

     

    1. Flexibility
    2. Customization
    3. Modularity

     

    In a way, they are all the same thing -- the Fantasy Hero System lets you build exactly what you want, the way you want it, instead of making do with the closest thing you can find on a list of things that someone else built.

  15. Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

     

    There will be no additions. There will be no appendices. There will be no WDYWTS thread. All I'm doing is a quick conversion as swiftly and easily as I can manage. ;)

     

    That's cool, but at least you've got several sweet pages to fill with CSLs, so that'll be there.

     

    TUS was/is a great book having a 6e update is a great idea even if nothing else changes but moving 5e to 6e.

     

    Keep on rocking those books out!

  16. Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Interesting Announcement: HERO System Skills

     

    I'd don't know if Steve Long is reading this thread or not, or if there will be a what do you want for the 6e Skill Book thread but, FWIW, some what I'd like to see is:

     

    • More Skill Value / Difficulty Value (SV/DV) like system options. Great concept but some more ways to implement it better would be great.

     

    • More granular CSLs -- like H5e-TUS (the detail of that section was great) but even more so, different options for each point level. I was disappointed to find that 6e with the huge page count didn't include this stuff, but now with a H6e-TUS it's the perfect chance to get this and make the 6e version as good or better than the 5e version!

     

    • More detailed/fleshed-out WF systems options.

     

    • Some discussion about Skill Level Costs vs. Characteristic Costs and the implications of adjusting the Nature-Nurture mix of these to get the balance that you want for your own game. There's currently a strong cost incentive to go with the Natural Characteristics vs. Nurtured/Trained Skills, but the toolkit would be stronger with ways to change this balance to taste.

    Anything that doesn't match up to the old page numbers (BTW the layout will have to be different than the other 6e books to pull the page # alignment between 5e + 6e) can be added as appendices (again me being greedy for more Hero goodness).

  18. How Much END?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: How Much END?

     

    If you have a 60 AP power or 60 STR punch it would be 6 END (or 12 if you're using the 1/5 instead of 1/10 as the baseline). Adding the 1 point for a maneuver, frankly, seems like a needless annoyance to me.

     

    I thought maneuvers were 0 END, you only paid for the STR required (if any) -- e.g., a 0 END HA/HKA wouldn't cost any END except for whatever STR you choose to add to it.

     

    I can see using 1 END as the minimum END for anything that is a non- 0 END action but adding 1 END to everything you do IMO adds needless complication without any benefit. YMMV.

  21. FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: FANTASY HERO -- What Do *You* Want To See?

     

    Glad to see FH as the big GenCon release! Next to Champions, I imagine, that this has to be your biggest part of the Hero System.

     

    That said, part of what I'd like to see is options for differentiating Fantasy Hero from several lingering Champions-isms that are still assumed in the core Hero System -- make more of a Heroic instead of Superheroic default for FH.

     

    • Movement Powers Costs: Running, Swimming, Leaping, Flying, and Teleport should have a wider range of cost; not unlike in pre-4th ed. Fantasy Hero where: Levitate/Fly was 2pt/1" min 20pts, Transport/Teleport was 30pts/10". That sort of thing, I think you even mentioned it in the core 6e or APG about potentially changing the costs. Something like: Running 1pt/1m, Swimming/Leaping 2pt/1m, Flying 3pt/1m, Teleport 4pt/1m or somesuch. It would be a great Toolkit thing for FH to have more genre-appropriate movement cost differentiation options.

     

    • Breaking Things: each genre, and sub-genre, treats objects differently, so it would be good to have a range of DEF/BODY for Objects for Low, Medium, and High Fantasy so the GM can dial-in the appropriate fragility of the universe for his game. This applies not just to doors, walls, etc. but Weapons, Armor, Shields.

     

    • The "Real Weapon" Limitation but it seems like a bit of a Champions-ish cludge to use in these contexts, non-Real Weapons should be a Heroic Advantage rather than just having "Real" being a Super-Heroic Limitation. Again options should be available here for toolkitting.

     

    • Likewise the Beam, Bounce, and Spread options that are expressed as Limitations to avoid would be a lot less trouble for Fantasy if they were Advantages for the few times that they are needed rather than the default.

    In general, more options for Granularity should be made available for FH:

     

    • MegaScale: why not have at +1/4 10m version, a +1/2 100m version, a +3/4 500m version? Jumping right up to +1 1,000m/1km is a bit much.

     

    • Gestures and Incantations are very key Limitation in a Fantasy Context, so zooming in on them and adding Toolkitted granularity would be very useful, e.g.,: +1/4 subtle somatics, +1/2 regularly noticable overt motions, +3/4 extravagantly obvious gesticulating; +1/4 whispering, +1/2 Regular Voice, +3/4 Shouting. This is sort of like the APG optional Time Charts. Which BTW Extra Time could also use a bit more granularity too (the move from 4e to 5e was one of the better improvements for more options, why not give a toolkit option to take it further?)

     

    • Limited Range more granular options also are useful for Fantasy. Big jump from Regular range to No Range. Toolkit in more granularity.

     

    • Silence not all or nothing like in Pre-4th ed. FH. Same could be done as an option for Invisibility.

     

    • Size more intermediate sizes like APG but take it further since Fantasy can offer such a wide range of "races".

    Expand upon things already done before:

     

    • Weapons, as mentioned, do up multiple systems like you do for Spells (one of the best parts of FH BTW). It's no secret that the default Weapons System isn't exactly a fan favourite, but giving more options would get around this criticism and, moreover, be useful for showcasing how Hero System can do things that other systems don't -- embrace that flexibility!

     

    • Spells properly address Frameworks for Fantasy. Somehow they always seem to just be an afterthought not a primary method. One thing that you could do is to put in the option for the Real Point MPP already mentioned in 6e, give it more detail and use it for an example Magic System.
       
      I can see part of the reason for removing Elemental Controls but one thing that is lost by getting rid of them is a "point floor" rather than a "point ceiling" Framework, perhaps you can suggest a Toolkitting option to return this sort of utility using MPPs and/or VPPs?
       
      VPPs Spell Preparation/Memorization the time to study and materials needed to change the pool could use options for more granularity.

     

    • More example Magic Systems those are one of the best parts of the book! Fantasy fans love this stuff (e.g., look at the explosive popularity of Killer Shrike's many magic systems). Seriously, the best/easiest candidate for inclusion is the Valdorian Age summoning system which is a real gem that it would be a crime not to include in the new FH given it would be fast to update to 6e and has proven popularity.

     

    • Critical Hits are popular in Fantasy give some more options.

     

    • Talents, Stunts, and Powers etc.: great to have these pre-builts lots of good ones in FH, Valdorian Age, etc. and the recent 6e Martial Arts book does a great job of giving much more of this, Fantasy could use these as well chapters for low-med-high Fantasy. More please!

     

    • Independent and Creation used to be a big part of Fantasy Hero; in pre-4e the interaction between them was clearer, Independent was still around for 4e and 5e, but now with 6e it's been pushed off. Fantasy is where Independent has strong roots because of it's usefulness and appropriateness to the genre, so I hope to see it return at least as a Toolkitting option. Take a look at the pre-4e FH and see what you can put back into 6e.

     

    • Foci the Personal vs. Universal thing with and without the Independent Limitation is quite different. Also the Usable by Others logic is missing from Universal Foci that are a cheap way to give others a power; with Independent there was a cost to the Caster for making a power available to others, with Usable By Others this utility is paid for by making it an Advantage, but with Universal Focus it's just a cost break Limitation that can act as an Advantage.

     

    • Mana as a Characteristic for Spell Points have been mentioned before but a more in depth look at some options and how spells could be powered by Regular END, END Reserves, LTE, LTE Reserves, Mana, Mana Reserves could be a very useful section particularly with some cost comparisons and toolkitting suggestions. LTE END is often mentioned but few real guidelines on how to cost it out vs. regular END be it alone or in Reserves. These sort of details would be useful tools to work with.

     

    • Damage Negation is an awesome new power with a whole lotta potential; as such I hope that there's a decent sized chunk of advice and examples of ways of using it for Fantasy.

     

    • Piercing is a long standing optional rule popular with Dark Champions and now in the APG, some discussion/examples for Fantasy would be useful and welcomed. Likewise the Armor Piercing option from APG/DH/AC is a good one for Fantasy.

     

    • Characters, examples are the best way to showcase the variety of the system and how to adapt it to a genre. Have sample Wizards for the various Magic Systems. These can help tie together all the sidebar power builds -- e.g., isn't it about time Arkelos got a full write-up (I've got a file with all his powers from all the various editions to save you time if you want).

     

    • The Gallery idea from Champions has been mentioned and its a great one, FH should have it too!

     

    • Side Bar Examples: really fill up that content using the white space without bloating the page count by blasting us with sample spells, talents, items, etc. More is more here.

    I could go on and on but there's a few things I'd like to see in FH6e.

     

    Overall, Fantasy Hero has been one of the best books and 6e is an edition that is giving us more options than ever before, so continue the trend and jam as many optional tools into the Fantasy Hero toolkit as you can.

  22. CHAMPIONS VILLAINS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: CHAMPIONS VILLAINS -- What Do *You* Want To See?

     

    Dr. Draconis needs to come back!

     

    I'd love to see some big-bad Ultimate villains like (most especially) Takofanes/Kal-Turak (ultimate Mystic villain), and Menton (Ultimate Mentalist villain), Teleios, etc. with a few different versions (various power levels, historical points) if possible sorta like Dr. Destroyer got in the Book of the Destroyer. Detailed write-ups really showcasing the variety of powers possible with the Hero System beyond the basics like the Ultimate books do so well -- a showcase Ultimate villain for each of these Ultimate sub-types -- Brick, Martial Arts, Energy Projector, Speedster, Mystic, Metamorph, Powersuit, etc...

     

    I know it's for Champions but other Genre adaptation tips would be much welcomed value added.

  25. APG Requires a Skill Roll Variant in Spell Design

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: APG Requires a Skill Roll Variant in Spell Design

     

    I was thinking of something similar to what you are but combining both Enhanced Success and Reduced Failure (H6e.APG.145).

    The APG system is a great idea but since I like symmetry I was considering using the Enhanced Success logical progression but applied/extended it to the Reduced Failure to widen the range of effect variety using the 1/2 modifier versions mirrored to get up to a +/- 50% and/or the 1/4 modifier versions +/- 25% effect (it didn't make sense to me to have the Success vary and the failure be a flat number):

     

    RSR (-1/5 AP, Enhanced Success: +10% per 1 roll made by to max of 150%, Reduced Failure: -10% per 1 roll failed by to min of 50%; -0)

     

    i.e.,:

     

    • Succeed by +5 (or more) = 150%
    • Succeed by +4 = 140%
    • Succeed by +3 = 130%
    • Succeed by +2 = 120%
    • Succeed by +1 = 110%
    • Succeed Exactly = 100%
    • Fail by -1 = 90%
    • Fail by -2 = 80%
    • Fail by -3 = 70%
    • Fail by -4 = 60%
    • Fail by -5 (or more) = 50%
      (or better yet to continue the progression right down to 0%)

    or

    RSR (-1/10 AP, Enhanced Success: +5% per 1 roll made by to max of 125%, Reduced Failure: -5% per 1 roll failed by to min of 75%; -0)

     

    i.e.,:

     

    • Succeed by +5 (or more) = 125%
    • Succeed by +4 = 120%
    • Succeed by +3 = 115%
    • Succeed by +2 = 110%
    • Succeed by +1 = 105%
    • Succeed Exactly = 100%
    • Fail by -1 = 95%
    • Fail by -2 = 90%
    • Fail by -3 = 85%
    • Fail by -4 = 80%
    • Fail by -5 (or more) = 75%
      (or better yet to continue the progression right down to 0%)

    I was also looking at doing the 1 less level of Limitations as +/- 20% going up to +/- 100% but that would be a total of 2 less of Limitation and wasn't likely to work out as it's pretty hard to get a RSR up to -2 to start with and I didn't want it as an Advantage. Maybe think about that more later, I dunno.

     

    Anyway, with Hero System chunky granularity this sort of thing would probably work best at a 50 AP, 100 AP, and/or 200 AP baseline.

     

    FWIW, my initial idea with this was to go with the 10% version for a Mandrin-like "10-Finger/10-Ring Thaumaturge of the Ring" (uses Multiple Foci Limitation) so that each -1 the roll was was missed by was essentially 1-finger or 1-ring less of effect value, but also wanted to allow for a symmetrical success progression.

     

    For your Lightning bolt, I think this sort of thing would work well too, going from the RKA 4d6 baseline but with a range of 2d6 to 6d6.

     

    If you wanted to go with a non-random rank/level-based thing like Lex Magisterium, you could use Standard Effect for the Skill Roll and just have different ranks/levels of Mages have different skill levels, then there would be variety over different spell-casters but consistency for each spell caster if you didn't want a randomly varying power level each time the same wizard cast the same spell.

     

    I dunno, is that helpful? Is this the sort of ideas that you're looking for on this?

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