Hierax

Re: Merging Blast, HTH and Killing (6E) Attack Power (5 Base Points per 1d6) with a +2 Killing (either HTH or Ranged) Advantage (Steve Long HeroGlyphs Digital Hero #30 p.3-4). Killing attack dice cost 3x what Normal Dice cost, 15 points per d6, just like the old Killing Attack.

Re: Lucky Damage Dice Using this as a baseline: Roll an Extra d6K each and every time: +6 CSL with HTH and Ranged Combat (60 Base Points); Only for +DC not +OCV or +DCV (-2) (20 Real Points). You could either use: +6 CSL with HTH and Ranged Combat (60 Base Points); Only for +DC not +OCV or +DCV (-2) Only when rolling 1# on d6 (-5), (-7) (7 Real Points). Or a cheaper method (calculating the first Talent as the Base Points for a Limited Power to get a 2nd Talent): Roll an Extra d6K (20 Base Points), Only when rolling 1# on a d6 (-5) (3 Real Points). BTW, a nice thing about this being 3 points for a Killing dice is it could be 1-point for a Normal dice. Your 5-point version falls neatly in between these 2 as an average, and any other modifiers are unlikely to change this by more than a point; so 5-points is arguably a fair value for the ability. But, IMO you could consider making it 5-points for each dice that you can re-roll like this, or at least use the Hero doubling rule to allow for twice as many for 2x the points -- 1 dice 5-pts, 2 dice 10-pts, 4 dice 15-pts, etc... Then you could have different levels of this. That all said, heck, you could just make this a "Ground Rule" for free, not worry about points, and simply let everyone have it as an everyman ability. Lots of options and none of them are any more "right" than the other, only more right for you and your campaign. Regardless of the exact details, it's a cool concept that is well worth including!

Re: Potion of Giant ST example A Potion could be OAF. If you have a wand that fires a Continuous Charge (say Paralyzation) at a target, taking away the wand after the charge has gone off ain't gonna stop it, the Limitation is that you can stop them from shooting the wand in the first place, and that would qualify for OAF; just like OAF could be for stopping you from making a 'shooter' out of the potion

Re: And 6e print books start to arrive Mine arrived, just picked them up today (dent in lower H6e1 spine) in the Great not quite White North and while the mule was going to head to Alaska first I told it to head back down south to get to Mayapuppies I gotta say though that having the .PDFs first worked out really well as I was able to print them out and binderize them earlier and make notes on the paper and the new books look awesome but the new glossy paper isn't very good for writing on. Hero Games should do more of these pre-orders bundle package deals where you can get the .pdfs while waiting for the dead-tree hard copies to be printed and shipped and re-shipped. Great books, thanks to Tina and her team for getting them out, must be a massive job moving out these hordes of hefty tomes of heroism!

Re: Lucky Damage Dice Above I forgot the -1/2 Limitation for the CSLs only to be to do extra Damage (like Deadly Blow), but I think that should be at least -1 Limitation or more like a -2 Limitation because it doesn't allow for +OCV and +DCV options and (heretical thought the thought may be) 1/3 the benefit = 1/3 the cost, IMO. So what I did above should be re-costed. But, regardless, the issue still remains that making a bad roll less bad isn't as good as making a good roll better -- What Limitation value should one give for that? Come to think of it, there should be a way to build a proper spectrum options to reroll 1s, 1s and 2s, 1s-3s, etc. as well as 6's, 5-6's, 3-6s, etc. All are the same concept differently applied. I like it, it uses the exploding/penetrating concept but also applies to those re-roll certain dice results. e.g., AD&D Staff of Thunder & Lightning was cool that way in that it let you treat 1s and 2s as 3s, in Hero System you could just apply the Standard Effect Roll Rule to the rerolled dice to treat the new roll as a 3. There's probably more applications of dice coolness that can be simulated using this sort of thing too.

Re: Lucky Damage Dice Interesting, you are reversing the usual Exploding/Penetrating Dice mechanic of other games making the good rolls better but instead are making the bad rolls less worse. You could look at it as being: +1d6K (15 Active Points) only when rolling a 1 on d6 (-5 Limitation) = 2.5 pts. or (better yet more like the new skill-based Deadly Blow) +6 CSL with HTH or Ranged Combat (48 points), only when rolling a 1 on d6 (-5 Limitation) = 8 points. +6 CSL with HTH and Ranged Combat (60 points), only when rolling a 1 on d6 (-5 Limitation) = 10 points. But this would be a bit overpowered for Normal Attacks which only need +2 CSL for +1 DC (1d6) instead of the +6 CSL for +3 DC (1d6K) of Killing Attacks: +2 CSL with HTH or Ranged Combat (16 points), only when rolling a 1 on d6 (-5 Limitation) = 3 points. +2 CSL with HTH and Ranged Combat (20 points), only when rolling a 1 on d6 (-5 Limitation) = 3 points. (damn Hero rounding makes these the same) I suppose you could further limit these to take into account Only for Normal Attacks or Only for Killing Attacks to derive a Talent-like Value for this. Or maybe just cost each at 1/2 cost and average them together (-1 Limit equivalent, if multi-stepping Power-Talent Build limitation structure): +1d6 with HTH or Ranged Combat, only when rolling a 1 on d6 = (8 + 2.66 /2) 5 points. +1d6 with HTH and Ranged Combat, only when rolling a 1 on d6 = (10 +3.33 /2) 7 points. These would only apply to one dice, if you wanted it to apply to several dice, you'd have to buy it several times. But it seems a bit too expensive to charge multiple times for this at the same rate given that a lot of times the extra won't actually make a difference because you are adding to the low rolls that are probably blocked by defenses anyways, so this cost structure might be better for rolling a 6 on a d6 for damage instead of a 1. Not sure how to adjust for that kind of cost. Also, if you wanted to do this so you could roll the ones multiple times on the same initial dice roll it might be a bit different.

Re: Hero rulebook Hero System Rulebooks: Variable Power Pool: custom create the game you want, Focus, Extra Time, Side Effects never look at other games without thinking how you'd do them with the Hero System.

Re: What do you get when you cross a gorilla and a luchador? Nice! I'd say that you'd get one kick-ass character!

Re: What Genre book Reprint are you most anticipating? Yeah, Western Hero not having made 5e at all makes it the most anticipated, but sadly looks like it's not to be so Hero System Rules and Kenzer's Aces & Eights stuff looks like as close as I'll come to seeing that one (unless I can win a lottery and commission Steve Long to write it profits be damned!) Horror Hero is the other huge genre that 5e inexplicably skipped over, but hopefully 6e won't be as negligent in that regard. Fantasy Hero is, of course, the big one (for me much much bigger than Champions) but at least that one at least I know will come to 6e. Those are the big 3 for me, but Kanzei 5 and Martial Hero are close behind. The suggestion for War Hero is a great one though that would be impossible to resist.

Re: Giant Ant Lair The Sandkings were ant-like creatures, that while not giant were definitely scary!

Re: Speeding up combat "Restrict SPDs" is Dead Wrong I'm on the higher is better side of things: With a smaller range of SPD it is better to have Higher SPDs to add more granularity and less leaps of power because each increment of +1 doesn't make as much of a difference -- e.g., SPD 2 + 1 = 3 = 150%, 2 + 2 = 200% but SPD 4 + 1 = 125%, 4+2 = 150%. The lower the SPDs you use the greater the effect of any differentiation. Using Highers SPDs you can let one character be "faster" than another character without as much of a downtime difference between the players. Plus less Post Segment 12's = less recoveries = quicker take downs.

Re: From THAC0 to HERO Also using the DCV+10=AC (Avoidance Class) as a contest of OCV vs. DCV (3d6 + OCV vs. 3d6 + DCV) method you can easily reverse things to let the players roll all the dice including the to hits against their own characters: 3d6 + OCV vs. DCV + 10 = 3d6 + OCV vs. DCV + 3d6 = 10 + OCV vs. DCV + 3d6 i.e., Attack Roll for Player: when the PC attacks an NPC he rolls his 3d6 + OCV vs. DCV + 10 (AC) of the NPC; Defence Roll for Player: when the PC is attacked by an NPC he rolls his 3d6 + DCV vs. the OCV +10 of the NPC. This is a great way to speed up the game and save the GM some dice rolling and get the players more involved in determining their own character's fate.

Re: Giant Ant Lair This far in the thread and no Giant Ant HERO System write-ups?!

Re: Feather Fall For something different, how about Change Environment to alter the local gravity only for the Character the spell is cast upon?

Re: From THAC0 to HERO Also, if you want to vary it a bit you can do an opposed roll: 3d6 + OCV vs. 3d6 + DCV Basically you reverse the "Take 10" process from d20 to get a d20 for a 10 roll, it's like Hero's Standard Effect-ish (yes I know it's not totally equal).

Re: From THAC0 to HERO Yeah, DCV+10=AC (Avoidance Class) 3d6 + OCV = AC Hit (Hero) d20 + to Hit Bonus = AC Hit (d20/3.x D&D)

Re: Ultraviolet vision- What the heck would it do? a potential downside is Flash vs. Ultraviolet vision to blind the Elves and let everyone else attack them.

Re: Ultraviolet vision- What the heck would it do? Also, areas lit only by ultraviolet light are effectively "darkness" fields for those who can't see into that spectrum.

Re: Ultraviolet vision- What the heck would it do? Well, by seeing into the Ultraviolet spectrum elves can see some things that humans can't which is great for secret invisible ink messages for one, different art works appreciated only by those who can see and appreciate the full spectrum of talent being displayed etc.

Re: Paying for Magic Items If you don't want to lose the points, don't use the Independent Limitation, you don't get the discount for the risk that you don't take (you takes the risks you saves the points). That's how I handle it.

Re: Modeling "powering up" in 6th ed. Boostable Charges are worth considering.

Re: Giant Ant Lair Holy Sandkings! Very cool ant city. Now just imagine if these were really GIANT ants = that would be one bloody tough dungeon!

Re: Mini Settings "Too Short"? Mini Settings are great, hope to see more of them in future products.

Re: APG Discussion thread The APG rocks, it's an immensely useful resource! I hope that you keep making more and more of them...

Re: 6e: Updating the Armor Piercing Variant - APG (working with +1/4 instead of +1/2) Yes, I think it was you that nicely pointed out how +1/4 Armor Piercing made more mathematical sense than +1/2 when compared to just buying more dice. The variant of DEF being reduced by -1 DEF / DC or -x DEF where x = BODY Rolled was based on the +1/2 4e/5e version of Armor Piercing and hasn't changed with the +1/4 6e version. It just seems like a rather big jump in effectiveness for this Armor Piercing variant particularly when comparing it to Piercing. You say it changes it from High DEF and Low DEF, I guess I'm interested in Low DEF of Fantasy Hero (1-12ish) rather than the High DEF of Champions (up to 30ish), is this part of the reason it seems like so much of a change? Is there a way to do something similar with Armor Piercing and not totally out class Piercing? i.e., Ideally, I'd like to have it so both can be used but as it is the Armor Piercing variant totally blows away the Piercing option. Is it better to re-cost Piercing than changing how this variant works? Another relevant comparison would be Penetrating since this variant Armor Piercing works similarly. I guess I'm just trying to re-examine all the options for various ways of reducing defences and balance them vs. each other.