Lucius

I don't so much mind people crowing that Hero is the best system for superheroic comic book adventure. After all, it is. But it baffles me that it seems to be overlooked that it's also the best system for fantasy. And for most other genres too. I think the problem, as I've observed before, is that Hero really isn't a game, it's a build-your-own-game-kit, and that makes it confusing to people in a market full of pre-built games in which a lot of choices are made for you. Like being the one and only supermarket in a city in which most of the population get 100% of their meals from McDonalds. Lucius Alexander I get 100% of my taglines from Palindromedary Enterprises

I apologize for not explaining my reasoning. It never occurred to me that anyone could look at that Power construct and conclude "character can sit in midair forever." I'm still not sure what leads to that conclusion. But it SHOULD have occurred to me that someone could look at that Power construct and have NO IDEA what I was thinking. If you Teleport and immediately start to fall, then gravity is most certainly increasing the distance you move downwards. Lucius Alexander Someone might look at this tagline and conclude I can sit on a palindromedary forever.

True, but in my opinion you don't need 10 pts of Flight to not fall. To paraphrase a friend of mine, "One inch of flying is zero inches of falling." Lucius Alexander p a l i n d r o m e d a r y stacking

Of course not. It just means you don't fall as long as you teleport every single phase. If you teleport to a given location where you are unsupported, and then next phase do anything that doesn't include teleporting again, then you start to fall. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary notes that Lucius sometimes goes from here to there without actualy passing through the space between

Okay, so make it (Total: 90 Active Cost, 90 Real Cost) Teleportation 60m, {Custom Advantage That Can't Be Called No Gravity Penalty Even If It's Specifically To Eliminate One of the Major Penalties of Gravity] (+1/2) (90 Active Points) (Real Cost: 90) Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says you can always teleport, but you can't tell it much.

If I build it, will they come? Lucius Alexander Palindromedary of Dreams

If you teleport to a place where your weight is unsupported and you start to fall, that strikes me as a significant penalty. Lucius Alexander No palindromedary penalty

Absolutely loved this https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/why-ive-decided-to-stop-shaving-my-legs-124747111178.html Lucius Alexander And an unshaven palindromedary

(Total: 90 Active Cost, 90 Real Cost) Teleportation 60m, No Gravity Penalty (+1/2) (90 Active Points) (Real Cost: 90) Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says you can always teleport, but you can't tell it much.

Okay, I had to think about that one but I see what you mean now. But we've come a long way from helping someone build the ability to hover. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary says that's my fault

Why Safe Blind Teleport? Lucius Alexander Safe bl nd pal ndromedary

I don't really endorse that reaction, but I find I wish a lot of male video gamers out there would beat up on themselves rather than on their favored scapegoats. Okay, I just got a mental image of some stupid loser "Swatting" himself. I'm sure nothing you do to yourself is as bad as what these scumbags do to others. Lucius Alexander Sometimes I want to beat up on the pallindromedary.

Obviously, taking out their anger and frustration. Which makes me curious: what do the female computer gamers do when they lose? Also, how many losers do NOT harass? An interesting finding, but I can't say I'm surprised. Lucius Alexander My palindromedary harasses a clam

Only if it involves propelling themselves unaided through the air with their bodies in a horizontal position. No, he would interpret it as a human shaped being assuming a position that is as close to aerodynamic as possible. I could be wrong, but I think it's supposed to be a garment made of the skin of some fish and not any kind of armor nor intended to protect against anything but a public indecency charge. Lucius Alexander How do you know she's alone? There could be a herd of palindromedaries outside the frame

Nancy: Sometimes you get someone who wants to reinvent the wheel... Me: And sometimes, you get someone who will just roll with it. Lucius Alexander And sometimes you get a palindromedary

According to Carl Sagan, to make an apple pie, you must first create the universe. Lucius Alexander To make a tagline I must first create a palindromedary

You could have put it at the intersection of 17th, 18th, and 19th - an intersection that DOES EXIST in Indianapolis. In fact, I live not far from there. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary cannot explain how 17th, 18th, and 19th can possibly intersect, but somehow they do.

He's flying, in the classic pose first used by Superman and imitated by every flying superhero since. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary notes that Lucius has a keen eye for the obvious.

You wonder which name will be chosen? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary asks if anyone has yet suggested "Leoparda" (pronounced lay-oh-pard-uh) meaning (of course) leopard.

I meant to drop the Standard Effect. Probably ought to bump it up to 1d6 Killing. And at one point while tinkering I had it as Attack Vs Alternate Defense, and when I changed that I forgot to also drop the Does Body. But none of this is really helping explain Martial Arts with Weapons. Lucius Alexander or with palindromedaries

But some of us LIKE the leather and whips thing... Lucius Alexander The palindromedary pages Dr. Marston

And jokes about basket cases Lucius Alexander And palindromedary taglines

Reminds me of Dr. Abnormal's Fiendish Deathtrap. The defense was either having or not having Normal Characteristic Maxima, depending on how she set it. Lucius Alexander My palindromedary is my defense.

The Way of Cook Ting: (Total: 160 Active Cost, 43 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6-1 (standard effect: 1 BODY, 0 STUN) (Reduced Negation (5)), Reduced Endurance (wu-wei, "Work without effort") (0 END; +1/2), Area Of Effect Accurate (1m Radius; +1/2), Does BODY (+1), Penetrating (x3; +1 1/2), Damage Over Time, Target's defenses only apply once (7-8 damage increments, damage occurs every Turn, +3 1/2) (160 Active Points); OIF (Any Blade; -1/2), Inaccurate (0 OCV; -1/2), No STR Bonus (-1/2), -2 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; Character is totally unaware of nearby events; -1/2), No Knockback (-1/4) (Real Cost: 43) Lucius Alexander Just keep that cook away from my palindromedary

Making a vampire is one thing. Making a vampire on 200 pts might be challenging. Your vampire cannot turn into mist, command nocturnal animals, mesmerize people, rise from the grave, or do many of the other things vampires are commonly expected to do. That's just fine, as long as you understand that. You also don't have any Resistant Defenses (defenses that stop the BODy damage of Killing Attacks, things like knives and guns.) Your vampire is harder to hit than the average person but will suffer from a bullet wound much as anyone else would. Probably not. Also, you may want to consider buying a Killing Attack, defined as "bite/claw/tear & rend/etc" since a vampire usually has some kind of potentially lethal attack and because you can add your STR into it, so it's a very efficient way to get some "bang for your buck" in terms of point spend. But at only 6 pts, you are not going to afford much any way you slice it (pardon the expression.) First you need to be adjacent to the character you want to punch. If you're not already that close, move until you are. Then you need to use a half phase action. So if you used more than half your movement getting there, you may have to wait until your next action phase. Also, this is an attack action, which means it ends your phase even if you take no other actions. You can move and attack, but can't attack and move. You declare your action: "I'm going to punch that joker in the nose for comparing me to Count Chocula!" Now we compare your Offensive Combat Value and that joker's Defensive Combat Value. Your OCV characteristic is 8. Upon learning that specifically aiming for the nose is a Called Shot to the Head and imposes a -8 penalty, you decide you don't care where you hit the guy so you get the full value of 8. That joker is a normal person with DCV of 3, but he sees you coming so he decides to Dodge. This means he can't attack or move, but gets a +3 to Defensive Combat Value. So that's your 8 vs his 6. Your basic roll to hit is an 11 or less on 3d6, plus your OCV, minus their DCV. 11+8-6= 13 It's pretty easy to roll under 13 on three six sided dice, so you hit. Now for damage, and we'll keep this simple by assuming we're not using Hit Locations. With a STR of 25 you do 5d6 Normal Damage. The dice come up 1, 2, 4, 4, 6. First we calculate STUN damage by adding those together. They come to 17. That joker has a PD (Physical Defense) of 2, so subtract 2 from that and inflict 15 STUN. That joker only has 20 STUN to begin with, and is down to 5. Conscious, but one of the things he is conscious of pain. We also compare that damage to that joker's CON, which is only 10. Because that joker took more STUN damage than he has CON, he is also stunned - not knocked out or knocked down, but loses his next action and is at half DCV. Now we calculate BODy damage. Each 1 rolled is 0 BOD, each 6 is 2 BOD, anything else is 1 BOD. So that blow did 5 BODy damage. Again we subtract PD, so only 3 BOD get through. That joker has 10 BODy, so is down to 7. The Game Operations Director says "Okay, that joker's got a bloody nose and it will be sore for a few weeks." Now mark off the END you spent. It's up to whoever is running the game if you spend 1 END for 10 STR or 1 END for 5 STR. If the latter, you spent 5 END for the punch, and 1 for moving up be able to punch. Your RECovery is 5, so you easily get most of that back if you do nothing else this Turn. You automatically get a RECovery at the end of every Turn; it's called Post Segment 12 RECovery. But let's say after you get that RECovery you decide to hit him again and then beat up his three pals who were laughing. You have a SPD of 4 which means you get 4 actions in a Turn. If you spend 6 END each time you have an action phase, that's 24 END each Turn. That reduces your END from 50 to 26, but then you RECover 5 and you're at 31. The beat down continues, you expend another 24 END and you're at 7. RECover 5 again and you're at 12, and so about halfway through the third Turn you finally run out of ENDurance. But by that time they're probably all unconscious and bloody. They probably tried running and screaming but they can't escape you unless they try splitting up, and maybe not even then. There are a number of ways to do this. You should look at the Complications section of whichever book you're using. Susceptibility means you take damage from something (like sunlight) and the value is based on three factors: How MUCH damage, how OFTEN you take damage (do you have to be exposed to sunlight for an hour to take damage, or only a second, or somewhere in between?) and how FREQUENTLY you are in a position to take the damage (if you want to normally be able to walk around in daylight by wearing long sleeves, gloves, and a big hat, choose "uncommon".) Physical Complicacation can impose penalties such as -1 to combat and perception rolls in daylight. Value depends on severity and, again, on frequency. Psychological Complication can be used if you aren't comfortable in daylight and try to avoid it. Again, depends on severity and frequency. You CAN take more than one of these; you can take damage from sunlight, be impaired, and (understandably enough) just plain try to avoid it as much as possible. You can also decide that not all your vampiric powers work from sunrise to sunset. This is called using a Limitation. A Limitation makes something cheaper by making it less effective. For example instead of spending 15 pts on STR, you can buy this: Vampiric Strength: (Total: 15 Active Cost, 8 Real Cost) +15 STR (15 Active Points); Conditional Power Power Only Works sunset to sunrise (-1/2), 1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 6 Hours (Fuel is Difficult to obtain: Bite someone; Recovers Under Limited Circumstances (coffin); -1/4) (Real Cost: 8) This only cost 8 pts, BUT: - it doesn't work between sunrise and sunset - it's only good for 6 hrs of continuous exertion (but that probably lasts all night, since you are unlikely to be using full strength every minute) - if you did not feed the night before, or rest that day in your coffin, you have only the STR of an ordinary mortal. * On the other hand, this STR does NOT cost END. You would only spend END for your "normal" STR of 10, so END expenditure is unlikely to be a problem at all. You could even "buy down" your BOD to below starting value, and then "buy it back" with a Limitation so it doesn't count during day time - saves you points, but makes you very easy to kill when the sun is up. All the same comments apply here the same as with sunlight. Susceptibility: Direct sunlight on skin 2d6 damage per Turn (Uncommon) (-15 pts) Psychological Complication: Creature of the darkness; shuns the light (Uncommon; Strong)(-10 pts) Susceptibility: Holy ground 3d6 damage per Turn (Uncommon) (-20 pts) Distinctive Features: Looks like Count Chocula (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures))(-5 pts) I'm afraid to ask, but...why would a vampire "sponsor an orphanage" and in what way exactly is that a "Complication?" Lucius Alexander House of the Palindromedary