Rhino

Re: HKA's and STR in Champions Complete

What do the rules of 6e say about how strength adds DCs to an advantaged KA?

Re: Passing Strike

Thanks to all. Now I can envision it.

Re: Passing Strike

Thanks to all. Another question: Is the Velocity damage from martial throw based on the attacker or the defender's velocity? It seems strange if it is based on the attacker's velocity, or I am just having a tough time visualizing it.

Re: Passing Strike

UMA 5th ed

HSMA 6th ed

It is driving me crazy that I cannot locate Passing Strike in HSMA 6E. Does anyone have a page reference?

What book contained the Passing Strike maneuver prior to Champions Complete?

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

Deleted.

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

Something that gets lost in discussions like this is that all point balancing in the game is there to make the job of the GM easier. HERO Point balance really only matters for the player characters. It allows custom experience progression unlike almost any other RPG on the market. It also helps a GM with NPC's as well when he has access to books with pre-built antagonists but the point balance of those character's is not nearly as important as their final abilities (OCV' date=' DC, SPD, PD/ED, Powers, etc...). The primary purpose of using points is to define exactly what Player Characters can do in a game. A GM is certainly welcome to use a low resolution scale of detail if he so chooses if that seems easier to him. See the many character write ups by Cassandra for examples of this philosophy of character design. It can work. It just means that ALL characters and campaign rules have to bend to that standard. This requires a lot of work to work well. If all players aren't made aware of this before characters are submitted for play it can lead to confusion and anger by those players who took the time to clearly pay for every ability of their characters on the sheet. They will likely feel shortchanged when they see what other PC's appear to get 'for free' that they designed and paid for explicitly on their own character sheet.[/quote']

 

Quite Right. If a player is explicitly building with CP what the others are doing with SFX and Power skill rolls, it would be best to give them them some extra points to compensate. This reminds me. I was reading CC in bed last night and trying to remember if I had paid for life support for the thin atmosphere and intense cold that my flying character might encounter. I don't think I did. Oh well .. just have to keep my altitude low.

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

For me, the HERO system has always, if not demanded, at least implied the need to codify everything down to the most minor difference in how you use an Ability. It leads to discussions about how many points you need to spend for your fire mage to be able to light a candle at will, for example, or the perennial problem of a "light spell" to use Fantasy examples.

 

I have a hard time letting those sorts of things go, and simply saying that much of the nuance may well be better dealt with with a Power Skill. Which then leads me to the question of how much of a limitation it would be to say that an Ability can't be modulated and used in interesting ways by way of a Power Skill... old habits die hard.

I totally understand. With the Hero System you have the tools to be able to build all the minute details of any Ability you can imagine. It can be fun and intoxicating to do so; almost obsessive. However, just because you can does not mean you should. After experimenting with Hero System and Gurps quite a bit, I have decided that for me, it is usually better to focus on the Essence rather than the Details or Minutia. Let the sfx take care of those, with a Power Skill roll if necessary.

Think hard about the big picture. What is the net effect of the Ability. Don't get caught up in the details. Don't try and micro simulate how the Ability works if you can easily capture the net effect and flavor with a simpler build.

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

Double Post

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

For me, the HERO system has always, if not demanded, at least implied the need to codify everything down to the most minor difference in how you use an Ability. It leads to discussions about how many points you need to spend for your fire mage to be able to light a candle at will, for example, or the perennial problem of a "light spell" to use Fantasy examples.

 

I have a hard time letting those sorts of things go, and simply saying that much of the nuance may well be better dealt with with a Power Skill. Which then leads me to the question of how much of a limitation it would be to say that an Ability can't be modulated and used in interesting ways by way of a Power Skill... old habits die hard.

I totally understand. With the Hero System you have the tools to be able to build all the minute details of any Ability you can imagine. It can be fun and intoxicating to do so; almost obsessive. However, just because you can does not mean you should. After experimenting with Hero System and Gurps quite a bit, I have decided that for me, it is usually better to focus on the Essence rather than the Details or Minutia. Let the sfx take care of those, with a Power Skill roll if necessary.

Think hard about the big picture. What is the net effect of the Ability. Don't get caught up in the details. Don't try and micro simulate how the Ability works if you can easily capture the net effect and flavor with a simpler build.

Re: Incarnation Awareness

Knowledge Skills: History, professional skills, hobbies, etc. All the stuff your incarnations would know.

 

Skill Levels (esp. Overall Levels): You really know your sh*t!

 

Luck, contacts, VPP, Wealth, Charm, Reputation, etc. The SFX of "my incarnations talk to me" is really so broad that you could justify nearly anything with it.

All of this and more in the form of a VPP with limitations that it takes the time to communicate with the previous incarnations and requires a roll of some sort to convince them to assist.

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

A point to make here regarding the subtlety of design available to the game. I designed an almost identical power to the one described above, but built it as a selective, no-range, ranged aoe attack, because I wanted the attack to be "so fast that it couldn't be blocked, only dodged."

 

I'm all for taking the "simplest" approach possible to simulating the desired effect, but I'm pretty avid about understanding the nuances of exactly what a player is trying to achieve.

IMO the more thought you put into distilling an Ability down to its Essence, its essential defining features with all non-essential details removed, the more Elegant your build will be. Handle all the non-essential details as SFX. Be severe in your distillation process when you pare the Ability down to its Essence. If I understand you correctly, this Art of distilling an ability to its essential defining features, and no more, is what you refer to as Nuance.

There are benefits and disadvantages to each way you can buy an ability. It's up to the player to understand these and choose the right combination that meets their conception and Point budget of the character.

Technical proficiency with the Hero System makes Elegant design sooo much easier. It allows you to select just the right combination of Powers, Advantages, Limitations and SFX to build the Essence of the Ability you imagined. I do not have sufficient technical proficiency to design powers very well. I enjoy thinking about it though.

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

Creativity and Thinking Outside the Box: When you are Reasoning what Power or Game Mechanic best models the effect of the Ability you want, you need to exercise your creativity and really try to think out side the box. Brainstorm different ways to model the effect you want with different Powers, Advantages, Limitations and SFX. It is important to really put the time in on this step and to not limit your creativity. Brainstorm. For example, if you wanted an Ability to strike multiple opponents with gunfire, you could just build a RKA with autofire and a lot of skill levels with autofire attacks. However, instead of buying a lot of skill levels with autofire attacks you could build it as an Area RKA with Selective. Another example is the Speedster who can run so fast he can run up walls. You could take a lot of running and buy Clinging with the limitation Only While Running. However, there is the alternative build using Flight with the limitation Only While Touching a Surface. Another example, lets say you have a speedster you want to run around punching everybody. You can buy lots of running and autofire punch and lots of skill levels with autofire punch. Alternatively, you can buy an area of effect on a HA making it selective and variable area. Another example is buying superspeed with teleportation with a limit only to a point the character could reach by moving.

Re: Incarnation Awareness

Seems like a perfect use for a VPP with some well thought out limitations.

Re: Philosophy & Principles of Power Design

Design by Effect: I know this is discussed in the book, but it is so important that it should be mentioned in this thread. This design principle posits that you should think carefully about what effect the power actually has in the game world. In other words, what is the result of using the power you are looking for. Then try and think creatively about how to model that result in game mechanics. Then try to think about the possible powers that can bring into being the end result you want your power to cause. This is to be distinguished from trying to design the power by trying to model what the power does first. I am at a loss as to how to better explain this principle. Perhaps it needs some examples to demonstrate the principles.

I know I have seen this discussed in many different threads, but I have not seen it in a condensed form in a single thread. That is what this thread is for: A place for those that have pondered and practiced the essence and intricacies of power design in Hero System to put forth the core philosophies and principles of power design. I am not really sufficiently technically proficient in the Hero System to contribute much, but here is an example:

Elegance: This philosophy and principle of power design posits that simplicity is usually better. You need to really think about the essence of what the power is or does and disregard the exceptions, technicalities or details. Try and think about a way to build the power with the least amount of power modifiers. Be creative in the use of sfx to explain how the power works without the need to minutely quantify every piddly detail. Don't lose sight of the forest for the trees, as it were.

Re: Limitations and SFX

I like the idea of being able to use a coin or some such portable object as a teleport beacon.

Re: Limitations and SFX

What does the rule of cool say about it? Sounds like a pretty cool idea. Does it have negative effects on game balance or some other uncool factors that I am not considering?

Re: Rules You Didn't Know Until Champions Complete

It could be ruled as just the sfx of using a haymaker.

Re: Where are the most recent Champions write-ups?

Yeah, does anyone have Hero Designer files for some of the superheroes in the Champions Universe? I would greatly appreciate these.

Re: What elements should a great superhero setting contain?

Magic Cleavage Windows

This.

Re: Unified Power

Yeah, I meant pool not poll. Sorry about the typo. Okay, then I think it might be appropriate to take a unified power on all the slots and the pool on a multipower "raygun" if only to distinguish it from an archer with a quiver full of different arrows with respect to drains.

Re: Unified Power

So, I have determined that it is appropriate to build all of the slots of my ray gun with the unified power limitation, but I still am unconvinced that it would be appropriate to build the poll with the limitation because it is not subject to drains. Any thoughts?

Re: Unified Power

I need to go back and review how drains work on unified powers. In any event, I am having trouble seeing how the actual negative ramifications of making the all the slots parts of a unified power would justify the -1/4 limitation on the cost of the power pool itself. I can see how the sfx would work, in that if you drain the battery on the ray gun it will negatively effect all the settings. Something just feels off to me about getting a -1/4 point break on the pool, which, as far as I can tell, would not be subject to drains in any event because it is not a power or characteristic subject to drains.

Re: "Elevator Pitch" your campaign

I plan on starting a new campaign in the near future based upon Dr. Destroyer's attempt, following his escape from the Multifarian with the help of Captain Chronos, to secretly obtain the high tech components and mystical artifacts he needs to build a Reality Engine that will allow him to separate Champions Earth from the rest of the Multiverse so he can then deal with Shadow Destroyer.