nharwell

Re: How to model Jade (from Whately) If I'm thinking of the right character, you'd probably model her using a combination of Animate Object (under Telekinesis, in the Advanced Player's Guide) and something like the Telekinetic Sidekick example of Duplication in the the Character Creation book. Basically she creates a telekinetic duplicate that is either invisible & human-shaped (but can wear clothes, etc) or "inhabits" some physical object, animating it (her choice when creating the duplicate).

Re: Wild Card's Hero I'd suggest that you ignore the GURPS stats and go back to the source material - focus on adapting the characters conceptually rather than converting the GURPS writeups...

Re: Would you play… I've played in games similar to this, some more successful than others. The most successful was a one-shot where the game began with the pcs waking up with severe but temporary memory loss. In the course of the game we had to figure out who & what we were, and what was going on. It was great fun but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to play a long-term game. The least-successful is closer to what the OP is suggesting. We designed normal humans and the GM gave us powers during the first few sessions. We had several of the problems mentioned in this thread. Despite having an excellent GM and players, it just didn't work well. For ex., I designed a character with a detailed background and personality that would encourage (I hoped) the GM to give me particular types of powers. Instead, I gained magic. The character knew absolutely nothing about magic so I was forced to make a choice - play the character effectively but "not in character", or stay "in character" and not be particularly useful. I chose the latter, shocking the GM. Other players likewise had issues with some of the abilities they gained. I think a game like this can be interesting, allowing players to explore different themes and ideas than they might normally. But that works best in a ione-shot or short-term game. For a longer game, It can be very difficult to feel attached to a character that you don't like or aren't comfortable with - esp. in a point-system like Hero, where much of the appeal is in character design.

Re: Can I use independent here?

Re: Mind swapping Simply a matter of opinion. It would be very difficult to build with Duplication ( duplication +desolid always on + invisible + mind control + who knows what else). I'd argue that Transform is by far the simplest method (while still being rather expensive) and thus the best...

Re: Mind swapping I think Side Effect is very appropriate as the "second transform" is VERY limiting. After all, I could just build the power exactly the same without the Side Effect, with the effect of simply duplicating my mind (pushing a copy of my mind into another character). That is far more powerful than a mind swap.

Re: Applying shapeshift in game But that really doesn't apply here. The character could simply become a very long or large snake without changing his size or mass (a large python or boa, for example).

Re: Help? Need power to counter shapeshift If your character can capture one of the aliens, simply test to see which "senses" their shapeshift doesn't fool, and then build a device using that sense. Given the cost of shapeshift in 5E, it's highly unlikely that their shapeshifting powers work against ALL senses...

Actually, I've used a very similar construction several times when making NPCs and characters that are "invulnerable." I buy "invisible to sight" as well, though -- I've always assumed that the base Desolidification power also has a visible component...

Ok, I'm a "HERO." I buy a 12 INT for my character because it fits my concept. In a game enforcing the idea that "normal" human stat range is to 20, I'm quite a bit smarter than average. Player #2 is an "ACCOUNTANT." He buys an 8 INT for his character. In that context, his character is supposedly much less intelligent than mine -- an 80 IQ vs 120, using your rationale. What's the effect in game? NONE. Both of our characters are equally intelligent. The game mechanics should reflect the character concept. If you ignore the mechanics to play the concept, why use a heavy point-based system at all? At the very least, reversing your logic, I should be able to assign whatever appearance I want to my character. After all COM has not real game affect. Or make him immortal -- does Immunity to aging ever matter in a standard supers game? While I agree that an obssession with points takes the focus away from having fun with the game, I so often see people post on these boards how a player shouldn't get anything for free -- he gets only what he pays for. Shouldn't the reverse be true as well? Shouldn't whatever you pay for have some game effect?

Re: It Figures- Raping the system I tried to restrain myself, but I feel obligated to reply to this condescending post. If you truly feel this way, then why run or play with a point-based system like Hero at all? Simply let players chooses their abilties and powers. After all, if they are "real roleplayers", they'll make balanced characters! A fundamental assumption of the Hero System is that points are generally equal -- points in one ability should be roughly as useful (in game, not necessarily in combat) as the same points in another. Players aren't "munchkins" for making effective characters by using the rules as they are written...

Thanks for the link. Although I dropped COM long ago, I never considered getting rid of INT. John's solution actually fixes most of my complaints about the lack of granularity in Hero System stats....

I think writing up the "alternate" powers makes an interesting exercise. Let me try Instant Change. Assuming you want to be equivalent to the current version (Transform) where your clothing actually changes, you'd have to do something like: Shapeshift: base sense group (10), the other 6 sense groups (+18), costs END only to Change Shape (+1/4), Limited-clothing only (-1) = 18 points (real cost). Hmm...even if you say that limitation is -2, the real cost would be 12 points. This version of the power would be slightly more expensive... Edited due to incorrect interpretation of Shapeshift cost vs. different sense groups

Perhaps the real problem is that skills are disproportionately expensive for the superhero genre? In my experience, skills are not nearly as valuable in a superhero game as they are in "lower-level" games (agent-level, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.). I'm sure there are exceptions -- and that many of you will have counter-examples -- but in a genre where you can buy some flight (at 5") for 10 points, would you really think that those points in climbing are equally valuable ? (for 15 or so skill check -- maybe more depending on buying groups skill levels, etc.) I've always found this to be a problem in Champions (note: NOT Hero) -- skill-based characters are at a disadvantage. And it's not simply a matter of bad GM'ing. Once again, compare cost and effectiveness -- I could throw alot of points into PRE-based skills or simply buy Telepathy and Mind-Control (with limitations if necessary to simulate super-skills). Concept, you may say -- I shouldn't do that because of character concept. Ok, that's fine. But that doesn't address the fundamental disadvantage my skill-based character is at vs. the other PCs that put those points into powers (maybe including Telepathy and Mind Control...).

Tom's list is incredible! Please consider many of the effects he lists. It includes many of the powers that, in the past, I've found nearly impossible to do well in Hero. Also, I'd like to see characters or templates using some of the "controversial" powers and constructs in 5E -- damage shield, shapeshifting, etc. Build some characters to show us that the current powers/costs can work....