Cantriped

Re: Magic items - pay for base item? Personally This is why I like the Dark Champions Resource Point rules. It allows you to make them pay for their crap yet at the same time still allowing them to recover from losing a piece of equipment. I don't like the Independant limitation on principle, if the character is paying points, the measure and essense of his being and abilities, for an item. That thing better darn well fly to his hand on command jedi style and remake itself if destroyed. Otherwise I just think of it as another peice of equipment. irregardless of how said equipment is defined.

Re: good FH minis? I've used pennies as tokens. What can I say, they were cheap.

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" Perhaps, but it's certainly not a mechanic of HERO 5th (unrevised) RAW, it may have changed in the revision. Thats all I was saying. my argument had nothing to do with wether I like the idea, handwavium or no. It looks relativly balanced and I would probably allow that interpetation in my own game regardless of it being handwavium or not.

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" yeah uhm no. It's still a charge wether it costs END or not, so under normal rules that 1 charge will run out in 1 phase regardless of wether the power also Costs END to maintain. At least thats what I remember. That particular rule could have changed between 5th and revised 5th. It woudln't be consistant if the rules allowed Charges to ignore that limitation built into them (and one that requires you reduce the value of the lim to use) if another limitation was used to eliminate the primary advantage of charges (not costing END). Thus why I sugest handwavium.

Re: 'Heroic' Movement Rate Variant I don't necessarially want to decouple movement from actions, in fact I want to avoid those kind of gludgy mechanics, I still want character to be able to move on any of their phases. However I wanted a rules variant that a decoupled movement from the multiplicative side effects of an increased Speed score. Under the varient I presented a SPD 2 and a SPD 4 character both run just as fast unless one buys additional points of running. And to move at full velocity they are still giving up all of their phases. I would also like to point out that Buying down your various forms of movement (I know, a novel concept) as SPD increases is another viable method of simulating this mechanic without a houserule. However I am really more interested right now in what people thought about the house rule itself as well.

Re: 'Heroic' Movement Rate Variant Actually thats exactly why I don't like Speed multiplying movement rate. It seems to me that it would be more inkeeping with the heroic level of campaigns for a character to perhaps be more able to react to things happening in combat (aborting to dodge or block) and be generally more able to recover, counter-attack, and prepare attacks of their own, without automaticly becoming faster runners/swimmers/etc.

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" actaully I was suggesting a little handwavium, because as the rules are written, neither uncontroled or lingering will get you around the charge issue. On constant powers a normal Charge only lasts for 1 phase (making all constant powers instant.) unless you reduce the worth of the limitation by making the charges Continuing. However since you are blending the Charges with Costs END in your concept I suggested handwaving this requirement on the charges as a side effect of the power costing END to maintain. However this is only really an issue if the powers are all bought in a single framework with charges on it, otherwise the number of charges and their continuing length could be determined per/power

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" How would Constant powers be handled? normally charges have to be bought Continuing in order to last more then a single phase. My sugesstion there would be to jsut ignore that facet of the charges rule as a side effect of the Costs END (make it cost charges + END to activate, then END to maintain)

Re: freeze spell Like thats a question, Didn't you know that acording to the Black-Mages code if something doesn't die, explode, or get violated by otherworldly tenticals - its just not magic. I don't know, I like the Transform option, it looks pretty good, but if you wanted both you would define the spell as a multipower (assuming the game your in doesn't define spells in a framework to start with) With one slot being a Transform for inanimate/freestanding water, and the other a basic EB of equal AP.

Re: freeze spell But if you really must make Ice, this is Blackmage's (ok not really) Solution: Polar Ray: (Total: 75 Active Cost, 34 Real Cost) Energy Blast 4d6, Area Of Effect (8" Line; +1) (40 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Spell (-1/2) (Real Cost: 20) plus Change Environment: Coveres Everything In Ice 4" radius (8" Line; +0), -3 Temperature Level Adjustment, -3 to DEX Roll and DEX Based Skill Rolls, Multiple Combat Effects (35 Active Points); Spell (-1/2), Linked (Energy Blast; -1/2), Instant (-1/2) (Real Cost: 14)

Re: freeze spell The nipple rings had nothing to do with Freezing water. Infact, wearing them in freezing water is not recommended... At All, Ever. However, if you must wear your Nipple Rings in Freezing water, it better be These Nipple Rings: Nipple Rings of Arcane, Cold Resistant Armor: (Total: 21 Active Cost, 5 Real Cost) Armor (2 PD/2 ED), Mass (+0) (6 Active Points); Short Vest (Protects Locations 12-13; -2), Side Effects (+3d6 STUN Damage When Nipple Rings are grabed | or +3d6 Normal Damage if they are torn off, and they may not be put back on until all body damage is healed; -1), IAF (Nipple-Rings; -1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) (Real Cost: 1) plus +15 ED (15 Active Points); Side Effects (+3d6 STUN Damage When Nipple Rings are grabed | or +3d6 Normal Damage if they are torn off, and they may not be put back on until all body damage is healed; -1), Only vs. Cold (-1), IAF (Nipple-Rings; -1/2), Real Armor (-1/4), Linked (Armor; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4)

Re: freeze spell Hmm, good point Nipple-Rings of Arcane Armor: Armor (2 PD/2 ED), Mass (+0) (6 Active Points); Short Vest (Protects Locations 12-13; -2), Side Effects (+3d6 STUN Damage When Nipple Rings are grabed | or +3d6 Normal Damage if they are torn off, and they may not be put back on until all body damage is healed; -1), IAF (Nipple-Rings; -1/2), Real Armor (-1/4)

Re: 'Heroic' Movement Rate Variant That may be part of my problem, in most of the games I've played, END hasn't been something we've kept close track of, so I'm not really used to accounting for it that much.

Re: Fantasy Hero Problems and advantages Well personally, I grew up with DnD too (literally), but in my personal oppinion I don't like 90% of the Dnd-Hero conversions I've seen, mainly because they spend all their time trying to import it's already cludgy mechanics (which is why I stoped playing in the first place) in such a way that the system becomes even MORE cludgy.

Re: How To: Arcane Channeling However, if the campaign your in does use the 'Spell' Limitation, then yes, the Naked Advantage sounds like a good idea.

Re: freeze spell Nipple-Rings of Arcane Armor: Armor (2 PD/2 ED), No Mass (+0) (6 Active Points); Short Vest (Protects Locations 12-13; -2), Side Effects (+3d6 STUN Damage When Nipple Rings are grabed | or +3d6 Normal Damage if they are torn off, and they may not be put back on until all body damage is healed; -1), Real Armor (-1/4), IIF (Nipple-Rings; -1/4)

Re: Identify Spell Uhm... yeah but I've never seen a 'Detect Magic' spell that had a +20 to PER rolls built into it. That point aside a simple Detect Magic should be cheap, spells are already visible to start with in many cases. Additionally there is a pretty big difference between Detecting 'Thoughts' and Detecting 'Magic'. In the case of a Detect, you are purchasing the ability to 'percieve' a specific change in your environment, in the case of telepathy you are not. you're are forging a connection through sheer will that allows you to, among other things, percieve something that has no environmental cue (thoughts) and to communicate in a way that also leaves almost no environmental cue. Since a Mental Awareness (a form of detect) picks up telepathy, it's not really invisible. As a player, I simply do not see the benefit in paying more of my points when the same level of perception about any other topic costs so much less. This is compounded by the fact that most of the 'magic' this power is detecting isn't invisible to normal senses in the first place (unlike mentalism), so the player could probably learn jsut as much via Skills he already possessed as your 'Magic Item Telepaty' is likely to tell him. It simply isn't fair, and the power construct (interesting though it may be) is simply not worth the opportunity cost involved.

Re: 'Heroic' Movement Rate Variant Actually the variant as written does more effective 'damage' to the character with 4 speed then with 2 speed, since they both Run/Leap/Fly at the same speed, and infact in oder to move at maximum velocity, the Speed 4 character would still be using all of his phases becuase their total movement would be divided equally among their phases... Also, thanks for the comments KS, I'd actaully first thought about decoupling movement from phases (track it as veloctiy over the course of segments, but I wanted to keep the variant rule as simple and consise as possible. Thats also why I didn't decouple movement from speed entirely, you still have the illusionary Start/Stop of phases

Re: 'Heroic' Movement Rate Variant That would work too... well kinda, but Adjudicating limited versions of Speed tend to end up kind of cludgey. For example would the extra phases which he 'isn't moving' be dispersed between his normal phases, or would he be allowed to take his movement at the begining and then be stone still in later-phases... etc. Anyway thats kind of a problem for any 'limited' verson of speed though, which is why I tried to avoid that route. That aside I'm also somewhat interested to know if there are any glaring holes and issues that I might have overlooked in the wording of the variant?

Re: Identify Spell Hmm, Interesting new power, but like KS I don't feel there is a need for it. the idea of a 'Power Analysis' Power jsut isn't necessary, depending upon how it works thematicly both Detect and Telepathy are much more appropos then making a new mechanic. Additionally Detect is better anyway because you have a greater level of control over it's effect, and the target usually still has to make a Per roll if the magic in question has been concealed or circumstances might make it harder to notice. Don't forget too that the basic un-added-to Detect has no range and takes a half-phase action to use. Making a more traditional 'Detect Magic' spell isn't necessarially cheap

Heya all, I've been thinking about this idea for a while and finally decided to write it down and see what everyone else here thought. One thing that has always annoyed me about the SPD mechanic is that as your number of actions increases, so does your movement rate. Now while this is fine for most games. For heroic games it makes more sense to me for a character to have more actions without actually moving any faster, but I found no 'heroic' level variant for how SPD and movement rates were handled. So without further Adu, The Heroic-level Speed-Movement conversion: Normal: Normally a characters Movement in x" is the maximum distance per phase. effectivly meaning that it is multiplied by their Speed. Heroic Variant: The characters movement in x" is the maximum distance per Turn, and is divided among equally among the character's phases. (Thus a SPD 2 and SPD 4 character run exactly as fast, but the spd 4 character can do a lot more while moving, and is more maneuverable). To balance the dividend the x" of each of the character forms of movement whould be doubled (base 6" running/phase becomes base 12" running/turn). Note: Because both Leaping and Swinging are essentially 'uncontroled' forms of movement once the initial movement is started, the origional values should be retained as the maximum distance that can be covered in a single 'leap'/'swing', though they may cover greater distances over the turn though multiple leaps. Note: Teleport, for obvious reasons, would be dificult to adapt to this variant, as such it should either be handled normally, or if the variant is used the teleporter would effectivly remain phased-out until enough phases had past for him to have 'traveled' the x" between his starting location and destination. (as with jumping, the normal value should equal the maximum distance coverable in a single teleport.)

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" Not really, Boostable increases the Active points of the power, scaling up by a static amount in exchange for literally multipling it's cost. In addition it's limited to only +4 DCs and adds a Burnout roll to it. A flexible charge would simply be the ability to start with a larger power and scale down without losing 'energy' or portions of the charges you didn't use. All I'm saying by having a flexible Charges limitation is that - "If I only used half of the powers AP, then it should only use half the Charge that powers it" no more, no less. And because all your 'charges' recover on a set time frame that's usually longer then a single session would run anyway, it's a little easier on the paperwork end becuase you can usually assume enough time has passed to recover his charges.

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" Well it looks like your going to end up with lots of book keeping no matter which method you use. simply because your goal is literally to track how much of each power a character can use individually. However I see no reason not to make modifications to the rules. That point aside, the method I suggested isn't 'entirely' untested, simply because I dirived it's value to mechanics that already exist within the game. Normally, a power uses of the entire 'charge' regardless of the level it is used at., much like how an Ultra slot in a multipower counts as the full AP of the power regardless of the level it is used that. As such, if a flexible multipower slot is worth 1/2 the reduction in cost of a Ultra slot, then a 'flexible charge' qould also be worth half the normal value of a charge. The mechanical change really isn't that complicated in my oppinion, and lends itself to simpler, cheaper builds. afterall, why should the character pay more points for a power when the result is a more limited power then it would have been without the extra expenditures. However, that aside, I can't think of any ways of reducing the ammount of bookeeping involved without deviating completely from the goal you set out in your initial post. I'll have to think on it.

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" Pretty much, and why not? it's a simple modification to an Existing limitation. rather then Markdoc END reserve that would require every single power be built as a Compound power and is quite literally a more expensive but practically identical solution that still requires "rules tweaking" (because your forcing the players to use a specific build either way and apply the END reserve to only 1 power.) Example. two 10d6 Firebolts each can be used for up to... lets just say for simplicity 40d6/week (or roughly 200 AP). HEre is how the two powers would look. Katal3's Firebolt: Energy Blast 10d6 (50 Active Points); Charges (4 Flexible Charges which recover every 1 Week; -3/4). [4] RC: 28 pts Markdoc's Firebolt: (Total: 72 Active Cost, 56 Real Cost) Energy Blast 10d6 (Real Cost: 50) plus Endurance Reserve (20 END, 20 REC) Reserve: (22 Active Points); REC: (20 Active Points); Slow Recovery 1 Week (-3 1/2) (Real Cost: 6) [5 end/20reserve/rec] RC: 56.

Re: Sliding bars measuring each spell's "energy" I would say if your going for variance between 10 1d6 effects and 1 10d6 effect then you don't need charges, it's cludgy and something that is literally a fundemental part of the power to begin with. End cost is based upon the Active points of a power. thus a 10dc effect costs 5 END, and a 2 DC effect costs 1. (or 10 and 1 if you put increased end or use 1 END/5ap as a campaign ground rule.) you can always power down a 10 DC effect to 1 or 2 DCs if you'd like. and if that is your goal then going with a highly limited amount of END (or end reserve) at a time is a good way. especially if it recovers fast. so it would be like. Hmm Do I want to fry the guy with my 10d6 Firebolt, or lower to 5d6 so that I can maintain my "Mana shield" while I do it. Or if you wanted it applied to each spell seperately so that : "Hmm, I can only use 30d6 of Firebolt each day, do I really want to waste it all on this guy and end the battle fast. of should I save some for later..." In which case you simple buy a number of charges equal to roughly how many 'times' the Base AP you want to allow a spell to be used (lets say 2 charges on a 15 DC firebolt) and then add a modifier to the Charges saying that they are "Flexible" rather then "Ultra" so each of those charges is used up in proportion to how much of the power is used. Example: (15dc firebol with 2 "flexible" charges) This spell effectivly can be used for a maximum of 30dc's worth of Firebolt. Thus if you used 5 DCs of Firebolt to slay a goblin, you would still have 25dcs left in the 'Charges' which would recover like normal. Such a modifier would have to halve the limitation value of the Charges. just like how a Flexible Multipower slot costs more then an Ultra. course I could be misunderstanding... its late...