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It absolutely was not in the 4th edition and I dont remember it in the early 5th edition. I could look it up, but i'm thinking it came around 5th revised.

Hey, its worked for me for 20 years. I see no need to change it. And among the psychiatric profession, IQ is considered to be a pretty solid and reliable metric. It doesnt tell the whole story of course, but it is a fairly tangible measure of basic cognative function. It can he desputed of course, as most theories can, but it is generally accepted by the industry at large.

Spellcasting in the RM system uses Essence. In Hero this is a form of Endurance of course. You can do it as an End reserve, however I add it to the character sheet as a new derived characteristic. Take INT, plus EGO, plus PRE, then divide by two for the Essence characteristic. The Normal Characteristic maximum is 50. Essence Recovery can be based on the normal REC characteristic or can be derived from something else like Int plus Ego Plus Pre divided by 10. This recovery is per hour, not per turn. (For 6th players who dont use secondary characteristics, I would have Essence default to 20 and Ess Rec default to 4) All spells must cost Essence. If a power is zero endurance, it must take the Cost Endurance limitation. In general the zero enduarance advantage is forbidden. 1/2 endurance should be considered on a case by case basis, but in general should be rare. Spells should cost AP/10 as a general rule.

Also, beyond the baseline of Strength, I consider INT to be a solid baseline as well. I equate INT to real world IQ. Multiply INT by 10 to get IQ. This matches up with a 10 being equivalent to an IQ of 100 and an 18 being equivalent to an IQ of 180 which is Hawking and Einstein territory. Putting the average human at 8 gives them an IQ of 80, which puts the vast majority of the population just above mental retardation. Keep in mind that the Tom Hanks character Forrest Gump had an IQ of 75. That would make most people only 5 IQ points above Gump. No. Just....no.

This is what I dont understand. Why cant 10 be the baseline for an average human being, with the normal range being 8-12! It works perfectly within the confines of the game mechanics. Changing the average to 8 means the new range is 6-10. That doesnt stand up. Of course a normal person can have at least one extraordinary characteristic. You can have what is otherwise a normal high school kid who has an extraordinary level of dexterity and he becomes a master of Parkour. Or a post graduate student with a genius level IQ possess an INT of 18. These are still normal people. They have an extraordinary attribute, but in no way are these people defined as "heroes". What defines someone as a hero is not their characteristics, but their nobility of spirit and the ability to act in situations that would give non-heroes pause. So yeah, its just my own opinion, but I feel that the perception that PCs should start out at a "heroic" average above the normals is idiotic. Its meaningless and mainly stems from wanting their character to be better than average even when they cant affors the points to raise all their characteristics above average. Indiana Jones pretty much has an average strength. I wouldnt rate him any higher than a 10. Does that mean he's not a Hero? Of course not. Jones is a hero because be takes action. Nothing to do with his characteristics at all.

With Hero, you only ever need the main book. Everything else is superfluous. I think the 6th edition being two volumes was a mistake. But hey, whatever you need to do to sell more books.

Indeed, the strength chart is what gives us our baseline. Most healthy adult males should be able to deadlift 200lbs. In my prime I could probably deadlift 300lbs and I didnt lift weights at all. At the age of 40, I was able to fireman carry the biggest guy in my class at the border patrol academy and he was 285lbs. I am 5'10 and was 200lbs at the time. I am a couch potato. I should be one of those guys with a strength of 8, yet here I am running around with closer to 12. I dont buy the average person is all 8 argument. It doesnt stand up to close examination.

But thats why the Hero is given CP. Because he or she is going to spend them and rise above the average. I dont understand why people want 10 to be Heroic when no player building a heroic character is going to leave their characteristics at 10. Plus 10 is a nice round number in the system and the baseline from which everything flows. It works for the average person.

Some benchmarks for your barbarian warrior with Mighty Thews to keep in mind. Weight of the average riding horse: about 850lbs. Mustangs average 750 thought they are slightly taller than average. Thus your mighty warrior needs a Str of 19 to move a fallen horse or wrestle one to the ground. Weight of the average warhorse, based on the largest breeds known today such as the Clydesdale, weighed about 2000lbs, so that requires a STR of 26 to move. Better get some help. Though some Destriers probably were lighter, in the 1500lb range requiring only Str 24 to move. Conan might be able to manage it!

I'm posting my lifting strength chart, going up to STR 30 just for spits and giggles. Mostly because I am not very busy at work. Score: Lift(kg): Damage: End: 0: 25: -- 1 1: 30: -- 1 2: 35: .5d6: 1 3: 40: .5d6: 1 4: 45: 1d6: 1 5: 50: 1d6: 1 6: 60: 1d6: 1 7: 70: 1.5d6: 1 8: 80: 1.5d6: 1 9: 90: 2d6: 1 10: 100: 2d6: 1 11: 120: 2d6: 1 12: 140: 2.5d6: 1 13: 160: 2.5d6: 1 14: 180: 3d6: 1 15: 200: 3d6: 2 16: 240: 3d6: 2 17: 280: 3.5d6 2 18: 320: 3.5d6 2 19: 360: 4d6: 2 20: 400: 4d6: 2 21: 480: 4d6: 2 22: 560: 4.5d6 2 23: 640: 4.5d6 2 24: 720: 5d6: 2 25: 800: 5d6: 3 26: 960: 5d6: 3 27: 1120: 5.5d6: 3 28: 1280: 5.5d6: 3 29: 1440: 6d6: 3 30: 1600: 6d6: 3 Etc..

That is indeed the other factor in the equation. The tyoe of food consumed coupled with a lack of exercise. I myself has gained 50lbs in the last 5 years because of a distinct lack of exercise. Where before, I didnt have a car and thus I walked everywhere. I ate a bachelors diet (burgers and pizza) for years yet put on no extra weight because of the regular exercise. Be aware I did not work out or go running. I simply walked everywhere and worked jobs where I was on my feet most of the day. Now I work a job that while at times has a flurry of extreme physical activity, it is not consistent and I spend 90% of my work day sitting in a vehicle. I am now forced to actively seek exercise, where before, just my normal daily activity allowed me to maintain my fighting shape. (And man was I a sexy beast!) Also, I extremely dislike ranking people at 8. I much prefer a range of stats within which an "average" person may fall. That is between 8 and 12. With 10 being the middle ground. So if you meet three different average people on the street, they are likely to have three different Strength scores and three different Int scores and three different Con scores, though they would all be considered "average" despite these differences. Thats why I always refer to 10 as the normal average because if falls right in the middle of the average range of 8-12.

Depends on the setting. In any low tech setting, the average person is toiling in the field or doing backbreaking manual labor all day long. They walk everywhere because horses are expensive. In a modern or futuristic campaign, the average person might nof get regular exercise, but thats mostly because of how ubiquitous powered vehicles become which removes the need of the common man to walk everywhere they go. I would posit that the reason why obesity is so rampant in modern society is because people simply dont walk anymore. If they did, most people would maintain a relatively normal body weight. But remove the need to walk and jobs being desk based, the average person becomes sedentary unless vanity or health consciousness spurs them to exercise (which many average people do...they are still average in their stats, but thr exercise allows them to hit the 10-12 range where they are supposed to be rather than the 8-9 range of the sedentary populace)

Another option is extra dice of Presence Attack (5pts per D6) on a trigger. I think something like this can fit within 30ap. It wont work on the strong willed, but then again I am assuming the 1st level D&D equivelent isnt meant to either.

Yeah, that makes it more difficult. The effect is definitely a mental one. That is also a powerful effect. To write it up properly you are likely going to need more than 30ap for it to be effective. Essentially it needs to be area of effect, which drastically increases the AP.

Because the points provide a baseline for all characters, making all builds based in the same points inherently "fair". As opposed to arbitrary character designs in games such as RIFTS where various character types are categorically unfair (Atlantean Undead Slayer compared to a Vagabond) This however does not mean all builds are inherently "balanced" as that depends on the power level of the campaign and each individual build. Character balance for each specific setting is central to the core of Hero. To get the most from this system, the GM and the players need to understand this concept. Not all players are able or willing to "get" this, but when they do, you will find that games improve dramatically. Point costs are essential to Hero. It is the abilitu to custom design your character to your hearts content that necessitates a point cost structure. Dumping it would ruin the system. I once played in a game where the GM ramdomized character creation in Hero and the results were disaterous. It is because of Hero's supreme versatility mixed with its mechanical crunchiness and its internal consistency that a larger amount of GM control is necessary. The alternative being that the author of the game books themselves provide hard limits (either through authorial fiat or through system manipulation ala GURPS) but Hero traditionally does not do that because they want to leave the nature and power level of each game up to the individual tables playing them. This necessitates putting veto power in the hands of the GM rather than the default industry mode of building the limits into the system. There are quite possibly dozens if not hundreds of threads on balancing the system. Search in the System discussion forums, the Champions forum and the Fantasy Hero forums for the lion's share of these threads. My take on this is that it is a function of experience with the system. The more experience you have with it, the easier it will become to balance it to what you desire. The key is to play many different genres and power levels to find the sweet spot for each. It is totally doable. And dont worry if others come up with dfferent solutions than you do. Its totally common. Each table does things a little differently. Do what works for you. I disagree. I think the primary purpose of a point based system is customizability and versatility. Especially in Hero. GURPS as well. The reason why GURPS is easier to balance is because Hard Limits are built into the characteristic and skill building system by having exponential point expenditure. Hero, having linear point expenditure but with exponemtial effect progression, is much easier to manipulate than GURPS. Yes, the 4th edition point guidelines were more "balnced" than 5th and 6th edition versions. However, the 4th edition was not quite as versatile as the newer editions and many of the additions to them have expanded the system in many ways. But with more power and versatility at your disposal comes more responsibility for the GM. Yes, Hero is very complex compared to many RPGs out there. Especially with the current trend of "simple is better" sweeping the industry (OSR and other such movements). But it is not any more complex than GURPS, Rolemaster, Runequest and other long standing classics of the industry. Heck I would even place D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder in that realm of complexity compared with the FATE types out there now. However it doesnt take 20+ years to get the balance down. I would say I had it nailed down to about 90% good in just two years and since that time itnhas been just tweeks and small adjustments to the balance to get the feel right for any particular game I wanted to run. It just requires regular play of the system in various power levels and genres to get there. Arrange playtest sessions with your best players to learn the ins and outs of the system and you will quickly reach your sweet spot, or you will ultimately find if Hero is not for you and your group. It cant be fixed. Many have tried, and to my knowledge, all have failed. What works best is finding your sweet spot and having mature players who understand that system manipulation is not the point of the game. The mature players thing is essential. I have had that on multiple occasions, and when I have, it has always been the best gaming I have experienced hands down. And my players have always loved how the game turned out when we use Hero. Once they "get it" the game can flow like Muhammed Ali. This is an absolutely essential question to ask and you might not like the answer: These are questions you are going to have to answer for your own table. The books arent going to do it for you. They shouldnt, because how I do it is likely to be different from how you do it. Is the system Linear or Exponential? Do some playtesting and make a decision. Set up benchkarks based on your playtests. Determine what is low, average and high powered based on those benchmarks. Figure out what point costs work for you for each genre and level of power you are interested in playing. Dont follow the book, determine this from your own experimentation with the system. Play with the most human characrers possible to find out how the system works on the low end. Then up the power level and continue doing so till you find the point where you feel the system breaks. Create damage vs defense vs Body/Stun benchmarks that you use to guide character creation. Set hard limits to where you feel that normal human characters will fall and stick to it. Only exceed these limits if the character is meant to perform beyond human limits. The above is what i did for my games. It took me a couple of years to get things worked out, but when I did, I had a system that has worked for me for over 20 years at this point. And players that have told me my games were the best gaming they have ever experienced. It takes a bit of work to get there, but onxe you do, the payoff can be extraordinary. Yes, its a kind of "mode" or "perception" of the system and its not the same at every table. Its a matter of finding what works and staying consistent within that framework. And players that understand these things as well. Find those and your games will improve no matter the system, but Hero will serve you VERY well when you have players who dont purposely set out to break the system every time they design a character.

The cat should have PD 1 and less Body (maybe 3) because one good kick from the human should be able to end that cat's life.

The Musicians Deadful Melody I would write this up as a multipower with a few different slots. A big Blast attack. A Blast with AP. A Blast with autofire (rapidly played notes) and a Killing attack with AP. Maybe a stun only Blast. And a Blast with double Knockback. Alternately, you can write up two slots. One a Blast with Variable Advantage and the other a Killing Attack with Variable Advantage and be good to go. The Fated Lovers. Paris I would write up with Clinging....he is a Tai Chi master and one of their signature moves is Sticky Hands where they grab or touch you and you cant shake them off. I would also write him up with a Desolid for his Avoidance skills. I would write up Troy's Lion's Roar technique as a really #%&$ing BIG Blast with an Area of Effect, Cone shape. Double Knockback. The Beast is seemingly a master of Iron Skin. Attacks didnt seem to hurt him at all, so lots of PD and Resistant defense. A ridiculous amount of Strength and extra DC to his Martial Arts. His special technique Toad Style I would write up as am excessive amount of Hand Attack with double knockback and extra meters of Leaping, which he would then use with the Passing Strike maneuver for ridiculous amounts of damage. For the Chosen One, lots of Skill Levels and his Hand of Buddha technique I would write up as a big Area of Effect Blast with Invisible Power Effects and Indirect.

There are several concepts in SPELL LAW that convert over to Hero very, very well. The spell list concept is easily recreated as a Multipower. Try not to conver the RM spell levels over directly as that way lies madness. Just try and convert them over as well as you can. RM spell lists have a lot of redundencies that can be eliminated with the use of Variable multipower slots. (Whereas RM wastes multiple spell level slots on spell upgrades) RM requires a "spell roll" based on an appropriate skill (Essence, Channeling or Mentalism and a 4th Realm known as Arcane) so Hero spell Multipower needs the limitation Requires a Skill Roll. This skill roll should have a skill penalty based on the Active points of the spell being cast. In RM, higher level spells can be more difficult to cast. The Multipower should also have the Side Effect limitation that occurrs when the spell roll is a critical failure. Create a chart and design some effects that can happen on a critical failure. For the purpose of spell casting, I consider a "critical failure" to be missing the skill roll by 5 points or more. Also a roll of 18 is always a critical failure, no matter the chance of success. If a critical success is rolled, I usually give some bonus such as 1/2 Essence (Mana/End) cost, extra AP boost or some positive effect. The skill rolls should be based on the following Characteristics. Each should cost 3/2 as normal. Essence: INT Channeling: PRE Mentalism: EGO Arcane: (the average of all three characteriatics) Rolemaster also has a concept known as OVERCASTING . In RM, this is when characters try to cast spells that have a level over the characters experience level. Overcasting incures pretty hefty penalties and if failed, it acts as a critical failure (meaning, OUCH!) so it is not something that should be done lightly. But Hero doesnt have levels! How do I do this??? Relax, I got this. Your spells have an amount of Active Points. These are your spells levels. How many active points your character can cast should depend on a multiple of the characters Spellcasting skill. You can use x2, x3 or x4 depending on how powerful you want your spellcasters to be. I recommend x3 for a typical campaign. This makes a skill roll of 15 or less able to cast 45 active point spells normally or 60 active points at 20 or less. X4 or x5 is appropriate for high powered campaigns. Overcasting should add an additional -3 to the spell casting roll in addition to the Active Point penalty . Also, a normal failure is considered a critical failure when overcasting. On an actual critical failure when overcasting, apply double the rolled effect. Also, then AP penalty is applied to the failure roll for effect (as a bonus, not as a penalty) so be careful! Example: Tynstar is a Magician of the Realm of Essence. He has an Intelligence of 20 which gives him a base skill roll of 13 or less. He then applies a +2 bonus directly to his Essence skill roll for 4 points for a total of 7points of Essence Skill and a base spell roll of 15 of less. Thus Tynstar can cast up to 45 Active points without "Overcasting", but more than this there are issues. Tynstars party encounters some marauding Lugroki while adventuring for treasure one day and Tynstar begins casting Firebolt spells to help his comrades. However, reinforcements arrive for the Lugroki and his fighter companions begin to tire, so Tynstar prepares his Fireballs spell, which uses the entirety of his 60 point Spell Multipower. This is -6 to his spell roll (-1 per 10 active points in the spell), but because he is Overcasting, it gains an additional -3 for a total of -9 to the spell roll! Tynstar realises that a 6 or less when overcasting is suicide, so he tries for some bonuses. He takes a full Turn to cast the spell for +2. He uses his magestaff which gives him a +3 for Essence spells channelled through it. That brings him up to 11 or less. Tynstar rolls a 10 and successfully casts the Fireball spell, scattering the charging Lugroki across the battlefield to the cheers of his companions. Had Tynstar failed the roll, he would have had to roll on the Spell Failure chart to see what happened, taking the -6 active point penalty and apply it to the failure roll as a +6 Example spell failure chart. 3D6 3-5: AP/10 D6 stun damage 6-8: AP/10 D6 Normal Damage 9-12: Lose x2 Endurance as LTE 13-14: AP/20 D6 Drain to INT 15-16: Ap/20 D6 Drain to EGO 17: AP/10 D6 Drain to Multipower pool 18: Ap/15 D6 Killing damage. If the failure effect roll was a 10, +6 for a 16 then Tynstar would have taken a (60ap/20) 3D6 Ego Drain! Note that drains should recover at a slow rate such as 5pts per day.

As far as the difference in Essence, Channeling and Mentalism is concerned, it can be summed up in this way: Essence = manipulating the ambient magical energy in the environment. Channeling = using the power of higher and lower dimensional entities. Borrowed power. Mentalism = using the magical energies flowing through ones mind, body and spirit. Chi or Prana. Other than that, there are few limits on what one can do with a particular Realm of power. There is a lot of crossover effects as one can imagine. In general, Essence seems to be the best at affecting large parts of the environment. Channeling seems best at healing and affecting dimensional beings. Mentalism is very versatile, but not as far reaching as the other Realms, but it shouldnt be underestimated. There are also hybrid spells such as Sorcery (Essence and Channeling) etc.

This is an area effect mind control. Anyone with the intention of attacking the warded character enters the AoE, they get hit with an Xd6 mind control effect, from which they must make a breakout roll in order to attack the character (this simulates the D&D Wisdom check). The order is "Attack someone else!" Which usually only needs and Ego+ or Ego+10 to succeed. If the warded character is the only combatant visible, it might need Ego+20 to succeed, and if successful, the enemy will simply wander off.

Yes, PSLs can be added to magic items Yes, +8 vs hit location penalties is excessive and abusive. The GM has every right to veto this. This writeup with a few adjustments would be perfect to create a Vorpal Blade magic item. Put an additional limitation that it only occurs during a critical hit. Rare but happens occasionally. Which then automatically turns into a head hit on a Crit. Max damage, minus defenses, times two. Ouch!

220lbs is about right for a healthy male in their prime, of average strength and build (6' 180lbs) to be capable of lifting. This is what a score of 10 represents, what a healthy (for physical characteristics) adult in their prime should reasonably possess. I dont buy that the "average person" has characteristics of 8. A couch potato, sure, but not an average healthy adult who gets somewhat regular exercise. This obsession that players have with wanting characteristics to start above average is ridiculous. Of course your PC is not average because they are given experience points through which they can purchase above average characteristic score. Get over yourselves. Sheesh.

Ronan the Acuser would take great offense at such.

I do not provide DC penalties for inadequate Strength. Only OCV penalties. I do not want the big weapons short changed. They are limited enough by their high Str minimums.

Using an Arthurian character for that analogy is misleading, considering that various versions of the Arthurian tales range between the mundane and the fantastic. In some versions of the tale, characters shapeshift. Gawain possesses super strength. Arthur has a tunic which renders him invisible. Lancelot wears faerie forged armor which makes him practically invincible and both Galahad and Percival possess supernatural level of skill at arms and the entire kingdom is laid waste by divine wrath (thus necesitating the quest for the Grail) so the power level of even the mundane seeming arthurian saga is all over the place.