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I don't think that Firearms should cost END to use (whether per shot or per phase). We've never played with that in over 15 years of Hero games, I never even knew that was a thing. If that means building them with Reduced END (0 END) like melee weapons are built, then so be it. In Heroic games you don't pay the points anyways. I don't see why Firearms should cost END to use accurately when a sword or battle axe doesn't. Now if a GM was going for gritty realism I could see an argument for all weapons (Guns & Melee) costing Long Term END that could slowly add up if a character was in enough prolonged combat situations during a day. Like Old Man mentioned above, blowing through 32 rounds of ammo on fully automatic in Uzi takes not even 5 seconds (their standard rate of fire is 600 rounds per minute). I'm not in great shape, I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and rarely exercise, if I'd guess my END would hardly be above 20, yet I didn't pass out or collapse after emptying a clip from an uzi. I was sore from the recoil the next day though. I guess if a "rules" explanation is really needed, then maybe Casual STR could be used to counter (all/some of) the END cost from the STR Min for using firearms and melee weapons?

Working on a character that can teleport to any place on Earth and got into a debate with a fellow player about what amount of MegaScale would be needed. I'm of the opinion that since Teleportation "goes through" objects the teleporter could "go through" the Earth and appear on the opposite side. Since the radius of the Earth is about 6500km, then you would only need to go about 13000km to reach any other part of the planet. So a power build at its most basic would be: Teleportation 13m, Megascale 1m = 1000km (36 rp/ap) But my buddy thinks that since any two points on the Earth are at most roughly 21000km apart (according to maps), that the power should be Teleportation 21m,MegaScale 1m = 1000km (51 rp/ap) That might seem like only a slight difference in cost 36 vs 51, but that is only at the most basic build. Once you start adding advantages that point difference can really start to increase and end up equalling a whole heck of a lot. What is the general consensus about how much teleportation and megascale is needed to go anywhere on Earth?

It is absolutely nowhere mentioned in the FTL write up, but maybe there is a hidden "unwriten" benefit to FTL in that is also ignores the problems of Relativity but Megascale Flight doesn't. For example, going faster then light time would pass rapidly on Earth (and everywhere else in the universe) but not for the character, so if you use Megascale Flight to go faster then light speed decades could pass on Earth but it would only be a few minutes or hours for the character. But with the FTL power Relativity problems are ignored as part of the power. I just made that explanation up, but it would justify having the FTL power in the rules, as opposed to Megascale Movement. This would allow for different types of Faster-Then-Light travel options in a game based on the technology or magic of the setting. Because in game terms, FTL travel is actually a form of ExtraDimensional Movement/Teleportation with Time Travel. because you travel to another location, but also go back in time (due to Relativity) so you arrive there close to the time when you left, rather then decades or centuries later. The FTL power just automatically incorporates all of that into it, but Megascale Movement doesn't.

As a spin-off on this thread, but still involving Senses, Incantations, etc... Does anyone think that when it comes to communication gear as presented in the books, that headsets should also be built with the Incantation limitation (or a similar limitation) since anyone using them to communicate must speak out loud for it to work? For example with the ones built using "Mind Link". Mind link is normally a silent (telepathic) way of communicating, but with a headset communicator the user has to speak vocally in order for the other person in the link to "hear his thoughts" so shouldn't this be worth an additional limitation as it could give away his position if he is trying to be stealthy or there will be times it will not work if he can't speak? Yes, almost all headset gear is built with the limitation: Affected as Radio and Hearing Group (and not mental group for Mind Linked based builds), but even in the books this is described as making the gear being effected by Darkness to Radio & Hearing groups (so they can be jammed, blocked, out of range, etc...) it doesn't take in to account that the user must also be speaking in order for them to work. As they are currently built (especially the mind link ones, but regular ones as well) in a sci-fi or super hero setting you could say that they mentally (ie, silently transmit thoughts/conversations via radio signals) and it costs the same as a dark champions type setting where the users have to speak, which doesn't seem correct as the extra inconvenience should probably be worth an extra limitation (possibly as Incantations) So, should this actually be worth an extra limitation?

Are you planning for your campaign to be Heroic level or Superhero? I think this will be a major factor, at least it was for me when I ran a similar style campaign a couple of years back. The issue I ran into, and hopefully you can avoid, is that: "do the characters get weapons and gear for free, or do they have to pay cp for them?" My initial thought and how I started off the campaign was that it would be Heroic level, as I wanted the characters to be "normal" people (for the type of world they came from, so some would have magic, super skills or cyberwear paid for by points, but would still get weapons and gear for free). And I also thought that keeping the active points about equal would work out. Unfortunately that did not end up being the case. There is a built in (rightfully so, in my opinion) power creep for weapons and armor between a Fantasy setting, a modern day setting and a sci-fi setting, just because technology obviously gets more powerful as time progresses. Not just in the Hero System, but in players minds. But Sci-fi weapons and gear are often vastly more powerful then a modern era pistol and kevlar vest, so any character with access to "free sci-fi" gear will generally be much more effective in combat then one with only access to modern or fantasy era weapons and this quickly turned the game into everyone loading up on the sci-fi gear, even if it was "out of character" and took away from the flavor we were going for. So we did a "soft reset" of the game and I made it "superhero" level, but one with fairly strict characteristic maximums (to keep them as "normals") and then I gave them a set number of character points (and Active point max) to build their weapons and gear, magic abilities, super skills, etc.... So if a player did want to spend all his points on just a sci-fi disrupter blaster and advanced body armor, he would have those two things, and thats it. Another character playing a "modern era" character would have the same number of points but be able to buy a lot more variety of weapons and gear making him more versatile. Same with a Mage, he would spend his points on spells, either a few powerful ones, or a variety of lesser powered ones. This wasn't perfect, but it did end up working better and allowed the players to play to their concept rather then just creating an "arms race" of weapons and gear and all the characters ending up being the same.

Hi All, Just trying to figure out how the cost of Weapon Master was arrived at and if I am missing something. Currently it costs 24pts for the equivalent of +1d6 KA, or +3d6 ND (as an optional rule in the book) but +1d6 KA only cost 15pts and +3d6 ND is also only 15pts, so why does the talent cost so much more when it is actually more restricted? I often see official builds with damage bonuses from weapons built as powers (ex. Club: HA +1d6) and that only costs 4pts (or even less if you add a Focus to it) and since Weapon Master implies that there will also be a Focus in it's build, what am I missing as to why +3d6 NA built as a power (with a focus OIF (weapon of opportunity) limitation) only costs 9 points, but Weapon Master as a talent giving +3d6 NA (blunt weapons) costs 20 pts. Is there some hidden benefit to the talent I am not seeing?

This question got me thinking, and since this is Hero anything is possible, how would we build/model Ageing as a power/attack by "the universe"? Roughly might it be something like this: Natural Ageing: Major Transform 20d6 (Normal character into Feeble character, Regeneration), Partial Transform (+1/2), Does BODY (+1), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Life Support (Longevity); +1 1/2) (800 Active Points); Damage Over Time, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times, automatically occurs when target reaches 25 years of age) (15 damage increments, damage occurs every 5 Years, can be negated by regeneration or healthy living; -8 1/4) (Real Cost: 86) What other builds might there be?

Building a character who is made out of solid metal (but this Complication & other effects could apply to other non-organic beings) and ran into a question that I'm looking for some input on. The character is not organic (solid metal) so I want them to have the disadvantage of not being able to be healed by normal means (Paramedics, Hospital stays, medicine, etc...) and also probably by most form of the Healing power (partially FX based depending on how the Healing is defined, but I would assume in most cases it wouldn't work). I would assume this would just be a Physical Complication like: Physical Complication: Solid Metal Body - Regular and most forms of Healing do not work on them (Very Frequently; Fully Impairing) 30pts. Or some variation of that. But I'm also looking for other possible options to build/model this. Any suggestions?

Slightly off-topic question (not just for you, but also for anyone who creates 3rd party projects): How do you go about getting/creating art and maps for your books? Do you just use people you know in real life, draw it all yourself, find people online?

How about making some forms of immortality a Regeneration-based power, rather then Life Support? Something like: Immortal: Regeneration (1 BODY per Week) (2 Active Points); Only to repair damage caused by ageing (-1) (Real cost: 1) This assumes that ageing is a form of damage the body starts to take over time (not crazy as lots of medical research now shows that that ageing is in fact cause by our bodies, more specifically our DNA and cells, breaking down. Wrinkles and grey hair are the first signs as the skin looses it's elasticity and your hair follicles lose the ability to nourish the hair.) So Regeneration makes sense as it heals damage to your DNA, etc... In comics, this is also shown to be how Wolverine is immortal, his body keeps regenerating itself to his "base" level/age repairing any damage cause by ageing. When his regeneration power fade or weakens that is when he starts to age (so we get Old Man Logan). This also seems to be how the immortals in Highlander work as well (except they also have the Resurrection adder added to it). What is good with this type of immortality is that characters can be "aged" rapidly by powers/effects in the short-term (ie, an adventure or session) but then they would slowly recover afterwards (possibly between sessions) as their regeneration slowly "resets" them to their "base" age. Add a Focus to it, and you could also simulate "The Portrait of Dorian Grey" type of Immortality. I think this style of Longevity works better for living/breathing/blood circulating characters, not only because it is cheaper then the 3-pt Life Support version, but it allows other effects to be added and can be Drained, Suppressed, etc... For Mystical beings, Robots or Undead (Vampires, Ghosts, etc.) then the 3-pt life support version might be better as (at least to me) it represents a never changing, stable, static more mystical form of immortality. Of course one drawback (in a logical sense, maybe not a RPG sense) is that then every character with Regeneration should basically be Immortal if they really do have "true" regeneration as their bodies would constantly be healing any age related damage they take, not just injuries. But then in this case maybe Immortality should just be a +1pt Adder on to Regeneration the same way Heal Limbs is +5pts and Resurrection is +20

This sounds to me like it would be best built as a multipower. Something like: Electro-Touch: Multipower, 50-point reserve 1) Shocking Grasp: Blast 10d6 (50 Active Points); No Range (-1/2) 2) Power Surge: Blast 8d6, Area Of Effect Nonselective (20m Radius Explosion; +1/4) (50 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Conditional Power Power only works across conductive surfaces and water (-1/2) And since this is a group of minions who use this as a main attack I'd also give them all Insulated Uniforms. Something like: Insulated Uniform : +30 ED (30 Active Points); Limited Power Only vs electrical attacks (-1)

This was my gut reaction also, but the more I think about it the more I think it isn't exactly the case. I don't think Transmit Hearing is being able to talk or make noise. In game terms talking or making noise would be more like Images (hearing) with gestures or something like that. In the same vein Transmit Sight isn't "being visible", everything physical is basically automatically visible unless it takes the Invisibility power. The system doesn't charge points to "make" your character visible. Transmit Hearing & Sight wouldn't allow the character to create specific or generic sounds like images would, it would only be to Transmit what the character is hearing or seeing at that exact moment. Basically making the character a walking wireless video camera/bug (without a record function). And since all characters already get Sight, hearing, ( & Smell, Touch, etc.) for free then Transmit makes sense as an adder on to those senses. But that being said, just because a character can transmit sight or hearing, etc... doesn't mean that an other character could receive/process that information. Just like a character can buy a radio and transmit audio over a distance, another character would still need access to a radio or a power that lets them receive radio waves in order to "hear" the information that is being sent. So I think that at a minimum Mind Link would still be a needed "linked" power to the Transmit Sight or Hearing in order to allow another character to see/hear/smell what the transmitting character is sending, just like mind link is used to build group communicators. The only difference is that instead of just communicating what the character is saying it is sending what he is seeing or hearing or smelling.

I have found that "real world" concerns effect how much xp I now give in my campaigns. Back when my group played together as teenagers we would play once (sometimes twice) a week so I stuck with the "as written" guidelines for xp, 1-3 a session, and that worked well because we were playing a lot and playing often. Now, many years later, with families, jobs, etc... we sometime are only able to meet and play maybe once a month and I've found, and my players agree, that getting only 1-3 xp once a month makes character development a very, very slow process. Sure it is the same as always, but psychologically it feels very slow. So now days I am much more lenient with giving out xp, I just have stricter guidelines on what they can be spent on. The caps raise slowly, so like other have posted above, the xp goes into tricks, spin-off powers, skills, etc... And you know what? I wish this is how I would always have done it. The character feel more organic in their growth, they have cooler abilities and powers and are more well rounded. So I would say don't be scared of giving out more xp, just keep a sharp eye on the caps and let the characters evolve and develop in new and interesting ways. Besides, this is Hero, if it starts to get unbalancing you can just make the bad guys tougher by giving them more xp and abilities.

Maybe Desoldifictation, Usable On Others and then a custom limitations (something like only works if attacker succeeds on an Ego roll, & Only active as long as target doesn't attack, & Not vs AOE attacks), plus other "regular" limitations like Gestures, Incantations, Can't pass through solid objects, etc... but that would def be above your Active Point cap.

I did something sort of similar in a low magic campaign a few years back, but basically how I set it up was every spell had a Side Effect Limitation on it so that for every other limitation "ignored" by the caster he/she took X pts of Body damage (non-resistible) with the max damage being equal to the END of casting the spell. It worked out pretty well as it made the players think about how desperately they needed to cast the spell. In that campaign the "fluff" of magic was that it was based on the mage using personal energy to power the spells, normally limitations (extra time, foci, gestures, etc...) made the strain on their bodies non-existent (apart from END cost) but if they chose not to use some (or all) of those limitations then casting the spell caused them physical harm.

Since you haven't started running this new campaign yet, you do have a few options that while might seem a bit "heavy handed" could still help you get what you want with out totally ruining player's control over their character creation. My first choice would always be to use the setting and storyline and char gen rules as away to influence character creation, rather then rule changes. Less to keep track of, and a more organic approach I feel. One option might be: Created/enforce a "shared" background for the group. This isn't D&D so there are no "classes" and 400 points is a lot to play with in a fantasy setting. Say that all characters are all coming from a specific force/legion/sect in the Fantasy kingdom where children are raised from birth to be both masters of sword and sorcery and trained in both to be more effective in combat. You can work out the story aspects (explanation) of this but in practical char gen terms just tell the players that that they need to take 50 (or 40 or whatever number of) points in their non-primary focus. So if they are making a swordsman they still need to spend X points on magical abilities. If they are primarily a mage or cleric they still need to spend at least x points in melee skills. As this represents the training they've been undergoing since childhood. Then during the game, once the player that were always swordsmen get a chance to use and experience magic you might find some of them starting to spend their xp on magical abilities. If you don't like "forcing" the players to spend point this way, try a little psychological ploy and instead tell them that this will be a 350 point campaign, let them make their characters how they want (swordsmen, mages, etc...) then after they are done give them +50 "free" character points that can only be spent on their non-primary focus. Players love free points, so if you give a 350 fighter and extra 50 points that they can only spend on magical skill and powers they'll be happy. And you still end up with the 400 pt characters in your campaign that you planned for.

No, All shots are assumed to hit "centre mass" ie) the chest. The more you make the shot by, the more options you have to "move" your hit location if you chose to. So the farm boy who just picked up a gun and shoots and hits will usually just hit the easiest (largest) location, the chest. An expert gunslinger who makes his roll by 7+ can chose to hit any location on his target whether it is the hand, foot, arm, leg, head or vitals.

I'm working on something similar for a Western Hero game I'm running soon. Trying to simplify things a bit, add a bit of order to the randomness and give it a bit more of a feel for the setting. What I'm currently going with is that all hits are assumed to hit the chest.Then by every full 2 points you make your attack roll by the character can chose to move the hit location a certain amount. Right now it is like this: Roll made by Location Options 0-1 Chest 2-3 Stomach or Shoulder 4-5 Arm or Leg 6-7 Head or Vitals 8+ Hand or Foot I realize that this makes hitting the head and vitals slightly easier then RAW, but A ) I feel RAW isn't realistic (it is a lot easier to shoot someone in the head then it is to shoot them in the hand) and B ) I'll be playing with the group of friends I've been playing with for 12+ years, so I know they won't be abusing the system. They will want to shoot a NPC in the hand to make them drop a gun or the foot to stop them from running away just as much (if not more) then always going for the "kill shot" to do the most damage. I'm hoping this slightly speeds up game play, while making the characters able to still hit the enemy and have the more options in where they hit them (depending on their roll) to add some flavour and to give them potentially "non-lethal" hit options if they just want to wound an enemy, not kill them. Anyway, haven't tested it out yet, just something I'm fooling around with as I tweak the rules for the campaign.

Well one is well in the works. Not much news in the last couple of months, but as of Feb 15th they were running test sessions. I keep my eye on the board, hoping that someday soon it will be available. Maybe if enough people from here jump over there and post their support it might speed things along as it will show there is growing interest. Here is the link: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20112-Champions-HERO-System-Ruleset-FG-3-0

I'm not sure of the builds, but that is a 5th edition character for "Raegan the Bastard", the costs might have gone up for 6th edition.

I just found it. Wow, there is some things in there sort of like what I was working on, I was even using a "Grit" stat but differently then what you guys have here.

What is Cowboy Cthulhu? I've been working on my own western-cthulhu-horror game for a bit, but I'd love to see if there is something out there that would save me some of the work.

I don't know, I think a "WAR" source book could be pretty cool. I think it would/should include/pull from existing books & expand on things like: large scale combat large scale troop movement (marching) bases & bunkers Kingdom rules Vehicle combat (person vs vehicle & vehicle vs vehicle) Expanding info and details on skills related to combat, warfare, leadership & tactics "Super Skills" relating to warfare Etc... But I think for it to be most appealing, the book should cover warfare in all setting, not just historic & modern, but also Star Hero, Fantasy Hero, etc...

I'm actually surprised how well Unusual Setting is doing. Most time from what I've experienced unusual settings go to far, and become too specific and based around whatever "unusual" element the writer comes up with (All the races are descended from Magical Space Unicorns and the whole campaign takes place on a floating disk) . So if that "unusual element" doesn't appeal to a potential GM then the whole book becomes "useless". It is a lot easier to add "unusual" to an existing "standard fantasy" setting then to strip out the "unusual" from a specific setting.