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mallet

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Everything posted by mallet

  1. I think as a general statement that yes it is bad. By that I mean people should be building to their concept, not to the point breaks or such. In your exact example of buying DEX at 18 instead of 17 because the breakpoint is at 18 is a perfect example of this. A character "shouldn't" be buying DEX or any other stat at the break points, or at higher point levels, if it isn't part of their concept/build. If the (starting) character should only have a 12 DEX then the player should buy it at 12, not 16, 17, or especially 18 because of the break point. The chart in the main book pretty much shows what the stats are equal to IRL, with 20 being pretty much MAX human. Someone with a STR above 15 is about the same as an Olympic weight-lifter. At STR 20 they are one of the strongest humans on the planet. A DEX of 18 would make them one of the quickest, most "reactiony" people on the planet. Maybe only a few thousand people on the planet would have DEX that high. Yet how many characters are built with DEX and STR (especially STR) or INT or any other stat way higher then their concept really should have it? Almost all, because STATS are cheap to buy and the break points are good because they effect skill rolls. It is cheaper to throw a few extra points on to PRE or INT or DEX to reach the break point and get a bunch of skills at +1 then it would be to buy skill levels for all those skills. So as a general principal, then yes, gaming the system that way is "bad" because it is not building to the character concept. But of course, character concept can change, "yes my guy is a super-smart scientist, but he also works out 2 times a day so he has a 18 STR, and is just natural charismatic, so he has a 18 PRE, and he is strong-willed so he has a 20 EGO, and always had great reflexes from playing video games as a kid, so he also (justifiably) has a DEX of 18 and is a long distance runner so he has an 18 CON as well." So , see, his concept is perfectly consistent with having high STATS. Or the concept is that the character was one of those "golden boys/girls" who got straight A's in school, was captain of the football team, class president and... and... and... So since "concept" can be anything the player wants it to be then they can always "justify" having their stats at whatever they want, so in that case "gaming" the system isn't bad, because they are building to concept. And that goes for every character, including the ones in he official books, or at a table anywhere in the world. So I guess, "philosophically" it is bad, but in practice it isn't because your character can be any concept you like.
  2. I would agree on side effect, but maybe it would need to be differently worded. The bad guy’s “Nearest minion” might actually be 100’s of miles away or even on another planet in certain settings, which is still rules legal, but probably not the effect they are going for. so maybe “nearest minion within 100m dies” plus a second limitation “power doesn’t work unless at least one minion is within 100m of user”.
  3. It could also be used for a “backup” END reserve. like the power armor has its main END reserve for all its functions, but the players also buys a second “back up” END Reserve that only applies to Life Support and Flight. so if the main reserve ever goes down/is drained, etc... the back up kicks in and he/she still has life support and can fly away to safety, but can’t shoot lasers any more or anything.
  4. This is actually quite interesting. At first I agreed with IndianaJoe, Then my opinion changed to agree with Lonewolf, but now thinking about it, and re-reading the Stealth listing in the Ultimate Skill, I think something a little different from both. First, though, and in general, I would go with Lonewolf's suggestion of just applying the bonus to the player and move along, keep it simple and quick. But... if realism and/or more detail is required, then I think it would actually be like this... The Stealthy character gets no bonus from the darkness. Why? Because darkness doesn't actually effect "his personal ability with the skill" being dark or light out doesn't change how silently he is moving or where he is moving from and to. In fact, darkness might make being stealthy even harder. he might step on a dry branch or trip or startle a cat or somethin else he can't see in the darkness. Darkness only effects the NPC's chance to notice the Player, not the Player's skill at being stealthy. So, I would give no bonus to the player for the darkness, he/she would just make a normal skill roll (or if I was being extra nitpicky, maybe even one with a negative modifier because the darkness effects them as well) and the npc guards would have -2 to their Perception rolls because the darkness makes it harder for them to see the character. Things that would effect a players stealth roll would be how fast or slow they are moving, how large or small they are, how much they are carrying, if they are wearing metal armor and swords, or in robes and barefoot, etc... those things directly effect the Player's skill and ability. As for the second issue brought up of Infrared vison vs Stealth (at night) I agree with Archer on this (sorry Lonewolf), and although the rules do say Stealth works against all senses in goes on to say to use common sense, etc... and even goes so far as to say that a person can't use stealth to hide their scent from a watchdog unless they take time and make preparations to do so (by covering themselves in something that would block their scent). I think this would apply to Infrared vison as well. A person can't just hide their body temperature by being stealthy. They would have to do something ahead of time to do that. Like in Predator where the Predator always can see the heat signatures of the heroes, until Arnold covers himself in wet mud and disguises his heat signature, so then he can use this stealth to sneak around. This would be the same for a Fantasy Hero game vs Infrared or Thermal vision that some species have. Does that make things a lot harder for players? Yes. But it also makes it easier for the players who have infrared or thermal vision when they stand guard, so it balances out a bit. So if an NPC has Infrared vision and is standing guard looking out across an empty field at night, then any living character who hasn't found a way to hide his/her body temperature is going to stand out and be almost impossible to miss (unless the guard is distracted somehow). But counter to that, if that same guard was guarding a temple in a hot, tropical jungle during the day, I might give him negative modifiers to spot the player(s) because there are so many powerful heat sources around that the players might not even show up or at very least completely blend in. Edited because more thoughts came to me... Technically, if we actually look at the physics and reality of being stealthy in the situation described in the original post and apply all the rules (from the ultimate skill book) we would probably want the player and guards to make two rolls each. One for SIGHT and one for SOUND. And we would get: Player has Stealth of 13-, he is sneaking across a port so the ground would be hard (+0) and normal shoes (+0) and we assume walking slowly (+2 vs SOUND & SIGHT) and there being some boxes and crates for cover (+1 vs SIGHT), but then because of the darkness I might give them -1 (to SOUND, because they have to be extra careful not to knock over somethin or trip over a loose rope or a missing plank, or such); giving them a stealth roll of 15- (or if going detailed, a Stealth roll vs SIGHT of 16- and vs SOUND of 14-) The Guards on Duty, experienced and Strong Knights so lets say they have a PER of 13-, with +1 PER for Sight. They get -2 for the darkness (vs SIGHT) and I would give a environmental modifier of -1 (vs SOUND) for the lapping of the water at the port, so they would have a PERCEPTION Roll of 11- (or getting very detailed, 12- vs SIGHT and 12- vs SOUND). So in "normal" level of play there would be a 4 point difference between the Player and the Guards, Stealth 15- vs PER 11-, but in a detailed game the odds swing a bit to 16- vs 12- (still a 4 point spread) and 14- vs 12- (only a 2 point spread). But I don't know if I'd ever want or need to get that detailed and time consuming for a stealth roll and would most of the time stick to Player's 15- vs Guards 11- (especially since there are 5 guards, giving the bad guys 5 times to try and succeed.)
  5. One option might be to allow shield users to attempt to make a block as a half phase action, which doesn’t end their turn. So they could block, then use a half phase to attack or retreat at 1/2 or 1/4 movement. That might be a bit powerful, so I would add that what is currently the DCV bonus of the shield be changed to floating modifier. For example, a large shield currently gives +3 DCV, in this variation instead it could give up to +3 OCV to block (like current rules allow) but whatever + the user takes to their block attempt, they get an equal -OCV on whatever attack they might do in their last 1/2 phase. So Eric the Viking with his large shield uses it to gain +2 OCV to his attempt to block the trolls hammer attack, this is a 1/2 phase action and he succeeds. He then tries to counter attack with his sword in his last 1/2 phase but gets -2 OCV to his attack roll. He could have only used the shield to give +1 to his block, and only take -1 to his attack, or he could have gone all out and used the full +3 to block and take a full -3 to his attack. A medium shield wound only give a max +2/-2 and a small shield +1/-1. this would I guess simulate those fights you see when it is just the two fighters swinging back and forth smashing their swords into each other’s shields. (Becomes a contest of END then, or until someone screws up and the other lands a killing blow)
  6. Somewhere in the book(s) there is a rule that if the Players want to kill an unconscious opponent they can automatically do it (with GM permission). In this case it would just be a matter of saying they are stabbing the Dragon through one or both eyes, driving their swords into its brain. No extra rolls needed or anything. Just logic, storytelling and keeping the adventure moving at that point. EDIT: Found it. Hero System 6th Ed. Vol2, Pg.106 "A character in this state of unconsciousness can be killed automatically as a Full Phase Action by any character with the means to do so (a Killing Attack or other powerful attack) who makes a successful Attack Roll against the unconscious character." And given that the opponent is at 0 DCV it won't be hard to just hit him with a killing attack. In fact I remembered it wrong. It is not a special rule that needs GM Permission, it is a RAW rule, that the GM would have to disallow if he/she didn't want you to automatically kill the knocked out opponent.
  7. But what are they Acting as? From your own write up they are Acting like a person with low Presence. You know the old saying/belief that "women love a man with an English accent." Say that was an established "Fact" and would maybe give a character a +1 on a Seduction roll vs a certain female character. Well if a character was an American and used Acting to fake an English accent he would get that bonus +1, but if a player had a character that WAS English and always had that accent, then they would automatically get that +1 to their Seduction roll. Not Acting roll needed. So if there was a reason a High PRE character might want to act as a Low PRE person, and would making Acting rolls to portray that, then whatever benefit that granted them, I would grant to a low PRE character automatically. BOLDING is mine, obviously. But before I reply, yes, this is just a "thought experiment" on the rules. I've been playing and mainly GMing HERO, on and off, since the mid-80's, but GMing a lot more now in recent years as other games have lost their luster. So, I won't take any offence to replies, and am not trying to get people angry or upset. Just a philosophical look at the stat of PRE and how it could (should?) sometimes work in a character's favor is they have a low score in the stat. Back to the reply... So by all the "what is Presence" you've described (in detail) and "what does a low PRE mean?" we see that this is basically what I've been discussing. "A Person who catches attention", "A person whose confident carriage is not overlooked", "something that demands attention", "couldn't pick you out of a crowd...", You don't look ready.", and so on. These all describe what someone looking into a crowd would see about the people there. PRE effects how people perceive the character. Not if they can see them, but what their feeling about the character is. So going back, and expanding on, one of my original examples. Modern day setting. Private security guards are protecting a high value target in a downtown hotel. They hear "chatter" that a hitman is on the street outside the building just as they are moving their ward out to a waiting car. The bodyguards out on the street go into high alert and need to identify any possible threat from the 30 people out on the street at that time. None of them are acting strange or have any obvious weapons. The Hitman could be anyone... Out of the 30, say 80% are perfectly normal people with a PRE of 6-9. 10% have above average PRE of 10+, and 10% have a lower then average PRE of 5 or less. If the higher a person's PRE is the more: _obviously present_ you are, A person who catches attention, A person whose confident carriage is not overlooked, simply by being in a room radiates something that _demands_ attention And the lower a person's PRE is means: couldn't pick you out of a crowd of two just a few minutes later, You don't look ready Then it is probably safe to assume that the Bodyguards will be more drawn to checking out the people around them with high PRE, because they catch attention, they are not easily overlooked, the demand attention. And low PRE people "don't look ready" or don't look intimidating or threatening. It is not that the Bodyguards don't see the low PRE people, it is just that they don't think of them as being dangerous or a threat. Compared to the High and Normal PRE people crowding the city street who by the very nature of having a higher PRE stand out more and draw more attention. So in this scenario it would appear to be that a hitman having a very low PRE has an advantage because the Body Guard's wouldn't consider them of "Value" or more accurately in military or law enforcement terms not a "high priority target" and would focus more on "the very intense looking man striding down the street with a purpose" or the "stunning woman confidently walking into the hotel" and so on. With only seconds to make their move, they don't consider the low PRE guy on the street until he gets into short range and draws a gun. Now they only can use Abort actions to try and stop him before he shoots the person they are guarding. That is what I am getting at. In certain situations, and times, having a low PRE can/could/ maybe should, have a benefit. I know, like Duke B, said, some people can't handle that a low stat could ever or should ever be beneficial, but I disagree. Sometimes low stats or disadvantages can have benefits. If you have a broken leg and are on crutches someone might hold open a door for you, that they wouldn't for a healthy person. That is a benefit, despite the broken leg being a disadvantage. Same if a person is blind or deaf, other people (at least I hope most would) go a little bit out of their way to help them in some situations. Again, a disadvantage that has some benefits. Handicap parking in a busy mall parking lot just before Christmas. Do the "benefits" in these situations outweigh the disadvantage (or low stat)? No, not even close, but once in awhile there is a benefit to a disadvantage. And that is what I am saying with this thread. Sometimes having a low PRE might have an in-game benefit.
  8. I agree with all that has been said for the most part, but I do wonder if some of it is from historic rule play and interpretation, then actual rules. for example, the example of the stand up comic with a high presence score but just looks like a normal guy. well, that doesn’t match with the stats description in the rules as RAW. Rather that would be something like a character with a PRE of 10, and maybe +15 PRE for telling jokes and stories or something like that. Look again at the RAW description of PRE. It says it is the character’s forcefulness, charisma and (most importantly in this conversation) Bearing. Sure, maybe an observer couldn’t tell if someone is brave or a good leader or such just by looking, but bearing is a physical description of someone. Bearing is how they hold themselves and present themselves to the world. It is standing tall, posture, eye contact, etc... it is how impressive (per RAW) a character appears to be when looking at them. So Dr. Destroyer is impressive looking (high PRE). When looking around a room of normal people and DD is there he is going to stand out and look impressive compared to them. So, to bring it back around, that means in a room of normal people someone with lower PRE would do the opposite of stand out. Everyone else would be considered impressive compared to them. so, if you were looking for a threat in that room, the impressive (comparatively) looking people would make the most impression on the searcher, not the unimpressive person. which, to my point, could be an advantage in some rare situations.
  9. So the rules describe Presence as: Presence represents the character’s forcefulness, charisma, bravery, confidence, bearing, and leadership qualities— in short, his impressiveness. So a character with a very low Presence would be very unimpressive, which can also be interpreted as unimportant. So imagine a scenario where the NPC guards are keeping a look out at a downtown building and searching a busy city street for any suspicious or dangerous people (doesn't matter if it is a modern game and the building is a corporate HQ, or a fantasy game and the building is the castle in the center of town). In an instance like this wouldn't or couldn't a low Presence act like a form of invisibility or rather similar to a mental command to "not bother about me, I'm no one important and no threat"? The guards are obviously looking for someone who would be a threat to security or a danger, and someone with a very low Presence would be so unimpressive and unimportant that they shouldn't give them a second glance (assuming they aren't obviously holding weapons, in costume, or dressed for combat, etc...) If that is the case, then it opens up the potential for some builds (that we do see in comics and other media) to create a character that looks completely unimpressive yet can still be very dangerous. Like a super bland and unimpressive looking Hitman who can slip away after a job with no one noticing them or thinking they could be involved, or a very meek looking Peasant who his actually a great fighter or master thief. I would assume the build would be something like selling back their PRE to 1 or 2 points, then buy extra limited PRE like (+20 PRE only vs PRE Attacks (-1/2)) So if you agree with the general concept, what do you think the mechanical rules, if any are needed, for someone with a very low presence to be ignored as being not a threat or worth a second look? EDIT: got the idea from a Law and Order episode (which was based on a real story) where a mob hitman was this chubby, middle-aged white guy, with glasses and basically completely non-descript, dull looking, who does his hits in public, then slips away in the chaos afterwards because no one gives him a second glance. The cops and other mobsters and witnesses see him but just assume he could have nothing to do with what happened. (spoilers for a 20 year old episode: it is only after he is caught on camera a few different murders that they finally start looking for him). Since this was based on a true story, and similar things with people not being noticed because they are so unimpressive looking, happens in RL all the time, I figured it wouldn't be a "power build" but rather based on stats, PRE and PER, etc...
  10. Realistically, and logically, yes they should, at least with any costume that does not completely cover their face. But baked into the genre is the fact that people don't make that leap/conclusion, it is like they all get one free disguise that always works. There is no way, realistically, that Lois wouldn't know Clark was Superman after the first time or two she met both of them, or that Karen wouldn't know Matt was Daredevil after spending so much time with both, or that Commissioner Gordon wouldn't know Bruce Wayne was Batman, and so on. It is a "freebie" given by the genre and in Hero. Complications might be taken in the game to make it more difficult to keep both identities separate, but at its "base settings" in the game, comics and tv/movies, supes get a free, always works, disguise in their super hero/villain costume. I remember one comic in the New Universe line (which was when Marvel made as a very "realistic" setting) where two comic book writers, when meeting a hero (Starbrand) in full costume (including a mask), were able to figure out tons of details about who he really was. They even talk about how costumes like that only work in comics because the writers "make them work" unlike in real life where they would never hold up long term and easily be figured out.
  11. Well if the person disguised convincingly looks like the other person but is acting different people may think he/shes been mind controlled, or gone insane or something else like that. Lots of people might believe "what they see" rather then what might be said, etc... so it could start rumors or such, or video clips on social media might create rumors, lies, made up stories about the person, etc... Imagine the social media postings: "Spider-Man is robbing banks!" "The President is being nice to people and given up golfing." "Elon Musk is being humble!" And so on...
  12. Well there is no mechanical rules stopping this, but it is a potential abuse of the rules if all your players want this and it doesn't actually match their concept. Yes, it matches the concept of Shazam or the Hulk, but it doesn't match the concept of Superman or Batman or The Flash. So as the GM you have the right to not allow them to take it if it is abusing the system or just away to get extra points. I, personally, would handle it this way. If the campaign you are running is a 400 point normal super game, I'd say that the players only get to have one "400 pt form". It could be their normal character (like a Superman or Flash) but if they want to take multiform, then only the "superhero" form can have 400 points, the regular (non-super hero) has to be built on less points, maybe only 200 points for example. So their "non-super hero" normal character is built on 120 points + 80 points for mulitform, and then their super hero form has the full 400 points. Heck, your original player did say he wanted to be a "normal person" and then gain his ice powers when he changed, well a "Competent Normal Person" is 100 points according to the rules, so you are actually giving them an "extra" 20 points making them better then competent in their base form. Then see how many players still want to do this, and if they all still do, then maybe that can be a hook in your campaign. Somehow their multi-forms are what brings them together or are linked somehow. Otherwise tell them that since they are going to basically have 2, 400 point characters, then the badguys they are going to face are going to be based on them being very high powered super heroes, like 600 point heroes.
  13. My thought is that magic items shouldn't be paid for with Character Points. As the GM you are "running" the world, if the players come across any magical items after a fight or find hidden away in a tomb, it is because the GM (you) decided to put it there. And unless you are handing out tons and tons of CP, way above the standard rule suggestions (average 3 per session), the players would never be able to pay for magical items with CP. Just going by the few examples in Fantasy Hero 6th, most magical items (not counting potions) cost around 30 CP and some go up to 60. So by the general CP reward system in the books, that would take between 10-20 sessions to save up that much CP and that is without spending any CP on character development or improvement, just straight savings to use ONE magical item. So why would you (the GM) put something into the game that the players couldn't use? Just to piss them off? So it comes down to either giving the players tons of CP per session so they can afford to gain/use magical items, which would be very unbalancing for the other characters who don't want to use magical items because if you are giving out say 10 CP a session then those not trying to save for magical items will be dumping all their points into their characters and soon will max out all the CAPs you might have on stats, max damage, SPD, skills, etc... SO you end up with Halfling thieves with 20 in all stats, Max SPD (for setting), and tons of combat skill levels by spending the 60 CP that the Human Fighter was saving up to spend to get his 60CP Magical Sword. And if you decide on another type of point system for Players to gain magical items (say X amount of Magical Item CP per session) then you are still controlling where that CP gets spent (only on magical items) so you might as well as just control when magical items "appear" in the game and give them to the players then and cut down on the extra bookkeeping. If magical items are common in your setting (the old "magic shop" idea) where you can buy magic items, then you already have a built in mechanic to stop players from buying them. And that is by limiting how much gold/money the character have. You can make the magic items cost whatever you want, so a magical sword might cost 1000gp or 10,000gp. It is your call and since you are the one giving out how much loot the players gain in their adventures then you already are controlling what they can and can't afford to buy. So it all comes down to the fact that there is no need for the Players to spend CP on magical items, either they will never be able to afford to do so because of lack of CP, or if they can then those Players who don't spend their CP on magical items will become unbalanced to the rest of the group, or if you are controlling all the bookkeeping for another way, then you might as well just limit when the players find items and let them use them without the bookkeeping, and if magical items cost Gold, then you already have the rules/mechanic to control that by controlling how much gold and loot they gain from adventuring. And as for magical items you want the bad guys to use against the players, but not sure what to do with them when the players win the fight and you don't want them to have/use them, then make it so the magical items have conditions on them (+2 Sword used by a Goblin chief was made by Goblin mages and only Goblins gain the +2 magical bonus the sword provides; or the super evil bad guy has a powerful magical staff, but it only grants its magic to beings that have sold their souls to a demon; potion of healing only works for Orcs, magical ring of defense is Troll sized so won't fit a player character, and so on.)
  14. I say yes, but then I only usually GM fantasy games. if successful attacks don’t inhibit gestures and incantations then they are not much of a limitation as the only thing that would stop the spell would be restraining the caster. And since restraining a characters arms would also stop weapon or hand to hand attacks and those don’t (Usually) get limitations for being restrainable it wouldn’t be balanced if that was the only thing that stopped casters (with gestures and Incantations limitation).
  15. Definitely difficult to do. -Armor Piercing weapons are almost a must. -Certain spells might be effective. -Unique Magical weapons that deal extra damage to dragons or ignore someone or all of their armor. -Weapons or attacks that ignore rPD/rED, for example weapons/attacks with NND or the like. I’m sure people will chime in with other options, but those are what come to mind off the top of my head.
  16. The Equipment Book has listing for "Mini-Missile Launcher" which is described as tracking the target around objects, etc... it is built with Indirect and No Range Modifiers, and an optional build adds Extra Time (1 Segment) to represent the time it takes for the missile to located and reach the target. And other option adds Limited Range (400m) to represent the missile running out of fuel before reaching the target. To build what you want I would maybe add Continuing Charges (1 Turn) and Requires An (Attack) Roll every Phase to the build to represent that if it doesn't hit the target right away it can keep trying for up to one turn. it also means the Character can "fire and forget" the missile and move on to doing other stuff while the missile keeps trying to hit the target for 1 turn. The missile would continue acting on the Player's phases on its own. The target can keep trying to dodge the missile every phase it "attacks" him/her on or attempt to out run it, by moving more then 400m away from his/her starting position or both at the same time.
  17. It doesn't mean necessarily mean that the players are playing with different rules, there are advantages that allow for adding an increasing number of tasks(duration), so it could be that the "Bad Guys" just have more powerful spells. Or, more likely, the creatures/minions they created weren't done via the Summoning power but rather by other power builds/rules in the system (like Followers, etc...) or via Narrative/non-rules means. Nothing prevents a character good or bad from somehow "befriending" an NPC or animal or monster and having it be loyal to them or stick around an area or work for them. If a character becomes a King of a region I wouldn't make him spend points on having all the citizens and soldiers under his/her rule be followers or "summoned" or anything. They would buy the Lordship fringe benefit to the appropriate level and then get the benefits and hassles that come with it. So a evil necromancer that has an army of undead skeletons working for him might have just bought up the appropriate level of Lordship Fringe Benefit and his troops/citizens are the undead in his area of control. I don't think the Summoning Power was built as a way to create permanent followers. They are other rules in the game for that.
  18. I think the key to this might be to detail out the ritual, not just saying 12 cultists are going to form a circle at "x" time and "y" location and 20 minutes later "bad thing" happens. I'd make it so that the ritual is a major spell that maybe has a -X (I'll use 20 in this example) to the roll to succeed and the Lead Cultist has the ritual spell at a 13- base chance for success. Then make a list of a bunch of things the cultists need to do before the ritual in order to give +'s to the ritual roll in order for the Cult leader to succeed. So bunch of the cultists are out and about for 30 days before the ritual doing a bunch of things that will make the ritual work. For example, maybe there are 3 magical blades involved in the ritual. Each blade can add +1 to the ritual's success in performing for each "innocent" the blade kills, up to +5 each blade. So the PC's need to find these cultists and stop them from completing their killings and hopefully recover all 3 blades. But they might not. They might recover 1 blade, and prevent another from only killing 2 victims, and fail in hindering the third all together. So they have managed to limit the bonuses to the ritual to +7, rather then +15 that the cultist would have gotten if they hand't been stopped. At the same time there might be 4 scared locations that the spell could be preformed at that would give the cultists +5 to the roll, so another thing the PC might need to do before the ritual is find these locations and make them unusable to the cultists for the ritual by either making the ground Holy, or flooding it or something else that would make these areas unusable to the bad guys. There could also be special ingredients that give +'s to the ritual that the PC could try and find and either keep or destroy before the cultists get their hands on them. For example, special berries that only grow in a magical grove in the woods. The Players need to get to that grove and burn the bushes growing the berries before the cultists can gather them. Maybe they can find an order of "good" priests/clerics and convince them to do a counter ritual at the same time the bad guys ritual is happening which will give the bad guys -10 to their chance to succeed, or something similar. And so on. It basically becomes a battle to limit the chance (Spell roll) for the ritual to succeed. Every success the PC's have reduces the bonuses the Cultists get, every failure give the cultists some bonus. And the Players don't know what the totals are. So when it does come time for the ritual to happen, no one might know (except the GM) if the Bad Guys might have a chance to succeed. Maybe the PC's have done really well and the Cultists have only managed to get +15 to the ritual, so the Main cultist's chance of success is now only 8- when he performs the spell. Or maybe they did poorly and the cultists now have +22 to performing the ritual and the main Cultist now has a 15- chance of succeeding. Then have the final battle while the ritual is going on. If the players do manage to kill all the cultists before the ritual is finished, then noone will ever know how close to success the bad guys got. If they don't stop the ritual in time, then make the cult leaders Spell roll at whatever it now is, and see what happens. If his roll is 8- and you roll a 12 then the ritual fails and maybe the cult leader dies screaming in agony and the forces of the spell rips him apart or as he is dragged into hell for his failure. Yay, the Players won by making the spell to difficult to cast. Or maybe the cultists did a better job and the spell roll was 14- and you roll at 12, so the ritual succeeds, then maybe the players have a few moments to try and stop it from "going off" by some of them sacrificing themselves, or maybe they do fail and the spell happens and they now have to live/fight against the consequences, knowing they failed, and that spins off into the next adventures but the knowledge they gained on the cultist's workings will help the next time. But by making the ritual dynamic and fluid with ever changing odds of success based on how well the players or the cultists do, leading up to the ritual itself, makes it more exciting and unpredictable for everyone involved.
  19. With 30% of the city destroyed and presumably 30+% of the population killed then that is a massive amount of dead bodies laying around. The smell alone would be sickening after a few days, and diseases would run rampant possibly also contaminating the cities water supply, Just staying alive and healthy would be a challenge. All the dead would start attracting scavenging wild animals and monsters. Maybe a flood of Ghouls descend upon the ruined parts of the city to feed on the dead and set up their own powerbase there/there own kingdom is it were. The ruined 30% of the city becomes a "dungeon" of sorts making life for the 60% that choose to remain in the rest of the city very dangerous as they are right next to a place housing hundred of monsters. If stopping the monsters and staying alive isn't enough of a motivator maybe all the wealth and and treasure in the ruins is enough of a motivator for the party to explore it and kill off the monsters so they can get it. Have the King declare the city "lost" (as in no chance of rebuilding/saving it) and order the army out of the city and to patrol the exterior, allowing no one in or out (they know about the cultists by now, and can't risk letting any of them out of the city, but since they don't know who the cultists are they can't risk letting anyone out). The cult magic used to cause the destruction also warped the magic of the area of the city. making it impossible to "teleport" away or other types of mystical escape. Make it like the movie "Escape from New York", but the party is stuck inside with a lot of other unfortunate citizens. All fighting to survive. Not only for food and water, but also against all the monsters and ghouls and such. Maybe a dragon moves into the ruins eventually. Only way to really survive is to clear out the ruined part of the city of monsters and evil (and kill off the remaining cult members (some of who who are hiding among the other survivors and some living "free" in the ruins). make doing the "right and heroic" thing the only option they have to survive.
  20. Happy to help! If the character does want to have a permanent Skeleton or Vampire assistant/guard or what not they should build them as a follower (and remember you can double the number of followers you have for +5 points, just like equipment)
  21. Well, it does depend on why the Character summoned them at that time, in the first place. Remember, even Slavishly Devoted Followers only have so many Tasks they can/will preform ( 1 per Ego of the caster) before leaving or maybe falling apart in the skeletons case, or turning to dust in the vampire's. So, for example, if the Necromancer has an Ego of 20 then each summoned being can/will preform 20 tasks before leaving. As per the rules, if the Necromancer had them just hanging around "on guard duty" then each day without combat counts as a Task. So if nothing happens for 20 days, then at the end of that all the skeletons would fall apart or wander off, because all their tasks are done. If 10 days in a big battle happens, then the skeletons would have 10 Tasks left, which equals 10 phases of combat (each phase of combat counts as one task) before falling apart or wandering off. Also, per the rules, the summoned beings do take up the actual space needed, so a 1000 skeletons would take up a 1000 hexes/squares and each hex/square is 2mx2m. So that is a lot of space needed for them, roughly the size of an NFL football field if my rough math is correct. And that is all of them just standing there, unmoving, and waiting. The smarter the beings (like the Vampires) the more detailed or complex the commands given to them can be. So the vampires could be given better commands then just "guard this area", but they still only have 20 Tasks they can preform before dying or going off on their own. So for example, with the Vampires, maybe the necromancer wants them to guard inside his tower (while the skeletons guard outside his tower) he can tell them the same thing, guard this tower and me. And the vampires would, but they would also need to sleep (so would need caskets, but those are easy to come by or make) and have blood to feed on or they would grow weaker (this doesn't need to be human blood, could be animal blood. And they only need to feed once a week, so only twice in the max 20 days the necromancer would have them). But for the most part they are intelligent beings and can fend for themselves, not needing to be directly controlled or micro-managed. They would just hang out, follow the rules the necromancer set in place (don't feed on the other players), and if anything happened would fight to the death to protect the necromancer and the tower (with however remaining tasks they had in combat phases), and then turn to dust or take off on their own. So to sum up, if the necromancer, fearing attack, decides to summon a thousands skeletons and 16 vampires to protect him and his home, then all he would need to say to the skeletons is stand guard outside and fight anyone one that comes here. And then the skeletons would just stand outside, remaining still, until something approached and then they would swarm it, and any remaining skeletons would go back to just standing there and waiting, until their tasks ran out or something else came for them to fight. The vampires on the other hand, could be told the same thing, "Guard me and this building", and then they would do so, but they would be like normal guards or house guests, able to wander around, talk, hangout, read books, etc... they would sleep and feed when they need to, but otherwise be ready for an attack if/when it came, and if nothing happened after 20 days they would turn to dust or wander off to do their own thing. So the big limiting factor is the EGO of the caster as that is how many Tasks the summoned beings will preform or if nothing happens how many days they will hang around, or some combo of both. But the summoned beings don't need to be micro-managed for simple tasks like "guard this area" and the smarter the summoned being is the more flexibility and decision making they can do on their own while following the command.
  22. Would also depend on who he is interacting with. Being a big, powerful troll might be a good thing when trying to Charm a lady Troll or have a Conversation with another troll or a goblin or Orc or a dragon. So I say keep it as is, and take a complication or other "limitation" so that it is not as effective with those skills vs Humans and other "delicate" species.
  23. No problem! I love things like this. Some additional ideas: -Lots of extra limbs (+18 for a 10 man squad) to represent all the team members can be holding items -somehow work charges into the build. 9 charges which only recover at HQ (one for each extra member of the unit) it is these charges that are lost when a unit member dies, until you are back down at the single, base, trooper. Each charge might give certain bonuses representing the extra people on the team. All of them are activated at first, but as you lose them you lose the bonus abilities/stats/skills/etc... that they provide. -Naked advantage of Selective, Area of Attack. With a custom limitation that the most targets available to hit is something like number of remaining unit members -3 (1 min) or something similar. That way you can represent lots of guys firing individual weapons each turn at different targets. but the total number of possible targets drop as unit members die off. So at first (with 10 unit members you could hit 7 opponents a turn (the other 3 unit members are said to be reloading or doing "something else" that phase). But when you are down to 6 unit members left, you can only hit 3 targets that phase, etc... -Bonuses to base attack damage based on number or remaining unit members (-3) so if the base guy has a gun that does 2d6KA, at full strength it might do 4d6, when 5 people are left only 3d6, etc... you'd need to find someway of mixing this with the area of effect mentioned above and not be overpowering. Maybe make it either/or. Either they can area of effect and hit multiple targets at normal damage, or "concentrate" their fire and do more damage at one target, but not both in the same phase.
  24. Hmmm... Interesting. I think what you would need to do is first create one guardsman. That way you have a base point/stat/damage/defense/skills, etc... A single guardsman would obviously be built on quite a few less character points then a normal PC. For example, if it is a 275pt campaign then a single guardsman might only be a 120pt character or something. Then with that single guardsman made, I would start to add points and abilities to him/her to simulate being a full unit. I can't remember what the rules are for characters combining their STR to lift things but it might be 4 max? anyway, 4 max would equate to having +10 STR to the base character, so give him +10 STR (with the limitation requires a Teamwork skill roll, which represents members of the guardsmen working together). Extra SPD (above campaign limit) to simplify/represent team members acting a different times. Even in a ten man unit not everyone would be attacking ever turn as some would be reloading or recovering or ducking for cover or covering the rear, etc... so you wouldn't need a 10 SPD or anything but maybe 5 or 6. Then other things I can think of: Overall skill levels to represent "group thought on stuff", Extra Background skills to represent the different group members, Extra BODY that is Ablative to represent members dying maybe. Defensive Maneuvers to represent some squad members always covering the rear, etc... Maybe build all the "extra" group bonuses as costing END, built into a multipower, and fed only by an END reserve which can only recover back at HQ or military base. This END Reserve is linked to BODY or something and goes down as BODY is lost to represent team members dying and eventually you'd be down to one guardsman, the base character, without all the extra stuff since it is one man in the unit left. Since it can only be recharged back at base that represents getting new team members added to the group. Hardest part would be scale/movement on maps, etc... 10-team unit would take up a lot of hexes. Also maybe some complications like extra damage from area of effect attacks, not being able to dodge/dive for cover (some "members" might, but not all could, so you'd take damage from it and maybe lose a team member) , penalties to Stealth rolls as it is always a large group. Maybe Stretching to represent one member going ahead to scout to attack someone hand to hand. these are all off the top of my head. If I think of other stuff I'll post again.
  25. I agree with the above. Just build the powers as normal with the SFX of "Water/Ice" and a limitation that there must be a large enough source of water close by. And then for attacks maybe they have Indirect applied to them so the direction of the attack is from the water source (so if there is a river behind the opponent and the PC uses a Blast (water) attack on the opponent it would hit the opponent from behind (the source of the water).
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