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The only time it would matter is if the attacker has some sort of effect that happens if he/she hits, even if damage isn't done. For example, a damage shield. So in the case of a block, the hit might do no damage, but the effect of the Damage Shield would still occur. No, how this applies to Combat Luck would, possibly, be different. Does the Combat Luck means the Character "dodged" the attack and wasn't hit at all, or that they "rolled with the hit", meaning they got hit, but moved with it so they took no damage, in which case a Damage Shield would still affect them.

Is Steve's answer a change that has been made in the official errata? Because that is not how the Invisibility power is described in 6th Edition rule book. Like others have said the main points in the rules are: And "below" in the power description the only other reference to Foci (apart from using weapons to attack) is: So by the rules of 6th Ed, as written in the book, Foci are covered by Invisibility unless it is an Obvious Foci that is generating the Invisibility power, or if a Foci is being used to attack someone, in which case it appears on the segment the attack is made, then turns invisible again. That means all other Foci, Obvious or Inobvious, turn invisible when the power is used and stay that way unless used to attack. There is really no other way to interpret the rules as they are written. It is very specific in the book that all Foci, Obvious or not, are covered by the Invisibility power unless it is an Obvious Focus creating the power. So Steve's current answer has to be a change to the rules that should be addressed in the official errata (and maybe it is, I haven't read through the errata).

"All or Nothing" is an option with Attack vs Alternate Defense advantage. Here is an optional build: Death Curse: RKA 14d6 (standard effect: 42 BODY, 0 STUN), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Mystical Charm; All Or Nothing; +1), Does BODY (+1) (682 Active Points); OAF (Focus (Wand); -1), -2 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4) AC: 195 ; END: 31

How about working with the Explosion rules, but creating a "reverse" Explosion? In a normal explosion you remove 1DC (basically 1 die) every 2m that target is away from the center/source of the attack, but in this case you would remove 1DC for every 2m the target is closer to the source of the attack (ie, the Character). You would still need to figure out the "max range" of the power, so you know where it is strongest, then then work back from that. Also if I remember correctly there are additional rules/options for making the blast fade quicker or longer and other options. Again, keep the same point cost/advantage/disadvantage costs of an Explosion, just in this case "reverse" them for this specific power. For example: Reverse Power Blast: Blast 12d6, Area Of Effect (52m Line Explosion; This is a reverse Explosion effect. Target(s) at Max range takes full damage, then for every 4m closer to Character they take 1DC less damage; +1/4), Selective (+1/4) (90 Active Points); Limited Range (-1/4)

I agree with PRE attacks being overpowered in some cases and I also rarely use them in my games, but with the example Sean has above, with the 60 AP in PRE, and then all the bonuses to make it better, wouldn't that put it over the AP cap for the game? Just like if the in game CAP on OCV is 10, then it doesn't matter how many skill levels used, martial arts, etc... 10 is the highest a character can have in the game. Wouldn't that also apply to PRE attacks? If you have a 60 PRE (12d6) and that is the AP CAP for the game, then the character shouldn't be able to use the situational bonus dice to raise it above 12d6. Just like a Character with 10 OCV in a game with that as a CAP couldn't then use skill levels and MA maneuvers to raise his/her OCV to 12 or 14. If a Character already has a 60 PRE (with that being the in-game CAP), then he/she is considered to be so impressive already that breaking a car in half or giving a good speech, doesn't do anything extra to impress those around him, he/she is already as impressive as they are ever going to be, so no situational dice should add to the roll.

I would disagree with that statement. Sure, Spiderman is the only one that has it "defined" as Danger Sense and a physical reaction (hairs on his arm/neck stand up, those "Waves" around his head to locate and let the reader know he is using that power, etc...) but tons of other could characters have it, maybe just not at the power level, always works, level that Spidy has. Just because they are "Weaker" at it doesn't mean they wouldn't have the ability on their "Character sheet". For example, how many times has The Punisher been about to open a door, then at the last moment realized it was a trap so he dives out of the way as bullets rip through the door? Or the same with Wolverine or numerous other characters. It doesn't mean that these characters don't get surprised at times (meta reason: because they "failed" their roll) just that sometime their Danger Sense works for them. Or like Indiana Jones going through the temple and suddenly grabbing one of his team members and stopping them from triggering a trap, then pointing out to them to watch where they step or stay out of the sunlight. That could all be examples of Danger Sense, because there are other times he walks though sunlight without stopping or across floors without checking to see if their are traps. He just "knows" when there is danger. All of those are possible examples of a Danger Sense ability in action.

Something that is made from a smallish turtle-like shell, roughly about the size of a small buckler. But it is attached to the back of the hand/wrist of the user. When the user's hand is closed in a fist, the front edge of the shell ends up being 3-4" beyond the end of his/her fist. They attack by punching/stabbing with the front edge of the weapon/shell. This edge is either blunt (for training purposes, religious beliefs or non-lethal combat) or sharpened into a fine edge, doing KA damage. The richer the user and/or better the craftmanship of the weapon might might include sharp obsidian inserted into the edge causing more damage. The shell weapon can also be used to block attacks, stops venomous spit attacks from some of the dangerous reptiles, and the like. It is also a cultural tool, used as a scoop for quick digging in the sand to quickly build small shelters from the frequent sandstorms or to dig up small sources of water or plant roots. The back of the shell (or type of shell used) can be painted with symbols to differentiate different tribes, groups, religions, social status and so on.

Re-reading Danger Sense (6th Ed.) I believe that the danger sense roll is not effected or modified by range, darkness, or any other modifiers that normally apply to PER rolls. You just make your roll at whatever you have it at (11-, 12-, or whatever). The only limit at the "base level" of it is that it is something that could be detected by your normal senses. A sniper could be seen with normal eye sight (even if this sniper is super far away on a building roof top) but an invisible, odorless gas wouldn't trigger danger sense (at base level) because the character couldn't see or smell it even if he/she was already engulfed by it. I think this because : That clearly states that PER Roll penalties or even darkness or blindness do not affect your Danger Sense roll. The stuff later about using Danger Sense at a range (to cover different sized areas) just include the "no range penalties" bit, to make it clear that they are not needed even when using the power to cover a greater range, it doesn't mean that lower levels of the power suffer range penalties. It is written in the most clearest terms, no. Is it still very expensive for what you get, well that is up to the player and GM to decide. It would depend on how often the GM uses Surprise attacks against his players. Only once every 6-7 sessions, then no, definitely not worth the cost. If they happen 2-3 times a session then yes, it is probably worth it.

I'm glad you like it, yes, you and anyone else definitely use it if you like it. I get tons of great ideas from everyone here that I incorporate into my games all the time! That is why I love this forum so much.

Actually probably nothing, sure they would have to get written permission, but Stranger Things was/is such a big hit that it counts as $1000's or $10,000's of free advertising for D&D and if WotC said no or demanded money, then the Stranger Things guys could have just said, ok, we'll use an Cthulhu or H.P. Lovecraft name for free since it is public domain and then WotC would have nothing. So I'm sure they would let them do it for free. Now Season 3 of True Detective is a more interesting case. In that (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)... . . . . . . . . In one instance you see a D&D source book out of focus on a kid's end-table and later on the detectives learn that the missing kids were playing D&D, although they never use the name, it is always "that game", never Dungeons and Dragons. They even find a bunch of dice (d8, d4, d20, d12) in the woods near the crime scene, but again, D&D is never mentioned by name, only as "That game". Although it is only EP3 of the season, so maybe they will use it by name in the episodes to come, but so far I think they are avoiding saying it probalby because they didn't get permission and the fact that the kids playing the game probably lead to their murders so WotC might not have wanted to be associated with that.

I know I probably in the minority here, but I use Characteristic Rolls a fair amount in my games that I run. I think they are a quick way to resolve some situations based just on the characters natural ability. So when I have created racial packages in the past, mainly for fantasy games, although it could also be used in Sci-fi, what I would do it give bonuses to the Characteristic rolls, for example a Dwarf might get +2 to their CON & +1 to their STR rolls, An Elf +2 to INT and DEX rolls, A half-orc might get +3 to their STR rolls and -1 to INT rolls, and so on. These modifiers don't effect the Characters Stats or Skill rolls, but just effect their base natural ability in that Stat. The books for example says: Use a CON Roll whenever a character has to perform a feat of physical hardiness or endurance. This might include resisting poisons or diseases, accomplishing physically arduous tasks, and so forth. So a Dwarf in my game gets +2 to those rolls because of a Dwarf's natural hardiness regardless of what his/her actual CON stat is. For INT is says: Use INT Rolls when a character tries to employ knowledge not specifically represented by a Skill, or when he attempts to remember something or figure something out (particularly when the player is stuck on a problem and his substantially smarter character might be able to solve it). So Elves would get +2 to these rolls (I use their long lives as part of the explanation for this) For DEX it says: You should use DEX Rolls when a character wants to perform a major feat of physical agility or a task that requires a fine touch or steady hand... Encumbrance affects DEX Rolls. So any race that is considered naturally dexterous would get bonuses to these types of rolls which can help especially when encumbrance is an issue in Fantasy games. Anyway, that is how I build Racial Packages in my games, it doesn't figure in to the characters main STAT, because there will always be a weak Dwarf or a dumb Elf (based on STATS), but there are some thing that are innate to the races based on DNA, lifespan, etc... making them naturally more effective in some situations. But I get that a lot of people don't make use of Characteristic rolls very much in their games, so this might not be the solution for them.

Oh wow! That is fantastic! I'll def reach out to you if I ever get to that point with anything I am working on!

I love the Turakian Age and it is where I've set all of my numerous Fantasy Hero campaigns. If I ever get off my butt and finish writing it (I'm actually about 50% done the first "book") (and figure out how to get some decent art for it) I'd start third-party publishing some mini-linked-modules/campaign for the setting. It has all been "playtested" a few times now, I just really need to devote more time to trying to finish writing it (well writing out the first 3-4 linked adventures that would be the start of the campaign).

Although I have never had a chance to test this "in game" I did give it a bit of thought a few years ago when in the planning stages of a campaign a player did voice his intention to play a "batman/green arrow" type character in a game that would include a bunch of really super powered characters. After some thought on how I could make that work my plan was going to be this: I was going to make SPEED not a count "as SPEED" of the character, but rather how much "screen time" a character gets (a common practice I've seen mentioned on the boards here for years). Then I was going to limit the amount of SPD the "super powered characters" could have to 5-6 MAX (even any "speedster"), but I would allow (require) the "non-super characters" to go higher then that (up to 10 or more). This would not only bring the point totals of the characters in closer alignment (300 pt "batman" spends an extra 50 points on speed to bring him to a 350 pt. character for example. This would allow the batman/green arrow/black widow characters to move more often, avoid attacks, get into better positions, hold actions, abort, find weaknesses, use superior senses, build traps/tricks, take out more goons, etc... while the powerhouses tanked and did massive damage, etc.... Never got a chance to try it out in play because the player decided to go with a different type of character, but I think it might have worked.

It is supposed to simulate those times in moves (or comics) where a character is being attacked and they jump up into the rafters of the building, or leap far away from where they were standing. I always think of it from a comic point of view where Spiderman is standing in the city street and Green Goblin throws a grenade at him and Spidy leaps up on to a fire escape to avoid the blast. The is where the "Flying" in Flying Dodge comes from, but as this is martial art move it is supposed to cover lots of possible variation, so it also works with any form of movement, from Running to Teleportation to Flight.

I agree, I actually feel that way about pretty much all Martial Arts maneuvers. Way to cheap for the for the benefits given but they are part of the rules and completely cutting them out of a campaign makes some people upset.

So Flying Dodge is used to escape a group of attackers or a ranged attack, etc... that is why the manoeuvre was made. But what if a Character wanted to use it to move/leap into combat? Say a group of Goblins are rushing at the party and the Character wants to leap right into an opening in the middle of the group? So basically they get their full movement (assuming it was on their turn and they hadn't acted yet, or they are aborting to do so) and when they land in the middle of the group they have the +DCV against any and all attacks until their next action. Would you allow them to use Flying Dodge to do so? As far as I can tell nothing in the rules prevents this, and it seems kind of a cool use for the ability.

Why not just use the Time Chart from the rules? Make the base duration 5min, then for every 2 points the magic user makes their roll by move up the chart one position. So 5min becomes 20min (if they make their roll by 2 or more) become 1 hour (if they make their roll by 4 or more) becomes 6 hours (if they make their roll by 6 or more) become 1 day (if they make their roll by 8 or more), etc... Unless you are expecting the characters to have a super high magic skill (18- or more), then go up by every 3 successes. The benefit from this is that it is then consistent with other duration rules in the system. I think there might also be different time charts listed as options in the Advanced Players Guides.

I never "ruled" it all out, but I did something similar in one of my recent campaigns. Players had to go into the sewers (which would be disgusting normally) but these ones also had a lot of dead and rotting animals in them. I had them make a EGO check at -2 and if they succeeded then no issues, but if they failed they received a -1 penalty to all rolls/checks/OCV & DCV for every point they missed their CON roll by. This lasted for a set time, then slowly reduced as they we forced to get used to the smell. It was more for effect and atmosphere, as by the time they reached the big bad at the end, enough time had passed that even the character the rolled the worst had still recovered to normal. Still it made things interesting for some of the earlier encounters and surprisingly enough the Players seemed to be okay with it, as it made it a bit more interesting/fun/challenging then the usual dungeon crawls of Fantasy games. After they got out of the sewers I also made them all make CON checks to see if they got ill or any infections from the time spent down there. It was normal CON check, but -1 for every 3 Points of BODY damage the Character had received in the sewers (unless that damage was magically healed already). That was something the Players didn't so much like, even though only one of them got sick and it didn't take long for them to get cured.

Meta reasoning might be something like this: When just learning magic it is pretty much impossible to fully understand the full scope of what magic really is, so to make it simpler students learn specific spell by rote. Natural talent and intelligence dictate how good they are at this and how much they can learn. This is "magic school" level training. For most magic users this is enough. They never really progress further once they graduate. They might learn a few more specialised spells, also by rote, later in life, but that is as far as it goes. Even most or all of the teachers at the schools are like this. They know certain spells very well and teach those specific spells to others. So in Hero terms 95% of wizards learn individual spells from different spell groups/schools. But then maybe 5% of the magic users have the talent and intelligence and drive to study even more, to delve really deep into what magic "is" and only a small fraction of those mages manage to open themselves up to truly understand magic and how to control it. Those are the truly powerful wizards. They have unlocked the real power of magic and can do things and create spells that no other wizards could even imagine. In Hero terms I'd say, they sold back all the points spent in spells up to that point of "clarity" or "understanding", and created a magical VPP. Not a powerful one at first, but still a whole lot of freedom. Then maybe 1% of those wizards actually keep learning and studying, eventually developing a very powerful magical VPP, and those are the Dumbledorffs and Voldermorts, or what have you.

I'm not sure of the earlier editions, but I know with 5th they had the name "Package Deal" but there was not actual savings involved. It was just a hold over naming convention I assume. In 6th they fixed that and just called them templates, again, with no point savings, just suggestions on what the races/careers/cultures would have.

If I remember correctly, 5th Ed Star Hero had an extended Base size/cost chart that allowed for Bases up to the size of a Dyson Sphere (a base that surrounds an entire star).

Hey! yes, I was. That was a really great discussion going on in that thread. I didn't end up responding there as it was already getting a bit heated and I didn't want to poke the fire. I ended up allowing it. I think it is a cool little thing about the character that adds some dimension to him. Also, anything that gets the players more invested and excited for their characters is a good thing. We've already played the first session and everything went great. The player knows that he still has one arm and plays his character that way, we just don't give any negative modifiers on skill checks, attack rolls, etc... but he also doesn't try and use a sword and shield at the same time or anything like that. Thanks for asking!

Well in the video game world westerns are alive and well. Red Dead Redemption 2 came out a few weeks ago and made $725 MILLION in sales in its first 3 DAYS! It is probably over a BILLION dollars in sales by now, and definitely will be by the time Christmas is over. If some table top RPG game company was able to draw in just .05% of those western video game fans to play a table top RPG they would be swimming in cash.