forged

Hi -- Does a character who has Defense Maneuver 4 get surprised out of combat? (for instance having a trap that the character wasn't aware of going off or perhaps a sniper taking a shot at the character while they are walking down the street minding their own business.) The reason I ask is that we had a situation in my last game session where a character expected his full DCV (plus unassigned CSLs) way outside of combat. My initial thought was that the benefit of the 4th level of defense maneuver was that it got rid of needing to spend a half-phase during combat on being alert, but that its benefits only apply while being in combat. But I thought I should follow up here and find out how it really works. Thanks for your time on this ...

Re: Epic Fantasy: The Five Essentials These are all great suggestions for things to watch and read to think about for an epic setting. And it certainly has added additional items to my reading list , but there is, unfortunately, a limit of time in this. Based on that, I would watch Excalibur and maybe Willow (to get a completely different take on an epic quest to save the known world). While watching the various movies, I would be looking for what elements make the viewer feel that they are part of an epic quest and wanting it to succeed. I would also watch though for what elements would not transcend well into an rpg adventure that should be revolving around the characters. I would then do something illogical and head to my nearest gaming store. I would look for game settings that fit the bill for epic settings to see what they did. (Reading the back cover and perhaps the introduction should be enough info to get a basic feel for their thoughts.) There are lots of other systems converted to HERO in this forum, but the settings I own (despite their flaws) that lend themselves to epic pretty easily are: -- Midnight -- Earthdawn I'm sure there are plenty of others. I would probably also check out http://www.gamefaqs.com for some synopsis' on some computer "RPG" games that feel epic in scope, like the Baldur's Gate series or the Final Fantasy series of games. Perhaps it is just me, but the game mechanic setting (even D&D) are secondary to the idea. The key is to decide on what sort of world-shaking event seems appealing to you, and then to give the world a feel that makes it seem more than just fake sets belonging to a stage. (And that by itself will take more time than one would likely have on ramping up for an idea.) Just my two coppers on the thing. Even if it didn't pan out for the contest, it is fun to dream up ideas. forged PS. And thanks again for the great suggestions on things to check out when I get free time

In the sidebar for the survival skill categories, it lists Arctic/Subarctic on a single line, which seems to imply it should be treated as one category. In the text for the skill, though, it talks about Arctic being a category. Which is it? Does it cost 2 points to get (9+(INT/5)) for both Arctic & Subarctic or would only 2 points get you either Arctic or Subarctic but not both? (The one that came up in discussion in my gaming group is actually the Temperate/Subtropical one, but it should be the same across the board.) Thanks for your help on this. forged

Re: the cost of poison I may have found at least part of the answer that I was looking for. The Fantasy Hero book had more than I remembered in it. On page 144, they have some poison examples for a single dose. It looks like there they have a 2d6 drain costing 30 sp. They also have Killing Attacks (1d6 through 6d6) but the prices range from 60 sp to 300 sp. Unfortunately, if there is a formula they used to derive those prices, it eludes me at the moment.

Re: High Fantasy - Low Fantasy I don't mean to be offensive, but why does labeling your campaign world style actually matter? If it feels right, it is exactly the style it needs to be. As a perspective player, what would interest me way more than telling me it is either high fantasy or low fantasy, is the type of world it is and what stories you would like to be overall telling ... But that is all, imho, so that might be completely worthless to everyone else.... Cheers, forged

Re: I need a name for a Robin Hood-like fantasy character Another suggestions for fox would be kitsune, which I believe is the Japanese word for fox. Perhaps break up the word a bit? Use "Kit" as a first name and some other local sounding name as the last name? (Kit Derring?)

Hi -- I have a player who wants his character to be able to use poison darts. Interestingly, the Fantasy Hero book does include a suggestion of the monetary cost for 3 different strengths of poisons. However, it doesn't make any suggestions at what the point cost or number of doses those monetary costs would actually relate with. (Obviously, there are other issues with poison ... like tracking down how to buy it and not get into a huge amount of trouble, and such. ) I noticed on Killer Shrike's wonderful website, http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/shrikeMagicItems.shtml, a suggestion for potions being the real cost * the active cost, but I was wondering if that would be a good enough standard to apply to poisons as well. Thoughts? Thanks, forged

Hi -- I am working out the details on a campaign setting in FH, but I noticed something interesting when I got around to setting up the default limitations on faith casters: +Requires Skill Roll: -1/2 (Faith -- standard penalty of -1 per 10 active points) + Concentration: -1/4 (1/2 DCV until caster's next phase) + Only when serving the God's Purpose: -1/2 + Variable Limitation pool: ++ Focus: (obvious, accessible, not expendable, unbreakable, restricted Universal Focus -- anyone of same religious faith (after praying with it for a period of time)) -1 ++ Noisy: -1/4 other faith casters can sense the spell being cast and roughly how powerful. ++ Gestures: -1/4 ++ Incantations: -1/4 The above 4 limitations can be replaced the following options (can be combined): -- Additional penalty on the Skill Roll -- Increased Activiation Cost -- Extra Time Total limitations cost: -3.25 My very first observation was that the Holy Symbol focus by itself is a 1 pt. limitation? I can understand it being so valuable for a superheroes game, but it seems a little too severe for a Fantasy game. My concern is that they came out with just making them limited by the holy symbol & god's purpose made them have 1.5 points of more limitations in spells over arcane casters. A friend recommended requiring arcane casters to also need foci, but I didn't really want to do that. Comments/Suggestions/recommendations on this? Thanks for the help, forged