Blorn

Re: Real Costs for spells and how you handle them? I really like Markdoc's Ultimate Grimiore, for concept mining if nothing else. I'd like to see a comparable "mundane" list of powers, techniques, combat maneuvers. I envision different school of fighting style; gladiator, ranger, archer, dual-wield, The Disotal Academy (a Kingdoms of Kalamar reference, all women), fencing, unarmed, etc. Each of these could have unique powers (possibly some of them being magical in nature), but there could be some powers that are more ubiquitous... Anyone want to start an "Ultimate Fighting Technique?" (or would that be redundant with what's already been published?)

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Re: Real Costs for spells and how you handle them? Comparing fiction to rpg is probably not what we want to do. In a long running campaign, most players won't be ok if you choose one of them to be "the one" and everyone else is ancillary. Balance is not everything, I agree... but every player needs to feel awesome during combat. A fighter type that is limited to non-power combat maneuvers (maneuvers that the wizard has access to should they desire...) is going to feel less awesome (I know I would) than the wizard (martial arts, as written in the BBB, doesn't quite catch the fighter up to a wizard, IMO.). Balance, too, is not just about balancing a one-on-one fight, it's about balancing the "awesome-sauce." Allowing some special martial "powers", like entangle, or something similar to a D&D 4E fighter's ability to mark enemies (marking an enemy in 4E is a way for a character to make it more difficult for the enemy to attack anyone else except him... the ultimate way of keeping the enemy off the squishy wizard) goes a LONG way towards spreading the awesome-sauce around. Therefore, though we are spending a lot of time discussing balance with a magic system, I think equal thought should be spent on coming up with ways to make a fighter type cooler. Markdoc started the ball rolling with some example fighter powers. Just as there could be different schools of magic, there could be schools of fighting styles... an archer could deflect attacks with a well placed arrow, a fighter could have an aura of defence (getting into the enemies face) that maintains the enemies attention on them (mind control? with the special effect being "attack me and not those behind me"), or a mind control to taunt the enemy into a mistake or lose their cool,...

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Re: Real Costs for spells and how you handle them? What about requiring different "schools" of magic that have their own MP? You could limit what powers can be used in a given "school" multipower... Would that help to balance the fighter's MP with a wizards? And, if you are concerned about the wizard having too many of the available powers to starting out... what do you think about requiring magic users to have the power "Magic Aptitude" or similar power? This would limit how many points he would have to spend starting out on spells... I'm loving this discussion since I'm starting a FH campaign soon (gotta get my FH book at GenCon!!!) and really need to flesh out the magic system soon. I'm sure this has been debated many times before, but I appreciate the revitalization of the topic. Oh, one other thought... Divine Magic? Would you use the same/similar system as the wizard? Obviously it would need its own "feel" to it, holy symbol, only if in favor of your god, etc. but would the system be similar?

Re: Real Costs for spells and how you handle them? I don't want to highjack the post, but I do have a question. Let's say you have a MP magic system... how can you simulate casting things on the fly with this system? What I envision is a wizard finding a spell book (this would give him access to spending experience points on spells that are not already known, as long as he has the appropriate MP special effect, or to start a MP for a different type of magic)... but suppose I want him to be able to cast a spell from said book to close a rift or give the party some defense against a demon they are about to face, etc... would I just make the spell independent (like a scroll) or would it work with a Power skill roll? (I may have answered my own question, but would like to hear what you think.) Back on topic, would the cost of a MP magic system be balanced with said fighter with a sword?

Re: Real Costs for spells and how you handle them? This question has been weighing on me as well. I've been playing a fantasy campaign using the 5th edition Turakian Age magic system (divide by 3)... and it seems to work to an extent. But, the only non-spellcaster in the group (a rogue) feels way underpowered... and in practice, is underpowered. I made up for this by allowing her to find a relatively powerful magic sword to compensate and making sure that there are situations where she can shine (traps, locks, stealing, etc.)... but this seems like a temporary fix. I've looked into the 4E D&D system ( ... I know, blasphemy) for some possible ideas. (Don't worry, Hero System is sooooo much better than D&D, IMO, I'm not switching sides)... But, I like how in 4E D&D, the martial characters have ways to make them something other than sword swinging 2dk meat-shields. Some one above mentioned allowing the martial characters to have Multipowers and such like the spellcasters... drains, entangles, etc. I like this idea. It's all about balancing issues while keeping the flexibility of the Hero System. I'm thinking of going to a VPP but only for spells that the spellcaster has familiarity (1 pt.) Casting spells on the fly might not be impossible, but it would be more difficult and/or cost extra time and energy (END). If I remember, Killershrike had a ton of magic systems on his website that you may get some ideas from, but none of them seemed exactly what I wanted. I was thinking of a relatively low magic setting in mind... like a Kingdoms of Kalamar conversion, but this may be more in how common it is... players would obviously be the exception.

Re: I have 4th Ed, do I need 5th immediately? You all are very helpful... I am a "compleatest" but I'm also limited by funds right now Thanks to everyone!!!

Re: I have 4th Ed, do I need 5th immediately?

I've spent way too much money at Gen Con this weekend. So I can't really afford to buy the Fantasy Hero 5th Edition right now. I will be buying it, but my finances will have to recuperate before that happens. I was wanting to start a Fantasy campaign in the near future (before I foresee my funds recuping ) Do I really need to buy the 5th Ed. rules before I start? I have the 4th... I also have the Hero System Rules book. Will my 4th Edition Fantasy Hero book coupled with my 5th Ed. rules book be sufficiant until I can afford to upgrade? How different are the 4th Edition and 5th Edition? BTW - I have the Grimoire I, Turakian Age setting, and the Hero Bestiary that I plan on using. Do I need anything else? The MMM would be nice, but... Anyway, thanks, I'm running off for my last event for Gen Con!!!