Sunday_Gamer

Hey Steve, Enjoing 6th ed btw, I wasn't enjoying 5th ed so much but 6th ed seems to have worked out the kinks as it were. And on that subject... Heroman buys 4m radius area effect as a naked advantage. He wants it to represent the sheer violent butt kickitude that occurs if anyone is stupid enough to get within reach of his fighting sticks. (we'll skip the part where he doesn't have selective targetting ok? He gets a little crazy and just beats the hell out of everything within reach... good guys, bad guys, small shrubs...whatever.) What should the naked adder be "aimed" at if you follow my meaning? His attack is comprised of 20 STR, a martial strike, 2 extra damage classes for his Martial Arts and a 2d Hand Attack (the afore mentioned sticks) If he "aims" the adder at his STR then his Martial arts and his hand attack will be unaffected... not what we want. I know in previous editions a hand attack was always added to something else but I also know that "something else" didn't get a free ride on the advantage bus. i.e. If you have 4d Hand Attack @ 0 END, while IT will be 0 End, any STR you use to assist will NOT be 0 END. So the question I guess is "can you apply a naked advantage" to a combination of STR, Martial Arts Maneuvers, Martial Arts Damage Class and the Hand to Hand Attack power? if so how would you define the naked adder? I suggested defining it as "on up to X points of Hand to Hand attack" figuring that would include the STR and the Martial arts, provided of course their total active points fit into the size of the adder. Thanks in advance for your time. Sunday

I have recently been playing with some new people and trying to explain the system as we go and this has lead to me reexamining certain things. So now I have to ask, why the heck does combat start on phase 12? Why isn't phase twelve simply renamed phase 1? I obviously had no good answers for this, just a strange look on my face. Sunday

Hey Steve, I was wondering how you reconcile a flying dodge with area effects and dive for cover? I'm standing there minding my own business when Dr.Hiroshima decides to blow me the hell up (I ate the last donut.) With a 3" radius ae blast... I know I can't dodge since it's area effect and dodge doesn't involve me leaving the hex I'm in... I need to dive for cover. What about flying dodge? +4 DCV, Full Move, Abort. Can I abort to flying dodge? Will it have any effect? How do you reconcile the FMove aspect of it with the dive for cover DEX based distance? My brain hurts. Can I or can't I and if I can how's it work and if I can't why? Thanks in advance.

Re: Combat skill levels and Multipower In this case the multipower doesn't so much represent a quiver full of arrows as the magical ability to take any arrow and have it turn into a different effect. However since I wouldn't let him use it without a bow I guess I can let him use generic bow skill levels. Thanks.

Re: Requires skill roll I suspect the answer will hold but let me clarify. If I buy a multipower and give the whole thing "requires a skill roll" can I use any skill I want as the roll or do I need a skill roll for the multipower in specific?

Can you use an existing skill for this? Something like fastdraw?

Suppose someone has a WF Bows and 5 - 3pt combat levels with Bows. Now give that character a Multipower based on arrows, with slots for RKA, flash attacks, entangles, that sort of thing. If the multipower is defined as magical arrows, meaning any arrow drawn can be turned into one of the afore mentioned arrows, would the character be able to use his 5 combat levels with Bows? Would he need different combat levels for the Multipower? Sunday.

Re: 4d6 Major Transform: d20 Gamer to Hero Gamer! I've always found the biggest hurtle to new games is ignorance. If your players are used to the D20 system they are going to be confused when they start Hero system. I probably wouldn't have been as big a fan of the system as I am if the person who introduced me to it wasn't fluent with the rules. Its important that you as a GM can keep things flowing. Your PCs will learn the combat system as they go along but its important that you not be learning it with them but teaching it to them instead. Other than that... I like pie.

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest Ya thankfully I have a munchkin or two on staff so I'm always heading them off at the pass. Easy fix for that was just saying any adders on a +HA power ONLY affect that power unless you also throw in an naked advantage for however many active points of STR+MA+CSL+DCs you plan on throwing in. Only seemed fair. Oh I have a 90 STR so I buy a +2d HA Armor piercing and now I get free 90 AP STR..errr... no Narc, you dont. (That's my munchkins name, or at least what we call him.)

Re: The Wild Hunt I think you should lean more towards a neo-celtic interpretation. The hunt should probably be like... Riverdance... no combat training whatsoever but dancing at like... 13 or less or something. That would be pretty scary. Oh and they should probably blow up into a cloud of xp... and beer, a cold beer after a fight, that's always good. *whistles innocently*

Re: Regen again In a bid to be radically different, I'll stick to the question =) According to what I know and the Hero Designer, 1/2d6 at "standard effect" is 1pt, not 2. Also, I don't know who decided that 1pt of regeneration is "useless" but I certainly do not agree with them nor would I rule that 1pt of healing cannot stop bleeding. If a successful First Aid roll can stop bleeding and IT heals ZERO body than you better believe HEALING 1 Bod DEFINITELY stops the bleeding. Anything else is house rules far as I can tell. Sunday Edit: I would never let you get points for "always on" on renegeration unless I could think of actual game related reasons why that would be a disadvantage. Limitations that aren't limitations aren't worth points, that old adage still applies in this edition ya?

Hey Steve, I'm trying to make regeneration that I can use on others. Meaning the character can "lay on hands" and envelop the target in a shimmering field of white force. This force, allows the subject to regenerate 1pt body/turn as long as the character remains there "laying on hands" This is terribly confusing. Regeneration is defined as healing, which means it has a maximum it can heal, this goes against the definition of regeneration which just slowly heals you until you're well again. So what it is about regeneration that "defies" the cap set by healing? Is it the reduced end and persistence? Is it the regeneration-only extra-time? Is it the self-only nature? 1d6 healing - 10 pts 0 End, Persistent (+1) (20 active ) Extra-Time (Regen) X/turn (-1 1/4) Self-only (-1/2) That is how I see it defined in the book. So why would this ability be allowed to heal an 8 body gash to the stomach? What is it that allows it to break cap? I assumed the only thing I needed to remove was "self-only" to create the desired effect but the GM pointed out that I would have a cap of 3 body. Help me Obiwan.

Re: Code vs Killing (Total) Speaking as one of the players in said campaign, I might as well throw in my 2 cents. First, my character Kid Nova, has a Code Against Killing, Strong. You gotta leave yourself that wiggle room... Now I didn't even roll to eliminate the aliens and here's why. Definitions. I have a code against killing human beings. Does that mean I can freely kill the benevolent aliens from planet yabo? No, I'd give them the same benefit I do humans. However, these hellspawns were growing in pouches hanging from the ceiling and my immortal sorceror, heavenly avenger and transdimensional cop all reacted very poorly and the sorceror said "demons" Now when Mechwarrior, who I'll point out, I've never had friction with ( mostly cause I'm a brash know it all kid who does whatever he wants) objected to the killing, the GM confirmed that these creatures were in fact demons. The problem was when he further explained they were a race of transdimensional conquerors, which kind of clashed with the standard definition of a demon. It didn't help that maybe the players and GM didn't discuss the cross species nature of some possible CVKs. I, in choosing my Code, always meant for it to be a code against killing humans, but never defined it as such because aliens and other races were not really in the picture. If a GM is going to introduce sentient alien races, he needs to ask his players to further define the code. Conveniently my character is a gamer so his mindset is clear. My code vs killing applies to all humans and all sentient non-totally evil races. If your race can de DEFINED as slavering demonic hordes bent on total annihilation... screw you, you're getting the full treatment. Now I'm not talking bad press and propaganda, the GM told us outright: " These things are demons in every sense of the word." So the friction was, Mechwarrior sees his limitation as a total and complete refusal to take ANY sentient life, that's his call. However one of the other PCs is a demon hunter who knows these creatures as demons, a holy avenger who also recognized these things as demons, a trans-dimensional cap who said these are very very very bad must kill them all now now now now now ( he's a little violent...) and me... who knows NOTHING. Maybe if the GM had checked with him he would have decided against a storyline that would force such a conflict but he didn't, so here we are. As a GM, I would admit that I made the mistake once, and wouldn't again. If I'm going to have alien races, especially conquering ones, I'm going to ask some pointed questions about your CVK. Should get interesting...

Re: Low-Point Heroic PC's I learned this system a million years ago, playing danger international, back then we were 50/50. I routinely make FH campaign that requires my PC to do the same. infact 75/50 or 75/75 is considered a creamy luxury. In term of design, when dealing with low point characters, I usually set half aside for stats and the rest to skills, perks and whatnot. Luckily, we tend to use only "normal" equipment and as such pay for it cash and or are allowed to start with gear provided we're not excessive. If I had to pay for gear as well, I would say a third of my points for stats. By far the most important thing will always be concept, no one should ever start making a character until they can close their eyes and see it. The most important thing to get inside your head is the relative scale of everyone in such a campaign world. Presumably as the PCs you're a cut above the rest, if only slightly. Doen't mean you're the meanest thing around, just that the average person is going to be even less points. Having a 14 dex when everyone else has 10 or 11 makes you special. In the end its all about scale. You can feel like slickest cat around, even at 50 points. Course if you're a 50 pointer and the average police officer is 100 points... then you're in deep doodoo. =) Sunday

Re: Amnesia I had a PC ask me about that once, I agreed. I bought his disads and then let him in on anything physically obvious but supplied no explanations. I bought him some hunteds, some psychological limitations. I treated the Amnesia as a physical limitation but would not revel its worth, because I assigned its worth based on how important it might be to remember the other disads. I made sure at least one of the hunted wanted something from the player but they'd never say what it was, as if it should be obvious. I also had some fun and gave him a lurid bi-sexual past with jilted lovers of both sexes eventually finding him at all the wrong times. Someone tells me they want to be amnesiac I hear "pick my disads?" and I think if you're going to make me work on your disads, I'm going to have some fun.

Hey Steve, Having s bit of a "difference of opinion" with my GM (ya I know I'm gunna loose) I have a psionic and my power pool is exactly that, psionic ability. I bought the usual smatering of stuff including Psychokinesis. Obviously, since I wanted it to be purely mental, I bought it with BOECV. Being a +1 advantage, it doubles the cost of the power. My enemy psionics sometimes have TK as well but the GM doesn't think he needs to get them BOECV. How exactly does it work? I imagine they'll use dex and ocv/dcv to hit while I will use ecv (inanimate object being ecv 0) Likewise I will have no range penalties and my range is line of sight. Their range is AP X 5 and range penalties apply. What are the effects of trying to pick up someone with a mind shield using psychokinesis? I suppose the real question here is what other differences/advantages would the BOECV version of TK have over the non, in terms of hos it is resisted and what constitutes a defense? Thanks in advance, Sunday

Re: New Player freaks the heck out of me. Presumably you've already figured out this is a bad character. I looked at the build and there are several things wrong with it, big honkin ugly things that would make this guy useless in no time. Just off the top of my head he put all his stats in a multipower? Punch him in the feace while he's holding something heavy... he's going to be moving those points out of one stat and into the next constantly? He's going to end up with his pants around his ankles. His Avatar is Independent? Awesome! So take it from him and have him spend the campaign trying to get it back... Obvious Inacessible Focus...Blood?!?! Sooooo I can bleed him casually with 1 turn out of combat then? Bloodpools are best built as END reserves that fuel vampiric powers (which can ONLY be fuled by the End reserve) and the reserves REC is dependent on the drinking of blood... not this sillyness. I'll not go on, the entire thing is built ass backwards. Vape this clown or teach him to build a vampire.

Re: Movement power as an attack Ya, you've discovered the "tachyon shotgun" I see. How do you defend against it? Beat the ever loving crap out of the person who thought this was a good idea. If he insists this is still a good idea, then I recommend the old adage "fight fire with fire" Have one of your bad guys make his own tachyon shotgun and blast the players into an alternate reality where everything is made of cheese except the players and ever hungry flesh eating zombie mice! Then politely explain to your players that this game you are running is centered around this particular dimension and as such you don't have time to GM them running around cheese land besides, they got killed and eaten by zombie mice and let me know what you're new characters are ready I want to go over those kthanxbye...

Re: Napalm vs. Tanks I would say that older tanks, while having hardened PD, did not have hardened ED, hance why the penetrating would "seep" inside and kill the crew. This is special effected out to: consumming all the air, cooking off ammo or just cooking the crew. One might say that the more modern tanks also have hardened ED hence why the napalm is not so useful against the modern ones. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sunday

Re: Napalm vs. Tanks Napalm fire damage is penetrating and continuous if you ask me.

Re: Ultimate metamorph I was very much of the "do I really need a book just on metamorphs?" but a friend of mine picked it up and I had a look and was surprised. I never considered the many faces of morphing. The book breaks down metamorphic powers, animal powers, body control, transformation, duplication, intangibility, size alteration, stretching. It's nothing you couldn't figure out yourself but it's nice to have, I found several of the mechanics used to be interesting. Sunday

I saw the question you asked Steve about essentially catching the weapon. Now I'll admit I was a little perplexed by his answer since I clearly recall such fantabulous items as the Spell Catching Rope from Fantasy Hero. It was basically a delayed effect on reflection/trigger, I was hoping Steve could clarify how it had been done previously. It was a rope you would block spells with and when successfull, a knot would appear on the rope. If the knot was loosened and the rope snapped, the knot became undone and the spell was released. It was a very clever variation on the concept of "reflect to any target" If I recall properly it was missile reflection and they had but "trigger" on the "reflect to any target" portion of the power. If anyone else recalls, feel free to jump in. Sunday

Hey Steve, I have odd recollections of having read things somewhere but it could be the years of abuse my mind has endured gaming... Regarding Indirect. Can it be blocked? I seem to recall one of the features of indirect was that since it did not cross the interveening space between attacker and target, it could be dodged, if you could see it coming, but it could not be blocked. Am I on crack? The new definition says it is not stopped by walls, force walls but personal armor and force fields still apply (which... you know... OBVIOUSLY ) Where do things like blocking (for a hand attack or blocking with a shield) and missile reflection come in vs indirect? Can you block an indirect HA or must you dodge? Can you block an indirect RA with a shield of Missile Deflection? Does the level of indirect affect whether or not it can be blocked? Thanks in advance, Sunday.

Hey Steve, I was fleshing out some powers and started messing with psionic surgery. It pretty well defined in the rules book but one thing I thought I'd check with you. Standard transform is one thing into another, now I've already taken all the good adders and lims listed in the example for psionic surgery: Based on ECV, Works against EGO not Body, Limited group of targets Sentient Minds... Now, if I want to be able to perform freeform psionic surgery, alter memories, remove mental disads, add mental disads, I'm guessing I'd also need +1 worth of Improved Results Group? That sound about right to you? Thanks in advance, Sunday.

Re: duplicating villians? Usable by others entails that the subject is a willing participant since they pay the end and they control the power. Usable AGAINST others (now called Useable as an attack) means YOU pay the end and YOU control the power. Hence why any "forced" replication must be bought with "useable as an attack" And it is a neat idea, but you'd have to buy it for the higest point value you can with either a limitation that it has no effect on people with more points than the power or that a lower point version of the person is created.