Duke Bushido

It is indeed! Realistically, you can expect to be killed by a gun, and rather quickly! Frankly, Vlassic Traveller is our preferred system for westerns for pretty much this reason. Not because we want to spend hours making Character after character, but because when a PC is staring into the bore of a Peacemaker, we want the player to understand that the character is in mortal danger. No 'well, a called shot might allow' or 'the damage multiiplier for a shot to this or that location' or any other "this might not be so bad unless" stuff, but "if that thing goes off, I am going to die." The only way to get that kind of tension in Champions is to triple the damage dice of every weapon.

I can't help but feel a special build that costs based on the size of the other dimension is unnecessary. Unless, of course, you pay for every dimension based on it's size. If you don't, then you are really screwing over the guy who wants a really deep pocket when his teammate pays less to acess an entire universe. You do still get to define your personal,universe in 6e, don't you? Why does it cost extra to make it smaller than a universe? As far as how to avoid being trapped, that has been covered well enough. As to why you would build it in such a way as to possibly be trapped inside.... Well, EDM useable as Attack has a long and storied history as one of them most banned builds of all time for a reason: all the hilarious stories that come from GM's not catching it the first time around. I can think of several reasons to build it this way: it won't be a quick-and-dirty "gimme a gun!" In the middle of a combat. It will never be "the perfect hiding place" where one character places the sack on a wagon full of grain sacks and everyone leaps inside and waits an hour before jumping out. It can create some interesting story tension: " he needs medical attention, but we have to be in River's End by sunrise! Take him into the bag, you two, and I will acquire the softest steed to ride through the night!" Says the mysterious and shifty character your buddy Mike is playing..... And on and on, up to and including that comic someone posted a while back where the party was using a bag of devouring as a portable guillotine....

That's true enough, amd why I recommended having someone on tap who knows the system. With a quick run through with an experienced player, this thing is way more useful than H2P ever will be. I had, at one time, a sheet of laminated cardstock on the table to address this. Essentially it was a list od missing mechanics: Killing Attacks Nirmal attacks Mental powers Adjustement powers You know the drill. Listing just the base mechanics kept it tight, and made the whole thing more useful. I was going to make another one when the youth group came along, but it turned out to not be necessary- they borroed a couple of my table copies of the 2e rules (you may recall that I have a lot of 2e books) and by the next session, they had it pretty well down. Character-building finesse takes practice, of course; no amount of reading the rules will give you that.

Hey! Ah-Toe demanded perfection in travel! If they were on three or more wheels, they were from that goofy splinter cult!

No; I mean the Resource Kit, available here: I just grabbed one of mine to double-check the page count. The bookllet totals 48 pages. The last three page atea "AoE Template / diagram (ie, "oops. We need some page filler.") Before that are several pages of "record sheets" (character, vehicle, base, minion-- everything wxcept the old Turtle Armor control sheet from days of yore. Since I seem to be the only player on the planet who does not use HERO Designer, I feel like this is probably filler fluff, but since it's potential usefulness is limited to _me_, I feel pretty special! Anyway. I have a to of things to do, so let me skip further back and say that the hyper-condensed rules start on page 5 and run through page 33, for a total page count of 28. It is _hyper-concentrated_; I can't stress that enough. Honestly, the loss of so much unnecessary verbiage makes it feel vaguely 1e-2e, except that the rules are 5e. The info-density is such that it helps to have an experienced user on tap, but it isn't really necessary. For a decade or more, people have been pushing "HERO on two pages" as a primer for new players, but-- if you can find a willing subject-- I defy anyone to find someone who knows nothing about HERO, let his study HERO in Two Pages for as long as he wants, and then him a character sheet or drop a map on the table, hand him some dice and two character sheets, and have him run a quick combat. I defy you. In fact, I _dare_ you to do it! I'll give you a nickel if you try. HERO in Two Pages is _useless, and always has been, as a primer. It is just a flow chart of steps- not _processes_, mind you, but stages: first comes this, then comes that, then comes this.... The Resource Kit is the _rules_: the thing that H2P guides you through. I have no idea why they still have some in stock, but I think I am going to pick up a couple more while I am logged in: I have eight copies of Everything else (including the too-big, too-crowded to be useful GM screen), but I only have two copies of the booklet left: New players occasional borrow one to study on their own (they are the _perfect_ table reference for a 5e or even a 4e game, and work great for any edition if you point out what you _won't_ be using- or for 6e players, maybe type up a page with the Characteristics-building rules and slip them in), but they don't always come back. For comparison, I paid the local print shop some years back to do me up some slick glossy colored H2P sheets. The only ones I ever lost were used as coasters (by me, upon realizing no one found it helpful at all). Anyway, gotta run: got a trailer to finish repairing; got to check on my old man and his dog (je was trying to carry his retriever into the house after she had leg surgery, and dropped her trying to put her over-- because he doesn't seem to remember he's eighty.... Ever! (It is all good- I was actually pulling up to his place at that moment- I literally heard him yell as I was taking off my helmet. I picked him up, then her, then put her in his car and we beat feet for the vet he was just coming home from. Doc says she's A-OK, so it isn't as bad as it could have been). And a few other things besides. You folks have fun. Oh- and there are now only 116 Resource Kits left in stock.

The perfect trajectory into a liquid container was impressive, but that parenthetical comment right there- That is _easily_ the most impressive part of this story! Wow! (I am not laughing _at_ you. I am,laughing _near_ you. Significant difference. )

So say 32 pages. The 5e-- what was it called? Resource kit,I think (you think i'd remember; I bought like eight of them!) has a pamphlet of hyper condensed rules that I belive weighs in at just under that. That and Lucha HERO are probably the beat thing to come out of 5e.

An infestation of rap may finally disenfranchise weabo culture and we can go back to calling a Portal Story a Portal Story instead of unnecessarily using Japanese?

What is he doing now? I have fallen out of the community as a whole: I play the same,three games I like, amd am content.

I vividly remember thirty years ago closing a light bill account (I had moved), and three months later getting a bill for an "unpaid balance" that totalled eleven cents. The stamp on the envelope cost more than that, plus there was a pre-paid return envelope! I looked over the bill, pulled the cancelled check from my files, and realized I had written the check correctly; someone had transposed the two digits in the 'cents' entry, and it was never caught. I called them, told them what had happened, and that I would send them a check for eleven cents (I had confirmed from my bank records that the bank had honored rhe check for the incorrect amount; this is probably where the error occurred). The young lady got my account info, told she would do a charge-off, and it would be done; no need to send a check. The next month I recieved another bill for the eleven cents (again, with a stamp that cost, if memory serves, thirteen cents for bulk mail; eighteen cents to buy a regular stamp to send a letter), amd again with a pre-paid return envelope. I called to see what was going on, as I thought the previous lady told me she could do a charge off. I was told she had not (no reason given), but the person I was speaking to now would be more rhan happy to take care of it. I explaines there was no reason; I would be happy to mail a check. Nope; doesn't make sense for such a small amount-- I remember him specifically saying that the stamp would cost more than the amount due! Okay; charge it off, please. The _next_ month, I got _another_ bill for eleven cents! And yes; there was another pre-paid envelope in there! At this point, they are into this for somewhere between (3 mailings X 2 envelopes each) X 13 cents (78 cents) and x 18 (one dollar, eight cents) to collect _eleven cents_! Of course, there was the addition of the "90 days on arrears" warning- you threatening to shut off the electricity that I clearly wasn't using, legal action, credit issues, etc. So I did what any reasonable person would do: I tapes the pre-paid return envelope securely to a small box, into which I placed I placed a granite coffee mug I really didn't use (it cooled coffee almost instantly! It was also crazy heavy and very loud if you weren't usinf a very thick coaster. It was very pretty though), along with an apology card and a check for eleven cents. I carried it to the post office, where the attendant laughed (evidently I was not the first person to mail a brick using one of those metered-mail envelopes, though she did say this was usually done to collection companies or as a final mortgage payment ). Anyway, I was _done_. The next month I recieved a thank you card from someone at the power office in Brunswick, telling me how nice the mug was. The nexr month I recieved an official envelope from the power company. Inside was my check and a note explaining that I did not need to pay it, as it had been charged off three months previously. There was also a return envelope in there. If you have _ever_ wondered why your electric bills are high, look to friction. There are too many moving parts working against each other; the friction loss _massive_. They just burn money.

I really want to answer, but I don't remember! Though honestly.... I _still_ play it's original contemporary (2e Champions), and I remember having played both Worlds of Wonder (meh) and Paladium's (Remember that video with the guy who said "pi-LAH-dyum"? That was what? A year ago? _Still_ bugs me....) Fantasy Role playing, and their BRP-- And I don't remeber anything at all except percentile dice..... Though I guess all that in itself actually says quite a lot.... Hey, @Scott Ruggels: did George and company have a clue back in the day the staying power rhis game would have?

For what it is worth, "Gate" is a rather redundant Focus: it just specifies how the Focus is limited; you have been able to do that since 1980.

Thanks, but exercise is supposed to good for me, right? It was only seven miles (this town is laid out wierd) home. Wife was so mad ahe wouldnt give me a ride back to the bike, so I grabbed the spare key and walked back. Just dont trust leaving a bike unsupervised over night. Anyway, I am going to bed.

Sorry for the abrupt ending, Hugh; not feeling my best at the moment, and my wife won't give my bike key back (she ran to the house for a few minutes and took my keys with her). Joke's on her, though: if she isn't back before I finish this, I am going to walk home. At any rate, I wanted to answer the gun-specific question: Interference from these sources- when the interference is strong enough- causes the beam to lose coherence almost immediately, rendering it little more than an expensive light show.

And hello again, folks, and greetings from the ER. Short version: Been a really bad year for us, and for the first time ever, Christmas was imperiled. Because of the wave of increased prices in prescription meds (wierd we only heard about select ones), I had to choose between the heart and BP meds or getting the kids something for Christmas (you know: like _food_). I took a gamble, and I almost made it. Middle of my last post I wasn't feeling right- head swimming a bit; trouble focusing. So I cut it short, popped an aspirin and a nitro, and went to get looked at. Still alive, and now I have another years-to-pay medical bill. Yay, corporate medicine! Going to bed as aoon as I get out of here, I think.

For my own response, it was "my take;" RAW doesn't have much advice as to when something should be a power paid for and wielded by a character or when it should be a disadplication applied to a character. Not That it really _could_, mind you, because that is a world-building thing, and must be decided by the GM on a world-by-world or case-by-case basis. Honestly, the only way to really get a feel for that is to cruise beastiaries and and villain books, though discussion of Change Environment in various editions at least alludes to taking advantage of shortcomings in individual characters. Other than that, there isn't much out there save for intellectual exercises found on these boards. Though that Luchadore example should stick with you forever. I remember it every time I watch Santo enter a cave or a dark wood or a run-down mansion. Everyone has a "sweet spot," I think. For me, it was somewhere between 2nd and 3rd edition; mostly 2e. Call it 2.2 if you like. I have cribbed lots of modifiers and even a rule or two from 4e, and have dabbled with some modifiers from 5e, but 6e has nothing of particular interest to me: a bridge too far, or maybe a horse too beaten; I don't know, but I do know it's a personal decision for everyone: any "best" is a personal decision. It is for this reason that even though I myself- and I have never said it directly before out of concern that someone would assume it was an insult or derision when it is simply a matter of taste- have never liked anything Steve did With the game from all the way back to 4e's Dark Champions, I will never knock someone for deciding that 6e or 5e or 5er or 4e's Dark Champions is their personal sweet spot: it's a side-effect of their being almost total compatibility from the very first to the very last edition. At some point, someone is going to find an amount of elaboration or discussion or complexity that they feel is "just right" for what they need or want in a game. It's all good, and I am more focused on people liking the game and having fun with it than I am on which version of the game you prefer. I played 4e for eight or nine years; it was solid, and very enjoyable, but eventually I went back to 2e, and brought carried back a few 4e things I thought were potentially useful: I have used the Time Chart from time to time, though I find it makes effectively-permanent effects insanely cheap next to the Early Editions way to do such things (which can easily cost a hundred points or more). A grimoire-- even an NPC or Villains book or even a simple pre-packaged adventure must all make some assumptions. Essentially, these are world-detailing books, and unfortunately, they cannot exist without a pre-built world. Look at the spell you yourself are working on: you must first decide if in your world the Undead have a Disadplication that makes them suffer when near divibe healing magic, or if divine healing magic must be built more expensively than 'regular' healing magic because it has an extra power laid on top of it. I even gave a list of additional questions I would have had to have answered to build this spell for my own use. This is the downside of the 4e-and-forward push to make "The HERO System" more and more generic, _particularly_ when mated with a company that cannot afford to publish actual world books: the accessory books like equipment books, magic books, and even NPC books require many, _many_ presumptions about the world in which they will be used, making them effectively useless as anything but reading material or potential examples for anyine who did not make the same assumptions in his world building that the author made in his. "Generic" is a double-edged sword if you want both that and pre-built worlds or adventures. Well, since I have said it out loud finally, after years of being concerned that someone would take it as the personal attack that it absolutely is _not_, let's use this as an example of the many things I don't like about Steve's treatment of the game: it's universal until I say it isn't, and chock full of can't-must-only-never. Does Knockback is based on BODY damage. Healing is based on BODY damage (so much as I remember; I freely admit that havibg read my way through 6e, I thought "nope" and have never opened it again save to chase down a reference or two from these boards). There is no reason not to allow this power modifier to be fitted to healing. For my money, "Yes" and "no" in these cases is a GM call, and not a Steve call. Is the game generic or is it not? Can I make what I want or can I not? From where I stand, if a creator can see how a modifier would work with a power- if the mechanics do work together, and the result can be explained and gamed, then you have a winner, so long as the individual table is happy with the results. Now granted, one of the reasons I prefer the Early Editions is that they did not have the habit of saying "no; you can't do what I don't like or haven't thought of yet" and instead encouraged that very thing- sometimes a _lack_ of detail is more genuinely generic. But again: everyone likes what they like. My groups have enjoyed too much freedom to move forward; I just wish there was a more overtly pleasant-sounding way to say that. Thank you. Hugh! I knew I had gotten the notion that this was Holy in some way (beyond the mention of the undead, I mean). Still, my answer was explicitly to answer the original question in terms of how I would do it without regard for other proposed builds. The OP has made his decision, so I have no reason to continue here. You tell me. Is that not up to the player creating the power, or up to the GM creating the world? Or was the ability to declare the sfx and nature of the power also taken away from the players and dropped behind a can't-must-only-never wall, also? If it is wrong to declare that your NND simply does not work if the defense is present, then I have been wrong for years, and I am not going to change because it is too much fun having that extra layer of creativity. I, like anyone else, have built NNDs "the way you would expect" for years. But I have also built them- using the same mechanics- that just fail to work in the presence of thw defense. Nothing says I can't- at least, nothing pre-Steve says I can't. One of the characters in our science fiction campaign has an experimental energy rifle, the defenses are reflective armor, magnetic defenses, and energy defenses. She has specified that the reflective armor prevents the weapon from being able to target, and while it won't penetrate a force field at all, a strong enough force field will prevent it from actually working at all. So no; in this case (and others), the NND will not operate at all. "Oh, but she should have built it-" No; she shouldn't have. She got the results she wanted: it is an NND that is terrifyingly effective except when it isn't, there are more than sufficient common defenses, and the build is simple and clean. Further, if the DEF is at least half the potential BODY damage, she doesn't even have to roll dice for an attack that is predestined to fail. Over the years, my fantasy games have been filled with magic NNDs that are defined as X prevents the use of this spell. _Yes_, one _can_ choose "doesn't work in the presence of X" as a limitation, but that does not make it an NND, does it? And since having the defense is a _Total_ defense against an NND, if someone chooses as his SFX or flavor that the spell just doesn't work, I see no reason to make him roll to hit, then roll effect dice if he would prefer to play out "something is interfering with my magic! What could it be?" (Going,back to assumptions about game world's, etc: this works well in most of my fantasy worlds because I prefer low-level magic as opposed to Harry Potter style spell-slingers and casually reshaping reality on a whim, etc. The most commonly-encountered magic in some of them is various spells, prayers, and totems of magic suppression, just in case.) At any rate: unless things have changed under the Long editions, you have _always_ been allowed to create an NND that simply doesn't work in the presence of the defense: just deduct your END and move on. I suspect that because of the existence of "does not work in presence of X," more people that I have always assumed never actually did it. Fortunately, we did not have rules telling us we _must_ pick one and we _can't_ pick that one, etc, etc. As would I, but I am not building the world where this spell exists, and I don't want to make assumptions about someone elses's world; hence the questions. If you are playing D,and D, yes. If you are playing Western Shores, also yes. If you are playing in any HERO-published world- Oh, wait! I already said Western Shores. Sorry. If you are playing in an unknown person's equally unknown and likely nascent personal universe? I can't answer that without making assumptions (and you know that as well as anyone else). As my questions were related to divining the nature of magic in this unique world, I find the ridicule to be quite beneath you, and while I generally find you to be one of the better conversarionalists, I am going to assume this is not a good time for you for some outside reason, and dip out. Feel better, Sir.

Thanks! Well, the Knockback rules require determining the amount of BODY rolled on the damage dice, subtracting a die roll, and comparing it to the target's CON (and Knockback Resistance). I don't know the edition you are using- I assume 6e, and I do not know if it still exists as an option, but Increased Knockback was a thing once that reduced the number of dice subtracted from the BODY damage. If you want to get real wiggy, crank the price up even more and _add_ a die or two. I have zero doubt you can run with this and make it work. (Count BODY)

No. HD is not wrong. There are a lot of preconcieved notions that prejiduce a lot of builds. Now I might be the more extreme end: if you can figure out how they would work together, then fine; go for it. However, I have been ignoring pretty much every rule written from 4e's Dark Champions and on forward ever since, because they seem to have a detrimental effect on my player's fun, which stops about the eigth rules quibble in a single session, whether we chase it down then or not. I stick with an older rules set because it has a less only-can't-must vibe. Ultimately, if anyone playing HERO tells you that you cant use a particular advantage or limitation with a particular power, remind rhem that a Haymaker is a punch. You cant have it both ways: if you see that an unusual modifier does what you want to do, then do it. When someone tells you that you can't, there are two things you need to two: 1) review what it is that modifier does. Does it do what you want it to do? Can you figure a way to do it mechanically with the power to which you wish to apply it? 2) Determine the odds of the guy disagreeing with you suffering any sort of harm if you so it anyway- we are all decent people, and don't want to cause any harm to anyone. So, if you can make it work, and it doesn't hurt anyone, then go for it.

Quick pause for clarification: While I was on.... What? Page elevnty-something? I was answering the original "how would you do this" question. Thus, presented write-ups for other answers to the question, etc, were not considered as I did not want to chance being influenced in a direction that I might not have chosen otherwise. Carrying on: Honestly, when I asked them, I realized anithrr GM decision is needed: if there is no viable target, does the magic "go off" as normal? Asked another way, can a target a magic missile as nothing in this world? In DnD (at least as it was when I quit), such a thing wasn't possible. Cast all you want; without a target, nothing happened. So how does this world work? If I go through the motions and cast "Mordenkain's Ephemeral Nurse," does it actually happen without the presence of a target wound? Does the magic "go off?" Exactly. That is exactly why I asked the questions: is the use of the healing magic possible if there is nothing to heal? Using the Disadplication for undead method, the character is _not_ spraying Zom-B-Gone; he is using _nothing_ but healing magic. So the value of the Disadplication here is going to vary depending on how often it is going to be a nuisance (like any other Disadplication). Interestingly, if the healing magic won't work when there is no one to heal, captured undead characters have an extra motive to attack their captors; that could be fun! Irrelelavent, but fun. However, if one insists that this must _must be an expensively-built power laid on top of healing (which I do not), then the cost of this unnecessary build will vary quite a lot- especially if you are using "L-word" editions- depending on if this is a side effect of Healing, or if Healing is a side effect of Bowling for Skellies. Agreed. That is a GM question, I am afraid, based on how it works for his world- including the which way is which: side effect of healing or side effect of Vampire bashing? Or something else? Now me? Lots of choices. First thing I need to know is the nature of magic- high-faluting wands shooting rainbows of glory and death; light sabers and casual telekinesis? Magic earthy, working in small, reliable ways? Something in between? How long is the campaign expected to run? What cost ranges do see magic being in? I.E., how much of a points-suck do I expect to need (if any)? And several more- Don't let's all pretend a considerable portion of 'the cost of magic' is just points sucking to keep magical characters on an even keel. Seen way, way too many magical systems posted over the years and followed way to many conversations to pretend it isnt there. For what it's worth, I find it more honest to put hard caps on magic, but that's not flowery and popular, so we move on a bit more- The options are wide, ranging from adding another power onto the healing, to targeted PSLs to something along the lines of the "naked advantage:" the naked Disadplication, useable as attack, ranged, area of effect. And everyone's favorite: T-form. Yeah, just like every other thread, I lost interest the moment it was mentioned. good night!

Much more perfect, Sir! Nothing worse than chilly cheeks this time of year!

I am going to go with "undead are affected by healing magic ' is enough, a nd it happens at all because that is how the GM has declared that this is how this world works. Not everything that flies is a bird; not everything with wings can fly. That is how our world works. "Undead physically repelled by healing magic" is at least more consistent than that.

That is actually one of the things I most love about my motorcycles, actually. Thiigh the Valk gets somewhat better mileage.

I am trying to figure out what _my_ style is. Which one of those guys used spray cans and which one handed them to his wife?

Okay, it took a while to get to (this time of the year the bulk of my sparse "free time" is spent riding around and finding places where people are out and about with small children and letting them 'catch' Santa Claus running errands, shopping, etc. Santa season is over (so the beard will get trimmed back to pre-November appearance st some point this week), so I spent some time reading the thread. I want to preface this with an acknowledgement: as you pointed out, I don't believe anyone looking for advice on this question is still following along as we have gone into and well-being page three at this point. I would also like to acknowledge that I have nothing fresh to add, as others have already suggested the methods I would use. In my own opinion, this is not something that should be built onto the healing power. Much like vampires and hallowed ground, this is a campaign-specific Disadplication that is mandatory for the undead. The healer is not doing anything at or to the undead. The undead are suffering the effects of being too near this particular type of magic. This is right up there with monsters taking double damage from Luchadores, I think. To really stretch an example, if we revisit the 'create a large amount of water' discussion of a few days ago: If I can fill a large arena with water, people could drown. Is it because I bought a second power: Induce Drowning, or is it because some of those people have the Disadplication: 'Can't Swim'? Absolutely no one else in the campaign world is affected this way; only the undead. They aren't affected this way by anything else; only healing magic (and possibly only Holy healing magic; I don't recall right now). Everything about this screams Unique Custom Disadplication specifically for the undead. Someone above posted that this should cost a player a large amount of points because of how useful it is, but I found nothing from the OP that suggested it was a particularly high-utility spell: how common are the undead as opposed to other threats? Can the spell be used specifically to take advantage of its effects on the undead? Does it have this effect if absolutely no healing takes place? That is to say: can I cast it on a healthy, full-strength character and the undead still fall? If I am doing healing by individual wound, and I have succeeded my casting roll but have not rolled high enough to do additional healing, does it affect the undead? Can it affect the undead more than once per encounter? There is _nothing_ in this thread _from the original poster_ that gives any hint at how much utility there is to this interesting side-effect has, though there is a _lot_ of interesting conjecture from other folks that _does_ make for interesting reading. Of course, those stipulating that the utility of this side effect means that the price of the spell should be high are looking at only the obverse side of the coin. The reverse side suggests that a truly crippling Disadplication should reward the undead monster with a lot of points. From only the information given by the OP, though, I find this to be both the most representative of the in-game effect, and the cleanest, simplest, 2e-way of handling it. Still, if the goal is complication for it's own sake, suggesting AoE on a Throw maneuver should liven the conversation right up.

Well, Santa aeason is over. Time to go from Magnificent to merely Glorious. 😕 Never settle!