Ockham's Spoon

Re: Damage Reduction Vs. Extra PD/ED Hugh points out good cases where Damage Reduction outshines normal PD/ED. In my mind, DR is good for characters who don't go down because they are tough, not because they are indestructible. Colossus of the X-Men would have really high PD/ED, but Wolverine would have DR. DR also has great utility for master villains. It allows you to set their defenses low enough that all the heroes can contribute some damage whether they have powerful attacks or mediocre ones, but it keeps the villain from being KO'ed by one big hit.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Very nice. The bird breaking the frame gives the picture amazing depth, especially with the blank white immediately behind it to draw attention to bird and keep its detail from being lost in the background.

Re: Hi. Questions on several Qliphothic, uh, things! Welcome to the boards! I don't know if 6e is keeping the same magic concept or not, but if you like it, use it. Source books are great for ideas, but you can pick and choose what you like and leave the rest. HERO lets you create anything you want, and that includes the universe your characters find themselves in, so have fun with it.

Re: Proportional area attack I like this; simple, balanced, and captures the effect nicely. Good call.

Re: Spells in MUltipowers? If you want to encourage different limitations on different spell slots in a Multipower, put a Variable Limitation on the pool cost but let each slot define that limitation separately. I am pretty sure this is not legal strictly speaking, but I have had a number of characters in my campaigns with just such a set-up and I find it works well. It keeps the Multipower from being too cheap since the Variable Limitation only gives you half as much limitation point-wise and forces players to be creative about defining their spells.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

Re: Something fishy about this How many points are these guys built on? I just don't see this Mind Link power sucking up all the points of superheroic level character. Where did they spend the rest of their points? Some people are okay with not being the combat monster, and if that is the case more power to them (although I have never met a player that liked being useless, so some combat ability is almost certainly needed). My bigger concern would be that they are playing essentially the same character. Even if they play the two characters with radically different personalities they will be stepping on each other's toes power-wise. Also it means fewer plot hooks for the GM to work with since they are basically the same guy. I agree with secretID that this would work better as one character with Duplication, run by only one player.

Re: Brittlizing an Engine This is a call for the GM as to how to handle it, but I see one of three ways, all equally valid depending on the campaign and perceived utility of this ability (and all mentioned above, but allow me to enumerate them) 1. The engine has the limitation "real world equipment". Part of that limitation is that it takes damage when supercooled. 2. Since this isn't likely to come up often, the GM can rule that the Drain can destroy the engine with an appropriate Power Skill roll. 3. Maybe this does happen often in a particular campaign, meaning that the ability is useful enough that the character has to pay points for an attack linked to the Drain.

Re: Create Light and the 17 Point Light Spell that isn't While I agree that Images "only for light" is a rather expensive way to build something like a flashlight, perhaps this is an indication that "only for light" isn't being given enough of a limitation; that is part of the HERO system that you get what you pay for. It depends on the setting and how useful light is as to how much it should cost. If you want it cheaper, make the limitation bigger. That said, for most campaigns I don't think it is necessary to build flashlights - they are either equipment or a convenience that are too far down in the detail level to bother with. If a wizard wants a light spell for exploring dungeons or something, he can buy it as Images if he likes, but I think sfx of other powers should be used to cover it. In my games I allow wizards to use other spells (like Flame Bolt or Blinding Light or whatever if the sfx is appropriate) at a very low level to generate light without having to buy a separate spell. It just makes sense for the sfx and they already paid points for it, so why not? As earlier noted, buying an Entangle just to generate ice cubes is silly, but if you already have an Ice Bonds Entangle, taking advantage of the sfx to make ice cubes is fine. What doesn't make sense (to me) is buying a power specifically to generate ice cubes; again that is too far down in the details to bother with. That is one of the great things about sfx in HERO. It allows the GM to handwave all those low level details just because it makes sense so things don't get bogged down.

Re: Poisonbrewing In fantasy campaigns I have run, if a character wants to buy poison for a weapon, I might let them, but it might not be available or it might be low-grade stuff. That way, as GM, I have some control over what poison gets used and when. Consider too that lots of poisons can kill you, but only slowly, which is rather less useful in combat and it gives the poisoned person a chance to find an antidote or healer before they croak. I won't bother going into the social ramifications of buying and using poison, but that should be a consideration for most characters. If the character wants to brew poison, I consider that a power, like being able to cast spells, and they have to pay points for it since they will likely be able to use it frequently. This gives the player a lot more freedom to build the poison as they see fit (for instant damage or to Drain a particular stat or whatever), but since they have to pay points for it, the poison isn't likely to be so unbalancing. If the player wants to stack a lot of limitations on the poison to make it cheaper, that is perfectly reasonable, but then the limitations keep things in check. Something else to consider if the character has a poison brewing ability is that other people's weapons can be poisoned as well, so don't forget to allow for that flexibility when building the poison.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. All good, but I like Dr. Dark in particular, the expression which conveys arrogance and power, and the subtle contrast that gives detail to his completely black outfit and powers. Excellent work.

Re: Web-slinger: fun with spider webs For the video clip shown, as GM I would probably just rule that it was a Sweep manuever with a colorful description since the range is short. But I could see the player wanting to grab someone across the room and pull them closer, which would require some kind of power build. The problem with using TK is that it isn't reciprocal. Spidey can yank his foe, but the foe should be able to yank him around too. You could put on a custom limitations "Reciprocal" and "Only for pulling" to get around this. However you will also need to buy TK at equal to your STR unless the webbing can't take that much strain (although if it is in a Multipower slot that might not matter much cost-wise). Stretching, as noted, would leave Spidey open to damage on the stretched "limb", but it isn't really a Focus because he can always make more webbing. You could buy this as "Doesn't Cross Intervening Space" so Spidey isn't hurt by any attacks to his webbing, but give him a -¼ Limitation "Can be dispelled by destroying web" and then assign an appropriate DEF and BDY value to the webbing. Or just call it IIF and handwave. Along with the limitations "Always Direct" and "Only for pulling" this is a pretty cheap power, but it could add a lot of color.

Re: Campaign Damage Caps, Code vs. Killing & Pulling a Punch I think Hugh's analysis is spot on. Given the typical player mindset, I think it would be hard to manage a Superman-type character just through "restraint". I am sure some players could do it, but for most I think a system of sticks and carrots should be laid out so the players will fully understand the consequences of their actions.

Re: 'Registration' as training card Most of my players would complain about having to spend a lot of points on a registration card, so I think I would keep it simple. I think you just about have to have Paramedic at 3pts if that sort of thing is covered, but Paramedic is a useful skill so I don't see anyone griping about that. The rest of it I would put as KS:Basic Police Training or PS:Basic Superheroing or whatever you want to call it. Depending on the length of the class and the dedication of the student, the hero might have that at the 1, 2, or 3 pt level. Other stuff, like perks or more in depth criminology/psychology/legal/medical stuff I would let the player purchase if they wanted it, but I wouldn't make it mandatory in order to get a registration card.

Re: Lots of little spells I had a player who took the VPP approach and it worked nicely. Although Markdoc makes a good point about 1pt Multipower slots, the VPP is more flexible and given prep time the mage can include spells that can impact combat, so the few extra points spent on the control cost are worth it. In particular, my player had a "Laser Targeting" cantrip that put a red dot wherever he pointed, bought as +1 OCV for Ranged Combat, and a "Defense Charm" bought as +1 DCV.

Re: Presti's Homogeneous Damage and Str Min Rules If only I were psychic I would have been able to see that for myself! When you say you want to keep the baseline the same, do you mean you don't want to give an advantage to normal HTH attacks over KA and NNDs? In 5e I often found this a problem for martial artists with KA and NND strikes because the KA was capped at x2 DC and the NND didn't get a STR bonus at all (still don't), which made normal damage manuevers almost always more useful because they simply had more DC overall. So yes, I see that as a potential issue. That said, we are only talking 1 DC here, and it isn't as though there isn't precedent for ignoring some/all of a character's "STR" damage for those kind of manuevers, so I think I would just live with it.

Re: New group of characters. If everyone is building unsupervised, make sure they know the DC range and CV range you expect and that they stick to it. You might want to give everyone a chance to edit after seeing the other characters, or make them all hold back 10 or 15 points until after the first adventure so they can cover any weaknesses they perceive their characters having.

Re: Need help fleshing out a campagin idea For best story line potential, I think it is important that the highest level wing, whatever you end up calling them, have well-fleshed out characters. There aren't going to be too many of them so it shouldn't be a problem (you can always add another one or two as needed since they are covert and all). But they should all have strong personalities, and probably conflicting ones. These individuals are powerful enough that they are likely to feel they are above the law, especially as a secret group that is unlikely to face normal criminal prosecution. Some of them might be truly noble, but some may just enjoy the government sanctioned use of their powers regardless of who they hurt. Some might have their own agenda entirely and just find the government position convenient. Members of the other wings may realize just how dangerous and uncontrolled the top level metahumans are, and may subtly or overtly work against them out of either patriotism or fear. Bottom line is that you have a great setup for a Bzyantine political infighting so make sure you know who side everyone is on before you start. Also realize that these kind of political machinations make for strange bed-fellows, so this will give you an opportunity to have the PCs work with people they might nominally consider enemies. Have fun!

Re: Strongbow's Art Thread! Nice ink-work. This is an amusing sketch just for the perposterous scenario of Doom doing school crossing duty, but my favorite detail is the boy with the Fantastic Four logo on his shirt. Priceless!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I particularly like the face of the armor suit - clean and simple but still expressive and unmistakable as a transparent visor (BTW what does the logo "JB" stand for?). I also like the weight of it - it is sufficiently bulky to make it believable as a piece of equipment, but still sleek enough that it isn't clunky. The action shot of the martial artist is great, and she looks like a real fighter instead of a bimbo striking a pose - very nice. The styling is aethetically pleasing as well, clearly comic book with just a hint of ninja styling to get the point across. Well done. Thanks for sharing (all of it).

Re: Presti's Homogeneous Damage and Str Min Rules One observation and a one question for you. As described, your average joe has a 2d6 normal HTH attack, 1d6 from the everyman HTH which is doubled by STR. By spending 5 points to get 2d6 HTH, you double your attack to 4d6 with your 10 STR, which is almost like a free 1d6 since you only spent 5 points on it. I don't see this being abusive since you can't get more than 1d6 this way, but it would certainly encourage players to buy some kind of martial arts or brawling ability to take advantage of it. It will also give a slight edge to normal HTH attacks as opposed to KA or NND strikes because of the free die. The question is weapons limited by other characteristics - like what? I could see a whip or kusari requiring a certain level of DEX to wield properly, and maybe a INT basis for a complicated firearm, but EGO? I am just curious as to what weapons you had in mind when creating this limitation.

Re: Custom Limitation Here's an alternative idea for your player if he is looking to boost his power. Let him buy extra dice of Mind Control, or use an Aid, with the limitation it requires a Telepathy attack at EGO+10 or better to represent the idea he has scanned his opponent's mind and found some weakness to exploit. He might actually have to make the Telepathy attack, or you could just treat is as a Required Roll that goes off automatically with the power (but he wouldn't gain any actual info in that case). If he doesn't have Telepathy, he could base the skill roll on SS: Psychology or Power Skill: Mentalist Tricks, or a PER with Mental Senses, or whatever is appropriate. He might even say that the extra dice only work on second and subsequent attacks on the same target, the idea here being that the first attack let him size up the opponent's mind so subsequent attacks can be better.

Re: Open ended damage If you want a way for characters to target chinks in armor, just let them make a placed shot against it and give them an appropriate OCV penalty. If they hit, they bypass as much armor as you see fit. High OCV characters will be able to pull this off, just like they could a head shot. If someone might get a lucky blow to hit that chink, you are going to have to go with Activation rolls or something (but it could be 17- if you don't want it to happen often). If you want to be able to kill a big guy with a small weapon (knife to the eye or something) but it just won't work because the knife doesn't have enough damage dice, as GM just rule that it is lethal because it makes sense that way. You will want a mechanic to determine if the eye is actually hit instead of some other part of the head, but for the actual damage you can just call upon dramatic license. Having an exact mechanic for lethal damage like that is nice and all, but it isn't that compatible with general playability, so use that GM fiat to tell a better story if it suits you.

Re: Undead Labor: why not? Good point. Still I think golems would be a lot more popular than undead as an automaton labor force.

Re: Powerball I would go for a "capture the flag" kind of game on a large obstacle course, except that the flag is mobile and fragile and probably hard to find (a small critter or robot, probably with stealth powers). Each team has to find the "flag" and get it back to their goal without it being damaged (penalties to the team that hurts the flag). Combat monsters will just stomp the other team, speedsters would try to get in and out quickly, mentalists could mislead the other team while finding the flag themselves, characters with enhanced senses could find the flag more easily, etc. A well-balanced team would have some players running interference while others retrieved the flag. The obstacles would be varied to give different character types different challenges and could range anywhere from the mundane (walls, chasms, pools of various substances) to hazards like monsters or hunter robots. Depending on the flavor you want, the field could be huge and the flag hard to find, or it could be comparatively small and the flag is just hard to catch.