Jump to content

Thia Halmades

HERO Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8,650

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Thia Halmades

  2. Space fightercraft in RPGs.

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Space fightercraft in RPGs.

     

    Sometimes people need a break from these boards. Either that or they explode in some spectacular way that makes Dan Ban them forever. Hopefully Nyrath will be back' date=' I really enjoy his projectRho site.[/quote']

     

    Yes, I was on the list of people who needed a break. Now I never stopped working in HERO -- if anything, I've been more active than ever. But I needed to get away. I'm hoping to maintain my return at long last. Post some new projects. Figure out how to blog.

  6. Creating a Linked power... need some advice

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Creating a Linked power... need some advice

     

    Deja Game: I've fought this boss before.

     

    The HA is a little low key for my tastes (I'm a KA kinda guy, what can I say?) but you've got the gist of it. In turn, there's no "wrong" way to build this -- the 50% DR is a perfectly valid way of doing it. You may also want to build in a limitation-as-side-effect so that when he stops, he becomes more vulnerable/that's when to hit him, that kind of thing.

  8. A Newbie's first power

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: A Newbie's first power

     

    The system is both straight forward (its mathematical at the baseline) and inherently complex (you can, with enough creativity, build just about anything you like). If it helps, I often explain it this way:

     

    A Power is a combination of Advantages (what it can do) and Limitations (what it is).

     

    Rather than view limitations as "things you can't do with the power," instead view them as the shape that the power takes. By taking away certain elements, you turn an amorphous concept into a rock solid and comprehensive ability. Using your example:

     

    Mutant Light Dagger: 2d6 RKA (30 Active), Beam (-1/4) (24 Real).

     

    You have very few limitations on that ability -- it still costs END, it effectively springs from thin air and leaps from your hands towards the target, which is groovy. You could also build it, as, say, a mystical spell.

     

    Mystic Light Dagger: 2d6 RKA (30 Active), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Beam (-1/4), Spell (-1/2 -- This is a custom limitation from Fantasy HERO, FYI). (13 Real).

     

    Or, you could build an assault rifle.

     

    Energy Blaster: 2d6 RKA (30 Active), OAF (Universal Focus, -1), Beam (-1/4), Charges (As Clip, 2x Magazines, 20 Charges, -1/4*), Real Weapon (-1/4), Str Minimum (12, -1/4)* (10 Active).

     

    Those are three variations on the concept of "RKA." Probably the three most common (Ability, Spell, Weapon). Now what if you add, say, Autofire to the rifle? Suddenly, you've changed what the power does, without changing any element of what it is.

     

    Energy Blaster: 2d6 RKA (30 AP), Autofire 5 (+1/2), (45 Active), OAF (Universal Focus, -1), Beam (-1/4), Charges (As Clip, 2x Magazines, 20 Charges, -1/4*), Real Weapon (-1/4), Str Minimum (12, -1/4)* (16 Active).

     

    The bigger you make the ability, with Autofire, AOE, whatnot, the scarier the whole thing becomes and in turn, more expensive. Many campaigns have a cap limit on the powers that can be bought. For example, I use a 3/4ths rule, meaning, you can have a total of n. Active Points (say, 60) but of that, only 3/4s (45) can be counted as the base power in dice, unless I give permission otherwise. So you could purchase 3 dice of KA (3d6 = 45 Active) and then Advantage the power to 60, but you can't buy 4d6 of KA (60 points) because you're over the 45 point cap.

     

    Hope that wasn't overly esoteric, and I hope it was helpful.

     

     

    * IDHMBIFOM, so I guessed for example purposes, please don't correct my math. ;)

  9. Things I May Have Forgotten

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Things I May Have Forgotten

     

    Oh, I see.

     

    So the concept is this:

     

    YOU are Neenja from Clan Bunneh.

     

    I have a band of stalwart adventurers. You are hit with [GlitterFire IV]. What really happens?

     

    1) You are lit up, much like the proverbial Christmas Tree, making you easier to perceive

    2a) In the original build (5th) everyone had CSLs for OCV granted to them to represent that lit target is easier to hit. Made sense at the time.

    2b) In 6th, it actually makes more sense to Suppress the Target's DCV against direct attacks from Sighted targets (-1/4).

     

    Hence, the power now works a lot more cleanly -- once you perceive the thing, it becomes easier to hit. "Swing at the shiny light!"

  10. Things I May Have Forgotten

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Things I May Have Forgotten

     

    I was correct, this is closer to the Glitterdust/Faerie Fire concept, where an individual target is "lit" -- I think that the images here are really a special effect (conveying no real benefit beyond the premise of the OCV). But let's walk through this one more time:

     

    A Neenja of the Clan Bunneh has been spotted. As we all know, those who fail Teh Bunneh may consider their lives instantly forfeit. In an attempt to escape to die honorably, the Neenja of Clan Bunneh is tagged with [setting specific magic & spell] Target Identifier. The target is now glowing.

     

    So that's Images, yes? The first half of this is the light which now illuminates the target granting a +PER effect. Now this gets a little screwy if they pop Invis or a similar ability, but I think that's where HMs original Suppress Invisibility comes in, and that makes a certain amount of sense for a higher-end edition of this same power. For this, we'll call it the more direct "laser pointer," and not the high-end version.

     

    The second half is CV, UBO with the limitation "only on painted target," although in that sense, I almost prefer the DCV suppression concept, again, "Only against targeting individuals, -1/2." In that, there's no additional penalty for AOEs or anything, and it applies automatically (mathwise) to everyone attempting to fight them.

     

    I have to go with that in this case. Images, Illuminate Target +10 PER, plus Suppress DCV 4, Only versus Sighted Combatants (-1/4), Linked.

     

    That won't be cheap, but I believe it will work. Now if I only had HDv6th here at work.

  11. Things I May Have Forgotten

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    What up, y'all? Happy holidays, all that. This'll be easy for... someone who isn't me at the moment.

     

    Paint the Target: The caster illuminates the target, which has the effects you think it does. Upshot: it's easier to perceive, and easier to hit. It's a compound power (I think) but I can't put it together mentally at the moment.

     

    I think this is the same discussion that we had with Faerie Fire, now that I think on it. Thoughts on how to paint a target in 6th?

  13. Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

     

    See' date=' then there's the middle ground. In my High Fantasy Hero game, I wanted to limit the amount of magic weapons my PCs would bring along with them. So, I use the Resource Pool system from APG (and before that, Dark Champions). Suddenly, how you build something makes a difference.[/quote']

     

    Roight, 'xac'ly. This question string is about putting this together in the best way possible, which is not, in my experience, the simplest, nor the most complex, but for me, the most complete. So let me give you a real example of what I'm trying to do, and you tell me how you'd do it:

     

    Note: Steve notes in FH (I think... it may have been HSMA) that a weapon cannot make a body faster. I disagree from a dramatic perspective; a knife fighter is faster than a sword swinger is faster than a Hammer. I'm going to be incorporating a few different things, including, Reflex (is this weapon faster than another weapon?) and Recovery (does this weapon take longer to reset after a swing?) In HERO fashion, the actual weapon will be left as simple as possible, and those extant rules included on the outside.

     

    Add to that the real secret sauce, the Weapon v Armor paradigm, which I'll keep secret for now, because ... it's secret. Sauce. Secret Sauce. I did that with the first two letters of each word flipped, to confuse you. So instead of Secret Sauce, it actually says "Secret Sauce." Clever, eh?

     

    Where's my hat?

     

    So the question I have is:

     

    In HDv3, I want a weapon to be inaccurate. Whenever used, it picks up a -1 OCV. How would you put that on the weapon? Negative Level (do we have such a construct in 6?) A super tight targeted CE (like a Curse, but not, because the weapon is just shoddy?) What are your thoughts? To answer your question, HM, no this is definitely not a points question, it's a design question. Is there a neat, clean way to put all of that into a build without going blind with all the material staring back? Or should I resign myself to seeing a lot of flags?

  14. Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

     

    Here's the thing:

     

    Halliruch weapons are complex -- perhaps unnecessarily so. They confer:

     

    OCV bonus/penalty

    Block bonus/penalty

    Size/Reach modifiers

    Maneuver Modifiers

    Concealment AND

     

    Just so we don't get bored

     

    Attack type: Piercing, Slashing, or Bludgeoning.

     

    What I'm trying to figure out is how to express all that, for lack of a better word, "Neatly." I don't know that there is a neat way to do it; I think I may be stuck with a silly number of Compound Powers, and if so, then, so. But if you have thoughts, I'm entirely open to them. I think this is why Steve just publishes lists with explanations: even HDv3 is challenged by this sort of thing.

  15. Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

     

    Yeah, that's how I did it:

     

    Anelace: (Total: 41 Active Cost, 17 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6+1, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4), STR Minimum 8 (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus +1 OCV (5 Active Points); OAF (-1), Linked (Anelace; -1/2) (Real Cost: 2) plus +2 Block, Bind, Disarm and Takeaway (6 Active Points); Only With Defined Maneuvers (-1/2), Linked (Anelace; -1/2) (Real Cost: 3)

     

    I think it works; it's a standard Northern short blade, paired with a bigger weapon. What do you think; is "Short" as a weapon designation worth a limitation? If so, where do you put it? I'm a big fan of Linked here; I think it's important and clearly states "this only works here with this thing."

     

    Thoughts?

  16. Weapons Design. For fun and if I'm lucky, profit!

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Step 1: DESIGN WEAPONS!!

     

    Step 2: ?!?

     

    Step 3: PROFIT!!

     

    It's step two, as you note, that's giving me difficulty. I believe (he said, scratching his head) that the trick to incorporation other abilities (such as +1 OCV) is to make them a Compound Power. There's two things I can't noodle through:

     

    If I want +1 OCV on "All Slots" in an MP, do I just do that as an Advantage to the whole thing? To each slot, or specific to the MP?

     

    Also, how does one assign a -1 OCV to a weapon? I haven't noodled through that bit of insanity either.

     

    Secondus: How are the BODY/DEF of weapons derived? I'm certain that if I looked hard enough I'd find it, but I'm going to freely admit I'm at that halfway point of lazy & frustrated and if I smack my head on this wall much longer, there may be blood.

     

    Dunno who's.

     

    Thoughts of the Senate?

  18. Analyze, Discriminatory, Etc.

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Analyze, Discriminatory, Etc.

     

    Oh. Right.

     

    "Hey Thia, what are you building?"

     

    It's an analysis power, that allows someone who picks up an object (a rock, a stone, a glass) and breakdown what makes it go, it's functional composition, with a special effect that's not relevant for this thread. The upshot being, I need the user to be able to pick up a rock and know precisely "what it is."

  23. Yet another D&D to Fantasy HERO conversion

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Yet another D&D to Fantasy HERO conversion

     

    Just cut/paste it. Worked both times I tried it that way, although I agree it arbitrarily doesn't take you where it should. Nevertheless, slapping into the URL finder should fix the issue. And I'm sure I do, but as they are posted there (and on the HDv3 download thingy) I would hate to re-re-re-post them. ;)

  24. Yet another D&D to Fantasy HERO conversion

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Yet another D&D to Fantasy HERO conversion

     

    http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/53457-Sorceror-Wizard-3.5-Spell-Conversion?highlight=3.5+wizard+conversion

     

    I apologize; I cannot for the life of me remember how to embed a darn thing. But. That was never my strong suit. That link goes to one of my old projects, where I wrote up the d20 3.5 base spell list and converted it wholesale into HERO. I'm not saying 'use mine itz teh b3stz' (although it is) but if it gives you some assistance, clarifies how others did things, or what, you may find it useful. All five files are there, along with pages of notes from my brain storming with the help of my good friend, and long time HEROite, Hyperman, and many others, although he was instrumental in making it all "go."

     

    Have at, y'all.

  25. bonus to damage for great skill roll

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: bonus to damage for great skill roll

     

    Oh, this is always a fun topic. I suggest going one of two routes:

     

    1) You can either elect to employ the original Critical Hit rules from Fantasy Hero 5th Ed., or...

    2) What I do, which is build those people who intend to deal said "extra damage," build that as a power with an Activation or some such, and then when the attack lands, determine if they met the requirements for the extra damage to go off.

     

    This saves you a tremendous amount of kludging about. It's at the heart of things like Deadly Blow; just buy DB for a given attack, then restrict the means by which it activates, so when you "roll real good," or what have you, bang. Extra damage.

×
×
  • Create New...