Thia Halmades

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.

Re: Poison Gas Cloud Hmm. Thinking on this, I would propose the following: We accept as True that you can only deal the damage on your own phases, unless you were to purchase DoT for the power, but let's clarify a couple of things. 1) Constant does work as you say -- it's the phase on which you're aiming the Flamethrower at the target. Given. See my example of this below. 2) An AoE works as written -- if you're in the AOE, you're subject to the AOE. In this sense, Constant doesn't really "do" anything, because ... well, because it's an AOE. A Constant AoE means that you're always targeting... the hex, and that isn't strictly necessary, except in specific circumstances (like a flamethrower). Now, where you'll note in the thread, people are changing your question via mental auto response, i.e., they know that in an AoE scenario, a character only takes damage on that character's phase. So if I, The Lord Captain Thia Halmades, step into a burning building and have a SPD 4, I will take damage/choke/etc. on 3, 6, 9 & 12. The building is on fire, and the effect would be modeled as an AoE -- I take damage on all of my phases. By advent of you going Constant, you're changing this from a "burning circle, where if I'm in it, I get burned, to a Flamethrower, a Constant Attack that deals damage on your turn. The easiest thing to do is build a large enough, lethal enough AoE so that anyone standing in said AoE takes damage, period. Once the AoE goes off, you're good to go. Its the Constant that's throwing you off.

Re: Ran my first hero system game yesterday. My bad. This is what I get for being punchy when I reply. DCs are comparatively straight forward, so I think that's my brain auto-shifted to what it takes as complex (the OCV/DCV thing). DCs run on a 1:1 chart with some fiddling variations, i.e., 6 DCs is always 2d6 Killing, 7 is 2d6+1, 8 gets tricky, as it's either 2d6 1/2, or 3d6-1 -- and that's assuming a straight chart conversion. For instance, 1 DC is always, on its own, 1 pip/point of damage, so you could convert 7 DCs to 1d6+4, if you really wanted too. Is there something above/beyond that which you needed assistance with?

Re: Ran my first hero system game yesterday. No such creature exists yet -- hopefully Steve'll get off his keister and whip one up here shortly, but you can probably still get the 5th Ed version which, while no longer exact, still helps and has enough critical information to warrant its use. On the DC thing, I'll try and give you the key that I use: Get out a piece of paper. Have your players write down the numbers 6 - 14 in order. Have them, then, write THEIR OWN OCV above the 11. Then on either side, go either down one, or up one. So if you have an OCV (final, or "normal," not just the stat) of 8, you write "8" over the 11. Now above 12, write 7. Above the 10, write 9. Those are the DCVs that those corresponding rolls will hit. It's a very handy immediate visual reference, and the reason I do it that way is because I use the "new fangled" version of OCV/DCV calculation, but all you need to remember is: Number above or below 11 is the margin by which you "made" or "failed" a to-hit roll. I know it sounds complex, but hopefully with the visual aid it'll all *CLICK* into place for you. It's awesome that you're using the system! I hope you get many, many years of enjoyment out of it. Oh, and if you don't have it yet, I suggest grabbing a copy of Hero Designer, it's dead useful for ... um. Everything, including learning the rules. Great, great tool.

Re: Star HERO with... not magic, really, but... Well, this is a common theme, and there's a number of sub projects I'm working on that involve similar elements, but: Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Descent Freespace, there's a ... Cthulu Giant Robot game out there, as well. It really depends on what feel you wanna nail. I don't think anyone has done true magic... woops. Spelljammer. Space 1889. it's a widely explored topic, I can go on like this for hours. You'd need to be more specific before I can offer something more concrete. You're too generic right now, Kristopher.

Re: HERO: Combat Evolved [Equipment Posts & Comments] I don't know who has gotten what use out of this material up to this point; I need to reorg it and place it on a master server (most like starherofandom) and I will also need to roll it all over to 6th Ed (whee...) Meanwhile, I've fallen behind as I haven't played the new RTS (meh) but I will more than likely purchase, play, beat and discard ODST. Which means we'll have new gear to roll out. So look out for that in the coming months.

Re: Dark Waters Coming Soon The advantage of course being the story is not system specific. It'll work equally well in 5th or 6th. And even if you aren't into adventure modules ... this one isn't what you'd normally expect. We worked very hard to give it a new voice and style. So check it out.

Hey Steve, Thia here; For my campaign, I have all longbows requiring some flavor of Concentration. Makes total sense. I have a super-archer, who isn't pleased with it. We've gone round and round about it, but the equipment is built to the campaign rule, and that stands. However, he keeps asking if he can 'buy it off,' as it's equipment the answer is no. More specifically, he wants to be able to pick up "any bow" and not have the Concentration limitation apply; the only thing I can think of is to build an NPA: +1/4 Custom Advantage that removes the limitation on any bow up to N Active Points. I haven't seen a reference to this anywhere in the text, and I'm pretty strict on maintaining adherence to the RAW wherever possible. While I won't ask here "what else would work?" I am asking "Is this legal? Can he use an NPA to remove a limitation, and would the math work in equal measure? -1/4 Lim being paid off with a +1/4 NPA?" Thanks in advance, ~DEM/TH

Re: Discussing Entangles I'm with the SFX camp here; the question is "what is the SFX of the Entangle?" Handcuffs are an Entangle. Hard Foam is too; it all depends on what you're building as to what gets restrained. A Bola might only grab their legs, or you could link an Entangle to an arrow and lance it through their calves. So many options.

Re: Speeding Up Combat I think that one of the major issues in a situation like this is that the focus is on the idea that the PCs must engage every single opponent in the field, which really isn't the case. One group of heroes does not repel a Nazi assault, no matter how powerful they are, it's just "kind of silly." So I would suggest the following: 1) Let's assume your heroes aren't the clean up crew; this isn't house-to-house fighting, there's no need for them to engage with individual Nazis. Additionally, odds the Nazis are going to engage a Golden Ager in direct combat? Low to zero. 2) Assume the Nazis brought a big super/machine/equivalent which is going to rock Campaign Land to its very foundation -- unless our Heroes stop it!! 3) Assume that behind the heroes is the might of Campaign Land's military force, willing and able!! Now. Who cares what happens between the Nazis and the military of campaign land? Me. Because I run heroic level games. But for this to work, in a classical sense, the ebb & flow of the fight between our Heroes!! and the villain also determines the ebb & flow of the ground war. In the early stages, as the machine pounds people through buildings, there are also 'key explosions, and a wave of bombers lay a beating down on the allied armor," -- no Hero should be stopping to deal with this. Break the fourth wall if you have too, but keep the focus on the Heroes being Heroic in the face of their final adversary. They want to whack some Nazis? Hey, great, let 'em, but never let your focus slide into a grind over who-hit-what. If they're Nazis, make 'em mookable. A threat to a 150 heroic is nothing to a 450 super. A few left hooks later and half the battalion will be down. Make judicious (and comic-book/dramatic use) of Knockback. Use the environment; ground rips, avalanches, whatever. Aim the camera at the big fight; forget the small stuff. Then, as they start beating back Big & Ugly, the ground way starts to turn in the allies' favor, and so on. If it's too easy, have a back up/2nd mode ready. There's also the classic bait & switch; "Here's your opening fight, oh, and he goes down like a punk! ... But wait? What's that on the horizon?" And the battle is joined. When the smoke clears, the heroes win, the nazis are on the run, and Campaign Land is saved yet again.

Re: Super-accurate with ranged attacks

Re: Thor of the AESIR Wow. Looks like you played Too Human. They use a nearly verbatim concept.

Re: Super-accurate with ranged attacks Of course, you can make all of his attacks Mental, Does BODY. What? YOU try and dodge ECV strikes unless you're a mentalist. Why does the mentalist dodge? Because they 'sense' it in advance. Makes sense. Mind you, can't do Killing Damage that way, but it still makes sense. You can also: 2d6 RKA, No Range Penalty (+1/2), AOE Accurate (+1/2). Poof. If points don't matter, don't sweat the mess. Here's another: give him No Range Pen. as an NPA for any & all attacks up to WhatEver (which was mentioned prior, but bears repeating).

Re: Beholder

Re: Beholder But can I make ROF Ablative? So, frex, I start at ROF 5 (for a +Silly). If I roll a 5 or 6, it ticks down one. This would allow for higher values and retain an 'off' function. Of course, the GM can dissalow that... Personally, I don't see this being significantly more advantageous than Autofire, unless one were to stack the AF advantage with the ROF advantage. It's an interesting simulation piece, but also seems to go against the 'core' of HERO, in terms of 'one attack per person per phase,' barring Duplication.

Re: Beholder It... um. Beholds things. With its eyes. It went from 'somewhat dangerous dungeon monster' to 'oh noes! teh bossz0rz!@#!!!!' Really, the question is, "What do you want to imagine it too?" and then roll forward. Me? I imagine a big floating eyeball with insane amounts of SPD and Lightning Reflexes full of spikey painful emo eye ray death. But really. Floating eyeball. It's iconic, not much else I would really try to do with it without going all 'Doctor Who' on everyone.

Re: Questions from a New Hero Sorry I'm late. *dusts off bits of goblinoid* Yech. Anyway. You titled this wrong, g-a; clearly, this physical limitation is called Cheap Date.

Re: Rules: arrow build. The Fool has it right here; what it sounds like you're simulating (more than a Transform, though) is Skill Levels, only with Perfect Arrows. You can also go with Deadly Blow, Charges, Charges are Perfect Arrows [see Text*] where you use The Fool's mechanic to create said Perfect Arrows. [shamless_plug]Or, you can do what I did and just divorce bows & arrows completely, now available at in the http://d3-games.com; it's pretty great. And it comes in hardcover![/shameless_plug]

Re: Can you explain Aid to me? Well, if the concept is: 1) The Suit has a limited battery, so there's an issue if it's running (like leaving your car on), and 2) Once activated it must either be deactivated (a free action in all cases) or drain the battery to zip, and 3) It operates independently of the user, I would build the following: Succor, 20d6 to 2 characteristics simulataneously; if you want 20 DEX/1 SPD, then you really only need 1 characteristic, DEX, and have it be figured (thus bumping the OCV, DCV, and SPD accordingly). Since each point of DEX is 1/10th a point of SPD, and in most SuperHeroics there is no NCM (Normal Characteristic Maxima), you should get an auto-jump in SPD. At 20d6, assuming Standard Effect, that gives you 60cp of DEX, which translates to 20 points. Then, limitation: Requires Manual Deactivation (-1/2; if the user is knocked out while the power armor is running, the Succor continues to pull END from the battery until either deactivated or the battery empties.) Poof.

Re: D3 Games needs help for SheVaCon Don't worry. 28 days? We can get you trained. You won't be The Lord Captain Thia Halmades, but I can't you fluent in the magic system enough that you can fake it real good for four hours.

Re: D3 Games needs help for SheVaCon I could not reasonably make the arrangements, or I'd do it. :sad:

Re: Kamarathin Hard Copies! Wow. That would have been... Catastrophic, to say the least.

Re: Beholder It depends on just how ridonkulous you want your Beholder to be. I was puzzling over this VERY QUESTION the other day, and came to the following conclusions: 1) A Beholder probably won't have a cost cap; to do it 'right' is insanely expensive, which is fine, because it's a boss battle if ever there was one. You vs. a floating multi-stalked eyeball the size of a VW Bus. Go. And oh yeah; it's MORE Intelligent than the GM can ever be, have fun RPing THAT. 2) A properly handled Beholder borders on the unbeatable, given the following: 2a) You use an Elemental Control for its eyes. This enables it to use any beam at any time without consuming the entirety of the framework. Additionally, if one slot is suppressed, all slots are suppressed, which makes sense in a weird way. However, if you make its powers Inherent, the point is moot. 2b) Now it can fire everything as it needs to; forget Duplication. SPD, SPD, SPD. Specifically, "Extra SPD, only to use Elemental Control, -1" so it can freely 'abort' to an eye stalk for defense, or fire off an attack (death ray, etc.) when the need arises. 2c) Finally, give it Lightning Reflexes with its Elemental Control, to represent not only is it hyper aware (360o sight, etc.) it's also a natural creature. It can fire eye beams as easily as you or I blink. Mind you; it only needs enough Lightning Reflexes to be faster-than-the-fastest. After that it doesn't matter. But it most assuredly should have them. With that combination, you can adjust as necessary. Want people to get mulched? 12 SPD, the Beholder only has a SPD 3 on its own (taking its own actions on 4/8/12) but it can abort, eyestalk, whatever, anywhere in between. I may put a build together and post it later, but I can barely reply to email these days, so no promises.

Re: Super Fantasy- The Land of Mar'Veldc *sniff* It's ME. And I'm all... a SuperHeroic Paladin. I love being me.

Okay; special effects aside, I have a concept that I can't puzzle through the mechanics for. I put it to you, the assembly, to help me build this in a (if not a straight ultra-legal) rules-conforming format. The following is a flavor-lite version of what I'm doing. The SFX aren't relevant here, the core construction is what's giving me brain cramps: The Lord Captain Thia Halmades has the power, Aid END. He can place the END, for the sake of example, in a bottle. He then seals the bottle. Canonically, the Aid now begins to tick down, which isn't what I want. The objective instead: Thia places END in a bottle. Thia seals the bottle. The END in the bottle is now static; it does not tick down. Once Thia opens the bottle, he gets all of the END in the bottle. It cannot go back to the bottle, it's 'all or nothing.' Once open, it's one and done. Thia then must use the END within X time, or all of the END goes away (it, again, does not tick down 'normally,' although a ticker is on it). I've come to one conclusion, which is not to use Aid, but to use Succor, Uncontrolled. Now Succor doesn't count down; it just hangs out. The Uncontrolled would then keep it 'running,' but time is still counting off from the END used to establish it (unless Red END 0 is slapped on). Which would be: Succor END, Xd6, Uncontrolled, Focus... Trigger? When the bottle is opened? Delayed Effect? and then an end condition, "within X time from when the bottle is opened," or "until all points of END granted are consumed," i.e., Succor gives you 30 END (for purposes of the example) which you then burn through. How would YOU build it?