Thia Halmades

Re: [Taern] My new campaign Actually, I agree with you exactly, around 4-6 is the bench mark for the power level I wanted (doing a fantasy/WW II style grit campaign) and having Teleport really muffs that. It's easier to get in HERO than it is in d20, and since they'll have trouble getting more than 105/120 point VPPs for spells, it severely limits the total effects they can pull off without serious manipulation. I do miss Feats, though, they were pleasantly pre-built. I'll rebuild some of them, although Susano has a great list (including Rapid Shot and what have you). I don't know if'n I'm going with a similar prerequisite structure; I easily could, just don't know if I want to bother.

Re: [Taern] My new campaign Thanks for the update, Savinien. Note made.

Re: Railroading - Forcing PCs to take certain actions

Re: Make them Pay! For me, this is really as much about genre as anything else. If you're doing a 'vested' world where people have to bond with their weapons, hey, great, but don't make them bond with Mr. Longsword because that's "the way it is, period." It's a weak ruling; generally these people are heroic; they don't need to justify every little thing they do with points, there's a level of reasonableness and hand waving that goes into running any campaign. Mark makes a great point - do you really want to debate with someone over whether they added "teleport" to their rope to get you to the bottom of the well, or something equally ludicrous? It's a rope. Let it behave in a rope like fashion, you won't break anything. My solution to this is actually to make everything very skill heavy; sure, you can do whatever you want, make a rope use check (dex based). Don't have rope use? S'okay, it's an every man skill in this time period. Given that this is fantasy, and most people are going to have crazy powers they need to represent, I don't think this is nearly as big a crisis as people make it out to be. Take the Rogue for example. Just as an example. Most people imagine this class as being largely skill heavy with few special abilities. Consider the following: Invisibility, RSR (Concealment/Stealth, cannot move without a new skill roll, not affected by "See Invisible") - represents the Rogues ability to blend into shadows seamlessly. We'll call the talent itself "Hide in Shadows." They can pay points for that, because it's a very powerful version of hide. Sneak Attack (as Deadly Blow, FH) Trap Finding, RSR Concealment, Enhanced Senses, Sight & Touch, only to detect traps, Concentration, -1/2 Skill while either sense is disabled. May take Extra Time. Evasion, Defense Levels (Talent) or CSL 3s +DCV. Trap Sense, Enhanced Senses, Unusual Sense group/Danger Sense, only vs. traps, plus +1 DCV vs. Traps. Can be improved. And that's not even going into all the other crazy involved after 10th level on the Rogue path, or covering things like enhanced perception, the ability to move in near total silence (Gliding), etc. There are plenty of places for PCs to spend plenty of points without going bork-nutters in the CSL department or 'balancing' them by paying for a sword. Also consider that Real Cost and Active Cost are, at times, sketchy based on just how limiting the disads are and what the player is trying to accomplish. Just some thoughts.

Re: And off we go! Wow, nice plan, Mark! I've considered that (Curse of the Azure Bonds uses a similar concept) but never attempted to execute it because I've generally been able to plot hook my fools, which has been good for me. That's on the list of things I may jack, though, especially if anyone gets uppity.

Re: [Taern] My new campaign This sounds like a great start, and clearly you have a plan and familiarity with the rules and whatnot. My strength is in story telling and plot design, so if you need help getting over a hurdle, or tying a sequence from A to B, by all means, post, and I'd be happy to assist. I also have recently flipped from d20 to HERO, so I may hitch-hike your threads as a learning tool myself. Welcome to the boards.

Re: Pro & Con: Using Points for equipment Markdoc's statement on page one sums up my attitude about it. My wizards are very d20 - they get smashed if they try and fight on the line (limited armor & rPD) and aren't going to burn a lot of points on CSLs, especially considering that I use separate Spell CSL, Range CSLs and Melee CSLs. So having them pay for their VPP is really a balancing factor, not a detriment. Yes, you can level a city with a single spell. WELL DONE. I can't do that, I have a sword. And if I'm lucky, you'll be on the receiving end of it. That's part of the inherent balance in a fantasy setting, and not something to muck with lightly. The fees are more vested in training, in getting better, in learning a "martial art" for their weapon (Knight Blade Combat Style, etc.) and other skill/tactics based information. Your rogues won't want heavy armor to interfere in their thiefery (standard rule IMC: armor DC is an auto penalty to your sneaky skills) and wizards have their casting interfered with (same penalty for any magic check). So I don't see a need to charge the tanks, who are the only people who are reasonably wandering around in plate, to pay for that plate when for my money, it's already a 'class feature'.

Re: Chronicles of Gor So... was I close?

Re: Make them Pay! Shadowpup - agreed, but I generally only charge 'em for the stuff they want to build. THEN you are investing a certain amount of yourself into the device. I'm hovering around 1/25th of Active Cost (a direct rip from d20, and the math actually works out well so far). Then, 1 day per 10 active points, and yes, you can do it faster (+time = advantage) which costs you XP (1/25th). Obviously you need time, tools, etc. - all of those figure into the REAL cost, and that's fine. The Grimoire is actually really good for that. And, I'll likely force a 3 point talent "Craft Yadda" prior to them building anything. Might cap it; i.e., "Craft Minor Yadda" 3 points, "Craft Potent Yadda" (prereq: Craft Minor Yadda) 5 pts. (total, 8 pts.) "Craft Major Yadda" (prereqs; Minor & Potent) 8 pts. (total, 16 pts.) but they could theoretically build any variation on Yadda they could think of. Yadda yadda. Thoughts on costs? Additional reqs? Just charge them the Real Cost when it's done, although that may be too expensive, and they can 'lose' anything they build (how do you think all that treasure shows up?) so I'm still fiddling with the idealogy before I test it in play with established characters. Sorry. Threadjack.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? A Perfect Circle, EMOTIVe, Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums

Re: Duration Caps on Spells? THAT is the answer I was actually looking for. Thanks!

Re: Duration Caps on Spells? None at all, actually, I was just wondering if I was defeating some inherent law in HERO by doing it that way. The question is a matter of expressing it with the proper mechanics, although a flat rule about durations of Constants (including things like "Feet touching ground" could work). Thanks. I prefer simplicity whenever possible.

Re: Make them Pay! And if you're charging full pop for spells, you're really just borking the hell out of the casters. I mean, really, making a warrior shell out points for defense is dirt cheap, and buying a basic HKA 2d6 Real Weapon is also fairly cheap, they'll be laughing their heads off with the additional options they get.

Re: Character: Red Sonya of Rogatino Which is why I was referring to an END Reserve, because I'd seen that used elsewhere before in a Supers PC construct (forget where) that made the character "untiring." Allowed more common use of specials, etc. I have no doubt your version is the more elegant, but in an SCA day, you do spend a lot of time standing around, and then you get knocked down. Try a sustained combat for hours in that stuff.

Re: d20 Monster Conversion: Babau Demon into HERO But if you're doing a raw conversion, than you either have to purchase 'Haymaker' as a skill and apply it, or eschew the tree completely (which I've already done anyway). Although if you haven't seen Susano's build for it, it's really pretty cool.

Re: Duration Caps on Spells? Wholly aware; that's just a generic reference that was likely done based on the easy word association, and that the Sorceror in my campaign uses "Ice" as her theme already. That's all, was more of a self-reference than any sort of log-headed assumption.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Nonpoint, Recoil, Reward.

Re: Pro & Con: Using Points for equipment There's a whole nother thread about this, but my opinion is pretty simple. Don't. In a heroic setting, skills, powers and stats should be a big enough concern that PCs shouldn't need to fret over whether they can afford a weapon with XP, especially not if their earning treasure/loot. Second, if you do that, than they deserve a significant reward. Third, if you want them to purchase a dagger (1d6 HKA, real weapon, yadda yadda) then you might consider charging them for the OIF and call it good. Then they'll always have "a dagger" or be able to pick up a piece of glass and use it as "a dagger" temporarily. I just see a lot more management doing that than I do saying "And you get a greatsword and a suit of plate."

Re: Character: Red Sonya of Rogatino Having swung period weapons I can say that they aren't all ten pounds - but those three and four pounds add up very quickly, even on a well balanced blade. It takes strength and a decent constitution (high END) to maintain combat readiness for extended periods of time. I'm almost surprised you didn't give her an END Reserve, Susano, considering how much time she spent on the wall.

Re: Duration Caps on Spells? Sorry, AA, I appear to have confused you. Wizards: Limited VPP using charges on spells (all spells have one charge; each spell must be memmed and slotted into the VPP prior to its casting. To cast a spell multiple times you must memorize it multiple times.) Sorcerors: Elemental Control (Sorcery, Specify Form [i.e., ice, fire, flaming eyeballs] and build spells into the effect of the form. Shields are made of ice; magic missiles have an 'ice like effect' and so on. Sorcery is designed to use END. Wizards use Charges.) That's why I was concerned; it isn't that I care whether the Sorceror casts Flight all day long; it's that I don't want them casting it once and never worrying about it again.

Re: d20 Monster Conversion: Babau Demon into HERO Susano built a Power Attack that acts in part like a Haymaker. I have to re-read it. When I think Power Attack, I think Haymaker, I think it's closer. Although you have a point, I recall reading somewhere that anyone can burn two levels of OCV for DC.

Re: Make them Pay! Ah, this is the cross-over post. Curufea is echoing some of the things I was saying before, but I'll restate the brief here: - It doesn't make sense to charge people for things like weapons in a heroic campaign. - We're already assuming that a heroic boom chucker (Wiz) is going to have a significant amount of firepower at his disposal, and depending on what system you're using to evaluate/earn said power, any cost to the wizard to gain power is part & parcel of the class. - Ergo, while it's true wizards 'pay' for their spells, their spells are, generally speaking, way flashier than a sword in a fighters hands, even if he suffers from golf-bag syndrome (Squire! Had me my nine-coldiron. Looks like we'll be swinging from the sand on this one. I hate demonic golf courses!) - Hence, it isn't nearly as balancing to make the fighter pay for every weapon. Now if your entire mechanic is built on a concept such as 'soul vesting' (which I'm using a variant of, and I believe the AntiCrisis mentioned it first on these boards) then by all means - charge 'em. They want the weapon to be Holy? They can pay to do so. Affects Desolid (aka Ghost-Touch?) Go ahead! Those things you would reasonably pay for, but it's an investment. In a Fantasy setting, it very much breaks genre convention to charge someone XP for finding a magical item, and while it is listed among the options, it isn't one I would recommend. I think this is something you might not get about the rules; STR minima is the thing that says unless you're strong enough, you can't swing a weapon effectively. You can waive it, but then your Wizards are going to be adding DCs to any Greatsword they pick up, rather than struggling to heft the weapon outright. Just a thought.

Re: Duration Caps on Spells? Or, that. Thanks, SS.

Re: Old Testament Hero Admittedly, for all it's a setting I've never heard of and don't plan on playing, those 'Preliminary, sketchy' thoughts were pretty nuts.

Re: Duration Caps on Spells? That would be why I posted, to get results. I can't sit down and run combats by myself - it bores me to death. I'm a writer, and I'm learning this system to free up my hands to make writing my games easier. That's really the goal. I actually fall under the "draft me a setting that I can abuse and give me access to the core math" camp. I tinker by nature, but at heart, I'm a writer. I'm not going to compare notes for hours on end. I am running a campaign one-shot to get a feel for the system, running NPCs and what have you, and that's working very well. If your opinion is, "That's how an EC works" and to not mess with it, that's enough for me. There's a balance between learning how to do (such as build a Babau, despite your build, I'm taking your advice and doing it myself) and knowing when to listen to experience (as I am) and when to forge my own path (chucking what all y'all say and just going for it). Besides, anything I break I can fix later.