tarragon

Re: How to Build: Interval

The second form of this is covered by Delayed use in the Advanced Players Guide (APG 144).

Re: How does flash work. AKA I am an idiot.

a 3d6 may only put them out for 2 segments having no effect at all.

It leaves them at 1/2 DCV to any of your friends who have a saved action. In the right circumstances that's incredibly useful for a 15 point power.

Re: Help with Old West Weapon design

My first thought is that the guns are free and this is a Psych Complication to only use limited weapons.

The value of paying points for a weapon is getting to define it better and getting something others don't have and getting it back. I'm trying to figure out what advantage you get when you buy an otherwise standard weapon. The only advantages I can think to give as a GM would be better access. If the party looses all their weapons somehow you'll get a replacement easier than the others will. In fact, this is the opposite of what will happen to this character.

Re: As A Hero Gamer, Do You Use The Surbrook's Stuff Website?

I love looking at the character archive. I primarily use the adoptions. Both as a way to judge character strength and as a model for for characters with similar abilities and characteristics. If I can come up with a character concept that I can compares to a known character I can often find that character or someone similar to base my own writeup on.

Since you asked I found your resources section which I hadn't looked at before but will give me a lot of reading to do.

My ultimate wish list item, and I know how much work it is so I don't expect to actually see it, would be a parametric search of the hosted characters. I'd love to be able to search by one or more criteria such as total points, edition, keywords, heroic/superheroic.

Re: Unsure how, why, where... or _whether_ to start!

I personally went with the books + PDFs option. The books are really nice and I can't imaging running a gaming system without physical books to thwap the rules lawyers with. HERO absolutely has the best indexes of any gaming books, you could get along with just the physical books. Even so being able to search the PDFs is a nice step up. That and being able to carry the hero books where ever I am by keeping them on my keychain flash drive and not in a backpack pushed me over into getting both.

Re: Unsure how, why, where... or _whether_ to start!

Surprisingly, to me anyway, no one has mentioned Narf's wonderful 2 page intro to HERO. http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/77944-Hero-In-Two-Pages-Complete?p=1967242

As others have said all of Hero's complexity is up front. Once the GM has the world the way they want it and the characters are built the play is actually quite simple and can be very fast. Narf's document works well as a handout for players and covers everything you need to know to play.

Edited: Yes I edited this 12 years (!!!) later.  Wha can I say, I was looking for this again. 

This is kind of a split from a discussion starting at the end of the 6E Characteristic Maximum thread where both mayapuppies and killer shrike are noticing lower CVs in Heroic level games and a follow up to my thread 5E character in 6E game where I talk ask about just dropping5E characters in a 6E game.

I'm starting up a new 6E fantasy campaign after not having GM'd since the early '90s. I'd like to keep my workload as small as possible so I'm planning on making heavy use of the 5E Bestiary and Monsters books.

Almost everything seems to work if I drop these in untouched with one exception. My thinking is to keep the PCs CV in the 4-6 range. More than that an the costs get prohibitive. They'll still be beyond normals with their 3 CV, particularly once the PCs add martial maneuvers and skill levels. The problem is that it seems like a lot of the book monsters would seriously outclass them at that level.

Currently one PC has been built and will probably serve as a model for the others. She's a prodigy light fighter with OCV 5 DCV 6, with no skill levels and a good set of the fencing maneuvers.

I'd still like to use these books with minimal effort if I can. I'm thinking of taking the sheets as is with the exception of CV which I would calculate as DEX/4 or DEX/5. A number of the sheets use breakpoint DEXs, 14 and 20 are very popular. With the division I suggest that would change:

[font="Courier New"]
DEX    Cur CV    /4 CV     /5 CV
10       3         3          2
11       4         3          2
12       4         3          2
13       4         3          3
[b]14       5         4          3[/b]
15       5         4          3
16       5         4          3
17       6         4          3
18       6         5          4
19       6         5          4
[b]20       7         5          4      [/b]        
[/font]

Anyone have experience with using the 5E books relatively untouched in 6E?

Any thoughts on my idea of changing the CV divider?

Am I simply wrong to think that PC CVs will end up in the 4-6 range?

Re: Placed shots effective?

Realize that you can hit the head all you want... as long as you don't get the benefits of a Called Headshot.

Some groups are OK with that kind of thing and some don't get it. I'm on the OK side of this; I wish more people were.

Re: How do you build a vampire template in 6E?

The problem you (the OP) are running into is fundamental to the system. We track points as kind of a rating of effectiveness for PCs and NPCs. With that we can try and maintain balance between PCs and to have a quick and dirty way to compare characters. You are trying to add effectiveness (stronger, faster, tougher) to a target character permanently by spending points on an attacking character. The normal way that effectiveness is gained permanently is accomplished is to make the character getting more effective pay the points for those powers and skills. There is no RAW (Rules As Written) to accomplish what you want to do because it's against the basis of the system.

To do it you need to get a little meta about the system and figure out what you want. You want a vampire version of someone to be more powerful than the non-vamp version of that person. You want vampires to be able to turn others into vampires and you want vampires to pay a fair amount for that ability. You want PCs that are transformed to remain playable.

People have suggested summon or transform with a bit of modification. From my point of view those are perfectly fine ways to go if the target isn't playable afterwards. If you let the new vamp remain playable you have a point imbalance to deal with. Some groups are just fine with that kind of imbalance, but it takes very mature players who understand the system well and can play to concept. A lot of groups have problems due to point envy.

I can suggest another possibility. First, make them more powerful by making the character being changed pay the cost of al the new abilities. It's the fair by the book way. If it's a PC they spend XP or if they don't have it, they borrow XP and buy the abilities. This kind of character rewrite was often called a radiation accident in older rulesets. If the target is an NPC they they pay the points for it but NPCs are easier, the GM assigns NPC points as appropriate. So the GM can add the points or make them disappear to "earn them"

Second to make the attacking character pay for the ability you're going to have to estimate a price. Find a way to come up with what you think a fair price is. You can start with the cost of having bought this a Transform or a Summon. Alternatively you can treat it as a perk. Compare the utility to the various perks that exist, it's kind of like Access, and it's kind of like Fringe Benefit. Is this more or less useful than Diplomatic Immunity, License to Kill, something like that? Then call it a new perk: Vampire Transform 10 pts

Re: Firearms in fantasy?

Interesting. It has been a long time since I've done this so I may be misremembering.

Let me clarify, I don't recall seeing people maintain the flints or replacing them. But I also didn't read the original question well enough either. Talking at a higher level people would adjust the lock mechanism and reseat the flint occasionally. On the other hand, SSgt Baloo's find seems way to often for adjustments I remember.

Of course this is also 20 years ago, I'm not going to claim my memory as definitive and Baloo has a source. I'd go with that.

Re: Firearms in fantasy?

About how many times can a single flint be used to fire a flintlock musket?

I used to shoot period firearms. Mostly caplock for me, but there were plenty of guys who shot flintlocks. Even over the course of a week long shoot I never saw one of them maintain or replace the flints in anyway or even talk about the need to.

Re: Ranged HA - What so bad about it

. But someone with 60 STR and a Blast 12d6 for throwing things is paying the full price twice.

Actually... In 6E is there a downside to putting STR and a blast in a multipower? Moving STR out of characteristics doesn't lose you any figures.

I don't see the downside.

Re: Easiest way to... emulate 5th negative skill levels in 6th

27 points per -1 to affect all characteristic and skill rolls' date=' and OCV at the same time..[/quote']

 

I never used them but wasn't the old Negative Skill level -1 to any one thing at a time?

Re: Working Notes for my Campaign Conversion to 6E

You could grandfather the characters in. If you were happy with the character balance before then don't worry about it. Convert them over directly, them let them play as they are and ignore the point differences. 6E doesn't play any differently than 5E so if the characters were balanced before they should still be balanced.

Re: How do you build a vampire template in 6E?

If it's a good idea don't drop it because because you can't come up with a cost for the mechanics cost it. This is a plot device and plot devices don't need to be costed cleanly.

If this is for an NPC just give them the ability. NPC costs are hidden from the players so they'll never know anyway.

If this ability is for a PC you can just set a value that seems appropriate. Treat it like a perk, 10 points to be able to turn others.

Re: FTL Travel

According to 6e2:17 by default everyone is assumed to act at speed 2 when out of combat. If you treat vehicles the same way and it doesn't matter how fast your vehicle is, they all use the same SPD when just cruising.

Re: Pamela Isley's Character Thread

Gestures is meant for big magicy mystic motions. Power coming from the palm is simply part of the power definition; check out point of origin on 6e1:126.

In terms of mechanics someone without gestures frozen in a block of ice up can't just blast away freely but could blast the ice block holding them. An entangle or a grab stops general attacks but powers can still be used on the entangle itself. Not being able to attack freely while tied up isn't gestures on the power, it part of being tied up.

Re: Pamela Isley's Character Thread

I can't imagine a typical energy projector being able to shoot their blasts if they are all tied up. Those with burst abilities (like Amethyst and Flamewave) could use those. It's something I would need to play out to see if mechanics should trump concept a little.

Can you clarify what you expect the gestures to be? Think of it this way, if a blast has gestures the character can't fire it, can't get any energy out at all, if they are simply taped to a chair or even simply in a narrow corridor.

Based on my M&M experience' date=' I think it would be hard to play a character with just one blast as their only power. That's why I went with the multipower. Bluebird and Amethyst might be relatively new heroes, but they are built with the 400 point base. I think Teen heroes, built on a smaller base, might be more indicative of heroines that have only 1-2 abilities. But you do make a really good point.[/quote']

 

I don't disagree, having a single blast can really limit your options. But just shooting isn't your only option, look though the combat maneuvers for some other options, there are a ton of combat maneuvers to help mix it up. If you're having problems hitting spread for pluses to hit or set and brace, if you need to smack a dozen agents spread to hit multiple targets or MPA, if you need more damage rapid attack for multiple hits or haymaker. You can disarm, you can cover someone, you can snap shot, hipshot, strafe, or target something in the environment. You can even use the power skill to get a one shot version of a different effect.

 

The other thing to keep in mind, and this is why I recommend this kind of thing to people, is that XP comes fast, generally 2 to 4 a session. You can earn the XP to take a single power to a multipower with 2 powers in just 3 or 4 sessions. I brought up the whole inexperienced thing simply because I picture inexperienced characters not knowing all the aspects of they power at the beginning and they grow by gaining versatility. Other characters start with versatility and gain raw power. Neither is right or wrong and if this feels right build it this way.

 

One new point I noticed. I haven't run or played a 6E campaign yet. I'll probably run one before I play next. I expect OCV and DCV to be lower in 6E than in 5E. My campaign average will probably have averages for heroes around 6. Confirm with a GM or yourself what they expect, but you might be able to save a bunch of point in CVs.

 

That being said, these builds both look like a good well rounded blaster. I would be reluctant to use gestures but even with it they are good and will probably play just fine. Every character needs a good weakness and gestures might be it here.

Re: Flamewave

I really only looked at Bluebird and Amethyst.

Both are described as inexperienced with their powers. They both have similar multi-power with a few different versions of their main attack. This may be just me, but I tend to treat those kinds of multiple variation multi-powers as a way to represent advanced control over powers which they wouldn't necessarily have being new to their powers. I, again just me, would have given them a bit more raw power and lost the MP completely. Then as the first 10 XP roll in I would re-add the multi-power and another slot. Bluebird might lose the multi-power and end up with a single 15DC attack. She would learn to spread for plusses to hit and maybe leave some other tricks like bouncing the attack and some other tricks while she's earning those first XP.

You already have the power skill, that's really good and a great justification for buying other powers over time.

BB has all and Amethyst has most of their attacks with gestures. That's OK but you need to understand how much that can hurt if they get grabbed or entangled. They will be unable to escape an entangle or a (hero level) grab without help.

Re: How do you build a vampire template in 6E?

I can't come up with enough offsets for a Twilight vampire.

Whatever method you use you're going to have problems adding that much power with out limitations. I think you're going to have to step outside the mechanics to do it well. There are a few possibilities that i see:

• If this is applied to an NPC you simply give it to them in the interest of the story. You build NPCs to match what they should do, so just do it.
  
• Applied to a PC treat it like a radiation accident. If they have banked XP they spend it to do this. If you know ahead of time that this is coming up have the player set aside XP pay for it. Finally if this comes up and the PC does not have enough banked XP start docking them XP until it is payed for.
  
• 100+ points is a lot to bank and/or payoff. You may have to just give it to them in the interest of the story. If everyone is having fun it's OK to have imbalanced power ratios. This is hard to do though and requires a good GM and good players.
  
• If this is a major point in the campaign and is known from the start. Start the character(s) who will be transformed on less points. Once the transform happens everyone is at or near the same power level.
  

Good luck.

Re: Heroes TV show regeneration

It's all dramatic license. A game is different than TV. There are a few in story reasons why this happens: the character who regenerates can only show off their ability if they get hurt in the first place, generally the other characters have some other way to avoid the damage, the regenerating character knows they regenerate and doesn't do as much to avoid the damage, finally it's more dramatic but not as interesting to watch a character who doesn't regenerate get hurt.

Depending on the game I would do one of several things or combination of these. Either just let the characters who regenerate take more chances or trade regen for defenses either DCV or PD/ED. I might also give the regening character a physical disad of clumsy to represent the lesser care they take with their own body.

Re: Multipower are so common, why not just cut every cost by 2 ?

Did Multipowers change? Traditionally only if you purchased all slots as Ultra Slots at the AP limit of the pool were you limited to 1 Active Power at a time with Multi slots you could potentially have all of the powers active.

Yes, but in 5ER you explicitly couldn't use multiple powers from a single pool in an MPA even if you could run them all at the same time.

Re: 5e: AoE and explosions

Does the 6E reference specifically address Autofire, or Rapidfire, or just "multiple shots" like the FAQ does?

The text is in a sub-section labeled "AREA-EFFECTING AUTOFIRE ATTACKS" but the text itself continues to use "multiple shots".

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee

I could not live with 2 points for such a talent' date=' if for no other reason than because every archer would then pick it up in a weekend seminar..[/quote']

 

It's 5 Points minimum if you don't already have acrobatics, and then the roll is still only dex based which will be 11- for a mook. Five points for a 65% chance to duck under an incoming blade and fire back sounds fine to me. To get this for only 2 additional points requires that dex and acrobatics already are part of the characters shtick.

 

This brings up an interesting question. What happens if the roll on the Naked advantage fails? Do they still get to fire simply without the advantage or is the entire shot ruined and they get no shot off.

Re: Ranged attacks while engaged in melee

I assume by your example you mean Ranged weapons...Or do swords and such really have concentration now?

Ouch. You are correct sir.