Christopher R Taylor

Perhaps an "incapacitate" power could be worked up, that does stuns, knockdowns, etc. Something that a resistance can be built around, but that has an absolute effect

I can't comment on the build because I'm not exactly clear on how "transmit" works in terms of range, area, etc.

I'm not real fond of Change Environment being the "here's stuff we couldn't figure out where else to put it" power, either. It seems like maybe another power could be worked up for some of them and leave true environmental effects like weather and such for CE. I don't particularly like Images used for light because Images isn't really light, its an illusion or image, like a projection or hologram. Maybe some kind of light based effects metapower that also worked for darkness would be the thing.

For a lot of builds, particularly for magic, I have to build something fairly complicated just to knock people over, maybe something that can more simply represent that would be useful. Change Environment is the usual dumping grounds for miscellaneous powers like that.

Yeah that's true in a heroic game, you'd be working with smaller dice. AP or AVAD would be the way to go, for sure. For some magical effects, it becomes less about the special effect (its maaaagic!) and more about the practical effect, particularly if you're trying to model something from another game. What's the special effect of Magic Missile is a lot less significant than what it does.

Teleportation by its nature, as I understand it, is inherently indirect, so what's between you and your target only matters if the target is somehow shielded by "cannot be teleported through" material or energy. That is, a wall doesn't stop you but a force field around your intended landing site would. So the composition of the planet is irrelevant.

6d6 is a pretty huge attack in a heroic game with like 5 PD and 3 armor for your average thug, if any armor at all. Its superheroics where you start to see that kind of attack bounce. So it would again depend on the setting, but I'd call that a feature. In a superheroic game, you'd want to make it an AVAD attack or AP at least.

I do think streamlining all the sense powers to work in a similar way would be good, so we don't have images working one way, and darkness another. Also, turning mind control into more of a transform-based build than a presence attack-based one would probably work better. Right now mind control is either overpowered or worthless. Theres no in between, and I really don't like the attempt to balance by requiring you to get an exact, specific intentional target effect or nothing. You should be able to attempt an attack and get varied levels of success, not all or nothing. Bringing back transfer would make a lot of builds simpler, you could still use the heal/aid - drain construct to make really complicated ones. Animating objects is still a bit clumsy in Hero, that could be dealt with.

I'd say probably 1/2 at most as well, its not that big a disadvantage to hit two people half as hard as one. Does no damage to environment is probably a 1/4 advantage at most; its almost a push because it limits its use, but it has advantages as well and any time you can use an AE safely in an area its advantageous.

The new Khadgar dungeon dropped along with other stuff. Blizzard is fixated on Mythic dungeons this expansion, they're pushing them like a Canadian Women's curling player.

I thought about autofire too, but its so expensive with area effect. It could work though, give either 10d6 or 1d6 to 10 targets the way you built it.

I've been thinking about an attack that seems challenging to build in Hero. It does x damage, say, 12d6, but split evenly between all targets. So if there are 4, it does 3d6 each, if there are 2, they take 6d6 each. Its sort of an area effect, but it only hits a single target if there's only one person there (it doesn't damage anything else in the area). My concepts are: 1- 12d6 Radius, with limitations that make it do less damage to each target the more are in the area and only damage targets (possibly an advantage). 2- 1d6 radius, with lots of linked 1d6 attacks structured so each target takes the damage evenly divided.

Gladiator from the Imperial Guard is closer to an exact copy of Superman. If they did this story, I'd love it

I didn't mean it to sound unfriendly, it just looks like he's looking for a game without some of Hero's more complicated mechanics and with different roll structures, and there are a lot of systems out there they might like better. The problem with text is that there's no tone of voice, so you have to guess at what people intend. Probably its best to not presume malice without some sort of cause or indication?

Why not just find a set of rules you like better and play that instead?

Well, who knows what his concept of powerful is, he may just not realize how powerful Hulk or Thor are. Binary was insanely powerful but I doubt we'll see her.

I really liked Cloak and Dagger back in the day, but there's no way she's gonna have that costume on TV.

Its going to depend on the setting a lot. Do you mean for a high fantasy setting, a pulp setting, a medieval low fantasy setting, an urban fantasy setting, a Champions game? Each one will have different sorts of approaches. The high fantasy game will generally have tons of spells from a huge list, that they are only able to access some at a time, especially if you want to go the D&D/Vancian route. Low fantasy will have fewer spells but all tend to be available at any time, of low power. Champions wizards usually have a power pool because they can do basically anything. For Champions, I find a multipower with basic effects along with a few outside the multipower for constant use (defenses, for example) is usually fine. You'll find that you don't actually use most of those weird special powers very often like tunneling and sending a message to someone 100 miles away in a whisper. You can limit your character to pretty specific stuff like an energy projector, then add some strange things in like teleport and telekinesis to make it feel more magical. Throw in some foci that influence but don't determine your power -- lower END cost, make the spell roll easier, eliminate limitations such as gestures etc. That way the character can still function without their goodies, but is weaker or more limited. For example, Bob the Wizard has a bunch of useful effects, but all of them require a magic skill roll (modified by the active cost), gestures, incantation, and concentration. But he has a ring that makes the Requires Skill Roll no longer adjusted by active cost, an amulet that makes his spells not require concentration, and a wand that eliminates incantation. All of this is built with naked advantages. The key to making a wizard, though, is to focus not on what they can do, but what they can't do, and what makes it seem and feel magical. Putting some apparently arbitrary restrictions on magic (say, you can't heal, or you can't fly, or you cannot summon, or even something like spells won't work on people wearing x amount of metal or with religious devices) makes a big difference to making it seem magical instead of just Silver Surfer cosmic power. Also, making the spells seem like spells rather than powers helps. Standard magic limitations like gestures, etc help. But so do fancy names. Dr Strange does the same basic flame blast as the Human Torch, but its the Crimson Flames of Dormammu, not "Flame on!" And giving the special effects more magical seeming designs makes a big difference as well. Don't make it a bolt of lightning from your fingertips, Dr Thunder does that. Make it a bird that flies overhead and breathes lightning on them. Don't teleport with a "bamf", open up a circle in the air ringed with glowing runes and step through.

Is he killing people off this season? Or is the trailer just misleading?

Yeah his reboot of Superman was really, really great and truly definitive, just like his Fantastic Four reboot.

In editions up to 6th, its Transfer, continuous. In the new editions its drain/heal or aid, maybe DOT.

You'll notice though that I never say "the rules say this," I always frame it in terms of "this is how things should be." Then when people respond with "the rules say this" I respond with, "that's nice, but this is the way it should be."

Well I'll keep in mind you aren't interested in discussing anything about how the rules might change, or should be different, since that doesn't seem to even be an option to you. It would, but as a GM, I would say that character doesn't get any limitation for gestures or incantation, since they're limitations that don't actually limit them.

With all those advantages he's probably not doing gigantic damage. He's likely more a nuisance than a killer, so having him around nibbling away at targets is likely acceptable in your game. If its not, take a look at the active points you're allowing vs the defenses on the enemies. Also, if there's an invisible sniper, Area Effect helps find them, so the bad guys should try that.

That's because I'm not. Houserules are what people do with their campaigns to adjust rules to fit their ideas. What I'm talking about is whether the rules as written make sense and ought to be that way. Should darkness vs sound negate incantations? Or should that make no difference? Should another ability stop them instead? Not "here's how I do it" but "should the rules be the way they are written, and could it be done better?" See Hugh's comment about absurdity and probably being wrong. I see gestures and incantation as parallel limitations: each requiring excessive sensory activity to make a power function. Both should function in parallel manners.