Christopher R Taylor

Well I guess it depends on definition again. The 12 damage class/60 active point level didn't change, but in Hero, more points = more power. If you get 50 more points for stuff, that's 50 points more powerful than the guy who didn't spend that. Moving to 6th required more points to pay for characteristics, but not as much more as 400 points gives.

Here's the thing: a character in 4th edition at 250 points in a literal translation power for power to 6th edition ends up only 50-75 points more expensive, not 150 points more. I know this, because I've done exactly that on this board with hundreds of 2-4th edition characters. There's a real increase in power over the editions beyond increased cost. Nothing in 5th edition made characters have to cost more than 4th, people just wanted more points. So the base points for the character went up. There's nothing compelling people to use the suggested starting points, of course. I don't. But its false that the point total or power total hasn't gone up over editions.

Attacks of Opportunity also deal with the abstracted representation of combat that D&D uses; you can move past people and away from people without them being able to reasonably react as they would in a real fight because its taking place over a time period instead of blow-by-blow. That said, I do allow people to abort to a straight OCV attack (no levels or special maneuvers) on someone in more gritty games if they try to blow past someone in combat. Because of the jerky way movement works in hero combat, it helps offset how you can just race around on the board on your phase while everyone else stands still.

These days Thor just speaks with a different font, from what I've seen. He dropped all the Thees and thous because Millar/Nicieza et al thought it was lame and, like, old.

You two should collaborate on it. I know I suggested the Viper's Nest bit because its so established and would be easier to do, but if you can and want to come up with something unique and new, I'm fine with that. It might even be easier to fit into the proposed sequence of revealed rules and bits as a tutorial.

So is anyone other than Deadman and I actually working on this? I mean, I can write it and all but I have other, paying stuff to work on.

Yeah I'll typically build the slower or less agile sort with 14 or so dexterity: enough to move reasonably well but not particularly exceptional. Unless the character is modeled on The Blob, they're going to be reasonably athletic despite being big and strong. This is important. A GM is best served if they are comfortable enough with character design and combat that they have a gut level or instinctual feel for how characters match up. It helps when setting up combat and building bad guys, it helps when assessing challenges, etc.

I typically build bricks with low speed, but mentalists fairly high because they're usually acting mentally which is quite fast - especially in someone trained with mental powers and an unusually keen brain. The typical hero seems around 5 speed, with 3 quite low and 6 very fast. Anything above that is speedster territory to me, but I could see a really well trained martial artist having 6 speed. I've had a few fantasy hero characters played in my games with 5 speed. Just that 1-2 points over everyone else really shows up.

I figured 10-20 because characters started at 10 and 20 was a reasonable max for human strength - lifting 800+ lbs over your head is someone who is in really terrific shape. It seemed to make sense if you extrapolate from STR to the other stats. Figured was a bit less clear, since there were no benchmarks, but you could just use max stats to figure from and see what you got.

Yeah I like both of those better, good designs.

Its no myth, its easily traced through each edition from 4th onward. I mean, its obvious that each edition suggested more points for your superheroic characters (even if some GMs like me ignored the increase). Whether that represents a real increase in power for characters is debatable, but there's not really any way to label that increase as "mythical."

Ask Magnus, Robot Fighter!

Damage Shield in 5th edition was really, really awful. It cost a zillion points to get virtually no effect.

Nah, I've been of the opinion that ain't nobody gonna turn this ship around, no matter who they are. We're past the point of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, its almost vertical.

Dzole Dzole is not rare, but it is difficult to spot and isolate. This mineral is found in pea-sized tan nodules among other rocks and sands in deserts. Effect: Doubles effectiveness of most potions and herbs, where applicable (2d6 aid becomes 4d6, +2 paramedics roll becomes +4, etc). GM can always rule it has no effect on a given herb or potion Addictive: Moderately Origin: Deserts Rarity: -3 Preparation: 2 nodules melted under tongue, then potion or herb used within a minute Storage: d6 years Cost: 3 silver

The starting points are just suggestions. In my experience, a 250 point 4th edition character translates into about 300-325 points in 6th edition. There are more options so you can make them have more stuff, but its not necessary to spend 400 points.

I like that a lot, got a kind of modern knight feel

Why not just buy DCV?

Yeah the more I think about it, the less triggered DCV makes any sense at all. Its either just plain DCV or levels of DCV against specific kinds of attacks. If you want your character to have better DCV against something, just buy that.

During your combat do you apply the rule to not exceed twice the DC of a weapon. I have a house rule where you can continue increasing, but it doubles the strength minimum. so: 3 damage class weapon (1d6 KA) can be doubled for 5 points over the STR min each damage class; +15 STR gives you 2d6. To get the next d6 takes 10 strength per damage class; +30 strength gets you 3d6. and so on. And, of course, the weapon is damaging its self.

I dunno, he always seemed really helpful and cheerful when someone used the batphone.

STREET KNIGHT The Batman/Moon Knight/Daredevil type. The costume will have to be pretty "Batmanny" to get the point across I think, because the name is not exactly clear. At least dark armor with maybe a cloak. He's mostly skills with gadgets with light body armor, and I gave him a collapsible staff to fight with instead of a billyclub, for example. He's not an independent billionaire, rather a private detective. He's got martial arts but when presented right that's not particularly difficult to play even for a beginner, its like picking skills from a list. BASIC STORY: The Street Knight has no special story to tell or trigger event. Growing up in the city exposed this character to corruption in the wealthy and crime in the poor, and the Street Knight always had a basic need to see justice done and wrongs righted. Time spent in the police department in their youth just proved to the Street Knight that justice was all too often not found there, either. Becoming a private investigator, Street Knight tried to fight for justice, but quickly realized something more had to be done. After a particularly big payoff from recovering a stolen painting, Street Knight purchased and had built equipment that enabled them to take to the city and more directly bring justice to its streets. Now, working days as a PI and nights as Street Knight, this character is a scourge on crime at any level and in any place. The male and female stories are the same. Street Knight Val Char Cost 20 STR 10 18 DEX 16 15 CON 5 18 INT 8 14 EGO 4 20 PRE 10 6 OCV 15 6 DCV 15 3 OMCV 0 5 DMCV 6 14 PD 6 12 ED 4 4 SPD 20 8 REC 4 25 END 1 10 BOD 0 30 STN 5 14m RUN 2 4m SWIM 0 10m LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 131 Cost Power 12 Body Armor: Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED) (18 Active Points); OIF (-1/2) 2 Visor: Sight Group Flash Defense (5 points) (5 Active Points); OAF (-1) 6 Visor: High Range Radio Perception (Radio Group) (12 Active Points); OAF (-1) 2 Visor: Infrared Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); OAF (-1) 2 Visor: Nightvision (5 Active Points); OAF (-1) 10 Flash Bombs: Sight Group Flash 5d6, Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4) (37 Active Points); 4 Charges (-1), OAF (-1), Gestures (-1/4), 10m Range (-1/4) 8 Smoke Bombs: Darkness to Hearing Group 5m radius, Conforming (+1/2) (22 Active Points); OAF (-1), 4 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Minute each (-1/4), Dispersed by winds (-1/4), 10m range (-1/4) 2 Lock Crack: +5 with single Skill or Characteristic Roll (10 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), -1 1/4), OAF (-1), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Gestures (Requires both hands; -1/2) 3 Glass Cutter: Killing Attack - Ranged 1/2d6, Armor Piercing (+1/4) (12 Active Points); OAF (-1), Only on glass (-1), Extra Time (Extra Phase, -3/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4) 7 Grapnel Gun: Multipower, 15-point reserve, (15 Active Points); all slots OAF (-1) 1f 1) Swinging 20m (10 Active Points); OAF (-1) 1f 2) Stretching 15m (15 Active Points); OAF (-1), Clumsy (no fine manipulation or extended use) (-1/4) 1f 3) Flight 12m (12 Active Points); Only for ascending and descending safely (-1), OAF (-1), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2) 1 Collapsible Staff: Stretching 3m (3 Active Points); Only for use with staff (-1), OAF (-1) 25 Collapsible Staff: Multipower, 40-point reserve, all slots Difficult To Dispel (x2 Active Points; +1/4) (50 Active Points); all slots OAF (-1) 1f 1) Staff strike: Hand-To-Hand Attack +3d6 (15 Active Points); OAF (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4) 1f 2) Pole Vault: Leaping +6m (10m forward, 5m upward) (3 Active Points); OAF (-1), Requires Acrobatics Roll (Skill roll; -1/2) 1f 3) +3 with block and disarm (9 Active Points); OAF (-1) 1f 4) Deflection (20 Active Points); OAF (-1), Limited Range (3m) (-1/4) Powers Cost: 87 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver 5 Defensive Block: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, Block, Abort 4 Fast Strike: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, 6d6 Strike 4 Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 3 Martial Grab: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 30 STR for holding on 4 Martial Escape: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 35 STR vs. Grabs 1 Weapon Element: Empty Hand, Use with staff Martial Arts Cost: 21 Cost Skill 3 Acrobatics 13- 3 AK: The City 13- 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Climbing 13- 3 Concealment 13- 3 Contortionist 13- 3 Deduction 13- 3 Forensic Medicine 13- 3 Interrogation 13- 3 Linguist 1 1) Language: French (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points) 1 2) Language: Italian (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points) 2 3) Language: Russian (completely fluent) (3 Active Points) 2 4) Language: Spanish (completely fluent) (3 Active Points) 1 5) Language: Street slang (basic conversation) 3 Lipreading 13- 3 Lockpicking 13- 3 Paramedics 13- 2 PS: Investigator 11- 3 Security Systems 13- 3 Shadowing 13- 3 Stealth 13- 3 Streetwise 13- Skills Cost: 60 Cost Perks 1 Private Investigator's License Perks Cost: 1 Total Character Cost: 300 Pts. Complication 10 Dependent NPC: Secretary Velma Infrequently (Normal; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills; Unaware of character's adventuring career/Secret ID) 25 Hunted: Various street criminals and gangs Frequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish) 5 Negative Reputation: Vigilante, Frequently (Known Only To A Small Group) 15 Psychological Complication: Fascinated by mysteries and the unknown (Common; Strong) 15 Psychological Complication: Driven to seek justice (Common; Strong) 20 Psychological Complication: Code against killing (Very Common; Strong) 10 Social Complication: (Secret Identity Frequently, Minor Complication Points: 100 Base Points: 300 Street Knight.hdc

Because that would ruin the entire premise. Because the rules of the campaign were that nobody ever finds out secret identities.

I am the terror that flaps in the night, I am the fingernail that scrapes the blackboard of your soul

This is true, although since its so situational, you can buy very small combat levels and use them which is much cheaper than straight 8 point DCV levels. 3 point "only for trigger" levels seems pretty appropriate.