Christopher R Taylor

Role playing whenever possible, although not everyone is up to it. If someone has a character with 40 presence but is lousy at coming up with soliloquies or being impressive themselves, I give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, I can't fly or juggle cars, but if my character can, why should the GM penalize him for my inability?

It depends on how the transform is purchased. You'd have to buy it as AVAD: no effect vs life support poison, which makes sense if its venom based.

I thought about making Spellbinder turn into a girl, as that would be fun but I'm not sure it would appeal to many gamers. What do people think? I figure its hilarious and would be the equivalent of Vulcan turning into a guy no matter who played him, do you think that would go over well?

Burning Hands is actually really powerful too, but its pretty simple to simulate: short no range cone fire blast. Pretty cheap.

Yes, but if you're basing your math on the presumption of buying another power that kind of skews things. Its a definitional issue. People use "automaton" to define characters with "automaton" powers such as "Takes no Stun" and "Does Not Bleed." I can't speak for the original poster, but I suspect that's what he meant by a Zombie PC. Not a mindless lump of meat that is motivated by the commands of others, but guys with these sorts of powers.

SPELLBINDER This character is based on the "Magic Girl" concept that comes up a lot in anime and Japanese comics (Manga). She or he is an ordinary person with some unusual skills who can transform spectacularly into a powerful spellcaster in a special uniform. Usually this means something incredibly schoolgirly, but very exaggerated and fancy. She has pretty basic energy projector abilities to start with: blast, fly, shield, with a few alternate abilities such as healing and entangle. BASIC STORY: Spellbinder always was lucky, or so it seemed. Even as a child, everything always seemed to go right and strange things would happen in their favor. At the age of ten, a trio of strangely dressed, spectacular looking teens appeared to Spellbinder as they were walking to school. The trio told them that they were Spellbinders, a group of magic-using students and members of an extraordinary group hidden among the country. Spellbinder joined this group and rapidly proved themselves to be one of the best of the group, progressing rapidly through studies and learning. However, when one day a demon they had long hunted managed to infiltrate the team and destroy it from within, the Spellbinder was one of the few survivors. Now scattered and their numbers greatly reduced, the group decided they could do more good acting directly in the world rather than behind the scenes, and the remaining members nominated Spellbinder to take their name and legacy into the world. Unfortunately, as a teenager, Spellbinder has a hard time being taken seriously and is frustrated by this. Incredibly brilliant and better educated than almost anyone their age, Spellbinder feels out of place with both peers and adults. This results in them having an endless series of crushes on people, often absurdly unlikely and impossible choices. Both male and female have the same basic story. Spellbinder Val Char Cost 8 STR -2 13 DEX 6 Transformed: 19 14 CON 4 20 INT 10 18 EGO 8 10 PRE 0 Transformed: 20 3 OCV 0 4 DCV 5 4 OMCV 3 5 DMCV 6 2 PD 0 With Shield: PD 22; rPD 12 5 ED 3 With Shield: ED 31; rED 15 3 SPD 10 Transformed: 4 5 REC 1 25 END 1 8 BOD -2 18 STN -1 15m RUN 3 4m SWIM 0 4m LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 55 Cost Power 3 Instant Change!: Cosmetic Transform 1d6, Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates; +3/4) (5 Active Points); Limited Target Clothes worn by character (-1/2), Very loud and bright: +3 PER sight and hearing (-1/4) 60 Transform!: (Total: 75 Active Cost, 60 Real Cost) +6 DEX (12 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 10) plus +3 OCV (15 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus +3 DCV (15 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus +5 PD (5 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 4) plus +8 ED (8 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 6) plus +1 SPD (10 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 8) plus +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 8) 16 Wand!: (Total: 32 Active Cost, 16 Real Cost) Endurance Reserve (75 END, 5 REC) Reserve: (23 Active Points); OAF (-1), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) plus +3 OCV with spells (9 Active Points); OAF (-1), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) (Real Cost: 4) 8 Strong Will: Mental Defense (10 points total) (10 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 9 Magic Protection!: Resistant Protection (3 PD/3 ED) 15 Fly!: Flight 24m, Position Shift, x4 Noncombat (34 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Magic Skill roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -1), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 19 Shield!: Resistant Protection (12 PD/15 ED/5 Power Defense) (48 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Magic Skill roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -1), Costs Half Endurance (-1/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 23 Wand Slam!: Hand-To-Hand Attack +6 1/2d6, Can use either personal END or Endurance Reserve (+1/4), Double Knockback (+1/2) (58 Active Points); OAF Wand (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 31 Magic!: Multipower, 50-point reserve, all slots Can use either personal END or Endurance Reserve (+1/4) (62 Active Points); all slots Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 1) Blast!: Blast 8d6, Variable Special Effects (Limited Group of SFX; +1/4) (50 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 2) Fry!: Killing Attack - Ranged 2 1/2d6, Variable Special Effects (Limited Group of SFX; +1/4) (50 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 3) Explode!: Blast 8d6, Area Of Effect (16m Radius Explosion; +1/4) (50 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 4) Blind!: Sight Group Flash 10d6 (50 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 5) Lift!: Telekinesis (30 STR) (45 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only to lift and hover 3m and move (-1/2), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 6) Ribbons!: Entangle 2d6, 7 PD/7 ED (Stops A Given Sense Normal Sight) (50 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 7) Heal!: Healing Endurance, Body, and Stun 2d6, Ranged (+1/2), Expanded Effect (Body, Stun and Endurance simultaneously) (+1) (50 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), 10m range (-1/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) 2f 8) Dispel Magic!: Dispel 11d6, Magic (+1/2) (49 Active Points); Side Effects (Side Effect affects both character and recipient of Power's benefits; -3/4), Only In Alternate Identity (-1/4) Powers Cost: 200 Cost Skill 3 Charm 11- (13-) 5 Cramming 3 Deduction 13- 3 Scholar 2 1) KS: Geography (3 Active Points) 13- 2 2) KS: History (3 Active Points) 13- 2 3) KS: Obscure Trivia and studies (3 Active Points) 13- 2 4) KS: Spells and incantations (3 Active Points) 13- 2 5) KS: Witchcraft and Wizardry (3 Active Points) 13- 3 Language: Japanese (completely fluent) 2 Language: Latin (fluent conversation) 3 Persuasion 11- (13-) 2 PS: Student 11- 3 PS: Researcher 13- Skills Cost: 37 Cost Talent 3 Lightning Calculator 5 Eidetic Memory Talents Cost: 8 Total Character Cost: 300 Pts. Complication 20 Accidental Change: Revert to normal if unconscious Always (Uncommon) 5 Distinctive Features: School kid (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures) 15 Hunted: Demons and assorted magical monsters Infrequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish) 10 Hunted: Rival Students for duels Frequently (As Pow; Mildly Punish) 10 Negative Reputation: Cute ineffective kid, Frequently 10 Psychological Complication: Touchy about age, defensive (Common; Moderate) 10 Psychological Complication: Driven to prove self (Common; Moderate) 15 Psychological Complication: Code of conduct (fair play, honor, justice, help and defend the innocent) (Common; Strong) 10 Rivalry: Professional and Romantic (other magic types; Rival is As Powerful; Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival; Rival Aware of Rivalry) 5 Social Complication: Legal Minor Frequently, Minor, Not Limiting In Some Cultures Complication Points: 110 No image yet for Spellbinder, but here's a few examples from anime:

I don't have a problem in principle with a floating city, but turning it into a world-destroying menace was just odd, it felt forced so there was more at stake like he had to shoehorn a threat into the story. It just didn't seem like a real menace like they wanted it to seem. Its always bothered me that studios will give some creative, interesting a project and when it does well, don't trust them any more. So what got them there, they no longer like? It just doesn't make any sense.

Its tough to get right in 30 active points. Magic Missile is one of those powers that's more expensive than a level 1 spell but I came up with a "No Normal Evasion" variant for ACV so its a +1 advantage to require a stat roll to avoid the attack and not DCV. Then you build it AVAD vs power defense or something alternate (magic defense, or something) at +1 and you can make a 1 or 2d6 blast work right. The problems come when you want it to hit more than one target, and the price starts going nuts. Autofire is +1 added because its against an alternate defense. And its harder to simulate how Magic Missile works hitting varied targets at will with autofire. Area Effect does it pretty well (AE any is good for strange configurations) but without the "accurate selective" advantage from the Advanced Player Guide it gets weird because you have to roll over and over to get what you want.

I agree, Life Support probably is the best approach, but if COIL uses drains without AVAD added on against life support, then I'd suggest maybe a 1/4 limitation, since they aren't going to be around much at this point. Its worth something, but not much.

One of the different kinds of enchanted ores available for characters to make things from (and find things made from). Working this kind of metal takes a specific skill called "Spellsmithing" which is basically applied magic. BLOODIRON: Under the battlefields of Jolrhos can be mined iron at times, iron that has been changed from the presence of the spirits and death nearby. The carnage makes the iron slightly reddish in color, and it resists rusting. Bloodiron has a base defense of 8. Working Bloodiron is a -2 penalty. Bloodiron armor gains +1 DCV when the wearer takes 1 Body damage, lasting a minute. This effect does not stack. Weapons made from Bloodiron do +1 DC damage once they draw blood (does BOD damage). Once the weapon is clean or no additional BOD damage is done for a turn the extra damage or armor fades. Weapons can be made with Bloodiron without the spellsmith skill, but they do not gain these special properties.

I think the things Whedon did that I don't like in Ultron were making it way too bleak and introspective with angsty whiny heroes sitting around a farm and moping. Not heroic, not fun, not very interesting. And I wasn't super fond of the overall main story: the levitating town etc. It was just a really weird storyline for anything, let alone an Avengers story. But I think probably a lot of the other stuff that didn't work for me was imposed on him by the studio and producers. Like Spider-Man 3, I would love to see the real Sandman story version that Sam Raimi intended instead of the crappy, confused mess that the studio forced on him.

If you can't hack a zombie apart, what's the point of even fighting one? As a GM I have no problem with that, the Takes No Stun distinction is in how it affects them in game play, not what happens visually. If you take the "loses no abilities" level, they can still lose parts, they just don't become any weaker as a result. A zombie can still bite and kick with no arms!

but only if Indiana Jones is inside.

In the comics, its also worth noting that knockback is reserved for extraordinary efforts or strength: huge hits. Most of the time people don't really tend to go that far when hit. So if your desire is to more closely simulate comics, its going to be the exception when someone is hit a mile, not the general rule. If a campaign starts with the ground rules of people not being hit as far... there's no advantage or loss. That's just how the game works.

Yeah D&D has always had massive imbalance issues with spell levels, which they try to address with saving throws and limits on how often you can cast them. Doing conversions of them reveal a lot about the point values and equivalent power. Someone is trying to simulate Sanctuary (a level 1 spell) with Hero and its really expensive to get the effect.

I don't actually mind the inconsistencies, because they match comic books. Cyclops' blast is incredibly powerful but he doesn't very often use it to move hugely heavy things around or knock people hundreds of feet. Havok's is even more powerful, same deal. But the Hulk threw Fin Fang Foom like another state away.

Since Ego is no longer coupled to OMCV this is a bit more attractive, since it is just shifting which stat you raise to be more effective in combat. The problem I see is that you could have all-powerful mentalists who dominate with their willpower, who have 23 INT and 10 Ego. Which doesn't really make sense to me. Ego has been so detached from mental powers to begin with (on the offensive side, at least) that its a bit odd. I can see the argument for OCV and DCV being separate from DEX, beyond just "more flexibility" but mental combat being completely separate from mental force just is odd.

Well I don't know why you'd do it, but its an interesting exercise. AC in D&D is basically DCV, its avoidance. If they don't hit your AC, they don't do any damage or touch you at all; touch spells require hitting a reduced AC, for example. If the target is hit, they take the full damage (unless they have some sort of damage reduction, then its based on enchantment usually).

One of the things I appreciate about the Hero system is that people can adjust things and build things as they prefer. The rules, in fact, specifically say for GMs to add, subtract or adjust things to fit their campaign concepts. Almost everyone who plays this game has house rules - in fact, every game, even more simple designs like Savage Worlds. That's a standard concept for all gaming, as I've known it since I started playing in the early 1980s. I tried to agree with him and find common ground I don't understand why he's so upset at a suggested concept.

I make the case that being really strong doesn't necessarily translate into punching really hard and you interpret that as superman being unable to lift a plane? Okay....

Well right, you have to wink at some of the physical effects. The thing with strength is that while it can lift gigantic amounts, it doesn't apply that kind of force. And an equivalent blast of 12d6 wouldn't move 100 tons, either. Someone suggested in a different thread to peel lifting off of strength and make it an adder, but what I suggested in the 6th edition discussion forums when Steve was writing it was to split damage off entirely. Make strength merely exertion: lift and STR roll. Then you buy HTA if you can punch really hard, to simulate that, because something that can lift a lot doesn't necessarily mean they can punch that hard. You're right, and we all have to deal with that in our own way. I've found my system works for me and my players. The key to make it work is to not half the damage, so people take 1d6/m distant of knockback instead of 2m; the damage remains pretty similar, but people aren't bouncing around like popcorn in a bag. A good example of what you're talking about is a game I was in where the GM decided if you took shrinking, you moved slower and had less strength. It made sense, but it crippled the shrinking character tremendously. All house rules have to keep this kind of thing in mind and playtest to see how they work out.

Delesgal In high hills and mountains lives a toad with cheek glands that contain an irritant poison which is itchy to humans and other predators, protecting it. Concentrated, the venom has a much more powerful effect. The Illness of Delesgal causes the character to recover Endurance half as fast, use double Endurance, and be unable to eat solid food. While ill, any effect that requires a CON check is at -3 and nausea effects are twice as potent and last twice as long Effect: Drain Constitution 1d6, recover per week, Major Transform 3d6 (gives physical complication: sick Frequently/Slightly) fades equal to body recovery per week Stages: 3 Delay before effect: Segment Time Between Stages: Four Segments Origin: Mountains Rarity: -2 Preparation: cut out poison glands and heat contents in oil until blue crystals form at the bottom. Crush crystals in oil for paste Form: Contact, stores 3d6 months prepared Resistance: Life support vs animal poisons, power defense Cost: 85 copper Of course, the toad has a life of its own outside being carved up for poison. This toad feeds on insects, and is up to 10cm in length, a uniformly light blue color, but misshapen and lumpy. Deles Toads like to climb into dark places like packs, tents, bedrolls and other shelters, especially at night when some heat is there. However, the skin of the Deles Toad emits a in irritant poison that is itchy to humans and elves, causing a -1 to all Dex and Magic Skill rolls for 3d6x5 minutes after direct skin exposure.

Ouch. What did you do to the cost of the double knockback advantage to equalize? In practice, everything works out fine without needing any doubling or changes. One of the things the 2m hex did was distort any concept of distance on a hex mat. Everything was so theoretical that you kind of lost a feel for how long the distances were. In converting characters I'm continually amazed at the gargantuan distances they were build to move. 30m running is incredible. If you can run 30 yards in 3 seconds, that's immense. Pace it out some time, we're talking speeds you'd associate with The Flash. But that was tossed around pretty regularly on character builds. An average 12 damage class champions attack would average around 10m of knockback. That's about 32 feet. Check that out some time in the real world, to see how far people were bouncing around. And that's on average, like pinballs. Turn that into 5m and its not so excessive, but someone with double knockback gets a lot more. More than 10m because of the way it works, the average with a double knockback attack is now 17m.

Hey it takes time for him to find and steal plots from people.

And the average character has 10 body, not 15, so your comparison should be against a 10 body character. And that means 4 hits averages 2-3 body per hit to take them down. So with this information a character you describe is down in 2 hits and spent 110 points for the privilege. Plus, because so much more is spent on those defenses, putting even a small modifier on them is expensive. Just making PD/rPD hardened is 16 more points. And don't forget to add in the 45-60 points it costs just to not take stun to begin with when you add up how much things cost. That's the equivalent of adding at least 20 CON and 50 stun in 6th edition. An automaton isn't automatically mindless, so the presence and mental stuff ooes not apply; no PC is going to be a brainless zombie. So now its not quite so reasonable to triple defenses, is it?