Christopher R Taylor

Cyke is a pretty good fighter hand to hand, but yeah his blast has to be 15d6 at least. I gave him that for the build I did, I think, and Havok like 18d6. Cyclops is a bit campaign breaking because he's a glass cannon, a one-trick pony. He only does one thing although I suppose you could represent his leadership abilities with a CV Aid he can give others. His blast is solar powered, and he can run out of energy after a while, but the only time I've seen it happen was once in an X-Men annual when he was out of the sun too long. Probably not worth a limitation.

And its not just foci. Any limitation, how do you work them into the game, do you plan on it or just apply them as the game goes along? How often does that "no effect in strong magnetic fields" come up? Some are self policing like Requires a Roll or x2 END Cost, but others the GM has some control over.

I forgot the Death Wish games, I was in one of those. They were sadly tilted toward favorite players, though, whenever a judgment call came up.

The Hero system, being one of the first - and the best - generic gaming systems out there is incredibly flexible and can run just about anything very well. What kind of campaigns and settings have you used it for? Here's what I've done or played in over the decades: Vietnam War Fantasy of various types Superhero settings (High powered, low powered, school for mutants, vigilantes, and much more) Pulp era adventures Wild West Sci Fi (space opera) Post Apocalyptic The Viper sourcebook (4th ed) idea of superbeings running the world and the PCs rebelling by finding an old Viper base. Only one session, sadly Miami Vice Terminator Supernatural Western Robin Hood setting Japanese Fantasy variant These are campaigns I want to run: 1) Continue my Golden Age Champions campaign, now on hold, at least up to Pearl Harbor. 2) Pirates! Based on the antics of Captain Morgan and set in that time period, still not sure how to handle the PCs and what their rank would be. 3) Super cops, police with low level superpowers who join the force and eventually others learn about their powers and a super-cop branch is established and built up around them 4) Colonial Defense Marines. Sci Fi game where PCs are grunts in low end military force to protect colonists on strange worlds. 5) Continue rebellion using Viper gear 6) Villains game where the PCs play viper agents and work their way up through the system to run their own Nest.

That's how I built my weapons chart for Fantasy Hero.

I'll take a look. I like the idea of mass combat but no system I've tried so far really works well.

Yeah when I made the poll I figured any choice except the obvious long-connected ones to be single shot adventures but... since you can choose more than one, that doesn't work. I've since added a one-off choice but its not going to be very helpful, since you can't go back and re-vote. :/

And now, for Halloween, something spooky. This creature is a bit complex to run in a fight, because its defenses and attacks vary by presence attacks and rolls, but it can either be very terrifying and quite powerful.... or harmless and easily slaughtered. Feral Haunt Val Char Cost 1 STR -9 14 DEX 8 10 CON 0 5 BOD -5 6 INT -4 10 EGO 0 20 PRE 10 3 PD 6 3 ED 6 4 SPD 20 4 REC 0 20 END 0 12m RUN 4m SWIM 4m LEAP 14m FLY Characteristics Cost: 55 Cost Power 40 Undead: Life Support (full) 60 Undead: Takes No STUN 15 Ghostly: Does Not Bleed 10 Ghostly: No Hit Locations 21 Float: Flight 14m, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (21 Active Points) 5 Sense Life: Infrared Perception (Sight Group) 20 Chilling Touch: Hand-To-Hand Attack +4d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4), Limited Power -1d6 for each point opponent makes Presence Roll by (-1/4) 13 Terror: Hand-To-Hand Attack +4d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); Limited Power Only 1d6 for each level of highest presence attack vs opponents (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4) 20 Know Fears: Telepathy 4d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); Limited Power Only to learn name of targets and their fears (-1/2) 12 Frightening: +5 PD (30 Active Points); Limited Power -3 for each point opponent makes presence roll by (-1/4) 12 Frightening: +5 ED (30 Active Points); Limited Power -3 for each point opponent makes presence roll by (-1/4) 48 Frightening: Resistant Protection (8 PD/8 ED) (72 Active Points); Limited Power -2 for each point opponent makes presence roll by (-1/4) Powers Cost: 276 Cost Skill 3 KS homes of children 12- 2 KS common fears 11- Skills Cost: 5 Total Character Cost: 336 Pts. Complications 10 Susceptibility: from presence attacks that exceed their presence 1d6 damage/level of presence attack Instant (Uncommon) 30 Susceptibility: Direct Sunlight 2d6 damage per Phase (Very Common) 10 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x BODY Holy Attacks (Common) 10 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect Holy Attacks (Common) 10 Vulnerability: 2 x Effect Presence Attacks by Holy Men (Uncommon) Complication Points: 70 Ecology: Feral Haunts are simple spirits that form from the fears and nightmares of people, particularly children. The more fearful and filled with bad dreams an area is, the more likely these horrors are to form and torment the people there. These haunts do not form anywhere except in populated areas to terrorize the locals. Personality/Motivation: Haunts are delighted by causing fear and chaos, they savor the terror in their victims and the death they spread. Powers/Tactics: Feral Haunts are minor fear-based ghosts. They are not able to actually pass through solid objects, but can fit through very small openings and are very resistant to things a normal person is harmed by, such as poison or great heat. Feral Haunts are greatly dependent on fear. The more afraid a victim is of them, the more they are able to harm them, and the more powerful they become. This involves some somewhat complex mechanics. In combat, the Feral Haunt will use telepathy to determine the victim’s fears and name, then will do a presence attack based on what it learns (if successful this will add 1-4d6 to its attack with a ghastly whisper of something like “Joe the Barbarian, you will surely die in a pit of snakes”). For each level of effect the attack succceeds by, the fear of the victim feeds the Feral Haunt’s power, increasing its base attack. Each time a character attacks a Feral Haunt, they must make a Presence Roll, which if successful weakens it’s defenses. In the same way, each time a Feral Haunt attacks, it does less damage based on how well the target’s Presence Roll is made. Basically, the more fearless and courageous the target is, the weaker the Feral Haunt becomes. It even takes damage from enemy presence attacks. Due to these effects, the Feral Haunt is not as dangerous as its point values might indicate. A truly courageous opponent can make short work of the creature but a coward will be very much in danger. Campaign Use: Feral Haunts make a decent campaign device to indicate areas of great distress, and a minor threat for city adventures. However because of their fear-based abilities, they will tend to destroy non-adventurers and the less bold. Appearance: The Feral Haunt looks like a wispy ghostly shape, suggesting bones and tattered clothing, fog, and bad dreams. Its size and shape varies as it moves and is blown by the wind, but is roughly human in volume.

Yeah Super Agents is probably ideal, but Dark Champions would work.

You got Coriolis Effect? Been looking for that for a while but I can't find it anywhere.

DC started in a very good direction when they did Crisis on Infinite Earths, it allowed them a reboot while keeping the continuity they liked, but they threw that all away in short order.

Its interesting, and I could see it being a useful device. Since most combats only last 2-3 turns anyway, getting that extra phase the next turn would be almost like an Aid based on watching combat: you just get better at it.

I've done it with images before, a perception roll to even notice him. When he's active and speaking the roll is easy, when not he just blends into the background and nobody can see where he went. The Invisible Power Effects on Mental Illusion is superior though, because it would make people just forget he was there and not remember the illusion when it wore off. Its an elegant build.

Yeah you can build a lot of the X-Men really cheap. I could even argue that you overbuilt his stats a bit, could convert those into his armored uniform (yeah, their suits have armor). Also, I'd built his "eyes blast everything in sight" as a complication, not a power. He's almost never used that offensively because its so uncontrollably destructive. 10d6 sounds low but that's probably campaign based. And he should have a considerable amount of mental defense, depending on when you built him - Professor X trained all of them in shielding their minds. He's really REALLY accurate with that blast, so definitely lots of levels and CV, including bonuses for sweep and bounce maneuvers.

Dark Champions supposedly covers that but I agree that an espionage book would be a good direction to go.

Champions in 3d had some of that, but a time travel supplement could be fun, just a series of different adventures set through time and a story that could be used to connect them all like Fantasy Battlegrounds had, if the GM wants to use that option for a story.

A tougher question is how do you balance limitations with story? OAF is worth -1 limitation but how often do you remove peoples' foci? Do you use a formula like 1/play session for -1?

I'm trying to think of good ways that could be written though. What would that evolution look like? I guess you could start at the ground level with the formation of a team, then gaining backers and a base, a few vehicles, some more popularity and status. Respect and support of existing law enforcement and world community, and finally the orbital satellite base with teleporters? My Golden Age Champions game could easily have that kind of arc, but it would take a while. In the game it took 2 years to get real support from Roosevelt and the NYC government.

Its interesting to me because it seems that people here are less interested in one-off adventures they can drop into their campaign so much as wanting a structured campaign setting with a chain of adventures in it they can play. People must be running short on time

It took a bit of thought to work out the practical aspects of summoning bases and vehicles, which I wrote up in the Codex, but here's an example of a spell that does just that CITADEL EFFECT: Creates a temporary keep Active Cost: 37 Range: no Real Cost: 6 Gesture: yes Spell Roll: -4 Incantation: yes END Cost: 4 Side Effect: yes Casting Time: minute Concentrate: ½ DCV Focus: OAF This spell creates a tower out of thin air to act as an instant fortification. While the tower is temporary and will vanish on it’s own after a month, it’s defense can be a lifesaver. Unlike the Travelhut, this is not magical and will not provide any sustenance or protection from the elements beyond simple shelter, but is significantly tougher and bigger. The Citadel constructed by this spell is detailed in Appendix 1 of this Codex. It will last one day at the base level of this spell. POWERS: Summon (123 pts) Keep MODIFIERS: Loyal Amicability (+1/2); Bonus (-1), Extra Time One Minute (-1 1/2), Gesture (-1/4), Incantation (-1/4), OAF (-1), Concentrate ½ DCV (-1/4), Side Effect 1d6 Flash and 3d6 STN Drain (-1/2) [+1/2; -4 3/4] ACTIVE / REAL COST FOR OTHER AMICABILITY: None=25/4; Friendly=31/5; Devoted=44/8; Slave=50/9 pts And the base it summons: Keep Val Char Cost 8 BODY 6 11/13 PD 14 6/8 ED 6 Characteristics Cost: 34 Cost Power 8 Dungeon: Resistant Protection (2 PD/2 ED) (Protect Carried Items) (16 Active Points); Partial Coverage (covers 81 m^3; three 3m x 3m cells; -1) 22 Ballista: Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6, Armor Piercing (+1/4) (67 Active Points); Extra Time (Extra Phase, -3/4), Limited Power Crew Served by 2 (-1/2), Limited Power Real Weapon (STR Min 30) (-1/4), Beam (-1/4), Limited Range (400m; -1/4), 32 Charges (+1/4) Powers Cost: 30 Cost Skill 3 PS: Cooking 12- 3 +3 vs Range 8 +2 with DCV (16 Active Points); Limited Power Rooftop Only (-1) Skills Cost: 14 Cost Perk 45 Location: Distant; Location Easily-defended location, Modifier Underground, Wilderness Perks Cost: 45 Total Character Cost: 123

I've done something like that before, given players blank points to be filled in as the campaign progresses, giving them hunteds, etc

Depends which Dr Fate. The original one, probably, although he seemed to have more limitations to his magic. But some of his incarnations have been pretty questionable.

Probably AVAD is better yeah, it doesn't seem to do more, it just hurts more.

I like the 'extended breathing' thing for guys like Superman or the Hulk: they can just hold their breath ridiculously long periods of time

Yeah I was just thinking it would be an easy device she could use at will (defense being "no openings large enough for Wasp to fly into") which would include things like ear holes. She's blasted more than one big bad guy right in the ear, for bonus damage. Mostly though, her blasts bounce off even moderately tough guys. She uses indirect attacks like collapsing things on them and cutting electrical wires, etc. That's something I wish I could get players to try more often but they seem to lose all creativity when their powers don't work well.