Willow

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel Not to the extent it will for front desk personnel. But the hospitality industry does not pay very well. To pull some numbers out of my personal experience, which may not be representative of the industry as a whole, the average front desk manager lasts about eight months to a year, the average cafe manager lasts a few years. I suspect general managers are like professional sports coaches- they last either a few years, or they're there as long as they like. Our accountant has worked here forever. I can't count the number of maintenance supervisors we've gone through. The housekeepers, who are all hispanic, have remarkably steady employment.

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel THE FOLLOWING PERSON IS REAL. The downright strangest guest I've ever encounted was 'Robin.' I don't know her last name, and if I did, I wouldn't share it. We didn't have any kind of official documentation on file for her. How'd she manage that one? The room was being paid for by someone else- alledgedly her employer. We had a credit card imprint and photocopy of an ID on file for him, and the room was in his name. Anyway, Robin was staying day-to-day. She didn't seem sure of when she was going to check out, and everyday would come down with $69 in cash to register her room for another night. (I doubt very much she was a prostitute, btw.) Here's some general oddities about her. *Nobody was really sure what her last name was. She had called herself by multiple different last names, and I could never really remember what it was. *Nobody was really sure exactly why she was staying there. Alledgedly it had something to do with her work setting up a new office, and her needing a place to stay. It's my opinion that she wasn't mentally stable enough to hold any kind of extended job. There were also stories of problems with her family. *She was constantly recieving incoming phone calls, from multiple different people. (I know because they have to be routed through the front desk at our hotel.) *She was occasionally accusing random guests, or people who may or may not be imaginary of stalking her. She'd often call down to say that someone was outside her room, or a strange vehicle was outside her window. When I checked, there wouldn't be anything. *General high wierdness in any conversation with her. *I was called up to her room once to kick some random guy out of her room. He was just about as wierd as she was. *She once asked me if it was a full moon, and seem relieved when I said I thought it wasn't. *She once asked me very nervously if I was familiar with 'remote viewing.' I told her I was familiar with the term. She then got very quiet. *She often told me she had psychic powers. She would occasionally tell me that she was having a good feeling or a bad feeling about something. *She confessed to me once that she wasn't taking her medications. I told her she should go back on them, and she acted surprised and said, "you know, that's a wise idea." The next morning I called the guy who was paying for the room and told him that if she didn't go back on her meds, she'd be kicked out of the hotel. He was pretty concerned. She FINALLY ended up getting kicked out because she got behind on her room payments and we had to bill her alledged employer's credit card for the balance. He freaked out and threatened to sue us. It's our policy not to rent rooms to people who threaten us with lawsuits. She ended up checking into a hotel owned by the same owners (not a Best Western), and with some of the same staff. Apparently that hotel *does* have a policy of renting rooms to people that threaten us with lawsuits.

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel EVERYTHING IN THE FOLLOWING POST IS TRUE. I've only read the first two pages of this thread, but I have to chime in. Apologizes if any of this info has been scooped. I work full time at a hotel. Specifically, I work the night audit: in addition to running some vital paperwork, I watch the front desk from 11 PM to 7 AM. During these hours, I am the only staff member in the hotel. Yes, that means I get to deal with the crazies. (Caveat to all of this: I work at a good-quality hotel- a Best Western.) Here's some general principles for use of hotels. They have your name on file. You can't legally rent a hotel room without a legal ID. (That doesn't mean the hotel will have IDs for everyone on the room on file.) If you're paying cash, expect to have a photocopy of your drivers liscence on file in the hotel, and if you're using a credit card, they'll have an imprint. In addition, those records are fairly long term- for tax purposes, the hotel has to keep those files for at least seven years. Of course, the degree of discipline in this access is another story. As the quality and price of the hotel increases, you can generally expect higher accounting discipline. Getting around this with a bribe will probably only work at lower quality hotels, or with paranormally high powers of bribery and suggestion. People don't really live in hotels. This is a tax purposes thing; hotels are zoned for short-term residence, not long-term residence. There are ways around this, but living in a hotel is ultimately hideously expensive. At the hotel I work at, our long term rate is usually $50 a night- which comes out to a montly rent of roughly $1500, about two to three times what a single bedroom apartment runs here in town. Sure, it comes with free room service and a free meal once a day, but it's not a good deal. Anyone living in a hotel for months at a time is both desperate, and has money to blow. I wouldn't be surprised if towns that are convergences of the weird would have lax laws governing this sort of thing, allowing hotels to actually have long-term clients. Hotel rooms are not particularly vampire-friendly. It's hard to block out all the light (I'm a light sleeper, I've tried.) Any room modification will be poorly-looked upon by staff. Plus a vampire looking for a, say, 5 AM checkin and 7 PM checkout is potentially looking at paying for two nights, not one, or one plus a hefty surcharge, depending on the hotel's specific policies. Revolving Door Staff Hotel clerks require little training, and don't get paid very well. The competent ones easily find better work elsewhere should they choose to pursue it. The incompetent ones don't last either. In the last year I've trained 12 people to do my job part-time for my days off. I'd put the average job-life at around 3 months. Significantly less if you live in a supernatural world. You can have a different employee working everytime the players come in, and chalk it up to the job market- absolutly nothing sinister required! A great red herring. The staff will talk. If there's weird guests in the hotel, chances are the staff will gossip about them. Occasionally, even in earshot of other guests. I'm on a first name basis with Johnny Law. I know several night-shift policemen by name, and vice versa. If something vaguely criminal or violent goes down, I'm calling the police. (This is less likely to apply in seedier hotels that may be operating less than legally, or in places where the police is corrupt, either supernaturally or mundanely. But don't pick a fight in a nice hotel and expect no one to notice.) I'll have some real life creepy guest anecdotes soon, but I just wanted to share some pearls of wisdom.

Re: Some Throw Questions That was my reading, but I figured might as well get it clarified while I'm asking something else too! So, throw movements- instantaneous, or partitioned over several actions?

So, I'm reading up on the Martial Throw maneuver, and variants on throwing. How fast does a thrown object move? Does it land at it's destination immediately? When the Martial Throw refers to the victims velocity/5, does it refer to this distance, or the velocity the victim was traveling at when he was thrown?

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? (And I realize that this not quite 'one roll' combat, but rather 'fewer rolls.') Good concern, but my experience with systems like this is that they can be extremely fast. I don't see why not either. Alternate forms of conflict would just require different modifiers. Yup. In your example, I imagine the stakes would be something like: GM: "Ok, if I win, these guys keep you busy long enough for the real villain to kidnap the princess." PCs: "Whoa! Ok, if we win, we roust these guys quickly, and are able to get the drop on the villain." Nope. Nothing in the rules that says they have to be on the same side. This is a general principle in my experience with stake-setting games. What I'm particularly trying to avoid here is 'status quo stakes'- i.e. GM: Ok, If my guys wins, this thing happens. Player: Ok, if we win, no it doesn't. I find that boring. But then, your methods may vary. You're right- I wrote this with ~150 Heroic characters in mind, for which 3 or so 25-50 pt characters is a close fight. Depending on what they put their points into 300+ characters can see some very increasing returns. Whoops. That was a typo. Should be -1d6. I very much like that idea.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? So, moving along. I put a little thought into this, and typed something up. It's still in the rough stages. Right now the biggest source of feedback I'm looking for are: how do the modifiers look? Are any of them unbalanced? What else should go on that table? And what should be on the Fallout table? **** Combat By Scene Resolution in the Hero System: Step One: Determine Stakes. There should be two sides involved, and each should be able to state clearly what they hope to get out of the conflict. Some possibilities could be “beat them up,” “get the MacGuffin,” “get away” “drive the attackers away” “look like heroes in front of the media,” etc. Stakes cannot include definitive defeat of the other side- if you want to kill or otherwise permanently take out your enemy, you’ve got to do it the hard way! Note that sometimes defeating your enemy won’t even be important at all to what you really want. If the parties involved can’t be split into two sides, or the players involved can’t agree on a single stake for their side, the conflict is probably too complex to be handled with these rules. The stakes should be agreeable to all sides, and of roughly equal weight. Step Two: Determine Dice Pools: Each side will have a number of dice to roll. This is determined as follows: Participants: 1d6 per participant. High-Power Participants: If a character is worth 100 character points or more, they are instead worth 1d6 for every 50 character points. Majority of Character’s Powers are Unusable: -1d6 Character has Particularly Relevant Disadvantage: +1d6 Character has Particularly Advantageous Power: +1d6 Character has Extremely Advantageous Power: +2d6 Superior Starting Position: +1d6, or more Superior Equipment: +1d6, or more Powers and Skills: Every character involved may make a Luck roll and must make an Unluck roll. Every active Luck or Unluck die adds/subtracts a die from the side’s Die Pool. If half or more (at least two characters) of the characters on a side have Teamwork, their side gets +1d6. If they all do (at least four characters), their side gets +2d6. One character from each side should make an opposed Tactics roll. The winner’s side gets +1d6 for every 2 points they beat the opponent. Step Three: Resolution: Each side rolls their combat pool and counts body. Whichever side has the higher total has won the combat, and achieves their stakes. On a tie, the players have a few options: one is to work out a stalemate or compromise: declare that neither side got their stakes, or each got some part of their stakes. Or for a big unexpected outcome, perhaps *both* sides achieve their stakes- this is great for really big die pools. If compromise or stalemate is impossible, the players may be default to a standard HERO combat. Afterwards, each character should roll on the fallout table to see what resources were expended and injuries were suffered. (Pending)

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? I disagree, there's a poster I think has gotten a little flamey. I'm not going to directly respond to it, because I just want to move on with the discussion at hand.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? To those of you who think this is an unnecessary idea, please do one of the following: 1) Pretend it's a good idea, and join the effort in contributing towards it. Or 2) Discontinue your involvement with this thread. You aren't being helpful. Thank you. --- The reason I don't find "just narrate the outcome" to be acceptable, is that it simply boils down to GM-fiat, and I'd prefer a more objective solution, such as the one that the default combat system, or even a simple skill roll has.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? First off, I think character death is never on the table for something like this- and that goes for both PCs, and 'named' NPCs. Depending on the genre, being captured might also be a no-no. If you want to take out your nemesis for good or put your life on the line, you're going to have to do it the long way! Reading Zornwil's ideas made my eyes gloss over, but it's definately going in the right direction. I like Sean Water's idea- perhaps base 11- chance of victory, and then a table of modifiers, like outnumbering opponents, overpowering opponents, especially applicable powers, etc. I'll probably look over this in detail and come up with something more fleshed out.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? Genre-wise, I'm mostly looking for Fantasy Hero or high-level pulp. (See the HeroFIST info in my sig.). So my way of thinking, starting with one-vs-one fights and taking it from there, is that HERO doesn't really have one skill for combat, so I'd start with 11 + OCV. So in this case, it's just an opposed skill roll. The big question is NOT what happens when you win*, but how you figure out what to roll. Problems here: OCV skill levels become really undercosted if you use this sort of thing alot, and HERO is built with a lot of crunchy, crunchy semi-intangibles. *Easy: you get whatever you were really after: "I foil the bank robbery." "I get away." "I end up holding the MacGuffin." If whether or not people got hurt was important, winner gets a free hit on the loser with an attack of their choice. Little details are typically left up to GM or high roller, depending on your playstyle, interpreted based on margin of success.

Re: Resolving a Combat in One Roll? Where we're coming from is games like Burning Wheel, The Shadow of Yesterday, and other 'indie' games, where one-roll fights are the rule, and the game zooms into a subsystem of the rules for the "boss fights." Ok, here's what I had initially came up with before: Every character has a 'combat advantage' roll. This is base 11 + the character's OCV, plus one point for every five active points of relevant advantages. There would probably be a chart to, like "highest STR" gives +1, or something like that. Then the participants make an opposed Combat Advantage roll (for multiple character fights, I picture this using the helping rules), and whoever rolls better wins.

Something my players clamor for is the ability to resolve non-essential fights in one die roll. I was wondering if there was anything like that already in print- perhaps in the Combat Handbook or Ultimate Skill?

Re: Boring Wow, sounds like some people I know... Anyway, I think there's a lot of different things you could use for this, the question is just how do you want to simulate being bored? The simplest way would probably be a Mind Control: Only to Cause People to Act Bored, (which probably falls under the target of 'something they want to do anyway,' given the attack mechanism), or even a Cosmetic Transform (turn Not Bored People into Bored People). Obviously, the No Conscious Control disad is for you. Of course, neither of those are really 'effective' at doing much of anything, other than causing other people to roleplay being bored. If you want to make this an attack, I'd go with an ego-based entangle.

Re: Herofist Template: “Old Master” Quote: “You Have Offended Shaolin!” STR: 10 DEX: 14 12 CON: 14 8 BODY: 12 4 INT: 18 8 EGO: 15 10 PRE: 15 5 COM: 10 PD 6 (4) ED 6 (3) SPD 3 REC 4 END 30 (1) STUN 24 Acrobatics 11- (2) Acting 8- Analyze Style 14- (5) Breakfall 11- (2) Combat Skill Levels: +3 OCV or DCV with Wing Chun Kung Fu (9) Concealment 8- Contortionist 8- (1) Conversation 8- Deduction 8- KS: Chinese Philosophy 13- (2) KS: History 13- (2) KS: Wing Chun Kung Fu 13- (2) Language: English Language: Cantonese Paramedics 8- Persuasion 8- PS: Instructor 11- PS: Your Choice 8- Scholar (3) Shadowing 8- Sleight of Hand 8- (1) Skill Level: Kung Fu Master: +1 to Acrobatics, Analyze Style, or KS: WCKF (3) Stealth 8- TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles AF: Home Country 8- WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Martial Arts Melee Weapons (4) 10 points of skills, player’s choice. Wing Chun Kung Fu Maneuvers: Block (4) Kick (5) Legsweep (3) Tien-Hsueh Strike (4) Reputation +2: Kung Fu Master 11-, among all Martial Artists (2) Powers: Armored in Life: The character’s PD and ED are considered resistant. (Damage Resistance, 6 pts.) Chi Strike The character does +2d6 in Hand to Hand combat against unnamed characters. This costs 1 end to use. (Hand to Hand Attack 2d6, 10pts, Hand to Hand Attack -1/2, Only Against Unnamed Characters -1/2, 5 pts.) Defense Maneuver I-IIII The character always gets his full DCV, even if attacked from behind, by multiple attackers, or taken by surprise. (10 pts.) Know the Enemy: By spending a half phase, making a roll at 11-, and sizing up the enemy, the character can divide by half a certain type of the opponent’s defense. Only the character can take advantage of this, and it lasts for the whole combat. This applies only to the character’s martial arts attacks. (Find Weakness, Martial Arts Attacks, 20 pts.) Peony Blossom Step: The character can fly at a movement rate of 6”, but must end each turn in contact with a solid surface to maintain any upward momentum . (Flight 6, Useable as Gliding +1/4, Must End in Contact With a Surface When Flying -1/4, 12 pts.) Robust Style: Any attempt to use Find Weakness or Analyze Style on the character suffers a -5 penalty (Lack of Weakness 5, Resistant Defenses and Analyze.: 10 pts.) See The Flows You are an expert in perceiving and targeting chi flows, and gain +2d6 damage in Hand to Hand attacks. This costs 1 END to use, and requires a successful Analyze Style roll at -1. (Hand to Hand Attack 2d6, 10 pts, Hand to Hand Attack -1/2, Requires a Skill Roll -1/2, 5 pts.) The Willow Bends Once a day, you can focus your chi energies to heal yourself. You gain back 3d6 Stun and the appropriate Body. This costs 3 points of END to use. (Healing 3d6, 30 Points. Charges: 1/day -2, Self Only -1/2, 9 pts.) Points: 200

Re: Herofist Template: Martial Artist Quote: “My Kung Fu Is Superior!” STR: 15 5 DEX: 17 21 CON: 15 10 BODY: 15 10 INT: 13 3 EGO: 14 8 PRE: 10 COM: 10 PD: 5 (2) ED: 5 (2) SPD 4 (3) REC: 6 END: 34 (2) STUN: 31 CV: 6 ECV: 5 Skills: Acting 8- Acrobatics 13- (3) Breakfall 13- (3) Climbing 8- (1) Combat Skill Levels: +2 OCV or DCV with Shaolin Leopard Kung-Fu (6) Concealment 11- (2) Contortionist 14- (5) Conversation 8- Deduction 8- Language: English Language: Cantonese KS: Eastern Philosophy 8- (1) KS: Shaolin Leopard Kung-Fu 11- (2) Paramedics 11- (2) Persuasion 8- PS: Your Choice 11- PS: Your Choice 8- Shadowing 11- (2) Stealth 8- TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles AF: Home Country 8- WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Martial Arts Melee Weapons (4) 10 Skill Points, Player’s Choice Martial Arts: Shaolin Leopard Style Leopard Block (4) Leopard Dodge (4) Leopard Punch (4) Contact: Sifu: Useful Contact, 11- (3) Abilities: Chi Strike The character does +2d6 in Hand to Hand combat against unnamed characters. This costs 1 end to use. (Hand to Hand Attack 2d6, 10pts, Hand to Hand Attack -1/2, Only Against Unnamed Characters -1/2, 5 pts.) Combat Luck The character gains 6 points of resistant, hardened defenses. These apply only when the character is aware of and attempting to avoid the damage in question. (Armor 6 PD, 6 ED, 18 pts, Hardened +1/4, Luck-based -1/2, Nonpersistent -1/4, 12 pts.) Defense Maneuvers I-II No attackers are ever considered to be “from behind,” and attackers you can perceived do not get multiple attacker bonuses. (5 pts.) Great Leap: The character can leap 6” (vertical 3”) (this assumes a base str/leap of 10/2”) (Leaping +3, Accurate: 8 pts) Dim Mak The character can use this chi power when making a Leopard Punch attack. Only half the normal defense applies, and the amount of stun the opponent takes after defenses is always at least the amount of body rolled. This costs 5 END. (Leopard Punch Advantage: Armor Piercing, Penetrating +1: 25 pts.) Fortune Points: You have three Fortune Points. Each session, you can spend a Fortune Point to gain +4 on any 3d6 roll, or to gain +4 DCV for one attack. (4 10-pt Skill Levels: 40, Metagame Effect: Controlled by Player, not Character +0, Charges: 3 Real Cost: 18) Hands Without Shadow: The character receives +3 OCV against an opponent who attempts to Block or Dodge. This costs 1 END to use, and applies only to the character’s martial arts attacks. (3 CSLs 9 pts. Only to OCV -0, Only Against a Block or Dodge -1/2, Costs END to Use -1/4: 5 pts.) Points: 200

Re: Herofist Template: Everyday Hero Quote: “I may not have the slightest idea of what’s going on, but I’m an American, dammit! And that means I got two big American fists, a big American heart, and a big American gun!” STR 13 3 DEX 13 9 CON 13 6 BODY 13 6 INT 13 3 EGO 13 6 PRE 13 3 COM 12 1 PD 5 (2) ED 5 (2) SPD 3 REC 6 END 30 (2) STUN 30 (3) Acting 8- Climbing 8- (1) Combat Driving 12- (3) Combat Skill Level: +1 OCV/DCV With any Hand to Hand combat (5) Concealment 8- Conversation 8- Deduction 8- Fast Draw 8- (1) Gambling 12- (2) Language: English Language: Cantonese Paramedics 8- Persuasion 8- PS: Beer 11- (2) PS: Sports 12- (3) PS: Your Choice 11- PS: Your Choice 8- Rapid Attack (Use Sweep as a Half-Phase Action) (5) Shadowing 8- Stealth 8- Streetwise 11- (2) Teamwork 8- (1) TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles, Construction & Agricultural Vehicles, Snowmobiles (4) AF: Home Country 11- (2) 10 points of skills, player’s choice. Weapon Familiarity: Common Melee Weapons, Common Firearms (4) Powers: Carnival of Carnage: In the hands of this character, any handgun (up to a value of 50 Active Points) can be used to spread massive carnage. Any Revolver or Pistol type weapon gains the Autofire Advantage (2 or 3 shots). (Naked Advantage: Autofire for Pistols, up to 50 active Points, +1/4: 13 pts, only against unnamed characters -1/2: 9 pts ) Combat Luck: The character receives 6 points of Resistant, Hardened Armor. This applies only to attacks the character is attempting to avoid. (Armor, 6 PD 6 ED: 18 pts, Hardened +1/4, Luck-based -1/2, Nonpersistent -1/4, 12 pts.) Dash: Running +2 (4 pts.) Fortune Points: You have twelve Fortune Points. Each session, you can spend a Fortune Point to gain +4 on any 3d6 roll, or to gain +4 DCV for one attack. (4 10-pt Skill Levels: 40, Metagame Effect: Controlled by Player, not Character +0, Charges: 12 -1/2 Real Cost: 32) “Good Thing That Was There!” The character always seems to be able to duck behind cover at just the right moment. You have 6 points of Resistant Armor, but there has to be something reasonably nearby for you to hide behind. (Armor, 6 PD, 6 ED: 18 pts, Luck Based -1/2, Nonpersistent -1/4, Focus: Cover of Opportunity OIF -1/2, Only Against Ranged Attacks -1/4, 7 pts.) Good Old Fashioned American Work Ethic: Power Defense 10 against Drains etc. (Power Defense 10) Luck: 6d6 Dice of Luck. (Luck 6d6, 30 points) “Take This!” The character has a knack for making the best of whatever happens to be around. The character can use any improvised weapon to do +2d6 damage. (Or the weapon’s normal damage, whatever is better.) This costs 1 END to use. (If you keep using the same weapon, it stops being improvised.) (Hand to Hand attack +2d6, 10 points, Hand to Hand Attack -1/2, Focus: Improvised Weapons of Opportunity OIF, -1/2, 5 pts.) Points: 200

Re: Herofist No, it's just another setting, but I want to clarify that it contains Shadowfist stuff, not just Feng Shui stuff. And that's just the inspiration: I'm not going for a word for word conversion of a given card or character writeup from the books. Here's my updated, quote filled Big Bruiser: Template: Big Bruiser Quote: “Is That All You Got?” STR 20 10 DEX 11 3 CON 20 20 BODY 20 20 INT 10 EGO 13 6 PRE 15 5 COM 10 PD: 8 (4) ED: 8 (4) SPD: 3 REC: 8 END: 40 STUN: 41 OCV/DCV: 4 ECV: 4 Skills: Acting 8- Breakfall 8- (1) Climbing 13- (7) Concealment 8- Combat Skill Levels: +3 OCV with One Weapon (6) Conversation 8- Deduction 8- Language: English Language: Cantonese KS: Streetfighting Style 11- (2) Paramedics 8- Persuasion 8- PS: Your Choice 11- PS: Your Choice 8- Shadowing 8- Stealth 8- Streetwise 8- (1) Survival: Deserts, Mountains: 11- (3) TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles AF: Home Country 8- Weapon Familiarity: Common Melee Weapons, Common Firearms, Common Missile Weapons (6) 10 Points of Skills (Player’s Choice) Martial Arts: (Streetfighting) Weapon Element: Clubs (1) Chin Block (4) Roundhouse (4) Tackle (3) Abilities: Intimidating: For purposes of Intimidation, the character’s Presence is 5 higher. (+5 Presence: 5, Only For Intimidation -1/4: 4) Is That All You Got?: The character takes only half damage from physical attacks (after defenses), and ¾ damage from energy attacks (after defenses). This counts as a Resistant Physical Defense. (Damage Reduction: 50% Resistant Physical, 25% Energy: 40 pts) Toughness: The character’s PD and ED are considered resistant. (Damage Resistance 8 points.) More Toughness: The character has 3 points of resistant, hardened armor. This applies only against unnamed characters. (3 PD, 3 ED: 9 pts, Hardened +1/4, Only Against Unnamed Characters -1/2, 8 pts.) Sturdy: The character suffers five fewer inches of knockback. (Knockback Resistance 5: 10 pts) “Now You’ve Made Me Mad!”: If the character has taken more than twenty STUN or twenty BODY, he gains an additional 3 points of resistant, hardened armor. (3 PD, 3 ED: 9 pts, Hardened +1/4, Only While Under Half BODY or STUN -1/4, 9 pts.) Points: 200

Re: Herofist Here's what I came up with as a starting character template. Note that there's no disads included, he clocks in at 150 and my target point value was actually 200 (we'll see where the other ones come in, and maybe we'll mod this one to match.) Note that I'm considering not using killing attacks and converting everything to normal damage, which is why there isn't any resistant defenses on this guy. Template: Big Bruiser Quote: “Is That All You Got?” STR 20 10 DEX 11 3 CON 20 20 BODY 19 18 INT 10 EGO 12 4 PRE 15 5 COM 10 PD: 7 (3) ED: 7 (3) SPD: 3 REC: 8 END: 40 STUN: 40 (1) OCV/DCV: 4 ECV: 4 Skills: Acting 8- Climbing 13- (7) Concealment 8- Combat Skill Levels: +3 OCV with One Weapon (Player’s Choice) (6) Conversation 8- Deduction 8- Language: English Language: Cantonese Paramedics 8- Persuasion 8- PS: Your Choice 11- PS: Your Choice 8- Shadowing 8- Stealth 8- Survival: Deserts, Mountains: 11- (3) TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles AF: Home Country 8- Weapon Familiarity: Common Melee Weapons, Common Firearms, Common Missile Weapons (6) 10 Points of Skills (Player’s Choice) Abilities: Intimidating: For purposes of Intimidation, the character’s Presence is 5 higher. (+5 Presence: 5, Only For Intimidation -1/4: 4) Is That All You Got?: The character takes only half damage from physical attacks (after defenses), and ¾ damage from energy attacks (after defenses). This counts as a Resistant Physical Defense. (Damage Reduction: 50% Physical, 25% Energy: 30 pts) Toughness: The character has 3 points of hardened armor. This applies only against unnamed characters. (PD, ED +3: 6 pts, Hardened +1/4, Only Against Unnamed Characters -1/4, 6 pts.) Sturdy: The character suffers five fewer inches of knockback. (Knockback Resistance 5: 10 pts) Points: 150

Re: Herofist Cool beans, I'll have to look over those. I'm going for less of a straight conversion, and I'm more heavily relying on SF chrome than FS. I do think we're going for different power-levels. I'm looking at high-Heroic, and those stats for CHAR are downright superheroic. (Although I don't know how badass he's presented in FS. In Shadowfist, he's damn good and efficient for his price, but there's bigger stuff out there.)

Re: Fortune Points For all of you who've said "I need to see more of this," here you go: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49016

Quite a few people said they were keen on seeing how this turned out, so I started a thread to dump everything related to HEROFIST into. What is HEROFIST? It's an adaptation of Shadowfist/Feng Shui for the HERO rules set. Here's some random stuff I have written up. Critique anything that irks you, praise anything you love, and post anything you think I gotta write up. --- Skills: Everyman Skills: Everyone gets Language: English and Language: Cantonese. Modern, 1920s, Future: Per Modern Everyman, pg 46 Ancient, 19th Century: Replace TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles with TF: Horses Powers/Talents: Fortune Points: You have a number of Fortune Points. Each session, you can spend a Fortune Point to gain +4 on any 3d6 roll, or to gain +4 DCV for one attack. (4 10-pt Skill Levels: 40, Metagame Effect: Controlled by Player, not Character +0, Charges: Varies) Real Cost: 13 for 1, 16 for 2, 18 for 3, 20 for 4, etc. Gun Schticks: Carnival of Carnage: In the hands of this character, any handgun (up to a value of 50 Active Points) can be used to spread massive carnage. Any Revolver or Pistol type weapon gains the Autofire Advantage (2 or 3 shots). (Naked Advantage: Autofire for Pistols, up to 50 active Points, +1/4: 13 pts, only against unnamed characters -1/2: 9 pts ) Carnival of Carnage (Mark II): In the hands of this character, any handgun (up to a value of 50 Active Points) is an implement of death. Any Revolver or Pistol type weapon gains the Autofire Advantage (5 shots). (Naked Advantage: Autofire for Pistols, up to 50 active Points, +1/2: 25 pts, only against unnamed characters -1/2: 17 pts) Ten Thousand Bullets: You never have to reload, and you never run out of ammo. This only works on guns with an Active Point value of 75 or less. (Naked Advantage: Does Not Have Charges +3/4, Cost: 56 Points) Superleap Schticks: Great Leap: The character can leap 6” (vertical 3”) (this assumes a base str/leap of 10/2”) (Leaping +4, Accurate: 9 pts) Superleap: The character can leap 12” (vertical 6”) (this assumes a base str/leap of 15/3”) (Leaping +9, Accurate, 14 pts.) Peony Blossom Step: The character can fly at a movement rate of 6”, but must end each turn in contact with a solid surface to maintain any upward momentum . (Flight 6, Useable as Gliding +1/4, Must End in Contact With a Surface When Flying -1/4, 12 pts.) Lightfoot Stance: The character can fly at a movement rate of 9”. (Flight 9”, Useable as Gliding +1/4, 23 pts.) Toughness Schticks: Is That All You Got?: The character takes only half damage from physical attacks (after defenses), and ¾ damage from energy attacks (after defenses). This counts as a Resistant Physical Defense. (Damage Reduction: 50% Resistant Physical, 25% Energy: 40 pts) Toughness: The character has 3 points of resistant, hardened armor. (Armor: 3 PD, 3 ED: 9 pts, Hardened +1/4: 11 pts) Disadvantages: Abomination: Human Looking. Certain technology and spells can detect the Abomination. (Distinctive Feature: Concealable with Major Effort, Extreme Reaction, Detectable only with Unusual Senses): 10 pts. Abomination: Obvious (Distinctive Feature: Not Concealable, Extreme Reaction): 25 pts. Arcane Aura: The character has the ability to perform magic, and other magicians may be able to see this on his soul. (Distinctive Feature: Not Concealable, Always Noticed, Detectable only with Unusual Senses): 10 pts. Cyborg: Concealed (Distinctive Feature: Concealable with Effort, Always Noticed, Only By Technology, Not Distinctive in 2070): 0 pts. Cyborg: Obvious (Distinctive Feature: Concealable with Effort, Always Noticed, Not Distinctive in 2070): 10 pts. Cyborg Monkey (Distinctive Feature: Not Concealable, Always Noticed): 20 Demon: Human Looking. Certain spells can detect the Demon’s true nature. (Distinctive Feature: Concealable with Major Effort, Extreme Reaction, Detectable only with Unusual Senses): 10 pts. Demon: Obvious (Distinctive Feature: Not Concealable, Extreme Reaction): 25 pts. Supernatural Chi: The character’s internal chi-flows are aligned, allowing them to use martial arts. However, this can be detected by other powerful martial artists and magicians. (Distinctive Feature: Not Concealable, Always Noticed, Detectable only with Unusual Senses): 10 pts. Transformed Animal: Reversion: Transformed Animals risk turning back into their animal forms in high-magic areas. (Susceptibility: Common Condition, Takes Damage every Day, Damage: Major Transform 2d6, Mind and Body: 60 Active Points ) 20 pts.

For my upcoming HEROFIST (HERO Feng Shui/Shadowfist) I'm considering doing away with killing attacks and turning everything into normal attacks. Pros: *Fists, clubs, swords, and guns are all supposed to be more or less equally effective in the source material. *I want to encourage the PCs having higher defenses and being able to plow through mooks. *I find DCs easier to add/subtract for normal damage. *My players and I enjoy rolling buckets of dice. Con: Defenses may become underpriced, as buying Resistant is unnecessary. Other thoughts? Has anyone gone ahead and done this and have it work out well or blow up in their face?

Re: Fortune Points The luck chit system is adapted from Deadlands, which I've played, but its not really the feel I'm going for. Whereas Feng Shui has more people who lucky maneuvers are their schticks. I'll be posting more soon, in a different thread.

Re: Fortune Points Which one? Essentially, the power works just like it says: "You have a number of Fortune Points. Each session, you can spend a Fortune Point to gain +4 on any 3d6 roll, or to gain +4 DCV for one attack." The text on Skill levels in HERO is longer, for good and bad. As for the first advantage (the +1/4), upon re-reading the text, I realize its not needed. (Activation rolls aren't specified, but it says 10 point levels can be applied to anything the GM wants.) EDIT: So I took it out of the orginial post. The 'metagame' advantage essentially means that it's totally under the control of the player: no conscious thought is required on the part of the character (unlike many powers, and overall skill levels in particular), so the character doesn't even need to be aware of the situation if there's a roll to be made. Certain people might think this is worth a +1/4, but I don't. The "Fast and Loose" Advantage (+0) gets rid of all that extraneous Skill Levels text. Among other things, this means that you can't split the Skill levels between 4 different rolls, the DCV only applies to one roll, not until the levels are reassigned, that assigning the skill levels isn't even a zero phase action, and they aren't technically Combat Skill Levels (and can't boost damage or do other CSL tricks).