Willow

I'm working on an adaptation of Feng Shui/Shadowfist to HERO. One of the things FS has in spades is average joes, who through sheer luck, are able to hold their own with special forces assassins and robots from the future. HERO does have Luck, but its not quite what I'm looking for. Here's what I came up with: 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. I had to play a little fast and loose with the nature of 10-pt Skill levels, but I'm happy with the end result (call the other changes a +0 advantage if you need to.) What do you think? Is there a way to do this cheaper?

Re: Magic System Question #1 Use as few disadvantages as possible, and absolutely no power frameworks for wizards. The big thing here then is that their spells cost lots and lots of character points, which is everything you just described. It should balance itself on its own that way.

Re: Review my Spell You're right. I misread the section on Triggers that the character can't control- allowing the Advantage to cost 1/4 less. However this only applies to Personal powers, which the curse isn't. That changes the active point value to 25, but the real cost stays constant.

Re: Review my Spell Erkenfresh, I'm one step ahead of you: I was writing up a "higher level" version of the spell, and it actually came out cheaper on the price! Lethosos- Sadly, I'm just going out of the HERO Core rules right now, so I don't have access to either of those books. Can you (or anyone else) confirm that the Detect portion of the spell works, and that I don't have to buy an uncontrolled Clairsentience or any similar nonsense?

Re: Review my Spell Given that 1) all the player characters will have access to magic 2) the spell expires on its own after a month 3) can be easily avoided by not lying/telling lots of lies to yourself in private given some downtime and 4) doesn't have any combat affects, I didn't feel much of a need to add a Continuous-breaking-course of action. My main concern is Uncontrolled on the sense- is that even legal, and does it do what I think it does, or do I need a different advantage to make sure that the spell does its thing even if the caster isn't around?

I'm doing some prepwork for an Arabian Nights style campaign, with sorceresses slinging spells around. Here's something I did to sharpen my power building skills. Take a look at it, and let me know if I did everything ok. One thing I'm doing is writing up a D&D style stat block so players who are less familiar with HERO can have an easier time understanding how the powers are supposed to work. I'm also concerned that the Detect portion might need another advantage. Thanks. Curse of the Ugly Liar Those affected by this curse lose 1d6 points of Comeliness each time they tell a lie or falsehood. 10 points of Comeliness are regained each minute. To affect the target, the caster must have line of sight and make a successful ECV attack, as well as a successful casting roll (at minus 2 to the roll due to the spell's difficulty). A given target can only lose 10d6 total points of Com from any given casting of the Curse of the Ugly Liar. Multiple castings are not cumulative. The caster may lift the Curse at any time, and the spell expires on its own after 28 days. The caster must incant for a full phase, the magic does not take effect until the following phase. This spell costs 20 points of End to cast. For +/- 2 End, the caster can add or subtract 1d6 from the spell's maximum possible effect. (1d3 Active Points Comeliness Drain: 5 pts, Ranged (+1/2), Ego Based (+1), Delayed Return Rate: One Minute (+1/4), Triggered by Lies, uncontrolled by caster, can be set multiple times (+0), Continuous (+1), Uncontrolled (+1/2): 21 Active Points Limited Duration: 28 days (-0), Extra Time: Extra Phase (-3/4), Incantations for Activation (-1/4), Requires a Magic Roll (-1/4) Real Cost: 9 points) PLUS: Enhanced Senses: Detect Lies: 5 pts, Passive, Sense: +2pts, Uncontrolled, ends if Drain portion ends or is dispelled (+1/2), Only for Curse of the Ugly Liar (-2): 10 Active Points Real Cost: 3 Points) Total Cost: 12 Points Endurance Cost: Drain (2) x10: 20 points of END.

Re: What's Up With Combat Skill Levels? Ok, thanks everyone!

Re: "Internet/Matrix" Personas The more I think about this system (i.e. Mind Control as hacking), the more I like it. It seems to reflect the "real world" a lot better than souped up VR interfaces. Thanks Shrike, I have to look into your stuff.

Re: "Internet/Matrix" Personas That's a really cool way of doing it. Each of the Servers would have to be incredibly detailed though. However, I think the Duplication method is more cinematic and likely to please genre fans. I was thinking of the quandary of Computer Programs: On the one hand, I want them to cost CPs. On the other hand, it's a heroic level game- there's no ingame reason why one couldn't just buy a computer program. So the hacking programs are a variable power pool, with the limitation Only Programs Stored. The character can make a Computer Programming (with Invention complimentary) over a long period of time, or spend in game resources to learn new program options.

Can anyone give me an unofficial, yet compelling answer? As it stands, I don't see any reason not to let my players buy 2 pt skill levels with Limitations. (Edited to remove a bit of snarkiness.)

Re: "Internet/Matrix" Personas After looking over the rules a little bit more I agree about Multiform- Duplication would be better than Multiform. (A la Astral Projection.) What I'm going for is more Cyberpunk than Matrix- so I would prefer a method of having different Personas for different characters.

Re: How to use the President To actually answer the OP's question: There's plenty of fun you can have with the President as an antagonist. A couple of things to keep in mind in any event- the President is incredibly protected, connected, and powerful, even if his points would make him a -20 Incompetent Normal. Take a look at someone like the leader of Viper. That's kind of the same level of social perks. The President as Illuminatus: A fairly common theme. If the PCs are opposing a shadowy conspiracy and the President is a member of that conspiracy, then the conspiracy is going to have a lot of resources to throw at the PCs. The President as Cultist: What if the President belonged to an evil cult? The cult made up of the rich and powerful is a common idea. (And it might help explain his political success.) The President as Mobster: See Sin City for a good example of Senator as Mobster. The President has covert ties to powerful crime syndicates, and running the United States is an enjoyable side business. The President as Supervillain: Dr. Doom is certainly capable of rigging a Presidential Election. But once the high crimes and misdemeanors start, can the heroes keep him at bay long enough for the Impeachment Trial to finish? The Deadlands game line has a villanous Presidential figure. In a way, so did the Metal Gear video games.

So I've been thinking about the prospects for a Cyberpunk Hero game. The Cyberhero section in Hero 5R suggests using Extradimensional Movement to represent a hacker entering the Matrix. I think this is spot on. Then they go on to say that his 'programs' should be abilities with various Matrix-only drawbacks. I'd like to go at it another route and have the Matrix Persona be a Multiform (possibly Linked to Extradimensional Movement). I like this as a starting point, but there's a few wrinkles. I want the Hacker/Matrix characters to have the exact same Mental stats and skills. I'm thinking a -0 Limitation for Multiform to represent that. Should it be worth more (like -1/4?) I think this will work pretty good for the primary Hacker characters, but I want anyone in the game to be able to pick up a computer and have an online Persona, but maybe not as good of one. I was thinking of giving everyone a "Baseline Internet Persona" as an Everyman sort of thing. But the stats (mental-wise) are going to vary from person to person, and this is going to be worth much more than the typical Everyman package. Do you think the Hacker characters deserve a cost break of somekind? This is still in the formative stages. I've never run a HERO game before, so thanks for your advice!

H5R says that a CSL must be 5 points or higher to purchase with a limitation, and provides only the OCV bonuses. The text goes on to provide an example of a Scope that provides +4 OCV (with an OAF), for 10 points. Why is this? This seems like a weird break point, since the 5 point skill has a number of restrictions on how it can be used (no DCV or + to Dmg Class). Plus, for only 8 points, that same character could buy four levels in 2 point CSVs and get the same +4 OCV to all weapons of that type. (The character theoretically could choose to go on to describe a "detachable rifle scope" special effect to these skill levels, but NOT take the focus limitation.) So what's going on here?