Steve Long

Gestures require the use of a hand or hands — or, if you prefer to be non-humanocentric about it, one or more limbs with full manipulation. The GM can permit characters to use other limbs, but if so it’s up to him to answer any rules questions that come up. Regarding the issue of which limbs are Grabbed versus which limbs are used for Gestures — that’s up to the GM to decide based on common sense. Sometimes the nature of the Maneuver, or some other specific rule, provides helpful information. For example, a Choke Hold always Grabs the head, so it probably doesn’t stop the victim from using his hands for Gestures — but as always, the final decision is up to the GM. Regarding the issue of having more manipulable limbs via Extra Limbs — Gestures are not “bound” to a specific limb. If a character has multiple manipulable limbs, he can use any one (or two) of them to perform Gestures. The GM can typically handle any issues that arise with a little common and dramatic sense.

Welcome to Hero! We hope you enjoy it. I am not familiar with the anime you describe (or any anime, really), so my suggestions are based on your brief descriptions. Hopefully someone here on the boards knows the anime and can comment more authoritatively. For the Hacking Field, I suggest checking out the Cyberkinesis rules in The Advanced Player's Guide for powers that work against devices. For affecting humans you may need to buy other abilities, such as a Major Transform to alter or remove memories. In cases where you want to use the same power against both devices and humans (such as Mind Control), you can probably just buy it once (to work against humans) and then also buy the Multiple Classes Adder to add the Machine class of minds to the ability (thus creating a form of Cyberkinesis). For the Powerful Radar, to start with you probably need either Spatial Awareness, or Radar that's Fully Penetrative (so that you can "see through" walls to get a "blueprint" of a building). To that you may need to add several different kinds of Detects: Detect Electrical Devices, Detect Air Composition, and for some GMs maybe even "Detect Blueprint Of Building" (if the GM thinks a "blueprint" is too much info to provide from Spatial Awareness/Radar alone). Anyone else out there have any ideas?

An Explosion is just a type of Area Of Effect, so the same answer applies. As for your second question, I suggest you start a topic on the Discussion board (if you haven't already) to see what other Hero gamers have to say. My answer would probably be, "Don't play in that GM's campaign."

None of those abilities/Powers work against attacks with the Area Of Effect Advantage, or which inherently affect an Area.

Yes, that's technically correct (and I've errata'd a couple of examples to make that clear). However, in the interest of simplicity and/or player survival, I'm sure many GMs ignore that rule.

I just moved this post here from Rules Questions. Carry on, Herophiles!

See The Ultimate Vehicle 183-84 for a discussion of how Entangles affect Vehicles (and vice-versa) -- just replace any references to “inches” of movement with “meters,” and adjust the math as necessary. The GM may, in his discretion, use the Vehicle’s velocity to increase its STR to break out of an Entangle, adapting the rules on the bottom right of 6E2 25 for these purposes. However, as noted in those rules, movement used to enhance STR can’t also be used for movement (i.e., it doesn’t move the Vehicle any further), it has to be “dedicated” to improving STR. Vehicles moving in combat may often find themselves in situations where they’re using their maximum velocity to move quickly and are thus unable to suddenly change what they’re using their meters of movement for. Furthermore, the rules on TUV 183 already provide a way to use velocity instead of movement to break free from an Entangle — so using velocity to add to vehicular STR would largely invalidate that rule, or be unbalancingly effective.

If a character has a power with Boostable Charges that Costs Endurance, the END cost of using the power may increase based on the Active Points “added” by Boosting. For example, suppose a character has an RKA 1d6, Penetrating (22 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-½), 12 Boostable Charges (-0) (total cost: 15 points). Ordinarily this costs 2 END. But then he Boosts the power to add3 DCs, or 15 Active Points, to it, making it an RKA 2d6 that costs 37 “Active Points.” The power now costs 4 END, based on the 37 Active Point total

In this situation, I don’t think either of your suggested methods is the way to go. Since the gadget in question is a Suppress, it needs END to continue to function. Take the Advantage Uncontrolled for it. When the character uses it, he feeds in however much END he wants to use. When that amount of END is used up, the device stops working, or falls off, or what have you. Given the special effect, if someone found it before the END ran out he could try to remove it, and the GM can decide how easy that is. Thus, in essence what’s going on here is that “sticking to the target” becomes a special effect of Uncontrolled.

As discussed on 6E1 84-85, “Penalty Skill Levels (PSLs) are a type of Skill Level that only reduce or counteract a specific type of combat-related penalty.” The key phrase here is “combat-related penalty,” which means a penalty to OCV or DCV. Common examples include Range Skill Levels (which offset the Range Modifier’s OCV penalty), Targeting Skill Levels (which offset the OCV penalties imposed by the Hit Location Table), and Encumbrance Skill Levels (which offset the DCV penalty for being Encumbered). The important thing to note here is that PSLs do not apply to Skill Rolls or Skill Roll penalties. (The same applies to Combat Skill Levels (CSLs), which also only affect CV.) To create the sorts of abilities you want to build, you need to use Skill Levels (6E1 88-89). Depending on what type of SL you buy, you could have it affect the Power: Magic roll used to cast spells, the Inventor (Spell Research) roll used to create new spells, a KS: Arcane And Occult Lore roll to research some obscure historical fact about magic — or maybe just one or two of those things. For example, in the land of Korrak, wizards typically use several Skills as part of their craft. First and foremost is Magic (a form of the Power Skill), which they use to actually cast spells (and which suffers the standard -1 per 10 Active Points penalty). The second is Domination (another form of the Power Skill), which they use to control demons, elementals, and other summoned beings. The third is Spell Research (the Fantasy form of Inventor), which they use to create new spells. The last is KS: Arcane And Occult Lore, which is the general Knowledge Skill covering all sorts of mystic learning. If we look at the Skill Level Table, we see that the more Skills an SL applies to, the more Character Points it costs. One of them is the 3-point SL, which covers three related Skills. That fits pretty well here, since we have four related Skills, but one is a KS that the character won’t use in combat much. So a wizard could buy, for example, +3 with Magic, Domination, and Spell Research. As they stand, those three SLs with Magic, Domination, and Spell Research can be used at any time to assist with rolls using those Skills. If you only want the SLs to offset penalties (such as the Active Point penalty), you can take a Limitation on them to reflect that. Creating different “packages” of Skill Levels whose use you define with Limitations might be a great way to add ‘flavor” to your magic system and help to distinguish one wizard from another. I hope that helps! If I've missed anything, plesae post a follow-up here, or PM me. I love creating magic systems and enjoy talking about how to create them using the HERO System, but usually that's more appropriate for a private conversation than clogging up the Rules Questions board. But I'd say a lot of HERO fans also enjoy discussing this sort of thing, so if you haven't yet, try posting your thoughts, ideas, and questions on the Fantasy Hero and/or Discussion boards -- you'll get all sorts of great suggestions.

With the GM’s permission, a character can perform a Sucker Attack (6E2 128) with Teleportation, Usable As Attack — instead of positioning himself so that when he Dodges an incoming attack from Enemy 1, that attack hits Enemy 2, he Teleports Enemy 2 into the path of Enemy 1’s incoming attack. (Note that if Enemy 2 suffers Knockback from Enemy 1’s attack, there may be some risk of Enemy 2 hitting the character using Teleportation UAA. Caveat teleporter.) To do this, a character must Hold his Action while he waits for Enemy 1 to attack. (Note that unlike a standard Sucker Attack, in this case Enemy 1 doesn’t necessarily have to be attacking the character using Teleportation UAA — the pertinent issues here are the Range of the Teleportation UAA attack, and how many meters of Teleportation are involved.) Then he must defeat Enemy 1 in a DEX Roll Versus DEX Roll Contest to time his use of Teleportation UAA precisely. Last but not least, he must succeed with an Attack Roll against Enemy 2 to hit him with the Teleportation UAA. (In some cases, and at the GM’s option, the character using Teleportation UAA may have to succeed with a PER Roll to Teleport Enemy 2 to the correct location; see 6E1 300.)

Thank you for saying that, and for your breakdown of the way such things are presented in modern TV (etc.). I agree with a lot of your points, especially re: not mentioning specific church denominations and not making God a character on the show. Honestly, if I reeeaallllyyy wanted to do it, I'd include a chapter on Christian Mythology and just say the heck with any repercussions. After all, I'm covering a lot of other mythoi -- Chinese, Voodoo, Hindu... -- that are living faiths. (Not to mention the possibility of "paganist" revivals of old religions, such as Asatru.) But at this stage, I'm just as happy to save myself the colossal amount of work a chapter on Christian Mythology would entail. After Mythic Hero comes out, if there's a tremendous hue and cry for Christian Mythology, there's more than enough material out there for me to do an entire book on the subject. Heck, maybe I could make that a Kickstarter stretch goal -- I already have an idea for the first stretch goal, but maybe this could be the second.

The modifiers from a Combat Maneuver last until the beginning of the character's next Phase (6E2 54). A character's Phase begins when his DEX occurs in a Segment when he has a Phase (6E2 16). So in the situation you describe, P2's DCV bonus from Dodge ends on DEX 14 in Segment 8. However, since P2 now has a Phase available, he could immediately declare another Abort to Dodge. Since an Abort occurs before offensive actions, in theory P2 can keep on Dodging, forcing P1 to go on Holding as he waits for his declared condition to occur. Eventually, I suspect P1 will just abandon his Held Phase and attack normally, but he may be more patient than that -- and depending on the situation, keeping P2 "locked down" in Dodges, unable to do anything else, may have significant tactical value.

I wasn't referring to FH Complete, which uses a simplified, easier-to-learn version of the HERO System rules. I was referring to the Fantasy Hero genre book. Our SKU number for it is DOJHERO1200, and the ISBN is 978-1-58366-129-1.

There are no rules for that, and I don't see the need to establish any. I think that anyone who wants their campaign to reflect that level of detail can easily come up with their own rules for reloading that will be more satisfactory to them than anything I might come up with. :)

1. No. 2. 6E2 49-50 specifies that Spreading is most often used with Blast, but that the GM can permit a character to use it with “other Ranged attacks.” So in theory a GM could permit a character to Spread a Teleportation UAA attack, if it had the Ranged (+½) Advantage. However, the rules for Spreading require the character to subtract Damage Classes from the attack, and Teleportation UAA doesn’t really have DCs because it doesn’t do damage. You can, technically, use the rules on 6E2 96-98 to derive “Damage Classes” for it and then subtract them, but that’s obviously not what the DC rules are generally intended for. So that’s another reason why the GM might choose not to allow a character to Spread Teleportation UAA — or might require the character to buy the ability to Spread it by buying Area Of Effect (1m Radius Accurate) as a naked Advantage for the Teleportation UAA.

As a default rule, no — but of course the GM can rule otherwise if that seems appropriate. There might be situations where the sort of Multiple Attack you describe would suit the action in the scene or the nature of the campaign.

You’ve actually uncovered a deeper issue here, and I need to address that before I can answer your question: Q: If a character makes a Characteristic Roll, does he have to pay END for using the Characteristic? A: If a character makes a Characteristic Roll, whether making that roll costs him END is up to the GM. In some cases, such as most STR Rolls, physical exertion is obviously involved in a way that suggests that a character should pay END for using the Characteristic, at the standard rate of 1 END per 10 Active Points (but the standard rule that a character only pays END for STR once in a Phase/Segment, regardless of how many different ways he uses that STR, applies). In other cases, such as most INT Rolls and PRE Rolls, there’s probably little or no exertion, and thus the GM may choose not to make the character pay END. So to get to your question directly, yes, the character probably has to pay END when required to make a STR Roll by a Change Environment effect (assuming he hasn’t already used his STR in that Segment).

1. Your math looks correct at first glance, but I didn't break out a calculator. 2-3. See APG2 18, which discusses the standard rule (that the recovery is not halved) and the option for changing that if desired. I think that covers all the issues you raised; if I overlooked something please post a follow-up or PM me.

Welcome back to HERO! I hope the campaign's going well and everyone's having fun. First, remember that a character who can't use his Targeting Senses (typically Sight) can make a PER Roll with a Nontargeting Sense (such as Hearing or Touch) so that he can attack at 1/2 OCV, -1 DCV -- see 6E2 7 for the full rules. So your wife's character doesn't have to just sit there doing nothing, she can try to overcome the handicap she's currently suffering from and fight back as best she can. Second, your idea of using Mental Illusions to compensate for her lost Senses is a creative one, and certainly within the realm of possibility for things that Mental Illusions can do. Your character would have to use a Phase to "attack" her to set up the Illusion, of course. If I were your GM, I would rule that your character has to keep paying END to maintain the Mental Illusion (6E1 150) so that you can "feed" it information about how the combat's progressing. Other GMs might not require that, or might require you to spend a Half Phase Action each Phase to keep the illusion accurate, or whatever else they consider appropriate. Herodom Assembled --- what do you think? How would you handle this as a GM? What other ideas do you have for monsewer to help his wife out of this situation?

There is a Limitation for doing this. It's called Delayed Use, and you can find the rules for it on page 162 of Fantasy Hero.

Yes, it's possible for a character to temporarily remove Limitations -- see APG 142 for the specifics on doing this.

This is a situation where the GM should apply common sense and dramatic sense to provide an answer. Generally speaking, any character can Grab another character. But if the target is flying and the Grabber isn't, the Grabber may need Flight just to put himself in a position to attempt a Grab. Depending on the special effects of the Flight, the Grabber may stop him or he may break free -- or the GM might rule that the Grabber gets carried along while the Grabbed character keeps flying. (See "Grabbing A Moving Character," 6E2 63-64). The rules on 6E2 26 are generally intended for stopping large moving objects, such as avalanches or meteors, not characters, but the GM can consult them in this situation if he thinks they'll be helpful.

Regardless of what Sense Groups an Image does or doesn’t affect, if a Desolidified character wants solid characters to perceive and be affected by his Images, the Images power must have the Affects Physical World (+2) Advantage. Without that Advantage he could still create the Images, but they’d obviously be “Desolidified” to anyone who perceived them and thus incapable of causing any harm or having any effect. (In your specific case, this might not matter to you since all you want is to be seen. I think it might be simpler and easier just to change the way you bought your Invisibility so you can turn it off when you want to -- but to each his own. )

I’m going to re-state the question, to make sure I understand what you’re asking. If I’ve gotten it wrong, please either PM me or post a follow-up and I’ll try again. Q: If a character performs a Multiple Attack on one of his Phases, and in the next Segment Aborts to Block or Dodge, do the OCV and/or DCV penalties from performing the Multiple Attack “carry over” into the next Segment and affect the character’s CV using Block or Dodge? A: No.