Steve Long

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

Unfortunately we have some terrible news to report. Darren Watts, who used to be one of our business partners in DOJ Inc./Hero Games and has also worked for many other companies in the RPG industry, suffered a very serious heart attack last Thursday (December 22, 2022). It appears that his brain was without oxygen for an as yet unknown period.

Darren's currently under sedation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. While he isn't conscious, his wife Diane tells me he can receive visitors.

We'll keep the forum posted as the situation warrants. In the meantime, please keep Darren in your thoughts and prayers.

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time.
 
1. The mook only rolls 2½d6 to break out. To get the full 3d6, he needs 15 EGO, and he only has 14.
 
2. Mental Paralysis isn't built with Takes No Damage From Attacks (+1), but with Takes No Damage From Attacks (+¾). The text in the rulebook notes that the difference is because Mental Paralyses do take damage from, among other things, Mental Blast. So you’re correct that the Takes No Damage doesn’t stop the Mental Blast from affecting the Entangle — you’ve simply paid too much for the Advantage. Point savings!
 
3.  If a character uses his EGO to break out of a Mental Paralysis Entangle with Backlash, he takes Normal Damage from the Backlash, just like he would when using STR to try to escape an ordinary Entangle. So in your example, he’d take 18 STUN, 6 BODY. (Though again, he rolled too many dice, so that changes things.)
 
I think that covers all the issues in your hypothetical, but if I missed something, please post a follow-up or PM me.

Back by popular demand! This file, which is also available for free from the Hero Games Online Store, contains all the errata known to me as of today.
 
If you find an errata in the core rulebook which isn't listed here, please PM me to inform me about it. Please don't post it here, because I may not see it. Sending it to me directly ensures that I won't overlook it.
6E Errata 2020-02-09.pdf

Re: Does "must pass through intervening space" give "safe blind" teleport for free?
 
Good question!
 
The Limitation Must Pass Through Intervening Space (-¼) does not grant a character the Advantage Safe Blind Teleport (+¼) “for free.” All standard rules apply to such forms of Teleportation, and if a character wants to have Safe Blind Teleport for it he has to pay for it (or any other Advantage) just like usual. As you observe, it’s easy to think of a “special effect” for how someone might hurt himself moving through the intervening space — he could run into something, trip and fall, or what have you.

Back by popular demand! This file, which is also available for free from the Hero Games Online Store, contains all the errata known to me as of today.
 
If you find an errata in the core rulebook which isn't listed here, please PM me to inform me about it. Please don't post it here, because I may not see it. Sending it to me directly ensures that I won't overlook it.
6E Errata 2020-02-09.pdf

Intriguing question!
 
I’d rather not establish any hard and fast rules for how much time Incantations (or Gestures) require to use (absent Extra Time or some other rule that provides a precise time requirement in a specific case). I don’t think it would be helpful, and might in fact cause more problems than it would solve. This is just one of those situations that no RPG handles well, because you can’t always model a dynamic situation (like combat or vehicle chases) with precise rules about who acts first.
 
So in this case, the answer is, “That’s up to the GM.” Personally, I would be reluctant to let the knife-throwing rogue always interrupt spellcasters; that could easily render a lot of enemies more or less powerless. But by the same token, the character has come up with an intriguing and clever ability, so I’d like to include it in the campaign somehow. So here’s what I’d do:  if the rogue character is likely to hit and do damage to spellcasters with this ability more than 50% of the time, I would consider requiring some sort of DEX Roll Versus DEX Roll Contest:  if he wins, he hits before the spellcaster finishes, and has a chance to derail the spell; if he loses, the spellcaster finishes first (but may still suffer damage from the thrown knife). If the chance of the rogue successfully interrupting spellcasters is 50% or less, then the requirements of (a) hitting the target, and (b) doing damage to him past his defenses are probably enough to keep the power from unbalancing the campaign.
 
And of course, as the campaign goes on, if necessary the player and GM can work together to adjust things to keep the knife-throwing power useful, but not unbalancingly powerful.
 
I hope that helps! As always, if I haven't answered all your questions, PM me or post a follow-up.

First off, thanx for a detailed (and politely worded) post that explained exactly what you were after. There are a couple of intersecting issues here, and figuring out what you wanted to know might have been tricky otherwise.
 
No, that’s not legal — your fellow player is correct and you have in fact been running things wrong for 31 years. (Though in your defense, I don’t believe this issue was specifically spelled out [at least not in a precise and easily-referenced way] in any rulebook prior to 5E. My own gaming group made some pretty serious rules mis-interpretations about Power Frameworks for years before someone pointed out our error. I fought some of the proper interpretations kicking and screaming, but eventually I was intellectually clubbed down with rules text and written examples and had to concede the point.  )
 
. As stated on 6E1 408, while allocating Multipower reserve points is a Zero Phase Action, unless the GM permits otherwise a character cannot allocate Multipower reserve points more than once in a Phase. Having chosen at the start of the Phase to allocate the reserve to Slot 1 (modest defenses, high Running), your character cannot then make a Half Move and re-allocate to Slot 2 (heavy defenses, modest Running).
 
It doesn’t matter if the character begins his Phase with Slot 1 already active; using it or obtaining its benefits in any way means he’s allocating the reserve to that Slot. If he wants to use Slot 2, he has to allocate his reserve points to that using his first Zero Phase Action in the Phase. This isn’t a question of the Multipower reserve “re-setting,” as you put it; it’s that not re-allocating the reserve to Slot 2, and thus maintaining Slot 1, is itself an allocation of the reserve. You have chosen by not choosing in a most Zen-like fashion.
 
In a situation where an enemy with a higher DEX attacks the character when Slot 2 is already active, in theory this “locks” the character into that slot because he’s obtained the advantage of its defenses. This raises two issues. First, I think in this situation that many GMs wouldn’t hold the character to that and would still let him re-allocate the reserve when his Phase begins.
 
Second, it illustrates some potential problems/issues posed by having defenses in Multipower slots — and even worse in this case, slots which combine both defense and movement. This is why the rules state on 6E1 400 that “Characters may not buy more than one Power in a single Power Framework slot unless those Powers are Linked (see above) or the character has the GM’s permission.” I haven’t seen your specific build, and I don’t know what the GM in your campaign permits, but on the face of it the Multipower you’re describing is illegal in and of itself, regardless of reserve allocation issues.
 
Aborting to switch Slots in Segment 9 to gain the benefits of a more defensive slot is legal, unless the GM rules otherwise. 6E2 23 specifically lists this as a “defensive action.”

Re: Another Possible HPA In The Works: Born To Be Wild
 
Sorry, there's no way I'm writing realistic rules for anything for Pulp, especially jungle swinging. I've seen too many Tarzan TV shows.

1.  Good question — I’m surprised this one hasn’t come up before.
 
Presence Attacks that cause a target to “hesitate,” as described on 6E2 136-37, are usually made at the beginning of a Segment in which both the attacker and target have a Phase. If that’s not the case, the GM has to decide how long the target remains “impressed” in light of the current situation — Presence Attacking too far in advance of his ability to act may ultimately deprive the attacker of any advantage. In any event, the effect of being “impressed” only lasts long enough for the target to hesitate one time. After that, the characters’ relative DEXs return to normal for purposes of determining the order of Actions in a Segment.
 
When a character “hesitates” due to a Presence Attack, reduce that character’s DEX and EGO to 1 less than that of the character who successfully Presence Attacked him only for purposes of determining who acts first in a Segment. Unlike the similar effect of being Blocked or Thrown, this reduction typically applies as to all characters in the combat, unless the GM rules otherwise. (This may depend on the nature and specifics of the Presence Attack.) Once the attacker takes advantage of this to attack the target, or that Segment passes, the effect ends and relative DEXs return to normal.
 
2.  It’s difficult to say for certain, because we don’t know the specifics of the campaign setting that Arkelos exists in or the magic system that governs his spells. But based on the example his Fire Bolt spell, at least, doesn’t seem to require any Concentration, Extra Time, or anything else that might prevent him from using it as part of a Presence Attack in the described fashion, so the GM chose to allow him to do it even though making an attack would ordinarily require an Attack Action. After all, it’s pretty cool and adds to the fun of the game, so why not? If he tries to do it multiple times every game session the GM would probably rein him in, but once every now and then isn’t a problem — at least not for this GM.
 
3.  That’s really up to the GM based on the situation. I think that most GMs (including me) would let the character who declared that he was attacking make his attack first, then go to the ordinary initiative order for determining the order of Actions for the rest of the characters in Segment 12.

Re: Haiku Hero
 
Many Hero books
On sale now in Online Store
Please buy some today!
 
 
Ars gratia mercatura!

Re: drain and supress
 
Look for the Expanded Effect and Variable Effect Advantages in 6E1.

Back by popular demand! This file, which is also available for free from the Hero Games Online Store, contains all the errata known to me as of today.
 
If you find an errata in the core rulebook which isn't listed here, please PM me to inform me about it. Please don't post it here, because I may not see it. Sending it to me directly ensures that I won't overlook it.
6E Errata 2020-02-09.pdf

Back by popular demand! This file, which is also available for free from the Hero Games Online Store, contains all the errata known to me as of today.
 
If you find an errata in the core rulebook which isn't listed here, please PM me to inform me about it. Please don't post it here, because I may not see it. Sending it to me directly ensures that I won't overlook it.
6E Errata 2020-02-09.pdf