SableWyvern

Re: New to the hero system, trying to figure out some things If you're playing a game that allows powers with 262 Active Points as standard, then I dare say you're looking at a run of the mill power with your second example -- although I'm not sure the game would be terribly manageable at that kind of power level. For the first, it looks legit to my inexperiened eye, and yes, you need to rely on "GM denial". The freedom you are given with HERO places a burden on the GM (and players) to look at context and apply limits based on that context.

Re: Building a Puppeteer Nice to know that I might be close to the mark on the first try with an unusual concept. Correct. The puppet's primary function is as a combat machine, so his vulnerability while using it may be an issue. However, given typical movement rates in the campaign and the PC's high SPD, ranged attacks should present the only real potential for serious concern. Increasing the control range won't be problem if it becomes necessary.

I have a player who wants a PC based on some Japanese anime guy, who controls a life-sized puppet. ATM, we have used the Follower perk to represent the situation, as follows: Puppet 50 Points (250+75 Character Point Follower) Requires Concentration (1/2 DCV) -1/2 Limited Range 20" -1/4 Requires LOS -1/4 Control Can Be Suppressed/Drained/Dispelled -1/2 Fine Manipulation Requires Puppeteering roll -1/4 Requires Gestures (Both Hands) -1/2 Real Cost: 15 If the requirements required by the limitations aren't met, the puppet is just a regular, life-sized puppet. Otherwise, the puppet acts under the character's control -- they have identical SPD and DEX for convenience. Is this a reasonable build? Is there a better way?

Re: Buying a Perk, Independent, Charges Never Recover.... Actually, the rules specifically mention that characters regain points for lost Perks, except where otherwise noted. The exceptions are Anonymity, worth 3 points, and Deep Cover, worth 2. Not exactly huge blows to most characters if the points are lost.

Re: Soldiers marching. Taken from The Roman War Machine, by John Peddie, in turn borrowing heavily from de Bello Gallico by Ceasar: Times and distances based on six legions (30,000 men, plus cavalry and baggage), marching 10 miles at 3mph (baggage train moving slightly slower), with a total length of marching column of 22.5 miles. [b]Time Event Remarks[/b] H Hour Recce Group Departs Camp I - +10min Vanguard Departs Camp I Followed by Command Group and Main Body +3h20m Recce Group Arrives Camp II - +3h30m Vanguard Arrives Camp II Followed by Command Group and Main Body +3h30m Camp Layout Commenced Tail of Main Body Departs Camp I +3h30m Head of Baggage Train Departs Camp I - +4h Protective Screen Deployed After Arrival of First Legion +4h30m Fortifications Commenced After Arrival of Second Legion +6h30m Tail of Main Body Arrives Camp II - +7h Head of Baggage Train Arrives Camp II - +12h Tail of Baggage Train Arrives Camp II Column Complete at Camp II

Re: WHY is combat so slow and what have you done about it? Barbarossa could probably be played out in a weekend, if you really dedicated the entire weekend to it. A full, global campaign? America wouldn't even have entered the war yet.

Re: PC Comparisons 1) High-Magic Fantasy. 2) 250+75, as above. 3) Serious opposition will range from slightly lower-powered to more powerful. It's (hopefully) going to be a fairly political game in many respects, so many situations will require non-combat solutions. 4) The Druid is the most versatile, with a lot of points spent outside combat powers (also, the widest selection of attack powers to choose from). The Swordmaster is basically just a combat machine, as is the Sword (the latter being a warrior-mentalist). The Metal Elementalist has a reasonable spread of non-combat powers. The Dragon (alternate form for Swordmaster) and Werewolf (alternate form for Druid) are basically combat oriented.

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero I'm really conflicted about this "dice for speed" technique. On the one hand, I think it's really great idea. On the other, I'm sure if I should be implementing it before I've got a handle on the default game structure. Decisions, decisions... Addendum: Upon reflection, I've noticed a couple of things about Markdoc's system I'm a little bit dubious about, related mainly to the way people are always "sharing" phases. When using the Speed Chart, the only people any character will always be competing with are others sharing the same Speed. Under the die-roll system, a low Speed, high Dex character will have more difficulty taking extra recoveries or other interuptable actions, as everyone else will always be following his actions in every phase. On the other hand, a high Speed, high Dex character will only be in a position to abort if he holds his action, or is facing an attack from a held action in a "dead" phase. I'm not sure how large an impact things like this will have, but it's enough to leave me leery of messing about too much. And, where there are subtle effects like these that even a n00b such as myself can spot, I'm sure there are others I'm missing. It occurs to me that these problems disappear if you use the d12 roll to dictate the segment, and then use the Speed Chart to determine who acts. This maintains both the random element and spread of phases found on the Speed Chart. Of course, it also adds to complexity, instead of simplifying...

Re: PC Comparisons This one's hopefully not a great issue, since he was designed mainly as a hang-back and support character, and his attacks are all ranged (hence no STR bonus and lower DCs). He's also got multipowers containing a lot of powers with continuing charges, which gives him a further edge. I'll probably heed that advice, possibly with an eye on upping his toughness, since he's fairly fragile, especially vs Energy attacks. Yeah, he originally had top-end damage as well, but I talked the player down from there to where he's at now. I'm actually concerned that with Find Weakness and his array of martial manoeuvres (which no one else really has) he's still going to be dealing a significant amount of damage with regularity. Those misgivings combined with yours mean I'll see about getting him to give up a couple of CSLs as well. Again, thanks to all for the feedback.

Re: PC Comparisons Thanks for the input so far. As I tried to get across in my initial post, I'm aware that you guys aren't getting the whole story, and that there are more to the characters than their combat potential. I'm just looking for some general impressions on hard combat data that I can take away and add more context to myself. I'll address some specific points later, gotta get to work now.

So, the PCs for my game are starting to come together, and I'm trying to make sure that they're all somwhere in the same ball-park with respect to general combat capabilities -- not at precisely the same level, but such that no one character will dominate, and no one will be useless. Obviously, breadth of capability, as well as non-combat skills, will act as balancing factors in some instances. Anyway, if anyone would be kind enough to take a glance at the stats below and give me your impressions, that would be much appreciated. I realise a thorough comparison would require much more information upon which to make judgements, I'm just looking for general thoughts. [b]Character SPD DEX CV CSLs PD ED DC[/b] Swordmaster 5 20 7 5 4/r12 4/r12 6 Dragon 3 14 5 2 r18H r18H 14 Druid 4 11 4 4 6/r12 4/r14 9 Werewolf 5 26 9 0 10/r6 10/r6 11 Metal Element. 3 13 4 3 14/r12H 14/r12H 14 Sword 4 17 6 3 8/r12 8/r12 14 Mimic 4 11 4 * * * * The Swordmaster and Dragon are alternate forms of the same character, ditto the Druid and Werewolf. DCs are for the highest damage attack, with bonuses for STR factored in. The Swordmaster has Find Weakness to compensate for his low damage, and the Werewolf has 75% Resistant Physical Damage Reduction. The Mimic's capabilities will depend on what he's got in his VPP at the time. H= Hardened.

Re: WHY is combat so slow and what have you done about it? I haven't actually ran a session yet... However, I've picked up two things from about the place that I plan to implement from the start: 1. A roll high to-hit system (OCV+3d6, seeking to equal or beat 10+DCV). Discussed recently here, although I can't recall the originator so as to give him credit. 2. A modified version of the Standard Effect rule. All dice rolls will be capped at 3d6, with extra dice of damage adding a flat bonus. I've streamlined the bonuses a bit to maintain the same average result as actually rolling everything, rather then giving a straight +3 per d6, which offers deteriorating returns with larger handfuls of dice. I'm pretty sure I nabbed this idea from a discussion on this very topic over on RPG.net. I look forward to seeing other people's ideas in this thread, and hope there's more stuff I can steal.

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero Not in my games.

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero I think that Ghost-Angel still has a very valid point, in that there is no objective, universal scale with which we can (or should) all measure Speed against. Even if I do disagree with the vehemence with which he objects to relating Speed to combat capability.

Re: Disdvantages and Multiform Hmm... I see what you mean. I came into HERO with 5ER, so the older stuff must be something that I picked up on these boards when I was first looking into Multiform. Edit: However, if you follow the guidelines for advancing alternate forms in step with the base form, then you still avoid the problem of requiring extra disadvantages. IE, an alternate form only gets an extra 5 character points after the base form has already received 5 extra itself. 2nd Edit: Actually, the more I look into it, the more it appears that the rules I'm using are actually some evil bastardised combination of 5ER, comments from others on this board, and my own misunderstandings. Still, they seem to be working for me, so I'll stick with them.

Re: Disdvantages and Multiform I'm having a bit of difficulty following your question, so I'll just summarise how I'm dealing with Multiform: 1. Under normal circumstances, a multiform may be built on the same base points as the PC. In a 200 + 100disads game, you can spend 40 on the multiform, giving 200 base points, plus 100 free in disads. 2. A multiform built on more than the base points must take additional disadvantages equal to the points in excess. For a example, a 50 point multiform in a 200+100 game would have 250 base points, plus 100 points in disads and it must also take another 50 points worth of disads for which it doesn't get any points back. 3. Regarding experience, I'm not exactly sure how the rules are meant to be interpreted, but I'm going with the following: Multiforms are only improved by spending points on the Multiform ability of the base character. A player can declare his Multiform is static, in which case he can't normally improve it at all. Otherwise, it is dynamic, and increases at the same rate as the base character. If the Mltiform is not limited or advantaged, every sixth XP goes into Multiform. This value needs to be tweaked for advantaged or limited powers. Frex, a Multiform with a -1 disad will gain two active points (10 character points for the form) for every real point spent. In this case, the player must spend every eleventh point on the Multiform. Edit: Note that, using this experience system, the Multiform keeps pace with the base character, and thus there is no need to be adding new disads. Hope that helps.

Re: Adjustment Powers and Power Frameworks ECs are the only frameworks that are drained as discrete entities. The section on adjustment powers explains how to drain powers in VPPs and multipowers, and refers you to the EC rules for their differing adjustment rules.

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero Like I said, "And, there are other, equally legitimate, ways of looking at Speed which can completely ignore the points I've just raised." Personally, my experience of inexperienced people thrown into high-stress situations involving combat or requiring leadership is that they are more likely to freeze up than anything else. YMMV.

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero Everything else you've said pretty much agrees with my understanding of how Speed works in HERO. However, I think that Speed is certainly -- to some degree, at least -- a reflection of the ability to make decisions in a tactical envirionment. How many things you can do in a fixed amount of time, under combat stress, is directly related to how you process information and make instictive decisions -- which is a learned ability. Realistically, a Speedster who can't handle combat pressure would do things quickly -- but only once he worked out what it was he wanted to do. Taken in that vein, I think it's entirely appropriate to relate Speed to combat ability, to an extent. OTOH, of course, the ability to make informed decisions in combat doesn't necessarily mean you act on those decisions with skill. And, there are other, equally legitimate, ways of looking at Speed which can completely ignore the points I've just raised.

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero As a relative newcomer to HERO, with no in-game experience under my belt, my understanding is that relating your Speed to some fixed standard is less important (by a long way) than relating it to campaign standards. If you're playing Joe Normal With Nifty Gadgets, in a game where everyone else is in the Speed 6-9 range, then picking Speed 2 or 3 is rarely going to work out well, even if that's where your character should fit on the chart. In my own game (very high-powered fantasy), I'm planning to use the following standard: Speed 2: Undermook, Peasant, Utter-Noncombatant Speed 3: Slow Hero, Typical Mook Speed 4: Typical Hero Speed 5: Especially Fast Hero Speed 6: Insanely Fast With PCs and 95% of their adversaries falling into the 3-5 range.

Re: New Density Question TK: Only to counteract natural weight?

Re: Increasing Target Visibility I should note that the aura is to be a PC's power, so this kind of objection is irrelevant in this specific circumstance. If the aura was designed to bypass a PC's invisibility, I would be more leery of allowing it.

Re: Increasing Target Visibility As I said, I do see your point. The main reason I'm taking a different stance to you is because the power, as originally envisioned, shouldn't only work on invisible targets, and I don't feel that, when starting with Suppression, that the cost and effort required to add further utility is commensurate with the return for that cost/effort. As long as there are some experienced HERO gamers (such as Killer Shrike) who agree with this approach, I'm willing to give it a go. (Which, to be clear, isn't to say that I consider his opinions to be inherently superior to the many other experienced members on the forums, including yourself.) I will keep an eye on the power and see how things go. I will be making it clear to my players going into the game that everything is subject to change as we gain a better understanding of the system and its interactions (and, similarly, the players will be free to make their own adjustments to their characters for the same reasons).

Re: Increasing Target Visibility Well, the intent is to create an aura around all targets in the AoE, regardless of their visibility. Making invisible targets detectable is one of the most obvious applications of this, but certainly not the only one. Nevertheless, I see your point. For the moment, I think I'm going to allow this in my game, and give a -1OCV to hit affected invisible targets, and -1DCV vs melee attacks from affected invisible targets.