Anaximander

I have yet to build him in Hero, but I have a flagsuit named Captain Justice.  His partners are Captain Freedom and Captain Liberty.

In a comic book, I would say 6-7.  In an RPG, 5-6.

I have recently started reading some of the Dune prequel books.  For those who have not read the books, the Dune universe includes personal field generators that have a specific weakness to slow attacks.  How would a slow attack be modeled in the Hero System?

I have created several characters without tragic backgrounds, but I understand your point.  I am amazed at the number of starting characters who lack either family or friend.

Semantics.  You are correct in what you say, but sometimes, a little help in how to do it is useful.

According to 6e game rules attributes of 10 is the average for player characters and important characters, but 8 is average for John Q. Public; so, if you are going by average which average is better to use.

There's Ponzi Scheme.

Between the two ideas, this does give me a lot to work with.  It is helpful that I am familiar with some of the characters on Surbrook's website that I can use benchmarks.

As my understanding gets better with how the system works, I find myself wondering how to build certain characters from TV, books, comics, and such into the Hero System and am wondering what rules of thumb people use for doing so.

I can come of with subjective quantities within a story.  In The Beverly Hillbillies, I would give Uncle Jed the highest Intelligence among the character while making Miss Jane the most educated, but I have no idea how quantify those differences into numbers.  Likewise, in an golden age anthology comic book I am reading, I might make Character X stronger than Character Y, but I would make Character Z the better overall fighter.  Again, how do I quantify that information into stats especially since comparing most stories is comparing apples to oranges?  

I have recently started reading Tarzan of the Apes in eBook and Super-Mystery Comics online.  The comic includes an anthology of super hero and pulp style hero stories.

Another possibility is Theory X.  In business management, there is what is called Theory X vs Theory Y.  Theory X management theorists followed the older more authoritarian styles of management while Theory Y management theorists employ more egalitarian styles of management.

How about Corporate Raider?

What you are talking regarding the lengths some people will take for a charismatic leader about is the herd mentality that most people have.  That is not the power of the charismatic person.  It is a weakness common of humans in general.  If you want a mechanic for it, there is an option in the one of the second advanced player guide has rule options for social combat.  If you want to adapt it to a game, you could probably give the charismatic leader some kind social attack with a penetration advantage to represent his capacity to reach past the inhibitions that would normally keep him stepping out of character, but personally, unless I was planning a campaign where social interaction was an important part of the game, I think I would avoid using that as there are already a lot of characteristics and such to take into consideration.

I disagree that the ability discussed does not exist in the real world.  I have personally met people who seemed to have an uncanny ability to generate loyalty and respect in others over a long period of time.  I think Hugh's idea is the most workable, but I would give the mind control the emotions only limitation to reflect that the ability only affects a targets emotional responses.

I agree.  As long as the countries in the Hetalia universe are subject to coming and going quickly, there is nothing much more to consider.  The only real problem is that if you are using real world countries there is likely to be differences of opinion regarding what the stereotypical countryman would be which could create problems if the players hold their views strongly.

Yes, they are part of the 6ed Champions line, but even if you are running 5ed, many of them would be conceptually backwards compatible.  If I had more time, I probably could just give you the list of the powers and their rough descriptions, but I should be doing my homework for college and not skulking around message boards.

How about Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton.  He was the inspiration of the Pistol Pete mascot for Oklahoma State University, and he his real life was the inspiration for a lot revenge westerns.

Different people respond to different emotions under different situations.  The typical response to fear is either fight or fright.  If the fear is particularly great, it can result in a kind of paralysis.  If you want a particular response, you should build that power with emotion control being an FX.  Here is the problem with emotion control powers in roleplaying games.  Both the GM and the players have to be mature and aware enough to interpret the data in order to roleplay correctly.

This is a real life circumstance In a game I was once in.  I was playing an elven ranger whose specialty enemy was orcs in a modified 2nd AD&D game.  The party was hired by a town to deal with a tribe of orcs that was involved with a lot of raids.  The party went into the orc camp to gather intelligence in order to resolve the orc problem.  An orc shaman cast an enrage spell over all present before an important orc raid.  The spells area of affect extended the player character party, and the only PC who failed his roll was my elf.   I know it is extremely unlikely for a 2ed AD&D elf to fail an enchantment/charm, but you don't know my history with dice.  Anyway, my character did actually speak orc; so, my character was enraged but in no particular direction; so, the pent up racial and professional hatred my character had towards orcs exploded into a killing spree.  Fortunately, the suddenness and ferocity of the attack caught the orcs completely off guard and we were able to win the battle.  Mind you, I normally play the voice of reason in most campaigns, but I felt that under the influence of the rage spell that my character would most likely lose his composure and lash out even though the purpose of the orc shaman's spell was aimed against the village my character was trying to protect.  The question is, is what I would have done if my character's anger and hatred was aimed at the village?  I do not know the answer to that because that isn't what happened, but since my character was Chaotic good, he probably would not go on a killing spree against innocents.  The most he probably would have done was quit the mission.

The point of this illustration is that if a PC or NPC comes under the influence of an emotion he should respond in the way that he would respond if he were to come under that emotion based on how that character is defined.  If I am the player running a character I genuinely like, I would know his or her character makeup sufficiently to know how he or she would respond under certain circumstances.  I may have problems deciding how a character would act if I am not really into the character or the campaign though.  As a GM running NPCs, if the NPC is important and I am really into him or her, I probably already know enough to at least establish a percentage.  For mooks and other unimportant NPCs, I would likely give the PC the results he intends unless if doing so would ruin the game.  I would never force a PC to a particular reaction because of an emotion control power.  I do like giving bonuses for excellent play, and to determine if a player qualifies, I would look at several factors.  They are complications and talents do the character have, are there clues in the characters written or stated background, and how does the player typically play the character.

Champions Powers have several water-based powers that could easily be converted into spells.  There are different forms Telekinesis (Water Only) powers, attacks, defenses, and so on.

Could it be some kind of mental entangle that could escaped be either mentally or by defeating the Task?  I'm not sure how I would actually build the power I just described, but it seems that it should work.

I don't follow anime so I have no idea who those characters are, but when I am bringing in an idea from another source into any game I intend to run, I place the needs of my game over staying true to the source.  If I want to introduce Superman, Iron Man, and the Brady Bunch into my campaign world, I would make them fit the needs of my universe and not the universes they were initially created in, and I think a PC like you describe would probably get too powerful too quick and would want something to slow him down.

I like looking for sources outside of the super hero genre for story ideas.  I especially like sci-fi short stories.  They have a lot of ideas that can be used in a super hero campaign and is unlikely to have been read by most of the players I am likely to run a game for.

I actually started doing something like this for some NPC supers in my campaign world who started out as low or no powered super heroes but have improved to genuine super hero status over time, and for fun, I thought it would be interesting to build their characters at the different levels until I got to the point when they would be introduced into my campaign.

The concept makes me think of the old game Tales of the Floating Vagabond which was a comedic RPG based around a bar.  Many of the skills and gadgets defy real world explanation.  One of the options in the game is Shticks which is a gimmick that a character can have that can alter the reality of the game.  One of the Shticks (I don't remember what it is called) allowed the player to question reality as it is presented causing much of the more outlandish things in the game to shutdown for a time.  The concept is based on old cartoons where Elmer Fudd can walk on air until Bugs Bunny hands him a book about gravity.  Perhaps, the pseudo-science engineer can have an opponent who has a wet blanket affect on his otherwise outlandish gadgets.

What if the villain is the twin sister of his late wife who blames him for her death but shares his son as a DNPC?