Kraven Kor

Re: Running and jumping in the same Phase. Well, you could do it a few ways. First, the 'math' for leaping assumes a running start for your maximum horizontal movement; your leaping distance is halved if you leap from a standstill instead of a run. So, basically, if you have enough leaping to clear the obstacle, then a simple DEX roll with a penalty, or an Acrobatics roll without a penalty if you have the skill, seems the go-to answer. Alternately, you could use up to half your running as a half move, then half of your leaping as another half move, but this might make it so you don't have enough movement to clear the obstacle.

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced? RE: "It's all about the story." Well, OK, yes, maybe... no. I run into this particular conundrum with my group fairly regularly. I'll have some little devious plan to challenge the party or present a different scenario for roleplay - the characters get captured, or surrounded and overwhelmed and disarmed, or whatever, and it rarely goes according to plan. For my group. Every gaming group is different. My group is definitely in the "we don't lose" categories. They frequently balk at various things I do to them or the party or NPC's they have attached to. Sometimes, this "balking" is in the form of some rather creative solutions to thwart my devious intentions, sometimes it is in the form of "logical arguments" about what I am doing should not work, etc. Ultimately, "Role Playing Games" are collaborative fiction between the GM and the Players, and each has a part in determining how the story unfolds. In my eyes, my "job" as a GM is to ensure my players enjoy the game, while still attempting to provide a sense of challenge and accomplishment and trepidation or suspense or drama. But all without angering my players. And it doesn't always go to plan. Not too far back in my current FH campaign, my "Low Justice" character had some NPC red-shirts assigned to him. I had fully intended for them to be bullet sponges, in all seriousness, as I do like to put a little "fear of GM" into them where I can. And they were OK with this, yet somehow, the red shirts did not die. Countless times, they evaded death; whether by sheer luck (deadly giant scorpion missed with stinger), or by heroic actions on the part of a player (the lizardman diving in front of his brother-at-arms to deflect an attack from behind.) So, the player of the Low Justice decides he wants to offer these three brave and seemingly invincible NPC's into his household guard. Wanting to keep the game focused on the group, rather than just this one character, I role-played that these men "served the realm" and "had no intention of joining any of the great houses." I then, in addition, explained that the player basically could only do that once he spent the points on having followers. He was crestfallen; and the rest of the group was kind of on his side about it. The next session, I basically explained my reasoning, then gave the party some 'renown points' they could spend on followers, contacts, favors, and the like after they had completed the story arc and "saved the day." Thus giving the players their followers by rights and by points spent. Sometimes, you have to alter your story to accommodate the tastes and preferences of your players. Other times... Total Party Wipe. Just to clean the smug looks of their faces.

Re: Changes at Hero HERO has been the center of my gaming life for far too long. Not sure what else to say than "Best of Luck" and "Goddammitsomuch."

Re: Need help building up skill list/set for horseback riding archer Any of the "Shot on the Run" type Martial Maneuvers would be helpful. Definitely want to read up on how mounted combat works and ensure the player knows the rules for such. Having the horse as a follower might let you "build a better horse" so to speak, as the mount your mounted archer rides will have quite an impact on things.

Re: Multigrab on automaton

Re: Tracking combat I had a spreadsheet for it, once, right around the time 5th came out, but it has long since vanished, along with my patience for building spreadsheets I just use scratch paper with BODY / STUN / END and any notes for like drains or something, for each bad guy, and it seems to work fine.

Re: Multigrab on automaton Yes. A Blast is a Normal, or "Non-Killing", attack like a punch or kinetic blaster or the like. A "killing attack" is a bullet or knife or disruptor or the like. When you get hit with a normal attack, you get your full PD - all appropriate defenses added together - against both the BODY and STUN dealt by the attack. On a Killing Attack (Xd6k), you would only get your resistant defenses against the BODY, but your full PD against the STUN. That explain things? I sometimes fear my explanations are somehow a bit obtuse.

Re: Multigrab on automaton I would think that the Ankylosaurus has 4 rPD and then also some additional PD; a blast (as a non-killing attack) would go against the targets 'highest' non-resistant PD. So if the Ankylosaurus has, say, 12 PD and 4 rPD, that should end up as 16 total non-resistant PD, depending on how the resistant PD was bought. STR 40 plus an 8d6 'club' is 16d6, whether wielded by the STR 40 brick, or the mentalist with 40 STR TK.

Re: Multigrab on automaton I would have ruled it as the two automatons doing a 'move through' on each other, with the velocity determined by the player's TK strength and the weight of the bot; basically +1 damage class per 5 STR over what was required to lift each bot. Either that, or calculate it as a throw or slam, with the maximum damage classes set by the DEF+BODY of the automatons. IE if they were both DEF 10 with 20 BODY, then at most something slammed into them could take 30d6, which few throws are going to achieve. Another way to think of it would be that each bot is technically a "weapon of opportunity" and is being used as a club against the other, for a few extra damage classes added to the throw / HTH attack. I don't think you necessarily did it 'wrong' but I think I would have allowed that as a somewhat effective attack option, and ensured it did campaign-appropriate damage.

Re: Creating "End Of Level Boss" villains Depends on the party and the villain. Total points, as stated, aren't a good measuring stick. Active points in attacks and defense is a much better measure to use, but even then it can be imprecise. I generally build any 'tough' villain as a foil to one of the party members, with enough defensive tricks to at lease survive or frustrate the others. Figure that just 10 or 15 AP of an attack can easily double the amount of effect that gets through defenses, and that 10 or 15 AP more in defenses will generally nullify the weaker attack. So your bosses don't need insanely high attacks or defenses, but they will need something that reduces the likelihood of getting one-shot by a lucky hit. One of my favorites is starting them off with some type of barrier or ablative defense the party has to get through, or a more pressing and tougher 'henchmen' they have to get through first before actually fully engaging the boss, etc.

Re: Psionic Centaur...needing a racial name I AM MENTAUR, THE MIND, uh, wait, no... "Mind Taker" is already taken, let's see here...

Re: Is this fighter kosher? Yeah, the Meson gun is the only thing that sticks out, if we assume that other ships in the campaign have roughly scaled defenses (ie. this is a fighter, with 10 DEF, so other fighters in the setting should have 8-12 DEF, and larger ships probably 12+ DEF.) I would also talk to your GM about the use of / need for buying AP multiple times. Generally, the escalation of "I have AP x3! What? They have Hardened x4???" is not ideal. Most of the time, given weapons vs. appropriate defenses should not require more than one or two levels of either. In other words, if almost all ships have 'hardened armor' and almost all weapons are 'armor piercing' then it is better to wave that initial level of AP and Hardened.

Re: Is this fighter kosher? 5th and 6th haven't changed so much in regards to 'power level' or whatever; 10 active points is 10 active points in both. As for "would I allow it"... well, without even looking... probably not, but that is mostly because it doesn't fit in with my Star HERO setting. Your GM would be a better person to ask. Now, I can and will give you some advice or critique. Could you maybe print it to PDF or post it as a .HTML file or something? I don't have HD handy at the moment to look.

Re: Creating a Creature which is highly skilled at using Multiple Limbs. The talent "Two Weapon Fighting" is at least a precedent for giving multiple-limbed characters a PSL vs. Multi-attack penalties - it lets you ignore the first -2. I suppose you could buy it multiple times to ignore a higher penalty or the penalty on more than just the second attack. Other than that, yeah, autofire attacks defined as striking with multiple limbs could certainly work, then give the character / NPC autofire skills to represent it being better able to attack mutliple targets, or rapid attack so it can move then multi-attack, etc.

Re: High- and Poor-Quality Shields I would say that the quality of a shield would affect its own PD and BODY, moreso than increasing or decreasing the benefits it provides the wielder. Technically, if a shield blocks a blow (the attack misses by the amount of DCV provided by the shield, or the shield is used for a block maneuver), the shield takes the attack.

Re: Surface to Air Missles I put AOE on it because, were it to land in a hex, it would cause an explosion and damage anything near that hex. I am currently at a loss as to how to represent that, as yes, AOE would not be quite right - you are targetting the aircraft, not the hex it is in or the one it will be in when the missile reaches it.

Re: Surface to Air Missles

Re: Surface to Air Missles I figured just about any modern missile would be Armor Piercing, and then some targets would be hardened (like Tanks.) You hit even the newest jets with a missile, they tend to explode, and I would put Aircraft armor at about 10-12 rPD (as you won't be shooting down an F-35 Phantom with a Desert Eagle.) Actual "Anti-Armor" weapons would be AP x2 or more. Well, in my way of doing things, at any rate.

Re: Mind Control- Literal Interpretation , HERO 6 The 'mechanics' of "Literal Interpretation" are not really mechanics, per se. It means what it says, the target of the mind control will follow your instructions - literally. It is difficult to adjudicate when used against a PC, because if you give some players any chance to twist things to their advantage, they will. I would play it as "Mentak here stares deep in your eyes and says 'You will not arrest me!'" and tell the player they are 'inclined to listen.' Then watch and see if they come up with a creative way to twist the command... "You said I couldn't arrest him, so I beat him within an inch of his life. Then the cops arrested him."

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? A fantastic cover of Gillian Welch's "Miss Ohio" - I heard this band do it first, and now prefer this version to the original. YMMV.

Re: Surface to Air Missles MIM-72 Chaparral: Killing Attack - Ranged 4d6 (+10 OCV (Only vs. 'Hot' Targets, -1)), Area Of Effect (8m Radius Explosion; +1/4), Armor Piercing (+1/4), No Range Modifier (+1/2) (140 Active Points); 1 Charge (-2), OAF (-1), IR Targetting (-1/2), Can Be Deflected (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), Extra Time (Full Phase (Varies by distance to target), Only to Activate, -1/4) ?

Re: A powerful cosmetic transform (Just giving you trouble ) I have many times overrode the "Hey, that doesn't belong in a VPP" but can't really see "Access" as "Opening a Lock." The Access perk means you have a "membership card" and the right to be in a place that could benefit you (like the CIA's computer systems), as well as a "key to the door." I really do think lockpicking (plus maybe security systems) at a ridiculously high roll is the best bet. But then I've been known to be "wrong" about things before, and will be again

Re: Surface to Air Missles I would imagine some or all of the equipment or vehicle books would have an example of one... But basically an RKA Explosion w/ Limited Target?

Re: A powerful cosmetic transform For the cost of a 5d6 Minor Transform (and I would, if allowing it at all, call this a Minor or Major Transform) you could buy Lockpicking at 23-. Which would make a Bank Vault with Retinal Scanners and Voice Recognition and a DNA based Biometric device (which I'm randomly assigning as an ungodly difficult -10) open on a 13-. Alternately, it would open a standard combination bank vault (-3) while standing on your head in a rainstorm and covered in ants (another -8) open on a 12-. Keep in mind "Knock" was not an automatic open of any lock, IIRC the lock got a saving throw based on the quality of the lock.

Re: [APGI] Temporarily Removing Limitations - "Naked Disadvantages" But that bonus would also be halved. So if you are DCV 3, with 3 CSL's, and then a +6 vs. 1/2 DCV penalty, your actual DCV would be (3 + 3 + 6) / 2 = 6 (the same as your base 3 DCV + 3 CSL's.) Of course, really, half DCV is not a Penalty, which is why you can't, by the book, buy a PSL vs. 1/2 DCV. You could just buy +6 DCV, but that is 30 points, and would still only be +3 DCV when you are at 1/2 DCV.