Kraven Kor

Yeah; do an Auto Mechanic's tools provide a *bonus* to his roll? Or simply allow him to actually make said roll, or maybe "not having tools" is a penalty, and good tools just makes it take less time. I tend to do "standard equipment" as more of a Penalty Skill Level than as a straight bonus.

Keep in mind "Independent" is not a 6th-Edition legal limitation. Focus and Real Weapon cover that. Whether a magic item needs "Real Weapon" or "Unbreakable Focus" is a function of GM and setting; in some settings, a magic sword that never needs to be sharpened and cannot be broken is more appropriate than in others. I would certainly say a magic weapon should have more BODY and DEF than a non-magic weapon, in most settings.

You can certainly build all of that as an exercise in how to build things; but yeah, don't overthink stuff where it isn't necessary.

Any such kicks should have the "requires multiple users" limitation (some one or some thing has to throw the gnome.)

Yes, LS with a CON Roll is what I do for "resistance" type racial abilities as well. Good info as usual, Lucius.

Are you guys playing D&D? Can I be a Keebler Elf?

I have never been able to run a boxed adventure or module or the like. I have used some ideas I have found in a module; cut out a scene or trap or the like - but I can't just run one straight out of the box. At least in part because when the module says "The players turn left..." my players say "@#$% that, we're going right! We've seen this movie before!"

Now you've wandered into "make someone do X" territory, which is solidly in the realm of Mind Control

I tried, and largely not-quite-failed, to use a similar concept with new players: I'd have them try to explain their character sans any rules anything whatsoever; "I'm a dwarf, a berzerker who uses an axe but sees heavy armor as a sign of cowardice." Then we'd build the character from there. Invariably, my players would re-direct the conversation to "Ooh, Defense Maneuver sounds neat, can I have that?"

Oh yeah still plenty of handwavium. It is not a circular orbit; which is a necessity for a tidally locked planet. The planet's seasons are due to the distance from the host star as the planet is pulled out towards the distant primary star of the binary pair. The "tidally locked" planet also has a bit of a wobble, giving a day / night cycle at the equator. In reality, this planet would be in the process of being torn apart, or would have such massive tectonic upheavals that life would not yet have developed. Gives a great duality to the world - reptiles and amphibians and other species adapted to the heat and constant sun of the southern hemisphere, mammals and cold-climate critters in the temperate zone, naught but myths and legends above the "Twilight Circle" where the only light is that from the distant, pale blue dot of the primary star. Still, a neat article, and at least some scientific basis for my world

Believe me, from experience, me GM'ing HERO does not *sell* HERO books. I finally got my group to play, and they loved the flexibility of it, they loved making characters and building powers, but felt it was too clumsy in actual play (despite us getting 2x to 3x as much "done" in a typical HERO session than in a comparable D20 session...) Seriously - my main issue is I do everything half-assed. I just do. I don't prepare as much as I should, and it shows when things get hectic; I forget key NPC abilities, lose track of who has what, I tend to give the players the benefit of the doubt and that comes across as "this is too easy," etc. I end up forced to hand-wave things in some cases to get any kind of dramatic tension, as well as to avoid the occasional one-shot attack by an NPC. And this is not a problem with *the system* it is a problem with *me running it.* Not knocking myself; just simple admission of the problem. I'm getting better, and HEROCentral is going to help me get better still. But the funny thing with my group - their main complaint was "it takes too long to do anything." Yet, we actually got way more accomplished in a typical session. 4 to 6 hours of D20 would be maybe 2 "scenes" or fights. In HERO, I was having them easily get through three or four combats in a single session. But they still felt it "took too long" to do things, or "was too hard." I dunno man.

I would rule (and this is just me) that would depend on the nature of the damage shield. "My skin is covered with spikes" = Jackie can avoid the DS. "Anything that touches me gets electrocuted" = Jackie cannot avoid in this fashion. It was a bad example, but the point stands - DCV does not have to be "I have high dexterity and avoid attacks with agility." I can simulate other skills, abilities, talents, or even gear that "keep me from being hit."

On using END reserve for the blaster - I have found that using Charges / Clips works just as well, if not better, and is at the least simpler and easier to build (throw the charges limitation onto the MP rather than having to have the linked END reserve or whatever.) No wrong way to do it, but "Keep it Simple" as they say.

The "rolling with the hit" one - think of like Jackie Chan, where the blow will touch him, but he moves in such a way that it just slides by or rolls off without causing him injury. Can be simulated *better* by Combat Luck, but if one wanted, you could have that defined as DCV as well. Or, that is my take on it; could very well be "wrong."

-2 to PER is HUGE. Would not suggest this. +2 DCV is also HUGE; I think to make it comparable to D20's trope, +1 DCV vs. Giants (or, really, just a +1 All Combat (Only vs. Giants) would be better than just DCV.) "Hard as Granite" sounds like some innately higher defenses; maybe a single point of innate Resistant Protection? Dwarves are generally short, but brawny and steady on their feet. Maybe a broken-out "1 level of Always-On Density Increase?" +5 STR, +1 PD/ED, and -2m KB resist as a compound power with the "Unified Power" limitation?

I had made it Constant, Uncontrolled, Sticky - I figured (perhaps incorrectly) that was the correct 6E build, given that "Continuous" did not even appear as an option in HD? Checking again, I did omit "Does BODY" for the AVAD. But I cannot find "Continuous" as an option. Fixed for "Does BODY": MD Device: Killing Attack - Ranged 1d6 (Starship Class Weapon), Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4), Increased Maximum Range (300m; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Sticky (+1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), No Range Modifier (+1/2), MegaScale (1m = 1 km; +1), Cannot alter scale (-1/4), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (ED -> Power Defense Specifically vs. Molecular / Nuclear effects; All Or Nothing; +1), Does BODY (+1) (97 Active Points); OAF Bulky (-1 1/2), Required Multiple Users ([9-16] people; -1), Cannot Use Targeting (-1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4)

A note on the DCV conversation: While we typically think of DCV as being wholly dex-based, keep in mind HERO is "reason from effect." A high DCV could be due to exceptional skill at blocking or rolling with a hit, it could be dodging, it could be partial desolidification if you wanted it to be. DCV can be granted by a shield. A high-DCV character is not *automatically* an agile character dodging everything. It could even just be sheer, dumb luck. Just a nit-pick on an earlier comment; sorry.

I'm with others; CE works, but it's active, requires a roll, etc. Hardened, RSR with the roll being a skill vs. skill roll? Then it becomes Find Weakness vs. Lack of Weakness roll?

I'd just go with the default -1 to the roll per 10 AP of the spell, personally. And then you can have the spellcasting talent offset penalties, as well as things like taking extra time or multiple casters working together. Kind of neat how the default RSR rules kind of bundle that all in.

On Clerics vs. Wizards (and Sorcerers?) Clerics and Paladins can use the same exact setup; the Paladin is just going to have less spellcasting and more heathen smiting. If going by typical tropes, at any rate. Your concern that clerics will be "better" than wizards is a bit of a misnomer; as it seems your faith-based casters will have fewer limitations to their spells, and you aren't using frameworks... so it would appear clerics / paladins will have fewer spells available at an equivalent cost. Clerics will have OAF, RSR for -1.5 total; Wizards and such will have RSR, Gestures, Incantations, OAF, Requires Both Hands, etc. (Again, if I'm reading this correctly and going by typical fantasy tropes.) Do you intend to have "sorcerers" or psionics or other archetypes?

My first comment: Make your "Spellcasting Talent" not just a 10-point tax. Make it a talent that offsets penalties on the Spellcasting skill roll or something; and maybe (since you are calling it "natural ability) that talent itself has ranks (+1 vs. all Spellcasting penalties up through, say, +3.) Just a thought. More as I have time.

I doubt anyone would have noticed which fora it was in of the three. Lots of crossover between these.

And honestly, the combat maneuvers and such of HERO are one of my favorite features of the system. I still want to run like a Martial Arts Tournament with HERO

My fantasy setting has been vindicated! I had many discussions here and elsewhere about the nature of my Fantasy Setting - a tidally locked planet orbiting the smaller star of a binary pair. Pretty much everyone said it would be impossible, not support life, etc. http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/12/full-atmosphere-ocean-model-of-a-rotationally-locked-exoplanet/ I had accepted that and done the "But I am GOD" hand-wave anywho, but looks like my world would not be so far from reality afterall? Granted, Lostorum probably doesn't have a long time to live given the shorter lifespans of dwarf stars; but then I don't need a plot that spans millions of years