Durzan Malakim

If we're going to infringe, we might as well infringe with all the available properties the comics have provided: Iron Fist included. For me, this is the piece-de-resistance / cherry-on-top / game-winning-play :

By Intro do you mean a sample adventure such as HEROES HAMPER HEIST! or something a bit more involved such as a White Wolf-like narrative? Given the LEGO-like nature of Champions/HERO System we might want to leave GMs some room to customize. This naturally and inevitably leads to mad-lib adventures. "Agents of [villain-group] have attacked the [location] to steal the [mcguffin]. You have 30 minutes before the [threat] kills everyone!"

Just guessing here, but I could see where someone with a learning disability might have difficulty calculating normal damage since you use one method to calculate the STUN and another to calculate the BODY. If that's the trouble, consider using the standard effect where you do a set amount of STUN and BODY with every hit.

I suggest teaching Champions/HERO System the same way you teach a kid how to build things with LEGOs: you buy some specific kits and let them build some familiar things first. Thanks to the ubiquity of D&D, people understand the concept of classes and a superhero archetype is kind of like a class. Let new players choose a class/superhero archetype and build around it as a template so they can focus on the fun part of the game: actually playing it. The game's first impression shouldn't be a series of unfortunate decision paralysis events. Hopefully, the upcoming character creation cards will make the generation process even easier.

Other than sounding like an SAT math question, this seems like a good balance of peril and performance. The CON roll represents controlling your breathing and not swallowing water. I suppose you could grant someone with an appropriate profession skill (pirate, sailor, diver, etc.) the option to use either a CON roll or the profession skill roll, or even give such folks two rolls if you're feeling generous. That would reward those who've fleshed out their character with a background skill while not making it fatal.

I have a player example of changing complications based on game events. My super hero Valiant died due to an arcane explosion while on a time traveling adventure. After my companions had me resurrected, I took that opportunity to change my complications to incorporate the new events: Death Magic has Left its Mark on Me [Vulnerability]: Necromancy The Attack Is (Uncommon Vulnerability Multiplier 1 1/2 x STUN (x1) 5 I Live in the Phantom's Shadow [Psychological Complication]: Ambition to meet or exceed the Phantom's legacy. Follows code of conduct to preserve heroic reputation. Situation Is (Common Intensity Is Total 20 I figured that having died to death magic once, I would now be more susceptible to its effects. The new psychological limitation was the result of changing my timeline. Since we saved my bat-man-like family member he was alive to be my mentor and benefactor. I went from being a Bruce Wayne/Iron Man clone to Nightwing. I like updating my complications as the game progresses, but so far I'm the only character in our group to do so... that I know of.

As I understand it, the defensive combat values affect targeting. In physical combat you either hit or miss. In mental combat you either find your target or you don't. The analogy that works for me is that it's like radar trying to find a stealth craft. Does the radar pulse return a signal for you to direct your attack or do the stealth features absorb and deflect your signal giving you nothing but noise? Defenses are are about mitigating damage or effect. A bullet-proof-vest doesn't prevent you from being shot, it distributes the kinetic force over a larger area when you are shot. So a mental-proof-helmet doesn't have to prevent Menton from targeting you with a mental command; it can instead reduce the impact of that command. The special effect of the mitigation may vary, but the game effect remains the same: reduced mental effect. So an AoE mental attack is one where the targeting lock is somehow automatic or much easier within the defined area. Why this attack works that way is left up to you. Perhaps it exploits hand-wave-plot-particle-duality or is a side-effect of tachyon-techno-babble-alia.

Combat almost always requires attack rolls, but there are some options to either make the roll easier, change the combat value used, or make it conditional: You could make the Area of Effect Accurate to target the hex DCV 3. You could make a Damage Shield to apply damage anytime someone makes contact You could make the attack No Normal Defense (Hearing Flash Protection).

I know most Fantasy Hero campaigns don't bother with END tracking, but if you do or are willing to track it in this one case, then perhaps swimming while encumbered costs extra END.

Tunneling is one of those powers where I personally have a hard time suspending my disbelief the more I think about it. The cognitive dissonance is just made worse when people use the default disintegration special effect as the basis of their builds, even though it is a perfectly legal build with the rules as written. It just feels like someone is exploiting a technicality and then conveniently ignoring other technicalities that could be used against them such as: Will the tunnel collapse and if so when? Will you hit a dangerous obstacle? Will you need flight or climbing to tunnel vertically? I suppose these are issues between GM and player though. Live by the technicality; die by the technicality.

True enough. They also don't have to worry about collapsing tunnels, running into gas lines, flooding, and a whole bunch of other stuff that real tunnelers have to deal with. It's just that Tunneling as Disintegration Touch seems like an odd default value to me. Of course I suppose it is no more odd than pondering how a tunneler can create a vertical shaft straight up without flight or climbing to counteract gravity. I'd only expect the real world obstacles to intrude if and when the GM needs it to for a plot point or to curb rules abuse. "Are you sure you want to tunnel into the oil refinery?"

I assume that 18 STR is fairly common in your Fantasy Hero campaign. Rather than further fine-tune the encumbrance rules you could just say that only people with an appropriate background have any swimming movement. So sailors, pirates, and divers can swim, but your typical man-at-arms cannot. In such a setting, having an 18 STR no longer gives you a "get out of drowning free" card.

Does anyone else find it odd that the Tunneling rules hand-wave the hardest part of real-world tunneling, which is removing whatever material you're digging into from out of your tunnel? I'd expect the Fill In option to be the default tunneling mode and make people pay +10 CP to have all that stuff magically disappear. At least with Transform builds I can see where you literally transmute the stone/soil/metal into air. I almost think Tunneling should come with a Side Effect (Whole bunch of loose material to move out of the tunnel).

As mentioned in the writeup, the King of Beasts could make a formidable gatherer of secrets. Birds watch you enter your bank PIN. The house cat watches you enter your login credentials. A pack of rats sneak into your base to discover the layout and overhear your latest plans. It's not flashy villainy, but potentially profitable villainy nonetheless.

So you're saying that casting a Light spell while Levitating in a Pit trap may cause extended mental paralysis? Sounds about right.

Following Doc's lead I too RTFM for the Usable As Attack advantage (6E1 pages 358-359). Since I realize not everyone has or uses the 6E books, here are the relevant bits: UAA powers should only have limitations that affect the Grantor. UAA powers are only usable as attacks and cannot be used for their normal purpose. UAA powers may require a half-phase action to control the Recipient. GM may require an Attack roll to do something that harms the Recipient. These rules certainly remove some of my previous objections. FYI: Does a Movement power Usable As Attack require a full phase to move the target the full move value? I'd suspect yes so you might need to have 8m Tunneling to force someone to move 4m in a half phase.

Yes, I thought the primary objective was to restrain targets and prevent their movement. The piddling amount of falling damage and line of sight issues are secondary game effects, but ones that can be modeled fairly easily. I can see where creating holes at a distance is an interesting application of a movement power as long as the intent is to actually allow or force others to move through those holes.

On second thought, for only preventing run movement a Limited Power limitation probably makes more sense than a Conditional Power limitation. Maybe this: Limited Power Power loses about two-thirds of its effectiveness (Only prevents run movement; -1 1/2)

Here's another version of Pit Trap that uses Entangle. Pit Trap (created by a sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic):(Total: 75 Active Cost, 32 Real Cost) Blast 2d6, Area Of Effect Accurate (1m Radius; +1/2) (15 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Does not affect flying targets; -1/4), Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Does not affect targets too big to fall into a 2m wide pit; -1/4), Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Pit must be conjured on horizontal surface. Normal gravity must be present for target to fall into pit.; -1/4) (Real Cost: 8) PLUS Entangle 5d6, 5 PD/5 ED (standard effect: 5 BODY, 5 PD/5 ED) (Stops A Given Sense Group Sight Group) (60 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Common Circumstances (Only prevents run movement; -1/2), Linked (Conjure pit from extradimensional space; -1/4), Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Does not affect flying targets; -1/4), Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Does not affect targets too big to fall into a 2m wide pit; -1/4), Can Be Dispelled (-1/4) (Real Cost: 24) Notes: The caster conjures a 2m wide and 4m deep portal to an extradimensional space. The pit is made from exotic material that can be damaged. Reducing the pit to zero body dispels it and returns the target to their prior position in normal space. The surface on which the pit is summoned remains undamaged and returns to its normal state after the entangle is broken or dispelled. Damage is from falling into a 2m wide x 4m deep pit trap. See 6E2 pg 140: "Short Falls (20m or less): A character who falls 20m or less takes 1d6 damage per full 2m fallen. For example, a character falling off a four-story building 16m high would take 8d6 Normal Damage."

To me this is an example of designing to the special effect rather than the game effect. I feel that using the game rules for environmental effects such as falling damage, line of sight penalties, and movement restrictions circumvents the core design philosophy of creating powers based on their game effects. It also makes it harder to balance with other powers since you haven't specified how much damage, sight restriction, and movement restriction the pit causes. Suppose the pit trap included an enclosed vacuum bubble inside it. Would you allow a Change Environment power to create the vacuum and then use the game rules for suffocation to cause damage and the physics of there being no air to also cause darkness to sound? To me those are a NND attack and darkness. In my opinion the game effects to model are: Hit the target either with an attack roll versus the target hex or failed DEX roll. Add limitations about size and alternate movement modes. SFX: Target tries to avoid falling into the pit. Triggered normal damage. SFX: Falling into the pit. Triggered restriction to run movement either by entangle or suppress. SFX: Being at the bottom of a pit. Triggered darkness to normal sight or entangle blocks normal sight. SFX: Being at the bottom of a pit.

I still believe modeling based on game effects is the best approach. If you want to ensure zero run movement, use entangle. If you want to cause falling damage, add a HTH or NND attack. If you want to restrict visibility, add darkness or use the entangle advantage. I realize this could be an expensive power, but you should get what you pay for. I don't think you should pay for tunneling movement and then also get restraint, darkness, and damage for free. At least with my models it clear what you're getting, and you can add or remove effects to taste. I like the flavor opportunities the suppress build offers because I think high-running characters should be able to run out of pits with speedster tricks. Call it a free level of Clinging because it would look cool. I call that a feature not a bug. There's always Entangle for the "I haz to stop all movement always."

What if you doubled the current weight of all gear while in the water to represent the gear absorbing extra water weight? I know not all gear absorbs water but a simple multiplier of some type like x1.5 or x2 is easier to work out than determining what happens for each piece of gear.