Doug Limmer

I want to make sure I understand what you're saying here, Monolith. If I understand you correctly, you would let a superheroic character (i.e., one who buys equipment with points) buy the naked advantage with OAF and still let it be used with anyone's bow? So, the character could pick up Rainbow Archer's bow and use it Autofire? It seems odd to me at first glance, but then, I have far less practical experience with HERO than I would like. My 3-5 point difference was for a magic bow with Autofire built in vs. a magic bow with skill-based autofire bought separately. Both characters had autofire on the attack. The only difference (in my example) was that one character only could Autofire with a single, specific bow, while the other one could Autofire with any bow. I think it's safe to say that a power and a Naked Advantage is more flexible (inherently) than a power bought with that same advantage attached. I'm trying to determine if that flexibility can be measured in terms of character points. I'm still trying to figure out how much of a difference this really makes. Sadly, I have no personal experience with Fantasy HERO. There are two things which come to mind: Wouldn't the character 'pay' for the privilege of the bow (compared to those who have nothing equivalent) through some other means: money, favors, danger, something? If so, then it might not matter (for comparison purposes) whether or not the bow is paid for with character points. If the bow is 'free', then not paying character points for the bow means that the character with the magic-bow-with-Autofire is getting his Autofire for 'free' as far as character points are concerned, while the Naked Advantage person pays with character points. So, while a Naked Advantage is more flexible, it's also more expensive: i.e., not free. In my previous example, that would make the ability 10 or 12 points more expensive (or 7 if you use OAF) rather than 3 or 5. The multipower example is certainly important to consider; thank you for pointing it out.

I think I'll crunch some numbers on this: Player one has a magic bow: 2d6 RKA, Autofire, OAF. Base Cost: 30. Active Cost: 45. Real Cost: 22 Player two has a magic bow: 2d6 RKA, OAF. Base Cost: 30. Real Cost: 15. Player two also has the naked advantage "Autofire" for any bow up to 6 DC. Base Cost: 15 (45 - 30). Real Cost: Either 10 (with -1/2 OIF bow of opportunity) or 12 (with -1/4 'only bows' limitation). Total Cost: either 25 or 27. So, for either 3 or 5 points more, player two can autofire with nearly any bow, rather than with just the one. Considering that player two will most often use his magic bow rather than another 'bow of opportunity', does this cost seem right for the ability? Is this more useful than, or less useful than, say, +1 CSL with the bow or a level or two of Defense Maneuver? Are their other factors to consider other than the basic ones above? [And, yes, I know, Fantasy HERO characters usually don't pay points for magic bows. The points are mostly for balance-comparison purposes.]

Re: Re: Once more into the ethnic heroes fray. GURPS Mixed Doubles listed "Shimpu" as an alternate phrase for "divine wind" (apparently it's more polite, but my limited knowledge of Japanese can't confirm that). Whether or not it has the right 'ring' for a superhero name is another question.

Re: Problems with Foci and Constant Powers... In real life, no. In stories, weapons are always more powerful in the hands of the heroes.

If the people he talks through are willing, all it takes is a Mind Link (and Yugi would have Mental Awareness). Taking over someone's physical movements completely? If you want to use Mind Control, how high of a level would depend on how much their personality would resist being taken over. I seem to recall The Ultimate Mentallist suggesting to use Telekinesis instead, but I'm not sure of that.

This is not exactly on-topic, but I feel compelled to point it out ... The actual quote (according to http://vision.cs.qc.edu/daniel/sw_quot.html) is For those of you who know the difference, Obi-Wan said "precise", not "accurate".

For the Voodoo Doll, the first thing that comes to mind is Mind Scan with an 'only to target specific person' limitation, and an Ego Attack. Add Does BODY, Invisible Power Effects, OAF Fragile, Must Have Something From Target and so on, as needed. Whether or not you can get away with a 'voodoo doll' Elemental Control, I'll leave up to your GM. No numbers given, because the value of the limitation, and the number of dice needed, vary from campaign to campaign. It shouldn't be more expensive than is reasonable, considering that the victim has no idea who or where you are, or why or how he's being attacked.

I'm not quite sure why you want a 'save or die' power; is it just because other games let you do it? Some other games have a 'no save, just die' power, too; would you want the Hero System to be able to do that? In 100 AP? Having said that, you could always make up a "No Defense" advantage (like No Normal Defense, but moreso). I'm not sure how big of an advantage to make it; +2? +4?

If you take Rule #6 too literally, then you wouldn't by the power Armor at all, but rather Force Field with 0 End, Persistent, and Invisible Power Effects. I'd include the idea of how simple/straightforward a construction is as part of the word "valid".

I, unfortunately, don't have a good opportunity to actually try this, but a STUN Suppress seems like a good idea to me, although you may want to add 0 END, Uncontrolled.

My Gamemaster's Screen only says "Gamemaster's Screen for CHAMPIONS" on one panel. The other three sides are full of combat maneuvers and combat modifiers and such. Aha! The Strength Chart on mine has a "KDamage" column with a +0,+1,+1,+1/2D6,+1/2D6,+1D6,+1D6,... pattern. That's in the first edition book, but not in the second edition book. I also found a 1981 copyright on it.

The panel where it says "Gamemaster's Screen for CHAMPIONS" doesn't have two guys facing off against each other. It has the speed chart, and a large version of the logo (with the red and blue energy projector).

I have a two-panel GM screen which I got the same time I got my (used) copy of the 1st edition book, wrapped in the same plastic wrap; is that a 2nd edition screen? (Hmm ... I just noticed the HERO05 on the bottom of it; why didn't I notice that before?)

Re: I have similiar troubles with Detects But if someone literally sees 3 seconds into the future, wouldn't that one still see the attack coming? Regardless of how 'non-agressive' you are? (Now, if the sneaky character also had Invisibility to Precognition, or the right kind of IPE on his attack, that'd be different.)

Re: Re: Old Hero System books. Be careful, though. I bought a used copy; the box said something to the effect of "for use with Rolemaster and Fantasy HERO", but they had a copy of the second edition book inside! No HERO stats!

So, how many copies did you get?

Re: How to... Gun from "Lookers" It's as good a place as any for this. Well, it instantly incapacitates the target. That probably should be expensive. The special glasses/averted eyes suggests some sort of NND. You might look into an entangle based on EGO (or CON?).

Wouldn't this require you to recover the charge even if it were used in melee? Putting "1 Recoverable Charge" only on the "Ranged" advantage might be better. Making a multipower with the 'lockout' disadvantage on the ranged attack might be better yet. (I think one of the 5E examples does this; it's a thrown dagger, or something.)

Champions #450 is the BBB, just in paperback instead of hardback. You shouldn't be missing anything. If you want more, you'll need to look for Classic Enemies, or the like.

First off, just to make sure I'm not completely off-base: A character buys a 10d6 EB with 10 boostable charges. To fire one shot, he spends a charge. If he spends 5 charges, he can do 14d6 damage with his EB (+4d6 for the extra 20 active points from the extra charges). A character buys a 10d6 EB with armor piercing (+1/2) and 10 boostable charges. If he spends 5 charges, he gets 20 extra active points in his attack, but since the attack has armor piercing, he does 12.5d6 AP damage with his EB. (2.5d6 costs 13 points, +6 for AP. This assumes half-dice are allowable, and cost 3 base points.) Now the question: if a character buys a 10d6 EB with 30 boostable charges (+1/2), and uses 5 charges, does he do 12.5d6 damage, or 14d6 damage? Does he need to account for the charges advantage in the active points gained from boostable charges? The more I think about it, the more unsure I am as to what the answer should be. I think I believe the answer is 'yes'; that he does 12.5d6 damage.

Wouldn't it be easier - and possibly more accurate - to just buy it as a separate power of the character's (with OIF bokken of opportunity) and not link it to the bokken's damage at all?