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Re: 4 Arms and punching alot. What do you like? I am very fond of the new Sweep rules. I agree with Phil, go with Rapid Attack and 6 PSLs. Cheap and gives you more flexibility. Read the Sweep rules, they give you lots of options. You could Sweep a grab, for example, if you purchased broad enough PSLs. Or all sorts of other stuff. Plus, it makes it easier to spread the attacks over a number of different targets. My understanding of the Autofire is that this would turn it into a 75 AP attack, meaning it costs 7 END per shot, for a total of 21. Also, the way described only gives up to 3 shots, not 4.

One of my most over-effective characters ever was a 350 point skater-punk. He was a super-speedster who did not have the invulnerability of pounding his feet into the ground at supersonic speed that so many speedsters seem to have, so he had to judiciously use a skateboard. Also to hit people with, since hitting them at superspeed with his hand broke his bones, as well. I used an EC to simulate some of his skater tricks, like super-running, missile deflection, a limited form of Armor (superimposing the skateboard between himself and damage), and HA. He then also had Martial Arts, like the Skateboard-Do. All of his maneuvers had the Full-Move element, which gave him a huge advantage. His 27" movement was more or less effectively doubled, sine he could move it all and still perform most of his attacks or defenses. I purchased his movement as Running as opposed to Flying and it was amazing. Having no turn mode was another huge advantage. On one of his first missions, he cleaned out several twisting hallways worth of bad-guys in one massive swept Passing Strike because he was the only one that could maneuver through them at that speed. There were flyers with more inches of movement, but nobody who could near match his maneuverability. I bought a limited form of Clinging for his zipping up wall ability, and a few inches of Leaping to clear the buildings, and it worked really well. His skateboard was an OAF, of course, and he did lose it on two different ocassions. But since he was a speedster with a large DEX and CV, it was very hard to disarm him. After we had gained some EPs, he changed to a flying skateboard, and while he lost some maneuverability, being able to take to the sky was pretty cool. But I really think it was the most unbalanced character, as compared to the others, that I've ever built. Not only did he deal out top-level damage at the highest CV, he also had a massive number of non-combat skills. I didn't actually mean it to be that way, he just worked out really good. Oh yeah, now I remember the real reason that I built him. The GM always ran these dark, negative campaigns which nobody really cared for, so I used him as a light, humorous counterpoint. He annoyed the heck out of all the "darker-than-thou" NPC heros. Oh yeah, his name was "Crime Thrasher".

Actually, in the Multiple Power Attack rules, it expressly says that multiple martial maneuvers may be used at the same time. While I do agree that they *might* be unbalancing, I think they are needed for the proper flavor of certain games. In a pulp game, I play an ooooold gunslinger who has been fighting the supernatural for nigh onto 100 years. He is extremely good with guns and lassos. So, he took "Western Range Fighting" and some interesting maneuvers. Since he is the groups combat monster, it is unclear whether he is unbalanced. Certainly he is WAY better at combat than anyone else, but then again, he spent way more points on it than anyone else. I also ran a fantasy archer with ranged MA, and in the fantasy campaign that I am currently running, one of the characters is an archer with ranged MA. So, I guess you can see that I definitely like them.

I also like low-level campaigns as much as high level. And, anyway, low-level turn into high-level, if played long enough. A while back I ran a higher-level fantasy game, with characters starting at 175 total. But my most recent one is a low-level, with characters starting at 75 total. It was hysterical to watch the Bugbear trip over a 3' wall. Twice! At lower levels I tend to play it a little more for comedy, but it is fun to be able to give the players a scare with just Goblins. The superhero game I am in started very low, like 200 points, but we are now around 450, mid to high range. There's actually very little difference in play. We still regularly get our butts handed to us, but now it is just by bigger bad guys. I definitely like them both.

I am looking for actual write-ups to save me the hassle of doing so. I will also eventually post my own write ups of various monsters. Thanks to everyone for the input! I did not even know that MMM was out. I will pick that up ASAP!

Hey all, I'm running a wild fantasy hero campaign. Started at very low level, 75 points, but the players are working their way up. It is kind of a D&D port, but different. So, I have the Hero Bestiary, but it is really lacking in a significant number of good FH monster. It has a few, but nothing really different and interesting. And not a lot. So, I am wondering if anyone knows of any Hero System monster resources. I would sure appreciate any tips. I am converting some of the D&D monster over, but that takes a long time. Thanks! James

Uhh... I hate to tell you this, but this guy was cheating. Nobody continually has "amazing luck". Unless you were rolling his dice, or watching his every roll, I can pretty much guarantee you that he was changing rolls. Take it from someone who knows. Anyway, sounds like you're better without him. Move on and don't worry about him. And always put in appropriate consequences to the PCs actions. Appropriate to the campaign style, like was mentioned before. Not only does it keep power-gaming in check, it also provides for much more interesting roleplaying.

Right, that's what I did, of course. However, given that this is in our PC's base, and we don't want it to be inordinately expensive, the Megascale slot can send you from 1km to 50,000km (or so), and the non-Mega slot can send you from 1" to 20" (I mispoke earlier). The problem is that to get from 20" to 1km, you have to buy a bunch of distance multipliers. With all of the other advantages on this (at range, UAA, etc), it quickly gets into the many hundreds of active points. So, I can teleport someone from Earth to the satellite and back again for 170 points. Or, I could teleport them across the Earth. And, I can teleport them across the street. But I cannot teleport them across a football field. (And, please, no discussions on whether this is unbalancing. It is not only a common comic book / sci-fi ability, it is also totally approved by our GM, I just need to know how to pay for it.)

I don't like what they did to Multiform and Duplication. I also do not like the "once Stunned, always Stunned" rule. Getting Stunned for a single Phase is bad enough, but prolonging that whenever anybody leaks 1 pip of Stun through is just too painful. Already the game is too random, that just exacerbates the problem. I also have issue with Megascale. It is too powerful and yet too inconvenient all at the same time. I tried to make a Star Trek style teleporter, and after much pain came out with something that could teleport you anywhere from 1km to 10000km, and anywhere from 1" to 80", but not more than 80" but less than 1km. Another example of how it is way too powerful is my flying skateboard character who took 25" Flight with a +1/4 Variable Advantage (costing +1/2). So, normally he used that as 1/2 End or Invisible to Hearing, but could slap on one level of Megascale and end up going 500x as fast as everyone else, approximately 27,000mph.

Heh, so even the least of those is around 150 Active points, well beyond standard super-hero power limits. If you do want to match it bullet for bullet, my version would be: 3d6 RKA, AP, Autofire (50), 0 End (lots of bullets)

Flight, UAA seems to be the best choice for this to me. The Straight line only limitation would probably be worth about -1/2. Since knockback and throws usually go in an arc, I think the straight line flight better simulates what you are looking for. As far as damage goes, I usually figure it as a 0 STR Move-through, if they hit a wall or other obstacle. So, 30" flight = 10d6.

Re: Can't Hit the Blind Kid So, my question is, how come he can dodge incoming attacks but can't keep himself from running into furniture? If he can sense the future a bit, enough to sense a fist hitting him and therefore dodge it, couldn't he sense when he ran into a couch and therefore avoid it? Other than that, I do agree with the reduced Disad version. However, precognition also has effects that normal sight does not. For example, he should be able to detect invisible attacks. And he wouldn't be affected by Flashes, no matter how strong.

Go here: http://www.hugi.is/hahradi/bigboxes.php?box_id=51208&f_id=969 Watch the fun clip (it is from "Monster Garage" on Discovery channel, so perfectly harmless). Now, how would you write up that gun?

In general, I just do the 3 is an automatic success/hit, except for patently impossible situations (a normal can't hit the moon with a rock, no matter how many 3's he rolls). 18 is an automatic miss, of course. I personally dislike crits and fumbles. They add more randomness to a game that's already too random. And fumbles are *particularly* unherioc and just tend to embarrass the player. One time, in a game that I play in where we use criticals, I rolled a 3 against a friendly NPC who had been controlled to turn evil. All I intended to do was knock her out, and had modified the number of dice that I planned to do accordingly. Critical did max damage and killed her dead. And I've been through tons more situations where the fumble/crit rule screws the players.

Hmmm... I think all of these are off-base. I would be more inclined to do this as a Physical Limitation. Especially if the explosion leaves him unconscious, as well. "Explodes after taking a serious beating" Infrequently, Greatly 10 points. As your GM, I would not let you know how many dice you do or how much damage you have to take before you blow. But, I would expect the explosion to do around 2d6 higher than the campaign max, and you would probably have some indication that you were feeling "full" before you went off, so you could vacate the area. But this should definitely be a disadvantage, since the vast majority of its effects are negative, not a power.

Assuming a character's focus is not a one-of-a-kind item, how long would you rule that it takes to rebuild it if it is stolen or broken? Is there a rule on this in one of the books that I missed?

Ouch! Rapid Fire NNDs and Ego Attacks. You know, I had not even considered the implications for that. Still getting used to 5th Ed rules. I think the best way to deal with the first is a strict adherance to the "Common Defense" rule for NNDs. I have seen a lot of GMs allow NNDs with defenses that are not very common at all. If your NND only works on part of the team you are fighting, you can bet that the others will gang up to stomp you before you do too much damage. One rapid fire NND and you're going down, sucker! And you can almost guarantee that when you encounter that group again, they will all be defended against that NND. On the Ego Attacks, remember that Mental Def is really cheap. If I take a bare minimum of 10 points, probably costing me at most 8 points, then your Rapid Fire 3D6 Ego Attack is going to do very little to me compared to a larger, single-fire attack (as in your example). I think that one of the main issues is that everyone has not yet realigned their thinking in character creation to deal with the new 5th Ed rules. As you question points out, sometimes seemingly minor rules changes can have huge consequences. So, I think one change that we will start to see is more people finding ways to take small amounts of many different defenses to deal with exactly the issue you are referring to.

Please ignore, hit the wrong thingamajiggy.

So, have you tried playing with a attack-then-move house rule and see how it works?

Very cool, thanks for posting those. I would agree with the suggestion of adding in some combat luck to the less DEF characters. It was really rare to see many of them getting badly hurt, even with huge blasts flying around. I'm also thinking that Fero Lad should have some combat levels, too, or maybe I'm misremembering. I thought he was one of the top fighters. All in all, though, very nice. Can't wait to see the others.

All I can say is, of course you can attack and then move. Say you have a SPD 4 character, on phase 3 you run up and punch somebody, on phase 6 you run away. There you go, you moved *right* after you attacked. Remember that even though the system makes it seem like it, the actions are not static, it's all fluid and continuous, like in the movies or "real life". Did some people manage to get in some actions between the time you started your swing and the time you ended 50 feet away? I would guess that they likely did, unless you have some really slow adversaries. But how is that unrealistic? Lots of other stuff will be going on while you attack then run. Simulated by the fact that others get phases in there somewhere. Try an experiment. Punch your punching bag and then run the other way 50 feet. How long did that take you? Could other people be doing stuff during that time period? Now, take a swing at your big brother and then try to run away before he tags you right back. Unless you knocked him over or knocked his breath out, you know he's gonna be able to pop you before you can get away. *Especially* if you missed. Think about that for a second. You swing, you miss, and then you think you are going to be able to run 20' (an average half-move) before your opponent can hit you back? That's just totally unrealistic. Unless, of course, you are WAY faster than your opponent. If you want your character to be able to pop somebody and then run away before they can return fire, then you need to buy an exceptionally high SPD. But, you *never* see the "tag" type of fighting that the hit-then-move type of combat tends towards in the movies. Or even in real life. In the middle of a combat, it is usually very hard to get away from your opponent. You have to do something significant to give yourself an extra second to get away. So, if you want to move away immediately after attacking, do it your next phase because that IS immediately.

My understanding, and my ruling would be that characters do not have to contribute the same amount to any given base/vehicle/etc. However, those with more points in it tend to get more say so. Same kind of thing with the money. If you have one character who is the rich one, then he pays for the money perk. If the others want to mooch off of him, then that's fine, they don't need to pay anything for it, as long as he says it's okay. Of course, the rich guy might have to deal with the consequences of all these other spendthrifts using his money, but that's just plot-grist for future adventures. Also, it is still his money, so if one of the moochers wants something (say, a lamborghini) and Mr. Rich doesn't want to pay for it, then tough luck for the moocher. We do this kind of thing all the time in games, where one character is rich and the rest of us kind of mooch off them, but only the rich character pays for the money, and he is really the only one who gets to say what it goes for. On the group base, even if it is technically on corporate land, if they really want to have a true "super" base, then they do indeed need to pay points for it. However, there's no reason that they cannot allocate the points amongst them as they see fit. If somebody wants to put in more and another member can't afford as much, that shouldn't be an issue. However, if they just want a base that is pretty much designed by the GM and consists of only regular tech, then I wouldn't bother having them pay points. I would do as others suggested and have it be a humorous plot point, more than anything else. I was in a high-powered team that once had a freebie, normal tech base and it was hysterical. We eventually just took down the big chain-link fence and put up a white picket fence (it was a decommissioned air force base, so the fence was miles long) because the big fence wasn't doing us any good against the vilains.

Okay, I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I can't find it. I am looking to buy a transporter in the style of the old JLA satellite. I've run into a real issue in the megascale realm (as you can imagine). Here is how I have it constructed right now: 63 5" Teleportation (1 Km - 5000000 Km) Mass (Self + 0 Kg) Fixed Locations (0): +0 Floating Locations (0): +0 No Relative Velocity: +10 Safe Blind Teleport: +¼ Ranged: +½ No Range Modifier: +½ Megascale (Range) (1000000 Km): +2 Scale Down Megascale: +¼ Indirect (Any Location & Fires Away): +½ Usable As Attack (1 Targets/100 Kg Mass): +1 Reduced Endurance (Zero Endurance): +½ Megascale (Teleport Distance) (1000000 Km): +2 Scale Down Megascale: +¼ Area Of Effect - Selective Target (Any Area): +1¼ Focus (Obvious Accessible): -2 Focus Mobility (Immobile): -1 I've also purchased Megascale Clairsentience to see what I am doing. So, what I think that I've got is a way to teleport people anywhere from 1km to 5,000,000km, and I can do that at a range of 1km to 5,000,000km (or so). So, from my satellite, I could teleport somebody who is on earth across town, or to the satellite, or to the moon (not sure on that distance, but that's only buying more megascale advantage, so no biggie). Note that I bought megascale twice, once for the range of the power, so that I can use it very far away, and once for the teleport distance, so that I can teleport the target a very long way. But, the problem is short range teleport. Say that I wanted to teleport someone less than 1km. Or, say that I wanted to teleport someone from one location to another within my satellite. Yes, I can put it into a multipower with another slot for short range, but the problem then is that it is only *very* short range, like 10 hexes or so. Because of all the advantages, raising the base cost by much, like for buying Non-Combat Distance multipliers, increases the overall cost by an extreme amount. So, right now I have that, from space, I can teleport somebody across the room or across town, but nowhere in between. Any thoughts? And, don't worry, this is a GM pre-approved power, so no need to worry about that, I just need to figure out how much it costs, and if it is too expensive.

Transform seems to be a good way to handle this. Limit it to only affect the target as long as SB/LL concentrates on it. You'd also want to buy it variable, I would imagine, so that they could affect the weight a litle or a lot. And maybe all-or-nothing. If you didn't like that, I would go with the TK power. Although, I usually find that more appropriate for gravity powers, rather than actually changing something's mass. I'd love to see what you have come up with on those. Old Legion was one of my favorite comic books.

In superheroic games, we use money for stuff points can't buy so easy, especially in a roleplaying sense. For example, in one rather bizarre campaign we are in, a rich PC "hero" just bought himself protection from a time-travelling mercenary that we've had trouble with. That is, he went to Tempus (said mercenary) and took out a contract on himself. A contract that said Tempus could not take any other contract on him. We never allow money in a super-heroic game to purchase something that points should be used for. But it does make life easier. Flying first class, living in big houses, maids and butlers, getting in all the fancy nightclubs. It also helps to ease the roleplaying excuses for things like bases. You still have to pay points for your base, but it's easier to rationalize when you can just hire some genius to come in and design and build it. In Fantasy and other Heroic level campaigns, we rarely use the money perk. If the PC's defeat the dragon and get a huge load of gold, I would not make everyone buy the Money Perk. In general, in those types of games, we don't make people pay points for vehicles or bases, either, unless they are waaaaaay out of the oridinary.