eternal_sage

Re: Tuala Morn questions thank you, markdoc, that was a very informative alternate view. luckily, the art really only matters to me when i'm new to the system. i've gotten used to the less than hi-quality art in HERO books. hopefully that will change however. also, i find it odd that you think very poorly of the art in the book, while i have seen somewhere else (g-a's article maybe?) that the art was really good. course, art is subjective above all else, so one man's trash is another man's treasure, cliche cliche, blah blah etc.

Re: Shooter, aka gunbunny, Archetypes i think my all time fav is Vasquez from Aliens. the hard-@$$ that just keeps going, ammo casings flying. armed with heavy assualt weapons, then the smaller weapon, then going hand to hand in an enclosed space with a friggin alien drone. i *heart* Vasquez. just don't tell my wife.... and any weapon that has a modified muzzle flash is just cool, imho.

Re: Tuala Morn questions sounds like good stuff. one of my all time fav authors is Kerr (altough the Deverry books kind of teter out about half way through the cycle, the first 4 are still some of the all time best low-magic celtic fantasy i've found) which is why i was wondering about them, altough she is not very popular (for reasons that escape me, but i also can understand why HERO is not more popular, so go fig.) considering i have a good knowledge of cultures and people and my wife is learning gaelic and is into fae, i think this may be a good bet for us. still, its good to have a literary place to general say "this is sorta like this", just for a quick overview kind of set up.

Re: Damage for lightsabers in my Star Wars game they range from 1d6 to 3d6 (each is an individual creation, so not all are equal) with AP. this works well in a game which is designed to capture the feel of the movies (Jedi slicing through opponents, etc) and tends a slight bit towards superheroic in power level. so, i'd say 2d6 is good. oh, and slap on a Does Not Work Underwater, -1, for completeness, if you are going directly for lightsabers (some aquatic Jedi made special sabers for underwaterness, but they are rare). otherwise, i'd say the build is very similar to mine. which makes me proud, since someone basically agrees with me!

first, if anyone is familiar with Katherine Kerr and the Deverry books, do they have similar feel as Tuala Morn (obviously it won't be exact, because they are different worlds and what not). basically does it have a similar low fantasy celtic feel to those, or are they more similar to the Katherine Kurtz Deryni novels? or they completely like niether, and instead more like something else? even if that something else is simply Celtic mythos. second, how well written is the book? does it have really excellent story/plot hooks/ history/culture bits? or is it genero-fantasy world? does the setting itself scream "PLAY ME DARN IT!!" or is it more of a "if your bored, you could maybe roll some dice at me for a little while..."? this is completely a question of setting and style over substance. i don't care if some mechanic is weird or something, i just want to know about look/feel. third, what does it play like? have your games been enjoyable, and do your players get excited for it because of the setting, or does their interest come from general pointy-thing weilding? or is there no interest? finally, what is the over all feeling of the world? utopian? distopian? mythic? historical? black-and-white? are character "alignments" valid in both extremes? i.e. are evil and good characters both well supported, or is it more balanced in one way or the other? (obviously there is no alignment system, but you get the point).

Re: HTH combat questions this is true! (and sorry for the vehemence above, just got my knickers in abit of a twist, although i do stand by any non-ranting bits that can be discerned from it) my impression (and like you, i do not have sheets to examine) leads me to believe this may have been a wizard type, and that they may have been "out of spells" in some way or another. it also seems that this encounter was not intended for such a depleted parted, but rather a "first thing in the morning" encounter. but we all know (or at least i do) how no plan escapes contact with the players intact. i don't know how many times i've personally (in DnD) had the players decide to push on through at least one more room or some such, only to find them dropping like flies because they couldn't handle another battle of X level that day. luckily, as i've moved away from DnDisms over the years, (even in their system) i've had it happen less (haven't killed a player in two years!) but with a certain concept of play, certain problems are sure to emerge, and only careful planning and luck can ever truly negate those possibilities. and never underestimate the Stupid Choice that players will sometimes make that leads to disasster. for instance, instead of going and getting the town militia, the PCs decided to storm the base of the bandit king by themselves. this was a silly idea, as their strength and numbers had caused the dire need that brought them here to begin with, and they knew it. and they'd been given direct orders to "find the base, and report back to me" by the guard captian. instead they find themselves hip deep in alittle over 250 NPCs who want to rearrange their internal organs. luckily the NPC were 8 levels lower (was intended to be a Heroes of Battle set up) so they easily cleaned their clocks, until the generals (who were the ones they were actually supposed to fight) showed up and killed them in their greatly depleted state. it was a massacre. but it happened not because i did something wrong, but the players made a Stupid Choice . so i don't think its fair to shout "burn the heretic" just yet, when we don't know (and probably never will) the whole story.

Re: HTH combat questions the idea that the automaton is...well an automaton, means that he just presses the attack. second, i congratulate the gentleman/lady who came up with a BRILLIANT strategy to take the advantage away from a foe that completely outclassed him. that is not fighting stupidly, it is fighting intelligently and strategicly. did David hual tail away from Goliath? no, he did something remarkably similar. in fact this strategy has played out in fiction and history before. do you have the guts to try it? some yes, some no, but it is, in no way, a "wrong way to fight". letting your opponent over manuever is a classic feint tactic which will leave him open, at which time you slam the hammer down. also a classic tactic of several martial arts (including traditional Karate). in fact, i was under the assumption there was no right or wrong way to do pretty much anything in HERO, but especially fight. maybe YOU should go play DnD, with your mentality of only 2 choices: a) we bash it cause we're better, or we run. it takes a clever man to use his opponent against him, instead of mindlessly looking to his SPD or DEX advantages to bring him through. were their other ways to perform this strategy? yes, such as block or roll-with-punch, but neither were satifactory. block runs off of OCV, which he was obviously short on because of his adoption of this tactic. roll-with-punch does not negate the damage, which is obviously a problem, because otherwise he would not need this tactic. was this GM oversight or some such? sure! but instead of resulting in a TPK (like a hasted iron golem against low level PCs in DnD) the PCs were able to scrape out a win using time tested tactics and intelligent use of the resources at their disposal. hell, i give them a medal and a couple of extra XP.

Re: Spell Active/ Real Cost in Average Games it would depend. i think i would trade (for a certain character type, not all) a single meteor swarm for 10 magic missles. sure, its only one go, but its going to be felt, where as 1d4 PING is likely to be laughed at. my personal opinion, only, however. and it only really works out that way for damage and healing spells. buffs, defensive spells, and the like are usually just fine at lower levels.

Re: Spell Active/ Real Cost in Average Games yes, sorry, its a perk. its actually just the reputation perk, defined to be with other mages (basically the more advanced you are, the more likely it is that someone has heard of you before). however, i don't let anyone start with over 2 levels in it. i used to do it with the fringe benefit perk (membership and rank) but this way gives the players a little extra use from it.

Re: Thoughts on SPD yea. in supers games i take into account total segments traveled for velocity damage (basically adding the velocity from each fMove action taken directly before the attack). its not exactly correct, but it gives you a bit more of a sense of a high SPD character actually moving faster, etc.

Re: Spell Active/ Real Cost in Average Games in my oriental setting, the max (think level 9 wizard spells) is 60 AP. things are set up into 4 levels. 1 is 10 AP, 2 is 20 AP, 3 is 40 AP, and 4 is 60. seems to do well, as the dabblers can get a few simple spells, while the all out mages can get the HARDCORE stuff...

Re: Thoughts on SPD oh, and i did a little more checking around, and many people say the average running SPD for a human is between 10 and 15 mph (i'll go with the middle 12.5) which is around 20 kph. doing all the math from my previous post backwards and you'll be in the neighborhood of SPD 3 (with 6" Running). Seeing as that is average, and HERO normals range from 2-4, i would say that that is about right, as average running speed would be experienced by those in good physical health, not calculator jockeys like myself! so yes, policemen (sans donuts), track team members and the average army private have SPD 3 as far as running goes, with only elite soldiers and others with specific athletic SPD training actually having a SPD 4, let alone the OLYMPIAN levels of SPD 5.

Re: Thoughts on SPD first, in DnD 3.5, at 20th level, a fighter-type can make 4 attacks (5 if Hasted) without two weapons, which means they top out at 8 (DnD round is 6 secs) and start at 2. however. i believe most people would agree that 10th level is more within the realm of believability as peak human ability, which is 2 attacks, which is around SPD 4. so, in essence, DnD agrees with HERO (i often find this true. their Attribute scores for STR also match fairly well.) as for running SPD, remember that the SPD 6 person is going 13 mph and DODGING, not straight sprinting. the same character going full out would be hitting 43.2 kph (27 mph rounded) which is think is outside peak human perfromance seeing as how Micheal Johnson set the world's record for sprint 37 kph (and i guarentee he paid double points for that last bit of SPD!) http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/KatarzynaJanuszkiewicz.shtml now, how i personally get around this issue is by selling down running hexes for combat prowess-monsters like Bruce Lee. i would make him SPD 6, but only have 4" Running, which still makes him outrun a SPD 3 character with 6" Running, but he's not setting world records either. just me, though. p.s. just checking math here: 6" Running = 12 meters SPD 6 = 6 actions in 12 secs 60/12 = 5 turns/minute = 30 actions/minute 60*5 = 300 turns/hour = 1800 actions/hour 1800*12 = 21,600 meters/hour 21,600/1000 = 21.6 kph (as SteveZilla said) non-combat = 2x Running 21.6*2 = 43.2 kph (as i said above) all math = sound!

Re: Steve's Chat (Thursday, August 23) Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do! lol

Re: Recoil and 2 Weapons raise STR Min? increase the adder from 2 to 4? both? on a side note, is that gun even autofire? how is he firing that many shots a phase? i think that rule is just for automatic weapons. normal semi-automatics and revolvers (i think) can only be fired once per phase.

Re: Naked Limitation Negation as i said, the characters in this particular game do not actually buy powers, but instead buy skills that let them access the powers, one skill per powers, normal active point penalty rules. for that reason, they can't actually buy of the lims, nor are the AP set (for most powers, some are) but are instead done like many mental powers, where you decide what level of effect you are trying for, which gives you the skill penalty.

Re: Naked Limitation Negation ah, i'm sorry. the game system is not DnD-esque, just the idea. yes, it could be something like a rod that grants the ability, Gandalf's staff like, or just a talent to show dedication and hard work, but still discourage buying off limitations on the powers. never thought of the whole "coming out ahead" thing though. thats a very good point. and Hyper-Man, thats very similar to what i'm talking about, actually. just a little more inline with the way Naked Advantages work. and yes, i too am leary of Naked Advantages, and this is more a thought experiment, really. it is actually for a Star Wars game, in which, as a game rule, powers are not bought at all, but a seperate skill is used for each power, based on the RSR limitation, in a VPP that each player gets for "free". no skill, no power, failed rolls mean the power attempt fizzles. hence the no buying off of lims. bit. basically there would be one that reduces Concentration, one that takes the AP penalty from 1 for 10 to 1 for 20, and one that... does something else. don't have my notes handy.

in a game i have going, the magic system has a certain set of inevitable, must be on everything limitations. having finally gotten a grasp on the whole Naked Advantage thing, i was wondering if anyone else had thought of a similar mechanic that could be a way to take away a limitation, sort of like a metamagic feat from DnD 3/3.5. basically, this would be bought much the same way as a naked advantage, but using a positive value instead of the normal negative value. for example, every spell has Concentration (1/2 DCV) which is -1/4 (i think, no book handy at the moment). so, just like picking up a Naked Advantage, you would select a number of AP, say 60, calculate the Naked Advantage per normal for a 1/4 advantage, and presto. you can now remove the Concentration limitation on a power up to 60 AP. so, what do you think? does that make sense? does it break something i don't see? it would, of course, be subject to the same GM scrutiny as Naked Advantages are normally. does it already exist somewhere that i haven't noticed, like FH? thanks for any input!

Re: Fantasy Hero Hardcover i also work from home on my pc. the perks, huh?

Re: Fantasy Hero Hardcover my personal opinion is that not having harcovers is the one big downside to HERO products...that and the art. layout is tolerable, as it is at least utilitarian even though its not slick and flashy (and this is my opinion, and obviously i'm in the minority, or it wouldn't be this way anymore, point taken). the softcover books, while extremely nice for softcovers, are still much more flimsy and prone to damage than hardcovers, and i've had problems with pages coming out on several occasions. plus hardcovers just feel more official and professional, imho. conversely, i like that HERO books are probably the cheapest RPG books on the market (that i am interested in, anyway) which is good. altough White Wolf is very close, and much nicer, imho, especially on Amazon, in which case they are cheaper, as i only by HERO books from the online store (as i have no local game store to speak of). at least the content is always good and reliable, and mechanically sound. anyway, i plan on sitting at the store webpage all day waiting on FH hardcover to be put up for sell.

Re: "Understanding limitations and advantages" i think that yes, in all cases, if a power should have a limitation or advantage (an actual in game rules, honest to Hexman advantage or limitation) then it should have it, and not get it for free. for example, the Pyro character i talked about, Cinder. he wanted an ability to make things actually catch on fire. i would not just say "ok, its an energy blast with fire sfx," i instead had him make it continous, sticky (only flammable things) and uncontrolled. but if he just wanted a fire beam, he would have an EB with fire SFX. it is only a puff of heat, tough, and could only set something on fire with a power skill roll. and i would consider water still common the world over (if it was) regardless of the general location the majority of the campaign took place in. otherwise, to use the character again later, you would have to rebuild him, maybe from scratch, just to make him work correctly in another location. also, i often make any severe disadvantage as bad as it should be. powers don't work in water? you will get submerged at least once. afraid of clowns? crazy carnival of death, coming up (just as the a certain Texan Mastigos from my Mage Seattle setting). your lims will get you eventually. that, at least, is my logic, and the way games are run at my house. obviously, things may work differently for you. i also do not see npc and pcs as inherently different creatures, as to do so means that things do not balance out in this reality. 350 points is 350 points. to say that either should get an advantage or limitation just because of their place in the cosmic hierarchy of story, i think, means that there is something wrong with the set up. then again, i like my characters to be well challenged, not smacking goblins on the nose room after room (for example, in DnD, my pcs usually level after 4-6 encounters, not the 13 that the DMG recommends.)

Re: Are Hero characters too rugged? i can accept those points, actually, and say they make sense. however, i'm still not sure why the example character is not elegible for brick status? and i'm also confused as to why bricks are also considered to have low OCV/DCV to begin with. i understand they often have little in the way of DEX, but i would imagine, and it may just be the way that i look at character creation, but they would be the ones with tons of CSLs, as they are the ones doing lots of physical fighting. same for martial arts. i mean, even boxing and pro-wrestling count as martial arts styles, and that is very like what bricks do in comics usually. same for flight. Captain Britain flys, and he is a brick (i would say, at any rate), and there are a few other examples (like the above mentioned Iron Man, who also blasts energy). those are my thoughts on the matter, at least, and it seems it is mostly because of general discrepencies between build styles and philosophies more than anything. and to Sean Waters, i find that i pretty much always disagree with you, so there is nothing new there .

Re: "Understanding limitations and advantages" the only time i would even consider sfx to require a cost would be supers, because of the intrensic "only get what you pay for" mentality. however, i would only consider it, then say "nope" and give it for free. sfx do not cost points. if there was system where you had to purchase the ability to create a certain sfx period, then yes, it would make sense. however, sense it doesn't (thank god), then it is my belief that OBVIOUSLY they shouldn't cost points. if a villian has a weakness, well its there to be exploited, which is the reasoning for kryptonite to begin with, as well as sunlight/crosses/running water/garlic/wooden stakes for vampires. to make the player suffer because it makes things easy is not fair nor correct rules wise. for example, my last group of supers had an ice(wo)man clone, and a pyro clone. they both took Susceptibility to each other, basically, and had clashing personalities to boot. twice there were friendly fire incidents that caused full out battle that nearly killed them both. i also ran several villians to exploit these weaknesses. if a lim is not limiting, then it is worth nothing.

Re: Are Hero characters too rugged? i am honestly interested in why this is so. is he not, basically, the reason the genre exists? not that i'm saying i agree with all aspects of the character, all stories he's ever been in (hell, i personally don't really even like him, but mostly personality/character reasons), but trying to say that a discussion involving superhero power sets, not just in gaming terms, but in general, and saying to use him as an example is basically a logical fallacy? i just don't see the logic, and would like to get a better understanding for why you say that.

Re: Ultimate books and general utility i still have little use for Brick and Speedster, altough i will get them eventually. they really do seem to be very useful. gotta love it.