LoneWolf

Most of the time powered armor is just a special effect of the characters power. Typically you build the character like any other but his powers have a OIF limitation in addition to any others. Usually they have very good defenses and often have a lot of unusual defenses like power defense, flash defense as well. You can use a multipower for a weapons array to save some point. Also buy stats like STR, DEX, OCV, DCV, SPD through the armor. Probably also want flight through the armor.

You cannot use 2-point skill levels to increase damage, but I would still warry of allowing a character too many 2-point skill levels. Other than limiting the number of 2-point skill levels I would not put restriction on using them for called shots. A few 2-point skill levels allow a character to be an expert in a particular weapon. Having a specific weapon, you are an expert in is something that should be allowed. The section on penalty skill levels actually mentions targeting skill levels that offset the penalty for targeting and hit locations. If you are going to disallow that in all honesty, you should remove all penalty skill levels. I can see limiting the number of penalty skill levels to a reasonable number to keep things from getting out of hand. Allowing someone to take 8 1-point skill levels with Rapier vs called shot head is something I can see as being unbalanced.

I have to agree with Sketchpad that they are only guidelines. The title of the chart that you are referring to is actually Character Ability Guidelines table. I use them to make sure that the characters are within the ranges they should be. If you scroll down in the book there are a few more tables giving more guidelines. The characteristic comparison table shows that characters with that range (5-9) fall within the competent to legendary classifications. A few pages latter there is a table called Characteristics Maxima Table, which gives the normal human maximums. That table lists the normal human maximum for ocv/dcv as 8. As a GM I will use these to set campaign limits. Those limits are usually a bit higher than the ranges presented to allow some variation and use of tactics. Even with the limits it also depends on the nature of the character. A character that relies on skill levels to increase the damage needs more flexibility than one that can reach the campaign DC l limit without needing anything else. If the character has to make a choice between damage and accuracy they are usually less of a problem. I also look carefully at characters using 2 point skill levels to boost a single attack. Those are more troublesome than a character that spent more points to achieve the same results.

I have to agree with Christopher on this. Hero system has a lot of optional rules that can allow you to run any type of campaign you want. I have been in many low powered champions games and have never found them lacking. If you want a gritty granular campaign it is a matter of setting up the campaign parameters and making sure people understand that is the game, you are running. This usually means imposing campaign limitations on powers especially defenses and stats. Just because the average SPD in most Champions game is 5 does not mean it has to be that way. Simply let the players know what is appropriate for the campaign and enforce that.

You don’t need to take steroids to push yourself above the 20 point line, but it can help. Allowing you to train harder and longer can help in going above the normal limits. In the Harry Dresden novels the mantle of the winter knight allows Harry to ignore pain and often exhaustion. He also exercises a lot to burn counter some of the urges of the mantle. That is one of the things contributing to his increased strength. Performance enhancing drugs can do something similar, especially for someone without the drive and discipline to push themselves. Comic book science could be even more effective at this than anything we currently have.

Mutants are not the only source of power. You also have magic, aliens, and science based characters. The real world has performance enhancing drugs like steroids that can push a character over the 20-point line.

I think before you figure out how mutant detectors work you have to figure out what a mutant really is. If being a mutant is basically have access to a specific type of energy that can be used based on the individuals DNA then all a mutant detector does is spot that energy. This is does seem to be similar to the way magic often works. Mutates could be latent mutants but could also be something else. The serum that made Capitan America was supposed to raise the target to the human maximum. Supposedly he was as strong as a human could get if they spent their whole life building up their strength. His reflexes and agility where likewise raised. No human could achieve his total state because there is simply not enough hours in the day. Someone like that would not need to be a mutant.

The life support is not to protect it vs transformation, but other attacks. Many of the attacks are going to be built as change environment or other powers doing more than just straight damage. An attack designed to age could be built using a drain or other power.

When you have super science that can manipulate the molecular structure of an object at range there is no reason you cannot have something capable of doing a genetic analysis without having a sample. I had a character with telekinesis that could alter things on an atomic level. He was able to perceive and even alter molecules including the cells of a living being. His molecular Analysis was 68 active points for a single enhanced sense. A lot of science fiction has medical scanners that can do this. The Tricorders of Star Trek from Star Trek can easily do this. The ships senses of the enterprise can do this from orbit.

You might want to look over this thread Invisibility to Detect

Most people look at the hit location rules and all they see is the stun multiple. The Body multiple is what makes it really dangerous. A vital shot in FH from a decent weapon has a good chance of killing anything. It is somewhat offset by the locations that halve the Body, but even those can be dangerous. If you are using the disabling rules a hit to the arm or hand can often put your character at a severe disadvantage, even if the Body is cut in half. Losing the functionality of an arm or hand can be worse than taking damage. That is one of the reason combat in FH can be a lot deadlier than in Champions.

A mutant detector is usually built as a power. You don’t need a complication to be able to be spotted by it because the person paying for the detect bought it to specifically detect mutants. I could build a similar device designed to detect a specific genetic trait like a specific blood type. That does not mean people with that blood type can take a physical complication detects as type O blood type. But my character can still detect those with type O blood type. Without another complication being a mutant does not cause any problems. In order for the physical complication to count it has to cause the character its own problems. So, outside of the issued covered under the social complication (or the distinctive feature if that is what is use), what problems does being detected as a mutant cause? If you cannot come up with any hindrance that the physical complication creates that is not covered by the other complication it is not hindering the character, and therefore does not count. If there is no way to detect the character is a mutant the social complication will never come up so is worth no points. Basically, I am asking what unique limitation the physical complication is giving. Being treated as a social outcast is part of the social complication. I can already be detected by someone who bought a detect mutant as a power.

That is not how complications are supposed to work. I cannot take the social complication minority and then take a distinctive look minority, and then a physical complication detects as minority, and then take reputation minority. A character does not have to purchase redundant powers and skill, nor do they get credit for redundant complications. The fact that the character can be detected by mutant scanners is factored into the frequency of the social complication. If people don’t realize the character is a mutant the character does not face the restrictions. In most campaigns this would be classified as infrequently, but in this campaign mutant detectors are a lot more common so it becomes frequently. If the character has obvious physical mutations the frequency becomes very frequent. The basic law of complications also states that a complication that is not a complication is not worth any points. A physical complication detects as mutant by itself does not cause any problems. The problems are caused by the social complication. By this logic I can take the physical complication detects a male because a genetic test will show I have a Y chromosome.

Hit locations affect more than just stun. They also affect the amount of Body the target takes. The body multiplier is after defenses, so the dynamics are a little different than stun. A vital hit on a creature that takes no stun does 2x the amount of body after defenses. The creature with Takes No Stun has a higher chance of taking maximum effect from the hit location than a normal creature. To the creature with Takes No Stun a head shot and a vital shot have the same effect. The chance of a head shot is .46%; the chance of a vital shot is 9.72%. The creature with Takes No Stun has a 10.18% chance of taking the maximum effect. Given the lower defenses of the creature that Takes No Stun it is more likely that Body will get through. That means a vital shot to a skeleton is a lot more likely to take them completely out of the combat.

Some of the life support is probably necessary. The same necromancy that summons the skeleton has a spell that ages the target. That type of spell is fairly common with necromancy. Immunity to pressure also covers the effects of different environments like high altitude or deep underwater. There are also spells that can duplicate those. Radiation is probably not needed, but some underground settings do include strange radiation. The radiation might be magic based instead of scientific but could still exist.

For someone with poor vision the 4K may be overkill. The main reason to get that is to run it at higher resolutions so more fits on the screen, but the image is still clear. For a programmer that can be very important. In this case they will probably run it at a lower resolution so that the image is much larger than normal. Full HD (1080P) should be enough for that. Something like that will probably be around $150. The size is going to be based on desk space, and field of vision. You want it large enough it can be easily seen, but not so large you have to move your head to see the whole screen. Someone who is comparing two different things may want something bigger so they can have two copies of the application open on the screen at one time. When I was trouble shooting programs and logs that was helpful. But for general use you don’t want to go too big.

A character that takes no stun stops functioning at 0 BODY. I am not really sure you need to take does not bleed, especially for a summoned creature. The way I want this to work is after the skeleton takes damage equal to its BODY it stops functioning. I could even have it take a physical complication for that, but it does not seem to be worth the bother. I don’t have a problem with the skeleton taking extra body based on the hit location chart. Losing its hand is probably not going to slow it down, but having its chest shattered would be more likely to destroy it. The idea is to build a cheap creature that a low powered caster can use as a minion. Spending an Extra 15 points on top of all the other powers seems to be a bit expensive for what I want.

Already gave them life support. I agree with Gauntlet on the hit location. The exact location might be slightly different, but the game mechanics can still work. A “head shot” might be snapping its spine thereby cutting it in half.

This came up when I was writing up a Necromancer that summons skeletons. The skeleton does not have much beyond STR and Running that uses END so buying 0 END and selling back the END made sense. Buying back the REC also made sense because they don’t heal. When I did that, I saw no reason that the skeleton needed CON. I just wanted to make sure I was not overlooking anything. Thanks all.

In a Windows system you can turn on high contrast in the settings, Ease of Access. But that does not seem to work with Hero Designer. The program has to support this but it does not look like Hero Designer does. This might be something @Simon can add in an update. One thing I would suggest for anyone with limited vision is to use a large display. Around 32” would be ideal. Large computer monitors are typically expensive, but most there is a cheaper alternative. Most computers support HDMI so you can actually use a flat screen TV as a monitor. I have a 32” LED hooked up to my laptop and use that as the primary display. I hooked up my Xbox one to the other HDMI port and ran the cable TV through the Xbox. So, the same TV functions for all entertainment. LED TVs are a lot cheaper than computer monitors.

Always on means it cannot be turned off, by any means. If the character is permanently invisible, but can at times be seen he does not qualify for the limitation. If he could become visible by some means it would be persistent, but not always on. A good example of that was the old TV show the Invisible Man. In the show the character was permanently invisible, but had a mask and gloves that along with clothes allowed him to seen normally. I think the character had to strip down naked to be invisible. The complication Secret ID is because you have to maintain a separate identity. That identity interacts with other people. It is incredibly difficult to interact with people without them noticing you are invisible. A secret ID of a dead or missing person does not limit the character so would not be a valid complication. The world does not need to know your true identity, but you should not be able to take the complication secret ID.

Biometric devices will not work for the character. That could prevent him from accessing restricted areas or verifying his identity. A voice scan would work, but things like facial recognition or fingerprint scanning will not work. He will need a password to unlock a smart phone or have to leave it with no security. That would also prevent many of the heath monitoring function of a phone or even more sophisticated devices from working. Medical care is going to be a lot more difficult to perform on the character. He could get something like skin cancer and not even know it. Doing surgery on him is going to be next to impossible. Even putting in an IV is going to be difficult. A low point regeneration would be highly recommended. Many social interactions are going to be more difficult. For example, if he is accused of a crime, he might have a difficult time proving he was not there. So, you say you were at home at the time of the murder? Did anyone see your there? No detective no one saw me. The witnesses swear they never saw anyone shoot the victim, sounds like the killer was invisible. Another huge drawback is it means the character cannot maintain a secret ID. This is just off the top of my head. Given enough time I could probably find a lot more drawbacks.

In 6th edition does a character that has the power Takes No Stun need CON? I could be missing something, but from what I can see there is no reason such a character could not buy down his CON to 0. Also, assuming the character bought all powers including STR and movement to 0 END they could also buy down REC, and END to 0. Is there anything that would prevent this?

The last post was incomplete because I was in a hurry and did not check it. I am not saying not to use a complication; I am saying you don’t need two complications. If you take the social complication mutant, you don’t need a physical complication to detect as a mutant. That is part of the social complication and there should be no need for the physical complication. The same thing would be true if you took it as a distinctive feature. Basically, you should not take two complications for the same thing unless they have very different effect.

I don’t think you need a complication to cover being detected as a mutant. If your background and special effect of your powers are because you are a mutant, that should be enough. Each complication should be something distinct. Getting credits for eventually the same thing is not Kosher. Darkness to detect mutants is actually doing the opposite of what invisibility does. So, while it may be interesting it does not accomplish what invisibility does. The whole point of invisibility is not to be noticed, not to draw attention to yourself.