LoneWolf

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.

Thinking it over the social complication is probably the best option. Hunted by law enforcement makes the law more unfavorable, but does not cause society as a whole to react negatively to them. Distinctive Feature could work, but it focus on recognition and reactions. If someone is known as a mutant but not detected it technically does not affect them. A social complication is more focused on how society treats them rather than how they are identified.

@Christopher R Taylor You have a point about that, but I don’t think that only in some cultures should apply. Maybe this would be better off done as a social complication instead of a distinctive feature. They do list Minority in the book as a social complication. Since it may not be obvious you are a mutant, the frequency would probably be frequently instead of very frequently, but the effects might be more severe so be considered major instead of minor. That works out to still be about 15 points. @Stanley Teriaca Doing it as darkness has a chance to tip off the fact there is something wrong. When the mutant detector stops working at all the people using it are going to become suspicious. Darkness is noticeable.

Not distinctive in some cultures does not mean other mutant do not react the same way. If all the students at the school run by the bald guy, are also mutants that is the same as other mutants. This modifier should only be applied if there other large groups were people do not react. If mutants had their own sustainable communities where they can live freely that would justify the modifier. If to join the community, you have leave the campaign, the modifier is not appropriate. For example, if the campaign is located in a specific city and the mutant friendly city is on another continent and going there means you character leaves the game it would not qualify. If the campaign involves that city, then the modifier would be appropriate. What Gauntlet describes the DF should be worth 15 points. DF: Mutant (Not Concealable, Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction, Detectable by Uncommon senses). With mutant detectors being so common they are not considered major effort. Taking the modifier Not distinctive in some cultures where you have to leave the game to find that culture is like taking hunted by Orcs in a campaign where Orcs do not exist.

Not distinctive in some cultures is only if there are places it is not distinctive. In a lot of anti-mutant campaigns that is not the case. The prejudice against mutants is usually worldwide or at least covers the areas the players are going to be in. The concealability is also dependent on the campaign. Depending on how common mutant detectors are this could range from commonly used sense to major effort. This is also probably not concealable but requires technology. Having played in some of Gauntlet's campaigns this is probably going to be 10 points. Not concealable, always recognized and causes major reactions, requires special technology. If mutant detectors are more common it would drop to uncommonly used sense and be worth 15 points.

Spending point on an undefined power is not supported by the rules. The closest would be to putting a limitation on the DF, but for something like this it gets messy. A GM is free to create custom powers but as a general rule should avoid duplicating existing powers. Considering Gauntlet is the author of the Institute for Human Advancement he probably wants to keep thing as legal as possible in case he uses this in a future product.

Invisibility could represent some means of concealing the character from the detect. This might be a mutant ability, but could also be a device. If that is the case Invisibility would be the best way to do that. Don’t forget that Invisibility costs END. So, the character might have a way of concealing themselves for short periods of time.

You already have the mechanics of how it works. The attacking character makes a DEX roll and if he fails the attack loses 15 active points per point he failed by. Why do you need to write it up any further? This does not look like it was written up with points under 3rd edition, so why does it need to be written up in later editions. Unless this is something a PC wants his character to use, or an NPC is using something like a VPP for it, it does not need to be formally written up.

Looking over the rules I am not sure you can buy invisibility to only a single sense. It looks like the way to do this would be to buy it as a group and apply the limitation limited effect (6E1 160). Detect Mutants is usually in the unusual group which is not listed in Hero Designer. This is probably because you cannot buy powers affecting the entire unusual group. As a work around you could buy it using another group and edit the description to change it to unusual. Simon might want to add a group other to allow for purchasing of invisibility to unusual senses.

It seems to me the extra time should be in segments not phases. Unlike other movements a leap cannot be altered while in progress, so characters SPD should not affect the velocity. As it is a character with a lower SPD is traveling at a much slower real velocity than that of a higher SPD. A leaping character also only pays END in the phase they start the leap. If that is the case why should a lower SPD character take longer to make the leap? They are exerting the same amount of effort. On other movement a higher SPD translates into covering more distance but costs more END. That is not the case with leap.

The rules for +v/10 and +v/6 state they use relative velocity. That means you get both your velocity and the targets. The full move element has no bearing on that, except it may allow your velocity to be greater because you are not limited to a half move. This is the case for both marital maneuver and normal maneuvers. All the full move element does is to allow you to make a full move while performing the maneuver. Passing Strike has both the +v/10 and the Fmove elements. The ambiguity may have existed in earlier versions, but it is not present in 6th edition. Without the Fmove element you can still add your v/10 on a martial throw, but you can only make a half move.

Grab and Throw is explicitly allowed in the rules. See 6E2 page 62 under Making a grab. It states that if it is done in the same phase as the grab, it does not require a separate attack roll and takes not time. I would say that throwing the target at another target would at least require another attack roll, but just throwing the target does not. The section on grab also does state that you have to use both hands for a grab, or you take a -5 STR to hold on. I would also apply that to the throw for how much extra STR the character has to throw.

My whole point about martial artist not being that strong is that often the characters in the game are a lot stronger. As such they can do a lot of things that real world martial artists cannot. In the movies martial artists do a lot of the things that the rules allow that are not realistic. I just watched the movie Legend or Hercules and in that move they he did a lot of the things that Christopher was talking about in the first post. He was leaping about and knocking his foes all over the place. That is what martial arts in the Hero System are capable of. A normal person may only be able to throw someone a few meters, but a normal person is not capable of lifting several tons. I for one have no problem letting a 30+ STR character use his martial maneuver to throw someone 10+ meters. The character paid for the STR so let them use it.

Duke hit the nail on the head. What a martial art maneuver is is what the person buying it wants it to be. As long as the effects match up to the game mechanics you have a pretty wide leeway to define what your maneuver is. Striking your foes nerve clusters to numb them should not be defined as a marital dodge. One problem with using real world martial arts as an explanation is that it is based on the real world. In the real world most martial arts do not have superhuman strength. Most real martial artists are probably not going to have a STR above 15. An Olympic weight lifter might have a 20 STR but they rarely are world class martial artists. For the most part that means they have about 5 extra STR to throw another person. According to the throwing chart in the book, that allows them to throw their target no more than 4M. When performing a grab one handed you take a -5 to your STR score. If we apply that to throw that brings down the extra STR of the martial artist to 0. So, the reason martial artist in the real world are not hurling people around is they cannot. In a Champions game, or even a Fantasy Hero game the characters often exceed 15 STR.

Unless the campaign is a street level campaign it really does not come up much. If it is a street level campaign that is the job of the players. I think most people running a game don’t have an unlimited amount of time so tend to focus on the parts of the world the game affects. If I am running a street level game it the actions of full 4 color super heroes rarely come up. If it is a campaign focusing on more powerful characters the street level stuff is mostly in the background and almost never impacts the game.

I think what you are seeing with the character that start low powered is they are more optimized than more powerful. They are better suited for the campaign and the GM’s style because they are spending points on things they had problems with. Take that character to a different game where the GM has a different style and there is a good chance they will not be as powerful as they were in the original campaign.

In the early comics all the super heroes fought against fairly weak foes. A lot of the early supervillains used gadgets instead of having superpowers. They also tended to be one trick ponies.