LoneWolf

If you really want to be effective in combat this is one of the first things you need to master. The Hero system unlike D&D requires some tactical thinking and not just taking turns hitting each other. Along with holding phase it can allow a character to create tactical openings and defeat seemingly more powerful opponents. Once common tactic is to allow the enemy to attack first and depending on what he does adjust your tactics. I have a character with a high DEX that usually hold phase and waits to see what the enemy does. If he sees an opponent that is vulnerable he can go all out on the attack and often does more damage that way. And once the phase is over and he is attacked the next phase while he is vulnerable he simply aborts to a defensive action. Holding phase can also be used to allow a character to act twice is rapid succession, or perform complicated multipart actions. You simply hold actin until the segment before your next phase. You perform the first part of the multipart action then, and then when your phase comes up you perform he next part. If timed right the opponent is often unable to react to the situation, or if he chooses to abort it can allow the rest of the team to pound the crap out of him. The best tactic vs the lucky GM syndrome is not to allow him to roll. I have played against a GM who always seemed to hit when you dodged. Once we started aborting to block instead that stopped happening. If he does not get to roll the dice often his luck is nullified.

I don’t think you understand how grab works. When you grab someone they are allowed to try and break your grab in an opposed STR roll. That means if you are not paying the END for your full STR your grab is going to be less effective. Martial Grab gives you a bonus to your STR for holding someone. Assuming you have not bought any extra DC your STR for holding someone is 60. To utilize the 60 STR you have to pay the END for your full STR. You could of course choose to use less STR and then would only have to pay the END for however much STR you used. So let’s say that you only use 30 STR, you would pay 3 END for the STR and have a grab of 40 STR. Like Pawsplay said you only pay for END once per phase no matter how often you use it. What normally happens is that when a character is using STR they pay the END for their full STR. This allows them to use their full STR for any purpose during the phase at full.

The big advantage a spell caster has over a warrior is versatility. Sure warriors get there weapons for free, but they all basically do the same thing. It does not matter what type of weapon the warrior uses the defense is all the same. DCV, resistant defense, and PD will work vs any normal weapon. With spells I can create something that ignores all of those things. As a spell caster I can create different spells to deal with any situation. By using a multipower it becomes even easier. Now instead of a few spells that can take care of a variety of problems I have dozens that can take care of any problem. Consider that in most fantasy hero games a spell caster is going to have more limitation on their spells than a super hero would. That makes the spells a lot cheaper. Using a multipower makes that even more cost effective. Take a 60pt multipower and add OAF, Requires a skill roll, incantations, and gestures that puts the cost of the pool to 20pts. That puts the cost of s spell to 2pts, 4 if it is variable slot. Slap on a few limitations on the spell itself and the cost drops to 1-2 points. So for about 40pts I can have 20 60pt spells.

If all you do is to call for combat driving rolls, the players are going to buy that up. If you want to avoid that then make sure to use other skills. Shadowing can be used to follow another car , or to spot someone following you. Area Knowledge can be useful to find short cuts or to figure out where someone is going. Even navigation could be used to get somewhere quickly, maybe with AK being complementary. Also don’t forget that combat skill levels can be used with vehicles. Having a combat driving roll of 17< does not mean you can avoid being hit by another car. That would be a straight out attack roll using the OCV and DCV of the vehicle. So someone with skill levels with vehicles can use that to hit or avoid being hit by another car. Using a variety of rolls will mean that the players have to spread around the points and not just put in a single skill.

For the most part everyman skills are something that almost any sentient creature can do. About the only variables are campaign specific things like TF. A physical complication is probably the best way to handle a character not familiar with modern society. They would still have most of the everyman skills. Even someone raised in hell can try and climb a tree, or try and talk someone into something. The only exception seems to be that computer programing is considered an everyman skill for science fiction. Personally I think that is a mistake, because the designers seem to think that using a computer requires knowing how to program. This is probably due to the creators of the game being game designers not engineers. Most people who use computers in their jobs know how to use it for specific things and would have absolutely no clue as to how to actually do anything else. Most of what people do on a computer would be covered under a PS, or not even need a skill. Do you require a skill to open a door, or use the phone? Then why does using the internet require one?

Do you use hit locations in your campaign? The reason I ask is that if a character is surprised out of combat the penalty for a called shot is halved. That means that a head shot is a -4 OCV instead of -8. Add this to the fact that a character that is out of combat takes x2 stun means that someone who get the drop on a character can easily take them out with relatively low damage. Since the character is at ½ DCV and most maneuvers and skill levels will not apply it is quite easy to take even a strong foe down when they are not expecting it. If you are using an attack that does normal damage and hit locations you are doing x4 stun. If it is a killing attack you are doing a x10 stun multiplier.

One thing to keep in mind about this is although it will work it is not something going to be that effective. First of all it is actually fairly easy to bypass. Any mental power and one reasonably common special effect will ignore it. Second anything that takes affects desolid will also ignore it. While there have been a couple of complaints about that particular advantage things like this are the reason for its existence. Another thing that works against this is presence attacks. If a player wanted to use that I would make sure to point all thought things out first, and tell them straight up that those things will exist in the campaign. This is going to mean that the character is either going to be a glass cannon, or is still going to need to purchase at least some stats and defenses. The special effect rule also cuts both way. I have no problem with a character using desolidification to simulate being tough enough to withstand any attack. That character still has to breath and would be affected by other environmental affects. If the character wants to be immune to those as well I would require them to purchase appropriate life support. Affects solid is a +2 advantage and increases the active cost of what it is used on. You can of course purchase 0 in addition to affects solid, but that also increases the active cost. Most campaigns also have some sort of limit on the active cost power purchased. This means that the invulnerable character is going to be doing almost no damage. Assuming a 60 point cap on active cost would mean that the character is only going to be doing about 4d6 for damage. Even if there are no campaign limits on cost it is still incredibly expensive. By my calculations purchasing this on a 60 STR character is going to cost 269 points, assuming you have no attack powers besides STR, but including appropriate LS.

The section on special effects is quite clear that the person purchasing the power can and should define the how the power works. It also says that in some cases a power modification may be necessary to allow the power to work the way the person wants it to. In the description of cannot pass through solid objects it lists as an example a malleable body or similar abilities. It also states that the character is still immune to damage. So if I can purchase deslodification for a rubber based character to ignore damage there is no reason I cannot purchase for any other special effect. If the character does not purchase affect solid on his attacks he cannot use them while invulnerable. If a character wanted to actually be invulnerable all the time I would require him to purchase the affects solid on all his attacks. No advantage or limitation would be allowed to change that.

Takes no damage from the attack still allows you to target the entangle by taking a -3 OCV. So at the +1/2 level someone attacking the target does not normally damage the entangle, but if the attacker wants they can take a -3 OCV and target the entangle. When this happens the attack works like a normal entangle. Mental Paralysis takes damage from mental blast and some other mental attacks. The +1 advantage states that it cannot be attack by any means and the only way to break out is with the breakout roll of the relevant stat.

You probably want to bump up the advantage to the full +1. At the +1/2 level you can still target the entangle by taking a -3 OCV. At the +1 level you cannot attack the entangle and the only way to escape it is to breakout by using STR or in this case CON. This level also requires you to have a reasonably common way to remove the entangle. The book give an example of an antidote for paralysis poison.

How much Def the entangle has depends on how tough the agents are. My suggestion was based on the idea of around a 13 CON, and super hero’s basically being immune. Depending on the campaign a super hero with an 18 CON are often not unusual. At 3 DEF It may take a super hero with an 18 CON a few phases to break out.

Take a normal entangle and put the +1 advantage Takes no damage from attack and add in a custom +1/4 modifier Works against CON not STR. Cost wise it work out to be the same cost as a mental entangle, but fits what you want better. It still uses the characters OCV vs DCV, and the only way to get out is to use your CON to break out. At 2d6 DEF 2 it will not be all that hard for a super hero to break out, but it will take an agent a lot longer to get out. If this is something that is delivered by a bite or other attack link it to that attack. 1d6 DEF 1 is not going to hold anyone for long. A normal person on the street will be out in a turn or less.

Damage negation basically reduces an attack by 5pts per level bought. So if you bought 3 levels it would reduce the attack by 15 pts... What happens when you have an attack with a lot of advantages so that the cost is extremely high? Let’s say you have a 1 pip RKA with the advantages NND does body. The attack cost 20 pts which is more than your damage negation. Is the attack reduced at all? What about if the attack was 1d6 with the same advantages? How much would the damage be reduced?

Luck with the option to reroll dice works well for this. The special effect is that your future self warns you current self if something goes wrong.

In a fantasy setting clear maps are more important than in a modern setting because the players are not familiar with a lot of the places. How many players have been inside a fully functioning castle? Chances are none of the players have especially if the game is America. On the other hand who has not been inside a McDonalds or Bank? A lot of Champions games that I have been in take place in the city that we live in. This also makes it easier to deal with because everyone is already familiar with the layout so less explanation is needed. Detailed maps are not needed because we know the area. When a battle takes place at the local mall chances are we know the location well enough that we just need a quick map drawn out of the actual area. It does not have to be exactly correct. If the hallmark shop is a little off in size it is not a big deal. Another thing that also helps is that there are actual maps of the area. You can even just open up google maps and use the satellite view for a pretty good map of a lot of areas. There are also a lot of other maps available so this aspect is often easier in a Champions game than a fantasy game. A lot of the work has already been done for you all the GM has to do is to make a few maps for things he is changing. So if the villain has a secret lair I may need to draw that, but the map of the city is already done for me. Keeping the party tougher is also not that big of a deal. A lot of characters have movement powers that allow them to cover distances quickly and easily. A common tactic is to have a flying character in the air over watch mode. Also unless the group is overly large most of the time the characters stick together.

This is not a problem; it is to balance a high SPD character. Don’t forget that a character with a high SPD can also use more constant powers in a turn than a lower SPD character. So if my SPD is double that of a slower character I can throw twice as many smoke screens as the slower character. Where the real problem is, is that most of the time players don’t take into account their END usage so high SPD characters end up running out of steam earlier than they should. The best way to handle this is to build the character with this in mind. As dsatow points out cost End only to activate is only a ¼ modifier. Between this and taking half or 0 End on your powers should solve the problem. Being able to cover more of the board in a smoke screen should cost more, this is just one way it does.

You could always use a VP and have limitation the all powers need to be on a defined list. Then build each power with the same number of charges and simply adjust the limitation on each slot. The value of the limitation will be different for each slot but as long as the points add up that is all that matters.

I think what Tywyll is looking to do is to mix standard charges with continuing charges. This is a little different than just slapping on the charge limitation on a multipower. Since continuing charges reduce the value of the limitation it creates a problem.

As Hugh pointed out normal attacks are also modified with hit locations. That being the case the old charts are going to end up doing less stun than if they reduced the modifier and adjusted for hit location. Assuming a head shot is a x3 stun multiple that would work out to a x6 if hit locations were taken into account. Currently it is a x5 stun multiple. If there are only 3 multiples the charts would have to be reworked to account for that which would mean there would probably be more x3 multiples which would make the situation even worse. You also have to factor in that under the hit location rules your chance of getting x5 multiple is slightly less than 5%. Without hit locations your chance of getting the maximum stun multiple is 33% under 6th edition, and about 17% under 5th edition. Overall hit locations actually reduce the stun of a KA compared to that of a normal attack even further than the reduction of the die used to determine the stun multiple.

Direct conversions from another game system are usually going to a problem. Usually the problem is that that the two game systems handle things completely differently. For example in Hero system a segment is a single second, in many other systems a round is a lot longer. So let’s say I am trying to convert something from Pathfinder. My character in Pathfinder is a monk that gets a lot of attacks. I create a Hero system character that uses martial arts and has a high SPD. I look at the Monk from Pathfinder and want to get multiple attacks. I want my Hero system character to do the same thing so my first instinct is to purchase some ability to get multiple attacks. In reality my character already has this ability and I am actually giving him something he did not have in the other system. I would probably simply purchase extra limb and leave it at that. If the tail does more damage than his STR or has extra capabilities of some sort than you should buy it as a power. But if all it does is allow him to use his STR to damage you don’t need to purchase anything else. If you want to attack with the tail while using another attack, use the rules for multiple attacks. This situation is pretty much what they were designed for. All the suggestions for how to purchase it while being completely legal are probably not necessary. The AOE on STR for example works quite well, but is not really what you described in the original post.

What type of powers are you talking about? Most powers other than attack powers are designed to be used on yourself. You are not going to find anything in the rulebook stating you don’t need to make an attack roll on yourself to activate your growth because it would be pointless. The closest you will find is about when you can activate powers. If it is an attack power you technically have to roll vs a 0 DCV, but most GM’s don’t bother with that. The philosophy at Hero systems is more common sense than a lot of other game systems. Almost every post that Steve Long makes in the rules question is ended with some form of your GM has the right to change this. This leads to less arguments about rules than say pathfinder, and any also means that people trying to exploit the rules are usually quickly shutdown by the GM.

Most of what a cell phone does is covered by HRRP. It would also probably qualify for the limited bands limitation. So that would make the base cost about 5pts assuming a OAF. The best way to buy would be to build it as a computer. Give it the HRRP mentioned above and some talents lite absolute time sense, bump of direction, lightning calculator, eidetic memory and a few programs. That should come to around 30pts, so it would cost 6pts. A phone should be an OAF which would bring the cost down to 3 pts.

Hero system gives us building blocks to create anything we want. Part of the Hero philosophy is to start with the special effect and then work out the game mechanics. Part of this is choosing appropriate advantages and limitations for the power. In some cases the limitation or advantage may not be enough to alter the cost of the power but it should still be applied. In your example of supper running you defined the flight as running so by special effect it is subject to the drain running. By the same logic it would not be affected by a drain flight. This would be considered a 0 advantage/limitation. In some cases the player will come up with a special effect that does justify such a broad effect. If you had a character that has the ability to alter reality something like this would actually make sense. If the character had a code vs killing than a drain vs RKA would make sense.

Hero system allows a player to define most of the flavor on almost everything including martial maneuvers. Visually a maneuver can look like just about anything a players wants within reason. Either maneuver could have multiple different visual appearances. In some cases they may look identical; in others they could be completely different. You can freely change the name of the maneuver to whatever you want. If you look in Hero system martial arts book you will see a lot of the styles use standard maneuvers with different names. The real difference between them is that Legsweep is a more aggressive maneuver that does more damage. Takedown on the other had is more defensive and does less damage. A casual observer may find it hard to tell the difference between them.

To me this is about the most annoying thing a GM can do. The first problem is that every Gm I have encountered lacks the narrative skill to properly describe what is happening without becoming repetitious. I am sure that a lot of people are thinking that they have better skills than those I game with. The fact is that one of the GM’s for my group is a published author. His ability to describe a situation is quite good, but coming up with different ways to describe basically the same thing without using game terms is difficult and time consuming. Which brings us to the second problem is that this slows down the game to a crawl. Combat takes long enough without having to add the time for a round of twenty questions to figure out the effect of your attacks. Another problem with this approach is that most heroes are supposed to be skilled combatants. Part of being a skilled fighter is being able to judge the effectiveness of your attacks. Without this your character is kind of just swinging in the dark. Mystery damage denies this ability to the characters. The last reason that I dislike this is that it makes it so that everything in the game is from the point of the GM. Often people will have different perspectives of the same event. The 1950 Japanese movie Rashomon is classic example of this phenomenon. By having the GM as the only viewpoint it actually diminishes the story and roleplaying.