LoneWolf

I had a player do something similar and he just used accidental change.   I did not need to take control of the character because the player was an experience role player, and GM.  He did a superb job of playing a villain.  His character was the most interesting character in the game.  The character was the best hero and the best villain of the campaign.  Once during a time travel episode he was both at the same time. 

The problem with the enraged/berserk is it is going to only affect combat.  If that is the affect your player wants that is fine, but to me seems to waste a good opportunity. What it does not allow is for the character to do anything really sneaky and subtle.

The characters did not all start out that way, but they ended up that way.   In our group we set the campaign limits before the game begins and as long as the character abides by them and is legal you can do pretty much what you want.  The GM does have the right to veto anything, but that is a rare occurrence and is usually only for thing affecting game balance.

Under 5th edition rules by buying a STR 13, DEX 18, CON 18 and spending 2pts to bring my speed up cost me 45 points.  Those 45 points give me the equivalent of 33 points and boost both my OCV and DCV by 3 each.  Levels with DCV used to cost, and getting 5 OCV with most of your attacks was about the same.  So by spending 45 points I am getting the equivalent of 63 points, plus what the base stats give you.  It is pretty hard to justify allow one character to do this and saying another cannot. 

My gaming group is very familiar with the system and knows all the tricks and ways to optimize characters.  If we have someone who does not know the system as well we help them so their characters are not at a disadvantage.  I am not saying this is how the game has to be played, but this is our preferred play style.

I have played every edition of the hero system and enjoyed each one.  It seems to me that with each addition the system improved.  I can still remember some of the shenanigans we used to pull in the early editions.  The END battery rules in the early editions where easily exploited.  Taking one level of growth and or density increase with figured stats always on was another commonly used exploit.  But probably the most overpowered on was the early multipower rules.  When each edition came out and took away a favorite exploit it was an adjustment.  Yea it meant that often a favorite character ended up being less powerful, but to be honest that was a good thing.

One reason that a lot of people may favor some of the earlier editions is due to nostalgia.  If you played in a campaign you really enjoyed in an earlier edition you probably are going to favor that edition.  In most cases the reason the game was enjoyable was not because the earlier rules were better, but because the campaign was better.  I still look back on some of the campaigns I played and remember how much fun they were.  Trying to recreate those campaigns never really seem to work.  Maybe because you have already done it so doing it again is not as much fun.

6th edition seems to have cleaned up a lot of things.  Getting rid of figured stats took a little adjustment, but it also improved the game.  Some stats became so effective everyone bough them up even if it did not fit the character.  I don’t think I ever saw any PC that did not buy up their DEX and CON to well above average.  STR was another stat that people always put point into.  It used to be that every character had a DEX of 18+.   The figured stats alone made it worth it.  I remember one fantasy hero campaign where someone mentioned they had a low DEX.  Looking over the character sheet it turned out they had an 18 DEX.  This was a high powered campaign that went on for several years so the characters where fairly high points. 

Normally the DCV bonus from a maneuver only affects the DCV vs HTH.  What about if you have a ranged martial art, does the DCV bonus from that affect your DCV vs. ranged attacks?  I noticed that the cost for +1 DCV with a ranged martial arts is twice the cost of that of a HTH martial art.  I could not find anything stating the bonus also applies to ranged combat, but that would explain the extra cost.  

Hera was also a goddess of vengeance so the minor transformation could be used to bestow low level curses.  She was also known for transforming people to animals (Mostly lovers of Zeus), so the major transformation could be people into animals. 

5th edition and 6th edition rules for this are the same.  

Each multiform is essentially a completely separate character.  Build each completely from the ground up; they only have what each form pays for regardless of what the other forms have.  If you want an ability that they all have each form has to pay for it.  This includes skills, stats and any other aspect of the character. So all forms are normal sized unless they purchase an size related abilities.

Growth and shrinking are for characters that can change their size, not for those who are permanently larger or smaller.  A character who is larger or smaller than normal is supposed to simply buy the stats appropriate for the size, and take a physical complication for his size. 

No taking a recovery is a full phase action that takes place at the end of the phase after everyone has acted. 

Delayed activation limits you to the number of spell you can have prepared at one time.  This allows for a memorization mechanism similar to D&D.

If the character cannot interact with the real world while the image is not functioning the image is the character.  The badge is more of a special effect. 

Build the character normally but with some extra defenses.  When the character takes damage it is the result of the image being disrupted not actually being damaged.  Then buy some extra body and defenses only to prevent death that does not work if the badge is hit.  Or buy regeneration from death with a focus limitation.

Take an accidental change complication that his body disappears when unconscious or dead.

Unless you are charging substantially more than the normal 3pts this skill is way over powered.   I would probably charge somewhere around 30pts for this skill. 

Many of the things you want to do are already covered by the rules, or can be with some creative interpretation by the GM. 

The social skill aspect could be a form of striking appearance.  Some of the other things could be done with luck with religious restrictions.  Also most of these should be done as spells instead of being granted by the skill itself.  Honestly with this skill the only thing the cleric is going to have to purchase spells for is direct combat and healing. 

Does healing body only return half the points?  Healing is considered an adjustment power, and adjustment powers only add half the value to a “Defense”.  Body is listed as a defense, so does that mean that healing body only heals half of what is rolled on the dice?    

An impairing wound is when you take ½ or greater of your body before or after the multiplier.  Disabling is if you took full body before or after the multiplier. This rule is the same in 6th edition as it was in earlier editions.  It is also suggested that unimportant thugs and NPCs should be considered dead if they receive a disabling wound for faster game play. 

I would consider a disabling wound to the head to have decapitated an unimportant NPC.  For a PC or important NPC they are only decapitated if they roll a 6 on the disabling chart and fail the CON roll.  If any character is outright killed by a head shot they could be considered decapitated. 

I agree with those that say a VPP should only be used by and experienced player.  For a less experienced player a multipower is a better choice.  They typical way to do this is to buy all your attack powers as ultra-slots of the pool.  Your defenses and misc. spell are purchased separately.  In many cases this ends up being not only a simpler way, but also a cheaper way. You also avoid the glass cannon syndrome that users  of a VVP often fall into. 

I am not sure why you think an END battery is supposed to be a complication.  I also don’t understand why a character whose powers are derived from a device would get physically tired from using the powers of the device.  If the concept for my character has the source of his power being completely separate from himself and END battery is probably the best way to simulate this.  Not all concepts will have the character powers directly tied to the character.  Without END batteries these concepts are a lot more difficult or  even impossible to build. 

I play Champions and Fantasy Hero, as well as other genres.  I go all the way back to the original version of champions and have played just about everything they have published. 

Using the D&D style restrictions in a Fantasy Hero game is not a good idea.  They are two very different games that play completely differently.  There are already some limitations built into the system that address some of the things you are worried about.  Fantasy Hero actually has less of an imbalance between casters and non-casters than other systems.

The first thing to consider is that every point spent on magic skill and spells is a point not available for other things.  In the hero systems you have to pay for everything.  That means the typical warrior is going to have better physical stats, more skill levels and probably more skills.  The caster will have a slight advantage in versatility, but not as much as you think.  Talents allow even a non-caster to pick up special abilities.  Things like Weapon Master, Combat Luck and Danger Sense give the warriors a way  become very good at what they do.

Second thing is that in Fantasy Hero equipment does not cost any points.  The warrior does not have to pay for his armor or weapons which is a huge advantage.  The spell caster on the other hand has to pay CP for each spell.  A warrior with full plate, a great sword and long bow is getting the equivalent of an extra real 35pts for free.

Combining both of these factors means that the warrior is going to probably do a lot better in combat than the wizard.  I can easily get my archer up a 3d6 killing attack and be able to easily hit most targets.  The wizard is going to be hard pressed to match that directly.  What he will have is unusual attacks and a lot of out of combat utility. 

Spells also usually have a lot of limitations on them.  While this does reduce the cost it also makes them easier to counter.  Requiring mandatory limitations on spells is the best way to limit casters.  In addition to having certain required limitations having a minimum amount of limitations is a good idea.  For example you could require all spells to have a minimum of a -2 limitation.  That would mean that all spells have to have an additional -1 ½ limitation in addition to the required skill.

The reason characters directly translated from earlier edition cost more is because you almost had to purchase certain stats higher than they really needed to be.  DEX and CON in particular where to cost effective to ignore.  The heavy fighters in a FH game usually ended up with the DEX of an Olympic gymnast.  Even if they did not start that way eventually everyone bought up their DEX.  The same thing was also true with CON and to a lesser extent STR. 

6th edition makes it easier to build characters the way they should.  You no longer have incentive to purchase certain stats simply to get others cheaper.  If I want a character with a high DCV I simply purchase DCV.  I don’t need to crank up the DEX to get that.  It will change the way things are built because almost since 1st edition there was a certain uniformity to most characters stats.    

If the aura only manifests when casting a spell you could use side effects to simulate it.  Then take a complication for the character so he is affected even when he is not casting spells.

The separate recovery is going to be a book keeping nightmare.  I can understand wanting a simple solution, but complexity can be in either the purchase or the use of a power.  To me it is better to purchase the power using a more complex scheme that is simple to use.  This way the player only has to deal with the complexity at character creation.  The other way he has to deal with it every time he uses the power.

That being said two END batteries are going to be the best way to simulate what the OP wants.  One END battery has a slower recovery and can be used for both types of power.  The other battery has a higher recovery and can only be used for the fire powers.  If you want the powers to be able to be used the same amount of times before the battery is depleted put the  advantage ½ END on the electrical powers. 

Stop thinking in game terms and instead figure out what you want your character to do.  Once you have what you want your character to be able to do build it.  Trying to translate exactly from one system to another is a waste of time.  There are probably a dozen ways to get what you want. 

One thing to keep in mind is that once you get past the DEF of an object it is not hard to break them.  Look at how much damage you are doing with your attack, and see how close you are.  For an Iron Fist effect I would simply buy a few extra dice of damage.  Maybe put a couple of limitation on it like extra time and maybe requires a roll. 

What you are trying to do will not work.  But what you could do is to use a killing attack and take the +0 advantage AVAD to make it so you use your normal defenses vs the killing attack.  If you apply penetration to this attack the body will be penetrating.  Since you take a minimum of 1 stun per body taken this will effectively make the stun penetrating as well. 

Martial maneuvers are not limited to normal attacks.  There are plenty of martial killing attacks as well as a variety of other attacks as well. 

Striking appearance is simply a bonus to interaction skills and presence attacks.  Someone with a danger sense should still get a roll to see if they are actually in danger, especially if they bought it as any danger.  When a danger sense is capable of detecting danger when none of the characters other sense are operational, being “Visible” is meaningless.

Images to danger sense would allow a false positive.  Someone with danger sense can use it as a way to check to see if something really is a threat.  Images to danger sense means the character with danger sense would perceive the threat to be real, even if it is not

The wording on that section makes no sense.  They seem to be saying you have to harden all of a particular defense, but contradict the rule in the next sentence.  There is no real difference between buying hardened on your first 3 pts of resistant defense and not the next three, and buying 3 points of hardened resistant defense, and 3 points of resistant defense without the advantage hardened. 

Since hero system has no rules that prevent defenses from stacking this rule makes absolutely no sense.  Let’s say I have a character that has combat luck, and also wears actual armor.  Combat luck is hardened, but the armor is not.  Does this rule mean that I have to purchase hardened for my armor?  The last sentence of the rule specifically states I can have some defenses that are different.

If the rule is because of a computer programing limitation it has no business being in the rules.  In all honesty I would simply ignore that section because it makes no sense. 

Most games I have been in you do not use character points for magic items.  Depending on the campaign level the GM may or may not give out magic items as part of the starting gear. 

On a separate note the perceivable limitation is not valid on your item for two reasons.  First and most importantly it is an obvious focus.  Second of all, any magic is already perceivable by detect magic.  If the focus was not obvious you could use the perceivable, but then anyone would be able to tell it was magic even without casting detect magic.