LoneWolf

One thing that can prevent abusing this is to make it so that duplicates do not stack.   Wearing 10 of the same magic ring does not give you 10 times the defense.   The items are supposed to be the same so why would they stack?  

The way I see it is that you use a contested roll (3d6) on things that are not a direct completion.  Both characters could succeed but what you are looking for is who did the better job.  These types of rolls are often using different skills to oppose each other or use different aspect of the same thing.  For example, a character is using his perception to spot a character using stealth, or a computer programmer trying to hack into system that someone else setup.   One programmer is looking for flaws, where the other is trying to fix the flaws.  Often these contests have a lot of modifiers.  The programmer may take extra time or have special equipment he uses.  

A BODY roll is used for more direct completions.  In these types of contests, you have a winner and a loser.  You are also using the same thing to directly oppose the other character's ability.  These are usually contests where you are using raw ability without many modifiers.  The arm wrestler is pitting his raw STR vs the opposing character.  Outside of Duke's suggestion not much else besides the characters STR matter. 
 
Having both methods available allows the GM to have more flexibility in running his game.  
 

The way I see it is that you use a contested roll (3d6) on things that are not a direct completion.  Both characters could succeed but what you are looking for is who did the better job.  These types of rolls are often using different skills to oppose each other or use different aspect of the same thing.  For example, a character is using his perception to spot a character using stealth, or a computer programmer trying to hack into system that someone else setup.   One programmer is looking for flaws, where the other is trying to fix the flaws.  Often these contests have a lot of modifiers.  The programmer may take extra time or have special equipment he uses.  

A BODY roll is used for more direct completions.  In these types of contests, you have a winner and a loser.  You are also using the same thing to directly oppose the other character's ability.  These are usually contests where you are using raw ability without many modifiers.  The arm wrestler is pitting his raw STR vs the opposing character.  Outside of Duke's suggestion not much else besides the characters STR matter. 
 
Having both methods available allows the GM to have more flexibility in running his game.  
 

Most games do not really worry too much about forms of government.  When they do they tend just use monarchies because that is what everyone is familiar with.   This is kind of a shame because in a world where magic is real it could have a real impact on how society is organized.  Even the forms of government we are familiar with would be changed.
 
In the real world a theocracy is government by the church.   In a world where deities are able to be contacted and contact their worshipers that would not be the case.  In a world where the deity can be contacted a theocracy would be much different.   In such a world divine right could actually be real.  When the deity the country worships says that this is who they choose to rule the land people are not going to argue.
 
Another thing that could happen is the some people may be able to draw power from the land itself.   The idea of the rightful king being chosen by the land instead of the people could actually work.  The land may even grant the king and to a lesser extent the nobility powers that commoners do not have.  That would fit with the Celtic myths of the king being linked to the land.
 
There could be a lot of other forms of government in a fantasy world that do not exist in our world.   

Most of the time when different methods are used it is because the circumstances are different.  In some cases you want to have a chance of a character with a lesser stat being able to win the contest, in others you want to give the advantage to the character with the greater stat.  
 
When you are making an opposed characteristic or skill roll the character with a lesser stat has a better chance to succeed.  The character with the greater roll still has the advantage, but the character with the lesser roll has a chance to succeed.  A character with  30 STR has a 15 or less STR roll.  95% of the time I will make my roll, but I still fail it about 5% of the time.  The character with a 10 STR has a 62 % chance to make his roll.  So 3% of the time the character with a 10 STR can beat the character with a 30 STR.  If I am rolling dice and counting body the overwhelming advantage goes to the character with the greater number of dice.  The chance of a 10 STR character beating a 30 STR character by rolling more BODY is .1%.   The larger the spread of dice the worst the results become.
 
Characteristic rolls will give you more variance in who wins the contest.   BODY rolls will heavily favor the stronger character.   To me this is a good situation because it gives more chance of the player succeeding out of combat, but still gives the advantage to the stronger character in combat.  
 

Most games do not really worry too much about forms of government.  When they do they tend just use monarchies because that is what everyone is familiar with.   This is kind of a shame because in a world where magic is real it could have a real impact on how society is organized.  Even the forms of government we are familiar with would be changed.
 
In the real world a theocracy is government by the church.   In a world where deities are able to be contacted and contact their worshipers that would not be the case.  In a world where the deity can be contacted a theocracy would be much different.   In such a world divine right could actually be real.  When the deity the country worships says that this is who they choose to rule the land people are not going to argue.
 
Another thing that could happen is the some people may be able to draw power from the land itself.   The idea of the rightful king being chosen by the land instead of the people could actually work.  The land may even grant the king and to a lesser extent the nobility powers that commoners do not have.  That would fit with the Celtic myths of the king being linked to the land.
 
There could be a lot of other forms of government in a fantasy world that do not exist in our world.   

Most games do not really worry too much about forms of government.  When they do they tend just use monarchies because that is what everyone is familiar with.   This is kind of a shame because in a world where magic is real it could have a real impact on how society is organized.  Even the forms of government we are familiar with would be changed.
 
In the real world a theocracy is government by the church.   In a world where deities are able to be contacted and contact their worshipers that would not be the case.  In a world where the deity can be contacted a theocracy would be much different.   In such a world divine right could actually be real.  When the deity the country worships says that this is who they choose to rule the land people are not going to argue.
 
Another thing that could happen is the some people may be able to draw power from the land itself.   The idea of the rightful king being chosen by the land instead of the people could actually work.  The land may even grant the king and to a lesser extent the nobility powers that commoners do not have.  That would fit with the Celtic myths of the king being linked to the land.
 
There could be a lot of other forms of government in a fantasy world that do not exist in our world.   

The way the group I game with handles stats is that any characteristic gained from a racial template increases both the stat and the maximum.  Basically, we treat them as a power rather than a characteristic.  If you use Hero Designer and put the added the racial adjustments under powers instead of characteristics, you are not charged double when you go over the normal maximum.  This allows a little more variance in characteristics.  With this each race has the same spread for characteristics, but still has some differences.   A strong Orc is going to be stronger than a strong human.  
 
Unfortunately, you cannot set the characteristics to negative in the power section of Hero Designer.  You can lower the characteristic under the characteristic tab and also manually adjust the Maximum on the Campaign Rules.  Since it is extremely rare for a character to exceed a lowered maximum, this is probably not a big deal.  Maybe if Simon sees this, he could add an option to lower characteristics in the powers section.  That would make it easier to create racial templates.  
 

One big problem with desolidification as a defense is that it prevents you from attacking or requires you to add the affects solid advantage to your attacks.   This would prevent you from dropping down and attacking.  
 
Another way to do this would be to buy gliding.  Since you can dive for twice your normal flight all you need to purchase is 30m of gliding to handle terminal velocity.  30m of flight with the limitations, gliding (-1), no noncombat (-1/4), and limited horizontal movement (-1/2) costs 11 points.  This would allow you to land in any hex directly bellow where you could jump to.  So, if you have a 4m jump you could land in any hex directly below a hex within 4m of where you start.  This also means you automatically land on your feat without having to make any kind of roll.   
 

Most people don’t really understand all the implications of a disability.  Often it has both more and less challenges than people think.  In the case of hearing loss, this is something I understand from personal experience.  I am happy to share my experiences with others.  Not only does this make someone game better, but it also gives anyone reading this some idea of what it is like.  
 
It seems to me that there are two main thoughts on how the sirens song works.  The first is that the music is magic.  With this version if the person hears the song at all they are affected by the magic even if they cannot distinguish what it is.  The second version is the magic is the music.  In this version the magic is delivered by the music, so if you cannot really hear the music it does not affect the target.  Both of them are valid concepts.  @assault as the GM, it is your right to define how the song works.  
 

Most people don’t really understand all the implications of a disability.  Often it has both more and less challenges than people think.  In the case of hearing loss, this is something I understand from personal experience.  I am happy to share my experiences with others.  Not only does this make someone game better, but it also gives anyone reading this some idea of what it is like.  
 
It seems to me that there are two main thoughts on how the sirens song works.  The first is that the music is magic.  With this version if the person hears the song at all they are affected by the magic even if they cannot distinguish what it is.  The second version is the magic is the music.  In this version the magic is delivered by the music, so if you cannot really hear the music it does not affect the target.  Both of them are valid concepts.  @assault as the GM, it is your right to define how the song works.  
 

I have to agree that this does not seem like a good idea.  This looks like a solution in search of a problem.  The Hero system is already complex enough without adding more granularity.  One of the biggest complaints people have about the Hero System is the math is to complex.  This makes that situation even worse.   All this is going to do is to slow down the game to a point you are going have to have a computer to play the game.   That is going to turn off a huge amount of players and make it unlikely anyone is going to want to play the game.
 
This is a bad idea that does nothing to improve the game.

Most people don’t really understand all the implications of a disability.  Often it has both more and less challenges than people think.  In the case of hearing loss, this is something I understand from personal experience.  I am happy to share my experiences with others.  Not only does this make someone game better, but it also gives anyone reading this some idea of what it is like.  
 
It seems to me that there are two main thoughts on how the sirens song works.  The first is that the music is magic.  With this version if the person hears the song at all they are affected by the magic even if they cannot distinguish what it is.  The second version is the magic is the music.  In this version the magic is delivered by the music, so if you cannot really hear the music it does not affect the target.  Both of them are valid concepts.  @assault as the GM, it is your right to define how the song works.  
 

Dean, I can confirm what you are saying.  Hearing loss is not always the same, often different people have slightly differences in what they can hear.  In most cases where people are diagnosed with a hearing loss a lot of the difficulty is in the frequencies that human speech takes place.   It also depends on the cause of the hearing loss.  Someone with a “Tin ear” probably has a hearing loss even if they don’t have trouble understanding speech. 
 
Growing up with a hearing loss meant that music was never that big of a deal for me.  I simply could not hear some of the sounds even with hearing aids.  Modern digital hearing aids have really improved on the old analog models.  With the newer hearing aids I was able to hear sounds that I had never heard before that allowed me to appreciate music more.   Even that has its limits.  My hearing aids have selective noise filters that can cut the background noise so I can function in more environments.  When those filters are in working music sounds a lot different and I cannot always hear everything.  If I turn off the filters I can appreciate the music, understanding speech become more difficult. 

Most people don’t really understand all the implications of a disability.  Often it has both more and less challenges than people think.  In the case of hearing loss, this is something I understand from personal experience.  I am happy to share my experiences with others.  Not only does this make someone game better, but it also gives anyone reading this some idea of what it is like.  
 
It seems to me that there are two main thoughts on how the sirens song works.  The first is that the music is magic.  With this version if the person hears the song at all they are affected by the magic even if they cannot distinguish what it is.  The second version is the magic is the music.  In this version the magic is delivered by the music, so if you cannot really hear the music it does not affect the target.  Both of them are valid concepts.  @assault as the GM, it is your right to define how the song works.  
 

Dean, I can confirm what you are saying.  Hearing loss is not always the same, often different people have slightly differences in what they can hear.  In most cases where people are diagnosed with a hearing loss a lot of the difficulty is in the frequencies that human speech takes place.   It also depends on the cause of the hearing loss.  Someone with a “Tin ear” probably has a hearing loss even if they don’t have trouble understanding speech. 
 
Growing up with a hearing loss meant that music was never that big of a deal for me.  I simply could not hear some of the sounds even with hearing aids.  Modern digital hearing aids have really improved on the old analog models.  With the newer hearing aids I was able to hear sounds that I had never heard before that allowed me to appreciate music more.   Even that has its limits.  My hearing aids have selective noise filters that can cut the background noise so I can function in more environments.  When those filters are in working music sounds a lot different and I cannot always hear everything.  If I turn off the filters I can appreciate the music, understanding speech become more difficult. 

With my hearing aids I have the equivalent to a moderate hearing loss.  Even with the hearing aid it is difficult for me to hear a song on the radio.   When I am in the car I cannot hear the radio at all if the volume is less than 10.  For me to understand the song the volume has to be at least 15.  Most people consider to be incredibly loud.       
 
One of the biggest issues with having a hearing loss is that it is difficult to deal with background noise.  With my hearing aids I can usually understand people fairly well in an otherwise quite environment.  But if any background noise is present, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish individual sounds.  In a loud noisy environment, it is like a constant roar of noise where nothing can be distinguished.  The other issue is distance.  The further away you are from the source of the sound the harder it is to hear.  If someone is right next to me, I don’t have as much trouble, but if they are any distance away it become a lot more difficult to hear the sound.  What other consider close by is far away for me.  The two issues are cumulative so hearing something from a distance where there is background noise is really difficult.  On an island there will be a lot of background noise especially near a beach.  The sound of the wind and the waves makes it difficult for someone with a hearing loss.  
 
Supposedly the reason the song of the siren affected the sailors is the music was so beautiful it entranced them.  If all you hear is a low hum I don’t think the song is going to affect you.      
 
A moderate hearing loss is probably not going to offer total protection but will make it difficult to be affected by the song except at extremely close range.  More often than not the target is going to spot the siren before they are close enough to be affected by the siren's song.
 
When you have a loss of one sense your other senses do not really become more acute, what happens is you learn to use them better.  My vision is not better than normal, in fact I am a bit nearsighted due to spending all my time looking at a computer screen.  But I do notice things that other people seem to miss.   Part of this is that I am in the habit of constantly scanning my surroundings.   When out driving I often spot things before others do.   Part of this is that your brain can only process so much sensory input.  Since you are not getting as much sensory input form one of your senses your brain has more time to process the others.  
 

This is something that I know about from personal experience.  I have severer to profound hearing loss. I have hearing aid that allow me to function, but that does not mean my hearing even with them is normal.
 
Hearing loss is not always all or nothing.  Hearing is classified as normal hearing, mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss, and profound hearing loss.  For immunity to the song of the siren you probably only need moderate hearing loss.  Moderate hearing loss is when you need to have a hearing aid to understand most conversations and sounds start blending together.  With any hearing loss it gets worse the farther away you are from the sound.  This is particularly true when it comes to being able to distinguish individual sounds.  The farther away the sound the more difficult it will be to be able to distinguish what the sound is.  Even with my hearing aids I have difficulty understanding people who are too far away.
 
Someone with a moderate hearing loss would be able to hear some noises but may have difficulty identifying what they are.  They will be able to understand a spoken language but will have some difficulty.  The person speaking may have to speak loudly or even shout.  In some cases, the person with the hearing loss can read lips to figure out what is being said.  Even if you cannot fully read lips being able to see the other persons speak often helps.  Most of the time the person with a hearing loss will have trouble pronouncing words so may be difficult to understand.  This is not always the case but is pretty common.  Most audiologists who have tested me are surprised at how clear my speech is.  
 
For the natives of the island, I would buy the hearing loss as Very Frequently, Slightly for 20 points.  Their native language is sign language so it has less impact on them.  A character from outside the island it would probably be greatly impairing instead of slightly.  If an islander buys a spoken language, they should have to make perception rolls to fully understand a normal conversation as long as they can see the speaker’s lips if the speaker was within a meter or two at most.  This would also mean if the siren was right next to the islander, they may be able to be affected by the song.  This would represent the minimum level of hearing loss for an islander to be safe.  They would probably be taking a -4 on other hearing-based perceptions rolls. 
 

Most people don’t really understand all the implications of a disability.  Often it has both more and less challenges than people think.  In the case of hearing loss, this is something I understand from personal experience.  I am happy to share my experiences with others.  Not only does this make someone game better, but it also gives anyone reading this some idea of what it is like.  
 
It seems to me that there are two main thoughts on how the sirens song works.  The first is that the music is magic.  With this version if the person hears the song at all they are affected by the magic even if they cannot distinguish what it is.  The second version is the magic is the music.  In this version the magic is delivered by the music, so if you cannot really hear the music it does not affect the target.  Both of them are valid concepts.  @assault as the GM, it is your right to define how the song works.  
 

This is something that I know about from personal experience.  I have severer to profound hearing loss. I have hearing aid that allow me to function, but that does not mean my hearing even with them is normal.
 
Hearing loss is not always all or nothing.  Hearing is classified as normal hearing, mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss, and profound hearing loss.  For immunity to the song of the siren you probably only need moderate hearing loss.  Moderate hearing loss is when you need to have a hearing aid to understand most conversations and sounds start blending together.  With any hearing loss it gets worse the farther away you are from the sound.  This is particularly true when it comes to being able to distinguish individual sounds.  The farther away the sound the more difficult it will be to be able to distinguish what the sound is.  Even with my hearing aids I have difficulty understanding people who are too far away.
 
Someone with a moderate hearing loss would be able to hear some noises but may have difficulty identifying what they are.  They will be able to understand a spoken language but will have some difficulty.  The person speaking may have to speak loudly or even shout.  In some cases, the person with the hearing loss can read lips to figure out what is being said.  Even if you cannot fully read lips being able to see the other persons speak often helps.  Most of the time the person with a hearing loss will have trouble pronouncing words so may be difficult to understand.  This is not always the case but is pretty common.  Most audiologists who have tested me are surprised at how clear my speech is.  
 
For the natives of the island, I would buy the hearing loss as Very Frequently, Slightly for 20 points.  Their native language is sign language so it has less impact on them.  A character from outside the island it would probably be greatly impairing instead of slightly.  If an islander buys a spoken language, they should have to make perception rolls to fully understand a normal conversation as long as they can see the speaker’s lips if the speaker was within a meter or two at most.  This would also mean if the siren was right next to the islander, they may be able to be affected by the song.  This would represent the minimum level of hearing loss for an islander to be safe.  They would probably be taking a -4 on other hearing-based perceptions rolls. 
 

This is something that I know about from personal experience.  I have severer to profound hearing loss. I have hearing aid that allow me to function, but that does not mean my hearing even with them is normal.
 
Hearing loss is not always all or nothing.  Hearing is classified as normal hearing, mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss, and profound hearing loss.  For immunity to the song of the siren you probably only need moderate hearing loss.  Moderate hearing loss is when you need to have a hearing aid to understand most conversations and sounds start blending together.  With any hearing loss it gets worse the farther away you are from the sound.  This is particularly true when it comes to being able to distinguish individual sounds.  The farther away the sound the more difficult it will be to be able to distinguish what the sound is.  Even with my hearing aids I have difficulty understanding people who are too far away.
 
Someone with a moderate hearing loss would be able to hear some noises but may have difficulty identifying what they are.  They will be able to understand a spoken language but will have some difficulty.  The person speaking may have to speak loudly or even shout.  In some cases, the person with the hearing loss can read lips to figure out what is being said.  Even if you cannot fully read lips being able to see the other persons speak often helps.  Most of the time the person with a hearing loss will have trouble pronouncing words so may be difficult to understand.  This is not always the case but is pretty common.  Most audiologists who have tested me are surprised at how clear my speech is.  
 
For the natives of the island, I would buy the hearing loss as Very Frequently, Slightly for 20 points.  Their native language is sign language so it has less impact on them.  A character from outside the island it would probably be greatly impairing instead of slightly.  If an islander buys a spoken language, they should have to make perception rolls to fully understand a normal conversation as long as they can see the speaker’s lips if the speaker was within a meter or two at most.  This would also mean if the siren was right next to the islander, they may be able to be affected by the song.  This would represent the minimum level of hearing loss for an islander to be safe.  They would probably be taking a -4 on other hearing-based perceptions rolls. 
 

With my hearing aids I have the equivalent to a moderate hearing loss.  Even with the hearing aid it is difficult for me to hear a song on the radio.   When I am in the car I cannot hear the radio at all if the volume is less than 10.  For me to understand the song the volume has to be at least 15.  Most people consider to be incredibly loud.       
 
One of the biggest issues with having a hearing loss is that it is difficult to deal with background noise.  With my hearing aids I can usually understand people fairly well in an otherwise quite environment.  But if any background noise is present, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish individual sounds.  In a loud noisy environment, it is like a constant roar of noise where nothing can be distinguished.  The other issue is distance.  The further away you are from the source of the sound the harder it is to hear.  If someone is right next to me, I don’t have as much trouble, but if they are any distance away it become a lot more difficult to hear the sound.  What other consider close by is far away for me.  The two issues are cumulative so hearing something from a distance where there is background noise is really difficult.  On an island there will be a lot of background noise especially near a beach.  The sound of the wind and the waves makes it difficult for someone with a hearing loss.  
 
Supposedly the reason the song of the siren affected the sailors is the music was so beautiful it entranced them.  If all you hear is a low hum I don’t think the song is going to affect you.      
 
A moderate hearing loss is probably not going to offer total protection but will make it difficult to be affected by the song except at extremely close range.  More often than not the target is going to spot the siren before they are close enough to be affected by the siren's song.
 
When you have a loss of one sense your other senses do not really become more acute, what happens is you learn to use them better.  My vision is not better than normal, in fact I am a bit nearsighted due to spending all my time looking at a computer screen.  But I do notice things that other people seem to miss.   Part of this is that I am in the habit of constantly scanning my surroundings.   When out driving I often spot things before others do.   Part of this is that your brain can only process so much sensory input.  Since you are not getting as much sensory input form one of your senses your brain has more time to process the others.  
 

With my hearing aids I have the equivalent to a moderate hearing loss.  Even with the hearing aid it is difficult for me to hear a song on the radio.   When I am in the car I cannot hear the radio at all if the volume is less than 10.  For me to understand the song the volume has to be at least 15.  Most people consider to be incredibly loud.       
 
One of the biggest issues with having a hearing loss is that it is difficult to deal with background noise.  With my hearing aids I can usually understand people fairly well in an otherwise quite environment.  But if any background noise is present, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish individual sounds.  In a loud noisy environment, it is like a constant roar of noise where nothing can be distinguished.  The other issue is distance.  The further away you are from the source of the sound the harder it is to hear.  If someone is right next to me, I don’t have as much trouble, but if they are any distance away it become a lot more difficult to hear the sound.  What other consider close by is far away for me.  The two issues are cumulative so hearing something from a distance where there is background noise is really difficult.  On an island there will be a lot of background noise especially near a beach.  The sound of the wind and the waves makes it difficult for someone with a hearing loss.  
 
Supposedly the reason the song of the siren affected the sailors is the music was so beautiful it entranced them.  If all you hear is a low hum I don’t think the song is going to affect you.      
 
A moderate hearing loss is probably not going to offer total protection but will make it difficult to be affected by the song except at extremely close range.  More often than not the target is going to spot the siren before they are close enough to be affected by the siren's song.
 
When you have a loss of one sense your other senses do not really become more acute, what happens is you learn to use them better.  My vision is not better than normal, in fact I am a bit nearsighted due to spending all my time looking at a computer screen.  But I do notice things that other people seem to miss.   Part of this is that I am in the habit of constantly scanning my surroundings.   When out driving I often spot things before others do.   Part of this is that your brain can only process so much sensory input.  Since you are not getting as much sensory input form one of your senses your brain has more time to process the others.  
 

This is something that I know about from personal experience.  I have severer to profound hearing loss. I have hearing aid that allow me to function, but that does not mean my hearing even with them is normal.
 
Hearing loss is not always all or nothing.  Hearing is classified as normal hearing, mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss, and profound hearing loss.  For immunity to the song of the siren you probably only need moderate hearing loss.  Moderate hearing loss is when you need to have a hearing aid to understand most conversations and sounds start blending together.  With any hearing loss it gets worse the farther away you are from the sound.  This is particularly true when it comes to being able to distinguish individual sounds.  The farther away the sound the more difficult it will be to be able to distinguish what the sound is.  Even with my hearing aids I have difficulty understanding people who are too far away.
 
Someone with a moderate hearing loss would be able to hear some noises but may have difficulty identifying what they are.  They will be able to understand a spoken language but will have some difficulty.  The person speaking may have to speak loudly or even shout.  In some cases, the person with the hearing loss can read lips to figure out what is being said.  Even if you cannot fully read lips being able to see the other persons speak often helps.  Most of the time the person with a hearing loss will have trouble pronouncing words so may be difficult to understand.  This is not always the case but is pretty common.  Most audiologists who have tested me are surprised at how clear my speech is.  
 
For the natives of the island, I would buy the hearing loss as Very Frequently, Slightly for 20 points.  Their native language is sign language so it has less impact on them.  A character from outside the island it would probably be greatly impairing instead of slightly.  If an islander buys a spoken language, they should have to make perception rolls to fully understand a normal conversation as long as they can see the speaker’s lips if the speaker was within a meter or two at most.  This would also mean if the siren was right next to the islander, they may be able to be affected by the song.  This would represent the minimum level of hearing loss for an islander to be safe.  They would probably be taking a -4 on other hearing-based perceptions rolls. 
 

With my hearing aids I have the equivalent to a moderate hearing loss.  Even with the hearing aid it is difficult for me to hear a song on the radio.   When I am in the car I cannot hear the radio at all if the volume is less than 10.  For me to understand the song the volume has to be at least 15.  Most people consider to be incredibly loud.       
 
One of the biggest issues with having a hearing loss is that it is difficult to deal with background noise.  With my hearing aids I can usually understand people fairly well in an otherwise quite environment.  But if any background noise is present, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish individual sounds.  In a loud noisy environment, it is like a constant roar of noise where nothing can be distinguished.  The other issue is distance.  The further away you are from the source of the sound the harder it is to hear.  If someone is right next to me, I don’t have as much trouble, but if they are any distance away it become a lot more difficult to hear the sound.  What other consider close by is far away for me.  The two issues are cumulative so hearing something from a distance where there is background noise is really difficult.  On an island there will be a lot of background noise especially near a beach.  The sound of the wind and the waves makes it difficult for someone with a hearing loss.  
 
Supposedly the reason the song of the siren affected the sailors is the music was so beautiful it entranced them.  If all you hear is a low hum I don’t think the song is going to affect you.      
 
A moderate hearing loss is probably not going to offer total protection but will make it difficult to be affected by the song except at extremely close range.  More often than not the target is going to spot the siren before they are close enough to be affected by the siren's song.
 
When you have a loss of one sense your other senses do not really become more acute, what happens is you learn to use them better.  My vision is not better than normal, in fact I am a bit nearsighted due to spending all my time looking at a computer screen.  But I do notice things that other people seem to miss.   Part of this is that I am in the habit of constantly scanning my surroundings.   When out driving I often spot things before others do.   Part of this is that your brain can only process so much sensory input.  Since you are not getting as much sensory input form one of your senses your brain has more time to process the others.