Gandalf970

Thanks archer, steph, Grailknight, Tom Cowan and mallet.  All of you make great points to add to what my troll player wants.  I sure do love this forum for all of your help.

A player is making a Troll character that can have a +35 STR.  He moved it to 35, thus giving him 7D6 damage and also 7 END each punch.  He was wondering if there is anyway to limit this END cost?  It is naked STR and not bought as a Power.   I told him I didn't think so, but thought I would ask the forum.

Had a couple of sessions which were great fun.  The Necromancer was working late at the mortuary with his contact and got captured by his ex-wife's dad.  His ex father-in-law is one of his complications and gave him over to a demon cult.  They need people with magic to extract it to help in a ritual.  The other two went to see him and his mother said he never came home.  It's funny because the Necromancer lives with his Dependant NPC mother and she is always asking about him and makes him come home at night.

So the other two search the city and using their streetwise skills find out that he was seen being pummeled and thrown in a bag.  A critical roll showed them the way to the place.  They then discovered where eight buildings were larger and formed a pentagram above ground so they went scurrying under.  They fought off a few minions and lesser people and had a nice fight with a mutated rival of one party member.  One of the party members is in the actors guild and is slowly working his way into the Nobles District to move uptown.  He is also a gambler with 5d6 luck and this has helped and hurt in many situations.

A question how do you handle the killing of a players complication, I don't think it is a big deal, but do you just roleplay another for him and write him into the story?

One of my players is playing a Troll who has a high PRE, but wants to use it for intimidation and bullying people.  I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to limit this characteristic.  How can it be limited for using skills such as conversation, charm and such (because he admittedly isn't good at these).  Is there a specific limit?  How would you see this character being limited in those situations. 

Thanks everyone on the ideas and thoughts.  I agree with the no Nightvision for a mirror and the three one's for a critical with magic.  I might expand on ternaughs idea of extra dc or ap, good idea.  

Thanks Jkeown I will be using this stuff.

Ptolus is a huge city built upon many cities that were destroyed in the past.  Thus it has dungeons if that is what the players want and huge underground network.  The City is hugely detailed with districts, organizations, history and religion.  Of course you don't have to use any of this, but having it when you need it helps.  They also have a lifestyle to the districts on what the people eat, entertainment and such.  There are at least a 1000 businesses detailed with personality for the NPC's as well.  When it came out in 2006 it was so big they had to load much of it on CD-ROM!  It is over 700 pages with the maps and two extra adventures from the PDF!

It was a setting for all the game designers to play in and does have a high fantasy feel, but it is easy to push that aside if that isn't your speed.  I would recommend anyone buy the pdf just for reference.  The city is really cosmopolitan in that they like adventurers and actually have a Delver's Guild that explores the ruins below the city.  There are orcs, bugbears, ogres and even demons that walk amongst others in the city.  The people are not so freaked out by the occasional magic casting, but one still needs to be careful.    

More on my campaign, the players have purchased a mortuary so the Necromancer has easy access to bodies.  Also this is in the Warrens and slum-like area where there hasn't been anyone to get rid of bodies for a while.  The city has negotiated a contract to take bodies so they are using bureaucratics a lot and negotiations.  Now they are planning on becoming a gang in the Warrens as there are twelve other small disorganized gangs they need to quell or be run over.  Soon the Necromancer will be able to create a Vampire so that will add another element to the game.

I used some of the options in Fantasy Hero by giving negatives to DCV and DEX until they bought off the penalties.  This stopped players from picking up armor that is for sure.  I will also add the movement penalty to future campaigns.

Many years ago I bought Ptolus and my group really wasn't into it.  The DnD version just didn't strike them as they couldn't do "what they wanted" with the classes, spells and story etc.  My group is really about having the mechanics support the roleplaying they do.  So I started a new campaign and decided Ptolus Fantasy Hero Version would be the meal.  

They are so in love with it and have really went crazy with Hero and Ptolus.  One is a rogueish type with decent skills and got his first follower.  He runs atop the rooftops and is a half-elf who only needs to sleep 3 hours a day.  He is super active and came from the Warrens (a slum type district). 

The next player chose a Necromancer type player who was using Vampiric Touch (heal by draining body).  He learned later that he was gaining corruption from doing this and decided to find religion.  We created something called the Sisters of Mercy where the third sister was the sister of retribution and justice.  He has been able to heal the corruption by doing good deeds for the church and gives me another plot hook.

The last player is a face man who is a gambler who took 25 points of luck.  He likes to flip a coin and decide what to do, great fun.

Thank you to the forums for the ideas about the story.  I used many and they are working for a Demon named Deimos, they haven't put it all together yet.  They have been collecting items for him to make a huge summons and after about 20 sessions are now starting to see the light. 

Three of the four in my group have been gaming together for 40 years the other about 20.  I think the combination of this system and our experience have made this one of the best campaigns we have ever played.  We are all dreaming about it and really really roleplaying.  One of the guys really was a min/maxer and that was all he cared about, but now he is really doing some cool things.

We are using the hard recovery where they only get recovery of body every two weeks.  It makes the game grittier and they don't charge into many combats.  Also the Prescence mechanic and social combat have been unbelievably well received.  Can't say enough about how much we are loving this game.  We all looked at each other the other night and said, "I wish we had started playing this game years ago"!

Thanks again.  If you interested in more I can post more info.  If you looking for a great City to adventure in for Hero, Ptolus is the way!

We are using criticals where if you roll your attack skill by 10 you crit.  I had someone ask if it would work for magic as well?  Is this too powerful?  Second question would you allow someone with Nightvision to use a mirror and still get Nightvision.

Please answer these as your world and what YOU would do.

I tried all that, they used to work but they don't anymore.  I will look for some more downloads.  Thank you LoneWolf

I tried to print a character today and the color is gone from the sheet.  It is also gone from the other exports I have as well.  No the printer isn't out of ink, is there something in the export or my browser that could have changed. 

I am not good at these things so any help would be appreciated.

Not sure what happened but the next time I tried to export and print, no color.  Is there a setting in Chrome or Edge that could have changed.  I switched exports as well, but cannot seem to find why no color comes out with my print.  It isn't a printer issue as all other color comes out.

I read that followers cost 1xp = 5 character points.  Say I spend 5 xp for a 25 point character.  It says for +5 points I can have two followers.  Does that mean for 10 points I get two 25 point followers?

On 7/23/2020 at 2:10 PM, Ockham's Spoon said:

Here are a few considerations:

 

Lucky Blow: Combat Skill Levels only to increase damage, Activate on 11-

Uncanny Dodging: Desoldification, only to prevent damage, not vs. Area attacks

Always Find What I'm Looking For: +3 PER rolls

Just Nicked Me: Combat Luck

Not As Bad As It Looks: Damage Negation

Minor Malfunction: Minor Transform - Switch from locked to unlocked, closed to open, cinched to uncinched, sturdy to frayed, etc.

Ockham, these are great.   Definitely using these.

43 minutes ago, ChaosDrgn said:

For world's I normally go with Mystara/The Known World. Fun to see my players squirm because they haven't memorized every little thing like they did for Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance/Etc...Greyhawk is the same way. Old enough and out of print enough to make it fun.

I usually default to Greyhawk as well, keeps me boyz on edge.  ChaosDrgn wow 30+ yrs as a Hero Gamer!  Wish I had stuck with it when I grabbed 1st Edition Fantasy Hero when it was tied to Rolemaster, damn that Rolemaster was great.

I am trying to figure out how to represent the 5 Rings from Legend of the Five Rings in Fantasy Hero.  The five rings are Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Void.

Air represents graceful, cunning and precise personality.  They are subtle or layered with nuance.  Eloquent, physically and socially deft and shrewed.

Earth represents a steady thorough and grounded approach to problems.  Cautious and considerate with lack of risk.  Physically tough, mentally resilient and reliable.

Fire represents a ferocious, direct and inventive personality.  There approach is explosive and intense.  Passionate, curious, physically quick, brusque and quick learning.

Water represents an adaptable, powerful and perceptive approach.  Balanced and reversible.  Naturally affable, physically flexible, observant and easygoing.

Void represents and unflinchable personality.  Spiritually sensitive, wise and introspective.

I am wondering if I make a ring a multipower and allow players to invest in a ring with powers, skills and abilities with limitations when facing opposite rings.  

I look forward to your thoughts on how YOU would bring these rings to add on to characters skills and powers.  Thank you in advance.

Thank you pawsplay, mallet and massey.  All great ideas that I will put to use.

I am researching feudal Japan in the vain of Legend of the Five Rings type campaign.  I was wondering how Honor would be represented in Fantasy Hero.  Please give me YOUR thoughts and ideas.  I know the interaction skills will be huge.  I expect reputation will be big as well.  Any thoughts you have from a mechanical or anecdotal perspective will be appreciated.

Thanks Archer, mallett and Lone Wolf very helpful stuff.

8 hours ago, archer said:

Instead of just a bonus to stealth, it'd probably work better as skill level to a small group of rogue skills appropriate to the character concept. Like "Gambling, Sleight of Hand,  Forgery" or "Breakfall, Acrobatics, Stealth". If you pick a bonus to just one skill, the player could conceivably go through a number of adventures without ever needing that one skill (which could be frustrating).

 

If there are 10-15 active points you could try things like (some examples, not recommending this group)

 

Combat Luck

PRE

Damage Reduction (lucky that wasn't as bad as it could have been)

Missile Deflection (maybe with special effects to make it appear luck is happening to intercept the missile)

Defense Maneuver 

 

=====

 

Does the character get to choose when the pool activates? Or does it activate and/or change at random? That's going to make a hell of a lot of difference in how the power plays out and how much of a limitation the randomness is.

 

If he can just re-roll at will until he gets exactly the power he wants then that power stays with him until he doesn't want it to, many times that's not hugely limiting when he's got set up time available. Consider this setup:

 

1) Bonus Gambling

2) Bonus Forgery

3) Bonus Sleight of Hand

4) Additional movement power

5) Some combat power

 

He knows when he's gambling, forging, or going out to pick pockets so he's going to keep the power set on movement or combat all the time. 

These are great Archer I will definitely be bringing this to my player.

A player of mine wants to make a character who follows the Goddess of Luck.  He was thinking of  pool of say five powers that he can use randomly (he has to roll each time).  I was thinking of Aid, bonus to stealth etc.  Any ideas (power, talent, perk or skill) to add to a Goddess of Luck following rogue would be great. 

Thanks Scott Ruggels this is exactly what I was looking for.  I am going to watch some 80's flicks and get my Dark Champions on soon.

Yes "Street Level gritty vigilant style characters like Punisher".  

I haven't run a dark style superhero game in 30 years.  I have mainly stuck to Fantasy Hero games and am looking for some advice on running one.  I would like some advice one how YOU run your game.  What elements do YOU use.  What things do YOU pay attention to.  What things should I avoid.  What do YOUR players enjoy and hate.  Thank you in advance.

How do I add faster climbing speed for a Heroic character into Hero Design.  Currently it is 2 m per phase and I am allowing them to go to 4 m.  I was thinking of using  it as penalty skill levels?  One option showed allowing a -3 for +2 m, but I am not sure how to add this into Hero Design?