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6e1 pg 216: Since the BODY of an Entangle is the BODY of the rolled dice, what does it mean if all 1s are rolled and that value is zero from the start? I can think of several possibilities: The Entangle fails. The Entangle succeeds but any breakout attempt is immediately successful. This is much the same as #1 since 6e2pg124 says, "If a character who’s trying to break out of an Entangle (which doesn’t require an Attack Roll) does twice the remaining BODY of the Entangle or more, he’s free and has a Full Phase in which to act," and 2x0 is still zero so he would have a full action. The character has only to reach (but not exceed) the PD/ED defense at which point, since the Entangle's BODY is already zero, he's free. Entangles have a minimum of 1 BODY regardless of the roll.

Since the last release, I've done work on improving entangles which now have full support for breaking out, including taking damage from "backlash" and when attacked (friendly or not) by other characters. There are also many small fixes for end/stun, linked attacks, and others. I use this for all combat in my campaign and now consider it to be "beta" quality. https://deity-online.com/app/combat-tool?gs=hero6 This tool is available online for no-cost. There are even instructions. Try it out! Comment here or on the Discord channel.

It's been a while since I've done any serious work on this but I've added support to Deity's Combat-Tool for entangles, grabs, and linked attacks. So far, I've used this for a Dire Wolf that bites and holds on. There are some other, less obvious, improvements as well. Import your own characters from Hero Designer and try it out. Feedback here or on the Discord channel is most welcome.

6e1 pg 218 says regarding "backlash": Is protection from armor and/or other sources subtracted from this just as if it were an outside attack? What about hit-locations? If the character uses their hand to try to break the entangle, is the backlash x½ for everything?

Oh, I see. There was a separate 4pt "+1 HTH Damage Class(es)" and that was being included under the "basic strike" details and thus showing it as +3DC instead of +2DC. I wasn't expecting that. Thanks for clarifying.

Under "Martial Maneuvers" in the books, there is no "basic strike". It is mentioned only on 6E2pg90 as a reference to the default attack. Designer, however, has it listed under "Martial Arts" HTH options. For 3 points, you get +1 OCV and +3 DCs. Yet it costs 4 points for a "martial strike" (+2 DCV, +2 DCs) and 5 points for a "defensive strike" (+1 OCV, +3 DCV). 6E2pg99 says, "A character can use two CSLs to increase the damage done by a HTH or Ranged attack by one Damage Class." Since DCs cost 2x as much as OCV or DCV, why is "basic strike" cheaper than the others?

I haven't had a lot of time to work on this but I have made some improvements since my post about the previous version. Notably, Deity now has support for Aid and Drain attacks, including automatic timed recovery of those points. To move things along faster, it will try to pick the best action for a character, pretty much limited to "attack" or "recover". This saves a click for almost every action which can be useful. And since it remembers the last method and opponent of every character's attack, much of the action is already set up. For NPCs, you can pretty much just keep clicking "confirm" and let them fight it out without wasting players' time. I've also increased the combat speed a bit when NPCs are stunned/knockedout/unconscious by having them automatically execute a recover for their action without requiring the GM to confirm it. Only when the recovery is bringing them out of that state does it require confirmation. (To allow the GM to note it and announce, "Uhhh... Looks like the bad guy is coming out of it.") I just finished a combat that had 4 PCs and 21 NPCs; it helped. And some bug fixes. 🙂 The tool is available at its traditional location but to use the very latest version, you can try the beta site. And as always, there's a page of instructions and a Discord channel for feedback. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

From 6e2 pg 57: What is used for the OCV of the character making the block? Specifically, for a "martial block" with a weapon, is it still the blocker's base OCV or can it include some skill levels in that weapon?

If you didn't see my earlier post, I've been working on a new "combat tool" for managing combat under the HERO rule system; things have come a long way. Today I used it for the first time in a real campaign, importing characters from Hero Designer, and am happy with how it's progressing. Though it doesn't yet have support for things like Aid or Drain, it managed normal combat just fine with full BODY, STUN, and END tracking. And it's free! You can reach the tool here and I've created some instructions here. I'd love to get some feedback on it.

After being stunned, a character must recover. On 6e2 pg 37, the DCV Modifiers Table says: Stunned (DCV=)½ (HL=)½ Recovering from being Stunned (DCV=)½ (HL=)½ Taking a Recovery (DCV=)½ (HL=)½ However, on 6e2 pg 105, under Recovering From Being Stunned, it says: In the character’s next full Phase after becoming Stunned, he recovers from being Stunned when his DEX occurs in the Segment. He regains his full DCV (and Placed Shot modifiers return to normal), but he still cannot act until his next Phase — recovering from being Stunned is all he can do that Phase. The example next to the latter matches the description. Is the Modifier Table incorrect or is there something I'm missing? -- Brian I can't respond to answers so... The penalties end at the character's DEX on the Segment in which they recover from being Stunned. It still takes the character's full Phase worth of actions on that Segment to recover. So... "Stunned" is the time from taking the stun until the start of the next segment in which the character can act and "Recovering from being Stunned" is the time from the start of that segment until their action? That conflicts with the definition in the description: "[H]e still cannot act until his next Phase — recovering from being Stunned is all he can do that Phase." That sentence indicates that "recovering from being stunned" is the entire phase, not just the first segment of it.

Do I have to purchase the source code to get that information or is it available somewhere online?

v0.51 supports export and import, including import from Hero Designer! The import from HD isn't perfect because (a) it's incomplete and (b) some things just can't be figured out from its data. However, setting/fixing the values on the "steps" display will be remembered so the next time that action is used, the updated values will be used. Feel free to ask any questions here on on the Discord channel. -- Brian

It's JSON so no way to do intermediate processing but perhaps I can do it on the importing of the data file.

That worked, thanks. Is that API documented anywhere?

When exporting (.hdr), the POWER_END has multiple meanings. If there is an END cost, it'll be a number. If not but there are charges, it'll be a weird "[n bc]" format where "n" is the number of charges and "bc" is only present if the charges are boostable. Is there any way to get only END or only charges? Alternatively, is there an IF that distinguishes between them so I can conditionally emit only one? -- Brian