dsatow

4 hours ago, BNakagawa said:

were they human hirelings or robots or what? If they were humans, I'd have some thoughts about the players' mindsets...

They were humans, but Nazis which seem to be everyone go to punching bags. 

One of the reason I asked this question is I was remembering at a Con using agents in a game which were compared to the the heroes just Kobolds swarming the area.  Players seemed to take great glee and wiping the map with them before taking on the larger menace.

In general, how powerful are your agents compared to the superheroes they fight?  This is not to say all your agents are like this, just a majority (a reminder: majority is 51% or just over half).  If your agent team is of mixed usage but are still DESIGNED to knock out a hero (like a 5 man team with 1 AoE Entangle or Flash, 1 Drain, 2 Blasters, and 1 Tank) then the answer is #2 even if they can do other things like #3-#5.  Knocking out a hero means a fairly good probability of knocking out a hero (say at least 1/3 of the time) and not by random dice rolls.  Most of my single agents with killing attacks could stun or knock out a hero by rolling max damage on killing attacks but that's less than a 1% chance of the damage generated. 

For me, back in college, the majority of agents were 20% less powerful in CVs and Damage compared to the heroes.  A group of 3-5 could take down the hero.  Today, my players will probably say they fall in the #2 category still, but I see them more as #4.  While they still do stun and can be taken out easily, they can make life annoying to players from a tactical point of view.  They tend to flash, entangle, or drain characters to the point that if the players don't address them within the scope of a turn, the villains will generally win.

In your games, do you use 1"=1m or 1"=2m?  I've stuck to 1"=2m for Champions mainly because of knockback.

Rather than invisibility, wouldn't a low grade mental illusion work almost as well.  Something like:

43 pts Mental Illusions 6d6 (Human class of minds), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Area Of Effect (32m Radius; +1) (75 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Stops Working If Mentalist Is Knocked Out (-1/4)

5 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Sorry Dsatow but this phraseology is off. The way around this limitation is to not take it at all. A disadvantage that isn’t disadvantageous isn’t worth points.

Only in Hero ID without the time to change into the heroic ID is still a limitation if one is maintaining a secret ID.  In that case, it is still a limitation.

In general, the question of how long it takes to change into Hero ID should be answered by your GM.  The amount of time should be consistent within the game, so if player A has Only in Hero ID and player B has Only in Hero ID for the same value, then the amount of time it takes to change into Hero ID should be the same for both players.

As for a rule of thumb on length of time, this is again dependent on the GM, which is why you should ask your GM.  If you are the GM wondering how to rule on this, then in general, most GMs (but not all) I have played with, as well I GM, that changing into Hero ID generally takes about 12 second or 1 turn.  But this is not necessarily what all GMs will say.  I have been in campaigns where the GM just said it take a full round out of combat.  The said game was a very high speed game and players being out of combat for a turn would have been too great a limitation for just a -1/4.  I've also been in games where the GM said it took a minute but again the game played differently.  You as GM should choose a baseline amount of time that you feel is both believable and is worth the -1/4 limitation.

Note that Only in Hero ID isn't just taking time to don a costume.  It could also be transformation time.  The 1970s Incredible Hulk TV show could also be described as only in Hero ID rather than multiform or shapeshift.  Instead of taking X amount of time to change, Bruce Banner took X seconds of repeating shirt and pants ripping transformation into the Hulk.  Even the recent Thor: Ragnarok shows what happens when you don't time your transformation correctly.

That being said, since 5th edition there are ways around this limitation.  Shape shift and multiform are probably the two most common ways to form an instant change alter ego.  A sidebar, IIRC, in 5th edition has the power 2d6 cosmetic transform, to change said clothes into any other set of clothes, including your costume.  This would still hold true in 6th.  Some older GMs still use a 3rd and 4th edition power called instachange even if they use 5th or 6th edition rules.

I originally email this response to SinedOL back on Aug 23.  I am reprinting it here for informational sake in case others have similar issues.

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Its been a while since you posted to ask Steve about this rules question.  If you don't mind, I can answer the question if I understand what you are asking and I generally answer from the 6e1 and 2 books.  As a caveat, I am not Steve but I'm 99% sure I can answer your question on this subject.

 

FTL travel vs. Flight Megascale.  

 

So yes, its a peculiarity to system.  The game limits megascale to a +5 advantage or about 1000 ly (6e1p341) but it can easily be extrapolated out.  Still, your GM can always limit usage of megascale so its not good to assume it can be used to that extreme or if the GM will allow its use at all.  Some GMs will not allow scale back with megascale making the advantage a little cheaper but limiting its use more.  The reason most GMs would be okay with it is that megascale on a travel power is usually a non-combat issue but again, its a GM call.

 

Note that megascale does mean whenever you are using the power, you are using it at that scale.  So unlike FTL, you can overshoot or undershoot your distance and you can never use it in less than 1m = 1km.  Of course there are ways around this like using teleport instead of flight and making it a safe blind teleport or to keeping changing the scale of the megascale power.

 

Hope this helps.

I originally email this response to greypaladin_01 back on Aug 23.  I am reprinting it here for informational sake in case others have similar issues.

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Lately, Steve seems to be gone for large periods of time.  I am wondering if he's getting burnt out on Hero.  I don't know if this helps, but ...

 

The last time this was asked of Steve, the answer was to continue using the the x1 - x5 multipliers rather than rolling a 1d3 for the stun mod when using the hit location tables.  The multipliers are a hold out from earlier editions and is the way most GMs who use hit locations use the chart.  An alternative to using the x1 - x5 is to use the NStun modifier.  If you choose to go through this route, you would roll the stun mod 1d3 normally and then multiply the stun before defenses by the NStun multiplier.  

 

Example using the multipliers: Baldric is wielding a broad sword.  With his strength, the broad sword does 2d6K.  Baldric rolls 7 Body on the 2d6K.  Baldric then rolls on 3d6 for the hit location.  He rolls an 11, hitting the Chest.  the Chest has a stun multiplier of x3.  Baldric does 21 Stun to the target's chest.

 

Example using the NStun:  Baldric is wielding a mace.  With his strength, the mace does 2d6K.  Baldric rolls 8 Body with the mace and a 2 for the Stun Multiple for 16 Stun.  Baldric then rolls on 3d6 for the hit location.  He rolls an 18 and get the foot.  The foot has a 1/2 Body and NStun modifier so the attack does 4 Body and 8 Stun before defenses.

 

The results tend to be about the same in any case.  A blow to the head is very dangerous.  A blow to the hand or foot not as much.  Hopefully this helps.

I originally email this response to SinedOL back on Aug 23.  I am reprinting it here for informational sake in case others have similar issues.

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Its been a while since you posted to ask Steve about this rules question.  If you don't mind, I can answer the question if I understand what you are asking and I generally answer from the 6e1 and 2 books.  As a caveat, I am not Steve but I'm 99% sure I can answer your question on this subject.

 

You have a permanently desolidified character.  You want to allow the character to physically affect the real world.  How do you go about this?

 

Your base 10 points of strength is effectively free strength.  Its not that your strength drops to 0 when you become desolid.  It just can't affect the real world.  If something else is desolid with you, your 10 points of strength can be used with that desolid target.

 

If you want to use your strength against a solid object, you need to buy Affects Physical World a +2 advantage.  The advantage allows the character to use their strength and only their strength against things in the physical world.  This means that you can pick up objects and move them around like reshelving books in the Ghostbuster's movie library scene.  However, the rules explicitly state you aren't allowed to use weapons or activate attacks that aren't solely strength.  So, you wouldn't be able to pick up a sword and swing it to kill people with the strength nor activate a bomb/gun by flipping a trigger.  A GM might allow you to throw a solid object you pick up, like say a book at someone.

 

If this is fine with you, then all you are buying is the Affects Physical World on your base 10 strength.  This works out to be 20 points and your End cost for using the strength at any time is raised to 3 because per the rules you are not allowed to use the strength without the advantage.

 

However, you might want to do this a different way.  There is something called a naked advantage.  With this advantage, you pay for an advantage separately from the power and the advantage becomes the power.  You will probably need to get the GM's okay with this.  The idea would be that you use this power to affect the real world.  From picking up swords and guns, to punching people.  You become limited on the active points of the base attack.  Its a side effect of the naked advantage power.

 

There is a caveat with the naked advantage power.  If the naked advantage only affects a single power the character possesses.  Then it is treated separately and doesn't have to be used all the time with the power.  It is effectively a separate power like HKA or HA.  It works as if you paid the advantage on the power directly but is considered separate.  The downside is, it is considered a separate power and can be drained by itself. 

 

So, lets go over the ways to have your Poltergeist affect the physical world.

 

Example 1 (buying affects physical world directly on the strength of the character).  Per 6e1p192, this allows you to use your Strength in the Physical World.  It can allow you to use martial maneuvers like haymaker on your strength but not to power other powers like hand to hand killing attack.  The advantage is +2 and on your base 10 strength would cost 20 points.  If you bought it for 15 strength where you bought an additional 5 strength, it would cost 30 points.  If you bought it for 20 strength where you bought an additional 10 strength on your character, it would cost 40 points.  The total active cost of the of the power and strength would be 30, 45, and 60 respectively.  This is because even though you get the first 10 points of strength for free, it still is used to determine how powerful the power is.

 

Example 2 (buying affects physical world as a naked advantage power).  In this form, the advantage is applied to an existing power.  The existing power can be a sword or gun in the physical world or your own strength.  But I have asked Steve about this in the past and the ability is limited by the active points that is covering the naked advantage power.  The normal way to buy the naked advantage power is to assume some level of base points and then only pay for the advantage.  Thus you could say buy Naked Advantage on 30 active points.  The Naked Advantage power would then cost 60 points.  The trade off is, the active points is the maximum (including any advantages the object has) that can be affected by the Naked Advantage.  So if you have a machine pistol (1d6 Autofire RKA)and your active point for the naked power is 15, you would not be able to use the Naked Advantage on the power because its active point cost is too high.  You could use the Naked Advantage on your Strength, but it would not cover any martial maneuvers done with your strength, another limitation.

 

Example 3 (buying affects physical world as a naked advantage power but only for strength).  In this scenario, it kind of a blend of the first examples.  You are effectively buying the advantage as a power separately from the strength and thus calculate its costs separately.  Assuming you are buying this for 20 strength, the power would then cost 40 points.  When using strength against another desolid object, the end cost would be 2.  When using strength to affect the physical world, the end cost would be 2+4=6.  If an antagonist had dispel magical abilities, they could target only the naked advantage and would only have to meet the 40 active point level to disable it, unlike in Example 1 where they would have to dispel the strength.

 

Hope this helps.  Its a slightly complex character power you are attempting.  Scarily, there are more complex ones but this is pretty complex for a new player/GM.  If you have more questions, I am happy to answer or you can ask in another forum.

 

Isn’t mundane stuff what the power pool called Wealth is for?

I can see anything remotely large flying at Mach 10 towards a slightly paranoid country being shot down as a missile unless there was something to prevent it from happening.

I can also see meter maids taping tickets on super vehicles and the vehicle itself trying to argue it wasn’t parked there.   

Vehicle: “You don’t think I’m handicapped?  Let see if I can’t fit through the door of the court to challenge the ticket.”

Meter Maid: “No license plate, no placard.  Not disabled.  $500 fine.”

Just as some side ideas for you if you don't like the entangle idea:

You could also create it as a gravitational effect as:

1. Strength Drain and/or Movement Drain, can also be treated as a suppress.  
2. TK only to force things down
3. Change environment
4. Mind Control vs. Strength (Ok, this requires a bit of leeway from your GM but I would think they should be okay with it given Mind Control vs Con exists and people tend to have higher Strengths).

I have an old XLS sheet for download.  The phases will automatically adjust dependant on your speed.  Just sort based on Dex then Speed.  The ident column will change the mark on the trip sheets to whatever is in the ident column, so can be used to track stunning, flashes, and aborts.  When I used it, I just kept Excel open and used the highlighted cell to determine what segment we were on. 

Does your super team have a vehicle?  I've been wondering about team vehicles and real life politics.  For example:

• Does your team vehicle have a weapon?  And if so, do foreign countries allow the entry of an armed aircraft into their air space?
• Does it have a cloaking or radar prevention device?  Will a government allow a cloaked vehicle which can possibly penetrate secure military areas undetected?
• Does it go supersonic and does the public mind having lots of sonic booms?
• Is it powered by exotic matter or radioactive elements?  If so, how does the country react to that?  I mean, whether there is pollution from the energy source is one thing, but the vehicle is in the vicinity of supervillains, any of which might be able to destroy said vehicle and cause an environmental crisis.  I've always wondered what the background radiation was in the Batcave of Batman in the '66 serials.
• How does one go about registering said super vehicle?  What happens when the ambitious meter maid gives the vehicle a ticket?

21 hours ago, dialNforNinja said:

(I did wibble on some more here, but Gold Leader reminded me to stay on target)

Yeah, but look at what happened to gold leader.  🤣

While using the menu and a liberal GM, a basic presence attack can easily get up to 8-12d6 for even a 15 PRE character, most GMs usually only give out a bonus of say 2-3d6.  A lot of players will compensate by buying powers (PRE or striking appearance) to beef their presence attacks up.  From everything from killing intent you see in anime/manga to teeth sparkling when they smile, both of which I've seen on characters.

The next few stats were originally call figured stats or figured characteristics because their base value was derived from the characteristics we purchased in the entry before (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution).  In previous editions, you could buy back some of the figured characteristics to save some points or if the concept didn't match your version of the character.  You were allowed to only buy back one stat though.  This was in 5th edition and prior editions.  6th edition made this simpler by removing the figured values.  Because the starting values are set, there is no need to restrict how many stats you may want to buy down but then again, I wouldn't suggest buying any down below the starting values unless you have a good reason to and have enough experience with the game system to know how it will affect your character.

We've already calculated OCV and DCV earlier.  These stats and the next two were originally not characteristics prior to 6th edition.  They were derived from Dexterity and Ego respectively.  OMCV and DMCV are the mental combat version of OCV and DCV.  Since we are not making a character with strange mental powers like Professor X or the Martian Manhunter, we are going to leave these values as is.  If we wanted to make the character a little harder to mentally access, we could raise the DMCV value, but as noted perviously, I just don't see this character as very willful or psychically aware.  Unless you are creating a mentalist ( a person with mental powers), it would be a waste to raise your OMCV.  It has no use unless you have some power or the GM allows you to mentally block someone without training.

The next two stats are PD (physical defense) and ED (energy defense).

TBW

Just for people not up on current events, but wikipedia lists major events for a lot of years.  For 2010 -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010

10 years from today, my characters would probably head to Christchurch, New Zealand to help prepare and the day of the earthquake disaster.  Except for my telepath (selfish self absorbed hero), who would just stay in LA and party.

2 hours ago, ScrewySquirrel said:

a bow used to hit someone will be damaged, dented or warped and shooting arrows will be inaccurate and lack power at best, and impossible at worst.  even one made of metal has to be able to bend, which means thin material that cannot take stressors outside the expected pull.

That's real life.  Comic book bows and bows in action movies/shows seem to take a beating and keep on firing.  There is a level of real life physics that gets suspended based on the genre. 

After all, to be honest, when you have the strength to lift 100tons, punching someone with your fist isn't a simple bashing attack to break a few bones.  You aren't exerting 60-80 PSI (a normal punch), your exerting something like 60K-80K PSI.  Your punch should probably go through most people.

I would think any independent contractor or work for hire person would be suitable. 

• Independent Journalist/Photo Journalist selling stories to major publications.
• Private Detective/Security Analyst
• Criminal
• Stripper
• Day Worker
• Uber/Lyft driver
• Home Decorator
• Personal assistant
• etc.

Part time jobs could also be flexible enough, but miss too many assigned shifts and that would be bad.

That said, any job might be fine if you had need not sleep or only sleeps x hours a week.

For the next few stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Ego, Presence), your value will be probably somewhere from 8-20.  If you were designing prior to 6th edition, you already set a value for Dexterity as part of setting your base OCV/DCV.  We are designing a 6th edition character for now.

An average, run of the mill human has a value of 10 in these stats.  A value of 13-15 get you noticed with comments, "that person's fairly smart" or "they go to the gym".  A value of 18-20 makes that one of the characteristics which kind of define you.  Comments like "that ones a genius" or "they are a professional body builder/athlete" come up.  Again these are levels for a normal person or even a heroic person.  But for our example, Chill is a superhero.  If you've read comic books, the smartest superhero there make a normal human genius look dumb by comparison.  In those stats, you better off upping those comic book stats by about 10.  This doesn't mean that if Chill isn't exceptionally smart, he should have a 20 Intelligence.  No, rather, if he's noted in that characteristic, you should probably set the value 10 over normal.

There are 3 stats where a value of 13 or 18 make more sense than a 15 and 20 respectively due to cost savings.  Those stats are Dexterity, Intelligence, and Presence.    The reason these stats can save you points is because they are the primary stats for skills.   Especially for Intelligence.  A Presence of 15 is a little more useful because it gives you a better Presence attack   And a high Dexterity means you go earlier in a phase, but these aren't essential.  In skills, a value of 13 or 15 (likewise with 18 or 20) are equal; they both give the same benefit to skills relating to those values.  While there is not an urgent need right now on saving points, it helps to be prepared.  So at times, I will choose a 13 or 18 for Chill just because its more efficient.

One last note.  In the first paragraph in this entry, you'd note I stated your values is somewhere between 8-20.  What about that below average 8?  If you want to be below average in a stat, 8 is probably the lowest you should go.  8 is a value where you are not considered disabled but your ability is mediocre at best.  The overweight person who gets out of breath going to the refrigerator to grab the last piece of cake probably has a Constitution of 8.  The person who barely graduated high school with a GPA below 2 and thinks the chicken of the sea is actually chicken is probably an 8 Intelligence.  A value of 8 is substandard yet still functional.  I would not suggest going below an 8.  An 8 is effectively a disadvantage in play.  Going less than that can severely hamper you in many ways.  If you still want to go that route, in 6th edition, the two characteristics that you can probably go below that amount is Dexterity and Intelligence.  Again, I would warn you not to do it though.

Going back to Chill.  I see him drawn as fairly buff and going routinely to the gym.  He doesn't look like an professional body builder but you wouldn't think him physically weak in any sense of the word.  So, I'd give him a 15.  In comic book terms, he isn't doing any type of physical fighting or doing heroic feats of strength, so there isn't really a reason to bump this up any higher.  He's not known for his strength, so no +10 here.

Dexterity helps people go first before others.  It helps set your initiative.  So, in general, the higher up on the initiative table you are, the sooner you get to go or react to situations.  Dexterity is the main stat which represents how graceful you are and how much balance you have.  Chill isn't a klutz and I can see him dance pretty well on the dance floor.  He isn't an Olympic gymnast or professional dancer but he has better reaction times than a normal person.  I'd give him probably a 13.

Constitution is very superheroic.  If they didn't have super hero levels of Constitution, then every time they get hit with an attack, they'd just crumple up into a ball and wait till combat is over.  Given that, if he wasn't heroic, I'd probably give him a 15.  He goes regularly to the gym and engages in strength and endurance exercises.  So, being in a superheroic game, I'd buff this by 10 giving a final stat of 25.

Intelligence is hard to quantify for some people.  Just using IQ score would probably put most people around 8-13, but it isn't relative to heroic action movies and comics.  Besides which, Intelligence is not just about memory recall and logic.  It also represents speed of learning and attention to details.  I see Chill as being capable of going to college and probably a college student.  He's probably quick on the uptake as far as more mundane things, but can't wrap his head around more esoteric items.  I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and place him at 13.

Ego is strength of will.  While not impulsively buying stuff from the home shopping network, I don't see him resisting strong temptations or shrugging off mental controls either.  I'll just leave him as average at a 10.

Finally Presence.  Presence is the ability to take command of a room just by entering it.  The ability to face fear in the eye and not blink.  Chill is a comic book character and is probably less afraid of being hurt.  He has the confidence of his powers.  So a base of 15 + another 10 since this is a superheroic stat.  A 25.  This is a very good presence but in concept he could probably be toned down by 5 compared to other heroes.  For now, we'll keep him at 25.

7 hours ago, archer said:

Iceman goes into business selling ice sculptures: he pays points but walks away with some cool cash.

Love the pun.  Cold hard cash for the win!

Next is a question of Speed.  How fast is fast enough?  Speed is the number of actions you can take every 12 seconds.  Its not only how fast you are, it also represents how quickly respond to difficult situations.  You can have a low dexterity but have a high speed.  So a combat veteran may be used to combat and act 4 times in a turn (speed 4) but still only have an 11 Dex.  A 18 Dex ballerina may never have had to deal with combat and thus only have a speed of 2.  Personally, I believe if you know you can bounce bullets you feel a bit more invulnerable and won't hesitate as much when the fighting starts.  So I tend to give characters with good resistant defenses a higher speed than what a normal human can achieve.  Top that off with training and real combat experience, I believe most superheroes can easily hit a 5 speed.

In our example, we are going to keep with the average of a 5 speed.  

There is a second reason to go with the game average, one which isn't talked about enough.  If you make a character with say a 3 speed and every other player is sporting a 6 speed, you are going to be bored for a lot of the game.  Unlike games like D&D/Pathfinder, instead of making all you actions occur on your time in a round, HERO micromanages actions.  You don't get 5 attacks in 1 turn on your action like in D&D.  You get 5 actions spread out evenly over the turn, interspersed with everyone else's actions.  Unless you understand this and how it affects your play, I do not recommend going more than 1 speed below average.

OK, so we know what our power level is.  We start to buy characteristics.  The first characteristic I buy is OCV/DCV.  It's your main mode to hit in combat.  In games prior to 6th edition, this would mean buying Dex.  In 6th edition, OCV and DCV is separated out.

We are using an average of 8 in both CVs.  So we set the value to 8.  We have a starting value of 3 and it costs +5 points to go up or -5 points to go down.  To go up to 8 means paying 25 points for OCV and 25 points for DCV.  

This is great for this example, but what if we want to hit a little more often or be more nimble and not be hit?  Well, you could add one or two more OCV.  In general, when you go up in CV, the GM expects you to give a little in another way.  So, if you go up in OCV then most GMs will expect you to go down in the number of dice you do.  Thus, in this example, if we wanted to have a 9 OCV, the GM might expect us to lower our damage from 12d6 to 11d6.  With a 10 OCV, the GM might be expecting us to lower our damage to 10d6 and so on.  Some GMs might allow a drop in speed so that you can hit more often but have less chances to do so.  In comparison, if you want to raise your DCV, you should lower your PD and ED.  Every 1 you increase your DCV over average, your PD and ED should drop about 3.5 on average.  So for a 9 DCV, your PD and ED should be about 23-24.  A 10 DCV and your PD/ED should be 20.

So how effective is +1 OCV or +1 DCV over the game average?  On OCV, +1 over the average means you will hit 12% more or go from a 62.5% chance to 74% chance( a difference of 11.5%).  But going to +2 OCV over average just means going to 83.8% (a difference of 21.3%).  And going +3 OCV over average is a difference of only 28.2%.  So what is happening?  Well, HERO uses a bell curve instead of a linear to hit chart.  In D&D/Pathfinder, a +1 means a 5% increase in a chance to hit.  This is a linear progression mainly because you are using a single twenty sided die.  So a +3 in D&D is a +15% increase in your chance to hit.  In HERO, the farther you get from a 10 on three dice, the less effective the bonus becomes.  You don't need major bonuses to hit to change the odds in your favor.  SImilarly, a +1, +2, +3 over average DCV will result in getting hit by an average OCV of 8 at 50%, 37.5%, and 25.93% on average.

It's a balancing game for the GM who wants to make sure everyone has fun and are about equal.  To be fair, this is much harder than just making a character.  A GM usually has to do this for EACH villain and also make sure the players do not run roughshod over the game.