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Shadowsoul

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Everything posted by Shadowsoul

  1. I'm having similar issues with Tasha's export format. Also. Just re-downloaded Hero Designer and the option to print to PDF directly from HD seems to have gone.
  2. This might give you some ideas. I think something with pole-arms or two-handed swords/axes would work well for orcs. Or just a very offensive style based on smashing the enemy to a pulp before they can fight back.
  3. Paranoid Wisdom. Clairsentience that lets you hear voices in your head of anyone who is, (or will be), be talking about you. You don't necessarily know whether the conversation/s you hear are present or future. Doppelganger. Creates a duplicate which is player-controlled but has a different personality to the original PC.
  4. Perhaps you could look at real world examples of guns versus more traditional weapons. There are accounts of Scots highlanders who carried swords and shields succesfully fighting English soldiers who used muskets with bayonets in melee. At range the highlanders died but close in they could parry the unwieldy guns and cut the musketeers down. There are stories, (hotly contested on military history forums), of soaked leather shields or rattan shields providing effective protection against early fire-arms. Even if they didn't work your medieval side could certainly give them a try. There are also stories of Zulu warriors being fed various drugs to make them fearless, faster or more resistant to pain. It would be easy to write up some combat drugs for use by medieval 'shock troops'. E.g. CON - Only to prevent being Stunned.
  5. Ah yes the old one-shot flamethrowers. I actually did a write up of a flamespear for my campaign. It's the only 'gun' write-up I still have a file for. I crow-barred a 'Chinese' character into the campaign so I could use it. As it happens one player liked that character so much that he semi-retired his own character and took the NPC over. The weapon itself was supposed to be used for defending fortified cities if memory serves. It didn't take much training to use and could hopefully disable, (or at least upset), one attacker. With luck it wouldn't burn your hands off, much.
  6. Also. Depending on how technical you wanted to get you could base the armour piercing abilities of black powder weapons on their range. Point blank a bullet should go through armour much more easily. Of course it can also do more damage and Hero doesn't usually allow for ranged attacks, (barring line-shaped explosions), doing less damage at long range. But if you wanted to make your life harder and Mr Rifleman's life easier then you could give black powder weapons levels of Penetrating e.g. 3 at short range, 2 at medium range etc. Could still have Armour Piercing. This would be fiddly as hell but would ruin Ser Knight's day.
  7. How much CON does Ser Knight have? Is he going to be Stunned by the first shot?
  8. Had a dig around, (and had great fun reading some session write-ups which I created for upload to these very forums around a decade ago). Bad news is that I couldn't find a document listing my own rules for black powder weapons or even any write-ups of black powder weapons. I did find a few fragments from old character sheets though. A single-shot rifle, (rifled musket), took 11 rounds to reload by the looks of it. That was without any investment in the loading skill. A musket or pistol would have taken less time. The loading skill cost 1 point per level, (might make it 2 points per level if I were doing this today). Each level knocked a round off the loading time but no matter how high the skill it still took at least one round to reload. I also found a document containing some rules that another poster had made for black powder weapons to use in a pirates campaign setting. I've uploaded it with this post. I didn't use the rules as written in this document but got some ideas from it. I don't know anymore who the original poster was since it was so long ago. I have a feeling that it could have been Spence but that might just be my imagination. Presumably the person who created these rules was happy to share them or I wouldn't have had them in the first place. Nonetheless if the author of this document doesn't want it shared then please let me know and I'll delete this post. Blackpowder Guideline.doc
  9. In response to your question about fighting techniques with spent fire-arms Typist. I see three options. You stick a bayonet on the gun and use it as a spear; advanced fighters could use martial manoeuvres stolen from spear-based martial arts. You use the gun as a club. You could use quarterstaff fighting for this but a gun will be unbalanced so the wielder should get a small penalty. The butt of the gun could be reinforced with metal to make it a more effective club. You combine the gun with another weapon. Wikipedia has some examples of historical weapons which did this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_sword You could also have a 'gun-tricks' skill or new combat manoeuvres for doing things like firing a half-loaded gun into an enemy's face.
  10. I ran a game which had black powder weapons. The setting was sort of Napoleonic era but with the pace of technological advancement sped up a bit. So the army that the PCs worked for was just in the final stages of retiring pike-and-shot regiments in favour of musketeers. But there were riflemen as well and strange multi-barrelled guns as well. Had a great time finding evidence of weird historical guns like the boarding gun and the pistol cutlass. I had guns as standard so no one bothered with bows, (or at least it was rare). Guns were AP as I recall but did not usually do so much damage as to make melee weapons useless. I also had long loading times. But I had a loading skill that was basically bought as skill levels which reduced the amount of time it took to load a weapon. So an incredibly skilled soldier could reload in a single action while a new recruit might take a Turn or so. Regardless most people at least had pistols that they could use once before getting into melee. I did make the guns fairly inaccurate but again characters could buy PSLs to offset this. Pistols as I recall were fairly accurate at close range but had very low range increments so became rapidly less accurate at longer ranges. All in all it worked fairly well. Characters could focus on being good at melee or at getting the most out of guns, (or use magic of course). Any monsters or villains had to be able to survive the initial hail of bullets the party could unleash but I don't remember the fights being a cakewalk. (Though I did set a Predator on them at one point). Might be able to dig up my old design documents given time.
  11. Your all? Up? As in 'I give up'. 'Well done; you have answered correctly.' Thanks? Because that's not a physical thing. Time's a good one; I'll third it. You could add a second clue/s. What can be bought but not sold? What can be spent but buys nothing? Chances?
  12. Yeah I wouldn't want to share a dimension with that thing.
  13. Thanks guys. You've given me some things to think about. Let me tell you a bit more about the scenario I had in mind. This would be a survival horror game of sorts. The game would start with the PCs in Rapture, next to an elevator. I would tell them that they are the survivors of a shipwreck who managed to make it to a Rapture 'lighthouse' in a lifeboat. They would soon be contacted over a radio by a doctor who is seeking to cure the residents of Rapture of the effects of Adam and Eve abuse and requests their help since, as newcomers, they are still sane which is an increasingly rare trait in Rapture. The idea is to get the lab which produces a new Plasmid called Purity, (or possibly Cain), that reverses the effects of Plasmid mutation up and running again; restoring power, removing some Splicers from the area etc. Another character would contact them after that suggesting that they play along with the doctor but then betray her and join him in a straightforward escape attempt using a stolen submarine. I would have a small number of Plasmids, Gene Tonics and weapons for the PCs to find which would be written out on pieces of card or perhaps just printed onto pieces of paper. As PCs start using Plasmids and Gene Tonics and/or suffering stress and injury they'll start to remember things which call their memories of being innocent sailors and passengers into question and potentially erode their sanity. The final reveal is that the PCs are not actually visitors from the world above; they are Splicers who were used as test subjects by the doctor and now their Purity treatments are wearing off. Those who survive long enough will have to decide whether to accept a second round of treatments in the hope of regaining their humanity or escape the nightmare of Rapture in order to roam the surface world as the monsters they have become. Splicers will not attack in mass waves. They will be unique, heavily mutated horrors who are more than a match for a lone PC, at least at first. Weapons and Plasmids will be rare enough that the PCs will have to think carefully about who gets what, particularly if their 'memories' have the desired effect of making them distrust each other. I will try to give the Players the chance to use Rapture's environment against the Splicers as well. But don't want to pack too much in. Big Daddies and Big Sisters will be replaced by 'Clankers', Steampunk cyborgs which carry out various tasks around the crumbling city and are probably too powerful for the PCs to take on, though they could be lured into clearing out Splicers.
  14. Hi all. I'm thinking of creating a one shot scenario to run at my Gaming Club which is set in a somewhat modified version of Rapture; the underwater city from Bioshock. Somewhat altered backstory and no Little Sisters, (because I just know at least one player would start harvesting Little Sisters and I would not be able to look them in the eye afterwards), but still with hideously mutated Splicers everywhere and Plasmids galore. Has anyone ever tried statting out Bioshock or Rapture Hero? And does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
  15. An attack that messes up the target's brain chemistry? Ego Attack (Mental Blast) with AVAD Con Roll and Disadvantage All or Nothing. It would probably Do Body Damage as well as Stun and would target DCV rather than DMCV. Messing with the fluids in the target's inner ear could be a less lethal version of this that just causes Stun or possibly creates a Mental Entangle, (how can you move when you aren't sure which directions are which anymore?) An Entangle which requires a considerable amount of liquid that is then condensed into watery shackles that have High Def. Similar spells could create Barriers and even Resistant PD. Water cannon attack. An energy blast that targets PD and has increased Knockback/Knockdown. Fly (run) across a surface (liquid) would give you the classic walk on water power. For a really specific and annoying ability you could Dispel or Drain Swimming with a power that basically causes liquids to stop resisting the target so that they sink to the bottom of whatever pool, river or sea they are in and potentially drown. Controlling liquids within a person's body would of course allow for all kinds of horribly inventive NND attacks. The most vile I can think of would be forcibly extracting the liquid from the target's eyes; doing one point of NND Body Damage and Major Transforming them by giving them the Physical Complication 'Blind'. Causing liquids in the ground and atmosphere to move, coalesce or vibrate could create various different Change Envrionment powers. From creating a large patch of mud to summoning a mighty storm. And if you allowed non-automaton characters to use this power, (which I personally do), they could grant themselves the power Does Not Bleed. Because if you can control liquids then you certainly aren't going to let your own blood get away with trying to escape its cage. The flipside to this would be a horrible Vampire the Masquerade Thaumaturgy style power where you do a powerful Killing Attack AVAD with the alternative defence being that the target must already be bleeding and the effect is you mentally/magically reach out and compel the target's blood to leave their body at a greatly increased rate. This style of magic could be a real horrow show. I don't think a Hero Power Build has made me wince so much since I read a write-up for Vitus's 'Detonate Scrotum' spell.
  16. A slender giant made from signposts, scaffolding or poles and electrical cables? It could lash people with a sort of cat-o-nine-tails made from sparking wires. Something like The Blob but made from rubbish. It just rolls over people and crushes them, or devours them. The stench alone might impose penalties on those who get too close. A giant four legged predator with a truck for a body and four digging arms for limbs. Some of the Urban Fantasy novels set in London have creatures like this. The Matthew Swift novels include various urban magics, including a metallic dragon with headlamps for eyes if I recall correctly. The Skyscraper Throne includes a demigod of cranes, 'masonry men' and a monster called 'The Wire Mistress' which possesses a victim by digging barbed wires into their flesh so they appear to be wearing her, she is basically made of barbed wire and can capture people or rip them apart.
  17. I'd be wary of designing new duelling rules from the ground up. Hero already has a fair amount of flexibility considering characters can use combat maneuvers and any martial maneuvers they've paid for, plus the ability to shift combat skill levels into OCV or DCV. What I would do would be to add some extra widgets to allow duellists to perform extra well when facing someone of similar skill. First off - 1 point advantages or disadvantages. These would function as combat skill levels or negative skill levels with conditions so that they only came into play in certaim circumstances. For example a left handed or ambidextrous fighter could gain +1 OCV against right-handed duellists. An ogre with a club is not going to care about which limb the puny human is using but a skilled swordsman could be put off his game by it. 1 point Disadvantages would be something like 'overcompensates on the parry' or 'favours her left side'. These would impose -1 to OCV or DCV in certain circumstances, usually if an opponent with PS: Duelling makes a succesful roll to identify one or more flaws in the character's technique. The Duellist skill could be used with these 1 point bonuses/disadvantages or could replace them altogether; with a succesful roll the player or GM would say something like "she's fast but her legwork is a little sloppy" and get a bonus against that opponent. Using the Duellist skill would require the character to survive at least one exchange of blows with the opponent or watch a couple of rounds from the sidelines. The second option simulates the old master saying to the young apprentice e.g. "I can tell there's an old wound in his right shoulder, get him to overextend on a thrust and the pain will slow him down long enough for you to strike." This skill and or the 1 point advantages could also detect specifics of the duellist's school which could give slight bonuses or disadvantages. A sabre or scimitar style for example might require space for lots of sweeping acrobatic attacks while a particular rapier school might favour a particularly famous feint that a knowledgeable opponent could recognise and avoid. The Duellist Skill could also be used to notice and use situational advantages "I have the high ground Anakin". That sort of thing. The Duellist Skill and/or a Duellist Talent could also unlock a series of extra combat maneuvers that are only useful when fighting with the chosen weapons and against an appropriate opponent. If using a Tale t then buying the Talent means you can use the maneuvers at will. Using the Skill means you have to roll to use the maneuvers, either a straight Skill roll or an opposed roll. These maneuvers could include - Feint, which reduces the opponent's OCV temporarily if they attack this round. Dazzling blade which is a normal attack but makes it more difficult for the enemy to read your weaknesses. Change hands, which grants a bonus to OCV. Unrelenting assault, which drains End from both combatants. Ferocious volley, a normal attack but allows a Presence Attack which if successful imposes temporary penalties on the target. You could of course build these abilities using a Duelling Multipower if you wanted. I should add that considering how long vanilla Hero Combat can be you might want to be careful with adding too much complexity. Those players whose characters aren't duelling will need to be invested in the fight or content to watch from the sidelines. One last thing. I did once have the idea of building a classic Hollywood swordsmanship Martial Art where all the moves were named after the things the duellist would shout while performing them. E.g. "Ahah!" "Hah!" "Hahahah!"
  18. The moons are in alignment once again so it is time for me to rise up from the depths and post a new creature to Shadowsoul's Monster Corner. Flayed One Background/History. A Flayed One is the result of murder by Blood Magic. Blood Mages wield the power of slaughter but also the power of life at its most vital and savage, those ‘killed’ by Blood Magic do not always die in the truest sense of the word but are infected by it and condemned to a living purgatory; the final moment of their violent demise stretched out for days or even years. The resulting creature is slick with blood, boiling with rage and mad with agony, it cannot be reasoned with and it is unnaturally hard to stop. The only way for a Flayed One to dull the pain of its existence is to bathe in the blood of living beings. Unless somehow controlled it will be a force of mayhem and destruction until it is put down. Blood Mages have learned to cause this effect intentionally and so create minions to do their bidding. Even a ‘wild’ Flayed One is susceptible to control by the practitioners of the magic which created it. Personality/Motivation. To all intents and purposes the Flayed One is a berserker. While, theoretically, sentient the Flayed One exists in a world of pain and it is quite incapable of rational thought. The raw Blood Magic tearing through its veins acts like a powerful combat drug, forcing the monster to remain awake and murderous even if the original creature would have just curled up into a ball or collapsed into unconsciousness to escape the pain. Sheer battle-madness will drive the Flayed One to attack every living thing in sight and it will quickly learn that their blood can act as a balm to its own tormented flesh, giving it fresh motivation to kill them in the most violent ways its demented brain can devise. Flayed Ones will not usually attack each other, perhaps recognising a fellow soul in torment. If controlled by a Blood Mage the Flayed One will follow orders, it lacks the mental capacity for deception, but it will take any opportunity it can to inflict violence while carrying out its duties. Powers/Tactics. The Flayed One is a frenzied maniac with little or no interest in tricks and tactics. It reaches its chosen victim as quickly as possible and attacks them fearlessly and without mercy until it or they are destroyed. If multiple Flayed Ones are fighting in the same area they will usually pick different targets if they can reach them easily. For all their lack of subtlety Flayed Ones are dangerous opponents. No matter how blameless a life the original creature led they will gain a basic knowledge of wielding edged weapons when they rise again. The Blood Magic that courses through a Flayed One makes it faster and considerably stronger than an average human and while it has no particular skill with weapons it can overwhelm opponents with sheer aggression. Being a creature of blood the Flayed One is able to ignore the limits of its own flesh and bones to a certain extent, moving much like a skilled contortionist which only serves to make it more disturbing to face in battle. A Flayed One attacks relentlessly; wounds which would cause a mortal to black out are ignored as mere white noise against the cacophony of pain the monster endures every second of its tortured existence. Furthermore the Blood Magic which animates the Flayed One actively holds its body together, clotting almost instantaneously to seal holes and forcibly reset fractured bones. It is very difficult to kill a Flayed One with blunt trauma. Spilling or burning the unnatural blood within the monster is the most effective way to destroy it. Though it is not Undead the Flayed One is animated by magic and so does not suffer from mortal afflictions such as disease, hunger, cold or the need to breathe. Its reserves of energy are not inexhaustible but it can fight on for a long time without rest. Campaign Use. Flayed Ones foot soldiers and are most likely to be minions for a Blood Mage. They may also be encountered in the wake of a rampaging Blood Mage, with the players having to split their time between hunting down the magic user and killing off the murderous creatures he leaves behind him. Flayed One’s also present an interesting quandary for player controlled Blood Mages, (assuming they aren’t downright evil themselves), is it worth using this form of magic if it sometimes generates new enemies from the corpses of old ones? Is it morally justified to extend the suffering of an opponent into unlife if doing so creates a useful servant which will help you defeat other evils, do the wicked acts the victim committed in life mean that it is less wrong to torment him or her in this way? While Flayed Ones as written are too violent and insane to be left, like zombies, to guard some ancient crypt they could be bound into a magical prison of some sort and unleashed when a ward or trap-glyph is triggered. If the PCs are travelling with a large group then sorcerous traps could kill some of their companions and ‘raise’ them as Flayed Ones. Or the trap could kill their horses and pack animals and raise them, which will really inconvenience the players even before true battle is joined. I have written up all of the stat increases as powers to make it easier to convert this monster into a template which could be applied to any creature killed by Blood Magic; a Flayed Ogre or Troll would be truly terrifying. Appearance. Blood-soaked, skinless humanoid with a grinning mouth and eyes that roll wildly in its skull. Skills. Contortionist 13- Killer: WF: Blades Total Skills Cost = 6 Talents. Fearless Total Talents Cost = 14 Powers. Furious: +10 STR Hungry For Blood: +1 OCV Fast: +1 SPD Swift: Running +10m (22m total) Blood For Bones 1: +4 DEX Blood For Bones 2: Resistant Protection (3 PD) (6 Active Points); Limited Power Only protects against blunt trauma (-1) Lost In Pain: +8 EGO (8 Active Points); Conditional Power Does not protect against Blood Magic (-1/4) Clotting: Does Not Bleed Gore Smeared Nightmare: +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Conditional Power Only to make hostile Presence Attacks (-1/2) Creature Of Blood Magic 1: +10 CON Creature Of Blood Magic 2: +2 BODY Pain's Companion 1: +4 PD Pain's Companion 2: +4 ED Undying: Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Self-Contained Breathing; Sleeping: Character does not sleep) Unrelenting 1: +20 STUN Unrelenting 2: +20 CON (20 Active Points); Limited Power Only to prevent character from being Stunned (-1) Unrelenting 3: +10 REC Unrelenting 4: +30 END Total Powers Cost = 155 Complications. Psychological Complication: Insane With Agony (Very Common; Total). 25 Psychological Complication: Soothed By The Blood Of Others (Common; Total). 20 Physical Complication: Easily Affected By Blood Magic (Add 3d6 to all effects) (Infrequently; Greatly Impairing). 15 Physical Complication: Takes Damage From Healing Magic (Infrequently; Greatly Impairing). 15 Total Complications Points = 75 Flayed One.hdc
  19. I'm enjoying this thread. It makes me want to dig out my much neglected Monster Corner thread. I don't usually have much creative energy to spare for that while working on the totally awesome Alchemy section of the totally awesome Magic in Kamarathin Sourcebook. Presumably people, particularly the underground races you mentioned, breed Cloud Beetles for use as pets or ingredients. What would be the market price for a live one, do you think?
  20. A nicely nasty beast to slot into a Fantasy or Urban Fantasy campaign. I'm looking forward to more from you! However, if I should suddenly develop a phobia of women's lower halves I will blame you.
  21. Perhaps a variable Barrier.
  22. So the best way to scoop up a decent amount of the target audience would an exploration and survival adventure in an urban sandbox. Does this mean that what gamers truly want is a game that lets them play as toddlers playing with sand in an inner city park?
  23. Could be an interesting adventure. I'd suggest mining the Romance of the Three Kingdoms for ideas.
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