Shadowsoul

Re: Pseudo-elf race as monsters While they are a distinct form of Faerie with their own abilities, (namely the power to grow to giantsize), I think the term Spriggan fits this riff on elves quite nicely. The violent Powries might be a better fit although I don't think the name sounds as good. More Nordic terms for evil Elves are Dokkalfar and Svartelves, although these more closely resemble twisted Dwarves or Goblins than the beautiful and sophisticated Dark Elves of modern fantasy. Another possible angle would be to, (in the minds of humans), link these predatory and sharktoothed elves of yours to blood-drinking demons or spirits of the dead such as Banshees, Strigoi, Lamia, Ghouls, Underworld-dwelling Fomori or the Sluagh which are described in the Digital Hero article that Lord Liaden referenced above.

Re: Arabian Knights I have not adapted any Arabian Nights material to Hero. But I do have one suggestion. Several of the 1,001 Nights involve robotic creatures such as mechanical horses. A horse automotan would be a useful and flavourful steed for an Arabian Nights character.

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon? Fable II would seem to hold the answer to this question.

Re: The best Superpet? I'd throw in my vote for a cat. As far as I know they are more popular than dogs in Britain these days. You could model it on the Shrek version of Puss in Boots. Or Battle Cat. Or maybe this .

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy [ATTACH=CONFIG]35271[/ATTACH] And here's a couple of links to images that I don't have a license to recreate but can direct people to. They'll show you what I mean. http://www.pathology.washington.edu/research/labs/oshima/Lishan/Cambridge.jpg http://www.nodents.com/city_cambridge_england3.jpg

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy Nowhere near as exotic as most places on this thread but it does fit the criteria. The original Cambridge is definitely a fantasy city. Unfortunately I can only work with reusable pictures here as I only took one photo while I was there. [ATTACH=CONFIG]35268[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]35269[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]35270[/ATTACH] More below.

Re: Shield of Thunder. How do you mean? The Shield of Thunder itself? Or a shield held by a character who has hit the Shield of Thunder? In the second case an entangle would prevent the affected character from being able to use anything in that hand, weapon or shield. The original power would presumably inflict the same CV penalties on a shield wielding character.

Re: Shield of Thunder. I wouldn't say it was too powerful because losing touch and hearing will make things difficult for an opponent, but not impossible. Losing Touch inflicts a -3 penalty to Dex based actions in 5er. Since, as I understand it, CV has now been separated from Dex this may not be the same in 6ed. I'd still make it at least a -2. Although, to be pedantic, humans have an innate ability to sense the position of their own limbs which is supposedly separate from the sense of touch, at GM's discretion this could reduce the combat penalties of losing Touch, (particularly for a character who fights with their fists although what they were doing punching a shield in the first place is anybody's guess). Not being able to hear is unhelpful, but not crippling. Incidentally. I can think of a couple of other powers which the Shield of Thunder might develop. (From 5er) 1. An Entangle which only affects one limb, (the weapon arm of course). The arm is truly numbed an only a great burst of strength can restore feeling to it. 2. No Range Energy Blast which does Stun only. The target is dazed by the shield's thunderous note.

Re: A senario: ideas and help me flesh it out. All I can think of is that you should use the desert to the utmost. It's extremely difficult to navigate through the desert. Visibility can be very poor, everything looks the same and strong winds can actually make superficial changes to the landscape. How do they manage it? Then there are the twin dangers of dehydration and heat exhaustion. Have some evil character, (whom they can track down later in the adventure or the campaign), commit the ultimate desert sin of poisoning an oasis so that the party has to stumble deliriously through the sand to even reach the tomb. Then, when they spot potential attackers, they shall have to try and work out if their opponents are real or just hallucinations brought about by the harsh environment. Same goes for the tomb. This may seem harsh but completing the quest will be more satisfying if they feel that their characters have endured a lot to get their loot.

Re: Spear-based Martial Arts Another possible avenue of research. Celtic martial arts. Celtic Weapons. Gaelic Warfare.

Re: Chaos, Order and Balance - Help Wanted I have toyed with the idea of a world where the two principles are Light and Dark, (not good and evil). I can translate some of those ideas to this debate. Ultimately both principles are destructive. Complete order would prevent all change. Complete chaos would render all change meaningless. Therefore the only 'good' alignment is balance. Or at least this is the only one which is not ultimately hostile to life as we know it. Order is stability and is associated with matter. It is sterile, lifeless and logical. Physical sciences draw on Order. Chaos is change and is associated with the energy. It is protean, spiritual and insane. Magic draws on Chaos. Balance is associated with life, which combines logic and madness, matter and energy, body and spirit. Diseases of the mind and body are caused by imbalance between the two primal forces. But so are all extreme forms of behaviour and ability. Great strength is considered to be the symptom of an excess of Order, genius is the result of too much Chaos. In terms of religious doctrine. Both Order and Chaos seek to end this world by creating a new form of existence which transcends the old. Priests of Order preach that existence is a vast equation and that once every last flaw has been eliminated from this equation then perfection, nirvana, will be achieved. Followers of order seek to understand the universe and map out its rules. Changes of any kind should be prevented to avoid flaws in the pattern and logic must be imposed wherever it does not rule naturally. Change is corruption and that which is illogical is insane and must be culled. Order followers seek self perfection through rigorous mental discipline and physical challenges and then inflict that perfection on the world around them. The clerics of Chaos teach that stillness is death and that something only truly exists when it is becoming something else. Therefore the universe must be thrown into unending flux so that one day everything, and all possible things, will exist. Chaos worshippers try to destroy their attachment to the material world by any means necessary, mind altering drugs, weird philosophies and the denial of the self to name but a few. The self is just a prison which prevents the necessary evolution towards infinity. Morality is also a cage and so must be transgressed before it suffocates you. That which is unmoving is dead and so should be cleared away to make room for something new. Moving slowly is akin to not moving at all. Almost everything moves slower than something else. The old must always give way to the new. Balance states that existence is its own justification and life is worthy of protection in and of itself. There is no nirvana, no better world. There is only the balance of two opposing forces which allows life to exist. Helping one force or other to gain the upper hand is tantamount to suicide on a universal scale. Followers of balance preach moderation in all things and say that there are always two sides to any debate, (or sometimes three, but never four, those who say that it is possible to have four or more sides to a debate are branded as heretics and nailed up by their ankles to the nearest tree). All things sound better in harmony and you will only find happiness when your mind is at peace with itself, the body that holds it and the universe around that body. Where extreme trends, phenomenons, philosophies or people are encountered it is best to smooth them away before they can destroy the fragile yet vital balance of existence. As with all religions there are varying degrees of faith, from the reasoned moderate to the frothing zealot. In some areas all three religions may co-exist in peace and in others they may be slaughtering each others' followers without mercy.

Re: Altered Life Death Cycle Effects I assume you mean mentalism? If not then you should have a look at the craft of Allomancy in the Mistborn series. Very good stuff. The main topic is fascinating by the way. May have more useful thoughts to add when I have more time.

Re: The Professions of Arms Ahem. There's already too much of this thread to catch up on. Otherwise I wouldn't have let that pass. I haven't read through everything yet so please forgive me if I repeat anything. Hoplites are about standing shoulder to shoulder with your brothers in arms and not flinching in the face of the enemy. It is more about defence than attack. It also confers a certain amount of social standing, at least in the home city. PS Hoplite could be a complementary skill for the following situations. Teamwork. At least one other team member must be either a Hoplite or equipped in a similar manner. Presence/Ego roll to stand firm. (surrounding Hoplites/allies must also pass their rolls). Ego/Con roll to carry on marching in full armour. Any roll that involves negotiating with a fellow citizen or a Hoplite from another city. A Hoplite commands a certain amount of respect and will be able to speak to a fellow citizen as a brother in arms. Tactics roll for a situation involving phalanxes. It could also be used to give displays of martial discipline. And perhaps to allow the Hoplite to identify the fighting styles used by other cities. While such distinctions may be too subtle to matter it could be very useful to know that you are facing e.g. Spartans or their equivalent. In combat an experience Hoplite might be able to spot a weakness in an enemy's shield defence, reduce the chances of his spear being broken or taken from him or spur his allies on to greater efforts. A good way to represent most of these abilities would be to use the PS as a complementary skill for Combat Tricks.

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs Here's a very simple one. Don't know if anyone's done him before. Cotton Eye Joe Just needs decent Presence, Seduction, Stealth and any PSs appropriate to a wandering labourer.

Re: Collaborative World Ending… Blue Jogger's suggestion sounds like it fits you pretty well already. But here's a few more possibilities that might work. The Final War. They threw a war and everybody came. Pick one or more of the following. Good vs evil. Law vs Chaos. Gods vs demons. Men vs Orcs. Mages vs each other. Elves vs Dwarves. Werewolves vs Vampires. Ninjas vs Pirates. Dragons vs everybody. Magical fallout devastates the environment while the combatants slaughter each other. The Dark Lord Wins, briefly. Having conquered the world the Dark Lord is destroyed by a mysterious force. Now the tattered survivors of his rule have the chance to claw their way back to some semblance of civilisation. Zombie Plague. The gates of the Underworld have opened. Dragons Did It. At least one Fantasy setting involves hordes of extradimensional dragons who could descend on the world in unprecedented numbers if only they could find the way in.

Re: Final Drive Incidentally. If you are going for an Anime inspired setting then I'd add the following house rule. XP may be spent between adventures but new combat abilities bought with this XP are not 'learned' until the character is challenged enough in a combat situation to unleash their new fighting potential.

Re: Gnomes? I threw this basic starting point package deal for a Rock Gnome's abilities together a while back to help out someone who was going to run a Forgotten Realms Hero campaign. It was based on Gnome stats from NWN. After glancing at Killershrike's write up I've tweaked mine a bit but haven't added the illusions ability as not every gnome has it and I'm not familiar with the spells it uses. There is also a generic package deal for gnomes in Fantasy Hero.

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply! Where to start? I always avoid or substantially re-write the Tolkien style races. My current campaign includes; Strell, sky dwelling Bat People. Kerak, powerful subterranean Lizardmen with a shamanistic culture. Golgira, sadistic pygmy like creatures who war with the Kerak. Eldren, magically enhanced humans descended from ancient wizards. Mor, humanoids that have been remade by the God of Death and Balance and now serve him as assassins, ghost hunters and healers, (those last ones are based on Goths, the subculture not the tribe). In the past I've created; Ock-Ock, small forest dwelling lizardmen with latent psychic abilities and a childlike mindset. Grek, huge, muscular humanoids with a civilised and matriarchal society. Tuath, highly individualistice four-armed nomads descended from humanoids who took longer to come down from the trees than normal humans. Iylim, winged cave dwellers who are renowned for their wisdom and have prehensile feet in place of hands. Cronmuir, malevolent fay who are kin of both the Fomori and the Tuatha De Danaan. And probably a few more that I can't remember. Here is a link to a previous thread on non standard fantasy races which I threw out a while back. 'Old Races, New Tricks'.

Re: Rolemaster Magic Conversions? I once played in a Fantasy Hero game by Bismark which was converted from a Rolemaster setting. (The Bladelands I think it was called). If you ask nicely he might be able to give you some advice. Again this would be for 5ER rather that 6E.

Re: Moon Domain Ability Aside from its links to witchcraft, magic and divinity in general the Moon has been variously associated with madness, femininity (though male moon gods have existed), hunting, disease, divination, time and shapechanging. Just some rough ideas. Moon's Curse. Transform sane mind to insane mind or Ego Drain. Moon God's Arrow. Afflicts the target with plague, (again either a Transform or a Drain). Blessing of the Hunter. Bestows an array of Enhanced Senses. Lunar Divination. Clairvoyance. Hunter's Form. Wolf Multiform. Moon's Serenade. Time Control e.g increased Speed.

Re: Firearms in fantasy? True enough. Then there's the issue of getting the right cartridges, use the wrong ones and they'll drop out or get stuck. And even if you think things are going well there is always the chance of a jam, misfire or minor explosion. And since there is a sharp drop off in lethality you'll have to let the enemy get into arrow range befor eyou have a decent chance of killing or maiming them. Even if you can fire off a shot and reload in reasonable time your problems are only going to mount from there. Dirty or clogged barrels cause more misfires while the clouds of billowing powder smoke that you've created will spoil your aim. I've had a few discussions about the rise of gunpowder weapons and there are two arguments for their success that I find quite compelling. 1. When at close enough range a bullet could punch straight through most armour and strike the flesh beneath it with a terrific impact. They were lethal weapons and should be given AP against primitive/non-magical armours. 2. It was relatively easy and quick to train a musketeer/arquebusier while a good archer was years in the making. Of course crossbows are an acceptable alternative to early firearms and were generally more reliable.

Re: Firearms in fantasy? The Dragon Crown War series by Michael A. Stackpole features the introduction of gunpowder to a fantasy setting, with cannons being the first on the scene and hand-held firearms following a generation after. Much quicker than the developments in the real world but might be worth a look anyway.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy My creative resources are also rather stretched. Particularly since I am toying with the idea of reactivating my Malazan project. But I'll take a look at the site and see if I have anything to add. I will say that this description reminds me of William Hope Hodgson's epic story 'The Night Land'. A very early fantasy story/weird tale and a very difficult read, but with a fascinating and immensely bleak setting. The world is cloaked in darkness and hordes of monsters roam its wasted surface. The nicer ones only want to feast on human flesh, the less pleasant creatures will settle for nothing less than a human's immortal soul.

Re: A New Dawn. 'Post-Apocalyptic' Fantasy Looks good to me. I'll treat the languages Brand possesses as Fluent rather than Basic as this will cost no more points. Bear with me while I write up the entry story for Brand.