Herolover

Forget the Points. Sometimes the worst villians are built upon the same points as the players. So why are they so bad, because they break rules that the characters have to follow. Let me explain what I mean. Take a 200 point character and give him a power that you would never allow a player to have. Some example could be: Very high defense levels. In most campaigns 40PD/40ED resistance defenses would be almost inpenatrable. Sure, they might not have a lot attacks, but not being able to be put down would be very effective. What about a character that has a single attack: RKA 1d6, Penetrating (+1/2), NND [standard] (+1), Does BODY (+1) (52 Active Points) Cost: 52 There are many more. One of the great examples out of CKC is Dr. Destroyer. Now, I understand that he has a lot of points and powers, but that is only part of what makes DR D so bad. What really makes DR D a show killer is that many of his powers break normal campaign limits meaning characters can't hurt him and are excessively hurt by his attacks.

Highlander is harder to do than what most people think. The problem comes in with the fact that the tv series, the movies, and even episodes out of each disagree with what happens when a person goes through the "quickening." According to Highlander myth when one immortal kills another immortal he gains all the killed immortal's memories, powers, and abilities. Which leads to the question why don't the main characters ever use the information they have gained. Dont even get my started on "dark quickenings." Anyhooo The easiest way is to allow immortals to create a VPP. As a GM you rule that the VPP can contain skill and talents. The VPP is used to represent any powers that the immortal has acquired. The rest is just special effect and setting rules.

It is interesting that you said this, because I used Kandris Seal as part of a Pulp Hero campaign and think it would work very well for a Fantasy Hero campaign. I bought Kandris Seal when it first appeared and think it is a pretty good product full of information and neat ideas. The only problem I had with it, and yes this is just my opinion, but it seemed more directed towards "Super" level heroes than towards "Heroic" level heroes. Of course, this is quickly and easily fixed.

Blasphemer I realize that what I am about to say is very blasphamous to many of HEROdom, but why give it game mechanics at all? It really doesn't do anything except for Roleplay purposes, so why not keep it in the Roleplay realm and not even give it a mechanic? Just make it something wizards are able to see and do.

I have always thought that the Forgotten Realms was a good campaign setting, but never liked the pervasiveness of magic and high/powerful people. I mean, as someone pointed out, it seems that every 3rd person has spells they can cast and every 10th person is someone so powerful that normal people don't even stand a chance. Overall, IMO, to make the FR something I would want to play you would have to cut down on the power levels, but that is just MO. Using a setting that everyone knows is a good idea, but if you try to change to much of the setting they won't be able to recognize it and won't like it. I would reccomend you sit down with the players and tell them what you want to do and see what they think.

Only 6 times...tsk, tsk. Of course, The Two Towers have been out now for just a couple of days and I have watched all the special features and the movie itself 3 times. I don't know about a 5th edition Balrog, but on Surbrooks site he has some LOTR characters made for 4th and I know the Balrog is one of them. Would be very easy to use and convert over. As another side note, Peter Jackson used the much of the LOTR artwork as his conceptual work. Go look at some of the LOTR artwork and you can see time and time again that it looks just like the movies...well atleast for the most part it does.

What would you thing of V: HERO from the old 1980's NBC mini-series?

I absolutely LOVE BGC. It is what turned me on to Anime and is still my favorite. I have all the FUZION (@#$#) BGC books and have looked several times into converting them from FUZION into full blown HERO. It isn't as easy as it looks, in fact, it is near impossible. I instead, have decided to use the FUZION books as guidelines and information. For that they are awesome. All that said, I have never actually gone through and done it. Usually when I start it is because someone has given interest in doing a campaign on it, but it always goes south. Someday I will do it though...I swear.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I find I have fallen into a trap that I have warned others about. I got so wrapped up in how something was done in another system that I forget to really think about things. As I originally stated Lord Liaden's write up gives me exactly what I asked for. However, I might have asked for the wrong thing, because when I look at Arthur's write up I really like what I see. However, I admit I will probably change it somewhat to suit my own campaign and the creature in question.

I agree completely with this statement and many times as GM I don't make things up and just go with what sounds good. However, this time I actually want to make it up.

Okay. There is a creature that when you are within a certain range of it you grow tired very quickly as your "life force" is drained away. I really don't want to do a BODY drain, because it really doesn't do damage until after a period of time. I would say it is more like drowning. My first thought was a CON drain. This would take into effect END and once the CON and END goes negative you start draining STUN and BODY as with drowning. What do you think? Or should it just be a straight END drain?

Please continue your session write-ups. I am enjoying them a lot and hope you don’t mind if I steal this idea. You posted something on this campaign a while back, I think it was when Star Hero first came out, and even then I thought, “Wow, what a great idea.†I know a lot of players have trouble taking orders from another player even when it is part of RP’ing. This can become especially tough when the player that is the highest rank is not a natural leader and/or has little tactical abilities. I have always had problems with this kind of thing in games where there should be issues of rank. However, I found a way to solve this issue. I was reading the old “another RPG†(I think it was D20 Weird Wars from Pinnacle Entertainment which is an alternate WWII game) and they mentioned many of the problems listed above. Of course they pointed out that it is unrealistic for a group of military people to sit and discuss actions by democracy. Their solution was simple, elegant, and very effective. When a situation comes up where the “Ranking Officer†would give an order the players discuss the situation OOC. (I would set a time limit for this.) When the group comes to a consensus on what should be done that is the orders that the “Ranking Officer†issues.

My Suggestions. 1> Hero 5e Obvious. 2>. Star Hero. This is number two only because you are going to be running sci-fi. Otherwise it would be below the next two. 3>. The Ultimate Martial Artist. This is one of the core books IMO. Many martial arts made up with suggestions for more. What game doesn’t have neat hand-to-hand and weapon abilities? Also, has extremely useful information on melee combat allowing more cinematic or more realistic fights. 4> The Bestiary Another core book IMO. What campaign doesn’t have animals or monsters? Great suggestions on making more as well. Need a race of monkey people…here you go. Need a strange predator on a water planet….use a shark just name it something else. 5> Spacer’s Toolkit. Again this is only because you are running a sci-fi campaign. Yes, it is mainly for the Terran Empire setting however, that setting covers such an extended time period that many of the items are easily transported over into something else. Also, great for examples. 6> Terran Empire. Good setting in itself and full of more detailed information. Yes, Star Hero has the Soldier package, but in TE you get the Terran Empire Naval Marine package. Much more detail. (These names are just examples since I am to lazy to pull my books out.) 7> The Ultimate Vehicle. Good book, but really you don’t specifically need it to make up starships and I feel it doesn’t really add many rules to vehicle combat. However, it does have a lot of good examples and write-ups on things included in starships. I am not sure where to put Hero Designer (HD hereafter). I love the program and constantly use it, but you really don’t HAVE to have it. If money is a problem you could skip it and just get the books, which in the end would be more useful. However, I find HD to be a great tool since I don’t have to worry about math and can easily make the output look like I want it to. Of course, none of this even mentions the GREAT usefulness of having the character packs. Sure you have Star Hero, but with HD you don’t have to input the package deals you just go. You asked about Alien Wars. Alien Wars is a setting book the same as Terran Empire. All HERO GAMES settings are set in the same universe (something I dislike). You can go to the Free Stuff section of this website and get a PDF that describes the universe of HERO GAMES. Basically Alien Wars is set before the Terran Empire book when mankind was fighting a race of aliens called the Xenovores. The Xenovores almost wiped mankind out, but we fought back and finally defeated them. Think the movie Aliens and the Colonial Marines against the Aliens. Very much a Military sci-fi kind of game.

How common do you think martial arts should be in fantasy? I am not talking eastern style martial arts, but weapon martial arts such as schools of fencing, sword play, and other weapon arts. Should the average warrior have martial arts maneuvers or do they have CSL’s with their weapons or do they have both? Right now, I am considering this question and really do not know what to think. Of course, it depends upon the campaign, but I am talking the average D&D fantasy campaign.

I am going to chime in again, because this is, I feel, going to be an important HERO book. This book should/needs/has to be very useful for the GM and the non-HERO gm or people are not going to want to switch from D&D to Fantasy HERO. Many of the creatures already are in the HSB so what I want to see is….. 1> Please, Please include generic stats for the common people that PC’s will run into. You know City Guards, Common Soldiers, Bandits, the common merchant, common knight, common noble, common etc. I would then like options to raise them to veterans and options to lower them to rookies. 2> I would like to see 4-5 original monsters and another 4-5 original NPC villains. This could satiate those that want original Fantasy HERO creations and give Fantasy HERO players a common set of, “Oh yeah, we ran into them,†kind of thing. 3> Perhaps a section on how to use other RPG fantasy creatures in your own HERO game? Nothing specific, just a mention with some quick notes and suggestions. 4> Perhaps a small chapter on how to create monsters suitable for your individual campaign using the HERO system.

If you go to the Free Stuff and look under HERO PLUS covers aned Maps you will find a CC2 version of the Broken Kingdoms map. If you don't have CC2 you can download a viewer from the CC2 website.

Re: Stun Dmg = End Dmg ??? OOPPS. Mea Culpa, I was getting a couple of rules confused. You are correct about burning the STUN, but I was actually thinking of the rule that for every BODY you take you take an equal amount of STUN. Of course, since the LW isn't doing any BODY that rule is kind moot.

See the following thread http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6759

The problem I see with most analysis on this subject is people do not undertstand how the LW works. Why are you not having the LW block? Eepjr24's analysis is the first intelligent one I have seen on these boards. Everyone assumes the HW will have armor and will go in doing strikes his strength. So why not let the LW play up his strength wich is dodging and blocking until the other guy is out of END? How about running an analysis where the HW doesn't attack, but only blocks and dodges or doesn't wear his heavy armor or....whatever. It makes just as much sense. If you are going to play the HW smart and give him the advantage of expensive armor than level the playing field. Only then is it a serious analysis.

First, let me say that I take a little offense to your post. I am not stupid. I assume you are not either, you are just missing some facts. Maybe you don't understand the HERO rules. 1) Yes, the LW dodges and blocks. So does the Martial artist when he comes up against Grond. So does the speedster, so does the rogue. It is part of being a LW. Just as making strike attacks is part of being a HW. 2) Okay. So the HW has to roll a 5 or less to hit me......ummm. Yep, I will take those odds every single day. At the end of 4 turns You are not doing anything. 3) Turn 5 I have a 15- to hit you...ummm...Yep, I will take those odds any day. Let us say I roll HORRIBLY bad, (I will give you an advantage on this one) and I hit only once. Yes, you are right chances are I won't do any BODY. What about STUN? Chances are, you are going to take some STUN. When you take STUN you loose an equal amount of END, so bye bye recoveries. So now you have no END and are out of STUN. You are unconscious. Yeah, your armor will protect you then. Of course, if you do hit me once I agree that I will be toast. It just comes down to how you want to play it.

I want to emphasize the fact that I want generic characters, not necessarily monsters, that I can through at my pc';s. Generic City Guard. Generic Bandit. Generic Thief Generic Fighter Generic Cleric Generic Infantry Generic Calvary Generic Knight on...and on...and on. I can list more if you need them, but you get the idea. I wouldn't even give them any serious text just stats would be good. Also for each you could have the basic 100pt, then options to boost it up to 150pts then more options to go up to 200pts or some other point levels.

See I told you Great post. I hope some others read this. This has been my point all along. Many people think the LW is weaker, he isn't weaker just different. And as you pointed out the LW should have some fine equipment to balance all the HW got.

When I got the playtest manuscript for Fantasy HERO I was surprised by the "non-standardard rules" magic systems as well, but I am glad they are now official. Remember under the last edition of Fantasy HERO there wasn’t any point saving methods and power pools of any kind were discouraged. The reason the "non-standard rules" magic systems were included, IMO, evolve from two things. 1) Most spellcasters in RPG's and literature have a wide and varied amount of spells. 2) To balance the spellcaster with the non-spellcaster. Using the standard HERO creation system you either end up with spellcasters that can only cast a few spells or you end up with monster non-spellcasters. Using the normal methods of creation you are not going to have spellcasters with many spells, which as I pointed out above is not what most people read or play when they read or play other Fantasy games. Also, the spellcaster is spending are more points on his spells than the non-spellcaster is on his skills. The fighter gets all his equipment character point free. Now, you can say, well the wizard gets his equipment free too. The problem is in fantasy do you want your wizard to be behind a door using a poison blowgun or casting spells? When people think of fantasy they think of wizards casting spells. A fighter uses weapons a wizard cast spells. You could make everyone purchase equipment. The problem with this is then you run around with 300 point characters and how do you tell the fighter, “Yes, there is that extra-fine crossbow on the ground, but unless you have the points to purchase it you can’t have it.†Once again, not very fantasy like. Also, this doesn’t answer the real problem, because the spellcaster, to get a large and varied amount of spells, is still pumping so many of his points into spells that he doesn’t have enough points left over to buy equipment. So the question has always been asked, “How do you fix this?†VPP’s, Multipowers, and EC’s go a long way toward fixing the problems. However, each method has its own faults. VPP’s can be VERY unbalancing, but are usable with enough limitations. If you don’t like the “non-standard rules†methods then I highly recommend this method. Multipowers are very good, but then you have to deal with having different spells up at the same time. The fact that limitations on spells mean nothing because many slots will be ultras and you can’t go below 1 point in cost. EC’s are neat, but you end up with spells that don’t meet the active point cost limit and EC’s can become expensive quick. So again, you haven’t helped the spellcaster get a lot of varied spells. The alternate magic systems in the new Fantasy HERO go a long way toward answering some of these questions.

Not changing a thing. I guess I am different, because I am not changing any rules on armor. I am keeping the 5e encumbrance rules and not giving any extra DCV penalties or anything to armor. Crazy you say...maybe, however I am doing somethings to restrict armor usage. 1) Metal armor is EXPENSIVE. Not something the average joe is going to be able to afford. Even chainmail is relatively expensive. This means the common armor is going to be leather. 2) Wearing armor around all the time is NOT going to be accepted. I am going to be using Long Term Endurance rules to ensure that if you wear armor all day by the time the battle gets around you are going to be sucking END. Also, there is the social disadvantage of wearing armor around. Most people are not going to be happy seeing people walking around in any kind of heavy armor. 3) Armor is going to need to be routinely maintained. Several silver pieces a month (I use a silver standard not a gold standard) will be required to just maintain armor. Without this expenditure armor will loose some effectiveness (DEF) and and become worn and harder to wear (DEX penalty and/or more END usage.). 4) Once in battle the armor will sustain damage. This damage will be something like the lose of effectiveness above, but with more damage it will be more and more difficult to maintain the armor. This will require major cash expenditures in repairing the amor (what will the character wear in the meantime) and will, in some cases, require the replacement of armor. Basically I am using RP methods to limit the usage of armor.

Of course there is the 4th Edition HERO book "Golden Age of Champions" which covers the WWII and early 50's. Has some real good information on a lot of things. The advice you have alreaedy gotten is very good. Remember this is an alternate WWII. If you want to keep the real WWII history remember that the different supers will balance each other out.