Dust Raven

By "plow through", do you mean he can run past people and not get hit buy them, or beat up a bunch of people without getting hit back?

I'm not sure about the validity of using Continuous to automatically reset the Trigger. I'd think Persistant would would be needed as well (which would cover not only resetting the Trigger, but allowing for movement out of phase without using an action). To reduce the overall cost, you could also put No Noncombat, and maybe even No Conscious Control of Location (just goes to the closest "safe" hex).

That is most revolting. I like the AE: Any, Nonselective for the effect. No need to buy extra area for the height; as Nuada pointed out, if it hits something, he won't hit anything below that. For SFX sakes I'd fudge the area to not account for all targets being on the same plane, just below designated flight path. Other than this, I'd need to know if the Severed Head of Doom (or whatever the ghastly thing's name is) is written up. Is it just the SFX for the attack (perhaps a focus)? Is it it's own character? Something else maybe?

I see it working like SPD relates to DEX. It's doesn't make you more accurate, it just means you can do more of it. Only in the case of Rapid, it only affects how quickly the information comes in. It seems to be primarily a speedster power, but I've found some other uses for it as well. I've put in on mentalists (Mental Sense Group) for Uber Mind LInk capability (which helps to simulate that "speed of thought" communication thing). I've put into a gadgeteer's radio for communications bursts as well. This might be stretching the adder a bit, but as far as I'm concerned, if the Sense Group (or Sense) also has the Transmit adder, you can transmit as fast as you can receive. Which is why I put x10 Rapid on the "voice" Sense for all of my speedsters.

Run while you can! Count in my vote for Environmental Movement. Should cost 2 points (not quite as limiting as Intoxication; no slured speach or impaired thinking).

Funny, I don't see a flaw in the rules. I just see a cleverly disguised Elemental Control. And the veto power of the GM is the excuse to do anything anyway you want in any RPG, which includes maintaining any rule you wish. That's the beauty of role-playing games. The rules aren't in the book, they're in the GM. Most RPG books themselves admit to that.

I've always been against the use of Entangle to simulate paralysis. This is for one simple reason: Entangles can be excaped through outside, even unwanted, help. Paralysis just isn't so. Even if you buy the Entangle "vs CON" or "vs EGO", that just means that if your buddy wants to help, he gets to use his own CON or EGO to try to break it. That's not paralysis. That's hokey (no offense Insaniac, I realise Entangle's use for paralysis is approved and encouraged by Steve Long, I just disagree). One things I've done is use Telekinesis to hold a target still. You can apply those same Advantages ("vs CON" and "vs EGO") with similar effects. The only difference is that you must either maintain LOS and spend END every Phase, or buy the TK Uncontrolled and Persistant. Another idea I've had is to use Suppress instead of Drain. You can make it Uncontrolled as well (It's already Constant, so there's a bonus), and the Charges or ammount of END you use will determine the durration in addition to how much is eventually Suppressed. Suppress is also cheeper than Drain so you can get more dice for the effect, making it easier to eventually get the target down to -30.

I've always been of the opinion that the GM is responsible for how the game is run and not the rulebook. I just don't see how telling a player "no, your nerdy brainiac computer wiz can't have more STR" is different than saying "everybody pays 2 points per STR". It's still controling how players make their characters. Only the first one really solves the problem though. The second one penalizes everybody, even the players who like to build well rounded characters and stay completely in concept.

After reading, and rereading, the rules for Foci, I've been thinking over the fairness of certain tactics that, theoretically, are well within the rules. First off, you can, theoretically, attack any Breakable Foci with a Penetrating Killing Attack and break it automatically if you hit (unless the Foci has a Hardened Defense in it, or has Hardened Defense bought for it). Second, you can, also theoretically, use a simple Drain BODY on a Breakable Foci and, assuming it doesn't have any Power Defense, automatically break it. So anyways, I was wondering what the rest of you think about this. Is this possible? Fair? Blatant rules raping? What?

On page 99 is says that Dispel must roll a total greater than the total Active Points of all Powers in an Independent Focus to break it. How is it handled if the Focus is not Independent?

Some thoughts have been occuring to me and I was wondering what all of the effects of using Dispel and Suppress against STUN would be. Basically, I have two questions: 1: If you roll enough on Dispel to "turn off" someone's STUN, does that knock the person out, and how would they "turn on" their STUN again afterward? 2: If you Suppress more of a target's STUN than the target has CON, is the target Stunned? Thanks muchly,

Phil, The funny thing about Clinging, and how it helps hold you to a single spot, is that it uses STR. Says so right in the description of Clinging. Asside from that, anyone can use STR to hold onto something, that's how disarms and such work. And though I don't mean to bring up more maneuvers, take a look at the Shove and Root maneuvers from UMA. STR seems to be the perfect, stand-alone, simple solution to defining an anchor in game. Now comes the really fun part. If you really want to work an anchor in game terms, you'd have to use Persistant Stretching. I don't care how much STR you have, it's not gonna hold you in place while suspended in water unless you have the inches in Swimming. What you've got to do is allow the ship to reach the bottom of the ocean and grab on. This adds additional realism, because those anchors can't always reach the bottom of the ocean. Of course, I'm usually of the Keep It Simple Silly school of thought, and wouldn't spend points on an anchor any more than I"d spend points on windshield wippers, or even headlights. Some things just come with the package.

That sounds a lot like my unofficial, unwritten guideline. I've never bother to set things like that in stone, and just generally state the all Frameworks must be approved by me. Everything is technically allowed, but I'll say no to quite a bit. I just don't want to say "never" and then find a circumstance where it would make sense to do so.

I just read the (brief) reply from Steve, and though I accept the new rule and will use it, I'm still a bit confused by it. I'll have to see how it goes. There is a character in my campaign with varous Aid Powers. I'm still trying to swallow the certain Powers that don't belong in Framworks including everything that doesn't cost END....now I have to add Aid to that list.

I agree. Vastly differeing power levels between characters rarely works out. It's like playing D&D or Palladium with one or two 1st or 2nd levels characters in a group full of 6-8 level characters (or vice versa). About the only thing the weaker characters can do is role-play, and occasionally use a spiffy skill or two that only they have. They simply won't be much of any use in combat. Now, if you are running a game that's light on combat and heavy on role-play....this all wouldn't make much difference.

Villains don't have point costs. They get everything for free. Now, if you want a tool for balancing, it's good to write up the important ones, and maybe have the stats of a standard agent or thug handy. Specifically about the Superman vs Joker thing, all you need to do is remember that the Joker doesn't fight fair, and has LOTS of toys. If he's using the toys he would use against Batman, Superman will walk all over him. If he could prepare a bit against Superman, he could easily find something that could at least challenge him, if not actually be made of kryptonite.

A computer, even an AI, is only a Follower, and thus is controlled by the GM. If that is how this puppet would be controlled, then this would be the best method. However, if the player controlles the puppet along with the main character, then the best way to simulate the effect is to use Duplication. Essentially they are the same thing, only one is controlled by the GM, the other the player. And last I checked, the Duplicate doesn't have to be a standard character. It can be a computer or a vehicle for instance.

Okay, so Aid doesn't cost END. I can deal with that. But why?

It's definately a custom maneuver. BTW: you wouldn' happen to be the same Vanguard in the Phoenix area would you?

Okay, I know this has had to have come up before, but I apparently missed it. It says in the description of Aid that it doesn't cost END to use. Is this for real? If so, why?

Aid doesn't cost END? Where does it say that? Well okay...that's kinda weird. Why doesn't Aid cost END anymore? Doesn't that kinda make it too powerful or something?

That sounds like an OAF to me. As an OIF, the anchor has the protection of the rest of the ship. Now, I'm from Arizona and haven't seen many ship up close and personal, but I'm pretty sure their chain/ropes dangle quite openly.

I'm of the opinion something like this is best represented with Duplication with appropriate Limitations/Disadvantages to represent the Duplicate's need to remain in contact with the original, and the original's requirement to use his left hand to keep the Duplicate active.

Re: Welcome back, comrade! It wouldn't help in this regard. Not much at least. The HSRK is just a condensed FREd, listing names and costs of everything in the book, along with minimal rules explination. It works great when making a character as long as you already know the rules, character creation process, and only need a quick reference guide to check the cost something.

Re: New to Hero Welcome back to HERO! I wish there was. FREd has loads of example, but nothing coming even close to a start to finish character creation example. Not even the genre books have this. Sounds like a good idea though, something worthy of a free download on the Herogames website.