Tonio

Re: So, what don't you like about HERO 5th? What I don't like about Knockback is how it doesn't scale at all. A 14d6 EB is guaranteed to knock back anyone without knockback resisting abilities, regardless of whether we're talking Normals, Heroes, Superheroes, or Absurd 5000pt Superbeings. We ran into this a while ago, during a Galactic Superheroes campaign. The characters were built on 600 pts, and usually had enough defenses to withstand serious punishment, yet were being knocked back practically every hit. It rarely resulted in any damage, but it was annoying. My first thought was that you should use BODY after defenses to determine knockback... but that's broken, too. The problem is probably a perceptual one: characters that powerful should probably buy KB Resistance as well as high defenses to represent how they can just ignore smaller stuff... but since KB Resistance isn't a Characteristic, we all sorta glossed over it and forgot it. =/

Re: Were these left out, or no? Right! In HERO, you don't describe things for what they are, but rather what they do, what they accomplish, what their effect on the characters and the world is. The hoverboard... what does it DO? It might hover in place if left alone, but that doesn't really affect anybody or anything. It allows people that get on it to fly around. It doesn't magically grant them the power of independent flight, but it does allow them to fly around as long as they're on it. That's Flight, on a Focus. Meaning you need to "have" the Focus (the object, the hoverboard itself) in order to fly. The boots work the same way. The difference is the hoverboard is probably an Accessible focus (since it can be batted away in a fight, taken away with a Grab, etc.), while the boots are Inaccessible (the only way to remove them is out of combat, and it takes a Turn or more). Additionally, the hoverboard is an Obvious focus (it's pretty obvious they're flying around because of the board), while the boots might be built as Inobvious, if they look like plain old boots and it's not clear the user is flying because of them. If they were winged boots, whose wings flapped while you fly, then they'd probably be an Obvious focus as well.

Re: NND and Personal Immunity

Re: NND and Personal Immunity Applesauce and Caramel Apples, I tell you!!! (Tongue-in-cheek, yes... but still there's a nugget of sense there: both defenses and PI can make you immune to your power under many (most?) circumstances.) Reason for replying right now, tho... Dispel's not an Adjustment Power? I always thought it was! Meh! (I understand why it's not... it doesn't really adjust the target's Power, it just turns it off.)

Re: This old wound...

Re: NND and Personal Immunity

Re: NND and Personal Immunity Well, Applesauce and Caramel Apples! Seriously though... sure, I might use a different value for it in my campaign. But I come here to discuss it for two reasons: 1) I might be missing something that balances it out, and 2) it might be a more generalized issue which others might have considered, or now want to consider, and possibly even change in upcoming editions of the system. While I realize answering a whine-post with "If you don't like it, change it" is useful, or at least warranted, this isn't (or wasn't supposed to be) a whine post.

Re: So, what don't you like about HERO 5th?

Re: Origin 'Disadvantages' The thing with HERO is... it's not a game, it's a toolkit. It's not inconsistent in its treatment of "origins" or "backgrounds"... it doesn't deal with those, at all. Rather it gives the GM the tools to do that. What you're describing is a great way to handle it. You could probably extend it to actual Package Deals (all Magical Creatures intrinsically know about the Magical World (KS: Magical World), all Undead are resistant to Mental attacks (MD), etc.).

Re: OHID vs Shape Shift

Re: NND and Personal Immunity

Re: NND and Personal Immunity More of a nitpick than anything... but Nightvision doesn't nullify the CE there. It reduces the Sight PER Penalty to -3 (that is, by 4), and does nothing for the Smell PER Penalty, you'd need +7 PSLs with Sight and Smell PER rolls; 5 pts in Flash Defense doesn't nullify 5d6 Flash every time, you'd need 10 pts in Flash Defense. Doesn't affect your point, tho... it's still cheaper, I think.

Re: NND and Personal Immunity Well, that's what I initially thought... and still do, actually. The reason I doubted my initial thought is that given a high enough NND, getting Personal Immunity on it might be more expensive and offer less total utility than buying the defense for it.

Would you require Personal Immunity on an NND if the character has the defense for it? For example, an NND whose defense is Self Contained Breathing, and the character has Self Contained Breathing, making him immune to his own NND... would you require the character to take Personal Immunity on the NND? What if the NND is Area Effect, making it more likely for him to be hit by it? What if it's Area Effect, No Range, or even Always On? If you would, what about a regular (non-NND) power that does regular damage, if the character has enough defenses to always bounce off the power? (Say, a 3d6 Energy EB, AoE, 0END, Persistent, Always On, and the character has 20 ED.) I'm thinking "no, I wouldn't require Personal Immunity, but that would mean he'd be suceptible (not Suceptible as per the Disadvantage) to the power if the defense is taken away by any means (Drain, taking the Focus away, etc.)". Agree? Disagree? Why?

Re: this power

Re: Special Effects vs Rules I'd say using a water-based EB to put out regular fires is well within the realm of SFX, just like fire-based EBs can be used to light regular fires. Using it to put out "magical" or "super" fire is not, though. Power Skill can deal with that.

Re: Lower Water and Part Water Well, I think CTaylor does have a very good point. Parting water really does significantly more than simply allowing people to move normally through the area and having them be able to breathe in there. It also reduces PER penalties (which should be worse in water, tho I dunno whether they're so, per RAW), it prevents characters who can't breathe air to breathe normally in there, it causes characters with a Dependence on Water to suffer, and those with a Suceptibility to Water not to, etc. For some games, though, the Life Support + Environmental Movement build could work, especially with some sort of UBO Penalty Skill Levels to PER, and the rest dealt with as SFX. Specifically games where significant non-air-breathers are rare or nonexistent and Dependence and Suceptibility to Water are rare or nonexistent. How often you encounter such a game is another issue, tho. =)

Re: OHID vs Shape Shift The Human Torch gets OIHID, not because he can be prevented from using his power, but because his power is only usable while in his Heroic ID. Moreover, being in his Heroic ID can cause problems (stuff burns around him, he can't shake someone's hand without hurting them, etc.), therefore he gets a cost break for it. Some OIHIDs might not be worth any points, specifically if they don't inconvenience the character. In these cases, it might not even be worth the trouble to write it down on the character sheet. Basically, if you can only use a power in your Heroic ID, you can take OIHID. If this presents some sort of problem, you get a cost break out of it. Compare, for example, Always On. Sure, you can take Always On on your Life Support: Self-contained Breathing. But you won't get any points from it (it'd be a -0 Limitation). Additionally, having a power with OIHID doesn't give you a Heroic ID. OIHID is really a specific case of Conditional Power. "Conditional Power: Only At Night" doesn't give you the ability to make day into night... OIHID doesn't give you the ability to go into your Heroic ID.

Is an Obvious Inaccessible Focus obviously inaccessible? I understand that the "Obvious" and "Inaccessible" parts aren't there to modify each other (it's Obvious because it's clear to an observer that the power needs the focus to work; it's Inaccessible because you can't Grab it in combat, etc.). But is it obvious that the focus is inaccessible? Is it obvious at first sight, or only after Grab attempts fail? For example, a magic sword defined as HKA, OIF, Inaccessible because it can't be disarmed, but still a Focus because it can be removed out of combat, it can be given away, left at home, etc. Would that be a valid Inaccessible Focus, or does the fact that it can't be disarmed need to be obvious to observers?

Re: Lower Water and Part Water Add the Environmental Movement thing, and I think you're done. (You know, the thing that lets you move across/through different environments w/o any penalties?) Edit: Ok, to avoid the "Advantages and Limitations on Talents is evil" issue, re-build it using the 2 3-pt PSLs to reduce DCV and DC penalties. Also, make the AoE Nonselective to reflect that fact that you can't really pick who's gonna be aftected? Not sure about this, though.

Re: Flash, Flash Defense, Cost Vs. Value This thread makes me wanna make a character around Flash. Which works nicely, since I'm starting a villain campaign (the PCs are villains rather than heroes), so have a "Paladin" Superhero would be a great "boss" for the PCs to fight.

Re: OHID vs Shape Shift I don't think having OIHID should ever obscure the character's identity. Having a "HID" (a Heroic ID) does. OIHID just means that you can only use that power when in your Heroic ID. It does not give you a Heroic ID.

Re: Romantic Complications I think all three work, and they all describe different aspects of the overall complication. The Hunted aspect describes how women actively seek him out and create trouble for him. The Social Limitation represents all the various issues his situation brings him in what should be normal social interaction. The Distinctive Features would be the root of all the problems, and models how women he's never met react to him, and how he's hard to forget. Depending on how you want to play it, you can leave out or include any of the three. Just the DF would mean he'd just be hard to forget, and that women tend to act slightly less rationally around him, but not so much that they go out of their way to be with him again (no Hunted), and not so much that they'll fight over him or be a problem in general (no Social Limitation). Just the Hunted would mean he's not really particularly attractive, but some women, for whatever reason, desire him badly enough to seek him out. Just the Social Limitation would represent problems he has with former or current partners which don't go far enough to have them hunt him (a sort of reverse Rivalry).

Re: Stupid EC Question And by "PCP" I mean Post Count Padding.

Re: Stupid EC Question I don't believe in PCP.