Psyche

Re: A specific spell system...

Re: A specific spell system... Hmm, thanks! That helps a little bit. That covers the Change Environment penalty, methinks. However, what about the extra time? I'm still not entirely sure how to handle that with regards to REC. How do I simulate it actually taking someone actively recovering their endurance instead of passively regenerating it? The standard limitations don't quite seem to cover that. I'm not sure which way to go with it. Require an actual action during the turn to be spent (half phase or full phase?) or some sort of defensive penalty to represent concentrating on the drawing of energy?

Ok, I'm trying to get this just right, and I'm having a time making it all work out correctly. Anyone who has played in the old/new D&D campaign Dark Sun knows about that settings spellcasting system. I want to replicate it in HERO System. The gist is this: All spellcasters must draw energy from life around them to power their spells. They have to draw the energy in first, which they can then use to cast spells. There are two types of casters: "defilers" and "preservers". "Defilers" draw energy from around them faster, but defile (kill; turn to ashen waste) all plant-life around them in an ever-increasing radius as they draw in power. "Preservers" must draw in the energy more slowly, but do not kill any plant-life around them in doing so. How do I most closely duplicate this? I obvious want an END Reserve that has some limitations. First of all, all such spellcasters must have plant life around them (it can be fairly far away, not immediately around them; it can be simple scrub or dense forest) that require extra time to be spent to draw energy in for "preservers" (they can't just automatically refill their REC value each turn, they have to spend some sort of extra action to use their REC), and have "defilers" draw energy in normally (they get their REC value automatically each turn), but with a penalty of requiring it to kill said plant life in an expanding radius around it as a prerequisite. However...and here is one of the tricky parts...someone can choose to either preserve or defile, they are not locked in to either choice. The spells themselves are easy, being a typical framework. It's the END Reserve that I want to get down in the most effective, simple way possible. I figure the folks here can probably help me nail this precisely how I want it to perform.'

Re: A snake tail instead of legs I agree with the decreased leaping (flying snake is a major exception, not the rule, and glides, it doesn't leap vertically upwards), and perhaps a decreased run speed (although certainly not guaranteed; there are some very swift snakes). However, those saying grab should be unchanged have never been grabbed by a big snake. A human-sized snake tail replacing human-sized legs would be ENORMOUSLY strong in terms of grabbing. Snakes, even the small non-constrictors, have an awful lot of muscle power in their elongated bodies. If the lower body IS a constrictor? Forgetaboutit, their grabs should be insanely strong compared to a human. Finally, your average snake tail should allow for an increased ability to climb, and also allow for one to, as has been suggested, allow for limited stretching (such as allowing the being in question to lift its upper body to a significantly higher height, as one example).

I want to build an Endurance Reserve with the specific limitation that you can ONLY regain its REC value if you take a recovery action. I am just curious, and I've looked all over, what degree of limitation would be applied to the REC in that kind of an Endurance Reserve? -1/2? -1? (I'm actually kind of surprised that option didn't make it into the suggested limitations under the Endurance Reserve entry, since it seems so obvious a limitation for that particular power.)