Mark Taylor

Re: Fourth Age Hero Actually this link might answer my question, though I can't remember when and where Dis is mentioned. Presumably somewhere in The Hobbit. http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/dis_1

Re: Fourth Age Hero The real question about Dwarves is "are there any female Dwarves?" There is a throwaway reference to female Dwarves in one of the LOTR movies, but IIRC there is not a single mention of female Dwarves in either the Silmarillion, The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings. Indeed in the part of the Silmarillion in which Aulë creates the Dwarfs, it mentions only that he creates "Seven Fathers". There's no mention of any Mother(s). This in turn of course begs the question that if there are no female Dwarves, how do Dwarves reproduce?

Re: Fourth Age Hero

Re: Fourth Age Hero

Re: Fourth Age Hero Your acquaintance is correct in that in Middle Earth it seems to be only the Istari and others of the Maia, such as Sauron, who wield the traditional "spells 'n' fireballs" kind of wizardly magic we have come to expect from every Fantasy RPG, and judging by Gandalf's sparing use of his spells it is extremely draining even for them. The Maia (including the Istari) are not human, nor are they of any other mortal race. They walked the Earth even before the Elves. When Gandalf refers to other Wizards he is talking about the other Istari. It is plain that that is not the only kind of magic in Middle Earth, though. Judging by references in both The Hobbit and LOTR the Elves have a magic all of their own. Though it does not seem to involve much in the way of hand-waving and incantations it is nonetheless powerful magic and it varies greatly from individual to individual; from Elrond's healing powers, to Galadriel's ability to touch the minds of others, to Legolas's trackless stride and his almost supernatural ability with a bow. From references in The Hobbit it seems that the Dwarves can craft enchanted items of various sorts, though that seems to be the limit of their magical abilities. Some humans of noble lineage possess superhuman abilities in combat and other areas, and even have greatly extended lifespans, but no actual "magic" to speak of. The Hobbits are perhaps the least magical race of all, but they do seem to possess almost supernatural stealth, and most probably (in HERO terms) a few levels of luck. Edit: P.S. On the subject of the MERP books, it's plain that they "spiced up" the magic of Middle Earth to some degree to make it more attractive to roleplayers, and it does not present an accurate picture of magic in Middle Earth as written about by Tolkien in his books. If you want to take this approach there is nothing to stop you from just converting MERP's idea of magic directly to HERO System. P.P.S. I deliberately did not mention The Silmarillion because it is a long time since I last read it, but I cannot recall it containing anything that contradicts what I said above.

Re: I don't think I can move

Re: I don't think I can move You need only look to the rulebook for a comment on your ruling: The rules say you were right, in fact they say your ruling didn't even trump the rules, it followed them. Even further, you probably didn't even need to build the Entangle with Affects Desolidified to get the desired affect. According to the Rules FAQ: Edit: Rewrote this post to clean it up.

Re: I don't think I can move A Disadvantage can already provide an in-game benefit, by the book. Check the Presence Attack Modifiers table on 5E page 288. When a Presence Attack made against you conflicts with one of your Psychological Limitations it subtracts 1 to 3 dice from the Presence Attack. That amounts to (substantially) improved defence against Presence Attacks in the right circumstances, a palpable in-game benefit.

Re: Musings on Random Musings He should be president!

Re: Musings on Random Musings I got at least first 3000 posts from pure trash and nonsense. Then my posting habits changed and I contribute a bit more now. Even so, I probably still post about 90% useless rubbish.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Happy 3000! Who cares how you got there?

Re: Musings on Random Musings If you want him to live, better not give him the same brand Dubya eats.

Re: I don't think I can move Fair point. I agree with you, because let's face it most of the restraining power of an Entangle comes from its DEF, not its BODY. BODY only increases the amount of time it will take to break out, where DEF determines whether a particular character has any chance to break out at all. I think it should be a -1/4 limitation, not -1/2. 175 / 1.25 = 140. Seems more reasonable. 3 DEF 1 BOD costs 10? doesn't it cost 20? (30 / 1.5) = 20 likewise, doesn't 3d6 no DEF cost 12? (30 / 2.5) = 12 Otherwise, I see what you're saying. I don't know about scrapping the idea of buying BODY and DEF separately though, but it seems that DEF is worth more than BODY and the value of the limitations (-1 1/2 vs. -1/2) recognises that, so maybe the balance should be different.

Re: I don't think I can move TheRealLemming, There are a couple of points on which you're wrong. Firstly it's not a +1/2 advantage. To make Mental Paralysis you have to buy BOECV (+1 in it's basic form) and then another +1/2 in mandatory advantages (Works against EGO, not STR for +1/4 and Takes No Damage From Physical Attacks for a further +1/4) making it actually a +1 1/2 Advantage in total. It's possible to get BOECV in a slightly different form (i.e. with range modifiers) at a slightly reduced value (+3/4) but it's still going to cost you at minimum a +1 1/4 advantage for Mental Paralysis. Secondly, the total DEF for an Entangle can't be more than twice the BODY, unless you take the Entangle Has 1 BODY Limitation, which due to the way it functions (it only counts as a limitation on the points you spend on BODY dice) won't save very much if you have bumped up the DEF - so in fact you can't get a 7 DEF 1 BODY Mental Paralysis for the same cost as a 4 DEF 4 BODY. What you could get for the same cost is 5 DEF 3 BODY. Edit: Yeah I noticed Derek just covered most of this lot already. The site wasn't responding when I first tried to submit my reply and it took forever to process my submission.

Re: If you could add one more... I think for that type of Astral Form power Desolidification would be more appropriate, because it addresses most of these issues already. Some kind of Limitation is needed to represent the fact that a vulnerable physical body is left behind.

Re: If you could add one more... Eh?

Re: If you could add one more... I'll be the first to admit that I might be misunderstanding what you're suggesting, but I think the Adder Mobile Perception Point for Clairsentience (Star HERO, page 53) covers this ground, doesn't it? IIRC it is included in 5ER, too.

Re: If you could add one more... In answer to the original question I can't think of anything I'd add off the top of my head. There was something that occured to me recently during my weekly Fantasy HERO game but I can't remember what it was now. I can tell it's going to bug me now until I remember it.

Re: If you could add one more...

Re: Police Department/Headquarters? Best I could find online was a rather small police station, not really what you're looking for. Still, probably better than nothing. http://www.wenhamma.gov/public_docs/ps_plan.pdf There are also some more plans for the same project. If you hit the link below and scroll down a bit you'll find them. http://www.wenhamma.gov/public_docs/publicdocs.htm

Re: Environmental Movement vs. Personal Immunity Icewalking as specified on the sidebar of 5E p. 64 is intended to buy off DCV and DC penalties of -1 as specified in the Environmental Conditions table on page 250. A -4 DEX from a CE is a much more serious penalty. Technically speaking, icewalking as listed in the book should only reduce the penalty to -3. (This is really an entirely different issue, but personally I disagree with the -1 penalties given on page 250. They're far too light. Sheet ice is far harder to keep your balance on than mud or rain-slicked rocks. I say this from personal experience, having encountered all three types of conditions on numerous occasions. If it came up in my game the penalties would likely be -3 and Icewalking would be a 4-point talent to account for the cost 3 PSLs, not 1. However, assuming a PC did buy icewalking as a 4-point talent, I would not require him to buy personal immunity for the power you described.)

Re: Dr. Destroyer vs. Scotland He beat me to it.

Re: Dr. Destroyer vs. Scotland Well he would strike in August because that is festival month and the tourist count is higher than at any other time of year by a huge margin. Edinburgh Castle would probably be a great place to plant his bomb because the blast would hit both Princes Street (which it overlooks) and the Royal Mile (which it sits at the top end of). These are the two most tourist-packed parts of town, and the castle itself the most visited tourist attraction in Scotland. And it's an extremely dramatic location to blow up, of course. Of course the fact that Edinburgh Castle still maintains an operational military barracks might make it hard for Dr Destroyer to plant his device, but OTOH there are (largely unfounded) rumours that there are ancient tunnels and passages in the rock underneath the castle, and of course in your campain world that could well be true...

Re: Dr. Destroyer vs. Scotland If the idea is to affect as many parts of the world as possible by hitting a major tourist centre (as I interpret it), Edinburgh might be more suited to his needs. While Glasgow has almost as much tourism as Edinburgh, it is mostly UK tourism. Edinburgh attracts far more international tourism, almost three times the number of international visitors annually according to the last figures I saw. Though why I'm trying to persuade you to blow up my city I'm not really sure.

Re: Change of Speed Which is exactly what I thought. I'm not sure where Hyper-Man is getting his interpretation from.