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

There used to be Dwarfs in the Lonely Mountain as well (before Smaug in the Hobbit book). I think Gimli mentions where they are now in the council at Rivendell - he comes from an area northeast of Dale' date=' the name of which escapes me at present.[/quote']

 

Gimli is from the Lonely Mountain itself! Remember that after the Death of Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies the Kindgom Under the Mountain is fully restored, with Dain as King. In the time of LOTR it is once again a thriving Dwarf kingdom (described in some detail to Frodo by Gimli at Rivendell).

Re: Fourth Age Hero

Is it precisely draining or just looked down upon by Eru and his clan? In the struggle of the Lord of the Rings' date=' the Viair wished for the Men to do wha they could in this struggle with as little help as possible from the Istari... Right?[/quote']

 

That's very possibly a factor too, but there are several references in LOTR (the books, not really the movies) to Gandalf being very tired and weary after invoking any major magic, so I think we can conclude it is also quite draining.

 

The races is another point of distinction. It's fairly obvious that the Hobbits will still be around at the time I'm thinking of running in. What about the others' date=' though? All the Elves but Thranduil's people have moved to the West (except maybe Elrond's Twins...). The Dwarves seem happy to hide in their lairs. (Where do the other Dwarves live? We know Moria has been scourged of Dwarves...)[/quote']

 

So there are at least a few Elves. The only places I can remember being mentioned that Dwarves live off the top of my head are the Lonely Mountain and Dale. I can't remember where Dain comes to the Lonely Mountain from, but presumably it is from another Dwarf Kingdom.

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

I was hoping no one would quote me before I edited...too slow' date=' I suppose.[/quote']

 

Sorry dude, it's not so much that I didn't notice you edited as that there are two copies of your post, and I read and responded to the first one, which you didn't edit. I assumed the second was just a duplicate post and didn't expect it to be any different. Maybe you should go back and delete the first one.

Re: I don't think I can move

I had a situation in a game, recently, when a speedster PC was mentally entangled (by Arcana's Ghost-Chains: an Entangle BOECV, Affect Desolids).

 

Shortly after being entangled thus, the player wanted to use his PC's Desolid power to escape and I told him he couldn't, based on the SFX of the Desolid (he vibrated his body so fast that he became Desolid). If it were a non-physical power, trigger by mental thought, like if it were spirit or wind SFX, I may have ruled otherwise. Regardless, the Entangle was legally bought to Affect Desolid, so the PC would still have been entangled.

 

But this brought up a point in the game where SFX comes into play and can sometimes trump the rules. I'd like to hear some comments, yay or nay, on my GM ruling. Was I wrong or right?

You need only look to the rulebook for a comment on your ruling:

 

Affects Desolidified: An Affects Desolidified Entangle can hit Desolidified characters and cannot be escaped with Desolidification.

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:

 

Q: Does a BOECV Entangle affect Desolidified characters without the need for the Affects Desolidified Advantage?

 

A: Yes, because it’s based on an ECV Attack Roll.

Edit: Rewrote this post to clean it up.

Re: I don't think I can move

I understand your reasoning but something within me cringes at the thought of taking a disadvantage to give you an in-game benefit. If you're going to go in that direction' date=' why not [b']spend points[/b] to buy disadvantages. In effect, you can make a distinction between an Enraged that provides only useful effects and one that provides only negative effects. IMO, a disadvantage should be in the latter category unless you're looking to change the definition of a disadvantage.

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's a mouse. He knows not to swallow anything bigger than his brain...

 

He should be president!

Re: Musings on Random Musings

For some reason' date=' today, I do. There are so many people who post on these boards, who really have [b']something[/b] to say. I was just feeling a bit guilty for having quantity, but not necessarily quality.

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

Just realized that this post will be number 3000. I've decided that since (I'm guessing) a huge percentage of those posts are to the NGD "games" threads, I won't waste a new thread to announce this. If I'd contributed more posts with more substance maybe a bigger announcement would have been in order.

 

 

Yay me!

Happy 3000! Who cares how you got there?

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Here Zippy Zippy Zippy! Get some pretzels!

If you want him to live, better not give him the same brand Dubya eats.

Re: I don't think I can move

4d6 Mental Paralysis 40 x 2.5 = 100

 

16d 7 DEF mental paralysis: 70 x 2.5 = 175/1.5 = 117

 

Not that much more expensive.

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.

This raises an issue on entangle in general, though. Why not just scrap the +1d6 or +1 DEF for 5 points rule, and allow dice to be purchased with either no DEF or no BOD using the limitations? It doesn't make sense that +3 Def costs 15 and +3d6 BOD costs 15 when 3d6 1 BOD costs 10 and 3d6 no DEF costs 6.

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...

It's one of the reasons I think of Clairsentience to model Astral Form. But it'd just be neater to bundle all the Astral Form assumptions into one Adder. Assumptions like:

 

• Mobile perception point
  
• Mobile perception point is the source of powers usable in Astral Form (e.g., with specific Adder or Mental Powers)
  
• Mobile perception point may be targeted by powers to affect Astral Form (e.g., powers with Advantages to affect Astral Forms, or Mental Powers)
  
• Allows for some form of standardized movement while in Astral Form
  
• Applies set of environmental rules that Astral Form is affected by
  
• Et cetera
  

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...

Yoe mean it doesn't already act like this?

 

You guys are push overs!

Eh?

Re: If you could add one more...

I'd like an Adder, either for Clairsentience or Desolidification, that turns it into a standard "Astral Body" power. Because it's crazy having suggestion after suggestion for a power that is basic to a couple genres (Fantasy Hero, supermage Champions), and which no one can agree on.

 

So just make an Adder that defines what Astral Body does, and be done with it.

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...

3: The power would be Steal - Taking a power from someone else (that you don't have) and adding it to your own arsenal. Currently you have to get funky with a vpp' date=' and I think that's just clunky. Just make it 20points per dice and I'll be content..[/quote']

 

I think "Steal" would be more elegantly handled as an Advantage for Transfer (maybe +1/2, though I'm open to debate on the value) rather than a Power in itself, because it would probably behave identically to Transfer except that the user could acquire a power he doesn't already have.

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

I'm advised by my Scottish co-worker that Edinburgh Castle would be perfect.

He beat me to it.

Re: Dr. Destroyer vs. Scotland

I can work with Edinburgh. I initially ruled it out because the casuality rate would be much hired than prefered. Going with Edinburgh, what would be a good location in Edinburgh that I can say this took place at?

 

And does anyone have any better ideas for the superheroes who do show up?

 

I could maybe could instead use "Big Ben" as the time manipulation superhero who freezes Dr. Destroyer long enough for Blarney to knock him into orbit.

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

He picked Glasgow because it was a major tourist area with a low Superhero population.

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

I don't think it does work that way: herewith a recent question to Steve Long:

 

Pardon me for not cross referencing FRED, the erratta and the FAQ (I hadn't annotated my entire copy of FRED so there appeared tobe a conflict between it and the FAQ), but the answer seems pretty clear: you need a full increment to raise or lower speed i.e. 10 points

Which is exactly what I thought. I'm not sure where Hyper-Man is getting his interpretation from.