sbarron

Re: Magical House Locks I still say you just need to say it's so. Are you going to stat out every tree that the PCs might try to cut down or every wall they might climb? I doubt it. Magic locks should be the same way. Magic Lock: Requires magic key to open. Can't be picked by mundane lockpicks. Can be picked normally by magic lockpicks.

Re: Magical House Locks If it's not a lock that can be picked, then I'd argue it isn't a lock at all. Create the door as a force wall, that can be deactivated only with the right key. For the getting shocked part, make the key a magic item with the side effect that it shocks anyone not supposed to use it. Truth is, I'd make all this just be, and wouldn't bother to stat out the details. How tough is the door? How much damage does the key shock do? That's really all you need to know. Everything else is sfx unique to the setting.

Re: Please look over this character She looks good to me. That's how I design most of my characters. Solid to high stats, the standard adventurer skills, plenty of CSL, and then some skills, ks, etc for flavor. Did you have specific questions?

Re: What're the jobs in an Army? Frequently, ancient (and not so ancient) soldiers took their families with them campaigning. Because they would be gone so long, it was the only way to keep the family together. Plus, if the soldier died, there were plenty of guys willing to get married to the widow.

Re: Missing: Fantasy Hero Of course more is always more. And the best way to get more is to kill things and take it.

Re: "Beware the generosity of Kings" - A warning If the King is worried about the Nobility, in the sense that maybe nobles wont be in charge much longer, then he needs to either redefine what a noble is, or "discover" a noble liniege for each of the companions. If he's more worrried about the powers that be losing power, then any of the things listed above could work. I'd thrown in a bogus "conspiracy against the crown" plot if I weren't worried about totally turning the game on its head. Turn the heroes into villians. Clearing their name means exposing the King's work against them. Or maybe not the King, maybe his top advisor. So they could either leave for parts unknown, or risk starting a civil war to clear their names. Another tactic would be to target something the PCs love. Do they have families? Maybe the King asks that the Companions families come to live in capitol with him...for protection. If things start to get dicey, he's got leverage. On the surface, it's a kind gesture...especially considering the spate of assasination attempts on PCs families. In reality, the accepting family members just became well kept hostages. I'm a softy GM, though. I'd probably have a far away kingdom in dire straights hear of these heroic Companions, and send representatives asking that they come to assist. Suitable rewards for their current King to send them away, and titles, magic, wealth, whatever to the PCs. Just get them headed to parts less tame. KSs idea about different planes is good, too. If these PCs are really up there in power, maybe their gods need champions to fight off another pantheon, or Cthulu like invaders, or in the millenial olympics. Maybe another planet that has been overrun by evil forces asks for aid. Maybe Heaven is under siege. Just get crazy.

Re: DM of the Rings I started laughing out loud at episode 6 or 7. Good stuff!

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) Are you planning to have average citizens acknowledge the presence of the supernatural, or will most people not believe in that "superstitious nonsense?" I'd go the people "don't believe" route, because it just causes so many wonderful problems for the PCs that way. But maybe you have other ideas? The Dresden Files novels also touch on this a bit, with its own little paranormal police task force that flies under the radar, handling threats that most don't even want to know about.

Re: How to build a Density-altering ATTACK? I would suggest just buying Density Increase, Usable as Attack. I'd then allow the player to choose whether they wanted to add the various elements to the Density Increase. The character has paid for this power in full. So if they decided to not convey certain benefits to the recipient, it seems to me they should be able to do that, the same as if you bought a 12d6 EB, but only decided to use 6d6. The power would end up looking like this, most likely... He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother: Density Increase (6,400 kg mass, +6 PD/ED, -6" KB), Usable As Attack (+1) (60 Active Points). I'd leave the +6 PD/ED, -6" KB in, because those to me seem linked to the higher density more closely than the increased STR. I'd still treat this as a constant power, with power defense as the defense. I'd still need to figure out the effect of having a character weigh 6400 kgs at various STR levels. 10 STR guy would be pinned to the floor prone. 40 STR guy would probably be able to move around a little bit, say 1/2 movement. Pushing might be a good way to get in an action if pinned. 45 STR guy would be able to function normally, provided the floor could hold him up. I don't know, that seems pretty potent. I'll have to think on it.

Re: "Divine Shield": ultimate defense How about 30PD/30ED force field? Only 60 pts. This provides great protection from small attacks, and good against large attacks. How about 50% phy and energy DR? Not quite as good as 75%/75%, but a bit cheaper. How about 75% physical, 25% Energy? Having never played Warcraft, I don't know how the power works.

Re: Fighting talk I think there is a difference between a "fighter" and a "master" martial artist, and HERO models this pretty well. Most good street fighters are not masters of a martial art. They bought the manuevers that work best in a fight and bought levels and CHAR. They don't know lots of fancy escapes, disarms, joint locks, etc. They are in excellent shape, know several effective stikes and blocks, and have plenty of skill levels. Most professional boxers aren't "masters" of the boxing art early in their careers. A great thing about boxing is you can see a clear conflict between aging veterans, who presumably better understand the boxing art, with the young bulls, who use the speed and power of youth to compensate for their lack of knowledge. I like that dichotomy. On a different note, I wonder how much of the "old master" beating "young pup" boils down to knowledge of the system (assuming a fight modeled with HERO). Maybe the old master wins because he puts lots of levels in DCV, uses martial dodge effectively, and holds his actions to take advantage of the situation. The less trained martial artist attacks a lot, has no patience, and makes all the mistakes that plague the young. As a result, the aging master is able to whoop his butt. Of course, in the movies, the aging master is only able to beat his young pupil for a few months. That's how long it takes the young fighter to learn patience, humility, and that un-blockable dragon punch.

Re: Realistic daily provisions I have no idea if you information is accurate. But that doesn't even matter. You stated it authoritatively, concisely, and with conviction. Plus, you covered all the typical non-magical light you might find in a fantasy setting. As far as I'm concerned, this post is all I'll ever need to run fantasy games in the dark. Excellent post!

Re: Fighting talk I suppose you could alleviate some of the duplicate bases problem by forcing the special effect of moves to have ramifications. In the OP, Crescent Kick Block and an Arm Sweep Block were mentioned. Placing situational modifiers on these blocks depending on the attack would help. Like, say, giving the crescent kick block a -2 OCV modifiers if trying to block a high or punching attack, and do the same for the arm sweep vs. low or kicking attacks. This would provide the MA with both blocks some advantage over the MA that took only 1. Also, not allowing the Arm Sweep Block to be performed if hands are tied, or not allowing the Crescent Kick Block when standing in knee deep water, etc, would also give more utility to those that bought a variety of moves, rather than just one. It certainly isn't a perfect fix, but I think it makes sense and could help bridge the gap, so to speak. You'd need to hammer out expectations with your players ahead of time, though. I can only imagine the arguments over which blocking method is more effective vs. which attacks, and whether they could still use their feet to block when standing in waist deep water, etc. unghhh.

Re: Need A Reference Point A character I made for 1840's London. Plain clothes police inspector with a reputation. Think Bud White from LA Confidential, but 45-50 years old. Fantasy enough for use here, I think. Inspector Andrew McCullough Val Char Cost 20 STR 10 14 DEX 12 15 CON 10 14 BODY 8 13 INT 3 10 EGO 0 18 PRE 8 10 COM 0 8 PD 4 6 ED 3 4 SPD 16 7 REC 0 30 END 0 38 STUN 6 5" RUN -2 2" SWIM 0 4" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 78 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver Dirty Infighting 4 1) Punch: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 6d6 / 2d6 Strike 4 2) Low Blow: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, 2d6 NND 4 3) Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 30 STR / 10 STR to Disarm roll 4 4) Kidney Blow: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, HKA 1d6 +1 / HKA 0 1/2d6 1 5) Weapon Element: Clubs Martial Arts Cost: 17 Cost Skill 3 Concealment 12- 3 Criminology 12- 3 Deduction 12- 2 Gambling (Card Games) 12- 3 Interrogation 13- 3 Lockpicking 12- 3 Shadowing 12- 3 Stealth 12- 3 Streetwise 13- 4 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Early Firearms 0 AK: Great Britain 8- 4 CK: London 13- 2 KS: Criminal Underworld 11- 2 KS: Southwark Boys (gang) 11- 0 PS: Police Inspector (Everyman Skill) 11- 3 +1 with Dirty Infighting Skills Cost: 41 Cost Perk 2 Fringe Benefit: Local Police Powers 6 Contact: Freddy "The Butcher" Enders (Underworld Figure) (significant Contacts, very useful Skills or resources, Good relationship) 11- 3 Contact: Tobias "Toby" Miller (snitch) (useful Skills or resources) 11- Perks Cost: 11 Cost Talent 3 Lightsleep Talents Cost: 3 Total Character Cost: 150 Pts. Disadvantage 0 Normal Characteristic Maxima 10 Reputation: Violent Police Detective, Sometimes (8-), Extreme 15 Hunted: London Police 11- (Frequently), More Powerful, NCI, Watching 10 Hunted: Southwark Boys 8- (Occasionally), More Powerful, Limited Geographical Area, Harshly Punish 10 Dependent NPC: Parents 8- (Infrequently), Normal 15 Psychological Limitation: Paranoid, Common, Strong 10 Psychological Limitation: Vengeful, Uncommon, Strong 5 Physical Limitation: Bad Leg Infrequently, Slightly Impairing Disadvantage Points: 75 Base Points: 75

Re: Tri-system experiment

Re: How to question: Gun Kata Here is the character sheet from Susano's website.

Re: Tri-system experiment

Re: Modeling Leverage

Re: Thought I understood MP, maybe I don't? Nope. You only have 60 active points available in the MP. Since you made these ultras, and both require 60 AP to operate, you could only use one at a time. If you hadn't made them ultras, then you could use them both, but at a power level that added up to 60 active points. Like say 15/15 FF and 6d6 EB.

Re: Is there a Gamemaster Screen for 5th? Yes, there is. It comes in the Hero System Resource Kit. It's available in the online store right now. Dang, scooped by a dog!

Re: Playing without END To be totally frank, I just wouldn't track END for any players but spellcasters. The truth is, most PCs will have around 30 END, 3 SPD, 6 REC, and burn about 3-4 END per phase. That means they can go for several turns fighting a max END burn before END becomes a problem. Characters just aren't going to run out of END often enough for it matter if you don't track it. Spellcasters with Increased END might be an exeption. As would characters that just woke up from being knocked out. We're having this same discussion right now on the HERO system board...here.

Re: Shoot First, Ask later - Defeated villians tend to be captured and placed in flimsy prisons unable to hold them, rather than having their throats slit so they won't be a bother in the future. This way they come back to fight another day...to get REVENGE! And I totally agree that the player trying to get the "drop" on the baddie making a speech needs a talking to. Almost all great, evil schemes get thrwarted because of something explained during those speaches. It really in the player's and team's interest to hear the villian out. And then commence with the beat down.

Re: VPPs vs MPs with global limitations

Re: Getting rid of Endurance Are we talking for a heroic or supers game? Either way, I feel your pain. Nobody likes tracking END. However, I think you should try some of the END shortcuts people have come up with rather than the changes your suggesting. They are pretty easy to use and will be a lot less intrusive. First, at 10 to 1 END, you probably don't need to worry about tracking END is heroic games except for spellcasters with increased END spells. Most characters will never run out of END, and those that might will will only do so after hours. I guess another exception would be for characters that get knocked out and wake up during combat. For supers games, I always just had my players figure out how long they could fight at full power before they ran out of END. That way, any combat that doesn't go that long doesn't require them to worry about END. For a quick example... Blaster is a blaster. He has a 40 Active Point EB, 5 Spd, 40 END, 8 REC. In full attack mode, attacking every phase, Blaster uses 4 END per phase, 20 END per turn. He gets 8 END back at the end of each turn. So always attacking, he can go for 14 phases before he runs out of END. That's almost 3 full turns. Any combat that doesn't go that long, Blaster doesn't need to worry about tracking END. What I've found is that most combats don't go long enough for characters to worry about running out of END, unless they A) run several powers simultaneously off their END (i.e. FF, Flight, and EB) or take Increased END on certain powers they like to use a lot. But in both these cases, having the players realize that END will likely be a problem early in the game can encourage them to adjust their character to extend the time before they will run out of END. This is easily enough done by either getting Reduced END, ditching the Increased END, getting a END Reserve, or buying up their END and REC. This will be especially helpful if players don't want to track END. They can make it so they don't have to track END by ensuring they can never run out. And that seems to be what you were trying for with your "Extra Action" system. Anyway, this always really helped me. Good luck!

Re: Knights of the Griffin I can think of a couple options... 1)You could take a page from the optional magic item rules. Rather than making the PC pay the full price for a griffin, have him pay the difference in price between his griffin and the traditional mount, which I assume is a heavy war horse. The heavy war horse is 133 pts, the griffin is 200 (plus whatever you added to his griffin that's different than a regular one). The difference is 67+ pts. Have the character only pay 67+/5 = 13+ pts. That I'm guessing would get you at most to around 20 pts or so, unless you went crazy on adding to the beast. 2) My official recommendation...You could also only make the PC pay the /5 cost of the whole griffin, rather than making him pay 1 for 1 for everything over the characters point total. Near as I can tell, that's why the 200 pt griffin follower is so expensive. Those 50 pts between 150 and 200 were 1 for 1. Just keep them 5 to 1, and you character only has to spend 40 pts for this mount, not 81. Even if you've added on some extra abilities to the standard griffin, at 5 for 1, you still will save points from your first option.