sbarron

Re: Grimoire Spell (Power) Questions The rules for building a base start on page 462 of 5th Rev. Without reading the description of the spell, I can't think of why a tower would be slavishly loyal. Maybe it's to demonstrate that the caster has the keys to all the doors, or at the very least has access to the whole tower? In any event, if you purchase Summon in HD, then add "Amicable" as an advantage, Slavishly Devoted is an option at the +1 level. This power allows a group of people to fly 10" per phase. The rules of flying explain flight in greater detail. Presumably the power keeps working as long as its in use, but the GM will need to make a call on how long the ability is conveyed based on what is appropriate for his game. Players can fly a lot further than 10" after casting. But again, without reading the spell description, I can't give you much further info...I have a lot of things in PDF at work now, but the Grimoires aren't among them.

Re: A little Touch of Chaos Well, I guess that explains why some of the "effects" don't have a base power attached to them. It's a damage shield then for an NPC of somesort? In that case, I would build it as a trigger or a damage shield, costed out at the most expensive power option, and just call the varying effects SFX. In truth, I wouldn't build it at all. I'd just make a note that I rolled 1d6 everytime this thing touched something to see what happened. Also, I wouldn't worry about not putting things in ECs if that's what the character called for. But that's just how I roll with HERO. HERO is a toolkit after all, not a religion. However, YMMV, so my recommendation is trigger or DS, whichever you think is easier.

Re: A little Touch of Chaos I'd build it as a VPP, then limit the whole thing by maybe -1/2 because the power that comes out is random. The disadvantage being you might want to get a specific power when used. I'd put it in a VPP because I'd want to add other effects later. If those are the only Chaos effects you'd ever want to have, then building it as a straight MP (with the limit) would work better. My initial thought was customs power, priced at the most expensive power, inlcuding a -1/2 limit because the effects are random. But I don't like that, because the character "technically" has access to all of these powers. He just might have to use to power several times to get the desired power to manifest.

Re: What do you need to have in order to play the game?

Re: IGN Article On Champions Online -- Including Trailer! Wow, that looks totally sweet!

Re: Apt cost of defesnses vs attacks

Re: Skill Trees (A New Framework?) Personally, I think if you're going to take the time to establish the "fire attack spells" that are available, then you're more than within your rights to place an order in how they are purchased. I don't see it as handwaving at all. Or, maybe it is handwaving. But that doesn't mean its a bad thing. My problem with HERO for years has been the lack of structure to the power build side of the game. 150 pt starting fantasy character, left unchecked, will make powers that hit the max AP limit every time. So where do they go from there? That's why creating a magic system that has tiers, levels, or structered spell purchases is so appealing to me. It provides the players with something to work towards and look forward to.

Re: Chess Grandmaster - KS, PS, or something else? I think PS: Chess would also cover the in-and-outs of actually playing chess for a living. Knowing the different stops on the chess tour, knowing where all the big tournaments are, knowing how to register at chess tournaments, the various tournament formats you might find, where to find all the hot chess groupies in each city, etc. Not that this stuff would be worth a whole bunch for a character, but I think it would be the kind of stuff that PS: Chess would include.

Re: Balance outside of a Super setting

Re: Heracles' Children Is the CV limit high enough? For a basic Supers game, a 13 CV limit would be fine. But its been my experience with fantasy games that the CVs tend to run quite a bit higher. We usually play with KAs and hit locations, so having a high OCV to make called shots is a big part of our game. If you're not playing with KAs and hit location, then maybe your CV limit is good. I had some buddies that played a Runequest game in HERO, and their characters eventually got to over 400 pts. The characteristics never got much over 20-25 range, but their CVs ran up to the 18-20 range for the combat oriented characters. So, in summary, you're playing in a fantasy setting with characters starting at around 400-450 points. If your players design supers characters to play in a fantasy setting, you'll be fine. And that might be what you want. But if they make high powered fantasy characters, I really think you'll have to either increase the CV limit, or perhaps even remove it all together.

Re: Black Scorpion I haven't seen the show. What's the point of her being selected as the Black Scorpion if she doesn't go fighting crime with the PCs? [Edit...] Ah, I see. She hunts undead on her own time.

I think this is highlighting some of the misunderstanding. Unlike D&D, when Hero's package deals state "Korundar...+20 STR," it doesn't mean Korundar's add 20 to their 10 STR to get to 30 STR. It's saying "Korundar's all pay +20 character points for STR." Which of course, gets them to 25. This package deal is just a way to show how the Korundar race spends character points. It's not designed to show you what a Korundar's character sheet would look like, even though you can glean that info from the package deal. It's less of an issue for most races, since the additional points spent in characteristics match the "starting" characteristics scores. But NCM and package deals are not linked in any way.

Re: package deal question I'm not sure if this is a request for additional info or not. If not, please ignore my post. If so, I hope this helps. Package deals have absolutely nothing to do with NCM. The GM sets the NCM for his game, and should tell the players what the maximums are at the beginning of character creation. NCM is the same for everyone, regardless of race, class, style, whatever (unless the GM says otherwise, but let's stick to the norm). The GM will also establish the package deals for each race and class, or might work with a player to create something. But in 5th Edition, a racial package deal is now only this: "What all members of a race XX spend on their characters." So in the case of your Korundar...+20 STR. This means all Korundar spend 20 character points on STR. That's it. That's all it means. It's not a bonus to STR, and it's not an adjustment to NCM. It just means that in order to be a Korundar, you have to plunk at least 20 character points into STR. And if NCM is set at 20, then all Korundar will start out with at least 25 STR (so long as they don't sell any back.) But as KS points out, you can adjust the heck out of this rule if you think it better suits your game.

Re: How to build this nice knock-out spell Maybe they just battle in "The Witching Zone." Normals sleep when anyone enters the Witching Zone.

Re: Nature + Fire = What? I realize I'm coming in late. However, that's never stopped me before...I would have gone with things in nature that in some way burn. So, the kinds of spells Nature + Fire would get you would be... 1. Animal Venoms (they don't actually burn your skin, but they feel like they're burning) 2. Plant Poisons (contact with causes burning in the skin/eyes, poison oak, ivy, etc.) 3. Infections (really just small animals getting inside and causing a fever) 4. Dragonfire and other dragon related stuff 5. Any other fire-related creatures you have in your world (phoenix, elementals, demons, etc., so long as its a natural animal with fire motif)

Re: Changing the Focus from Killing to KO

Re: Discussion on costs of Characteristics Any discussion about what works in one person's game vs. what doesn't work in another person's game is pointless. Everyone has different house rules, and probably more importantly, differing gaming cultures within their groups that go a long way in determining how the game is run. Saying that "1:1 isn't broken, because it works perfectly well in my games," doesn't prove that 1:1 isn't broken. Any more than saying "2:1 works better because it works better in my games," makes it so. Its totally possible that you have house rules or an in-group gaming culture that prevents anything from "being" broken in your game that is totally unrelated to the rules in 5ER themselves. For example, I would never allow a character to have a 70 STR, 35 DEX, 7 SPD, 50% PD/ED damage reduction, 40" of flight, a 45 AP mentalist multipower, and a big honking sword that sucks souls. Why? Because his character concept is basically "uberbad-ass guy." Plus, he's filling about 4 different architypical characters types here. He'd be stepping on several other character's toes, and would generally be difficult to prevent from stealing the spotlight. I don't allow this guy because he's unbalancing to my game, even though he could buy all this stuff as costed in the rule book, all perfectly legal. And my players never make characters like this, because they know a) I wouldn't allow it, and it wouldn't be fun for anyone but the guy who made the uber character. So my game runs perfectly smoothly because I don't allow characters like this. And it has nothing to do with the rules or the costs of stuff what-so-ever.

Re: Adrenalin Based Perception Change You'd need to be careful to descibe what constitutes "being stressed." Because... "+2 SPD, only when needed" Really pushes the Cheese-O-Meter to the limit.

Re: Clinging damage shield What happens if X is stuck to C, and while X's STR is not enough to break the clinging STR, it is enough to lift C off the ground? Can X pick C up off the ground with his clung fist? Can X slam C into the ground or put C in front of an on-coming subway car, all through his clung fist?

Re: How To Build: Jedi Force Slam Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qJrV11TUa8 http://www.lucasarts.com/games/theforceunleashed/# If Lucas Arts makes it, does that make it canon?

Re: How To Build: Jedi Force Slam Great, thanks to this thread, now I'm going to head home and break out KOTOR I & II. My wife will not see much of me for the next 2-3 weeks. My work will suffer. My dogs will suffer. My health will suffer. And why? Because you guys had to go get me thinking about Star Wars again. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks a lot.

Re: How To Build: Jedi Force Slam Oh, and one other thing. In the KOTOR games, wasn't killing droids a seperate ability from Force Push? Maybe you could seperate the two attacks to better simulate their differing effects. Force Slam EB 6d6, Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), Double Knockback (+3/4) (67 Active Points); Can Be Missile Deflected (-1/4), Reduced By Range (-1/4) Destroy Droid RKA 2d6, Penetrating (+1/2) (45 Active Points); Limited Power Only vs. Droids (-1), Limited Power Not Through Force Fields (-1/2), Reduced By Range (-1/4)

Re: How To Build: Jedi Force Slam

Re: How To Build: Jedi Force Slam That's the best explanation I've seen. Resist Force Powers: Basic: Force Powers Damage Reduction, Resistant, 25% (15 Active Points); Must be aware of attack (-1/2) (10 Real Points) Resist Force Powers: Advanced: Force Powers Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% (30 Active Points); Must be aware of attack (-1/2) (20 Real Points). Resist Force Powers: Master: Force Powers Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (60 Active Points); Must be aware of attack (-1/2) (40 Real Points) Or, in a Jedi-centric campaign, you could just give non-jedis and droids a vulnerability to force powers. This also accounts for the races that are resistant to Jedi "mind tricks" (Toydarians, Hutts, etc.) 10 Vulnerability: 2 x Effect from Force Powers (Uncommon).

Re: WWYCD Fantasy HERO Edition #1: The Princess Shell Game Are you sure this isn't for Champions?