logomancer

Re: Ultimate Skill (STR Min 13)

Thank god I had the Speed Reading talent.

Re: Archetype Twists

I had a character named "Cavalier" who had inherited a mystic sword that could pretty much cut through anything (think: 4d6 KA w/AP). Well, the guy who inherited it was otherwise a normal, so he used his company to build himself a battlesuit. He was Iron-Man + Shining Knight.

Re: Characteristic power NCM

Didn't read any posts. Don't really need to, for once.

 

The fundamental problem is simply that Normal Characteristic Maxima is a bad idea that should be ignored in the short term and deleted from future editions in the long term.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary suggests I link to previous discussions of the same topic. Maybe I will.

Dude...if it's a rule you don't like, just don't use it. Many others have found value in it. Why act like it's a total given that it's "bad" and should be removed from future editions.

One of the reasons Hero is popular is that it gives the GM and Players choices that other game systems don't. Don't harsh the options!

Re: How to steal a comm link

Thanks!

 

I think I may buy up some three point skill levels for Cryptography, Systems Operation, and Compture Programming. It's consistant with the character and does what I want it to.

 

If a character has Mind Control over the machine class of minds, do you think that extends to even the most remotely intelligent machine? Clock radios? Cheap toasters have reostats and thermostats instead of transistors, but what about toasters? The important question, of course, is "What about foci?" And if you can mind control a super suit, isn't Iron Man is deep kemchi? Mind Controlling a focus sounds like a dangerous proposition - a jetpack could be highjacked rather than dispelled, and fairly easily, since the jetpack itself has a rather low INT, and there isn't much it would be violently opposed to doing, aside from intentionally overheating or flying below stall velocity.

 

This isn't too much of a topic shift, since it would work just as well with a comm link.

Can a Mind Control with Class of Mind: Machines control clock radios? Think of it this way: Can a Mind Control with Class of Mind: Animals control insects? control starfish or clams? Sure, why not? The rolls are just that much easier as they don't have minds to affect.

You mention that a Mechanopath who can control Iron's Armor is very dangerous. Sure, no less so than a telepath who Mind Controls Iron Man himself! I'd allow it...

There's a lot of good use for Mechanopaths controlling the Foci of heroes. Afterall, that's why they have the Foci limitation, right, because every once in a while, someone comes along and uses that limit against them.

Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist?

Have the guy be dwarf-like and bind elemental spirits into items to have them do, well, whatever is needed. If you want to make it a little more modern/urban, you can do things like bind concrete elementals, or trash elementals, or what-have-you. Go for the "mystical resonance" of an everyday object type idea.

He could cast runes with a spray-paint can! Instant magical graffiti!

Re: Ghost Archer! Explain this please!

For Cyclops, you could by his Optic Blast with "Uncontrolled", then buy a naked modifer to buy off the Uncontrolled, but make it OIF or OAF: Visor. Thus, without his visor, his Optic Blasts cannot be controlled and fire off, destroying everything he's looking at.

Re: What power sets do you like, but never play?

1) Vehicle Guy: Normal guy with a kick-ass, multi-use vehicle. Think Owlman in Watchmen; think Batman, but without the detective angle. Most GM's find vehicles sorta' annoyingly invulnerable, and hence, I rarely get to play it.

2) Mentalist: I've had a lot of GM's make up house rules to stunt mentalists because they fear the "game warping" powers of them. Hence, they end up being a little blunted and not fun. Else, the GM's who are afraid of mentalists make everything a +30 on the charts, hence ineffective.

Re: Thoughts on the Secret Service questions

Question #1: The heck she doesn't. I disagree that a protectee having a say in how they are protected "is a device of television". Since the Secret Service does not discuss publically their methods and policies for protection, neither myself nor Thia have any idea what they really do, but you can bet your last nickel that a person, even the President's daughter, who strenously objected to the Service's interference, would quickly take the issue to court to get left alone.

I think that a protectee has the right to tell the Secret Service where they are going and what they are doing. What they don't have the right to do is tell the Secret Service how they'll be protected. Meaning, if the President's daughter wanted to take a trip to Sunnydale and encounter the Hellmouth, then the Secret Service would arrive early, clear out the entire populace, put her in a tank, and drive her there. They'll do what she wants, but they'll do whatever is necessary to protect her along the way, no matter how extreme that becomes.

This question probably rates as a "how to" question, but I wanted to check with the official source before running it past Herodom Assembled.

A character in my Fantasy Hero game is designing a Necromancer with a spell that would allow him to read the thoughts and/or memories of a deceased sentient being.

I have reread Clairsentience/Retrocognition in FRED, and it discusses how the Clairsentience power is essentially a vehicle for other senses to see into the past. It states that Clairsentience cannot act as "Line of Sight" to Target a mental power, hence it would seem that Clairsentience cannot be a vehicle to extend mental powers "into the past."

I have reread Telepathy and Mind Scan and neither have adders or modifiers that would allow them to extend into the past.

I know that, as the GM, I can allow whatever I want in the game, so I considered buying a Compound power with Retrocognition and Telepathy and "fudging" the rough spots, but again, I wanted a second opinion.

What do you think?

Re: Turakian Age: Which way do the rivers flow?

I would think they would follow standard physics: away from mountains and high lands, toward oceans. But...it's fantasy, so do whatever.

Re: Introducing "Primeval"

Thanks, man! IM me sometime, I'd like to here your view on it.

Re: Introducing "Primeval"

Thanks, man! I hope you enjoy it.

Re: Introducing "Primeval"

I developed the Arcane Forces as a means to delineate special effects for the milieu. Sometimes with the Hero System, because it's framework is a generic toolkit, the powers and spells that are created by characters can come off sterile (i.e., focused so much on the generic framework definitions that they lose flavor) or very random (i.e., a bunch of disparate powers strung together). I wanted to give characters a context for the special effects they might choose.

I've seen this in other games, notably D&D3E, where they have energy archetypes that "do a certain thing" or have "certain ramifications" if used. They do the same thing with categories of monster and it seems to matter when unifying the milieu.

Re: Introducing "Primeval"

Yeah...I know it's a lot of material sorta' a dense read. I've been trying to keep it broken up into easily digestible sections, but that only goes so far.

Thanks for your interest.

I've been lurking and reading for a while on the forums, sampling the good ideas and getting the feel of Fantasy Hero, 5th ed. I've been working on a campaign setting for a couple of years - - well, it started out as the setting to a novel and grew into an RPG setting. Thus, I'm presenting my website detailing the milieu to my peers.

http://primeval.logomancer.net

It's still largely in development. The magick system is fairly basic and I'm busy expanding some of the "flavors" of it. There aren't a lot of professions yet, but the races are somewhat fleshed out. I'm detailing it all as I go; as most GM's do.

At any rate, your input and opinions will be welcome.

Re: Ritual Magic Limitations

I've been checking out your site for a while and judiciously employing your advice. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful work!

Re: Ritual Magic Limitations

This was more for an order of mages in the milieu, not so much for PCs.

Re: Ritual Magic Limitations

Perfect...that's what I was going toward, I think. Thanks!

I'm developing an order of mages in my Fantasy Hero game that uses magick in a ritual setting, i.e., requiring a certain number of participants for the spell to be cast.

From the product description online, it sounds like there maybe rules for this in the Valdoran Age, but I haven't had a chance to check out the book itself. Are there any standard limits for requiring more than one caster?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Elf-Blood and Curves. What more could ya ask?

I like the aspects of womanhood you used as template for the sub-orders among the magical society. It's nice to weave in that type of philosophical meat to a game setting.

Re: Advice for Drawing Maps

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=derring-do

Dude! For an English-Major, you just posted the equivalent of a word-porn site! Thanks!

Re: New Campaign

OK' date=' for those that want it, I've put the Hero Designer export template up on the Character Sheets page, along with a link to the HitLocs diagram PNG file that's needed for it.[/quote']

Thanks for sharing Fitz...I appreciate it!

Re: New Campaign

The maps are better than you're giving them credit, I think. They totally conjur a Tolkein feel to them and sometimes, it's nice to provide players the types of map that a High-Fantasy culture would actually produce.

Interesting character sheets. Did you design them straight into HTML or is that an export template from HeroDesigner? If it's an export template, can you share?

Re: High Cost Package Deals...

I'd tell him to go play Eberron. Honestly, I have never really understood the fascination with totally recreating a D&D world into Hero System. To me, Hero is great because it allows for so much conceptual flexibility and for you to make your own world, with its own inhabitants, it's own ideas. Obsessively recreating D&D just seems to miss the point in my book.

Re: HRRH: Can't quite wrap my head around...

I'd give radio perception penalties for a lot of things: being underground on in a basement; being enclosed by metal (check your cell phone signal the next time you're in an elevator); being around radioactive elements (i.e., nuclear power plants, the funky engine core of your Batplane, etc.); being blocked by things that block radioactive elements (cuz they block radio waves too); being near other, large transmitters that might cause interference with the signal, i.e., radio towers, electrical lines, etc.; geography, being deep in a valley or underwater; and, as you've already run across with the range penalties, exteme distance from the source.

If these radios are Foci, you might also give them penalties to literally hear the words from the foci, based on the ambient noise of the area. It's hard to hear your earpiece when you're flying at 5,000 mph over the Atlantic in a thunderstorm.