Steffen

I think NND and Damage Over Time are the better way to build this power. I like the idea that DOT allows the victim to end the effect by wiping off the toxin. Thank you!

It is a very low powered super game. Lip to lip contact is not required, only lip to skin. The character will mostly rely on her charms but is quite strong, if necessary. Flunkies will not be employed.

It is a power for a female superhero (a cross between Poison Ivy and Groot) whose lips are able to secrete a narcotic substance (phytotoxin). The player described the power like this: - the character has to touch the skin of her opponent with her lips - the poison takes effect immediately - the opponent loses consciousness - the effect should last only a short while As poisons are usually built with Drain I also used this power. The above built looks like the most reasonable to me although I actually would like a return rate of 5 point per minute but it doesn't seem to be an option. Do you think this would be acceptable as a +1/2 Advantage? I didn't think about how the effect does interact with other forms of damages. In what way is it relevant?

Hello! Do you think that this is the correct way to build a kiss that delivers a narcotic poison through skin contact? Narcotic kiss: Drain STUN 3d6, Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Minute; +1) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Must Follow Grab Or Target Must Be Willing (-1/2), Must Target Unprotected Hit Locations (-1/4) Thank you for your comments.

Thank you. I'll probably do that. I also miss having someone outside my group to discuss ideas. It can be a big help.

I don't think that I'm actually suffering from burnout but for about two years I can't stay focused when trying to elaborate on scenarios. It feels as if I lost a lot of my imagination. It's not a problem when I'm playing in someone else's campaign, only when thinking about my own. I don't really know the cause of this but I think it is a combination of stress at work and player arguments that mostly happened when I was GM. The arguments were caused by an adverse combination of players and they could be settled each time but although I know that it was not my fault I suspect that subconsciously I'm linking me being a GM with trouble at the gaming table. Actually, this longtime group dissolved one year ago when three members left the hobby altogether. In the meantime we found two new players, a couple, to game with and it's fun. But we agreed to rotate GM duties and in a few weeks it will be my turn to host a superhero adventure with the HERO system. After doing some thinking I've got a basic idea but that's all. I'm starting to get nervous...

Thanks a lot, Tech. ...and of course thanks to everyone who replied. In the meantime the GM and the unhappy player had another conversation and have come to an agreement. The character will now simulate animals powers but only the powers of one animal at a time, similar to the DC superhero Vixen. This will only include still existing animals, no extinct species or mythical creatures. The player still has to decide if the character will always keep his human form (disallowing Flight), shapechange partially (like arms to wings) or completely change into animals. While the GM thinks that this will result in an interesting and flexible character he also thinks that the player still feels too restricted. Hopefully he will come to like the concept.

Hello! I would like to know what you think about a problem we are having in our group. Sorry for the long post. We have just started a new superhero campaign with four players (plus GM), two of whom have never played Hero before. We have played twice and one of the Hero newbies is already starting to feel disadvantaged. In the beginning the GM asked everyone what kind of superhero we wanted to play. He also asked us to have a theme for our characters. I wanted a telekineticist, another player chose a magical girl inspired by Princess Butterfly and the player in question wanted to play a character who could increase his characteristics (he planned to use Aid for this). His wife didn't really know what to play but said she would also be interested in Telekinesis so I decided to drop my idea and made a Spider-Man inspired character but with reptile-based powers instead, starting with enhanced Strength, Speed and Dexterity, the same characteristics the other player chose to increase with Aid. For information: We are playing characters at the start of their career with 50 CP for the unpowered human and 50 CP for superpowers with an AP limit of 25 points. My wish list includes increased physical Characteristics (main focus on agility), moderate Resistant Defenses, Clinging, Enhanced Senses (Nightvision and Smell), Regeneration and some other reptile-derived powers. After the first two sessions the GM was still struggling to understand the actual theme of the player in question and discussed this with him. The theme is defined as “total body control” with the character modifying his body as needed. The character should be able to become superstrong, supertough, invulnerable, superfast, be immune to diseases and poisons, breath underwater, change shape etc. He wants to buy powers more or less in in this order: Increased physical Characteristics (all of them, including resistant defenses), Healing, Enhanced Senses, body modifications like gills (life support) and Extra Limbs (tentacles, additional arms etc.). He also wants movement powers like Flight and Clinging and also Shrinking, Growth, Stretching and Density Increase. The GM decided that having all these options would make the character way too powerful and asked the player to narrow down this ultimate metamorph to a more specific theme. He also remarked that this character could eventually do everything my character can do. The player said that it would take a very long time and lots of CPs to reach his goal and also asked the GM to have me change my powers so that our characters would not overlap. While I'm not really happy with changing my character again and probably won't do it I'm somewhat annoyed by this discussion and want it to end so I told the GM that he should simply allow the concept because the other player really will have to narrow down his choice because of the limited CPs. I also mentioned Plastic Man as an example of a superhero with similar powers but the GM still wants a more specific concept. What do you think? Who is wrong, who is right? Is anyone right at all? What would you do? Thank you!

That's a lot to check and consider. Thank you all for your help!

Hello! One of my players is trying to build a blast power that makes more damage the more time the character spends to power it up while allowing him to interrupt the process and spontaneously release the by then built up energy. Example: The character activates the power and at the end of the same phase his fists glow with a 3d6 Blast. He continues and on his next phase the Blast does have 6d6. He goes on but an opponent gets too close and before his next regular phase the character decides to attack with the built up 6d6 Blast. The only thing I came up with is a partially limited compound power with increasing Extra Time limitations on additional Blast dice plus some handwaving from my side. Is there a better or correct way to do this? Thanks!

The players' intention was not to introduce the heroes to the world (this was simply a side effect), they wanted to prevent the public to mistrust them as they were afraid that this would hinder them in helping people. They thought about how they could quickly reach a lot of people and one of them said "Let's go to Oprah Winfrey". They didn't do it for her, they simply wanted a quick and effecive solution. I don't want to "punish" them for this, just show them that this will have some consequences. Do Oprah's producers offer money to get certain guests on their show? How much? Do you think she would host super-hero themed shows, inviting people who were saved or even critics?

So you think Oprah would have refused to read the statement handed to her live on air?

Hello! When an antagonist tried to implicate the PCs of my group in crimes they were not involved in they decided to make their side of the story known. They wrote a statement, teleported into the middle of Oprah Winfrey's show, handed over the note and left again. Of course the surprised host read the statement out loud and discussed what happened with her guest Cindy Lauper. What I would like to know is: How would Oprah Winfrey react after she had time to recover from the shock? As far as I know Oprah is very influential and may affect public opinion. This may be an odd question but Oprah Winfrey is not well known in Germany so I cannot predict her actions. But as my players just love to hear about public reactions to their exploits I would like give them something and maybe something interesting will result from this. Some background information: It's 2004 in the (more or less) real world and the PCs are the first superheroes to appear one year ago. They are only active in New York City and despite several sightings and blurry film footage they are still considered urban legends or a hoax by a lot of people. The alleged crime was the rescue of an abducted superhuman (who later turned into a killer) from the antangonist's laboratory where he was subject to experiments. The villain later made it look as if the PCs freed a monstrous murderer from prison and new all along about the killers nature (which they didn't). The group's note hinted at the true story, reminded everyone that the heroes themselves caught the killer after his crimes were made public and stated their belief that superhumans should have the right to a fair trial. Thanks for your help!

Hello Steve! Is Telekinesis that can be detected with measurement equipment and interferes with electronic devices, causes lights and TVs to flicker and radios to produce noise Obvious to the Radio Sense Group and Inobvious to Sight? Is a + 1/4 Advantage (Makes an Obvious Power Inobvious to one Sense Group) justified? Thank you!

Re: Turning into living, semi-liquid metal Right after my post I saw the APG1 on the shelf and found "Selective Desolidification (+1 1/2)" in it. Anyhow, I'm still curious about your opinion.

Re: Turning into living, semi-liquid metal Thank you for all your suggestions, they were very helpful. We actually went with Multiform as suggested by Ranxerox and it seems to represent the character best. I stumbled upon another problem: How do you build a power that allows the character to squeeze her arm under a door while still be able to use her hand on the other side? According to the rules this should be represented by buying "Affects Physical World (+2)" for STR but this seems to be unreasonably expensive. I see that an intangible character with this advantage is very powerful but she is not as she is limited by "Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2)" and "Doesn't Protect Against Damage (-1)". So why does "Only To Protect Against [Limited Type OF Attack] (-1)" grant the character an Affects Physical World Advantage for free (at the GM's option) (6E1 193) while "Doesn't Protect Against Damage (-1)" does not (6E1 192)? This doesn't seem to make sense... I'm about to ignore this rule and grant Affects Physical World for free but maybe I missed something. Did I?

Re: Turning into living, semi-liquid metal She's going for a Brick type.

Re: Turning into living, semi-liquid metal You can link greater powers to smaller ones, too, but at a higher cost but I'll definitely have a look at Unified Power, thanks.

Re: Turning into living, semi-liquid metal I thought about Multiform, too, but was not sure if it was appropriate. I'll have to check this more thoroughly. I like the idea of being stuck to one form when it's cold. Not sure if my girlfriend will like it, though...

Hello! I hope someone can help me help my girlfriend build a superheroine with the power to transform her body into semi-liquid metal. Her powers should resemble those of "Terminator 2"'s T-1000 but without the ability to mimic people or objects. The main focus are stretching powers. I think one of DC's Metal Men does have similar powers but I cannot find a writeup. The character needs to transform all of her body into metal before she can stretch or squeeze through bars etc. She will only later learn to transform single limbs. We're thinking about using Density Increase + Resistant Protection as the Body of Metal power and linking all additional powers (Stretching, Desolidification...) to it. Is this a reasonable approach? The character should be vulnerable to cold, her metal body slowly starting to freeze at about -10°C/+14°F. I think Susceptibility to Cold (Drain SPD + DEX) does describe this correctly. In addition the character should be unable to revert to flesh and blood once her metal form starts freezing. How can this be done? Is it another Complication or a Limitation to Density Increase? Thank you for your help.

Re: Who are the copies/pastiches/tributes/captain ersatz in your campaigns? I've got a flying NPC brick called "Samaritan" who is basically Mighty Man (from Image's Savage Dragon) who is a pastiche of DC's Captain Marvel. When he's not in Samaritan form he is a 70 year old retired medic and accountant. He can turn into the superhero for only one hour a day and spends it helping accident victims but doesn't fight crime. And there's a man-eating villain called "Teddy Kendall" who was inspired by Erik Larson's parody of Spider-Man, also from the pages of Savage Dragon. Teddy is a fat guy who is slowly turning into a huge human spider with mandibles, eight eyes and exoskeleton. I didn't give him a villain name but since visiting his filthy apartment where he lived when he was still human the heroes keep calling him "Spider-Pig".

Re: How do you interrogate thugs and villains? I think it was irony.

Hi! So the heroes defeated the thugs and want some answers. How do they get them? According to the rules the interrogation skill is quite close to torture and is suggested for villains. Presence attacks come to mind but the thought of heroes shouting at captives and threatening them with a beating until they spill the beans seems ridiculous at best and unheroic at worst. How do you handle it?

Hi! Is there a write-up for a robot with a human brain like Robotman from DC? Or, even better, did someone convert the villain "Blitzkrieg Brain" from the DC Universe adventure called "The Steel Knight" to the HERO System? Thank you!

Re: Need help for a low-level / street-level-campaign DNPCs don't work very well because he can't relate to NPCs. In Call of Cthulhu he once played a married character but was quickly annoyed by the wife when she actually made an appearance. But he's having fun with his own subplot so I'll go along with it.