Derek Hiemforth

The rulebook disagrees. Page 260 clearly states that a character is prone after a Dive For Cover, and suffers all the usual penalties thereof, including 1/2 DCV and having to take a Half Phase to stand up.

Usually 200.

1. MegaScaled Teleport, Usable as Attack (good luck convincing your GM ) 2. RKA 3. Dispel vs. Armor 4. Dispel vs. HKA 5. Dispel vs. Biomechanical SFX.

Re: Independent (Limited) The fact that other people can use them doesn't make them Independent... it just makes them Universal Foci. They're only Independent if the Character Points he spent buying them would be lost forever should the crystals be lost. Since they're (relatively) common in your world, it doesn't sound like that's the case to me. It sounds more like a normal Focus situation, where if he loses the Focus, he can gain a new one after some inconvenience.

So what you're saying is that you can't be bothered to look yourself, so you want someone else to do it for you? (PS: It's in issue #3)

Re: While we Wait No, because characters who don't have Mental Awareness at all, and are therefore essentially always "blind" for that sense, still have a DECV above zero. Flashing Mental Awareness would just make the target unable to see the power effects of Mental Powers until the Flash wore off.

Re: Dive for Cover rules silly? The problem with this is that it effectively makes all of the characters precognitive. How would they know an attack was going to be an Area Effect attack before it occurred? They could guess, I suppose, and declare a Dive For Cover if they thought it was going to be an Area Effect. But what if they're wrong? What happens then? Why should the Dive For Cover magically fail? I think the 5th Edition way works better.

Can the Psychic Bond Adder be applied multiple times to Mind Links where more than two people are linked? (For example, triplets instead of twins.) Thanks!

If a character has Duplication with some kind of Limitation on it that requires some action to Duplicate, is the same action required to recombine? For example, let's say a character has Duplication bought with Incantations. Obviously, the character would need to utter the Incantations to Duplicate. Do they also need to utter them to recombine? Thanks!

While I have no "inside info" about either book, I'd be terribly shocked if the UNTIL sourcebook (and possibly even the VIPER sourcebook as well) didn't discuss pretty thoroughly how to do an agent-based campaign.

I get to go first High CV's and Skill Rolls too DEX is a good thing

Re: Dr. Doom's other classic characteristics Probably Istvatha V'Han, IMO.

Blowfish avatar Yet he is no fish at all SCUBA Hero dives

It really depends on what you want for your world. If magic is very prominent, it might be fine to use MAN and MRC exactly like END and REC, making spellcasting no more tiring than any "normal" kind of exertion. If magic is not that prominent, then you might go with a smaller MRC and/or MAN, or you might have MAN recover like Long-Term END Loss instead of normal END. If magic is very rare or restricted, you might even have MAN recover like BODY. It's all a matter of taste.

Fantasy Hero Companion II for 4th Edition HERO System introduced the optional Characteristics of Mana (MAN) and Mana Recovery (MRC). MAN was based on EGOx2 (analogous to END and its interaction with CON) and MRC was based on INT/5 + EGO/5 (analogous to REC and its interaction with STR and CON). I've used it in FH games, and it seems to work fine.

There's a guy named Chainsaw in High Tech Enemies...

To an extent, I think it depends on the feel you're going for. For example (and I realize this isn't applicable to FH), if you were running a Star Trek game where the PCs were Starfleet officers and Starfleet Academy grads, the Package Deals might be very large. Starfleet training encompasses a lot of Skills, and for new characters in such a game, it's entirely possible that such packages might constitute half their total points or more. This is an extreme example, though... most packages would be much smaller in scope.

No problemo. I always thought The Zodiac Conspiracy had a great concept that was shot in the foot by so many errors in the execution. Maybe at some point, I'll ping the PTB and see if I can get permission to completely rework the characters for H5E and post 'em on my web site or something...

In 5E, you don't increase the maxima. The maxima always stay at 20. (In the standard rules, that is... you could always apply house rules if you like.) In 5E, you build racial packages by increasing the base value. So, for example, if you want Half-Giant as a race, you need to decide what you want their average STR to be and (if necessary) add or subtract that much STR from the package deal. Let's say you want the average Half-Giant to have a STR of 18. You put "+8 STR" in the package deal for 8 points, and all Half-Giants now start with 18 STR instead of 10 STR, and raise it or sell it back from that point. However, they still start paying double cost for STR once it reaches 20. Yes, this would mean that a Half-Giant could only buy two points of STR before bumping into the double-cost rule. The reason this changed in 5E is that the old 4th Ed. way was unfair. It charged you points for being able to exceed a certain value, even if you were actually nowhere near that value. If you read the 4th Ed. rules on this, you'll see that a 30 STR character with increased char maxima that allow a 30 STR with no cost doubling, and character with no such change that had to pay double points for their STR from 20 to 30, actually end up spending exactly the same amount of points for STR! And if the Half-Giant (or whatever) didn't buy his STR up to 30, then he ended up spending points for something he didn't have! And this whole system didn't make the average Half-Giant any stronger than the average human. The 5th Ed. way is much better.

If a character is Stunned, any non-Persistent Powers shut off at the end of the Segment. Does this also hold true when a Limitation suddenly comes into play, or would the Power shut off immediately upon being exposed to the Limitation conditions? For example, your Force Field doesn't work in intense radiation and you're suddenly exposed to intense radiation. Does the Force Field shut off immediately or at the end of the Segment? (Or something else?) Thanks!

Well, it's got to be at least -3/4, because -1/2 would be the Lockout Limitation on his own Movement Powers, then on top of that it also turns off if someone else moves him. I'd make it -1.

The rules FAQ currently has this item: How active does a Power have to be in order to qualify as "working" while unconscious? Does it have to be something that's in active use while the character is unconscious (like Regeneration), or can it be something that's just available for use if needed while unconscious (like Damage Reduction)? Thanks!

Eyes are burning now Fingers type at lessened speed Off to bed for me

No rules lawyer I Brian Van Hoose I am not Just my avatar

Up since twelve A.M. My brain is getting punchy Haiku flowing now