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So a few friends and myself decided that we wanted to start a superhero rpg and I am to be the GM. I came across Champions Complete and felt that this would be a good game to play, and then I started reading. I'm having a lot of trouble understanding and grasping the game, I don't know where to begin with the questions. Character Creation - I understand that a person is given an x amount of CP, and everything is bought using them, but beyond that I'm lost. Building Attacks - There is no limitation to the kinds of attacks you can make, but the vastness of it confuses me. For example, if I was creating a character like The Flash how would I make a "Lightning Toss" attack? Combat - So based on the character's speed (Base is 2), that's how often they go in a turn and a turn consists of 12 segments. Is there a limit to what you can do during your phase? For example, in DnD you can make 1 move action and 1 attack action along with a bonus action and a free action, but not two moves along with an attack action and a bonus and free action. Is it similar here? Any and all help is much appreciated. I'm sure my questions have been asked before and they'll be asked again so apologies! If having a reference for a hero helps, a player wants to be a speedster similar to The Flash. In you explanation if you could use a speedster that would be extremely helpful (the starting CP for my characters is 300 and 60 for complications).

I'm in the (very slow) process of designing a setting for Fantasy Hero and one of the things I'm including is different fighting styles for different regions. For instance, a traditional early middle ages land might have warriors wearing chain armor or the equivalent and trained mostly in sword and shield, while another region might have developed a fighting style based on lighter armor and using a long weapon in the primary hand and a shorter one in the off hand and so on. The issue I'm facing is that I've always disliked how HERO automatically uses martial maneuvers to build fighting styles. I think it works fine for "traditional" martial arts but for something like a sword and shield style I've always wondered why not just buy bonuses to the regular combat maneuvers along with designing things like a "shield bash" attack. Other than the martial maneuvers giving a cost break, combining several bonuses (and sometimes a penalty) to a single maneuver and allowing the purchase of damage classes, all of which result in a lower cost than buying all of those individually, I don't see a compelling reason for me not to design the styles without using Martial Maneuvers. For instance a character might buy +3 OCV Only to Block with Sword or the like. So am I right? Does doing it my way mean the ability to create more customization by modifying existing maneuvers with the only drawback being that it costs more points? Thoughts? Comments? Observations? Thanks.

So I'm probably going to run another fantasy campaign in the near future. Frankly I find all the hand-waving that does things like giving characters the ability to use magic by buying a Skill or three, plus reducing the cost of spells like some kind of equipment thing, really arbitrary and terrible. You might as well not use the Hero System at all at that point. So rather than giving those who are able to use magic some kind of big, arbitrary Character Point subsidies, I'm thinking of doing the opposite: make characters buy the ability to use weapons, armor, and shields. This means I am also fundamentally changing how weapons work. Honestly I think it's more in line with the philosophy of the system. Rather than somehow embodying the actual Attack Powers, weapons simply become a necessary focus (and special effects) for using them (and limit the amount of your Attack Power you can use), although there's a little tweaking in that they can add some e.g. Advantages and instead of buying the base Attack Power with some kind of Variable Advantage, I essentially just apply the weapon Advantage to the Attack Power in reverse (e.g. change the number of points per DC). So I guess you could say some weapons include Naked Advantages of a sort. This could also apply to non-fantasy genres; it's just not what I'm really focused on at the moment. To make this somewhat simpler for my players (who are not very familiar with Hero and don't want to "do a lot of math" and all that) I am also introducing Damage Points, which are basically the Base Points you would spend on the Attack Power or on Str (5 Damage Points per DC for an unadvantaged attack). It just makes it easier (IMO) to say 5 DPs normally equate to 1 DC, but more can be required based on the type of weapon. Anyway, the attachments (rules document and tables) are what all of this looks like so far. Feedback welcome. You all have permission to use, modify, and redistribute the contents according to CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 * Rules: fantasyRulesForSemiHeroicCombatAbilityPurchase_v1.0_1.pdf * Tables: fantasyRulesForSemiHeroicCombatAbilityPurchase_v1.0_2.pdf

Howto? Combat Stress mechanics? Fear & Panic. I was wondering if anyone has mechanics for Combat Stress mechanics? Fear & Panic for PCs and NPCs. I was thinking that combat(and deadly situations) is simply a Presence attack from the environment that affects everyone in the situation. I'd guess certain areas of the combat zone have AoE Presence attacks, the closer you are, the more dice against you. Say someone gets killed 10 hexes from you, that'd be more intense if he was in the adjacent hex. I'd add modifies based off how the death is perceived by the viewer. i.e. -50% reduction for enemy deaths. Presence Defense would be very helpful with these rules. These are just some random thoughts since combat is a lot about fear. Thanks!

I have an idea I want to pursue in the coming months as I have time (and others should contribute as they think of battles as well) in which I break down a classic TV or movie fight scene in Hero terms. The first one I want to do is the final confrontation in Unforgiven where Sheriff "Little" Bill Daggett dies. Some of them are so long or complicated they're really tough to pull off in a description for a game, but there are a lot of great ones. Like the lobby scene in The Matrix or final battle between Bolo Yeung and Jean Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport. What are some other film scenes that would be fun or interesting to do?

I know, I know. Awesome, right? Cool! But what are the defining traits that lead to that experience? Comparisons to other systems are useful, so long as they're not super-pejorative. Like, D&D 4th is slow, tactical, and greatly rewards coordination between one side of a conflict - a lot of its Big Cool Stuff is synergy-based. Or not! Someone who really likes D&D 4th (full disclosure: I'm not that guy) could probably describe it better. So what is HERO combat like? It seems to be a big part of many people's games - what makes it unique? How does it flow? What's the pace like? Most importantly, what does it look like when it's running well? Thanks!

I have been mulling over some sport activities that are not directly covered in the combat system (off and on) for a decade or so. This rather surprises me on some levels because I have little interest in sports. It could be because, as a rules lawyer at heart, I gravitated to an untouched part of the system. Apologies for any omissions and out of date statements. I have unfortunately not updated my own library beyond the 4E (BBB). Even sadder, I have not played in a campaign in many years. Here is what I have for hitting a pitched baseball with a bat: The pitcher naturally throws the ball using standard throwing rules. He aims not for that batter but for the Strike Zone (4 DCV since it is smaller than a hex. Maybe more if the batter is short or something) For batting, I have created an Everyman version of Missile Deflection: 'Harmless', hand-thrown objects may be deflected using an OCV roll verses the Attacker's Modified OCV (As modified by the attacker's roll) The pitcher (with OCV 3) rolls a 9 The batter must roll a 12 or less to hit the ball. {11 -1 (for Strike Zone size) +2 (11-9) } I feel that Everyman Missile Deflection is the core skill of any ball game in the Hero System and I would not be surprised if I am not the only one to think of it. However, I have never seen it discussed in these forums before now. I realize that "Harmless" is a relative word and hope that any common sense GM can figure out what objects a normal human can catch/deflect. The hard part was what happens after the batter hits the ball! We know that in the real world, that batters can aim the deflection of the ball. Keeping it between the baselines is more important than the distance the ball goes. There are also legends of the greats being very accurate with their aim, up to and including Babe Ruth's "Called Shot". Once the batter has hit the ball, his player calls a hex on the field and rolls to hit it (DCV 3 and modifying for range, of course). Playing around with this I found it easier to have him call the peak of the arc rather than where the ball will land. (The ball travels in an arc up from the bat over the field and then down again as gravity retakes hold ) So the player call a hex on the field and the height of the hex that he is aiming for. If he misses that hex a scatter shot rule takes effect (1d6 to choose direction of the miss. Hex hit is (actual roll-roll needed) hexes away from the target hex. It is from this hex that the ball arcs down again, following a trajectory similar to the one that got it to the target hex. Distance would depend on the "Damage" done from the bat hitting the ball (I.E. Knockback) but I don't recall if I ever worked that out completely. I do recall that the knockback of the hit would be added to the speed of the ball from before the hit as it changes direction. Then, of course a fielder attempts to catch it.....etc Comments and critiques are invited!

Hello, just a quick clarification for Two weapon fighting. Using this skill in a multiple attack while holding and using two weapons, means that you get the cumulative -2 OCV penalty starting counting from the third attack instead from the second? For example in a multiple attack, using two weapons, without TWF to attack 4 times you get a -6 OCV in all your attacks(-2 x 3 attacks after the first) using the TWF for 4 attacks you would get -4 OCV to all your attacks (-2 x 2 attacks after the second) right? Thank you in advance!!!

I am preparing to run a Play by Post (PBP) campaign using 6th edition. I am looking to make combat run as smoothly as possible, and especially as quickly as possible; with respect to Speed. Factors to consider: 1) Most players check the site no more than once per day, thus if combat begins - and players have more than a speed of 1 - they will likely only manage to type-out/roll a single action (phase) at a time. 2) I don't want to get too ham-fisted about restrictions, although I am limiting speed to 4 - I don't want to get any tighter than that. 3) I intend for there to be between 4-6 PCs. 4) I am sure that there are others, I just went brain-dead.

Hi, I'm new here, recently got the MHI rulebook and I'm going to start running an MHI campaign in about 2 weeks. So my friends are character building and one asked some questions I was wondering how to answer. We've all done D&D and other RPGs for years but have no prior experience wtih HERO. What he asked is: "Machine guns are included in unusual modern weapon familiarity but all require strength 14+ to use. I don't see Chuck walking around with a PARA but I'd like him to be able to use a turret or tripod mounted weapon should the need arise. Would he still need a strength 14 if he doesn't have to lift the gun? Likewise, could he at least help crew a multiperson weapon without strength 14? Ammo boxes are heavy but he could fire, feed the belt, or something." "Martial arts with a gun: The book lists rifle butt as reach(m) but bayonet as reach(s). Is that reach with the bayonet when it's not attached? Shouldn't the back end and front end of the rifle have the same reach? The shotgun butt to the face scene in pulp fiction makes me think that perhaps rifle butt should be reach(s) and bayonet reach(m). I have no problem using the rules as written for simplicity and balance reasons I'm just saying...bwha?" It looks like a great system and I'm looking forward to trying it, I'm glad to see it looks like a supportive community. Thanks, ~Andrew