Tips on my First Character

[Collie]

Well, here's my first post in the forums. I've searched around, but I haven't really found a thread of like..."things I wish I knew before I made my first character and found out they were completely inept at everything".

 

This will be my first character using the system, and I know in every system there's a right way to make a character, and a way to make a character that will inevitably leave you wondering what you were thinking. I'd like to try to avoid that. That said, I'm creating a character for a criminal justice based campaign. Hunter the super villain fugitives and bring them to justice. It'll be done on 350pts with the character guidelines found on page 28 for a "standard" superhero.

 

The character I'm looking at making is a Power-suitesque character, although more "ninja sleek bodysuit" then "2 ton walking weapons platform". Obviously the suit will still provide armor and what not, but I'd like to base it more around stealth, recon, and mobility than brute force. I'd like it to be the kind of character that gets the job done by finding the target, getting their stealthy, drilling them when they're not expecting it, and getting out. I imagine invisibility, some armor, leaping, running, some stat enhancing (although speed and mobility over strength), some classic vision enhancing things (IR, night vision), maybe a smoke screen or a darkness projection? For a weapon they'd have what is essentially a laser boomerang (really just a fancy energy attack, maybe it could hit multiple targets if needed though) that can be "straightened" out using special gloves into a laser sword type object if the character needs to fight hand to hand. The other thing I thought of was a laser whip for hand to hand, just because it sounds neat. They should probably have some kind of trump card, but I haven't figured out what yet.

 

Are there any tips, suggestions, or particular numeric values I should shoot for that you all could tell me? Certain Hand-to-hand or energy blast damage values? Certain multipower or elemental control thingies I should be using? Certain speeds, defensive or offensive values I should shoot for with this character build point value? Anything I should particularly stay away from doing, lest I cry myself a river for my character's failures?

 

I've read through the 5th edition rulebook, but it's turned my brain mostly into mush with it's encompassing power and the advanced algebra required when spending points, haha.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm asking this of you all so that my first character can be somewhat competant instead of a second rate mish-mash of stuff that ends up being unable to hit an opponent of similar power level or what have you.

 

Thanks for any information/suggestions/tips/hints guys, I owe you.

[Kenn]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

There are no polynomial equations in the Hero System. Seriously, the algebra IS algebra, but it isn't advanced.

 

Has your game master given you any guidelines? How many points are characters to be? Active Point or Damage Class caps?

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

If at all possible, take a look at the Champions sourcebook and the included team of the same name. Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel try tweaking 'Defender' from that book.

 

If you don't have access to that book there are several power armor character writeup examples on the boards as well as members own websites that can be used as inspiration.

[Vulcan]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

First off, you'll want to decide a few things about that bodysuit. Namely, OIF, IIF, or OIHID.

 

OIF - Obvious, Inaccessable Focus - gives you the biggest limitation, allowing you to pack more stuff onto your character. But it does come with a price: It is obvious that the powers derive from the suit. SO if you get taken down, someone will know to strip the suit of you and deprive you of it's powers.

 

IIF - Inobvious, Inaccessable Focus - gives you less of a limitation. But it also hides the origin of the power, so people don't know if it is the suit or if it is you. However, you have to define a way for someone to figure it out (or a sense that can detect it), at which point someone who figures out it's a focus will (once again) know to strip you down.

 

OIHID - Only In Hero ID - can be used to simulate a focus to an extent. Case in point: Thor's hammer seems to be a focus for his powers at first glance. BUT it returns to him on command, and no one else can pick it up, so it can't be truly disarmed. That makes it OIHID. Going this route doesn't save you any points over IIF, but means that once you're in the suit, the opposition cannot just strip you out of it. That means to make you pay for it (and that's the down side of any limitation; the GM will make you pay for it sooner or later) the GM has to find ways to make it hard for you to get into Hero ID in the first place.

 

For the build you're desctibing, I would probably go IIF, but it's a matter of personal taste as much as anything.

[ThothAmon]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Kenn has given you character design 101 i.e. talk to your GM to discover what is going on. And as Hyper-Man says, grepping other character builds is a good starting point for your own.

 

My first tip is a little bit of double-think i.e. decide what personality and traits define the character, who he is in the world, who are his nearest-and-dearest, what was he like prior to be coming a super. And do all this before you build.

 

When it gets down to nitty-gritty, you probably want to be working around certain 'average' values that suit the campaign. In our campaign a normal with power armour who wants to be useful out of armour would usually have stats in the following ranges before augmentations:

 

STR 15

DEX 18-20

CON 18

INT 13-18

PRE 15

PD 4

ED 4

SPD 4

 

Powers-wise you should probably have a look at the sections on Multipowers as that might be appropriate to your weaponised approach (ranged, HTH, darkness).

 

As for the rest, it's a big, varied world. Welcome

[pinecone]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Well, here's my first post in the forums. I've searched around, but I haven't really found a thread of like..."things I wish I knew before I made my first character and found out they were completely inept at everything".

 

This will be my first character using the system, and I know in every system there's a right way to make a character, and a way to make a character that will inevitably leave you wondering what you were thinking. I'd like to try to avoid that. That said, I'm creating a character for a criminal justice based campaign. Hunter the super villain fugitives and bring them to justice. It'll be done on 350pts with the character guidelines found on page 28 for a "standard" superhero.

 

The character I'm looking at making is a Power-suitesque character, although more "ninja sleek bodysuit" then "2 ton walking weapons platform". Obviously the suit will still provide armor and what not, but I'd like to base it more around stealth, recon, and mobility than brute force. I'd like it to be the kind of character that gets the job done by finding the target, getting their stealthy, drilling them when they're not expecting it, and getting out. I imagine invisibility, some armor, leaping, running, some stat enhancing (although speed and mobility over strength), some classic vision enhancing things (IR, night vision), maybe a smoke screen or a darkness projection? For a weapon they'd have what is essentially a laser boomerang (really just a fancy energy attack, maybe it could hit multiple targets if needed though) that can be "straightened" out using special gloves into a laser sword type object if the character needs to fight hand to hand. The other thing I thought of was a laser whip for hand to hand, just because it sounds neat. They should probably have some kind of trump card, but I haven't figured out what yet.

 

Are there any tips, suggestions, or particular numeric values I should shoot for that you all could tell me? Certain Hand-to-hand or energy blast damage values? Certain multipower or elemental control thingies I should be using? Certain speeds, defensive or offensive values I should shoot for with this character build point value? Anything I should particularly stay away from doing, lest I cry myself a river for my character's failures?

 

I've read through the 5th edition rulebook, but it's turned my brain mostly into mush with it's encompassing power and the advanced algebra required when spending points, haha.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm asking this of you all so that my first character can be somewhat competant instead of a second rate mish-mash of stuff that ends up being unable to hit an opponent of similar power level or what have you.

 

Thanks for any information/suggestions/tips/hints guys, I owe you.

 

The only "equation" I have to offer is Con+ Def>= Avg dam.

 

If you are real hard to hit = is "OK" other wise your Con, plus Def should exceed the game average. Otherwise you spend all your time recovering from "stun". Nothing takes the fun out like losing lots of phases....

[Collie]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

There are no polynomial equations in the Hero System. Seriously' date=' the algebra IS algebra, but it isn't advanced.[/quote']

 

I said that as a joke.

 

Has your game master given you any guidelines? How many points are characters to be? Active Point or Damage Class caps?

 

Like I said in my first post " It'll be done on 350pts with the character guidelines found on page 28 for a "standard" superhero." We're following the DC and what have you exactly as described in the book. The reason I was asking was because at the "Standard" Superhero level there's a HUGE range in pretty much everything. Like a DC of 6-14, or a CV of 7-13. It gives me an idea, but from what I've found suggestions from source material aren't always good ideas. Like a CV of 7 for a character like I'm describing might be a terrible idea, I dunno.

 

I'll see if I can throw something together to give you some stats to actually look at though.

 

Edit: Also...

 

The only "equation" I have to offer is Con+ Def>= Avg dam.

 

If you are real hard to hit = is "OK" other wise your Con, plus Def should exceed the game average. Otherwise you spend all your time recovering from "stun". Nothing takes the fun out like losing lots of phases....

 

Those kind of tips are exactly what I was looking for.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

An approach I often take when playing a new system for the first time is to try being 2nd best at everything. Most GM's wont notice and you'll slip under their radar as not being egregious in anyway, and while you wont shine as much as a dedicated character at any particular thing, you will always be able to do SOMETHING. In the end, if you do it right, not only will your character be solid and your options nice and open, but you will also be in a great place to get a taste of how a lot of things work all at once, decide which you like, and start pumping XP into.

 

In fact, its safe to say that in general in a point based system its better to start off wide and generalist vs narrow and specialized unless you know exactly what you want to do and want to be really really good at it. This is because its easy to justify getting better at something you already know how to do, and not so easy to either save up enough XP to buy a new ability at a level worth having or to convince a GM to allow you to move into a new area if its not a good conceptual fit.

[mirage]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

There are no polynomial equations in the Hero System. Seriously, the algebra IS algebra, but it isn't advanced.

I said that as a joke.

 

 

What's wrong with polynomial equations, they just reduce to a little linear algebra?

 

Normalize the equations.

Slap them into a matrix.

Diagonalize the matrix.

And done.

 

[Guest Admiral C]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Well' date=' here's my first post in the forums. I've searched around, but I haven't really found a thread of like..."things I wish I knew before I made my first character and found out they were completely inept at everything"..[/quote']

 

Well wlecome to the boards. They gave me some rep when I got started so I pass the favor onto you.

 

Are there any tips, suggestions, or particular numeric values I should shoot for that you all could tell me? Certain Hand-to-hand or energy blast damage values? Certain multipower or elemental control thingies I should be using? Certain speeds, defensive or offensive values I should shoot for with this character build point value? Anything I should particularly stay away from doing, lest I cry myself a river for my character's failures?

 

I can't tell you about how to build a character down to the final numbers but these are a couple of things you will find out when your building and things you should know.

 

1) Unless your targeting to avoid this or have a concept that is stat light you'll end up spending about 2/3 of your character points on characteristics. Don't worry about iit and just trim when you're done.

 

2) Find out what the max OCV is and buy it for your primary attack. Your design might lack but you'll hit.

 

3) Max out your primary attack in terms of points. That means not only will you hit often, you will hit hard. This attack should generally be a normal damage atack unless you intend to kill with it, even then check with you GM to see if that's ok. You don't want the players all over you for leaving a trail of bodies laying around.

 

4) Your PD and ED should be the same value. This saves you a little bit of time that adds up.

 

5) Your defenses should be high enough to absorb your own attack on average roll 3-4 times before being knocked unconcious. Ideally none of these attacks (except the high ones) should be able to stun you.

 

6) For a super ninja-ish type no less than a 21 DEX and a 4 SPD.

 

7) You leap 1" for every five inches of Strength, if you do become super strong make sure your running inches is larger than your jumping inches in strength. It looks odd in game play to jump everywhere as your primary mode of transport unless that's your concept.

 

8) Make all of your defenses resistant. It may not fit exactly wiht your concept but it cuts down on the numbers you ave to juggle.

 

9) When your done you should have 1 good defense power (armor or force field) one good attack, one good sense, and one good movement power.

 

10) And this is the most important, don't be afraid to ask the GM to let you do a little re-editing when you've finished your first session. You might find everyone is flying and you need a good range attack. You might find you can't locate everyone because of images, invisibility, teleportation, etc.

 

Hope this helps and you can always post your character here for criticing.

[Collie]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Here's a character sheet I've come up with, it's very similar to the Defender since it seemed to be an excellent basis. Please critique and remember, it's my first character ever. Like I said, the idea of this powersuit is more like a special skin-tight bodysuit rather than a bulky metal chassis. The technology given to the character is known as the "G.A.T.E." technology (Gravitational Alteration Territory Equipment) which by causing fluctuation in gravity (both in strength and direction) gives the character several abilities. The suit itself increases her movement, her ability to jump, her reactionary speed, provides some basic protection and has several other capabilities. It constantly projects a field which rejects all highly accelerated incoming matter and energy, providing a strong defense. The suit itself contains a large power source which converts gravitational potential energy into usable energy. The crown jewel of the G.A.T.E. system is the Field Manipulator, which allows the precise and intense generation of a gravitational field in order to cause a wormhole, allowing the user to teleport over 100 meters under correct conditions.

 

Along with the G.A.T.E. suit she possesses the G.A.T.E. Field Distorter, a thrown hand-held item resembling a boomerang which causes harmful gravitational field changes upon impact with a target. It can create enough gravitational force to make an opponent pass out, root them to the ground, hamper their movement, or even (if the system is stressed out enough) crush and kill. When not used it hooks into a thigh mounted compartment which charges it with energy. The final piece of equipment she carries is a pair of B.L.A.D.E.S. (bio-optic Low Amplitude Displayed Energy Systems), an item that appears very similar to a pair of wrap around sunglasses. This item has two settings, night vision and infrared.

 

In the end, I wanted the character to be a fast, agile, stealthy ninja-type person. Smart, skillful, tactical, and precise. She gets in, does what she needs to do, and gets out quickly, defending herself if she needs to. She has a movement power (teleportion), a deadly/subduing/restricting attack power including the ability to ricochet the boomerang off multiple people, she can decease the movement of her opponents giving her the upper hand or giving her a chance to get away with her dispelling ability, she has a decent defense, and she has some sense improvements. She can also run fast and leap like the ninjas of movie and comic book fame. I would have liked to include invisibility somehow, but she is mundanely very stealthy and I was out of points. I thought about including some martial arts maneuvers as it is a Ninja concept, but I'm not sure if they're necessary. The +1 in HTH combat is kind of her formal fighting training. I think her rdef is too high though since the character guideline says the max is 10...I believe. When not in the suit she's simply a very athletic highly trained Special Law Enforcement Agent. The perks were required for the campaign. Any suggestions?

 

Val Char Cost

15 STR 5

30 DEX 33

25 CON 10

12 BODY 4

18 INT 8

14 EGO 8

20 PRE 10

14 COM 2

 

3/18 PD 0

5/20 ED 0

8 SPD 0

8 REC 0

50 END 0

38 STUN 5

 

12" RUN 0

2" SWIM 0

11" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 85

 

Cost Power

2 BLADES: Nightvision: Nightvision (5 Active Points); OAF (-1)

2 BLADES: Infrared: Infrared Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); OAF (-1)

8 Running +6" (12" total) (12 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

5 Leaping +8" (11" forward, 5 1/2" upward) (8 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

20 Gate Generator: Endurance Reserve (150 END, 15 REC) (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

20 Gate Field Generator: Force Field (10 PD/10 ED), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

21 Gate Field Manipulator: Teleportation 13", x4 Noncombat (31 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

10 Gate Membrane: Armor (5 PD/5 ED) (15 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

18 +9 DEX (27 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

40 Gate Field Distorter: Multipower, 60-point reserve, (60 Active Points); all slots OIF (-1/2)

4u 1) Gate Field Distorter: Subdue: Energy Blast 12d6 (60 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

4u 2) Gate Field Distorter: Multi-Subdue: Energy Blast 8d6, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2) (60 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

2u 3) Gate Field Distorter: Destroy: Killing Attack - Ranged 4d6 (60 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x4 END; -1 1/2), Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), OIF (-1/2), Burnout (16; -1/4)

4u 4) Gate Field Distorter: Neutralize: Entangle 6d6, 6 DEF (60 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

4u 5) Gate Field Distorter: Restrict: Dispel 16d6, any [special effect] power one at a time (Movement; +1/4) (60 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

13 +10 CON (20 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

27 +4 SPD (40 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

Powers Cost: 204

 

 

Cost Skill

3 Criminology 13-

3 Deduction 13-

2 KS 11- Federal Criminal Law

2 KS 11- The Superhuman World

2 PS: Appraise 11-

3 Streetwise 13-

6 +2 with the Gate Field Distorter

5 +1 with HTH Combat

3 Computer Programming 13-

3 Electronics 13-

3 Systems Operation 13-

3 Tactics 13-

3 Tracking 13-

3 Acrobatics 15-

3 Stealth 15-

3 Shadowing 13-

Skills Cost: 50

 

Cost Perk

3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers

4 Fringe Benefit: Law Enforcement Rank

4 Fringe Benefit: Security Clearance

Perks Cost: 11

 

Disadvantages

 

I'll come up with -150

 

Total Character Cost: 350

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

[Vulcan]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Not bad at all.

 

I had to double-check the characteristics cost, your post made it look like the 30 DEX only cost 33 points but I realized that it was 21 DEX outside the armor (33 points as listed) and +9 in suit (listed separately). Same with CON and SPD. Had me confused for a moment but I worked through it.

 

For future posting though, you might want to try: "21 DEX 33 (+9 DEX OIF, see below)" to avoid future confusion.

 

Okay. Now for the bad news. 30 DEX and 8 SPD may be excessive for the concept you have in mind. The GM may ask you to bring it down a bit. Do not despair, because this can be a good thing. Spend a couple of those points on a HA option for the MP, then get a few more combat skill levels. You're a bit light there.

 

8-point Overall Combat levels are your friend.

[incrdbil]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Irecently posted a team with a character not far off the concept you wanted--power armorish ninja type.

 

Go here

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1712009#post1712009

 

The character to compare is Arsenal.

[Collie]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

I'll see if I can lower it a little. Speed just seems like an awesome thing to have, it appears to give you more actions, which is great in almost any gaming system known to mankind.

 

What's a "HA" option also? I don't know all of the acronyms of this system yet.

[CoreBrute]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Hand attack. I.e. Something that makes you better in hand to hand combat.

[Marcus]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

HA is short for "Hand to Hand Attack". It is built as a limited version of Strength, only to do damage, and is its own power.

 

It would give you the 'punch people' option in addition to the 'shoot people' option.

 

You've solid defenses, enough stun, a really impressive speed and dex, and a 12 dice attack. Depending on what your GM wants for the game, you MAY be more offensively effective than he has in mind (or maybe not-hard to say).

 

One thing to be aware of (or that, arguably, mitigates your current offensive powerhouse position) is your END issues. If you just stand and blast, you'll nearly empty your END reserve in one turn. Not necessarily a problem, for a stealthy sneak-in burst offense concept, and if you end up spending a fair amount of your actions blocking and dodging, it may not come up, but you will have to watch your END quite closely in game.

 

All in all, a well built first character. Welcome to the HERO system!

[Collie]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

The Gate Generator isn't enough to pay for the abilities?

 

20 Gate Generator: Endurance Reserve (150 END, 15 REC) (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

[Marcus]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

Apparently, your Gates Generator is also Invisible to Sight Group, -2 (Only Versus Marcus).

 

I had to look three times to see it after you TOLD me it was there.

 

Yeah, that should be plenty of END/Rec for most any situation.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Tips on my First Character

 

I'll see if I can lower it a little. Speed just seems like an awesome thing to have, it appears to give you more actions, which is great in almost any gaming system known to mankind.

 

More actions generally is better, but on the other hand if you consistently can't do anything effective with a given action or else the character is too weedy and wont survive to take all those actions then those 10 points would be better spent elsewhere. "Enough is as good as a feast".