Steve Long

To determine the “Active Points” in an attack involving a thrown object for purposes of Reflection, determine how many d6 of damage the object can do (accounting for both its durability and the STR of the character throwing it), and multiply by 5 (in other words, the same as a Blast of equal damage). If that doesn’t seem accurate given the situation, the GM is free to adjust the Active Point total to suit the circumstances. So in your example, the telephone pole has “50 Active Points” for Reflection purposes.

First, just FYI, "most of you" (i.e., the rest of the people who post on this board) can't answer here -- we restricted this forum to answers from only me to keep things clear and easy to follow. So, if you want to ask questions of the board as a whole, or start a conversation about some aspect of the rules (both of which can be helpful and fun), please post in HERO System Discussion instead. Anyhow, the answer is: because you can only allocate Multipower reserve points up to the maximum that you've bought for a given slot. If a slot is only Blast 1d6, then the most you can allocate is 5 points -- the cost of 1d6. Even if the reserve has, say, 60 points, you can't allocate all 60 to a Blast 1d6 slot. To allocate all 60 to a Blast slot, it has to be Blast 12d6. Thanks for giving the HERO System a try, and I hope you enjoy it for many years to come!

1. No, the special effect doesn't cover the game effect -- just the opposite. Things don't come for free like that in the HERO System. You have to pay for anything your character can do (or anything the GM makes you pay for -- different GMs often tweak the rules to suit themselves or their campaigns), based on what the special effect of a power or ability dictates. This ensures, as close as possible, that all characters are equally effective and that no one is getting a useful ability "for free." 2. I'm sorry, but I don't answer game design/philosophy questions like that.

The default answer, as you say, would be Clinging UAA. A simpler answer would be to add an Advantage to Entangle, let’s call it Adhering (since Sticky’s already taken), that would accomplish this. I don’t want to sit down and stat it out now, but I’ll put it in my list of things to include in the next Advanced Player’s Guide.

I'd have to really think about that to give a firm answer, but off the top of my head and without much coffee yet, probably +1. But it would depend, in part, on how common unnatural methods of healing (e.g., spells, potions) are in the campaign setting. In some settings that's almost no advantage at all, because there's so little magical healing; in others it could be lethal.

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. Yes, that attack works against objects. They, after all, have a DCV. She's just targeting the physical (psychokinetic, in this case) effect mentally. If an attack is bought with ACV so that it works against DMCV rather than DCV, then typically a character can only use that attack against things that have a DMCV, such as people, animals, AIs, and so on. If the GM wants to allow the attack to work against objects, then he should define what the object’s DMCV is.

The rules do not allow for that -- but as you say, the GM can.

If a character with a Damage Shield has Grabbed someone, that character takes damage from the Shield in the Phase when he's Grabbed, and on every one of the Grabbing character's Phases thereafter (until, of course, he breaks free).

It's described in The HERO System Advanced Player's Guide.

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. No. But that might make an intersting idea for a new Autofire Skill in a future APG. Thanks for suggesting it!

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. For the sake of simplicity if nothing else, if a character has to touch a Sticky (+½) Entangle to destroy it and thus free the Entangled character, destroying the Entangle means it does not affect him either. (Though as GM, I would probably inject a little humor by making the sticky stuff keep adhering to his hands and causing him problems, as in the scene with Orlando Jones and the Stickum in the movie The Replacements. )

Yes, a character can buy Lightning Reflexes with movement -- I think there may be one or two published speedster types who did that, though I can't recall any specific names. Your hypothetical lists the order of actions correctly.

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. When a character uses Flight, Usable As Attack, to slam a target into a wall or other solid object, treat it like Uncontrolled movement which results in a Crash (see The Ultimate Speedster). In other words, the target takes damage as if he performed a Move Through on the object with STR 0 — so, velocity/6 in d6 of Normal Damage. The maximum dice of damage equals the PD+BODY of the object crashed into.

I'm not sure what's going on here. I answered this question weeks ago, but for some reason the answer's not showing up. So let's try this again. I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. Generally I don’t answer how-to type questions, but in this case there might be some rules benefit so I’ll make an exception. 1. I would certainly build this as a Blast with a Linked Drain, the Drain having some sort of Required Roll to indicate a “percent chance to affect target.” But other GMs and players might prefer other ways to achieve the effect. 2. This isn’t really a Linked situation, and it doesn’t seem like a Unified Power to me either. I would build the attack and the Healing separately, with a successful attack Triggering the Healing. That way there’s no problem with the fact that the targets of the two separate effects are themselves distinct, and possibly a long way from each other. 3. I’m not an expert on the mechanics of the Pokemon Universe, but the approach you suggest seems overly complicated to me. I’d just build it as EDM, UAA, with the defined “does not work” condition being some sort of Required Roll that indicates whether the pokemon manages to break out. The pokemon’s level of power, and specific abilities, might modify the roll. (This is a tad cludgy, since typically you can’t base “does not work” conditions on a roll, but it works OK for a Pokemon Hero campaign where the attack can’t be used against ordinary characters.)

Here's the official word from the rulebook: So, the Pool dictates how many gadgets your character could have at any one time, as measured in Real Points. He could potentially have thousands and thousands of gadgets in his arsenal/supply room/secret lair, or what have you, but the Pool restricts how many he has available for use at any one time. The Control Cost has nothing to do with this; he cannot have 120 points' worth of gadgets at a time. The Control Cost dictates how powerful the gadgets your character uses can be in Active Points. In your example it's a 60-point limit. So he could have a Blaster Pistol that does Blast 12d6 (60 Active Points), but not one that does Blast 13d6 (65 Active Points). I don't think you're past left field -- sounds to me like you've grasped most of the basics. If you have any other questions after reading this answer, please post a follow-up. Welcome to Hero!

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. He has to buy them for each Martial Maneuver.

See 6E1 135. If a GM wants to allow this anyway, he can come up with rules for what happens.

That's all up to the GM, who hopefully has a pretty good head on his shoulders himself.

No they cannot, unless the GM permits it. Skills are a Special Power, and characters are not allowed to buy Special Powers in Power Frameworks. But of course, many GMs might be willing to allow it anyway in certain circumstances.

Good question! I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. The BODY gained or lost from an Adjustment Power alters the point at which a character dies from reaching negative BODY. So an Aid that increases a character’s BODY from 10 to 16 changes the point at which he dies from -10 BODY to -16 BODY. If the fading of the Aid changes his “death threshold” to a point where he would die (for example, the Aid fades to 11 BODY, and he’s already at -13 BODY), he immediately dies. Similarly, if a Drain BODY reduces a character’s BODY from 10 to 5, he dies at -5 BODY, but the return of Drained points gradually increases that back to -10.

Yes, you've calculated things correctly. You're not "double-dipping" because it's two separate things -- one a Drain, the other a high Effect Roll -- that have negatively affected the EGO Roll.

Standard rounding rules apply -- in favor of the character being attacked. So 4 rPD.

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. 1. See 6E1 158. 2. The rules don’t establish a minimum travel distance for FTL (or any other Movement Power), so this is a question best left to the GM. And don’t forget that the rules strictly forbid using FTL Travel in an atmosphere.

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. As noted on 6E2 199, wielding weapons built as Equipment costs END based on the STR used to wield them. A character using Multiple Attack (6E2 73) or Autofire (6E1 327) has to pay END/Charges for each “shot” taken, and the STR rules specifically note that this applies to “STR-based attacks” such as Autofire HA or a Multiple Attack (6E1 41). Thus, a character firing a gun (to use your example) using Multiple Attack or Autofire in a campaign where he’s using weapons obtained as Equipment would pay END for the STR used for each shot. (Though of course the GM’s free to change that if he prefers some other method.) “STR-based attack” isn’t a term of art; it’s really just shorthand for “any attack involving STR, or to which STR adds damage.” I’ll leave it up to the wisdom of the GM to define whether a given attack is “STR-based” for his campaign.

Unfortunately I don't have easy access to my books right now, so I can't give you an exact page reference in 6E Vol. 1, but yes such things are allowed and discussed in the rules. I believe that part of the book will answer all your questions; if you're still unclear after reviewing it, please post a follow-up.