Steve Long

He does 5d6. When the STR Minimum rules are in use, STR only adds to a weapon's damage to the extent it exceeds the Minimum, basically. In a Superheroic game the STR Minimum rules ordinarily aren't used, and so in this case the character would do 7d6. But if he imposes STR Minimum on his weapon as a Limitation, then he only does 5d6.

Arrrggh.... I've had to whip up enough custom magic systems (Finnish and Australian Aborigine, to name a couple that spring to mind) or written such extensive notes about magic in various cultures (Ainu, American Indian, Egyptian...) that I've vaguely considered extracting them into a separate mini-book. I don't really want to do that, though, since it would mean consulting some other book to make full use of MH. But after MH is done I may do it as a separate book, just to provide a resource for gamers who might want that information but not want to buy MH. Fortunately we've already got Chinese Magic and Voodoo in print, thus saving me considerable MH work.

I’m not sure I understand the question, so I’m going to restate it as part of my answer. If I don’t get it right, please post a follow-up. Q: If a character has an Endurance Reserve bought as a Focus (such as a battery or generator of some sort), if he’s separated from the Reserve can his powers still draw END from it? If so, what’s the “range” for the use of an Endurance Reserve. A: There are a couple of considerations here. First, Endurance Reserve as a power has a Range of “Self.” By a strict reading of the rules, a character must therefore keep his Endurance Reserve with him to use it at all. If it’s at a distance from him, he can’t use it at all. Second, the GM could choose to waive this rule in the interest of common sense, dramatic sense, or game balance. In that case, I’s up to him to establish rules for “Range” and whatnot. For example, maybe the character could draw on his Reserve at distances of up to 10m, but at decreased efficiency (he must spend 2 END from the Reserve to get 1 END to fuel his powers). However, regardless of any such GM ruling, if an Endurance Reserve is a Focus and the Focus is taken away from the character, he cannot draw END from it — that’s part of the Focus Limitation. He has to retain control over the Focus to make use of it.

That's a significant value for me as well. Again, it all gets back to "how do you have fun?" Some groups love learning new rules systems and tinkering around with them. And that's cool. But other groups don't like that, and therefore having one set of rules that easily does many things increases their fun. Also cool.

That's been my experience as well. In fact I think HERO's particularly well suited for many Fantasy games due to the tools it gives you for creating and customizing spells/magic systems, and to a lesser extent monsters. I also find its basis in "cinematic realism" great for genres like Pulp. But again, reasonable minds may differ. As long as we're all having fun, that's really all that matters.

That's certainly a potential point of complaint. But I think in 2015 it's easy to forget what a hassle it was back when each game had its own slightly tweaked version of the rules (assuming one was even playing HERO System back then). I remember the damn nuisance of the situation well, and it makes me twitch. As evils go, I find the evil you're describing, Chris, as very much the lesser. But reasonable minds may vary an' alla that.

Not specifically, but there are suggestions in the various genre books that such-and-such a game element might need to have a different cost in that particular genre (or at least some campaigns in that genre). That tends to be very much a GM's judgment thing, though, methinks.

Who says you can’t do both at once? For AVAD purposes, Resistant PD/ED is considered “Common.” As a subset of that, Rigid Resistant PD/ED probably counts as “Uncommon” — but as you say, that could vary between campaigns. In a Champions game where everyone wears “bulletproof spandex” or has defensive powers, RRPD/ED might be Rare; in a Dark Champions game where all the characters wear ceramic-reinforced body armor it might be Common. As shown on the character sheets in Champions Villains, in 6E every +2 Extra DCs add +1d6 to a Nerve Strike. This contrasts with earlier editions due to changes in the NND cost structure and Adding Damage rules, if memory serves — though it’s early on a Saturday and I haven’t had any coffee yet. And of course that involves my judgment as to the commonality of the defenses in the CU campaign setting. Technically speaking I suppose some of the rare Nerve Strike defenses discussed in HSMA might add at a different rate, but that may be complicating things more than necessary. So let’s consider that the standard, and to the extent other charater sheets differ because I missed something, just change ’em.

I swear there’s a rule for this somewhere, but I can’t find it and I don’t have time to keep looking. So let’s say it takes2 CSLs to add +1 DC to a Nerve Strike, unless the GM rules otherwise. That’s simpler and hopefully helps make Nerve Strike a more tactically viable option.

If a character has a group naked Advantage that could apply to either of two (or more) powers used simultaneously (typically as part of a Multiple Attack), unless the GM rules otherwise he may apply the naked Advantage to both (or all) powers. Example: Firefight has the group naked Advantage, “Armor Piercing (+¼) for any firearm built on up to 80 Active Points.” He normally applies this to his Energy Pistol (Blast 12d6), but during a fight he steals a Sonic Blaster (Blast 8d6) from a VIPER agent. He decides to go “two-gun mode” and fight with a pistol in each hand by making Multiple Attacks. Since his naked Advantage could apply to either power, he may use it with both pistols as part of the same Multiple Attack. Zap!

Hold on, folks, hold on. I sincerely appreciate the ideas and suggestions, but let's keep in mind how the Superhero Gallery works. There are no tables; there is no random rolling. I present options within an overall framework for a given character type, and the user chooses from those options. So, for example, I would envision an Elemental Form entry starting with the basic choice of form (f'rex, "60 points -- pick one Elemental Form" -- the options being generically defined, probably as something like Gaseous, Liquid, Semi-Liquid, Solid, Energy). Then you'd go on to pick appropriate Attack, Defense, Movement, and Secondary powers, as usual. If I can fit all this on two pages, I will. Otherwise I may split it into two types (e.g., Elemental Form I (Gaseous, Liquid, Semi-Liquid) and II (Solid, Energy)). We'll see how things work out.

In many ways that chapter's not a bad introduction to the subject, though it omits a lot of interesting gods and other cool stuff. And it gets some things wrong. Loviatar, for example, is not a beautiful, white-skinned, semi-topless-dress-wearing goddess of pain -- she's a hideous, dark-skinned, hag-like goddess of disease. And as usual, trying to shoehorn everything into the D&D magic system warps things. I ended up having to create a whole Finnish Magic system for the MH chapter on Finnish Mythology so the character sheets would suit me in terms of accuracy.

True, but keep in mind that the point of the article isn't to chart an in-depth history of the development of Champions 1E. It's really to look at the different design philosophies affecting HERO in the Eighties and Nineties and how those ultimately resolved. This will become much more apparent when the second blog, written primarily by me this time, delves into the Nineties and beyond.

100% agreed. After all, Finnish Mythology is the only one where ( a ) characters use crossbows, and ( b ) we are often informed of the color of the gods' socks. Fortunately I've dug up a good many so far -- Finnish, Slavic, Baltic, and Etruscan, to name four I've already written up. And there are several others I haven't gotten to yet that will hopefully pan out for full chapter treatment (or decent coverage in the Miscellaneous chapter; or if not in MH, then in Legendary Hero). Going a bit further afield, there's also Armenian and various mythoi from the Caucasus (which are fairly European-esque), and important but often overlooked faiths/deities from the Classical era, such as Mithras and Cybele. Lots of fun stuff to read, lots of research to do, lots of writing yet to come. Once I'm past chemo and have a bit more stamina on a daily basis, I'm getting back to MH with a vengeance.

There's just not enough in English. I'm not sure what the Hungarian sources are like. Some years ago a Hungarian fan offered to help me deal with the subject, and assuming I can still reach him at the same contact info when I'm ready to start on that chapter, I'll probably take him up on it. I've seen enough to know there's got to be something worth writing about out there. And I'm always eager to find more European mythologies that gamers are generally unaware of. They resonate with us culturally on some level, and I want readers to know there's more out there than Greek and Norse.

Ron Edwards, with a little help from myself, has written a blog post offering his (and my) perspective on the development of Champions/the HERO System in the Eighties that might interest some of you: Ron Edwards's Doctor Xaos blog I'm currently working on a follow-up guest blog post that continues the analysis on into the Nineties and beyond, a period Ron's less familiar with. Stay tuned for more fun -- and while you're at it, check out the rest of Ron's blog posts about comics (and sometimes gaming); they're well worth your time. (Naturally, anything said in this blog represents Ron's or my personal opinion, not any sort of official position of Hero Games. )

You buy the ability to raise or lower the Temperature Level or Wind Level separately. If you want to do both, apply the Varying Effect Advantage -- see 6E1 178, where the example for the Advantage references Temp Level. Now, all that being said, I can certainly see campaigns where the GM would be willing to include "raising" and "lowering" the temp or wind in a single purchase -- if for no other reason than to keep a character sheet simple to reference.

That's a bit of a tricky question, since sometimes it's difficult to determine where one pantheon ends and another begins! But that's part of the job, so here's what I've got currently: --34 pantheons significant enough that I think they'll merit their own full chapter in the book. (Though some of these, like African, American Indian, and Oceanic, cover multiple pantheons that are culturally similar, since most of them on their own aren't big enough or well documented enough to merit a full chapter. Where they are, as with Yoruban Mythology, they get said chapter.) And in one case, Celtic, I only count that as one pantheon even though I'm going to split it into four separate chapters due to the breadth of the topic (so that'd make 37, if you count them separately). --references to at least another 50 pantheons or gods worshipped by distinct peoples. Of course, as my research progresses, some supposedly major pantheons may get demoted to the Miscellaneous chapter due to lack of sufficient information, either in general or just in English (I'm lookin' at you, Hungarian Mythology). Similarly, if I find enough info on a supposedly minor pantheon in the Miscellaneous category, I will upgrade it to its own full chapter.

No; the better benefit (the two “Overall Levels”) replaces the +2 DCV (unless of course the GM prefers otherwise).

Hmmm. Idea for next Champions PC brewing....

OK, that's another idea for me to think about. Thanx!

I don’t think that’s ever been addressed, surprisingly. Here’s how that would work: 1. For each additional two manipulable limbs a character uses to Grab a target, increase the STR of the Grab by +5. (In some cases the GM might also extend this to certain non-manipulable limbs, such as an ordinary person using both his arms and his legs to restrain someone.) For each additional one manipulable limb, add +3 STR. 2. When a character with more than two manipulable limbs declares that he’s attempting a Grab, he may declare how many limbs he’s using. Using more than two doesn’t increase the time required to Grab or change the CV modifiers for the Maneuver. If a character has already established a Grab on a target and wants to apply additional limbs to strengthen the Grab, this requires a Half Phase Action but not an additional Attack Roll (unless the GM rules otherwise).

A couple of quick notes: --there will never, ever be any villain-specific options for any Superhero Gallery entry created by me. Look at the name: Superhero Gallery. As someone pointed out, it's dirt simple for you to make any changes you feel are needed to convert a character sheet into a villain; you don't need my help on that score IMO. --yes, the Complications Sets are pretty generic. They have to be -- Complications are much more character-specific and campaign-specific than powers and abilities. I prefer to keep them generic and easy to adapt rather than getting too specific. If I ever did a Gallery for a defined campaign setting (e.g., a Turakian Age Heroes Gallery for FH), then I can probably spice them up a bit. --I create the Gallery entries using the 6th Edition core rulebooks. I do not take into account any changes or deletions in HSRB or CC, nor do I use optional powers from the APGs (or at least I haven't yet; that may change when I get around to writing up the Cyberkinetic). But of course they're fully "compatible" with the easy-learning Hero books; if you see something you don't recognize, just change it to something else. --thanx for the suggestions for other character types! I already have a pretty long list, but you never know when someone may think of something that I think is worth adding. For example, aside from ones he suggested that I already had on my list, I think steriaca's "Elemental Body" and "Super-Agent" suggestions are both good ones. So as they say on TV, "Keep those cards and letters coming!". By my current count I have nearly 30 possible new entries. So that should give me plenty to fiddle around with -- once I see if the sales figures justify the work.

First, as noted on 6E1 352, the GM may forbid the setting of Triggered powers in a Power Framework and then shifting the reserve/pool points to something else. And in the case of this power, which involves placing a “Stop Sign” Advantage on a “Caution Sign” Power, there’s probably greater than normal cause for GM concern. Just something to keep in mind. The rules on 6E1 352 note that both Advantages allow a power in a Framework to be activated, and then the Framework can be switched to some other slot without de-activating the Triggered/Uncontrollable power. So once a character activated this power, he could then shift the Framework to something else. Personally, as a GM I probably wouldn’t allow this absent a good justification; at first glance it seems like a potentially abusive use of the rules. But I can think of situations where I might allow it, and of course each GM has to make up his own mind for his own campaign. If that doesn't fully answer your question, please post a follow-up.

I had totally forgotten about it after something (I can't even remember what) interrupted my working on it. Recently, with chemo causing me to take so many naps, I've been looking for "small" projects to work on, and I remembered it.