Steve Long

That information's not listed under Automaton Powers, but under the text describing Automatons in general on 6E2 182: "First, since an Automaton isn’t really a sentient, living being, it automatically has a 0 EGO and is immune to all Mental Powers. An Automaton cannot make EGO Rolls and doesn’t have the ability to make its own decisions." Also remember that there are lots of ways to represent "feels no pain" in HERO System terms. (For example, personally I probably wouldn't use Automaton Powers for most, if not all, of the monsters/villains you mention.) That would be a great topic for the Discussion board, if you haven't started one there already.

It's a term used regarding the way some types of spells function in FH magic systems. In 5E it was a distinct Advantage; in 6E it's a form of the Time Limit Power Modifier. See 6E 1 346, FH 288.

6E eliminates WF: Off Hand as a Skill and rebuilds it as a Talent. So no, they can't stack; there's no such thing as WF: Off Hand in the 6E rules.

The Other Guy. See 6E2 191. By way of example, look at the Justice Squadron Mansion and other Bases in The Ultimate Base that have Followers and/or Vehicles -- those costs are always listed separately at the end of the sheet. Doing it your way would mean that Defender could buy Followers and Vehicles at a cost of only 1 Character Point per 25 Total Points, which I think most HERO gamers would be wary of. Of course, for ease of bookkeeping you could simply write the full cost of the Followers on the Base's character sheet (i.e., "500 Total Points' worth of Followers," costing 100 Character Points) and then divide it all by 5 at the end; the cost would be the same. As long as all of a Base's Followers/Vehicles cost the purchasing character 1:5 points, not 1:25, I don't think most GMs will care how it's written down.

Thanx, Balabanto! Echo -- me, too. I got Thundarr on DVD the day it became available and am happy to have it installed on my media server. The real inspiration for CoS is another cartoon, Blackstar, but there's a touch of Thundarr here and there. And of course the "Moonshattered Earth" setting in Post-Apocalyptic Hero is very much "Steve's tribute to Thundarr the Barbarian."

This isn't precisely a Fantasy setting in the typical sense we think of for FH games, but you could easily convert it to one or use it in a dimensional travel scenario. My latest work, the Crusaders Of Sarillon setting for the Cartoon Action Hour RPG from Spectrum Games, is now available! Think of it as my little tribute to the Saturday morning Fantasy cartoons of the Eighties, like Blackstar and Thundarr the Barbarian. Fun for the entire family! http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/137945/CAHS3--Crusaders-of-Sarillon

This isn't precisely a Superhero setting, but you could easily convert it to one or use it in a dimensional travel scenario. My latest work, the Crusaders Of Sarillon setting for the Cartoon Action Hour RPG from Spectrum Games, is now available! Think of it as my little tribute to the Saturday morning Fantasy cartoons of the Eighties, like Blackstar and Thundarr the Barbarian. Fun for the entire family! http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/137945/CAHS3--Crusaders-of-Sarillon

I'm not sure how the text might imply that the reserve itself might be reduced (rather than its cost), but fortunately that interpreation's absolutely incorrect. : If a Limitation literally made the amount of reserve points less, that'd be so unusual the text would have to call it out and explain it in some detail, since it wouldn't be like anything else in the rules. Relevant quotes from the text: "If a Limitation affects only the Multipower as a whole, or only the character’s ability to change slots, then it applies only to the Multipower reserve." (The text says nothing about the Limitation doing anything other than what it normally does -- reduce an ability's cost -- which the quote below reinforces.) "If a Limitation applies to the whole Multipower — if it affects all uses of the reserve and every slot — then the Limitation reduces the cost of the Multipower reserve and the slots." And that's all it affects: the cost. A Limitation on a Multipower's reserve doesn't reduce the amount of reserve points a character has to allocate. It only reduces how many Character Points he pays for that reserve.

I won't say that Instant is an illegal Limitation for STR, but as a GM I would certainly look at it with a dubious eye. In many respects STR already functions as a sort of Instant Attack Power, so I'm not sure the Limitation is sufficiently restrictive to be worth a -1/4 cost break. The real question here is, what can the duplicates use their STR for? Based on your description it sounds to me like they could use it to hit, to lift, to pull things, to Grab, and so forth. I don't see any real restriction here -- except the fact that the one duplicate only remains in existence for a Phase (i.e., he's not a Duplicate created by the Duplication Power, he's the special effect of an ability). If the character does enough lifting and Grabbing, Instant might be a valid Limitation here. OTOH, if the character can effortlessly create the special effect duplicate again and again without difficulty, there may not be -1/4 worth of restriction. As always, consult your GM.

Legal? Yes, Stretching UOO is a legal construct. Does it accomplish what you want? I think it could be argued that it doesn't, but to each GM his own. Is it the best way to build the spell you have in mind? That's even more up in the air -- but that's also why we have the Discussion board. I'd suggest starting a topic on this if you haven't already; I'm sure lots of folx will have ideas.

Now that I've moved the question, I'll provide my answer. But I'm sure other gamers will amble into the room to offer their own well-considered opinions. If you look at published books, you'll see that I largely agree with your logic re: Computers characters carry around. Superheroes' wrist computers, UNTIL agents' laptops, and so on usually have the Focus Limitation because they're easily taken away from their owners. In this case, the Limitation applies to the final cost of the Computer. For example, suppose a Computer is built on 30 Total Points. That means it costs the character (30/5 =) 6 points. If it's an OAF, it therefore costs the character (6/2 =) 3 points. This would apply to other Limitations as well, though I think that many "Limitations" on a Computer (such as it working slowly) would be better represented as Physical Complications (or the like) for the Computer. Computers built into Vehicles and Bases do not take the Focus Limitation. If I ever get to write The Ultimate Gadgeteer I'll definitely delve into all this stuff in greater detail, but I think for most campaigns these few basic rules suffice just fine.

The AVAD wasn't supposed to be in there. It was errata'd out a long time ago (though I realize you don't have easy access to the 6E errata right now).

What you're describing is basically what I've done with the Gun Fu, Martial Arts, Magic, and Psychic Powers in my STORMlords campaign setting, which I've blogged about a bit here on the site. I think it works pretty well, and generally speaking the players I've exposed to it seem to agree (though inevitably, some of them don't like having to buy things through the "tree" that they wouldn't ordinarily buy, or that they don't think are worth the cost). Now that the powers part is done, I need to get off my lazy butt and do enough work on the setting material that I can publish it, so y'all can see it and further discussion about what works and what doesn't can ensue. Working on it has been an interesting experiment in creating a "closed system" using the HERO rules, if nothing else.

Per 6E1 149, “Starting on the target’s next Phase after being successfully attacked with a continuing-effect Mental Power, he may attempt to break free from the Power. These attempts are subconscious and take no time — whether he succeeds or fails, he may still act in that Phase.” Therefore, as a default rule, a character may not perform any Zero Phase Actions (such as allocating the powers in a Power Framework, or allocating any type of Skill Level), or even Actions that take no time, before making a Breakout Roll. However, the GM may choose to allow this anyway given the way mental powers work in his campaign, the nature of the campaign in general, dramatic sense, or other considerations. Depending on the type of Mental Power involved, he may choose to allow this only if the character devotes some portion of his Action (such as a Half Phase, or even a Full Phase) to making the Breakout Roll. (But of course, the GM shouldn’t allow this if doing so would unfairly interfere with the effects of the Mental Power.)

Tasha beat me to it. I just linked that one because it was at hand. There are other people selling the same box, and I'm sure more will come on the market in the future.

That depends on whether the GM considers EGO to qualify as “a Mental Power or attack,” which may in turn depend on the nature of the Mental Paralysis. For example, a GM might choose to allow this when a character tries to break out of a Psionic Paralysis power used on that character by a supervillain, but not when a character tries to exert his willpower enough to move his limbs after being struck by a Paralysis Drug-Tipped Dart shot at him by a blowgun wielded by a cannibalistic headhunter. I expect most GMs would allow it in most situations.

Yes, assuming the Change Environment has the Area Of Effect Advantage so that it affects more than one person. The penalty would apply to anyone attacking/perceiving into, out of, or through the affected Area, unless the GM rules otherwise.

See 6E2 92.

Yes, that's the intended interpretation.

Since this isn't precisely a rules question and seems to be addressed to the group rather than me, I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can respond.

Close enough for government work -- assuming it's a PC using the Drain, halving 35 would round in his favor, to 18, and thus Drain 90 END. But if the GM wants to go with 87 that's cool by me.

Found this on eBay and couldn't resist getting one. Hexagonal Cigar Box The color's not ideal, but a big hexagonal box full of Hero dice can't be beat!

Oh, I definitely want to see Legendary Hero as well. I suspect that, when I finally finish MH and ask the fans which big project they'd most like to see me work on next, that LH will be in contention for top vote-getter -- if for no other reason than a desire to see King Arthur, Robin Hood, and the 1001 Nights characters in Hero form. While I expect to have some information on "legendary-style roleplaying," just like MH has some info on mythic-style roleplaying, the focus of the book is going to remain on writing up legendary characters, items, monsters, and the like in HERO System terms. Not only is that what interests me, but I think it's of greater use to the average gamer/customer.

Yes, if you have a Martial Art, and it's usable with weapons (either by default, like Fencing, or because you bought a Weapon Element for it), the DCs from the Maneuver add to the weapon's damage as described on 6E2 99-102. Some GMs may restrict this for some campaigns, though.

He can't do this -- he needs the Safe Aquatic Teleport Adder, described on 6E1 302.