Steve Long

I'm not sure I understand the question, so I'm going to restate what I think you're asking and answer that. If I get it wrong, please post again and I'll give it another try. Q: If I want to create a power where a character has to succeed with a Skill Roll to make the power function properly, and if the roll fails something bad happens to him, how do I do that using the HERO System rules? A: The typical way would be the Limitations Requires A Roll (in some form) and Side Effects. If you post on the Discussion board (where anyone can reply, not just me) and describe the power you have in mind in greater detail, you may get other useful suggestions from Herodom Assembled.

You have to buy it to cover whatever amount of damage you want it to apply to. If your character wants his Martial Strike to be Armor Piercing, and with his STR, the Maneuver, Extra DCs, and some HA he's bought he does 12d6, he has to buy AP for 12d6 (thus costing 15 points). OTOH, if you only want the AP to apply to 8d6 with his Martial Strike (Maneuver + STR damage) for some reason, it would only cost 10 points, but would not apply at all if the character used the dice from his Extra DCs and/or HA.

The default rule, expressed in simplest terms, is this: any defense that would protect a character against a Normal Damage attack against PD (or ED) also protects that character against a Based On CON atack against PD (or ED). But of course, the GM’s free to rule otherwise if he wishes.

Since this is a "how to," I've moved it to the Discussion board so anyone can reply.

I am definitely looking forward to creating some worlds for it. I pitched them five ideas, of which they picked the one (The Heroes Return). But I can easily create all of them, if they sell well enough to justify the work. And I have plenty of ideas beyond that (including adapting some of the settings I've written for Hero, such as Turakian Age and Tuala Morn, if Hero's interested once it all takes off ). Thanx for your support!

Heya folx! Some of you may have heard about the Kickstarter for Storium, a sort of online RPG/storytelling tool. Here's the KS page: Storium Cryptic and Storium just reached an agreement to add Champions as a world for Storium! I for one am pretty excited about this. Champions for Storium announcement This is a $250,000 stretch goal -- and there are only about 6 hours and $25K to go. So if you haven't checked out Storium yet, please do and jump on the bandwagon! The Storium guys are major Champions fans from way back and I'm confident they'll do a great job presenting Champions as a Storium world.

As noted on 6E2 9, Normal Touch has Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), but does not provide that Sense Modifier to other Senses assigned to the Touch Group. By extension of that logic, if a character buys a Sense Modifier (such as Ranged) for Normal Touch and wants that Sense Modifier to function with Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), he must buy Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees) separately for that ability.

That's up to the GM based on all the usual suspects (special effects, campaign balance, common sense, dramatic sense, etc. ). In some cases a character may buy an ability for that specific purpose (e.g., a speedster's "snatch all the guns away from the thugs in the blink of an eye" power), and in other cases the GM may have no trouble allowing it. But I can also see where it might make some GMs wary, especially if a character wants to do it frequently.

Sure, unless the GM rules otherwise. You'd need to apply Ranged (+1/2) to use the power at Range, of course.

The text says Block versus Range often works best when the character has an object to use -- but it doesn't say an object is required. If the GM establishes that an object is required, perhaps Deflection with No Range would have some utility, but generally speaking my previous answer stands.

As a default rule, no. The whole point of Deflection is to provide a character with the ability to do something he can already do at No Range (Block Ranged attacks, per the rules in 6E2) at Range. Applying No Range (-½) to it means he’s paying 13 Character Points to do something he can already do. But of course, what any given GM, who knows what he’s doing, wants to allow is up to him.

This is a how-to rather than a rules question, so I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can respond.

Again, this isn't a rules question, but a "how to," so I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can respond and hopefully plenty of gamers will have good ideas for you.

Since this isn't a rules question, I've moved it to the Discussion board.

That’s up to the GM, based as usual on the standard Limitation question: does this Limitation in any way hinder the character? For a character who routinely has to lift and carry heavy things for multiple Segments, or who has to maintain lots of Grabs, I can see this being a restriction. For a character who uses his STR almost entirely for punching, it may not be restrictive enough to qualify as a Limitation at all. Generally speaking I think GMs should be wary of Nonpersistent (-¼) being applied to Characteristics. For example, in published products I often build fear-inspiring abilities as bonus PRE that only adds to certain types of Presence Attacks. I don’t apply Nonpersistent to those abilities; the “Only For Fear-/Intimidation-based Presence Attacks” Limitation seems to cover the restrictions on the power just fine; adding Nonpersistent would seem like double-dipping.

Not sure if I've posted this before or not, but it's a great Pulp Hero resource: Color photographs of the Interior of the Hindenburg

Cassandra beat me to it -- I'd definitely go with MERLIN, for which you can devise at least a dozen explanations for the acronym pretty easily.

Because the power has the AVAD Advantage (in its NND form). Ordinarily AVAD powers only do STUN damage. To make them do BODY, you must apply the Does BODY (+1) Advantage.

1. No. Mental Paralysis provides no Mental Defense to anyone. 2. I'm sorry, but I don't answer game design/philosophy questions, or character building type questions.

The Resurrection Adder for Healing/Regeneration does not, by default, restore lost limbs. A character who wants to restore lost limbs with either Power needs the Can Heal Limbs Adder.

If a character wants to make a Combined Attack (as defined on 6E2 74) with powers he's bought with the Delayed Effect Advantage, unless the GM rules otherwise he can only use the powers that he currently has "active" or "available" at that time (typically, but not always, defined as INT/5 number of powers). He is, of course, subject to any other rules or campaign guidelines governing the use of those powers. For example, it may not always be possible for a character to use two or more powers with certain Limitaitons (like Concentration or Gestures) simultaneously (see the rules for those Limitations for more information). For campaigns using the Spell Limitation described in FH, that Limitation prevents multiple spells from being cast at the same time unless the GM rules otherwise. Re: damage, you determine it as per normal for a Combined Attack -- each power damages the target separately, with defenses (if any) applying separately to that individual attack.

Charges are a tricky Limitation for a VPP, especially one that's relatively easy for a character to change. If a character creates Power X with 1 Charge, but can switch to Power Y which is virtually identical, Charges doesn't really restrict him at all, thus violating the first rule of Limitations. Where Charges works well as a Limitation in this situation is when the character has a defined set of specific spells to choose from. I've created VPPs like that to simulate the magic used by Jack Vance characters like Mazirian the Magician or Turjan of Miir, for example. In the situation you describe, assuming you allow Charges at all, using Recoverable Charges is probably the best bet. I'd be more inclined not to allow Charges or to rework the VPP somehow, personally. If you haven't already, I suggest posting about this, perhaps with a few detailed examples, in the Discussion forum. I'm sure other GMs would have some useful input.

It could be either of them, depending on how you conceive of the character -- and what the GM prefers. I suspect many GMs would look carefully at the idea of a Computer buying Martial Arts.

Personally, I'd definitely allow Combat Luck to apply to the first two situations you list. The latter three I would be less likely unless the player made a convincing argument based on the circumstances. For example, falling damage -- there are lots of possible circumstances there. If a character falls out of a plane into a featureless field, there may not be much argument for Combat Luck (though we've all read about situations like that where someone mysteriously survives an accident like that when they really shouldn't, that might be Combat Luck at work). OTOH, if a character falls off a building in the Big City he might argue that he could slow his fall by grabbing onto cornices, flagpoles, awnings, etc. and in a sufficiently cinematic campaign I'd accept that explanation for applying Combat Luck without hesitation.

1. A firearm fired from a bipod, tripod, or the like typically has a -10 STR Minimum. For a weapon mounted on a turret STR Minimum isn't even a consideration. Keep in mind, too, that having less than the STR Minimum doesn't prevent a character from using a weapon, it simply makes it more difficult to shoot accurately and effectively (see MHIRPG p. 147). If a character wants to be skilled at using heavy firearms but not an overall strong person, he could buy extra STR with the Limitation Only To Meet STR Minimum For Using Firearms (-2). So assuming Chuck has STR 10, for just 3 points he could use any of the machine guns listed on MHI RPG p. 150 without penalty. Of course, as GM, you may not want to let Chuck tote an M60 around everywhere he goes. 2. The S (Small) category listing for a bayonet is for a bayonet wielded on its own, like a knife. If a character attaches a bayonet to a gun, the bayonet would then have a Reach equal to the length of the gun (easy enough to just call that +1m for most long arms, though I'm not sure of the real world accuracy of that). In terms of the Reach for using a rifle butt to bash someone, that's up to you as the GM. Personally the way that maneuver looks in the movies, and as I conceptualize it in my head, it seems to be a Short range attack to me -- you don't see soldiers thrusting all the way out with the butt of their rifles to hit someone, the way you sometimes do see them stab with a fixed bayonet. But it might be physically possible if a character were really desperate. I suspect if you post a question someone who owns a rifle might perform an experiment to see how awkward a "long-distance rifle butt stroke" would be.