Steve Long

Since this is addressed to "everybody" and clearly seems like a request for general advice and discussion, I've moved it to the "Discussion" board, where anyone can respond.

Apply a Limitation. Check with your GM, since there are issues of time required and actions here, but I'd think it would be worth as much as -1/4 if the character has to take Half Phase Actions to act as a "switchboard" between two other people in the Link.

Exploding lawn darts... well, that's a new one.

Time for another update! I've finished the Ainu mythology chapter. It came in at 14,600 words, which was a lot longer than I expected when I started it. Haven't decided what to tackle next. Australian Aborigine is most likely, but Hawaiian, Slavic/Russian, and Voodoo are all in the running. Don't want to think about the remaining "big three" (Celtic, Chinese, and Hindu) just yet...

Yup, what Greywind said. A character who wants to be a real expert in the explosives field could even take Background Skills like Knowledge Skill: Explosives, Professional Skill: Create Improvised Explosives, and so on -- but basically those are all intended as Complementary Skills for Demolitions, which is your primary go-to Skill for everything explosives-related.

I'll leave that up to the GM, based on his campaign parameters. Speaking personally, I can see situations where I wouldn't charge any Advantage at all (perhaps because the condition is easy to satisfy or is obvious), and others where I might be tempted to charge +1/4 (I doubt it would be more, though I never say never in these situations ).

That's up to the GM. It depends partly on how such things work in his campaign, and partly on how easily/quickly the character can fill the Reserve.

No rule requires that; it's assumed that if you buy that much Clairsentience, you're capable of using it. However, the GM is free to establish a rule like that for his own campaign, if he has specific ideas about how Clairsentience works in the campaign setting.

I won't say "never," intp, but for now I think we've covered the master villains who can most benefit from having an entire book devoted to them. I think what might be more likely going forward would be a book that covers 3-6 master villains in greater detail than CV1. That would be appropriate for plenty of big bads who can't really support an entire book on their own. Hero has no plans to update GC to 6E. Champions Beyond is about as close as it'll get to that, I imagine. Re: your earlier question (which I apologize for overlooking before), Hero has no specific plans for more Champions Villains volumes. We have discussed the possibility of a CV4: Organizations, which would provide brief coverage of some organizations previously published (e.g., VIPER, DEMON), and perhaps more in-depth coverage of some that haven't (e.g., ARGENT, the IHA), but this is really just an idea we've tossed around. We have no specific plans at this point.

That really depends on the GM, his setting, and how summoning abilities work there. Typically, under the rules, what matters is the number of tasks a Summoned being performs, not the amount of time that passes since he was Summoned. However, common and dramatic sense also have to factor in. I could see a Summoned being waiting around for long periods of inactivity in a wizard's sanctum, for example, but not on a city street (aside, perhaps, from the humor value in that). As a GM I'd probably rule that the passage of a specific amount of time without any command being issued constituted "one task," so that eventually the Summoned being has fulfilled its obligations. I'd suggest posting this question in the Discussion area as well; other gamers may have useful perspectives or suggestions.

It's not hard at all. You just apply the Limitation Linked to the power with the notation (to use of Martial Strike). Since the power almost certainly has more Active Points than Martial Strike, the Limitation would be worth -1/4 (instead of the usual -1/2). Check with your GM to make sure he's OK with this; some GMs might require you to define a specific "form" of Martial Strike (like a punch) for such a power.

With all due respect, I'm not going to read through that much text and answer eight questions on an issue this obscure. I'm going with my original answer, "that's up to the GM."

It's 24 points.

The Excel character sheet was prepared by someone (I don't know who) and might contain errors. When an outside source like that conflicts with the actual, official rulebook, the rulebook is the way to go. It may take several weeks for Jason to send out all the PDFs from GenCon. He's got probably a couple thousand to go through. But the sooner you forward him your receipt, the sooner he's likely to get to yours.

I wouldn't ordinarily chime in on a thread like this, but I was specifically asked to, so here I am. The question I was sent was: As far as I am aware, the only monsters in the setting to whom silver is so inimical that they have a Vulnerability to it are lycanthropes (such as werewolves) and baba yagas (who don't appear in the MHI RPG itself for space reasons but are in one of the accompanying PDFs). Many monsters may not particularly like silver, but that's not the same thing as giving them a Vulnerability to it, or Limiting their defensive powers so as not to apply to it. Not every in-setting bit of flavor rises to the level of having a concrete game effect. If you can point to specific textual, canonical information that shows I'm definitely wrong, I'll certainly reconsider. But for now, based on Larry Correia's review and approval of the text, I'm sticking with what I've written.

1. There's no rule against that. It gets a little tricky at times, but that's what GMs are for. 2-3. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure I follow what you're asking, so I'm going to default to "that's up to the GM." 4. No, it does not follow.

My review of stuff I did and saw at GenCon, including the MHI RPG game I ran on Friday, is now up: http://www.stevenslong.com/blogs/2013/8/20/gencon-2013-report.html

We've vaguely talked about doing a CV4 that would cover organizations, and that's where the likes of Ripper and Oculon (who work for VIPER) would appear. But that's just been a bit of theoretical talk; it's not a plan yet and I make no guarantees about what the company may or may not do. Similarly, at this point there are no plans for new 6E-based versions of books covering specific organizations like VIPER or DEMON, but you never know what Hero Games may consider in the next day, week, month, or year.

See MHI RPG p. 120, very last line in the right column. And yes, the "lasts for a minute" is the defined escape method, though that might not be acceptable for all campaigns -- what's put in place to represent a licensed setting may not be applicable in other GMs' games.

At the risk of sounding like a pretentious jackass, please remember that other fans' conclusions about what the rules say or mean aren't necessarily accurate. There's only one 100% guaranteed source of official HERO System rules interpretation, and that's me. Assuming something you read on the boards is correct may get you into trouble. (Of course, it may not; most of the people on this board are pretty smart, in my experience, and have good common sense.) Typically a naked Advantage must be bought so that it applies to the highest amount of Active Points you expect it to apply to. In the case of a naked Advantage bought to apply to an attack to which STR can add damage (such as an HKA or HA), the naked Advantage has to be bought high enough to apply to the full STR + Power amount of damage. You don’t apply the naked Advantage first, then determine the effect of STR. Thus, Storm Of Steel (FH 142) is bought to apply to up to an HKA 4d6 — or 60 Active Points’ worth, if you prefer. In my experience, and I think the experience of most FH players, that’s more than enough to cover virtually all sword-based HKAs that are likely to occur in a Fantasy campaign. If a sword HKA exceeds that amount of damage/Active Points, the character cannot use Storm Of Steel. However, that overlooks the Absolute Effects Rule. Since the Talent’s been bought in such a way that it applies to the vast majority of sword-based HKAs without any problem, many GMs (including myself) are likely to rule that, to avoid any gamist nonsense, it applies to all sword-based HKAs, regardless of damage/Active Points. So check with your GM before applying the rules as I laid them out above.

A Personal Focus by definition can only be used by the character who paid points for it. Other characters cannot "override" this rule with Usable By Other, naked Power Advantages, or anything else. A GM is free to rule otherwise, of course, but if so he can deal with how it's done and the implications of it.

Rather than being a rules question, this is a topic for general discussion and fan input, so I'm moving it to the Discussion forum, where anyone can respond. I'm sure our fans will provide plenty of help; they're good at that. Good luck with your game!

I didn't write CC, but knowing who did I suspect it states the damage rules pretty succinctly and accurately. I'm sorry, but I can't take the time to repeat whole sections of the rulebooks here. Once a character reaches 0 BODY, he starts losing 1 BODY at the end of every Segment 12 (i.e., once per Turn), not every Phase. HERO System games can be lethal sometimes, but not that lethal. Damage Classes are important for various rules pertaining to comparing and adding damage. They're of less use in the Basic Rules found in CC, but even then are an important element of the HERO System to be aware of.

Sure, all that is possible, unless the GM says "No." The rules are not to blame for any headaches or fistfights that result, however.

Anyone attacked with a Mental Power is aware of it, absent the use of the appropriate form of Invisible Power Effects or achieving a high enough declared result to hide it. Mental Awareness isn't required. In this case, you've already got the solution: you trust the player not to abuse the power. So you can tweak the rules so that Cumulative Telepathy (perhaps with IPE required) will be invisible even when the full result hasn't been achieved yet. Sometimes it's fun to be the GM.