Steve Long

Re: Multiple Attack Question An unusual question, but certainly a valid one. In this situation the character would decide how many Area Of Effect attacks he wanted to make (not how many Attack Rolls within each Area, but overall how many AoEs he wants to use). That would determine the OCV penalty. That penalty would then apply to the Attack Roll made to hit the Area, and to all the Attack Rolls to hit the individual targets within the Areas via Selective.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? Yet another update! I've just declared the chapter on Greek Mythology finished! I still have to do research on Mithras, but that's pretty much a separate thing I'll take care of later. The chapter clocked in at a bit over 42,000 words, by far the longest to date. Next up: Egyptian Mythology!

Re: Mythic Hero! I just posted an update about Mythic Hero to the thread I started way back when.

Re: Fantasy Fiction From Steve in THE END WAS NOT THE END Anthology bigby -- AFAIK it will be published in e-book format, but I don't have any specific details right now. I'll let you know when I learn more.

Re: High Range Radio Perception I think that's an issue best left up to the GM based on the nature of his campaign and its technology. In a Superhero campaign I wouldn't consider a worldwide range for various aspects of certain Radio Group Senses implausible, but in a World War II campaign I'd expect such devices to have a much shorter range of reception/transmission. If the GM feels that MegaScale (or some other Advantage) is necessary, that's his call. If you want a hard-and-fast rule, I'd suggest using the one under Transmit (6E1 215).

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction From Steve in THE END WAS NOT THE END Anthology Celt -- my understanding is that it will be available in various electronic formats.

At last, it can be told! I have some excellent news (though my exuberance over it may seem silly to some of my more experienced author friends). I've had my first short story accepted for publication! It's called "Blade Of Fire" and will be appearing in an anthology of post-apocalyptic fantasy stories called THE END WAS NOT THE END, from Seventh Star Press. I'm told it should be out in early March. So, everyone please buy a copy. More details available as they come to me.

At last, it can be told! I have some excellent news (though my exuberance over it may seem silly to some of my more experienced author friends). I've had my first short story accepted for publication! It's called "Blade Of Fire" and will be appearing in an anthology of post-apocalyptic fantasy stories called THE END WAS NOT THE END, from Seventh Star Press. I'm told it should be out in early March. So, everyone please buy a copy. More details available as they come to me.

Re: Barrier Basics Part 2 1. Sorry, I totally overlooked the BODY issue. Given the BODY damage done by the attack after the Barrier's defenses, a "hole" would be created in it as described on 6E2 171, and that 3 BODY needed to create that hole would indeed be subtracted from the BODY and STUN the character takes. 2. In the case of layered Barriers, the damage that gets through the first Barrier would then apply to the second, and so on, as long as there was enough BODY to get through a Barrier. Generally I think most GMs try to avoid those situations, though; layered Barriers can be game unbalancing. 3. If an attack does enough BODY damage to get past a Barrier’s defenses, but not enough BODY damage after defenses to destroy all the BODY in the Barrier and thus create a hole in it as described on 6E1 171, then the Barrier stops the attack from getting to the character behind it entirely, just as if it had taken no BODY damage at all. See 6E1 170, under "Using Barrier."

Re: Talents Talents aren't a distinct game element in that they are not unique things you can't create any other way -- in fact, they're explicitly created with other game elements, such as Skills and Powers. But Dan is correct that they should be considered "distinct" when you're thinking about the building blocks available when creating your character. Furthermore, based on the way some GMs define things in their campaigns, Talents may be the only way to gain access to certain abilities or game elements -- thus in effect making them as truly "distinct" as Skills or Powers. So Dan's right to treat them that way for HD purposes; it's safer and easier to program. I sort of think of it this way. Characteristics, Skills, Perks, Powers, and Power Modifiers are "atomic" -- each one's like an element on the periodic table, you can't get it any other way and nothing else is identical to it. Talents are like molecules -- they're made from the "atoms." But that doesn't make them any less valid or important; in fact they're often more important than some of the "atoms."

Re: Barrier Basics Barrier doesn't remove DCs the way Damage Negation does. In your example, you'd simply subtract the 6 defenses from the 39 STUN/11 BODY damage. If, for example, the attack only did 5 BODY for some reason, that wouldn't be enough to pierce the Barrier and the character protected by it would take no damage at all (not even STUN). Does that clarify things for you? If not, please post a follow-up and we'll get it worked out.

Re: HSB 6E - PD/ED Point costs - Zombies.. What's tripping you up here, I think, is that Automaton with the Takes No Stun Power (6E1 293) have to reduce their base PD/ED, and then pay triple cost for anything they buy. If you still can't figure things out after reviewing those rules, please post a follow-up and we'll keep at it until you're satisfied that you know what's going on.

Re: No Consess Control At A -1/2 Or -1/4 Level This strikes me as a discussion topic rather than a rules question, so I've moved it to the Discussion board.

Re: I Love the MHI series. If any of you are interested in following the progress of the work, I post updates every week or two on the Kickstarter page, and they're viewable by the public as well as backers. Now that art's coming in I'm posting some sneak peeks of it as well. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herogames/the-monster-hunter-international-employees-handboo?ref=live

Re: Enviornmental Damage penalties This is a situation where it’s up to the GM to apply some common and dramatic sense. In many cases an environmental penalty to damage (such as for being on a narrow surface or underwater) would only plausibly apply to attacks that involve physical effort or movement, such as a typical HTH Combat attack, but wouldn’t necessarily apply to the use of many Powers or certain Ranged attacks. On the other hand, there are plenty of situations where the penalty might apply to everything — for example, it might affect the way magic works in certain Fantasy settings. And that’s up to the GM to decide.

Re: I Love the MHI series. As several folx have kindly pointed out, you can't get it yet -- I'm still writing it! Our goal is to ship it to backers and have it available for sale to other folx in May, 2013. Some recent hitches in my personal life have impacted my work schedule a bit, but I'm striving onward as hard as I can to keep on goal. We've got art coming in from the artists already, so that once I'm done writing and Larry approves the manuscript, we can go straight to layout without any delays.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? For those of you who enjoy updates, I'm currently making good progress on the Greek And Roman Mythology chapter. I didn't feel like doing more research this past weekend, so I went ahead and got preliminary character sheets done for all of the gods (except one), some heroes, and a couple monsters. Lots of reading left to do to find all those little details that will make it a top-notch chapter, but the groundwork is definitely in place.

Re: When is a Limitation a Limitation? This strikes me as more a topic for general conversation and debate than an actual rules question, so I've moved it to the Discussion board. To the extent there's a rules issue here, I think the answer to "When should something be a Limitation?" is "When the GM says so." It's too broad a question for me to answer otherwise -- fortunately, that's why we have GMs.

Re: Duplication Hijinks This looks like a request for conversation and input, not a rules question, so I've moved it to the Discussion forum where anyone can reply.

Re: Multiple Move-Through I'm unaware of what CC has to say on the matter. I suggest using the rules on 6E2 75, simplifying them as needed for CC play.

Re: Appling an Autofire Naked Modifer to a Combat Maneuver effected by Weaponsmaster On a quick look-over, it looks to me like you've done things correctly. Costing out the Martial Strike follows the rules in HSMA properly, and handling Weaponmaster the same way is certainly consistent. I'd approve it if I were GM -- assuming I allowed the naked Advantage in the first place.

Re: Black Harlequin VPP question (CV3) Yes, it's just an errata. Thanx!

Re: Absorption and limitations When a character Adjusts a power with an Advantage, he has to take that Advantage into account, as described on 6E1 137. He does, not, however, gain any benefit or extra points from any Limitations on that power, though they continue to apply to it as usual. In your example, 10 STR would be added, raising his STR to 50. If there was a +1/2 Advantage on his STR, then he could only add 7 points, for 47 STR. If his STR is bought through a Focus, that Limitation still applies to the 50 (or 47) STR even though it doesn't affect the rate at which Absorption adds points.

Re: Hit Locations, too high or just right? This seems to be an attempt to start a conversation about an aspect of the rules, so I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can reply.

Re: Stretching, Maneuvers, and Time 1. I’m sorry, but Sweep is a 5E Combat Maneuver, and I no longer answer questions about pre-6E rules. If you’re asking in regard to Multiple Attack, as discussed on 6E1 285, Stretching increases a character’s Reach for purposes of making HTH Combat attacks. So that would allow him to make a Multiple Attack in HTH Combat against foes who are within his Reach as defined by the amount of Stretching he’s using. 2. Activating Stretching is typically a Zero Phase Action, as with activating most other Powers. However that’s still subject to the rules on 6E1 286; and any attacks made using Stretching still take their usual required time, of course. Beyond that I think any questions can safely be left up to the GM to handle with common and dramatic sense.