Steve Long

Re: Empty Hand / Weapons Element Martial Arts Good lord, no. A character only has to buy a Martial Maneuver one time. If he wants a weapon to work with that Maneuver, he has to buy a WE. But he doesn't necessarily have to define a WE as working with every Maneuver he's bought. Sometimes that simply doesn't make sense; sometimes it's not historically accurate.

Re: Selling back a Sense or the Sense Group This is a situation where common and dramatic sense (no pun intended! ) dictate the answer. If a character sells back a Sense, and that Sense is the only Sense he has in that Sense Group, then he’s lost the entire Sense Group. He doesn’t “retain” it for purposes of buying other Senses later and assigning it to that Group. The same would apply if a character had multiple Senses in a Group and sold them all back.

Re: Aid - Fading and Endurance cost Unless some Limitation indicates otherwise, or the GM rules otherwise, typically a character is free to use as much or as little of a power as he wants to achieve the effect he hopes to achieve. He can't ignore Advantages except in certain circumstances, but if he wants to use "less power" for some reason, that's perfectly within the rules. The most common reason for doing so is to use less END, as in your example.

Re: Adjustment Powers and Sense Affecting Powers No, they’re not considered Adders. Typically Adders are specifically designated as “Adders.” The “components” of Powers that can be bought in “bits and pieces,” like Change Environment’s combat effects or the Sense Groups for a Sense-Affecting Power, are just part of the Power, not an Adder.

Re: Defenses Against Analyze Rolls Change Environment is exactly how you'd do it. If you think the cost on that is out of proportion or unbalanced for your campaign, just invoke your GM powers and reduce it. I think that'd be perfectly appropriate in a campaign that uses Analyze heavily.

Re: HERO System Martial Arts We don't have a specific date for you, but we do intend to reprint HSMA as soon as feasible.

Re: Reponse to Re: How Damage DC works and Adding Damage I can't be certain, but I think you're getting different results because you're rounding when you shouldn't be rounding. Look at the Transform example on 6E2 97-98. It says: Note that it says "a little over 4 DCs" (not that you should round down to 4 DCs), and that "roughly" a 2 DC change would add ½d6 of effect. The whole point of having the tables in print is to address the fact that things don't always divide smoothly or round out evenly. Does that solve the problem for you? If not I'm not sure if I can explain it any better. Regarding applying Adjustment Powers to Power Frameworks, see 6E1 139-40. I believe that answers your question, but if not please post a follow-up.

Re: How Damage DC works and Adding Damage The easiest thing to do is just to use the tables on 6E2 101 (there are expanded versions of those tables in APG2, if you want even more entries to reference). In your case, on the Killing Damage table, find the first entry for 3d6, then count down 12 entries because you're adding 12 DCs from STR. That carries us beyond the basic table in the rulebook, so we whip out APG2 and discover that your character does 5 1/2d6 damage with this attack when using his full STR. (You could also run the calculations to determine this, which is how I built the tables, but the tables are much easier. ) Generally speaking I don't answer "why" questions, but you've hit on the answer yourself: Advantages have to be taken into account when adding damage because otherwise attacks become too powerful. If a GM wants to ignore this in the name of simplicity that's certainly his right, but he's got to handle the problems that result.

Re: Breakfall and Skill use 1. As noted on HSS/TUS 88 (and some other places, such as APG 21), making a Breakfall roll to avoid the effects of Knockback is an action that takes no time — so yes, Character A in the situation you’re describing can try to use Breakfall to avoid KB’s effects. In the rules as written it is incorrect that “all Skill Rolls require time to use.” Some do, some don’t; it depends on the Skill and what it’s being used for. APG 19-22 has some basic rules on “base times” for Skill use; HSS/TUS have much more detailed rules on this for each Skill. However, the GM is perfectly within his rights to establish other base times for his campaign, or simply to rule that all Skills require X time to use, if that’s what he prefers. 2. Yes, a character who fails his Breakfall roll to avoid the effects of Knockback can then immediately attempt another Breakfall roll to stand up from being prone.

Re: Variable Limitations - Increasing existing limitations 1. With the GM’s permission, a character can use Variable Limitations to increase the extent or severity of an existing Limitation on the power. 2. See APG2 51, or the Rules FAQ entry from which that information was taken.

Re: HERO System Advanced Players Guide II now in store. Yes, it's at the printer, and should be shipping to us soon. (And from us, out to our direct customers and our distributors.)

Re: Alien Wars worth getting.. 1. We have no plans to revise AW for 6E (or any other 5E setting book outside of some Champions stuff). 2. Yes, AW is worth getting.

Re: Champions We don't have a specific deadline for getting another print run; when we do we'll let everyone know.

Re: Dark Champions We'll get around to it at some point -- in fact, it's an easy enough re-do that we could put it on the schedule pretty much anytime (it wouldn't need to be the Big Summer Release). I've actually done a little work on it already, in fact. The biggest stumbling block is having to update the chapter on organized crime; that will take some work. I'd say 2013 is probably a good bet right now. Ask me again after our February planning meeting and schedule announcement.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? Given the extent, fluidity, and strength of many (if not most) gods' powers, I prefer the VPP approach. The more powerful the god, the larger the VPP, generally speaking (though of course there are exceptions -- Thor, for example, is both powerful and popular, but isn't credited with a lot of "mystic" feats or abilities). Additionally, any "signature" abilities or weapons a god has -- like Zeus's thunderbolts, Thor's hammer, or many gods' noted ability to change shape -- is typically bought separately to emphasize its importance.

Re: Does "must pass through intervening space" give "safe blind" teleport for free? Good question! The Limitation Must Pass Through Intervening Space (-¼) does not grant a character the Advantage Safe Blind Teleport (+¼) “for free.” All standard rules apply to such forms of Teleportation, and if a character wants to have Safe Blind Teleport for it he has to pay for it (or any other Advantage) just like usual. As you observe, it’s easy to think of a “special effect” for how someone might hurt himself moving through the intervening space — he could run into something, trip and fall, or what have you.

It's Thursday, so time for a chat! Come on by the Chat Room at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific to hear the latest news and talk Hero! Since I've been working on the American Indian mythologies section of Mythic Hero lately, our special guests this week will be Rabbit Boy, Glooscap, and the Twin War Gods.

It's Thursday, so time for a chat! Come on by the Chat Room at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific to hear the latest news and talk Hero! Since I've been working on the American Indian mythologies section of Mythic Hero lately, our special guests this week will be Rabbit Boy, Glooscap, and the Twin War Gods.

It's Thursday, so time for a chat! Come on by the Chat Room at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific to hear the latest news and talk Hero! Since I've been working on the American Indian mythologies section of Mythic Hero lately, our special guests this week will be Rabbit Boy, Glooscap, and the Twin War Gods.

Re: Combined Attack vis-a-vis Multiple Attack The rules for how defenses apply against a Multiple Attack (6E2 77-78) also apply to Combined Attacks.

Re: Severe Transform - Appearance change plus Loyalty change I don't see that the power's a problem, generally speaking; arguably it could be built as a Mental Transform, but I don't think it's any big deal. If a GM disagrees he can easily rework it to suit himself.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? Where I can quickly and easily do so without taking up much page space, probably. If it would require extra research, no. I have little enough time for this book as it is. As I mentioned in my intro post and some later posts, that's certainly going to be part of the book.

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See? Absolutely not, because in some settings and stories they can kill them. There'll certainly be some discussion of mortals fighting gods generally, with options and suggestions, but there aren't going to be any hard-and-fast rules that say what you can or can't do. That I'll leave up to the GM.

Re: Touch Sense (Group) and Range I do -- use your common and dramatic sense. Think about what sorts of things would normally "block" or interfere with the sense of touch, and extrapolate from there as needed. If you can't think of anything, you should build the Sense to reflect that.

Re: Not Using Framework Advantages That's up to the GM. Generally I think what you're describing is a good reason not to allow the Advantages on the Framework as a whole in the first place. If the GM does allow an Advantage on a Framework, generally speaking all the slots in the Framework should use it if they can, but he can certainly permit otherwise if he prefers.