Steve Long

Re: Calculating dmage classes for an advantaged power No, you're not interpreting it correctly. Those tables are simply intended to make it easy for you to determine how DCs are added to Advantaged attacks. They're not meant to say that "Attack X is equivalent to Attack Y" or that "Attack X, if Advantaged, is as effective as Attack Y." You can certainly use those tables that way if you want to, to help you when evaluating attacks, but that's not their primary purpose. However, you can use them to determine how many DCs are in an attack, since you've imposed a DC limit in your campaign (as opposed to an Active Point limit, which is easier to figure out). If you look at the +1/4 column of the Normal Damage table, you'll see that 10d6 with a +1/4 Advantage equals 13 DCs. That definitely violates your campaign limit. I hope that helps! If you're still unclear on things please feel free to post a follow-up.

Re: Another Follow-Up!: Absorption as a Defence vs. Hit Locations I think you're totally misunderstanding my answer. I didn't say that Absorption causes you to ignore the Hit Location rules. I said the amount Absorbed isn't affected by the Hit Location multiplier. The Hit Location multiplier is still going to apply for purposes of determining how much damage the character takes.

Re: Follow-Up: Absorption as a Defence vs. Hit Locations OK, now I see what you’re getting at. A character’s Absorption is not affected by Hit Location multipliers. A character who’s hit with a 10 BODY attack can Absorb 10 BODY from that attack regardless of whether it hits him in the Head, the Arm, or any other locaion.

Re: Standard Effect Rule Aid and Maximum Effect No. If a character uses the Standard Effect Rule to define the effect of a Power that has a maximum effect defined by the rules (such as Aid), then the amount defined by the SER in effect becomes the new “maximum effect” the power can have. For example, if a characte has Aid STR 5d6 (standard effect: +15 STR), then +15 STR is the maximum he can apply to any one person with that power.

Re: Naked Advantages and Adjustment Powers As noted on 6E1 141, the rule halving the effect of Adjustment Powers that are applied to defensive abilities applies when an Adjustment Power affects “any Defense Power.” That extends to naked Advantages that apply to Defense Powers; the effect of Adjustment Powers on them is likewise halved.

Re: Overall Combat Skill Levels applied to DCV As noted on 6E1 69, “Characters can use one CSL costing 3 or more Character Points as a +1 DCV against the same types of attacks (HTH or Ranged) for which the CSL could increase OCV” (emphasis added). That rule thus applies to 10-point All Combat CSLs. Since an All Combat CSL can apply to any type of DCV, it’s up to the GM to decide how it can apply to DCV. Either a character should have to choose HTH or Ranged attacks when he assigns it to DCV, or it increases DCV against all attacks. (Obviously, if the GM uses the optional rule on 6E 1 70, that would affect this issue.)

Re: Giant Robots? A mech's limbs are typically simulated with the Power Extra Limbs, as you've guessed. There's discussion of this on pages 105-06 of The Ultimate Vehicle, which will be reprinted in the forthcoming HERO System Vehicles, if you want to delve into the issue further.

Re: single hit location creature The No Hit Locations Power -- see the "Deadly Ooze" character sheets in the HSB for examples.

Re: Absorption as a Defence vs. Hit Locations I'm not sure I understand the problem/question. The rules, as stated in the APG, are clear that the effects of Adjustment Powers aren't multiplied by Hit Location modifiers -- you don't get extra effect for hitting a target in the Head, or reduced effect for hitting him in the Arm, for example. That has nothing to do with defenses. If Absorption provides defense, it provides defense; it has no effect on the Hit Location rules. If that doesn't answer your question, please post a follow-up and I'll try again.

Howdy Herophiles! It's Thursday, so let's have a chat! I'll be in the Chat Room tonight for an hour beginning at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific. Our special guests this evening will be Osiris (who'll discuss his feline-based modifications to the HERO System) and Lady Blue (with costuming fashion tips for both guys and gals!). So come on by!

Howdy Herophiles! It's Thursday, so let's have a chat! I'll be in the Chat Room tonight for an hour beginning at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific. Our special guests this evening will be Osiris (who'll discuss his feline-based modifications to the HERO System) and Lady Blue (with costuming fashion tips for both guys and gals!). So come on by!

Howdy Herophiles! It's Thursday, so let's have a chat! I'll be in the Chat Room tonight for an hour beginning at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific. Our special guests this evening will be Osiris (who'll discuss his feline-based modifications to the HERO System) and Lady Blue (with costuming fashion tips for both guys and gals!). So come on by!

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Unfortunately I expect you're going to be disappointed. First, while I certainly discuss the fact that Tyrannon and Skarn are her main enemies, and how they've sort of got a "World War I across the Multiverse" situation going, I don't go into their battles, strategies, or tactics in any detail. That could fill another entire book, and I've got enough on my hands just trying to finish this one. Second, there is no GM"s Vault in this book (just like there weren't in Book Of The Destroyer and Book Of The Machine). That would make the book too "schizophrenic" (so to speak). It's just written as a straightforward discussion of the subject matter; GMs will have to tell their players what sections (if any) they're allowed to read.

Re: Where do I download volume II? You can use the "Contact Us" link on the main page to send in an e-mail query.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE EMPRESS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Well, there's a whole chapter on her military and its resources; I think that should do for most campaigns. And now... off to write the section of Chapter Five detailing her plans for her next invasion of Earth's dimension. MWAH hah hah hah hah!!!

Re: Damage Shield At the risk of sounding sarcastic, which I don't mean to, the easiest way to find something is to check the index. In this particular case, it will direct you to 6E1 321.

Re: Accurate and Beam Yes.

Re: How visible is visible? Given the tone of your question, I suspect you're looking for a discussion with fellow fans rather than asking a strict rules question, so I've moved this to the Discussion board. My quick answer: your question seems to be based on 5th Edition or older rules. If you check out 6E1 124-26, you'll find that the rules for perceiving Powers have changed slightly and are much better explained.

Re: Naked Advantage: Useable As Attack? At a brief glance that looks OK, but I don't want to establish some sort of "I'll review your power constructs!" precedent so I haven't looked at it closely. It's up to your GM to approve how he wants you to handle unusual power constructs. Similarly, it's up to him to decide what's an appropriate value for slightly tweaked Power Modifiers.

Re: Full move dodge maneuver and Dive for Cover If I understand your question correctly, yes, you've interpreted things correctly. Flying Dodge certainly counts as a "defensive action" and could thus be Aborted to. HSMA 245 has some discussion of this.

Re: Penality skill levels and multiple attacks There's a way to do what your friend wants, but it's not with PSLs. As stated on 6E1 84, characters can't buy PSLs to counteract the standard OCV penalty imposed by a Combat or Martial Maneuver. However, a character could buy Combat Skill Levels of various sorts that would apply when making a Multiple Attack; see 6E2 77 for specific rules on this. See also 6E2 75-76 for rules about how you determine a character's OCV with a Multiple Attack. If after all that you're still unsure of how things should work, please post a follow-up question and we'll go into it some more. Good luck with your game!

Re: The HERO System 6th Edition We don't have any specific information at this time. When we do, we'll definitely make sure to let everyone know.

Re: Instant movement powers Offhand I can't see that there'd be any effect at all, though I'm not going to stop and think deeply about it this early in the day. This might make for a fun conversation topic on the Discussion page; I'm sure someone will have some sort of bizarre idea.

Re: Immunity to pregnancy Whatever the cost was in 5E (5 points, IIRC), it'd be the same in 6E.

Re: Tramp Steamer Info and Deckplans Nice find, GP!