Steve Long

Re: Focus and Always On Generally speaking, you use a Power called GM's Discretion and just rule that it works thataway. But if you wanted to actually spend the points to create a cursed item, your best bet would probably be Transform. If you haven't already, I suggest starting a thread on this in the Discussion forum. I bet you'll get lots of ideas and suggestions.

Re: Local game store and distro No, we have not. Anyone who's informed you that we have been is either mistaken, or lying. Last October, when your friend opened his shop, we had plenty of copies of 6E1 and 6E2 in stock, and any distributor who didn't already have it could easily have obtained it from us.

It's Thursday, so time for a chat! I'll be in the Chat Room starting at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific, to talk Hero, answer questions, and discuss next week's Origins. Come on by and join the fun!

It's Thursday, so time for a chat! I'll be in the Chat Room starting at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific, to talk Hero, answer questions, and discuss next week's Origins. Come on by and join the fun!

It's Thursday, so time for a chat! I'll be in the Chat Room starting at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific, to talk Hero, answer questions, and discuss next week's Origins. Come on by and join the fun!

Re: Splitting Expanded Adjusted Characteristics As long as the GM doesn't object, I see no reason not to allow a character to combine the two rules.

Re: CSL with limitations They're both correct. 6E1 171 states the general rule; the Deadly Blow build is a GM-approved exception, the GM in this case being me. That's part of the reason that (a) Deadly Blow comes with a Caution Sign, and ( the book shows how the Talent is built -- that way individual GMs can decide for themselves if they want to approve DB for their campaigns.

Re: Vandaleur Twins Just to be clear, there was never a 4E version of Arcane Adversaries -- it's a 5E book. The Vandaleur twins originally appeared in a 4E supplement called Mystic Masters.

Re: 6e Rule Book Since this isn't a rules question, I've moved it to the Discussion board. The 6E core rulebook (a two-volume set) contains all the rules you need to play! You don't have to purchase any other books, though we certainly hope you will. However, the rulebook doesn't include a pre-made setting or anything like that -- it's up to you to decide what sort of campaign you want to run and how to set it up. Anyone else out there have any tips or advice on setting up a new campaign with 6E?

Re: PDF for Enemies For Hire? I'm sorry, but no PDF version of that book has ever been created.

Re: Absorption, expanded effect and Defense If a character has Defensive Absorption that also has Expanded Effect so that it adds to two or more Characteristics or abilities at a time, this does not increase the amount of defense the character receives. For example, if a character buys Absorption 30 BODY (physical), Expanded Effect (CON and BODY simultaneously; +½), Defensive Absorption (+½), the most PD the character can receive is 30. He doesn’t gain up to 60 PD just because his Absorption applies to two Characteristics at once.

Re: ampullae of lorenzini First, since this is a "how to" question rather than a rules question, I've moved it to the Discussion board so anyone can participate. Second, since I have no idea what those are, I don't know.

It's Thursday, and that means... Chaaaaaat Niiiiight! Come on by the Chat Room at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Western for some high-flying, atomic elbow-dropping, five-alarm fun! As usual, throwing badgers and other weaponry are forbidden.

It's Thursday, and that means... Chaaaaaat Niiiiight! Come on by the Chat Room at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Western for some high-flying, atomic elbow-dropping, five-alarm fun! As usual, throwing badgers and other weaponry are forbidden.

It's Thursday, and that means... Chaaaaaat Niiiiight! Come on by the Chat Room at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Western for some high-flying, atomic elbow-dropping, five-alarm fun! As usual, throwing badgers and other weaponry are forbidden.

Re: Uh Oh. Whats the story here? Nothing to see here. It's a bunch of children having a delightful Halloween party! Come join the fun -- there's candy, bobbin' apples, and free Treasury bonds!

Re: Absorption as a defense and variable advantatge I'm not entirely sure I understand the question because you've used a lot of unusual terminology and abbreviations that could mean more than one thing. So I'm going to describe what I think you're asking about. If I'm misunderstanding you, please post a follow-up. The power in question is: Absorption 10 BODY (Physical), Defensive Absorption (+1), Usable Simultaneously (+1/2), Variable Effect (any one Characteristic at a time; +1/2). Total cost: 30 points. Here's how this power works: 1. The character can Absorb up to 20 BODY worth of Physical attacks and assign the Absorbed points to any one Characteristic. Since the power has Variable Effect, per 6E1 143 he can then switch to another Characteristic and Absorb 20 points into it as well, and so on. Absorbing the full amount into one Characteristic doesn't prevent him from Absorbing into another Characteristic. 2. He can grant another character the ability to use this power at the same time he uses it. He cannot, however, Absorb from damage done to another character. 3. If he applies the Absorbed 10 BODY to a defensive Characteristic the effect is halved, so he's only adding 10 Character Points' worth of effect rather than the usual 20 points.

Re: Indirect and Attacks From Behind That's up to the GM. There are certainly times when that would be appropriate, but there may be other times when the target will be aware of his attacker's hijinks.

Re: When to roll DEX tie-breakers? That's up to the GM. I suspect most GMs have them re-roll each Segment in the interest of fairness, but it makes the game go a little quicker if you just have them roll once.

Re: Vandaleur Twins Anais was never male. She's been female since the day she was created. The problem was that the artist who drew the twins for Arcane Adversaries somehow didn't know/realize that Anais is a girl's name. By the time the art came in it was too late to change things.

Re: Multi Weapon Fighting I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm going to read through all that and try to analyze what you've done, where it may be right or wrong, and what the rules implications (if any) are. If you think the rules are somehow unclear, sometimes it's best to just make a decision as to how things work in your game and stick with that.

Re: Variable Slots and Delayed effect I've already had to devote far more time to this issue than it deserves or needs. Beyond what I've already said, I think it's best to leave it to the GM to use his common and dramatic sense to determine what happens. Though common sense clearly dictates that a power stored at Xd6 doesn't get "upgraded" to more dice regardless of Framework re-allocation.

Re: Aborting to Trigger Defensive Powers A Trigger that requires a Zero Phase Action to use would still have to be Aborted to, since the rules are pretty specific on when Zero Phase Actions occur. If a character can activate a defensive power that takes no time to use (for example, one with a Trigger Advantage bought that way), then he can activate it automatically at any time. He doesn’t need to Abort to bring it into play, since activating it’s an action which takes no time. However, being able to activate it at any time doesn’t mean being able to activate it first at any time — the GM may require the character to succeed with a DEX Roll to determine if his activation of his defensive power occurs before he gets hit with an attack (see 6E2 19). If the character chooses to Abort to activate the defensive power, he automatically gets to act first, making Aborting a useful option even for powers that take no time to activate.

Re: (Followup) Charges and UOO I think I understand what you’re getting at, though I still think what you want to know is answered by the text I previously cited when read in conjunction with the standard rules for UOO and for Charges. I’m going to rephrase your question so that my answer is clear. Q: According to 6E1 360, taking Charges on a Usable By Other/Usable Simultaneously power indicates the number of times per day that power can be granted to another person. The recipient isn’t restricted by the Charges — he can use the power as often as he can afford to pay END for it. If the grantor wants the recipient to only be able to use the granted power a restricted number of times, he has to build the granted power using the “differing modifiers” rules and apply Charges to it. This being the case: 1. Does the fact that the granted power has Charges affect how often the grantor can grant the power? 2. Is it possible to further restrict how often the recipient can use the granted power? A: 1. No. If the grantor wants to restrict how often he can grant a Usable On Others power, he applies Charges to it as usual. If there’s no Charges Limitation on the Usable On Others power, the grantor can grant the power as often as the form of Usable On Others he’s paid for will allow him to (subject to any other restrictions or requirements, of course, such as paying END). Since this could in some respects “invalidate” the Charges on the granted power, the GM should consider very carefully before letting characters do this at all. 2. Yes, per the standard Charges rules. The Charges on the granted power could have Increased Recovery Time, Restricted Recovery, or Never Recovers, for example, or the granted power could have some other Limitation that affects how often (or under what conditions) the recipient can use it. Again, though, because this could effectively counteract the restrictiveness of Charges, the GM should review any such powers carefully before allowing them into play. Example: Arkelos, who’s really wishing he hadn’t signed that contract to be a part of so many examples in the rulebook, wants to be able to grant the following spell to his comrades: Sword Of Lightning: RKA 3d6, Lasts Through Unconsciousness (+½) (67 Active Points); Extra Time (Full Phase; -½), Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼), 4 Charges (-1). Total cost: 22 points. Pursuant to the differing modifiers rules, that 22 point cost becomes the Base Cost for his UOO spell: Usable By Other (+¼) for Sword Of Lightning spell (27 Active Points); OAF (Wizard’s Staff; -1), Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼), Requires A Magic Roll (-½) (total cost: 9 points). Since Arkelos only bought Usable By Other, he can only cast Grant Sword Of Lightning on one person at a time. Because Sword Of Lightning has the Lasts Through Unconsciousness (+½) Advantage (6E1 355), the recipient keeps control of it even if he’s Stunned, Knocked Out/asleep, or the like. Until the recipient relinquishes control, loses it through some other means, or uses up all the Charges, Arkelos can’t grant Sword Of Lightning to anyone else. The recipient could in theory keep Sword Of Lightning for days, weeks, or longer, though since it has 4 Charges he can only cast the spell four times per day. Once Arkelos regains “control” and can cast Grant Sword Of Lightning again, he can freely cast it — the fact that Sword Of Lightning itself only has 4 Charges does not limit Arkelos to only casting it four times per day, or in any other way restrict his ability to cast Grant Sword Of Lightning. In theory he could keep casting it on the same person again and again after the recipient uses up the Charges each time, effectively giving the recipient an unrestricted number of Sword Of Lightning spells to cast. The GM threatens to withhold some of Arkelos’s royalty payments if he ever tries to pull this sort of stunt. Suppose Arkelos had instead bought Grant Sword Of Lightning this way: Usable Simultaneously (8 people; +1) for Sword Of Lightning spell (44 Active Points); OAF (Wizard’s Staff; -1), Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼), Requires A Magic Roll (-½) (total cost: 15 points). In that case he could grant Sword Of Lightning to eight people at a time, significantly increasing his group’s firepower. He couldn’t cast it on one person multiple times at once, however. Suppose further that Arkelos only wanted the recipient to be able to cast Sword Of Lightning four times regardless of how long he kept the spell. In that case he’d build the spells this way: Sword Of Lightning: RKA 3d6, Lasts Through Unconsciousness (+½) (67 Active Points); Extra Time (Full Phase; -½), Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼), 4 Charges which Never Recover (-3). Total cost: 13 points. Grant Sword Of Lightning: Usable By Other (+¼) for Sword Of Lightning spell (16 Active Points); OAF (Wizard’s Staff; -1), Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼), Requires A Magic Roll (-½) (total cost: 5 points). With that version of the spell, the recipient can only cast Sword Of Lightning four times, regardless of how long he keeps control of it. Once he casts it four times, control of it automatically reverts to Arkelos, who can then freely cast Grant Sword Of Lightning again. The GM decides that this in effect renders “Never Recovers” meaningless and reduces its value from -2 to -0 (thus changing the Real Cost of Sword Of Lightning to 22 points, and the Active Point/Real Point cost of Grant Sword Of Lightning to 27/9 points). He also threatens Arkelos with a paternity suit over that incident with the half-orc barmaid last October. Wanting to avoid an expensive and reputation-damaging litigation, and to cut his Character Point costs, Arkelos suggests that he could take a -0 Limitation, Can Only Be Cast On A Person Once Per Year. The GM decides this is a valid balancing factor and changes Never Recovers to a -1 value (thus changing the Real Cost of Sword Of Lightning to 17 points, and the Active Point/Real Point cost of Grant Sword Of Lightning to 21/7 points).

Re: Ultra slots and Delayed Effect limitation Hmmm. This definitely falls into “I can’t believe this never came up before” territory. I’m going to restate the question a bit more generically to make sure the answer is clear: Q: How does Delayed Effect interact with Power Frameworks? Does “storing” a Delayed Effect power that’s a slot in a Multipower reserve or a Variable Power Pool’s Pool “lock in” the Framework, preventing it from being used for anything else? A: If a slot in a Power Framework has the Delayed Effect Advantage, once a character prepares and “stores” that power according to the Delayed Effect rules he has to keep the Framework allocated to that power. If he switches the Framework to another slot in such a way that the Framework is no longer fully allocated to the stored power, the stored power is lost. (If he’s stored that slot multiple times, he loses all of them.) If the character wants to store the Delayed Effect power again, he has to re-allocate the Framework to it and go through all the preparations again. If the character has multiple Framework slots stored, when he re-allocates the Framework and loses one he can decide which one is lost at that time (he doesn’t have to define this in advance). Example: Khalandrian the Mystic is a wizard in a Fantasy Hero campaign where characters are allowed to buy spells in Multipowers. He has a Multipower with a 62-point reserve and four slots: Blast 10d6, Delayed Effect; RKA 3d6, Delayed Effect; Drain STUN 5d6, Delayed Effect; Teleportation 40m, Delayed Effect. Each slot is a Fixed slot and has Concentration, Extra Time, Gestures, Incantations, and Requires A Magic Roll as Limitations. The campaign rules restrict Khalandrian to INT/3 spells he can “store” at any one time, which in his case means eight spells. Khalandrian uses Delayed Effect to “store” his RKA spell. That’s when he realizes he can’t switch the Multipower to another slot without losing his stored RKA. Cursing the Line Developer for not letting him use his Multipower to full effect, Khalandrian makes the best of a bad situation and “stores” the RKA spell seven more times, bringing him to his maximum of eight stored spells. Vorzhan the Arcane is another wizard in the same campaign, but his master made him study The Rules And Their Implications during his apprenticeship. He has the same Multipower and spells as Khalandrian, except that his reserve is 124 points. So he stores the RKA spell and the Teleportation spell, since the reserve is large enough for him to have any two slots active at a time. He stores the RKA five times and the Teleportation spell three times. If he switches the reserve to the Blast or the Drain, he’ll lose either all the stored RKA spells or all the stored Teleportation spells. Later Vorzhan earns enough Experience Points to convert all four of his spell slots into Variable slots and to increase the reserve to 148 points. He decides to store lesser versions of all four of his spells: Blast 6d6; RKA 2d6; Drain 3d6; and Teleportation 30m. That’s four 37-point slots, which fit exactly into his Multipower reserve. He stores the Blast spell two times, the RKA spell three times, the Drain spell one time, and the Teleportation spell two times. However, since he’s used up all of his reserve with these four spells, if he decides to re-allocate the reserve so he can cast a more powerful version of one of the spells (say, RKA 3d6), he’ll lose one of the other stored spells (such as both stored Teleportation spells) to “free up” enough of the reserve.