Doc Democracy

Re: How To: Doppleganger

Re: How To: Doppleganger Hmm. In the past I have advocated a special use of duplication and transform for Jericho style powers. In this case I might want to explore transform and multiform. Essentially a Mellor is a creature with the power multiform and no other forms to change into. What the transform would do is transform the victim into an alternate form for the purpose of the multiform power. The Mellor would 'buy' a blank alternate form and use the transform to gain alternate sets of powers. If it absorbed a more powerful creature then it would transform into a weaker version (that could be purchased within the available points). A normal Mellor might have only one form available to it and when it uses the transform on a second victim it loses access to the first. More powerful Mellors would have spent experience points on having more alternate forms available to them. My problem would be the transform - obviously it would be all-or-nothing and there would be an all-or-nothing way to return the victim to itself....possibly some arcane ritual where they would have to find an alternate host that could be transformed into the original host body and the powers ferried back or something. Complicated perhaps but possibly another way forward... Doc

Re: Attack multipowers [spoilers] Hmmm. Does having a limitation on every slot not allow you to put the same limitation value on the reserve cost? Am I thinking of older editions? Are charge limitations an exception to that? In that case, you are not limiting the reserve specifically except to say that any power within that framework will have to accept the 1 charge limitation as well. I would however echo Stevezilla in saying that the character should possibly purchase recoverable on his charges so that he can pick up and reuse thrown weapons when possible. Doc

Re: best way? Absolutely. I think that this is the best idea. You can explain to him that in a supers world buying stuff with points allows him whatever gadget his brain can concieve of. His money allows him to buy stuff the same way as anyone else. Money is the special effect of that. Obviously, he can access advanced technology through certain channels - money does have its uses but the only people probably willing to sell such technology to private individuals will be organisations such as VIPER. Wouldn't make a great press story to see that the local VIPER cell had acquired most of its income from a local superhero... ...and what you can buy from the local ordinance shop - even with the right permits etc - doesn't do much in the way of making you an effective superhero. Doc

Re: New 2 Character Design, need alittle help The Champions forum might be a better place for a full character build. However, I dont think anyone here is going to stress about that. Starting any character you need to sit down and decide what are going to be the main features of the character. Do it in words rather than game stats. You should have a few bullet points that cover your schtick, your main offensive capability, main defensive, main movement and a few nice extras. Post back with those and then we'll give you lots of suggestions on how to go forward - someone will even probably put something together like a character sheet at some point if the discussion is interesting enough. So. Give us a few prioritiues to look at and we'll discuss the possible ways you could do it and it becomes a discussion that definitely should be done here! Doc

Re: Help with a build: Binding a spirit This is another case where the ground rules of the campaign come into play. As GM you have to decide the rules by which demons/spirits etc play by in your reality. If you decide that spirits and demons have extra-dimensional movement then EDM UAA, as pointed out, would be pretty ineffective. At that point you may be looking at a transform option, or entangle or something. If you decide that they can only cross dimensions when summoned etc, then you can use EDM UAA with impunity. You might want to think about how they can circumvent that, whether the weapon has a limit on the number of souls it can contain etc and by definition what reasonably common defence or circumstance would defend against the attack. Doc

Re: Practice ...and you didn't even put a smiley there!

Re: Multiform/Summon Question Hmm. I had ideas along the lines of a character multipower myself. Almost like having a branched tree of forms with new forms depending on what had already been bought Animal - large - elephant Would cost for all three elements. Animal - large - whale Would cost much less as it was only the third element that changes. I ahvene't thought it through at all but it might be a more interesting way to do Manimal type stuff.... Doc

Re: Multiform/Summon Question Why? You written anything up along those lines?? Doc

Re: Practice You got in there first then? I must have gotten distracted with painting my hall... Anyway - there isn't as many of the classic mistakes in this second effort but it is almost sweet to see the lack of polish in the design. He hasn't yet picked up on the break points, almost no-one has 15 DEX - 14 is enough to get a 5CV and how nice to see a 20 CON rather than the more ubiquitous 18s and 23s! Once again there is armour in the EC, I'm sure that you should only have END using powers in an EC, no?? Same point as the added characteristics. You should get GM permission to do so. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board I only learned today myself. I didn't know how you put yours up and I remembered some post from Dan saying he had enabled some way for HD characters to be enabled and so went delvinh into the FAQs about posting. Now see that's just nice! Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board It does depend on the instant change used. In all of those examples I can prevent the change if I know about it - obvious limitation. Hugo Williams just wills the change to occur. So I agree with you but as a GM I wouls ask you to argue your case for having OIHID and instant change. I could be convinced to allow OIHID at +1/4 with instant change - there are some limitations in not readily having access to your powers - specially if you have secret identity as well. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board Sean? You want to have another look - I think we were harsh! This one isn't leveraged enough!! Jeffrey, I reckon you've been too careful this time and not used some of the more common things Hero players are used to. It is rare for so much to be spent on STUN/END and SPD when DEX and REC are so low. Some people reckon it is metagaming and munchkinny to maximise the points but I would be recommending to you to bumpy you CON to 23, reduce your spending on figured characteristics and use those savings to do something else, like bumping your DEX to 17 (and recouping some costs in figured SPD). That is two points more expensive but you gain 1 CV and are more resistant to being stunned. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board I have uploaded the new version - available now:

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board I put the last one into the vault in the support site for Hero Designer and then you use the format: [ hd=ID]name[/hd ] (obviously losing the spaces inside the square brackets) ID is the number you get when you upload the character name is whatever you want the link to read - often the name of the character. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board You get the impression that I'm at home with nothing better to do today?! Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board If you want I can put him in the HD vault so that people without HD can look and comment. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board There is a power called Flash which disables a particular sense of an opponent for a period of time. So Flash - sight would blind an opponent for a period, flash defence would reduce the time for which that opponent was blinded up to and including completely protecting him from the flash. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board Dont be hard on yourself - it was a good exploration of the rules and more complex than any of the first characters I tried with Hero! There are lots of pitfalls with the system because it doesn't constrain your choices for you. I think that you have a good concept there and it is workable but you want to design him with reference to the GMs campaign settings. Find out what the average damage should be and the maximum. Find out what light, average and heavy defences would be, what a high CV would be etc. Once you have those you can benchmark your character and if you are hitting all of the high end bits then you know you are going wrong somewhere - no-one should be at the high end of everything. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board When Sean said that the character was leveraged, he means that you have taken some disadvantages etc that could be seen as not worth the savings. He is saying that your character, with the powers available should probably cost more points and you might have to scale back a bit. One of the oldest Hero System adages is that if a disadvantage does not disadvantage the character then it is worth no points, regardless of what the book says. One point in case here would be the linked disadvantage that you have placed on all of your bought characteristics. What disadvantage does the character have by the characteristics being linked to the armour? You have already bought the characteristics with IIF and OIHID (two disadvantages which are often interchangeable) and so the linked gives no added disadvantage to the characteristic powers. If I were your GM I would have you remove either the linked disadvantage or the IIF and OIHID disadvantages from your characteristics. As Sean pointed out, you have also tagged expendable onto your focus limitation. That means that when you activate your spirit armour, that small sliver you have as your focus is used up to generate the power - when you switch off the spirit armour then you have no more focus and cannot use the power again until you switch it off. And you have indicated to the GM that it should be extremely difficult to get any more of the focus. As written, in my game you would get one combat and then you would find your character was effectively a sidekick to the rest of the group until you could get a ready supply of your focus again. I would also have issues with the elemental control. First, if I recall correctly, you should have only powers that cost END in there but you have your armour. Second, powers that cost END have visible as a default condition but you have taken it as an additional limitation on every power and the control cost. I would stirke off your visible limitation. As GM I would also be looking at the campaign limits for defences as far as Hugo is concerned. As far as I can see, for a one off payment of 5 endurance points Hugo can have 40PD and 44ED. Now if Hugo was fighting a clone he would be averaging 42 STUN with his main attack power. So, on average would achieve no damage to himself (ED 44 is higher). If campaign attacks average around 12-14 dice then Hugo is very resistant to damage of the normal varieties and even has a small defence against the unusual ones as well. This might concern me, it might not - it would depend on the campaign context. My other concern would be the lack of a developed skill set. It might be the campaign will not dwell on skills etc and so this will not be a problem for your GM but I would be looking for at least 5-6 broad skills/contacts/favours to give the character another dimension. So. If you followed all of what I said then your character will cost lots more points that it currently does and you might have to think about where your priorities for the character are. Ultimately it will be for your GM to decide that the character fits the way things are designed in his campaign or it does not. That's where the real rules are applied. Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board That particular character sheet is set up to add in the characteristics bought as powers so the 45 equals the 5 points spent direct and the +30 STR bought as part of the Spirit Form Enhancement. It is subscribers only, though if you had a HD character to post then you'd be a subscriber or wouldn't need the board to display the character coz you'd have HD to view the file in... Doc

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board It is possible to save them in the HD vault and display right here on the boards....

Re: New to HERO/Discussion Board Hey Jeremy, welcome to teh boards. You'll find people pretty helpful - you've already got a basic suggestion on how to build your power. As you get to know the game you'll discover that the best thing you can do with a power is have a good idea of what it is and why it works before going to the books to get an idea of how to build it. The Hero system can often get the right effects using more than one set of powers from the book. What you need to know is how the powers work and it is easier to decide the best one to use. Is your character a mutant? Where does the forcefield come from, personal abilities? Gadgets? What about the flight? Is that powered from the same place - can he use his full flight ability at the same time as full force field? Does using these powers at full power make him tired quickly? What about doing damage? How does he do that? A gun? fisticuffs? Why was his wife kidnapped? Who did it? Are they a danger to his child or him? Does this have something to do with his powers? These are the first questions I'd ask you as a GM to explain to me in words, not in game terms. The more we know the more we can help you.... Doc

Re: Causing a heart attack Hmm. Possibly, but then that is part of what I was trying to achieve through the construct. I suppose it depends what Steve (the OP) was trying to achieve by causing a heart attack. I suspect that making someone's heart stop would possibly stun them but it is done without any loss of STUN on the part of the victim so not quite the same as stunning. Doc