Doc Democracy

Re: Need a little help. Personally I would buy a block of STUN (for example +15) that represented the STUN from 1-15 of the total. When the character's STUN drops below 16 then he becomes an automaton. You could represent that as a multiform triggered by the drop in STUN or you might simply do it as a psych lim: when STUN below 16 character acts according to a simple set of pre-set rules. You would have to decide what the computer is set up to do and agree with the player on that. If it simply alloed the player to carry on then it is SFX of low STUN and there is no real drawback or benefit to the change. I am assuming that the idea is that the suit will attempt to remove the character to a place of safety to recuperate? You could do that with a simple triggered teleport limited by the fact that the character must be able to move bodily thorugh the intervening space and it would take time. The rest is all SFX.... Doc

Re: Rules to ignore, or replace I actually like the thought processes behinfd the current shapeshift mechanic. It is out senses that define what something is. If we want to change our shape then we must change our existence as it appears to other people's senses. Yuou might be able to fool someone's touch, or their sense of smell, or what they see using images but you actually change what they sense using shapeshift - there is no fooling going on, you are actually changing into what they sense. The more complete that change is the more senses it will appear to as the shifted object. Doc

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Cruelty or just fulfilling the stereotype? http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=0yks4ir64s

Re: Help me fill in the plot holes Well, this works well with ongoing TV series. For the intervening scenarios you might want to spotlight each of the PCs. In each scenario you might have a plotline revolving around the disads of a particular PC each one intended to result in personal humiliation for that character. In essence, Blackstaff is looking to personally discredit the PCs before going for the group humiliation and the final reveal. Obviously in each scenario you have to insert something that begins to get the PCs looking at their Hunteds etc to see who they might have in common that would be doing these things and have the oblique clues and references that, in hindsight, point towards Blackstaff. I think that the biggest danger in such a scenario is that a flash of inspiration by one of the players short circuits the campaign. My instinct would be to have a fallback - either the PCs work it out and catch him or Blackstaff realises that they are onto him. When the PCs are talking and the moment of inspiration arrives they look round and Blackstaff has gone though his personal belongings that he left in his rush to make his exit lead to the final deathtrap.... Doc

Re: Rules to ignore, or replace I think it is simply another area where the power terminology is getting in the way of the mechanics behind it. I haven't used it and so cannot discuss whether the costs are broken within it but I like the idea behind the mechanics. I like that you can change the way your physical form is arranged without changing your hue - just like plastic man. Obviously there are overlaps with stretching but that is easy to sort out in a power framework of some kind. The topiography of the physical form is obviously what people focus on - people put a lot of emphasis on shape. However the other senses slowly add to the shapeshift until it becomes not simply a change in form but an ability to mimic other things. Now - I think this conforms with Hero design philosophy - put the mechanical effects first and allow them to be used to determine the powers as they appear in the game world. Perhaps the costs should be different somehow - adding extra senses as fixed cost adders and possibly extended to have a real 'Mimic' power which is currently lacking in the game and would probably be very expensive. Doc

Re: Power Help I'll stick with this one just now. What you will have to be careful with here is the potential for exceeding the damage limitations of any campaign you happen to be playing in. My take would be on you working with the GM to find out what the largest calibre weapon you can use this power with and take that damage. I would then purchase a killing attack of twice the capacity. For example, if the largest damage would be 3D6K then you have to purchase 6D6K. The power would then have the beam limitation, focus of opportunity, damage limited by weapon. The damage limitation would cover the fact that your 6D6 Killing Attack would only do 1/2D6K if you were holding an empty derringer, or 1D6K if you were holding a bog standard pistol. If these weapons were loaded then you would be able to do 1D6K or 2D6K respectively. Now, this version really only works with bog standard damage types. To get really clever you really need to think along the lines of VPP which would be similarly limited but allow you to add Armour Piercing or Autofire as necessary - or even to use a variety of weapons such as flame throwers. You could probably get by with a multipower that covered the main advantages of projectile weapons but you would need to work with the GM to determine 1) what you will be allowed to have and 2) what the campaign maximums for such weapons will be. After that you can buy the bog standard Killing Attack slot, the AP slot, the Autofire slot and possibly a damage limitation on the reserve. Not at home so cant work up a Hero Designer example for you. Doc

Re: How would you do this? I'd go with Dust Raven's build - I think I would make it linked and the drain to have a delayed effect - thus the drain would not startuntil the following phase. I reckon that linked is the game way to do it - MPA would give you the option of draining or not or require another to hit roll. I reckon linked is the way to get the single to hit roll. As pointed out the value of the "only while entangled" will vary depending on the strength of the entangle and I might wrap it into the linked limitation - specially if you were going to buy the drain with delayed effect. You could, to avoid the instant/continuous thing, buy the entangle as continuous as well to simulate the effect of the tentacles slowly getting a better grip of the person unless they managed to break out early. Gets pretty nasty pretty quickly that way... Doc

Re: Question: Build Ideas For SFX Far as I can see this is just another riff on the possession power - how do you get a character to completely replicate another? When looking at the Jericho problem I gave the the character a transform and duplication. The transform made the target a duplicate of the character and the duplication was bought such that the character and the target were variant duplicates (the character in powers and the target in disads - so when the duplicates were combined the combination was the target power wise and the character personality wise. This was limited - if the duplicate was only 300 points and the target 500 points then the SFX are that the control is not perfect and the possessor only has a limited control of the powers (and thus 200 points less powerful). A head twist at first but makes sense mechanics wise. In this instance you have a character who wants to become a duplicate of another character - so once again I think that the power has to be duplication. In this instance the duplication is bought with variable power effects, limited by the fact that it can only form someone where the relevant DNA is available. The character would have duplication UAA (to create the duplicate of the person - limited by the fact that the duplicate has no volition - worth no points as it is advantageous to the character) and this duplicate is then possessed as above. It is an expensive option but logical. Doc

Re: Rules to ignore, or replace

Re: "Understanding limitations and advantages" As you might have guessed - I am sympathetic to the making things cost more, I was just working through ways that you might alter the attractiveness of a power in game without reducing the portability of the character between campaigns. Obviously it would be far more work to apply varied costs to powers as the players would have to be aware of that (and remember to apply it) when they were building their characters. All in all it is more work for the GM before and after character submissions which is already the mountain as far as getting a Hero game going. Not saying it isn't worth it, just makes things more complex. If you are saying that the formula for working out costs of powers should be changed then that also makes it more complex. To give you a starting point actual cost = real points = ((active points * advantages)/(1+limitations)) * SFX modifier Now in all current campaigns the SFX modifier is 1. I would suggest that the lowest modifier should be 1 or else you are simply making the modifier another type of limitation. You could assign larger modifiers to SFX that would have campaign benefits. So in Invasion of the Supermen a kryptonite based attack might have a modifier of 2 or 3 while a magic based power might have a modifier of 3 or 4. I would not suggest modifiers larger than 4. The GM could then simply produce a list of those SFX that would not be 1 for his campaign. Better? Doc

Re: "Understanding limitations and advantages" I think that I would do my level best to avoid the situation in the first place. In the invasion of the supermen example I think that I would point out to the player that if I were the commander of an invasion force and one suprhuman on the planet was able to shoot kryptonite rays from their eyes then it would be my firs task to ensure that clear and present danger was removed. I might not charge extra for the power but might indicate tot he player that the nature of the power would attract disadvantages such as 'Hunted: Super-Assassins 14-, seek to kill character' and 'Phys Lim: Kryptonite signature - easy to detect' That might put a not so subtle note to the player that I, as GM, dont really want you to have that power though, under these extreme circumstances that I am prepared to allow it. In the case of the vampires I might indicate that the power of the gods may wane when in ground controlled by other dieties. The powers granted by the god of the sun may be limited in the Land of the Vampires where the Night Lady holds sway. I would allow the images to cause damage and to trigger susceptibilities but might tack on things like activation rolls or Phys Lim - Avatar of the Light. One means that the power cannot be relied upon and the other that anyone seeking you out would get a fix on you whenever you used the powers.... Hmm. Is there a limitation that would do that? Something like Beacon where you radiate some quality that others might use to track you or find you when you dont necessarily want to be seen or found? Does Phys Lim cover that??? Doc

Re: "Understaning limitations and advantages" The points for the disadvantage of being susceptible to kryptonite is not really the issue though is it? What Sean is saying is that, if every major villain will have a susceptibility/vulnerability to a particular SFX then surely choosing that SFX for an attacking power should cost more than the same power with a less effective SFX. No? I can see the argument, even if it does stray from the central Hero tenet of divorcing SFX from mechanics etc. Doc

Re: Defense vs. mind-switch To me this is one of the areas that Hero handles least well, unless the GM has done lots of setting up work to answer such questions. Personally I would not mind a player coming to me with a multi-defence power - something like 20 points of multi-defence. It would cost 1 point per point and would protect against a specific attack type. Thus for mind transference - depending on the power build, it would give added mental defence, or BODY or EGO (for transforms) based on 20 active points. The player gets a multifaceted defence against that attack type and it costs the base 1 point per point of defence. Doc

Re: "Understaning limitations and advantages" And here you see a potential benefit from thread necromancy rather than beginning a new thread - the OP was subscribed to the thread (I presume) and was alerted to the resumed discussion. Thus a lapsed member of the congregation was returned to the fold. Well done CourtFool! Doc

Re: Stun Reserves and? I'd have no problem with this concept though I'd have to be sold on the whys of it before I would allow it. I can see potential advantages and disadvantages of having a STUN battery - though not immediately the need for it (END batteries model stuff like Green Lantern's ring or robot batteries quite well). What do you see your STUN Battery modelling? Doc

Re: Laser target designator "HOW?" You could build it as levels only to offset range penalties - that is, in effect what it is doing, no? The limitation would be the requirement to 'paint' the object first... Doc

Re: Laser target designator "HOW?" What exactly do you want the effect to be? If it is simply a way of hitting a target that will later be hit un-erringly by other weapons then I think you are looking at a specially limited delayed effect. If the weapon is a 4D6K area effect missile then you can slap delayed effect on it and the delay would be the missile coming later. Obviously the attack could be disrupted in a number of ways - erasing the laser paint, shooting down the missile/airplane etc. You could also simply have it as a bonus on the to hit of the attacking missile/air strike - that would be easier - +OCV to those able to 'see' the designated target. Lots of ways really.... Doc

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun If it is simple that you want then I think a modified form of LTE that I considered might suit you. You have to decide what level of activity begins racking up the tiredness for you. Once you have that then you simply record the level of fatigue of each character. At zero fatigue everything works just like you'd expect. Every turn of combat adds ENC to fatigue. In the first combat fatigue simply accumulates with no real effect. It is subsequent combats that it plays a role. When fatigue is greater than 1xBODY a character will expend 1 additional END each combat phase simply to keep active, at 2XBODY they spend 2 additional END each phase etc etc Fatigue recovers at REC/hour of complete rest or REC/day for travel, work etc. Normal sleep time adds REC/night and REC per additional hour of sleep beyond the regular eight hours. There is no upper limit to the amount of fatigue you can accumulate but you can see that it will quickly reduce characters non-functional if they continually enter combats. I think Hero can do anything you want it to but you have to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve first. The biggest problem is often trying to get that clear idea... Doc

Re: Heroic Endurance and Stun Something that I've often considered but not implemented in any way at all is a system of Hurts. I thought that any blow that causes significant STUN should cause a Hurt to the character. Hit locations are almost compulsory for such a system. So taking a blow that causes 1xBODY in STUN would get you a minor Hurt - something like -1" running - possibly represented as a gash or twisted knee. 2xBODY in STUN would be a Hurt - something more dramatic such as a side effect to PD that causes you to take 1D6 STUN when the same location is hit (bruising that causes pain when touched for example). 3+ xBODY in STUN would be a major Hurt - very long term hurts such as a suppression of REC, negative overall levels etc. It would take a bit of thought to set up, but as you began racking up lots of Hurts, even if they were only minor, you would begin to think twice about entering unnecessary combats. You would also have to think about how long Hurts took to heal... Doc

Re: Immune to Magic This is a recurrent type of question. D&D gets to have an absolute defence because such things exist on their list of spells. In Hero the list of spells is generated through point buying and everything is supposed to balance so absolute defences can be very expensive. The cleanest way of doing this is to create a talent/perk etc that is simply immunity to magic. If you have several types of magic in your world then you can have multiple talents/perks. When spell casters are buying their spells etc then they get to take a limitation of 'not versus those with talent/perk'. Thus you can introduce absolute defences into the game. All you have to do now is decide how expensive this defence is and what limitations you want to put on its use. After all - make it too cheap and all PCs will be completely immune to magic.... The cost should be pitched to make it attractive but expensive enought that PCs will tend to want to buy limited versions of it. You might also have high power magic that is not limited in the same way and so, as the PCs get to higher levels they do not have to worry about hedge witches and wizards but the sorcerors that they routinely fight are still a challenge... Doc

Re: PCs go down the hole... For a pulp style twist you might take them to a Hollow Earth experience where they go back to fight dinosaurs and neanderthals...all to save a Greek demi-god from captivity placed on her by their least favoured denizen of Olympus... Doc

Re: question for gm Hmmm. Well, this is another of those occasions where you have to address what you are doing game mechanic wise rather than story wise. You are essentially wanting to remove the armour available to the opponent so that everyone can attack that location with no armour defences. I would say that you are looking at something like an armour drain or suppress with the all or nothing limitiation, only versus real armour and only limited location. It should be recovered entirely by the troll taking time to put the armour back on. The special effects would be the telekinesis removing the armour. I would allow this top be built into a multipower with the telekinesis. Doc

Re: Delaying an opponent

Re: The more corrupt you are, the more it hurts It would be a compound power. 6D6 EB, +2D6 (only versus bad people +1/4), +2D6 (only versus very bad people, +1/2), +2D6 (only versus really awful people, +3/4) 30 points + 8 points + 7 points + 6 points = 51 points In the multipower that is a limited 12D6 EB. I can't remember what the rules are here but I think you always have to throw the whole power (paying the necessary END) and acepting that sometimes it wont work as well as you hoped - and why those things are limitations. Doc

Re: Homebrew Magic OK, you got some colour there and, for gameplay, colour is all important. What you need is how the various casters feel different to the players. Sure, one type drink and make potions others read scrolls and other ones use staves and wands. That doens't make a huge difference in feel. You do this a bit making warlocks work from multipowers rather than VPPs but nothing to distinguish wizards and sorcerers. You might want to have power limits associated with each type of magic. You might want to have access to the higher levels of magic require people to switch type of magic and take on limitations to what they can do or wear. These begin to differentiate the casters in the eyes of the players. Artificers look almost like an ingredient necessary for others to gain magic items. In the system, if you create a magic item then you spend points on it - probably using the independent limitation - and may lose both the item and the points. An artificer will rarely be sitting there making items for himself. He certainly wont be spending his own points for the benefit of others. What it looks like is that a player with points to spend needs the artificer as part of the creation process and this might be seen as a limitation on the item - if broken or damaged, it can only be fixed by a) the original artificer or an artificer from the same school as the original. This begins to give the players reasons to know where artificers live and reasons to stay on good terms with them... Killer Shrike has done a lot of work teasing out details for various magic systems - it would be well worth scanning through these - see what bits might work within the colour of your system to enhance the difference between the various different magic using types and stealing some, amending others before putting it all together in your homebrew. Doc