Doc Democracy

Could instead be penalty skill levels, only used to offset flash penalties. I would allow the mentalist to do this using mental illusions as long as the illusionist was able to maintain concentration and obviously the beneficiary would only see things that the illusionist was able to perceive. This would mean rolls from the illusionist every phase and possibly with limited results. With practice the whole thing would become easier to use (this would be buying penalty skill levels). Doc

I guess I will bow out. I think that it is a mistake to tinker round the edges without considering the broader picture. I dont think that normal versus killing damage is equivalent to lethal versus non-lethal. I would actually prefer to break the whole thing down to examine how to tailor attacks to manage STUN versus BODY damage which really would map to lethal versus non-lethal. Anyway. Good luck.

I think the first question to ask is not the dice mechanism but what role you want killing attacks to accomplish. What is their role mechanically? I think the original role was to cause BODY damage, possibly more focussed on inanimate objects like walls and robots than people, though the name does not imply this... I am not sure there is a need for an attack that kills more easily, that inflicts increased amounts of BODY damage to characters as an inherent ability, such things can be accomplished by other means. Your suggestion accepts the need for a killing attack but I question even that. Should we have a more efficient way of inflicting BODY, possibly for busting people out if jails and entangles? Very possibly, but could that be through applying advantages or manoeuvres to existing damage? I think so. I will apply myself to your question but I ask you to take a step back and ask yourself whether you actually need a killing attack at all? Doc

the PDFs on my iPad are getting heavier use than the hardcopy - I always have the iPad, I rarely carry the books out the house...

For a group, I would say yes, for an individual no...

I am very much in favour of looking at the effects and thinking about what you need to change to achieve that. Aiding or Draining Earth's gravitational pull is unlikely to be successful as I think you will find Steve has bought it as inherent... For increasing the effect gravity has on someone, like Cassandra asked, what do you want that to do? I would say that I have 'given' the recipient a burden to carry. I think it is a transformation - adding a complication of Heavy gravity - must use 10 STR/phase to move, all actions cost 1 END regardless of power costs. Or some variation on that. If that his a martial artist they will be using STR just to walk in addition to normal END for movement. As the gravity increases then the STR requirements and END costs will increase too. I am not sure whether POW defence is an appropriate one but then I am not sure what alternative would be better... Doc

I have neglected this for a while - combination of work and home distractions (not all terrible ones). However, I note that there are now 24 people who have access, that is a reasonable amount of people online on Roll20 who are interested in HERO. It should be easy for folk to start playing games there if they want to and chatting about them here! :-) Doc

Character A I don't think this is particularly mechanically difficult but it is a potential logistical nightmare. If I am the player, I say that I want a random NPC to do something. You, as the GM, have to assess how long and how often that NPC has been looking at the image of my PC. If I am the GM, then players HATE having their agency removed from them and will resent that villain hugely, those without codes versus killing WILL kill the villain at the first opportunity. Beyond that, I would purchase MInd Control in stages. The first level might only be 6D6, then add 1D6 for every step of the time chart that someone has spent looking at my image up to a maximum of whatever I am willing to pay for - maybe six steps which is equivalent to 6 hours spent looking at my face, or eight steps which is equivalent to a few days. Not hugely difficult there. More difficult if you want to judge limitations that do not follow the time chart but pretty simple if the GM is willing to put in the work. Character B For the first part you are editing people's memories. I think that this is covered in Transform. You are changing things. I would be happy to OK a transform that resulted in a person with specific memory transformed into someone without memory and a little biscuit (an additional Transform - person with memories, triggered by eating biscuit). There is ALL kinds of potential for mischief and munchkin behaviour here. Be careful what you allow. I would probably limit the Transform to memories that had been accessed by Telepathy (you have to identify them before you can extract them). The triggered transform would be interesting too, as someone with too much power defence would simply not be affected. I would be inclined to also limit the triggered transform to increase the difficulty of future transforms - so someone already packing additional memory etc would be more difficult to give additional memories etc, unless the first changes were being replaced....like additional POW Def comes with the Transform. Questions also on whether the consumption of the biscuit would need to be voluntary, whether the recipient of the memories was able to get rid of them at will, etc etc etc. Doc

In fifth, I always considered area effect to be up to a maximum of the radius. I would allow players to define the area effect. I would charge an additional +1/4 if they wanted to vary the radius every time it was used.

My problem is that I hate reading rules, they put me to sleep and even when they don't my brain stops listening to what my eyes are sending. I need to use rules as a reference or be tricked into enjoying a story where the rules are in the background, unobtrusively, seeping in there to explain how the things in the story work. I have a very lazy, selfish brain... :-(

But no shout out for her role in The Return of Captain Invincible, an unmissable superhero movie...

I think 3rd edition got a bit too fiddly. They did still publish some excellent scenario packs. I think reading the third edition rules would not draw you into the system as they also sought to divorce it from Glorantha which made some of the game design decisions feel a bit contrived whereas in the context of Glorantha, those design decisions made real sense.

He has bought a LOT of words guys, not sure he will be in a position to read more for quite some time....

I must admit that fights rarely go three turns, but they often hit two. Maybe I balance things too much! :-)

I notice you have already bought a new HD, I do not think it was anything to do with Windows 10 as such, it might simply have been that you did not have Java installed. It looks like a cool character and it would make a pretty cool comicbook character.

I wouldn't say that the stats are too high for a 400 point character. He covers all the bases, can fight for almost two turns before he starts spending STUN as END though - his last action in the second turn would take him to -2 END. Might want to look at either boosting END, boosting REC or reducing the END cost of those powers. :-)

Edition could have implications. From my melange of rule memories, if I were asked about this by one of my players I would be asking them to describe in game terms (which you have done) and then sit while I run through mechanical questions to see where the true path might lie. This spell, once cast, sits in one place that people have to move to. When they do, they can teleport themselves and up to eight others to any location in the world?? If that is the case then how do they avoid the issues of blind teleporting? Is that a risk they take? Does the power have to give them the ability to 'see' their target location? I am thinking in terms of a mega-scale teleport, x8 mass. I am thinking Immobile physical manifestation. I am thinking of making the physical manifestation a +0 universal focus limitation. The focus provides for anyone holding it to use the power, that is both good and bad like any universal focus. It is worth nothing because all the limitation it might have is tied up in the physical manifestation. If there is a need to provide targetting there should also be a clairsentience, only to target the teleport, requires INT roll (to clearly enough picture the location for the TP to get a fix). Doc

Hmm. What edition are you talking about? It has been through a few and they are all different to one extent or another. I have been playing RQ for longer than I have played HERO and in my teens we alternated those two systems. Doc

I still think you are right, The triggered powers should not cost more than buying it normally, they are not triggering on other issues that get you extra actions, they are triggering instead of a power you wanted to use and bring unwanted effects alongside. i think the no conscious control is the way to go, you have a set of powers in a multi-power, each of those powers has a side effect (that’s where the scary bits reside). If he pushes the unstable power and fails to activate it, then the GM chooses, possibly randomly, which of the powers (with side effect) activates instead. I would be content for the side effects to linger until another side effect is triggered or until a set period. Doc

This thread has me thinking about this a lot. It is a simple thing that the system does not quite tackle and forces us to twist things in quite serious ways sometimes... My current thinking is that I am going to use Darkness in reverse. I will buy it such that within the defined area, one targetting sense group does work. If you create Reverse Darkness in a brightly lit room, then noone would notice any difference, if you create it at midnight in the middle of Glencoe moors, then there will be a blob of light within which targetting senses do work (but not in the surrounding areas). That should mean that people a mile away with the right perception abilities and enough range, could target things in there, just like it should work.... Doc

I think the problem is in coming up with a decent hard distinction between "alternate reality" and "another reality entirely". :-) Most often these things are very much, I know it when I see it. Each has a spectrum of stories and they do overlap (IMO). I prefer both my science fiction and fantasy stories to be on the harder end of the spectrum, though I am a sucker for a fairy tale (superheroes! :-) ) Doc

I prefer reading sci-fi, prefer playing fantasy... Too hard. But I read more than I play...

Deluxe experience? It depends on what you want... i would want want the full sixth edition, both blue books. That is the key starting point. I would then decide if I wanted to learn by playing superheroes, fantasy, sci-fi, or pulp. I would get the relevant book for that, Champions, Pulp Hero, Star Hero etc. I would then buy a campaign book. I would go superheroes and get the Book of the Machine to give you a core for a campaign. That is all you “need”. All kinds of stuff you might “want”. I would get the 5th edition ultimate books (brick, speedster, etc) to get the feel for different archetypes and how to model them in the system. I would also get a villains book - you learn a lot by seeing how other people build stuff. Finally I would buy Villainy Amok. That is a treatise on building a superhero adventure. Lots of folk will recommend Hero Designer. I would wait until I had learned the system, really internalised how the system works. After that I think HD is a great tool that takes effort out of GMing. Doc

Yeah, you can tell I am a consumer, full of expectations. :-)

As a consumer, rather than a producer, of such things, what I really appreciate are the things that make things easy to use. As such, well laid out stat blocks that I can print and paste onto index cards, good visuals that I can paste on the other side and flash to players, or print onto card for instant tabletop colour. :-) With superheroes, I think visuals are hugely important.