| NOTE: This document is not
advocating the use of Alignment; rather it is provided as a
courtesy for those who want to use the concept in their Fantasy
HERO Games. |
| The HERO System completely lacks the concept
of a moral/ethical Alignment seen in some other game systems,
which I personally think is a good thing. However, for many the
moral/ethical axis is an integral part of Fantasy Role-playing.
For those who prefer such a model, the HERO System provides
several different means of modeling it. |
|
EXPRESSING ALIGNMENT IN THE HERO SYSTEM |
| If a GM is staying close to the typical source material of
other FRPG games, each Character must have a declared Alignment which places
certain behavioral limitations and requirements upon the Character. A GM
need only to reference their preferred source material for appropriate
options. |
| The Alignment concept maps most directly
into the HERO System mechanic of Disadvantages. Alignment has
many affects on a Character in games such as xD&D, ranging from
a detectible attribute, behavioral requirements, and as a source
of harm in the form of taking extra damage from mystic attacks
channeling energies inimical to their Alignment, and though
other FRPG's with an Alignment concept of some sort vary in
their details, this sort of multi-layered impact is not uncommon
in general. |
| The typical xD&D effects of Alignment can be
expressed in the HERO System via a combination of Distinctive
Features, one or more Psychological Limitations, and as either a
Vulnerability or Susceptibility or both to opposing Alignments. |
| However, the downside of this approach is
that a Character might jump right to the Maximum Disadvantage
Total just by milking their Alignment. This should generally be
discouraged (unless of course this is the intention of the GM). |
|
GOOD, EVIL, LAW, CHAOS |
| The classic four Alignments made famous by Dungeons and
Dragons, this basic model has been imitated and expanded upon in several
other systems. In the basic model a Character has a predilection across the
"moral" and "ethical" axis of these four Alignments, with a middle "Neutral"
nexus joining the axis. The typical "Lawful Good", "Chaotic Evil" etc.
schema ensues from there. |
| To map that or a similar system of diametric opposition
into the HERO System there are a few considerations to take into account. |
| RECOGNITION |
| For starters, for such distinctions to have any measurable
meaning, they must be recognizable. Thus, Characters in a setting where the
Alignments concept is used could take a Distinctive Feature (DF) regarding
their Alignment. |
| Alignment is the basis for many a conflict in such an
implementation and there are people/things who would harm a Character for no
better reason than their Alignment so this is worth a Disadvantage if
Alignment is used prevalently in the campaign. |
| DF: {ALIGNMENT} (Concealable with Magic, Detectable Only
By Unusual Senses, Extreme Reaction, Not Distinctive in Some Cultures) |
| Disadvantage Total: -5 Points |
| PREDILECTION |
| The primary determinant of Alignments
is based in behavior. People of certain Alignments have certain behavioral
predilections which guide their actions. |
| Thus, Characters may take
a Psychological
Limitation (PsyLim) regarding the behavioral effects of their Alignment such as
"Chaotic Good", expressing succinctly what amounts to a
Code Of Behavior. The Frequency and Strength chosen by the player indicate
how frequently they expect their Alignment to affect their behavior and how
aligned their character really is. A Paladin sort of Character might take
PsyLim: Lawful Good (Very Common, Total), while a less extreme Character
might take Lawful Good (Uncommon, Strong) for instance. |
| NO DOUBLE DIPPING |
| However if this is allowed
such a Character may not take
additional Psychological Limitations that focus on specific aspects of that
Alignment such as "Law-abiding" or "Honest" for a
Character that already took PsyLim: "Lawful Good". |
| IGNORE NEUTRAL ELEMENTS |
| For purposes of Psychological
Limitations "Neutral" elements of an Alignment should be ignored;
thus a "Neutral Good" Character should just take PsyLim: "Good",
indicating that they avoid evil acts, but don't have a major issue with
breaking the law or dodging authority. |
| PsyLim: {ALIGNMENT} (Frequency, Strength) |
| Disadvantage Total: Varies |
| INCLUSION |
| Characters in systems that use a
moral/ethical Alignment type model are often prone to taking damage (or
greater damage) from an oppositional Alignment. |
| Characters could take Vulnerabilities and / or
Susceptibilities vs. oppositional Alignment effects |
| VULNERABILITIES DISCOURAGED |
| Personally I would advise against allowing Characters to
take Vulnerability in most Fantasy HERO games for a variety of reasons. For
starters, the effect of x1.5 or x2 damage in most Fantasy games is entirely
too devastating. Secondly Characters usually suffer from two different
oppositional Alignments, and the net Disadvantage total just for
comprehensively modeling Alignment sensitivity can meet a majority of a
Character's personal Disadvantage point requirements which is a
disproportionate effect. |
| SUSCEPTIBILITY RECOMMENDED |
| Susceptibility works much better in this regard as it is
both more reasonable in its costing and less devastating in its effect. A
Character should take one Susceptibility per Alignment they are Susceptible
to. However, a GM should monitor this and decide for them selves if they
fell that players are milking too many points from this category of
Disadvantage and if so take steps to discourage them. |
| SUSCEPTIBLE DAMAGE SCALING |
| The scaling of how much damage is taken should probably be
linked to the strength of the Psychological Limitation the Character took to
model their behavior as described previously. If the Character has a
Moderate PsyLim for their Alignment then 1d6 is appropriate, and similarly
2d6 would be appropriate for a Strong PsyLim and 3d6 would be appropriate
for a Total PsyLim. |
| SUSCEPTIBLE TIME INCREMENT |
| The Time Increment aspect of Susceptibility can be
variable, but I would recommend strongly encouraging players to go with
Instant. However, particularly aligned Characters such as Clerics and
Paladins could make a case for Per Phase on an individual basis.
However, players should consider how debilitating a Per Phase Susceptibility
can be. |
| SUSCEPTIBLE DAMAGE COMMONALITY |
| Generally Alignment damage should be considered Uncommon,
but in some campaigns or settings it might be Common or even Very Common.
The GM should make a decision at the onset of the campaign how frequently they
think Alignment damage will occur and set the level for the duration of the
campaign so that all Characters designed for the Campaign have a consistent approach. |
| However, particular sorts of Characters such as obvious
Clerics and Paladins are much more likely to be confronted by such attacks
because opponents know they are generally vulnerable to them and further
they tend to seek out the sort of enemy capable of using such abilities to
directly oppose them as part of their calling, and thus should usually be
allowed to take the Limitation Frequency at one higher level of commonality
if possible. |
| Susceptible to {Alignment}: 1d6 damage Instant
(Uncommon) |
| Disadvantage Total: -5 |
| Susceptible to {Alignment}: 2d6 damage Instant
(Uncommon) |
| Disadvantage Total: -10 |
| Susceptible to {Alignment}: 3d6 damage Instant
(Uncommon) |
| Disadvantage Total: -15 |
| Upgrade to Common |
| Disadvantage Modifier: additional -5 |
| Upgrade to Per Phase |
| Disadvantage Modifier: additional -10 |
| LIMITED EFFECT |
| A GM might also decide that some
effects are naturally attuned to have more effect against one or more Alignments and build Power
constructs which are intended to do harm to a specific Alignment. This can
be used in addition to or instead of the Susceptibility approach described
previously. |
| For instance, consider a Blast Spell that also had a
greater than normal effect on people of specific Alignments. Demonstrating
this in practice, the following base effect can be combined with any one of
the Alignment specific Partially Limited Effect Powers in the later
following examples. |
| Blast Spell: 6D6 Energy Blast (30 Active Points);
Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) |
| Real Cost: 20 points |
| VS SPECIFIC ALIGNMENT |
| You could build a Limited Effect Power that adds onto the
base effect which is intended to do harm to a specific Alignment. It
is recommended that a -3/4 Limitation be allowed for a Power that only harms
a specific Alignment. |
| Unholy Blast: +5D6 Energy Blast (25 Active
Points); Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Only affects Good (-3/4) |
| Real Cost: +11 points |
| VS SPECIFIC ALIGNMENT COMBINATION |
| For such an attack that only
effects a combination of two Alignment elements, such as "Only vs. Lawful Good", simply double the limitation for a total -1 1/2 Partial Limitation. |
| Chaotic Evil Blast: +5D6 Energy Blast (25
Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Only affects
Lawful Good (-1 1/2) |
| Real Cost: +8 points |
| VS EITHER OF TWO ALIGNMENTS |
| If the attack can effects either of two Alignment elements, such as "Only vs. Lawful
or
Good", simply
reduce the Limitation
by -1/4
to a -1/2 Partial
Limitation. |
| Dynamic And Unholy Blast: +5D6 Energy
Blast (25 Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Only
affects Lawful or Good (-1/2) |
| Real Cost: +12 points |
| VS EITHER OF TWO SPECIFIC ALIGNMENT COMBINATION |
| If the attack can effect either of two
different two-part Alignment elements, such as "Only vs. Lawful
Good or Chaotic Good", first reduce the -3/4 Limitation
by -1/4 to a -1/2 Limitation for affecting either of two
Alignments, and then
double it to a -1 Limitation for only affecting specific
combinations of Alignments. |
| Unholy Blast of Balance: +5D6 Energy Blast (25
Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Only affects
Lawful Good or Chaotic Good (-1) |
| Real Cost: +10 points |
| LIMITATION VALUE SUMMARY |
| The following table summarizes the
Limitation values described in the previous examples. |
| Affects two Alignments (Lawful and Good, Chaotic and
Evil, etc) |
-1/2 |
| Affects a single Alignment (Good, Evil, Lawful, Chaotic) |
-3/4 |
| Affects either of two specific Alignment combos (Lawful
Good and Lawful Evil, etc) |
-1 |
| Affects one specific Alignment combo (Lawful Good, etc) |
-1 1/2 |
|
|
| COMPLETE POWER |
| While usually this sort of approach is taken
as extra effect on top of a based effect, it can also be used
for entire Powers which have no effect at all on people of
certain Alignments, being specifically targeted against a
particular and narrow group. |
| This can be flavorful and fun, but GM's
should beware that there is a hidden balance concern here. Such
effects also serve as a de facto Detect Power. Since only people
of a particular type are affected by the Power, it also serves
to identify people of that type. |
| Some GM's may not mind this hidden benefit
due to its limited usefulness, particularly if the Character
using such effects already has a legitimate means to detect
Alignment anyway. However for those GM's that do mind they can
require a special Discriminatory Detect be bought to be used in conjunction
with the Power as a bundled effect to justify its function. Such Detects can take a -2
Limitation indicating this is their use, similar to Detects
bought specifically for Triggers to recognize triggering
conditions. |
| Unholy Blast: 10D6 Energy Blast (50 Active
Points); Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Only affects Good (-3/4)
(Real Cost: 22 Points) |
| Detect Good: Detect (Good Alignment) 11- (Sight
Group), Discriminatory (10 Active Points); Only To Allow Spell To Target
Those Affected By It (-2), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost:
3 Points) |
| Total Real Cost: 25 points |
|
D&D STYLE ALIGNMENT "PACKAGE" |
| For ease of use for those coming into the HERO System from
an xD&D game, this example is provided as a sort of "Disadvantage Package
Deal" summarizing the various aspects of Alignment as discussed previously
in this document. |
| Neutral Characters will have less Disadvantages and thus
such a collection of Disadvantages for them would be worth fewer points (or
none at all for True Neutral Characters), while some particularly aligned
characters such as Clerics and Paladins will likely have more severe options
and thus their Disadvantages would be worth more points. However, this can
likely be considered typical for most Characters that are not Neutral along
either the moral or ethical axis. |
| Obviously you can replace "Lawful Good" with the Alignment
combination of your choice. |
| DF: Lawful Good (Concealable with Magic, Detectable Only
By Unusual Senses, Extreme Reaction, Not Distinctive in Some Cultures); -5
Points |
| PsyLim: Lawful Good (Common, Moderate); -10 Points |
| Susceptible to Chaos: 1d6 damage Instant
(Uncommon); -5 Points |
| Susceptible to Evil: 1d6 damage Instant
(Uncommon); -5 Points |
| Disadvantage Total: -25 Points |
|
DEEMPHASIZING ALIGNMENT |
| Alternately, GM's converting into the
HERO System from a game that uses Alignments of some kind might prefer to
minimize or remove the Alignment concept in their HERO System campaigns.
Following are a few options for doing this. |
|
COMPLETE ABSENCE |
| The most straightforward
method of deemphasizing an Alignment concept is to simply get
rid of it completely. Characters instead just take Disadvantages
describing their personal hang-ups and downsides in the standard HERO
System fashion. |
|
VAGUE |
| Another option is to
depict Alignments as very vague concepts, rather than the rigid
absolutes that they are in other games. Characters instead simply describe
personality traits, taking Psychological Limitations and other
Limitations where appropriate for specific quirks of the
Character, in the normal HERO System fashion. |
| However, characters can
be summed up as being generally "Good" or "Evil" (or whatever
Alignment labels are being used) based upon their overall
demeanor and history. Under this implementation Spells
like Detect Good and Detect Evil become much less
encompassing, essentially only picking up on
tendencies rather than definitive absolutes. |
|
ATTENUATED |
| Another option would be to
combine both methods. Perhaps the bulk of people
have no actual "Alignment" at all, being run
of the mill individuals existing in a broad "grey" area in moral
and ethical terms. However, the Alignments do exist, and some
more extreme people are attuned to them.
In fact, in such a setting perhaps
part of what marks PC's as different is their
attunement to powerful but unseen moral and ethical
forces. |
| In this sort of implementation
simply assume that most
people are "True Neutral" or
equivalent, and thus don't qualify for any Disadvantage points
stemming from an Alignment. |
| As a side note, "Only Affects
{Alignment Part}" is worth an additional -1/4 in such a
setting because it will be far less
useful in general. |
| Unholy Blast In Attenuated Campaign: +5D6 Energy Blast (25 Active
Points); Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Only affects Good (-1) |
| Real Cost: +10 points |