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Following is a breakdown of the elements of a HERO System character.
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NOTE: Some sections below are shaded grey, like this paragraph. These are
passages where I go into minutia or a high level of detail. They might be interesting
to some people, but most readers can safely skip them without missing the overall
point being discussed.
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CHARACTERISTICS
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Characteristics describe basic attributes just like they do in almost any game.
Characteristics are broken into two groups, Primary and Figured. The essential difference
between them is that Primary Characteristics start with a base of 10 points, where
as Figured Characteristics have a variable base determined from various Primary
Characteristics.
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PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS
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The Primaries are Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Body (BODY),
Intelligence (INT), Ego (EGO), Presence (PRE), and Comeliness (COM).
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FIGURED CHARACTERISTICS
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The Figureds are Physical Defense (PD), Energy Defense (ED), Speed (SPD), Recovery
(REC), Endurance (END), Stun (STUN).
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PD is based on STR, ED is based on CON, SPD is based on DEX, REC is based on STR
and CON, END is based on CON, and STUN is based on STR, CON, and BODY. INT is used
to determine Perception (an innate ability), EGO is used in mental Combat, and PRE
is used for Presense Attacks (mentioned later). Comeliness does almost absolutely
nothing.
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Common Objection: Characteristics Everywhere
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Yes, the HERO System could stand to loose a few characteristics, or gain some depending
on your personal opinion. For instance, COM is practically useless out of the box,
while the Power Mental Defense acts like a Characteristic if you buy even a single
point of it (and thus IMO should just be a Figured from the get go).
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Regardless, with the modern trend towards fewer characteristics in RPG's the HERO
System does look a little chunky in that area. This basically distills down to a
preference decision however; if you like the granularity that more characteristics
offers to differentiating characters and for basing task resolutions on then it's
a good thing. If one prefers a more simplistic, abstracted model then it is a bad
thing.
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Common Objection: Meaningless Breakpoints
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Also, yes Characteristics have some meaningless breakpoints. There isn't a measurable
difference between a 10 PRE and an 11 PRE and so forth. Yes, since it's a point
based system and Characteristics are laced with well known "sweet spots"
Characteristics tend to polarize on various numbers that you'll see again and again
on character sheets. Players eventually figure out that #3 and #8 are nice cutoff
points for most characteristics thanks to the HERO rounding rules, and unsurprisingly
you'll see a lot of 13's, 18's, 23's, 28's and so on.
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However, this isn't unique to the HERO System. All games that don't tie mechanics
directly to characteristic attributes have meaningless breakpoints of some sort.
It's a trade off between a tightly coupled characteristics model (like White Wolf
where 1 dot = +1 die), and looser coupled models (like D&D 3e where every other
point = +1/-1 modifier), to largely arbitrary models like the HERO System, where
individual characteristics have different increments that matter for different things.
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Personally, the programmer in me wishes the HERO System characteristic model was
both more orthogonal and more tightly coupled to mechanics. I'd actually prefer
a setup where one character point bought one characteristic point, and each point
had a measurable effect. But, I'm probably in the minority on that.
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Common Objection: Rolling Point Recursions
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Yes, due to the relationships between Primary and Secondary Characteristics there
are some odd point recursions that can be easily exploited.
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Part of this problem is carry-over from the breakpoint issue discussed above, but
for the most part this is just pure mathematical idiocy on the part of the original
game designers that has been carried forward.
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Recursive STR
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The primary culprit is Strength (STR), which costs one point per point, but influences
a tremendous amount of secondary abilities. Every 5 points of STR doubles your lifting
ability, gives you +1d6 unarmed damage and to break out of Grabs and Entangles and
to maintain Grabs of your own, and +1" of Leaping ability.
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That alone would be a tidy bargain, but STR also has three Figured Characteristics
based on it; Physical Defense (PD), Recovery (REC), and Stun (STUN).
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Every 5 points of STR, rounded in the character's favor, garners +1 PD and +1 REC.
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Every 2 points of STR, rounded in the character's favor, garners +1 STUN.
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So lets do a little math. Every character starts off with a 10 point base for STR
which grants 100kg lifting, 2d6 exerting, and 2" leaping. It also grants 2
PD, 2 REC, and 5 STUN. Not bad.
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If I spend 5 points on STR my character has 15 STR, then in addition to the other
things STR grants (lifting, exerting, leaping), it also grants +1 PD (1 points),
+1 REC (2 points), and +3 STUN (3 points). So wait a second...I spent 5 character
points, and got all the things STR grants on it's own PLUS 6 points worth of other
figured characteristics?
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That is a "Point Recursion". Spending points shouldn't generate more points,
and in my opinion it is a real flaw.
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Some people are of the position that this point recursion allows superheroic bricks
to compete with other archetypes that benefit from Power Frameworks, but I don't
buy it (I've never found bricks to have problems being competitive -- quite the
opposite in fact). And even if one concedes that point, it still doesn't excuse
the brokenness of this at heroic levels of play.
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This also leads in to a less common but prevalent objection that STR is too cheap.
The arguments over this topic are a minor saga unto themselves, but the short version
is that there are some (including me) who think STR should at least cost two character
points per point under the current model. However, in my opinion the costing of
STR is a secondary concern compared to its recursion ability.
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Recursive CON
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While STR is the worst culprit for recursion, Constitution (CON) and Dexterity (DEX)
also have some recursion as well. However, it really is small potatoes compared
to STR.
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Energy Defense (ED), Recovery (REC), and Stun (STUN) are all derived partially or
in full from CON, which has a similar effect as the STR recursion shown above, but
since CON costs two points and has far fewer intrinsic abilities than STR does,
it is a much less serious affair.
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Recursive DEX
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Speed (SPD) is derived from DEX, but at a stiffer ratio; every 10 points of DEX
grants a point of SPD, and further SPD is the only exception in the game to the
HERO rounding rules; SPD is only valid in full increments. Further, DEX costs three
character points per point; thus it would take 30 character points spent on DEX
to yield one point of SPD, which is inefficient since you could just buy a point
of SPD directly for 10 character points.
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However, DEX divided by 3 determines base Offensive Combat Value (OCV) and Defensive
Combat Value (DCV). It costs five character points to buy a dedicated Combat Skill
Level (CSL) for either OCV and DCV, and levels to boost OCV must be bought separately
for either Hand to Hand (HtH) or Ranged.
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Thus every 9 points of DEX, rounded in the characters favor, garners +1 OCV/+1 DCV
which is worth at least 10 points in CSL's, and 9/10ths of a point of SPD for 27
character points. That's a very powerful recursion, and characters built to abuse
it have a definite advantage over those that don't capitalize on it. Also, there
are a lot of combat-useful Skills based on DEX, like Fast Draw, Acrobatics, and
Breakfall.
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CHARACTERISTICS SUMMARY
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There are definitely some flaws inherent in the current HERO System Characteristics
model. It could be improved, without a doubt, but it isn't a game-stopping issue.
The system could definitely use some refactoring to make it a cleaner, less quirky
model, but it still functions pretty well in actual game play.
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There are also pros to the model to balance out some of its cons. On the plus side
since you get to decide for yourself how many points to spend on which characteristics
rather than determining them randomly or semi-randomly, you get to design the character
you want, within the boundaries of the campaign in question and the character points
available to you. Also, the HERO System allows you to raise your characteristics
after the game has started via experience points. The game also does not have hard
caps on the upper limits of characteristics; a character can go over the "Characteristic
Maxima" for any characteristic, they just have to pay double the normal character
point cost for each point of characteristic.
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SKILLS
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In general Skills work very well in the HERO System, in my opinion. The System was
one of the first games to have a really extensive treatment of the subject as memory
serves, and it is integrated directly into the game mechanics rather than tacked
on as an after thought. You see the influence of the HERO System in many more modern
games; the d20 Skill Model is a pretty direct copy of it, in my opinion.
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In the SFX driven HERO System, an individual character might have an ability purchased
as a Skill that conceptually indicates an inborn ability or Power, such as a super-dexterous
character with an insanely high Breakfall and Acrobatics Skills defined as expressions
of their superhuman abilities rather than a trained ability. But in general the
Skills concept loosely covers any ability that is essentially trainable.
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Skills cover a broad gamut of different sub-mechanics intended to handle a huge
array of abilities. It is a powerful selection of options; however, the variety
of sub-mechanics can be somewhat confusing to a newbie, particularly since they
are not grouped together in the text by subtype (they are listed alphabetically).
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Personally I think this is an organizational flaw (as opposed to a mechanical flaw);
if the Skills were grouped by subtype I think it would be much more clear. Regardless,
I've never heard any common objections about the Skills in the HERO System aside
from confusion regarding how various subtypes are resolved, so I'll just take a
stab at grouping the subtypes myself and discussing them.
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FLAT ABILITY SKILLS
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Some Skills cost a flat amount of points for a flat effect. In other words, they
are not variable in either cost or application.
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SKILL LEVELS
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One of the most interesting and powerful aspects of the HERO System is the concept
of Skill Levels, which come in several varieties; Combat Skill Levels (CSL), Penalty
Skill Levels (PSL), and Skill Levels (SL). They all work the same, the difference
being only in application.
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The idea behind Skill Levels is that you can purchase bonuses to other Skill Rolls
or for Combat Attack Rolls, or to offset Penalties to various task resolutions.
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PSLs
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PSL' are only applicable to penalties of various sorts, and essentially cancel penalties
on a one for one basis. A classic example of this in action are PSL's to offset
the Range Penalty; a character with 4 PSL's of this sort offsets a -4 to hit penalty
for Range. Another example is a character that takes PSL's to offset hit location
penalties.
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Personally, I don't like PSL's and think they are unnecessary; they could easily
be handled with CSL's and SL's instead. In particular there is frequently confusion
on where to use PSL's as opposed to CSL's; PSL's are not supposed to be used to
improve OCV, but the difference between offsetting something like a Range or Hit
Location penalty to OCV which is expressly allowed vs. offsetting an OCV penalty
to the Grab Maneuver which is expressly not allowed is not really clear or intuitive.
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CSLs
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CSL' are applied to OCV or DCV. They come in different varieties, ranging from +1
OCV to hit with a single attack for 2 character points to +1 applicable to HtH or
Ranged OCV or DCV for 8 character points and several flavors in between.
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Personally, I love CSL's and consider them to be one of the most flavorful and useful
abilities in the game.
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SLs
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SL' are applied to Skill Rolls, as the name implies. They come in different varieties,
ranging from +1 with a single Skill for 2 character points (which is also rolled
in to individual Skills as a convenience in the 3/2 Roll Under model described later),
to +1 with all Skill Rolls, PER Rolls, and other Skill-like rolls such as Find Weakness
for 10 character points, and several flavors in between.
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There are numerous advantages to this model, the primary one being point efficiency
when making characters with a broad array of Skills. Rather than buying several
related Skills and having to raise each one separately, a character can buy the
Skills at their base level and then buy one or more Skill Levels to apply to them
all.
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Personally, I find the 3, 5, and 8 point varieties of SL's to be fairly useless
in a majority of cases, but they come in handy from time to time. The 10 point Overall
Skill Level on the other hand is point for point one of the most useful abilities
in the game.
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Also, it isn't clear to me why all three types of Skill Levels aren't blended into
a single Skill Level ability.
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COMBAT SKILLS
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Next you have "Combat Skills" which grant flat abilities for a flat cost.
These include abilities like Defense Maneuver and Two Weapon Fighting. I also personally
consider Martial Arts to fall in this category since they are flat cost flat abilities
that are used in Combat, but technically Martial Arts are a separate category of
Skills.
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These Skills are very useful, and tend to be pretty efficient. They are well worth
checking out for any character with a combat orientation that doesn't rely on Powers.
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FAMILIARITY SKILLS
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The simplest type of Skill has no associated Skill Roll, and simply exposes a list
of items that a character is either Familiar with or isn't. Familiarities are usually
bought for 1 point each, but some of the Skills of this type allow Familiarity Groups
that cost 2 points each.
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Transport Familiarity and Weapon Familiarity are the two Skills that fall in to
this group.
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LANGUAGE SKILL
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Similar to Familiarity Skills, Languages don't have an associated Skill Roll, and
are bought in a check list fashion. There are a finite number of languages available
in a given setting, and a character might know one or more of them. A character
is assumed to at least speak their own native language (literacy by default is an
assumption determined at the setting level). So in a Heroic game set in the modern
"real" world a character might speak Russian and French in addition to
his native tongue for instance.
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Where it differs is that aptitude with a Language is bought in tiers rather than
the simple have it/don't have it model of Familiarities. Thus it costs less to have
the ability to carry on a "Basic Conversation" than it does to pass as
a native speaker. This makes a certain amount of sense, but personally I think that
another approach would be better, as I discuss below.
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There is also the idea of a Language Familiarity table, wherein different Languages
might have relationships with each other, and knowing one can do anything from enable
one to understand similar dialects with effort to simply learn a similar language
easier (i.e. purchase for fewer character points). Thus in a modern "real"
world setting a character that knows Russian can probably converse with someone
that knows Ukrainian without too much difficulty, while someone that speaks Italian
would probably have an easier time of learning Spanish than someone that only speaks
German, since both Spanish and Italian are Romantic Languages.
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On the plus side, the HERO System Language Familiarity Chart idea actually works
really well and is great for things like Fantasy and Sci-Fi where you have a lot
of languages, but it is also a very quirky subset of rules.
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Killer Shrike Style Languages
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As mentioned above, I personally do not like the fact that Languages lack Skill
Rolls and are instead bought in levels of fluency. Personally, I would rather see
them be treated as 3/1, INT/5+9, 3d6 Roll Under Skills (which are described later).
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The advantages to handling Languages in this fashion is that it is more consistent
and allows translations to be resolved via a standard Skill roll rather than forcing
the GM to arbitrarily decide what a character understands based on their fluency
and maybe an INT roll. To resolve even a short conversation via the official version
of Languages a GM might have to make several decisions about how much is understood
based on the vague levels of fluency. Also, things like Complementary Skills, time
required to converse, and completeness of comprehension are also either arbitrary
or not handled by the official method.
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If instead a character bought "Basic Conversation" as an 8- Familiarity
for 1 point or an INT/5 +9 Skill for 3 points, and things such as sounding like
a native and imitating a dialect were handled as penalties to the roll, then not
only would all of the current functionality of Languages be preserved, but it in
addition resolution becomes much more standardized.
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For example, a character wants to have a basic understanding of Greek, such as a
dedicated History major specializing in Ancient Greece might acquire via repeated
contact. He can parse Greek text given enough time and reference, and can pick up
on basic phrases, but he isn't fluent enough to carry on a full speed conversation.
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Under the official rules the character would take Language: Greek (basic conversation);
1 pt. All the resolution of what that allows him to do, and whether he succeeds
or fails to understand a particular communication is left entirely to the GM as
an arbitrary decision. If Language behaved like a Roll Under skill instead, then
the character would buy FAM: Greek 8-; 1 pt. Resolution is now easily determined
by rolling against 8-, and further circumstantial modifiers are easily applied just
like they would be to any other Roll Under skill.
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Further, a character can easily use Complementary Skills if appropriate; to continue
the example if someone were talking to the character in Greek, but were discussing
historical sites and events it is perfectly reasonable that the character could
use his KS: Ancient Greece Skill as a Complementary Skill; he'll likely recognize
key words and have a better chance of puzzling out what is being said. Similarly,
Language could then also be used as a Complementary Skill Roll to other Skills,
primarily Interaction Skills; Obviously a character that speaks a particular Language
well is going to be particularly convincing (Persuasion) or glib (Conversation)
or inspirational (Oratory) when speaking in that Language.
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ROLL UNDER SKILLS
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The most common kind of Skill is what I call "Roll Under" (RU) Skills.
They come in several varieties, but the mechanic is consistent; they are described
with a number, and to use them you roll 3d6 and try to get a result less than or
equal to that number. Situational modifiers are applied to make tasks harder or
easier.
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Mathematically the same probabilities can be modeled with a Target Number (TN),
or Roll & Add (R&A) type of resolution found in many other game systems
if no base number is used, where dice are rolled and must equal or exceed a certain
number to succeed. However, I personally find that Roll Unders are more consistent
and work better in actual play. In TN and R&A systems the difficulty is rated
in the same terms as the roll, and thus they lend themselves to arbitrary Target
Numbers that are relative to the skill needed to do something rather than an assumed
standard difficulty.
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Characteristic Skills
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The most common version of a Roll Under is the 3/2, (CHAR/5) +9 model wherein you
spend 3 character points for a base roll of an indicated characteristic divided
by 5 and added to 9; +1 bonuses to the base roll can be purchased for 2 character
points each. Thus if a character with a 15 DEX were to buy Acrobatics it would cost
3 points, and the character would have a 12- roll (15/5 = 3; 3 + 9 = 12); if the
character wanted Acrobatics 14- it would cost 4 character points for a +2 to the
roll.
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Abstract Skills
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A slight variation on the normal 3/2 Roll Under Skill are several Skills that represent
undefined categories that are taken for specific subjects defined when the Skill
is purchased. This type of skill also offers the option of basing a particular expression
on a characteristic or instead not basing it on any characteristic. If the Skill
isn't based on a characteristic it is called a General Skill and has a base roll
of 11-. General Skills also cost less; 2 points for the base 11- roll rather than
3 points. Either way, regardless of whether the Skill is based on a characteristic
or not and whether it costs 3 points or 2 points, these Skills are still resolved
by rolling 3d6 and getting less than or equal to the Skill number.
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The three categories of this type of Skill are Knowledge Skills, Professional Skills,
and Science Skills. Knowledge Skills are further subdivided into Groups, People.
Places, Things and by convention People Knowledge Skills are called a Culture Knowledge
(CuK) while Place Knowledge Skills are called either an Area Knowledge (AK) or a
City Knowledge (CK). Professional Skills indicate an ability to do some kind of
task or complete some kind of work not otherwise covered in the rules; often a character
will have a paired selection of a Knowledge Skill and a Professional Skill to represent
both an intellectual understanding of something (KS) as well as the practical application
of it (PS). Finally Science Skills are like a combination KS and CK for scientific
subjects.
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This type of Skill also has built in scoping you can define your implementation
of the Skill very specifically or very broadly or in between. When you attempt to
use the Skill you get a bonus or penalty to your Skill roll based on how specific
your version of the Skill is and how relevant it is to the subject at hand. Thus
a character could take the generic Science Skill SS: General Biology and accept
penalties when using it for specifics like Microbiology or Marine Biology, or they
could take a specific SS: Microbiology and gain bonuses when using it for Microbiology
and situationally be able to use it for general biological matters at a penalty.
There's also nothing stopping a character from having overlapping Skills of this
type indicating a comprehensive coverage of a subject; this can even be mechanically
useful if the GM allows the character to use one such Skill as a Complementary Skill
to another Skill.
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As another slight quirk, all three versions of this type of Skill cost 1 point per
+1 to roll, even if they are based on a characteristic.
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Checklist Skills
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Some RU Skills have been merged with the Familiarity Skill model (like the Weapon
and Transport Familiarities mentioned above), to allow more optional granularity.
For example Computer Programming is just a normal RU Skill by default, but it can
be grated more finely if the GM prefers, with a checklist of specific platforms
and programming languages that a person is proficient with bought as 1 point familiarities.
This is useful in campaigns that focus on high tech and enforces a higher degree
of realism, but is not useful in campaigns where such shadings are not important.
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This is done really inconsistently however; it is very hit or miss as far as which
Skills are expanded in such a fashion. In my opinion all of the RU Skills could
be modified to work in this fashion; in particular the abstract KS, PS, SS Skills
could be switched to this model so that you could do something like take an undefined
KS Roll and then buy the things that the roll applies to for 1 point each instead
of having to buy a new Skill for each one. For instance it would often be less expensive
for a brainy scientist type character to buy a single Science Skill 17- and then
buy all of the types of Science he can apply the roll to than it would be to buy
multiple Science Skills up to 17-, or sufficient SL's to approximate the same effect.
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SKILL ENHANCERS
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Skill Enhancers are not Skills themselves, but rather are an accounting gimmick
to make certain types of Skills cost fewer points. It is intended to be an aid for
characters that are specializing in a particular area to help defray the often inefficient
investment in points required to do so. For instance if a character takes the Linguist
Skill Enhancer it costs 3 character points, but it decreases the cost of all Languages
the character learns by 1 character point; so if the character is going to take
four or more Languages, it saves a few points.
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Personally I think Skill Enhancers are pretty unimpressive. The point shaving involved
is rarely worth bothering with for starters, and for seconders the majority of them
revolve around the abstract Roll Unders. This is kind of silly in my opinion since
the abstract Roll Unders are scoped when taken, and can be scoped generally enough
by a clever player to avoid having to take a bunch of them in the first place. KS:
Cities of the World 16- and PS: Urban Driving 13- costs 12 character points for
a character with 20 INT and is almost certainly cheaper than buying City Knowledges
for every city on the planet, even with the Traveler Skill Enhancer. The name is
also misleading, since one of the "Skill" Enhancers actually makes some
types of Perk cheaper, but that's a nit pick.
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SKILLS SUMMARY
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So basically, the Skill model is broad, powerful, and open ended, but is also really
a mixed bag that could benefit from some reorg and standardization. In practice
however most of the quirkiness fades out of focus, and functionally the Skill model
works very well in actual play.
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PERKS
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Perks are things that are conceptually neither innate or learned, but rather are
more social in nature. Things like Contacts, Followers, Bases, and Money fall into
this category. If you want International Police Powers for your Interpol Agent or
a Base on the Moon, Perks is where you go to look for that for instance.
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I'm generally happy with how Perks works. It is more of a collection of disparate
mechanics than a definitive structure, but due to the nature of what is being modeled
all works out pretty well in my opinion. The only issue with a Perk I've ever had
arise during play is disagreements over exactly what the Money Perk allows, and
this is typically more of a communication issue that is easily resolved.
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TALENTS
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Talents in the Fifth Edition of the HERO System are basically pre-canned Powers
and/or Skills. All Talents are small scale Powers or Skills written up at a certain
level of ability with certain assumptions built in and made available to characters
in an as-is fashion. This is ideal for campaigns where Powers are off-limits to
characters, and is also useful to assert a certain level of standardization on various
reoccurring concepts. For instance, there are several ways to write up an "Eidetic
Memory" using Power Constructs or Skills, but it is convenient to have a consistent
way to handle it already defined and provided via the Eidetic Memory Talent.
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Further, a GM can take Power Constructs he wants available in his game, and then
turn them into Talents to make them available to players as is. This is a great
way to handle a lot of things. Want to allow fantastic wuxia style powers, but still
keep some limits/consistency? Fine, use Talents. Got a group of newbies and want
to shield the players from having to deal with the Power mechanics math? Use Talents.
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For example, say you are playing in a Heroic level game and the GM wants straight
Powers to be strictly off limits, but Equipment and Talents are ok. Lets pretend
it's Sci Fi or Fantasy, and there is a race of people called Da'Fahrees; some of
whom are born with wings and can thus fly. Well Flight is a Power, which the GM
has already decided are not allowed. Further, all Da'Fahrees that can fly have winged
flight, and while some are a little faster than others there is a definite upper
speed limit. No problem; the GM simply designs an ability using the Flight Power,
applying Limitations as appropriate, such as "Restrainable: Wings", and
makes it a Talent. He can also define any options he wants to be available, like
an option to buy more inches of flight or a non combat multiple or 1/2 END. He calls
the new Talent "Da'Fahree Flight" and notes that it is only available
to a Da'Fahree character.
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It is a great concept, but unfortunately the game designers haven't been super consistent
about employing or pushing the concept's use in follow up supplements for some reason,
using ideas like "Super Skills" to group abilities that by definition
are Talents.
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POWERS
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This is where the money is at. The Power mechanics is where about 90% of the math
and complexity that the HERO System is renowned for resides. It is also what makes
the game so flexible and extendible.
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Common Objection: Having to Design Powers To Make A Character
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Some people have complained that they can't get past character creation in the HERO
System because they don't understand how to use the Power construction rules and
get stuck.
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A key point that many people don't seem to get is that the Powers section is there
for when you need it. Many characters in many types of campaign will never have
a single Power, though they might have Equipment*.
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Many people also have the wrong idea about what Powers are used for. It sometimes
helps to remember that the system did primarily originate as a Superhero game many
years ago, and its dark roots peak thru in various places, most notably the labels
placed on things.
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In this case replace the word "Powers" with "Unusual Abilities"
and you have a better idea of what the concept encompasses.
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WHEN TO TAKE POWERS
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Powers really come into play for characters with unusual abilities. If you play
a Fantasy Mage of some kind you'll likely delve into Powers for your Spells. If
you play a Psionicist in a Sci-Fi game you'll likely delve into Powers (although
the GM could very easily pre-can the Psionics he wants to be available as Talents).
If you are playing a High Fantasy sword swinger or Rogue, or a High Espionage Super
Spy (or some other cinematic "normal") you can stray into Powers
for some unique "superskills" if the campaign allows it, but you don't
have to. And obviously if you play a Superhero, you'll almost certainly use
Powers for your superpowers.
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However, many characters can be designed without taking a single Power, and in fact
there are many campaigns where this is the norm. Some campaigns don't even allow
Powers at the GM's option. You don't need Powers to have a HERO System character
or to play the game. But the strength of the Power mechanics is that when some unusual
ability needs to be defined in game mechanics so that it can be resolved, you can
almost always model the desired effect in an internally consistent manner.
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REASONING FROM EFFECT
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The basic idea behind Powers is a concept called "Reason from Effect".
This is a simple idea that lies at the heart of the Powers system, and reaching
a deeper understanding of it is the key to developing skills as a HERO System character
designer.
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Instead of picking prepackaged abilities from a list like you do in almost every
other roleplaying game, the HERO System instead asks you to concentrate on what
you want an ability to do and then model that using generic base Powers modified
by Advantages and Limitations that tweak the base ability in various ways. Call
the resulting construct what you like and simply state what it looks (sounds, scans,
whatever) like. Guns, Laser Eye Beams, Missiles, Dark Chi, Napalm, Acid, Soul Drains,
whatever, can all be modeled with the same mechanic in the HERO System. This is
called the Special Effect (SFX) of the Power.
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The name and appearance is SFX; how it works is the mechanic.
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Aside from the obvious extensibility of this open ended design, consider this; once
you know the rules for a base Power, lets say Mind Control for instance, you know
how to adjudicate a character's use of a Mind Control based Power Construct whether
it has the SFX of Xavier-like Domination, D&D-esque Charm, Loki-esque Trickery,
swinging watch Hypnosis, insidious Brain Implant, or a invasive Truth Serum.
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This is one of the main reasons why the HERO System has a steep learning curve at
the beginning, but once you crest the apex the curve drops heavily down to a very
easy to understand paradigm. The first time you figure out how a base Power works
you might need to consult the book and think it thru a bit, but once you've got
it down that same knowledge applies to future uses of the same base power despite
the fact that the actual SFX involved are completely different.
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Common Objection: Too Generic
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Some feel that the idea of standardized base Powers make HERO System characters
feel somewhat generic. People of this viewpoint feel that if my character's Galvanic
Aggravator is defined as a Ranged Killing Attack and your character's Acidic Globapult
is also defined as a Ranged Killing Attack, then somehow the two abilities have
been robbed of their uniqueness.
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Personally I ascribe to the "if you're bored it's because you're boring"
mindset. Basically you get out of it what you put in to it, and if you have opted
not to make your Power interesting and flavorful despite the vast array of options
available to make each Power Construct either distinct mechanically, conceptually,
or both then you have no one to blame but yourself. It is similar to going to one
of the largest buffets in the world with a vast array of dishes from every major
and numerous minor cuisine available, and claiming that it all looks the same. This
is one objection that I personally think is completely invalid.
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Common Objection: Too Much Math
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The downside of this method is that there is Math involved in taking a base Power
and applying Advantages and Limitations to it, and a common complaint from detractors
is that they don't like doing math to play a roleplaying game.
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My initial response is that people that don't like math are probably ill disposed
to enjoy a point based game in the first place, since it is a mathematically driven
model of roleplaying by definition, but that aside here is HERO Powers Math in a
nutshell:
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Base Powers have a Base Cost. Most Attack Powers are designed around a damage or
effect oriented model that costs some increment of points for 1d6 of effect, while
other utility Powers like Desolid or Missile Deflection are bought for flat points
per listed ability, movement Powers are based around buying a game unit of movement
for a certain cost, and most Defense Powers are based around a model of buying points
of Defense (which subtract directly from damage) for a certain cost each, and so
on. Essentially the purchasing of base Powers is very logical for the most part
and it is clear what scale or effect your character points are purchasing. For instance
Flight costs 2 character points per 1" of movement while Running costs 1 character
point per 1" of movement; similarly Energy Blast costs 5 points per d6 while
Ranged Killing Attacks cost 15 points per d6.
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Some Powers have Adders that just extend the functionality of the Power and have
a flat cost that is added to the Base Cost. Adders are always optional and their
usage is quite clear' you add them if you want them. They are usually +5 or +10
points.
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Next you may, but do not have to, attach modifiers to the base Power. Advantages
are ways your Power is better than average, Limitations are ways your Power is worse
than average. Both forms of modifier are rated in fractions, so +1/2 or -1/2 for
example.
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All fractions are increments of 1/4 and while there is no upper limit, for the most
part there is a soft cap around +/- 2 on individual modifiers. Thus you will see
modifier values of +/- 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1. 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, and 2, and you will
never see irregular fractions like 1/3 or 3/18. Each 1/4 Power modifier increment
is analogous to .25; thus a +1 Advantage is equivalent to 1 and a -1 1/2 Limitation
is equivalent to -1.5.
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So here comes the scary math, and a few new terms.
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- (Base Cost + Adders) * (1 + Total Advantages) = Active Points
- Active Points / (1 + Total Limitations) = Real Cost
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Active Points represent how powerful (or leveraged might be a better way to think
of it) the ability is in relative terms, and the Real Cost is what you actually
pay to have the ability.
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In case it isn't clear, if you had a Total Advantage of +1 3/4 and a Base Cost of
50, it would look like: 50 * 2.75 = 137.5 Active Points. The Power Construct is
almost three times more expensive than an unmodified version of the base Power in
that scenario.
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Example: For ease of comprehension I'm going to give an explicit step by step breakdown of constructing
a Power first and then finally give a standard full HERO
System write-up of the finished Power Construct afterwards:
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I'm going to play in a Superheroic campaign and I want my new character Lazer-Gazer
to shoot laser beams from his eyes; the effect I want is to knock people out with
it (yes I know its a laser, but superhero physics and the comics code make it all
OK).
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Lazer-Gazer Eye Blast Prototype: 10d6 Energy
Blast vs. Energy Defense; cost: 50 points
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NOTE: There are numerous ways to construct such an attack in the HERO System,
I simply opted for a more typical manner of doing so. Energy Blast is a base Power
allowing normal damage attacks to be made at range. Each 1d6 of Energy Blast costs
5 points, so 10d6 = 50 Base Points.
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That looks good, but normally in a superheroic game characters spend 1 END per 10
Active Points in a Power, so 5 END per use in this case. With that in mind I decide
that I want Lazer-Gazer's Energy Blast to be effortless since I don't want
to have to watch his Endurance while using it. To avoid this I add the +1/2 Power
Advantage Reduced Endurance (0 END) to the Power.
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Lazer-Gazer Effortless Eye Blast Prototype:
10d6 Energy Blast vs. Energy Defense, 0 END; cost: 75 points
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Adding Advantages: 50 Base Cost * (1+.5) = 75 Active Points
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Now Lazer-Gazer can shoot as often as he wants and never get tired, but on the other
hand 75 points is a pretty expensive Power and I can't really afford it right now.
So I decide that though it doesn't tire Lazer-Gazer to use the blast he does have
to take careful aim and build up for an attack, so I take the -3/4 Limitation Extra
Time (Full Phase, Delayed Phase) and the -1/4 Limitation Concentration (1/2 DCV)
for a total of -1 in Limitations.
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Lazer-Gazer Effortless Eye Blast Prototype:
10d6 Energy Blast vs. Energy Defense, 0 END, 1/2 DCV Concentration, Full Phase,
Delayed Phase; cost: 37 points
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Adding Limitations: 75 Active Points / (1+1) = 37.5 Real Cost (rounded in
my favor to 37)
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So it costs Lazer-Gazer 37 Character Points to have the Power, costs no END to use,
and is theoretically comparable in effect to other 75 Active Point Powers. However,
it takes a Full Phase to use it, goes off at half Lazer-Gazer's initiative (and
thus can be disrupted), and also drops Lazer-Gazer to 1/2 DCV.
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A full HERO System annotation would look something like this:
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37 Eye Beams of DOOM!: 10d6 EB Reduced END
(0 END; +1/2) (75 Active Points); Extra Time (Full Phase; Delayed Phase; - 3/4),
Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4)
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or an abbreviated one like this:
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37 Eye Beams of DOOM!: 10d6 EB (0 END); FPhase
DPhase, 1/2 DCV Con
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And that's how the math works. Pretty simple, no? Here it is again:
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- (Base Cost + Adders) * (1 + Total Advantages) = Active Points
- Active Points / (1 + Total Limitations) = Real Cost
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POWERS SUMMARY
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Powers are an incredibly rich feature of the game, and perhaps the aspect of the
system that it is most famous for. You can do some really cool things with them,
and for some the creation of interesting Power Constructs becomes a game within
a game.
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However, it is a bit much for some players. There are options however. For starters,
players that are unwilling to tackle Powers can simply tell their GM what they want
and let them design the Power Construct. Also, there are several products from the
publisher of the game that are basically just huge selections of premade Power Constructs.
Finally, the HERO System Forums is a good resource; a how to post on the discussion
boards always generates at least one solution.
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An important thing for newbies to keep in mind however is that they aren't expected
to have an encyclopedic knowledge of what each Power does or how every modifier
interacts with every other. Those things come in time. Instead, just focus on learning
about the Powers that are relevant to the game in progress and learn as you go.
You'll make mistakes in the process (we all did when we were new to the game too),
but stay flexible and you'll eventually get through it.
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* Equipment is typically defined by a Power Construct, such as a Sword that is defined
as a Hand Killing Attack (HKA). However, things noted as Equipment are bought with
money in most games, not character points, and further a lot of the minutia of the
build can be hidden for Equipment.
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POWER FRAMEWORKS
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There are three Frameworks that you can use in combination with Powers to model
more complicated and/or multifaceted abilities. Generally speaking Frameworks, particularly
Multipowers, are very point efficient and powerful.
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Common Objection: Frameworks Are Easily Abused By Munchkins
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You can make some very powerful characters by correctly utilizing Frameworks, so
it's no surprise that you can make some truly degenerate characters by incorrectly
utilizing them. Some people have issues with the Frameworks in general due to this.
Personally I find Frameworks to be invaluable character modeling tools. I think
banning Frameworks, as some GM's have been known to do, is like banning matches
because some people start forest fires with them. There are plenty of legitimate
uses for Power Frameworks. But in the end, to each his own; the HERO System is infinitely
customizable and if you don't like something in it you generally don't have to use
it.
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FRAMEWORKS
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The three Frameworks are Elemental Controls, Multipowers, and Variable Power Pools.
Each has a different model and serves a different purpose, with differing pros and
cons.
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ELEMENTAL CONTROLS
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Elemental Controls (EC) are the simplest of the Frameworks and the structure is
essentially just a discount for having particularly a strong SFX for some or all
of your character's Powers, plain and simple. There is really nothing more to it
than an accounting gimmick, with one exception and some limits on what Powers can
be taken in an EC. You pay half the Cost of the lowest Active Point Power
in the EC as a premium, and then subtract that same amount from every Power in the
EC.
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Basically, you'll pay more points for Powers in an EC than you would in the other
two Frameworks, but you can use all of the Powers at the same time. That's the main
pro to an EC, and why it is best used for Movement, Defense, and the occasional
utility type powers that you want on potentially all the time (you don't want to
have to turn off your Force Field to Fly for instance). The kick in the shorts for
EC's is that negative Adjustments (Drain, Transfer, and Suppress based Powers essentially)
targeting one of the Powers in the EC affect all the Powers in the EC, so
one decent Drain can really have an impact.
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A hidden downside of Elemental Controls is that there is a minimum cost per slot
based on the discount gained, so adding powers to a high Active Point EC can cost
a lot, making future growth in that area slow.
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Common Objection: EC's Are Point Factories
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The main problem with EC's, and a commonly voiced detraction, is that what constitutes
a good enough SFX to qualify for an EC is really vague, and in particular I've noticed
a tendency in old-skool players to use it to just generate a discount and thus squeeze
more points for their characters.
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A good rule of thumb here is for the GM to think of the EC and all the Powers in
it as a single big and complex "meta-Power" and if that doesn't make sense
then not allow the EC. In other words, Johnny Irradiated is a fire based character
that has a fiery force field, can fly around, and can raise the Temperature around
him all at the same time; the GM figures that all three effects are just stunts
for the "meta-power" of generating a lot of heat in a superheroic fashion
and allows it -- if the character's Flight gets Drained, it makes sense that his
Force Field and Change Environment (Raise Temp) also get weaker, because the ability
to generate heat is what is being Drained, not the individual stunts that it is
used for.
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MULTIPOWERS
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Multipowers (MP) are probably the most common and generally efficient Frameworks.
The basic idea behind a MP is that you set aside a Reserve of Points, and
then buy relatively cheap Power slots that can use that Reserve, but the total Active
Points (AP) of the Power slots currently active cannot exceed the Reserve.
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Multipowers are very efficient and because the slots are so cheap, it is easy to
add new ones with experience points. However, as a downside growing the Reserve
can be slow, and you also have to put some points into each slot separately to raise
them to use the new full Reserve.
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The most significant downside to a MP however is that the Reserve is finite, and
thus it can be difficult to balance Attack, Movement, and Defense Powers in the
same Multipower. Few players want to have to make a decision from action to action
whether they should drop their Force Field to fuel their Power Blast. However, some
players like that sort of dramatic tension, and it is useful for modeling certain
kinds of character, so it isn't a clear cut flaw so much as it is a point to consider.
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Common Objection: Grab-bag MP's Lack Flavor
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Some players and GM's use MP's as a big "grab bag" of completely unrelated
abilities simple to save points. This lacks a certain elegance and frequently makes
little or no sense conceptually, but isn't technically illegal. It is up to individual
GM's to determine how concept driven they want MP's to be in their campaigns. Personally,
I prefer them to be conceptually consistent, but each GM must make this decision
on their own.
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Multipower In Practice
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To show the advantages of a MP in action we'll return to the Lazer-Gazer example;
lets pretend he also wanted to shoot a focused laser that could burn through metal
and things like that. The player could write the effect up and buy it separately,
paying full Real Cost for both his existing Eye Beams of DOOM! Power and his new
metal-burning eye beam. The problem with doing that is twofold, first it is prohibitively
expensive, and secondly the two abilities are somewhat redundant; rarely will he
want to shoot both.
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But if Lazer-Gazer were to take a MP with a 75 pt Reserve and put the Eye Beams
of DOOM! into it; he could then take another slot in the MP with different modifiers
(like Armor Piercing) for the Metal Burning Gaze of DOOM! for significantly fewer
character points.
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Ultra-slots vs. Multi-slots
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There are two kinds of Power Slots one can take in a MP; if a Power must have a
fixed number of Active Points allocated to it to be activated, it costs 1/10th the
normal Real Cost in character points; this is called an "Ultra-slot".
If the amount of Active Points allocated to the slot is variable then it costs 1/5th
of the normal Real Cost in character points and is called a "Multi-slot".
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Continuing the example, if Lazer-Gazer must use the full 75 points of the Reserve
when using either of his Eye Beams, he would take them as "Ultra-slots"
and pay 1/10th the Real Cost for each ability (4 pts in this case); if he could
put in any amount of the Reserve from the minimum for 1d6 of effect to the full
75 then he would takes them as "Multi-slots" and pay 1/5th the Real Cost
for each (8 pts in this case). The difference is that with a Multi-slot he could
use a few D6 of the blast and use the remainder of the Reserve to fuel other slots.
Also note that Ultra-slots don't have to occupy the full Reserve; Lazer-Gazer could
take two weaker Powers with say 37 Active Points in the same VPP as Ultraslots for
4pts each and use them at the same time, since their total AP is less than or equal
to the Reserve.
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VARIABLE POWER POOLS
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Finally there is the big daddy of Frameworks, the Variable Power Pool (VPP). VPP's
can be used for a lot of things and can be anything from wide open to extremely
locked down, but the basic idea is that you put aside a Pool of character
points that you can use to gain Powers that are not actually listed on your character,
which can change in various circumstances. The more easily these Variable Powers
can be changed the more expensive the VPP.
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At it's most wide open a VPP can be changed to any Power Construct at will as a
0 Phase Action (takes no time) with no chance of failure, although this is an expensive
option. This is often called a "Cosmic VPP". A more limited VPP might
only be changed between adventures or with access to a lab or a spellbook, or similar.
Wizards, Gadgeteers, and similar flexible characters are all modelable with this
concept, among many many others.
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The plus side should be obvious, a character with a VPP is not completely locked
in to a static capability. There are also many concepts that basically boil down
to needing a VPP to work correctly; even when you can manage to do the character
without a VPP there are some ideas that simply work better and more efficiently
with a properly defined VPP.
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The downsides are several however. The most significant is that in a structured
game like the HERO System it really is safer to build a Power construct outside
of a game and check it strenuously, doing it on the fly because a character just
flipped their VPP around in the middle of play can be problematic and time consuming.
Another problem is that few things in the game can be more easily abused by munchkiny
players than a VPP. Yet another problem is that if a character's VPP isn't limited
in some fashion either directly or by virtue of having a small Pool, it becomes
very difficult to challenge such a character since they can just manifest something
new in their VPP to suit a given predicament.
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Still, the VPP is an essential piece for some complicated character implementations,
and when used correctly rather than abused it is strong way to make interesting
characters.
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POWER FRAMEWORKS SUMMARY
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Power Frameworks are a very powerful feature of the game, but they are open to abuse
and require GM monitoring. Use with caution, but remember that they add a lot of
options to character designers and the ability to model various complex ideas can
often require their use.
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DISADVANTAGES
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Finally, things are not always peaches and cream for characters, and that is where
Disadvantages come in. The term is somewhat misleading, for not all Disadvantages
are purely disadvantageous; they are really more like Complications that enrich
a character's background and ongoing roleplaying experience.
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Things like Psychological Limitations, Dependencies, Accidental Changes, Social
Limitations, Unluck, and so forth fall in to this category. In many ways a character's
Disadvantages do more to define the personality and playability of the character
than any of their Skills, Characteristics, and Powers do.
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This being a point based game, and Disadvantages being somewhat detrimental to a
character, they grant additional points to be spent on abilities, and in fact games
are normally defined as allowing X number of Base Points + Y maximum Disadvantages,
like a 150 + 150 campaign, which means each character is built on 150 character
points plus up to 150 more points generated from Disadvantages.
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Common Objection: Most Players Take Meaningless Disadvantages to Point-Grub
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This is true; players that are more interested in powering up than roleplaying can
take a bunch of Disadvantages that they have no intention of playing out or observing
just to get more character points. This is manageable by the GM either enforcing
the Disadvantages, making the players trade them in for other Disadvantages they
are willing to play, adjusting the base/max Disadvantage ration to lower the maximum
Disadvantage total, or just booting munchkiny players to name a few options.
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DISADVANTAGES SUMMARY
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Try to think of Disadvantages as a useful tool for detailing richly envisioned characters
rather than just a source of extra points or a collection of things to screw a character
over with, and your characters will be the better for it.
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