#HERO System

[oldschoolfrp]

Brian K Hamilton's cover for Fantasy Hero by Steve Peterson, Hero Games, 1985

[t0rschlusspan1k]

The real significance of Arendt’s report, and of Becker’s concept of hero systems, is that the emergence of evil is not tied to any specific people or to some malicious, villainous attitude, but to greater social structures that envelop us and blind us to their implications. And we all exist in such structures, structures that promise heroic victory to those on the inside, and makes evil into something external. After the Second World War for example, there were many who believed that by achieving victory over the Nazi’s, we also achieved victory over the evil they represented, which unfortunately isn’t the case. But it goes to show that there is a fine line between recognizing a real threat to one’s self or community, and using that threat to delude ourselves into believing that we can erase the shadow of our own light by violently putting out someone else’s.

— Like Stories of Old, Lies of Heroism. Redefining the Anti-War Film

[basic204]

In the lands of Savage Lands Of Agartha. Day and night doesn't follow a cyclic pattern no day and night are controlled by warring tribes of sun and moon elves it transitions from day to night every time one of them makes a decisive win in their nearly endless battles. When the night comes and the darkness spreads the world is dark barely enough moonlight to see your hands this is why fire tamers have become so important they keep the flames that allow us to see when the moon elves win.

Fire is the foundational element of tribal life. It is heat, it is weapon, it is medicine, it is religion, politic, food for body and soul and a ward against the dangers looking beyond your weak sight. But most importantly it is light

Light in this world is a currency made more universal than gold. The chafing dunes can practically bleed gold but without the light to see it or the heat to render it then the gold itself is worthless.

The people of this world never know when the darkness will come they can be working in the fields and suddenly they are plunged into darkness and in the darkness the demons come.

So too do the demons not know when the light will come back.

To this day people still search for where this battle happens Between the sun and the moon elves in hopes of either conquering both and taking control of the day and night for themselves or to bring harmony

[its-that-kattt]

Repostober day 23!

This is a toony detective character I played in my first venture with the Hero system

[niksrpgs]

Brand new #HeroSystemVehicleSourcebook for #HeroSystem #fifthedition (#5e), now available with FREE SHIPPING! #ttrpg #originalprint #outofprint #NiksRPGs

[archivistgamemaster]

Meet Nightshade Becca Reinhart had it all: brilliance, a promising career, and a family legacy of military service. As the lead weapons designer at HyperTech Industries, her cutting-edge inventions pushed the boundaries of technology and warfare. But one fateful day, the weapons she created fell into the wrong hands, resulting in a massacre that changed her life forever.

Haunted by guilt and betrayed by her employers, Becca's fight for justice led her to the brink of death. Left for dead by mercenaries, her salvation came from an unexpected source: Dr. Ezekiel Cross, a voodoo priest and neurosurgeon with a tragic past tied to her creations. In a desperate ritual, Dr. Cross merged science and magic to bring Becca back from the edge, transforming her into Nightshade, a guardian with one foot in the world of the living and the other in the realm of the dead.

Now, as Nightshade, Becca wields supernatural powers alongside her genius-level engineering skills. She can communicate with spirits, use voodoo magics, and her enhanced reflexes and combat abilities make her a formidable force against evil. Driven by a quest for redemption, she aims to dismantle the corrupt weapons industry she once served, protect the innocent, and save lives to balance the scales of her soul.

Nightshade carries a special gas jet pistol that shoots pellets of special voodoo mixtures taught her to by the strange voodoo doctor. Some can put you to sleep, give you nightmares, control your mind and more.

Powers

Voodoo Resurrection: Revived by voodoo magic, Becca has an extraordinary healing factor that allows her to recover from nearly any injury.

Spectral Communication: She can see and speak with the dead, gaining valuable insights and information from the spirit world.

Life Sense: Becca can see how close someone is to death, and transfer the remaining time left from someone else to herself or another person.

Lifespan Manipulation: She can take years off the lifespan of the guilty and redistribute them to their victims or other deserving individuals.

Necromantic Command: Becca can command the dead, forcing them to aid her in battle or other tasks.

Undead Army: She can raise and control multiple deceased individuals simultaneously for more complex operations.

Spectral Possession: Becca can temporarily allow a spirit to possess her body, gaining access to their memories and skills.

Death Vision: By making eye contact, she can force someone to experience their own death, often leaving them in a coma-like state.

Fate Glimpse: She can see flashes of how a person might die in the future.

Death Mark: Becca can place a mystical mark on individuals, making them more susceptible to fatal accidents.

Spirit World Traversal: Becca can enter and navigate the realm of the dead, using it as a means of travel or sanctuary.

Judgment Summoning: She can call forth spirits of the dead to pass judgment on the living, revealing hidden truths or punishing the wicked.

Death Aura Manipulation: Becca can intensify or suppress the aura of death around her, inspiring fear in enemies or comfort in the dying.

Spiritual Energy Absorption: She can absorb spiritual energy from the deceased or haunted locations to temporarily boost her other powers.

Voodoo Rituals: Becca can perform various voodoo rituals for divination, protection, or to cast curses on her enemies.

Effigy Magic: She can create and manipulate voodoo dolls for tracking, influencing, or harming targets at a distance.

Spiritual Warding: Becca can create mystical barriers that repel or trap spiritual entities.

Enhanced Reflexes: Her resurrection has granted her reflexes beyond normal human capabilities, allowing her to react to threats with uncanny speed.

Abilities

Genius-Level Engineer: Extraordinarily talented in designing and creating advanced technology and weapons. Can quickly analyze and improve existing designs or create entirely new concepts on the fly.

Eidetic Memory: Can recall vast amounts of information with perfect clarity, a skill enhanced by her resurrection.

Polymath: Possesses a broad knowledge base covering various scientific fields, allowing her to approach problems from multiple angles.

Weapons Expert: Highly skilled in the use of both conventional and unconventional weapons, with particular expertise in her own designs.

Acrobatics: Displays exceptional agility and body control, allowing for impressive feats of gymnastics and parkour.

Master Tactician: Can quickly analyze complex situations and develop effective strategies on the fly.

Leadership: Capable of inspiring and directing teams in high-pressure situations, drawing from her experience in both corporate and combat environments.

Psychological Warfare: Understands human psychology and can manipulate opponents through fear, misdirection, and exploitation of weaknesses.

Infiltration Specialist: Highly skilled in breaking into secure facilities undetected.

Disguise Artist: Can alter her appearance and mannerisms to blend into various social settings.

Electronic Warfare: Proficient in hacking and manipulating electronic systems to aid in her missions.

Multilingual: Fluent in over a dozen languages, including English, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and French. Can quickly pick up new languages due to her enhanced cognitive abilities.

Negotiation and Diplomacy: Skilled in defusing tense situations and brokering deals, drawing from her corporate background.

Cold Reading: Can quickly analyze a person's body language and speech patterns to gain insights into their thoughts and intentions.

Wilderness Survival: Capable of thriving in various harsh environments, from dense jungles to arctic tundras.

Urban Survival: Adept at navigating and surviving in hostile urban environments, including war zones and disaster areas.

Improvisation: Can create tools and weapons from seemingly ordinary objects, a skill honed by her engineering background and enhanced by her resurrection.

Aura Reading: Able to sense the life force and emotional state of living beings, helping her in both combat and investigative work.

Voodoo Rituals: Has a basic understanding of voodoo practices, allowing her to perform minor rituals for protection or information gathering.

First Aid and Field Medicine: Capable of treating a wide range of injuries in emergency situations.

Piloting: Proficient in operating various vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, boats, and small aircraft.

Cryptography: Skilled in both creating and breaking complex codes and ciphers.

Artistic Talent: Possesses a keen eye for design and is a skilled technical illustrator, useful for both her engineering work and creating disguises.

Gambling: She can't turn down a game of chance and is really good at them since she was brought back.

Gear

Superhero Costume: Made of advanced aramid ballistic cloth, providing protection against small arms fire.

Utility Belt: Contains various gadgets and tools designed by Becca.

Gas Pistol: A versatile weapon that can shoot gas pellets with various effects.

Knockout Gas: Induces unconsciousness.

Memory Erase Gas: Erases recent memories.

Mind Control Gas: Imposes Becca’s will on the target.

Holographic Projector: Creates realistic holograms for deception or distraction.

EMP Grenades: Disables electronic devices within a certain radius.

Grappling Hook: Allows for swift movement and escape in urban environments.

Lockpicking Set: Enables entry into secure areas.

Comm Device: High-tech communication device for coordination and information gathering.

[gorgonarcher]

Game 3 - Hero System

Champions is the first game I actually played a session of and that character was basically a blend of Wolverine and the protagonist to the 1980s TV show werewolf.

To this date Hero System remains probably the most well-thought and designed pure-point-based character creation system. However, this comes with a caveat that it expects you to do that work for every NPC using the same system as PCs use. And, well, it's a lot of burden on the GM.

I've also heard recently that the developers (Steven Long et al) have gone the way of Kevin Siembada in terms of "my way or the highway" to the point of banning people from the Hero forums that even mildly question recent decisions.

So, to start, in the old days a superhero character would get 250 points to build a character, 150 for free, and 100 with a set of disadvantages (now called complications).

As the game started adding things like perks, more skills, talents, and other such things, they realized they needed to expand the point pool to account for all the different ways they gave to fill out characters. Also, it was proving difficult to make all the disadvantages relevant to a game. There were a lot of characters that were bloated with "just for the points" complications that just bogged down games. Eventually the devs made the decision for the proportion matched with disadvantages to also be reduced.

In the most recent edition, 6th, the standard superhero is built with 400 pts, 75 of which were paid for by complications. With a maximum value to each complication of 40. But I think, instead, I'm going to go with a Powerful Heroic character at 225 points. This will put the character on level with pulp and fantasy characters.

I'm also going to use the "Normal Characteristic Maxima" limits for characters, meaning that she will be limited to "human" limits. (You can tell be the quotes that the upper limits of these are still a bit beyond what you can expect from a human being).

I'm going to follow some of the considerations here:

And some of the budgeting suggestions here, though I make break these, especially since these are for Standard Heroic and I'm doing Powerful Heroic and I'm not entirely sure I'll be sticking specifically to one of the three recommendations or not.

So, when doing Hero System, I prioritize the elements I want first and spend on those, then I spiral out to get the other elements to fill in the story of the character. Sometimes I start with Disadvantages, and I think I'll do that here.

Complications

Note, I find it more interesting to have a number of smaller complications usually, because having one or two big ones means that you have fewer story beats to work with. Yes these are treated as disadvantages and they will create legitimate obstacles or problems for in game, but also these are storyline elements. You are allowed to have more complications than the point limit for your power level, but anything over the limit will be for 0 points, so you take those purely for the story.

So, 50 points of Disadvantages

I'm going to go with the assumption that gorgons are rare, potentially unique in most people's experiences. This justifies taking a Distinctive Feature.

An important thing to consider with Hero System and similar games is to buy your disadvantages according to how you want them to impact the game.

If I want just to be a unique individual, for example. Someone easily pointed out and identified. Then I'd take the +0 option for reaction. In this case most NPCs will treat her as just any other person though the snakes for hair are a thing.

Likewise there's the extent of how distinct I want them to be and this is also relative and sort of asking "how much trouble do you want this to be".

For example, let's consider these pictures of Cael:

Some of these are more human looking than others, but any one of them could be considered "easily concealed" dependent on the other entities present in the world.

If there are snake-beings like lamia or naga in the setting then all four might fall under "noticed and recognized" and "easily concealable". If the setting is almost entirely human, then all four might be "Major Reaction/Prejudice" with the first two pictures being "Easily Concealable", the third being "Concealable" and the last being "Not Concealable". At least under normal circumstances.

In this case, I want a human-shaped gorgon, maybe slight scaling and I'm going to say "Concealable" since she'll have to cover most of her skin and conceal her hissy hair with some effort.

I'm also going to say "Major Reaction or Prejudice" but not extreme. Let's say that while gorgons specifically are rare or even unique, that there are other people touched by spirits who have odd physical features like this. So while they might not know exactly what she can do, they recognize her as spirit touched.

The major reaction is not necessarily good or bad and will vary from place to place. The feature is detectable by common senses like sight and hearing so no points are taken off for that. An example of this would be like how mutants in X-Men can be detected with special gear but most can pass for human. I am going to lean into the variation by culture though and say that some cultures just accept spirit-touched people with a shrug.

So the final complication looks like this:

10 - Gorgon, snake-hair and slight-scales: Dist Fea, Concealable, Always Noticed and Major Reaction, Feature is not distinctive in some cultures.

For the next part, I'm going to lean in on the idea that there are spirit-touched people who have expectations of them and I'm going with a Psychological Limitation.

In this case, we're going to say that she has an urge to always prove her worth or match up to the expectation of her. Perfectionism isn't quite the right idea so let's phrase it "Living up to Expectations".

Once again, model this by how often you want to deal with it. The book has some suggestions for what the different frequencies mean.

The intensity of the urge is also something to choose to your taste. I don't want it to be obnoxious and for some psych lims, "Total" is going to be obnoxious if it is all the time. There are psych lims that can be Total and still fun however: A "Code vs Killing" in superhero games is considered "Very Common Total" because it is something some heroes won't do for any reason and if they kill someone accidentally, then they have a breakdown. It's a thing that's always a factor.

Meanwhile, an uncommon phobia might totally shut you down and force you to avoid something but due to being uncommon, it's not common enough to be obnoxious. Plus, you don't shut down completely, as with the Code vs Killing, you just go out of your way to avoid it. For example, a person with a total phobia for wolves would refuse to go into the Wolf Woods.

Also, a reminder, the frequency is not about how common the situation is in the world but rather how common the situation will be in the game. Wolves might be a very common animal in the world but they won't often appear in the game, or rather won't often share a screen with the person who has the phobia due to them requesting the phobia be uncommon. At least if the GM is reading properly.

In this case, I think the urge to perform is going near constant, so I'm taking Very Common for frequency, but I'm going to make it a Moderate urge, so that it is something she can shake off with a pretty easy EGO check. This causes the disadvantage to look like this.

15 - Living up to Expectations: Psych Lim, Very Common Moderate.

That's 25 of our 50 points.

I want to do a vulnerability or other physical limitation just for the differing structure, but I also want to build up to the psych lim with a social limitation. Which works in very much the same way as a Psych Lim.

Secret Identities and Public Identities are a subset of Social Limitations and they used to be their own unique complications before they were folded in under the general umbrella of social limitations.

In this case, she comes from a culture where being spirit-touched is distinctive and the reputation is that they are either heroes or monsters, nothing in between. This is the source of her psych lim, so I could leave at just a psych lim, but there might be cases where she has a higher expectation of herself, or where society might have a higher expectation of her. Also, she can travel away from this society but not travel away from herself. The two are similar and overlap, but are still different.

The people of her society are going to either expect her to do dangerous tasks on demand or else label her as a thing to be actively hunted if she goes against their demands. But again, other cultures might be worse and just instantly peg her as a monster, or better and just consider her a person.

So, I'm going to put this as follows:

15 - Spirit-Touched, Hero or Monster: Soc Lim, Very Frequent, Major, Not Limiting in some Cultures.

This gives us 40 out of 50 points. So, for the last thing, we're going to do something physical, and we're still going off the idea of her being Spirit-Touched.

What if she's more affected by exorcisms and similar type effects? Now, there's two ways to do this: Vulnerability and Susceptibility.

Vulnerability is when something affects you far more than it does a normal person, but it will still affect a normal person. Susceptibility is when the effect doesn't affect most people and is mostly a you problem. In this case, I'm going to take a nod from Nioh 2 where Purity effect still has a negative impact on humans, it just doesn't affect them as severely as it does a yokai.

I'd say the spirit-touched thing is probably influenced by my playing Nioh 2 a bit recently, but also I had the same terms and concepts with a gorgon back three or four years before Nioh 2 came out and I had ever heard of the series. Still, probably a mix of both to be honest, the old idea coming to the top due to recently playing a lot of Nioh 2.

Anyway, I could take that as a vulnerability, but I'm also going to note that some purification stuff does nothing perceptible to humans but will affect her. So Susceptibility is probably much more what I'm looking for. If something is severe enough to affect human, that can just be bought to that level.

This case we're going to say these are directed exorcisms and purification tools, like salt or holy water. The person saying them has to be willfully aiming these prayers or items at her. So she could stand next to an exorcist affecting a demon and be fine, but if some panicky peasant starts praying at her she'll find herself touched.

Also note that the dice assume basic damage and other types of damage would use different scaling. 3d6 normal damage (which doesn't kill as easily) is roughly the same value as 1d6 killing damage (which targets a different defense). In this case though, we're going to go with a Drain effect. So that instead of targeting either STUN or BODY like normal and killing attacks do, it'll target "Power Defense" which almost nobody has.

We're going to say that these things drain her Recovery, meaning it makes it harder for her to recover spent Endurance or heal from injuries. 1d6 of Drain = 2d6 of Normal Damage, as far as point value is concerned.

We also have to decide whether this is a harm she takes instantly on first contact or whether it continues over time while exposed. In this case, I think the idea of her trying wash off purified salt or get away from someone praying at her is a good idea. I am going to go ahead and go with per phase. Some explanation on time here:

A Turn is 12 seconds. A segment is one second. A phase is a segment on which you act. Characters have a "Speed" attribute ranging from 2 to 12 which is how many actions a character gets on each Turn. So a person with Spd 2 (average human) has two actions in a turn, Segment 6 and 12. So, per Phase would mean the damage happens every time you are exposed in a segment when you have an action.

For frequency, again, this represents with how often you want to deal with it. Not how common the actual phenomenon is, though that can play a factor. In this case, we're going to assume that while the use of prayers and purified substances is well known, most people don't know how to properly perform the prayers or purify things enough to affect spirit-touched (and only have mild impact on actual spirits) plus it's likely that our character is primarily seen as a decent person. That said, enemy mystics would use this against her.

So, with all that in mind, I'm going to mark this as "Uncommon" giving us the following. This comes to a total value of 20. However, because this goes over the 10 points we have left, we only get 10 points out of it. If I wanted I could change the "per Phase" to "Instant" instead, but I think we'll keep it for the pure drama. You're fine to do this. I do like to notate when I went over using parentheses.

10 (20) - Exorcism Sensitivity: directed prayers and purified substances. Uncommon, 1d6 Recovery Drain per Phase.

Complications Total

The complication wrap comes to the following:

10 - Gorgon, snake-hair and slight-scales: Dist Fea, Concealable, Always Noticed and Major Reaction, Feature is not distinctive in some cultures.

15 - Living up to Expectations: Psych Lim, Very Common Moderate.

15 - Spirit-Touched, Hero or Monster: Soc Lim, Very Frequent, Major, Not Limiting in some Cultures.

10 (20) - Exorcism Sensitivity: directed prayers and purified substances. Uncommon, 1d6 Recovery Drain per Phase.

So now we move on to abilities.

Priorities

First, let's set our priorities:

1 - Basic Characteristics 2 - Snake hair 3 - Archery 4 - Consider petrification stare 5 - fill out details.

Characteristics

I do like to start with characteristics to make sure my character's stats are at acceptable levels for me. In prior edition you would have Primary characteristics and Figured characteristics which would be dependent on the Primary characteristics but which could bought above their basic level. In 6th edition, however, everything is bought directly.

The characteristics are as follows:

And some basic comparisons can be found here:

High priority here would be:

OCV/DCV

SPD

DEX

Next would be:

INT

EGO

PRE

DMCV

STUN

Then:

REC

END

PD

ED

Finally:

STR

CON

BODY

OMCV

So I'll go with the following (Cost in parentheses):

STR 13 (3)

DEX 20 (20)

CON 15 (5)

INT 13 (3)

EGO 13 (3)

PRE 15 (5)

OCV 4 (5)

DCV 6 (15)

OMCV 3

DMCV 5 (6)

SPD 4 (20)

PD 7 (5)

ED 7 (5)

REC 8 (4)

END 30 (2)

BODY 12 (2)

STUN 34 (7)

Total Cost: 110

That leaves us with 115 points for the rest of the characteristic.

Snake Hair

Now, I could leave this at just the Distinctive Feature, but let's actually give it some mechanical benefit as well as a social disadvantage. I'm going to start with a sensory advantage.

I'm going to apply an increased arc of perception to vision to 240 degrees. Not quite 360 degrees, but a bit more than the usual range of senses. I could purchase it for just normal vision, but instead, I'm going to purchase it for the entire vision group on the idea of also getting thermal vision, or as the game calls it "Infrared Perception" which is one of the pre-built senses.

10 - Snake Hair, Many Eyes: Increased Arc of perception 240 degrees to the vision group.

10 - Thermal Vision: Detect Heat Patterns/Traces, Passive

And because snakes scent the air with their tongues:

19 - Snake Tongues: All For Normal Scent, Discriminatory (5), Analyze (5), Microscopic: 2x Magnification (6), Rapid x10 speed (3)

That makes for 29 points.

And now we're going to move on to Archery

Archery

All campaigns will have some weapon familiarity or skills be common to all characters, but I'm not going to spend assuming that.

First, Weapon Familiarity.

I am going to give her familiarity with all Common Ranged Weapons for 2 pts

2 -Common Ranged Weapon Familiarity: Thrown Rocks; Bows; Crossbows; Javelins and Thrown Spears; Thrown Knives, Axes, and Darts.

Now on to other things for increased skills, we're going to start with Combat Skill Levels. Combat Skill Levels can be applied to OCV, DCV, or Damage. And we'll add some Penalty Skill Levels to counteract common penalties.

9 - CSL: All Bows 3 levels

4 - Ranged Skill Levels: 2 levels with Bows to counter ranged penalties.

4 - Targeting Skill Levels: 2 Levels with Bows to counter act penalties to target specific parts of the body

Total so far: 19

One path would be to take the Martial Arts rules and determine specific attack styles, but instead, since this is leaning toward Fantasy, I'm going to build her archery style with powers. And sense this is a Heroic level game, I'm going to go with a Multipower.

A multipower is a pool of points that can be assigned to the powers under it. So you can't use all the powers simultaneously but if you have the points to power two powers, then you can use them together. And yes, this includes using two attacks in one combination.

We're also going to apply a limitation to this in the form of a Focus because she needs a bow to use it. A lot of heroic games wouldn't require characters to pay points for their weapons, but we're going to do so for a signature weapon. Foci modify costs dependent on how obvious they are and how easy they are to take away from the character. A bow is Obvious and Accessible so this is an OAF which is a -1 modifier... which I'll get to in a moment. As a note, being able to permanently lose the focus would reduce the cost further. We're basically buying the option where the focus would be lost temporarily for one story.

We have the further option to apply the limit of "Charges" to this, but I don't think I'll go with this, have a cinematic idea of infinite ammo.

So since all powers in the pool will need the bow, this limit applies to the base pool of points. I'm going with a 30 point pool which is then modified. So what we do is take 1 and add the total value of all limitations and divide the cost by that number. In this case 1+1=2, 30/2=15.

I have called this the game that taught me algebra for a reason. Thankfully most of the math is in character creation, not gameplay (but there is a substantial amount there as well.)

15 - Bow of the Exorcist: Multipower: 30pt pool, OAF: Blessed Bow

Now, each slot in the multipower, and there can be as many slots as you have points for, will have their cost divided by 5, if we're allowed to adjust how many points go into them, or by 10 if it is a fixed cost.

First we'll have a basic attack for up to 2d6 killing attack, each d6 of KA is 15 points so this comes to 30 pts. To look deeper, the Ranged Killing Attack typically has Ranged advantage and the limitation that it doesn't add Strength, but we typically assume that when we say RKA. Since the focus limitation applies to the whole power, we reduce it to 15 as above, and then we're going to make this variable so we're going to divide that by 5.

Killing attacks target resistant defenses and go straight to BODY and get multiplied for STUN damage where as Normal attacks do STUN damage and do a portion of that as BODY based on dice rolled. (a 1 on the die is 0 BODY, a 6 is is 2 BODY, all other results are 1 BODY)

3v - Arrows: up to 2d6 RKA, Focus: Blessed Bow

The versatile allows the damage to be any of the following:

1 point, 5 points allocated

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 10 points llocated

1d6, 15 points allocated

1d6+1, 20 points allocated

1.5d6 or 2d6-1, 25 points allocated

2d6, 30 points allocated

This allows us to represent different degrees of focus on just dealing damage. Note that the focus only reduces the cost of the power in terms of character creation, not how many points it uses in the reserve. 2d6 RKA with an OAF has a "real cost" of 15 but it has "active points" of 30 and that is what matters to the Multipower reserve.

Then we'll have a Blessed Arrow for striking spirits. This will have the Advantage that it "Affects Desolidified" we're only going to affect a single special effect/version of Desolidification: spirits, not all of them (like say someone able to turn into gas or a living hologram or a swarm of nanobots). So this is a +1/4 Advantage. I'm still going to make this as a killing attack but it won't be as strong as the prior one because the Active Points can't go over 30.

So, applying an Advantage is just like applying a limitation except you multiply instead of divide. So, we can do up to 20 pts of RKA, which when modified by the 1/4 advantage becomes: 20x1.25= 25. We also want this to be variable, so we now apply the OAF mod of -1...and I'm going to look at the chart rather than look at rounding rules and it comes to 12... and because this is a variable slot... we now divide by 5 and I have to check the rounding anyway... it's mathematical rounding so 12 rounds down (13 would round up) meaning a cost of 2.

2v - Blessed Arrows: up to 1d6+1 RKA, Affects Desolidification: Spirits.

1 point, 6 points allocated

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 12 points llocated

1d6, 19 points allocated

1d6+1, 25 points allocated

Now, at this point the gorgon COULD fire an arrow that does 1d6 RKA and 1d6-1 RKA Affects desolidified. But there's no reason to do that here. You'd just use a 1d6+1 RKA Affects Desolidified or 2d6 RKA normal. So lets add some other options. How about a skill for nailing limbs to surfaces. That sounds like an Entangle.

So that it can pair with both our other abilities, it will have Affects Desolidified: Spirits, and I'm also going to mark it with "Cannot be Escaped with Teleportation" for +1/4.

Every 10 points of Entangle give 1d6 of BODY and 1 PD/1 ED (Physical and Energy Defense).

Affects Desolidified (+1/4) and Cannot be Escaped with Teleportation (+1/4) come to a total Advantage modifier of +1/2. So 20 points becomes 30 points. Then comes the OAF bringing the cost to 15 and divide by 5 for a variable slot and you get this:

3v - Spiritual Pinning: Entangle, up to 2d6 BODY 2 PD/2 ED, Cannot be escaped with teleportation, affects desolidified.

1d6 1 PD/1 ED - 15 points allocated, very fragile but forces the target to waste time breaking it.

2d6 2 PD/2 ED - 30 points allocated, not much stronger but might hold longer.

Now, we can pair 1d6 RKA with 1d6 Entangle OR 1d6-1 affects Desolidified with 1d6 Entangle, or a 2d6 RKA, or a 1d6+1 RKA affects Desolidified, or a 2d6 Entangle

Now I'm going to add four variations of a Purification arrow similar to the susceptibility our character has, but intense enough to affect humans. We're going to do a STUN only attack and an END drain (on the assumption that most spirits will have similar REC drain susceptibilities that she has).

First the STUN only, this will be a normal attack where 5 points = 1d6 of effect. STUN only is a -0 limitation because the game believes the benefits and drawbacks even out. But then I will also add "Affects Desolidified: Spirits)" for a +1/4. Which means it will be up to 4d6 and having a similar cost to the Blessed Arrows

2v - Spirit-Stunning Arrow - STUN only up to 4d6, Affects Desolidified: Spirits.

1d6 - 6 points allocated

2d6 - 12 points allocated

3d6 - 19 points allocated

4d6 - 25 points allocated

Note that the basic arrow we started with will have better max possible stun than these, so the second version will be a version that does not affect spirits. In Nioh 2 terms. Same basic situation but up to 6d6.

3v - Soul-Stunning Arrow: STUN only up to 6d6

1d6 - 5 points allocated

2d6 - 10 points allocated

3d6 - 15 points allocated

4d6 - 20 points allocated

5d6 - 25 points allocated

6d6 - 30 points allocated.

Now the Drains. Drains, as stated earlier are 10 points per 1d6 and we're going to do that will work against insubstantial enemies and one that won't. The first one is going to be up to 2d6 and on up to 3d6. Note that this attack does not target normal defenses. And the final products will look like this.

Also note that this is END drain, so each point of drain rolled will drain 5 points of END. Because it drains character points and END is 5 points per 1 character point.

2v - Spirit Drought Arrow: up to 2d6 END Drain, Affects Desolidified.

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 6 points allocated

1d6, 12 points allocated

1d6+1, 19 points allocated

1.5d6 or 2d6-1, 25 points allocated

3v - Soul Drought Arrow: up to 3d6 END Drain.

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 5 points allocated

1d6, 10 points points allocated

1.5d6 or 2d6-1, 15 points allocated

2d6, 20 points allocated

2.5d6 or 3d6-1, 25 points allocated

3d6, 30 points allocated.

This brings the final set of archery abilities to look like this:

Archery

2 -Common Ranged Weapon Familiarity: Thrown Rocks; Bows; Crossbows; Javelins and Thrown Spears; Thrown Knives, Axes, and Darts.

9 - CSL: All Bows 3 levels

4 - Ranged Skill Levels: 2 levels with Bows to counter ranged penalties.

4 - Targeting Skill Levels: 2 Levels with Bows to counter act penalties to target specific parts of the body

15 - Bow of the Exorcist: 30 pt reserve, OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Arrow: up to 3d6 RKA, OAF: Blessed Bow

2v - Blessed Arrow: up to 1d6+1, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4), OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Spiritual Pinning: Entangle, up to 2d6 BODY 2 PD/2 ED, Cannot be escaped with teleportation (+1/4), affects desolidified (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

2v - Spirit-Stunning Arrow - STUN only up to 4d6, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul-Stunning Arrow: STUN only up to 6d6 OAF: Blessed Bow: (-1)

2v - Spirit Drought Arrow: up to 2d6 END Drain, Affects Desolidified (-1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul Drought Arrow: up to 3d6 END Drain. OAF: Blessed Bow

Total: 52 points

Consider Petrifying Gaze

With 27 points left, considered and put aside for now.

Fill Out Details

So now we're going to fill out details.

First, let's increase her movement.

4 - Running +4 meters, total 16m

2 - Leaping +4 meters, total 8m

And we're going to give her familiarity with some common melee weapons. Weirdly, this doesn't include Staves, but oh well.

2 - Common Melee Weapon Familiarity: Unarmed Combat; Axes, Maces, Hammers, and Picks; Blades; Clubs; Fist-Loads; Polearms and Spears; Two-Handed Weapons

I'm also going to give her some resistant defenses related to her scales.

9 - Resistant Protection: 3 rPD/3 rED

Then I'm going to give her some skills:

3 - Knowledge: Exorcism, INT-based

3 - Stealth, DEX-based

3 - Deduction, INT-based

This leaves one point remaining, which I am going to do as a Perk for being a trained spiritual warrior.

1 - Fringe Benefit: Official Exorcist

The Final Character looks like this:

Altogether Now

Characteristics

STR 13 (3)

DEX 20 (20)

CON 15 (5)

INT 13 (3)

EGO 13 (3)

PRE 15 (5)

OCV 4 (5)

DCV 6 (15)

OMCV 3

DMCV 5 (6)

SPD 4 (20)

PD 10/3 (5 - plus Scales)

ED 10/3 (5 - plus Scales)

REC 8 (4)

END 30 (2)

BODY 12 (2)

STUN 34 (7)

Characteristics Total: 110

Skills

3 - Knowledge: Exorcism, INT-based

3 - Stealth, DEX-based

3 - Deduction, INT-based

9 - Combat Skill Levels: All Bows 3 levels

4 - Ranged Skill Levels: 2 levels with Bows to counter ranged penalties.

4 - Targeting Skill Levels: 2 Levels with Bows to counter act penalties to target specific parts of the body

2 -Common Ranged Weapon Familiarity: Thrown Rocks; Bows; Crossbows; Javelins and Thrown Spears; Thrown Knives, Axes, and Darts.

2 - Common Melee Weapon Familiarity: Unarmed Combat; Axes, Maces, Hammers, and Picks; Blades; Clubs; Fist-Loads; Polearms and Spears; Two-Handed Weapons

Skills Total: 27

Perks

1 - Fringe Benefit: Official Exorcist

Perks Total: 1

Powers

9 - Scales: Resistant Defense, 3 rPD/3 rED

4 - Running +4 meters, total 16m

2 - Leaping +4 meters, total 8m

Total: 15

Senses

10 - Snake Hair, Many Eyes: Increased Arc of perception 240 degrees to the vision group.

10 - Thermal Vision: Detect Heat Patterns/Traces, Passive

19 - Snake Tongues: All For Normal Scent, Discriminatory (5), Analyze (5), Microscopic: 2x Magnification (6), Rapid x10 speed (3)

Total: 39

Bow of the Exorcist Martial Art

15 - Bow of the Exorcist: 30 pt reserve, OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Arrow: up to 2d6 RKA, OAF: Blessed Bow

2v - Blessed Arrow: up to 1d6+1, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4), OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Spiritual Pinning: Entangle, up to 2d6 BODY 2 PD/2 ED, Cannot be escaped with teleportation (+1/4), affects desolidified (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

2v - Spirit-Stunning Arrow - STUN only up to 4d6, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul-Stunning Arrow: STUN only up to 6d6 OAF: Blessed Bow: (-1)

2v - Spirit Drought Arrow: up to 2d6 END Drain, Affects Desolidified (-1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul Drought Arrow: up to 3d6 END Drain. OAF: Blessed Bow

Total: 33

Powers Total: 87

Grand Total: 225

Complications

10 - Gorgon, snake-hair and slight-scales: Dist Fea, Concealable, Always Noticed and Major Reaction, Feature is not distinctive in some cultures.

15 - Living up to Expectations: Psych Lim, Very Common Moderate.

15 - Spirit-Touched, Hero or Monster: Soc Lim, Very Frequent, Major, Not Limiting in some Cultures.

10 (20) - Exorcism Sensitivity: directed prayers and purified substances. Uncommon, 1d6 Recovery Drain per Phase.

I'd probably use the first few points of XP to fill out skills with RP stuff and to give her more character. One advantage of doing a multipower like this is it is really cheap to add new powers. There is something to be said for adding some of the martial maneuvers in as well, but the Combat Skill Levels and Penalty Skill Levels cover a lot of what those would do.

This presents a fairly more fluid way to approach martial arts than using the martial arts mechanics. It works well with weapon-based and power-based martial arts, but still the martial maneuvers provide a lot of efficient and low cost prebuilt combinations.

Also note that if she has a normal bow instead of a blessed bow, hers or someone else's, she can't use her multipower at all and she would only use the bow's basic capabilities plus her combat skill levels. If I wanted to further heighten her skill with spirit arrows, I could also give her Combat Skill Levels specifically with that multipower, which would stack with those on bows in general.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 113

“I seem to have been taken hostage.” Batman’s words almost had Superman panic if not for the wry tone, a tone which the others didn’t know if their freaking out was to go by. Clark sighed through the comms, tired after battle and honestly wanting to go to bed now.

“I’ll be right over, what child has latched onto you now?” He asked while switching to a more private channel. 

“I can already hear you making fun of me…” Wha- Oh. Clark bit his lip to keep himself from laughing as he took to the air. “They appear to be a pair of twins with…” 

“You gotta’ say it Bruce, you gotta’,” Clark couldn’t stop the chuckle when he saw his friend on the top of a building, cape curled around his form in a way usually reserved for the robins. 

“... with dark hair… and blue eyes…” That was it. Clark absolutely lost it in laughter. 

[rrogueamendiares]

what do you mean it didn't go like this

[tanglepelt]

Dc x dp idea 133

Danny is really confused. Like sure he made a fake account in order “use” his parents completely valid and not in biased research on ghosts.

Cause obviously. Their completely legit research disproves multiple peer reviewed and factual papers.

Tucker made the fake account. No real names or numbers. So. They couldn’t know it was him right?!??

He just wanted people to see how wack the papers were and bring to light the very not accurate papers. He figured using botched research to counter claim others would do something.

But??? Why was the flash in his living room arguing with his parents about scientific articles. And proper research??

[eiochevart]

A link through the ages…

[oldschoolfrp]

A ride in the snow (Larry Elmore cover for Fantasy Hero 4th ed, Hero Games, 1990)

[inbabylontheywept]

Soviet Birds.

The secret facility that I work in has holes in the ceiling. We don't know how to get them fixed.

We tried asking the government to fix it, once. We told them that the holes in the older parts of the facility had gotten large enough to fit birds through, and that birds were getting through, and that, perhaps, a Soviet Spy could fit through as well.

After all, it is well known that Soviet Spies and pigeons are approximately the same diameter.

Our hope was that that this vague and nonsensical threat would put a little fire under Uncle Sam's feet. If the fed couldn't be bothered to give a shit about the giant gaping holes in the roof of our facility, perhaps they could be persuaded to give a shit about... Soviet Spies.

This attempt at manipulation 100% blew up in our faces.

See, the government does not need to be persuaded to give a shit about Soviet Spies. It still wakes up most nights, drenched in cold sweat, terrified and confident that a Soviet Spy is hiding in their nightstand. If it sees a rock on the ground, it flips it over, pistol drawn, ready to shoot the Soviet Spy it fully expects to slither out from underneath. Which is to say: The government is crazy. So when we dropped those two words - inflitration risk - in the repair request, they came in guns-a-blazin'.

Does that mean that they fixed the roof? Of course not. Don't be stupid. No, instead of performing basic maintenance, they installed a state of the art alarm system throughout the facility - lasers, sonar, the works - and told us to always be on the guard. Because of the roof holes.

Then they left.

So now we had an extremely good alarm system... and birds. Which have combined in incredibly obvious and predictable ways to produce an unending fountain of problems.

For Example: About once a month, someone gets called in by the local airforce dispatch because AAAAAAAAAAA a Spy is in the Rad Lab! We're all gonna die! Except every time, it's a bird. And I get why we have to check, but every time, the dispatcher is panicked and the person going out has to be like listen, listen: It's a bird. It's always a bird. It's been a bird every month for the last fifteen years. It will be a bird next month. All this stress? Bad for your heart.

Second Example: Sometimes, birds get in while we're actually working. And when it's in the morning, you know, it's a nuisance, and it stops testing (we are not going to risk irradiating a bird) but it's not an all-hands-on-deck situation because it doesn't take ten hours to get a bird out. But surprisingly often, the bird gets in riiiiight at closing time, and in that situation, everyone goes feral because nobody can leave until the alarm is set, and we cannot set the alarm while the bird is there, because the bird would immediately trigger it and then we'd have to stay another 4 hours to confirm that it was not a Soviet Bird.

So in order to go home, everyone's top priority is Get That Bird. And we have a system for it.

Step 1: The test stands tend to be located in rooms with 30+ foot ceilings. We can't catch birds in places like that - so we have to lure the bird into the relatively low ceilinged (8 feet only) upper offices.

We do this by turning all the lights off in the test rooms, then putting floodlights by the exits. I don't know why this works - some kind of evolutionary brain fragment shared by both Bugs and Birds - but work it does. The birds almost always follow after the lights. From there, it’s just two guys moving the floodlight and a third guy to turn off the lights.

Step 2: Everyone else has been waiting for this step. There is this long stairway up from the basement level into the offices, and in the final stage, the floodlights are brought to the base of the stairwell to bring the bird up. At the top of the steps there will be a group of tennish people, waiting for the signal. The light guys will set up the final transfer, everyone will tense, and then, swish...a bird will flit up the stairs and into the offices.

It's like watching werewolves on a full moon. Before the bird cometh, we are engineers. Nerds. Pale and skinny things, trembling under the fluorescent lights. After the bird, we are beasts. Feral, gnawing things, glowing under the orange sunrise of the 70's halogen floodlights.

And like all beasts, we cannot help but give chase.

Step 3: The were-engineers begin the hunt. The goal at the start is not really to catch the bird - just exhaust it. So the pack simply does not relent. Because the stakes are going home on time, the group is basically given free reign to go anywhere in the building. If someone's door is open, and the bird goes inside, they're going to have to deal with ten sweaty panting maniacs leaping around their office. They don't get to say that they're busy, or remark on how all this movement is a terrible distraction. They are allowed to sit in silence during the chaos, and perhaps thank the war party for chasing the bird while they sat comfortably on their ass. This has been explained several times, and it will continue to be explained until cooperation is achieved.

Anyway.

The chase can go on for quite some time. Sometimes, the bird will get tired and find a crevice to hide in, where it can then be reached through standard cornered-bird catching techniques.

Other times, it will slow down enough that someone can actually yoink it out of the air. But this will go on until someone catches the bird and triggers Step 4.

Step 4: The Finale. This is the get-the-bird-out-of-the-building stage, and it requires someone to adopt a specific role: To Become the Sacrificial Vessel of Bird Removal.

This job is both coveted and feared. It's coveted, because holding a wild bird in one's hands is a precious thing. To feel how small, and fragile, and scared it is, only to free it from the building? That is what it's like to be a benevolent God. But the cost! Oh, the cost. The entire time the Vessel is in motion, the bird will be biting the hell out of their fingers. And I cannot emphasize enough just how painful bird bites are. Their entire face is a set of needle posed pliers, and they know tricks the even the cartels haven't figured out yet. So there's always a little hubbub about who shall be The Vessel while onlookers, stranded outside The Office of Bird Capture, can only look on. Quiet arguments and pleas are heard, little fragments of fear and pride and glory trickling out of room like the silver dust left behind in a bag of well shook quarters. The sound of concensus is silence, and the argument will go on until that's all that's left. And then, from the darkness of the final office, the chosen sacrifice will step forward: Hands gently cupped, tears streaming down their face, fingers trembling from the pain of the ongoing bird chomps.

And this scene is what organizes people. Not leadership, not truly. No one can think and coordinate a crowd while their fingers are being attacked with a combination nutcracker/ear piercer. But the crowd sees the suffering of their annointed, and it is driven to do everything poossible to make the process flow. People instinctively flair out, finding the fastest path outside. Doors are held open. Paths are cleared. Someone, somehow, always knows the way forward and can describe it to the sufferer. Left, left, forward. Corner closet. Yep, there's a hall in there. Forward. Two-hundred more feet man, you're doing great. Just hold it together a little longer. You're killing it.

Then the final door swings open, and the bird flees out into what remains of daylight. And yet, even here, the deed is not yet done. I cannot explain it in words, but the crowd that helped is never content until they can see and speak on the Bird Vessel's wounds. They all have to pull the fingers back and see what was given. Estimate the price: One day to get better - No, three - No, a week! Are you blind? Do you see that blood blister? -Yeah, that's not going away anytime soon - Damn, can you believe how feisty those things are? Like wolves without teeth.

(They cannot help but touch as they go. It has always been this way. Even Thomas was not content until he felt the wounds in Christ's hands.)

Only when the last of the helpers has seen, and commented, and commended, will the engineers scatter. It is their return from the underworld that announces to the sun living surface dwellers that they too can go home. (@somerunner tolja it needed to be a post.)

[captain-glucose-sidekick]

Identity Record

First name : Jacob D.

Last name : Delafon

Race : Human

Genre : man

Age : 27 years old

Birthdate : October 31st

Height : 1m84

Weight : ?

Profession : Sidekick

Religion : None

Alignement : Chaotique Neutre

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny was...unnerved, which is unusual considering his upbringing as the child of mad scientists obsessed with the undead.

It had been a few weeks since he had moved into Wayne manor after a conflict between batman and his parents, which led to his home and his friends and family being blown up in a lab malfunction. Most of Amity Park was destroyed in the blasts, including Vlad and his mansion.

Usually Danny would be more suspicious of super rich dudes, but the sorrow in Bruce Wayne's eyes as he pleaded to let Danny take him in was genuine and well, Danny didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. Plus, Bruce looked weirdly guilty when danny told him none of this was his fault, which was weird. Jazz was in college and always looked exhausted on video calls, so he didn't want to bother her there.

The part that bothered him most wasn't that there was anything dangerous or bad happening, but rather the opposite.

Danny was used to dodging his home security system when it randomly targeted him. He was used to ghosts popping up out of nowhere to suckerpunch him. He was used to danger.

And now that there was none, he was jumping at shadows.

Things got better when he met Psaro. He was in the process of being either mugged or kidnapped, he wasn't sure, when this angry goth teen with silver hair and ruby eyes literally came in swinging a steel chair. After the beat down and subsequent rescue, Danny offered to buy them some food. Psaro tried to reject the offer until his stomach suddenly growled, making him blush, and Danny dragged the older goth teen to a restaurant.

They've been best friends since. Psaro later introduced him to his friends Rose and Toilen, explaining that they weren't from this world and that Rose was an elf and Toilen was a Teran from a planet called Terrestria. Danny assumed that Psaro was an elf like Rose due to them both having long pointed ears and mostly focused on Toilen thanks to the "other planet" bit.

Meanwhile, the bats have been keeping an eye out on Danny (aka stalking him) and his new, obviously magical friends.

[niksrpgs]

Brand new #DayAfterRagnarok #HeroEdition for #sixthedition #HeroSystem #6e, now available with FREE SHIPPING! #ttrpg #originalprint #outofprint #NiksRPGs