From: [r--i--x] at [denali.ccs.neu.edu] (Richard Pieri)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives
Subject: REFERENCE: Champions: FAQ
Date: 19 Aug 93 13:24:00 GMT
I guess maybe it's time to repost this sucker :-).
Rat <[r--i--x] at [ccs.neu.edu]> Northeastern's Stainless Steel Rat
PGP Public Key Block available upon request Ask about rat-pgp.el v1.61
||||| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |||||
Shape shift/Nose to the wind/Shape shift/Feeling I've been
Move swift/All senses clean/Earth's gift/Back to the meaning of wolf and man
--Metallica, Of Wolf and Man
The Champions/Hero System Periodical
Frequently Asked Questions List/Points of Clarity List
last updated: Richard Pieri/Stainless Steel Rat, Aug 17, 1993
[r--i--x] at [ccs.neu.edu]
INFORMATIONAL
=============
This is the unofficial Champions/Hero System Frequently Asked/Argued
Questions/Points of Clarity List. It is a resource of official and
unofficial answers to commonly asked questions about the Hero System, and
clarifications to sometimes ambiguous rules. The most recent version of
this file is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.ccs.neu.edu
(129.10.10.51), in /pub/ratinox/champ/champions.faq. If you are incapable
of anonymous ftp, you may request a copy from [r--i--x] at [ccs.neu.edu]
There is an archive of Champions-related material at potemkin.cs.pdx.edu
(131.252.20.145). More information is available from the rec.games.frp.misc
FAQ file, or from [t--e--t] at [cs.pdx.edu] or [c--h--n] at [spot.colorado.edu.]
Finally, there is a mailing list for Champions related discussions. You can
subscribe to the list by sending mail to [champ request] at [elysium.esd.sgi.com.]
It may take up to 2 weeks for the administrator to add you to the list, so
please be patient.
CHAMPIONS/HERO SYSTEM
=====================
Champions is Hero Games' super hero role-playing game using the HERO
System. Champions and the HERO System are Trademarks of and Copyright by
Hero Games. This file is in no way meant to infringe against Hero Games.
Now that the legal stuff is out of the way...
The HERO System is a universal role-playing system. It is a point based
system that allows creation of characters from any genre, of any level of
ability. Unlike many so-called "universal" games, Champions is a "power
based" game, rather than an "effect based" game. What this means is that a
lightning bolt spell, a blaster rifle, and a fiery super hero's flame all
use the same Power (Energy Blast in this example), but the Special Effects
define the ability and any Advantages or Limitations it has.
Originally, Champions and the other HERO System games were published
separately, each rule book containing a complete reproduction of the
current edition of the rules. With the publication of the 4th edition
Champions Hard cover, all the rules are in one book, and individual
source books are published to cover various genres.
The HERO System Rulesbook is a reprinting of the majority of the 4th
edition hard cover, but without the super hero background and campaign
material. It contains the complete rules from the hard cover, and the
errata published in Adventurers Club #16. It also has a usable index and
costs $15 less than the hard cover.
In all cases where a discrepancy between the hard cover Champions book and
the soft cover HERO System Rulesbook exists, the Rulesbook is given
preference.
Special Effects are of the utmost importance when defining mechanics.Many
of the answers here may not fit the special effects you require. Remember,
work from the effects backwards, and see what does work.
Generally, many problems and confusions may be solved by applying these two
rules of thumb:
* If you can create an effect using several different mechanics, the one
with the higher Active Cost is usually the most appropriate.
* If you can create an effect using an "unusual" Power to simulate an
existing Power, do not do it; use the existing Power instead.
As always, a bit of common sense should always prevail.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS/POINTS OF CLARITY SUMMARY
====================================================
1. What do all those abbreviations and strange terms mean?
2. Does the Continuing Charges Limitation seem wildly unbalancing?
2a. How does the Continuing Charges Limitation work with Attack Powers?
3. Duplication: can you duplicate something that you haven't paid points
for, such as the Crown Jewels? If not, then why do duplicates not
appear naked?
4. The Champions rules say that all rounding of 1/2 points (except for
SPD) round in the character's favor. Is it valid to pay 1 point to get
the roundoff for a half point of BODY or some other Characteristic with
a x2 cost multiple?
4a. When calculating STUN from odd STR or CON, how does the rounding work?
Is it (STR/2)u + (CON/2)u, or (STR/2 + CON/2)u? (u means round up).
5. What are Skill Levels in Movement good for?
6. How do Drains and Suppress work against "absolute" Powers such as
Desolid and Invisibility?
6a. How do Drains and Suppress work against Characteristics?
7. Can you hold your Segment 12 Action into Segment 1?
7a. Do you get your free "Post-12 Recovery" if you do?
8. If you make a non-attack action in a Phase, can you abort to a
defensive action in the same Segment?
8a. How long does a Defensive Maneuver last?
9. How can you simulate someone/something that can make multiple attacks
in a single Phase?
10. Can special effects alter the effects or mechanics of a Power?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS/POINTS OF CLARITY
============================================
1. What do all those abbreviations and strange terms mean?
CV: Combat Value. This is a rough gauge of your combat ability.
OCV: Offensive Combat Value. How good you are at making attacks.
DCV: Defensive Combat Value. How good you are at avoiding attacks.
ECV: Ego (mental) Combat Value. How good you are in mind-to-mind
confrontations.
KS: Knowledge Skill. This is something you know; it is primarily
theoretical knowledge.
PS: Professional Skill. This is something you know how to do; it is
primarily practical knowledge.
AK: Area Knowledge Skill. An area you know a significant amount about.
SC: Science Skill. Pretty obvious :-).
Brick: A strong, tough character. Bricks tend to have high defenses and
Strength, and low Dexterity and Speed (the Hulk, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed
Thing).
Martial Artist (MA): The opposite of a Brick, Martial Artists have high
Dexterity and Speed (and a high DCV), and low Strength and defenses,
relying on skill to do damage (Batman, Kwai Chang Kane).
Gadgeteer: A (mostly) "normal" person who uses all forms of equipment, from
utility belts to power armor suits to "get into the league" of supers (Iron
Man, Batman).
Mentalist: A character who's primary combat abilities are mental, rather
than physical. Mentalists tend to be the most rare of super heroes due to
lack of physical combat ability (Professor Xavier).
Energy Projector: A character who's abilities tend towards long-range
energy (or physical) attacks (the Human Torch, Green Arrow).
2. Does the Continuing Charges Limitation seem wildly unbalancing?
2a. How does the Continuing Charges Limitation work with Attack Powers?
To get a Continuous effect on a Power with Continuing Charges requires the
Power to be Continuous (either Constant or Persistent), or have the
Continuous Advantage (i.e., a napalm grenade would be a Ranged Killing
Attack, AoE, Continuous, with "n" Continuing Charges of "x" duration).
Powers with Continuing Charges are considered to be Uncontrolled, and
therefore must have a reasonably common or identifiable means of turning
them off.
To simulate attacks which "follow" the target, like poisons or drugs, you
need the Gradual Effect Limitation from AC #16 and Fantasy Hero:
GRADUAL EFFECT
A power with this limitation has its effect spread out over a period of
time. For example, a 6D6 Killing Attack with Gradual Effect 1 Hour would do
1D6 KA every 10 minutes. The first increment of damage is applied to the
target immediately.
Gradual Effect Time Limitation
1 Turn -1/2
1 Minute -1
5 Minutes -1 1/2
1 Hour -2
5 Hours -2 1/2
1 Day -3
1 Week -3 1/2
etc. etc.
The target of a Gradual Effect attack gets his defenses once. He takes no
damage from the attack until the cumulative damage of the attack exceeds
his defenses. In the example above, the target has 8 points of resistant
defense, and the dice roll 4 BODY when he gets hit and 5 BODY after 10
minutes, then 3, 1 and 6. He would take no BODY damage initially and 1 BODY
after 10 minutes since 9 BODY exceeds his defenses. After that, he will
continue taking the damage without any more defense (it has already been
applied to the attack).
Gradual Effect is usually used on a power with the NND or AVLD Advantages,
where the target takes all of the damage, or none of it.
3. Duplication: can you duplicate something that you haven't paid
points for, such as the Crown Jewels? If not, then why do duplicates
not appear naked?
(Credits for this answer go to John Kim <[k h k 6] at [cunixb.cc.columbia.edu]>).
Normally, you may not duplicate anything you haven't paid points for.
Special effects define how a particular character's duplication works. One
method, some form of biological cloning ability, would in fact not
duplicate any gadgets or clothing. A temporal fuging effect, calling future
selves to the present, may be able to duplicate whatever you have handy.
Or not, as you catch yourself in the shower (this is a -0 limitation
special effect that a GM can have lots of fun with).
Also remember that anything you duplicate will disappear when the
duplicates recombine (or go home, or whatever).
If you really want to duplicate other things that provide powers, use a
Variable Power Pool with limitations which add up to "only to create
duplicates of non-living things." If you want to duplicate living things,
you'd better have a very good reason and effect for Duplication, Usable
By/Against Others.
4. The Champions rules say that all rounding of 1/2 points (except for
SPD) round in the character's favor. Is it valid to pay 1 point to
get the roundoff for a half point of BODY or some other
Characteristic with a x2 cost multiple?
No, it is not. The rounding of point costs is for the "real" costs of a
Characteristic or Power. You could get 1 point of COM for free, as it has a
"real" cost of 1/2 Character point per point of COM, and you get the round
off. BODY has a "real" cost of 2 Character points per point of BODY, so you
have to spend 2 Character points to get +1 BODY.
4a. When calculating STUN from odd STR or CON, how does the rounding work?
Is it (STR/2)u + (CON/2)u, or (STR/2 + CON/2)u? (u means round up).
Various HERO/Champions supplements vary on this. However, the examples in
the HERO System Rulesbook use the first method of rounding.
5. What are Skill Levels in Movement good for?
Each skill level in a Movement mode reduces the Turn Mode by 1". Skill
Levels in 1 Movement mode cost 2 points per +1, and may only be used for
"controlled" movement (Running, Swimming, Flight, Gliding) -- they are
useless for Leaping or Teleport. Note: all vehicles have Turn Modes for all
"controlled" movement forms. Including Movement Skill Levels in a vehicle
will make it more maneuverable.
Unofically, Movement Skill Levels may be used to change your Acceleration
or Deceleration from the given 5"/inch. Each Skill Level will allow you to
increase your Acceleration or Deceleration by 1".
6. How do Drains and Suppress work against "absolute" Powers such as
Desolid and Invisibility?
(An updated answer comes from Steve Peterson via John R. Cooper
<[j--o--r] at [world.std.com]>.)
Drains, Suppresses, and Transfers only need to cover the minimum cost of an
"absolute-cost" Power in order to render it useless. Thus, no matter how
many Advantages you have on Desolid, you only have to Drain, Suppress, or
Transfer 40 Points of it to render it useless.
(Previous answer to this question was)
To maintain some form of balance, Powers which require an "absolute" buy,
such as Desolid, Invisibility, Life Support, etc., remain active until
their full Active Cost is Drained or Suppressed. However, depending on the
special effects of the Power, it may experience minor problems.
6a. How do Drains and Suppress work against Characteristics?
According to Bruce Harlick, at DunDraCon, to Drain, Suppress, or otherwise
adjust a Power or Characteristic that has a specific number of points
associated with it, you must Drain, Suppress, or otherwise adjust the full
point cost of one "increment".
Example: to Drain 1 point of Speed, you must Drain 10 Active Points of
the victim's Speed before it drops.
Similarly, the victim doesn't regain the use of that increment until the
full Active Point cost has been recovered.
Example: at a Recovery rate of 5 Points/Turn, a character that has had
his Speed reduced by 1 (10 Active Points) would take two Turns to recover
his Drained Speed.
7. Can you hold your Segment 12 Action into Segment 1?
(Official answers come courtesy of Steve Peterson, on GEnie)
Yes.
7a. Do you get your free "Post-12 Recovery" if you do?
Yes.
8. If you make a non-attack action in a Phase, can you abort to a
defensive action in the same Segment?
(Again, the official word comes from Steve Peterson)
No, you may not. The definition of "attack" should be broadened to read
"any action that ends your Phase." This includes moving more than half your
movement, dodging, blocking, aborting to a defensive action, or taking any
action that requires more than a half-Phase to perform while doing nothing
else.
8a. How long does a Defensive Maneuver last?
Until your next Action Phase.
9. How can you simulate someone/something that can make multiple attacks
in a single Phase?
Officially, you do not. When someone/something makes an Attack (see the
answer to #8), it ends their Phase and they may do nothing else. It is
implied that the Turn is actually the "standard" unit of Combat Time (and
the closest to AD&D combat time), and Segments and Phases exist only to
keep things organized. It is often argued that a Dungeons and Dragons(TM)
dragon gets a "claw/claw/bite" attack as a single action. This is a
spurrious argument: this is Champions/HERO, not DnD. Do not try to exactly
duplicate DnD mechanics with HERO mechanics; it won't work.
As a general rule of thumb, those with little to no combat training are
Speed 2; this includes over 99% of the population of the world. Those with
a good amount of combat training and/or have actual combat experience are
Speed 3; this includes veteran police officers, soldiers, and people who've
studied a martial art for a number of years. Those with extensive combat
training and significant combat experience are Speed 3-4; this includes
special forces soldiers, "master" martial artists, and the like. Combat
Skill Levels will tend to be far more common than a Speed 4. Using this as
a guideline, and having supers in the Speed 3-7 range, will allow a GM to
create special characters or creatures that can attack twice as often as
the "average" super.
However, should a situation arise that this is impossible, there are a
number of possible solutions. The simplest are to use small Autofire
attacks or large Reduced Penetration attacks, depending on special effects.
Another is to use the Sweep Maneuver (based on the Danger International
Double Fire Maneuver) for ranged attacks as well as hand-to-hand attacks.
Speed with the Limitation "Only to make Attacks" is a technically valid
mechanic (it appears in the HERO Beastiary, under Hydra); however it is
also a rather messy one. A number of house rules for allowing multiple
attack actions in a Phase have been proposed and argued on "the Net"; all
are messy in one way or another, and all cost approximately as much as
"real" Speed. A final solution for NPCs and "monsters" is to define them as
several creatures instead of one, and play with special effects to make
them seem like a single entity.
10. Can special effects alter the effects or mechanics of a Power?
This has recently come up. To stem further argument, the answer is most
definitely "yes". Quoting the HERO System Rulesbook, page 53,
Example: Howler has bought Energy Blast, and defined it as a sonic
attack. Since her attack is sound, it wouldn't work in a vacuum, and
would probably work better underwater (perhaps adding one or two d6, or
becomming a small Explosion).