The COM Characteristic is replaced by one of the following perks:
| -5 | Ugly to the point of scaring small kids |
| -3 | Real Ugly |
| -1 | Distasteful |
| 0 | Average |
| +1 | Fashionable |
| +3 | Attractive |
| +5 | Fashion model |
| +10 | God(ess)like |
An education perk represents a whole slew of minor skills (Chem1,3, etc.) that were required in school but don't apply to the character's profession.
| 1 | High School Diploma |
| 2 | College Degree |
| 3 | PhD, MD, etc. |
| +1 | Professorship, tenured or not |
| +1 | Licensed to practice (MD equivalent of professorship, etc.) |
This way no one pays more than four points, which seems reasonable - the same points would get you speaking language as a native. If the character is a surgeon as well as a professor of physics, then that is probably as rare as someone who speaks their native tongue at the imitate dialect level.
Explanation: If you try to buy all the skills separately, the cost is prohibitive (about 20 points for a college education). Champions is supposed to charge you for usefulness, unlike GURPS.
These are variations on alternate documented IDs.
| 1 | An ID anyone can crack given a little checking, ex. a fake drivers license. |
| 2 | An ID that the police can crack. |
| 3 | An ID a government agency can crack. |
| 4 | An ID a government would have trouble cracking, essentially one issued by a government. |
Discard General Skills. (In the list one may substitute for KS: any of the skill groups, AK:, SC:, KS:, PS:, as appropriate. The difference between Sciences, Knowledge Skills, Professional Skills, and Area Knowledges is mainly which skill enhancer they fall under. s are more book learning, PSs more practical, and SCs somewhere in between. KS: Africa means you've read all the National Geographics for the last 25 years (KS: World might be more appropriate), while AK: Africa means you've actually been there. Obviously this makes Magma Lass' Seismology an AK as opposed to either PS or KS).
Replace General Skills as follows:
Is Lockpicking a DEX or INT based skill? Answer: In reality, it's probably INT based. However, for a game system like Hero, reality isn't the primary consideration. The real question is what sort of character should be good at lockpicking? If character A has spent gobs of points for DEX and character B has spent piles for INT, who should be better at picking locks if they spend 3 points for the skill? The answer depends on the genre of the campaign. Generally, this means DEX, but the GM should determine such things along with other campaign parameters.
The resulting Skill List is as follows:
| INT-Based Skills: | DEX-Based Skills: | PRE-Based Skills: |
|---|---|---|
| Bugging | Acrobatics | Acting |
| Concealment | Breakfall | Acting |
| Criminology | Climbing | Animal Handling |
| Cryptography | Contortionist | Bribery |
| Deduction | Combat Driving | Conversation |
| Forensic Medicine | Combat Pilot | High Society |
| Inventor | Lockpicking | Interrogation |
| Paramedic | Riding | Oratory |
| Security Systems | Sleight of Hand | Persuasion |
| Shadowing | Stealth | Seduction |
| Tactics | Trading | |
| Tracking |
No changes.
(see also Regeneration)
Aid should not be used to replace lost characteristics, use Regeneration instead. Aid should only be used to add to existing characteristics. Although lost characteristics can of course be replaced by AID, they are not permanent, and will fade like any aided characteristic. If one wants an instant heal, ex. someone who restores himself by teleporting, buy delayed effect on the decay time, sufficient to match the character's normal healing rate. See Regeneration for other possibilities.
No changes.
(see also Transformation)
As it is currently written up, Change Environment is prohibitively expensive. Make it increase in area like area of effect, double radius for (+1/4). If one wants a more persistent effect, such as changing weather, buy it with the 'uncontrolled' advantage. Since there has to be some way of turning off an uncontrolled effect, let it be either an instant thing, or a healing over time, e.g. 'weather pattern heals to normal'. Minimum cost is 10, which gives you a 2" radius circle.
Precog and Retrocog should be divorced from Clairsentience. Clairsentience moves one's point of view in space, Precog and Retrocog move one's point of view in time. Most of the time Precog and Retrocog should have the limitation 'no conscious control', the value of which varies by campaign, depending on how useful the GM determines it will be. In certain campaigns, Precog may be a disadvantage!
No changes.
Damage Reduction can work against certain NNDs and like things, dependent on special effect, of course. Example: Physical Damage Reduction generally does not cover gas NNDs, but does help against sonic NNDs, etc. Energy Damage Reduction should probably work against microwaves.
No changes.
(see Growth, Shrinking, etc.)
No changes.
The 3 point Detect doesn't have to be touch only. It can have a very limited range, like the sense of smell. It should, however, be about as limited in usefulness as smell is to humans.
These are for the purposes of Targeting and Flashes. If you buy 'Detect Minds' in your sight group, and are flashed(sight) you can't see minds either. The same goes for blindfolds, field of view, etc. I.e. if your Detect Minds is bought through your eyes, you shouldn't be able to see minds behind walls.
This does not come free with mental powers. It must be purchased separately. It can be limited, for example 'only to see vampiric domination'.
This is bought once per sense group.
This can be bought for any sense. There must, of course, be a way of obscuring one's trail.
Example: Tracking Sight - cover up footprints, etc. Tracking IR - wade through water, fly, etc. Tracking Mental - wander through a crowd, preferably a mob or protesters or a religious ceremony, murder someone, etc.
The argument that Tracking Sense is merely Retrocognition with limitations was unresolved. Some feel that the two are distinct, others do not.
Entangle should cost 3 points for 1d6 and 7 points for +1 DEF.
No changes.
As flashing taste is much less useful than flashing sight, apply the following limitations:
Hearing (-1/2)
Taste/Smell (-2)
Mental/Unusual (-1)
Again, these may be varied to fit a specific campaign.
Should we eliminate minimum costs? As it stands, you have two options: completely vulnerable to all Flashes, or completely immune to all Flashes. Few Flashes are higher than about 3d6. One answer might be to make Flash Defense cost more, but reduce the minimum cost to one or at most two points of Flash Defense.
To model UFO flight, buy 'no turn mode' (+1/2). 'Instant acceleration' is (+1/2). Instant acceleration is normally only useful in non-combat situations.
Flight with 'no turn mode (+1/2) exactly matches Running with 'works in 3D' (+1/2).
Outside of an atmosphere, inches of flight become inches of acceleration. Non-combat multiples for flight do not cost END, so one does not have to buy reduced END on the non-combat multiples.
The forcefield versus invisibility debate is solved by applying special effects considerations.
This somewhat mystical statement is explained by Earl in a sidebar.
No changes.
Growth, Shrinking, and Density Increase should have limitations such as 'GM determines this power is useless'. In fact, they should be done away with entirely as soon as someone figures a nice clean way of buying down other people's perception rolls.
Hand Attack is wrong, but no adequate solution is given. Brass knuckles won't double or quadruple a brick's strength, but there should be some way of modeling leverage.
No changes.
(see Shape Shift)
Needs to be fixed. Suggestions are that the cost should depend on the fraction of the [campaign-important] population that can sense through the invisibility. As a temporary fix, use the same limitations as for Flash Defense. Note that only the smallest limitation gets applied to the base 20 pts.
Hearing (-1/2)
Taste/Smell (-2)
Mental/Unusual (-1)
Again, these may be varied to fit a specific campaign.
See Earl's sidebar on how invisibility might apply to visible powers, based on their special effects.
No changes.
Add 'Immune to Poison' for 5 pts. Immunity to a specific Poison costs 1-3 points. 'Does not need to sleep' costs 3 pts. by itself. 'Does not need to eat/excrete' costs 3 pts. by itself. For 30 pts. you get Full Life Support - All of it. Note that 'Does not need to sleep' now costs as much as Lightsleep. Lightsleep should only cost 1 pt. in superheroic games.
No changes.
Power Defense is a game mechanic. It should almost always have a limitation (only vs. magic, for example). This makes it cheaper, without violating special effects and becoming a 'power vs. game mechanic.'
(see also Aid)
Regeneration should be changed into a standard power that costs 5 points to regenerate one character point per post 12 recovery. Advantages include +1/4 to regenerate any related group, +2 to regenerate all of a related group, etc.
Consensus seems to be that buying Regeneration up the time chart is right out. If a character needs to Regenerate every Phase/Segment, make them buy it per Turn and spread it out.
No changes.
Shapeshift takes a zero phase action to perform, like growth, shrinking, etc., and can be aborted to. It still costs END to maintain, as before. The cost of shapeshift depends on two things - how many different shapes the character can assume, and how different from the base form those shapes are.
| 5 | for cosmetic changes |
| 10 | for major changes |
| 15 | for radical changes |
| +0 | for a single other form |
| +5 | for 'named & numbered' forms, or a small category (dogs, or clothing). |
| +10 | for a 'horde' of forms, or a larger category (humanoids). |
| +15 | for an infinite number of forms. |
If a character can't shift clothes, then the power gets a limitation, probably (-1/4).
Some examples:
(See Growth, Shrinking, etc.)
No changes.
A set of linked powers count as one for the purposes of suppression, with the active points figured from the largest power. Any other powers are reduced in proportion to the largest power, i.e. if the largest power is suppressed to half its active points, so are all the others.
No changes.
Fine work is bought as a skill, usually a 3/2 skill based on a characteristic, usually DEX or EGO, or possibly PRE if it uses little summoned critters... Telekinesis is inherently indirect.
No changes.
(see also Change Environment)
Minimum costs stay the same, but all Transforms are bought at 5 points per 1d6. When you do 2x BODY, a cosmetic change takes effect. When you do 4x BODY, a minor change, and at 6x BODY a major change happens. Some Transforms should be stopped by appropriate Life Support rather than by Power Defense.
Tunneling should cost 2 pts. per 1" of movement, and 3 pts. per 1 DEF it can go through. It should probably have a non-combat multiple, too, just for completeness. ("You tunnel *how* fast?!" "It's the speed of sound in rock, you know.")
A list of standard limitations should be compiled, so people (especially new players) have something to refer to.
The affects desolid advantage, like hardened, should be special effects driven, and not applicable against every type of Desolid.
If the Desolid is itself limited, every power bought with the affects solid advantage also gets the limitation on the affects solid advantage.
Power*(affects solid)=A
Power*(other advantages+1)=B
Active Points=A+B
Real Points=A/(other limits+Desol limit+1)+B/(other limits+1)
Example: Kitty Pryde has 'not vs. energy' (-1) on her Desolid, so her Body Drain also has a (-1) limitation, on the advantage, in addition to anything else.
Hardened defenses do not stop teleportation. Appropriate special effect does. It is possible to stop magical teleports through a magical forcewall with a (+1/4) advantage, but this is not the same as hardened.
The cost for this should depend on the fraction of the population that can see past the invisibility. Examples: 'only weird senses appropriate to special effect can sense power' (+1), 'mental powers not visible to target (unless target has mental sense)' (+1/4 ), etc.
See also Earl's sidebar on special effects and how they can interact with invisibility.
Linked is worth (-1/2) on the less expensive power(s) if both (all) power(s) must be used together. It is worth (-1/4) on the less expensive power if one power (decided at creation, can be either power regardless of which one has the limitation) can be used only if the other is also used, but the second power may be used by itself at any time. Two powers in an Elemental Control may be linked.
Note that there is an (unwritten?) house rule that says OHID is not a limitation if you have instant change to Hero ID.
The value of side effect depends on the frequency the side effect takes place and on the number of active points in the side effect. If the side effect is avoided on a [14-], the limitation is (-1/2) times the fraction of the power's active points in the side effect. A side effect which always happens has a base limitation of (-3).
Example: a 60 point power with a 30 point side effect which is avoided on an [11-] is worth a (-1/2) limitation. (-1) (for the [11-]) times 1/2 (=30/60).
Side effects are bought like normal powers; Energy Blast, HKA, etc. but the active points of a side effect are considered to be the active points that will get through the victim's defenses. The defenses for Entangle are casual Strength and damage shields. Side effect active points can be affected by advantages; area effect, NND, etc. Not things like personal immunity, of course.
Example: the victim has 10 PD and wants a 20 active point Energy Blast for a side effect. The side effect will be 7d6 Energy Blast because 10 PD will, on average, absorb 3d6.
Discard the 'skill roll' limitation. If the power activates on a [14-], buy it with an activation roll. If you buy up the skill later, buy off some of the limitation. For certain fantasy magic campaigns, this limitation might be resurrected.
One buys Uncontrolled and Constant on powers that affect others (attacks) and Persistent on powers that affect oneself.
Any power can have a limitation from (-1/4) to (-2) on the basis that it is practically useless in the campaign. The actual value is of course a GM call. Example: Fay's Armor, which she almost never wears, gets a (-1) limitation on it.
A character with Normal Characteristic Maxima should be treated as a normal human for purposes of disabling/incapacitating body parts, and may have hit locations at the GM's discretion.
For 5 points less, a vulnerability is only applied to damage which penetrates defenses.
Any action can be held past segment 12, or segment 6 if using the half-speed rules.
There are two points of view on blocking, and the only solution seems to be that individual GMs can choose whichever method they want to use. One method lets the block 'attack' the base OCV of the attacker, the other lets the block 'attack' the effective OCV of the attacker, i.e. the DCV the attacker would hit, so that the better the attacker rolls, the harder it is to block hir attack.
A variant if hit locations are used is to let the block succeed completely if the effective OCV is matched, but if only the base OCV is matched the defender gets to choose hit location, or at least biases it (high shot, low shot, etc.). This models interposing a weapon or body part (sword, shield, hand, top of head (surprising one's opponent greatly!), etc.) or a partially successful attempt to slip the attack.
Note that if this is done with a weapon/shield/table lamp/whatever, on a partial success the GM will have to consider breakage and the amount of extra defense provided.
(see Comeliness Perks)
Diving for cover is combined with Dodge, or alternatively, movement is now permitted in conjunction with a Dodge. A character can choose to move while Dodging. Each +1 DCV given up allows movement up to one third of a half-move. The extra +2 DCV from a martial Dodge are not transferable, the maximum move is still a half-move at +2 DCV. A normal person can thus dodge at +3 DCV, dive 1" at +2 DCV, dive 2" and keep +1 DCV, or dive for cover and be at base DCV. If moving any distance at all, the character must beat the attacker's DEX roll to move before the blow lands.
The REC Chart is counted in multiples of REC or 10, whichever is less. To avoid people beating on unconscious victims, every REC of STUN done after unconsciousness causes 1 BODY.
A character at negative BODY loses one BODY every level of the time chart, starting at the end of hir next phase.
A stunned character who is also unconscious recovers from being stunned on the first phase se gets after recovering consciousness.
Speed-doubling is as follows; base SPD is 2 + DEX/5. If no one has a SPD greater than 6 (doubled to 12) simply use the standard SPD chart and add a free post segment 6 recovery. If using greater SPDs, refer to Dave's SPD 24 chart.
Each turn (or demi turn) both contestants roll damage dice (based off Strength), and do that much END to the other. Then each gets hir post 12 (or post 6) recovery. Repeat until one drops to zero or less END. This ensures that the loser, and probably the winner, will be down END when the fight breaks out!
These house rules were created by the ECNG in joint discussion, and transcribed by Chrisber.
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