Help with Powers

[feedback]

My help with powers thread. You post up random ideas that you think would be cool and everyone else will help out in turning your idea into a working Hero System power.

First Dyuman wants a power to turn his strength into dex for a few segments. This sounds like a transfer ability with the limitations self only (-1/2). Unfortunately it is hard to turn 90% of your current strength into dex for only a few segments so I'm only going to be working with Shin's unbuffed strength. Being able to screw with 90% of your buffed strength requires an active point total greater than what we are currently allowed. So starting with the transfer idea:

Power Siphon: Transfer 5d6+1 (Str to Dex) (80 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), Requires A Chi Roll (-1/2) (Real Cost: 40)

Unfortunately this only averages about 18.5 character points worth of transfer which is only a little more than Shin's unbuffed strength. Additionally this drain will last for several turns until the transfer damage fades normally. So this is a dead end, moving on.

Power Siphon II: Succor Dex 10d6 (standard effect: 30 points), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) (62 Active Points); Self Only (-1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect does a predefined amount of damage; Character loses str equal to dex gained; -1/2), Requires A Chi Roll (-1/2) (Real Cost: 25)

Our second attempt uses succor to add straight dex to the character and has a side effect that the character loses str equal to dex gained. This works a little better in that we are able to drain 30 character points of str which will result in adding 10 dex to the character. This has the additional advantage that we can end the buff when ever we choose and we will build in a 2 turn duration as part of the power. You can tweak with the power so it suits your individual tastes, perhaps adding in more limitations to reduce the point cost or increase the amount of str you can transfer to dex by upping the dice. I will note that this power will stack if you activate it multiple times so you could in the course of two actions transfer 60 character points worth of str to dex. Hurray for speedy gimps.

[dyuman]

Thanks Jon! Yea the 2nd one sounds a lot better, and I would also be adding in visible and some other limitations.

Basically thinking of super saiyan type yellow aura in the shape of www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEIIT5YhOT4
Hitsugaya's Bankai from Bleach (shown as the fist maneuver in the AMV) visually.

The result would look more like:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-kAK6Jf7lg

[Duragar]

Because I doubt Craig will be very timely about checking up on this thread, I shall ask a question for him so that I don't have to sit and work it out when I have lots of other stuff to plan.

So, Craig wishes to make it so he has multiple Shadow Tendrils at once, and can thus attack multiple times in a round, have them doing many activities at once, and so on.

So, Dyuman and I suggested a couple ideas, but Craig was kind of unhappy with the prospects that we thought up. The first idea was making his Telekinesis an AOE effect, where everyone in the area would get smacked around once. This was out, because he wants to hit one target multiple times. Dyuman suggested an autofire, but that will get expensive quickly, and doesn't really change the fact that he only has one tendril. I thought about making it into a compound power with extra limbs, but that only solves the multiple tendrils problem, not the multiple attacks one. Finally Dyuman suggested making his tendrils into a sweep maneuver, so that he could attack as many times as he required, but that would probably require Craig take fine manipulation for his greater tendrils, and Craig didn't think that was where the power should be going.

I don't especially have the time to work this out, so I'm having him read the damn HERO system book himself, but your input would be appreciated.

[feedback]

Slightly confused on exactly what Craig would like his power to do. I understand that he wants to create multiple shadow tendrils but what does he want to do with them? If I am understanding this request correctly he wants to create many tendrils so he can do many things at once? If so this becomes slightly more difficult to pull off with only one power and I would suggest creating an individual power like those Chip and Dyuman suggested for each intended effect. So if you wanted to be able to create say three tendrils for the sole pupose of beating the ever loving shit out of some mook, then I would suggest something like this:

Trio of Slap Happy Tendrils: Energy Blast 9d6, Autofire (3 shots; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/2) (79 Active Points); Requires A Shadow Roll (-1/2) (Real Cost: 53)

Special effect the ability as creating three shadow tendrils that appear out of nowhere and beat up the intended target. These tendrils work against PD and are only slightly less powerful than his usual one (the tk ones), but they have the advantage of being able to attack one target multiple times. With the reduced endurance all three tendrils will only cost him 9 end per attack if he chooses to create all 3. This power may require some amount of indirect because of how it is being SFX'ed to replicate that appearing out of thin air type attack.

If you wanted to create multiple tendrils that would grab multiple targets then I suggest these two options:

Grab Happy Tendrils: Telekinesis (23 STR), Area Of Effect (3" Radius; +1), Selective (+1/4) (78 Active Points); Requires A Shadow Roll (-1/2), Limited Power Only to perform grab attacks (-1/2) (Real Cost: 39)

This option uses tk and AoE to perform grabs against any target of your choosing within a 3" radius. The biggest downside to this power is the lack of strength being reduced to 23, the upside is being able to grab many people of your choosing within a 3" radius. Another alternative that is slightly more broken in my mind would be this:

Beware of Hungry Tendrils: Entangle 3d6, 3 DEF, Sticky (Freeing one victim frees all victims; +1/4), Area Of Effect (4" Radius; +1), Selective (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Requires A Shadow Roll (-1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4) (Real Cost: 43)

This power creates a 4" trap zone so to speak. Anyone within the 4" radius at cast time can potentially be entangled. This power is selective so the user can decide who he wants to 'grab' and who he leaves alone. Once established, any new targets who come in contact with an entangled target will also become trapped. SFX for this would be tendrils being created in this area grabbing their targets. From then on, anyone who gets too close to an existing tendril is also susceptible to being 'grabbed' and becoming entangled. So it also makes sense that destroying one tendril will free everyone affected. Unfortunately we only have an active point cap of 80 and this power requires an 82 active point total, so you either have to live with freeing one person frees everyone or remove the selective, or reduce the power of the entangle.

If Craig just wants to be able to sweep or rapid fire (whichever is appropriate) with his current tendril then he need only spend a mere 3 points to buy the skill for his TK powers. See pg 230 under Grabs and Other Telekinetic Attacks, 2nd to last paragraph. This allows him to perform sweep or rapid fire maneuvers which will allow him to attack multiple targets. This sounds like the easiest solution honestly.

Telekinesis as it stands will allow Craig to use it to grab multiple opponents, but only one opponent may be grabbed per phase. So on Segment 12 he could grab mook A. Then, on segment 3 he could grab mook B while maintaining a hold on mook A. This pattern can be repeated indefinitely if desired. The drawbacks to this are that each tendril costs end to maintain so it is not likely that he will be able to keep this up for long. Also, only the first squeeze is free. Subsequent squeezes are counted as attack actions so while he could conceivably grab 4 people at once, he could only squeeze or throw one of them per segment.

Another option if you wanted to use several different powers at once is the multi-power attack option. See pg 358 for details. This option would allow you to use several separate powers at once against the same foe as long as you meet the base requirements.

Sorry if none of this was that helpful but I'm still trying to figure out what Craig wants. His single tendril is only a SFX and if he wanted to he could SFX his power to creating multiple tendrils. Though all of these SFX's combined will only have his base TK strength to work off of. Since practically anything is possible in this system, it would be a big help if you could give me an example of what he would like to be able to do with his powers on a regular basis. A general list of things like so would be good.

1. Wants to attack one foe multiple times and then grab him.
2. Wants to be able to grab several enemies of his choosing at once.
3. And so forth.

[Pikachu]

This is opening up a can of worms, but I'll throw in my bit here because I will eventually have to ask a similar question. Telekinesis seems to (off the top of my head, haven't touched the book in weeks... Dyuman, I hope you bought your copy already!) be a little ad hoc in the area of how many things you can pick up. So if we're simply talking about holding things, be they objects or foes (hopefully not friends, as I am no schoolgirl), there's supposed to be some judgment made by the GM, balancing the mass of the objects held and maybe the number of objects held as well.

As for the shadow powers as a whole... isn't this what a framework or EC is for?

[dyuman]

He wants to mostly attack multiple people with multiple tendrils (I'm guessing same turn from what he was talking about last night), which is why I was thinking of just sweeping with the tendril spell, or make it an AoE selective attack, or a spray fire/autofire with the tendrils.
---

Sadly I have not, Josh, but I've read powers and combat in your book quiet a few times so I'm somewhat ok for now till I go and buy mine once finals end (at least with what my character can do).

[dyuman]

New power idea. I hit mob, mob gets density increase (but in a negative way). No Str or PD bonus causing them to basically be rooted.

How 2 kthnx?

[Pikachu]

The ultimate help in powers:

www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1583660437/ref=dp_olp_2/103-5850046-2066255?ie=UTF8&qid=1187805698&sr=8-1

4 teh win lolol kthx

[feedback]

I second the Pika's suggestion. That would be the first step in figuring out your problem.

But as for the power in question itself, let's break it down.

It sounds like you just want to root someone in place by increasing their weight to the point where they can't move under their own strength. This sounds more like an entangle effect so we'll go with that for now.

There are a few problems with making this power how you so eloquently put it. The biggest problem is the question of how they heal the 'damage' or get out of it's effects. HERO is a very fair system in that every power has a reasonable counter or way to either avoid or get out of its undesirable effects. So this brings up the question of how long is a target affected by this disability? Another more important question is what are the special effects of the power? How is your character creating this density increase effect?

One take on this power assumes that it is an earth based magic effect using chi. The power uses the power of the earth to root the character in place. The earth's gravitational pull is increased to the point where the character becomes so heavy that he is unable to move. Ways to escape include exerting an amount of strength greater than the gravitational pull of the ground or dispelling the effect. While under its effects there is a visible field encompassing the character, maybe some kind of blackish gravity looking effect. Here's a write up of this power:

Stuck in Place: Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF, Cannot Be Escaped With Teleportation (+1/4), Takes No Damage From Attacks All Attacks (+1/2) (70 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Requires A Chi Roll (-1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4) (Real Cost: 31)

The takes no damage from attacks is mostly used to simulate that the character is not protected by the entangle and most attacks aimed at the character will not affect the entangle. The character himself can use his own strength to try and break out of the effect and others will have to make called shots to assist him. This power is also immune to all physical attacks so some kind of energy effect would have to be used to free the entangled character. I would probably allow others to assist the character by making complementary strength rolls to assist the character in breaking free. Since this power seems a bit powerful, I would probably also add in that breaking the ground around the character's feet will also free him from the effect.

I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're looking for, but I keep on asking people to be more detailed with what they want. A vague question of some simple power ideas will only get you so far. It's good that you know what you want, but you need to take the next step and start thinking of how you are going to get there.

As always change what you want since this is just a suggestion. If you want another suggestion please try and tell me a little more about what you want and how you want to do it. And also it would be a very good idea to buy the book.

[dyuman]

I was playing with the designer and figured a way to do it in terms of what I was looking for.

Basically its density increase, with no str bonus and usable on others (tabbed to used as attack).

I'll prolly order the book today I guess

[Duragar]

Question for my own reference:

Can you apply Martial Arts Damage Classes to Telekinesis? I would Assume so, since you can apply Martial Maneuvers bought for Telekinesis to them, but I just wanted confirmation.

[Pikachu]

J.

[dyuman]

Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 4d6 (7d6+1 w/STR), Autofire (3 shots; +1/4) (75 Active Points); 4 Charges (-1), Restrainable (-1/2), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Visible (-1/4)

So I'm trying to make Rock Lee's 2ndary lotus www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2d5cd0XMnY Go to 7:25 on the video to see what I want (you'll recognize it once you see it).

Basically I want to hit the opponent twice into the air with kicks, then grab them in the air and slam them into the ground for a 3rd hit. Now I am willing to just see that as my 3 hits of my HKA but I want to have them be prone on the ground afterwards. How would I add this in? Chip was over and asked him about it and he was unsure.

[dyuman]

www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58947

per steven for the martial arts telekinetic power thing.

[feedback]

Without getting overly complicated you could rule that knockdown is due to excessive knockback done by the attack. Hence if you do at least 1" of knockback with your 3rd hit (shouldn't be too hard with 7d6+1) your target will end up prone since you are aiming the knockback down.