Re: [HoE] assorted [HOPLER]

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

A couple of notes...

>Non-AB heroes also tend to be more rounded characters than AB heroes. The
>average character has roughly 20 points (plus any Hindrance points left 
>over
>from buying Edges) to buy skills with, 8 points for an AB and casting skill
>is 40% of that total. Non-AB heroes usually have a wider range of skills
>because of this and tend to do better in the social/investigation portions 
>of
>adventures. In my experience AB players tend to want to increase their 
>power,
>so most of their bounty points get sunk into more powers. At 5 points a pop
>that's a lot of skill development they pass up.
>

A couple of notes here.  First of all, unless the Marshall is going to 
ignore his characters when designing an adventure, so what?  Unless you're 
building adventures to "teach 'em a lesson" (i.e., "Boy, you should have 
taken that Persuasion, shouldn't you?  You all die!  Bwah-hah-hah") you 
design the adventure to match the characters, right?

If my players are designing characters that aren't big social/investigation 
types, then I'd take that as a hint they don't _want_ that kind of 
adventure, and design accordingly.

The other problem is that in a group adventure, it doesn't matter if one 
character or another does well - what matters is if the _group_ does well.  
If Fred the Norm can do Persuasion, and do it well, the group succeeds.  Who 
cares if Joe the Syker can't?  To say that one character or another does 
"better" during a certain phase of an adventure doesn't make much sense to 
me.

With that in mind, I still think the concerns about overbalanced ABs is a 
moot one.  But in this case, I had to disagree with a couple of the counter 
arguements.

>relax. Bumping down a rutted fire road in a pickup with broken shocks or
>pulling sentry duty in a cold downpour don't cut it. There are a lot of 
>ways
>to keep AB heroes from getting their Strain back.
>

Hmmm, actually the Doomsayer rules do say you can get back strain while 
riding in a car.  Since most HoE roads are rutted, I took that to mean that 
normally, riding in a vehicle didn't preclude Strain recovery.

>Later in the adventure, I'd have some of  the action take place in close
>quarters or in some other area where tossing a Nuke would be dangerous. If
>setting a large explosion off someplace would be a bad idea in the real 
>world
>, it should be a bad idea in the game. If the Doomsayer throws one anyway, 
>be
>creative. If the area is much smaller than the spell's radius, but pretty
>sturdy, intensify the power of the blast and make sure the posse gets a 
>good
>dose of it. If the area is rickety, have the ceiling fall on the group, or
>maybe have a portion of the building or mine tunnel completely collapse. If
>the Doomsayer Nukes everything he sees, the posse's salvage potential 
>should
>drop accordingly. Nuke victims' equipment should be shattered, broken, and
>useless, and just because a hero spends some chips to avoid damage from a
>friendly Nuke, doesn't mean his equipment was unscathed. After a few posse
>members lose some equipment to their Doomsayer's extravagance, they'll be
>begging him to tone it down.
>

All quite true.  I've found the biggest limiting factor on Nuke is using 
indoor encounters - buildings, sewer tunnels, whatever.  The second is 
chuckling maniacally and pointing out exactly how many thousands of 
"dollars" worth of salvage the Doomsayer just blew up.

Now, if MIRV just similar limitations the Marshall might apply...

>I do agree that Lifetap should not be a Hindrance, since it gives the 
>Doomie
>extra Strain with no added chance of Backlash. It should be an Edge. I'd 
>put
>at 2 points (between the cost of Fortitude and Overkill) because the Wind
>loss is mandatory, not an option, and the Wind loss makes it more likely 
>for
>a hero to get put down in combat.
>

Wouldn't mind seeing that as errata/accumulated rulings ASAP.



---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/


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