Heroica RPG Rules & FAQ

[CMP]

It has been that way for years now. How have you missed it?

At some point a few months ago it was brought up and you realized everybody had completely misunderstood what you intended for the effect since the game's beginning. Just wanted to make sure.

[Sandy]

At some point a few months ago it was brought up and you realized everybody had completely misunderstood what you intended for the effect since the game's beginning. Just wanted to make sure.

I remember that discussion taking place years, not months, ago.

But my memory is selective, as we have come to see.

[Sandy]

Suggested changes to some effects:

*Petrified* The target is turned into solid stone, becoming unable to take a turn until the effect is remedied or the battle is over. If hit, the petrified target shatters and is instantly knocked out.

(When applied on enemies, the petrified target needs to be shattered before the battle could be won.)

*Cursed* The target loses a tenth of it's maximum health each round until only 1 health remains, the effect is remedied or the battle ends.

*Bleeding* The target loses 5 health each round until full health is restored, the effect is remedied or the battle ends. Consecutive applyings of the effect stacks the damage done.

*Bound* Binds the target for the next round, preventing switching rows, fighting with melee weapons and fleeing.

(When applied to enemies, it would prevent them from fleeing for one round.)

How are you guys feeling these suggestions?

[Duvors]

Suggested changes to some effects:

*Petrified* The target is turned into solid stone, becoming unable to take a turn until the effect is remedied or the battle is over. If hit, the petrified target shatters and is instantly knocked out.

(When applied on enemies, the petrified target needs to be shattered before the battle could be won.)

*Cursed* The target loses a tenth of it's maximum health each round until only 1 health remains, the effect is remedied or the battle ends.

*Bleeding* The target loses 5 health each round until full health is restored, the effect is remedied or the battle ends. Consecutive applyings of the effect stacks the damage done.

*Bound* Binds the target for the next round, preventing switching rows, fighting with melee weapons and fleeing.

(When applied to enemies, it would prevent them from fleeing for one round.)

How are you guys feeling these suggestions?

[Kintobor]

I like all of them with the exception of Petrified. How are we going to explain in universe how a hero who's been shatter manages to revert back to flesh, along with somehow managing to return to their original shape after being shattered to pieces?

[Sandy]

I like all of them with the exception of Petrified. How are we going to explain in universe how a hero who's been shatter manages to revert back to flesh, along with somehow managing to return to their original shape after being shattered to pieces?

Well, perhaps the wording could be changed so that the hero is only enveloped by a crust of stone. Or the other party members just perform a slightly challenging jigsaw puzzle and put the victim back together.

Or maybe we just ignore that and say it's magic?

[Duvors]

Well, perhaps the wording could be changed so that the hero is only enveloped by a crust of stone. Or the other party members just perform a slightly challenging jigsaw puzzle and put the victim back together.

Or maybe we just ignore that and say it's magic?

How about saying that an attack reverts the spell while knocking the hero out instantly?

[Kintobor]

Well, perhaps the wording could be changed so that the hero is only enveloped by a crust of stone. Or the other party members just perform a slightly challenging jigsaw puzzle and put the victim back together.

Or maybe we just ignore that and say it's magic?

Do we gain experience for solving said jigsaw puzzle?

Why don't we just state that petrified makes the target unable to move, ala Harry Potter's Basilisk, and taking damage counts as a KO, due to the fact their left open to an attack? Turning heroes to stone just creates too many problems, in my mind.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Kintobor

[Duvors]

Why don't we just state that petrified makes the target unable to move, ala Harry Potter's Basilisk, and taking damage counts as a KO, due to the fact they're left open to an attack? Turning heroes to stone just creates too many problems, in my mind.

See above post for my take on this. also, this post is unnecessary. Edited July 31, 2014 by Lord Duvors

[Kintobor]

See above post for my take on this. also, this post is unnecessary.

What, because you managed to post first suddenly makes mine "unnecessary"? Their completely different points!

There are more than just humanoid enemies that can cast petrified, in particular the basilisk and the cockatrice. Do they cast magic that reverts heroes back? And if so, why? It doesn't add up in my mind.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Kintobor

[Duvors]

What, because you managed to post first suddenly makes mine "unnecessary"? Their completely different points!

No no, My post is unnecessary, and by that I mean the post I made the comment in, I'm sorry for any confusion. Edited July 31, 2014 by Lord Duvors

[JimBee]

Not really, since that doesn't apply to non-magical classes. I've always treated it as when one outright deals damage, THEN the roll is considered an attack, or a spell, or when they restore health it's considered a heal.

This makes it easy to reason that moves like Steal, Posion, Satisfy, etc, aren't attacks and don't have weapon effects (like dual-strike weapons) apply, unless specifically stated otherwise. I use the exact same reasoning for mages' spells. If it doesn't deal damage, weapon effects aren't applied.

That's why Grim Reaper doesn't deal weapon effects, as an example.

Same reasoning for Internal Conflict. I'm not dealing damage, I'm halving the health of the enemy.

This is exactly how I see it. Only rolls that use weapons are affected by weapon effects (except for spells and healing, which in the rare case of Alpha and Omega, applies the same way).

How are you guys feeling these suggestions?

I agree with all of those.

[Palathadric]

They sound good to me, although I'm not sure how the deal with petrified will change much from what it is now if an enemy is afflicted with it.

[Zepher]

The only issue I can see is cursed: it greatly destroys the need for poisoned and bleeding. A low leveled foe might have 100 health now a days - that's losing ten health a turn with cursed. A higher level foe might have 1000 - that's 100 health per turn!!

[StickFig]

*Petrified* The target is turned into solid stone, becoming unable to take a turn until the effect is remedied or the battle is over. If hit, the petrified target shatters and is instantly knocked out.

(When applied on enemies, the petrified target needs to be shattered before the battle could be won.)

I feel like this seems really, really overpowered.

"Hi, I'm ENEMY_BIG_BOSS and I have 10000000000 health!"

"Hi, we're the heroes and we cast PETRIFIED on you!"

"I'm dead."

[Flipz]

Are there any ways to deal Cursed nowadays, though? I think the only permanent way to deal it was my crown, which is gone now.

I feel like this seems really, really overpowered.

"Hi, I'm ENEMY_BIG_BOSS and I have 10000000000 health!"

"Hi, we're the heroes and we cast PETRIFIED on you!"

"I'm dead."

It's more overpowered as-is. Besides, there's exactly one weapon that can deal petrified and it's only a 1/6 chance.

Not to mention that lots of Immune to Instant Kill enemies are immune to Petrified as well.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Flipz

[CMP]

Are there any ways to deal Cursed nowadays, though? I think the only permanent way to deal it was my crown, which is gone now.

Crimson Venom, Crimson Haze, Wave Sword.

[Flipz]

The first two are venoms already, though, and I thought the wave sword gave the user cursed, not the other way around?

[CMP]

The first two are venoms already, though, and I thought the wave sword gave the user cursed, not the other way around?

Crimson Haze makes a weapon deal it permanently. And no, Wave Sword inflicts the cursed effect.

[Brickdoctor]

Also Khorne's two Diseased Silverfish Wings, and K-nut's Scepter of Divine Affinity has a 1/6 chance to deal Cursed.

[Flipz]

Ah. In that case, yeah, the exact portion of the HP lost should be reduced.

[Endgame]

Perhaps Cursed should drop the enemy's level, and not their HP?

[joeshmoe554]

The only issue I can see is cursed: it greatly destroys the need for poisoned and bleeding. A low leveled foe might have 100 health now a days - that's losing ten health a turn with cursed. A higher level foe might have 1000 - that's 100 health per turn!!

Does cursed affect the current health or the maximum health? If it affects the current health, then that is pretty powerful, if it affects the maximum health then it will have diminishing returns and it will only effect the current HP if it is greater than 90% of the maximum health. Also, if it does affect the current health then perhaps the character loses 10% of the current health as it would maintain diminishing returns each round.

Edited August 1, 2014 by joeshmoe554

[Zepher]

It effects maximum, but even so, with an enemy with 1000 HP, that will catch up quickly. The heroes would have to deal over 100 damage every round to keep "ahead" of the curse (this rarely happens). In the below example assume Uggo starts with 1000 HP.

Round 1

Enemy Cursed

125 Damage Dealt

Enemy Uggo McCoy *Cursed*

875/900

Round 2

Enemy Cursed

65 Damage Dealt

Enemy Uggo McCoy *Cursed*

800/800

Round 3

Enemy Cursed

99 Damage Dealt

Enemy Uggo McCoy *Cursed*

700/700

See what I mean? It also means that, regardless of whatever else is happening in the fight, the enemy will be defeated in 10 rounds, because it MUST be at 1 health by then.

I think cursed is currently under-powered, Sandy, so I'm not against the change and not trying to make your life hard, I'm just pointing out the issue!

[Flipz]

Yeah, you have a point--if it's any fraction 1/X of max health, it becomes Doomed on a timer of X rounds. The problem is that enemies have so much health these days (and it's only going up as Hero damage outputs increase) that any fixed numeric amount starts to get overshadowed pretty quickly. Poison was finally fixed by giving it multiple amounts and letting it stack; Bleeding is like Poison but can be removed by healing to full health, and Burning...well, burning is just another flavor of Poison/Bleeding that bypasses regular Poison immunity and might be more thematically appropriate (i.e. makes more sense for a Phoenix to Burn someone than to poison them).

Cursed has always had the quirk of affecting an enemy's max HP, and I think it should stay that way, but I'm not sure how to bring it up to snuff, since it makes the party useless if it deals more damage than them but itself becomes kinda useless if it deals less damage than the party.