Heroica RPG Rules & FAQ

[Endgame]

True. Also for advanced classes a roll of 4 actually is good for the hero (Meditate, Steal). I say the way it is is fine.

Ah, that's true too. Alchemist, too.

Yeah, I prefer the way it is now, simply because it's clear, concise, doesn't have a chance of messing you up, and doesn't take away poential good 4 rolls.

[Sandy]

"If the first roll of the battle die comes up miss or worse, the battle die is rolled a second time, overwriting the first result."

Thank you for the suggestion, joeshmoe! You are not wrong in that the lucky-effect has it's problems, but on the other hand, I've seen it best to keep the mechanics as simple as possible, even if they make things too easy for the players sometimes. Your suggestion seems a bit too complicated for my taste, and I see no real need to fix the effect.

This game might be on the easy side gameplay-wise, but I'd rather have that than a too challenging game. Anyway, there are numerous ways for QMs to circumvent the lucky-effect, if they really need to, for example by making their enemies lucky as well.

[joeshmoe554]

By that ruling, though, I might roll an Aim, reroll, and then get a Special, or so on. It makes Lucky way too volatile.

True, my first idea was to only replace the first roll if the second was a hit or better. That has the same end result, statistic-wise, but it is a bit more complicated since the second roll is only applied 50% of the time so I thought I would try changing it for simplicity reasons. I was mostly trying to think of a way to bring the special damage odds up from 1/36 to 1/12, so people would see the special damage more often and it wouldn't have to be so deadly to be effective.

Then how will jinxed work? Lucky enemies?

It would be the reverse, roll and replace for a hit or better. If the hero was lucky and the enemy was jinxed then you would roll the dice a third time if the result was still miss or worse.

Anyway, there are numerous ways for QMs to circumvent the lucky-effect, if they really need to, for example by making their enemies lucky as well.

There are ways around it, but most of those methods significantly punish heroes for not using lucky (a lucky enemy is an example of that). Like I said, it was just an idea I had so I figured I'd see what others thought.

[Flipz]

We have a Hero artifact that ignores the enemy's positive effects. Why not let certain enemies do the same? My problem with Lucky enemies is, like yours, that they punish all the Heroes for one or two Heroes being more or less consistently Lucky, but an enemy that simply says "lolnope" to a Lucky Hero without being Lucky against the others is much less so (as long as there's enough other enemies that the Hero could attack and still have Lucky count--I'm a big proponent of creating battles where there's "something for everyone", even though I'm not always perfect at implementing it).

One thing I've noticed, in both myself and other QMs, is that we have a tendency to get attached to our enemies' Specials, even moreso than Heroes get attached to their SHIELD-skills. I sometimes wonder if we might get too attached sometimes--I've already criticized Endgame for making so many enemies immune to Sealed, and I myself have had to resist the urge to make certain enemies immune to Sealed just so the chance for the Special to trigger is always there. The thing is, even with Lucky, you're not guaranteed to roll a SHIELD every battle--heck, I've found myself to be less likely to get good rolls while I'm Lucky. The same thing is true for Jinxing Heroes or having Lucky enemies; no matter how much care and love we pour into our enemies' Special-skills (and believe me, we do put a lot into them), a lot of times it's just not going to happen.

[Flare]

There are plenty of passive skills that an enemy could have, that disables a lucky hero. For example, the enemy could mimic the hero's positive effects. The enemy could cause double damage to lucky heroes. The enemy could transfer the hero's effect onto itself (slightly different than mimicing). The enemy could gain the ability to deal the jinxed effect if targeted by a lucky hero. And of course these are just a few suggestions

[Sandy]

I've been mulling over about the weather system I've experimented with during Quest#100. I want to incorporate into the game mechanics but keep it optional for the QMs.

Here's the basic climates I've ended up with (modified from the ones in the quest):

Breezy: doubles wind-elemental damage, halves earth-elemental damage

Bright: doubles light-elemental damage, halves darkness-elemental damage

Cold: doubles ice-elemental damage, halves wood-elemental damage

Dim: doubles darkness-elemental damage, halves light-elemental damage

Dry: doubles earth-elemental damage, halves lightning-elemental damage

Electrified: doubles lightning-elemental damage, halves water-elemental damage

Hot: doubles fire-elemental damage, halves ice-elemental damage

Humid: doubles water-elemental damage, halves fire-elemental damage

Lush: doubles wood-elemental damage, halves wind-elemental damage

QMs would be able to freely combine these (for example, a desert could have Hot & Dry weather, doubling fire and earth damage and halving ice and lightning damage), or make up their own advanced variations.

Also, these nine weather types would be used by a potential new Expert Job Class, the Weather Mage. Aside from casting spells, it would be able to change the current weather for a restricted number of rounds, and it's Shield-skill would be tied with the current weather (conjuring natural disasters, like avalanches, tornadoes and earthquakes).

Any comments?

[UsernameMDM]

Any comments?

I don't care for it really as it can easily be used to negate any elemental advantage.

[Endgame]

I like the weather conditions, although I do hope they'd be used sparingly.

In terms of the Expert Class, though... Perhaps it should be renamed to Meteorologist? I also fear that since every climate nullifies a certain element, the expert class we inadvertently render its party members useless, which is no fun.

[Sandy]

In terms of the Expert Class, though... Perhaps it should be renamed to Meteorologist? I also fear that since every climate nullifies a certain element, the expert class we inadvertently render its party members useless, which is no fun.

I didn't know meteorologists possessed arcane powers. I think there should be one more spellcaster among the Expert Classes, since there's currently only the Necromancer.

The different weathers do not nullify any element, they just halve their power. For example, a fire spell against a beast would do normal damage in a cold environment, while an ice spell would do quadruple damage. Makes spellcasting that much more tactical, doesn't it?

[Endgame]

It sounds cooler/less generic than "Weather Mage", though.

Ah, I hadn't realized that. As long as choosing the weather isn't randomized, it should be fine.

[Flipz]

I don't care for it really as it can easily be used to negate any elemental advantage.

Like that doesn't already happen?

I definitely like the idea of a Weather Mage class (perhaps it could be called Storm Spirit?), we definitely do need another true spellcaster amongst the ECs.

It sounds cooler/less generic than "Weather Mage", though.

Ah, I hadn't realized that. As long as choosing the weather isn't randomized, it should be fine.

Might I ask why randomized weather is a bad thing? (Or is it just the idea of taking away choice from the QM, in which case I totally agree with you.) I can think of at least one scenario where a randomized weather would be a great challenge, and it could make a great gimmick for a Quest if the weather was operating in strange ways (admittedly, it would almost have to be THE big story and battle gimmick of the Quest if it's a story-based Quest, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't be fun).

[Endgame]

I meant when the Weather Mage changes the weather, it definitely should not be randomized.

"Uh, sorry guys... I know we're facing a being made entirely out of fire, but I just made the weather Electrified."

[Sandy]

I meant when the Weather Mage changes the weather, it definitely should not be randomized.

"Uh, sorry guys... I know we're facing a being made entirely out of fire, but I just made the weather Electrified."

Just so it happens, that's actually going to be the worst roll for the Weather Mage when attempting to forecast weather.

I'll post the first draft of the stats to the Expert Job Class topic in a jiffy.

[Zepher]

I personally feel like we have more than enough classes in the game. More classes would be cool, I guess, but I feel like there are already tons of options, many of which have not yet even gotten a chance to be used. But maybe that's just me.

I like the weather list, and will certainly use it from time to time!

[UsernameMDM]

Like that doesn't already happen?

And this is just something else to add to the mix. I just like it simple.

[Flipz]

Rules question: should a Winged Warrior who's just rolled "Take to the Skies" or a Dragoon in the hovering phase of a High Assault still be subject to effects and Assassination, or do those rolls work like Hide in their protection? (I'd appreciate the class creators' input as well, since RAW ("protected from damage" but does not specify effects) and RAI (flying out of the range of attacks) are at odds here.)

[Sandy]

Rules question: should a Winged Warrior who's just rolled "Take to the Skies" or a Dragoon in the hovering phase of a High Assault still be subject to effects and Assassination, or do those rolls work like Hide in their protection? (I'd appreciate the class creators' input as well, since RAW ("protected from damage" but does not specify effects) and RAI (flying out of the range of attacks) are at odds here.)

I'd say that at least on Dragoon's case, the High Assault also prevents effects, since the Dragoon is out of reach.

[Asphalt]

On Player Races.

Vindsval is a Half-giant. His father is a rather large human and his mother was a below average height giantess. They certainly going to fit in a photo together. Game wise, about how tall do the powers that be think he would be? I'm guessing 15 or so feet?

[Kintobor]

*Puts thinking cap on*

Well, most big figs are about two to three figs high. The average human is around 5 foot, four inches. I don't own the Green Goblin big fig, but I'll assume he's about the size of the cave troll which comes in at about two figs high. So, we can assume that if we're going by math and logic, Vindsval should be 10 feet, 8 inches. However, I don't think any of us are going to call foul if you want him to be 15 feet or so.

[CMP]

Well, most big figs are about two to three figs high. The average human is around 5 foot, four inches. I don't own the Green Goblin big fig, but I'll assume he's about the size of the cave troll which comes in at about two figs high. So, we can assume that if we're going by math and logic, Vindsval should be 10 feet, 8 inches. However, I don't think any of us are going to call foul if you want him to be 15 feet or so.

He's more around Hulk height I think.

[Asphalt]

I mill stack some figs next to him and see.

But I think your average height of 5'4" is a bit low. for an adult male. The only man I know that short is my father. I am 5'8" and feel to be below the height ofthe majority of those around me.

[Kintobor]

But I think your average height of 5'4" is a bit low. for an adult male. The only man I know that short is my father. I am 5'8" and feel to be below the height ofthe majority of those around me.

That info came from a quick Google search, so blame that.

[Palathadric]

5'4" does sound very small for an average height, maybe that includes babies.

[Asphalt]

I know I am definitely shorter than most of me high school students. :). But yeah, goblin is hulk height, just about. 2 figs tall. So probably closer to the 11 - 13 range than the 15 range depending on what you think is average. Like 1:18 scale figures are scaled to an apoximately 5'8" man.

Ultimately it is what works in the game. I was just hoping those who wrote the races up could give me their opinion. What size kid would a 7 foot tall man and a 20 foot tall woman make?

[K-Nut]

What size kid would a 7 foot tall man and a 20 foot tall woman make?

13'6" maybe? (7+20=27/2=13.5)

I don't think many of us have really thought too far into it, so you can make it as you see fit.

Edited August 26, 2014 by K-Nut