6th Edition Heroic Action Points Draft

PDF uploaded for checking. Click on the following link: http://cm2051.dune.net/pdfs/haps_cm_101.pdf

'The are proposed house rules for HAPs (6E2 287). They are neither complete nor final; I expect a lot of work will need doing on them, so I'm giving them their own page. I'm leaving notes in bold italics. Please do comment, but as with the main house rule document mark such comments clearly and sign them.'

Acquiring Heroic Action Points
(6E2 287)

Each player character (and major villains, etc) receive 2D6 Heroic Action Points (HAPs) at the beginning of a GMed scene. To this is added 4 HAPs for every 6 rolled on a Luck roll (made separately from any other Luck rolls, when HAPs are given out). For each 1 a player on an Unluck roll, the GM gets 4 HAPs to use against that particular character (similarly if a villain has rolled any 1s of Unluck, the heroes get the HAPs to spend against them. Any of the players may choose to spend these at any time, though one hopes the players will cooperate!).

HAPs usually last only for the GMed session (though they may, at GM discretion, carry over in the event of a scene being extended to a further session): one can't save them.

'The exact figures may need tweaking, depend on the effects that can be achieved and the costs we assign to them. We probably don't want to go higher than 7 as the typical figure though: HAPs should seem to be special and effective, and they loose that flavour if they're assigned in large numbers. Luck gaining more points both makes sense and is a solution (at least partial) to the problem that Luck has hitherto cost more than its worth, on which point there seems to be agreement. The value of +4 when a 6 is rolled was chosen on the intuition (which Ayesha and I seemed to share) that someone who has put a major commitment (i.e. offensive-power-like) into Luck (like Amy) should be getting on average about twice the standard HAPs (this is in addition to the usual effects of Luck). (And alternative would be give more HAPs and remove the standard effects of Luck, but this is probably not satisfactory: it weakens the worth of a HAP.'


 * ' comment: I've changed my mind. Hopefully for the better. I've come to the opinion that HAPs ought to be rare and significant in effect. In other games I've had experience of (early editions of Shadowrun, Cyberpunk2020, etc.) the gameplay can be 'taken over' once sufficient Karma points (=HAPs) are in play.


 * 'So I now suggest characters get 1D3 HAPs at the start of each GM'ed scene. Characters who have Luck get an additional 1 HAP for each 6 rolled on their Luck dice. Likewise, characters with unluck will give the GM a HAP point to use 'against' them for each 1 rolled on their unluck dice. Apart from changing the numbers, the text in the main paragraph should stand as is.


 * 'With HAPs being much rarer, the effect of spending a single HAP should be proportionally more significant.


 * '(Ayesha 27/12/09)

Using Heroic Action Points
(6E2 287)

'This section is very much an invitation to discussion: these are things it has been suggested HAPs might be used for. We need to decide which of these things we think appropriate, and what you get per HAP in each case.'


 * Change a 3D6 roll, perhaps by 1 per HAP.
 * Should there be a maximum a roll can be changed by? Alternatively, does the cost rise more sharply the more you change it?


 * ' comment: Spending 1 HAP will allow a player to change the result of any 3D6 roll that he makes by up to five. This still applies even if the original roll was an 18. The decision to spend the HAP may be done after making the 3D6 roll. If the roll is an attack roll, the defender may counter-spend a HAP to nullify the adjustment. In the case where the original roll was an 18, even if the defender counter-spends a HAP there is no fumble effect from the roll.


 * Can you make your opponents' rolls worse, or only yours better? (I recommend the latter, except in defense).


 * ' comment: Only adjust your own rolls.


 * Change a damage roll.
 * To what maximum? Perhaps the maximum that can be rolled on the dice?
 * At what cost? I'd thing you should get 2 or 3 times as much STUN for your HAP as you'd get in BODY, or for a Drain, Transform, Flash, etc.


 * ' comment: HAPs cannot be used to alter a damage roll. But spending a HAP will allow a character to push any Power by an extra 10ap over and above any other pushing. The decision to spend a HAP must be declared before the attack roll is made.


 * 'An example: Fortitude needs to knockout the villain before he detonates the bomb in the City Hall basement. Fortitude normally has a 10D6 punch. He decides to push and spend a HAP on extra pushing. He makes his Ego roll by 3 so can push by 13ap according to our House Rules. The HAP spent allows him to push for another 10ap for a total pushing of 23ap. Fortitude also has to pay an additional 23pts of End for the pushed attack of course.


 * Add to a PRE attac
 * At what cost?


 * Allow a reroll and take the better of the two rolls.
 * (This should obviously cost multiple HAPs; the question is how many.


 * Improve DCV or DMCV
 * Probably the one clear case for which one should be allowed to apply HAPs when one isn't rolling dice.
 * Maybe at the rate suggested (62E 288): 1 HAP for 1 DCV vs one attack - or all attacks if applying a defensive maneuver?


 * ' comment: Improve DCV or DECV by 5 against a single specified attack, or by 3 for all attacks in the character's phase. The decision to spend a HAP for this must be prior to the attack roll being made.


 * 'Spend a HAP to reduce the damage taken by an attack by half. (Same as Damage Reduction 50%.) The decision to spend a HAP for this may be made after the damage dice are rolled.


 * Do something with style for 1 HAP. You still need to make your roll to succeed (if it normally takes a roll) - this is sheer gloss. But sometimes appropriate to heroes!


 * Automatic success with a defensive action (for oneself or someone else - eg DFC in the way)
 * what cost? (it's heroic, but maybe shouldn't come cheap when one compares it to other uses)


 * ' comment: Yes. At a cost of 1 HAP. This will include automatic dodging of one attack, automatic DFC up to half move either for self or to protect another, etc. It should also include 'defensive' actions such as defusing a bomb, making a grab on the falling construction worker from the 12th floor when Primodus is shaking the building down, etc. (We ought to encourage such heroic actions, and little in the game has the same deflating effect as failing a heroic action and watching the innocent bystander plunge to his death/get eaten by the monster/etc. AFTER your character has tried their best to save him.)


 * As well as or instead of extra END or an EGO roll to Push.
 * Many options here. Really Pushing is conceptually a crude sort of Heroic Action (note that non-heroes can't usually do it, so seems appropriate.
 * HAP cost would discourage gratuitous pushing.
 * One possible scheme: 1 HAP would let you push a power by up to the value of your EGO. END cost still applies. (That means that the strong-willed can push more (but might tire themselves out) while avoiding the issue of failing the EGO roll when trying to save the world.)


 * ' comment: See the comment above regarding increasing damage rolls.


 * Use a Power in an exceptional way (rather like Power skill).


 * Use as the equivalent of Luck levels.
 * This would obviously cost many HAPs per Luck level, if allowed. I'm not sure I like this use myself, though.


 * ' comment: This seems a reasonable use, especially if we take the option that a 6 on a Luck dice gives 1 HAP. The cost would obviously balance at 1 HAP per level of exceptional Luck. Also obviously this would replace the normal Luck mechanism, not be in addition to it.


 * Use to escape and/or survive that - at least for villains. Highly traditional.
 * I'd think this should require several HAPs.


 * ' comment: This is usually handled by Luck for player characters, and GM fiat for NPCs or all kinds. So spending HAPs at the rate of one per level of exceptional Luck for escaping that certain death, etc, seems balanced with the normal Luck mechanism and the HAP uses I'm proposing.

Thoughts?

Spending Heroic Action Points
(6E2 289)

If two people are trying to affect the same roll with HAPs, the attacker puts his in first, then the defender replies. The attacker may not then increase the amount.

'Or does anyone have a better idea? I gather that bidding wars with points like this tend to be unsatisfactory: both side waste valuable points, and play is slowed down while both parties outbid each other. The above rule means defender can usually win (if he has enough points); if the attack wants to be sure of it he needs to commit enough HAPs for it not to be worth the defender's while. Does this work?'


 * ' comment: Alternatively, if an attacker wishes to affect a result with a HAP the defender can spend a HAP to counter the attacker's HAP. The result is unaffected. If a defender spends a HAP to affect a result it cannot be countered. This gives the edge to the defender and seems the right approach. (Ayesha 27/12/09)

Blind Heroic Action Points
(6E2 289)

This rule is not in use, except at GM discretion.

Heroic Action Points and Complications
(cf. Determining How Many Action Points a Character Has, 6E2 291)

'There might be something to be said for getting HAPs back if you make the game more interesting by involving your Complications. On the other had, the Hero System, unlike some, gives you points for your Complications anyway, and involving a Complication doesn't always make a scene better: it can make it overcomplicated, for instance. If we wanted something like this, perhaps it would be better to allow GMs to award a HAP for contributing to play in an unusual or interesting way without tying it to complications? (A bit like an XP award for creativity etc, but on a smaller scale.'

More and Less Heroic Uses
Possibly a GM could require, for instance, double expenditure of HAPs for uses that don't seem very heroic/appropriate, and/or half expenditure for those that do. But I doubt this is needed - players should have a good idea what's appropriate for their characters and should have the sense to save them till their needed usually. Just mentioning this as a possibility.'

Pushing One's Luck Too Far
'Perhaps when one is desperate one should be able to spend HAPs one doesn't have, when it really matters - saving the world, for instance. This could represent pushing one power or one's luck too far. If allowed, this should have lasting consequences, depending on how far overdrawn one goes - burning out a power for a while, for instance, or even a heroic death - nothing that can be cured with a quick application of Healing, either. This seems appropriate to the genre; the question is, does it translate well to the game? The problems I see are twofold: it might take away some of the suspense if players know that "pushing one's luck" should defeat a villain, and a severe lasting problem might cause the player to retire the character in favour of someone new. Then again, most players are likely attached enough to their characters not to want them to be retired. Anyway, again, I'm throwing the idea out there.'