Clasificación de las acciones

it can also unbalance the campaign unless the GM handles it carefully.

In HERO System terms, you can define Combining in several different ways, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. The GM should select the one best suited to his campaign and require all Combining characters to use that method (though some games may feature multiple methods). For purposes of this discussion, the smaller characters that join together are the “component” characters, and the larger character they create when they Combine is the “lead” character.

RESTRICTIOnS On

COmBInInG

In anime and other fictional representations of Combining, forming the lead character isn’t a casual act, or something the characters do every time they go into combat. Instead, it’s sort of a last-ditch strategy that typically takes place at the climax of the story. The lead char- acter is so powerful that the writers of these shows don’t want to use him too soon, lest they spoil the story.

Unfortunately, gamers rarely show the same amount of restraint. Given access to a powerful “weapon” like a lead character, they’re likely to want to use it in every single battle... and real- istically, it’s hard to tell them not to if there’s no restriction on Combining. Therefore, a GM who wants to keep Combining a rare event, and who can’t simply appeal to his players’ better nature, has to restrict it using the rules. For example, he could:

„

n require Combining powers to take a 1

Continuing Charge Limitation, with the

Charge lasting for no more than a Minute.

„

n make Combining take so much Extra Time

and/or Concentration that characters will be reluctant to use it frequently.

„

n require the lead character to take a Physical

Complication, Unstable, that forces the component characters’ operators to spend a Half Phase to make Power: Direct Lead

Character rolls every Phase to keep it from

coming apart.

Depending on the nature of Combining, other possibilities for restricting Combining may exist.

advanced player’s guide n Chapter three 59

DuPlICATIOn

You can use the Duplication Power to repre- sent Combining if you think of the component characters as Duplicates and the lead character as the “original character.” You build the lead character the same as the component characters, but with some additional abilities. Either it has extra points in powers as described under Pooled

Resources, below, or it buys a Multiform with the

Limitation that it can only “change shape” when no Duplicates exist. (Of course, with the latter method, no actual shape alteration takes place, though the Combined character is larger than any single component; the Multiform is simply a way of representing the fact that the joined character is “greater than the sum of its parts” and thus has different [more powerful] abilities.)

In many cases, the component characters (the Duplicates) are just junior versions of the lead character — they have the same abilities (or most of them), but at a lesser level of power — so they don’t need the Altered Duplicates Advantage. In other campaigns, each component character has markedly different powers from the lead char- acter, so you have to apply that Advantage to the Duplication. At the GM’s option, characters can apply other Duplication-specific Adders and Power Modifiers (such as Easy Recombination), if appropriate.

The benefit to this method is that it’s relatively easy to define and note on the character sheet. The drawback is that since the number of Character Points on which a Duplicate is built is defined by the points the original form spends on the power, you can’t improve the component characters until more points are spent on the lead character to increase the points devoted to Duplication.

mulTIFORm

In some campaigns, the GM may want to define Combining with Multiform. Each of the component characters is a true form which defines the lead character as its alternate form. Each of them take the Limitation Only When All Compo-

nent Characters Are Present (-1) on the Multiform

power.

Instead of each component character paying for the entire cost of the Multiform itself, the GM may allow them to pay for only their propor- tional share of the lead character. For example, if five 200-point characters Combine to form one gigantic 600-point character with Multiform, then each of the five would be responsible for (600/5 =) 120 points’ worth of the ability (before dividing by 5 or applying Limitations). But even if the GM allows proportional costing, all component characters must be present and combat-worthy (i.e., not Stunned or Knocked Out) to form the lead character.

For this type of Combining, if one of the component characters already has a Multiform for some reason, he cannot buy the Combining Multiform with the usual “+5 Character Points doubles the number of forms” method. Instead, he must buy the Combining Multiform separately, as a distinct power.

The benefit to this method is that each compo- nent character can be changed or improved on its own. The only restriction is that none of the components can change the points spent on Multi- form separately; if the components want to make the lead character better, they must all “upgrade” their Multiform power at the same time.

POOlED RESOuRCES

With a “pooled resources” option, “Combining into one bigger character” is defined as the special effect for the enhancement of various powers and abilities possessed by the component characters. The component characters define what they want the lead character to be able to do, then they parcel those abilities out among themselves in some way, applying the Usable On Others Advan- tage so that they can add them together. When they “join together,” the components operate is if they’re a single unit; they don’t fly off in different directions, for example.

For example, suppose the component charac- ters want the lead character to have a Mega-Laser Blast that does RKA 8d6. Four of them buy an RKA 3d6; one — the component responsible for controlling the Mega-Laser Blast — buys an RKA 4d6. The other four also buy RKA +1d6, Usable By Other (+¼), Must Remain Joined To Primary Component (-2). (A GM who wanted to encourage this might even allow the components to dispense with Usable By Other.) That way, when all the components join together, the component responsible for controlling the Mega-Laser Blast can project the desired 8d6 attack.

The possibilities for building pooled resource abilities are practically limitless. The lead character could have better Characteristics, stronger attacks, faster modes of movement, or improved defenses. It might even have some abilities that none of the component characters could use individu- ally. Some powers might work one way when used by a component character, but differently when he’s part of the lead character. For example, the components’ energy bolts might be defined as Blasts, but when they Combine they become powerful enough to be RKAs. You can simulate this by constructing these systems as Multipowers.

The benefits to this method are twofold. First, it doesn’t require all the components to be present, it just means fewer components have less power when joined — if only three are available in the above example, they can project just an RKA 6d6. However, the component responsible for control- ling any given system (the one with the RKA 4d6 in the above example) does have to be present for that system to function. At the GM’s option, you can change the Must Remain Joined To Primary

Component Limitation to Must Remain Joined To Another Component (-1), meaning that any

component could add his extra effect to any other component. Second, as with Multiform, each component character can be changed or improved on its own.

60 n powers hero system 6th edition

CHARACTERS BOuGHT By THE lEAD CHARACTER

With the GM’s permission, you can simu- late Combining by building the lead character normally, then having it buy the components as Followers (or perhaps Summoned beings). He takes a Physical Complication representing the fact that his powers diminish, and eventually become completely unusable, as he “releases” component characters or separates into all of his parts (and that, if he’s destroyed, so are all the components). When all components are separated, the lead character effectively ceases to exist — he can’t be attacked, moved, or the like. This is similar to the Pooled Resources option, above.

GEnERAl GuIDElInES

Regardless of how you define Combining, a few general guidelines apply.

First, when component characters Combine to create a lead character, the GM must decide whether (and to what extent) each component can act on its own. With methods such as Duplica- tion and Multiform, technically the lead character should only get one Action per Phase, and so forth. However, it may be more fun to let each component attack or perform other appropriate Actions in combat by itself — it can’t split off and act on its own, separately from the greater whole, but it could fire an attack (much like a gunner on a large vehicle can attack the enemy independent of what the vehicle itself does).

Second, except in particularly fantastic campaigns, the mass of the lead character should be as close as possible to the Combined mass of the component characters, and the Character- istics, powers, and abilities of the lead character should relate to, and often be proportional to, the powers and abilities of the component charac- ters. Typically, either the lead character splits its overall power up more or less equally among all its components, or each major power is “given” to a particular component. Sometimes it’s a bit of both, with one component getting the lion’s share of a particular ability, and the other components getting lesser versions of that same ability.

Third, the GM may want the act of Combining (or splitting apart) to take some time and effort. If the ability is built with a single Power, you can represent this by applying Limitations such as

Extra Time or Concentration; if it involves multiple

powers, a Physical Complication may work better for this purpose.

COmBAT WITH COmBInED CHARACTERS

Combining characters (and Vehicles, like some mecha) raise certain questions and considerations in combat.

distriButing daMage

When a group of characters combines into a larger one, does battle, takes damage, and then separates, the GM must determine how to distribute the damage among the component characters. The simplest method (and probably the best in campaigns that want fast, easy Vehicle combat) is to keep track of the overall damage to the combined character, and then distribute that damage equally among the component charac- ters when they separate. On the other hand, if the campaign uses the Hit Location rules, then the GM should know which Hit Locations on the combined character each component forms. Then he keeps track of the damage by Location, and when the components split up, the ones who formed the Locations that took damage still have that damage.

Similar considerations apply if one or more component characters have suffered damage prior to combining. If the combined character’s BODY is equal to, or greater than, the total BODY of all components, any damage to a component accrues directly to the combined character. For example, suppose the Phobos Gladiator consists of six component Vehicles, each with 12 BODY, and has a total of 72 BODY. If one component has suffered 6 BODY damage, and another has taken 3 BODY damage, then when all five form the Phobos Gladiator, it has only 63 BODY (72-9).

If a component character’s BODY is not equal to or greater than the total BODY of the combined character, the GM should determine what percentage a component’s BODY is to the lead character’s BODY, and then apply that percentage of damage taken to the lead character. For example, Shining Warrior Epsilon is a combined Vehicle with 48 BODY. Each of its components has 24 BODY. Since 24 is 50% of 48, 50% (half) of any damage a component sustains accrues to Shining Warrior Epsilon when it’s formed. If one component has taken 15 BODY, then 7 BODY of that damage applies to Shining Warrior Epsilon.

In either case, if the total damage taken by the combined character as a result of previously- suffered damage to its components exceeds the lead character’s BODY, the components cannot combine.

adjustMent poWers

If an attacker uses Adjustment Powers against a combined character, divide the effect up among the components as equally as possible when they separate. For example, if a combined character received +9 DEX from an Aid DEX, when its five components separate, four get +2 DEX and one (determined randomly) would only get +1.

If a component has been affected by an Adjust- ment Power prior to combining, apply the result directly to the combined character. If the compo- nents separate before the effect wears off, it divides equally as specified above.

advanced player’s guide n Chapter three 61

unavaiLaBLe CoMponents

Sometimes a character wants to combine, but all of its components aren’t available. In this case, one of two things happens:

1. the available components form the combined character, but all of its powers and abilities are proportionately weaker than it would be if it had all components (or, perhaps some powers and abilities simply aren’t available to it).

2. the components cannot combine.

The GM determines which result applies, based on the nature of the components and the combined character.

DEFEnSE POWERS