Advantages; +1) and has separately bought Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) for his power, and he uses Variable Advantage for Autofire (5 shots; +½), the END cost for the power is half the normal END cost per shot. A +½ Reduced
Endurance Advantage for an Autofire power is the
equivalent of the +¼ Reduced Endurance Advan- tage for a normal power.
142 n power Modifiers hero system 6th edition
lImITATIOnS
H
ere are some additional rules and options for Limitations.TEmPORARIly REmOvInG lImITATIOnS
With the GM’s permission, a character can buy the ability to temporarily “remove” or “negate” a Limitation on a power. For example, a character might have a power with the Limitation Only
Works At Night, but that Limitation doesn’t apply
if he holds a mystic focusing crystal (a Focus). To do this, re-calculate the cost of the power without the Limitation. Then subtract the cost of the power with the Limitation from that amount, and that tells you the cost of “buying off” the Limitation. It’s up to the GM to determine the specifics of such an ability, but typically a “negated Limitation” should be treated like a naked Advantage.
Example: Volsitrion the Wizard has this power:
Mystic Blast: Blast 10d6 (50 Active Points); Gestures (-¼), Incantations (-¼), Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1), Requires A Magic Roll (-½) (total cost: 17 points). He wants to remove the Increased Endurance Cost when he has his magic staff (the special effect being that the staff makes casting the spell less stressful, or that the staff itself provides the power for the spell, or the like). Without that Limitation, the spell would cost 25 points instead of 17.
So, he then buys: remove Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1) from Mystic Blast (8 Active Points); OAF (-1) (total cost: 4 points). Altogether these two abilities cost him 21 points.
CHARGES
If a character has a power with Continuing Charges that Costs Endurance, he must pay the END cost for the power every Phase he uses it.
If a character buys a Continuing Charge with a long duration for a Constant Power, he cannot turn the Power on and off at will for the duration of the Charge. If a character buys Continuing Charges for any Constant or Persistent Power, each use of the Power requires the expenditure of 1 Charge. If the Power is one the character can alter or turn on and off at will (such as Growth, Shape Shift, or Shrinking), then any “use” of it constitutes using 1 Charge. For example, if a character has Shape Shift, 4 Continuing Charges (1 Hour each), when he activates the Power and alters his form he uses 1 Charge. He remains in Shape Shifted form for 1 Hour, at which point he reverts to his standard shape. If at any time during that hour he wants to change shape again, that’s another “use” and requires him to expend another Charge. To create a power that can be turned “on” and “off” within the duration of a Continuing Charge, consider the Fuel Charges option (6E1 370).
A Charge last for the character’s Phase. After that Phase ends, so does the Charge, and thus any power that it “fuels.” For a Constant or Persistent Power (like Change Environment or Resistant Protection) would last for 1 Phase per Charge, and no longer. If activated on the character’s Phase in Segment 3, Resistant Protection with Charges stops working when the Phase ends, which means it’s not active and doesn’t protect the character in Segment 4 (and not even for part of Segment 3, if some characters got to act before he did). If the character wants it to remain active and keep protecting him in later Segments, he has to expend another Charge; he’s allowed to do this even if he doesn’t have a Phase that Segment.
advanced player’s guide n Chapter Four 143
COnSERvED CHARGES
Sometimes a device, power, or ability needs Charges to represent the fact that it gets used up, runs out of power, or the like — but not every use of the device, power, or ability should necessarily consume a Charge.
Consider, for example, the macahuitl — the Aztec “sword,” consisting of a sort of wooden club with razor-sharp bits of obsidian set into each edge. The obsidian blades become dull from repeated use, which you can represent with Charges... but not every “activation” of the macahuitl uses up a Charge. Sometimes an attack misses, or cuts through so cleanly that it doesn’t dull the stone.
In HERO System terms, you can simulate this with Conserved Charges, which reduces the value of Charges based on how likely it is that any given activation of the power will use up a Charge. The reduction listed in the accompanying table is based on a roll — the GM makes the roll each time the character activates the power, and if he rolls less than or equal to that number, a Charge is consumed.
Alternately, you can define circumstances in which a Charge is or is not used up, and assign a Limitation value to that based on the rolls listed in the table. With the macahuitl, for example, you might define it this way: activating the power uses up a Charge if the Attack Roll indicates a hit, the Attack Roll misses by only 1 or 2, the attack is Blocked, or the circumstances otherwise indicate the obsidian blades have impacted something hard enough to chip or dull them. The GM assigns this a value of ½ less Limitation, similar to an 11- roll.