Hero System Power Packages III: the Staff Master, Cartoon Powers, the Revenant, the Staff Of Wizardry, and Nanite Infusion.

The Staff Master

An archetype which predates Homo Sapiens, the Staff Master has a stick, and knows how to use it. And… that is enough.

40 Staff Master

15 Staff Martial Arts; Extra Time: full phase, -½; Extra Time Required (Must expand staff before use): Only At Startup, ½; OAF (Staff): -1

• (4) +2 DC for Martial Attacks
• (1) Legsweep (OCV +2, DCV -1)
• (2) Killing Strike (OCV -2, DCV +0)
• (2) Nerve Strike (OCV -1, DCV +1)
• (2) Defensive Block (OCV +1, DCV +3)
• (2) Martial Escape (OCV +0, DCV +0)
• (1) Martial Grab (OCV -1, DCV -1)
• (1) Martial Throw (OCV +0, DCV +1)

(19) Staff Multipower (68-pt reserve); Focus (Staff): Obvious Accessible, -1; Gestures: Instant Power, -¼; Generic Limitation (Staff Powers Only): -1; Extra Time: full phase, -½; Extra Time Required (Must expand staff before use): Only At Startup, ½

• u-1 Missile Deflection (All Ranged Attacks, None, OCV 8); Deflect Attacks: Adjacent, +½; Deflection Bonus: 5, 10). 0 End.
• u-1 Force Wall (10 PD/10 ED); May only protect area behind spinning staff: -½; Reduced END: Half, +¼; 2 End.
• u-2 Superleap (+40″); Non-Combat Multiplier: ×2, +0; Reduced END: Zero, +½; 0 End
• u-2 Basic Staff Combat (Combined Powers Slot):
  • (2) Stretching (2″, NC: 2); Non-Combat Multiplier: ×1, +-5; Reduced END: Zero, +½; 0 End
  • (8) +12 DEX; Doesn’t Affect Figured: -½; OCV and DCV Only: -½.
  • (7) +6 DC for Martial Attacks (Only for Staff Martial Art).

The Staff Master is actually extremely dangerous. +4 OCV, +4 DCV, 2′ Stretching, and +8 Damage Classes on a fair set of martial maneuvers actually puts them into serious martial arts hero territory. Not quite the sort who shows up in anime (those usually have superhuman durability too) – but definitely the sort who show up in the martial arts movies that don’t dip too far into C’hi Magic. In fantasy terms that is only to be expected; the older the roots of a style, the stronger it tends to be. And the roots of hitting things with a stick… well, few martial arts styles can claim roots that go back for millions of years before “humans” were a thing.

Cartoon Powers

No, this doesn’t really make any sense. It’s not supposed to. If you actually want to be Donald Duck or some such however, it’s a decent start.

40 Cartoon Powers

(4) Elemental Control: Cartoon Powers (10-pt reserve); General Cartoon Character Powers Only: -½; Visible (You’re a cartoon): -¼; Always On: -½

• a-5 Armor (7 PD/7 ED);
• b-8 Regeneration (1 BODY/min.); Regenerate: From Death, +20.
• c-3 Images: Background music and sound effects (Hearing, 8″ radius); Range: 110; Observer PER Penalty: 0, +0; Reduced END: Zero, +½; No Conscious Control: -2.
• d-9 Life Support (total)
• e-4 Power Defense (20 pts)
• f-7 Cartoon Immunities (Combined Powers Slot).
  • (1) Looking Good: Immunity to being messed up for more than a few seconds; Frequency: Fairly Common
  • (1) What Gravity? Immunity to Falling until lack of support is brought to the characters attention
  • (1) In My Pocket, Why? Immunity to having to have pockets to carry stuff in.; Frequency: Common
  • (1) Sure I’m Perfectly Normal (Immunity to Species Prejudice): Gets treated as just another human in most non-comedic ways; Frequency: Common
  • (1) Clothing? Immunity to being considered insufficiently dressed; Frequency: Fairly Common
  • (1) Rated G: Immunity to Indecent Exposure; Frequency: Fairly Common
  • (1) The Sounds of Harmony: Immunity to the need to compose or practice topical songs; Frequency: Fairly Common
  • (1) I Can Handle That: Immunity to not having normal hands; Frequency: Common
  • (0) All Devouring: Immunity to reasonable limits on how much they can swallow at one time.; Frequency: Rare
  • (0) There’s A Hole: Immunity to solid matter provided that it LOOKS like there is a hole in it and the user is not responsible for that.; Frequency: Rare
  • (1) Yes, It’s Suitable: Immunity to having to wear appropriate clothing to stay warm, dry, etc.; Frequency: Fairly Common
  • (0) It’s a permanent: Immunity to hair damage save by bladed weapons; Frequency: Rare
  • (1) Immunity to Over-Indulgence, Hangovers, and Similar Consequences; Frequency: Fairly Common
  • (1) Immunity to Communications Problems (Cartoons can be understood in any language provided they speak slowly, gesture, etc) ; Frequency: Common
• g-5 2d6 Aid to Equipment Allowance (Fade/day, Max. 30); Range: 0; Extra Time: 1 hour, -2½; Only to pay for role-appropriate, provided, or generally available gear: -1; Activation: 11-, -1; Reduced Endurance Cost Zero +½; Affects Single Power of Special Effect, +¼; Only GM-Approved Equipment): -1.

OK, this one breaks a BUNCH of rules. Why would I allow this? Because – fundamentally – it’s mostly kind of useless. This package makes you a little tougher to hurt and almost impossible to kill – but most of it is things like background music, or compensating for being a cartoon. You could do the same basic thing – and at less than half the price – with a simple aid power: 2d6 Aid (To Cartoon Powers) (Fade/hour, Max. 30); Range: 0; Reduced END: Zero & Persistent, +1; Always On: -½; Generic Limitation (Personal Only): -½; No Conscious Control: -2; Affects: All Powers of Special Effect, +2; Visible (You’re a cartoon): -¼; Activation: 11-, -1 (17 CP). That’s cheaper, and it provides a bunch more powers – you can sprout cartoon wings, produce a harp, and use extradimensional movement to fly to heaven, or squeeze through tiny holes, or produce a big hammer to hit people with, or a thousand outer things. Cheaper. Double it up, and you have a pretty decent start on being The Mask. The trouble with that is that it’s even worse than a Variable Power Pool. It’s grossly overpowered, it will rapidly drive the game master nuts – and the other players may not be too far behind.

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Revenant Powers

Vampires, ghouls, revenants, dhampirs, mummies, the stronger zombies, wraiths, and many other forms of undead all tend to drain vitality from living people, consuming their blood, flesh, or life force, they are strong, tough, and fast, they have power over minds (sometimes simply inducing sheer terror, but just as often paralysis or suggestions), they appear and disappear unexpectedly, and they are difficult to damage. Many can shapeshift to some degree – taking the forms of wolves, or leopards, or carnivorous apes, or whatever. This particular build is for Vampires, Half-Vampires, and Vampire Spawn (which probably covers a hundred different monsters right there), but it isn’t hard to tweak it a bit. Changing out the last “transformation” slot is almost mandatory.

40 Revenant Template

• (3) END Reserve (30 END, 0 REC/turn)
• (17) Multipower; Vamphyric Powers (30-pt reserve); Vamphyric Powers Only: -½; Visible (Pallid, chill hands, vampire signs): -¼
  • u-1 Blood Drain; Concentrate: 0 DCV, -½; Must hang onto victim: -½
    • (8) 1d6 Transfer; Body to End Reserve (Returns 5/turn, Maximum: 6); Range: 0; Affects: Single Power, +0; Reduced END: Zero, +½; Concentrate: 0 DCV, -½; Must hang onto victim: -½. 0 End. Note that this is not a particularly effective offensive power – but it can actually be strangely pleasurable or even addictive. The “Return Rate” is by normal healing.
    • (3) 1d6 Mind Control; Experience is pleasant for victim.; Communication: Verbal, +0; Reduced END: Zero, +½; Concentrate: 0 DCV, -½; Must hang onto victim: -½; 0 End.
  • u-2 2d6 Aid; All physical attributes (Fade/turn, Max. 12); Range: 0; Affects: All Powers of Special Effect, +2. 3 End.
  • u-1 6d6 Mind Control; Communication: Verbal, +0; Requires eye contact or mental link: -½. 3 End.
  • u-1 15″ Teleportation; Turn To Mist & Reform (Long Range 15″); Increased Range: ×1, +0; Long Range: 15″; Long Range (miles): 0.02; Mass Multiplier: ×1, +0; Fixed Locations: 0; Floating Locations: 0; Cannot pass thru solid objects; must have a crevice to move thru.: -½; 3 End.
  • u-1 Force Field (8 PD/5 ED); Reduced END: Half, +¼; Uncontrolled: +½; Hardened: ×1, ¼; Trigger: Set, +¼; Not vrs Fire or Light attacks.: -½; 1 End.
  • u-1 5″ Flight (NC: 10″); Non-Combat Multiplier: ×2, +0; 1 End.
  • u-1 4d6 Telepathy; Reduced END: Zero, +½; Only works on animals: -1. 0 End.
  • u-1 Wolf Form; Cannot use equipment in wolf or partial-wolf form.: -½;
    • (4) ½d6 Killing Attack (HTH) (Total 1d6+1); Range: 0. 1 End.
    • (4) Running (+3″); Non-Combat Multiplier: ×2, +0; Reduced END: Zero, +½. 0 End.
    • (4) Tracking Scent;
    • (6) Clinging (Clinging STR +0); Extra Time: full phase, -½; Extra Time Required: Only At Startup, ½; Costs END: -½. 1 End.
    • (5) Infrared Vision

This, of course, represents a rather minor entity – capable of a modest selection of superhuman tricks, but with a very limited pool or energy that is wholly reliant on draining others to refill and a long ways to go on developing further powers. Still, a few more points on the End battery (and even a very slow recovery rate), and a few more points in the Multipower (extend the time on the Aid, get the “Force Field” to 0 End so it can stay up, add some self-healing and another couple of tricks), and you’ll have a fairly creditable mystical being.

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Staff Of Wizardry

This, of course, represents the “I found/created/repaired/was given a high-powered mystic/psychic/alien/supertech device and it does all kinds of neat things!” archetype. Knights with magic swords, warlocks with wands of darkness, helms of telepathy, cosmic control rods, and more all fall into this general group. Most such characters have some minor powers even if their item is taken away, usually because of their long exposure to it – but that sort of thing is usually pretty minor.

40 Staff Of Wizardry

(17) Staff of Wizardry Multipower (60-pt reserve); OAF (Staff): -1; Variable Limitations: -½, -¼; Generic Limitation (Occasionally requires recharging rituals, sometimes short of charges in one or more slots at the option of the GM.): -½; Gestures: Instant Power, -¼; Incantation: Instant Power, -¼; Visible (Blatantly obvious to magic detection and mages): -¼

• u-2 Force Field: (Sphere of Protection) (12 PD/12 ED); Charges: 64, +1¼; Active Points: 60; Continuing Charges: 1 Minute, -3 lev; Hardened: ×1, ¼; 0 End.
• u-2 Hand-to-Hand Attack (Arcane Smite) (10d6); Range: 0; Reduced END: Zero, +½; Armor Piercing: 1, +½; 0 End.
• u-2 1d6 Killing Attack (RKA) (Disintegrate); Range: 300; No Normal Defense: +1; Champions Advantage (NND Does Body vrs Force Fields): +1; Autofire (Vrs Inanimate Objects Only): 5 shots, ½; Charges: 64, +½; .0 End.
• u-2 6d6 Entangle (Web) (DEF 6); Range: 300; Charges: 16, +0; .0 End
• u-2 Images (Phantasmal Force) (Hearing, Sight, 16″ radius); Range: 300; Observer PER Penalty: 0, +0; Charges: 32, +1; Continuing Charges: 1 Minute, -3 lev; Active Points: 60; 0 End.
• u-2 Force Wall (12 PD/12 ED); Range: 300; Width: 12″, +0; Charges: +8, +0; Continuing Charges: 1 Turn, -2 lev. 0 End.
• u-2 Missile Deflection (Warding Aura) (All Ranged Attacks, None, OCV 8); Uncontrolled: +½; Charges: 12, +½; Continuing Charges: 1 Minute, -3 lev; Deflect Attacks: Normal, +0; Deflection Bonus: 5, 10; OCV: 8; 0 End.
• u-2 8d6 Energy Blast (Fireball); Range: 300; Versus: ED; Explosion (Extended Area +0″/DC): +½; Charges: 16, +0; 0 End.

(7) Change Environment: Minor amounts of ambient Mana make small magics easy. (2″ rad.); Effect: Fixed, +0; Reduced END: Zero & Persistent, +1; No Range: -½; Concentrate: 0 DCV, -½; Extra Time: 1 min., -1½; Extra Time Required: Only At Startup, ½ 0 End. This allows endless small tricks – changing the color of things, producing cigarettes, lighting fires, heating pots of tea, floating small objects, breaking falls, altering clothing, making small illusions,ominous special effects, and so on – but nothing exceeding 5-10 active points.

Relying on a single gadget makes a character pretty vulnerable; if it gets taken away, they are pretty much out of action, But the mechanics of the game tell us that an OAF should be a problem pretty regularly. Ergo, such things tend to get taken away a lot – but mostly by merely being knocked away from their user so that they have to spend a few phases getting their toy back again. Moreover, that’s pretty much arbitrary; enforcement of disadvantages is up to the game master. That’s important to note with all these packages; those disadvantages WILL come up.

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Nanite Infusion

Nanite Infusion is basically the super-spy, transhumanist, or humanlike android package – relatively subtle enhancements meant to inconspiciously augment the user. Several limited-use weapons systems are included, mostly because that’s how people are – but that’s at least partially because nanites simply do not have the resource reserves that larger systems do. On the other hand, there’s something to be said for systems that require microscopic examination to find.

40 Microcybrenetic Equipment

9 Nanotech Reinforcement; Briefly negated by electrical attacks: -½

• (3) +5 PD
• (3) +5 ED
• (3) Damage Resistance (5 PD/5 ED)

(20) Nanite Multipower (30-pt reserve). Loses one function at random each time the user takes Body damage from an electrical attack (-.25), visible to appropriate instrumentation (-.25).

• u-1 Clinging (Clinging STR +0)
• u-1 1d6 Drain: Body (Disassemblors) (Return/5 min.); Range: 0; Affects: Single Power, +0; Continuous: +1; Charges: 6, +0; Continuing Charges: 1 Minute, -3 lev. 0 End.
• u-1 6d6 Energy Blast: Electrical; Range: 150; Versus: ED; 4 Charges:-1. 0 End.
• u-1 2d6 Flash (Retinal Inversion) (Normal Sight); Range: 100; 4 Charges; -1. 0 End.
• u-1 Hand-to-Hand Attack (Hardened Striking Surfaces, +5d6); Reduced END: Zero, +½. 0 End.
• u-1 Invisibility (Cloaking Field) (Radar, Sight); Concentrate: ½ DCV, -¼; Produces “bubble effect” in translucent media: -½. 3 End.
• u-1 Instant Change; Clothes: Any Set, (Nanite Fog) 10
• u-1 Missile Deflection (All Ranged Attacks, None, OCV 3); Deflect Attacks: Normal, +0; Deflection Bonus: 0.
• u-1 2d6 Energy Blast (Toxin Injection); Range: 0; Continuous: +1; No Normal Defense: +1 (Toxin resistance, inhuman metabolism, robot); No Range: -½; 4 Continuing Charges: 5 Minutes, +0. 0 End.
• u-1 1d6 Transform (Nanite Fog): “Air” to small items of equipment. Restructuring Nanites (Major, Anything); Range: 150; 8 Charges:;-½. 0 End.
  u-1 4d6 Medical Implant Standard Healing (Self Only); Trigger (When below 0 Stun or Body in a phase): Set, +¼; Generic Limitation (Self-Only): -½; 32 Charges; +¼ (0 End)

It’s easy to add various slots to this, and a dozen or so cheap utility slots are entirely appropriate. A temporary boosting aid would be nice too. Boosting the reserve doesn’t really fit in though, at least not unless you set it up to simply run two low-end powers at once. After all, the key theme here is flexible, low-level power.