arscott

I know I promised some fluff this time around--and that's still on it's way. But I can't let a whole month go by without posting, so here are the rest of the origins from Great Responsibility.

You've already seen the Survivor. Now let me present the Gadgeteer (suitable for tech-based heroes like Iron Man or Cyborg), the Heir (suitable for those with inborn powers, such as Wonder Woman or the X-men), and the Magician (suitable for those who are trained in the mystic arts, such as Dr. Strange or Zatanna).

Gadgeteer:Heir:Magician:

What would a superhero game be without superpowers? Not much--when it comes to superpowers, the more the merrier.

But how do you divide the numerous powers among the four roles? If each character could pick the same power regardless of role, then combat roles become meaningless and combat becomes less interesting and less about teamwork. On the other hand, it would be foolish to limit the fire powers to strikers, the ice powers to controllers, and so forth.

So here's the solution that Great Responsibility uses: characters can pick any power regardless of class. But just as being an inspiring warlord might make certain warlord powers more effective, Belonging to a certain role might make certain superpowers more effective.

For example, spider man can snare his opponents in a web. This isn't hugely different from Wonder Woman snaring her opponents with her magic lasso, but their very different fighting styles can highlight the difference between the two moves:

A controller using a snare would attempt to take out multiple opponents, as befits his role. A defender, on the other hand, uses the power to draw opponents closer into melee. Spider man, though, is a striker, so he tries to pack some extra wallop into his webs. Dex damage may not sound like much, but remember: it gives strikers like him an opportunity to make use of their added damage powers (in this case, sneak attack)

This is why dextrous blow is important. Because the powers are designed to be used by a wide variety of superheroes, many simply allow the character to make a basic melee attack rather than dictating specific attack and damage values. It's pretty important, therefore, to make sure that your basic attack is in good shape

As you can see, there's a little bit of Multiple Ability Dependency going on here, even with the basic attack thing. And this is both unavoidable and intentional. Unavoidable because it's and obvious result of picking powers from a unified list, and intentional because it's being accounted for by beefing characters up in other ways (the +2 to two stats chosen by the player makes the character much more effective from an ability score standpoint, and through such tweaks as improving the basic attacks for most characters). Still, you're unlikely to need high scores in all abilities, unless your power selection is very eclectic.

Well, that's it for Spidey (at least for now). I'd like to give a shoutout to my one and only fan, Mustrum Ridcully--Thanks for reminding me that at least one person cared about my crazy rpg ideas.

Tune in next time when I'll describe the Zeitgeist of my superhero setting, and why I chose the name Great Responsibility.

As far as combat-role goes, it's clear that spider-man is a Striker: He tends to work alone, so Leader's a poor fit, and he avoids being close to the enemy, so Defender's right out.

A case could be made for Controller, given his tendency to hit multiple mooks with his web, but he tends to deal with stronger enemies one-at-a-time, moves around quite a bit, and is willing to go into melee when necessary. So a Striker seems the best match, perhaps with a secondary emphasis on control powers.

So, now that we've established his role, we've also established his class--Because in Great Responsibility, each of the four roles is a single (broad) class. So let's see what the Striker class entails:

Most classes get armor bonus to AC, that won't stack with the armor they wear. This means that spider-man has the AC he needs to be effective while wearing nothing but spandex.

No huge surprises here--it means that spidey can pick up a dagger and use it if he wanted to, but as we'll see later, he's got better options.

This matches what the ranger, rogue, and warlock get in the PHB.

This entry is the same for every Great Responsibility class. Because there aren't specific "skill monkey" classes, skills are now determined by a character's intelligence. Peter Parker's a pretty bright kid (Int 16), so he'll have five skills (six, counting the bonus skill from his origin).

Each of these class features is actually a menu of different choices. As discussed in my previous post, there's a lot more flexibility within each class and origin than there is in core D&D.

Attack Mode: This one boils down to "how does this character attack things?". It provides additional weapon proficiencies, basic-attack energy blast powers along the lines of eldritch blast, and more. Spider-man's generic mode of attack is pretty simple, actually--He hits stuff with his fists. So his attack mode (shamelessly stolen from the D&D website monk conversion) goes like this:
Attack Specialization: This is a relatively minor perk that better defines exactly how a hero fights. Prime Shot is among the options, as is the ranger's Two Bladed Weapon style. Spider-man's specialization defines him as a finesse unarmed combatant:
Damage Bonus: This is the big, Striker-defining power. Sneak Attack and Hunter's Quarry both fit here, as does a rage-like power. Spider-man's sticking with the classics, though. He takes Sneak Attack.

Defensive Perk: And finally, something to make strikers a bit harder to hit. Shield Proficiency, Better armor proficiencies/class armor bonuses, Extra HP, and more. In Spidey's case, it's about being able to move without getting hit:
Well, that's it for class features. Stay tuned for Powers, the most important (and most innovative) part of the game.

One of my goals in Great Responsibility is to stay as close to the core 4e rules as possible. That means, among other things, that the PCs will have a race.

The problem is, race isn't especially appropriate for a Superhero RPG. Sure, superman isn't human, but the cool things he gets from being Kryptonian are better reflected through class powers than through his racial choice.

So I'm taking a page from city of heroes and using Origins.

Origins are the reason your character gained his abilities. Maybe he's an alien from another planet. Maybe he was bombarded by gamma rays. Maybe he has no superhuman abilities, but relies on his combat training and technical expertise.

The circumstances that caused your character to gain his powers also provide some other benefits--and these benefits are reflected in your chosen origin.

So, now let's get specific. As an example, we'll build a 1st-level version of Spider-man:

Peter Parker gained his powers when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. That makes him a perfect candidate for the Survivor origin. Survivors are those who experience some catastrophe, but rather than being injured or killed, are granted superpowers.

Lets see what the Survivor origin Grants:
These traits are shared by every origin. While all dwarves are sturdy but slow-moving, and all halflings are small and agile, superheroes can't be painted with a similar brush--therefore these basic traits are as generic as possible.

Peter Parker gained the proportional Strength and Agility of a spider. I'm going to emphasize the agility here, and give him a +2 dex. Peter's powers also made him a lot more confident and sure of himself, so let's go with +2 cha for the mental stat.
Survivors are a pretty diverse lot even for superheroes, so they gain an extra skill of their choice. Let's give Peter training in Science (Int).
Survivors are usually pretty resistant to whatever sort of disaster they experienced before. Let's give Peter resist poision--That'll fits in with both the spider bite and the radiation.
This is something you're going to see over and over again in Great Responsibility. Because the Races/Origins and the Classes are much more generic, there's going to be more choices and variations within each Origin and Class. The power list for the Survivor will focus on damage avoidance, durability, and luck. In Peter's case, we'll pick avoid danger (a cheezily retitled version of the halfling racial power), to represent his spider sense.
You'll notice that this power is listed as a "racial power", and that Survivor's Fortitude gave a racial bonus. While origins aren't races in the story sense, they need to be races in the mechanical sense.

The goal is to deviate from 4e D&D as little as possible. And that means using existing names and structures. No 'origin bonus' when 'racial bonus' works just fine.

That's it as far as Spidey's Origin is concerned. Next up: Class Features.

Ever since I read the new PHB, I've felt that the 4e rules lent themselves well to a superheroes game.

Like it or not, 4e is a game where characters can do a bunch of cool things, and superheroes is a Genre where characters do a bunch of cool things.

The new combat rules provide a simple-but-sturdy base that can be built on with exception-based powers. Combat roles make it easy to define how a superheroic character fights even without the benefit of classes.

And the unified and silo-ed power progression means that you can easily choose the cool things you want your character to do without getting bogged down in a complicated point buy system.

So I've been spending the past month figuring out the best way to express superhero characters within the framework of the 4e rules, and I think I've developed a pretty neat system.

In my next series of posts, I'll explain how that system works by re-creating a certain friendly neighborhood wall-crawler.