Fedifensor
Explorer
Krolik said:Hero System 5th Edition Revised, Character Abilities Guidelines Table on page 28, Standard Superhero subset clearly lists the suggested guidelines. These guidelines are what the over 30 books in the Champions series seem to follow.
And yet, it specifically says on the cover of that rulebook that it is a gamer's toolkit. It's like saying that a master chef has to exactly duplicate the turkey dinner in your freezer. Yes, it's easier to grab prefab material, but most experienced gamemasters (in any game system) go beyond pregenerated material to use the full power of a game system.
The purpose of this thread was to give information about superhero games. If someone were to pick up the 5E Champions book those are the guidelines they would see displayed. They can certainly go against the suggestions and use whatever guidelines they wish in their Champions game, just as you can in any superhero game, but the 5E guidelines are what's presented to the gaming public. It's no one's but Hero Games' fault that the 5E power level guidelines don't match the 4E and earlier examples.
It's the prefered game style of Steve Long, apparently...and it does make for shorter fights. So blame it on him if you want.
Here's my take on things. If you want a superhero game that's easy to set up, and does a decent job of portraying the genre, go with M&M. But if you're at a convention and see a game of Champions (HERO) running, give it a try. In a convention setting, the person preparing the game has done all the prep work, and you'll really get to see HERO shine. I would go back to my earlier analogy of microwave food versus something made by a master chef - the former is quick and will fill you up, but the latter tastes better if you have the time for it.