Champions Basics

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Characteristics
STR – Strength
DEX – Dexterity
CON – Constitution
BODY – Body (Life Force)
INT – Intelligence
EGO – Ego
PRE – Presence
COM – Comeliness
PD – Physical Defense
ED – Energy Defense
SPD – Speed
REC – Recovery
END – Endurance
STUN – Stun

STR - COM (STR, DEX, CON, BODY, INT, EGO, PRE, COM) are known as the Primary Characteristics, for all of these 10 is normal and 20 is considered the top of human normal (e.g. "Olympic level")
PD - STUN (PD, ED, SPD, REC, END, STUN) are all the figured characteristics and the values of the Primary Characteristics drive the starting values.

Movement
How far you can move with one action

Units of Time

• Turn - 12 seconds. Within a turn each character will get to act the number of time that equals his or her Speed
• Segment - 1 second within a Turn

Combat
When do I get to act?
SPD = 4 (Phases 3, 6, 9, 12)
SPD = 5 (Phases 3, 5, 8, 10, 12)

Then ordered by DEX

All attack actions are automatically the end of an action.

How to hit an opponent with attack
Your base Combat Value (Offensive and Defensive) is DEX/3, but there are lots of situational modifiers.
Roll 11- + you OCV – opponent DCV

Holding and Aborting an action

• Holding an action means that you do not want to act when it is your time, but you can delay to a later phase. That later phase must be before you can act again.
• Aborting an action means that you want to act before it is your next turn, this can only be done for limited actions like Dodge and Block

Effects of Damage

• Normal attacks do both STUN and BODY damage. The STUN damage is the total on the rolled dice, the BODY damage is 0 point for each 1 rolled, 1 point for each 2-5 rolled and 2 points for each 6 rolled. The opponent then gets to subtract the appropriate defense (PD or ED) from the each total and takes that much damage.
• Getting to 0 STUN means you are unconscious
• Taking more STUN than your CON in a single attack will have you lose an action (you are stunned)
• Getting to 0 BODY means you are bleeding to death
• Getting to your negative BODY total means you are dead

Endurance
Powering superpowers takes a lot of energy, you must spend END to perform actions. If you run out of END then you start to burn STUN. You will get back your REC in END every time that you take a full recovery or we complete a Segment 12 (Post-Segment 12 Recovery)

Skills
A character’s Skills represent specialized knowledge or training he possesses. This includes such things as knowing how to fly a plane, investigate a crime scene, or fire a blaster pistol, or the character’s in-depth knowledge about any subject you can think of (physics, Fire Demons, Great Britain, alien races...).
A character can try to get information, perform a task, or gain other benefits from knowing a Skill by making a Skill Roll. Most Skills have a Characteristic-based Skill Roll, typically between 8- and 18- (the higher, the better), and are rolled the same way: roll 3d6; if the total on the dice is less than or equal to your character’s Skill Roll, he succeeds; if it’s higher than the Skill Roll, he fails.

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Die Rolls in Champions

The HERO System uses only six-sided dice (d6). The number before the “d6” notation indicates how many dice to roll. For example, 2d6+1 means roll two dice and add one point to the total.

Most dice-rolling in the HERO System requires you to roll 3d6 and get a result equal to or less than some number. This is written in the text by a minus sign (-) following the number. For example, a Skill your character can perform successfully on an 11 or less roll is written 11-.

When you are rolling for damage, there are two numbers that you will be getting from the each die roll. It is REQUIRED that you roll these rolls with the "_" feature [_10d6] in the Unseen Servant Die Roller. The reason is that STUN damage is completed by totaling the numbers on the dice and BODY is computed from the same roll with 1's counting as Zero BODY, 2-5's counting as One BODY and 6's counting as Two BODY.

For example imagine that for a 10d6 attack the roll was [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6] this would yield a result of ([1+1+2+2+3+4+5+5+6+6]) 35 STUN And ([0+0+1+1+1+1+1+1+2+2])10 BODY

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While there are no Classes in Champions, there are some types of characters.

• Brick - This is someone whose primary mode of attack is strength. In general they often have higher defenses and lower Speeds, but this is not a requirement. Some examples would be The Hulk, Thor, The Thing, etc.
• Martial Artist - This is someone whose primary mode of attack is physical (HTH), but they rely more on skill than brute strength. Some examples would be Black Widow, Batman, etc.
• Energy Projector - This is someone whose primary mode of attack is a ranged attack. This is someone like Captain Marvel, Cyclops, or even Hawkeye.
• Mentalist - Someone whose primary mode of attack is mental powers (this is not as common). An example would be Professor X.
• Other - Anything else (like Mr. Fantastic is one example)

Sometimes there is line blurring. One example is Spider-Man is a mostly a martial artist, but he is still very strong (not Hulk strong but strong) and can shoot webs.

In Champions terms (since it is a point based system), the less focus you have the lower values each of the abilities will have.

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Strength Chart keeps coming up

Strength	Lift (kg)	Examples
5	50	Adolescent human, recliner
10	100	Adult human
13	150	Refrigerator
15	200	Two men, piano, motorcycle, boar
18	300	Medium floor safe
20	400	Chariot, grizzly bear
25	800	Sportscar, horse and rider
30	1600	Small car, large missile
35	3200	Truck, limousine
40	6400	Small jet, large elephant
45	12.5ton	Jetfighter, subway car
50	25 ton	Frigate, small standing stone
55	50 ton	Bulldozer, main battle tank
60	100 ton	Space Shuttle, blue whale

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Endurance - Endurance represents the energy a character expends to act, exert himself, and use his powers — the more END he has, the longer he can keep doing things. In Champions, heroes are good in short bursts, but tend to get worn out doing things for an extended period of time.

How much END will a hero spend in a typical action?
The general rule for END cost is 10 pts active power costs 1 END to use.
What are some typical usages like?

• Defense - Does your defense cost end (hello force field)
• Offense - Most attacks burn through 4-5 END. If STR is your thing 1 END per 10 STR, otherwise look at your character sheet.
• Movement - Sometimes you are moving around as well, so think about half the END of your movement power. (Superleap uses STR END!)

But how do I Recover some of that back?

• Post-Segment 12 Recovery - After segment 12 everyone gets a Post-Segment 12 Recovery in which everyone gets there REC score back in both END and STUN.
• Extra Recoveries - You can burn your action to take an extra recovery, but in doing so you are doubled over and catching your breath. No powers and you are a sitting duck.

How long to super combats last anyway?
Most super hero combats are well under 36 seconds of game time (3 turns is a very long combat)

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Combat Example

If you go to DriveThurRPG.com and search for "Champions Complete Freebies and Errata", this is some 6th edition materials. (we are playing 5th edition)

Included in that download is a Champs-Complete-Combat-Example.pdf

The basic flow is the same, a few things to note

• The characters in this sample are based on a lot more points then we are playing with everything is higher (SPD, DEX, OCV, # of dice on attacks)
• In 5th edition 1" = 2m and in 6th edition 1" = 1m. In 5th edition 1" is a hex, there are no more hexes in 6th edition.
• Obviously, my house rules are not included
• It is possible that I missed another difference, but it is a good example!

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Combat Time

Turn
The basic time frame of combat is called a Turn. Each Turn equals 12 seconds of time. Each Turn a character gets a number of Phases equal to his Speed. A Turn is divided into 12 Segments

Segment
A Turn consists of 12 Segments, each 1 second long. Characters who can perform an Action in a Segment (i.e., who have a Phase in that Segment) do so in order of their DEX values. The character with the highest DEX score goes first, the second highest goes next, and so on. Two or more characters with the same DEX who act in the same Segment should each roll 3d6 (using the Underscore feature); Looking at the first die only, the highest roll will get to act first. A tie will then look at the second die to break the tie. And if there is still a tie then the third die roll will be used. If more than three rolls are required extra rolls will be performed by the GM to speed up play.

Example: If five characters (A, B, C, D and E) have the same DEX and they roll the following:

• A (5,1,3)
• B (4,4,4)
• C (5,2,1)
• D (4,6,6)
• E (1,6,6)

Then the order for this round would be C (5,2), A(5,1), D (4,6), B (4,4) and then E (1)

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• Full Phase Actions - Full Phase Actions take a character’s entire Phase; he can do nothing else and take no other Actions that Phase. Some examples are Changing Clothes, Recovering from being Stunned, Taking a Forced Recovery, Using more than 1/2 your inches of movement.
• Half Phase Actions - These are Actions that only require half a Phase to perform (in other words, a character can perform two Half Phase Actions per Phase [see note on Attack Actions below]). Some examples are any action that requires an Attack Roll, Drawing a weapon, Getting to one's feet, Making a PER Roll with a Nontargeting sense, Opening a door, Starting a Vehicle, Using half or less of your movement.
• Zero Phase Actions - A character may perform as many Zero Phase Actions as he wishes at the beginning of a Phase or after performing a Half Phase Action, but not after performing an Attack Action or a Full Phase Action. Accelerating or decelerating, Shifting a Multipower, Shifting Skill Levels, Turning a Power on or off, Using casual strength.
• Actions which take no time - As the term implies, these Actions take no time to perform; a character may perform them whenever he wishes (even on a Segment in which he doesn’t have a Phase) and as often as he wishes. Some examples are talking, using PRE, making a roll at the request of the GM.
• Attack Actions - Actions that require or involve any kind of Attack Roll, such as using Mind Control, using a Combat Maneuver, projecting an Energy Blast, Dodging, Blocking, or throwing a punch — are a special case. Many Attack Actions only take a Half Phase, but must be the last action the character performs in the Phase. For example, a character can Half Move and then attack, but can’t attack and then Half Move. Performing an Attack Action brings a character’s Phase to an end — he can perform no other Actions after performing an Attack Action.

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Holding an Action

A character may choose not to act when his DEX indicates that his Phase begins. He may wait until a lower DEX or until some event occurs (“I wait until he strikes”; “I wait until he comes around the corner”). This is known as Holding an Action (or delaying or reserving a Phase).

A character may Hold his Action until a later DEX in one of his Phases or until a later Segment. However, he can never use a Held Action to take two Actions in one Segment — he loses any Held Action when the next Segment in which he has a Phase begins, because he can only have one Phase at a time. A character who waits a whole Turn without taking an Action still has only one Phase saved.

A character may perform a Half Phase Action and then Hold a Half Phase. The character is considered “ready” and may perform the Held Half Phase Action later.

Typically, a character must either Hold his Action until a specified lower DEX, or to wait for a specified event (such as “I’ll wait until he looks at me” or “I’ll Dodge if anyone attacks me”). In the latter case, once the specified event occurs, the character may choose not to use his Held Action, and keep Holding it. While you can Hold his Action “generically,” without declaring any sort of precondition for acting, and then may perform whatever Action he wants to whenever he wants to, but given the PbP format you will not have the opportunity interrupt in the middle of a post.

If two or more characters with held actions try to do it at the same time, DEX Rolls are used to determine the timing.

If you hold you action in Segment 12, you still get your post segment 12 recovery as normal and then can act later like in Segment 1.

If you perform a combat maneuver or apply skill levels for one action and then hold your next action. The affects to your DCV from the combat maneuver or skill levels do NOT apply once you have started holding.

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Putting some points down for some of your ideas

Computer:
Three or Four Characteristics (3 for Computers and 4 for AIs)
INT (Base 10) - Cost 1
EGO (Base 10) - Cost 2 - AI ONLY
DEX (Base 10) - Cost 3
SPD (Base 1 +DEX/10) - Cost 10

The Computer can have skills (normal cost) and programs (1 pt each - to do something with a skill without a computer programming roll). INT/5 is max programs at once.
Computer has no self will, AI does have self will must make EGO roll to do certain actions and can have psychological limitations
House Rule is that Computer/AIs get Absolute Time Sense, Lightening Calculator, and limited Eidetic Memory for free.

Base:
Normally, you would have to pay for the location, the size, and the DEF and BODY of the walls - That was given to you from GOSH.
So the cost left are the costs of putting stuff inside -

• Computer - see above
• Labs - Purchased as skills
• Power - The base gets normal power from the power grid, if you want to be off the grid it costs points
• Sensors - Cost depends on the sensors and then someone has to monitor them to be any value. (Cost like enhanced senses)
• Equipment - Most equipment is purchased as a power

Team communicators:

• Advanced Concealed Tactical Radio: High Range Radio Perception (12 active points), Affected as Hearing as well as Radio (-1/4), Audio Only (-1/2), IIF (-1/4), No Direction (-1/2) Real Cost: 5 points.
• Wrist Communicator: High Range Radio Perception (12 active points), Affected as Hearing as well as Radio (-1/4), Audio Only (-1/2), OIF (-1/4), No Direction (-1/2) Real Cost: 5 points.
• Video Watch: High Range Radio Perception (12 active points), Affected as Vision & Hearing as well as Radio (-1/4), OIF (-1/4), No Direction (-1/2) Real Cost: 6 points.

Medical:
Less important than other games. Remember that STUN and END can be recovered in the 10's of seconds. BODY damage is more rare. You can have a medical lab, but then you need someone with medical skill to use it. Also more expensive would be some kind of regeneration unit. We can discuss if this is a direction you want.

One key edit (correction): All base and vehicle costs in a superhero setting get divided by 5 (so a base with stuff in it that should be 60 pts is only 12 points)

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Spreading an Attack

This rule allows a character to “spread” a Ranged attack to get a better chance to hit a target. Effectively, the character “widens” the attack at the cost of doing less damage. The character does -1 Damage Class for every +1 OCV he wants. He makes his Attack Roll against the target’s DCV.

Alternately, a character may Spread his attack to hit more than one target. The character loses 1 Damage Class for each hex he wants to fill with his attack. The hexes must be adjacent, and typically in a straight line as well (the attack could therefore hit a hex, and the hexes on either side, but not the hex behind). The character must make a separate Attack Roll against each target, using that target’s DCV; he receives no OCV bonus for Spreading (his “bonus” is the ability to attack more targets). A Spread attack can be Missile Deflected or Reflected.

With either form of Spreading, the character must pay the full END cost for the attack, even though it’s not doing full damage.

Spreading is most commonly used with Energy Blast, but characters may also Spread other types of Ranged attacks (unless the GM rules otherwise). The only Mental Power characters can Spread is Ego Attack (and, at the GM’s discretion, some Ranged attacks bought Based On ECV).

Characters may not spread attacks that affect an area (such as Change Environment, Darkness, Images, or any power with the Area Of Effect or Explosion Advantages), nor any attack with the Beam Limitation.

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Combat Maneuvers (Standard)

Maneuver	Phase	OCV	DCV	Effects
Block	½	+0	+0	Block HTH attacks, Abort
Brace	0	+2	½	+2 OCV only to off set the Range Modifier
Disarm	½	-2	+0	Disarm target, requires STR vs. STR Roll
Dodge	½	-	+3	Dodge all attacks, Abort
Grab	½	-1	-2	Grab Two Limbs; can squeeze or throw
Grab By	½ †	-3	-4	Move and Grab object, +(v/5) to STR
Haymaker	½ *	+0	-5	+4 Damage Classes to any attack
Move By	½ †	-2	-2	((STR/2) + (v/5))d6; attacker takes ⅓ damage
Move Through	½ †	-v/5	-3	(STR + (v/3))d6; attacker takes ½ or full damage
Set	1	+1	+0
Strike	½	+0	+0	STR damage or by weapon type

Combat Maneuvers (Optional)

Maneuver	Phase	OCV	DCV	Effects
Cover	½ #	-2	+0	Target held at "gunpoint"
Dive For Cover	½	+0	+0	Character avoids attack; Abort
Hipshot	½ #	-1	+0	+1 DEX only for purposes of initiative
Hurry	½ #	-2	-2	+1d6 DEX only for purposes of initiative
Pulling A Punch	½ #	-1/5d6	+0	Strike, normal STUN damage, ½ BODY damage
Roll With A Punch	½	-2	-2	"Block" after being hit, take ½ damage; Abort
Snap Shot	1	-1	+0	Lets character duck back behind cover
Sweep	1	-2/x	x½	Make multiple HTH attack

* This maneuver takes one extra Segment to perform
†: Grab By, Move By, and Move Through are usually performed at the end of a Full Move, and thus take a Full Phase. However, a character could perform one after taking a Half Phase Action (such as opening a door), so they’re listed as Half Phase Actions
#: This maneuver is performed along side another maneuver like a strike, but does not take additional time.

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Noncombat movement

A character using Noncombat Movement concentrates on moving swiftly, not on finding targets or dodging attacks. Accordingly, his Noncombat Movement rate is double his Combat Movement rate, but he’s at ½ DCV or based on the velocity and 0 OCV (and ½ DECV and 0 OECV, if appropriate). All characters can move double their Combat Movement rate with all of their Movement Powers for free; you can double the rate of Noncombat Movement in one movement mode for +5 Character Points. (This does not apply to Extra-Dimensional Movement or FTL)

Leaping and Teleport have additional rules around how long the noncombat move takes (Leaping take one extra phase for every doubling and teleport takes one extra phase total.)