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cosmicspearWelcome back to the absurd nonsense that is Heroes Unlimited! Today we're going to be making a character in the second of the four magic categories, the Enchanted Object. Yes, this is a different enough category from Enchanted Weapons to be worth making as a separate character. I mean, it's not like you can just have a single category for heroes with any kind of magic equipment, right?
My stat rolls for this character were IQ 5, ME 14, MA 9, PS 10, PP 9, PE 27 (!), PB 13, Spd 11. Really if you're gonna have one stat explode twice then PE is a pretty good one to have that happen to, though it would've been better to see on our next character because they'll actually be getting special benefits from their PE. For HP I rolled a 4 for a total of 31, which is an HP number most characters wouldn't expect to have until at least around fifth level. Helping matters is the fact that having an Enchanted Object gives 35 base SDC, which is kinda ridiculous. That's more base SDC than you get as a Physical Training character, for fuck's sake!
Educational level roll is 42, for one year of college. Just to spice the skill selection up slightly I chose the Communications program in addition to the usual major in pro wrestling. This allows me to give the character one of the most bizarre skills in the Palladium skill set from a design perspective, Laser Communications. These days it's considered to include fiber optics, but when the skill system was created the only kind of laser communication system out there was free-space optical systems, which are still experimental military technology in the present. I'm honestly not sure when Kevin expects anyone to roll this skill. All secondary skills were spent on physical skills other than one for WP Sword and one for WP Paired Weapons with long swords, allowing our guy to attack with a base damage of 4d6. Since they also got a really good PE roll and some very good SDC rolls this character's actually reasonably good at fighting right out of the gates, with no powers whatsoever.
Now let's get to powers. Enchanted Object covers literally anything you could put magic into that isn't a weapon. This includes rings, medallions, shirts, helmets, gauntlets, erotic novels, and any other random tchotchkes you may or may not think of putting magic into. While magic weapons have alignments and are somewhat choosy about their users, with evil ones being willing to gradually corrupt their bearers, enchanted objects have no alignment or will of their own (so Frodo Baggins is not a valid Heroes Unlimited character).
Enchanted Objects also, whether or not they use magic, use the rules for Potential Psychic Energy (PPE for short) to determine how much they can use their powers. There's a bit to the PPE system that doesn't matter to Enchanted Object characters and I'll go over that tomorrow, but the short version is that it's your magic points. Enchanted Object characters specifically use the PPE of their magic spork or whatever instead of their own, so we need to roll that. The value we're using is 2d6x10 + 90, so on a roll of 6 our character's object has 150 PPE.
Next we need to figure out what actual powers the object has. On a roll of 82 it gives our character actual magic access, which is less exciting than it sounds because this is Palladium magic. I'll go over exactly why magic sucks in Palladium next time, but let's just say it's a dire situation.
Incidentally, some options I could've rolled provide super abilities, which need to be activated by spending 15 of the object's PPE. That's a one-time expenditure to freely use the power, whatever it is, for 24 hours. It's more than a little bizarre, really.
We also need to roll the level the object can cast its spells at, and on a 95 its spells are all sixth level. This sounds nice until you realize that the spells never get any more powerful, so eventually all your friends are massively more powerful than you while you have zero hope of ever getting better. On the other hand, if you have a power that doesn't get stronger with your level like, say, Alter Limbs, you don't really give a shit about this roll. And then there's the possibility of getting Natural Combat Ability, which replaces your existing combat abilities with a new set of bonuses, so if you get it from an enchanted object you eventually just have a fancy ring you wear as a fashion statement (assuming you even bother with it in the first place, since Natural Combat Ability's bonuses are...interesting.)
Next up is the process of choosing spells our object lets us use! My roll gives me four spells each from spell levels 1 to 4 plus 6 total from levels 5 to 8, so I get plenty to go over.
So we're not in the worst situation possible, but I still had to choose a few duds as filler.
The enchanted object also provides a generic +2 to save vs magic, with a note that it doesn't include psionics as though we'd expect it to. I also get to roll for an extra 1d4x10 SDC, and naturally I rolled a 1. There's also a chart to roll on for an extra special ability, and on a 10 our character is now impervious to fire. That's certainly not bad, especially compared to the last option on the table. That one makes you impervious to all magic, but your HP and SDC are cut in half and can't be increased ever again. So you'd end up with a character who doesn't get better at using their powers and doesn't get stronger, which fucking sucks and I'm not even gonna try to be sarcastic about it.
For money I get 1d4x1,000 dollars, and Enchanted Object characters have a 95% chance of owning a car that's only 1d4 years old. Slow down there Kevin, everyone knows how broken it is to almost always be able to have a sixth generation Civic!
The only things I actually need to buy for this character are their swords, but I also throw down the cash for a phone. No answering machine though, because I felt like being silly (and really, when was the last time someone ever left a message you cared about on your personal phone?)
Our character is an illegitimate child, which is an interesting thing to have on the birth order table to say the least. They're short and of average weight, their disposition is paternal and overprotective, they have $7,000 in the bank, and they're from a middle class family living in an American suburb. Naturally they're only allowed to live in an apartment now, a house would just be broken.
I swear I don't always decide on character name and gender at the very end of the character creation process, but it feels very right for Heroes Unlimited in particular. This character's going to be named Ellen Caine, and her codename as a superhero is Ringhaver because really, I can't think of any other name that makes sense.
Ringhaver is pretty effective, but her powers are kinda lame. I did what I could to make sure she got spells that are actually useful, and in that regard she benefits from the ridiculous bass-ackwards way Palladium invisibility magic works, but ultimately her best power is having the HP of a character 3 or 4 levels above her. She can also stay alive at really low negative HP, and basically laughs in the face of anyone stupid enough to try to get the whammy on her with magic.
Next time, we'll see what proper wizards look like in Heroes Unlimited and take a closer look at the more bizarre aspects of the Palladium magic system.
Character Sheet:
Name: Ellen Caine
Hero Name: Ringhaver
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Alignment: Scrupulous
Level: 1
XP: 0
IQ: 5
ME: 14
MA: 9
PS: 20 (+5)
PP: 11
PE: 32 (+32%/+8)
PB: 13
Spd: 21
HP: 36
SDC: 92
SDC with Object: 102
Attacks per Melee: 5
Melee Damage: +5
Parry: +3
Dodge: +3
Roll with Punch: +10
Pull Punch: +3
Initiative: +2
Knockout Punch: 20
Pin/Incapacitate: 18-20
Save vs Coma: +32%
Save vs Magic: +8 (+10 with object)
Save vs Poison: +8
Power Category: Magic
Subcategory: Enchanted Object
Object's PPE: 150
Powers of the Object: 4 spells each from levels 1-4, and 6 total from levels 5-8
Object's power level: Sixth
SDC from object: 10
Other special ability from object: Impervious to Fire
Spells:
Blinding Flash (1)
Decipher Magic (4)
See the Invisible (4)
Sense Evil (2)
Befuddle (6)
Fear (Horror Factor: 16) (5)
Mystic Alarm (5)
Turn Dead (6)
Armor of Ithan (10)
Invisibility: Simple (6)
Negate Poison/Toxin (5)
Paralysis: Lesser (5)
Carpet of Adhesion (10)
Charismatic Aura (10)
Magic Net (7)
Multiple Image (7)
Energy Disruption (15)
Escape (8)
Heal Wounds (10)
Fire Ball (10)
Fly as the Eagle (25)
Negate Magic (30)
Education: One year of college
Skill Programs: Physical (+10%), Communications (+10%)
Secondary Skills: 8
Skills:
Acrobatics (70%/70%/80%/60%/50%/40%)
Athletics
Basic Electronics (40%)
Basic Mathematics (45%)
Body Building & Weight Lifting
Boxing
Gymnastics (60%/70%/70%/80%/35%/40%)
Hand to hand: Martial Arts (counts as 3 secondary skill picks)
Language: English (98%)
Laser Communications (40%)
Literacy: English (98%)
Pilot Automobile (98%)
Radio: Basic (55%)
Radio: Scrambler (45%)
Running
TV/Video (35%)
WP Paired Weapons (long swords)
WP Sword
Wrestling
Money: $1,050
Items:
Car (conventional; 2 years old)
2 long swords
Basic phone
Background Info:
Birth Order: Illegitimate
Weight: Average
Height: Short
Disposition: Paternal, overbearing, overprotective of others, especially young characters
Life Savings: $7,000
Land of Origin: United States
Childhood Environment: Suburb, a small city or a large town
Social/Economic Background: Skilled/Middle Class
My stat rolls for this character were IQ 5, ME 14, MA 9, PS 10, PP 9, PE 27 (!), PB 13, Spd 11. Really if you're gonna have one stat explode twice then PE is a pretty good one to have that happen to, though it would've been better to see on our next character because they'll actually be getting special benefits from their PE. For HP I rolled a 4 for a total of 31, which is an HP number most characters wouldn't expect to have until at least around fifth level. Helping matters is the fact that having an Enchanted Object gives 35 base SDC, which is kinda ridiculous. That's more base SDC than you get as a Physical Training character, for fuck's sake!
Educational level roll is 42, for one year of college. Just to spice the skill selection up slightly I chose the Communications program in addition to the usual major in pro wrestling. This allows me to give the character one of the most bizarre skills in the Palladium skill set from a design perspective, Laser Communications. These days it's considered to include fiber optics, but when the skill system was created the only kind of laser communication system out there was free-space optical systems, which are still experimental military technology in the present. I'm honestly not sure when Kevin expects anyone to roll this skill. All secondary skills were spent on physical skills other than one for WP Sword and one for WP Paired Weapons with long swords, allowing our guy to attack with a base damage of 4d6. Since they also got a really good PE roll and some very good SDC rolls this character's actually reasonably good at fighting right out of the gates, with no powers whatsoever.
Now let's get to powers. Enchanted Object covers literally anything you could put magic into that isn't a weapon. This includes rings, medallions, shirts, helmets, gauntlets, erotic novels, and any other random tchotchkes you may or may not think of putting magic into. While magic weapons have alignments and are somewhat choosy about their users, with evil ones being willing to gradually corrupt their bearers, enchanted objects have no alignment or will of their own (so Frodo Baggins is not a valid Heroes Unlimited character).
Enchanted Objects also, whether or not they use magic, use the rules for Potential Psychic Energy (PPE for short) to determine how much they can use their powers. There's a bit to the PPE system that doesn't matter to Enchanted Object characters and I'll go over that tomorrow, but the short version is that it's your magic points. Enchanted Object characters specifically use the PPE of their magic spork or whatever instead of their own, so we need to roll that. The value we're using is 2d6x10 + 90, so on a roll of 6 our character's object has 150 PPE.
Next we need to figure out what actual powers the object has. On a roll of 82 it gives our character actual magic access, which is less exciting than it sounds because this is Palladium magic. I'll go over exactly why magic sucks in Palladium next time, but let's just say it's a dire situation.
Incidentally, some options I could've rolled provide super abilities, which need to be activated by spending 15 of the object's PPE. That's a one-time expenditure to freely use the power, whatever it is, for 24 hours. It's more than a little bizarre, really.
We also need to roll the level the object can cast its spells at, and on a 95 its spells are all sixth level. This sounds nice until you realize that the spells never get any more powerful, so eventually all your friends are massively more powerful than you while you have zero hope of ever getting better. On the other hand, if you have a power that doesn't get stronger with your level like, say, Alter Limbs, you don't really give a shit about this roll. And then there's the possibility of getting Natural Combat Ability, which replaces your existing combat abilities with a new set of bonuses, so if you get it from an enchanted object you eventually just have a fancy ring you wear as a fashion statement (assuming you even bother with it in the first place, since Natural Combat Ability's bonuses are...interesting.)
Next up is the process of choosing spells our object lets us use! My roll gives me four spells each from spell levels 1 to 4 plus 6 total from levels 5 to 8, so I get plenty to go over.
- Blinding Flash is super cheap and leaves people blinded with it at -5 to strike and -10 do dodge or parry.
- Decipher Magic lets you read magic writing. There is apparently no way of reading magic writing without it so there's a bit of a chicken or egg situation going on, but that's a problem imported from D&D so I can't really fault Kevin for it.
- See the Invisible makes invisible enemies exist, since any even remotely competent GM knows it'd be unfair to send them at a party that doesn't have it but a party that does have it needs chances to actually use it.
- Sense Evil tells you if there's supernatural evil afoot and how much there is. It only works within 90 feet so I'm not sure it really has any utility, but it's there.
- Befuddle is a simple but effective debuff that cuts a target's attacks down by half. There's some other effects too but that's the only one you really care about.
- Fear (Horror Factor: 16) really is written out like that, and anyone who fails their save suffers from the penalties until they leave the spell's range instead of getting to save each round like how the normal Horror Factor rules work.
- Mystic Alarm tells you that someone's broken into your house, an event you probably can't react to.
- Turn Dead makes animated dead run away. What's that, you say? What about vampires and ghosts and zombies? Well it's not called Turn undead now, is it?
- Armor of Ithan gives you armour with an AR of 18 and 100 + 10/level SDC. It's good stuff.
- Invisibility: Simple is Greater Invisibility. You'd think the low-level invisibility spell would be regular broken-when-you-attack Invisibility and the high-level one would be Greater Invisibility, but only because you don't think like Kevin Siembieda does.
- Negate Poison/Toxin lets you say "Fuck you!" to everyone who tries to poison you forever.
- Paralysis: Lesser paralyzes one limb at a time. Yes, Kevin really did decide that this is an appropriate way to nerf Hold Person.
- Carpet of Adhesion is the one true combat spell. You make a magic rug that absolutely any enemy is guaranteed to get stuck in for multiple full combat rounds, even if they make their saving throw. Everyone who does magic needs this spell, and unlike most combat magic it is absolutely worth spending half the round on.
- Charismatic Aura lets you make people listen to you under any circumstances. I can think of a few uses for this in a superhero context, really.
- Magic Net lets you, well, catch enemies in a magic net that they need magic to break out of. This is another one that's actually worth it, especially in a superhero context where you'd rather leave your enemies alive.
- Multiple Image is your traditional "Which is the real one?" illusion boss technique. The only way to make the fakes disappear is by hitting them with iron, which means anyone with guns is proper fucked since those use lead.
- Energy Disruption turns electric things off, including the bad guy of the week's getaway car. That is, until the GM decides to have diesel make a comeback a decade early to stop you from using that particular trick...
- Escape tells the guy who spent multiple skill programs learning the Escape Artist skill that he wasted his time.
- Heal Wounds works as advertised, and is a nice thing to have just in case.
- Fire Ball scales with caster level, an effect you need to wait for spell level 6 to get. Because Kevin was tired of mages ruining all his combat encounters, it has no area of effect.
- Fly as the Eagle is your typical magic flight spell. There's a lower level one simply called Fly, but you need to have something to enchant with it.
- Negate Magic is what it sounds like, and has a hilariously confused description where it tells you to make a saving throw and then "[i]f the roll is a successful save the magic is not negated." Then it tells you that "[a] failed save means the negation attempt did not work." I think Kevin means that you roll over the target number to make it work, but don't quote me on that.
So we're not in the worst situation possible, but I still had to choose a few duds as filler.
The enchanted object also provides a generic +2 to save vs magic, with a note that it doesn't include psionics as though we'd expect it to. I also get to roll for an extra 1d4x10 SDC, and naturally I rolled a 1. There's also a chart to roll on for an extra special ability, and on a 10 our character is now impervious to fire. That's certainly not bad, especially compared to the last option on the table. That one makes you impervious to all magic, but your HP and SDC are cut in half and can't be increased ever again. So you'd end up with a character who doesn't get better at using their powers and doesn't get stronger, which fucking sucks and I'm not even gonna try to be sarcastic about it.
For money I get 1d4x1,000 dollars, and Enchanted Object characters have a 95% chance of owning a car that's only 1d4 years old. Slow down there Kevin, everyone knows how broken it is to almost always be able to have a sixth generation Civic!
The only things I actually need to buy for this character are their swords, but I also throw down the cash for a phone. No answering machine though, because I felt like being silly (and really, when was the last time someone ever left a message you cared about on your personal phone?)
Our character is an illegitimate child, which is an interesting thing to have on the birth order table to say the least. They're short and of average weight, their disposition is paternal and overprotective, they have $7,000 in the bank, and they're from a middle class family living in an American suburb. Naturally they're only allowed to live in an apartment now, a house would just be broken.
I swear I don't always decide on character name and gender at the very end of the character creation process, but it feels very right for Heroes Unlimited in particular. This character's going to be named Ellen Caine, and her codename as a superhero is Ringhaver because really, I can't think of any other name that makes sense.
Ringhaver is pretty effective, but her powers are kinda lame. I did what I could to make sure she got spells that are actually useful, and in that regard she benefits from the ridiculous bass-ackwards way Palladium invisibility magic works, but ultimately her best power is having the HP of a character 3 or 4 levels above her. She can also stay alive at really low negative HP, and basically laughs in the face of anyone stupid enough to try to get the whammy on her with magic.
Next time, we'll see what proper wizards look like in Heroes Unlimited and take a closer look at the more bizarre aspects of the Palladium magic system.
Character Sheet:
Name: Ellen Caine
Hero Name: Ringhaver
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Alignment: Scrupulous
Level: 1
XP: 0
IQ: 5
ME: 14
MA: 9
PS: 20 (+5)
PP: 11
PE: 32 (+32%/+8)
PB: 13
Spd: 21
HP: 36
SDC: 92
SDC with Object: 102
Attacks per Melee: 5
Melee Damage: +5
Parry: +3
Dodge: +3
Roll with Punch: +10
Pull Punch: +3
Initiative: +2
Knockout Punch: 20
Pin/Incapacitate: 18-20
Save vs Coma: +32%
Save vs Magic: +8 (+10 with object)
Save vs Poison: +8
Power Category: Magic
Subcategory: Enchanted Object
Object's PPE: 150
Powers of the Object: 4 spells each from levels 1-4, and 6 total from levels 5-8
Object's power level: Sixth
SDC from object: 10
Other special ability from object: Impervious to Fire
Spells:
Blinding Flash (1)
Decipher Magic (4)
See the Invisible (4)
Sense Evil (2)
Befuddle (6)
Fear (Horror Factor: 16) (5)
Mystic Alarm (5)
Turn Dead (6)
Armor of Ithan (10)
Invisibility: Simple (6)
Negate Poison/Toxin (5)
Paralysis: Lesser (5)
Carpet of Adhesion (10)
Charismatic Aura (10)
Magic Net (7)
Multiple Image (7)
Energy Disruption (15)
Escape (8)
Heal Wounds (10)
Fire Ball (10)
Fly as the Eagle (25)
Negate Magic (30)
Education: One year of college
Skill Programs: Physical (+10%), Communications (+10%)
Secondary Skills: 8
Skills:
Acrobatics (70%/70%/80%/60%/50%/40%)
Athletics
Basic Electronics (40%)
Basic Mathematics (45%)
Body Building & Weight Lifting
Boxing
Gymnastics (60%/70%/70%/80%/35%/40%)
Hand to hand: Martial Arts (counts as 3 secondary skill picks)
Language: English (98%)
Laser Communications (40%)
Literacy: English (98%)
Pilot Automobile (98%)
Radio: Basic (55%)
Radio: Scrambler (45%)
Running
TV/Video (35%)
WP Paired Weapons (long swords)
WP Sword
Wrestling
Money: $1,050
Items:
Car (conventional; 2 years old)
2 long swords
Basic phone
Background Info:
Birth Order: Illegitimate
Weight: Average
Height: Short
Disposition: Paternal, overbearing, overprotective of others, especially young characters
Life Savings: $7,000
Land of Origin: United States
Childhood Environment: Suburb, a small city or a large town
Social/Economic Background: Skilled/Middle Class
