From: dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Dave Van Domelen)
Subject: Hero Bestiary and other Hero Stuff
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 03:16:30 GMT

I would like the Hero editors to repeat after me: "I will be more careful in 
the future when using global search and replace."
     Yes, even though we thought the large number of people hunted by the
"Char mpions" in an earlier product would have gotten this lesson through, it 
has happened again.  In the Bestiary, we have a mindboggling number of 
"viscous" claws, teeth and beasts, as opposed to "vicious".  At first I thought
it was a case of using a spellchecker instead of a dictionary, until I saw 
"viciously" spelled correctly, followed closely by a correct use of "viscous" 
in describing a Blob writeup.  My guess is that the Blob was described as 
"vicious" and globally replaced with "Viscous", messing up scads of other 
entries.
     Other criticisms (don't worry, the good stuff will follow, I'm just spleen
venting first): several creatures referred to in writeups were edited out 
without the references to them being removed.  Off the top of my head I can 
think of Hill Giants, Stone Giants, Clay Golems and Revenants.  Also, much of 
the fantasy part of the book seems to be a ripoff of the Monster Manual, with a
few names changed to prevent lawsuits.  Of course, this is pardonable, since 
most of us 'grew up' on AD&D, and naturally would miss our favorite monsters.  
One good example is the lumping of Black Puddings, Yellow Molds, Gelatinous 
Cubes and White Puddings under the category of "Mounds" of various colors.  
Another problem is abuse of the Reduced Penetration limitation in some cases.  
How do you apply RP to a 1 pip attack on a creature with negative STR (the 
Domestic Cat)?  WHY even have it?
     Okay, now the reasons you should buy this despite the nits above.  First, 
it's a great source of monsters for any FH campaign, and has a few that can 
challenge your average 10DC Superheroes.  Also, the movie monster section is 
GREAT!  The "Predatory Alien" or "Devil of Summer" is actually impressive, and 
I'm pretty jaded about this stuff.  The Cyborg Hunter (Terminator) is also 
good, being wimpy on attack (as should be) but nigh-indestructible with 18rPD 
and 14rED as an Automaton.  The Godzilla ripoff is downright scary, with 6d6 
EKA *AP* and a 23d6 cone effect tailsweep!  The Blob is both viscous and 
vicious, with a 10d6 BOD transfer to Growth.  Ewwww.  The "Aliens" ripoff isn't
as impressive, but 100 of them would be.  Or one versus a bunch of unarmed 
competent normals in a sewer....  The normal animals are not as useful in my 
opinion, but provide the grist for Animal Follower mills, I suppose.  The 
dinosaurs are neat, but only half of the ones listed in the timechart they 
provide are actually written up...edited out I presume.  Another reason to buy 
this book is its treatment of Undead.  Did you know that being dead is a 20 
point Phys Lim and a 15 point Psych Lim? }->  Also, they have "Afterlife 
Support".  I nearly fell over laughing at that one when I first saw it.
     Okay, on to the Other Stuff mentioned in the subject header.  The overuse 
of RP in HBestiary got me to thinking about that limitation, and I realized it 
was a really good substitute for Autofire when it comes to superspeed and the 
like.  I mean, multiple punches at superspeed usually can't *break* anything 
that one punch alone couldn't, but they can *stun* them.  I refer specifically 
to Alpha Flight #12, where Northstar pummels Sasquatch and actually hurts him 
with a flurry of normal-strength punches.  How it would work is this: buy 
enough HA to either quadruple or octuple your HTH damage, then buy RP 2 or 3 
times on it, with the understanding that the RP would apply to the net attack, 
not just the HA.  Thus the attack would not do much more BOD to the target (esp
an armored one) than the regular punch, but the repeated attacks with no chance
to recover between would do alot more STUN.  Of course, this would simulate not
4 or 8 punches, but several dozen or hundred delivered in a fraction of a 
second...the RP just keeps the BOD down, it doesn't necessarily imply 4 or 8 
attacks.  Someone like the Flash or Northstar, capable of several hundred shots
at once, would be STR 10 (add +20 STR only for lifting for Flash) with 14d6 HA 
on 3x RP and 0 END for this.  Of course, they can also concentrate on one spot 
and break armor at the cost of severe damage to theirselves, so maybe 14d6 HA 
with automatic Side Effect in another MP or EC slot.  Someone with less 
superspeed but more raw strength might have STR 15 and 9d6 HA with 2x RP.  Use 
of Reduced Penetration in this way can simulate superspeed punches that go off 
all in one attack but don't individually do much damage or knockback.
     Dave Van Domelen, has 1 pip HKA with RP, viscous claws....