1 Advanced Heroes Unlimited Book I: Powers Design: Marco Ferraro Copyright © 1990, 2005 and 2018 Palladium Books Inc. & Kevin Siembieda; all rights reserved world wide. No part of this work may be sold, distributed or reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher. All incidents, situations, institutions, governments and people are fictional and any similarity to characters or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. and Kevin Siembieda. Nightlands™, Heroes Unlimited™, Villains Unlimited™, Powers Unlimited™, Aliens Unlimited™, Beyond the Supernatural™, Boxed Nightmares™, Dead Reign™, Warpath: Urban Jungle™, Ninjas & Superspies™, Mystic China™, Triax™, Arzno™, MercTown™, Mindwerks™, Vampire Kingdoms™, Federation of Magic™, Juicer Uprising™, Phase World™, Wormwood™, Psyscape™, Cyber-Knight™, Glitter Boy™, Juicer™, Mind Melter™, Psi-Stalker™, Coalition States™, Northern Gun™, Dog Boy™, SAMAS™, Wilk’s™, Erin Tarn™, Emperor Prosek™, Naruni™, Naruni Enterprises™, Splugorth™, Mega-Damage™, M.D.C., S.D.C.™, I.S.P.™, P.P.E.™, O.C.C., R.C.C., is a trademark owned and licensed by Palladium Books, Inc. and Kevin Siembieda. 2 Contents Foreword 3 Minor Powers 3 Major Powers 69 Foreword Unlike Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, contrary to its name, seems all about hemming the heroes (i.e., players) in for the sake of a more suspenseful and challenging game, not to mention avoiding “game imbalance”. Given that the characters of Palladium Fantasy and Ninjas & Superspies are supposed to be exceptionally human level, superheroes should be... well, actually superhuman. That being the case, Heroes Unlimited doesn't really reflect a generically “universal” superhero system so much as Kevin Siembieda's concept of what a superhero universe should look like. Which is fine if you're on board with that, but if you're not, here are some revisions to fix that. Unless otherwise stated, all powers were created by Brett Hegr. All were taken from various former palladium sites around the net. None of the powers here were created by me, MINOR POWERS Absorb/Release Energy Range: 90ft +10ft per level of experience. Damage: 2d6 +1d6 per level can be released, depending upon the amount of stored energy. Duration: Absorbed energy can be held for two melees per level. If energy is still held at the end of this duration, it fizzles out and causes 1d4 points of S.D.C. damage per five points of unused energy. Maximum Absorption Limit: 50 points, +10 points per level. Every five points of energy damage, or fraction thereof, is transformed into 1d6 damage that can be directed and released. Basically, 2d6 damage can be produced per 10 points. 1-2 points of damage can only produce a 1 point zap, 3 points are needed to generate 1d4 damage, and 4-5 points are required for 1d6 damage. Attacks Per Melee: Counts as one hand to hand attack. Strike Bonuses: +2 to strike aimed, no bonus on a wild attack. P.P. bonuses are applicable. In Rifts: Maximum damage changes to 1d6 M.D.C. +1d6 per level and the maximum absorption limit is halved, but everything else is unchanged. The character is able to absorb any kind of energy attack directed against him be it pure energy, electricity or lightning, fire (not heat), or lasers/ light energy. Particle beams, cold attacks, sonic blasts, and kinetic energy (punches, kicks, and pure force blasts) cannot be absorbed. Absorbing energy from batteries, cables, or power plants is also possible. Anything weaker than a car battery is useless. A car battery can provide 10 points of energy, an E- 3 Clip can provide 20 points, an electric cable produces 20 points per melee, a chemical power supply gives 30 per melee, nuclear power supply (whether a power plant or a vehicle power source) 50 per melee, and a contemporary coal power plant generates 40 per melee. The character needs to physically touch the medium through which the energy is carried - could cause 3d6 points of damage in the case of holding an electrified cable, while a nuclear power plant might only be 1d6 damage but carry a danger of radiation poisoning. If there is damage overflow from absorption (the mutant hits the stated limit) or touching power feeds, reduce it according to whatever energy resistance abilities are possessed. The absorption is automatic (a reflex) but the character must see or sense the attack coming and spend a melee action to focus his absorption power. The character can perform absorption while attacking or defending, but no bonuses can be added to the rolls. Energy absorbed does no damage - at least, not to the character's outside. Absorbed energy slowly eats away at his internal structure (!) beginning on the melee after the absorption. If an attack is not absorbed it does the normal damage (perhaps none, if resistance powers are possessed). Absorption can be performed through clothing up to full environmental body armor, but not through the hulls of power armor, robots, or vehicles. If the amount of energy absorbed is less than 10 points per level no damage is taken. However, the super being suffers 1d4 damage direct to hit points per melee per 30 points of absorbed energy (or fraction thereof) larger than the previous amount. Thus, a 4th level mutant (limit of 90 points) could absorb up to 40 points with no hit point loss. If he absorbed 90 points he would only suffer damage from the 50 points of damage beyond the 40, and would take 2d4 per melee round. Limited damage reduction can be applied to this - beings who feed on energy and characters with Energy Resistance, Energy Absorption, APS: Plasma, APS: Electricity, or APS: Fire take half damage, never less. If you prefer the old limitation to this power, the roll to absorb the energy attack, it's a +1 to absorb energy at each odd numbered level and the absorption roll must tie or exceed the strike roll. Energy Absorption, Energy Resistance, APS: Fire, APS: Energy, and APS: Plasma all grant a +1 bonus to absorb an energy attack. GMs might choose to use one or both of the limitations, but having no such restriction on this power could be unbalancing to the game. An example: 2nd level mutant with this power falls victim to a sneak attack from a 6th level mutant with the Energy Expulsion: Radiation and Energy Expulsion: Light powers. He absorbs a 40 point radiation blast and can release up to 8d6 in radiation damage. He then takes a laser blast doing 32 points of damage - absorbing 30 of it and taking 2 points damage from overflow because he hit his limit of 70 points. When his attacks come around he unleashes two radiation bolts of 4d6 damage (his limit) and then two laser beams doing 3d6 damage each against his opponent, who is surprised to get a taste of his own medicine. Note: The character cannot transmute one form of energy into another with this power, though it is related. Should the GM and player decide to break this rule the player should pay for the ability with four modifications (see this page). If you don't want to use the modifications the player should either give up a minor super ability, sacrifice five hit points and 10 S.D.C. (as long as the character doesn't have ample amounts of either), or give up a total of 6 points from among his attributes. 4 If the character has Energy Absorption, he can opt to give up one of the abilities listed in that power to possess this minor super ability. Sacrificing two of those abilities nets him this minor power and also lets him transmute the absorbed energy. On the other hand, some GM's might just decide to include it with that power outright (I'm one of them). Accelerate Healing The character has the capacity to enhance the healing process in other living creatures. This ability is limited to some degree in that it cannot be used to resurrect or restore severely wounded people and it cannot destroy deadly diseases like cancer and AIDS. However, it is useful to help others recover from injuries or temporarily negate symptoms of diseases. The healing benefits are administered by a touch to the head, chest, or wounded areas. Little or no scarring results from the healing, but severe burns and mutilations can still leave noticeable marks. The healing causes little pain. Special Bonus: The character automatically has the First Aid skill (instinctive), or instead gains a +15% bonus to First Aid, Paramedic, or Medical Doctor if taken as a skill (but only one skill gets that bonus). The character also gets a +2 to the P.E. attribute and a bonus of +5 hit points (or M.D.C. if a mega- damage being). He also heals at triple the normal human rate. The mutant can perform one of the following for one hit point (recovers normally), with one melee of concentration: •Negate all pain for 15 minutes per level - this will allow the recipient to fight up to 20 hit points below zero. •Heal 2d6 S.D.C. •Heal 1d4 hit points or M.D.C. •Give a person another chance to recover from a coma with a +10% bonus. •Give a person near death a +20% bonus on their next save throw.