Hero Designer 6th Edition - Hero Games Company

48 ■ Character Templates Hero Designer 6th Edition
NCM or NCM40) should match the XMLID of
the appropriate NCM OPTION specified in the
MAINAPP section. The value is the maximum
value before the Normal Characteristic Maxima
cost multiplier kicks in.
In addition, Characteristic containers can
include Adders and Modifiers, although these will
only be used when the Characteristic is purchased
as a Power.
An example of modifying Characteristic
definitions and adding new Characteristics appears
in the “Creating Extension Templates” section on
page 50.
SKILLS SECTION
The SKILLS section defines the Skills available
for characters built with the template.
In addition to the common subcontainers
listed on page 45, Skills use a subcontainer called
CHARACTERISTIC_CHOICE. This subcontainer
specifies on what Characteristic a Skill is based.
When multiple CHARACTERISTIC_CHOICE
subcontainers are present, users are presented with
a dropdown selection list, letting them choose
on which Characteristic to base the Skill. Each
CHARACTERISTIC_CHOICE subcontainer has a
single subcontainer of its own: ITEM.
ITEM can define the following values:
BASECOST, LVLCOST, LVLVAL, and
CHARACTERISTIC. The CHARACTERISTIC
value should match one of the Characteristics
defined in the template’s CHARACTERISTICS
section. Additionally, you may use the value
GENERAL to refer to the GENERAL_LEVEL
defined in the MAINAPP section.
As a general rule, you should not change
flat-cost Skills (that is, Skills that do not have a
LVLCOST, LVLVAL, and so forth defined) to levelbased
Skills or vice-versa. The safest way to edit
abilities in this section is to just change the values of
attributes that are already specified.
You can add Adders and Modifiers to any Skill.
To create new Skills, use the generic SKILL
container and assign it a unique XMLID.
This container uses the same attributes and
subcontainers as the predefined Skills. An example
of creating a new Skill appears in the “Creating
Extension Templates” section on page 50.
SKILL_ENHANCERS SECTION
All Skill Enhancers (Scholar, Scientist, and so
forth) are defined in this section. The available Skill
Enhancers are fixed, though you can change any
of the attributes and set what types of item each
affects (for example, KNOWLEDGE, CONTACT,
and so forth) by using the TYPE container.
The only attribute unique to Skill Enhancers is
COSTSAVINGS. This attribute should be set to an
integer value and represents the amount to deduct
from the cost of any abilities which match the
Enhancer’s type.
You cannot add new Skill Enhancers. Nor
can you can you remove a Skill Enhancer from
the menu. However, you can use the REMOVE
container described in “Creating Extension
Templates” on page 50 to disable a Skill Enhancer
and prevent it from being selected from the Skill
Enhancer menu. You can also use Custom Adders
to simulate new Skill Enhancers as described
in the “Attaching Custom Adders To Lists And
Frameworks” sidebar on page 26.
MARTIAL_ARTS SECTION
All Martial Maneuvers and related abilities
(extra Damage Classes, Weapon Element, and
so forth) are defined in this section. The related
abilities (extra Damage Classes, Weapon Element,
and so forth) are fixed (that is, you cannot add new
ones), though the attributes can all be edited to
change their structure.
All maneuvers are defined with the generic
MANEUVER container. The valid attributes for the
MANEUVER container are as follows:
DISPLAY: This attribute specifies the default
name of the maneuver.
CATEGORY: This attribute specifies the
category of the Maneuver. By default, there
are two categories: “Hand To Hand” and
“Ranged”. If you define a Maneuver with a
different value for CATEGORY, it will be
placed in a list for that category. Any string
value may be used here.
OCV: This attribute specifies the OCV modifier
for the Maneuver. Any String value may
be used here (so you may specify “--“ for
Maneuvers like Dodge) , though the length of
the string should be limited for formatting.
DCV: This attribute specifies the DCV modifier
for the maneuver. Any String value may be
used here, though the length of the string
should be limited for formatting.
DC: This attribute specifies the number of
additional damage classes of effect this
Maneuver provides. Any integer value may be
used here.
PHASE: This attribute specifies how many
phases it takes to perform the Maneuver. Any
string value may be used here, though for
formatting, you should limit the length to 3
characters or less.
EFFECT: This attribute specifies the text that
should appear in the effect column for this
Maneuver.
WEAPONEFFECT: This attribute specifies the
text that should appear in the effect column
for this Maneuver if the user specifies that it
is used with a weapon. The presence of this
Attribute will create a drop-down list for the
user to select whether they are purchasing the
maneuver for use with a weapon or empty
hand.
The EFFECT and WEAPONEFFECT
attributes specify the damage that a Maneuver