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So as I understand it, dodging a ranged attack is basically a straight roll at a -4. It seems to imply that some powers might change this.

This seems really uncomic-like. Extraordinary Spd doesn't call out dodging Bullets.

So what powers do allow one to dodge missile attacks? How do you play a Batman or a Spiderman?

Yeah and it carries from book to book too. Honestly it comes down to what style of game do you want, and have any penalties base off of that.
Gritty street level? Standard penalty. True heroes? No penalty

Yes the dodging bullets and energy blasts is a very notorious set of rules.

And what's worse is that they're not even consistent between books

RUE: -10 + bonuses (or -5 + bonuses > 50 feet away)
RMB: Bonuses, just a standard dodge roll
N&SS: -4 + bonuses
HU2: -4 No Bonuses
NB: Standard
HU(revised): Standard
HU(original): Standard for heroes or villains, no bonus for normal people

Regardless, that is the "rule" in HU2, I don't use it

Incriptus wrote:Yes the dodging bullets and energy blasts is a very notorious set of rules.

And what's worse is that they're not even consistent between books

RUE: -10 + bonuses (or -5 + bonuses > 50 feet away)
RMB: Bonuses, just a standard dodge roll
N&SS: -4 + bonuses
HU2: -4 No Bonuses
NB: Standard
HU(revised): Standard
HU(original): Standard for heroes or villains, no bonus for normal people

Regardless, that is the "rule" in HU2, I don't use it

Lol! Thanks for breaking that down for me! I knew it was different in RUE, but I didn't realize it was so weird across all the books!

Out of curiosity, what rule do you use? I was trying -4+bonuses.

The rule i use (and really, every Palladium GM/group ive ever talked to/run with) is just..

make a dodge roll. With your bonuses. Otherwise, why the hell do you have the bonuses if you only get to use them like 1/4 of the time?

Unless you want gunfire to be super-lethal (which it typically is not if you want a fun/balanced game, otherwise characters with powers/melee centric are screwed six ways from sunday), i really dont understand the need to incessantly penalize people.

As for the inconsistency between books...

I dont post often in the HU forums, so ive probably never said this here, but..

"Palladium" is not a game. Rifts is a game. Heroes Unlimited is a game. Ninjas and Superspies is a game. Palladium Fantasy is a game.

While they all share a core system (much like the d20 system could be adapted to many genres), they all NEED to have slight differences in the rules to be truly internally balanced and fun.

They are separate games. They will have idiosyncracies and changes between them to make them work.

Ninjas and Superspies is a great example. It has a LOT of slightly different rules and mechanics (Auto-dodge works entirely differently in N&SS, for instance) that make it slightly different than any other Palladium game.

Ironically (or perhaps not), its also the most balanced and internally consistent game Palladium publishes (and no accident that it was an Eric W joint, and not Kevin).

So, inconsistency between titles (which are all separate games with their own core rulebooks) is... a moot/pointless point.

However, in this particular case (dodging gunfire) - i just dont understand the need to apply penalties. In fact, the entire Palladium system in general has a propensity to dizzyingly stack bonuses and then apply penalties to completely remove those bonuses, so you feel good (yeah, ive got this awesome dodge bonus!... oh wait, im -10 to dodge...) and then get your good feels crushed.

Thats basically like just giving all guns +10 to hit. Why would you ever do that? Given how unlikely it is in most Palladium games (Heroes is one notable exception, actually) that you will even have a single attribute with a bonus other than maybe PS (Because of physical skills) ... the penalties seem stupid.

I feel the same about random penalties applied to other bonuses, as well. If you're going to have penalties that almost always overwhelm bonuses even for characters with good bonuses... why have the bonuses at all?

Just make the rolls.

Worst case scenario here is that characters survive a bit longer. OK. Hardly an issue. Games plenty lethal in most cases anyway.

Tywyll wrote:So what powers do allow one to dodge missile attacks?

Pause Temporal Flow?

my house game plays 'no bonuses -5' for bullets, however if you have a super ability that lets you dodge bullets, that turns into 'with bonuses - 5'


honestly it comes down to how heroic a game you want to play

Our group completely ignores penalties to dodge bullets.

Honestly it comes down to what powers are selected as to whether the character would be able to have bonuses apply to such a dodge. All characters can attempt it in my games.

Tywyll wrote:So what powers do allow one to dodge missile attacks?

Gravity Waves from PU three allows to you Parry Bullets and Missiles.

Magnetism allows you to stop small ones and slow "Large missiles" and "rockets" to the point you get a dodge and even get a +2 to do so.

Incriptus wrote:Yes the dodging bullets and energy blasts is a very notorious set of rules.

And what's worse is that they're not even consistent between books

RUE: -10 + bonuses (or -5 + bonuses > 50 feet away)
RMB: Bonuses, just a standard dodge roll
N&SS: -4 + bonuses
HU2: -4 No Bonuses
NB: Standard
HU(revised): Standard
HU(original): Standard for heroes or villains, no bonus for normal people

Regardless, that is the "rule" in HU2, I don't use it

Well said. We're playing super heroes! Charactes are supposed to dodge bullets. Ignore the penalty rolls. Your not dodging a bullet your
dodging the bullet, but avoiding the aim of the person shooting you.