Blackmoor Vituperative

Apparently things are business-as-usual at Hero Games. A Hero Games customer Franklin Cain (who goes by the nickname of fwcain) asked a fairly straightforward question about the game’s mechanics:

According to 5E, pg. 77, someone buying Hardened Defenses must specify which one attack Advantage will be neutralized by the Hardened Defenses, when an attack power has more than one of the listed Advantages. Thus, if I am reading that correctly, if I say “This Hardened Defenses stops Penetrating” then the Hardened Defenses is no good at all against a power with both Armor-Piercing and Indirect (as neither of those are Penetrating).

Shouldn’t that read that the purchaser chooses in what order those three attack Advantages will be neutralized? (E.g.: “This Hardened Defenses neutralizes Penetrating first, then Armor-Piercing, and then Indirect, as applicable.”)

(from Hero Games Discussion Boards, “Hardened Defenses” vs. attack Advantages)

Note that Franklin is asking about Hero System Fifth Edition, a book he probably paid around $35 for. Steve Long ignores that, or perhaps did not read the question carefully, because he responds with a reference to a different (and much more expensive) book:

The rule stated on 5ER 115 is correct, with an example to show how it applies.

(from Hero Games Discussion Boards, “Hardened Defenses” vs. attack Advantages)

Steve is referring to Hero System Fifth Edition, Revised, not Hero System Fifth Edition — the book Franklin asked about. He also did not answer the question. Well, maybe that was an oversight on Steve’s part. He’s only human, and we all make mistakes. So Franklin follows up with a clarification:

I do not have 5ER (I have 5E), so a page reference to 5ER does not answer my question. Should this answer be in one of the FAQs, a specific link would be most appreciated, and I apologize for the inconvenience. Should the answer not be in an online FAQ, I’d appreciate receiving the answer.

(from Hero Games Discussion Boards, “Hardened Defenses” vs. attack Advantages)

Steve Long replies with something right out of a Scientology sales manual:

It may or may not be in the old FAQ, I don’t recall. Regardless, once we put an answer in print, we don’t generally provide that information for free. When I answer questions I use the latest, most up to date, version of the rulebook.

(from Hero Games Discussion Boards, “Hardened Defenses” vs. attack Advantages)

Franklin paid for the book, and he’s asking about an error in that book (and yes, it is an error, corrected in the revised edition). Rather than typing the simple reply that would answer Franklin’s question, Steve Long tells Franklin to bugger off and go spend $50 if he wants to know the answer. This isn’t the first time he has done so, either: this is Long’s normal manner of responding to questions about errors in his company’s products.

This is the person to whom you are giving your money if you buy a new Hero Games product: someone who will respond to questions about errors in his products by telling you to buy more of them.

To answer Franklin’s question, if a character is attacked with a power that has more than one Hardened-stopped Advantage (a power that is both Armor Piercing and Penetrating, for example), the character’s defenses would need to be Hardened twice to stop both. If the character being attacked has fewer levels of Hardened than the attack has Hardened-stopped Advantages, the defending character gets to pick which of those Advantages are stopped by her Hardened defenses.

In other words, Steve Long could have answered Franklin’s original question with a simple “yes”. Or, if he wanted to be really wordy, “Yes, you are correct.”

Draw your own conclusions.