Editor's Note
These options, like everything in Digital Hero, are strictly optional rules. Please make sure your gamemaster wants to use these variations before you use them in a game.

The Hero System has always been one of the most versatile systems for character creation. Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, the character’s "versatility" stops at character creation. Once you have purchased a power such as Teleportation or Force Field, and set its options, you are locked into those options for a long time. Fortunately for us, the Hero System’s overall flexibility allows us to correct this oversight.

There are some methods in Hero of giving your character versatility after creation. The Power Modifiers Variable Advantage and Variable Limitation allow the character to choose how his power works each time he uses it. The power framework Multipower allows the character to, not only, choose from several powers but also to adjust the leve l of power he is using in some cases. The Variable Power Pool (VPP) framework allows the ultimate in flexibility, by allowing the character to use almost any power in the game, within the confines of his powers’ special effects.. All these methods add versatility to a character.

With the exception of Variable Power Pool, the flexibility allowed is generally limited to changing one aspect of a power. If you buy a 10 PD/10 ED Force you could vary how much of the field you use; i.e. you could use it as a 10/10 Force Field or a 4/4 Force Field But the ratio must remain the same as the original power. You couldn’t have a 15/5 or 6/3 Force Field for example. A power advantage that allowed you to vary the way you allocated the points in a power would add even more versatility to a character. Therefore, I have created a new Power Advantage, Versatile, to do this.

Variable Power Pool allows a character to build powers on the fly. Scaleable is like a VPP for a single power, for this reason I built the advantage based on VPP. The VPP control cost is a +1/2 advantage on the pool base. Advantages and limitations can only be placed on the control cost; i.e. the +1/2 advantage. To arrive at a net advantage value for the Scaleable advantage I applied the modifiers of ‘No Skill Roll Required (+1)’, ‘Change as a 0 phase action (+1)’, and ‘Only one power allowed (-2)’ to the +1/2 advantage of the control cost. The result of +1/2 is what I use for the Scaleable value.

If you want to require a half phase action, using the above process comes out as .5 * 2 (1+1) / 3 (1 +2) = .333333. Since Hero doesn’t do well with a 1/3 advantage I decided to make it cost +1/4 instead.

Fuzion Notes: The VPP control cost is a +2 Adder on the pool base. Adders and Limiters can only be placed on the control cost; i.e. the +2 Adder. To arrive at a net Adder value for the Versatile Adder I applied the modifiers of ‘No Skill Roll Required (+4)’, ‘Change as a 0 phase action (+4)’, and ‘Only one power allowed (-8)’ to the +2 Adder of the control cost. The result of +2 is what I use for the Versatile Adder value. (Editor’s Note: This is a little too cheap for this Adder in Fuzion, so I am going to double the cost, to make it a +4 Adder for a Zero Phase change, and a +2 Adder for a Half Phase Change.)

Versatile
This Power Advantage (or Adder) allows the character to re-allocate how they spent the points in a power. The only points that can be re-allocated are points spent on the base power plus any advantages (Adders), limitations (Limiters), or modifiers that are part of the power cost description. These points are then spent to rebuild the power from scratch. Only modifiers, advantages and limitations listed in the power description can be purchased with these points. The resulting power must be a legally constructed power and is subject to GM approval. All modifiers, limitations, and advantages that are not part of the powers description remain unchanged and affect the resulting power normally.

For a +1/4 Advantage (+2 Adder) the character can re-allocate the points in a power as a Half Phase action. It can be done anytime a character has a Half Phase action to use. At a +1/2 Advantage (+4 Adder) the character can re-allocate a power as a zero phase action, which can be done any time such actions are allowed.

Hero System Example: Adept buys 30" Teleportation with a +1/4 Versatile advantage for 60 + 15 = 75pts. Later he needs to teleport himself and a fallen comrade to safety. He takes a half phase action and changes his power to be 25" (50 pts) Teleport with x2 Mass (+5pts) and x2 Distance (+5pts) for a total of 50+5+5 = 60pts (not 75pts because the extra 15pts came from an advantage outside the power description). With his remaining half phase he can do a half move (13") teleport with his unconscious friend.

Fuzion Example: Adept buys 60 meters of Teleportation with a +1Versatile Adder for 12 + 2= 14 PPs.. Later he needs to teleport himself and a fallen comrade to safety. He takes a half phase action and changes his power to be 50 meters (10 PPs) Teleport with x2 Mass (+1 PP) and x2 Distance (+1 PP) for a total of 12 PPs (not 14 PPs because the extra 2 PPs came from an Adder outside the power description). With his remaining half phase he can do a half move (25 meters) Teleport with his unconscious friend.

The Versatile Advantage only works on powers that have optional components in their descriptions. Versatile would not, for instance, work on Energy Blast because there are no variable components to it. However, it would work on Force Field because the purchased defense can be either PD or ED (KD or EKD). This advantage cannot be applied to a power framework but may be applied to a slot inside a power framework.

• Versatile (Hero System): +1/4 allows the character to adjust the points in a power as a half phase action. For +1/2 the character can adjust a power as a zero phase action. Versatile does not increase the END cost of a power.
• Versatile (Fuzion): A +2 Adder allows the character to adjust the points in a power as a half phase action. For a +4 Adder the character can adjust a power as a zero phase action.