LonePaladin:
Well, your SPD stat represents how many times you can act in a 12-second Turn. So it has to be divided up -- if one person has a 3, and the other has a 5, when does the latter get his extra two turns? The Speed Chart is simply a way to spread out everyone's turns so that each character is acting at regular intervals.
I know, but I'd rather actually eliminate the idea of one player getting more actions entirely. It becomes a "fun tax," that you have to pay or else you get left behind. The same way Extra Actions becomes a tax in BESM 3rd, for instance. I've never liked the mechanic at all.
I can't think of a necessity for it, either. Speedsters can be represented with all kinds of other things: AoE effects for super-speed attacks or environmental tricks, quickness at accomplishing mundane tasks for those that can operate their whole bodies at super-speed, high movement, defensive powers, and so on. None of anything that they do like that requires extra full actions.
LonePaladin:
I think there's an alternative in one of the Advanced Players Guides, I'll take a look.
I'll look, too, but if you find something helpful, I'd be very happy to know about it.
I have a couple games coming up where I'd like to use HERO, but these particular issues make the idea of running it far more daunting.
LonePaladin:
And the thing for calculating movement is a bit more complicated, because Hero doesn't use abstractions. Instead of just using a single number for the whole thing, it's specific -- rather than "rank 11", you have an exact distance (40m) and interval (your SPD).
Here's the math, with an example.
Take your movement distance (say, Flight 40m), multiply it by your SPD (say, 5). The result (200m) is how far you go in a 12-second Turn.
Multiply that by 5 (1000m) for how far you go in a minute.
Multiply that by 60 (60,000m = 60km) for your speed in KPH.
This is another reason I'd like to get rid of SPD and make this a bit simpler. More and more I realize that I don't need or want that much specificity in movement, or ranges in general. An optional rule for HERO that made use of range bands and simplified movement would be amazing, I can tell ya that. Do any such things exist?