A hero is one of those people who always (well nearly always) manage to overcome the odds stacked against them to defeat the evil warlords. How do they manage this, who or what is looking over them? Well who or what we may not always know, what we do know is that they are more skilled than the proles, they (generally) manage to get in that vital killing blow or dive behind a table for cover from the ball of fire.
The problem is how to model this in a game. We need some way that is simple to implement yet comprehensive enough to allow the heroes to become proficient in their skills beyond the norm, to escape perilous situations by the luck of the gods and produce exceptional feats of prowess when needed. This is modelled by Hero Points (HP), these can be used for increasing skills, avoiding dangerous situations and to increase the chance of performing those exceptionally heroic feats.
Hero Points are one shot affairs that may be used during combat to pull off that spectacular dodge, to close their mind to the powerful sleep spell or concentrate their mind to allow more power to flow into their own magics.
Hero points cannot be used to affect a bodge roll (double 1) after the roll, regardless of whether it is a complete or partial bodge, however using a HP to add a d10 to a skill roll prevents the possibility of a bodge.
Hero Points are awarded at the end of each adventure for feats performed. The more action or problem solving a character takes part in, the greater the reward. As an extra incentive any act which is deemed to be especially exciting, brave or just looks good, has a chance of gaining an extra point immediately.
For a fighter this could be a leap from balcony to chandelier whereas for a wizard it would be the exceptional timing of a spell to cause the opponents to think again. Each action may only gain a HAP once for any given character, after the first chandelier leap subsequent attempts are not as spectacular.
Hero Points may be converted to Training Points between adventures (or when the party is safe) getting 1TP for each 5 HPs. They may not be converted back to Hero Points. A maximum of 10 HPs may be kept between adventures, the rest must be converted to TPs
Roll an additional d10 and add to original die roll for skill attempt
e.g. Fighting or leaping onto a galloping horse (must be heroic not just open locks (unless being chased by a hairy monster))
For example
Kuma the fighter is attacking a troll and requires a 15 to just hit. Their attack skill is 4 so they need an 11 on the dice.
Kuma rolls a 9 which is insufficient. Using a hero point he rolls an additional d10 again getting a 7.
4 + 9 +7= 22 which generates a bonus figure of +7 over the number they required and have scored a tremendous hit.
There are three conditions to the use of HP
Reduce damage by half with a minimum of -5. This reduces both stamina and wound point damage. This applies to a whole attack set from a single creature, thus a claw, claw, bite routine would have all damage halved. When rounding the damage down the total damage taken should be half the grand total. If this requires rounding up on one or more strikes the character may determine which strike to round up. Armour absorbtion is after the reduction.
There is no roll required for this.
This gives the character an effective iniative of one for 1 minute (6 rounds) so they always get iniative.
There is no roll required for this.
Hero points on saving throws must be declared before the roll gaining a d10 skill advantage. HP may also be used after the roll, in this case they only gain a d4 advantage.
Actions for the round are normally declared in advance, using a Hero points allows a character to change their action and ract to a fluid situation
Gain a temporary power point.
Hero points may be used to alter the course of the plot. Think of an idea and ask how many hero points it would take.
A hero point may be used to perform 2 actions in a round performing both at full skill level, not suffering the normal -2 penalty.