Yesterday I wrote about using Hero System for my Seekers of Lore campaign. Today I explore what that would look like.
Recognize that Hero System lets you build almost anything you can imagine. This is a useful feature of the game! This will not be fully available to players in Seekers of Lore, especially at the start. “Finding new options” is one of the rewards in Seekers of Lore. Free use of the power system defeats that purpose/premise.
That said, as things are (re)discovered, more and more of Hero’s capabilities will come online.
Character Tier
I assumed Heroic tier for PCs (150 with 50 matching complications… or expressed the old way, 100 base + 50 disadvantage). The idea of starting as Skilled Normal has some appeal also, though.
I still want PCs to start a step above regular people, because regular people stay home. I wonder if I can start with some ‘funnel adventures’ that are the PC introduction to heroic behavior, then upgrade.
Packages
Fantasy Hero suggests and encourages using packages of related elements when building characters. These loosely take the place of races and classes in D&D.
At one level, packages help build characters faster because they identify elements commonly available to characters of various types. These can include characteristic modifiers, common talents and perks, skill choices, and (in Fantasy Hero) magic. They also can include disadvantages (in 6e, complications — same thing, new name).
In earlier editions (up to 4e), packages also would give a small break on the cost. What I used to do instead is treat each package as a single unit and charge just the net value. This didn’t give free points, but did let players skirt the CP limits in character construction. I’m likely to do the same here.
Package Complications
Normally if a PC picks up a complication in play, they do not get CP for it. I am open to players picking up packages after play starts, and those packages having complications. For instance, joining a particular order can give several benefits but bring a complication such as Hunted. This is part of balancing the package, so I would allow the complication to provide CP. Or rather, the package cost is reduced by the complication value.
Characteristics
As normal for Fantasy Hero, plus Mana (MAN) and Mana Recovery (MRC). I want END(urance) to be used for physical elements, not as a single-fuel for everything.
Skills, Perks, and Talents
Skills are as appropriate for fantasy games; it’s unlikely you’ll run into a computer to program.
Perks are often socially-oriented, so I’ll need to review them.
Talents are probably uncommon to start, but will become more common as things are (re)discovered. Even so, starting characters are unlikely to have many talents, unless they have a suitable background (or package). That is, a Seeker new to the region is not going to have many talents, if any. A Seeker who has been exploring for a while can be expected to have picked up several. A Seeker trained in the Citadel of Nol’Tombar can start with Danger Sense.
Magic and Powers
This is where a lot of the heavy lifting happens.
Anyone can get powers, and what those powers look like and do will vary. For the most part, Seekers are the only ones to have them: regular people don’t. Magic and powers are part of why many Seekers risk their lives, after all.
Spell Casting
There are many details to be worked out, but I know some things already.
- Anyone can dabble in spell casting. They will use the standard versions of spells, and will pay full cost. They will be ‘inefficient casters’, but they will be casters.
- Magical traditions will exist, each representing a certain style of magic. I expect to make use of the Hero Grimoire, obviously, but they won’t align exactly.
- Each tradition will have its own guidelines for magic. This includes common limitations, and to a lesser extent common advantages.
- Rune Magic takes Extra Time and full Concentration, but lasts longer (duration, or uncontrolled) and is Hard To Dispel.
- Words of Power obviously has Incantations but is exhausting (Extra Mana).
- Many traditions can be bought as Multipowers, but this is not mandatory. Tradition as multipower reduces the CP cost, but limits how many/much of the spells can be active at once.
- A tradition typically will be a package, as above.
- Each tradition will have its own guidelines for magic. This includes common limitations, and to a lesser extent common advantages.
- Complicating the traditions, some spells will themselves be Multipowers. You don’t put frameworks in frameworks, so these special/complex spells would be ‘stand alone’.
- Sets of related spells (seen in D&D 3.x as domains, bloodlines, and mysteries) can also be Multipowers.
Other Powers
Many other abilities can be built as powers. I expect to write up many new talents, being concrete expressions of common powers, for this purpose. For instance, let’s say Disciples of the Moon all have controlled lycanthropy. I can write a talent that is a specific Multiform power and add to the talent list. This talent can then be used to define the Disciple of the Moon package.
I expect to have many ‘skill-based powers’ (someone so good at Stealth they can become invisible). People this skilled are uncommon of in civilized lands, but in the Wilds you need to learn things to survive.
Martial arts, to extreme degree, probably have options here also. A common example in Echelon, the Cutting Wind combat style, allows a practitioner to use a sword-based Blast at range. Someone skilled enough with a shield can create a Barrier. And so on.
Adaptations and Adjustments
I said earlier that players should not expect full access to power construction. This does not mean no access. I can easily imagine a character who struggles in becoming a Disciple of the Moon. Their lycanthropy is uncontrolled (activation roll) or limited (personality loss, 1 hour). A Disciple of the Moon might be bigger and badder than most (Multiform is a dire wolf). A Disciple of the Moon could also be a Child of Winter (Multiform is a winter wolf).
Even if starting characters are limited in what they can do, this setting and campaign are all about unexpected growth. The powers as presented are starting points only.
Closing Comments
I’ve been a fan of Hero System for decades. The way the pieces fit together suit a Seekers of Lore campaign very well. I’ll be exploring this further, in later posts, but for now I like how this looks.
A couple things I’ve come up with in my own on and off work to set up a Fantasy Hero campaign:
My equivalent to your tier increases would come with an increase in the disad/complication caps. The catch is that you have to unlock those extra points by spending XP. The XP still goes towards improving your character, with each XP spent also ‘releasing’ one CP from your added disads. As always, the added disads have to make character sense, (e.g. gaining divine power might come with a distinctive feature representing how you are now always trailed by a small cloud of butterflies).
For spellcasting, I found a way to have Vancian magic: Use a power pool, with the requirements that all slots require charges and slots can only be changed or charges recovered with rest and an appropriate spell reference. I would also require the limitation Spell (-¼), and some amount of ‘spellcasting’ limitations, (incantations, extra time, foci, etc.), treated as a variable limitation for the control cost.
Right.
The tier increase can come automatically with CP expenditure, and as you get bigger, so can your various caps. Or I can keep the caps static, and over time your character gets ‘broader’ rather than ‘taller’, if you will. I have a similar concept in Echelon, where tiers are nominally and normally four levels, you can stretch them out if you want. For example, if you especially like the heroic tier (D&D 3.x levels 5-8, which many people consider a sweet spot) you can simply make that tier six or eight levels. You get more talents, and a few more hit points, but you don’t get higher-tier slots or the bigger hit point jump that comes with a tier advancement.
Your solution for Vancian casting is pretty typical, almost verbatim from the Fantasy Hero core book. There are other options, though! I love that it’s built into the framework that you have more than one way to do things.