Hero 6e, Vol 1 - Character Creation

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HERO

GAMES

ANY HERO

ONE SYSTEM!

The best has just gotten even better! The

HERO System

6th Edition brings new levels of flexibility and creativity to

the acclaimed

HERO System, allowing players to create any

sort of character, power, gadget, spell, vehicle, monster, or

weapon they can think of. Whatever you want to do, in any

genre, setting, or time period, the

HERO System 6th Edition

rules let you do it!

The 6th Edition rules come in two Core Rulebooks,

Character

Creation and Combat And Adventuring. Together these two

books feature:

H

The full

HERO System rules, revised and updated for

greater consistency, flexibility, creativity, and ease of use

H

Options for nearly every element and aspect of the

HERO

System so you can better create and define characters,

campaigns, powers, and everything else to suit your style

of play

H

Hundreds of example powers, gadgets, abilities, weapons,

and spells for all genres, plus a dozen example characters

H

A detailed, comprehensive index

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to Be a Hero!

ISBN: 978-1-58366-120-8 DOJHERO1001 $39.99 US www.herogames.com

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HERO

GAMES

ANY HERO

ONE SYSTEM!

The best has just gotten even better! The

HERO System

6th Edition brings new levels of flexibility and creativity to

the acclaimed

HERO System, allowing players to create any

sort of character, power, gadget, spell, vehicle, monster, or

weapon they can think of. Whatever you want to do, in any

genre, setting, or time period, the

HERO System 6th Edition

rules let you do it!

The 6th Edition rules come in two Core Rulebooks,

Character

Creation and Combat And Adventuring. Together these two

books feature:

H

The full

HERO System rules, revised and updated for

greater consistency, flexibility, creativity, and ease of use

H

Options for nearly every element and aspect of the

HERO

System so you can better create and define characters,

campaigns, powers, and everything else to suit your style

of play

H

Hundreds of example powers, gadgets, abilities, weapons,

and spells for all genres, plus a dozen example characters

H

A detailed, comprehensive index

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to Be a Hero!

ISBN: 978-1-58366-120-8 DOJHERO1001 $39.99 US www.herogames.com

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V O L U M E O N E

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HERO System™® is DOJ, Inc.’s trademark for its roleplaying system.

reserved.

rights reserved. “Champions” and “Dark Champions” are trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc.

“Champions” and “Dark Champions” are used under license from Cryptic Studios, Inc. Fantasy Hero Copyright © 2003 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved. Pulp Hero Copyright © 2005 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or computerization, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher: DOJ, Inc., 226 E. 54th Street, #605, New York, NY 10022-48541. Printed in China. First printing August 2009.

Produced and distributed by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. Stock Number: DOJHERO1001

ISBN Number: 978-1-58366-120-8

DeDication

To Andy, who was taken

from us far too soon.

HERO SyStEm 6th eDition Writing anD Design

Steven S. Long

original HERO SyStEm Design

George MacDonald and Steve Peterson

HERO SyStEm 4th eDition Design

George MacDonald,

Steve Peterson, and Rob Bell

layout anD graphic Design

Fred Hicks

cover Design

Andy Mathews, Albert Deschesne,

and Fred Hicks

interior artWork

Brett Barkley, Christopher Burdett,

Storn Cook, Anthony Cournoyer,

Andrew Dobell, Brian & Brendon Fraim,

Melissa Gay, John Grigni,

Sam Kennedy, Ted Kim, Ian McEwan,

Christian N. St. Pierre, Frank Torrealba,

Jason Williford, and Patrick Zircher

And fROm CRyptiC StudiOS

Aléjandro Garza, Joshua Guglielmo,

Chris Legaspi, and Imario Susilo

Special Thanks: No project this big and complex arises in a vacuum. The main driving force behind the creation of every edition of the HERO System other than the first has been the fans — the gamers who play HERO games, who use HERO to create their characters and campaigns, and who endlessly discuss

HERO’s fascinating permutations and

possibilities. It is to them that we, as always, extend our thanks.

In particular we’d like to express our appreciation to the many fans who took time during the 2008-2009 period to participate in the discussion of poten-tial rules changes on the 6th Edition Discussion forum on the Hero Games website. While RPGs aren’t designed by committee, there’s no doubt that receiving so much enthusiastic feedback from the HERO fans made the 6th Edition even better than it would have been.

Steve’s Special Thanks: Beyond the general thanks which must of course be extended to HERO’s fans, there are few people who deserve special recognition. First and foremost among them are my partners in crime these past few years: Darren Watts, Tina Walters, Jason Walters, and the still-secret Secret Masters. If not for them, DOJ wouldn’t exist and the HERO System would have ceased publication years ago. Darren mans the home office, pays the bills, talks to printers and distributors, fields the phone calls, and does all the other day-to-day chores that must be done to keep a game publishing business running. Tina manages our warehouse and Online Store, handles countless

administrative and clerical tasks, makes our travel arrangements, takes care of all sorts of little behind-the-scenes prob-lems, and generally isn’t thanked nearly as often as she should be. Thanks, Tina. Jason helps Tina, does some writing, does a thousand other things that need doing, and serves as company morale officer. In sum and in short: the three of them take care of all the aggravating, annoying little duties that have to be taken care of, freeing me to do the fun stuff — write and design games. I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am to them for letting me do my dream job.

Second, my special thanks to SETAC, the Sixth Edition Technical Advisory Committee, a group of dedicated fans who were kind enough to take time out of their busy lives to offer input and feedback on specific issues, review draft manuscripts, and otherwise help me shape “6E” into the best version of the

HERO System yet: Gary Denney, Robert

Dorf, Gordon Feiner, Chris Goodwin, Derek Hiemforth, Bill Keyes, James Jandebeur, John Lees, Denver Mason, Dave Mattingly, David E. McGuire, Hugh Neilson, Deric Page, and Geoff Speare. Special thanks also to Hapless Joe, who sacrificed so much for the cause, time and again.

Third, thanks to my local gaming group: John Losey, Dean Nicholson, and especially Brad Barrett, who’s been a great “sounding board” for all sorts of game design issues over the years. Thanks for thousands of hours of fantastic gaming fun, guys, and here’s to thousands more to come.

You’re all Heroes!

HERO SySTEm 6TH EDITION

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POWER DESCRIPTIONS ... 127 Duration ... 127 Target ... 129 Range ... 129 Endurance Cost ... 130 USING POWERS ... 131 POWER CATEGORIES ... 134 ADJUSTMENT POWERS ... 135 ATTACK POWERS ... 144 AUTOMATON POWERS ... 145 BODY-AFFECTING POWERS ... 146 DEFENSE POWERS ... 146 MENTAL POWERS ... 148 MOVEMENT POWERS ... 155 SENSE-AFFECTING POWERS ... 159 SENSORY POWERS ... 160 SIZE POWERS ... 160 SPECIAL POWERS... 161 STANDARD POWERS ... 161 poWer Descriptions ... 165

CHAPTER SIX: POWER ADVANTAGES poWer MoDiFiers ... 312

poWer aDvantages ... 313

BUYING POWER ADVANTAGES ... 313

Naked Power Advantages ... 314

USING POWER ADVANTAGES ... 316

POWER ADVANTAGE DESCRIPTIONS ... 318

CHAPTER SEVEN: POWER lImITATIONS poWer liMitations ... 364

The Effect Of Limitations ... 365

How Limitations Affect A Power’s Cost ... 365

Partially-Limited Powers ... 366

Which Limitation Do I Want? ... 366

POWER LIMITATION DESCRIPTIONS ... 367

CHAPTER EIGHT: POWER FRAmEWORKS poWer FraMeWorks... 398

GENERAL RULES ... 398

MULTIPOWER ... 402

Buying A Multipower ... 402

Using Multipowers ... 408

VARIABLE POWER POOL ... 409

Buying A Variable Power Pool ... 409

Buying Power Pool Slots ... 411

Distributing Power Pool Points ... 411

CHAPTER NINE: CHARACTER COmPlICATIONS character coMplications ... 414

Matching Complications Points ... 414

Using Complications In The Campaign ... 416

Changing Or Buying Off Complications ... 417

COMPLICATION DESCRIPTIONS ... 418

CHAPTER TEN: EXAmPlE CHARACTERS Randall Irons ... 436

Average Individuals ... 437

appenDiX... 441

LARGE AND SMALL CHARACTERS ... 442

HEAVY CHARACTERS ... 446

TALENT CREATION ... 447

DOUBLING QUICK-REFERENCE TABLE ... 448

VOLUME 2: COMBAT AND ADVENTURING CHAPTER ONE: ENTERING COmBAT BeFore coMBat ... 6

COMBAT AND NONCOMBAT TIME ... 6

SENSES IN THE HERO SYSTEM ... 7

Perception Rolls ... 7

Sense Groups ... 8

Perception Roll Modifiers ... 11

Affecting And Using Senses ... 13

entering coMBat ... 15 GAME SCALE... 15 COMBAT TIME ... 16 Time Chart ... 18 BEGINNING COMBAT ... 18 Actions... 18

Who Goes First? ... 19

Holding An Action ... 20

Aborting An Action ... 21

The Actions Table ... 23

MOVEMENT ... 24

Normal Movement ... 28

Powered Movement ... 28

Vehicle Movement ... 30

Mounted Movement ... 30

Aerial Mounted Combat ... 32

Movement Skill Levels ... 32

CHAPTER TWO: FIGHTING Fighting ... 34

How Combat Works ... 34

ATTACK ROLLS AND COMBAT VALUE ... 35

The Basic Attack Roll ... 35

Calculating OCV and DCV ... 36

Mental Combat ... 39

coMBat MoDiFiers ... 40

EXPLANATION OF COMBAT MODIFIERS ... 40

CHAPTER THREE: COmBAT AND mARTIAl mANEuVERS coMBat Maneuvers ... 54

stanDarD coMBat Maneuvers ... 57

optional coMBat Maneuvers ... 84

Martial Maneuvers ... 90

CHAPTER FOuR: DAmAGE AND ITS EFFECTS DeterMining DaMage ... 96

How Many Dice Do I Roll? ... 96

Damage Class ... 96

Normal Damage Attacks ... 98

Killing Damage Attacks ... 98

ADDING DAMAGE ... 99

Methods Of Adding Damage ... 99

Adding Damage To Attacks With Advantages... 100

taking DaMage ... 103

Normal Damage Attacks ... 103

Killing Damage Attacks ... 103

Minimum Damage From Injuries ... 103

Attack Modifiers ... 104 EFFECTS OF DAMAGE ... 104 Stunning ... 104 Knockout ... 106 Injury ... 107 Death ... 107

optional eFFects oF DaMage ... 108

WOUNDING ... 108 HIT LOCATION ... 108 Placed Shots ... 109 Impairing ... 111 Disabling ... 111 KNOCKDOWN ... 112 BLEEDING ... 113 KNOCKBACK ... 114 VOLUME 1: CHARACTER CREATION INTRODuCTION author’s introDuction ... 6 introDuction ... 7

THE HERO SYSTEM PHILOSOPHY ... 8

Basic rules anD concepts ... 12

Dice And Dice Rolling ... 12

Scale And Movement ... 12

Character Points And Rounding ... 12

CHARACTER CREATION ... 13

COMBAT ... 14

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO PLAY ... 15

character sheet ... 16

converting characters to the 6th eDition 20 glossary ... 22

CHAPTER ONE: CHARACTER CREATION BASICS character creation Basics ... 28

CHARACTER POINTS ... 28

HEROIC VERSUS SUPERHEROIC ... 29

WHAT NOT TO SPEND POINTS ON ... 31

RESTRICTIONS ON SPENDING POINTS ... 32

character conception ... 33

TYPES OF CHARACTERS ... 34

TEMPLATES... 36

CHECKLIST FOR CHARACTER CREATION ... 38

CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTERISTICS characteristics ... 40 Movement ... 41 Characteristic Rolls ... 41 EXPLANATION OF CHARACTERISTICS ... 41 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS ... 47 Reducing Characteristics ... 47 Limited Characteristics ... 47 Characteristics Comparisons ... 49 CHARACTERISTIC MAXIMA ... 50 Other Maxima ... 51

CHAPTER THREE: SKIllS skills ... 54

Buying Skills ... 54

Skill Rolls ... 55

Skill Versus Skill Contests... 57

Complementary Skills... 57

Skill Modifiers ... 58

Everyman Skills ... 60

Extraordinary Skills ... 60

THE SKILL LIST ... 61

Skill Types ... 62

SKILL DESCRIPTIONS ... 63

SKILL ENHANCERS ... 96

CHAPTER FOuR: PERKS AND TAlENTS perQuisites (perks) ... 98

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MYSTERY DAMAGE ... 118

STUN DAMAGE IN HEROIC CAMPAIGNS ... 119

HEALING AND RECOVERING DAMAGE ... 121

The Role And Place Of Healing ... 121

Optional Healing Rules ... 122

Recovery ... 122

CHAPTER FIVE: OTHER COmBAT RulES AND EFFECTS other coMBat eFFects ... 124

OPTIONAL COMBAT RULES ... 127

recovery ... 129

enDurance ... 131

OPTIONAL LONG TERM ENDURANCE LOSS ... 132

PUSHING ... 133

presence attacks ... 135

CHAPTER SIX: THE ENVIRONmENT Falling ... 140

Damage From Falls ... 140

Avoiding Falling Damage ... 140

Falling On Other Planets ... 141

Dropped Objects ... 141

environMental eFFects ... 142

Change Environment ... 144

Life Support ... 146

living in a Dangerous WorlD ... 147

Acid ... 147 Chemicals ... 148 Electricity ... 148 Fire ... 150 Quicksand ... 152 Radiation ... 153

Traps And Security Devices ... 155

Vehicle Impact ... 156

Everything Else ... 157

unDerWater aDventuring ... 158

THE UNDERWATER ENVIRONMENT ... 158

BREATHING ... 159

PERCEPTION AND COMMUNICATION ... 160

MOVING UNDERWATER ... 161

GAME ELEMENTS ... 162

Skills ... 162

Talents ... 163

Powers By Special Effect ... 163

Powers By Category And Type ... 166

Power Advantages ... 167 Power Limitations ... 167 UNDERWATER FIGHTING ... 168 Breaking things ... 170 Broken Machinery ... 173 Wall BODY ... 173 Objects As Weapons ... 173 concealMent ... 175 aniMals ... 177

American Black Bear ... 177

Lion ... 178

Horse (Light Warhorse) ... 178

CHAPTER SEVEN: EQuIPmENT eQuipMent ... 180

BUILDING AND BUYING EQUIPMENT ... 180

autoMatons ... 182

coMputers ... 183

Constructing A Computer ... 183

Normal Computers ... 183

Artificial Intelligence Computers ... 184

Operating A Computer ... 184

Example Computer ... 185

vehicles anD Bases ... 186

VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS ... 186

BASE CHARACTERISTICS ... 189

OUTFITTING A BASE OR VEHICLE ... 191

VEHICLE AND BASE COMPLICATIONS ... 194

Hitting A Vehicle ... 195

Vehicle And Passenger Attacks ... 195

Weapons anD arMor ... 198

WEAPONS ... 198

General Rules For Building Weapons ... 198

Hand-To-Hand Weapons ... 201

Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapons ... 206

Firearms ... 207 Explosives ... 210 Poisons ... 210 ARMOR ... 210 Buying Armor ... 210 Shields ... 211 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE HERO SySTEm GENRE By GENRE coMic Book superheroes: chaMpions ... 214

Campaign Guidelines And Standards ... 214

Genre Conventions And Features ... 214

Character Archetypes ... 216 Subgenres ... 218 Sample Characters ... 220 Taurus ... 220 Eagle-Eye ... 222 Hardpoint ... 224 Maelstrom ... 226

cyBerpunk: cyBer hero ... 228

Character Archetypes ... 230

Sample Character ... 231

Slash ... 231

Fantasy: Fantasy hero ... 233

Subgenres ... 236

Sample Characters ... 237

Darien the Bold... 237

Belakar ... 237

Martial arts: ninJa hero ... 240

Character Archetypes ... 240 Subgenres ... 242 Sample Character ... 243 Yeung Li ... 243 MoDern-Day action-aDventure: Dark chaMpions ... 245

Subgenres ... 247

Sample Characters ... 248

The Verdict... 248

Alena Drake ... 250

the pulp era: pulp hero ... 252

Subgenres ... 254

science Fiction: star hero ... 255

Character Archetypes ... 257 Subgenres ... 258 Sample Characters ... 259 Hur’shaas ... 259 Jessica Fivedawns ... 259 other genres ... 262 Horror ... 262 Post-Apocalyptic ... 262 Swashbuckling ... 262 Victorian ... 263 Western ... 263

CREATING THE CAMPAIGN ... 267

Campaign Ground Rules ... 267

Choosing And Creating The Setting ... 267

THE PLAYER CHARACTERS ... 270

Participating In The Character Creation Process ... 270

Controlling Character Power And Growth ... 272

Incorporating Complications Into The Story ... 274

RUNNING THE CAMPAIGN... 275

Episodic Versus Serial Campaigns ... 275

Storytelling ... 276

Use And Abuse Of The Rules ... 277

Playing To The Player Characters ... 277

The Limits Of Genre Simulation... 278

gaMeMastering the hero systeM ... 280

THE 3D6 BELL CURVE ... 280

COMBAT BALANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS ... 282

Point And Effectiveness Ceilings ... 282

Combat And Non-Combat Abilities ... 285

THE HERO SYSTEM’S DEFINITIONAL POINTS ... 285

heroic action points ... 287

HEROIC ACTION POINTS BASICS ... 287

Acquiring Heroic Action Points ... 287

Using Heroic Action Points ... 287

Spending Heroic Action Points ... 289

ALTERING THE BASICS ... 291

eXperience points ... 292

Spending Experience Points ... 292

Assigned Experience Points ... 293

Experience In Superheroic Campaigns ... 293

Final aDvice ... 294

CHAPTER TEN: CHANGING THE SySTEm changing the hero systeM ... 296

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS ... 296

META-RULES OF THE HERO SYSTEM ... 297

TOOLKITTING ... 297

Genre Simulation ... 298

Adapting The Rules To Your Game ... 298

Creating And Analyzing Characters ... 299

CREATING NEW GAME ELEMENTS & RULES .... 299

Altering Characteristics ... 299

Creating New Skills ... 300

Creating New Perks ... 301

Creating New Talents ... 302

Creating New Powers ... 302

Creating New Power Advantages ... 303

Changing The Value Of Limitations ... 304

Creating New Complications ... 304

CHANGING THE RULES ... 304

CHAPTER ElEVEN: CONCluDING NOTES conclusion ... 306

ORIGINS OF THE HERO SYSTEM ... 306

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AuTHOR’S

INTRODuCTION

I

t’s been an amazing seven years.

When I took the job as HERO System Line Developer back in late 2001, it was with a goal that’s easy to express, but much harder to achieve: to make the HERO System even better and revitalize it as the focus of a gaming community. But I think that I and DOJ, Inc. have succeeded at that objective. The years since the publication of our first book, the Fifth Edition of the HERO System rules, have been the most productive and vital in the company’s history. We’ve published nearly one hundred books covering just about every major subject you could think of for a roleplaying game line. We’ve won awards, we’ve attracted new customers, and we’ve brought HERO the attention it so rightfully deserves. Thanks to the World Wide Web the

HERO fan community is more active and vibrant

than ever.

But while so much interest in the HERO System has helped to highlight its strengths and make new gamers aware of them, it’s also exposed the weak spots and inconsistencies that inevitably arise in a roleplaying game that’s existed and grown for nearly three decades. During the “DOJ Era” the HERO System’s been used in ways it never was before, and used more intensely than ever. That leads to new ways of thinking about it, new perspectives on it, and a lot of consideration about what could work better and how to make it work better.

Thus it was with the same goal — making the HERO System better — that I began

conceptualizing, and then working on, the Sixth Edition. I wanted to do something that had never been done before when planning and creating a new edition of HERO: question everything. There’s no doubt in my mind that the foundations of the HERO System are rock-solid, but that doesn’t mean everything built upon those foundations is perfect. Some parts of the structure worked just as well in the Fifth Edition as they did back in 1981; others were showing their age or warping under the strain of HERO fans’ enormous creativity and boundless imaginations.

With that in mind, I solicited feedback and input from Herodom Assembled. After the fans had more than a year to comment and discuss to their heart’s content I got to work. Assumptions have been dragged out into the light and thor-oughly examined for the first time. That which was worth preserving has been preserved; that which deserved removal has been removed; changes have been made if, and only if, they improve the

HERO System. The result is the two-volume core

rulebook you’re now reading.

As I’ve often said, there’s no way a game designer can please all of the gamers all of the time. But I believe, and I hope you’ll agree, that the Sixth Edition is the best version of the HERO

System ever — more flexible, more consistent, and

the best “toolkit” available for imaginative gamers to create whatever they can think of for their games.

It’s been an amazing seven years — and the best is yet to come!

As always — Be a Hero!

Steven S. Long

June, 2009

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volume 1: character creation n introduction 7

INTRODuCTION

W

elcome to the HERO System, a

complete set of universal roleplaying rules that lets you create characters for any setting or background, from Fantasy, to modern-day action heroes, to Science Fiction, to comic book superheroes. Using the

HERO System rules, you can create any spell,

technology, power, weapon, ability, or other effect you can imagine.

The Sixth Edition of the HERO System is the culmination of nearly thirty years’ worth of game design and play experience. The HERO System was first published as Champions in 1981, and was officially expanded into a truly “universal” role-playing game system with the release of the Fourth Edition in 1989. Those rules were improved upon in the Fifth Edition (2002) and Fifth Edition, Revised (2004). And now in turn the Sixth Edition builds upon the Fifth Edition and decades of expe-rience with the HERO System rules to make them more fun and flexible than ever before!

If you’re New To The

HERO System...

...then we suggest you get started by reading the two sections immediately following this one. The

HERO System Philosophy discusses the principles

and guiding philosophies that affect the design and play of the game, to provide you with an idea about how to approach the rules in general. After that comes Basic Rules And Concepts. It provides a brief glimpse of what the HERO System is and does, and shows how you can use it to create some of the most enjoyable roleplaying games you’ve ever played in.

When you finish those two sections, you can dive into character creation or whatever other subject catches your fancy. If you get confused by any of the terms (like all game systems, this one has a lot of its own “gamespeak”), look them up in the Glossary (6E1 22) or the Index.

If you’ve used the HERO System before, you can simply go to the Converting Characters To The

Sixth Edition section on 6E1 20. That will serve as

a good introduction to the Sixth Edition for you.

Other Resources

The two volumes of the Sixth Edition —

Char-acter Creation (“6E1”) and Combat And Adven-turing (“6E2”) — provide you with all the rules

you need to create characters and campaigns set in any time, place, or genre. But there’s a lot more

HERO System information and resources available

if you want them.

THE HERO SySTEm CORE lIBRARy

First, Hero Games publishes supplements for the HERO System at a steady pace. For the Sixth Edition, the foremost among these are the HERO

System Core Library — supplements providing

detailed information about a subject for any

HERO System game! Besides the Sixth Edition

rulebooks themselves, the Core Library includes:

The HERO System Basic Rulebook (the “BR”),

an “easy learning” version of the HERO System rules with all of the core rules but few of the options, variants, or complex elements;

The HERO System Advanced Player’s Guide

(the “APG”), a volume of expanded, optional, and variant rules for experienced users of the HERO

System;

The HERO System Bestiary (the “HSB”), a

collection of hundreds of animals, monsters, creatures, and other beings written up in HERO

System form for use in your games;

The HERO System Equipment Guide (the

“HSEG”), a compendium of all sorts of devices, weapons, gadgets, and other gear for your characters;

HERO System Martial Arts (“HSMA”), a

complete guide to hand-to-hand combat and fighting styles from around the world in the

HERO System; and

HERO System Vehicles (“HSV”), advanced

rules for creating and using vehicles, including hundreds of examples from all time periods, settings, and genres.

OTHER SuPPlEmENTS

But the Core Library is only the beginning. Hero Games and the HERO System have been around for about 30 years, so there are lots of supplements you can use with the HERO System rules. Although the rules have changed signifi-cantly in many ways from edition to edition, the central elements of the HERO System have

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remained virtually unchanged over the decades. That means nearly any existing supplement, not just the ones Hero Games publishes in the future, can be a part of your Sixth Edition games. In particular there are thousands of pages’ worth of supplements for the Fifth Edition that are easy to adapt to and use with the Sixth Edition rules.

THE HERO SySTEm ONlINE

The HERO System doesn’t just exist on the printed page — Hero Games has a thriving pres-ence online. Our website at www.herogames.com has a “Free Stuff” page containing free game aids, example characters and scenarios, and all sorts of other fun stuff. The website also has an Online Store where you can buy Hero Games products. And there are hundreds (if not thousands) of fan-created websites containing HERO System charac-ters, campaign settings, house rules, and just about anything else you can think of.

But the best feature of the website is the message boards. The boards have thousands of registered fans, many of whom post every day. It’s one of the friendliest, most enthusiastic communi-ties in gaming. Hero fans are ready and eager to answer questions, provide help, or just have fun talking about the HERO System.

Last but not least, you can contact Hero Games directly by e-mail at [email protected]. We’re glad to answer questions from the fans about Hero’s rules or products.

HERO DESIGNER CHARACTER CREATION SOFTWARE

If you like to use your computer to improve your gaming, check out the Hero Designer character creation software available from Hero Games. Custom-designed for the single purpose of creating HERO System characters, it simplifies the creation process by automating everything and doing the math for you — it turns the task of creating a HERO System Player Character, vehicle, weapon, or anything else you can think of into a matter of a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can find out more at www.herogames.com.

THE HERO SySTEm

PHIlOSOPHy

It may sound strange or pretentious to say that a roleplaying game has a “philosophy,” but over the three decades in which the HERO System’s been designed, published, and played, a set of principles governing how the HERO rules should be created, perceived, and used has evolved. To help you understand the rules and get the maximum enjoy-ment out of them, here’s the HERO philosophy:

DRAmATIC REAlISm

The HERO System rules aren’t designed to be “realistic.” Not only is “realism” difficult to define, it’s often not a lot of fun. Instead the aim of HERO is to simulate dramatic realism — the sort of “realism” you see in movies, comics, novels, and the other forms of fiction that inspire you to play roleplaying games in the first place. That means

HERO allows for verisimilitude — a general

like-ness of or similarity to “reality” — but within the context of dramatic adventure and action. Thus, characters tend to be harder to kill than they “real-istically” should be, they’re more likely to succeed at dangerous or outlandish tasks, and so forth. It’s all part of the fun of a roleplaying game.

Now, that’s not to say you can’t make a HERO

System campaign more “realistic” if you want

to. There are optional rules in this book and Hero Games supplements to make the game less “dramatic” — tougher, grittier, less powerful and flamboyant. But the main thrust of the rules is dramatic realism.

CREATIVE FREEDOm

The HERO System is designed to free up your creativity and let you create the type of character, ability, weapon, spell, or any other thing you want. This flexibility, this creative power, is the hallmark of HERO, the one thing that truly sets it apart from every other roleplaying game. For example, rather than having to use what Hero Games calls a “Lightning Bolt,” the HERO System gives you the tools to create a Lightning Bolt the way you think it should work. There’s information in this book and various supplements to show you how Hero Games would do it, if you want to know or want to save yourself some time and effort, but you don’t have to use that information if you don’t want to.

In short, the HERO System is all about unleashing your imagination and your creativity. However, like any other meaningful freedom, this one brings with it certain responsibilities. Doing the creating

First and foremost, if you want to take full advantage of the HERO System’s flexibility and power, you have to do the work. You have to create the characters, the spells, the villains, the weapons, the campaign setting, or whatever else you happen to need. Most roleplaying games don’t require gamers to do that, but it’s the price to be paid for what the HERO System can do for you.

Fortunately, it’s not as much work as it might seem at first. For one thing, there are dozens of Hero Games supplements that have characters, spells, vehicles, weapons, and whatever else you need already created for you. If you don’t want to use them as-is, it’s an easy matter to change them to suit yourself rather than creating what you want from the ground up. But even if you prefer to do all your own work, the more of it you do the easier it becomes, and the larger your own

HERO resource base grows. Many HERO gamers

consider using the rules to create things as much fun as playing the game!

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volume 1: character creation n introduction 9 responsiBle anD Mature play

Second, the freedom and power offered by the HERO System bring with them the responsi-bility to use the rules in a fair, proper, and mature manner. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the HERO System rules are as “balanced” as possible. “Balanced” means that the more effective something is the more it costs, and that roughly comparable game elements have roughly comparable costs (see You Get What You

Pay For, below). However, no roleplaying game

system can ever be perfectly balanced or totally “bulletproof” (immune to misuse or mis-appli-cation of the rules). And that’s doubly true for a game as complex as the HERO System, with its hundreds of interlocking game elements that you assemble into characters and abilities.

Any attempt to make the HERO System “bulletproof” would only interfere with its goal of being flexible and fun — it would prevent people who want to use it in proper, creative ways from doing so easily. Therefore HERO relies on you to use it with an attitude of fairness and responsi-bility. Sure, it’s possible to create a relatively cheap weapon that can destroy a planet in a single shot, or a character who’s far more powerful than other characters, or a superpower that no villain can resist. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. When you create charac-ters and abilities, ask yourself if they’re reasonable, fair, and fun for the campaign.

To put it another way, having a car gives you the freedom to go places, and having a hammer gives you the freedom to build things. But having a car doesn’t give you the right to drive on the side-walk, and just because you have a hammer doesn’t mean you should hit people with it. Both are

possible uses of those tools, but they’re not proper

or responsible ones. And similarly, just because you could design a campaign-breaking power using the HERO System doesn’t mean that’s a valid use of the rules. Consider the consequences of what you create before you introduce it into the game. DraMatic sense anD coMMon sense

When you’re creating things with the HERO

System or playing in a HERO System game, you

should use your dramatic sense and common sense. Dramatic sense refers to that sense of what’s “right” and “wrong” in a story — a sense you’ve been developing ever since you started to read books and watch movies. It’s there inside you even if you don’t know it yet, and it’s one of your best assets as a roleplaying gamer.

For example, when a villain in a story starts to give a big, dramatic speech about his plans, your dramatic sense tells you that you shouldn’t just attack him. That’s not fun, or appropriate; the thing to do is let him complete his speech, then commence the climactic fight scene! Similarly, dramatic sense tells you that if one Player Char-acter has a special or distinctive ability (or set of abilities), you shouldn’t try to out-do him at them — that’s his “shtick.” You should work with the other players and the GM to ensure that each character is unique and fun in his own way.

Using your dramatic sense also means you shouldn’t let the rules get in the way of creating a fun, exciting story. If the rules as written diminish the drama of the game for you, ignore or change them (either permanently, or on a case-by-case basis). For example, if it would be more dramatic for Professor Barnes to wake up right before the burglars escape with his new invention, let him — even if the rules say he wouldn’t get to take any Recoveries yet.

Even in a game based on dramatic realism,

common sense is often just as important as

dramatic sense. Common sense helps preserve the verisimilitude by keeping you from using the rules to break the “feel” of the game and the setting. Nothing ruins a game faster than applying the rules “by the book” regardless of what common sense says. If you’re setting up a murder mystery scenario and your common sense tells you a character can kill someone by shooting him with a small pistol, then let him, even if the rules say he can’t possibly do enough damage that way to kill the victim with a single shot. Similarly, your martial artist character might have a Kick attack that the rules say is powerful enough to smash through a bank vault door. But common sense tells you that people can’t kick through vault doors; it’s an absurd idea, even in a world of dramatic realism. Ignore the letter of the rules and follow their common sense spirit. (But of course, in some genres, such as Superheroes, your dramatic sense may trump that and tell you that characters can kick through vault doors... if so, have fun!)

custoMizing hero to suit yourselF

One aspect of the freedom the HERO System offers is customizability: you can alter the rules, or use optional and variant rules, to make the game play the way you want it to play. There are many examples of this discussed throughout 6E, but you can certainly go beyond that if you want. For example you could alter the cost of some Charac-teristics, add Skills to the Skill List (or take some off it), combine two Powers into one, or rule that characters don’t get Post-Segment 12 Recoveries. It’s all up to you!

Customizability is particularly important for the HERO System because different groups play the game very different ways. Some groups favor combat, some prefer social interaction; some rely on cooperation between Player Characters, others feature competition; some focus on character conception, while others emphasize character construction and maximum points efficiency. None of these ways are wrong; the important thing with the HERO System is to have fun, however you define “roleplaying game fun.” But it means the 6E rules, which are balanced and “fair” for the average gaming group, may be unfair or easily abused by your group if your playstyle isn’t “average.” If you see that happening in your game, you should “tweak” the HERO System until it suits the way you like to play. It’s not that the tool is broken — it’s that it needs a few minor adjust-ments for what you have in mind.

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yOu GET WHAT yOu PAy FOR

One of the most important general principles underlying the HERO System is you get what you

pay for. That’s a shorthand way of saying several

things. gaMe Balance

The first is that for the average gaming group, the rules as written are reasonably “balanced.” This means that if Ability X and Ability Y both have a more or less equal effect during the game, they should have a more or less equal cost. Of course, any game element in the HERO System can be overwhelmingly powerful, or next to useless, in certain situations. But overall, during the course of a HERO campaign, abilities of equal cost should be equally effective. (And as mentioned above, if you find that the rules in 6E aren’t “balanced” for your gaming group due to your preferred style of play, change them!)

But the idea of “balance” extends beyond adding up the numbers on the character sheet. Player Characters should not only be “balanced” against one another, they should be properly “balanced” against the setting they’re a part of. This is where the GM comes in. Ideally he designs villains that are challenging, creates adventures that give each character an equal opportunity to shine over the course of the campaign, and adjusts the world to suit the nature of the campaign and what the players want to do. For example, if the campaign is fast-paced Superhero fun with lots of over-the-top action, the GM might reduce the defense and BODY of buildings, vehicles, and objects so they’re easier to smash through or throw at other characters, and reduce the damage caused by firearms so heroes can ignore conventional opponents. On the other hand, if the Superhero game is supposed to be dark, grim, and gritty, objects might remain as they are, while guns become even deadlier.

Because roleplaying games tend to involve a lot of combat and action, HERO System elements that feature prominently in those situations — Attack Powers, defenses, and the like — tend to receive more detail and to cost more than abilities which have little or no effect in them. For example, a mere 1d6 worth of Blast (5 points) is equal to or greater than the cost of being Immortal, of being financially Well Off, or having an Eidetic Memory. It’s not that those three abilities are valueless; in fact, over the general course of a character’s life they’re probably much more valuable than a Blast 1d6. But they have little, if any, impact on combat or other situations where the rules need to tell you a lot about the options involved and where a char-acter’s abilities need to be balanced and effective. Thus, they don’t cost very much; in the long run they don’t have much impact on the game, and so shouldn’t cost a lot of Character Points.

pay For What you use

Second, the “you get what you pay for” principle means that, generally speaking, char-acters should only have to pay Character Points for things they actually use during the game that

have an effect in the game. 6E1 31 discusses this further, but what it means in broad strokes is that you don’t have to pay Character Points for every single little thing a character knows or can do. If a character wants to have an ability that has no significant effect on game play — such as an obscure Background Skill or two that defines his job or personal interests — often the best thing for the GM to do is just to let him have it for free... or, if the GM thinks the ability will only rarely be useful, to reduce its cost to more accurately reflect its utility.

The opposite point is equally true: if a character uses something a lot in the game, or has an ability that can be very effective in some situations, he should probably pay Character Points for it. (One general exception is when all characters get the same thing for free, such as a game where no character pays Character Points for weapons or armor.)

a character sheet is not a taX return

While “balance” is an important concern in any roleplaying game, and particularly in the HERO

System, don’t get too bogged down in juggling

numbers (unless your gaming group enjoys that). The HERO System is a game, not a tax return, so if the numbers start to get in the way of your fun, find a way around that (for example, by using “pre-built” powers, gadgets, and spells from Hero Games supplements). On the other hand, if part of your group’s enjoyment of the game is tinkering with the numbers and squeezing every drop of efficiency out of every Character Point spent, that’s great too.

Generally speaking, there’s no need to obsess over the “accuracy” of what you create. Rather than fretting over whether you’ve built a particular ability, spell, power, or the like “correctly,” do your best to figure out how to build what you want with the HERO System rules (or, if necessary, have the GM build it for you). Then let it work the way you want it to; don’t worry about whether you’re “right.” It’s your game, so however you want to do it (or the GM wants you to do it) is “right.”

RulES AND SPECIAl EFFECTS ARE DISTINCT

One foundation of the HERO System is this: the rules are distinct from the special effects of an ability. You can read more about special effects on 6E1 120, but in short, the term refers to the appearance and manifestation of an ability. For example, in many roleplaying games characters have the power to project lightning bolts from their hands. There’s a rule for this that defines what a Lightning Bolt is — how it functions in game terms (how deadly it is, how far it reaches, and so forth). That same rule doesn’t define a Fireball, or a Radiation Blast, or a Sonic Beam; it only applies to a Lightning Bolt. In short, the rule and the special effect are the same.

But in the HERO System, those two things — rule and special effect — are separate. HERO doesn’t have any rule for “Lightning Bolt.” Instead, it has several game elements that describe different ways to injure or harm a target at a distance.

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volume 1: character creation n introduction 11 You pick the game element(s) you think define

how a “Lightning Bolt” should function in game terms. In other words, you create your own Light-ning Bolt, and you decide how it works. Another character may have a Lightning Bolt power that works differently. And a third character may use the exact same game elements that you used for your Lightning Bolt to build his Fire Arrows spell.

The HERO System refers to this as reasoning

from effect. First you choose the special effect for a

power or ability. Then you decide what game effect that ability or power should have. Then you build the power or ability with the game elements that provide that effect.

As you read through the rules, don’t assume that a particular special effect applies to a game element just because of how it’s presented. Each game element has to be put where it makes the most sense based on common conception, but that’s not a restriction. For example, Stealth is one of the Skills in the game because for the vast majority of characters being sneaky is a matter of skill and learning. But a character could buy Stealth defined as “a magic spell I cast that makes me sneaky,” while another character is a ghost and buys Stealth because he’s transparent and semi-solid , which makes it easy for him to hide. Both of those are valid uses of Stealth, even though neither is an ability the character learns and practices.

THE 3D6 BEll CuRVE

The HERO System uses 3d6 for Skill and Attack Rolls. This creates a “bell curve” of probabili-ties that helps characters succeed at the difficult tasks they encounter during their adventures. It allows for some predictability and reliability, since numbers near the low and high end of the range are much less likely to occur than numbers in the middle. (By comparison, a single-die system, such as rolling one twenty-sided die, has an equal prob-ability of any given number occurring.) On the other hand, a bell curve also means that bonuses or penalties to rolls can have a significant effect. See 6E2 280 for more information, including a table of the percentage chance to roll any given number on 3d6.

NO ABSOluTES

With a few minor exceptions, the HERO System doesn’t have any “absolutes.” There’s no guaranteed way to hit another character with an attack, no foolproof way to avoid an attack, no total immu-nity to any phenomenon or type of attack. This is for two reasons. First, absolutes tend to unbalance roleplaying games and create problems during play. Second, even in the adventure fiction that inspires roleplaying game campaigns, “absolutes” are rarely absolute. When one supposedly exists, often the whole point of the story is for the heroes to find a way to avoid or bypass the “absolute”... which means it wasn’t really an absolute after all. See 6E1 133 for more information.

THE GAmEmASTER’S DISCRETION

The 6E rules often use the phrase, “in the GM’s discretion,” meaning the GM has authority to allow an optional rule, choose between two rules, or the like. The intent there is to bring to the reader’s specific attention one of the key philosophies of the HERO System, which is that

the GM can change any rule as he sees fit. He can

make a rule work differently, get rid of it, replace it with a variant rule, or whatever else he wants to do. Just like HERO relies on the players to create their characters with responsibility and maturity, it relies on the GM to adapt the rules to suit the setting he’s created and the type of campaign he wants to run. While we think you’ll enjoy the game the most as it’s written in this book, ultimately the written rules are just guidelines and suggestions. Change them to suit yourself — to make your games more exciting, dramatic, and fun.

ForBiDDen anD not ForBiDDen

As you read and interpret the HERO System rules, keep two important principles in mind.

First, just because something isn’t explicitly

forbidden doesn’t mean it’s allowed. No game

designer could think of every possible permuta-tion, combinapermuta-tion, interpretapermuta-tion, or use of the

HERO System rules, so situations may arise in

your game that the creators of these rules didn’t foresee. While it’s usually safe to assume that something which isn’t forbidden is allowed, the final decision is always up to the GM. If he doesn’t want to interpret or use the rules the way you want to, his decision governs.

Second, just because something is explicitly

forbidden doesn’t mean you can’t do it (with the GM’s permission). Even when the rules say

you can’t do something, the GM can relax that restriction if he feels it would be justified to do so. For example, the rules say you can’t apply the

Attack Versus Alternate Defense Advantage to

the Entangle Power. But if a player came up with an idea for an AVAD Entangle the GM felt was a good one that didn’t unbalance the game, he could allow the player to buy that power for his character.

All IN THE NAmE OF FuN

The last and most important philosophy of the

HERO System is this: the rules are designed to help you have fun. If a particular rule makes the game

less fun for you, that rule isn’t working well for you — so change it. Similarly, ignore “letter of the rules” arguments in favor of interpretations that make the game more enjoyable.

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BASIC RulES

& CONCEPTS

T

he HERO System seems complex at first

glance, but don’t worry, it’s easier than it looks. Unlike many game systems, which have different types of rules for different parts of their games (combat, magic, character creation, or what have you), the HERO System has a lot of consistency and internal logic. Once you learn the important parts, it becomes easy to figure out how other parts of the system work. You can always refer to the Glossary (6E1 22) or the Index if you can’t remember what a particular term means or how to do something in the system.

Dice & Dice Rolling

The HERO System uses six-sided dice (d6) to resolve combat, the use of Skills, and similar situations. The number before the “d6” notation indicates how many dice to roll. For example, 12d6 means 12 dice; 2d6+1 means roll two dice and add one point to the total.

Most dice-rolling in the HERO System requires you to roll 3d6 and get a result equal to or less than some number. This is written in the text by a minus sign (-) following the number. For example, a Skill your character can perform successfully on an 11 or less roll is written 11-.

Whenever you attempt any 3d6 roll — whether an Attack Roll, Skill Roll, Characteristic Roll, Perception Roll, or other roll — a result of 3 (three ones) always hits or succeeds; a result of 18 (three sixes) always misses or fails. The Gamemaster (GM) should consider giving a character some advantage when his player rolls a 3 (perhaps some extra dice of damage), and some disadvantage for rolling an 18 (perhaps reducing the character’s DCV for a Segment or two).

Scale & movement

Movement in the HERO System, and other things involving distance, are measured in meters, abbreviated “m.” For example, a flying character might buy Flight 20m, meaning he can fly up to 20 meters as a Full Move.

Character Points & Rounding

In the HERO System, you use Character Points (see below) to purchase all of your character’s abilities and powers. Sometimes this requires calculations involving division or multiplication. Examples include determining the Active Point cost of a power to which you apply an Advantage, the Real Point cost of a power to which you apply a Limitation, a character’s DEX Roll, and the Endurance (END) cost of a power.

When you calculate the cost of something using division or multiplication, always round off to the next whole number in favor of the Player Character (unless a specific rule indicates otherwise). Numbers from .1 to .4 round down; numbers from .6 to .9 round up; and .5 rounds up or down depending upon what’s best for the char-acter. You only have to round to one decimal place (unless the GM requires more precise rounding).

If a calculation involves two or more separate parts or stages, round at each separate step of the calculation.

STANDARD HEIGHT,

WEIGHT, AND lIFESPAN

For HERO System purposes, all characters are considered to be 2 meters (about six feet) tall (and if it matters, about ½m “wide” and ½m “thick”) and weigh 100 kilograms (220 pounds). Powers, Complications, or other abilities they buy may change this, but that’s the defined “norm” for the game. Obviously characters can vary tremendously in height — a Special Forces soldier, a mountain dwarf, and a Japanese schoolgirl who’s secretly a master of the martial arts are very different in size and weight. But for game purposes, they’re all treated the same, unless they buy some sort of ability that represents being a different size (such as extra Defensive Combat Value [DCV] to represent being significantly smaller than normal).

For HERO System purposes, all characters are considered to have a lifespan of 100 years. You can vary this by buying the Longevity form of Life Support (6E1 245) for the character.

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volume 1: character creation n introduction 13

Example: Carl creates an Iridescent Flames spell for his character. He builds it as a Blast 7d6 (base cost of 35 points) with the Advantage Reduced

Endurance (½ END; +¼). That gives the spell

an Active Point cost of (35 x (1 + .25) =) 43.75 points. According to the rounding rules, that rounds up to 44 Active Points. Carl now applies the Limitations OAF (wizard’s staff; -1) and

Gestures (-¼). That yields a Real Point cost of

(44 / (1 + 1 + .25) =) 19.5 points, which rounds down to 19 points. Carl’s character must pay 19 Character Points for the Iridescent Flames spell.

The rounding rules only apply to division and multiplication. If a character buys something that costs less than a full point, he doesn’t get to round that down to zero — he has to round it up to 1 point, because there’s no division or multiplication involved and he’s not allowed to get something “for free.” The minimum cost of anything in the

HERO System, no matter how the cost is

calcu-lated, is 1 Character Point. rounDing Fractions

Sometimes the rules require the character to halve the value of an Advantage or Limitation, which is expressed as a fraction. In that case, the rounding is in favor of the character, as usual. For example, +¾ rounds to +¼ (since it’s best for the character), while -¾ rounds to -½; +1¼ rounds to +½, -1¼ rounds to -¾.

Abbreviations

HERO System books use some standard

abbre-viations for cross-referencing purposes. “6E1” is this book, The HERO System 6th Edition, Volume

I: Character Creation. “6E2” is the other main

rulebook, The HERO System 6th Edition, Volume

II: Combat And Adventuring. Thus, a reference to

“6E1 224” means page 224 of this book; 6E2 37 means page 37 of Combat And Adventuring.

For other standard HERO System abbrevia-tions, see the Glossary on 6E1 22.

CHARACTER CREATION

The heart of the HERO System is its rules for character creation. Using them, you can create any type of character, power, gadget, or ability you want, subject to the GM’s campaign restrictions.

You build HERO System characters with

Char-acter Points. You purchase everything a charChar-acter

can do — from his ability to lift heavy objects, to his skill with weapons, to his ability to use magic or superpowers — with Character Points.

Your GM will tell you how many points you have to build your character with — the more points, the more powerful the character, gener-ally. You can spend most of your Character Points without any requirements, but you only get to spend some of them if you take a matching value of Complications for your character. Complica-tions are disadvantages, hindrances, and diffi-culties that affect a character and thus help you

to define who he is and properly simulate the concept you have in mind for him. For example, your character might be Hunted by an old enemy, or adhere to a Code Of Honor, or be missing one eye. (See 6E1 414 for more information about Complications.)

There are five things a character can buy with Character Points: Characteristics, Skills, Perks,

Talents, and Powers.

CHARACTERISTICS (6E1, CHAPTER TWO)

All characters have Characteristics (such as Strength, Intelligence, and Speed), which represent basic physical, mental, and combat capabilities common to most characters. The text in Chapter One of 6E1 defines these Characteristics for you. An average human has Characteristics of about 5-10.

Several Characteristics all have Characteristic

Rolls equal to 9 + (Characteristic/5) or less. For

example, a character with a DEX of 20 has a DEX Roll of 13- (9 + (20/5) = 13). When the GM asks you to make a Characteristic Roll (such as a DEX Roll to walk along a narrow beam), you roll 3d6 like normal. The more you make (or fail) the roll by, the greater your degree of success (or failure). The GM imposes negative modifiers on the Characteristic Roll when you attempt particularly difficult feats, making it harder to succeed.

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SKIllS (6E1, CHAPTER THREE)

A character’s Skills represent specialized knowl-edge or training he possesses. This includes such things as knowing how to fly a plane, investigate a crime scene, or fire a blaster pistol, or the charac-ter’s in-depth knowledge about any subject you can think of (physics, Fire Demons, Great Britain, alien races...). Skills are described in Chapter Three of 6E1.

A character can try to get information, perform a task, or gain other benefits from knowing a Skill by making a Skill Roll. Most Skills have a Characteristic-based Skill Roll, typically between 8- and 18- (the higher, the better), and are rolled the same way: roll 3d6; if the total on the dice is less than or equal to your character’s Skill Roll, he succeeds; if it’s higher than the Skill Roll, he fails.

PERKS (6E1, CHAPTER FOuR)

Perks are special resources a character has

access to — money or property (like a really fast car or a headquarters), contacts, permits or licenses, and the like. See Chapter Four of 6E1 for descriptions of the Perks a character can purchase.

TAlENTS (6E1, CHAPTER FOuR)

Talents are unusual abilities or attributes a

character possesses. They’re usually better than Skills, but not quite as powerful as Powers — in fact, they’re sort of a cross or “middle ground” between the two. They include things like a natural sense of direction, a “sixth sense” for danger, having extremely fast reflexes, or being able to speed read. Some of them involve rolls similar to Skill Rolls; others function automatically.

POWERS (6E1, CHAPTER FIVE)

Powers are abilities possessed by some

charac-ters. Typically they’re abilities “beyond those of normal men,” though you can also use Powers to create many abilities and devices that are perfectly appropriate for characters who are “normal men.” Each Power costs a certain amount of Character Points, depending upon how powerful or useful it is. Some Powers have an incremental cost, such as 5 Character Points per d6 of effect.

You can create any ability you can think of — flying, becoming invisible or intangible, changing shape, firing energy bolts or mental blasts — using Powers. They can simulate a superhero’s powers, a wizard’s spells, or a vigilante’s super-skills, just to name a few. You also use Powers to construct equipment and weapons.

aDvantages anD liMitations

Characters can build many abilities using Powers alone. But sometimes a character wants a power that’s better than normal. For that, he needs to apply a Power Advantage to his power. This makes the power more effective, but also more expensive. See Chapter Six of 6E1 for more information about Advantages.

Similarly, sometimes a character wants an ability that doesn’t always work properly. For example, maybe his powers only work at night. To represent that, he applies a Power Limitation to the ability. This makes the power less effective, but also less expensive. See Chapter Seven of 6E1 for more information about Limitations.

poWer FraMeWorks (6e1, chapter eight) Sometimes characters buy Powers through

Power Frameworks — ways to group abilities so

they cost fewer points. However, this savings entails some restrictions on when and how the character can use the powers in his Framework. There are two types of Frameworks — Multip-owers and Variable Power Pools — which are explained in detail in Chapter Eight of 6E1.

COmBAT

The HERO System combat and adventuring rules allow your character to do just about anything you can think of. The rules provide lots of options, but you don’t have to learn them all at once. Instead, start out with the basics, and learn the details as you play. The basics are:

INITIATIVE (6E2 16)

Two of a character’s Characteristics — Dexterity (DEX) and Speed (SPD) — determine when he acts in combat, and how often. The rules divide combat time into 12-second Turns, with each second referred to as a Segment. The char-acter’s SPD indicates which Segments he can take an Action in; these Segments are his Phases. Thus, a character with 5 SPD has five Phases — five times each Turn when he can act. The Speed Chart (6E2 17) indicates the Phases for each SPD.

In each Segment, several characters may have a Phase — for example, characters with SPD 3 and SPD 6 both have a Phase in Segment 4. All char-acters who can act in a Phase act in order of DEX, from highest to lowest. Thus, a character with DEX 20 acts before one with DEX 18. However, a character may Hold his Action and act later in the Phase if he wants.

ACTIONS (6E2 18)

A character may take an Action in each of his Phases. His Actions may include Full Phase

Actions (which require his entire Phase) or Half Phase Actions, which require only half of his Phase

(in other words, he can perform two Half Phase Actions per Phase). Full Phase Actions include using more than half of your meters of movement or recovering from being Stunned. Half Phase Actions include using up to half your meters of movement.

Attacks are a special type of Action. A char-acter may make a Half Phase Action and then attack; in that case, the attack is considered a Half Phase Action, too. But if a character makes an attack before making any Half Phase Actions, the attack is considered a Full Phase Action. In other words, once a character makes an attack, that’s all he can do that Phase.