There are moments in any struggle that influence the outcome. Does the brave warrior lay low the villain before he can finish casting a devastating spell? Does the sly rogue avoid detection as she sneaks into the giant chieftain’s lair? Does the pious cleric finish casting her healing spell before the rain of arrows ends the life of her companions? Just a few die rolls decide each of these critical moments, and while failure is always a possibility, true heroes find a way to succeed, despite the odds. Hero Points represent this potential for greatness. They give heroes the chance to succeed even when the dice turn against them.
Hero Points are only awarded to player characters. NPCs, animal companions, familiars, cohorts, and mounts do not receive hero points. Unlike other points in the game, hero points do not renew over time or with rest. Once spent, they are gone forever.
Awarding Hero Points
Each character begins play with 1 hero point, regardless of her level. In addition, whenever a character gains a level, they earn an additional hero point. Aside from these basic rules, awarding additional hero points is up to the GM. The following options are just some of the ways that a GM might award additional hero points.
Character Story
GMs can award a hero point for the completion of a written character backstory. This reward encourages players to take an active roll in the history of the game. In addition, the GM can use this backstory to generate a pivotal moment for a character concerning their past. When this key event is resolved, the GM may reward another hero point. Alternatively (or additionally), the GM might award a hero point for designing your miniature on
Hero Forge, painting your miniature, and/or drawing a character portrait in the likeness of your character, helping the rest of the group visualize your hero.
Completing Plot Arcs
The GM might award a hero point to each of the PCs who were involved in completing a major chapter or arc in the campaign story. These hero points are awarded at the conclusion of the arc if the PCs were successful or advanced the story in a meaningful way.
Faith
In a campaign where the gods play an important role in every character’s life, hero points might help to represent their favor. The GM can award hero points to characters whenever they uphold the tenets of their faith in a grand way, or whenever they take on one of their faith’s major enemies. Such hero points might be temporary, and if not spent on the task at hand, they may fade away.
Heroic Acts
Whenever a character performs an exceptionally heroic act, they can be awarded a hero point. This might include anything from slaying an evil dragon when the rest of the group has fled to rescuing townsfolk from a burning building despite being terribly wounded. It does not have to be related to combat. Convincing the reticent king to send troops to help with a bandit problem or successfully jumping a wide chasm might earn a character a hero point, depending on the circumstances. Note that a hero point should only be awarded if the PC involved did not spend a hero point to accomplish the task.
Extraordinary Roleplaying
Like
Luck Points, hero points may be awarded for extreme cases of "anti-metagaming". When a course of action is clearly detrimental to the player, but they do it anyways because it is something their character would likely do given the situation, this can be grounds for a hero point. In order to be eligible for a hero point, it must be a significant act and have severe, possibly even life threatening penalties (lesser acts are typically rewarded with luck points).
Creating Content
Home-brew is not exclusively under the domain of the DM. Any player who has a home-brew idea or non-pathfinder piece of content they would like to bring into the game can make a write-up of that content in pathfinder rules and present it to the DM for approval and/or balance adjustments. If the content is eventually approved and brought in, not only can the player use it, but they may also be awarded a hero point for contributing to the creative process. This can apply to feats, classes, races, hero point powers, optional game mechanics, and more. Note that if a piece of content is not considered significant enough for a full hero point, the player can still be rewarded in other ways for their efforts.
Maximum Hero Points
Characters can have no more than 3 hero points at any one time. Excess hero points are lost.
Spending Hero Points
Each player has a set of available Hero Point Powers at their disposal dependent upon their character class. Every character has access to general powers, plus each category for which they have at least one class level in the appropriate class. For classes not listed, talk to the DM to either have a set of powers written up (see Creating Content above as well!) or determine which class pool of powers are appropriate for your class.
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