Hero Points?

[Asmo]

I was reading the Pathfinder_OGC and my eyes fell on the chapter on Hero Points. I´ve some questions:

-are you using them in your game, and if so, does it work well?

-how do you distribute them? Do you just say to the players at the beginning of the game that you have one and how they´re used, or do you try to incorporate them ingame (ritual, special equipment, etc?).

Asmo

 

[Scott DeWar]

we are using them in this game:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/playin...fe-howl-carrion-king-03-a-40.html#post5526507

if not for those hero points we would be goat demon lunch-turned scat by now.

 

[Stormrazor2000]

I've been using them in my game and the players have been spending them fairly liberally. I award them 1 HP when they level and will award another for story milestones. Occasionally I'll award them for particularly brilliant play or RP.

I'd say on average the players spend 1 HP per 8 hour session. But then I tend to make my tough encounters very challenging and HPs have been used to cheat death at least twice. The rest were used to ensure clutch hits or saving rolls.

The main concern is that the players can learn to rely on them too much. If that happens you can always cut back on awarding them.

 

[Scott DeWar]

My character needed an emergency recall of spells.

 

[IronWolf]

We use them in a Kingmaker campaign I am running. We use them as detailed in the APG. I like that the players have them at their disposal. As GM I feel I should hand them out a little more liberally, but overall they seem to be working well.

 

[Crothian]

When we decided to use Hero Points I went all in and took the three Hero point feats for my character. I just never feel like we have enough of them and I tend to hoarde them more then I should. But it is so difficult to get more of them and then there can be weeks were one is not needed.

 

[IronWolf]

When we decided to use Hero Points I went all in and took the three Hero point feats for my character. I just never feel like we have enough of them and I tend to hoarde them more then I should. But it is so difficult to get more of them and then there can be weeks were one is not needed.

Yeah, I need to work on the difficulty of getting them. I like to see them used but I don't do a good enough job of encouraging that by awarding them beyond the ones received at level up.

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

I'm using them in both of the APs I run - Legacy of Fire and Serpent's Skull. We're very early on in Serpent's Skull so none have been used yet.

In my Legacy of Fire game (the one Scott DeWar referenced earlier) I have one character who's used them to augment his actions in an earlier fight, then in this fight SD's character used two to recall previously cast spells and another character used them to cheat death.

I'm still working on how to balance handing them out. I want them to be used, but when they're used I want it to be because they're needed or because it adds significantly to the heroic feel of the game . . . it's a tough line to walk.

I don't use any of the feats or magic items associated with them - for me that pushes them across the line from a story telling aid to a more common item.

 

[Asmo]

So the DM just says "here´s your Hero Points, use then well"?
I think it would be a pretty cool thing if you could get them ingame somehow, if it could be done in a smart way.

 

[IronWolf]

So the DM just says "here´s your Hero Points, use then well"?
I think it would be a pretty cool thing if you could get them ingame somehow, if it could be done in a smart way.

In our game players earn them at level up and for things during the course of the game that earn a hero point award from the GM. This could be some really good roleplaying, perfect attendance, gifts for the GM, etc...

I do allow the hero point feats in my game and one of the players has taken several of them to increase the amount of here points they can have at any one time and allow them to have a percentage of not actually losing the hero point when they use it. This sort of breaks the 4th wall a bit to me, but it seems to actually work well as the player that has taken these feats is more likely to use the hero points to pull off some cool things which in turn is good for the game. So if doing it again I would still allow the hero point related feats from the APG because I think they have been worthwhile.