What makes you a hero?

[Ed_Laprade]

Heroes are usually people who do things to save others without thinking. Things that they might well not do if they had thought about it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A hero ain't nothin' but a sandwich.

 

[Tsillanabor]

Even in first edition I could typically know going into a fight my chances of coming back out of it. Knowing that a character will take an attack of opportunity and yet doing the right thing anyway is even more heroic. Recently in the game I DM the characters were being overwhelmed by plague zombies. The warrior types held off the zombies while the rest of the group fled back into the inn. They then broke off from combat to flee, but the fighter was felled by the AoO. The barbarian went back for him, knowing he would risk several AoO in the process.

 

[rbingham2000]

I think heroism is a state of mind. Let's give an example, and note it's heavily biased, and not necessarily supported by other posters. Suppose terrorists have taken over the castle. Most of the people around are not heroes, and don't do anything (or maybe do something foolish). The guards might fight, but they just do what they're trained to, or what they're told. The best guards and best officers (heroes) try to come up with a plan, or sabotage the terrorists, or try to slip out and get help, etc. (Selfish ones might just try to slip out and run away, or strike a deal with the terrorists, etc.)

Heroes do something. What they do, and how they do it, is based on their personality, smarts, abilities, etc. I'm not expecting the (heroic) seamstress to pick a fight with a terrorist, but maybe she'll trick him into thinking the strike force isn't coming, or maybe she'll slip some knockout poison into his drink (getting the poison could be a mini-adventure in itself), or will try to sneak messages out of the castle (there are fifteen terrorists, one is a half-orc, one of the other ones got a gash on his leg fighting the guards...) etc. Or maybe she'll catch him by surprise (he thought she wasn't a threat, and was wrong) and beat the stuffing out of him.

I wholeheartedly agree with this, especially the statement that opens the second paragraph. Being a hero means recognizing that something needs to be done in order to stop whatever evil is happening -- and then going out and DOING IT, using whatever approach best suits you and the situation at hand.