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Fantasy Hero Complete is the second of Hero Games' product lines intended to present a Hero System genre book that gets the essential rules across without needing players to have the entire two corebooks of Hero System Sixth Edition ('6E'). The first of these was Derek Hiemforth's Champions Complete. This book is based on Steve Long's 6E rules material but is written by veteran Hero writer and supporter Michael Surbrook.
Core Concepts
After the usual “what is a role-playing game” introduction, Surbrook goes over Hero System's core concepts. An important one is that the book doesn't have a lot of rules reiterating that a feature is only available “at GM's discretion” because that is assumed; if a GM wants to add (or remove) a feature from the rules because he thinks the game would work better, he can do so. The main concepts distinguishing Hero from other systems are how the game mechanics express in terms of Reasoning From Special Effects and “You Get What You Pay For.” For instance, rather than writing up a Fireball spell, Fantasy Hero has a list of effects that can be used to create such- in this case Blast for a generic ranged attack or Killing Attack for something intended to be lethal. The effect has a certain damage range expressed in dice and bought as a ratio. It can also be applied with various modifiers- for example a Fireball is usually thought of as affecting a large area, so you can buy it with effects that multiply the cost (like Explosion or Area Effect) or possibly others that reduce its effectiveness (like 'does not work in water') – thus, rather than being limited to a set list of effects, it is possible for a player or GM to create exactly the effect desired. However, in order to do this, everything in the game, ranging from skill sets to Fireballs, is bought on points, and it's generally assumed that you have to spend points on any effect that has an impact on the game. (Although the later editions of Hero have also stressed that if you have certain background elements that don't have much game effect, say, Knowledge Skill: Lowland Goats, you don't need to spend points on them.)
On a more concrete level, there are basic rules detailed in the main text that are introduced here.
All rolls use 6-sided dice. Effect Rolls are a number of dice roughly equal to an effect's “Damage Class” (not too far off from what a damage effect would be in D&D; a short sword is usually 1d6 Killing, and a Fireball is usually at least 6d6 of Blast). Other than that, Success Rolls (including Skill Rolls and Characteristic Rolls) are all done on 3d6 with a “roll-under” system. This is written as the character's skill number with a minus sign, for instance if a character's Perception roll is 13 or less (before modifiers) the skill roll is written as (13-). Combat rolls (or Attack Rolls) are a base of 11-, although modifiers can bring this base figure up and down a lot (see below). Combat scenes are organized in Turns of 12 seconds each, which are in turn called Segments (12 Segments per Turn). In Hero System, characters have a Speed (SPD) Characteristic determining how many actions (Phases) they get per Turn- in a Fantasy game, PCs will usually have no more than 3 SPD and very rarely more than 4. On each of a character's Phases, he can perform a Full Phase Action or two Half Phase Actions. An Attack Action is a subtype of Half Phase Action (sometimes Full Phase); the main limit being that whether you performed any other actions or not, the Attack Action ends your Phase; thus you can half-move and attack but not the reverse. There are also Zero Phase actions which technically take no time but can't be done after an Attack Action- and there are also Actions Which Take No Time, “free” actions that could be done at any point, even on after one's Phase (like the GM telling you to make a Perception Roll).
Character Creation
FHC raises a distinction that is mostly irrelevant to Champions, the concept of the Heroic versus the Superheroic campaign. Most Champions games are assumed to be the latter while most Fantasy games (in this system and others such as D&D) are assumed to be the former, where people at a human or near-human level of ability rely more on their skills and mundane equipment than special powers. It's pointed out that it is indeed possible to have a game with characters starting at a Superheroic level of ability – for instance the starting points chart on page 12 indicates that a hero from Celtic myth would be built on the same number of points as a standard Champions character, while characters from Chinese legends might be even more points than that. In a Fantasy game where even “normal” people can have access to spells and magic items, the main difference between Heroic and Superheroic games is that Heroic characters don't have to pay Character Points for things like mundane armor and weapons, whereas Superheroic characters DO pay points for such tools. This is mainly for game balance but also because the relaxed restrictions on such characters mean that any tools they can have will normally be better than any mundane equipment available. On that page 12 chart, you have rules for building “Normal” characters as well as Superheroic ones. However a standard is assumed for Heroic level. Heroic levels in turn are built in three tiers: Typical is 175 points, Powerful (example: knight of the Round Table) is 225, and Very Powerful (Spartan) is 275. Each of these tiers also requires characters to take a certain level of Complications (what used to be called Disadvantages) such as having a religious code or a curse of weakness. All of the Heroic characters have a quota of 50 points in Complications; not meeting this quota reduces your starting points by the difference.
There are five things characters buy with Character Points: Characteristics (basic abilities such as SPD or Strength), Skills, Perks (traits such as title or great wealth), Talents (special abilities that aren't quite powers and aren't Characteristics) and Powers (ranging from Elven senses to magical spells). Primary Characteristics are bought mostly on a 1-for-1 basis, while others are bought on a ratio (for instance, SPD starts at a base of 2 and costs 10 points for each +1). This is on a scale again roughly like D&D- a 10 Strength (STR) is similar to an average Str in D&D, while most races max out at 20 STR. Stats above 20 are “Legendary” and above 30 are officially Superhuman. Skills are usually 3 points for each separate skill and +1 to the roll for every 2 points spent afterward. This is on a formula of [Characteristic/5] +9 such that a Skill based on Dexterity has an 11- roll for a basic 10 DEX (10/5 = 2 +9). A 10 DEX character who spends 7 points on Stealth gets a 13- roll. Perks are generally social advantages, one major point about them being that as social advantages they might be taken away- your character could become impoverished or lose his army of Followers, for instance. Talents are actually bought as limited Powers (although you'd have to go to the Hero Games site for web resources to show exactly how they were built) and in this version of Hero they are fairly analogous to D&D feats (like Follow-Through Attack, which is similar in intent to D&D 3rd Edition Cleave).
However the most extensive part of character creation, at least for some characters like magic-users and NPC monsters, is the design and purchase of Powers. In fact, in this relatively slim (264-page) book, pages 50 to 145 are devoted to Powers and their various modifiers. In some respect, this is as it should be. Just as Champions needs an extensive Powers system in order to make the range of characters you have in, say, Marvel Comics, you need the same level of detail to cover all the effects displayed in Fantasy fiction- especially since the goal of this game system is for you to make the Fantasy setting YOU want, and not just duplicate D&D, Runequest or whatever. The only problem here being that FHC devotes a third of the book to Power design before getting to other aspects of the rules, or describing sample characters, whereas the 6E Fantasy Hero hardcover supplement (which did not include Power creation rules) started by giving readers sample templates of races and “classes” that beginning players could use before learning how to design magic effects or nonhuman races.
Be that as it may, Power design works as described above, first by reasoning from special effects. Again, with the example of a Fireball, there is no specific spell with that name and no school of Fire Magic, so you look at the Powers section to buy something that does what a Fireball does- namely, inflict damage. Not only that, a ball of fire explodes in the target area, which the Blast power normally does not, so you buy Blast with the Explosion Advantage that causes it to do damage in an area (radiating out and doing slightly less damage over distance). “Boom!- now you're all set to fight a gazebo.” This particular example also points out an issue with special effects – magical effects have the descriptor of “magic” by definition, but this one also uses the descriptor of fire. This may mean that certain creatures or items are more vulnerable (or more resistant) to fire damage. There are certain Powers in the system (called Adjustment Powers) that can be used to raise or lower the effectiveness of other effects and can be tuned to a large range of effects- for example a Suppress effect that lowers the power of all magical effects in the area. Other power categories include Attack Powers (self-explanatory), Body-Affecting Powers (used on oneself, like Shape Shift or Stretching), Defense Powers (including personal defenses and the Barrier power), Mental Powers (used directly on a target's mind), Movement Powers (self-explanatory), Sense-Affecting Powers (that attack or otherwise counter other characters' senses, like Invisibility), Sensory Powers (powers that enhance your senses, like Clairsentience or Enhanced Senses), Size Powers (Growth or Shrinking), Special Powers (restricted abilities such as Regeneration) and Standard Powers, a catch-all category. Some of these categories overlap- for instance Drain is an Adjustment Power that is used to reduce a target's abilities and is thus also an Attack Power. There is also a list of Automaton Powers used to buy the traits of unliving beings. These are rarely used in Fantasy although they would be most appropriate for Golems or animated corpses.
These Powers can be bought “as-is” at the listed price, which is either a ratio (Blast is 5 CP for each 1d6 of Blast) or a flat fee (Invisibility is 20 points against a Targeting Sense, namely Sight). However Powers are often bought with Advantages and Limitations. Some of these are listed in the description of the Power itself, for example Invisibility has a specific Limitation, “Only When Not Attacking” simulating an Invisibility that works like the D&D spell and ends immediately if the character attacks anyone. Other modifiers that can be used with a range of Powers are listed in their own section. The way they work is like this: An Advantage increases a Power's value by a listed multiplier which adds to the Active Cost of the Power. For example an Area of Effect Advantage that causes a power to affect a 32 meter radius area is a full +1 Advantage. The total in Advantages is added to a factor of 1, so that Power with a total of +1 in Advantages is (1+1 = 2) or twice normal cost. But with a Limitation you're adding the Limitation's value to a factor of 1 to determine the divisor- for example with the aforementioned Invisibility, the Base Cost of the Power is 20, the Limitation is -1/2 for “Only When Not Attacking” and thus the Power with no other modifiers is 20 divided by 1 1/2 is 13 points. In this game, the Real Cost of a Power is the cost in Character Points after all Advantages and Limitations are applied. In practical terms Limitations are applied much more often at the Heroic Fantasy level than at the Superheroic level- this is because Heroic characters have less points to spend than Champions or Fantasy Superheroic characters, and also because this simulates the difference between spellcasting and a “natural” Power. In Surbrook's sample magic system (see below) all spells have certain required Limitations, meaning that it's possible for magician characters to have decent-sized spells even with a small number of starting points.
After the Powers section, FHC details the rules for Complications. In 6E, Complications are used mainly for role-playing purposes, to “round out” the character. They are used on the “You Get What You Pay For” principle- if a character has a Psychological Complication “Code Versus Killing” it applies much but not all of the time, and in game terms would be bought as Common as opposed to Very Common. Likewise if a hero is Hunted by a single orc, that Hunter might be considered Less Powerful or As Powerful as the PC, but if he's hunted by the orc's entire tribe, they would count as More Powerful.
Finally, this section details the “story elements” of character development which in game are presented as Heroic Action Points (HAPs) and Experience Points. HAPs are used much like Hero Points are used in other games to alter dice rolls by a factor of 1 per 1 point spent; at the start of a game session each PC gets a random 2d6 HAPs, these only apply per game session and do not carry over between sessions. Experience Points in HERO System are unique in that they are exactly analogous to Character Points; PCs usually earn 1 to 3 XP per session (or 5 XP per arc) and can spend them in the same way as Character Points in character creation, such that one could buy a 3-point Skill upon gaining at least 3 XP.
Characters and The World
Up to this point, FHC gave the rules for making characters and special powers. In this section you get into the practical mechanics, starting with movement and character actions. Hero System uses metrics, and characters move on a scale of meters, usually 12m per action. 6th Edition rules no longer use hexes, “inches” or D20-style squares as movement units, but if you use a game board, you establish the scale of what the map is (for example a hexgrid usually has each hex representing 2 meters across). It is possible for a character to double his Movement per Phase by going “Noncombat” but this results in a severe penalty to hit and to defend. In this respect, a character accelerates at 5 m per meter moved, (5m after going one meter, 10 after going two, and full velocity for a 12m character after running three meters). However, he can only decelerate at the same rate. Also, abilities like Flight (possible to some Fantasy beings) are effected by gravity such that moving against gravity or upward requires 2m per meter (effectively half movement rate to move upward) while moving downward effectively doubles movement rate- although this does NOT improve the character's ability to decelerate.
This section also goes into how perception and the senses work, namely what happens when you don't have them. The game raises a distinction between “Nontargeting” and “Targeting” senses (for humans, the only Targeting Sense Group is Sight) and a character who lacks a Targeting sense (for instance, in the dark) is at half value to attack and defend and 0 value to attack at range. If he can make a Perception Roll with a Nontargeting sense (like Hearing) these penalties are reduced. In most cases the penalties are situational, but this section describes the effects of permanently losing that sense, which also allows a beginning PC who is, say, blind or mute to get points by “selling back” that sense or getting a Physical Complication by having a partially handicapped sense.
Character actions and time scale work as described above under Core Concepts, with actions organized on a 12-second Turn, and each character having a Speed (SPD) rating describing how many actions they get, allocated according to a Speed Chart listed on page 161 (most characters have a SPD three, with actions allocated on Phases 4, 8 and 12. Fast characters on the Heroic scale are usually no more than SPD 4, so they would go on Phases 3, 6, 9 and 12). Combat scenes actually start on Phase 12 and afterwards go to a new Turn. Characters move in order of Dexterity (such that a PC with 19 DEX always goes before a character with 18). Initiative order is modified in that a character can choose to Hold an action until a later point in the Phase (or even a later point in the Turn, with the limitation that he can't 'double move' and thus cannot delay past the next Phase that he could move). There is also the option to Abort or use a defensive option like Dodge or Dive for Cover, which can be done in reaction to a faster opponent but eats your Phase. Thus the main limitation on the Abort action is that you can't use it if you had already moved on that same Phase or Turn Segment.
Before getting to Combat, this section also goes over interaction with the rest of the universe, including the ability to break things- for example each inanimate object has a Defense rating for how much 'armor' it gets along with a BODY rating for its 'hit points.' The environment can also act on characters; for example dehydration causes 1d6 Normal Damage to characters (with no defense) every 24 hours, while “intoxicated, drunk, stoned or similarly impaired characters are -2 OCV/-2 DCV.”
Combat works like this: Each character has an OCV (Offensive Combat Value) and DCV (Defensive Combat Value). Each start at 3 and can be bought up as Characteristics or added to with Combat Skill Levels or combat maneuvers. (An inanimate object usually has a DCV of 3.) As mentioned, the base combat roll for the attacking character is 11 or less on 3d6, before modifiers, so if the attacker's OCV is the same number as the defender's DCV, it's still 11 or less. Of course it's rarely that simple. The difference between OCV and DCV is a modifier to the roll, such that a DCV higher than OCV subtracts from the required number, making it harder to hit (7 OCV versus 9 OCV is -2, or only 9 or less to hit on 3d6). Naturally a superior OCV works in the attacker's favor. Another way this is phrased in the book is the formula: Attacker's OCV+11 -3d6 roll = the DCV that the character can hit. This is good when the GM doesn't give you the opponent's DCV and you need to determine the figure yourself. For example, if your OCV is 7 and you roll 13 on 3d6, the formula is 7+11 =18, minus 13 equals 5, meaning your roll would hit a DCV of no more than 5.
Again, there's a whole host of modifers that affect this. For example, in Heroic games, some weapons (ranging from broadswords to assault rifles) give bonuses to OCV and sometimes Range Modifier. Range Modifier is a penalty of -2 to OCV for every 8 meters out (-2 for 9-16m, -4 for 17 to 32 meters, etc.). Martial Arts (if they are used in a Fantasy game) create different OCV/DCV modifiers depending on the manuever used. And then there's Mental Combat, most common in Superhero and Psi-based Science Fiction games, but possible with some Fantasy characters. There is a parallel set of Characteristics called OMCV (Offensive Mental Combat Value) and DMCV (Defensive Mental Combat Value). The primary value of using Mental Combat Value with an attack (which has to be bought as an Advantage on a Power) is that Range Modifiers do not apply as long as the target is within the attacker's Line of Sight. Also, most people don't buy up their DMCV.
Modifiers also include picking up and using improvised weapons including using other characters as weapons ('Hitting one character with another does the attacker’s STR damage to both. The attacker must Grab a victim before using him as a club (HTH) or a missile (Ranged); he cannot use the victim as a weapon as his “free” action immediatelyfollowing Grab. Using a victim as a club entails a -2 OCV penalty (in addition to the penalties for Grab); see Throwing A Character (page 178) for using a victim as a missile').
When you actually hit, you roll damage. This is usually “Normal” or concussive damage on a scale of 1d6 per 5 Active Points of attack. The simplest example of this is Strength or punching damage- e.g. a normal person with 10 STR does 2d6 with weaponless attack and a 20 STR character does 4d6. It's often more effective to use a weapon (or spell) that does Killing damage, like a sword. In game terms, a Killing attack is bought on the scale of 1d6 per 15 points. On scale with Normal attacks, this means that attacks have a certain Damage Class (or DC) – so a 1d6 Killing attack, like a 3d6 punch, is considered DC 3. With a Normal attack, you take the damage dice, roll them and take the total as STUN. The Stun total minus a character's relevant defense (usually called Physical Defense or PD) is how much STUN the character takes. A Normal attack incidentally does BODY- 1 BODY per die except that a roll of '1' does no BODY and a '6' does 2 BODY. PD is also applied against this damage except that if STUN is taken, a character recovers it per Turn with a stat called Recovery (REC), while BODY is usually recovered in REC per Month. (Again, BODY is analogous to D&D Hit Points). Taking Stun from a single attack in excess of one's Constitution score causes the character to be Stunned for one Phase, effectively losing his action. Taking Stun in excess of the character's STUN rating knocks the character out. This in itself is different from most Fantasy games in which damage is normally a fight to the death. However, with a Killing attack, the number rolled on the dice (again, Killing dice are equivalent to 1/3 of Normal dice) is applied straight to BODY, and most characters' PD doesn't apply against this damage. Killing attacks also do STUN on the ratio of a half d6 multiplied, rounded up (a Killing Attack that does 11 BODY and rolls 5 for the Stun Multiple is half of 5, rounded up to 3, 11 x 3 equals 33 STUN). Only Resistant defenses (like armor) apply against the BODY of a Killing Attack, while total defenses (including normal PD) apply to the STUN. Basically Normal attacks are designed to pummel an opponent unconscious while Killing attacks- well, are designed to Kill. If a character takes enough damage to exceed his BODY characteristic- either from Killing damage or an exceptional amount of Normal damage- he starts losing BODY at the rate of 1 per Turn (after Segment 12) and he isn't properly attended to, he will die after reaching his negative BODY score (-10 for a typical character).
It was mentioned that some weapons are built in game terms with bonuses to combat rolls as well as damage Powers. The following section deals with the creation of such equipment, using the Power design rules with specific Modifiers. Again, Heroic characters don't spend points for mundane goods or what's called Normal Equipment. Of course devices like weapons and armor have game stats and thus are technically 'bought' with total Active Points for comparison purposes, but the “real cost” of the item with Limitations doesn't apply because PCs buy these items with money in-game. However there is also the category of “Wondrous Devices” that cost Character Points like Characteristics and Powers. These include magic items, obviously. In game terms they also include bits of equipment that are not magical but advaned enough to “break the rules” (like a suit of armor with reduced encumbrance value), advanced Vehicles, Bases (usually castles and other strongholds bought as Perks), Automatons (like Golems or Clockwork robots) and artifical intelligences -what FHC calls “Daemons.” Examples of the latter in Fantasy include possessed items and intelligent swords. In these terms, FHC treats firearms as normal equipment (that doesn't cost points) as long as they are of the primitive black-powder variety. Breech-loading cannon, repeating weapons, flintlocks and rifles are advanced enough that they have to be bought with points.
Swords and Sorcery – Fantasy Roleplaying
The last major section of FHC goes over what makes the Fantasy genre what it is, to give gamers an idea of how best to simulate it. For instance there are certain common tropes like the use of magic (obviously), the “hero's journey” and the possibility of setbacks on that journey including the possbility of the main hero or another character being called upon to sacrifice himself for the sake of his cause. Other elements include settings (namely dungeons) and monsters (namely dragons). In this context, the book advises the player to imagine the background of his character, but this also requires knowing what sort of campaign the GM is going to run and what kinds of characters he is going to allow. Thus (while it really isn't brought up at this point) a lot of character creation really hinges on the GM and what kind of setting he wants to run- like, are non-humans or spellcasters allowed as player characters? Do they even exist in the universe?
In any case, this section (finally) gets to templates used for creating characters of non-human races or different “class” backgrounds. Usually a non-human will have adjustments to Characteristics and a few built-in Powers, like a Satyr having +1d6 Normal attack due to hooves/horns, or a Dwarf having the Nightvision Enhanced Sense. Cultural/Professional Packages will have bonuses to Characteristics (representing the 'minimum requirements') and Skills. The value of these features is that if you wanted to make, say, a Legolas clone, you would add the Elf/Wood Elf package to the Warrior/Ranger package and say “your character would start off looking like THIS.”
But again, it's very rare that Fantasy doesn't feature magic, and since D&D came out it is quite common for protagonist characters to be seen using magic. Whereas 5th Edition Fantasy Hero displayed its versatility by having at least three different settings with vastly different magic systems, for Fantasy Hero Complete, Surbrook uses a very basic magic system. Magic is defined much like The Force, as the energy inherent in all living things, a stream that magicians can access, if they learn the techniques and use the right tools. In game terms, a magician needs a Magic Skill, which must be rolled against every time he uses his power, a focus object (like a staff or Hogwarts-style magic wand), incantations, gestures/somatic components (with both hands) and at least a Full Phase of time. This can be tweaked somewhat to produce different kinds of spellcasters: An Alchemist, for instance, has spells based on potions, thus are usable on others (who drink the potions), but also have limited uses (Charges) and the focus is a fragile object (the potion bottle).
Then the book goes more into what is required of the GM in designing a setting. Given the freedom inherent in the rules system, it is possible for a Fantasy Hero GM to make a traditional setting with Elves and Dwarves, “on the other hand, the adventures of colorful ponies in an enchanted forest is equally valid.” Certain sub-genres are discussed such as the ever-popular “Crossworlds” Fantasy (in which modern humans end up in a fantasy world) and the more recently popular Urban Fantasy (in which fantasy elements are present on modern Earth). There is also brief discussion about what works in fantasy fiction versus what works in a game- for instance the GM is advised to NEVER split the party.
At length, the book gets to several sample characters, with a variety of backgrounds and power levels. They alternate between the “standard” 175 points to 225 to the that-much-more-powerful 275 points. For instance, the Wizard character is also a Dragon-Folk, which means that in addition to having spells, he's ALSO part dragon. That particular character also shows some of what the sample spells are like; again with all the Limitations applied, even high-powered effects of 60 Active Points end up costing only 13 points each or less. There is also a range of monsters including a Dragon, a Carrion Worm, and even a Kappa from Japanese myth.
This section also gives more details on the spells given to sample characters, along with a few others not shown for those characters. There are also samples of potions and magic items, along with a sample automaton (Zombie) and sample Daemon (the dessicated and preserved head of an ancient sorcerer, called 'The Oracular Head of Ancev').
Then you have a few useful appendices including typical NPC stats, how Characteristics and Skills are bought, the stats on weapons and armor (as normal equipment) and the descriptions of the various Powers and Modifiers. Then there's an Index.
SUMMARY
Fantasy Hero Complete , in my opinion, doesn't come across as well as Champions Complete, because while the layout is not too dissimilar to that book, the structure- focusing first on Hero System powers and then presenting combat rules and character templates- is a better approach for the superhero game Champions (where you don't start off with a 'character class' but you do need to know how your superpowers work) than it is for this D&D-style game, with human or near-human characters, who even in a Fantasy setting need to know more about their skills and normal abilities than about their spells and fantastic powers, and whose abilities can be more easily defined before going into the minutia of designing powers. Especially since that last part is not only the hardest part for new Hero players to grok, it's also usually unnecessary in other Fantasy games where the magic system and magical effects are pre-defined for you. Thus at least in that respect, the previous 6th Edition book for FH (which also required the two corebooks to use) was a better resource for people trying to use the system for a Fantasy game.
But again, that FH book required the two 6E corebooks to use. And while at first, it was neat to have a HERO System rules set that was well-produced and had readable text with color illustrations on high-quality paper, the fact is that those two corebooks in hardcopy ARE FRACKIN' HEAVY. And the 6E Fantasy Hero hardcover (which is only a supplement) wasn't much smaller. And yes, this is a digital age and you could just distribute the PDF to the other players, but not everybody has a tablet or smartphone (even these days), and thus we still need the option for paper rules we can actually use. Thus when I got my copy of FHC in the mail (from supporting the Kickstarter) the main thing that impressed me was how light and easy the book is to handle. Simply in that respect, I think it's going to be used for often than the three thickandheavy hardcover books you previously needed to run Fantasy Hero. Which means, ultimately, that Fantasy Hero is going to get run more often. People running your game should be a primary marker of success. So while the text may not be as beginner-friendly as it needs to be, the book itself is a lot more user-friendly than what they were trying before, and thus more successful in what it needs to do.
James Gillen
Fantasy Hero Swordsman
Currently Drinking: Cocaine
Fantasy Hero Complete is the second of Hero Games' product lines intended to present a Hero System genre book that gets the essential rules across without needing players to have the entire two corebooks of Hero System Sixth Edition ('6E'). The first of these was Derek Hiemforth's Champions Complete. This book is based on Steve Long's 6E rules material but is written by veteran Hero writer and supporter Michael Surbrook.
Core Concepts
After the usual “what is a role-playing game” introduction, Surbrook goes over Hero System's core concepts. An important one is that the book doesn't have a lot of rules reiterating that a feature is only available “at GM's discretion” because that is assumed; if a GM wants to add (or remove) a feature from the rules because he thinks the game would work better, he can do so. The main concepts distinguishing Hero from other systems are how the game mechanics express in terms of Reasoning From Special Effects and “You Get What You Pay For.” For instance, rather than writing up a Fireball spell, Fantasy Hero has a list of effects that can be used to create such- in this case Blast for a generic ranged attack or Killing Attack for something intended to be lethal. The effect has a certain damage range expressed in dice and bought as a ratio. It can also be applied with various modifiers- for example a Fireball is usually thought of as affecting a large area, so you can buy it with effects that multiply the cost (like Explosion or Area Effect) or possibly others that reduce its effectiveness (like 'does not work in water') – thus, rather than being limited to a set list of effects, it is possible for a player or GM to create exactly the effect desired. However, in order to do this, everything in the game, ranging from skill sets to Fireballs, is bought on points, and it's generally assumed that you have to spend points on any effect that has an impact on the game. (Although the later editions of Hero have also stressed that if you have certain background elements that don't have much game effect, say, Knowledge Skill: Lowland Goats, you don't need to spend points on them.)
On a more concrete level, there are basic rules detailed in the main text that are introduced here.
All rolls use 6-sided dice. Effect Rolls are a number of dice roughly equal to an effect's “Damage Class” (not too far off from what a damage effect would be in D&D; a short sword is usually 1d6 Killing, and a Fireball is usually at least 6d6 of Blast). Other than that, Success Rolls (including Skill Rolls and Characteristic Rolls) are all done on 3d6 with a “roll-under” system. This is written as the character's skill number with a minus sign, for instance if a character's Perception roll is 13 or less (before modifiers) the skill roll is written as (13-). Combat rolls (or Attack Rolls) are a base of 11-, although modifiers can bring this base figure up and down a lot (see below). Combat scenes are organized in Turns of 12 seconds each, which are in turn called Segments (12 Segments per Turn). In Hero System, characters have a Speed (SPD) Characteristic determining how many actions (Phases) they get per Turn- in a Fantasy game, PCs will usually have no more than 3 SPD and very rarely more than 4. On each of a character's Phases, he can perform a Full Phase Action or two Half Phase Actions. An Attack Action is a subtype of Half Phase Action (sometimes Full Phase); the main limit being that whether you performed any other actions or not, the Attack Action ends your Phase; thus you can half-move and attack but not the reverse. There are also Zero Phase actions which technically take no time but can't be done after an Attack Action- and there are also Actions Which Take No Time, “free” actions that could be done at any point, even on after one's Phase (like the GM telling you to make a Perception Roll).
Character Creation
FHC raises a distinction that is mostly irrelevant to Champions, the concept of the Heroic versus the Superheroic campaign. Most Champions games are assumed to be the latter while most Fantasy games (in this system and others such as D&D) are assumed to be the former, where people at a human or near-human level of ability rely more on their skills and mundane equipment than special powers. It's pointed out that it is indeed possible to have a game with characters starting at a Superheroic level of ability – for instance the starting points chart on page 12 indicates that a hero from Celtic myth would be built on the same number of points as a standard Champions character, while characters from Chinese legends might be even more points than that. In a Fantasy game where even “normal” people can have access to spells and magic items, the main difference between Heroic and Superheroic games is that Heroic characters don't have to pay Character Points for things like mundane armor and weapons, whereas Superheroic characters DO pay points for such tools. This is mainly for game balance but also because the relaxed restrictions on such characters mean that any tools they can have will normally be better than any mundane equipment available. On that page 12 chart, you have rules for building “Normal” characters as well as Superheroic ones. However a standard is assumed for Heroic level. Heroic levels in turn are built in three tiers: Typical is 175 points, Powerful (example: knight of the Round Table) is 225, and Very Powerful (Spartan) is 275. Each of these tiers also requires characters to take a certain level of Complications (what used to be called Disadvantages) such as having a religious code or a curse of weakness. All of the Heroic characters have a quota of 50 points in Complications; not meeting this quota reduces your starting points by the difference.
There are five things characters buy with Character Points: Characteristics (basic abilities such as SPD or Strength), Skills, Perks (traits such as title or great wealth), Talents (special abilities that aren't quite powers and aren't Characteristics) and Powers (ranging from Elven senses to magical spells). Primary Characteristics are bought mostly on a 1-for-1 basis, while others are bought on a ratio (for instance, SPD starts at a base of 2 and costs 10 points for each +1). This is on a scale again roughly like D&D- a 10 Strength (STR) is similar to an average Str in D&D, while most races max out at 20 STR. Stats above 20 are “Legendary” and above 30 are officially Superhuman. Skills are usually 3 points for each separate skill and +1 to the roll for every 2 points spent afterward. This is on a formula of [Characteristic/5] +9 such that a Skill based on Dexterity has an 11- roll for a basic 10 DEX (10/5 = 2 +9). A 10 DEX character who spends 7 points on Stealth gets a 13- roll. Perks are generally social advantages, one major point about them being that as social advantages they might be taken away- your character could become impoverished or lose his army of Followers, for instance. Talents are actually bought as limited Powers (although you'd have to go to the Hero Games site for web resources to show exactly how they were built) and in this version of Hero they are fairly analogous to D&D feats (like Follow-Through Attack, which is similar in intent to D&D 3rd Edition Cleave).
However the most extensive part of character creation, at least for some characters like magic-users and NPC monsters, is the design and purchase of Powers. In fact, in this relatively slim (264-page) book, pages 50 to 145 are devoted to Powers and their various modifiers. In some respect, this is as it should be. Just as Champions needs an extensive Powers system in order to make the range of characters you have in, say, Marvel Comics, you need the same level of detail to cover all the effects displayed in Fantasy fiction- especially since the goal of this game system is for you to make the Fantasy setting YOU want, and not just duplicate D&D, Runequest or whatever. The only problem here being that FHC devotes a third of the book to Power design before getting to other aspects of the rules, or describing sample characters, whereas the 6E Fantasy Hero hardcover supplement (which did not include Power creation rules) started by giving readers sample templates of races and “classes” that beginning players could use before learning how to design magic effects or nonhuman races.
Be that as it may, Power design works as described above, first by reasoning from special effects. Again, with the example of a Fireball, there is no specific spell with that name and no school of Fire Magic, so you look at the Powers section to buy something that does what a Fireball does- namely, inflict damage. Not only that, a ball of fire explodes in the target area, which the Blast power normally does not, so you buy Blast with the Explosion Advantage that causes it to do damage in an area (radiating out and doing slightly less damage over distance). “Boom!- now you're all set to fight a gazebo.” This particular example also points out an issue with special effects – magical effects have the descriptor of “magic” by definition, but this one also uses the descriptor of fire. This may mean that certain creatures or items are more vulnerable (or more resistant) to fire damage. There are certain Powers in the system (called Adjustment Powers) that can be used to raise or lower the effectiveness of other effects and can be tuned to a large range of effects- for example a Suppress effect that lowers the power of all magical effects in the area. Other power categories include Attack Powers (self-explanatory), Body-Affecting Powers (used on oneself, like Shape Shift or Stretching), Defense Powers (including personal defenses and the Barrier power), Mental Powers (used directly on a target's mind), Movement Powers (self-explanatory), Sense-Affecting Powers (that attack or otherwise counter other characters' senses, like Invisibility), Sensory Powers (powers that enhance your senses, like Clairsentience or Enhanced Senses), Size Powers (Growth or Shrinking), Special Powers (restricted abilities such as Regeneration) and Standard Powers, a catch-all category. Some of these categories overlap- for instance Drain is an Adjustment Power that is used to reduce a target's abilities and is thus also an Attack Power. There is also a list of Automaton Powers used to buy the traits of unliving beings. These are rarely used in Fantasy although they would be most appropriate for Golems or animated corpses.
These Powers can be bought “as-is” at the listed price, which is either a ratio (Blast is 5 CP for each 1d6 of Blast) or a flat fee (Invisibility is 20 points against a Targeting Sense, namely Sight). However Powers are often bought with Advantages and Limitations. Some of these are listed in the description of the Power itself, for example Invisibility has a specific Limitation, “Only When Not Attacking” simulating an Invisibility that works like the D&D spell and ends immediately if the character attacks anyone. Other modifiers that can be used with a range of Powers are listed in their own section. The way they work is like this: An Advantage increases a Power's value by a listed multiplier which adds to the Active Cost of the Power. For example an Area of Effect Advantage that causes a power to affect a 32 meter radius area is a full +1 Advantage. The total in Advantages is added to a factor of 1, so that Power with a total of +1 in Advantages is (1+1 = 2) or twice normal cost. But with a Limitation you're adding the Limitation's value to a factor of 1 to determine the divisor- for example with the aforementioned Invisibility, the Base Cost of the Power is 20, the Limitation is -1/2 for “Only When Not Attacking” and thus the Power with no other modifiers is 20 divided by 1 1/2 is 13 points. In this game, the Real Cost of a Power is the cost in Character Points after all Advantages and Limitations are applied. In practical terms Limitations are applied much more often at the Heroic Fantasy level than at the Superheroic level- this is because Heroic characters have less points to spend than Champions or Fantasy Superheroic characters, and also because this simulates the difference between spellcasting and a “natural” Power. In Surbrook's sample magic system (see below) all spells have certain required Limitations, meaning that it's possible for magician characters to have decent-sized spells even with a small number of starting points.
After the Powers section, FHC details the rules for Complications. In 6E, Complications are used mainly for role-playing purposes, to “round out” the character. They are used on the “You Get What You Pay For” principle- if a character has a Psychological Complication “Code Versus Killing” it applies much but not all of the time, and in game terms would be bought as Common as opposed to Very Common. Likewise if a hero is Hunted by a single orc, that Hunter might be considered Less Powerful or As Powerful as the PC, but if he's hunted by the orc's entire tribe, they would count as More Powerful.
Finally, this section details the “story elements” of character development which in game are presented as Heroic Action Points (HAPs) and Experience Points. HAPs are used much like Hero Points are used in other games to alter dice rolls by a factor of 1 per 1 point spent; at the start of a game session each PC gets a random 2d6 HAPs, these only apply per game session and do not carry over between sessions. Experience Points in HERO System are unique in that they are exactly analogous to Character Points; PCs usually earn 1 to 3 XP per session (or 5 XP per arc) and can spend them in the same way as Character Points in character creation, such that one could buy a 3-point Skill upon gaining at least 3 XP.
Characters and The World
Up to this point, FHC gave the rules for making characters and special powers. In this section you get into the practical mechanics, starting with movement and character actions. Hero System uses metrics, and characters move on a scale of meters, usually 12m per action. 6th Edition rules no longer use hexes, “inches” or D20-style squares as movement units, but if you use a game board, you establish the scale of what the map is (for example a hexgrid usually has each hex representing 2 meters across). It is possible for a character to double his Movement per Phase by going “Noncombat” but this results in a severe penalty to hit and to defend. In this respect, a character accelerates at 5 m per meter moved, (5m after going one meter, 10 after going two, and full velocity for a 12m character after running three meters). However, he can only decelerate at the same rate. Also, abilities like Flight (possible to some Fantasy beings) are effected by gravity such that moving against gravity or upward requires 2m per meter (effectively half movement rate to move upward) while moving downward effectively doubles movement rate- although this does NOT improve the character's ability to decelerate.
This section also goes into how perception and the senses work, namely what happens when you don't have them. The game raises a distinction between “Nontargeting” and “Targeting” senses (for humans, the only Targeting Sense Group is Sight) and a character who lacks a Targeting sense (for instance, in the dark) is at half value to attack and defend and 0 value to attack at range. If he can make a Perception Roll with a Nontargeting sense (like Hearing) these penalties are reduced. In most cases the penalties are situational, but this section describes the effects of permanently losing that sense, which also allows a beginning PC who is, say, blind or mute to get points by “selling back” that sense or getting a Physical Complication by having a partially handicapped sense.
Character actions and time scale work as described above under Core Concepts, with actions organized on a 12-second Turn, and each character having a Speed (SPD) rating describing how many actions they get, allocated according to a Speed Chart listed on page 161 (most characters have a SPD three, with actions allocated on Phases 4, 8 and 12. Fast characters on the Heroic scale are usually no more than SPD 4, so they would go on Phases 3, 6, 9 and 12). Combat scenes actually start on Phase 12 and afterwards go to a new Turn. Characters move in order of Dexterity (such that a PC with 19 DEX always goes before a character with 18). Initiative order is modified in that a character can choose to Hold an action until a later point in the Phase (or even a later point in the Turn, with the limitation that he can't 'double move' and thus cannot delay past the next Phase that he could move). There is also the option to Abort or use a defensive option like Dodge or Dive for Cover, which can be done in reaction to a faster opponent but eats your Phase. Thus the main limitation on the Abort action is that you can't use it if you had already moved on that same Phase or Turn Segment.
Before getting to Combat, this section also goes over interaction with the rest of the universe, including the ability to break things- for example each inanimate object has a Defense rating for how much 'armor' it gets along with a BODY rating for its 'hit points.' The environment can also act on characters; for example dehydration causes 1d6 Normal Damage to characters (with no defense) every 24 hours, while “intoxicated, drunk, stoned or similarly impaired characters are -2 OCV/-2 DCV.”
Combat works like this: Each character has an OCV (Offensive Combat Value) and DCV (Defensive Combat Value). Each start at 3 and can be bought up as Characteristics or added to with Combat Skill Levels or combat maneuvers. (An inanimate object usually has a DCV of 3.) As mentioned, the base combat roll for the attacking character is 11 or less on 3d6, before modifiers, so if the attacker's OCV is the same number as the defender's DCV, it's still 11 or less. Of course it's rarely that simple. The difference between OCV and DCV is a modifier to the roll, such that a DCV higher than OCV subtracts from the required number, making it harder to hit (7 OCV versus 9 OCV is -2, or only 9 or less to hit on 3d6). Naturally a superior OCV works in the attacker's favor. Another way this is phrased in the book is the formula: Attacker's OCV+11 -3d6 roll = the DCV that the character can hit. This is good when the GM doesn't give you the opponent's DCV and you need to determine the figure yourself. For example, if your OCV is 7 and you roll 13 on 3d6, the formula is 7+11 =18, minus 13 equals 5, meaning your roll would hit a DCV of no more than 5.
Again, there's a whole host of modifers that affect this. For example, in Heroic games, some weapons (ranging from broadswords to assault rifles) give bonuses to OCV and sometimes Range Modifier. Range Modifier is a penalty of -2 to OCV for every 8 meters out (-2 for 9-16m, -4 for 17 to 32 meters, etc.). Martial Arts (if they are used in a Fantasy game) create different OCV/DCV modifiers depending on the manuever used. And then there's Mental Combat, most common in Superhero and Psi-based Science Fiction games, but possible with some Fantasy characters. There is a parallel set of Characteristics called OMCV (Offensive Mental Combat Value) and DMCV (Defensive Mental Combat Value). The primary value of using Mental Combat Value with an attack (which has to be bought as an Advantage on a Power) is that Range Modifiers do not apply as long as the target is within the attacker's Line of Sight. Also, most people don't buy up their DMCV.
Modifiers also include picking up and using improvised weapons including using other characters as weapons ('Hitting one character with another does the attacker’s STR damage to both. The attacker must Grab a victim before using him as a club (HTH) or a missile (Ranged); he cannot use the victim as a weapon as his “free” action immediatelyfollowing Grab. Using a victim as a club entails a -2 OCV penalty (in addition to the penalties for Grab); see Throwing A Character (page 178) for using a victim as a missile').
When you actually hit, you roll damage. This is usually “Normal” or concussive damage on a scale of 1d6 per 5 Active Points of attack. The simplest example of this is Strength or punching damage- e.g. a normal person with 10 STR does 2d6 with weaponless attack and a 20 STR character does 4d6. It's often more effective to use a weapon (or spell) that does Killing damage, like a sword. In game terms, a Killing attack is bought on the scale of 1d6 per 15 points. On scale with Normal attacks, this means that attacks have a certain Damage Class (or DC) – so a 1d6 Killing attack, like a 3d6 punch, is considered DC 3. With a Normal attack, you take the damage dice, roll them and take the total as STUN. The Stun total minus a character's relevant defense (usually called Physical Defense or PD) is how much STUN the character takes. A Normal attack incidentally does BODY- 1 BODY per die except that a roll of '1' does no BODY and a '6' does 2 BODY. PD is also applied against this damage except that if STUN is taken, a character recovers it per Turn with a stat called Recovery (REC), while BODY is usually recovered in REC per Month. (Again, BODY is analogous to D&D Hit Points). Taking Stun from a single attack in excess of one's Constitution score causes the character to be Stunned for one Phase, effectively losing his action. Taking Stun in excess of the character's STUN rating knocks the character out. This in itself is different from most Fantasy games in which damage is normally a fight to the death. However, with a Killing attack, the number rolled on the dice (again, Killing dice are equivalent to 1/3 of Normal dice) is applied straight to BODY, and most characters' PD doesn't apply against this damage. Killing attacks also do STUN on the ratio of a half d6 multiplied, rounded up (a Killing Attack that does 11 BODY and rolls 5 for the Stun Multiple is half of 5, rounded up to 3, 11 x 3 equals 33 STUN). Only Resistant defenses (like armor) apply against the BODY of a Killing Attack, while total defenses (including normal PD) apply to the STUN. Basically Normal attacks are designed to pummel an opponent unconscious while Killing attacks- well, are designed to Kill. If a character takes enough damage to exceed his BODY characteristic- either from Killing damage or an exceptional amount of Normal damage- he starts losing BODY at the rate of 1 per Turn (after Segment 12) and he isn't properly attended to, he will die after reaching his negative BODY score (-10 for a typical character).
It was mentioned that some weapons are built in game terms with bonuses to combat rolls as well as damage Powers. The following section deals with the creation of such equipment, using the Power design rules with specific Modifiers. Again, Heroic characters don't spend points for mundane goods or what's called Normal Equipment. Of course devices like weapons and armor have game stats and thus are technically 'bought' with total Active Points for comparison purposes, but the “real cost” of the item with Limitations doesn't apply because PCs buy these items with money in-game. However there is also the category of “Wondrous Devices” that cost Character Points like Characteristics and Powers. These include magic items, obviously. In game terms they also include bits of equipment that are not magical but advaned enough to “break the rules” (like a suit of armor with reduced encumbrance value), advanced Vehicles, Bases (usually castles and other strongholds bought as Perks), Automatons (like Golems or Clockwork robots) and artifical intelligences -what FHC calls “Daemons.” Examples of the latter in Fantasy include possessed items and intelligent swords. In these terms, FHC treats firearms as normal equipment (that doesn't cost points) as long as they are of the primitive black-powder variety. Breech-loading cannon, repeating weapons, flintlocks and rifles are advanced enough that they have to be bought with points.
Swords and Sorcery – Fantasy Roleplaying
The last major section of FHC goes over what makes the Fantasy genre what it is, to give gamers an idea of how best to simulate it. For instance there are certain common tropes like the use of magic (obviously), the “hero's journey” and the possibility of setbacks on that journey including the possbility of the main hero or another character being called upon to sacrifice himself for the sake of his cause. Other elements include settings (namely dungeons) and monsters (namely dragons). In this context, the book advises the player to imagine the background of his character, but this also requires knowing what sort of campaign the GM is going to run and what kinds of characters he is going to allow. Thus (while it really isn't brought up at this point) a lot of character creation really hinges on the GM and what kind of setting he wants to run- like, are non-humans or spellcasters allowed as player characters? Do they even exist in the universe?
In any case, this section (finally) gets to templates used for creating characters of non-human races or different “class” backgrounds. Usually a non-human will have adjustments to Characteristics and a few built-in Powers, like a Satyr having +1d6 Normal attack due to hooves/horns, or a Dwarf having the Nightvision Enhanced Sense. Cultural/Professional Packages will have bonuses to Characteristics (representing the 'minimum requirements') and Skills. The value of these features is that if you wanted to make, say, a Legolas clone, you would add the Elf/Wood Elf package to the Warrior/Ranger package and say “your character would start off looking like THIS.”
But again, it's very rare that Fantasy doesn't feature magic, and since D&D came out it is quite common for protagonist characters to be seen using magic. Whereas 5th Edition Fantasy Hero displayed its versatility by having at least three different settings with vastly different magic systems, for Fantasy Hero Complete, Surbrook uses a very basic magic system. Magic is defined much like The Force, as the energy inherent in all living things, a stream that magicians can access, if they learn the techniques and use the right tools. In game terms, a magician needs a Magic Skill, which must be rolled against every time he uses his power, a focus object (like a staff or Hogwarts-style magic wand), incantations, gestures/somatic components (with both hands) and at least a Full Phase of time. This can be tweaked somewhat to produce different kinds of spellcasters: An Alchemist, for instance, has spells based on potions, thus are usable on others (who drink the potions), but also have limited uses (Charges) and the focus is a fragile object (the potion bottle).
Then the book goes more into what is required of the GM in designing a setting. Given the freedom inherent in the rules system, it is possible for a Fantasy Hero GM to make a traditional setting with Elves and Dwarves, “on the other hand, the adventures of colorful ponies in an enchanted forest is equally valid.” Certain sub-genres are discussed such as the ever-popular “Crossworlds” Fantasy (in which modern humans end up in a fantasy world) and the more recently popular Urban Fantasy (in which fantasy elements are present on modern Earth). There is also brief discussion about what works in fantasy fiction versus what works in a game- for instance the GM is advised to NEVER split the party.
At length, the book gets to several sample characters, with a variety of backgrounds and power levels. They alternate between the “standard” 175 points to 225 to the that-much-more-powerful 275 points. For instance, the Wizard character is also a Dragon-Folk, which means that in addition to having spells, he's ALSO part dragon. That particular character also shows some of what the sample spells are like; again with all the Limitations applied, even high-powered effects of 60 Active Points end up costing only 13 points each or less. There is also a range of monsters including a Dragon, a Carrion Worm, and even a Kappa from Japanese myth.
This section also gives more details on the spells given to sample characters, along with a few others not shown for those characters. There are also samples of potions and magic items, along with a sample automaton (Zombie) and sample Daemon (the dessicated and preserved head of an ancient sorcerer, called 'The Oracular Head of Ancev').
Then you have a few useful appendices including typical NPC stats, how Characteristics and Skills are bought, the stats on weapons and armor (as normal equipment) and the descriptions of the various Powers and Modifiers. Then there's an Index.
SUMMARY
Fantasy Hero Complete , in my opinion, doesn't come across as well as Champions Complete, because while the layout is not too dissimilar to that book, the structure- focusing first on Hero System powers and then presenting combat rules and character templates- is a better approach for the superhero game Champions (where you don't start off with a 'character class' but you do need to know how your superpowers work) than it is for this D&D-style game, with human or near-human characters, who even in a Fantasy setting need to know more about their skills and normal abilities than about their spells and fantastic powers, and whose abilities can be more easily defined before going into the minutia of designing powers. Especially since that last part is not only the hardest part for new Hero players to grok, it's also usually unnecessary in other Fantasy games where the magic system and magical effects are pre-defined for you. Thus at least in that respect, the previous 6th Edition book for FH (which also required the two corebooks to use) was a better resource for people trying to use the system for a Fantasy game.
But again, that FH book required the two 6E corebooks to use. And while at first, it was neat to have a HERO System rules set that was well-produced and had readable text with color illustrations on high-quality paper, the fact is that those two corebooks in hardcopy ARE FRACKIN' HEAVY. And the 6E Fantasy Hero hardcover (which is only a supplement) wasn't much smaller. And yes, this is a digital age and you could just distribute the PDF to the other players, but not everybody has a tablet or smartphone (even these days), and thus we still need the option for paper rules we can actually use. Thus when I got my copy of FHC in the mail (from supporting the Kickstarter) the main thing that impressed me was how light and easy the book is to handle. Simply in that respect, I think it's going to be used for often than the three thickandheavy hardcover books you previously needed to run Fantasy Hero. Which means, ultimately, that Fantasy Hero is going to get run more often. People running your game should be a primary marker of success. So while the text may not be as beginner-friendly as it needs to be, the book itself is a lot more user-friendly than what they were trying before, and thus more successful in what it needs to do.
James Gillen
Fantasy Hero Swordsman
Fantasy Hero Complete
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