The Rewards of Heroism: Earning Hero Points

In comic book stories, heroes often confront the villain and deal with various setbacks. Perhaps the villain defeats them in the first encounter. Maybe one or more of the heroes have to overcome a personal problem. The villain may have a secret the heroes need to discover, and so forth. By the end of the story, the heroes have overcome these challenges and they're ready to take on the villain.

Mutants & Masterminds reflects this kind of story structure through the awarding of hero points. The heroes gain hero points as an adventure progresses. When the going gets tough, the heroes get tougher, because they get hero points to help them overcome future challenges.

Heroes get hero points from setbacks, complications, acts of heroism, roleplaying, stunts, and instances of Gamemaster fiat.

Setbacks

Setbacks are when things just aren't going the hero's way. When a hero suffers a significant failure, the player gets a hero point. Generally, a "significant failure" is a failed skill check or saving throw with the worst possible result: a Climb check where the hero falls, a Toughness save where the hero is knocked out, a Reflex save that leaves the hero helpless, a Will save where the hero is mind-controlled, and so forth. The GM decides if a particular failure is significant or not. Generally, routine failures, like missing an attack roll or suffering some lesser effect from a failed save, is not significant enough to count as a setback and earn a hero point.

Complications

Complications are essentially setbacks players choose for their heroes in advance. Comic books are full of personal complications, and players are encouraged to come up with some for their heroes. When a complication causes a setback for a hero, it's worth a hero point award. Possible complications, and their uses in adventures, include:

• Accident: You cause or suffer some sort of accident. Perhaps a stray blast damages a building or hurts an innocent bystander, your fire powers set off sprinkler systems, or you cause volatile chemicals to explode.
• Enemy: You have an enemy, or enemies, trying to do you harm. The GM can have your enemy show up to cause you trouble, and adventures involving your enemy tend to be more complicated for you; even personal grudge-matches, if the enmity goes both ways.
• Fame: You're a public figure, known almost everywhere you go, hounded by the media, swamped by fans and well-wishers, and similar problems.
• Obsession: You're obsessed with a particular subject and pursue it to the exclusion of all else, which can create some complications.
• Phobia: You're irrationally afraid of something. When confronted with it you have to fight to control your fear, causing you to hesitate or act irrationally (and earning a hero point).
• Prejudice: You are part of a minority group subject to the prejudices of others. Some Gamemasters and gaming groups may prefer not to deal with issues of prejudice in their games, in which case the GM is free to ban this complication.
• Responsibility: You have various demands on your time and attention. Responsibilities include family obligations, professional duties, and similar things. Failing to live up to your responsibilities can mean loss of relationships, employment, and other problems.
• Secret: You have something potentially damaging or embarrassing you're hiding from the world. The most common secret for Mutants & Masterminds heroes is their true identity. Occasionally, something (or someone) may threaten to reveal your secret.

Examples: The teen superhero Sonic has finally made a date with the new girl at school. Unfortunately, his enemy Rant decides to go on a rampage in Southside that evening. Sonic has to ditch his date and deal with Rant quick before she gets suspicious. The GM awards Sonic's player a hero point for the romantic complication and one for the enemy complication, which Sonic uses to kick Rant's butt as fast as he can, so he can get back to his date.

The witch Seven suffers from claustrophobia. When the vampire lord Dracula places her in a coffin in preparation for becoming one of his brides, Seven is overcome with panic and unable to use her magic to free herself. The GM awards Seven's player a hero point for the setback resulting from her complication.

Heroism

You earn hero points for acts of heroism, the kind of things we expect from superheroes. To qualify for a hero point, the act must be truly heroic and self-sacrificing. Beating up on a group of thugs who are no real threat isn't heroism, but taking a hit for a friend is. Rescuing people from a burning building is heroism. Being willing to surrender to a villain in order to save the lives of hostages is heroism. Allowing a villain to get away so you can catch a runaway train before it crashes is heroism.

Roleplaying

Although the dialogue in some Silver Age comics is corny enough to make us groan, consider the occasions when a hero's rousing speech or clever quips make us cheer or smile. When a player provides similar dialogue in the game: something that makes everyone at the table laugh or applaud, award the player a hero point. This doesn't have to be limited to just dialogue; a player who provides a fantastic description of a hero's action, or helps entertain the group in some other way can also qualify for a hero point.

Stunts

Sometimes heroes manage to pull off stunts that make us go "wow!" When a hero in the game does the same thing—performing a cool stunt and impressing everyone at the table—the player gets a hero point. Note this applies to stunts performed using extra effort and spending the hero point you get for performing a cool stunt to eliminate the fatigue from the extra effort is allowed, so especially cool power stunts and such can become "freebies" if the GM awards a hero point for them.

Gamemaster Fiat

Lastly, players earn hero points when the Gamemaster "bends" the rules of the game in favor of the bad guys. The GM essentially gets to "cheat" on behalf of the villain(s), but the heroes get hero points when this happens.

Example: The GM may spring an "inescapable" trap on the heroes, allowing the villain to place them into a fiendish deathtrap and tell them his master plan before leaving them to their fate. The GM declares Gamemaster Fiat to make the trap truly inescapable; the heroes all automatically fail their saving throws against it. However, they each get a hero point. The deathtrap that follows is a complication, earning them another hero point.

Some uses for GM Fiat include:

• Giving a non-player character the benefit of a hero point.
• Allowing a villain to escape an encounter automatically. Circumstances conspire to allow the villain to get away scot-free: debris blocks pursuit, the villain goes missing in an explosion or falls to a mysterious "death," and so forth.
• Have a hero fail a saving throw against a particular hazard, like a villain's trap, to help further the plot.
• Have the heroes automatically surprised by an opponent at the start of an encounter.
• Cause some additional problem for the heroes. Essentially, bringing a complication into play can be seen a use of GM Fiat.

A good rule of thumb with Gamemaster Fiat is any time the GM effectively grants a non-player character the benefits of a hero point or the equivalent, the affected hero or heroes get a hero point in exchange. This is important, since only the heroes have and earn hero points. NPCs make use of GM Fiat as the Gamemaster sees fit.

Under the Hood: Awarding Hero Points

One benefit of the system of awarding hero points is it allows the Gamemaster to reward players for suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. It in fact encourages them to do so, since players know they'll get hero points for the setbacks and complications their heroes face.

For example, since things like saving throws are voluntary, players can choose to fail a saving throw in order to place their heroes into situations where they can earn hero points. With this system, you can "bribe" players, saying, "Okay, if you let Mastermind take over your character and do his bidding for this scene, you get an extra hero point." Likewise, it serves as a reward for players who choose to rescue civilians and let the villain get away at the start of the adventure, or suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the villain early on, just like the heroes in the comics.

Next: As we've seen, the life of a hero isn't always easy, and next time we take a look at some of the various Drawbacks heroes have to contend with in Mutants & Masterminds.