FANTASY HEROFantasy Roleplaying Using The HERO SystemAuthor: Steven S. LongEditing and Development: Darren Watts, Allen ThomasLayout and Graphic Design: Andy MathewsCover Art: Storn CookInterior Art: Nate Barnes, Storn Cook, Bob Cram, Jr., Andrew Cremeans, Keith Curtis, Jonathan Davenport, John Grigni, Daniel Kiessler, Eric Lofgren, Cara Mitten, Nick Ingeneri, Erik Roman, Scott Ruggels, Klaus Scherwinski, Greg Smith, Chris Stevens

A WORD OR TWO OF APPRECIATION

Dedication: I’d like to dedicate this book, the product of hundreds of hours not just of writing and research but game play, to the fellow members of my long-standing Monday night Fantasy Hero gaming group: Wendell McCollom, our unflagging GM; his wife Jen; John and Lisa Grigni; Harry and Jenna Piper; Ed and Amanda Collins; and Brent Harrison. “More Experience Points!”

Special Thanks: First, special thanks to the mem-bers of the “Fantasy Hero Advisory Board,” who took a preliminary look at parts of this book and offered some suggestions about them. Second, we’d also like to thank the Digital Hero playtesters and testreaders who reviewed the Fantasy Hero manu-script — a herculean task, given the book’s size! Their help spotting typos, inconsistencies, dropped words, and the like is, as always, deeply appreciated. Last but not least, our thanks go out to the numer-ous fans who have posted or commented on our Fantasy Hero message boards to offer their ideas for Fantasy games, the contents of this book, and related matters.

Hero SystemTM ® is DOJ, Inc.’s trademark for its roleplaying system.Hero System © 1984, 1989, 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.Champions © 1984, 1989, 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.Fantasy Hero © 2003 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.Star Hero, Justice Inc., Danger International, Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, Pulp Hero, Western Hero © 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or computerization, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher: DOJ, Inc., 1 Haight Street, Suite A, San Francisco, California 94102.Printed in the U.S.A. First printing July 2003Produced and distributed by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games.Stock Number: DOJHERO500 • ISBN Number: 1-58366-016-Xhttp://www.herogames.com

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FANTASY HERO TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION ......................................5

CHAPTER ONE:WHAT IS FANTASY? ................................8

Magic .................................................8Alternate Worlds .................................8Low Technology ..................................8

FANTASY SUBGENRES ...........................9CROSSWORLDS FANTASY ......................9EPIC FANTASY .....................................10HIGH FANTASY ....................................13LOW FANTASY ....................................14SWORDS AND SORCERY ......................16URBAN FANTASY .................................17

FANTASY, METAGENRES, AND OTHER GENRES .................................19FANTASY AND META-GENRES ..............19

Comedy ............................................19Horror ..............................................20Mystery ............................................21Romance ..........................................22Tragedy ............................................22

FANTASY AND OTHER GENRES .............22Champions .......................................22Dark Champions ...............................23Ninja Hero ........................................23Star Hero ..........................................24Western Hero ....................................24

FANTASY ELEMENTS ............................25

CHAPTER TWO:FANTASY CHARACTER BASICS .............32

Character Background .......................32Character Theme ..............................32Goals And Motivations .......................33

FANTASY RACES ..................................34RACIAL PACKAGE DEALS .....................34

Other Race Considerations ................44

CULTURAL PACKAGE DEALS ................45ENVIRONMENT/ANCESTRY

PACKAGE DEALS ..............................47

PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE DEALS .........54PRIEST PACKAGE DEALS .....................54ROGUE PACKAGE DEALS .....................60WARRIOR PACKAGE DEALS .................64WIZARD PACKAGE DEALS ....................73MISCELLANEOUS PACKAGE DEALS ......76

CHARACTERISTICS ...............................79Normal Characteristic Maxima ...........79Characteristic Ranges .......................79Primary Characteristics .....................80Figured Characteristics ......................80

SKILLS .................................................83GENERAL RULES .................................83

Skill Modifiers ...................................83

Everyman Skills ................................84

SKILL DESCRIPTIONS ..........................84

PERQUISITES ........................................98TALENTS ............................................102

EXISTING TALENTS ............................102NEW TALENTS ...................................103

POWERS .............................................109POWER ADVANTAGES .........................124POWER LIMITATIONS ..........................130DISADVANTAGES ................................137FANTASY EQUIPMENT ........................143

CHAPTER THREE:FANTASY HERO COMBAT ....................150

ENTERING COMBAT ...........................150COMBAT MODIFIERS .........................151COMBAT MANEUVERS .......................154

Standard Combat Maneuvers ...........154Optional Combat Maneuvers ............155New Optional Fantasy Hero

Combat Maneuvers ......................156

OPTIONAL COMBAT RULES ................157Groundfighting ................................157Ignoring Opponents .........................157Interposing .....................................157Twisting The Blade ..........................158

DAMAGE ...........................................158Optional Effects Of Damage .............158Hit Locations ...................................159Critical Hits .....................................159Mystery Damage .............................159Relative Positions ............................160STUN Damage In Fantasy Hero .....160

HEALING AND RECOVERING DAMAGE ........................................162The Role And Place Of Healing .........162Optional Healing Rules ....................163Recovery ........................................163

WEAPONS ..........................................164WEAPONS TABLES ............................164

Explanation Of Hand-To-Hand Weapons Table .............................167

Explanation Of Ranged Weapons Table .............................170

Poisons ..........................................173

MAKING WEAPONS ...........................176Advanced Weapon Creation

Rules And Guidelines ....................180

USING WEAPONS ..............................184Choosing The Right Weapon ............184Special Maneuvers For Weapons ......188Weapon And Shield Breakage ..........189

ARMOR ...............................................190TYPES OF ARMOR .............................190

Explanation Of Armor Table ..............191Sectional Armor ..............................192

USING ARMOR ..................................195Balancing Armor Use .......................196Wearing Multiple Armors .................198Armor Breakage ..............................198

SHIELDS ...........................................198

FANTASY HERO MASS COMBAT .........200BEFORE MASS COMBAT ....................200BATTLE SCALE ..................................201UNITS ...............................................202

Creating Units .................................202Unit Size .........................................202Unit Characteristics .........................203Unit Skills .......................................204Unit Powers ....................................204Unit Disadvantages .........................204

MOVEMENT ......................................204UNIT COMBAT ...................................205

Entering Combat .............................205Fighting ..........................................205Determining Damage ......................205

SPECIAL SITUATIONS .........................207Prominent Characters .....................207Magic In Mass Combat ....................210

SIEGES .............................................211Fortifications ...................................211Assaulting A Fortification .................211Siege Engines .................................213Using Siege Engines .......................216Magic In Sieges ..............................217

CHAPTER FOUR:MAGIC SYSTEMS ................................220

DEFINITIONAL ISSUES ........................220Where Magic Comes From ..............220The Commonality Of Magic ..............223The Power Of Magic ........................223Types Of Magic ...............................227Users Of Magic ...............................230Learning Magic ...............................231Methods Of Casting Spells ...............232Restrictions On Wizards And Spells ..232Flavoring Magic ..............................234

SOCIAL ISSUES .................................235Magic Organizations ........................235Perspectives On Magic And

Spellcasters .................................236Magic’s Effect On Society ................237

RULES ISSUES ..................................239Buying Spells ..................................239Using Spells ....................................245Balancing Spells .............................248

SPELL CREATION AND USE ................249THE SPELL EFFECT ...........................249CASTING METHOD ............................251

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FANTASY HERO TABLE OF CONTENTSCASTING METHOD ............................251

Required Skill Rolls .........................251Procedures .....................................254Other Casting Methods ....................255Avoiding Restrictions .......................256

CASTING TIME ..................................256DURATION .........................................256TARGET; AREA AFFECTED ..................259RANGE ..............................................260

EXAMPLE MAGIC SYSTEMS ...............261THE ARTS ARCANE ............................261CHAOS BLADES ................................262DIVINE MAGIC ...................................263ELDRITCH LORE ................................264THE GIFT ...........................................265LEX MAGISTERIUM ............................265NAMING MAGIC AND WORDS OF

POWER ..........................................268NA’SENRA .........................................269RUNE MAGIC .....................................270THE SECRET SCIENCES .....................270TALRIADAN DRUIDRY .........................271VANSARJAK ......................................272

ENCHANTED ITEMS ............................274BASIC ISSUES ...................................274

Acquiring Enchanted Items ..............275

CREATING ENCHANTED ITEMS ...........276Who Can Create Enchanted Items? ..276Item Creation Requirements ............277Other Item Creation Issues ..............278The Creation Process ......................279

USING ENCHANTED ITEMS .................280TYPES OF MAGIC ITEMS ....................280

Armor And Shields ..........................281Potions ...........................................281Rings .............................................282Scrolls ............................................283Wands And Staffs ...........................285Weapons ........................................285Miscellaneous Items ........................287

CHAPTER FIVE:FANTASY WORLDS .............................290

GEOGRAPHY .....................................290Climatological Zones .......................291Common Terrain Features ................291Ecology ..........................................293Geography, History, And Culture .......294

SUNS, MOONS, AND THE CALENDAR ..295

FANTASY DEMOGRAPHICS .................295

FANTASY RACES ................................298RACIAL ARCHETYPES ........................298CREATING PLAYER CHARACTER

RACES ...........................................299Package Deal Components ..............300

DIVERSITY .........................................301LANGUAGE .......................................301

FANTASY CIVILIZATIONS .....................303HISTORY ...........................................303CULTURE ..........................................305

Arts, Architecture, And Entertainment ..305Family, Women, And Children ...........307Social Classes And Customs ............309Culture And Character Creation ........310

ECONOMICS .....................................311Creating An Economy ......................311Currency ........................................312Income ...........................................314Outgo .............................................314Trade .............................................315Rules Considerations .......................317

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS .............318The Basics Of Government ..............318International Governments ...............319Feudalism ......................................320Functions Of Government ................321Crime And Punishment ....................322

RELIGION ..........................................324Creating The Gods ..........................324Gods And Men ................................327Priests, Priesthoods, And Religious

Organizations ...............................329Religion And Society ........................331

TECHNOLOGY ...................................332

TRAVEL .............................................332

CHAPTER SIX:CREATING A CAMPAIGN ......................336

CHARACTER GUIDELINES ...................336CAMPAIGN TONE ...............................339CAMPAIGN THEME ............................340CAMPAIGN TYPES .............................341

Subgenre .......................................341Campaign Subject ...........................343

SETTINGS .........................................345

RUNNING THE GAME ..........................347

ADVENTURE STRUCTURE ...................347Plotting ..........................................348

DEALING WITH DISCONNECTS ...........351DISADVANTAGES AND HOW

TO USE THEM .................................353

THE FANTASY ENVIRONMENT ............358ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS ................358FEAR AND AWE .................................359LIGHT ...............................................359TRAPS ..............................................360

Sample Traps ..................................361Secret And Concealed Doors ...........363

THE UNDERGROUND ENVIRONMENT ..364WALLS AND DOORS ..........................365

VILLAINS AND NPCs ...........................367VILLAINS ...........................................367

Villain Qualities ...............................367Villain Archetypes ............................369

MONSTERS .......................................372Creating Monsters ..........................372Using Monsters ...............................374

NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS ...............375NPC Archetypes ..............................376

CHAPTER SEVEN:DRUDARYON’S LEGION ......................379

DRUDARYON .....................................381VALERIUS THE HARPER ......................383HALFREDA ........................................387TARINA .............................................389DRAGO .............................................391

VILLAINS ............................................393TAAL SALIRA .....................................393LORD GARETHON ..............................396ORC .................................................398OGRE ................................................399TROLL ..............................................400

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................401FANTASY FICTION ..............................401NONFICTION BOOKS ..........................406MOVIES ............................................406

APPENDIX ..........................................407VALGARD CASTLE .............................407WIZARD’S TOWER .............................408THE IRONTREE INN ............................409TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD .................410

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5 Fantasy Hero

Fantasy has long been the most popular genre for gaming — in fact, it’s the genre that led to the creation of roleplaying games in the first place. The release of the Dungeons &

Dragons game in the mid-1970s introduced mil-lions of people to the concept of roleplaying, slay-ing monsters, and adventuring using only their imaginations, some paper and pencils, and dice. D&D inspired many other games, including Cham-pions and the HERO System — and thus, eventually, this book (and its predecessors, the first edition released in 1985, and the second in 1990).

But long before gaming came along, Fantasy was working its magic on the minds of readers. Beginning with the tales and legends of ancient days, and leading up to novels by such modern masters of the genre as Tolkien, Vance, Dunsany, Moorcock, Howard, Leiber, Kurtz, and Kay, stories of wizards, quests, swordplay, dragons, and magic have long enthralled us. In fact, most gamers come to Fantasy gaming through their love of Fantasy literature, rather than the other way around.

Thanks to their interest in Fantasy, gamers have run Fantasy campaigns using the HERO System rules for decades — before, in fact, there ever was an official “Fantasy Hero” book. No two Fantasy settings are identical, and the unmatched adaptability, flexibility, and customizability of the HERO System makes it a natural for Fantasy gaming. Rather than forcing gamers to use a pre-defined list of spells, monsters, or the like, Fantasy Hero lets you decide what magic is like, how char-acters create and cast spells, what attributes differ-ent types of characters have, how strong giants are, and how your Fantasy world functions.

Thus, Fantasy Hero is a set of rules, guidelines, and advice you can use to run gaming campaigns in the style of your favorite Fantasy novels, short stories, and movies. Like Hero’s other genre books, you can think of it as a sort of “instruction manual” that shows you how to use the HERO System 5th Edition “toolkit” to create the best, most interesting characters and campaigns possible.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOKFantasy Hero is designed both for players

experienced with Fantasy roleplaying and those who are new to this style and genre of play. Nothing in these pages is secret or for the GM’s eyes only, so every reader can read it all the way through and then decide which portions he wants to utilize.Chapter One, Warriors, Wizards, And Wondrous Worlds: The Fantasy Genre, delves into the nuts and bolts of Fantasy as a genre. After first discussing what “Fantasy” is, it explores the major sub-genres

of Fantasy, such as High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy, as well as the interaction of Fantasy with meta-genres such as tragedy, comedy, and romance. It also describes classic Fantasy “bits” and elements — things like dragons, necromancy, prophecies, and swords.Chapter Two, Subjects Of The Realm, reviews the subject of Fantasy Hero character creation in two sections. The first section contains over five dozen Racial, Environment/Ancestry, Culture, and Profes-sional Package Deals covering not only the “typical” races and professions found in Fantasy gaming — dwarves, elves, gnomes, warriors, wizard, priests, and so on — but many more unusual ones as well (winged folk, lizard-men, shamans, bounty hunt-ers, and the like). The second section reviews the major elements of the HERO System, such as Skills and Powers, and describes how they function in Fantasy games. This section includes several new or expanded Perks and Talents as well.Chapter Three, Battles And Blades: Combat And Adventuring, discusses the subject of Fantasy Hero combat. It includes optional rules for the use of Combat Modifiers and Maneuvers in Fantasy settings, an expanded weapons list and rules for weapons use, and a mass combat system so you can include battles and sieges in your games.Chapter Four, Arcane Creations: Magic, is perhaps the most important one in the book. Magic is a core defining element of most Fantasy settings, and how magic works influences many other aspects of the setting. Thus, it’s important for the GM to take the time to define how magic functions in his cam-paign, and what affect it has on society, history, the economy, and even geography. First the GM has to create a magic system, a framework and set of rules explaining how magic works in the game. After he knows how magic works generally, he has to create spells for the characters to buy (or let the players create their characters’ spells themselves). This chapter walks you step-by-step through the process, discussing not only basic considerations but social and rules-related issues; it includes twelve sample magic systems, each with several spells, to get you started. Lastly, the chapter describes enchanted items — how they function in the campaign, how characters can create them, and so forth — and provides examples.Chapter Five, Beyond The Fields We Know: Fantasy Worlds And Races, describes how to create Fantasy settings and races. For many gamers, creating their own Fantasy world is one of the most enjoyable things about gaming, and this chapter discusses the creation process in detail. It includes sections on

INTRODUCTIONDUPLICATION; HERO GAMES

TEXT ONLY (-2)

Fantasy Hero contains some text reprinted (with appropriate changes in points of detail) from Star Hero, since general advice about world design and GMing Heroic-level games applies to both Science Fiction and Fantasy.

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6 Hero System 5th Edition

government, population, trade, travel, technology, and religion, among other subjects.

Chapter Six, Wonders Of The Imagination: Gamemastering Fantasy Hero, provides advice for the GM. It discusses campaign guidelines and stan-dards, themes, and morality, and covers the Fantasy Hero environment (including underground adven-turing, traps, and the like). It also describes Fantasy villains and NPCs — how to create memorable ones and use them to best effect in the game.

Chapter Seven, Drudaryon’s Legion, provides a selection of sample heroes and villains to inspire players and GMs, or even to adopt for their own use. The characters all come from Hero Games’s Turakian Age setting, but you can easily adapt them to other Fantasy worlds.

Lastly, the book concludes with a detailed Bib-liography of Fantasy literature and movies. It’s not complete (no Fantasy bibliography could be!), but it contains a long list of Fantasy works gamers may find inspirational — not to mention just plain fun.

So, draw your sword, prepare your spells, and get ready — realms of wondrous Fantasy await!

HISTORICAL REALISMMost Fantasy games portray quasi-medieval

societies, or other societies based, in whole or in part, on earlier eras of human civilization. This raises the issue of conducting research to make the settings more historically “accurate,” increase the verisimilitude of the world, and even unearth unusual and interesting facts that might add flavor and color to a game.

While there’s no question that historical research often proves helpful to a Fantasy game, Fantasy Hero only contains a few historical facts here and there as points of comparison. There are several reasons for this (beside the lack of page space).

First, there’s often little consensus on what constitutes “historical fact.” Historians have only limited information about many subjects relevant to gaming, and in other cases their conclusions inspire extensive discussion and debate. What one historian (or gamer) regards as “fact,” another dis-misses as speculation or erroneous information — and it’s entirely possible both views are justified.

Second, most Fantasy gamers don’t want his-

torical realism. They want their games to have a veneer of historical realism — a political system approximating Western European feudalism, weap-ons and armor similar to those used in medieval cultures around the world, and so forth. They don’t care about the nature and function of incorporeal hereditaments, how medieval economies “really” worked, or the precise relative merits of one type of weapon over another. An approximation, often one made with dramatic rather than “realistic” consid-erations in mind, suffices. Like most Fantasy novels and movies, they want the flavor and the feel, not the substance.

Third and most importantly, in many cases historical data, accurate or not, is totally irrelevant to a Fantasy game. A Fantasy world is not our world, and it’s questionable just how analogous real-world data can be to a Fantasy setting. Numer-ous factors, including geography, natural disasters, influential persons, and native flora and fauna vary so much from the real world to the Fantasy world that it’s hard to say that the state of affairs prevail-ing on Earth (or some part of Earth) at various points in history would duplicate, even to a slight degree, in another world.

In particular, the existence of magic has an enormous effect on Fantasy settings. All but the most mundane of Low Fantasy settings features magic; it suffuses some High Fantasy worlds. Once you bring magic into the picture, analogizing between the real world and your Fantasy world becomes much harder, and perhaps even futile — especially when magic is common and powerful enough to effectively take the place of high tech-nology. What would the Roman Empire have been like with fireballs and sorcery? We don’t know, and we never will, and speculation about the subject is largely meaningless...

...but of course, sometimes meaningless sub-jects are fun to pursue. Even though Fantasy Hero doesn’t include a lot of historical research, there’s no reason you can’t do all the research you want, if you’re so inclined. The books in the “Nonfiction” section of the Bibliography are a good start. Exam-ine the facts, draw your own conclusions, and plan your game as you see fit. As long as you and your players have fun, you win, whether you’re “histori-cally correct” or not.

OTHER RESOURCES

In addition to Fantasy Hero, Hero Games publishes many other books Fantasy gamers may find useful. These include:

The HERO System Besti-ary, a collection of 180 monsters and animals that will provide any GM with plenty of adversaries for the PCs.

The Ultimate Martial Artist, which not only contains dozens of mar-tial arts styles suitable for Fantasy games, but a long list of Asian melee weapons.

The Ultimate Vehicle, which has expanded rules for creating and using Vehicles in the HERO System. It includes dozens of sample vehicles, many appropriate for Fantasy settings.

Ninja Hero, if you want to include lots of martial arts and martial arts-style special abilities and powers in your Fantasy game.

The UNTIL Superpow-ers Database, which contains thousands of superpowers you can easily convert into spells by applying appropri-ate Limitations (OAF, Gestures, Incantations, Requires A Skill Roll, and the like).

In addition to these books, be sure to check out the rest of the Fan-tasy Hero line, including The Fantasy Hero Gri-moire, Monsters, Min-ions, And Marauders, and setting books. You’ll find plenty of material in them to enhance your Fantasy Hero games.

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THE FANTASY

GENRE

WARRIORS, WIZARDS AND WONDEROUS WORLDS — CHAPTER ONE

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