Hero
Heroes are the . . . uh, heroes . . . of the game. Each hero has a personality, acquires or develops augments over time, and carries equipment.
Heroes travel in a party. The party starts as a bunch of farmers and every hero develops over time. A farmer can become a warrior, a hunter, or a mystic.
Heroes have:
Recruitment
One recruitment event is offered per chapter, in which the player can pay legacy points to hire a new hero for the party.
Any time the party has fewer than 3 members another recruitment event will be offered.
The Bard ability reduces the cost of recruitment by 1 LP.
During intervals, a child of one of the heroes will often join the party for free.
Legacy recruits
You can choose to recruit heroes from your legacy, for +1 LP cost per legacy tier (stars). The legacy hero returns as a young Greenhorn version of their past self, including permanent Aspects and personality. (Think of it perhaps as a descendent or reincarnated self, or the way folktales of a character will put them in a hundred places, in a hundred stories at once.) You can choose a number of their previous Abilities for them to return with, equal to their legacy tier. They arrive equipped with tier-1 versions of their prior equipment, including any elemental enchantment but not other augments.
Returning with permanent Aspects means that if they lost a limb previously, it's still lost, and if they gained a transformation or pet, they return with it.
Class and Abilities
Each hero is trained in a class as one of warrior, hunter, or mystic. They gain experience through combat and at thresholds they promote to a higher level.
Experience and promotion
The party gains 13-19 xp (10+3d3 xp) for a successful mission, divided as evenly as possible among heroes who finished the mission. Certain events may also grant xp.
| Level | Title | Warrior | Hunter | Mystic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenhorn | 0 xp | 0 xp | 0 xp |
| 2 | Bloodhorn | 20 | 30 | 36 |
| 3 | Bluehorn | 50 | 76 | 90 |
| 4 | Bronzehorn | 90 | 138 | 162 |
| 5 | Silverhorn | 140 | 216 | 252 |
| 6 | Goldhorn | 200 | 310 | 360 |
| 7 | Blackhorn | 270 | 420 | 486 |
Starting with Greenhorn, each time a character promotes, they gain an ability. The player is offered a random choice of three new abilities to select from, plus (if available) a fourth choice that is an upgrade of one of their current abilities. Some abilities are specific to a class, and some are general abilities available to any hero.
Each ability has one possible upgrade. If all of the hero's abilities are already upgraded, then no upgrade option is offered.
Heroes can also promote and gain abilities by completing Opportunities (hook events).
With each promotion, heroes also gain additional stats according to their class:
| Stat | Warrior | Hunter | Mystic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health | 1 | 1 | 0,9 |
| Recovery Rate | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Speed | 0,2 | ||
| Armor | 0,3 | 0,2 | 0,1 |
| Warding | 0,3 | 0,4 | 0,4 |
| Melee Accuracy | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Range Accuracy | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Bonus Damage | 0,6 | 0,4 | 0,2 |
| Potency | 0,3 | 0,4 | 0,5 |
Equipment
- See Equipment
Relationships
- See Relationships
Injury and Healing
When heroes take damage they are given a transient stat called Injury, that is subtracted from Health to give current health.
Injuries heal when time passes on the overland map. Healing rate is determined by:
- The hero's recovery rate stat, which is modified by their age
- The hero's activity during healing. Healing is faster resting in Towns or Stations, and slower while travelling. The remaining Injury and current healing modifier is shown on the hero portrait.
Death and Maiming
When a hero loses their last hit point, they get a mortal choice: either die immediately in exchange for a boon for the rest of the party, or be maimed and wait to be rescued by the surviving heroes at the end of the battle.
Maimed heroes lose a randomly-selected limb, which gets replaced with a prosthetic. Heroes with only one hand cannot use two-handed or offhand items. If an event replaces an arm causing a hero to have no weapon, they pick up a basic weapon. Losing a leg causes the hero to move more slowly (the prosthetic leg grants less speed than a natural leg does). Maimed heroes do not receive their replacement limb immediately, but must return to the nearest safe Town to heal first.
If the hero has an aspect that can replace limbs they get special versions instead of a standard hook or peg leg. In some cases the replacement can be an upgrade from human normal. If a partially-transformed hero falls again and loses another limb, they always lose one of their remaining human limbs, not a transformed one.
Heroes can be maimed at most once per chapter. If they fall a second time they die, and do not get a mortal choice boon.
If a character dies in battle, you can build them a memorial tomb afterwards. This adds them to your legacy.
Retirement
When a hero reaches retirement age during a chapter, they will retire in the interval at the end of the chapter, taking their gear with them. They are automatically added to your legacy, and the party gains +3 LP (or maybe LP=Level?)
If a hero reaches retirement age during an Interval, they will adventure for one more chapter and then retire.
Every hero has a hidden birthday.
