Re: Re: NPC Hero Points

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_...>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 17:39:07 +0100 (BST)

Trotsky:
> It's going to depend on the style of your campaign, I think. If the PCs
> have hero points, and only the major villains have them among the NPCs, its
> going to give the PCs a significant edge over most people simply because
> they're 'the heroes'.

Right, but not a routine edge, just one that's going to get them killed or fail crucially less often.

> This is fine in a cinematic style campaign, but if that
> sort of gaming holds no interest for you, and you want a more gritty and
> 'realistic' campaign, then hero points either don't exist (unlikely) or they
> represent something that is, taking into account relative power levels of
> characters and so on, just as available to NPCs as it is to PCs.

To wit, what? I personally think the 'don't exist' -- or rather, can't be spent for after-the-fact bump-ups -- is a much better idea if you don't want the heroes to have 'plot protection'. Making them ubiquitous among NPCs is simply introducing 'HP inflation', IMO. After all, minor, non-on-going NPCs aren't really in the position of having to worry about 'hoarding' their HPs, so if you give them some, and use them 'tactically', it would have the more than a little counter-intuitive effect of them spending them _more_ freely than PCs and major NPCs.

Cheers,
Alex.

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