Friday 15 July 2016

Naked Hero Kids

No weapons, no armor, no training, no dice!
Okay, so not actually PLAYING naked, but what are the stats of a completely unequipped and untrained Hero?  I spent some time comparing various Heroes and it appears they would be zero dice in their Melee, Ranged, and Magic Dice Pools, one die in the Armor Dice Pool, and three Health Boxes.  The Melee/Ranged/Magic Attack, Special Action, and the Inventory and Items sections would be empty, and the Bonus Abilities section would almost always be empty. (There are a few abilities representing inherent abilities that would stay, but most are part of their hero type.)

Now, no one would want to play this Hero, he's basically a blank slate, but by stripping away the weapons, armor, and training of a Hero, we can see some interesting "under the hood" workings of the Hero Kids system. One such discovery was a loose set of preassigned or default unnamed weapon and armor types as well:
  • Simple Weapon: Single handed weapons or spells which are the source of the Hero’s basic attack. These grant two die to the appropriate Die Pool (Melee, Ranged, or Magic), permit a basic attack dealing one damage, and are the prerequisite for the Special Action.  Example: The short sword used by the male Warrior.
  • Simple Advanced Weapon: Large two handed weapon employed by Brutes (or equivalents) which are the source of the Hero’s basic attack. These grant three dice to the appropriate Die Pool and permit a basic attack dealing one damage, and are the prerequisite for the Special Action.  Example: The two handed maul used by the male Brute.  As depicted, the female Warrior’s two handed, double-headed axe should grant three dice instead of two, or give her a one handed axe - Maybe her clothing is simple advanced armor?
  • Simple Armor: Partial armor or shield worn by a Hero. They grant one additional die to the Armor Dice Pool, and can act an alternate prerequisite for the Special Action.  Example: The medium wooden shield used by the male Warrior.
  • Simple Advanced Armor: Full armor or large shield worn by a Hero. They grant two additional die to the Armor Dice Pool, but reduce the Melee, Ranged, and Magic die pools by one die, and can act an alternate prerequisite for the Special Action.  Example: The “pots and pans” piecemeal armor worn by the male Knight.

Incorporating this method with the standard Hero creation guidelines can suggest ideas for new Heroes.  There is an opportunity for an Archer who uses a longbow of the simple advanced weapon type, conferring three Ranged dice.  Or an armored bowman with one ranged die and three armor dice. Alternately, if you have an idea for a Hero, you're unsure of how to allocate the dice, but you do know what kinds of weapons and armor they have, then this system can guide you.

Again, as I have said previously regarding other systems I’ve introduced for Hero Kids™, this one isn’t perfect.  No reverse-engineered, post-production, bolt-on system will 100% fit the pre-existing rules.  As noted above, the female Warrior and her two handed axe are short one melee die, similarly the female Healer has a large staff and she has no melee die. (Although in this case you could easily assume a Healer has no weapons training.)  Lastly, this system doesn’t make any allowances for wielding two weapons or weaponless attacks, however neither does the core rules, (see the male Rogue with two daggers), so I’m not going to bother addressing it.

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