Let's Make Some Heroes

I guess that I can start a little play testing now… I’m going to go with fantasy characters first. I’ll go with a team of two heroes, and try to maximize their compatibility so that they support each other well. They are both built on 20 character points, making them low level, but not starting characters; they have a little experience.

Note: I’m going to put the total bonus next to rated abilities, but for any ability that does not have the default CP cost, the math will be in brackets; the first number is the CP investment, the second number is a magical bonus.

The first hero is…

Anjelica, a sword-wielding human champion.
Fighting +4; Might +2 or +4 [2/4]; Stamina +3; Armor +3; Resolve +4 [4/+1 shift from being human)
Limitation: Code of Honor (-2 CPs)
Carries a two-handed sword +5 [10]; Wears Chain Mail Armor +3
Without Mim’s magic, Anj has Might +2 and her sword deals +5 damage; after Boost Might, her sword deals +9 damage; with Boost Might and Energize Weapon, her sword moves to +6 [10/2], dealing a total of +10 damage.

The second hero is…

Mim, a Gnome Bard
Fighting +2; Precision +2
Focus +2; Lore +4 (Boost Might; Energize Weapon; Heal; Mesmerize); Resolve +2
Limitation: Vow to protect libraries, books and learning.
Carries a short bow +3 [4]; with Energize Weapon it becomes +4 [4/2].

Strategy: Anjelica immediately engages the most powerful foe. If there are multiple foes, Mim attempts to mesmerize the second most powerful (or more if they are mooks). Mim’s next priority is to Boost Might on Anjelica, then to Energize both his bow and her sword (which he can do on a single turn). Thereafter, he starts plunking away with his bow, stopping to heal if Anjelica takes considerable wounds.

I really like that Mim, as a bard, ties all of his magical abilities to his Lore. He is not a conventional caster at all; he doesn’t actually have an attack spell in the traditional sense; his magic is all tied to his ancient knowledge. His fighting is relatively low, but his Resolve allows him to use his lore of creatures and their physiologies to target weak points during the fight if needed (taking +4 to a fighting roll) and attacking with his bow at +6 for 1 or 2 turns.

Even with low-level heroes, you can really customize them and get very fiddly with the points in building the heroes. You need to work out ahead of time what your stats are going to be based on the different variables (to speed play), but even a half dozen different options aren’t too hard to figure out and have at the ready. You can still easily fit a character on a 3x5 card, even with all the options you could have.