Heroes are mortals who have been chosen by a god to receive great power.
Heroes can be charismatic leaders and legendary warriors. They may also be peaceable creatures, depending on their god, with very little combat knowledge or ability. All Heroes are immortal and quite resistant to being killed. However, this does not mean they are invincible. Critical wounds, potent magic and exotic poisons may still bring about their death.
The skills and resilience of a Hero depends greatly on who created them and for what purpose. In addition to immortality, each Hero has their own set of unique powers or abilities, and may bear many other simple blessings. In addition to any unique powers, a Hero may:
- Be partially impervious to attacks, poisons, and magic
- Have extraordinary strength, speed, and stamina, the extent depending on their god and level
- Cast magic, the type and their proficiency depending on their god and level
- Bless or Curse individuals. The power of this grows with level and is not as powerful as a god's ability
- Subtly mould their surroundings to their will - an inherent magic rather than a divine capability
- Sense people, objects, creatures, and gods unless any of these are concealed, within their vicinity
As Heroes grow in strength, their own abilities will grow, as will the above traits. Heroes level up using Prestige. Beginning at Level 1, Heroes have 0 Prestige, and will earn it as they go about their daily life. Prestige is earned by writing posts featuring the Hero.
- Every hero post will earn 2 Prestige.
- Completing a Divine Quest will earn a variable amount of Prestige (see below for details).
The higher a Hero's level, the more Prestige needed to level up. The following are the Prestige requirements for each level up, considering all Heroes begin at Level 1:
- Level 1-2: 2 Prestige
- Level 2-3: 4 Prestige
- Level 3-4: 6 Prestige
- Level 4-5: 8 Prestige
- Level 5-6: 10 Prestige
- Level 6-7: 12 Prestige
- Level 7-8: 14 Prestige
Every level up thereafter requires 2 more Prestige than the previous level. Additionally, gods can use Might to level heroes up:
- Levels 1-8: 1 Level per 0.25 MP
- Levels 8-16: 3 Levels per 1 MP
- Levels 16-24: 1 Level per 0.5 MP
- Levels 24-32: 1 Level per 1 MP
- Levels 32-40: 1 Level per 2 MP
- Levels 40-48: 1 Level per 3 MP
- Levels 48-56: 1 Level per 4 MP
- Levels 56-64: 1 Level per 5 MP
- Levels 64-72: 1 Level per 6 MP
Beyond this, each group of 8 Levels costs one more Might per Level than the previous group.
Prestige can also be earned by completing Divine Quests. These can be set by GMs, but are also set by gods for free. Each god can only have one active quest at any one time, and only one Quest can be created per turn. Each quest can be completed by more than one hero where that makes sense, although each hero can only claim the prize once. Multiple heroes working together to complete a quest all gain the full prize. All heroes have the opportunity to learn of the existence of a Quest (via rumours, legends, proclamations, visions, etc.); no secret or private Quests are allowed. A hero can only complete one Quest per turn.
A quest starts out granting zero Prestige. The reward increases based on the risks faced by the Hero and consequences suffered. Time taken and roleplaying elements (such as collaboration) also make a difference.
The amount of Prestige earned for completing a quest is increased by the following Risk Factors (these do not stack; take the highest value one only if multiple apply):
- The Hero risked mild harm. (1 Prestige)
- The Hero suffered mild harm. (2 Prestige)
- The Hero risked moderate harm. (4 Prestige)
- The Hero suffered moderate harm. (8 Prestige)
- The Hero risked severe harm. (6 Prestige)
- The Hero suffered severe harm. (12 Prestige)
'Harm' is defined broadly as any physical, mental, or spiritual injury sustained. Severity is to be judged by how much of a setback it is and what the probability of that setback is. Thus mild injury would probably be things the Hero could easily brush off and recover from, such as a sprain, some burns, a cold reception, a frustrating delay.
Moderate harm includes traumatic experiences with no long-term effect, such as broken bones, stab wounds, a betrayal or serious fright; things that would probably require some kind of rest period to recover completely from.
Severe would be permanent (or potentially permanent) and significant losses, such as an unliftable curse, major amputation, severe psychological trauma, loss of magic, and so on.
If no risk factors apply, a Hero can not gain any Prestige from the quest.
Roleplay Factors are as follow:
- The Hero collaborated with characters from other players to complete the quest. (+5 Prestige)
- The quest took more than one post of continued effort to complete. (+2 Prestige)
- The quest took more than one Turn of continued effort to complete. (+8 Prestige)
Note that this system provides different rewards for different Heroes. If the quest is to 'Protect a village from a horde rampaging orcs', then a powerful combat Hero might receive little or no reward from such a quest, while a comparatively weak Hero could receive significant rewards for the quest.
Prestige can be used in much the same way a god would use Might. Using Prestige, a Hero can found an Order without a god having to use Might, form societies, and teach their people new technologies and ideas. A people who could previously not build stone houses may be taught by a Hero how to do so, one who could not use magic in a particular way can be taught, and a Hero could set himself up as a King, thus teaching them monarchy. Further, a Hero can teach ideologies - by building a temple to a certain god, he can teach them a religion and teach them laws and so on.
The only difference is that unlike things a god does, they may not magically affect an entire species or people, merely those whom the Hero interacts with. They must be shown to take a substantial amount of time in character, depending on the thing in question. Teaching people how to make Fire may take a few months, teaching people about Monarchy and getting them to accept a monarch's authority may take decades.
Prestige usage examples:
- 2 Prestige - Teach people a basic technology or idea (stone houses, mercantilism, commune with birds)
- 5 Prestige - Form a village, tribe, ship's crew, warband, or other small group
- 8 Prestige - Teach people an ideology (such as a religion, way of life, Code of the Samurai)
- 10 Prestige - Teach people a powerful magic or technology (Magic, The Force, Damascus steel, sword specialization etc. very unique boons to a people)
- 10 Prestige - Form a full-fledged Order, complete with any unique skill or magical specialization
It must be noted, last of all, that there is potential for Heroes, given extraordinary circumstances, to become gods. There is no set route for a Hero to go about becoming a god and it is a matter of developing in character, though one ingredient that is of utmost importance is to gain access to divine essence in some way.
If an extremely powerful Hero were to harm an Avatar, for instance, and drinks its ichor, they would take in some of said god's essence present in the ichor and become somewhat divine themselves (or at least close to it). It must be noted, also, that normal mortals or Heroes who are not powerful enough would be immediately destroyed upon exposure to divine essence. In cases where a god willingly gifts a Hero with their essence, this will cause said Hero to immediately ascend to godhood, if they are powerful enough.