RETURN TO REAVER HALL (published 12/30/2012)

About this game

HERO POINTS:

There are moments in any struggle that influence the outcome. Does the brave warrior lay low the villain before he can finish casting a devastating spell? Does the sly rogue avoid detection as she sneaks into the giant chieftain’s lair? Does the pious cleric finish casting her healing spell before the rain of arrows ends the life of her companions? Just a few die rolls decide each of these critical moments, and while failure is always a possibility, true heroes find a way to succeed, despite the odds. Hero Points represent this potential for greatness. They give heroes the chance to succeed even when the dice turn against them.

Hero Points are only awarded to player characters. NPCs, animal companions, familiars, cohorts, and mounts do not receive hero points. Unlike other points in the game, hero points do not renew over time or with rest. Once spent, they are gone forever. Hero Points are awarded as a character gains levels or whenever a character accomplishes a truly heroic feat. The GM is the final arbiter on the award and use of hero points.

Awarding Hero Points:

Each character begins play with 1 hero point, regardless of her level. In addition, whenever a character gains a level, she earns an additional hero point. Aside from these basic rules, awarding additional hero points is up to the GM. The following options are just some of the ways that a GM might award additional hero points.

Character Story: GMs can award a hero point for the completion of a written character backstory. This reward encourages players to take an active role in the history of the game. In addition, the GM can use this backstory to generate a pivotal moment for your character concerning his past. When this key event is resolved, the GM can reward another hero point. Alternatively, the GM might award a hero point for painting a miniature or drawing a character portrait in the likeness of your character, helping the rest of the group visualize your hero.

Completing Plot Arcs:  The GM might award a hero point to each of the PCs who were involved in completing a major chapter or arc in the campaign story. These hero points are awarded at the conclusion of the arc if the PCs were successful or advanced the story in a meaningful way.

Faith: In a campaign where the gods play an important role in every character’s life, hero points might represent their favor. In such a setting, the GM can award hero points to characters whenever they uphold the tenets of their faith in a grand way, or whenever they take on one of the faith’s major enemies. Such hero points might be temporary, and if not spent on the task at hand, they fade away.

Heroic Acts: Whenever a character performs an exceptionally heroic act, she can be awarded a hero point. This might include anything from slaying an evil dragon when the rest of the group has fled to rescuing townsfolk from a burning building despite being terribly wounded. It does not have to be related to combat. Convincing the reticent king to send troops to help with a bandit problem or successfully jumping a wide chasm might earn a character a hero point, depending on the circumstances. Note that a hero point should only be awarded if the PC involved did not spend a hero point to accomplish the task.

Return from the Dead:  When a character dies, she does not lose any hero points she has accumulated. If she died with no hero points remaining, she gains 1 hero point when she is brought back from the dead through powerful magic, such as raise dead or resurrection.

Maximum Hero Points: Characters can have no more than 3 hero points at any one time. Excess hero points are lost.

Using Hero Points:

The value to hero points is that they add dramatic tension to the climax of your game. Most uses of hero points do not guarantee success, making the moment they are used even more important to the players. Hero Points are a very limited resource and their use should be described with additional detail and dramatic style. Used in this way, they can help create very memorable sessions for both you and your players.

Hero Points can be spent at any time and do not require an action to use (although the actions they modify consume part of your character’s turn as normal). You cannot spend more than 1 hero point during a single round of combat. Whenever a hero point is spent, it can have any one of the following effects.

Act Out of Turn: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.

Bonus: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero Points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

Extra Action: You can spend a hero point on your turn to gain an additional standard or move action this turn.

Inspiration: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.

Recall: You can spend a hero point to recall a spell you have already cast or to gain another use of a special ability that is otherwise limited. This should only be used on spells and abilities possessed by your character that recharge on a daily basis.

Reroll: You may spend a hero point to reroll any one d20 roll you just made. You must take the results of the second roll, even if it is worse.

Special: You can petition the GM to allow a hero point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would normally be almost impossible. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the GM. Possibilities include casting a single spell that is one level higher than you could normally cast (or a 1st-level spell if you are not a spellcaster), making an attack that blinds a foe or bypasses its damage reduction entirely, or attempting to use Diplomacy to convince a raging dragon to give up its attack. Regardless of the desired action, the attempt should be accompanied by a difficult check or penalty on the attack roll. No additional hero points may be spent on such an attempt, either by the character or her allies.  You may also use a hero point or points (GM’s decision) to add / subtract an environmental feature that could be beneficial to you or detrimental to your opponents.

Cheat Death: A character can spend 2 hero points to cheat death. How this plays out is up to the GM, but generally the character is left alive, with negative hit points but stable. For example, a character is about to be slain by a critical hit from an arrow. If the character spends 2 hero points, the GM decides that the arrow pierced the character’s holy symbol, reducing the damage enough to prevent him from being killed, and that he made his stabilization roll at the end of his turn. Cheating death is the only way for a character to spend more than 1 hero point in a turn. The character can spend hero points in this way to prevent the death of a familiar, animal companion, eidolon, or special mount, but not another character or NPC.



Premise
Nearly 120 years ago the Reavers' adventures culminated with the slaying of Nymiir an ancient white wyrm.  The Reavers used the vast dragon horde to fund the construction of Reaver Hall.  The castle consists of five towers, a central great hall, and a "Hall of the Fallen" to honor the fallen members of the band.  The castle, and the protection it provided, drew settlers to the base of the mountain on which the Hall was built.  The settlement, called Reavers Rest, soon grew into a bustling if small town.

Vassa

The members of the Reavers grew paranoid and bolstered their towers, not from invading armies, or the monsters of Vaasa, but from each other.  Then roughly 30 years after the Hall was built the Reavers inexplicably left, each leaving the Hall at the same time and in different directions.  Without the protection of the powerful adventurers of Reaver Hall the folk of Reavers Rest realized they had to fend for themselves.  Now the town is a cold and unforgiving mining community subsisting on trade, livestock, and meager farming.

Many would-be adventurers have tried to explore Reaver Hall, but all have fallen to the myriad of traps, defenses, and worse things that now inhabit the Hall.  That is, until now.  Calipheros, a sage from far-off Candle Keep, has spent most of his life researching the Cold Lands, particularly the Reavers and their Hall.  Legend holds that great power is hidden in a vault beneath Reaver Hall.  But this vault has been sealed by great magic and the blood of the Reavers themselves, and only the "blood of the Reavers" can undo the magic seal.  Calipheros believes this means that only heroes of the Reaver bloodline can break the seal and unlock the secrets of the vault.  Calipheros has spent the last several years tracing the bloodlines of the original Reavers and locating the heroes he believes hold the key to the secrets Reaver Hall