“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend …” – Faramir, in The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
This chapter offers a variety of new and optional rules that can increase the heroic fantasy flavor of a campaign. Some, none, or all of these rules can be used, in conjunction with a standard ACKS campaign or a specifically heroic campaign, at the Judge’s discretion.
“Come, we'll swear to the gods, the highest witnesses—the gods will oversee our binding pacts. I swear I will never mutilate you—merciless as you are—if Zeus allows me to last it out and tear your life away. But once I've stripped your glorious armor, Achilles, I will give your body back to your loyal comrades. Swear you'll do the same." – Hector, in The Iliad (Homer)
In heroic fantasy settings, adventurers may hold to a code of behavior known as a heroic code. Adhering to such codes is a mark of greatness and increases the hero’s fame and glory in the eyes of his people. In game terms, a character who behaves according to a heroic code for the course of the entire adventure gains a 10% bonus on experience earned during that adventure.
Each heroic code is made up of eight virtues to which the character should aspire. The exact virtues recommended by the heroic code will depend on the hero’s culture. Below we present one possible heroic code, the warrior code of the pagan heroes of myth.
The virtues within a code are always listed in order of importance. When contradictions arise in the heroic code, higher-order virtues generally take precedence over lower-order virtues. (By re-ordering the eight virtues, very different codes of behavior can be created.)
EXAMPLE: Sigwulf has sworn an oath to slay his brother’s murderer, Bjorn, on sight. Sigwulf is awakened one morning by Bjorn, crippled in battle, asking for refuge in Sigwulf’s home. Since hospitality takes precedence over reliability (not breaking an oath) and loyalty (taking revenge for his brother’s killing), Sigwulf extends the guest-rite to Bjorn.
Characters who have accumulated so much corruption (see Shades of Magic section) that their alignment has or would have shifted cannot benefit from a heroic code.
The folk of the Geatmen got him then ready / A pile on the earth strong for the burning, / Behung with helmets, hero-knights’ targets, / And bright-shining byrnies, as he begged they should have them; / Then wailing war-heroes their world-famous chieftain, / Their liege lord beloved, laid in the middle. – Beowulf, Chapter XLIII, Lines 1-6 (Unknown)
If an adventurer dies heroically, he may be honored in death with a heroic funeral. A heroic funeral might include burning the deceased in a funeral pyre, burying him in a ship, or interring him in a great barrow-mound. In any case, the deceased adventurer must be sent to the afterlife with a substantial amount of treasure.
The true beneficiary of a fallen adventurer’s heroic funeral is the player of the deceased character. His new character may enter the game with experience points equal to 90% of the gold piece value of money spent on the funeral and/or interred with his character (including the gp value of any magic items interred). He also gains all unspent Fate Points (if any). The new character should be a friend or relation of the deceased, and is assumed to be guided and inspired by the spirit of the slain.
Adventurers who die unheroically, due to their own cowardice, greed, or stupidity, or who are slain while fleeing in fear, may not benefit from a heroic funeral. Their spirit wanders aimlessly in the grey mists of the underworld. This is left to the Judge’s discretion, but the intent of the rule is to alleviate the pain of character loss for players who die in heroic fashion to save the lives of their party members, protect innocents, and so on.
Should players abuse this rule by having their characters loot the barrow-mound of a deceased player character following his funeral (to get back the treasure they interred therein), the characters perpetrating this perfidy are immediately transformed into wights and cursed to forever haunt the barrow. (Readers may draw their own conclusions as to whether the undead’s ability to drain life-energy is actually an existential statement about the impact that players who exploit game mechanics can have on the Judge’s life energy!)
“I can put it no more clearly than to say that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its Master. Therefore you, Frodo, were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.” – Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Sometimes, heroes have a destiny that sets them apart from ordinary mortals. Different cultures may refer to it as destiny, fate, doom, or weird. Whatever it is called, heroes may live when others die, or succeed where others fail, due to the mysterious hand of fate. To represent the powers of fate, characters in Heroic Fantasy Handbook campaigns may be awarded one or more Fate Points.
Characters may begin with one or more Fate Points. We have provided a variety of methods by which starting Fate Points can be determined. While we have provided some recommendations, it is up to the Judge to decide which method to use based on the desired tone of his campaign setting. The Judge may use one method for player characters receive and another for NPCs if desired.
The player should record his character’s allocation of Fate Points on his character sheet.
EXAMPLE: Raknar the Red-Handed has Str 18, Int 14, Wis 10, Dex 16, Con 16, Cha 16, a mighty set of ability scores with which to crush the ornamented chairs of the world beneath his feet. Happily for Raknar, the Judge has decided to use the Fortune Favors the Bold method to assign starting Fate Points. He begins play with an allocation of 4 + 3 = 7 Fate Points recorded on his character sheet.
Some heroic fantasy settings presuppose that destiny favors the race of man over the dwarven, elven, or bestial races. The Judge can implement this scenario in several different ways:
A Fate Point may be used in the following ways:
Once expended, a Fate Point cannot be used again until it has been recovered. The player should record the running total of his character’s Fate Points expenditures on the character’s sheet..
EXAMPLE: Raknar the Red-Handed is an 8th level barbarian with 7 Fate Points. He is confronted by 8 ruffians. In the ensuing melee, Raknar slays one ruffian, and makes a cleave. Unfortunately, the result of his attack throw is a 2 – a miss! Rather than lose the opportunity to keep cleaving, he expends a Fate Point and re-rolls the throw. This time, the result is a 16, which hits. Raknar kills the second ruffian and keeps cleaving! Raknar’s player records the expenditure, noting that Raknar has 6 of his 7 Fate Points remaining.
Characters may recover expended Fate Points in one of three ways, through spending, solace, or advancement. The Judge may permit all three methods, just one of them, or no method at all, depending on his campaign setting.
A character may recover all of his expended Fate Points by spending the monthly wage of a character of his level (ACKS, p. 51) to no other tangible game benefit whatsoever. This could include extravagant sacrifices to the gods; alms to the poor; anonymous tithes to churches; reckless spending on wine, women, and song; elaborate funeral pyres for deceased henchmen; and so on. Spending on goods that can be easily transported and resold (such as gems, jewelry, magic items, or trade goods) does not count.
Note that this rule is specifically designed to encourage adventurers to spend most or all of their Fate Points before recovering through spending, as the cost is the same whether one, some, or all Fate Points are recovered. This avoids the issue of adventurers constantly returning home to “top up” after spending one or two Fate Points.
EXAMPLE: Raknar the Red-Handed is an 8th level barbarian. During a recent adventure to seize the hoard of a Skysos war-chief, Raknar expended 4 of his 7 Fate Points. He wishes to recover his expended points by spending. As an 8th level character, Raknar’s monthly wage is 3,000gp so he must spend 3,000gp to no other tangible game benefit to regain his Fate Points. Raknar decides to sacrifice 120 bulls in a great show of devotion to his god Tür (3,000gp value at 25gp per bull). When the sacrifice is complete, Raknar recovers all his expended Fate Points.
A character may recover all of his expended Fate Points by taking solace in an illuminated pinnacle of good (if Lawful) or a shadowed sinkhole of evil (if Chaotic) for one month. The time is reduced to two weeks in a hallowed pinnacle or blighted sinkhole, and to one week in a sacrosanct pinnacle or forsaken sinkhole. The character must spend at least 8 waking hours per day in the place of power. If Lawful, the time must be spent contemplating art, music, nature, poetry, and/or divinity. If Chaotic, the time must be spent in depraved and hedonistic pursuits. Neutral characters may not recover Fate Points from solace, nor may characters with a WIS of less than 9.
EXAMPLE: Thalos, an 11th level ecclesiastic in the service of Ammonar, has recently expended 3 Fate Points in a confrontation with an arch-priest of Dirgion. He wishes to recover his expended points by solace. He could take solace in his settlement’s temple to Ammonar (an illuminated pinnacle of good) and recover his points in one month. However, he knows of a holier place, a shrine to Ammonar built with a grove of a unicorn (a sacrosanct pinnacle). After four days traveling to the shrine, he spends seven days in contemplation there, then returns home. In total it has taken him (4 + 7 + 4) 15 days to recover his 3 Fate Points. (Note that Thalos could have recovered his points much faster had he sacrificed his monthly wage of 32,000gp… but that’s a lot of gold.)
A character may recover all of his expended Fate Points by advancing one level of experience. Note that if this form of recovery is the only one available in the campaign setting, maximum level characters will be unable to recovery Fate Points, and must rely on acquiring new ones using the methods below. This rule has the diegetic effect of explaining why high-level rulers and dark lords tend to avoid adventuring and direct confrontation, and why plucky young heroes may tend to win.
In some campaigns, characters may not be able to recover Fate Points at all. In these harsh worlds, a character’s allocation of Fate Points is permanently reduced each time a Fate Point is expended.
Characters may be able to increase their allocation of Fate Points in play. It is up to the Judge to decide how additional Fate Points are accumulated once play begins. Choose one or more of the following methods:
Unless the Judge rules otherwise, characters can never have more Fate Points than their starting Fate Points plus their level of experience.
In some heroic fantasy settings, advancement to heroic power is simply beyond the ken of ordinary folk. In such settings, the local baker or blacksmith might not be able to reach 1st level of experience, let alone 14th level, no matter how many adventurers he survives. In these settings, it costs 1 Fate Point to advance in experience. Characters who have no Fate Points available must remain at their current level of experience until they recover or acquire a Fate Point.
The impact of this rule on play greatly depends on the options the Judge has chosen for allocating initial Fate Points, recovering expended Fate Points, and acquiring additional Fate Points.
EXAMPLE #1: The “Only the Chosen” optional rule is in play. The Judge has selected “Fortune Favors the Bold” for the starting allocation of Fate Points for PCs and “Uncaring Fate” for NPCS; “No Recovery” as the method of recovery; and “Advancement” as the method of acquiring new Fate Points. Each adventurer will begin with 4-7 Fate Points, while each NPC will begin with 1d4-3. Once expended these points are gone forever. In order to advance to the next level of experience, an adventurer will have to expend 1 Fate Point, but when he does so he will gain the Fate Point back from advancing. An adventurer who expends all his Fate Points before advancing in level will have capped his advancement. An NPC who begins with 0 Fate Points (as most will) cannot ever hope to advance in level, as the only way to get a Fate Point is by advancing in level, but it requires Fate Points to advance.
EXAMPLE #2: The “Only the Chosen” optional rule is in play. The Judge has selected “Whims of the Overgod” for the starting allocation of Fate Points for PCs and NPCS; “No Recovery” as the method of recovery; and “Woe to the Vanquished” as the method of acquiring new Fate Points. Each PC and NPC will begin with 0 to 20 Fate Points, based on the Judge’s assessment of their cosmic importance. Once expended these points are gone forever and there is no way of acquiring new points. In order to advance to the next level of experience, an adventurer will have to expend 1 Fate Point, so the character’s starting allocation of Fate Points serves as an absolute cap on their maximum level. A character with only 4 Fate Points will never become a mighty wizard, even if he has INT 18. A character with 15 Fate Points is marked for greatness, even if his ability scores are but average.