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After reading some discussion about hero points in another thread, I started thinking about how frequently I forget to hand them out. So I had the idea of having defined triggers for gaining hero points, and would appreciate ideas for more.
- Upon dealing the killing blow to the highest level monster in an encounter, you gain a hero point. The monster must be your level or higher to gain this benefit, and if it's a tie, then this applies when the last creature of the highest level is killed.
- Upon killing two or more enemies with a single action or activity, you gain a hero point.
- The first time in an encounter you heal a creature that's at 0 hit points, you gain a hero point
- If a buff you placed on another creature changes the result of a check to a critical success, you gain a hero point.
Are these a good idea, and what other ideas do you have?
I've been trying to make more of a habit of using the end of each encounter (combat, significant multi-step skill challenge, significant social or whichever) to get past the bad habit of forgetting them. While I'm not actually a fan of the idea of mechanically defined triggers for gaining Hero Points (and won't be much help with the main goal here), because I don't want to end up with a situation like "fighter gets all the points because they're so good at landing that killing blow" I figured I'd chime in here to mention an approach that I've seen work surprisingly well for some people that use it, in case it's helpful to anyone.
Ask the players which PC should have a Hero Point for what they did in the last encounter.
Obviously there will be groups that approach doesn't work well for, but I have seen it result in players giving Hero Points to team players, and incentive themselves to be team players. And it gives them a bit of control of their own fate. Win-win.
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If someone brings food, smoke, or drink for the group to enjoy then they start the session with 2 Hero Points in other words "The Pizza Rule" as we have come to call it.
Playing on somebody's Birthday? Everyone gets a Hero Point.
Coming up with an unexpected solution to a problem that nobody else thought up (including myself as a GM) that they pull off nets them a Hero Point.