Other than the starting Hero Point distributions, the rest of that is mostly just guideline things that a GM will or will not use.
I will say that some characters getting Hero Points while others not for arbitrary reasons can leave some players with a bad taste in their mouth, so it makes sense that some groups would rather they be for all characters, not just certain ones.
Our group doesn't really give out Hero Points outside of the initial ones, so I might say our experience with that is atypical compared to others, but it does make Hero Points a more valuable resource by comparison, and encourages players to use tactics with Hero Points as a "in case of Nat 1 or Dying 4, break glass," sort of use, instead of them being a crutch to enable players to do poor tactics by comparison.
At the end of the day, it really depends on what your group feels is appropriate, so I'd really just talk to your players about what they feel is fair or appropriate, and if you all agree, then that's a good enough answer for you.
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I'm a little fuzzy on the appropriate rate of distributing Hero Points. After giving each character 1 point to start each session, I had been awarding them to one character per hour of play. I've had a couple different groups say this is stingy, and the correct amount is 1 point to ALL characters per hour.
Which is the correct assumed amount?
Given I typically run 2-hour sessions (due to our schedule limitations), it seems way over the top.
The guidance is 1 p/h for a character and not the whole pary... up to you if you want more.
I would have an expectations chat with the group.
I tend to rough guage it on party progress rather than time personally but other parties people speak about online seem to be ungodly slow so it is really dependent.
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I'm a little fuzzy on the appropriate rate of distributing Hero Points. After giving each character 1 point to start each session, I had been awarding them to one character per hour of play. I've had a couple different groups say this is stingy, and the correct amount is 1 point to ALL characters per hour.
Which is the correct assumed amount?
Given I typically run 2-hour sessions (due to our schedule limitations), it seems way over the top.
PFS scenarios often include hints about when to give hero points, and do so at the rate of 1 per hour to one character.
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When we ran Age of Ashes in a 4 person party, our GM eventually just awarded 2 Hero Points each at the start of our 3-4 hour sessions: It simplified everything, kept our gameplay from being interrupted, and minimized the danger of things going south early in the session (unlike in PFS, normal AP play could very well have a deadly APL+3 encounter in the first hour of a session since you could have ended the previous session at basically any point in the adventure).
I give out one hero point to each player per "scene"; which roughly translates to every combat and at the completion of section of skill tests that brings the players to a new part of the game.
The reason being is that it rewards action, if people want more hero points, they can get them by doing stuff.
The only time I reward hero points to individuals vs the whole group is as a metagame transaction; or example, a character that offers a significant piece of gear to charity might not get anything in game, but out of game, they'll get a hero point. I use these types of things to reinforce the narrative themes of the game, so like if it's a game about community, characters would get points for forging bonds between people; if the game was about the conflict of duty and desire, they would get a point when the two clash, etc.
I give out one hero point to each player per "scene"; which roughly translates to every combat and at the completion of section of skill tests that brings the players to a new part of the game.
How many scenes would you go though in a session, and how long would those sessions be?
Do your players use them much on rerolls and how much of a balance difference have you noticed?
I know some of my players would like 8-10 hero points a session. But I am not sure how that would play out lol.
