The problem of low hit points on humans

[Cainehill]

UninspiredName said:
And remember, even in most fantasy, a hero rarely manages to alter the outcome of a battle by killing a ton of enemies in pitched combat. Usually they use some sort of magic, use the terrain, (say, triggering a rockslide) or take out an enemy commander, usually the last of the three. Rarely do you get a hero that can stand up to even ten enemies on his own. I'll also point out that these heroes are also rarely targetted by hostile magic and that, when they are, it's frequently a struggle to survive.

Really??? I wonder what fantasy it is that you've read, because I can remember a _lot_ of fantasy heroes who butchered armies (Elric of Melnibonea being a classic example, or at least slaughtering warbands of well over 10 enemies ( Aileron and Arthur at different times in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, said trilogy having made it to "best 100 works of fantasty" status, the Morigu trilogy, a number of heroes from the late lamented Paul Edwin Zimmer's books, even the classic "The Worm Ouroboros" from 1922 ).

As far as surviving magic goes, I could give similarly long lists of fiction in which they do just that - some of Glen Cook's works, David Gemmell's, Moorcock, Tanith Lee, etc, etc, etc.

Kindly note that some of those are considered to be amongst the great, seminal, writers of fantasy. And then there's also mythology and fable.

[UninspiredName]

I didn't say that they don't usually survive a magic attack, but from my experience the heroes tend to really take a hit from magic arrayed against them. On the other hand, you've obviously read more fantasy than me.

Fair enough on the others, though.

[alexti]

Another idea to make human heroes more useful: built-in "heroic luck". Let's say your regular hero fights in the battle, takes a big hit and dies. But when "heroically lucky" hero fights and takes a big hit he only kind of dies - he isn't anywhere on the battlefield and he doesn't participate in the battle in any way, but if your army wins you'll get a message that as the army returned to the camp hero "such and such" appeared out of his tent cursing that some prankster stole his armour while he was sleeping

[Epaminondas]

alexti said:
Another idea to make human heroes more useful: built-in "heroic luck". Let's say your regular hero fights in the battle, takes a big hit and dies. But when "heroically lucky" hero fights and takes a big hit he only kind of dies - he isn't anywhere on the battlefield and he doesn't participate in the battle in any way, but if your army wins you'll get a message that as the army returned to the camp hero "such and such" appeared out of his tent cursing that some prankster stole his armour while he was sleeping

I would love to see a Heroic Luck prowess as well. Perhaps add a Luck attribute that stacks with normal Luck? In other words, if you already had Luck cast on you, you could have 75 percent chance of surviving the hit, instead of the normal 50 percent.

[Epaminondas]

Epaminondas said:

I would love to see a Heroic Luck prowess as well. Perhaps add a Luck attribute that stacks with normal Luck? In other words, if you already had Luck cast on you, you could have 75 percent chance of surviving the hit, instead of the normal 50 percent.

Hmmm. I recant. I am not sure if this is a good idea. Most HoF heroic prowess continues to increase, and this attribute could increase to the point where your hero may be unkillable!

[alexti]

Epaminondas said:
Hmmm. I recant. I am not sure if this is a good idea. Most HoF heroic prowess continues to increase, and this attribute could increase to the point where your hero may be unkillable!

Considering that he'd be out of the battle after the first "deadly" hit, the near immortality wouldn't be too overpowering (besides he could die if the army lost). Idea was to make human heroes more useful without using unthematic means.

[Sandman]

For human melee heroes, I'd just add a 'chosen' attribute (with an icon resembling the pretender/prophet icons) which makes them immune to curse, horror mark and serious afflictions. Handy, but not overwhelming.