Primary and Secondary Abilities

The Universal Heroes game is a system that is designed to let you role play the adventures of heroes, whether solo or in groups. But you may find yourself asking, 'just what is a hero?' Merriam-Webster ™ tells us that 'a hero is a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities'. Qualifying that a little, we can define a hero as a man or woman that selflessly uses his or her talents, abilities or resources to help others - rather than being selfish and using these qualities solely for their own, personal gain.

So when playing the Universal Heroes RPG, players take on the role of a hero, whether it's an existing comic book character or an original creation designed for the game by said players. These heroes, referred to as Player Characters (or PCs), generally journey gamely through the adventures prepared by the game's Judge, the person who sets the stage for the fun to come. He (or she), then, determines the actions of everyone else the PCs encounter, characters that are hereby referred to as Non Player Characters (or NPCs).

In order to properly play whichever characters you are responsible for, whether PC or NPC, it's imperative to get a basic handle on just what they are and are not capable of. The essential capabilities of every character, no matter how strong or weak, can be determined by their ability scores.

Standard Abilities

Almost every character in the Universal Heroes game is represented by eleven ability scores. These eleven statistics are those that players of the original game will be well familiar with. They are: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, Psyche, Resources, Popularity, Health, and Karma. Where the Universal Heroes system diverges from this classic design is in allowing players to 'split' each ability score into two secondary ability scores - both equal, but different, representations of the primary ability score.

This change is 100% compatible with old system, and is considered to be optional; by splitting none of your stats, you are essentially playing by the standard rules. The idea with this change is to give players a much more refined ability to describe their heroes' capabilities, leaning on one area to the exclusion of the other if they so desire. If not using secondary abilities, simply ignore the notes to such in subsequent rules and utilize the base ability score for the purpose in question for ease of use.

The eleven ability scores are described here, with generalized ability descriptions to give one an idea of what a certain rank in each ability score means to each character.

Fighting (Ftg): "You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Fighting is a strange hybrid ability, an amalgamation of physical and mental prowess in the field of battle. It is meant to describe both natural and trained ability in a scrap; one can certainly have more of one than the other depending on their story, but either way the sum of these two qualities can be used to describe their net combat skill. Fighting as an ability is used to resolve mêlée, or hand to hand combat, and is also used to determine how many 'moves' a character can attempt each turn.

The Fighting ability can be divided into two separate, secondary ability scores: Offensive Fighting and Defensive Fighting. Offensive Fighting, abbreviated Ftg (off), is primarily used when one character attempts some manner of hand to hand combat with another, whether this involves a punch, kick, bite, or smashing a body upside the head with a chair. Offensive Fighting is also invoked when you attempt multiple direct actions in a given turn, whether they are of a combat or a non-combat nature (or a mix of the two, as the case may be).

Defensive Fighting, shortened to Ftg (def), on the other hand, comes into play when a character is trying to avoid mêlée contact with others. This most often involves an Evade or Weave maneuver attempt, but other situations and powers may make use of Ftg (def). Aside from aversive movements, this secondary ability is also put to work when it becomes necessary to attempt multiple defensive maneuvers in a combat turn - if more than one Weave becomes desirable, one's Ftg (def) rank determines how many aversive attempts may be made without penalty.

 

Agility (Agy): "There's no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves"
- Frank Herbert

While Fighting is a measure of a character's inherent combat prowess, Agility is instead a means of defining that character's coordination and nimbleness. It exemplifies grace (if not grace under fire), and is used whenever a character is attempting to resolve ranged combat (whether in an offensive or defensive capacity), not to mention while operating complex machinery or catching thrown objects. Agility is also important when piloting all manner of vehicles.

The Agility score of a character can be divided into two useful secondary abilities: Dexterity and Balance. Dexterity, abbreviated Agy (dex), is the portion of one's Agility that is dedicated to manual dexterity. Dexterity is invoked when characters attempt delicate or exacting tasks of finesse, such as firing a hand gun or bow, engaging in sleight of hand, flinging thrown weapons, or carving a likeness of a person or object out of stone (or wood, or clay, or whatever). In other words, Dexterity is an active ability score.

Balance (Agy (bal)), on the other hand, is a reactive secondary ability. Players make use of a character's balance score when attempting to avoid bow or gun fire (typically with a Dodge or Feint maneuver), climbing up walls or other, trickier vertical surfaces, juggling, driving a car or plane or train, and the like. Used to help define equilibrium, Balance can also be referred to when checking whether or not a character falls down when he becomes dizzy or disoriented - very important when chasing some villain on the city's rooftops...

 

Strength (Str): "Perhaps I am stronger than I think."
- Thomas Merton

A measure of the raw physical power inherent to a person's body, Strength defines one of the single most important aspects of a character's physicality. Strength, as the chart below indicates, is primarily measured by how much weight he can lift. Furthermore, Strength is referred to when determining the amount of raw damage one can inflict in mêlée combat, whether he is punching, kicking, or even biting his foes, making it a natural complement to one's Fighting rank.

The Strength ability can be divided into two closely related secondary ability scores: Might and Vigor. Might, or Str (mgt), is a quantification of the brute force available to a character, how much energy he can apply to other people or objects. It determines the base damage you inflict with your bare hands, with mêlée weapons, or even with thrown weapons. Most applications of Str (mgt) are, when you get down to it, combat related - they represent 'burst power' mainly.

Vigor, or Str (vgr), on the other hand, is primarily concerned with longer applications of one's physical prowess. It is used to describe how fast a character can run over distances short and long, how quickly he can propel himself through a liquid medium (swimming), and how much weight a character may carry on his person without being slowed down by it. Finally, it shows how much actual weight a character can lift, and by proxy how much he can successfully press.

 

Endurance (End): "A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard."
- Bruce Lee

This ability is a gauge of physical toughness and fortitude. Endurance describes how long a character can continue strenuous physical activity, how resistant to killing blows and metabolic attacks he is, and how quickly he can heal actual damage inflicted upon his person. Endurance closely ties into Strength for movement purposes; while Strength shows how fast one can move and with how much weight, Endurance details just how long he can do so before collapsing in a sweaty heap.

Endurance can be divided into two equally important secondary abilities: Resistance and Stamina. Resistance, abbreviated End (res) shows just how well your character can resist the effects of disease, toxins, radiation, and other metabolic attack forms (most often specialized super-human abilities). Furthermore, it denotes how well one overcomes the effects of Slam, Stun and Kill results rolled against them in combat; this is handy if you're not too good at avoiding enemy attacks.

While End (res) is a handy descriptor of one's hardiness, Stamina - abbreviated End (sta) - showcases one's overall staying power, both in and out of combat. End (sta) is referenced when determining the amount of time one can maintain strenuous physical activity, whether it be running, swimming, heavy lifting, or grappling. The results of fatigue are checked against this ability score when enough has been built up to matter when engaging in the previous activities. Additionally, End (sta) is used to determine a character's base healing and recovery rates over time.

 

Reason (Rsn): "Let every man judge according to his own standards, by what he has himself read, not by what others tell him." - Albert Einstein

In loose terms, a character's Reason score is an indicator of his I.Q. - itself a measure of intelligence and the capacity for logical thought. It describes his ability to create items either from scratch or from the spare parts and salvage of others, as well as his ability to understand and operate equipment from the simple to the arcane. Furthermore, Reason shows how well your character can learn and retain knowledge, which comes in handy when either trying to solve a crime or graduate from college.

Reason is split between two secondary abilities: Logic and Memory. Logic - abbreviated Rsn (log) - denotes raw cerebral capability. It is an indicator of a character's ability to learn and create, not to mention the ability to think in multiple languages; logic helps when learning either geometry or German. The vast majority of knowledge-based talents (such as Law, Medicine and their ilk) will refer to Logic, as they are based on years of study on top of practical experience both in school and 'on the job'.

Memory - abbreviated Rsn (mem) - dictates your character's ability to recall his past experiences, including facets of both short and long term memory. This is utilized when trying to remember the features of a person's face, specific details of an encounter, or even the schematics of a device you've invented after some villain makes off with them. Memory also comes into play with psionic and matter control powers, and can determine how many of the former can be maintained simultaneously - and how versatile the latter can be.

 

Intuition (Int): "Those with the greatest awareness have the greatest nightmares."
- Mahatma Gandhi

Intuition is the sum of a person's wisdom, common sense, and that sense of self that (most) people possess. A sort of counterpart to Reason, Intuition tends to rely upon inspirational leaps and bounds as opposed to logical deductions; a fine distinction, but an important one. It helps to also gauge a person's awareness of his surroundings, showing just how in tune with the multiverse he really is (or isn't). Also, a person's base Intuition score determines his initiative modifier in combat.

Intuition is divided into two equally important secondary abilities: Alertness and Awareness. Alertness (Int (alt)) measures sensory acuity: in other words, it shows how easily you detect potential sensory input, in addition to how well you can distinguish any one input from many. Spotting that spent bullet casing in the ash tray, focusing on one voice in a crowd, or even determining the vintage of a fine wine you may be sipping. Furthermore, Int (alt) is often a base score for many enhanced sensory abilities.

Awareness (Int (awr)), meanwhile, treads on trickier ground. While Alertness covers the things your senses tell you directly, Awareness instead relies upon 'gut feelings' and an ability to 'read between the lines'. A measure of how well you're in tune with your surroundings and the universe as a whole, Awareness sometimes lets you pick up on things that are not readily apparent, allowing you a greater empathy towards your fellow man (or a good idea what he's feeling) as well as what some might term the 'zeitgeist', the mood of the crowd/people/whatever.

 

Psyche (Psc): "He who gains a victory over other men is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful." - Lao Tzu

Somewhat similar in function to the Endurance ability, Psyche is a gauge of one's mental fortitude. It is an excellent descriptor of the sheer strength of will and personality one has, detailing such elusive quantities as mental presence and a sense of focus. While all mental abilities are used in psychic combat to some extent, one's Psyche determines a large component of one's success in such arenas, making it vital to anyone making use of mental powers, regardless of their origins.

Psyche is subdivided into two secondary abilities: Willpower and Presence. Willpower, abbreviated Psc (will), is a body's mental core, how intent and focused he can be in the face of distraction and adversity. Willpower comes into play when fending off efforts to bend a body's will, such as mind control, hypnosis, and sometimes even drugging. Those with a lesser Willpower score are easily swayed by the dogmas and manipulations of others, while those with greater Willpower walk their own path.

Presence, abbreviated Psc (pre), denotes how well a character can exert his personality upon others. It describes how persuasive he can be, either by using leadership skills or intimidation techniques (or both), and describes how hard said character has to work in order to get what he wants from others. It also comes into play when teaching others or training animals, manipulating others subtly, and in various other tactics used on the job by policemen, lawyers and politicians to control their environment.

 

Resources (Res): "A penny saved is a penny earned."
- Ben Franklin

A measure of personal wealth, Resources describes all of the assets currently at a character's disposal. While this is mostly used to show the material wealth an individual has access to in the day to day functions of the game, it can also be used to detail additional resources available to him through an organization he is a member of. Bank accounts, furniture in storage, a perfectly preserved comic book collection, that old cave filled with high tech gadgets. All these and more contribute to the Resources score.

For the sake of organization, Resources is broken down into two secondary abilities: Materials and Cash. Materials (Res (mat)) is a description of how much ... stuff a character has. That pristine comic book collection, the late parents' house you haven't sold yet, your furniture, and of course all that high tech super-heroic doo-dad-ery. This is that which is accumulated over time, so may include various items of up to (and possibly beyond) this rank in raw price (things like houses, vast tracts of land, or hero lairs).

Cash (Res ($)), meanwhile, describes the liquid assets a character has access to, such as currency (in a bank or squirreled away under a mattress or in a freezer), stocks, bonds, gold coins, and other financial entities that can easily change hands. It is often hard for characters to maintain a high 'cash' rank as buying nifty new toys tends to shift those assets from this ability to the Materials score, but this is not the case for governments and large corporations, who tend to have plenty of liquidity on hand for most any contingency.

 

Popularity (Pop): "Avoid popularity if you would have peace."
- Abraham Lincoln

A sort of quirky statistic, this primary ability measures the public acknowledgment or approval people have in their normal environment. Popularity, then, is used to modify the reaction result characters receive when they interact with others (when such results are not determined in the course of regular roleplay). Popularity does not 'split' like the previous ability scores, however, in that such mostly comes into play only if a character maintains more than one identity to speak of.

If one does in fact do so, he can use two Popularity scores instead of just the one: Primary and Secondary Popularity. Primary Popularity (Pop (pri)) describes how well one is regarded by his peers and the world at large in his 'spandex' identity - in other words, this ability score isn't about the person so much as the heroic (or villainous) persona he shows to the world. Most often, this secondary ability will be the greater of the two - hey, super powers are pretty flashy - but not always; this depends on the character's place in society.

Secondary Popularity (Pop (sec)), meanwhile, covers the character's secret identity. While the former may involve super-powered theatrics in front of the masses, this role is most often the quiet, mundane existence maintained for the benefits of down time, making money or the protection of one's relatives. This is normally a lower score than Pop (pri), but this may not be the case if the character is a notable figure such as an actor, politician, captain of industry, wanted felon, or the like. In fact he may be reviled in one identity and loved in the other...

 

Health (Hpts): "Health is worth more than learning." - Thomas Jefferson

Health is a descriptor of the amount of damage a character can sustain before losing consciousness, and possibly his life as a result. Instead of being represented with ranks as are most other primary abilities, a character's Health is instead determined by adding together the rank numbers of one's Fighting, Agility, Strength, and Endurance ability scores. One can further expand the role of Health in a character by making use of Health's secondary abilities, which are negative health and mental health.

Negative health (abbreviated NH) is not a negative number, so much as a portrayal of the damage an unconscious character can 'soak' up before he automatically dies. Negative health is determined by adding the successive rank numbers of a character's Endurance score together. This means that the rank numbers of all power ranks up to (and including) the character's Endurance score are all added together to determine one's NH. For example, Bob's new hero has a Good (10) ranked Endurance, so his negative health would add up to 22 (the sum of all the successive rank numbers for Good (10) rank is 2 (Fe (2)) + 4 (Pr (4)) + 6 (Typical (6)) + 10 (Good (10)) = 22).

Mental health (abbreviated MH), meanwhile, shows the amount of damage a character's mind can withstand before collapsing. It is determined in the same fashion as is negative health, but uses a character's Psyche rank as a base, instead. This can be useful in a campaign that sees a lot of psionic attack powers (regardless of their origin), or possibly as a means to measure one's sanity in the face of baffling and incomprehensible horror. For convenience, a table of NH and MH sums are provided for ease of use during character generation.

Further details on Health in the game are explained later on.

 

Karma (Kpts): "Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don't even notice it." - Sakyong Mipham

Karma is essentially a measure of a person's placement in the universal scheme of things. Though all characters begin play with a little bit of Karma (an amount which is equal to the sum of their Reason, Intuition and Psyche rank numbers), additional Karma can be obtained by performing acts that fit a specific character's ethos. Being a sum as is the Health score, one can see that Karma comes in a 'point' form, so one may ask just what they can do with their Karma points. A good question!

Karma points may be spent in order to influence FEAT rolls and to improve oneself in a variety of ways. To this end, Karma is often dedicated to specialized pools once earned, each of which is noted as a secondary ability of Karma. A team pool is a special sum of Karma that binds one character to several others, one which they may donate to and withdraw from as is needed in the course of an adventure. While this can be advantageous, it does have limitations in that actions of pool members can have ramifications for the entire team's Karma totals.

As such, membership in a team pool is purely optional. An advancement pool is just that, Karma one sets aside for personal advancement, whether it involves improving an existing ability or power rank, buying new powers, talents or contacts, or possibly 'buying off' character limitations or quirks. In this capacity an advancement pool functions as 'experience' does in other games, though once you spend it (as is the case with one's regular and team pool), it is gone forever. But at the very least you'll have something new to show for it.

As is Health, Karma is explained in more detail later on.

Special Abilities

Each character, in addition to the standard eleven abilities that are used to describe their basic capabilities, may also be described in terms of special abilities. These are those capabilities that are not common to every single entity in the game, and may in fact be unique to a specific character. There are four types of special abilities, including powers, talents, contacts, and quirks.

Powers: powers are what make super heroes super, as opposed to being 'just' a hero. Most PCs have at least one power, whether it be in the form of an inborn ability, a sample of high tech equipment, or such studied equivalents as magic spells or psi powers. Just like primary abilities, almost all powers are gauged by ranks.

Quirks: quirks are modifications added to a character towards the end of its creation. They are oddities that add to the uniqueness of a character, adding or subtracting a Column Shift to certain rolls, or merely making his life a little more interesting. Whether beneficial or an impediment, they will typically come into play at least once in a given adventure.

Talents: talents are skills that may be learned by virtually anyone, whether they be super human or not. Instead of having a rank, almost all talents offer a boost to ability or power scores in the form of a +1 or +2 Column Shift to the standard rank (explained later) on all talent rolls, making the character more proficient in that area than someone who does not have that talent.

Contacts: a contact is a person or an organization that a body can rely upon when needed, for either information, resources, or whatever else may be necessary. Contacts are automatically considered friendly to a character for the purpose of NPC reaction rolls. A character's contacts may help to shape his character's origin, and are rather useful for background information.

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