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 his or her own, personal gain.

So when playing the Universal Heroes RPG, players take on the role of a hero, whether he'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, 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.

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 subesquent 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.

Rank Fighting Description Feeble No training or ability Poor Standard human ability Typical Natural ability or minimal training Good Some formal training Excellent Formal, regular training Remarkable Superior martial talent Incredible Superior talent with training Amazing Maximum human prowess Monstrous Super-human training or ability Unearthly Super-human ability with extensive training and experience

Fighting (Ftg): 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 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 a Dodge or Evade 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 dodge becomes desirable, a FEAT roll is made against this ability score, in other words.

Rank Agility Description Feeble Physically limited Poor Clumsy, inaccurate Typical Normal human reactions Good Some training in dexterity or accuracy Excellent Intensive training in accuracy or dexterity Remarkable Olympic athlete, maximum human ability Incredible Olympic gymnast Amazing Super-human sense of accuracy or dexterity Monstrous Super-human sense of dexterity and accuracy Unearthly Rarely misses, movement and reactions in a flash

Agility (Agy): while Ftg 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 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...

Rank Strength Description Feeble Able to lift/press up to 50 lbs Poor Able to lift/press up to 100 lbs Typical Able to lift/press up to 200 lbs Good Able to lift/press up to 400 lbs Excellent Able to lift/press up to 800 lbs, maximum human ability Remarkable Able to lift/press up to 2000 lbs (one ton) Incredible Able to lift/press up to 10 tons Amazing Able to lift/press up to 50 tons Monstrous Able to lift/press up to 75 tons Unearthly Able to lift/press up to 100 tons

Strength (Str): 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 to your right indicates, is primarily measured by how much weight he can lift or press. 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: Upper and Lower body Strength. Upper Body Strength, or Str (upr), determines the base damage you inflict with a punch, head butt, bite, mêlée weapon, or even a thrown weapon, and defines how much weight you can bench press. On top of this, Str (upr) is used when swimming, in order to determine how fast you can move your body through water or other substances. Most applications of Str (upr) are, when you get down to it, combat related.

Lower Body Strength, or Str (lwr), on the other hand, is primarily concerned with physical movement from one location to another. While it does determine how much damage one can do with a kick or stomp maneuver, Str (lwr) is mainly used to describe the amount of weight a character can carry comfortably, how fast he can run over short and long distances, and how much raw weight he can move with a leg press. Generally speaking, most animals and humanoids will have a higher Str (lwr) than their Str (upr), but this is not always the case.

Rank Endurance Description Feeble Reduced or impaired ability Poor Minimal ability or exercise Typical Occasional exercise Good Moderate exercise Excellent Regular exercise Remarkable Intensive exercise, training, maximum human ability Incredible Enhanced physical ability Amazing Enhanced, trained physical ability Monstrous Great fortitude, rarely tires Unearthly Never tires, never slows down

Endurance (End): 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.

Rank Reason Description Feeble Understands only the simplest machines Poor Grasps complex machines, basic electronics Typical Competent problem solving capabilities Good Can easily repair/install modern technology Excellent May speak several languages competently Remarkable Understands/creates leading-edge devices Incredible Can decipher alien technologies Amazing May develop technology beyond modern understanding, maximum human ability Monstrous Can improve / modify alien technologies Unearthly Super-human intellect with vast knowledge

Reason (Rsn): 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 manipulative powers, and their overall capabilities are based on a character's Memory score.

Rank Intuition Description Feeble Limited or impaired senses, generally clueless Poor 'A little slow on the uptake' Typical Normal human situational awareness Good A fine eye for the little details around you Excellent Superior situational awareness, deductive ability Remarkable Detective background and/or training Incredible Highly accurate 'gut feelings' Amazing Maximum human awareness/alertness Monstrous Super human sensory acuity, awareness Unearthly In tune with the universe, cannot be blindsided

Intuition (Int): Intuition is the sum of a person's wisdom, common sense, and that sense of self that (most) people possess. A sort of counterpart of Reason, Intuition tends to rely upon inspirational leaps and bounds as opposed to logical deductions; a fine line, 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.

Rank Psyche Description Feeble Easily dominated or(re)programmed Poor Young or untrained minds, easily indoctrinated Typical Normal human willpower Good Can easily fend off standard mesmerism Excellent Experience with mystic/mental forces Remarkable Trained to counter external controlling forces Incredible Highly trained, disciplined mind - exceptional will Amazing Indomitable willpower, maximum human ability Monstrous Intense training and experience in the use of mental powers Unearthly An adamantine mind, nigh-uncontrollable

Psyche (Psc): 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.

Rank Resources Description Feeble Reduced circumstances, on welfare/allowance Poor Freelancer, students, lower middle class Typical Lower middle class employment, salaried Good Professional employment, middle class Excellent Small inheritance, small business owner, upper middle class Remarkable Large business or chain, trust fund Incredible Typical corporation, millionaire Amazing Large corporation, small nation Monstrous Mulit-national corporation, billionaire, medium sized nation Unearthly Mega-corporation, large nation

Resources (Res): 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 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.

Rank Popularity Description Feeble 'Local boy made good', neighborhood hooligans Poor Beloved neighbors, local media, career criminals Typical (in)famous locals, national media, minor celebrities, local politicians Good Local hero, major celebrities, low-rent villains Excellent Major hero, national leader, or religious figure Remarkable Nationwide hero, FBI's most wanted Incredible Well-received hero, world-famous actor, notorious super-villain, mass-murdering terrorist Amazing National hero, despised tyrants or super-villains Monstrous International hero, religious figure or global threat Unearthly Timeless hero, modern messiah, eternal villain

Popularity (Pop): 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 and loved in the other...

(ran out of gas here. will pick up with health next time (7/11))

Health (Hpts): Health shows us how much damage any one character can sustain before he loses consciousness, and possibly dies. Instead of being represented by ranks like most primary abilities, Health is instead determined by adding together the rank numbers of one's Ftg, Agy, Str, and End abilities. Secondary abilities of Health include negative health (NH) as well as mental health (MH).

Negative health describes exactly how much damage an unconscious person can withstand before he automatically dies. Negative health is determined by adding the successive rank numbers in the character's End rank together. This means that the rank numbers of all the ranks up to (and including) the N/PC's End rank number are added together to determine his negative health amount. For example, Bob's new hero has a Good (10) ranked End, so his negative health is 22 (the sum of all the successive rank numbers for Good (10) rank is 2 + 4 + 6 + 10 = 22).

Mental health is an indication of just how much karmic damage someone can absorb before his mind is shut down. Mental health is figured just like negative health is; it just uses the Psc rank number to figure the score instead of the End rank number.

Health and its secondary abilities are discussed in greater detail later on.

Karma (Kpts): Karma is essentially a measure of a person's placement in the universal scheme of things. Though all N/PCs begin their various careers with a little bit of Karma (that being the sum of their Rsn, Int, and Psc ability rank numbers), more Karma can only be obtained by performing acts of heroism (for heroes) or villainy (for villains).

However, heroes can lose some (or all) of their Karma by committing evil (or just plain despicable) actions, while a villain can likewise lose Karma by performing heroic (or just plain nice) acts, as it tarnishes his villainous reputation. Karma is, in other words, a UH equivalent of experience points.

Just what is Karma used for, you ask? Well, Karma points may be spent in play to alter die rolls to more favorable ends. Furthermore, Karma points can be used to improve characters over time, spent when increasing ability and power ranks, learning new talents, and even buying new powers (if possible). Karma has two secondary abilities: the Karma pool and the advancement pool.

Karma pools are sums of Kpts that can be accessed by many people at once. Those people that can access the pool are the people that donate their own Kpts into it after each adventure. Any rules detailing the withdrawal of Kpts are solely in the province of karma pool members.

The advancement pool is a sum of Kpts set aside by a character that is meant for physical improvement as opposed for spending during normal play. Individual characters decide for themselves how much they wish to spend on advancement, but Kpts in the advancement fund may not be spent on die rolls during an adventure, at all.

Like Health, Karma is detailed in much greater detail later in the book.

Special abilities are those capabilities and skills that aren't common to every character, and may in fact be unique to a specific person. The types of special abilities available are 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.

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.

Quirks: quirks are modifications added to a character during 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.