[PF2e] Democratize Hero Points

Just as Parios heard the distinct click of the trap going off, and the sound of the spiked iron grating coming down on his head, a powerful yank on his collar pulled him back into safety. Looking up, he saw the alert face of Svirza, scanning to see if any other dangers came their way. Then, she broke into a smirk. "Ha, these Lokengo tombs. Can't have too many extra pairs of eyes here!"

I read a lot of PF2e gaming groups simply forget about Hero Points. And even if they do remember about them, players tend to hoard them, always having a reserve of at least 1, in case their character gains the Dying condition and needs auto-stabilization.

Which is a shame, because Hero Points are a very important resource¹ in PF2e. Not to hoard, but to spend!

What do Hero Points solve?

Let's be honest, this game is super swingy. One critical hit in the party's favor, especially with a Fatal weapon, can turn a severe threat encounter into a low threat one as you drop an enemy's HP by 50+%. Likewise, rolling a 1 on a saving throw against an enemy's special ability is likely to severely disable a party member, and therefore the entire party's action economy.

Hero Points is the players' way to contend with this swinginess. Rolling a very low number on an attack or saving throw you desperately need to succeed isn't necessarily the end: if you have a Hero Point left, you get one more chance to get it right.

Doing Hero Points better

So how to prevent players from forgetting or hoarding Hero Points? My suggestion: democratize them. Like so:

• Players can't spend Hero Points on themselves, only on other party members.
• When a new Hero Point becomes available after ~1 hour of play, the players decide who it goes to and why.

I've been playing with these house rules for almost two years, with two groups, and everyone is enthusiastic so far. It has led to four big changes in my groups:

1. No more hoarding, because as long as there was at least 1 more Hero Point somewhere in the party², there's an auto-stabilization available.
2. Players started to have tactical discussions over which rolls mattered enough to spend a Hero Point. A player who fumbled a roll asks if maybe they can get a Hero Point and someone else says "Yeah, it would really helps us if maybe this was a crit instead of a miss. Sure, I'll help you out."
3. Players also started giving each other rerolls out of sheer sympathy, especially in sessions that are more RP than combat. I noticed this most often happens on something a PC is supposedly good at but rolled poorly on (say, a Barbarian that rolls a 2 on their Athletics). So the players are helping each other save face!
4. As they figure out who to give the newest Hero Point, players give each other compliments on their in-game actions, saying things were "cool", "fearless" or "nicely roleplayed." Even if you don't get the Hero Point, it's nice to get a compiment!

These house rules just generally lifted the mood at the table. Hero Points became something fun to interact with rather than just another thing to keep track off.

Now that we've used the house rules for a while, I've started to notice players start to handwave who has a Hero Point and who doesn't. They're truly becoming a party resource rather than a player resource. I'm going to try to be a little stricter in enforcing that Hero Points belong to a single person rather than everyone, because I like the idea that if you need a Hero Point, you only need to convince one other person at your table to help you out, rather than it becoming a voting procedure with everyone involved.

Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and I hope this house rule helps you at your table, too.