Hero Lab Pathfinder 2e
Georgina Garding
If a PC is at wounded 3 and is brought to 0 HP, they fall unconscious and gain dying 4. Most PCs die when they reach dying 4, so the player would like to avoid this by spending all of their hero points.
[s]pend all your Hero Points (minimum 1) to avoid death. You can do this when your dying condition would increase. You lose the dying condition entirely and stabilize with 0 Hit Points. You don't gain the wounded condition or increase its value from losing the dying condition in this way, but if you already had that condition, you don't lose it or decrease its value.
That being said, there are still the doomed condition and instant death effects that kill the character when it drops to 0 (for example finger of death) to take notice of. Those are technically rare but deadlier effects. Also, a reminder: you are still wounded 3 and unconscious when using a hero point that way, so any more damage will kill your character.
Gaining a condition is not an increase. The Player was not previously dying 0; they were simply not dying at all! This may feel like a pedantic difference, but it's important; if you have the dying condition, you're unconscious:
The rule doesn't say "if your dying value is greater than 0...". So a distinction between gaining a condition (or "becoming ") and increasing a condition is necessary! This is important for other conditions too, like stunned.
Hero Points are only awarded to player characters. NPCs, animal companions, familiars, cohorts, and mounts do not receive hero points. Unlike other points in the game, hero points do not renew over time or with rest. Once spent, they are gone forever. Hero Points are awarded as a character gains levels or whenever a character accomplishes a truly heroic feat. The GM is the final arbiter on the award and use of hero points.
Each character begins play with 1 hero point, regardless of her level. In addition, whenever a character gains a level, she earns an additional hero point. Aside from these basic rules, awarding additional hero points is up to the GM. The following options are just some of the ways that a GM might award additional hero points.
Character Story: GMs can award a hero point for the completion of a written character backstory. This reward encourages players to take an active roll in the history of the game. In addition, the GM can use this backstory to generate a pivotal moment for your character concerning his past. When this key event is resolved, the GM can reward another hero point. Alternatively, the GM might award a hero point for painting a miniature or drawing a character portrait in the likeness of your character, helping the rest of the group visualize your hero.
Completing Plot Arcs: The GM might award a hero point to each of the PCs who were involved in completing a major chapter or arc in the campaign story. These hero points are awarded at the conclusion of the arc if the PCs were successful or advanced the story in a meaningful way.
Group Service: The GM can award hero points for acts outside the game as well. Buying pizza for the group, helping to clean up afterwards, or even hosting the game for a night might be worth a hero point. This sort of hero point should be given out of generosity, not as a payment.
Heroic Acts: Whenever a character performs an exceptionally heroic act, she can be awarded a hero point. This might include anything from slaying an evil dragon when the rest of the group has fled to rescuing townsfolk from a burning building despite being terribly wounded. It does not have to be related to combat. Convincing the reticent king to send troops to help with a bandit problem or successfully jumping a wide chasm might earn a character a hero point, depending on the circumstances. Note that a hero point should only be awarded if the PC involved did not spend a hero point to accomplish the task.
Return from the Dead: When a character dies, she does not lose any hero points she has accumulated. If she died with no hero points remaining, she gains 1 hero point when she is brought back from the dead through powerful magic, such as raise dead or resurrection.
Although all of the options presented here should be carefully considered before they are added to your game, hero points deserve closer inspection. Although hero points do not drastically increase the power of the PCs, they do grant the PCs the ability to greatly increase their chances of success during critical moments. While the game itself is set up to give the player characters an edge, hero points take that a bit further, possibly more so than you might be comfortable with.
The value to hero points is that they add dramatic tension to the climax of your game. Most uses of hero points do not guarantee success, making the moment they are used even more important to the players. Hero Points are a very limited resource and their use should be described with additional detail and dramatic style. Used in this way, they can help create very memorable sessions for both you and your players.
Act Out of Turn: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.
Bonus: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero Points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).
Inspiration: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.
Recall: You can spend a hero point to recall a spell you have already cast or to gain another use of a special ability that is otherwise limited. This should only be used on spells and abilities possessed by your character that recharge on a daily basis.
Special: You can petition the GM to allow a hero point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would normally be almost impossible. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the GM. Possibilities include casting a single spell that is one level higher than you could normally cast (or a 1st-level spell if you are not a spellcaster), making an attack that blinds a foe or bypasses its damage reduction entirely, or attempting to use Diplomacy to convince a raging dragon to give up its attack. Regardless of the desired action, the attempt should be accompanied by a difficult check or penalty on the attack roll. No additional hero points may be spent on such an attempt, either by the character or her allies.
Since hero points themselves are an optional rules system, all other mechanics that go along with hero points have been included here. The following Feats, spells, and magic items all have to do with hero points in one way or another.
A PC can elect not to use the hero point system, instead relying more on his skills and abilities. Such characters do not receive hero points, regardless of the source, and can never benefit from their use. In exchange, such characters receive a bonus feat at 1st level. The option to allow such antiheroes in the game is subject to GM discretion.
I'm running an upcoming session for my local PFS group and I heard from one of players about an argument between a player who attended GenCon events this year and the GM who did not about some sort of change to Hero Points work from what's described in the Core Rulebook. I guess this argument got heated and I have both playing at my upcoming table. *gulp*
Well, there are the society-specific rules about extra Hero Points being granted at the start of the session for things like for GM Glyphs or Campaign Coins. They are used in the normal manner, though.
If you can remember any details about what this argument was, it might help to get to the bottom of it, though. There may be some element of misunderstanding about what the CRB rules mean. For example, I know that a lot of us incorrectly assumed at first that you need to choose to use a Hero Point before finding out what degree of success your original check would be, because we were used to 1st edition using that type of rule.
This is kind of nitty, but I'm not entirely sure you're asking the right question.1. Hero Points are loosely described in the CRB.
2. Society had some additional rules around Hero Points when the CRB was released.
3. I don't know how well-documented those additional rules are.
4. Society has had some rulings clarifying/changing things about the original rules.
5. I don't know how well-documented those changes are.
Presumably, you're looking for a document that says "these are the rules for Hero Points" - I don't think that exists. It's going to be piecemeal, so, "look in the CRB, and then add these rules from the Guide to Organized Play, and then look at this thread and this post for errata." It's, unfortunately, just the way it is with many heavily-revised rules.
Specifically regarding GM glyphs in Bounties, I don't know what the lawful answer is, but my chaotic good take on it is that you're given broad authority to hand out Hero Points, so if you think 1 Hero Point per PC is stingy, you can always hand out additional Hero Points that coincidentally match the number of PFS GM glyphs at the table.
They're run in "Adventure Mode", which means the GM can pretty much run the game however they wish, as long as the game is still recognizably PF2 and they generally still tell the story of the Adventure.
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