The Rules in Half a Page

Every character starts with a pool of Base Points from the GM, plus more points earned by taking Disadvantages (complications, limitations, and drawbacks that also shape who your character is). Total Characteristics cost, plus Skills/Perks/Talents cost, plus Powers/Equipment cost, must add up to no more than Base Points plus Disadvantage points. As the campaign runs, you earn Experience Points to spend on the same things later.

Characteristics are your raw stats — Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Body, Intelligence, Ego, Presence, Comeliness — each with its own per-point cost. A second tier, Figured Characteristics (Physical/Energy Defense, Speed, Recovery, Endurance, Stun), derives its starting values from those primary stats, then can be bought up further. Movement (running, leaping, swimming, and bought abilities like flight or teleportation) rounds out the physical side.

Skills are anything a character could plausibly learn — split into Agility, Background, Combat, Intellect, and Interaction categories, most costing a flat few points for a base roll and more to improve it. Perks are external resources and privileges (money, contacts, status) rather than trained abilities, and can be lost or gained during play.

Powers are the superhuman or magical abilities — dozens of them, from Energy Blast to Teleportation to Mind Control — each with its own base cost formula (usually points per die or per point of effect). You customize a power with Advantages (make it stronger or more flexible, multiplying its cost) and Limitations (restrict it in exchange for a discount): Base Cost × (1 + Advantages) = Active Points, then Active Points ÷ (1 + Limitations) = Real Cost, which is what you actually pay.

Senses work the same way — you get the human baseline free, and buy Enhanced Senses or Sense Modifiers (range, targeting, discriminatory detail, and so on) as their own small powers.

The whole system rewards a specific tension: Advantages make a power do more, Limitations make it cheaper but easier to counter — and a Limitation that never actually limits you isn't worth the points. Everything else is the GM's call, based on special effects and dramatic sense.

A companion cheat-sheet to Odiak's HERO Codex.