A Pathway describes how a Hero acts when challenged. It is a learned discipline rather than a fixed class. Choose three distinct Pathways for the initial build and a Shade for each: Control, Versatility, or Impulse.
In My Heroes, select the starting Pathways and their Shades within What Calls Me Forward. Each starts Trained and contributes one matching Ember plus two Potential tokens. The three choices therefore add three Embers and six Potential to the starting bag.
Control expresses deliberate action, Impulse instinctive action, and Versatility adaptability between them. For a Performance, declare the Shade of the approach before drawing. Matching Embers contribute their value, opposite-shaded Embers do not, and Versatility contributes to either Control or Impulse.
Starting PathwaysCopy link
Pathway | A way of meeting the world |
|---|---|
Influence | Relationships, persuasion and social leverage |
Lore | Knowledge, interpretation and discovery |
Skill | Craft, technique and practical solutions |
Prowess | Physical action and conflict |
Divinity | Power directed toward divine forces and creation |
Devotion | Divine power expressed through mortal life and form |
Threads | Sensory attunement and weaving |
Training & Later LearningCopy link
The ordinary Performance draw follows Training. Wounds reduce the draw by one each, to a minimum of one. Master and Exemplar improve the matching Pathway’s Embers rather than increasing the normal draw beyond four. Use the TARGET / DEFEND / GAIN / SPEND actions in The System for current actions and token effects.
Use + Add Ability to record an additional Pathway learned through play. Choose its earned Training tier. This records the advancement; it does not pay advancement costs or automatically forge or add its tokens. Review the Hero Bag after applying the progression rules.
Training | Normal draw | Pathway Ember / refinement |
|---|---|---|
Untrained | 1 | Exertion may add two draws for its stated Fatigue cost |
Trained | 3 | Normal matching Ember: 2 Control, 1 Versatility, or 2 Impulse |
Adept | 4 | Eligible Refinement spends one Redraw to replace a token |
Master | 4 | Matching Pathway Ember: 3 Control, 2 Versatility, or 3 Impulse |
Exemplar | 4 | Two mastery Embers: each 4 Control, 3 Versatility, or 4 Impulse with the matching Pathway |