Editing Riley McArthur Notes (section)

==== Superior Hapless Heroics ====
I want to touch on her superior skill - Hapless Heroics. It's a skill meant to represent that Riley's core is that of a big damn hero. Like a lot superior skills, it also sort of starts ceasing to make rational, human sense at level 3+. It's something like:

*Superior HH 0: you're a normal human who's rising to the occasion. Someone needs help, and all evil demands is that good men do nothing. So do something!

*Superior HH 1: At this level, you're the sort of person everyone comes to for advice. If people have problems, you're noticeably good at taking them away. It isn't like you can cure cancer or anything but maybe you can make the trauma of cancer less weighty - help people be at peace.

*Superior HH 2: You're a knight in shining armour, you're John McClane, Rambo, Zorro! The sort of paragon ideal that people think of when they say 'hero'. You can ride out and vanquish evil with aplomb. 

*Superior HH 3: You're a hero - one out of legend. King Arthur, blessed by the Lady of the Lake. Cu Chulainn and his indomitable prowess. Beowulf, grizzled badass. People might still be able to rationalise your capabilities as human...if they squint a bit and suspend their disbelief. 

*Superior HH 4: Now you're some sort of magical mythological (maybe even fictional) hero. Son Wukong, Krishna - Superman even! 

*Superior HH 5: You cease to have a problem with trouble. Trouble starts having problems with you.

But the superior part of superior skills doesn't always apply. I'm envisaging the Edge from Riley's skill isn't universally applicable. I mean, sure, at Superior Hapless Heroics 3, Riley could probably swim for miles, leap across roof tops and out-wrestle a bear (and she does know how to wrestle - I like to imagine hero training being a McArthur thing, even if they're not destined for it. Tradition!). But that doesn't mean she gets Edge in all circumstances. 
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I actually rather think she'd only get the Edge from her Superior skill if she's doing something heroic or hero-like. She gets her edge if she's standing up to someone doing something wrong, if she's doing something to help another person, if she's living up to her reputation! She gets her edge if she's being a hero. She wouldn't get her edge if she was being a bully - even if she's technically more than strong enough to physically intimidate a normal person twice her size...that doesn't mean she gets her edge. That might not even mean she gets to use her Hapless Heroics skill at all!

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