Hardship Breeds Heroes

[Trusk'our he/him]

I've looked over some of the Cosmere rpg beta rules, and one thing that stuck out to me was the Hardship Breeds Heroes concept. 

Basically, whenever a character suffers a permanent negative condition they also immediately receive a little bonus of XP.

Personally, I love this idea. Whenever I play Dnd, if someone gets cursed, or hurt, or otherwise burdened, the next predictable quest is to resolve that issue before continuing on with the story. 

Having a bit of silver lining conditional to having negatives I think could significantly increase players' acceptance of them, and builds on some fun stuff.

I don't think this is in the new version though (given that XP is nonexistent), which I'm sad about. 

Maybe there's an enjoyable way to homebrew it in? Thoughts?

[NovaOmen Any/All(Get creative!!!)]

The games I've run I haven't had a chance to run into permanent injuries yet, though here's the system I plan on using, it's incomplete but still alright. I wanted something like the bonuses you get from rewards mixed with minor expertises and skill enhancements. I'd recommend shifting the exact reward as you test the waters.

Scarred Visage (Prerequisite: Permanent injury): Gain advantage on one intimidation check per long rest

Heightened Hearing (Prerequisite: lost eye): Your sense range increases as if you had an awareness 2 higher than normal

Heightened Sight (Prerequisite: Deaf): Gain advantage on one perception check per long rest

Over Compensation (Prerequisite: Permanent Injured arm or leg): Gain advantage on one athletics check per long rest

Inner Focus (Prerequisite: Permanent exhaustion injury or internal damage): Increase your max focus by 1

Best Rest (Prerequisite: Head or nerve damage): when you roll your recovery add a bonus equal to your tier

Filling the Cracks (Prerequisite: Suffer permanent emotional injury/mental illness from trauma): An interested spren begins to follow you

Forged (Prerequisite: suffer burns): Gain the Determined effect once per long rest

 

Edited September 21, 2025 by NovaOmen