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The greatest strength of the Hero system is its ability to do almost anything with it, but to some players that can also be a serious weakness, as the thousands of possibilities can easily make a gamer feel bogged down when trying to turn his character concept into reality. This is especially true in a superhero setting, where near-anything goes, and as such, nearly any power or ability can manifest itself in a game. Players have desired a book full of pre-made powers constructed from the Hero toolkit for years, and now Hero has answered the call.
The Layout
The Database is a 272 page softcover, bursting at the seams just like all the new Hero products. The book has a good introduction, which clearly explains its purpose: it is a superhero supplement. As marked on the front and back covers, this book contains power constructs for Champions, not the other Hero settings. Though Hero is a generic universal system, this book wouldn't be of much use to your standard Star or Fantasy Hero campaign, let alone a non-Hero game system. As an aside, though Hero 5th is very compatible with Hero 4th edition, this book, with its pages and pages of power constructs, is most likely to present difficulties in application to a 4th ed game, though only compared to most other Champions books - any experienced 4th ed player could easily figure out the differences, as everything is very clearly laid out.
I'm probably unqualified to judge the art content, as that sort of thing doesn't strike me as very important in a book like this, but this book does use the art it has to good effect. Rather than just slap down random pictures, each power section has art appropriate to that section, and with cool sidebars analyzing the superpowered beings involved in the "photo" from the point of view of the UNTIL agent editing the database. All the participants are in the Champions Universe, which is a nice bonus for owners of the Champions supplement of the same name.
The book overall is laid out in the same manner as other Hero 5th products, with generous sidebars, in this case largely used to contain the above-mentioned art explanations. The book ends with the now Hero-standard excellent index.
Main Contents
The book begins with the statement that these are not official Champions powers. The goal of this book is to save a player or GM time, or to spark ideas, not to try and lay down a canonical approach to power construction, or to say that each power presented must be legal for every game. A canonical approach would probably have offended most Hero players, who love being able to tinker every which way with the rules, so this was probably a good step.
A great part of the book, one that beautifully illustrates the Hero ethos, is that the Database is organized by generic special effects, not by specific rule-based power categories. This means that when you look up "Mental & Psionic Powers", you don't just get those sort of powers using only the rules found in the Mental Power section of the Hero rulebook. You also get Entangles and Drains and Transfers and skill levels and defenses and other normally non-Mental powers, but all with mental themes and special effects. Similarly, "Luck Powers" aren't just built with the Luck Power, but with things like penalties to enemy combat skills, explained as extraordinary clumsiness brought on by bad luck you inflict on others.
This approach also makes the book more newbie-friendly, as you don't have to be familiar with how Hero classifies powers in order to find a particular power build. You just look at the table of contents, and then go to the section describing the power builds that grab your interest, such as Radiation, Sleep & Dream, Animals, Air & Wind, etc: all nice and generic.
Each of these power sections are broken up into sub-sections for ease of navigation, such as Offensive Powers, Defensive Powers, Sensory, etc. Furthermore, within each power build (i.e. Hyper-Running, a fairly self-explanatory sort of power), you have sub-builds, which add or subtract strength to the original power, as well as advantages and disadvantages (such as a faster version, a slower version, and a version that allows you to run up walls). Your average power listing is actually a half-dozen powers. Each power is built with all the proper game terminology, with full Active and Real costs as well as details like END requirements, range, and duration. There is also the occasional new adder, advantage, or disadvantage, contained in the sidebars.
I should note that the powers included run the entire spectrum - bodies made of sand, the ability to trap an enemy in a dimensional bubble, earthquake creation, evolving or de-evolving another creature, avalanche riding, etc etc etc. You can easily find the usual energy blasts and such, but there's some real fun present as well.
What is the book missing? Well, as it explains in the intro, you'll find nothing in the way of raw mechanical or cybernetic powers (such as mecha, vehicles, spacecraft, rifles, energy weapons). Star Hero books and Ultimate Vehicle will cover that area. Gadgets are missing, although they are easier to simulate with the addition of a few disadvantages to many of the powers presented. Martial arts-based powers aren't present, as Ultimate Martial Artist and Ninja Hero deal with that. Lastly, mysticism gets a pass, although, like gadgets, it is very easy to make the Database into a mystic-friendly book with a few quick flavour text alterations and a couple of power modifier changes.
The Wrapup
Overall, I found the book both thorough and well-organized. Certainly it doesn't have every superpower, but considering the nature of the Hero system I feel that's an impossible goal, and the book wisely disavows any attempt to be a definitive listing. However, those who want more, or who have ideas of their own they'd like to add, should know that Hero has already started a free online supplement to the Database. There the author adds powers he thought of later or didn't have room to fit in to the book, and players can submit their own ideas too. You can find the online Database at
http://www.herogames.com/USPD/index.htm
I give this book a 4 for layout: nothing spectacular or awe-inspiring, but it definitely gets the job done, and when dealing with this many listings, that's a major accomplishment. You'll have no trouble finding what you want. For content, I give it a 5 - I believe every Champions player could get a great deal of use out of this book, both players and GM's alike.
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