ghost-angel

But, this one goes to 11.

The problem with this topic is that it's trying to pin internal consistency across a genre that is inherently inconsistent; no two writers are going to keep the character 100% consistent unless forced to, and over time dozens and dozens of writers have had their hand at stories with comic characters. Any given story is probably going to be consistent, but once another writer takes over, it's not the same characters in anything but name and costume.

My son is now 14.  He is heartily sick of my repeated response to the question of who would win between two characters...."Whoever the writer thinks will make the best story".  He has however started using it with his friends....
 

Doc

The problem with this topic is that it's trying to pin internal consistency across a genre that is inherently inconsistent; no two writers are going to keep the character 100% consistent unless forced to, and over time dozens and dozens of writers have had their hand at stories with comic characters. Any given story is probably going to be consistent, but once another writer takes over, it's not the same characters in anything but name and costume.

I'm sure this is a terrible idea, but just playing with it. (I think it avoids the whole weirdness of subtracting the roll, which feels wrong, as Brian pointed out.)
 
Make combat an opposed roll. Player just takes 11+OCV +/- any modifiers... roll and figure out "How much you made the roll by?"  Example: 7 OCV + 11 = 18 or less (just like a skill roll)... roll 3d6... get a 12... made it by 6. If they are doing an Offensive Strike it is 11+7-2 for 16 or less... roll a 12, made it by 4. Basically, all they have to do is "I made it by X"
 
GM rolls 11+DCV and mods... how much did they make it by? "5 DCV so 16 or less on my defense roll... I rolled a 13, made it by 3"  
 
So, "Attack made it by 6" beats "Defense Made it by 3"... you hit.
 
Or target dodges... so 5 DCV + 11 + 5 for dodge... rolled a 13, made it by 8... you miss"
 
I know there are arguments against the extra roll... but there are arguments for it in terms of everyone "leaning in" to see how the rolls compare. And then the roll feels just like a skill roll "How much did you make your stealth by?" and "How much did you make your attack roll by?" become the same question.
 
This does work, right? Or is my limited math brain on the fritz.  (It does remove the slight advantage for the attacker (11 over 10.5 in the traditional calculation), but I dunno if that matters. It does allow players and PCs to feel like they are actively involved (by rolling their Defense roll) when being attacked, rather than just passively taking it.
 
I dunno... I kinda like it. hmm...

I think there are two elements to this question when it comes to Hero;
 
How much can you simplify so someone can play a character they have in front of them? (i.e. the Con Game)
How much can you simplify character creation and world building?
 
Showing someone how skills work, how modifiers effect things, and how combat works is very different (in any game system) from showing them how to create a character or campaign.
 
For example, you could remove Combat Maneuvers from the system, and utilize a system of Combat Skill Levels only to simulate various shifts in how martial combat works in play. Most of the rest is flavor text. Even the free maneuvers and basic maneuvers, like Multi Attack could be drastically simplified to "take more than one attack action and you incur a -2 to every attack action per extra action taken" - this isn't even an uncommon aspect in gaming.
 
But, if you want to simplify the creation process, that isn't as easy - but I don't think it's out of reach.
 
Doing something like removing Endurance completely as both a stat and a consideration in character builds can greatly affect how someone approaches their build and the game.
 
Someone could do something like remove the Speed Chart, but keep Speed - as a number of dice you roll in the Initiative Phase; Body on the Dice = Actions per Turn. Going round robin until people start to run out of Actions to use, keeps DEX basically the same. Would this simplify things for new gamers? Maybe, it's not entirely foreign idea and prevents the standard back-and-forth most systems create.
 
Now, what any one of us might remove and still be what we consider a "Hero System Game" may vary quite a bit. But as I said before, as long as you keep the core tenant of separating Mechanics from Special Effects you can still capture the essence of what Hero is. Regardless of what other unique, and recognizable, elements the system has over others.

11- is also near the middle of the 3D6 bell curve so two combatants who are otherwise equal in skill (OCV and DCV match) will have a roughly 50/50 shot of hitting (or being missed), with a slight favor advantage towards the attacker rolling 11- on it. So yeah, if you want people to hit more often than they miss, you would want a base roll to start at 11- and go up from there.
 
Edit:
(This is also found in D&D5E, where the philosophy is "hitting more often is more fun than missing a lot and then doing all the damage if you manage to hit"; unlike 3rd and 4th Ed. where very High ACs and very high Damage were more common; D&D5E damage trends on the low end, but you almost always do damage.  You feel like you're getting somewhere even if it's a long road. Similar with Hero, slanted towards hitting things more often.)

Hmmm...what about allowing both PRE attacks to act simultaneously, and operate as opposed PRE attacks?  Just for discussion - I haven't researched the rules or considered the possibility in any depth, but Cap rallying the troops against seeming=insurmountable odds seems like two PRE attacks colliding directly and simultaneously.

Since it seems the sticking point is explaining how Attack Rolls (which fundamentally work exactly like Skill Rolls) work; let's try.
 
Attack Skill = 11+OCV.
Literally forget everything else about OCV, DCV, and Combat. Just have them write down Attack Skill, 15-
Edit: forgot, you only ever need to do this once, at character creation. Like you only ever really calculate you skill rolls once, at character creation.
 
Skill Rolls: How much you roll under your Skill is how much you succeed by. If you have a Lockpick Skill of 14- and you roll a 10, you succeeded by 4. What does that mean? Well, the GM assigned a difficulty of 2 to the Lock. So, any roll that succeeds by 2 or more unlocks. (in Hero Combat Terms, the Lock has a DCV of 2, and your Lockpick Roll hit a DCV of 4 or lower, the explanations go both ways, because it's literally the same math.)
 
Moving back to Combat; You make an Attack Roll, you roll a 9, you have succeeded by 6 on your Attack Roll. What does that mean? Well, DCV is just a target difficulty, like with Skills. Your target has a Difficulty of 5, you hit if you succeed by 5 or more.
 
Modifiers:
Attack Modifiers adjust the success level of the Attack Roll, just like Skill Modifiers adjust the success level of the Skill Roll. You can either add this onto the Skill Roll directly, or you can add it to the Success Level after the roll - the math is the same. If you have +1 to OCV you can either say your Attack Skill goes up to 16- or just add 1 to your Success Roll.
 
Defense Modifiers adjust the target number, normally Skill Challenges have static target numbers (the Lock does not become more difficult or less difficult, typically, one attempt to the next), but Combat is fluid and sometimes positions change and the Target Number moves. Still - you're just adjsuting the target number, either yours or the GM adjusting the NPCs. And while this is typically yet another number to keep track of in combat, it's not especially unique to Hero - D&D has plenty of spells that adjust the AC modifier on the fly (heck, even as a reaction in the same Action sequence).
 
Once you strip out the, poorly presented IMO, formula in Hero and literally treat Attacking like any other Skill Challenge you only need to teach one mathematical idea. In or out of combat, Attack Rolls are just Combat Skill Challenges and Skills are just Non-Combat Attack Challenges.

Since it seems the sticking point is explaining how Attack Rolls (which fundamentally work exactly like Skill Rolls) work; let's try.
 
Attack Skill = 11+OCV.
Literally forget everything else about OCV, DCV, and Combat. Just have them write down Attack Skill, 15-
Edit: forgot, you only ever need to do this once, at character creation. Like you only ever really calculate you skill rolls once, at character creation.
 
Skill Rolls: How much you roll under your Skill is how much you succeed by. If you have a Lockpick Skill of 14- and you roll a 10, you succeeded by 4. What does that mean? Well, the GM assigned a difficulty of 2 to the Lock. So, any roll that succeeds by 2 or more unlocks. (in Hero Combat Terms, the Lock has a DCV of 2, and your Lockpick Roll hit a DCV of 4 or lower, the explanations go both ways, because it's literally the same math.)
 
Moving back to Combat; You make an Attack Roll, you roll a 9, you have succeeded by 6 on your Attack Roll. What does that mean? Well, DCV is just a target difficulty, like with Skills. Your target has a Difficulty of 5, you hit if you succeed by 5 or more.
 
Modifiers:
Attack Modifiers adjust the success level of the Attack Roll, just like Skill Modifiers adjust the success level of the Skill Roll. You can either add this onto the Skill Roll directly, or you can add it to the Success Level after the roll - the math is the same. If you have +1 to OCV you can either say your Attack Skill goes up to 16- or just add 1 to your Success Roll.
 
Defense Modifiers adjust the target number, normally Skill Challenges have static target numbers (the Lock does not become more difficult or less difficult, typically, one attempt to the next), but Combat is fluid and sometimes positions change and the Target Number moves. Still - you're just adjsuting the target number, either yours or the GM adjusting the NPCs. And while this is typically yet another number to keep track of in combat, it's not especially unique to Hero - D&D has plenty of spells that adjust the AC modifier on the fly (heck, even as a reaction in the same Action sequence).
 
Once you strip out the, poorly presented IMO, formula in Hero and literally treat Attacking like any other Skill Challenge you only need to teach one mathematical idea. In or out of combat, Attack Rolls are just Combat Skill Challenges and Skills are just Non-Combat Attack Challenges.

A PRE Attack takes No Time and thus may be performed at anytime, not even on your Phase. You can just declare to make a PRE Attack before the DEX Order even comes up. Assuming the PRE Attack does roll enough, which it will in Hugh's example, they will most certainly go first.

Since it seems the sticking point is explaining how Attack Rolls (which fundamentally work exactly like Skill Rolls) work; let's try.
 
Attack Skill = 11+OCV.
Literally forget everything else about OCV, DCV, and Combat. Just have them write down Attack Skill, 15-
Edit: forgot, you only ever need to do this once, at character creation. Like you only ever really calculate you skill rolls once, at character creation.
 
Skill Rolls: How much you roll under your Skill is how much you succeed by. If you have a Lockpick Skill of 14- and you roll a 10, you succeeded by 4. What does that mean? Well, the GM assigned a difficulty of 2 to the Lock. So, any roll that succeeds by 2 or more unlocks. (in Hero Combat Terms, the Lock has a DCV of 2, and your Lockpick Roll hit a DCV of 4 or lower, the explanations go both ways, because it's literally the same math.)
 
Moving back to Combat; You make an Attack Roll, you roll a 9, you have succeeded by 6 on your Attack Roll. What does that mean? Well, DCV is just a target difficulty, like with Skills. Your target has a Difficulty of 5, you hit if you succeed by 5 or more.
 
Modifiers:
Attack Modifiers adjust the success level of the Attack Roll, just like Skill Modifiers adjust the success level of the Skill Roll. You can either add this onto the Skill Roll directly, or you can add it to the Success Level after the roll - the math is the same. If you have +1 to OCV you can either say your Attack Skill goes up to 16- or just add 1 to your Success Roll.
 
Defense Modifiers adjust the target number, normally Skill Challenges have static target numbers (the Lock does not become more difficult or less difficult, typically, one attempt to the next), but Combat is fluid and sometimes positions change and the Target Number moves. Still - you're just adjsuting the target number, either yours or the GM adjusting the NPCs. And while this is typically yet another number to keep track of in combat, it's not especially unique to Hero - D&D has plenty of spells that adjust the AC modifier on the fly (heck, even as a reaction in the same Action sequence).
 
Once you strip out the, poorly presented IMO, formula in Hero and literally treat Attacking like any other Skill Challenge you only need to teach one mathematical idea. In or out of combat, Attack Rolls are just Combat Skill Challenges and Skills are just Non-Combat Attack Challenges.

Since it seems the sticking point is explaining how Attack Rolls (which fundamentally work exactly like Skill Rolls) work; let's try.
 
Attack Skill = 11+OCV.
Literally forget everything else about OCV, DCV, and Combat. Just have them write down Attack Skill, 15-
Edit: forgot, you only ever need to do this once, at character creation. Like you only ever really calculate you skill rolls once, at character creation.
 
Skill Rolls: How much you roll under your Skill is how much you succeed by. If you have a Lockpick Skill of 14- and you roll a 10, you succeeded by 4. What does that mean? Well, the GM assigned a difficulty of 2 to the Lock. So, any roll that succeeds by 2 or more unlocks. (in Hero Combat Terms, the Lock has a DCV of 2, and your Lockpick Roll hit a DCV of 4 or lower, the explanations go both ways, because it's literally the same math.)
 
Moving back to Combat; You make an Attack Roll, you roll a 9, you have succeeded by 6 on your Attack Roll. What does that mean? Well, DCV is just a target difficulty, like with Skills. Your target has a Difficulty of 5, you hit if you succeed by 5 or more.
 
Modifiers:
Attack Modifiers adjust the success level of the Attack Roll, just like Skill Modifiers adjust the success level of the Skill Roll. You can either add this onto the Skill Roll directly, or you can add it to the Success Level after the roll - the math is the same. If you have +1 to OCV you can either say your Attack Skill goes up to 16- or just add 1 to your Success Roll.
 
Defense Modifiers adjust the target number, normally Skill Challenges have static target numbers (the Lock does not become more difficult or less difficult, typically, one attempt to the next), but Combat is fluid and sometimes positions change and the Target Number moves. Still - you're just adjsuting the target number, either yours or the GM adjusting the NPCs. And while this is typically yet another number to keep track of in combat, it's not especially unique to Hero - D&D has plenty of spells that adjust the AC modifier on the fly (heck, even as a reaction in the same Action sequence).
 
Once you strip out the, poorly presented IMO, formula in Hero and literally treat Attacking like any other Skill Challenge you only need to teach one mathematical idea. In or out of combat, Attack Rolls are just Combat Skill Challenges and Skills are just Non-Combat Attack Challenges.

Since it seems the sticking point is explaining how Attack Rolls (which fundamentally work exactly like Skill Rolls) work; let's try.
 
Attack Skill = 11+OCV.
Literally forget everything else about OCV, DCV, and Combat. Just have them write down Attack Skill, 15-
Edit: forgot, you only ever need to do this once, at character creation. Like you only ever really calculate you skill rolls once, at character creation.
 
Skill Rolls: How much you roll under your Skill is how much you succeed by. If you have a Lockpick Skill of 14- and you roll a 10, you succeeded by 4. What does that mean? Well, the GM assigned a difficulty of 2 to the Lock. So, any roll that succeeds by 2 or more unlocks. (in Hero Combat Terms, the Lock has a DCV of 2, and your Lockpick Roll hit a DCV of 4 or lower, the explanations go both ways, because it's literally the same math.)
 
Moving back to Combat; You make an Attack Roll, you roll a 9, you have succeeded by 6 on your Attack Roll. What does that mean? Well, DCV is just a target difficulty, like with Skills. Your target has a Difficulty of 5, you hit if you succeed by 5 or more.
 
Modifiers:
Attack Modifiers adjust the success level of the Attack Roll, just like Skill Modifiers adjust the success level of the Skill Roll. You can either add this onto the Skill Roll directly, or you can add it to the Success Level after the roll - the math is the same. If you have +1 to OCV you can either say your Attack Skill goes up to 16- or just add 1 to your Success Roll.
 
Defense Modifiers adjust the target number, normally Skill Challenges have static target numbers (the Lock does not become more difficult or less difficult, typically, one attempt to the next), but Combat is fluid and sometimes positions change and the Target Number moves. Still - you're just adjsuting the target number, either yours or the GM adjusting the NPCs. And while this is typically yet another number to keep track of in combat, it's not especially unique to Hero - D&D has plenty of spells that adjust the AC modifier on the fly (heck, even as a reaction in the same Action sequence).
 
Once you strip out the, poorly presented IMO, formula in Hero and literally treat Attacking like any other Skill Challenge you only need to teach one mathematical idea. In or out of combat, Attack Rolls are just Combat Skill Challenges and Skills are just Non-Combat Attack Challenges.

Since it seems the sticking point is explaining how Attack Rolls (which fundamentally work exactly like Skill Rolls) work; let's try.
 
Attack Skill = 11+OCV.
Literally forget everything else about OCV, DCV, and Combat. Just have them write down Attack Skill, 15-
Edit: forgot, you only ever need to do this once, at character creation. Like you only ever really calculate you skill rolls once, at character creation.
 
Skill Rolls: How much you roll under your Skill is how much you succeed by. If you have a Lockpick Skill of 14- and you roll a 10, you succeeded by 4. What does that mean? Well, the GM assigned a difficulty of 2 to the Lock. So, any roll that succeeds by 2 or more unlocks. (in Hero Combat Terms, the Lock has a DCV of 2, and your Lockpick Roll hit a DCV of 4 or lower, the explanations go both ways, because it's literally the same math.)
 
Moving back to Combat; You make an Attack Roll, you roll a 9, you have succeeded by 6 on your Attack Roll. What does that mean? Well, DCV is just a target difficulty, like with Skills. Your target has a Difficulty of 5, you hit if you succeed by 5 or more.
 
Modifiers:
Attack Modifiers adjust the success level of the Attack Roll, just like Skill Modifiers adjust the success level of the Skill Roll. You can either add this onto the Skill Roll directly, or you can add it to the Success Level after the roll - the math is the same. If you have +1 to OCV you can either say your Attack Skill goes up to 16- or just add 1 to your Success Roll.
 
Defense Modifiers adjust the target number, normally Skill Challenges have static target numbers (the Lock does not become more difficult or less difficult, typically, one attempt to the next), but Combat is fluid and sometimes positions change and the Target Number moves. Still - you're just adjsuting the target number, either yours or the GM adjusting the NPCs. And while this is typically yet another number to keep track of in combat, it's not especially unique to Hero - D&D has plenty of spells that adjust the AC modifier on the fly (heck, even as a reaction in the same Action sequence).
 
Once you strip out the, poorly presented IMO, formula in Hero and literally treat Attacking like any other Skill Challenge you only need to teach one mathematical idea. In or out of combat, Attack Rolls are just Combat Skill Challenges and Skills are just Non-Combat Attack Challenges.

Let me ask you this; do these players understand the Skill System rolls in Hero?
If so, why is the Attack Roll so different?

Let me ask you this; do these players understand the Skill System rolls in Hero?
If so, why is the Attack Roll so different?

Hero's real core mechanic, the foundation on which all the other ideas are built is divorcing Mechanics and Special Effect.
 
Which is why it's a toolkit to make a game, not a ready-play game. Even systems like Fate can't completely divorce these two. Fate does do an excellent job by being almost entirely narrative in nature, but it becomes extremely abstract when it does that. Hero leans more on the crunch.
 
If you want to reduce Hero to the foundations it's asking two questions: What happens, How Does It Look.
Remove Special Effects and most characters are Attack; Move; Defend; Skill Set. But Heroes granularity is the elegant (if mathematical) way it allows you to define those elements.
 
Which you can get in any system, even abstract one's like Fate, where things like "how far do I move?" are answered as "Plot Distance" unless you have an Aspect or Stunt that specifically defines you moving "Extra Plot Distance"; And if you're group isn't very narrative in nature, well, Hero with the nuts & bolts & numbers is the best at defining the idea that What Happens & How It Looks are two radically different things.
 
How many actual rules can you remove from Hero before you stop being Hero? A lot probably, as long as you don't remove so much the core concept of Mechanics & Special Effect are Two Different Things That Work Together.

Yes. It's backwards, and kind of dumb.
 
I tell new players how to calculate their Attack Skill: 11 + OCV, write that down. This is your Attack Skill, everything else can be added afterwards if you like, or before if you like.
 
Example: OCV of 7 is an Attack Skill of 18-.
If you have are performing a Martial Maneuver that gives -1 OCV, and have three Skill Levels, and will apply two of them to attacking that's a +2 OCV; you can add them up, a net +1. And add it to your result. Your Attack Skill never changes, so if you roll a 10 you hit a 9 Or Less DCV (18-10+1 = 9); It's much simpler and they always have the same Attack Roll just written down like they do with their Skill List.
 
It's about an order of magnitude easier to describe the OCV/DCV/Attack Roll interaction as a Skill Challenge than it is with the presented formula in the book.

Yes. It's backwards, and kind of dumb.
 
I tell new players how to calculate their Attack Skill: 11 + OCV, write that down. This is your Attack Skill, everything else can be added afterwards if you like, or before if you like.
 
Example: OCV of 7 is an Attack Skill of 18-.
If you have are performing a Martial Maneuver that gives -1 OCV, and have three Skill Levels, and will apply two of them to attacking that's a +2 OCV; you can add them up, a net +1. And add it to your result. Your Attack Skill never changes, so if you roll a 10 you hit a 9 Or Less DCV (18-10+1 = 9); It's much simpler and they always have the same Attack Roll just written down like they do with their Skill List.
 
It's about an order of magnitude easier to describe the OCV/DCV/Attack Roll interaction as a Skill Challenge than it is with the presented formula in the book.

I think there are two elements to this question when it comes to Hero;
 
How much can you simplify so someone can play a character they have in front of them? (i.e. the Con Game)
How much can you simplify character creation and world building?
 
Showing someone how skills work, how modifiers effect things, and how combat works is very different (in any game system) from showing them how to create a character or campaign.
 
For example, you could remove Combat Maneuvers from the system, and utilize a system of Combat Skill Levels only to simulate various shifts in how martial combat works in play. Most of the rest is flavor text. Even the free maneuvers and basic maneuvers, like Multi Attack could be drastically simplified to "take more than one attack action and you incur a -2 to every attack action per extra action taken" - this isn't even an uncommon aspect in gaming.
 
But, if you want to simplify the creation process, that isn't as easy - but I don't think it's out of reach.
 
Doing something like removing Endurance completely as both a stat and a consideration in character builds can greatly affect how someone approaches their build and the game.
 
Someone could do something like remove the Speed Chart, but keep Speed - as a number of dice you roll in the Initiative Phase; Body on the Dice = Actions per Turn. Going round robin until people start to run out of Actions to use, keeps DEX basically the same. Would this simplify things for new gamers? Maybe, it's not entirely foreign idea and prevents the standard back-and-forth most systems create.
 
Now, what any one of us might remove and still be what we consider a "Hero System Game" may vary quite a bit. But as I said before, as long as you keep the core tenant of separating Mechanics from Special Effects you can still capture the essence of what Hero is. Regardless of what other unique, and recognizable, elements the system has over others.

I think there are two elements to this question when it comes to Hero;
 
How much can you simplify so someone can play a character they have in front of them? (i.e. the Con Game)
How much can you simplify character creation and world building?
 
Showing someone how skills work, how modifiers effect things, and how combat works is very different (in any game system) from showing them how to create a character or campaign.
 
For example, you could remove Combat Maneuvers from the system, and utilize a system of Combat Skill Levels only to simulate various shifts in how martial combat works in play. Most of the rest is flavor text. Even the free maneuvers and basic maneuvers, like Multi Attack could be drastically simplified to "take more than one attack action and you incur a -2 to every attack action per extra action taken" - this isn't even an uncommon aspect in gaming.
 
But, if you want to simplify the creation process, that isn't as easy - but I don't think it's out of reach.
 
Doing something like removing Endurance completely as both a stat and a consideration in character builds can greatly affect how someone approaches their build and the game.
 
Someone could do something like remove the Speed Chart, but keep Speed - as a number of dice you roll in the Initiative Phase; Body on the Dice = Actions per Turn. Going round robin until people start to run out of Actions to use, keeps DEX basically the same. Would this simplify things for new gamers? Maybe, it's not entirely foreign idea and prevents the standard back-and-forth most systems create.
 
Now, what any one of us might remove and still be what we consider a "Hero System Game" may vary quite a bit. But as I said before, as long as you keep the core tenant of separating Mechanics from Special Effects you can still capture the essence of what Hero is. Regardless of what other unique, and recognizable, elements the system has over others.

I think there are two elements to this question when it comes to Hero;
 
How much can you simplify so someone can play a character they have in front of them? (i.e. the Con Game)
How much can you simplify character creation and world building?
 
Showing someone how skills work, how modifiers effect things, and how combat works is very different (in any game system) from showing them how to create a character or campaign.
 
For example, you could remove Combat Maneuvers from the system, and utilize a system of Combat Skill Levels only to simulate various shifts in how martial combat works in play. Most of the rest is flavor text. Even the free maneuvers and basic maneuvers, like Multi Attack could be drastically simplified to "take more than one attack action and you incur a -2 to every attack action per extra action taken" - this isn't even an uncommon aspect in gaming.
 
But, if you want to simplify the creation process, that isn't as easy - but I don't think it's out of reach.
 
Doing something like removing Endurance completely as both a stat and a consideration in character builds can greatly affect how someone approaches their build and the game.
 
Someone could do something like remove the Speed Chart, but keep Speed - as a number of dice you roll in the Initiative Phase; Body on the Dice = Actions per Turn. Going round robin until people start to run out of Actions to use, keeps DEX basically the same. Would this simplify things for new gamers? Maybe, it's not entirely foreign idea and prevents the standard back-and-forth most systems create.
 
Now, what any one of us might remove and still be what we consider a "Hero System Game" may vary quite a bit. But as I said before, as long as you keep the core tenant of separating Mechanics from Special Effects you can still capture the essence of what Hero is. Regardless of what other unique, and recognizable, elements the system has over others.

This is the sticking point I have; because I don't really see it that way (or want to I should say). While Hero definitely has a very detailed combat system, I don't see the system overall as leaning in that direction. It has a very well plotted out skill system as well, a decent social interaction system, and a lot of non-combat elements to it.
 
But, by placing DEX at a higher cost, the system has made sure that your statement is a correct default assumption.

Hero's real core mechanic, the foundation on which all the other ideas are built is divorcing Mechanics and Special Effect.
 
Which is why it's a toolkit to make a game, not a ready-play game. Even systems like Fate can't completely divorce these two. Fate does do an excellent job by being almost entirely narrative in nature, but it becomes extremely abstract when it does that. Hero leans more on the crunch.
 
If you want to reduce Hero to the foundations it's asking two questions: What happens, How Does It Look.
Remove Special Effects and most characters are Attack; Move; Defend; Skill Set. But Heroes granularity is the elegant (if mathematical) way it allows you to define those elements.
 
Which you can get in any system, even abstract one's like Fate, where things like "how far do I move?" are answered as "Plot Distance" unless you have an Aspect or Stunt that specifically defines you moving "Extra Plot Distance"; And if you're group isn't very narrative in nature, well, Hero with the nuts & bolts & numbers is the best at defining the idea that What Happens & How It Looks are two radically different things.
 
How many actual rules can you remove from Hero before you stop being Hero? A lot probably, as long as you don't remove so much the core concept of Mechanics & Special Effect are Two Different Things That Work Together.