| name | heroism |
| description | In D&D, Heroism grants temporary hit points and immunity to fear — you do not become stronger, you become harder to stop. The real-world version is the preparation ritual: the pre-presentation pep talk, the pre-launch checklist that calms the team, the structured confidence-building exercise before a difficult conversation. Heroism does not change your abilities. It changes your relationship to the fear of using them. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | Wizards of the Ghosts |
| license | CC0-1.0 |
| compatibility | Hermes Agent skills system |
| metadata | {"hermes":{"tags":["spell","shipping-now","metaphorical","influence-and-behavior","influence","behavior","attention","engagement"]}} |
Heroism
Build courage and temporary resilience before walking into something hard.
What This Skill Does
In D&D, Heroism grants temporary hit points and immunity to fear — you do not become stronger, you become harder to stop. The real-world version is the preparation ritual: the pre-presentation pep talk, the pre-launch checklist that calms the team, the structured confidence-building exercise before a difficult conversation. Heroism does not change your abilities. It changes your relationship to the fear of using them.
In this grimoire, Heroism is treated as a metaphorical spell with a shipping-now delivery profile.
Canonical reference input: Heroism (spell).
When To Use
- Someone is about to do something hard — a presentation, a difficult conversation, a high-stakes launch — and needs structured preparation.
- The blocker is not skill but confidence, anxiety, or fear of a specific outcome.
- You want a pre-game routine, mental rehearsal, or fear-inventory exercise.
Prerequisites
- No extra runtime dependencies beyond Hermes Agent and the normal toolset for this session.
Procedure
- Restate the target, the success condition, and any no-touch boundaries before taking action.
- Identify the hard thing: what is the person about to face, and what specifically scares them about it?
- Separate controllables from uncontrollables. Name the worst realistic outcome and its actual consequences.
- Build the preparation ritual: talking points, contingency plans, or structured rehearsal for the specific scenario.
- Deliver the temporary hit points: a concise confidence frame that is honest, not just cheerful.
- Include a 'fear inventory' — name the fears explicitly so they lose their ambient power.
- Package the result as the deliverables below, with confidence, assumptions, and unresolved risk called out explicitly.
Deliverables
- A preparation plan tailored to the specific hard thing.
- A fear inventory: the specific worries named and reality-checked.
- A confidence frame: an honest, non-cheerleading reason to proceed.
Pitfalls / Guardrails
- Keep the metaphor anchored to a real mechanism instead of drifting into lore.
- Do not manufacture false confidence. Heroism grants temporary resilience, not delusion.
- If the fear is well-founded — the plan actually is bad, the presentation actually is unprepared — say so. Heroism is not a substitute for readiness.
- Do not pathologize normal anxiety. Some fear before hard things is healthy signal, not a problem to solve.
Verification
- Check that the result includes every deliverable promised above.
- Check that confirmed facts, assumptions, and inferences are visibly separated.
- Check that the metaphor still maps cleanly to a real operational mechanism.
Example Invocation
/heroism prepare me for this [presentation/conversation/launch/decision]. Name what scares me, reality-check it, and give me a preparation plan
