Being a hero in Paragon City is hardly thankless; heroes receive many rewards during their eternal struggle against the forces of evil.

The most common rewards are Inspirations. These are momentary boosts to heroes' Accuracy, Damage, Defense, Endurance and Hit Points. Inspirations are dramatic moments in combat - a "second wind" (Endurance) or "spot a weakness" (Accuracy) - that help turn the tide in battle. Heroes depend on these battle boosts; without a good supply, there's a chance they may fail. The only way, however, to gain Inspirations is to defeat Paragon City's many foes. As a hero gains Security Levels, he'll face more difficult enemies. To compensate, the Inspiration inventory grows, too. So players will be able to stock up Inspirations for those truly epic conflicts.

Inspirations, though, come and go. The permanent boosts all heroes seek are called Enhancements (once known as Specializations). Every power comes with a certain number of inventory slots. Enhancements can be put into these slots to augment an aspect of a power - range, damage, duration, etc. A player needs to pay close attention to how he equips his Enhancements; they are permanent once placed into a power slot. Much like the Inspiration inventory, heroes gain Enhancement slots automatically as they level up so that they can keep up with their many foes. In addition, a player gains the ability to add bonus Enhancement slots to their favored powers every other Security Level. Through Enhancements, two players could have the exact same power, but both powers might in fact differ a lot in capability. One person could invest in Range Enhancements to become a distance specialist, another into damage in order to become the "knock out" artist.

A hero, though, needs to make sure his Enhancements keep pace with his Security Level. Enhancements each come with an associated level; players cannot use Enhancements that are more than a few levels above them. As a hero gains power, his Security Level will outstrip his previous Enhancements. That's when a player needs to gain a new Enhancement and combine it with his current one. Through combination, a player can raise the higher of the two Enhancements by one level. This process isn't automatic; there is a chance of failure that is affected by how much each Enhancement differs in Security Level.