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Health & Mana

Perhaps two of the most critical stats a creature will have is its health and mana.

Health
A creature’s health represents its vitality, and general well-being. As a creature is
damaged, harmed, or strained it will lose health and thus edge closer to death.

Health is measured using Health Points (or ‘HP’). Each creature will have a
Maximum Health Points score, representing the highest amount of Health Points a
creature has. Whenever the creature regains Health Points, it can not regain more
than its Maximum Health Points.

For Player Characters, Maximum Health Points are primarily decided by the
character’s Archetype. This can be during character creation - in which certain
Archetypes start with additional Maximum Health Points - or as a character
progresses and unlocks Talents from their Archetype Path which improve their
Maximum Health Points.

Zero Health
A creature is no longer able to fight when it is reduced to 0 Health Points.

When a Non-Player Character is reduced to 0 Health Points, they are typically

killed outright.

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Skills
Skills represent the various actions and tasks that creatures can perform. This
might range from being able to complete a feat of athleticism, picking a locked
door, or performing a beautiful melody on your trusty lute.

As such, when a creature wishes to perform an Action it is likely that a Skill Check
will be required. This is the core mechanic of this system, and is referenced earlier
in ‘Making a Roll’.

Ranks, or specifically the number of Ranks in a given Skill, demonstrate how

proficient a creature is at performing tasks related to that Skill. The more Ranks a
creature has in a Skill, the better it will be at performing those tasks.

Example:
Jamie is playing a character called Bodwin, the Dwarf.

Bodwin, the Dwarf, wants to attempt to pick the lock on the door to the castle’s treasury. Jamie
will then ask the GM if they can attempt to unlock the door.

The GM approves the action and asks for a Skill Check of the relevant Skill - in this case Stealth
(“lockpicking” is provided as an Example Use of the Stealth Skill on page X).

Jamie consults Bodwin’s character sheet and looks at how many Ranks Bodwin has in the Stealth
Skill. Jamie sees that Bodwin has three Ranks in the Stealth Skill and relays this information to
the GM.

The GM will then ask Jamie to add an equal number of Skill Dice to the Dice Pool. Once all other
dice have been added to the Dice Pool, Jamie will roll all of the dice and see if Bodwin has
successfully picked the lock on the door.

Similarly, the number of Ranks in a given Skill may be influential in other aspects
of the game. For instance, creatures wearing Light Armour can add their Reflex
Skill to their Armour Class - making them more difficult to hit.

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Creatures are considered to have one Rank in each Skill (excluding Magic Skills) as
a minimum. This is to allow all creatures the chance to succeed at any Skill Check.
The maximum number of Ranks a creature can have in a given Skill is six.

Skills can be broken down into three groups:

● Standard Skills
● Combat Skills
● Magic Skills

List of Standard Skills

Skill Example uses

Alchemy Brewing, medicine, potions, poisons

Arcana Enchanting, identifying magic, knowledge of magic

Athletics Climbing, jumping, running, swimming

Brawn Breaking objects, feats of strength, lifting, pushing, pulling, shoving, shrugging
physical effects

Craft Artisanry, construction, maintenance of equipment, smithing, tinkering

Entertain Acting, art, calligraphy, dancing, playing a musical instrument, singing

Fortitude Constitution, health, resistance to the environment, resistance against illness

or poison

Logic Arithmetic, cyphers, identifying patterns, solving puzzles

Lore Awareness of current events, academia, history, knowledge, religion

Perception Alertness, awareness, investigation, senses

Reflex Acrobatics, dexterity, evading danger, initiative

Speech Bartering, bluffing, charming, deceiving, insight, intimidating, persuading

Stealth Hiding, lock picking, pickpocketing, sneaking, stealing

Survival Animal handling, gathering, hunting, navigation, nature, tracking, wilderness

travel

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 List of Combat Skills
Skill Example weapons

Combat: Axes Handaxes, battleaxes, war-axes

Combat: Blades Daggers, shortswords, rapiers, longswords, greatswords

Combat: Blunt Clubs, maces, warhammers, mauls

Combat: Polearms Staffs, quarterstaffs, spears, pikes

Combat: Martial Hand-to-hand combat, punching, kicking

Arts

Combat: Bows Shortbows, longbows

Combat: Crossbows Light crossbows, Heavy crossbows

Combat: Thrown Daggers, handaxes, javelins, shurikens, throwing knives

List of Magic Skills

Pyromancy (Fire) Hydromancy (Water)
(Destruction, Explosive, Warmth, Burning) (Inhibiting, Preserving, Flowing, Mutable)
[Damage - Control] [Control - Defence]

Aeromancy (Air) Geomancy (Earth)

(Movement, Freedom, Flight, Ephemeral) (Land, Durable, Permanence, Steadiness)
[Control - Support] [Defence - Control]

Psionomancy (Psychic) Astrapomancy (Lightning)

(Mind, Dreams, Thoughts, Hypnosis) (Energy, Spontaneous, Chaotic, Surging)
[Support - Damage] [Damage - Support]

Vivomancy (Life) Necromancy (Death)

(Vitality, Wellness, Growth, Nature) (Decay, Undeath, Death, Disease)
[Support - Control] [Control - Damage]

Umbramancy (Shadow) Penumbramancy (Light)

(Darkness, Stealth, Obfuscation, Deception) (Luminosity, Bright, Safe, Revealing)
[Damage - Defence] [Support - Defence]

Chronomancy (Time) Choramancy (Gravity)

(Arbitration, Outcomes, Potential, Revocation) (Mass, Telekinesis, Crushing, Suspended)
[Defence - Support] [Defence - Damage]

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Combat
It is almost a certainty that characters will face some kind of combat during their
adventures.

Combat is done in a series of sequential Rounds - in which all creatures act.

Rounds are completed in a turn-based manner, with each creature (or group of
creatures) choosing to perform various actions on their Turn.

Initiating Combat
When combat is initiated, the game is played slightly differently in order to better
facilitate the action of a thrilling fight. Combat might be initiated when:
● The party encounters at least one hostile creature
● An ambush has occurred and all damage has been resolved, causing any surviving
creatures to enter into combat

At the beginning of each combat, follow the procedure for Initiative:

1. The GM either assembles a visual combat (i.e. arranging miniatures on a battle map)
or describes the scene to the players.
2. In instances where there are multiple NPCs, the GM can choose to group certain
creatures so that they act on the same Initiative.
3. Each creature or group rolls for Initiative. This is done by rolling 1d6 + the number
of ranks in your Reflex Skill.
4. Determine the order of Initiative:
a. The creature/group with the highest Initiative roll will act first in Initiative.
Then the creature/group with the next highest Initiative roll with act after
that. This continues until all creatures/groups have acted.
b. Ties are broken by Reflex Skill. In the event of tied Reflex, all
creatures/groups involved in the tie roll another D6 (adding no modifiers to
the roll) until the tie has been resolved and an order has been produced.
5. Any creatures/groups which enter the combat after Initiative has been rolled act
after all others (effectively becoming last in Initiative).

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Actions in Combat
Each creature (including both player characters and NPCs) have a limited number
of Actions that they can take.

Actions can be categorised into the following groups:

● Actions (or ‘primary actions’)
● Reactions
● Free Actions

Creatures in combat have a

number of Action Points (or ‘AP’)
of which they can expend to
perform Actions. Generally,
creatures will have two Action
Points that they can use on their
turn and one Reaction Point that
they can use when appropriate.
Once expended, these Actions
Points cannot be expended again
until the beginning of the
creature’s next turn in which all
expended Actions Points are
replenished.

As a supportive measure, this

system utilises an Action Tracker
for its players. The Action
Tracker acts as a visualisation of
the number of available Actions
and helps to monitor Action
Point usage. As players expend
Action Points, they should adjust
their Action Tracker to reflect
this.

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Example Actions
All creatures are able to take the following Actions in combat:

Move
You move up to your movement speed. This can include jumping, climbing,
swimming, flying, or crawling.

Attack
You make one Attack against a valid target.

Dodge
Until the beginning of your next turn, when you become the target of an Attack
you immediately add one Fail and one Disadvantage Dice to the Dice Pool.
Additionally, when you make a Reflex Saving Throw to avoid a harmful effect, you
add one Success and one Advantage Dice to the Dice Pool.

Hide
You attempt to hide from sight or conceal yourself from view behind cover. Make a
Stealth Skill check (the DC is decided by your GM based on your positioning and
objects/terrain you are attempting to hide behind). On a Success, you are no
longer visible to other creatures that would feasibly be unable to see you in your
hiding spot.

Interact
You interact with an item that you can reach (i.e. from your inventory, on the floor
next to you, hanging on the wall).

Equip / Unequip
You equip and/or unequip one weapon or item.

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Example Reactions
All creatures are able to take the following Reactions in combat:

Opportunity Attack
As a reaction to a creature leaving your melee range, you may make one Attack
against that creature.

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Equipment
Equipment refers to the various items and objects in the game. This includes
weapons, armour, potions, adventuring gear, and anything else that characters
might need.

Every character requires

equipment, and certain pieces of
equipment may be highly sought
after! Characters can gain
equipment by:
● Purchasing from a vendor
● Looting a slain enemy
● Plundering a dungeon of its
treasure
● Crafting new gear

Navigating this section:

Weapons
Special Rules
Armour
Special Rules

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Weapons
For most humanoid creatures, Attacks will be done using weapons such as swords,
bows, or the mighty warhammer.

This system attempts to enable a diverse range of valid weapon choices that
promote engaging combat. Whilst not all weapons are made equal, the aim is to
have no weapons be entirely obsolete. The system has also been designed with
simplicity and ease-of-use in mind, so as not to disrupt the flow of combat with
huge quantities of rules.

Each weapon has four main distinguishing characteristics:

● Damage Dice - This determines the dice rolled when dealing damage with this
weapon and thus how damaging the weapon can be.
● Reach / Range - This determines the effective striking distance of the weapon. For
melee weapons, this is referred to as Reach; whereas for ranged weapons it is
referred to as Range.
● Greater Success - This determines what additional effects occur when Greater
Successes are achieved with this weapon (a ‘Greater Success’ is any additional
Success above one).
● Special Rules - These refer to any additional features or properties a weapon has.
These may be beneficial or detrimental depending on the weapon.

Different combinations and values for each of these characteristics enables

weapons to be distinct and unique from one another whilst still conforming to a
uniform set of rules.

Additionally, this allows the weapon system to be incredibly modular. Players may
be able to loot or purchase variations of standard weapons that have additional
bonuses or deal more damage. For example, a player might stumble upon the
ethereal ‘Ghost Blade’ which is able to phase through armour - represented by it
gaining the ‘Armour Penetration’ Special Rule.

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Weapon Types
Each weapon belongs to a particular Weapon Type. All weapons of a given Weapon
Type share similar characteristics and use the same Combat Skill when used to
make an Attack.

Each Weapon Type has been designed with a definable identity - each having their
own strengths and weaknesses, and effectiveness in certain situations.

The Weapon Types are as follows:

Blades - a varied group of weapons including swords and daggers. Generally, blades perform
well both offensively and defensively due to most having the ‘Parry’ ability.

Axes - a group of weapons that do overwhelming damage that increases dramatically with
Greater Successes. As such, axes are favoured by aggressive and offensive fighters.

Blunt - a group of weapons that excel against armoured opponents. The ‘Armour Piercing’
ability allows blunt weapons to ignore some of the Damage Reduction property of a target’s
armour. Additionally, blunt weapons serve as good disruptive weapons due to their ability to
inflict the Staggered condition, making it hard for opponents to fight back.

Polearms - a group of weapons that enable more defensive and cautious fighting. Having
greater reach than other melee weapons allows fighters to attack from a slight distance and
the ‘First Strike’ Special Rule allows for attacks to be made against foes as they approach.

Bows - a group of ranged weapons that focus on dealing damage from afar. Additionally,
bows have no constraint on their firing rate and thus can enable a well positioned fighter to
rain arrows down on their opponents.

Crossbows - a group of ranged weapons that are easy to use and deal high damage. Lacking
the firing rate of bows, attacks made by crossbows are instead easier to hit and inflict
greater injury.

Thrown - a diverse group of weapons, with many examples that are found in other Weapon
Types. Thrown weapons are light and can be more easily used in conjunction with other
weapons. These are typically favoured by melee fighters with an available hand, granting
them some ranged capabilities.

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 Weapons Table
Weapon Damage Reach / Greater Special Rules Cost
Dice Range Success

Blades

Dagger 1d3 5 ft. +1 Damage Concealable,

per Greater Critical Strikes
Success (1), Thrown (15 /
30)

Shortsword 1d6 5 ft. +1 Damage Parry

per Greater
Success

Rapier 1d6 5 ft. +2 Damage Critical Strikes

per Greater (1), Finesse, Parry
Success

Longsword 1d8 5 ft. +2 Damage Parry, Versatile

per Greater (3)
Success

Greatsword 2d8 5 ft. +2 Damage Cumbersome (2),

per Greater Parry,
Success Two-handed

Axes

Handaxe 1d6 5 ft. +2 Damage Thrown (15 / 50)

per Greater
Success

Battleaxe 1d8 5 ft. +2 Damage Versatile (3)

per Greater
Success

War-axe 2d6 + 2 5 ft. +3 Damage Cumbersome (1),

per Greater Two-handed
Success

Blunt

Club 1d4 5 ft. Staggering Simple

(1) per

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 Greater
Success

Mace 1d6 5 ft. Staggering Armour

(1) per Penetration (3)
Greater
Success

Warhammer 1d8 5 ft. +2 Damage Armour

and Penetration (4),
Staggering Versatile (2)
(1) per
Greater
Success

Maul 2d6 5 ft. +2 Damage Armour

and Penetration (6),
Staggering Cumbersome (3),
(2) per Two-handed
Greater
Success

Polearms

Staff 1d6 5 ft. Staggering Simple, Versatile

(1) per (1)
Greater
Success

Quarterstaff 1d6 5 ft. +1 Damage First Strike,

and Parry, Versatile
Staggering (1)
(1) per
Greater
Success

Spear 1d6 10 ft. +2 Damage First Strike,

per Greater Versatile (2)
Success

Pike 1d10 10 ft. +3 Damage First Strike,

per Greater Two-handed
Success

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Bows

Shortbow 1d6 80 ft. / +2 Damage Ammunition

320 ft. per Greater (Arrows),
Success wTwo-handed

Longbow 2d6 + 1 150 ft. / +3 Damage Ammunition

600 ft. per Greater (Arrows),
Success Cumbersome (2),
Two-handed

Crossbows

Light Crossbow 1d6 + 2 60 ft. / +3 Damage Ammunition

240 ft. per Greater (Bolts), Loading,
Success Simple,
Two-handed

Heavy Crossbow 2d6 + 3 100 ft. / +3 Damage Ammunition

400 ft. per Greater (Bolts), Loading,
Success Simple,
Two-handed

Special Rules
Ammunition (X)
This weapon requires the specified ammunition to be used. If you have no available
ammunition, you cannot make Attacks with this weapon.

Armour Penetration (X)

Attacks you make with this weapon ignore an amount of Damage Reduction equal
to the value of X when dealing damage.

Concealable
This weapon can be easily concealed on one's person. When making Stealth checks
to hide this weapon, add two Advantage Dice to the Dice Pool.

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Critical Strikes (X)
When you make an Attack with this weapon and achieve at least one Greater
Success, you are always considered to have achieved X additional Greater
Successes.

Cumbersome (X)
Due to this weapon's weight and size, rapid and frequent attacks are difficult to
execute. On each of your turns, every Attack made with this weapon after the first
is done with X fails already in the Dice Pool.

Finesse
Effective use of this weapon relies on dexterity and freedom of movement. Whilst
wielding this weapon, you cannot wield a shield.

First Strike
Whilst wielding this weapon and there are no enemies within melee range, you can
use your Reaction to make an Attack against a creature that enters melee range.

Loading
This weapon has a mechanism which requires it be reset before being used again.
You cannot make more than one Attack with this weapon each of your turns.

Parry
Whilst you are holding this weapon you can parry an Attack as a Reaction. When
taking this Reaction, you can add a number of Challenge Dice equal to half of your
'Combat: Blades' Skill (rounded down, to a minimum of 1) to the Attack's Dice Pool.

Simple
You consider the appropriate Combat Skill to be one Rank higher when making
attacks with this weapon.

Staggering (X)
This weapon can cause creatures to become Staggered.
(Staggered (X) condition - Until the end of the creature's next turn, it makes all
Attacks, Saving Throws, and Skill Checks with X number of Fails already in the Dice
Pool.)

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Thrown (X / Y)
This weapon can be thrown as a projectile with the listed Range values. When
thrown, the Attack uses your 'Combat: Thrown' Skill.

Two-Handed
In order to wield this weapon, it must be held in two hands.

Versatile (X)
This weapon can be wielded either one-handed or two-handed. If being wielded
two-handed, the weapon deals an additional damage equal to the value of X.

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Armour
Adventuring is dangerous business! A good piece of armour will be the difference between your
innards being innards or becoming outards!

Armour is essential for all characters. It determines how difficult you are to hit
with attacks and how much damage you can absorb.

Each set of armour has four primary characteristics:

Armour Type - This determines whether your character is able to wear said armour,
based on their chosen Archetype.

Armour Class - This determines how difficult the armour makes you to hit with a
damaging attack. This is represented by the number of Challenge Dice (◆) that is
added to the Dice Pool when you are targeted by an Attack.

Damage Reduction - This determines how much damage the armour can mitigate
and prevent from being done to you. Whilst you are wearing armour that has
Damage Reduction, you subtract the Damage Reduction value from any damage you
receive.

Special Rules - These determine any additional features that the armour has. These
may be bonuses or setbacks.

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 Armour Table
Armour Armour Class Damage Special Rules
Reduction

Cloth

Robes Half of your Reflex – –

Skill (rounded down to
a minimum of 1)

Light Armour

Leather Armour ◆ + your Reflex Skill – –

Studded Leather Armour ◆ + your Reflex Skill 1 –

Medium Armour

Hide Armour ◆◆ 2 Insulating

Scale Mail ◆◆◆ 3 Noisy

Chainmail ◆◆◆ 4 Noisy

Heavy Armour

Splint ◆◆◆◆ 5 Noisy

Half-plate ◆◆◆◆ 6 Noisy

Plate Armour ◆◆◆◆◆ 8 Noisy, Heavy

Special Rules
Insulating
This armour provides you with warmth and protection from the elements. Whilst
wearing this armour, whenever you make a Fortitude check or Saving Throw to
resist freezing cold temperatures you may add two Advantage Dice to the Dice Pool.

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Heavy
This armour is particularly heavy, making it more difficult to move around in. Whilst
wearing this armour, your Movement Speed is reduced by 5 ft. Additionally, you
halve the distance you can be pushed or knocked back.

Noisy
This armour is made of material which clangs, rattles, or otherwise makes some
kind of noise when you move in it. Whilst wearing this armour, you add two
Disadvantage Dice to the Dice Pool when making Stealth checks.

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