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BASIC RULES
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ADVENTURE AND INTRIGUE
A role-playing game is a conversation about characters taking risks in an imagined world. The Game Master (GM) describes scenes and challenges, and the players describe what their characters do. Dice are rolled when the outcome is uncertain, dangerous, contested, or important.
Players make choices from their characters’ point of view, often with limited information. Think about what the character knows, wants, fears, and hopes to change.
Time in a story can slow down, speed up, skip ahead, look back, or focus closely on important moments. Players may spend several minutes in real life playing out one fight that lasts just seconds to the characters, then summarize days worth of travel with only few words.
AT A GLANCE
* These rules only use common six-sided dice (d6s).
* Character have ability modifiers that add to dice rolls: Body, Mind, Spirit, Speed, and Presense.
* Ability modifiers improve task rolls and count as a measure of survival against harm.
* Characters also have levels (LVL) in one, two, or three roles: Combat, Cunning, and Strange.
SAFETY BEFORE AND DURING PLAY
* Content Warnings: Before play, the GM tells players about likely intense themes, such as horror, violence, grief, betrayal, body horror, or cruelty.
* X-Cards: An X-Card is used to flag uncomfortable content and steer play away from it. Any player may tap or display an X-Card to stop, reset, and redo a scene. The X-Card changes tone and topics, not outcomes from dice or decisions.
* Lines and Veils: A line is content that does not appear. A veil is content that may exist but fades to black or stays offscreen. Players can add lines or veils before or during play.
CHARACTERS
* Create a name, description, background, and reason for being in the situation at the start of the story.
* Start with a +2 modifier in each ability: Body, Mind, Spirit, Speed, and Presence.
* Add +1 more to two of these ability modifiers.
* Start with one level in a role: Combat, Cunning, or Strange.
* If starting with a level in Combat, pick one prowess.
* If starting with a level in Cunning, pick one specialty.
* If starting with a level in Strange, pick one power.
* Set the character’s Defense at Speed+1 (no armor, maximum Defense 5), Speed+2 (light armor, maximum Defense 6), 6 (medium armor), or 6 (heavy armor, -1 damage, hindrance on Speed).
* Start with 1 Luck point.
* Add a bond or a flaw to regain Luck points later in play.
At higher levels…
* New levels are awarded by the Game Master (GM) for story milestones or characters reaching goals.
* For each new level, add one role level and choose two of benefits: a new role ability, +1 to one ability modifier, add 1 to a character’s maximum Luck points. (The same benefit may not be picked twice.)
* In a story with normal people as characters, no ability modifier may exceed +5.
* In gritty or realistic stories, no ability modifier may exceed +4.
* In a story with superhuman characters, ability modifiers may be much higher.
ABILITIES
* Body: Strength, physical prowess, brawn, toughness, vigor, stamina.
* Mind: Intelligence, deduction, logic, memory, reason, wits, knowledge.
* Spirit: Empathy, courage, resolve, willpower, perception, intuition.
* Speed: Movement, agility, dexterity, precision, reflexes, dodging, balance.
* Presence: Appeal, persuasion, confidence, performance, languages, authority.
ROLES
* Combat: Fighting, weapons, armor, tactics, endurance under fire.
* Cunning: Clever solutions, investigation, contacts, preparation, practical expertise.
* Strange: Magic, miracles, psychic powers, mutations, transformations, reality-bending.
* Role level measures overall experience in that role; characters do not automatically gain every role ability, because level advances may instead be spent on ability modifiers or Luck.
TASK CHALLENGES
* Roll one six-sided die (d6).
* If the situation is in your favor, roll two dice and use the higher roll.
* If the situation faces some hindrance, roll two dice and use the lower roll.
* Reasons for favor and hindrance cancel each other out.
* Add the most appropriate character ability modifier to the result.
* If the total is equal to or greater than a difficulty number (easy 5, hard 9, extreme 11, or nearly impossible 13), you succeed.
* If the total is less than the difficulty number, you fail or succeed at some personal cost (time, supplies).
* If the challenge is two characters directly opposing each other, roll as described above. The higher total wins.
TEAMWORK
* As an action, one nearby ally who can explain how they help may grant a favor bonus to a character’s task roll.
* Multiple helpers do not add further benefits unless the task clearly benefits from many hands.
* When a whole group acts together, choose one lead character to roll with a favor bonus and add +1 to the total.
* Use group action only when everyone participating is exposed to the same consequence. If only one character benefits, use ordinary teamwork instead. For example, when a group sneaks together, if at least half the group succeeds, the group succeeds but each failure creates a clue, noise, delay, or separated character.
LUCK POINTS
* Starting characters do not have Luck points.
* A character may gain one more maximum Luck when leveling up.
* Expending one Luck point allows a player to re-roll one die for a challenge.
* A character may only use one Luck point each round, either during or between turns.
* Once per day, a player may roll a number of dice equal to a character’s expended Luck points. For every 6 rolled, one Luck point use is immediately regained.
* A character may have one bond with another character, group, place, oath, or ideal. A character may also have one flaw, temptation, fear, vow, debt, or obsession.
* A bond or flaw restores Luck only when it creates a meaningful new danger, cost, lost opportunity, or hard choice. A character can regain Luck from either bond or flaw once per session, not once each, unless the GM says the complication changed the direction of the story.
FORTUNE/MISFORTUNE ROLLS
* When called for by the GM, all players roll one die (d6).
* Players tied for high or low re-roll against each other until one outcome is clear.
* The character of the player getting the highest roll gains a benefit, or the lowest faces a threat.
TIME IN THE GAME
* Round: About 6 seconds in the characters’ time, used for danger, combat, chases, and quick decisions.
* Scene: A focused event in one place or around one problem, usually lasting 1 to 10 minutes.
* Travel: Movement from one place to another over hours or days.
* Downtime: Hours, days, or weeks spent between urgent events.
* Montage: A quick summary of routine actions that do not need to be played out in detail.
* Flashback: A look at something that happened earlier and matters now.
* Session: One gathering of play, covering whatever happens among the characters.
* Campaign: A series of sessions either with the same characters or in the same story world.
FLASHBACKS
* Once per session, a player may describe a reasonable preparation a character made earlier: hiding a tool, bribing a guard, studying a map, packing the right item, warning an ally, or setting an escape route.
* If uncertain, roll d6+Mind equal to or higher than 7 to succeed.
* On a success, the preparation is true and works.
* On a failure, it is true but costs money, time, Stress or Wanted points, or some other complication.
INVESTIGATIONS
* When asking a knowing source or examining a scene, roll d6+one ability (usually Mind, Spirit, or Presence).
* On a roll of 7 or more, you may ask a number of questions to the GM equal to your Cunning Role level (at least 1).
* If an answer is unknown or impossible, it does not count, and a different question may be asked instead.
* The GM’s answers will be true, though some well hidden details may be omitted.
* Investigators often ask about facts (“What is true or dangerous here?”), changes (“What is different or missing?”), or leads (“How does this point to another clue?”).
* Typically a source may only be asked once per day, and a scene investigated only once.
RANGES
* Touching is direct physical contact, practically the same spot.
* Melee means within a step and a reach, about 2 meters or 6 feet.
* Nearby means within about 10 meters or 30 feet.
* Short means within throwing range.
* Far means within missile range.
* Distant means visible but hard to reach.
CHASES
* The GM notes the starting distance between pursuer and evader (melee, nearby, short, or long).
* Each side rolls d6+Speed. Faster vehicles or mounts gain a favor bonus, slower suffers hindrance.
* The side rolling the highest challenge changes the range one step closer or further apart.
* At touching range, the evader is captured. Beyond distant range, the evader escapes.
* Either side that rolls a 1 suffers a complication (hits something, took 1 damage to Body or Speed).
COMBAT
* The GM picks who gets the first turn in a round. At the end of each turn, the current player picks who goes next. Once everyone has had a turn, a new round begins.
* In a turn, a character may attempt one action and move to a nearby spot, or do no actions and move a short distance away.
* Making immediate rolls to resist or avoid harm do not count as actions.
* To hit a target with a melee attack, roll one die (d6) and add character’s Body modifier.
* To hit a target with a ranged attack, roll one die (d6) and add character’s Speed modifier.
* A target must be within an attack’s maximum range.
* A target in partial cover causes hindrance to ranged attacks. Full cover prevents attacks unless destroyed, the target moves, or damage comes from an area effect.
* Favor/hindrance changes the die rolled. Ability modifiers always apply. One relevant role ability, prowess, specialty, item, spell, or situational bonus may add a flat modifier; if several apply, use only the highest unless a rule says it stacks.
* If the total is equal to or greater than the target’s Defense value, the target takes damage.
* If the total is less than Defense, no damage affects the target.
* The GM rolls attacks for all non-player characters.
DEFENSE VALUES
* No Armor: Speed+1, maximum Defense 5.
* Light Armor: Speed+2, maximum Defense 6.
* Medium Armor: Defense 6.
* Heavy Armor: Defense 6, reduces physical damage by 1, and causes hindrance on Speed tasks.
* NPCs typically have a Defense ranging from 3 to 7.
Combat Role Options
* Armor Prowess: Reduce physical damage by 1 once per round when wearing medium or heavy armor.
* Defensive Prowess: On a successful attack, you may either deal damage or deal no damage and gain +2 Defense until your next turn. If you are using a shield, you may also protect one ally in melee range.
* Shield Prowess: Once per combat, when hit by a physical attack you could plausibly block, your shield may be broken or lost to reduce the damage by half, or to 0 if the damage is 3 or less.
DAMAGE
* Attack damage equals either the weapon’s damage value or half the Combat Role level of the attacker (rounded down), whichever is higher. NPCs have a set damage number per hit.
* For a sweeping, piercing, explosive, or multi-target attack, roll once against each target’s Defense. Divide your total damage among up to half Combat LVL number of hit targets.
* The number of targets cannot exceed half your Combat LVL, rounded down, unless the weapon is an area weapon such as a grenade.
* Each point of damage reduces one of a character’s ability modifiers by 1, or 1 HP for non-player characters.
* Physical damage lowers Body, mental damage lowers Mind, mystic damage lowers Spirit, restraining damage lowers Speed, and emotional damage lowers Presence.
* Rolls adding that modifier use the reduced modifier until it recovers.
* When one ability is reduced to 0, further points of damage reduce any one other ability.
* All remaining rollover damage must be applied to the same ability.
* When two ability modifiers are reduced to 0, the character is defeated.
* Depending on situations, a defeated character is dead, unconscious, insane, immobilized, surrenders, or flees.
* For characters, two hours of rest restores ability points equal to half the character’s highest role LVL, divided among reduced abilities.
* For NPCs, two hours of rest restores one HP.
Weapon Damage Examples
* 1 damage if Body +3 or higher: A punch, kick, headbutt.
* 1 damage: A one-handed melee weapon (axe, sword), spear (short range), or bow (far range).
* 2 damage: A two-handed melee weapon (greatsword, pole arm), or pistol (far range).
* 3 damage: An energy blade (laser sword), rifle (distant range), or shotgun (short range).
* 5 damage: A grenade.
* 7 damage: Rocket launcher, hurled boulder.
NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS
* Def: An NPC’s Defense, the minimum number needed to hit and damage it.
* HP: Health points, the amount of damage the NPC takes before becoming defeated. Also the NPC’s bonus to resist effects.
* Atk +#: The bonus added to the roll when trying to hit a character or other NPC.
* Dmg: The points of damage caused per turn by this NPC’s attacks.
* Additional Notes: Special movement, immunities, weaknesses, powers, or other abilities.
FOLLOWERS AND MORALE
* A character may directly control only one follower, summoned group, animated group, dominated creature, familiar, mount, animal companion, or similar helper at a time.
* Gaining a new controlled helper releases, dismisses, or turns the previous one into an ordinary NPC under GM control.
* Commanding followers to attack or perform a risky task uses the creator’s action unless an ability says otherwise.
* When NPCs lose their leader, half the number in their group, or their reason to fight, roll d6+the leader’s Presence. On a 6 or less, they flee, surrender, bargain, or retreat.
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CHARACTER ROLES
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THE COMBAT ROLE
* Combat is the most reliable source of weapon damage. Combat damage does not cost limited uses and works whenever the character can make a suitable attack.
* Attack damage equals either the weapon’s damage value or half the Combat Role level of the attacker (rounded down), whichever is higher.
* For each level in Combat, a character gains one prowess ability.
* Prowess +1 stacks with favor, because favor changes the die roll rather than adding a flat bonus.
Combat Prowess Abilities
* Archery Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking with arrows shot from a bow.
* Armor Prowess: Reduce physical damage by 1 once per round when wearing medium or heavy armor.
* Bodyguard Prowess: When an ally in melee range is hit, you may take the damage instead.
* Cavalry Prowess: When attacking from a moving mount, add +1 damage on a hit.
* Command Prowess: As an action, give one nearby ally a favor bonus on their next roll to either attack or resist harm.
* Defensive Prowess: On a successful attack, you may either deal damage or deal no damage and gain +2 Defense until your next turn. If you are using a shield, you may also protect one ally in melee range.
* Dirty Fighting Prowess: When attacking a target that is prone, restrained, blinded, or outnumbered, add +1 damage.
* Disarming Prowess: Instead of causing damage on a successful melee attack, knock a held object from the target’s grasp.
* Dragon-Slayer Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when resisting fear and harmful effects caused by dragons or huge monsters.
* Drone Combat Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when directing combat drones, turrets, robot allies, or remote weapons.
* Dual-Weapon Prowess: When attacking with a light melee weapon in each hand, add +1 damage on a hit.
* Evasive Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for a roll to resist or avoid harm that may be dodged.
* Giant-Slayer Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking creatures at least twice your size.
* Gunner Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking with mounted guns, artillery, cannons, or siege weapons.
* Gunslinger Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for acrobatics and when attacking with a pistol.
* Heavy Weapon Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking with a two-handed melee weapon.
* Holy Prowess: Cause +1 damage when hitting undead or demonic targets with a melee attack. At Combat level 3 to 5, cause +2 damage. At Combat level 6 or more, cause +3 damage.
* Marksman Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for acrobatics and when attacking with a rifle.
* Martial Arts Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for acrobatics and when attacking while unarmed and wearing only light armor or no armor.
* Mounted Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking, maneuvering, or resisting being dismounted while riding a mount.
* Night-Fighting Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when fighting in darkness, dim light, fog, smoke, or other low visibility.
* Parry Prowess: When wielding a melee weapon, reduce melee damage against you by 1 once per round.
* Point-Blank Prowess: Add +1 damage when hitting a nearby target with a bow, firearm, crossbow, or thrown weapon.
* Powered Armor Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking in powered armor, exosuits, or heavy combat rigs.
* Rage Prowess: When attacking, may choose to add +1 to an attack roll and +1 to damage, but take -1 to Defense until the end of the next turn.
* Rank Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when using military connections in an investigation roll.
* Reflexive Prowess: At the start of combat, you may choose to act before the GM’s first pick. After that, gain favor on rolls to seize initiative, avoid surprise, or act before danger.
* Shield Prowess: Once per combat, when hit by a physical attack you could plausibly block, your shield may be broken or lost to reduce the damage by half, or to 0 if the damage is 3 or less.
* Sneaky Prowess: When attacking a target unaware of an incoming attack, add +1 to the attack roll and +2 to damage. This bonus applies only once per target per fight or scene.
* Sniper Prowess: If you spend a full turn aiming without moving, roll with a favor bonus on your next ranged attack.
* Swashbuckling Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for acrobatics and when attacking with a light melee weapon (rapier, short sword, dagger).
* Toughness Prowess: Recover one lowered +1 Body modifier per hour of rest instead of usual recovery rate.
* Trick Shot Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when making a ranged attack to disarm, pin, distract, cut a rope, or perform another special shot.
* Trip Prowess: Instead of causing damage on a successful melee attack, knock the target prone.
* Underwater Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when fighting while swimming, diving, drowning, or moving through water.
* Weapon Prowess (Type): Roll with a favor bonus when attacking with a specific type of melee weapon (battleaxe, spear, sword, or so forth).
* Wrestling Prowess: Instead of causing damage on a successful unarmed attack, knock the target prone, shove them away, or hold them in place.
* Zero-G Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when fighting in zero gravity, low gravity, or while drifting in space.
THE CUNNING ROLE
* For each level in Cunning, a character gains one specialty.
*A Cunning character may declare a useful preparation, contact, tool, clue, escape route, disguise, or hidden advantage a number of times per session equal to half Cunning LVL (minimum 1).
* In combat, once per round, when exploiting a specific advantage created by preparation, surprise, terrain, traps, tools, or a discovered weakness, add half Cunning LVL to damage or impose a complication. The same advantage cannot be used this way twice in the same fight.
Cunning Specialty Abilities
* Academic Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving humanities, education, or scholarly credentials.
* Alchemy Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving potions, elixirs, poisons, acids, or mystical chemistry.
* Artistic Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving painting, sculpture, design, forgery, or art history.
* Athletic Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving running, climbing, swimming, or feats of endurance.
* History Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving recalling facts about famous people, places, and events.
* Aviation Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving aircraft, piloting, flight systems, drones, or aerial navigation.
* Cabal/Coven Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using a secret group of magic users in an investigation roll.
* Corporate Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using executives, consultants, or bureaucracy connections in an investigation roll.
* Craft Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving carpentry, metalwork, tailoring, or making useful objects by hand.
* Demolitions Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving explosives, sabotage, or safely disarming charges.
* Drug Cartel Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using smugglers, money launderers, corrupt officials, or narcotics trafficking networks in an investigation roll.
* Engineering Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving structures, power systems, machinery, construction, or technical design.
* Espionage Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving deception, disguises, bypassing locks and traps, and spotting surveillance.
* Forensics Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving crime scenes, ballistics, cause of death, or physical evidence.
* Gambling Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving card games, racetrack betting, and other games of chance.
* Government Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using political or government connections in an investigation roll.
* Hacking Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving digital security, encryption, exploits, and accessing networks.
* Labor Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using teamsters, truckers, dockworkers, or transit staff in an investigation roll.
* Legal Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving laws, courts, contracts, legal loopholes, or official procedure.
* Medical Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving injuries, disease, toxins, drugs, or medtech devices.
* Music Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving instruments, singing, composition, music equipment, or recognizing songs and performers.
* Natural Science Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving chemistry, physics, biology, zoology, geology, or astronomy.
* Occult Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving forbidden lore, rituals, spirits, curses, cults, or supernatural traditions.
* Performance Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving acting, singing, dancing, or holding an audience’s attention.
* Police Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using cops, informants, criminal records, or lab evidence in an investigation roll.
* Polyglot Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus to read and communicate in almost any language.
* Pop Culture Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving celebrities, entertainment, trends, slang, or mass media.
* Religious Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving sacred lore, rites, doctrines, and mythic figures.
* Seafaring Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving boats, ships, sailing, currents, navigation, or maritime customs.
* Shaman Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using local spirits, ancestors, or elementals in an investigation roll.
* Social Science Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving psychology, sociology, criminology, politics, or crowd behaviors.
* Social Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using high society connections in an investigation roll.
* Starship Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving ship’s sensors, faster-than-light navigation, or damage control.
* Streetwise Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus when using urban and criminal connections in an investigation roll.
* Tech Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus to use or fix machines, vehicles, computers, and networks.
* Thievery Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus for stealth, deception, sleight of hand, bypassing locks and traps, and climbing.
* Trade Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving business, negotiations, appraisals, logistics, or commerce.
* Weird Science Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving fringe superscience, extradimensional physics, or reality anomalies.
* Wilderness Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving outdoor survival, tracking, predicting weather, local plants, and wild animals.
* Xenology Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving alien species, language, culture, and physiology.
THE STRANGE ROLE
* For each level in Strange, a character gains one power ability.
* Some powers require the character to have a minimum Strange LVL to learn or attempt.
Power Levels
* A character’s Strange Level determines base power level (LVL) for effects, or half LVL (rounded down) for some powers.
* A character may use powers a total number of times equal to Strange level, either using different powers or repeating one several times.
* A character normally regains one expended power use per two hours of safe rest (in addition to any ability modifier recovery).
* Special places, objects, or events may increase or decrease an effect’s power LVL or how quickly expended uses may be regained.
* For each power description, LVL refers to a character’s effective power LVL.
Strange Power Effects and Limits
* An unwilling character targeted by a power rolls one die (d6) and adds an appropriate ability: Body (toughness), Mind (wits), Spirit (sanity), Speed (dodging), or Presence (confidence) as appropriate. For NPCs, add Health Points (HP).
* If the rolled total is equal to or greater than 6 + half the Strange level of the effect’s creator (maximum target number of 12), any damage is reduced by half (round down) or an effect is ignored.
* Even if a target successfully resists, the attempt still costs one power use.
* Do not add multiple bonuses together unless a rule clearly says they stack.
* Duration: Unless noted otherwise, an ability lasts for at least 1 round. If the effect creator’s LVL exceeds that of a target’s LVL (or original HP), the effect lasts for additional minutes equal to the difference. (For example, a LVL 5 power against a Level 2 NPC lasts for 3 minutes.)
* Dice Bonuses: Song, blessing, tactical, and inspiration bonuses do not stack with each other. Use only the highest.
* Controlled Creatures: For abilities like Animal Companion, Sacred Mount, and others that create player-controlled NPCs, these minions act on their creator’s turn. Commanding a minion group to attack, defend, move tactically, or use a special ability requires the creator’s action in a turn unless the ability says otherwise. Also, a minion group makes one combined attack per round, not one attack per creature, unless the GM treats them as a swarm or army-scale threat.
Controlling Others
* Charm changes attitude, not obedience.
* Suggestion plants one plausible idea or course of action.
* Command forces one immediate, simple behavior such as halt, flee, drop, kneel, answer, or surrender.
* Mind Control controls actions directly.
Strange Power Abilities
* Alter Memories: Strange LVL 5 or higher required. As an action, change, erase, blur, restore, or rewrite one recent memory in a nearby creature for LVL hours. Beings may roll to resist again when ordered to betray core loyalties, self-preservation, or defining beliefs.
* Analytic Scan: As an action, identify the nature, origin, genetics, and matching samples of all nearby organic substances for LVL minutes.
* Animal Companion: As an action, gain the aid of one beast of LVL or HP equal to your half LVL or less for half LVL hours, or command an existing animal companion to perform a dangerous task.
* Animal Control (Type): As an action, command LVL ordinary nearby animals for LVL minutes.
* Animal Friendship: As an action, cause HP worth of animals equal to your LVL to see you as you as a trusted friend, ally, or fascinating stranger for a duration. Animals immediately resist your control when you cause them harm.
* Animate Dead: As an action, raise half LVL number of corpses into animated skeletons or zombies that obey simple commands for hours equal to half LVL. (Skeleton: Def 4, HP 1, Atk +1, Dmg 1. Zombie: Def 3, HP 2, Atk +1, Dmg 1.)
* Animate: As an action, cause half LVL number of objects, plants, or masses of loose materials (earth, sand, water) to move and act like creatures for a number of rounds equal to your half LVL. (Animate: Def 4, HP 1, Atk +1, Dmg 1.) Each such animate obeys you for half LVL in rounds before becoming inanimate again unless slain before that time.
* Apport: As an action, teleport one unattended object within nearby range into your hand or some open space nearby. This power cannot teleport living things.
* Armor: As an action, create a visible aura around yourself giving you either Defense 5 for LVL hours, or Defense 6 for LVL minutes.
* Astral Travel: As an action, create an invisible and intangible projection that flies through solid objects at your movement rate for up to LVL minutes. You may also view and travel into the astral plane. While projecting, your astral form is alert but your physical body is unconscious.
* Augury: Use a local spirit or a cosmic entity to ask LVL questions as an investigation check.
* Banish: As an action, force a spirit, elemental, demon, or other non-earthly entity HP less than your LVL to instantly teleport back to its native realm.
* Barrier: As an action, you raise either a transparent force field or a solid wall of stone, ice, fire, or other substance around you. The barrier encircles a nearby area, it can be attacked (Defense 3, LVL HP), it and lasts for LVL rounds or until reduced to 0 HP.
* Blast: As an action, inflict 1 physical damage (Body or HP) on LVL nearby targets or LVL damage on one target through a specific form of energy or shrapnel: acid, cold, crystal shards, entropy/aging, fire, lightning, rocks, or something similar. A target that successfully resists takes half damage (round down).
* Blessing: As an action, one willing touched creature gains either +1 on rolls or +1 Defense for LVL rounds.
* Blink: As an action, you may teleport to a nearby spot. You may use this ability once per round for up to LVL rounds.
* Body Swap: As an action, you switch minds with one touched and willing creature for LVL minutes.
* Bounty: As an action, instantly conjure from nothing a day’s worth of food, water, and warm clothing for LVL people.
* Brew Potion: Create a potion that allows anyone who drinks it to replicate one Strange power you know. Work takes 1 day per LVL of effective ability, up to your LVL as a maximum. The potion may only be used once. Potions and magic items cannot replicate Brew Potion, Enchant Item, Enchant Armor, Enchant Weapon, Recharge Magic, Grimoire Spellcaster, or any ability that creates, recharges, copies, or permanently improves magical abilities or items. A character may keep only Strange LVL prepared potions stable at one time. Additional potions spoil, go inert, or replace older ones.
* Charm: As an action, cause one nearby living creature to treat you as a trusted friend, ally, or fascinating stranger for a duration. Targets may re-roll to resist again when ordered to betray core loyalties, self-preservation, or defining beliefs.
* Clairvoyance: As an action, see or hear a distant place you know, name, touch, or strongly imagine for LVL minutes.
* Claws/Fangs: Grow claws, fangs, talons, horns, hooves, or stingers and inflict +1 extra damage from your unarmed melee attacks for LVL rounds.
* Command: As an action, force one nearby person with LVL or HP less than your LVL to hesitate, retreat, cooperate, or surrender for a duration. The target must understand your spoken language. Suicidal orders are automatically ignored.
* Confuse: As an action, one nearby being suffers hindrance on action rolls for a duration.
* Conjure: One object weighing less than your LVL in kg (LVLx2 lbs.) and worth less than LVL in gold pieces appears in your hand. It vanishes in LVL minutes.
* Craft Healing Potion: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. Work for 12 hours minus your LVL (at least 1 hour) to create a potion restores one reduced ability modifier by +1 when consumed. The potion may only be used once.
* Cure Wounds and Disease: As an action, instantly either restore a number of reduced ability modifiers equal to half your LVL or remove disease in one touched creature.
* Curse: As an action, inflict 1 mystic damage (Spirit or HP) on LVL nearby targets or LVL mystic damage on one target. A target that successfully resists takes half damage (round down).
* Danger Sense: Instantly become impossible to surprise and sense hidden nearby attackers, traps, or ambushes for LVL minutes.
* Dazzle: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, flash all nearby viewers with blinding light, causing them to suffer hindrance on any tasks requiring sight for LVL minutes. Creatures that are blind are immune to this power.
* Detect Magic: As an action, sense spells, enchantments, curses, creatures with magical powers, and enchanted objects within nearby range for LVL minutes.
* Detect Supernatural: As an action, sense nearby ghosts, demons, vampires, spirits, or other supernatural creatures for LVL minutes.
* Dimensional Barrier: Block teleportation, portals, astral travel, intangibility, and dimensional movement within a nearby area for LVL minutes.
* Dispel Magic: As an action, roll one die, add your LVL, and compare the number the being who created one spell, curse, magical trap, summoned force, or supernatural effect. If your total is equal to or greater than the effect creator’s LVL+2, you may end the effect.
* Divine Smite: Instantly add half your Strange LVL or half Combat LVL (whichever is higher) as additional damage when hitting an undead or demon with a melee attack.
* Drain Lifeforce: Strange LVL 5 or higher required. As an action, deal half LVL damage to one touched living creature and restore the same amount to your reduced abilities.
* Dream Control: As an action, enter, shape, influence, or communicate through a sleeping target’s dreams for LVL minutes. Range covers the whole planet, but you do not know where the sleeper is in the real world. Once per minute, an unwilling sleeper may re-roll a resist attempt to force you out of the dream. If the target awakens, your connection to the dream immediately ends.
* Duplication Casting: As an action, create LVL intangible copies of yourself nearby for LVL rounds. While at least one copy remains, attacks against you suffer hindrance. Each missed attack destroys one copy. Area effects destroy all copies in the affected area.
* Electromagnetic Pulse: As an action, disable nearby electronics, robots, vehicles, and gadgets for LVL minutes.
* Elemental Resistance: Choose one type of harm: Acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. As an action, gain a favor bonus to avoid harm from the chosen elemental type, suffer half damage on failures, and no damage on success over a duration of LVL minutes.
* Enchant Armor: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. Add a permanent +1 Defense magical bonus to one set of armor. Work takes 300 days minus LVLx5 days (at least 7 days). No armor may receive this enchantment more than once.
* Enchant Item: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. Create a magical item that allows anyone who uses it to replicate a specific Strange power you know (but never Recharge Magic). Work takes 1 month per LVL of effective power, up to your LVL as a maximum. The item may be used d6 times, but other powers (such as Recharge Magic) can restore expended charges up to its original limit.
* Enchant Weapon: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. Add a permanent +1 attack “to hit” and damage magical bonus to one weapon. Work takes takes 300 days minus LVLx5 days (at least 7 days). A batch of 10 pieces of ammunition (magic arrows or bullets) that lose magic once used count a “one weapon” for this ability. No weapon or ammo set may receive this enchantment more than once.
* Entangle: As an action, cause roots, vines, mud, grass, or branches to bind up to LVL or HP worth of NPCs equal to your LVL, preventing them from moving and causing a hindrance on tasks using Speed for half LVL rounds. As an action, entangled targets may roll d6+Body, breaking free if equal to or higher than your LVL+2.
* Familiar: Summon and command a cat, raven, rat, owl, spider, snake, imp, or spirit (Def 4, HP 1, Atk +0, Dmg 0) to serve you for LVL hours or until slain. (You may repeat this power after one day to reform the same familiar.) The creature has human-level intelligence. As an action, you may enter an unconscious trance to instead see and hear what the familiar currently senses. The familiar may also be made to speak in your voice.
* Faster Than Light: Travel LVLx10 times the speed of light between stars through hyperspace, warp projections, wormholes, or other fantastic means for LVL hours.
* Fluid Form: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, turn yourself into a liquid and flow through pipes, cracks, water, and narrow openings for LVL minutes.
* Fly: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, you gain the ability to move through the air at will, as a speed equal to LVL meters (LVLx3 feet) per turn for LVL minutes.
* Glamour: Change your face, voice, age, apparent sex, shadow, scent, and posture for LVL hours. The false appearance fools all normal sense but might be seen through by other powers.
* Grimoire Spellcaster: You learn powers from a spellbook. Once per week during a rest, you may swap one current power for a different Strange power that you have encountered before.
* Growth: As an action, double your size, increasing reach and mass for LVL minutes. At Strange level 3, triple your size and gain a favor bonus on Body rolls. At Strange Level 6, quadruple size, gain favor on Body rolls, and add +1 to melee damage. Your base movement distance per turn while grown is doubled.
* Haste: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, you or one nearby person may take two actions or two moves per turn for a number of rounds equal to half your LVL. Bonus damage from other role abilities applies once per round unless the ability clearly says it applies to every hit. When this effect ends, the hastened subject is fatigued and suffers hindrance on Body and Speed rolls over the next 1d6 rounds. Haste cannot be stacked with itself, and a creature cannot benefit from Haste again until the fatigue ends.
* Hedge Step: Vanish through mist, brambles, shadow, a crooked path, or a fairy road and instantly reappear somewhere you could plausibly have reached in LVL minutes of walking.
* Hex: As an action, make one nearby target suffer hindrance on rolls using one type of ability modifier (Body, Mind, Spirit, Speed, or Presence) for LVL rounds.
* Hunter’s Mark: Choose one nearby target. For LVL rounds, you always know that target’s location and gain +1 damage when hitting it with an attack.
* Illuminate: As an action, make a nearby object glow like a torch for LVL hours, or cast on a touched creature’s eyes leaving it blinded and suffering hindrance on any tasks requiring sight for LVL rounds.
* Illusion: As an action, create a believable image, sound, disguise, phantom, false wall, or sensory trick. It lasts for LVL minutes if holding still, or LVL rounds if it moves and interacts with others as if normal. Anyone touching the illusion immediately discovers it is intangible, though it continues to cover up what’s really there.
* Immortality: Strange LVL 10 or higher required. Stop aging and resist ordinary disease, poison, and decay, for LVL years.
* Inspire: Add +1 to LVL allies, or give one ally favor on one task or resist roll made within LVL rounds. If the ally already has favor, add +1.
* Intangibility: Strange LVL 5 or higher required. As an action, become ghostlike and pass through solid objects for LVL minutes.
* Invisibility: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, make yourself or one nearby target, along with any carried gear, invisible for LVL minutes. The target can still be heard, leave footprints, and might give non-visual signs. The invisibility ends for a creature immediately after it attacks, uses a hostile power, or takes obvious violent action.
* Micro-Vision: See microscopic details, tiny creatures, cells, flaws, or hidden particles for LVL minutes.
* Mind Control: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. As an action, you control the actions and move of one targeted creature within short range for a duration. Against targets with LVL or HP higher than your LVL, the target suffers hindrance on all rolls instead of being controlled. Targets may re-roll again to break your control when ordered to betray core loyalties, self-preservation, or harming allies.
* Mind Probe: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, telepathically force one nearby target to think to you the true answer to one question, reveal a hidden memory, or expose a buried motive. Targets may re-roll to resist again when ordered to betray core loyalties, self-preservation, or defining beliefs.
* Mind Shield: Instantly gain favor on rolls to resist mental powers such as Alter Memories, Dream Control, Mind Control, Mind Probe, Telepathic Strike, or any power targeting your Mind ability. If you already have favor, add +1.
* Mist Form: Strange LVL 5 or higher required. As an action, turn yourself into a cloud of fog and flow through cracks, unsealed doors, and narrow openings for LVL minutes.
* Neutralize Poison: As an action, instantly erase poison, venom, rot, blight, and contamination from LVL or HP worth of nearby creatures equal to or less than your LVL.
* Nightmare Visions: As an action, inflict 1 emotional damage (Presence or HP) on LVL nearby targets or LVL emotional damage on one target. A target that successfully resists takes half damage (round down).
* Open and Shut: One nearby lock, door, window, or other portal either becomes impossible for anyone but you to open for LVL hours, or one such locked or magically sealed portal instantly opens if its creator’s LVL or HP is equal to or less than your LVL.
* Paralyze: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, one targeted creature within short range takes half your LVL as damage to Speed. If Speed is reduced to 0, the target’s movement rate is halved. If the target is defeated, the target cannot move at all or take any physical actions.
* Pass Without Trace: As an action, you and half LVL nearby companions gain a favor bonus to move quietly and unseen through wilderness, leaving no trail that could be tracked, for LVLx10 minutes.
* Polymorph: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. As an action, transform a nearby creature’s body into a different kind of creature for the duration. While transformed, the creature suffers hindrance on any human-like actions. Targets may re-roll to reverse the change again when suffering any damage.
* Precognition: As an action, see into the future and make an investigation check. Questions must focus on events that may happen in the next LVL years.
* Protection from the Unholy: Undead and demons of LVL or HP less than your LVL cannot willingly approach within nearby range of you or one protected person for LVL minutes. The protection ends early if the protected person harms any of the blocked creatures.
* Recharge Magic: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. One nearby magical item with a limited number of uses regains one expended use. Work takes 30 days minus LVLx5 days (at least 1 day). Each item cannot exceed one restored charge per day.
* Regeneration: For half LVL minutes, you or one nearby target regains +1 Body or +1 Speed per minute of rest. Missing body parts will also regrow. If a target of regeneration is defeated, regeneration pauses for 1 to 6 minutes (d6).
* Reincarnation: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. A corpse that has been dead for less than LVL days is returned to life in a different body. This is not a quick task: You must work continuously for one hour per LVL or HP of the dead creature. Stopping for more than one hour spoils all work. The new body takes on a random form; roll d6: 1, an animal; 2, a monster; 3, a man of a different species; 4, a woman of a different species; 5, a man of the same species; 6, a woman of the same species. The new body has +1 in each ability until resting to recover back to original ability modifiers.
* Restore Life: Strange LVL 7 or higher required. A corpse that has been dead for less than LVL days is returned to life in its former body. This is not a quick task: You must work continuously for one hour per LVL or HP of the dead creature. Stopping for more than one hour spoils all work. The restored creature is very weak, with only +1 in each ability until resting to recover back to its original ability modifiers.
* Retrocognition: As an action, touch a place or object and see past emotional events, trauma, owners, or impressions as an investigation check. Questions must focus on details happening in the previous LVLx100 years.
* Rite: As an action, purify nearby food, water, a corpse, a room, a weapon, a shrine, or a cursed object for LVL days.
* Shapechange: As an action, transform yourself into a different kind of creature over the course of LVL rounds. You may change forms once per round for the duration, swimming underwater if aquatic or flying if a bird, bat, or insect. While transformed, you suffer hindrance on any human-like actions.
* Magic Shield: Instantly spend one power use after an attack is declared but before damage is applied. Gain favor on one roll to avoid or resist the attack, or reduce the damage by half. At Strange LVL 5 or higher, you may instead add +3 Defense against that attack.
* Shrink: As an action, decrease your size by a factor of xLVL, lowering reach and mass for LVL minutes. Your base movement distance per turn is reduced to 0.5 meter (1.5 feet).
* Shroud: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, block light and muffle sound within a nearby sphere for LVL rounds. Creatures inside suffer hindrance on sight- and hearing-based tasks. Total blindness/deafness requires enclosed space, magical darkness, or failed resistance.
* Sleep: As an action, put nearby enemies to sleep. You may affect up to LVL enemies, whose combined LVL or HP cannot exceed your LVL. Sleeping enemies wake after LVL minutes, or immediately if shaken or exposed to loud noise.
* Speak with Animals or Plants: Communicate with beasts, trees, fungi, crops, or wild growth for LVL minutes.
* Steal Senses: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, make one nearby creature blind and deaf for LVL rounds. A successful resist reduces this to hindrance on sight- and hearing-based tasks for 1 round.
* Stretching: Extend, flatten, squeeze, reach, grab, constrict, or bounce with elastic limbs out to short range for LVL minutes.
* Stun: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, one nearby creature that fails to resist cannot take actions and moves at half rate for 1 round. If your LVL exceeds the target’s LVL or HP, the effect lasts for the normal duration.
* Suggestion: Plant a believable idea, request, rumor, or course of action in one listener’s thoughts for a duration. Suicidal commands are ignored. Targets may re-roll to resist again when ordered to betray core loyalties, self-preservation, or defining beliefs.
* Summoning: As an action, cause up to half LVL number of minor creatures to appear and obey your commands. Else, you summon one major creature. (Minor Summoned Creature: Def 4, HP 1, Atk +1, Dmg 1. Major Summoned Creature: Def 4, HP LVL, Atk +half LVL, Dmg half LVL.) In either case, the summoned creature remains for half LVL rounds or until slain, then vanishes.
* Super Hearing: As an action, for LVL minutes you hear whispers, heartbeats, distant sounds, movements, or threats up to long range as if they were next to you.
* Super Smell: As an action, track by scent, recognize hidden identities, and detect disguises or shapeshifters for LVL minutes.
* Super Strength: For lifting and carrying only, treat your Body as LVL if higher than your current Body, or gain favor if your Body is already equal or higher.
* Suspended Animation: As an action, enter a deathlike trance and survive without food, water, air, aging, bleeding, or disease progression for LVL weeks.
* Telekinesis: Move, hold, drag, or suspend one nearby object or willing target that weighs up to LVL x 60 kg (LVL x 130 lbs). The object or target moves slowly, at a rate of 1 meter (3 feet) per round for LVL rounds.
* Telekinetic Barrage: For LVL rounds, you may use your action to attack one short-range target with telekinetically thrown debris for half LVL damage, or attack up to half LVL number of nearby targets for 1 damage each.
* Telekinetic Disarm: As an action, telekinetically pull, knock away, or seize one weapon, tool, device, or object from a nearby target with a LVL or HP less than your LVL.
* Telekinetic Strike: Create a force that shoves, crushes, or invisibly strikes a nearby target like a melee attack. As an action, this attack may be used once per turn for LVL rounds.
* Telepathic Strike: As an action, inflict 1 mental damage (Mind or HP) on LVL nearby targets or LVL mental damage on one target. A target that successfully resists takes half damage (round down).
* Telepathy: Allow up to LVL number of individuals within distant range to mentally communicate with each other for LVL minutes.
* Teleport: Strange LVL 5 or higher required. As an action, instantly vanish and reappear in a place you can clearly see, remember, or sense up to LVL km (LVLx1.5 miles) away. Teleport cannot enter a sealed, warded, unknown, or occupied space. If the destination is unsafe or unclear, the GM may place the traveler nearby to the destination or impose a complication.
* Turn to Stone: As an action, one nearby targeted creature with LVL or HP less than your LVL becomes petrified for LVL minutes.
* Turn Undead: As an action, force undead or demons with a total LVL or HP equal to or less than your LVL to retreat away from you for a duration.
* Vanquish Undead: Strange LVL 3 or higher required. As an action, instantly cause LVL damage across one or several nearby undead or demons.
* Wall Crawling: Move across walls and ceilings at your normal speed for LVLx10 minutes.
* Ward: As an action, touch a willing person, place, or object. For LVL days, you instantly become aware whenever a hostile or supernatural creature comes within nearby distance of the target you touched, no matter how far the target is from you.
* Weather Control: As an action, change wind, rain, fog, storms, heat, cold, snow, or seasonal weather in a 3 km (2 mile) radius around you for LVL minutes. These conditions do not cause damage, but they might add hindrance to outdoor tasks.
* Webbing: As an action, fill one nearby area with sticky webs that make those stuck inside unable to move for up to LVL rounds. As an action, a trapped character may roll d6+Body. A total equal to or greater than your LVL+2 breaks free and may move out of the webbing.
* Witchsight: See invisible creatures, spirits, curses, magical disguises, secret doors, or beings not in their true form (Glamour, Polymorph, Shapechange) within nearby range for LVL minutes.
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ADVANCED RULES
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STRAIN
* In certain bad situations, a character must make a challenge roll to resist strain: d6+Spirit for Stress, d6+Mind for Madness, d6+Presence for Wanted or Dishonor, and d6+Body for Petrify.
* A roll equal to the 4+HP of the source is a success for no strain.
* A strain check failure adds a point to one type of strain.
* When a character reaches 6 points in any one strain, a troubling consequence occurs.
* A character only removes one type of strain per four hours of recovery, either through rest or redemptive actions as fits the strain.
Stress
* Survival has a price. Check when a character faces panic, helplessness, or exhaustion.
* Each check failure adds 1 Stress point to the character.
* At 3 or more Stress, the character suffers hindrance against fear, panic, concentration, or keeping calm under pressure.
* At 6 Stress, the character has a breakdown, freezes, flees, or makes a dangerous mistake.
* Time spent with safety, rest, companionship, warmth, food, or carousing removes a point of Stress.
Madness
* Truth can be horrible. Check when a character faces witnesses eldritch horrors or reads forbidden lore.
* Each check failure adds 1 Madness point to the character.
* At 3 or more Madness, the character suffers hindrance against fear, obsession, or memory.
* At 6 Madness, the character gains hallucinations, a phobia, or terrible act of misplaced certainty.
* Time spent with safety, professional care, confession, companionship, or destroying an eldritch threat removes a point of Madness.
Wanted
* Illegal and undercover jobs create consequences. Check when a character leaves witnesses, trips alarms, kills high-profile targets, or crosses powerful groups (crime syndicate, spy organization, multinational corporation).
* Each check failure adds 1 Wanted point to the character.
* At 3 or more Wanted, the character suffers hindrance against hiding, travel, purchases, social trust, or avoiding law enforcement.
* At 6 Wanted, a bounty goes live, a safehouse is burned, enemies learn the character’s location, or an ally sells the character out.
* Lying low, paying bribes, changing identities, doing favors, burning evidence, or framing someone else may remove a point of Wanted.
Dishonor
* For some, obligation, self-control, and loyalty means all. Check when characters betray an oath, flee a duel, shame their family, or place desire above duty.
* Each check failure adds 1 Dishonor point to the character.
* At 3 or more Dishonor, the character suffers hindrance against giving commands, reputation, trust among one’s peers and leaders, or resisting shame.
* At 6 Dishonor, top leaders demand explanations, a rival gains leverage, a follower abandons service, a duel is demanded, support groups refuse aid, or a loved one is endangered.
* An apology, loyal service, public victory, ritual purification, confession, sacrifice, or honorable duel may remove a point of Dishonor.
Petrify
* Basilisks, gorgons, and some other monsters of myth can turn a creature to stone. Check when someone is touched or meets the gaze of such monsters.
* At 3 or more Petrify, the character suffers hindrance on all rolls using the Speed ability.
* At 6 Petrify, the creature turns completely to stone. It cannot move, act, perceive its surroundings, or age.
* Special magical powers or items may restore a creature that has been turned to stone.
NON-PLAYER CHARACTER RANDOM REACTIONS
* Roll two dice (2d6) and add them together. Use the numbered result below.
* Add Presence only if the character makes a credible friendly, impressive, deceptive, or commanding approach.
* The GM may apply hindrance or a penalty if the NPC has strong reasons for hostility.
NPC Reactions
* 2: Murderous hate or fear. Tries to kill the characters.
* 3: Violent. Tries to injure or imprison the characters.
* 4: Suspicious. Distrusts characters, takes protections against them.
* 5: Hostile. Harasses the characters, seek to undermine their support.
* 6: Threatening. Insults or commands characters to go away.
* 7: Wary. Moves to avoid confrontation with the characters.
* 8 or 9: Curious. Interested in characters but keeps cautious distance.
* 10: Neutral. Treats the characters fairly, but offers no help without a reason.
* 11: Friendly. Shares information and help to characters if not costly.
* 12: Loyal. Tries to join the characters and help in any way.
STRENGTH BENCHMARK LIMITS
* Body +0: Carry 1 kg (2.5 lbs.), lift 5 kg (10 lbs.)
* Body +1: Carry 5.5 kg (12 lbs.), lift 22 kg (50 lbs.)
* Body +2: Carry 18 kg (40 lbs.), lift 70 kg (150 lbs.)
* Body +3: Carry 40 kg (85 lbs.), lift 150 kg (340 lbs.)
* Body +4: Carry 85 kg (190 lbs.), lift 340 kg (760 lbs.)
* Body +5: Carry 190 kg (425 lbs.), lift 780 kg (1,700 lbs.)
* Body +6: Carry 450 kg (1,000 lbs.), lift 2 tons
* Body +7: Carry 1 ton, lift 4 tons
* Body +8: Carry 2.25 tons, lift 9 tons
* Body +9: Carry 5 tons, lift 20 tons
* Body +10: Carry 11 tons, lift 45 tons
* Body +11: Carry 25 tons, lift 100 tons
* Body +12: Carry 55 tons, lift 222 tons
* Body +13: Carry 125 tons, lift 500 tons
* Body +14: Carry 300 tons, lift 1,200 tons
* Body +15: Carry 625 tons, lift 2,500 tons
* Body +16: Carry 1,400 tons, lift 5,700 tons
* Body +17: Carry 3,200 tons, lift 13,000 tons
* Body +18: Carry 7,500 tons, lift 30,000 tons
* Body +19: Carry 16,000 tons, lift 65,000 tons
* Body +20: Carry 37,500 tons, lift 150,000 tons
* Body +21: Carry 85,000 tons, lift 340,000 tons
* Body +22: Carry 190,000 tons, lift 760,000 tons
* Body +23: Carry 425,000 tons, lift 1.7 million tons
* Body +24: Carry 950,000 tons, lift 3.8 million tons
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TIERS OF PLAY
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LEVEL 1–4: ADVENTURERS / GRITTY HEROES
* Human-scale danger
* Most weapons deal 1–3 damage
* Powers affect one target or provide small utility
* Defense around 4–6
* Ability modifiers mostly +1 to +3
LEVEL 5-14: EXPERTS / ACTION HEROES
* Characters can survive several ordinary threats
* Strange powers can fly, turn invisible, drain life, paralyze, and shape scenes
* Combat characters reliably defeat ordinary NPCs
* Cunning characters should get strong flashbacks/contact abilities here
LEVEL 15-24: LEGENDARY HEROES
* Teleportation, intangibility, major summons, strong mind powers
* Combat characters should threaten monsters
* NPC Threat rating becomes important
LEVEL 25-49: MYTHIC HEROES
* Resurrection, polymorph, petrification, major magic
* Mundane obstacles often stop mattering
* Adventures need supernatural, political, cosmic, or army-scale opposition
LEVEL 50+: SUPERHUMAN / DEMIGOD
* Immortality, large-scale transformation, extreme strength
* Normal human balance assumptions no longer apply
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EXAMPLE CHARACTERS
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ROBIN HOOD (Level 10)
11th century outlaw, leader of The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, famed champion to the poor and infamous bane to the usurper Prince John, his corrupt sheriffs, and England’s greedy nobles.
* Bond: Love for Maid Marian, vow to help the poor.
* Flaw: Overconfidence.
* Luck Points: 4 (maximum of 4)
ABILITY MODIFIERS
* +2 Body: Strength, physical prowess, brawn, toughness, vigor, stamina.
* +3 Mind: Intelligence, deduction, logic, memory, reason, wits, knowledge.
* +3 Spirit: Empathy, courage, resolve, willpower, perception, intuition.
* +4 Speed: Movement, agility, dexterity, precision, reflexes, dodging, balance.
* +4 Presence: Appeal, persuasion, confidence, performance, languages, authority.
DEFENSE 5 (no armor)
* Recovery: Regain 4 lost ability points every two hours of safe rest.
COMBAT ROLE (Level 8)
* Features: Deal 4 damage divided among one to four hit targets.
* Archery Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when attacking with arrows shot from a bow.
* Evasive Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for a roll to resist or avoid harm that may be dodged.
* Reflexive Prowess: At the start of combat, you may choose to act before the GM’s first pick. After that, gain favor on rolls to seize initiative, avoid surprise, or act before danger.
* Sneaky Prowess: When attacking a target unaware of an incoming attack, add +1 to the attack roll and +2 to damage. This bonus applies only once per target per fight or scene.
* Swashbuckling Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus for acrobatics and when attacking with a light melee weapon (rapier, short sword, dagger).
* Trick Shot Prowess: Roll with a favor bonus when making a ranged attack to disarm, pin, distract, cut a rope, or perform another special shot.
CUNNING ROLE (Level 2)
* Features: May declare useful preparations, contacts, disguises, clues, tools, or hidden advantages 2 times per session.
* Thievery Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus for stealth, deception, sleight of hand, bypassing locks and traps, and climbing.
* Wilderness Specialty: Roll with a favor bonus on tasks involving outdoor survival, tracking, predicting weather, local plants, and wild animals.
RULES
* To resolve task actions, roll one die (d6).
* If with at least one favor bonus, roll two dice and use the higher result.
* If with at least one hindrance, roll two dice and use the lower result.
* Add an appropriate ability modifier to the rolled number.
* If the total is equal to or higher than difficulty, task succeeds.
* If the total is less than difficulty, task fails or succeeds at a cost.
* Difficulty: Easy 5, hard 9, extreme 11, nearly impossible 13.
* Opposed Tasks: Highest total wins.
* Combat: Roll equal to or higher than target’s Defense to cause damage.
* Damage reduces one ability modifier; at 0, remaining damage lowers one other ability modifier.
* When two abilities are reduced to +0, a character is defeated (surrenders, falls unconscious, or dies).