I started this project with the intention of ending up with a simple RPG system, that nonetheless felt good and was fast to play. The second goal was to give as much freedom as possible, while keeping it simple for both the players and the GM.
When you see something colored like THIS it is a keyword and will be
explained somewhere later on.
Some parts are labeled like
THIS
These provide some additional suggestions, explanations or just general commentary.
When dividing or multiplying, Always round against your favor.
The last thing is that almost all of this is built as suggestions, I’m more than happy if the players ask politely for items not on lists, spell words not shown and races not recommended, that is one of the points to the game.
On that note, many things will be published on this site. Aside from the core rulebook, you should agree on which of these to use as some may be game or theme breaking.
This webpage is generated from an org-mode file along with the help of a theme taken from this Repo, thank you to everyone who creates and shares great things.
I don’t think this system infringes any copyright, however I play DrD2, GURPS, DnD 5e and have been reading many others, such as Ars Magica, so some mechanics might end up being very similar or same as some of these, even though I try to stop myself form doing so whenever I notice it.
Now, let’s get rolling.
When you need to check if you succeeded at a particular task, you roll
3D6 and if you Rolled higher or equal to the Roll Difficulty
(further called RD) you were successfull. Many effects will subtract
or add to your roll, most commonly your Professions. You may add, up to
two Profession’s bonuses from your roll.
| RD | |
|---|---|
| 8 | Easy |
| 11 | Normal |
| 13 | |
| 15 | Hard |
Group checks - If you need to use a skill against a crowd, roll 4 times for the crowd, the whole crowd is divided on the subject based on the success rate of the rolls.
The Bestiary contains some suggestions for this.
You have 3 stats in the DawnStorm game, Body, Soul and Influence.
These represent everything you can do, and you should be able to
categorize all actions under one of these stats. Occassionally called
points for ease of wording.
According to the power of your character you start with a number of points divided between your stats, 15 to 20 is suggested.
| Stat | Examples |
|---|---|
| Body | strength, constitution |
| Soul | overcoming horrors and fears, resisting magic and torture, casting magic |
| Influence | persuasion, bartering with shopkeeps, underworld contacts |
When you are damaged or hurt, you will “lose” these Stats, but only
temporarily, your maximum in the Stat always stays the same. Consider it
similar to losing Hit Points or Mana. For example: damage in combat
loses Body, verbal put-downs cost you Influence
Regeneration - You regenerate 4 stats after 8 hours of sleep, if you sleep at least 4 hours, you regain 2. Taking other types of long rests can gain you back 1 stat and wounds can be considered tended to.
Easy Mode - Your stats regenerate after 8 hours of sleep, if you don’t manage that amount, you regenerate only half of your total if you slept at least four hours, otherwise one quarter.
Scarring - When you are out of a given stat and some event forces you
to lose it, you must Scar yourself, in other situations you may Scar
yourself voluntarily. These symbolize damage beyond something you can
walk-of after a day or two. A scar should be accompanied with recieving
an effect, or finding out about one (such as poison). A Scar is drawn
across already spent points, and gives you 2 + 2 x Each spent point.
This wound always has an explanation to what it is and should affect
your character even when outside combat. The taken up points of the Stat
become unusable until you deal with the problem that is connected to the
Scar. A Scar's Rank is equal to the number of points it makes
unusable. If an effect would grant you additional Points in a Stat, you
cannot Scar these, you may only Scar your own Stats.
| Stat + Scar Rank | Example Wound |
|---|---|
| Body Rank 1 | Deeper cut |
| Body Rank 2 | Major Food Poisoning |
| Body Rank 3 | Stopped a sword with your Forearm |
| Body Rank 5 | Missing Limb |
| Soul Rank 1 | Small mental quirk |
| Soul Rank 5 | Borderline madness |
| Influence Rank 1 | Small public humiliation |
| Influence Rank 2 | Nasty local rumours |
| Influence Rank 5 | Denounced by ruler |
Influence Scars may often apply only based on location, similairly to Soul Scar’s that may be temporarily triggered by something.
Death and Unconsciousness - Many Scars in any stat is enough to make a character unplayable, not having any more Unscarred Points in a Stat is taken as the character being dead, crazy or unable to interact with normal people. After suffering Body Scars of a total equal to or higher than 3/4 of your Body stat, you fall unconscious.
Expanding your skills - Each time you spend 8XP in professions, you
can increase by one, any of your Stats.
non-Professional checks - If you need to check your success in an
action, that doesn’t apply to any of your professions, you may roll with
a bonus of your stat divided by 3 rounded down - 1. For the purpose of
making these slightly more specific, each Body stat you have or gain,
should be categorized under Strength or Agility.
Professions give you bonuses to your rolls and special abilities you can
use. They don’t necessarily mean that you are your Profession, having a
Rank in Thief doesn’t necessarily translate into your character being a
Thief, it only shows that they have a similar set of skills, that your
character could’ve picked up and used elsewhere. After performing an
adventureous task, you are awarded XP by your GM. The amount of XP
you need to improve (Rank Up) a Profession is 4XP. And every
Rank Up grants you a +1 Die roll bonus.
Professions are divided into a couple Tiers, usually 3. Tier I is
learning and becoming the professions some sort of apprentice or
student, Tier II is the actual profession and Tier III is a sort of
veteran status.
University Student → Engineer → Senior Engineer
After taking 3 levels in a profession you may start Ranking up its next Tier, alternatively 1.5x the required amount in any related Professions, this is always the case with professions that do not have a first Tier.
So having 3 Ranks in Magic Acolyte (Tier I) and 1 rank in Hunter (Tier I) would allow you to take Druid (Tier II)
Some professions will list prerequisites. These prerequisites are listed
under Rite in the description of the Profession.
Skills - The profession will list some things that it includes and
thus gives bonuses for. The Skills listed are examples, each Profession
includes more than is listed and the judgement of each individual action
that comes up should be up to the Players and the GM (if a specific
ability adds something as a skill, it isn’t considered as a skill by
default). If an Ability states that you now have a skill in something,
act as if the profession lists it in its skills.
Abilities - Professions contain Abilities. You gain one of these
abilities every Rank Up in that skill. When you see text in [] square
brackets, those are prerequisites.
Specialties - If a Profession lists Specialties, you must choose
one of them (or make up your own if the GM allows) when Ranking up,
they perform as absolutely separate Professions. If it is related
enough, but not quite your speciality, you may use half of the die
bonus.
These are most often Knowledge based, where you choose one domain to be learned in.
As DawnStorm is not setting specific, I do not provide any in this document, there should be some example ones in the modules. Otherwise, Skills, should be self explanatory when you create your own professions. And abilities should be something that someone talented may pick-up after performing that Profession for about a year’s time, I.E. A chef weighing ingredients perfectly in hand, a librarian remembering a long book index, or an archer shooting multiple arrows if they perhaps did that for fun.
Weapons apart from stated bonuses have a type and length (i.e. long piercing). When describing an animal’s attacks, the same rules can be used. These give you a free maneuver to use while wielding them and have an effect:
| Basic Weapon Classes | |
|---|---|
| Slashing | Accurate |
| Short Slashing | Feint |
| Blunt | Powerful |
| Piercing | Powerful |
| Short | You can instead attack twice with a -2 penalty, but not use a maneuver |
| Long | Short arms, cannot use maneuvers against you, except for feint |
| Shield | Grants two Defence maneuvers |
If nothing is stated, assume no maneuver bonus, medium weapon
Load - A character may only comfortably carry a reasonable number of
minor items and up to their Body worth of major items. Major items
being, staffs, swords, rations, guns, tents and the like. Every item
carried above this amount gives you a -2 Body on skill checks. If the
item is made for a different size than you, it takes up 1 more or less
for every size between you and the item.
Makeshift - Weapons you grab on the spot, without changing in any way, have a limit of 2 Stats of damage. Optimizing them in some way (sharpening the stick), limits that to 3. In either case, you cannot use their free maneuvers. To nullify these limitations, you need to succeed at an appropriate skill check and input adequate amounts of time and effort. See Item Creation.
When determining the difficulty of lingering effects (such as traps or
camouflage) created by players, let them roll upon creation and then use
that as the DR. The GM may raise or lower the DR of checks by around
3, if there are advantages or disadvantages such as tools, time or bad
lighting.
To determine the outcome of an attack, roll the attack as a skill check.
Afterwards, the defending party has multiple ways to prevent the damage,
most commonly by using the Defence maneuver.
When an attack is made, you will lose stats, the amount is how many
times the difference between your rolls, exceeds your Die Bonus.
Pain - Recieving damage, gives you a -3 to all offensive rolls and
-2 on others, until the end of your next turn or next round, whichever
comes first.
Combat is initiated by an attack, that creature is first in initiative and has used up its turn delivering this attack.
After which, others go in the following order:
| # | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Unarmed |
| 2 | Short Weapons |
| 3 | Medium Weapons |
| 4 | Magic |
| 5 | Other Actions |
| 6 | Long Weapons |
After these are exhausted, 1 Round had passed. Each of these actions take 1 second.
Basically, every round, the GM goes through, asking: Any Unarmed?, Any Magic?, etc. This means that you may change your decisions based on what previous actions were taken
The rest is up to the GM or random chance.
If one party had been ambushed, every member of the other is
automatically Stumbled. If you wish to save your action for later,
that is possible, for clarity, these should be announced anyway and go
before all others, once they are used. Only one saved action can be
held, it is lost upon your next turn.
To aid with larger battlefields and positioning, DawnStorm uses Zones. For Example, you may have a chapel, where the fight is divided between the two wings, the main hall, the altar, etc. Based on the number of enemies and the type of attacks there are, you may use as few or many as is practical. For flying creatures, identical zones exist above the ground ones, where only the flying creatures can go. Unless stated otherwise you may attack anyone in your zone.
To use a Basic maneuver, you spend 1 Stat, though only if an effect
allows you to use it. Advanced maneuvers, marked A, cost 2 Stats.
One Defence/Parry per turn is free per weapon or shield with which you
didn’t attack.
A - Precise - Roll 5D6 take lowest 3
Accurate - Roll 4d6 take lowest 3
A - Mighty - Causes target to lose double from a Stat (round down; minimum 2)
Powerful - Causes target to lose 1/2 more from a Stat (round down;
minimum 1)
Weak - Causes target to lose half as much of a Stat
Feint - You give an ally a free Basic Maneuver against the same enemy or Kick the creature back attempting to make them stumbled or moving them; Under 1m and not stumbled if the degree of success is lower than 2
Defence/Armor/Parry/Dodge - You roll against the enemy’s attack roll + your rank in this, if you succeed, the hit is absorbed or parried and is counted as a miss, doesn’t work against magical effects by default, except Dodge
In a turn, you have two phases, a move and a move/action phase. Your move allows you to move by 1 zone.
As an action you may do one of the following:
- Attack
- Defend - Gain or grant an ally in the same zone
Dodge 0until the start of your next turn - Activate a Magic Glyph
- Aid - You may roll a skill check against
RD 10, if you succeed, an ally attempting the same check acts as if they areSkilled, if both of you are skilled, you may roll againstRD 8, in which case the ally rolls as aMaster - Ready - Spend the round changing held items, if they’re in a bag, you should spend 2 actions taking them out. Similair to clothing, putting on chainmail would cost a turn, a full suit would cost 2 to 3.
- Perform Action - Such as, put out fire or pull lever
Fall - 1 Body per 5 m
Suffocation - 1 + your Constitution Die Bonus in minutes, then
Out of Breath for half a minute, then you are Exhausted for 18
seconds, after which you start recieving a growing scar which grows by
one for every 3 seconds. If you are attacked and have to defend in a
physically demanding way (dodging counts, armor does not), you lose 9
seconds of air.
Food and Water - not eating or drinking a day gives you -1 to body
based rolls, not recieving sustenance for 3 days, gives you
Exhaustion, which increases by 1 level for every day after that.
Sleep - not sleeping works the same as food and water, but starts giving you debuffs after 2 days of no sleep
Light - -2 to sight based activities in dim light, -3 in near dark
Elemental Damage - You lose 1 body per round of exposure per strength of element, regular fire causes 1 Body of damage every 2 rounds
| Size | Description |
|---|---|
| Scrawny | Think flies or insects |
| Tiny | Smaller than 0.3m in all dimensions |
| Small | Smaller than 1m in all dimensions |
| Normal | Humans |
| Large | From 2m |
| Huge | Bigger than about 5m |
| Giant | Dragons |
| Colossal | Leviathans, Ancient Dragons |
| Immense | Towering over land itself |
| Primal | Deities & Titans |
If a creature exceeds another’s size, it can freely use the Powerful
maneuver with Body based encounters against that creature, however the
target acts as if it was Skilled at Dodging them. Normal has an
average of 5 Body, going lower subtracts 1, bigger sizes are about 150% of
the previous size.
Area - This shows that an action performed affects a certain area such as an explosion or cannonball. Normally this is specified as a simple length that specifies the diameter of a sphere or length of a line based on context.
RD - The difficulty of a roll
Degrees of success - The number by which you exceed the required RD
Range - Range is self-explanatory, however it may specify an I before the distance to indicate an
incorporeal effect that passes unhindered through solid objects.
Regeneration - The creature regains X Body at the start of its turn. Or every X turns if the value is a fraction (I.E. if x is 1/6 then every 6th turn).
Natural Armor/Mindlock/Beloved - Expending the Body/Soul/Influence
resource is always reduced by said amount. May specify a source in
parentheses that nullifies this protection.
Fly - Describes Fly Speed
Sense - Always knows about all movement within a certain radius. It can feel generally what kind of creature it is.
Skilled - Your allowed Base maneuvers are free
Master - You may use Advanced maneuvers, if you are a Master you
are also Skilled
Nightvision - Does not suffer from lack of proper lighting.
Recharge - You roll a D6 and if it’s less than X the ability is ready to use again.
Immunity - The stated source cannot cause the creature to expend Stats.
Resistance - Halve the number of Stats lost due to an effect caused by this source.
Vulnerability - Double the number of Stats lost due to an effect caused by this source.
Stumped/Distracted - You can’t use any maneuvers, that you choose to use (that means maneuvers that you spend Stats for or effects that state you may use them)
Stumbled - you go at the end of initiative (in the order they were stumbled, if there is more than one) and cannot move more than 1 step, if you are already stumbled, you lose your next turn. This condition ends on you turn.
Short of Breath - While you are short of breath, you can’t use any
Maneuvers with your actions that use the Body skill, no speech-based
actions and no Advanced Maneuvers with actions using the Soul skill.
If you fail an action you become Exhausted for the rest of the
duration + 1 Round or just 1 Round if the Out of Breath’s duration
is longer than an hour.
Exhausted - You suffer a -2 on all rolls per level of Exhaustion as
well as all the hindrances given by Short of Breath.
Restrained -
For ease of play, enemies do not track most of their stats as closely as
players do. They will usually just state Body, Soul and Influence;
or a universal resource called Fate if the enemy is fodder enough.
They may state several abilities with cooldowns and attacks with their
own die bonuses. If it is stated that a weapon either carried or
natural, is of a certain type, consider the enemy to be able to use the
maneuvers that those weapons would grant.
Legendary creatures, that are fought mostly 1 against the entire party, should use Legendary actions. This allows the creature to take an action after every other creature, as long as it has additional logical ways to do this. I.E.: Claws, a tail and a fiery breath
Nothing special, the perfect blank slate.
Size: Small
Kein Roar - Once a day, you are able to Roar so loud that any
creatures within a 30 meter radius, must succeed at an RD 9 Check, or
become Frightened of you for 6 Seconds.
Incredibly proud, stubborn and loyal creatures, described mostly as humanoid lions. Pride upon pride, their mane is what defines their class, long and wavy manes always giving an advantage when arriving in any Keinfolk society.
Talach talent - You are a Master at one form of art and Skilled in
another.
Tall, with pointed ears, humble and noble, truly a beloved race by most anyone who meets them. Their curiosity and fantasy had made them into popular artists and poets, outside their cities often kept in castles and manors by nobility due to this affinity. Their intelligence hasn’t been perceived to be high nor their strength, manual dexterity is the one thing they have and which no other race may rival them in.
Talkin Ear - Your ears are very sensitive to whispers and murmurs. When listening to someone in a crowded room, you hear as if the room was silent.
They are very similar to the Talach, however their ears are significantly flatter, lower, sometimes almost horizontal. Quite sly, sneaky and adept at close range combat, they make excellent spies and thieves and are often employed as such.
The bone demons are the knights of the nine hells, they are sent to retrieve souls that are expected to pose ressistance. They stand about 2 metres tall, carry a great-shield and a slightly curved broadsword or lance, as well as two daggers lodged into a cavity in their hips. Their outer appearance is that of a knight, whose plate armour has a surface similair to a bones. It’s head has a fleshy mouth, and then a split into two flat protrusions to each side. If the bone demon’s plates should come apart you may see that the inside is actually mostly empty, and held together by occassional oozing strands, the only physical part being the mouth.
These dog-like creatures are mostly used by other demons for spying, hunting and disposing of targets. Their visage is quite simple, the front half is that of a wolf up until their back legs and hips, which are just black smoke and non-visible. Their eyes reflect light in anything but the darkest of places, the light changes color based on the demon it is currently serving. If a mortal ever manages to calm and tame a nightcrawler, the smoke coming from its back changes to bright blue and it becomes apparent that their non-feral nature is quite playful.
Blinking They can teleport between two points connected by near pitch darkness while neither is being observed.
Changelings are the infiltrators of the Fey, they can change their body to the visage of any humanoid they see at least indirectly. They are born by imbuing an unborn child with Fey magic. The family usually doesn’t know about this, until the Fey visit the child at 18 years old, informing it of its destiny. This arduous process is mostly so that the Changeling blends in as well as possible with other creatures. When a changeling dies, it reverts to its original form.
A fey being of intense resilience, it resembles a humanoid, but it seems as to be disfigured into a goblin-like form, with sharp teeth and pointed uneven ears and nails. At any point it can turn parts of itself into insects or birds and Even a single one of these may with enough nourishment create a whole Krypsaker once more.
The most common of the Fey, often incorrectly called forest nymphs, Pans and their female counterparts called Pixies inhabit kingdoms in many forests of the world. Their philosophy of life is inherently pacifistic, created by the titan gaya to protect the forests, the damage of which is the only way to aggravate them.
They carry human chests and heads, usually with antlers and animal eyes and ears. Their legs bend backwards above the knee bending backwards before heading to the ground once more and ending in hooves. Most of their bodies are covered and seem to be made of leaves, branches and vines, same as their tools and homes. Being gaya’s chosen all wildlife listens and bends to the needs of the pan.
These peculiar demi-ghosts usually manifest in places of great historical or natural significance that have nonetheless been left to their own devices. These creatures are usually very shy and rarely ever speak unless somehow directly invoked. They have been shown to have knowledge on all matters occurring in their place of existence. These plains of land where they exist may range from a single ruin to most of a forest. They communicate telepathically with any sentient creatures within their domain, however to do this they must concentrate and so they loose sight of their surroundings for the time being. A very powerful Genius Loci was once recorded to speak audibly directly through a human, both of whom shortly lost consciousness afterwards, however this is only hearsay.
Lost Souls is a general term for souls that have been prevented from leaving the world, usually through trapping them inside a container, very commonly glass spheres or stones. When touching the container one may telepathically communicate with the soul trapped within. It is said that the feeling of being a lost soul is like being restrained and gagged, however you see everything that goes on around you. If left alone for long enough the soul usually goes crazy within a few weeks, thus they always wish to be released and will trade next to any help they can provide for you letting them go. Cracking or opening a container of the soul, releases it.
Magic Lost souls are often used by spellcasters, because the mana of the original creature still resides within their soul. The soul however, cannot regenerate mana without the body and so is one use only. Note Please break your soul stones after use.
Mirras are perfect copies of a creature’s conciousness from a certain point. They are created via a spell etched into the wooden part of a mirror, binding a present creature to the object, which then shows in its reflection the bound creature’s reflection. The reflection moves around the room and can talk and recall all the memories of the original creature, its maneurism and personality are also the same. The Mirra cannot create new memories or create new impressions on people, it is always just a perfect copy, however it may utilize very short term memory or connect concepts to changes in the room which it may ask you to make. The Mirra recalls existing memories perfectly and instantaneously.
A Basilisk is a solitary eight legged reptile-like creature. At first it walks on all eight, later in life however, when its body is strong enough to support this development, it’s head and front limbs move upwards and elongate, eventually creating an upright upper body.
Growth Cycle The most magnificent property of the Basilisk is its growth cycle. A Basilisk gives birth to a live baby no larger than a few inches. The Basilisk then grows inexplicably rapidly as the Basilisk consumes massive amount of sustenance. At the size of about triple that of a human the Basilisk develops an upright upper body and loses much of the potency of its breath. When it reaches such a size that its legs are struggling to support the body, it migrates to a large body of water. Even if it hunts enough food, which is rarely the case, its size forces it to continuously move to ever deeper water, eventually crushing it.
Breath The legends often speak of the Basilisk’s noxious breath. It has been observed to have the ability to wither small plants and to accelerate corrosion of metal. Any effects beyond this are empty claims.
Gaze …
Every dragons has the ability to transform into a humanoid.
Wyverns are very feral animals, true beasts fully devoted to that state of behaviour. None have ever been recorded to reason or speak unlike dragons, this is very important to know for any adventurer that may by any chance encounter this menace. The distinguishing feature is that it has only four limbs, two legs and two wings, and is inherently non-magical. At the end of each wing it has claws that it may use to clamber up surfaces. They come in many forms and colors, though most often seen in the black form, which is also the most adept at climbing. Unlike dragons, most Wyverns do not possess a fiery breath, only the red kind is famously capable of this feat.
Eggs Their eggs grow in size as the Wyvern inside matures, being laid at about half their final size. For this reason the surface is much softer than one would at first assume, and if even the softness of the shell is not enough the egg may crack at regular intervals exposing the inner membrane.
Weaknesses You may be tempted to slash the underside of the head, however unlike dragons, Wyverns have solid armour covering the entire head. The two weakest points are their thigh joints and the point where their patagia connect to the body as it has been discovered to easily tear in the first section. When the wings are folded however the patagia is relaxed, elastic and quite difficult to pierce without an exceptionally sharp weapon.
This breed of Wyverns is extremely rare. Usually artificially enchanted for combat purposes. They naturally have two main characteristics, their speed, and their scream. Though lacking a beath, they are able to surpass the sound barrier, by a tiny amount. Their head is often enchanted with a spell that protects them from impact, it activates with their scream. Their scream can be heard miles around and has deafened many who were too close, it is described as being extremely high-pitched, yet still powerful enough to be felt deep in the guts.
For every Tier in this class, you add 2 hands to your arsenal. These hands are ethereal and while not in use, the hands cannot be seen without magical means. Each hand can carry up to 8 times 2 to the power of your Tier kilograms. It cannot be separated more than 1 meter from you and may become incorporeal at will. You may not be able to concentrate on full control of this form, for every Soul Stat you can control one hand, or your own two hands in your turn.
When casting a spell you declare, a Motion and optionally an Element you know (collectively called words of power), and what the desired outcome is. Not all elements are useful with all motions.
If your character recieved damage in the last round, you get a
cumulative -2 to spell RD for every Stat you lost. Having
restrained hands adds a -4 to the spell RD.
Having plenty of time to draw a magic glyph Reduces the difficulty and cost of the spell, both by 1 per 10 minutes, but up to your die roll modifier for spellcasting.
A magic glyph is created by inscribing a Motion and an Element, with a
very specific intention into a solid surface and empowering them with a
Soul or Soul Fragment. Mechanically, this requires you to
succesfully cast the spell, and either lower your maximum Mana until
it’s destroyed or empty a Soul Stone into it. Your maximum Mana
returns to you after the destruction of the item or the use of a one use
item. If you used your own Soul Fragment, the item recharges when your
Mana refreshes.
It takes 1 second per 1 Mana to create a glyph. If the item is
created with a soul from a Soul Stone, it is recharged by draining
mana into the item at a rate of 1 Mana per second (this mana is
normally spent as if casting a spell). At Dawn and Dusk, a glyph is
sealed and cannot be expanded, only recharged.
Spending additional time and resources during casting (activation),
makes the casting cheaper and easier. Reducing the cost by 1 Mana and
decreasing the DR by 1, costs 10 Silver of magical materials and
10 Minutes times 3 to the power of the amount reduced.
When activated, the glyph casts the spell, draining from the enclosed
mana pool. If the creature that activates a glyph is a magic user with a
Character, the spell is cast with that character. You may also
designate a sound or simple occurence (such as someone stepping on it)
that activates the glyph automatically.
Since speech doesn’t take up an action, this allows you to activate glyphs outside you turn.
Soul Stone - You may substitute a Fragment of your own Soul for a Soul
from a Soul Stone. This allows you to create a glyph without lowering
your own maximum Mana, but limits the Mana capacity to that of the
Soul used. Soul Stones are quite rare, and have a limited capacity,
however they are reusable.
Scrolls - Scrolls produce a one-time Spell effect, they don’t require
a skill check but still cost mana. Afterwards, the papyrus
disintegrates. Creating one takes 10 minutes per Tier and requires you
to succesfully cast the spell per the Magic Glyph rules.
Analyzing Magic - Perceiving a magic glyph, even an instantaneous one
let’s you identify any word of power that you know. Identifying those
you don’t know, requires a knowledge (arcane) check and some time and
concentration with the glyph or a page of notes you made about it.
Learning a word of power requires several days, of study and
experimentation with notes from several glyphs, with a RD of the
number of different notes you’re analyzing that have a word in them that
you know.
Enchanting Items - Items are Enchanted with tiny magic-glyphs that require about double time and complete concentration. When a magic-glyph is on an item that can be entirely lifted by you single-handedly, it can be activated while touching any point of the item.
Countering Spells - You may Dispel a non-magic-glyph spell as a
Defence maneuver or an Action. Dispelling takes half the Mana of
the spell and a roll of RD of the spell +3 or +1 if you know the
motion.
Spell-casters can create these glyphs in mid-air instantaneously, however these persist only for a single round. Long-term effects need an inscription on a surface to work.
Mana - Most effects will ask you to spend mana, you have a basic pool
equal to your Soul. At any time you may scar a Soul stat to reset
your mana back to that number (this does not let you spend more than
your maximum mana on one spell).
Motions all have multiple Tiers with an RD and a Mana cost. When
casting a spell with the given motion’s tier, you first deduct that much
Mana from your pool, then roll against that RD to determine if the
spell was successful.
Failing the spell doesn’t immediately mean nothing happened, your
degree of failure determine that:
| Degree of failure | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Slightly altered effect if possible, otherwise Failed spell |
| 3-6 | Failed Spell |
| 7+ | The spell backfires, GMs decision |
Tier Guidelines:
- Tier I [=RD10=, =1Mana=]: Achievable within the hour with sufficient skill and tools, the effect vanishes within 10 minutes
- Tier II [=RD14=, =5Mana=]: Apparently magical effects, mostly on inanimate objects or a small group of about 3 to 5 beings, or advanced effects such as manipulation on one person
- Tier III [=RD20=, =XMana=]: Complex effects, extending to supernatural, manipulating reality with portals and short-range teleportation
- Tier IV [=RD22=, =XMana + Soul Scar=]:
- Tier V [=RD24=, =Soul Scar=]: Miracles
Motions:
- Cease
- Tier I: Stop the movement of an unattended object up to the size of a travelling cart
- Tier II: Cease the movement of an object or cease the existence of an unattended object up to the size of a travelling cart
- Command
- Tier I: Compel a calm animal to perform some action
- Create
- Tier I: Spontaneously create an item no bigger than the width of your hand, creatable from resources that you are touching.
- Tier II: The item, must not exceed your outstretched arms length in any dimension.
- Destroy
- Divide/Dislocate
- Tier I: Cut with your finger an inanimate object as if it were a knife.
- Tier IV: Cut Metaphysical concepts
- Heal
- Tier I: Close an actively bleeding wound and prevent it from getting infected.
- Join
- Tier I: Connect two items that touch in any way and make them movable only by a living creature.
- Kill
- Tier I: Cause Rot and Decay in a deceased animal or plant, making its body turn to dust within an hour.
- Scry
- Show
- Stride
- Summon
- Transmute
If the spell doesn’t contain a corresponding Element for the effect, you
are limited to Tier I and II spells. Some Elements will contain an
RD modifier.
Elements:
- Body
- Cold / Ice
- Earth
- Fire / Heat
- Metal
- Mind
- Nature
- Necros (Necromantic)
- Spectra (Supernatural)
- Time
- Water
These both limit and flavour the spell’s effects.
Draconic - The spell’s effect is exhaled as a cone-shaped breath from the mouth
Fey - All effects are performed by nearby plants
HexBlade - The magic is limited only to the wearer himself and mainly his weapon and armour
Artistic - The effects must all be based on art, animate and move small objects, or create illusions
Shadow -
Outside these boundaries lies Divine magic. Monks and priests, worship and directly invoke a magical being. Others must use complex rituals to win their interest. Divine magic cannot be understood by non-divine casters at all. In gameplay the divine spellcaster asks for help from his deity, in this case the GM is the one who plays the role of god, and they may do whatever they deem fit in reaction to the character’s plea.
The Acolyte is the basic magic class. Identifying arcane occurences that you have already seen or know about is the domain of the acolyte.
Skills:
- Spellcasting
- Identifying basic spells and magical effects
Abilities:
- Amulet user: You are able to extract Mana from magic glyphs, 1 Mana per Second
- Battle Caster: You get
+1per attack (the limit is still+3) when casting after having taken damage - Beast Knowledge: You have a skill in identifying Magical Beasts
- Mana Share: You are able to give your Mana to anyone you touch, 1 Mana per Second
- Spellcraft: You learn 1 Motion and 2 Elements (You may gain a Magic Character if your GM allows)
- Spellcraft 2 [Spellcraft]: You learn an additional 1 Motion/Element and 1 Element
- Spellcraft 3 [Spellcraft 2]: You learn an additional Element
Skills:
- Arcane Memory: You are able to completely remember up to two magic glyphs you’ve seen at least momentarily
- Convenient Magic: You may cast spells with up to 5 Mana without spending any
- Mindlink:
Abilities:
- Sieger:
- Incorporeal spells:
- Ward: You have a magical protective ward, which grants you a
Defencemaneuver
You hunt magical beasts
Abilities:
- Beast Form: By touching a part of a dead magical beast, you may assume its form. You gain all its abilities and its Body Stat, however when you turn back, all Scars and spent Stats are applied to you. If this would kill you, you fall unconscious instead.
- Beast’s wine: You have
Resistanceagainst blood based poisons
Brawls, bar fights and ambushes, you’ve seen it all. You know what to do with most common weapons and even better with hands and chairs.
Skills:
- Unarmed Combat
- Combat with short and medium weapons
- Battling with improvised weapons
Abilities:
- Barbaric Strength:
- Brawler: Your fists are short blunt weapons
- Dungeoneering:
- Hard Skin: Your skin has
Natural Armor 1against blunt weapons - Rage:
- Weapon Improvisation: Your makeshift weapons grant you the standard weapon maneuvers
Skills:
Squires are warriors, who are trained and educated.
Skills:
- Shields
- Long Weapons
- Knowledge - Tactics, Armies, War Codes
Abilities:
- Field Smith: You have a skill in repairing damaged armour and weapons in the field
- Footwork: You are
Skilledat withstanding movement and stumbling byFeint - Guardian: You may use your own
Defendmaneuvers on friends standing within arms-reach - Brothers in Arms: You may pay with you resources for damaged friends
standing in arms-reach, if you are able to use the
Defendmaneuver - Party Tactics:
- Shield Bash: You are
Skilledat moving creatures withFeintusing your shield
Skills:
- Bows or Crossbows (Speciality)
- Tracking
- Knowledge - Animals
Abilities:
- Always ready: You have a skill to detect forest ambushes, which you
may roll even if you are sleeping at
+2 - Animal Handling: Animals are instinctively calmed by your approach, unless actively hunting, preparing to fight or fighting
- Birdsense: If something frightens away birds that you can hear or see, you know it’s position and size
- Bow Slash: You may modify your bow to have a
+2on ranged attack rolls, however it acts as aMedium Slashingweapon - Camouflage: 2 minutes of scavenging in a forest creates camouflage for 2 cubic metres
- Double-shot: Your skill allows you to load multiple arrows into your
ranged weapon; You may now use
Powerfulwhen shooting your weapon of choice - Traps: Trap Knowledge and Trapsetting is added to the Skills; You may take 10 minutes setting up a trap
- Urban Tracking: You are able to use your wilderness tracking skill to some limited extent in urban environments
Skills:
- Identifying plants and potions
- First-aid and medicine
Abilities:
- Antidote: You are able to take up
10 Silverworth of resources after a day of study, to create an antidote to any non-magical disease - Artery Strike: You may forfeit all maneuvers in an attack, after
which a succesful hit will cause a bleeding wound, costing the carrier
1 Bodyeach round - Hidden Poison: You may attempt to hide your poison from smell and taste
- First-Aid: After 10 minutes of tending to wounds, give someone back 2 Stats, up to 4 per day
You know how to get your way, you know the ins and outs of your society and you are never out of place amongst the upper-class
Skills:
- Savoire-faire
- High-class speech
- High-class manners
Abilities:
- Connoseur - Choose a subject, you are able to talk hours on the matters of said subject, be it weapons, literature or wine.
Skills:
- Acrobacy
- Sleight of Hand
- Stealth
- Knowledge - Underground
Abilities:
- Acrobat: You are
Skilledat acrobacy and may usePrecise - Always ready: You have a skill to detect urban ambushes
- Cyphers: Decoding and creating cyphers is now your skill; In addition, you know an underground slang
- Dagger Parry: You can parry with a dagger even after using it for an attack
- Dual Wielding:
- Impersonator: You have a skill for impersonating other people, a day of mentoring allows another person to use your roll
- Underground Connection: You know a guy
- Urban Tracking: You have a skill for finding out the general location of any notable character
| Coin | Worth |
|---|---|
| Copper Penny | 6 in a commoner’s day’s work |
| Silver Shilling | 100 Copper Pennies |
| Platinum | 5000 Copper Pennies |
| Gold | 10000 Copper Pennies |
| Food | Price |
| Day of Rations | 1 Copper |
| Tools | Price |
| Weapons | Price |
| Sword | |
| LongSword | |
| Estates | Price |