General Game Rules
Welcome to the game rules chapter. Here you will find all the rules and mechanics in order to play the game.
Adrenaline Rush
The connection between essence and your life force is very strong. This allows you to tap into your life force when your essence is running low. Anytime you have an ability that costs essence, but you do not meet the cost, you can spend life force instead. So, if an ability costs five essence to activate but you only have three, you can spend five health to activate the ability. This leaves you with three essence to be used on an ability that costs less.
When channeling spells, adrenaline rush works but it is classified as blood energetics. See the blood energetics section in the energetics chapter for more information.
Carry Capacity
There is a limit on how much you can carry. This limit is based off your stamina and guts instinct. The more you carry the more burdened you become which can lead to becoming encumbered. To determine how much, you can carry multiply your vitality and might by twenty-five.
(Vitality + might) x 25 = carry capacity
Although you might lift a great deal of weight, keep in mind that the volume of the objects also matters. You can only carry what you physically can hold. That includes what can fit inside your backpack and other storage devices. However, everything you carry must have a justified placed on your person otherwise it is not possible to carry. No matter how much you want your new battle axe to fit properly in your backpack with everything else, it’s just not going to happen.
Volume is just as important as weight
Encumbered
It is possible to carry too much and become encumbered. If this happens, you suffer penalties based on how much you are over your carry capacity.
Maneuvering Heavy Objects
If you lift, pull, or push an object that weighs as much as or more than your strength multiplied by twenty-five, it is considered a heavy object. An object is also considered heavy if its height is equal to or greater than your character’s height and equal to or wider than half their height. Objects that are twenty-five pounds over your might times twenty-five are too heavy to move.
Weight: Might x 25
Length of object: Your height
Width of object: Half your height
Unmovable Object: Might x 25 + 25 lbs.
Chaining Dice
Chaining dice is to roll within the critical range multiple times during a roll. When this happens, make an additional roll and add it to the previous roll. Continue to do this until you no longer roll within your critical range or have reached the chain’s limitation (five rolls). Add up all the results plus any modifiers to get your total result. You add skills or other adders to dice and damage chains only one time.
When an ability increases your chance to chain, the maximum increment range is seven to ten (7-10).
Important Note
Attack, defense, lucky rolls, durability damage, and fall damage do not chain, unless specified. This includes any dice that are added to the attack or defense rolls.
An example of this is if you are looking for a specific apothecary ingredient and have a mastery that makes your critical range to find ingredients 9-10. When you perform a harvest check, you roll a ten that falls within your critical range. You make a second harvest check resulting in a nine on the die giving you a nineteen, but since nine is within your critical range, you can roll again. You make a third harvest check, resulting in a six giving you a twenty-five. Adding all your rolls together and adding your harvest skill of five to your total harvest check is a thirty on finding that ingredient.
Chains of Five
Most dice chains have a maximum chain count of five. This means if you roll within your critical range or maximum damage five times in a row, you cannot roll anymore. It also means that the chain becomes legendary and remembered by all who were present. Performing the chain of five gives you two lucky coins, regardless of how many you currently have. This is the only way to get more than the maximum allowed lucky coins. Some rules have a lower maximum allowed chain (i.e. initiative can only chain once). Those specific rules will specify the variation in the chain of five.
Damage Chain
When applying damage to a target that you have successfully struck, you can chain each damage die that rolls maximum. You can chain damage dice if the attack is a called shot, a critical strike, or a standard attack. For example, you have 2d6 + 1d4 damage for an upgraded weapon and roll a four and six on the d6’s and a four on the d4; you can chain one of the d6s and the d4. Rolling again, you roll another six and a two. The six on the d6’s allows you to continue to chain the damage. Let’s say the final roll is a four, so your total damage is twenty-six plus any statistic damage the weapon or spell has.
You can chain damage dice up to five times except for age damage, as it can only chain twice.
Skill & Instinct Chains
The skill chain works when you roll in the critical range of your skills (typically, a ten unless specific masteries are taken). You roll again and add the new result to the initial roll. Your check result continues to increase this way until you no longer roll within the range or have chained the skill five times.
So, if you are making a perception check and roll a ten on the die, you can chain the roll. Let’s say you roll another ten, followed by an additional roll of five. This gives you a twenty-five plus your perception skill, which we will say for this example is a three. Your total perception check would be a twenty-eight.
Difficulty Rating
A difficulty rating is used to determine the level of difficulty of a task. The harder the task, the higher the rating is to beat. There are multiple difficulty ratings which are listed as “DR #”. The check being made must equal or exceed the difficulty rating to succeed. So, if you have an easy difficulty rating to beat it will show as DR 6 and an impossible rating would be DR 30. Typically, the ratings range is: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, etc.
Most obstacles that require a difficulty rating have them listed, but the game master can alter those or make up their own based on the situation.
The Difficulty Rating by Percent Chance Chart is to help aid game masters when determining difficulty rating on the fly. It shows the percent chance of success based on the difficulty rating you have chosen and the character’s skill total. This helps to understand the percent chance of success and how hard you want to make it for your players.
Helping Hand
If a nearby character has a skill of at least at novice tier, they can assist another character on a roll using that skill. Helping them make their next roll for that skill lucky. Such as if your ally is rolling a perception check, and yours is a five, making it a novice tier. You can assist them to make their roll lucky. This can only be done with basic skills and only once per roll.
Resistance
There are two types of resistance: damage and effect. Each type offers a different type of resistance.
The wording reveals the difference between the two types of resistance. Damage resistance will specify that you have damage resistance, such as “fire damage resistance”. Effect resistance will specify by stating you are resistant to an effect, such as “poison resistance”.
Damage Resistance
Damage resistance reduces the amount of damage you take from a specific type of damage by half. For example, if you are resistant to fire damage and struck by a fireball spell, the damage is reduced by half.
Effect Resistance
Effect resistance gives you lucky rolls when trying to resist an effect being placed on you. For example, if you are resistant to poison, you would roll a lucky stamina check in order to ignore the effect of the poison. If you were to fail your stamina check, you would take the full effect of the poison, including if it caused damage.
Size Categories
The world is full of all different sized creatures. Some are extremely tiny while others are so massively large, they could crush towns with a single step. However, the massive creatures stay in the Samisami (Colossal Lands) and rarely ever venture out into the rest of the world.
Your size category helps to determine different bonuses and penalties throughout the game. For instance, your size affects how easily someone can grapple you or trying to occupy the same space as an ally.
Occupying the Same Space
If you are a smaller character teamed up with a larger character, you may need to share space because of limited space. Allies can share the same space if one is at least one size category smaller. If the smaller creature continues to share the same space, the larger creature has unlucky rolls. However, if the smaller creature is over two size categories smaller, there is no penalty for the larger creature.
Size Categories
Creatures of size category of huge or larger have the range for the penalty increased by one increment. So, a colossal creature has unlucky rolls if a gargantuan or gigantic creature is sharing the same space as it. All colossal creatures cannot share the same space as each other.
Survival
Surviving in the world can be very dangerous. It is important to monitor your food and water supplies, otherwise you can suffer penalties and eventually die.
Starvation
Every three days without food you suffer three fatigue and make a psyche check to see if your insanity stage increases by one. Until the twenty-first day upon which you die.
3 Days Without Food = 3 Fatigue
Dehydration
Every day without water you suffer three fatigue and make a psyche check to see if your insanity stage increases by one. Until the six days upon which you die.
1 Day Without Water = 3 Fatigue
Hold Breathe
The time you can hold you breathe is based on your vitality. You can hold your breath for ten times your vitality in seconds.
Vitality x 10 = # of Seconds to Hold Your Breathe
Once the duration of how long you can hold your breath for ends, you must take a breath or fall unconscious.
Dowsing for Water
It is possible to search for drinkable water when out in the world adventuring. Doing so can sometimes be a matter of life or death. How difficult it is to find water depends on the geographical location you are located. When searching for drinkable water, you make a survival check in order to see if you can determine which way water would be located.
Finding North (aka Lost)
When you emerge onto the surface after days of adventuring into the underground, it can become very disorientating where you are. This is where finding which direction is north can come in handy in order to not get lost in the wilderness. This can also apply to large cities.
When lost, you must make a survival check to determine which way is north. This will allow you to understand which way you need to head in order to reach your destination. Having regional or world maps reduces your chance of getting lost.
Finding Water Difficulty
| Location | DR |
|---|---|
| Desert | 22 |
| Hills | 8 |
| Mountains | 10 |
| Plains | 10 |
| Ocean | * |
| Wood Area (Forest) | 8 |
| Underground | 12 |
Finding North = DR14
Keep in mind the difficulty rating can depend on your geographical location and what is around you. The DR 14 for finding north can become more difficult in less obvious locations (or easier in obvious locations). The game master should keep this in mind when setting this difficulty rating.
Hunting
When hunting to gather ingredients or for survival, you add your survival skill to your accuracy and damage. When hunting, you should be relaxed and calm, allowing you to make more precise attacks which deal extra damage and have improved accuracy.
Offensive Combat Skill + Survival Skill = Accuracy
Standard Weapon Damage + Survival Skill = Hunting Damage
When determining what types of animals are available for hunting, keep in mind the character’s geographical location. For example, a deer is probably not going to be wandering around in the middle of a desert; let along much wildlife at all. Using the geographical location of the character to determine the difficulty of finding wildlife when hunting. A survival check should be used to track and find the animal.
Hunting Location Difficulty
| Location | DR |
|---|---|
| Desert | 16 |
| Hills | 10 |
| Mountains | 12 |
| Plains | 8 |
| Water* | 8-12 |
| Wood Area (Forest) | 8 |
| Underground | 14 |
Vision
All playable sub-species typically start with the same type of vision. This vision is referred to as “normal” vision. The vision range during the day is three miles and half that at night. In the underground, it is pitch black unless a light source is present. Characters can temporarily see in the dark with special abilities and spells. Creatures who live in dark places don’t use their sight to get around. Instead, they use their other senses.
Vision Types
Only one vision type can be active at a time, unless otherwise specified.
Enhanced Vision
You must activate this type of vision using the Enhanced Vision mastery. This type of vision increases how far you can see.
Night Vision
You must activate this type of vision using the Night Vision mastery or Night Sight spell. When active, it allows you to see in the dark, based on your location.
When using night vision outdoors at night, your vision becomes normal. Using it indoors/underground in the dark gives you limited vision, based on your Night Vision mastery rank. Using it during the day or in a lit area does nothing.
Normal Vision
This type of vision is the regular type that all creatures naturally have, unless otherwise specified. During the day, you can see up to three miles away, with objects being distorted around the three-mile mark. During the night, the distance you can see is reduced by half while outside. In the dark, when you are indoors or underground, you become blind until you activate a light source or have night or sound vision.
Sound Vision
This unique type of vision allows you to see using sound. Making a noise gives you an outline of what the area around you looks like. The noise bounces off the objects, allowing you to understand where they are located. You can learn sound vision through its mastery; otherwise, it is a natural ability some creatures have.
Underwater Vision
Water can alter the way you see thing and how far you can see. When underwater, you can only see half as far if on land. Murky water can reduce how far you can see even farther. Using the Underwater Vision Mastery allows you to see underwater as if you had normal vision.
