Praxis System

Last Updated: 2020-01-10

The Praxis storytelling system and tools provided below are for the purposes of running a role playing game online or in person. This is a living document with additional revisions, content, and balancing occurring regularly.

Introduction

The Praxis system was inspired by my experiences playing a variety of tabletop role playing games using multiple systems. It shares many concepts and conceits which will be familiar to any tabletop role-player.

Praxis is intended to facilitate an experience focused on character, narrative, and ‘theatre of the mind’ style gameplay. The focus of the game is on collaborative creation of a story with the associated mechanics designed to lend additional weight to character over luck, and facilitate a non-binary range of failure and success, and encourage quick resolution of actions.

Author’s Note: This system is generic enough to be used in any setting, but the rules below assume the use of the Aeldos setting and its specific mix of technology and the arcane. World specific content that would require consideration or modification for games run in settings other than Aeldos include Cultures, Species, Advanced Callings, and Technology.

Primer

What’s all this then? Game system? Narrative? Storytelling? If you’re not sure what any of this means here’s the short version: This document is meant to support a Storytelling Game; a game where a group of people tell a story, or more precisely, a story which uses game systems and rules to introduce chance, risk, complexity, and drama. In this form of collaborative story each player portrays a character with one player taking on the special role of Storyteller. Where most players represent only one character and their focus is on their character’s actions, the Storyteller provides everything else needed by the story. They provide additional structure by depicting the rest of the world, its characters, and its opportunities and by confronting the other players with challenges, secondary characters, and narrative elements. The Storyteller also adjudicates the rules, using the structure and tools provided in this document.

So a tabletop role-playing game then, like Dungeons and Dragons?
Yes and no. Dungeons and Dragons serves a specific style of gameplay; map-based, tactically combat oriented, and with a class and rule focus. Praxis uses similar concepts but consideration has been given to helping facilitate both a more streamlined narrative experience and a broader character creation system as well as the tools necessary for a Storyteller to facilitate this style of play.

What’s the Aeldos setting then?
Aeldos is a fictional world and Praxis is the system used to create stories in that world. This website is used for hosting content about both. Aeldos is a mixed genre setting using both science fiction and fantasy concepts with its own history, cultures, species, and technologies.

This document consists of the following sections:

• Structure: This section describes the basic structure of the game and some key rules.
• Character: This section describes the features of a Praxis character as well as the process for creating a character and links to resources relevant for the Aeldos game setting.
• Rules and Tools: This section provides useful tools and rulings and meant to help create and adjudicate narrative challenges.
• Storyteller Resources: This section provides resources to help a Storyteller run a Praxis game.

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Structure

The Praxis system is built to serve a narrative game loop. This loop is the fundamental structure by which the game progresses and is as follows:

Scene > Response > Challenge > Scene > …

Scene

The Storyteller provides a rich description of a Scene including the environment, characters, and other details.

• Scenes may include direct or indirect Challenges that the characters must overcome.
• Challenges are things like searching a room, convincing a bartender to provide information, picking a lock, intimidating an enemy, or winning a fight.
• Scenes with Challenges should advance the development of the characters or the story.
• Scenes without Challenges are opportunities for the characters to rest, interact, pursue their interests, and for the players to introduce their own challenges.

Response

Once the Storyteller has provided the scene description the players Respond by asking Questions or describing Actions their characters would like to do.

Questions are used to flesh out the details of a scene which may have been forgotten or which are important to a specific character. Example questions might be general such as “What’s the weather like?” or “Do any of the patrons of the bar look particularly troublesome?”, or character specific such as “Do I see anything different with my low light vision?” or “Do any of the characters react differently to me being a quasihuman?”

Actions are things a character does. Example Actions might be specific such as “I climb the cliff face”, “I begin to make camp”, or “I throw a chair into the brawl.” or they might be broader such as “I want to find out who the snitch is” or “I want to help everyone else get up the cliff.”
It is important that Actions are not mechanical. The player does not say “I would like to use X skills”. Instead the player should specify what their character is doing or wants to achieve. The focus of the game should not be on the dice or the rules but the collective story you’re telling. Think of mechanics as a useful tool for resolving Challenges that occur as part of the narrative.

Challenge

A Challenge represents a character attempting to do something with the potential for meaningful failure. These might be prompted by the Storyteller for example when an adversary such as a creature or enemy attacks the characters or a non-player character takes actions in opposition to the characters, but they can also be prompted by Questions and Actions. For example:

• The Question “Do I see anything out of place?” might prompt a Perception challenge
• The Action of “Climbing a sheer cliff” might prompt a Climbing challenge
• The Action of “Finding the snitch” might prompt an Investigation challenge.

To determine whether the character succeeds or fails the Challenge the player must make an Action Roll. This is called Resolving an challenge and this is where the Mechanics come in.

Mechanics

Praxis uses an additive dice mechanic for its resolution system. Players roll 2d10 and add the values of the dice plus additional values based on their character’s key traits. The result is compared against a challenge difficulty determined either by an opposed roll (OR) or a storyteller determined value (SDV)

Action Roll

Whenever a character attempts to do something that has the potential for meaningful failure the Storyteller will request an Action Roll. An Action roll consists of a relevant combination of Aspects and Skills the characters action in regards to a challenge. Aspects are a characters innate capabilities and Skills represent experience, training, and knowledge, both of which are described below. This might be Power + Athletics for a Climbing challenge or Personality + Socialize for a Persuasion challenge

The player or Storyteller may also identify additional character features might modify the roll. These can include bonuses derived from Traits, Callings, Species Features, or Equipment and which add to the characters chance of success and/or penalties such as flaws, injuries, or other negative conditions. The Storyteller can also choose to assign additional modifiers to the roll due to creative or entertaining approaches to a problem or penalties due to environment or circumstance.

Alternate Approaches

There are usually multiple ways to complete an action and depending on the description the Storyteller may choose to provide options. For example, a character facing the Social challenge of trying to discern truth from lies might make an Intuition + Socialize to detect clues of dishonesty or they might make a Personality + Socialize instead, intending to prompt the target to reveal their dishonesty, or a character trying to parse an unfamiliar technological interface might make an Intellect + Technology to use their previous experience and understanding of such devices to understand it, or they might make an Intuition + Observation instead to try and interpret the design language of the interface. If a player believes they may have a specific or alternate approach they are encouraged to suggest how their action might use alternate Aspects and Skills to overcome the challenge. Creative problem solving should be rewarded but the final decision on what features are relevant to the roll is up to the Storyteller.

Once the modifiers are decided the player then rolls 2d10 and adds up the results.

The effect of the Action Roll and the outcome of the challenge are determined by the Storyteller based on the Difficulty.

Types of Action

There are three broad types of action:

Simple Action: Simple actions are where the outcome can or must be determined with a single roll of the dice (Short Climb, Lift Gate, Hit Enemy, Pick Lock under Threat). These are typically actions under an immediate time constraint.

Extended Action: At the Storyteller’s discretion a character can retry an action until they get it right. Examples include Picking a lockbox lock, Searching quiet area, or drawing a map for a long journey. This is called an extended action. Players can make multiple Action Rolls but each one represents at least ten minutes spent on the task. So long as they are not meaningfully interrupted the character gains a +1 for each subsequent Action roll to the task, up to a maximum of 5 until they are able to succeed, are interrupted by other events, or give up. Extended Actions are for when timing is a relevant consideration; where losing 10 minutes of time increases the risk of a negative consequence. Picking a lock on the route of a guard patrol, or trying to locate a hidden entrance before an ally is killed. If time isn’t an issue, 10 minutes won’t make a difference, and at least one of the player characters is skilled in a task it’s not necessary to trigger a roll.

Complex Action: Complex actions are where the outcome depends on a series of successful checks with different skills over a longer period of time. (Craft Armour, Research Lore, Investigate Gang, Follow Trail). Complex actions are extended and sequential activities that take several days or weeks to complete. These are typically unopposed but difficult and the ST determines the stages or elements and assigns a difficulty to each. The task is only complete once all of these are successfully passed. Complex actions can be broken up and tackled by a group with each group member proficient in the task contributing a +1 to the rolls of all other members.

Automatic Success and Actions

If a character is skilled at a task and there’s no risk for an action, don’t roll. It’s alright to assume simple actions by skilled characters with ample time succeed and unproductive to drag the pace of the game down with unnecessary rolls.

Difficulty

Difficulty is the target against which success or failure of Challenge is judged. Difficulty can be set in several ways:

• By the storyteller directly where the difficulty is fixed and known. E.g. Picking a lock without distraction.
• Against a roll defined by the storyteller where a challenge is highly random or defined by dynamic elements E.g. Running through a crowded square.
• Against an opposing roll from another player or non-player character who is competing with or defending themselves against the character. E.g. Attempting to strike an opponent.

The more a player’s roll exceeds a target or opposing roll, the more successful the action. Conversely, the lower a roll in comparison to the target or opponent, the less successful.

The scale of success is provided below. This scale can be used to calibrate the difficulty of a Challenge.

Order of Operations

Action resolution works as follows.

1. Player declares an Action that has some risk of failure,
2. Storyteller requests an Action Roll and specifies the relevant character features,
3. Player accepts the Action Roll as is, OR cites additional bonuses they want to use, OR specifies an alternate approach that uses alternate character features,
4. Storyteller and Player agree on a roll and the Storyteller assigns any additional modifiers based on the players description of the action.
5. Player rolls 2d10 and adds the bonuses from the specified features.
6. Storyteller compares the result to the Difficulty for an unopposed roll or makes their own opposing roll and determines the degree of success or failure.
7. Storyteller describes the outcome of the Action.

Example of Play

Zila, Fleet, Marcus, and Haevian are investigating a ruin that has been marked off limits by the Ossandrian Legion. They come across a blocked entrance filled with heavy Orick debris. Marcus wants to move the debris so they can continue. The Orick is heavy so moving it is a difficult physical Challenge (Target 18). The storyteller calls for an action roll using Power + Athletics. Marcus’ player rolls 2d10 (result 12) and adds their ranks in Power (3) and Athletics (3) to get the result +6. Marcus also has a Focus Skill of ‘Heavy Labour’ (1) and can add this for a final result of 12+7 = 19. Marcus easily shifts the debris.
Unfortunately, moving the debris was not quiet and has drawn the attention of a nearby Legion patrol and as the group tries to enter the building to avoid the patrol they find the door is locked. Zila wants to pick the lock before the patrol finds them. The lock is not conventional and uses old Urul technology and so is difficult (Target 17). The storyteller calls for an action roll using Grace + Technology but Zila’s player proposes using her Larceny, explaining that Zila’s focus is on circumventing the mechanical elements and weaknesses of the lock rather than the electronics. The storyteller agrees that this is possible and notes that the mechanism itself is quite old and worn reducing the difficulty (Target 16). Zila’s player rolls 2d10 (result 9) and adds their ranks in Grace (2) , Larceny (3) and their focus in Lockpicking (2) for a result of +7. Zila also has a masterwork set of lockpicking tools which grant a +1 to the roll for a total bonus of +8 and a final result of 9+8 = 17. The lock opens but because it is only 1 above the target not before the Legion patrol rounds the corner.
While Zila works on the lock, Haevian and Fleet prepare themselves for the approaching patrol, hiding in the shadowy rubble of the ruin. The Storyteller calls for a Grace + Stealth check from both to determine the difficulty for anyone trying to spot them.
Fleet rolls 17 and adds her Grace (+3) and Stealth (+3) for a result of 23. She is adept at finding a nook and melding into the shadows.
Haevian rolls a 10 and adds his Grace (+1) and Stealth (+2). His heavy armour also imposes a penalty of -2 to the roll, for a final result of 11. It’s hard to hide in full plate.
The patrol rounds the corner and rolls a Perception to spot the hiding characters. Fortunately they roll a critical failure. The Storyteller describes how the patrol is bickering about the quality of last nights meal and are entirely oblivious to the crew.
With the patrol gone and the door unlocked the group proceeds further into the ruin.

Advanced Bonuses

Not all modifiers add or subtract to the result. Species features, Callings, Abilities, Traits, and Equipment can grant less straightforward bonuses or penalties through alternate dice mechanics.
Example of alternate dice mechanics:
3d10H: Roll 3d10 and take the two highest.
3d10L: Roll 3d10 and take the two lowest.

Ties

In combat, ties go to the defender. In all other scenarios ties should go to the player character but come with some minor complication.

Choosing Failure

Sometimes it’s more entertaining to fail than it is to succeed. Players who make the story more interesting by choosing to fail a roll of consequence they might otherwise succeed should be rewarded in some manner. Depending on the seriousness of the consequences of failure the Storyteller is encouraged to give out Plot Points, Experience, or a more temporary bonus to a subsequent roll.

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Initiative

Initiative is the term used to determine a characters relative position in the ordered series of actions taken by multiple characters, creatures, or events. It’s only necessary to use initiative if it truly matters which order actions occur in such as chases, fights, and other high tension scenes.

When the Storyteller calls for Initiative they are indicating that there is a competition to act first that may have a meaningful impact on the narrative. When this happens the narrative slows down and each player and the Storyteller act in turn, with each turn representing 6 seconds of time.

To create an initiative order every player and the Storyteller must roll 1d10 and add the value to their character’s Reaction. A higher initiative represents a character able to act sooner than others, while a lower initiative represents acting later.

Simultaneous Initiative

If two characters land in the same slot in the Initiative order the one with the higher Reaction goes first. If both characters have the same Reaction reroll to determine who goes first within the turn.

Delayed Action

A character can choose to delay their reaction, seeking a more opportune time to act. To do so, on their turn the player must declare their intent to delay the action until a specific condition is met. This could be “I delay until Randulf draws his sword” or “I delay until I have a clear line of sight on the target”. Once the condition is met the character can act and is assumed to act after the condition has been met. The character assumes this new place in the Initiative order for the following round. If the condition is not met they lose their turn waiting. When declaring a condition the player does not have to specify an action.

Examples

• If the condition were “I wait until Shenn starts moving” and Shenn intended to move and then attack the character would preempt her action.
• If the condition were “I wait until Gota is occupied” and Gota attacks another character the character would go after.
• If the condition were “I wait until Coran has moved into the doorway” and Coran intended to throw a bomb and then move through the doorway the character would go after.

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Character

Features

Characters are composed of the following features:

• Aspects: The fundamental features and attributes of a character.
• Broad Skills: The general learned abilities of the character.
• Focus Skills: Highly specific areas of skill.
• Derived Features: Key character features derived from combining other features.
• Traits: Singular or progressive character customization’s such as advantages, callings, and specializations.

Aspect and Skill Scale

Aspect value ranges are based on a human average of 0.

#	Ability Term	Skill Term
-5	Incapable	N/A
-4	Terrible	N/A
-3	Bad	N/A
-2	Poor	N/A
-1	Hindered	N/A
0	Average	Aware but unpractised
1	Good	Trained with limited practice
2	Proficient	Trained and practiced
3	Excellent	Well versed and experienced
4	Amazing	Experienced master of subject
5	Perfect	Apex of human skill / renowned
6	Superhuman	Beyond natural human ability

Aspects

Each character has Aspects which define their fundamental physical, mental, and social capabilities. The human average for Aspects is zero but any specific person can have between -5 to +5 ranks in a given Aspect, representing the full range of human capacity. Each [[Culture]] values one Aspect in particular, granting members of that culture a 1 point bonus to that Aspect at character creation. Some Quasihuman species also gain bonuses or penalties to specific Aspects. See the Character Creation section for more information.

Aspect	Application	Usage Examples
Power	Strength, Stamina, Physical Resilience	Bend, Break, Carry, Climb, Drag, Lift, Open, Persist, Push
Grace	Agility, Dexterity, Physical Control	Balance, Control, Dodge, Escape, Leap, Maneuver, Steal, Tie
Intellect	Reasoning, Logic, Memory, Knowledge	Analyze, Associate, Communicate, Deduce, Identify, Recall
Intuition	Wits, Senses, Wisdom	Perceive, Discern, Guess, Spot, Track, React
Personality	Charm, Charisma, Social Capability	Act, Advise, Influence, Lie, Perform, Persuade
Appearance	Physical Attractiveness, Impression	Distract, Entertain, Impress, Seduce
Will	Mental Fortitude, Spiritual Potency	Endure, Resist, Wield Abilities

Skills

There are two types of skills: Broad, and Focus. Characters can have between 0 and 5 ranks in a given Skill. The higher the rank, the better the character is at that particular skill. Each Culture values certain Skills in particular, granting members of that culture a 1 point bonus to that Broad Skill at character creation. Quasihuman characters do not get a bonus to a skill but they do find certain skills easier or harder to learn. See the Character Creation section for more information.

Broad Skill	Description	Focus Area	Example Focus Skills
Animal Handling	Communication and care of animals	Species	Felines, Vulpines, Primates
Athletics	Running, climbing, swimming, jumping	Action	Run, Climb, Swim, Jump, Throw
Combat	Martial and tactical competence	Weapon	Dagger, Sword, Bow, Hammer
Craft	Tinkering, engineering and general creative ability	Field	Weapons, Armour, Clothes, Scribing
Concentration	Trained focus and ability to block out distraction
Investigation	Identification of evidence, clues, and pursuit of leads	Locale	Urban, Rural
Larceny	Ability to defy locks, pick pockets, and commit crimes	Field	Lockpicking, Pickpocketing
Languages	Number and proficiency with languages (3,5,7,10,14)	Families	Cyphers, Dead Languages, Machine Code, Sign Language
Lore	History, politics, mythology, geography, etc	Area of Study	History, Politics, Mythology, Geography
Medicine	Anatomy, healing, herbalism, first aid	Area of Study	First aid, Herbalism, Surgery, Anatomy
Mercantile	Identification of items and their value	Field	Trade goods, Equipment, Gems
Observation	Perception, listening, spotting
Performance	Public oration or demonstrations of skill	Instrument	Oration, Lyre, Drum, Singing
Socialize	Social manipulation and interaction	Action	Lying, Persuasion, Intimidation, Flattery
Stealth	Avoiding detection	Environment	City, Forest, Plains, Mountain, Desert, Night
Survival	Hunting, foraging, avoiding hazards, finding shelter	Environment	City, Forest, Plains, Mountain, Desert
Technology	Understanding of complex devices and construction	Tech	Repair, Luminar, Canna, Artilects, First Age Security
Travel	Riding, driving, sailing, piloting, navigating	Method, Other	Ride, Drive, Sail, Pilot, Navigate, Secret Paths

Languages

Languages, like all other skills, take time and effort to learn. However, unlike other skills, languages are used pervasively, generally without the need to roll a skill check. As a result, the Language skill represents the characters multi-lingual capacity as much as their ability to interpret other languages.

Culture Languages and Common

All characters speak their Culture Language (the dominant language of their originating culture) as well as Common unless they take the [[Flaw]] ‘Isolate’. Common is an ancient and pervasive trade language that finds every day use in markets, taverns, and wayhouses across the world. These first two languages do not take up language slots and do not require a roll to understand as the character is assumed to be fluent in both.

List of Languages

Language	Culture	Description
Argot	Any	‘Rogues common’, Argot takes from multiple languages and makes broad and significant phonological changes. It is used primarily by criminals.
Clatter	Any	Extremely difficult language used by machines. Humans who can speak it are rare and often only know enough to trigger key functional responses.
Common	Any	Derived from Urul, this is the common language of Ossandria, Selene, and much of Victra and a trade language everywhere else.
Eono	Mujin	Common language spoken by most Mujinese.
High Ossandrian	Ossandria	Formal and political language of the ruling military class of Ossandria.
Iayath	Victran	Alternately, ‘Low Victran’, this is spoken by the lower classes of Victra.
Itanen	East Svertheim	Language spoken in the east of Svertheim and parts of Lux.
Kadath	None	Special and intentionally constructed language spoken by [[Kadesch]].
Kogo	Mujin	Archaic, formal, and typically ceremonial language spoken in Mujin.
Netil	Nehep	Dominant language spoken across Nehep, with minor regional variations.
Reu	Lux	Dominant language spoken across southern and central Lux.
Svan	West Svertheim	Language spoken in much of Vandar and western Svertheim.
Urul	None	Ancient and largely lost language of the Urul Imperium, found in many ruins.
Vaiar	Granden	Language spoken in Granden and southern Vandar and which evolved out of Svan.
Volee	Subin	Language spoken on the isle of Subin and in the south of Nehep.
Vort	Tollam	Guttural language spoken by the Tollam of the South.
Whistleshape	Bellator	Extremely difficult vocal and physical language of the Bellatori. Humans who can speak it are rare and complex phrases are physically impossible for them to generate.

Sign Language

Derived Features

While other character features such as Aspects, Skills, and Traits are purchased, Derived Features are obtained by adding specific core features together.

Awareness

Awareness (Intuition + Observation) is used when the character is not paying attention to a particular situation, being immersed in conversation, combat, construction or some other focused or distracting task. A low Awareness means the character is easily distracted, while a high awareness means the character is extremely observant, even while undertaking other tasks. Awareness is used in active Perception checks (2d10 + Awareness) which represent a character actively observing their surroundings without distraction.

Reaction

Reaction (Grace + Intuition) is used when the character is not actively aware of a threat and represents a characters reflexes. A character uses their reaction against Traps and Area attacks. A low Reaction means a character is clumsy and slow to respond to danger. A high Reaction means the character has sharp reflexes and is unlikely to be caught off guard.

Impression

Impression (Personality + Appearance) represents the innate social charm and appeal of the character. This feature is used by the Storyteller to determine the initial disposition of NPCs toward’s the character. For more information on disposition please see the [[Storyteller]] section.

Slots

(Optional System)
Slots (Fortitude + 12) represent how much equipment or gear a character can carry. [[Inventory and Slots System is Work in Progress]]

Combat Features

Basic Attack: (Power or Grace + Combat + Weapon Focus)
Basic Defense: (Power or Grace + Combat + Parry or Dodge Focus)
Weapon Damage: (Weapon Damage + 1/2 the spread of contested attack/defense roll)

Moves

(Optional System)
Moves ((Grace + Power + Athletics)/3) represent how far a character can move in an action round. All characters have a minimum of 1 move. For more information on movement please see the [[Movement]] section.

Fortitude

Fortitude (Power + Will) represents a characters physical endurance and hardiness. It is used in determining how much damage a character can take and when resisting the physical effects of illness and poison.

Resilience (Intellect + Will) represents a characters mental endurance and determination. It is used to determine how much stress a character can endure and when resisting stress effects such as fear, panic, and domination.

Condition Pools

A characters physical and mental condition are represented as two Pools of Health and Stress points. The Health pool is depleted when a character takes Wounds and the Stress pool is depleted by the use of special abilities or when the character suffers fatigue, horror, violence, and pain. Health and Stress pools are refilled passively through rest or can be actively recovered with certain technologies or abilities.

At 50% of Pool or Lower all characters suffer Penalty (Will – 4, with a Minimum penalty of -1). If both pools are below 50% the Penalty is increased by 1

Condition Pools Reference Table

	Health	Stress
Derived	Fortitude (Power + Will)	Resilience (Intellect + Will)
Condition Pool	Fortitude + Species Value	Resilience + Species Value
Recovery	Power per Week (Minimum 1) + Traits	Will per Day

Rules and Tools

Health, Damage, and Injuries

Each character has a health pool that is based on a combination of their Fortitude [Power + Will] plus a base species value. This represents how resilient the character is to both wounds and injury.

• Damage represents cuts, bruises, and other wounds to the body that do not impede the character’s general ability to act individually but can have a cumulative effect, wearing away the characters health pool.
• Injuries represent a more serious sort of damage such as broken bones, concussions, and amputations that have long term or permanent consequences for the character.

When a character suffers damage through combat, environmental conditions, illness, or other means, deduct points form their health pool. The amount of health deducted is determined by the source such as combat, falls, heat, or cold minus any mitigating factors such as armour, relevant skill, or specialist gear. Some examples are provided below but are by no means complete or authoritative and alternate formulae may be useful or appropriate.

Combat

Damage sustained in combat is based on the weapon + 1/2 the difference between quality of attack and defense (spread) minus the soak value of any armour, worn or intrinsic to the character.

Bleeding

While most wounds inflict some superficial amount of bleeding, deep or particularly skillfully inflicted wounds are much more dangerous and inflict the Bleeding status. Characters who are Bleeding take 1 point of unsoakable damage per round until they are treated with a successful Medical check at difficulty 17. Such wounds can be reopened on critical failures or if a character is subsequently reduced below 1/2 of their health pool.

Falls

Unexpected: Characters free falling onto a hard surface take 1 damage per meter fallen after the first 2 meters, minus the higher of the character’s Grace or Power (minimum 0). This represents a characters ability to soak the forces of the fall with their agility or endure them with their might. Characters with a 1 or higher in athletics can further mitigate the damage of the fall with a Grace + Athletics check vs. a difficulty of 16+1 per 5 meters fallen. Failure means the character takes normal damage minus soak but on a success the character can double their Grace or Power soak. Note that this mechanic is meant to apply to free falls from height, such as off a roof, horse, ledge, or airship. Trips or falls from a standing position such as in combat trigger their own wound mechanics.
Prepared: Characters intentionally jumping down or attempting an athletics check gain the benefit of preparation and can add their Athletics to their soak (e.g., higher of power or grace + athletics)
Soft: If the character is falling on a soft surface such as water or some other liquid all soak values are combined and doubled. (E.g. A character with Grace 3 and Power 1 can soak 4×2 or 8 meters (26ft) of fall damage base and 16 m with a successful Grace + Athletics. A character with Grace 3, Power 1, and Athletics 2 can soak 6×2 or 12 meters of fall damage base and 24m with a successful check.)
Breaking Bones: If the unmodified damage of a fall would exceed 1/2 the characters health pool roll 1d10. On a 1 or 10 the character gets a break injury.

Crushing

Characters caught under falling debris or heavy objects suffer damage determined by the storyteller based on the size, materials, and circumstances. Damage can range from 1d10 for small pliable objects to 10d10 for huge objects such as boulders or trames. If there’s sufficient room to manoeuvre and warning a character may be allowed to make a Reaction check (Grace + Intuition) to respond in time and a dodge check to avoid being crushed. Depending on the circumstances this either avoids or mitigates the amount of damage taken and armour soak can be applied but this is at storyteller discretion.

Heat

At apparent temperatures above 40C (105F) characters suffer 1 damage in Hyperthermia each day, minus any soak provided by protective gear or shelter, or other cooling. The amount of damage is increased by 1 for every 20 degrees above 40C.
Heat Exhaustion: Major exertion in heat such as combat, climbing, or running is difficult. At the beginning of each day in the heat make a Fortitude check vs 16+1 per 20 degrees C. If the character succeeds they endure the heat but if they fail they suffer a -3 penalty on all such activities for the day.

Cold

At apparent temperatures below 0C (32F) characters without sufficient garb suffer 1 damage in Hypothermia each day, minus any soak provided by protective gear, shelter, or other heating. The amount of damage is increased by 1 for every 10 degrees below 0C
Frostbite: Each day spent in cold temperature with exposed or wet skin brings the risk of frostbite. At the end of each day in the cold make a Fortitude check vs 16+1 per -10 degrees C. If the character succeeds then nothing happens but if they fail they have frostbite and suffer an additional point of damage. For each day spent without mitigation the character is at risk of tissue necrosis with cheeks, nose, fingers, toes, and ears most susceptible. Roll 1d10 and consul the chart to see what extremity is affected. If this issue is not treated with a Medical check at difficulty 16 the extremity becomes gangrenous and is now an injury that imposes a relevant penalty (e.g. Grace, Appearance, or Perception)
Extreme Cold: At temperatures below -30 characters without sufficient garb must do the above checks every hour.

Result	Body Part
1	No effect
2	Left hand fingers
3	Left foot toes
4	Left ear
5	Nose
6	Right ear
7	Cheeks
8	Right foot toes
9	Right hand fingers
10	No effect

Dehydration

Characters can go without water for a number of days equal to 1/2 their Fortitude. At the beginning of each day a character goes without water after this point they must roll a Fortitude check vs. 15+2 per additional day without water. If the character succeeds they endure but take 1 point of unsoakable damage. If the character fails they take 3 points of damage and suffer a -3 penalty to all activities for the day.

Starvation

At the end of a week without any food and every week thereafter a character must make a Fortitude check vs. difficulty 17. If the character succeeds they endure the hunger and suffer only a -1 penalty to actions, however if they fail they enter a progressive decline outlined in the following chart.
Each week the character eats sufficient food they ascend the chart.
Each week they eat insufficient food they remain in the current state.
Each week they do not eat any food they descend to the next phase.

Stage	Effect
Phase 1	-3 to actions
Phase 2	-5 to all actions, 1/2 health damage
Phase 3	-10 to all actions, reduced to 1 health
Marasmus / Death	Every day roll 1d10. On anything but a 10 the character dies of cardiac arrest

Note: Tamaa can survive without food by feeding on emotions. When starved of both they do not suffer the penalties above but instead progress towards a feral state.

Fire

Fire deals 1d10 stress and 1/2 that in damage per round and cannot be soaked but can be extinguished by dedicating a round to a Grace + Athletics or Survival check vs. a difficulty of 14 or by fully submerging oneself in water, dirt, or some other non-flammable substance. Alchemists fire deals 1d10 stress and damage and requires a check at difficulty 18 to put out as even submersion does not quell such a cruel substance.

Breathing

Characters can hold their breath for 1/2 of Fortitude squared and rounded in minutes (see Chart below). Characters take 3d10 dmg each round they spend submerged after this. Each time a character is wounded or engages in serious exertion while holding their breath the length of time is halved.

Fortitude	Duration
1	2 minutes
2	5 minutes
3	10 minutes
4	15 minutes
5	20 minutes
6	35 minutes
7	50 minutes
8	65 minutes
9	80 minutes
10	100 minutes

Acid

Acids do damage according to potency.

Illness or Poison

The damage value of the condition minus 1/2 of Fortitude.

Getting Hurt

Once a character has lost 1/2 their health pool they suffer a -3 penalty to all actions and the number of attacks they can make per round is halved.

Falling and Persisting

Once a character has lost all of their health pool they have a choice:
Fall: The character succumbs to their wounds and either falls unconscious or is otherwise unable to engage in actions. Fallen characters cannot fight, move, defend themselves, or speak at more than a whisper and remain in this state for 1d10+Fortitude rounds (Fortitude Clock). If a Fallen character is not stabilized by a character with at least 1 in Medicine in this time they enter the dying status. If the character takes additional damage in this state they immediately enter dying status. One benefit of falling is that most enemies will turn their attention away from a fallen foe to focus on more imminent threats… though not always.
Persist: The character can make a Power + Will check to remain conscious and continue acting. The base difficulty for this check is 18 and is not penalized by their -5 action penalty. On a success the character can act but suffers a -5 penalty and can only take 1 action per turn. A critical failure on this roll means the character falls unconscious, takes an additional point of damage, and immediately enters the dying status. A critical success on this roll means the character recovers 1 health; if this brings the character above zero they recover and can act normally. Each subsequent round spent with no health pool the character must roll again to Persist. The penalty to this roll increases by 1 each round until they finally succumb to their wounds or get a critical success. Each time a character sustains additional wounds during this period they can choose to Fall or Persist but the penalty to their Persist check increases by 1.

Dying

Characters enter Dying status after losing their entire health pool and either failing a Persist check, or choosing to Fall and running out their Fortitude clock. Characters who are dying and have exhausted their Fortitude clock must succeed in a Fortitude check at a difficulty of 18. If they fail this check the character has died. If they succeed they gain another round but must make a check at 18+1 on their next turn. If they fail the character has died. This proceeds until either the character is stabilized or they fail a check. Dying characters are disabled and cannot typically self-stabilize.

Excess Damage / Below Zero

Characters can take more damage than they have available in their Health Pool and excess damage is expressed in negative values. Negative values need to be healed via technical or arcane intervention before a character can recover and take actions again.

Massive Damage

Characters suffering their entire Health Pool in damage in a single round die immediately. Only extraordinary circumstances or abilities such as Tamaa regeneration can prevent such an outcome.

Death Blow

A character in Fallen or Dying status can be killed with a death blow. These are rolled attacks but only fail on a critical failure or if intercepted by other means. A dying character cannot defend themselves but an ally might.

Injuries

These can occur when a character badly misses during a defense or experiences a critical failure on a physical skill check. These are typically broken bones, concussions, dislocated joints and other serious but not terminal trauma. A character suffers an injury any time they roll a critical failure (a result of 2 on 2d10, 1% chance) and would take more than 1/2 their health capacity as a result. For example, a character with a health pool of 8 who rolled 2 and took 4 damage for any reason as a result would acquire an injury dependent on how they suffered that damage (e.g. a broken bone from a fall, a bleeding wound from a blade) Injuries take special care to heal; someone with at least 1 point in the medicine broad skill must roll an Intellect + Medicine (+ any relevant focus skills) and achieve a result of 15 or higher to allow the injury to start healing. This represents setting the bone, stitching the wound, or relocating the dislocated joint. The injury heals according to the chart below only after treatment has occurred.

Grievous injuries can also occur in the form of burns, amputation or internal bleeding. This more severe form of injury only occurs when the character both critically fails and suffers an amount of damage equal to their health pool in a single act. Grievous injuries require additional care to mend; Someone with at least 3 points in the medicine broad skill must roll an Intellect + Medicine (+ any relevant focus skills) and achieve a result of 18 or higher to allow the injury to start healing.

Status Conditions

There are several conditions with specific mechanical effects. A vicious wound that won’t stop bleeding, a blow to the head that numbs the senses,

Status	Effect
Bleeding	-1 health per round until healed
Concussed	-3 to all Intellect related rolls for 1d10 hours
Dazed	Will check vs. Target 11 to take multiple actions
Disabled	Affected limb is unusable until healed
Out of the Fight	The character requires immediate medical attention
Poisoned	Varies according to poison
Stunned	The character loses their next action
Winded	Will check vs. Target 11 to run

Stress

Just as Health represents a characters capacity to endure physical injury Stress represents their capacity to endure mental fatigue. Stress measures a character’s capacity to absorb and cope with disturbance originating from fatigue, horror, violence, and pain.
Each character has a maximum stress threshold based on their Will and Intellect. This represents both their ability to both rationalize their emotional states and endure them.
The formula for determining Stress threshold is as follows:
Base of 10 + Intellect + Will + Relevant Traits
For each point of damage a character takes they also take 1 point of stress, but stress also accumulates from other sources as well; witnessing horrific violence or its after effects, encountering inhuman foes, going without sleep or food for significant periods of time, dealing with the arcane, all can inflict stress. Many arcane abilities also require the wielder to take stress as they fight to bend reality to their will.
As a character’s stress increases this may impact their ability to fight and perform skills. The amount of stress a character can endure before taking penalties is determined by their Will. Their stress meter is broken up as follows.

Stress Bracket

All characters have three stress brackets. Normal, Stressed, and Overwhelmed.
Normal represents a character with 0-50% of their stress threshold.
Stressed represents a character with 50-100% of their stress threshold.
Overwhelmed represents a character with 100% of their stress threshold.

Stress Resistance

A character’s Will is their resistance (bonus) or vulnerability (penalty) to stress. The value of a character’s Will is subtracted from certain types of incoming stress damage the same as armour is for physical attacks. The difference is, if a character is particularly weak willed with a negative, they gain extra stress.

Stress Penalties

After a character has accumulated 50% or more of their stress threshold they become Stressed and begin to take penalties to their actions. The penalty a character suffers from stress is dependent on their Will. Characters with higher Wills suffer lower penalties than those with low or negative will. The formula for determining your Stressed penalty is as follows:
Will minus 4 with a minimum penalty of -1.
Example 1: Sarv has an average Intellect and slightly above average Will. Xyr stress threshold is 11 (10 + 0 + 1). From 0-5 points of stress xy is Normal. From 6-11 points of stress xy is Stressed and takes a penalty of -3 to all actions. When xy exceeds 11 points of stress xy must roll a Will save to continue to act.
Example 2: Intan has a high Intellect and Will. His stress threshold is 16 (10 + 3 + 3). From 0-8 points of stress he is Normal. From 8-16 points of stress he is Stressed and takes a penalty of -1 to all actions. When he exceeds 16 points of stress he must roll a Will save to continue to act.

Stress Break

Stress is essentially a measure of mental health, resilience, and sanity with the limits of that range defined by the characters Species, Will, and Intellect.
Everyone still has a breaking point though and hitting the stress limit is never a good thing. When a character exceeds their stress limit, also known as becoming overwhelmed, the character suffers some form of mental breakdown.
The first step is to determine how severe the breakdown is. Roll 2d10 + Will. If the value is above 12 the breakdown is minor. If the value is below 10 the breakdown is severe and the character gains a psychological flaw, phobia, addiction, or other negative feature.
The nature of this breakdown should be determined between the player and the storyteller and fit the situation in question.
Examples:

• The character experiences a stress break due to exposure to arcane events causing them to acquire a phobia of mysticism and arcanistry. The character now suffers a general penalty of -5 to all actions in the presence of the arcane.
• The character experiences a stress break due to injuries causing them to acquire a flaw of fugue. The character’s response the next time they hit the stress limit is to go into a non-responsive state.
• The character experiences a stress break as a result of killing people causing them to acquire the blood thirsty flaw. They can now only regain stress when they are inflicting violence on others.

Healing and Recovery

Absent active healing characters heal their Power per week at a minimum of 1*. This is assuming any severe wounds have been properly tended too with an average Medicine check.
Example: Adam has a Power of 2 and heals 2 points of damage per week. Eve has a Power of 0 and heals only 1 point of damage per week.
[Variant Rule: Healing = % of Max per day/week, modified by character features]

Assisted Healing Table

There are several methods of assisting or accelerating a the natural healing process. Regular wound care is the most common, but first age technology such as Mendikits, the Lingua Arcana, or even certain quasi-human mutations are also known to help.

Result	Unaided	Mendikit/Tentilliar	Linga, Self-Healing	Lingua, Heal-Other
2-10	Fail: 1 Dmg	0	0	Fail: 1 Dmg
10-12	0	0	1	0
13-15	0	1	2	1
16-18	0	2	3	2
19-20	1	3	4	3
21-23	1	4	5	4
23-25	2	5	6	5
26-28	2	6	7	6
29-31	3	7	8	7
32-35	N/A	8	9	8
Natural 20	5	Full -1	Full -1	Full -1

Injury Recovery Table

Recovering from injuries requires time and rest. The times below assume a character at relative ease. Characters who are traveling or in stressful circumstances may not be able to start healing until they are able to find some safety.

Injury	Effect	Recovery Time
Concussion	-1 Intuition, -1 Intellect	1 Week
Broken Bone	-1 Grace, -1 Power	3 Weeks
Dislocated Joint	-1 Grace, -1 Power	1 Week
Sprain or Tear	-1 Grace, -1 Power	1 Week
Laceration or Puncture	-1 Grace, -1 Power	2 Weeks
Amputation	-2 Power or Grace	3 Weeks, -1 Permanent
Burn	-3 Health Capacity	3 Weeks
Internal Injury	-2 Health Capacity	2 Weeks

Stress Recovery

Characters regain their Will + 2 Stress per day when Resting and their Will per day when traveling. Stress recovery can be enhanced by a variety of character specific features.
One example of this might be a religious character who recovers an additional point of stress through acts of worship. Another might be an alcoholic character recovering an additional point of stress by drinking (with the downside of taking additional stress when deprived of drink).

Combat

Combat Basics

Surprise Attack: Triggers an opposed Stealth vs. Perception. If target succeeds they get their defense. If not attacker rolls and gains bonus damage.
Initiative: All characters roll initiative to determine order of actions.
Action: On their initiative each character gets to attack and/or move. They can attempt anything that can reasonably be completed within 6 seconds. What counts as reasonable is determined by the storyteller.
Attack: Power or Grace + Combat + Focus.
Defense: All aware Melee opponents get an opportunity to defend themselves from an attack. This takes the form of an opposed roll. Power (Parry) or Grace (Dodge) + Combat + Focus.
Multi-Defense: There is a penalty for multiple identical defenses per round. This represents the difficulty of maintaining defense in the face of multiple attacks. The penalty is equal to the number of times a given defense has been used in a round -1. IE: A 2nd dodge is at -1.
Damage: Damage is determined by the quality of the hit and the quality of the weapon. Successful hits deal the base weapon damage +. For every 2 points the attack exceeds the defense the attack inflicts an additional damage. (2=1, 4=2, 6=3, 8=4, 10=5, 12=6) [Variant Rules: Damage = Weapon with bonus only for exceptional spread or via trait OR Damage = Aspect used + Weapon].
Critical Rolls: A critical success occurs when two tens are rolled. A third d10 can then be rolled and added to the value. A critical failure occurs when two ones are rolled.
Environmental Roll Modifiers: Environmental features of a battle can add bonuses or penalties. Environmental Roll Modifiers include things like high ground, outnumbered, sun position, snow, rain, fog, darkness, damaged gear, tight quarters, unsteady ground.
Armour Soak: Armour absorbs an amount of damage equal to the value indicated. An S1-B2-P3 armour soaks 1 slashing, 2 bludgeoning, or 3 piercing damage based on the attack.
Non-Lethal Combat: Unarmed attacks do 1D or 1/2 Combat + Focus. Characters can take non-lethal (NL) damage equal to their standard Health pool. NL damage regenerates at Power per round. Filling or exceeding Health pool indicates a knockout. Any NL damage over pool maximum is converted  to standard damage at 1/2 value.

Ranged Combat

Attacks made using a ranged weapon such as a Bow, Crossbow, or Canna are handled differently from melee. This is because it’s far more difficult to defend against these weapons. To determine how to treat a ranged attack, first determine the range at which the attack is occurring. For this purpose there are two types; Point Blank and At Range
Point Blank: If the target could make a melee attack against the attacker they are at Point Blank Range. Ranged attacks against Point Blank targets are treated as an opposed roll like any other. The target can attempt to either dodge the attack or parry the attacker’s weapon before they can get a proper shot off.
At Range: If the target of the attack could not make a melee attack against the attacker they are considered At Range. Characters At Range do not get a defense roll. Instead the attacker needs to make a successful check against a difficulty set by the circumstances of the shot.
An At Range attack consists of an Attack Roll (Grace + Combat + Ranged Weapon Focus) versus a difficulty determined by the Storyteller. The difficulty takes into consideration factors including the movement of the attacker and target, cover, visibility, range, weapon difficulty, method of attack, and any other penalties deemed appropriate. If the attack exceeds the difficulty it is a hit. If it ties with, or is lower than the difficulty it is a miss.

Setting the Difficulty

The following factors need to be considered to generate the difficulty of an At Range attack.
Movement: It is considerably more difficult to hit a moving target, and even more so when the attacker is moving as well. The faster both targets are moving the more difficult the shot.
Cover: Most trained combatants seek cover when arrows or bullets start flying. It is difficult to determine the exact position of a target behind good cover, particularly when the cover is substantial. Mechanically, cover both increases the difficulty to hit a target and offers a soak to any damage based on the coverage and the sturdiness of the cover. While it is difficult it is still possible to shoot through cover and the weaker the cover and the more powerful the weapon the less effective cover is as a defensive strategy. Each time a piece of cover takes more damage than its full soak the soak of the cover is reduced by one. Cover soak is in addition to any armour soak the character may already have and damage is absorbed first by the cover.
Visibility: Adverse conditions such as fog, rain, smoke, and technologies such as Light Cloaks increase the difficulty of a ranged attack.
Distance: Hitting a target at a distance other than close requires deflection or ‘leading the target’ by predicting their future location and the drift and drop of projectiles to match. The further away a target, the more skill is required to hit them. At Range targets are further broken down into Close, Medium, Long, and Extreme which are determined by the weapon being used. More powerful weapons such as Canna have longer ranges.
Skill: An unskilled shooter (a character with no relevant focus skill in the weapon) has a harder time hitting a target and the difficulty of all ranged attacks are doubled. Even a character with skill in a given weapon needs some time to become familiar with it and for the first three attacks the difficulty is increased by two.
Condition: Not all ranged weapons are made equal. Poor quality or needlessly complex weapons increase the difficulty of a shot by two.
Armour: Well designed armour is the key to surviving a ranged attack. If a shot hits the armour absorbs the amount in piercing soak.

Ranged Attack Difficulty Table

Consideration	Modifiers
Is the target moving?	Stationary 5 / Normal 10 / Sprint 12
Is the attacker moving?	Stationary 5 / Normal 10 / Sprint 12
Is the target in cover?	Partial Cover 12 / Full Cover 15
Is the target visible?	Visible 2 / Obscured 4 / Impaired 6 / Hidden 10
How far is the target?	Point Blank (Defensible), Close 0, Medium 2, Long 4, Extreme 8
What is the weapon condition?	Unfamiliar Weapon 2 / Poor Quality 2 / Complex 2
Is the attacker suffering other penalties?	Stress, Injury, Status Effects
Cover Soak	Weak(4), Adequate(6), Superior(8)

Example
Valen has trained his longbow Hartsbane on the Urpan running towards him. The beast sprints forth, spittle flying and an inhuman howl rising from its throat, but Valen is stationary, carefully drawing his breath and the arrow. The Urpan has no cover, is entirely visible, and Valen waits for him to enter medium range before firing. This makes the difficulty of the shot 21 (Valen Stationary 5 + Urpan Sprinting 12 + Visible 2 + Medium Range 2 = 21). Valen rolls a 16 + 7 (Grace 2 + Combat 3 + Archery 2) for an attack of 23. The arrow hits the target square in the chest. Hartsbane is a composite longbow and does 5 damage + 1 for the difference. The Urpan survives the blow but is gravely wounded and is now moving at a slower pace as it enters close range making the difficulty of the following shot 17. Valen rolls an 11 + 7 = 18, hitting the Urpan in the throat and it rolls to a heap at his feet. Unfortunately Valen did not see the other Urpan sneaking up from the side. He narrowly dodges a swipe and fires his bow at the new threat but it is at Point Blank and gains a defense. Valen rolls 7 + 7 to attack and the Urpan rolls a defense of 17, knocking the bow aside. Valen draws his short swords and prepares for a messy fight.

Disarm

The attacker declares they wish to disarm the target and makes a Disarm check using Grace or Power + Combat + Focus Skill: Disarm. The target of the disarm makes a normal defense check and one of the following outcomes occurs:

• If the attacker beats the defense they disarm the target, knocking their weapon out of their hands and necessitating an action to retrieve it.
• If the spread between disarm check and defense is greater than 3 the attacker has actually removed the weapon from the target and is now in possession of it.
• If the defense is successful the target maintains their weapon.
• If the spread between the disarm check and the defense is 10 or more points in the defenders favour they defend so skillfully that the attacker is disarmed, or if unarmed, they are knocked off balance (-3 to their own defense)

Note that some weapons are specially designed for disarming and add to the disarm roll while some equipment is designed to prevent disarming and can nullify this attack.

Grapple

The attacker character can make a Grapple check using 2d10 + Power. On each of the grappled character’s turns they repeat this check. The winner of this check can do one of the following:

• Inflict +1 damage with a small weapon
• Inflict 1/2 their Power in lethal damage
• Use their opponent as Full Cover against ranged attacks

Multiple Attack Actions

An attacker with sufficient skill looking to overwhelm their opponents defenses with multiple attacks in a single turn can make a barrage or multi-attack. When making a barrage the player declares their intention as well as the number of attacks they’d like to make. The player then makes one attack roll at a penalty equal to the number of attacks being made. The maximum number of attacks that can be made in a turn is equal to 1/2 the characters Combat and the Focus skill being used. For example, if a player declares a barrage of 3 they must have a Combat + Focus of 6 and take a penalty to their roll of 3. The enemy makes a number of unpenalized defence rolls equal to the number of attacks. Any defence roll that falls under the attack is a hit but if no attacks land then the attacker suffers a penalty to both their defence and attack the next round equal to the number of rolls forced on the enemy.
Multi-attack can only be used against a single target unless the character also has the Dual or Multi-wielding fighting style.
If the target is killed during a multi-attack the attack action ends; the character cannot redirect their barrage at another opponent.

Example:
Jarvy and Goud are in a knock-down drag-out fight.
Jarvy throws a flurry of blows at Goud. Jarvy’s player Nat declares “I’m doing a multi-attack with 4 attacks”. This is possible because Jarvy’s Combat + Unarmed Striking is +8. Nat rolls the attack and gets an 18 but because she made 4 attacks this gets reduced to 14 (18-4). Eli must now determine if Goud was able to avoid the attacks and rolls Goud’s defence 5 times
Roll 1: 15 = No Hit
Roll 2: 17 = No Hit
Roll 3: 11 = Hit (weapon + 1 damage)
Roll 4: 15 = No hit
Roll 5: 12 = Hit (weapon damage)
Goud is hurt but not out so he returns with a flurry of his own but only 3 attacks. Eli rolls Goud’s attack and gets 14 and reduces it to 11 for the number of attacks. Nat rolls Jarvy’s defence 3 times
Roll 1: 15 = No Hit
Roll 2: 19 = No Hit
Roll 3: 21 = No Hit and Riposte
Not only has Goud earned himself a penalty of -3 to his next round of attack and defense, Jarvy sees an opening in his flurry and can take a shot.

Mounted Combat

-3 to attack roll against un-mounted enemy, +3 damage if successful. Multiple attacks add -3 for each attack. Mounted combat penalties can be eliminated with the Cavalry trait.

Non-Lethal Combat

In less dire fights (e.g. bar brawls) every character can take an amount of non-lethal (NL) damage equal to their standard health score. Characters regenerate NL damage equal to their Power per round. A knock-out occurs when the excess successes of an attack meet or exceed the remaining NL damage. At the end of NL combat combatants convert any remaining NL damage to standard damage at ½ value.

Overwhelming Attacks and Flow

If a contested attack exceeds defense 10+ the character can make an additional attack. Additional attacks can be chained but each one must overwhelm the targets defense by 10+1 per additional attack (1st attack 10, 2nd 11, 3rd 12, and so on).

Overwhelming Defense and Riposte

If a contested defense exceeds the attack by 10+ there is the option to riposte or take an immediate action. Number of possible ripostes is the lower of Grace or Combat score.

Surprise Attack

Except in exceptional cases or where otherwise stated, attacking an unaware enemy always triggers an opposed Grace + Stealth vs. Perception check between the attacker and the target. If the target succeeds in their perception they are able to mount a defense, though they may be limited to dodging if they do not have a weapon in hand. If the target fails their perception check however, the attacker must still roll the attack. On a critical failure the attack both fails and the target gets a riposte. All other rolls are assumed to hit and bonus damage is applied as follows:

Result	Bonus Damage
2	Critical Failure
3-4	0
5-6	+1
7-8	+2
9-10	+3
11-12	+4
13-14	+5
15-16	+6
17-18	+7
19-20	+8
21-22	+9
23+	+10

Trip

As a standard attack but if successful the enemy is knocked prone rather than injured and takes a penalty on their next action equal to the spread of the trip.

Campaign Rules

Here are some rules I use for my own campaign:

• No characters directly from other settings. Taking inspiration from your favourite game, movie, or book is fine, but characters should be distinct and personal, built using the resources provided for this setting. If you need help developing a character I am glad to help.
• Characters start as average or slightly above average in skill and gain power by pursuing their goals and overcoming challenges in the course of play. A character can be called heroic in nature from the start, but becoming heroic in capability will take some time. It’s not that I’m against power fantasies or even self-insertion… it’s just not particularly interesting to read about an invincible genius supermodel single-handedly vanquishing every challenge they come across without a sweat.
• I don’t tolerate intolerance. Any out of game discussion that even hints at sexism, racism, homopobia, transphobia or other forms of discrimination is out. Only villains indulge in it. The main exception here is Ossandria; that place sort of sucks.
• Players must be mature and considerate of other players. I don’t really care what year you were born in since I’ve met plenty of 50 year old juveniles, but please show respect and courtesy to others and behave.