FEMTO v2.5 Core

FEMTO RPG

Fast and Easy Multiplayer Text Only Roleplaying Game

Second Edition Version 2.5: https://goo.gl/vsTri8 — Multiclass 2.5: https://goo.gl/SkFmDm

Rules Image: https://goo.gl/tIY3a9

# About This RPG

FEMTO RPG is a simple roleplaying system for creating and playing epic fantasy adventures. This document lays the groundwork for games using the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic universe and settings inspired by it. We’re not here to recreate the show, and we’re not trying to reskin another highly-complex RPG system, and we’re certainly not out to make money off of MLP:FIM or claim any of it as ours. We just want you to have fun

These are not unbreakable rules. Change the rules as you need for your specific campaigns, and please share any ideas you have!

# BASICS

Pick race and class, roll a ten-sided die (d10). That’s all you need to know!

# Characters at a Glance

These are the basic traits of a character in FEMTO RPG.

Name: Your identity.

Gender: Boy or girl?

Race: Each race has unique racial skills.

Class: Determines which skills you can take. Take a second class to become Multiclass.

Skills: You get 5 points to spend on skills. (3 if you are Multiclass)

Special Talent: A subject or activity you excel in.

Trained Talent: Typically a +2 bonus to one skill.

Hits/Wounds: Nonlethal/lethal damage you can take.

Weapon and/or Catalyst: How you attack or cast spells.

Character Traits: Details that make your character unique, like looks, gear, and personality.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About This RPG

BASICS

Characters at a Glance

ROLLING

Standard Rules

Successful Roll

Autocrit

Roll Modifiers

Critical

Optional Rules

Default

Supercrit

Partial Result

Unnatural Crit

RACES

Pony

Crystal — Earth — Pegasus — Unicorn

Breezie

Buffalo

Changeling

Diamond Dog

Dragon

Goat

Griffon

Minotaur

Zebra

CLASSES & SKILLS

Reading Skill Entries

Tags

Multiclasses

Cross-Class Skills

Alchemist

Bard

Cleric

Knight

Mage

Monk

Necromancer

Paladin

Rogue

Shaman

Smith

Summoner

Tracker

TALENTS

COMBAT

Damage and Helplessness

Hits and Wounds

Status Effects and Afflictions

Helplessness and Recovery

Sequence of Combat

Combat Action

Dealing Damage

Dodging

Pets and Minions

Controlling and Rolling

Enemies

Counterattack

Player vs Player

EQUIPMENT AND ITEMS

Spellcasting Catalysts

Inventory, Items, and Tools

Weapon Types

Dual Weapons

Great Weapons

Ranged

Shield

Single

Unarmed

Weapon Properties

Catalyst Weapons

Elemental Infused

Poisoned

Quality

Spellbound

Unique Items

# ROLLING

A single 10-sided die (d10) is used to resolve the success of all actions, from negotiating a conversation to landing a blow in combat. If you intend to play on a reasonably fast-paced chan-style imageboard that doesn’t have a dice function, you can use the last digit of your post number to simulate dice rolls. If you use post numbers, treat 0 as 10.

## Standard Rules

These are the standard rules that every FEMTO RPG adventure should use. You can adjust it to your liking using the Optional Rules provided in the next section, or modify them as you like to fit your campaign and players’ needs.

### Successful Roll

Every roll must meet or exceed a minimum value, known as the Difficulty Check (DC) to be counted as a success. Normally the DC value is 6+, but this can be changed in a number of ways. THe most common is through a skill, either passively changing the character’s DC or lowering the DC for others. Circumstantial changes can also adjust DC up or down; a difficult task could be 8+, while an easy one might be 3+. Some skills also have a naturally higher or lower DC to use some effects. Remember that DC is noted as the minimum value followed by a + plus symbol.

### Autocrit

Some skills can autocrit. Any successful roll with an autocrit is treated as a critical success.

### Roll Modifiers

In addition to changes to Min, specific skills, talents, and other favorable conditions can add bonuses to your roll; for example, a +1 bonus means a roll of 5 is treated as a result of 6. On the flipside, unfavorable conditions like injuries, distractions, and opposing forces can inflict penalties, subtracting from your roll. Normally, even if the modifiers change your result into a critical value, criticals occur only if the original unmodified roll landed in critical range (see Unnatural Crits). Remember that a bonus or penalty is a + plus or - minus symbol followed by the modifier.

### Critical

An unmodified roll of 1 or 10 always incurs a critical result, creating dramatic and extreme changes to your circumstances. Some skills have increased critical range and can score a critical success on 9+, or even score a critical failure on 2-. Some skills have special effects that occur on a critical roll. Criticals can only occur if the original unmodified roll landed in the critical range, and Critical Fails ignore all modifiers if the original roll was in the critical fail range.

Example rolls and corresponding minimums

|  | Easy (4+) | Normal (6+) | Difficult (8+)
| Roll of 10 | Critical Success | Critical Success | Critical Success
| 9 |  |  |
| 8 |  |  | Minimum for success
| 7 |  |  | Failure
| 6 |  | Minimum for success |
| 5 |  | Failure |
| 4 | Minimum for success |  |
| 3 | Failure |  |
| 2 |  |  |
| 1 | Critical Failure | Critical Failure | Critical Failure
| Example | Attacking a clumsy target Picking a simple lock Spellcasting without distraction | Attacking evenly matched foes Hiding in lighted areas Spellcasting in combat | Attacking while crippled Hiding on a salt flat in daylight Spellcasting while gagged, bound

## Optional Rules

Game Masters can rebalance their campaigns using these optional rules. GMs can choose to add, remove, or modify them as needed. If you are going to use Optional Rules, you should tell your players beforehand so no assumptions are made.

### Default

Default allows adventure to progress more smoothly with fewer hindrances to the players. By defaulting to the DC value, a player can automatically succeed at a task as though they had rolled the Min value. This should only be used for situations where the PCs are under no duress and are free to work on something for as long as they can (ex: exploring a nonhostile city, crafting an item, picking a lock in a secure location, etc). Players may also choose to default to critical success, but getting these kinds of results should cost them an increased amount of time and resources, and also requires the PCs to be under no duress whatsoever.

### Supercrit

GMs can include dramatic effects for certain critical rolls. Roll modifiers applied to a critical roll can amplify the effect of the critical roll beyond what a regular critical roll would incur. Successive critical rolls can also incur amplified effects. Note that these work for both critical successes and failures.

### Partial Result

For a more nuanced game, the GM can rule that successes and failures have varying intensities based on their difference to Min. For example, for a Min of 6+ a roll of 6 would mean only a partial success that had very poor results, while a roll of 8 would be a solid success; in the same situation, a roll of 5 would incur a partial failure that still accomplishes the goal at a bare minimum, a roll of 4 is a straight failure, and a 2 would be an abysmal failure without being critical to the point of backfiring on the PCs.

### Unnatural Crit

Unnatural crits dramatically alter the difficulty of a campaign, usually in the players’ favor. Roll modifiers applied to a roll count towards critical range; for example, a roll of 7 with a +3 modifier counts as a critical roll of 10. An unmodified roll of 1 is still a critical failure, and penalties can also pull rolls down into critical failure range.

# RACES

The first step to creating a character is usually choosing their race. All kinds of intelligent creatures exist in the MLP:FiM universe, and you can choose any race and class combination. Every race has a racial skill.

## Pony

Ponies are the most common and prolific race, many of them spread across the kingdom of Equestria and realms beyond. Ponies are distinct in encompassing several subtypes populating all echelons of society. A pony manifests a “cutie mark” on their flanks that symbolizes their special talents.

### Crystal

Residents and descendants of the ancient Crystal Empire, the emotions of Crystal Ponies are said to be reflected on all of Equestria.

Crystal Emotions: passive; when you roll a critical success, your rolls next turn receive a +1 bonus.

### Earth

Sturdy, tough and often big. Can move, lift, and carry heavier weights than other races.

Tough: passive; Earth ponies take 1 additional hit before becoming helpless as well as 1 extra wound once they become helpless, for a total of 6 hits and 6 wounds without other modifiers. They can also lift, carry and move heavier objects than unicorns or pegasi.

### Pegasus

Speedy and adventurous. Can fly freely when they’re not carrying too much weight.

Pegasus Flight: Pegasi can fly, and get a +1 bonus to actively evade and dodge midair. Flight is about as taxing as running at full speed.

### Unicorn

Noble and intelligent. Can levitate objects with telekinesis and cast magic.

Unicorn Catalyst: passive; a unicorn’s horn counts as a catalyst for spellcasting.

Unicorn Telekinesis: spell; manipulate objects through sheer force of will. Complex tasks and heavier objects may require more focus.

## Breezie

Small pixie-like beings, these miniscule ponies tend to hide

away in hidden villages. Despite their appearance, they have strong magic to keep themselves safe from the massive world all around.

Breezie Flight: passive; Breezies can float on the air with

their large gossamer wings. Hovering or moving through the air can be done without any effort whatsoever, however they are powerless to air currents and need to roll to fly correctly if moving against any breeze.

Tiny: passive; Breezies are tiny, never getting much bigger

than the size of a bug. This size helps to go unnoticed, giving them a DC-1 to hiding, sneaking, and other general out-of-sight rolls.

## Buffalo

Hardy desert dwellers, a buffalo's charge is as strong as

their connection to the land. They are big, lumbering things with thick muscle and bones.

Huge: instant, Recharge 4; when going helpless, make a

roll. On success you remain at 1 hit.

## Changeling

Appearing as a cross between pony and insect this race

feeds on the emotions of others and can mimic almost anything or anyone.

Changeling Flight You have thin gossamer wings which

allow you to fly unencumbered but somewhat slower than other races. This is about as taxing as running at full speed.

Shapeshifting: recharge 3; A Changeling can imitate

almost anything the same size as itself, disguising as any specific person/object on success, with higher success rolls giving better quality to the shapeshift. The disguise is removed when knocked helpless, rolling a critical failure when attacking, or when dispelled by magic. Taking the Disguise skill causes this ability to autocrit and replace Disguise. Changelings can tell each other apart via pheromones and can automatically see through any disguise you use.

## Diamond Dog

Subterranean gorilla dogs with a taste for gems.

Burrowing: Diamond dogs can dig tunnels and holes with

ease, setting traps, moving unseen and fleeing in unexpected directions.

Donkey

Similar to earth ponies in a physical sense, if somewhat

less bulky and far more stubborn.

Unbreakable Will: passive; famously stubborn, donkeys

are immune to mind control, domination, intimidation and suggestion.

## Dragon

Dragons who have not quite made it into adulthood

sometimes leave their flight for solitary adventures and to get a jump start on that horde of treasure.

Chromatic Scales: instant automatic; 3 times per combat;

At character creation choose an element type ( such as fire, ice or lightning). When you use this ability the negative side-effects of the chosen element do not affect you but you will still take damage as normal from successful attacks. This also allows you attempt feats most other races can’t (like swimming in lava with fireproof scales).

## Goat

A curious sight in the lands of ponies, some say they are

distantly related to the dread ram Grogar.

Goatcraft: passive; Min -1 for all climbing and agility rolls,

and can use anything as food, including non-food items.

## Griffon

Half eagle, half lion. Flight-capable and larger than ponies,

they can carry more weight while flying, but tire quickly when doing so.

Griffon Flight: Griffons can fly, and have a +1 bonus to

dive bomb attacks from high altitude (making such an attack ends Flight). This is about as taxing as running at full speed.

## Minotaur

Individuals from this bipedal bull-like race are ambitious,

and constantly trying to prove how “awesome” they are to others.

Show Them You Rock: Automatic Instant, recharge 5;

Force your point of view on someone else. This allows allows one verbal based skill or skill check to automatically succeed.(i.e. Bluff, Inspire).

## Zebra

Hailing from a faraway land, zebras are knowledgeable in

natural healing and shamanism. They are often regarded with suspicion by ponies.

Heightened Senses: passive; +1 to perception-based rolls

(spotting, searching, listening, etc)

# CLASSES & SKILLS

A character’s class is the archetype for their abilities and role in a world of high adventure. Characters start with five (5) Skill Points to spend on class skills. When using most skills, you must roll a dice to determine the result.

Warrior classes begin play with a weapon to utilize their skills in combat. The weapon can be any kind, and have any one weapon tag.

Spellcaster classes begin play with a catalyst of some kind to channel their spells, such as a holy symbol, fetish, wand, or power crystal. A unicorn’s horn also counts as a catalyst.

## Reading Skill Entries

Skills are constructed in the following format:

Name: tags; description

Skills have a name that identifies them, tags for a shorthand understanding of common mechanics concerning their usage, and a description giving the purpose and appropriate usage for the skill.

By default, a skill takes a normal action, and needs a roll of 6+ to succeed.

### Tags

Automatic: No roll is needed when you take this action; the skill works whenever you activate it as though you had rolled the exact DC. This skill still takes up a normal action on your turn.

Instant: This skill still requires a roll as normal, but takes up an instant action, rather than a normal one.

Once Per: This skill can be used once per given time period. Skills that are listed as once per combat may be used outside of combat, recharging at GM’s discretion.

Passive: No action or roll is needed, this skill is always in effect

Requires: This skill requires some condition to be met, such as wielding a specific weapon type. If a skill requires a weapon type, the skill is also counted as having the weapon tag.

Ranged: This skill can target distant creatures and locations that might otherwise be unreachable in addition to normal targets.

Recharge #: You must wait # combat turns after successfully activating this skill before you can attempt to activate it again. A failed roll incurs a 1 turn recharge. Skills listed with recharge may be used outside of combat, recharging at GM’s discretion

Spell: This skill requires a catalyst to be used, and may be subject to special rules for spellcasting.

Weapon: This skill requires a weapon to be used, and gains the properties of the weapon such as roll modifiers or passive effects.

## Multiclasses

You can also choose to mix two classes to create a multiclass character. A multiclass character starts with three (3) Skill Points to spend on skills from the two classes they chose, and also gains a unique title and skill depending on which two classes they chose.

While you normally only get one of the skills when making a multiclass character, the GM can also allow the player to take the second skill as well for two (2) Skill points.

For full descriptions and information, refer to this chart of multiclass descriptions and skills:

Reference grid for multiclass combinations

| Alchemist | Bard | Cleric | Knight | Mage | Monk | Necro | Paladin | Rogue | Shaman | Smith | Summoner
Tracker | Visionary | Wardancer | Pilgrim | Ranger | Omniseer | Sherpa | Dark Hunter | Inquisitor | Stalker | Monster Hunter | Pathfinder | Blind-Eye
Summoner | Scientist | Entertainer | Seraph | Bulwark | Blue Mage | Taoist | Necrolord | Prophet | Elusive | Chimera | Constructor |
Smith | Inventor | Annalist | Surgeon | Warmaster | Spellwright | Iron Fist | Soulcrafter | Gallant | Sapper | Wildshaper |  |
Shaman | Geneticist | Earthsinger | Druid | Berserker | Witch Doctor | Landkeeper | Voodoo Doctor | Wildguard | Hermit |  |  |
Rogue | Toxicologist | Trickster | Charlatan | Dark Knight | Arcane Blade | Ninja | Deathmaster | Lordblade |  |  |  |
Paladin | Hero | Warlord | Ascendant | Crusader | Battlemage | God Hand | Blackguard |  |  |  |  |
Necro | Embalmer | Deathsinger | Lifebinder | Death Knight | Warlock | Spiritualist |  |  |  |  |  |
Monk | Peace Walker | Martial Artist | Philosopher | Samurai | Mystic |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Mage | Witch | Illusionist | Thaumaturge | Spellsword |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Knight | Guardian | Troubadour | Templar |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Cleric | Pyromancer | Preacher |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Bard | Poet |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## Cross-Class Skills

These skills can be taken by any character, regardless of class. Cross-Class skills may not be suited for every class.

1 point Defense Mastery: passive; you gain +1 hit of damage to become helpless (if you had 5 hits, you now take 6 hits, etc). Can only be taken once. Energetic: passive; reduce the Recharge of one of your skills by 1. Skills at recharge 1 cannot be lowered below 1. Can only be taken once. |  | Pet Mastery: passive; you can control one additional minion. This skill can be taken multiple times to gain more minions. Unorthodox: Switch the tag of one of your skills to Spell, Weapon, Ranged, or remove the tag entirely

## Alchemist

Spellcaster. Working with all kinds of substances, Alchemists can create amazing spell-like effects from things as basic as herbs. Loaded with potions for any occasion, they are highly sought after for their versatility.

1 Point

Distill Life: recharge 2, spell; Create three Health Potions

that restores 3 hits, and on crit they also restore one wound. You may distribute freely to nearby party members at any time. Consuming a potion is an Instant Automatic. Non-Alchemists can only hold one Health Potion at a time.

Dream Wine: instant, recharge 2, spell; In combat, the crit

range for your next attack is increased by 2 (If your crit range is 10+, this makes it 8+). Can be used to show the thoughts of unconscious or sleeping beings outside of combat..

Cast Mold: Forge a fake duplicate of an item with plaster,

iron, or whatever is available.

Alchemist Fire: recharge 1, spell, ranged; Concoct a

flame that produces virulent smoke and can latch onto anything, even water. In addition to damage it gives +1 to skills against that target for the next turn.

Revolving Drum: passive; When you critically hit, your

next spell is Instant.

2 Points

Lightning Grease: passive; When you successfully roll to

stand up from helplessness, you may take an additional standard action.

Spring Brew: recharge 2, spell; A bouncy drink that lets

you jump on top of an enemy and back in seconds, dealing damage, and reduce the recharge of one of your recharging skills by 1.

2 Points

Acid Spray: recharge 4, spell; Deal damage to all

enemies. You may use this spell while it is still recharging. If you do, decrease the damage dealt by remaining recharge to a minimum of one, and the recharge resets. For example, with a remaining recharge of 2 and a roll of 9 would equal 2 damage (4 - 2 = 2).

Phlogisticated Body: instant, recharge 3, spell;

Explode with fire that coats your body, but leaving you unharmed. Any enemy that deals damage directly or through counterattack this turn suffers burns, lowering all damage they deal by 2 for the next 2 turns.

3 Points

Spellbound Alchemizing: automatic, spell; Create a

potion bound with any one point spell from any class. You may have up to three potions at a time. Casting the spell consumes the potion.

Great Banquet: Automatic, once a day; Whip up a

heavenly meal in minutes. Anyone that partakes from it gains one temporary skill point and one bonus wound which last until the end of the day.

##

## Bard

Warrior. Entertainers by trade, Bards travel in search of new tales and new adventures to partake in. Most commonly armed with light weapons like rapiers or knives, as well as their musical instruments.

1 Point

Cheap Shot: recharge 1, weapon; Outside of combat this skill is automatic and renders the target helpless. In combat, 9+ renders the target helpless.

Improvise: automatic instant, recharge 3; Tossing a solution together can be better than stopping to make a plan. Your next roll succeeds on a 4+ but cannot crit.

Inspire: You use song and performance to enthrall a crowd or rally your allies.
Combat: The entire party gains +1 to all rolls next turn, or +2 on a critical success; this bonus does not stack with repeated use. Critical failure replaces the bonus with a -1 penalty to all rolls next turn.
Noncombat: You perform for a gathered audience, and can garner reputation, favors, and resources as the GM deems appropriate

Mimic Sound: You can mimic almost to perfection any sound you have heard, be it an orchestra playing or the growling of a wild beast. You can even imitate sounds of attacks to attempt to trick enemies in combat.

Smooth Talker: Can talk a being into not getting in the way, not make a fuss and generally not be an issue. As long as you have not attacked them or they don’t strong reason to be fighting you, they will not be hostile to you and will be open to talking. This does not affect their hostility towards the rest of the party.

2 Points

Con Artist: On success you can attempt to pass of a false statement as truth, pose as a profession, or anything else your mind can think of. Characters and beings with evidence or knowledge contrary to your claim may still readily disprove you. Outlandish or ridiculous statements have a higher DC to try and pass off, varying on how outlandish the thing you claim is. Can also forge documents and other written objects.

Terrify: recharge 2; Render a single target helpless. On 9+ you render all other enemies near your target helpless as well. Crit sends your target fleeing from battle.

Fast Moves: Instant, Recharge 3; upon success, makes

one action next turn Instant

Mulligan: Instant, Recharge 4; Re-roll a non-critical failed roll.

3 Points

Heroism: recharge 5 after effect ends; the whole party turns all non-critical failures when using abilities into successful hits for 3 turns

Chaos: Recharge 5 after effect ends; Turns all opponents against one another for 2 turns. Enemy attacks will be made against other enemies, and any non-critfail counterattack damage is applied to a random enemy from their infighting

## Cleric

Spellcaster. Clerics support their allies and crush the unworthy using the force of their spirit and a firm belief in causes greater than themselves. Though many Clerics draw their power from deity worship, an equal number are empowered by personal ideology. Often armed with blunt weapons like maces, staves or large holy icons.

1 Point

Bolster: automatic, recharge 4 after effect has been used, spell, ranged; The target’s next roll to recover from helplessness is successful

Compassion: passive; Persuasion DC-3

Heal: recharge 1, spell, ranged; Restores target’s hits to full and restores one wound, or removes all status effects. Crit restores 2 wounds, crit fail deals a wound of damage to the target.

Mend: spell; A target regenerates grievous injuries such as lost extremities, damaged vital organs and internal bleeding. In combat, it can also be used to remove all afflictions on a target.

Inure: spell, ranged; Target is immune to a specific damage type (fire, ice, poison, possessed etc) for three turn.

2 Points

Mind Reader: spell; Discern the motives and thoughts of the target. On crit you fully read their mind for one specific topic that is said when casting.

2 Points

Wrath: recharge 2, spell, ranged; Damage all nearby foes with a powerful blast, ensuring they cannot attack you on the next round; renders targets helpless on 9+. On crit you can kill or incapacitate weakened/dying targets.

Slow: recharge 4 after effect ends, spell, ranged; Binds a target to the limits of mortality, slowing it down and allowing it to counterattack only one target at a time, the one with the most tragic failure. Last for 2 turns.

Healing Bonds: recharge 3, spell, ranged; Chain of energy that heals up to 3 allies to full hits and restores 1 wound on each one of them.

3 Points

Prayer of Healing: recharge 5, spell, ranged; Fully heals the hits and wounds of the entire party, but you are helpless afterwards

Guilt Trip: passive; Whenever an enemy deals damage to you they are stricken with remorse, increasing the DC to all their actions by 1 for 2 turns. If someone deals damage to you directly, their DC penalty is increased to 2.

## Knight

Warrior. Clad in armour and armed with both an iron will and an iron blade, Knights excel at protecting others and themselves from harm. Knights are martial masters, able to wield every variety of weapon but most commonly armed with swords, axes, polearms, and shields.

1 point

Martial Defender: passive; You take +2 hits before going helpless (if you had 5, you now have 7, etc), and Slam crits on 8+

Sentry: passive; Can make one action taken in combat Automatic. You can only do this once per combat.

Slam: recharge 1; damages the enemy via a crushing body slam. Crits on 9+

Grapple: passive; +1 to unarmed grabbing, throwing and wrestling down opponents

Expansive: Instant Automatic, recharge 3; For the duration of a battle, may choose to switch a weapon tag for another (ex. Single -> Dual/Great/Ranged, or vice versa)

2 points

Protect: automatic instant, recharge 2 after effect ends; Takes all damage for a target for 2 turns. Neither can be rendered helpless in that time, but the knight becomes helpless after the effect ends if they would have become helpless during Protect’s duration.

Suppress: recharge 1 after letting go, weapon; Renders target helpless. After success, can keep taking automatic actions to keep the target pinned. If this action is not taken, the target gets up.

Watchful Eye: instant, recharge 2 after effect ends; Keep watch on an ally’s actions, ready to correct them. On success the result of this skill is saved to one ally. On their first non-critical fail, replace their roll with this saved roll.

.Quake: Recharge 3, weapon; Shatter the earth with your weapon, dealing damage to all nearby enemies.

3 points

Guardian: recharge 6 after effect ends; Allies become immune to all damage for 3 turns. If the Knight becomes helpless during this time, the effect ends instantly.

Cavalier: passive; Knights of legend always have a trusty steed. You have a faithful companion (minion) that fights by your side in combat. It has 5 hits and 5 wounds, and 3 points to spend on the following skills for itself:

1 Point

-Unbreakable: passive; As long as both the Knight and you are not helpless, you only take 4 hits from a critical failure roll instead of instant helplessness. The Knight also shares this effect for his critical failure rolls.

-Horse Armor DLC: passive; When the Knight uses Protect, damage taken is split between them and you.

-Charge: passive; Your attacks are treated as as having a Weapon tag, chosen when you take this skill.

-Animal Husbandry: You gain an extra racial. May be picked multiple times.

2 Points

-Leverage: passive; When you cause an enemy to become Helpless, it is stunned and takes an extra success to recover.

-Tactician: passive; Trained to fight while maneuvering around the battlefield, you know the perfect moment to strike.. At the start of combat, you may declare X number of turns. On turn X, you gain +X to your roll. This does not stack with other bonuses.

-War Stomp: passive; When you naturally crit, enemies don't counterattack this turn.

## Mage

Spellcaster. Magic is useful for everyday work, though some train to become devastatingly powerful mages instead. When forced to fight without magic, most Mages rely on staves, daggers or heavier spellbooks for self defense.

1 point

Elementalist: passive; When you choose this skill, select an elemental type (fire, ice, lightning, etc); the elements you select can be applied to all other spells you know, adding their effect to the spell. This skill can be taken multiple times to gain or create additional elements.
Fire: A target rendered helpless by a fire attack has a reduced chance of recovering (DC +1), and especially flammable targets take ongoing wounds. Fire spells can be used to warm and burn objects and the environment.
Ice: A target hit by ice grants an increased crit range for the next turn (10 becomes 9+, etc); this ice effect does not stack. Ice spells can be used to chill and freeze objects and the environment.
Lightning: Target becomes helpless for one turn on a critical hit. Lightning spells can be used to shock and charge objects and the environment.
GMs and players may choose to create their own elemental effects as deemed appropriate for their characters and campaign settings.

Astral Projection: spell; You project your spirit, leaving your physical body behind as you send yourself to a distant location. While projecting, your body is unconscious and immobile, and you are unaware of anything that happens to it unless you are in its vicinity. Your spirit is intangible and invisible, but can still be detected by magic or other spirits, and it cannot manipulate or pass through physical objects. Wherever your spirit travels, you can hear and see everything around you in the physical world. Returning to your physical body is automatic.

Magic Bolt: recharge 2, spell, ranged; Fire a volatile bolt of magic. Roll two dice and use the higher roll for results. If one of the dice is a crit fail, then the spell crit fails regardless of the other roll.

Spell Resonance: instant automatic, recharge 4, spell; You may cast a spell you know Automatically, provided you have successfully cast it earlier in this combat. Normal spell recharge still applies.

Homing Magic: Spell, Recharge 2 after effect ends; On success, summons a magical projectile, plus an additional one for every point you pass the roll by, to a maximum of 5 on a critical. The projectiles follow you around, and any number of them can be launched as a single instant action, rolling separately for each.

2 points

Chain Magic: recharge 2, spell, ranged; Blast a target with a beam of magic that arcs to nearby foes. On success, you can make a second roll to have the spell hit an additional target near the initial target for half damage. If the second roll is a success, you can make a third with the same restrictions.

Teleport: automatic, recharge 2, spell; warp yourself or a willing or helpless subject or an unattended item within a medium range to an unoccupied destination within equal distance. Warping a hostile target or carried item is Min+2.

Storm Bolt: recharge 3, spell, ranged; You attack a single target multiple times with a single roll, increasing your chance to crit fail for each additional attack (3- for 3 attacks, 5- for 5 attacks, etc) up to a maximum of 9 regardless of other modifiers.

Hat Magic: You can pull off amazing tricks with your hat. You conjure anything small enough to fit through the hat out of it, regardless of length. DC6 to pull out a generic object (e.g. a bouquet of flowers), DC8 to pull out a specific object (e.g. the key to this door), DC10 to pull out an object wider than the hat. Rolling too soon for the same object after failing will cause failure regardless of roll because the universe catches wise to your tricks. Enchanted items can’t be pulled out.

3 Points

Haste: recharge 4 after effect ends, spell; For the next two turns, you and all allies can use a second normal action, excluding Haste..

Orbital Strike: recharge 4 after it lands, spell; Fires a spell directly skyward. On success, roll an additional 1d10. This determines how long it takes the spell to land, that being Roll/2 turns. The damage on impact is (initial cast roll) * (# of turns it took to land). On a crit fail the spell still works, but will target the caster instead when it lands.

## Monk

Warrior. A philosophy exists that regards one's body as the ultimate weapon. Monks embody this ideology in full, channeling themselves into feats of great power.

1 point

Stances: Passive; Switching stance is an Instant Automatic action.

- Stance of the Bear: You gain X max hits, where X is half of your current wounds.
- Stance of the Tiger: You cannot benefit from weapon tags, but gain +1 to all normal attacks
- Stance of the Cross: Self-inflicted helpless does not cause a wound of damage.

Tumble: Recharge 1; Roll past an enemy, striking them. You may use this ability from helplessness. A successful Tumble from helplessness brings you to your feet.

Tackle: Recharge 2; Tackle an enemy to the ground, leaving yourself on the ground as well. One target enemy becomes helpless. You become helpless.

Misogi: passive; You are as the waterfall, pure and unyielding. Actions while helpless get +1.

Phase Aura: Your body sheds light in a small radius of 5 meters, in a color you choose when you learn this skill. All creatures in this range cannot turn invisible or become hidden, creatures already hidden or invisible are made clear, and incorporeal beings and lingering magical effects and wards manifest a visible shape. Effect persists roll minus five turns (six lasts one, seven lasts two, etc.)

2 points

Soul Punch: Instant Automatic, Recharge 3; Can expend a maximum of 3 of your own hits to add +1 to your next roll for each hit given up.

Dynamic Duo: At the start of combat, pick one ally. When that ally successfully hits an enemy, your next attack at the same enemy becomes Instant.

Self Sacrifice: Automatic, recharge 2; You distribute your max hits +2 to your allies as healing, but are rendered helpless.

Balance: passive; When you cause an enemy to go helpless, an ally of your choosing gets up automatically.

3 points

Mountain Spring Style: passive; While you are not helpless, you regenerate a hit every turn.

Qi Reversal: Recharge 5; Lifts all helpless combatants and renders all standing combatants helpless, friend, foe or self. Allied targets do not suffer a wound from this.

## Necromancer

Spellcaster. Everybody lives, not everybody truly dies. If death seems like too much to deal with, a necromancer is the one to call when you need to hug grandma one last time. Or when you need some zombies to take hits for you. Necromancers often favour symbolic weapons like scythes and sickles, though many also fall back on the more traditional staves and daggers.

1 point

Commune: spell; Ask the dead for aid. The better you roll, the more helpful they are. Crit fail summons a hostile undead.

Raise Dead: spell, ranged; Raises the freshly dead as a mindless undead minion. Undead have double the Hits they had in life, but half their wounds. As long as they have more than one Hit remaining, any damage that would render them helpless instead leaves them at 1 hit. Crit fail summons a hostile undead. If no nearby corpses are available, the spell can still be cast with a crit fail range of 3-.

Lifestream: recharge 1, spell; Saps life from a target, leaving it a rotting husk. A critical hit drains all the life in an enemy, killing it instantly and leaving a corpse for raising or other use. You may use the sapped life to restore hits equal to half the damage done (rounded up) to one of your minions or party members on any success.

Night: spell; Can bring forth localized darkness that envelops everything nearby. Roll determines duration and intensity. Things are harder to see in the dark, making it easier to hide, slip past enemies and do other things.

Control: spell, Attempts to take control of a hostile or neutral undead. More powerful undead may require a higher minimum roll. Also used to take control of a larger undead at recharge 2.

2 points

Corpse Explosion: spell, ranged; Explodes a dead creature’s corpse, dealing damage to all nearby enemies on success. Big corpses like manticores and other large animals Crit on 9+. Large corpses such as hydras crit on 8+. Massive corpses such as dragons crit on 7+. Exploded corpses cannot be resurrected, raised or communed with.

2 points

Transfix: spell; Overpowers an opponent's mind, rendering them helpless as long as you successfully use this skill on them. All rolls after the first success have Min 5+. On crit, you control the target as though it were a minion for the next turn.

Bloodborn: spell, recharge 2; Sacrifice one Wound to summon an undead minion based on yourself. This minion does not count towards your maximum limit of Minions, has no skills and disappears when combat ends.

Enfeeble: Weakens a target. Once said target goes helpless, it cannot get up on it's own and needs help to get back up, usually from another enemy foregoing a counterattack to aid them. Lasts until the target dies or is magically cured.

3 points

Resurrect: spell; brings one of the dead back to full health, good as new, but renders both you and the target helpless.

Abomination: spell; you create an undead companion that has 5 hits and 5 wounds. You can fuse additional corpses to the Abomination; every time the corpse count doubles [2/4/8/16/32/64/etc.], it gains a new feature such as increased size, use of a skill, or additional hits. You can have only one Abomination at a time. If your Abomination is destroyed or defeated, you can resummon it with a successful roll, but its corpse count is lowered to the last upgrade threshold (i.e. If the Abomination died at 7 corpses, it would be resummoned with a corpse count of 4.) You cannot lose upgrades or fall below your most recent threshold. Unaffected by Pet Mastery.

## Paladin

Warrior. Paladins smite their foes with great power and spirit, fueled by inner fire and a firm belief in their cause. Though many Paladins draw power from worshiping a deity, just as many choose a path of their own making. Most Paladins favor large weapons like greatswords, warhammers, battle axes or larger holy books tied to sticks.

1 point

Blast: recharge 1, weapon; Your weapon lands with explosive force. This attack autocrits a specific type of foe, selected when the skill is learned. Hits all nearby targets on a crit. The type chosen must be specific with no ambiguity or wide range of multiple types under it (i.e. You can chose Unicorns, but not Ponies).

Spellbreaker: recharge 2, ranged; Nullify a spell or magic effect

Word of Power: In combat, forces an enemy to miss their next attack and renders them helpless on a crit. Outside combat, can extract information on a success.

Leap of Faith: recharge 3, weapon; In a feat of surprising agility and strength, you leap at any enemy target to deliver a quick blow, not giving them time to react. Hits on DC 3+.

Retaliate: recharge 3 after effect triggers; After three turns, you deal out damage for every hit you lost during those three turns. Going Helpless before the end of the three turns causes the effect to release instantly. Critfails don’t count toward the charge of this spell.

2 points

Fervor: automatic instant, recharge 2 after effect ends; Your next two attacks or skills autocrit, but you fall helpless afterward.

2 points

Shatter: recharge 2, weapon; Breaks the target's defenses, opening them up for attack. Any attacks against a Shattered target crit on a 8+ for two rounds. Can be used against inanimate objects or armor to break and damage them efficiently.

Master of Arms: passive, Your weapons have two weapon tags at once, and benefit from both at the same time.

All Or Nothing: recharge 1; When all else fails, use your head. Autocrits. All failures count as critical. Can be used while helpless.

3 points

Heroic Fortitude: automatic instant, recharge 6 after effect ends, spell; You cannot become helpless and take no wounds for 3 turns, then fall helpless after. If you would have become helpless (by reaching 0 hits or from a skill) during those 3 turns, you have a -1 penalty to recover

Champion’s Fury: passive, Gain +2 to all attack rolls when you are down to 2 or fewer wounds

## Rogue

Warrior. Thieves, assassins and dwellers of shadow, rogues prefer to remain hidden and strike when least expected. They often prefer easy to hide weapons like dagger or knives, as well as throwing knives and hidden blades.

1 point

Backstab: weapon. recharge 1; Strikes the enemy from behind. No counterattack damage except on critfail if used from Stealth. Crits on a 9+. Kills helpless targets.

Disguise: Pretends to be someone else. Min 6+ allows the user to pass as a generic person (a guard, a noble, a commoner, etc); 8+ allows the user to pass as a specific person; a crit allows the user to mimic different races and/or genders.

Stealth: Fade from sight. Enemies cannot attack you until you reveal yourself. An attack used in stealth Autocrits.

Scapegoat: recharge 1; When caught, a weapon isn’t the wisest choice. With clever wording you can make an enemy focus their attention and/or attack on a chosen target of your choice next turn.

Rupture: recharge 1, weapon; Cut a target and leave them bleeding. For the next two turns they take 1 more hit of damage from all weapon attacks.

2 points

Blind: recharge 1 after effect ends; Temporarily blinds an enemy, giving a +2 bonus to all rolls targeting it for 2 turns. Can also be used to block sight of cameras, guards, and other visual reliant objects.

Escape Artist: automatic, recharge 3; Break free of all immobilizing effects (grabs, roots, freeze traps etc.) and also removes helplessness.

2 points

Sleep Serum: recharge 3, weapon; Hit your target with a weapon coated in a sleeping concoction. Any unaware target is knocked helpless in one hit. Targets actively engaged in combat might only be temporarily dazed, going helpless for a single turn or suffering movement disabilities. If successful, this doesn’t break stealth.

Master Thief: Passive; Thanks to years of training, you have a DC-2 to picking locks, cracking safes, locating hidden loot, finding traps and smuggling items, as well as not needing tools anymore.. You can also roll once per area to see if your instincts might offer a hint about something important nearby.

3 points
Vanish: automatic instant, recharge 2; Treat as Stealth while out of combat. You become hidden as though you used Stealth and move behind a target. When you use a second action, treat it as though using it while hidden.

Dance of Blades: recharge 5, weapon; Turn a single blade into a flurry of strikes. Following a successful hit, keep rolling until you go helpless from a critical miss or from counterattack damage. This entire process only takes one turn, and always ends with you being helpless, this helplessness cannot be prevented. All modifiers only apply to the initial hit, after that all rolls are standard d10’s with no bonus and at DC6.

## Shaman

Spellcaster. While only mages wield spells and only the devout wield divine power, Shamans turn to the elements of nature itself for help. Often the tools of the Shaman double as his weapons, including ritual knives, staves, heavy ornaments or small totem poles.

1 point

Child of Gaia: passive; you gain a +1 bonus to rolls when fighting in natural environs (forests, natural caves, etc.)

Natural Remedy: recharge 1, ranged; Use an unpredictable tincture to fully restore a target’s hits to full and restore one wound, or removes status effects. Crit on 9+ restores 2 wounds, but crit fail on 2- deals a wound of damage.

Earthen Strike: recharge 1, spell; A melee attack against a single enemy using an earth-covered limb. Crits on 8+ and crit fails on 3-

Return to Earth: recharge 2, spell; Bring things back to their natural state. Can return spirits to the afterlife and send unnatural creatures (demons, elementals, undead etc) back to their home plane. Only weakens stronger spirits and creatures, giving you +1 to all your actions against them until the end of combat.

Climate Control: Spell; Through your deep connection with nature, you can change the climate in your local area, albeit for a short amount of time. Attempting to summon major storms or other cataclysmic events may backfire horribly. In most cases, using this indoors only affects the climate outside.

2 points

Animal Mastery: spell; You can talk to and understand animals, and wild animals obey your orders. For recharge 3 after effect ends, you can instead summon an animal minion of large size or smaller that obeys your orders for 5 turns.

Earthen Grasp: recharge 1, spell, ranged; Summon vines, stones, or quicksand to trap an enemy and render them helpless. Large enemies may only be immobilized. Effect lasts until the enemy breaks free or is released.

2 points

Shapeshift: recharge 3 after effect ends, spell; Alters your body to gain another racial for 3 turns.

Animal Swarm: recharge 4 after effect ends. spell; Summon a swarm of small animals and bugs to deal ongoing damage to a non-helpless target. If the target becomes helpless, the swarm moves to another standing target. The swarm dissipates if it is somehow cast off, or cannot find a new target.

3 points

Nature Elemental: automatic, recharge 6 after effect ends; your connection to the natural world is complete, allowing your body to reflect the natural cycles. The transformation lasts for the next 4 turns, and you may perform any action that you normally can. You can choose 1 of 3 forms whenever you transform:

-Decay: You burst into rot and fungus, multiplying your physical attack damage by 1.5 rounded up and gaining +1 to intimidation

-Earth: You harden like stone, gaining +2 hits and reduce all damage taken by 1 hit.

-Life: Young buds and sprouts flow from you, passively healing an ally (but not yourself) for two hits or one wound each turn

Moment of Peace: recharge 5, spell; A thick fog descends over the battlefield. All actions made this turn are cancelled (recharges do not take effect), combat ends immediately and cannot be re-engaged until the fog clears at the end of next turn. No harm can be caused or suffered for this one turn.

## Smith

Warrior. For some, work is never over. Things can be improved and remade, and Smiths, those endless inventors and innovators, are the ones to do it.

1 point

Sharpen: recharge 3; Give one ally (or self) +1 to their weapon for the duration of the battle

Fortify: Instant; Recharge 1 after effect ends. Target takes 1 less hit from the next counterattack they suffer. 2 less on a crit.

Tinker: Can repair broken objects, restore negative quality weapons to +0, fix up worn down loot to make it more valuable or get a poorly working mechanism back into shape.

Appraise: instant; Determine the number of remaining hits and wounds on an enemy, and possibly weaknesses. More powerful enemies may be harder to Appraise. Out of combat, quickly determine value of objects, study mechanisms and documents, size up other ponies, etc.

Hot Irons: weapon; Cleave X targets with a critfail range of X-1. If you are wielding a Great Weapon, Hot Irons has a critfail range of X-2.

2 points

Gadget: Makes a nifty device to aid with a specific task. Once successfully built, the gadget can autonomously do a non-combat task. A gadget can be given to allies. You can only have one gadget built at a time..

Innervate: recharge 4; Reduce remaining recharge on any party member's skill by Roll-5.

Curse of Iron: Recharge 3; Heats up the weapons and armour of the target to a red hot blaze, burning those who touch them. If the target’s weapons and/or armor are made of metal, they are overheated and deal 1 hit per turn each for 2 turns as long as they are worn. If they are removed they take a full turn to cool down to be safe to wear.. Autocrits heavily armoured targets.

Engineering: Can attempt to figure out any mechanical or manmade mechanism, device, construct or other creation. Once successfully and sufficiently studied and figured out, the Smith can then utilize it as he wishes, such as opening specific types of locks with a mere nudge in the right part, or operating a specific machine with no further need for instruction or guidance.

3 points

Mechanical Minion: passive; You begin the game with a homemade companion. It knows the same skills you do (save for Mechanical Minion), plus up to 3 points of additional skills taken from any class or even a mix of different classes, has 5 hits and 5 wounds, and cannot be healed except by the owner spending a turn to repair it. If it breaks down in combat, it can be rebuilt later with a successful repair roll. Unaffected by Pet Mastery.

Masterwork Weapon: passive; You build a single masterwork quality weapon (has +1 by deault). Take one weapon tag free, then assign 3 points.

1 Point:

-Add a Weapon tag or catalyst

-Add an Elemental effect (following Elementalist’s rule)

-Add Poison skill (instant, recharge 2; Your attack this turn deals wound damage instead of normal damage.)

2 Points:

-Add Favored Enemy passive (Autocrits on select enemy type following Blast’s rule)

-Add Double Strike skill (Roll two dice, use the higher, following Magic Bolt’s rule.)

##

## Summoner

Spellcaster. Not channeling magic like most mages, Summoners shape the arcane energy itself into new forms. Forming new sentient beings or powering themselves with energies from another plane, these conjurers are never alone.

1 Point

Conjure Minion: recharge 1, spell; Conjure up a small

minion with 3/3 health and a random boost depending on the roll (Even: +1 to actions. Odd: DC-1 to actions. Crit, gain both effects). Lasts until combat is over.

Rejuvenate: recharge 1, spell; Channel magic into a target

to revitalize them, restoring them to full hits and recovering 1 wound, critical failure deals one wound of damage instead. Rejuvenate has a DC4 if cast on a minion, and on crit it gives the minion +1 to all actions next turn.

Ethereal Claw: recharge 1; Draw on the energy of a

minion, applying all roll modifiers and bonuses it has to this attack, regardless of what they were originally for.

Enhancement: recharge 1, spell; You focus arcane energy

to mark an ally or yourself, increasing their magical potency. They receive a weapon tag of your choice when casting for the next 3 turns, and the tag applies to all their spells instead of their weapon skills.

Horde: passive; You can control additional extra two

minions, beyond your basic limit.

2 Points

Lingering Aura: recharge 2, spell, ranged; Fuel an effect

that a target is suffering from. The status effects and afflictions currently on a target have their durations extended by 1 turn, 2 on Crit.

Reflect: Recharge 3, spell; Warp space around a target.

The next successful or critically successful action against them is reflected back to the user.

2 Points

Boost: Recharge 3, spell; Funnel your magic into an ally

or minion, on success it gives their action that turn +X, where X is your roll-5. This skill always counts as a success regardless of result, but can never be automatic.

Ethereal Jaunt: Recharge 2, spell, ranged; Latch yourself

or an ally to a friendly minion within sight, swapping their places. If used in combat, attacks that were targeted on either of the swappers change to the other.

3 Points

Summon Esper: recharge 3, spell; A master summoner

can summon a specific creature, or even create their own. Call forth a minion that has 5 hits, 5 wounds, 2 racials of your choice, and 1 skill from a class that are not shared with yourself or a party member (If every class is represented in the party, then the Esper gets 3 racials). The Esper cannot take any minion skills, and cannot take multiclass skills.

Avatar: recharge 6 after effect ends, spell; You channel

the essence of an ally into yourself for 3 turns. While in Avatar state, you have +1 to all actions and access to all skills that the chosen ally (party member or nearby NPC) knows. Once Avatar ends, all your skills are put on recharge.

##

## Tracker

Warrior. Trackers live off the land and love it. They know nature like the back of their forelimb, and can thrive in situations that would drive many others to giving up or endless whining. Trackers are masters of ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows, but often also carry survival tools like knives or axes.

1 point

Marksman Shot: recharge 3, requires ranged weapon; Autocrits. Benefits from Trick Ammo

Survival: spot check rolls +3. Can create and forage for basic supplies like rope, bandages, tents, torches and low-quality meals. Can see far into the distance and can see if dim or night light.

Nerves of Steel: Passive; Reduces all Recharges by 1, to a minimum of 1.

Custom Job: passive, Your weapon, regardless of type, also counts as Ranged, and your basic attacks benefit from Trick Ammo.

Trick Ammo Instant Automatic, recharge 1; Adds an additional effect to a skill that can benefit from it. This effect can be any of the following, but they all share the same recharge.

-Silence: On hit, the enemy cannot cast a spell next two turns

-Knockout: On hit, the enemy is unable to counterattack next turn, and is considered helpless, but does not lose a wound. He instantly and automatically gets up on the turn after that.

-Split: Hits 2 targets at once

2 points

Trap: recharge 1; Starting next turn, first enemy to attack is helpless for 2 turns.

Vantage Point: passive; Grants you a +1 bonus to all attacks in combat until you roll any failure. If you roll a natural 8 or higher on n attack after losing this bonus, you regain it.

Repeating Fire:, recharge 1, requires ranged weapon; You gain +1 to your next Repeating Fire roll for every successful Repeating Fire you land, and you reset the recharge to 0 on success. The bonus stops once you fail a roll or fall helpless. Benefits from Trick Ammo.

Reflex Shot: recharge 1, requires ranged weapon; Deals double damage as well as suffers double counterattack damage. Can be used while helpless, but on fail while helpless recharge is set to 3.

3 points

Barrage: recharge 5, requires ranged weapon; Hits all enemies within range, even if they are behind cover or not directly in your view. Benefits from Trick Ammo.

Marked for Death: recharge 4 after effect ends; Mark a target. All successful rolls against it Autocrit for 2 turns. On crit fail, you mark yourself, and your next roll, if a fail, count as crit fail

# TALENTS

Every character has two talents that represent special training and focus or a natural ability that makes them incredibly good at some kind of action, activity, or ability. The first talent a character has is a Special talent (also known as the Cutie Mark for the pony races). This represents their skill, prowess, or natural affinity in some field or aspect that traditionally defines them. This talent can cover anything, but cannot be used or have an effect in combat at all. The second talent a character has is a Trained talent. This represents their training, either for something new or in something related to their special talent in order to use on the battlefield. This talent traditionally is directly based on a skill or combat action, giving some bonus to it. The combat talent also is unique in the its effect can be used at anytime, even outside of combat if it’s applicable.

The typical talent is a +2 bonus to the chosen field or owned skill. With the GM’s approval, players may create a talent bonus appropriate for the character they want to make. A pony character with a Talent manifests a cutie mark on their flanks symbolizing the talent.

Here are some examples of the most common types of talents that might be chosen for a character:

+2 to Class Skill: The standard talent bonus, your character gains a +2 bonus to the use of one class skill. +1 to Generic Actions: A general talent bonus that applies to a wider range of actions, such as using specific weapon types, performing athletic maneuvers, or interacting with specific creatures. |  | +2 to Specific Action: Like the standard talent bonus, your character gains a +2 bonus to a specific type of action, such as a crafting skill, professional calling, or recalling knowledge from an area of study. -1 to Crit Range: This distinct talent bonus reduces the critical success range for a specific action or class skill by 1. A skill that normally crits on 10 now crits on 9+, and a 8+ crit skill now does so on 7+.

# COMBAT

Big adventure comes with tons of fun, often in the form of violent encounters with hostile NPCs. Combat is typically resolved through determining initiative, attacks and counterattacks, rendering opponents helpless, and ultimately killing your enemies.

## Damage and Helplessness

A character can take 5 hits before becoming helpless, and 5 wounds before dying. Some skills and effects can grant your character additional hits or wounds.

### Hits and Wounds

Hits are generally superficial damage, representing wear-and-tear and exhaustion; they can be restored easily with the Heal spell, some kind of healing action, over time or with a short rest. Wounds are persistent injuries and deep bodily damage; taking too many wounds will kill a character. Wounds can be quickly restored using skills, but otherwise require significant effort and time, maybe days, to be patched up.

A character usually must be helpless to begin suffering wounds, but some skills and effects can bypass hits and deal wounds directly.

### Status Effects and Afflictions

Not all fight involved just the swinging of weapons and

bolts of magic, sometimes attacks leave a lingering effect on the target. Status Effects and Afflictions are side effects a skill can inflict in addition to normal damage. What they do to the affected target and how long they last varies from the skills that cause them. Both last until the given duration ends, or until cured by a skill. The difference between the two is that Status Effects are caused by spell skills, while Afflictions are caused by weapon and tagless skills.

###

### Helplessness and Recovery

A character with no hits remaining is helpless; some skills and effects can immediately render a character helpless. Whenever a character becomes helpless, they take a wound of damage. A helpless character must roll (usually Min 6+) to recover and continue fighting. An ally can also make the same roll for you, and if they are successful you recover as normal. When you recover, you restore full hits. Some skills or effects may help you recover, or change the number of hits restored. If you are healed while helpless by any amount, you instantly recover and have however many hits you were healed for (if healed for 1 hit, then you recover with only 1 hit remaining).

While helpless, a character is immobile and cannot take many actions, and attacks against them incur wounds. Rolling a critical failure to recover from helplessness deals a wound of damage to you, and each turn you remain helpless the range for critical failure increases by 1, up to 4-, beyond which you automatically take a wound for remaining helpless. If you are reduced to 1 wound, you no longer automatically take wounds unless attacked, but you cannot roll to recover. A player that attempt to help you recover cannot deal any damage to you, even if they roll a critical fail. And when down to 1 wound remaining, an ally’s action targeted on you (such as Heal) will not kill you on any fail or critical fail.

## Sequence of Combat

Combat takes place in turns. Each turn, the players declare the action their characters will take, and all results are resolved simultaneously.

### Combat Action

A character in combat can perform two actions: a normal action such as using a skill, aiding a helpless ally recover, or making some complex maneuver; and an instant action such as using an instant skill. Automatic skills require an action to be used, but don’t need a roll. Instant skills can be used with an instant action. Passive skills and effects require no roll nor action, and grant their bonus at all times.

### Dealing Damage

On a successful roll when attacking, you deal damage. The strength of your attack is dependant on the roll, higher numbers dealing out more damage.

For DC’s lower than 6, you deal 1 hit for all values 5 or lower.

Roll 6: 1 hit

Roll 7: 2 hits

Roll 8: 3 hits

Roll 9: 4 hits

Roll 10/ Crits of any kind: 5 hits

Any roll above ten adds 2 hits for each point above ten

A successful attack on any Helpless being deals one Wound instead of normal damage.

A critical attack on any Helpless being deals two Wounds instead of normal damage.

### Dodging

When an attack comes at you, you don’t have to stand there and take it. If the GM has attacking enemies, you can roll to dodge their attacks. Dodging takes a normal action to do, and the DC to avoid the attack is their Roll+1.

##

## Pets and Minions

Skills such as Raise Dead allow the player to take a pet or minion. Normally, a character can have up to one pet at a time; for one skill point, they can take the Pet Mastery skill to increase the number of pets they control by one (see Cross-Class Skills above).

### Controlling and Rolling

Characters can control their minions at the same time they take other actions. Each minion rolls separately for its action. If the player chooses, they can use one roll to determine the results of all minions they control.

##

### Enemies

Combat doesn’t just involved the players, they need

something to fight. Enemies in combat act on their own, and may have their own skills to fight with, depending on the GM.

Enemies function similar to players, making rolls at the

start of each turn with the GM’s post, but their results are resolved after the player results. Basic enemies deal damage using the same calculations as players, have 5 Hits & 5 Wounds, and suffer from helplessness and status effects the same way. The one difference between Enemies and players is that Enemies do not suffer counterattacks on failed rolls, however for critical fail rolls, they suffer a -1 penalty to their rolls next turn.

GMs can change these if they feel it fitting to the game’s difficulty, changing damage, skills, and how they are affected and act in combat.

As a note to GMs, using both Counterattacks and having

Enemies attack as well can increase the difficulty of a game more than expected. You may only use Counterattacks, or only Enemies attacking, it is your choice. At the start of a game, or even beforehand, you should tell your players if you are using only one or both of these methods in combat as the method(s) used can changed what kind of skill should be taken.

### Counterattack

On a failed attack or action targeting an enemy, players are left open to counterattacks for enemies to take advantage of. How open they are depends on the result of the failed roll, lower rolls causing you to take more damage. Counterattacks also don’t vary with differing DCs, for example a roll of 3 will deal 3 hits whether your DC is 4+, 6+, or even 8+.

For higher DCs where its is possible to fail with a roll of 6 or higher, the player takes 1 hit for any failed roll of 6+.

Roll 5: 1 Hit Taken
Roll 4: 2 Hits
Roll 3: 3 Hits
Roll 2: 4 Hits
Roll 1: Instantly Helpless

## Player vs Player

Sometimes the party won’t always meet eye to eye, and there comes time when infighting is inevitable. During these times, the GM can chose to stand aside and let the players deal with the fight and its outcome themselves.

Combat between players differs from regular combat. Instead of success/fail for rolls, rolls are made against each other. In this method, whoever rolls higher gets to attack, and deals hits equal to however higher their rolls was to a maximum of 5 hits. All skills function the same, though any mind control, other coercion effects, and instant death effects are to be ignored for simplicity (unless the players agree to them being acceptable for their fight).

In order to keep fights short and so there is no player killing, the GM should step in and end the fight after one player falls helpless 3 times, or when one player reaches 2 Wounds (again, unless both players agree that they want it to go as far as possible).

# EQUIPMENT AND ITEMS

The right equipment can be the difference between success and failure, life and death. Before you send your character out into the world, make sure to select weapons and other tools to give them the extra edge they’ll need.

At creation, a starting character usually possess a few items and either one weapon of a single type if they are a warrior, or a catalyst if they are a spellcaster. Highly valuable items such as multi-type weapons, unique items, and other exotic or powerful tools are subject to GM approval.

## Spellcasting Catalysts

As described above, spellcaster classes such as the Mage and Shaman require a catalyst to help them channel their magical power into specific forms and effects. Without a catalyst, a character cannot cast skills with the spell tag. Spellcasters may choose a catalyst when first created.

A catalyst can be just about any kind of item, from a religious symbol to an item of great sentiment, or even a weapon or piece of armor, typically inscribed with magical runes and symbols.

You must be touching your catalyst and have it visible and exposed to the target(s) for spellcasting to work.

## Inventory, Items, and Tools

No adventurer would go on a quest without things like food rations, rope, camping supplies, personal items, and crafting tools. Choose a few items that are appropriate to your character’s interests and the dangers they expect to see.

Use common sense when choosing items, and don’t try to cheat by carrying powerful items or too much stuff. The GM may set limits or requirements on the type and amount of items you can carry.

## Weapon Types

Weapons are divided into broad types that change how they perform and sometimes how they can be used for weapon skills. Most weapons have a single type. The number of weapons a character can carry is limited by the GM. Switching weapons is an automatic action that requires one turn. Character are limited to only having one weapon type active at a time, unless they have a skill that grants the ability to. Weapons types either offer a passive effect (listed in their description), a skill, or sometimes both.

### Dual Weapons

Dual weapons can attack twice in a single turn using the Dual Wielding skill. Making a normal attack or attacking with only one of the weapons does not grant any bonuses or penalties.

Dual Wielding: weapon; make two rolls to attack twice; if either is a critical miss, both attacks miss.

### Great Weapons

Great weapons require strength and technique to wield, offering greater damage potential at increased risk. Great weapons always count 9+ as a critical hit, and 2- as a critical miss. A great weapon user can also use the Cleave skill to attack many enemies at once.

Cleave: weapon; attack multiple targets within range that are close to each other. Every additional target increases the chance of a critical miss (attacking 2 targets crit fails on 2-; attacking 5 targets crit fails on 5-; etc)

### Ranged

Projectile and far-reaching weapons that can hit distant or flying targets that might otherwise be unreachable. The distance that these weapons can reach are up to GM discretion.

### Shield

Using a shield increases your maximum hits of damage by +1 (if you have 4 out of 5 hits remaining and pick up a shield, you now have 4 out of 6 hits remaining). Discarding or destroying the shield removes the bonus immediately.

### Single

Single weapons cover most basic weapon types that don’t fit into other categories. Their ease of use grants Min-1 for normal attack rolls (e.g. 6+ by default, now 5+).

### Unarmed

A character fighting without a weapon cannot deal wounds of damage through normal attacks and cannot use weapon skills.

## Weapon Properties

As adventurers progress on their travels, naturally they’ll outgrow the basic tools and equipment they started with. They’ll find, trade, or be rewarded with stronger gear to match the growing challenges. A character cannot start a game with these properties on their gear, unless stated otherwise by the GM.

### Catalyst Weapons

Some weapons double as spellcasting catalysts and can be used to cast spells. These combination weapons apply any and all properties and buffs on them to both weapon skills and spell skills, but weapon tags still only apply to weapon skills.

### Elemental Infused

Elemental infused weapons have been imbued with the power of the elements. When a normal attack hits, the elemental weapon discharges magical energy, converting the attack into a hit with an effect corresponding to the Mage’s Elementalist effects. The GM may allow creation of or introduce different elements and elemental effects as with the Elementalist skill.

### Poisoned

Poisoned weapons are created by applying a toxic substance beforehand, storing it within some vessel in the weapon, or even impregnated within the metal itself. A normal attack with this weapon deals a wound of damage, instead of a hit. A crit miss deals a wound to the user.

### Quality

Weapons of exceptional quality or craft can increase their effectiveness in combat, likewise a poor quality or made weapon will hinder the wielder. Skills with the weapon keyword apply weapon quality to their rolls.

+2: epic or legendary, the result of magical endowment or divine power
+1: fine or masterwork, a fortuitous creation or the product of expert craftsmen
-1: poor or damaged, worn down and in dire need of maintenance
-2: worthless or useless, missing pieces and best abandoned if not melted down and remade

### Spellbound

Spellbound weapons have been built as conduits for a single kind of spell. This can be a staff that shoots fireballs, a ring that cures poison, a book that raises the dead etc. The bound spell has double the recharge as the normal spell, and has to run through the full recharge regardless of success or fail. Catalysts also are able to be spellbound under the same restrictions.

## Unique Items

Even enchanted and improved items are not enough for the professional adventurer, and only the stuff of legends can withstand the trials to come. Unique items are inhabited by a will of their own. They can gain a variety of special properties, like a bonus against certain types of targets (undead, elemental, larger/smaller than the user, etc), but will turn on the wielder or deactivate their powers if they are used or treated in ways the item deems unacceptable (used to harm the living, allowed to rust, not told a bedtime story, and so on).

These are only guidelines, the exact properties of a unique item are left to the GM to create and describe.