Prologue: The Southerrun Well [PbP System Playtest]

[Another_Poet]

PbP System Playtest Campaign
Prologue: The Southrun Well

The Objective: Get out of the caves with your lives!
OOC objective: Play, break and rebuild the PbP System

The characters:

Tristan

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NOTE: Please assign at least two +1 modifiers or one +2 modifier!
NAME: Tristan
Tristan is an orphan that lives off the streets, relying on his wits to survive. He's always dreamed of being a knight, although that is above his station, and out of his reach.

TETRAD
Breath: 6
Spirit: 6
Evasion: 3d6
Will: 2d6

SKILLS
Core:
Evasion
Evasion
Stealth
(Thieving?)
(Knowledge: Heraldry + Knowledge: Street Smarts?)
---
---

Side Skills:
Evasion
Evasion
Evasion
Will
Weapon (Sideswords)
Weapon (Bows)
Acrobatics
Perception
Climbing (+1 hand claws)
---
---
---

ATTACKS
Sideswords: Wooden Sword (1H, mel) 2d6 atk, 1d6 dmg
Knives: Dagger (1H, rapid) 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg
Bows: Short Bow (2H, 50' range) 2d6 atk, 1d6 dmg - 50 arrows left

ARMOUR
Leather Coat (Light)
Armour Value: +1
Armour Penalty: 0

FEATS
Final Purpose
Stealth Strike
Weak Spot
Lightfoot
Armor Wrecker
Frenzy I

OTHER POSSESSIONS
Warm Set of Clothing
Lockpicks
Lantern
Hand Claws
Coil of Rope
2 days' rations

POINTS SPENT: 94 (but be sure to buy at least +2 in modifiers also)
(Note: I'm ruling that the hand claws give you +1 on climbing, and am thus pricing them as an expensive item, 12 bp just like a modifier. If they were meant for some other purpose instead let me know.)
POINTS LEFT (144 minus points spent): 50

Br. Craeldon

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NAME: Craeldon
Craeldon is an apprentice monk who has been sent out of the temple of (insert diety here) to learn about the world. He has begun his mission to hone his already decent skill in the martial arts and the technique of the blazing fist.

TETRAD
Breath: 8 [6 + 2 using modifiers]
Spirit: 7 [6 + 1]
Evasion: 2d6 (+1 when using staff or fists as 2H)
Will: 3d6

SKILLS
Core:
Will
Weapon: Boxing
Martial: Wresting
Athletics
---
---
---

Side:
Evasion
Evasion
Evasion
Weapon: Thrown
Weapon: Improvised (---) (---) (---)
Climbing
Knowledge (Religion) (---)
Casting (Touches)*
---
---
---
---

ATTACKS
Fists (0H) 2d6 atk, 1d6 dmg [or 1d6/1d6 atk; or +1 Eva]
Quarterstaff (2H) 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg & +1 eva
Throwing knives 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg, 10 knives left

ARMOUR
Leather Armour (Light)
Armour Value: +1
Armour Penalty: 0

FEATS
Armour Wrecker
Measured Stroke I
Mighty Stroke I
Final Purpose

MONK ABILITIES (built using spell rules)
"Blazing Fist" (Touches 1d6 vs. Evasion)
Melee, 2d6 heat damage, 1 target,
Cost: ?

OTHER POSSESSIONS
1 Heavy Shield (not in use)
Clothing and Cloak
3 day's rations
2 torches
1 flint & steel
1 Coil of rope
1 Backpack

POINTS SPENT: 120
POINTS LEFT (144 minus points spent): 24

Maelous Arashi

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NAME: Maelous Arashi
Maelous was born a peasant, and was quite content to remain so. However, when he started having nightmares of being burned alive, only to wake up and find his house on fire, his parents were fearful, calling himself 'demon-posessed' and 'cursed'. Driven from his home, nearly starving, he joined a gypsy band, and learned how to control his inborn talent for elemental wrath, as well as picking up the Gypsy's fine disregard for the common law.

TETRAD
Breath: 6
Spirit: 6
Evasion: 3d6
Will: 3d6

SKILLS
Core:
Evasion
Evasion
Will
Dart +1
Blast +1
Rupture
---

Side:
Evasion
Evasion
Evasion
Knife
Touch
Refresh
-
-
-
-
-
-

ATTACKS
Unarmed: Fists (0H, mel) 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg
Knives: Knife (1h, mel) 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg

ARMOUR
None (?)

FEATS
Blast Art 1
Blast Art 2

SPELLS
1) Frostbolt (long range, Dart, Evasion check, cold flavor)
2) Burning Hands(Cone Burst, Small Area Effect,Evasion check, Fire flavor)
3) Shocking Touch (touch range, Paralysis effect, Evasion check, Lightning Flavor)
4) Fires From Within (Long range, Rupture, Will check, Fire flavor)
5)Lightning Bolt (Line Burst, Small Area Effect, Evasion Check, Lightning Flavor)
6) Rejuvination (Touch range, Refresh)
7)
8)
9)

OTHER POSSESSIONS
Clothing & warm cloak
Backpack
2 days' rations
Lamp w/ 8 hrs' oil
Rope

POINTS SPENT: 78
POINTS LEFT (144 minus points spent): 66

The World

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Incessant starfall keeps the humans underground. Living in cramped and often unstable caves throughout the Rift, humans stuggle to fend off subterranean monsters and make a living without regular access to the sunny fields above.

Travel is dangerous. Navigating the Rift requires excellent spelunking skills and a quick blade, and carries the risk of seismic quakes and cave-ins. Going topside involves long pleasant journeys through the abandoned countryside, with spontaneous hellish storms of falling meteor. The sky is streaked with a band of glittering fire, and it does not relent in its attacks on the earth below.

Those who venture out of the settled caverns, whether sprinting above or scrambling below, are the only link between colonies. They are not only messengers, couriers, warriors and guardians; they are hope. They are hailed as heroes of whatever colony birthed them, deserving or not. Children look up to them. Monsters stalk them without rest.

But heroes and colonists alike share one fear. There is shelter from monsters and meteors, but no place that can prevent the Thaning. One by one or handful by handful, people simply disappear. Some disappear forever - others turn up again. It could be the next day or decades later, and around the corner or on the other side of the world. Some have their memories, some don't. Thaning is sometimes taken as proof that not only the sky and earth are falling apart, but the very fabric of reality itself.

Your team will materialise from the Thaning with pre-Thane memories intact, your starting gear and not much else. How you navigate the caves around you and whether you find civilisation is up to you... and the creatures you find along the way.

Please keep OOC chat and chargen questions in the OOC thread.

[Another_Poet]

Naming the PbP System

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Coming up with cool names for new things is pretty much a gamer's favourite thing to do. That said, I've so far resisted the urge to name this system. I have a few ideas in my head, but I feel kind of weird spending too much time brainstorming a title for something instead of actually writing the darn thing. ("Postmaster" is my joke name for it.)

So this is the least important section, and I really prefer help with the rules themselves, but if anyone has a particularly cool name idea feel free to suggest it!

Names suggested so far:
RPGbP (Role Playing Game by Post)
PostHaste

RULES PART I

The basic idea & core mechanic - a must read to understand the system!

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GETTING STARTED

Most PbP games start with the process of gathering players and choosing which ones will be in the game. When D20 or most other tabletop games are played by post, this process can be lengthy, with a week or more of recruiting as people submit character ideas, roll stats, choose skills and gear, and so forth. Even after all that work, not all players will necessarily get chosen for the game – since most tabletop combats are lengthy and rules-intensive, it is difficult to run more than four or five players.

With the PbP system, recruitment is much shorter. A DM can post a game idea and choose players based entirely on character concept. Very little time is needed to stat out the characters because most of character creation is done during the game. Additionally, since combat is short and the DM can easily resolve actions in a player’s absence, larger groups can be run with ease.

CORE MECHANIC

You start a new game, you have a great new character, and all sorts of obstacles and challenges start coming your way. Maybe you need to take down the villain as he gives his egomaniacal speech, pry a jail cell open, or shoot that pterodon flying overhead. Based on your character concept, decide how good your character is at that sort of activity. Is it a core skill she’s thoroughly trained in, a side skill she uses from time to time, or neither—something your character rarely ever has to do? You don’t need to check with your DM first, just decide which you think it is and roll…

3d6 plus any modifiers if it’s a core skill. You only have 7 core skill slots so choose carefully!

2d6 plus any modifiers if it’s a side skill. You have 12 side skill slots.

1d6 plus any modifiers if it’s neither. Everything is 1d6 unless it is a core or side skill.

Watch for critical successes! If you roll two 6’s and no 1’s, you have a critical success. This can happen when rolling 2d6 or 3d6. Critical successes do different things on different rolls:
-On an attack roll, the attack deals double damage.
-On an evasion roll you get a free counter attack.
-On a will roll you get a chance to reflect the attack back on the caster.
-On any other roll, critical successes don’t make a difference.

You can Take Mean on any roll. Taking Mean means assuming you roll a 3 on 1d6, a 7 on 2d6, and a 10 on 3d6. When Taking Mean there is no chance of a critical success.

If you aren’t around when your turn comes up the DM decides your action for you. The DM will usually set a fixed time window (say, 24 hours) for how long they’ll wait before taking control of a player character. Whenever the DM takes control like this, she or her always Takes Mean.

If you roll too many dice by mistake you do not get to reroll. The DM takes the dice in the order they were rolled, using the first dice first and ignoring any extra.

If you roll too few dice by mistake the DM assumes you Take Mean on any remaining dice. You cannot get a critical success this way.

There are no critical failures in PbP.

MODIFIERS

Modifiers (bonuses to a skill) can be purchased in +1 increments. This can be done by spending build points during character creation, by spending XP during the game, or by using gear or spells that add modifiers. You can purchase modifiers to any skill, whether or not it is a core or side skill for you. Not all modifiers are priced equally, however.

Revised Character Creation Rules

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CHARACTERS

Like any RPG, the first step to playing PbP is to create your character. Unlike other games, character creation is done largely during the game. This minimizes the amount of time it takes to get a game started and lets people launch right into gameplay.

This means you’ll pick a lot of your skills and gear during the game. You might even wait to see what kinds of challenges the DM throws at you the most during the first week or two and pick your skills with these challenges in mind. This is considered perfectly acceptable in PbP, and DM’s should keep an open mind as the game starts and characters begin to flesh out. (Remember though, your DM might have other sorts of challenges in store for you down the road, so don’t base everything on what you see at the beginning.)

There are several steps to creating a PbP character, and theoretically you could go through them all before the game starts so that your character is done before you roll a single dice. We think it is more fun, however, to hold off and adapt as the campaign unfolds. There’s nothing more exciting than realizing in the middle of the life-or-death encounter with the big villain that you have one core skill slot left to assign. Thus, the character creation summary shows suggestions as to whether a step should be done before the game or during the game. Individual DM’s and players can alter this process as needed.

CHARACTER CREATION SUMMARY

Before the Game:
Step 1: State your id.
Step 2: Buy your four main stats (the Tetrad) using build points and skill slots.
Step 3-4: Buy your weapons and armour (if any) using build points.

During the Game:
Step 5: Buy your spells (if any) using build points.
Step 6-7: Spend any remaining build points by buying feats, extra gear, or modifiers to your skills. You can also save build points as XP
Step 8: Decide which skills are your core and side skills.

THE STEP-BY-STEP VERSION

Step One: Id
The first step of character creation is to state your id. The id is a one- or two- sentence description of the talents and abilities your character has. (You can also write a much longer backstory and give a physical description, but that is separate. The id specifically describes talents and abilities.) For example:

Girard is a former bodyguard for an important noble. He specializes in stealth, quick kills, and security.

Daro’s family forced her into the convent against her wishes, but when she discovered the secret martial arts taught there, she committed herself wholly to the training.

Step 2: The Tetrad
All characters have four main stats: Breath, Spirit, Evasion, and Will.

Breath is your life force, your physical resilience. It shows how much energy you can put into absorbing or shrugging off damage before taking serious wounds. Breath is the closest thing to “hit points” in PbP.

Spirit is your store of inner power. It shows how much spiritual energy you have to expend on magic or special techniques. Many martial techniques are also fueled by Spirit.

Evasion determines whether or not physical attacks hit you. (If they do hit you, you lose Breath – but only if the damage gets past your armour.) Evasion is used against many magical attacks as well. See the “Evasion” section below.

Will determines your resistance to non-physical effects, including a wide range of debilitating combat spells. If you cannot resist such effects you may find yourself unable to operate in battle, or working for the enemy.

Evasion and Will involve dice rolls every time they are used. Every character has 1d6 for both of these stats until they declare them to be side skills or core skills.

Breath and Spirit are fixed amounts; every character starts off with a Breath of 6 and a Spirit of 6. Additional Breath or Spirit points can be purchased with build points on a 20-to-1 basis (20 bp buys 1 point of either Breath or Spirit). Your DM will tell you how many build points you have total to put into your character. Don’t spend them all on Breath and Spirit, however!

A Note on Evasion...

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Evasion is the only dice roll that “costs extra.” This is because Evasion is used more often than any other skill. Like all skills, characters start with 1d6 in Evasion. However:

To get Evasion as a side skill you must buy it three times. In other words, it takes up three side skill slots to roll evasion at 2d6. If you choose to do this you can only have nine other side skills).

To get Evasion as a core skill you must first buy it as a side skill (spending three side skill slots to do so). You can then spend two core skill slots to roll Evasion at 3d6. In other words, if you have Evasion as a core skill you can only have five other core skills and nine side skills.

The best way to record Evasion on your character sheet, if you choose to buy it as a side or core skill, is to literally write it down multiple times to show how many slots it fills up. This way there is little chance of accidentally getting too many skills. And you wouldn't want that!

Step 3: Arms…
Buy your weapons using build points. Each weapon has a p-value (power value; its effectiveness expressed in build points). Weapons are priced according to their p-value; a 60p weapon costs 60 build points to own. The selection of weapons your character owns will probably influence your choice of weapon skills, but remember, you don’t have to choose which skills are side skills or core skills until gameplay starts.

Modifiers for weapon damage can also be purchased (charts forthcoming).

Step 4: …and Armour
Buy your armour using build points. Each kind of armour has a p-value which is equal to its price in build points. Remember that armour proficiency requires side skill or core skill slots, so this will influence your skills choice once gameplay starts. Enhancements for armour can also be purchased (chart forthcoming).

Step 5: Spells
If your character is a spellcaster you will need to determine which spells he or she knows. Each known spell costs build points. It is possible for any character to know spells, but warrior types are usually better off buying physical skills at the beginning and adding a few spells later on in the campaign. For dedicated casters it is a good idea to pick up one or two offensive spells and two or three defensive, curing, buffing, or utility spells.

Remember that spellcasters will need to make Casting rolls and may want a number of Mystic skills as well. Such skills aren’t chosen till gameplay has started, but start planning early. Don’t spread yourself too thin!

Step 6: Not Enough Build Points
You may find that your character doesn’t have enough build points to start off as strong or as skilled as you had hoped. If this is the case, you can choose one or more flaws in order to gain extra build points. Be careful not to weaken your character too much! (Chart forthcoming.)

Step 7: Extra Build Points
You may also find that after purchasing the basic gear or spells your character needs you still have build points left over. At this point it’s a good idea to look at buying other kinds of gear (Gear Charts forthcoming) or modifiers for skills, weapons or armour. You may also convert your build points to XP, essentially saving them for later use.

Step 8: Skills (or, How Many Dice Do I Roll?)
Choosing your skills is the last part of character creation, and is usually done during gameplay as various skills come up. There are a wide variety of skills, and you can designate any skill as a core skill or side skill. This determines how many dice you roll for that skill.

Core skills are skills your character has thorough experience with because of her training or specialties. Characters have seven core skills. Any time you use a core skill you roll 3d6.

Side skills are skills that your character is familiar with but doesn’t rely heavily on. Characters have twelve side skills. When using a side skill roll 2d6.

For everything else roll just 1d6.

Remember, you need not choose your core and side skills until gameplay starts. The first time you use any given skill, decide how many dice to roll for that skill (3d6 if the skill is crucial to your character concept, 2d6 if it is relevant but not crucial, and 1d6 if it isn’t even relevant to your character concept). Keep the following guidelines in mind:

*If you roll 2d6 or 3d6 on a skill, you should mention in your post that you are “adding this as a side skill” or “adding this as a core skill”. Follow through right away by listing the skill in the appropriate place on your character sheet.

*You cannot have more than 7 core skills and 12 side skills without spending XP (experience points).

*Clearly marking your core and side skills on your sheet is one of the most important rules in the game. If your DM notices any discrepancies in your skills (too many core or side skills, not recording the ones you’ve declared, hard-to-understand skills list, etc.) your character will probably roll all skills at 1d6 until you straighten things out to the DM’s satisfaction.

*Once you have your seven core and twelve side skills, all other skills are rolled at 1d6 until the characters reach a point when they can spend XP.

Skills: A Tentative and Incomplete List

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SKILLS

Skills are divided into skill categories. The categories are Weapons, Martial, Casting, Astral, Social, Practical, and Knowledge.

Weapon skills: Each Weapon Group is a skill, and most groups include several different types of weapons. Note that you have to buy each weapon group separately; you can have 3d6 in longswords and still only roll 1d6 in sideswords. Weapon skill dice only determine your attack roll (to-hit), not your damage.

Martial skills: Manoeuvres used in battle. A few examples include wrestling, disarming, shield use, entangling, nerve strikes, ground fighting and feinting.

Casting skills: Your knack for casting various kinds of spells.

Astral skills: Out-of-body abilities and techniques for possession and exorcism.

Social skills: Any skill that involves talking, persuading or charisma and is not covered above probably fits here. Bluffing, bartering, and gathering intel are examples of social skills.

Practical skills: Any skill that involves physical action and is not covered above probably fits here. Athletics, picking locks, fishing, smithing, and playing musical instruments are just a few examples.

Knowledge skills: Includes extensive knowledge about various subjects either from academic study or personal experience. Knowledge skills are bought in pairs (i.e. you get two knowledge skills for every side-skill or core-skill slot you spend).

Weapons **UPDATED WITH WEAPON DAMAGE INFO**

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WEAPONS

All physical attacks belong to at least one weapon group and all characters start off with 1d6 in every group. Like other skills, a weapon group can be declared as a side or core skill. Each group is separate, so if you declare sideswords to be a core skill you still only have 1d6 in polearms. If a weapon is listed under two different groups, consider it part of whichever group is most beneficial to you.

Weapons and weapon groups have different qualities. These qualities affect how they can be used and how powerful they are, and weapons often have more than one quality. You will see qualities listed beside most weapon groups and some individual weapons. The full list of qualities and what they mean is given here:

WEAPON QUALITIES

1H: One-handed weapons. One-handed weapons are light enough to be wielded single-handedly, leaving the other hand open for a shield, a second weapon, or some other use.
10

2H: Two-handed weapons. Two-handers cannot be used with shields or secondary weapons. However, they are good for parrying or blocking enemies, and grant a +1 bonus to Evasion.
10

0H: This quality only applies to unarmed combat, and it leaves both hands free. You can treat 0H attacks as 1H (allowing use of a shield or secondary weapon), 2H (allowing you to add your Strength modifier to damage) or as Rapid weapons (allowing two 1H strikes at a time). 0H attacks only get one of these abilities at a time, never two or three at once.
10

Rapid: These weapons are built for speed. You can attack twice as a single action, but you use half your roll for each attack (roll twice and halve each result).
10

Melee: These weapons can only be used to strike enemies one square away – that is, squares adjacent to you. Melee weapons can be thrown like Thrown weapons (see “Thrown” below) but they use half the character’s Thrown attack roll.
10 (8 sq)

Reach: These weapons can be used to strike two squares away – they cannot be used to attack adjacent squares.
20 (16 sq - Doubles # of threatened squares)

Thrown: These weapons can be used to strike any square within 20’. They can also be used against squares that are between 25’ and 40’ away, but divide your attack roll in half. They cannot strike targets farther than 40’ away. Thrown weapons are lost when thrown, and must be retrieved before they can be used again.
30 (60 sq)

Short Range: These weapons fire ammunition up to 50’. They can also be used against squares that are 55’ to 100’ away, but divide your attack roll in half. They cannot strike targets farther than 100’ away. You can’t use a Short Range weapon without ammunition.
50

Long Range: These weapons fire ammunition up to 100’. They can also be used against squares that are 105’ to 200’ away, but divide your attack roll in half. They cannot strike targets farther than 200’ away. You can’t use a Long Range weapon without ammunition.
100?

Piercing: These weapons ignore 1 point of armour when fired within their basic range (50’ for Short Range, 100’ for Long Range).
10

Special: Some weapons have their own special qualities, explained in the entry for the weapon group.
Varies; price each one

WEAPON GROUPS

Boxing (Melee, 0H)
Includes kicks, punches, and all manner of unarmed strikes.

Basic Weapons (Melee, 1H)
Daggers, dirks, clubs, hatchets, shortspears and other lightweight weapons that are easy to use. Most weapons fall into this group.

Knives (Melee, 1H, Rapid)
Daggers and dirks used for quick flurries of stabs and slices.

Fencing (Melee, 1H)
Lightweight weapons that pierce through the body. Includes epees, rapiers, and sabres.
Special: +1 to damage with these weapons.

Sideswords (Melee, 1H)
One-handed blades used primarily for slashing and thrusting. Shortswords, scimitars, wakizashi, bastard swords (1H) and the like fit into this category.
Special: +1 to attack rolls with these weapons.

Longswords (Melee, 2H)
Two-handed blades used for hewing, slicing, and thrusting. Longswords, katana, bastard swords (2H), and greatswords (such as a claymore) are in this category.
Special: +1 to Evasion when using these weapons.

Staves (Melee)
Quarterstaves (2H), fighting sticks (1H), and clubs (1H).
Special: These weapons can be improvised by anyone, no roll needed.

Flails (Melee, 1H)
Whips, chains, and flails are used to entangle as well as damage the opponent.
Special: Can use your Flail skill in place of your Trip skill while wielding these weapons.

Polearms (Reach, 2H)
Lochabers, halberds, glaives, and longspears used to fight across ranks of infantry or over barriers.

Thrown (Thrown, 1H)
Javelins, hatchets, throwing knives, throwing stars, etc.

Bows (2H, Piercing)
Snap bows (Short Range) and longbows (Long Range).

Crossbows:
Crossbows (Long Range, 2H) and crossbow pistols (Short Range, 1H).
Special: Takes one action and two hands to reload.
Special: Attack roll modifiers cost half as much as normal.

Guns:
Muskets (Long Range, 2H) and pistols (Short Range, 1H).
Special: Take two actions and two hands to reload.
Special: Attack roll modifiers and damage modifiers cost half as much as normal.

Improvised Weapons:
This is a special group that doesn’t refer to any one type of weapon. Instead, characters with this skill are particularly good at picking up random objects and using them as weapons. Declaring Improvised Weapons as a core (or side) skill lets you rolls 3d6 (or 2d6) when wielding up to three types of objects. For instance, you could take Improvised Weapons as a side skill and treat chairs, lanterns, and vases/urns as weapons with 2d6 on your attack rolls.

You do not have to decide which three types of objects to designate right away; you can wait and see what types of objects you run into along your adventure. Once you have designated a type of object as one of your improvised weapons you can’t change it. The DM decides what type of weapon (from the groups above) an object is most similar to, and thus its qualities, p-value and the cost of adding modifiers to it. If you want to wield more than three kinds of objects as improvised weapons, you can spend additional side skill or core skill slots on Improvised Weapons, with each slot adding three more kinds of objects.

WEAPON DAMAGE

By default all weapons deal 1d6 points of weapon damage. If a weapon is of higher quality or if it has been enchanted, the amount of damage may be higher. Damage can be raised either by dice (2d6, 3d6) or by modifiers (1d6+3, 2d6+1). The higher the damage a weapon deals, the higher its power value [chart forthcoming].

All physical weapons deal weapon damage, no matter how high their damage output. Weapon damage is damage caused by the body being slammed, sliced, thrashed or penetrated by something hard. The target's armour value must be subtracted from the total weapon damage dealt.

The only way a physical weapon can deal some other kind of damage (heat, cold, etc.) is if it is enchanted, and even then it is in addition to its weapon damage, not instead of.

Armour & Shields

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ARMOUR

Any character can wear any type of armour. There are three types of armour, each with its own armour value and armour penalty. Armour value refers to how many points of damage the armour absorbs from a given attack; armour penalty is a fixed penalty that is applied to all Attack, Casting and Athletics rolls while wearing the armour.

Heavy Armour: Metal scales or plates that cover the whole body, with greaves and gauntlets and a gorget filling in the gaps. Can have an armour value of up to 6 (but 3 is stnadard).

HEAVY ARMOUR CHART (2/3 penalty)
Armour Value Armour Penalty
6......................-4
5......................-3
4......................-3
3......................-2


Medium Armour: Ring mail, lamellar armour, or very thick leather armour with metal components. Can have an armour value of up to 4 (but 2 is standard).

MEDIUM ARMOUR CHART (1/2 penalty)
Armour Value Armour Penalty
4......................-2
3......................-2
2......................-1

Light Armour: Quilted or leather armour, usually without any metal except for the helmet (if any). Can have an armour value of up to 2 (but 1 is standard). Light armour imparts no armour penalty at all.

Armour value can be increased beyond its maximum only by enchantment or the use of special materials in its construction. Many suits of armour have other magical properties as well, such as amplifying magic or slowly healing the wearer. [A gear table will be forthcoming.]

Note that armour only reduces weapon damage; other types of damage (heat, cold, etc.) may not be affected.

Armour penalties can be lessened for a particular piece of armour by enchantment, or for all armour a character uses by spending XP [a section on special abilities is forthcoming].

SHIELDS

Unlike armour, shields do not absorb damage; instead they boost Evasion. Anyone can use a shield, but how much the shield boosts Evasion depends on your character's Shield skill. This skill can be puchased as a side or core skill like any other, but it does not involve a dice roll. Instead, characters with Shields as a core skill get +3 to Evasion while using any shield; those with Shields as a side skill get +2; everyone else gets +1. If a shield is enchanted or made of special materials it may grant additional bonuses or have other special properties as well.

However, a character's Shield skill is not the only factor in determining how useful a shield is. Like weapons, shields can have different qualities:

Arm: Arm shields are strapped to the arm, leaving both hands free.

Heavy: Heavy shields require the use of a hand and arm. That hand cannot be used for anything else.

Wall: Shields with this quality can be used to form shield walls.

Fixable: Fixable shields have a pointed base which can be spiked into the ground. Doing so allows a character to use the shield (in one direction only) without having to hold onto it. It takes an action to pull the shield back up.

[A table of specific shields and their power value is forthcoming.]

Magic **MAGIC SECTION NOW INCLUDES HEALING!!!**

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TYPES OF MAGIC

In PbP, as in most games, the magic that players use most frequently is combat-related. There's little need for an adventurer to have spells to increase garden output or keep the bathroom clean. Some spells with no combat applications are still useful, but they're in the minority. That leads to four broad types of magic characters can use: Combat Strike Magic, Combat Support Magic, Utility Magic, and Healing. Each of the four will be reviewed in detail below (but right now, only Combat Strike Magic is finished).

STRIKE MAGIC

Strike Magic manifests energies and objects to destroy enemy units. Clouds of fire, lightning storms, and rains of otherworldly arrows are just a few variations. If it calls some painful substance into being, it's Strike Magic. (Note: summoned spirits, even those sent into combat, are covered under Support Magic.)

Strike magic can be learned and used in two different ways. The relevant casting skills can be learned to cast a variety of related spells, or an individual spell can be learned on its own. A character can even mix and match between these methods. The rules and benefits of each method are below.

Casting Skills: Several skill groups are useful to a character specialising in strike magic. When a character uses their casting skill to cast a spell, they roll the skill and add any relevant modifiers. The total is the number the spell's target(s) must beat on their Evasion or Will roll to avoid damage.

In addition the caster must pay the relevant Spirit cost. If they don't have enough Spirit points remaining the spell cannot be cast at all. The Spirit cost is determined by the particulars of the spell in question, and is listed with each of the pre-made spells available to all mages [chart fortchoming].

Spells can also be custom-made by those with the relevant casting skill. In this case the Spirit cost depends on a number of variables, including the range and energy type of the spell, and how much damage it does. A complete chart for determining Spirit cost is given here:

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Spell Effect........................................Spir it Cost*

Range
Melee range
Short range
Long range

Damage per target
1d6 damage
2d6 damage
3d6 amage

Energy Type
Weapon (physical)
Heat
Cold
Caustic
Electrical
Sonic
Holy
Unholy
Phantasmic

Special Modifiers
Add extra energy
Add status effect (see separate chart)
Add buff/debuff (see separate chart)

Area
1 target only
Small area
Large area

Resist...
Resisted by Will
Resisted by Evasion
Resisted by other skill
Cannot be resisted

*The Spirit cost will be determined by playtesting and added later.

Note that unless a character has the relevant casting skill as a side or core skill slot they cannot use that skill to customise spells. This option is only available to those who spend skill slots on casting.

For those who do make the investment, the skills are well worth it. For example, a skill slot spent on Touches gives a character the ability to lay about with his bare hands setting off bursts of fire, chilling ice clouds and electrical discharges. He can vary the strength of each attack depending on the size of the enemy, and add all manner of glamours to his handiwork. This level of versatility is earned through years of training and a deep understanding of the magical arts. The casting skills most often used for Strike Magic are:

Darts: Ranged magic attacks that come from the caster's hand and fly toward the target, opposed by Evasion. Point cost scales with range and damage. Metamagic adds extra energy types or multiple targets.

Ruptures: Ranged magic attacks called to manifest inside the target and burst out of their body, opposed by Will. Point cost scales with range and damage. Metamagic adds extra energy types or multiple targets.

Touches: Melee magic attacks. The caster lays his hands on the target, opposed by Evasion, and calls forth the destructive power. Costs less Spirit than ranged attacks; scales with damage only. Metamagic adds extra energy types.

Blasts: Area of effect attacks. The caster manifests a field of destruction, opposed by various skills (depending on the particular spell). Very high Spirit cost; scales with damage, size, shape, and method of opposing. Metamagic allows sculpting the blast, sustaining the blast for multiple rounds, exempting allies from the blast, and adding extra energy types.

By dedicating skill slots to one or more of these groups a caster can quickly become known as a lethal tool of war. Strike spells of all kinds have little purpose beyond lifting or breaking sieges, wrecking townlands and harvesting enemy battalions.

Individual Spells: For those without the time or patience it takes to master strike magic, individual spells can be learned without spending skill slots. A character who knows only a few individual spells might have picked one up from a grandparent, a magical text, or from a traveler willing to share knowledge in exchange for hospitality.

Individual spells must be selected from the lists of pre-made spells [chart forthcoming]. Custom spells can only be learned through in-game tutelage from other characters or by finding magical texts during a journey.

Individual spells do not require skill slots, but they are bought with XP just like gear. Once a spell has been learned it can be used an unlimited amount of times. Each time it is cast, the caster must pay the relevant Spirit cost (determined by the particular spell). The variables of the spell (range, damage, energy type, etc.) are fixed and cannot be tweaked in any way; the character does not know how to redesign the spell to change these factors. However, if the caster has any mystic feats that modify casting, these can be applied normally.

When the spell is cast the caster must roll the relevant skill to determine how hard it is to resist the effect. Add the dice roll and any modifiers; the total is the number the target(s) must beat on their Will or Evasion roll to avoid damage.

If a caster has purchased an individual spell and later dedicates a skill slot to the relevant casting skill, the individual spell's p-value is reduced to zero (effectively, it no longer counts against the caster's p-value). From then on the caster can customise the spell as desired because the caster now understands the workings of that type of magic.

Learning individual spells rather than casting skills has a number of advantages. It is an easy way for a warrior to pick up a little emergency backup magic without wasting a skill slot. Dedicated casters who want to spend many skill slots on Astral skills or Mystic feats, or specialise in one type of magic, can buy individual spells from outside their areas of specialty. The Spirit cost of the individual spells is the same either way, but learning them individually allows somewhat more breadth.

Of course, the usefulness of such spells is limited without a high casting skill, and there is no way to customise the individual spells. Even if a character has cast Ice Grip 1,000 times he cannot substitute fire for ice without making Touches at least a side skill.

SUPPORT MAGIC

Support magic is a wider group of combat magics, one which is designed with the behind-the-lines caster in mind. Many support spells are immensely destructive, but they serve as indirect ways of damaging the enemy: strengthening friendly forces, weakening enemy forces, or sending conjured beasts to do the fighting for you. If a caster is using magic to influence a fight but not slinging spells like weapons, they are using support magic.

Like strike magic, support magic uses a variety of casting skills and can be mastered through those skills or picked up in the form of individual spells.

Support spells can also be customised by those who have the relevant skill as a side or core skill. [effect/spirit cost chart forthcoming]

Obstacles: The caster manifests substances that hamper enemy movement, or twist existing terrain to do so. Overcoming or bypassing the obstacles may require a number of different skills (often Athletics), and the difficulty is based on the caster's Obstacles casting roll. Spirit cost scales with the size of the obstacle and how many rolls enemies must use to get over/through it. Metamagic may allow the obstacles to take on a mind of their own.

Charms: The caster charms enemies or allies to receive penalties or bonuses on certain rolls. Opposed by Will. Spirit cost scales with duration, number of targets, how big the bonus/penalty is, and what types of rolls it affects.

Enchantments: The caster captures the mind of an enemy, altering its behaviour in some way. Opposed by Will. Effects can include sleep, fear, confusion, spastic behaviour, forgetfulness, idiocy, suggestibility, rage, changed moral outlook, bitter sadness, or even complete obedience to the caster. Spirit cost scales with duration, type of effect, and number of targets.

Illusions: The caster creates illusory images and sensations to trick enemies, opposed by Will. Spirit cost scales with duration and number of senses fooled.

Summoning: The caster conjures spirits or beasts in bonded servitude. Summoning spells are not directly resisted, though enemies can attack the summoned being. The being's power level is adjusted by the caster's Summoning roll. Spirit cost scales with duration, creature type, and creature loyalty.

UTILITY MAGIC

Section to be completed later. This is where you will find spells that do nifty non-combat things. Movement (levitation, teleportation, etc.) will be one of the casting skills involved; the others haven't been decided yet.

HEALING MAGIC

Healing magic skills:

Refresh: This skill is used to restore Breath to a patient. The magician must lay his hands on the patien's body and the spirit cost is based on how many points of Breath must be restored. The patient's armour value (if any) is subtracted from the total healing and the remainder is added to the patient's remaining Breath score, one point per round. Higher per-round rates are costly; Refresh spells are best done out of battle and after removing armour. Refresh spells do not remove injuries.

Renew: This skill is used to immediately resotre large amounts of Breath to a patient. Immensely costly, Renew spells are still reduced by the patient's armour value, but the remaining healing is delivered to the patient all at once.

Remake: Remake is used to cast spells that remove injuries. These spells close wounds, join broken bones, mend torn muscle and restore the inner workings of the body. Spells to banish disease and poison also fall into this category. Spell cost varies widely with the type of injury being treated, but al Remaking spells have one thing in common: length. because these spells must physically and carefully remake the body, they typically involve ceremonies at least an hour long.

Resurrection: Resurrection magic has a mighty reputation, at one time both sacred and terrible. Under the right circumstances Resurrection spells can return the deceased to life, but they may well twist the patient into an undead fiend instead. Very costly; use with caution.

LEARNING MAGIC

Section to be completed later. This will cover rules for learning individual spells in-game.

[Another_Poet]

RULES PART II

Feats

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MARTIAL FEATS

Melee Weapons:

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Frenzy I
You can use one action to make two melee attacks against a single target, splitting your attack roll evenly between the two. You can do this once per round.

Frenzy II
You can use Frenzy I twice per round. Prereq: Frenzy I

Frenzy III
You can use Frenzy I three times per round. Prereqs: Frenzy I and II.

Flurry of Death
You can use one action to make two melee attacks, making a separate full attack roll for each of the two. You can do this once per round. Prereqs: Frenzy I, II and III.

Mighty Stroke I
You can take a penalty on an attack roll and gain a bonus on the damage roll for that attack. For every 2 points deducted from attaxck, add 1 point to damage. You cannot take more than 2 from a 1d6 attack, more than 4 from a 2d6 attack, or more than 6 from a 3d6 attack. If you take multiple attacks with a single action, the penalties and bonuses apply to all attacks made during that action.

Mighty Stroke II
As Mighty Stroke I, but there is no limit on how many points you can deduct from an attack roll. Prereq: Mighty Stoke I.

Measured Stroke I
By spending one action to take careful aim, you can add +1d6 to an attack roll on your next action.

Measured Stroke II
By spending a full round (3 actions) taking careful aim you can double an attack roll on your next action.

Bind-fighting
You Hold Up to attack the next enemy who attacks you, but spend one extra action. When you are attacked, you roll your held attack(s) and add a +2 bonus to each one.

Ranged Weapons:

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Overload I
As Frenzy I, but for ranged attacks. Can only be used with weapons capable of being loaded with multiple ammunition at once.

Overload II
As Overload I, but can be used twice per round. Prereq: Overload I.

Overload III
As Overload I, but can be used three times per round. This feat does not reduce reloading time, and may not work with slow-to-reload weapons. Prereq: Overload I and II.

Rain of Death
As Flurry of Death, but for ranged weapons. Can only be used with weapons capable of being loaded with multiple ammunition at once. Prereq: Overload I, II and III.

Mighty Shot I
As Mighty Stroke I, but for ranged weapons. Works only for bows, which can be “overdrawn” for greater power.

Mighty Shot II.
As Mighty Shot I, but there is no limit on how many points you can deduct from an attack roll. Prereq: Mighty Shot I.

Snipe I
As Measured Stroke I, but for ranged weapons.

Snipe II
As Measured Stroke II, but for ranged weapons.

Stockfighting
You can use the stock or bayonet of your ranged weapon to make a melee attack using your ranged skill instead of your Basic Weapons skill. No enchantments or special qualities on the ranged weapon apply to the stock. Bows cannot be used for this (only crossbows and guns).

General:

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Final Purpose
When you are dropped by an enemy (wounded or dead) you may say a single short sentence or issue a final loud cry. This may be used to warn allies, etc.

Strongfall I
When you are dropped by an enemy (wounded or dead) you may make a single final attack before going down. Use half your attack rolls. Prereq: Final Purpose.

Strongfall II
As Strongfall I but you can use your full attack roll. Prereqs: Final Purpose, Strongfall I.

Stealth Strike
You can make a Stealth roll along with your attack roll, and add one sixth of the result to your damage roll. This can only be used against enemies who are unaware of you.

Roaring Strike
You can make an Intimidate roll along with your attack roll, and add one sixth of the result to your damage roll. This can only be used against enemies who are aware of you.

Weak Spot
You can make a Perception roll along with your attack roll, adding half the result to your attack roll. This can be done only when striking a foe who has been successfully struck by yourself or another ally in the same round.

Armour-Wrecker
You can deal damage to an enemy’s armour on purpose. You make the attack and damage roll as normal, but the enemy takes no Breath damage; instead, every three points of damage reduces their armour value by 1.

Lightfoot
You can make an Acrobatics roll along with an Evasion roll, adding one sixth of the result to your Evasion roll. This uses one action.

MYSTIC FEATS

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Mystic Feats

Light Body I
You can spend 10 spirit points to gain a +1 on Evasion against one attack. This must be declared at the beginning of a round when you roll Evasion.

Light Body II
As Light Body I, but you can spend 20 spirit points to gain a +2 on Evasion against one attack, or 20 spirit points to gain a +1 on Evasion against two attacks. Prereq: Light Body I.

Still Mind I
You can spend 10 spirit points to gain a +1 on Will against one effect. This must be declared at the beginning of a round when you roll Evasion.

Still Mind II
As Still Mind I, but you can spend 20 spirit points to gain a +2 on Will against one effect, or 20 spirit points to gain a +1 on Will against two effects. Prereq: Light Body I.

Energy Hands I
You can spend 10 spirit points to gain a +1 on one action’s worth of Unarmed attacks.

Energy Hands II
As Energy Hands I, but you can spend 20 spirit points to gain a +2 on one action’s worth of Unarmed attacks or 20 spirit points to gain a +1 on attacks and damage for one action’s worth of Unarmed attacks. Prereq: Energy Hands I.

Mystic Spell I
You can spend 10 spirit points to gain a +1 on any one Casting roll.

Mystic Spell II
As Mystic Spell I, but you can spend 20 spirit points to gain a +2 on one Casting roll or 20 spiit points to gain a +1 on a Casting roll and on the damage that casting inflicts. Prereq: Mystic Spell I.

Blast Art I (yeah we really need naming help)
You can use Blast spells to cover a cone-shaped area starting on a square adjacent to your own square. The radius is twice the radius of your normal blast spell and the cone is 45-degrees.

Blast Art II
You can use Blast spells to cover a single line of squares starting on a square adjacent to your own. The line must be orthagonal or 45-degrees. The line is four times as long as your normal blast radius. Prereq: Blast Art I

Sudden Focus
You an spend 40 spirit points to gain a +1 on any single roll, no more than once per round.

Burning Life I
You can spend spirit points to instantly regain Breath. For every 40 spirit spoints your remaining Breath increases by 1. This cannot increase your Breath beyond its maximum.

Burning Life II
As Burning Life I, but for every 50 spirit points you spend you can increase your Breath 1 point beyond its maximum. This cannot increase your breath beyond 150% its normal maximum. This requires a full round to accomplish (no matter how many points you increase your Breath by). This extra Breath depletes at the same rate that Breath normally replenishes. Prereq: Burning Life I.

Spent Life I
You can expend Breath to regain Spirit points. For each point of Breath you spend, your remaining spirit points increase by 40. This cannot increase your spirit points beyond their normal maximum nor decrease your Breath below 1.

Spent Life II
As Spent Life I, but you can now increase your spirit points up to 150% beyond their normal maximum and you can deplete your Breath below 1. Doing this reqires a full round to accomplish, and allows you to stay conscious for 1 additional action. You cannot use this action for any purpose that does not require spirit points; essentially you are sacrificing your body to cast a final spell. Once you have taken this final action you collapse and take wounds normal; if you are hit at any point before completing your action, you collapse and take wounds as normal and do not get your extra action. Prereq: Spent Life I.

Combat ***UPDATED WITH INFO ON ACTIONS, ROUNDS, and TOTAL DEFENCE!***

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ROUNDS, INITIATIVE, and ACTIONS

In PbP there is no initiative. Actions occur in the order in which they are posted. However, there are some guidelines that keep order in combat.

A typical combat would start as the PCs find themselves facing some dire enemy. If the PCs have set up and ambush or otherwise gotten the upper hand, the DM will normally let them post their actions before posting the enemy actions. If the enemies are the ones who got the jump on the PCs, the DM might post all of their actions first. In most combats, the DM will post various enemy actions throughout the combat round.

Combat is divided into rounds. During each round, each PC can take up to three actions. Each action can be used to move, attack with a weapon, cast a spell, or do any number of other things. Characters never get more than three actions, but they can purchase feats that let them squeeze more use out of a single action.

Players can use all three actions in one post, or they can save their actions to use throughout the round in multiple posts. But beware! When the DM posts "/round" all unused actions are lost. A player can usually tell when the round is coming to a close, because all or most of the enemies and other players have taken at least one action. A wise player finds a balance between waiting to see how the fight develops and acting quickly to get the most time in the spotlight.

EVASION AND TOTAL DEFENCE

Each round every character rolls Evasion, or takes mean on Evasion; this does not use up one of their three actions. If the player doesn't roll it the DM assumes they take mean.

Each hit that you take during a round reduces your Evasion roll by 1. It cannot drop below 1, ever. These penalties last until you roll Evasion at the beginning of the next round.

If you do not like your Evasion score you can spend actions to go on Total Defence. Spend one of your three actions and you can reroll your Evasion with a +1 bonus. Spend two actions and reroll it with a +2. Spend all three of your actions and you can do nothing but guard yourself, rerolling Evasion with a +3 bonus. (You can take mean on your reroll if you want.) The only catch is that you have to declare Total Defence as your first action(s) for the round - you may not take other actions and then go on Total Defence.

HOLDING UP

You can withhold one (or more) of your actions and designate a condition under which you will use it. For instance, “I’ll hold one of my actions and use it to attack the next person who attacks me. Here’s my attack roll in case it’s needed.”

You can hold one, two or all three actions and set the conditions under which you will take them. If the conditions are not met before the round ends, you lose the unused actions.

POST RATE AND PLAYER ADVANTAGE

During recruiting the DM should tell players the approximate pacing of the game--that is, how often players are expected to post. This pacing establishes how much time and attention players must give the game, and how often they must check the thread in which the game is happening.

Within the range of the pacing, however, frequent posters have a slight combat advantage over infrequent posters. By posting first in a combat round, a player can guide party tactics (e.g. running into an area the mage would otherwise blast, or charming a monster that might otherwise be sword-fodder). Likewise, frequent posters are more likely to split up their actions into multiple posts, observing how combat is going and making decisions based on their surroundings.

This advantage for frequent posters is intentional and is built into the system. The characters of frequent posters come off as more alert and responsive than other characters. This is the reward a player gets for giving extra time and attention to a game.

This advantage should never be overwhelming; all players in a one-post-per-week campaign have the same three actions to work with, even if one of them looks at the thread seven days in a row. There is no advantage to posting more often than the DM's requested pacing, because the DM will not end the combat round (or advance the plot) until the majority of players have used the majority of their actions. But the attentive poster does earn a small tactical advantage.

This means that it is important to be realistic when signing up for a PbP game. If the DM expects three posts per week and you only check in once per week, you will find that you occasionally lose actions in combat. If the DM expects one post per week and you skip a week, you'll find the same thing.

If you are keeping to the agreed upon posting pace and find yourself losing actions anyway, you should talk to your DM and ask why the pacing has changed (and more importantly, whether the pacing is going to return to normal or stay changed for the long-term). Usually this sort of problem is accidental and easily remedied.

More basics of the combat system, coming soon..

Breath, Death, and Healing

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Your character's Breath score may be depleted by any number of threats - enemies, traps, mishaps, or the natural dangers of rugged terrain. Many forms of damage are reduced by your armour value, but even with that safeguard there will be times you find yourself low on Breath. This section details the means of recovering Breath and, perhaps most importantly, what happens when you are completely out of Breath.

WHAT BREATH IS

Breath is a character's energy store, their vigour and stamina. As long as a character has Breath, they are shrugging off the weapon blows and other threats that connect with them. A character who is hit with a spear for 4 points of Breath damage has not been gored or stabbed with the spear, but they'll probably have a welt underneath the part of their armour that absorbed the blow.

As a day drags on, the exertion of combat and exploration gets to a character. The lower their Breath, the less energy they have left to keep surviving such challenges. Only when they run out of Breath do they take serious wounds.

RECOVERING BREATH

There are three ways of recovering breath: rest, magic, or mystic feats.

Rest
Rest is something all characters need. When a character can sit down somewhere and relax, she regains Breath at a rate of 2 points per hour. (It is possible to raise this rate through Mystic feats.) In order for this to work the character must be able to rest somewhere reasonably safe, and not be required to move around much or do anything strenuous or stressful. Characters do not necessarily need to eat or nap to rest, but anyone suffering from severe hunger, thirst or sleep deprivation will be unable to regain Breath points this way.

Characters engaged in light chores, guard duty, a gentle walk, or similar physical activities can still regain Breath, but at a lower rate of 1 point per hour.

Rest, like all forms of Breath recovery, is unable to raise a character's Breath score above its maximum (unless they have some feat allowing otherwise).

There is a limit to the power of rest! No character can regain more than twice their Breath score from rest without getting a full night's sleep. For example, a thief with a Breath score of 6 can recover up to 12 Breath points by resting. After that, no amount of rest will recover any more Breath until the thief manages to get a good, full sleep.

Magic
There are many spells and ceremonies that invigourate and energise the body, and these are often employed to refresh warriors between sorties. The Refresh spells are the most basic form of medicinal magic, recover various amounts of Breath much quicker than rest does (measured in points per round, rather than points per hour), but these spells have drawbacks. First of all, Breath regained by Refresh spells is reduced by the target's armour value just like damage often is. When time allows, it is therefore best best to remove an ally's armour before applying a Refresh spell to them. Secondly, Refresh spells that raise Breath faster than 1 point per round are costly to learn and to cast. Because of these limitations, magic healing is usually reserved for after a battle is over, and is not done in the midst of a melee. [See the magic section on page 1 for the new casting skill groups Refresh, Renew, Remake and Resurrect.]

Magic, like all forms of Breath recovery, is unable to raise a character's Breath score above its maximum (unless they have some feat allowing otherwise).

Mystic Feats
There are several Mystic feats that are designed to allow a character to imediately recover a small portion of Breath. This does not involve casting a spell and is not affected by armour; it represents a character's ability to draw on their inner strength to keep themselves moving. This could involve meditative training, an adrenaline rush, or a natural determination; in any case, it is often the deciding factor between life and death in combat.

However, these feats deplete vastly more Spirit points than casting a simple Refresh spell. They are truly emergency techniques that are best saved for dire circumstances.

In general these feats do not allow a character to exceed their maximum Breath score, but there are feats that give exceptions to this.

ZERO BREATH: EXHAUSTION

When a character's Breath score reaches zero, that character is exhausted. An exhausted character halves all dice rolls, and cannot use abilities that allow extra attacks, spells, or movement per action.

Nonetheless, the character is still up and awake, and is much better off than a wounded character. Character can spend build points or XP to widen their "exhaustion window" in 1 point increments. For example, a normal character is exhausted at 0 Breath and wounded at -1 Breath, but if they widened their window by 3 points would be merely exhausted from 0 to -3 Breath and would only become injured at -4 Breath.

The exhaustion window can never be widened by more than half a character's maximum Breath score. Thus, a character with a Breath score of 6 can widen exhaustion down to -3, while a character with a Breath score of 8 can widen it down to -4.

Once a character becomes exhausted, they remain exhausted until they meet two conditions:

1) Their Breath score rises out of their exhaustion window, and
2) They receive magical healing or rest for one hour or more.

Neither one of these conditions on its own will ease their exhaustion; both conditions must be met.

INJURY AND NEGATIVE BREATH

When a character's Breath score drops below their exhaustion window they become injured. This almost always means they drop unconscious, but may have other ramifications as well - possibly even death. By default injury starts at -1 Breath, but if the exhaustion window is widened it starts lower.

When a character is injured, look at their current Breath score and compare to the table below to find the result.

Points Below Exhaustion...........Injury........Breath Recovered
1-3 (default -1 to -3)................Type 1.......1d6
4-5 (default -4 to -5)................Type 2.......1d6
6-x (default -6 to x).................Type 3.......1d6
below x...................................Lethal......... .1d6

"Points below exhaustion" refers to exactly that: how many points your Breath has fallen below your exhaustion window. The default value is given in parentheses - this is the value if you have not widened your exahustion window.

The variable "x" is your maximum Breath score with a minus sign in front of it. So if you have a max breath of 7, x is -7.

"Breath recovered" refers to how much Breath you regain when you take the injury. Breath is always regained upon being injured. This is to reduce compound injuries and make the game less lethal. This Breath recovery is not enough, on its own, for your character to get back up and into the fight; it simply provides a small buffer against further injury, should your enemies choose to continue harrying you when you fall.

The "Injury" type refers to what sorts of medical complications you incur from your injury. These complications may present hurdles to patching you up, or may even give you penalties that stay with you after you're healed. The injury types can each involve various complications:

Type 1: Minor. On a d6:
1.......Unconscious plus concussion
2-5....Unconscious (only)
6.......Exhausted rather than Injured

Type 2: Urgent. On 2d6:
2.......Unconscious plus sprain
3-8....Unconscious plus severe bleeding
9-10...Unconscious plus cracked ribs
11......Unconscious plus internal bleeding
12......Unconscious plus concussion


Type 3: Dire. On a d6:
1-2.....Unconscious plus gangrene risk
3........Eye injury
4-5.....Head trauma
6........Tailbone injury

Complications explained alphabetically:

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Concussions halve all rolls made for 1 hour after being woken up. Additionally, the character suffers short-term memory loss (forgetting some, but not all things that happened in the last 24 hours).

Cracked ribs are extremely painful, but not impossible to live with. For 1 week, half movement and halve all Athletics and Acrobatics checks.

Eye Injuries leave a character mostly blinded for 2 days. On the first day they can sense nothing but the presence or absence of light, cannot move around without guidance, and cannot succeed on any physical skill roll; on the second day they can make out shapes well enough to move at half-speed and all physical rolls are halved.

Head trauma is more severe than a concussion and leaves a character addled for 3 days. On the first day they remain in a vegetative state, unconscious and unable to sense their surroundings or take any action. By the second day they wake up but experience extreme head pain if they try to move, limiting them to one yard per action. On the third day they can move normally, but on both the second and third days they halve all mental rolls (casting, knowledge, etc.).

Internal bleeding is a dangerous condition, but one which can be cured with bed rest. For three days, the character loses 1 Breath per hour when trying to walk or perform light chores, and 2 Breath per hour when performing any strenuous activity.

Gangrene risk represents an infected wound, but one which has not yet caused any tissue death. The character has 1 week in which to remove the infection, or else the wound will become gangrenous (see below).

Gangrenous describes infected wounds that have gone on to kill healthy tissue around them. Essentially, the area around the wound is dead and decomposing. The dead tissue must be cut away. If done the first day, this can be accomplished without removing the limb by a Field Medicine check equal to or higher than the attack roll that inflicted the wound. If this check fails or is not made in time, the entire limb must be amputated (treat as lost limb, below). There can be no rety on this check.

Lost limbs are a major disability for adventurers. In the cast of a leg, walking is impossible without a crutch or prosthetic of some sort, and even then the characters moves at half their normal movement. Additionally, they cannot make any Athletics or Acrobatics checks that involve moving the lower body. For arms, Athletics and Acrobatics checks involving the upper body are halved, and only one hand remains to use weapons, shields, or other items.

Severe bleeding must be stitched up or otherwise staunched, raising the Field Medicine target number by 2.

Sprains disable the relevant limb for 1 day. If to either leg: half movement, halve all Athletics and Acrobatics checks. If to either arm: halve all rolls made involving that arm, or halve shield bonus from shield used by that arm.

Tailbone injuries leave a character paralysed from the waist down for 1 hour (their spine is not broken, but they cannot move their body through the pain). Additionally, they cannot move more than 1 yard per action for the rest of the day, and have half movement the whole next day.

Unconsciousness is the same as being "knocked out", The character is in a deep sleep, and will wake up within an hour (or can be woken up early with smelling salts, a Field Medicine roll, or a bucket of cold water) unless another complication specifies otherwise.

Lethal:

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Lethal injuries are likely to kill a character. Lethal injuries can be described in almost any way: a gash through the neck and throat, a knife to the heart, evisceration, a cloven skull, etc. No matter the form of the injury the mechanics for treating it are the same.

Once your character takes a lethal injury, roll your Breath recover and see if it brings your Breath score above x If it does not, you have only one round to live; if not treated by then you die.

If it does raise your Breath score above [I]x[I], you lose 1 point of Breath per round until you reach x. When you fall below x you die. You do not incur additional wounds for losing these points, although you can incur additional wounds if you are attacked again.

Treating a character who is dying of a lethal wound involves a successful Field Medicine roll. The target number for this roll is equal to the attack roll that inflicted the wound, plus 1 for every round that has elapsed since the wound was inflicted.

Once the wound is treated, the character remains unconscious for at least one full day and night. Their injury will heal on its own, but slowly; it takes one week plus 2 days per round that elapsed between receiving the injury and being treated. During this time the character cannot recover Breath through rest and her maximum Beath is reduced to half its usual maximum.

Each day, the character must receive a successful Field Medicine roll. The target for this roll is the same as the target for the original Field Medicine roll to treat the wound. If this roll fails, one more day is added to the total recovery time the character needs.

Each time the character gets up and walks around or physically exerts herself before the injury is healed, one more day is added to the total recovery time.

This entire process can be bypassed with an appropriate Remake spell, which will close the wound and leave the character healthy right away.

DEATH AND RESURRECTION

When a character dies, they are done. They are not normally going to come back by any means.

Many wizards have researched ways around mortality, but results have been spotty at best. The spells associated with the Resurrection casting skill represent their best efforts, but these spells are expensive and often futile.

When a Resurrection spell is used, the character will return to life only if they have some powerful drive to accomplish something in the world. Not all characters have such a drive, even if they enjoyed life or had goals in life. An ardorous dedication to some person, place or cause is the most basic prerequisite to resurrection.

Additionally, divine favour must be sought. If the deities are not petitioned and a case is not made for the person's merit, the soul wil not be returned.

If these preconditions are met the resurrection spell has a chance of succeeding. However, there is also a chance of the spell going awry. In this event the person is reanimated but not restored fully to life. They become one of the various forms of undead, often with a tormented mind and fearsome powers. Many of the world's greatest evils were created through humankind's well-intentioned, but ultimately selfish desire to beat death.

Once a person is turned into an undead there is no way to restore them to proper life, although it is still possible to break the curse on them and allow their spirit to go to rest.

ENEMIES AND FALLEN ALLIES

It is generally considered cruel and even evil to strike a wounded, fallen soldier. More to the point, it's bad tactics: those sword strokes are better spent on enemies who are still up and fighting. Even the twisted monsters of the world can understsnd this.

Therefore, when an ally goes down in battle you can usually expect that they will receive no further wounds until the battle is over. There are exceptions, of course. Some attacks against valid targets will hit a fallen target as well (such as a Blast spell or a charging sickle-chariot, both of which cut across a battlefield indiscriminately). In such cases, little consideration is given to the wounded who get in the way.

There are a few types of enemies who will continue to attack fallen, injured targets. Usually such enemies are mentally deranged or completely mindless. Examples would include some undead, rabid animals, and certain fiendish spirits. Even these monsters, however, may save their meal or macabre sport till after decisively ending a battle.

If an entire party of PCs is wiped out by enemies, they are likely to be left for dead. A few enemies (such as assassins) may systematically finish off the injured PC's one at a time before leaving. Others (such as formal armies) may well nurse the PCs back to health to take them prisoner. Prisoner treatment varies from army to army, but prisoners almost always receive second treatment after the army's own casualties are tended.

If the PCs are simply left for dead, their injuries play out as normal. Those who are merely unconscious will wake up within an hour and can set about tending their friends - if they were left any supplies with which to tend them.

Note: I expect there to be some pushback against having these injury charts and various types of injuries. I have my own doubts, since I think that stuff is fun in a one-shot but bogs down long campaigns. However, I've tries to arrange the charts to make it very likely to get Type I and very unlikely to get harsher wounds except in the most difficult battles. That's why you roll to recover Breath when you'e injured.

I'd like to try it out and see whether it adds flavour to the game. If it ruins the experience we can delete the charts and go with a more D&D type of thing (Up and fine or down and unconscious, no specific wounds).

Note also that all of the injuries can be removed with Remake spells.

Money

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MONEY

In PbP, money is unrelated to your character’s power value. You gain power by finding magical gear (which usually can’t be bought in stores) and by spending XP to improve your skills. Many adventurers are actually rather cash-poor, bartering the valuables they find for food, lodging, and comfort. Coins, when found, are usually silver or copper and are used mainly for procuring luxuries or bribing the occasional official.

If you would like your character to be better off, you can purchase Wealth as a side or core skill. Wealth is rolled in circumstances where it's crucial to have more than just pocket money: to finance an expedition, bribe someone important or dress to fit in at aristocratic functions. Wealth can be a wonderful skill for campaigns that involve politics and diplomacy, but may not be useful in military or exploration campaigns. Ask your DM if you want to know how useful Wealth will be in your campaign.

Objects of Magical Power ***NEW!***

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Magic Scrolls
A magic scroll typically contains the instructions and wording for a single spell. Using a scroll, anyone can cast that spell. When the spell is cast, the caster rolls the better of their own casting skill or the original scroll author’s casting skill. However, the scroll must be read and studied first.

Reading a scroll: A magic scroll can be read off the page like any other writing, as long as the reader knows the language it is written in.

Studying a scroll: Upon obtaining a new magic scroll, a person must study it for at least one hour before being able to use it properly. In some cases more study time is needed, usually only for very powerful spells or very unintelligent readers. Study time can only be reduced if the reader has a higher casting skill than the scroll’s author.

Using a scroll: Once a person has read and studied a magic scroll they can cast the spell it contains. To do so they hold up the scroll and read the words from it out loud, performing any actions necessary to cast the spell. If the spell on the scroll would normaly take one or two actions to cast, it takes two or three actions respectively; if it normally takes three actions or longer to cast it instead takes twice as long. The scroll-reader must also pay the Spirit cost of the spell to cast it, unless they are using an imbued scroll (see below).

A magic scroll can be used over and over again. It does not have to be re-studied between castings.

Imbued Scrolls: Some magic scrolls are “imbued” with the Spirit cost of the spell they contain. Such a scroll offers a single free casting. As the spell is cast, the energy in the magic scroll is released, which has a 45% chance of reducing the scroll to tatters. If the scroll survives it can be used over and over like a normal scroll, but the caster must pay the Spirit cost for all future castings.

Learning spells: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for permanently learning a spell from a magic scroll. The spell will then follow the “single spells” rules in the Casting Skill section.

Multiple spells: Occasionally a magic scroll contains more than one spell. Only one can be used at a time (i.e., each one requires separate actions to cast) and each one must be studied individually before use. The spells can be in the same or different languages, and a caster can study and cast one spell without studying the others. Imbued scrolls with multiple spells may be imbued for one, several or all of the spells. If an imbued scroll destroys itself during casting, all spells it contains go to tatters (not just the one being cast).

Crafting: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for crafting magical scrolls.

Availability: Magic scrolls are rare enough that they cannot be purchased. Correctly formulating a spell to be cast by others with no hands-on training is difficult, there are more fake magic scrolls than real ones. Characters might receive a scroll as a reward for a mission or find it amongst fallen enemies. New characters may not start with any scrolls.


Grammaries
Often simply called “spellbooks,” grammaries are books of magic formulae which contain instructions on the use of each spell. Each spell must be read and studied before it can be cast, just like a magic scroll; Essentially, the entire book functions like one big scroll, except grammaries are never imbued and may contain any number of spells. However, not all grammaries are accurate. When a spell is cast from a grammary for the first time the DM secretly rolls a d% to see if the spell is useless (spell fails) or dangerous (spell fails and caster is damaged). The odds of a spell being accurate vary from book to book.

Learning spells: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for permanently learning a spell from a grammary. The spell will then follow the “single spells” rules in the Casting Skill section.

Crafting: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for crafting grammaries.

Availability: Grammaries are exceedingly rare, and well-made ones even rarer. Most people who have one (and know what it is) will put down their lives to keep it. New characters may not start with grammaries.


Grimoires
Also often called “spellbooks,” grimoires are books of magic formulae which contain no clear instructions for use, and are often heavily encrypted. Generally, only the author of a grimoire can use it. If the author gives up the key to the encryption or if the encryption is somehow cracked, the grimoire can be used like a grammary, but study times are doubled.

Use of a grimoire while casting a spell can also impart various bonuses to the spell, as grimoires often contain tricks for making a spell more effective [see table that does not exist yet].

Learning spells: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for permanently learning a spell from a grimoire. The spell will then follow the “single spells” rules in the Casting Skill section.

Crafting: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for crafting grimoires.

Availability: Grimoires are no more common than accomplished wizards. Serious students of the arcane seek out grimoires and some are willing to kill to obtain them. New characters may not start with grimoires.


Wands
Wands are designed to cast one or more spells on command. Wands have their own Spirit scores and Casting skills and may have one or more mystic feats as well. Some wands are designed to be usable by anyone, while others require a skill roll of some sort to use. Activating a wand requires one action.

Wands deplete their Spirit points when casting just like any other caster does. When their spirit points run out, they may slowly regain them or there may be some special method of empowering the wand. Details vary from one wand to the next.

Learning spells: It is not possible to learn a spell from a wand.

Crafting: There will be, but is not yet a mechanic for crafting wands.

Availability: Wands are even more rare than magic scrolls, but are considered a badge of honour and a status symbol among wizards. Almost all arcanists endeavour to make or obtain a personal wand, and it is not uncommon for a teacher to impart a wand to a disciple as a final gift at the end of their training. New characters cannot begin with a wand.


Summoning Stones
A bit of a misnomer, summoning stones are not always actual stones. A wide variety of natural and man-made items are made into summoning stones: jewellery boxes, knives, skulls, sceptres, tarot decks and so forth. When a summoning stone is a non-natural item, it is always a finely crafted ceremonial piece.

Summoning stones are so named because a spirit is either invited or forced to live within them, and can (under certain circumstances) be called forth for good or ill. These stones are quite useful to summoners, because calling the spirit forth is much easier than conjuring one out of nowhere. Whether the spirit lives in the stone willingly makes a big difference in how the stone is used.

House Stones: These stones house willing spirits who have been politely invited to dwell there. The spirits may be great or small, wise or brash, even friendly or unfriendly. They often expect regular (and sometimes valuable) offerings from whoever tends the stone; if these offerings aren’t forthcoming they may depart or simply become uncooperative.

These spirits almost universally refuse to act as servants or be bossed around, and may well consider themselves superior to whoever holds the stone. They may play the part of advisors, friends, trusted partners or even deities. They can be quite useful in battle, but on their own terms.

Bound Stones: These stones house unwilling servants who have been conjured and forced inside. They are essentially prisoners and slaves. These spirits are bound to do what the owner of the stone tells them, though they may try to subvert orders or get around them in circuitous ways. Making Bound Stones is considered a heinous act by many magicians and priests, and just owning one may be enough to be rejected from many magic societies.

Spirits from Bound Stones will continuously try to break free, and need to be intimidated or beaten into submission on a regular basis. If one does break free, it will often slaughter its former master (and sometimes others in the area). Other times it will simply vanish.

Activation and Usefulness: Stones of either type often have physical characteristics that indicate the nature of the spirit within (a red stone for a fire spirit, a small strongbox for a prosperity spirit, etc.). The spirit can be asked to come out with an Invoking roll (house stone) or ordered out with a Binding roll (bound stone) and then acts like a normal summoned spirit (see the Summoning Spirits section). Either method takes two actions and costs zero Spirit.

Crafting: Many summoning stones occur naturally, or form over time as a spirit takes interest in some human activity. However, there will be a mechanic for preparing summoning stones. Once a summoning stone is prepared it can be vested with a spirit through ceremony (house stone) or a Binding roll (bound stone).

Availability: Summoning stones are more common than people think, but most are naturally occurring house stones whose inhabitants depart if disturbed. Building trust with a voluntary spirit takes time and effort. New characters may start with a weak house stone if they pay for it with build points; they may not start with a bound stone.

[Another_Poet]

[this post reserved for rules part 3]

[Another_Poet]

[this post reserved for DM stuff]

[Another_Poet]

Introduction...

The silence is the first thing. Silence, and darkness. Opening your eyes makes little difference: all you can see are shadow-cloaked rocks above you. There is light, but weak light. And not much else.

You struggle to remember where you are, but the memories don't come.


Tristan:
You are in the southwest branch of a three-branched cave. Your back hurts something awful from lying on the rough stones. Your cheek is uncomfortably warm from the lantern beside you; the rest of you is chilly. It's your lantern - you recognise it - and it's been left lit just inches from your face.

Sitting up makes you feel like your skull is being split open. What happened?


Brother Craeldon:
Your are in the southern branch of a three-branched cave. You feel good; lying half on a wooden shield and half on a rock floor is easy compared to the exercise postures you had to maintain at the monastery. There's a soft light coming from somewhere, around the corner perhaps, but you can't see its source.

Sitting up, you can tell your muscles are stiffer than usual. How long have you been here?


Maelous:
You are in the southeast branch of a three-branched cave. Your right leg is heavy with the prickly-sleep but, propped sitting against the wall, it almost seems like too much work to move it. There's just the barest hint of light, but you can't tell where it might be coming from.

Your mind turns over and over. Why exactly were you put here?

((Begin!))

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Maelous shifts his weight off the leg that had fallen asleep, trying to roll over into a sitting position, using his arms to manipulate the 'asleep' leg if necessary, blinking in confusion and trying to collect his thoughts

Ai, I do not recall falling asleep in a cavern. What in the Vor'sha'tel is going on? he thinks to himself, trying to remain as quiet as possible to avoid attracting the attention of anything potentially harmfull nearby. At least I didn't awaken to find my nightmares had lit the world around me on fire, but this has never happened before. Did I somehow transport myself to some unknown destination? Do the Vanderai know I am gone, and if so, where I have gone? Feh, too many questions, not enough answers. I seem to be in some kind of cave, Most caves lead to outside. Hopefully, the exit is near. There's... there's some kind of light somewhere. If I really were in the bowls of a cave, there would be no light at all, so some kind of exit has to be near. If it can permit me to leave, however... that is the question

Maelous waits for his leg to awaken, wincing in pain at the pins-and-needles feeling of blood rushing back to his leg.

First things first, if I cannot move, I cannot survive. Let us see if my legs will support me, then we can see about walking...

[Coke_Can64]

Craeldon

The monk stands up and looks around at the darkly lit cavern, saying out loud to no-one in particular: "Well, that was rather odd... I wonder what greater force decided to throw me here?"

He picks up the shield that he was lying on and slings it over his back, tries to stretch out his apparently strained-out muscles while looking for any other pieces of eqiupment that may be on the floor.

[Skjaldbakka]

Tristan

Tristan wakes groggily, looking around. "huh? where am I?"

It takes him a moment to come to his senses, at which point he quickly scrambles away from the lantern and into the shadows, waiting for someone or something to be attracted by the light.

Stealth (3d6)[3][1][1](5)

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Maelous finally gets his leg working again, and blindly rummages around in his backpack for his lantern.

This light isn't enough for me to see by, and there's no way of knowing how long it'll stay around. I need some real light if I'm going to be able to figure out where I am.

After finding his lantern, he makes an impish grin and reaches out, touching the wick briefly. While he could simply use his tinderbox, it was likely burried futher in his backpack, and clumsy to use in the dark. Besides... this was more fun.

A couple of murmured words, and he touches the wick, the barest flicker of flame reaching out to light the wick. He carefully closes the lantern, and grins as it begins to glow.

The old lady was right, sometimes you want a flicker of flame, not a conflagration. He chuckles a bit at the thought,then lifts the lantern, examining his surroundings a bit more in detail before deciding on a course of action.

[Coke_Can64]

After limbering up a little and seeing nothing of value on the floor, he thinks for a moment: "If anything is here, it might be hostile, but there might be chances of other people being here, on the other hand, those people might be hostile, and if they're not, I still mightn't be able to trust them...

During this seemingly cyclic thinking, Craeldon lights a torch (Can he do that without anything else? If not, use the flint and steel in his pack) and paces around the cavern making note of anything out of the ordinary and the contents of the room he is in.

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Okay, lets see. I guess I am able to declare that Searching (or any other) is a side (or core) skill now at any time right? If so, he mutters this to himself:

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Let's see if all those months in the wilderness help to look for things."

and he'd add/reveal Searching as a side skill.
Also, meaningless roll time! Searching - (2d6)[4][5](9)

OOCEdit: *Ultra-epic facepalm* I forgot about my gear... (And to think I took that flint for something vague)

[Another_Poet]

((Cokecan: Actually I added the flint & steel to your sheet so you could light your torches. If you want you can un-declare Search as a skill.))

((Everyone: Whenever your char sheet changes for any reason, such as adding a skill or finding an item, please repost your whole char sheet in a spoiler box. You can "quote" the first post to get your character sheet intact with all formatting, which I would appreciate.

Also, you guys are close enough where when one of you talks or lights a torch/lantern, the others can hear a vague voice or see light around the corner. Weekend's over, let's get this game rolling!))

[Skjaldbakka]

Hearing voices around the corner, and seeing light coming from another area, Tristan makes his way towards them, quiet as can be.

(3d6+2)[6][5][2](15)
Declaring Stealth as my +2 skill.

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NAME: Tristan
Tristan is an orphan that lives off the streets, relying on his wits to survive. He's always dreamed of being a knight, although that is above his station, and out of his reach.

TETRAD
Breath: 6
Spirit: 6
Evasion: 3d6
Will: 2d6

SKILLS
Core:
Evasion
Evasion
Stealth +2
(Thieving?)
(Knowledge: Heraldry + Knowledge: Street Smarts?)
---
---

Side Skills:
Evasion
Evasion
Evasion
Will
Weapon (Sideswords)
Weapon (Bows)
Acrobatics
Perception
Climbing (+1 hand claws)
---
---
---

ATTACKS
Sideswords: Wooden Sword (1H, mel) 2d6 atk, 1d6 dmg
Knives: Dagger (1H, rapid) 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg
Bows: Short Bow (2H, 50' range) 2d6 atk, 1d6 dmg - 50 arrows left

ARMOUR
Leather Coat (Light)
Armour Value: +1
Armour Penalty: 0

FEATS
Final Purpose
Stealth Strike
Weak Spot
Lightfoot
Armor Wrecker
Frenzy I

OTHER POSSESSIONS
Warm Set of Clothing
Lockpicks
Lantern
Hand Claws
Coil of Rope
2 days' rations

POINTS SPENT: 94 (but be sure to buy at least +2 in modifiers also)
(Note: I'm ruling that the hand claws give you +1 on climbing, and am thus pricing them as an expensive item, 12 bp just like a modifier. If they were meant for some other purpose instead let me know.)
POINTS LEFT (144 minus points spent): 50

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Voices nearby, seems as though I am not alone. Well, this cave is a dead end, emphasis on dead if I get caught here and they prove hostile. So rather than having my back to a wall, I might as well start exploring my surroundings a bit.

Maelous goes the the lip of the branch of his cave, sticking his lantern out and looking around before entering the main causeway linking the three branches together.

He is dressed in Gypsy clothing, although he sports brown hair and eyes rather than the typical black hair and blue or green eyes of the Gypsy. He still has not said anything openly, but when he does, it will be with a typical Gypsy accent (which I will try to represent appropriately).

[Coke_Can64]

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Wow, my memory must be messing up (at this age? ). Anyway, I don't mind blowing the side slot, just wanted to look around and search the cavern I was in, looks bland so...

Here's the updated sheet. (I'll take searching anyway.)

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NAME: Craeldon
Craeldon is an apprentice monk who has been sent out of the temple of (insert diety here) to learn about the world. He has begun his mission to hone his already decent skill in the martial arts and the technique of the blazing fist.

TETRAD
Breath: 8 [6 + 2 using modifiers]
Spirit: 7 [6 + 1]
Evasion: 2d6 (+1 when using staff or fists as 2H)
Will: 3d6

SKILLS
Core:
Will
Weapon: Boxing
Martial: Wresting
Athletics
---
---
---

Side:
Evasion
Evasion
Evasion
Weapon: Thrown
Weapon: Improvised (---) (---) (---)
Climbing
Knowledge (Religion) (---)
Casting (Touches)*
Searching
---
---
---

ATTACKS
Fists (0H) 2d6 atk, 1d6 dmg [or 1d6/1d6 atk; or +1 Eva]
Quarterstaff (2H) 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg & +1 eva
Throwing knives 1d6 atk, 1d6 dmg, 10 knives left

ARMOUR
Leather Armour (Light)
Armour Value: +1
Armour Penalty: 0

FEATS
Armour Wrecker
Measured Stroke I
Mighty Stroke I
Final Purpose

MONK ABILITIES (built using spell rules)
"Blazing Fist" (Touches 1d6 vs. Evasion)
Melee, 2d6 heat damage, 1 target,
Cost: ?

OTHER POSSESSIONS
1 Heavy Shield (not in use)
Clothing and Cloak
3 day's rations
2 torches
1 flint & steel
1 Coil of rope
1 Backpack

Craeldon

"Voices... and lights... and a gypsy?" thinks Craedon, "Let's see if he is hostile..." He runs to the lip of the cavern he is in and proclaims loudly: I am Brother Craeldon. Who are you?

He is dressed in brown monk robes, lined with blue fabric, worn at places and torn at few, his hair, darker brown and unusually (for monks anyway) wild and long. His beard (another strangeness for most monks) is also brown.

He adopts a menacing stance.

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He's trying to get the other's attention, his appearance is due to his months roaming the world and the "menacing stance" is just flavour.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

"Voices... and lights... and a gypsy?" thinks Craedon, "Let's see if he is hostile..." He runs to the lip of the cavern he is in and proclaims loudly: I am Brother Craeldon. Who are you?

He is dressed in brown monk robes, lined with blue fabric, worn at places and torn at few, his hair, darker brown and unusually (for monks anyway) wild and long. His beard (another strangeness for most monks) is also brown.

He adopts a menacing stance.

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He's trying to get the other's attention, his appearance is due to his months roaming the world and the "menacing stance" is just flavour.

Maelous simply quirks an eyebrow, displaying all the Gypsy nonchalance. He takes in the menacing stance, and reads this as the cleregy's typical reaction to Gypsy's stereoypical refusal to adhere to the Church's wants and needs, and their infamous way of life tantamount to 'living in sin'.

'Allo. I ees the great and fabulous Maelous. If you are to be making lecture on our 'wicked ways', allow me to pre-empt by saying that I be happy living my life, an' you be happy living your life. I no tell you how to live your life, then you no tell me. Deal?

Now den. We be in da cave. It maybe no good cave, ja? I no live in cave normally, not know much bout them other than you can get real lost real quick. Much prefer to live outside with fresh air.

Joo want to be finding exit together, or joo wanting be find exit seperate?

[Coke_Can64]

He's not hostile... Craeldon thinks, attempting to think past the heavy accent. "And he wants out...

"Fine." the monk says, dropping the stance and standing slacker than before. He continues: "You don't need to worry about me giving you a lecture today, uh... Maelous was it?"

The brown-garbed monk cracks a small smile and looks around. "Well, there seems to be nothing trying to harvest our spleens through our left nostrils, so I'll go with you.

"Where to next?"

[ShneekeyTheLost]

He's not hostile... Craeldon thinks, attempting to think past the heavy accent. "And he wants out...

"Fine." the monk says, dropping the stance and standing slacker than before. He continues: "You don't need to worry about me giving you a lecture today, uh... Maelous was it?"

The brown-garbed monk cracks a small smile and looks around. "Well, there seems to be nothing trying to harvest our spleens through our left nostrils, so I'll go with you.

"Where to next?"

Maelous shrugs

Was hoping that you be knowing area better than I be. I never be here 'afore. Not know how I get here either. But, ees no problemo. I Romani, Gypsy to you Gajo, all life is one big adventure. Maybe the Lady put us here for a reason. Maybe She just play a big joke on us, eh? Maelous laughs and claps the monk on the back Well, whyever wer're here, ees clear anywhere is better than 'ere. So, we has tunnel going either direction between our tunnels. Maelous pulls out a small token So, heads we go that way, tails we go this way. Ja?

[Skjaldbakka]

Tristan pokes his heade around the corner, and see what appears to be two people more or less normal, slips back to recover his lantern, and then walks out into the opening in the cave.

[Coke_Can64]

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For sake of easy reading, I'll make Craeldon talk in this green from now on okay?

Half-lurching at the unexpected biff on the back, Craeldon pauses to think: "A game of chance? Although, I would rather invest my faith in something other than his coin..."

His thoughts are interrupted by the entrance of a... shifty-looking individual. Holding a lantern. Who just left the corridor left of his own.

Turning to Maelous, he says: "I guess we aren't going through that..." (He points to the corridor that the other guy left) "... tunnel then."

Giving a long, hard stare at the newcomer, he enquires: And who may you be?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Maelous swirls around, producing a knife from the folds of his garb, before realizing that he was not under attack.

Ees no good idea be surprising people. Never know what might happen, eh? Knew one lady, tended to castrate any male who surprised her. Don't blame her, after what happened to her, but point remains.

So, why you skulking around, surprising poor innocent folk?

[Skjaldbakka]

"Skulking!" Tristan glares at the gypsy, placing one hand on his hip. "Well maybe I was, but who in their right mind wouldn't be, waking up in some strange place! What makes you think you ought to give me the third degree, anyway? It's not like a kid like me could have dragged you off into some cave."

The kid scratches his head, and looks back and forth between the two strangers. "If anything, I ought to suspect one of you two for dragging me out here, but that would hardly be productive, now would it?"

[Coke_Can64]

Craeldon

Craeldon throws a funny look at Maelous after he mentions his story and thinks a quick thought: "Ouch. No wonder the church and all hate these people so."

He says to both: "What'd be productive, is finding a way outta here yes?" as he flicks his eyes between them "I only have 3 days of food and I'm not sure about you, but I don't wish to starve to death."

He takes about 4 paces north and then stops.

"Coming?"

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Lets get this show on the road!

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Maelous sighs and nods

Yes, the monk is being right... wow, how many times you think Rom get to say that? Heh, anyways, we need to be finding way out of here. No food be finding in cave, no water either. An' since those three directions are where we came from, it be making sense that only way out be dat way. Maelous points to the one tunnel no one came out of

So, truce? I not be wanting to be watching over my shoulder all de time, makes it hard to sleep. I be guessing neither one of you do either. 'Ow bout dis, Instead of bicker like spoiled rich kids, we work togeder, we all survive. Den maybe we go our seperate ways, maybe not, who knows? It better den all tree o' us dying here, eh?

[Coke_Can64]

Craedon

"I concur, getting out of here is the best thing to do." the monk says. "So! Lets all get to know each other!" ((Random, I know))

"I," the monk says, voice steady. "am Craeldon, monk of an order which..." He falters for a second and then continues: "... wishes to spread their teachings across the realm. Of course, its a bit hard to do so with all the accursed starfall, but we try. Are trying. Tried."
If anybody listens hard enough, he mutters "... and failed." with a pained look in his eye.

The monk looks at the kid and asks: "But I'm not going to dwell on that. What is your name? Any thing you wish to tell us about?

After he receives his answer (or lack of p'haps) he turns to Maelous "Not many I suppose. As I said, I'm not going to lecture you...
Yet.
... but I'm not going to slack around getting out of here. Anything else you wish to say?"

He thinks with dripping sarcasm: "I'm going to have fun with these two. I'm only one here with any apparent order in their lives by the looks of things.

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Yay for character building!

[Skjaldbakka]

"Name's Tristan. Nothing special to know about me."

[ShneekeyTheLost]

As I said earlier, I am Maelous, am of Romani. Will varn joo now, ees not smart to startle me. Bad things happen when I get startled. Mostly under control these days, but still, tempt not the fates, eh?

[Coke_Can64]

Craeldon

"Eh. Well, onwards!"
The monk strikes a righteous pose as he walks off to the lip of the next corridor.

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I take there is a corridor to go to next, ja? Also AP, where'd you go? May you describe the next room?

[Skjaldbakka]

Tristan: *facepalm* *follows Craedon*

[Coke_Can64]

Craeldon
Noticing Tristan's facepalm, Craeldon turns to him with a bemused expression.
Hm?

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Uh, what time is it over there Skja? It's 8:00 here with daylight savings +1 I think. (Just wondering)