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orcus

Rulebook

1.1

The Core Mechanic

Whenever you attempt an action that has some chance of failure, you roll a twenty-sided die (d20). To determine if your character succeeds at a task you do this:

If the result equals or exceeds the target number, your character succeeds. If the result is lower than the target number, you fail.

This is typically called a roll or a check. Examples are:

Dice

Dice rolls are described with expressions such as “3d4+3,” which means “roll three four-sided dice and add 3” (resulting in a number between 6 and 15). The first number tells you how many dice to roll (adding the results together). The number immediately after the “d” tells you the type of die to use. Any number after that indicates a quantity that is added or subtracted from the result.

Orcus uses the following dice: d4s, d6s, d8s, d10s, d12s and d20s.

Modifiers

A modifier is any bonus or penalty applying to a die roll. A positive modifier is a bonus, and a negative modifier is a penalty.

Stacking

Modifiers to a given check or roll stack (combine for a cumulative effect) if they have different types (or no type at all), but do not stack if they have the same type. If the modifiers to a particular roll do not stack, only the best bonus and worst penalty applies.

Modifier Types

Note there are also “untyped” modifiers, which do not have a type specified. They stack.

Ability Modifier: The bonus or penalty associated with a particular ability score. Ability modifiers apply to die rolls for character actions involving the corresponding abilities.

Ancestry Bonus: A bonus granted because of the culture a particular creature was brought up in or because of innate characteristics of that type of creature.

Armor Bonus: An armor bonus applies to Armor Class and is granted by armor.

Enhancement Bonus: An enhancement bonus represents the benefit from using an item, often a magic item.

Feat Modifier: A feat modifier comes from one of your feats.

Power Modifier: A power modifier comes from your or another’s use of a power.

Proficiency Bonus: A bonus to attack rolls from using a weapon in which you are proficient.

Shield Bonus: A shield bonus improves Armor Class and is granted by a shield or by a power or effect that mimics a shield.

Trained Bonus: A +5 bonus to skill checks, when you are proficient with the skill.

Rounding Fractions

In general, if you wind up with a fraction, round down, even if the fraction is one-half or larger. Certain rolls, such as damage, have a minimum of 1.

Abilities

Six abilities provide a quick description of every creature’s physical and mental characteristics:

Is a character muscle-bound and insightful? Brilliant and charming? Nimble and hardy? Ability scores define these qualities – a creature’s assets as well as weaknesses.

The three main rolls of the game – the ability check, the saving throw, and the attack roll – rely on the six ability scores. The book’s introduction describes the basic rule behind these rolls: roll a d20, add an ability modifier derived from one of the six ability scores, and compare the total to a target number.

Ability Scores and Modifiers

Each of a creature’s abilities has a score, a number that defines the magnitude of that ability. An ability score is not just a measure of innate capabilities, but also encompasses a creature’s training and competence in activities related to that ability.

A score of 10 or 11 is the normal human average, but adventurers and many monsters are a cut above average in most abilities. A score of 18 is the highest that a person usually reaches.

Each ability also has a modifier, derived from the score and ranging from -5 (for an ability score of 1) to +10 (for a score of 30). The Ability Scores and Modifiers table notes the ability modifiers for the range of possible ability scores, from 1 to 30.

Table – Ability Scores and Modifiers
Score Modifier
1 -5
2-3 -4
4-5 -3
6-7 -2
8-9 -1
10-11 +0
12-13 +1
14-15 +2
16-17 +3
18-19 +4
20-21 +5
22-23 +6
24-25 +7
26-27 +8
28-29 +9
30 +10

To determine an ability modifier without consulting the table, subtract 10 from the ability score and then divide the total by 2 (round down).

Because ability modifiers affect almost every attack roll, skill check, ability check, and defense, ability modifiers come up in play more often than their associated scores.

Using Each Ability

Many tasks that a character or monster might attempt in the game are covered by one of the six abilities. This section explains in more detail what those abilities mean and the ways they are used in the game.

Strength

Strength measures bodily power, athletic training, and the extent to which you can exert raw physical force.

Strength Checks

The GM might call for a Strength check when you try to accomplish tasks that require brute strength, that do not fall under the Athletics skill. Examples might include:

Skill Checks

Athletics skill checks add your Strength modifier.

Attack Rolls and Damage

You add your Strength modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when making a basic attack with a melee weapon such as a mace or battleaxe, or a heavy thrown weapon like a javelin.

Certain powers use a Strength attack roll and/or add Strength modifier to damage.

Fortitude Defense

Add either your Strength modifier or your Constitution modifier (whichever is higher) to your Fortitude defense.

Lifting and Carrying

Your Strength score determines the amount of weight you can bear. The following terms define what you can lift or carry.

Medium Load: Your medium load is your Strength score multiplied by 10. This is the weight (in pounds) that you can lift or carry without suffering a penalty, which is high enough that most characters don’t usually have to worry about it.

Heavy Load: You can lift or carry a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity. While lifting weight in excess of your carrying capacity, you get the slowed condition.

Push or Drag: You can push or drag a weight in pounds up to five times your carrying capacity. While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, you get the slowed condition.

Constitution

Constitution measures health, stamina, and vital force.

Constitution Checks

The GM might call for a Constitution check when you try to accomplish tasks that require hardiness and good health, that do not fall under the Endure skill. The Endure skill is broad enough that it would cover most situations that you might otherwise use a Constitution check for, but for example testing to see if you can quaff an entire stein of ale in one go might use a Constitution check since it is not really something you “endure.”

Skill Checks

Endure skill checks add your Constitution modifier.

Attack Rolls and Damage

Certain powers use a Constitution attack roll and/or add Constitution modifier to damage.

Fortitude Defense

Add either your Strength modifier or your Constitution modifier (whichever is higher) to your Fortitude defense.

Hit Points and Recoveries

Your Constitution contributes to your hit points. You add your Constitution score to your hit point total.

If your Constitution score changes, your hit point maximum changes as well, as though you had the new score from 1st level.

You add your Constitution modifier to the number of recoveries that you have.

Dexterity

Dexterity measures agility, reflexes, and balance.

Dexterity Checks

The GM might call for a Dexterity check when you try to accomplish tasks that require finesse or agility, that do not fall under the Acrobatics, Stealth, or Sleight of Hand skills. Examples might include:

Initiative

An initiative check is a special Dexterity check that you make at the beginning of every combat. Initiative determines the order of creatures’ turns in combat.

Skill Checks

Acrobatics, Stealth, and Sleight of Hand skill checks add your Dexterity modifier.

Attack Rolls and Damage

You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when making a basic attack with a ranged weapon, such as a sling or a longbow, or with a light throwing weapon.

Certain powers use a Dexterity attack roll and/or add Dexterity modifier to damage.

Armor Class and Reflex Defense

Add either your Dexterity modifier or your Intelligence modifier (whichever is higher) to your Reflex defense.

If you wear light or no armor, add either your Dexterity modifier or your Intelligence modifier (whichever is higher) to your Armor Class. If you wear heavy armor, do not add any ability modifier to your Armor Class.

Intelligence

Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.

Intelligence Checks

The GM might call for an Intelligence check when you try to accomplish tasks that require quick-wittedness and rationality, that do not fall under the Arcana, History, and Religion skills. Examples might include:

Skill Checks

Arcana, History, and Religion skill checks add your Intelligence modifier.

Attack Rolls and Damage

Certain powers use an Intelligence attack roll and/or add Intelligence modifier to damage.

Armor Class and Reflex Defense

Add either your Dexterity modifier or your Intelligence modifier (whichever is higher) to your Reflex defense.

If you wear light or no armor, add either your Dexterity modifier or your Intelligence modifier (whichever is higher) to your Armor Class. If you wear heavy armor, do not add any ability modifier to your Armor Class.

Wisdom

Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition.

Wisdom Checks

The GM might call for a Wisdom check when you try to accomplish tasks that require perceptiveness and intuition, that do not fall under the Dungeoneering, Heal, Insight, and Perception skills. An example could be getting a gut feeling about what course of action to follow.

Skill Checks

Dungeoneering, Heal, Insight, and Perception skill checks add your Wisdom modifier.

Attack Rolls and Damage

Certain powers use a Wisdom attack roll and/or add Wisdom modifier to damage.

Will Defense

Add either your Wisdom modifier or your Charisma modifier (whichever is higher) to your Will defense.

Charisma

Charisma measures your ability to interact effectively with others. It includes such factors as confidence and eloquence, and it can represent a charming or commanding personality.

Charisma Checks

The GM might call for a Charisma check when you try to accomplish tasks that require charm and personability, that do not fall under the Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Streetsmarts skills. An example could be communicating with a creature when you do not share a common language.

Skill Checks

Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Streetsmarts skill checks add your Charisma modifier.

Attack Rolls and Damage

Certain powers use a Charisma attack roll and/or add Charisma modifier to damage.

Will Defense

Add either your Wisdom modifier or your Charisma modifier (whichever is higher) to your Will defense.

Generating Abilities

Your character can be assigned ability scores in various ways. Here are three ways.

These methods are done before ancestry bonuses are applied.

Point Buy

You get 32 points to buy your abilities using the chart below.

You cannot have more than one ability score below 10.

Table – Ability Score Costs
Ability Cost
18 18
17 14
16 11
15 9
14 7
13 5
12 4
11 3
10 2
9 1
8 0

Roll ‘em

Roll 4d6 for each of the six ability scores (Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Drop the low die in each roll. Put the scores into any order to best fit the character you want to play.

Standard Array

Assign 16, 14, 14, 12, 11 and 8, one each to the six ability scores.

Skills

A skill check tests a character’s or monster’s innate talent and training in an effort to overcome a challenge. The GM calls for a skill check when a character or monster attempts an action (other than an attack) that has a chance of failure. When the outcome is uncertain, the dice determine the results.

Using Skills: To make a skill check, roll:

1d20 + skill modifier (Skill modifier = +5 if you are trained in the skill + ability modifier + miscellaneous modifiers)

This roll works just like an attack roll – the higher the roll, the better. Either you’re trying to match or exceed a certain Difficulty Class (DC), or you’re trying to beat another character’s check result.

Ability Modifier: The ability modifier used in a skill check is the modifier for the skill’s key ability (the ability associated with the skill’s use). The key ability of each skill is noted in its description.

Miscellaneous Modifiers: Miscellaneous modifiers include ancestry bonuses, armor check penalties, and bonuses provided by feats, among others.

Using Skills

When your character uses a skill, you make a skill check to see how well they do. The higher the result of the skill check, the better. Based on the circumstances, your result must match or beat a particular number (a DC or the result of an opposed skill check) for the check to be successful. The harder the task, the higher the number you need to roll.

Circumstances can affect your check. A character who is free to work without distractions can make a careful attempt and avoid simple mistakes. A character who has lots of time can try over and over again, thereby assuring the best outcome. If others help, the character may succeed where otherwise they would fail.

Skill Checks

A skill check takes into account a character’s training (skill training), natural talent (ability modifier), and luck (the die roll). It may also take into account their ancestry’s knack for doing certain things (ancestry bonus) or what armor they are wearing (armor check penalty), or a certain feat the character possesses, among other things.

To make a skill check, roll 1d20 and add your character’s skill modifier for that skill. The skill modifier incorporates the character’s ranks in that skill and the ability modifier for that skill’s key ability, plus any other miscellaneous modifiers that may apply, including ancestry bonuses and armor check penalties. The higher the result, the better. Unlike with attack rolls and saving throws, a natural roll of 20 on the d20 is not an automatic success, and a natural roll of 1 is not an automatic failure.

Difficulty Class

Some checks are made against a Difficulty Class (DC). The DC is a number (set using the skill rules as a guideline) that you must score as a result on your skill check in order to succeed.

Table – Recommended Difficulty Classes by Level
Level Easy Moderate Hard
1 8 12 18
2 9 13 19
3 9 14 20
4 10 14 21
5 10 15 22
6 11 16 22
7 11 16 23
8 12 17 24
9 12 18 25
10 13 19 26
11 13 19 26
12 14 20 27
13 14 21 28
14 15 21 29
15 15 22 30
16 16 23 30
17 16 23 31
18 17 24 32
19 17 25 33
20 18 26 34
21 18 26 34
22 19 27 35
23 19 28 36
24 20 28 37
25 20 29 38
26 21 30 38
27 21 30 39
28 22 31 40
29 22 32 41
30 23 33 42

Opposed Checks

An opposed check is a check whose success or failure is determined by comparing the check result to another character’s check result. In an opposed check, the higher result succeeds, while the lower result fails. In case of a tie, the higher skill modifier wins. If these scores are the same, roll again to break the tie.

Trying Again

In general, you can try a skill check again if you fail, and you can keep trying indefinitely. Some skills, however, have consequences of failure that must be taken into account. A few skills are virtually useless once a check has failed on an attempt to accomplish a particular task. For most skills, when a character has succeeded once at a given task, additional successes are meaningless.

Untrained Skill Checks

Generally, if your character attempts to use a skill they do not possess, you make a skill check as normal. The skill modifier doesn’t have a skill training bonus added. Any other applicable modifiers, such as the modifier for the skill’s key ability, are applied to the check.

Certain uses of some skills are only available to someone who is trained in that skill.

Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions

Some situations may make a skill easier or harder to use, resulting in a bonus or penalty to the skill modifier for a skill check or a change to the DC of the skill check.

The chance of success can be altered in four ways to take into account exceptional circumstances.

  1. Give the skill user a +2 circumstance bonus to represent conditions that improve performance, such as having the perfect tool for the job, getting help from another character (see Combining Skill Attempts), or possessing unusually accurate information.
  2. Give the skill user a –2 circumstance penalty to represent conditions that hamper performance, such as being forced to use improvised tools or having misleading information.
  3. Reduce the DC by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task easier, such as having a friendly audience or doing work that can be subpar.
  4. Increase the DC by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task harder, such as having an uncooperative audience or doing work that must be flawless.

Conditions that affect your character’s ability to perform the skill change the skill modifier. Conditions that modify how well the character has to perform the skill to succeed change the DC. A bonus to the skill modifier and a reduction in the check’s DC have the same result: They create a better chance of success. But they represent different circumstances, and sometimes that difference is important.

Time and Skill Checks

Using a skill might take a round, take no time, or take several rounds or even longer. Most skill uses are standard actions or move actions. Types of actions define how long activities take to perform within the framework of a combat round (6 seconds) and how movement is treated with respect to the activity. Some skill checks are instant and represent reactions to an event, or are included as part of an action. These skill checks are not actions. Other skill checks represent part of movement.

Checks without Rolls

A skill check represents an attempt to accomplish some goal, usually while under some sort of time pressure or distraction. Sometimes, though, a character can use a skill under more favorable conditions and eliminate the luck factor.

Taking 10: When your character is not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure – you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn’t help.

Ability Checks: The normal take 10 rules apply for ability checks.

Passive Checks: A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn’t involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster.

Here’s how to determine a character’s total for a passive check:

10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the check

The game refers to a passive check total as a score.

For example, if a 1st-level character has a Wisdom of 15 and training in Perception, they have a passive Perception score of 17.

Combining Skill Attempts

When more than one character tries the same skill at the same time and for the same purpose, their efforts may overlap.

Group Checks

When a number of individuals are trying to accomplish something as a group, the GM might ask for a group check. In such a situation, the characters who are skilled at a particular task help cover those who aren’t.

To make a group check, everyone in the group makes the skill check (or, in rare cases, the ability check). If at least half the group succeeds, the whole group succeeds. Otherwise, the group fails.

Group checks don’t come up very often, and they’re most useful when all the characters succeed or fail as a group. For example, when adventurers are navigating a swamp, the GM might call for a Nature group check to see if the characters can avoid the quicksand, sinkholes, and other natural hazards of the environment. If at least half the group succeeds, the successful characters are able to guide their companions out of danger. Otherwise, the group stumbles into one of these hazards.

Aid Another

You can help another character achieve success on their skill or ability check by making the same kind of check in a cooperative effort. The DC is 10 + half your level. If you succeed, the character you are helping gets a +2 bonus to their check. If you fail, the character you are helping gets a -1 penalty to their check.

In many cases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.

In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certain results you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn’t achieve alone.

Contests

Sometimes one character’s or monster’s efforts are directly opposed to another’s. This can occur when both of them are trying to do the same thing and only one can succeed, such as attempting to snatch up a magic ring that has fallen on the floor. This situation also applies when one of them is trying to prevent the other one from accomplishing a goal—for example, when a monster tries to force open a door that an adventurer is holding closed. In contests like these, the outcome is determined by an opposed check.

An opposed check is a check whose success or failure is determined by comparing the check result to another character’s check result. In an opposed check, the higher result succeeds, while the lower result fails. In case of a tie, the higher check modifier wins. If these scores are the same, roll again to break the tie.

Ability Checks

Sometimes a character tries to do something to which no specific skill really applies. In these cases, you make an ability check. An ability check is a roll of 1d20 plus the appropriate ability modifier. Essentially, you’re making an untrained skill check.

In some cases, what is needed is a straight test of one’s ability with no luck involved. Just as you wouldn’t make a height check to see who is taller, you don’t make a Strength check to see who is stronger.

Skill List

follows is a description of each skill, including which ability modifies the skill and common uses for the skill. Characters can sometimes use skills for purposes other than those noted here.

The skills are:

Trained Only: If this notation is included for an example use, you must be trained in the skill to use it. If it is omitted, the skill can be used untrained.

Armor Check Penalty: If this notation is included in the skill name line, an armor check penalty applies (when appropriate) to checks using this skill. If this entry is absent, an armor check penalty does not apply.

Knowledge

Five skills – Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Nature and Religion – can be used to test a character’s knowledge about a particular topic. General knowledge should have an Easy DC, knowledge that is based on specialization in a field a Moderate DC and obscure, hidden or secret knowledge a Hard DC.

Monster Knowledge

To test what you know about a monster, make a skill check against a Moderate DC (using the level of the monster, not the player character, to determine the DC). On a success, you learn its name, ancestry, type, tags and standard temperament.

If you also beat the Hard DC, you also learn its powers, its resistances and immunities and its vulnerabilities.

Use Arcana for elemental, fey and shadow creatures, and creatures with the Construct tag. Use Dungeoneering for aberration creatures. Use Religion for outsider creatures, and creatures with the Undead tag. Use Nature for natural creatures.

Variant: Skills with Different Abilities

Normally, a set ability modifier applies to all checks with a particular skill. For example, Athletics checks add your Strength modifier.

In some situations, though, a different ability might reasonably apply. In such cases, the GM might ask for a check using an unusual combination of ability and skill, or you might ask your GM if you can apply a different modifier.

Acrobatics (Dex)

Armor Check Penalty applies

Acrobatics covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you’re trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope, or stay upright on a rocking ship’s deck. The GM might also call for an Acrobatics check to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts, including dives, rolls, somersaults, and flips.

Balance

You can walk on a precarious surface. A successful check lets you move at half your speed along the surface for 1 round. A failure by 4 or less means you can’t move for the rest of the action. A failure by 5 or more means you fall. The difficulty varies with the surface.

Being Attacked while Balancing: If you take damage while balancing, you must make another Acrobatics check against the same DC to remain standing.

Escape Restraints

Your Acrobatics check is opposed by a DC based on the type of restraint. It takes five minutes, or a standard action if you take a -10 penalty on the check. If you fail the check, you can only try again if someone is in a position to assist you with Aid Another.

Escape a Grapple

See the Escape action.

Fall with Style (Trained Only)

Reduce the damage by an amount equal to half the Acrobatics check result (for example, if your result is 23, you take 11 less damage). If this reduces the damage to zero, you land on your feet (not prone).

Arcana (Int)

Your Arcana check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes.

Detect Magic (Trained Only)

You sense the presence of magic.

Identify Persistent Power (swift action): Make an Arcana check against a power you can see with the Conjuration, Summons or Zone tags (DC 15 + 1/2 power’s level). On a success, you learn the power’s name, tags and tradition. On a failure, you must take a short rest before trying to identify that particular power again.

Identify Magical Things (standard action): Make an Arcana check against an environmental magical effect or the results of an incantation (hard DC). On a success, you identify the name of the phenomenon, any tags it might have or tradition it comes from, and its general purpose. If it is the result of an incantation, you learn the incantation’s names and the basics of its effects. On a failure, you must take a long rest before trying to identify that particular thing again.

Sense Magic (standard action): You attempt to sense the presence of magic within 5 + your level squares.

For each magical thing in range:

Athletics (Str)

Armor Check Penalty applies

Athletics covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping, or swimming. Examples include the following activities:

Ryzom MMORPG Concept Art (Swim)
Ryzom MMORPG Concept Art (Swim)

Climb

With a successful Athletics check, you can advance up, down, or across a slope, a wall, or some other steep incline (or even a ceiling with handholds) at half your normal speed.

An Athletics check that fails by 4 or less means that you make no progress, and one that fails by 5 or more means that you fall from whatever height you have already attained.

Each square climbed costs one extra square of movement (so if you have a speed of 6, with a move action you can climb 3).

Any time you take damage while climbing, make an Athletics check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage.

Catching Yourself When Falling: It’s difficult to catch yourself while falling. Make an Athletics check (DC = wall’s DC + 5) to do so.

Escape a Grapple

See the Escape action.

Jump

Your Strength determines how far you can jump.

Long Jump: When you make a long jump, you cover a number of squares equal to the check result divided by 10 (standing long jump) or divided by 5 (if you move at least 2 squares immediately before the jump). If the jump is successful, you land in the square beyond the square you jumped over.

Either way, each square you clear on the jump costs a square of movement.

This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn’t matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. If you clear at least one square, the vertical height of your jump is 2 feet + the number of squares you could clear. For example, if your jump could clear a 4-square gap, the vertical height is 6 feet.

High Jump: When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to the check result divided by 10 (standing high jump) or divided by 5 (if you move at least 2 squares immediately before the jump). Either way, every five feet costs a square of movement.

You can extend your arms a third of your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1-1/3 times your height.

Swim

Make an Athletics check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to one-half your speed. If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress through the water. If you fail by 5 or more, you sink 1 square.

The DC for the swim check depends on the water: calm (DC 10), rough (DC 15) or stormy (DC 20).

Bluff (Cha)

Your Bluff check determines whether you can convincingly hide the truth, either verbally or through your actions. This deception can encompass everything from misleading others through ambiguity to telling outright lies. Typical situations include trying to fast-talk a guard, con a merchant, earn money through gambling, pass yourself off in a disguise, dull someone’s suspicions with false assurances, or maintain a straight face while telling a blatant lie.

Compare the results of the check to the target’s passive Insight or their Insight check (the latter if they are actively questioning the deception).

Feint

See the Feint action.

Create Diversion

See the Create Diversion action.

Diplomacy (Cha)

When you attempt to influence someone or a group of people with tact, social graces, or good nature, the GM might ask you to make a Diplomacy check. Typically, you use persuasion when acting in good faith, to foster friendships, make cordial requests, or exhibit proper etiquette. Examples of persuading others include convincing a chamberlain to let your party see the king, negotiating peace between warring nations, or inspiring a crowd of townsfolk.

Generally, the DC should be based on the Recommended Difficult Classes by Level table at the start of this chapter, using the level of the target of the Diplomacy check.

Choose an Easy, Moderate or Hard DC depending on the target’s attitude, and adjust for the circumstances (for example, what the character is requesting).

Dungeoneering (Wis)

Knowledge of aberrations, caverns, oozes and spelunking.

Subterranean Hunting and Foraging

Hunting and foraging takes one hour. On a successful check against DC 15, you find a day’s worth of food and water for one creature. DC 25, you find a day’s worth of food and water for five creatures.

If you fail, you cannot attempt the check again for 24 hours.

Endure (Con)

Armor Check Penalty applies

Harsh conditions or long exertions do not easily tire you. The GM might call for an Endure check when you:

Swim for Long Periods

Each hour that you swim, you must make an Endure check (use the DC of the Athletics check you’ve been using, +2 for every hour). If you fail, you cannot swim any more and begin to sink.

Heal (Wis)

A Heal check lets you try to stabilize a dying companion or diagnose an illness.

Treat Ally

See the Treat Ally action.

Treat Disease

To treat a disease means to tend a single diseased character. Every time the character makes an Endure or other check against disease effects, you make a Heal check. The diseased character uses your check result or their check result, whichever is higher.

History (Int)

Your History check measures your ability to recall lore about historical events, legendary people, ancient kingdoms, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations.

Insight (Wis)

Your Insight check decides whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone’s next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms.

Intimidate (Cha)

When you attempt to influence someone through overt threats, hostile actions, and physical violence, the GM might ask you to make an Intimidate check. Examples include trying to pry information out of a prisoner, convincing street thugs to back down from a confrontation, or using the edge of a broken bottle to convince a sneering vizier to reconsider a decision.

The special Deter and Unnerve actions have their own rules. Otherwise, the DC should be based on the Recommended Difficult Classes by Level table at the start of this chapter, using the level of the target of the Intimidate check.

Deter

See the Deter action.

Unnerve

See the Unnerve action.

Nature (Wis)

Your Nature check measures your ability to recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.

When there is any question whether you can calm down a domesticated animal, keep a mount from getting spooked, or intuit an animal’s intentions, the GM might call for a Nature check. You also make a Nature check to control your mount when you attempt a risky maneuver.

The GM might ask you to make a Nature check to follow tracks, hunt wild game, guide your group through frozen wastelands, identify signs that owlbears live nearby, predict the weather, or avoid quicksand and other natural hazards.

Wilderness Hunting and Foraging

Hunting and foraging takes one hour. On a successful check against DC 15, you find a day’s worth of food and water for one creature. DC 25, you find a day’s worth of food and water for five creatures.

If you fail, you cannot attempt the check again for 24 hours.

Soothe Beast

To calm or soothe a natural beast, for example so you can ride it or because it has been startled, make a Nature check (hard DC, use the creature’s level to calculate DC) as a standard action.

Teach an Animal a Trick

You can teach a natural beast a specific trick, like attack, come, defend, down, fetch, guard, heel, perform, seek, stay, track or work. This may take an extended challenge to complete.

Perception (Wis)

Your Perception check lets you spot, hear, or otherwise detect the presence of something. It measures your general awareness of your surroundings and the keenness of your senses. For example, you might try to hear a conversation through a closed door, eavesdrop under an open window, or hear monsters moving stealthily in the forest. Or you might try to spot things that are obscured or easy to miss, whether they are orcs lying in ambush on a road, thugs hiding in the shadows of an alley, or candlelight under a closed secret door.

Notice

Most of the time, whether you notice something will be determined by the GM rolling against your passive Perception score. When you deliberately turn your attention to something, you can take a swift action to see if you notice something.

When you spend a minute or more searching an area, you can cover a 3 square by 3 square space.

Notice Hiding Creature

Make an opposed Perception vs Stealth check. On a success, you know where they are and, unless they are hidden from you for some other reason (for example, they are invisible), you can see them.

Religion (Int)

Your Religion check measures your ability to recall lore about deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and the practices of secret cults.

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

Armor Check Penalty applies

Whenever you attempt an act of legerdemain or manual trickery, such as planting something on someone else or concealing an object on your person, make a Sleight of Hand check. The GM might also call for a Sleight of Hand check to determine whether you can lift a coin purse off another person or slip something out of another person’s pocket.

Disable Device

Make a Sleight of Hand check as a standard action.

If the check succeeds, you disable the device. If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but can try again. If you fail by 5 or more, something goes wrong. If the device is a trap, you spring it.

Open Lock

Opening a lock is a standard action.

Pick Pockets

If you try to take something from another creature, you must make a Sleight of Hand check against a hard DC (target’s level, not player character’s) to obtain it.

If the check succeeds, you get the item. If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but are not caught. If you fail by 5 or more, you have failed and the target catches you doing it.

An opponent who succeeds on this check notices the attempt, regardless of whether you got the item.

Stealth (Dex)

Armor Check Penalty applies

Make a Stealth check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard.

Thief by Luigi Castellani
Thief by Luigi Castellani

Hiding

You can hide at the end of any action where you moved.

When you try to hide, make a Stealth check. Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check’s total is contested by the Perception check of any creature that actively searches for signs of your presence.

You must have superior cover or total concealment to hide from a target.

An invisible creature can always try to hide. Signs of its passage might still be noticed, and it does have to stay quiet.

In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you attack a creature or come out of hiding and approach a creature, it sees you at the end of that action. This means you still get combat advantage on that action.

Movement: If you moved 3 squares or more, take a -5 penalty on the check to hide. If you took the Dash action, take a -10 penalty instead.

While hidden, if you move 3 squares or more, you must make another Stealth check vs passive Perception score with a -5 penalty (-10 if running).

Passive Perception: When you hide, there’s a chance someone will notice you even if they aren’t searching. To determine whether such a creature notices you, the DM compares your Stealth check with that creature’s passive Perception score (see Passive skills, above).

Streetsmarts (Cha)

You know about life on the streets and feel the pulse of your local settlement.

Gather Information

An hour’s time, a few gold pieces for buying drinks and making friends, and a Streetwise check get you a general idea of a city’s major news items, assuming there are no obvious reasons why the information would be withheld. The higher your check result, the better the information.

The DC is higher in unfamiliar settlements and where the information sought is secret or protected.

Extended Challenges

With most skill checks, a single die roll immediately determines whether or not a character succeeds. If a character wants to jump across a chasm or recall a specific piece of information, their success or failure is apparent after a single check.

For complicated and time-consuming tasks (such as disabling a very complex trap, crafting a powerful artifact or researching an obscure bit of knowledge), or at times when the Game Master wants to build tension and suspense, an extended challenge might be called for.

Basic rules

At their simplest, you can design an extended challenge using the following rules:

An extended challenge is a series of interconnected skill checks, in which the player characters try to succeed on some number of checks before failing a certain number of checks, in order to achieve an objective.

In such a case, a specific number of successful skill checks must be achieved to complete the task. The complexity of the task is reflected in the number of successful rolls required to complete the task, and the maximum number of failed rolls that can occur before the attempt fails. In most cases, one or two failed rolls does not mean that an extended challenge has failed, but if three failed rolls occur before the character makes the required number of successful rolls, the attempt fails. Although three failures is a common baseline, Game Masters are encouraged to change the number if the situation warrants it.

Extended challenges allow the Game Master to build suspense in critical situations, add tension to multiple-round tasks during combat, enhance special adventure-specific tasks, and resolve complex activities more quickly.

Succeeding or failing the challenge typically determines whether achieving the objective comes at a cost, not whether the objective is achieved. In some cases, each success represents progress towards the objective, and failing the challenge just means missing out on all the available progress.

Every extended challenge has a level, which determines the check DCs (different skills may attract Easy, Moderate or Hard DCs as appropriate for that level). Usually the level is set to the level of the PCs. Typically group checks use the Easy DC, the first check with a particular skill uses the Moderate DC and subsequent checks with that skill use the Hard DC. While skills are provided, they should never replace the narrative. For example, if an extended challenge requires an Athletics check to climb a wall, a character that can fly or levitate simply succeeds.

Whether they succeed or fail, PCs earn the XP specified for the extended challenge, often equivalent to each PC defeating one standard monster of that level.

All PCs should participate, but not necessarily by making skill checks. They can also use the aid another action to assist an ally’s check. A failed aid another check does not count as a failure.

Expanding extended challenges

Some special rules may apply to a particular challenge, for example:

In the example extended challenges, you will find some that work with the basic rules described above, and others that extend the medium.

Footer by Miguel Santos
Footer by Miguel Santos

Personalization

Alignment

A typical creature in the game world has an alignment, which broadly describes its moral and personal attitudes.

These brief summaries of the five alignments describe the typical behavior of a creature with that alignment. Individuals might vary significantly from that typical behavior, and few people are perfectly and consistently faithful to the precepts of their alignment.

Lawful good creatures can be counted on to do the right thing as expected by society. They follow a strict moral code.

Good folk do the best they can to help others according to their needs.

Unaligned is the alignment of those who prefer to steer clear of moral questions and don’t take sides, doing what seems best at the time.

Evil is the alignment of those who do whatever they can get away with, without compassion or qualms.

Chaotic evil creatures act with arbitrary violence, spurred by their greed, hatred, or bloodlust.

Variant: Nine-Point Alignment

In this variant, instead of five alignments there are nine.

Alignment is a combination of two factors: one identifies morality (good, evil, or neutral), and the other describes attitudes toward society and order (lawful, chaotic, or neutral). Thus, nine distinct alignments define the possible combinations. These brief summaries of the nine alignments describe the typical behavior of a creature with that alignment. Individuals might vary significantly from that typical behavior, and few people are perfectly and consistently faithful to the precepts of their alignment.

Languages

Your ancestry indicates the languages your character can speak by default. Note these languages on your character sheet.

Choose your languages from the Standard Languages table. If you learn a language at a level later than 1, you can also select from the Exotic Languages table or a secret language, such as thieves’ cant or the tongue of druids.

Table – Standard Languages
Language Typical Speakers Script
Common Humans Common
Dwarvish Dwarves Dwarvish
Elvish Elves Elvish
Goblin Goblinoids Common
Deep Speech Aboleths, cloakers, underworld traders Elvish
Draconic Dragons, dragonborn Draconic
Giant Orcs, giants Dwarvish
Primordial Elementals Abyssal
Table – Exotic Languages
Language Typical Speakers Script
Abyssal Demons Abyssal
Celestial Celestials, devils Celestial

Telepathy

Some creatures have the ability to communicate telepathically. Unless otherwise specified, the target must be within line of sight. If a range is specified (for example, telepathy 5) the target must also be within that number of squares. The creature must be able to speak at least one language. Once the telepathic creature has begun communication, the target can “speak” back to them.

Levels, Tiers and Bonuses

A character’s level, from 1 to 30, describes roughly how powerful they are. Player characters have levels, but so do monsters, traps, items, rituals, diseases, poisons, powers, and incantations. Everything with a level also belongs to a tier, which is a rough way of identifying the genre of play.

The table below shows how many experience points (XP) are required to reach a particular level, and what benefits (ability score increases, feats, and features) you get upon doing so.

Characters double in power about every four levels.

Table – Levels and Their Benefits
Level Level Bonus XP to Reach Next Level Cumulative XP Ability Scores Feats Features
Adventurer tier            
1 +0 1,000 -   1 Class features, ancestry traits
2 +1 1,250 1,000   +1  
3 +1 1,500 2,250      
4 +2 1,750 3,750 Increase two by +1 +1  
5 +2 2,000 5,500      
6 +3 2,500 7,500   +1  
7 +3 3,000 10,000      
8 +4 3,500 13,000 Increase two by +1 +1  
9 +4 4,000 16,500      
10 +5 5,000 20,500   +1  
Prestige tier            
11 +5 6,000 25,500 Increase all by +1   Select a prestige path
12 +6 7,000 31,500   +1  
13 +6 8,000 38,500      
14 +7 10,000 46,500 Increase two by +1 +1  
15 +7 12,000 56,500      
16 +8 14,000 68,500   +1  
17 +8 16,000 82,500      
18 +9 20,000 98,500 Increase two by +1 +1  
19 +9 24,000 118,500      
20 +10 28,000 142,500   +1  
Epic tier            
21 +10 32,000 170,500 Increase all by +1   Select an epic path
22 +11 40,000 202,500   +1  
23 +11 48,000 242,500      
24 +12 56,000 290,500 Increase two by +1 +1  
25 +12 64,000 346,500      
26 +13 80,000 410,500   +1  
27 +13 96,000 490,500      
28 +14 112,000 586,500 Increase two by +1 +1  
29 +14 128,000 698,500      
30 +15 N/A 826,500   +1  

Level Bonus

Characters have a level bonus equal to half their level, rounded down, which applies to:

Retraining

If you are unsatisfied with a feat, kit, power, or skill you chose, you may trade one old option for a new one each time you gain a level. One retraining per level, only.

You cannot retrain a feat, power, or skill that serves as a requirement for any other character option you have.

While some details are given below, the key is that retraining is meant to allow the player character to make a different decision, but not a better one.

The one exception to this rule is feats; because you can meet the requirements for more powerful feats over time, it is acceptable to trade out a weaker feat for a more powerful one once you meet the requirements of the more powerful one.

Feat: The new feat can be any that you meet the requirements of. If you gained the original feat in a special way (for example, through a class feature), the new selection must have been available to you at the time.

Kit: You can select any kit. You must also retrain any powers that you only had access to thanks to your old kit (these do not count against your one retraining per level).

Power: The new power can be any that you meet the requirements of, that is of the same type (attack or utility) and same or lower level as the power you are replacing.

Skill: The new trained skill must be one you are eligible to take (typically, because it is a class skill).

Replacing powers

At certain levels, you can replace an existing power of a lower level with a power of your current level. This is separate to, and in addition to, retraining.

Retraining only allows you to replace a power with another of the same or lower level. Replacing allows you to replace a lower-level power with a higher-level one.

Tiers

Adventures that take place with Adventurer tier monsters, traps, and player characters (in other words, those between levels 1 and 10) will likely be focused on more local issues, like rescuing a village or defeating a clan of orcs. Prestige tier adventures might involve more dramatic concerns, like the fate of kingdoms. You might end up fighting a dragon or rooting out an extraplanar plot to control an entire city. In Epic tier, you may fight the devils that run Hell or save the entire world from devastation.

The levels correspond to the tiers as follows:

Level 1-10: Adventurer tier
Level 11-20: Prestige tier
Level 21-30: Epic tier

Tiers do not have a mechanical effect in and of themselves, but they represent a new stage in the player characters’ journeys. An epic character is much more capable than an adventurer character.

Equipment

Starting Equipment

First-level characters begin with 100 gold pieces to spend. Assume a character owns at least one outfit of normal clothes.

Unless the GM provides otherwise, characters at higher levels start with one permanent magic item of their level +1, one permanent magic item of their level, one permanent magic item of their level -1, and gold pieces equivalent to the cost of a magic item of their level -1.

Coinage

Common coins come in several different denominations based on the relative worth of the metal from which they are made. The three most common coins are the gold piece (gp), the silver piece (sp), and the copper piece (cp).

A skilled (but not exceptional) artisan can earn one gold piece a day. The gold piece is the standard unit of measure for wealth, even if the coin itself is not commonly used. When merchants discuss deals that involve goods or services worth hundreds or thousands of gold pieces, the transactions don’t usually involve the exchange of individual coins. Rather, the gold piece is a standard measure of value, and the actual exchange is in gold bars, letters of credit, or valuable goods.

One gold piece is worth ten silver pieces, the most prevalent coin among commoners. A silver piece buys a laborer’s work for half a day or a night’s rest in a poor inn.

One silver piece is worth ten copper pieces, which are common among laborers and beggars.

In addition, unusual coins made of other precious metals sometimes appear in treasure hoards. The platinum piece (pp) originates from fallen empires and lost kingdoms, and they sometimes arouse suspicion and skepticism when used in transactions. A platinum piece is worth one hundred gold pieces.

A standard coin weighs about a third of an ounce, so fifty coins weigh a pound.

Table – Exchange Rates
Coin CP SP GP PP
Copper (cp) 1 1/10 1/100 1/10,000
Silver (sp) 10 1 1/10 1/1,000
Gold (gp) 100 10 1 1/100
Platinum (pp) 10,000 1,000 100 1

Selling Treasure

Opportunities abound to find treasure, equipment, weapons, armor, and more in the dungeons you explore. Normally, you can sell your treasures and trinkets when you return to a town or other settlement, provided that you can find buyers and merchants interested in your loot.

Arms, armor, and other equipment: As a general rule, undamaged weapons, armor, and other equipment fetch one-fifth their cost when sold in a market.

Magic items: As a general rule, magic items fetch one-fifth their cost when sold in a market.

Gems, jewelry, and art objects: These items retain their full value in the marketplace, and you can either trade them in for coin or use them as currency for other transactions. For exceptionally valuable treasures, the GM might require you to find a buyer in a large town or larger community first.

Trade goods: On the borderlands, many people conduct transactions through barter. Like gems and art objects, trade goods – bars of iron, bags of salt, livestock, and so on – retain their full value in the market and can be used as currency.

Merchant by Luigi Castellani
Merchant by Luigi Castellani

Armor

Fantasy gaming worlds are a vast tapestry made up of many different cultures, each with its own technology level. For this reason, adventurers have access to a variety of armor types, ranging from cloth (lightly padded armor or regular clothing) to chain mail to costly plate armor, with several other kinds of armor in between. The Armor table collects the most commonly available types of armor found in the game and separates them into two categories: light armor and heavy armor. Many warriors supplement their armor with a shield.

The Armor table shows the cost, weight, and other properties of the common types of armor worn in fantasy gaming worlds.

Armor Proficiency: Anyone can put on a suit of armor or strap a shield to an arm. Only those proficient in the armor’s use know how to wear it effectively, however. Your class gives you proficiency with certain types of armor. If you wear armor you are not proficient with, you suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls and Reflex defense.

Armor Class (AC): Armor protects its wearer from attacks. The armor (and shield) you wear determines your base Armor Class.

Armor Check Penalty: The wearer suffers the listed penalty to skills that identify that they come with an Armor Check Penalty.

Shields: A shield is made from wood or metal and is carried in one hand.

You can benefit from only one shield at a time.

Light shields are strapped to your arm, you can still use your hand (for example, to hold things or climb, but not to wield a weapon). Heavy shields are strapped to your arm and held in your hand, so you cannot use your hand for anything else.

A shield’s bonus applies to Armor Class and Reflex defenses.

Speed Penalty: The wearer’s speed is reduced by the listed amount. If the wearer has multiple movement modes (for example, walk, swim and fly speeds), the penalty applies to each movement mode.

Light Armor

Made from supple and thin materials, light armor favors agile adventurers since it offers some protection without sacrificing mobility. If you wear light armor, you add your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier to the base number from your armor type to determine your Armor Class.

Cloth: Cloth armor is padded armor, or just regular clothes or a robe.

Leather: The breastplate and shoulder protectors of this armor are made of leather that has been stiffened by being boiled in oil. The rest of the armor is made of softer and more flexible materials.

Hide: This armor consists of thick furs and pelts.

Heavy Armor

Of all the armor categories, heavy armor offers the best protection. These suits of armor cover the entire body and are designed to stop a wide range of attacks. Only proficient warriors can manage their weight and bulk.

Heavy armor does not let you add your Intelligence or Dexterity modifier to your Armor Class.

Chain Mail: Made of interlocking metal rings, chain mail includes a layer of quilted fabric worn underneath the mail to prevent chafing and to cushion the impact of blows.

Scale: This armor consists of a coat and leggings (and perhaps a separate skirt) of leather covered with overlapping pieces of metal, much like the scales of a fish.

Plate: Plate consists of shaped, interlocking metal plates to cover the entire body. A suit of plate includes gauntlets, heavy leather boots, a visored helmet, and thick layers of padding underneath the armor. Buckles and straps distribute the weight over the body.

Table – Armor and Shields
Name Type Base AC Armor Check Penalty Speed Penalty Cost Weight
Cloth armor Light 10     1 4 lb.
Leather armor Light 12     25 15 lb.
Hide armor Light 13 -1   30 25 lb.
Chainmail Heavy 16 -1 -1 40 40 lb.
Scale armor Heavy 17   -1 45 45 lb.
Plate armor Heavy 18 -2 -1 50 50 lb.
Name Type Shield Bonus Armor Check Penalty Speed Penalty Cost Weight
Light shield Shield +1     5 gp 6 lb.
Heavy shield Shield +2 -2   10 gp 15 lb.

Weapons

Your class grants proficiency in certain weapons, reflecting both the class’s approach and the tools you are most likely to use. Whether you favor a longsword or a longbow, your weapon and your ability to wield it effectively can mean the difference between life and death while adventuring.

The Weapons table shows the most common weapons used in the fantasy gaming worlds, their price and weight, the damage they deal when they hit, and any special properties they possess.

Every weapon is classified as either melee or ranged. A melee weapon is typically used to attack a target in an adjacent square to you, whereas a ranged weapon is used to attack a target at a distance. Some melee weapons, called thrown weapons, can be used at a range. Other melee weapons, called reach weapons, are still held in the hands for an attack but can attack creatures further away than just adjacent squares.

By default, Strength is added to attack and damage rolls for melee weapon attacks and Dexterity to attack and damage rolls for ranged weapons.

Weapon Proficiency

Your ancestry, class, and feats can grant you proficiency with certain weapons or categories of weapons. The three categories are simple, martial and exotic. Most people can use simple weapons with proficiency. These weapons include clubs, maces, and other weapons often found in the hands of commoners. Martial weapons, including swords, axes, and polearms, require more specialized training to use effectively. Most warriors use martial weapons because these weapons put their fighting style and training to best use. Typically, proficiency in an exotic weapon only comes with specialized training.

Proficiency with a weapon allows you to add the weapon’s proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with that weapon. If you make an attack roll using a weapon with which you lack proficiency, you do not add the proficiency bonus to the attack roll.

Character Size and Weapons

Small characters have trouble wielding two-handed weapons. Small characters cannot wield a two-handed weapon unless the weapon has the Small property.

Medium characters who wield a one-handed weapon in two hands (other than one-handed weapons with the Side Weapon property) get a +1 bonus to damage.

Variant: No Weapon Limitations for Small Characters

While officially Small characters are limited in which weapons they can use, this can be frustrating for players and is not very important for game balance. GMs may prefer to let Small characters use any weapon they like.

Weapon Groups

A weapon group describes the category that a weapon belongs to. Handaxes, battleaxes and greataxes all belong to the Axes category, for example.

Weapon group has no rules of its own, but other powers and features might depend on the player character using a weapon from a particular group.

Weapon Properties

Many weapons have special properties related to their use, as shown in the Weapons table.

Improved Critical: Level 1: +1dW damage on a critical hit. Level 11: +2dW damage on a critical hit. Level 21: +3dW damage on a critical hit.

Loading: You can use a weapon that requires loading with ammunition to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container takes either a free or swift action, as specified in the table. At the end of the encounter, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield.

Loading (free): It takes two hands to reload this weapon.

Loading (swift): It takes two hands to reload this weapon. Because of the time required to load this weapon, after making a basic attack or attack power with this weapon, you must spend a swift action before attacking with it again.

Range: A weapon that can be used to make a ranged attack has a range. The range lists two numbers. The first is the weapon’s normal range in feet, and the second indicates the weapon’s long range. When attacking a target beyond normal range, you have a -2 penalty on the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range.

Reach: This weapon adds 1 square to your reach when you attack with it (for a total reach of 2 for most characters, since the default reach is 1). You can only flank or opportunity attack adjacent enemies, however.

Thrown: You can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack.

Thrown (light): Use Dexterity for attack and damage rolls when you make a basic ranged attack with a heavy thrown weapon.

Thrown (heavy): Use Strength instead of Dexterity for attack and damage rolls when you make a basic ranged attack with a heavy thrown weapon.

Two-Handed: This weapon requires two hands when you attack with it.

Side Weapon: You can hold a side weapon in your off hand. You can wield a one-handed weapon in one hand and a side weapon in your other. Each time you make a weapon attack (including a weapon power), you choose which weapon you attack with.

Small: Small characters cannot use a two-handed weapon unless it also has the Small property.

Silvered Weapons

Some monsters that have immunity or resistance to nonmagical weapons are susceptible to silver weapons, so cautious adventurers invest extra coin to plate their weapons with silver. You can silver a single weapon, 10 crossbow bolts, 20 sling bullets or 30 arrows for 500 gp. This cost represents not only the price of the silver, but the time and expertise needed to add silver to the weapon without making it less effective.

Improvised Weapons

An improvised weapon, including an unarmed strike, does 1d4 damage (one-handed) or 1d8 damage (two-handed), with no proficiency bonus on the attack. A character makes two-handed unarmed strikes if they have two hands free; otherwise they make one-handed unarmed strikes (a character can make one-handed unarmed strikes with both hands full by kicking or headbutting).

Designing Your Own Weapons

Only a small selection of weapons are presented.

However, you can design your own melee weapons by selecting one of the generic options in square brackets, and assigning a Weapon Group to them.

Certain weapons get an additional property or benefit based on their Group (if [group] is written under Properties):

You can design an exotic melee weapon by taking a martial weapon and adding another Group to it, along with the Group-based benefit or property listed above.

For example, a khopesh could be a one-handed weapon in the Heavy Blades and Axes Groups, making it a proficiency +3, damage 1d10 weapon. A kukri could be a side weapon in the Light Blades and Heavy Blades Groups, making it a proficiency +4, damage 1d6 weapon.

You can design an exotic ranged weapon by taking a martial weapon and increasing either its proficiency bonus by +1 or its damage die by one step.

Table – Increased Weapon Die
Die Increases to
1d4 1d6
1d6 1d8
1d8 1d10
2d4 or 1d10 2d6 or 1d12

Example Weapons:

Simple side weapon: Knife (light blade), dart (spear)

Simple one-handed weapon: Light mace (mace), sickle (light blade), shortspear (spear), club (mace)

Simple two-handed weapon: Greatclub (mace), morningstar (mace), quarterstaff (staff), scythe (heavy blade)

Martial side weapon: Throwing hammer (hammer), handaxe (axe), hatchet (axe), shortsword (light blade), juggling club (mace), combat grapnel (flail), fork (spear), light pick (pick)

Martial one-handed weapon: Rapier (light blade), scimitar (light blade), heavy mace (mace), longsword (heavy blade), warhammer (hammer), adze (axe), war pick (pick), battleaxe (axe), bladed scarf (flail), fighting fan (light blade)

Martial two-handed weapon: Greataxe (axe), greatsword (heavy blade), maul (hammer), heavy flail (flail), falchion (heavy blade), greatpick (pick), hooked hammer (pick)

Martial reach weapon: Longspear (polearm, spear), halberd (axe, polearm), glaive (heavy blade, polearm), bo staff (polearm, staff), pike (polearm, spear)

Exotic side weapon: Kukri (light blade, heavy blade), nunchaku (flail, mace)

Exotic one-handed weapon: Khopesh (axe, heavy blade)

Exotic two-handed weapon: Dwarven urgrosh (axe, spear), gnome hooked hammer (mace, pick), orc double-axe (axe, heavy blade), two-bladed sword (light blade, heavy blade)

Exotic reach weapon: Spiked chain (light blade, flail)

Special Weapons

The exotic weapon category is a good place for weapons that do not follow the normal weapon creation rules. The garrote is given as an example.

Garrote: A simple wire, when used properly, can disable or kill an opponent in seconds.

Requirement: You can only use a garrote against a target granting you combat advantage which is not aware of you. You can only use the garrote with a melee basic attack or specific powers which utilize the garrote.

Property: When you hit with a garrote, you grapple the target. The target cannot speak while grappled. The target is dazed while the grapple is in effect. The target also suffers a -2 penalty to escape attempts.

Table – Weapon Templates
Type Range Type Hand Proficiency Bonus Damage (dW) Cost (gp) Weight (lb) Range Properties
Simple side weapon Melee Simple 1 +2 1d4 2 2 5/10 Side Weapon, Thrown (Light)
Simple one-handed weapon Melee Simple 1 +2 1d8 5 5    
Simple two-handed weapon Melee Simple 2 +2 1d10 5 10    
Martial side weapon Melee Martial 1 +2 1d6 5 1 5/10 Side Weapon, Thrown (Heavy), [group]
Martial one-handed weapon Melee Martial 1 +2 1d8 10 4   [group]
Martial two-handed weapon Melee Martial 2 +2 1d10 25 8   [group]
Martial reach weapon Melee Martial 2 +2 1d8 25 8   Polearm (Reach), [group]
Table – Simple Ranged Weapons
Name Range Type Hand Proficiency Bonus Damage (dW) Range Cost (gp) Weight (lb) Buffs Group
Light Crossbow Ranged Simple 1 +2 1d6 10/20 35 4 Loading (Free) Crossbows
Sling Ranged Simple 1 +2 1d6 10/20 0 0 Loading (Free) Slings
Heavy Crossbow Ranged Simple 2 +2 1d8 15/30 50 8 Loading (Swift) Crossbows
Table – Martial Ranged Weapons
Name Range Type Hand Proficiency Bonus Damage (dW) Range Cost (gp) Weight (lb) Buffs Group
Longbow Ranged Martial 2 +2 1d10 20/40 50 4 Loading (Free) Bows
Shortbow Ranged Martial 2 +2 1d8 15/30 35 3 Loading (Free), Small Bows
Table – Exotic Weapons
Name Range Type Hand Proficiency Bonus Damage (dW) Cost (gp) Weight (lb) Buffs Group
Exotic side weapon Melee Exotic 1 +2 1d6 25 1 5/10 Side Weapon, Thrown (Heavy), [two groups]
Exotic one-handed weapon Melee Exotic 1 +2 1d8 50 4   [two groups]
Exotic two-handed weapon Melee Exotic 2 +2 1d10 125 8   [two groups]
Exotic reach weapon Melee Exotic 2 +2 1d8 125 8   Polearm (Reach), [two groups]
Garrote Melee Exotic 2 +3 1d4 1 0 Special (Garrote) Special

Focuses

Most arcane, divine and natural powers, and some martial powers, have the Focus tag, meaning that they benefit from a magic focus if you use one while you use the power. Each power can only benefit from one magic focus at most.

You get no benefit from using a focus unless you are proficient with it.

Arcane Focus: An arcane focus is a special item – typically an orb, rod, staff, wand or book, although a crystal or a pouch of spell components would also be thematically appropriate – designed to channel the power of arcane spells.

A quarterstaff can be used as both an arcane focus and a weapon. A quarterstaff can be held in one hand when being used as a focus. A quarterstaff can either be enchanted as a focus or as a weapon, or separately as a weapon and as a focus – in which case it costs as much as each item would separately, put together.

Unless otherwise mentioned, an arcane focus requires a hand to use.

Druidic Focus: A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or scepter made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole out of a living tree, or an object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals.

Unless otherwise mentioned, a druidic focus requires a hand to use.

Holy Symbol: A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic.

Unless otherwise mentioned, a holy symbol does not require a hand to use. It is enough that you have it on your person (perhaps emblazoned on a shield or hung around your neck).

Martial Focus: A martial focus is an item that inspires or reminds when seen or studied. It might be a short scroll describing a meditation that sharpens the mind for battle, or a book of strategies that can be reviewed quickly before bed, or a blunt sword that can be practiced with, or bindings wrapped around your hands while bareknuckle boxing, or a banner you carry on your back.

Unless otherwise mentioned, a martial focus does not require a hand to use. It is enough that you have it on your person.

Adventuring Gear

This section describes items that have special rules or require further explanation.

Climber’s kit: A climber’s kit includes a grappling hook, a small hammer and 10 pitons. Gain a +2 bonus on Athletics checks to climb when you use a climber’s kit.

Candle: Illuminates a 2-square radius with dim light. Burns for one hour.

Dungeoneer’s pack (15 gp): Includes a backpack, a bedroll, a flint and steel, a belt pouch, 10 days of rations, a waterskin and two sunrods. The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it. The total weight of the pack is 30.5 lbs.

Everburning torch: This otherwise normal torch has a continual flame incantation cast upon it. Casts bright light in a 5-square radius.

Lantern: Burns for 8 hours per pint of oil and casts bright light in a 10-square radius.

Rations: Rations consist of dry foods suitable for extended travel, including jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts.

Spellbook: Essential for wizards, a spellbook is a leather-bound tome with 128 blank vellum pages suitable for recording spells. It is also used to record incantations by those who can cast them.

Sunrod: This 1-foot-long, gold-tipped, iron rod glows brightly when struck. It clearly illuminates (bright light) a 20-square radius. It glows for 4 hours, after which the gold tip is burned out and worthless.

Tent: A simple and portable canvas shelter.

Torch: A torch burns for 1 hour, providing bright light in a 5-square radius.

Thieves’ tools: This kit contains the tools you need to disable traps and open locks, and gives you a +2 bonus on Thievery checks to do so.

Waybread: 10 days’ worth of food in a light but expensive form. Impractically wrapped in flaky leaves.

Table – Ammunition
Item Cost Weight
Arrows (30) 1 gp 3 lb.
Crossbow bolts (20) 1 gp 2 lb.
Sling bullets (20) 1 gp 5 lb.
Table – Focuses
Item Cost Weight
Arcane focus: Book 10 gp 1 lb.
Arcane focus: Orb 10 gp 1 lb.
Arcane focus: Rod 10 gp 1 lb.
Arcane focus: Staff 5 gp 4 lb.
Arcane focus: Wand 10 gp 1 lb.
Druidic focus 5 gp 1 lb.
Holy symbol 10 gp 1 lb.
Martial focus 10 gp 1 lb.
Table – Adventuring Gear
Item Cost Weight
Backpack 2 gp 2 lb.
Bedroll 1 sp 5 lb.
Candle 1 cp -
Chain (10 feet) 30 gp 2 lb.
Chest 2 gp 25 lb.
Climber’s kit 2 gp 11 lb.
Everburning torch 50 gp 1 lb.
Flask 3 cp 1 lb.
Flint and steel 1 gp -
Good clothes 30 gp 6 lb.
Grappling hook 1 gp 4 lb.
Hammer 5 sp 2 lb.
Lantern 10 gp 2 lb.
Oil (flask) 1 sp 1 lb.
Piton 1 sp 0.5 lb.
Pole (10-foot) 5 cp 7 lb.
Pouch 1 gp 0.5 lb.
Rations (10 days) 5 gp 10 lb.
Rope, hempen (50 feet) 1 gp 10 lb.
Rope, silk (50 feet) 10 gp 5 lb.
Spellbook 50 gp 3 lb.
Sunrod 4 gp 2 lb.
Tent, two-person 10 gp 20 lb.
Thieves’ tools 20 gp 1 lb.
Torch 1 cp 1 lb.
Waterskin 1 gp 4 lb. (full)
Waybread (10 days) 50 gp 1 lb.

Mounts and Vehicles

A good mount can help you move more quickly through the wilderness, but its primary purpose is to carry the gear that would otherwise slow you down.

More rules for mounts and vehicles appear in the Advanced Options chapter.

Table – Mounts and Other Animals
Item Cost
Riding horse 360 gp
War horse 520 gp
Table – Vehicles
Item Cost Carrying Capacity
Cart 340 gp 2,000 lb.
Rowboat 420 gp 600 lb.

Powers

A power is something that your character can do, typically quickly (fast enough to be useful in battle) and with clear rules and effects.

Power Description

When a character uses a power, the same basic rules are followed, regardless of the character’s class or the power’s effects.

Each power description begins with a block of information, including the power’s name, category, source, level, tags, frequency, action required, attack range and targets, and duration.

The rest of a power entry describes the power’s effects.

Power Category

There are two categories of power:

An attack power is directed against one or more targets, typically enemies (although you can catch allies in friendly fire in some cases). It usually involves an attack roll which, if it hits, has some kind of negative effect on the target. Some powers also have effects when they miss, or regardless of whether they hit or miss.

A utility power may affect you, an ally, the environment, etc., but typically not an enemy. They can still serve a function in combat, however.

Power Frequency

There are three frequencies of power:

Traditions

Most powers belong to a tradition. There are currently five traditions: Arcane, Divine, Martial, Spirit and Phrenic. See the Classes chapter for a description of each tradition.

Action Required

Most powers require a standard action to use, but some powers require a move action, swift action, immediate action, or other. Some only require a free action.

Most powers require a standard action to use, but some powers require a move action, swift action, immediate action, or other. Some only require a free action. Some powers have a “Trigger” listed. You can only use such powers if the trigger is satisfied, although you do not have to use the power just because you are able to do so. If the power is a counter, the effects of a power that requires a trigger commence before the trigger is resolved, and may prevent the trigger from taking place. If the power is a reaction or free action, the effects of the power that requires a trigger commence after the trigger is fully resolved.

For example, if you have a counter power with the Trigger “You take damage” or “You would take damage,” the effects of the power take place before the damage, and may prevent the damage from taking place (if the power gives you resistance or allows you to move away, for example). If you have a reaction power with the same Trigger and effect, the effects of the power take place after you take damage; they cannot stop you from taking that damage.

Tags

A power’s tags tell you various information about it, which can be relevant for other parts of the game. For example, if you get a +2 bonus on attack rolls with fire powers, that refers to powers with the Fire tag.

A power with the Weapon tag uses the weapon you are currently wielding to determine some of its effects (typically, at least damage, and often range as well). If the weapon you use the attack power with is one you’re proficient in, add its proficiency bonus to the attack roll. You need a weapon (or an unarmed strike) to use a Weapon power.

A power with the Focus tag may use the focus you are currently wielding to determine some of its effects.

Targeting

There are four elements to targeting: origin of effect, area of effect, range, and targets.

Origin of effect

The five origins of effect for powers are:

You can see here that the first four origins can be sorted two different ways: whether the power affects those near the user (melee, near) or far from them (ranged, far); or whether the power targets creatures directly (melee, Ranged) or targets an area of effect (near, far).

Ranged and far powers provoke opportunity attacks. Melee, near, and Self powers do not.

Areas of effect

Areas of effect only apply to near and far powers.

Each near or far power describes its area of effect, usually by giving its size and one of the following area types:

Other areas are possible as specified by individual powers.

When an area of effect attack affects multiple targets you make a separate attack roll for each of them, but you only roll damage once for all targets. Damage that depends on the attack roll, such as critical hit bonus damage, is rolled separately for each target.

If a creature that is Large or larger is affected by an area of effect power it is only affected once, even if more than one of its squares are within the area of effect.

When you make an area of effect attack with a ranged weapon you need one projectile or thrown weapon for each target.

Special sizes for area of effect are “eyesight” and “earshot”. Eyesight means the target(s) can be anywhere that the user has line of sight. Earshot means the target(s) can be any creature that can hear the user.

Range

For Weapon powers (melee and Ranged), this is simple: the reach of the melee weapon (usually 1, in other words adjacent squares only) or the range of the ranged weapon.

For Ranged powers that are not Weapon powers, the range is usually specified in squares.

Melee “touch” means the power has range equal to the user’s reach. Medium and Small creatures typically have a reach of 1, and the rules will specify if the creature has a longer reach. This is separate to the user’s weapon’s reach.

Near powers have no range; they originate with the user and have a set area of effect.

Far powers have a range specified; the origin square of the area of effect has to be within that range.

To calculate range, count how many squares are between the user and the target. Remember that diagonal squares are adjacent to one another when you count range.

Targets

Melee and Ranged powers will specify whether they have one or more targets.

Unless otherwise mentioned, area of effect powers target all creatures in the area of effect.

Other example targets are:

Allies and Enemies: You choose who your allies are when you use a power. Your enemies are any creatures you do not choose as your allies. A creature can choose to not count as your ally for the purposes of a power.

A Clear Path to the Target: To target something with a ranged or far power, you must have a clear path to it, so it can’t be behind total cover.

If you place an area of effect at a point that you can’t see and an obstruction, such as a wall, is between you and that point, the point of origin comes into being on the near side of that obstruction.

Line of Sight: Some effects require your target to be within line of sight. To determine if a target is within line of sight, draw a line from any corner of a square in your space to any part of the target’s space. If you can draw such a line without passing through something that blocks your vision, you can see the target.

Line of Effect: A line of effect is similar to a line of sight, except it is only blocked by solid obstacles. Note that an obstacle can be solid but transparent, meaning it blocks line of effect but not line of sight.

Targeting Yourself: If a power targets a creature or creatures of your choice, you can choose yourself. If it targets enemies, you cannot choose yourself.

A power that targets an ally or allies does not target you; you are not your own ally.

Nearest: To determine the nearest target, determine the range to each possible target and then pick the one at the shortest range. If the range to two or more targets is equal you can choose which is the nearest.

Power Attack Rolls

Some powers require the user to make an attack roll to determine whether the power effect hits the intended target (one attack roll per target, in the case of a power that targets multiple creatures).

Your attack bonus with an attack power equals the ability modifier specified in the power + half your level + any other relevant modifiers.

All attacks target one of the four defenses: Armor Class, Fortitude, Reflex, or Will.

Unless otherwise specified, you can choose to be hit by an attack instead of requiring the attacker to make an attack roll. For example, transplant senses allows the attacker to see out of your eyes. If the attacker is an ally, you may allow them to do this without making an attack roll against your Will defense first.

Attacks with ammunition

When you use a power that allows you to make multiple attacks, with a weapon that consumes ammunition, you use one piece of ammunition per attack unless the description of the power suggests otherwise.

Reloading a weapon between these attacks is free, even if the weapon normally requires a swift action to reload. However, after the attack is complete the normal reload action is then required before another attack can be made with the weapon.

Power Effects

A power can have three kinds of effects:

Unless otherwise specified, a creature knows the effect of a power that has affected it.

Secondary Attacks

If a power has a “Secondary Attack” listed, the user of the power can make an attack, contingent on that effect occurring. For example, if Secondary Attack is listed under the Hit entry, it only takes place on a hit.

Secondary attacks use the same tags, attack, defense and range as the original attack, unless otherwise specified.

Weapon Dice (“dW”)

The term “dW” refers to weapon dice. Every weapon has a given damage die. Roll that die as many times as specified, and add up the results. For example, if you use a power with a longsword (weapon die: 1d10), and the Hit effect is “3dW damage” that means you do 3d10 damage. If it is “3dW + Strength modifier damage” and your Strength modifier is +2, you roll three d10s, add them up and then add 2.

Rarely, a weapon will have multiple damage dice, for example 2d4 or 2d6. Multiply these by the number of dW to get the final dice total. For example, a 3dW attack used with a weapon that does 2d6 damage does 6d6 damage.

Duration

The following are common durations:

Save ends means you make a saving throw at the end of your turn for every effect that is affecting you. If you roll 10 or higher, you are no longer affected by that effect.

Persistent damage

If a power’s effect includes persistent damage, the target does not take that damage right away. Instead, they take it at the start of their next turn. Usually the duration of persistent damage is “save ends.”

Maintain

Some powers require you to maintain concentration in order to keep functioning. If you lose concentration, such a power ends.

If a power must be maintained with concentration, that fact appears in a Maintain entry, and the power specifies what action is required from you each turn to maintain it. You can end concentration at any time (no action required).

You can maintain any number of powers, provided you have the actions to do so.

You cannot maintain a power that has ended. The one exception is a power that naturally ended at the start of your turn. If a power like this has a Maintain option, it represents restarting the power.

Tags

Augmentable

You can use the “Augment:” section of the power that is used. To be able to augment a power, you must be able to expend your psi focus, which you gain from being a phrenic.

Aura

An aura is always a Near burst effect, a lingering effect that extends over an area. An aura moves with the character who manifested it and lasts for five minutes or until the character dismisses it as a swift action (whichever happens first).

Conjuration

A conjuration is an object or monster that is created by a power. It normally cannot be attacked. Allies of its creator can pass through its space but enemies cannot. If it makes attacks or is attacked, it uses the power user’s attack modifiers and defense scores. A conjuration cannot be affected by conditions or persistent damage.

A conjuration disappears if its creator is killed.

Consistent

If the user of a Consistent power misses on all attacks made with that power, the power is not expended.

Form

A Form power changes the shape of the user. Except as described in the power description, the user keeps all other statistics, HP, etc.

A character in a new form cannot do anything that their new form is incapable of doing (for example, in the form of an animal you cannot talk or make weapon attacks).

A character can usually only be under the effect of one Form power at a time.

Stance

A stance is a type of fighting method that you maintain from round to round. So long as you stay in a stance, you gain some benefit from it.

You can use a single swift action to end one stance and begin another, or you can choose to simply end your current stance without entering another. You continue to gain a stance’s benefits until you switch to a new stance or end your current one. You cannot have more than one stance active at a time.

Your stance ends if you are rendered helpless for any reason.

Summons

A Summons power creates one or more summoned monsters. The summoned monster follows the Companion rules, as well as the following special rules:

Teleportation

Unless otherwise specified, teleportation obeys the following rules:

Because a teleport requires line of sight, blindfolding creatures that are capable of teleporting prevents them from escaping.

Wild Shape

A humanoid creature can only use and/or continue to benefit from a Wild Shape power when under the effects of a Form power, unless they already have a physical feature that would allow them to use that power.

Zones

A zone is an area of effect that remains for a while, created by a power with the Zone tag. It may be a set duration, or until the creature that created it stops Maintaining it. A zone cannot be attacked, it just is. Squares in a zone do not count as occupied just because there is a zone there.

A zone disappears if its creator is killed.

Boost

If a power has a “Boost” entry, then the power can be chosen as a higher-level power. If so, it has the improved effect. Treat it as a power of a higher level for all purposes.

Roleplaying Your Powers

Since this is a role-playing game, you are not limited by your powers. Anything your character could do, they can attempt to do – even if there are no rules for it. And even if you have a power that says you can do something, the GM may rule that you cannot because it does not fit the fiction.

Overall, however, powers work the way the rules say they should work almost all of the time.

Combat

A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides, a flurry of weapon swings, feints, parries, footwork, and spellcasting. The game organizes the chaos of combat into a cycle of rounds and turns.

A round represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant takes a turn. The order of turns is determined at the beginning of a combat encounter, when everyone rolls initiative. Once everyone has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.

Combat Step by Step

  1. Determine surprise. The GM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised.
  2. Establish positions. The GM decides where all the characters and monsters are located. Given the adventurers’ marching order or their stated positions in the room or other location, the GM figures out where the adversaries are̶ on the grid.
  3. Roll initiative. Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls initiative, determining the order of combatants’ turns.
  4. Take turns. Each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order.
  5. Begin the next round. When everyone involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends. Repeat step 4 until the fighting stops.

The Grid

These rules assume you’re using a square grid and miniatures or other tokens to denote positions for participants in the combat.

Each space on the grid is called a square. The point where four squares meet is a corner, and the line between two squares is an edge.

Sometimes you need to extend the grid into three dimensions. Each space is still called a square, even though from a geometric point of view it is shaped like a cube. In 3D, a corner is the point where eight squares meet, and edge is used both for the line between two squares meeting diagonally and for the plane between two squares meeting orthogonally. (If geometry is not your thing, don’t worry too much about it. For the most part, the rules make sense even if you don’t understand the exact details of these definitions.)

Two squares are adjacent if they have at least one corner in common.

Surprise

A band of adventurers sneaks up on a bandit camp, springing from the trees to attack them. A gelatinous cube glides down a dungeon passage, unnoticed by the adventurers until the cube engulfs one of them. In these situations, one side of the battle gains surprise over the other.

The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Stealth checks of anyone hiding with the passive Perception score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.

If you’re surprised, you can’t take actions on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take immediate actions until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.

Initiative

Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes an Initiative check to determine their place in the initiative order. The GM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time.

The GM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Initiative check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round.

If a tie occurs, the creature with the highest initiative modifier goes first. If initiative roll and initiative modifier are tied, flip a coin.

Your Turn

At the start of your turn, take any persistent damage you are subject to.

On your turn, you can take four types of action, in any order you like, but unless otherwise noted you have to finish one action before you can take another.

The most common actions you can take are described in the “Actions in Combat” section later in this chapter. Many class features and powers provide additional options for your action.

You can forgo taking one or more actions, or doing anything at all on your turn.

Standard Actions

Your standard action is typically the main thing that you do in a turn – for example, use a significant power (including most powers that involve attacks), make a basic attack, a charge, etc.

Actions that use a standard action include:

Move Actions

Your move action is almost always used to move, or to use a power that involves movement.

Actions that use a move action include:

Swift Actions

The main use of swift actions is for certain powers. Of the four actions usable on your turn (standard, move, swift and free), swift actions are the ones least often used.

You can also use swift actions to:

Free Actions

You can use free actions to:

There are also some powers that require a free action.

Variant Rule: One Free Action per Turn

You can only take one free action per turn (including other characters’ turns). For example, you could drop one item on your turn, and then another item on the creature’s turn following yours.

Action Points

A player character’s Action Points are reset to 1 after each long rest. A character gains an additional Action Point after every second encounter they have between long rests.

Once per encounter (but not during a surprise round), a character can spend an Action Point to take one additional standard, move or swift action during their turn.

The End of Your Turn

At the end of your turn you make saving throws against any effects that require them.

Any effects that require an action to maintain concentration, which you have not spent, end now.

Other effects may also resolve at the end of your turn as noted in their descriptions. You can choose in which order to resolve effects that happen at the end of your turn.

Saving Throws

A saving throw – also called a save – represents an attempt to shake off an effect. You don’t normally decide to make a saving throw; you are forced to make one because your character or monster is at risk of harm or trying to shake off a condition, persistent damage or other negative effect.

To make a saving throw, roll a d20. If specified, add other bonuses. If the result is 10 or higher, the save succeeds. Typically, if the save is successful it means the effect ends.

Special saving throw riders

Aftereffect: An aftereffect takes place after the target succeeds on its saving throw against the initial effect.

For example, “blinded (save ends); Aftereffect: dazed (save ends)” means the target is blinded until it succeeds on a saving throw. Then it is dazed until it succeeds on a saving throw.

For another example, “The target is dazed until the end of your next turn; Aftereffect: The target takes damage equal to your Charisma modifier” means that the target is dazed until the end of your next turn, then they stop being dazed but they take damage.

First Failed Save: This effect applies to the target the first time they fail a saving throw.

For example, “rattled (save ends); First Failed Save: The target is instead blinded (save ends)” means the target is rattled until it succeeds on a saving throw. If it fails a saving throw, it becomes blinded instead of rattled.

Grappled (save ends): Most grapples last until the target breaks the grapple or the grappler chooses to end the grapple. When a power says the target is “grappled (save ends)”, as well as those methods to end the grapple the target also makes a saving throw each turn and breaks the grapple on a success.

Outside of Your Turn

There are two types of action you can take outside of your turn: immediate actions and opportunity attacks.

Immediate Actions

Certain special abilities, powers, and situations allow you to take a special action called an immediate action. It must occur on someone else’s turn, and you can only take one immediate action between each of your turns.

Immediate actions come in two varieties:

Opportunity Attacks

In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach or otherwise provokes an opportunity attack. To make the opportunity attack, you use your immediate action to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack occurs right before the creature leaves your reach.

You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by shifting, for example by taking the Five-Foot Step action. You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when subject to unwilling movement. For example, you don’t provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe’s reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.

You can only take one opportunity attack against a creature on their turn, even if they provoke an attack multiple times.

On rare occasions, you can perform a non-attack action when someone provokes an opportunity attack. These are called “opportunity actions”.

Making an Attack

Whether you’re striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a power, an attack has a simple structure.

If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack.

Combat by David Lewis Johnson
Combat by David Lewis Johnson

Attack Rolls

When you make an attack, your attack roll determines whether the attack hits or misses. To make an attack roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate modifiers. If the total of the roll plus modifiers equals or exceeds the target’s relevant defense, the attack hits.

As a reminder, defenses are Armor Class (AC), Fortitude, Reflex and Will.

Modifiers to the Roll

When a character makes an attack roll, the two most common modifiers to the roll are an ability modifier and the character’s proficiency bonus. When a monster makes an attack roll, it uses whatever modifier is provided in its stat block.

Ability Modifier: The ability modifier used for a basic melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a basic ranged weapon attack is Dexterity (except for heavy thrown weapons, which use Strength).

Powers will specify which ability modifier is used.

Proficiency Bonus: You add a proficiency bonus to your attack roll when you attack using a weapon with which you have proficiency.

Combat Advantage: When an enemy is at a disadvantage defending themselves, you have combat advantage against them. Add +2 to your attack rolls against them.

Rolling 1 or 20

Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit or the veteran to miss.

If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target’s defenses. If the attack hits, and would have hit even if it weren’t for this special rule, then this is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this chapter.

If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s defenses.

Types of attack

Attack types are the origins of effect of the attack. The chapter on Powers explained that power origins are melee, ranged, near, far and Self. Attacks can have any of the first four origins.

Ranged powers have their range given as a number or they take the range of the weapon used to make the attack. This is the maximum range from the user’s space to the target. Far powers also have a range; the maximum range from the user’s space to the area’s origin square.

Area of effect powers that use a square in your space as the area’s base square have a range of near.

Melee

Used in hand-to-hand combat, a melee attack allows you to attack a foe within your reach. A melee attack typically uses a handheld weapon such as a sword, a warhammer, or an axe. A typical monster makes a melee attack when it strikes with its claws, horns, teeth, tentacles, or other body part.

Your reach is primarily used to determine which enemies you can make melee attacks against. Tiny creatures have a reach of 0, meaning they must be in the same square as their target to attack them in melee.

Most creatures have a 1-square reach and can thus attack targets within 1 square of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 1 square, as noted in their descriptions. However, note that opportunity attacks are provoked when a creature leaves an adjacent square, so even if you have a longer reach you do not make opportunity attacks when they leave your reach.

A melee attack with a range of Melee touch uses the user’s reach, rather than their weapon’s reach.

Ranged

You can make ranged attacks only against targets within a specified number of squares.

If your target has a space greater than one, it’s enough to reach one of the squares in its space.

If a ranged attack, such as one made with a spell, has a single range, you can’t attack a target beyond this range.

Some ranged attacks, such as those made with a longbow or a shortbow, have two ranges. The smaller number is the normal range, and the larger number is the long range. Your attack roll has a -2 penalty when your target is beyond normal range, and you can’t attack a target beyond the long range.

Drow by David Revoy
Drow by David Revoy

Ranged and Far Attacks in Close Combat

Aiming a ranged or far attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack (whether it’s with a weapon or not) you provoke an opportunity attack.

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you have a weapon in each hand, you choose which one to use for each attack power.

Near and Far

See Introduction to Powers for more.

Cover and Concealment

Either sheltering behind a physical barrier (cover) or hiding from view (concealment) can protect a creature from attack. Cover and concealment stack; a creature can benefit from both.

Cover

A target has cover when they are partly protected by a barrier. Commonly this is caused by walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles.

There are two degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; the degrees aren’t added together. For example, if a target is behind a creature that gives half cover and a tree trunk that gives three-quarters cover, the target has three-quarters cover.

A target with half cover gives a -2 penalty to attack rolls. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body. The obstacle might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an enemy or a friend.

A target with three-quarters cover gives a -5 penalty to attack rolls. A target has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of it is covered by an obstacle. The obstacle might be a portcullis, an arrow slit, or a thick tree trunk.

Concealment

A target has concealment when you are prevented from seeing or otherwise perceiving them clearly. Commonly this is caused by dim light or darkness, or soft barriers like leaves or fog.

Like cover, concealment comes in two levels: Concealment (-2 penalty to attack rolls) and total concealment (-5 penalty to attack rolls).

Concealment penalties do not apply to near or far attacks.

When lighting or other conditions cause creatures in an area to be harder to see, the squares in that area are obscured. A square can be lightly obscured, heavily obscured, or totally obscured.

Targets in obscured squares gain concealment as follows:

Damage

Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore fantasy gaming worlds. The thrust of a sword, a well-placed arrow, or a blast of flame from a fireball spell all have the potential to damage, or even kill, the hardiest of creatures.

Hit Points

Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.

A creature’s current hit points (usually just called hit points) can be any number from the creature’s hit point maximum down to 0, or even negative values. This number changes frequently as a creature takes damage or receives healing.

Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has no effect on a creature’s capabilities until the creature drops to 0 hit points or below. You can have negative hit points if damage would take you below 0 HP.

Damage Rolls

Each weapon, spell, and harmful monster ability specifies the damage it deals. You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage. With a penalty, it is possible to deal 0 damage, but never negative damage.

When making a basic attack, you add your ability modifier – the same modifier used for the attack roll – to the damage. A power tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any modifiers.

If a power or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when a wizard casts fireball or a cleric casts flame strike, the power’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.

Critical Hits

When you score a critical hit, you do maximum damage with the attack. When an effect adds bonus dice on a critical hit, roll those extra dice (don’t maximize them).

Damage Types

Different attacks, damaging powers, and other harmful effects deal different types of damage. Damage types have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as damage resistance, rely on the types.

When no damage type is specified (as is the case for most weapons, for example), the damage is “untyped”.

The types are:

Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.

If a creature or an object has resistance to X #, damage of type X is reduced by #. If a creature or an object has vulnerability to X # to a damage type, whenever it takes damage of type X it takes +# damage.

Where multiple resistances or vulnerabilities apply, apply the highest resistance and the highest vulnerability.

Movement and Position

In combat, characters and monsters are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand.

Move actions include:

Your movement can include jumping, climbing, and swimming. These different modes of movement can be combined with walking, or they can constitute your entire move. However you’re moving, you deduct the distance of each part of your move from your speed until it is used up or until you are done moving.

Moving from one square to another that is diagonal to it counts for 1 square of movement, just as moving orthogonally (forward, back, left and right) does.

Speed

Every character and monster has a speed, which is the number of five-foot squares that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation.

Using Different Speeds

If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a fly speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you’ve already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can’t use the new speed during the current move.

For example, if you have a speed of 6 and a fly speed of 12 because a wizard cast the fly spell on you, you could fly 4 squares, then walk 2 squares, and then leap into the air to fly 6 squares more.

Zero Level by Michael Wight
Zero Level by Michael Wight

Additional Movement Modes

Some creatures have one or more of the following additional movement modes.

Compress X means that the monster can travel through spaces as if it were a creature of that size. For example, a Large creature with compress Medium can pass through a five-foot passageway without needing to take the Squeeze action.

Burrow

A monster that has a burrowing speed can use that speed to move through sand, earth, mud, or ice. A monster can’t burrow through solid rock unless it has a special trait that allows it to do so.

Earth glide means the creature can burrow through earthen matter and rock. While doing so, the creature doesn’t disturb the material it moves through.

Climb

A monster that has a climbing speed can use all or part of its movement to move on vertical surfaces. The monster doesn’t need to spend extra movement to climb.

Wall-climber means that the monster does not have to make Athletics checks to climb, even while climbing upside down.

Fly

A monster that has a flying speed can use all or part of its movement to fly.

If a monster is flying, it typically has to move at least 2 squares per round, or it crashes to earth. It cannot shift or make opportunity attacks while flying.

Some monsters have the ability to hover, which makes them hard to knock out of the air. Such a monster stops hovering when it dies. A hovering monster does not have to move at least 2 squares per round, can shift and can make opportunity attacks.

Some monsters will specify how high they can fly (“maximum altitude”), in squares. If they fly beyond that height, they crash.

If a creature has the clumsy on ground trait, they suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls and defenses while on the ground. If a creature has the clumsy in air trait, they suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls and defenses while flying.

Swim

A monster that has a swim speed doesn’t need to spend extra movement to swim.

Phasing

A monster with phasing can move through difficult terrain, obstacles (like walls) and creatures (including enemies) without penalty.

Terrain Stride

Terrain stride describes a set of traits, each of which allows the monster to ignore difficult terrain in some conditions:

Difficult Terrain

Combat rarely takes place in bare rooms or on featureless plains. Boulder-strewn caverns, briar-choked forests, treacherous staircases-the setting of a typical fight contains difficult terrain.

Every square of movement in difficult terrain costs 1 extra square. This rule is true even if multiple things in a space count as difficult terrain.

Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow, and shallow bogs are examples of difficult terrain.

Being Prone

Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down or because they throw themselves down. In the game, they are prone, as described in the conditions section.

You can Drop Prone as a free action. Stand Up from Prone is a move action.

Moving Around Other Creatures

You can move through an allied creature’s space. In contrast, you can move through a hostile creature’s space only if the creature is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you, or if the creature is helpless.

Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can’t willingly end your move in its space.

If you leave a square adjacent to an enemy, for example by moving into their space, you provoke an opportunity attack.

Flanking

When making an attack, you have combat advantage if your opponent is flanked, that is to say an ally is on the opponent’s opposite border or opposite corner.

Only a creature or character that can attack the defender can help an attacker flank. For example, a creature without attacks or that is unconscious cannot contribute to a flank.

Creature Size

Each creature takes up a different amount of space. The Size Categories table shows how much space a creature of a particular size controls in combat. Objects sometimes use the same size categories.

Table – Size Categories
Size Squares Taken Up
Tiny 0.5 x 0.5
Small 1 x 1
Medium 1 x 1
Large 2 x 2
Huge 3 x 3
Gargantuan 4 x 4 or more

Space

A creature’s space is the area in squares that it effectively controls in combat, not an expression of its physical dimensions. A square is 5-feet by 5-feet, but a typical Medium creature isn’t 5 feet wide, for example, but it does control a square. If a Medium hobgoblin stands in a square, other creatures can’t get through that square unless the hobgoblin lets them.

Unwilling Movement

When an effect forces you to move, or if you start falling, the distance you move is defined by the effect that moved you, not by your speed. Because you’re not acting to move, this doesn’t trigger reactions that are triggered by movement.

If unwilling movement would move you into a space you can’t occupy—because objects are in the way or because you lack the movement type needed to reach it, for example—you stop moving in the last space you can occupy. Usually the creature or effect forcing the movement chooses the path the victim takes.

Unwilling movement can usually move you through hazardous terrain, pushed off a ledge, or the like. However, you may make a saving throw before being moved into hazardous terrain – and on a success you fall prone at the edge instead of being moved.

The three forms of unwilling movement are:

Overland Movement

Creatures can walk a number of miles per hour equal to half their walk speed in squares. For example, the standard (unencumbered) human speed is 6 squares, which translates to 3 miles per hour.

Creatures can comfortably walk for five hours a day (15 miles total).

Creatures can push on and walk for another five hours a day with an Endure check (DC 20). If they fail, they lose a recovery and cannot hustle or push on until after a long rest.

Creatures can hustle, moving at double their walking speed (6 miles per hour for a standard, unencumbered human). However, at the end of each hour they hustle they must make an Endure check (DC 15 + 5 for each hour spent hustling). If they fail, they lose a recovery and cannot hustle or push on until after a long rest.

Actions in Combat

When you take actions on your turn, you can take the actions presented here, use powers, and/or actions that you improvise. Many monsters have action options of their own in their stat blocks.

When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the GM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.

Aid Another (standard action)

You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a skill check. See the Aid Another section of the Skills chapter.

Basic Attack (standard action)

With this action, you make a melee basic attack or a ranged basic attack.

Basic Melee Attack

At-Will Attack Feature (Standard Action) ● Weapon
Melee weapon, one creature
Attack Strength vs AC
Hit 1dW + Strength modifier damage.
Level 21: 2dW + Strength modifier damage.

Basic Ranged Attack

At-Will Attack Feature (Standard Action) ● Weapon
Ranged weapon, one creature
Attack Dexterity vs AC
Hit 1dW + Dexterity modifier damage.
Level 21: 2dW + Dexterity modifier damage.
Special: Heavy thrown weapons use Strength not Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls.

Charge (standard action)

You must move at least 2 squares. You must move to the closest square from which you can attack the opponent. (If this square is occupied or otherwise blocked, you can’t charge.) Your movement provokes opportunity attacks as normal movement does.

After moving, you may make a single basic melee attack or shove. You get a +1 bonus on the attack roll.

Coup de Grace (special)

When you make an attack (including using an attack power) against a helpless adjacent opponent, using a standard action, it is a Coup de Grace.

If you hit, you score a critical hit. If the damage equals or exceeds their staggered value, they die. Otherwise they just take the damage.

Crawl (move action)

When you take the Crawl move action, you move half your speed. Your movement provokes opportunity attacks as normal movement does.

You cannot Walk or Dash while prone, which is why you might choose the Crawl action.

Create Diversion (standard action)

Create Diversion

Encounter Attack Feature (Standard Action)
Near eyesight, all enemies
Attack Bluff check vs target’s passive Insight score
Hit You have the momentary diversion you need to attempt a Stealth check while people are aware of you.

Dash (move action)

When you take the Dash move action, you move your speed +2. Until the end of your next turn, you grant combat advantage and suffer a -5 penalty to attacks.

Your movement provokes opportunity attacks as normal movement does.

Deter (standard action)

Deter

At-Will Attack Feature (Standard Action)
Near eyesight or earshot, one enemy
Attack Intimidate check vs Will. Targets get a +5 bonus to their Will defense if unfriendly, or +10 if hostile. They gain a further +5 bonus if you do not speak in a language that they understand.
Hit The target cannot take an action of your choice until the end of their next turn.
Miss The target cannot be the target of your Deter or Unnerve action again until the end of this encounter.
Effect The target becomes hostile if it was not already.

Feint (standard action)

Feint

Encounter Attack Feature (Standard Action)
Near burst 1, one enemy
Attack Bluff check vs target’s passive Insight score
Hit You gain combat advantage against the target until the end of your next turn.

Five-Foot Step (move action)

If you take the Five-Foot Step move action, you shift 1.

Delay (N/A)

By choosing to delay, you take no actions and then take your turn normally on whatever initiative count you decide to act. When you delay, you voluntarily reduce your own initiative result for the rest of the combat. When your new, lower initiative count comes up later in the same round, you can act normally. You can specify this new initiative result or just wait until some time later in the round (in between other creatures’ turns) and act then, thus fixing your new initiative count at that point.

If you do not take your turn by the end of the round, your turn for that round is wasted.

You can’t interrupt anyone else’s turn (as you can with the Ready action).

You cannot Delay if you have already taken actions this turn.

You cannot maintain powers if you Delay. Beneficial effects that end at the end of your turn end as soon as you Delay.

Initiative Consequences of Delaying: Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the delayed turn.

Grapple (standard action)

Grapple

At-Will Attack Feature (Standard Action) ● Weapon
Melee touch, one enemy no more than one size larger than you
Requirements You must have a hand free.
Attack Strength vs Reflex
Effect The target is grappled. You can release the target whenever you like (as a free action). If either of you ceases to be adjacent to the other (for example through unwilling movement affecting either of you), the grapple ends.
Special You succeed automatically if the target is incapacitated.

Escape a Grapple (standard action): A grappled creature can use its standard action to escape. To do so, it must succeed on an Athletics check vs the grappler’s Fortitude or Acrobatics check vs the grappler’s Reflex defense.

Move a Grappled Creature (standard action): Make a Strength attack vs the grappled creature’s Fortitude.

Hit: You can drag or carry the grappled creature with you, but your speed is halved. Your movement provokes opportunity attacks as normal movement does.

Help Attack (standard action)

You can aid a friendly creature in fighting a creature within your reach. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s attack more effective.

You grant a +2 bonus to your ally’s next attack roll against that target (if not used, this bonus expires at the end of your next turn).

Help Defense (standard action)

You can aid a friendly creature in fighting a creature within your reach. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s defense more effective.

You grant a +2 bonus to your ally’s defenses against the target’s next attack against them (if not used, this bonus expires at the end of your next turn).

Rally (standard action)

Rally

Encounter Utility Feature (Standard Action)
Self
Effect You spend one of your recoveries and regain your recovery value in HP. You also get +2 to all defenses until the start of your next turn.

Ready (N/A)

The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action.

You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a swift action. To do so, specify the circumstances under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next turn, you may take the readied action in response to those circumstances. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming the other character is still capable of doing so, they continue their actions once you complete your readied action. Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.

Initiative Consequences of Readying: Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the readied action. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed your readied action, you don’t get to take the readied action (though you can ready the same action again). If you take your readied action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round.

Shove (standard action)

Shove

At-Will Attack Feature (Standard Action) ● Weapon
Near burst 1, one enemy that is no more than one size larger than you
Attack Strength vs Fortitude
Hit You push the target 1 square and may shift into the space it left.

Stand Up from Prone (move action)

Standing up from a prone position requires a move action. If there is another creature already in your space, shift 1 into an unoccupied square.

Squeeze (move action)

A creature can squeeze through a space that is large enough for a creature one size smaller than it. Thus, a Large creature can squeeze through a passage that’s only 5 feet wide. While squeezing through a space, a creature must spend 1 extra square for every square it moves there, and attack rolls against the creature have combat advantage while it’s in the smaller space.

You provoke opportunity attacks as you would with normal movement.

While squeezing, you grant combat advantage and suffer a -5 penalty to attacks.

A creature with the compress special movement behaves as a smaller size for the purpose of squeezing (and whether it needs to squeeze in the first place).

Total Defense (standard action)

You can defend yourself as a standard action. When you take the Total Defense standard action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks.

+2 to all defenses until the start of your next turn.

Treat Ally (standard action)

Choose one each time you take this action.

First Aid (Heal DC 15): An adjacent dying character is stabilized. A stable character stops making death saves.

Additional Saving Throw (Heal DC 15): A successful Heal check allows an adjacent ally to either (their choice) make a new saving throw right away or take a +2 bonus on a saving throw of their choice at the end of their next turn.

Treat Wound (DC 10): A successful Heal check allows an adjacent ally to use their second wind without spending a standard action. They don’t get the standard bonus to defense if they choose to use it this way.

Unnerve (standard action)

Unnerve

At-Will Attack Feature (Standard Action)
Near eyesight and earshot, all staggered enemies
Attack Intimidate vs Will +10. Targets get a further +5 bonus if you do not speak in a language that they understand.
Hit The target surrenders.
Miss The target cannot be the target of your Deter or Unnerve action again until the end of this encounter.

Use a Power (various actions)

You use a power. If it is an attack power, you will typically follow all the standard steps of an attack.

Walk (move action)

When you take the Walk move action, you move your speed. You provoke opportunity attacks.

Healing

Unless it results in death, damage isn’t permanent. Even death is reversible through powerful magic. Rest can restore a creature’s hit points, and magical methods such as a cure wounds spell or a potion of healing can remove damage in an instant.

When a creature receives healing of any kind, hit points regained are added to its current hit points. A creature’s hit points can’t exceed its hit point maximum, so any hit points regained in excess of this number are lost. For example, a druid grants a ranger 8 hit points of healing. If the ranger has 14 current hit points and has a hit point maximum of 20, the ranger regains 6 hit points from the druid, not 8.

A creature that has died can’t regain hit points until magic such as the revivify spell has restored it to life.

Recoveries

Each PC has a certain amount of recoveries, which represent the PC’s ability to heal or bounce back from damage. Many healing spells and potions require you to use up a recovery. So does rallying during a battle.

When you use a recovery, regain lost hit points equal to your recovery value.

Recovery Value: Equal to one-quarter your maximum HP.

Staggered

When you are reduced to half your maximum hit points or fewer, you’re staggered. Some powers, spells, and monster interactions work differently when you are staggered.

Dropping to 0 Hit Points or Below

When you drop to 0 hit points or below, you either die outright or fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections.

Healing on Negative HP

Whenever you receive healing while you are at negative HP, simply add the healing to 0 to determine your current HP.

For example, if you are on -10 HP and you heal 7 HP, your HP become 7, not -3.

Instant Death

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to negative hit points equivalent to your staggered value or worse (for example -22 HP if your HP is 44), you die.

Falling Unconscious

If damage reduces you to 0 hit points or below and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious. This unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points.

Death Saving Throws

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points or below, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by powers and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a saving throw.

Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success indicates no change (unless you roll 20 or higher; see below). A failure has no effect until your third failure, whereupon you die. The failures don’t need to be consecutive. The number of failures is reset to zero when you take a short or long rest.

Rolling 20 or higher: When you make a death saving throw and roll 20 or higher, you can spend a recovery. Your HP are set to equal to your recovery value, and therefore you stop dying and become conscious, although you are still prone.

Healing with no recoveries: If a dying creature gets the opportunity to spend a recovery to heal but it has no recoveries left, its HP is set to 1 instead.

Monsters and Death

Most GMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saving throws.

Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common exceptions; the GM might have them fall unconscious and follow the same rules as player characters.

Variant: No Negative HP

In this variant, characters never go below 0 HP. They only die from hit point loss (rather than from failed death saves) if a single attack would reduce them to negative hit points equal to their staggered value or worse.

For example, a cleric with 22 HP takes 23 damage. They fall to 0 HP. They then take an attack that does 7 damage. Since it is less than their staggered value, they stay at 0 HP. Then they take an attack that does 13 damage – since that exceeds their staggered value, they die.

Knocking a Creature Out

Sometimes an attacker wants to incapacitate a foe, rather than deal a killing blow. When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious. It heals 1 HP after a short rest.

Temporary Hit Points

Some powers and features confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren’t actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury.

When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal hit points. For example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage.

Because temporary hit points are separate from your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full hit points and receive temporary hit points.

Healing can’t restore temporary hit points, and they can’t be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary hit points doesn’t restore you to consciousness or stabilize you. They can still absorb damage directed at you while you’re in that state, but only true healing can save you.

Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you finish a short rest.

Regeneration

Creatures with this extraordinary ability automatically heal damage at a fixed rate at the start of each of their turns, as given in the creature’s entry.

If you have regeneration and receive it from another source, you receive the highest value (do not sum them).

Conditions

Conditions alter a creature’s capabilities in a variety of ways and can arise as a result of a power, a class feature, a monster’s attack, or other effect. Most conditions, such as blinded, are impairments.

A condition lasts either until it is countered (the prone condition is countered by standing up, for example) or for a duration specified by the effect that imposed the condition.

If multiple effects impose the same condition on a creature, each instance of the condition has its own duration, but the condition’s effects don’t get worse. A creature either has a condition or doesn’t.

The following definitions specify what happens to a creature while it is subjected to a condition.

Blinded

Controlled

Dazed

Deafened

Dying

Helpless

The helpless condition usually comes about as a result of being unconscious.

Immobile

Marked

Prone

Rattled

Restrained

Slowed

The slowed condition setting your speed to 2 applies after all other modifiers to your speed have been applied. For example, if you are subject to a power that gives you a -2 penalty to speed, and your speed is normally 6, then your speed while slowed is 2.

However, note that slowed affects your speed, not your movement. For example, if you take the Dash action (allowing you to move your speed +2), you can move 4 since your speed is 2.

Stunned

Surprised

Unconscious

Weakened

Advanced Combat

Mounted Combat

A knight charging into battle on a warhorse, a wizard casting spells from the back of a griffon, or a cleric soaring through the sky on a pegasus all enjoy the benefits of speed and mobility that a mount can provide.

A willing creature that is at least one size larger than you and that has an appropriate anatomy can serve as a mount, using the following rules.

Mounting and Dismounting

You can mount a creature an adjacent creature or dismount into an adjacent, unoccupied space. Mounting or dismounting is a move action.

If an effect moves your mount against its will while you’re on it, you travel with it. If an effect moves you against your will while mounted, you can choose whether it is moved as well, or whether you fall off it and are moved.

If your mount is knocked prone, you are dismounted and land in a space within 1 square.

If you are knocked prone while mounted, immediately make a saving throw. If you fail, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space of your choice within 1 square. If you succeed, you are not dismounted or knocked prone.

Controlling a Mount

While you’re mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Intelligent creatures, such as dragons, always act independently.

You can control a mount only if it has been trained to accept a rider. Domesticated horses, donkeys, and similar creatures are assumed to have such training. The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it.

You can give up actions to command a controlled mount, in which case it gets to take the same actions. For example, you can give up your standard action in order for the mount to take a standard action. You can also use an immediate action in order for the mount to make an opportunity attack or use a counter or reaction (in all three cases, only if eligible to do so).

An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes. It might flee from combat, rush to attack and devour a badly injured foe, or otherwise act against your wishes.

In either case, if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you’re on it, the attacker can target you or the mount. If you provoke an opportunity attack, the attacker can only target you.

Zebra Rider by Luigi Castellani
Zebra Rider by Luigi Castellani

Underwater Combat

When adventurers pursue sahuagin back to their undersea homes, fight off sharks in an ancient shipwreck, or find themselves in a flooded dungeon room, they must fight in a challenging environment. Underwater the following rules apply.

Monsters without a swim speed must make Athletics checks to swim.

When making a weapon attack, a creature has -2 on the attack roll unless the weapon is in the spears and lances or crossbows weapon groups.

Powers with the Fire tag have a -2 penalty on attack rolls.

Creatures with the Aquatic tag get a +2 bonus on attack rolls against creatures without the Aquatic tag.

Monster Statistics

A monster has a rank, a role, a size, a source, a type, tags and a level. For example, a giant frog might be a Standard Lurker (rank and role), Medium Natural Beast (size, source and type), with the Aquatic tag, and be level 4.

Rank

Standard

Standard monsters are the default, so this is usually left out of the description (a “Standard Skulker” is just described as an “Skulker”).

Mooks

Mooks are weaker monsters that can be cut down in large numbers in a single turn. Four mooks are worth one standard monster.

Compared to standard monsters of the same level, mooks have:

Elites

Elites are stronger monsters. Two standard monsters are worth one elite.

Compared to standard monsters of the same level, elite monsters have:

Bosses

Bosses are very strong monsters. Five standard monsters are worth one boss.

Compared to standard monsters of the same level, boss monsters have:

Role

A monster’s role describes the main contribution they can make in combat.

Archers: Make powerful ranged or far attacks, or both.

Blockers: Protect their allies.

Leaders: Help other monster allies fight better. “Leader” is a bonus added to other roles, like Blocker (Leader) or Spoiler (Leader), rather than a pure role.

Skulkers: Do devastating attacks every so often, interspersed with hiding or escaping.

Spoilers: Mess the PCs up with attacks that inflict harmful effects instead of or in addition to hit point damage.

Strikers: Take advantage of mobility to make attacks and avoid being tied down in combat.

Wreckers: Bring the pain (do a lot of damage).

Source

A monster’s source describes where its species or type has come from. Certain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a particular source.

Cosmic creatures are utterly alien, aberrant beings. Many of them have innate magical abilities drawn from the creature’s alien mind rather than the mystical forces of the world.

Elemental creatures are native to the elemental planes. Some creatures of this type are little more than animate masses of their respective elements. Others have biological forms infused with elemental energy.

Fey creatures are closely tied to the forces of nature. They dwell in twilight groves and misty forests. In some worlds, they are closely tied to the Plane of Faerie.

Shadow creatures are tied to the Plane of Shadow.

Natural creatures are native to the Prime Material Plane, the world.

Outsider creatures are at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some Outer Plane. Some creatures start out as some other source and become outsiders when they attain a higher (or lower) state of spiritual existence.

Size

Creature size is discussed in the Movement and Position chapter. Monsters belong to the same size categories as player characters.

Type

A monster’s type describes its shape and form. Certain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a particular type.

The game includes the following monster types, which have no rules of their own.

Beasts are nonhumanoid creatures that are a natural part of the fantasy ecology. Some of them have magical powers, but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. Beasts include all varieties of ordinary animals, dinosaurs, and giant versions of animals, as well as fantastical animals like winged cats or elf hounds.

Automatons do not have organs or coherent bodily systems. They may be very simple creatures, like a gelatinous cube, or masses of a material that is magically animated, like a fire elemental or a golem. Undead that have been reanimated from a body or body parts, like skeletons and zombies, are automatons, whereas undead that have been transformed from their living form, like vampires, or undead that are a separate soul, like specters, are humanoids.

Humanoids have bipedal forms, and typically are sapient and sentient, and capable of language and culture. Humanoid races include those commonly found as player characters - humans, dwarves, elves, halflings, goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears), orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and kobolds - as well as fey like nymphs and dryads and outsiders with with humanoid forms like many devils.

Monstrosities are monsters in the strictest sense - frightening creatures that are not ordinary, not truly natural, and almost never benign. Some are the results of magical experimentation gone awry (such as owlbears), and others are the product of terrible curses (including minotaurs and medusae). Others are creatures with elemental or other magical influences, like dragons.

Tags

A monster might have one or more tags appended to its type. For example, a couatl is listed as Monstrosity ● Dragon, Celestial. The tags provide additional categorization for certain creatures. The tags have no rules of their own, but something in the game, such as a magic item, might refer to them. For instance, a spear that is especially effective at fighting demons would work against any monster that has the Demon tag.

The most common tags are:

Air creatures are particularly linked to the element of air.

Aquatic creatures are comfortable underwater.

Celestials are creatures native to the Upper Planes. Many of them are the servants of deities, employed as messengers or agents in the mortal realm and throughout the planes. A celestial who strays from a good alignment is a horrifying rarity. Celestials include angels and pegasi.

Cold creatures are particularly linked to cold energy.

Constructs are made, not born. Some are programmed by their creators to follow a simple set of instructions, while others are imbued with sentience and capable of independent thought.

Demons are chaotic evil creatures of wickedness that are native to the Lower Planes. Along with devils, they are classified as fiends. A few are the servants of deities, but many more labor under the leadership of demon princes. Evil priests and mages sometimes summon demons to the material world to do their bidding.

Devils are evil creatures of wickedness that are native to the Lower Planes. Along with demons, they are classified as fiends. A few are the servants of deities, but many more labor under the leadership of archdevils. Evil priests and mages sometimes summon devils to the material world to do their bidding.

Dragons are reptilian creatures of ancient origin and tremendous power. True dragons, including metallic dragons and chromatic dragons, are highly intelligent and have innate magic. Also in this category are creatures distantly related to true dragons, but less powerful, less intelligent, and less magical, such as wyverns and pseudodragons.

Earth creatures are particularly linked to the element of earth.

Fire creatures are particularly linked to the element of fire.

Giants tower over humans and their kind. They are humanlike in shape, though some have multiple heads (ettins) or strange forms (fomorians). The six varieties of true giant are hill giants, stone giants, frost giants, fire giants, cloud giants, and storm giants. Besides these, creatures such as ogres and trolls are giants.

Mounts give their riders special benefits.

Oozes are gelatinous creatures that rarely have a fixed shape. They are mostly subterranean, dwelling in caves and dungeons and feeding on refuse, carrion, or creatures unlucky enough to get in their way. Black puddings and gelatinous cubes are among the most recognizable oozes.

Plants in this context are vegetable creatures, not ordinary flora. Most of them are ambulatory, and some are carnivorous. The quintessential plants are the shambling mound and the treant. Fungal creatures such as the gas spore also fall into this category.

Reptiles are scaled, cold-blooded creatures.

Shapechangers have the innate ability to change forms.

Spiders are eight-legged arachnids.

Swarms are groups of creatures that act as one, like a swarm of rats or spiders.

Undead are once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse. Undead include walking corpses, such as vampires and zombies, as well as bodiless spirits, such as ghosts and specters.

Water creatures are particularly linked to the element of water.

Alignment

A monster’s alignment provides a clue to its disposition and how it behaves in a roleplaying or combat situation. For example, a chaotic evil monster might be difficult to reason with and might attack characters on sight, whereas an unaligned monster might be willing to negotiate.

The alignment specified in a monster’s stat block is the default. Feel free to depart from it and change a monster’s alignment to suit the needs of your campaign.

Some creatures are listed as “Any” alignment.

Hit Points

A monster usually dies or is destroyed when it drops to 0 hit points, or is rendered unconscious if the attacker would prefer.

Regeneration #: The creature heals # hit points at the start of its turn, unless it is dead.

Staggered Regeneration #: The creature has regeneration while it is staggered only.

Unstaggered Regeneration #: The creature has regeneration while it is not staggered.

Speed

A monster’s speed tells you how far it can move with a Walk action. It can also take other actions that use speed, like Run and Charge.

Other movement types, like fly or swim, may also be listed.

Ability Scores

Every monster has six ability scores (Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) and corresponding modifiers. These modifiers include the monster’s half-level bonus.

Skills

The Skills entry is reserved for monsters that are trained in one or more skills. For example, a monster that is very perceptive and stealthy might have bonuses to Perception and Stealth checks.

Monsters can make skill checks with skills that are not listed. In those cases, use the monster’s relevant ability modifier, as provided in the ability scores section.

Vulnerabilities, Resistances, and Immunities

Some creatures have vulnerability, resistance, or immunity to certain types of damage. In addition, some creatures are immune to certain conditions.

Two special resistances are described below:

Incorporeal: A creature that is incorporeal takes half damage on all attacks.

Reactive Resistance X (immediate (counter) action, encounter): The first time a creature is damaged by an attack that does acid, cold, lightning, fire or thunder damage, the creature gains resistance to that energy X. This lasts until the end of the encounter.

Senses and initiative

The Senses entry notes a monster’s Perception modifier, as well as any special senses the monster might have. Special senses are described in the main Rulebook.

Languages

The languages that a monster can speak, if any, are listed in alphabetical order. Sometimes a monster can understand a language but can’t speak it, and this is noted in its entry.

Telepathy

Telepathy is a magical ability that allows a monster to communicate mentally with another creature within a specified range. The contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with the monster to communicate in this way with it, but it must be able to understand at least one language. A creature without telepathy can receive and respond to telepathic messages but can’t initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation.

A telepathic monster doesn’t need to see a contacted creature and can end the telepathic contact at any time. The contact is broken as soon as the two creatures are no longer within range of each other or if the telepathic monster contacts a different creature within range. A telepathic monster can initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation without using an action, but while the monster is incapacitated, it can’t initiate telepathic contact, and any current contact is terminated.

Level

A monster’s level tells you how great a threat the monster is. An appropriately equipped and well-rested party of four adventurers should be able to defeat four standard monsters that each have a level equal to the adventurers’ level without suffering any deaths. For example, a party of four 3rd-level characters should find four level 3 monsters to be a worthy challenge, but not a deadly one.

Recoveries

Although they rarely get a chance to use them, all monsters (unless otherwise mentioned) have at least 1 recovery. Level 11+ monsters have 2, and Level 21+ monsters have 3.

Experience Points

The number of experience points (XP) a monster is worth is based on its level. Typically, XP is awarded for defeating the monster, although the GM may also award XP for neutralizing the threat posed by the monster in some other manner.

A monster’s XP is also used to calculate how many monsters should be included in an encounter.

XP is calculated based on a monster’s rank and level, as shown below.

Table - Monster XP
Level Mook Standard Elite Boss
1 25 100 200 500
2 31 125 250 625
3 38 150 300 750
4 44 175 350 875
5 50 200 400 1,000
6 63 250 500 1,250
7 75 300 600 1,500
8 88 350 700 1,750
9 100 400 800 2,000
10 125 500 1,000 2,500
11 150 600 1,200 3,000
12 175 700 1,400 3,500
13 200 800 1,600 4,000
14 250 1,000 2,000 5,000
15 300 1,200 2,400 6,000
16 350 1,400 2,800 7,000
17 400 1,600 3,200 8,000
18 500 2,000 4,000 10,000
19 600 2,400 4,800 12,000
20 700 2,800 5,600 14,000
21 800 3,200 6,400 16,000
22 1,000 4,000 8,000 20,000
23 1,200 4,800 9,600 24,000
24 1,400 5,600 11,200 28,000
25 1,600 6,400 12,800 32,000
26 2,000 8,000 16,000 40,000
27 2,400 9,600 19,200 48,000
28 2,800 11,200 22,400 56,000
29 3,200 12,800 25,600 64,000
30 4,000 16,000 32,000 80,000

Auras

A creature’s aura affects creatures within a burst X equal to the aura X listed in the monster description. Unless otherwise mentioned, it does not affect the user. If an aura has any tags, they are listed in brackets.

Actions and powers

When a monster takes its action, it can choose from the options in the Actions section of its stat block or use one of the actions available to all creatures, such as the Dash or Hide action, as described in the Rulebook.

See the Rulebook for more details of how to interpret powers.

Special symbols are used to indicate whether an attack is a basic attack, and what its range is:

Unless otherwise mentioned, melee and ranged attacks have one target. Near and far attacks target all creatures within their area of effect, unless otherwise mentioned.

Limited Usage

Some special abilities have restrictions on the number of times they can be used.

Refresh X, Y: The notation “refresh X, Y” means a monster can use a special ability once and that the ability then has a random chance of refreshing during each subsequent round of combat. At the start of each of the monster’s turns, roll a d6. If the roll is one of the numbers in the refresh notation, the monster regains the use of the special ability. The ability also refreshes when the monster finishes a short or long rest.

For example, “refresh 5, 6” means a monster can use the special ability once. Then, at the start of the monster’s turn, it regains the use of that ability if it rolls a 5 or 6 on a d6.

Encounter: This notation means that a monster can use a special ability once and then must finish a short or long rest to use it again.

Equipment

A monster’s stat block lists any key equipment they might be carrying, other than clothes and armor (for creatures that customarily wear clothes or armor) and the weapons already identified by their powers.

You can equip monsters with additional gear and trinkets however you like, and you decide how much of a monster’s equipment is recoverable after the creature is slain and whether any of that equipment is still usable. A battered suit of armor made for a monster is rarely usable by someone else, for instance.

Variants

Variants are alternative forms or varieties of the monster. They might have different types, movement speeds, powers or other statistics. Unless otherwise mentioned, the features listed under the Variants section are in addition to those of the standard form.

Creating New Monsters

This guide will step you through the process of creating a new monster.

Ryzom MMORPG Concept Art (Odd Fauna)
Ryzom MMORPG Concept Art (Odd Fauna)

Level and Rank

At what level do you expect heroes to fight this monster? That is the monster’s level.

If a monster has a resistance or vulnerability “X” listed, this is equal to 5 for monsters level 1-10, 10 for monsters level 11-20 and 15 for monsters level 21-30.

When the heroes fight the monster, do you expect it to challenge four or five heroes (Boss rank), two or three heroes (Elite rank), one hero (Standard rank) or only to challenge one hero when there are about four of the monster (Mook rank)?

Size, Source, Type and Tags

This is a naturalistic description of how large the monster is, which plane of existence it comes from, what form its body takes and any additional categories it falls into.

Every monster has a size, source and type. Only add tags where appropriate.

Sizes

Sources

Type

Tags

Origin:

Elemental Connection:

Physiology:

Role

The role is the function that the monster plays in combat. It determines defenses, HP and the damage that the monster does.

Archer

AC: 12 + level.
Fort: 11 + level; Ref: 12 + level; Will: 12 + level.
HP: 21 + (4 * level) (double for Elite, quadruple for Boss)
Attack: +5 + level vs AC; +3 + level vs Fortitude, Reflex or Will

Blocker

AC: 16 + level.
Fort: 13 + level; Ref: 12 + level; Will: 12 + level.
HP: 24 + (5 * level) (double for Elite, quadruple for Boss)
Attack: +5 + level vs AC; +3 + level vs Fortitude, Reflex or Will

Skulker

AC: 14 + level.
Fort: 12 + level; Ref: 13 + level; Will: 11 + level.
HP: 21 + (4 * level) (double for Elite, quadruple for Boss)
Attack: +5 + level

Spoiler

AC: 14 + level.
Fort: 12 + level; Ref: 11 + level; Will: 13 + level.
HP: 24 + (5 * level) (double for Elite, quadruple for Boss)
Attack: +5 + level vs AC; +3 + level vs Fortitude, Reflex or Will

Striker

AC: 14 + level.
Fort: 11 + level; Ref: 13 + level; Will: 12 + level.
HP: 24 + (5 * level) (double for Elite, quadruple for Boss)
Attack: +5 + level vs AC; +3 + level vs Fortitude, Reflex or Will

Wrecker

AC: 12 + level.
Fort: 13 + level; Ref: 11 + level; Will: 12 + level.
HP: 27 + (6 * level) (double for Elite, quadruple for Boss)
Attack: +5 + level vs AC; +3 + level vs Fortitude, Reflex or Will

Senses

Movement

Most monsters have a regular speed, which is their speed on land (walking). A monster that is as fast as a human should have a speed of 6.

Some monsters can also swim, climb, fly, burrow or teleport.

There are a number of special movement properties:

Abilities

Assign the monster ability scores based on what seems appropriate. In general, a monster’s highest ability score should equal about 16 + half its level.

A monster’s modifier for each ability is equal to the base ability modifier, plus half its level (rounded down).”

Skills

Choose any number of skills for the monster to be trained in. These skills have a bonus of 5 + half level + the relevant ability modifier.

List the monster’s Perception modifier under “Senses”, whether or not they are trained in that skill. If they are not trained in Perception, the modifier is half the monster’s level + its Wisdom modifier.

Initiative

A monster’s initiative modifier equals half the monster’s level plus its Dexterity modifier.

Powers

The best way to determine good powers for a monster is to look at similar, existing monsters. However, here is some guidance about the kind of damage that powers should do, by level.

For each power you design, identify whether it has a single target or two or more targets, and whether it is usable at-will or less frequently (for the purpose of this table, powers usable once per encounter and usable on a refresh are counted together as “surge” powers). This determines how much damage it should do, by level.

Type

Mooks deal static damage, and in general should only target one creature with each attack.

Elites should have powers that allow them to attack roughly twice as often as standard monsters.

Bosses should have powers that allow them to attack roughly four times as often as standard monsters, or do more damage when they attack.

Role

Creatures with the wrecker role do bonus damage on all attacks. Mooks with the wrecker role should only add half that number to their damage (round down).

Table - Monster Level and Damage
Level Mook Damage At-Will Damage (Single Target) At-Will Damage (Multi-Target) Surge Damage (Single Target) Surge Damage (Multi-Target) Wrecker Bonus Damage
1 5 1d10+3 1d6+3 2d8+3 1d10+3 +2
2 5 1d12+3 1d8+3 2d10+2 1d12+3 +3
3 6 1d12+4 1d8+3 2d10+3 1d12+4 +3
4 6 1d12+5 1d8+4 2d12+3 1d12+5 +3
5 7 2d8+4 1d10+4 2d12+4 2d8+4 +3
6 7 2d10+3 1d12+4 3d8+5 2d10+3 +4
7 8 2d10+4 1d12+4 3d10+3 2d10+4 +4
8 8 2d10+5 1d12+5 3d10+5 2d10+5 +4
9 9 2d12+4 1d12+6 4d8+5 2d12+4 +4
10 9 2d12+5 2d8+5 4d8+6 2d12+5 +5
11 10 3d8+5 2d8+5 6d6+4 3d8+5 +5
12 10 3d8+6 2d8+6 6d6+6 3d8+6 +5
13 11 3d8+7 2d10+5 4d10+6 3d8+7 +5
14 11 3d10+5 2d10+6 5d8+6 3d10+5 +6
15 12 3d10+6 2d10+6 5d8+7 3d10+6 +6
16 12 3d10+7 2d10+7 7d6+7 3d10+7 +6
17 13 4d8+7 2d12+6 4d12+7 4d8+7 +6
18 13 4d8+8 2d12+7 5d10+7 4d8+8 +7
19 14 6d6+6 2d12+7 5d10+8 6d6+6 +7
20 14 6d6+7 2d12+8 7d8+6 6d6+7 +7
21 15 6d6+8 3d8+8 7d8+7 6d6+8 +7
22 15 4d10+8 3d8+9 7d8+8 4d10+8 +8
23 16 5d8+8 3d8+9 5d12+8 5d8+8 +8
24 16 5d8+9 3d8+10 5d12+10 5d8+9 +8
25 17 5d8+10 3d10+8 8d8+8 5d8+10 +8
26 17 7d6+9 3d10+9 8d8+9 7d6+9 +9
27 18 4d12+9 3d10+9 8d8+10 4d12+9 +9
28 18 4d12+10 3d10+10 6d12+9 4d12+10 +9
29 19 6d8+10 4d8+10 6d12+10 6d8+10 +9
30 19 5d10+10 4d8+11 9d8+10 5d10+10 +10
31 20 5d10+11 4d8+11 9d8+11 5d10+11 +10
32 20 5d10+12 4d8+12 8d10+10 5d10+12 +10
33 21 7d8+9 6d6+10 8d10+11 7d8+9 +10
34 21 7d8+10 6d6+11 7d12+10 7d8+10 +11
35 22 7d8+11 6d6+11 7d12+11 7d8+11 +11

Adventuring

Companions

Companions are creatures that accompany you on your adventures, like animal companions, familiars and summoned monsters.

Each type of companion has some special rules, as well as following these standard rules.

Actions

Stats and Combat

Other

Time

In situations where keeping track of the passage of time is important, the GM determines the time a task requires. The GM might use a different time scale depending on the context of the situation at hand. In a dungeon environment, the adventurers’ movement happens on a scale of minutes. It takes them about a minute to creep down a long hallway, another minute to check for traps on the door at the end of the hall, and a good ten minutes to search the chamber beyond for anything interesting or valuable.

In a city or wilderness, a scale of hours is often more appropriate. Adventurers eager to reach the lonely tower at the heart of the forest hurry across those fifteen miles in just under four hours’ time.

For long journeys, a scale of days works best.

In combat and other fast-paced situations, the game relies on rounds, a 6-second span of time.

Falling

A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d10 damage for every 2 squares (10 feet) it fell, to a maximum of 50d10. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.

Vision and Light

The most fundamental tasks of adventuring – noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a spell, to name just a few – rely heavily on a character’s ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.

A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured.

The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.

Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness.

All-Around Vision

A creature with all-around vision cannot be flanked.

Blindsight

A creature with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius. Creatures without eyes, such as oozes, and creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as bats and true dragons, have this sense.

If a monster is naturally blind, it has a parenthetical note to this effect, indicating that the radius of its blindsight defines the maximum range of its perception.

Darkvision

Many creatures in fantasy gaming worlds, especially those that dwell underground, have darkvision. A creature with darkvision can see in darkness or dim light as if it were bright light.

Tremorsense

A creature with tremorsense can detect and pinpoint the origin of vibrations within a specific radius, provided that the monster and the source of the vibrations are in contact with the same ground or substance. Tremorsense can’t be used to detect flying or incorporeal creatures. Many burrowing creatures, such as ankhegs, have this special sense.

Truesight

A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions, and perceive the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic.

Resting

Heroic though they might be, adventurers can’t spend every hour of the day in the thick of exploration, social interaction, and combat. They need rest-time to sleep and eat, tend their wounds, refresh their minds and spirits, and brace themselves for further adventure.

Adventurers can take short rests in the midst of an adventuring day and a long rest to end the day.

Short Rest

A short rest is a period of downtime, at least five minutes long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

Long Rest

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 6 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

A character can’t benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period.

Streak

After every two encounter that the heroes have without stopping for a long rest, they gain an action point. This is called completing a streak, and some powers and features also work off of it.

Objects

When characters need to saw through ropes, shatter a window, or smash a vampire’s coffin, the only hard and fast rule is this: given enough time and the right tools, characters can destroy any destructible object. Use common sense when determining a character’s success at damaging an object. Can a fighter cut through a section of a stone wall with a sword? No, the sword is likely to break before the wall does.

For the purpose of these rules, an object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone, not a building or a vehicle that is composed of many other objects.

Statistics for Objects

When time is a factor, you can assign a defenses and hit points to a destructible object. You can also give it immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities to specific types of damage.

Hit Points: An object’s hit points measure how much damage it can take before losing its structural integrity. Large objects also tend to have more hit points than small ones, unless breaking a small part of the object is just as effective as breaking the whole thing.

Objects are immune to poison, psychic and necrotic damage. Will attacks against them automatically fail.

Table – Object’s Defenses and Hit Points
Size AC / Reflex Fortitude HP
Tiny (bottle, lock) 10 5 5
Small (chest, lute) 8 8 10
Medium (barrel, chandelier) 5 10 20
Large (cart, 10-ft-by-10-ft window) 4 12 40
Huge (tapestry) 3 15 100
Gargantuan (colossal statue, column of stone) 2 20 200
Table – Substance’s HP Multipliers
Substance HP Multiplier
Cloth, paper, rope x 0.1
Crystal, glass, ice / Very delicate x 0.25
Leather / Delicate x 0.5
Wood, bone 1
Sturdy x 1.5
Stone x 2
Iron, steel x 3
Adamantine x 5

Magic Item Rules

Purchasing Magic Items

What follows are the standard prices for magic items by level. Of course, magic items may be dearer or cheaper in particular markets, or not available for purchase at all. Magic items typically fetch one-fifth their cost when sold in a market.

Table – Magic Item Prices
  Permanent Magic Item (gp) Consumable Item (gp)
1 360 14
2 520 21
3 680 27
4 840 34
5 1,000 40
6 1,800 72
7 2,600 104
8 3,400 136
9 4,200 168
10 5,000 200
11 9,000 360
12 13,000 520
13 17,000 680
14 21,000 840
15 25,000 1,000
16 45,000 1,800
17 65,000 2,600
18 85,000 3,400
19 105,000 4,200
20 125,000 5,000
21 225,000 9,000
22 325,000 13,000
23 425,000 17,000
24 525,000 21,000
25 625,000 25,000
26 1,125,000 45,000
27 1,625,000 65,000
28 2,125,000 85,000
29 2,625,000 105,000
30 3,125,000 125,000

Magic Items on the Body

Many magic items need to be donned by a character who wants to employ them or benefit from their abilities. It’s possible for a creature with a humanoid-shaped body to wear as many as 10 magic items at the same time. However, each of those items must be worn on (or over) a particular part of the body.

A humanoid-shaped body can be decked out in magic gear consisting of one item from each of the following groups (two items from the ring group), keyed to which place on the body the item is worn.

Of course, a character may carry or possess as many items of the same type as he wishes. However, additional items beyond those listed above have no effect.

Wondrous items can be worn or carried without taking up space on a character’s body.

Distributing Magic Items

GMs can decide for themselves how to distribute magic items in their games, but here are four options to consider.

Treasure by David Lewis Johnson
Treasure by David Lewis Johnson

1. Steady Progression

A player character should get a new permanent magic item every 12 encounters or so, and that item should be of a level equal to their own level +1 to +4 (roughly 25% chance of each). Since there are roughly 10 encounters to a level, other ways of thinking about this are that:

  1. each level a player character should get 0.8 of a permanent item or
  2. each level, a five-adventurer team should get four permanent items or
  3. over the course of five levels, a player character should get four permanent magic items.

In addition, a player character should get gold pieces, trade goods, precious items, consumable magic items and so on equivalent in value to a permanent magic item of their level roughly every 25 encounters or so. Another way of saying that is that every level a player character should get 0.4 of a permanent item in gold pieces, etc.

Keep in mind that a consumable magic item costs 1/25th as much as a permanent magic item of the same level.

Assuming a rate of 10 encounters per level, that results in the following average treasure per player character per level (not including permanent magic items).

Table – Treasure per Player per 10 Encounters
  Treasure per Player per 10 Encounters (gp)
1 144
2 208
3 272
4 336
5 400
6 720
7 1,040
8 1,360
9 1,680
10 2,000
11 3,600
12 5,200
13 6,800
14 8,400
15 10,000
16 18,000
17 26,000
18 34,000
19 42,000
20 50,000
21 90,000
22 130,000
23 170,000
24 210,000
25 250,000
26 450,000
27 650,000
28 850,000
29 1,050,000
30 1,250,000

2. Magic Item Only

Each level, each character receives one magic item of level +2 or two magic items of level +0. They do not receive any other treasure.

3. Treasure Troves

Each level, the party should discover about 10 treasure troves of their level. Each treasure trove is randomly generated as follows.

Coins

Roll 1d10: On a 6 or more, the trove contains coins. Roll 1d6 and multiply the result by the number of coins in the table below for the total number of coins in the trove.

Add 1 to the d10 roll for every additional player character in the party beyond 5, and subtract 1 for every player character that the party is missing below 5 PCs (minimum 0).

Art Objects and Gems

Roll 1d8: On a 5, 6 or 7, the trove contains an art object. On an 8, it contains a gemstone. On any other result, it contains nothing.

Add 1 to the d8 roll for every additional player character in the party beyond 5, and subtract 1 for every player character that the party is missing below 5 PCs (minimum 0).

See the table below for the value of the art objects or gemstone by level.

Magic Items and Miscellaneous

Roll 1d12: On a 4 or less, the trove contains a personal item or something of significance to the story or adventure but not of monetary value. For example, it could be a note with the evil faction’s watchword scribbled on it, a key to a door deeper in the dungeon, the mayor’s missing spectacles, a clue to the disappearances by the docks, or just a kobold’s pet toad. See the “random personal items” table below.

On a 5, 6 or 7, the trove contains a consumable item roughly of the party’s level. See the “random consumable items” table below.

On an 8, the trove contains a miscellaneous permanent magic item (not a weapon, focus, suit of armor or cloak). See the “random miscellaneous item” table in the Magic Items chapter.

On a 9 or higher, the trove contains an enchanted magic item. See the “random enchanted magic items” table in the Magic Items chapter.

Add 1 to the d12 roll for every additional player character in the party beyond 5, and subtract 1 for every player character that the party is missing below 5 PCs (minimum 0).

If there is an enchanted magic item, roll 1d4 to determine whether it is a weapon (1), focus (2), suit of armor (3) or cloak (4), then 1d20 to determine the specific item, using the table below.

Table – Treasure Troves by Level
Average Party Level Coin Multiplier Gemstone Value Art Object Value
1 10 gp 100 gp 100 gp
2 25 gp 100 gp 100 gp
3 25 gp 200 gp 150 gp
4 40 gp 200 gp 150 gp
5 40 gp 300 gp 200 gp
6 125 gp 300 gp 200 gp
7 125 gp 750 gp 450 gp
8 210 gp 750 gp 450 gp
9 210 gp 1,500 gp 600 gp
10 300 gp 1,500 gp 600 gp
11 300 gp 5,500 gp 1,200 gp
12 750 gp 5,500 gp 1,200 gp
13 750 gp 10,000 gp 1,625 gp
14 12 pp 10,000 gp 1,625 gp
15 12 pp 12,500 gp 2,625 gp
16 34 pp 12,500 gp 2,625 gp
17 34 pp 25,000 gp 7,500 gp
18 56 pp 25,000 gp 7,500 gp
19 56 pp 50,000 gp 9,500 gp
20 78 pp 50,000 gp 9,500 gp
21 78 pp 100,000 gp 40,000 gp
22 185 pp 100,000 gp 40,000 gp
23 185 pp 125,000 gp 80,000 gp
24 290 pp 125,000 gp 80,000 gp
25 290 pp 200,000 gp 105,000 gp
26 830 pp 200,000 gp 105,000 gp
27 830 pp 300,000 gp 300,000 gp
28 1,400 pp 300,000 gp 300,000 gp
29 1,400 pp 600,000 gp 430,000 gp
30 1,950 pp 600,000 gp 430,000 gp
Table – Sample Art Objects by Value
Art Object Value Examples
100 gp Silver ewer; carved bone or ivory statuette; finely wrought small gold bracelet; glass beads; dried rose petals
150 gp Cloth of gold vestments; black velvet mask with numerous citrines; silver chalice with lapis lazuli gems
200 gp Large well-done wool tapestry; brass mug with jade inlays; crystal rod filled with phosphorus
450 gp Silver comb with moonstones; silver-plated steel longsword with jet jewel in hilt; darkwood dining table and chair set
600 gp Carved harp of exotic wood with ivory inlay and zircon gems; gilt gold idol (10 lb.); perfect model of an onyx ziggurat
1,200 gp Gold dragon comb with red garnet eye; gold and topaz bottle stopper cork; ceremonial electrum dagger with a star ruby in the pommel
1,625 gp Eyepatch with mock eye of sapphire and moonstone; fire opal pendant on a fine gold chain; old masterpiece painting; a petrified hummingbird
2,625 gp Embroidered silk and velvet mantle with numerous moonstones; sapphire pendant on gold chain; chess set made of adamantine and mithril
7,500 gp Embroidered and bejeweled glove; jeweled anklet; gold music box; a dis-animated iron golem; a rare history book autographed by the author
9,500 gp Golden circlet with four aquamarines; a string of small pink pearls (necklace); bottomless cup of coffee
40,000 gp Jeweled gold crown; jeweled electrum ring; one-ton temple guardian statue
80,000 gp Gold and ruby ring; gold cup set with emeralds; self-playing harp
105,000 gp Adamantine crown set with soul gems; tapestry woven from phase spider silk
300,000 gp Dragon’s skull filled in with gold; the lamp once occupied by a djinn prince
430,000 gp Throne carved from treant-wood; deceased lich’s mithril phylactery set with diamonds
Table – Random Consumable Items
1d6 Result
1–3 Healing potion (potion of healing in heroic tier, potion of healing and rescue in prestige tier, potion of healing and rescue (advanced) or salve of resurrection in epic tier).
4 Another consumable item (oil of sharpness, potion of heroism, potion of vitality, skeleton key, etc).
5 A poison.
6 An incantation scroll or practice manual.

4. Narrative Play

The PCs get treasure when they earn it; depending on the skill, strategy and daring they show, they might accumulate more +1 swords than they know what to do with, or they might be penniless and fighting off owlbears with a rusty breadknife.

The game mechanics behind Orcus assume that PCs, at least once they have a few levels under their belts, will have at least three magic items of roughly their level or a few levels higher: a magic weapon or focus, magic armor (or magic clothes for those who don’t wear armor) and a magic cloak (or amulet). That’s because the game math depends on PCs picking up +6 in bonuses from magic items over the 30 levels of their adventuring careers.

Some character concepts may require more magic items. For example, a warrior-mage might need a magic weapon and a magic focus, and a skirmisher who fights at range and melee will need two magic weapons – as will a fighter who dual-wields. Characters may also need healing potions, especially if they do not have a dedicated healer, and without the boost other magic items give they will find themselves a little behind when facing challenges of their level.

Now you, as the Game Master, know the mathematical assumptions, you can decide whether to break them, and how.

Enchanted Items

There are four core types of magic item, called enchanted items:

A character may need both an enchanted focus and an enchanted weapon, if they are for example a priest that casts spells using a holy symbol and makes attacks with a mace. A character may need two weapons, if they dual-wield or mix it up between ranged and melee. Otherwise, a character only needs either an enchanted weapon or an enchanted focus, not both.

Enchanted items give an enhancement bonus – so a +1 enchanted cloak gives a +1 enhancement bonus to Fortitude, Reflex and Will defenses, while a +3 enchanted sword gives a +3 enhancement bonus to weapon attack and damage rolls, and +3d6 damage on a weapon critical hit. +2 enchanted armor gives a +2 enhancement bonus to Armor Class, and a +6 enchanted focus gives a +6 enhancement bonus to spell attack and damage rolls, and +6d6 damage on a spell critical hit.

Boosted Enchanted Items

Some enchanted items do nothing extra. However, others have been boosted. There are four tiers of boost: I through IV, which increase the level of the enchanted item by that amount. So, for example, a +1 sword is level 1, but a +1 sword (boost II) is level 3. A +3 sword is level 11, but a +3 sword (boost II) is level 13.

Table – Enchanted Item Progression by Level
Level Item
1 Enchanted Item +1
2 Enchanted Item +1 Boost I
3 Enchanted Item +1 Boost II
4 Enchanted Item +1 Boost III
5 Enchanted Item +1 Boost IV
6 Enchanted Item +2
7 Enchanted Item +2 Boost I
8 Enchanted Item +2 Boost II
9 Enchanted Item +2 Boost III
10 Enchanted Item +2 Boost IV
11 Enchanted Item +3
12 Enchanted Item +3 Boost I
13 Enchanted Item +3 Boost II
14 Enchanted Item +3 Boost III
15 Enchanted Item +3 Boost IV
16 Enchanted Item +4
17 Enchanted Item +4 Boost I
18 Enchanted Item +4 Boost II
19 Enchanted Item +4 Boost III
20 Enchanted Item +4 Boost IV
21 Enchanted Item +5
22 Enchanted Item +5 Boost I
23 Enchanted Item +5 Boost II
24 Enchanted Item +5 Boost III
25 Enchanted Item +5 Boost IV
26 Enchanted Item +6
27 Enchanted Item +6 Boost I
28 Enchanted Item +6 Boost II
29 Enchanted Item +6 Boost III
30 Enchanted Item +6 Boost IV

Enchanted Weapon +X

+X enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls with that weapon. On a critical hit, do a further +Xd6 damage.

Bindings: Arm and leg bindings can be enchanted. They act just like an enchanted weapon, except they apply to unarmed attacks and natural weapons.

Enchanted Focus +X

+X enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls with that focus. On a critical hit, do a further +Xd6 damage.

Enchanted Armor +X (Armor Slot)

At least a +X enhancement bonus to Armor Class while wearing that armor.

Light Armor: Enchanted light armor gives an additional +1 in the prestige tier and an additional +1 again in the epic tier, so +3 hide armor worn by a level 11 character gives a +4 enhancement bonus to Armor Class.

Heavy Armor: Enchanted heavy armor offers double the enhancement bonus to Armor Class, so +1 plate armor gives a +2 enhancement bonus to Armor Class.

Enchanted Cloak +X (Neck Slot)

+X enhancement bonus to Fortitude, Reflex and Will saves while wearing that cloak. This category includes enchanted necklaces, amulets and talismans as well as cloaks.

Vehicles

Airships, wagons and ships are all vehicles.

Once a vehicle is in motion, it needs attention until it comes to a stop. If the driver fails to use a Drive or Turn action on their turn, the vehicle careens (with special rules for each vehicle).

Driver: Regardless of the number of occupants, or the number of characters required to fully operate a vehicle, one and only one character can be designated as the driver at any one time. The vehicle operates only on that character’s turn. Even if careening, the vehicle only slides or stops on the driver’s turn.

Speed: The speed given for a vehicle is the number of squares it can move if its driver takes the Drive action. A vehicle can move up to double its speed in one round, for example if its driver takes the Drive action twice.

Careening: If a vehicle moved in the last round and has not yet come to a stop, then its driver must either use the Drive or Turn action on it this round, or at the end of its driver’s turn the vehicle is careening. See each vehicle’s description for what happens. Characters in a careening vehicle are dazed. Once a vehicle stops moving, it is no longer careening.

References to the vehicle’s driver’s place in the initiative count refer to the vehicle’s most recent driver. Even if the driver is incapacitated, dead or has abandoned the vehicle, use what the (former) driver’s initiative count was.

Escape: As an immediate (counter) action when a vehicle begins to careen, or a move action at any time, a character can attempt to escape a vehicle. The character must make a DC 15 Acrobatics check (+5 if the creature is strapped in; DC 20 for the driver). A driver who attempts to escape no longer has any control over the vehicle. Any target failing the escape roll by 5 or less still escapes but takes damage as if it were a crash at the vehicle’s current speed (see below).

Total Movement Entitlement: A vehicle’s total movement entitlement is the distance it moved this turn plus any remaining distance it could have moved. For example, if a hero took the Drive action twice for a speed 6 vehicle, moving it 4 squares for the first action then 3 squares for the second action before crashing, its movement for the round is 10 (it moved 7 and could have moved a further 3 squares).

Crash: If a vehicle moves (either deliberately or because it is careening) into an obstruction or difficult terrain it cannot cross, it stops immediately. The vehicle and all occupants inside take damage according to the vehicle’s total movement entitlement for the round.

Table – Crash Damage
Movement Damage
Less than 5 No damage
5-6 1d8
7-9 2d8
10-13 3d8
14-18 4d8
19-24 5d8
25-31 6d8
32-39 7d8
40-48 8d8
49-58 9d8
59-69 10d8

Vehicle Size: Certain (ground) vehicles are large enough to withstand difficult terrain and/or the effects of a crash. Depending on the topography (marsh or debris, for example), Gargantuan or larger vehicles can ignore difficult terrain for the purposes of movement penalties and crashing. The severity of the terrain may impede even these vehicles. Most vehicles Huge or smaller cannot enter squares labeled as difficult terrain. Depending on the situation, they may get stuck or hit an obstruction. Both situations are considered a crash.

A vehicle cannot squeeze or adjust its occupying squares. It also cannot go prone.

Character Actions: Most character actions don’t apply to the vehicles they control or ride inside. Certain other actions are limited while inside or on a vehicle.

Flanking: Vehicles cannot flank, though occupants can.

Movement: Creatures inside a vehicle can move freely inside of it. Disembarking is a move action: the creature moves to any square adjacent to the vehicle. This is not a shift and provokes an opportunity attack.

Movement made as part of a power can be used to disembark a vehicle.

Using Skills: Any skill that could be negatively impacted by the motion of a vehicle (such as Heal or Sleight of Hand) suffers a penalty of -2 to -6, at the GM’s discretion.

Reach: Creatures inside/on a vehicle have reach 1 beyond the vehicle.

Destroying Vehicles: Reducing a vehicle to zero hit points renders it non-functional.

Capacity: The standard person capacity or crew. In most cases, only one person is needed to operate the vehicle (the “driver”); other crewmembers serve as gunners or co-pilots. Each unused passenger slot allows the vehicle to carry an additional 100 pounds of cargo.

Cargo Capacity: The amount of cargo the vehicle is designed to carry in pounds. You cannot replace cargo for people comfortably.

Hardness: The vehicle’s resistance to all damage.

New Actions

Drive (move action)

The vehicle you are driving moves a number of squares in the direction it is facing, up to its speed. You can choose to move it 0 squares, in which case it comes to a stop (unless acted upon by outside forces).

Turn (move action)

The vehicle you are driving moves a number of squares in the direction it is facing, up to half its speed. At some point during its move, rotate it 45 or 90 degrees. It can then move straight ahead in the new direction it is facing if it has movement remaining.

Take Control (move action)

You become the driver of a vehicle you are riding in, provided the vehicle does not currently have a driver.

Ram (standard action)

The vehicle you are driving moves a number of squares in the direction it is facing, up to its speed. If it ends its movement adjacent to a creature, vehicle or object no more than one size larger than your vehicle, the ram occurs.

Attack: Dexterity or Intelligence vs. the target’s Fortitude defense.

Hit: The effect of the ram is determined by the size of the target.

One Size Larger: All occupants of your vehicle are dazed until the start of your next turn. Your vehicle and the target take damage according to your total move entitlement. The damage die for your vehicle is d8; for the target it is d4. You push the target 1 square and shift into the vacated square. Your vehicle comes to a stop.

Same Size: All occupants of your vehicle and the target (or occupants of the target vehicle) are dazed until the start of your next turn. Your vehicle and the target take damage according to your total move entitlement. The damage die for both your vehicle and the target is d6. You push the target a number of squares equal to 1/4 your remaining (not current) speed (minimum 1 square) and follow it, then come to a stop.

One Size Smaller: The target (or occupants of the target vehicle) is dazed until the start of your next turn. Your vehicle and the target take damage according to your current speed. The damage die for your vehicle is d4; for the target it is d8. You push the target a number of squares equal to 1/2 your remaining (not current) speed (minimum 1 square), then come to a stop.

Two or More Sizes Smaller: The target (or occupants of the target vehicle) is stunned until the start of your next turn. Your vehicle and the target take damage according to your current speed. The damage die for the target is d10; your vehicle takes only 1 damage per die. You push the target a number of squares equal to your remaining (not current) speed -1 (minimum 1 square) and follow it, then come to a stop.

Table – Ramming Speed and Damage
Speed Damage
Less than 5 No damage
5-6 1 die
7-9 2 dice
10-13 3 dice
14-18 4 dice
19-24 5 dice
25-31 6 dice
32-39 7 dice
40-48 8 dice
49-58 9 dice
59-69 10 dice

Miss: The target avoids you, and you continue moving your remaining speed.

Colliding: If the target moved in your direction in the last round, add the distance moved to your total movement entitlement before calculating damage.

Impossible Push: If the target is not pushed or cannot be pushed, you crash instead. The target takes damage as indicated above: resolve the effects of the crash on your vehicle as normal.

Scrape Vehicles (standard action)

At-Will Attack (Standard Action) ● Focus, Martial, Mount
Near burst 1, one mount or vehicle
Attack Dexterity vs Reflex
Hit Damage equals 1d6 + your Dexterity modifier damage + your vehicle’s hardness. If the target vehicle is staggered by this hit, you and the driver make opposed Driver Skill checks. The driver who fails their check cannot take any actions relating to their vehicle on their next turn, guaranteeing it will careen.
Level 21: Damage is 2d6 + Dexterity modifier damage + your vehicle’s hardness.

Glossary of New Terms

What follows are terms that might be unfamiliar even to experienced gamers.

General terms

Characters

Ancestry: Ancestries are the racial, cultural and other origins of characters. Only racial ancestries are presented in Orcus so far.
Epic path: Each player character chooses an epic path at level 21, which gives new powers and features through to level 30.
Kit: A kit is a set of powers and features chosen at first level, and providing another facet of a character beyond their ancestry and class.
Prestige path: Each player character chooses a prestige path at level 11, which gives new powers and features through to level 20.
Tags: Descriptive words or phrases attached to powers, monsters and other game components.
Tradition: A source of power, like Arcane, Divine, Martial, Natural and Shadow.

Skills

Sleight of Hand: A skill used for picking pockets and disabling traps.
Streetsmarts: A skill used for operating in urban environments, gathering information and blending into crowds.
Endure: A skill used for enduring heat and cold and shaking off poison and disease.

Tiers of play

Adventurer: Characters, creatures, items, powers, etc. that are between levels 1 and 10 are in the adventurer tier.
Prestige: Characters, creatures, items, powers, etc. that are between levels 11 and 20 are in the prestige tier.
Mythic: Characters, creatures, items, powers, etc. that are between levels 21 and 30 are in the epic tier.

Health, healing and the adventuring day

Extended challenge: A challenge that requires multiple skill checks to overcome, not just one. An extended challenge will identify how many successes are required to succeed at the overall task; typically, these must be achieved before three failures.
Long rest: A rest that takes six hours to complete. Daily powers that have been expended are usable again after a long rest, and characters heal to maximum HP and have their recoveries restored to maximum.
Persistent damage: Persistent damage is experienced at the start of each of your turns until you succeed on a saving throw to shake it off.
Rally: Once per encounter, a creature can rally, which costs a recovery but heals them equal to their recovery value and gives them a temporary +2 bonus to all defenses.
Recoveries: Creatures have a number of recoveries, which allow them to heal outside of combat (and sometimes in combat).
Recovery value: How much a creature heals after spending a single recovery, equal to one quarter their maximum HP.
Staggered: A creature is staggered when its current HP are half or fewer its maximum HP.
Streak: The player characters complete a streak every two encounters they face without stopping for a long rest.

Powers

Arc (area of effect): An arc originates from a particular square and goes outwards the same number of squares on either side.
Far (range): A power with a far range originates from a square some number of squares from the user of the power.
Near (range): A power with a near range originates from the user of the power.
Refresh: If a monster uses a refresh power, it is not available to use again right away. Each time the monster takes a turn, a die is rolled and if a certain number appears (as specified in the power) then the power is available again.
Shunt (unwilling movement): A shunt moves the creature in any direction, unlike a pull which must bring them closer or a push which must take them further away.
Unwilling movement: Unwilling movement is any of three forms of movement forced on a creature: pushes, pulls and shunts.

Actions

Immediate actions: These are actions that must be performed in other creatures’ turns, not your own, once a trigger is satisfied. They come in two forms: counters, which happen during the action that triggered them, and reacts, which happen after.
Dash (action): A move action in which you move up to your speed +2, but you provoke opportunity attacks, grant combat advantage and suffer an attack penalty.

Conditions and statuses

Controlled (condition): The creature is under the control of another.
Immobile (condition): The creature cannot willingly leave its current space.
Incorporeal: A creature that is incorporeal takes half damage on all attacks.

Incantations

Incantation: A kind of spell that takes time and material components to cast.

Abjuration (incantation): Abjuration incantations are protective or warding in nature.
Curative (incantation): Curative incantations heal wounds, raise the dead or treat disease and poison.
Illusion (incantation): Illusion incantations create phantasms and hallucinations that are not real, although they are sometimes substantial.
Practical (incantation): Practical incantations have a variety of effects that help with adventure or everyday life.
Crafting (incantation): Crafting incantations create something lasting, whether that is raw materials, magic items, or something else.
Transportation (incantation): Transportation incantations make travel easier or faster, open up new forms of transportation like swimming or flying, or allow for travel to other planes of existence.
Conjuration (incantation): Conjuration incantations summon and bind creatures from other planes of existence.

Monsters

Sources and types

Automaton (type): Automatons are creatures made of animated matter, whether that is animated elements (elementals), corpses (undead) or plant matter (plants).
Cosmic (source): Creatures from the cosmic source are aberrations from outside this universe.
Immortal (source): Creatures from the Outer Planes, like Heaven and Hell.
Monstrosity (type): Monstrosities are magical beasts or other creatures that have complicated or clearly magical physiognomy.
Source (monster): Which category of planes of existence the monster comes from.

Ranks

Boss (monster rank): The strongest type of monster, equivalent to five standard monsters of the same level.
Elite (monster rank): A monster equivalent to two standard monsters of the same level.
Standard (monster rank): The basic monster of a given level; in a normal encounter, one of these challenges one player character of the same level.
Mook (monster rank): Weak monsters with just 1 HP.

Roles

Archer (monster role): Archers make ranged attacks, sometimes ranged area attacks.
Blocker (monster role): Blockers are harder to hit than other monsters, and can defend their weaker allies from attacks.
Spoiler (monster role): Spoilers create zones and other battlefield conditions, use area attacks and debuff enemies.
Wrecker (monster role): Wreckers do large amounts of damage, usually in melee range.

Appendix A: Powers Available by Level

The following table shows how many powers and of which levels a character is entitled to, based on the character’s level. A character can always choose a lower-level power (of the same frequency, for example a level 3 encounter attack power instead of a level 7 encounter attack power) in place of a higher-level one.

“(P)” indicates that the power comes from a prestige path. “(E)” indicates that the power comes from an epic path.

Table – Powers Available by Level
Level At-will Attack Encounter Attack Daily Attack Utility
1 1, 1 1 1  
2 1, 1 1 1 2
3 1, 1 1, 3 1 2
4 1, 1 1, 3 1 2
5 1, 1 1, 3 1, 5 2
6 1, 1 1, 3 1, 5 2, 6
7 1, 1 1, 3, 7 1, 5 2, 6
8 1, 1 1, 3, 7 1, 5 2, 6
9 1, 1 1, 3, 7 1, 5, 9 2, 6
10 1, 1 1, 3, 7 1, 5, 9 2, 6, 10
11 1, 1 1, 3, 7, 11 (P) 1, 5, 9 2, 6, 10
12 1, 1 1, 3, 7, 11 (P) 1, 5, 9 2, 6, 10, 12 (P)
13 1, 1 3, 7, 11 (P), 13 1, 5, 9 2, 6, 10, 12 (P)
14 1, 1 3, 7, 11 (P), 13 1, 5, 9 2, 6, 10, 12 (P)
15 1, 1 3, 7, 11 (P), 13 5, 9, 15 2, 6, 10, 12 (P)
16 1, 1 3, 7, 11 (P), 13 5, 9, 15 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16
17 1, 1 7, 11 (P), 13, 17 5, 9, 15 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16
18 1, 1 7, 11 (P), 13, 17 5, 9, 15 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16
19 1, 1 7, 11 (P), 13, 17 9, 15, 19 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16
20 1, 1 7, 11 (P), 13, 17 9, 15, 19, 20 (P) 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16
21 1, 1 7, 11 (P), 13, 17 9, 15, 19, 20 (P) 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16
22 1, 1 7, 11 (P), 13, 17 9, 15, 19, 20 (P) 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22
23 1, 1 11 (P), 13, 17, 23 9, 15, 19, 20 (P) 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22
24 1, 1 11 (P), 13, 17, 23 9, 15, 19, 20 (P) 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22
25 1, 1 11 (P), 13, 17, 23 15, 19, 20 (P), 25 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22
26 1, 1 11 (P), 13, 17, 23 15, 19, 20 (P), 25 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22, 26 (E)
27 1, 1 11 (P), 17, 23, 27 15, 19, 20 (P), 25 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22, 26 (E)
28 1, 1 11 (P), 17, 23, 27 15, 19, 20 (P), 25 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22, 26 (E)
29 1, 1 11 (P), 17, 23, 27 19, 20 (P), 25, 29 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22, 26 (E)
30 1, 1 11 (P), 17, 23, 27 19, 20 (P), 25, 29 2, 6, 10, 12 (P), 16, 22, 26 (E)

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No items are declared as Product Identity.

The terms of the Open Game License Version 1.0a and the relevant Section 15 entries are provided in a separate file.

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