Core Mechanics

This article will cover the base rules which define this system.

What is a player and what is a DM?

In this context, a player is a person who plays a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG). They make conceive and control a character who interacts with the world their dungeon master (DM) describes to them.

A DM is the person who will guide the players through a planned campaign. It is their job to provide an enticing exposition that encourages and inspires the players to role-play their characters effectively and journey through the world of the story.

Actions and Skills

Just as in life, your characters will do things. What you choose for your character to do will likely always depend on their current motivations, which is probably influenced by their backstory and world view. In essence, everything a character does is either leisurely chatting, moving, or making an action. Your character is unique and special because they might be able to move faster than the average person or have the skills to do actions more effectively.

When you want your character to do something, tell your DM and they will inform you what skill you should roll for that action. Sometimes they will also tell you what the difficulty challenge (DC) is, so you know what the minimum number you need to roll is. For example, if I told you the DC for your next action was “Strenuous” then you know that you ideally want to roll an 11 or better.

There are seven base skills which all characters have to some degree:

• Strength, for actions requiring brute force.
• Dexterity, for actions requiring skilled precision or speed with the hands.
• Agility, for actions requiring gymnastics, swiftness, or sneaky movement.
• Constitution, for trials that test your physical endurance and fortitude.
• Intelligence, for trials that test your knowledge, ability to learn, or mental endurance.
• Wisdom, for trials that test your emotional intelligence, emotional resilience, or empathy.
• Charisma, for actions that require smooth talking and mood-setting.

Every character has a level associated with each skill and each level has a die or set of dice associated with it. When you want to perform an action associated with a particular skill, you roll the die or dice for the level of that skill your character is.

If the number you rolled is lower then you either failed or performed the task poorly. On the other hand, higher rolls mean you did it more effectively.

Skill Levels and Dice

Proficiency

All actions you make will fall into one of the aforementioned basic skill categories. Your character may possess proficiency in more advanced skills that fall under one of the basics. For these advanced skills, apply the corresponding proficiency bonus for the skill level to each roll you make.

Perhaps they are skilled at working with animals (animal handling), which would fall under Charisma. Or maybe they’re better suited to detective work (investigation), which would fall under Intelligence. When trying to aim an arrow to hit a specific target you might require (precision), which would fall under Dexterity. For the most part this should be intuitive, but ask your DM if you are ever unsure of a specific action.

Successful Rolls

Whether you succeed a roll is highly contextual and the DM gets to decide. Generally, if you roll the average for a given task’s DC level then you performed average.

Advantage

If you are advantaged for a given roll, that means you roll twice and choose the higher number. The same principle holds for disadvantage, only you pick the lower number.

Multiple Advantage

If you are somehow (dis)advantaged in multiple ways for an action, then you increase the number of rolls. So if you are…

• doubly advantaged, then you roll three times instead of twice and choose the highest number.
• simultaneously advantaged and disadvantaged then they cancel each other out.
• infinitely disadvantaged, then you keep rolling until you attain a below average score.

Leveling Up

You may only level up during a long rest. Each level has a cost associated with it, so if you want to go from level 3 to level 4 in Strength then you need to expend 10 XP because level 4 costs 10 XP. Your DM will tell you when you receive XP points and how much.

Character Level

Your character’s level is the average of all their skills’ levels; this applies to creatures/monsters as well. If hypothetically your DM is telling you that you face a level 4 goblin, then the goblin is on average level 4 in its skills.

Combat

At the start of combat, everyone rolls a d20 for initiative to determine turn order. Every player by default has one action and one movement they can make on their turn. A player can use their action to assume a defensive position for advantaged reactions upon being attacked.

When you want to attack, you will make a roll for that type of action. Generally what you rolled is the damage you dealt, unless the enemy reacts.

Reactions and Poise

If the enemy has enough poise (which is just the number of reactions they have per turn), then they may use one reaction to immediately respond to your attack. This means that the DM will also roll for the enemy. If the enemy rolls:

• higher than you did, then they parried to deflect all damage and made a riposte. The difference between your rolls becomes the damage they do to you.
• equal to your roll, then they blocked or dodged your attack without taking damage.
• lower than you did, then they might have shielded themselves somewhat but you still hit them despite their best efforts. The difference between your rolls becomes the damage you do to them.

For example, if an opponent is attacking the DM rolls a 13 for the attacker and you react with a roll of 27, then you deal 14 counter-attack damage to the opponent.

You may not react to a reaction, unless the DM tells you otherwise.

Movement

You have a movement score associated with your character. This dictates how many blocks they can travel on the map in one turn of combat. Each block on the map tends to be 1 meter.

Critical Rolls

When you roll the maximum number possible for your skill, you have a critical success. In instances of combat, damage is doubled on a critical hit!

Critical Score

Your character’s critical score reduces what you need to roll to have a critical success. Suppose your critical score is 4 and you are level 10 in Dexterity, this means that when rolling Dexterity you only need at least a 16 to have a critical success instead of a 20.

Armor

Every piece of armor has a score. The sum of all your armors’s scores is your character’s Armor Score. Your Armor Score deflects some damage from each incoming attack. So if you are taking 6 damage and you have an Armor Score of 4, then you only subtract 2 health from your character.

Your DM will tell you if a particular attack pierces through your armor, or damages it. This means that your armor is either bypassed or broken and you take full damage. Broken armor can be repaired, usually by a smith, tanner, or tailor.

Weapons

Weapons determine the range and nature of how you attack.

The main categories of weapon ranges are:

• long ranged: >100 meters (longbows or sniper rifles),
• ranged: 50 - 100 meters (crossbows or rifles),
• close ranged: 3 - 45 meters (shortbows, slings, whips, or handguns),
• melee: <3 meters.

Melee weapons have their own subcategories of ranges which influences how effective attacks are:

• Polearms have advantage over Swords.
• Swords have advantage over Axes.
• Axes have advantage over Polearms.

Some special weapons are exceptions:

• Polearms are disadvantaged against Greatswords and Longswords, unless they are Halberds or Lances.
• Swords, unless they are Greatswords or Longswords, are disadvantaged against Pickaxes, Hammers, and Greataxes.
• Axes are disadvantaged against Halberds and Lances, unless they are Pickaxes, Hammers, or Greataxes.
• Katana, Rapiers and Sabers, and Daggers are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged to any weapon.

Health, Mana, and Sanity

Players have three “health bars”:

• Health: for physical well-being.
• Mana: for their magical energy.
• Sanity: for their mental well-being.

When you lose all your health, you have three turns to be healed or else you’re dead. Dying means you need to make a new character.

When you’ve run out of mana, you lack the energy to cast magical spells.

Upon losing all your sanity you become insane. While insane, you must roll a Wisdom check before performing any action, failing said check gives the DM the right to alter your actions.

Sleeping

There are two forms of sleeping:

• Short rests: restore 2 rolls of wellness.
• Long rests: restore 4 rolls of wellness.

A player chooses the number of these rolls they’d like to be Constitution to restore Health, Intelligence to restore Sanity, or Wisdom to restore Mana. So if you were long-resting then you could make two Constitution rolls to restore health, one Intelligence roll to restore Sanity, and one Wisdom roll to restore Mana.

Being well-rested or tired

Remaining awake during your character’s preferred time to sleep makes them tired, giving them disadvantage on all actions unless they were well rested the night before. Getting the well rested bonus only occurs in certain circumstances, such as staying the night in a very nice hotel or getting laid.

Eating

Eating restores health immediately, but you can’t do it in battle unless it is something you could down quickly like a potion.

• A snack restores 1 disadvantaged roll of Constitution.
• A meal restores 1 Constitution roll.
• A large meal restores 1 advantaged Constitution roll.
• A potion restores 2 Constitution rolls.
• A large potion restores 2 advantaged Constitution rolls.

Enlightenment

A character attains enlightenment if they have obtained all acumen, or have a sum of 7 virtues and vices.

Upon becoming enlightened, if your soul had:

• more virtues than vices: receive Angelic Embrace,
• more vices than virtues: receive The Chosen of Chaos,
• no vices or virtues: receive Inner Peace.

Angelic Embrace

• You are immune to all manner of toxins, poisons, and venom.
• Your armor is twice as strong and cannot break.
• You regenerate all health and sanity upon exiting combat.
• Upon dying, your character may be resurrected immediately but loses all virtues and their Enlightenment of Angelic Embrace.

The Chosen of Chaos

• Your bites are venomous and render your enemies paralyzed upon a failed Constitution roll.
• You cannot wear armor but do not need it. Your skin has an armor score equal to your maximum health.
• You restore 1 Constitution roll of health and 1 Intelligence roll of sanity each time you slay a foe.
• Upon dying, your character is resurrected immediately but loses all vices and their Enlightenment of The Chosen of Chaos.

Inner Peace

• Restore 1 Constitution roll of health or 1 Wisdom roll of mana each time you hit an enemy. The enemy loses that amount of health or mana in addition to the damage you dealt.
• You regenerate all health, mana, and sanity from short rests.
• You are immune to telepathic attacks.
• Your character is resurrected the morning after they die.