GM Screen

Checks, Dice & Fate

Critical Results

Rolling a natural 20, or beating the DC by 15 or more, is a critical success, which usually brings some extra benefit. Rolling a natural 1, or missing the DC by 15 or more, is a critical failure, which usually brings some consequence. This applies to all skill checks, ability checks, saves and defensive rolls.

Checks, Dice & Fate

Difficulty Class

A task's DC rates how hard it is, from 0 (easiest) to 40 (nearly impossible):

Checks, Dice & Fate

Flat Checks

Some effects call for a flat check: a plain 1d20 with no bonuses against a DC the GM (or the effect) sets. A flat check simply passes or fails; there are no extra benefits or consequences for beating or missing it by a wide margin.

Checks, Dice & Fate

Advantage and Disadvantage

Situations, abilities and effects can give a roll one or more levels of Advantage or Disadvantage. Each level of Advantage adds 2 to the final result; each level of Disadvantage subtracts 2. A roll with both cancels them one for one, and whichever has levels left applies.

Checks, Dice & Fate

Fortune and Misfortune

A roll with Fortune rolls twice and uses the better result; one with Misfortune rolls twice and uses the worse. They can apply to checks, saves, opposed rolls, flat checks, attack rolls or any other roll an effect names. A roll with both cancels out and is rolled normally, and multiple sources of Fortune (or of Misfortune) don't stack.

Advantage/Disadvantage and Fortune/Misfortune are separate: Advantage and Disadvantage change the final result; Fortune and Misfortune decide which die result you use.

Checks, Dice & Fate

Group Checks

When several characters attempt something together, each makes the check against the same DC (or the same opposed roll). If at least half of them succeed, the whole group succeeds.

When to Roll

Skill Challenge Results

The full Skill Challenge rules, with what each result means and the odds by target number, are in Skills.

Rounds, Turns & Initiative

Action Points (AP)

You spend Action Points to act on your turn: spells, attacks and other abilities. At the start of each combat round you get 2 AP. An action costs 1 or 2 AP: those costing 2 are marked ② after their name and say so in their description; anything not marked costs 1. Some actions (many maneuvers, for example) cost 2 AP but offer to be performed for 1 by paying an extra resource, such as Strain.

Rounds, Turns & Initiative

Reaction Points (RP)

Reactions are actions with a Trigger, marked Ⓡ after their name and carrying the REACTION trait. You get 2 Reaction Points per combat round, and you can use a reaction any time its trigger happens and you have RP left to pay for it.

Rounds, Turns & Initiative

Initiative

When an encounter begins, the GM calls for Initiative: 1d20 + your Initiative modifier (usually your Reflex or Perception). Whoever rolls highest has the Initiative and goes first. The GM usually rolls only for the adversary with the best Initiative modifier, but may roll for as many as they like.

Passing the Initiative (the Bump)

• On your turn you spend your AP. Once it's all spent, if any of your actions was an attack, the target of that attack gets the Initiative and goes next. If you attacked several targets, you choose which of them goes next.
• If that target has no AP left to spend, it chooses who to bump the Initiative to next.
• If none of your actions was an attack, you bump the Initiative to any combatant who still has AP to spend.
• When every combatant has spent all their AP, the round ends. A new round begins with the Initiative passing to the last combatant to be attacked. If the last combatant of a round made no attack, they choose who gets the Initiative at the start of the next round, and play carries on.

Ending Your Turn

When your turn ends, tick down any running timers or effects with a duration in rounds (spells, talents and the like). If you have any Persistent Damage, take that damage now, then roll recovery for it and for any other condition that calls for a check at this time.

Detection, Attacks & Cover

Range Bands

Some effects use range bands for rough distance instead of exact measurement:

• Engaged: adjacent to you, or in melee with you.
• Close: within 30 feet.
• Near: 31–60 feet.
• Far: 61–120 feet.
• Distant: beyond 120 feet.

Detection, Attacks & Cover

Cover

When you're behind an obstacle that could block weapons, shield you from explosions and make you harder to spot, you're behind cover. Cover gives you levels of Advantage, set by how good the cover is, on your defense against attacks, on Reflex saves against area effects, and on Stealth checks to Hide, Sneak or otherwise avoid detection.

The Take Cover action improves your cover by one step, up to greater cover. A creature with standard or greater cover can use Stealth to Hide; lesser cover isn't enough.

Cover is relative: you might have cover against one creature and not another. It applies only when the path to the target is partly blocked; a creature entirely behind a wall usually can't be targeted at all, since there's no line of effect. The GM can usually decide at a glance. If you need to be exact, draw a line from the center of your space to the center of the target's. If it passes through terrain or an object that would block the effect, the target has standard cover (greater if the obstruction is extreme, and Take Cover improves it one step); if it passes through a creature instead, the target has lesser cover. For an area effect, draw the line from the effect's point of origin to the center of the creature's space.

Cover and Large Creatures

If a creature between you and your target is two or more sizes larger than both of you, its space blocks enough to give standard cover instead of lesser cover. The GM may decide a creature gets no cover from terrain it's much larger than: a Huge dragon probably gains nothing from hiding behind a 1-foot pillar.

Special Circumstances

The GM may let you get around a target's cover in some situations. Right next to an arrow slit, you can shoot out without penalty while having greater cover against someone shooting back from far away. Leaning around a corner to shoot might reduce or remove cover; it usually takes an action to set up, and the GM may measure from an edge or corner of your space instead of its center.

Movement & Space

Difficult Terrain

Fights rarely happen in bare rooms or on featureless plains. Every foot of movement through difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot, even if several things in the space count as difficult terrain. Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow and shallow bogs are all difficult terrain, and so is another creature's space, friendly or not.

Movement & Space

Creature Size and Space

Each size of creature controls a different amount of space in combat; objects sometimes use the same sizes. Creatures and objects of Huge size or larger have the Fortified trait (they resist non-Heavy damage).

A creature's space is the area it effectively controls in a fight, not its physical size. A Medium creature isn't 5 feet wide, but it controls a space that wide: a Medium human standing in a 5-foot doorway blocks it unless they let others through. Space is also the room a creature needs to fight well, which limits how many can surround one target. Eight Medium creatures fit in a 5-foot radius around another; five Large creatures crowding a Medium one leave little room for anyone else, while as many as twenty Medium creatures can surround a Gargantuan one.

Squeezing into a Smaller Space

A creature can squeeze through a space big enough for a creature one size smaller (a Large creature can get through a 5-foot passage). While squeezing, every foot of movement costs 1 extra foot, it has 1 level of Disadvantage on attack rolls and Reflex saves, and attacks against it have 1 level of Advantage. See the Acrobatics Squeeze action.

Basic Actions

Anything you spend Action Points on is an action. These basic actions are open to every character; Skills, Talents and Gear add more, described in their own sections.

Dash (Move)

Add your Speed again to the total distance you can move this turn. With Speed 25, one Dash lets you move 50 feet in total; two Dashes, 75.

Disengage ② (Move)

You move defensively, careful not to leave an opening. For 2 AP, your movement this round doesn't trigger any enemy reactions that trigger on movement or on actions with the MOVE trait.

Drop Prone (free) (Move)

You fall Prone.

Enter a Stance (free) (Taxing)

You take up a stance you know, gaining its effects and benefits until you take another stance, complete a rest or fall unconscious.

Escape (Attack)

You try to break free of being grabbed, immobilized or restrained. Choose one creature, object, spell effect, hazard or other impediment imposing one of those conditions on you, and attempt a check with your unarmed attack modifier against its DC: usually the Athletics DC of a creature grabbing you, the Thievery DC of whoever tied you up, a spell's DC, or the listed Escape DC of an object, hazard or other impediment. You may roll Acrobatics or Athletics instead of your attack modifier (it is still an ATTACK action).

• Critical Success: you get free, removing the grabbed, immobilized and restrained conditions your chosen target imposed, and can then Stride up to 5 feet.
• Success: you get free, removing those conditions.
• Critical Failure: you don't get free, and you can't try to Escape again until your next turn.

Help (Concentrate, Taxing)

Requires: trained in the skill being helped

Once per turn, for 1 AP, you help an ally with an action or check, provided you have at least 1 rank in the skill they're using. If the action has the ATTACK trait, you must be adjacent to the ally; if it has the SKILL trait, you must be able to see what they're doing and they must be able to hear and understand you. The ally gains a +1 status bonus to their next check with that skill or action, increased by 1 for every 3 ranks you have in the related skill.

Interact (Manipulate)

You use your hand or hands to manipulate an object or the terrain: grab an unattended or stored object, open a door, or something similar. Some Interact actions call for a skill check to see if they succeed.

Interpose Ⓡ (Maneuver, Reaction)

Trigger: an adjacent ally fails a save against an attack that isn't an area effect.

For 1 RP, you throw yourself in the way and take the damage instead of your ally. As a maneuver, it also causes 1 Strain.

Leap (Move)

A careful, short jump. You can Leap up to 10 feet horizontally if your Speed is at least 15 feet, or up to 15 feet if your Speed is at least 30 feet, landing where the Leap ends (so you can usually clear a 5-foot gap, or a 10-foot gap with Speed 30 or more). Leaping vertically, you can move up to 3 feet up and 5 feet across onto a raised surface. Jumping farther than this uses Athletics.

Minor Action (free) (Manipulate)

These can be combined with, and done at the same time as, any action that has the listed trait:

• Open or close a door (MOVE).
• Grab or release an item (MANIPULATE).
• Retrieve or stow an item (MANIPULATE).
• Draw or sheathe a weapon (ATTACK).
• Equip or unequip a shield (MOVE).

Ready ② (Concentrate)

You prepare an action to use outside your turn. Choose a single action that costs 1 AP or less and name a trigger; your turn then ends. If the trigger happens before the start of your next turn, you can use the chosen action as a reaction for 1 RP (if you still meet its requirements). You can't Ready an action that already has a trigger.

Recover (Utility)

Requires: you're affected by at least one condition with the Lingering trait

Choose one Lingering condition affecting you and describe how you're trying to shake it off. Some conditions need extra resources or circumstances to recover from; if so, the condition says what's needed. Optionally, spend 1 SUP: if you do, a success reduces the condition by 2 instead of 1. Then attempt that condition's recovery check. You can Recover several times on your turn, but each use covers only one Lingering condition.

• Success: recover from the condition as normal (or reduce it by 2 if you spent 1 SUP).

Setup ② (Initiative, Taxing)

If you haven't performed any action with the ATTACK trait this turn, you can spend 2 AP to set up an ally for an attack: the Initiative passes to them and they gain +1 AP. A combatant can benefit from Setup only once per combat round.

Take Cover (—)

Requires: you're benefiting from cover, are near a feature you can take cover behind, or are Prone

You press against a wall or duck behind an obstacle to make better use of cover. Your cover improves by one step: no cover becomes lesser cover, lesser becomes standard, and standard becomes greater (see Cover). This lasts until you leave your current space, use an ATTACK action, fall unconscious or end it (no action needed).

Defense, Damage & Death

Taking Damage

When you take damage, reduce your HP by what's left after Soak and Resistances. At 0 HP you fall Unconscious and are Dying (see Character Death). If a single hit would take your HP below 0 by more than your Max HP, you die instantly, and Blood of Vengeance is your only death option.

Soak

Armor, natural armor, magical protection and some abilities give Soak, which reduces damage before Resistance or Vulnerability apply.

• Physical damage (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing): reduce it by your full Soak.
• Energy damage (acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder, poison, necrotic, radiant, psychic, force): reduce it by half your Soak, rounded down.
• If an effect deals both, apply Soak separately to each type.

Damage While Dying

If you take damage while Only Mostly Dead, reduce your Death Timer by 1, or by 2 if it was a critical hit, and you lose Stable if you had it.

Immunity, Resistance and Vulnerability

Some creatures and objects are very hard, or unusually easy, to hurt with certain damage types. Immunity reduces that damage to 0; Resistance halves it (rounded down); Vulnerability doubles it. Resistance and Vulnerability apply after Soak.

Hard Targets and Heavy Damage

Anything with the Fortified trait resists all non-Heavy damage and is a hard target: large objects, vehicles, structures and creatures of massive size usually have it. A weapon or attack with the Heavy trait deals Heavy damage, which ignores Fortified's resistance. Anything Fragile is vulnerable to Heavy damage (it takes double), and anything Impervious resists Heavy damage and is immune to non-Heavy damage.

Temporary Hit Points

Some abilities, gear and effects give Temporary Hit Points (THP). When you take damage, it comes off your THP before your HP (Soak still applies first), and anything left over goes to your HP. THP from different sources don't stack; use the highest. Unless the source says otherwise, THP last until you finish a Short Rest.

Defense, Damage & Death

Hit Points and Wounds

Max HP = (Fortitude + 5) × (level + 2). It's retroactive: if your Fortitude changes, your Max HP changes with it. Example: a level 5 character with Fortitude 2 has (2 + 5) × (5 + 2) = 49 HP.

Light Wound threshold: ¼ of Max HP, rounded down. Heavy Wound threshold: ½ of Max HP, rounded down. Whenever one reduction of your HP is at least your Light threshold but less than your Heavy threshold, succeed at a DC 10 flat check or take a Light Wound. Whenever it's at least your Heavy threshold, succeed at a DC 15 flat check instead or take a Heavy Wound. The location declared for the attack decides which:

Defense, Damage & Death

Character Death

When your character's HP reach 0, choose one of these:

• Heroic Death: your character takes one last action that automatically critically succeeds, then dies: a powerful, memorable exit.
• Blood of Vengeance: as your character dies, one of their items is infused with the blood of their vengeance and gains a magical upgrade. The rune or effect must be of your character's level or lower, and the item must meet the normal requirements to gain it.
• Only Mostly Dead: you cling to life, hoping an ally saves you. Gain 1 level of Exhaustion, roll a Death Timer, and gain the Dying condition.

Death Timer

Roll 1d4 + your Fortitude − your levels of Exhaustion. If your Death Timer ever reaches 0, you die.

Dying (condition)

• You have Dying whenever your HP is 0.
• At the start of each of your turns while Dying, roll 1d20: on a natural 20 you regain 1 HP (and Dying ends); otherwise reduce your Death Timer by 1, unless you're Stable.
• If your HP rises above 0 for any reason, Dying ends.

Stable (condition)

• While Stable, your Death Timer doesn't drop at the start of your turns.
• You lose Stable if you take damage or your HP rises above 0.

Defense, Damage & Death

Exhaustion

Besides Only Mostly Dead, some special abilities and environmental dangers (starvation, long exposure to freezing or scorching heat) cause Exhaustion, which comes in four levels; an effect says how many levels it gives. You can recover from Exhaustion if you have food and water and complete a Long Rest or Short Rest (see Exploration).

Defense, Damage & Death

Strain

Strain is a mix of stress and fatigue, the wear on body and mind that makes you worse at what you do. Many talents, maneuvers and abilities cause Strain, as their stat blocks say. Your Strain limit is 5 + your level + your Fortitude. Once you reach it, any further Strain becomes Exhaustion:

A Short Rest recovers Strain equal to half your Max Strain; a Long Rest recovers all of it (see Exploration).

Conditions

Lingering Conditions

Some conditions stay until you shake them off: these are Lingering. Unless a condition says otherwise, if you would gain a Lingering condition you already have, keep only the higher value or stronger version; an equal or weaker one adds nothing.

Default Recovery

At the end of each of your turns, attempt a DC 15 flat check to recover from one Lingering condition. If it has levels, reduce it by 1 on a success; if not, it ends on a success. Some Lingering conditions, such as Persistent Damage, have their own timing or recovery rules; follow those instead.

Assisted Recovery

You, or an ally, can take steps to help you recover, letting you attempt an extra recovery check before the end of your turn. This usually costs 1 AP and must be something that could reasonably help, as the GM judges: dousing flames, washing off acid, binding a wound, steadying your breathing, clearing your thoughts. Without a more specific rule, the GM can use these guidelines:

• Appropriate help may allow an immediate extra recovery check.
• Especially effective help may lower the recovery DC to 10.
• Particularly strong or fitting help may end the condition outright.
• Especially efficient or inefficient methods may change how many actions it takes.

You can also use the Recover action (see Basic Actions) to attempt a recovery check on your turn.

Blinded (Condition)

• You can't see.
• You automatically fail any check that needs sight, including sight-based Perception.
• Attack rolls against you gain 1 level of Advantage.
• Your attacks that rely on sight have 1 level of Disadvantage.

Bloodied (Condition)

• You're Bloodied while your HP is at or below half your Max HP.
• It has no effect of its own; it's a requirement or trigger for some abilities, talents, spells and adversary features.
• It ends when your HP rises above half your Max HP.

Bloodless X (Condition)

• Blood has been drawn from you: your maximum Strain is X lower.
• If you'd gain it again, add the new value to X.
• If your Strain is now above your maximum, the extra turns into exhaustion, as Strain past your limit always does.
• Recovery: it doesn't recover at the end of your turn. Each long rest reduces X by 1; it ends at 0.

Charmed (Lingering, Condition)

• You can't attack the charmer or target it with harmful abilities or effects.
• The charmer has 1 level of Advantage on checks to socially interact with you.
• It ends at once if the charmer uses hostile actions against you or your allies.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends.

Chest Trauma X (Lingering, Condition)

• Pain and bruising make exertion costly: each action you take causes X extra Strain (an action that already causes Strain causes X more; one that causes none causes X).
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.

Clumsy X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your coordination falters: −X to Reflex checks and Reflex saves.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Confused X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your thoughts are scrambled: X levels of Disadvantage on actions with the CONCENTRATE or MANIPULATE trait.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Dazed (Lingering, Condition)

• You're rattled and slow to react: you can't take Reactions.
• Gaining it again has no extra effect.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends.

Dazzled X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your vision swims and flashes: X levels of Disadvantage on Perception checks and saves that rely on sight, and on attack rolls that rely on sight.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Deafened (Lingering, Condition)

• You can't hear, and automatically fail any check that needs hearing. (See Auditory Actions While Deafened.)
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends.

Dim-Sighted (Lingering, Condition)

• Everything you perceive by sight (creatures, objects, spaces) counts as Concealed from you (partial concealment).
• If a target already has partial or total concealment from you, use the worse.

Drained X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your vitality is leeched away: −X to Fortitude checks and Fortitude saves.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Drowsy (Lingering, Condition)

• You're sluggish and unfocused: 1 level of Disadvantage on Perception checks and saves.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends.

Encumbered (Condition)

• Each foot of movement costs 2 feet of your Speed.
• 1 level of Disadvantage on Might and Reflex checks and saves.

Enfeebled X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your physical power is sapped: −X to Might checks and Might saves.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Fascinated (Condition)

• Your attention is compelled toward something: 1 level of Disadvantage on Perception checks and saves.
• You can't take CONCENTRATE actions unless they (or their intended results) relate to the subject of your fascination (GM decides).
• It ends if a creature uses hostile actions against you or any of your allies.

Frightened X (Lingering, Condition)

• Fear grips you: X levels of Disadvantage on all checks. Adversaries also have X levels of Disadvantage to Morale.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Gaping Wound (Lingering, Condition)

• An open wound makes you easier to hurt: an attack that hits you for piercing or slashing damage deals +2 damage.
• It ends the next time you regain HP from a Healing effect (or when treated with First Aid, at the GM's discretion).

Conditions

Grappled (Condition)

• Your Speed becomes 0 and you can't benefit from bonuses to Speed.
• You're Off-Guard to the creature grappling you.
• It ends if the grappler is Incapacitated, if you're moved out of its reach, or if you Escape.

Incapacitated (Condition)

• You can't take actions or reactions.

Invisible (Condition)

• You can't be seen without magic or a special sense; for hiding, you count as heavily obscured.
• Attack rolls against you have 1 level of Disadvantage (if the attacker relies on sight); your attack rolls have 1 level of Advantage (if the target relies on sight).
• Noises you make or tracks you leave can still give away where you are (GM adjudicates). See Detecting Creatures.

Oblivious X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your awareness is fogged: −X to Perception checks and Perception saves.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Off-Guard (Condition)

• Your defenses are compromised: attack rolls against you have 1 level of Advantage, and you have 1 level of Disadvantage on Reflex saves, Athletics checks and Acrobatics checks.
• Off-Guard is sometimes relative to one creature; then it applies only against that creature.
• Anything that would make you Off-Balance makes you Off-Guard instead.

Paralyzed (Condition)

• You're Incapacitated, can't move, and can speak only haltingly.
• You automatically fail Might and Reflex saves.
• Attacks against you have 1 level of Advantage, and any hit from within 5 feet is a critical hit.

Persistent Damage X (type) (Lingering, Damage, Condition)

• Ongoing damage after the first hit: bleeding, burning, acid, poison, necrotic corrosion and the like. It always has a value and a type, such as Persistent Damage 2 (fire) or Persistent Damage 1d4 (physical).
• End of turn: at the end of each of your turns, take the listed damage, then attempt a DC 15 flat check; on a success it ends. You can also use Recover on your turn to try to end it before you take the damage.
• Assisted recovery is especially common: dousing flames, washing off acid, binding a wound, scraping away corrosive sludge, or otherwise stopping the source. Fitting help may lower the DC to 10 or end it outright (GM's discretion).
• Immunity, Resistance and Vulnerability all apply to it, separately from the initial damage. Usually, if an effect negates the initial damage entirely, it negates the Persistent Damage too (a slash that deals no damage doesn't make you bleed), unless the fiction clearly says otherwise.
• Soak doesn't reduce Persistent Damage: whatever caused it already got past your defenses. Likewise, if Soak reduces an attack carrying Persistent Damage to 0, you don't gain the Persistent Damage unless the effect says otherwise.
• Several at once: you can have several Persistent Damage effects only if they're different types. Gaining the same type again keeps only the higher value (if it's unclear which is stronger, the GM picks). Persistent Damage of several types is resolved together at the end of your turn, and anything that triggers when you take damage triggers only once from it.
• Examples: bleeding is usually Persistent Damage (physical); burning, (fire); acid may cause Persistent Damage (acid); venom, (poison).

Prone (Condition)

• Your effective Speed is 0 (so you can't Dodge).
• Standing up costs half your Speed for the turn.
• You have 1 level of Disadvantage on Might saves to Parry.

Restrained (Condition)

• Your Speed becomes 0 and you can't benefit from bonuses to Speed.
• Attacks against you have 1 level of Advantage; your attacks have 1 level of Disadvantage.
• 1 level of Disadvantage on Reflex saves.

Sickened X (Lingering, Condition)

• Nausea makes it hard to act: X levels of Disadvantage on all checks.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Some effects stop you reducing Sickened while their source persists.

Sinking (Lingering, Condition)

• You're Restrained and being slowly dragged under mud, sand, snow or the like.
• Sinking has a value, starting at 1. At the start of each of your turns, attempt an Athletics check against the hazard's Detection DC: on a success Sinking drops by 1 (it ends at 0); on a failure it rises by 1.
• An adjacent creature can spend an action to make that check for you with its own Athletics; if it does, you don't also have to roll that round.
• At Sinking 3 you're fully submerged: you can't speak or take any action except trying to escape, and you start Suffocating (see Exploration) until Sinking drops below 3.
• Sinking ends at once if another creature pulls you free, or the surface itself resolves (the mire settles, the tide goes out, and so on).

Slowed X (Condition)

• Your Speed is reduced by X feet (minimum 0).
• From several sources, use only the highest value.

Stable (Condition)

• See Character Death: your Death Timer doesn't drop while you're Stable.

Staggered (Lingering, Condition)

• You can't take Reactions.
• At the start of each of your turns you have 1 fewer AP (minimum 0).
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends.

Stunned (Lingering, Condition)

• You're Incapacitated, can't move, and can speak only haltingly.
• You automatically fail Might and Reflex saves.
• Attack rolls against you have 1 level of Advantage.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends.

Stupefied X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your thoughts are dull and slow: −X to Intellect checks and Intellect saves.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Taken In X (Lingering, Condition)

• You have X levels of Disadvantage on any save against effects from the creature that imposed it, if those effects don't have the ATTACK trait.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value unless a later rule says otherwise.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1. You can also use Recover to attempt it early.

Unconscious (Condition)

• You're Incapacitated, can't move or speak, and are unaware of your surroundings.
• You drop whatever you're holding and fall Prone.
• You automatically fail Might and Reflex saves.
• Attacks against you have 1 level of Advantage, and any hit from within 5 feet is a critical hit.
• It ends when whatever caused it ends, or when you regain HP (if that applies).

Unnerved X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your presence and resolve waver: −X to Charisma checks and Charisma saves.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, reduce it by 1; it ends at 0.

Weakened Grip X (Lingering, Condition)

• Your grip is injured or unreliable: X levels of Disadvantage on weapon attack rolls, Grapple checks and weapon damage rolls.
• If you'd gain it again, keep only the higher value.

Withered (Lingering, Condition)

• You can't gain HP or temporary HP.
• Recovery: DC 15 flat check at the end of each of your turns; on a success, it ends. You can also use Recover to attempt it early.

Hazards, Vision & Light

Falling

At the end of a fall a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet, to a maximum of 200 feet (treat longer falls as 200). The distance is set before any reduction to the effective distance. A creature that is conscious and able to move can use the Brace for Impact reaction (Acrobatics) to reduce the damage. The creature lands Prone unless it succeeds at that check.

Falling into water, snow or another fairly soft substance treats the fall as 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you dove in on purpose; the reduction can't be more than the depth (falling into 10-foot-deep water treats the fall as 10 feet shorter).

Hazards, Vision & Light

Suffocation

If you can't breathe (vacuum, an inert atmosphere, underwater without air): you can hold your breath for 1 minute. After that, at the end of each round you make a Fortitude save (DC 15, with 1 level of Disadvantage for each previous round you've saved): success, no effect; failure, Exhausted 1; critical failure, Exhausted 2. Reaching Exhausted 4 from suffocation kills you (see Death and Dying).

Hazards, Vision & Light

Vision & Light

Noticing danger, finding hidden things, hitting an enemy, aiming a spell: almost everything an adventurer does depends on seeing. An area can be lightly obscured (dim light, patchy fog, moderate foliage: 1 level of Disadvantage on sight-based Perception) or heavily obscured (darkness, opaque fog, dense foliage: vision is blocked entirely, and a creature in it is effectively Blinded).

• Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days are bright light, as is the area lit by a torch, lantern or fire.
• Dim light (shadows) is lightly obscured. It usually forms the boundary between bright light and darkness; twilight and dawn count as dim light, and a particularly brilliant full moon may bathe the land in it. Targets in dim light have Partial Concealment.
• Darkness is heavily obscured: outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), in an unlit cave or vault. Targets in darkness have Total Concealment.

Concealment. Partial Concealment: the target is hard to see; you take 1 level of Disadvantage on Perception checks against it. Total Concealment: the target is effectively invisible, and you are treated as Blinded when trying to interact with it.

Blindsight. A creature with blindsight perceives its surroundings without sight within a set radius. Creatures without eyes, and those with echolocation or similarly sharp senses (such as bats), have it.

Resting, Food & Water

Resting

Take a Break

Exploration, Ritual (10 minutes). You catch your breath, adjust your gear, sort your supplies and get ready for what's next, recovering Strain by the die for your level. Once used, you can't benefit from it again for 1 hour (the 10 minutes count toward that hour, so one break in every six exploration "scratches" of 10 minutes).

Short Rest

Exploration, Ritual (1 hour). Requires access to food and water. You rest for an hour, eating, drinking and tending wounds. When it ends you remove 1 level of Exhaustion (if any), regain ¼ of your maximum HP (your Dazed threshold), and recover Strain equal to half your Strain limit (rounded down). With 2 or more levels of Exhaustion your Strain limit is reduced, and that reduced limit is the one used here.

Long Rest

Exploration, Ritual (8 hours). Requires access to food and water. Everyone needs about 8 hours of sleep a day; resting usually happens at night, but the benefits are the same in daytime. After finishing a Long Rest you must wait at least 16 hours before starting another. If you go more than 16 hours without sleep, you take 1 Strain per hour until you complete a Long Rest. You need at least 1 HP to start one. When it ends:

• You regain all lost HP, or half as much if you rested with no shelter or comfort (GM's call).
• You recover all Strain.
• All ability damage is removed.
• Your Exhaustion drops by 2 levels (if any), or by 1 if you rested with no shelter or comfort.
• Talents that recharge on a Long Rest recharge as their own text says.

Interrupting the rest. A Long Rest is stopped by rolling Initiative, casting a spell other than a cantrip, taking any damage, or an hour of walking or other physical exertion. If you had rested at least 1 hour before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. You can resume right away; the rest then takes 1 more hour for each interruption.

Resting, Food & Water

Food & Water

Characters who don't eat or drink take Strain, and Strain caused by hunger or thirst can't be removed until the character eats and drinks the full amount they need. Spending a long time in extreme heat or cold doubles these needs.

• Food: 1 lb a day. Half rations stretch food further: eating half a pound in a day counts as half a day without food. You can go without food for 3 + Fortitude days (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that, you take 2 Strain for each day past your limit; a Fortitude save (DC 10, with 1 level of Disadvantage for each check made since you hit your limit) halves it. A normal day of eating resets the count to zero.
• Water: 1 gallon a day, or 2 in extreme heat or cold. Drinking only half that means a DC 15 Fortitude save at the end of the day or 2 Strain; with even less, you take 3 Strain automatically.

Exploration Mode

Travel Speed

You move in feet or miles based on your Speed for the kind of movement you're using. Your base Speed comes from Might + Reflex on the table below (the same as 25 + 5 × half of Might + Reflex, rounded down), and runs from 10 ft to 50 ft. Talents, mounts, spells and other bonuses can raise your Speed beyond 50.

Travel always uses your actual Speed, whatever it is: you cover 10 × Speed feet per minute, Speed ÷ 10 miles per hour, and Speed × 0.8 miles in an 8-hour travel day. The table shows the usual values.

These rates assume flat, clear ground at a steady but not exhausting pace. Difficult terrain halves them, and greater difficult terrain cuts them to a third. When travel needs a skill check (climbing a mountain, swimming), the GM may call for a check once per hour and use the result with the table to work out your progress. For overland travel on the hex map, see Hexploration.