Skills are how your character interacts with the world around them. All aspects of the game use skill rolls in various ways. Your non-combat skills are divided into three main categories—Physical, Mental, and Profession—while combat skills are divided into—Damage, Maneuvers, and Defense. Both of these skill groups rely on your character Attributes plus your characters skill ranks. Adding in a dice roll from a d20 is the main interaction that you will be making with the world.

As you play the game, you will be able to gain ranks in various skills. These represent your knowledge and ability in that given field. Each rank in a skill is applied to a general set of skills called a skill group. As you gain skill ranks, you can spend them on your skills. There are 4 primary areas of skills: Physical, Mental, Profession, and Combat. Your Class or Job may give you general skill ranks that can be used how best you see fit, or you might get a rank in physical skills or combat skills that can be spent only on the corresponding set of skills.

Skill ranks come in 5 levels:

Sometimes your Ancestry, Lineage, Heritage, Class, Job, or Background will give you a skill boost. A skill boost is applied to individual skills, not skill groups. A skill boost gives you a permanent +1 in that specific skill in addition to your skill ranks. This represents an area of focus that might come from who you are, your culture, or focused training in one area. Unless otherwise stated, you can only have one skill boost per sub-skill. Certain attribute provide additional skills boosts.

• Each point in Endurance gives you a skill boost for Physical Skills.

• Each point in Intelligence gives you a skill boost for Mental Skills.

You can take skill boosts in a given attribute. Doing so provides a bonus to defense rolls with that attribute as well as general attribute rolls, such as rolling Dexterity to catch an item, or Intelligence to remember something. In addition, each skill boost in an attribute provides an additional effect.

• Taking a skill boost to Strength increases your Health Pool by 1, and your Health maximum changes as though you had that Health Pool from level 1. S second skill boost to Strength increases your Health Pool by another 1 to a total of 2.

• Taking a skill boost in Endurance lets you add 1 to your Death Save rolls. A second skill boost increases  that number to 2.

• If you take a skill boost to your Dexterity, you can lower the Target Number for making a critical hit, or lower the Target Number to do half damage with your weapon attacks. Taking a second skill boost gives you get both benefits.

• A skill boost to your Agility allows you to reroll one Action Point die when you roll for Action Points but you must take the results of the second roll. A second skill boost lets you reroll 2 Action Point dice.

• If you take a skill boost to your Intelligence, you double you Intelligence for any Knowledge rolls or recalling information. If you take a second skill boost, you gain advantage instead.

• Taking a skill boost to your Cunning, you start social interaction with either 1 Favor or or 1 less Displeasure. A second skill boost you get both effects.

• A skill boost to your Acuity increases your short range with ranged weapons by 5. A second skill boost increases that range by 10 instead.

• A skill boost to your Will lets you, once per social encounter, can reroll the dice for any social skill roll, but you must keep the result of the second roll. Taking a second skill boost lets you can reroll the dice twice per encounter.

Sometimes your efforts are directly opposed to another. 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 to the floor, or 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, or trying to block and attack with a shield in combat. In situations like these, the outcome is determined by a special form of ability check, called a contest.

Both participants in a contest make rolls appropriate to their efforts. They apply all appropriate bonuses and penalties, but instead of comparing the total to a target number, they compare the totals of their two rolls. The participant with the higher total wins the contest. That character or monster either succeeds at the action or prevents the other one from succeeding. This is most common in the form of combat as players and their opponents make attack and defense rolls.

If the contest results in a tie, the outcome depends on if you are in combat or not. In combat, the rules for a tie are clearly stated, but outside of combat, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest. Thus, one contestant might win the contest by default. If two characters tie in a contest to snatch a ring off the floor, neither character grabs it. In a contest between a monster trying to open a door and an adventurer trying to keep the door closed, a tie means that the door remains shut, but the adventure would be unable to change the nature of the contest by locking the door.

A passive skill is when you are doing something that doesn't require any die rolls. This can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or when you are constantly doing something without putting a large amount of effort into it such as your character noticing a hidden monster. This is sometimes used when the Narrator wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice.

Here’s how to determine your total for a passive skill:

10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the skill

If your character always has advantage on the roll, add 5, and if your character always has disadvantage, subtract 5. For example, if your 1st-level character has an Acuity of 2 and is Trained in Awareness, you have a passive Perception of 14.

Passive skills are always on, that is to say these are a player's general feel of the world around them, but sometimes a player may want to be a little more proactive in their attempts to interact with the world, but don't want to stop moving or disrupting the flow of the game. At any time a player can decide to devote more time to a specific skill by declaring that skill and rolling the skill as normal. This will replace the passive skill with the active roll, but since they are focusing on one area of their character, all passive skills no longer gain their skill bonus or boosts, and they lose their Agility bonus to their movement unless that bonus is negative. In overland travel this cuts travel time in half. This represents the general distraction that are facing as they focus on one aspect of their character.

Once players have rolled their skill they must use the roll, even if it is lower.  This may end up giving the players a lower skill roll than their passive skill, as well as other consequences.

Sometimes two or more characters team up to attempt a task. The character who’s leading the effort—or the one with the highest attribute—can make a roll with advantage, reflecting the help provided by the other characters. In combat, this requires the Help action (see Combat below).

A character can only provide help if the task is one that he or she could attempt alone. For example, trying to open a lock requires skill in Thievery, so a character who lacks that skill can’t help another character in that task. Moreover, a character can help only when two or more individuals working together would actually be productive. Some tasks, such as threading a needle, are no easier with help.

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

To make a group roll, everyone in the group makes the roll. If at least half the group succeeds, the whole group succeeds. Otherwise, the group fails. The Narrator can increase the difficulty of a group roll by requiring more character succeed on the roll without changing the target number.

Group rolls 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 Narrator might call for a group Navigation (Intelligence) roll 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.

Skills represent time and focus spent learning how to do something. While an attribute will reflect your natural aptitude, skills, and skill ranks are more of a measure of effort.

Skills are divided into four main areas: Physical, Mental, Profession, and Combat. Each area will have a skill group that you will be able to spend skill ranks on, and each skill group will have sub-skills that you can focus skill boosts on. Sub-skills have an attribute associated with them and a name. This does not encompass all aspects of that skill and your Narrator may expand upon these as the situation dictates.

Physical skills are skills that you use to move or manipulate the world with your body. Most Physical skills use Body or Mobility attributes, though there are exceptions.

These skills represent you exerting effort in a physical space to get what you want.

Physicality (Strength) – Overpower

This is your ability to force things open, break them, or move them. Breaking out of ropes that you are tied up in would be an example of this skill. This could also represent a contest of strength between two people.

Physicality (Agility) – Escape

This represents your ability to not be held down against your will. This is escaping bonds such as ropes or manacles without breaking them.

Physicality (Endurance) – Fortitude

When you need to keep moving even though your body wants to stop would require the use of this skill such as hanging onto a ledge or holding on to a wild animal.

Physicality (Dexterity) – Coordination

This skill represents your ability to use your hands in fine ways. Examples of this skill would be tying a rope or keeping plates balanced on top of a pole.

Movement skills are about getting you around quickly and where you want. When using armor with Bulk, you have disadvantage on these skills.

Movement (Strength) – Jump

This skill represents getting the most out of explosive displays of strength, most commonly jumping. See Adventuring for jumping.

Movement (Agility) – Acrobatics

Acrobatics represents your ability to recover from a fall or to generally not fall. You would use acrobatics to balance on a rope, to tumble past an enemy, or to roll when taking a long fall.

Movement (Endurance) – Exertion

This skill represents resisting fatigue from activities such as climbing, swimming, or long-distance running.

Movement (Dexterity) – Ride

Ride is the ability to control a mount or a vehicle. Using a saddle with this skill removes the penalties of armor with Bulk.

Stealth is the ability to remain unseen by moving quietly or disguising yourself to match your surroundings.

Stealth (Agility) – Sneaking

This is the quintessential stealth skill and represents your ability to move from location to location without being seen or heard.

Stealth (Acuity) – Hide

Similar to Sneaking, Hiding is the ability to blend into the surroundings and remain hidden for long periods of time. Sometimes referred to as camouflage.

Stealth (Dexterity) – Concealing

Concealing is the skill to hide an object on your person. This is often contested against an Awareness roll for someone to notice something on you.

Stealth (Cunning) – Impersonation

Impersonation is the ability to hide in a crowd, sometimes called hiding in plain sight, or to disguise yourself as someone else. Sometimes requires a disguise kit to pull off impersonating a specific person.

Not to be confused with Stealth, Thievery is everything you will need to take someone else’s property and make it your own.

Thievery (Dexterity) – Lifting

Lifting is the ability to get someone’s goods off their body and into your pocket. Sometimes aided by a small hooked knife called a cutpurse.

Thievery (Intelligence) – Infiltration

This skill represents getting past any barriers that keep you out. Requires Thieves’ Tool for any lockpicking, or a computer for any sort of digital hacking. Your Narrator might call for a Dexterity roll instead of Intelligence for delicate lockpicking.

Thievery (Acuity) – Forgery

Whether it is an ID, invitation to a party, heraldry, or papers of ownership, Forgery is the skill to not just fabricate these items but to make them believable. Forgery requires a Forgery Kit for anything beyond forging a signature.

Thievery (Agility) – Contortion

Contortion is the ability to move and bend your body in ways to allow you to get into places that most people would consider inaccessible.

Thievery (Cunning) – Grifting

This skill is the art of the con, the ability to sell an idea to someone and make them believe you, and not just believe you, but to ignore any inconsistencies before you get away.

While physical skills represent how you move the world around you, mental skills are how you get others to move the world for you.

Speechcraft is the ability to use your words to get what you want.

Speechcraft (Intelligence) – Deception

Deception is essentially just lying to get your way, but the best lies have a hint of truth to them, and you know just how much to leave in there.

Speechcraft (Cunning) – Persuasion

As opposed to Deception, Persuasion is using the truth to convince others to see your point of view. It is generally a balance of pushing for more while not asking too much.

Speechcraft (Strength) – Intimidation

A Strong character might be able to use violence to get what they want, but the threat of violence is often an easier, and less illegal way to do it.

Speechcraft (Acuity) – Oration

Sometimes you need to whip up a crowd to a frenzy, or maybe calm down a group of angry townsfolk. Oration is reading the crowd and knowing the right words to say to sway them to your ideas.

Speechcraft (Will) – Coercion

While intimidation might be a hammer to get the job done, coercion is more like a scalpel, poking and prodding at a specific weakness. The threat of pain might make a good motivator, but you know there are worse things than pain or even death.

Awareness measures your general awareness of your surroundings and the keenness of your senses.

Awareness (Intelligence) – Investigation

When you need to take the time to find something or learn some obscure fact you would use Investigation.

Awareness (Acuity) – Perception

Perception is the ability to notice details or something out of place. Generally based on vision, perception also uses hearing and sometimes scent.

Awareness (Cunning) – Insight

Insight is noticing the small and subtle tics that reveal information that someone might be trying to hide.

Awareness (Will) – Cognizance

This skill is the ability to see and retain information or your ability to retrieve this information from your mind.

Survival is all the skills needed to navigate and survive, generally outside towns and cities.

Survival (Cunning) – Trapping

Trapping is about finding the best way to hamper or restrain something without having to be there. In the world, this can be done for food but can be applied to catch people as well.

Survival (Will) – Wildlife

Wildlife is used to deal with any kind of animal, whether that is training, calming, or just getting a read on them.

Survival (Acuity) – Tracking

When you need to find a person or wild game you would use tracking. This is most often used in outdoor areas, but can also be applied to urban locations.

Survival (Intelligence) – Navigation

Navigation is used to find your way from point A to point B. It may require a map, or in the case of sailing, navigator’s tools.

Survival (Endurance) – Foraging

When you need to eat but don’t have anything available you can Forage for food. This is finding roots, berries, or other edible substances on your travels. In an urban setting, this could be finding a place to eat nearby. For hunting animals for food use either Trapping or Tracking.

Medicine is the knowledge and skill needed to aid an injured or dying creature.

Medicine (Acuity) – Diagnosis

This represents finding the source of the problem. In most cases, like a sword wound, this is not needed, but for finding something like the exact poison afflicting a creature would use Diagnosis.

Medicine (Intelligence) – Treatment

Treatment is long-term care. It is knowing what is needed to heal a creature, or what materials are needed for care. Diagnosis lets you know what is wrong and Treatment allows you to address that.

Medicine (Dexterity) – Triage

Triage is immediate care for a creature as opposed to the long-term care that is given with Treatment. This is the care for most physical wounds from combat. Often requires a Healer’s Kit or Medpack.

These are skills that are designed to either make money or goods that can be sold for money. Many of these skills do not have an attribute associated with them. This is because the skill uses many attributes throughout its use and the skill represents more of a knowledge of what to do. Your Narrator might call for a specific attribute roll with a given skill to represent finalizing something. For example, a Dexterity roll with Jewelry to show placing the final stone in a piece, a Strength roll with Smithing to get the final shape right, or even an Endurance roll with Glassblowing to get the shape of the glass correct. Profession skills listed require specific tools for that skill and skill boosts are taken with the tools.

Performance skills are about getting attention to yourself in a positive way. While commonly used to make money, performance skills also make good distractions.

Performance (Agility) – Dance

Dance is tumbling and moving artistically. This could also be gymnastics.

Performance (Dexterity) – Juggling

Juggling can also represent any performance requiring high eye-hand coordination such as close-up magic.

Performance (Cunning) – Wit

Wit is the art of telling jokes, or possibly roasting someone. In a fantasy setting, this would be the skill of a Jester while in a modern setting, this would be Stand-up.

Performance (Intelligence) – Acting

Acting is memorizing lines and knowing when and how to emphasize your part to make the performance more engaging.

Performance (Endurance) – Song

Song is using your voice to a rhythm or melody for entertainment. Using this skill with rhythm and without melody could be called Poem instead. This skill also applies to making music with a specific instrument. See Equipment for a list of common instruments. Skill boosts can be taken with this skill or a specific instrument.

Chemical skills represent using base materials to make something for the body.

Alchemy

Brewing

Cooking

Herbalism

Poisoning

These skills are about making something that is more form over function.

Calligraphy

Glassblowing

Jewelry

Painting

Pottery

Weaving

Woodcarving

Crafting skills are turning raw materials into usable items.

Carpentry

Cobbling

Leatherworking

Masonry

Smithing

Tinkering

For most land vehicles, use the Ride skill, otherwise each specific vehicle would be its own sub-skill. You only need to make rolls for difficult circumstances.

These are skills specifically designed to be used in combat.

Damage skills are organized into how they are used. This is intentionally left vague. Your group may want to put a weapon like the rapier into the Blades group or the Impaling group, or it could be both. Skill boosts are applied to individual weapons.

Blades

Blades are any weapons with a long cutting edge swung in a way designed to drag the cutting edge across the target.

Swinging

Swinging weapons are weapons where the force of the weapon is concentrated at the end of the weapon like axes, picks, and most bludgeoning weapons.

Impaling

Impaling weapons are weapons designed to deliver the most damage from the tip of the weapon using a thrusting motion.

Pole

Pole weapons are reach weapons where the position of your hands along the haft of the weapon determines the damage.

Ranged

Ranged weapons are any weapon that is designed to primarily do damage at range such as bows, crossbows, and throwing weapons.

Fist

Fist weapons include unarmed fighting and any weapon with the fist property.

Spells

This group is for spell casting in general regardless of the source of magic. Skill boosts are applied to groups of spells depending on your source of magic.

Battle is more than just blindly hitting your target with weapons or spells. Combatants can use maneuvers to turn the tide of battle in their favor. Each maneuver counts as a group and a sub-skill for the purpose of skill ranks and boosts.

Each combat maneuver costs 6 Action Points to use, must be within your reach, and unless otherwise stated, the target must be no more than one size larger than you. If the target is one size larger than you, you have disadvantage on the attempt, if the target is one size smaller than you, you have advantage on the attempt.

When you want to shove a creature back or push a creature out of your way, you can attempt to shove them.

Using a free hand or a shield, you attempt to move the target away. The target can make either a Body (Strength) defense roll or a Dodge attempt to resist the shove. If you succeed, you push the target away from you equal to your Strength. When you use a shield to make a shove attempt, sometimes known as a shield bash, you do damage to the target equal to the shield’s armor plus your Strength and may also move them back.

If you crit on a shove attempt, you may increase the distance your target is pushed by 1 or do additional damage from the shield equal to the shield’s armor for a shield bash. If you have a minor failure, the opponent’s next move action costs 1 more Action Point.

You can attempt to gain an advantage in combat by making a feint. The target of the feint can be two sizes larger than you, but you gain no advantage or disadvantage against smaller or larger targets.

By making a wild and distracting attack, you fool your opponent into lowering their defenses. The target must make a Mental (Intelligence) defense roll to resist the feint. If you succeed, your opponent becomes Unbalanced.

If you crit on a feint, your target’s passive or active defense against the next attack is reduced by 1. If you have a minor failure, the cost of your opponent’s next defense roll is increased by 1 Action Point.

When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can attempt a grapple.

Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by attempting a grapple, The target can make either a Body (Endurance) defense roll or a Dodge attempt to resist the grapple. If you succeed, you subject the target to the Grappled status. The status specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required).

You can attempt to try to pin a creature grappled by you. To do so, make another grapple attempt. If you succeed, the other creature is subject to the Pinned status.

If you crit on a grapple, the attempt costs 2 less Action Points and you may immediately take an action against the creature you are grappling with, such as a pin or make an attack. If you have a minor failure, the opponent’s next attack action costs 1 more Action Point.

When you want to knock or throw a creature to the ground, you can attempt to use a takedown.

Using a weapon or an unarmed attack, you try to knock the target down by attempting a takedown. The target can make either a Body (Strength) defense roll or a Dodge attempt to resist the takedown. If you succeed, you subject the target to the Prone status.

If you crit on a takedown, you can do damage equal to a normal attack against them. If you have a minor failure, the opponent’s next move action is reduced by 1.

When you want to remove your opponent’s weapon, you can attempt to disarm them.

Using a weapon or an unarmed attack, you try to remove your opponent’s weapon by attempting to disarm them. The target can make either a Parry or a Dodge attempt to resist the disarm. You have disadvantage on the attempt if the target is holding the item or weapon with two (or more) hands and you have advantage if you are using a two-handed weapon against an item or weapon held in one hand. If you succeed, your opponent’s weapon is moved to an unoccupied space of your choice next to your opponent. You may spend an extra 2 Action Points to catch the item or weapon in a free hand by making a target 12 Dexterity roll.

If you crit on a disarm, you can move the weapon further away by 1 space or you can catch the weapon by making a target 10 Dexterity roll. If you have a minor failure, the weapon falls to the ground at your opponent’s feet.

Armor skills are a passive defense and increase your effectiveness with armor. Slightly different than most skills, each rank and boost in an armor skill increases the Armor Reduction it provides by 1. Each armor requires its own skill boost. For example, you would take skill ranks in light armor, but a skill boost for leather armor or a chain shirt.

Unarmored

This is your ability to take less damage when unarmored. Mostly useful to the Berserker and the Monk but also the shape-changed druid. You always use your full Armor Reduction even if you fail a defense roll.

Light

Increases your effectiveness with light armor. When using light armor, you apply your full Agility to any dodge rolls. You use you Agility for your Armor Reduction when you fail any Dodge attempt.

Medium

Increases your effectiveness with medium armor. You apply up to 2 Agility to your dodge rolls when using medium armor. You may add your Dexterity to your Passive Armor.

Heavy

Increases your effectiveness with heavy armor. You do not apply your Agility to any dodge roll when using heavy armor. You may add your Armor rank to your Armor Reduction if you fail to Block an attack.

A defense roll represents an attempt to resist a spell, a trap, a poison, a disease, or a similar threat. You don’t normally decide to make a defense roll, you are forced to make one because your character or monster is at risk of harm. To make a defense roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate attribute as decided by your Narrator. Skill boosts are for each attribute.

Body

Ranks in this defense affect your block and prevent you from being moved or the effects of poisons and diseases.

Mobility

Ranks in this defense affect your dodge and generally test your reflexes.

Mental

Ranks in this defense prevent mental-based damage and attacks.

Spirit

Ranks in this defense prevent magical effects and damage.

Active defenses are made in response to an attack of some kind. You must declare your active defense before the attack is rolled. If you forgo using any active defenses, your armor is used as a form of passive defense. If you fail a defense roll, you do not apply your skill rank in the armor skill to the Armor Reduction.

Dodge is the act of getting out of the way of the attack. To dodge, you spend 2 Action Points and add your armor + your Agility + your Mobility defense skill + 1d6. You can also use twice the Action Points to roll 2d6 instead of 1d6. This represents spending more effort to moveout of the way, but is more tiring.

If you crit on your dodge attempt, you effortlessly dodge the attack, gaining back 1 Action Point or moving back by 1 without chance of counterattack. If you have a minor failure, the attack grazes you, dealing half the damage instead.

Dodge = Armor + Agility + Mobility defense + 1d6

Blocking is trying to use brute force and usually a shield to stop an attack. To block, you spend 3 Action Points and roll a d8, adding the armor from your shield (or weapon if applicable) plus your Strength plus your Body defense skil.

If you crit on your block attempt, you knock back the attack, Unbalancing your opponent. If you have a minor failure, you are still able to use the shield to reduce the damage, adding your Strength to your armor against the attack.

Block = Shield + Strength + Body defense + 1d8

Parry is less a defense skill but is directly tied to your weapon skill; you are essentially attacking an incoming attack. Parrying a weapon larger than yours imposes a disadvantage on the defense roll and parrying a weapon smaller than yours gives you an advantage on the defense roll. An example would be a 1 handed weapon parrying a 2-handed weapon or a 1 handed weapon sized for a larger creature. Dual wielding two 1-handed weapons is treated the same as a 2-handed weapon.

To parry an attack, you spend 2 less Action Points than the weapon you are using would require and add the weapon skill for your weapon plus your Dexterity plus a d20 roll. If you parry with two 1-handed weapons, use the Action Point cost of the primary weapon, then increase the Action Point cost by 2.

If you crit on a parry, you effortlessly parry the attack, allowing an immediate counterattack. If you have a minor failure, you can defend yourself some, rolling the damage dice for your weapon and subtracting that from the damage of the attack.

Parry = Weapon skill + Dexterity + 1d20

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. A round represents about 10 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle spends Action Points to take actions. The order is determined at the beginning of a combat encounter when everyone rolls for their Action Points. Once everyone has taken all their actions and spent all their Action Points, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.

Action Points or AP are a measure of your stamina, reaction time, and general energy. Your turn in combat is determined by your available Action Points. When combat starts, each player will roll to determine their Action Points that they can use to make actions in combat. You have 1d4 Action Dice that grows with your character as shown on the Character Advancement table. Your Action Points equals 5 + Action Dice + your Vitality Die + your Agility and add either your Cunning or your Dexterity (chosen when you picked your starting class). Monsters and other NPCs will have a set Action Points, but certain powerful monsters might roll for Action Points with the players.

The player or enemy with the higher Action Points goes first, taking an action and subtracting the cost of that action from their total Action Points. Once that is resolved, the player or monster with the now highest Action Points goes next, and so on and so on until there are no actions that anyone can take. At that point, the round is over and everyone’s Action Points are reset to their original value and combat begins anew.

If there is a tie, the character with the highest Agility goes first, and in the case of those values being equal, you can either compare either Dexterity or Cunning to see who would act first, or roll a d20 with the highest value going first. Players are also free to let one player go first over another in these instances as well. In the case of an absolute tie, player characters always go before non-player characters.

On your turn you can spend Action Points to take actions, every action you take costs a set amount of Action Points to use. Generally, each ability, feature, or spell will list its action point cost, but there are a few actions that are common to every class and have a basic cost associated with them. Some magic items and other special objects always require you to spend Action Points to use, as stated in their descriptions.

When you take your action on your turn, you can take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class, a special feature, or an action that you improvise. Many monsters have action options of their own in their stat blocks.

Your turn can include a variety of lesser actions that that little to no Action Points to use.

Free actions cost no Action Points and are generally done in tandem with your movement. These include:

• a brief statement to your allies or a foe

• open or close a door

• take a bauble from a table

• remove a ring from your finger

• stuff some food into your mouth

• plant a banner in the ground

• fish a few coins from your belt pouch

• throw a lever or a switch

• take a book from a shelf you can reach

• extinguish a small flame

• don a mask

• pull the hood of your cloak up and over your head

• put your ear to a door

• kick a small stone

• turn a key in a lock

• tap the floor with a 10-foot pole

• hand an item to another character

Simple actions are things that take little effort but do take some time. These actions cost 1 Action Point to do. Some examples of these include:

• finish off all the ale in a flagon

• retrieve a weapon

• pull a torch from a sconce

• withdraw a potion from your backpack

• equip a basic shield

• monologuing 

The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists. Unless otherwise clearly stated, an attack costs 5 Action Points. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks.

Similar to a weapon attack, Combat Maneuvers use your skill to gain the upper hand against your opponent. Combat Maneuvers cost 6 Action Points to use.

Moving in combat is one of the most important things you can do in combat. It lets you close in on an enemy or keep your distance from approaching threats. Basic movement costs 3 Action Points. See the “Movement and Position” section for how to use your movement.

Spellcasters such as wizards and priests, as well as many monsters, have access to spells and can use them to great effect in combat. Each spell has a casting time, which specifies whether the caster must use an action, a reaction, minutes, or even hours to cast the spell. Most spells do have a casting time of less than a turn, so a spellcaster often uses most of a turn to cast such a spell. See Spellcasting for further rules.

You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next roll it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn. This includes attack rolls. The help action costs 6 Action Points.

When you take the Hide action, you make a Stealth roll in an attempt to hide for 5 Action Points, following the rules in Attributes and Skill for Stealth. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and Targets” section listed below.

For 3 Action Points, you can take the Search action. You devote your attention to finding something, make an Awareness roll to locate an object or find out more information.

When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action for 3 Action Points. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.

When you want to drink a potion you can choose how much time to spend on drinking to get more or less effects from it. Drinking a potion quickly takes 3 Action Points, but you can spend 6 Action Points to spend more time to drink all of the potion. By doing so, you maximize the effects of most potions, getting the maximum effect for any dice rolls. Administering a potion to another willing (or unconscious) creature always takes 6 Action Points.

For 7 Action Points you can take time to aim at a target. Your next ranged attack against that target is made at advantage.

Sometimes you need to take a moment to breathe and get back some vitality. For 8 Action Points, you can take a breather. At the beginning of your next turn, spend a vitality dice, adding the number rolled to your vitality.

Sometimes you want to wait to act until another player or an enemy has acted. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act in reaction. When you take the Ready action, you forfeit your turn in combat and your turn passes to the next player. At any time you can act in response to another player or creature. Your action points become the same as the player or creature that is acting, and your Narrator decides if you or the other player or creature goes first. You may lose most of your turn using this action.

When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release when you take your reaction. Holding onto the spell’s magic requires concentration as explained in Spellcasting. If your concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect.

Your character can do things not covered by the actions in this chapter, such as breaking down doors, intimidating enemies, sensing weaknesses in magical defenses, or calling for a parley with a foe. The only limits to the actions you can attempt are your imagination and your character’s abilities.

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

Certain special abilities, spells, and situations allow you to take a turn out of order called a reaction. A reaction is an instant response to a trigger of some kind, which occurs in response to an action against you. Counterattack, dodge, block, and parry, described later, are the most common types of reactions.

Reactions still have an Action Point cost and will often cause you to act later in the round.

In combat, characters and monsters are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand. Basic movement costs 3 Action Points. Your movement is equal to 3 + your Agility with the minimum movement of 3. Each unit of movement is about 5 feet. You can use as much or as little of your movement as you like on your turn. Your movement can include jumping, climbing, and swimming. These different modes of movement can be combined with your normal movement, or they can constitute your entire move. However you’re moving, you deduct the distance of each part of your move from your movement until it is used up or until you are done moving.

On your turn, you may find that you need to move more than once to get in range of your opponent, or where ever you need to be. You can spend an extra 2 Action Points to double your base movement, but the next movement you make in the round costs 1 extra Action Point.

When moving in and out of range of combat, reckless movement will open your character up to reactions such as a counterattack. In order to prevent leaving your character open to attacks, you can move more carefully. By spending 1 additional Action Point when you move, opponents cannot counterattack when you move within range of them.

This movement costs only 1 Action Point and allows you to move 1 space without triggering reactions such as counterattacks. 

Combat rarely takes place in bare rooms or on featureless plains, the setting of a typical fight often contains difficult terrain. Your movement in Difficult Terrain is halved. 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.

The space of another creature, whether hostile or not, also counts as difficult terrain. You can move through a non-hostile creature’s space, but you can only move through a hostile creature’s space if the creature is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you. Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can’t willingly end your move in its space. If you leave a hostile creature’s reach during your move, you provoke a counterattack.

You can squeeze through a space that is large enough for a creature one size smaller than you. Thus, a Large creature can squeeze through a passage that’s only 5 feet wide. While squeezing through a space, you are considered to be in difficult terrain, and you have disadvantage on attack rolls, dodge rolls and Mobility defenses.

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, a Status described in the Appendix.

You can drop Prone without at anytime on your turn without spending Action Points. Standing up takes more effort; doing so costs 2 Action Points. To move while Prone, you can crawl. Your movement while crawling is considering being in difficult terrain.

Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If you are knocked Prone while flying, or your movement is reduced to 0, or you are otherwise deprived of the ability to move, you fall, unless you have the ability to hover.

If you become encumbered or are wearing heavy armor, you must spend double your Action Points to move and to maintain flight or you fall. If you take damage from an attack or spell in the air you must make a Body (Endurance) defense roll or you fall Prone. The target number is 10 or half the damage you take, whichever number is higher. If you are heavily encumbered or wearing heavy armor, this roll is made at disadvantage.

Walls, trees, creatures, the columns of a stairwell, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.

There are three degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; they aren’t added together.

A target with Cover has a +2 bonus to passive and active defenses. A target has 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 Heavy Cover has a +5 bonus to passive and active defenses. A target has heavy cover if most of their body or about three-quarters of it's body is covered by an obstacle. The obstacle might be a portcullis, an arrow slit, or a thick tree trunk.

A target with Total Cover can’t be targeted directly by an attack or a spell, although some spells can reach such a target by including it in an area of effect. A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.

When in combat, you have a forward-facing arc and a back-arc. This is roughly 180 degrees of your vision, or 3 hexes for a medium creature. If you have opponents in each arc you are flanked and the cost of active defenses increases by 1 Action Point. On your turn, you may change the direction you are facing as part of any action, or for 1 Action Point in reaction to an enemy moving within your melee reach.

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

1. Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack’s range: a creature, an object, or a location.

2. Determine modifiers. The Narrator determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, spells, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your attack roll.

3. Spend Action Points. Each attack will have an associated Action Point cost. You must spend the Action Points to make an attack.

4. Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage.

If there’s ever any question about 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.

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 Passive Armor or their defense roll, the attack hits.

When a character makes an attack roll, the two most common modifiers to the roll are Attributes and the character’s Skill bonus.

Attribute. The Attribute used for a melee weapon attack is Dexterity, and the Attribute used for a ranged weapon attack is Acuity. Weapons that have the Thrown or Heavy property break this rule and use Strength. Some spells also require an attack roll. The Attribute used for a spell attack depends on the spellcasting ability of the spellcaster, as explained in Spellcasting.

Skill Bonus. You add your Skill bonus to your attack roll when you attack using a weapon with which you have aptitude, as well as when you attack with a spell.

Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit and 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. This attack is always a critical hit. If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s defenses.

Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness.

When you attack an Unseen target, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the Narrator will typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly. When you are Unseen to a creature, you have advantage on attack rolls against other creatures, but when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

If you attack a creature while hidden from them, or Unseen, they may gain the Surprised status. The Surprised status can only be applied out of combat, as once combat starts, all combatants are expecting to take damage. You can still hide from creatures and gain the Unseen state, but you cannot Surprise another character again. You also cannot Surprise creatures that are expecting danger such as a wary beasts, a guard on patrol, or a player taking watch at camp. Your Narrator may also apply Surprise to enemies in unique situations such as rolling high on a Speechcraft (Intelligence) – Deception roll in a Social Interaction just before pulling a knife. Generally the Surprised status will require a successful skill roll before having it applied to a creature.

When you make a ranged attack, you fire a bow or a crossbow, hurl a handaxe, or otherwise send projectiles to strike a foe at a distance. A monster might shoot spines from its tail. Many spells also involve making a ranged attack.

You can make ranged attacks only against targets within a specified range. 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 disadvantage when your target is beyond normal range, and you can’t attack a target beyond the long range.

Aiming a ranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a spell, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within reach of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated.

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. A few spells also involve making a melee attack.

Most creatures have a 5-foot reach or 1 movement and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) may have melee attacks with a greater reach than 5 feet, as noted in their descriptions.

Instead of using a weapon to make a melee attack, you can use an unarmed strike: a punch, kick, head-butt, or similar forceful blow, none of which count as weapons. On a hit, an unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength, or 2 + your Strength for a large creature. You always have aptitude with your unarmed strikes.

When you take the Attack action and attack with a Light weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can immediately attack with a different Light weapon that you’re holding in the other hand (called the off-hand) for 1 less Action Point. You don’t add your Strength to the damage of the off-hand attack unless your Strength is negative. Loading weapons (such as the hand crossbow) do not reduce the Action Point cost of the off-hand attack.

If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.

In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for enemies to drop their guard. You can rarely move heedlessly past your foes without putting yourself in danger; doing so provokes a counterattack.

You can make a counterattack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach or when an ability opens up a counterattack. As a reaction, you can make a counterattack, making a weapon attack against the enemy. The attack interrupts the provoking creature’s movement, occurring right before the creature leaves your reach. This attack costs 1 less Action Point than a normal weapon strike, and cannot add additional class features. The damage for this attack is just the weapon damage, no attribute damage is added to the attack.

You can avoid counterattacks by Disengaging when you move. You also don’t provoke a counterattack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction.

Valor is a resource players earn by pushing ahead and taking on challenges. Valor encourages players to push ahead, brave new threats, and challenge fate. Valor can be earned in a variety of ways, but it is lost whenever players take a long rest. Will you risk one more encounter or one more challenge to gain and spend more valor, or will you play it safe and take a long rest to fully recharge? See Valor for all the ways that your player can spend their Valor on.

Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore the worlds of Infinite Legends. 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.

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.

When attacking with a weapon, you add your attribute, generally Strength unless otherwise stated, to the damage. A spell tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any attribute or modifiers.

If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them unless otherwise stated.

Different attacks, damaging spells, 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.

The damage types follow, with examples to help a Narrator assign a damage type to a new effect.

Acid. The corrosive spray of a green dragon’s breath and the dissolving enzymes secreted by a black pudding deal acid damage.

Bludgeoning. Blunt force attacks—hammers, falling, constriction, and the like—deal bludgeoning damage.

Cold. The infernal chill radiating from an ice devil’s spear and the frigid blast of a white dragon’s breath deal cold damage.

Fire. Red dragons breathe fire, and many spells conjure flames to deal fire damage.

Lightning. A lightning bolt spell and a blue dragon’s breath deal lightning damage.

Necrotic. Necromantic damage, dealt by certain undead and some spells, withers matter and even the soul.

Piercing. Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears and monster bites, deal piercing damage.

Poison. Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a black dragon’s breath deal poison damage. Poison damage is applied directly to Health.

Psychic. Mental abilities such as a psionic blast deal psychic damage.

Slashing. Swords, axes, and monsters’ claws deal slashing damage.

Hellfire from the depth of the infernal pits or divine fire of a gods divine smite. Different attacks may come from unique sources. Most weapons attacks will not have a source, sometimes referred to as a “Null” source. The damage from a torch or the freezing cold of the artics would also be considered without a source, or null. When casting a spell, your magic will have either an Arcane, Divine, or Primal source. Monsters may have other sources. Sources include:

• Null

• Arcane

• Divine

• Primal

• Demonic

• Infernal

• Eldritch

If you are experiencing damage that occurs at the beginning of the round, such as from a burning effect, that damage is done to your health, not vitality.

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 a damage type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a creature or an object has vulnerability to a damage type, damage of that type is doubled against it. Some creatures have resistance or vulnerabilities to damage sources rather than types.

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage. For example, a creature has resistance to bludgeoning damage and is hit by an attack that deals 25 bludgeoning damage. The creature also has 5 armor. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved, so the creature takes 10 damage.

Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance. For example, if a creature has resistance to fire damage as well as resistance to all nonmagical damage, the damage of a nonmagical fire is reduced by half against the creature, not reduced by three-quarters.

An attack is a critical hit if you roll 10 over the target number when attacking. This can be modified by skill ranks with the attacking weapon, spell, or other modifiers. When you score a critical hit, your attack has an added effect depending on the damage type. Some effects calculate the number of damage dice. For example, a fireball does 8d6 fire damage. The number of damage dice for that spell is 8. This is calculated before damage resistance or vulnerabilities.

Bludgeoning. You knock the opponent back 5 feet. If the opponent is huge or larger, or cannot be moved back due to an obstacle, they are knocked Prone.

Piercing. You bypass any armor the target might have and do 1 damage per damage dice of the attack to your opponent’s health.

Slashing. You roll the weapon damage as normal, and then also add the maximum damage value for the weapon.

Fire. The opponent takes 1 fire damage per damage dice of the attack until the flames are extinguished.

Cold. The opponent’s movement is halved for a number of turns equal to the number of damage dice of the attack.

Poison. The opponent is Poisoned until the end of their next turn.

Lightning. The opponent cannot take reactions until the end of their next turn.

Acid. The opponent’s armor is lowered by 1 per damage dice of the attack until the acid can be removed or the armor repaired.

Necrotic. The opponent receives a penalty to all actions they take equal to the number of damage dice of the attack for a number of rounds equal to half the number of damage dice.

Psychic. Cause the opponent to flinch, lowering their total Action Points by the number of dice of damage.

Sometimes an attack just misses, but your skill with weapons or attacks can mitigate the effect of this. For every rank in an attacking skill that you have increases the chance that you have a minor failure. At your first rank, instead of missing if you meet the target number, the damage is instead halved. at rank 2 it is 1 under the target number, and so on. Some attacks do no damage and will stipulate the effect.

Your character’s physical well-being is quantified by two ideas, Health and Vitality. Vitality generally represents a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Your health is a measure of your physical state. The lower your health, the closer you are to death.

Think of Vitality as a shield of your stamina that protects you, each hit does no real damage, but wears you down further until you don’t have the energy to avoid attacks anymore. Damage to your health is damage to your body or core self. Whenever you take damage, that damage is subtracted, first from your vitality, then health once your vitality is gone. The loss of health or vitality has no effect on your capabilities until you drop to 0 health. Certain attacks or effects may bypass your vitality and damage your health directly.

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

When you receive healing of any kind, health or vitality regained are added to your current health or vitality. Your health or vitality can’t exceed your health or vitality maximum, so any health or vitality regained over this number are lost.

If you have died, you can’t regain health or vitality until magic such as the revivify spell has restored you to life.

When you drop to 0 health, you either die outright or become Disabled, as explained in the following sections.

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 health and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your Health maximum.

When you are reduced to 0 Health, you gain 1 point of Exhaustion and gain the Disabled status.

Whenever you start your turn with 0 health, you must make a special roll, called a death saving roll, or death save, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. Unlike other dice rolls, this one isn’t tied to any attribute. You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by spells and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a dice roll.

Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. At 2 failed death saves you become Incapacitated. Once you have made 3 successful death saving throws, you stabilize at 1 health (see below), and are no longer Disabled, but whatever other status conditions you may have had before you stabilize stay. On your third failure, you die.

The successes and failures don’t need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind. At any time that you have more failed death saves than successes, you fall Unconscious. The number of both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable. A short or long rest is required to remove the effects of the Incapacitated status.

Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death save and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point and stabilize.

Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death save failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your vitality maximum, you suffer instant death.

The best way to save a creature with 0 health is to heal it. You must gain health back not vitality to no longer be considered dying. If healing is unavailable, you can at least be stabilized so that you are not killed by a failed death save.

You can use spend 8 Action Points to administer first aid to a dying creature and attempt to stabilize it, which requires a target 10 Medicine (Dexterity) check.

A stable creature doesn’t make death saves, even though it has 0 health, but it does retain status conditions. The creature stops being stable and must start making death saves again if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn’t healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

Most Narrators have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 health, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saves. Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common exceptions; the Narrator might have them become Disabled and follow the same rules as player characters.

Sometimes you want to incapacitate a foe, rather than deal a killing blow. Before you attack with a melee weapon, you can state that you are making a nonlethal attack. Nonlethal attacks do half damage to health but still do full damage to vitality. If the attack reduces the creature’s health to 0, the creature falls unconscious and is stable.

Some spells and special abilities confer temporary Health, Vitality, or Vigor to a creature. Temporary Health or Vitality aren’t actual health or vitality; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of health or vitality that protects you from injury. Vigor is like temporary Health or Vitality, but doesn't stack with either.

When you have temporary Life and take damage, the temporary Health, Vitality, or Vigor are lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal Health or Vitality. If an attack bypasses Vitality to damage Health, it also bypasses temporary Vitality. Spells or effects that cause loss of Vitality do not affect Health. Vigor protects against any loss of Health or Vitality and must be depleted first.

Because temporary Health or Vitality are separate from your actual Health and Vitality, they can exceed your Health or Vitality maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full Health or Vitality and receive temporary Health or Vitality.

Healing can’t restore temporary Health or Vitality, and they can’t be added together. If you have temporary Health or Vitality and receive more of them or Vigor, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones.

If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary Health doesn’t restore you to consciousness or stabilize you. Temporary Life 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 Health, Vitality, or Vigor has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest.

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. Most mounts are domesticated creatures, but intelligent creatures can also act as mounts if willing.

During your turn, you can spend 2 Action Points to mount a creature that is next to you or dismount from a creature. 

If an effect moves your mount against its will while you’re on it, you must succeed on a target 10 Movement (Dexterity) - Riding roll or fall off the mount, landing prone in a space within 5 feet of it. If you’re knocked prone while mounted, you must make the same roll.

If your mount is knocked prone, you can spend 2 Action Points as a reaction to dismount it as it falls and land on your feet. Otherwise, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space within 5 feet it.

While you’re mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to 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. While on a mount, it can only take the move action and it moves as you direct it. The mount uses your Action Points to move, instead of its own, losing any action points it has. A mount without a rider, specifically one that loses it's rider in that round, takes the same number of Action Points that the rider had when dismounting. 

 Intelligent creatures, such as dragons, act independently. 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 a counterattack while you’re on it, the attacker can target you or the mount.

Underwater the following rules apply.

When making a melee weapon attack, if you don’t have a swimming speed (either natural or granted by magic) you have disadvantage on the attack roll unless the weapon is a piercing weapon such as a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear, or trident.

A ranged weapon attack automatically misses a target beyond the weapon’s normal range. Even against a target within normal range, the attack roll has disadvantage unless the weapon is a crossbow, a net, or a weapon that is thrown like a javelin (including spears, tridents, or darts).

Creatures and objects that are fully immersed in water have resistance to fire damage.

Exploring dungeons, overcoming obstacles, and slaying monsters are key parts of Unbound Legends adventures. No less important, though, are the social interactions that adventurers have with other inhabitants of the world.

Interaction takes on many forms. This may come in the form of convincing others to help you in some way, strongarming someone to get what you want, or you might be begging for your life. The Narrator assumes the roles of any characters who are participating in any interaction that doesn’t belong to another player at the table. Any such character is called a nonplayer character (NPC).

Roleplaying is, literally, the act of playing out a role. In this case, you as a player determine how your character thinks, acts, and talks. Roleplaying is a part of every aspect of the game, and it comes to the fore during social interactions—your character’s quirks, mannerisms, and personality can influence how interactions resolve.

There are two styles you can use when roleplaying your character: the descriptive approach and the active approach. With the active approach, you show more than tell, acting out and taking the voice of your character if needed. With the descriptive approach, you are telling what happens or the feel of what your character might say. Most players use a combination of the two styles, swapping back and forth as needed.

Interactions in Unbound Legends are much like interactions in real life. If you can offer NPCs something they want, threaten them with something they fear, or play on their sympathies and goals, you can use words to motivate them in your favor. On the other hand, if you insult a proud warrior or speak ill of a noble’s allies, your efforts to convince or deceive will fall short.

Once you have made an interaction or finished roleplaying an interaction, your Narrator will often have you make a skill roll to determine the outcome of an interaction. This might be a Speechcraft (Cunning) – Persuasion roll to convince a guard to let you in the city, or an Awareness (Cunning) – Insight roll to find out how the guard feels about you and your allies. If you have roleplayed before the roll, your Narrator may feel inclined to give you advantage on the roll if the roleplay went well, or maybe disadvantage if it went poorly.

When dealing with any given NPC you will need to overcome their Social Defense, or the target number you will need to roll higher than to influence them. This number is 10 plus their displeasure, minus their favor adding or subtracting any other social modifiers. One major social modifier is an NPC's Attitude. Friendly NPCs have a -1 to their Social Defense and Very Friendly NPCs or Well-Known NPCs have a -2 to the Social Defense. Wary NPCs have a +1 and Hostile NPCs have a +2 to their Social Defenses. Most NPCs will be Indifferent to you and won't have any bonuses or penalties to their Social Defense.

Pay attention to your skills when thinking of how you want to interact with an NPC and stack the deck in your favor by using an approach that relies on your best bonuses and skills. If the group needs to trick a guard into letting them into a castle, someone who is skilled in Deception is the best bet to lead the discussion. When negotiating for a hostage’s release, Persuasion should be the skill you are looking for.

All NPCs have two social indicators represented as Favor and Displeasure. The more Favor an NPC has towards you or your group, the more willing they will be to assist you. Conversely, the more Displeasure they have, the less likely they will be to help you. For any given NPC, their Favor is their Cunning plus Intelligence (minimum 1) and their Displeasure is 2 plus their Cunning minus their Will (minimum 1). You can also set their Favor and Displeasure manually with a value of two in either representing a low pool and easier to raise to the highest value, but having the least impact on further social interactions and a higher number such as 5-8 being harder to raise to full, but having a larger impact, positively or negatively as well.

Quirks are positive and negative aspects that affect Social Interactions. Not all NPC's need a Quirk and players might never know what quirks an NPC might have. These are designed to give Social Interactions greater variety and to give the Narrator more tools to make each interaction more interesting. This may also give the Narrator a better idea of how best to roleplay that NPC. Some ideas for Quirks are listed below:

• Vain: Vain NPCs love to be flattered but don't respond well to insincere words. +1 to all favor results when using flattery, but +1 to displeasure if you fail.

• Stubborn: Stubborn NPCs are easier to annoy but they also don't forget your favor either. +1 to all displeasure gains, but favor never goes down from displeasure going up.

• 
  

• Vengeful: A Vengeful NPC holds onto all slights against them. They never lose displeasure but they never lose favor either.

• Greedy: Greedy NPCs are always willing to take a bribe. You can pay these NPC x amount of gold to lower the target number to roll to gain favor by x.

• Cynical: Believes the worst of people and is often pessimistic. Increased target number to gain favor, but all displeasure gains are reduced by 1 as they always believe the worst in other anyways.

• Paranoid: Suspicious of others and difficult to trust. Increased target number to gain favor, but +1 to all favor results if you succeed.

• Impulsive: Can be easily persuaded with quick, decisive actions. +1 to all favor gains, but also -1 to all favor losses as they quickly change their views.

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• Charismatic: Easily gains favor, especially through flattery.

• Generous: More likely to forgive minor offenses and grant favors.

• Idealistic: Can be swayed by appeals to noble causes or strong beliefs.

• Jealous: Resents the success of others and may actively sabotage them.

• Arrogant: Believes they are superior to others and dismissive of their opinions.

• Cautious: Hesitant to trust new people and slow to make decisions.

• Honest: Always tells the truth, even if it's hurtful.

• Altruistic: Always willing to help others, especially those in need.

• Optimistic: Maintains a positive outlook, even in difficult situations.

• Patient: Tolerant and understanding, even when faced with frustration.

• Loyal: Dedicated to their friends and allies, always willing to help.

• Greedy: Always seeking personal gain, even at the expense of others.

• Cowardly: Avoids danger and conflict whenever possible.

• Manipulative: Uses deception and flattery to achieve their goals.

• Cruel: Enjoys inflicting pain and suffering on others.

• Secretive: Keeps their thoughts and intentions hidden from others.

• Solitary: Prefers to work alone and avoids social interaction.

• Impatient: Easily frustrated and quick to anger.

• Indecisive: Struggles to make decisions and often changes their mind.

• Compassionate: Empathetic and caring, often going out of their way to help others.

• Creative: Always coming up with new ideas and solutions.

• Humorous: Often cracking jokes and making light of difficult situations.

• Forgiving: Willing to forgive and forget past mistakes.

• Vindictive: Holds grudges and seeks revenge for perceived slights.

• Selfish: Only cares about their own needs and desires.

• Dishonest: Lies and cheats to get what they want.

• Impatient: Easily frustrated and quick to anger.

• Curious: Always seeking knowledge and understanding.

• Introspective: Spends a lot of time thinking about their own thoughts and feelings.

• Absent-Minded: Often forgets things or becomes lost in thought.

• Perfectionist: Strives for perfection in everything they do.

Exploration is everything that happens in-between here and there, from combat to social encounters. These rules dictate traveling, downtime, and how best to use all your skills outside of combat and social interactions.

In situations where keeping track of the passage of time is important, the Narrator determines the time a task requires. The Narrator 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.

Swimming across a rushing river, sneaking down a dungeon corridor, and scaling a treacherous mountain slope all sorts of movement play a key role in an adventure.

The Narrator can summarize the adventurers’ movement without calculating exact distances or travel times: “You travel through the forest and find the dungeon entrance late in the evening of the third day.” Even in a dungeon, particularly a large dungeon or a cave network, the Narrator can summarize movement between encounters: “After killing the guardian at the entrance to the ancient stronghold, you consult your map, which leads you through miles of echoing corridors to a chasm bridged by a narrow stone arch.” Sometimes it’s important, though, to know how long it takes to get from one spot to another, whether the answer is in days, hours, or minutes. The rules for determining travel time depend on two factors: the speed and travel pace of the creatures moving and the terrain they’re moving over.

Every character and monster has movement, which is the distance that the character or monster can walk in 1 turn. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation. Generally, 1 movement is 5 feet.

The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.

While traveling, a group of adventurers can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace, as shown on the Distance Traveled table. The table states how far the party can move in a period of time and whether the pace has any effect. A fast pace makes characters less perceptive, while a slow pace makes it possible to sneak around and search an area more carefully.

Forced March. For each additional hour of travel beyond 8 hours, the characters cover the distance shown in the Hour column for their pace, and each character must make an Endurance roll at the end of the hour. The target is 10 + 1 for each hour past 8 hours. On a failure, a character suffers one level of Exhaustion.

Mounts and Vehicles. For short periods (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If fresh mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.

Characters in wagons, carriages, or other land vehicles choose a pace as normal. Characters in a waterborne vessel are limited to the speed of the vessel (see Equipment), and they don’t suffer penalties for a fast pace or gain benefits from a slow pace. Depending on the vessel and the size of the crew, ships might be able to travel for up to 24 hours per day.

Certain special mounts, such as a pegasus or griffon, or special vehicles, such as a carpet of flying, allow you to travel more swiftly.

The travel speeds given in the Travel Pace table assume relatively simple terrain: roads, open plains, or clear dungeon corridors. But adventurers often face dense forests, deep swamps, rubble-filled ruins, steep mountains, and ice-covered ground—all considered difficult terrain.

You move at half movement in difficult terrain so you can cover only half the normal distance in a minute, an hour, or a day.

Movement through dangerous dungeons or wilderness areas often involves more than simply walking. You might have to climb, crawl, swim, or jump to get where they need to go.

When you’re swimming, or crawling your movement is halved, if you are climbing it is reduced by one fourth. You ignore this extra cost if you have a climbing speed and use it to climb, or a swimming speed and use it to swim. At the Narrator’s option, climbing a slippery vertical surface or one with few handholds requires a successful Movement (Endurance) – Exertion roll. Similarly, gaining any distance in rough water might require a successful Movement (Endurance) – Exertion roll as well.

Your Strength determines how far you can jump.

Long Jump. For 3 Action Points, you can make a long jump. You can jump 1 + your Strength movement if you move at least 10 feet (2 movement) on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap only half that distance.

This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn’t matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. At your Narrator’s option, you must succeed on a target 10 Movement (Strength) roll to clear a low obstacle such as a hedge or low wall. Otherwise, you hit it.

When you land in difficult terrain, you must succeed on a target 10 Movement (Agility) roll to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.

High Jump. For 2 Action Points, you can make a high jump. You leap into the air a number of feet equal to twice your Strength (minimum of 0 feet) if you move at least 10 feet (2 movement) on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance. In some circumstances, your Narrator might allow you to make a Movement (Strength) roll to jump higher than you normally can.

You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1 ½ times your height.

As adventurers travel through a dungeon or the wilderness, they need to remain alert for danger, and some characters might perform other tasks to help the group’s journey.

In an adventurer, it can be useful to establish a marching order.

A marching order makes it easier to determine which characters are affected by traps, which ones can spot hidden enemies, and which ones are the closest to those enemies when a fight breaks out.

A character might occupy the front rank, one or more middle ranks, or the back rank. Characters in the front and back ranks need enough room to travel side by side with others in their rank. When space is too tight, the marching order must change, usually by moving characters to a middle rank.

While traveling at a slow pace, the characters can move stealthily. As long as they’re not in the open, they can try to surprise or sneak by other creatures they encounter. See the rules for hiding are detail in the Stealth skill group.

Use the passive Perception skill of the characters to determine whether anyone in the group notices a hidden threat. The Narrator might decide that a threat can be noticed only by characters in a particular rank. For example, as the characters are exploring a maze of tunnels, the Narrator might decide that only those characters in the back rank have a chance to hear or spot a stealthy creature following the group, while characters in the front and middle ranks cannot.

While traveling at a fast pace, characters take a -5 penalty to their passive Perception to notice hidden threats.

Encountering Creatures. If the Narrator determines that the adventurers encounter other creatures while they’re traveling, it’s up to both groups to decide what happens next. Either group might decide to attack, initiate a conversation, run away, or wait to see what the other group does.

Characters who turn their attention to other tasks as the group travels are not focused on watching for danger.

These characters don’t contribute their passive Perception to the group’s chance of noticing hidden threats. However, a character not watching for danger can do one of the following activities instead, or some other activity with the Narrator’s permission.

Navigate. The character can try to prevent the group from becoming lost, making a Survival (Intelligence) roll when the Narrator calls for it.

Draw a Map. The character can draw a map that records the group’s progress and helps the characters get back on course if they get lost. No skill roll is required.

Track. A character can follow the tracks of another creature, making a Survival (Acuity) roll when the Narrator calls for it.

Forage. The character can keep an eye out for ready sources of food and water, making a Survival (Endurance) roll when the Narrator calls for it.

By its nature, adventuring involves delving into places that are dark, dangerous, and full of mysteries to be explored. The rules in this section cover some of the most important ways in which adventurers interact with the environment in such places.

A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer.

At the end of a fall, you take 1 damage dice for every 10 feet you fell, to a maximum of 200 feet. The size of the die begins at 1d6 and increases size by 1 every 40 feet (d8 after 40, d10 after 80, d12 after 120, d20 after 160). For every dice rolled, 1 point is done directly to your health. You can reduce this damage by spending 4 Action Points and rolling 1d4 plus your Strength or Agility, reducing the damage to your Health first.

If you fall beyond 200 feet you take a flat 400 bludgeoning damage to Vitality and 20 damage to Health, regardless of the distance fallen.

Falling into water reduces all damage by half.

You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + your Endurance (minimum of 30 seconds).

When you run out of breath or are choking, you can survive for a number of rounds equal to your Endurance (minimum of 1 round). At the start of your next turn, you drop to 0 health and are dying, and you can’t regain health or be stabilized until you can breathe again.

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. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, you have disadvantage on Awareness rolls that rely on sight.

A heavily obscured area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the Blinded status condition when trying to see something in that area.

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

Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.

Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.

Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. 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.

If you have Blindsight, you can see within a specific range without relying on physical sight. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind Total Cover, even if you have the Blinded status or are in Darkness. Moreover, in that range, you can effectively see a creature that has the Invisible status.

Within a specified range, if you have darkvision, you can see in dim light as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light, so areas of darkness are only lightly obscured as far as you are concerned. However, you can’t discern color in that darkness, only shades of gray.

If you have Truesight, you have enhanced vision within a specified range. Within that range, your vision pierces through the following:

• Darkness. You can see in normal and magical darkness.

• Invisibility. You can see creatures that have the Invisible status and objects that are obscured by magic.

• Visual Illusions. Visual illusions appear transparent to you, and you automatically succeed on rolls against them.

• Transformations. You discern the true form of any creature or object you see that has been transformed by magic.

• Ethereal Plane. You can see into the Ethereal Plane.

Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of Exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.

You need one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. You can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + your Endurance (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, you automatically suffer one level of Exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.

You need half a gallon of water per day, or one gallon per day if the weather is hot. If you drink only half that much water you must succeed on a target 10 Body (Endurance) defense or suffer one level of Exhaustion at the end of the day. Each day like this increases the number by 1. If you have access to even less water, you automatically suffer one level of Exhaustion at the end of the day.

A character’s interaction with objects in an environment is often simple to resolve in the game. The player tells the Narrator that his or her character is doing something, such as moving a lever, and the Narrator describes what, if anything happens.

For example, a character might decide to pull a lever, which might, in turn, raise a portcullis, cause a room to flood with water, or open a secret door in a nearby wall. If the lever is rusted in position, though, a character might need to force it. In such a situation, the Narrator might call for a Strength roll to see whether the character can wrench the lever into place. The Narrator sets the target for any such roll based on the difficulty of the task.

Characters can also damage objects with their weapons and spells. Objects are immune to poison and psychic damage, but otherwise, they can be affected by physical and magical attacks much like creatures can. The Narrator determines an object’s Armor and health (objects have no vitality) and might decide that certain objects have resistance or immunity to certain kinds of attacks. (It’s hard to cut a rope with a club, for example.) Objects always fail Body and Mobility rolls, and they are immune to effects that require other rolls.

When an object drops to 0 health, it breaks.

A character can also attempt a Physicality roll to break an object. The Narrator sets the target for any such roll.

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 for spellcasting, and brace themselves for further adventure.

Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it.

A short rest is a period of downtime, 30 minutes to an hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

You recover Mana equal to your Spellcasting attribute and reduce your Threshold equal to your Devotion. In addition, you may roll any number of Vitality dice. For each Vitality Die spent in this way, you roll the die and add your Endurance to it. You regain Vitality equal to the total (minimum of 1). You can decide to spend an additional Vitality Die after each roll. A character regains some spent Vitality Dice upon finishing a long rest, as explained below.

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity, the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

At the end of a long rest, you regain health equal to your Strength. You also regain spent Vitality Dice, up to half your level. You regain at least 1 Vitality Die when you finish a long rest.

You regain all your Vitality and Mana, and your Threshold is reset to 0. Any unspent Valor is lost.

You can’t benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period, and you must have at least 1 health at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.