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Core Rules: Creating a Character

The Echelon System​

Choose an Echelon, which affects your party dynamics and grants a powerful unique benefit. Your Echelon helps craft your character’s development and acts as a force multiplier to your techniques.

What it is: Your approach to play. You pick 1 Echelon at character creation. It modifies limits or grants bonuses.

What it does NOT change: Your Source totals or Ability Scores.

When it matters: Key moments in play where your Echelon affects the story’s outcome.

Changing Echelons: This can be story driven, with consideration for how your character has grown.

Aegic​

Unique Ability: Adds proficiency to blocked damage (if proficient in Strength, add proficiency a second time).
Role Example: An Aegis Paladin may specialize in shielding allies and absorbing incoming attacks.

Aurelic​

Unique Ability: Can concentrate on 2 spells before incurring the multiple concentration penalty.
Role Example: An Aurelic Sorcerer might specialize in enhancing allies' combat prowess and defenses.

Ingenic​

Unique Ability: Adds proficiency when crafting, repairing, or interacting with magical or technological items (non-attack/defense rolls), including computers (if proficient in the affected roll, add proficiency a second time).
Role Example: An Ingenic Rogue might specialize in deploying devices and managing tools mid-combat, or hacking into magical mainframes.

Malefic​

Unique Ability: Adds proficiency twice when dealing damage (if proficient when calculating damage, add proficiency to damage a second time).
Role Example: A Malefic Cleric might channel destructive divine energy to wipe out enemies.

Myric​

Unique Ability: May spend 2 Source Dice to treat an unstressed, non-combat check as a stressed check in order to gain proficiency, even if they are not normally proficient in the relevant discipline.
Role Example: A Myric Warlock might pick a lock or tame a horse, even if they’d never seen either.

Vitalic​

Unique Ability: Adds proficiency twice to healing (if proficient when calculating healing, add proficiency to healing a second time).
Role Example: A Reparative Druid might focus on restoring allies quickly during combat.

Ability Scores​

Characters have 6 Ability Scores. These scores snapshot every creature's core characteristics and affect the three main rolls of the game: ability checks, attack rolls, and counters.

  • Strength provides passive damage absorption and can be used for melee/ranged attacks.
  • Agility provides passive dodge and can be used for melee/ranged attacks and parry.
  • Constitution is used for concentration and endurance checks. It also affects your available Movement and modifies your Hit Points after level 17.
  • Wisdom, Knowledge, and Influence are used for spellcasting and social checks.

Ability Scores and Modifiers​

All characters begin with 8 in every ability score.

At creation, players get 27 points to distribute among the six abilities.

  • No score may exceed 20 at level 1.
  • Raising a score above 15 costs 2 points per increment.

Point Costs​

  • 8 → 15 = 1 point per increase
  • 16+ = 2 points per increase

Modifiers​

  • Every 2 points below 10: –1 modifier
  • Every 2 points above 10: +1 modifier

Example Stat Block​

StatScoreModifier
Agility15+2
Constitution14+2
Strength13+1
Wisdom12+1
Knowledge11+0
Influence10+0

Ability Score Increase​

  • Every even-numbered level (including 20), gain +1 ability point.
  • Scores may exceed 20 after level 1, but:
    • Every 2 points above 20 must be offset by lowering another score by 1.

Example: If Knowledge is 21 and Influence is 13, raising Knowledge to 22 means lowering Influence to 12 (or any other stat by 1).

Source Dice (SD)​

All characters have a Source Pool of dice used to fuel abilities, attacks, and more.

Source Pool by Level​

LevelSource Pool
16d6
58d8
910d10
1312d12
1720d20

Replenishment​

Out of Combat: Automatically regain Source Dice equal to your proficiency every unstressed hour

Hit Points​

  • Before level 17:
    HP = Source Dice Size × Number of Source Dice
    Example: 6d6 → 6 × 6 = 36 HP

  • Level 17+:
    HP = 20 × Constitution score (not modifier)

Renewal​

Regain HP during downtime:

  • Regain HP = Proficiency Bonus + Constitution Modifier per unstressed hour.

Example: +3 Proficiency, –1 Constitution → regain 2 HP/hour

Core Actions (CA)​

  • Core Actions include attacks, spellcasting, and d20-based checks.
  • Some actions cost 1 CA + additional SD.
  • To take a Core Action:
    • 20ft movement = 1 CA
    • 2 SD = 1 CA
    • 10ft + 1 SD = 1CA

Conversions​

When you spend a Core Action + Movement, the Movement is converted into Source. When Movment is Converted this way to use a damaging or healing Technique, you roll Source Dice equal to the Movement Converted.

ConversionRule
1 Core Action + Movement → SourceTurn unused Movement into Source or a Technique
1 SD → 10ft MovementSource can be spent for extra Movement
  • Note: Movement cannot beconverted to Source without a Core Action

Turns​

On your turn:

  • You may spend all your Source
  • You may use all your movement.
  • Your turn ends when you've used all resources or you choose to pass.

Note: It is important to manage your Source over the course of an encounter, as expending it all on one turn can leave one vulnerable.

Hold Action​

You may hold an Action or Reaction by specifying a clear trigger (e.g. "If a creature enters my range").

-You may hold an action and take your turn normally.

  • You do not pre-commit Source Dice for held actions.
  • When triggered, resolve the action immediately, committing necessary resources.
  • If you do not have the resources when the trigger occurs, the Action is not triggered.
  • If the trigger never occurs, you lose nothing.

Stress​

Stress​

  • All tasks in combat are considered stressed.
  • For every missing SD, add +1 DC to stressed actions.
  • Stressed DC = +1 per missing SD at the moment of the check.
Missing SDDC Increase
1+1
2+2
3+3
......

Ascended Play (Level 21+): Stress is reduced to +1 DC per 2 missing SD (see Ascended Resilience).