Dominion Wargame Rules

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DOMINION RULESHistorical and fantasy roleplaying system

DR version 3.05(01)http://www.dominionrules.org

Dominion Rules is a simple yet comprehensive rules system for historical or fantasyroleplaying using the twelve-sided die. Features include a readily expandable gamemechanic, sophisticated combat rules, richly detailed rules for priestly characters, free-form and spell-based magic, and a modular game design that makes it easy to choosewhich rules apply in your gaming world and which do not.


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Cover page art credit: Oksana Romanova


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DOMINION RULESHistorical and fantasy roleplaying system

Version 3.05


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contents

...................................................Introduction to Dominion Rules 0-1

Chapter one

Attributes and Composites...........................................................1-1

Chapter twoSkills............................................................................................ 2-1

Chapter three

Advancement ...............................................................................3-1

Chapter four

Characters................................................................................... 4-1

Chapter five

Order of play............................................................................... 5-1

Chapter six

Injury...........................................................................................6-1

Chapter sevenCombat........................................................................................7-1

Chapter eight

Weapons and armour...................................................................8-1

Chapter nine

Priestcraft....................................................................................9-1

Chapter ten

Witches and magic.................................................................... 10-1

Chapter eleven

Spellcasting............................................................................... 11-1

Chapter twelve

Spell descriptions.......................................................................12-1

Chapter thirteen

Creating new spells....................................................................13-1

Chapter fourteen

Beasts........................................................................................ 14-1

Chapter fifteen

Beast skills................................................................................. 15-1

Chapter sixteen

Beast descriptions......................................................................16-1

Chapter seventeen

Creating new beasts...................................................................17-1

Appendix 1

Dominion Rules Character Record ..............................................A-1

Appendix 2

Dominion Rules Licence..............................................................A-5


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INTRODUCTION TO DOMINION RULES

Dominion Rules (DR) is a rules system for

historical or fantasy roleplaying. Thesekinds of roleplaying games take place inmediaeval or quasi-mediaeval settingssuch as the Sherwood Forest of RobinHood, King Arthurs Britain or the MiddleEarth of JRR Tolkiens novels. While DRwas created with these sorts of settings inmind, it can be readily adapted to othersettings. DR is designed to be easy to de-velop and expand.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

To play DR, you needthe following:

These rules

Some paper andpencils

At least two, butpreferably three or

more players, one of whom will serveas Games Master

At least one twelve-sided die. It is bestto have one for every player.

You can get a twelve-sided die from thelocal hobby shop or order one from gamesshops on the internet.

TERMINOLOGY

DR uses some key terms you need to befamiliar with before reading on.

Games Masters

Roleplaying games usually have one refe-ree and several players. DR calls the refe-

ree the Games Master, or GM. The GMs

role is to guide players through their ad-ventures, describing the dominions, peo-ples and creatures they encounter and ap-plying the rules. One player will be theGM and the others will play characters inthe dominion.

Characters

The personalities the players control in thegame are called player characters (PCs), orsimply characters. But the term charactermay also refer to characters controlled bythe GM; these are known more specificallyas Games Master characters (GMCs). InDR, most every rule that applies to PCsapplies to GMCs, too.

Rules and Dominions

DR makes a distinction between rules anddominions.

The rules are simply the rules of the game,as described here.

A dominion is the world your charactersinhabit. Its what is known in some RPGsas the campaign setting. GMs can createtheir own dominions or use dominionscreated by others.

These rules do not describe any particulardominion. They are intended to apply toany dominion, unless your GM says oth-erwise. For example, if the dominion youare playing in is strictly historical, such asEurope during the Hundred Years War,your GM may tell you that the ordinary DRrules about witchcraft and priestcraft donot apply. In other dominions, the GM

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A twelve-sided die (d12)


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may allow certain character races but notothers.

Stats and Rolls

DR makes an important distinction be-tween a stat and a roll. Stat is short for sta-tistic: a numerical figure used to measure acharacters ability in some way. A roll isthe number produced by rolling thetwelve-sided die.

Usually in DR, characters must roll lessthan or equal to their Skill stat in order tosucceed at the task they are attempting.The result of the roll will then be used inplay. Sometimes, however, it is the stat

rather than the roll that is important. Besure not to confuse stats with rolls.

ROLLS OF TWELVE

In DR, a roll of 12 on the twelve-sided dieis always a failure. Its the worst roll youcan get. Whatever you are trying to do,you fail when you roll a 12.

EXAMPLE BOXES

Throughout these rules youll find illustra-tions of the various rules explained here.

Example

Here is an example of an example box.

CAPITALIZED TERMS

Many of the terms used in DR are written

with the first letter capitalized. This is todistinguish between the technical DRsense of the word and its everyday mean-ing. For instance, the phrase, GuntherBlocked means Gunther used his BlockSkill somehow, while the phrase, Guntherblocked means he got in someones way

somehow, but did not use his Block Skill.When you see a capitalized word whichdoes not normally take a capital, youllknow the word is used in its DR sense.

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

DR measures sizes and distances in me-tres. If you are more familiar with imperialmeasurements, consult this table to makeconversions.

Imperial to metric conversion table

When you

know

Multiply

by

To find

inches 25 millimetres

inches 2.5 centimetres

feet 30 centimetres

feet 0.3 metres

yards 90 centimetres

yards 0.9 metres

rods 5 metres

miles 1.6 kilometres

DOMINION GAMES

Dominion Rules was created in the late1990s by Dominion Games, which dis-tributed parts of the game for free and soldother parts online. The people behindDominion Games are now offering all ofDR to the public for free.

Meanwhile, a cybersquatter has taken overo u r f o r m e r w e b s i t e ,http://www.dominiongames.com, so DR isbeing distributed from a new site,http://www.dominionrules.org.

To contact the creators, e-mail us [email protected].

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CHAPTER ONE

ATTRIBUTES AND COMPOSITES

Everyone is born with innate talents andqualities. Some people are particularlystrong. Others are notably intelligent. Stillothers just seem lucky. DR calls these in-nate traits Attributes. Attributes determinea characters starting-point for Skill devel-opment; they answer the question, Howeasy is it for my character to learn to donew things?

The actions of Combat, Priestcraft and

Witchcraft are central to the DR system.These actions are based on combinationsof Attributes called Composites. Alongwith explaining Attributes, this chapteralso explains Composites and the relatedconcept of Favourable Rounding.

THE SIX ATTRIBUTES

Every character in the DR system possessessix Attributes that define his or her basic

qualities. They are: Vigour, Agility, Stamina,Intuition, Intellect, and Luck.

For ordinary humanoids, these Attributesare measured on a scale that tends torange from 1 to 4. For non-humanoid crea-tures, the scale can be much larger: from 0to 12 or even beyond. These measure-ments are called Attribute stats. Players de-termine their characters Attribute statswhen they create their characters.

A characters Attribute stat never changes:it cannot be raised or lowered.

ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS

Characters in DR possess Skills that derivefrom their Attributes. Skills are simply

things your character knows how to do.For instance, a characters ability to read isrepresented by his Literacy Skill, whichderives from his Intellect Attribute; a char-acters ability to swim is measured by herSwimming Skill, which derives from herVigour Attribute; and so on.

Like Attributes, Skills are measured interms of stats. But unlike Attribute stats,Skill stats increase over time. This is known

as Advancement. Also unlike Attributes,Skill stats have no maximum: they can beas high as you can make them. Note,however, that a roll of 12 on a twelve-sided die always failseven if your char-acters Skill stat is 18. See chapter two,Skills.

When you create your character, her Skillstats start out equal to the Attribute statfrom which the Skills derive. You then im-

prove your characters Skill stats with Ad-vancement Points.

Example

You have just created a new character with thefollowing Attribute stats:

VIG: 2 AGI: 1 STA: 3 INTU: 3 INTE: 1LUCK: 2

Until you improve your Skill stats with Ad-vancement Points, all your characters VigourSkills start at 2. All your characters Agility Skillsstart at 1. All Stamina Skills start at 3. And soon for all six Attributes.

Though you can use Advancement Pointsto improve your characters Skill stats, hisAttribute stats will never change.

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below. Each Attributes related Skills aredescribed in chapter two, Skills.

THE VIGOUR ATTRIBUTE

Vigour is a measure of a characters inher-ent physical ability. Vigour is an expressionof how big, strong, and powerful yourcharacter is naturally. Note, however, thateven characters that are naturally inclinedto be weak (those with a Vigour of 1) canadvance their Vigour Skills. It just takesthem longer.

THE AGILITY ATTRIBUTE

Agility is the measure of how dextrous andnimble a character is. Agility is an impor-tant quality for a good warrior, but is alsogreatly valued by spies, thieves, and othersneaks.

THE STAMINA ATTRIBUTE

Stamina is the measurement of a charac-ters fitness, endurance, and generalhealth. Of course, a sickly person can take

measures to improve his health and fitness(by improving Stamina Skills), but theStamina Attribute stays the same, for healthis to some extent predetermined. For ex-ample, a very fit person may nonethelessbe prone to colds, or may fall victim to ahereditary disease. There are only a fewStamina Skills, but they are very importantto game play.

THE INTUITION ATTRIBUTE

The Intuition Attribute is the measure of acharacters intuition. Intuition is the abilityto perceive or know things without con-scious use of reasoning. It is in some waysthe opposite of the Intellect Attribute: it isthe power to know without reasoning,

whereas Intellect is the power to know byreasoning. Religious impulses are closelytied to irrational ways of knowing. Intui-tion is therefore important for Priests.

THE INTELLECT ATTRIBUTE

Intellect covers all facets of a charactersintelligence: reasoning, memory, wit, un-derstanding, perception, and so on. Thereis an endless number of possible IntellectSkills. Most anything that can be knowncan be made into an Intellect Skill.

THE LUCK ATTRIBUTE

Some people are just lucky. Others seemcursed. The Luck Attribute is a measure ofhow kindly fate is inclined to treat a char-acter. There are no Luck Skills, for Luck isthe opposite of Skill. Yet even withoutSkills, Luck is an extremely useful Attrib-ute, for Luck governs Lucky Breaks.

Lucky Breaks are a way for characters toget out of a jam. A Lucky Break gives yourcharacter a Lucky Break bonus in any Skill

or Skills he makes a Skill roll for thatround. The amount of the Lucky Break bo-nus is equal to the characters Luck stat.Lucky Breaks can be lifesaversliterally!

You cant just get a Lucky Break any timeyou like. To get one, you must have a spareAdvancement Point to spend on it. If youdont have an AP in reserve, you cannotget a Lucky Break. See chapter three, Ad-vancement.

You can declare a Lucky Break at any timein a round; you do not have to declare itthe Strategy Stage (explained in chapterfive, Order of Play). But keep in mind thata Lucky Break only lasts for one round.That means that if you declare it in theResolution Stage (the last Stage of a

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round), you will only get the benefit of itduring that Stage and until the end of theround. But if you declare it at the start ofthe Timing Stage (the first Stage of around), youll get Lucky Break bonuses to

everything your character does in thatStage and the other three Stages of theround.

Example

Dame Beatrice Rideout failed her Strike roll thisround. And now she has been hit with a Strikeroll of 7! If she doesnt make a good WithstandInjury roll, shell be in big trouble. She decidesthis would be a good time to get a Lucky Break!

Dame Beatrice (WithIn 8) spends 1 AP on herLucky Break. She has a Luck stat of 3, so she

gets a +3 Lucky Break bonus. Now she can rolla 11 or less to Withstand the Strike: 8 [DameBeatrices WithIn] + 3 [Dame Beatrices LuckyBreak bonus] = 11. She rolls a 6: an excellentWithIn roll!

Note two things: (1) Beatrice had 3 spare APsbefore the Lucky Break, but now has only 2; (2)Actions Beatrice took this round before declar-ing her Lucky Break do not get the benefit ofher +3 Lucky Break bonus. For example, Bea-trice still fails the Strike roll she attempted ear-lier in the round.

A Lucky Break is not considered an action.So characters do not incur an Action Pen-alty for giving themselves a Lucky Break(on Action Penalties, see chapter two,Skills).

Example

Sir Derek Cape declares two Strikes this round.Thus, he incurs an Action Penalty of -1 for theduration of the round.

Sir Dereks Strike is normally 10, but right nowits 7 because of a -3 Injury Penalty. So SirDerek needs to roll 6 or less to make hisStrikes: 10 [Sir Dereks Strike] - 3 [Injury Pen-alty] - 1 [Action Penalty] = 6. Sir Derek decidesto give himself a Lucky Break. He spends 1 APand adds his Luck stat (3) to all subsequentSkill rolls this round.

Sir Derek now needs to roll 9 or less to Strikesuccessfully: 6 [Sir Dereks modified Strike; see

above] + 3 [Lucky Break Bonus] = 9.

Giving himself a Lucky Break did not increaseSir Dereks Action Penalty; Lucky Breaks arenot considered actions.

It is possible to get double, triple, or evengreater Lucky Breaks by spending two ormore APs.

Example

Dame Beatrice is in a jam. She has 2 APs tospare. She decides to use them both to get adouble Lucky Break. Dame Beatrices Luck statis 3. By using 2 APs instead of one, she gets toadd 6 to all Skill rolls for the duration of theround: 3 [Beatrices Luck] x 2 [number of APsspent] = 6.

Keep in mind, however, that no matterhow big your Lucky Break bonus is, a rollof 12 always fails.

COMPOSITES

Composites are derived from a combina-tion, or composite, of two Attributes.There are three Composites: the CombatComposite, the Priestcraft Composite andthe Witchcraft Composite.

The Combat Composite is a combinationof the Vigour and Agility Attributes. ThePriestcraft Composite is a combination ofthe Stamina and Intuition Attributes. TheWitchcraft Composite is a combination ofthe Intellect and Luck Attributes.

This may sound confusing but its verysimple once you see it in action.

COMPOSITES AND SKILLS

Like Attributes, Composites have associ-ated Skills (called Composite Skills). TheCombat Composite produces CombatSkills, the Priestcraft Composite gives Pri-estcraft Skills, and the Witchcraft Compos-

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ite is the basis for Witchcraft Skills.

Composites serve as the starting-point forComposite Skill stats in the same way asAttributes do for normal Skill stats. When

you create your character, her CompositeSkill stats start out equal to the Compositestat from which they derive. You then im-prove Composite Skill stats with Advance-ment Points, just like normal Skill stats. Justas you can never improve your Attributestats, you can also never improve yourComposite stats.

Example

You have created a new Priest character with a

Priestcraft Composite of 3. So all your PriestsPriest Skill stats start out as 3. You can use Ad-vancement Points to improve those stats. Butyour characters Priestcraft Composite stat willnever change.

THE COMBAT COMPOSITE

The actions used in Combatrunning, jumping, lunging, swinging, aiming, andso ontest a characters strength and nim-bleness. In DR terms, Combat tests a char-

acters Vigour and Agility. The Skills thatCombat requires cannot be said to be ex-clusively Vigour- or Agility-based. Rather, agood sword attack or a successful parry ofan opponents blow relies on both Attrib-utes. Thats why Combat Skills are notfounded solely on either the Vigour orAgility Attribute, but are based instead onthe Combat Composite.

There are nine Combat Skills: Strike, Mis-

sile Strike, Feint, Disarm, Brawling, Parry,Block, Dodge and Movement. They areexplained in chapter seven, Combat Skills.

Every character needs to work out herCombat Composite. Unlike Priestcraft andWitchcraft, which only some charactersdabble in, all characters will need to know

how to attack and defend themselves.

THE PRIESTCRAFT

COMPOSITE

The Priestcraft Composite combines theStamina and Intuition Attributes. A PriestsStamina is significant because Priestschannel divine energy through their bodieswhen using Priestcraft Skills. This can be awearisome experience for the body. It isalso wearisome on a Priests soul, which iswhy Intuition is the second part of the Pri-estcraft Composite: it serves here as ameasure of the Priests spiritual strength.

There are eleven Priestcraft Skills. Theyare: Channel, Bless, Consecrate, Curse,Defile, Heal, Smite, Wrath, Prophesy, Res-urrect, and Work Miracle.

Not all characters use Priestcraft Skills. In-deed, most characters do not. Unlessyoure planning to use Priestcraft Skills,there is no need for you to work out yourcharacters Priestcraft Composite.

THE WITCHCRAFT

COMPOSITE

The two parts of the Witchcraft Compositeare Intellect and Luck. A Witchs Intellect issignificant because a Witchs grasp of thearcane knowledge that makes spellcastingpossible is very demanding on a Witchsmind, particularly his memory and abilityto learn. A Witchs Luck is important be-

cause the supernatural powers invoked byWitches are often random and unpredict-able; a character with good fortune ismore likely to be successful in controllingthem.

There are eight Witchcraft Skills. They are:Alchemy; Arcana; Conjuring; Enchant-

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ment; Hex; Illusion; Sorcery; and Sum-moning.

Like Priestcraft, most players do not needto work out their characters Witchcraft

Composite. Only do so if you are creatinga spellcasting character.

FAVOURABLE ROUNDING

Composite stats are determined by takingthe average of the associated Attributestats. For instance, if your character has aVigour stat of 4 and an Agility stat of 2, herCombat Composite stat will be 3. But asoften as not, the average will not be a

whole number (like 2) but a fraction ordecimal (like 2.5). For example, if yourcharacter has a Vigour stat of 4 and anAgility stat of 3, the average is 3.5. But youcant have a stat of 3.5, because you cantroll decimal numbers on a twelve-sideddie. So fractions in DR must always berounded up or down.

The Favourable Rounding rule determineshow your character rounds fractions: either

in her favour (which usually means up) oragainst her (which usually means down).Characters who enjoy Favourable Round-

ing always round numbers in the way thatis most favourable to them. In the case ofComposite stats, for instance, characterswith Favourable Rounding round up. So acharacter with an average of 3.5 between

her Vigour and Agility stats gets a CombatComposite of 4. Characters who do nothave Favourable Rounding always roundnumbers in the way that is least favourableto them. So, in the example above, 3.5would be rounded down to give a CombatComposite of 3.

How, then, do characters get FavourableRounding? Whether or not a character en-

joys Favourable Rounding is determined

when you create your character. There areonly two ways to get it. First, your charac-ter can get Favourable Rounding by rollinga 1 on any of the Character Generation Ta-bles. Second, your character automaticallygets Favourable Rounding if you rollpoorly when determining your Attributestats. A poor roll is one which results in 5or less Attribute Points to divide betweenyour six Attributes.

For more on Favourable Rounding andcharacter creation, see chapter four, Char-acters.

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CHAPTER TWO

SKILLS

Skills are what make your character spe-cial. Though there are some Skills all char-acters need to be proficient in, most are amatter of personalityyours and yourcharacters. DRs Skill rules are intention-ally open-ended: while many Skills are

defined by the rules, others are left forplayers and GMs to create themselves.Characters in DR have the freedom to de-velop any Skill they put their minds to.

HOW MANY SKILLS ARE

THERE?

Below youll find rules for using a varietyof Attribute-based Skills. In other chapters,youll find rules for Combat-, Priestcraft-and Witchcraft-based Skills. Altogether,this makes for a large number of Skills

available to characters in DR.

But there is no limit to the number of Skillscharacters can have, for any ability or tal-ent a player wants his character to special-ize in can become a Skill. Players andGMs are freeand encouragedto createnew Skills and new rules for using them.

SKILL ROLLS

All Skills work in essentially the same way:by making a Skill roll on the twelve-sideddie.

To make a Skill roll, simply roll the twelve-sided die. If the result you roll is less than

or equal to your Skill stat, as modified by

any applicable modifier, you succeed.Otherwise, you fail.

Example

Cedric wants to break a door down. He must

use his Muscle Skill to do it. His Muscle stat is

4. He rolls a 10. He fails to break down the

door.

MODIFIERS

Frequently in DR the chance of making asuccessful Skill roll is increased or de-creased by modifiers. Modifiers are tempo-rary bonuses and penalties to Skill stats,

making Skill rolls easier or harder. Modifi-ers that make Skill rolls easier are calledbonuses. Modifiers that make Skill rollsharder are called penalties.

Example

Cedric wants to break a very flimsy old doordown. His Muscle stat is 4, but the GM gives

him a +5 bonus because of the doors weak-

ness. Cedric now need to roll 9 or less to suc-

ceed. He rolls a 7: success!

Common bonuses include Strike Bonuses,Armour Bonuses, Lucky Break Bonuses,Feint Bonuses, and Blessing Bonuses.Many other bonuses may also be found inthese rules, and your GM is free to createnew ones.

Common penalties include Action Penal-ties, Defence Penalties, Injury Penalties,Stealth Penalties, Called Shot Penalties,

Fervour Penalties and Difficulty Penaltiesof all sorts. This is not an exhaustive list of

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penalties, and your GM may create newones as she sees fit.

Certain modifiers can be either bonuses orpenalties, depending on the circum-

stances. These modifiers are not called bo-nuses or penalties, but simply modifiers.

When a penalty, or the combination ofseveral penalties, is greater than the penal-ized Skill stat, that Skill is impossible toperform.

Example

A ranger who has a Withstand Injury (or WithIn)

stat of 5 falls 18 m and lands in a white-hot fire.

Characters who attempt to Withstand Injuryfrom falls are subject to a -1 Falling Penalty for

every 6 m they fall (see Hazard Injury in chap-ter six, Injury). Characters attempting to With-

stand Injury from white-hot fire are subject to a

-3 Difficulty Penalty.

Altogether then, the rangers WithIn roll is at -6:

-3 (Falling Penalty) + -3 (Difficulty Penalty). But

the rangers WithIn is only 5. So it is impossible

for the ranger to Withstand the Injury.

ACTION PENALTIES

Characters can attempt to do two or morethings at the same timethat is, they canmake more than one Skill roll per round.This is particularly desirable in Combat

where, for example, a character may wantto Strike twice and Parry.

For every Skill a character attempts to useat the same time beyond the first, all Skill

stats used that round (except StaminaSkills; see below) are modified by -1. Thisis called the Action Penalty. It is one of themost important modifiers in the DR sys-tem. It is meant to reflect the difficulty of

doing two or more things at the same time.

When we say at the same time, we meanduring the same round of play. To knowwhat a round is, see the chapter five, Or-der Of Play.

Timing rolls made for the purpose of de-termining a characters Timing Score for

the round do not attract Action Penalties.See chapter five, Order of Play.

Example

Dame Beatrice (Strike 8 Dodge 5) wants to do

two things this round: Strike the soldier who is

attacking her and Dodge his attack. Since sheis using two Skills in one round (her Timing roll

doesnt count), she suffers an Action Penalty of

-1 to all Skill stats. So she must roll 4 or less toDodge successfully (5 [Dame Beatrices

Dodge] - 1 [Action Penalty] = 4) and 7 or less to

Strike successfully (8 [Dame Beatrices Strike] -

1 [Action Penalty] = 7).

There is an exception to the Action Penaltyrules for characters who use two weaponsat the same time. See Attacking with TwoWeapons in chapter seven, Combat.

ACTION PENALTIES FOR

NON-SKILL ACTIONS

The GM may also assign an Action Penaltywhere a character attempts to do two or

more things at the same time, one ofwhich is not a Skill. The GM must considerwhether the non-Skill action hinders theuse of the Skill. If so, she may assign anAction Penalty.

Example

Cedric wants to Parry his opponents attack

while also untying the rope which binds his feet.

Parry is a Combat Skill. Untying things is not a

Skill; its just one of those things that everyone

knows how to do. Yet the GM rules that Ce-

drics attempt to untie the rope will get in the

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way of his attempt to Parry his opponents at-

tack. So the GM assigns an Action Penalty.

The Action Penalty is only -1, because Cedric is

only trying to do two things: Parry and untie therope.

UNHONED SKILLS

What happens when a character is forcedto attempt something he has never done,or knows nothing about? In such cases, wesay that the character has not honed theSkill he is attempting to use. The Skill statof an unhoned Skills is equal to the Attrib-ute stat most associated with that Skill. (If

the associated Attribute stat is not given in

these rules, the GM will determine it.)

Example

Cedric the Initiate has never learnt Croellic. He

now is trying to read an inscription in that lan-

guage. The GM informs him that if he had it,

the Croellic Skill would be an Intellect Skill (likeall language Skills). So Cedric uses his Intellect

stat (3) to try to read the book. He rolls a 5. He

cannot read the book.

NO LIMIT ON SKILL STATS

Characters improve their Skill stats over

time using Advancement Points (see chap-ter three, Advancement). There is no limiton how much characters may increasetheir Skill stats. Characters may even haveSkill stats of 12 and higher. But if a charac-ter has a Skill stat of 12, how can she everfail a Skill roll? And why bother raising a

Skill stat past 12?

First, a Skill roll of 12 always fails, no mat-ter how high your Skill stat. So even if yourSkill stat is 14, you need to make a Skillroll.

Example

Mbenke Ai-Aidar is the foremost heraldry expert

in the Desert Kingdoms. He has an unmodified

Heraldry stat of 16. But even he can make mis-

takes.

Each time Mbenke uses his Heraldry Skill, hemust make a Heraldry roll. Usually he succeeds

with ease. But if he rolls 12, he automatically

fails. Nobodys perfect!

Second, Skill stats are often subject topenalties. Thus, while a character mayhave an unmodified Skill stat of 12 orhigher, his modified Skill stat may often fallbelow 12. Very advanced characters will

raise their Skill stats to 12 and higher to

counteract the effects of penalties.

Example

Mbenke Ai-Aidar encounters a party of explor-

ers from far beyond the Desert Kingdoms. They

bear heraldic devices on their shields and arms

of a sort that Mbenke has never seen but onlyread about in books.

Mbenke attempts to identify the explorers and

their homeland by a Heraldry roll. Due to the

exotic origin of these arms, the GM imposes a

Difficulty Penalty of -10. So Mbenkes Heraldrystat is 6: 16 [Mbenkes Heraldry stat] - 10 [Diffi-

culty Penalty] = 6.

FAILURE RULES

What happens when a character fails aSkill roll? Can she try again, and keep try-ing until she succeeds? Or is she foreverincapable of doing the thing she has triedto do?

It depends on the Skill. With many Skills,the character who has failed the first timemay try again.

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Example

Sir Derek Cape attempted to use his Strike Skill

(a Combat Skill) in battle. But he failed his

Strike roll. Does this mean he is incapable of

ever Striking this opponent? Of course not! SirGavin just tries again next round. Hell get him

yet!

For other Skills, however, failure is more-or-less permanent. The character who hasfailed cannot try again unless circum-

stances somehow change.

Example

Dame Beatrice (Croellic 6) attempts to read a

scroll written in Croellic. She fails her Skill roll,

rolling an 8. She cannot try again. Otherwise,she could just keep trying until she succeeded.

Later, Dame Beatrice comes across a diction-

ary of Croellic. The dictionary gives her a +2

bonus to her Croellic Skill. Circumstances have

changed: she now has a new tool to help her

decipher the scroll. So the GM lets her try

again. She rolls a 5: success!

Characters who have failed their Skill rollfor one of these more-or-less permanent

failure Skills can try them again after im-proving their Skill stat with AdvancementPoints.

Example

The last time Otto tried to pick this lock, he

couldnt do it: he failed his Skill roll. But that

was some time ago, and Ottos Pick Locks stat

is better now. So the GM lets him try again, us-

ing his newly acquired talents.

So how do you know if you can try againor not? To put it another way, how do youknow what the Failure Rules are for anyparticular Skill? If the Skill is describedhere, check its description. It will tell youthe Skills Failure Rules. If the Skill is oneyou or your GM created, ask your GM.

VIGOUR SKILLS

There are as many Vigour Skills as playerscan dream up. A few Vigour Skills are

given below. Players are encouraged to

create more (see Creating New Skills, be-low).

Climbing

Description. Characters use the ClimbingSkill to scale walls, climb trees, pull them-selves up ropes, etc. All characters are ableto climb simple obstacles like ladders andtrees with many branches. The Climbing

Skill is only necessary when the thing to

be climbed is especially challenging, suchas a sheer wall or cliff face.

Some obstacles can only be climbed usingclimbing tools like ropes and hooks. YourGM will tell you whether these tools areneeded, or if they offer any bonuses toyour Skill roll.

Skill Roll Rules. Roll less than or equal toyour Skill stat, subject to any modifiers.

Failure Rules. If you fail a Climbing roll,you fall from the thing you were climbing.Falls can cause Injury (see chapter six). Acharacter who falls is free to try the climbagain.

Grip

Description. The Grip Skill measures thestrength of a characters grip. The stronger

a characters Grip, the less likely it is thatthe character will accidentally drop or letgo of something. The GM will call on youto make a Grip roll whenever there is arisk that your character will drop or let goof something (for instance, when hanging

by your fingertips from a cliff).

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In Combat, the Grip Skill acts as a modifierto Disarm attacks. For details of how Gripworks in Combat, see the discussion of theDisarm Skill in chapter seven, Combat.

Skill Roll Rules. When using Grip outsideof Combat, roll less than or equal to your

Skill stat, subject to any modifiers. For de-tails of how Grip works in Combat, seechapter seven.

Failure Rules. A failed Grip roll means youhave dropped or let go of the thing youwere gripping.

Muscle

Description. Muscle is a catch-all Skill

used whenever a character needs to dosomething that requires nothing more thanpure muscle. Examples include breakingdown doors, bending bars, and crushingobjects.


Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skillagain. You simply arent strong enough todo whatever you are trying to do.

Swimming

Description. The Swimming Skill repre-sents how adept a character is at bothkeeping himself afloat and moving throughwater. Every character will have some abil-ity to keep himself afloat (represented by

the Vigour stat where the charactersSwimming Skill is Unhoned; see UnhonedSkills, above). But it takes practice to be-come a proficient swimmer.

A successful Swimming roll will allow thecharacter to remain afloat and move up to

a number of metres equal to her Swim-ming stat. Swimming resembles theMovement Skill in that a charactersSwimming roll may be modified by Injuryand Action Penalties, but the number of

metres moved following a successful Swimroll is always equal to her Swim stat. Seethe discussion of Movement in chapterseven, Combat.

Example

A sailor is thrown overboard by a cannon blast.

He suffers a -1 Injury Penalty.

His Swimming stat is 6. This means he needs

to roll 5 or less to Swim this round: 6 [Soldiers

Swim] - 1 [Injury Penalty] = 5.He rolls a 3: success! With this successful roll,

he is able to Swim 6 metres, i.e. the number of

metres equal to his Swim stat. When the need

arises, characters may choose to Sprint-Swim.

This is resolved in the same manner as Sprint

Movement, except that the Sprinting character

uses her Swimming stat instead of her Move-

ment stat. Note, however, that unlike theMovement Skill, the Swimming Skill always

counts as an Action for Action Penalty pur-

poses. See Sprint Movement in chapter seven,

Combat.

Where a characters modified Swimmingstat is less than 1 (as a result of Injury,rough water, or any other reason), it is im-possible for her to Swim and she sinks un-der water immediately.


Failure Rules. When a character fails aSwimming roll, or cannot make one be-cause his modified Swimming stat is lessthan 1, he makes no headway for thatround and simply splashes about getting

nowhere. Should the character fail con-secutively for a number of rounds equal to

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his Swimming stat, he is pulled under wa-ter. He must then Hold his Breath whileunder water, or eventually die (see HoldBreath, below). The submerged charactercan get back to the waters surface with a

successful Swimming roll.

AGILITY SKILLS

There are all sorts of possible Agility Skills,several of which are described below. Tocreate more, see Creating New Skills.

Horsemanship

Description. Horsemanship is a characters

ability to ride, train and select horses andother mounts. Characters with strongHorsemanship stats can do more thansimply ride their mounts. They can trainthem to do useful things.

There are many ways to use Horseman-ship. The most common way is a simpleSkill roll. The GM may call upon you to

make a Horsemanship roll whenever

something happens that requires adeptHorsemanship.

A case in point is Bolting. A horse mayBolt (panic and run away) when fright-ened. A horse will always Bolt when In-

jured in Combat. When a charactersmount Bolts, the character must make aHorsemanship roll. If she succeeds, she

regains control of the horse before it runsaway. If she fails, the horse Bolts and fleeswhatever has Injured it. The horse willkeep running for five rounds or until therider makes a successful Horsemanshiproll. (The rider can only try once perround.)

Characters who have Horsemanship statsof 5 or higher are allowed to spend theirAdvancement Points training their mounts,i.e. improving their mounts stats. But acharacter may not improve her mounts

stats beyond her own Horsemanship stat.

Example

A rider uses a horse for a mount. The horsesunmodified Timing stat is 5. The riders Horse-

manship stat is 6.

The rider may spend 6 Advancement Points to

raise the horses Timing from 5 to 6. But the

rider may not raise the horses Timing to 7, be-

cause 7 is higher than the riders Horseman-

ship stat. Only once the rider has become a

better Horseman may he improve his mountsTiming stat again.

Finally, characters with Horsemanship stats

of 7 or higher are automatically able topick out the best horse (i.e. the one withthe best skill stats). This is useful whenbuying or selecting a horse.

This Skill is called Horsemanship, but it

applies to any animal capable of beingtrained as a mount.

Skill Roll Rules. Roll less than or equal to

your Skill stat, subject to any modifiers. Orsee above.

Failure Rules. See above, or consult yourGM.

Pick Locks

Description. With Pick Locks, characterscan use tools to open locked doors orother locked objects. Some sort of tool is

needed to pick a lock.


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Especially good lock-picking tools give abonus to your Pick Locks stat. Ordinarylock-picking tools give no bonus, but pre-vent a penalty. Improvised or otherwiseinappropriate tools will result in a penalty

on your Pick Locks stat.

Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skillagain. You are unable to pick this lock.

Pick Pockets

Description. This Skill measures a charac-ters aptitude for stealing from peoplespockets, or elsewhere on their person,without being caught.


your Skill stat, subject to any modifiers.

Failure Rules. The person you are trying torob discovers you!

Stealth

Description. Stealth measures the charac-ters ability to move without being de-tected by others. This is a combination ofmoving silently, making use of available

cover and knowing when to move andwhen to stay still.

A character who makes a successfulStealth roll imposes a Stealth Penalty onthe Alertness stats of anyone within ear-shot, sight-range, etc. A character who failsher Stealth roll has the option of not mov-ing that roundeven though she declared

movement in the Strategy Stage.

Example

A spy attempts to sneak past a nightwatchman

at Raith Hall. His Movement stat is 8 and his

Stealth stat is 7.

He rolls his Stealth: a 10. Failure! He must de-

cide immediately whether to risk it and move

without the benefit of Stealth, or stay put and

try again next round.

He decides that hes in no hurry and would

rather play it safe. So he doesnt move at allthis round, but simply rests motionless, trying

not to attract anyones attention.

Having made a successful Stealth roll, it isup to you to determine how Stealthy yourcharacter wants to be. The Stealth Penalty

you choose to impose upon the Alertnessstats of people nearby will also apply toyour own Movement stat, thus slowing youdown to the same degree as it concealsyou. Its up to you to decide how Stealthyyou need to be, and how slow you can af-ford to be. You can never impose a StealthPenalty higher than your own Stealth roll.

Example

Next round, the spy tries again. This time hemakes a successful Stealth roll with a 5.

Now it is up to him to decide how Stealthy he

wants to be. He guesses that the nightwatch-

man is probably a fairly Alert person. So he de-

cides to play it safe and move very Stealth-

ilyand therefore very slowly. He sets theStealth Penalty at 5.

The nightwatchman now suffers a -5 Stealth

Penalty to this Alertness for the duration of theround. But the spy also suffers a -5 Stealth

Penalty: to his own Movement stat. Thus, the

spy moves only 3 metres this round: 8 [Spys

Movement stat] - 5 [Stealth Penalty] = 3.

Skill Roll Rules. Declare your Stealth Skillin the Strategy Stage and the direction in

which you intend to move. Roll less thanor equal to your Stealth stat in the Modifier

Stage. Recall that if you fail your StealthSkill, you have the option of aborting yourmovement for that round.

Failure Rules. See above.

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Timing

Description. Timing is a general measure-ment of how quick a characters reflexesare. Timing is an especially important Agil-ity Skill, for it is used to determine the Or-

der of Play (see chapter five).

Apart from this special way of using Tim-

ing, it can be used in any situation that re-quires rapid reactions. Your GM will tellyou when to make a Timing roll.

Skill Roll Rules. To know how to use Timingto determine the order of play, see chapterfive, Order Of Play.

To use Timing in other ways, roll less thanor equal to your Skill stat, subject to any

modifiers.

Failure Rules. A failed Timing roll usuallymeans you were slower than someone orsomething. Your GM will explain the con-sequences of failing your Timing roll.

STAMINA SKILLS

There are only a few Stamina Skills, butthey are very important to game play.Stamina Skills are measures of a charac-ters fitness, endurance, and capacity towithstand deprivation.

Stamina Skills are unlike all other Skills in

one crucial way: Stamina Skills are neversubject to Injury Penalties or Action Penal-

ties.

Example

Raven the Unscrupulous is suffering from a -3

Injury Penalty and a -1 Action Penalty. These

penalties modify all Ravens Skill rollsexcept

his Stamina Skillsby -4.

Ravens Withstand Injury stat (a Stamina Skill),

as modified by his armour, is 7. So if Raven is

Injured this round, he will need to roll less than

or equal 7not 3to Withstand the Injury.

Three Stamina Skills are described below:Hold Breath, Withstand Injury, and With-stand Magic.

Hold Breath

Description. Anyone can hold his breath.The problem is that you can only do it solong before you have to breathe again ordie. The Hold Breath Skill measures howlong a character can go without air.

All characters can go without breathing for

a number of rounds equal to their HoldBreath stat without suffering any adverseconsequences. After that time, charactersmust make a successful Hold Breath rollevery round. For every round they fail,they suffer 1 Injury Point. Eventually thecharacter must breathe again or die.


your Skill stat, subject to any modifiers.

Failure Rules. You take 1 Injury Point. (Seechapter six, Injury.)

Withstand Injury

Description. One of the most importantSkills in the DR system is Withstand Injury(WithIn for short). WithIn measures towhat extent a character can withstand or

endure Injury of all sorts. By Injury ismeant any action or event that causesphysical harm, from falling off a cliff to be-ing attacked by an enemy to contracting adisease. Injury is fully explained in chaptersix, Injury.

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Whenever a character is Injured, she mustmake a WithIn roll. If she rolls greater thanher WithIn stat, she fails to Withstand theInjury and takes the full amount of InjuryPoints caused by the Injury.

If she rolls less than or equal to her WithIn

stat, she Withstands the Injury and takesonly some of the Injury Points it caused:the difference between the number of In-

jury Points caused by the Injury and thecharacters WithIn roll, subject to the rulethat it is impossible to completely With-stand Injury, no matter what a characterrolls. No Injury will ever do less than 1 In-

jury Point.

Example

Sir Derek has Struck Otto with a roll of 4. So

Otto must make a Withstand Injury roll. Ottosmodified WithIn is 6.

If Otto rolls higher than 6, he fails his WithIn roll

and takes 4 Injury Points.

If Otto rolls between 1 and 6, he makes a suc-

cessful WithIn roll. He then subtracts his WithIn

roll from Sir Dereks Strike roll (4) and takes the

difference in Injury Points.

However, no Injury will ever do less than 1 In- jury Point. So even if Otto rolls a 4, 5 or 6, he

will still take 1 Injury Point.

Otto rolls a 1: success! So Otto takes only 3

Injury Points from Sir Dereks Strike: 4 (Sir

Dereks Strike roll) - 1 (Ottos WithIn roll) = 3.

The WithIn rules given above apply unlessstated otherwise. For example, in these

cases a successful WithIn roll means thatthe character completely avoids all Injury.An example is the WithIn roll made to de-

termine whether a character contracts anIllness or Disease (see chapter six, Injury).

Related to the WithIn Skill is a special statcalled the Injury stat. The Injury stat is not

a Skill; it is simply a stat used to keep trackof how Injured a character is. An unInjuredcharacters Injury stat is equal to his un-modified WithIn stat. When a character isInjured, his Injury stat drops, but his

WithIn stat remains the same. The Injurystat, and the related concepts of InjuryPoints and the Injury Penalty, are all ex-plained in chapter six, Injury.

Characters can give themselves bonuses totheir WithIn stats by wearing armour. Notethat these bonuses apply to the charactersWithIn stat, not her Injury stat. A charac-ters Injury stat is never greater than her

unmodified WithIn stat. For more on howarmour helps characters Withstand Injury,see chapter eight, Weapons and Armour.

Skill Roll Rules. Roll less than or equal toyour Skill stat, subject to any modifiers(particularly modifiers generated by ar-mour).

Failure Rules. A failed WithIn roll means

you take full Injury Points from the Injury;

see above. A successful WithIn roll meansyou take only some of the Injury Points,unless otherwise stated elsewhere in theserules; see above.

Withstand Magic

Description. Another important StaminaSkill is Withstand Magic (WithMag forshort). Characters use WithMag to resist

the effects of Magic. The Magics source

may be from Witch Spells, magically-endowed objects, or magical creatures.

If the Magic at play causes Injury (such asSorcery Spells and the magic of somemagical creatures), use WithIn instead ofWithMag to resist the Injury.

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In most cases, a person or creature againstwhom magic is used may make a WithMagroll and attempt to resist the Spells effects.There are some forms of Magic, however,that are impossible to resist.

A person or creature exposed to Magic can

always decline to make the roll if hedoesnt want to Withstand it (for instance,when the Magic benefits him somehow).

The GM may ask a character to make aWithMag roll without explaining why. Thereason will be clear enough if, for exam-ple, the character is battling a Witch. But

the character may not know that there is aWitch, or a magical creature, or someone

using a magical item, in the area. If that isthe case, and the character makes a suc-cessful WithMag roll, hell know only thatsomeone or something tried to use magicupon him. If he wants to know who orwhy, hell have to find out for himself.

For more on Withstand Magic and Spells,see the discussions of Resistance in chap-

ter eleven, Spellcasting.


Failure Rules. You are affected by themagic. The GM will tell you the magicseffect.

INTUITION SKILLS

Intuition Skills are not as obvious as Vigouror Agility Skills. For Intuition is abouthunches and gut feelings, rather thanlearnt abilities. Yet Intuition Skills do exist.A few are given below.

Intuition can be faulty. Sometimes ourhunches and gut feelings turn out to bewrong. We dont find out, of course, untilits too late. Thats why GMs usually makesecret Intuition Skill rolls, hiding the result

from the player using the Intuition Skill. Ifthe GM makes a successful Skill roll, hetells the player the truth. If he fails the roll,he tells the player that she has no intuitionabout the matter. But if the GM fails theroll with a 12, he secretly tells the playersomething wrong and misleading. So be-ware: you cant always trust your instincts!

Alertness

Description. This Skill measures a charac-ters innate ability to sense danger or otherirregularities in the world around him.

When a character is confronted with a po-tential threat or oddity of which she is un-aware, the GM may allow her to make anAlertness roll. A successful roll means thecharacter is Alerted to the source of thedanger or abnormal circumstance. She

may act immediately by using any Defen-sive Combat Skill or any non-Combat Skill.However, she may not respond with anOffensive Combat Skill until the nextround.

Use of the Alertness Skill is involuntary.Therefore, it does not count as an actionfor the purpose of Action Penalties.

Skill Roll Rules. Since Alertness is a sort of

gut feeling or sixth sense, it works pas-sively. A character need not declare hisAlertness Skill to use it. Instead, the GMsimply tells the player to make an Alert-ness roll (or, if the GM really wants to bereally sneaky, she will make the roll se-cretly herself). The player or GM will at-

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tempt to roll less than or equal to the char-acters Alertness stat, subject to any modi-fier the GM sees fit to impose.

Failure Rules. A failed Alertness roll means

simply that the character is not Alerted tothe danger or abnormality in question.

There may be no consequence to this atall. Or it may cost the character his life!

Direction Sense

Description. Direction Sense is the abilityto tell north from south, east from west,and generally where you are without con-sulting a map, looking at the stars, or em-

ploying other rational methods.

To use Direction Sense, tell the GM that

you want to use your intuition to deter-mine which way is which. He will makethe Skill roll secretly. She will either tellyou That way is north, etc. or he will tellyou that you cannot tell. But beware: if herolled a 12, he will tell you the wrong di-rection.

Skill Roll Rules. Tell the GM your DirectionSense stat. He will then make a Skill roll,attempting to roll less than or equal toyour Skill stat (subject to any modifiers).

Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skill againright away. You are unable to sense direc-tion at this time or in this place. The GMmay allow you to try again later. Or if you

rolled 12, the GM will give you a mislead-

ing response (see above).

Lie Detection

Description. Lie Detection is the ability tojudge whether a person is lying or tellingthe truth.

To use Lie Detection, inform your GM thatyou think someone may be lying. He willthen make your Lie Detection roll secretly,and report back to you. He will tell youthat you think you are being lied to, or you

think you are being told the truth, or youcannot tell. If the GM rolls a 12 he willdeceive you.

Skill Roll Rules. Tell the GM your Lie De-tection stat. He will then make a Skill roll,attempting to roll less than or equal toyour Skill stat (subject to any modifiers).

Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skill again

about the same supposed lie. But you canattempt to detect other lies that you sus-pect that same person of telling. Or if yourolled 12, the GM will give you a mislead-ing response.

Weather Sense

Description. Weather Sense is the ability topredict the weather. Some people say theycan feel it in their bones.

To use the Skill, tell your GM you want touse it. She will then make your WeatherSense roll secretly, and report back. Shewill either tell you what you think theweather will be, or say you cannot tell. Ifthe GM rolls a 12 she will deceive you.

Skill Roll Rules. Tell the GM your WeatherSense stat. He will then make a Skill roll,

attempting to roll less than or equal to

your Skill stat (subject to any modifiers).

Only weather coming in the near futurecan be predicted using Weather Sense. Atmost, characters can use Weather Sense todetermine weather coming in the next 48hours. For any attempt to use Weather

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Sense to predict weather coming later thanin the next 12 hours, the GM will imposeDifficulty Penalties.

Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skill again

right away. You can try again in 3-6 hourstime, as determined by the GM. Or if you

rolled 12, the GM will give you a mislead-ing response.

INTELLECT SKILLS

There is an unlimited number of possibleIntellect Skills. Anything a character de-

sires to put his mind to (and spend Ad-

vancement Points on!), she can learn.Only a few Intellect Skills are includedhere. You are encouraged to make newone. Here are some examples of possibleIntellect Skills.

Any language (other than a charactersnative tongue) can be learnt as an Intel-

lect Skill.

Social skills such as Etiquette, Dance,

Song, and playing musical instrumentscan make a character more popularwith his fellowsin a kings court or acommon pub.

Navigation and Astronomy are essen-tial for seafaring characters. Geographyis also useful.

Heraldry

Description. Heraldry is the art of reading,interpreting, and creating heraldic devices.Heraldic devices include coats of arms,flags, and banners. Heraldry is especiallyuseful for soldiers in battle, who use theSkill to tell friend from foe.

A successful Heraldry roll may reveal notonly the name of the person wearing thecolours, etc. but also his genealogy andplace of origin.


More obscure coats of arms such as thosefrom faraway lands may attract a penalty.

Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skillagain.

Literacy

Description. Literacy is the ability to read

texts written in your native language. Anycharacter with a Literacy stat of 3 or more

is considered Literate: he can read mosttexts in his mother tongue without makinga Literacy roll. The GM will only ask Liter-ate characters to make Literacy rolls if thetext they are trying to read is technical, ob-scure or otherwise difficult to understand.In such cases the GM may impose a Diffi-culty Penalty.

Skill Roll Rules. Roll less than or equal toyour Skill stat, subject to any modifiers.This is usually unnecessary for Literatecharacters.

Failure Rules. You cannot try the Skillagain. You are unable to read the text.

Medical Lore

Description. Medical Lore increases the

rate at which Injured characters heal. TheSkill is explained in chapter six, Injury.

Skill Roll Rules. See chapter six, Injury.

Failure Rules. See chapter six, Injury.

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Tracking

Description. Characters skilled in Trackingcan follow the trail of creatures or charac-ters by reading the marks they leave inpassing.


your Skill stat, subject to any modifiers, forevery 1 km (1000 metres) of tracking.

The GM may impose various bonuses andpenalties to take account of such factors asthe type of terrain, the amount of timesince the trail was made, weather effectsand the level of traffic in the area. The ex-

act modifier is in the GMs discretion, buthere are some guidelines.

Failure Rules. You cannot try to track againon this stretch of trail. You may try to pickup the trail again after having travelled 1km from your current location (assuming,of course, that you somehow remain onthe trail).

LUCK SKILLS

There are no Luck Skills. But Luck is still avery useful Attribute, because it is the basisfor Lucky Breaks. See chapter one, Attrib-utes and Composites.

CREATING NEW SKILLS

Creating new Skills is easy. Start by comingup with the Skill you want to create. Lets

take Juggling as our new Skill. Next, de-termine which Attribute the new Skill re-lates to. You should consult your GMabout this if youre not certain. Juggling is

clearly an Agility Skill. Finally, write up abrief description of what the Skill does,

how you roll it, and what happens if youfail your Skill roll. Thats it: a new Skill.

JugglingDescription. Juggling allows characters tokeep a number of objects (such as balls,knives, or flaming torches) in the air con-tinuously. In the most simple form of jug-

gling, the juggler uses three balls. Morecomplex forms involve many more ob-

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Guidelines for tracking modifiers

Terrain type Modifier

Soft (mud, snow, dirt) +2 to +4

Normal (grass, forest floor) +1, 0 or -1

Hard (stone, riverbed, indoors) -2 to -4

Days passed since trail made Penalty

Less than one day 0

One day -1

Two days -2

Three days or more -3 to -12

Weather since trail made Penalty

Light snow -1

Light rain -2

Heavy snow -2 to -4

Heavy rain -3 to -6

Traffic since trail made Modifier

None +2

Slight (occasional animal or person) +1 to 0

Regular (frequent animal or human-

oid traffic)

-1 to - 2

Heavy (constant traffic, either in part

or all of the trail)

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jects, or objects that are much more diffi-cult to throw and catch.

Skill Roll Rules. Roll less than or equal toyour Agility Skill stat, subject to any modi-

fiers. You must repeat the roll once per

round for every round you want to con-tinue juggling.

Failure Rules. You drop one or more of theitems you attempted to juggle.

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CHAPTER THREE

ADVANCEMENT

Characters develop physically and men-tally with the passage of time and expo-

sure to new challenges and experiences.

This is called Advancement. The Ad-

vancement rules described here explain

how players apply Advancement Points

awarded by the Games Master to develop

the knowledge, abilities and good fortune

of their characters.

ADVANCEMENT POINTS

The GM gives players Advancement Points

(APs) as rewards for good play. Usually this

is done at the end of the playing session,

though GMs may give APs out at any time.

(Players also get APs when creating new

characters; see chapter four, Characters.)

An ordinary session of play (meaning 3-5

hours of fairly successful adventuring) will

usually result in each character gaining 8-

15 APs.

In giving and receiving APs, GMs and

players should remember that DR is de-

signed so that Skill stats become harder to

improve as they increase. For instance, it

costs 4 APs to go from a Skill stat of 4 to a

Skill stat of 5, but 9 APs to go from 9 to 10.GMs shouldnt give out more APs to char-

acters with high stats just because advanc-

ing such high stats is costly; its supposed

to be hard to advance that high. Characters

seeking to advance very high stats will just

have to play more, play better, or be pa-tient.

We said earlier that characters gain APs for

good play. But what is good play? Ulti-

mately that is a matter for the GM to de-

cide. But here are a few examples of what

players can do to earn APs from Games

Masters.

First, good play is inspired roleplaying. A

player who really get into his charac-

terthinking, speaking and acting like

himdeserves to be recognized with APs.

Second, good play involves heroic and

selfless acts. Players who put their charac-

ters life and limb on the line for the bene-

fit of the party should be rewarded. (Note,

however, the difference between courageand foolhardiness!)

Third, good play means coming up with

clever ideas. Bold and inventive schemes,

solutions to difficult problems, and quick

thinking should be rewarded by GMs.

Finally, good play can also include things

players do as background work in prepara-

tion for adventures. Some players may not

be great roleplayers, but may nonetheless

contribute to game play in other ways.

Such preparation can include: fleshing out

their characters history, personality, weap-

onry, etc.; knowing a lot about the rules or

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their dominion; creating new Skills, Spells,

or other DR-compatible rules; even paint-

ing figurines or drawing pictures of the

partys characters. Background work such

as this enriches the game and should be

rewarded with APs.

So much for how to get APs. Once youhave them, what can you do with them?

Players can spend APs in several ways. The

most important ways to spend APs are on

Skill improvement and Lucky Breaks. Start-

ing characters use APs to equip themselves

with armour and weapons. Your GM may

allow more advanced characters to do this,

too. APs are also used in other ways de-

scribed below.

SKILL IMPROVEMENT

The main way of spending Advancement

Points is to improve your characters Skills.

Remember the difference here between

Skills and Attributes: Skills can be im-

proved through time by using APs, but APs

cannot be spent on Attributes because At-

tributes never change.

To improve a Skill, you must spend a

number of APs equal to the current un-

modified stat of the Skill you want to im-

prove. Note that you use the unmodified

stat to determine how many APs to spend.

Example

Raven the Unscrupulous (unmodified WithIn 4)

wants to improve his WithIn stat to 5. This costs

4 APs.

Note that Raven wears leather armour, which

gives him a +2 Armour Bonus to his WithIn stat.

So Ravens modified WithIn before he spent

the 4 APs was 6: 4 [Ravens unmodified WithIn]+ 2 [Armour Bonus] = 6. Now Ravens modified

WithIn is 7: 5 [Ravens new unmodified WithIn]

+ 2 [Armour Bonus] = 7.

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Skill improvement table

Current stat

Desired

stat1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1 - - - - - - - - - - -

2 1 - - - - - - - - - -

3 3 2 - - - - - - - - -

4 6 5 3 - - - - - - - -

5 10 9 7 4 - - - - - - -

6 15 14 12 9 5 - - - - - -

7 21 20 18 15 11 6 - - - - -

8 28 27 25 22 18 13 7 - - - -

9 36 35 33 30 26 21 15 8 - - -

10 45 44 42 39 35 30 24 17 9 - -

11 55 54 52 49 45 40 34 27 19 10 -

12 66 65 63 60 56 51 45 38 30 21 12


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Example

Ursula the Witch (Stealth 4) wants to improve

her Stealth stat to 6. To raise it to 6, she must

spend a total of 9 APs: 4 APs to go from Stealth

4 to Stealth 5, and 5 APs to go from Stealth 5 to

Stealth 6.

As these examples demonstrate, its fairly

easy to figure out how many APs are

needed to make small improvements to

Skill stats. Larger improvements, such as

raising ones Dodge from 3 to 8, are a little

more complicated. The Skill Improvement

Table simplifies this process. To determine

how many APs are needed to go from yourcurrent stat to your desired stat, simply

match your current stat to your desired

stat. As the table reveals, it is technically

possible to raise a low stat quite a bit with

relatively few APs. For instance, a stat of 1

can be raised to 5 by spending 10 APs. But

while this is technically possible, your GM

may not allow it in every case.

Example

Titus Deepstriker (Horsemanship 3) didnt ride

a horse, or any other mount, at any time during

his last adventure. Titus player, Ted, now wants

to use the 12 APs he gained in that adventure

to increase Titus Horsemanship to 6.

Some GMs may allow this. But Teds GM does

not. She feels it doesnt make sense for Titus to

go from Horsemanship 3 to Horsemanship 6

without more experience or training in the Skill.

So she allows Ted to improve Titus Horseman-

ship to 4 only. He can increase it again after the

next adventure.

The Skill Improvement Table gives results

for Skill stats between 1 and 11. Charac-

ters are free, however, to advance their

Skills to 12 and beyond. There is no limit

to how high a character may advance a

given Skill. A player may choose, for in-

stance, to advance her characters Strike

stat to 15. That way, the character wouldhave a good chance of hitting his target

even with a -7 Strike Penalty. Keep in

mind, however, that a roll of 12 always

fails. Even if a characters modified Pick

Locks stat is 14, a roll of 12 means he

failed.

LUCKY BREAKS

Another way characters can spend Ad-vancement Points is on Lucky Breaks. A

character cannot get a Lucky Break unless

he has at least 1 AP to spend on it. The AP

is expended whether the Lucky Break is

helpful to the character or not.

Lucky Breaks are explained in chapter two,

Attributes and Composites.

EQUIPPING CHARACTERS

New characters may use their starting Ad-

vancement Points not only to improve

their Skills but to acquire the weapons and

armour they need to begin their careers.

See chapter four, Characters.

GMs may also permit established charac-

ters to spend APs on weapons and armour.See chapter eight, Weapons and Armour.

OTHER USES

Other uses for APs are provided for else-

where in these rules. For instance, charac-

CHAPTER 3: ADVANCEMENT

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ters can use APs to specialize in certain

weapons: see Weapon Specialization in

chapter eight, Weapons and Armour. Also,

characters can use APs to improve their

mounts. See Horsemanship in chapter two,

Skills.

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Credit: Oksana Romanova

CHAPTER FOUR

CHARACTERS

Characters are the heart of roleplaying.Each player designs a persona throughwhich to experience the fantasy worldgoverned by the Games Master. Creating acharacter is the one of the most imagina-tive parts of roleplaying. DR is designed toallow players to create characters any waythey want themunburdened by unneces-sary limitations to their abilities, powers orpersonalities.

SIX STEPS TO CHARACTER

CREATION

This chapter explains how to create a DRcharacter in six steps:

Step One: Think about your character.

Step Two: Roll on the Character Gen-eration Table.

Step Three: Determine your charactersAttribute stats.

Step Four: Determine your charactersComposite stats.

Step Five: Determine your charactersstarting Advancement Points.

Step Six: Apply your AdvancementPoints.

Thats all it takes. You can create yourcharacter as you read along. But its best toread the rules over completely first.

In each of the six steps, youll find an ex-ample box like the one below showingyou how to create a new character.

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Teds new character

Ted is new to Dominion Rules and wants tocreate a character. Hell do so by following thesix steps described in this chapter.

STEP ONE: THINK ABOUT

YOUR CHARACTER

To create a DR character, start by thinkingabout the sort of character you want toroleplay. The following questions may helpyou think about who you want yourcharacter to be.

What is your characters background?

Roleplaying worlds are often places wherehierarchies of class and power are clearlydefined: emperors, kings, aristocrats, andreligious authorities often rule over thecommon people. Where does your charac-ter fit in the scheme of things? Is he apeasant, landless and poor? Or a titledaristocrat? Also, consider your characterslife. Most players create characters that areat least young adults. Many are mucholder. What has your character been doing

all these years? What country does shecome from, and what city or village?Where is her family, or does she have any?

What sort of creature do you want to play?

In Dominion Rules, players can makecharacters out of any creature, so long astheir GM does not object. In consultationwith their Games Master, players can evencreate entirely new creatures and races touse as PCs. You should start by thinkingabout what sort of creature you want toplay. Even if youre not exactly sure, youshould try to narrow it down. For instance,do you want to be humanoid, i.e. anupright-walking creature with two handsand feet, or do you want to be some sort of

quadruped, or a flying creature, or evensome sort of sea creature?

What kind of creature you play is likely tobe tied closely to what sort of dominion

your GM intends to run. If your dominionis historical rather than fantasy, for in-stance, your character will have to be hu-man. Be sure to consult with your GM.

What kind of personality do you want yourcharacter to have?

Perhaps you want to play an honourablegentleman, loyal to his king and reverentof his god. Or perhaps you want a charac-ter who is skeptical of authority and lovesto push her luck. You may choose to play arecluse, full of idiosyncrasies and not toogood with people. An intellectual. An art-ist. A religious zealot. Whatever youchoose, be sure to decide upon the sort ofpersonality you would like to roleplay be-fore you determine your characters stats.

What motivates your character?

Chances are, your character will risk his

life on a routine basis. Why does he do it?Is it love of money? The desire for glory? Toavenge a death, or right a wrong? Or isyour character simply a thug who likes tobeat on things? Perhaps your characterwould rather live a quiet life, but just cantkeep out of trouble. Knowing your charac-ters motivation will make it easier to makegood decisions at crucial points in thegame.

CHARACTER STYLES

Once you have thought about these ques-tions, you may want to consider someclassic RPG character styles. These are of-fered to you simply for guidance. You donthave to choose any of them. You are al-

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ways free to create your own style, or tocreate a character with no clear style at all.But these styles may help you think aboutyour character.

The SoldierThe Soldier style of character is one wholives for battle. Soldiers are professionalwarriors, expert in the arts of armour,weaponry and tactics. They will oftenchoose to master particular weapons suchas bows (an Archer), blades (a Swords-man), or siege engines (an Engineer).

Soldiers specialize above all in CombatSkills. Besides these crucial Skills, they of-ten possess other Skills related to theirmain interest, such as Heraldry (useful fortelling friend from foe on the battlefield!),or Horsemanship.

A typical variation on the Soldier style isthe Knight. Knights are the premier sol-diers, schooled not only in the basics ofsoldiering, but also in such skills as Eti-quette, History, Literacy, and Falconry.Most importantly, though, knights are ex-pert horsemen. Their horses are more than

just mounts; they are weapons of war.Male knights are styled Sir. Femaleknights are styled Dame.

The Crusader

The Crusader style of character is a holywarrior, a character whose faith motivatesher every act. Crusaders attempt to spreadtheir religion by travelling to heathen

lands, conquering their peoples, and es-tablishing churches and shrines to the TrueFaith (whatever that may be).

Crusaders specialize in Combat Skills asSoldiers do, but may also dabble in Priest-craft. Since it is difficult to be both a pow-erful warrior and a powerful cleric,

Crusader-style characters tend to special-ize in only a few basic Priestcraft Skills,such as Bless and Heal.

The Priest

The Priest style of character is one whodevotes his life entirely to the service of hisdeity. Priestcraft is, of course, the speciali-zation of Priest-style characters, and itsrigours are such that characters specializ-ing in Priestcraft rarely advance far in otherSkills.

Some Priests focus on particular PriestcraftSkills. The Bless Skill tends to be the speci-ality of Clergy, whose ability makes themrevered by their flocks. More prized thanthese are Healers, the greatest of whomcan make the blind see and the crippledwalk again. Prophets are at once reveredand suspected by the common folk, andthus tend to be solitary types. But thosegreat Holy Men who master the Resurrec-tion and Work Miracle Skills are cele-brated throughout the ages.

For more, see chapter nine, Priestcraft.

The Monk/Nun

The Monk or Nun style of character isabove all an intellectual. Monasteries andnunneries are places of devotion and wor-ship, but they are equally places of study,renowned for their libraries and learning.Monks and their monasteries are theguardians of knowledge.

In spite of their outwardly religious ap-pearance, monks and nuns tend to special-ize more in worldly Skills than in Priest-craft. They can often read, write, and speakseveral languages. They are also knowl-edgeable in such fields as History, Litera-ture, Medical Lore, Geography, and Phi-losophy. Monks and Nuns also tend to

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possess more practical Skills such as Ani-mal Husbandry, Farming, Wine-makingand Brewing. Due to their great learning,Monks and Nuns are valuable companionswhen adventuring in foreign lands.

The Merchant Adventurer

Merchant Adventurers live for wealth andthe power it can bring. The challenge ofmaking a profit inspires Merchant Adven-turers to travel the world in quest of new,untapped sources of wealth. These may begold, spices, natural resources, religiousartifacts or (amongst the worst kind ofMerchant Adventurer) slaves. In general,

the Merchant Adventurer does not letmoral quibbling get between him and a bitof coin. Pirates, who can be seen as a sea-faring cross between Merchant Adventur-ers and Rogues (see below), are particu-larly notorious for their merciless tech-niques.

Merchant Adventurers tend to specialize inCombat Skills above all else. But they alsoprize foreign languages and some findsuch Agility Skills as Pick Locks and PickPockets useful in the course of their finan-cial transactions.

The Rogue

Merchant Adventurers generally operatewithin the law. They may push at its edgesoccasionally, but for the most part they areconsidered law-abiding (and tax-paying)subjects of their princes, kings or emper-ors. Rogues are different. They are villainsfor hire (though some are self-employed!).Most Rogues are Thieves, be they high-waymen (who prey on travellers), burglars(who specialize in breaking into secureareas and stealing from them), or cut-purses (petty thieves who make their livingby stealing from unsuspecting victims incrowded places like streets and pubs).

Spies are another type of Rogue. Spies arehired by the rich and powerful to keep aneye on their enemiesrival kings, mer-chants, or even priests. Spies who work forthe government are known as Diplomats

or Ambassadors. The worst type of Roguesare Assassins, who have no qualms aboutkilling total strangers in return for a hand-some wage.

Not all Rogues are evil, however. SomeThieves steal from the rich to give to thepoor. Some Spies hold high office in theservice of benevolent kings. You dont haveto be an ethical monster to be a Rogue,but it helps!

Rogues value stealth very highly, and thusspecialize in Agility Skills. For the mostpart, Rogues would rather stab someone inthe back than fight face-to-face. Yet theyalso hone their Combat Skills.

The Ranger

Rangers are characters that adventure innature to preserve the countryside, main-tain trails, fend off marauding creatures, orguard borders. Foresters, the most com-mon sort of Ranger, are devoted to wood-land habitats. Mountaineers work inmountainous regions. Coastguards work atsea. Rangers are as varied as the environ-ments they inhabit.

Rangers often become experts in particularspecies of animals, plants and other crea-tures. For instance, a Forester working topreserve borderlands from the onslaught ofhostile Goblin tribes may become an ex-pert in Goblin languages, fighting tech-niques and behaviour. Apart from theseSkills, Rangers tend to value Combat andAgility Skills.

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The Fool

The Fool style of character is one whotrusts in his Luck and little else. Fools areexperts in the art of survival and in such

entertainments as Music, Poetry, and Ac-robatics. Yet they are rank amateurs at al-most everything else. Fools are thought tobe insane, and they often are. It is impos-sible to get a straight answer out of them.They prefer to rhyme and sing than tospeak sensibly, and they can be terriblecowards (though many, after frequent beat-ings by those who do not appreciate theirconstant insubordination, have quite goodCombat stats). Yet in spite of their many

shortcomings, Fools are prized by kingsand emperors. They often possess secretabilities, and their sudden insights at un-expected times can be the difference be-tween life and death. A Fool will alwayssurprise you, for better or for worse.

A glance at the character record of a Foolwill usually reveal a character with a veryhigh WithIn stat, a few high stats in suchtrivialities as Music and Dance, and hardly

any other stats beyond 4. Look moreclosely, however, and you will see that theFool has 20 APs in reserve for LuckyBreaks! Some, too, may surprise you witha bit of Witchcraft! They are powerfulcompanionsif you can bear to be aroundthem.

The Witch

Witches go by many names: sorcerers,magicians, alchemists, wizards, warlocksand more. Call them what you will, theWitch style of character is powerful andchallenging. Witches devote themselves tothe study of Magic and the casting ofSpells. These Spells can be very powerful.But they are also dangerous, for Magic iselusive and untameable. Many Witches

have died at their own hands casting aSpell that went horribly wrong.

For more on the powers and dangers ofWitchcraft, see chapter ten, Witches and

Magic.Other styles

The styles described above are most suit-able for humanoid characters. If you play anon-humanoid, you may wish to create anew style that better suits your charactersform.

But even if you do play a humanoid char-acter, you should not feel obliged to use

one of these styles. The DR system is de-signed to allow players the freedom to bewhatever they want to be. If you want tocreate your own style, do so.

Teds new character: step one

Ted has now thought about his character. Hewants to play a hearty dwarven fighter. Hischaracter will fit generally within the Soldierstyle described above. But rather than being achivalrous and high-minded warrior, Ted wantsto play a character with a love of battle and a

great sense of humour.

So Ted decides to create a dwarven fighter. Henames his character Titus Deepstriker.

Titus motto is, Life is short. That is certainlytrue for those who dare oppose him in battle!But he considers it to be just as true for himself.Titus believes that one must seize the day andlive ones life to the fullest. Titus seeks adven-ture and battle not to win eternal re-nownwhich is useless if youre not there toenjoy itbut simply to savour the moment.

STEP TWO: THECHARACTER GENERATION

TABLE

Once you have determined who yourcharacter is, you must make a roll on theCharacter Generation Table. This table give

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perks to starting characters, while also re-flecting differences between commoncharacter races.

As noted above, which races are availableto players will depend on the dominionyou play in. This is a question for the GM

to decide. The Character Generation Tablesets out columns for four character racescommonly found in conventional fantasydominions: Human, Elven, Dwarven andHalfling. If your character is Human,Elven, Dwarven or Halfling, use the tablethat corresponds to his race.

DOMINION RULES

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Character generation table

Roll Human Elven Dwarven Halfling Humanoid Beast

1 FavourableRounding

FavourableRounding

FavourableRounding

FavourableRounding

FavourableRounding

FavourableRounding

2 Ambidexterity Ambidexterity Ambidexterity Ambidexterity Ambidexterity Gifted: +2 toany Attribute

3 Gifted: +2 toany Attribute

Agile: +2 toAgility Attribute

Strong: +2 toVigour Attrib-ute

Lucky: +2 toLuck Attribute

Gifted: +2 toany Attribute

Gifted: +1 toany Attribute

4 Gifted: +1 toany Attribute

Lucky: +2 toLuck Attribute

Tough: +2 toStamina At-tribute

Intelligent: +2to IntellectAttribute

Talented:Starting stat of6 in any Skill


5 Talented:Starting stat of6 in any Skill

Stealthy: Start-ing Stealth of 5

Muscular:Starting Mus-cle of 5

Intuitive: +2 toIntuition Attrib-ute

Charmed:Starting With-stand Magic of6



Alert: StartingAlertness of 5

Keen: StartingDirectionSense of 5


Tough: StartingWithstand Inju-ry of 6

Charmed: +4to WithstandMagic


Swift: StartingMovement of 5

Fit: StartingClimbing of 5



Charmed: +3to WithstandMagic

8 Tough: StartingWithstand Inju-ry of 5




Swift: StartingMovement of 5

Tough: +4 toWithstand In-

jury

9 Tough: StartingWithstand Inju-ry of 4



Learned: Start-ing Literacy of5

Quick: StartingTiming of 5

Tough: +3 toWithstand In-

jury

10 Quick: StartingTiming of 5



Perceptive:Starting LieDetection of 5


Quick: +4 toTiming

11 Quick: StartingTiming of 4





Quick: +3 toTiming

12 Experienced:+10 Advance-ment Points

Experienced:+10 Advance-ment Points






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Also included is a generic Humanoid col-umn. A humanoid is a creature that basi-cally resembles humans in body-form, i.e.a creature that walks upright on two feet,has arms and hands and at least one head.

If you character is nothing like a human-oid, but instead goes on all fours, or flies,or swims, or doesnt even have a body(like a ghost), use the Beast table and makeany adjustments your GM recommends.

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