Whereas Abilities represent a Character’s offensive capabilities during combat, Skills represent those innate capabilities used during non-combative encounters, such as a conversation, subterfuge, and other RPing situations. For example, whereas a player or NPC may use an Ability to inflict damage, heal wounds, or summon allies, a Skill check would reveal if a Character can sneak past another; recall some ancient piece of lore; or determine whether another Character is lying to them.
A Skill Check represents a Character attempting to succeed on a non-combat situation. In these situations, the GM would review the situation and, consulting the Skill Check difficulty below, let the Players know the Skill Check necessary to succeed.
Accordingly, a Trivial Skill Check would require only one Success, while a Challenging Skill Check would instead require five Successes. The difficulty table above also denotes how many dice a Character may roll based on their level. Thus, if a Character has a Moderate Skill Level, then they may roll 3d12.
| Level | Difficulty (Successes Needed) |
|---|---|
| Trivial | 1 |
| Simple | 2 |
| Moderate | 3 |
| Advanced | 4 |
| Challenging | 5 |
| Daunting | 6 |
| Legendary | 7 |
| XP Granted | Difficulty | Combat Check | Skill Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trivial | The entire party ambushed a single combatant, suffering only a minor time loss in the scheme of things. | The Parties enter into a vast library searching for knowledge but are aided by an army of librarians who easily find the information. |
| 2 | Simple | The encounter could have been more difficult, but the Players utilized their wits or tactical advantage to overcome the obstacle with nary a wound or other issue to be found amongst them. | The Players sneak upon a warehouse where they believe illicit goods are being stored. They encounter an old, rusted padlock which even a basic footpad could get through. |
| 3 | Moderate | The encounter does not go the way the Party planned, and they suffered a number of minor, but still noticeable, Wounds for their efforts. The Party will be able to proceed but will have to take care lest they suffer any more injuries. The injuries are not debilitating, but put the Party on edge as they continue. | One Player puts on a disguise to masquerade as a provincial baron to extract information from a local noble. The local baron begins asking pointed questions that, if the Players had taken precautionary measures, they would have been more successful. |
| 4 | Advanced | The encounter was difficult, and likely most of the Party suffered wounds or other damage from the encounter. The Party will need to expend healing or rely upon their wits to continue lest they be brought low. | The Players encounter an enchanted sarcophagus which requires esoteric knowledge in order to decipher, lest the sarcophagus place a curse upon the tomb raiders. |
| 5 | Challenging | The odds were stacked against the Party, and one or more players feared for their lives or came close to death. The Party will likely need to temporarily abandon the escapade for now to regroup, heal, and plan accordingly. | A Player sneaks across the rooftops of a manor to hopefully overhear tidbits of information from the gathering. The target in question is amongst a cadre of other speakers. It is exceedingly difficult to differentiate the target’s speech over that of the other partygoers. |
| 6 | Daunting | The GM honestly did not expect the Party to be successful, and it is likely the buffoonery of the Party placed them in this situation in the first place. The whole Party nearly died from the event and they will likely need months to recuperate both their bodies and minds. | The Party has inadvertently sprung a trap whereby the walls of the room are slowly closing in, threatening to crush the Party and their adventure. A complex mechanism lies in the middle of the room, requiring multiple Party members to act in sequence, and succeed at their Skill Checks, in order to stop the nefarious trap. |
| 7 | Legendary | The Party fights the boss of the dungeon, his direct lieutenants, and even hordes of lackeys all at the same time. The GM expected the Party to die, but through miraculous tactics and rolls, members of the Party defeat the enemy, though it is likely that the Party has suffered permanent damage, including the loss of Players. | The Lich is slain, but their body slowly begins to collapse in upon itself, causing an explosion which rocks the very foundations of the catacombs. The Players must race through the catacombs they had previously, and meticulously, explored, all the while dodging falling debris; previously untested traps; and a host of other devices placed by the Lich to ensure that, in the event they are defeated, they would not die alone. |
Characters who have a Skill level one step or more above the Skill check automatically succeed. Thus, if the GM announces a Moderate Perception Skill Check, any Characters with an Advanced or greater Skill level in Perception would automatically succeed, and do not need to roll. All other Characters would have to roll and see if the sum of their Successes, including Criticals, meet or exceed the Skill Check.
Due to the nature of RP, Skill Checks are far more flexible in how they pan out due to the nature of each Player offering how they would handle a mutable situation. In these situations, the GM should review the entire scenario and the Players’ efforts, then determine if the situation is fortuitous or not for the Players.
In the event that the Players performed some actions which directly and beneficially aided them in their pursuits, then the GM may grant Advantage to the Player or Players, where when they make their Skill Check, they are granted an additional 1d12 for their dice roll. Note that Advantage is on a Skill Check by Skill Check basis, thus Advantage does not carry over from one situation to another. Similarly, if the GM sees that the odds are stacked against the Players far more than the GM had originally intended, then the Players may be granted Disadvantage, where they must subtract a 1d12 from their total Skill Check dice pool.
Note that for Disadvantage, the GM should only use Disadvantage if the normal circumstances created by the GM are somehow directly and negatively affected by the Players’ actions. Using the quintessential “Sneaking Past the Guards” scenario, one Player offers to try and cause a disturbance to distract the guards, and hopefully grant the other Players Advantage on the Simple Skill Check. The Player tries but is instead spotted by the guards. Now the guards are all on alert, and thus the Simple Skill Check must now be made with Disadvantage.
Inevitably, Characters will often look at a situation and ask if they can aid one another in passing a Skill Check. When encountering this, a GM needs to first determine whether the entire Party needs to succeed, or if only one Character needs to succeed. On the one hand for a single Character, it's unlikely a the Party will be able to help them, after all, the chosen Character is usually picked because they have the highest skill; on the other hand for a Party, the odds of a Party helping are more likely, in that they can help with the cirucmstances surrounding the Skill Check, rather than the Skill Check itself. Regardless, the First Rule always allows a GM to look at a situation and allow Players to help one another through the Advantage mechanic, but the odds are highly unlikely.
The two ways to approach this is whether a single Character or group is attempting the Skill Check.
If a single Player needs to pass a Skill Check, then this situation typically prevents, more often than if the entire Party needs to succeed, Characters from aiding one another.
The Party needs to make a Guile Skill Check to persuade an enemy that they are instead allies to one another. The GM would review the situation and state that if all of them start talking at once, it would likely foil their efforts, so a Player needs to step up and make the Skill Check. The Players review their Character Sheets and they choose the Character with the highest Guile who proceeds to make a speech as to why the enemy should do as the Party wishes. Here, it is hard to imagine how other Party members, with less Guile, could somehow aid the Character with the highest skill. A fun mental image is that the aristocratic rogue with high Guile is making a speech, while the terse and angry barbarian, intending to help, cuts in with insults and threats as representative of their likely Trivial Guile. Everyone would agree that while this is funny, it likely will not help the rogue succeed in the Guile Skill Check.
While everyone could crowd around and give helpful notes of encouragement, its unlikely that anyone would really be of any help to the lockpicker, since the lockpicker was initially chosen due to their high level of Security.
If the entire Party needs to succeed, then each Character usually cannot afford to spend additional time helping the others, because they are just trying to pass the Skill Check themselves.
Going back to our sneaking past the guards situation, it is difficult to imagine anyone being to aid another in sneaking. When encountering these situations, a GM is encouraged to instead see what the Player’s are doing, i.e. “we’re trying to better our chances at completing the Skill Check” and try to quickly incorporate a reasonable scenario to do this. So instead of the GM saying “no, you can’t help each other,” the GM could say “one of you could try and sneak up and distract the guards by making a commotion. If that first character is successful, then the rest of the Party would gain Advantage on their Skill Checks.”
Another situation could be climbing a sheer cliff. One particularly athletic Character believes that they could succeed, or perhaps they automatically succeed, and proceed to scale the cliff. As they go up, the Character Roleplays that they have a rope with them and, upon cresting the ridge, lets the rope down for the other Players to use. The GM looks this over, finds it reasonable, and announces that the rope grants Advantage to all other Characters.
Note that in either of the above scenarios, having Advantage does not necessarily mean that a Character Succeeds, only that their odds are better. If a single Character fails at the Skill Check, then it is up to the GM to decide what happens next:
Remember that failing a Skill Check does not mean the Party is at an impasse; rather, it means that the Party has to take a more roundabout route to achieve their ends, which in itself provides a more interesting story. More often than not it is not possible to aid one another when the entire Party is involved, but the GM is encouraged to instead switch up the situation to allow the Players to do something else, which could grant Advantage for the Party.
Instead of the the Players clamoring to Grant Advantage outside their Character's normal motives/actions, the Aeon Team encourage a GM to try and understand what the Players are trying to do, i.e. gain a more fortuitous situation, and instead create a separate, short, and interesting scenario to benefit them for creative problem solving. Let's revisit the two examples above, but with more story development:
Perhaps the rogue above knows that the baron which the rogue is trying to convince has had past issues with ruffians vandalizing his property. The rogue encourages the barbarian to head out the night before and destroy some of the property in a manner similar to the ruffians, so when they arrive the next day, the matter is even more pressing and the Party’s offer of help is perhaps better received in stopping the vandalism, in all shapes and forms.
When looking at the lockpicking scenario, the other Party members could instead disperse and find the keyholder, who happens to be a sleeping guard nearby; or the Party luckily finds a crowbar in another warehouse. Now the Party can decide either to Ambush the sleeping guard or use another Character’s Athletics check to break open the door if the rogue fails their own check.
GMs may wish to “flesh out” their dungeons by providing numerous Skill Checks at low difficulties to remind the Players of their locale. Thus, if the Players are performing the stereotypical RGP “dungeon-crawl”, they may encounter Trivial trap after trap. The Aeon Team guarantees that after two or more of these Trivial checks, which any Character could do and which provide little to no consequence, the Players’ eyes will glaze over and they will regard these Skill Checks as mere ornamentation, similar to the GM describing the same architecture in room after room.
To avoid this, the GM should instead review the Players’ Character Sheets and pick out one or two Skills that each Character is good at. The higher level the Party, the more likely that each Player will “focus” on a Skill and be overwhelmingly better at it than their compatriots. This is a good thing, in that Characters will feel rewarded for being specially trained to defeat this Skill Check and the Party will be thankful that they had someone who could help everyone.
Now that you have your “bucket” of Skills per Player, the GM should then review their dungeon and see how they can incorporate the Player’s Skill as a Skill Check meant for that Player.
For example, let us imagine you have four Players, and each has a Moderate Skill in something different than the others: Academia, Finesse, Perception, and Survival. Let us also say that your dungeon is a necropolis, filled with the hungry dead that seek to keep the Players’ from the undead boss’ treasure.
Ok, we have the Skills and the Setting, let us draft up some dialogue that you will read aloud when the Players approach, so they’ll feel immersed in the setting you have crafted.
You enter a crumbling antechamber, similar to a basilica, with numerous columns flanking a long hallway. On either side of the hallway are etched reliefs detailing a powerful, robed figure presiding over what seems to be masses of prostrating people. You are unsure if they are supplicants or the common masses; regardless, you can tell that the relief is meant to evoke the power and majesty of the presiding figure. At certain intervals, you can discern glyphs and other pictographs, arranged in a vertical manner, which may describe the scenes and what they mean. Someone with a Moderate Academia Check could review the reliefs and the text to determine what they mean, and perhaps what they foretell.
With the esoteric, you want to evoke an aura of mystery with your Players. Academia often beggars the question of "who?" and "why?" Who built this place? Who developed these glyphs? Why are they here? While general knowledge of a race or background is useful, don't let it be just a footnote: provide the Characters with something they could take away to help them in their dungeon.
You have gone from one crumbling hallway to another, and due to the cave-in from the previous room, you have to climb high onto the stone rafters of the temple complex in order to proceed. The rafters themselves have suffered the ravages of time, and the once beautiful and thin arches have crumbled at different intervals, falling and shattering to the room thirty or forty feet below. As you progress, you see gusts of dust erupt from your footfalls, and chips of stone drop downward, their echoes reverberating up to you and reminding the group that a drop could spell death for the unwary.
Working your way through what arches remain, you come upon four, thin arches, and decorated with scrollwork which erupt from the cardinal directions to meet in the middle of the new room you have just discovered. One of you is carrying a rope and, with a careful eye, see that the other side has another walkway with rafters like the ones you have passed. If a Player is able to walk to the other side, holding one end of the rope while the Party holds the other, then you could create a tether from one side to another, aiding the less agile. Walking across the thin archway will require a Moderate Finesse Skill Check to navigate the precariously thin stonework and avoid plummeting to their likely death.
The circus and their acrobats always evoke an image of daring and consequence. Here, the Players are high upon a precipitous ledge, whereby a fall could spell a debilitating wound, or worse. Evoke high places and even higher consequences.
You’ve made your way through the basilica and over the rafters, eventually finding another collapsed room with, thankfully, a stone wall that has collapsed at an angle, allowing the Party to safely slide from the rafters downwards. Upon arriving, the Party notes that the room is an Armory, with all manner of what seems to be copper accoutrements, their luster covered in a fine coat of green rust like moss on a boulder. All of you can easily see that different portions of the room have fallen into disrepair from the collapsing ceiling, and perhaps something more. To determine what may or may not be natural decay, one of you will need to make a Moderate Perception Skill Check.
As is often the case, Perception deals with unforeseen circumstances arising. Thus, when describing Perception Skill Checks, a GM should take care to tell the Players that something is amiss, but not give them enough information to Metagame. Here, perhaps there is not dust near the suits of armor, suggesting that they have moved recently. Or, perhaps some of the stonework on the floor is not flush with the other sides, denoting a pressure plate and a Delayed trap beneath. Again, give enough reasonable suspicion, but not enough for the Players to Metagame and let them figure it out for themselves; after all, that is for a Successful Skill Check to divulge!
After working your way through the Armory, you come across what seems to be the edge of a cistern, and over the lip, a well roughly twenty feet across and nearly twice as deep. Luckily, the group can easily spot a series of zig-zagging stairs that are cut into the wall of the cistern, leading below. As you make your way downwards, your torchlight reveals mushrooms and other lichen growing on the walls, their colors anywhere from a vibrant green to an almost metallic blue. The fungi are both larger and more numerous in quantity the closer you get to the knee-high water of the cistern. To determine the nature of the fungi, a Player will need to make a Moderate Survival Skill Check to see how the fungi may aid, or impede, their progress.
Similar to the Perception Skill Check example above, the GM should withhold whether or not the change of scenery is fortuitous or disastrous. After all, the fungi could explode with poisonous gas if the Players get too close, or a Player with a high enough Skill Check could successfully determine that the mushrooms grow in proximity to corpses, which the Players can now avoid in case the miserable dead rise up in vengeance!
The Academia Skill represents a Character's overall knowledge of all things esoteric. A Character may roll on anything considered Academic with levels 1-3. In order to roll additional die from levels 4-6, the Character must invest in one of the specialized fields, representing their efforts to gain a deeper understanding in something specific.
Academia typically requires scenarios where a Character has cloistered for hours within a dusty library, quiet temple, bustling academy, or other similar centers of learning would have possibly stumbled upon the information in question, especially for specializations. Note that some RP'ing situations would allow a Character to specialize even without a bookish background. An easy example would be an illiterate cavern guard who has likely never ever seen a written document, but they may have Academia, Local History (4) because of their extensive travels whilst guarding their masters' caravans.
Below is a quick review of the different subsets and their general uses:
A Character may roll on any topic up to level 4. Thus, a Character may roll on items such as Regional History, Engineering, and Planar History up to level 4, but going beyond that requires points in specialization.
Regional History is subdivided into their bespoken regions. Characters would roll on Regional History when trying to understand local geography, nobility, history such as local conflicts, religions in general (but not actual secret knowledge), etc. A good rule of thumb is to ask "would this knowledge be located in a general history book, a broad tour guide, etc.?" If so, then Regional History is appropriate.
Engineering is split generally between structures and shipbuilding. These rolls are typically self explanatory, but we'll give some quick examples below, which could be used in either specialization:
Outsiders are split among the difference races, being the Aethyrians, Cthonians, Ignissians, Torfalen, Abyssians, and Yestakarthi. If a Character runs into one of these outsiders or their relics, then a Character could use their specialization to better understand the general background of what they are dealing with. Below are some quick examples where a specialization would be useful:
Next to each entry on the Character sheet are the columns "Race" and "Lingua". When a Character invests into the specialization of the region, they also gain the benefit of learning the race-in-question's language as well, based on the level:
Note that the only means by which a Character may learn another race's language is by learning the Regional or Planar history. You'll also note that certain regions have multiple races, and thus each race/region has its own specialization. An easy example of this is to state that just because you understand one European language does not you mean you understand either other country's languages or their histories.
Further note that the Keening and Wildfolk, due to their very migratory nature, are often found in nearly all regions. Thus, they do not have a regional history, but a Character may still learn their language and history through the "Speech" subset specialization. While the Keening and Wilfolk may be found in different regions, their speech and written language remain very similar, to the point where one who could speak one regions dialect could effectively communicate with others. This is due to the following, brief reviews of the Wildfolk and Keening (further information is found under their racial entries):
The Keening rarely speak, though they have the ability to, and reserve the use of speech mostly for communicating with non-Keening. The Keening instead use psychic emanations, conveying their emotional state and sensory depictions of memories themselves. Amongst all the races, the Keening are arguably the most effective communicators, for when they "speak" to one another, they provide both the memory itself, clear as day, and the emotions of the memory-holder at the time. Due to this, the Keening's "speech" has little room to evolve over time. Rather, the only regional differences would likely be cultural, such as whether it is taboo to provide certain memories over others. This is aking to being able to speak a language in one household, then going to another household and the denizens there choose to only speak on certain topics. In either scenario, the ability to understand the speech is not impaired, only the ability to ellicit the answers themselves.
The Wildfolk are the longest living of the mortal races, and thus their language has evolved into dialects, albeit at a glacially slow pace. Thus, while their parts of speech and vocabulary may alter slowly over time, the pace itself belays any inability for a speaker with one tribe to communicate with another. Accordingly, one who has learned to speak with one Wildfolk tribe may have issues with some vocubulary of another tribe, but this would be quickly rectified with simple questions. In effect, the Character would still be fluent, but would likely ask for greater context for some speech or local customs/idioms/metaphors.
Due to the above, the Keening and Wildfolk do not have regional differentiations, and instead just have one, racial language that can be learned. This juxtaposes other species that sometimes have dialect issues, such as the Kwelthi against the Auklesi, the enslaved Tarlans of the Gani Theocracy against the Tullusian free Tarlans, etc.
When a GM encounters a possible Academia Skill Check, they should ask themselves two questions:
If this kind of knowledge is hidden from the public, then you will immediately know that the difficulty should range from Challenging to Legendary, since only the most specialized of scholars or those with inside knowledge would be able to discern these issues.
An example of this could be an abandoned temple which contains a historical narrative of an event that happened centuries ago. This kind of knowledge may be found within the hidden annals of a cloister somewhere but would not be known by the public.
Since you have already asked yourself whether the knowledge requires a specialty or not, this provides you two difficulty ranges, being Trivial to Advanced for public knowledge, and Challenging to Legendary for hidden knowledge.
Now you can refer to the table, or just use the general rule for “stepping” up and down the difficulty scale between these two ranges to find what feels right to you.
| Difficulty | Obscurity | Specialty Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Commonly Known | No |
| Simple | Generally Known | No |
| Moderate | Uncommon Knowledge | No |
| Advanced | Obscure | No |
| Challenging | Very Obscure | Yes |
| Daunting | Hidden | Yes |
| Legendary | Most Hidden | Yes |
As a quick example, let’s review the Religion of the Temple of Goba Gura, the head of the Tellusian Pantheon. We’ll provide examples below, denoting the different difficulty levels and examples for each:
| Main Skill | SubSkill | Specialization | Racial Language | Typical Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academia or Survival | Planar | Abyssia | Effudi | Abyssians (Watercloin) |
| --- | Planar | Aethyria | Mistral | Aethyrians (Aircloin) |
| --- | Planar | Cthonia | Plosi | Cthonians (Earthcloin) |
| --- | Planar | Ignissia | Fulsi | Ignissians (Firecloin) |
| --- | Planar | Fonts | Tinxi | Torfalen (Lifecloin) |
| --- | Planar | Siphon | Cacavi | Yestakarth (Deathcloin) |
| --- | Regional | Ashperch Archipelago | Jizgarethan | Kan'Te'Ti and Ashperch's Ignissians |
| --- | Regional | Chow'Sul | Sullian | Gani and Enslaved Tarlan |
| --- | Regional | Dowager Ziggurats | Juravi | Loshai |
| --- | Regional | LastBreath | Highcant | Boort |
| --- | Regional | Redvine Jungle | Torquen | Tongay |
| --- | Regional | Redvine Jungle | Boeth | Kwelthi |
| --- | Regional | Reefwatch & Salt King's Coast | Saltsworn | Auklesi and Reefwatch's Abyssians |
| --- | Regional | Snowclutch Mountains | Psither | Oolay |
| --- | Regional | Snowclutch Mountains | Cunicul | Ferlek |
| --- | Regional | Tenspires | Sodali | Chedek |
| --- | Regional | Tullusian Principates | Guran | Sepsen, Tullusian Gani & Tarlan |
| Academia Only | Engineering | Structures | --- | --- |
| --- | Engineering | Ships | --- | --- |
| --- | Language Only | --- | Movi | Keening |
| --- | Language Only | --- | Verti | Wildfolk Tribes |
Animal Husbandry represents a Character's innate and magically-reinforced sense for taming or otherwise domesticating wild creatures for their usage. The difficulty in domesticating a creature generally relies on the size of the creature. The main benefit of a domesticated animal is the use of it being a pack animal; however, a Character may use their own AP on a beast in question to ellicit a response as well.
In order for a creature to become "domesticated", a Character must make a weekly check, representing their overall effort in training the creature in question. Successes are cumulative and losses do not count against Successes. Thus, if a Character Succeeds thrice, fails once, then Succeeds once, the Character has achieved four Successes over five weeks.
Once a creature has become domesticated, they can easily be riden using Riding under Athletics (we encourage GMs to just make this a Trivial check in non-combat and most situations, unless they're doing something strenous like fording a river with a caravan, leading a line along a cliff face, and other obviously difficult situations).
A Character may sacrifice their AP and grant them to the domesticated beast per turn to perform an action. Thus, a Character may sacrifice their own AP and grant them amongst their domesticated Creatures, so the Creatures can take an action, such as movement, attacking, etc. A Character may not sacrifice their AP to command a wild, yet to be domesticated, creature.
A domesticated creature may learn Abilities limited to the following: Attack, Celerity, Resistance, and Endurance. In order for a domesticated creature to learn an Ability, the Character with Animal Husbandry must spend their own XP and grant it to the creature in training.
If combat occurs and the creature does not use their AP to command their animals, then the animals are presumed to cower in fear in place; hunker down and fend off attacks; etc.
A Character can only focus on trying to handle and domesticate a certain number of creatures:
In the event that a Character adds a higher difficulty creature to the pool, then any other creatures, domesticated or otherwise, that exceed the maximum number column must immediately be let go into the wild; the only exception to this rule is if Characters have the ability to immediately trade certain animals for others, such as a Character in a city traiding four trivial animals immediately for a higher difficulty animal with a trader in the same city. Note that the maximum number column applies to both wild and domesticated creatures.
| Difficulty | Maximum Number of Animals Under Control? | Animal Size | Number of Weekly Checks Required for Domestication? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | 6 | 1 Hexes | 1 |
| Simple | 5 | 2 Hexes | 2 |
| Moderate | 4 | 3 Hexes | 3 |
| Advanced | 3 | 4 Hexes | 4 |
| Challenging | 2 | 5 Hexes | 5 |
| Daunting | 1 | 6 Hexes | 6 |
| Legendary | 1 | 7+ Hexes | 7 |
It's easier to imagine with larger creatures that such creatures, being likely closer to the top of the food chain, won't take too kindly to a Player demanding the creature become subsurvient. We imagine a 3 foot tall Tarlan shouting at a T-Rex to heel; we all laugh, high five, joke about how cool it's going to be to have a T-Rex, and then the GM rolls Initiative in front of the confused Players who are likely about to see the inside of the creature's gullet. In short, we all love the idea of taming the dragon, but if your Players want to do such, they need to somehow subdue the creature. These are wonderful combat and RP opportunities, and we encourage you to take advantage of them.
Worst comes to worst? I guess we need to roll new Characters...
Per the Riding entry under Athletics, a Riding Character must sacrifice their own AP in order to use an Attack, whether the creature's or the Character's. The Character riding the creature may choose to spend their AP either using the Character's Attack, which is overwhelmingly more likely to be a higher level, or the creature's.
This would be a Skill Check, with the Player rolling their Animal Husbandry against the Enemy's Athletics as the Skill Check. If the Player is successful, then the enemy is bucked off and has disadvantage on attempting to Ride the same animal again, until the enemy Succeeds on their Athletics check.
Typically 25-100 pounds per hex for terrestial and seafaring creatures. For flying creatures, it's 10-25 pounds per hex. This is subject to GM discretion, as pack mules are obviously going to be different than say hounds.
Whether terrestial or not, all creatures have 18 health per hex.
An undomesticated creature has it's own AP pool, being 6 AP per hex in size. To be explicitly clear, once a creature is under the control of a Player, domesticated or not, the AP rules for a Player granting their own AP and XP to the creature applies.
There's no such thing as natural AP, it's just a useful term to denote what a monstrous creature has before they are domesticated. Thus, if the Players encounter a 7 hex large creature in the wild and fought it, it would have 126 health and 42 AP. If the creature comes under the control of a Player, they retain their HP, but their AP is now subject to the Animal Husbandry rules.
Yes, so long as the Characters can justify being able to perform the weekly training requirements. For example, training sea faring creatures is unlikely for most races, though the Auklesi with their background would easily satisfy the requirements. As for aerial creatures, the Oolay with their mountain homes would have the accoutrements necessary to train such creatures. All mortal races will have little difficulty justifying training terrestrial creatures.
Yes, subject to the weight restrictions and overall GM discretion. Note that historical war elephants often had light pavilions built on their backs. Before you ask, yes, you can build a permanent structure on the back of massively large creatures, subject to GM discretion.
A Race represents a species with enough intelligence to form societies and effectively communicate. The mortal races and Cloin would never count as creatures for Animal Husbandry, but the creatures inhabiting their planes could be.
So long as you can feed and take care of the creature, it doesn't matter if they are Vasathan or planar. Note that warlocks often use Animal Husbandary to domesticate feral Yestakarth.
Since being outside of combat eliminates AP usage, AP is not considered when maintaining the caraven of creatures outside of combat. A Character may command their creatures generally, such as preparing them for moving, feeding them, etc. without having to make checks. Checks only occur for the "weekly" checks to continue training towards domestication.
A Character makes a single roll per creature in their care. Thus, if a Character has 4 trivial creatures, the Character would roll once per creature and apply the Success to the total tally. Each creature has their own Success counter.
Yes, an untrained creature deals xd2 damage, representing how weak their attacks are against powerful Characters, though they will likely kill or maim normal civilians. In almost all circumstances, either a Riding Character or Animal Husbandry Character commanding their creature would be better served using the Character's attack, rather than the creature's
Aside from us breaking the fourth wall and saying "there needs to be a simple engine so people can skip the tedium of bookkeeping and just have fun," we'll throw in a totally not deus ex machina and say that a Character's propensity towards Animal Husbandry is magical in nature, and that their own iotas reinforce their means of use a glamour on a beast.
So is this the same with Guile? If you have to ask, then you'll never know.
Yep, subject to GM discretion, but probably subject more to GM patience.
The answer lies with the time it takes to domesticate the creature, and the risk of an undomesticated creature running off. If you have a large number of undomesticated creatures with you, and your team is attacked, they'll likely scatter and it'll be impossible to find them all (or be at a large detriment to the Party, time wise, from an RP perspective, etc.) It's far safer to not add to your overal number of creatures until they're all domesticated. Thus, someone would likely start at the largest size they could, domesticate it, then add another and repeat. That way in dangerous scenarios, the chance of them all darting is low, since they're all domesticated.
Yeah, it's worth noting since some playtesters have asked. Very early iterations of Aeon actually had a summoning mechanic, whereby you could invest XP to build your own minions. We were somewhat wary, because this essentially broke the axiom that every player only has 6-7 AP per turn, but wanted to give it a shot, since summoners are part of many games. The issue we were afraid of quickly manifested, in that once playtesters were told about minions getting their own XP, nearly all parties in question had every player building a minion, so that while they were weakened (under the old rules you had to sacrifice your XP to give to your minion) they quickly power creeped beyond anything we could manage. Moreover, the minions themselves had their own HP, which acted as makeshift shields that were better than having healers or barriers.
In effect, minions just broke down nearly all balancing aspects beyond repair, so we had to scrap it. Please believe us that (along with some other Talents that are unnamed) we tried everything to make it work, such as reducing Player AP per turn, etc., but just couldn't work.
The experience of minions didn't leave a bad taste in our mouths, but nevertheless we were very wary of anything around animals. After a couple months of mulling it over, we still decided that something like Animal Husbandry needed to exist, because Players could have their own caravans, RP experiences, etc. What went alongside that is that a caravan owner should be able to command their creatures, albeit minimally, but should still suffer great consequences for doing such.
Accordingly, this version of Animal Handling allows more for RP situations than anything, but has very pared down rules for handling in combat situations, such as if a Party's caravan is ambushed. While creatures may get to use a very reduced pool of Abilities, the Player commanding them will suffer great detriments in sacrificing their AP to command the animals. So, in most situations it doesn't make sense for the Animal Husbandry-using Player to spend all their AP each round to command their weak animals; however, we wanted to provide flexibility so that if the GM provides RP opportunities (that lever to close the gate is next to your horse!) then the Player can use their Skill appropriately.
We apologize for the long explanation, but it's a fair question, and we want to be transparent with our approach to any questions around mechanics. We hope you like and use Animal Husbandry (we imagine some of you will have a lodge built upon a giant lizard, traveling across Tullusia soon).
Per the rules as written, a mount can have its own Celerity and you give your AP to the mount. Thus, if you give your AP to the mount, and the mount doesn't have an Ability, whelp, it can't use it. In such situations, it would more often be beneficial to hop off your mount and use your own Celerity with your AP.
The Athletics Skill represents a Character’s ability to overcome physically taxing obstacles which require both strength and dexterity. If the Character comes upon a situation which requires brute, unrefined force, or the pinpoint accuracy of a professional, then Athletics is the Skill Check in question.
Athletics typically requires situations where only the most physically capable Characters would succeed. This includes balancing, climbing, jumping, leaping across pits, lifting or pushing heavy objects, steadying yourself on uneven terrain, and swimming. Other situations will arise which do not fit into these categories, like juggling or handling a delicate object. If this happens, just ask whether only a physically fit or dexterous Character could achieve this and, if so, what general difficulty level would be appropriate per the Skill difficulty tables.
Note that per our recommendation at the beginning of the Skills section, the below permutations of Athletics are only recommendations (save for Leaping, but with good cause). Accordingly, if the GM wishes to flip through this and then just go with their gut as to the difficulty check, by all means, do so as long as you provide a compelling narrative!
Balance requires a Character to go over a thin strip of surface unaided, such as walking along a ledge or across a tightrope. The table below is split into two sections, being the width of the surface in question, and whether the passage has anything within reach to help maintain balance. Thus, a ledge with a wall within reach would be aided, while a narrow walkway without walls on either side would be unaided.
| Difficulty | Width | Aided? |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | 2 Feet | Yes |
| Simple | 1 Foot | Yes |
| Moderate | 6 Inches | Yes |
| Advanced | 2 Foot | No |
| Challenging | 1 Foot | No |
| Daunting | 6 Inches | No |
| Legendary | 3 Inches / Rope | No |
Climbing is rather straightforward, in that a Character encounters some kind of nearly vertical wall which requires climbing over. When determining the difficulty, consult the table to determine the wall's slope, and whether or not there are "handholds" of some kind, such as divets in the wall due to natural wear and tear, vines, etc.
| Difficulty | Slope | Handholds? |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Moderate | Some |
| Simple | Moderate | Narrow |
| Moderate | Moderate | No |
| Advanced | Steep | Some |
| Challenging | Steep | Narrow |
| Daunting | Steep | No |
| Legendary | Sheer | No |
Note that for jumping, an easy rule of thumb is to visualize the distance in feet and multiply the difficulty by 1 foot.
| Difficulty | Vertical Feet | Vertical Centimeters |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | 1 | ~30.5 |
| Simple | 2 | ~61 |
| Moderate | 3 | ~91.5 |
| Advanced | 4 | ~122 |
| Challenging | 5 | ~152.5 |
| Daunting | 6 | ~183 |
| Legendary | 7 | ~213.5 |
Out of all the Athletics Skill Checks, Leaping is one of two of the Athletics subset that the Aeon Team recommends the GM stick with, since it’s on a one-to-one ratio with the difficulty in question and easily translates on the battlefield (the other one being Swimming and Diving, since it requires looking at numerous factors). Thus, to make an Athletics (Trivial) jump, the Character would have one hex of terrain, one hex that is a pit, and then one hex of terrain. Since each hex is roughly six feet in comparison, to jump across seven hexes would be leaping across nearly forty-two feet.
| Difficulty | Number of Hexes |
|---|---|
| Trivial | 1 |
| Simple | 2 |
| Moderate | 3 |
| Advanced | 4 |
| Challenging | 5 |
| Daunting | 6 |
| Legendary | 7 |
Lifting and Pushing represents the general idea that something is unfixed, in the way, and must be moved. The table is divided into three general sections: Pushing/Pulling (Flat Surface), Pushing/Pulling (Aided), and Lifting/Squatting. All three segments are multiples of the Character's bodyweight. When determining what kind of Push is appropriate, determine whether the unfixed object is on a flat surface without any kind of wheels or easier means of rolling, or if it's "Aided", which means the thing to be pushed has some feature that makes it easier to move, such as wheels on a cart, if a boulder is mostly rounded, etc.
| Difficulty | Pushing/Pulling (Flat) | Pushing/Pulling (Aided) | Lifting/Squatting (Body Weight) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | 2x | 4x | 1/2x |
| Simple | 3x | 5x | 1x |
| Moderate | 4x | 6x | 2x |
| Advanced | 5x | 7x | 3x |
| Challenging | 6x | 8x | 4x |
| Daunting | 7x | 9x | 5x |
| Legendary | 8x | 10x | 6x |
Riding is an Athletic Character's ability to ride both domesticated and wild beasts. The table also goes over the general size of the beast, with larger sized creatures requiring a higher skill check. A Successful Skill Check allows the Character to steer the creature in a certain direction, rear up, etc. Note that Wild creatures will always take the first opportunity to dart away from the Player in question, with larger, more wild creatures requiring more frequent Skill Checks. GMs dealing with Legendary creatures, which require a check every 4 hours, will likely need to facilitate RP opportunities for the Characters, since the Character Riding the beast will have to sleep eventually, which will afford the creature the chance to escape.
Note that Ahtletics - Riding and Animal Husbandry are not the same skillset, in that Animal Husbandry allows a Character to otherwise tame and invest time into a creature, whereas Riding only allows the general steering and use of a creature. This is the quintessential difference between a cowboy leaping on top of a wild stallion versus a rancher raising horses for use with the plow, general riding, showmanship, etc.
As a final note, a ridden beast does not have its own AP for movement, attacking, etc. If a Character wishes to make a creature move a certain number of hexes, then the Character sacrifices their own AP to move the creature, representing their effort to command and steer the creature in order to get it to move. If a Character wishes to attack enemies whilst riding the creature, then the Character's AP must be spent to represent the attack in question. Note that no matter where the Character is atop the creature, enemies adjacent to the creature are considered adjacent to the Character riding it.
| Difficulty | Temperament | Animal Size | Recurring Check Required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Domesticated | 2 Hexes | None |
| Simple | Domesticated | 3 Hexes | None |
| Moderate | Domesticated | 4 Hexes | None |
| Advanced | Domesticated | 5+ Hexes | None |
| Challenging | Wild | 2 Hexes | Once Per Day |
| Daunting | Wild | 3 Hexes | Once Per 12 Hours |
| Legendary | Wild | 4+ Hexes | Once Per 4 Hours |
Steadiness requires a Character to go over a precarious, but homogeneous surface and still stay on their feet. This could be anything from the slippery deck of a rocking ship to falling into a pit of quicksand. The table below goes over common terrain types, and whether they are moving or not. The term “granular” typically means that the floor is broken into miniscule pieces, such as running over sand or beads.
Note that Steadiness is not the same as Difficult Terrain. As an example, any Character could run over Difficult Terrain, and the penalty to AP demonstrates their automatic Success in overcoming the terrain. In contrast, Steadiness states that the terrain could not be overcome by spending AP on Difficult Terrain for the “automatic” Success, and must require an Athletics Check to determine if the Character can proceed.
In most situations, if a Character fails their Athletics Check, then the DM informs them that the AP they spent to try and cross the single hex in question failed, and they will have to find another route. Thus, a Character need not lose all of their AP to cross the entire Athletics Check, since they know at the very onset whether they would be able to proceed.
In a similar vein, if a Character Succeeds in the Athletics Check, then the GM should generally allow the Character to keep their Success during the encounter. Otherwise, a GM would ask a Character to make an Athletics Check for every single pertinent hex involved, which is asinine and even worse: boring.
Unlike most Skill Checks, a Character could attempt again to make a Balance Check since it makes sense they could readily try again, though they’d lose their initial AP in the attempt.
| Difficulty | Terrain | Moving |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Firm | No |
| Simple | Wet/Slippery | No |
| Moderate | Granular | No |
| Advanced | Firm | Yes |
| Challenging | Wet/Slippery | Yes |
| Daunting | Granular | Yes |
| Legendary | Nearly Frictionless | Yes |
Aside from Leaping, Swimming is the only other Athletics check that the Aeon team recommends the GM stick with, since it covers numerous factors to determine overall difficulty.
Swimming encompasses three different factors: 1) How deep is the water; 2) What is the water current's speed; and 3) How long does someone swim? When determining the difficulty, the overwhelming majority will only deal with 2 of the three factors, in that a Character is either travelling across a body of water, or diving deep into it. Take one of the two factors, and combine either the "Hours Traversing" or "Depth" cost with the "Moving" cost, and the sum is the new difficulty. Note that the Trivial entries for water are generally ignored, and mean anything less than the simple check. Below are some examples:
Note that in the event both factors equal a cost of zero, then the GM should determine that the issue is just a Trivial check.
| Difficulty | "Cost" | Water Depth (Feet) | Moving? | Hours Traversing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| --- | 0 | --- | --- | --- |
| Trivial | 1 | 10-19 | Tugging | 15 Minutes |
| Simple | 2 | 20-39 | Swift | 30 Minutes |
| Moderate | 3 | 40-79 | Raging/Undertow | 1 Hours |
| Advanced | 4 | 80-159 | --- | 2 Hours |
| Challenging | 5 | 160-319 | --- | 4 Hours |
| Daunting | 6 | 320-639 | --- | 8 Hours |
| Legendary | 7 | 640+ | --- | 16+ Hours |
The answer is yes, as any movie with our beloved hero or heroine slowly makes their way across a single, rain-soaked ledge has ever shown us. Generally the check would fall under either Steadiness or Balance, but in the event that the Balancing situation is made more difficult, such as the ledge being wet, a fierce wind is blowing across the narrow and unaided walkway, etc., then the Aeon Team suggests that you just increase the Balance difficulty by one to account for the change in normal circumstances.
Balance typically requires a narrow ledge of some sort which must be crossed, while Steadiness has a wide, open area that in and of itself is shaking. While the two concepts overlap, the Aeon team separated them due the needs of Players during playtesting to handle separate situations.
An easy rule of thumb is: If the situation requires going over a thin walkway (being 2 feet wide or less), choose Balance; otherwise, choose Steadiness. Two examples are: a Character needs to go across a ledge, while another Character needs to run across a collapsing bridge.
A related question may be "what if it's raining on the ledge, or the ledge is very high up and windy? How do I handle this, difficulty wise?" The Aeon team suggests to increase the Balance difficulty by one to account for the change in normal circumstances.
Note that your Characters are not mere mortals, and their strength is augmented with supernatural power. Thus, things that are "Simple" difficulty to your Character would likely be far more difficult for a mere mortal or normal citizen.
Using the example of a classical war elephant with a small pavilion on top, the war elephant will likely have multiple archers and a driver steering the beast. If a Character wishes to leap onto the pavilion and try and take control of it, then the chaos that ensues during the fight would essentially make the war elephant run wild until control is established. While the Players are fighting the Characters, the war elephant would be under the control of the DM, and likely stampede, thrash about, etc. Once the enemy Characters have been killed and only the Player(s) remains, then the Player may make the Skill Check in order to assume control of the creature.
Subject to GMs discretion, we opt for the Character atop to be in control if they succeed the Skill Check, since the Character atop could steer the beast into the grounded Characters, thereby trampling them.
This is a classic RP opportunity where we encourage the GM to ask the Player how their Abilities "morph" to meet the situation. If the Players are struggling, then the GM should jump in and offer some ideas about how their Abilities may be used for the situation at hand. Perhaps the Player with icy abilities creates shackles and chains of ice that lock around the creature's neck? Perhaps the more warrior Character has an iron grip and bellowing voice, using their raw strength to turn the beast? Use this as a chance for the Players to realize just how malleable their Abilities may become.
Absolutely, and we encourage it. Perhaps the Character balancing on the ledge uses wind magic to buffet them evenly on either side for balance, or remove the howling winds altogether? A psionic Character may use their mentalist powers to soothe an animal, hence why they achieved their Riding Skill Check where the other, more physical Characters failed. Note that using RPing is not the same as Advantage or Disadvantage; rather, it's a means by which a Player can justify how their Characters were successful at a Skill Check when others may struggle to visualize the Success.
Since there are animals involved, we'd deem this a Riding check over Piloting, since Piloting explicitly requires the vessel to be non-living.
The Guile Skill represents a Character’s ability to persuade another, catch someone in a lie, or impersonate another. Guile Skill Checks, by their very nature, always require two Characters; thus, Guile Skill Checks are almost always Contested Skill Checks.
Typical Situations: Guile Skill Checks are relatively straightforward to spot, in that it always requires one Character seeking to persuade another Character into believing a deception. Guile Checks can be easily split into two common scenarios: Impersonate and Speechcraft.
Impersonate is a Character's ability to disguise themselves and keep up the charade. Characters who enjoy heavy RP or otherwise feel comfortable in goading a RP situation forward by acting like others would do well to utilize their Guile Checks in this manner. These kinds of Players are those who enjoy the idea of the classic spy, traveling performers, or others who believe the world is a stage, and they are one of the privileged few who may choose their script.
Since Guile is perhaps the most RP heavy skill, we guarantee that the hilarity will ensue or, at the very least, an interesting scenario will arise that will require the wits and overall skill of each Player to succeed.
Similar to how Players must think on their feet, GMs should similarly be prepared to handle Impersonation situations accordingly. Our advice is to treat this Skill Check like any other by treating the situation like classic improvisation.
First, the GM should nearly always agree with the Player or, if the GM disagrees, then provide a slight readjustment to the Player’s line of thinking while still pursuing the Player’s overall goals.
Second, imagine what normal situations would arise and pass the improvisation cue back to the Player. For every clever thing the Party does, make it more likely that the Party succeeds such as through Advantage or an easier overall Skill Check (Guile). For each screwup, let the Party keep moving forward, but add a little baggage which the Characters will have to resolve at some point. Think of it like a backpack full of stones. For each clever act, take away one stone; for each act of stupidity or failure to handle the situation, add two stones.
Third, if you see the Players are trying to come up with ways to make things easier, they likely lack the same breadth of experience that you, the GM, has. Moreover, they may be afraid of stepping on your toes by suggesting something that you “may not have planned for.” When you see this, offer broad suggestions for what the Players can do to better their chances, and then provide the appropriate scenarios to facilitate this.
Speechcraft is a subset of Guile, which represents your Characters ability both to convince others to aid you, and second, whether you can tell if someone is trying to pull the same shenanigans on you. Those Players who enjoy the idea of being the silver-tongued rogue or traveling minstrel, capable of weaving a tale that would enrapture any passerby often benefit from utilizing their Guile through Speechcraft.
In most Speechcraft situations, a Character will ask themselves first, is the character lying; and second, will the persuaded Character aid you in some way?
Most Players may presume that a Character is either lying or not; however, this takes away the nuance of a Character’s own beliefs. Thus, a Character may wholly believe that a ghost is haunting the nearby barrow, even though the situation is a figment of their imagination. Thus, if Players use Guile to determine whether a Character is lying or not, the GM should take great liberty in delineating, but not out loud, this fact. Thus, the GM could say “the farmer is completely earnest,” which would lead the unwary Player into an interesting scenario and resolution.
Note that unlike many Skill Checks, it is wholly reasonable that every Character would take a “gut check” by using Guile to determine whether they believe a Character; in contrast, a gut check is wholly different from how they would react aloud. Accordingly, the entire Party may make a Guile Check to see how they feel about the conversation, but they should refrain from stating their beliefs out loud, lest they harm a future Guile Check. Or, perhaps the barbarian stops the conversation and shouts that she believes the farmer is full of bull offal, which wouldn’t likely bode well if the Players then wish to ask for aid in finding the supposed ghost or its more nefarious origins.
The most common use of Guile is to convince another Character to aid the Party in some way. Here, a single Player will step up and make a Guile Check to try and get their way. The GM would then consult the opposing Character’s Guile and state the Skill Check’s difficulty.
If the Players succeed the Guile Check, then the NPC should offer some aid, such as information, to provide a more direct route in the adventure. Note that just because a Character is convinced of the Party’s plight does not mean they will give up their wealth or put themselves in danger to help. While a peasant may believe the charismatic leader of a party that they are penniless, on a quest for a local church, and need food and shelter, that same peasant will not necessarily give up their family savings or abandon the farm to aid the adventurers without an extremely high Guile check. Instead, the GM should think of the most readily available denominator which the convinced Character would offer, such as information, or perhaps a writ or letter which circumvents issues down the road with future Characters.
In contrast, if the Characters fail, then the GM should take this opportunity to introduce a more roundabout and indirect route for the Players to proceed in the adventure. Perhaps the farmer or baron above is not convinced; therefore, the GM should provide that information somewhere else. Had the Players succeeded, then they could have avoided this extra scene and just taken a more direct route.
The Player may have Guile (3) while the farmer has Guile (2). Since the Player has one level of Guile above the farmer, the Player would automatically succeed.
As another example, the Player still has Guile (3) but encounters a local noble who, used to having to navigate local politics, has Guile (4). The GM would announce that the Player must defeat the Guile (4), being an Advanced Skill Check, to succeed.
A Party should also be warned in that not every quest giver or NPC is telling the truth; a Party may finish a large story arc, procure the fabled goblet belonging to the lord’s ancestor, and return it to the lord. The lord, in his graciousness, will host a celebration to praise the Players. As the festivities begin, the lord’s constable approaches, whispers something in his ear, and the lord accuses the Players of having drank his wine and broken bread, all in an effort to steal his most-treasured possession: the goblet. The Players, if unable to persuade the crowd, may find themselves locked away in some dungeon while the lord laughs in his chamber, having procured the goblet; saved face with the nobility by letting none know his possession had been stolen in the first place; and spent nothing, since those expecting payment are now rotting away beneath the castle.
For example, let us say that we have the quintessential rogue and paladin-esque Characters conversing near the temple district of a city. The rogue wishes to pass of a “holy relic” that he procured from a pilgrim who, dying by the roadside, begged the rogue to journey to the temple district and restore the relic. The rogue, having journeyed a great distance, naturally desires compensation for their seemingly selfless act of aiding a dying pilgrim. The paladin, though of a trusting nature, may not believe the rogue’s convenient tale or even the authenticity of the relic in question. Both would roll their Guile Skills against one another, and the victor of the roll would define the story to come.
If the rogue was successful, then the Paladin would thank the rogue for his actions and reward him with coin, food, and lodging though the rogue will likely state that they has a pressing engagement and the coin will be more than enough, at least before the authenticity of the relic may be determined.
In contrast, if the paladin was instead successful, then the rogue would find himself being wrestled to the ground and brought before the temple’s Justicars for judgment: the righteous wrath of the clergy against a purloiner of false relics would be fearsome indeed.
The above examples demonstrate that the Guile Skill does not necessarily mean the ability to lie; rather, it can also be the ability of one to discern the true nature of a conversation, or steer the conversation’s direction to a more beneficial outcome.
We've seen the situation arise a couple of times along with these questions: One racial delegation meets another racial delegation, and both are exceedingly suspicious of one another. Essentially, either one of the Players has enough Academia to communicate, or the GM provides a "translator" to accompany the Players to the next part of their journey to meet someone (especially in cities), and whomever the Players are meeting has their own agenda. TTRPG veterans recognize this as typically 50% of the introductory settings to most campaigns (the other being being dropped into combat with a "escape to here" missive.)
Now that we've set the scene, let's answer the first question: "Won't the Other Race Be Immediately Suspicious?" The answer is always, yes, but it's a double edged sword. Entities in power will almost always have to liason with others, including other races, because if they don't then someone else will and that someone will gain more power and supplant the recluse. Thus, everyone has an agenda, including how to use other races to their advantage; accordingly, those in power will create lines of communication in order to ensure that those within such channel should be there, will have the proper information, etc. Essentially, a Character must prove they should be within the line of communication, and if succussful, this gets them past the first major test of suspicion because you got past the difficult thresshold.
Many modern TV and movie scenes use this as part of escalating the danger: "Can the hero get the security badge needed and act non-chalante as they access the secret laboratory/archive?" The security badge, prominantly displayed, ensures the guards don't look too closely, but the guards are still there none-the-less.
In this same vein, the GM needs to create opportunities where the Characters can try and join some "back channel" with the eventual NPC who will be their quest-giver. The Aeon Team personally loves these opportunities for the following reasons:
In sum: Yes, other Races should be suspicious of outsiders, and that's a good thing! Conflict is the heart of any good story, and suspicion forces GMs to acknowledge that one side has their own agenda, whilst the Players have the other. If the Players try to shoulder their way through something, then they'll absolutely be at a disadvantage. If they instead are presented with the opportunity to gain access to the "back channel", per the above, then they've gained the chance to earn their reward. Previous Skills sections have said it, and we'll say it again: A disadvantageous situation is not an impediment, it's a more roundabout/longer path. If Players are stuck with a disadvantageous situation, the GM should provide opportunities for the Characters to better their situation, and reward their wit accordingly.
The Players learn that a mysterious NPC can tell them where to go. The NPC is not very mysterious, as the Players immediately find them. The NPC, apparently out of the undeveloped kindness of their own heart because they lack any individuality or agenda, tells the Characters that what they seek is far away.
The Aeon Team's twist for the above scenario is that the NPC was actually just a letter in a library. See? If you used an actual NPC or a letter, there's really no difference in both scenarios above. This kind of situation won't stick in the minds of the Players.
The NPC is the head of a secretive organization who brokers information, but their clientelle is almost exclusively with their own race. A good example of this would be the Boort Clannate, who deal in information to Boort but waive away other races, 1) because the Boort feel that even internecine issues should be kept within the Boort, and 2) other Races won't return and become repeating clientelle, so it's just not worth the risk.
Using the two scenarios in comparison, the second allows the Players to have a goal "Gain access to the NPC", but they've had to work at it, all the while enjoying the adventure along the way. Once the Players receive their prize, they feel they've earned it, and they're now equipped with knowledge of the locale and issues, giving them an edge they lacked when they first arrived.
The answer is yes, though this is heavily within the purview of the GM. After all, it is likely a ton of fun for the Character with high Guile to keep forcing the Party to do what they want, but this is likely less so for all the other Party members. Instead, the GM should provide fun and interesting RP opportunities and “nudges” for the Players, so that while they are going along for the ride, perhaps they are grumbling or even hold it against the Guileful Character down the road.
Also remember that more vindictive Characters may begin a tally of all the times they didn't want to do something, but you forced them along anyway...
We're sure it'll be fine. Then again, maybe the Aeon Team just succeeded on our Guile check against you.
Rule-wise, if a Character lies to another, and then a future event causes the lie to unravel, then another Guile Skill Check, at a greater difficulty, will be necessary due to the lack of continuity in the lie.
Guile Skill Checks are often used in conjunction with Knowledge Skill Checks to gain the upper hand in a lie, or to better shore a Character’s knowledge to prevent being taken advantage of.
For example, a Character may wish to fool the local lord into providing food and lodging under the guise that the character is on a mission by the king. If that character, dressed in rags and not knowing the local customs, approaches the local lord, the Guile Skill Check will be very difficult, if not impossible; however, if the Character rolls sufficient knowledge checks to know the local customs and documentation necessary, then the Character could procure fraudulent documents and wear the kind of garb that would be expected by the local lord, thus increasing their chances of success on the Guile Skill Check through Advantage.
Not at all! Guile represents two sides of the same coin: the ability to speak convincingly and the ability to tell when someone is trying to convince to you, for good or for worse. To borrow a trope, a Character with high Guile but perhaps somewhat taciturn is the classic cowboy. The cowboy may stand back and let others talk, but when they hear bull offal, they will call the speaker out on it. Thus, stand-offish Characters may greatly benefit from Guile, as they would prevent their more idealistic Party members from going off on a problematic escapade.
We like to call this trope the "brusque badass".
As we noted at the beginning of the Skills Section overall, Skills overwhelmingly represent RP scenarios and are extremely fluid in how they pan out. Accordingly, we realized that providing tables failed to meet two goals: first, could we provide an overall frame of reference to represent most situations? Second, would that frame provide more for inspiration, then take away in its inherent rigidity?
In both situations, we realized that our attempts would not be fruitful.
Accordingly, we encourage GMs to analyze each new portion of the ongoing scene and use the “stepping” method if they deem a Skill Check necessary. If the rogue wishes to convince a noble that they are also nobility, but appear in tattered rags with nary a coin to their name, then a GM would use the stepping method and probably start from Legendary and work their way down. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if the Party has made sufficient Academia checks to ensure the rogue is aware of local customs; the rogue has an excellent level in Guile; the rogue is dressed in extravagance with the rest of the Party as their retinue; and the Party has managed to forge a writ of nobility.
The kind of steps that the Party may have taken to achieve their Impersonate check, such as those listed above, represent the fluid nature of clever RP that we love to see. In that vein of thought, we don’t believe that providing a three dimensional matrix of every situations, such as garb, checks, etc. would be beneficial.
Instead, use the rules above: nearly always say yes or steer the Players towards success; pass the cue back accordingly; inform the Players of things they could do to be more successful and provide those scenarios accordingly; and then determine a Skill Check on what you feel is most fair for the situation.
Organization represents a Character’s inroads towards gaining contacts with a specific group of individuals. This includes anything from the classic thieves’ guild which allows a Character to purloin ill-begotten goods; a church organization and its numerous houses of worship across the Charted Realms; the local or national government and its numerous offices; nobility and the numerous titles therein; or even military orders with each Skill level denoting a rank.
The Organization Skill allows the GM great freedom in fleshing out their scenario and perhaps the prevalent sects within the local area. Moreover, Organization also allows for easy plot hooks or RP situations where the Players may seek to both build their relationships and attain greater esteem with their peers.
Note that these situations cut both ways, in that a Player may enjoy the title of nobility, only to find out that they have been “volunteered” to handle a dangerous issue within the fief. This same vein of thought could apply to the commander who must now marshal local forces; the priest who is sent after a vocal heretic; or the rogue who is told they must steal a closely guarded artifact.
If a Player wishes to join an organization, the GM should take the following steps to ensure the kind of RP scenarios above may come to fruition:
Aeon Modules will provide these kinds of sects and otherwise powerful entities within the local area. But for GMs who are crafting their own adventures, they should have a general idea of who is in power both in public and private. The size of the nearby village, town, or city often let you know just how large the organizations in question are, and what infrastructure is necessary to sustain them. Below are some easy questions a GM could ask to flesh out their scenario:
rontiers are typically headed by a village elder or council of aldermen who speak as the voice of the village. Villages typically have a local Baron who collects taxes or tithes. Towns may instead have a Duke; so on and so forth. Once you have the idea of who is the leader, flesh out their desires and, often more importantly, their pressing concerns. These concerns, such as local bandits stealing taxes, often provide the perfect plot hooks for future scenarios.
Are you on the frontier where peasant farmers are conscripted by the local lord? Are you within a sizable village or even a town with a palisade and some permanent guards, headed by the local noble’s man-at-arms? Or are you in a city where the sprawling beau acracy of defense is everything from the kingdom’s numerous generals down to the lowly guards trying to collect taxes at the city’s numerous gates?
Sometimes the local defense is at odds with their ruler. Think of the frontier farmer who ekes out a living far from civilization. They may become disgruntled with their rulers, whether they are just or not. After all, if the farmer’s taxes are going towards a war in a far off portion of the kingdom, even if the loss of that war would destabilize the kingdom, this means little the farmer who has to fend off nearby barbarians or bandits from the meager produce that is left after taxes. This kind of disgruntlement provides excellent kindling for an oncoming conflict.
Is this a single priest working out of a shack? Or a church with a priest and some acolytes? If you are in a city, then perhaps there are numerous religious orders, each with their own towering houses of worship and numerous, competing interests. Each interest, of course, seeks to not anger the other Gods but still puts their own God or Goddess’ edicts at the forefront.
Not every religion needs to be sanctioned. Perhaps there are demon, angel, or elemental worshipers who meet in secret cabals, conducing their rituals and trying to summon an otherworldly entity. These organizations often have the same structures as that of an ecclesiastic establishment, though their aims are typically more selfish than that of the more established religions.
Is this a frontier town where illicit goods are trafficked from the more remote regions to profitable centers of commerce? Are bandits coming in on monthly raids, pilfering the goods of the local peasants to feed themselves? Or are you in a capital with numerous gangs all competing to suckle at the golden teat of a city’s commerce?
Oftentimes these elements will both pilfer and provide protection money. Thus, when considering the overall organizations in your location, consider what powerful patrons are barely impacted by these nefarious actions; these are the perfect kind of targets for illicit organizations to provide hush money to, so that when the locale starts to speak up, the criminal organization has specially placed supporters who can steer the conversation towards issues outside the concern of the criminals. These patrons are not affected by the criminals, make some coin on the side, and, more importantly, they’re now intertwined with the criminals who could always threaten to expose the patron’s blood money.
As with other Skill Checks, start at both Trivial and Legendary. For example, when concerning a religious power, the Trivial rank may represent a freshly minted acolyte who has joined the church, whether in a larger city or out on the frontier, in pursuit of their God or Goddess’ glory. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Legendary rank typically denotes the Church leader, a powerful figure who often communes directly with the divine to effectuate their holy, or unholy, will.
When a Player joins an organization, the overwhelming majority of circumstances dictate that the Character will start at the Trivial rank, since they are both low in XP and they have yet to gain the trust, or fear, of their new colleagues.
We use the term “appropriately” with intention. If every peasant knew of the inner workings of the local heretical sect, then that sect would likely already be exterminated by opposing religious orders; or the local bandits would have already been hunted down by the local noble, eager to earn back their stolen taxes.
That’s not to say that Characters may not learn of secretive sects, as they could learn about it through whispers by the locals. Instead, determine that there is a time and a place to learn of the more secretive organizations. In contrast, the public organizations will do all that they can to proclaim their position in the community, as their vocal presence lends them credence from the masses.
Below is a quick chart, denoting general organizations within an area and ranks therein. Note that oftentimes with military and nobility, the nobles were expected to command their levies. Accordingly, the nobility section below could account for both. As with any other Skill description, these are just examples. The GM is greatly encouraged to create their own as they see fit. Some of the titles are taken from real world examples, but remember that if anyone points out an inconsistency, then they have the wrong frame of reference: in your world, these are the ranks, and the Players are more than welcome to march up to these highly organized factions and speak their mind if they wish.
| Difficulty | Nobility | Religious | Commerce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Life Peer | Acolyte | Apprentice |
| Simple | Baron | Deacon | Journeyman |
| Moderate | Viscount | Priest | Craftsman |
| Advanced | Earl | Bishop | Master Craftsman |
| Challenging | Marquess | Archbishop | Guilder |
| Daunting | Duke | Cardinal | County Guilder |
| Legendary | King/Queen | Head of Faith | Guildmaster |
To be clear, Players can go through an entire Scenario and never join any group. Instead, they are the mercenaries for hire, who know that if they are not tethered to anyone, then they can take gold from all. But for those Players who enjoy RP and want to further develop their Characters, one of the local Organizations may provide exactly the kind of resources, or unforeseen problems down the road, to further this goal. When this happens, see if one of your already plotted scenarios could provide the plot hook necessary.
Perhaps the ultimate villain is a barbarian lord ransacking the frontiers. A marshal Player may wish to join the locale resistance, eventually rising to the rank of captain and, after successfully quashing the rebellion, they may be given military opportunities (and adventures) abroad.
When dealing with nobility, the wilds or otherwise frontier areas are perfect for these kinds of situations. Any RPG veteran can likely and readily tick off the number of times they have been sent on a quest to “free the frontier, and it is yours” kind of missions. These are commonly called “kingdom builders” where the Players have to clear out the derelict castle, then handle the locals issues, then find out there is a horrible curse that, lucky for everyone, the Players should be able to handle! Then, as the Players discover more and more enemies, they are expected to quash the threat to their territory, all the while adding it to their own.
Heavy is the crown, and you should remind the Players of this.
If this is not your style, then the idea of rising in the nobility could be more ephemeral than an actual title. Perhaps a Character does a favor for a noble and joins their retinue. After more famous escapades, the noble’s superior spots the Player’s talent and invites the Player to join their own court. The original noble, while perhaps disgruntled at losing you as their rising star, will likely take a step back and let you ascend to higher notes of praise. But if the noble does not, well perhaps that is kindling for the next explosive scenario to be developed!
Generally, we encourage GMs to create organizations that are meritocracies, as this best matches the talents and aspirations of the Players. If they wish to rise in a religious order, then while there are those who wish to hold onto their political power, it is hard to stand in the way of a person who actually demonstrates divine intervention in their actions. Similarly, the warrior who slays the powerful monster will likely be granted deference over a stodgy, political adversary in the Bounty Hunter’s Guild.
As a GM, do not assume that everyone will stand out of the way for your Players! Instead, these very Characters make perfect villains who, jealous of your Character’s divine, martial, commercial, etc. prowess decide to scheme against the Players and sabotage their efforts.
We assure you that villains exist in stories for a reason. If your Players discover a villain trying to foil their hard-begotten victories and thereafter vanquish him or her, they will love your story even more.
Absolutely! This site goes over the basic Player's Manual. Additional literature and resources may be found in modules or other published works.
Perception represents a Character’s ability to be aware of their surroundings; their overall ability in searching for something they are looking for; and their ability to investigate clues or otherwise discern the hidden.
To be clear, Perception is a Character’s ability to use their senses to find something but does not otherwise mean they understand what they see. Accordingly, a Character may use their Perception to notice that beneath the thick layer of dust on a wall there are letters or glyphs etched into the stone, but this does not mean they understand what they have found. This will likely require another Skill Check if it is beyond common knowledge or otherwise mundane.
In most situations, Perception will be used in two scenarios: first, Player versus Character, and second, Player versus environment.
In most situations, Perception will be used to spot other figures who are running through a crowd or otherwise trying to pass by undetected. Thus, Perception often acts as the antithesis of the Stealth mechanic.
For example, if a Player is trying to spot a sneaky enemy, then the Player’s Perception would be rolled against the enemy’s Stealth level, which acts as the Skill Check.
Sometimes the environment itself will prevent Characters from readily discerning what they need. When describing how the Player’s senses are otherwise obscured, a GM should ensure that they do not limit the senses to just visual.
Instead, the GM should note all five senses, and perhaps a sixth if they have a supernatural flair, when trying to spot something awry. Thus, a fog may greatly obstruct a Party’s vision, but similarly, the cloying smell of a tomb’s decay may mask the stench of the undead nearby.
Rather than provide numerous charts, each depicting the five senses and the distance they can perceive something, we encourage GMs to instead just use the stepping method:
In short, when dealing with Player versus Character, the check is simply contested between Perception and Stealth. When dealing with Player versus Environment, use the steps recommended in the Skills’ overall section at the start of this chapter, then stair step your way down to what you believe is your situation.
It is easy to imagine a Player chasing their enemy down dark and foggy streets, as is the classic scene in film noire. These kinds of situations would obscure or otherwise distract the Player from all their normal, perceptive faculties. If you encounter these kinds of situations where an enemy and the environment overlap, then we recommend just increasing the original difficulty, as determined by the enemy’s original Skill level, by one step for each issue you account for.
If you have a Perception (2) check, but the Player is chasing the enemy through a carnival, then just increase the difficulty by one to a Perception (3) check as it is difficult to spot the hunted through the rambunctious crowd.
As always, make sure your Skill Checks are not otherwise impossible unless you have a direct and compelling narrative reason as to why. After all, if the Players lose track of their quarry in the carnival, only to discover that the quarry is riding one of the floats as a reveler, this kind of revelation and question as to how the Players will catch the quarry is the stuff of movie scripts!
It's a good question, in that if a GM only asks for Perception when there's something to be found, the Players are going to metagame no matter their intentions. On the other hand, if one Player rolls Perception over and over, then all the other Players will feel obligated to roll their own, which could just be superfluous.
Our recommendation is to keep one Perception roll for each "Area", because a Player's overall level of Perception isn't going to change. Thus, if the Characters enter into a chapel which is broken down into a series of rooms, ask the Players to roll and let them know their Perception will be the same for all rooms, etc. in the chapel. If the Players eventually leave the chapel and venture into the woods, then ask for a new check since the woods are a "new area".
The only time we recommend the Players roll a new Perception check in the same area is for an overwhelming RP reason. An example could be that the Players activate some mechanism, which magically changes the overall layout and contents of the chapel (some old school gamers may recognize the idea of the castle flipping upside down, revealing new areas.)
Piloting is a Character's ability to maneuver 3 categories of non-living vessels: Masted, Unmasted, and Racial ships.
In the vast majority of situations, this involves sea faring vessels, which are divided into "masted" and "unmasted", aquatic vessels. As an easy rule of thumb, typically river faring or coastal vessels would fall under unmasted, whilst masted ships are generally used for sea-faring.
Piloting also includes a third, "Racial" category acting as a catch all for a specific race's magical, non-living vessels, such as the Oolay Spires. In the unlikely event a Character wishes to understand two separate race's "Racial" vehicles, then each would require their own Skill entry.
| Vessel Type | Typical Ships |
|---|---|
| Masted | Sloop, Ketch, Frigate, Galleon, Barque, Galley, etc. |
| Unmasted | Canoe, Barge, Rowboat, etc. |
| Racial | Oolay Spires |
Similar to the Diving entry under Athletics, Piloting requires the DM to take the sum of the "Obstacles" and "Water & Weather" difficulties, and the total equals the Skill Check difficulty.
If the pilot fails the Skill Check, then the GM must determine two things:
In both scenarios above, the Aeon Team still recommends using a dice roller and rolling the total number of die, so long as the dice roller lets you quickly see the total number of Successes above the ship's Resistance.
The Characters are approaching the Mistwall of Reefwatch, which has numerous, magical obstructions such as stormy weather, jutting rocks that move, etc. Magical Obstructions cost 4, whilst Raging waters cost 3, for a sum total of 7 difficulty, being a Legendary Check. The pilot rolls and fails the check, so the GM must now determine how both the amount the ship is blown off course and the amount of damage the ship takes.
The Characters are navigating near the rocky outcrops of the Salt King's Coast, attempting to safely reach Doyla's bay. Doyla's bay has occasional obstacles, and the weather/water is only tugging, for a sum difficulty of 2 or a Simple difficulty check. The Pilot successfully makes the Skill Check, thus the ship is neither blown off course nor takes damage.
| Difficulty | "Cost" | Obstacles? | Water & Weather? | Off Course in Reaches (Ship Speed * X Hours)? | Ship Damage (Xd12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | None | Calm | 0.25X | 10 |
| Trivial | 1 | Occasional | Tugging | 0.5X | 20 |
| Simple | 2 | Frequent | Swift | 0.75X | 40 |
| Moderate | 3 | Prevalent | Raging/Undertow | 1X | 60 |
| Advanced | 4 | Magical | --- | 1.25X | 80 |
| Challenging | 5 | --- | --- | 1.5X | 100 |
| Daunting | 6 | --- | --- | 1.75X | 120 |
| Legendary | 7 | --- | --- | 2X | 140 |
This is heavily under GM discretion, but the Aeon Team has provided a general guide below to aid GMs through the thought process which the Team has already encountered through playtesting.
| Physical | Elemental | Supernal |
|---|---|---|
| Waves and Wind, Falling Rocks and Debris | Blizzards, Sleet, Hail, Ice, Lightning, Volcanic Eruptions and Flaming Meteors, Scalding Steam. Encounters within the elemental planes. Elemental origins due to the races or cloin. Locations near planar gates to Abyssia, Aethyria, Cthonia, or Ignissia. | Haunted locations and shipwrecks where iotas gather. Encounters within the plane of Fonts and Siphon. Supernal origins due to the races or cloin. Locations near planar gates to Fonts or Siphon. |
In the event the GM's encounter includes entries from multiple damage types, then we recommend that the damage is considered "Melded", similar to the Passive Augment, and the GM just evenly divvies up the damage amongst the damage types. Thus, if the GM's "storm" includes crashing waves, high winds, and a blizzard, then we'd recommend that the GM divide the damage in half, with one half of the xd12 being a Physical Attack whilst the other half is an xd12 Elemental Attack. If the "storm" includes all three damage types, then divide the damage into thirds.
Security represents a Character’s ability to unlock both mundane and magical obstructions, such as doors, locks, traps, and other nefarious devices. Security is used against non-Characters.
Save for obvious obstructions such as padlocks, Characters with the Security Skill will often need to utilize both the Perception Skill to see hidden traps, and the Security Skill to get past them. The Delayed level of the obstruction will be the Skill difficulty for a Security Skill Check.
At first glance, Security wouldn't have that many RP scenarios, but after years of GM'ing, we've found plenty of interesting questions. So while Security has one of the shortest descriptions, please see the FAQs for interesting questions that may come up for GMs!
The Characters come upon a door covered in glowing glyphs. Without any other Skill Checks, the GM could review their notes, and see that the door has the following Ability:
While Delayed would normally also grant Stealth against Perception Skill checks, the door is an obvious, glowing obstruction and thus the Players would not need to make any Perception checks.
Here, the Delayed (6) would provide the Skill check difficulty for the Player; i.e. the Player would need to have a Security (7) to automatically open the door, or at least six Successes to get past the door. If a Character passes the Skill Check, then the door’s Ability is wholly negated. If the Player fails, then the door’s Ability activates. Since the door deals elemental damage over an area, if the rest of the Party crowds around the door, then they may be in for a damaging surprise if their ally fails the Skill Check.
Anything that could be open or closed could be a Security Check, thus manacles, padlocks, doors, gates, etc. all are perfect opportunities for Security Checks.
This is wholly up to the purview of the GM. In general, we recommend that if the Player has a series of the same Skill Check, such as the example in the question and they succeed, then they have likely figured it out and could rapidly replicate their steps on their allies. Thus, a Success should probably be carried over on all the other manacles.
If the GM instead has a backup scenario for if one or more Players whose manacles could not be unlocked, then this complication could add for some interesting RP! Any fan of classic westerns could imagine that half the Party is free while the other half is still shackled. Can the Party run away while most of the team is hobbled? This builds some great tension.
Should the Party split, with one half promising to return to save their comrades? By doing this, the guards will know of the escape and both hunt down the fleeing Players and prepare for their eventual return with an increased guard. Again, this is a great RP opportunity.
In summary, if the GM has not planned out scenarios for the Players to have some succeed and some fail, then just be safe and have the Success apply to all Players. Instead, if the GM has thought out, or can improvise, a scenario where the Players are split, then go with that! It really just boils down to what the GM feels comfortable with and what creates a compelling narrative.
That is up to the Player to decide; after all, it is their Skill and how it manifests is up to them. Thus, you could have the classic rogue pull out their thieves’ tools; a wizard could speak a few arcane words over the lock; a cleric could pray to a member of their pantheon for divine inspiration in opening the lock; or the barbarian could walk up, stare at the door, then smash it in the perfect way so that it opens and does not activate.
What is most important is that if the Players have an interesting RP way of opening the door, let them! In that same vein, if a Player has already developed a heavy RP way in which they perform their Security Skill, then ensure that your obstruction works with how they normally operate.
After all, nothing would be more deflating if the rogue gives a wonderful soliloquy as to how they pull out their thieves’ tools; unwraps the tooled leather and spools out their implements; and prepares the approach the door; and the GM says “there’s no hole on the door for you to use your tools.” Here, the GM has created a situation where the Player absolutely has the Skill necessary to defeat the obstacle, but this bumbled approach has robbed the Player of a RP reason as to how they perform the task.
Thus, if you have the classic rogue with the thieves’ tools, perhaps your magical door has a slot where a magical key would fit in. Now the rogue can still act in their normal method by using the keyhole with their tools, and the door only obstructs their passage and not their RP.
This is under the GM’s purview. If the GM creates a door which no one could get past, but leaves clues in the other rooms to lower the door’s difficulty, then this is a great and compelling reason for the Party to explore the dungeon.
Concerning wholly mundane obstructions: if you want to just provide a normal lock which is perfect for low XP players, then still build the lock’s Ability but just leave out everything but the Delayed Augment and a very weak Active.
Conversely, if the Party has high XP, create some fun and interesting ways a failure could impede the Party. Perhaps the lock explodes into a sticky mess via the Restraining Passive, and an alarm is rung. Now the Party is trapped in the hallway, greatly hindered with their movement, as the guards charge forward!
Generally, we recommend they cannot. After all, the entire point of having a trapped obstruction is to prevent an intruder from understanding it, preventing the consequences, and getting past it. When the Player fails, both the Player and the rest of the Party will readily learn how the obstruction works as intended!
Conversely, if a Character gets past the obstruction, then they fully understand the contraption, hence why they could get past it. When this happens, the GM should readily inform the Party of how this one Player prevented X, Y, and Z from happening. The rest of the Party will be thankful towards the Player, and the Player will glow with pride over being an essential member who wisely invested their XP. Never shy away from an opportunity to verbally reward a Player for success.
No. Security represents a Player interacting with a non-Character. Thus, if a Player happens upon a lockbox, Security would be perfect. If the Player happens upon another Character, then Stealth would be appropriate, as they are trying to steal something without notice.
This always beggars the question: what if a Character is holding a locked item? Then the GM would initiate a Stealth Check with the quarry’s Perception being the difficulty level; then once the locked item is taken and safely tucked away, a Security Check would be used against the locked item’s Delayed level as the Skill Check difficulty.
This issue deals more with the aim of the GM. If the GM wants the trap to only proc once, then Delayed is appropriate, so that the door uses its Abilities once, then goes dormant (but is still locked). If the GM instead wants the door to proc numerous times, then do not use Delay. In this second instance, we encourage the GM to think carefully about not using Delay, and to provide an RP reason why the trap doesn't constantly shoot fireballs at the party while they're trying to unlock the trap. Better examples of traps which shouldn't have Delayed are pitfalls with spikes, fire traps, etc., i.e. items that make sense why they are constantly dealing damage. These kinds of traps should have a trigger somewhere to deactivate them, but the trigger shouldn't be in the trap itself; otherwise, how would the denizens of the area save themselves from harm from their own traps?
A slightly better way of understanind this is looking at debuffs in general. Debuffs dissipate outside of combat. Traps are typically a skill check, which is outside of combat. Thus, if a trap procs debuffs, shouldn't it immediately dissipate? You can see the immediate dissonance here. The point of a trap is for it to hobble the intruder, so what's the point if it doesn't from both an RP and frankly common-sense standpoint. In these scenarios, we do not have a rule, but have a very strong recommendation through playtesting to have the trap last through the end of the next combat.
Let's say the Players spring a web trap, which applies 2 Restraining on all Players. Thus, we'd suggest that they keep Restraining (2) until they conclude their next combat round.
In a similar vein, it's likely that a Player will have Cleanse, so this beggars the question couldn't a Player just immediately Cleanse a traps negative effects? You can see how this could cause issues for the GM's plans in the dungeon if they can just immediately dissipate trap after traps' effects. Here, we encourage the GM to picture their dungeon like a movie scene: your heroes are ensorceled by magic, but no enemies show up for five hours...it's likely the Players will have enough time to Cleanse themselves and get out. A better way of handling this is, if you know one of your Players can Cleanse, to put an immediate danger after the trap is sprung, such as an alarm bringing in guards, so the Players are immediately placed into combat. If the Cleanser wants to sacrifice their first turn to cleanse the trap's effects, that's 100% fair game in our opinion.
Stealth represents a Character’s mundane or magical means of evading another Character’s Perception.
Stealth, by its nature, is always a contested action between a sneaky and perceptive Character. Thus, these two Skill always act as an initiator and counter to the other.
If a Character uses Stealth to get past other Characters, then the highest Perception of the Characters would act as the Skill Check difficulty; conversely, if the Player is on the lookout for any nefarious activity, then the Player’s Perception would roll against the sneaking Character’s Stealth, which acts as the Skill Check difficulty. Stealth also benefits from the Ambush mechanic, described in detail in Chapter 1 - Combat Order and Initiative.
The GM should look at the situation and determine what is reasonable. In general, we recommend two approaches: Grouped Characters and Dispersed Characters.
Grouped Characters: If the Player is sneaking past a group of guards which are within sight of one another, then the GM should just take the highest Perception of the guards and use this as a Skill Check. After all, if one guard spots the Player, then the guard will alert the others. This also reduces the number of rolls down to one, so the GM can focus on the story rather than the math. Thus, if five guards are grouped in a watchtower, we recommend the GM only needs one Perception Skill Check against which the Player would roll their Stealth, rather than the GM having to roll five separate Perception checks.
Dispersed Characters: If the guards are dispersed, such as numerous guards individually patrolling different corridors, then it makes more sense to have each guard’s Perception act as the Skill Check, since there’s some time between each roll and there is also likely RP in between. Moreover, this also provides more reasonable opportunities for the stealthy Player to utilize the Ambush mechanic, as they are far more likely to Ambush a lone target rather than the group of five guards in the previous example. Conversely, if the Player fails, then this also provides RP or combat opportunities for the stealthy Player to hopefully dispatch the guard, and body, before any other guards are alerted.
Typically, Players imagine stealth as just being the black-clad rogue darting in the shadows. A GM should remind Players that describing their Skill is up to them. Thus, the rogue could instead be a wizard who casts illusion magic upon themselves; a druid transforms into a gecko that runs along the walls or a rat which scuttles amongst the floorboards; or a priest who prays for divine intervention, and find themselves becoming translucent through the grace of their God or Goddess.
Remind the Players of these different RP opportunities to develop their Characters and let them have fun with it!
Survival represents a Character's ability to thrive in wild areas. Like the Academia Skill, the first three levels of Survival are a Character's general survival knowledge which may be applied across all biomes. In order to access the next three levels, a Character must specialize within a Vasathan or Planar region, being their specialized knowledge in understanding the beasts, fauna, and natural phenomena. The Reference Table with such specializes may be found under the Skills Sections
Survival is broken down into five main uses:
| Difficulty Level | Gather Food and Potable Water (X Characters/Creatures Per Day) | Build a Shelter With X to All Resistances and Stealth | Identify Wild Creature's/Fauna's Abilities Up to X Total XP | Predict Weather X Days Ahead | Weather Damage or Dangerous Creatures/Fauna Perception |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | 2 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 6d2 or + Trivial Perception |
| Simple | 4 | 2 | 30 | 2 | 6d4 or + Simple Perception |
| Moderate | 6 | 3 | 45 | 3 | 6d6 + Moderate Perception |
| Advanced | 8 | 4 | 60 | 4 | 6d8 + Advanced Perception |
| Challenging | 10 | 5 | 75 | 5 | 6d10 + Challenging Perception |
| Daunting | 12 | 6 | 90 | Always | 6d12 + Daunting Perception |
| Legendary | 14 | 7 | 105+ | --- | 6d12! + Legendary Perception |
The Survival Check's number of days will last until the party reaches a new region. Once crossing into a new region, the Survival check will need to be rerolled.
We'd recommend the GM first ask the Character in question to roll Survival to determine if they can predict the weather. Upon successfully predicting the weather, the Character will also have knowledge of how bad the weather will be, and how good of a shelter they will need. If there is time between the prediction and when the party needs to build the shelter, we recommend two rolls. If the GM believes it's better to have them combined into one roll, then that works as well. This is heavily subject to the GM's discretion.
The wilds of Vasatha are not like the mild forests and meadows of our world. Creatures and fauna are constantly infused with iotas, and their natural evolution is escalated to deadly levels. Thus, Survival represents a Character's means of finding safe areas for foraging and food. As an example, those ignorant of their surroundings may find their pack animals eating the local, poisonous fauna, despite the blades of grass looking otherwise safe to eat.
This will require input by both the GM and the Party. The Table only provides the raw Resistances and Stealth (camoflauge) for the camp. Thus, the encampment may look very different in a mountainous region of Chow'Sul, where a cave or rocky outcropping may be found, as opposed to the flat Badlands west of the Snowclutch mountains which may require portable tents, hammered into the earth to combat the whipping winds blowing across the prairies. In any event, the GM should provide a general description of what the Survival Character finds (a cave, an indention in the badlands, a thick copse of trees, high ground in the marsh) and then ask the Survival Character to describe how they make the best of the situation.