Combat Rules

Table of Contents

Structured Time

There are times when characters' actions have to be carefully charted, most often in combat but also in other intense, time-sensitive tasks. This is known as Structured Time, and it is broken down into Rounds, Turns, and Actions.

  • Rounds. A Round consists of every character in the encounter taking a single Turn. Although characters take actions in a strict order, in reality they are assumed to be acting roughly simultaneously; either way, a Round usually consists of about 5 seconds.
  • Turns. Each character gets one Turn per Round in which to act. During this Turn, the character can perform an Action and Move. Turn order is determined by Initiative Order.
  • Moves and Actions. Each turn, a character gets one Move and two Actions. They use Moves to move around the field, and Actions to attack, defend, lay traps, reload weapons and so on.

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Combat Structure

Combats are structured as follows.

Firstly, the GM will lay out the combat zone: the terrain, the environment, and where the characters are placed on it.
The GM then determines the initiative of every character, which is equal, usually, to Agility Bonus, but can be increased through certain talents or if the GM feels the situation warrants that some characters may have a starting bonus (usually by ambushing). If a value is tied, the one with the higher score (not bonus) goes first. If this is also tied, then the one with the largest pool of Fate Points goes first. If this is also tied then the characters make an opposed Agility Test, with the winner deciding who goes first.
At this step, the GM also determines if any of the combatants are Surprised. Surprised combatants skip their first turn and may not oppose any attacks.
The first round now begins. Characters take any turns, with the character with the highest initiative going first, followed by the rest in descending order. A character under an effect with a duration ticks down on their turn; if the duration is ‘0’ at the end of their turn, then it ends.
Once every character takes their turn, the Round is over. Repeat this until the battle is resolved.
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Movements and Actions

Each character receives one Turn per Round. During their Turn they are given one Movement and two Actions to do with as they like. You can use these three things in any order, such as Movement->Action->Action, or Action->Movement->Action. In fact, so long as you have movement left, you can even split your movement up between multiple actions- for example, Movement->Action->Movement->Action.

Moves push your character around the map. Many actions have a limit on range, so moving is important; Actions allow your character to perform some task. In combat, the most common action is attacking.

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Moves

Movement is how you navigate the field. Movement is based off your Agility, and is usually done in squares, metres. Maps in this game use squares, with each square corresponding to a square metre, so all movement is measured in metres. If a movement somehow ends up being a decimal (eg. half a metre) then you round down. Most movement in the game will be a Basic Move.

  • Basic Move. This is the most basic use of Move, and shifts you up to AB*2 metres. If you move adjacent to an enemy, then you are Engaged in Melee.

Movement and Combat
If you are adjacent to an enemy, you count as being 'Engaged in Melee'. Being Engaged in Melee limits your options when it comes to movement: if you leave combat carelessly, your enemies can make Chance Attacks against you. Leaving melee carefully is known as Disengaging, whilst leaving it carelessly is known as *Fleeing**:

  • Disengage. If you are Engaged in Melee, then any Move that takes you out of melee with that target counts as a disengage. You EITHER make an opposed test using a skill such as Acrobatics, Endurance, and Melee, or a flat Agility Test, opposed by their Melee score or Melee skill, or you spend an action to guarantee a disengaging. If you succeed, then you may move as normal. You may even leave combat and re-enter it. If you fail, however, then your move counts as a Flee (see below).
  • Flee A Flee is when you are Engaged in Melee, then try to leave it, but either fail your Disengage test, or are fleeing due to psychology or ailment. Your enemies may make a Chance Attack on you that gains a bonus. You may oppose this as normal.

Movement, Stealth, Obstacles, Harmful Terrain and Altitude

The above rules deal with unobstructed movement that won't slow you down, but you don't always have that luxury. Uneven terrain, obstacles, injuries or the like can slow you down. This section deals with the following.

Hindered Movement
Hindered Movement is movement whenever something is stopping you from moving at your full speed. If you are Hindered, then your speed is halved; a Basic Move only moves you AB metres, not AB*2. The following things can cause being Hindered; if you have two or more sources of Hindrance, then your movement is immediately reduced to 1 metre per Move.

  • Moving whilst Prone. If you are prone/crouching, then you are Hindered.
  • Injury: Some injuries, such as leg injuries, can make you Hindered.
  • Enemy Effects: Some talents or abilities can Hinder movement.
  • Environmental: Certain environments, such as waist-high water, can Hinder you as well.
  • Stealth: If you are moving in stealth, you are Hindered. You can risk moving at full speed but you take two penalties to your stealth test.

Movement and Stealth:
If you are in stealth, your movement is Hindered unless you want to take a penalty to your Stealth test. When in Stealth, enemies who have reason to suspect stealthy targets can test Awareness against your Subterfuge (Stealth) skill. If you move through their Line of Sight, they can test this as well. If you end a turn without cover blocking you from Line of Sight, then your stealth instantly ends.

Obstacles and unusual movement
A Basic Move assumes horizontal movement on a flat or inclined surface. You can't use it to move through walls, over large gaps, up cliff sides or through enemies. However, certain movement actions exist to allow that. Note that the movements below often require actions, which can be penalised or advantaged by equipment, talents and skills. This also all covers movement during tense situations, not so much movement that covers minutes or hours. All of these special moves can be done as part of a Basic Move- for example, moving two metres normally then the rest as a Climb.

  • Doors, Windows and other Entrances: Moving through an opened door or window doesn't slow you down, nor do you require an action to open them. However, this makes noise- if you want to do that silently, then you'll have to devote an action to opening the door or window silently.
  • Climbing. This is if you want to climb up or down a vertical surface. You count as Hindered whilst climbing vertically, regardless of direction- especially harsh surfaces may be doubly hindered. If you wish, you may try to hurry, making a skill test such as Athletics or Acrobatics with the Climbing focus- if you pass you remove the Hindered effect, but if you fail by 2 DoF you become doubly Hindered instead; if you fail by 4 DoF then you lose your grip and fall (see below about how that shakes out). If the climb is especially hard then you may be asked to make the test regardless, but gain no extra speed off passing.
  • Swimming. This is if you want to or need to swim through water, although the water should be at least 1 metre deep. You count as Hindered whilst swimming. If you wish, you may try to really kick off and cover some ground, making a skill test such as Athletics with the Swimming focus- if you pass you remove the Hindered effect, but if you fail by 2 DoF or more you become doubly Hindered instead. If the water is especially rough, deep or treacherous then you may be asked to test it regardless, with no benefit if you pass except staying afloat- failure by 4 DoF or more here may see you sink and start to drown!
  • Leaping. This is when you want to leap horizontally over an obstacle or space. You count as Hindered whilst leaping, but your movement carries you over a space (if it's important, usually at a height between .5 and 1 metre off the ground), ignoring any obstacles or spaces you pass over, and lands you on the ground at the end. If you want to put some effort into your jump, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics test with the Leaping focus, where a pass adds +1 metre per DoS, but a failure of 4 DoF or more doubly hinders you- which may cause you to fall! Note that, you can gain an Advantage to a Leaping test if you moved at least 4 metres unhindered before it.
  • Jumping. This is when you want to jump up, vertically. Moving in this way can be done once for free as part of a basic move, but any extra jumps requires you to have at least 2 metres of movement not expended, and uses up the rest of your move. All vertical jumps allow you to move 1 metre up , +1 for each size bracket above 3; you may expend leftover basic move metres to move the same distance horizontally. You may, if you wish, use a Leaping focus to add extra height, where a pass adds half a metre per DoS; failing by 4 DoS halves your base jumping height.
  • Falling. This is when you fall or jump down. You take a hit equal to 1 damage per metre fallen, ignoring Armour. If you fall intentionally, or argue that you can somehow mitigate the fall, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics test to reduce the damage by 1 per DoS. Should you suffer a wound from a fall, then you fall prone.

Harmful Terrain
Some terrain is dangerous to move through, due to the chance of falling over, hazards or the like. This is known as Harmful Terrain. Harmful Terrain comes in different flavours, but all Terrains require you to either move at Hindered speed, or move at full speed but pass an Athletics (Running) or Acrobatics (Balance) test, with the penalty for failure depending on the terrain type. All Harmful Terrain has a Harmful Terrain Number between 0 and 3, where you take that many penalties when testing to move.

  • Uneven/Slippery: Remarkably uneven or slippery terrain can be a real 'trip' to walk through, as you risk falling over. This includes walking uphill, broken cliffsides, gallery roads or walking on ice. If you try to move at full speed in this terrain and fail your test, you fall prone. Furthermore, whilst in this terrain, you apply the Harmful Terrain Number to all Agility Tests you take.
  • Damaging: Some terrain, such as razor wired spaces or sharp rocks or the like, can cause harm just by moving through it. If you try to move at full speed in this terrain and fail your test, you suffer damage depending on the Harmful Terrain itself, added to your DoF.

Altitude
Some entities are capable of flight. Instead of working out exact altitudes using complex equations, we use three broad altitude bands for flying creatures and vehicles. The altitudes, in ascending are Ground, Low and High.

  • Ground altitude includes anything walking on the ground or at most, hovering a metre or two above the ground.
  • Low counts as being the equivalent to 10m off the ground. Ground characters cannot melee attack Flying Low targets. Flying Low characters suffer no penalties for attacking characters on the same altitude.
  • High counts as being extremely high, anywhere above 150m. Characters at this altitude cannot attack characters or be attacked by characters at lower altitude, unless they possess a specially long-Ballistic weapon, as per GM's approval.

Characters who can fly may move one band up or down as part of a Basic Move. They may still move the full distance horizontally.

If a character suffers a heavy wound whilst flying, they struggle to stay in the air, and must make a Toughness, Endurance (Injury) test to stay in the air; if they fail they start to fall.

If a character in the air begins to fall (either due to its flight systems being knocked out etc) it falls one band at the end of each round; once it moves from Low to Ground, it crashes and takes falling damage. If they started at High, they take 50m equivalent of damage; if they started at Low they take 10m instead.
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Actions

During your turn, in addition to your Movement, you have two Action Points to do with as you like. Most commonly you'll be using these to attack your enemies or read your foes, but you're welcome to try and spend an action to do something creative or unorthodox- such as pushing a table over to make obstacles or the like. Below are the most common proscribed actions.

A rule on actions: every action listed below costs either one action point (★) or two action points (★★). You can split a ★★ action with a Movement only in some circumstances. Every action has an Action Keyword type, such as 'Offensive'. Once you've performed an action, you cannot perform any other actions of that same keyword for the rest of your turn. So if you perform a ★ Offensive action, you can't then spend your other point on a second Offensive action. The only exception to this are One Mores, which can perform any action. The action keywords are Attack, Hex, Trick, Restoration, Augment and Defensive.

Attack Rules

In combat, perhaps the most common action is attacking, so we'll discuss how attacks work here. Attacks are executed in the following way.

Choose Attack Action. You choose a valid attack action and a valid target. For melee attacks, this almost always requires you to be adjacent to your enemy; with Ranged attacks, then this requires you to shoot at an enemy within range of your weapon and have ammo left in your weapon.

  • Bursting and Calling Actions: Some Attack Actions can be Burst or Called. Burst attacks are a repeated hits with a weapon, causing extra wounds, attacking furiously; a Called attack on the other hand is a precise and deliberate attack aimed at a specific location. Called Attacks enable the attacker to choose the location they hit. The full rules of Bursts and Called attacks will be listed below, but not every attack can be Burst, nor can every attack be Called; However, no attack can be both Called and Burst at the same time.

Count Bonuses and Penalties. Count up any bonuses and penalties you have to the attack. For every bonus you have, you gain a +10 bonus to the test; for every penalty you have you take a -10 penalty.

Make the Attack Test. You now make the Attack Test. This is an Opposed test, where if you win, you score a single hit on the target. For the test, you use the Melee skill, Ranged skill or your magic score (depending on the weapon: melee and thrown weapons use Melee skill, Ranged weapons use Ranged skill, magic spells use magic score) and your opponent uses an Evasion skill as appropriate (Melee(Parry) can be used for melee, Awareness(Anticipate) can be used for Ranged, whilst Acrobatics (Dodge) can be used for either. Any evasion skill may be used against magic).

Determine Hit location. Roll randomly to determine hit location; each location has a number range (eg 1-10); where the roll lands determines the location hit. 1-10 is head, 11-20 is left arm, 21-30 is right arm, 31-60 is body, 61-80 is left leg, 81-100 is right leg.

Determine Damage. You determine how much damage your attack has. Take the damage value of your weapon, add it to any modifiers, and then add the margin between your DoS and the DoS of the target's evasion test (adding or subtracting nothing if they failed outright). A common modifier is Strength Bonus, which is added to melee weapon damage. If the damage is in excess of the target's Defense (which is their Toughness Bonus plus Armour on the location combined), then the target suffers damage. They lose one wound. They may also suffer extra wounds based on certain conditions, noted below.
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Calling and Bursting Attacks

Some attacks, when made, can be modified by making them 'Burst' attacks or 'Called' attacks, which modifies the attack and its effects. Not every type of attack can be Burst or Called- for example, the Standard Attack may be Burst or Called, but Charges may only be Burst. Furthermore, no attack may be both burst and called.

Burst Attacks
Burst Attacks may only be performed with a weapon with the Burst quality- weapons that gain it due to talents or traits count as well. A Burst attack suffers two penalties, but for every extra degree of success, it deals an extra wound, to a max equal to the Burst value of the attack. These wounds may be allocated to the original target, or they may be allocated to other targets in range so long as the target is as easy or easier to hit than the primary target; extra targets may evade as normal. These wounds have all the same elemental and quality properties of the initial attack, and can stagger; when attacking extra targets, they generate extra wounds as normal. You may move between allocating hits.

Called Attacks
Called Attacks suffer two penalties, but the attacker may choose where the attack lands.
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Inflicting Multiple Wounds

Sometimes, an attack is dealt that is extra damaging; instead of dealing 1 Wound, it deals 2, 3 or more. Since Wounds are so limited, this can be highly dangerous and desirable- if you're the one making the attack. These effects stack.

Multiple wounds are inflicted in the following circumstances:

  • High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 5 or more, then an extra Wound is dealt.
  • Headshot/Weakspot. If the attack hits an important spot on the body (for humans, the head), then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Weakness. If the attack hits an elemental weakness, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Technical Hits. If the attack scores a Technical Hit off an ailment, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Critical Hit. If the attack is a Critical Hit, then an extra wound is dealt.

Savage Attacks
In certain situations, an attack may count as a Savage attack. A Savage attack, alongside inflicting the standard wound, also deals one extra wound of a higher severity than normal. So for example, take a character with 2 light wounds and 1 heavy wound remaining. They suffer an attack that deals 1 light wound, so they lose 1 light wound. However, the attack is Savage; it deals one wound of higher severity than normal, meaning the attack inflicts 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound. The target is left with just 1 light wound. If the target only had 1 heavy wound left, then the target would suffer 1 heavy wound (from the normal attack) plus 1 deadly wound, killing them immediately.

  • If an attack gains Savage modifier more than once, then the savage attack deals another wound of higher severity per modifier. So an attack on a helpless target would deal 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound, but if the attack's damage was 10 points higher than the target's defense, it'd deal 2 light wounds (High Damage+basic) and two Heavy Wounds (Helpless+Very High Damage).

Savage attacks are triggered in the following circumstances:

  • Target is Helpless. If the target is helpless, then the attack becomes a Savage Attack.
  • 4+ Wounds. If the attack deals 4 or more wounds, then it becomes a Savage Attack.
  • Very High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 10 or more, then it becomes a Savage Attack.

Instant Kills
Some exceptionally deadly attacks are so lethal that it defies all logic that any one would be able to survive being hit by them. These attacks are known as Instant Kills, and instead of calculating wounds, they immediately destroy the target. In cases of Persona Users with multiple Personas, it just immediately defeats their Persona instead.

An attack triggers an Instant Kill if the attack's damage surpasses a target's Defense by 25 or more.
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Action List

You can spend your actions however you like. This is actually up to a degree of interpretation: if you want to do something creative or unorthodox, then you can. If you feel a skill could be useful here, then you can use that. If you want to create obstacles or, for example, push a table onto people, you can. Below are the most common proscribed actions.

The list below includes all actions, including those which are locked behind talents; these ones are italicised.

Offensive Actions

Offensive Actions inflict harm on a target, and include all attacks.
Standard Attack (ATTACK) (★). You select an equipped weapon or 'Attack' spell, and attack an enemy in range. This is a normal, standard attack and plays out as above. It can be Burst or Called.

Charge (ATTACK) (★★). Melee. Before your attack, you move a distance up to your Basic Move, and perform a melee attack as normal, but gain an Advantage. Can be Burst.

Ailment Spell (ATTACK) (★ or ★★). You select an Ailment-type spell to affect the target, rolling your Magic score; they oppose with the appropriate Resistance skill or, if they don't have it, with Toughness (for physical ailments) or Willpower (for Mental and Spiritual ones).

Grapple (ATTACK) (★). Melee. You perform a melee attack as normal, using your unarmed attack (triggering a Chance Attack as normal). If you win, instead of dealing damage, you grapple the target. The target can make no Chance Attacks, attacks against them gain Advantage, and at the start of each turn, they must win an Opposed test against you, using their Melee Skill (Natural), Acrobatics (Contortion) or Endurance (Bracing) against your Melee Skill (Natural) or your Endurance (Bracing). If they fail, they do nothing and can make no actions that do not ignore grapples; if they pass, they break the grapple and can act as normal. Grapple is also broken if either of you are moved so that you're no longer Engaged with each other. This continues every turn until the grapple is broken.

All-Weapon Attack (ATTACK) (★★). You perform one attack each for each weapon you have equipped, taking a penalty to all attacks. These attacks can be on the same target or on different ones. Weapons in your off-hand take an extra penalty. You can use a Movement in between attacks.

Hex Spell (HEX) (★ or ★★). You select a Hex-type spell to affect the target. Most hex spells are applied automatically without resistance possible, but some may require such a test to be made.

Push (TRICK) (★). Melee. You perform a melee attack as normal; however, instead of dealing damage, you knock the target back one metre for every DoS; if they hit a solid object they suffer stress and damage equal to the metres they still had left to move. Your enemy can oppose a Push with the Endurance (Bracing) skill as well as Dodge or Parry. If you are grappling the target you can move with them.

Knockdown (TRICK) (★). Melee. You perform a melee attack as normal: however, instead of dealing damage, you knock the target prone. Your enemy can oppose a Knockdown with the Endurance (Bracing) skill as well as Dodge or Parry.

Distract (TRICK) (★). Select one target and make a Manipulate test as an action, opposed by Willpower or Inquiry; on a success, the target takes disadvantage to evasion and perception tests, plus another if you gain 4 or more DoS. Requires the Distract talent.

Taunt (TRICK) (★). You may provoke and insult a target to draw its attention to you; select one target and make a Manipulate test as an action, opposed by Willpower or Inquiry; on a success, the target gains Disadvantage to all attack tests, plus another if you gain 3 DoS or more. However, it does not gain Disadvantages against you, but instead gains an Advantage to attack and evasion tests against you. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to your FB. Requires the Taunt talent.

Scary Face (TRICK) (★). You intimidate your enemy with a show of force; select one enemy and make a skill test, either Athletics (Intimidate) or Authority (Intimidate), opposed by their Fortitude (Courage) or Willpower. On a success, until the start of your next turn, that enemy takes a Disadvantage to all attack tests against you or any allies adjacent to you.

Battle Reading (TRICK) (★). Select one target and make an Inquiry test as an action, opposed by Subterfuge or Manipulation; on a success, at any time between now and your next turn, you can force the target to reroll a single test and take the result you prefer. Requires the Battle Reading talent.

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Defensive and Support Actions

Defensive and support actions revolve around assisting allies or yourself.
Defend (DEFENSIVE) (★★). You defend until the start of your next turn, gaining Advantage on Chance Attacks, Evasion and Ailment Resistance tests. Furthermore, so long as you benefit from Defending, you are not staggered nor take extra wounds from Critical Hits, Technical Hits or Elemental Weakness hits.

Protect (DEFENSIVE) (★★). You protect an ally; the next non-AoE attack that hits them hits you instead. Called attacks can ignore you but take an extra Disadvantage.

Covering Fire (DEFENSIVE) (★). When wielding a Ballistic weapon, you may use your action to provide Covering Fire. Select one ally. That ally gains an Advantage on all evasion tests until the start of your next turn, and you expend a point of ammo. If your weapon has the Burst function, then it can provide Covering Fire to allies up to X, but this procs a reload as normal. Requires the Covering Fire talent.

Restoration Spell (RESTORATION) (★). You select a Restoration keyword spell and cast it on yourself or an ally within range, with the effects as per the spell.

Augment Spell (AUGMENT) (★). You select an Augment keyword spell and cast it on yourself or an ally within range, with the effects as per the spell.

Cultivate Efficacy (★). You may make an Authority test as an action; should you pass, all allies gain an Advantage to their next test. Requires the Cultivate Efficacy talent.

Inspire (★). You may make an Authority test as an action; should you pass, you grant an advantage to all tests to resist Despair and Panic to all allies for the rest of the encounter, or until you fail a test to resist fear and panic yourself. Requires the Inspire talent.

Incite Fury (★). Select one target and make an Authority test as an action; should you pass, all allies besides you gain Advantage to attacks against that target. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to your FB. Requires the Incite Fury talent.

Analyse Target (★). Requires Evoker Rank 4 or Navigator. You select one enemy and analyse them, revealing their elemental affinities, Arcana and Personality.

Advanced Analysis (★). Requires Evoker Rank 7 or Navigator. You select one enemy and analyse them, revealing their elemental affinities, Arcana, Personalities, Wounds, Scores and Traits.

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Focusing and Delaying

Focus (★). You gain a bonus to your next test.

Full Focus (★★). You gain two bonuses to your next test.

Delay (★ or ★★). You select an action; between now and your next turn, you may perform this action out of order. The action may only be the action you choose. Delaying like this counts as the same action keyword and type as the action you choose, meaning delaying like this prevents you from, for example, attacking. Once you delay, your turn immediately ends. Note that delayed actions may not interrupt actions, but they may interrupt movements.
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Movement Actions

Run (★). You gain an extra Basic Move. Until the start of your next turn, melee attacks against you take a bonus; Ranged attacks take a penalty. You take a penalty to tests against Difficult Terrain you move through this turn.

Full Run (★★). You gain two extra Basic Moves. Until the start of your next turn, melee attacks against you take two bonuses; Ranged attacks take two penalties. You take two penalties to tests against Difficult Terrain you move through this turn.

Fall or Rise from Prone (★). You may choose this to either become Prone if you are standing, or to rise from Prone. However, rising from Prone triggers chance attacks from adjacent enemies.

Mount (★). You may use this action to mount a vehicle or animal.
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Using a Skill

Use a Skill (★). You can perform a skill test not otherwise covered in the other actions- for example, setting or disarming traps. Not all skill tests can be used as part of a single action.

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Equipment Actions

Use Consumable (KEYWORD DEPENDS) (★). You withdraw a consumable and use it. You can use it on any ally within 5 metres. The keyword of this action depends on the consumable being used; if the action mimics a spell, then it borrows any keywords from that spell. If the consumable restores wounds or Power then it counts as a Restoration action; if it augments an ally then it counts as an Augment, and if it penalises an enemy it counts as a Hex or in some cases a Trick; clarify with your GM.

Reload (★ dependant). You reload a ranged weapon you possess, providing you have ammo for it. The number of actions this takes depends on the weapon itself. You can attempt to hurry this on with a Ballistics (weapon class) test or a Survival (Equipment) test, which reduces the duration by one action, plus another per 2 DoS, to a minimum of 1 action.

Equip Item (Free or ★). You withdraw an item, such as a tool or weapon, from your inventory. You can swap an item away as part of this. The action cost of equipping an item depends on the size: if it's a one-handed tool then it's a free action, if it's two handed then it's one action.

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Advantage

The Advantage mechanic reflects the change in fortunes in battle due to controlling the terrain, tactics, and luck.

Advantage (sometimes called bonuses) is gained by fulfilling certain criteria, listed below. Advantage stacks, and each point of Advantage grants +10 to the associated tests. This includes evasion actions (ie. Rolling to oppose an attack) unless the Advantage applies only to attacks.

Conversely, you can also gain Disadvantage (sometimes called penalties). Disadvantage adds a -10 penalty to tests associated with the Disadvantage.

Below is a list of Advantages and Disadvantages. As a note, some Advantages (such as Point Blank) are such that if you are satisfying their requirements, you're usually satisfying another Advantage as well. This is intentional, and you get the benefits of both.
Entry Requirements
Advantages
Ailment Actions against enemies with Ailments gain 1 Advantage per Ailment.
Ambushing You gain Advantage on all tests during your Surprise Turn.
Charge Melee attacks made after a Charge gain Advantage.
Fate Point (Advantage) Fate Points can be spent to gain two advantages.
Focused Attack Focused Attacks gain Advantage.
Grappled Enemy Melee attacks against grappled enemies gain Advantage.
High Ground Actions against enemies of a lower elevation (roughly 1 metre or less below you) gain Advantage.
Outnumbering (2 to 1) Melee attacks against targets who are outnumbered 2 to 1 in melee (ie. There's 2 enemies for every adjacent ally, including themselves) gain Advantage.
Outnumbering (3 to 1) Melee attacks against targets who are outnumbered 3 to 1 in melee (ie. There's 3 enemies for every adjacent ally, including themselves) gain Advantage.
Prone (Melee) Melee actions against prone targets gain Advantage.
Range (Close) Ballistic attacks against targets who are within half of the weapon's range or closer gain Advantage.
Range (Point Blank) Ballistic attacks against targets who are within 3 metres of you gain Advantage. This does not include targets who are engaged in melee with you.
Running Target Melee attacks against running targets gain Advantage.
Size (Larger) Attacks against enemies larger than Normal gain 1 Advantage per category.
Unarmed Enemy Melee actions against targets who are unarmed- whilst you are not- gain Advantage.
Disadvantages
Bad Weather Actions against targets shrouded in smoke, fog, haze or the like suffer Disadvantage.
Cover (Heavy) Attacks against enemies who are in heavy cover (behind barricades, sturdy desks, sandbags, or solid walls) suffer Disadvantage.
Cover (Light) Attacks against enemies who are in light cover (behind desks, low walls, weak doors etc) suffer Disadvantage.
Darkness Actions against targets in no or nearly no light suffer Disadvantage.
Difficult Terrain Agility tests taken whilst in difficult terrain suffer Disadvantage equal to the Difficult Terrain's value.
Low Light Actions against targets in low light suffer Disadvantage.
Obscuring Haze Actions against targets shrouded in smoke, fog, haze or the like suffer Disadvantage.
Running Target (Shoot) Ballistic attacks against running targets gain Disadvantage.
Shooting at Prone Ballistic attacks against Prone enemies suffer Disadvantage unless the target is at point blank range.
Shooting into Melee Ballistic attacks against enemies engaged in melee suffer Disadvantage unless the target is unable to take actions.
Size (Smaller) Attacks against enemies smaller than Normal suffer 1 Disadvantage per category.
Stressed (Exhausted) Characters who are Exhaustion suffer Disadvantage.
Stressed (Fatigued) Characters who are Fatigued suffer Disadvantage.

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Special Attack Modifiers and Types

Chance Attacks

Chance Attacks are attacks that trigger when an opponent does certain actions. Most commonly, if an enemy engaged in melee combat with you physically moves out of combat, you make a Chance Attack on them, unless their move specifically disallows Chance Attacks. Chance Attacks cannot trigger Chance Attacks against you, nor do they gain One More.

Common triggers are:

  • Leaving melee without using a Disengage move
  • Adjacent target rising from prone
  • Failing a Grapple
  • Firing a Basic or Heavy Ranged Weapon whilst Engaged in Melee
  • Failing a trick maneuver

Anyone not suffering from an Ailment can make Chance Attacks. Chance Attacks act exactly like a standard attack. Once you make a Chance Attack you can't make another until the start of your next turn without purchasing specific talents. You may only make one Chance Attack per trigger and you can only attack an enemy with a Chance Attack once per round.

You may not make Chance Attacks with Ballistic weapons if you are in melee, unless the weapon is a pistol.
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Fumbles

A Fumble is when you roll a 96 or over on an attack test. Fumbles are automatic misses, with your opponent not even needing to make an evasion roll. Ballistic weapons jam, losing all their ammo and requiring a reload.
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Scattering

Sometimes an attack 'scatters', meaning it moves in a random direction. To figure this out, take the test that you used for the attack. The ones column determines the direction of the attack as per a keyboard number pad (a 5 is directly up, and a 0 is towards -you-). The tens column is how many metres the attack moves.

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Critical Hits

Sometimes an attack may be especially effective, dealing a Critical Hit. This occurs if the attack roll is 10 or lower. Critical Hits deal an extra wound and also deal an extra effect depending on their type: Physical attacks Stagger the target, whilst Magic attacks deal a special effect based on their type.

Critical Hit chance can be increased through some talents or weapon abilities.
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Technical Hits

A Technical Hit allows you to deal higher damage against a target and stagger them depending on certain circumstances.

  • When a character is inflicted with an Ailment, then attacking them with an attack that uses a certain element will count as a Technical Hit. Technical Hits deal an extra wound, stagger the target, and ignore Elemental Resistances. Technical Hits also clear the ailment that it exploited.

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Elemental Affinities

In Persona, there are ten regular elements- every attack (bar a few) falls into a type of elemental attack. Shadows and Personas each possess a relationship with the elements, which determines if they are especially vulnerable to that element or whether they're actually tougher against it. These are known as Elemental Affinities.

  • The ten regular Elements are: Melee, Missile, Fire, Ice, Wind, Electricity (Elec), Nuclear (Nuke), Psychic (Psy), Bless and Curse.
  • A Persona or Shadow may possess one of the following Affinities per Element: Weak, Normal, Resist, Block, Absorb or Repel.
    • Weak is the lowest Affinity. Targets struck by an element they are Weak against are Staggered. The attack's Damage also ignores the target's Toughness Bonus. If the attack has an ailment or Quality affect that requires a test to resist, the target has a -20 to tests to resist it.
    • Normal is the default Affinity. Attacks proceed as normal.
    • Resist is the fourth highest Affinity. The target gains +5 TB against the attack. If the attack has an ailment or Quality affect that requires a test to resist, the target has a +20 to tests to resist it.
    • Block is the third highest Affinity. The target is completely immune to damage of this type and cannot be affected by it in any way, including from any Quality effects.
    • Repel is the second highest Affinity. The target reflects the attack back against you, and you roll normal damage against yourself. If you also have Repel towards that affinity, you Block it instead.
    • Absorb is the highest Affinity. The target absorbs the attack, healing 1 Light Wound per Tier of the attack. Mundane physical attacks always count as Tier 1.
  • There is an eleventh element, Almighty. This special element is notable in that no one has strengths or weaknesses against it. Furthermore, Almighty attacks usually ignore certain spell protections.

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One More

One More is a special Persona mechanic which rewards exploitation of weaknesses and controls the initiative of the battle.

  • Certain actions cause targets to suffer the Staggered status effect. When you hit an enemy with an attack that Staggers them, then you gain a One More. No matter how many enemies you Stagger with a single action, you only gain a single One More action off a single action.
  • Enemies are Staggered if they are sucessfully hit an enemy with an element they are weak against. Enemies are also staggered if you score a Critical Hit with a Physical-type attack and as part of the Critical Effects of certain spells.
  • A One More is an extra single Move or Action that you can perform at the end of your turn.
  • It is possible to use a One More to Stagger another enemy, which will grant you another One More action. However, enemies who are already Staggered cannot be Staggered again.
  • Instead of using the One More on an Action, you can transfer it to allies (Baton Pass) or, if every enemy is Staggered, use it to perform an All Out Attack.

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Baton Pass

Baton Pass allows you to transfer a One More to an ally, allowing for coordinated and devastating actions.

  • On gaining a One More, you can designate one ally (designated the Receiver) who is also a Confidant with a Social Link rank of at least 1. At the end of your turn- but before the turn of the next character in initiative order-, this character gains your One More instead.
  • The Receiver may then act as per a normal One More. They, too, may score One Mores off this action.
  • The Receiver gains 1 Advantage, plus another at Rank 4, 7 and 10 of the Social Link. If the Receiver uses their Baton Pass to heal, then these Advantages also improve the amount of Wounds restored by healing as though they were damage, adding +1 each.
  • The Receiver may, if they gain a One More of their own, Baton Pass it onto another teammate. That Receiver may do the same, and so on and so forth- but a character who has already given or received a Baton Pass during this chain cannot receive a second one.

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All Out Attack

A decisive attack that can devastate almost any enemy.

  • An All Out Attack is enabled when you gain a One More and all enemies are Staggered. You may choose to expend your One More to engage in an All Out Attack, a special attack that hits all enemies.
  • This is a stress-free Group Action, and everyone makes an attack roll, using either their Melee, Ranged or Magic score. The tests also gain an Advantage. The attack deals 1 wound per participant to all enemy targets, plus another wound per DoS of the winning attack. The bonus wounds max at participants*2.
  • Once an All Out Attack is finished, all enemies struck by the attack lose the Staggered ailment.
  • An All Out Attack can only be conducted if you have at least two contributors, including yourself (ie you and one ally).
  • At the end of an All Out Attack, all participants lose 2 Stress, plus another per enemy killed.

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Wounds

Every character has a pool of Wounds, which determines how much damage you can take before suffering injury, debility and death. Each time you suffer a wound, you mark one wound off from your pool.

However, not all wounds are equal. Every character has three separate wound tracks, divided up by severity: Light Wounds, Heavy Wounds and Deadly Wounds.

  • Light Wounds. Light Wounds are the most common and expendable. You possess a number of Light Wounds equal to your TB. Whenever an attack's damage surpasses your defense and inflicts a wound, you lose 1 Light Wound and suffer 1 Stress. If you have no more Light Wounds to lose, then you instead lose a Heavy Wound.
  • Heavy Wounds. Heavy Wounds are for serious injuries, and losing them can be debilitating. You have a number of Heavy Wounds equal to your TB/2, rounded down to a minimum of 1. Each time you lose a Heavy Wound, you suffer 5 Stress and take an ongoing Injury that persists for as long as the Heavy Wound remains lost. The penalty depends on the location of the wound. If you have no more Heavy Wounds left to lose, then you instead suffer a Deadly Wound instead.
  • Deadly Wounds. Deadly Wounds are the single most serious of wounds, and you only ever have one. Once you lose it, then you're out of the fight, either due to injury so serious that you're unable to fight, or you're dead. You also take 10 stress, if it matters.

Thus, a character with 4 TB would have 4 Light Wounds, 2 Heavy Wounds and 1 Deadly Wound.
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Inflicting Multiple Wounds

Sometimes, an attack is dealt that is extra damaging; instead of dealing 1 Wound, it deals 2, 3 or more. Since Wounds are so limited, this can be highly dangerous and desirable- if you're the one making the attack. These effects stack.

Multiple wounds are inflicted in the following circumstances:

  • High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 5 or more, then an extra Wound is dealt.
  • Headshot/Weakspot. If the attack hits an important spot on the body (for humans, the head), then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Weakness. If the attack hits an elemental weakness, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Technical Hits. If the attack scores a Technical Hit off an ailment, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Critical Hit. If the attack is a Critical Hit, then an extra wound is dealt.

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Savage Attacks

In certain situations, an attack may count as a Savage attack. A Savage attack, alongside inflicting the standard wound, also deals one extra wound of a higher severity than normal. So for example, take a character with 2 light wounds and 1 heavy wound remaining. They suffer an attack that deals 1 light wound, so they lose 1 light wound. However, the attack is Savage; it deals one wound of higher severity than normal, meaning the attack inflicts 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound. The target is left with just 1 light wound. If the target only had 1 heavy wound left, then the target would suffer 1 heavy wound (from the normal attack) plus 1 deadly wound, killing them immediately.

  • If an attack gains Savage modifier more than once, then the savage attack deals another wound of higher severity per modifier. So an attack on a helpless target would deal 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound, but if the attack's damage was 10 points higher than the target's defense, it'd deal 2 light wounds (High Damage+basic) and two Heavy Wounds (Helpless+Very High Damage).

Savage attacks are triggered in the following circumstances:

  • Target is Helpless. If the target is helpless, then the attack becomes a Savage Attack.
  • 4+ Wounds. If the attack deals 4 or more wounds, then it becomes a Savage Attack.
  • Very High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 10 or more, then it becomes a Savage Attack.

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Instant Kills

Some exceptionally deadly attacks are so lethal that it defies all logic that any one would be able to survive being hit by them. These attacks are known as Instant Kills, and instead of calculating wounds, they immediately destroy the target. In cases of Persona Users with multiple Personas, it just immediately defeats their Persona instead.

An attack triggers an Instant Kill if the attack's damage surpasses a target's Defense by 30 or more.
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Wounds and Personas

Evokers possess Personas, which act as a shield in both metaphysical and literal ways. When an Evoker loses wounds, they lose wounds to their equipped Persona first. These wounds cause Stress just like any other, but they do not cause injuries. If a Persona is defeated, however, then the Evoker suffers an extra 10 Stress.

If a Persona is defeated, any further attacks on the Evoker will deplete their wounds until they swap to a different, living Persona.
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Wounds and Injury

Characters who suffer Heavy Wounds are placed under massive strain, and will suffer lasting injuries that persist until the character rests or receives medical attention.

The nature of an injury depends on the location and how many Heavy Wounds you have remaining after suffering the injury. So if, for example, you receive a Heavy Wound to the head, and you have 1 Heavy Wound left over after that, then you apply the Injury. You can only have one injury per location, so newer injuries overwrite old ones. Note that many injuries say 'As Above'. You suffer all of the effects of the above Injury as well, which means stacking disadvantages as well.

Injuries remain until all Heavy Wounds are cleared.

Heavy Wounds Left Injury Effect
Head
3+ Disorientation You suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all Intelligence, Perception and Fellowship tests.
2 Concussion As above. You are concussed; you immediately become stunned.
1 Fracture As all above, but you suffer a tiny fracture to your skull, causing massive pain and disorientation; you immediately become confused. You suffer a one-off case of Blood Loss.
0 Blinded As all above, but you are blinded. Until you heal, you are unable to see or pass any tests relying on sight, including Ballistic attacks. You treat all enemies as though you are in darkness.
Body
3+ Winded You suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all Strength and Toughness tests.
2 Bruised Rib As above. You suffer a bruised rib, which is painful and tiring. Whenever you take a Wound for any reason, you take 1 extra.
1 Cracked As all above. You suffer a crack to an inner bone, making it hard for you to breathe. Whenever you fail a test, you suffer DoF stress. You suffer a one-off case of Blood Loss.
0 Puncture As all above. You've suffered extremely dangerous puncturing to an inner organ. You are now suffering from Blood Loss, and whilst this can be stopped with first aid, whenever you take Stress for any reason after this, Blood Loss returns.
Arm
3+ Hand Agony You suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all attack or parry tests with this hand.
2 Broken Fingers As above. Every time you use this hand you take 5 stress.
1 Broken Wrist As all above. Your wrist is broken. You drop anything you are holding in this arm. You can pick things up, but your grip is very weak; should you fail an attack or parry test with this hand, you drop whatever you are holding.
0 Broken Arm As all above. Your arm breaks with an audible and painful crack. You drop anything you are holding in this arm; you can no longer use it to carry things or make attacks.
Leg
3+ Foot Pain Moving hurts a ton- you suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all Agility tests.
2 Broken Toes As above. You suffer highly painful broken toes. You fall prone and from this point on, all movement you make incurs 1 stress.
1 Broken Foot As all above. Your foot is broken, forcing you into an awkward shuffle. All of your movement is Hindered.
0 Broken Leg As all above. Your leg breaks, sending you to the ground. You fall prone and automatically fail any test that requires you to walk. You are unable to walk without a support. Crawling is fine.

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Fate Points

Fate Points are a special resource. They represent your self-realisation, your belief, and your convictions, having some strange unconscious effect on the world around you in ways you won't fully understand.
You have a pool of Fate Points equal to your Realisation Bonus, and this pool replenishes at the start of each week. You can spend Fate Points whenever you wish to gain special benefits.

  • Advantage. You can spend a Fate Point to gain two Advantages on a test.
  • Reroll. You can spend a Fate Point to reroll a test that has already been rolled.
  • Restore Light Wounds. You can spend a Fate Point to restore a number of Light Wounds to yourself equal to your Realisation Bonus.
  • Remove Ailment. You can spend a Fate Point to remove a single ailment from yourself.
  • Block Heavy Wound. You can spend a Fate Point on incurring a Heavy Wound to block that wound. If you incur multiple Heavy Wounds at once, you have to spend multiple Fate Points in order to block ones past the first.
  • Revive Broken Persona. You can spend a Fate Point to revive a broken Persona back to life, with one Wound remaining.
  • Restore Exertion or Spirit. You can spend a Fate Point to restore Spirit or Exertion to yourself, restoring an amount equal to your Realisation Bonus.
  • Ignore Injury. You can spend a Fate Point to ignore an injury for a single round.

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Ailments

Ailments are special modifiers that apply a detrimental effect to a target. They are divided into four categories: Staggered, Physical, Mental and Spiritual. Enemies gain 1 Advantage against you per ailment you have. Apart from their negative effects, being hit by attacks of a certain element will incur a 'Technical Hit' on you, causing higher damage.

  • You may only possess a single Ailment from each category at once. Ie. You can possess 1 Physical and 1 Mental ailment, but not two Physical ailments.
Note: Duration here is only to be followed if there are no other instructions given; ie if a target 'suffers Dizzy', then they suffer Dizzy for 2 turns, but if they 'suffer Dizzy for 3 turns' then they suffer it for that long instead.
Name Effect Technical Hit Duration
Staggered
Staggered You may not oppose any attacks against you. - Start of sufferer's next turn
Physical Effects
Burning At the end of each round, you suffer a Damage 4 attack ignoring AP, dealing 1 wound. This attack's Damage increases by 1 per turn until put out. Burning applies Disadvantage to Willpower tests. You may use your Move or Action on your turn to attempt to put the fire out with an Agility test with two Disadvantages. Immunity to Fire also confers immunity to Burning. Nuclear, Wind Until put out, or hit with Ice element
Dizzy You suffer Disadvantage on all tests, can't assist allies and allies can't count you for outnumbering advantages. Nuclear Wears off after 2 turns
Frozen You may make no actions and lose any Physical element resistances. You may make a Strength or Toughness test at the end of each turn to break free. Immunity to Ice also confers immunity to Shocked. Nuclear, Physical Until passes test or takes damage
Shocked You may make no actions. Any enemies who attack you in melee combat must make an Agility test or also be Shocked. Immunity to Elec also confers immunity to Shocked. Nuclear, Physical Wears off after 2 turns
Drowsed You may make no actions. All attacks gain Technical Hits against you. All Until character takes damage
Stunned You may make no actions, and enemies gain an extra Advantage against you, stacking with the basic Advantage for having an ailment. Nuclear Until wears off
Mental Effects
Amnesiac You may not use Persona Powers, and any actions spend on activating the Powers are wasted. (Passive Powers and Traits are still in effect.) Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Brainwashed You are under the control of another. At the start of your turn, that character may induce you to heal or cast an Augment on someone of their choice (if you have a Power or item that can do so), perform an attack on a target of their choice, or to simply do nothing. You cannot oppose attacks aimed at you by your controller or their allies. Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Confused At the start of your turn, make an Intelligence check. If you fail, you perform an action based on your Degrees of Failure: 0-1, you do nothing but can oppose attacks. 2-3, you drop everything in one hand (left if odd, right if even); 4+ you attack the nearest character, 5+ you attack yourself. Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Despaired You may make no actions except a Willpower-10 test to remove Despair. At the start of each turn, you take 5 Stress. Counts as Fear. Psychic Until cured or you pass out
Enraged You gain Advantage on melee attacks and gain the Unnatural Strength (2) trait. However, you cannot evade attacks, and any attacks on you ignore AP and the Unnatural Toughness trait. On your turns, you may do nothing except attack enemies in melee with whatever weapon you have- if there are no enemies in range you will move toward them as quickly as possible. Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Panicked You take a Disadvantage to all tests so long as you are still in line of sight or within 20m of the source of panic. If you fail a test against the source, and the difference between your DoF and their DoS is 3 or higher, you spend your next move and action fleeing. You remove panic by either winning a test against the source or spending a full move and action to overcome it. Counts as Fear. Psychic Until test passed or action spent
Spiritual Effects
Condemned Attacks against you reroll to hit. Immunity to Bless also confers immunity to Condemned. Bless Wears off after 2 turns
Damned You reroll all tests and take the worse result. Immunity to Curse also confers immunity to Damned. Curse Wears off after 2 turns

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Special Conditions

The following is dedicated to special conditions that you may encounter, including injuries, special damage and the like.

Blood Loss

Characters who suffer blood loss are in danger of bleeding out turn-by-turn. It is usually caused by critical hits or injuries, but some special attacks may inflict it as well.

  • Characters who are bleeding must make a Toughness or Endurance (Injury) test at the start of each turn. This is free, but if they choose to use their Action to stem the bleeding they gain three Advantages. If they fail this test, they instantly take 1 Wound. If they are out of Wounds, then instead of suffering a Heavy Wound, they suffer 1 Toughness decay, +1 per DoF. If this reduces their Toughness to zero, then they suffer a 1 Heavy Wound to the body per round.
  • A Character can staunch blood loss by using the Medical skill as an Action.

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Fatigue and Exhaustion

As characters gain Stress, they risk becoming tiring out and becoming exhausted. Once Stress breaches certain thresholds, a character can become fatigued or worse.

  • If Stress exceeds Toughness, then the character is Fatigued, suffering Disadvantage to all tests.
  • If Stress is 20 points higher than Toughness, then the character is Exhausted, suffering another level of Disadvantage. At this level, whenever the character suffers Stress, they must make a Toughness test or full unconscious; this period of unconsciousness lasts for a number of minutes equal to your Stress level.

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Suffocation

Characters who are unable to access air are considered to be suffocating. This could be due to drowning, smoke inhalation or a certain toxin.

  • Characters who are suffocating but are able to focus entirely on conserving air may hold their breath for a number of minutes equal to their Toughness Bonus.
  • Characters who are suffocating but are engaged in strenuous activity such as combat, swimming or so forth, then they may hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their Toughness Bonus.
  • Whilst suffocating, a character must make a single Toughness test per minute (if focused on conserving oxygen) or per round (if engaged in strenuous activity). If they fail, they suffer 1 Stress, plus one per Degree of Failure.
  • If a character has failed to access a new source of air by the end of their alloted time, then they instantly fall unconscious.
  • If a character is both unconscious and has no access to a source of air, then they die after a number of rounds equal to their Toughness Bonus.

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Score Decay

Characteristic Score Decay is when one of your Scores is temporarily damaged. The score itself is reduced by an amount for a specific time period. This changes your Bonuses accordingly.

  • Unless otherwise specified, a Score cannot go below 1 due to decay, and on doing so, you become non-functional for a week.

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Helpless

Helpless targets- such as sleepers, unconscious or incapacitated targets, are entirely unable to defend themselves. Attacks against them automatically hit and become Savage.
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Unprotected from Miasma

Being in the Sea of Chaos without an equipped Persona causes problems. This means no Minors, or for individuals who only have one Persona, not having that one. Usually this is because all of your Personas have been defeated.

  • For every hour you are in the Sea of Chaos, you take Stress equal to the Miasma growth rate.
  • For every round you are in a battle, you must test Willpower or suffer Stress equal to the Miasma growth rate.

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Grappled and Immobilised

If you are grappled, then whenever you attempt to move or attack, you must make a Melee Skill (Grappling), Acrobatics (Contortion) or Endurance (Injury) test, opposed by your opponent's Melee Skill (Grappling) or Endurance (Injury) test. If you pass, you are no longer Grappled and can act as normal. If you fail, then your action is wasted and you do nothing. Grapple also ends if your opponent moves away from you for any reason.

Immobilisation works the same as grappling, however, you test against the result they used for their initial test- they don’t reroll each time. Every time you fail the test you gain a stacking Advantage to your next attempt.
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Structured Time

There are times when characters' actions have to be carefully charted, most often in combat but also in other intense, time-sensitive tasks. This is known as Structured Time, and it is broken down into Rounds, Turns, and Actions.

  • Rounds. A Round consists of every character in the encounter taking a single Turn. Although characters take actions in a strict order, in reality they are assumed to be acting roughly simultaneously; either way, a Round usually consists of about 5 seconds.
  • Turns. Each character gets one Turn per Round in which to act. During this Turn, the character can perform an Action and Move. Turn order is determined by Initiative Order.
  • Moves and Actions. Each turn, a character gets one Move and two Actions. They use Moves to move around the field, and Actions to attack, defend, lay traps, reload weapons and so on.

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Combat Structure

Combats are structured as follows.

Firstly, the GM will lay out the combat zone: the terrain, the environment, and where the characters are placed on it.
The GM then determines the initiative of every character, which is equal, usually, to Agility Bonus, but can be increased through certain talents or if the GM feels the situation warrants that some characters may have a starting bonus (usually by ambushing). If a value is tied, the one with the higher score (not bonus) goes first. If this is also tied, then the one with the largest pool of Fate Points goes first. If this is also tied then the characters make an opposed Agility Test, with the winner deciding who goes first.
At this step, the GM also determines if any of the combatants are Surprised. Surprised combatants skip their first turn and may not oppose any attacks.
The first round now begins. Characters take any turns, with the character with the highest initiative going first, followed by the rest in descending order. A character under an effect with a duration ticks down on their turn; if the duration is ‘0’ at the end of their turn, then it ends.
Once every character takes their turn, the Round is over. Repeat this until the battle is resolved.
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Movements and Actions

Each character receives one Turn per Round. During their Turn they are given one Movement and two Actions to do with as they like. You can use these three things in any order, such as Movement->Action->Action, or Action->Movement->Action. In fact, so long as you have movement left, you can even split your movement up between multiple actions- for example, Movement->Action->Movement->Action.

Moves push your character around the map. Many actions have a limit on range, so moving is important; Actions allow your character to perform some task. In combat, the most common action is attacking.

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Moves

Movement is how you navigate the field. Movement is based off your Agility, and is usually done in squares, metres. Maps in this game use squares, with each square corresponding to a square metre, so all movement is measured in metres. If a movement somehow ends up being a decimal (eg. half a metre) then you round down. Most movement in the game will be a Basic Move.

  • Basic Move. This is the most basic use of Move, and shifts you up to AB*2 metres. If you move adjacent to an enemy, then you are Engaged in Melee.

Movement and Combat
If you are adjacent to an enemy, you count as being 'Engaged in Melee'. Being Engaged in Melee limits your options when it comes to movement: if you leave combat carelessly, your enemies can make Chance Attacks against you. Leaving melee carefully is known as Disengaging, whilst leaving it carelessly is known as *Fleeing**:

  • Disengage. If you are Engaged in Melee, then any Move that takes you out of melee with that target counts as a disengage. You EITHER make an opposed test using a skill such as Acrobatics, Endurance, and Melee, or a flat Agility Test, opposed by their Melee score or Melee skill, or you spend an action to guarantee a disengaging. If you succeed, then you may move as normal. You may even leave combat and re-enter it. If you fail, however, then your move counts as a Flee (see below).
  • Flee A Flee is when you are Engaged in Melee, then try to leave it, but either fail your Disengage test, or are fleeing due to psychology or ailment. Your enemies may make a Chance Attack on you that gains a bonus. You may oppose this as normal.

Movement, Stealth, Obstacles, Harmful Terrain and Altitude

The above rules deal with unobstructed movement that won't slow you down, but you don't always have that luxury. Uneven terrain, obstacles, injuries or the like can slow you down. This section deals with the following.

Hindered Movement
Hindered Movement is movement whenever something is stopping you from moving at your full speed. If you are Hindered, then your speed is halved; a Basic Move only moves you AB metres, not AB*2. The following things can cause being Hindered; if you have two or more sources of Hindrance, then your movement is immediately reduced to 1 metre per Move.

  • Moving whilst Prone. If you are prone/crouching, then you are Hindered.
  • Injury: Some injuries, such as leg injuries, can make you Hindered.
  • Enemy Effects: Some talents or abilities can Hinder movement.
  • Environmental: Certain environments, such as waist-high water, can Hinder you as well.
  • Stealth: If you are moving in stealth, you are Hindered. You can risk moving at full speed but you take two penalties to your stealth test.

Movement and Stealth:
If you are in stealth, your movement is Hindered unless you want to take a penalty to your Stealth test. When in Stealth, enemies who have reason to suspect stealthy targets can test Awareness against your Subterfuge (Stealth) skill. If you move through their Line of Sight, they can test this as well. If you end a turn without cover blocking you from Line of Sight, then your stealth instantly ends.

Obstacles and unusual movement
A Basic Move assumes horizontal movement on a flat or inclined surface. You can't use it to move through walls, over large gaps, up cliff sides or through enemies. However, certain movement actions exist to allow that. Note that the movements below often require actions, which can be penalised or advantaged by equipment, talents and skills. This also all covers movement during tense situations, not so much movement that covers minutes or hours. All of these special moves can be done as part of a Basic Move- for example, moving two metres normally then the rest as a Climb.

  • Doors, Windows and other Entrances: Moving through an opened door or window doesn't slow you down, nor do you require an action to open them. However, this makes noise- if you want to do that silently, then you'll have to devote an action to opening the door or window silently.
  • Climbing. This is if you want to climb up or down a vertical surface. You count as Hindered whilst climbing vertically, regardless of direction- especially harsh surfaces may be doubly hindered. If you wish, you may try to hurry, making a skill test such as Athletics or Acrobatics with the Climbing focus- if you pass you remove the Hindered effect, but if you fail by 2 DoF you become doubly Hindered instead; if you fail by 4 DoF then you lose your grip and fall (see below about how that shakes out). If the climb is especially hard then you may be asked to make the test regardless, but gain no extra speed off passing.
  • Swimming. This is if you want to or need to swim through water, although the water should be at least 1 metre deep. You count as Hindered whilst swimming. If you wish, you may try to really kick off and cover some ground, making a skill test such as Athletics with the Swimming focus- if you pass you remove the Hindered effect, but if you fail by 2 DoF or more you become doubly Hindered instead. If the water is especially rough, deep or treacherous then you may be asked to test it regardless, with no benefit if you pass except staying afloat- failure by 4 DoF or more here may see you sink and start to drown!
  • Leaping. This is when you want to leap horizontally over an obstacle or space. You count as Hindered whilst leaping, but your movement carries you over a space (if it's important, usually at a height between .5 and 1 metre off the ground), ignoring any obstacles or spaces you pass over, and lands you on the ground at the end. If you want to put some effort into your jump, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics test with the Leaping focus, where a pass adds +1 metre per DoS, but a failure of 4 DoF or more doubly hinders you- which may cause you to fall! Note that, you can gain an Advantage to a Leaping test if you moved at least 4 metres unhindered before it.
  • Jumping. This is when you want to jump up, vertically. Moving in this way can be done once for free as part of a basic move, but any extra jumps requires you to have at least 2 metres of movement not expended, and uses up the rest of your move. All vertical jumps allow you to move 1 metre up , +1 for each size bracket above 3; you may expend leftover basic move metres to move the same distance horizontally. You may, if you wish, use a Leaping focus to add extra height, where a pass adds half a metre per DoS; failing by 4 DoS halves your base jumping height.
  • Falling. This is when you fall or jump down. You take a hit equal to 1 damage per metre fallen, ignoring Armour. If you fall intentionally, or argue that you can somehow mitigate the fall, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics test to reduce the damage by 1 per DoS. Should you suffer a wound from a fall, then you fall prone.

Harmful Terrain
Some terrain is dangerous to move through, due to the chance of falling over, hazards or the like. This is known as Harmful Terrain. Harmful Terrain comes in different flavours, but all Terrains require you to either move at Hindered speed, or move at full speed but pass an Athletics (Running) or Acrobatics (Balance) test, with the penalty for failure depending on the terrain type. All Harmful Terrain has a Harmful Terrain Number between 0 and 3, where you take that many penalties when testing to move.

  • Uneven/Slippery: Remarkably uneven or slippery terrain can be a real 'trip' to walk through, as you risk falling over. This includes walking uphill, broken cliffsides, gallery roads or walking on ice. If you try to move at full speed in this terrain and fail your test, you fall prone. Furthermore, whilst in this terrain, you apply the Harmful Terrain Number to all Agility Tests you take.
  • Damaging: Some terrain, such as razor wired spaces or sharp rocks or the like, can cause harm just by moving through it. If you try to move at full speed in this terrain and fail your test, you suffer damage depending on the Harmful Terrain itself, added to your DoF.

Altitude
Some entities are capable of flight. Instead of working out exact altitudes using complex equations, we use three broad altitude bands for flying creatures and vehicles. The altitudes, in ascending are Ground, Low and High.

  • Ground altitude includes anything walking on the ground or at most, hovering a metre or two above the ground.
  • Low counts as being the equivalent to 10m off the ground. Ground characters cannot melee attack Flying Low targets. Flying Low characters suffer no penalties for attacking characters on the same altitude.
  • High counts as being extremely high, anywhere above 150m. Characters at this altitude cannot attack characters or be attacked by characters at lower altitude, unless they possess a specially long-Ballistic weapon, as per GM's approval.

Characters who can fly may move one band up or down as part of a Basic Move. They may still move the full distance horizontally.

If a character suffers a heavy wound whilst flying, they struggle to stay in the air, and must make a Toughness, Endurance (Injury) test to stay in the air; if they fail they start to fall.

If a character in the air begins to fall (either due to its flight systems being knocked out etc) it falls one band at the end of each round; once it moves from Low to Ground, it crashes and takes falling damage. If they started at High, they take 50m equivalent of damage; if they started at Low they take 10m instead.
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Actions

During your turn, in addition to your Movement, you have two Action Points to do with as you like. Most commonly you'll be using these to attack your enemies or read your foes, but you're welcome to try and spend an action to do something creative or unorthodox- such as pushing a table over to make obstacles or the like. Below are the most common proscribed actions.

A rule on actions: every action listed below costs either one action point (★) or two action points (★★). You can split a ★★ action with a Movement only in some circumstances. Every action has an Action Keyword type, such as 'Offensive'. Once you've performed an action, you cannot perform any other actions of that same keyword for the rest of your turn. So if you perform a ★ Offensive action, you can't then spend your other point on a second Offensive action. The only exception to this are One Mores, which can perform any action. The action keywords are Attack, Hex, Trick, Restoration, Augment and Defensive.

Attack Rules

In combat, perhaps the most common action is attacking, so we'll discuss how attacks work here. Attacks are executed in the following way.

Choose Attack Action. You choose a valid attack action and a valid target. For melee attacks, this almost always requires you to be adjacent to your enemy; with Ranged attacks, then this requires you to shoot at an enemy within range of your weapon and have ammo left in your weapon.

  • Bursting and Calling Actions: Some Attack Actions can be Burst or Called. Burst attacks are a repeated hits with a weapon, causing extra wounds, attacking furiously; a Called attack on the other hand is a precise and deliberate attack aimed at a specific location. Called Attacks enable the attacker to choose the location they hit. The full rules of Bursts and Called attacks will be listed below, but not every attack can be Burst, nor can every attack be Called; However, no attack can be both Called and Burst at the same time.

Count Bonuses and Penalties. Count up any bonuses and penalties you have to the attack. For every bonus you have, you gain a +10 bonus to the test; for every penalty you have you take a -10 penalty.

Make the Attack Test. You now make the Attack Test. This is an Opposed test, where if you win, you score a single hit on the target. For the test, you use the Melee skill, Ranged skill or your magic score (depending on the weapon: melee and thrown weapons use Melee skill, Ranged weapons use Ranged skill, magic spells use magic score) and your opponent uses an Evasion skill as appropriate (Melee(Parry) can be used for melee, Awareness(Anticipate) can be used for Ranged, whilst Acrobatics (Dodge) can be used for either. Any evasion skill may be used against magic).

Determine Hit location. Roll randomly to determine hit location; each location has a number range (eg 1-10); where the roll lands determines the location hit. 1-10 is head, 11-20 is left arm, 21-30 is right arm, 31-60 is body, 61-80 is left leg, 81-100 is right leg.

Determine Damage. You determine how much damage your attack has. Take the damage value of your weapon, add it to any modifiers, and then add the margin between your DoS and the DoS of the target's evasion test (adding or subtracting nothing if they failed outright). A common modifier is Strength Bonus, which is added to melee weapon damage. If the damage is in excess of the target's Defense (which is their Toughness Bonus plus Armour on the location combined), then the target suffers damage. They lose one wound. They may also suffer extra wounds based on certain conditions, noted below.
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Calling and Bursting Attacks

Some attacks, when made, can be modified by making them 'Burst' attacks or 'Called' attacks, which modifies the attack and its effects. Not every type of attack can be Burst or Called- for example, the Standard Attack may be Burst or Called, but Charges may only be Burst. Furthermore, no attack may be both burst and called.

Burst Attacks
Burst Attacks may only be performed with a weapon with the Burst quality- weapons that gain it due to talents or traits count as well. A Burst attack suffers two penalties, but for every extra degree of success, it deals an extra wound, to a max equal to the Burst value of the attack. These wounds may be allocated to the original target, or they may be allocated to other targets in range so long as the target is as easy or easier to hit than the primary target; extra targets may evade as normal. These wounds have all the same elemental and quality properties of the initial attack, and can stagger; when attacking extra targets, they generate extra wounds as normal. You may move between allocating hits.

Called Attacks
Called Attacks suffer two penalties, but the attacker may choose where the attack lands.
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Inflicting Multiple Wounds

Sometimes, an attack is dealt that is extra damaging; instead of dealing 1 Wound, it deals 2, 3 or more. Since Wounds are so limited, this can be highly dangerous and desirable- if you're the one making the attack. These effects stack.

Multiple wounds are inflicted in the following circumstances:

  • High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 5 or more, then an extra Wound is dealt.
  • Headshot/Weakspot. If the attack hits an important spot on the body (for humans, the head), then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Weakness. If the attack hits an elemental weakness, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Technical Hits. If the attack scores a Technical Hit off an ailment, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Critical Hit. If the attack is a Critical Hit, then an extra wound is dealt.

Savage Attacks
In certain situations, an attack may count as a Savage attack. A Savage attack, alongside inflicting the standard wound, also deals one extra wound of a higher severity than normal. So for example, take a character with 2 light wounds and 1 heavy wound remaining. They suffer an attack that deals 1 light wound, so they lose 1 light wound. However, the attack is Savage; it deals one wound of higher severity than normal, meaning the attack inflicts 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound. The target is left with just 1 light wound. If the target only had 1 heavy wound left, then the target would suffer 1 heavy wound (from the normal attack) plus 1 deadly wound, killing them immediately.

  • If an attack gains Savage modifier more than once, then the savage attack deals another wound of higher severity per modifier. So an attack on a helpless target would deal 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound, but if the attack's damage was 10 points higher than the target's defense, it'd deal 2 light wounds (High Damage+basic) and two Heavy Wounds (Helpless+Very High Damage).

Savage attacks are triggered in the following circumstances:

  • Target is Helpless. If the target is helpless, then the attack becomes a Savage Attack.
  • 4+ Wounds. If the attack deals 4 or more wounds, then it becomes a Savage Attack.
  • Very High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 10 or more, then it becomes a Savage Attack.

Instant Kills
Some exceptionally deadly attacks are so lethal that it defies all logic that any one would be able to survive being hit by them. These attacks are known as Instant Kills, and instead of calculating wounds, they immediately destroy the target. In cases of Persona Users with multiple Personas, it just immediately defeats their Persona instead.

An attack triggers an Instant Kill if the attack's damage surpasses a target's Defense by 25 or more.
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Action List

You can spend your actions however you like. This is actually up to a degree of interpretation: if you want to do something creative or unorthodox, then you can. If you feel a skill could be useful here, then you can use that. If you want to create obstacles or, for example, push a table onto people, you can. Below are the most common proscribed actions.

The list below includes all actions, including those which are locked behind talents; these ones are italicised.

Offensive Actions

Offensive Actions inflict harm on a target, and include all attacks.
Standard Attack (ATTACK) (★). You select an equipped weapon or 'Attack' spell, and attack an enemy in range. This is a normal, standard attack and plays out as above. It can be Burst or Called.

Charge (ATTACK) (★★). Melee. Before your attack, you move a distance up to your Basic Move, and perform a melee attack as normal, but gain an Advantage. Can be Burst.

Ailment Spell (ATTACK) (★ or ★★). You select an Ailment-type spell to affect the target, rolling your Magic score; they oppose with the appropriate Resistance skill or, if they don't have it, with Toughness (for physical ailments) or Willpower (for Mental and Spiritual ones).

Grapple (ATTACK) (★). Melee. You perform a melee attack as normal, using your unarmed attack (triggering a Chance Attack as normal). If you win, instead of dealing damage, you grapple the target. The target can make no Chance Attacks, attacks against them gain Advantage, and at the start of each turn, they must win an Opposed test against you, using their Melee Skill (Natural), Acrobatics (Contortion) or Endurance (Bracing) against your Melee Skill (Natural) or your Endurance (Bracing). If they fail, they do nothing and can make no actions that do not ignore grapples; if they pass, they break the grapple and can act as normal. Grapple is also broken if either of you are moved so that you're no longer Engaged with each other. This continues every turn until the grapple is broken.

All-Weapon Attack (ATTACK) (★★). You perform one attack each for each weapon you have equipped, taking a penalty to all attacks. These attacks can be on the same target or on different ones. Weapons in your off-hand take an extra penalty. You can use a Movement in between attacks.

Hex Spell (HEX) (★ or ★★). You select a Hex-type spell to affect the target. Most hex spells are applied automatically without resistance possible, but some may require such a test to be made.

Push (TRICK) (★). Melee. You perform a melee attack as normal; however, instead of dealing damage, you knock the target back one metre for every DoS; if they hit a solid object they suffer stress and damage equal to the metres they still had left to move. Your enemy can oppose a Push with the Endurance (Bracing) skill as well as Dodge or Parry. If you are grappling the target you can move with them.

Knockdown (TRICK) (★). Melee. You perform a melee attack as normal: however, instead of dealing damage, you knock the target prone. Your enemy can oppose a Knockdown with the Endurance (Bracing) skill as well as Dodge or Parry.

Distract (TRICK) (★). Select one target and make a Manipulate test as an action, opposed by Willpower or Inquiry; on a success, the target takes disadvantage to evasion and perception tests, plus another if you gain 4 or more DoS. Requires the Distract talent.

Taunt (TRICK) (★). You may provoke and insult a target to draw its attention to you; select one target and make a Manipulate test as an action, opposed by Willpower or Inquiry; on a success, the target gains Disadvantage to all attack tests, plus another if you gain 3 DoS or more. However, it does not gain Disadvantages against you, but instead gains an Advantage to attack and evasion tests against you. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to your FB. Requires the Taunt talent.

Scary Face (TRICK) (★). You intimidate your enemy with a show of force; select one enemy and make a skill test, either Athletics (Intimidate) or Authority (Intimidate), opposed by their Fortitude (Courage) or Willpower. On a success, until the start of your next turn, that enemy takes a Disadvantage to all attack tests against you or any allies adjacent to you.

Battle Reading (TRICK) (★). Select one target and make an Inquiry test as an action, opposed by Subterfuge or Manipulation; on a success, at any time between now and your next turn, you can force the target to reroll a single test and take the result you prefer. Requires the Battle Reading talent.

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Defensive and Support Actions

Defensive and support actions revolve around assisting allies or yourself.
Defend (DEFENSIVE) (★★). You defend until the start of your next turn, gaining Advantage on Chance Attacks, Evasion and Ailment Resistance tests. Furthermore, so long as you benefit from Defending, you are not staggered nor take extra wounds from Critical Hits, Technical Hits or Elemental Weakness hits.

Protect (DEFENSIVE) (★★). You protect an ally; the next non-AoE attack that hits them hits you instead. Called attacks can ignore you but take an extra Disadvantage.

Covering Fire (DEFENSIVE) (★). When wielding a Ballistic weapon, you may use your action to provide Covering Fire. Select one ally. That ally gains an Advantage on all evasion tests until the start of your next turn, and you expend a point of ammo. If your weapon has the Burst function, then it can provide Covering Fire to allies up to X, but this procs a reload as normal. Requires the Covering Fire talent.

Restoration Spell (RESTORATION) (★). You select a Restoration keyword spell and cast it on yourself or an ally within range, with the effects as per the spell.

Augment Spell (AUGMENT) (★). You select an Augment keyword spell and cast it on yourself or an ally within range, with the effects as per the spell.

Cultivate Efficacy (★). You may make an Authority test as an action; should you pass, all allies gain an Advantage to their next test. Requires the Cultivate Efficacy talent.

Inspire (★). You may make an Authority test as an action; should you pass, you grant an advantage to all tests to resist Despair and Panic to all allies for the rest of the encounter, or until you fail a test to resist fear and panic yourself. Requires the Inspire talent.

Incite Fury (★). Select one target and make an Authority test as an action; should you pass, all allies besides you gain Advantage to attacks against that target. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to your FB. Requires the Incite Fury talent.

Analyse Target (★). Requires Evoker Rank 4 or Navigator. You select one enemy and analyse them, revealing their elemental affinities, Arcana and Personality.

Advanced Analysis (★). Requires Evoker Rank 7 or Navigator. You select one enemy and analyse them, revealing their elemental affinities, Arcana, Personalities, Wounds, Scores and Traits.

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Focusing and Delaying

Focus (★). You gain a bonus to your next test.

Full Focus (★★). You gain two bonuses to your next test.

Delay (★ or ★★). You select an action; between now and your next turn, you may perform this action out of order. The action may only be the action you choose. Delaying like this counts as the same action keyword and type as the action you choose, meaning delaying like this prevents you from, for example, attacking. Once you delay, your turn immediately ends. Note that delayed actions may not interrupt actions, but they may interrupt movements.
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Movement Actions

Run (★). You gain an extra Basic Move. Until the start of your next turn, melee attacks against you take a bonus; Ranged attacks take a penalty. You take a penalty to tests against Difficult Terrain you move through this turn.

Full Run (★★). You gain two extra Basic Moves. Until the start of your next turn, melee attacks against you take two bonuses; Ranged attacks take two penalties. You take two penalties to tests against Difficult Terrain you move through this turn.

Fall or Rise from Prone (★). You may choose this to either become Prone if you are standing, or to rise from Prone. However, rising from Prone triggers chance attacks from adjacent enemies.

Mount (★). You may use this action to mount a vehicle or animal.
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Using a Skill

Use a Skill (★). You can perform a skill test not otherwise covered in the other actions- for example, setting or disarming traps. Not all skill tests can be used as part of a single action.

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Equipment Actions

Use Consumable (KEYWORD DEPENDS) (★). You withdraw a consumable and use it. You can use it on any ally within 5 metres. The keyword of this action depends on the consumable being used; if the action mimics a spell, then it borrows any keywords from that spell. If the consumable restores wounds or Power then it counts as a Restoration action; if it augments an ally then it counts as an Augment, and if it penalises an enemy it counts as a Hex or in some cases a Trick; clarify with your GM.

Reload (★ dependant). You reload a ranged weapon you possess, providing you have ammo for it. The number of actions this takes depends on the weapon itself. You can attempt to hurry this on with a Ballistics (weapon class) test or a Survival (Equipment) test, which reduces the duration by one action, plus another per 2 DoS, to a minimum of 1 action.

Equip Item (Free or ★). You withdraw an item, such as a tool or weapon, from your inventory. You can swap an item away as part of this. The action cost of equipping an item depends on the size: if it's a one-handed tool then it's a free action, if it's two handed then it's one action.

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Advantage

The Advantage mechanic reflects the change in fortunes in battle due to controlling the terrain, tactics, and luck.

Advantage (sometimes called bonuses) is gained by fulfilling certain criteria, listed below. Advantage stacks, and each point of Advantage grants +10 to the associated tests. This includes evasion actions (ie. Rolling to oppose an attack) unless the Advantage applies only to attacks.

Conversely, you can also gain Disadvantage (sometimes called penalties). Disadvantage adds a -10 penalty to tests associated with the Disadvantage.

Below is a list of Advantages and Disadvantages. As a note, some Advantages (such as Point Blank) are such that if you are satisfying their requirements, you're usually satisfying another Advantage as well. This is intentional, and you get the benefits of both.
Entry Requirements
Advantages
Ailment Actions against enemies with Ailments gain 1 Advantage per Ailment.
Ambushing You gain Advantage on all tests during your Surprise Turn.
Charge Melee attacks made after a Charge gain Advantage.
Fate Point (Advantage) Fate Points can be spent to gain two advantages.
Focused Attack Focused Attacks gain Advantage.
Grappled Enemy Melee attacks against grappled enemies gain Advantage.
High Ground Actions against enemies of a lower elevation (roughly 1 metre or less below you) gain Advantage.
Outnumbering (2 to 1) Melee attacks against targets who are outnumbered 2 to 1 in melee (ie. There's 2 enemies for every adjacent ally, including themselves) gain Advantage.
Outnumbering (3 to 1) Melee attacks against targets who are outnumbered 3 to 1 in melee (ie. There's 3 enemies for every adjacent ally, including themselves) gain Advantage.
Prone (Melee) Melee actions against prone targets gain Advantage.
Range (Close) Ballistic attacks against targets who are within half of the weapon's range or closer gain Advantage.
Range (Point Blank) Ballistic attacks against targets who are within 3 metres of you gain Advantage. This does not include targets who are engaged in melee with you.
Running Target Melee attacks against running targets gain Advantage.
Size (Larger) Attacks against enemies larger than Normal gain 1 Advantage per category.
Unarmed Enemy Melee actions against targets who are unarmed- whilst you are not- gain Advantage.
Disadvantages
Bad Weather Actions against targets shrouded in smoke, fog, haze or the like suffer Disadvantage.
Cover (Heavy) Attacks against enemies who are in heavy cover (behind barricades, sturdy desks, sandbags, or solid walls) suffer Disadvantage.
Cover (Light) Attacks against enemies who are in light cover (behind desks, low walls, weak doors etc) suffer Disadvantage.
Darkness Actions against targets in no or nearly no light suffer Disadvantage.
Difficult Terrain Agility tests taken whilst in difficult terrain suffer Disadvantage equal to the Difficult Terrain's value.
Low Light Actions against targets in low light suffer Disadvantage.
Obscuring Haze Actions against targets shrouded in smoke, fog, haze or the like suffer Disadvantage.
Running Target (Shoot) Ballistic attacks against running targets gain Disadvantage.
Shooting at Prone Ballistic attacks against Prone enemies suffer Disadvantage unless the target is at point blank range.
Shooting into Melee Ballistic attacks against enemies engaged in melee suffer Disadvantage unless the target is unable to take actions.
Size (Smaller) Attacks against enemies smaller than Normal suffer 1 Disadvantage per category.
Stressed (Exhausted) Characters who are Exhaustion suffer Disadvantage.
Stressed (Fatigued) Characters who are Fatigued suffer Disadvantage.

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Special Attack Modifiers and Types

Chance Attacks

Chance Attacks are attacks that trigger when an opponent does certain actions. Most commonly, if an enemy engaged in melee combat with you physically moves out of combat, you make a Chance Attack on them, unless their move specifically disallows Chance Attacks. Chance Attacks cannot trigger Chance Attacks against you, nor do they gain One More.

Common triggers are:

  • Leaving melee without using a Disengage move
  • Adjacent target rising from prone
  • Failing a Grapple
  • Firing a Basic or Heavy Ranged Weapon whilst Engaged in Melee
  • Failing a trick maneuver

Anyone not suffering from an Ailment can make Chance Attacks. Chance Attacks act exactly like a standard attack. Once you make a Chance Attack you can't make another until the start of your next turn without purchasing specific talents. You may only make one Chance Attack per trigger and you can only attack an enemy with a Chance Attack once per round.

You may not make Chance Attacks with Ballistic weapons if you are in melee, unless the weapon is a pistol.
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Fumbles

A Fumble is when you roll a 96 or over on an attack test. Fumbles are automatic misses, with your opponent not even needing to make an evasion roll. Ballistic weapons jam, losing all their ammo and requiring a reload.
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Scattering

Sometimes an attack 'scatters', meaning it moves in a random direction. To figure this out, take the test that you used for the attack. The ones column determines the direction of the attack as per a keyboard number pad (a 5 is directly up, and a 0 is towards -you-). The tens column is how many metres the attack moves.

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Critical Hits

Sometimes an attack may be especially effective, dealing a Critical Hit. This occurs if the attack roll is 10 or lower. Critical Hits deal an extra wound and also deal an extra effect depending on their type: Physical attacks Stagger the target, whilst Magic attacks deal a special effect based on their type.

Critical Hit chance can be increased through some talents or weapon abilities.
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Technical Hits

A Technical Hit allows you to deal higher damage against a target and stagger them depending on certain circumstances.

  • When a character is inflicted with an Ailment, then attacking them with an attack that uses a certain element will count as a Technical Hit. Technical Hits deal an extra wound, stagger the target, and ignore Elemental Resistances. Technical Hits also clear the ailment that it exploited.

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Elemental Affinities

In Persona, there are ten regular elements- every attack (bar a few) falls into a type of elemental attack. Shadows and Personas each possess a relationship with the elements, which determines if they are especially vulnerable to that element or whether they're actually tougher against it. These are known as Elemental Affinities.

  • The ten regular Elements are: Melee, Missile, Fire, Ice, Wind, Electricity (Elec), Nuclear (Nuke), Psychic (Psy), Bless and Curse.
  • A Persona or Shadow may possess one of the following Affinities per Element: Weak, Normal, Resist, Block, Absorb or Repel.
    • Weak is the lowest Affinity. Targets struck by an element they are Weak against are Staggered. The attack's Damage also ignores the target's Toughness Bonus. If the attack has an ailment or Quality affect that requires a test to resist, the target has a -20 to tests to resist it.
    • Normal is the default Affinity. Attacks proceed as normal.
    • Resist is the fourth highest Affinity. The target gains +5 TB against the attack. If the attack has an ailment or Quality affect that requires a test to resist, the target has a +20 to tests to resist it.
    • Block is the third highest Affinity. The target is completely immune to damage of this type and cannot be affected by it in any way, including from any Quality effects.
    • Repel is the second highest Affinity. The target reflects the attack back against you, and you roll normal damage against yourself. If you also have Repel towards that affinity, you Block it instead.
    • Absorb is the highest Affinity. The target absorbs the attack, healing 1 Light Wound per Tier of the attack. Mundane physical attacks always count as Tier 1.
  • There is an eleventh element, Almighty. This special element is notable in that no one has strengths or weaknesses against it. Furthermore, Almighty attacks usually ignore certain spell protections.

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One More

One More is a special Persona mechanic which rewards exploitation of weaknesses and controls the initiative of the battle.

  • Certain actions cause targets to suffer the Staggered status effect. When you hit an enemy with an attack that Staggers them, then you gain a One More. No matter how many enemies you Stagger with a single action, you only gain a single One More action off a single action.
  • Enemies are Staggered if they are sucessfully hit an enemy with an element they are weak against. Enemies are also staggered if you score a Critical Hit with a Physical-type attack and as part of the Critical Effects of certain spells.
  • A One More is an extra single Move or Action that you can perform at the end of your turn.
  • It is possible to use a One More to Stagger another enemy, which will grant you another One More action. However, enemies who are already Staggered cannot be Staggered again.
  • Instead of using the One More on an Action, you can transfer it to allies (Baton Pass) or, if every enemy is Staggered, use it to perform an All Out Attack.

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Baton Pass

Baton Pass allows you to transfer a One More to an ally, allowing for coordinated and devastating actions.

  • On gaining a One More, you can designate one ally (designated the Receiver) who is also a Confidant with a Social Link rank of at least 1. At the end of your turn- but before the turn of the next character in initiative order-, this character gains your One More instead.
  • The Receiver may then act as per a normal One More. They, too, may score One Mores off this action.
  • The Receiver gains 1 Advantage, plus another at Rank 4, 7 and 10 of the Social Link. If the Receiver uses their Baton Pass to heal, then these Advantages also improve the amount of Wounds restored by healing as though they were damage, adding +1 each.
  • The Receiver may, if they gain a One More of their own, Baton Pass it onto another teammate. That Receiver may do the same, and so on and so forth- but a character who has already given or received a Baton Pass during this chain cannot receive a second one.

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All Out Attack

A decisive attack that can devastate almost any enemy.

  • An All Out Attack is enabled when you gain a One More and all enemies are Staggered. You may choose to expend your One More to engage in an All Out Attack, a special attack that hits all enemies.
  • This is a stress-free Group Action, and everyone makes an attack roll, using either their Melee, Ranged or Magic score. The tests also gain an Advantage. The attack deals 1 wound per participant to all enemy targets, plus another wound per DoS of the winning attack. The bonus wounds max at participants*2.
  • Once an All Out Attack is finished, all enemies struck by the attack lose the Staggered ailment.
  • An All Out Attack can only be conducted if you have at least two contributors, including yourself (ie you and one ally).
  • At the end of an All Out Attack, all participants lose 2 Stress, plus another per enemy killed.

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Wounds

Every character has a pool of Wounds, which determines how much damage you can take before suffering injury, debility and death. Each time you suffer a wound, you mark one wound off from your pool.

However, not all wounds are equal. Every character has three separate wound tracks, divided up by severity: Light Wounds, Heavy Wounds and Deadly Wounds.

  • Light Wounds. Light Wounds are the most common and expendable. You possess a number of Light Wounds equal to your TB. Whenever an attack's damage surpasses your defense and inflicts a wound, you lose 1 Light Wound and suffer 1 Stress. If you have no more Light Wounds to lose, then you instead lose a Heavy Wound.
  • Heavy Wounds. Heavy Wounds are for serious injuries, and losing them can be debilitating. You have a number of Heavy Wounds equal to your TB/2, rounded down to a minimum of 1. Each time you lose a Heavy Wound, you suffer 5 Stress and take an ongoing Injury that persists for as long as the Heavy Wound remains lost. The penalty depends on the location of the wound. If you have no more Heavy Wounds left to lose, then you instead suffer a Deadly Wound instead.
  • Deadly Wounds. Deadly Wounds are the single most serious of wounds, and you only ever have one. Once you lose it, then you're out of the fight, either due to injury so serious that you're unable to fight, or you're dead. You also take 10 stress, if it matters.

Thus, a character with 4 TB would have 4 Light Wounds, 2 Heavy Wounds and 1 Deadly Wound.
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Inflicting Multiple Wounds

Sometimes, an attack is dealt that is extra damaging; instead of dealing 1 Wound, it deals 2, 3 or more. Since Wounds are so limited, this can be highly dangerous and desirable- if you're the one making the attack. These effects stack.

Multiple wounds are inflicted in the following circumstances:

  • High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 5 or more, then an extra Wound is dealt.
  • Headshot/Weakspot. If the attack hits an important spot on the body (for humans, the head), then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Weakness. If the attack hits an elemental weakness, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Technical Hits. If the attack scores a Technical Hit off an ailment, then an extra wound is dealt.
  • Critical Hit. If the attack is a Critical Hit, then an extra wound is dealt.

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Savage Attacks

In certain situations, an attack may count as a Savage attack. A Savage attack, alongside inflicting the standard wound, also deals one extra wound of a higher severity than normal. So for example, take a character with 2 light wounds and 1 heavy wound remaining. They suffer an attack that deals 1 light wound, so they lose 1 light wound. However, the attack is Savage; it deals one wound of higher severity than normal, meaning the attack inflicts 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound. The target is left with just 1 light wound. If the target only had 1 heavy wound left, then the target would suffer 1 heavy wound (from the normal attack) plus 1 deadly wound, killing them immediately.

  • If an attack gains Savage modifier more than once, then the savage attack deals another wound of higher severity per modifier. So an attack on a helpless target would deal 1 light wound and 1 heavy wound, but if the attack's damage was 10 points higher than the target's defense, it'd deal 2 light wounds (High Damage+basic) and two Heavy Wounds (Helpless+Very High Damage).

Savage attacks are triggered in the following circumstances:

  • Target is Helpless. If the target is helpless, then the attack becomes a Savage Attack.
  • 4+ Wounds. If the attack deals 4 or more wounds, then it becomes a Savage Attack.
  • Very High Damage. If the attack's Damage surpasses the target's Defense by 10 or more, then it becomes a Savage Attack.

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Instant Kills

Some exceptionally deadly attacks are so lethal that it defies all logic that any one would be able to survive being hit by them. These attacks are known as Instant Kills, and instead of calculating wounds, they immediately destroy the target. In cases of Persona Users with multiple Personas, it just immediately defeats their Persona instead.

An attack triggers an Instant Kill if the attack's damage surpasses a target's Defense by 30 or more.
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Wounds and Personas

Evokers possess Personas, which act as a shield in both metaphysical and literal ways. When an Evoker loses wounds, they lose wounds to their equipped Persona first. These wounds cause Stress just like any other, but they do not cause injuries. If a Persona is defeated, however, then the Evoker suffers an extra 10 Stress.

If a Persona is defeated, any further attacks on the Evoker will deplete their wounds until they swap to a different, living Persona.
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Wounds and Injury

Characters who suffer Heavy Wounds are placed under massive strain, and will suffer lasting injuries that persist until the character rests or receives medical attention.

The nature of an injury depends on the location and how many Heavy Wounds you have remaining after suffering the injury. So if, for example, you receive a Heavy Wound to the head, and you have 1 Heavy Wound left over after that, then you apply the Injury. You can only have one injury per location, so newer injuries overwrite old ones. Note that many injuries say 'As Above'. You suffer all of the effects of the above Injury as well, which means stacking disadvantages as well.

Injuries remain until all Heavy Wounds are cleared.

Heavy Wounds Left Injury Effect
Head
3+ Disorientation You suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all Intelligence, Perception and Fellowship tests.
2 Concussion As above. You are concussed; you immediately become stunned.
1 Fracture As all above, but you suffer a tiny fracture to your skull, causing massive pain and disorientation; you immediately become confused. You suffer a one-off case of Blood Loss.
0 Blinded As all above, but you are blinded. Until you heal, you are unable to see or pass any tests relying on sight, including Ballistic attacks. You treat all enemies as though you are in darkness.
Body
3+ Winded You suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all Strength and Toughness tests.
2 Bruised Rib As above. You suffer a bruised rib, which is painful and tiring. Whenever you take a Wound for any reason, you take 1 extra.
1 Cracked As all above. You suffer a crack to an inner bone, making it hard for you to breathe. Whenever you fail a test, you suffer DoF stress. You suffer a one-off case of Blood Loss.
0 Puncture As all above. You've suffered extremely dangerous puncturing to an inner organ. You are now suffering from Blood Loss, and whilst this can be stopped with first aid, whenever you take Stress for any reason after this, Blood Loss returns.
Arm
3+ Hand Agony You suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all attack or parry tests with this hand.
2 Broken Fingers As above. Every time you use this hand you take 5 stress.
1 Broken Wrist As all above. Your wrist is broken. You drop anything you are holding in this arm. You can pick things up, but your grip is very weak; should you fail an attack or parry test with this hand, you drop whatever you are holding.
0 Broken Arm As all above. Your arm breaks with an audible and painful crack. You drop anything you are holding in this arm; you can no longer use it to carry things or make attacks.
Leg
3+ Foot Pain Moving hurts a ton- you suffer a stacking Disadvantage to all Agility tests.
2 Broken Toes As above. You suffer highly painful broken toes. You fall prone and from this point on, all movement you make incurs 1 stress.
1 Broken Foot As all above. Your foot is broken, forcing you into an awkward shuffle. All of your movement is Hindered.
0 Broken Leg As all above. Your leg breaks, sending you to the ground. You fall prone and automatically fail any test that requires you to walk. You are unable to walk without a support. Crawling is fine.

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Fate Points

Fate Points are a special resource. They represent your self-realisation, your belief, and your convictions, having some strange unconscious effect on the world around you in ways you won't fully understand.
You have a pool of Fate Points equal to your Realisation Bonus, and this pool replenishes at the start of each week. You can spend Fate Points whenever you wish to gain special benefits.

  • Advantage. You can spend a Fate Point to gain two Advantages on a test.
  • Reroll. You can spend a Fate Point to reroll a test that has already been rolled.
  • Restore Light Wounds. You can spend a Fate Point to restore a number of Light Wounds to yourself equal to your Realisation Bonus.
  • Remove Ailment. You can spend a Fate Point to remove a single ailment from yourself.
  • Block Heavy Wound. You can spend a Fate Point on incurring a Heavy Wound to block that wound. If you incur multiple Heavy Wounds at once, you have to spend multiple Fate Points in order to block ones past the first.
  • Revive Broken Persona. You can spend a Fate Point to revive a broken Persona back to life, with one Wound remaining.
  • Restore Exertion or Spirit. You can spend a Fate Point to restore Spirit or Exertion to yourself, restoring an amount equal to your Realisation Bonus.
  • Ignore Injury. You can spend a Fate Point to ignore an injury for a single round.

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Ailments

Ailments are special modifiers that apply a detrimental effect to a target. They are divided into four categories: Staggered, Physical, Mental and Spiritual. Enemies gain 1 Advantage against you per ailment you have. Apart from their negative effects, being hit by attacks of a certain element will incur a 'Technical Hit' on you, causing higher damage.

  • You may only possess a single Ailment from each category at once. Ie. You can possess 1 Physical and 1 Mental ailment, but not two Physical ailments.
Note: Duration here is only to be followed if there are no other instructions given; ie if a target 'suffers Dizzy', then they suffer Dizzy for 2 turns, but if they 'suffer Dizzy for 3 turns' then they suffer it for that long instead.
Name Effect Technical Hit Duration
Staggered
Staggered You may not oppose any attacks against you. - Start of sufferer's next turn
Physical Effects
Burning At the end of each round, you suffer a Damage 4 attack ignoring AP, dealing 1 wound. This attack's Damage increases by 1 per turn until put out. Burning applies Disadvantage to Willpower tests. You may use your Move or Action on your turn to attempt to put the fire out with an Agility test with two Disadvantages. Immunity to Fire also confers immunity to Burning. Nuclear, Wind Until put out, or hit with Ice element
Dizzy You suffer Disadvantage on all tests, can't assist allies and allies can't count you for outnumbering advantages. Nuclear Wears off after 2 turns
Frozen You may make no actions and lose any Physical element resistances. You may make a Strength or Toughness test at the end of each turn to break free. Immunity to Ice also confers immunity to Shocked. Nuclear, Physical Until passes test or takes damage
Shocked You may make no actions. Any enemies who attack you in melee combat must make an Agility test or also be Shocked. Immunity to Elec also confers immunity to Shocked. Nuclear, Physical Wears off after 2 turns
Drowsed You may make no actions. All attacks gain Technical Hits against you. All Until character takes damage
Stunned You may make no actions, and enemies gain an extra Advantage against you, stacking with the basic Advantage for having an ailment. Nuclear Until wears off
Mental Effects
Amnesiac You may not use Persona Powers, and any actions spend on activating the Powers are wasted. (Passive Powers and Traits are still in effect.) Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Brainwashed You are under the control of another. At the start of your turn, that character may induce you to heal or cast an Augment on someone of their choice (if you have a Power or item that can do so), perform an attack on a target of their choice, or to simply do nothing. You cannot oppose attacks aimed at you by your controller or their allies. Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Confused At the start of your turn, make an Intelligence check. If you fail, you perform an action based on your Degrees of Failure: 0-1, you do nothing but can oppose attacks. 2-3, you drop everything in one hand (left if odd, right if even); 4+ you attack the nearest character, 5+ you attack yourself. Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Despaired You may make no actions except a Willpower-10 test to remove Despair. At the start of each turn, you take 5 Stress. Counts as Fear. Psychic Until cured or you pass out
Enraged You gain Advantage on melee attacks and gain the Unnatural Strength (2) trait. However, you cannot evade attacks, and any attacks on you ignore AP and the Unnatural Toughness trait. On your turns, you may do nothing except attack enemies in melee with whatever weapon you have- if there are no enemies in range you will move toward them as quickly as possible. Psychic Wears off after 2 turns
Panicked You take a Disadvantage to all tests so long as you are still in line of sight or within 20m of the source of panic. If you fail a test against the source, and the difference between your DoF and their DoS is 3 or higher, you spend your next move and action fleeing. You remove panic by either winning a test against the source or spending a full move and action to overcome it. Counts as Fear. Psychic Until test passed or action spent
Spiritual Effects
Condemned Attacks against you reroll to hit. Immunity to Bless also confers immunity to Condemned. Bless Wears off after 2 turns
Damned You reroll all tests and take the worse result. Immunity to Curse also confers immunity to Damned. Curse Wears off after 2 turns

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Special Conditions

The following is dedicated to special conditions that you may encounter, including injuries, special damage and the like.

Blood Loss

Characters who suffer blood loss are in danger of bleeding out turn-by-turn. It is usually caused by critical hits or injuries, but some special attacks may inflict it as well.

  • Characters who are bleeding must make a Toughness or Endurance (Injury) test at the start of each turn. This is free, but if they choose to use their Action to stem the bleeding they gain three Advantages. If they fail this test, they instantly take 1 Wound. If they are out of Wounds, then instead of suffering a Heavy Wound, they suffer 1 Toughness decay, +1 per DoF. If this reduces their Toughness to zero, then they suffer a 1 Heavy Wound to the body per round.
  • A Character can staunch blood loss by using the Medical skill as an Action.

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Fatigue and Exhaustion

As characters gain Stress, they risk becoming tiring out and becoming exhausted. Once Stress breaches certain thresholds, a character can become fatigued or worse.

  • If Stress exceeds Toughness, then the character is Fatigued, suffering Disadvantage to all tests.
  • If Stress is 20 points higher than Toughness, then the character is Exhausted, suffering another level of Disadvantage. At this level, whenever the character suffers Stress, they must make a Toughness test or full unconscious; this period of unconsciousness lasts for a number of minutes equal to your Stress level.

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Suffocation

Characters who are unable to access air are considered to be suffocating. This could be due to drowning, smoke inhalation or a certain toxin.

  • Characters who are suffocating but are able to focus entirely on conserving air may hold their breath for a number of minutes equal to their Toughness Bonus.
  • Characters who are suffocating but are engaged in strenuous activity such as combat, swimming or so forth, then they may hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their Toughness Bonus.
  • Whilst suffocating, a character must make a single Toughness test per minute (if focused on conserving oxygen) or per round (if engaged in strenuous activity). If they fail, they suffer 1 Stress, plus one per Degree of Failure.
  • If a character has failed to access a new source of air by the end of their alloted time, then they instantly fall unconscious.
  • If a character is both unconscious and has no access to a source of air, then they die after a number of rounds equal to their Toughness Bonus.

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Score Decay

Characteristic Score Decay is when one of your Scores is temporarily damaged. The score itself is reduced by an amount for a specific time period. This changes your Bonuses accordingly.

  • Unless otherwise specified, a Score cannot go below 1 due to decay, and on doing so, you become non-functional for a week.

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Helpless

Helpless targets- such as sleepers, unconscious or incapacitated targets, are entirely unable to defend themselves. Attacks against them automatically hit and become Savage.
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Unprotected from Miasma

Being in the Sea of Chaos without an equipped Persona causes problems. This means no Minors, or for individuals who only have one Persona, not having that one. Usually this is because all of your Personas have been defeated.

  • For every hour you are in the Sea of Chaos, you take Stress equal to the Miasma growth rate.
  • For every round you are in a battle, you must test Willpower or suffer Stress equal to the Miasma growth rate.

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Grappled and Immobilised

If you are grappled, then whenever you attempt to move or attack, you must make a Melee Skill (Grappling), Acrobatics (Contortion) or Endurance (Injury) test, opposed by your opponent's Melee Skill (Grappling) or Endurance (Injury) test. If you pass, you are no longer Grappled and can act as normal. If you fail, then your action is wasted and you do nothing. Grapple also ends if your opponent moves away from you for any reason.

Immobilisation works the same as grappling, however, you test against the result they used for their initial test- they don’t reroll each time. Every time you fail the test you gain a stacking Advantage to your next attempt.
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Map-light Combat

This module outlines how the map-light combat ruleset works, and how it interacts with other various rules.

Map light combat is used to abstract a battlefield down into its most interesting elements, which can be represented in a simple drawing that can be whipped up in five minutes. It's especially useful for impromptu battles, to remove reliance on a full battle map being needed.

The way map light combat works is as follows: the battle area is divided into zones. Each zone is defined, and the number of zones in a battle do not change. Within each zone are areas of interest known as spots, which represent the highlights of each zone. Unlike zones, spots are not set in stone, and can be changed, destroyed or created throughout a battle.

At the start of the battle, the GM explains how many zones there are, and which zone all the combatants start in. The GM also defines at least one spot within each zone, and the relationships between each zone. The GM also establishes the 'scale' of the engagement, which determines how far each spot and zone is from each other. This will be explained more in the fields below.

Zones, Spots and Scale

Every battle features at least one zone. Often they feature two or three. Each zone represents a loose geographic space where it's assumed you can move from any one place within it to another without much trouble. For example, the main hall of a school might be a single zone, whilst an adjacent zone might be the front courtyard.

When defining zones, the GM also establishes their relationship with each other zones. For example, which zones are next to each other, which zone has line of sight to another and so on. To keep this simple, there shouldn't be more than 4 or 5 zones or else it's easy to lose track.

Within each zone are spots, areas of interest within the zone. Whilst every zone has a default 'empty space' spot, most zones have extra spots that might represent opportunities for the combatants. For example, some spots might represent cover, or environmental hazards, or tools you can use. Every character is placed within a spot, and move from spot to spot. When you are in a spot, it is assumed that every other spot in that zone is equidistant for the purposes of movement. On the flipside, you count as being adjacent to all other occupants within your spot.

Whilst the GM defines some spots at the start of a battle, by no means do these have to be the only spots. In fact, players are encouraged to try and find spots of their own by asking the GM if those things are around, letting their creativity inform the zone. For example, a player might ask if there's a spot with cover nearby, or special tools, or things they can use to gain an edge.

Finally, the GM sets a 'scale', which is two numbers, one for spots and one for zones. For example, S4 Z8. Scale outlines the assumed distance between those things on the map. In our example of S4 Z8, for example, that means every spot is assumed to be 4m away from every other spot in the same zone. Meanwhile, the zone scale number measures how far a spot in an adjacent zone is from yours. So if you're in the school main hall and shooting at someone in the courtyard, then the distance would be 8m. This also includes movement.

Moving Between Spots and Zones

When moving between spots in the same zone, you have to move a distance equal to the spot scale. If the spot you're in counts as difficult terrain then you count it for the entire move. Normal situations like being affected by chance attacks work as normal. If the distance is greater than your move, then you count as being in a featureless spot until you arrive at the end of the movement, whenever that is.

When moving from one zone to another, you have to move a distance equal to the zone scale. Again, if the spot you're in counts as difficult terrain then you count it for the entire move. You can move to any spot in that zone, UNLESS the zone has a 'gate', which case you can only move to the Gate spot.

The only limit on how far you can move is your normal distance; you can move multiple zones in one turn if you want and have the movement necessary.

Attacking between Spots and Zones

When attacking at range, the attacks work as normal, with some special caveats.

Firstly, not every zone will have line of sight to another; their relationships should be made clear at the start of the battle in a way that's easy to read at a glance. However, for zones that do have line of sight then the rules work as normal, including that for range.

An important consideration is AoE attacks, which need some manipulation to work as normal in this space. A list of interpretations is below.

  • Arc attacks work as normal, and may arc between spots or even zones if the scope is smaller than 10m.
  • Aura and Blast attacks hit everything in the same space as the target. If their value (eg blast 4) is greater than the Spot scope then they hit everything in that Zone. They do not hit other zones, though.
  • Line attacks hit one spot in every zone between you and the target, including your starting zone. You may select which targets in the spot are hit.
  • Wave attacks hit everything in the target spot and, at your discretion, may hit a number of extra spots within range equal to the range of the attack divided by the spot scope (or zone scope if firing into a different zone).
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