Attributes & Skills
Basic information on attributes and skill tests.
Contents
What is an Attribute?
Eight attributes quickly describe a Realmspire character: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Perception, Charisma, Intellect, Willpower, and Luck. These statistics determine every creature's resources and governs their likelihood of success in a given field. In the gameworld, attributes are used to rank a creature's strengths and weaknesses on a scale from 1 to infinity, the higher the better. The eight attributes that describe a Realmspire character are:
Strength (STR), measuring raw, physical power.
Endurance (END), measuring health, constitution, and stamina.
Agility (AGI), measuring dexterity and mobility.
Perception (PER), measuring awareness and reflexes.
Intellect (INT), measures a character's knowledge of the world around them.
Willpower (WLP), measuring will and determination.
Charisma (CHA), measuring likability and force of personality.
Luck (LCK), measures good fortune.
Attribute Score and Bonus
Each attribute has a score and a derived bonus, which is equal to half your score (rounded down). These different numbers are used for different purposes: the score sets your base target number for skill tests (more on that in the "What is a Skill?" section), while your bonus is used for calculating your resources. When reading a rule that names an attribute, remember that:
When the rules refer to an attribute with its full name, such as Strength, it utilizes the attribute's score.
When a rule uses an attribute's shorthand, such as STR, the rule refers to the attribute's bonus.
Resources
Your attributes are also used to calculate the several resources all characters have at their disposal. These resources also change when their variables increase or decrease during the game.
Health (5 x END)
Health or Health Pool (HP), measures your physical and mental well-being. It represents your ability to withstand punishment before being knocked unconscious. When you take any form of damage, you subtract it from this pool.
Read more in the Combat chapter.
Stamina (END)
Stamina measures your ability to perform demanding task before becoming fatigued. Read more in the Stamina & Fatigue section below.
Mana (5 x INT)
All living creatures posses some innate potential to perform magic. Mana is the magical energy required to twist and shape reality to your whim. Read more in the Using Magic chapter.
Luck Points (LCK)
Your Luck Points are used to twist the fates in your favor.
Read more in the Luck section below.
Striding Speed (5 + AGI)
Your speed is measured in meters and dictates how far you can move when walking.
Note that other factors can influence this, such as the armor your wearing and the terrain you move through.
Initiative (PER + LUCK)
Initiative represents your ability to act fast in the face of danger. It is used to establish the turn order in time-sensitive scenarios.
Read more about initiative in the Combat chapter.
Wound Threshold
Your Wound Threshold is the amount of damage you can take from a single source before gaining the Wounded condition. Falling from great heights can break your legs and swords can cut your arm off.
Carrying Capacity [(4 x STR) + (2 x END)]
All items have a weight associated with them, which is abstracted into a Bulk score. Your carrying capacity determines your ability to carry these items before gaining encumbrance levels.
See more in the Carrying Capacity and Encumbrance section below.
Stamina & Fatigue
A character has a Stamina Pool (SP) equal to their END. Stamina is used to fuel demanding tasks, alter die rolls, and use special abilities. Below is the list of options player characters have at their disposal.
Action Surge (1 Stamina). A character can trade their Stamina to regain a single spent Action Point.
Physical Exertion (1 Stamina). You gain a +5 bonus to any test governed by Strength, Endurance, or Agility (can't be the Fighting Style skill). You can't alter a die roll in this way using both Stamina and Luck.
Power Strike (1 Stamina). You gain a +1D6 damage bonus to a melee Strike you make. You can choose to do so before or after you make the damage roll.
March (1-3 Stamina). You undertake a trek, moving up to 10km over the course of 5 hours. The rougness of the terrain determines how much Stamina is spent.
Fatigue
Characters who run out of Stamina, are at risk of gaining Fatigue. Whenever a character has 0 Stamina left and loses further, they instead accumulate Fatigue levels equal to the lost Stamina. The maximum of Fatigue a character can accumulate is 5 (-5 Stamina). Gaining Fatigue imposes penalties to the character.
Consult the Fatigue table when determining the severity of the penalty. A character can willingly gain Fatigue in this way by spending SP as normal.
Recovering Stamina
There are two ways to recover from Fatigue and regain spent Stamina.
Short Rest. During a Short Rest a character regains 1 Stamina.
Long Rest. During a Long Rest a character regains Stamina equal to their END.
Remember that a character must first lose all levels of Fatigue before they regain any Stamina.
Luck
At the beginning of each game session, players are awarded a number of Luck Points (LP) equal to their LCK. They can use these LP in different ways to alter their fate:
Reroll Test (1 LP). A character can reroll any failed test, but must use the new roll.
Lucky Success (min. 1 LP). If a character passes a skill test, they can add two Successes per LP spent.
Well Actually... (min. 1 LP). A character can change the narrative in some minor way, like remembering to purchase an item when they were in a city. This option is up to the GM's discretion.
A character can never use both Luck and Stamina to alter a single die roll, they must choose one.
Burning Luck
If a character has no Luck Points left, they can choose to draw from their own Luck attribute instead, permanently altering it. This is called Burning Luck. During play, a GM might also offer a player to burn one or several Luck to circumvent the effect of a catastrophe, such as losing a limb.
Carrying Capacity and Encumbrance
You Carrying Capacity determines how much you can carry before suffering the effects of encumbrance.
Bulk
Each item you carry has a Bulk score. This score reflects how much of your Carrying Capacity the item uses. A longsword has Bulk (2), so carrying it uses two points of your Carrying Capacity.
Encumbrance
You can carry more than your Carrying Capacity allows, at the cost of Encumbrance levels. Encumbrance levels incur a penalty to your character.
Level 1: 1x - 2x your Carrying Capacity. You become Slowed and suffer a -5 circumstantial modifier to all Strength, Endurance, and Agility tests.
Level 2: more than twice Carrying Capacity. You are Slowed, your speed is reduced to 0, and you automatically fail all Strength, Endurance, and Agility tests.
What is a Skill?
A skill represents a specific category that reflects a character's ability to perform actions related to that field. You are either untrained or trained with a skill. Trained skills have corresponding Skill ranks, which are expressed in roman numerals from one to five (I - V), the higher the better.
Skill ranks reflect your level of training and thus likelihood of success when performing an action requiring a skill test.
Each skill has one or more governing attributes, as per the Skill/Governing Attribute table. These represent different ways characters can use a single skill and shape the narrative around your actions.
Skill Tests
When a character attempts a tricky action, the Game Master (GM) may call for a skill test to determine their success:
The GM decides which skill is applicable for the task.
The player checks their governing attribute score. This is the target number (TN). If the character is trained with the skill, they add their skill rank in multiples of 2 as a bonus to the TN.
Player rolls a d20 against the TN. On a hit or lower, the character passes the test.
This is the core mechanic of the game.
The target number can be influenced in several other ways:
Governing Attribute. Should the GM feel that a the circumstances force a character to use a specific attribute they may require a character to do so, but typically the player is free to choose which governing attribute to use.
Circumstantial Modifier. Breaking down a door of rotten wood is easier than one made of metal. In these circumstances the GM will either add a difficulty bonus or penalty to your TN.
If a character has multiple sources of a bonus or penalty, they don't stack. A character can only benefit from the highest bonus and suffers only from the highest penalty.
A character who gains both a bonus and a penalty to their skill test, applies the difference to their target number. For example, climbing a rocky surface that is slippery and wet provides a -5 circumstantial modifier to the Athletics test. The character uses Physical Exertion and spends 1 Stamina to make the task easier, gaining a +4 bonus.
The TN is now modified by -1.
Other ways a GM may influence how a character passes a test:
Successes Required. Some Tests not only require you to succeed, but also with a specific amounts of Successes. The TN remains, but the character is required to roll over a specific value (typically a multiple of 5). The amount of Successes a character has accumulated is equal to their roll.
Limited Skill Test. In some circumstances the GM can rule that a character's skill in one area is limited by their lack of skill in another. For example, a character's ability to fight on a rocking ship is limited by their ability to hold their balance. In these cases, a character may not take advantage of any skill ranks exceeding the limiting one.
Critical Success and Failure
Sometimes, the stars align and fate beckons at your call during a skill test:
Rolling a 20. You tap into unbound potential. You automatically succeed your Skill Test with the highest amounts of Successes possible by your TN.
Rolling a 1. You automatically fail your Skill Test.
Skill Ranks
Skill Contests
Sometimes a character's efforts is directly opposed by another's. This occurs when two characters are trying to achieve the same thing but only one can succeed, such as a character chasing another.
This situation also applies when one character is actively trying to hinder another in achieving a goal. This typically happens in combat (dodging an incoming arrow) but also occurs in social interactions (trying to discern a lie).
These situations call for a special test, called a Skill Contest. Each character rolls their own skill test, applying penalties and bonuses as normal:
Both characters fail. The standoff isn't resolved, some time passes, and the tension state remains the same.
Both characters pass. The character with more Successes wins the contest. In case of a tie, the aggressor (such as an attacker or liar) loses.
One passes, the other fails. This is called a Critical Win. The character who succeeded wins the contest and is granted some form of narrative advantage, which is up to the GM.