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BRIARBOUNDCore Rulebook

Official Core Rules · Launch Edition · v1.0 · 10 October 2026

Step Beyond the Familiar.

You dream of a red fox with a green ribbon. He waits beside a cold fireplace, one paw lifted. From somewhere behind the bricks come three quiet taps.

A second fox sways on the mantel in a jester cap. He raises a flagon of ale in welcome and pours half of it down his sleeve. He looks surprised, then raises it again.

A silver-trimmed brass case. A spoon hanging in the air. Stairs descending beneath the earth. Every dreamer who joins you has seen them.

Then I offer you this book, open to a space for your name. We should fill that in before you wake.

Briarbound logo
A gift from the Dream Master
Pip the red fox, wearing his green ribbon and brass tag, sleeps beside a lantern and travel satchel. Briars curl past a notebook, aether vial, tea, and bread.
Keep the book. You have a road to wake up to.

Part I · Start your adventure · Everyone

The road is calling

There you are. I’m the Dream Master, and this book is my gift to you.

You’ll remember me from the dream: fine coat, questionable boots, a book waiting for your name. I chose a Mesmer’s face and a history to suit it—raised by an Alchemist, getting by on talent, luck, and excellent excuses. Apparently, that’s someone you’d trust with your future. We can examine that later.

Before you wake in Briarbound, choose who you’ll become: a name, useful skills, something to stand for, and a flaw worth the trouble. Start fresh or borrow one of six ready-made heroes. Their future is yours.

Bring a few accomplices

Your companions had the same dream. Decide why you’ll look out for one another. A shared dream is a promising introduction; lending someone your last rope makes it a friendship.

At the table, Briarbound is an adventure in RagNaroKolypse. Bring friends, a twenty-sided die, and a character sheet.

At the table Your part
Players Speak and act as your heroes. Tell the Guide what you try and how.
Guide Describe the world, play its people, and explain what follows the heroes’ choices.

I’ve written the book. Your Guide runs the world. Tell them your plan before you climb out of the window.

Everyone · Table agreements

Keep the table together

Agree on tone and boundaries before play. Choose a nonverbal signal too; anyone can step away without explaining.

Say What happens
Pause Stop for a moment.
Rewind Replace a moment that crossed a boundary.
Fade Skip the details.
  • Get the player’s consent before hurting, stealing from, restraining, or controlling their hero.
  • Leave room for quieter players. Everyone gets a place in the adventure.
  • Separate player and hero knowledge. Your hero knows what they’ve learned in the story.

Nobody owes the story their discomfort.

Everyone · Begin here

Learn the Basics

You need a hero and something you’re willing to try. The Character Vault walks you through the rest. No entrance exam. I misplaced it.

  1. Choose your kit. Pick a class, receive its essential ability, choose one more Tier 1 ability, and pack your gear. Start with 10 HP and 10 AP.
  2. Make this hero yours. The builder takes you to Your story. Add your appearance, home, beliefs, and hopes. A few words will do.
  3. Finish your play page. Select Play. Add your name, two specific Knacks, and one Trouble. Then select Save hero.
  4. Join your friends. Tell the Guide what you want to try. Learn the rest when you need it.

Can’t choose? Picture a moment you’d love to play: standing between a friend and danger, fooling a guard, or making something impossible happen. Start there. Your Guide can help.

Everyone · Choose your hero

Make your hero

What name will you answer to? Who will count on you? Give yourself a past and a hope for the future. You’re choosing a starting life, not planning every day of it.

Detail What to choose
Ideal A belief that guides your choices. Nobody gets left behind.
Trouble One flaw, fear, or habit that gets in your way. I cannot leave a mystery alone.
Knacks Exactly two specific skills: rooftop courier routes, small machine repairs, or calming scared animals.

A Knack helps when your experience fits. Trouble applies when your chosen flaw gets in the way; difficulty alone does not create it. Agree with the Guide before rolling. Other quirks need no extra numbers.

Explore your class options

Three Pillars, six classes. Mix their abilities freely. A class gives you skills, not a personality. Aether is the magic running through this world.

Fighter

Might

Meet danger with a steady hand and a ready weapon. Charge into the fray, land the shot that matters, and turn a desperate fight around.

Champion

Might

Be the reason your friends stand their ground. Shield someone in danger, rally the frightened, and carry Aether magic into battle with your blade.

Rogue

Guile

Find the opening everyone else missed. Slip past trouble, win someone over, and turn a bad plan into a brilliant escape.

Mesmer

Guile

Make people question their own eyes. Weave illusions, reach into minds, and turn a little showmanship into something truly magical.

Wizard

Magic

Feel Aether stir at your fingertips. Shape its magic through instinct, study, or both—and make the impossible part of your day.

Alchemist

Magic

See a broken clock, an empty bottle, and a handful of scrap? Someone else sees rubbish. You see medicine, mischief, and the machine that gets everyone home. Brew it, build it, and see what happens.

Your essential starting ability

Start with two Tier 1 abilities: your class’s included essential, plus one choice from any class. Your essential stays with you when you rebuild.

Class Every new hero starts with
Fighter Power Strike — make your weapon hit harder.
Champion Protect — step in and take a hit for someone.
Rogue Thieves’ Toolkit — locks, disarming traps, and setting simple traps.
Mesmer Thaumaturgy — ventriloquism, changing your voice, and dancing Aether lights.
Wizard Aether Bolt — wield fire, frost, or lightning.
Alchemist Scavenge — find useful scrap and ingredients.

Choose your abilities → The library gives each cost, effect, and limit.

Six lives ready to wake into

Choose a ready-made hero in the Character Vault. Each starts with a class and an Ideal. Make either your own.

Hero · Class Ideal
Rowan Vale · Fighter Nobody should face danger alone.
Aster Bell · Champion Mercy is worth the risk.
Sable Quill · Rogue Everyone deserves a way out.
Pippa Gleam · Mesmer Help people feel seen and understood.
Mira Thistle · Wizard Knowledge should help people.
Tilda Reed · Alchemist Make life better with what you can build.

Part II · For players · The Guide reads this too

Your hero on the road

Describe what you try and how. These chapters cover action, shared challenges, recovery, and growth. Keep your abilities handy; visit the brewing chapter when you need a mixture or a machine.

Players can stop at For the Guide. Leave the adventure’s secrets for the adventure.

For players · Action

Take action

When to roll Fate

The Fate Die is a d20. Roll only when the action is possible, the result uncertain, and failure would change the situation. Explain your plan first.

An open gate needs no roll. Passing its guard in a borrowed uniform might.

Your roll What to keep
Normal Roll one d20.
Knack Roll two; keep the higher.
Trouble Roll two; keep the lower.
Both They cancel: roll one die normally.

Extra Knacks or Troubles never add dice. Use your kept result below.

Die Outcome What happens
1 Catastrophe Fail; the situation takes a serious turn related to your attempt.
2–8 Failure Your intent does not land; something changes against you.
9–14 Haggle with Fate Succeed. The Guide offers meaningful prices; you choose.
15–19 Success Achieve your intent.
20 Triumph Succeed with an extra edge, double this roll’s damage, and recover 1 AP (2 AP total with Trouble).

A Haggle succeeds. You get over the wall but leave your rope or alert the guard. Making you fall instead would be failure wearing a false moustache. Don’t let it in.

A roll at the table · The rooftop shortcut

You: “I cross the roofs to reach the upper window.”

Guide: “The tiles are slick. A slip will bring the guards. Your rooftop courier Knack fits: roll two dice and keep the higher.”

You keep a 12: Haggle with Fate. You reach the window. The Guide offers a price: leave your rope behind, or let a guard spot which roof you’re on. You choose.

Now you’re at the window, one rope or one secret lighter. What do you do?

Ordinary actions and turns

You can sneak, bargain, disguise yourself, pick a lock with tools, follow tracks, or attack with a suitable weapon without an ability. Roll for real uncertainty and risk. Abilities grant reliable permission, stronger effects, or extraordinary possibilities.

In conflict Rule
Turn order The party chooses its order, then the Guide’s active characters act. Enemies may lead after an ambush or an action already underway; the Guide explains why.
Your turn A move and one action. Split movement around the action if you wish; you cannot trade movement for another action.
Weapon damage Common weapons deal 2 damage; unarmed attacks deal 1. Special gear may say otherwise.

Write useful verbs beside gear: cut, hook, brace, distract. Running out of AP does not turn your staff into a decorative stick.

Distance and approach

Distance What it means
In reach Touch or strike it from where you stand.
Nearby Move there this turn.
In range You have a clear ranged shot this turn.
Too far Get closer first.

Ranged effects need a clear route unless their text says otherwise.

Parley to change a mind. Improvise with the room. Retreat to change position. Clash to use force. These are starting ideas, not a menu.

Attacks and ability rolls

Apply a fitting Knack or Trouble. Pay ability AP before rolling. Roll once; there is no second resistance roll.

Attack On 9 or higher On 1–8
Basic attack Deal weapon damage. Deal none.
Ability marked Roll Apply its written damage and effects. The effect fails; AP stays spent and the situation changes.
  • Haggle: Add a price the player chooses: exposure, damaged gear, a counterattack, or another fitting problem.
  • Triumph: Double damage to each target, never target count or duration. Award AP once, not per target.
  • Concoctions: Roll when used against a target, not when brewed.
  • Truly helpless targets: Basic attacks and Roll abilities land without rolling and deal double damage. Automatic abilities never double damage. No roll means no Triumph or Trouble AP reward.
  • Hidden: Grants a Knack against an alert foe; it does not make them helpless.

Ammo and charges

Use the optional 0–99 weapon tracker for arrows, bolts, bullets, or limited wand and staff charges. Leave melee weapons and unlimited items Untracked.

  • Attack spends one tracked unit, hit or miss. Rolling two dice still spends only one.
  • At zero, you cannot fire. Refill manually when the story supplies ammo or charges; rests do not reload.
  • Extra projectiles: Subtract them manually when an ability fires more than one.
  • The tracker grants no magic and replaces no AP cost.

Read an ability

Label How to use it
Automatic Meet the conditions, pay AP, and apply the effect. No roll.
Reaction Use at its trigger, even outside your turn. One reaction per round; it does not spend your next action.
Free No AP cost. Uses your action unless it says it uses your move.
Paired techniques One learned choice, one payment, one technique per use.

Concentration: Sustain one concentration ability at a time. Starting another ends the first. You can move and act unless directing the effect needs your action. Incapacitation ends it; damage ends it only when the ability says so.

Stacking and helpers: Duplicate effects do not stack. Use only the strongest damage reduction; never combine a reduction with halving. No extra turns unless explicitly granted. Helpers use your action unless their text says otherwise.

Conditions: Hidden, prone, pinned, and blinded describe the situation. They can change what you can attempt or bring a fitting Knack or Trouble. They add no hidden number modifiers; follow each ability’s end condition.

Escape a hazard

With no attacker—a fire or falling beam—each affected hero makes one reflexive roll, with a fitting Knack or Trouble. It does not spend your next turn. Usual Triumph and Trouble AP rewards apply.

Result Outcome
Success / Triumph Get clear.
Haggle Avoid the worst; choose a price.
Failure Suffer the hazard.
Catastrophe Suffer it and a related complication.

For players · Shared challenges

Trials, chases, and long roads

Use a Trial for a shared challenge with several approaches: a chase, a mountain crossing, an escape from rising water. Before rolling, the Guide states what success achieves and failure changes.

Trial Finish before
Short 3 successes before 2 failures.
Extended 5 successes before 4 failures.

Choose the matching tracker. Each contribution uses a distinct approach and one roll, with a fitting Knack or Trouble.

Result Mark the tracker
Success / Haggle / Triumph One success. Haggle adds a chosen price; Triumph adds an edge, never a second success.
Failure One failure and a setback.
Catastrophe One failure and changed terms: a route closes, a threat arrives, or the party splits.

Roll every contribution. An ability that solves the whole danger ends the Trial; otherwise, it sets up an approach and you roll for what remains uncertain.

There is no prize for rolling dice after you’ve solved the problem.

Help a companion

Outside Trials, a helper who can meaningfully assist and share the consequences may grant the acting hero a Knack. It does not stack with another Knack. Failure should leave something new to play, not a demand to repeat the same roll.

For players · Recovery

HP and Adventure Points

Start with 10 maximum HP and 10 AP. HP measures harm; AP pays for abilities. Neither measures how brave you sound.

Track Rule
HP Damage bottoms out at 0; healing stops at your maximum.
AP Pay when you use an ability; have enough before you begin. No refund for a miss or interruption. Keep leftovers between scenes and sessions: there is no maximum. The Guide may award resources when the story grants them.
Hero at 0 HP Incapacitated: no normal actions or reactions until healed or able to Regroup. Enemies return to their goals rather than continuing to attack you.
NPC at 0 HP Defeated: unconscious, fleeing, surrendered, or captured. Choose what settles the conflict.

Recover HP and AP

Event Recovery When
Brief Regroup If lower, raise HP to half maximum, rounded up; gain 2 AP. A safe pause during ongoing danger; no enemies nearby. Both Regroups share one use per scene.
Unhurried Regroup If lower, raise HP to half maximum, rounded up; gain 5 AP. No enemies nearby, immediate threat, or time pressure. Shares the same once-per-scene limit.
Triumph Gain 1 AP. Every hero Triumph, including reflexive rolls.
Genuine Trouble Kept 15–19: +1 AP. Kept 20: +2 AP total, including Triumph. 1–14: none. Guide-agreed Trouble must fit a roll with real stakes. Attacks, exploration, reflexes, and harmful concoctions qualify. If Knack cancels Trouble, use normal rewards.
Full Rest / Hearth Restore all HP; raise AP to at least 10, keeping higher totals. Resolve banked advancements and choose abilities together. End each session here, or mid-game with unanimous party agreement. Needs safety and time, not night or day. See Gather at the Hearth.

No rolling to tie your shoes for pocket money.

  • A scene is one continuous situation with a question to settle, such as escaping a fire. The Guide decides when it ends; leaving and returning does not reset it.
  • New scene · reset Regroup only makes Regroup available. It grants no HP, AP, Marks, or advancement. Track other once-per-scene limits at the table.
  • Regroup example: At 10 maximum HP, raise 2 HP to 5; keep 7 if you already have it. Gain +2 or +5 AP. You cannot take both Regroups in one scene.

Harmless flourishes

A tiny use of a learned ability is free only when it carries no risk and no meaningful advantage. No roll is needed.

A flourish may… It cannot…
Add harmless color, motion, or drama to an ability you know. Damage, heal, protect, make a mixture, bypass an obstacle, or duplicate another useful effect.

Ask the Guide if the line is unclear. Useful exploration magic costs its listed AP. Enjoy the fluttering coat; pay for Fly across the chasm.

Death is an agreed stake

Agree before play and check again when death becomes possible. At 0 HP you remain Incapacitated. If you suffer further harm before rescue, you choose death or a lasting change of comparable weight. Never remove a hero through an unagreed rule. Champion’s Tier 5 Restore Life keeps its time limit and consent requirement.

For players · Growth

Learn and level up

Earn Marks on the road. At the Hearth, turn them into new tricks and decide what you’d like to try next.

Open your next tier

Each class has five tiers. Tier 1 is open in all six classes. Each tier has three abilities: 15 per class, 90 abilities in all.

Abilities learned in this class Available tiers
0–1 Tier 1
2–3 Tiers 1–2
4–5 Tiers 1–3
6–7 Tiers 1–4
8 or more Tiers 1–5

Starting choices count. Count each ability only in its own class. Spend one choice to learn one ability from an open tier; learn each once. Lower tiers stay available, and no ability requires a specific earlier pick. Levels do not increase maximum HP or weapon damage.

Earn Marks during play

Record awards when the Guide gives them. Both kinds enter your personal total.

Award Earn it by Limit
Class Marks Using class skills to change the adventure. A clever failed attempt can count; repeating a tiny trick cannot. 0–2 per hero per session, across all classes.
Adventure Marks A distinct shared achievement: helping someone, overcoming a real obstacle, or making a consequential choice. One per participating hero, per achievement. Everyone who took part gets the full award. No fixed session cap; never count a deed twice.

Every five Marks banks one advancement. Gain the level and ability choice at the Hearth. Browsing spells can wait until nobody is chasing us.

Your Ideal may inspire a deed worth these same Marks; it grants no separate award. Acting out an Ideal or Trouble gives no AP by itself. Knack and Trouble affect fitting rolls, including attacks; they never automatically earn Marks. See Trouble AP rewards.

Gather at the Hearth

Gather at the Hearth is Full Rest. End each session with this shared rest. A campfire, inn, or lantern in a safe cave will do: you need safety and time, not nightfall.

Mid-game, the entire party must agree to pause and advance together. One player cannot start it alone. Regroup and a new scene never unlock advancement.

  1. Recall the adventure. Share a deed, discovery, hard choice, or friend’s help. No speech required. Record any missed Guide-awarded Marks, never the same deed twice.
  2. Rest. Restore all HP. Bring AP to 10, keeping any higher total—this is a top-up, not an extra 10. Unused concoctions expire. Reagents come from the story, not from resting.
  3. Level up. Each new group of five Marks gives one level and one ability choice, at every tier. Resolve several at once; keep leftovers. Seven gives one level and two left over. Only resolved advancements increase your level and choice budget; you began at Level 1, zero Marks, with your essential and one chosen Tier 1 ability.
  4. Pick your tricks. Spend choices on open tiers or bank them for a later Hearth. New abilities work when everyone resumes play, now or next session. New heroes make their first choices during creation.
  5. Close the record. Note awards, highlights, and your next plan. Close each completed session once, then resume together. A mid-game Hearth neither completes a session nor resets its two-Class-Mark limit. Fix mistaken entries before closing; never take Marks away as punishment.

What earns a Class Mark?

Class Make a difference through…
Fighter Weapon skill or tactics.
Champion Keeping a costly promise or standing up for someone.
Rogue Wit or daring. Theft is optional.
Mesmer Insight or performance.
Wizard Magical knowledge or instinct.
Alchemist Invention or experimentation.

Reward meaningful attempts, including failures. Give quieter companions room to name theirs. Heroes may earn through any class and learn from any open tier.

Choose your abilities again

At the Hearth, the Guide may agree to a rebuild in legal tier order. Keep your level, Marks, essential, and choice budget: two starting abilities plus one per resolved advancement. Banked choices remain yours; no new rewards or refunds. Unused concoctions still expire. Use the rebuilt choices when play resumes.

Returning with an older hero? The Vault keeps your choices and adds a missing class essential without taking an ability away. That one-time extra starting choice stays on future rebuilds. The older session conversion grants five historical Marks per completed session, capped at 88 extra choices. New awards wait for the Hearth.

For players · Brewing and engineering

Brewing, inventions, and equipment

A bottle, a clever little mechanism, and something picked from a suspicious hedge. Now we have options.

Make a concoction

  1. Choose a learned effect. Alchemist starts with Scavenge; its other Tier 1 options are Healing Potion and Pipe Bomb. Tinker and Boon potions arrive at Tier 2.
  2. Find fitting material. Scavenge costs 1 AP and a quiet minute to find material for one small project in a plausible place. The Guide says what you find; record it in Inventory. Bought or found materials work too. Your starting kit includes ordinary reagents. Explain the fit to your Guide; ingredient names are examples, not shopping lists.
  3. Take a quiet minute; pay AP once. Remove the material from Inventory and record one dose. No separate supply counter, random recipe roll, brewing roll, or cleanup timer. If interrupted before finishing, nothing is made or paid for. Select Make concoction when you finish.

Carry it, share it, use it

Concoction rule At the table
Two ready doses Includes gifts until used. They survive Regroup and expire at your next Full Rest.
One action to use Drink, give, apply, throw, or release a dose unless it says otherwise. Anyone can use it; AP was paid when making it.
Helpful use works Beneficial doses require a willing recipient. You can administer healing to an Incapacitated creature. Medicine and buffs also work on NPCs.
Harmful use rolls Use normal Fate with fitting Knack or Trouble. The dose is spent even on failure. Triumph doubles damage, not healing, targets, or duration; the roller gets normal AP rewards. No second resistance roll.
Respect the limits Matching bonuses do not stack. No AP, extra turns, or stronger effects from unlearned abilities. A trigger uses its maker’s roll and grants no extra attack.

Ten known reagents

Aether leaves useful peculiarities in living things. Learn what an ingredient likes to do; you needn’t memorize a formula. These are ideas, not extra abilities. The Guide may approve other ingredients with the same useful property.

Hushcap suits Vaporcraft’s sleeping vapor. Grinberry suggests a distracting hallucination; Stitchmoss supports stronger medicine as you learn it.

Reagent What it does in a concoction
Stitchmoss — Soft moss that grows along old bark seams. Mending and recovery; useful in healing medicine.
Cinderpepper — Rust-red pods that stay warm after picking. Heat and explosive force; useful in bombs and pressure devices.
Hushcap — A velvet mushroom that folds when touched. Calm and drowsiness; useful in sleeping vapor.
Grinberry — Pale berries with a crooked red seam. Odd colors and misleading sounds; useful in hallucination vapor.
Bristlethorn Bark — Tough bark from thorny hedgerows. Stiffening and protection; useful in coatings and Ironhide tonic.
Springheel Root — A curled root that bounces when dropped. Energy and springiness; useful in Boon or Springblood potions.
Whisperwillow Sap — Sticky sap from drooping silver leaves. Dampened rattles and steady nerves; useful in a stealth-flavored Boon.
Copperdew — Copper-colored beads found on old aether-fed roots. Slippery motion and loosened bonds; useful in repairs and solvent.
Glimmerpollen — Luminous dust caught inside bell-shaped flowers. Light and bright confidence; useful in a signal gadget or a performance-flavored Boon.
Rimepetal — A cool blue flower that keeps its dew at noon. Cooling and steadiness; useful in a pressure rig or a concentration-flavored Boon.

Brew it. Build it. Put the two together.

A timer releases a flask. A pressure rig launches it. A clockwork courier brings medicine to someone you cannot reach.

The device delivers the concoction; it does not multiply it. Use its normal effect, action, and roll. Reusable devices need plausible parts and fitting reagents, not another resource meter. Keep the written limits: one action remains one action.

Carry and share your gear

  • Track what matters: notable, magical, bulky, limited, or story-important gear. Ordinary pocket clutter needs no ledger.
  • Trade in the story: friendly settlements usually offer food, clothes, tools, and lodging. Scarcity matters when established; trade valuables, favors, work, or promises for special goods.
  • Read special gear: any hero may carry suitable weapons. Scrolls and unusual items must state their effect, whether they are consumed, and who pays AP. A grand name grants no extra attacks.
  • Use Inventory: keep gear, important objects, and consumables in the Item / Quantity rows. Other list fields use commas; quote an item containing a comma.
  • Weapon links: creating a weapon also adds it to Inventory as equipped. Pasting an inventory item does not equip it. Clearing a weapon slot keeps its item; removing its inventory entry also unequips it.

For players · Ability reference

Find an ability

The ability library gives every cost, effect, and limit. Search by name or effect, check your open tiers, and read the whole entry. Especially the part about how long you can fly.

Browse all 90 abilities →

Might

Fighter

A nick in the blade. A steady hand. First through the door.

Melee, ranged weapons, strength, and battlefield movement.

  • Your approach. Swordsman, archer, or weapon thrower: choose the tools that suit you.
  • Ranged attacks. Need a ready weapon, a clear shot, and ammunition.
  • Paired techniques. Share one learned choice and AP cost. Choose one technique each time.

Tier 1

1 APRollEssential starting ability

Power Strike

Make one melee, bow, crossbow, sling, or thrown-weapon attack against a visible target within your weapon's range.

  • On a hit, deal 4 damage instead of 2.
1 APReaction

Brace

When a physical hit would damage you, reduce that hit by 3, to a minimum of 0.

FREEAutomatic

Long Jump

Leap to a nearby place you can see and land on.

  • This uses your move, not your action; it cannot carry you farther than Nearby.

Tier 2

1 APRoll

Disarm

Make one melee or ranged weapon attack against a visible creature within your weapon's range.

  • On a hit, deal normal weapon damage and knock one held object onto the ground nearby.
  • It takes an action to recover it.
2 APRoll

Cleave / Twin Shot

Choose Cleave with a melee weapon or Twin Shot with a ranged weapon.

  • Make one attack roll against two visible enemies: both must be in melee reach for Cleave, or within your weapon's range for Twin Shot.
  • On a hit, deal 3 damage to each.
  • Twin Shot needs one arrow, bolt, sling stone, or thrown weapon per target.
1 APAutomatic

Break Through

Break an ordinary wooden door, chain, or person-sized wooden obstacle within reach.

  • Enchanted barriers and thick stone remain intact.

Tier 3

2 APReaction

Counterattack

After a visible enemy within your weapon's range misses you with an attack, immediately make one basic melee or ranged weapon attack against it.

  • This uses your reaction; a ranged counterattack needs a ready weapon and ammunition.
2 APRoll

Pin Down

Make one melee or ranged weapon attack against a visible target within your weapon's range.

  • On a hit, deal normal damage and pin it in place with a grip or a projectile fixing clothing or gear to a nearby solid surface.
  • Without a grip or suitable surface, deal only the damage.
  • It or an ally must spend an action to free it; it can still act.
1 APAutomatic

Mighty Lift

For one minute, lift, brace, or push an ordinary object up to the size of a small wagon.

  • You must stay in reach and use both hands; this grants no attack bonus.

Tier 4

3 APRoll

Whirlwind / Volley

Choose Whirlwind with a melee weapon or Volley with a ranged weapon.

  • Make one attack roll against up to three visible enemies: all must be in melee reach for Whirlwind, or within your weapon's range for Volley.
  • On a hit, deal 4 damage to each.
  • Volley needs one arrow, bolt, sling stone, or thrown weapon per target.
2 APAutomatic

Hold the Line

For the scene, enemies cannot move past you through a doorway or gap you could physically block while you remain standing there.

  • They can attack you, move you with an ability, or find another route.
3 APRoll

Crushing Shot

Make a ranged weapon attack against one visible target within your weapon's range.

  • On a hit, deal 6 damage and break one ordinary shield or piece of cover protecting it.
  • You must be able to see part of the target; this cannot shoot through solid walls.

Tier 5

4 APRoll

Earthshaker / Arrowstorm

Choose Earthshaker by striking the ground, or Arrowstorm with a ranged weapon.

  • Make one roll against up to three visible enemies: nearby and standing on the same ground for Earthshaker, or within your weapon's range for Arrowstorm.
  • On a hit, each takes 6 damage and falls prone.
  • Standing costs their move.
  • Arrowstorm needs one arrow, bolt, sling stone, or thrown weapon per target.
4 APReaction

Unbreakable

When a hit would take you to 0 HP, remain at 1 HP instead.

  • Once per scene.
4 APAutomatic

Legendary Feat

Perform one brief feat of strength with an ordinary object up to the size of a wagon: hurl it nearby into empty space, hold a falling gate, or tear open a stone wall.

  • It cannot directly injure or trap a creature.

Might

Champion

A shield held over someone smaller.

Hold the line, shelter allies, and carry Aether into battle through weapons.

  • Your approach. Mix bulwark and spellsword abilities freely.
  • Weapon spells. Require a melee weapon. Their listed damage replaces normal weapon damage; it does not add to it.
  • Physical or magical?. Bulwark Stance is physical. Weapon spells, healing, Ward, Radiant Wall, Last Stand, and Restore Life are magical.

Tier 1

1 APReactionEssential starting ability

Protect

When an ally within reach takes a hit, take that hit in their place and reduce its damage by 2, to a minimum of 0.

1 APAutomatic

Healing Touch

Touch a living creature and restore 4 HP, up to its maximum.

  • You can help an Incapacitated creature.
1 APRoll

Aether Strike

Channel fire, frost, lightning, or radiance through a melee weapon and attack one visible creature in reach.

  • On a hit, deal 3 damage of the chosen type instead of normal weapon damage.
  • The element grants no extra effect; this is a magical weapon attack.

Tier 2

2 APRoll

Radiant Strike

Channel radiance through a melee weapon and attack one visible creature in reach.

  • On a hit, deal 4 radiant damage instead of normal weapon damage, and shed clear light around the target until your next turn; it cannot hide in darkness during that time.
  • This is a magical weapon attack.
2 APAutomatic

Ward

Touch a willing creature.

  • For the scene, reduce the next three hits it takes by 2 each, to a minimum of 0.
  • A new Ward replaces the old one.
1 APRoll

Challenge

Call to one nearby enemy who can hear and understand you.

  • On success, its next attack must target you if possible.
  • It can instead take a non-attack action or retreat.

Tier 3

2 APRoll

Spellcleave

Sweep a melee weapon through fire, frost, lightning, or radiance.

  • Make one attack roll against up to two visible enemies in reach.
  • On a hit, deal 3 damage of the chosen type to each instead of normal weapon damage.
  • The element grants no extra effect; this is a magical weapon attack.
2 APAutomatic

Bulwark Stance

Plant your feet and raise your shield, weapon, or armored forearm.

  • For the scene, while you stay in that position, you and one willing ally within reach each reduce the next three physical hits by 2, to a minimum of 0.
  • Ordinary shoves cannot move you against your will.
  • Moving voluntarily or being moved by an ability ends the stance; spent reductions do not return.
  • Use only the strongest damage reduction.
  • This stance is physical, not a spell.
2 APReaction

Stand Together

When an effect would forcibly move you or a willing ally within reach, prevent that movement.

  • Damage and other effects still apply.

Tier 4

3 APAutomatic

Healing Light

Restore 4 HP to each of up to three nearby living creatures, up to their maximums.

  • Incapacitated creatures can benefit.
3 APRoll

Spellbreaker Strike

Drive radiance through a melee weapon and attack one visible creature in reach.

  • On a hit, deal 6 radiant damage instead of normal weapon damage and end one active magical ability affecting that target that originally cost 3 AP or less.
  • The Guide identifies eligible effects before you choose.
  • This cannot end an item enchantment, a lasting curse, or a psychic or physical ability.
  • This is a magical weapon attack.
3 APAutomatic

Radiant Wall

Raise a nearby wall of light spanning an ordinary doorway.

  • It has 8 HP, blocks movement and attacks from both directions, and lasts while you concentrate, up to one scene.

Tier 5

4 APAutomatic

Last Stand

For the scene, you and up to two nearby willing allies ignore the first hit that would take each of you to 0 HP, remaining at 1 HP.

  • The effect then ends for that creature; repeated uses cannot renew it in this scene.
4 APRoll

Dawnblade

Sweep a melee weapon to send a crescent of radiant force at up to three visible nearby enemies.

  • Roll once; on a hit, each takes 6 radiant damage.
  • Ordinary darkness nearby clears for the scene.
  • This is a magical weapon attack, and its arc does not pass through solid barriers.
5 APAutomatic

Restore Life

Spend ten uninterrupted minutes touching someone who died within the last minute when you began.

  • If their player consents and their body is present and repairable, return them to life at 1 HP.
  • Each creature can return this way only once; this does not reverse aging.

Guile

Rogue

Soft soles, clever fingers, and an entirely innocent expression.

Stealth, practical disguises, misdirection, and daring escapes.

  • Your tools. Disguises, props, mimicry, and misdirection are practical skills. Your kit carries ordinary portable materials.
  • Larger schemes. Need plausible space and supplies. These tricks create no magic, true invisibility, or mind control.

Tier 1

1 APAutomatic

Vanish

Move into nearby cover or darkness and become Hidden from creatures that cannot see into it.

  • This uses your action and does not grant extra movement.
  • Attacking or entering clear view reveals you.
1 APAutomaticEssential starting ability

Thieves’ Toolkit

With your tools, open an ordinary lock, disarm an ordinary trap you have found, or set a simple tripwire alarm or snare.

  • Work within reach; setting a trap takes a quiet minute and suitable parts.
  • A snare stops one creature until it spends an action freeing itself; no damage.
  • Enchanted locks and traps need another solution.
1 APAutomatic

Disguise and Mimicry

Spend one minute using makeup, wigs, costume pieces, and practiced mimicry to pass as a person whose appearance and voice you have studied.

  • The disguise lasts for one scene or until removed.
  • Your size and knowledge remain your own.
  • Close physical inspection or contradictory evidence reveals it; you gain no memories or passwords.

Tier 2

1 APRoll

Sneak Attack

Make a weapon attack from Hidden.

  • On a hit, deal 4 damage instead of 2.
  • The attack reveals you; Hidden grants its usual Knack.
1 APReaction

Dodge

When an attack hits you and there is space to dodge, halve its final damage, rounded up.

  • Stay in your current position.
1 APRoll

Misdirection

Use a performance, planted prop, or convincing diversion to occupy one nearby creature's attention.

  • On success, it focuses where you direct for up to one minute while you keep performing.
  • Danger or direct contradiction ends the distraction.
  • It is practical showmanship, not mind control, and cannot compel an action.

Tier 3

1 APAutomatic

Escape Bonds

Slip ordinary ropes, manacles, or a creature’s physical grip.

  • You need a moment to move; this cannot escape sealed containers, magic, or restraints fused to your body.
2 APAutomatic

Decoy Double

Use your action to deploy a dressed puppet or stand-in decoy resembling you at a nearby point.

  • For one minute, use your action to move it and supply its voice.
  • It needs a plausible screen or route for your apparatus.
  • A hit or direct inspection reveals the prop.
  • It cannot attack, carry useful loads, or take independent turns.
2 APAutomatic

Ambush

Spend an uninterrupted minute concealing your group in suitable terrain.

  • If enemies arrive unaware, up to three hidden allies gain a Knack on their first attack there.
  • Each is revealed when they attack.

Tier 4

3 APAutomatic

Ghost Step

For this turn, move silently through nearby occupied spaces and ignore mundane pressure plates or tripwires without triggering them.

  • You cannot pass through solid walls or sealed doors.
3 APRoll

Perfect Shot

Make a ranged weapon attack at a target you can see in range.

  • Ignore ordinary cover that leaves any part exposed.
  • On a hit, deal 6 damage.
3 APAutomatic

False Room

Spend ten minutes using screens, painted cloth, props, and sounds to disguise one ordinary nearby room for up to one hour.

  • Conceal a doorway or make it look occupied, abandoned, or used for another purpose.
  • Actual terrain stays unchanged.
  • It needs plausible materials and space; inspection, touch, or a conflicting view reveals the trick.

Tier 5

4 APAutomatic

Walk Unseen

For the scene, move unnoticed while you remain in shadow, cover, or a crowd.

  • Even watchful creatures overlook you there.
  • Attacking, taking an obviously guarded object, or entering open light ends the effect.
4 APAutomatic

Perfect Impersonation

Spend ten minutes rehearsing a person you have observed closely, using your costume kit to copy their appearance, voice, and mannerisms for one scene.

  • Ordinary observers without contradictory evidence accept the impersonation.
  • It grants no memories, passwords, size changes, or authority over players.
  • Clear contradictions, direct physical inspection, or magical detection can expose you.
4 APReaction

Impossible Escape

When you would take damage, move to a safe nearby place you can see and avoid that one hit.

  • You must have a physically possible route; this cannot cross solid barriers.

Guile

Mesmer

A borrowed face. A whispered thought. Surely you imagined it.

Psychic insight, theatrical wonders, and illusions with a touch of Aether.

  • Start here. Thaumaturgy is included. Choose Read Emotion or Glamour next, or a Tier 1 ability from another class.
  • Psychic or magical?. Early tricks are psychic except Thaumaturgy and Glamour. Tier 5 entries identify manifested Aether explicitly.
  • Read the entry. Glamour changes appearance, not body or voice. Mind Whisper is Tier 3; Greater Telekinesis is Tier 4.

Tier 1

FREEAutomaticEssential starting ability

Thaumaturgy

Mix stagecraft with a little Aether: throw your voice to a nearby spot you can see, change how you sound, or conjure an illusion of dancing colored lights nearby.

  • One effect at a time, lasting up to a minute.
  • Everyone can hear or see the trick.
  • It cannot hurt, blind, move objects, or force a reaction.
  • Risky deception or distraction still needs a normal roll.
FREEAutomatic

Read Emotion

Focus on a nearby creature you can see.

  • Learn its strongest feeling right now: fear, delight, anger, and so on.
  • You cannot read thoughts or tell whether it is lying.
1 APAutomatic

Glamour

Wrap yourself in an Aether illusion that changes your face, hair, skin, and the appearance of your clothing for up to ten minutes while you concentrate.

  • Everyone sees the disguise.
  • Keep your actual size, body shape, voice, and equipment; the illusion has no substance and cannot make you invisible.
  • Copy a specific person only if you have studied their appearance.
  • Touch reveals any physical mismatch, and suspicious scrutiny calls for a normal deception roll.
  • This is a magical illusion, not a physical transformation.

Tier 2

1 APRoll

Mental Veil

Project a simple false sight, sound, or matching sight and sound into the mind of one nearby creature you can see while you concentrate, up to one minute.

  • Roll; on success it perceives that harmless detail, such as a key on a table or a cat meowing behind a barrel.
  • Direct contradiction or touching the image reveals it.
  • This psychic illusion cannot hide an obvious danger, deal damage, supply unknown information, or force an action.
1 APRoll

Mesmerize

Focus the attention of one nearby creature that can see or hear you.

  • On success, it watches or listens while you concentrate, up to one minute.
  • Danger, damage, or an ally shaking it ends the trance.
  • It does not make the creature friendly or let you command it.
  • Another player's hero requires their consent.
1 APRoll

Psychic Push

Push one nearby creature a few paces with your mind.

  • On success, it takes 2 damage and moves to safe ground.
  • This cannot push it over a drop or into a damaging hazard.

Tier 3

2 APReaction

Mind Shield

When a nearby creature tries to read your thoughts, alter your emotions or memories, or direct your actions with a psychic ability, block that one attempt.

  • Its AP remains spent.
  • This does not block physical damage, a mental image outside your mind, or an effect already active.
2 APAutomatic

Mind Whisper

Link minds with up to three willing nearby creatures you can see.

  • For ten minutes while you concentrate, you can exchange thoughts while everyone stays Nearby, even out of sight.
  • You gain no shared senses, languages, or secret thoughts.
2 APRoll

Psychic Decoy

Project a moving, speaking copy of yourself into the mind of one nearby creature you can see, up to one minute while you concentrate.

  • On success, it perceives the copy.
  • Use your action to direct it, including its gestures and speech.
  • The first physical interaction reveals the trick; the copy has no substance, cannot deal damage, and gives no extra turns.
  • Other creatures do not see it.

Tier 4

3 APAutomatic

Greater Telekinesis

While you concentrate, up to one minute, lift one unattended object up to the size of a wagon nearby, or a willing creature.

  • Direct its movement with your action.
  • It cannot crush or strike creatures or remove held objects.
3 APRoll

Plant Suggestion

Place one short, plausible suggestion in the mind of one nearby creature that understands you.

  • On success, it follows that suggestion within the next minute.
  • It will not knowingly harm itself or allies, surrender something precious, or abandon a central loyalty.
  • Another player's hero requires their consent.
3 APAutomatic

Memory Echo

Over one minute, share one willing nearby creature's recollection of an event lasting no more than ten minutes.

  • Experience what it remembers seeing and hearing.
  • A mistaken memory remains mistaken; this cannot establish truth, recover forgotten details, change memories, or read an unwilling mind.

Tier 5

4 APAutomatic

Grand Illusion / Shared Trance

Choose one technique; concentrate for up to ten minutes.

  • Grand Illusion: weave Aether into a moving, sounding image filling up to one ordinary nearby room, perceptible to everyone.
  • Spend your action to animate it.
  • Touch or contradictory evidence reveals the image; it has no blinding effect or power to compel.
  • Alternatively, shape one creature-sized Phantasm with 8 HP.
  • Spend your action to direct it nearby to move and speak, manipulate one unattended object no heavier than a book, or roll to deal 2 damage to one object or nonliving construct in reach.
  • It has no independent actions.
  • It passes harmlessly through living bodies: it cannot damage, restrain, carry, or physically block them, manipulate their held or worn gear, or use objects or hazards to harm them.
  • It vanishes at 0 HP or when concentration ends.
  • Both manifestations are magical.
  • Shared Trance: share ordinary sight and hearing with up to three willing nearby creatures; all may exchange brief thoughts.
  • This technique is psychic.
  • Neither grants unknown information or extra turns.
4 APAutomatic

Dreamcraft

Choose one technique.

  • Dream Message: speak for one minute to send a dream to a willing sleeping person you have met, anywhere in this world.
  • They hear your message and may answer with one sentence; an awake or unwilling recipient receives nothing and AP stays spent.
  • This technique is psychic.
  • Solid Mirage: over one minute, weave Aether into one stationary, doorway-sized solid object nearby, such as a short ramp, steps, a table, or a barrier.
  • Anchor it on solid ground in empty space.
  • It has 8 HP, supports up to six people and their ordinary gear, and lasts while you concentrate, up to ten minutes.
  • It has no moving parts, cannot attack, restrain creatures, create consumables or valuables, or restore HP.
  • It vanishes at 0 HP or when concentration ends; warn anyone relying on it before dismissing it.
  • One at a time.
  • This technique is magical.
4 APRoll

Phantasmal Storm

Choose psychic force or manifested Aether, then roll once against up to three creatures you can see nearby.

  • On a hit, each takes 6 damage.
  • Psychic force strikes minds; Mind Shield can block it for its user as an explicit exception.
  • Manifested Aether becomes a storm of spectral shapes that deals magical damage, with no additional movement, fear, or restraint.
  • Mind Shield does not block this magical mode.
  • Neither mode leaves objects behind, damages scenery, or passes through solid barriers.

Magic

Wizard

A steady hand. An unruly spark. You meant to do that.

Shape Aether through natural instinct, studied spellcraft, or both.

  • Your approach. Instinct and study are expressions of one class, with identical costs and limits. Books, wands, ancestry, and academic training are optional. Describe your method; it grants no extra power.
  • Start here. Aether Bolt is included. Choose Telekinesis or Wildspark next, or a Tier 1 ability from another class. The stronger Aether Ward is Tier 2.
  • All spells are magical. Choose freely, without a required specialization or separate Sorcerer class. Each spell keeps its written elemental purpose and limits.

Tier 1

1 APAutomaticAether

Telekinesis

While you concentrate, up to ten minutes, move one unattended object no heavier than you could carry in one hand within Nearby.

  • Use your action for each meaningful manipulation.
  • No attacks, fine lock work, or taking held objects.
1 APRollEssential starting abilityElements

Aether Bolt

Choose fire, frost, or lightning as you cast, shaping it by instinct or a practiced formula.

  • Attack one visible creature in range; on a hit, deal 3 damage of that type.
  • The type grants no extra condition.
  • Alternatively, within Nearby and without rolling, kindle one unattended ordinary flammable object, chill a cup of liquid without freezing it, or make a harmless spark.
  • Pay 1 AP for a useful effect; purely cosmetic flourishes follow the free-flourish rule.
1 APAutomaticShaping

Wildspark

Shape one small patch of nearby fire, water, air, or loose earth you can see: bend a campfire away from a trapped hand, lift a bucketful of water, send a gust through a dusty room, or heap loose soil into a step.

  • The change lasts up to a minute; moved material stays put.
  • You cannot attack, carry a creature, open a lock, or make valuable material.
  • Harmless flourishes are free.

Tier 2

2 APAction or reactionAether

Aether Ward

Shape Aether into a shell of floating stone or shimmering force around yourself or one willing creature within reach.

  • Use your action to prepare it, or your reaction when that creature is hit.
  • For the scene, reduce the next three hits it takes by 2 each, to a minimum of 0; a reaction protects against the triggering hit first.
  • The ward breaks after the third hit or at scene end.
  • A new Aether Ward replaces the old one.
  • Use only the strongest damage reduction.
  • Its shape grants no extra effect or usable material.
1 APRollAir / Ice

Gust / Frost

Choose Gust or Frost each time you cast; pay 1 AP once for the chosen effect.

  • Gust: Shape a sudden gust by an instinctive gesture or a spoken formula. Roll against one nearby creature; on success, it takes 2 damage and moves a few paces to safe ground, never over a drop or into a damaging hazard. Alternatively, without rolling, blow loose unattended objects no heavier than a book a few paces along a clear surface nearby. This cannot attack, work a lock, or remove held objects.
  • Frost: Freeze one nearby creature’s footing. On a hit, deal 3 damage and it loses its next move. It can still act. Alternatively freeze a bucket-sized amount of unattended water without rolling.
FREEAutomaticDivination

Aether Sight

Study one visible object or creature within reach for one minute.

  • Feel the flow of Aether directly, examine it through traced signs, or study its reflection in water: choose your method.
  • Learn whether magic affects it and the effect's broad purpose.
  • This reveals no invisible target, caster's name, complete spell, distant location, or purely psychic power.
  • Tools are optional; all methods grant the same information.

Tier 3

2 APAutomaticAir

Windstep

Become a swift ribbon of wind and move yourself and your carried gear to a safe nearby place you can see.

  • You can cross a gap or pass through an open person-sized route, but not a solid or sealed barrier.
  • You arrive standing; this uses your action and grants no extra move.
  • You cannot carry another creature.
3 APRollElements

Aether Burst

Release a surge of fire, frost, or lightning, chosen when you cast.

  • It may erupt from an instinctive gesture or an inscribed pattern.
  • Roll once against up to three nearby creatures clustered together; on a hit, each takes 4 damage of that type.
  • Choose targets before rolling.
  • The element grants no additional condition or terrain effect.
2 APAutomaticIce

Icebridge

Over one minute, form a bridge or ramp of ice across a nearby gap you can see, anchored to solid ground at both ends.

  • It is wide enough for one person and supports up to six people and their ordinary gear at once.
  • It lasts while you concentrate, up to ten minutes.
  • It cannot form on creatures, restrain them, or deal damage; heat can melt it.
  • Tell everyone before ending it.

Tier 4

3 APAutomaticFire

Wall of Fire

While you concentrate, up to one minute, create a doorway-wide curtain of fire at a nearby point you can see.

  • It must start in unoccupied space.
  • A creature that chooses to cross it takes 4 fire damage, at most once per turn.
  • It grants no free attacks, cannot be placed on creatures, and ends if you stop concentrating.
3 APAutomaticAir

Aether Form / Fly

Choose one magical technique; concentrate for up to ten minutes.

  • Aether Form: physically transform into an Aether-infused beast from cat-sized to your normal size, such as an ember fox, storm raven, or tide otter.
  • Choose one adaptation: flight, swimming with underwater breathing, or climbing sturdy surfaces.
  • Use your normal move.
  • Keep your own HP, maximum HP, mind, voice, and strength; natural attacks deal 2 damage using the normal attack roll.
  • You gain no creature powers, resistances, extra actions, or healing.
  • Carried gear merges and is unavailable until you revert; drop anything you need first.
  • Learned abilities remain usable only if the form can meet their physical requirements.
  • You cannot copy a specific person.
  • Fly: retain your normal body and carried gear and fly on a current of wind using your normal move.
  • Neither technique carries another creature.
  • Revert when you end the effect or become Incapacitated; damage remains.
  • If airborne when the effect ends, descend safely unless a solid obstacle prevents it.
3 APReactionWater

Quenching Veil

When a creature you can see nearby activates a magical ability costing 3 AP or less, interrupt its Aether pattern by instinct or a practiced counter-formula.

  • Cancel that use; its AP is spent.
  • A veil of enchanted water marks the interruption, then vanishes and cannot be collected.
  • This cannot end an already active effect or affect an item with no AP cost, a purely psychic power, or a physical ability.

Tier 5

4 APAutomaticWater

Tidegate

Pour a bowl of ordinary water onto the ground within reach to open a doorway of flowing water to a safe place you have personally visited within a day's ordinary travel.

  • It lasts one minute and permits up to six willing creatures with carried gear to pass, then closes.
  • The destination needs no water.
  • It cannot cross sealed magical boundaries; the doorway creates no usable water or flood.
4 APRollLightning

Lightning Storm

Roll once against up to three enemies you can see nearby.

  • On a hit, each takes 6 lightning damage.
  • Mundane shelter with no open route to the target blocks it.
4 APAutomaticEarth

Earthshaping

Over one minute, reshape a nearby mass of ordinary earth or stone up to wagon size into a bridge, doorway, ramp, or shelter.

  • Keep the material and volume.
  • The change is permanent; it cannot injure or entomb creatures, create valuable minerals, or reshape wood, metal, or enchanted material.

Magic · Brewing and engineering

Alchemist

A stained notebook. A patient hand. Something remarkable in the next bottle.

Inventor, chemist, and engineer: turn scraps into concoctions and ingenious machines.

  • Start here. Scavenge is included. Choose Healing Potion or Pipe Bomb next, or a Tier 1 ability from another class.
  • Make it work. Use the crafting rules and reagent ideas. Devices deliver concoctions; each keeps its own action, effect, and limits.

Tier 1

1 APAutomaticEssential starting ability

Scavenge

Spend 1 AP and a quiet minute searching for useful scrap or ingredients.

  • The Guide gives you fitting material for one small project you know how to make; add it to Inventory.
  • Empty or picked-clean places yield nothing and cost no AP.
  • Bought or found material works too.
1 APCraft

Healing Potion

Use fitting material and a quiet minute to make one healing potion for 1 AP.

  • Drinking or giving it takes an action and restores 4 HP, up to maximum.
  • It works on a willing or Incapacitated creature within reach.
  • No roll or further AP; the material is used up.
1 APCraft

Pipe Bomb

Use fitting scrap and a quiet minute to make one pipe bomb for 1 AP.

  • Throw it with an action: roll against one nearby target for 4 damage on a hit.
  • Triumph doubles damage.
  • The bomb is spent even on a miss; the scrap is used up.

Tier 2

2 APCraft

Vaporcraft

Prepare a sleeping vapor or a hallucination vapor with a fitting reagent.

  • Release it into a doorway-sized patch nearby and roll once against up to two breathing creatures there.
  • On a hit, sleep lasts a minute or until shaken or hurt; hallucinations give Trouble on the next roll within a minute.
  • Airflow clears the vapor after this release.
  • It cannot command actions, and allies in the patch can be affected too.
1 APAction

Tinker

With fitting scraps and your kit, spend a quiet minute making a palm-sized tool, timer, or trigger.

  • It can sound an alarm, work a simple latch, or release a prepared concoction using its normal roll.
  • One device at a time, lasting until Full Rest; no automatic lockpicking or extra attacks.
  • Or prepare a Boon potion: a willing drinker talks themself into a Knack for one action this scene.
  • It cannot make an impossible action possible or stack with another Knack.
2 APCraft

Blast Flask

Pack a fitting volatile reagent into a flask or simple charge.

  • When used, roll one attack against up to two nearby targets standing together.
  • On a hit, deal 3 damage to each.
  • It can also break an ordinary lock, hinge, or similarly small object.
  • A timer or trigger may deliver it; no extra damage or attacks.

Tier 3

3 APCraft

Potent Medicine

Prepare a medicine that restores 6 HP, or ends one ordinary poison or disease.

  • Choose when brewing.
  • Give it to a willing creature or administer it to an Incapacitated creature within reach.
  • Curing an illness does not also restore lost HP.
2 APAutomatic

Pressure Rig

In a quiet minute, fit your tools with a reagent-powered pressure chamber.

  • Use your action to lift a fallen beam, pull a person-sized unattended object, or force a stuck door within reach.
  • You may instead launch one prepared concoction to a visible target In Range, using its normal effect and roll.
  • Lasts until Full Rest; one rig at a time.
  • No free doses or extra damage.
2 APAutomatic

Clockwork Courier

In a quiet minute, build a hand-sized helper with 3 HP, powered by a fitting reagent.

  • Spend your action to send it Nearby: carry a small object, operate a simple latch, or deliver one prepared concoction.
  • Delivery uses that concoction’s normal action, effect, and roll.
  • Lasts until Full Rest; one at a time.
  • It cannot act or attack independently.

Tier 4

3 APCraft

Battle Tonic

Prepare one tonic: Ironhide reduces the drinker’s next three physical hits by 2 each this scene; Springblood grants a Knack on their next three physical rolls this scene.

  • Choose when brewing.
  • Willing drinker only; matching bonuses do not stack.
3 APAutomatic

Clockwork Guardian

Spend ten quiet minutes building a reagent-powered guardian with 6 HP.

  • Use your action to direct it Nearby: carry a person-sized load, hold a door, deliver one prepared concoction with its normal roll, or roll a melee attack for 2 damage.
  • Your reaction can instead make it absorb up to 3 damage from a hit against a nearby ally, losing that much HP.
  • Lasts until Full Rest; one at a time, no independent turns.
3 APCraft

Universal Solvent

Prepare a solvent for ordinary wood, rope, or metal.

  • Apply it for a quiet minute to dissolve a door-sized patch within reach.
  • It cannot dissolve living or enchanted material or stone.
  • Handy for a rescue, a jammed machine, or a door with unreasonable opinions.

Tier 5

4 APCraft

Grand Remedy

Prepare a restorative mist.

  • Release it with an action to restore 8 HP and end ordinary poisons or diseases in up to three willing nearby creatures.
  • Incapacitated creatures can benefit.
  • It cannot revive the dead or remove a curse.
4 APAutomatic

Aether Engine

Spend an hour building a wagon-sized engine fueled by fitting reagents.

  • It can move a small boat or wagon, raise a portcullis, or power ordinary machinery.
  • Spend your action to start, stop, or redirect it.
  • It lasts until Full Rest and cannot attack, create AP or reagents, or run enchanted machinery.
  • One at a time.
4 APAutomatic

Transmute

Over an hour, turn a wagonload of ordinary nonliving material into wood, stone, glass, or iron.

  • Keep its volume; the change is permanent.
  • Make the casing, bridge, or missing part your invention needs—not precious metals, food, reagents, finished concoctions, or a working complex machine.

Part III · For the Guide · Behind the screen

Your first session as Guide

Players: stop here. The remaining chapters cover Guide procedures and the first adventure’s secrets. Let those arrive in their own time.

Every hero remembers the shared dream. Begin awake, with a situation to act on, people with reasons, and choices that matter. My gift prepares them. They decide what happens next.

  1. Agree on tone and boundaries. Follow Keep the table together.
  2. Help each dreamer create a hero. Select New Hero in the Vault. Ask what they hope to find.
  3. Read the Guide procedures. NPC rolls differ from hero rolls.
  4. Read Tallowmere privately. Know the Lantern’s role, the captives’ locations, and both routes underground.
  5. Offer something to do. Let familiar sights spark recognition, without forcing a route or choice.

Look up a rule when needed, agree on what it means, and return to the scene. Confidence is useful; pretending to remember is considerably less so.

For the Guide · Running the game

Guide the adventure

Describe what’s clear, what seems odd, and what needs a decision. Give people wants; show danger before it strikes. If clever play avoids your fight, let it. Their choices are the adventure.

Before a roll: possible, uncertain, consequential. Establish stakes, agree on Knack or Trouble, and resolve the attempt once.

Leave room for wonder

Flour disturbed by a claw. A spoon shifting without a hand. A warm room with a cold fireplace. Give players a detail that offers a question, a clue, or something to use. Then let them investigate.

Powers and experiments

  • Check type and limits. Psychic and magical effects use different defenses; consult the ability. No power overrides another player’s consent.
  • Give experiments room. Make safe work time, approaching danger, and resupply opportunities clear. Judge reagents by useful properties, not exact recipes.
  • Keep the same limits. Used flasks are spent, gifts occupy slots, and devices grant no extra turns or free AP. See Brewing.

Build an opponent

Type HP / Damage Use
Commoner 2 HP / 1 damage Someone who yields or flees when threatened.
Minion 4 HP / 2 damage Capable opposition with a simple job.
Boss 10 HP / 4 damage A named opponent with an agenda and escape route.
Great threat 16–24 HP / 4–6 damage Clear warning, phases, and weaknesses players can exploit.

Give each a want (their goal), tell (what reveals them), trick (what they can do), and break (what makes them bargain, flee, or surrender). Even someone blocking a door should have a reason to stay there.

NPC attack rolls

Roll where everyone can see. Use this table for NPCs, not the hero Fate table.

Die Outcome
20 Double damage and an edge.
15–19 Full damage.
9–14 The target’s player chooses half damage, rounded up, or a smaller change in position you offer.
2–8 Miss; things shift toward the heroes.
1 No damage. Offer two disastrous outcomes for the NPC; the players choose one.

Do not apply hero Knacks or Trouble to the Guide’s die. Hero reactions can still reduce damage. Opponents gain no automatic HP or damage when heroes level up; change their plans, tools, and positions. Stop combat when its conflict is settled.

Prepare situations with choices

  • Know the truth, the pressure, and each person’s wants. Give a location three useful things to interact with.
  • Put required clues where looking finds them. Roll for cost, speed, or risk—not whether the adventure may continue.
  • Keep other routes alive. If the heroes miss one, the people and problems keep moving.

Guide only · First-adventure spoilers

Tallowmere and the first adventure

Players, leave these pages to your Guide. You’ll meet the fox soon enough. The people behind the borrowed faces are more fun to discover yourself.

Guide, these are the opening adventure’s facts. The dream offers glimpses of them, not instructions or guaranteed outcomes. Keep the heroes free to investigate, help, bargain, or walk another way.

Airship clearing and road

Elira Vale, a merchant aboard the descending airship, begs the heroes in a forest clearing to deliver a closed chest to Mayor Sven in nearby Tallowmere. The Dawn Lantern travels inside this silver-trimmed brass chest. Elira lends her matching key and asks for it back. The Mayor holds the other key; either opens the case. He usually lights the Lantern, but anyone can light its wick.

First the heroes find Pip in a snare beside the road. Farther along, Crik and Tubble ransack a wagon. Defeating them yields a shared loot pouch: 12 silver coins, a polished amber stone, and two travel rations.

The FoXXin' Flagon

Loxxi is the very flirty human owner and bartender. She knowingly covers for the goblins because, good or bad, they buy plenty of food and drink. Lantern light leaves her human. Pip is Mayor Sven's ordinary pet red fox, with a green ribbon and a brass tag bearing the tavern’s name; reveal his owner after the rescue. MNO, Loxxi’s eleven-year-old relative, is hiding in the pantry. They have a small psychic gift for moving objects; its source is unknown.

Four goblins wear human glamours. They hold the real Mayor in the kitchen’s storage cellar. Their leader, Nib Knucklebone, wants the Lantern and a way out through the rear window. He also seeks an old entrance, but does not know it lies behind the fireplace.

Let the heroes notice clues: someone names the Lantern before being told about it; a claw print marks spilled flour; Pip distrusts a familiar-looking guest. Lantern light strips away glamour. Looking can reveal clues without a roll; roll only when the attempt brings real risk.

Keep the two routes separate:

  • Kitchen hatch: the ordinary storage cellar where the Mayor is captive.
  • Cold fireplace: thin brick fills an older supporting stone arch. Beyond it, stairs descend to the Echo Landing in the Catarynths. Save this descent for a later session.

After the tavern confrontation, free Sven from the cellar. Pip runs to him, revealing their bond. Sven happily lets his fox tag along if the heroes promise to feed him and give him tummy rubbles. Once everyone is back upstairs, a loud crash comes from beneath the fireplace, followed by a howl. End today's session there.

Beyond the tavern

The Catarynths are ancient chambers beneath Tallowmere, not creatures. Their greater purpose remains unknown. The Hollow Crown backs Nib’s smugglers and their enchanted glamour pins; the pins’ maker is unnamed. Couriers headed for Briarwatch Tower keep disappearing. Leave their fate for a later adventure.

When Nib is trapped, Defeated, or gone, the other goblins may give up or flee. Check where the Lantern, Mayor, MNO, and smugglers are now, and what each wants. Follow the consequences of the heroes’ choices. Nobody needs to arrive at an ending merely because you prepared it.

Credits and copyright

Credits

Briarbound’s setting and original writing are © 2026 NeonWindmill.