90 abilities. Begin with your class’s essential and one other Tier 1 choice. Earn Marks on the road; choose new abilities together at Gather at the Hearth.
How ability choices work
Unlock tiers: learn 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 abilities in a class to open Tier 2 / 3 / 4 / 5. Lower tiers stay open.
Pay once: use your action unless the entry says otherwise. Roll effects succeed on 9+; Haggle adds a chosen price. Automatic effects need no roll.
Triumph: double damage to each target; recover 1 AP, or 2 AP total with Trouble. Award AP once per roll. Automatic effects never double damage.
Keep the limits: one concentration effect and one reaction per round. Duplicate effects do not stack; use only the strongest damage reduction.
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.
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.