Adventuring Rules
Following are rules for interacting with the world.
Resting
The best way to recover from difficult combats is to spend some time resting. The benefits you gain from a rest depend on the length of the rest. You can perform light activity during a rest, such as standing guard, setting up camp, or eating a meal. Stressful activies, including combat or enduring harsh weather, interrupt a rest.
If you take a 5-minute rest, you recover the ability to use any Encounter powers you have expended. You can also choose to gain 1 fatigue to heal half of your missing health.
If you take an 8-hour rest, during which you get at least 5 hours of sleep, you heal to full health, you recover 1 fatigue, and you recover the ability to use any Daily powers you have expended.
Carrying Capacity
Your carrying capacity is determined by your Strength and your Size. This value represents the maximum weight you can lift without too much trouble. You can lift up to twice this weight for a short time.
To compute your carrying capacity, plug your Strength into the table below. If your Size is greater than +0, multiply the result by 4 for each +1. If your Size is less than +0, divide the result by 4 for each -1.
| Strength | Carrying Capacity |
|---|---|
| -5 | 50 lbs |
| -4 | 57 lbs |
| -3 | 66 lbs |
| -2 | 76 lbs |
| -1 | 87 lbs |
| +0 | 100 lbs |
| +1 | 110 lbs |
| +2 | 130 lbs |
| +3 | 150 lbs |
| +4 | 170 lbs |
| +5 | 200 lbs |
| +6 | 230 lbs |
| +7 | 260 lbs |
| +8 | 300 lbs |
| +9 | 350 lbs |
| +10 | 400 lbs |
Reputation
Your character will make many friends and enemies along their journeys. The reputation mechanic gives the party a way to track exactly how various groups feel about them.
Your character has a Reputation score with every NPC and every group of NPCs. This score is normally at 0, which represents a neutral reputation: the other party neither likes you nor dislikes you. A positive score represents a positive reputation: the other party likes you and may be willing to help you. A negative score represents a negative reputation: the other party dislikes you and may be unwilling to help you.
When you make a die roll to socially interact with an NPC, the GM may ask you to add your Reputation score with that NPC to your roll. This represents cases where a positive reputation is beneficial. For example, you could be trying to convince a merchant to give you a better dela, you could be persuading an town governor to heed your advice, or you could be asking a favor from a close ally.
In rare cases, the GM may ask you to subtract your Reputation score from a die roll. This represents cases where a negative reputation can be beneficial. For example, you could be trying to intimidate an NPC based on your reputation as a pirate, you could be trying to rile up a crowd that dislikes you, or you could be trying to taunt an enemy that has specific reason to hate you.
Building a Reputation
Just like in real life, a positive reputation more useful than a negative reputation, but a negative reputation is easier to build. It is also easier to build a strong reputation with an individual than with a large group, because it is difficult to influence a large group of people at once.
You can increase your Reputation score with a group by helping that group, especially if you don’t ask for anything in return. Completeting a quest that helps someone usually affects your Reputation score as follows:
- If you helped an individual person, you gain +5 Reputation with them
- If you helped a small group of people, you gain +2 Reputation with them
- If you helped a large group of people, you gain +1 Reputation with them
While gaining reputation requires acts of charity and performing favors, losing reputation is as easy as accidentally saying the wrong thing. Majorly insulting someone usually affects your Reputation score as follows:
- If you insulted an individual person, you have -5 Reputation with them
- If you insulted a small group of people, you have -2 Reputation with them
- If you insulted a large group of people, you have -1 Reputation with them
A small group of people means roughly 10-100 people. A large group of people means 100 or more.
The GM determines how exactly any action affects your Reputation score. Use common sense when determining the impact of an action on a character’s reputation. A minor favor is unlikely to improve your Reputation score at all, while sacrificing yourself to save someone will give you much more than +5 Reputation with them. Similarly, a minor insult won’t hurt your Reputation score if you apologize, but seriously attacking someone might give you -20 Reputation with them or worse.
Example
Alice the Acrobat and Bob the Berserker went on a quest to save the princess from an evil dragon that has been menacing the countryside. They return victorious from their quest, to great public fanfare and a personal thanks from the king!
Alice and Bob helped the entire kingdom by slaying the dragon, so they gain +1 Reputation with everyone in the kingdom. In addition, Alice and Bob personally helped the princess and the king, so they gain +5 Reputation with each of them. Since the princess and the king are both part of the kingdom, these stack, so Alice and Bob gain a total of +6 Reputation with the royal family from this victory.
While enthusiatically celebrating their victory, Bob the Berserker gets into a drunken brawl at the local tavern, and is arrested by the guard. Alice the Acrobat goes to speak with the guard captain to plead for Bob’s release. She rolls Spirit+Eloquence, with an additional +1 bonus from her Reputation score with the captain. If she fails this roll, Alice may have to involve the king, in which case she would add her +6 Reputation with the king to her roll.
Bob the Berserker’s escaped personally inconvenienced the guard captain, who was pulled away from the victory celebrations to make the arrest. The guard captain took this as a personal insult, and Bob has -5 Reputation with the captain. Alice wasn’t involved, so her Reputation score with the captain stays intact.
NPC Attitude
One simple way to describe a creature’s feelings towards the party is to give their attitude. An intelligent NPC’s attitude is usually determined by the party’s Reputation score with them, as shown in the table below. Unintelligent creatures still hold an attitude towards the party, even if they aren’t smart enough to understand reputations.
| Reputation | Attitude | Description |
|---|---|---|
| +20 or more | Helpful | The creature actively wishes to aid you, as long as doing so doesn't go against its own goals or hurt its quality of life |
| +10 ... +19 | Friendly | The creature likes you, and will generally agree to simple and easy requests |
| -9 ... +9 | Indifferent | The creature doesn't know you, or doesn't care about you one way or the other |
| -19 ... -10 | Unfriendly | The creature dislikes and distrusts you, and won't agree to any of your requests |
| -20 or less | Hostile | The creature actively wishes to harm you, and might attack you or otherwise try to get in your way |
Most creatures start as indifferent towards the party. A creature you’re fighting is almost always hostile towards you.