Unofficial Path of Exile PnP Alpha Version 0.

96
Creator: Richard West ‘Angryaa’, all credits towards him.
http://www.twitch.tv/angryaa

Victor Pagani has modified this version, for a system with some more
characteristics, while keeping in mind it should be simple and with quick combat.

Note: In this system, you always round decimal results down.

Character
Base Stats
STR

Strength determines your raw power.

Triple total STR added to Life

Half of your STR added to Physical Reduction

DEX

Dexterity determines your speed and finesse.

Every 100 points in DEX, you gain 1 Speed

Every 100 points in DEX, you gain 1 Accuracy

INT

Intelligence determines your level of knowledge and understanding of Soul

Energy.

Total INT added to Energy Shield

Half of your INT added to Resistance

Skills
STR

Athletics
Used for running, climbing and swimming. Athletics can be used instead of
Maneuver check, which allows you to control or escape enemies in the battlefield.
(see the Maneuver section).

Soul Endurance
Used for physical endurance, Resistance to poison and addiction and even
magical diseases and plagues. Soul Endurance is also reduces the chance you
Die when at zero Life. (see the Death section).
Survival
Used for knowledge about geography and surviving in the wild. Knowing how to
find rivers, safe drinking water, good camping sites, hunting etc. Survival can
also be used to conceal you and others trails over long distances.

Carry Load
Used to determine the numeric value of “how many things one can carry”. (see
the Backpack section).

DEX

Stealth
The ability to not be seen or heard. You can only Stealth in places where others
do not have direct line of sight to you such as darkness, tall grass, sneaking
behind them etc. It’s counterpart is the Soulcraft attribute.

Soul Manipulation
The ability to manipulate Soul Energy in unintended, devious or subtle ways.
Can be used to bypass magical wards, traps or conceal yourself from magical
detection. Every time when using a Trap Soul Skill, you must roll Soul
Manipulation, to “hide” it.
It can be used to try and fool someone into thinking you are weaker or stronger
than you really are, with the use of Soul Magic. It’s counterpart on this second
idea is the Intimidate attribute.

Maneuver
The ability to move with grace and bypass, avoid or control enemies in the
battlefield. Refer to the Maneuver section for more information.
Maneuver can also be used to wriggle through tight spaces, or dodge away from
an unexpected surprise such as a blade trap. It’s counterpart is the Athletics skill.

Initiative
The ability to react quickly to changing situations. Used to determine the order of
combat. Initiative can also be used in a contested manner to see who reacts first,
such as an archer readying an arrow as an opponent runs around a corner.
Occasionally, Initiative may be used for non-combat situations, such as catching
a falling object or pressing the red button before others can stop you.

INT

Perception
The ability to see, hear and smell things around you. Perception can be used to
sense how powerful and individual is, as well as to spot a Stealthed opponent
and what is around you in a battlefield.

Lore
General knowledge. Every 4 skill points invested in the skill, pick a specialization.
The subjects are: Undead, Soul Magic, Wraeclast history, Karui, Geography,
Beasts, Vaal, the Eternal Empire, Virtue Gems and animals though your GM
can add more as it fits the needs of the game. Specializations allows you to reroll
your roll and take the higher result on Lore checks. The better you do on a Lore
roll, the more information the GM will give you on a question, topic or thing you
encounter.

Soulcraft
The practice and understanding of magic. Soulcraft can be used for a variety of
purposes such as creating wards against magical detection and alarm wards that
alert you to the presence of others.
Soulcraft is also used to extract a Soul Skill from a individual and place it in a
Skill Gem. It can be used to gain more detailed information from other people's
use of Soul Skills. With higher enough skill, one can extract a Soul Skill from an
enemy while he’s still alive/awake.
Soulcraft can further be used for charms against minor ills etc fitting a witch-like
theme.

Runecraft
Can be used for Rune-Binding. Rune-Binding is a practice where you tattoo
runes over your and another's body to create an empathic link. Thoughts, feelings
and a rough sense of the direction and distance can be sensed through this link,
though it is highly traumatic if someone in this link were to Die. The darker option,
a Slave-Link, can be created where the empathic ability only goes one way and
there is no trauma on Death. If you are linked to another, it is very difficult to lie,
giving you a -10 penalty (per tier) to the attempt.
There is a limit to how many links you can establish, based on your Runecraft
link. A link can only be forged if both participants are willing (even with a slave
link, Intimidate might come into play here). Removing the tattoos removes the
link, but requires expertise in Runecraft to do so without trauma or damage to
the subject.

The following skills have no key stat, and start at 0.

Negotiation
The ability to gain better terms on a deal, trade or exchange. Negotiation is not
mind-control, and the user better have a reasonable deal or exchange to start
with, but it represents the ability to generally get the advantage in such deals.

Generally, the GM will assign a difficulty or range of difficulties to the roll. If you
beat the number you succeed at the task. If you exceed the number by a certain
amount you may gain an additional benefit as determined by the GM.

Charm
The ability to be likable or possess good etiquette and grace. Charm tends to
smooth over social interactions, gaining you more friends, allies and connections
or preventing a situation from spiralling into violence. Charm is also used to Lie.

Intimidate
Used to frighten others into complying. Intimidate has a wide variety of uses,
some subtle, others obvious. While intimidated subjects might obey or flee you
in the short term, only the most sophisticated intimidation works for long periods
of time. It’s counterpart is the Soul Manipulation skill.
It’s up to the GM how hard a check is.

On any Attribute Check, if you roll a natural 1, you always fail the use of
your skill. If you roll a natural 10, you always succeed. Your attributes in these
cases do not matter. More about that on the Critical section.
For mundane tasks players don’t need to roll and thus have no chance at failure.

Skill Points:

Every time you gain a level, you get 4 skill points. You may increase any skill from
the entire list as you wish (there are no class skills). The maximum amount of skill
points you may place in a specific skill is equal to your level, once you hit level 5.
A skill point increases your roll in a given skill by its amount.

Creating and leveling a character

All characters start at level 0, with a base of 10 STR, DEX and INT and a base
20 Life and 2 Mana.
Your 10 STR x3 gives you 30 hp, plus your base of 20 for a total of 50 Life.
At level 0 you start with 2 Mana.
Your Threshold is equal to half of your Life or Energy Shield, whichever is
greater. Half of 50 is 25 so your Threshold is 25.
Your Physical Reduction is equal to half your 10 STR which is 5.
Your Elemental Resistance is equal to half your 10 INT which is 5.
Your Block is 0, because you have no items.
Your Accuracy Bonus is 0, because you have no items and not enough DEX.
Your Base Speed is 2, because you have no boots.

Thus, your starting stats at level 0 are:

Life: 50 (STR 10x3 + 20 base)

Energy Shield: 10 (INTx1)
Mana: 2

Threshold: 25
Physical Reduction (PR): 5 (STR/2)
Elemental Reduction (ER): 5 (INT/2)
Block: 0
Accuracy Bonus: 0
Speed: 2

1 WAM
0 damage

Every time you gain a level, you get 4 skill points

Gain +5 to one stat of your choice, you can’t scatter these around.
Gain one Keystone from the stat you choice.
The current design has a maximum level of ??, or ? tiers of play.
Gain a Soul Mastery every 4 levels. (“Support Skill Gem”)
Every level you choose to improve one stat by +5. Pick a Keystone of that
stat. Eg: If you level up and put +5 in DEX, you pick a DEX Keystone.

Leveling progression table:

Level

0 Base stats: 10 STR, DEX and INT. 2 base Mana. Base 20 Life.

1 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

2 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

3 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

4 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana. Soul

Mastery.

5 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

6 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

7 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

8 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana. Soul

Mastery.

9 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

10 Ultimate Keystone. +4 skill points. +1 Mana. +1 WAM.

11 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana.

12 +5 to one stat, Keystone in that stat. +4 skill points. +1 Mana. Soul

Mastery.

... ...

Experienced groups: If you have a group of experienced players that have

played the system before, or feel that you want characters to have established
skills and abilities at the start of play, you’re welcome to start the game at a higher
level. Keep in mind however that it really helps new players to start at level 0 and
incrementally learn the mechanics of the game, as well as not force them to make
build decisions for their character until they try things out for themselves.

Combat
Accuracy
When Attacking, you’ll roll Accuracy, and if you hit, Attack.
Players start at 0 Accuracy Bonus and Block. This means that any roll is able to
hit them. The sum of your Block + Evasion is your Dodge Chance. When
attacking, one must at least reach this value, or else they miss/get blocked.

Bonuses in Evasion + Block (Dodge chance) and Accuracy must simply be

reduced from each other, hitting the final value that may or may not be enough to
hit an enemy.

While you are surprised, you cannot add your Evasion, but you can still Block.

It is up to your GM to give bonuses or penalties to attackers and defenders, based

on situation. For example, giving +1 Accuracy if someone is attacking from a
higher ground, or giving -1 Speed if their legs are hurt.

If it hits, roll another d10 for damage:

Weapon Attack Multiplier (WAM)

WAM determines how much you multiply your original 1d10 attack roll when you
attack. All characters start with a WAM of 1. If you find a weapon or item that
increases your WAM by 1 (to a total WAM of 2), you now multiply your 1d10 roll
by 2 before adding your damage.
When damaging, you only ever roll one 1d10 on your roll, when then gets
multiplied by your WAM.

For example, if you attack something with a WAM of 17, when you roll your 1d10
and get 5, that roll is multiplied by 17 for a total of 85.

Attacking

Assuming you hit your enemy:

1d10 x Weapon Attack Multiplier (WAM) + Damage. The target subtracts their
Physical Reduction (PR) from physical damage or Elemental Resistance (ER)
from this total, called Final damage. This is the amount subtracted from the
target's current Life / Energy Shield total.

For example:

Bob the bandit has 3 WAM, a 2-handed blade that adds 5 WAM, +12 attack from
magic items and attacks with the Elemental Hit Soul Skill which increases his
attack by 30. His grand total for the attack is 8 WAM + 42. If Bob attacks and rolls
a 6, that 6 is multiplied by his WAM of 8 for 48, then added onto 42 for a total of
90 damage.

You always add the base damage of a weapon, such as the 2 WAM from a one-
handed axe or the 5 WAM from a 2-handed staff, as long as that weapon can
add to that Soul Skill.
For instance, Axes can only add to STR and DEX Soul Skills. Staves add their
damage to all INT and STR Soul Skills. Weapons always add their damage to
non-Soul Skill attacks.

Initiative
Initiative determines the order of battle. When a battle begins, all combatants roll
1d10 + Initiative skill. Combatants act from highest to lowest.

Monsters should always have 10 Initiative, unless the GM gives them bonus on
a specific situation.
If an opponent is surprised, they still roll Initiative but automatically lose Initiative
to combatants who are not surprised.

Remembering that while you are surprised, you cannot add your Evasion,
but you can still Block.

Combatants can freely delay their Initiative to later in the fight, they gain the
Initiative they decide to act on for the rest of the combat.

Opposed Initiative: Sometimes during combat, it's appropriate for an opposed

Initiative check to test who reacts faster in a circumstance. For instance, if an
archer holds his action and waits to shoot the first enemy that walks into his line
of sight, when that enemy walks into range they both make opposed Initiative
checks. Whoever wins this check gets to act first. This allows combatants with
excellent Initiative to snipe from behind cover untouched, or combatants with
excellent reflexes (or a shield) to prepare to block the attack.

Life (and Death)

Life is how much damage you can suffer before you fall Unconscious. If Final
Damage brings you to 0 Life you fall Unconscious. You cannot have less than
0 Life. Once Unconscious, all Energy Shield, Minions, Auras, Curses,
Totems, Traps and Regeneration stop or are destroyed. Life Regeneration
starts again once you are conscious. Falling Unconscious increases your
Fatigue by 1.

While Unconscious, when Life drops below half of your Threshold, you Die.
You can not Dodge while Unconscious, and Energy Shield cannot activate or
recharge. Physical Reduction and Resistance function normally while
Unconscious. If you remain Unconscious without healing, when the next turn
comes, you must roll a Soul Endurance check with a TN (target number) equal
to your level + 4 every turn. Every time you fail or succeed at this roll the TN
increases by 2. If you fail the roll at any time, you Die. A Critical Success (a 10)
on this roll allows you to become conscious again. A player without access to
magical healing can automatically stabilize an Unconscious player after a
minute of medical care. This brings them to 1 Life.

Life is determined by 3 per 1 point of STR plus Life from gear.

Life can be Regenerated during and after combat by using a Flask. Otherwise,
Life does not Regenerate, unless you have Life Regeneration. If you have
Regeneration, you Regenerate that flat amount at the start of your turn.

When out of combat, it’s up to the GM how much Life (and Mana) you
Regenerate, based on how long you’ve been out of combat. This Regeneration
comes all at once at the start of the combat. Remember to ask the GM, or else
you’ll start the combat more damaged than you should.

Damage you take, if it hits, follows the same rules already stated on the WAM
section. Don’t forget to reduce the total damage by your Resistance or Physical
Reduction, for the final damage.

These rules are for player characters, important NPCs, and demigods.
Unimportant NPCs and monsters usually Die at 0 Life unless the player wishes
to spare their life.

Energy Shield
Energy Shield is a bubble of magical energy that protects you from attacks.
Energy Shield is granted from Cloth armor, 1 per point of INT and by Keystone
s.
Energy Shield is only visible when you take damage, during which it briefly
flashes, enough to dimly illuminate the area around you. Energy Shield is
invisible until activated by damage. It goes invisible again after a few seconds.

When you take Damage, Energy Shield is subtracted before Life.

Energy Shield does not keep you conscious if you are at 0 Life.
If you take no damage from the start of your current turn until the end of
your next turn, you Regenerate your Threshold in ES. Even 1 point of
damage prevents ES Regeneration.

Flasks have no effect on Regenerating Energy Shield.

Energy Shield does not function while Unconscious, however, if you become
conscious again your Energy Shield Regenerates to double your Threshold at
the end of your first action.

Mana
Mana is used to activate Soul Skills. Every Soul Skill has a base Mana cost.
This Mana cost can be changed by Soul Masteries you use to enhance the skill.
During combat, you can Regenerate a portion of your Mana by using a Mana
Flask.
A character starts with 2 Mana, and gains 1 Mana every level.
If you don’t use a Soul Skill on your turn, you Regenerate 1 Mana at the end of
your turn (per tier).

Physical Reduction (PR)

Physical Reduction is granted by your equipment and half of your STR. This
total is how much damage you reduce from physical attacks to your character.
Elemental damage ignores Physical Reduction.
Elemental Resistance (ER)
Resistance works just like Physical Reduction but instead of reducing damage
from physical attacks, reduces the damage of all elemental damage. If you have
50 Resistance and get hit by 60 Cold damage, your Final Damage is 10 Cold
damage. If you take damage from multiple elements, take the total elemental
damage and reduce the final total. For instance, if someone hits you for 100
Lightning damage, and 10 Fire damage, and you have 90 ER, you take 20
Lightning damage. ER always resists the lower elemental totals first up to its
total, in this case it absorbs the 10 Fire and then 80 Lightning damage.
Physical damage ignores ER.
50% of your INT is added to ER.

Cover
If you have cover, you take half of the Final damage from attacks you have cover
from.

This means, once you get attacked by a skill that hits in area (check Zone section
for more details), even in cover, it still hits you, but for half the final damage.

However, it is possible for your cover to be destroyed by area of effect attacks,

making you vulnerable. This can be up to the GM.

If you have full cover, you cannot be targeted by any attacks.

Players with a shield can declare they are protecting a single ally in their Zone or
themselves on their turn as a Minor Action. Both characters gain the cover status,
splitting the final damage between the two. While you are defending, you cannot
Engage enemies.

Threshold
Threshold measures your ability to take a powerful blow and keep on going. If
Final Damage (damage after Physical Reduction and Elemental Resistance)
exceeds threshold, that attack gains an additional effect based on the type of
attack.
Your Threshold is equal to the higher of half your Life or Energy Shield rounded
down. For instance, if you have 75 Life and 25 Energy Shield, your Threshold
would be 75/2 = 37. If an attack hits you for 37 or more damage after you apply
Physical Reduction and Resistance, you suffer the additional Threshold effect.

Monster Threshold is often based on the type of monster, and is not derived from
a formula.

Threshold effects
Each type of damage has a unique effect if it exceeds the target's Threshold.

Fire: If Fire damage exceeds the target's Threshold, the target is Ignited equal
to half of the Final Fire Damage of the attack at the start of the target’s turn.
ER applies to this damage on the main hit, and once again when the target burns.
Cold: If Cold damage exceeds the target's Threshold, the target is Frozen for
1 turn and has their Speed reduced by half, rounded down. All attacks
against a Frozen opponent increase Critical Strike range by 1. They can still
cast spells or attack normally, assuming opponents are in range. If the target has
a Speed of zero, they cannot leave their Zone but can otherwise fight normally.

Lightning: If Lightning damage exceeds the target's Threshold, the target is

Shocked, becoming more vulnerable to all attacks from all sources until the
end of the caster's next Action. Shocked increases the damage for all
attacks on the target by one third of their value. For instance, if you are
Shocked and is hit for 30, you’ll take extra 10 damage from that hit.

Physical: If physical damage exceeds the target's Threshold, the target is

Stunned, reducing their final damage by a third and their Speed by half.

You cannot Stealth or Engage opponents while affected by a Threshold

effect.

Multiple Threshold effects can be applied by several different attacks. However

identical Threshold effects don’t stack (you cannot be Stunned twice) but it
does refresh the duration. If Ignite is refreshed, the highest amount of burn
damage is taken for the new duration. It should be noted that while Critical
Strikes greatly increase the chance to break the threshold of an enemy, they are
not required or guaranteed to do so.

Only the highest Final Damage Threshold effect on a single attack can be
applied, even if an attack carries multiple damage types. For instance, if you hit
an enemy with 0 Resistance with 200 Fire damage, 10 Cold, 30 physical and 10
Lightning, the enemy will be Ignited for 125 damage (1/2 of the total damage).

Action Pool
Combat operates in a turn based fashion. After everyone has acted, one turn has
passed. Each turn, a player has one Major Action, which is an attack, use of
Soul Skill, using a Flask on an ally etc, one Minor Action, which is using a Flask
on yourself, getting an item from your backpack, using a skill, or something else
within that scope and Movement. You can sacrifice your Major for 2 Minors (for
3total), this allows you to use use your Flask 3 times by using 3 minors in one
turn, or allow you to use 3 Perception checks to look for a Stealthed ed opponent.
Or maybe running away, then using a Flask, then entering Cover, for example.

You can move X squares per turn, where X is your Speed. If your current Speed
is 0, you can’t leave your Zone. If you attack with a ranged attack of any kind
(even one that targets your own Zone), reduce your Speed by half for that turn,
even if you attack after your move, so keep it in mind. Base human Speed is 2.

If there is an enemy in your Zone, and you’re Engaged with him, then it's an
opposed Maneuver or Athletics check to see if they stop your movement or not
if they are attacking you. If they do successfully stop your movement, you cannot
move this turn.
If you take no Major Action this turn, you can add +5 per tier to Maneuver and
Athletics checks and increase your Speed by +1 per tier.

You can take your Actions in any order you wish, and may take your Actions at
any point during the course of your movement. This allows ranged characters to
easily pop in and out of cover to take a shot, or a melee opponent with increased
Speed to Engage in hit-and-run tactics.

Ultimately, your GM adjudicates if you even can move somewhere, due to terrain.
Depending on terrain, your movement Speed might be halved. He might ask for
an Athletics or Maneuver check to climb up a wall or jump over a chasm. The
assumption is that your character is always running as fast as they can in combat.
There is no ‘run’ Action, you’re already always moving as fast as you can.

Fatigue and Hunger

Whenever a GM feels that a character is at risk of Fatigue or Hunger, such as
after not eating for a day or sleeping in the rain on cold stone, they can ask for a
Soul Endurance check. If the player fails this roll they gain a point of Fatigue.
Every point reduces the player's maximum Mana by 1 until they remove the
Fatigue or Hunger. If their Mana is reduced to zero while they have at least 1
Fatigue, they lose 25% maximum Life per additional Fatigue point. If this
reduces them to zero, they Die, go insane, or worse... depending on how evil
your GM is.

Optional rule: Path of Tears

If you wish to make the game gritter and far more difficult, you can rule that
whenever a player has their Threshold exceeded by an attack they gain a point
of Fatigue. This will make players unable to deal with many combats, and place
a much stronger emphasis on resting regularly and comfortably.

Critical
In combat, when you deal a Critical Strike, you add the associated stat to the
damage total. For example, if you are using a Mace (which is keyed to STR and
DEX) you may add the higher of your STR or DEX to your damage on a Crit. All
characters Crit with all attacks on a natural 10. Any Keystone or effect that
increases Crit by 1 increases this range by its number. For example, if you find
the Unique Amulet of Amazing Crits that increases your Crit by 1, your now
Crit on a roll of 9 or 10.
Swords and daggers are the exception to this rule, they add both their key stats
to Crit damage instead of the highest.
Bonus Crit damage increases total Crit damage by the flat stated amount.
Out of combat, when you hit a Critical, you might receive bonuses on your
actions based on your GM. These Criticals are unaffected by Critical bonuses
and only happens when you hit a 10.
In and out of combat, when you hit a Critical Failure (1 on a dice, when you roll
a skill check, or when you roll Accuracy for an attack), you roll again. If this
second roll is a 6 or more, you “only miss/fail your check”. If this second roll is a
5 or less, a Critical Failure happens, based on how evil your GM is.
Examples of Critical Failures are hitting allies or yourself, heavily offending the
person you’re talking with, etc.

Eg: Hegemony the staff wielding exile attacks an enemy with his staff using a
regular attack. He rolls a 10, a Crit! Hegemony then rolls his damage. He rolls a
10 on his damage dice. With his WAM of 5, his total is 50. Now, because the
attack is a Crit he adds the higher of his STR or INT due to him using a staff for
a weapon. Hegemony has 80 STR and 20 INT, so he adds 80 to his damage, for
a total of 130 damage.

If Hegemony had 20 bonus Crit damage due to gear, then he would add 20 to
the total of his Crits for a grand total of 150.

Chaos Damage
Chaos Damage directly devours Soul Energy. Chaos Damage ignores all
Physical Reduction, Resistance, directly damaging Life and/or Energy Shield.
Chaos Damage is unequivocally dark energy and should be used with great care
or not at all. Some people killed by Chaos Damage have their soul becomes
twisted and corrupted, and they later rise again as an evil force that desires to
destroy all living things, keeping all the abilities they had in life and more, while
their intelligence is clouded by the desire to kill (such is the origin of
Necromancers). Even if their body is destroyed before they can rise again, their
soul will haunt the land as a malevolent ghost, or worse.

Chaos Skills are Bad Stuff. Use with care. A GM is well within his rights to
disallow players using Chaos Skills in his campaign.

When rolling Accuracy and hitting a 1, you’re rolling again for Critical Failure.
In this case, 6 or more makes you miss. 2 to 5, makes a “normal-ish” Critical
Failure happen. If you roll a 1, one of these 10 situations might happen, based
on a roll from your GM:

1. Your attack instead targets yourself, your current Fatigue doubles. If you have
0 Fatigue, you get 1 Fatigue. During the attack and for the rest of combat, you
cry tears of blood uncontrollably, but can otherwise act as normal.

2. You swap bodies with your target. This lasts for two turns. You both now have
all the abilities, statistics and powers of the other body and know how to use them.
If you Die while in your borrowed body, you cannot return to your body. Your
allies and enemies instinctively realize the body swap has occurred, due to the
visual transferal of souls.

3. You cannot speak in anything but screams for 24 hours. You are in continuous
pain and cannot sleep or rest. Your current Fatigue doubles. If you know the
forgotten language of the Vaal, you may speak normally in that language.

4. Your attack instead targets your nearest ally. Their current Fatigue doubles. If
they have 0 Fatigue, they get 1 Fatigue. If you’re alone, treat this a roll 1. During
the attack and for the rest of combat, you laugh uncontrollably, but can otherwise
act as normal.

5. Your eyes become glowing orbs of a color of your choice. You gain Soul Sight,
which operates much like thermal vision relating to souls and makes it hard for
entities to hide or conceal themselves. Your skin becomes pale and lifeless. You
may now consume souls you slay, which restores 1 Fatigue and hunger per
consumed soul. You can no longer sleep or eat normal food, making Fatigue a
constant problem. If you ever go above 5 Fatigue or hunger, you go insane and
lose yourself to the curse of the Vaal. If you consume 10 or more souls during
this 24-hour period, the effects are permanent and you permanently receive +5
Intimidate and instantly learn the Vaal language. This lasts for 24 hours.

6. Your Threshold doubles for the rest of combat as Chaos Energy infuses your
body. Your voice sounds demonic and reverberates, and your intimidate is
increased by 10 per tier. People cannot fall asleep within a mile of your presence.
Lasts for the next 24 hours.

7. You Critically hit your target, and the damage roll is an automatic 10. For the
rest of the battle, all your Chaos Attacks are automatic Critical Strikes, even 1
rolls count as 10 rolls for Chaos Attacks (though you still roll on this table as per
normal if you roll a 1 twice). All enemies automatically Critically Strike you, just
as you do on them.

8. The cost of this Soul Skill, and all other Soul Skills costs Life instead of Mana,
as if you have taken the Blood Magic Ultimate Keystone but twice the normal
conversion cost. If you already have this Keystone, triple the Life per Mana
conversion cost. You gain an intense hunger for blood, and food cannot sate you.
Eating a corpse restores 1 Fatigue and your Fatigue constantly goes up, based
on your GM. This lasts for 24 hours.

9. Double your Speed. Your appearance becomes grey and blurred, and people
find it hard to focus on you. Your Stealth and Soul Manipulation rolls focused
on “disappearing” from someone increases by 10 per tier, and you can always
Stealth, even while observed. While not directly in their presence, your allies (and
enemies) forget you ever existed, going to the length of puzzling over why there
is another backpack or bed at their camp, or being disturbed by what seems to
be an unknown stranger who has recently been here. Vaal creatures and
creatures infused by Chaos Energy are not affected by the blurring or memory
effects. Lasts for 24 hours. If you Die while this effect is active, nobody ever
remembers you, and you are forgotten forever.

It is recommended that if the character does Die while this effect is still active,
that the GM and all other players refuse to acknowledge the character ever
existed, even outside of the game. Destroy the character sheet.

10. Your target is instantly killed. They will rise as a revenant within a week, with
their sole purpose being to destroy you. While you sleep, you can see through
their eyes and feel their emotions of intense hatred. However, you cannot wake
yourself, only others can. During this time you scream during your nightmare, and
only get half as much benefit from normal sleep.

If you roll the same result twice, any duration effects stack.
If you have the Vaal Pact Ultimate Keystone, you may choose to reroll the first
result you roll on this table.
If you have taken Chaos Inoculation, you cannot use Chaos Damage or suffer
from Chaos Effects, and any Chaos afflictions you may currently be suffering
from are Cured.
Resolute Technique grants a Chaos Effect on the roll you decide to keep.
It is up to the GM if monsters suffer Chaos Effects when they roll two 1s.

If a player ever Dies while a Chaos Effect is active, they will rise again in some
form as a corrupted agent of the Vaal.

Flasks
Flasks are a magical glass vial. They are able to hold great Soul Energy and
allow the user to heal themselves or Regenerate Mana as needed.

Flasks regain charges via resting, wells of Soul Energy, waypoints and
destroying enemies in combat. The more powerful the enemy, the more charges
gained.

Flasks can hold 10 charges of Soul Energy. As a Minor Action, you can use
your Flask to consume 4 charges and either heal your Threshold in Life, or
Regenerate half your total Mana. As a Major Action, you can use your Flask to
consume 4 charges to either heal an ally in your Zone in Life, or Regenerate half
their total Mana.

A player may have 2 Flasks equipped and functioning at any given time.

Flasks can have up to two of the magical abilities listed below:

1. Greedy: Double your Life and Mana Regeneration per use. This Flask uses
ten charges.
2. Ample: Extra 5 total charges
3. Deadly: Regain 1 Flask charge on a Crit.
4. Bully: Increases your Athletics by 5 per tier for 1 round.
5. Granite: Doubles your Physical Reduction for 1 round. Does not Regenerate
Life or Mana and costs 8 charges per use.
6. Thawing: Removes Frozen effect.
7. General: Also heals minions equal to their Threshold.
8. Shielding: Doubles your Resistance for 1 round. Does not Regenerate Life
or Mana and costs 8 charges per use.
9. Slippery: Increases your Maneuver by 5 per tier for 1 round
10. Blessed: Removes all Curses.
11. Clarity: Remove any Stun effect.
12. Dousing: Remove any Ignite effect.
13. Rubber: Remove any Shock effect.
14. Quicksilver: Increases your Speed by 2 per tier for 1 round.

Engaged
The design purpose for the Engaged mechanic is to keep melee meaningful,
and provide tactical options to not only help your ranged allies, but interfere
with enemy ranged combatants. It should be a problem for a bow user or
spell caster if someone is waving a sword in their face. This gives the ability
for melee to control ‘Zones’ and the movement between them, by getting in
the way physically, and threatening with feints and attacks.

Whenever a player or monster hits a target with a melee attack or a Soul Skill
that says they Engage opponents, they automatically Engage their target (unless
the player specifically doesn’t want to). While a target is Engaged, they can only
attack enemies in the Zone they occupy (even with ranged attacks and spells).
In addition, they need to use a Manuever or Athletics check to break
Engagement.
Ways to break Engagement:

-Kill all enemies Engaging you.

-Use Maneuver or Athletics to break Engagement.
Stun, Freeze, Shock or Ignite enemies, making them unable to Engage you.

As a Minor Action, a character may make an opposed Maneuver or Athletics

check to successfully break Engaged. Success allows the character to move and
act freely, failure forces them to remain Engaged and only attack enemies in their
Zone. Sacrificing your Major Action adds +5 per tier to the Maneuver or
Athletics check to escape. You still can only roll once per turn, unless said
otherwise, via Unique Items or Keystones.
If a target is Ignited, Shocked, Stunned or Frozen they lose all targets they were
Engaging and are unable to Engage targets while the effect lasts.

For example: Donatello, a mutant turtle skilled in the use of a 2 handed staff, hits
his dreaded enemy Shredder on the head. Shredder is now Engaged. Shredder’s
player wants to target an enemy at a distance named Leonardo, however,
because he’s Engaged he can only target enemies in the Zone he occupies. He
decides to try breaking Engagement by running away from Donatello and getting
some space before shooting Leonardo. Both Shredder and Donatello roll
opposed Maneuver. Donatello beats Shredder on this roll. Shredder cannot
target Leonardo, nor leave the Zone he is currently in, so he decides to try fry
Donatello with his Death Beam. Shredder rolls his Death Beam attack against
Donatello’s reduction, doing damage normally to Donatello.

Later, all four turtles are attacking Shredder. Shredder wants to escape, but he
must break Engaged with the four turtles (if it is a group of monsters, you can roll
once for the whole group of monsters) if he wants to successfully leave the Zone
he is in. If Shredder fails to break Engagement, the turtles successfully block his
attempts to break free, and he will be forced to fight.
If you are in a Zone with an ally, on your turn you may declare you are
defending that ally as a Free Action. As long as you are both in the Zone
together and the defender is not surprised, attacks and spells from opponents in
your Zone always target you instead of your ally, and the damage is halved
between you two. A person who is defending an ally cannot Engage enemy
targets, but otherwise may act normally.
When talking about Defending with minions, if the Summoner orders their minions
to defend, the damage is halved between the Summoner and the minons, but all
the damage taken by the minions is focused on a single minion.
For example: Dilma, the zombie enchanter, has five minions. She orders them to
defend her. Her enemy, Temer, hits her and her minions for 50 damage. Dilma
takes 25 damage and ONE of her zombies take 25 damage, instead of 5 damage
each.

If the defender is using a shield, the ally they are defending gains cover, and the
half of the damage they would take goes to the protector.

Zones
Zones are an easy way for everyone to understand Area of Effect skills to figure
out how many enemies a fireball or other area of effect ability hits without needing
to resort to focusing too heavily on battle grids.

Zones represent any area containing players and/or enemies during a battle. If
there are two or more players and/or enemies alongside each other on the grid,
they are occupying the same area. This means the “size” of a Zone can change.
If a Soul Skill or effect says it hits all enemies in a Zone, all enemies in that area
get hit by it, unless the GM makes a special ruling due to cover or terrain.

The focus on using Zone is to make combat cinematic, simple to understand and
most importantly descriptive and fun.

For example:
A group of four exiles, Bob, Jill, Jerry and Sarah encounter a mass of tribal
savages who charge at them with reckless abandon. Bob and Jill say there are
standing together, and Jerry and Sarah say they are both standing alone. Jerry
and Sarah each occupy their same Zone. For Jerry and Sarah, they both make
a single Zone, that is made of two squares on the grid.

There are 19 savages in total, and the Fire Fury. At this point, the GM decides to
split the savages into 3 groups of 6 each. Each group of 6 savages is a single
Zone and The Fire Fury is in her own Zone.

Once combat commences, Bob declares he's going to cast Fireball. The GM
says he can hit one of the groups of 6 guys, or target The Fire Fury. Bob decides
to fire at one of the groups of 6 savages. He does a solid amount of damage, and
all 6 savages get consumed in the blast of fire, bits of gibbed arms and legs flying
violently all over the place. Bob cackles with glee.
Now its the savages turn. He decides the remaining 2 groups of savages (12 in
total) rush towards Bob’s Zone and attack him and Jill (who is in the Zone with
him). The GM notes that now Bob and Jill’s Zone has the 12 savages in it, so
these 14 characters make up a single, really big zone.

Bob and Jill both get attacked by the savages, suffering significant damage. The
GM describes the savages smashing into them with rusty hatchets and spears.
Some of the savages leap on their backs, or grab and bite their legs. Because
the savages have attacked Bob and Jill in melee, Bob and Jill are Engaged,
which means they cannot leave this Zone unless they kill the savages or succeed
in a Maneuver check to escape.

The Fire Fury screams ‘For the Fire God!’ and casts Firestorm on top of Bob and
Jill. Bob and Jill are both in the same Zone, so they both take damage from the
Firestorm. They’re now both badly hurt, and in a tough spot because they’re
Engaged.

Sarah decides to take on the Fire Priestess. She runs towards The Fire Fury and
attacks her with dual swords. The GM notes that Sarah has moved into The Fire
Fury Zone, so they both now are a single Zone. Not only this, The Fire Fury is
now Engaged and cannot leave this Zone unless she succeeds on a Maneuver
check because of Sarah’s melee attack. In addition, Engaged means The Fire
Fury can only target enemies in her current Zone. Sarah is cleverly protecting
her friends from the ranged Firestorm of The Fire Fury by attacking her in melee
and getting in her face.

Jerry notches an arrow, as it starts to glow and hum with lightning he says ‘Don’t
worry guys, I got this’ as he fires a Lightning Arrow, targeting Bob and Jill’s Zone.
Lightning Arrow hits all enemies in a Zone, and there are currently 12 savages
engaged there! He rolls and gets a Critical Strike! Whoah, all 12 savages
explode as lightning courses through them. Bob and Jill are spattered from head
to toe in gore, surrounded by smoking corpses. Fuck yeah, Bob, you’re awesome.

Traps
Traps are capsules of hidden Soul Energy that have been hidden from sight,
usually associated to DEX and INT. Certain Soul Skills give you the ability to
place Traps. Traps lie dormant and trigger when an entity with a soul (or negative
soul in the case of undead) is in the same Zone as the Trap. Once placed, a
Trap takes a full turn before it arms itself. When a character places a Trap
they make a Soul Manipulation check. If an enemy beat this check with
Perception, they see the Trap.
A player may place a maximum of 3 Traps. You may place multiple Traps on top
of each other, allowing them to all trigger at once. Traps have no duration and
last until they are activated or you cast a Trap over your limit, in which case the
first Trap cast disappears.
Each Trap counts as a separate attack for determining Threshold effects and
other mechanics.
A successful Soul Manipulation check can be used to find out a Trap, or even
disabling it. A Stealth check can be made to try pass over it without triggering it
if you are aware of it. If aware of the Trap, you may also attempt an Athletics or
Maneuver check to bolt past the Trap as fast as possible before it explodes. This
has a higher TN (target number) than other methods.
Allies don’t trigger Traps, unless the player says otherwise when planting the
Trap down.

Curses
Certain Soul Skills give you the ability to cast Curses. Curses affect all enemies
in a Zone of your choice and last the duration or until the Curse caster loses
consciousness. An enemy can only be affected by 1 Curse at a time. If a new
Curse is cast on a currently Cursed enemy, whether by you or an ally, it replaces
the old Curse. The Whispers of Doom Ultimate Keystone allows the player to
place two Curses on an enemy.
A Curse can be removed by a Flask with the ‘Blessed’ property.

Leech
Leech converts portion of your attack and grants you either Life or Mana. Life
Leech is listed as ‘5 Life Leech’. This means that when you make your attack,
you Leech 5 Life. Mana Leech is the same as Life Leech, this means every time
you hit at least one enemy, you gain 1 Mana.
Leech only works with physical damage. Soul Skills that convert physical
damage into elemental damage prevent Leech from functioning with that Soul
Skill. Leech only functions if you deal at least 1 point of damage with the attack.
If you miss or deal no damage, you don’t Leech.

For example: Rodriguez has a Life Leech of 25. He runs into a horde of 10
zombies and attacks them all with Cleave. He deals 80 damage, and immediately
heals 25 due to his Life Leech.

Endurance, Frenzy and Power Souls

Certain Soul Skills grant you a Endurance, Frenzy or Power Soul. All players
start with a maximum of one of these Souls each. Certain notable Keystones
increase this maximum. When you gain one of these Souls, they rotate around
you, glowing red, green or blue respectively. They last until the end of a battle, or
until they are consumed. Consuming a Soul is a Minor Action, and may only be
done once per turn.

Endurance Souls grant 5 PR and ER per tier per Endurance Souls. When
consumed, double your Physical Reduction and Resistance until the end of
your next turn.

Frenzy Souls grant 5 damage per tier per Frenzy Souls. When consumed, they
let you roll your attack or Accuracy roll twice and take the higher result.
Power Souls increase your Crit Chance by 1 per Power Souls. Can only be
consumed when you Critically Strike, and increase the bonus damage of that
Critical Strike by 25 per Power Soul, per tier.

Soul Skills
Soul Skills are fragments of the souls of warriors that contain the greatest skill
or spell they knew in life. Players can absorb these gems to know them as the
warriors did. To do so, they must have a blank Soul Gem and pass a test of
Soulcraft. Soul Gems represents a lifetime of training and practice, learned by
the player instantly. The character performs the use of the Soul Skill as if they
were a true master of the ability, allowing them to achieve mind-blowing feats with
no prior learning or practice time.

Angry’s design note:

You could instead use the gem system from the computer game, from a practical
RP perspective most of my players found this system to make little sense to them.
The idea of directly absorbing the essence of the gem ability was more appealing.
However, very little changes if you change it to a gem socketing system, just let
them socket the gems wherever in the armor and impose the same limits as the
absorption limits. Either way, I strongly feel like Soul masteries are smoother than
support gems from an immersion perspective. One of the challenges of
converting PoE into a pen and paper game is not only making sure everything
seems believable, but also mechanically not overwhelming. I think keeping the
entire socket + support gem system would become overwhelming for players
unless they have a digital character sheet that does it all for them. Base item +
magical modifiers + sockets and links would be too much housekeeping.

Some Soul Skills have an elemental tag such as (Fire). If they do, they
convert all damage to that element. For example, if a player with a sword uses
Lightning Strike (Lightning), they roll, calculate, and add their damage normally,
but all damage is converted into Lightning damage.

Soul Skill absorption Limit

You may only know one Soul Skill of a specific stat, plus one per 10 base points
you have in a stat. If you have 30 base STR, you may absorb 4 STR Soul skills.
If you wish to change which souls are bound to you, you’ll need to find someone
skilled in Soulcraft with the appropriate equipment to extract the unwanted bound
Soul Skills.

Soul skill Mana costs increase by their cost (or reservation amount) per tier.
The number in brackets is the Mana cost of the Soul Skill per tier. When you get
to a new tier, you may only cast the more expensive version of any Soul Skill or
Soul Mastery you know, this gives tier bonus but also requires a higher Mana
cost.

For example: Rodriguez is a level 12 tier 2 character and knows Elemental hit.
Elemental hit adds 30 damage per tier of an element of his choice. Elemental hit’s
Mana cost is 1, so if Rodriguez attacks with a tier 2 Elemental hit, he must spend
2 Mana, but gains the tier bonus of +30 for a total of +60 damage on the attack
due to having the tier upgrade.
Soul Skills with the (r) tag reserve a portion of your Mana to function. Until you
end the effect of this skill, you cannot use the Mana it reserves. When you
unreserve a reservation skill, you must Regenerate said Mana before you are
able to use it. If you fall Unconscious, all Soul Skills automatically stop being
maintained.

Soul Skills do not damage people who you designate in your mind as allies.
Soul Skills are highly intelligent, and even a fireballs explosion will bend around
and avoid an ally, even while frying all enemies that surround them.

Optional rule: Gms who want combat to be more gritty and nasty may want to
allow friendly fire from Soul Skills. Keep in mind that your encounter design will
need to be very different, and that the game contains a high volume of area of
effect powers. If you do enable friendly fire, I recommend increasing area of effect
Soul Skill damage by 15 per tier, because players will often not be able to safely
use them. This will likely also make melee characters a hindrance in the party
and make ranged the dominant option.

Soul Skills that do damage over a duration, always do that damage at the start
of the casters turn. If you enter the Zone of an active firestorm for example, you
only take damage at the start of the caster's next turn.

Using a Soul Skill uses up your Major Action unless stated otherwise.

(Attack) This skill is an Attack.

(Spell) This skill is a Spell.
(1) denotes the Mana cost of a skill per tier.
(r2) denotes a Mana reservation amount of a skill per tier.
(Proj) denotes a skill as a Projectile skill.
(Curse) denotes a skill that is a Curse.
(Aura) denotes a skill that is an Aura.
(Totem) denotes a skill that is a Totem.
(Minion) denotes a skill is a Minion.
(Trap) denotes a skill that is a Trap.
(Dur) denotes this skill has a Duration component
(Pierce) denotes a skill that reduces the PR or ER of a target by 50%.
(Cold) denotes a skill that converts all damage into Cold damage.
(Light) denotes a skill that converts all damage into Lightning damage.
(Fire) denotes a skill that converts all damage into Fire damage.
(Chain) denotes a skill that chains, attacking additional targets in consecutive
rounds.

Minion skills of all types always move and attack the same targets as a group,
and lack the intelligence to split up. Summoned minions in the Summoner's
Zone automatically defend their master, meaning that all attacks and spells
directed at the Summoner, follow the Cover rule regarding to Minions. If the
Summoner sends their minions to attack enemies in another Zone, they
lose this defensive benefit. Minions use their masters Maneuver and Stealth
on appropriate checks.

Soul Supports
Soul Supports represents the ability of your character to more efficiently and
powerfully use Soul Energy. You gain a Soul Support every 4 levels, and you
can use them to modify any Soul Skills you know.

With the exception of Reduced Mana Cost, Soul Support increases the Mana
cost of a Soul Skill, sometimes drastically. The number in brackets is the amount
the Soul Support increases the Mana cost of a Soul Skill per tier. Identical Soul
Masteries do not stack on the same skill.

Whenever a player uses a Soul Skill with a Support, they have full control
on what combination of Soul Masteries they do and do-not activate on any
given action.

Example:
Raiz ethically knows the skill Fireball, the Soul Support Blind and Fire Penetration.
Fireball has a Mana cost of 1 if he chooses to cast it unmodified. The Blind
Support has a Mana cost of 2, if Raiz pays an additional 2 Mana, for a total of 3,
his fireball will now Blind all enemies on impact. If Raiz wants to combine both
Blind and Fire Penetration supports he can, but he must pay 2 Mana for blind, 2
Mana for Fire Penetration and 1 Mana for Fireball. The total cost of his Fireball
is now 5 Mana, but it both blinds enemies and pierces Elemental Resistance.
Raiz can support any Soul Skills he has absorbed with these Supports, though
Fire Penetration will only help with fire damage.

Keystones
Keystones are the building blocks of any character. You gain one per level.
Taking two of the same stat group of Keystone opens access to a Notable
Keystone from a pool. Thus, after selecting 2 STR Keystones, you may take a
Notable STR Keystone as your third. You may take a specific Notable
Keystone only once, (including a Notable Keystone of the same name in a
different notable pool). Normal Keystones (such as Warrior) can be picked as
much as you wish. Every tier new pools of Notable Keystones unlock.

If a player wishes, they can defer their choice of any type Keystone and select it
at a later point in the game.

Weapon specialization Keystones only function if you use only that type of
weapon.

Equipment & Backpack

Players generate the stats on the items they find!
Items found with listed random numerical values (such as 1d10 INT) are rolled
by the players when found. Whatever they roll becomes the final stats of the item.

For example: Nathan, an odd, hairy exile, finds his first item in Path of Exile. It's
a one-handed sword. The sword has a base damage of 2 WAM. In addition, the
sword is rare and has 2 mods. It grants 1d10 STR and 1d10 x5 Life. Nathan rolls
for the STR mod, and gets a 10, for a +10 to STR. He then rolls the Life mod,
and rolls a 4 multiplied by 5, giving the sword +20 to Life.

Equipment comes in many shapes and sizes. There are several slots of
equipment:
Head. Chest. Weapon. Offhand. 2 Rings. 1 Amulet. Boots.

All equipment comes with base value bonuses depending on the type of item. In
addition, if an item is magical it can have additional attributes it adds to the
character.

All equipment comes with base “size” values depending on the type of item. Their
size only changes if they’re a Unique Item that says otherwise.

Helmets, Jewelry, Boots, 1H Weapons, Small Shields, Flasks, Soul

Skill/Blank Gems are size 1.
Body Armor, Tower Shields, 2H Weapons are size 2.
Quest items size depends on the GM.

Besides the flat amount of damage added to an attack, each weapon has a
unique bonus based on the weapon type. For instance, daggers have a higher
chance to Crit than other weapons.

Head, chest, boots and shields add to Physical Reduction, Resistance or

Energy Shield.

Rings and Amulets are somewhat unusual in that you roll their base, non-magical
stats, have a variety of things that add to, from Mana and Life to Resistances.

If an item is magical, it has 1 magical modifier.

If an item is rare, it has 2 magical modifiers.

Remember that an orb of transmutation can be used to permanently add one

magical modifier to an item, if he’s not magical or rare. This can only happen once.

Basic Weapon Item Information

Axes allow you to roll damage twice and pick the higher result, because
they’re good at wild, unpredictable amounts of damage. Axes can add STR and
DEX modifier to Critical Strikes and can add their damage to STR and DEX
Soul Skills. Axes can be both two and one handed.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier, 2 handed 5 WAM per tier.
Staves gives you +2 in block and +1 in Mana per tier, because you can block
attacks with them. In addition you can protect allies, much in the same way a
shield user can. Staves can add STR or INT modifier to Critical Strikes and can
add their damage to STR and INT Soul Skills. Staves can only be two handed.
5 WAM per tier.

Maces increase the duration of Stun threshold effects by 2 turns, because

it’s easy to Stun people when you hit them on the head with a mace. Maces can
add their STR or DEX modifier to Critical Strikes and can add their damage to
STR and DEX Soul Skills. Maces can be both two and one handed.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier. 2 handed 5 WAM per tier.

Swords increase Accuracy by 1, and allow you to add both your STR and
DEX when critically striking, because they’re sharp and pointy. Swords can
add their STR AND DEX modifiers to Critical Strikes and can add their damage
to STR and DEX Soul Skills. Swords can be both two-handed and one-handed.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier. 2 handed 5 WAM per tier.

Daggers increase Critical range by 1, and allow you to add both your INT
and DEX when critically striking, because they’re also sharp and pointy.
Daggers can add their DEX AND INT modifier to Critical Strikes and can add
their damage to DEX and INT Soul Skills. Daggers can only be one-handed.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier.

Bows are ranged. They increase Accuracy by 1, They allow you to roll
Initiative twice and take the higher result because they give you the freedom
to react to circumstances quickly. Bows can add its DEX modifier to Critical
Strikes and can add their damage to DEX Soul Skills. They are two-handed.
5 WAM per tier.

Claws increase Life Leech by 5 per tier, because they’re badass. Claws can
add your DEX or STR modifier to Critical Strikes and can add their damage to
STR and DEX Soul Skills.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier.

Sceptres increase the duration of all elemental threshold effects (Shock,

Ignite and freeze) by 1 turn, because magic. Sceptres can add their STR or INT
modifier to Critical Strikes and can add their damage to STR and INT Soul
Skills.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier.

Wands shoot a projectile of an element of your choice when used as a

weapon to attack and increase your total Mana by 2 per tier because they’re
efficient at channelling magical energy. Wands are ranged and are one-handed,
allowing the use of shields. Wands can add their DEX or INT modifier to Critical
Strikes and can add their damage to DEX and INT Soul Skills.
1 handed 2 WAM per tier.
Spears and Polearms increase Block by 1 and allow you to reroll Maneuver
and Athletics rolls and take the higher result because every fantasy game
should have Spears and Polearms. Spears and Polearms can add their STR or
DEX modifier to Critical Strikes and can add their damage to STR and DEX
Soul Skills. They are two handed.
5 WAM per tier.

Crossbows are ranged. They increase Critical range by 1, and your Accuracy
by 1 because Crossbows are Bows that are cooler. Bows can add its DEX
modifier to Critical Strikes and can add their damage to DEX Soul Skills. They
are one-handed, allowing the use of shields.
2 WAM per tier.

Two handed weapons have increased base damage compared to their one-
handed counterparts. In addition, two-handed weapons can have twice the
magical mods (2 for magic, and 4 for rare) to balance the fact that you lack
an offhand item slot.

If you dual wield, you add both weapons damage together to determine the
damage of the attack, in addition if you roll a 1 or 2 when attacking, reroll
the result once (You don’t gain bonus rolls when rolling with axes). If you
miss, you miss with both weapons. Also, when you are Dual Wielding, you
gain +1 Block. You can use Soul Skills even if they are suitable for only one of
your weapons, but you add only the damage of the weapon you are using, while
the other weapon does not do anything other than adding its bonuses and magic
and rare stats. Assuming both weapons allow you to add their damage to the
Soul Skill you are using, you add both. You always add all the mods of both
weapons in either hand. For clarification, a weapon specialization is not multiplied
twice for each weapon, but only added once. Also, if you are dual-wielding
different weapons, while you do gain both weapon benefits, you will be only
choose the bonuses from one weapon type, unless you have a Keystone that
says otherwise (Ambidexterity).
When dual wielding, if you wield two different kinds of weapons, both of the innate
bonuses apply. For example, if you wield a dagger which increases crit by 1 and
an sword which increases Accuracy by 1, both these effects apply.
When duals wielding two weapons of the same type, the bonuses add. So dual
wielding daggers, you have +2 Critical Strike

For example:
Roger is playing a character that wields two axes in either hand. When he attacks,
he adds the damage from each axe (2 WAM) for a total of 4 WAM to his attack
modifier. If each axe increased WAM by 1 due to magical enchantment, you
would add both of them together for a total of2 plus 4 for a total WAM of 6. If
Roger rolls an attack while dual wielding, the first time he rolls a 1 or 2 on the
attack, he may reroll. Then he rolls for damage three times and picks the highest
value.

Basic Armor Item Information

Armor comes in four types:
Cloth
Increases Energy Shield by 50.

Leather
Increases Resistance by 10.

Heavy Plate
Increases Physical Reduction by 10, Block by 1 and reduces Maneuver and
Athletics by 5 and Speed in 1. Addictively, you can’t Stealth with a Heavy Plate
on.

Shields There are three types of shields, which use a weapon slot.
All Shields have a Base Block by 2.

Tower: 10 to Physical Reduction per tier and add a bonus of 5 per tier to
Resistance. It adds 1 additional Block. Reduces Maneuver and Athletics by 2.

Leather: 10 per tier to Resistance. 3 per tier to Physical Reduction. It adds 1

Evasion.

Voodoo charms: 50 Energy Shield per tier and add a bonus of 1 WAM per tier.

Boots and Helm both increase Physical Reduction or Resistance by 2. Cloth

instead increases Energy Shield by 10. Boots also increase Speed by 1.

‘Can I dual wield shields?!’

Yes. Their bonuses stack. Keep in mind, there are very limited amounts of Soul
Skills that synergize with a dual shield build, but there are some fun things you
can do. If you do not have a weapon, a Tower shield adds 2 WAM (per tier of the
shield) to damage of skills such as Shield Charge that can be used with a shield.
You cannot attack with leather shields or voodoo charms. If a Soul Skill attack
does not specifically say you can use a shield as part of the attack, you cannot
use a shield as a weapon with that Soul Skill.

Basic Jewelry Item Information

Jewelry is separated into rings and amulets. You may equip 2 rings and 1 amulet.

Amulets come in six types:

Onyx amulets add 1d10 to Resistance. +1 d10 per additional tier.

Lapis amulets add 1d10 INT. +1 d10 per additional tier.
Amber amulets add 1d10 STR. +1 d10 per additional tier.
Jade amulets add 1d10 DEX. +1 d10 per additional tier.
Coral amulets add 1d10 x5 Life. +1 d10 per additional tier.
Paua Amulets add 1-4 Mana. +2 per additional tier.

Rings come in four types:

Coral rings add 1d10 x5 Life. +1 d10 per additional tier.
Paua rings add 1-4 Mana per tier.+2 per additional tier.
Iron rings add 1-2 WAM to attacks per tier. +1 per additional tier.
Onyx rings add 1d10 Resistance per tier. +1 d10 per additional tier.

Magic & Rare Items

Magical items are items that have extra mods, greatly increasing the
effectiveness of the item. Magic items have 1 modifier (2 if 2-handed weapons),
and are common. Rare items have 2 modifiers (4 if 2-handed weapons), and...you
guessed it, are fairly rare.

Magic items must be attuned to the wielder to grant the benefits. Attunement
requires absolute concentration, which is easily obtained out of combat. In
combat however, attunement requires two Major Actions over 2 consecutive
turns, and you can’t be under a Threshold effect to do so. This means if you
swap a magical weapon during combat, you lose its magical modifiers but do not
gain the new modifiers on the swapped weapon until it is attuned.

When a magical item drops roll a d10. If you get a 8, 9 or 10 the item is rare.
Otherwise it is magic. The GM might alter this roll depending on the enemy.

Item rolling tables

You can generate items using a d100 to generate a number between 1-100.
Reroll incompatible mods. The GM is welcome to drop items with mods of their
choice or randomly as they see fit.

Signature items
Whenever a player rolls a natural 10 on a mod, that item gains a ‘Signature’ mod.
This is a special modifier that gives the item additional flavor and utility, outside
of combat. An item may only have 1 signature mod. Signature mods can only
occur if you roll a natural 10. Increased Item Rarity cannot affect the chance of
getting a signature mod.

Example signature mods:

1. Ghost: As a Minor Action you can turn into a ghost, passing through solid
inorganic matter, however Soul Energy (such as magical wards) and organic
matter stop you normally. Every turn past the first, roll a d10. On a result of 1 you
materialize, if you are in solid matter you are shunted to the nearest occupiable
space, taking half your Threshold in damage for every square on the grid
travelled. When in ghost form, you may reroll Stealth rolls and take the higher
result in shadowy areas or at night.

2. Soul Hunter: You gain Soul Vision, which you can activate as a Minor Action.
Soul Vision allows you to see Soul Energy clearly, allowing you to track entities
with a Soul easily and increasing your chances of detecting Traps. Using Soul
Vision allows you to reroll Soul Manipulation rolls and take the higher result.

3. Spider: You can cling to surfaces with your hands and feet as if you were a
spider, automatically succeeding as climbing checks and moving at your normal
Speed. You have +5 Manuever and Athletics per tier when near walls or blocked
terrain.

4. Feral: You can now speak to animals, and may now freely use social skills
such as Negotiation and Intimidate to interact with animals. Your animalistic
grandeur allows you to reroll social rolls with animals, taking the higher result.

5. The item is intelligent and has its own personality. The more you use the item,
the more the item will like you (usually). The item tends to have very good
knowledge over one particular aspect of Lore, such as Animals, Vaal, Medicine,
Undead etc. Treat their Lore skill as 10 + 5 per tier. The item is fully capable of
lying, manipulating or acting in whatever way it wishes, especially to guarantee
its survival but can be a great boon to the player if a good relationship is formed.
Its personality is up to the GM.

6. Pre-cognizant: This item allows the user to see the future in dreams. Whenever
the character sleeps, they may ask the GM one question about the next 24 hours.
The GM rolls a secret Die, on a result of 2-10 the GM answers truthfully but is
encouraged to be cryptic. On a result of 1, the GM purposely misleads the
character. A pre-cognizant item must be worn for a full 24 hours before you can
use its ability.

7. Camouflaged: this item allows the user to automatically blend with their
surroundings, allowing you to reroll Stealth rolls and take the higher result.

Orbs
Orbs are VERY RARE items used in the crafting of magic items that permanently
modify and improve a white item.

Transmutation: Makes the items magic, adding one modifier (or two if 2-handed
weapon). Reroll mods completely useless for the player.

Chaos: Remove all mods on the item, and makes it magic or rare. Roll and
generate completely new mods. Roll a 1d10, on an even number the item
generates 2 mods, making it a rare item (or 4 mods for a 2 handed weapon).
An odd number generates one mod, making it a magic item.
An item can generate the same mods it previously had, as chance dictates.

Divine: Rerolls all the random values of a magical item. Take the rerolled value,
or the originally rolled value, whichever is higher.
Exalt: Choose a mod of your choice available to that item type to add to that item.
This may only be used once per item. If the item is rare, you cannot use an
Exalted orb on it. This is considered the most rare and valuable orb.

You cannot use Orbs on unique items.

2-Handed weapons have twice as many available mods as normal items. 2 for
magical and 4 for rare.

Uniques
Uniques are special items that do not roll their statistics and always do something
normal magic items cannot. They tend to be excellent items for their tier, and may
even be used for another tier or two due to their unique effects. It's often good to
link a specific unique to a thrilling boss encounter or story/location in your
campaign. Having them just randomly drop would just ruin the cool. All uniques
have some story-related side effect, even if it is a small one. Feel free to help me
design cool uniques, the more the better.

Monster Design
A word on Monster Design:
Enemies operate on separate rules to players. This allows GMs to tailor fights
and conflict closer to their tastes. Feel free to change anything here to better suit
your game.

Your average Monster does not have Physical Reduction and Elemental
Resistances. Unless it is a specific defense of the Monster (such as a tower
shield, or a crab’s exoskeleton).

Monsters Dodge chance should be tailored taking narrative into consideration.

Broodlings are very small, so they are harder to hit. Even so, they are very stupid,
so not that hard. They have a base dodge of 2. If a player rolls a 1, he misses
them (and Critically Fails, in this case).
Chatters is a big skeleton with a big metal Body Armor, which can soak up
damage in the form of block. He’s an stupid Skeleton, so he doesn’t try to Evade
attacks, so no Evasion. His base Dodge chance is 5. Rolling a 5 or more, makes
the attack able to damage him.
On monster Attributes, it’s advised to only put the single “Dodge Chance”
Attribute, for less complicated combat.

Monsters don’t have a Threshold based on total HP like players. Their

Threshold is based on the type of monster (zombies and skeletons have low
thresholds).

While we will be making a bestiary with long lists of monsters, abilities and stats,
I highly encourage GMs to tailor enemy stats and abilities to their group.
Only you know how much health, damage and abilities your players have.
Don’t be shy using large groups of monsters. The highlight of a session for one
of my players was hacking 12 Zombies in half with a single Cleave. Area of effect
abilities are very powerful in this system, and players enjoy mass destruction and
carnage.

Keep in mind that due to the Zone system and Engagement mechanics, you can
go really wild with enemy attack descriptions. A group of Zombies doesn't just
walk up and hit the player, they snarl savagely, grabbing them by the throat and
dragging them to the ground. This also allows you to accurately portray
Engagement via description. If a player succeeds on a Maneuver check to
escape the Zone you can say ‘You kick the zombie in the face, rolling to the side
and quickly getting to your feet. Quickly, as the zombies start to lumber after you,
you spring away, still feeling the sting of their cold hands on your neck.’

Keep the combat visceral and intense with description, it's lots of fun.

Remember, due to how variable the player’s stats are, try be flexible with
monster stats and numbers to make sure you challenge them correctly.

Possession (Magic and rare monsters)

Certain monsters have been possessed by dark, evil spirits of the land. This
grants them unprecedented power and makes them highly aggressive against
mortal beings.
Possessed enemies allow the GM to provide unusual and interesting challenges
to players. Here are some examples of possession.

Major (usually one creature only):

Elemental: This creature, and all its allies have 20 to a specific element
Resistance per tier. The creature’s damage is converted into that element, and
its Attack Modifier is increased by 10-50. Its health and Threshold are greatly
increased, doubling or tripling. In addition, some may use Soul Skills relating to
that type element.

Iron: This creature and all its allies gains 20 Physical Reduction. It hits
significantly harder with any physical attacks, increasing its WAM by 2-5. In
addition, they might know and use a STR Soul Skill attack like Heavy Strike,
Cleave, Leap Slam or Lightning Strike. Double or triple its Life.

Haste: This creature and all its allies are Hasted, increasing movement Speed
by 2 and increasing their Maneuver by 5. The creature gains 10 Physical
Reduction due to its new agility. Double or triple its Life. In addition, they might
know and use an DEX Soul Skill attack like Flicker Strike, Dual Strike, Elemental
Hit, Blood Rage or Phase Run.

Vampiric: This creature and all its allies gain 15 Life Leech. The creature itself
gains an additional 20 Life Leech and increased damage of 10-50. Double its
Life. In addition, it might know and use certain Soul Skills like Phase Run, Flicker
Strike, Cleave or Heavy Strike.
Blasphemer: This creature automatically Curses all enemies in its Zone with a
Curse of your choice. Double or triple its Life. In addition, it might know and use
certain Soul Skills like Phase Run, Flicker Strike, Cleave or Heavy Strike.

Minor (usually a whole group of the same creature):

High Critical: This creature has sharpened weapon, claws or talons that glint and
glitter. They Crit on a 8, 9 or 10. Increase its Life by 25-50%

Extra Strong: This creature is unnaturally tough and durable. Double its Life and
increase its damage by 1 WAM.

GMs are welcome to come up with many inventive and deadly Possession
abilities and attributes.

Sharing what you’ve learned, or any potential concerns, will really help us all
refine the system and make it a great experience for everyone.

I hope you and your group have fun!