Core Rules

What Makes OpenRPG Different

Why choose OpenRPG over other tabletop RPGs

OpenRPG is built on percentile dice (d100) with precomputed difficulty targets, not d20 + modifiers. Your character sheet shows exactly what you need to roll for each difficulty tier - no mental math at the table.

Core Differences from D20 Systems

Who Is This For?

• Players who want mechanical depth without class restrictions
• GMs who prefer narrative outcomes over combat grids
• Groups who enjoy character optimization and meaningful build choices
• Fans of skill-based systems like GURPS, but want simpler math
• Anyone tired of "I rolled a 1" ruining a master's expertise

Five-Minute Quick Start

Everything you need to start playing immediately

The Core Loop

1. Describe what your character does
2. GM names the relevant skill and difficulty tier
3. Find that skill + difficulty target on your character sheet
4. Roll d100 (percentile dice or roll a d10 twice)
5. Compare: roll ≤ target = success, roll > target = failure
6. GM narrates the outcome

Difficulty Tiers You'll Use

• Routine: Everyday tasks for someone trained
• Easy: Straightforward for a professional
• Moderate: Requires focus and skill
• Hard: Pushes even experts
• Very Hard / Improbable: Legendary attempts

The GM picks the tier based on circumstances. Climbing a ladder? Routine. Climbing a wet cliff in a storm? Hard or Very Hard.

What You Need

• Percentile dice (two d10s, one for tens and one for ones) OR roll a d10 twice
• A character sheet (use the OpenRPG app or print from the site)
• A GM who knows your campaign world
• Imagination and a willingness to roll with the narrative

Your First Roll

A complete example showing how resolution works in play

What If You'd Rolled 75?

Failure doesn't mean you're incompetent. The GM narrates realistic consequences:

Notice: You didn't suddenly become clumsy. The situation escalated. That's how OpenRPG handles failure - consequence, not incompetence.

What About Natural 1s and 20s?

OpenRPG doesn't have automatic successes or failures. Rolling 01 on d100 when your target is 50 is still a failure - you just got very unlucky. Rolling 99 when your target is 100 is still a success - you barely made it.

Common Scenarios

How to handle typical gameplay situations

Combat

Roll initiative (check your character sheet for the calculated value). Highest goes first. On your turn: move, then act. Attacks use Melee, Ranged, or relevant combat skills against the difficulty tier the GM calls.

Social Interaction

Persuasion, Deception, and Intimidation are skills like any other. Roleplay first, then roll if the outcome is uncertain. The GM sets difficulty based on how reasonable your argument is and the NPC's disposition.

Exploration

Searching a room? Perception check at the difficulty the GM calls. Climbing a cliff? Athletics. Picking a lock? Sleight of Hand or Lockpicking (if your game has it). The pattern is always: describe intent, GM names skill and tier, roll.

When Not to Roll

• Routine tasks for trained characters (walking, basic conversation, known terrain)
• Impossible tasks (jumping to the moon, convincing the king to abdicate instantly)
• When failure has no interesting consequence (picking a lock with unlimited time and tools)

Dice are for when the outcome matters and is uncertain. If neither is true, don't roll.

Where to Go Next

Your roadmap through the OpenRPG rules

For Players

1. Read Character Rules to understand attributes and skills
2. Browse Professions, Ethnicities, and Religions to shape your concept
3. Use the OpenRPG app to build your first character (200 points at level 1)
4. Reference Combat Rules when your first fight breaks out
5. Dive into Skill Rules to understand category bonuses and specialization

For Game Masters

1. Read Character Rules and Skill Rules to understand what players can do
2. Study Combat Rules for running fights smoothly
3. Review Encounter Rules for pacing guidance
4. Check Consequences Rules for handling failure meaningfully
5. Reference Formulas Reference (Appendix) when players ask "how is this calculated?"

Quick Reference Appendix

The Quick Reference appendix contains tables, formulas, and cheat sheets for at-the-table play. Print it and keep it behind your GM screen or next to your character sheet.

Create an Origin Story

Character creation in OpenRPG moves from identity and world choice into attributes, skills, and final presentation.

The character creation flow guides you through initial details, general background, attribute assignment, skill choices, and final summary. The goal is to turn a rules skeleton into a playable person with both mechanical strengths and narrative direction.

At Level 1, every hero begins with 50 points in each attribute and receives 200 bonus points to distribute. The shape of that allocation determines the first version of the character’s playstyle.

Choose Your Realm

The selected world determines which cultures, faiths, professions, and lore structures apply to the character.

OpenRPG supports multiple realms. When creating a new hero, you first choose which world will witness their deeds. That decision shapes which ethnicities, religions, and profession options are available.

In Openheim, rich cultural and religious layers are part of the character build. In a more generic or future setting, characters may be created with fewer world-specific constraints.

Initial Stats

Initial stats define the character’s identity, body, and presentation before deeper rules layering begins.

Initial stats establish the character’s profile and visual identity. Some fields are descriptive only, while others influence later rule calculations or character generation tools.

Core Progression

Key numbers that drive the leveling curve.

Every level costs the same amount of XP. Point rewards are consistent, with a larger bonus every fifth level to mark milestone growth.

Progression Table

Quick-reference leveling curve for players and GMs, Levels 1–10.

General Stats

General stats connect a character to setting, advancement, and broader identity once a world is selected.

General stats are available when a character is created inside a world such as Openheim. These fields connect the character to society, belief, and advancement progression.

Profession, Ethnicity, and Religion Bonuses

Background layers shape both the story and the mechanics of a character through a shared three-tier bonus structure.

Profession, Ethnicity, and Religion each grant bonuses that shape how the character performs in play. These bonuses are structured in primary, secondary, and tertiary tiers so that every background choice matters mechanically.

• Primary bonus: the most significant benefit and the clearest expression of that background’s focus.
• Secondary bonus: a supporting or complementary improvement.
• Tertiary bonus: a smaller benefit that rounds out the character.
• Bonuses can apply either to attributes or to skills.
• Profession, Ethnicity, and Religion bonuses stack together and can create strong synergies or broad utility.

When choosing among these options, consider both the narrative identity they create and the mechanical direction they support.

Level Rollback

During an active level-up, before saving, a character can roll back one level and redo their point spend from scratch.

If a character has started spending their level-up points and does not like where the build is heading, they can roll back to their previous level's stat line and begin the point spend again. This is available at every level-up, with no limit on how many times it can be used across a character's progression.

Physical Attributes

Physical attributes define power, movement, resilience, control, and bodily presence.

Physical attributes shape bodily capability, environmental resilience, and many combat-facing mechanics. They form the foundation of movement, carrying capacity, and raw action under pressure.

Reach and Zone of Control

Weapon reach falls into four named bands. Each band determines attack range and zone of control on the hex map.

All weapons are classified into one of four reach bands. The band determines how far the weapon can legally strike and — on the hex map — how many hexes it threatens with zone of control. Reach is not just about striking; it is about controlling space.

Inside-distance penalty

Long and Extended weapons suffer a difficulty penalty when an opponent closes inside their effective range. This represents the loss of leverage and the inability to bring the full weapon to bear at close quarters.

• Zone of control is determined by the weapon's reach band, not a flat adjacent-only rule.
• A threatening combatant with a Long weapon exhausts an enemy's remaining movement when the enemy voluntarily enters any hex within ZoC range — adjacent or one hex out.
• Forced movement does not trigger ZoC exhaustion regardless of reach.
• The inside-distance penalty applies on the attacker's turn — not automatically to all rolls while adjacent.

Mental Attributes

Mental attributes shape cognition, judgment, discipline, and social force.

Mental attributes govern focus, reasoning, memory, instinct, and force of personality. They anchor problem solving, willpower, and many social or strategic choices.

Sensory Attributes

Sensory attributes separate perception into distinct channels instead of collapsing awareness into one universal stat.

Sensory attributes define perceptual and empathic awareness. Rather than using a single perception score for everything, OpenRPG treats hearing, sight, smell, taste, emotion, touch, and faith as distinct capabilities.

Interoperability Attributes (Calculated)

Derived values translate core attributes into directly playable statistics such as health, movement, fatigue, and initiative.

Interoperability attributes are not assigned directly. They are calculated from combinations of Physical, Mental, and Sensory attributes and act as the bridge between character creation and active play.

Skills

Skills and imbuements are deep enough to warrant their own dedicated references outside the creation summary page.

Detailed skill explanations are covered on the Skill Descriptions page, while deeper imbuement coverage lives on the Imbuement Descriptions page. Character creation uses those systems, but does not need to duplicate all of their rules text here.

Proficiency

Armor proficiency is tiered into Light, Medium, and Heavy. Wearing armor outside your tier costs fatigue and reduces movement.

Armor proficiency determines which layers a character can wear efficiently. There are three tiers. Each tier includes all layers up to its ceiling — a character proficient in Medium can wear everything up to and including composite without penalty.

Fatigue cost

Wearing armor within your proficiency tier costs no additional fatigue beyond the natural heaviness of a long fight. Exceeding your tier adds a passive fatigue drain every round of active combat.

Movement cost

Heavier armor reduces base movement speed. Proficient wearers take a manageable reduction. Non-proficient wearers drop one further tier, with a hard floor of ×0.5.

• Apply the multiplier to the character's base movement value. A character with base movement 6 in heavy plate (proficient) moves 4 hexes per round.
• Sprint is ×2 of the adjusted base — not ×2 of the unarmored base.
• ×0.5 is the hard floor regardless of additional penalties.

Character Summary, Save, and Print

The final stage of creation turns the build into a reusable character record and supports both digital and printable play.

Character Summary is where the player writes background and gives the build a narrative identity. It is also where character presentation tools such as mugshot generation connect back to the chosen details.

Once creation is complete, the character can be saved for future sessions. Players can manage a limited roster of characters and return to them as campaigns continue.

Characters can also be printed to PDF or paper for tables that prefer a physical copy alongside or instead of the online tools.

Introduction

Fights in OpenRPG resolve in seconds of in-world time, but at the table they play out with full tactical depth.

Combat in OpenRPG is unforgiving. Most fights last seconds — a skirmish ends in one or two exchanges, a larger battle in minutes. At the table, the same combat takes longer: each combatant acts in turn, positioning and consequences compound round by round, and a fight involving many factions can fill a session. That pacing is intentional. The tactical detail is what makes the danger feel real.

Dice Mechanics

Combat checks use the same difficulty ladder as the rest of the game — pick the skill, pick the tier, and the sheet provides the target number.

When a combat check matters, choose the relevant skill, then the difficulty tier. The character sheet already shows the target number for that skill at each tier, so you do not build the number yourself. Roll percentile dice and compare the result to that target.

• Attack: choose the relevant combat skill, pick the difficulty tier, and roll against the sheet's target number.
• Defend: choose the defending skill and resolve the same way — the sheet provides the target number.
• Skill use in combat: checks like climbing, shouting commands, or forcing a door during a fight work the same way — each resolves against that skill's target number at the chosen tier.

Difficulty - Combat

Difficulty tier reflects the situation, not the opponent's level. The tier picks the column; the character sheet provides the number.

Difficulty tier reflects the situation — terrain, position, light, footing — not the opponent's level. A level-5 wolf in an open field is still Moderate. Level makes a creature dangerous through its attributes: higher reflexes mean a harder evasion number, higher coordination means a more accurate strike. The tier tells you which column to read; the attributes determine what you are rolling against.

Quick GM Rubric

Movement

Movement is measured in hexes — one hex equals one metre. A combat round is approximately six seconds. Characters may move before and after their main action.

Each combatant has a base movement value derived from their Reflexes, Endurance, and Wits. This value is the number of hexes they can move in a single combat round. Movement may be split freely before and after the main action on a combatant's turn.

• Base movement is measured in hexes. One hex equals one metre.
• A combat round is approximately six seconds.
• Movement may be split — a combatant may move, take their main action, then move again with any remaining movement.
• Sprint speed is base movement ×2 and costs the main action.
• Fleeing costs the full round with no main action, allowing greater distance than a sprint.
• Difficult terrain increases movement cost. Ground obstacles, strong wind, and water flow each apply penalties.

Consequences

Consequences are threshold-based effects triggered by hit outcomes, ranging from short-term penalties to lasting injuries.

When an attack lands, the GM assesses whether the outcome crosses a consequence threshold. Consequences may be physical or mental, short-term or long-term, and can modify skills or attributes.

Surprise

A character caught off guard when combat begins loses their first-round action and cannot act until the second round.

Surprise is assessed when one side initiates combat without warning — an ambush, a sudden draw, or an attack from outside a character's awareness. The GM determines whether surprise applies based on the situation. Characters with passive detection skills such as Sense Ambush or Trap Detection may receive a check to avoid being caught off guard; a failed check or no applicable skill means the character is surprised. A surprised character loses their first-round action entirely and joins normal initiative order from round two onward.

• A surprised character loses their entire first-round action — they cannot attack, defend, or move until round two.
• The GM may apply surprise to one side, individual characters, or no one, depending on the scene.
• Passive detection skills (Sense Ambush, Trap Detection) give a character a chance to avoid surprise; the GM sets the difficulty tier from the fiction.
• A character who is surprised but not incapacitated still benefits from any passive armor or damage reduction.

Initiative and Turn Order

Initiative is a sheet-calculated interoperable skill. Combatants act in descending order each round; the GM tracks the sequence.

Each combatant's initiative is an interoperable skill value calculated on the character sheet — no roll required. Before combat begins, the GM records the order from highest to lowest. That sequence holds for the duration of the fight. When every active combatant has taken their turn, the round ends and the cycle repeats from the top.

• Ties are broken by Reflexes first, then Wits. If still tied, the GM determines the order.
• A combatant who joins mid-combat enters the order at their initiative value and acts when their position next comes around.
• Incapacitated or fled combatants are removed from the order.

Turn-Based Combat

Combat is resolved in rounds, usually representing 1 to 6 seconds of real time, with a repeatable sequence for each exchange.

1. Assess Surprise: characters caught off guard may lose the first round.
2. Determine Initiative: highest initiative acts first, with Reflexes and Wits breaking ties.
3. Calculate [Fatigue](/fatigue-rules): combat actions reduce stamina, and severe exhaustion imposes escalating action penalties.
4. Apply Active [Consequences](/consequences-rules): both short-term and long-term penalties may modify the turn.
5. Resolve Attacker Action: choose attack type, determine skill, apply modifiers, and roll percentile dice.
6. Resolve Defender Action: choose defense type, determine skill, apply modifiers, and roll percentile dice.
7. Resolve Hit and Damage: determine location, severity, weapon damage, and possible armor sundering.
8. Apply [Consequences](/consequences-rules): if thresholds are crossed, assign short-term or long-term effects.
9. Record [Fatigue](/fatigue-rules): both attacker and defender track expenditure after the exchange.
10. End of Round: once everyone has acted, return to Step 1 and repeat until combat ends.

Attack and Defense Resolution

Attacks and defenses follow parallel structures: choose the method, determine skill, apply modifiers, then resolve on percentile dice. Both sides roll against their own skill-derived target.

Attacker Action

• Choose attack type or weapon: ranged, thrown, one-handed, two-handed, polearms, shield, unarmed, or other.
• Determine the relevant combat skill from the combat skills reference.
• Apply modifiers, including difficulty, weapon effects, and active consequences.
• Roll percentile dice: 96–100 is a critical success, 01–05 is a critical failure. Ordinary success still requires beating the current target number.

Defender Action

If the attack roll succeeds, the defender selects a defense from the options available to them and rolls against their own skill-derived target number at the current difficulty tier.

Hit, Consequences, and End of Round

Once an attack lands, the exchange shifts to location, damage, consequence thresholds, fatigue accounting, and round continuation.

• If an attack lands, roll for location, assess severity, roll weapon damage, and check for armor sundering.
• On a critical success or fumble by either side, consult the [Red Ledger](/red-ledger) for location, severity, and additional effects.
• If [consequence](/consequences-rules) thresholds are crossed, the GM decides whether the effect is short-term or long-term and assigns the relevant penalty or bonus.
• Record [fatigue](/fatigue-rules) changes for both attacker and defender after the exchange.
• At the end of the round, repeat the process from Step 1 until the fight ends.

Hex Playmat Combat

Hex playmat combat adds a tactical grid layer to OpenRPG encounters, governing movement, positioning, and zone of control. One hex equals one metre.

Hex playmat combat places all combatants on a hex grid where position, movement budget, and threatened zones are tracked explicitly. This optional layer is used when precise tactical adjudication matters — ambushes, fortress assaults, ship boarding actions, or any encounter where flanking and positioning change outcomes.

One hex equals one metre. All distances in map combat — movement budgets, weapon reach, zone of control, forced movement, and spell or imbuement ranges — are expressed in hexes and read directly as metres.

Every combatant on the hex grid belongs to a faction, has a movement type, and starts each turn with a movement budget expressed in hexes. The GM tracks initiative order, records movement budgets, and advances turns manually.

Factions

Every combatant on the hex grid belongs to one of four factions that determine allegiance and zone of control interactions.

Faction determines whose zone of control affects a combatant. A combatant threatening an enemy creates a zone of control only against enemy-faction participants.

Movement Types

Each combatant is assigned a movement type before the encounter begins. Movement type determines which terrain conditions increase hex movement cost and which the combatant ignores entirely.

Movement type reflects the primary mode of travel for a creature or character. A combatant has one active movement type at a time, assigned during setup. Zone of control applies regardless of movement type — flying and swimming combatants are still threatened by armed enemies.

• A normal hex costs 1 hex of movement regardless of movement type.
• A combatant may only enter a hex if they can pay the full cost — movement remaining cannot go below zero.
• Forced movement ignores terrain costs unless the pushing effect says otherwise.

Movement Budget and Terrain

Each combatant begins their turn with a movement budget in hexes. Terrain type and movement type determine the cost to enter each hex.

At the start of a combatant's turn, their movement remaining is reset to their movement maximum. The GM spends movement in hex increments during the turn. Any unspent movement is lost when the next turn begins.

• Normal hex: costs 1 movement for all movement types.
• Difficult terrain hex: costs 2 movement for GROUND; costs 1 for FLYING and SWIMMING.
• Movement remaining can never go below zero — the GM must confirm a move is affordable before spending.
• Partial moves are allowed; a combatant may stop on any hex as long as movement remaining covers the cost to enter it.

Zone of Control (Threatening)

A threatening combatant exerts a zone of control over the hexes they can currently threaten, exhausting the movement of any enemy who enters those hexes through voluntary movement.

A combatant that is armed and engaged — ready to strike at anyone who moves through their reach — is marked as Threatening. Any enemy combatant who enters a hex currently threatened by that combatant through voluntary movement immediately exhausts all remaining movement for that move action. They may complete the move into the threatened hex, but cannot move further that turn.

• Threatening status is assigned by the GM to combatants that are armed, engaged, and positioned to strike.
• Threat is normally adjacent for ordinary melee weapons, but extends farther for weapons or creatures that legally threaten beyond adjacency.
• Zone of control only affects combatants of an opposing faction — a threatening PLAYER does not exhaust ALLY movement.
• The movement exhaustion occurs when the enemy enters the threatened hex, not when they start adjacent to it.
• A combatant that begins their turn already inside threatened space is not automatically exhausted; only movement into threatened space triggers ZoC.
• Flying and swimming combatants are still subject to zone of control from threatening enemies regardless of movement type.

Session Lifecycle

A combat encounter moves through three phases. The GM manages each transition.

• Combat begins when the GM calls it — once all combatants are placed and initiative is set.
• A combatant who joins mid-combat enters the initiative order at their initiative value and acts when their position next comes around.
• Combat ends when all opposing combatants are defeated, have fled, or the situation resolves without further exchanges.

Facing and Flanking

Combatants on the hex grid use facing to determine defended arcs, rear pressure, and flanking penalties.

Facing matters on the hex grid. Every combatant has a front, left, right, and rear orientation that helps determine which sides are defended cleanly and which angles are more vulnerable to coordinated pressure.

• For a standard one-hex combatant, the front covers the three forward-facing hex sides.
• The left and right each cover one side-facing hex.
• The rear covers the single back-facing hex.
• Combatants may rotate their facing during their own turn as part of ordinary positioning unless another rule prevents it.

Use only the strongest applicable positional penalty. Flank and rear penalties do not stack. Apply the penalty on the defender’s side of the resolution rather than as a raw attacker bonus.

Reach and Threatened Space

Weapon reach changes both attack distance and zone-of-control pressure on the hex grid.

Reach matters in OpenRPG hex combat. The weapon in hand determines not only how far a combatant can strike, but also how early they can project battlefield pressure into approaching space.

• Ordinary melee weapons threaten adjacent hexes.
• Long weapons such as polearms threaten at reach 2 unless the weapon profile says otherwise.
• A threatening combatant projects zone of control through the hexes they can legally threaten.
• Long weapons do not automatically attack both adjacent and reach-2 targets unless the weapon profile supports that.

This makes long weapons especially effective for holding lanes, checking approach, and supporting formations, while shorter weapons remain strongest in close pressure and tight scrums.

Disengage and Passing Through Pressure

Combatants may pass by danger without free strikes, but disengaging is the deliberate way to break melee pressure safely.

OpenRPG does not use attacks of opportunity or free melee strikes as the default punishment for movement. Passing by an engaged combatant is not the same as stopping to engage them.

• A combatant may pass through threatened space without being attacked just for transit.
• Zone of control shapes movement by exhausting the mover's remaining movement when they enter threatened space through voluntary movement.
• This zone-of-control exhaustion applies only the first time the combatant voluntarily enters threatened space during that turn.
• Forced movement does not trigger zone-of-control exhaustion, but still interacts with battlefield hazards unless a specific effect says otherwise.

Disengage is method-based rather than universal. The player should describe how space is being created, then choose the most relevant existing combat skill based on what the combatant is wielding and what they are best trained to do.

Players choose the method that best matches both their current weapon or equipment and the skill they are actually strongest in. Disengage should feel like creating an opening on the battlefield, not claiming a free movement exemption.

Large and Giant Creatures

Large creatures occupy multiple hexes and project threat from the edge of their footprint.

Size matters on the hex grid. Large and giant creatures should own visible space on the battlefield rather than behaving like standard one-hex bodies.

• Adjacency to any occupied hex counts as adjacency to the creature.
• Threat for multi-hex creatures is measured from the edge of the occupied footprint.
• A multi-hex creature may only move if its full new footprint fits legally in the destination space.

Introduction

Armor is a layered protection system shaped by material, proficiency, and the type of threat you expect to face.

Armor reduces incoming damage through Damage Reduction (DR). When a hit lands, DR is subtracted from raw damage before it reaches the target. With hit point pools kept deliberately low, good armor is a primary survival tool — not a supplement to HP but an alternative to losing it.

Armor is built in layers. Each layer sits on top of the last, and their DR values stack at each body location. A character in mail over a gambeson over a linen shirt has three layers of DR on their torso — each contributing its value to the total absorbed before damage lands.

Heavier armor costs more than gold. It slows movement, drains fatigue faster, and demands proficiency to wear effectively. Non-proficient wearers pay a penalty in both fatigue and movement — they can still wear it, but the cost mounts quickly in a long fight.

How Armor Works

Armor in OpenRPG is built from underlayers upward, combining damage reduction, sunder, and encumbrance into a layered system.

Protection in OpenRPG is built from the ground up. Start with basic cloth underlayers, add quilted padding, then layer on leather, mail, composite, or plate depending on budget, need, and proficiency. Each layer adds its DR to the total — more layers means more protection at each location.

Armor is organized into three proficiency tiers — Light, Medium, and Heavy — each unlocking a wider set of layers. Wearing armor within your proficiency tier costs nothing beyond the weight. Exceeding it adds fatigue pressure and reduces movement.

Each armor piece has a sunder pool that tracks structural integrity. The outermost piece on a struck location takes the hit. When raw damage exceeds that piece's individual DR, the excess drains the sunder pool. A depleted pool means a permanently degraded piece. Repair restores the pool; only a craftsman can restore lost DR.

The Basics

Five operating principles cover how armor layers, stacks, degrades, costs, and requires proficiency.

• One piece per layer per location: you cannot wear two breastplates on the same body location, but you can layer different categories on one location and plate on different locations.
• Damage Reduction stacks: the DR of every piece covering a location is summed and subtracted from incoming damage at that location.
• Sunder tracks degradation: the outermost piece on a hit location absorbs the blow. Excess damage beyond that piece's DR drains its sunder pool. When the pool empties the piece loses 1 DR permanently. When DR reaches 0 the piece is destroyed.
• Proficiency determines cost: wearing armor outside your proficiency tier adds fatigue every round and drops your movement to the next tier down, with a minimum of ×0.5 base movement.
• Coverage is explicit: DR only applies to locations the piece actually covers. Exposed locations receive no reduction.

Layer Reference

The layer system defines what armor can be worn together, what DR each layer contributes, and how pieces stack.

Every armor piece belongs to a layer. Layers are numbered so that outer layers sit on top of inner ones. Each layer can only contribute one piece per body location. DR values are per piece — total DR at a location is the sum of all pieces covering it.

Damage-Type Interaction

Armor choice matters because materials blunt some threats well and fail badly against others.

Practical Armor Loadouts

Example loadouts show how the layer system produces recognizable battlefield roles with different DR totals, fatigue costs, and movement profiles.

Light Infantry — "The Conscript"

Basic protection for militia and levies. Cheap, mobile, and sufficient against common threats. No proficiency requirement beyond Light.

Profile: Light proficiency. Movement ×0.9. No fatigue cost. Torso DR 3 reduces an 8-damage blow to 5 — hurts, but survivable. Good mobility for skirmishing.

Professional Soldier — "The Mercenary"

Balanced protection for experienced fighters. Mail over padding gives strong defense without sacrificing too much mobility. Requires Medium proficiency.

Profile: Medium proficiency. Movement ×0.8. +1 fatigue per 3 rounds. Torso DR 8 reduces an 8-damage blow to 0 — fully absorbed. Strong against slashing, weaker against heavy bludgeoning.

Armored Knight — "The Wall"

Maximum protection for elite warriors. Full plate over mail and padding creates near-impervious defense at the cost of movement and sustained fatigue pressure. Requires Heavy proficiency.

Profile: Heavy proficiency. Movement ×0.65 (base 6 → 4 hexes). +1 fatigue per 2 rounds. Torso DR 15 fully absorbs most standard blows. The counter is weapon type, sunder pressure, and exposed gaps — not raw damage.

Layer Overrides & Special Cases

Not every armor piece fits neatly into its default category, so some pieces intentionally override the normal layer progression.

Armor Assembly Guide

A practical assembly flow helps players build legal armor sets instead of guessing at valid combinations.

1. Start with underlayers: linen shirts, hose, and other cloth basics protect skin and manage comfort.
2. Add padding: gambeson or arming doublet cushions impacts and supports heavier armor.
3. Layer rigid protection: leather, mail, composite, or plate depending on budget and expected threats.
4. Fill gaps with addons: gorgets, spaulders, besagews, and other small pieces protect vulnerable seams.
5. Equip a shield if desired: shields occupy a hand but add substantial defense and active blocking potential.

Introduction

Weapons are defined by form, damage type, reach, fatigue cost, and the tactical role they play in a fight.

Weapons in OpenRPG are categorized by form and function: cleaving axes, thrusting spears, slashing swords, and crushing hammers. Each weapon has its own reach, fatigue cost, parry and riposte profile, and scaling damage across creature sizes.

Some weapons are agile and precision-based, while others depend on strength, commitment, and two-handed leverage. Properties such as finesse, versatile, and reach help distinguish their tactical identities.

How Weapons Work

A weapon determines tactical options, damage, reach pressure, and zone of control on the hex map.

The weapon in your hand determines your tactical options, the damage you inflict, and your ability to defend yourself. Each weapon has an Attack Type that defines how you strike — slash, thrust, bash, or cleave — and a Damage Type that determines how armor responds to the blow.

Damage type interacts directly with armor. Plate excels against slashing but struggles against bludgeoning. Padding absorbs cuts but fails against concentrated thrusts. Choosing a weapon means choosing how you want to threaten the armor in front of you.

Reach determines both your attack range and your zone of control on the hex map. Longer reach lets you threaten more hexes and strike first in an approach — but closes distance becomes a liability for Extended weapons when an opponent steps inside their effective range.

The Basics

Attack type, armor interaction, hand usage, reach, and fatigue define the core logic of weapon choice.

• Attack type determines technique: a mace can bash or cleave, a rapier thrusts, and some weapons like longswords support multiple attack types.
• Damage type interacts with armor: armor resists some damage types better than others. Plate struggles against bludgeoning; padding fails against concentrated thrusts.
• Reach falls into four named bands — Close, Standard, Long, and Extended — each with different zone-of-control implications on the hex map.
• Hand usage shapes options: one-handed weapons leave the off-hand free for a shield or second weapon; two-handed weapons trade that flexibility for leverage and damage.
• Fatigue from weapons comes from proficiency, not the weapon itself. Non-proficient use adds +1 fatigue per attack action. The weapon does not have its own fatigue rating.
• Proficiency in a weapon category unlocks its full tactical options — parry, riposte, and special attack types.

Attack Types

Attack types describe the physical technique used by the weapon, and that technique shapes both tactics and outcomes.

Weapon Properties

Properties determine how a weapon behaves beyond raw damage, especially in defense, range control, and stamina cost.

Damage Tiers and Size Scaling

Weapon damage scales with two factors: the weapon's damage tier and the wielder's size. Medium humans are the baseline.

Every weapon belongs to a damage tier based on its form and how it is wielded. The tier sets the base damage die for a Medium-sized wielder. Size then scales the die up or down from that baseline.

Size scaling

The same weapon deals more or less damage depending on the size of the creature wielding it. Find the weapon's tier in the left column, then read across to the wielder's size.

• Small: halflings, gnomes, children.
• Medium: humans, elves, dwarves — the baseline.
• Large: ogres, large trolls, oversized humanoids.
• Huge: giants, large monsters.
• Giant: the largest creatures in play.

Practical Weapon Choices

Example loadouts show how role, reach band, damage type, and proficiency combine into meaningful weapon selection.

Militia Fighter — "The Conscript"

Cheap, effective in formation, and easy to train. Reach is the primary advantage — a spear keeps enemies at distance while the shield covers the gap.

Mercenary Veteran — "The Professional"

Versatile loadout built around a weapon with multiple attack types and strong defensive options. Proficiency unlocks parry and riposte.

Heavy Infantry — "The Breaker"

Built to punch through heavy armor with bludgeoning damage and two-handed leverage. Trades speed and flexibility for maximum damage output against armored targets.

Weapon Tags & Special Properties

Tags describe how a weapon changes tactics, build priorities, and combat rhythm.

• Finesse: relies on precision and speed rather than raw strength.
• Light: low fatigue, excellent for dual-wielding or prolonged exchanges.
• Two-Handed: requires both hands and usually improves damage or reach.
• Versatile: can be used one-handed or two-handed depending on tactical need.
• Reach: extended reach allows earlier strikes but can be unwieldy in tight spaces.
• Parry-Capable: grants defensive value when deflecting attacks.
• Riposte-Capable: rewards enemy mistakes with immediate counters.
• Armor-Piercing: ignores part of damage reduction and is designed to defeat armor.

Combat Integration & Tactics

Weapon choice should respond to armor type, formation, space, and fatigue. Attack type modifiers make the right weapon meaningfully more effective.

Damage type modifiers are applied to the raw damage roll before DR is subtracted. A positive modifier means the weapon exploits a weakness in the armor's construction. A negative modifier means the armor is specifically designed to resist that type of blow.

What this means in play

• Apply the modifier to the damage roll, then subtract total DR at the hit location. Minimum damage is 0.
• A weapon with multiple attack types can choose which to use each strike — a longsword can slash or thrust depending on the situation.
• DR used here is the total stacked DR at the specific body location hit, not a global value.
• The damage-interaction table in the armor rules describes these interactions qualitatively — this table is the mechanical implementation.

Introduction

Artifacts are spiritually charged items that unlock divine and magical capability through contact, attunement, and long-term growth.

Artifacts are spiritually charged items that grant characters access to divine power through attunement. They sit at the center of the imbuement system and can appear as humble talismans, broken relics, or rare survivals from ancient divine histories.

An artifact does more than add a static bonus. It strengthens faith, improves one school of imbuement, and unlocks imbued skills whose powers scale with the wielder and the artifact itself.

Ancient Relics of Power

Every artifact grants a faith bonus, category expertise, and access to imbued techniques tied to its theme.

• Faith Bonus: the artifact strengthens the bearer’s spiritual connection and improves divine channeling.
• Category Expertise: each artifact is aligned with a single imbuement school and grants a scaling bonus there.
• Imbuement Skill Access: the artifact unlocks one or more imbued skills from its category, with stronger relics opening deeper techniques.

This makes artifacts qualitatively different from ordinary gear. They are not simple stat sticks: they shape identity, expand magical reach, and often anchor a character’s long-term progression.

What Counts as an Artifact

Artifacts may be small talismans or fractured divine relics, but all grant passive contact benefits before deeper attunement.

• Talisman: a wearable or portable focus such as a brooch, ring, or bracelet.
• Relic: a larger or older sacred fragment such as a divine shard, broken weapon, or ceremonial remnant.

All artifacts grant a passive boon on contact. Their deeper value appears only once the character has endured attunement and opened the associated imbued path.

Attunement Flow

Attunement is a story-facing progression from contact to trial to unlocked imbued skill access.

1. Find or receive an artifact. Contact activates its passive effect and reveals its presence to the bearer.
2. Attempt attunement. The character undergoes a Trial of Faith and makes an attunement roll that begins at improbable and generally becomes easier after failure.
3. Unlock the imbued path. A successful attunement links the character to the artifact’s category and grants access to its imbued skill and associated powers.

Artifact Progression

Artifacts evolve through contact, attunement, and mastery as the bearer’s spiritual relationship deepens.

Mechanical Summary

Artifact power rating, contact requirements, magical bonuses, and mastery define how strong a relic becomes in play.

Contact

Physical contact is mandatory. Without carrying, wearing, or touching the artifact, the bearer loses all artifact-granted bonuses.

Attunement benefits

• Faith bonus derived from the artifact’s power rating.
• Three magical bonuses: primary at power divided by 10, secondary at power divided by 15, and tertiary at power divided by 20.
• Access to one or more imbuement powers that normally match the artifact’s category.

Mastery and power rating

• Mastery begins when Faith reaches 75 or higher.
• Mastery improves all artifact bonuses by 15 percent and also increases the potency of granted imbuement powers by 15 percent.
• Artifacts use a power rating from 1 to 100.
• Each artifact belongs to one imbuement category and grants powers according to both category and rating.

Core Imbuement Rules

Imbuement depends on physical contact, casting time, daily frequency, and rest-based recovery.

Physical contact required

An artifact is the conduit for primordial power. Breaking contact severs access to every imbuement it grants until contact is restored.

Casting time and frequency

• Imbuements require no material components beyond the artifact itself.
• Expended uses recover after a full rest unless a specific artifact demands extra ritual or meditation.

Imbuements: Ancient Powers Awakened

Imbuements are primordial forces awakened through artifacts rather than conventional learned spellcasting.

Imbuements are not ordinary spells learned from study. They are ancient forces awakened through attunement to artifacts that resonate with the world’s oldest powers.

An artifact does not create this power so much as unlock it. The bearer becomes a conduit for one primordial aspect, channeling a force that predates civilization and often feels half-remembered rather than newly learned.

The Fourteen Ancient Aspects

Each artifact aligns with one primordial aspect, shaping the flavor and capability of the powers it unlocks.

Channeling Ancient Power

Using an imbuement is less like learned technique and more like awakening a remembered path.

Imbuements are awakened through attunement, not ordinary training. When the artifact recognizes a bearer, it opens dormant pathways that feel both foreign and deeply familiar.

Each artifact grants access to a set of powers from its aspect, with stronger artifacts unlocking deeper manifestations. The user does not memorize these powers so much as remember them when the conduit opens.

Using an imbuement often feels like brief vertigo or borrowed certainty: motions arrive older than the caster, words feel remembered instead of invented, and afterward the experience can linger like a vivid dream.

The Weight of Ancient Memory

Primordial power is never free; repeated use can reshape perception, identity, and the bearer’s relationship to the world.

Channeling primordial force leaves traces. Repeated use can alter dreams, perception, and the bearer’s sense of self as ancient memory presses against ordinary human consciousness.

Those who attune to multiple artifacts may remember impossible histories, feel nostalgia for places they never visited, or adopt habits that seem borrowed from something older than humanity.

Leveling System

Character growth paced through experience, milestone breakthroughs, and a persistent point pool.

How It Works

Leveling follows a repeatable loop: earn XP, cross the next threshold, gain points, and invest them where the build needs them.

Every level follows the same loop. XP accumulates from play and never resets. When the next threshold is crossed the character gains points, which can be spent immediately or saved for later.

1. Gain experience from objectives, victories, discoveries, and meaningful play. XP is cumulative and never resets between sessions.
2. Cross the next threshold. When total XP reaches the next level boundary, the character gains one level and receives their point reward.
3. Spend points across attributes and skills. There is no class track — points go where the build needs them.
4. Save if needed. Unspent points persist across sessions and can be spent at any time.
5. Repeat. The loop continues at the same pace: 2,000 XP per level, with a larger reward every fifth level.

Worked Examples

The system supports both single-level progress and large XP jumps that cross multiple thresholds at once.

Player Notes

Point rewards persist cleanly across sessions and can be saved instead of spent immediately.

Characters do not need to spend their points the moment they level up. Points persist until spent, and there is no pressure to allocate them before they are ready.

• Starting characters begin with a substantial opening point pool during creation — enough to build a functional character across attributes and skills.
• Unspent points persist across sessions. There is no expiry and no penalty for holding them.
• Multiple level-ups in one session stack — if a character crosses two thresholds in a single session, they receive both point rewards and can spend them together.
• Points can be spread across attributes, skills, or both — there is no requirement to spend within a category.
• Milestone levels (every fifth level) deliver double the normal reward — plan for them.

GM Guidance

The system expects a steady pace of XP rewards, with room for quest bonuses and pacing corrections.

XP awards should feel earned without being stingy. The baseline is designed so that consistent play produces regular level-ups, keeping progression visible and meaningful across a campaign.

• A practical baseline is roughly 500 to 1,000 XP per session, adjusted upward for major breakthroughs or decisive victories.
• Small quests sit in the 250 to 500 XP range. Major quest completions, campaign milestones, or exceptional roleplay moments can award 1,000 to 2,000 XP.
• At the baseline pace, characters level roughly every 2 to 4 sessions — fast enough to feel progression, slow enough for each level to mean something.
• If the party has fallen behind due to a slow arc or heavy roleplay sessions, a single larger award can correct the pace without needing to retroactively adjust past sessions.
• Milestone levels at 5, 10, 15, and beyond are worth framing as story moments — the double point reward reflects that these levels represent real transformation.

Introduction

Skills represent practiced capability, while attributes and difficulty determine how often that capability succeeds under pressure.

Skills represent what a character has practiced or learned, such as lockpicking, climbing, negotiation, and other trained actions. When an action could reasonably fail, you roll percentile dice to determine the outcome.

Attributes influence many skills, and both skills and attributes improve through leveling and progression. Anyone can attempt anything, but results depend on attributes, skills, and task difficulty.

Investing more points in a category of skills grants Category Bonuses tied to that category. OpenRPG treats category bonuses as shared familiarity: related training helps, but completely untrained skills do not receive that benefit.

Dice Mechanics

Skills use the same difficulty ladder as the rest of the game, with target numbers already shown on the character sheet.

When a skill check matters, first choose the relevant skill, then choose the difficulty tier. The character sheet already shows that skill’s target number for each tier, so you do not need to build the number yourself. Roll percentile dice and compare the result to that target.

• Skill Use: pick the skill, pick the difficulty tier, and roll against that tier’s target number on the sheet.
• Opposed Situations: when two characters directly compete, both still use the same skill-and-difficulty ladder; the GM decides how the two results interact.
• Examples in dangerous scenes: use the same target-tier approach for things like climbing during a fight, forcing a door under pressure, shouting commands in chaos, or trying to disarm someone unless a special rule says otherwise.

Category Bonuses

Category bonuses reward investment within a discipline without granting expertise to completely untrained skills.

Category bonuses represent familiarity within a discipline. Learning more inside one skill family makes related trained skills easier to develop and use.

• For every 10 total base skill points invested in a category, trained skills in that category gain +1.
• This bonus is capped at +3.
• A skill must have at least 1 base point invested to receive the category bonus.
• Completely untrained skills do not gain the category bonus.

Difficulty - Skills

The GM chooses a difficulty tier from the fiction, and the character sheet provides the matching target number for the relevant skill.

For skill checks, the GM assigns a difficulty based on task complexity, conditions, tools, time pressure, and how well the chosen skill fits the job. Once the GM picks the tier, the character sheet provides the matching target number for that skill.

Difficulty - Attributes

Some checks use a raw attribute directly instead of a skill, especially for senses, recall, resistance, and broad physical effort.

Sometimes you do not roll a skill at all. Instead, you roll directly against the most relevant attribute: Sight to notice a hidden trap, Hearing to catch a quiet conversation, Memory to recall a fact under pressure, Emotion to read a room, Strength to force a door, or Endurance to outlast a pursuit. In those cases, the attribute itself is the character’s relevant stat, and the GM judges difficulty from the fiction just as they would for a skill check.

Active vs. Passive Use

Some checks are declared openly by the player, while others are triggered or resolved passively by the GM.

Outcomes

Roll results should produce more texture than simple pass or fail when that texture meaningfully changes the scene.

Compare your final roll to the target number for the chosen tier.

The Partial band is a drama tool. Use it when it meaningfully changes the scene through time lost, noisy success, resources spent, worsened position, or similar tradeoffs.

Opposed Checks

Opposed checks are used when two characters directly compete and the GM must compare their efforts.

Opposed Checks

When two characters directly compete, such as arm-wrestling, debate, or stealth versus perception, use an opposed check. Let A be your relevant score and B be the opponent’s.

• A’s success chance is approximately A / (A + B).
• B’s success chance is approximately B / (A + B).
• You can implement this either by having both sides roll normally and comparing degrees of success, or by converting the relative chance into a single target number.
• Example: if A = 50 and B = 100, then A’s chance is about 33% and B’s chance is about 67%.

If using degree-of-success, you can apply momentum. A near miss in an arm-wrestle, for example, might impose a -10% penalty on the next attempt because of fatigue or lost leverage.

Impossible Tasks

Do not roll when success is automatic, failure is uninteresting, or the task is not plausible in the fiction.

Do not roll for things characters always do or when success is certain and failure would not change anything interesting. Likewise, do not roll for superhuman feats unless the character’s stats and the fiction make success plausible.

If success is not plausible, the task is simply not possible without new tools, assistance, setup, or a change in circumstances.

Skill-Based Rolling

The public reference version of skill resolution is a three-step loop: determine difficulty, apply bonuses, then roll.

Skill-based rolling is resolved by choosing a difficulty tier, reading the corresponding target number from the character sheet, and then trying to roll greater than that target to succeed.

1. Determine Difficulty: discuss with the GM and settle on a difficulty tier. The target becomes the number shown in the relevant difficulty column for that skill.
2. Calculate Bonuses: total up active consequences and any other relevant modifiers that apply to the player’s roll.
3. Roll Percentile Dice: on a natural roll of 5 or lower, or 96 or higher, you have a critical. Apply bonuses and then reference the result in the outcomes section.

Encounter Rules

How to build and balance encounters against a party of any size or level.

OpenRPG encounter building treats creature level and party level as fast planning tools so a GM can estimate pressure before the first action is rolled.

Encounter Balance

Creature level is a shorthand for pressure, but action economy matters once multiple enemies enter the scene.

Creature Level is a shorthand for difficulty: a Level X creature is designed to be a fair 1v1 fight for a Level X Player Character.

When multiple creatures are present, action economy matters more than raw stats. OpenRPG uses an Encounter Level Budget so a GM can build fair fights quickly.

Encounter Level Budget

Use a three-step budgeting rule to estimate fair, hard, or deadly encounters.

1. Add the levels of all Player Characters to get the Party Level Total.
2. Choose a difficulty multiplier from the table below.
3. Build the encounter by adding creature levels until you reach the target budget.

Quick Rule for Same-Level Creatures

When all creatures match party level, you can estimate threat by comparing creature count to player count.

If all creatures are the same level as the party, estimate creature count from player count using this quick-reference table.

Worked Example

A four-player Level 3 party produces a Party Total of 12 creature levels.

• Party: 4 PCs at Level 3 -> Party Total = 12.
• Fair encounter target -> 12 creature levels.
• Possible mixes: 4 Level 3 creatures; 2 Level 6 creatures; or 1 Level 8 creature plus 2 Level 2 creatures.

Encounter Caveats

Level budget is a starting point, not the whole answer once terrain, role mix, and attrition enter play.

• Elites versus swarms: one elite creature and six weaker enemies can share a budget but feel very different because action economy changes the danger.
• Ranged pressure matters: enemies who can attack before the party closes distance effectively hit above their level budget.
• Terrain matters: choke points, elevation, darkness, mud, or narrow interiors can make a fair encounter feel deadly.
• Fatigue matters across the day: a mathematically fair fight becomes harsher when it lands after travel, injuries, or earlier combat.
• Imbuement users and strange abilities should be treated as swing factors; if the group cannot answer their toolkit, lower the raw encounter budget.

Introduction

Consequences are threshold-based effects that follow from the outcomes of actions — the ongoing weight of what happened in play.

Consequences are threshold-based effects that follow from the outcomes of actions. They are not punishment for failure or reward for success — they are the ongoing weight of what happened. A bad hit leaves a wound. A fumbled negotiation leaves a reputation. A brutal fight leaves something that needs healing before the next one.

Consequences arise from four contexts: combat outcomes, skill challenges, social encounters, and exploration attrition. The same three-tier framework applies across all of them — short-term effects that clear by end of scene, transition effects that escalate if untreated, and long-term effects that persist across sessions until properly healed.

The framework does not distinguish between a broken arm and broken confidence. Both are real. Both require care. Both can be healed — but neither goes away on its own.

Short-Term Consequences

Short-term consequences are named status conditions that apply immediately and expire by end of encounter. They change what a character can do, not just how well they do it.

Short-term consequences are concrete named statuses — not generic roll modifiers. Each applies specific mechanical effects: attribute penalties, blocked action types, or changed positioning rules. They last for a defined duration within the encounter and cannot carry into the next scene.

• Short-term statuses do not escalate — they expire, they do not compound into long-term.
• A status can be re-applied; recovering from Stunned and being Stunned again are separate events.
• Stun does not stack — re-application restarts the duration rather than extending it.
• Standing from Prone does not trigger zone-of-control exhaustion.

Long-Term Consequences

Long-term consequences persist beyond the encounter and across sessions. They arise from untreated transition statuses or from critical results severe enough to apply lasting damage immediately.

Long-term consequences are the system's most serious outcomes. They are not cleared by rest or the end of a scene — they require active treatment, healing, or sustained recovery through play. Two named statuses occupy this tier: Severe Injury and Downed.

Long-term consequences arise in two ways: a transition status that goes untreated escalates to long-term at the end of the encounter; or a critical result delivers a long-term consequence directly, bypassing the transition tier entirely.

• Multiple Severe Injuries do not stack numerically — use the highest penalty per affected attribute.
• Accumulating unhealed Severe Injuries may impose additional narrative consequences at GM discretion.
• A Downed character with active Bleeding requires both to be addressed separately — stabilizing does not stop blood loss.
• Psychological long-term consequences from untreated Combat Shock follow the same framework — healer, imbuement, or roleplay and time.

Recovery & Healing

Long-term penalties and injuries should be reversible through meaningful play, not treated as permanent dead ends.

Characters who take long-term penalties or suffer lasting physical harm can recover through meaningful play. Recovery addresses both confidence and injury.

Regaining Confidence

Healing Physical Injuries

• Medical treatment: care by someone skilled in healing, medicine, or alchemy reduces severity; a critical success may fully heal the injury.
• Rest and downtime: minor injuries heal naturally over days to weeks, while serious trauma may require a full rest period.
• Magical or psionic healing: restoration, spirit, body, or shapeshifting effects can partially or fully heal damage.
• Permanent scars: rare lasting marks may require powerful magic or major narrative events to remove.

Introduction

Fatigue tracks the accumulating cost of exertion. It creates meaningful pressure without ending fights prematurely.

Fatigue is how OpenRPG tracks the cost of pushing hard. It does not punish characters for fighting — it punishes overextension. A standard combat round costs nothing. Sprinting, charging, using imbuements, and wearing armor you are not built for all cost something. That cost accumulates across a fight and eventually forces choices.

What is Fatigue?

Fatigue creates tactical pressure by making overextension matter before a character is fully defeated.

Every character has a fatigue pool derived from their Endurance, Balance, and Discipline. An average character has a pool of around 10. As fatigue accumulates, penalties escalate in four clear stages — Fresh, Winded, Taxed, and Spent. Spent characters are at serious risk.

A typical 4 to 5 round fight with moderate exertion costs 3 to 4 fatigue — enough to feel the effort, not enough to cripple. A brutal extended fight or a character making poor equipment choices will push further. Managing fatigue is a tactical layer, not a punishment for showing up.

Fatigue Pool

Your fatigue pool is derived from Endurance, Balance, and Discipline. Average characters have a pool of around 10.

Fatigue pool is calculated as: (physicalEndurance + physicalBalance + mentalDiscipline − 20) / 7. The pool represents how much strain a character can absorb before penalties escalate. A higher pool means more room to push before paying a cost.

Gaining Fatigue

Standard combat costs nothing. Exertion, non-proficiency, and heavy armor accumulate fatigue over time.

Most actions in a combat round cost no fatigue. Fatigue accumulates from deliberate overexertion and from the sustained cost of equipment that exceeds a character's training or physical tolerance.

Equipment modifiers

• Equipment modifiers accumulate passively — a proficient soldier in heavy armor in a 6-round fight pays +3 fatigue from armor alone.
• Non-proficiency and armor weight stack — a non-proficient character in heavy plate will exhaust their pool quickly.
• Light armor worn by a proficient character costs no additional fatigue.

Fatigue Effects

As fatigue accumulates, penalties escalate through four flat stages based on your current fatigue total.

Fatigue thresholds are tracked as flat numbers, not percentages. Check your current fatigue against the table below after each cost is applied.

• Penalties apply to physical skill rolls only — mental and social actions are not directly penalised by fatigue.
• A character who reaches Spent is not automatically incapacitated but is at serious risk if they push further.
• Fatigue penalties stack with other modifiers — a Winded character who is also Prone pays both penalties.

Recovering from Fatigue

Fatigue recovers through rest and safety. Short rests restore partial fatigue; long rests and sleep restore the full pool.

• A short rest requires at least 10 minutes without active combat or forced movement.
• Short rests can typically be taken once per hour — back-to-back short rests do not stack.
• A long rest requires safety and relative comfort. Sleeping in heavy armor or in a dangerous environment may reduce recovery at GM discretion.
• Exploration fatigue (forced march, deprivation) recovers on the same schedule but may require more than one long rest if the character is Spent.

Tactical Considerations

Fatigue rewards pacing, equipment discipline, and knowing when to stop pushing.

• Sprint and charge sparingly — each costs 1 fatigue, and a fight with three or four sprints will push an average character into Winded before it ends.
• Equipment proficiency is a fatigue issue, not just a skill issue. Wearing armor or using weapons outside your training drains you faster than it drains the enemy.
• Heavy armor wearers pay a passive cost per round — in short fights this is irrelevant; in extended engagements it becomes a real consideration.
• Groups should manage who pushes hard and who conserves. A character at Taxed should not be the one sprinting to cut off the fleeing target.
• Short rests are the primary recovery tool mid-session. Plan for them. A 10-minute pause after a hard fight keeps the party functional for the next one.
• Imbuement users should count their uses before combat — two imbuements in one turn costs 2 fatigue, the same as a full-round flee.

Introduction

The Openheim bestiary is a living reference for every creature in the world, built on the same shared stat model as player characters.

The Openheim bestiary catalogues every creature in the world as a playable reference for both players and GMs. Every entry shares the same underlying stat model as player characters -- the same 21 attributes, the same derived stats, the same combat chassis.

Creatures are presented at their base level. Any player or GM can use the level control on a creature entry to scale it up, one level at a time, and see how its stats change. There is no locked GM-only view -- the bestiary is a shared reference.

Creature Types

Creature type shapes lore, behavior, and how the creature interacts with the world beyond raw combat stats.

Every creature belongs to one type. Type is a broad classification that conveys behavioral, ecological, and narrative identity. It affects how the creature interacts with certain artifacts, environmental conditions, and encounter contexts.

Creature Size

Size determines base hit points, hex grid footprint, reach, and the scale of a creature threat in confined or open space.

Size is not just a description -- it has direct mechanical consequences. Larger creatures have more hit points at every level, occupy more space on a hex grid, and threaten a wider area. Smaller creatures are fragile but harder to pin down.

Creature Archetypes

Archetypes define the behavioral and physical chassis that underlies a creature stats -- how it moves, hunts, defends, and scales.

Every creature is built on an archetype -- a biologically grounded chassis that defines its baseline attributes, attribute growth pattern, and combat identity. The archetype is not visible as a label in the creature entry, but it drives every number on the page.

Archetypes are grounded in real animal morphology and ecology -- body plan, locomotion, feeding pattern, and survival behavior. A wolf is a pursuit pack predator. A crocodile is an amphibious lurker. A bat is a small nocturnal predator. The archetype makes the numbers make sense.

Creature Attributes

Creatures use the same 21 physical, mental, and sensory attributes as player characters, scored on the same 1 to 100 scale.

Creatures share the same attribute system as player characters. All 21 attributes -- physical, mental, and sensory -- exist on every creature entry. The archetype determines which attributes sit high and which sit low.

• Physical attributes (Strength, Reflexes, Coordination, Endurance, Flexibility, Balance, Appearance) drive HP, movement, and melee effectiveness.
• Mental attributes (Discipline, Intuition, Reasoning, Memory, Wits, Wisdom, Charisma) drive initiative, resistance to manipulation, and tactical adaptability.
• Sensory attributes (Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste, Emotion, Touch, Faith) drive detection, tracking, and certain special behaviors unique to the archetype.

Hit Points

Creature hit points are derived from archetype and size -- not stored as a fixed number. They recalculate automatically as level changes.

A creature hit points are not a fixed value chosen by a designer. They are derived from the creature archetype and size using the same underlying attribute logic as characters. When a creature level increases, its attributes increase, and its hit points recalculate from those attributes.

Creature Level

Creature level is a scalable threat signal -- not a fixed property. Anyone can adjust it on the creature entry, and the stats update automatically.

Every creature in the bestiary is presented at level 1 -- its biological base. Level is not a fixed property of the creature. It is a threat rating that any player or GM can adjust using the level control on the creature entry.

Leveling Up a Creature

When a creature level increases, its attributes grow according to its archetype and its hit points follow automatically. The formula is the same used for characters and NPCs.

When you increase a creature level, its attributes increase according to the distribution pattern set by its archetype. A pursuit-pack predator Reflexes, Endurance, and Senses grow fastest. A massive terrestrial Strength and Endurance dominate. The archetype determines the shape of growth — level determines how far along that shape the creature has travelled.

• Level 1: 200 attribute points distributed from the archetype baseline.
• Each additional level: +10 points.
• Every fifth level (5, 10, 15...): +50 points instead of +10.
• Points are distributed by archetype weight — the attributes the archetype favours grow fastest.

Interoperable Stats

Initiative, movement, and fatigue are derived the same way for creatures as they are for characters -- from the same shared attribute formulas.

Creatures share the same interoperable stat derivation as characters. Initiative, movement, and fatigue follow directly from the creature attributes using the same formulas.

Reading a Creature Entry

Each creature entry combines a mechanical stat block with ecological context, tactics, and encounter guidance written for actual play.

Attacks and Natural Defense

Creature attacks follow the same damage type and size-scaling system as character weapons. Natural armor works like worn armor — location by location. Creature combat skills derive from archetype attributes and feed the same difficulty table as characters.

Creature attacks use the same damage types, attack types, and size-based damage scaling as character weapons. A wolf bite is a thrust attack. A bear maul is a cleave. Natural attacks scale with creature size using the same damage die steps as the weapon system.

Combat Skills

Creatures do not use a separate hit-and-evasion formula. They attack and defend through the same 7-tier difficulty table that governs all combat. Each creature archetype defines which combat skills the creature has and how those skills are weighted from its attributes.

Encounter Guidance

Creature level is a dial, not a preset. Calibrate it to the party, the terrain, and the story beat.

There is no encounter difficulty formula in OpenRPG. Creature level is a tool for calibration, not a mathematical output. Use the level control to adjust threat to fit the moment.

• A solo creature against a full party should generally be 3-5 levels above the party average to feel threatening.
• A creature at party level in a pack of 3 or more creates meaningful pressure without necessarily being lethal.
• Terrain matters more than the formula: an aerial raptor at level 3 indoors is far less dangerous than the same creature at level 3 in open sky.
• Special abilities -- fear, grapple, petrification, dragging, regeneration -- can make a lower-level creature far more encounter-defining than raw HP suggests.
• Beasts respond to instinct and fear. Bloodied beasts often disengage. Undead do not. Constructs have no morale. Fey and Fiends respond to pacts and binding -- raw combat is not always the answer.

Introduction

Notable figures are named characters in the world -- they share the same stat chassis as player characters and creatures, expressed through an archetype.

Notable figures are named NPCs with lore, factions, and individual levels. They are not generic monsters or procedural encounters -- they are specific people in the world, built on the same 21-attribute chassis as player characters.

Every notable figure is assigned an archetype that defines their behavioral and professional role. That archetype provides a baseline for their attributes, the skill disciplines they draw from most, and a minimum survivability floor appropriate to their role.

NPC Archetypes

Archetypes define the professional and behavioral chassis of a notable figure -- what attributes they prioritize, what skills they draw from, and what their role guarantees.

Each notable figure is built on one of twenty archetypes grounded in the Openheim setting. Archetypes are social and professional roles -- not fantasy classes. There are no magic-users or clerics. Every archetype is grounded in practical reality or tied to artifact use.

NPC Combat

Notable figures attack and defend through the same skill and difficulty system as characters. Available defenses depend on the figure's skills.

Notable figures are not abstracted into a hit roll against an armour class. They attack and defend through the same 7-tier difficulty table that governs all combat. Their skill values — built from archetype-weighted attributes at their current level — determine the targets on that table.

• Attack: the NPC rolls against a difficulty tier set by the situation. The target number comes from their relevant combat skill.
• Defense: when an attack lands, the NPC selects a defense from their available skills and rolls against the target that skill generates at the current tier.
• Riposte-capable figures — such as court blades or mercenary captains — can choose riposte as their defense. A successful riposte deflects the attack and immediately hits the attacker. No counter-defense roll.
• If an NPC has no applicable defense skill, a landed attack is a hit.

Notable Figure Level

Named figures have lore-driven levels set by story and role. Procedurally generated NPCs default to level 1 from the archetype.

The level shown on a notable figure entry is not a challenge rating or a threat signal -- it is a measure of accumulated experience and investment. Albrecht the Hollow is level 10 because he has ruled for decades. Mira the apprentice is level 2 because she is at the beginning of her path.

Hit Points and the Archetype Floor

NPC hit points are attribute-derived, but the archetype provides a floor so that role-appropriate survivability is always preserved.

For player characters, HP is purely attribute-derived -- low Endurance and Strength means low HP, and that tradeoff is intentional. For notable figures, the archetype adds a floor.

Supporting figures -- field physicians, informants, innkeepers -- have genuinely low HP when their attributes reflect it. This is intentional. A field physician with 8 HP who steps into direct fire is making a positioning mistake, not a design error. The game does not inflate survivability to make everyone bulletproof.

NPC Leveling

Notable figures level using the same formula as characters and creatures. Archetype weighting distributes the points.

Whether a figure is set at level 2 for a fresh apprentice or level 10 for a veteran ruler, their stats are calculated from the same underlying formula used for characters and creatures.

• Level 1: 200 points distributed by archetype weighting.
• Each additional level: +10 points.
• Every fifth level (5, 10, 15...): +50 points instead of +10.
• Points go to the attributes the archetype prioritises — not freely distributed like a player character.

Reading a Notable Figure Entry

Each notable figure entry combines mechanical stats with lore, faction, and role context written for actual play.

GM Combat Resolution Guide

How to narrate combat outcomes when the app handles mechanics

The Division of Labor

The app is your calculator, not your storyteller. Use it to eliminate table math, not to eliminate drama.

Three-Outcome Framework

When a player rolls against their target, use this framework to narrate the outcome. The dice tell you success or failure - you decide what that means in the fiction.

Clear Success (Roll ≤ Target)

The player achieves their intent cleanly. Narrate competence and control.

Success with Cost (Roll ≤ Target, but barely OR contextual complications)

The player succeeds, but something goes wrong. Use this when they barely made it (rolled close to target) or when the situation demands complications.

• Minor injury or exhaustion
• Lost or damaged equipment
• Positional disadvantage (now prone, exposed, or separated)
• Alerted additional enemies
• Time pressure (reinforcements coming)
• Resource expenditure (used last arrow, broke lockpick)

Failure with Consequence (Roll > Target)

The player fails to achieve their intent, and the situation worsens. Never narrate incompetence - narrate escalation.

• Enemy gains advantage (high ground, flanking, initiative next round)
• Collateral damage (ally in danger, environment hazard triggered)
• Information revealed (enemy learns your tactics, sees your weakness)
• Resource loss (weapon breaks, spell component consumed)
• Injury or debuff (wounded, dazed, disarmed)
• Time pressure (enemy escapes, backup arrives, timer advances)

Choosing Difficulty Tiers

Your most powerful GM tool is choosing the difficulty tier. This lets you adjust challenge on the fly based on story needs, not just raw mechanics.

Handling Edge Cases

When a Master Fails a Routine Task

A master lockpick (Sleight of Hand 85) attempting a Routine lock (target 95) should succeed 95% of the time. If they roll 96 and fail, don't narrate clumsiness - narrate bad luck or external interference.

When a Novice Succeeds at Something Hard

A dabbler (Melee 35) attempting a Hard attack (target 25) only succeeds 25% of the time. If they roll 20, don't narrate genius - narrate desperation or luck.

Quick Reference for GMs

Final Advice

OpenRPG gives you the math. You bring the magic. The app calculates initiative, skill totals, and hit points - but those are just scaffolding. Your narration is what players remember.

When in doubt: describe what the character tried, acknowledge the dice, then show the consequence. The story flows from the mechanics - let it.

Named Status Conditions

All named status conditions used in this system, organised by tier with full mechanical definitions and recovery paths.

Named statuses are the system's vocabulary for what has happened to a character. Every status has a tier, a mechanical effect, and a clear recovery path. When a table result or ability references a named status, this section is the authoritative definition.

Short-term Statuses

Short-term statuses are encounter-bound. They expire automatically — either at the end of their listed duration or at the end of the encounter, whichever comes first. They cannot be carried out of a fight by duration alone. They can be re-applied: recovering from Stunned and being Stunned again are separate events.

Dazed

A blow to the head, a flash of blinding light, or any concussive impact that disrupts the senses without fully incapacitating. The world reorganizes itself around the target. Thought comes slow.

Stunned

A sufficiently heavy impact, concussive force, or nerve strike. For the length of a held breath, the body overrules the will.

Prone

Knockdown, leg sweep, or any result that puts a character on the ground. The ground comes up fast. The fight continues from a different angle.

Grappled

A successful grapple attack, joint lock, or chokehold. The body is being directed by someone else.

Transition Statuses

Transition statuses fork on treatment. Address them before the encounter ends and they clear. Leave them unaddressed and they persist as long-term consequences. This applies equally to physical injuries and to psychological ones — Combat Shock left untreated becomes the same kind of long-term wound as a broken arm left unset.

Bleeding

A wound that opens a vessel — cut, puncture, or torn tissue. Blood has its own urgency. It moves toward the floor regardless of what you need it to do.

Arm Impaired

Significant damage to arm muscle, tendon, or joint — short of full loss but enough to compromise function. The arm is still present. Its participation is reduced.

Leg Impaired

Significant damage to leg muscle, joint, or ankle — enough to compromise movement. The leg continues to function as a leg. It has lodged a formal complaint.

Combat Shock

Witnessing or experiencing trauma severe enough to disrupt psychological function — extreme injury, witnessing the death of allies, facing a threat that overwhelmed the mind's ability to process. The mind has encountered something it was not equipped for. It is doing its best.

Long-term Statuses

Long-term statuses persist beyond the encounter and across sessions. They cannot be cleared by rest alone in most cases. They require active treatment — a healer, a physician, an imbuement, or sustained recovery through play.

Severe Injury

Any injury designated Severe: major structural damage to a body part, organ involvement, significant bone fracture, or an escalated Transition status that was not addressed in time. Something has been changed. The body or the mind has been altered and is in the process of trying to return to what it was.

Downed

HP reaching 0 or below; or an explicit result that states Downed regardless of HP. The fight has been resolved — for this character, at least. What happens next belongs to the healers and to whoever is still standing.

Statuses Within the Framework

How named status conditions map onto the short-term and long-term consequence framework, and how the two layers work together.

The named status conditions are implementations of the broader short-term and long-term framework — not a separate system running alongside it. Every named status belongs to one of the framework's tiers, and the rules for that tier govern its behavior.

When multiple statuses apply

A character can hold statuses from multiple tiers simultaneously. A fighter can be Prone (short-term), Bleeding (Transition), and carrying a Severe Injury from last session (long-term) at the same time. Apply all effects. When the encounter ends: short-term effects expire; Transition effects either clear (if treated) or lock in as long-term; long-term effects persist unchanged.

The fiction drives severity. A character who is Bleeding and Prone is in immediate danger but may recover fully. A character who finishes a fight with an untreated Arm Impaired will carry that into the next session as a Severe Injury. The table should always know which consequences are ticking.

How Consequences Work

The three-tier framework — short-term, transition, and long-term — that organises every consequence in the system.

Every consequence in this system belongs to one of three tiers. The tier determines how long a consequence persists and what it takes to clear it. The tiers apply equally to physical injuries, psychological wounds, social damage, and environmental attrition — the framework does not distinguish between a broken arm and a broken confidence. Both are real. Both require time or care to mend.

Re-application

Short-term statuses can be re-applied within the same encounter. Being Stunned once, recovering, and being Stunned again are two separate events — both are valid. Each application runs its own duration and clears independently. Multiple applications of the same status do not extend duration; each instance expires on its own timeline.

Physical and psychological injuries

The framework applies without distinction to physical wounds and psychological ones. A fractured leg and a severe combat shock response are both Transition statuses that escalate to long-term if untreated. Both require time and care to heal. A healer can treat either. The only difference is that psychological injury — Combat Shock, and its long-term form — can also be resolved through roleplay and time: the scene after the battle, the conversation that names what happened, the slow return of the self that was shaken loose.

Social Consequences

Consequences that arise from social encounters — reputation damage, broken trust, and public disgrace. Same three-tier framework as combat.

Social consequences follow the same framework as combat consequences. They have tiers, mechanical effects, and recovery paths. A broken reputation is not a flavor note — it is a tracked state that changes what a character can do until it is repaired. The fiction of social damage and social recovery is different from physical injury; the architecture is identical.

Short-term Social Statuses

Short-term social statuses are the immediate echoes of a misstep. They sharpen the current scene and expire when it ends. They do not follow the character out of the encounter.

Rattled

A surprise challenge, an unexpected accusation, or a moment of visible uncertainty. The character is present in the conversation but no longer fully in control of it.

Off-Footing

The character has said the wrong thing, revealed too much, or ceded narrative leverage in an exchange. They are still in the conversation. They are no longer directing it.

Transition Social Statuses

Transition social statuses have been written into the world. Other characters know. The damage persists past the scene and requires active work to undo — not just time, but demonstrable change.

Distrusted

A specific person, faction, or community has lost confidence in the character. This is not a vague unease — it is a tracked state tied to a specific relationship. The door is not closed; it is guarded.

Shamed

A public failure, a revealed deception, or an act witnessed broadly enough to travel. The community holds this now. Not as malice — simply as information.

Long-term Social Statuses

Long-term social statuses have been written into the world's memory. They persist across sessions and require sustained narrative effort to resolve. Recovery is always possible, but it is measured in sessions and story beats, not actions.

Disgraced

The reputation is damaged broadly. Not a single relationship but a standing. The character's name precedes them now, and not in the way they would choose.

Marked Enemy

A specific individual or faction has moved past distrust to active opposition. This is not passive hostility — the Marked Enemy will work against the character when the opportunity arises.

Exploration Consequences

Consequences that arise from travel, wilderness, and environmental encounter — attrition, disorientation, and the slow cost of the land.

Exploration consequences arise from the environment — weather, terrain, distance, and the slow attrition of time spent away from safety. The land does not intend harm. It simply continues to be what it is, and characters are small within it. Exploration consequences follow the same three-tier framework as combat and social: short-term effects clear with the scene, Transition effects demand attention before they compound, and long-term consequences persist until real recovery.

Short-term Exploration Statuses

Short-term exploration statuses are immediate responses to environmental pressure. They resolve when the pressure resolves — a navigator finding their bearings, a traveler reaching shelter. They do not follow the party out of the scene that generated them.

Disoriented

The path has become uncertain. A fog bank, an underground complex with identical corridors, a dense forest that swallowed the landmarks — something has removed the party's confidence about where they are relative to where they need to be.

Exposed

Extreme cold, sustained rain, desert heat, or any environmental condition that the body cannot maintain itself against indefinitely. The environment is not hostile — it is indifferent, and that is enough.

Transition Exploration Statuses

Transition exploration statuses have accumulated past the point of easy resolution. They require specific action — rest, resupply, or treatment — before they become long-term problems. The wilderness rewards parties who address these before pressing on.

Exhausted

The body has been asked to give more than it had available. Forced march, sleepless nights, sustained cold, or the cumulative weight of days without adequate rest. There is a point past which the will is no longer a useful instrument.

Resource-Depleted

A critical supply has run out. Water, food, rope, lantern oil, medicine — the specific resource defines the consequence. The wilderness does not negotiate on this.

Long-term Exploration Status

Long-term exploration consequences are the mark of time spent hard in the wilderness — the body carrying the weight of sustained attrition. They do not resolve overnight. They require the safety and rest that only a return to civilization or a well-provisioned sanctuary can provide.

Worn Down

The accumulated cost of sustained hardship — weeks of difficult terrain, deprivation, or exposure without adequate recovery. The body has been spending reserves it no longer has. Every check is harder. Every wound takes longer to close.

How Armor Works

Armor reduces damage through DR, degrades through sunder, and creates pressure through fatigue and movement costs.

Armor Layers

The layer system defines what armor can be worn together and how pieces stack.

Every armor piece belongs to a layer. Layers are numbered so that outer layers sit on top of inner ones. Each layer can only contribute one piece per body location — you cannot wear two mail shirts at once — but different layers stack freely.

Add-ons (layer –1) exist outside the normal numbering. They are designed to fill specific gaps — a gorget covers the neck that most helms leave exposed, pauldrons cover the shoulders not enclosed by a cuirass — and can be worn over any combination of other layers.

Donning and Removing Armor

Armor must be donned in layer order and takes time to put on properly. Rushing reduces protection.

Donning armor takes time proportional to its complexity. Lighter layers can be pulled on in minutes; a full plate harness requires an assistant and the better part of an hour. Armor removed in haste is not removed safely — pieces may be damaged or lost.

Shields

Shields are actively wielded rather than worn, providing DR that can be directed at incoming attacks.

Unlike worn armor, a shield must be actively interposed against an incoming blow. Using a shield is a defense action — the bearer declares a block with the shield and rolls against their Shield skill. On success, the shield's DR applies to that strike.

Shields do not passively stack with worn armor. Their DR only applies on the turn they are actively used to block. A character wearing plate and carrying a tower shield has excellent passive DR from the plate but must spend their defense action to benefit from the shield.

Damage Reduction

DR is summed across all worn layers for each body location and subtracted from incoming damage. The outermost piece tracks sunder independently.

When a character is struck, identify the body location hit. Sum the DR of every armor piece covering that location. Subtract the total from raw damage — the remainder is dealt as actual damage. If total DR equals or exceeds the raw damage, no damage gets through.

Separately, the outermost piece on the hit location takes a sunder check. The outermost piece is the highest-numbered layer covering that location. If raw damage exceeds that piece's individual DR, the excess drains the piece's sunder pool.

Example

A fighter wears a linen shirt (DR 1, Torso), a gambeson (DR 2, Torso), mail hauberk (DR 5, Torso), and a breastplate (DR 7, Torso). Total torso DR = 15. A sword blow deals 12 damage — fully absorbed, 0 damage gets through. The breastplate (outermost, DR 7) takes the sunder check. Raw damage 12 exceeds the breastplate's DR 7 by 5, so 5 is subtracted from the breastplate's sunder pool (15 → 10).

Sunder mechanic

Each armor piece has a sunder pool representing its structural integrity. The pool drains when the piece absorbs more than its individual DR can handle. A depleted pool means the piece has been pushed past its limit.

• Only the outermost piece sunders per hit — inner layers are protected by what sits above them.
• If the outermost piece is destroyed, the next layer becomes the outermost and takes future sunder checks.
• A piece at reduced DR still contributes its remaining DR to the total — it is degraded, not gone.
• Multiple blows in the same fight can push a piece through multiple degradations if they drain the sunder pool repeatedly.

Equipment

What equipment means mechanically — the four categories and how they interact with your character.

The Four Categories

Load and Encumbrance

How carried weight translates into mechanical penalties through your Encumbrance stat.

Load and Encumbrance

Your Encumbrance stat is derived from your physical attributes and sets the threshold at which carried weight begins to slow you down. It is not a binary — penalties increase incrementally as you exceed it.

Equipment Condition

How gear degrades through use, sunder checks, and neglect — and what it takes to restore it.

Equipment Condition

All equipment exists on a condition track. Armor degrades through sunder checks triggered by critical hits. Weapons degrade through heavy use and fumbles. Items and artifacts have their own triggers. A piece of equipment at Broken condition provides no benefit until repaired.

Starting Equipment

How characters begin play with equipment and what determines their initial loadout.

Starting Equipment

Starting equipment is determined by your profession and social standing, and agreed with your GM before the first session. The character creation rules establish your budget and available options. You do not begin with everything you might eventually acquire — you begin with what your background justifiably gives you.

Starting currency, if any, is covered in the social standing rules. Equipment that requires significant wealth — full plate, named artifacts, rare materials — typically requires narrative justification rather than simply having the coin.

The Red Ledger

A registry of what weapons do to bodies. Introduction and how to use this reference.

A critical hit is triggered when the unmodified attack roll falls between 96 and 100. A fumble is triggered when the unmodified attack roll falls between 01 and 05. Once a critical is confirmed, resolve it in two rolls: first d100 for hit location, then consult the appropriate weapon table for the effect at that location. Work through both rolls before applying anything.

When a table entry lists consequences, apply them in the order written. The flavor text at the end of each entry belongs in the room — said aloud as the GM describes what just happened. The mechanics and the flavor are two sides of the same wound. Neither is optional.

Roll Sequence

The complete step-by-step dice chain for resolving a critical hit or fumble.

Critical Hit Roll Sequence

1. Confirm the trigger. A critical hit occurs when the unmodified attack roll is 96–100. A fumble occurs when the unmodified attack roll is 01–05.
2. Roll d100 for hit location. Cross-reference the result on the Hit Location table to determine which zone was struck.
3. Identify the weapon type. Choose the correct weapon table: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt, Ranged Piercing, Ranged Blunt, Ranged Slashing, or Unarmed.
4. Find the location section within that table and read the result for the rolled effect.
5. Apply all consequences in the order listed. If two effects are simultaneous, the attacker chooses resolution order.

Fumble Roll Sequence

1. Confirm the fumble. Unmodified attack roll is 01–05.
2. Identify the weapon type. Choose the correct fumble table.
3. Roll d10 to determine fumble severity tier (1–3 Minor, 4–6 Moderate, 7–9 Serious, 10 Catastrophic).
4. Apply the consequence. Fumble consequences apply to the attacker, not the target.

Downed and Death

A character whose HP falls to 0 or below is Downed — unconscious and out of the fight, but not dead. Death occurs only when a table result explicitly states it, or when a Downed character receives no stabilization and continues to bleed out. A Downed character requires a successful First Aid check to stabilize; untreated bleeding will kill them within rounds.

Hit Location

Roll d100 to determine which body zone a critical hit strikes.

Hit Location (d100)

After confirming a critical hit, roll d100. Cross-reference the result with the table below to determine which zone was struck. Then consult the weapon-specific table, finding the section for that zone.

Consequences in This Reference

How The Red Ledger maps to the Consequences system. Effects are short-term or long-term and modify attributes or skills.

Consequences in This Reference

All effects in this reference are expressed as Consequences — modifiers to attributes or skills with a defined duration. Short-term consequences last until the end of the encounter or until a character recovers through rest or aid. Long-term consequences persist until treated by a healer.

Quick Draw — Critical Hits

A fast, weapon-agnostic d10 table for critical hit resolution when speed matters more than detail.

Quick Draw — Critical Hits (d10)

When speed matters more than granularity, roll d10 and read the result. No location roll required. All effects use the Consequence system and are recoverable. For full resolution with location and weapon type, use the weapon-specific tables.

Quick Draw — Fumbles

A fast d10 fumble table. All effects apply to the attacker.

Quick Draw — Fumbles (d10)

When a fumble is confirmed (01–05), roll d10. All consequences apply to the attacker. Fumble severity never exceeds a Solid critical against the attacker — these results punish, they do not destroy.

Slashing — Head

Critical hit results for slashing weapons striking the head. Scalp lacerations, brow gashes, and catastrophic face wounds.

Slashing — Head (d10)

The skull deflects edges. Most slashing hits to the head open the scalp rather than the bone — profuse bleeding that looks worse than it is, until it is not.

Slashing — Neck / Throat

Critical hit results for slashing weapons at the neck. Arterial exposure and windpipe damage escalate quickly to lethal.

Slashing — Neck / Throat (d10)

Neck wounds are the most feared result of a slashing weapon. The arteries are close to the surface. Even a grazing result can become fatal quickly without treatment.

Slashing — Shoulders

Critical hit results for slashing weapons at the shoulders. Muscle separation and clavicle damage degrade weapon arm function.

Slashing — Shoulders (d10)

Shoulder wounds attack the weapon arm at its root. The muscles here connect reach to force, and a cut that severs any of them translates immediately to fighting capability.

Slashing — Torso

Critical hit results for slashing weapons striking the torso. Abdominal wounds and organ grazes are the dominant concern.

Slashing — Torso (d10)

The torso is the most common crit location and the most variable in severity. A glancing cut is an inconvenience. A deep abdominal wound is a death sentence measured in minutes.

Slashing — Arms

Critical hit results for slashing weapons striking the arms. Tendon and muscle damage degrade weapon control and grip.

Slashing — Arms (d10)

Arm wounds are among the most common and most consequential slashing results. The tendons and muscles that control grip and swing lie close to the surface, unprotected except by armor.

Slashing — Legs

Critical hit results for slashing weapons striking the legs. Hamstring and thigh damage degrade mobility and balance.

Slashing — Legs (d10)

Leg wounds redirect the fight. A cut that reaches the hamstring or thigh changes a standing combat into a ground situation, and the ground belongs to whoever is still on their feet.

Slashing — Fumbles

Fumble results for slashing weapons. Overextension, self-nicking, and weapon deflection apply to the attacker.

Slashing — Fumbles (d10)

Slashing fumbles punish overcommitment. The edge goes somewhere other than intended — into nothing, into armor, or into the attacker. All consequences apply to the attacker.

Piercing — Head

Critical hit results for piercing weapons striking the head. Eye penetration and skull puncture dominate the high-end results.

Piercing — Head (d10)

A point striking the head goes where edges cannot. Helmets that deflect slashes offer less certainty against thrusts, which seek gaps and joints. The consequences of penetration here are fast and severe.

Piercing — Neck / Throat

Critical hit results for piercing weapons at the neck. Tracheal puncture and arterial penetration are the primary concerns.

Piercing — Neck / Throat (d10)

The throat is a collection of structures that do not tolerate puncture. A thrust here finds arteries, trachea, or spine in close proximity. The results escalate fast.

Piercing — Shoulders

Critical hit results for piercing weapons at the shoulders. Deep thrusts reach the joint and nerve roots.

Piercing — Shoulders (d10)

Piercing weapons reach past armor at the shoulder through gaps around the joint. A thrust here can find the socket, the nerves beneath it, or the subclavian vessels — each with different consequences.

Piercing — Torso

Critical hit results for piercing weapons in the torso. Lung puncture, organ skewering, and gut wounds define the range.

Piercing — Torso (d10)

Torso thrusts are designed to reach what armor tries to protect. A lung that collapses, a gut that opens, a heart that is interrupted — these are the instruments a piercing weapon plays. These tables record them without commentary on the instrument.

Piercing — Arms

Critical hit results for piercing weapons striking the arms. Through-and-through punctures and joint damage define the high-end results.

Piercing — Arms (d10)

Piercing wounds to the arm go deeper than slashing equivalents. A blade that enters the forearm may reach bone. A thrust through the elbow joint disables the arm through structural failure rather than pain.

Piercing — Legs

Critical hit results for piercing weapons striking the legs. Femoral artery involvement and joint penetration define the lethal range.

Piercing — Legs (d10)

The femoral artery runs through the inner thigh. A piercing weapon that finds it ends the fight immediately and everything else soon after. Even without that result, deep thrusts to the knee or ankle joint produce disability through structural failure.

Piercing — Fumbles

Fumble results for piercing weapons. Thrusts that go wide, overextend, or embed in armor apply to the attacker.

Piercing — Fumbles (d10)

Piercing fumbles involve the committed thrust going somewhere wrong — into nothing, into armor it cannot exit cleanly, or into footing that does not hold. All consequences apply to the attacker.

Blunt — Head

Critical hit results for blunt weapons striking the head. Concussion, skull fracture, and unconsciousness define the spectrum.

Blunt — Head (d10)

The blunt weapon communicates with the skull through force rather than edge or point. The skull distributes the energy inward. What lies inside the skull does not benefit from this arrangement.

Blunt — Neck / Throat

Critical hit results for blunt weapons at the neck. Tracheal crush and cervical fracture dominate the severe results.

Blunt — Neck / Throat (d10)

Blunt weapons do not cut the throat — they crush it. The trachea and cervical vertebrae are the structures at risk. A blow hard enough to crack a vertebra can end movement permanently.

Blunt — Shoulders

Critical hit results for blunt weapons at the shoulders. Clavicle fractures and shoulder joint separation disable the arm through bone.

Blunt — Shoulders (d10)

Blunt force to the shoulder works on bone. The clavicle is long, exposed, and not designed for lateral impact. The shoulder joint itself tolerates compression poorly. Either way, the weapon arm suffers.

Blunt — Torso

Critical hit results for blunt weapons striking the torso. Rib fractures, internal bleeding, and organ bruising are the dominant results.

Blunt — Torso (d10)

The torso takes blunt force badly. The ribs are a cage, not a shield — they absorb energy by cracking, and their fragments create secondary damage. The organs behind them have no tolerance for compression.

Blunt — Arms

Critical hit results for blunt weapons striking the arms. Bone fractures and elbow damage define the high-end results.

Blunt — Arms (d10)

Blunt force to the arm seeks bone. The radius, ulna, and humerus are relatively thin and exposed. A solid blow can fracture any of them, and the elbow joint does not survive lateral impact well.

Blunt — Legs

Critical hit results for blunt weapons striking the legs. Kneecap destruction and femur fracture end mobility absolutely.

Blunt — Legs (d10)

The legs support everything and protect very little. A blow to the knee or thigh from a mace or maul communicates directly to the bone. The femur will fracture before the muscle above it does. The knee does not tolerate lateral impact at all.

Blunt — Fumbles

Fumble results for blunt weapons. Heavy weapons that miss carry momentum into bad positions. All consequences apply to the attacker.

Blunt — Fumbles (d10)

Blunt weapons are heavy. When they miss, they take the attacker with them. The momentum problem is the defining feature of a blunt fumble — the weapon ends up somewhere, and the attacker ends up somewhere else.

Ranged Piercing — Head

Critical hit results for ranged piercing weapons (arrows, bolts) striking the head. Shaft retention and penetration depth define severity.

Ranged Piercing — Head (d10)

An arrow or bolt finds the head differently than a thrust does. The range adds velocity; the shaft can lodge and become a secondary problem. Removing an arrow from a wound badly done is often worse than the wound itself.

Ranged Piercing — Torso

Critical hit results for ranged piercing weapons striking the torso. Lodged shafts and deep organ wounds are the primary concerns.

Ranged Piercing — Torso (d10)

A bolt or arrow in the torso has unique problems beyond the wound itself. The shaft protrudes or is buried, it moves with the target, and removing it requires skill and time neither party typically has in the middle of an encounter.

Ranged Piercing — Limbs

Critical hit results for ranged piercing weapons striking arms or legs. Used for both limb locations when rolling ranged piercing crits.

Ranged Piercing — Limbs (d10)

Use this table for ranged piercing hits to Arms, Legs, Shoulders, and Neck — locations where the wound depth and shaft retention are the dominant concerns. For Head and Torso, use those dedicated tables.

Ranged Blunt — All Locations

Critical hit results for ranged blunt weapons (sling stones, lead bullets). Concussive force delivered at range. Use the location from the d100 roll to shade flavor.

Ranged Blunt — All Locations (d10)

A sling stone or lead bullet delivers concentrated blunt force at range. Unlike a mace, there is no follow-through — only impact. The zone struck modifies the expected anatomy but the mechanical principle is the same: concussion, fracture, organ compression. Cross-reference the d100 location for anatomical flavor; the consequences below apply regardless of zone.

Ranged Slashing — All Locations

Critical hit results for ranged slashing weapons (thrown blades, chakrams). Flying edges cause cutting wounds with the momentum of ranged delivery.

Ranged Slashing — All Locations (d10)

A thrown blade or chakram combines the cutting properties of slashing weapons with the velocity of a projectile. The wound is a cut, often deeper than a comparable melee slash, and without the attacker's close involvement in the aftermath. Cross-reference the d100 location for anatomical flavor; apply the consequences as written.

Ranged — Fumbles

Fumble results for all ranged weapons. Misfires, broken strings, and stray shots apply to the attacker or their equipment.

Ranged — Fumbles (d10)

Ranged fumbles are equipment and positioning failures. The weapon misfires, the string breaks, the throw goes wrong. All consequences apply to the attacker. This table applies to all ranged weapon types.