Character Mechanics

Character Attributes and Skills
All character abilities are measured by the number of dice which they add to your roll.

Attributes
Normal human Attributes range from 1 to 7 dice with 3 dice as the human average. NPC’s have 3 additional Attributes: Intelligence, Morale, and Reaction. For social contests the player gets dice based on actions and roleplaying, and the NPC uses these Attributes to defend.


 * Muscles is like STR and parts of CON. It contributes strength and toughness to a die pool.
 * Nerves is like DEX and parts of WIS. It contributes agility, awareness and hand/eye coordination to a die pool.
 * Spirit refers to magic and the supernatural. It contributes intuition and luck to a die pool
 * Hit-Points is the total of Muscles + Nerves + Spirit.

General Skills
General Skills are Melee, Missiles, Athletics, Stealth, and Magic. Each applies to a broad array of actions. Normal human General Skills range from 1 to 8 dice.

Narrow-Skills
For most actions you don't need a Narrow Skill; you can roll using just the appropriate Attribute and General Skill dice. Narrow Skills represent more specialized training. A few actions are difficult or impossible without this specialized training. Normal human Narrow Skills can range from 0 to 12 dice.

What Narrow Skills exist can vary from campaign to campaign, but typical Narrow Skills are:
 * Individual weapon skills such as Swords, Pole Arms, Crossbows, or Firearms
 * Individual magical spells or similar powers.
 * Hand-to-hand, aka Brawling, aka Unarmed Combat (used for all weaponless combat)
 * Martial-Arts, Disguise, Lock Picking, Pitching aka Throwing, Riding, Swimming, Tracking, etc.

The Basic Die Pool
The Basic Die Pool consists of dice from 3 abilities (ie. Attributes, General Skills, and Narrow Skills. Use whichever abilities are most appropriate to your action. Your final die pool may also include dice for such things as as armor, spell effects, and environmental factors. Action and Defense Rolls get a minimum of 3 dice total; thus you always have enough dice to take an action. Characters who are unconscious, bound, etc. cannot act, but still get 3 dice if for some reason a roll is needed.

Basic Die Pools For Standard Actions
If an action has an appropriate General Skill and an appropriate Narrow Skill then it is a Standard Action. Add the most appropriate Attribute and you have the formula for your roll. Examples are
 * Melee attack: Muscles + Melee + Narrow Skill.
 * Parry: Nerves + Melee + Narrow Skill.
 * Missile attack: Nerves + Missiles + Narrow Skill.
 * Magic spell: Spirit + Magic + the Narrow Skill for the spell being cast.
 * Swimming: Muscles + Athletics + the Narrow Skill of Swimming.

Basic Die Pools For Simple Actions
If an action has an appropriate General Skill but no appropriate Narrow Skill, then it is a Simple Action. Add the two most appropriate Attributes (or rarely one Attribute and a second General Skill and you have the formula for your roll. Examples are
 * Dodging roll: Nerves + Spirit + Athletics.
 * Athletics roll: Muscles + Nerves + Athletics; use for running, climbing, jumping, etc.
 * Stealth or Perception roll: Nerves + Spirit + Stealth.

Basic Die Pools For Other Actions
Attributes and skills can be combined in other ways, if that better represents the situation being resolved. However, you may never use more than 3 of your abilities to form your Basic Die Pool for an Action Roll, nor more than 2 for a Second Roll. (Your final die pool may also include dice for such things as as armor, spell effects, and environmental factors.)
 * Lock-picking roll: Nerves + Lock Picking + (no third ability)
 * Fortitude Save: Muscles + Muscles + Spirit
 * Reflex Save: Nerves + Nerves + Athletics
 * Will Save: Muscles + Spirit + Spirit
 * Strength Test: Muscles + Muscles + Muscles
 * Magic Save: Hit Points + Spirit - Magic