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Core Rules

(redirected from Main.Core)

Wondering how to play? This is the place to start. This page will get you up to speed on how to read the rules, make dice rolls, and fill out a character sheet.

The Dice Pool

Like in many tabletop games, dice play a key part in the gameplay of Archsoul. Dice are rolled to determine if your character will succeed or fail - they are a key source of dramatic tension for the game. Can you land an attack in combat? Will your party survive the draining heat of the desert? Does the guard following you see through your disguises? All of these things are determined by rolling a dice pool.

A "dice pool" is a handful of six-sided dice usually expressed as a single number - the number of dice you roll. The size of your dice pool is typically calculated by adding two numbers together from your character sheet. For example, a character trying to sneak through a hallway might be told to roll Precision plus Stealth. This would be written as rolling Precision/Stealth, with a slash separating the two stats that need to be added together.

Unlike in most games, you won't be adding up the numbers you rolled. Instead, you need to check all of the dice you rolled against the difficulty rating. Whenever your Game Master asks you to roll dice, you will be told a "difficulty rating", a number between 2 and 6. When you roll your dice, all you need to do is count how many dice are equal to or greater than the difficulty rating. These dice are counted as successes. If the number of successes is greater than or equal to the target of the check (Usually a number kept secret by the GM), the roll is a success.

A high difficulty rating usually means you're fighting against some outside disadvantage, like trying to run on unstable ground or hear something across a noisy room. You don't just need good stats to overcome tough challenges; you need to keep the situation around you from getting out of hand, too.

Exploding Sixes, Critical Failure, and Ties

There is one extra thing to keep in mind when tallying up your dice roll, and that is to keep track of any ones or sixes that come up on your dice. After you count how many dice surpassed the difficulty rating, you may re-roll all sixes. If the re-rolled number is greater than the difficulty rating, you get an additional success! If it re-rolls into another six, you can re-roll it again! This can theoretically go on forever, giving you a higher and higher result for as long as you keep rolling sixes.

Beware, though, the opposite side of the coin - if you roll more ones than successes and you didn't roll any sixes, you will critically fail. The effects of a critical failure can vary depending on the roll being made, but are ultimately up to the Game Master. Maybe you pull a muscle trying to pry open a door or you fall off-balance while attacking. Critical failure is a lot more likely on rolls with high difficulty ratings, especially if your dice pool is small.

Between these two extremes, some rolls may have special effects when you tie, which is to say your number of successes rolled perfectly equals the target. This usually matters when two characters are trying to make identical skill rolls against each other, such as during a foot race. Rolls that act differently during a tie generally give some compromise to both sides. A tie only matters if the roll being made specifically states that something special happens on a tie.

Example of Rolling Dice

The player Sarah is playing as Sylvus the Sly - thief extraordinaire, and she wants to try to steal a scroll from a passing merchant in a busy street. Here is how the encounter goes...

Sarah looks at her character sheet. Sylvus has 6 precision and 5 stealth, so she rolls 11 dice. She gets the following result:
1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6
She counts five dice that pass the difficulty rating. She then re-rolls the three sixes to get the following result:
1, 5, 6
Sarah ignores the 1 (because she already rolled a 6, so she can't critically fail), and counts another two successes, bringing her to seven. She then re-rolls the six to get the following result:
3
Because this re-roll is lower than the difficulty rating, it does not count as a success. This leaves her total result for the roll as 7.

Sarah looks at her character sheet again. Sylvus' 6 precision and 7 thievery should make it an easy roll. Sarah rolls her 13 dice and gets the following result:
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5
She begins counting her successes, but then pauses when she notices that over half of her dice are ones...

...And so on.

Filling Out a Character Sheet

So, you've come up with a great idea for a character to play as, and now you want to put that hero on paper. First, you'll need to choose and print out a character sheet. Once you've done that, you can begin filling things out.

Character Information

The first section is Character Information, located at the top of the sheet. This is where you put your character's most basic information - things like name, height, and title. Only 3 of these fields have any impact on the rules: level, background, and race. You may choose one background to start with to represent your character's training and life experience, and, if your game master allows it, you may choose a special race as well. Your level starts at 1 and slowly increases as you adventure. See the Leveling Up section below for more information.

Attributes

The next section is for your Attributes, located directly under your character information. To assign values to your five attributes, simply rank them from 2 to 6, not repeating any numbers. A higher number indicates that you are better at that For example, you could create the following set of stats for a nimble and quick-witted thief:

• Athletics: 3
• Endurance: 2
• Precision: 6
• Intellect: 5
• Soulpower: 4

Then, apply any bonuses you may get from your background and/or race.

Skills and Specializations

Next is by far the largest section: your Skills and Specializations. For this section, you have a pool of 30 points to spend. Specializations list their exact costs per rank, and skills advance by the following chart:

This means that as you improve a skill, it becomes increasingly harder to get better at that skill. The exact number of points needed to raise a skill are given by the following chart:

Note that specializations don't have these diminishing returns - they're harder to get at first, but easier to improve at.

Equipment

The last decisions you have to make are for your Equipment, found on the equipment page. It is recommended to at least purchase one melee weapon (the halberd is a good, versatile choice), one ranged weapon, a suit of gambeson armor, and one of the pre-made kits found at the bottom of the page. The average hero begins with 100 copper coins to spend on equipment, but your background may increase this.

Finishing Touches

Finally, you finish out your sheet with a few calculations. There are no decisions to be made here, simply moving existing numbers into easier-to-read places. Here is a rundown of how to calculate the following values:

• Health
  • Add together your Athletics attribute, your Endurance attribute, and your Resolve skill. If you chose the Survivor background, remember to add 5.
• Attacks
  • Pick the ways you think you will attack most often (generally a few weapons and a soul specialization) and fill out their names in the name sections.
  • Determine the accuracy of your attacks. Melee weapons, for example, use Precision/Melee weapons. Put these totals in the accuracy sections.
  • Determine the damage of your attacks. Melee weapons, for example, generally use Athletics/Weapon Mastery/weapon base damage. Put these totals in the damage sections.
  • Determine the range, in spaces, of your attack. If the range is given in meters, simply divide it by 2 to get the range in spaces.
  • Add anything else in the notes section. This can be a weapon's armor advantages and special properties, a ritual's requirements and additional effects, a ranged weapon's maximum range, or just a personal reminder of how to make attacks.
• Defense
  • Back Defense is equal to your base defense (default of 2 plus your ranks in Dodge) plus your armor's defense.
  • Front Defense is equal to your back defense plus any defense granted by shields or polearms.
  • Ranged Front Defense only matters if you are using a polearm, in which case it will be 1 lower than your Front Defense.
  • Check the "Shield Bonus" checkbox if you are using a shield.
  • Type is for your armor's type (unarmored, gambeson, hardened, chain, or plate).

Leveling Up

Sometimes, after enduring difficult battles or completing epic objectives, your Game Master may allow you to level up. This represents your character increasing in strength and skill throughout the adventure and allows you to become more powerful.

When you level up, increase your level at the top of your character sheet by 1. Then, gain the benefits of your new level as given on the table below. You may choose to save any unused skill points for next level, if you wish.

Ultimate Actions

The ability to perform Ultimate Actions can only be gained by leveling up.

In combat, spending an Ultimate Action slot allows you to take an extra turn immediately after your normal turn. During this bonus turn, you may spend 3 action points as normal, doing anything you would do in a normal turn. This does not take up any extra time compared to a normal turn. This means that any effect with a duration, such as a defensive maneuver or a potion, will still last the same number of combat rounds.

Alternatively, you may spend an Ultimate Action slot to lower the difficulty of any one roll by 1 and add a number of dice to the roll equal to your level. You may decide to use this ability after you have made the roll. In this case, simply roll the additional dice and then recount your existing roll with the new difficulty level.

Once you have used an Ultimate Action slot, it cannot be used again for 7 days. The Game Master may choose to reduce this cool-down period as a reward for good role play or clever strategy.