This is where it all begins: with creating a character. Yes, there are some pre-generated characters available for you on the website. But they won’t be the same as one you create yourself. Characters on Wyrlde are exclusive to Wyrlde – the normal D&D 5e rules won’t work here, and as of this writing there is no support for a digital record out there.

“You will never be completely at home again
because part of your heart always will be elsewhere.
That is the price you pay for the richness
of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”
-Miriam Adeney

For now, though, let’s get the rag up on this cantata…

Character Record

Traditionally, characters are generated and their features and abilities and such are stored on a Character Record, or Character Sheet.

There is an example character record available within this book.

Now, while you are floating out there in the liminal spaces between was, is, and will be, let us begin the task of giving you form and shape, providing you with the nature and self that will be unique to you in this new world. We begin that with The First Question.

The First Question

The first question is: Are you an Incarnate or an Intrinsic?

Intrinsics are people who were born on Wyrlde and have been caught within the Cycle of Rebirth among the Seven Mortal Planes. If you are an Intrinsic, carry on as normal and learn what you can about the place you come from and the world you are part of now. This book is great for that, so take time now and again to glance through it.

The stuff about how you should role play or make your character is a gentle suggestion, since it could have an impact on the side quests and the main questline, since at least one of the major elements involves each character as a person and their hopes and their dreams and their fears and their terrors.

Incarnates are people who were reincarnated from outside The Known Universe, often from an age long ago, muttering about Truck-kun, damned game masters with real magic, mirrors, tornadoes, woods at the edge of the world, wardrobes, peculiar doors, tears in the fabric of space and time, tesseracts, and other strange ways for one to find oneself here.

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.”
Anais Nin

In short, not everyone on Wyrlde came from Wyrlde. Some people, a rare few, such as Arabesque and Saint Benedict, were people who somehow came here from somewhere else and found themselves trapped, or perhaps were reincarnated here.

If you are an Incarnate, your character may have been one of these people who came from elsewhere. It is not an experience everyone goes through, but it is possible for you to have such a thing happen. However, a few points to delve into a little deeper occur:

• Is this world an immersive VR video game for you?
• What happened that you became stuck here, unable to find your way back?
• Is this world a book that has sucked you into the story as one of the heroes?
• Are you in your old body or was a new one crafted for you?
• Did you die and were you reincarnated on this world?
• How did you die?
• Did it hurt and do you have memory of it?
• Were you summoned like a planar being?
• Who summoned you?
• How did you escape?

For many of these, there are follow up questions:

• Is your real body still back on Earth?
• What were you doing when you were summoned?
• Do you still have most of your old memories?

In most circumstances, you will have been at least raised or taught much about the area into which you arrived or were born, and you may have an additional language from your past life that will fade as you move forward in this life.

Most people are born in this world, and some may have memories or recollections from their prior life, but they will seem as drifting and faded things, perhaps only seen in dreams or during great trauma.

These are things you should decide – either on your own for you, or as part of a team effort with your fellow players. Because these answers will subtly alter the way you play your character and add to the entirety of the setting and the gaming experience.

Give these things thought and consideration, as here one can be a hero from anywhere. Even you, yourself.

Something to keep in mind: at the start of the game, you will be between 18 and 28 years old, according to your choice.

Ability Scores

The following Ability Scores are the baseline for Wyrlde for all characters. These default abilities are used broadly throughout the Campaign and game. Everything your character can do is linked in some way to the nine scores.

Strength	Dexterity	Constitution
Physical Strength, Muscle, Athleticism.	Agility, Nimbleness, Quickness	Endurance, Physical Will, Hardiness
Wisdom	Knowledge	Perception
Insight, Wisdom, Willpower	Memory, Reasoning, Understanding, Creativity, Imagination	Awareness, Sensory Gifts, Attentiveness
Charisma	Sanity	Mana
Force of Personality, Persuasiveness	Courage, Power of Self Knowledge	Capacity to Harness and Use Magic

Ability scores are a kind of guide to your character’s capabilities and help to inform role playing. The First three are Physical Scores, the second three are Mental scores, and the third group is your Self scores.

• The highest ability score possible at the start before adjustments is 18 and rolls against ability scores are made by a d20 or a D24.
• The highest score as a Novice is 20 and uses a d20. This is called a soft cap.
• The maximum possible is 30. Once one crosses the soft cap, ability checks are rolled on a d30.

Each score has associated proficiencies, impacts skills, and they are often used together to create derived scores.

A Note on Knowledge: in standard D&D, Intelligence is the term used in place of Knowledge, but on Wyrlde this score does not measure Intelligence, it measures knowledge and creativity.

Why Additions: Sanity is an optional score in D&D 5e, Perception is used often enough to justify it having a distinct score, and Mana is necessary for the use of a Magical Point system. Additionally, 9 scores allows for a unique engagement with patterns and relationships that improves the possible ways of engaging with the wider world – via Derived Scores, we have ways of being knocked down that are not strictly hit point based, and we have the ability to use different effects tanks to the planar and other energies. In short, because it works well for the game and the setting.

Generation

There are several ways to generate these scores for your character in many different games, but the Powers here have a preference of one of the three following options for you. They couldn’t narrow it down any further because they are all seemingly incapable of total agreement on anything.

• Option 1: You generate your character’s nine ability scores randomly using a 1d6+9 for each score.
• Option 2: Roll four 6-sided dice (4d6) and record the total of only the highest three dice from the roll on a piece of scratch paper. Do this until you have nine (9) numbers.
• Option 3: If you want to save time or do not like the idea of randomly determining ability scores, you can use the following scores instead: 15, 14, 13, 12, 12, 12, 11, 11, 10.
• Option 4: Your final option is to divide a pool of 110 points among the 9 traits.

Now take your nine numbers and write each number beside one of your character’s abilities to assign scores to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Knowledge, Wisdom, Perception, Charisma, Sanity, and Mana. Afterward, make any changes to your ability scores because of your choices.

Ability Score Modifiers
Score	Modifier	Score	Modifier	Score	Modifier
	-5	10 to 11	0	22 to 23	+6
1	-4	12 to 13	+1	24 to 25	+7
2 to 3	-3	14 to 15	+2	26 to 27	+8
4 to 5	-2	16 to 17	+3	28 to 29	+9
6 to 7	-1	18 to 19	+4	30	+10
8 to 9	0	20 to 21	+5		+12

After assigning your ability scores, determine your ability modifiers using the Ability Scores and Modifiers table.

By default, the average adult person on Wyrlde has scores between 8 and 11. Juvenals are between 6 and 9, Youth are between 5 and 7, Children are between 3 and 4, and Infants are 1 to 2.

Ability Modifiers

On your Character record, there will be a space for your Ability Score, and then a space attached to it for both your Modifier, and your Saving Throw, noted by “mod” and “save”. Your modifier determines how that ability score alters probability for success. You can determine your ability score modifiers from the table.

Scores below 1, called Nil, and scores above 30, called Planar, are not available to mortal beings. Mortal beings are those things which can die and enter the Cycle.

Special Scores

Wyrlde uses several special scores from optional rules. These scores have equal import and should be given their just due. Each of them has an impact during the campaign – in some cases, they may be the key to solving a puzzle or surviving an encounter. Some scores are shown as Optional in the main game or come from a particular campaign. Here, on Wyrlde, they are all important scores for various events and circumstances.

Perception is an adjustment to the overall game, Sanity is an option made required, Honor is a modified option, and Mana changes how magic is done. Psyche is for Psychic abilities, Haul is an Encumbrance change, and Rage DC is a condition.

Perception (Per)

Perception is of surprising importance when trying to discern things, and any detective worth their salt is going to have a high perception.

Perception checks are used to search, identify, and more. It blends the traits of wisdom and knowledge.

Sanity (San)

Your Sanity score is used for effects related to fear, madness, dread, and terror, planar things, gods, and those things which are beyond mortal ken. This includes magic, things that are “impossible,” and things you may not have encountered before that can be overwhelming. Sanity is a key score for some, as in a world of magic, one of the greatest threats to people’s sanity is magic itself.

Madness on Wyrlde is not a mental illness. Madness does not make you insane. Insanity is a totally separate thing. This is more akin to the “seeing red” when angry, or “gloom” when depressed. It is a condition or state enforced on a person that encounters things which are psychosocially traumatic and is a form of trauma response. Wyrlde has a lot of things that are difficult for mortals to understand, things beyond their ken, and even some gods can drive the sanity right out of your head.

Sanity Checks

A Sanity Check is rare but used when encountering something that might threaten the characters sanity that is abstract – the ideas, or trying to wrap your mind around something, or encountering a concept that is inconceivable. There is a lot on Wyrlde that does that. Sanity checks have different levels that your dungeon master will be able to identify and uses the degrees of difficulty.

Other Sanity checks:

• Face the unimaginable.
• Stare into the Abyss and hear it talk to you.
• Craft a small or detailed object.

Sanity Saving Throws

Sanity Saves are performed whenever you run the risk of succumbing to madness due to something that is concrete – a madness effect, seeing a planar being without the form they take, or direct contact with the mind of an incredibly alien being, etc.

Madness

Resisting a madness-inducing effect usually requires a creature makes a Sanity saving throw. Those are determined in part by your score and the DM. The effects of madness may strike, however, and the specific form will be determined by a table your DM has.

Curing Madness

A calm emotions spell can suppress the effects of madness, while a lesser restoration spell can rid a character of a short-term or long-term madness. Depending on the source of the madness, remove curse or dispel evil and good might also prove effective. A greater restoration spell or more powerful magic is required to rid a character of indefinite madness.

Mana (Man)

Mana represents your facility with the power of magic.

Your Mana Score determines how much mana you can recover in a day during a long rest. Your Modifier to Mana is used for checks and rolls around the effects, uses, and application of magic, and in place of your other scores when magic is.

The entirety of Wyrlde’s magic system is shifted to a format that uses mana as the driving structure. Magic, as a result, is different in many ways from “normal” D&D. Mana is Used for Magic, and Psyche is used for Psychics, which is not discussed herein.

Magic is a potent force, drawn from the interaction of The Pale with a given plane, such that all planes have some, and yet that magic is always different. Within the Mortality, the power of magic is called Mana, and mana is what gives a Mage their power. It is energy – drawn from the Pale itself, from the world around them, from within them, from the dedication and devotion to some task or in service to others. Mana is present within all things, living or not; everywhere, in everything, surrounding us, penetrating us, binding us, and flowing between us.

Those born with magic gain the gift of holding more of it, soaking it in, and can hold and control more mana than most people; this is part of what enables them to grasp Caligulan, even before they have begun to store enough of it.

Spell Points

Wyrlde uses a spell point base system for magic, and all people have at least a little bit of energy in them that can be called magic points, or spell points, or Mana. While the ability to use it is rare, and the skill to use it is learned, all people start out with a set amount of Mana, or spell points. For those from other worlds, Mana is much like MP for the character. You can run out of mana; you can use it up in excitement and then must wait to restore it. It is an ability, and like all abilities can be improved or limited. Mana can be stolen from another though the use of Planar devices, but not otherwise. Some attacks by creatures have an effect on Mana – for some beings, mana is food.

There is a limit to how much power a person can contain, how much mana they can hold, and mana is slow to restore. A Mage’s Axiom determines the amount of mana they can gather and hold to empower spells. Most people truly have little mana – even if they don’t have the ability to use magic – and never learn to embrace or manipulate it. Mages can sense that mana within themselves, to manipulate it, to use it and play with it and fashion it into things.

Those classes which use magic focus to some degree and for differing reasons on building up the capacity to hold and regain mana. Mana comes from different places according to one’s Affinity, but the use and storage of it is built up according to one’s Axiom.

Sharing Mana

Most people can share mana on a successful constitution roll, even Nulls, but some people are cursed and unable to share mana. Mana can only be shared among people with the same Affinity, regardless of the Axiom. So, a Cleric and a Druid can share mana, but a Paladin and a Sorcerer cannot. If the subject is willing otherwise, sharing is possible.

Mana Recovery

You regain mana at a rate of your base Mana every long rest. Mana is a physically dependent characteristic, inherent in the body of the caster. No body, no spell points, no spells.

Using Mana

The number of spell points (Mana) you must spend on various feats and spells is based on the complexity of the spell, with your degree of Mastery and Profession determining how complex those spells can be. More on that in a bit, in Casting Spells.

A Mage who uses spells regularly typically only has a limited ability to hold these complex things within themselves. As they progress in skill, mastery, and knowledge, they gain a greater grasp of the glyphs, more control over the runes, and fuller power over the ciphers that they must hold within themselves as sigils.

Even though you might have enough points to cast a spell more complex than your mastery and profession allow, you cannot do so. You just don’t have the capacity yet to make the spell work or to hold that degree of complexity of Sigil in your mind while it writhes and struggles.

You cannot reduce your spell point total to less than 0.

On reaching zero spell points, you must make a constitution check or collapse, exhausted, as there is a physical toll to running out of Mana. In some cases, it could kill you to run out of mana. This acts as Exhaustion, a status effect and Condition.

Storing Mana

A lot of this means that people will often be concerned about finding ways to store mana and to be able to use that supply as needed. There are some philters that can help to double your recovery speed, but there are no potions, philters, or similar devices to increase or add to your Mana. Sometimes you just need a bit of extra juice, y’know? A way to store mana on the side that you can draw from.

Those items are rare, but they do exist, and they do not require magic to create them. They are fashioned from a blue tinted metallic material called Orikal. Although it requires using mana to do it, one can store mana in an Orikal object, to an amount determined by the object based on several factors including amount and purity. For some, this is the only way they can truly access their mana.

Nulls

Nulls are people, objects, and creatures against whom magic works less well. They are not immune to it, and even have mana themselves, though they can only store a very little more of it at a time. It is this mana that allows some of them to do some unusual things, but mostly, it is this mana that acts as a kind of counter to magic. Nulls do have the ability to shape magic, but instead of doing so to create a spell, they do it reactively and instinctively in a way that enables them to resist magic. Nulls have Advantage on rolls against magical effects.

Nulls who are Adventurers go into the Professions of Gunslinger, Rogue, Vanguard, and Warrior. These Professions do not have magical abilities.

Nulls use their Mana modifier for any saves against magical effects, and benefit from damage that is reduced by the amount of their modifier. So, for example, if a spell does 6 points of damage, and they roll a save that reduces that by half, they then apply their Modifier to reduce that damage again, possibly taking no damage.

Nulls terrify most Mages.

Nulls also have a difficulty being healed by spells, but not by imbibed or ingested materials that can heal or cure illness – that reduction applies to those spells as well, but there is no roll against them.

Using each ability

Every task that a character or monster might attempt in the game is covered by one of the six abilities. This section explains in more detail what those abilities mean and the ways they are used in the game.

Strength

Strength measures bodily power, athletic training, and the extent to which you can exert raw physical force.

Strength Checks

A Strength check can model any attempt to lift, push, pull, or break something, to force your body through a space, or to otherwise apply brute force to a situation. The Athletics skill reflects aptitude in certain kinds of Strength checks.

Athletics. Your Strength (Athletics) check covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping, or swimming. Examples include the following activities:

• You attempt to climb a sheer or slippery cliff, avoid hazards while scaling a wall, or cling to a surface while something is trying to knock you off.
• You try to jump an unusually long distance or pull off a stunt midjump.
• You struggle to swim or stay afloat in treacherous currents, storm-tossed waves, or areas of thick seaweed. Or another creature tries to push or pull you underwater or otherwise interfere with your swimming.

Other Strength Checks. The GM might also call for a Strength check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Force open a stuck, locked, or barred door.
• Break free of bonds.
• Push through a tunnel that is too small.
• Hang on to a wagon while being dragged behind it.
• Tip over a statue.
• Keep a boulder from rolling.

Attack Rolls and Damage

You add your Strength modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a melee weapon such as a mace, a battle-axe, or a javelin. You use melee weapons to make melee attacks in hand- to-hand combat, and some of them can be thrown to make a ranged attack.

Dexterity

Dexterity measures agility, reflexes, and balance.

Dexterity Checks

A Dexterity check can model any attempt to move nimbly, quickly, or quietly, or to keep from falling on tricky footing. The Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Dexterity checks.

Acrobatics. Your Dexterity (Acrobatics) check covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you’re trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope, or stay upright on a rocking ship’s deck. The GM might also call for a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts, including dives, rolls, somersaults, and flips.

Sleight of Hand. Whenever you attempt an act of legerdemain or manual trickery, such as planting something on someone else or concealing an object on your person, make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. The GM might also call for a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to determine whether you can lift a coin purse off another person or slip something out of another person’s pocket.

Stealth. Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard.

Other Dexterity Checks. The GM might call for a Dexterity check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Pick a lock.
• Disable a trap.
• Securely tie up a prisoner.
• Wriggle free of bonds.
• Play a stringed instrument.

Attack Rolls and Damage

You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon, such as a sling or a longbow. You can also add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a melee weapon that has the finesse property.

Armor Class

Depending on the armor you wear, you might add some or all of your Dexterity modifier to your Armor Class.

Initiative

At the beginning of every combat, you roll initiative by making a Dexterity check. Initiative determines the order of creatures’ turns in combat.

Constitution

Constitution measures health, stamina, and vital force.

Constitution Checks

Constitution checks are uncommon, and no skills apply to Constitution checks, because the endurance this ability represents is largely passive rather than involving a specific effort on the part of a character or monster. A Constitution check can model your attempt to push beyond normal limits, however.

The GM might call for a Constitution check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Hold your breath.
• March or labor for hours without rest.
• Go without sleep.
• Survive without food or water.
• Quaff an entire stein of ale in one go.

Hit Points

Your Constitution modifier contributes to your hit points. Typically, you add your Constitution modifier to each Hit Die you roll for your hit points.

If your Constitution modifier changes, your hit point maximum changes as well, as though you had the new modifier from 1st level. For example, if you raise your Constitution score when you reach 4th level and your Constitution modifier increases from +1 to +2, you adjust your hit point maximum as though the modifier had always been +2. So, you add 3 hit points for your first three levels, and then roll your hit points for 4th level using your new modifier. Or if you’re 7th level and some effect lowers your Constitution score so as to reduce your Constitution modifier by 1, your hit point maximum is reduced by 7.

Spellcasting Ability

Some folks this as part of their spellcasting ability.

Knowledge

Knowledge measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.

Knowledge Checks

A Knowledge check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. The Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Knowledge checks.

Arcana. Your Knowledge (Arcana) check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes.

History. Your Knowledge (History) check measures your ability to recall lore about historical events, legendary people, ancient kingdoms, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations.

Nature. Your Knowledge (Nature) check measures your ability to recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.

Religion. Your Knowledge (Religion) check measures your ability to recall lore about deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and the practices of secret cults.

Other Knowledge Checks. The GM might call for a Knowledge check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Estimate the value of a precious item.
• Pull together a disguise to pass as a city guard.
• Forge a document.
• Recall lore about a craft or trade.
• Win a game of skill.

Spellcasting Ability

Some folks this as part of their spellcasting ability.

Wisdom

Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition.

Wisdom Checks

A Wisdom check might reflect an effort to read body language, understand someone’s feelings, notice things about the environment, or care for an injured person. The Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Wisdom checks.

Animal Handling. When there is any question whether you can calm down a domesticated animal, keep a mount from getting spooked, or intuit an animal’s intentions, the GM might call for a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. You also make a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check to control your mount when you attempt a risky maneuver.

Medicine. A Wisdom (Medicine) check lets you try to stabilize a dying companion or diagnose an illness.

Survival. The GM might ask you to make a Wisdom (Survival) check to follow tracks, hunt wild game, guide your group through frozen wastelands, identify signs that owlbears live nearby, predict the weather, or avoid quicksand and other natural hazards.

Other Wisdom Checks. The GM might call for a Wisdom check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Get a gut feeling about what course of action to follow.
• Discern whether a seemingly dead or living creature is undead.

Spellcasting Ability

Some folks this as part of their spellcasting ability.

Perception

Perception replaces the perception from the skills list and represents the character’s ability to notice and become aware of things around them. Perception influences initiative. It is your awareness, your nerves, your ability to spot minor tells and dig up clues. Perception is not intuition.

Perception checks are used to search, identify, and more. It blends the traits of wisdom and knowledge.

Perception has an impact on your awareness.

Perception Checks

Your Perception check lets you spot, hear, or otherwise detect the presence of something. It measures your general awareness of your surroundings and the keenness of your senses.

For example, you might try to:

• hear a conversation through a closed door.
• eavesdrop under an open window.
• hear monsters moving stealthily in the forest.
• you might try to spot things that are obscured or easy to miss, whether they are orcs lying in ambush on a road, thugs hiding in the shadows of an alley, or candlelight under a closed secret door.
• Steer a chariot around a tight turn.
• Control a heavily laden cart on a steep descent.
• Communicate with a creature without using words.

Investigation. When you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, you make a Perception (Investigation) check. You might deduce the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. Poring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge might also call for a Knowledge (Investigation) check.

Insight. Your Perception (Insight) check decides whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone’s next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms.

Initiative Bonus

At the beginning of every combat, you roll initiative by making a Dexterity check, and you add your Perception modifier to it. Initiative determines the order of creatures’ turns in combat.

Spellcasting Ability

Some folks this as part of their spellcasting ability.

Charisma

Charisma measures your ability to interact effectively with others. It includes such factors as confidence and eloquence, and it can represent a charming or commanding personality.

Charisma Checks

A Charisma check might arise when you try to influence or entertain others, when you try to make an impression or tell a convincing lie, or when you are navigating a tricky social situation. The Deception, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Charisma checks.

Deception. Your Charisma (Deception) check determines whether you can convincingly hide the truth, either verbally or through your actions. This deception can encompass everything from misleading others through ambiguity to telling outright lies. Typical situations include trying to fast- talk a guard, con a merchant, earn money through gambling, pass yourself off in a disguise, dull someone’s suspicions with false assurances, or maintain a straight face while telling a blatant lie.

Intimidation. When you attempt to influence someone through overt threats, hostile actions, and physical violence, the GM might ask you to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check. Examples include trying to pry information out of a prisoner, convincing street thugs to back down from a confrontation, or using the edge of a broken bottle to convince a sneering vizier to reconsider a decision.

Performance. Your Charisma (Performance) check determines how well you can delight an audience with music, dance, acting, storytelling, or some other form of entertainment.

Persuasion. When you attempt to influence someone or a group of people with tact, social graces, or good nature, the GM might ask you to make a Charisma (Persuasion) check. Typically, you use persuasion when acting in good faith, to foster friendships, make cordial requests, or exhibit proper etiquette. Examples of persuading others include convincing a chamberlain to let your party see the king, negotiating peace between warring tribes, or inspiring a crowd of townsfolk.

Other Charisma Checks. The GM might call for a Charisma check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Find the best person to talk to for news, rumors, and gossip.
• Blend into a crowd to get the sense of key topics of conversation.

Spellcasting Ability

Some folks this as part of their spellcasting ability.

Derived Scores

Derived Scores are derived from your nine core Ability scores.

Sorry, there is math involved.

Derived Scores impact certain capabilities of the characters and operate much the same way as other scores – except they can be increased or decreased more readily and in different circumstances. Derived scores do not have modifiers.

Heart (Hrt)

Heart is derived by adding your Wis, Cha, and San together and dividing by three.

Heart is a flexible concept that measures just how hard it is to allow something bad to happen, how much effort you can put into something, and how much you care about others and can empathize with them. It seems weak but is a major aspect of one’s strength. Heart gets a reputation as being “silly” and “fluffy” and “earnest”, and yet Shrinewards make significant use of it, some creatures directly attack it.

Using Heart

Heart is the ability to resist despair, to overcome hopelessness, to defy the forces arrayed against you and stand up to them. It is the mouse flipping off the eagle, and the rescuer not being done digging to find survivors. Heart is rolled against and for some is a kind of energy that helps them to empower things.

If Heart ever drops to 0, the subject is rendered unconscious and will remain that way until they have recovered at least 1 point of heart, and they will have a hard time of it until they have recovered at least12 points of heart through outside intervention.

Heart is normally recovered at a rate of your Heart modifier every hour of rest during a short rest or long rest.

Your heart Modifier is based on your heart score.

Psyche (Psy)

Psyche is determined by adding your Kno, Wis, and Per together and dividing by 3.

Psyche is a general, catch all resistance to psychic effects, situations, and sometimes to just pure charm. It is a variation of willpower and self-discipline.

Using Psyche

Psyche is used whenever a character has to resist a full effect over their person that is psychic in nature or not directly due to damage, such as Pain. Psyche plays some role in Psychics in a way that is not fully understood.

Psychic energy can be both drawn from and used, as well as reduced through harm – the total amount of Psyche is essentially one’s psychic Hit points, and you use psyche when engaging in certain psychic actions and activities.

Psionic Power

A person has a number of Psi Points equal to four times their Psyche score plus their Level of Mastery. Only improving or increasing one’s Psyche score can alter this maximum number.

Psi Points are roughly the equivalent of Mana for Psychics, but function very differently. For one, psionic power is fixed, and much slower to recover.

Psychic Damage

Psychic damage reduces the total number of Psi Points first, then the total of Psyche. Running out of Psi Points results in being rendered unconscious, and further harm can be done to the now defenseless person’s Psyche.

Damage done to a person’s Psyche is traumatic, and requires a Heart save each time damage is taken to it. If a person’s Psyche is reduced to zero, they will be catatonic until they have been treated to help them recover, as once the score is reduced below 12, they no longer have the ability to recover psyche.

Psychic Recovery

A person recovers psionic power at the rate of their Psyche Modifier every hour during a long or short rest. This means that persons with a psyche of 11 or less do not recover Psyche without outside intervention.

Vitality (Vit)

Vitality is determined by adding your Con, Wis, and San scores together and dividing by three. This is a measure of your Flesh, to go with the measure of your Heart and your Psyche.

Vitality is a measure of the total Inner Will that a character has and is directly oppositional to Fatigue and Exhaustion, and has much to do with illness and conditions that can strike a character throughout their life.

Using Vitality

Vitality comes into play whenever one has to overcome a condition, deal with massive amounts of damage, or experience physically challenging events.

Whenever a character takes damage from a single attack or effect equal to their Vitality score, the character loses 1 point of Vitality. Less damage does not impact Vitality.

A point of Vitality can also be spent to overcome the effects of Fatigue or Exhaustion, on a one for one basis.

Vitality can also be spent to temporarily overcome a condition by making a successful Vitality roll against the condition’s difficulty, at the cost of 1 point of vitality.

Some attacks by creatures or beings can cause direct reduction to vitality – sucking the life out of you, in a sense.

Recovering Vitality

Completing a long rest restores a character’s vitality by 1 + the character’s Vitality modifier, up to the character’s maximum Vitality. For Characters with low vitality scores, this may not happen.

Effects that restore hit points have no effect on Vitality. Restoring Vitality requires either magic or psychic aid if it cannot be recovered normally.

Loss of Vitality

A character reduced to 0 vitality is immediately made unconscious. If a character is reduced to 0 hit points but his or her vitality remains above 0, any additional damage is applied instead to the character’s vitality.

Conditional Scores

There are two scores that have to do with a condition and encumbrance (how much you can carry).

Hauling (Haul) and modifier

Haul is determined by adding your Str, Dex, and Con together and dividing by three. It is likely on your Character record as “Uhnf!”, but also as Hauling.

Your hauling score is a change to the rules of encumbrance, used to determine how much you can carry, when you are slowed down by the weight you use, etc. This will be recorded on your possessions page.

Lifting and Carrying

Your Hauling score determines the amount of weight you can bear. The following terms define what you can lift or carry.

Push, Drag, or Lift. You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.

Size and Strength. Larger creatures can bear more weight, whereas Tiny creatures can carry less. For each size category above Medium, move the creature’s carrying capacity up and the amount it can push, drag, or lift up one score group. For each category below Medium, move two groups. So, if a size Tiny character with a score of 10 to 12 is involved, they would use the line for 4 to 6.

Using Hauling

Going uphill while dragging something. Unsticking a wagon bogged down in mud. Pulling a fellow adventurer out of a sand pit. Digging your way out of a slide you have survived.

These are all examples of when to use haul, but also it is used for simply seeing how much you are encumbered. Being Encumbered reduces your movement speed.

Reduction starts at the level listed plus 1 pound, so someone with a Haul of 12 is unencumbered until they reach 61 pounds of carried weight. At 4 through 6 degrees of encumbrance, you gain 1 point of fatigue for each full hour of hauling that.

There are six degrees of encumbrance, each of which slows one down a bit. In most circumstances a -30 to your movement speed means you are effectively standing still.

Faery characters use the same list but at one tenth (divide by ten) the weight. Also, from personal experience, I should tell you that a Faery carrying around 50 pounds of stuff is, well, not to be messed with. Or teased. We really don’t like it.

Haul Score	I (-5 to Speed)	II (-10 to Speed)	III (-15 to Speed)	IV (-25 to Speed)	V (-30 to Speed)	VI (-35 to Speed)
1 to 3	15 pounds	30 pounds	45 pounds	60 pounds	75 pounds	90 pounds
4 to 6	30 pounds	60 pounds	90 pounds	120 pounds	150 pounds	170 pounds
7 to 9	45 pounds	90 pounds	135 pounds	180 pounds	225 pounds	270 pounds
10 to 12	60 pounds	120 pounds	180 pounds	240 pounds	300 pounds	360 pounds
13 to 15	75 pounds	150 pounds	225 pounds	300 pounds	375 pounds	450 pounds
16 to 18	90 pounds	180 pounds	270 pounds	360 pounds	450 pounds	540 pounds
19 to 21	100 pounds	200 pounds	300 pounds	400 pounds	500 pounds	600 pounds
22 to 24	125 pounds	250 pounds	375 pounds	500 pounds	625 pounds	750 pounds
25 to 27	150 pounds	300 pounds	450 pounds	600 pounds	750 pounds	900 pounds
28 to 30	175 pounds	350 pounds	525 pounds	700 pounds	875 pounds	1150 pounds

Rage DC & Modifier

Rage is a loss of control caused by something that could make the character ‘see red” or “black out”– it could be due to a failed Sanity or perception check, or even a part of your normal process when in combat. It is bloodlust, a need to destroy, to hurt, to cause harm. It is the obverse of Heart.

Certain events, moments, traumas, and other key moments may cause a character to have to roll a Rage DC. People of Wyrlde tend to be more likely to experience it, especially during times of stress.

A character’s Rage DC is an unmodified d20 roll against the average of their Con, Wis, and San added together and divided by three. Elfin folks have disadvantage and Dwarf folks have advantage on this roll.

Exceeding the Rage DC means they launch into an uncontrollable rage.

While raging, you gain the following:

• If wearing armor, you take a penalty to all actions of -1 to -5, depending on the kind of armor you are wearing (Heavy = -5, Medium = -4, Light = -3, Common= -2, Basic = -1, Shield = -1). This includes Attack rolls but does not change your armor class.
• You have Advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a melee weapon attack you gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to your Proficiency bonus by level.
• Attacks using bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage are reduced by your Rage modifier.
• If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging.
• You will automatically disrupt any rituals.
• You will disrupt any spells or psychic powers being cast within 10 feet of you.
• You cannot use Hero Points while Raging.

Your rage lasts for 1 minute (10 rounds). It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action with a successful Heart check, forcing yourself back under control.

Once you have raged you must finish a long rest before you can rage again, and you take a -5 penalty to speed, a loss of 1 vitality, and a penalty of -1 to all rolls until then. In some cases, a DM may apply a fatigue point, as well.

Societal Scores

As ability scores reflect the inherent capabilities of the character, Societal scores reflect the character’s place and interaction with society around them.

Honor Score (Hon)

All characters start with an Honor score of 1.

The Honor score is a means of measuring a character’s devotion to their codes, values, and ideals.

Honor measures several things:

• Devotion to a code and their Values.
• The character’s understanding of other’s codes.
• How others perceive a character’s honor.
• A character’s reputation that others know about.

A high Honor score gives a bonus to Renown of one point for every five points of Honor.

Like other abilities, Honor can be raised with normal ability score increases. However, you can also gain increases or reductions to Honor based on a character’s actions.

At the end of an Adventure, if the group thinks a character’s actions in the adventure reflected well or poorly on his or her understanding of the code, you can increase or decrease the character’s Honor by 1.

A character’s Honor cannot exceed 30 or fall below 1.

Honor Checks

Honor checks can be used in social situations, much as Charisma would, when a character’s understanding of a code of conduct or ethical state is the most defining factor in the way a social interaction will play out. All Honor checks use the Charisma modifier, and Honor will be treated as an addition to a score used for this.

You might also hear a call for an Honor check when a character is in one of the following situations:

• Being unsure how to act with honor.
• Surrendering while trying to save face.
• Trying to determine another character’s Honor score.
• Trying to use the proper etiquette in a delicate social situation.
• Using his or her honorable or dishonorable reputation to influence someone else.

Note that some creatures are not honorable. Dread Foes are notable for a different sense of honor than most people, as well, and do not adhere to the nature of honor the way we do.

Honor Saving Throws

An Honor saving throw comes into play when you want to determine whether a character might inadvertently do something dishonorable. You might hear a call for an Honor saving throw in the following situations:

• Avoiding an accidental breach of honor or etiquette.
• Resisting the urge to respond to goading or insults from an enemy.
• Recognizing when an enemy attempts to trick a character into a breach of honor.

Piety (Pie)

Degrees of Piety
Seen	1 to 3
Ardent	4 to 6
Fan	7 to 9
Devout	11 to 12
Dedicated	13 to 15
Committed	16 to 18
Favored	19 to 20

Piety serves as a measure of a character’s link to the gods, and the fealty they have shown. Everyone starts with 1 point, maximum is 20, and it follows the degrees show at right.

Piety is tracked by your DM, based on the deities you are consecrated to. A character gains piety for honoring his or her gods, fulfilling their commands, and respecting their taboos. This is an average score based among all those you are baptized for.

A character loses piety for working against those gods, dishonoring them, defiling their temples, foiling their aims, or breaking taboos.

The gods bestow favors on those who prove their devotion. With each rank of piety gained beyond Seen, a character can pray for a divine favor once. This favor usually comes in the form of a cleric spell like bless. The favor often comes with a sign of the divine benefactor; for example, a character dedicated to a Storm Power might receive a spell accompanied by the boom of thunder.

Boons come at each Degree of Piety, though their usefulness and value may be questionable, and a Boon always has a minimum Piety requirement.

Using Piety

Piety is used when dealing with Powers, Denizens, and Spirits. When engaging in bargains, or other tasks that may require a roll, you can spend one point of Piety to gain Advantage on the roll. Note that this reduces your Piety, meaning it is a way to make you less pious.

Degrees of Renown
Unknown	1 to 3
Rumored	4 to 6
Heard of	7 to 9
Popular	11 to 12
Well Known	13 to 15
Famous	16 to 18
Idol	19 to 20

Renown (Ren)

Your starting Renown score is 1.

Renown is more than just a measure of how well known, famous, infamous, popular, or otherwise known by the general populace a character is. Deeply honorable people tend to gain a little more than those who are less honorable.

Renown is a numerical value that starts at 1, then increases as a character earns favor and reputation within a particular organization. Maximum renown is 20 and it uses the degrees at right.

Renown is tracked by your DM, for each of the following elements for each character: Factions, Fealties, Profession, and World. Because Wyrlde is deeply connected via such trade tools as the Riverboats, Airships, Trains, and even simple merchant caravans, it is very quick to spread the word of the folks who make a difference – for ill or otherwise.

Gaining Renown

A character earns renown by completing missions or quests. DM’s award renown at their discretion as characters complete these missions or quests, typically at the same time you award experience points.

Advancing a Realm’s interests increases a character’s renown by one. Completing a mission specifically assigned by that realm, or which directly benefits the realm, increases the character’s renown by two instead. A spectacular action, such as freeing a small village from a major evil may increase one’s Renown by 3 points.

Benefits of Renown

The benefits of increasing renown can include rank and authority, friendly attitudes from people of the realm, and other perks. This can include marks of prestige, knighthood, and assorted other benefits.

Groups will often have a sort of combined renown, and there is often competition among them for choice assignments, and of course the Guild itself will offer the best and most lucrative assignments to those with the greater renown first.

Note that your DM tracks your renown among certain groups as well as the forces that oppose you.

Rank

Characters can earn promotions as their renown increases.

At certain thresholds of renown that serve as prerequisites (though not necessarily the only prerequisites) for advancing in rank, various rewards are offered by Villages, Towns, and Cities. This can include assorted titles.

Attitudes of the Population.

As a character’s renown within a realm or at large grows, people are increasingly likely to have heard of the character. There are thresholds at which the default attitude of a realm toward the character becomes indifferent or friendly. These thresholds apply only to the default attitude of most people, and such attitudes aren’t automatic.

NPC faction members might dislike an adventurer despite that character’s renown — or perhaps because of it.

Perks

Earning a rank comes with certain benefits. A character of low rank might gain access to a reliable contact and adventure leads, a safe house, or a trader willing to offer a discount on adventuring gear. A middle-ranked character might gain a follower, access to potions and scrolls, the ability to call in a favor, or backup on dangerous missions. A high-ranking character might be able to call on a small army, take custody of a rare magic item, gain access to a helpful spellcaster, or assign special missions to members of lower rank.

Downtime Activities.

Characters may have a chance to spend downtime between adventures building relationships and gaining renown within an organization. This is sometimes called “Face Time” or “Fan Service”.

Losing Renown

Disagreements are not enough to cause a loss of renown.

However, serious offenses committed can result in a loss of renown and rank within the organization. The extent of the loss depends on the infraction and is left to the DM’s discretion. A character’s renown can never drop below 0.

Inspiration (Ins)

You start the game with 1 point of inspiration.

Inspiration is a rule the game master can use to reward you for playing your character in a way that is true to his or her personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.

By using inspiration, you can draw on your personality trait of compassion for the downtrodden to give you an edge in negotiating with the Beggar Prince. Or inspiration can let you call on your bond to the defense of your home village to push past the effect of a spell that has been laid on you.

You can have up to a total of 5 Inspiration points.

Gaining Inspiration

You gain 1 point of inspiration every time you achieve a new level of Mastery. Some characters gain inspiration every day.

Typically, DMs award it when you play out your personality traits, give in to the drawbacks presented by a flaw or bond, and otherwise portray your character in a compelling way.

Using Inspiration

If you have inspiration, you can expend it when you make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. Spending your inspiration gives you Advantage on that roll. It can be done after the roll, but before it takes effect.

Additionally, if you have inspiration, you can reward another player for good roleplaying, clever thinking, or simply doing something exciting in the game. When another player character does something that really contributes to the story in a fun and interesting way, you can give 1 point of inspiration to that character.

Hero Points

Your character starts with no Hero points.

You earn hero points for doing something notably heroic. Each time you increase a degree of mastery, you will gain an additional 1 point. You can have no more than 5 hero points.

At the end of each session, the players can all award 1 hero point to a member of the party. Some creatures will earn you a hero point simply facing them down, and in some cases, you will gain a hero point for doing something heroic but not using inspiration or Hero points to alter the roll.

Using Hero Points

Hero points are spent by you to perform heroic actions or recover from very unheroic ones. Any time you make an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can spend a hero point before the results are applied. Spending a hero point allows you to roll a 1d6 and add it to the d20 roll.

You can only spend one hero point per die roll.

You can also spend one Hero Point whenever you fail a death saving roll.

Physicality

Not everyone is what folks think of as able bodied. Nor is being able bodied any kind of requirement.

Wyrlde has, since its earliest years, sought to provide assistive devices to those who needed them, and so there are people with clockwork limbs, clockwork wheelchairs, and other features. These are treated as if they were a part of an able body normally, with exceptions noted under gear.

Note that Wyrlde does not use Conditions named Blindness, Deafness, crippled, and so forth. Instead, it uses sightless, silenced, and other terms. You can see them further in the section on Conditions.

These, then, can be aspects to your character. They are not seen as limitations, but neither do they come with special abilities – you cannot suddenly have Keen Senses because you are blind. Conversely, a club foot does not inherently limit speed or motion, and a peg leg is going to be more common than an ornately carved clockwork limb.

If your character uses mobility or other aids, you will be able to purchase them during the equipment stage of creating a character.

Physical Appearance

Under Heritage, there is a great deal of information about physical appearance, including possible colorations.

The bulk of the people of Wyrlde have brown or black wavy hair and brown or blue eyes, with light brown skin. This is the baseline and the norm, to the point that the majority of everyone you see will fall into these simple descriptions.

The assorted Heritages change that for some, but not much, and part of the reason for that is that over time they have blended fairly strongly, and it is only alternative factors that have had an impact.

Among the things happening far more frequently for the last 100 or so years has been the development of bright and different hair colors. Blues, greens, yellows, reds, oranges, shades and variants unlike anything seen before.

The same applies to eye colors, as well, although there have long been brightly colored eyes, those shades are now far more pronounced and variable.

The Heritage descriptions provide charts with newly common colors, and each color includes a hexadecimal code for that color.