In order to live your daily life, in order to make best use of your skills, in order to fight battles, you need to know the rules of the game to do so. On this page, the various rules that are needed to play in this game are collected in one easily accessible package. Reading through these rules is of vital importance if you want to make sure you character is valid for playing, and that you can get the best enjoyment out of the game.
So, read carefully, and don't be afraid to return to this page if something confounds you or puzzles you in the future still.
Attack Action
Using one of the Attacks granted to you by your Agility Rank (the number varies), perform one melee or ranged weapon (or unarmed ) attack against one opponent. Roll 1d100 and compare your ACC score to your opponent's DOD score. For every point that your ACC score is lower than your opponent's DOD score, you have a +10% chance of missing. For example, making an attack with ACC 2 vs. DOD 4 would give you a 20% chance of missing. In this example, if you would roll 20 or lower with your 1d100 roll, your attack would miss.
On the other hand, for every point your ACC score is higher than the opponent's DOD score, you gain a +5% chance of a critical hit. For example, makin an attack with ACC 4 vs. DOD 2 would give you a 10% chance of a critical hit. In this example, if you would roll 90 or higher with your 1d100 roll, your attack would be a critical hit.
Multiple Attacks
When you can make multiple attacks during your Turn, you can deliver a veritable barrage of strikes against your enemy. However, while you can certainly put your strength behind the main attack, your other attacks suffer a lack of strength because of your concentration. One of your multiple attacks does 100% of its damage as normal, but the other ones only do 50% of the maximum damage possible – rounded up. Before attacking, you choose which of your attacks will be the full damage one, and which will have only half the power. This means, consequently, that even your main attack can go wide and miss the enemy.
Ability Action
Instead of physical attacks, you can also use your Abilities in combat. Your Key Attribute governs how many abilities you can use per Combat Tun. Each Rank of an ability counts as 1 charge, and that is compared to the amount of charges you have per Turn. You can utilize your powers as much as you want per turn until you hit your charge limit or go over it. The charges used are calculated (the actual, in-game order can be different) by adding the charge costs of usages together from highest to lowest. For example, if your Key Attribute Rank would be B, your charge limit would be 4. Thus you could use four E Rank abilities (1+1+1+1), two D Rank abilities (2+2), one C Rank ability and one E Rank ability (3+1) or one B Rank ability (4). For every point you go over your charge limit, your body experiences painful feedback as the overflow of power tears your body. Every point translates damage done to you that's 5% of your Maximum HP. As such, using A Rank ability (5 charges) with E Rank Key Attribute would cause you 20% of your Maximum HP's worth of damage.
Remember that when using abilities, the higher-Ranked abilities can cause Overheat, which makes it harder to use them in quick succession. Refer to “Ability Overheat” for more information.
Movement
During your Turn in combat, you can move up to your movement speed to change your position on the battlefield. This can be done along with all the other things you can do, such as using attacks, using abilities, using skills, etc. The movement can be broken up into pieces, which means you can, for example, attack in-between movement. However, you can also focus on nothing else but movement during your Turn, disallowing all other actions. When this is done, you can move up to three times your movement speed in a single Turn.
Skill Usage
If you want to use one of your Skills in the middle of the combat to achieve something (such as finding a hidden enemy or hiding from an enemy yourself) you can use one of your Attack Actions to perform a Skill Check. Roll a normal Skill Check with 1d10 (plus any modifiers the GM might require, as caused by the current battle situation/environment). If the Skill Check is a success, you succeed in your Skill Usage. No Skill can be utilized more than once by you per a Combat Turn. If you utilize both a Skill and Ability in one Turn, it counts as Mixed Ability/Attack Combat (See that section).
Grapple
You can attempt to grapple an enemy at a melee range to restrain their movement and actions in battle. By using one of your Attack Actions, roll a 1d10 + Your Athletics Score, as determined by your Athletics Skill Rank. The opponent rolls a 1d10 + Either their Athletics Score or Acrobatics Score to avoid being grappled. If your result is higher, you grapple the opponent. If the opponent's result is higher, they escape the grapple. On a success, the opponent is grappled and [Restrained], but they can spend one of their attack actions to try to break the grapple, forcing another Skill Contest as described previously.
Guard
You focus on defense and keeping yourself alive. You can take a Guard Action by disallowing all your other Actions (sans movement) and taking a defensive posture (whether it's dodging, parrying, blocking, etc.) In this stance, you increase your DOD score by +3.
Shove
If you want to make more space for yourself in combat, you can use one of your Attacks to make a Shove Action instead of an attack. You and the opponent make opposing Athletics Checks by rolling 1d10 + Your Athletics Score, as determined by your Athletics Skill Rank. If your result is higher, you can either push the opponent Prone on the ground, or up to your Rank in STR of meters away from you. If your result is lower, your attempt fails.
Mixed Ability/Attack Combat
Sometimes you need to use both your ability and your physical attacks in a combat. In this case, you cannot achieve perfection in both, as you need to divide your attention between each separate area. To calculate your mixed combat score, add the number of attacks you have to your charge limit, halve it, then round it up. This gives the number of points you can distribute between attacking and ability usage. In other words, one point can be used to have either 1 attack or increasing charge limit by 1. You cannot go above your normal limits in either of these categories. In addition, you can only use abilities that have a Rank of your Key Attribute Rank -1, as you can't concentrate enough to bring out your maximum potential.
Taking Damage
Whenever you are hit by an attack that deals damage, you are protected by certain things from the full brunt of the attack (unless the attack itself bypasses these defenses). First is your basic defense. This can change depending on whether the attack causes physical, WIL, INT or EGO damage. You deduce your defense score from the amount of damage done (to a minimum of 1), after which you see if there's any damage left. From there, any further defenses and additional damage is calculated.
Here is a quick run down of how damage is calculated:
When it comes to the PHYS/WIL/INT/EGO defenses, the type of attack determines which defense it will come after. However, in most cases, the abilities divide like so:
Critical Hits
When you suffer a critical hit, you double the damage total that is calculated from all the other sources. In other words, the damage reduced by armors, defenses and other such things. A critical hit does not hit you automatically, however. For example, if you would gain a guaranteed critical hit no matter what you roll, you would still have to hit your opponent for it to apply.
Mental Defense Shattering & Protection Formula
Some abilities affect the mind, soul and existence of the target in a way that does not translate to straight up damage. In these situations, the Mental Defense Shattering Score of the ability-user is compared to the Mental Shatter Protection Score of the opponent. In order to calculate both your Shattering Score and your own Protection Score (Remember that each attribute's mental defense has its own), use the following formulas.
Mental Defense Shattering Score VS. Mental Shatter Protection Score
When an ability tries to overcome the mental defense of the target(s), the Mental Defense Shattering Score of the ability-user is compared to the Mental Shatter Protection Score of the target. Then, the user rolls 1d100. Depending on the difference between the Shattering and Protection, the target of the roll changes. When the scores are equal, the user must roll 50 or lower for the ability to go through. For each +1 point the Shattering Score is higher than the Protection Score, that number increases by +10. For each -1 point the Shattering Score is lower than the Protection Score, that number decreases by -10. This means that if the Shattering Score is 5 points lower than the Protection Score, it cannot affect the target. In reverse, if the Shattering Score is 5 points higher than the Protection Score, it always affects the target.
Calculating Basic Ability Damage
In order to calculate the basic damage of your offensive abilities, you must add together the various boosts that come to play. Of course, remember that this is only the very basic damage that the ability would do against one target on middling range with no additional effects. The damage score would be calculated as such:
Depending on the range of the ability, area-of-effect and additional effects caused by it, this score can be lowered by either player choice or by the GM.
Ability Rank Score
When designing an ability and calculating its starting damage, Shattering Score or other factors, you will often need your Ability Rank score. This is a score determined by the Rank of the Ability you use (as the name suggests), and is a key part in the calculations.
The Ability Rank Scores are as follows:
Key Mental Attribute Becoming Rank F
While normally if you would have your Key Mental Attribute be of the Rank F, it would mean that you are unable to use your abilities. This is not the case when some outside force lowers your Mental Attribute to that Rank. In those cases, you are still able to use your abilities. However, you do them with all the limitations (such as Charge Limits) that an F-Rank Ability would bring.
Elemental Weakness and Strengths on Non-Damage Abilities
If you have elemental weakness against an ability that targets your Mental Shatter Protection, your Mental Shatter Protection Score is reduced by -50%. If the ability used causes no damage and does not target your Mental Shatter Protection Score, but has a duration, that duration is increased by half (Rounded up). In reverse, if you have an Elemental Resistance against an ability that targets your Mental Shatter Protection, your Mental Shatter Protection Score is increased by +50%. If the ability used causes no damage and does not target your Mental Shatter Protection Score, but has a duration, that duration is decreased by half (Rounded up).
Prepared Actions
In some cases, you cannot act immediately unless your opponent acts or something else happens. In these cases, you can do a Prepared Action. In other words, you set up conditions that will trigger your action (For example, “when the hidden enemy comes to my view”) and if those conditions are met before the start of your next Turn, your action will happen and interrupt anything else that is going on. You can only prepare a single Attack, Skill Usage, Combat Maneuver (Such as Shove or Grapple) or Ability Usage this way, and other than Preparing an Action, you can only move on the Turn you do so. If you prepare an ability, you can only prepare one with a Rank of your Key Attribute -1, to a minimum of E-Rank. In addition, you also pay half of your Ability Cost upfront when you prepare an Action, and rest of it when the conditions are met.
Turns and Rounds
In gameplay and especially during combat, Turns and Rounds become important. 1 Turn consists of your actions in combat during 10 second interval, and counts as one post. Meanwhile 1 Round consists of the Turns of all the combatants present (even if some of the Turns are not visible). All abilities have their duration in Rounds, unless otherwise noted – the starting point is considered the Turn you cast it, and the ending point is your Turn on that Round the effect ends.
Using A-Rank Abilities
Because of the extremely taxing nature of most powerful abilities of the Turnside (namely, A-Rank abilities), they are not suited to being cast multiple times in a single Turn. Indeed, any attempt would just cause the ability to fizzle out and waste your supernatural resources that power your abilities. In other words, it is impossible for one to use two A-Rank abilities on the same Turn.
Ability Overheat
Whenever you use your abilities, whether they be magic, ESP or something else, you strain your body to an extent to bring about the phantasy-like changes in the environment or in yourself. If you strain yourself too much, this can have repercussions for yourself and your own body, lowering your overall capabilities as a denizen of the Turnside. A momentary weakness and lack of power caused by using your more powerful abilities is called Overheat, and it is a danger to any and all ability users.
Overheat and its Cooldown Rounds work as follows:
Dropping to 0 HP or Negative HP, and the effect of Determination Turns
Even the strongest body cannot fight forever. Eventually everyone's Hit Points will drop to 0 HP from the damage they take. Remember that, unless it's a case where the GM decrees so, an attack will only drop you to 0 HP, even if by numbers alone it would take you to Negative HP. When this happens, there are two options available to you. You can either succumb to the attack, or try to soldier on for just a moment longer with your sheer willpower. In other words, the moment you drop to 0 HP, you can choose whether or not to activate your Determination Turns.
In a case where you do not activate your Determination Turns:
In a case where you do activate your Determination Turns:
Negative HP and Medicine Skill Checks
If you have the will, the necessary skills – and in some cases equipment/space – you can attempt to stabilize a character that is succumbing to their wounds, either Incapacitated or in their Determination Turns. Depending on the severity of the wounds that the person has, the required Medicine Skill Rank can change. If you have equal or higher Skill Rank as required, you can perform either an Immediate Check, or an Auto Check if you have the time. In any event, if you succeed, the character becomes stabilized at 0 HP. They remain Incapacitated until they have had an effective Rest equal to a Night Phase Rest, after which they recover 1/4th of their HP and lose the Incapacitated status. Characters in their Desperation Turns must remain still while treated, and can move and act afterwards (as long as they do not reopen their wounds from strenuous activity), but once the Desperation Turns end, they too succumb to Incapacitated status and recover as described above.
Resting
Even the mightiest warrior or strongest ability-user needs to Rest eventually and regain their powers. When you Rest, you regain all your HP and ability resources (unless an Injury prohibits it). In addition, Minor Injuries that have been treated with a successful Medicine Check are healed during the Rest.
Resting happens most often during the Night Phase. As Night Phase lasts for 8 Hours, you need to spend over half of it (4 Hours) at least sleeping in order for the Rest to count. This leaves you with a small amount of hours to do Light Activities, such as reading, hanging out and other things that do not tax your physical or mental powers, or involve lots of work such as large amounts of Crafting. While normally Light Activities can only be performed on the Campus Area of the Pinefall High School, if you have an access to a vehicle (the school loans bicycles and you can get a key from the janitor) you can visit few of the more close-by areas of the school while still making it count as Light Activity. Check the Night Time Map of Road's End to see what areas these are.
There's also a possibility of Skipping the School Phase and Resting during that, though that is not as comprehensive resting as doing it during the Night Phase. See “Skipping School” part of the rules for more information about this.
Minor, Moderate and Massive Injuries
In the heat of the battle, or even out of battle, scrapes, bruises, cuts or even much more injuries are a reality and an unfortunate one at that. If someone lives and fights on the Turnside of the world, injuries of various kinds are a part of the mundane life. Of course, same can be said for those who live on the proper side of the world, too. That's just a fact of life. Still, Injuries can be separated into three different tiers: Minor, Moderate and Massive. Each tier is also separated into two categories: Physical and Spiritual. These represented the sources an injury can come from – physical damage or mental damage.
Each Tier of Injury comes fom a different amount of damage dealt to you. They are counted as follows:
When you suffer enough damage that it could cause multiple times of injuries, you add those percentages together. If you roll equal or under that amount, depending on the amount of your roll, the Tier of Injury might change. So, for example, if you suffer 30 damage, you would have a 45% chance of Minor Injury, 30% chance of Moderate Injury and 15% of Massive Injury, making the total chance 90%.
Only a certain amount of Injuries can be caused in a Turn. You can suffer only 1 Massive, 1 Moderate or 2 Minor Injuries in total in a Turn. If you suffer either a Massive or Moderate Wound, you can still suffer 1 Minor Injury on top of that.
Also, remember that in case of Injuries with same effects, the stronger effect always overrides the weaker – they do not stack naturally.
Injuries Roll Table
Minor
Physical
1. Bruised Chest: Your Fatigue Resistance Score is reduced by 1.
2. Damaged Pelvis: Reduce your Movement by 1 Meter, to the minimum of 1. Can stack.
3. Dislocated Shoulder: ACC reduced by 1 until healed. Can stack.
4. Lesser Haemorrhage: Lose 1 Hit Point at the start of each of your Turns. Can stack.
5. Scrape Wound: Natural PHYS Defense reduced by 1. Can stack.
6. Torn Muscle: Natural PHYS Damage reduced by 1. Can stack.
Spiritual
1. Aching Head: Your Maximum amount of Determination Turns is reduced by 1 to a minimum of 1.
2. Blocked Paths: Ability damage is reduced by 1. Can stack.
3. Chakra Loss: Lose 1 Resource Point at the start of each of your Turns. Can stack.
4. Concussion: Natural Mental Defense (Roll 1d3 in the order of WIL/INT/EGO) is reduced by 1. Can stack.
5. Fogged Mind: All Skill Checks are given +1 modifier. Can stack.
6. Hazy Vision: DOD reduced by 1 until healed. Can stack.
Moderate
Physical
1. Battered Body: Your Fatigue Resistance Score is halved (Rounded down to a minimum of 1).
2. Broken Leg: Your Movement is halved (Rounded down to a minimum of 1).
3. Compromised Vigor: Natural Physical Defense Halved.
4. Pained Back: Ability to wield armors/weapons reduced by 2 Ranks.
5. Muscle Shakes: Your ACC Score is halved (Rounded down to a minimum of 1).
6. Weakened Strength: Natural Unarmed Damage Halved.
Spiritual
1. Agonized Mind: Natural Mental Defense (Roll 1d3 in the order of WIL/INT/EGO) is reduced by 1/3.
2. Blocked Paths: Ability usage has 25% of failure.
3. Distorted Memories: All Skill Checks are given +5 modifier.
4. Distorted Senses: Perception Halved.
5. Splitting Migraine: Your Maximum amount of Determination Turns is halved (Rounded down to a minimum of 1).
6. Tangled Nerves: Your DOD Score is halved (Rounded down to a minimum of 1).
Massive
Physical
1. Broken Back: Movement speed and DOD become 0 and ACC is halved. Counted constantly as Prone.
2. Torn Muscles: Natural Phys Damage and Defense both become 1. Cannot wield weapons, and cannot move if wearing armor.
3. Fractured Body: Must choose between Ability Action, Attack Action or Movement per turn. Cannot move and take an Action during the same Turn.
4. Limb Loss: Loss of X limb (roll 1d4) and any function requiring it.
5. Major Haemorrhage: Lose 7 Hit Points at the start of each of your Turns.
6. Gaping Wound: A large injury that is lethal. Cannot enter Desperation Turns. After 1d3 Rounds, drop to 0 HP and become [Incapacitated].
Spiritual
1. Abolished Memories: You cannot remember anything. All Skill Ranks are lost.
2. Eye Loss: Loss of eyes. You are [Blinded] until they are regenerated.
3. Knockout Coma: Become [Incapacitated] after 1d3 Rounds, until the injury is removed.
4. Beaten Lungs: Suffocating, 1+END Rank amount of minutes until dropping to 0 HP. Healing back to Maximum HP removes suffocation. If healed insufficiently, the suffocation starts again.
5. Shattered Mind: All Mental Defenses become 0.
6. Wounded Soul: Destruction of a vital organ. Ability damage and shatter score are reduced to 0.
Reaction Ability Variation
Sometimes an ability that simply increases your defenses or makes you harder to hit isn't enough. Sometimes there is not enough time to cast such an ability, and instead one would need a variation that can be cast immediately as a response to a threat that has nearly surprised you. In preparation for cases like these, it is possible to add to the depth of you defensive ability even more, creating a variation of it that can be cast as a Reaction. Just remember that this Reaction Variation has to be derived from the original defensive ability, and not all abilities are eligible for such a variation, as per GM's discretion.
Every character has 1 Reaction in a Round. This means that an ability that can be cast as a Reaction can be cast immediately as a response to something someone else in that combat does. In this manner, it is possible to cast shields against physical attacks, elemental absorbing towards supernatural attacks, short-range teleports versus Area-of-Effect attacks and anything else of that ilk that you can imagine. However, since Reaction Abilities are made immediately, they are also very taxing.
When creating a Reaction Variation, the following rules apply.
Fatigue Resistance Score and Fatigue Saving Rolls
Whenever you spend the Night Phase doing other than resting, you run the risk of getting fatigued. Fatigue is a serious condition that hampers your capacity to act the next day, meaning you'd do well to avoid it. However, sometimes you just need to power through it. This is where the Fatigue Resistance comes along.
If you have spent over half of the Night Phase (4 hours) doing more than light activity (such as reading, talking, etc.) you will make a Fatigue Saving Roll at the start of each Day and Night after that, until you spend a Night Phase to Rest once more. You roll a 1d10 against your Fatigue Resistance Score. If your roll is equal or below to your Fatigue Resistance Score, you manage to keep yourself fully functional. If it's higher, you will suffer one level of Fatigue, which comes with its own set of problems. Depending on your activities you do while Fatigued, you may be subjected to additional Fatigue Saving Rolls. See Status Effects for more information about Fatigue.
The absolute maximum capacity of your Fatigue Resistance Score is 9, even if it would rise above it from other sources.
Surprise Attack
If you're good at stealth and are able to stay out of the enemy's sight (See Skills for Perception and Stealth), you can launch a surprise attack towards the enemy. This can be done with either a melee weapon, ranged weapon or an ability. When launching a surprise attack from Stealth, you gain the following benefits. For the first attack you make, your ACC score is counted as +1 and your attack automatically starts the combat, putting you first in the Initiative Order. After this you proceed with your Turn as normal. The only exception to the latter rule is that if there is someone around for the combat who has spotted you, but is not the target of your surprise attack. In addition, if you Surprise Attack someone, they cannot use Reactions to respond to the first attack.
Shielding Someone
In combat, it is possible to shield someone with your own body if you want to make sure they stay alive or simply want to lay your life down for someone else. This is not always possible, of course, but in the right circumstances, it is. You can only protect someone with your body when they are targeted by an attack that would hit only them. The target can also only be within half of your movement range. When the attack you want to intercept happens, you spend your Reaction (See Reaction Abilities) to rush to the target's side and shield them with your body. In other words, you move into their space and shove them up to your STR Rank in meters away in a direction of your choosing (though not to the direction of the attack). The attack the hits you. Even if you would have avoided this attack normally, but it would have hit the original target, it will still hit you.
Healing Status Effects
Sometimes, especially in case of common Status Effects such as Stun or Poison, it may be possible to heal them, even in the field of battle in a manner of seconds. Depending on the severity, this might mean they are completely healed, or that their effects are pushed for later to allow full combat prowess at the moment. To try and heal someone else's Status Effect, one must first have Medicine Skill of equal Rank as the Ability (or other source) that caused the Status Effect. Next, it takes a successful Medicine Skill Check to heal the status effect, meaning it is using a Skill in combat as normal. In some cases, special tools (such as a first aid kit or the like) may be required to heal the Status Effect. There are also cases where the effect is so severe that the GM decrees that it cannot be healed by a simple Medicine Check in the midst of combat.