All characters have the same 4 defining pools. These indicate how sturdy you are. The amount of each pool is determined by your race.
- Blood (b): Blood is a measure of how much damage you can take before you are killed.
- 0 Blood: If you would drop BELOW 0 blood, you enter Critical (See Death, Dying and Living Again).
- Spirit (s): Spirit is a measure of your inner energies and versatility. It is used to fuel abilities.
- 0 Spirit: If you would drop below 0 spirit, Take Effect Knockout until you have that spirit restored. You are allowed to spend spirit that you don’t have, but you will take this effect.
- Strength (r): Strength represents your physical prowess. It can be bid to do physical feats with more ease.
- Will (w): Will represents your mental capacity. It can be bid to do mental feats with more ease.
- Armor (a): Armor can come either from natural abilities, or from items or clothing. More details can be found in the Equipment section.
Many skills and abilities require you to spend resources to activate them. Blood and Spirit are usually easily restored, but Will and Strength will not return until the next month; Will and Strength are always considered deep expenditures. Sometimes, you are asked to spend Deep Blood or Spirit; deep represent a character tapping into their inner power and in doing so lowers their pool maximum, and it will not return until next month.
- Spirit: Must take: Long Down, long exhaustion, and drink water for 1 minute - Self Restore: All Spirit
- Blood: Must Take: Long Down, Long Exhaustion, and eat food for 5 minutes - Self Restore: All Blood.
You have 1 + [Spirit Pool] Ability Slots. If a skill or imbuement would increase or decrease your Spirit Pool, your ability slots will be affected as well. Spending Spirit does not affect how many skills you can have active.
You may change slotted abilities by taking Long Down and Long Exhaustion. Feel free to roleplay meditation, focus, or anything else suited to your character.
In the world of Sommerset, it is possible to empower others with temporary boons. These fall into two categories: Imbuements or Auras.
- Imbuements: These are Boons that are housed within a person’s body. Every Imbuement takes up an Imbuement Slot. Each PC begins with 3 Imbuement Slots that may be used. After they have been filled you may not receive additional Imbuements without giving up an existing Imbuement. Imbuements may be used at any time and once spent the slot is free. You may not have two of the same Imbuement. Imbuements are lost when someone enters their Death count, or after three days have elapsed.
- Auras: These are temporary boons that exist around a person’s body but do not require an imbuement slot. There is no limit to the number of Auras one may have at a time (no duplicates), but you will lose all Auras as soon as you are struck by any attack (whether you defend against it or not).