Sea Stance: +2 Strength, +3 Damage Reduction Bypass
Wind Stance: +2 Dexterity, +1 Armor Class
Flame Stance: +2 Charisma, +1 damage to all physical and magical attacks
Stone Stance: +2 Constitution, +1 Damage Reduction
Chapter 9
1 Feat: Dodge
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but misses never hurt me.
Dodge: You have a percentage chance to dodge incoming attacks and effects. Your dodge chance is based on your Dexterity score.
2 Damage type: Acid
Acid damage dissolves. Acid is one of five elemental damage types; the others are Fire, Cold, Electric and Sonic.
3 Your class represents your training and general philosophy towards adventuring. Some classes, such as Sorcerer and Wizard, may seem similar, but have completely opposing perspectives towards the use and control of arcane magic, and they will have different Granted Abilities as well as Skill and Feat options. You may take levels in as many different classes as you like, but diversifying comes at the expense of gaining expertise in any one class. Taking all your levels in a single class is referred to as a “pure build”, two classes is “dual classing”, and three or more is called “gimped”.
4 Class: Monk
Monks are martial artists dedicated to the pursuit of perfection of self. They have turned their bodies into weapons and use their insight and understanding of the world to defeat all obstacles, including such petty nuisances as that inconvenient, mountain sized draco-litch over there.
Monks can manipulate the non-magical energy of the world around them, which they call ki. Ki is accessed by performing katas, and can be used to land especially devastating strikes, leap high into the air, or find an enemies weakness. Monks can emulate the natural world by choosing to exist in a stance, each of which has some benefits and detriments.
Monks are happy to share their enlightenment with others, usually in the form of some serious ass-kicking. They are easy to get along with provided that you don’t mock their ability to render you unconscious with their pinky finger, and you never ask them any question that you don’t want a long, indirect, confusing parable as an answer to.
5 Class: Ranger
Rangers are independent fighting combatants that rely heavily on skills. Most of them gained their abilities out in the wilderness and are just as happy to live on the fringes of society, making a living as trackers and trappers and guides. They are proficient with light armor that leaves them mobile, but cannot use heavy tower shields or platemail.
Rangers come in two types: “ranged rangers” specializing in distance combat that can put an arrow in a bulls eye from halfway across the world, and then two more next to it before anyone has figured out where the first on even came from; and “melee rangers” that use Ambidextrous Fighting to slice and dice their way in and out of combat.
Rangers do no appreciate the terms “redneck” or “hillbilly” or “that crazy mountain man that smells like a sasquatch”. They are simply very practical folks that cure their own hides and think of hairbrushes as extra weight. If you piss off your ranger you are likely to find yourself stranded a long way from home with a note pinned to the poison ivy saying “Makes great toilet paper, really!”
6 Class: Rogue
Rogues are skill based adventurers that engage in combat indirectly, hiding in the shadows and striking when they are least expected. Some rogues prefer to avoid direct confrontation and instead defeat their enemies with clever tricks and traps. Rogues have access to more skills than any other class, including the exclusive Improvise Magic Device and Trapsmithing.
Rogues are easy to get along with so long as you are fanatically curious about everything under the sun, and not under the sun, and want to know the name of every type of fastener ever invented, and are also very “detail oriented”. You can tell when your rogue likes you because they’ll point out the hidden tripwire before you walk into it.
7 Multiclassing Limit: 3
You may not have more than 3 different, stable, sane, adventuring philosophies at the same time. You just can’t.
8 Granted Abilities are talents bestowed on you when you reach a certain level in a given class. Everyone with enough levels in a class will receive the Granted Ability. Granted Abilities are usually specific to the class that grants them and not available for general access. Granted abilities are acquired upon leveling.
9 Granted Ability: Unarmed Fighting
Your hands have become lethal weapons. So have your feet, knees, elbows, teeth, forehead and any other appendage you might possess. You no longer provoke an Attack of Opportunity or suffer any attack penalties while fighting without conventional weapons, and are now officially more likely to hurt your opponent than yourself in a fist fight.
10 Granted Ability: Centered
You have studied the ways of internal enlightenment and can now channel this energy as ki. In order to do so, you must be free of material encumbrance such as heavy loads or armor. While centered, you may also apply your Wisdom modifier to your Armor Class, as you are now able to avoid threats by anticipating them.
11 Skill: Swim
Come on in, the water is fine. Really.
The Swim skill is a measurement of your ability to maneuver under and through water. A good swim skill allows you to move faster and more efficiently while avoiding inhaling the waves.
Base: Strength
Note: At least one point in Swim is required to keep your head above water or make any forward progress in a liquid medium.
12 Skill: Climb
Two dimensional movement is for people that lack imagination.
The Climb skill is a measurement of quickly and nimbly you can climb things. From cliff faces to trees to the shaggy hide of a charging mammoth, you know just where to shift your weight and get a grip to get yourself up and over an obstacle.
Base: Strength
Note: Even though they lack strength, halflings get a +2 bonus to Climb because of their light frame and proportionally long limbs.
13 Skill: Hunting
“Lost” is just a point of view. Preferably, someone else’s.
The Hunting skill represents your ability to take care of yourself and survive in the wild. A high Hunting skill allows you to follow game trails, intuit the behavior of animals and evade pursuit.
Base: Wisdom
14 Skill: Trapsmithing
You are just one of those people that can’t leave puzzles well enough alone.
Trapsmithing allows you to decode, pick apart, disable or jury rig mechanical devices of all kinds. From traps to locks to pocket watches; if it’s got gears, triggers, tumblers, or something inside it that goes “tick”, you can have it buggered up in no time.
Base: Intelligence
Note: Trapsmithing requires the proper tools. “Your face” is not considered a proper tool, except possibly by orks, to whom it is both an ideal can opener AND the best punchline to any joke, ever.
15 Damage type: Slashing
Slashing damage takes the form of cuts and scrapes. Edged weapons deal Slashing damage. Slashing is one of three physical damage types, the other two are Bludgeoning and Piercing.
16 Skill: Stealth
Sneaky, sneaky ninja. Wait, what ninja?
Stealth allows you to conceal yourself, hide from your enemies, and move without being noticed.
Base: Dexterity
Note: Halflings receive a +4 bonus to Stealth because of how small and light they are.
17 Intelligence
Intelligence is a measure of your trained intellectual capacity, logical reasoning and memory. It determines how easily you figure out puzzles and pass tests.
If your Intelligence falls to a score of 0 for any reason, you are incapable of thought and are comatose.
High: “Clearly during the gibbous phase of the moon we would be able to synthesize a matrix from Eigerthorns First Principal of Antipathy, cross reference that with the 13th coefficient of
Pi, and synergize the result with our own data in order to better refine the oscillating period of Thaumantium.”
Low: “Whut?”
Chapter 10
1 Some weapons are easier to wield than others, and some take high stats and special skills. Unless otherwise noted, you are only proficient in the categories granted to you by your class and training, and most special abilities only apply to the relevant weapon category.
2 Category 3:
These are heavier weapons that require strength and both hands to wield. Examples include battleaxes, greatswords, longspears, trees, most bows, and boulders.
3 Category 2:
These weapons are able to be wielded in one hand but benefit more from strength than precision. They include hatchets, clubs, most swords, shields, light spears, pickaxes, and tridents.
4 Category 1:
These weapons are light and finessable. They are precise and may be wielded in one hand. Examples include light blades such as daggers, throwing darts, small clubs, and slings.
5 Category 0:
Unarmed.
Chapter 11
1 Reputation Points are a measure of how well you are known and respected by members of a certain community. Having a lot of Rep Points will grant you access to insider knowledge, information, and favors not extended to the general public. Reputation Points are gained by completing quests that benefit the community in question.
Chapter 14
1 Skill: Jump
Look before you leap, and then sometimes, leap anyway.
The Jump skill is a measurement of how far and how high you can jump, as well as your ability to land safely afterwards. A good Jump skill will allow you to negate some damage from falling.
Base: Strength
Note: Even though they lack strength, halflings get a +2 bonus to Jump because of their light frame.
2 Damage type: Fire
Fire damage burns. Fire is one of five elemental damage types; the others are Cold, Electric, Acid and Sonic.
Chapter 15
1 Granted Ability: Favored Enemy
There are some things in this world that just shouldn’t be, and you know what they are and how to kill them. Your obsession grants a +2 bonus to all checks related to defeating your chosen Favored Enemy.
For A Few Minutes More Page 28