Attributes and Pools
Attribute Ratings & Pools: Overview
Attribute Ratings and their associated pools are, collectively, the way by which certain aspects of the character are measured and the resultant resources that a character can draw from in order to do things because of them. While there are certainly others, the most common, and the ones that are shared by all characters regardless of heritage, are Health, Stamina, Mana, Fade and Breath. Each of these pools are used for different game mechanics. The specifics of how and when each pool are used are outlined below.
While each of these pools is used in different ways, they do share some common rules between them which will be discussed here. Each pool is determined by a rating, defined by the Heritages, (Or below for Fade and Breath) which describe the characters overall strength in a particular area.
Attributes
Attributes are measures of the particular aspects of a character. They are not meant to be all inclusive, but encapsulate certain core ideas as they are relevant to the games mechanics. Each character will have a set of attribute ratings, rated EEE through SSS. These attributes have a number of effects throughout the game. For players coming from other TTRPG's, this is as close as it gets to 'stats'. Flagstone's primary attribute ratings are distributed into the following categories: Health, Stamina, Mana, Fade, Breath.
Like other parts of the rating system, attribute ratings consist of Potency, Range, and Efficiency, and each value has an impact on a various number of things such as defense attributes and particular roles. Additionally, the attribute ratings form the base that is used to determine pool regeneration and increase. Attribute ratings are expensive to upgrade, but well worth it in the long term.
Defense Attributes refers to the collection of attributes that describe bonuses to prevention, avoidance, and mitigation for a variety of situations. These should be among the last things updated during character creation as they are affected by many various elements of your character.
Pools
Pools
A pools rating determines what die will be rolled when recovering resources during a rest, and it determines how large of an increase a character receives when increasing their pool size.
Most everything that happens within the game has a direct effect on the character, and almost every action has some cost to the character. Health (HP), Mana (MP), Stamina (SP), Fade (FP) and Breath (BP) form the pools from which most events in the game draw from. The pools used for this system are not simply a set of points that the player has to draw from. Instead, they are numerical representations of a characters condition. This means that, in a time of need, characters may choose to go beyond their normal limits, at the risk of potentially permanently harming themselves.
A full pool merely reflects a character being at their current peak performance: healthy, mentally sharp, and full of energy. An empty pool merely reflects that they have reached their current limit, which is reflected by a change in their condition. When a pool falls below 0, it does not mean they will fail, nor does it mean they will die. It does, however, mean there will be consequences for their recklessness. In a time of need, a hero may rise from among the party, pushing beyond their limits to succeed in spectacular fashion, saving their comrades, their kingdom, or even the world. Or, they could just fry their own brain and spend the rest of their lives as a vegetable. Adventuring is risky business, after all.
Rules:
- When a character consumes more of a resource than their pool would allow, the price must still be paid. Soul Drift consumes Mana to produce Fade at a 2:1 ratio. Mana burn consumes stamina to produce mana at a 2:1 ratio. Life burn consumes health to produce stamina at a 2:1 ratio. Hypoxia consumes stamina to produce breath at a 2:1 ratio.
- At chargen, reference the heritage for the character to determine the attribute rating.
- Characters apply the max of their base rating to their pool for the purpose of determining their base pool values.
- For a long rest, assuming no inhibiting status effects, roll the pool rating to determine the amount restored.
- Attribute ratings are increased one rank at a time.
- The cost to increase an attribute rating is Rank # of Rank Fade seeds, where Rank is the value being increased to.
I.E. Bob as a health attribute rating of EDD, and a current health pool of 6 current/8 max hp. Bob spends 2xD Rank Fade seeds to increase his health potency to D. Then, Bob rolls DDD, 2(d6+2), and adds the result to his health pool.
- Each time an attribute rating is increased using fade seeds, roll the attribute rating and add it to the maximum value of the pool. This does not modify the current pool value.
- To increase the size of a pool, pay dream seeds of equal to the sum value of the rating, and then roll the rating and add it to your pool.
For example, Bob has a HP pool of 15 and a ratting of DDD. He could pay 6D (D=2 for each rank in the rating, DDD = 2D+2D+2D) rated dreamseeds to roll 2(d6+2) and add the result to his HP pool. Bob rolls 2d6, receiving a 3 on the first die and 4 on the second, then adds 2 to each, resulting in 11 which is added to is pool bring the total to 26. ((3+2)+(4+2)+15)
Long Term Damage
By default, there are conditions placed on characters as they reach 0 in any of their given pools, such as dying(hp), fatigued(SP), staggered(SP), strained(MP), and drained(MP). While the default rules give fairly short recovery times in order to keep the game pace, these quick recovery times may not make the conditions seem as serious as they really are. If, as a GM, you wish to make these conditions more serious, try the following:
- Strained - If a character uses mana burn, they acquire the Strained status. While strained mana regeneration is 'Withered'. Using mana while under this status triggers withering. If mana regen reaches EEE, the next penalty is applied to Stamina, and the Stamina pool becomes withered if if is not already.
- Soul Drift - If a character uses Fade beyond their capacity they acquire the Soul Drift status. While under the effect of Soul Drift, Fade regeneration is 'Withered'. Using Fade while under this status triggers additional withering. If the Fade reaches EEE, each additional trigger potentially severs the consciousness from the body, leaving the body in a coma and the consciousness wandering in the Dream. A body left this way will wither each day, starting with mana. If the health rating reaches EEE, the body dies and the consciouness is permanently lost.
- Fatigued- If a character uses life burn, they gain the Fatigued status. While fatigued, stamina regeneration is 'Withered'. Using mana while under this status triggers withering. If stamina regen reaches EEE, the next penalty is applied to Health, and the Health pool becomes withered if if is not already.
- Staggered - When the character 0hp, they become Staggered. While staggered, health regeneration is 'Withered'. Using mana while under this status triggers withering.
- Unconscious - A character with the unconscious condition collapses to the ground, gaining the prone status. The character may not make any actions. The unconscious character remains unconscious for a number of rounds equal to the amount they failed their save by.
- Dying - Each combat round while under the dying condition, a chacter must make a stablization check CR 10+(hp below zero). Each point of health below 0 takes a full 8 hours rest to recover, during which time the character remains unconscious. During which time they recover stamina at EEE
- Stablized - If the character stablizes, they loose the dying condition but remain unconscious if they are afflicted with it. If a character fails this check by more than 10, they die.
- Withering - The Withering status is applied to a pool when either Strained, Fatigued, or Staggered statuses are applied. When the status is applied, it is applied to a specific pool, and any time that pool would be accessed, a withering is triggered. Withering causes the regeneration rating for the corresponding pool to be reduced by one rating value, starting with Efficiency, then Range, then Efficacy as they reach E in turn. For each full nights rest, the character recovers one rating. It recovers in order of health, stamina, then mana.The character rolls a CR 10 + 5 per withered status + HP below 0. On a failed save, they gain the unconscious status.
- Drained - When a creature goes below 0hp using mana burn, or uses mana burn while below 0hp, and for each day after until their hp reaches 1, the creature must roll a Mana Stabilization CR equal to (10 + amount below 0), if they fail twice before they die, they become Fayne.
Character Creation Process
Below are quick access for each step in the character creation process:
Withering Explained:
Each pool a character has access to has a rating, such as CCC. In this example, our character has the following pool ratings:
- Health: DEC
- Stamina: CDD
- Mana: DCE
- Fade: DDD
If the character induced mana burn by using more mana then what their pool would allow, it would trigger a Strained Status on the character, causing their mana pool to be 'withered'. When the withered status is gained the character rolls a CR 10 + 5 +(HP below 0) or become unconscious, the character's mana regeneration would be reduced by one rating, starting with efficiency, making their regen:
- Health: DEC
- Stamina: CDD
- Mana: DDE *Because Efficiency is already E, the rating is removed from Range, lowering it to D.
- Fade: DDD
If the player were to use another mana based ability, it would trigger another withering, including the unconscious CR, bringing them to:
- Health: DEC
- Stamina: CDD
- Mana: DEE
- Fade: DDD
If the player then used Life burn by using more stamina than they possessed, their stamina pool becomes withered, and they would reduce the rating by one. When the Unconsciousness CR is made, an additional +5 penalty is added because there are now two withered pools, making the CR 10 + 10 + (HP Below 0).
- Mana: DEE
- Stamina: CDE
- Health: DEC
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