GM Screen

Advantage Caused Attacks (ACA)

What triggers one — Moving through an aware enemy's Attack Area (their Melee range) without using Acrobatic Maneuver or Withdraw, or using a Power/Attack with Range other than Adjacent, Melee, or Personal while inside it. Also: Drinking a Potion, First Aid, Folding a Net, picking an item off the ground, standing up from Prone, throwing an item, opening/closing a door. Not an exhaustive list -- the GM can rule other actions qualify, and some classes or monsters have their own immunities or extra triggers.

What happens — Each aware enemy within range gets a free Melee Basic Attack against you. Taking an ACA is itself a Reaction [Secondary] -- follow the Reaction Powers rule above: you lose your Secondary Action on your next turn, then regain it at the start of that turn. One triggering action grants at most one ACA per enemy, no matter how many squares of their Attack Area you cross -- a second, different triggering action (like moving through, then also drinking a potion while still inside it) grants a second ACA.

Forced movement — When you suffer Knockback or a Pull effect, every enemy in range except the one that caused it gets an Advantage Caused Attack against you.

Full Round or Greater

Costs your whole turn.

Primary

Your one active maneuver each turn.

Secondary / Demi-Move

Some can be taken as part of a Move, spending squares of movement shown as [X].

Nonaction

Doesn't cost a measurable amount of time.

Reaction

Triggered by someone else's action.

Falling & Gravity

Distance traveled determines dice of falling damage, by how the fall is resisted.

Gravity — Fast: +10/Round, max 300. Resisting: +7/Round, max 210. Controlled: +5/Round, max 100. Slow: +2/Round, max 40 Add ½ speed to damage dice. +1 Die for every 4 sq. of Space, rounding down.

Destroying & Sundering Objects

Increase or reduce sunder chance based on the difference between materials — see the Sunder action.

Environmental Hazards

Escalating difficulty — Difficulty 7 + 2 per unit of time in the shortest bracket.
Humidity — Increases effective temperature for Environmental Hazard purposes: 0-25% +1, 26-50% +3, 51-75% +6, 76%+ +10.

Holding Breath — 1 + CON Minutes.
Drowning — 1 + CON Rounds. Toughness-Protection ETN 12+3/Round.
Hunger — Endure 10+CON Days; regain CON Days for every Day eating normally. Requirement: 200g/SR. T-P ETN 10+3/Day (Endurance usable at double TN).
Thirst — Endure 2+CON Days; regain all in 2 Days drinking normally. Requirement: 500mL/SR. T-P ETN 10+5/Day (Endurance usable at double TN).
Sleep — Endure 2+CON Days. ETN 10+2/Day. Regain all with 16 Hours sleep within 48 Hours.
Uses the Environmental Hazard progression, skipping its Stage 4.

Finding Food & Water / Disarming Traps

Abundance — Plentiful / Normal / Meager / Barren
TN — 4 / 9 / 15 / 30 + Zone Season Modifier, by abundance above.
Skills — Gather or Survival / Investigation / Perception.
Yield — Base Yield = check result × Rank, in SR of food, +1 SR for every point above the TN.

Disarming Traps — TN 7 + POWER + Power Level.. Magic: Arcane, Divine, or Psionic Lore / Legerdemain / Engineering.. Mechanical: Engineering / Legerdemain / Arcane, Divine, or Psionic Lore.

Weather & Vision

Rain — Light — Illumination -2 sq. Medium — Illumination halved. Heavy — Illumination Moderate.
Sandstorm — Cover as Brush. Damage: Moderate or Heavy tier.
Flying — Low: Fly TN 10, against penalty -1 sq.. Moderate: Fly TN 15, against penalty -2 sq., Tail Wind +1 sq.. Heavy: Fly TN 25, against penalty Slowed, Tail Wind +3 sq.
Swimming — Double Protection Penalty. Light Current +4, Moderate +9, Heavy +15 to the TN.

Illumination — Light extends X squares, then Low-Light for another .5X squares. Perception penalty — Low-Light: -7. Darkness: -14. Attack penalty — Low-Light: -1. Darkness: -3.
Vision types — Bright vision: 50% of listed range. Low-Light vision: 150% of listed range. Heat vision: 21+CL sq. Sonic vision: 7+CL sq.

Tracking & Encumbrance

Tracking TN — 10 + ½ Hours since the trail was made, +⅓ SR of the tracked creature, +25% per 2 additional creatures in the group.
Trail quality — Following: 3. Heavy use: 5. Moderate use: 8-10. Light use: 12-15. Blaze own: 20-25. Find reclaimed path: 30+
Getting lost — On failure: lost for (15 Minutes − Rank) + 1 Minute per point below the Target Number.

Applies double for Swimming's Protection Penalty. -3 more for every additional 10% above 100%.

Movement Checks

Exert Speed — 7+3/Round.
Sprint — Base: CON Rounds before an Endurance check at 5+2/Round.
Burrowing — 3:1 sq. ratio for a stable tunnel. Base modifier is the material's Damage Resistance. Using a channel/tool: 6+3/Minute.
Climbing — Skill: ½ Land Speed, ETN 5+2/Round. Surface TN — Prepared: 3. Rough: 7. Standard: 15. Smooth: 25.
Jumping — Natural (Sprint): High ×2, Long ×3 (or 3 separate jumps). Skill: High = 1+Rank. Long = ½ Land Speed at TN 15, Full Land Speed at TN 25.

Difficult Terrain

Values below are the Core Rulebook's own published figures — the authoritative source. An earlier working draft (Difficult Terrain.docx) gives Icy's Turn-and-Stop check as SSS 2; the Core Rulebook and Player's Handbook draft both agree on SSS 1, so SSS 1 is used here.

Ground (2-D):

Icy (—) — Acrobatics check when first stepping onto or to avoid Falling Prone. Turn-and-Stop is SSS 1 Acrobatics. Creatures with Frost Walk ignore this type.

Rocky (2:1) — Acrobatics when Sprinting, or when Tripped. Creatures with Nimble Footing ignore this type.

Sandy (2:1) — Creatures with Sand Swimming move through without penalty. Creatures with Nimble Footing ignore this type.

Snowy (2:1) — Creatures with Frost Walk or Nimble Footing ignore this type.

Muddy, Light (2:1) — STR or Stuck, ETN 7+2/Round. SR 14+ ignores. A Swim Speed can be used without penalty.

Muddy, Deep (3:1) — STR or Stuck, ETN 13+3/Round. Treated as Muddy, Light at SR 14-20; ignored at SR 21+.

Brush & weather (3-D):

Brush, Light (2:1) — Light Cover; Moderate Cover at 10+ sq. Creatures with Flora Familiarity ignore the speed penalty.

Brush, Moderate (3:1) — Moderate Cover (Light Cover between adjacent targets); Total Cover at 10+ sq.

Brush, Heavy (4:1) — Total Cover (Moderate Cover between adjacent targets).

Special movement —

Frost Walk: Ignores Icy and Snowy terrain; can walk on walls/ceilings with Gravity oriented to the current surface. At 11th Level, can climb Hail, Heavy Snow, or Sleet like a ladder.

Flora Familiarity: Reduces the Brush movement penalty by 1 sq. (2 sq. at 11th Level) and its Cover penalty by 1.

Nimble Footing: Ignores Rocky, Sandy, and Snowy terrain. At 11th Level, +1 to Attack Rolls against creatures without this ability while in those terrains.

Terrain Encounter-Design Cost

From Difficult Terrain.docx — an encounter-design guideline for how much a given terrain type 'costs' when building an encounter, not a combat-time rule. Kyle's own source note: keep to 2-3 terrain types per encounter; more muddles player comprehension. Difficult Terrain TN when created by a Power = POWER + the Power's Level Modifier (typically +5/tier, +20 at 21st) + the terrain's own Base Modifier, if any; +5 more per extra rank for Rocky/Icy/Muddy. Weather Base Modifier: Light = PR bonus only, Moderate = +5 TN, Heavy = +10 TN.

1 Cost — Rocky, Sandy, Snowy

2 Cost — Icy, Muddy, Light, Brush, Light

3 Cost — Muddy, Deep, Brush, Moderate

4 Cost — Brush, Heavy

Overland Travel

Decrease speed 25% for Mild terrain, 50% for Dense. Increase 10% for a Worn Path, 25% for Roads.

Zones

Some AoE Powers create Zone effects with a set Duration. A Zone that deals Damage, provides Healing, or applies a Bane/Boon can only affect a given creature once per Round — at the start of their turn, or when they enter the Zone — even if they leave and re-enter, or the Zone itself moves and re-engulfs them, within that same Round.

Targeting, Ranges & Area of Effect

Cover — Light: -1 to Attack Rolls against the target. Moderate: -3. Total: cannot be targeted at all.
Melee — Only within your Attack Area; Melee Reach follows your Movement type.
Ranged vs. cover (by % of range) — Target beyond 100% of listed range: no extra cover. 101-150%: Light Cover. 151-200%: Moderate Cover. 201%+: Total Cover.
Adjacent Squares — Follows Movement rules.

Beam: 3 sq. wide/high, extending its value in squares — Centered Adjacent (straight) or Diagonal Origin (cycles 2-3 sq. wide).
Cube: A cube X sq. on every side. Centered on self excludes the user unless the power says otherwise.
Line: X sq. straight or Y sq. diagonal (given as X/Y).
Trap: Range = Melee Reach. Triggers when an enemy moves or attacks within range, before their action resolves.
Slab: X sq. long, Y sq. tall, 1 sq. wide — a straight wall/walkway shape.

Damage, Healing & Mitigation

Natural Healing — A Full Rest is 8 total Hours within a 14-Hour span; regain all Health and Powers.
Granted Healing Scaling — Each additional use of a granted Healing Power in the same period increases its total by 50% of the base amount, up to 7 uses for 400% of base.
Death — At -50% of Max Health.
Final Chance — Difficulty = 7 + 1 per point past -50% Max Health.
Rally — Difficulty = 10 + 1 per 7 points below 0 Health.
Distractions — Focus = Power Level + ¼ Damage taken, rounding down. Under an active Bane, add its Power Rating modifier(s) to the TN.

Absorption: Subtracts from total Damage; you regain that much Health.
Damage Resistance: Subtracts from total Damage.
Reflection: Subtracts from total Damage; the source takes that much Damage in return.
Retaliation: Builds from actual Damage suffered since your last Turn, up to a class-defined maximum (its Retaliation Score). Adds ½ that value, rounded down, to all Damage you deal (Power or Basic Attacks). Counted after your own Damage Mitigation. Resets to zero at the end of your Turn.