Forerunner: The Framework v0.

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Table of Contents
The Basics............................................................................................................................................4
Notes for the Reader........................................................................................................................5
Core Rules and Mechanics...................................................................................................................5
Action Resolution............................................................................................................................5
Advantage/Disadvantage.............................................................................................................7
Attack Roll..................................................................................................................................7
Ability Check or Skill Check......................................................................................................7
Initiative Check...........................................................................................................................8
Other Core Rules.............................................................................................................................8
Character Creation and Advancement..................................................................................................8
Background......................................................................................................................................9
Class.................................................................................................................................................9
Abilities..........................................................................................................................................11
Scores and Modifiers.................................................................................................................11
Setting Ability Scores................................................................................................................11
Standard Values......................................................................................................11
Point-Buy...............................................................................................................12
Powers............................................................................................................................................13
Power Categories......................................................................................................................13
Attack Powers, Attacks, and Attack Rolls..............................................................14
Frequency of Use......................................................................................................................14
Sustained Powers....................................................................................................15
Target, Range, and Area............................................................................................................15
Tags...........................................................................................................................................15
Sample Rule Tags...................................................................................................15
Damage Codes..........................................................................................................................15
The Base Damage...................................................................................................16
The Standard Damage Modifier.............................................................................16
Other Damage........................................................................................................17
Triggers.....................................................................................................................................17
Zones.........................................................................................................................................17
Power Sources...........................................................................................................................17
Skills..............................................................................................................................................17
Practices....................................................................................................................................20
Designing Practices................................................................................................20
Practices should not be combat abilities.......................................................20
Practices should not be used to cordon off basic skill capabilities...............20
Practices should be restricted to the appropriate character level..................20
Practices should respect core character capabilities.....................................20
Practices should be fun for everyone............................................................21
Feats...............................................................................................................................................21
Equipment......................................................................................................................................22
Armor........................................................................................................................................22
Weapons....................................................................................................................................23
Weapon Properties..................................................................................................23
Enhanced Equipment................................................................................................................25
 Equipment Slots........................................................................................................................26
Advancement.................................................................................................................................26
The Effects of Levels................................................................................................................27
Standard Progression.................................................................................................................27
The Level Bonus....................................................................................................28
Ability Score Increases...........................................................................................30
Enhancement Bonus...............................................................................................31
New Feats...............................................................................................................31
New Powers............................................................................................................31
Retraining..................................................................................................................................32
Adventuring........................................................................................................................................32
Encounters and Rewards................................................................................................................32
Experience Points......................................................................................................................32
Milestones.................................................................................................................................33
Rest and Recovery....................................................................................................................33
Combat Encounters...................................................................................................................34
Enemy Stats, Roles, and Categories.......................................................................34
Enemy XP Costs and Encounter Construction.......................................................35
Skill Encounters........................................................................................................................36
Player Knowledge.....................................................................................................................37
A Rough Guide to Improvisation..............................................................................................37
Ability Checks and Skill Checks............................................................................37
Non-Combat Damage Values.................................................................................38
Improvised and Situational Powers........................................................................38
Situational Powers........................................................................................39
Creative Use of Powers.................................................................................39
Improvised Powers.......................................................................................39
Combat...............................................................................................................................................39
The Grid.........................................................................................................................................40
The Pre-Combat Sequence.............................................................................................................40
The Combat Sequence...................................................................................................................40
Triggered Actions......................................................................................................................41
Opportunity Actions...............................................................................................41
Immediate Actions..................................................................................................41
The Turn Sequence........................................................................................................................42
The Start of Your Turn..............................................................................................................42
Your Actions..............................................................................................................................42
Action Points..........................................................................................................42
The End of Your Turn...............................................................................................................42
Attacking and Defending...............................................................................................................42
Defenses....................................................................................................................................43
Targets, Reach, Range, Area, and Adjacency............................................................................43
Range......................................................................................................................43
Adjacent Squares....................................................................................................44
Nearest....................................................................................................................44
Reach......................................................................................................................44
Personal Range.......................................................................................................44
Line of Sight...........................................................................................................44
Line of Effect.........................................................................................................44
Cover and Concealment.........................................................................................44
Origin Square.........................................................................................................45
Discrete Powers......................................................................................................45
 Area Powers...........................................................................................................45
Range......................................................................................................................46
Attack Roll Modifiers...............................................................................................................46
Conditions..............................................................................................................46
Combat Advantage.................................................................................................46
Cover......................................................................................................................47
Concealment...........................................................................................................47
Illumination and Senses.........................................................................................47
Senses.....................................................................................................................48
Attack Results...........................................................................................................................49
Damage...................................................................................................................49
Critical Hit Damage...............................................................................................50
Ongoing Damage....................................................................................................50
Damage Types, Resistance, Vulnerability, and Swarms.........................................50
Conditions..............................................................................................................51
Marks............................................................................................................53
Duration....................................................................................................................................53
Saving Throws..........................................................................................................................54
Movement and Position.................................................................................................................54
Creature Size and Space............................................................................................................54
Movement Speed.......................................................................................................................54
Tactical Movement....................................................................................................................54
Movement Actions.................................................................................................55
Double Move................................................................................................55
Retreat...........................................................................................................56
Difficult Terrain and Obstacles..............................................................................56
Falling.....................................................................................................................56
Flanking..................................................................................................................56
Movement Modes...................................................................................................57
Teleportation.................................................................................................57
Forced Movement..................................................................................................58
Auras......................................................................................................................59
Mounted Combat....................................................................................................59
Mounted Player Characters...........................................................................59
Other Mounted Creatures..............................................................................60
Basic Actions.................................................................................................................................60
Basic Attacks.............................................................................................................................60
Opportunity Attack....................................................................................................................60
Threatening Reach..................................................................................................60
Delayed Actions........................................................................................................................61
Readied Actions........................................................................................................................61
Total Defense............................................................................................................................61
Assist.........................................................................................................................................61
Fall Prone..................................................................................................................................62
Quick Recovery.........................................................................................................................62
Death and Healing.........................................................................................................................62
Bruised, Bloodied, and Broken..............................................................................62
Healing...................................................................................................................62
Regeneration...........................................................................................................63
Temporary Hit Points.............................................................................................63
Death......................................................................................................................63
Appendix A: A Sample Power Description Format............................................................................64
 The Basic Power Description Format............................................................................................64
The Basic Attack Description Format............................................................................................65
Comprehensive Example...............................................................................................................66
Appendix B: Everything as Powers....................................................................................................66
Appendix C: Non-Grid Combat.........................................................................................................66
Zones..............................................................................................................................................67
Zone Connections.....................................................................................................................67
Movement.................................................................................................................................68
Opportunity Attacks...............................................................................................69
Spending Movement Points...................................................................................69
Evasion and Guarding...................................................................................69
Terrain and Illumination............................................................................................................70
Illumination............................................................................................................70
Concealing Terrain.................................................................................................70
Obscurity................................................................................................................70
Blocking Terrain.....................................................................................................70
Difficult Terrain......................................................................................................70
Engagements..................................................................................................................................70
Engagement Limits and Engagement Requirements................................................................71
Combat...........................................................................................................................................71
Range........................................................................................................................................71
Attack Powers...........................................................................................................................72
Charging....................................................................................................................................72
Conditions......................................................................................................................................72
Forced Movement.....................................................................................................................72
Appendix D: Putting It All Together..................................................................................................73
Appendix E: Legal..............................................................................................................................73

The Basics
Forerunner: The Framework is a foundation for creating roleplaying games, providing you with
rules for action resolution, advancement, and combat among other things. My hope is that you will
be able to use it to create new and interesting games.
By default, Forerunner is focused on class-and-level type games with a traditional setup with
character sheets, polyhedral dice, and a GM that should be familiar to anyone who plays table-top
roleplaying games, but it is flexible enough to allow other types of designs (though if you're going
far afield from those core assumptions you may be better served by a different game engine, like
Fate, Cortex Prime, GURPS, Savage Worlds, PbtA, or something else).1
Forerunner is meant to be adapted to the specific game you're creating. The main text describes the
default rules while many optional rules can be found in sidebars with comments on what to keep in
mind if you want to use them, along with some commentary on implications of the mechanics that
may not be immediately obvious.
Everything in this book is Open Game Content. Exactly what that means is detailed in the Open
Gaming License at the end.

1 I know some don't want to call all of those “game engines”, but for the purposes of this introduction they are.
Notes for the Reader
This book is written primarily to be used as a rules reference. As such, concepts are often
introduced before they are fully explained. A term appears in italics where it is defined or explained.
When a phrase is in [square brackets], this indicates that it is a placeholder that can be replaced with
different terms. For example, the condition “impaired [sense]” is actually a collection of conditions
that all refer to different senses - “impaired vision”, “impaired hearing”, and so on.

Core Rules and Mechanics

Action Resolution
The central resolution mechanic for Forerunner is this: Roll a d202, add any relevant modifiers, and
compare your result to the difficulty class (DC) you're trying to overcome. The result of the roll plus
the modifiers is your check result. If the check result is equal or higher than the DC, you've
succeeded.
Sometimes you make an unmodified check. This is simply a roll against a DC with no modifiers
added to the die roll.
The number showing on the die is called the natural roll. Sometimes this is specified as a “natural
20” or a “natural 1”, meaning the die shows 20 or 1 respectively.
Making this type of roll is called making a check. If you're making this using a skill it's a skill
check, if you're using an ability it's an ability check, and so on. A check made to see if an attack hits
is called an attack roll.
Modifiers to a check can be positive (bonuses) or negative (penalties).
Penalties always stack, but bonuses only stack if they are of different types or if they are untyped
(i.e., if they have no type). If you have multiple bonuses of the same type you only get to use the
highest of those bonuses.
Example: You're making a check with a +2 class bonus, a +3 skill bonus, and a +2 feat bonus. Your
modifier for the check is +7.
Example: You're making a check with a +2 feat bonus, a +3 feat bonus, a +1 bonus, and a +2
bonus. Your modifier is +6, since you can't count both feat bonuses but you can count both of the
untyped bonuses.
[sidebar] Resolution Variants
The mechanic presented above provides a fast and straight-forward resolution mechanic that will
work well for most games and situations. But for those who want something different, here are a
few options.
Near Miss

2 A twenty-sided die, but you probably knew that already.

A check that fails by five or less isn't a failure... yet. The player can turn that check into a success
for a price, as specified by the GM. (The other players should be encouraged to make suggestions,
but the GM has the final say.) The cost should be substantial, but low enough that the player will be
tempted.
To use this variant for combat, the cost should be standardized rather than set ad-hoc from roll to
roll. One possible cost to use is that the player must spend a recovery.
The Complication/Advantage Die
Roll a d6 together with the d20 when you make the check. If the d6 shows a 1 or 2, some kind of
complication or difficulty results from the character's actions or the situation in general, and on a 5
or 6 something beneficial happens instead. Note that this is independent of the success or failure of
the check.
This option can be extended in various ways to hook it into character and enemy traits. A character
who is very lucky might only get complications on a roll of 1, for example. If you make this a big
part of the rules you may want to use a die with more faces to allow for finer granularity in the
results.
With some work this could even be part of the combat rules, with some powers gaining or losing
minor benefits depending on the extra die roll. You could also hook this into the skill system by
creating pre-set complications and advantages some or all skills.
Note that it's possible to use more than one complication/advantage die. Complications and
advantages could cancel each other out or they could all apply, though the latter can bog down the
game if the table isn't good at coming up with consequences on the fly.
If you want a broader range of effects you could use a die with more faces. For example, with a
d12, a result of 2-4 could be a regular complication and a 9-11 could be a regular advantage, while a
1 or a 12 would be more extreme results.
The point of this variant is to add some texture beyond the pass/fail check. The
complication/advantage die can be used for all checks or you can reserve it for the non-routine
checks where it's more worth the effort to come up with additional results.
Double Dice
Instead of rolling a single d20 when making a check you roll two and judge success or failure for
them separately.
If both rolls succeed, the check succeeds – you get what you want, and perhaps more.
If one succeeds and the other fails, success comes with a cost or a hard choice, similar to the Near
Miss variant above.
If both fail, you don't get what you wanted and something bad may follow.
This variant is suitable for games where checks are less common and you want to get the most out
of those checks you do make.
It can be worked into the combat system, but it will require very careful power design. Essentially, a
double success is a strong hit; a mixed success may be a weak hit, a normal hit with a disadvantage
attached to it, or a miss with a substantial advantage; and a double miss will be a real miss. This
creates a wider variety of results for powers which can be fun, but it also requires extra work.
Note that this variant can increase the importance of modifiers, as it makes characters with a
relatively big bonus much more likely to get a double success than one with a moderate bonus, and
a character with a small bonus will run a much bigger risk of a double failure. [end sidebar]

Advantage/Disadvantage
When you make a check with advantage, you roll two dice and use the highest result. Similarly,
when you make a check with disadvantage, you roll two dice and use the lowest result.
If you have both advantage and disadvantage on a check, they cancel out and you make the check
with a single die as usual.
[sidebar] More Advantage/Disadvantage
By default, you either have advantage or you don't, and the same goes for disadvantage. It doesn't
matter if you have advantage from multiple sources – you can only have advantage once.
If you want to allow advantage to stack, you can use the notation “roll with advantage X”, where X
is the number of extra dice you roll (and the equivalent for disadvantage).
You can still allow advantage and disadvantage to cancel out, or you could use both on the same
check. With this rule, if you're making a check with advantage X and disadvantage Y you roll 1 + X
+ Y dice, then remove the X lowest and the Y highest dice.
Note that rolls with both multiple advantage dice and multiple disadvantage dice will push the
results heavily towards the middle, which will tend to increase the importance of modifiers in
affecting the probability of success or failure. [end sidebar]

Attack Roll
The DC of an attack roll is the defense the attack is targeting.
Common modifiers to the check include your level bonus and the ability modifier for the ability
used for the attack. See the sections on powers and combat for more details and variants.

Ability Check or Skill Check

The DC of a skill check or ability check is set by the GM or by the rules governing that particular
type of check.
Ability checks are modified by the relevant ability modifier and your level bonus.
Skill checks are similar to ability checks, but also add modifiers relevant to the particular skills,
including bonuses from skill training, feats, and racial abilities.
Initiative Check
The initiative check is used to determine the order in which the player characters and their
opponents will act in combat.
The initiative check is a Dexterity check, modified by your level bonus as usual, but unlike other
ability checks the initiative check doesn't use a DC and doesn't succeed or fail. Only the check
result matters.
For more details on initiative checks, see the Combat chapter.

Other Core Rules

The rules contained in this book are the basics. Each game based on this framework will have
specific rules that may override these – in fact, more specific rules always override more general
rules.
Some calculations you make may result in fractions where using them don't make sense. If you need
a whole number, always round down.

Character Creation and Advancement

How you create a character will vary from one game to another, but here's a summary of some
common options.
• Choose background. Your background can be your culture or species or other indicator of
where you grew up.
• Choose class. Traditionally, games similar to Forerunner use classes to define your
character's baseline capabilities. Typically, each character gets one class, but there may be
options for combining classes.
• Set ability scores. Most games will use ability scores as a measure of your character's basic
competence. This book presents the default abilities along with a few different ways to set
their values.
• Choose skills. Most games will use skills to measure your character's capabilities in various
areas. Your class is the most common source of your skills.
• Choose feats. Feats are typically gained as your character's level increases.
• Choose powers. Powers are mainly used for combat, but that can vary depending on your
game. You get most of them from your class.
• Choose equipment. Your game will specify what equipment is available and how it works.
This book contains some basic rules for equipment but no actual lists of weapons or the like.
• Other options. There are other ways to configure your character that are compatible with
these rules. Two common ones are upbringing which describes your character's social or
cultural origins in relation to their background, and theme which adds some flavor and
mechanical flair to your character in addition to their class. Games which put heavier
emphasis on mechanics for non-combat situations while keeping class as the main source of
combat abilities will often put more weight on background, upbringing, and theme.
 • Fill out the rest of your character sheet. You will most likely need to calculate some
numbers and fill out some more details before you're ready to play.

Background
Each background has a set of traits. These commonly include:
• Size: Most characters are of medium size, but there are exceptions.
• Speed: Most characters have a speed of five to seven, with six being the most common.
• Ability scores: Most backgrounds have two or three favored abilities. (See Abilities below.)
• Senses: Some characters can see in the dark or have other special senses.
• Languages: Most characters know one or more languages.
• Skill bonuses: In games using skills, most backgrounds have two or more favored skills.
(See Skills below.)
• Background powers: Some backgrounds grant special attack powers, exploits, or utility
powers.
[sidebar] Favored Abilities Options
By default, a character's background will give them a +2 bonus to two of their ability scores chosen
from among the background's favored abilities. If you want to make your game a bit more flexible
when it comes to which backgrounds and classes work best together, you can do that in a couple of
different ways.

One is to not have bonuses to favored abilities. As this reduces the total ability scores for the
characters, especially when it comes to their strongest attributes, you may want to modify the way
you assign those scores. For the standard values you can use the scores 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18 or 10,
11, 12, 14, 15, 18. For point-buy you can either increase any two ability scores by two points after
you've spent your points, or you could use a higher point total. 31 points (11 more than the standard
20) allows them to recreate either of the two standard value sets above.

Another option is to keep the favored abilities, and then let the player take a +2 to the score of one
of the favored abilities from their background and +2 to the primary or secondary ability for their
class. This means a character from any background will at least be able to fill the core competence
for any class, while still allowing some background-class combinations to be more natural than
others.

Removing favored abilities may require you to put more effort into making the backgrounds in your
game feel distinct in other ways. [end sidebar]

Class
Your character's class features provide most of their basic abilities, including:
• Hit points and recoveries: Your character's maximum number of hit points is given by their
class, typically by adding a given number to their Constitution score. Your character's class
also determines how many hit points they gain per level and how many recoveries they get.
• Defenses: Your class may give you a bonus to one or more of your defenses. See Defenses
in the Combat chapter.
 • Proficiencies: Most classes provide the ability to use some combination of weapons,
focuses, and types of armor.
• Skills: Each class provides training in a number of skills. Most classes have a list of skills to
choose from and many specify one (or sometimes more) skills the character must be trained
in. Some games may shift part of this over to themes or backgrounds.
• Powers: A character's class is their main source of combat powers and exploits.
• Other features: Most classes provide a number of bonuses or special abilities that don't fall
under one of the other categories.
• Subclasses: A class may have two or more subclasses that emphasize different aspects of the
class.
[sidebar] Option: No Class Skills

One possible variant is to not limit skills by class but to allow all (or nearly all) skills to be trained
by characters belonging to any class. This makes it easier for players to customize their characters,
but can remove some of the niche protection for specialist classes. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] So What Are These Hit Points Anyway?
Hit points are used to measure your character's ability to keep fighting when things go against them.
This can represent many different things: luck, bravery, physical resistance to injury, destiny, and so
on.
Forerunner doesn't take a position on what hit points are, and your game doesn't need to either.
However, you should be aware that how hit points are interpreted will be affected by how you name
and describe the healing effects in your game. If most of the healing available deal with closing
wounds, staunching bleeding, and repairing organs, then hit points will be interpreted as
representing mainly physical durability, while healing effects that deal with willpower, courage, and
resisting fear will flavor them more like morale, and ones that invoke divine protection, fortune, and
purification will make them feel like spiritual power and resistance.
This flavoring can be done explicitly, by describing the effects of hit point loss and recovery, or
more indirectly through the names of the healing powers. A power named “Mend Flesh and Bones”
gives a very different feel to one called “Spiritual Purification” or “Instill Bravery”, even if they are
mechanically identical.
Also consider that mixing different flavors of healing effects can lead to a sense of incoherence
unless you take care to adress it. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] More Than One Kind of Hit Points
By default, hit points are a combat resource, used to measure a character's ability to stay in the fight.
However, the hit point mechanic can be used in other ways. For example, if you are making a game
focused mainly on formalized social confrontations, like political debates or court drama, you may
want to use hit points to represent a character's ability to keep talking (and have someone listen to
them) rather than to keep fighting.
That kind of game may not have any combat mechanics at all, or very simple ones based around
conditions – or you could use these alternative hit points in addition to the regular kind if you want
both complex social interactions as well as complex combat. [end sidebar]
Abilities
In Forerunner your character's abilities show their basic capabilities. Different games may use
different sets of abilities (or none at all), but the default is:
• Strength (Str) – physical power and brawn;
• Constitution (Con) – vitality and endurance;
• Dexterity (Dex) – agility, reflexes, and precision;
• Intelligence (Int) – education, logic, and learning;
• Wisdom (Wis) – power of observation, self-discipline, and common sense;
• Charisma (Cha) – wit, leadership, and personal magnetism.

These abilities work well for the activities of action-adventure gaming. If you want a different type
of game, you should consider having a different set of abilities to reflect that. For example, a game
that puts more focus on social interaction and conflict may want to de-emphasize physical
characteristics and put more weight on social abilities.
Scores and Modifiers
Each ability has a score and a modifier as per the following table:

Score Modifier
1 -5
2-3 -4
4-5 -3
6-7 -2
8-9 -1
10-11 0
12-13 +1
14-15 +2
16-17 +3
18-19 +4
20-21 +5
etc etc

Setting Ability Scores

There are many different methods to set ability scores, but the two default methods are to use
standard values or point-buy. (In most cases all players should use the same method for setting their
character's ability scores, though these two can be mixed in the same group without too much of an
issue.)
Note that some of the options described in this section change basic assumptions about how
characters are constructed, so they should be used with caution.

Standard Values
When using the standard values method, you get the following values to assign to your character's
ability scores: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16.
Point-Buy
When using the point-buy method, you start with all ability scores at 10.
Then you get 20 points to increase your character's ability scores. You can reduce at most one of
your ability scores to nine or eight to gain one or two extra points, respectively.
Raising an ability score costs one point for each step until you reach 13. Each step from 14 to 16
costs two points, 17 costs three points, and 18 costs four points. (See the table below.) You can't buy
a higher score than 18 at character creation, though favored ability score bonuses can raise it further.
As your character gains level their ability scores may be raised even higher.

Score Total cost

11 1
12 2
13 3
14 5
15 7
16 9
17 12
18 16

[sidebar] Option: More or Fewer Points

Increasing or decreasing the number of points you get to increase your character's ability scores is a
relatively simple way to get stronger or weaker characters, but note that Forerunner assumes that
player characters have ability scores fairly close to the standard values (before other modifiers). Too
high or too low ability scores can severely affect the balance of the game. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Random Values
Some games may use a randomized method for assigning ability scores. Some possibilities include:
• Roll 3d6 for each ability score in order.
• Roll 3d6 six times and assign one roll to each ability as you like.
• Roll 4d6 and add up the three highest values for each ability score.
• Roll 3d6 for each ability score and raise any values below 8 to 8.
Randomized ability scores introduce unpredictability. If ability scores have a strong influence on the
game, as is the default, a character with higher scores will be more powerful, giving the player of
that character greater ability to affect the game. This may or may not be a desirable outcome. If
other parts of the system are changed to de-emphasize the importance of ability scores, this is much
less of an issue. [end sidebar]

[sidebar] Option: Semi-Random Values

One way to get some of the unpredictability of random ability scores while keeping characters
balanced against each other is to take the standard values and assign them to random abilities,
before or after you pick your background. [end sidebar]

[sidebar] Option: No Scores, Only Modifiers

For a slightly streamlined game you can remove the ability scores and just use the ability modifiers,
which are usually the values used most by the mechanics.
Modifiers to ability scores are halved and applied to the ability modifier instead. (At character
creation, add up all modifiers before halving.)
If you need the attribute score for some purpose, use double the ability modifier and add ten.
If you want to combine this with the standard values, use the following values for the characters'
ability modifiers: 0, 0, +1, +1, +2, +3. If you're using the point-buy method, start all abilities at 0
and then use the table below. You get 18 points to spend, and you can gain two extra points by
reducing the modifier to -1 for a single ability.
Modifier Cost
+1 2
+2 5
+3 9
+4 16
[end sidebar]
Once you have set your ability scores using one of these methods, you apply the modifiers from
your background or other sources, depending on your game. The standard rule is that you get a +2
to the scores of two of your background's favored abilities.

Powers
In most games using the Forerunner framework, using powers is the main way characters act in
combat and may provide substantial abilities outside of combat as well.3
Powers often have a level and may be attached to a specific class, but neither is necessary.

Power Categories
There are three categories of powers: attack powers, exploits, and utility powers.

Attack powers deal damage and inflict status effects and forced movement on one or more targets.
Exploits are powers powers primarily used in combat other than attack powers. Common examples
are powers that allow you to heal other characters or that enable you to use special forms of
movement.
Utility powers provide abilities that are useful outside combat.

3 If you want, you can use powers to describe nearly all of a character's capabilities. For an example of how you can
do this, see Appendix B.
Exploits and utility powers can be divided into groups like skill powers and movement powers.
These groups are denoted by tags. (See Tags below.)
Attack Powers, Attacks, and Attack Rolls
There is a fine but important distinction between an attack power and an attack. An attack power
allows you to perform one or more attacks as part of the power's effects, but the attack isn't a power
in itself. However, powers and attacks are described similarly in that both can have tags and effects
and may share other characteristics depending on the specific game.
If an attack power allows you to make more than one attack, those attacks can be identical or they
can be very different, depending on the power.
Furthermore, each attack can involve one or more attack rolls. An attack roll is just that – one roll of
the die to see if you hit or miss.
To summarize, the attack power describes one or more attacks as part of the power's effects, the
attack roll determines if a specific target of an attack is hit, and finally the effects of the attack
shows what happens to the target.
[sidebar] Nested Attacks
Note that attacks also have effects. However, it's generally preferable to avoid designing attacks that
have other attacks as part of their effect – it's usually better to have any follow-up attacks be part of
the effects of the attack power, and use conditional statements to activate them. For example, if you
have an attack that allows you to make a second attack if it hits, it's better to have the first attack as
one part of the power's effects block, then have a second part that allows the second attack if the
result of the first attack was a hit than to have the second attack be part of the hit effects of the first
attack. Usually this is easier to read and reduces the risk of misunderstanding how a power works,
though as always there are exceptions. [end sidebar]

Frequency of Use
Each power has a frequency that shows how often it can be used. A power's frequency is either at-
will, encounter, or rest.
An at-will power can be used as much as your available actions allow.
An encounter or rest power has one charge, unless noted otherwise. Powers with more than one
charge show their number of charges after their frequency. For example, a power with the frequency
“encounter 3” is an encounter power with three charges.
Encounter powers and rest powers can be used as many times as they have charges. When all the
charges are used up, the power is depleted. A depleted power can't be used until you recharge it,
which usually happens when you rest. (See Rest and Recovery in the Adventuring chapter.) If you
have used some charges but not all, the power is partially depleted.
A power with full charges is fresh. (An at-will power is always fresh.)
[sidebar] Option: Limiting Rest Powers
If you tend to only have one or two combat encounters between each extended rest, rest powers can
end up dominating combat in a way they're not supposed to. Using a rest power should be one of
the big decisions you make during an encounter, but at higher levels you'll have enough of them that
with frequent rests you can use two or three every encounter without much consideration. It also
allows players, individually or as a group, to “go nova” and spend several big attacks in the early
stages of a fight to defeat key opponents which can remove some of the tension.
If you want to avoid this, you can limit the number of rest powers a character can use during a
single encounter to one or two. This reinforces the idea that using a rest power is a big move, but it
can also make players feel like they have a lot of abilities they rarely get to use. Another thing to
keep in mind is that it makes encounters that are higher level than the player characters much more
challenging.
If you want a different way to reduce the effectiveness of going nova early in the fight, you can use
the optional escalation die. See the Combat Sequence section for more on that. [end sidebar]

Sustained Powers
Some powers that have effects that last over multiple round require you to sustain them, denoted by
the rule tag sustain [action]. If you do not spend the required action during your turn, such an effect
ends during the end section of your turn.
Example: A power with the tag sustain minor requires you to spend a minor action each turn to
sustain the power or it will end.

Target, Range, and Area

To use a power, you have to have a target that is within the range of the power. The most common
targets are yourself, another creature, or all creatures within a given area.
These concepts are explained in detail in the Combat chapter.

Tags
To make it easier to refer to groups of powers each power has a number of tags. Tags come in two
types: rule tags and reference tags. A rule tag has some rule or mechanic associated with it that
applies to all powers carrying that tag, while a reference tag is there only to be referenced by other
mechanics.
Common rule tags include weapon and focus that show what kind of equipment is needed to use a
power or attack as well as the name of the class or classes that have access to the power.
Tags can also be used with equipment as well as feats, practices, and other traits.

Sample Rule Tags

Damage from a trait with the SDM rule tag is included in the standard damage modifier. (See
Damage Codes below.)
Using a power with the unguarded rule tag provokes opportunity attacks.

Damage Codes
All attacks that do damage, which is nearly all of them, have a damage code as part of their effects.
The damage code shows how to calculate the damage for the attack.
The damage code has two parts: The base damage and the standard damage modifier.
The Base Damage
The base damage can be a fixed number, a dice code (like 3d10 or 2d6), a variable code that refers
to the character's traits and equipment, or a combination of the three.
The variable code uses the shorthand NX, where N is a number that acts as a multiplier and X
shows what type of equipment or trait is referenced. Typical examples for X include W for weapon
and F for focus, but many other variations are possible.
If needed, the code can be extended to differentiate between different types of equipment or traits.
For example, a class that uses both arcane and divine focuses which may do different amounts of
damage could use the FA and FD codes for “focus – arcane” and “focus – divine” respectively.
Example: A character using a weapon doing 1d8 damage and an attack with the damage code 2W
would do 2d8 damage.
Example: A character using an arcane focus doing 2d6+1 damage and an attack with the damage
code 3FA+5 would do 6d6+8 damage.
Example: An attack with the damage code 1FD + 1d10 would do damage equal to the damage of
the character's divine focus plus 1d10.
Example: An attack with the damage code 1W + 1FA would do base damage equal to the damage of
the character's weapon and the damage of their arcane focus. A character equipped with the same
weapon and focus as in the previous examples who used that attack would do 1d8 + 2d6 damage.

The Standard Damage Modifier

Feats, class features, enhanced equipment, and other sources can add damage to a power. This
damage is typically added to the standard damage modifier, or SDM. The SDM is the sum of all
damage modifiers added to it.
Traits that give damage bonuses that are included in the SDM will have that noted in their
description or through the SDM rule tag.
The SDM often includes one or more ability modifiers. This is denoted by adding those abilities in
paranthesis after the SDM marker.
Example: An attack with the damage code 1W + SDM(Str) uses the character's weapon damage as
the base damage and includes the character's Strength modifier in the SDM.
Example: An attack with the damage code 1d10 + SDM(Int+Wis) adds both the Intelligence and
Wisdom modifiers to the SDM.
Multipliers can be applied both to the ability score modifiers added to the SDM and to the SDM as
a whole. Calculate the SDM before applying any multiplier to it.
Example: An attack with the damage code 3FD + ½SDM(Cha) does base damage equal to three
times the damage of the character's divine focus. The total damage is the rolled base damage plus
half the SDM, with the character's Charisma modifier added to the SDM before halving.
Example: An attack with the damage code 2W + 1FA + 2SDM(Str+2Int) does base damage equal
to two times the damage of the character's weapon plus the damage of their arcane focus. The total
damage adds double the SDM, with the character's Strength modifier and double their Intelligence
modifier added to the SDM before doubling.

Other Damage
Damage can be added to an attack without going through the SDM. Such damage modifiers are
simply added to the damage after the base damage and SDM have been calculated.
Modifiers that apply to an attack's damage as a whole, like for the weakened condition, are applied
after the full damage has been calculated.

Triggers
Most powers are used by spending an action, but some are activated through other events. Such
powers will have a description of the trigger which allows it to activate.

Zones
Some powers create a zone. A zone is similar to a form of terrain with some special rules. If an area
power creates a zone, the zone fills each square in the area of effect, as long as there is a line of
effect to that square from the area's base square.
Zones cannot be attacked and are not affected by other zones (unless specifically noted) or other
terrain.
When the creature that created the zone dies, the zone ends.
Penalties from overlapping zones don't stack. Use only the single most disadvantageous penalty.
Some zones can be moved. A moveable zone ends at the end of the turn of the creature that created
it if that creature isn't within range of at least one square in the zone (using the range of the power
that created the zone) or if it doesn't have line of effect to at least one square in the zone.

Power Sources
In some games it can be important to know if a power is fueled by magic, divine power, the
character's raw skill, or something else. A power's power source is expressed through one or more
tags on that power. These tags can be rule tags or reference tags.

Skills
Many games use skills to describe a character's training in various areas.
[sidebar] Option: No Skills
If you don't want to use skills, you can use ability checks instead. If you still want a character's
training and background to help them in relevant situations, you can let them roll with advantage or
give them a bonus on the check. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Methods
If you don't want the full complexities of the skill system but still want something a little more
structured, you can use methods. Where skills describe what you do, methods describe how you do
it.
When using methods, whenever you make an ability check you also pick a method that fits with
how you're describing what you're doing. You add the bonus from your chosen method to your
check as a method bonus.
Methods work best when they aren't too many – five to seven is a good number – and when they
reflect the mood and flavor of the game. Also keep in mind that all methods should be available to
all characters, so you probably shouldn't base any of them on magic unless everyone has access to
that.
When assigning values to your methods, you can use the following standard arrays:
• Five methods: +5, +3, +1, 0, -1
• Six methods: +5, +3, +2, +1, 0, -1
• Seven methods: +5, +3, +2, +2, +1, 0, -1
If you want a little more flexibility, you can spread your bonuses as you wish with the following
restrictions:
• You can either take one method at +5 or two +4.
• No other method can be higher than +3.
• No more than one method can have a -1.
You get 8 points for five methods, 10 for six methods, and 12 for seven.
One set of methods that works for most games is Force, Speed, Misdirection, Caution, and Style.
[end sidebar]
For each character, every skill in the game falls into one of three categories: Trained, available, or
unavailable.
A trained skill is one you have improved through training. Usually this is an all-or-nothing
proposition, but in some games the level of training can vary. For more on this, see the sidebar on
Skill Points.
An available skill is one you could have chosen to train, or one you can perhaps train in the future.
An unavailable skill is one you can't improve through training.
In most games you will gain the majority of your available skills through your class.
To calculate your character's skill bonus, take the relevant ability modifier, add your level bonus,
and add another +5 if you have training in the skill. Feats, class features, racial bonuses, and other
traits may modify this further.
[sidebar] Option: More Abilities Per Skill
To reduce the importance of specific abilities for certain skills, you can have some or all skills be
associated with more than one ability. You could use the higher of the two ability modifiers, or the
average, or the higher for class skills and the lower for non-class skills. How many and which
abilities are associated with each skill could be the same for everyone or it could depend on their
background, class, theme, or other traits.
Using this option increases complexity a little during character creation, and you run a somewhat
greater risk that a character will be outdone in something that should be the specialty for their class.
The advantage is that a character's skill bonuses will be less tied to their class. It may also be easier
for a player to have their character be competent in the areas they're most interested in without
being shoehorned into a particular class. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Skill Points
Instead of a flat +5 bonus for skill training, each character gets five skill points per trained skill to
distribute among their available skills. The maximum number of points you can put into the same
skill at level one should be close to five if you want to stay close to the standard progression.
This can be taken further into advancement by reducing the level bonus added to skills and have
some (or all!) of that given out as skill points instead. The maximum number of skill points allowed
for the same skill could be allowed to rise a little bit faster than the level bonus (especially if the
max at level one is lower than five), but beware that this can lead to highly disparate skill values at
higher levels and may require adjusting standard DC values.
Overall, this gives player more freedom to fine-tune their characters' capabilities at the cost of
higher complexity. It can also dilute the importance of ability scores for establishing a character's
baseline competency, since a character with a low ability modifier can catch up to one with a higher
ability modifier by spending relatively few skill points, especially at higher levels. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Skills and Ability Score Progression
Note that if you follow the standard progression, the skills based on the attributes central to the
character's class will increase faster than their other skills since the player will typically increase
those ability scores more frequently. This means that at lower levels a check that is a challenge to a
character specialized in a particular skill will usually still be possible to beat for a character with a
baseline bonus in the same skill, while at higher levels the less-skilled character will no longer be
able to beat a DC that challenges the character with the higher skill value.
If this is undesirable you will need to make changes to the standard progression for skill bonuses or
use some kind of alternate rules for skill training. One possibility is to replace the +5 bonus to skill
checks with trained skills with the ability to roll with advantage when making a check with a trained
skill. This compresses the range of difficulty classes while still giving the skilled character roughly
the same chance of beating an average DC. Note that this may require adjustments to the DC values
of some checks to maintain similar success rates, particularly very hard or very easy ones. [end
sidebar]
Practices
Practices are specialized applications of skills that give capabilities beyond standard skill training.
Characters can gain access to practices through feats, class features, utility powers, or other traits.
Practices can be used to cover the knowledge and skills required to perform magic rituals, create
specialized items, operate esoteric equipment, and many other things.
Using a practice usually involves making one or more checks as well as spending time and
resources.
In most cases, you must be trained in the relevant skills to use a practice.4

Designing Practices
Practices is a flexible and powerful tool for creating abilities that don't fit neatly into other
categories like utility powers or regular skills, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

Practices should not be combat abilities5

That's what attack powers and exploits are for. Practices that provide minor bonuses in combat can
be fine if you want the players to have the option to prepare a bit extra for a challenging encounter,
but those should not be available through traits that can also be used for non-combat abilities and
the cost should come from their other combat abilities. For example, a practice granted by an
exploit and which provides resistance to a specific type of damage for an encounter but requires you
to spend one of your encounter attack powers could work well, while a practice with a similar effect
granted by a utility power and costing only gold to use would be break this principle.

Practices should not be used to cordon off basic skill capabilities

When a player invests in a skill for their character, they have every right to expect the basic abilities
related to that skill to be available to them without having to spend even more resources. Practices
should be used to add abilities that go above and beyond the mundane uses of a skill.
For example, if there's a skill for surviving in the wilderness, then in most cases tracking wild
animals should be a basic part of that skill. However, the ability to speak to animals could very well
be a practice connected to such a skill.

Practices should be restricted to the appropriate character level

The abilities granted by practices should fit with the overall power progression of the game. For
example, if you want a practice that allows a player character to raise another character from the
dead, you need to think about whether that is something that should be available from level one or if
it should be restricted to higher levels. In the latter case, make sure the practice has requirements
that prevent it from being acquired by a low-level character.

Practices should respect core character capabilities

If an ability is a core part of a class (and to a lesser extent background or theme), then a character
from another class should not be able to outperform them by using a practice. For example, if one

4 A character can gain a practice without being able to use it, though this should not be a common situation.
5 This restriction can be lifted in a game where combat is not an important activity.
class is specialized in stealth and infiltration, then another class should not have access to practices
that make them even better in those areas.

Practices should be fun for everyone

This is similar to the previous point, but there are more aspects to this than niche protection. When a
player gets to use their character's abilities, it should be fun for that player, for the other players, and
also for the GM. You should be very careful with introducing practices that take a long time to
adjudicate or that short-circuit many types of plots. Reading and controlling minds, fool-proof
remote-viewing, and seeing the future are classic examples of potential plot-breakers, and crafting
and other solitary pursuits are rarely as interesting for the players who aren't directly involved.

Feats
Feats are discrete traits that give you new abilities or enhance ones you already have. Some have
prerequisites, like background, class, level, ability scores, or even other feats, but many will be
available to any character who wants them.
The importance of individual feats can vary from game to game. In many cases a single feat is a
relatively minor ability, giving a small bonus or a bonus that applies only in limited circumstances.
The advantage of this is that the player characters can gain a fair number of feats without running
the risk of having them overshadow their class abilities or other traits, which allows for detailed
customization. However, one drawback is that this requires more feats to be available to the players,
which increases the number of combinations exponentially. This both means that picking a new feat
can be a daunting prospect, especially for a new player, and that there is greater risk that
combinations of feats have unintended consequences.
A game with fewer but more powerful feats means each feat is a more significant choice, but also
that players get fewer opportunities to customize their character.
Like powers, feats can have rule tags and reference tags. For more on tags, see Tags in the Powers.
[sidebar] Designing Feats and Feat Progression
Forerunner assumes that feats are fairly minor, but changing this is fairly trivial. However, making
feats more powerful without reducing the number of feats given out to each character shifts some of
what defines a character away from their class and other traits towards what feats they have picked.
This may be good or bad, depending on what your goal is. It's quite possible to remove classes
altogether and build characters entirely from feats!
You can also go the other way, and leave feats fairly weak and give out even fewer ones. This puts
more emphasis on the character's class, background, and theme to define their capabilities.
No matter how you approach this, as long as you stay close to the standard progression in how the
player characters' values increase nothing else in the game will need to change. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Feat Pools
Some games include a large number of feats. While this allows for great character customization,
the huge number of options available can also make character advancement time-consuming as the
players pore over long lists of possible choices, especially if feats have a strong effect on how other
abilities function.
One way to counter this is to group feats into pools and give each character access to a limited
number of those pools. Access to feat pools can be granted by the character's class, background, or
theme, or even through other feats.
Each character should have access to enough feat pools that there is real variety for similar
combinations of the fundamental character options – class, background, theme, and/or upbringing
(depending on what is available in your particular game). As a rough estimate, assuming the
standard six feats per tier and five to ten feats per feat pool, a character should be able to access at
least four feat pools at tier one, with one or two added per tier.
In a game where feats are fewer but more powerful and more mechanically complex, feat pools are
probably an unnecessary complication that you can safely set aside. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Using Tags to Categorize Feats
You may want to split character advancement between combat and non-combat traits to allow
players to give their characters interesting non-combat abilities without feeling like they're giving
up combat prowess (or vice versa). One way to do this for feats is to give each feat a tag that
designates it as combat or non-combat, and then specify which of those categories newly gained
feats should belong to.
If you do this, you may want to give out more feats or make them a bit stronger, or you may need to
adjust other parts of the system to compensate for the drop in player character combat effectiveness.
[end sidebar]

Equipment
The role of equipment can vary greatly between different games. The default settings for Forerunner
assumes that equipment plays a key part in determining your character's capabilities and that you
will get better equipment as the game goes on, but there are several optional rules available if you
want to change that assumption.
Forerunner doesn't provide a canonical list of weapons, armor, or other equipment as different
settings will have different needs. Instead this section presents some general attributes of weapons
and armor to be added to or changed as needed by the specific game. These attributes can be
expressed through rules or reference tags.

Armor
The main function of armor is to add an armor bonusto your main defense, Armor Class.
Heavy armor typically has an armor bonus of +4 to +8, while light armor typically has an armor
bonus of +3 or less but also allows you to add an ability modifier to your AC as determined by your
class.
Shields usually provide one or two points of shield bonus to AC and one other appropriate defense.
[sidebar] Option: Armor Penalties
Some types of shields and armor can impose penalties to your speed or certain types of skill checks.
For example, heavy armor can give a -1 penalty to speed and skills based on Strength and Dexterity.
Using this option can make armor feel more realistic and can make the choice between different
types of armor more interesting, but it also increases complexity a little. It's most useful in a game
where you want many different and distinct types of armor. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: No Armor
In some settings armor just isn't very important. If you want to remove armor from the game or
reduce it to a cosmetic choice, you can give each character an inherent bonus to AC. This bonus can
depend on their class or other traits, but the difference between characters shouldn't be more than
two or three points in most cases. [end sidebar]

Weapons
Weapons are divided into three categories: simple, martial, and exotic.
Simple weapons are ones that all characters are proficient with unless otherwise noted, while
proficiency with martial weapons is restricted to characters with combat experience or special
training. Exotic weapons typically require feats or other abilities to use competently (or at all).
When using a weapon you're proficient with, you gain a proficiency bonus of +2 or +3 to your
attack rolls. This can be specified by the weapon, or the same bonus can be used for all weapons.
Each weapon will also belong to one or more weapon groups. For a fantasy game sample weapon
groups could be axes, flails, and crossbows.
Weapon damage will depend on the game, but it typically ranges from 1d3 to 2d6.
Nearly all weapons will require one or two hands to wield. (Spiked boots and shoulder-mounted
blasters are examples of exceptions to this.) A small character can't use a two-handed weapon unless
it has the small property.
Most ranged weapons have two ranges: Normal range and long range, with long range typically
being twice normal range. Attacks at long range suffer a -2 penalty.

Weapon Properties
In addition to the standard statistics described above, weapons may also have additional properties
that modify their use. Some examples are provided here.

Weapon Property Effects

Heavy thrown A thrown weapon that uses Strength rather than Dexterity for ranged basic
attacks.
High crit On a critical hit, this weapon adds extra dice to the damage roll equal to the
base damage of the weapon, once per tier the character has reached. These
dice are not maximized. (For example, a weapon with a base damage of 2d4
adds 2d4 at the Adventurer tier, 4d4 at the Champion tier, and 6d4 at the
Legend tier.)
Light thrown A thrown weapon that uses the default Dexterity for ranged basic attacks.
Load [action] Denotes that the weapon needs to be reloaded after each use, along with the
Weapon Property Effects
type of action required to load the weapon. For example, “load minor” means
you need to spend a minor action to load the weapon. Loading a weapon
requires two hands, even if loading it is a free action and you only need one
hand to use it for an attack.
Off-hand Can be used effectively with the off hand, allowing you to wield two weapons
at once, choosing which to use for each attack. (This doesn't allow you to
make extra attacks, though some powers may benefit from wielding two
weapons.)
Reach X Extends your reach by X squares. (X is assumed to be “one” if it's not
specified.) See Reach under Targets, Reach, Range, and Adjacency in the
Combat chapter.
Small Small weapons can be used normally by small characters.
Versatile Versatile weapons can be wielded two-handed, which adds one point of
damage to the SDM. A small character must wield a versatile weapon in both
hands and does not receive the extra damage.
Vicious X When rolling damage for an attack using this weapon, you reroll any dice that
show less than X until they show a result of X or higher.

Magical focuses can also have properties, but as magic varies greatly between settings there's a lot
more variety in possible abilities for focuses than for weapons. The following list contains a few
basic examples that should work for most games. As you may note, some of them are very similar
to the weapon properties with the same name.
In some games, only enhanced focuses can have properties.

Focus Property Effects

High crit On a critical hit, this focus adds extra dice to the damage roll equal to the
base damage of the focus, once per tier the character has reached. These
dice are not maximized. (For example, an focus with a base damage of 2d4
adds 2d4 at the Adventurer tier, 4d4 at the Champion tier, and 6d4 at the
Legend tier.)
Off-hand Can be used effectively with the off hand, allowing you to wield two
focuses at once, choosing which to use for each attack. (This doesn't allow
you to make extra attacks, though some powers may benefit from wielding
two focuses.)
Vicious X When rolling damage for an attack using this weapon, you reroll any dice
that show less than X until they show a result of X or higher.
Worn [slot] You can count as wielding this focus without holding it in your hand. There
is an equipment slot specifically for this type of focus, but some focuses
may use other slots.

[sidebar] Option: No Weapons or Focuses

The easiest way to remove weapons and focuses from your game is to give all attack powers set
damage expressions that don't depend on the weapon the character is using. This can be appropriate
for genres like superheroes, where characters typically use innate abilities rather than weapons.
[end sidebar]
[sidebar] Very Simple Weapons and Focuses
If you don't want long lists of weapons for your game, you can keep things simple by reducing the
choices to a few basic options. For example, maybe you're content with having a choice between
light, versatile, and heavy weapons, where light weapons have a damage of d6, versatile weapons
do 8 if used in one hand and d10 if used in two hands, and heavy weapons require two hands but do
d12 damage, and all other differences are purely cosmetic. [end sidebar]

Enhanced Equipment
Weapons, armor, and other equipment can be enhanced through magic or other means. Forerunner
assumes that the player characters will gain access to more powerful equipment as the game goes
on, and the increased enhancement bonus that comes with enhanced equipment is an assumed part
of the standard progression, but there are several options if you want to avoid this.
Enhanced equipment has a level which will often determine its price, if such items can be bought
and sold, and acts as a guideline for when it should be made available to the player characters. In a
game following the standard progression, about a quarter of a character's items will be one or two
levels below their own level, a quarter at their level, and half one or two levels higher. (Note that
this is for items where the item level is important.)
Basic enhanced armor provides an enhancement bonus to AC of +1 for a level 1 armor, with a
further +1 for each five levels up to +6 at level 26. Enhanced armor also has an increased armor
bonus, as follows:
• The armor bonus of light armor increases by one for armors with an enhancement bonus of
four or five, and by two (total) for those with an enhancement bonus of 6.
• The armor bonus of heavy armor increases by three for armors with an enhancement bonus
of four or five, and by six (total) for those with an enhancement bonus of 6.

This can represent more advanced forms of armor, armor constructed from esoteric materials, or
some other strengthening of the armor's protective ability caused by the magic or other effect that is
the source of the enhancement. From a game mechanical perspective, it allows for an increase in
AC without huge enhancement bonuses while still keeping light and heavy armor on a fairly even
keel.

A basic enhanced weapon or focus provides an enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls of +1
for a level one weapon, with a further +1 for each five levels up to +6 at level 26. For each +1
enhancement bonus it also adds +1d6 to damage on critical hits. (This damage is not maximized on
a critical hit.)

A basic enhanced cloak or other protective item provides an enhancement bonus to all defenses
other than AC of +1 at level 1, with a further +1 for each five levels up to +6 at level 26.
[sidebar] Option: Inherent Bonus Instead of Enhancement Bonus
If you want to reduce the focus on getting better and better equipment, you can replace
enhancement bonuses with an inherent bonus that follows the same progression of +1 every five
levels. This puts more focus on the characters than their equipment, but for some players getting
new and better toys is part of the fun. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Higher or Lower Enhancement Bonus

By changing the maximum enhancement bonus from +6, you can increase or reduce the focus on
fantastical items. With a higher maximum, more of the character's power will come from their
equipment, and vice versa. Note that this must be compensated for elsewhere, or the characters'
attack and defense bonuses will become too high or too low compared to those of their enemies.
[end sidebar]

[sidebar] Option: Growing Enhancement Bonus

For some games it's a bad fit to have the player characters discarding their old equipment and
getting new one every five levels or so. In that case, you can allow existing items to increase their
enhancement bonus when the character reaches the appropriate level. This allows for greater
continuity and can mean you need fewer types of enhanced equipment overall. [end sidebar]

Equipment Slots
To keep things structured, Forerunner assumes that most items are placed in equipment slots. The
default equipment slots are as follows:
• Any number of wielded weapons and focuses (usually limited by how many hands the
player character has).
• One focus slot, for focuses with the worn focus property.
• One armor slot.
• One head slot, for helmets, tiaras, hats, and the like.
• One hands slot, for gloves and other items worn on the hands.
• One arms slot, for shields, bracelets, and other items worn on the arms.
• One neck slot, for cloaks, necklaces, amulets, and other items worn around the neck.
• One waist slot, for belts, scabbards, and the like.
• One legs slot, for pants, boots, and anything else worn on the feet or legs.
• Two trinket slots, for rings, pins, and other small, worn items.

Advancement
Most games use experience points (xp) to track character advancement. During the game your
character will gain xp, and when you reach a certain number of xp your character will gain a level
which improves and expands their abilities in various ways.
A typical pattern is to set the xp threshold required to advance from level one to level two at a
certain number (like 100 or 1,000) and then increase the number needed by roughly 25 % for each
additional level. For example, if it takes 1,000 xp to reach level two it would take another 1,250 to
reach level three, about 1,600 more after that to reach level four and so on.
Characters start at level 1 and advance to a maximum level of 30. Sometimes these levels are
grouped into three tiers: Level 1 to 10 is the Adventurer Tier, level 11 to 20 is the Champion Tier,
and level 21 to 30 is the Legend Tier. Grouping the levels into tiers makes it easier to reference
these level ranges. Depending on how you name and describe the tiers, they can also help the
players understand what to expect from your game.
[sidebar] A Note on Levels
In Forerunner there is no direct connection between a player character's level and their in-world
power level except as defined by the specific game. That a character has reached level 30 can mean
very different things – in one game it could mean they're a semi-immortal demigod who strides
across the world with mighty purpose, while in another they could just be a very canny and lucky
survivor of many battles. In a third game there may not even be 30 levels; that's just the default, not
a hard rule. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: No Experience Points
You don't need to use xp to regulate character advancement. Two easy variants for those who wish
to reduce book-keeping is to have the characters level up after a given number of sessions (three is a
good number to start with), or to time the gain of new levels to dramatic events in the story. [end
sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Level Up Only When Safe
If you want leveling up to be connected to longer periods of training or study, you could require that
the player characters be in a safe place for an extended period of time before they can gain a new
level. This could mean an extended rest or something more. At the extreme end advancing to a new
level could require finding someone who is willing to train you for months or even years, though
unless you want advancement to be very slow this should probably be restricted to key points in the
character's career, like reaching a new tier. [end sidebar]

The Effects of Levels

As your level increases, so do your ability scores, attack bonus, skill bonuses, defenses, hit points,
initiative bonus, the number of powers and feats you have – nearly all aspects of your character.
The default assumption of Forerunner is that on average, each level you gain will improve your
bonus to most checks by +1. In most games you gain these improvements through a combination of
increased ability scores, increased enhancement bonuses, new feats, improved class features, and
your level bonus.
It can be useful to include an advancement table in the description of each class to summarize the
improvements gained at each level.

Standard Progression
Games based on Forerunner can use different structures that change many of the base assumptions
of the framework without breaking anything. With a few exceptions where static values are used,
the combat rules and basic resolution mechanics aren't heavily dependent on other parts of the game
and for the most part those are easy enough to modify.
But in the interests of those who want to create compatible games where exchanging classes,
creatures, and other creations is as easy as possible, this section presents a set of standardized
assumptions about how characters will improve in power over the course of the game.
Primarily, this assumes a level-based game where characters improve in power based on their level.6

The Level Bonus

The main factor in character advancement is the level bonus, which equals half the character's level.
[sidebar] Option: Higher Or Lower Level Bonus
A variant for a game with lower mechanical complexity is to set your level bonus equal to your
level and not use feats, enhancement bonuses, ability score increases or most other methods of
increasing your bonuses to checks, or to limit them to a few points. Note that to maintain a similar
rate of progression this will require adjustments to other parts of the rules where the level bonus is
used. Specifically, ability score modifiers and enhancement bonuses to attack rolls, defenses, and
skill checks should not be used, and skill DC:s will need to be raised by roughly one point per three
levels over the default.
You can go the other way and reduce or even eliminate the level bonus, and use faster improvement
rates to other values to compensate. However, this is tricky since most other modifiers are used in
more than one place. For example, the enhancement bonus for weapons also increases the damage
of attacks, so you need to take that into account when designing your powers or setting enemy hit
point values to keep damage from inflating too much. This option can be useful if you want to
promote system mastery in character design. [end sidebar]
Here's a rough breakdown of what a character should gain per level:
• +1 to attack rolls. Over the 29 levels from 2 to 30, this breaks down as a +15 level bonus, a
+6 enhancement bonus, +4 from ability modifier increases, and +4 from other sources
(including feats, class features, and the like).
• +1 to AC and most7 other defenses. Similar to the modifiers for attack rolls, this includes a
+15 level bonus and a +6 enhancement bonus. For light armor, AC gets a +4 ability modifier
increase and an extra +2 armor bonus as the enhancement bonus increases, while heavy
armor gets an armor bonus increase of +6 instead. The last +2 will come from other sources.
At least one of the secondary defenses will also benefit from the ability score increases, but
with the standard setup (described under Defenses in the Combat chapter) one or two will
not.
• 4 to 7 hit points. Usually this is a class feature.

6 Whether levels are gained through xp or some other manner is not relevant in this case, though it's assumed that the
player characters' levels don't differ by more than one or two. Greater differences in character level can create
situations where the lower-level characters are unable to contribute meaningfully compared to those of higher
levels.
7 Depending on how your secondary defenses are structured, it's quite possible that some of them will increase
slower than the others. All defenses will benefit from the increases in level bonus and enhancement bonus, and all
will get a +1 from increased attributes since all attributes increase at levels 11 and 21, but defenses based on
attributes the player doesn't increase will lag a few points behind.
 • +2 to +3 points of damage per hit.8 Most of this will be from improvements to powers and
bonuses from feats and class features along with an increase in the number of encounter and
rest powers, but over 29 levels +6 of this will come from enhancement bonuses and +4 from
ability modifier increases. Note that the higher range of damage values should be reserved
for classes that have damage-dealing as their main focus.
• +2/3 to skill checks with skills based on the favored attributes of the character's class,
breaking down over 29 levels as a +15 level bonus and a +4 from ability modifier increases.
Other skills only get the +15 level bonus, but all skills can pick up minor bonuses from feats
and other traits.

Note that these improvements can't always be expected to come smoothly – indeed, some of the fun
of a level-based progression can come from bursts of increases in power – but a character shouldn't
typically be lagging more than two or three levels behind nor be more than two or three levels ahead
in any given category. Also note that there can be intentional systematic differences between classes
that fall outside these rules of thumb, but those should be the exception.

[sidebar] Option: No Miscellaneous Bonuses to Attack Rolls and Defenses

The standard progression assumes some bonuses to attack rolls and defenses will come from feats
or other optional traits. However, feats that give general bonuses to attacks and defenses can be very
powerful which can make players feel like they have to use those feats to keep up, or you can end
up with a greater-than-expected discrepancy in character combat effectiveness if some players pick
those feats and some don't. To avoid this, you can remove feats that give this type of bonus and
instead give out the same bonus to every character.

If you give out an inherent bonus to attack rolls and defenses that starts at +1 at level 5 and
increases by +1 at levels 11, 19, and 25, this provides a fairly smooth bonus curve when combined
with the standard level bonus and attribute modifier increases. Note that if this is used in
combination with replacing the enhancement bonus with an inherent bonus, these could be
combined into a single value, or one of them should have a different type to allow them to stack.
[end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Flat Math
As your characters gain levels, their numbers will increase, and that's fun! However, for some
people, adding a d20 roll to a two-digit number every time they make a check isn't fun.
One way to solve this is to move the modifers entirely onto the enemy side. Instead of having the
player characters' numbers go up, you make the enemy numbers go down at the same rate. (To
make this work reasonably well, you'll need to have all player characters on the same rate of
progression, which in turn means using some of the other options described in this chapter.)

8 This estimate assumes the standard attack bonus progression, enemy stats in accordance with Combat Encounters,
and that the desired length of an encounter at the player characters' level is roughly five rounds. With the addition of
circumstantial bonuses like combat advantage this should result in a hit rate of roughly 65 %, with the occasional
turn where a character can't attack at all due to conditions or not being able to reach an enemy weighed up by the
use of action points and critical hits. Also note that this assumes one single-target attack per round. Multi-target
powers should increase in damage at a slower rate to adjust for the multiple chances to hit, though to compensate
for the reduced effectiveness of spreading damage over multiple targets the increase shouldn't be as low as one half
for two-target attacks, one third for three-target attacks and so on, since focus fire is generally more desirable. A
reduction of 25 % for an attack that can be expected to attack two targets is about right.
This works best for attack roll bonuses and defenses.9 Neither player nor enemy attack roll
modifiers and defenses increase by level, but instead enemies who are lower level than the player
characters have their attack roll bonuses and defenses reduced by the difference in level, and vice
versa for higher level enemies.
This does add some extra work for the GM beforehand, but since most enemies should be close to
the player characters in level that extra work may be worth the savings in playing time at the table,
especially at higher levels.
This may reduce the feeling of advancement when the characters gain levels though, and since that's
part of the fun of playing a class-and-level system this option may not be for everyone. [end
sidebar]
[sidebar] Damage Progression and Enemy Hit Points
The player characters' progression in damage should be proportional to enemy progression in hit
points and vice versa, so any changes will need to be made on both sides. [end sidebar]
Ability Score Increases
The standard progression assumes characters increase the bonus in their two most important
attributes by +4 up to level 30. This breaks down into a +1 to all ability scores at levels 11 and 21,
and a +1 to any two ability scores at levels 4, 8, 14, 18, 24, and 28.

[sidebar] Option: No Ability Scores

If you want a simpler game or one that puts more emphasis on training rather than innate ability,
you can remove the abilities from the game completely. To keep the balance and progression
similar, all characters should start with a +4 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls as well as the
defenses based on the primary and secondary abilities of their class and build, and gain an
additional +1 roughly every seven levels. (They should only get the bonus to AC if they're using
light armor.)
Depending on how detailed you want to get, you may want to extend this bonus to Initiative for
classes with Dexterity as a primary or secondary ability, as well as other derived values. Hit points
and recoveries should be calculated as if the character had a Constitution of 16 if their class has that
ability as a primary or secondary value, or 12 if it doesn't.
Skills will also need to be handled differently, as a large part of a character's skill bonus comes from
their ability modifier. One way is to use the skill points option described under Skills, with a few
extra skill points to compensate.
This option keeps things simple, and everyone is on a level playing field. Characters may also
become less stereotyped based on their character class, depending on how skills are handled.
However, some variety between characters is lost. Also, having ability scores is a strong tradition in
the type of game Forerunner is derived from, and ability scores can help a player get a quick grasp
of what their character's capabilities are. [end sidebar]

9 You can do this for hit points and damage as well, though it's more complicated since those values are based on
ratios instead of differences. You could keep hit point and damage values essentially static, but then there is very
little left to give a sense of advancement.
Enhancement Bonus
The enhancement bonus is discussed in more detail in the Equipment chapter, which also has some
relevant optional rules.
New Feats
Characters gain one feat every two levels, plus one extra feat when reaching a new tier (including at
level one).
[sidebar] Feat Bonuses
When designing feats, you should be careful to not allow too many to apply to the same situation.
Since feats are easy to create they tend to grow in number, and stacking many seemingly small
benefits on top of each other can have unforeseen consequences.
The easiest way to avoid this is to restrict most feats to giving bonuses of the same type, typically
called a feat bonus. Since bonuses of the same type don't stack, this means that even with hundreds
or thousands of feats available, there's less risk of a player stumbling on a combination of feats that
ruins the balance of the game. [end sidebar]
New Powers
How quickly a character gains new powers is also included in the standard progression, though this
is an area where differences in class design can have a big impact.

At level one, a typical class will provide two at-will attack powers, one encounter attack power, and
one rest attack power. Some backgrounds can also provide attack powers but these are typically
weaker, with a racial encounter attack power roughly equal in power to a class at-will attack power
and a racial rest attack power roughly equal in power to a class encounter attack power. Themes can
also provide powers, and though the power level of themes can vary strongly between games the
base assumption is that the powers they give are on the same level as those given by classes, but
fewer in number. A good baseline is that a theme provides one encounter attack power at level one.

At level one or two most classes and themes and some backgrounds provide one exploit and one
utility power each, all of roughly equal power.

New encounter attack powers are gained at level 3, 7, and 11.

New rest attack powers are gained at level 5, 9, and 20.

New exploits and utility powers are gained at level 6, 10, 12, 16, 22, and 26.

As your character's level increases, their powers can become stronger or you can get the opportunity
to replace them with more powerful ones, or a combination of the two.

You can replace an encounter attack power at level 13, 17, 23, and 27, and a rest attack power at
level 15, 19, 25, and 29.

[sidebar] Option: Improving Powers

Forerunner assumes that powers will have a set level and that characters will replace their powers
with better ones as they gain levels. However, this doesn't have to be the case. You can have the
powers become stronger instead, though making this work well with the standard progression's
assumptions about damage output can be tricky.

This means that once a player has picked a power for their character, they can keep it for as long as
they like or retrain it into something else if they prefer. This also means that over a character's
career, the player will have fewer choices to make, which can be a drawback or an additional
benefit.

[end sidebar]

Retraining
As you play you may find that a power, feat, or trained skill you picked doesn't fit as well with the
rest of your character design choices as you thought it would. Each time you gain a level, you can
retrain one power, feat, or trained skill into a different one currently available to you. This is in
addition to any changes allowed by the standard progression, such as switching out a power for a
more powerful one available at your new level.
When you retrain a power, it can only be replaced by a power of the same type (encounter attack
power, for example) and the new power can't be of a higher level than the old one.
As a GM, you can of course allow more generous retraining, which can be a boon for an
inexperienced player or one who has a new character at a higher level.

Adventuring
Encounters and Rewards
Forerunner uses the encounter as a basic unit of structured play.10 What counts as an encounter
varies between games but it typically involves the characters trying to achieve a specified goal, such
as defeating an enemy, making a deal with someone, or navigating a dangerous area. Surviving an
encounter will typically bring some kind of reward in experience points or treasure. Defeating the
encounter may or may not bring bigger rewards.
Encounters can be pre-planned by the GM, but they don't need to be. See the section A Rough
Guide to Improvisation below.
Play outside encounters can still involve the game mechanics, but usually this will be limited to
skill and ability checks, and the use of utility powers.

Experience Points
If your game uses experience points to track advancement, you will typically have a chance of
gaining xp each encounter.
You may also gain xp after achieving goals related to your character or the adventure.
Typically you will gain enough xp to advance to a new level after roughly five to ten encounters or
three sessions of play, but this can vary a lot.
10 In this context, “structured play” means that there are rules for who does what when and how well.
Note that xp rewards is one of the main ways you shape what your game is about. If you give out
the majority of your xp rewards for combat, then the players will want to fight a lot, and if you give
out xp for collecting treasure, they'll want to go looking for gold. If you try to make your game be
about one thing while giving out xp rewards for something else, you'll likely end up with an
incoherent game.

Milestones
You reach a milestone after every second encounter since your last extended rest.
Reaching a milestone gives you a new action point and may have other effects depending on your
character's abilities.

Rest and Recovery

Characters recover resources by taking a short rest or an extended rest.
Typically, characters will get a short rest after each encounter while an extended rest requires a
longer period of uninterrupted rest in a safe place. Taking a short rest lets you recharge your
encounter powers and spend recoveries to regain hit points. Taking an extended rest lets you
recharge all your powers, regain all your hit points and recoveries, and resets your action points to
one.
[sidebar] Extended Rest Options
The extended rest is a pacing mechanic and a way to keep the players thinking about how they
spend their resources. The higher the number of encounters between each extended rest, the more
careful the players need to be with their resources. Conversely, if there is only one or two
encounters between each extended rest they can be more carefree and use everything at the first
opportunity. Either playstyle is fine, but you should know the effects of the choices you make.
Adjusting the requirements for taking an extended rest can help facilitate the desired playstyle and
strenghten the sense of how the world works. The requirements could be as low as “an hour out of
rest out of sight of the enemy” or as high as “months of rest and recreation far away from danger”.
For example, in a game focused on short, intense forays into dungeons or other dangerous places,
you may need to get back to civilization and spend a week at the local inn to take an extended rest,
meaning you need to be very careful about how you use your resources while you're out on an
adventure.
Another option is to give the characters the benefits of an extended rest after a set number of
encounters, no matter what the circumstances are. This makes the mechanics more predictable, but
you risk losing some of the immersion and strategy. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: The Long Rest
If you want something inbetween the short rest and the extended rest, you can try using the long
rest. A long rest gives you all the benefits of a short rest, plus the choice between recovering one
healing surge, regaing one charge for a rest power, or gain one action point if you don't have any.
[end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Level Up Recovery
To increase the sense of accomplishments when a character reaches a new level, you can allow
them the benefits of an extended rest at the same time. [sidebar]

Combat Encounters
The main components of a combat encounter are the terrain, the enemies the characters are fighting,
and the goal they're trying to accomplish.
This chapter deals mainly with the enemies. For information on the basics of how terrain works, see
the Combat chapter. For some ideas on how to make terrain more interesting, see the section A
Rough Guide to Improvisation below.

Enemy Stats, Roles, and Categories

Enemies have similar stats to player characters, like hit points, defenses, and attack powers, but
they're usually not as detailed. They also have a level, which is the main factor in determining their
stats.
Enemies come in a few different roles which define their what they do as combatants. Blasters
attack from range, often with area attacks; bricks are tough and do a lot of damage; sneaks stay at
the edge of the fight, often attacking from hiding; skirmishers are highly mobile; controllers
frequently apply negative status effects; and legionnaires have strong defenses and often work well
together. Some enemies also have the sub-role commander which indicates that they have abilities
that boost their allies.
Each enemy also has a category which is a basic classification of how dangerous they are. Scrubs
are weak, one-hit enemies who are dangerous only in large numbers; normal enemies are your run-
of-the-mill threats; lieutenants are roughly twice as tough; and bosses are the strongest, most
dangerous enemies, about as strong as five normal enemies.
As a baseline for enemy stats, you can use the following. (In all cases below, “level” is the enemy's
level.)
• AC: 14 + level, -2 for blasters and bricks, +2 for legionnaires.
• Other defenses: 12 + level. Decrease one to increase another an equal number of steps.
• Hit points: 24 + 8 per level, except 21 + 6 per level for blasters and sneaks and 26 + 10 per
level for bricks; doubled for lieutenants and quadrupled for bosses.
• Initiative bonus: Level x 2/3, +2 for skirmishers and soldiers, +4 for lurkers.
• Attack bonus: 5 + level if the attack targets AC, 3 + level if it targets some other defense.
• Average damage: 8 + level (halved for scrubs, +25 % for bricks).
• Most non-scrubs have one or more encounter powers doing 25 % to 50 % more damage.
• Powers that attack multiple targets (including area attacks) do 25 % less damage.
• Powers that create powerful conditions do 25 % to 50 % less damage.
• Lieutenants have a +2 bonus to all saves. Bosses have a +5 bonus, and often get extra
opportunities to make saves.
Scrubs have exactly one hit point and only take damage when hit, even if you're using a power that
does damage on a miss.
Scrubs deal fixed damage, but other enemies usually roll theirs.

Bosses can have unique and powerful abilities, including immediate actions triggered by common
tactics such as flanking.

[sidebar] Hit Point Scaling

High level enemies get a lot of hit points. If you feel the numbers get too big, you can reduce the hit
point gain by half, or even more! Just remember that you may want to adjust the damage output for
the player characters as well, or reduce the number of xp each enemy is worth. [end sidebar]

Enemy XP Costs and Encounter Construction

Whether you use xp to track character advancement or not, using enemy xp costs is a useful tool to
measure how dangerous a combat encounter is. If you're using xp for advancement, this will also
show how many xp the player characters will get to share for defeating the encounter.
Each combat encounter has a level, based on the total xp value of all the enemies in the encounter
and the number of player characters facing them.
When you create a combat encounter of a given level, you have a number of xp to spend equal to
the xp value of a normal enemy of the encounter's level times the number of player characters. The
xp value of a normal enemy is 10 % of the number of xp needed for a character to go from the
enemy's level to the next level.11 See the table below.
Enemy Type XP Value
Scrub 2.5 % of next level
Normal 10 % of next level
Lieutenant 20 % of next level
Boss 50 % of next level

For most player groups, an encounter at the same or lower level than the player characters should be
fairly easy to win, an encounter one or two levels higher should be a challenge but still result in a
victory most of the time, and an encounter three or four levels higher should be a serious challenge
that they may or may not win. Encounters at higher levels will be very difficult to win in most
circumstances, but this can vary a lot with player skill and how finely tuned the player characters
are for combat.
Example: You're creating an encounter for a group of five player characters of level 5. You want the
encounter to be a challenge but not something that should be impossible to overcome, so you set the
encounter level at 8. Each player character allows you to use 10 % of the number of xp required to
advance to the encounter's level from one level below (from 7 to 8 in this case), which means your
xp budget for the encounter is 5 x 10 % or half the number of xp needed for a character to advance
from level 7 to level 8.

11 Forerunner generally assumes that the player characters all have the same level, but if they don't you can use the
average.
For the most part, enemies should be fairly close to the player characters in level if you want an
exciting and reasonably fair fight. Enemies that are much higher level (more than four levels higher)
are very difficult for the player characters to hit, which can make for a frustrating combat. Similarly,
enemies that are much lower in level will almost never hit the player characters, making for an
encounter with virtually no sense of threat.
[sidebar] Options for Representing Enemies of Very High or Low Levels
As noted in the main text, using enemies that are more than a few levels higher or lower than the
player characters tends to lead to uninteresting fights.
However, sometimes you want to represent an enemy who is much more or less powerful than the
player characters – perhaps they meet the main villain long before their final battle with them,
perhaps they re-encounter an enemy who escaped them the first time they met, perhaps they're
revisting a location from earlier in their careers. Whatever the reason, there are ways to represent a
creature as being more or less dangerous without changing their level.12
The easiest is to change their category. The enemy who was a tough boss the first time the
character's fought them is now a lieutenant – still dangerous, but not a threat to the whole party on
their own – and perhaps their henchmen are scrubs instead of normal enemies.
You can also change how you represent the enemies. Instead of each enemy being an individual
creature, you can use a warm to represent a big group of them.
Another way is to adjust their hit points, either directly or by applying a multiplier or divisor to the
damage going through to them. If they go all out on someone they know to be tough and get in
several solid hits, but they don't even bruise them? That enemy is going to feel dangerous. (This is
somewhat similar to changing the enemy's category and should bring with it some change in their
xp value.)
[end sidebar]
Note that these are guidelines and not hard and fast rules. A GM who so desires can use enemies of
much higher or lower levels and create much more difficult or easy combat encounters, or they may
simply not care about those things at all and use whatever enemies seem correct for the situation.
The point isn't to straight-jacket the GM, but to give them tools to judge how tough a fight is going
to be if they want to.

Skill Encounters
Skill encounters are similar to combat encounters in that they are structured and typically have
clearly defined success and failure states, but for the most part they require the players to make skill
checks instead of attacks (although it's fully possible to create encounters that combine combat and
skill use).
Skill encounters can be constructed in many different ways, but the most basic is to require the
player group to make a certain number of successful skill checks before they suffer too many
failures.

12 Note that all of these solutions depend on you as a GM being okay with using different stats for the same creature at
different times. If that's not the case, you'll have to find other ways.
Player Knowledge
It's up to the game and individual GM to decide how much information the players get about their
opposition in an encounter. The players should get some indication of the relative power levels of
the enemies facing them and the difficulty of various skill checks they may attempt, but whether
this means detailed numbers or vague descriptions depends on what playstyle you're going for.

A Rough Guide to Improvisation

Frequently the players will come up with an idea you as a GM have not prepared for. This section is
intended as a guide to setting DC values for skill checks and ability checks on the fly. To quickly
create stats for enemies, see Combat Encounters.

Ability Checks and Skill Checks

The following table gives approximate DC:s for skill checks of different levels of challenge at
different character levels. This assumes that a character without training or ability will have a bonus
of roughly zero at level one, a character with training or ability will have a bonus around +4, a
character with both training and ability will have a bonus around +8, and a specialized character
will have a bonus of around +12.
A character without ability or training will still have a very good chance to complete a trivial check
but will be unable to complete a hard check without assistance or circumstantial bonuses, while a
specialist will almost never fail a moderate check and will have a small chance to succeed at an
impossible check.

Level Trivial Easy Moderate Hard Very Hard Extreme Impossible

1-3 5 9 13 17 21 25 29
4-6 7 11 15 19 23 27 31
5-9 9 13 17 21 25 29 33
10-12 11 15 19 23 27 31 35
13-15 13 17 21 25 29 33 37
16-18 15 19 23 27 31 35 39
20-21 17 21 25 29 33 37 41
22-24 19 23 27 31 35 39 43
25-27 21 25 29 33 37 41 45
28-30 23 27 31 35 39 43 47

This table assumes the standard progression for skill bonuses (+2 every three levels). If you change
how skills progress, you may need to adjust these values.
For ability checks, use the following table instead. A character without ability will be able to
complete a trivial check most of the time, while even a gifted character will struggle with hard
checks.
 Level Trivial Easy Moderate Hard
1-2 5 10 15 20
3-4 6 11 16 21
5-6 7 12 17 22
7-8 8 13 18 23
9-10 9 14 19 24
11-12 10 15 20 25
13-14 11 16 21 26
15-16 12 17 22 27
17-18 13 18 23 28
19-20 14 19 24 29
21-22 15 20 25 30
23-24 16 21 26 31
25-26 17 22 27 32
27-28 18 23 28 33
29-30 19 24 29 34

Note that if you change the ability score progression and skill bonus progression you will need to
adjust these numbers accordingly.

Non-Combat Damage Values

Damage values can be based on the damage values for enemies. At level one, a standard monster
does on average nine points of damage on a hit, which can be achieved by rolling 2d6+2. For higher
level challenges you can add another +1 for each level past the first. This damage can be varied by
+/- 50 % for more or less dangerous situations.
Another way to drain character durability that requires a bit less book-keeping is to make them lose
recoveries instead of hit points. However, if this is used extensively it can change the value of some
abilities, such as ones that increase the number of hit points regained when spending a recovery. It
will also somewhat favor characters who have a high number of recoveries compared to their hit
point totals, and vice versa.

Improvised and Situational Powers

Part of the fun of playing a roleplaying game instead of a boardgame is that you have a greater
freedom of action and that you're able to use the environment in creative ways. This section
presents three techniques the GM can use to help the players do this.
Situational Powers
Situational powers are powers the GM has created in advance for a particular encounter or
environment. These powers can be available to all characters and creatures or they may have
prerequisites, commonly in the form of skill training. One example of a possible situational power
is the classic “grab a rope and cut one end to ascend” maneuver particularly common in fictional
fights set on sailing ships, which could look something like this:

Rope Elevator (Move action)

Each character may use this power once during the encounter when they are on the deck or in the
rigging of the ship.
Effect: Fly up to 10 squares.
Note that this doesn't use the stricter power format described in Appendix A. This is intentional – as
long as you as a GM knows what the power is meant to do, you don't need to write out all the
details.

Creative Use of Powers

Sometimes a player comes up with an idea for something a power should be able to do based on its
flavor text but which isn't part of the power's effects. While this should be encouraged it must also
be handled with some caution, mainly because it can create massive imbalances between characters
based on how flexible their powers appear to be. For example, a player with a character whose
powers are based on magic can have a much easier time justifying more flexible use of their powers
than one whose character is based around skill and martial proficiency.
You should also make clear to the players what is a temporary ability based on circumstance and
what is a permanent, reusable extension of what they can expect to achieve with a certain power.
As a GM, you should be particularly restrictive with giving additional uses for at-will powers as
those are far easier to abuse than powers that have charges.
If you're uncertain whether a given one-time use of a power is reasonably balanced, you can charge
the player a cost in the form of an action point or a recovery.

Improvised Powers
Sometimes a player comes up with a cool idea for an action that doesn't fit with any of the
predefined powers on their character sheet or the situational powers the GM has come up with in
advance. In such cases the GM can improvise a power or effect that seems to fit. Here too it may
sometimes be appropriate to charge the player a cost if the improvised ability is clearly giving them
something better than what they could have spent their actions on in a normal situation. Such a cost
should not be used to stifle creativity, but since Forerunner is based around providing players with
reasonably balanced mechanical benefits it can be unfair to give a more inventive player greater
narrative impact. Or not – this is very much a question of playstyle.

Combat
Combat starts with all participants making initiative checks to decide in which order they take their
turns, and then takes place over a number of rounds. During each round, each participant gets a turn
where they can spend a number of actions to move around the battlefield, attack their enemies, and
perform other activities.
Note that the game doesn't require you to use the combat rules for every fight (though it certainly
doesn't stop you). A tavern brawl or assassination attempt may work better as a skill encounter,
depending on your tastes.

The Grid
These rules assume you're using a square grid and miniatures or other tokens to denote positions
for participants in the combat. (For an alternative, see Appendix C.)
Each space on the grid is called a square. The point where four squares meet is a corner, and the
line between two squares is an edge.

Sometimes you need to extend the grid into three dimensions. Each space is still called a square,
even though from a geometric point of view it is shaped like a cube. In 3D, a corner is the point
where eight squares meet, and edge is used both for the line between two squares meeting
diagonally and for the plane between two squares meeting orthogonally. (If geometry is not your
thing, don't worry too much about it. For the most part, the rules make sense even if you don't
understand the exact details of these definitions.)
[sidebar] Going Gridless
While Forerunner assumes the use of a square grid and miniatures, it's quite possible to use it for
games that don't need those. You may need to rewrite or ignore the parts of the rules that deal
specifically with the grid, but everything else will work perfectly fine. For an example of how to
convert the standard Forerunner rules to a gridless version, see Appendix C. [end sidebar]

The Pre-Combat Sequence

Start by noting everyone's position on the map.
Before the combat begins, the GM decides if some of the participants are surprised. If any
combatants are surprised the first round of combat is a surprise round. During this round only those
participants who are not surprised can act, and they only get a single standard action (which can be
downgraded as usual). For the effects of being surprised, see Conditions below.
Surprise can depend on skill checks made to see if some of the participants notice their opponents in
time, but this is left up to the GM.
Finally, make initiative checks for all participants. To speed up combat, enemy creatures of the
same type can be grouped together and act on the same initiative. These creatures can act in any
order when their initiative comes up.

The Combat Sequence

During combat, time is divided into rounds. How much time a round represents can vary between
games and encounters, but the default is roughly six seconds.
During each round every participant in the combat gets one turn.
During your turn you can take one standard action, one move action, and one swift action, along
with any number of free actions. These actions may be taken in any order, but unless otherwise
noted you have to finish one action before you can take another. See Triggered Actions below for
details on other types of actions.
A standard action can be downgraded to a move action, and a move action can be downgraded to a
swift action.
Participants take their turns in order of initiative from highest to lowest. Once everyone has taken a
turn a new round begins.
Effects may be triggered by the start or end of a round.

Triggered Actions
There are two kinds of triggered actions: Opportunity actions and immediate actions. As the name
indicates, all triggered actions require a trigger before they can be used.
Immediate actions are further divided into interrupts and reactions. All opportunity actions are
interrupts.
A reaction resolves after the event that triggered it.
An interrupt resolves before the event that triggered it, which can mean the triggering event is
canceled.

Opportunity Actions
Opportunity actions can only be taken during another creature's turn, never your own. You can take
one opportunity action during each other combatant's turn.
All combatants have access to one type of opportunity action: The opportunity attack. For details on
this, see Basic Actions below.

Immediate Actions
You can only take one immediate action per round, and never on your own turn.
All combatants have access to one type of immediate action: The readied action. (See Readied
Actions below.)
[sidebar] Option: The Escalation Die
The escalation die is a counter that increases after each round of combat, tracked with a d6 (the
bigger, the better). It begins at zero, off the table, then increases by one step at the end of each round
until it reaches six where it stays.
The most common way to use the escalation die is to use the number as a bonus to player character
attack rolls, making them stronger as the combat goes on, but there are many other possibilities. For
example, enemy abilities can trigger off the number on the die, some player powers can be
restricted so they can only be used when certain numbers are showing, or the very toughest enemies
could also get the bonus to attack rolls. It can also be used as a restriction – perhaps you can't use
your action point or a rest attack power before the escalation die reaches a certain number.
If you want to build further on this, you could have separate escalation dice for the players and their
enemies, with abilities that affect and are affected by the numbers on either or both.
The escalation die can also be used as a way to entice the players to keep going before taking an
extended rest but having it start at a higher number the more encounters you have already had since
the last extended rest. If you increase the starting number by one per milestone, that means an
effective +2 bonus to all attack rolls for the fifth and sixth encounter!
Note that some of these options may require you to rebalance other aspects of the game, especially
when designing powers and enemies.13 [end sidebar]

The Turn Sequence

Your turn has three formal steps: The start of your turn, your actions, and the end of your turn.
Note that free actions can be taken at any time, even when it is not your turn (assuming you fulfill
any other requirements for taking those actions).

The Start of Your Turn

Some effects happen before you take your actions. This always include taking ongoing damage and
regaining hit points through regeneration. Other effects may also resolve at the start of your turn as
noted in their descriptions.
You can choose in which order to resolve effects that happen at the start of your turn.

Your Actions
This is the main part of your turn where you take your actions.

Action Points
You can spend an action point during your turn to get an extra standard action (which can be traded
down for a move or swift action as usual). You can only spend one action point per encounter.
After an extended rest your action points are reset to one, and you gain one after each milestone.

The End of Your Turn

At the end of your turn you make saving throws against any effects that require them. Any effects
that need to be sustained by an action during your turn which you have not sustained end now.
Other effects may also resolve at the end of your turn as noted in their descriptions.
You can choose in which order to resolve effects that happen at the end of your turn.

Attacking and Defending

To make an attack, follow this procedure:
• Note the attack you're using.

13 Over a five-round battle, the escalation die will give the player characters an average attack bonus of +2. This is
roughly equivalent to one extra hit per encounter per character, which is enough for a four-character party to defeat
one additional normal enemy.
 • Choose your target or targets.
• Make your attack roll with the target's defense value (as specified by the attack) as the DC.
• Apply damage and other effects as given by the result of the attack roll.

Defenses
Each character has one primary defense, Armor Class (AC). Characters may also have a number of
secondary defenses as defined by your particular game.
Each defense value starts at 10 plus your level bonus.
AC is modified by your armor and shield as noted in the Equipment chapter.
Each secondary defense is based on one or more of your abilities, and uses the highest of the
relevant ability modifiers. For example, if you have a defense based on Strength and Constitution,
you use the higher of your Strength modifier and your Constitution modifier to set that defense.
[sidebar] Alternative Defense Calculations
You can use other ways to calculate defenses than taking the highest ability modifier. You could
take the average, or even the lowest.
You could even have different rules for which abilities are used for a certain defense depending on
class or other options. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Historical Note on Defenses and Saving Throws
Many OGL games stick with the tradition of a AC as the only defense score and a handfull of
saving throws against different categories of effects. Since Forerunner describese most harmful
effects as attacks instead of automatic abilities you protect yourself against through saving throws,
those saving throws are recast as defenses instead. In practice, this is just a different way to
calculate the same end result but it makes for a more unified mechanic. [end sidebar]

Targets, Reach, Range, Area, and Adjacency

Note that most of the rules in this section discuss powers rather than attacks. The rules are the same
in both cases. See Attack Powers, Attacks, and Attack Rolls in the Powers section of the Character
Creation and Advancement chapter for details on the distinction between the two.
Every power14 has at least one target, some type of creature, object, or area that is affected by the
power. To be valid, the target has to be within the range of the power.
Note that your powers never target you unless they explicitly say so, either explicitly or because
they have a range of personal.

Range
To calculate the range from one square to another, start in the first square and pick an adjacent
square, then an adjacent square to that square and so on, until you reach the target square by the
shortest possible path. The range is the number of squares in the chain, counting the target square
but not the origin square.

14 As a reminder, every rule that applies to powers also applies to attacks. That is particularly relevant for this section.
Range can be counted around blocking terrain or other obstacles.
If your target has a space greater than one, it's enough to reach one of the squares in its space.

Adjacent Squares
Two squares are adjacent if they have at least one corner in common.

Nearest
To determine the nearest target, determine the range to each possible target and then pick the one at
the shortest range. If the range to two or more targets is equal you can choose which is the nearest.

Reach
Your reach is primarily used to determine which enemies you can make touch attacks against. By
default your reach is one, meaning you can target enemies adjacent to you. Tiny creatures have a
reach of 0, meaning they must be in the same square as their target to attack them in melee.
Even if you have a reach greater than one, the origin square for your touch attacks is still a square in
your space.
Note that reach has no effect on the range of ranged attacks.
In some cases you want to distinguish between your touch reach and your weapon reach.
Your touch reach is determined as above.
Your weapon reach is your touch reach modified by the properties of your weapon's properties,
most commonly the reach X property. See Weapon Properties in the Equipment chapter.
If your weapon reach and touch reach are different, a reference to your reach without specification
means the greater of the two (which will usually be your weapon reach, if they're different).

Personal Range
Powers with personal range affect only yourself. You are always within range of yourself.

Line of Sight
Some effects require your target to be within line of sight. To determine if a target is within line of
sight, draw a line from any corner of a square in your space to any part of the target's space. If you
can draw such a line without passing through something that blocks your vision, you can see the
target.

Line of Effect
A line of effect is similar to a line of sight, except it is only blocked by solid obstacles. Note that an
obstacle can be solid but transparent, meaning it blocks line of effect but not line of sight.

Cover and Concealment

Some types of terrain that don't block lines of sight or effect may still interfere with your attacks by
providing cover or concealment to your target. See Cover and Concealment respectively under
Attack Roll Modifiers below.
Origin Square
Every power has an origin square. The origin square is used in different ways including checking
line of sight, line of effect, and range to the target or targets of the power.
Unless otherwise noted, the power's origin square is a square you choose in your space.15
Note that the origin square for an area power may be different from the base square for the area
created by the power.

Discrete Powers
Powers that target individual creatures or objects as opposed to areas are called discrete. Discrete
attacks are also called strikes.

Area Powers
Powers that affect an area are called area powers and attacks that affect an area are called area
attacks. The area affected is called the area of effect. Each area power describes its area of effect,
usually by giving its size and one of the following area types:
• Burst: A burst has an area of effect reaching a number of squares in each direction from the
area's base square equal to its size. For example, a “burst 2” will affect the base square and
each square within two squares of the base square.16
• Arc: An arc creates a quadratic17 area of effect where the length of each side is a number of
squares equal to the size of the arc. For example, an “arc 2” will create an area two squares
on each side. The area of effect is adjacent to the area's base square.
• Wall: A wall creates an area of effect filling a number of squares equal to the area's size,
starting with a square adjacent to the area's base square. Each square in the area must share
an edge with at least one other square in the area and may not share more than two edges
with other squares at the same height. However, wall squares may be stacked on top of each
other.
Other areas are possible as specified by individual powers.
When an area attack affects multiple targets you make a separate attack roll for each of them, but
you only roll damage once for all targets. Damage that depends on the attack roll, such as critical hit
bonus damage, is rolled separately for each target.
If a creature that is large or larger is affected by an area power it is only affected once, even if more
than one of its squares are within the area of effect.
When you make an area attack with a ranged weapon you need one projectile or thrown weapon for
each target.
[sidebar] Other Areas
If your game has a small number of powers that use areas other than burst, arc, and wall, you will
probably be okay with describing their areas of effect in each specific power. However, if you find
15 Note that unless you are larger than medium, your space is just the one square.
16 That's 25 squares in two dimensions. In three dimensions, it's 125 squares – a 5 by 5 by 5 cube. However, some of
those squares can be outside the area of effect due to the lack of a line of effect.
17 Or cubic, if the third dimension matters.
that many of the powers you create have the same special area, consider creating a new area type.
[end sidebar]

Range
Powers where you yourself are the only allowed target, such as many exploits and utility powers,
have a range of personal.
Ranged powers have their range given as a number. For discrete powers this is the maximum range
from the power's origin square to the target, and for area powers it's the maximum range from the
power's origin square to the area's origin square.
Area powers that use a square in your space as the area's base square have a range of close.
[sidebar] Why Close Instead of Range 0?
Close powers work almost identically to ranged area powers with a range of 0. So why give them a
special category?
For one thing, it prevents their range from being changed by traits that increase the range of ranged
powers. For example, a feat that gives all ranged area bursts +1 range will have no effect on a close
area burst. It's also easier to reference “close powers” than “ranged area powers with a range of 0”.
However, there's nothing preventing you from replacing close powers with powers with range 0, or
to have both. [end sidebar]
Powers that require you to touch or strike the target or the base square of the power's area with your
body or an object you are wielding are called touch powers. Touch powers can have their range
given as fixed number, but most have their range given as weapon reach or unarmed reach.
When using a power with a range based on your reach you can target a creature or square within a
number of squares equal to your reach, so with the default reach of one, you can target creatures
adjacent to you.
Touch strikes are also called melee attacks.

Attack Roll Modifiers

Attack rolls often take modifiers from terrain, attacker and defender position, and other conditions
of the battlefield.

Conditions
Some conditions may impose modifiers on your attack rolls. See Conditions below.

Combat Advantage
Combat advantage is a catch-all name for various situations where one combatant has an advantage
over the other. You have a +2 to any attack roll against an enemy who is giving you combat
advantage.
You can only have combat advantage against an enemy you can see, or otherwise perceive with a
targeting sense.
Combat advantage doesn't stack. You either have it or you don't – attacking a dazed, prone enemy
you are flanking doesn't increase the bonus over +2.
Note that having combat advantage is different from rolling with advantage as described in the Core
Mechanics chapter. You can have one, neither, or both.

Cover
A target has cover if there is some kind of terrain or other obstacle between the attack's origin
square and the target that could block the attack. (Note that while for most attacks the origin square
will be a square in your space, this is not always the case.)
There are two levels of cover: cover (-2 penalty to attack rolls) and superior cover (-5 penalty to
attack rolls).
In addition to terrain, creatures that are not your allies also grant cover to anyone you target with a
ranged attack.
To determine if a target has cover from your attack, choose one corner of the origin square of the
attack and draw a line from that corner to each corner of the target's space. If any of those lines goes
through an obstacle or blocking terrain, your target has cover. If three or four of those lines go
through obstacles or blocking terrain, they have superior cover.

Concealment
A target has concealment when some kind of terrain or other effect prevents you from seeing or
otherwise perceiving your target clearly. Commonly this is caused by lighting conditions or soft
cover such as leaves or fog. Like cover, concealment comes in two levels: Concealment (-2 penalty
to attack rolls) and total concealment (-5 penalty to attack rolls).
Concealment penalties only apply to strikes.
When lighting or other conditions cause creatures in an area to be harder to see, the squares in that
area are obscured. A square can be lightly obscured, heavily obscured, or totally obscured.
Targets in obscured squares gain concealment as follows:
• A target in a lightly obscured square or an adjacent target in a heavily obscured square has
concealment.
• A non-adjacent target in a heavily obscured square or any target in a totally obscured square
has total concealment.
An invisible target also has total concealment.

Illumination and Senses

Forerunner uses five levels of illumination: brilliant light, bright light, dim light, darkness, and
total darkness.
Bright light is the default and imposes no penalties.
Squares in dim light are lightly obscured.
Squares in darkness are heavily obscured.
Squares in total darkness are totally obscured.
The effects of brilliant light depends on your position relative to the light source. If you have line of
sight to the light source, then a creature that is closer to the light source than you are has
concealment from you. (Effectively, you are partially blinded by having to look towards the strong
light.)
If you are in an area of general brilliant light without a specific light source, all creatures have
concealment from you.
For the effects of concealment and obscurity, see Concealment above.
[sidebar] Option: Slightly More Complex Brilliant Light
The conditions for brilliant light are easy to adjudicate and work well in most situations, but there
are cases when they can give counter-intuitive results. If you are willing to put up with a little more
complexity, you can try the following:
A creature has concealment from you due to brilliant light if you have line of sight to the source of
brilliant light, and you can draw a shortest path to the light source that passes through the creature's
space.
This is slightly more complex to explain but not much more complicated to apply in practice. [end
sidebar]
A character's or creature's senses or other traits can modify these effects. See Senses below.

Senses
A creature's senses falls into three categories: Targeting senses, locating senses, and other senses.
A targeting sense can be used to target attacks. As long as you can perceive a creature with a
targeting sense, you can attack them. You can only perform opportunity attacks against creatures
you can perceive with a targeting sense.
A locating sense can be used to perceive where a target is (i.e., which square or squares they are in),
but not to target them directly. If you can perceive a creature with a locating sense but not a
targeting sense, you can still attack them by attacking their square, but they have total concealment
from you.
If you can't perceive a creature with a targeting sense or a locating sense, you don't know where
they are. You may still know that they are somewhere around (if you can smell them, for example),
but you can't attack them.
Most creatures have vision as a targeting sense, hearing as a locating sense, and touch as a locating
sense with range 0 (i.e., you can locate a creature by touch if they're in your space or if you are
otherwise directly touching them, usually because one of you have grabbed the other or because you
are standing on top of them – it's not enough that they are in an adjacent square).
Some creatures have senses that modify how they are affected by terrain and other environmental
effects, most commonly illumination. Here are some common examples:
• Night vision: You treat dim light as bright light, and darkness as dim light.
 • Dark vision: You treat dim light, darkness, and total darkness as bright light.
• Light sensitivity: You treat bright light as brilliant light.
• Bright vision: You treat brilliant light as bright light.
These effects can have a range limit. For example, “dark vision 5” means that you have dark vision
in the area within five squares of you, but for anything beyond that you use the normal rules.
If a creature has senses that are more limited than usual, they can be described as being “blind
beyond 10” (meaning they can't see anything more than 10 squares away) or “deaf 5” (meaning
they can't hear anything more than five squares away).

Attack Results
If your attack roll succeeds the result of your attack is a hit.
If you rolled a natural 20 and your attack roll succeeds, you score a critical hit. Some abilities may
allow you to score a critical hit with other rolls.
If you rolled a natural 20 but your attack roll fails, you hit anyway but you don't get a critical hit.
If your attack roll fails, your result is a miss. You also automatically miss if you roll a natural 1.

Damage
Most attacks do damage on a hit. Some attacks never do damage, and some do damage even on a
miss. Damage reduces your target's current hit points.
[sidebar] Option: No Dice Bucket
Some powers may require you to roll a lot of damage dice, especially if your weapon or focus has a
base damage with multiple dice. To reduce the bucket-of-dice effect and speed up damage
calculations, you can convert some dice to a fixed modifier equal to the average roll18 for those dice
instead.
To keep from changing the average damage this should be done with pairs of dice, and unless you
want damage to be almost completely static you should leave at least three sets of base damage dice
for rolling.
You can include extra damage dice from critical hits or class features in this as well, but note that
particularly for critical hits this can reduce the excitement of triggering those extra dice.
Also note that this damage is not added into the SDM.
This option works best if it's applied at the campaign or game level, as switching back and forth
requires the players to have multiple damage codes for each power and instead of speeding up the
game by reducing the time required to roll and read a big number of dice it can cause delays when
the player needs to decide whether to roll all the dice or not. [end sidebar]
[sidebar] Option: Static Monster Damage

18 This is actually the expected value, if you're mathematically inclined. In case you're wondering, here are the
expected values for the most common dice: 2d3 – 4, 2d4 – 5, 2d6 – 7, 2d8 – 9, 2d10 – 11, 2d12 – 13. (Unless you're
using dice with unusual number distributions, this is the sum of the maximum and minimum result on the die.)
To speed up combat and reduce the dice rolling for the GM, you could have all monsters deal fixed
amounts of damage instead of rolling dice for them. This reduces the burden on the GM, but it can
also remove some of the sense of danger in combat as the players will quickly learn how much
damage a particular monster does. [end sidebar]

Critical Hit Damage

A critical hit maximizes the base damage for the attack, just as if each die had rolled the highest
number it could. Some effects, such as enhanced equipment, may add extra damage to this.

Ongoing Damage
Some attacks cause ongoing damage.
You take ongoing damage at the start of your turn.
For most kinds of ongoing damage you get a saving throw at the end of your turn.
If ongoing damage has a type it is affected by resistance and vulnerability to that damage type as
usual.
If you are affected by multiple instances of ongoing damage of the same type, only the highest
amount affects you. In this case, all damage without a type counts as being of the same type.

Damage Types, Resistance, Vulnerability, and Swarms

Many attacks do a certain type of damage, such as fire, cold, or poison, called a damage type.
Damage without a damage type is called untyped damage.
Some characters or creatures may have resistance to certain types of damage, meaning they take
less damage from attacks that deal that type of damage. When you take damage from an attack
doing a type of damage you are resistant to, reduce the damage by the amount of the resistance. For
example, if you have “Resist fire 5”, any attack doing fire damage that hits you will have its damage
reduced by 5 (to a minimum of zero).
Some characters or creatures may have a vulnerability to certain types of damage, meaning they
take more damage from attacks that deal that type of damage. When you take damage from an
attack doing a type of damage you are vulnerable to, increase the damage by the amount of the
vulnerability. For example, if you have “Vulnerable fire 5”, any attack doing fire damage that hits
you will have its damage increased by 5.
If you are both resistant and vulnerable to a certain type of damage, both effects apply (which
usually means the lower value effectively cancels out some of the higher value).
Vulnerabilities can also include other effects as specified on the creature.
A swarm is a type of creature representing a large number of smaller creatures, like a horde of rats
or a swarm of wasps. Swarms take half damage from melee and ranged attacks and are immune to
forced movement from such attacks, but are typically vulnerable 5 or 10 to area attacks to represent
multiple of the creatures in the swarm being hit. A swarm can enter an enemy's space without
provoking an opportunity attack. An enemy can also enter the swarm's space, but this does provoke
an opportunity attack and the swarm's space counts as difficult terrain. A swarm can also squeeze
through any opening large enough for one of the creatures in the swarm.
Conditions
Some attacks or other effects cause the target to suffer a condition. Conditions last as long as
specified, typically one round or until the target makes a successful saving throw. Conditions can be
positive or negative or a bit of both.
Some conditions can be innate, meaning the creature always has that condition and can't lose it.
This typically applies mainly to positive conditions, such as insubstantial.
Common conditions include the following:

Condition Effects
Controlled • You are dazed (see below).
• The creature controlling you decides what actions you take, but they can't
make you spend action points or power charges.
Dazed • You grant combat advantage.
• You can't flank.
• You can only take one standard action on your turn (though you can take
free actions as normal).
• You can't take immediate or opportunity actions.
Disorganized • You cannot walk or run, but you can crawl.
• You grant combat advantage for melee attacks.
• You can spend a move action to remove this condition.
Dying • You make a death saving throw at the end of each of your turns.
Enveloped • You have been swallowed or otherwise engulfed by another creature.
• You don't have a space of your own on the board. For abilities that
specifically mention “enveloped”, you occupy a space as close to the center
of the creature as possible (your choice if there is more than one
possibility), but for any other purposes you don't occupy a space.
• You only have line of sight and line of effect to yourself and the creature
that enveloped you.
Grabbed • Another creature has taken physical hold of you.
• You are immobilized.
• If you are no longer within the reach of the attack that caused this condition
(or the creature's unarmed reach if it was caused by something other than an
attack), this condition immediately ends.
Immobilized • You can't voluntarily move from your space other than through teleportation
(though you can still be moved with forced movement).
Impaired • One of your senses is unusable. If your sight is impaired you are blind, and
[sense] if your hearing is impaired you are deaf.
• If all your targeting senses are impaired:
◦ All creatures are invisible to you.
◦ You grant combat advantage.
◦ You can't flank.
• If all your targeting senses and all your locating senses are impaired you
have the effects above, and also:
◦ You can't determine which square a creature is in.
• See Senses under Attack Roll Modifiers above.
In retreat • You cannot perform any free, immediate, or opportunity actions.
Condition Effects
• Your standard action is downgraded to a move action.
• You lose this condition at the end of your turn if you did not retreat.
Incapacitated • You grant combat advantage.
• You can be the target of a coup de grace.
Insubstantial • You take half damage from all attacks.
• All your ongoing damage is halved.
Invisible • You can't be perceived with vision.
Marked • The effects of this condition depends on the type of mark. See Marks below
[type] for some examples.
Petrified • You can't take any actions, including free actions.
• You can't perceive anything, including the passage of time.
• You don't make death saving throws.
• You have resist 20 to all damage.
Phasing • You ignore difficult terrain.
• You can move through obstacles and other creatures without penalty, but
you must end your movement in an unoccupied space.
• If you are moving through a solid obstacle that completely fills its square,
your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks even if it is unguarded,
unless the creature you would provoke also has this condition.
Prone • You grant combat advantage for melee attacks.
• You get a +2 bonus to all defenses against ranged attacks, except from
adjacent creatures.
• You take a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
• If you are flying, you may fall – see Movement Modes below.
• If you are immune to becoming prone, you become disorganized instead.
Restrained • You are immobilized
• You grant combat advantage.
• You cannot be moved by forced movement.
• You suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
Running • You grant combat advantage.
• You suffer a -5 penalty to attack rolls.
• You lose this condition at the start of your turn.
Slowed • Your speed for any form of movement other than teleportation is reduced to
two and can't be increased.
• For the effects of becoming slowed while moving, see Movement Actions
under Movement and Position below.
Stunned • You grant combat advantage.
• You can't take any actions.
• You can't flank.
Surprised • You grant combat advantage.
• On your turn, you can only take a single standard action.
• You can't take free actions.
• You can't flank.
• You lose this condition when the surprise round ends.
Unbalanced • You can't shift.
Condition Effects
Unconscious • You are incapacitated.
• You can't take any actions.
• You can't flank.
• You suffer a -5 penalty to all defenses.
• When you become unconscious you also fall prone.
Weakend • The damage of your attacks is halved, except ongoing damage.

Marks
A mark is a kind of condition that can be used to show that there is some kind of temporary link
between two creatures.
Normally, a creature can only have one mark of each type at a time. If a new mark of the same type
is applied to the creature, they lose the previous one.
Examples of marks include:
• Blocking mark: When you have a blocking mark on a creature, they take a -2 penalty to
attacking creatures other than you.
• Distracting mark: When you have a distracting mark on a creature, all other creatures have
combat advantage against them.
• Offensive mark: When you have an offensive mark on a creature, you count any attacks they
make against creatures other than you as unguarded.
• Protective mark: When you have a protective mark on a creature, you count any attacks
made against them as unguarded.
A mark can have multiple types. For example, a blocking offensive mark gives the creature you have
applied it to a -2 penalty to attacks against creatures other than you, and if they make such an attack
you count it as unguarded.
If a new mark is applied to a creature with a mark with multiple types, the old mark is lost if the
new mark matches any of the types of the old mark. For example, if you have a blocking offensive
mark on a creature and someone else puts a blocking mark on them, your mark is lost.

Duration
Effects and conditions can have different durations. Some of the most common are:
• Until the start/end of your next turn: These effects end during the start or end sections of
your next turn, respectively.
• Until the end of the encounter: These effects end when you take a rest or after five minutes,
whichever comes first.
• Save ends: These effects require a successful saving throw to end.

Sometimes a target is affected by multiple abilities that have the same effect but with different
durations, in which case the effect with the longest remaining duration applies.
Saving Throws
A saving throw, sometimes called a save, is normally an unmodified check against a DC of 10, and
is typically associated with some effect or condition. If the check is successful the effect or
condition ends.
At the end of your turn, you make a saving throw against each effect or condition that can be ended
by a save. If you need to make a saving throw against more than one such condition, you can
choose which order to make them. This can be important if one of the effects includes a penalty to
saving throws.

Movement and Position

Creature Size and Space
While most creatures fit in a single square, some are larger. Creatures larger than medium have
space [N], where N is a whole number greater than one, meaning their space is N by N squares.19
Every creature belongs to one of the following size categories:
• Tiny: Four tiny creatures can occupy the same square, and a tiny creature can move into and
end their turn in the same space as a larger creature. They can only make melee attacks
against creatures they share a space with.
• Small: Small creatures occupy one square.
• Medium: Medium creatures occupy one square.
• Large: Large creatures have a space of two.
• Huge: Huge creatures have a space of three.
• Gargantuan: This includes all creatures that have space four or greater.

Movement Speed
A creature's speed shows how many squares they can move with a single walk action. There are
other forms of movement described under Movement Actions below.
Speed also serves as an estimate of how fast the creature moves when travelling on foot, though this
can be affected by other factors as well. Exact overland movement speeds are highly dependent on
assumptions about the world so general numbers vary too wildly to be included here.

Tactical Movement
When moving you normally move from one square to any adjacent, unoccupied square, with the
following exceptions:
• If a square is completely filled with blocking terrain you can't move diagonally past a corner
of that square. Creatures normally don't completely fill their squares so they don't block
movement in this way.
• You can move through squares occupied by your allies, but you can't end your movement
there unless that ally is prone or you or they are tiny.

19 This is actually an N by N by N cube if the third dimension matters. For example, a large creature takes up two by
two squares on the grid but it is also two squares tall.
 • You can enter a square occupied by an enemy if that enemy is helpless, if you are two size
categories larger or smaller than that enemy, or if you are tiny. You can only end your
movement in an enemy's space if they are helpless or you are tiny.
• When a creature larger than medium is moving, select one of the creature's squares and one
square adjacent to that square, then move the creature's token so that its square is on the
selected square on the grid.
If you start your move and then don't have enough speed to reach a square where you can legally
end your move, you end your move in the last space you occupied where you could legally end your
move. This is an unusual circumstance, but it can occur for example as a result of an opportunity
attack or other triggered action that reduces your speed while you are moving through an enemy's
space.

Movement Actions
You can spend your move action to move in the following ways:
• Walk: You move up to your speed. This movement is unguarded.
• Run: You move up to your speed + 2. This movement is unguarded. You gain the running
condition.
• Shift: You move with a speed of one. If you're using a movement mode that requires a skill
check, you can't shift.
• Crawl: You move up to half your speed. This movement is unguarded. You can only crawl if
you are prone or disorganized.
• Stand up: You stop being prone. If there is another non-tiny creature in your space, this
action also allows you to shift one square into an unoccupied space adjacent to your space.
If all adjacent squares are also occupied you can't stand up.
• Squeeze: If you need to move through a small space you can squeeze. For creatures larger
than medium size, this reduces their space by one. As long as you are squeezing you can
move up to half your speed (including the action when you start squeezing), you have a -5
penalty to attack rolls, and you grant combat advantage. This movement is unguarded.
Leaving a space adjacent to an enemy when you reduce your space if you are larger than
medium als counts as unguarded movement. Ending a squeeze is a free action, and if you are
larger than medium the space you occupy after you ended the squeeze must include the
space you occupied before you ended the squeeze.
Double Move
If you take two move actions on your turn (typically by exchanging your standard action for a move
action) you can use both of them to make a double move. To do this you make the same move action
twice, but you add the speeds of the two actions together and then move the total amount as one
action. This is mainly useful if your speed is an odd number and you are moving through difficult
terrain.
If you become slowed or your speed is otherwise reduced while you are making a double move,
recalculate your double move speed using your new speed. If you have moved as far or farther than
that speed would allow, you immediately stop. (Essentially, the speed penalty applies to each of
your normal move actions.)
Retreat
There is a special type of the run double move, called retreat. You can only retreat if you had the
running condition at the start of your turn. When performing a retreat, you gain an additional +2
bonus to speed, and you gain the in retreat condition.

Difficult Terrain and Obstacles

Moving into a square with difficult terrain costs one extra square of movement.
A square completely filled by an obstacle can't be entered, but depending on the height of the
obstacle you may be able to move onto it.
If an obstacle between two squares is low enough that you can move over it, moving between those
squares costs one extra square of movement if you are large or smaller. If you are huge or larger,
there is no extra movement cost.
A creature whose space is larger than one square counts the most expensive single square-to-square
movement for the new squares they move into.

Falling
Falling may cause you to take damage. The exact rules for this will be set by your game, since how
dangerous falling is varies a lot between different genres and settings.
If you are forced off an edge and risk taking falling damage, you can make a saving throw to catch
yourself. If you succeed you instead fall prone in the last square before you would have been forced
over the edge.
A creature with space two or more doesn't fall as long as at least one of their squares is not over the
edge.

Flanking
You flank an enemy if you and an ally occupy spaces on opposite sides or opposite corners of that
enemy's space, and you are both able to attack that enemy.
A creature that occupies more than one square can use any of the squares in its space to determine
flanking.
[sidebar] Option: More Generous Flanking
The flanking rules as described in the main text are easy to explain and adjudicate, but they can
create some odd situations where three or more allies can threaten the same enemy without flanking
them.
If you are dissatisfied with this, try the following: You are flanking an enemy if you can attack that
enemy, and an ally who can also attack that enemy and who can flank is adjacent to the enemy but
not adjacent to you, and you are not both adjacent to the same side of that enemy.
Note that this makes it easier to flank, so since flanking is one of the main sources of combat
advantage using this rule makes abilities that rely on combat advantage more powerful and reduces
the value of abilities that grant combat advantage in other ways. [end sidebar]
Movement Modes
Some creatures have movement modes other than walking. With the exception of teleportation
(which has its own section below), these still involve moving from square to square.
If a creature uses more than one movement mode during the same action, the highest speed they
have determines how many squares they can move in total but they can't move farther using a given
mode than their speed for that mode.
Common movement modes include:
• Climbing. A creature with a climbing speed can move along vertical surfaces. Unless it has
“Climbing (vertical only)” it can also move on the underside of horizontal surfaces.
Climbing along a wall will often allow you to avoid difficult terrain on the ground, even if
you move through the same square.
• Flying. A creature with a flying speed can move freely through the air, vertically,
horizontally, or diagonally. A flying creature that is knocked prone falls to the ground, as
does a flying creature that is stunned unless it can hover or one that collides with blocking
terrain. A creature may have other limitations on its flying speed, such as a flight ceiling
which specifies the greatest number of squares above the ground it can fly. You cannot make
opportunity attacks while flying, but you still provoke opportunity attacks as normal. You
must take at least one movement action per turn to fly to remain in the air unless you can
hover.
◦ A flying creature that falls or becomes prone while flying, voluntarily or not, safely
moves its flying speed in squares towards the ground before falling. Note that since you
can fall prone as a swift action, this means a flying creature can effectively land as a
swift action, as long as they're content to land in the exact space they are flying above.
◦ At extreme altitudes, a flying creature that falls is assumed to fall 100 squares per round.
If this does not bring it to the ground, it may attempt to halt its fall by making a check
with an appropriate skill at DC 30.20
◦ A creature that can hover can shift and make opportunity attacks while flying, and
doesn't fall if it is knocked prone or stunned while flying. Many creatures that can hover
are also immune to becoming prone while flying, but see the disorganized condition
under Conditions above.
• Swimming. A creature with a swimming speed can move freely through water (and other
liquids at the GM's call), just like a flying creature in air.
• Tunneling. A creature with a tunneling speed can move through sand or lose earth at its
tunneling speed, and through packed earth or rock at half that speed. Tunneling speed can't
be used to shift or charge.
Some skills or other traits may give a creature access to a limited version of these movement modes
(most commonly climbing and swimming).

Teleportation
Some abilities allow you to teleport, instantaneously transporting from one space to another.

20 If you are not following the standard progression, you may want to adjust this number.
The space you are teleporting to must be big enough for your full size. (E.g., you can't teleport into
a space you could only enter by squeezing.)
To teleport you need to have line of sight to the place you're teleporting to, but you don't need a line
of effect. Teleportation does not provoke attacks of opportunity and you can teleport even when
immobilized. If you are immobilized by an effect that is dependent on your location, for example if
you are grabbed by an adjacent creature, then teleporting may end that effect.
Most teleportation abilities have a range in squares. When counting the range, ignore any blocking
terrain or other obstructions. Note that if you are larger than medium and you are teleporting a very
short distance, the space you are teleporting from and the space you are teleporting to may overlap.

Forced Movement
All effects that allow you to move another creature are collectively called forced movement. There
are three types of forced movement:
• Push: When you perform a push you must move the target further away from you with each
square of movement.
• Pull: When you perform a push you must move the target closer to you with each square of
movement.
• Slide: When you perform a slide there are no restrictions on how you can move the target.
Some forced movement effects will specify the number of squares you can move the target. You can
always choose to move them fewer squares, including not moving them at all.
Other effects specify a square the target will be moved into, like “a square adjacent to you”. In this
case you have to move the target into the specified square – i.e., you can't move them part of the
way towards that space – but you still have to trace the path you are moving them along.
You must have a line of effect to each square you move the target into.
Forced movement does not provoke opportunity attacks, ignores difficult terrain, does not count as
a move or hinder the target to move on their own turn, and can't move the target into a space they
couldn't normally move into or where they would need to squeeze. This includes vertical movement
– a hovering creature could be pushed into the air, for example, where a creature without any ability
to fly could not.
However, you can be moved over the edge of a precipice or into other dangerous terrain. If that
happens, you get a save to fall prone in the last square before you go over the edge or into the
terrain.
Some effects allow you to switch places with the target, or force two targets to switch places with
each other. To swap places, slide the target so that it overlaps your space and then shift so that your
space includes at least one of the squares that the target left.
Note that an effect that teleports another creature does not count as forced movement, even if that
creature is unwilling.
Auras
An aura is an ongoing effect emanating from a creature a number of squares equal to the aura's
value (e.g., “aura 3” will affect anyone within three squares). It requires line of effect but not line of
sight.
Note that the aura of a creature that is large or larger will cover more squares than an aura with the
same value belonging to a creature of medium or smaller size.
An aura normally doesn't affect the creature itself and can be turned on or off with a swift action.
Typically, the auras effects are triggered when a creature enters the aura, or if it starts the turn in the
aura. Unless otherwise noted, the effects last until the end of the affected creature's next turn.

Mounted Combat
Mounted combat, where one creature is riding another, is handled differently for player characters
and other creatures.

Mounted Player Characters

When your player character is using a mount, the following rules apply:
• Your mount must be larger than you and have a space greater than one.
• Mounting or dismounting are both standard actions. To mount a creature, you must be
adjacent to it and the creature must be willing. Dismounting places you adjacent to your
mount.
• You and your mount occupy the same space. If it matters which square or squares you
occupy, it's your choice at the moment you need to decide.
• Enemies that can target your mount can choose to target you instead, including with
opportunity attacks provoked by your mount's movement. If it matters which space you're
occupying at the moment of the attack, it's the attacker's choice.
• Close attacks and area attacks that affect either of you affect you both.
• When you are affected by forced movement while mounted and your mount is not, you can
choose to have your mount be affected in the same way. If you choose for your mount not to
be affected, you may be dismounted by being moved out of your mount's space. If your
mount is affected by forced movement (including teleportation), you move along with it.
• Both you and your mount act on your initiative count, even if separated.
• While you are mounted, you and your mount get one set of actions to share, including one
immediate action. Typically, you will want to use your move action to use one of your
mount's movement options. If you dismount, your mount will get its own set of actions from
the next turn on. Your mount gets a full set of actions on the turn you mount it.
• When charging while mounted, you can use your mount's movement and your own or your
mount's attack.
• If your mount squeezes, you also count as squeezing.
• If your mount becomes prone, you are immediately dismounted. This does not in itself cause
you to become prone.
• If you would become prone while mounted, make a saving throw. On a success, you are not
knocked prone and remain mounted. On a failure, you are dismounted and become prone.
Other Mounted Creatures
When a non-player character creature is using another as a mount, the rider is simply placed on top
of the mount, and and when the mount moves the rider is carried along. Both creatures get their full
sets of actions as usual. None of the rules for mounted player characters detailed below apply.
One creature being carried by another in this manner isn't enough of an advantage that it needs to be
accounted for in the encounter xp budget.

Basic Actions
Basic actions are available to all creatures unless otherwise noted. You may want to add or remove
to the list of basic actions when you design your game.

Basic Attacks
Nearly all creatures will have access to one or more basic attacks. For examples of basic attacks,
see Appendix B.
Most creatures can use a basic melee attack with a charge. A charge is a standard action that allows
you to move your speed and then make a basic melee attack. You must move directly towards the
closest square from which you could attack the target, you must move at least two squares, and your
movement provokes opportunity attacks. You get a +1 bonus to your attack roll, and you can't take
any further actions after completing the charge except by spending an action point.

Opportunity Attack
When an enemy performs an unguarded action in your threatened area or leaves a square in your
threatened area using unguarded movement, you can make a basic melee attack against them.
Normally your threatened area consists of the squares adjacent to you, but see Threatening Reach
below.
Triggering an opportunity attack is also called provoking an opportunity attack, or provoking the
enemy whose opportunity attack you trigger.
Since you have one opportunity action per turn other than your own, you can only make one
opportunity attack during each enemy's turn but you can make one opportunity attack against every
enemy that provokes you.
Opportunity attacks follow the timing rules for immediate interrupts, meaning they resolve before
the event that triggered them.

Threatening Reach
Some creatures have a threatened area that reaches beyond the squares adjacent to them. This is
called threatening reach. Threatening reach [N] extends your threatened area to everything within
N squares of you. For example, a creature with threatening reach 2 has a threatened area that
includes all squares within two squares of it.
Delayed Actions
If you don't want to act when it's your turn, you can delay your action until later in the initiative
order.
Delaying your action takes your whole turn. If you have taken any actions on your turn, you can't
delay. You also can't delay if you are unable to take actions.
When you delay your action, you perform the start of your turn on your normal initiative then state
that you are delaying your turn. After any other combatant have finished their turn you can take
your delayed turn, changing your initiative count to match. If you delay until your normal initiative
is up you lose your delayed turn.
The end of your turn segment of your turn works differently when you delay, as follows:
• Any beneficial effects that end at the end of your turn as well as any sustained effects end
when you delay your turn.
• Any harmful effects that end at the end of your turn end after you have taken your actions.
You also take your usual end-of-turn saving throws at this time. Note that this means that if
you delay until your normal initiative is up, you don't get to make these saving throws.

Readied Actions
You can use your standard action to ready an action that you will perform in reaction to what an
enemy is doing. The readied action can be a standard action, a move action, or a swift action.
When readying an action you must specify the trigger as well as what action you will take.
Both the trigger and the action should be reasonably specific. “When a creature appears in the
doorway I will use my Precise Shot power to attack them” is good, but “When I see an enemy I will
attack them” is too broad. Generally speaking, the trigger should not require any real thought and
the action should be specific as to what power or other ability is to be used, and how it will be used.
A readied action is an immediate reaction.
After your readied action has been resolved, your initiative is changed to be immediately before the
triggering creature or event.

Total Defense
You can spend your standard action on total defense for a +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of
your next turn.

Assist
You can assist another character by spending your standard action. This gives them a +2 bonus to
their attack roll or other check, or it may allow them to roll with advantage. The GM may put
restrictions on what checks can be assisted, and the requirements for assisting. For example, for a
specific action you may need to be adjacent to the character you are assisting or you may need to be
trained in the relevant skill.
[sidebar] Option: Faster Assists
At the GM's option, sometimes assisting another character can be done as a move action or even a
swift action. However, this should generally not be used for attack rolls. [end sidebar]

Fall Prone
You can fall prone as a swift action. This gives you the prone condition. See Movement Modes
above for the special effects of falling prone while flying.

Quick Recovery
All player characters, but typically not other creatures, have access to the quick recovery standard
action. A quick recovery requires allows you to heal a number of hit points equal to your recovery
value in exchange for spending one of your recoveries. You can only perform one quick recovery
per encounter.

Death and Healing

Taking damage reduces your current hit points and healing restores them. Hit points can go below
zero.

Bruised, Bloodied, and Broken

Some effects make use of your bloodied value, equal to half your maximum hit points; your broken
value, equal to one quarter of your hit points; and your bruised value, equal to three quarters of your
maximum hit points.
The players should always know if a creature they can see is bloodied, but they shouldn't know their
exact hit point totals. Note that this includes the other player characters. It's up to the GM if they
can tell if a creature is bruised or broken. This should usually be the case for a boss enemy, to give
the players a sense of progression while fighting them.

Healing
Healing restores lost hit points.
Healing effects often use your recovery value, which is equal to one quarter of your hit points.21
Note that your recovery value and your number of recoveries are different.
Healing can never increase your current hit points over your maximum hit points.
Unless otherwise specified, an ability that allows you to spend a recovery to regain hit points
restores a number of your hit points equal to your recovery value.
If healing or some other effect requires you to spend a recovery and you don't have any recoveries
left, you are restored to one hit point if your current hit points were zero or lower. If you are already
at one hit point or above, the healing has no effect.
If you are healed while your hit points are below zero, first set your current hit points to zero before
you regain hit points from the healing effect.
Also see Quick Recovery under Standard Actions above.

21 Yes, this means it is initially the same as your broken value, but there may be background or class abilities that
allow you to calculate one or the other in a different way which is why they are given separate names.
Regeneration
Regeneration effects restore hit points for you at the start of your turn, as long as your current hit
point value is above zero.
If you are affected by multiple regeneration effects they don't stack. Only the one that would restore
the greatest number of hit points takes effect each turn.

Temporary Hit Points

Temporary hit points are added on top of your current hit points. When you take damage you lose
temporary hit points before you lose your regular hit points, and your temporary hit points aren't
limited by your maximum hit points. If you already have temporary hit points when you would gain
more, or if you would gain temporary hit points from multiple sources at once, they don't stack.
Only the single highest amount takes effect.
Example: You have three temporary hit points when you use a power that gives you eight temporary
hit points. Your temporary hit points are set to eight.
You lose your temporary hit points when you rest.

Death
When your current hit points are reduced to zero or below, you become unconscious and dying. If
your current hit points are reduced to negative your bloodied value, you die.
While you are dying you make a death saving throw at the end of each of your turns. If you fail
three of these saving throws before you rest, you die. (Note that being healed does not reset this
count, only resting does.)
[sidebar] Option: Tougher or Easier Death Save Count Recovery
If you want to make death saves a little less dangerous (and reduce book-keeping), you can have the
death save count reset at the end of any encounter, whether the characters can rest or not.
If you want to go the other way, you can require an extended rest (or long rest, if you're using that
option) to reset the death save count. For a middle road, you could let a short rest reduce the failed
death save count by one. [end sidebar]
If the result of your death saving throw is 20 or higher and you have at least one recovery, you
spend one recovery and heal a number of hit points equal to your recovery value, and you are no
longer unconscious or dying.
When you reduce a monster to zero hit points it dies, or you can choose to knock it unconscious
instead. An unconscious creature with zero or fewer current hit points becomes conscious and is
restored to one hit point after it rests.
When your current hit points are restored to one or more you stop being unconscious and dying.
[sidebar] Option: Death Is Optional!
If you want a game where death isn't always on the table, failing your death saving throws could
mean something other than being dead. It could mean long-term incapacitation (or just until the end
of the combat, or the next extended rest), or that you are captured by your enemies. It could also
mean that you're just knocked out for the rest of the fight.
Obviously, using this option makes combat less dangerous, which could remove a lot of the tension
– but if your fights are about more than beating up the enemy, knowing you'll survive may not be
the important part. And if the players know their characters won't live or die by the whim of the die,
it could free you as a GM up to throwing tougher, more challenging enemies at them while also
allowing the players to take bigger risks.
Of course, you may still want to use the standard rules for times when it would be appropriate for
the characters to have to risk death, like in the final battle against the main villain. However, you
should let them know how you're playing it before the fight starts so they can act accordingly. [end
sidebar]

Appendix A: A Sample Power Description Format

The best way to format your power descriptions will depend on the details of your game, but this
appendix contains suggestions that should work well enough if you're staying close to the standard
rules.

The Basic Power Description Format

Entries in [square brackets] will be filled with the values that correspond to the power you are
writing. Each entry is explained in more detail below.
[Source] [Level]
[Power Name]
[Recharge] [Action] [Category]
[Tags]
[Effects]
Explanation:
• Source: The name of the class, background, theme, or other feature that grants access to the
power. A power available to every character has the source Universal.
• Level: The level at which the power becomes available.
Note that source and level aren't part of the actual power description, but describe the requirements
for gaining the power. The reason these are separate from the power description itself is that some
powers may be available in multiple ways.
• Power Name: The name of the power.
• Recharge: At-will, encounter, or rest. If an encounter or rest power has more than one
charge, the number of charges follows the recharge rate.
• Action: The action required to activate the power.
• Category: Attack, utility, or exploit.
• Tags: Any tags that apply to the power. For additional emphasis, rule tags may be underlined
or written in a different color. Note that these are the tags that apply to the power as a whole.
In a complex power, some tags may only apply to some of the effects. For an example of
this, see the Comprehensive Example below.
 • Effects: The effects of the power, including information on Range and Target (see below). If
the effects of a power are particularly complex, like an attack power with multiple attacks,
different sections of the effects may be separated from the others by surrounding them with
a box. For an example of this, see the Comprehensive Example below.
• Range: The range of the effect. This includes information on its area of effect, if any.
• Target: Describes what can be selected as a target or targets for the effect. Effects with a
range of personal may leave this out.

A power's description may also include flavor text describing the effects in a non-mechanical
fashion.

The Basic Attack Description Format

[Attack Name]
[Tags]
[Effects], including the following (optional entries in brackets):
Range: [Range]
Target: [Target]
(Effect: [Initial Effect])
Check: [Ability] attack vs. [Defense]
Hit: [Hit Effect]
(Miss: [Miss Effect])
(Effect: [Final Effect])
Explanation:
• Attack Name: The name of the attack. This is only necessary if any other effects need to
refer to this attack but may be included even when not needed.
• Tags: Tags that apply only to this attack. Note that tags noted for the whole power also apply
to each attack in the power's effects. The most common type of tag here is one that shows
what type of equipment is needed to make the attack.
• Range Type: Close or Ranged.
• Method: Strike or Area. If the method is Area, the subtype is added in brackets, and then the
size. For example, a size 3 burst would be noted as “Area (burst) 3”.
• Range: The range of the power. This is usually Reach for close strikes and a number for
ranged attacks. Close area attacks may leave this out. Many utility powers and exploits have
a range of Personal.
• Target: Describes what can be selected as a target or targets by the power.
• Initial Effect: Effects that are part of the attack but which occur before performing the
attack. This is left out if there are no such effects.
• Ability: Notes which ability is used for the attack.
• Defense: Notes which defense is used to set the target number for the attack roll.
 • Hit Effect: The effects that occur on a hit. This will nearly always include a damage code.
• Miss Effect: The effects that occur on a miss. This is left out if there are no such effects.
• Final Effects: Effects that occur after the attack has been performed.

Comprehensive Example
Here is an example of a hypothetical complex power that includes two different attacks and several
other effects. In this example, “Ranged” and “Close Burst” are reference tags that allow feats and
other traits to modify attacks with the range type ranged and the range type close and the scope
area (burst) respectively, and “Resistance” and “Evasion” are secondary defenses. The rules tags
Arcane Focus (which means you need an arcane focus to perform the attack) and Risky (which
means the attack provokes attacks of opportunity) are bolded to separate them from the reference
tags.
Freezing Flame Leap Elementalist Rest Attack 19
Standard action * Arcane, Elemental

Perform the Draw Heat attack:

Draw Heat
Arcane Focus, Cold, Close Burst
Close Area (Burst) 2
Target: All creatures in area of effect
The area of effect creates a zone of elemental cold until the end of the encounter. (This cold has no
effect except as indicated by other powers.)
Attack Roll: Con vs. Resistance
Hit: 3d10 + SDM (Con). Target is slowed (save ends). On a critical hit, the target is immobilized
until the end of its next turn, then slowed (save ends).
Miss: 1d10 + ½SDM (Con). Target is slowed until the end of its next turn.
If you hit at least one target, gain a heat charge.
Fly up to five squares to an empty square and land.
Perform the following attack:
Arcane Focus, Risky, Fire, Ranged
Ranged Strike 5
Target: One creature
Attack Roll: Dex vs. Evasion. You can spend a heat charge to roll with advantage.
Hit: 3d10 + SDM (Con). If the target was hit by the Draw Heat attack from this power, increase the
damage by ½SDM (Con). If the target is in a zone of elemental heat, increase the damage by 1d10.

Appendix B: Everything as Powers

For those who like using the power mechanic for as many parts of the game as possible, here are the
basic capabilities of all characters expressed as powers.
[MORE TO COME]

Appendix C: Non-Grid Combat

The default assumption in Forerunner is that combat takes place on a square grid, but the basic
mechanics of hit points and attack rolls can still work if you change that. This appendix describes an
alternative combat system using multi-level zones to get a feel that is similar in tactical depth to the
standard grid-based combat system but requires less preparation in the form of detailed gridded
maps. As such, it can be suitable for more improvised games.
This optional system can also be used for mass combats and other situations where handling the
exact positions of each individual creature is impractical. Note that while powers written for the
standard combat system can be interpreted in a way that allows them to be used with the zone
system, there is no guarantee that their effects are equally powerful.
Unless otherwise noted, all rules are the same but note some additional adjudication by the GM may
be required to handle unanticipated situations.

Zones
The battlefield is divided into zones. Zones come in three levels or sizes, each nested within the
other.
The standard zone is the area. Each area covers a section of the battlefield roughly equivalent to
somewhere between 100 and 1,000 squares.
Inside an area there can be one or more locations. Each location is a specific building, piece of
terrain, or otherwise distinct part of the battlefield, like the gatehouse of a castle, a bridge across a
stream, or the dais around the king's throne. A location should be fairly small and clearly defined. If
more than a dozen people can fight there without getting in each others' way, it probably shouldn't
be a location.
The largest type of zone is the field. A field is a large section of the battlefield, like a castle, a
harbor, or a village. A field typically contains three to five areas. Fields are mainly useful to regulate
large-scale effects in mass combat and can often be ignored for regular skirmishes.
Zones inside a larger zone are contained by the larger zone, and are also said to be sub-zones of the
larger zone. The larger zone is called the super-zone of its sub-zones.
A creature is always located in a specific area (and therefor in the field containing the area), and
may also be in a location in that area.
When these rules refer to “your zone”, that means the location you are in, or the area you are in if
you're not in a location. Essentially, it's the most specific of the zones you are located in.

Zone Connections
Movement between zones is regulated by connections between those zones. Zones with a
connection between them are connected. A connection is always between an area or location and
another area or location, never between fields.
Zones can be connected because they're physically close to each other, or because there's some
other way to easily move from one to the other. For example, if two locations are connected by a
teleportation circle, those locations could be connected even if they are far away from each other.
Zones that are connected and pysically close to each other are adjacent.
Some zone connections may have requirements, typically a movement mode. For example, a
balcony on a high tower could have a connection to the area below it that requires flight or
climbing.
It may be possible for creatures to create temporary or permanent connections between zones, or
change existing connections. In the tower example above, if someone hangs a rope ladder from the
balcony you could use the connection without having one of the special movement modes
previously required.
Each connection has a movement cost. The movement cost may be different for different movement
modes and may be different depending on which direction you're moving in. See Movement below
for details.

Movement
A movement action can be spent to:
• Shift: When shifting, you can choose to do one of the following:
◦ Disengage from one creature you are engaged with.
◦ If you are engaged with creaures using more than half your engagement limit, you can
disengage from creatures with a total engagement requirement of half your engagement
limit or less. (See Engagement Limits and Engagement Requirements below.)
◦ Engage one creature in your engagement.
• Walk: You disengage from all creatures engaged with you. This is unguarded movement.
Then you gain a number of movement points equal to your speed. (See Spending Movement
Points below.)
• Run: You disengage from all creatures engaged with you. This is unguarded movement.
Then you gain a number of movement points equal to your speed plus two. (See Spending
Movement Points below.) You also take a -5 penalty to attack rolls, and you grant combat
advantage until the start of your next turn.

• Stand up: You stop being prone.

• Guard: You can guard a creature if you are unengaged or if you are only engaged with the
creature you want to guard and creatures who are your allies. You can't guard someone who
is guarding you. Tiny creatures can't guard. Note that you can guard an enemy creature. This
can be useful if you want to cut them off from their allies. See the guarding condition under
Conditions below.

• Take cover: See the in cover condition under Conditions below.

Note that this list replaces the normal movement actions described in Tactical Movement.
You can perform a double move to walk or run twice, which means you gain twice the number of
movement points.
Opportunity Attacks
Your opportunity attack is triggered when a creature engaged with you performs an unguarded
action or unguarded movement.

Spending Movement Points

Movement points can be spent to move between zones, to engage a creature in your zone, and to
avoid other creatures engaging you.
To move from one zone to another, spend movement points equal to the movement cost for the
connection and movement mode you are using. You can split this cost up over two or more turns,
but you have to commit to a connection and movement mode on the first turn, and you remain in the
zone you're moving from until you have paid the full cost. If you spend movement points on
anything other than moving towards your new zone, you lose all progress you have made towards it.
Each movement point you spend moving towards your new zone also generates an evasion point.
All your evasion points are lost when you enter your new zone. See Evasion and Guarding below.
If you have movement points left over when you enter a zone, or if you gain movement points
without moving from one zone to another, you can use them to engage another creature. The default
movement point cost to engage a creature is three, but see Evasion and Guarding below.
The standard movement cost to move between two areas should be roughly ten movement points,
and the standard cost to move between a location and the area containing it or from one location to
a connected location should be close to five movement points.
This can be lower if the zones are small or otherwise very easy to move between, or higher if they
are large or far apart.
Note that the movement cost can be different for different movement modes.
Also note that some of the movement cost can come from difficult terrain, in which case this should
be specified to allow abilities that relate to this to change the cost.

Evasion and Guarding

You can spend your movement points to evade other creatures to try to keep them from engaging
you. For each movement point you spend to evade, you gain one evasion point. When a creature
wants to engage you, they have to spend a number of movement points equal to your evasion points
in addition to the standard movement point cost to engage. However, even if a creature fails to
spend enough movement points to engage you, they reduce your evasion points by one for every
three movement points they spend trying to engage you.22 When you are moving from one zone to
another, a creature trying to engage you can count their movement points spent both towards
entering the new zone and towards engaging you.
If you want to engage a creature who is guarded, the movement point cost is increased. See
Guarding under Various rules below.
Note that the movement cost to engage a creature has to be spent in a single turn. This can make it
prohibitively expensive to engage a creature who is well-guarded.

22 This represents how you can be cornered by multiple opponents.

Terrain and Illumination
Zones can have different terrain and levels of illumination that affect movement and combat.
The terrain in a sub-zone is the same as for its super-zone unless otherwise noted. For example, if a
field has dim light then all areas in that field and all locations in those areas also have dim light
unless a different level of illumination is specified for them.

Illumination
Zones use the same illumination levels as the standard combat system: brilliant light, bright light,
dim light, darkness, and total darkness.
Bright light is the default and imposes no penalties.
A creature in a zone with dim light is lightly obscured.
A creature in a zone with darkness is heavily obscured.
A creature in a zone with total darkness is totally obscured.
A creature in a zone with brilliant light has concealment from all creatures.

Concealing Terrain
Each zone can have one of two levels of concealing terrain: light or heavy.
A creature in a zone with light concealing terrain is lightly obscured.
A creature in a zone with heavy concealing terrain is heavily obscured.

Obscurity
A lightly obscured creature has concealment against all attacks.
A heavily obscured creature has concealment against attacks made by a creature engaged with them
and total concealment against all other attacks.
A totally obscured creature has total concealment against all attacks.

Blocking Terrain
Each zone can have one of two levels of blocking terrain: light or heavy.
A creature in a zone with light blocking terrain or heavy blocking terrain has cover against all
attacks, unless they are engaged with the attacker.
A creature in a zone with heavy blocking terrain who has the in cover condition has superior cover
against all attacks, unless they are engaged with the attacker.

Difficult Terrain
In a zone with difficult terrain, all movement point costs are doubled.

Engagements
If two creatures are close enough to each other to fight in melee, they are said to be engaged with
each other. If you need to translate between zone combat and gridded combat, assume that creatures
that are engaged are adjacent to each other and vice versa.
Two or creatures engaged with each other are part of the same engagement. Any creature engaged
with a creature in an engagement is also part of the same engagement.
Each creature can only be part of a single engagement.
You can only be engaged with creatures in your zone, which means that each engagement will
always be contained in a single location or area.
If you are not engaged with any creature, you are unengaged.
A creature in an engagement with one or more allies has cover against ranged attacks.

Engagement Limits and Engagement Requirements

Each creature has an engagement limit which shows how many other creatures it can be engaged
with. This is used to model that there's a limit to how many creatures can gang up on a single
enemy, and to some extent how you can become surrounded by enemies.
A tiny creature has an engagement limit of 1, and a small or medium creature has an engagement
limit of 4. Larger creatures have an engagement limit of four times their space, so 8 for a large
creature, 12 for a huge creature, and so on.
Each creature also has an engagement requirement. For small and medium creatures the
engagement requirement is 1, and for larger cratures it is equal to their space. Tiny creatures have
an engagement requirement of ½.
Each creature you are engaged with uses an amount of your engagement limit equal to their
engagement requirement. You can't engage a creature with a higher engagement requirement than
your unused engagement limit, except that if you are unengaged you can always engage a single
creature (assuming all other requirements are met).
Engagement limits also affect how creatures fight in small locations. XXX
Engagement limits and requirements are mostly useful in combats with a large number of creatures
in a small space. In encounters with less than ten creatures on each side or where the participants
are spread out over a larger area, they can usually be ignored.

Combat
Range
Range is measured as follows:
• Anything in the same location as you is within short range.
• Anything in the same area as you is within medium range.
• Anything in the same field as you is within long range.
If a zone is within a certain range, then all sub-zones of that zone are also within the same range (or
closer, as per above). For example, anything in a location in a different area in the same field as you
is within long range.
Attack Powers
Attack powers in gridless combat use similar categories as those used in the standard combat
system.
A melee strike can target any creature you are engaged with.
A close arc can target a number of creatures engaged with you up to the size of the arc.
A close burst can target a number of creatures in your engagement up to the size of the burst. You
have to target all creatures engaged with you before you can target any other creatures.
A ranged strike can target any creature within the range of the power that you can perceive with a
targeting sense.
A ranged burst can target creatures in a zone within the range of the power equal to twice the size
of the burst. Creatures not part of the same engagement as the first target count double.

Charging
When you perform the charge standard action, you gain movement points equal to your speed
minus one23, and you have to use them to engage an enemy creature. If you end your movement
engaged with that enemy, you can perform a basic melee attack against them with a +1 to the attack
roll.

Conditions
Condition Effects
Guarding • The movement cost to engage the creature you are guarding is increased by
two, or by one plus your space, whichever is greater.
• You lose this condition if you become engaged with an enemy, if you are
force moved, or at the beginning of your next turn.
In cover • You have superior cover against all attacks unless you are engaged with the
attacker.
• You lose this condition if you spend any movement points or if you are
force moved.

Forced Movement
When using the zone system, forced movement effects are still measured in squares but the effects
are different.
Any amount of forced movement will remove any guarding or in cover conditions from the target.
In all cases described below, when you are using forced movement to make a creature disengage
from a creature that is larger than medium, the cost is equal to the space of the larger of the two
creatures rather than one square.
When you push a creature in an engagement, each square of movement allows you to make them
disengage from one other creature in the engagement. If you are engaged with them, you have to be
the first creature they disengage from.

23 This penalty represents the limitations of moving in a straight line.

When you push an unengaged creature, you can spend your squares of forced movement as
movement points to make them engage a creature other than you, as long as that creature is not part
of an engagement the target was part of at the start of the push.
When you pull a creature in your engagement, you must spend a square of pull to make them
engage you if possible. If that is not possible, you can spend squares of pull to make them disengage
from creatures they are engaged with on a one-for-one basis until they can engage you.
When you pull a creature in an engagement you are not in, each square of pull allows you to make
disengage from one other creature in the engagement.
When you pull an unengaged creature, you can spend your squares of forced movement as
movement points to make them engage you or a creature guarding you, as long as the creature they
are engaging is not part of an engagement the target was part of at the start of the pull.
When you slide a creature, you can use any of the options described above.

Appendix D: Putting It All Together

Forerunner is very flexible in some ways, but not so much in others. This appendix contains a
rundown of the basic assumptions of the system, and what you should keep in mind when working
with it to create a new game.
MORE TO COME

Appendix E: Legal
LEGAL INFORMATION

All material in this document, unless specifically noted, is Open Game Content.

This material is being released using the Open Gaming License Version 1.0a and
you should read and understand the terms of that license before using this
material.

The text of the Open Gaming License itself is not Open Game Content.
Instructions on using the License are provided within the License itself.

The terms of the Open Gaming License Version 1.0a are as follows:

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is
Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.

1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners

who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means
copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into
other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition,
extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which
an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means
to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit
or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and
includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such
content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the
prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by
the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including
translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes
Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names,
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characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents,
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Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f)
"Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by
a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products
contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or
"Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and
otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your"
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2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a
notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and
in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content
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except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be
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3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your
acceptance of the terms of this License.

4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License,

the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive
license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.

5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original

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6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of
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7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including
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You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or
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8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly

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13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to

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such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it
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15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.;

Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins,
David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid,
James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.;
Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based on material
by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkinson,
Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins and JD Wiker

Unearthed Arcana, Copyright 2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Andy
Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, and Rich Redman Villains, Copyright 2002,
Bastion Press, Inc.

System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.;
Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee,
James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve
Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods © 2014, Paizo Publishing, LLC;
Authors: Sean K Reynolds, with Amanda Hamon, James Jacobs, John Ling, Mark
Moreland, David N. Ross, F. Wesley Schneider, Amber E. Scott,
Tork Shaw, James L. Sutter, Jerome Virnich.

EN World EN5ider. Copyright 2015–2017 EN Publishing.

EN World EN5ider Presents: A Touch of Class. Copyright 2017 EN Publishing.

13th Age Archmage Engine. 13th Age Archmage Engine Copyright 2013, Fire Opal
Media. Author: Chad Dylan Long, based on material by Jonathan Tweet and Rob
Heinsoo. Edited by Cal Moore and Simon Rogers.

13th Age. Copyright 2013, Fire Opal Media. Authors: Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan
Tweet. Edited by Cal Moore. Additional editing by Simon Rogers. The 13th Age RPG
and supplements are published under exclusive license to Pelgrane Press.

13 True Ways. Copyright 2014, Fire Opal Media, Inc.; Authors Rob Heinsoo,
Jonathan Tweet, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip
Williams.
Forerunner: The Framework. Copyright 2018 Anders Gabrielsson. Author Anders
Gabrielsson.

END OF LICENSE