Overview
If you have never played a pen n' paper game before, click here. For a short overview of the rules click here.
Your character
wip - Feats
wip - Subclass
wip - 2nd Class
Rules
Guild
Character Creation
Follow the steps below to create your character. You can find the character sheet under fantasy-os.com/downloads. If you start at a higher Level than 1, follow the steps below and then click here to learn how to level up.
Suggestion: Level 0
As introduction to players who are new to Pen n' Paper, players can start without any class, abilities or weapons. Story-wise, it should revolve around how the characters acquire or learn their class. It might be interesting if players decide on their classes organically throughout the adventure. Characters should become Level 1 and get their abilities within 1-2 play sessions.
Suggestion: Hardcore Character Creation
The Game Master creates a challenging dungeon where players send in multiple Level 0 characters. Those who survive become the player's main character. Those who die are replaced with the next character. This way, characters earn their own roles and background stories.
Classes
Every character is assigned to a class. The class dictates what skills they can use. Choose one of the following classes. You will get a second class, at Level 8.
Fighter
A relentless warrior who grows more formidable as the battle rages on.
Weaponmaster
A highly skilled combatant, mastering all forms of weaponry effortlessly, making them an extension of their being.
Protector
A stalwart defender, putting themselves between danger and their comrades, serving as an unyielding shield.
Ranger
A well-rounded ally proficient in healing, supporting allies, and dealing significant damage.
Shadow
A cunning and elusive combatant, adept at manipulating shadows to strike from the darkness.
Elementalist
A spellcaster attuned to the primal forces of air, earth, fire, and water, wielding the very elements to shape the battlefield.
Chaosmage
A spellcaster harnessing raw energy to cast unpredictable and boundless magic.
Shaman
A mystic intermediary, communing with spirits to manipulate the environment and empower allies with ethereal aid.
Priest
A devoted servant, channelling divine energy from their deity to unleash potent and holy magic.
Race
Races are the playable species in Fantasy OS. Each has their own abilities.
Attributes
Attributes define the character. The higher the value, the better the character is in that category. 0 is considered the standard value, comparable to the average for people in our world.
During character creation at Level 1, you can allocate the following values to their attributes:
2, 2, 1, 0, 0, -1
After allocating these values, you can add 2 more attribute points, either to the same or split them up and increase 2 attributes by 1 each.
Strength STR
Bodily power and muscles. Determines damage of melee attacks, success of grappling, and which heavy weapons you can wield.
Dexterity DEX
Control over your body and motions. Determines initiative, damage of ranged and finesse attacks, and which DEX-based weapons you can wield.
Constitution CON
Robustness and physical health. Determines HP and which armour you can wear.
Willpower WIL
Strength of mind. Determines amount of Mana and resistance to spells.
Intelligence INT
Mental acuity and aptitude for learning. Determines power of spells, knowledge, and amount of languages known.
Social skills SOC
Ability to interact, influence and understand others. Important for talking to others and persuasion.
Abilities
Abilities encompass a range of skills and knowledge that a character possesses. Each character has different values in all abilities, as these are based on their attributes, and can also be proficient in certain abilities. If they are proficient, they gain +LvlB on rolls with that ability.
During character creation, players can choose to be proficient in 4 abilities and have 1 passion (2x LvlB on the ability).
Animal Handling (SOC)
Knowledge of animals, handling animals, tracking.
Arcana (INT)
Knowledge of magic, runes, summoned creatures and magical items.
Arts (SOC)
Playing music, painting, acting, dancing.
Body Control (DEX)
Acrobatics, agility, balance.
Body Control (STR)
Athletics, wrestling, jumping.
Craft (DEX)
Craftsmanship, building traps, sewing.
Deception (SOC)
Lying, concealing objects from sight, hiding emotions.
Eloquence (SOC)
Persuading others, expressing oneself gracefully, charm.
General Knowledge (INT)
Acquired or learned knowledge about the world. It includes religion, politics, history, etc.
Insight (SOC)
Understanding motives, detecting lies, reading emotions.
Intimidation (WIL)
Forcing one's will on others, having an imposing presence.
Manual Dexterity (DEX)
Picking pockets, lockpicking, placing or disarming traps.
Medicine (INT)
Knowledge of wounds, how to care for them, and of mental and physical conditions.
Nature (INT)
Knowledge of plant life, finding riverbeds, gathering firewood or berries.
Perception (INT)
Finding traps and hidden objects, spotting hidden enemies.
Stealth (DEX)
Cautious movement, sneaking.
Specific Abilities
Instead of taking one of the abilities above, more specific ones can be chosen, but have to be discussed with the GM beforehand. Examples: Science (Alchemy), Technology/Mechanics (Architecture, Leverage), Instruments, Languages, Smithing, Carpentry, Cooking, Forgery (Documents), Leatherworking, Masonry, Tailoring.
Languages
Every character speaks the Common language (characters with -2 or less INT speak less fluently). Characters with an INT of 0 or higher can select a second language (suggestion: the language of their people) and can choose to learn additional languages instead of abilities.
Learning Abilities
Later in the game, characters can encounter instructors who, for a fee (minimum 100 gold), can teach them abilities. Each ability requires a minimum of 2 months to learn. Characters can also specialize in already known abilities (2x LvlB).
Health Points (HP)
To make a character's health tangible, Fantasy OS utilizes Health Points (HP). Whenever a character takes damage, whether from poison or a sword strike, their HP decreases. If they drop to 0, the character is dying.
Each character starts at Level 1 with 10 HP, and if positive adds their CON to it. For each Level above 1, they gain 5 and may again add their CON to it.
While it has no direct impact on gameplay, one can imagine a character with low HP as suffering from pain, bleeding in multiple places, and being exhausted.
Defence Points DP
Armor and protective measures like magic shields protect their user from incoming damage. Before taking damage to your Health Points (HP), your Defence Points (DP) take damage. Damage that exceeds the DP is deducted from your HP. DP cannot be regenerated like HP. It can be repaired during a Short Rest, restoring it to full. Some damage types, such as poison or psychic, bypass the DP and directly reduce HP instead.
Mana
Mana is an abstract resource that indicates a character's mental vitality. One needs Mana to cast spells and perform class-specific actions.
Each character starts at Level 1 with 10 Mana and, if positive, adds their WIL to it. For each Level, they now gain 5 and may again add their WIL to it.
While it has no gameplay implications, running out of Mana can leave one feeling exhausted and unable to muster the concentration for some actions. There are exceptions like the Fighter, who builds up Mana instead of depleting it. Of course, instead of the term Mana, something more fitting could be used, such as Fury, Control, or Adrenaline, but for explanations, Mana will be used to maintain consistency.
Spellcasting
To successfully cast a spell, the caster needs five components:
Some spells take effect immediately, while others have a delay, and some have a continuous effect. Effects of continuous spells are always applied at the end of the caster's or affected person's round. There may be Mana costs for maintaining the spell, which must be paid by the caster at the end of their round; otherwise, the spell dissipates.
To hit with spells with a target area you have to see the centre square. These also do not go around corners, so they would not hit enemies standing in full cover to the centre square of the target area.
The following rules apply to all spells:
Charakter Level
To compare the experiences and abilities of characters, there are levels. With each level, a character gains new skills as indicated in the table below.
Additionally, the characters Health Points increase by 5 + CON and its Mana by 5 + WIL. If they can cast spells they learn a new spell each level, and may take another if they choose to forget a known one.
| Level | Level Bonus | General | Class |
| 1 | 2 | new class features | |
| 2 | 2 | new class features | |
| 3 | 2 | Fighting Style | |
| 4 | 2 | 2 Attribute Points | |
| 5 | 3 | Subclass | |
| 6 | 3 | Feat | |
| 7 | 3 | Reactions | new class features |
| 8 | 3 | 2nd class | |
| 9 | 4 | 2nd class: features level 2 | |
| 10 | 4 | new class features | |
| 11 | 4 | Feat | |
| 12 | 4 | 2nd class: subclass | |
| 13 | 5 | new class features | |
| 14 | 5 | 2nd class: features level 7 | |
| 15 | 5 | Class mastery | |
| 16 | 5 | Feat | |
| 17 | 6 | 8 | |
| 18 | 6 | 2nd class: features level 11 | |
| 19 | 6 | God-Feat | |
| 20 | 6 | new class features |
Fighting Styles
At Level 3 characters can adopt a fighting style. It depends how they act in battle. Choose one of the fighting styles below:
Offensive
Viel Schaden
Defensive
Verteidigen und Verbündete beschützen
Power
Rohe Kraft und Durchhaltevermögen
Improvisation
Kampf ohne Waffen und Rüstung
Finesse
1-gegen-1 Kämpfe
Mobility
Schnelligkeit und Positionierung
Precision
Treffsichere Angriffe
Taktics
Vorrausplanung und Geduld
Support
Heilung und Rüstung
Technique
Fähigkeiten und Mana nutzen
Control
Mehr Kontrolle über Fähigkeiten oder Zauber
Check
To determine whether a character successfully performs an action, a Check is made. This always consists of 1d20, thereby ensuring that a certain randomness, some may call it fate, determines the result. To influence the result, characters have Attributes and Abilities. Depending on what the Check is for, one of these must be added to influence the final result. If it is negative, it still has to be added to the result, making a Check more difficult. Thus, a strong character can handle tasks that require Strength more easily than their weaker companions.
Example: To climb up the steep cliff, Fighter Orelius must make a Check on Body STR of 14. Among his skills, he selects Body STR, and luckily, that's his passion, with a +7 bonus. Rolling a 1d20, he gets a 7. Putting both together results in a total of 14, allowing him to barely make the climb successfully.
If you roll a 1 or 20, it's a Critical Roll. Rolling a 1 is a critical failure, while rolling a 20 is a critical success. In both cases, the GM decides the effects. Saves against spells can not be critical rolls.
A character has only one chance to succeed a Check, they can not reroll endlessly. Unless the circumstances change.
Example: After failing a General Knowledge - Check to identify a symbol the character goes to the library to get a book of symbology. They can now repeat the check. Maybe even with advantage? As always: GM decides.
For minor tasks and simple challenges, instead of a roll, the GM may ask if the character is proficient in the required abilities. If so, they automatically succeed.
The GM should inform their players about the exact difficulty of important, game-changing Checks.
Failed checks should lead to an interesting situation, not a "you failed and the task is over," but rather a "you succeed, but alert the guards" scenario.
Combat
When a character attacks another character combat starts. To introduce structure into combats, they are divided into combat rounds, in which each combatant takes a turn. Each combat round lasts 6 seconds, during which characters can act in the order determined by their Initiative.
On their turn, combatants can take Combat Actions.
Combat ends when all player characters are defeated, or when it is clear that the heroes could win without effort. This might be due to the players defeating the enemies leader or dominating the battle to a point where losing becomes nigh impossible. Then the GM calls out the end of combat and only describes on a broader scale, how the combat ends. Each player can describe what their character would do to take out the remaining enemies, but would not act it out. Ending combats early helps maintain speed and prevents dragging an already won combat out for too long.
Combat Actions
For most actions in the game, you need Action Points (AP). You have 3 available per turn. If you have AP from your previous turn at the beginning of your turn, they expire. Out of combat you can do as many Actions as you like, each AP takes 2 seconds.
Requirement: Level 7.
Once your character reaches level 7 one new Action becomes available:
Critical Rolls: Damage
If one of the dice of an Attack shows the maximum number of eyes, you roll again and add the new result to the old one. If it shows the highest number again, do not reroll.
Example: In an Attack with an axe, you roll 1d6. If you roll a 6, you roll again. Let's say the result is another 6. Then the Attack deals 6 + 6 = 12 damage.
Dying
When a character's Health Points (HP) fall to or below 0, they fall to the ground and can't take any actions anymore. If the Attack was not declared as non-lethal before, the character is now in a life-threatening situation. If the character's HP falls to a negative value equal to their maximum HP, they die instantly. While lying prone on the ground, they can still be attacked.
To bring a dying character back to life, their HP must be healed to a positive value. Alternatively, another character can spend 1 AP to stabilize the character. This requires making a Medicine Check of 10. If successful, the character is stabilized but unable to take any action until their HP become positive. If the Medicine Check fails, the character receives a Permanent Injury (see below). For another AP, the stabilization attempt can be repeated.
One round after the character became dying (at the start of the turn of the cause), they fall unconscious, which they will stay until their HP become positive. They also receive a Permanent Injury and must describe their final moments or last thoughts.
In the second round after going down, the character must pass a WIL - Check of 10. If unsuccessful, they die instantly. If successful, the player must describe what keeps the character clinging to life (love, unfinished tasks, thoughts of revenge). The Check is repeated each round until the character is stabilized or dies.
Guild
A guild is an association of individuals with common interests and serves as a link between the player characters in Fantasy OS. It represents the player group outwardly in the fictional world and facilitates interaction with NPCs. If guilds don't fit in your game world, you can call it a crew or become known as a group. Over time, NPCs may join the guild, and players wanting to switch characters can do so more easily by having their old characters continue to work passively for the guild. To establish parameters for the guild, such as a motto or unique features, it's advisable to plan these details before creating characters.
The following characteristics should be defined for a guild. Depending on the campaign, others can also be defined. You may also adjust them during the course of a campaign, as long as the basic idea of the guild does not change.
Guild Reputation
All major actions the characters undertake change the guild's reputation. This can shift positively, for example, by saving a king, but also negatively, for instance, if the players commit deeds considered unlawful, such as burning down a tavern. Thus, the reputation also serves as a record of what the players have already achieved and what they are known for.
The GM distributes Reputation based on your deeds as follows:
With Reputation, the renown of your guild increases, and you gain the following:
0 Only people directly involved with the guild know it.
6 Uninvolved individuals in the vicinity know the guild name.
12 The guild name is known in the kingdom you're in, along with what deeds they have done.
20 The guild is becoming part of the known guilds. Their values are known and people sharing the same values might want to join.
28 Songs are written about the guild.
35 Recall stones to your guild house are donated by the city to you (3 per player) and and can now be repurchased (30G each).
45 People are familiar with the key members of the guild.
55 The names and roles of most guild members are known.
65 Nicknames are given; children see guild members as heroes (or villains).
80 Everyone in the kingdom is favourably disposed toward you (or intimidated by).
100 Highest recognition even beyond borders.
Glory Points GP
Glory Points (GP) are shared among the entire group. They can be used to either bend the rules or the story if it creates an interesting narrative; the GM decides if it fits. In the spirit of "Wouldn't it be cool if...". Successful glorious actions are stories told around campfires, generating Guild Reputation. At any given time, there are 3 GP that can be exchanged between players and the GM. Initially, players start with 2, and the GM starts with 1. If the GM uses one, for example, to give a boss an additional legendary action, they pass it to the players. The reverse works the same way.
If there are no GP available, players can either turn to the gods and request a blessing to execute an action or sacrifice something, like their equipment, to gain one. How this unfolds must be discussed with the GM, who should clearly explain what is lost when the Glorious Action is performed.
Guild Artifacts
In the world, there are magical artifacts that provide bonuses to all guild members as long as they are safely housed at the guild's location. These artifacts are very rare and should be awarded with caution. If the guild has accumulated a high reputation and skilled craftsmen within the guild, they can also create their own artifacts, such as a guild banner.