If you have never played a pen n' paper game before, click here. For a short overview of the rules click here.

Your character

Character Creation

Races

Classes

Attributes

Abilities

HP

DP

Mana

Spellcasting

Spell list

Armor

Weapons

Item list

Progression

Level 3 - Fighting Style

wip - Feats

wip - Subclass

wip - 2nd Class

Rules

Ability Checks

Combat

Combat Actions (AP)

Critical Hits

Healing

Dying

Guild

Overview

Reputation

Glory Points (GP)

Artifacts

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.

1. Choose a Race.
2. Choose a Class:
   • Fighter
   • Weaponmaster
   • Protector
   • Ranger
   • Shadow
   • Elementalist
   • Chaosmage
   • Shaman
   • Priest
3. Allocate Attributes:
   Assign the values -1, 0, 0, 1, 2, 2 to your attributes. Then freely add 2 more points. Either both to one attribute or 1 each. 
   • STR: Bodily power and muscles.
   • DEX: Control over body and motions.
   • CON: Robustness and physical health.
   • WIL: Strength of mind.
   • INT: Mental acuity and aptitude for learning.
   • SOC: Social skills and ability to interact.
4. Your Health Points (HP) are 10+CON
5. Your Mana is 10+WIL
6. Your movement rate is 6 F
7. Your initiative is DEX
8. Choose 5 abilities to be proficient in and make one of those your passion.
9. Choose Equipment.
10. Think about name, backstory and personality for your character.
11. Think about size, weight and look. Characters can have a size between 80 and 250 cm and a weight between 20 and 200 kg.

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.

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 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).

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.

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 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.

To successfully cast a spell, the caster needs five components:

• Mana
• Action Points (AP)
• Words. The caster must not be gagged or otherwise prevented from speaking.
• Finger movements. The fingers on at least one hand must not be restrained. However, they may hold a weapon or a shield.
• Vision to your target (can be influenced by cover)

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:

• A target can not be afflicted by the same effect multiple times, the duration is just renewed.
• If your target is in half cover your damage to them is halved, unless its a reoccurring effect like burn damage.
• Having the highground increases the range of your spells by +2 sq and can ignore cover.

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.

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

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 the Game Master:

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.

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.

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.

• 1 AP: Move
  Move up to your Movement Rate, not diagonal.
• 2 AP: Attack
  Make a Melee or Ranged Attack against an enemy.
• 1 AP: Switch weapons
  Drawing or yielding costs no AP, but doing both does.
• 2 AP: Grapple
  Attempt to Grapple a target. Roll Body STR. Target has to roll Body to resist.
• 2 AP: Shove
  Attempt to Shove a target 2 sq away. Roll Body STR. Target has to roll Body to resist.
• 1 AP: Reposition
  Move up to 1 sq without provoking an Attack of Opportunity.
• 1 AP: Take cover
  Move up to 1 sq behind a cover.
• 1 AP: Get up
  If you are Prone, stand up.
• 1 AP: Use item or surroundings
  Pick up or use an item. Or use the environment like doors or levers.
• 0 AP: Free Actions
  Talking, dropping a weapon, drawing a weapon, some ability checks.
• Prepare an Action
  Ready an Action and specify when it should be executed.
• Class and Fighting Style Actions
  In addition to the actions above, you gain more actions throughout the game through your class and fighting style.

Requirement: Level 7.
Once your character reaches level 7 one new Action becomes available:

• Reaction
  React to an event that happens during combat, needs spare AP at the end of the turn. Refer to your class to see which Reactions are available to you.

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.

You can heal through spells, healing items like potions, and through resting. Healing can not exceed the targets HP maximum.

Short Rest

Rest for an hour to get all your DP back and recover 1d10 + CON HP or Mana per level.

Long Rest

Rest for 8 hours to heal all HP, DP and Mana.

When a character’s HP drops to 0 or below, they have 3 options:

1. Die an Honorable Death: The character may immediately take one final turn. They gain 3 AP, and instead of rolling dice, they always count as rolling the maximum possible result. For example, if they must roll a d20, the result is automatically 20 (but not a critical).

2. Fate Roll: Roll 1d6. On a 1, the character dies. On a 6, the character is restored to 1 HP and may continue fighting normally. On a 2–5, they suffer a permanent wound, but are restored to 1 HP. They may only use 2 AP per round until healed back to full HP, at which point they regain their normal AP.

3. Survive: The character tries to hold on as long as possible. They fall prone and become unconscious, but remain alive for 2 rounds after taking the fatal damage. During that time, an ally within 1 F may spend 2 AP to stabilize them with a Medicine - Check of 10. On success, the character is stabilized but remains unconscious. Alternatively, the character is also stabilized if healed above 0 HP. Starting from the 3rd round unconscious, if not stabilized, the character must flip a coin each round; on tails, they die.

For roleplay purposes, it can greatly add to the atmosphere if you describe why your character chooses one of the three options, and what their final words might be.

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.

Creating a guild

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.

• Name: Short and snappy.
• Motto: This should include the guild's goal or a slogan. Bonus points for elaborate prose.
• Distinctive Features: What sets the guild apart from others already in existence? How would you stand out in a gathering where all guilds meet, such as a fair?
• Coat of Arms: Something that visually distinguishes the guild from others. A symbol and colour combination are the minimum. Can also be created in later sessions. Example: Blue eagle on black background. 
• Location: This should be a secure place where player characters regularly return. What does this place look like? Is it a dedicated guild house? A rented space in the city administration? A ritual location where you meet weekly? A regular meeting spot?
• Hierarchy: Is there a guild master? How is the guild led? Are there different ranks? Do new members have fewer rights than older ones?
• Admission: How does one become a member? This can be through an admission fee, but also through tests or similar admission rituals. Are there specific groups you want (or don't want) to admit? Such as someone who cannot fight.
• Guild Members and tasks: Who is part of the guild? What are their tasks in the guild? These tasks include managing finances, recruiting and instructing new members, representing the guild at events, and supporting adventurers. Are there NPCs that should be mentioned?

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:

• +1 for glorious actions.
• +3 for deeds that affect several hundred people, such as saving a village or slaying a dragon.
• +8 for deeds that affect several thousand people, such as stopping a plague or saving a country from a necromancer.

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) 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.

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.