• Max starting characteristic is 4. Humans start with 12 creation points and dwarves/elves start with 7 points.
• Each character gets only one stance piece in both directions at character creation. Stance pieces cost a number of advancements equal to their number. If a player buys the third red piece for instance it costs 3 advancements.
• Skills cost a number of advancements equal to their new rank.
• You can only get one fortune die for each stat.
• Reading the Challenge die (purple): Chaos star = chaos star + 2 challenges + roll one extra challenge die.
• Outside of combat players may only add blue dice to their dice pool. At GM discretion one stance die may be added if the player explains why.
• Bright wizards may add +1 damage for every extra power they spend on a spell. For each extra power they spend, they must roll a misfortune die. Each bane rolled with the pool of misfortune dice inflicts one wound on the wizard. For every three wounds the wizard suffers, one of the wounds is converted to a critical wound.
• Quick casting only adds 1 misfortune die instead of 1 challenge die.
• Ranged attacks get +1 challenge die if engaged by an enemy. Each range increment adds +1 misfortune die to the dice pool.
• In melee or ranged combat the attacker must add 1 misfortune die for each relevant skill advancement the defender has. Relevant skills are weapon skill (attacks that can be parried), resilience(attacks that can be blocked) or coordination(attacks that can be dodged). You can only use one skill as defense.
• Rapid Fire and Double Strike balancing: The basic recharge of Double Strike is 2, For each extra attack you add one recharge token to the card. Maximum number of attacks is 3 for both cards.
• Risking against recharge: GM kit rule
• Critical wounds can't be soaked. If someone with 11 soak receive 7 wounds and two of those are critical, the resulting damage will be one normal wound and two critical wounds. Critical wounds are always drawn as extra wounds and not just converted from wounds already dealt. For each success over the highest success line, the action inflicts +1 damage per success, up to a maximum amount equal to the level of training in the relevant skill.
• If two players are engaged with the same NPC one of them can assist the other allowing him to perform a parry or block for an attack against that player. This could lead to two blocks against one attack or even two blocks and two parries. The assisting player uses his free maneuver for this assist and he uses his reactive defense card(s) as well.
• GM A/C/E: NPC of the same type have their regular A/C/E pool but one is added to each of A/C/E for every extra NPC of that type in the encounter. All A/C/E is added together to one pool, but no NPC can ever use more from each than his maximum starting value in either A/C/E. At the end of every round the GM adds one to each pool for every second NPC active in the encounter (round down to minimum 1).
• GM NPC defence: NPCs have extra defence equal to their Expertise value (max 3).
• GM NPC Expertise usage: Using expertise allows a NPC to add a challenge die to a players pool as defence.
• GM NPC fatigue/stress: NPCs can remove one from each of the the A/C/E pools for every stress/fatigue they suffer instead of taking a wound.

These look good. Can a starting character use creation points for more Stance pieces?

I'm going to run this new list by my group, Gallows. I like just about everything on it and want to get their feedback before institutionalizing it. They whined a bit about the Drives I added, mostly because it made them think.

Overall very good rules. I have many things in the same direction and may even steal some of these.

Only one rule I suggest you to consider again. Your Double Strike balance is too balancing. I mean that its just too similar with some other high damage actions like Reckless Cleave of Thunderous Blow. Hypotetical example: Sturdy warrior carries two hand weapons and a great axe (he wants to be versatile and can also perform special moves with both two-handed and dual weapon styles). He can choose to face band of ungors or chaos warrior. Problem is that it does not matter what weapon he chooses against ungors or chaos warrior because the potential damage is around the same (Recless Cleave with Great axe or DS with hand weapons). Consider this rule that favours DS vs. ungors and two-handed style vs chaos warrior. DS three success line reads as in following bold text: You hit with your primary weapon for normal damage. You also hit with your secondary weapon for normal damage (Also maintain zero recharge for DS).

Try it. It does great damage to low soak enemies but its weak vs high soak enemies

You are way undervaluing skills. We do them as a base cost of 3 + the next rank. Yellow dice are fantastic and are worth their weight in, well, gold.

Sorry to double post, but this:

In melee or ranged combat the attacker must add 1 misfortune die for each relevant skill advancement the defender has. Relevant skills are weapon skill (attacks that can be parried), resilience(attacks that can be blocked) or coordination(attacks that can be dodged). You can only use one skill as defense.

Is an actual rule, outlined in the FAQ.

commoner said:

It is? Never noticed. I thought that was just for opposed rolls. Looked through the FAQ and couldn't find it anywhere. I think that's just for opposed rolls where each relevant skill adds one misfortune as well as any specialisation.

As for DS, I think perhaps I'll change the recharge to be 0 plus the number of attacks you make. So if you only manage one attack it's ready next round.

These look good. Can a starting character use creation points for more Stance pieces?

Not in my rules, but there is nothing wrong with allowing it I guess.

I read a nice DS houserule in one of my threads.

Simply use the Card as written, except that if an extra weapon (or two, with a Comet) connect, apply normal damage potential to each, and substract enemy To and Soak everytime. This makes Double Strike the attack of choice against weak and unarmored opponents, but much less effective against heavily armoured champions.

It also makes this card very different from the Troll Slayer Reckless Cleaves out there.

i think a lot of these rules are great. i am not big into trying to keep track of a lot of house rules, but if i ever want to run a low-powered campaign i can see myself using a lot of them. did you collaborate with your players to come up with them?

Bindlespin said:

Yeah it has been a group effort (although I did most of the initial ideas), with a lot of input from this site as well giving us ideas on how to tweak out rules.