Digestion, Endo, Vore Or Unbirth Roleplaying System
Contents |
What the hell is D.E.V.O.U.R.S?
Simply put, DEVOURS is a generic, quick and dirty roleplaying game system designed for players to fudge together characters and roll dice to see how many people they can stuff into their face, or how long they can last on missions filled with predators.
Character Components
Base Stats
Most interactions in DEVOURS are based on eight stats, that represent an individual character's aptitude in a particular aspect of existing. The values of the stats are added to dice rolls, on actions that would make use of that particular aptitude. These stats do not change, but can have temporary modifiers both in the form of negative modifiers (‘damage’ to the stat) from enemies, and positive modifiers (‘buffs’ to the stat) from your own abilities or allies’ assistance. Generally, a stat cannot be reduced below 1.
- Strength: This stat is used to represent the character’s raw physical strength. Characters with a high strength stat are good at moving heavy objects, grappling foes, breaking doors, and breaking faces.
- Speed: This is stat represents the character’s dexterity, athletics and/or finesse. Characters with high speed excel at jumping chasms, escaping pursuit and dodging blows. Character turns take place in speed order, giving high-speed characters the initiative. In addition, characters are able to move a number of "steps" (grid squares, etc) equal to their speed in a round.
- Stamina: This is used for challenges related to endurance and taking punishment. Characters with high stamina can shrug off harsh environments and resist blows. High stamina also provides a bonus to recovery times.
- Smarts: This is a measure of raw brainpower. Problem-solving is an easy matter for a character with a high smarts score. Certain special attacks may also employ this stat in the case of magic users, or other complex mental-based actions.
- Seduction: This is a measure of the character's aptitude in social situations, and the more subtle mental abilities such as persuasion, deceit, and obviously seduction. Particularly charming predators may even convince prey to give themselves up to them.
- Self-Control: This is a measure of nerve, persistence, determination, self-identity, and mental fortitude. Characters with a good degree of self-control are generally better able to resist persuasion and seduction.
- Stomach: This is, simply put, a measure of the character's inherent ability to eat things, keep them eaten, and subdue them ONCE they're eaten. This system did come from a bunch of vore-loving people, yanno!
Derived Stats
A character's Derived Stats are, simply put, a few little tallies that are based upon the character's primary stats. They will generally go up and down over the course of a game depending on events such as taking damage, exotic abilities that leave you mentally exhausted, or other such events. Generally, you want to avoid allowing these to reach zero.
- Hit Points: How healthy you are, and how many knocks you can take before you go down, a general measure of physical endurance. By default, this is equal to your stamina multiplied by five. If your current hit points reach zero, you are incapacitated. If you continue to take further damage, and reach negative hit points equal to double your maximum, you are dead.
- Will Points: Your strength of will, focus, mental fortitude. Similar to hit points, only a measure of mental fatigue. By default, this is equal to your Self-Control multiplied by five. If your current will points reach zero, you are also incapacitated, but take no further will damage. Will points have a number of uses:
- Certain attacks, particularly soulvore, damage WP instead of HP.
- Certain special abilities require the expenditure of WP.
- all characters may expend WP at any time in exchange for a 1-for-1 bonus on a roll - they have to make this decision BEFORE rolling, however.
- A character that reaches 0 Hit Points may spend a point of WP to remain on their feet for another round. They may continue expending WP in this way, but any further damage will render them unconscious. A character that is ALREADY unconscious may not expend WP to get up.
If a character is rendered unconscious, don't worry - it's not necessarily the end. See Recovery, below.
Skill Points
Skills, simply put, are experience that the character has in performing specific tasks, which give them a bonus to said tasks. There are no predefined skills to choose from; however there are plenty of example skills listed in the examples section. They cover a more narrow scope of actions than stats do (no more than 2 actions, each), but are much less ‘expensive’ to add to a character, and you can have many more. (See the ‘Creating a Character’ section.) Each skill has an associated stat it draws from. For example, if you took skill points in “Grappling”, to improve your ability to perform grapple actions, that would rely on your Strength stat. It is up to the player and GM to decide what stat each skill relies on, if it is not common sense.
Some skills, such as stretchiness, are not used in rolls but are considered to add directly onto your stats for the purposes of that particular situation.
The total bonus a character can receive from a skill is capped at the value of the associated stat. This limit only applies to the net effect of the skill - if you are suffering from a situational penalty of some kind, then skill points over and above this cap may still be used to counteract such penalties.
Example: If you had 4 points in “Grappling”, and your Strength had only 3 points, you would only receive the benefit of the first 3 points in your “Grappling” skill. It’s possible that you receive a buff to your Strength during the game, at which point you would start to receive the full benefit of the 4 points of “Grappling.” Likewise, if you suffer a -1 penalty at some point (such as being grappled), then you would receive the full STR 3 + Skill 3 roll, the penalty being canceled by the spare skill point.
Perks and Flaws
Perks, unlike skills, generally don't have ranks and are of a fixed cost. Generally, they include special abilities such as alternate methods of eating people, attacks that damage stats other than Stamina, spells of a magical nature, and anything else you’d like to add to customize what your character can do. Flaws are the opposite of perks, and have a negative effect on your character. The reason for taking them is that they have a NEGATIVE cost during character creation, and allow you more points to put into other aspects of your character. They can be useful when you are struggling to find that last point to add into your favorite skill. Flaws include things like fears of specific animals, a permanent inability to perform a certain task, or other disabilities.
There is no list of allowed/disallowed abilities, however use common sense when deciding on what your character will have, and the pricing. The GM has final say in the pricing of each perk and flaw. There are plenty of example perks and flaws in the examples section.
Inventory
Your character isn’t going into the world naked (well, unless you want them to), and can take as many items as they need with them. There’s no hard limit on the number of items you can add to a character, but at some point you’ll realize you don’t need that “9th mundane dagger.”
Items are divided into four broad categories, based on their quality/usefulness. The categories are:
- Mundane Items: Run-of-the-mill items that you can find anywhere are of the Mundane variety. They cost nothing during character creation and are of the lowest quality. This includes things like kitchen knives and rusty swords, or improvised lockpicks made out of a screwdriver and nails. Mundane items are restricted to a list in the examples section.
- Minor Items: These are built-for-purpose items and were likely purchased at your nearest general store. They perform their job adequately and include things like crossbows, potions, and decent quality swords.
- Major Items: A family heirloom sword with some sort of magical enchantment would fall into this category. These are fairly powerful examples of items, and would be of great benefit to a character should they have Major armor or weaponry.
- Epic Items: The legendary sword a great hero used to defend the kingdom is an Epic item. These items are the most powerful, most expensive, and most rare out of the four tiers of items. Those who wish to focus on using weapons and armor over magic and abilities may wish to bring one or two of this tier.
You’ll be creating these items when you create your character. To help you get an idea for the appropriate features each tier of item should have, there’s a list of “Item Features” in the examples. The costs of each are discussed in the ‘Creating a Character’ section, and there are plenty of full example items in the examples section.
The Basics
Whenever a player would like to perform an action in-game (besides simply moving around), they roll two ten-sided dice (“2d10”) and add the value of any relevant stat, plus any skills, perks or situational modifiers that may apply. If they are acting directly against an opponent, then the defending player (or GM in the case of an NPC) also rolls 2d10 and adds any relevant modifiers. If the attacker's roll exceeds that of the defender, then the action succeeds. If the defender is incapacitated or chooses to Relent, then the action succeeds automatically.
In short The player's roll is :2d10 + Relevant stat + skill + any applicable perks or bonuses
The maximum bonus a player can get from a skill is equal to the base stat, though "excess" skill points can still counteract penalties.
Perks and other bonuses may also be capped at GM discretion.
Occasionally, a player will need to roll against the environment. Normally this will involve a static difficulty assigned by the GM. This happens in the case of spotting hidden items, traps, picking locks, and the like.
Sometimes, you will be just THAT good, and your roll will be double that of your target - this is considered a “Complete Success”. The effects of a Complete Success are varied - in some cases, it may do nothing. Others may get you a doubled potency on your shrinking spell. A complete success on a melee attack will leave the target staggered until the end of your next turn, making them easier to grab!
A “Critical Success” occurs whenever both dice land on 10. A success above and beyond whatever the intended result happens, such as affecting additional enemies with an attack, doing extra damage, or just succeeding where you otherwise would have failed. A literally one-in-a-hundred shot!
In contrast, a “Critical Failure” occurs whenever both dice land on 1, regardless of the total sum of dice+modifiers. Instead of just not succeeding in the action, something “goes wrong” and a negative effect is applied, such as missing so hard you fall over, or pulling a pin out of a grenade and throwing the pin instead.
Combat
To hit an opponent in melee combat, the player rolls 2d10 and adds their Strength to the roll. Similarly, for a ranged attack, the player rolls 2d10 and adds their Speed instead. Either way, any specialist skills are also added to the attack if they apply. The defender rolls to avoid the attack, which usually involves rolling their Speed and any dodge/parry skills they may have.
If the defender's roll beats the attacker's, then the attack fails, misses, whiffs, or otherwise plain doesn't happen.
If the attacker's roll beats the defender's, then it causes damage equal to the difference between the rolls - if it's close, you will in all likelihood just graze them, while an equal roll will connect but glance off their armour, just stagger them back without harming them, or similar.
Spells and all other ‘attack’ abilities are treated much the same, though they may use other stats as the modifier for the 2d10 rolls. Magic may use Smarts, for example, and spiritual/ghostly attacks may use Self-Control.
Eatin' People
Eating is done through a series of maneuvers, usually starting by grappling the person one wishes to nom, then devouring/swallowing them, and finally digesting them over a series of rounds. The advantage to devouring people in combat is that you don’t have to totally defeat them using your combat rounds: once they’re in your stomach, your digestion of them each round is automatic, and you can start attacking the next enemy.
Grab - If successful, the target is considered “held” and takes a -1 penalty to all rolls.
This penalty does not apply to “defending” against actions.
Note that the defender gets to add their speed and their strength to their roll to avoid being grappled, provided they are free to move - an opponent that is restrained, prone, staggered, flat-footed, surprised or otherwise not in a position to evade the grab does not gain this bonus. This includes characters that have grabbed someone else!
Reversal - This difficult maneuver is performed by a grabbed character who wishes to gain control of the grapple. If successful, they are no longer held, and their opponent is considered held by them instead.
Break Grapple - Rather than reverse the grapple, a held character may opt to try and simply break the attacker's hold. If successful, they are no longer held and both characters are free to move again.
Swallow - While holding an opponent, a fighter may attempt to devour them whole and alive, and not necessarily using their mouth! If successful, the victim is trapped inside the devouring character and considered swallowed, while the predator is free to move. Swallowed characters are particularly helpless, taking a penalty to all actions equal to the predator's stomach rating.
If the prey are helpless, unconscious, or otherwise unable to resist, then the predator may forgo the rolls at GM discretion. Special circumstances may allow the predator to skip the grapple phase - if a squirrel has been tossed at a dragon's head, for instance, all the dragon needs to do is open its mouth...
Escape - A swallowed character is in serious trouble, so naturally they'll want to try and force their way out! If successful, they manage to force themselves back out of the predator's body and go back to merely being grappled by the predator (should the predator so choose - it may be advantageous for the predator to simply cough up an unruly snack and send them on their way!)
As with swallowing, if the combined size of all the predator's meals exceeds their stomach capacity, the prey may add the difference to their roll.
Struggle - particularly determined or troublesome prey may decide not to try and fight their way out, and instead cause as much trouble as they can while they're inside, and if they have appropriate perks or skills then eating them alive may be more trouble than it's worth! This is treated as a simple melee attack against the predator, though the penalties for being swallowed still apply - and the cramped conditions make most weapons unusable.
Subdue - Finally, once a predator has someone inside them, they deal damage every round as they digest, churn, and otherwise subdue their snack. This occurs automatically every round, even if the character is unconscious or asleep, and does not count as the character's action.
Subdual/digestion is treated as a free attack against every captured character, causing damage equal to the difference between rolls as normal. For simplicity's sake, the predator only needs to make a single roll against all prey, rather than rolling individually for each target.
At the GM's discretion, characters may require a perk in order to not treat their captives as food, depending on the tone of the campaign. Selective digestion of particular prey is also permitted, particularly with predators that have stuffed prey into different locations.
Mechanically, there is no distinction for what part of your body the prey wind up in or the effects of being there.
| Grappling/Eating Maneuvers summary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Maneuver | Attacker's roll | Defender's roll |
| Grab | 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills. | Target's 2d10 + Strength + Speed (if applicable) + Relevant Skills. |
| Reversal | 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills - 4 (Including normal grappled penalty) | Grappler's 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills |
| Break grapple | 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills | Grappler's 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills |
| Swallow | 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills | Target's 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills + full stomach bonus (if applicable) |
| Escape | 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills - Swallowed penalties + full stomach bonus (if applicable) | Captor's 2d10 + Stomach + Relevant Skills |
| Struggle | 2d10 + Strength + Relevant Skills - Swallowed penalties + full stomach bonus (if applicable) | Captor's 2d10 + Stamina + Relevant Skills |
| Subdue | 2d10 + Stomach + Relevant Skills | Swallowed Creature's 2d10 + Stamina + Relevant Skills |
Note that being subdued does NOT necessarily mean digested, it simply means that the prey is unable to continue struggling. This could simply mean that they're all tuckered out. Actual complete digestion requires the predator to continue until the prey is killed (negative HP value same as the max), and if the prey has friends in the area, they may rescue them before that happens.
Please note that “stomach” and “swallow” are used loosely in this game. The same 3-step “grapple, gulp, gurgle” steps apply to however your character consumes the prey, be it AV, UB, or whatever other method!
Stomach versus size
A predator's capacity for eating is generally limited. While most predators are capable of handling prey their own size, some can only do so with difficulty. A predator can handle a number of same-size prey equal to one third their "stomach" stat with no penalties.
If the predator's stomach stat is insufficient to contain their prey (including the one currently being swallowed), the prey receive a bonus to resist swallowing, as well as a bonus to escape rolls. The bonus is equal to the shortfall between the predator's stomach stat and the size of what they're trying to eat / keep down.
If a predator is already over capacity, they can't get anything else down. The predator does NOT get a bonus for having a capacity that exceeds the size of their prey (except that the prey might be slightly more comfortable!).
Creating a Character
Character creation in DEVOURS is based on a “Character Points” (“CP”) system. Most games will be based on 80 CP, which you can spend on various aspects of your character. The GM may change this depending on the difficulty of the mission.
Buying Base Stats
The first thing to do is assign your character's base stats. All characters start at 1 point of every stat, at no cost. In general, 3 is considered an “average” level for a stat, where they would perform as well as a commoner. There are two methods by which skills can be priced, decided by GM:
Method A: The price of adding stat points starts at 3 CP per stat point, and then increases by 1 CP for every 3 stat points. So including the free starting point, the costs up to 10 in a stat are 0,3,3,4,4,4,5,5,5,6.
| Method A | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base Stat | Cost | Total |
| 1 | 0CP | 0CP |
| 2 | 3CP | 3CP |
| 3 | 3CP | 6CP |
| 4 | 4CP | 10CP |
| 5 | 4CP | 14CP |
| 6 | 4CP | 18CP |
| 7 | 5CP | 23CP |
| 8 | 5CP | 28CP |
| 9 | 5CP | 33CP |
| 10 | 6CP | 39CP |
Method B: The price of adding stat points starts at 3 CP per stat point, and then doubles to 6 CP at the 6th stat point, and doubles again at the 11th stat point (continuing to double every 5 stat points). So including the free starting point, the costs up to 10 are 0,3,3,6,6,6,12,12,12,24.
| Method B | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base Stat | Cost | Total |
| 1 | 0CP | 0CP |
| 2 | 3CP | 3CP |
| 3 | 3CP | 6CP |
| 4 | 6CP | 12CP |
| 5 | 6CP | 18CP |
| 6 | 6CP | 24CP |
| 7 | 12CP | 36CP |
| 8 | 12CP | 48CP |
| 9 | 12CP | 60CP |
| 10 | 24CP | 84CP |
Method C: The price starts at 2, and the cost per level is the level you are buying, so including the free starting point the costs are 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...
| Method C | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base Stat | Cost | Total |
| 1 | 0CP | 0CP |
| 2 | 2CP | 2CP |
| 3 | 3CP | 5CP |
| 4 | 4CP | 9CP |
| 5 | 5CP | 13CP |
| 6 | 6CP | 19CP |
| 7 | 7CP | 26CP |
| 8 | 8CP | 34CP |
| 9 | 9CP | 43CP |
| 10 | 10CP | 53CP |
GMs are welcome to make up their own rules for stat point progress, of course. While it is possible for a starting character to have 10 in a stat and 1s and 2s in everything else, it is not recommended - there's no advantage to having a Strength of 10 if you turn into a blushing mess at the first pretty lady that comes along (low Seduction stat), or if someone decides to snarf your soul instead (most soulvore uses Self-Control modifiers!).
Adding Skills
Skills are specific activities that your character has had experience in, and will perform better than somebody attempting the activity for the first time. You can choose to represent this by putting some of your CP into skills, and they will receive a bonus when performing those actions. The player can create the skills as they see fit, but they should be limited to applying to two actions/rolls
Each skill is simply 1 CP for each point in the skill. They need not be purely mental skills, they can also represent peculiarities of the character's body. For instance, the "stretchy" skill simply adds directly onto a character's Stomach stat for the purposes of determining capacity.
For example, “Grappling” skill can apply to both grappling, and escaping from grapples. “Magic” is too broad a skill if you have six spells it would apply to. You can break it into multiple skills though, such as different schools of magic!
Creating Perks/Flaws
To represent abilities your character has, as well as any special talents they can actively perform (as opposed to the passive experience skills provide), you can add perks to your character in exchange for CP. Examples of perks include transforming, flying, magic spells, having extra limbs, and anything else you can think of that is more a “property” or “ability” of the character, and not a skill or statistic.
Perks are created by the players and priced by the GM, but there is an extensive example list including many of the most commonly desired perks in the examples section.
Flaws are the opposite of perks. They apply negative features to your character, such as a phobia of a specific type of thing, or reduce your capability to perform certain types of actions. The advantage to taking flaws is that they have a NEGATIVE CP cost, i.e. they give you CP for applying them. They can be advantageous if you just need a few points to accomplish the character you were trying to build, or want to roleplay your character as accurately as possible, including any weaknesses.
When designing both perks and flaws, consider the type of character you are trying to make. If you are attempting to make a mage, you would want to give them perks such as spells, and magical abilities, and give them flaws relating to their physical strength and non-magical talents. If you are trying to make a soulvore-focused character, consider giving them traits relating to taking souls and how they are allowed to interact with them, as well as flaws related to normal vore.
Making Equipment
Most adventurers will want to go out into the world with at least some equipment, allowing them to take on the world with more than just their IRON BALLS and a sense of a sudden draft because they're not wearing pants. Equipment generally provides better features than a skill/perk of a similar CP cost, which (from a balance perspective) is mitigated by the fact that equipment can be taken off you, get lost or broken, has to be carried around and concealed, is inappropriate in a formal setting, and so on.
The costs of the different tiers of items (which are described in further detail in their own section earlier in this guide) are:
Mundane: 0 CP
Minor: 1/4th CP
Major: 1 CP
Epic: 2 CP
The GM can decide what 'tier' of item is required for a particular object you have in mind, but a general rule of thumb as to what you can have each item "do", would be to pretend that the items are characters and that Mundane, Minor, Major, and Epic items have 0, 1, 2, and 4 CP to spend respectively on perks or skills. The 'Advanced Rules' section has rules about taking this more literally, however.
The reason Mundane items are free is because they will the type of item a character could have just walked down an alley to have found getting thrown out. This is not the type of item a middle-class adventurer would be using as their primary weapon, but would be a convenient backup to their “Major” primary weapon. Additionally you may only take mundane items from the Mundane list in the examples rather than creating your own.
Alternatively, characters who are not “gear-intensive” such as mages, could stock up on a full set of decent equipment (single piece of armor, one weapon, one potion, and one misc item) for the cost of 1 CP, if they are all minor items.
So, You Got (B)eaten
Well, it's happened. Someone's wound up inside someone else and they're too weak to fight things out any more. After that, well there are a few things that can happen to them - no matter what, they're going to have difficulty taking part in things for a while.
HP/WP recovery
Regardless of the outcome, win or lose, the characters are likely to have taken some damage, and they will take time to recover. If a character is damaged in some way, then they will need to rest for a while in order for their stats to return to their previous levels.
If a character is resting, they automatically recover their STM in hit points and their SC in will points every hour. If they are NOT resting, lost points return at half this rate.
Recovering lost HP and WP does NOT change the status of the character - dead characters are still dead, soulvored and absorbed characters are still stuck in the predator, this merely allows them to rest and recuperate before attempting to reform or escape. In the case of those trapped inside a predator, the predator is not generally aware of the prey's recovery unless they take an action. Characters that are out of action in this way are NOT assumed to gain the benefits of resting.
Prey that are still recovering from a lost battle are generally off-limits as far as dealing further damage goes. This applies to prey that the predator has chosen not to digest, indigestible prey who are simply trapped, or those who have been absorbed or soulvored. In short, predators do not have the option of simply digesting their prey "a little bit" every few hours to keep them down.
Digestion
This is the most common fate to be suffered by prey, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's the easiest from which they may recover. Generally speaking, predators who have subdued their prey may choose to digest them at will unless they have a perk that says otherwise. Where combat rounds and the chance of rescue is an issue, they must continue to make damage rolls until the prey are actually dead, otherwise it is assumed that the prey are helpless and no rolls are required.
Once the prey are gone, generally speaking it will take a while for the prey to actually be processed. The time is determined by multiplying the prey's Stamina by three, then subtracting the predator's stomach stat. The result is how many hours it will take for the predator to process them. If either party have perks or flaws that modify size, then multiply or divide the time proportionally.
For the purposes of eating more prey, the size of the meal is reduced proportionally over the digestion time. For instance, a normal-sized prey that takes 8 hours to digest will be half-size after four hours. Predators that are currently digesting a meal recover HP at twice the usual rate.
If your meal has an absorbed prey within them, and that prey has the indigestible perk, then the prey are not harmed and are merely released. This is because of preferences.
Absorption and Soulvore
Characters with appropriate perks may be able to absorb their prey's bodies or spirits into themselves, trapping them inside them, provided the prey are not immune to such attacks.
Absorption is a non-fatal act and leaves the prey trapped as part of the predator, with which they may mentally communicate if the predator allows it. The prey is aware of their position, and the predator may even opt to allow them to speak or even move slightly within their body.
A predator with a perk such as the “Trap Spirit” perk may take the souls of defeated prey (either by conventional digestion or by soul-draining) into themselves, as with absorption. This act, which may or may not be considered “fatal” depending upon the manner by which it is accomplished, seals the prey's spirit inside and renders them incapable of reformation for the duration of their stay. If the predator allows it, the prey may mentally communicate with them or even with other prey who have met the same fate - some predators have entire worlds inside their minds for their prey to run around in.
Note that the prey must be actually killed before their spirit is released, unless the predator has Snatch Spirit in which case they must be drained down to WP 0, and both absorbed and soulvored prey do NOT count their size for determining the predator's remaining stomach capacity.
Reforming, Recovering and Escaping
Generally speaking, getting eaten is a setback, but depending upon the tone of the campaign it could be far from crippling (flaws notwithstanding).
After a combat encounter has finished, provided at least one member of the party is still capable of continuing, they may assist the others in getting back into the fray. Reformation magic, depending on the setting, may be reasonably commonplace with most adventurers' kits including a few scrolls, wands, pills, potions and such to get things going again. On the other hand, some GMs may be running a more serious scenario.
For more casual games, deceased characters are given new bodies, those who are merely trapped are forcibly warped back to their compatriots and even those who have been melded into the predator or had their very spirits sucked up can be redeemed. The process is not automatic, however, and may not be entirely pleasant.
Returning to play is done with a single roll of the character's base stat.
Dead characters roll their Stamina against a static difficulty of 12.
Unconscious characters roll their Stamina against a static difficulty of 10. Notably, merely unconscious characters may roll without outside assistance in all circumstances.
Trapped characters roll an opposed Strength check against the predator's Stomach, just as they would in combat.
Notably, trapped characters may roll at any time provided they regain consciousness first, though doing so will probably prompt the predator to start churning them back into submission again. Predators are not permitted to just continually churn up prey to "keep them down" regardless of whether they're attempting to escape.
Absorbed characters roll an opposed Stamina check against the predator.
Soulvored characters roll an opposed Self-Control check against the predator.
In the latter three cases, if the predator holding them has been subdued or otherwise "persuaded" to release their prey, then the prey are released from their grip and merely treated as Unconscious for the purposes of getting back on their feet (unless the soulvored character's body has been destroyed, in which case they must reform as if dead).
A success on this roll means that the prey manage to break free from whatever predicament they are in and are returned to the party. A failure means that they're stuck where they are for now. By default, making an attempt to reform someone, whether yourself or someone else, takes an hour whether it succeeds or fails, though may be re-attempted immediately.
While unconcious/dead/whatever, HP and WP still recover at the normal rate, and a character may not be brought back into play until they are both above zero. If they don't want to wait until they're recovered completely, such quick fixes come with a cost - characters who come back into play without resting for at least 6 hours suffer Revival Trauma from the strain of being knocked out and brought back so suddenly and sharply - they receive a -2 penalty to all rolls until they have recovered all their HP & WP, after which it is reduced to -1. Resting another 6 hours negates the penalty completely.
Tone of the campaign
Just how deadly you want your noms to be is entirely dependent upon the tone of the campaign. Below is a non-exhaustive list of campaign styles that include more or less restrictive methods of allowing people back into play.
| Type of campaign | Rule adjustments and suggestions |
|---|---|
| Casual | In casual games, regardless of the type of fate met by the adventurers, they are provided with means to return to play after each encounter with little trouble. Assistance is not required to reform and victims of soulvore or absorption are assumed to be able to get out by some means. Rolls are only required for those trying to get out while the encounter is ongoing, otherwise they're back into play after everything is resolved, and the revival trauma rules are not used. |
| lighthearted | In lighthearted games, there are no restrictions on what is needed in order to come back from being eaten. The reform perks are redundant, or at least everyone is assumed to have them for free (or something equivalent such as a revival it). Getting out of a belly, recovering from absorption and soulvore, and coming back from digestion are functionally identical apart from the rolls involved, and failed rolls can be repeated once an hour. If the character waits for at least 6 hours before attempting to come back into play, revival trauma does not apply. If they have been out of play for a full day, then they succeed automatically. These games are best suited to slightly-extended sessions with a light tone and a lot of nomming, where nomming is assumed not to debilitate the party too much. |
| Semi-serious | In these campaigns, characters are not assumed to be capable of coming back from being eaten by default, and thus can only come back into play after digestion if they have the Reform Self perk, or the Reform or Reform Other perks are used on them. Those who have been absorbed or soulvored may only make one attempt per day to break their predator's hold on them, though additional attempts may be granted if multiple people are attempting Reform Other, while digested (or otherwise dead) characters can just try again immediately (though each attempt, including the first, still takes an hour). This level of campaign is for those who like to keep things lighthearted but have a little more consequence to getting eaten. |
| Serious | As with semi-serious games, people need some sort of reform perk (or someone to use such a perk on them) in order to come back from being eaten. Those who have fallen victim to absorption and soulvore are unable to escape without perks coming into play (or possibly at all). This style of campaign is for those looking for a roughly D&D-level of danger. |
| Lethal | With the exception of those who are merely trapped, prey don't get to come back at all without appropriate perks, which may be disallowed or have their costs increased. Absorbed and soulvored prey are stuck in their predators indefinitely, while those who have been digested are just dead. Even those swallowed and carried off are unlikely to be let out again. This is a darker campaign, for GMs and players that favour the risk of a complete party-wipe, or that wish to set a dungeon run as a challenge where players are eliminated rather than a story that everyone sees through to the end. |
Predators, naturally, may also release prey at any time at no penalty - for friendlier eatings, even absorbed, soulvored and digested prey might be able to come back without suffering Revival Trauma (if they were willing from the start, it's entirely possible that they weren't damaged too badly in the first place).
Party-wipe scenarios
Unfortunately, it's not guaranteed that anyone in the party will be in a position to assist with recovery. In this case, the unfortunate party are pretty much out of luck - for a while. Someone back at the guild will notice they haven't checked in eventually, and set the clerics and wizards on the case. Occasionally, the predators might be merciful with someone they've captured alive and turf them out when they're no longer useful, allowing them to revive and gather their friends. Sometimes, predators may even bring their own prey back (possibly tossing them in the pantry to have again later). Either way, the party will be up and running again... eventually. Generally speaking, unless it's really important that the party extricate themselves unaided, in more casual or lighthearted campaigns the GM is encouraged to just dump them back in town a few days later feeling pretty sheepish about themselves.
On the other hand, if the GM feels that they really want to make the party roll, someone is playing a solo game, then that's their call - it really depends on the tone of the game they're running. They are also completely at liberty to mess the players around some other way if they like - requiring endo prey to make an actual combat roll to try and escape from the predator as normal, or in darker games, even ruling that deceased or soulvored prey are eliminated entirely is a possibility.
This is, of course, assuming that none of them took Reform Self.
Those who are reformed will generally restore themselves in a safe location. However they manage it, generally they'll find themselves somewhere safe and out of the way. Not necessarily convenient for their mission, but at least they'll be out of danger. If they are not successful, however, they're stuck where they are for a little longer, and may attempt again later. Fortunately, once ONE party member has restored themselves, they are free to assist the others as appropriate (even if it is just to head down to the nearest chapel and cash in their Adventurers' Insurance policy to set the clerics on the case).
If the GM really wants to run a serious game, they may forgo the NPC rescue entirely or provide particularly potent NPC predators with exotic containment abilities that require some challenge to be completed before the players may free themselves - an example would be a scenario where the entire party get devoured by a creature that absorbs their prey and traps them in a mindscape of some sort, forcing the party to go on an adventure inside them. Naturally, this is something that should be tailored to player preferences.
For shorter games with disposable characters, a party-wipe could also be time to draw proceedings to a close.
Examples
This section contains examples for the kinds of skills, perks/flaws, and items you can create in the game. The ones allowed in your particular game are entirely up to the GM, but these can be used as some general guidelines on what you can do, and how much it would cost. These are not rules for the pricing, nor are they the only choices you can pick from, your GM may decide these should be more or less expensive than the price listed here, or may decide to not allow them at all.
Skills
Here are some example skills that you may find useful for use on your character. You're not limited to these, you are welcome to create your own and run them past the GM for your game to make sure they're acceptable to use in your particular campaign. If you come up with any cool skills, and they are not too broad (as in, they only affect one or two actions/dice rolls), feel free to add them to these lists.
| Name | Stat | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Attack Skills | ||
| Unarmed | STR | Increased chance to damage an opponent when unarmed. |
| Melee weapons | STR | Increased chance to damage an opponent with a weapon in your hand. |
| Thrown | SPD | You are good at peltin' people with stuff. |
| Archery | SPD | Increased chance to hit with a bow or similar weapon. |
| Guns | SPD | Rooty tooty point and shooty. |
| Heavy Weapons | SPD | Rooty tooty point and obliteratey. |
| Elemental Magic | SMA | Hurling bolts of eldritch fire? There's a skill for that. |
| Hexing | SMA | For those wizards that prefer to hamper their foes rather than damaging them directly. |
| Defense Skills | ||
| Dodge | SPD | You are a leaf on the wind. Bonus to evade attacks and grapples, provided you are free to move. Note: this differs from armour in that armour does not protect you from being grabbed, but it DOES protect you when you're unable to move. |
| Parry | SPD | Increased defence when defending against weapon attacks. Unlike Dodge, you CAN use this while flat-footed or prone. |
| Healing Magic | SMA | You are more adept than most at restoring yourself or your allies through magical means. (you will still need the Healing perk to use this skill) |
| Vore Skills | ||
| Grappling | STR | Increased chance to grab an opponent, and escape from/reverse the same. Not just for vore, but... |
| Stretchy | STO | Your stomach can hold more stuff before you suffer penalties. (add this skill directly to your stomach stat for determining capacity. The stat cap does NOT apply to this skill, though the GM may impose penalties if you try to move or do anything while carrying three times your own weight in prey without the strength to back it up) |
| Powerful stomach | STO | Gives you a better chance of damaging prey on digestion rolls. |
| Digestion resistance | STA | Predators are less capable of damaging you once they get you in. (Note: this still applies for indigestible prey resisting subdual damage) |
| Self-preservation | SPD | Gives you a bonus to escaping from stomachs. |
| Social Skills | ||
| Bluff | SED | You're good at spinning a yarn and getting people to believe it. |
| Diplomacy | SED | You're a skilled negotiator, particularly formal negotiations. |
| Disguise | SED | You can pass yourself off as someone else. |
| Intimidation | STR | Whoa, you scary. |
| Animal charm | SED | You know how to make feral critters behave. |
| Subterfuge Skills | ||
| Stealth | SPD | How not to be seen. Sticking to the shadows! |
| Burglary | SPD | Lock-picking, safe-cracking, breaking and entering, and otherwise gaining entry to places you shouldn't be. |
| Sleight-of-hand | SPD | Pickpocketing, nimble misdirection and other sneakiness. Also good ol' magic tricks! |
| Physical Skills | ||
| Reflexes | SPD | You're quick to react. You have a bonus to Speed for determining initiative. |
| Athletics | SPD | Running, jumping, gymnastics, and so forth. |
| Tracking | SMA | You are good at finding where people went. |
| Survival | SMA | You know how to find food, water, and shelter, what's good eatin's, and what's bad eatin's. |
| Technical Skills | ||
| Computing | SMA | You know how to operate a computer or similar device. |
| Electronics | SMA | You are skilled in the operation and maintenance of electronic equipment. |
| Mechanics | SMA | You know how to build, service and repair mechanical devices. |
| Knowledge Skills | ||
| Arcane | SMA | You know your way around the workings of magic - this covers the more bookish/ritual side of things rather than direct combat applications. |
| Academics | SMA | You are book-smart and well-read in classical academic subjects. |
| Sciences | SMA | You are familiar with the scientific process and all manner of useful stuff. |
| Linguistics | SMA | You are adept at communicating with people who speak other languages. |
| Medicine | SMA | You can make people not die, and or if not quite dead, feel better. |
| Artisan | SMA | You are good with your hands when it comes to crafting stuff. |
| Cooking | SMA | You make food taste good. |
| Perception | SMA | You are aware of your surroundings, and generally hard to sneak up on - also provides a bonus to spotting traps. |
| Search | SMA | You are good at finding that which is hidden. |
| Demolitions | SMA | You know how to safely handle, store and and use explosives. |
| Drive - 'Vehicle' | SMA | You know how to operate that particular type of vehicle. |
Perks & Flaws
Perks are abilities and traits that a character can actively make use of, that are not "experience" so much as some innate ability or enhancement they have. Flaws are the opposite, some sort of innate weakness or disability of the character that hampers them (but gives CP back during character creation). Here are some examples of commonly desired perks. Note that these prices are not necessary applicable to every game, run by every GM.
Example Perks
The perks below each have a cost in CP to apply them to your character. They each provide either a bonus to rolls, some sort of ability, or just an allowance to 'do' something (e.g. 'Flight' does not give a modifier to rolls (unless the GM says so), it isn't a specific action you use and roll for, it's just an additional method of movement). Like almost everything else in the game, feel free to make your own and bring them to the GM to have them approved and costed out.
| Name | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Combat Perks | ||
| Special Attack | 1 CP | The character has some exotic means of engaging in combat - by default, it is a melee attack. The precise details of the attack should be discussed with the GM, but the general minimum details that are required are as follows:
For example, a character may have a Speed-versus-Speed attack that damages an opponent's HP, taking the form of a bolt of fire. Alternatively, they may have a Seduction-based attack that a victim resists with their Self-Control, and damages WP if they are successful, taking the form of a hypnotic gaze. All custom attacks generally work from this baseline - to create some other ability, see Special Attacks, below. The various modifiers may add or subtract from the cost of this perk. |
| Secondary Attack | 1+ CP | Requires a Special Attack. The character has an additional method of dishing out the pain, giving them more options to choose from. When creating a character with multiple attacks, they need only pay full price for the most expensive attack - additional, alternative attacks of lesser cost may be taken for half price, rounded up. Note that this does not enable the character to use more than one such attack at once, simply gives them more to choose from. |
| Martial Artist | 1 CP | It's all about technique. You may use your Speed instead of your Strength for grapple attempts against an unheld opponent, whichever is higher. |
| Dance Like a Butterfly | 1 CP | You can be frankly ANNOYING to lay a hand on sometimes. Opponents attempting to grab you must roll against your Speed, rather than your Strength. |
| Defensive Perks | ||
| Invisibility | 5 CP | You can blend into your surroundings or turn invisible at will. Double your roll for attempts to conceal yourself. Directly attacking, turning invisible when in line of sight, or otherwise revealing yourself in some way will negate this effect. |
| Shield | 2 CP | You can spend an action to bless an ally, making it easier for them to resist damage. They gain +2 to resist damage rolls for the rest of the combat. This is a mentally draining action, however, costing you a Will Point each time. |
| Vore Perks | ||
| Traumatic Stomach | 2 CP | Something about the way you treat your prey is particularly harrowing. Whether it's relentless taunting, particularly violent churning or simply being particularly painful, people who spend some time in there are rarely eager to repeat the experience. You gain +1 on all intimidation checks against someone in your stomach, and if you manage to render someone helpless in there you may roll another intimidation check against their base self-control - if successful, they are afflicted with the Phobia flaw in future dealings with you, until such time as they are able to overcome their fear (such as by managing to defeat you, or seeing you humbled, etc). That is, of course, assuming they ever get out. |
| Gentle Stomach | 0 CP | Your character is capable of digesting someone in a manner that doesn't cause them to suffer, should they so choose. They may also choose not to digest their prey. |
| Cozy Stomach | 2 CP | Your belly goes above and beyond "gentle". Whether it's gentle, light-hearted teasing, warm, comfortable squeezing or simply being soft and comfortable, people who spend some time in there tend to enjoy it. You gain +1 on all diplomacy checks against someone in your stomach, and if you subdue in there you may roll another diplomacy check against their base self-control - if successful, they are afflicted with the 1-point sucker flaw in future dealings with you, until such time as their idealised image is broken (being hurt by you, or witnessing an act of cruelty, etc). That is, of course, assuming they ever want out. |
| Just Drift Away | 3 CP | The character doesn't so much digest prey as convince them that they don't want to leave. Essentially, Seduction-based digestion. Pred uses Seduction stat for defending against struggling; Prey uses self-control to struggle. Subduing prey rolls against their SC and deals WP-based damage. Whether this is accomplished by simply being gentle, having the Cozy Stomach perk, or hypnotising prey into a stupor by way of gentle squishing and rocking is up to the player. |
| Silver Tongue | 3 CP | The character goes beyond simply persuasive, crossing over into outright charming their prey into their bellies, sometimes even to the point of lulling them into a trance. Grappling, Swallowing and Escaping/Reversing Grapples are handled by opposed Seduction/Self-Control rolls by the pred and prey respectively. (note: a character without this perk can still talk a prey into becoming a willing snack through conventional means, this perk just allows them to do it to those who would otherwise be resistant to the idea, even those in combat) |
| Goo Form | 2-3 CP | You are slimy and squishy. You get a +1 bonus on attempts to grab and swallow people, +1 to escape from grapples, and you may attempt to reverse a grapple at no penalty. Your prey, however, have a +1 bonus to escape from your insides. The 3-point version of this perk allows you to spend an action to shift between gooey and solid forms. |
| Indigestible | 2 CP | The character can only be subdued by digestion damage, but not killed. Their HP does not drop below zero. |
| Bellydweller | 2 CP | [Requires Indigestible] The character is more than familiar with being stuck in a gut and knows how to just ride it out, or even get comfortable in there. The character only receives damage from the predator if they performed an action on their last turn. |
| Absorb | 3 CP | The predator is capable of absorbing defeated prey.
|
| Insoluable | 2 CP | The character's body simply won't blend with another. They are immune to absorption, however this offers no protection against conventional digestion. |
| Snatch Spirit | 2 CP | Enables the character to grapple with ghostly characters and free-floating spirits as if they were physical.
|
| Trap Spirit | 2 CP | The character can absorb the souls of digested prey and trap them as per the soulvore rules.
|
| Separate Soul | 1 CP, requires Snatch Spirit and Trap Spirit | With this perk, not only are you capable of swallowing ghosts and absorbing the souls of those trapped in your stomach, but you can pull a soul out of a body BEFORE swallowing them. With a pinned or grappled victim, you may make an opposed Self-Control roll to open your mow and start drawing in their essence, dealing damage directly to WP. Once their WP reaches zero, you simply slurp the last of their spirit into your body, trapping their essence as per Trap Spirit - their body is immediately rendered comatose, but not dead, and can be revived without penalty if you choose to give them their soul back.
If the prey is willing, or has been seduced by less combative means, it is not necessary to hold them down, and you may suck their spirit in as simply as one would give them a kiss. |
| Enthrall | 2 CP, requires Trap Spirit | Once you have someone's soul and have subdued them, instead of taking them for yourself and keeping them for a stat bonus, you can put them back in the driving seat of their body - assuming you haven't digested it. You retain their spirit within yourself, but they are otherwise free to get up, walk around, as though nothing were amiss (though they might have some odd dreams about whatever you're doing to their spirit while you have it). If you also have the Reform perk, you can make them a new body even if you've digested them. |
| Insoluble Soul | 2 CP | Your soul is warded against absorption, and can only be subdued (ie, it stays in the belly of a predator, even if they have Trap Spirit). If Indigestible or Spirit Form are also taken, this perk only costs one point. If both are taken, then they receive the benefits of this perk automatically. |
| Reform | 2 CP | In games where outside assistance is required to bring people back from being gurgled, you can give your prey a helping hand back to the land of the living. You can do this with anyone you have digested, or whose soul you currently possess. Note that this differs from Enthrall, above, in that the prey aren't bound to you in any way.
This process takes an hour and requires you to be relatively undisturbed. |
| Reform Self | 2 CP | This perk may not be necessary depending on the setting. Provide you haven't been soulvored, you can attempt to reconstitute yourself safely after being killed. If your soul has been devoured, then your spirit will have to escape first. Note: this perk is not required to come back from absorption, or soulvore if your body is still intact - you need only escape from the predator's grasp. |
| Reform Other | 2 CP, requires Reform | You don't need to have been the one to have eaten the victim in order to bring them back. If you have some part or connection to them, then you can do the deed - though if they are trapped by way of absorption or soulvore they still need to roll to free themselves from the predator, and you may feel some sort of tug-of-war going on. The predator is also immediately aware of the attempt, but not who or where it is coming from. If the attempt fails, then it may not be repeated until the next day. |
| General Perks | ||
| Organizational Ties | 1+ CP | You hold a reasonable rank in some organization, such as a police force, a guild, a crime family, a government or similar. You may pull strings for favors, and may be asked in return. This perk may be taken multiple times for a position of greater power. |
| Wealth | 1+ CP | You've got a better-than-average income. Whether that's from investments or a few jobs on the side during downtime, you have slightly more disposable income to dispose of. |
| Large Size | 3 CP | You are big Around eight feet tall probably. About half as large again as most creatures. Digesting something only takes two-thirds the time that most creatures would need, and you take half as long again to gurgle away.
You also add +1 to all grappling and swallowing rolls, or other situations where size is useful. This does NOT add to your digestion rolls or give the prey a penalty once they're in your stomach. |
| Huge Size | 6 CP | You are huge. This means you have huge guts. You are a towering beast of a thing, easily twice the size of most creatures, possibly more. This means other creatures will have trouble fitting you down, while you'll have little trouble packing them in. Digestion takes half as long for you as a meal of equivalent size would take for most creatures, and you take twice as long to digest in the event that someone manages to get you down. You also add +3 to all grappling and swallowing rolls, or other situations where size is useful. This does NOT add to your digestion rolls or give the prey a penalty once they're in your stomach. |
| Illusion | 2+ CP | You can project illusions that fool the senses of anyone who sees them. Whatever your imagination can conjure up, you can create. Opponents make a Self-Control check against your Smarts to see through it, and the illusion immediately fails if they directly interact with it. If a character does manage to penetrate your illusion, they cannot be fooled again until their guard is down - usually after a few hours have passed. If a character has good reason to be suspicious (ie, they've been warned that an illusionist is in the area) then they get +1 to their check, and if someone outright alerts them to the fact that what they're seeing is an illusion, they may immediately attempt to penetrate it again at a +2 bonus.
At its most basic level, this perk allows you to create a roughly human-sized illusion that fools a single sense. For each additional point spent on the perk, you may do a combination of the following:
In simple terms, add the size category of the thing you're trying to create to the number of senses fooled, and you get the minimum CP cost to be able to create illusions of that type. For example, a character with the 5-CP version of the perk would be able to create an illusion that covers the whole street and fools a single sense, or create a human-sized illusion that fools four senses. If a character has a higher level of the perk than is necessary to create a particular illusion, they get a +1 bonus. |
| Fly | 5 CP | The character is able to fly. They may put themselves out of harm's reach, make ranged attacks from the safety of the skies, and so forth. |
| Extra Limbs | 2+ CP | You have some extra appendages to hand, be they extra arms, prehensile tails, tentacles or some other such appendage. You are able to perform additional tasks while your hands are occupied, such as grapple someone when you're already holding another. This does not allow you to perform any additional actions in a round, just carry one out while your arms are otherwise occupied. Each additional point spent on this increases the number of things you can hold or wield simultaneously. Note: this perk does allow you to grab someone while you are being held by another, unless the person holding you also has enough appendages to occupy all of yours. |
| Pocket Dimension | 3* CP | Gives the character access to a hammerspace thingy that can contain things of an appropriate size for the level of the perk (at 1 point, it's a handbag, at 2 it's a large suitcase, 3 is roughly the size of a person, 4 is a closet, 5 is a room, 6 is a house, etc). The character may even stuff a held opponent into it with a successful opposed strength check, at which point they may attempt to escape as if it was a stomach. The character may also enter it themselves provided they are small enough, though doing so requires an escape roll if they are held unless they want to drag their opponent in with them (in which case it becomes an opposed strength roll as above). *Each level of Pocket Dimension costs an additional 3 CP. |
| Astral Projection | 2 CP | You can disconnect your soul from your body at will and become a free-floating spirit, as per the Spirit form and Ghostly perks, below. This allows you to pass through walls as though intangible and explore your surroundings in relative safety. If you encounter a predator with the Snatch Spirit perk though, you may be in trouble. |
| Spirit Form | 2 CP | The character's body and spirit are one and the same. They may use their PHYSICAL stats as normal when engaged in soul-combat, instead of the predator's choice of defending stat (ie, strength to get out, stamina to resist absorption, etc).
|
| Ghostly | 2 CP | [Requires Spirit Form] The character is intangible and may ONLY be grappled or swallowed by soulvore-capable predators - however, they may not engage in physical acts of vore themselves. They may also interact with other ghostly characters as if both parties were solid. |
| Poltergeist [Required Ghostly] | 2 CP | The character may become tangible at will, allowing them to swallow other characters through conventional means. They may also become intangible freely, though this will result in them dropping their prey in the event that they've eaten someone. |
| Support Perks | ||
| Good Lookin' | 1 CP | You just look good. You get a bonus to seduction where appearance is a factor. |
| Resilient | 1 CP | You're a little hardier than your general constitution would suggest. Your maximum HP is increased by 5. You may take this perk a number of times equal to your Stamina score. |
| Strong-willed | 1 CP | You have hidden resolve, above and beyond your usual levels of discipline. Your maximum WP is increased by 5. You may take this perk a number of times equal to your Self-control score. |
| Cute & Adorable | 3 CP | The character may apply a +3 bonus to seduction rolls if they are smaller. |
| Telekinesis | 2+ CP | You can do move things with your mind, allowing you to perform fairly simple tasks at a distance. At 2 points you have about as much dexterity as you'd have with a balled fist, 3 allows you to grasp things, and 4 allows you fine enough control to write or turn a key in a lock. Attempting a complex task or something with fine control beyond your expertise will require a Smarts check at the GM's discretion. |
| Telepathy | 2+ CP | You can speak to people with your mind. This generally requires a willing recipient, and can be done within the same room. Increasing the cost will increase the range to within the same building, town, and so forth. Adding an additional point will allow you to send/receive thoughts with an unwilling recipient with an opposed Smarts check, and if you take an appropriate attack to drain their WP to zero, will enable you to dig through their memories for useful info. |
| Healing | 3 CP | You have healing abilities that go above and beyond mere medicine, allowing you to instantly heal allies with a touch. As a full-round action, you may make a Smarts roll and subtract 7 - the target immediately recovers that many hit points. This is somewhat draining, costing 1 Will Point with each use. |
| Come Hither | 1 CP | Can initiate seduction-based grapples from up to 10 feet away. |
| Remove Curse | 2 CP | The opposite of the Curse attack, you can lay your hands upon an ally and remove any curses instantly with a successful Smarts roll (difficulty is set by the attack that inflicted the curse). Outside of combat, use of this ability is not time-limited, and the character gets a +1 bonus for each subsequent use in the event of failure. |
Special Attacks
| Name | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Special Attacks | ||
| Curse | +2 CP | Instead of doing damage, you can inflict a penalty upon an opponent. This operates as a normal attack, but instead of doing damage on a successful strike, you impose a -1 penalty to one of the victim's stats, chosen upon taking this attribute. These penalties are cumulative, but cannot reduce a character's stats below 1. Additionally, the character's derived stats are unaffected - reducing a target's Stamina may make them more vulnerable to damage, but it won't reduce their Hit Points. In the event of a Complete Success, the stat drain is doubled, while a Critical will instantly reduce the stat in question to 1.
Outside of combat, provided there are no immediate threats, the victim may spend a moment or two to try and shrug the effects off with an appropriate roll - for instance, the victim may attempt a stamina roll to recover from a shrinking spell. Failure means it takes a little longer, but they may attempt again after 10 minutes or so.
|
| Polymorph | +3 CP | You can inflict not just a curse, but a full-on transformation upon an opponent. Construct a change template to be agreed upon by the GM to reflect the new form - generally, the net character points of the victim will be unchanged, but any perks that rely upon their physical form (such as flight) will be disabled. Again, this requires a ranged attack and the change takes place instead of damage. If the polymorph inflicts a net change of character points, such as simply giving them a flaw, then add the points change to the cost of this attribute. |
| Area Effect | +2 CP | The attack doesn't just affect the person you're pointing at, but people adjacent to them as well. Discuss with the GM what sort of area the attack affects - overall, the benefits will be the same, but an attack that hits, say, several people on a line will be useful in different situations to an attack that simply has a blast centered on the target. |
| Burn | +2 CP | Upon a successful attack, in addition to dealing damage, the target is also set on fire - unless they (or an ally) spend an action to extinguish the flames, the flames will continue to burn them (making their attack roll as per the initial attack) every round. The effect ends as soon as the flames fail to do any damage, and incapacitated characters passively resist with their Stamina. This effect can also refer to other damage-over-time effects such as coating a victim in acid or similar. |
| Accurate | +1 CP | The user gets a +1 skill bonus on their attack roll. Naturally this is rather pointless on a primary attack (just put a point into the relevant skill instead), but secondary attacks with an odd points value may benefit. |
| Hard-hitting | +1 CP | The attack isn't any more likely to hit than any other, but when it hits, it packs a wallop! On any roll that damages an opponent, add 2 to the damage. |
| Tangle | +1 CP | Instead of doing damage, on a successful hit the opponent is immobilised until they (or an ally) successfully beat the attack roll that entangled them. (make a note of this roll at the time of the attack). They may still attempt actions that do not require movement at a -1 penalty, just like being grabbed, but this requires forgoing any attempt to free themselves that round. Depending on the nature of the entanglement, they may be freed automatically if hit by other attacks (being hit by a fire attack, for instance, will burn webbing) at GM discretion. |
| Trap | +2 CP | The attack is not necessarily deployed in combat, but rather set in place in the expectation that an enemy will blunder into it (though that's not to say that you can't throw a landmine at someone - as always, the user may opt to omit this perk at the time of use). The attack roll is made at the time of placing the trap, and characters are assumed to notice whether they did a good job of it or not. GM note: to limit abuse, it is recommended that this ability only be allowed if it is coupled with a limitation on the number of uses. Traps are not inherently capable of distinguishing friend from foe and caution is advised. |
| Ranged | +1 CP | The attack can be used at range, with a maximum of 30ft between you and the target of the attack. Each additional point added to the ranged cost doubles the range (up to 60, 120, 240, 480, etc). |
| Restricted | -1-3 CP | The attack may only, or may not, be used in certain conditions (Eg. unusable when raining, Only underwater, Only against animals, etc.). The severity of the restriction is up to GM discretion - a weapon that only works in direct sunlight may be a -2 penalty, a weapon that is only effective against undead may be -3. If it's an environment or situation that is ubiquitous in the campaign (eg. a weapon that only works in air during a medieval fantasy campaign) then this flaw may not be taken. |
| Limited Uses | -1 CP | You have a limited supply of whatever it is that powers the attack - a fireball may require the character to have magical energy stored, or the character may have venom that takes a while to regenerate. The character may only use the attack 6 times before replenishing their supply. This may be taken twice, in which case you have three shots, or three times in which case you may only use it once. |
| Mentally Draining | -1 CP | The attack is mentally draining to use - this may cover a wizard casting spells or similar. In any case, all uses of this attack cost 1 Will point. This may not be combined with the Limited Uses flaw. |
Example Flaws
All of the flaws in the table below have a return cost, which is how many additional CP you receive for having taken the flaw. Some flaws are more "serious" than others, and as such return more CP. Some are just an inconvenience though, and return very little CP. Like perks, you're welcome to make your own and have them approved by the GM that is running your game.
| Name | Return | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Example Flaws | ||
| Small | 2 CP | You're a little stunty. Like, around two-thirds the size of most creatures.
Anyone grabbing you for a snack may add +1 to all grappling and swallowing rolls, or other situations where size is useful. This does NOT add to their digestion rolls or give you a penalty once you're in their stomach. |
| Diminuitive | 4 CP | You are teeeeeeeeny. Around the size of a cat, or even smaller! You're really only considered to be a quarter the size of most creatures. Small creatures treat you as if you're small and they're normal. Normal creatures get +3 added to their rolls where the size difference is a factor.
Fortunately, you take +3 to stealth rolls, and those using ranged weapons against you get a -2 penalty. |
| Res-sickness | 2 CP | Returning from the dead is something of a strain on you. After reforming, all your rolls are at -1 until a full day has passed. This flaw may be taken multiple times, in which case the penalty is cumulative and wears off one day at a time. |
| Phobia | 1 CP | You are scared of... something. You're at a -1 penalty when dealing with the thing you fear in any way that doesn't involve trying to get away from it. If you get trapped with it, are unable to take any action BUT try to escape unless you pass a self-control check at difficulty 14 first. The cost of this flaw increases to 2 points if the thing is particularly common in the setting. |
| Special Requirement | 1 CP | You need... something. Maybe it's blood. Maybe it's souls. Maybe it's as simple as raw meat, or a recharge every so often. Whatever it is, you need something to function properly that goes above and beyond simple food and water. The GM may assign penalties if you don't sate your needs often enough. The cost of this flaw increases to 2 points if the thing is tricky to get hold of - for instance, a vampire might need to drain one STM worth of blood from someone every day or so. Inconvenient, but with the right contacts, a willing donor (or a butcher who can bottle it if they don't mind drinking from animals) it can be acquired fairly easily. A creature that needs to keep eating people's souls is likely to have a tougher time finding willing providers. |
| Bane/weakness | 2/3 CP | You are seriously allergic to something. Be it silver, iron, holy water, whatever, it really messes you up. If the item does not normally cause damage, people may attack you with it as if it was a weapon (with +2 to their damage roll). If the item does normally cause damage, it causes double damage against you. this flaw costs 2 points if the weakness is something your foes are likely to have to prepare in advance, and 3 points if it is commonplace. |
| Weak Acids | 1 CP | You suffer a penalty for digestion checks to damage your prey. |
| Draining powers | 1 CP | Your abilities come at a cost. Pick another perk - any use of that perk costs you 1 WP. This flaw cannot be used to make a perk "free". |
| Sucker for the "X" | 1-2 CP | You are poor at resisting seduction attempts from "X". -1 or -2 to all rolls. |
| Technically inept | 1-2 CP | You suffer a penalty when attempting to deal with anything technological, either -1 or -2 to all rolls. |
| Slow healing | 1 CP | Your stats are reduced for the purposes of determining recovery time by 1. |
| Nonviolent | 2 CP | You are less likely to deal damage in a melee. Your attack rolls suffer a -3 penalty. |
| Kindhearted | 1 CP | You think defeated prey have learned their lesson, and are less likely to keep them in when they try to leave. -2 to defending against escape checks. |
| Clumsy | 1 CP | You suffer a penalty for things involving grace or dexterity. -2 penalty on rolls. |
| Physically unappealing | 1 CP | Doesn't matter how silver-tongued you are, you ugly. -2 to all seduction attempts. |
| No Hands | 3 CP | You lack any form of hands, or a way of gripping objects properly. You take a -4 penalty to any action that requires hands, such as turning door knobs or flipping the bird. |
Items
Items are pieces of equipment your character can take with you, divided into four rough categories by their quality, rarity, and how "cool" they are. Basically, the more helpful something is, the more CP you'd have to spend to get one. They can be whatever you'd like them to be, with the exception of Mundane items, which MUST be selected from the table below or specifically agreed with the GM if they are to have any in-game effect. This is because they are free of CP cost and there's the potential for abuse of the game system. As always, the GM has the final say - if you want to haul 200 lbs of buckles in your backpack, they are free to laugh and penalize you appropriately.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Mundane Items | |
| Dagger | This would be a small item that can do melee damage using your melee skills instead of doing unarmed damage. It will have no bonuses. No you can't have unlimited throwing daggers or anything. |
| Rock | You can chuck it at people. They're practically ubiquitous so you can obtain these on-site usually. Let's you use a ranged attack once. No you can't have a mundane infinite pile of rocks to get a free ranged weapon. |
| Rations | Basic food and water. It keeps you going. Not as tasty as people. People are far more tasty. Generally it's implied you're good for food, but there are almost always people to be ate, anyway! Mostly for story purposes. |
| Clothing | You use this to cover yourself up. Sort of required in social situations. May not be required in dungeon raiding but ... it gets cold down there! Clothing offers no protection to standard attacks but may offer some against more mundane things such as insects. |
| Flavor items | Anything that are there to just make your character unique would be considered mundane items. As long as they have no game effect, bring it along! Any sort of good luck charm or heirloom that the character has, that offers no real bonus can be carried here. Who knows, the GM might decide to let you use it for something special? |
| Minor Items | |
| Shield | Basically defensive item. Gives you +1 to avoid being hit. |
| Basic armor | Provides +1 to resist damage in direct combat, does not protect against digestion. |
| Shortsword | Lets you carve chunks out of people. +1 to your attack rolls. |
| Spear | Generally doesn't hit as hard as a sword, but the extra reach gives you an advantage. You get +1 to attack rolls. |
| Short bow | Lets you attack at range, rolling your Speed for the purposes of damage. |
| Healing potion | Allows you to immediately recover half your base HP, rounding up. One-shot item. |
| Potion of Strength | Boosts your strength by +2 for a short while, usually enough for one combat or similar scene. One-shot item. If a second potion is consumed, it has no effect. |
| Grenade | A one-shot item. Allows you to make a ranged attack against a group with +1 to hit - anyone who successfully dodges is assumed to have dived for cover. |
| Major Items | |
| Longbow | Or any other decent ranged weapon. It provides you with +1 on attack rolls and lets you attack at range. |
| Broadsword | Or any other really good melee weapon. It's very sharp. It provides you with +2 on attack rolls. |
| Great Maul | Or any other brutal but inaccurate melee weapon. It's very heavy. It provides no bonus on attack rolls, but if you DO land a hit, add +4 to the damage. |
| Splatterpult | Essentially, a magically-charged grenade launcher. Allows you to punt objects at people at range. Also includes a handy hook for pulling pins on grenades (which will generally be taken as minor items). You can also just fill it with rocks for a basic ranged attack. |
| Revival Kit | These are standard issue for many adventurer's guilds, police forces, and noble guards. They're not exactly the easiest things to produce, nor are they entirely reliable, and suffer from the fact that they require some part of the person you're planning to revive when they're built - and the person must be alive at the time of creation. In short, they're an insurance policy for adventurers who expect their comrades to wind up in sticky situations, to be crafted before they depart. Depending on the GM, these may be provided for free to all party members, in which case they don't count as a slot. (essentially, it's a single use of the Reform other perk) |
| Epic Items | |
Advanced Rules
These are rules that go a little more in-depth, for GMs who really want to get down to the nitty-gritty details of a serious RPG system.
Item Pricing Guidelines
In general, adding features to perks or items will cause them to be more expensive, but you can add weaknesses to them to add more good features instead. Here is a table of general guidelines for how much features increase/decrease pricing.
As item prices can't change, instead you can consider that Minor items have 1 'feature point' to spend from the below table, Major items have 2 'feature points' and Epic items have 4 'feature points'.
| Name | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Beneficial Effects | ||
| Enhanced | 1-2 Pts | Can be taken twice, adds the number of times taken to all dice-rolls (i.e. +1 or +2). Only applicable to items/perks that actually have rolls. |
| Ranged | 1 Pts | Allows the item to be used at range. Usually for weapons, but if you wanted ranged lockpicks… |
| Safety | 1 Pts | Critical failures usually (80% chance) count as normal failures instead of critical failures. Can't take with 'Dangerous'. |
| Multi-Purpose | 1 Pts | Outside of combat, the item/perk's features can be reconfigured. If you want to change them again, make sure Multi-Purpose is one of the new ones! |
| Indirect Fire | 2 Pts | Can use this item/perk without being able to see the thing you are trying to use it on, due to the ballistics or magic or some other force! |
| Area-of-Effect | 2 Pts | Causes its effect in an area centered around the user, or in the case of ranged weapons, around the target (assuming you don't drop it at your feet…). |
| Healing | 3 Pts | Allows the healing of the user's STM worth of HP damage when used. Only usable once/day/'Healing' feature. |
| Summonable | 3 Pts | Item can be recalled to the user's hand at any time, from anywhere (half-round action). |
| Masterwork | 3 Pts | You can reroll any failure but you must accept the outcome of the second roll. The re-roll is instant in-game and nullifies the original failure. |
| Perfect | 6 Pts | The item/perk is enchanted or automated somehow to always perform its task perfectly. The rolls for this are always a 20 and cannot be modified by your skills or stats. |
| Custom! | Varies | Make up your own! Ask the GM to put a price on it! Customize and make your faovite items and abilities! (They may cost a lot if you add a ton of features though!) |
| Negative Effects | ||
| Low Quality | 1-2 Pts- | Can be taken twice, subtracts the number of times taken to all dice-rolls (i.e. -1 or -2). Only applicable to items that actually have rolls. CANNOT BE TAKEN WITH PERFECT. |
| Close-Quarters | 1 Pts- | Can only be used on grappled opponents. It hardly counts as a weapon at this point! |
| Dangerous | 1 Pts- | Critical failures are dangerous and harm the character, in addition to potentially (20% chance) destroying the item. Can't take with 'Safety'. |
| Two-Handed | 1 Pts- | The item requires both hands to use properly. It is not possible to use it in one hand/with another item (unless you have extra limbs to do it with!) |
| Manual Reload | 1 Pts- | Despite the name, doesn't necessarily have to apply to weapons. This item can only be used once without spending a round/a bit re-setting it to be ready again for use. |
| Wind-up/down | 2 Pts- | This item requires an additional round in advance, or after (declare on the item) to either wind up for its use, or cool down after its use. The use of the whole round is required. |
| One-Time-Use | 2 Pts- | You can attempt to use the item only once, and afterwards (pass or fail), it is removed from your inventory. |
| Painful | 2 Pts- | Any time you successfully use this item, you take 3 points of HP damage. |
| Draining | 2 Pts- | Any time you successfully use this item, you take 3 points of WP damage. |
| Cursed | 3 Pts- | Every round that you are holding this item, you gain an additional -1 to ALL ROLLS until the party rests. |
| Dreadful | 4 Pts- | Any time you successfully use this item, you take 5 points of damage to HP & WP. |
| Final Option | 5 Pts- | Must be exclusive anti-feature. This item is also two-handed. Removing it from your hands causes you to end. Explosively. Killing yourself and doing damage to those nearby. |
