This page gives an overview of the most important mechanical character traits in this TTRPG system.
These traits include: attributes, skills, assets, cares, powers, and size.
During character creation, you will assign points to all of these traits.
Character Creation has its own page here.
Attributes
Attributes are the core physical, social, and mental traits of your character.
Attributes are rated from 0 to 12, with 1 being the minimum for player characters. A rating of 6 is the maximum that can be achieved by a ‘normal’ (tier 1) person. Most people (NPC extras) won’t have an attribute rating above 3 or 4.
Attribute ratings are used in almost every dicepool calculation. Having a higher attribute rating gives you more dice to roll for any given test.
These attributes will be referred to throughout this system simply as: Physical, Social, & Mental.
Your character sheet will have a small table on it that looks something like this:
| Physical | Social | Mental |
| 4 | 3 | 2 |
Your rating in the Physical attribute is instantly and immediately known to anyone who looks at you. The Pint-Sized Powerhouse power changes this, allowing you to appear as a small child who can wrestle dragons.
Attribute Pairings
Attributes typically pair with skills in order to perform most tests, including most power uses.
The Self-Control social defense dicepool pairs 2 attributes. Self-Control = (Social + Mental)
Potency
There is a 4th attribute called Potency.
Potency is the measure of your character’s raw power. It is rated from 1-12.
This attribute determines your energy pool, which is used to fuel your powers.
Raising Your Potency Rating
Your character’s Potency rating starts at whatever rating the GM provided in your character creation kit. You cannot buy it up higher.
Your Potency rating cannot be raised with experience points. Your Potency rating is only increased when the GM says it increases. This mechanic is often referred to as a milestone system in other TTRPGs.
Energy
Energy is spent to fuel your powers.
“Energy” is synonymous with “Mana” in other game systems.
Most active powers have an energy cost of 1 or more.
Passive powers do not have an energy cost.
Ephemeral Energy Pool
Your ephemeral energy pool contains a maximum amount of energy equal to your Potency rating.
Your ephemeral energy pool is refilled at the end of each scene.
You may not shift energy from your Ephemeral Energy Pool into your Quiescent Energy Pool.
Quiescent Energy Pool
Your quiescent energy pool contains a maximum amount of energy equal to 10 + your Potency rating.
Your quiescent energy pool is refilled only after a good night’s sleep.
Spending Energy
Players may spend their character’s energy from whatever pool they wish. They will typically want to spend their entire ephemeral energy pool before touching their quiescent energy pool.
There are no limits on how much energy a character can spend per turn. Instead, you are limited by the action economy of the game.
Out Of Energy
If you have 0 energy remaining, you can’t activate any powers that cost energy to activate.
Sustained Powers
Some powers have a duration called “sustained”. This means that the power is active for as long as the player wants to keep it active.
If a sustained power has an energy cost, the player must commit that cost until they choose to stop sustaining the power. Committed energy is spent, and cannot regenerate until the sustained power has ended.
Ending a sustained power is an interrupt action.
Plugin: Non-Standard Energy Regeneration
This plugin disables the normal energy regeneration mechanics. This plugin is for GMs who want characters to be forced into a energy regeneration mechanic that matches the character’s nature. For example, if you’re playing a vampire game, the GM will want to use this plugin, and grant the Vampire power as part of the character creation kit. There are a number of energy regeneration powers that a GM may wish to grant, or ban, from their campaign. The list is below:
| Power | Description |
| Vampire | Respire energy by drinking blood. Respire your entire Ephemeral Energy Pool by gently feeding on 1 person. Respire your entire Quiescent Energy Pool by drinking enough blood to kill a single individual. Killing a single individual isn’t required; you could take a little blood from a lot of people; either way, it is a very substantial amount of blood. Vampires cannot use this on each other to effectively give themselves infinite Energy. If a vampire player character uses this on another vampire player character, the victim loses all their energy from both pools. Feeding on a person generally requires either consent or incapacitation. |
| Cannibal | As Vampire, but requires bites of human flesh instead of blood. |
| Emotion Vampire | You gain 1 energy per emotional intensity level increase that a nearby character you can see experiences. If instead of an individual, a large group of people is used, use Troop strength as the amount of energy gained per emotional intensity level. The large group of people don’t actually need to be a military; troop strength numbers are merely a guide for how much energy should be gained based on crowd size. This power intentionally incentivizes characters to inflame people’s emotions and escalate the situation. |
Size
Size is a rough measure that factors in the mass, volume, and narrative weight of an entity.
Characters, antagonists, & vehicles all have a size in this system.
All player characters default to Size 1. Some powers can change a character’s size.
Size is used to calculate the amount of health that an entity has. The formula is Physical + Size + 3 = Maximum Health.
Size also has major effects in combat.
Size is never a secret. The GM should tell the players what size an entity is when their character’s see it.
Size Table
| Size | Examples |
| 0 | A small animal, a toddler, anything substantially smaller than an adult human |
| 1 | An adult human, a large dog, a motorcycle, a horse, a canoe |
| 2 | A car, a moose, a motorboat, a giant, a small jet, a helicopter, a baby dragon |
| 3 | A van, a bus, a tugboat, a corvette, a passenger jet, a cargo helicopter, an adolescent dragon |
| 4 | A train, a destroyer, a cruiser, a giant redwood tree, an adult dragon |
| 5 | A battleship, a battlecruiser, Megatron, an ancient dragon |
| 6 | An aircraft carrier, a dreadnought, a dragon-god |
| 7 | A tarrasque |
| 8 | A mountain-sized titan |
| 9 | A sentient mountain range |
| 10 | Lake Michigan turned into a raging water elemental |
| 11 | A small moon, The Deathstar |
| 12 | A terrestrial planet |
Skills
Skills represent what your character is good at.
Skills have their own page here.
Cares
Cares are what your character feels strongly about. They make up the basis of who you are.
Cares have their own page here.
Assets
Assets consist of items, contacts, access to facilities, and more.
Assets may be purchased at character creation, purchased with experience during play, or granted as story rewards by the GM.
Assets are rated from 0 (no asset) to 12, but most assets won’t be rated above 6.
List of available assets
This list is not comprehensive; GMs are free to create their own assets. Take care not to duplicate any powers.
Powers
Powers allow your character to perform impossible feats, miraculous magic, or terrible spells. They are abilities which either passively enhance your character, or allow them to perform otherwise impossible actions.
Powers are the largest mechanical differentiator between characters.
Linked & Unlinked Powers
Most powers are linked with a skill, and have a pre-requisite minimum rating in the skill before you can purchase the power.
Some powers are not linked with a skill, and thus have no skill minimum pre-requisites.
Power Limiters
Power limiters are extremely important in this TTRPG system. They help you flesh out a character, and provide an incentive to players by substantially lowering the buy-cost of powers.
Do not skip this step in character creation.