Contents

Section One: Suzerain, page 2.

Section Two : Characters, page 6.
Section Three : Basic RuleS, page 18.
Section Four: Advanced RuleS, page 30.
Section Five: FeatS , page 36.
version: 2.080506

Credits What Is This?

Every so often we tweak our books to
make them even better. If you’ve bought
Original Words: Miles M Kantir. a PDF version you’re entitled to free
updates for as long as we’re developing
Final Words: Zach Welhouse. that edition. It’s all part of the Talisman
promise!
Editgin: Genevra Harker.

Additional Development: The stalwart v2 play-testers over the years (Kath Banks, Alan Bundock,
Genevra Harker, Liz Hill, Brian Kendrick, Norman Smith, Philip Tweddle, and Tracy Willis).

Art & Design: Aaron Acevedo and Jason Engle.

Aaron’s Sanity Control & Muse: Jeannine Acevedo.

Additional Design and Illustration: The awesome talents of Sean Farrow, Matt Gould, Kevin Ranson,
Charlotte Ronald, Hannah Taylor, and Damon Wilson-Hart.

Technical Guru: Alan Bundock.

An extra thank you goes to the Suzerain v1 team (Kev Eddy, James Elmslie, Matt Gould, Dave Hankins, Andy Jackson, Laura Jackson,
Brian Kendrick, Brent Link, Damian Miller, Charlotte Ronald, and Hannah Taylor). Seven years on and I still love what you did with
Suzerain. Anyone who has one of those slip-cased limited-edition beauties is a really lucky person. It was a great book and a really
fun game. This one’s for you guys.

This product is copyright Talisman Studios 2008. It is for personal use only, but may be printed for personal
use. It may not be modified, distributed or sold without written permission.

1
2
 A Universe
In Gaming

Disclaimer
Suzerain is a fictional depiction of our universe. Any resemblance between any proper noun we come
up with and any real person/place/whatever is purely coincidental. By the same token, the book you
are reading is a game based on a fictional depiction of our universe. It is not reality. The director
sets a scene in a fictional realm and the players play characters in it. Repeat after me, “I am not my
character. I cannot do the things that my character can do because he is a fictional character in a
fictional universe.” Don’t try to fly just because your character can fly. Don’t kill anyone just because
your character is a master of the Scottish claymore. Roleplaying is meant to be fun, but comes with
serious responsibilities.

We would also like to explain that Suzerain is our take on reality with mythological and magical
elements. It depicts religions and mythologies with a twist – that is to say, differently than a true believer
might see them. We mean no disrespect if you are such a believer but ask you to respect our right to
our own interpretation.

Thank You
It is our pleasure to present these roleplay rules to you, and we would like to thank you for taking the
time to read them and use them. The Suzerain universe is a gateway to wondrous adventures and a lot
of fun. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. We also like to hear from fellow Suzerain gamers – if
you have anything you would like to say to us, then you can do so at:

hello@talisman-studios.com

4
 What Is Suzerain?
Suzerain is an ancient word meaning ‘master’
or ‘overlord’. It is the name we have chosen
for this vivid vision of the world that you’re
reading.
Suzerain is planet Earth, spinning through
space, sunrise to sunset over thousands of
years. It’s Joe the ex-Army driver hauling top-
secret cargo across the Bay Bridge in his 18-
wheeler. It’s also Eric the Bjornserkr pillaging
the coastal villages of Anglia in his longboat
with the smell of fresh blood on the wind.
It’s also Rica the mantis engineer repairing
an organic habitation module 3,000 meters
under the ocean.
Most importantly, Suzerain is about having
fun with interesting characters in amazing
settings and a chance to create colorful
stories with your friends. This book has the
rules necessary to enjoy any of the published
Suzerain settings as well as those of your own
creation.
What Makes Suzerain
Unique?
Our physical world has a parallel one,
separated by limitless metaphysical expanses.
This spirit world has existed as long as human
sentience or, if the legends can be believed,
even longer. History wasn’t so precise in those
days, you see.
In a far-away corner of the spirit world’s
ancient geographies is a place called the
Maelstrom, formed of pure Pulse. The Pulse
Of All Things is the source of energy that
flows through all living beings and provides
form to the spirit world’s inhabitants. In our
world, it’s the source of what has been called
magic.
The most powerful of those who dwell in the
spirit world are manifestations of the massive,
eternal sentience of the universe itself. They
live in the heart of the Maelstrom, able to shape
Pulse into realms of their own design. They
are the gods that man has known throughout
our history. But because the Maelstrom is
outside of time, they are also the gods we will
know in the future. Zeus and Odin have their
homes here, as do the Archangels and the
great spirits of Pure Science.
Suzerain games can be set in the modern
day, historical settings or in speculative zones
outside either. Most anything is possible using
this one rulebook. Swashbuckling adventures
based around stopping the rise of an ancient
jungle god can sit side by side with ninja
androids fighting for their cyber-shogun in a
22nd century city complex. The only limit is
the collective imagination of your group. No
lie. We’ve rigorously tested Suzerain in every
conceivable genre, setting and combination
thereof. It’s all been done, dudes and dudettes.
Don’t let that stop you!
As a final consideration, Suzerain has been
designed with elegant rules which allow
for an accurate representation of any action
a character may want to do (again, we’ve
tested… 120 man-hours with the 10-foot pole
alone), but don’t get in the way of the many
play styles out there. The rules’ simplicity is
also good news for newcomers to this game
or to roleplaying in general; there are a lot of
game systems out there, and we hope to cut
down on the confusion. On the other hand,
veterans and experts with reams of fine games
already under their belts won’t be lumbered
with typical rules-light “How-do-we-resolve-
that?” problems. You want crunch? We have
that too.
What’s In This Book?
In short, lots of wholesome gaming goodness.
We’ll introduce you to how Suzerain works,
how to create a character, and how to handle
the things that your character wants to do. All
that in 48 pages. Furthermore, we’re proud to
support Suzerain on line, and you’ll find all
manner of useful material like blank character
sheets and weapon lists in the Treasure section
of our website: www.talisman-studios.com.
5
6
 Character Creation Basics
When you create a character in Suzerain you
gain complete control of who he is and what
he does. Your decisions will guide his life and
shape him into a narrative force to be reckoned
with. As he participates in important events and
guides them with his decisions, his personality
will branch out and intertwine with the rest
of the game world. That can be quite a rush,
especially for first-timers. Ask any gamer about
their first character, and you’re likely to get a
story matched in its passion only by its length.
Does that sound satisfying? Read on. If not, read
on anyway. You might be surprised.
From this point forward you’ll be given tools
to create a character who will stand up to
basic tests of believability, within your game’s
setting if nowhere else. We can’t promise that
Thorvald the Barbarian will fit a game of French
Revolution intrigue like a glove, but he should
be fine running the steppes of a forgotten age
or celebrating victories over his foes with a
haunch of meat in each hand. He’s a good guy,
Thorvald.
In this text, we’ll be referring to all characters
as ‘him’. If you’re creating a woman, that may
seem a little weird but it’s just a convention to
save space in the book. Similarly, we refer to the
director as ‘her’ throughout, but men can do the
job just as well.
The Suzerain rule system gives you rules for
designing characters and deciding how they do
the things that they do. Since stories call for all
sorts of heroes, we’ve bundled them into four
broad packages for ease of use: Standard, Hero,
Demigod, and God. This book only covers
Standard level characters, although one look
at the available feats should reveal that they’re
anything but. It’s just that they’re not Hercules,
y’know?
Characters may, with experience or good
fortune, become a more powerful character type
– indeed, watching where a character goes from
the start of his story is one of the many cool parts
in the game. You may think that you have his
exploits planned out in advance, but then a twist
in the story pushes him to discover skills that he
8
never knew he had. Hero level characters and
their ilk will be ready when the time comes, but
until then you should focus on being the best
representative of the noble Standard that you
can be.
Where To Start
To take part in any of this, you’ll need a
character. That’s easy enough, right? Take your
favorite wrestler or anime heroine, slap on a
rocket launcher, change the hair color, and
you’re done. Alternately, you could discuss
with the director what type of story you
want to experience, take her intentions into
consideration, and craft a character who fits
seamlessly into the plot. This isn’t to say that
pre-established characters can’t be mined for
inspiration or quirks, but we’re talking about
your story, so try doing it your way.
A Suzerain character sheet is where all
the salient details of your character go, to
remind you in the heat of the game who he is
and what he can do. There’s room for all the
personal details, such as his name, age, his
background, and whether he’s in fact a she.
See the Treasure section of www.talisman-
studios.com for a sample character sheet.
There’s also space for the key statistics that
define him as a character: his Strength and
Willpower, for example, as compared to
other people. 0 is an average score for a
human, and each Standard level person
is ranked from –5 to +5. Other things
you’ll find on the character sheet include
his physical, mental and spiritual Health,
his Pulse, and his Karma (all of which are
described in due course).
Finally, there is room for the things that
make him special, his ‘features’ (referred
to as feats for short, since they will pave
the way to mighty feats indeed).
To create a character, first take a blank
character sheet and think of a suitable
background for him, including his
name. There can only be one ‘man
with no name’ and in most games
even one is too many.
Naming problems aside, simply follow these
steps to victory:
• Discuss the game with your director
and the other players.
• Decide upon personal details.
• Assign up to 50 points of abilities.
• Assign up to 50 points of feats.
Pre-game Planning
You’re Tiberius Blade, a tough-as-nails bounty
hunter who doesn’t take anything from anybody
except their body parts. He’s loaded down with
cutting edge technology from the Cosmic Forge
and ready to use it on anybody who gets too
close. Furthermore, he’s an orphan who trained
his feelings into a little box which he summarily
executed. That’s cool. Trouble is, everybody
else in your group is interested in portraying
urbane senators engaged in curtailing the worst
excesses of the corporate oligarchy while saving
their disintegrating social lives. Unless you’re all
excellent negotiators, you’ll feel left out during
their debate sessions while they’ll want nothing
to do with your extended killing sprees and
monologues on the Way of the Warrior.
Your character is, without a doubt, your creation.
However, the game belongs to everyone involved.
By working with the other players to set up
enjoyable connections before the game begins,
later interactions will become so much easier.
This can be as simple as realizing that in order
to break into the top-secret government facility
you will need an electronics expert, a smooth-
talker, some physical muscle, and a getaway
man. Alternately, it could mean that your young
android, lacking in worldly experience, needs
someone else to take on the role of the grizzled
father figure.
Personal Details
Before you get to the mechanical side of character
creation, you’ll need to create a skeleton to hold
those numbers. Decide upon a name, gender,
and physical sketch for your character. His
homeland and background may have special
rules, depending on what campaign setting
you’re using. What are his likes and dislikes?
Does he make a habit of going on high-stakes
adventures, or is this his first time?
It isn’t necessary to have a character’s entire life
story prepared before the first scene of play, but
spending a few minutes deciding what makes
your character tick can be the difference between
an eminently forgettable stack of numbers and
a memorable hero whose exploits will ring out
for generations. As an added bonus, character
backgrounds act as a clue to the director as to
what sort of adventures you are interested in
exploring. If a large portion of your history
revolves around being chased by a shadowy
criminal syndicate, chances are they aren’t going
to give up on you once play begins.
Example: Bill is looking to make a character
called Joe for Ashley’s upcoming game. Ashley
has been hinting at the game’s plot for several
weeks, and Bill has learned that it will take
place in modern-day America. Furthermore,
his character shouldn’t be tied to one location.
With a bit of thought, he sketches out these
notes: “Joe is an ex-Army trucker, who makes
his living hauling cargo around North America
‘no questions asked’. He’s a tough loner, strong
and self-sufficient but quiet around people –
generally he prefers to watch and listen rather
than being the center of attention.”
Karma
No matter who or what you believe in – be it
God, Science (with a capital S, and sometimes
even an exclamation point), or your superiors
in a shadowy organization, there are ways of
measuring how well you’re doing. The universe
understands these “brownie points” as Karma
(often shortened to just ‘K’). Since your character
didn’t spring from the void, fully formed, you
will receive Karma to purchase abilities and feats
(more on those below). Any unspent Karma at
the character generation stage becomes general
Karma the character keeps for later use, marked
as Current Karma on the character sheet.
9
 As your character experiences fantastic
adventures and responds to the world’s
challenges, he will gain additional Karma. This
can be saved and redeemed for valuable prizes
(abilities and feats) or spent during crunch
time for a variety of heroic effects. Character
development is covered in detail later on,
but it’s a relatively simple process for your
character to build his strength up, research the
finer points of artillery use, or get that hotline
to his god that he’s always wanted.
All of the Karma in the world isn’t going to be
very helpful if you can’t survive long enough to
pour it into training. Fortunately, the universe
loves a hero. Karma may be spent in-game to
achieve extraordinary luck (or to help fulfill the
character’s destiny, depending on how you look
at it). Characters may use a point of Karma at
any time to achieve any of the following effects.
If the character wishes to use Karma a second
time in the same session (we assume sessions
will last about four hours), it will cost two
Karma instead of one (the traditional notation
for this is 2K). The third use in the same session
costs 3K (three Karma), and so on.
• Negate two Health levels of lethal damage,
or four levels of any type of stun damage.
This must be announced at the time the
damage would be applied to the character.
This may only be done once per wound.
It can be applied to any type of wound –
physical, mental or spiritual.
10
• Draw another card to add to his current
action check total. This cannot be used
to prevent a disaster and can only be
done once per action. (See later for
more on disasters.)
• Draw another card to subtract from any
opponent’s action check total where the
action is directed at him and is not an
extraordinary success (again, see later
for more on these). This cannot be used
more than once per action.
• Pay up to 25 Pulse towards the cost of a
power or a power’s upkeep (you guessed
it… we’ll be talking about powers later).
Again, this may only be done once per
use of a power.
• Additionally, Karma points can be
used as a special currency between
the players and the director. Any time
that a player has a slick idea that isn’t
exactly covered by the rules, using
Karma points to grease the wheels of
fate can create strange coincidences.
Say that a particularly loathsome
enemy is escaping, and a player decides
that if only there were a nearby ladder
(or large sheet of glass, or a hot air
balloon), he would be able to continue
the chase. If the director believes that
such an addition would help the story, a
point of Karma is all that it takes. More
extravagant requests require larger
bribes that function in the same way as
spending multiple Karma per session.
A good time to exercise this rule is when
a character looks foolish or unheroic to the
detriment of the story. Occasional setbacks
are acceptable, but nothing’s worse than a
failed action that sinks the entire session’s
fun. Remember, the characters are at the
center of an epic tale. Fate and the forces of
drama should be on their side — at least a
little.
These are the basic uses for Karma. There
are a number of feats that create new options
for spending Karma, but they’re primarily
for ‘Hero’ and ‘Demigod’ level characters.
Also note that points in a character’s Karma
pool are for his benefit alone. He can’t share them
or use them on any check that he’s not drawing
the card for, or that is not immediately associated
with the character’s wellbeing. Karma does not
work that way. You wouldn’t use a toothbrush
from a rummage sale, would you? Exactly. Karma
is earned by a character’s efforts and tailored to
his unique circumstances. This is one of the rare
instances where it’s everyone for himself.
Abilities
Abilities are how the worlds of Suzerain represent
a character’s innate qualities. They cover his basic
strengths and weaknesses, whether they’re natural
talent or a reflection of his lifestyle. Everyone has
these abilities in some capacity – otherwise they
wouldn’t be anybody! Strength, Intelligence, Wits,
and Willpower are examples; you’d have to be pretty
weird not to have a measurable level of Intelligence.
Heroes, Demigods, and Gods can have abilities at
a higher level than ordinary people, but Standard
type Suzerain characters begin with 0 in all ability
scores. During the character creation process their
scores will change to range from –3 to +3. After
character creation, Standard type characters may
go from –5 to +5. Any further than that either way
and they become something inhuman. You’re best
bet is to err on the positive side of that.
The Suzerain rules system organizes abilities into
three categories: Physical, Mental, and Social/
Spiritual. Each category is arranged similarly with
three abilities. Roughly speaking, one ability in
each category represents raw power, one represents
finesse, and one represents resilience. That way
we’re able to create several systems with the same
easy-to-remember mechanic. Each ability affects
certain skills, has its uses in conflict situations, and
shapes how its owner reacts to the outside world.
The abilities are:
Physical
• Constitution: A character’s physical
durability. Used for long-distance running
and withstanding wounds.
• Strength: A character’s raw, physical power.
Used in heavy lifting and arm-wrestling.
• Dexterity: A character’s physical finesse,
both manual and full-body. Used when doing
acrobatic feats and manipulating objects such
as lock-picks or weapons.
Mental
• Willpower: A character’s mental durability.
Used when resisting torture and to continue
functioning normally despite distractions.
• Intelligence: A character’s mental power. Logic
and “computer-thinking.” Used in academic
learning and strategic planning.
• Wits: A character’s mental finesse. Used for
quick thinking and tactical decision-making.
Social/Spiritual
• Spirit: A character’s social durability. A
character with high spirit is said to have a lot of
heart or guts. Used when the character wishes
to resist ridicule or not run from a terrifying
opponent.
• Presence: A character’s social power. Used in
making an impression when entering a room
and intimidating people.
• Charm: A character’s social finesse. Used for
bluffing and seduction.
All players have 50 Karma to spend on elevating
their new character from mediocre stature into
something a bit more memorable – and heroic.
Furthermore, each character is also allowed up to
5 points of negative abilities (such as a score of –2
in one and –3 in another) which will add Karma to
the initial 50 points. Each positive/negative ability
is worth the following amount of Karma:
• +1 costs 5K while –1 adds 5K
• Upgrading +1 to +2 costs another 10K while
downgrading –1 to –2 adds another 10K
• Upgrading +2 to +3 costs 15K more while
downgrading –2 to –3 adds 15K more
Once you’ve spent your character’s Karma, any
unspent points are added to your character’s Karma
pool on his character sheet.
11
 Example: Bill continues the process of fleshing
out Joe. He assigns –2 in Presence (Bill’s quiet
nature means he doesn’t make a big impression
when he walks into a room, and he wants to
reflect that aspect of himself in this character).
Wanting to try something different, Bill then
decides to give Joe –1 in Willpower. Sometimes
being a little impetuous can add action to the
game, and Bill feels challenged by the role. Going
to –2 Presence, he adds 15 Karma to his pool. –1
Willpower adds 5 more Karma, for a total of 20
extra Karma for his initial 50.
Therefore, Bill has 70 Karma to spend on
defining Joe’s good points. He spends them
to make his Constitution +3 (30 Karma), his
Strength +3 (30 Karma), and his Wits +1 (5
Karma). That’s 65 Karma used up pretty quickly,
and Joe’s right where Bill wants him for the time
being. After noting the last 5 points under the
Current Karma heading on his character sheet,
Bill moves on to the next step. The Current
Karma will be important once the game starts.
Health
In the course of your adventures, you’re going
to run into some high-energy situations. Look
away for a moment, and you’ll be transported
to a new world of hurt. That’s why Health is
so important. Every character has a Health
rating that represents the maximum amount
of punishment he can absorb before being
incapacitated (and how much lethal damage he
can take before dying!). For physical damage this
is marked on the Health bars you’ll find under
the Constitution ability on a character sheet. For
mental Health the bars are under Willpower,
and for spiritual Health they’re under Spirit.
The maximum punishment a character can
take in each category is equal to five points of
Health plus the resilience ability: Constitution,
Willpower, or Spirit. Players’ characters and
the most important extras who they encounter
also get an extra ‘key character bonus’. They can
take negative damage equal to their maximum
positive score because they’re just that important
to the plot. If a character or key villain has
Constitution +2, his maximum physical Health
is 7 and he can stay in the action until –7 physical
Health. Mooks, red-shirts and goons have an
easy 5 Health in all categories, and cannot go
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below zero. Think of it this way: if there’s
one ninja in the scene, you’re going to be
in for a tough fight. He’ll be flipping all
over the place chucking smoke bombs,
dodging bullets, and probably pulling
off some crazy magic that you can’t even
pronounce. If you’re going up against ten
ninjas, they’re probably not key characters
and just henchmen to a bigger, badder
enemy. You don’t want to spend forever
getting rid of each one.
At negative Health of any type, the
character suffers a penalty to all actions
equal to –1 for each negative Health
level. It’s hard to focus on talking pretty
or cracking a tough security system when
your body’s been turned to hamburger.
Likewise, finding the energy to participate
in heavy lifting is more difficult if your
confidence has been shattered. Upon
reaching the negative maximum in lethal
damage, a character is dead. He may live
on for a few minutes to share his dying
secrets (or if the damage is mental, gibber
strange prophecies in a forgotten tongue),
but he’s beyond any means of healing by
then and will breathe his last as soon as it’s
dramatically appropriate.
A character’s Willpower-related Health
reflects his clarity of thought and strength
of intellect. As it drops, his focus cracks
and it becomes increasingly difficult to
think straight. Spiritual Health indicates a
character’s poise, elegance, sophistication,
and standing in the eyes of others, as well as
his spiritual confidence. As he loses spiritual
Health, he becomes increasingly flustered
and foolish-looking, until he can’t remember
which words go where. At negative levels of
mental and spiritual Health, as with physical
Health, a character incurs negative action
modifiers as his sense of purpose wavers. It is
rare to die of mental or spiritual damage, but
not impossible.
Pulse
The Pulse of All Things (or Pulse for short)
means a lot of different things to a lot of
different people. Those who understand it best
know it as a bio-spiritual energy constantly
binding and defining each object. Even
the eggheads can’t explain why it works
beyond that, but its effects are hard to
miss. Basically, each spirit or soul has
a reservoir of Pulse that can be drawn
upon for a number of flashy effects.
There are different ways to become
attuned to your Pulse, each one centered
on different ends and means.
those who are low on Pulse feel as if their biorhythms
are out of synch or that they’re not as in touch with
the fundamental flow of the universe. There isn’t a
mechanical impact to this, but it does suggest ways
to explore the psychological side of cool powers and
supernatural effects. A senior wizard hopped up
on decades of accumulated Pulse charge can be an
unpredictable force to be reckoned with, especially if
threatened with sudden withdrawal symptoms.

Pulse powers vary from world to
world. In one land there are witches
and shamans, tapping their Pulse
through study of books that smell like
slime and old hair. Elsewhere, Pulse is
accessed through cybertech implants
or direct prayers to the gods. Pulse
powers are available to a character at
Standard level, become common at
Hero level, and define the very nature
of a character at Demigod level.
Individual Suzerain setting books
will cover the options in each world.
Current Pulse can never go negative. If an effect would
ever reduce a character’s Pulse below zero, every ten
negative points or part thereof is instead converted
into 5 points of spiritual stun damage. A character
may intentionally fuel powers this way, but the strain is
quickly liable to overdraw his reserves. If the character
becomes incapacitated from negative spiritual Health
and continues to lose Pulse, he will begin to take lethal
spiritual damage. We’ll discuss this more later on when
we look at damage and death (everyday concerns for
all adventure-seekers).

A character’s maximum Pulse is 25

plus 5x the sum of his Constitution,
Willpower and Spirit. Therefore
because Bill’s character Joe has
Constitution +3, Willpower –1, and
Spirit 0, he has a maximum Pulse of
3-1+0=2 x5=10 +25=35.

These points are temporarily used

up when a character uses powers
or supernatural effects, but may
be regained through rest, sleep or
meditation. Meditation recovers
10 Pulse per hour, while sleep
restores 10 pulse per hour after
the first. Non-sleep rest, being
more strenuous, restores 5 Pulse
per hour. Only total rest will do
because refreshment takes time.
Making any sort of action check
during the recovery period will set
your Pulse glands out of whack.
Or something. There’s no Pulse
recharge for that hour.

Pulse use is accompanied by a

momentary high as the spiritual
energies of the universe rush
through their wielder. In contrast,

13
 Feats Next, as with abilities, players distribute a pool of
50 Karma between feats. The Karma cost/gain for
different feats are detailed in the feat descriptions.
Being strong and smart is all well and good –
While you’re checking those out, remember to
perfectly commendable, and helpful in many
take prerequisites into account. During character
situations. It’s not really exciting though, not on
creation Knowledge and Influence feats bypass the
the same level as martial arts skills and flinging
prerequisites to represent ideas and connections
fireballs. Feats add detail work to the broad,
picked up along the way, all other prerequisites
defining strokes of abilities; they represent the
need to be met.
qualities that set a person noticeably apart from
the flock. This could be anything from prize-
It’s worth noting that the Standard mind, being
winning academic knowledge of a historical
limited in scope, is also limited in feats. Standard
period, access to a loose-knit ring of spineless
level characters cannot have more than thirty
informants discovered while working for a crime
feats in total at any time, excluding his homeland,
lord, or the years of practice necessary to shoot
background, basic race (human for most of us, but
the wings off a fly. The feats that all Suzerain
not necessarily depending on your game setting),
characters have access to are listed at the end of
possessions and any negative feats. Those all get
this book.
listed on the first section of the character sheet
rather than the main Feats area.
Each feat has its own rules, and probably some
prerequisites as well before it can be added to
As characters increase in cosmic understanding
a character. Some feats help the character to
and importance, they gain access to a larger
perform a specific action while others allow
capacity for feats. That way characters are
the character to attempt actions that would
encouraged to focus on their strengths in the
otherwise be out of his league.
early stages of their adventure, but aren’t limited
as they require more tools. No one can blame you
Each feat has a Karma value and an associated
for being less than a god during your early days;
cost; most are positive but negative feats are
it’s even a good way to gain allies. Teams can
also out there. Positive feats cost an amount of
form from a shared history or shared goals, but
Karma equal to their value, and negative feats
they can also spring from necessity. Nobody can
add a similar amount of Karma to the player’s
do everything, so it’s worthwhile to find some
pool. As you’d expect, high values are connected
friends who can... as a team.
to extreme effects. If you want to spit in the
universe’s eye on a daily basis instead of once in
Each feat is bought individually, and most can
a blue moon, expect to pay a higher price.
be upgraded to a higher rank for greater benefits.
For example, what if your character wants
During character creation the combined value
Acrobatics (Rank 2)? This requires Acrobatics
of negative feats may not add any more than 15
(Rank 1) which costs 1 Karma. The upgrade from
Karma to the pool. When kept reasonable, a
(Rank 1) to (Rank 2) costs another 2 Karma.
few flaws can mix things up a little with internal
Both the feat and the upgrade are paid for giving
obstacles as well as external. Too many though,
a total cost of 1+2=3 Karma. If your character
and you’ll be playing a tragedy rather than an
wanted Acrobatics (Rank 3), then it would need
epic.
a 3 Karma upgrade. You would need to spend
1+2+3=6 Karma in total.
Before spending Karma or taking negative
feats, you should take note of certain free feats.
Once a character has transcended beyond his
Each character gets a background feat and
Standard origins, he gains access to new and
homeland feat appropriate to his history. If you
powerful feats that allow him to do things far
don’t have access to any Suzerain setting books,
beyond the reach of normal men. We don’t want
these are just descriptions with no game effects,
to give anything away at this point, but… mind
but they still ground your character in a place
bullets.
and culture. Your starting character also gets
Beginner’s Luck to make sure that you have
some leeway while trying him on for size.

14
 Example: Bill is ready to flesh his character
out with some unique features. Joe is defined
by his strength and resilience, so Bill chooses to
give him Strong Body (Rank 3) and Endurance
(Rank 3). His high Constitution and Strength
allow him to meet the prerequisites. The cost for
each is 6 Karma; that’s twelve down, thirty-eight
to go.
Next, since Joe’s a trucker, Bill decides
Knowledge – US Geography (Rank 3) would
make sense, and since he’s an Army veteran so
does Knowledge – US Army (Rank 2). While
Joe doesn’t normally have the Intelligence for all
that, Knowledge feats gained as part of character
creation ignore the normal prerequisite. This is
stuff Joe’s learnt over years in his job. The cost for
those feats is 6+3=9 Karma in total.
Similarly, Joe gets Influence – US Army
(Rank 2) at a further cost of 3 Karma. His old
quartermaster is still a close friend and helps
Joe out sometimes, especially when it comes
to getting the occasional bit of military grade
firepower. However, Joe’s not the richest of men.
He only has a little money available to him;
Bill represents this with Income (Rank 1) and
Resources (Rank 2) for a total cost of 1+3=4
Karma.
So far Bill’s spent 28 Karma. It’s time to give Joe
a few skills to get him going. Perception (Rank
2), Ranged Combat (Rank 2), Drive (Rank 2),
Tactics (Rank 2), First Aid (Rank 2), Heavy
Weapons Training (Rank 1), Explosives (Rank
1) and Diplomacy (Rank 1) all seem reasonable
skills for his background. Each (Rank 2) skill
costs 3 Karma, plus 1 Karma for each (Rank 1)
skill, adding 18 Karma for a total so far of 46
Karma.
Joe has 4 Karma left, and Bill looks at other
interesting feats to round out Joe, finally settling
on Spiritual Fortitude (Rank 1) for a little help
on Bravery checks and Keen Eyesight since
Joe’s good at spotting things he can use to his
advantage using his tactical ability. That’s all 50
Karma gone; Bill notes the free Beginner’s Luck
feat and considers his character complete. Any
Karma not used at this stage would be added to
the character’s Current Karma on his sheet, but
Bill used all 50 points.
Character Development Over
Time
Now that you’ve created your character and play is
about to begin, you’re set forever, right? Probably not.
While one-shot sessions are a lot of fun and can explore
some areas of the Suzerain universe, we’re assuming
that you will use the same character over multiple
sessions. During this time, he will see and do a lot.
There’s something satisfying in being an unchanging
archetype, but it can get a little boring after a while.
Just like real life, your character will continue to
encounter surprises that will shape his reaction to the
world. From these events, your character will expand
his capabilities and possibly even take on aspects that
you never would have expected. Or not. Kill some
orcs and have some fun. Not every game needs (or
indeed cares for) the emotional breadth of a coming-
of-age novel.
If all goes well, your character will pick up a goodly
amount of Karma over time, which he can use to bulk
up his abilities and feats. We recommend directors
award about 10 Karma to each character per session.
This may happen at the end of any session or before
play begins, depending on whether your director
decides there was an opportunity to get trained in the
interim, whether the character was actually learning
from the experiences of the session that’s just passed,
and how edgy everyone is to get into the meat of the
story.
The following terms get used in Suzerain
to break down the abstract flow of time
in the game:
A ‘scene’ lasts for as long as characters
are in the same location doing the same
sort of thing. A ‘session’ is assumed to
last for about 4 hours. A ‘story’ is a
series of sessions following one plot to
conclusion and is assumed to last for
about 5 sessions. A character’s career
may be one campaign made up of
multiple linked stories, in which case
you can think of a story as a chapter
of the epic that you’re writing for your
character.
15
 Improvements
The process for using Karma to increase abilities
or take new feats is very similar to character
creation, modified by the following chart:
Ability Training Costs:
0 to +1 costs 5 Karma
+1 to +2 costs 10 Karma
+2 to +3 costs 15 Karma
+3 to +4 costs 20 Karma
+4 to +5 costs 25 Karma
+5 to +6 costs 30 Karma (characters of your character’s potential future. You can
must be Hero level or higher)
+6 to +7 costs 35 Karma (characters and Current Karma. A starting character has
must be Demigod level or higher)
To increase more than one step at a time, simply
add the costs of each step together. Thus, taking
Dexterity +1 to Dexterity +4 costs 10 Karma
plus 15 Karma plus 20 Karma for a total of 45
Karma.
Increasing Negative Abilities:
-5 to –4 costs 25 Karma.
-4 to –3 costs 20 Karma.
-3 to –2 costs 15 Karma.
-2 to –1 costs 10 Karma.
-1 to 0 costs 5 Karma.
Again, to increase more than one step at a time,
simply add the costs of each step together. Thus,
taking Strength –3 to Strength –1 costs 15 Karma
plus 10 Karma for a total of 25 Karma.
Feat Training Costs:
The cost to train in a new feat is listed with the
feat. Check the feat list and don’t forget to fulfill
all prerequisites along the way!
16
Paying Off Negative Feats:
Removing a negative feat from a character
costs the same amount of Karma as it was
originally worth. Therefore a blind character
(-15 Karma) that finds a way to cure his
blindness could pay 15 Karma to ditch the feat.
Until he does, he cannot get the benefit of his
sight. Perhaps his eyes are healed but he has
a psychological block after years of blindness
that prevents his brain from interpreting the
signals his eyes are sending.
A Glimpse Of The Future
Now we’re going to give you a little glimpse
get a feel for how powerful your character is
by adding up the value of his abilities, feats
a 100 Karma value no matter how he spends
his starting allocation: 50 Karma of abilities,
50 of feats.
Once a character is valued at 300 Karma,
he may choose to transcend from a Standard
type character to Hero level by taking the
feat A Hero Of Suzerain. This brings all sorts
of cool new tricks, and let’s you really play
with Pulse.
Once your character has accumulated 600
Karma, he may choose to take A Demigod
of Suzerain, and become a Demigod level
character. Now you’re in the big leagues.
Finally, once rated at 1000 Karma, he may
take A God of Suzerain. If that’s the route
that you’ve decided upon, your character
will have gone as far as the Suzerain rules
can take him. He’s just become a god, the
final pinnacle of mortal achievement. Work
with the other players to create a memorable
departure scene because your character’s
interests no longer rest with the old gang.
There are… larger matters in need of
attention. Maybe other people’s characters
will one day worship him, but for now it’s
time to retire him as a playable character and
bask in the glory of what he has achieved
throughout his epic.
 Forming A Team
While you can play Suzerain as a lone wolf style
game involving one player’s character and the
director, most games use two or more players
and their characters. They form a team, and use
their unique mix of skills to progress through the
story toward a common goal. They don’t always
need to be holding hands or see eye-to-eye on
every issue, but being able to work together is
what separates us from the animals. Except for
the ants. If they get involved, you’re in trouble.

One benefit to the team structure is that the

characters are familiar with each other and have
enough of an understanding to work together. To
represent this bond, the players should decide on
a team leader and an (optional) combat leader.
When things get hairy, they know where to turn if
they want to get out alive. Even if the team leader
doesn’t have everyone’s respect, he has something
that keeps them listening. The character with
the best Leadership feat is the natural choice for
team leader, and the best Strategy or Tactics is
recommended for combat leader, but it’s up to
the characters to decide between themselves:
maybe the wealthiest character gets to be team
leader because his father paid for their base.

Outside of the story, the team leader helps the

director organize the other players and rouse
them from endless waffling. In a situation that
calls for a clever plan, ideas can fly around the
table from all directions until they’re going in
circles. Eventually, the team will need to put the
pedal to the metal and make a decision. That’s
where the leader earns his keep.

The team leader gains a +2 modifier when using

his Leadership feat while the combat leader gets
+2 to Strategy and Tactics checks. Anyone else
using those feats does so at a –2 penalty. Either
role can be handed over through a one-minute
automatic action requiring the whole team to be
present. In accepting the mantle of leadership,
the new leader must spend one Karma to validate
the process. Rousing pep talks are optional, but
strongly encouraged. Mark the leadership as a
feat called Team Leader or Team Combat Leader
as appropriate. When first assigning leader(s) to
a team of new characters there is no Karma cost.
It’s another freebie for the newbies.

17
 Section Three:
Basic Rules

18
 Action Resolution
Now that you have a character, it’s time for him
to pack his bags, head out the door, and take on
adventures that will resonate throughout the ages.
Eventually, circumstances will conspire so that
you don’t know whether you’re going to succeed
or fail at researching an opponent’s weakness,
impressing onlookers with your baccarat skills,
or leaping over a chasm inhabited by burning
sharks. This is where our action resolution rules
spring into the fray. At its core, the Suzerain
system is very simple, but you can drill down to
great detail when necessary… for instance, when
a life-or-death fight starts. All you really need,
though, are these simple rules.
When making an action check for a character,
you have to randomly generate a number to
determine whether the action succeeds or not.
To do this, draw a card from the play deck, which
is a regular pack of cards from which you have
removed the court cards (jacks, queens and
kings) except the King of Hearts and Queen of
Spades, for a 42-card deck in total. Aces count
as 1s. The king is called the ‘Boom’ because he
helps your actions explode into something bigger
than you hoped. The Boom is considered an
exceptionally good result - he acts like a 10, but
you add another 3 to the total. The queen is called
the Doom meanwhile, and is an exceptionally
bad result - she acts like a 1, but taking 3 off the
total. Dooooooooom to you, if you turn her over
for one of your actions.
If you draw a 1, the action automatically fails and
a disaster may have occurred; draw a second card
and see ‘Extraordinary Success/Disasters’, below.
If you draw a 10, then draw another card. The
result of the second card is added to the first. If
another 10 is drawn, then no further cards are
drawn. In this way, a character has a chance
to pull off some impressive stunts, even when
his skills don’t necessarily warrant the success.
Better yet, as we mentioned above, if you draw
the Boom as your first card then it counts as a 10
but adds another +3 to your total. This increases
the chance of an extraordinary success (see below
for more on both extraordinary successes and
disasters).
20
Taking An Action
Bill’s new character Joe tries to climb a wall.
Does he succeed? If success and failure don’t
have interesting outcomes attached, don’t bother
drawing a card: it takes time away from the time
that Joe could be climbing interesting walls and
it bogs you down in minor elements of the story.
Add some terrorists to the bottom of the wall or
a prize to the top though, and suddenly drawing
a card takes on some importance. At that point,
the following sequence explains what you need
to do: draw a card to get a random number, add
the appropriate ability modifier and any feat
modifiers, and apply any modifiers the director
decides are appropriate for the situation. The
more difficult the task, the higher a negative
modifier the director will assign to the task.
That is to say:
Random Number +/- Ability and Feat Modifiers
+/- Situation Modifiers
This is called making an action check. If the
total is 8 or higher then it’s a success. The more
you exceed this target number, the greater the
character’s degree of success.
Note that the maximum combined modifier for
ability, feat, and situational modifier is +6 (called
the total modifier). If they would add up to more
than that before adding the random number, then
ignore the excess. While this may seem limiting,
it allows for quicker, more exciting draws as
well as the dramatic chance for failure. Anyway,
if you’re too cool to risk a little misadventure,
there’s always the Rule of Seven to ensure that
your master tightrope walker won’t die from
slipping on an orange peel and whanging his
head on the tub.
The Rule Of Seven: If the total modifier for an
action would be more than +6, you can opt to
take a basic success rather than drawing a card.
It’ll be the equivalent of an action check total of
8: steady, confident, and risk-free.
Example: Joe needs to climb to the top of a short
wall to prove to his old Army commander that he
still has it in him. The director decides that the
most appropriate ability is Strength, which Joe
has at +3. He also has three ranks of the Strong
Body feat, which gives him a +3 feat modifier to
climb actions. The director rules that there are no
specific situation modifiers. Joe’s player draws a
4 for a total of 10 (3+3+4). This beats the target
number of 8 by 2, giving him a success with two
extra successes. More on that later.
Impressed as he is, Joe’s old commander wants
to see how Joe will react in less than favorable
conditions. Spraying the wall down with a hose,
he asks Joe to try again. Because of the slick
surface, Joe receives a –3 modifier. If Joe draws
a 4 this time, it won’t do the trick. 3+3+4-3=7,
which is less than 8. And that’s terrible. Unable
to get a grip on the wall, Joe looks at his hands
and curses.
After his initial failure, Joe decides that he needs
a clever plan. Distracting his old friend, he slips
on a pair of climbing gloves and complains
until the sun has dried the wall. Surprised by
Joe’s preparation, the director decides upon a
+2 situational modifier for Joe’s next attempt to
climb the wall. The combined modifier is still
+6, the limit, but since 3+3+2 is greater than
six, Joe can instead choose to call on the Rule of
Seven. Since all he needs to climb the wall is a
basic success, Joe’s player takes that option and
automatically succeeds.
Who Does Checks, And When
Sometimes there are instances where everyone
at the table wants to get in on a single action like
listening for strange noises or trying to remember
the name of a famous criminal. The director is
advised to remember the cliché about multiple
chefs and broth, if not the slowdown caused by
piggy-backing ideas. That’s why in circumstances
like these, the most skilled character makes the
check for the whole team. If that character fails,
it’s assumed that all the characters failed. To stay
fair, the same rule applies when the director asks
the team to make a check. If they’re being stalked
by ninja, the most alert character is the one who
should make the draw.
An important extension to this rule is the finders’
keepers clause. If the first player to come up with
an idea wants to be behind it, it’s his.
In most cases, if an action fails it can’t be tried
again by the same group until circumstances have
significantly changed. After all, it can get pretty
silly when a team is so paranoid that they start
using lines like, “We didn’t find anything before,
but let’s look again just to be safe”. Concern’s
important, but so is doing the job right the first
time.
However, let’s say that a collection of academics
and idle rich are rifling through the old mansion
of the recently deceased and slightly spooky
Zebediah Algernon Braithwaite III (Junior), a
well-known collector of rare curios. They make
their check, and are unable to find anything of
interest. Later in the session, they hear a rumor
that the house’s owner spent a lot of time in his
wine cellar, which is odd since Zeb (Jr) was a
teetotaler. At this point, they can try the search
again, probably with a bonus for the extra
information.
Ability And Feat Modifiers
Not all action checks will have modifiers or related
feats, though most will. What we can guarantee
is that every one will have an associated ability.
Let’s say that the director asks for an Intelligence
check. You would draw a card and add your
Intelligence; that’s it.
When feats enter the picture, things get a little
more complicated. Players are devious sorts, and
their characters are heroic types, accustomed to
using feats differently than they were intended.
If a character doesn’t have an appropriate feat
to attempt an action, he’ll probably spin his
wheels for a few seconds and offer an alternative
(“Of course I can use my strong body in this tea
ceremony!”). If the substitution makes sense,
then he can use half the modifier of the suggested
feat. If nothing comes to mind, then he’s stuck
with only his abilities and situational modifiers
to guide him.
Example: Laura’s character, Mendoza Slims, finds
himself holding a lit bundle of dynamite. There’s
empty scrubland on all sides of the rushing train,
and Slims wants to get it as far away from his
briefcase of nitroglycerin as possible. The director
decides that this is an action of brute force based
off the Strength ability. Slims is a pretty toned
dude, but doesn’t have any ranks in Strong
Body, the appropriate skill for hurling dynamite.
Laura scans her character sheet, trying to find a
21
 way out. She recalls that in his youth, Mendoza
Slims was an accomplished javelin thrower, as
represented by his 3 ranks in Throw. Although
the Throw skill is usually used for accuracy rather
than the brute distance that Slims is hoping for,
Laura successfully argues that all of Slims’ javelin
practice has nevertheless influenced the muscle
memory of his arms. The director agrees, and
thus allows half the modifier (+1.5 which rounds
to +2. Always round up when you get halves).
Situational Modifiers
Although it’s difficult to prepare for every crazy
stunt and complication of failure, the director
should be aware of the effect of introducing
situational modifiers. Remember that players
hate being spoiled almost as much as they
dislike deathtraps with no way to escape; no one
ever became a hero by sitting back and eating
sandwiches – unless there were some awfully
brutal complications (perhaps a particularly
disturbing set of fillings in the sandwich).
Difficulty Usual Modifier Success And Failure
Average / Standard +2 to -1
Tough / Hero -2 to -5
Very challenging / Demigod -6 to -9
Almost impossible / Godlike -10 to -13
Extreme! -14 or more
Starting characters should be aiming for
average actions most of the time, but should
be able to handle a few tough actions in their
area of specialization. As the character gains in
experience and ends up with a few favors from
the universe, even wilder actions are possible.
When designing challenges for beginner
characters, the majority should have solutions
resulting in positive modifiers. Although this
may concern some of you with grittier views
of adventure, it’s just one more example of how
much the universe loves a hero.
As characters slip into the 150 Karma range,
their easy bonuses should begin to drop. Their
22
adventures will become increasingly unbelievable
as situations arise to uniquely challenge them.
Around the 200 Karma mark, dark forces will
begin to strike back; negative situation modifiers
will become commonplace. Any further than
300 Karma, and things start to look hairy. By
that point however, the characters will have the
option of transcending their Standard beginnings
to enter Hero level. With the new range of feats
at their disposal, they should keep pace just fine
with the increasing difficulty.
Does that sound a little artificial? Let’s take
this time to brainstorm a little. Perfect weather,
masterwork tools, and plenty of time can give
positive modifiers. Unless the story starts out in
the middle of the action, the characters haven’t had
time to make too many enemies yet, either. Start
rushing characters, stick them in a hurricane, or
making it difficult to acquire the necessary tools
and the negative modifiers will start rolling in, no
problem.
For every point that a character exceeds the
action total of eight, he has achieved an Extra
Success. This means that he has done better than
barely succeeding, resulting in extra damage or
achieving certain other effects. The more extra
successes he has, the better the outcome of his
action check. Examples are available below, as
well as in the feat descriptions at the end of the
book.
Many actions have a basic effect for their normal
success, and additional effects based on the
number of extra successes. It’s marked like this:
[1+1/2] or [2+1/4].
[1+1/2] indicates that a basic success results in
one of whatever the check is for, plus one more for
every two extra successes. [2+1/4] means that a
basic success equals two, plus one more for every
four extra successes. Damage is generally written
in this way, so a knife deals [1+1/3] damage: one
damage if you barely succeed, and an additional
point of damage for every three extra successes. If
you end up with an eight to ten, the dagger deals
one point of damage – barely a scratch. Eleven to
thirteen (three, four or five extra successes) and
it’s two damage. An action check total of fourteen
to sixteen (six, seven or eight extra successes)
deals three damage. And so on.
Any action check that does not at least reach
eight is a failure. The more it misses eight by, the
greater the failure, and the more the character
will suffer as a result. This can range from simple
embarrassment to utterly compromising a
mission. It’s disappointing to get completely shut
down because of a bum draw, but in the case of a
disaster, it’s entirely possible.
The director has to determine the exact effects
of a failure based on the nature of the task and
the mood of the situation. Except in extremely
specialized games, failing to negotiate a
band’s performance fee is going to have fewer
complications than being unable to appease a
ring of suspicious hoplites.
Extraordinary Success / Disasters
If you’re lucky enough to get an action total of
21 or higher, your character has achieved an
extraordinary success. Print up some posters
and slay the fatted calf, because that was pretty
impressive no matter how you look at it. Take
the effect that the character had at 20 and double
it. Double the damage for an attack, double
the amount of damage avoided for a dodging
maneuver, and so forth. It’s more difficult to
provide hard and fast rulings for mental or social
successes, but the director can be trusted in these
matters. She’s pretty smart.
The opposite of an extraordinary success is a
disaster. This means the character fails so badly
he suffers extremely negative consequences; he’s
hosed. If the card for an action check is a 1, the
character needs to draw again. If the total of the
two cards and any modifiers is still less than 8, the
action’s a disaster. A second 1 is always a disaster,
no matter what. In all of this, don’t forget that the
Doom counts as a 1, but even worse – it takes 3
off the total when checking for a disaster!
Example: Joe attempts to explain to an angry, but
gullible pirate captain that he was only lurking
in the secret treasure cave because he wanted
to double-check the security. There are ruffians
about, intent on stealing from the pirate captain.
Good thinking, Bill! Unfortunately Bill draws a 1
and adds his modifiers, getting to five. The action
is already a failure (a 1 on the first card will always
fail). Now to find out if it’s worse than that. Bill’s
total of five misses the target of eight by three, so on
his second draw a 1, or 2 will be a disaster.
Bill draws a 5 and breathes a sigh of relief. It’s a
failure, but at least Joe didn’t let slip that he had also
drunk all of the pirate’s rum to test it for poison. The
diplomacy has reached an impasse, and Joe’s team
needs to think of other ways out.
The director has to determine the exact effects
of a disaster based on the nature of the task, the
circumstances, and other factors. Refer to the
following examples for ideas. It’s also worth noting
that characters may not spend Karma or use any
other means to increase their total to avoid a disaster,
unless they have a feat that specifically allows this.
Example 1: In a social situation, the character ends
up looking like a boorish clod. The stifled laughter
and attempts to avoid his gaze make this painfully
clear. He suffers a –5 penalty for all social actions
involving anyone who witnessed his failure for the
rest of the session.
Example 2: In a combat situation, the character
makes a split-second tactical mistake resulting in a
-1 penalty to all his action checks until the end of
combat. Furthermore, his reaction time increased
by 1 Tick until combat ends (more on reactions
later).
Example 3: During a chase where every second
counts, the character finds himself in a dangerous
position that requires a successful action and at least
five seconds to recover from. He could find himself
struggling for balance on the edge of a building,
sprawled at the feet of an enemy, or dropping his
source of light. Maybe his car is in the direct path of
an oncoming fruit cart.
For actions involving information (Knowledge
checks, Alertness, Empathy, Inquire and Search, for
example), a degree of trickery is required. The player
pretty much knows it was a disaster from seeing
his card, so the director should treat the check as
merely failing: “Sorry, you can’t remember anything
about that / you don’t spot anything / it doesn’t
appear that there is anything concealed”. However,
the character has a disaster against his name, that
will crop up at a later point in the session.
23
 For instance, the character has a disaster chalked
up against his name after flunking a Knowledge
roll. He succeeds at an Alertness roll later, and
the director decides the story could use some
more confusion. She tells him that he notices
that the woman in the raincoat on the other side
of the street is carrying a concealed gun as she
ducks into a side alley. The real threat was the
man in the black suit behind him. The woman
was merely carrying an umbrella, and was an
innocent bystander on her way to work.
Types Of Action Check
Standard Action Checks
Exactly as discussed previously, these make
up the vast majority of checks in a game. Get
a random number from the deck and add the
various modifiers. If the total is eight then the
character succeeds. If the total modifiers added
up to more than +6, the player can elect to take a
basic success rather than drawing a card.
Multi-Skill Action Checks
Sometimes you will have two feats that apply
to a given task — for example, Diplomacy
and Negotiation may both apply to a social
interaction. In this situation, the director
announces which is the most appropriate based
on how the player explains his approach. The
action check is then made against the appropriate
feat and ability. Of course, she may instead rule
that the action requires success at two actions to
succeed. Our advice to directors is not to go too
far with multiple checks or it will slow the game
down significantly. Nine times out of ten, a single
check is sufficient. If in doubt, go with the area
the character is more skilled in – we all tend to
use our best strengths when possible.
Double Actions
A character may attempt to merge two actions
into one. If both require an action check, the
character should carry out both checks with
a –4 penalty. This is generally the desperate
24
attempt of a character who’s trying to shoot two
opponents simultaneously or intimidate his foes
while swinging into the fray on a chandelier. His
chance of either action succeeding is reduced,
but the combined time of the actions is only as
long as the lengthier of the two.
If one of the actions doesn’t normally require an
action check, the other action has a –2 modifier
associated with it and the character must also
make a Resolve check or the automatic action
will fail. Examples include drawing a gun while
making an emergency stop in a vehicle (a drive
action at –2, plus a Resolve check to concentrate
on drawing the weapon) and looking for a
suitable escape route while reloading a gun
(a Search action at –2, with a Resolve check to
reload). Movement is normally exempt from the
Resolve check, but the other action’s check still
gets –2 if you’re walking, which becomes -4 if
you’re running and –6 if you’re sprinting.
If neither action requires an action check, the
character only has to make a single Resolve check
to succeed at the double action. Failure means
he chooses one of the actions to succeed and
the other fails. Directors, you’re advised not to
take this to extremes or it’ll slow your game to
a crawl.
Group Action Checks
Sometimes two or more characters want to work
on a particular task together; many hands make
light work, after all. In these cases, a primary
character needs to be decided on. This tends to be
the person with the best collection of modifiers,
but common sense can overrule this.
All the participants other than the primary
character make their assisting action checks.
Their modifiers aren’t necessarily the modifiers
for the base task, but rather how difficult it is
for them to help the primary character. Every
participant who succeeds gives the primary
character a [1+1/3] modifier; every disaster tacks
on a –4 modifier. The primary character then
makes his action check with his own modifiers
representing the difficulty of the original task,
then adding in the modifiers of all the helpers.
 Directors may restrict a group’s ability to help
a character with a task by giving significant
negative modifiers for the helpers; not all action
checks can benefit from the assistance of other
people. Some can only benefit from having one
or two helpers at most. As much as everyone is
going to want to help stop the portcullis from
slamming down, there isn’t always going to be
enough room for that many pairs of hands.
Opposed Action Checks
Characters will often find themselves in situations
where someone doesn’t want them to succeed.
Physical combat’s a good example, but far from
the only one. Resisting intimidation with one’s
Resolve and head-to-head Negotiation also fit
the bill. Conflict drives our stories, and now it’s
time to look at the most immediately satisfying
type: the opposed action check.
In an opposed action check, the character
attempting the action makes his check first. Then
the opposing character makes his. Each success
the opposing character gets strips 1 from the first
character’s total, while a disaster becomes a +5
bonus.
Example: A determined florist is trying to sneak
past Joe to deliver a bouquet holding a coded
message to Joe’s prisoner. The director makes an
action check for the florist at +2 because of the
dim light and notes the total. Then Joe is asked
to make an Alertness check – he gets a 10. This
gives the creeper –3 to the action check that he
just made: -1 for the basic success and –1 for each
extra success.
This example illustrates two important points.
First, the person performing the opposing action
is always the second to make his check. Joe was
merely being alert, or not. The florist was actively
sneaking. If Joe had thought he’d heard something
and searched the area while the florist hid, the
messenger’s skill at hiding would give modifiers
to Joe’s skill at searching. Many actions are paired
like this, with active uses and passive uses.
The second point is that the same factors only
modify one of the two checks, normally the
active action. The florist would get the positive
modifier for the darkness, rather than Joe getting
a negative modifier because he couldn’t see his
hand in front of his face.
Opposed Group Action Checks
Sometimes you will have two groups making
opposing actions. Using the previous example,
what if the determined florist brought some
friends along to carry his camouflage foliage while
Joe’s friends stuck around to help him keep watch?
Separate checks could be made for each infiltrator
and for each watcher, but that’s too many checks.
Some of the flunkies would fail disastrously while
others would be hidden better than if they were
invisible. Imagine that, right? Now see it this way:
Each group makes one action check. The florists
use the lowest modifier present in the team because
all it takes is one sneeze and Joe’s gang will be on
them. Joe and his chums also make a single check,
based on the best Perception modifier in the group.
Remember a chain is only as strong as its weakest
link; common sense will take you far if you’re
unsure whether to use the best or worst group of
modifiers.
For active checks (where the group is all searching,
for instance) the best person makes the check for
that half of the opposed action, but his friends
might be able to assist just like a normal group
action check. As always, let your best judgment
lead you.
Hurting And Healing
Eventually tempers will flare, words will be said,
and it will become important to know how fast
everyone can react with violence. In the basic rules
we use a system called Quick-Fire Combat, which
takes place over a series of rounds. In each round
every character gets to take an action until it’s no
longer necessary to divide time so precisely. For
combat purposes, actions come in two flavors:
A free action is one that takes no time. A brief
sentence or witty exchange and moving less than
1m both count as free actions. As refreshing as a
good monologue can be, you’ll need more than a
free action to win your Oscar. Any character may
make one free action without penalty whenever he
takes a full action.
25
 A full action occupies all of a character’s attention
for a round. A character can only perform one
full action at a time, although it may be a double
action (see above). Examples of full actions
include walking, running, leaping, and using
skills (including attacking).
In each round, it’s important to know the order
of what’s going to happen. To do this, you need
to know each combatant’s reaction time. At the
start of each round everyone makes a Wits-based
reaction check. If it’s a disaster, the character’s
reaction time is 15.
Total 2 or less Reaction Time 10
Total 3-4 Reaction Time 9
Total 5-6 Reaction Time 8
Total 7-8 Reaction Time 7
Total 9-10 Reaction Time 6
Total 11-12 Reaction Time 5
Total 13-14 Reaction Time 4
Total 15-17 Reaction Time 3
Total 18-20 Reaction Time 2
Total 21 or more Reaction Time 1
This reaction time, like everything in combat, is
measured in Ticks. One Tick is the same as 1/10th
of a second.
Since armor tends to be bulky and slow people
down, it increases its wearers’ reaction time. The
reaction modifier in the armor’s description is
added like a penalty to the wearer’s reaction time
(not the reaction check).
Anatomy Of Armor
Armor is generally presented in this format:
Cheap Kevlar Vest - A jacket woven from
modern anti-ballistic fibers, if a little
rough around the edges. Armor Group
Light, Protection 7, Reaction Modifier 2,
Recommended Strength 0.
Protection is the amount of damage soaked
from each hit. A weapon’s armor penetration
may help a weapon ignore some of this. For each
point the wearer is short of the Recommended
Strength he gets -1 to all Dexterity and
movement based action checks.
26
Next, the characters announce their actions in
order of their final reaction times, starting with
the slowest fighter. That way the faster characters
have time to see what everyone else is doing and
react appropriately. If two characters have the
same reaction time, the one with higher Wits
is a hair faster. If they both have the same Wits,
choose randomly who announces his action
first.
As the actions are announced, the director
decides the action time of each one. The player
adds this to his character’s final reaction time and
makes a note of the total. Weapon-based attacks
have their action time listed in their weapon stats.
Some actions have their action time mentioned
in the feat describing the action. Other common
combat actions are included in the splash below.
Time For Action!
Drawing a pistol from a holster (15 Ticks),
drawing a pistol from an ankle holster (40
Ticks), throwing a grenade (25 Ticks), walking
(10 Ticks per 2m).
Each round only covers 100 Ticks, so if the
final action time for something is higher than
that, it will take place in a future round. If you’re
working on something over several rounds, don’t
announce an action in the next round – just take
100 off your action time.
Once all the action times are known, they’re
resolved in order. Start at 1 and go toward the
top until everything’s done. Characters with
the same action time act simultaneously. When
the round is over, the cycle continues until the
fighting’s over.
If a character doesn’t like the action check total
of an attack against him, he can elect to sacrifice
his action for the round (or next round’s action
if he’s already acted) to make a Dodge check,
applying any successes as negative modifiers to
the attack total.
Melee Combat and Unarmed Combat may be
used instead of Dodge in certain circumstances
to avoid taking damage. This represents a block,
parry, or keeping the weapon between you and
the source of harm; it’s still considered a Dodge
action though, and follows all the appropriate
rules for interrupting. Melee Combat may be used
against melee and unarmed attacks. Unarmed
Combat may be used to block other Unarmed
Combat attacks.
bar. There are two forms of damage for each type
of Health: stun and lethal. Lethal mental and
spiritual damage are rare, but you’ll find ways to
take it and dish it out later on. It follows the same
rules though, so no surprises. Lethal physical
damage is all too common for adventuring-types,
so we’ll stick to that in the examples.

Most weapons do lethal damage, with unarmed

Anatomy Of A Weapon attacks being the main exception. Falling and
explosions can do a mix of both. To keep track of
Weapons are generally presented in this
stun and lethal damage, we recommend that you
format: Revolver - The standard six-shooter.
cross off boxes with a slash for stun and a cross
Weapon Group Pistols, Damage [2+1/2],
for lethal. For example, this is the physical Health
Armor Penetration 3, Action Time 29,
of Joe once he’s taken a couple of points of stun
Ammo 6 Reload Time 50, Recommended
damage:
Strength 0, Ranges 12/24.

Armor Penetration is the amount of armor

ignored by each hit. For every point the
attacker is short of the recommended strength
he gets –2 to hit. The range line tells us 0-12m
is short range and 12-24m is medium range.
Double that to figure out the extent of long
The black boxes have been filled to show
range (24-48m in this case), and double that
Health beyond Joe’s maximum. Since he has a
to learn the limit of extreme range (48-96m
Constitution of +3, then anything above 8 and
for the revolver). Short range gives a +2 to hit,
below –8 isn’t relevant to him. If Joe then takes 7
long range –3, and extreme range –6.
points of lethal damage (ouch!), his health would
Check www.talisman-studios.com for free weapon tables. look like this:

Example: Joe and a security guard are

squaring off. Joe has a pistol and the guard has
a submachine gun. At the start of combat, they
each make a reaction check: Joe gets reactions of
4, the guard 3. The guard is wearing armor that
gives him a +4 penalty so his total is 7. The guard
Lethal damage always goes first and shunts any
has to announce his action first: he’ll shoot at Joe.
stun damage further along the line. Joe is now
Hearing this, Joe realizes that the time for tact is
at –1 Health and receives –1 to all actions. If the
over. He responds that he’ll cap the guard first.
poor guy now takes 10 stun damage:
Joe’s pistol is small and quick, with an action
time of 24 Ticks. Adding his reactions, we find
he’ll fire on Tick 28. The guard’s weapon has an
action time of 35, so he’ll fire on Tick 42. Next
round they check reactions again, announce
actions, and resolve them. This continues until
we no longer need such precise time-keeping.
He only had 7 Health left, so those spots are filled
with stun damage and he’s officially incapacitated.
Taking Damage What happens next is that any excess damage
automatically converts stun to lethal on a 1-for-1
When a character takes damage, cross off that basis; three more of those slash marks become
number of boxes from the appropriate Health crosses. Fists only deal stun damage, but pound

27
 Falling
Falling deals physical damage: 2 lethal
and 4 stun per 5m fallen (about one floor
of a building). The faller is allowed to
make an Endurance check and he can
negate [0+1/2] lethal damage for being
so tough. Alternatively he may choose to
negate 2 points of stun for each point of
lethal he chooses not to negate with this
total. Falling into something soft can
greatly alleviate falling damage. When
such fortunes smile on a character, the
director should treat the fall as being
shorter than it truly was, and calculate
damage based on the reduced height.

someone hard enough and he’ll still die. At this point

in time Joe needs a friend to haul him out of trouble
and a good doctor.

Armor may help protect against physical damage

depending on its rating. For example, an armor rating
of two prevents the first two points of lethal or stun
damage from each incoming attack.

Once a character has taken double his maximum

Health in lethal damage (that is, a character whose
maximum Health is +7 reaches –7), he’s dead. This
instant death might seem a little harsh, but it’s already
a sight more resilient than regular people who only
last until zero. Characters keep going after beatings
that would cripple most folks, but even they have
their limits. Making a quick escape when reduced to
negative Health is a valid tactic in many cases. It’ll
keep you alive, and next time you meet your attacker,
it’s personal.

Physical damage is the most likely to kill a character

but lethal mental damage and spiritual damage are
handled the same way. An overdose of mental damage
could result in a brain aneurysm or a permanent
mental collapse attached to a one-way ticket to
the sanitarium. Spiritual damage isn’t quite as well
understood. It’s enough to know that sufferers of soul
death end up as rough, physical husks unable to think
or act for themselves. Physical death tends to follow
soon after.

Healing
Five minutes of total rest heals one point of stun
damage from each of the three categories. The break

28
is bumped up to ten minutes per point if the
character isn’t quite in a happy place, as long as
he isn’t doing any work that requires an action
check.
Lethal damage is healed at the rate of one point
per week except when the character is down to
negative Health. Then he’s considered seriously
wounded and these Health levels are healed at
a natural rate of one per month. Once he’s back
at zero health, the following points heal at the
faster rate of one per week.
Of course, medical attention is worth looking
into if you want to heal fast. The quality of that
healing depends on the skill of the providers and
the tools at their disposal. The entire process is
described in detail in the relevant feats at the
end of the book.
Stamina, Resolve, Bravery
and… Fate
Not all problems take the form of immediate
damage. Sometimes they’re longer-lasting
effects, grating on your nerves, making your
hair stand up at improper angles. Other times,
you won’t think that there’s a problem at all until
someone realizes that hauling all those crates
through the jungle is likely to get pretty tiring.
Use Stamina (a Constitution-based check) to
answer questions of physical endurance. Resolve
is the equivalent for mental focus, concentration
and similar acts of Willpower. Bravery, based
on Spirit, is used for everything from resisting
shell shock to confronting hideous monsters
that shake your faith past its breaking point.
All three work in a similar manner; when a
character requires an endurance check, the
director decides if the results could be harmful
or not and the exact terms of the check.
Example 1: Joe has been running for an
extended period, which the director rules is a
Stamina check. Failure will mean he has to stop
to catch his breath. He succeeds and carries on.
After a while he needs to pass another Stamina
check, this time with –2 modifier. He succeeds
and carries on. Further on, the next check will
be at –4. That’s as far as his tired legs will take him
either way, though. Bill begs the director to let Joe
carry on. He’s hardcore. She agrees, but at the end
his Stamina check will be at –6 and Joe’s not going to
be happy either way. If he fails, he’ll take 2 points of
physical stun damage for every point he fails by.
Example 2: Joe is trying to focus on picking the lock
on an ancient book while he’s under fire. He gets shot
and the director says that a Resolve check is needed
or he’s lost concentration and has to start over. After
he opens the book, the evil spirit inside tries to take
over his mind. This is a form of mental attack; Joe
uses his Resolve check as a Dodge action against the
spirit’s attack. Failing the Resolve check doesn’t have
any extra effects, but Joe will want to succeed. If he’s
mentally incapacitated by the spirit, it will have free
run of his body.
Example 3: Joe and a friend are under heavy fire,
pinned with little cover. Joe is used to this sort of
thing from his years in the army, but the director
rules that his soft-hearted friend needs to make a
Bravery check. If he fails, he’s shaken and takes points
of spiritual stun damage for every point by which he
failed the check. She also rules that if he stays where
he is, every minute means another Bravery check.
Once Joe’s friend passes a check or retreats to a more
defensible position, he’ll be all right for the rest of
the story, at least in the face of enemy fire... when
he meets the dragon later, that’s a whole different
Bravery check.
While we’re talking about special actions, certain
outcomes have nothing to do with a character’s
abilities or feats. No matter how good you are,
sometimes there’s nothing you can do but hope that
things will work out. It may not be luck that we’re
talking about, but it’s close enough for most people.
At that point, you need a Fate check. Draw a card
and add a +1 modifier per five points of Current
Karma the character has at that time, up to the usual
maximum of +6. The more the universe likes you at
that time, the better you’ll do. Note that the character
may not spend Karma to increase this check. If Joe
grabs a large bunch of keys as he’s running from
some guards, picks one at random, and jams it wildly
into the first lock that he reaches, that’s a Fate check!
Depending on the number of keys on the key ring,
the director could apply a negative modifier to the
Fate check. Situational modifiers are still valid, even
for Fate.
29
30
Section Four:
Advanced
Rules
 Common Situation Modifiers
None of the following rules are essential to roleplaying
in the Suzerain universe. That said, if you’re the type
of gamer who goes after realistic outcomes through
crunchy rule-bits, read on. It’s the director’s final call
whether any of these optional widgets are used, but if
it’s the type of content that all of you want in your game,
then go ahead.
To help a director pick suitable situation modifiers,
Suzerain’s advanced rules include more details for
situations that provide action modifiers. Such modifiers
stack, so hurriedly picking locks in the dark is going to
end up being awfully difficult. In this way routine actions
become tough pretty quickly.
Lighting: Physical actions in poor lighting have a –2
modifier. In night conditions this increases to –5. Physical
actions while blind (in total darkness, blindfolded, or
actually blinded) have a –8 modifier.
Time: Sometimes a rush job is the only way to get
something done. Characters who take this route can
sacrifice accuracy to do anything in up to ½ the time it
would normally take with a –6 modifier. Slowing down
to finish the job in ¾ of the standard time reduces the
modifier to –3.
32
If you take extra time to ensure that everything’s neat
and squared away, a +2 modifier isn’t out of place at
the cost of doubling the necessary time. This extends
from +3 for triple the time, up to +5 for working five
times as long as the base action time.
At the discretion of the director, characters
performing actions not requiring an action check
can work faster if they pass a Resolve check ranging
from no modifiers to -2. This doesn’t apply to
movement (to extend that, see the Strong Body
feat).
Tools And Equipment: If a character is using
inappropriate tools for a task, this will normally
impose a –2 to –6 modifier. Anything better than
the basic model may give a +1 to +4 modifier to
the action.
Ambient Environmental Conditions: Surviving
in the wilderness without gear is tough enough
without having to deal with snow up to your
armpits. In pretty much every case, the weather
is going to be your enemy. It may be easier to
spot an invisible sorcerer in the rain, but you’ll
have to decide if that’s worth all of the problems
caused by stinging winds, drought, and swamp
gas. Looking into bright sunlight while driving
an obstacle course could give a –1 to –4 modifier,
while climbing through a storm could give a –1
to –8 penalty depending on the weather report.
Doing fine work with your hands in freezing
conditions may give a –1 to –4 modifier; have
you ever tried picking a pocket while wearing
mittens? Successful Stamina checks may
protect against the first wave of environmental
penalties.
Off-Hand Actions: Trust us, if you’re
hanging from a helicopter with your good
hand, it’s going to become a lot more difficult
to untie yourself from any ropes. Off-hand
actions suffer a –4 penalty.
Encumbrance: The director may rule that
a character is encumbered if he is carrying
enough weight that it would get in the way of a
particular action. As a guideline, a character
can carry 10kg of weight plus 5kg per point
of Strength (or -2kg per negative point of
Strength) without being encumbered for
most actions; ignore his clothes and a small
amount of regular adventuring gear. If he’s
carrying more than his weight limit then
he starts to get penalties to most physical actions. This
penalty should be -1 to -3 (up to double his capacity),
then -4 to -6 (2-3 times his capacity). Bulky objects can
get in the way of an action and encumber a character
even though they’re not heavy - another factor the
director may want to bear in mind.
Fatigue: A character who does not sleep for 24
hours gets a –1 modifier to all actions, increasing by
an additional –1 for each six hour period that goes
by until he sleeps. After six hours of uninterrupted
sleep, each hour of sleep removes one point of negative
modifier until the character is fully rested. As long as
he gets the initial six hours, he may go another 24 hours
before incurring further penalties, even if he has not
completely slept off his fatigue.
Advanced Combat
When physical conflicts escalate to combat, things
start happening fast. A casual dinner party can go from
bad jokes and disinterested chatter to a blood-stained
graveyard in moments, and lives are frequently lost in
the spaces between seconds. In those situations we can
slow time down and play through the scene in Slow-
Mo. This does away with the arbitrary combat rounds
of the Quick-Fire Combat rules so everything slides
naturally together. As time slows to a trickle, everyone
flows uninterrupted through the scene until there is no
longer any conflict. Each second is still represented by
ten Ticks, but a lot more can happen during this time.
Acting In Slow-Mo
Just like rounds of the Quick-Fire Combat rules,
advanced combat begins with reaction checks for
everyone involved. Reaction time is more important in
this system because it’s only checked once but affects
everything that you do for the whole combat. As the
director counts off the Ticks, the players shout out their
actions as they occur. We recommend keeping track of
reaction times and when actions go off on a piece of
paper.
For example, Joe’s reaction check total was 13, so he has
a reaction time of 4 Ticks. His enemy from earlier, the
guard, ends up with a reaction time of 7 Ticks because
his reaction time of his +4 armor modifier on top of
his reaction time of 3. Writing those in brackets next
to the character’s name is a useful way to remember
this. After a few actions, Bill’s tick sheet for Joe could
look like this (though if you prefer a visual system
for keeping track, download the free counter-
based tick sheet from the Treasure section of www.
talisman-studios.com):
Joe [4] 4 32 60
The director’s tick sheet meanwhile looks like this:
Guard [7] 7 49
How did we get to that point? Well, combat starts
with each character taking a number of Ticks equal
to his reaction time to assess the situation. The
director begins counting off Ticks, stopping when
she reaches a character’s reaction time. At that point
the character declares his action. In our example,
Joe states his first action on Tick 4 while the guard
declares his action on Tick 7. Joe may elect to hold
his action to see what the guard does, but he doesn’t
get any bonuses for throwing away his lead.
Joe’s action is to fire his pistol at the guard to show
him he means business. Each action takes a certain
amount of time to execute before it happens. This is
equal to the action’s action time plus the character’s
reaction time. At the end of this period, the action
resolves and cards are drawn accordingly.
In Joe’s case, his pistol has an action time of 24
Ticks and his reaction time is 4 Ticks, so his total
action time for his shot is 28; 24+4. The director
crosses out the 4 (when he announced his action)
and writes in 32 next to it, the Tick where his shot
will resolve. This is also when Bill decides what Joe
does next.
The guard announces his action on the seventh
Tick. Not one to turn the other cheek, he responds
to Joe’s pistol with his submachine gun. The action
time for his gun is 35 Ticks, plus his reaction time
of 7. The director crosses out the 7 and adds 42 to it.
The guard’s shot will resolve on Tick 49… assuming
Joe hasn’t killed him on Tick 32.
Tick 32 comes around and Joe hits the guard, but
the guard’s armor soaks enough damage to keep him
in the fight. Second time’s a charm, so Joe declares
a second shot. Again, this will take 24+4=28 Ticks.
The director crosses out the 32 and writes down 60.
If the guard hasn’t killed Joe on Tick 49, then Joe
will fire back on Tick 60.
33
 Interrupting / Changing Actions
If you’re paying close attention, combat may
seem to be a little robotic at this point. Joe
declares his action, counts down, and fires until
someone decides to break the cycle. But what if
Joe sees a better opportunity on the way to Tick
60, like diving behind a stack of tires to avoid
the guard’s submachine gun spray on Tick 49?
Don’t worry, we have you covered. That’s where
your tactics come in! In cases like this, Bill can
announce during the action on Tick 49 that he’s
interrupting. With a flourish he rubs out Joe’s next
action and writes a new action time down. This
is equal to when his declared action would have
resolved plus the action time of the interrupt.
Additionally, he tracks the interrupt action from
the moment it happens, because Joe won’t be
allowed to interrupt again until the full action
time has passed.
Let’s show how that works with our example. It’s
Tick 49 and the guard is about to resolve his shot.
An 11. That’s bad news for Joe. Joe decides that
he’d rather hold off on donating his organs for the
time being, and calls for an interrupt. Defensive
34
interrupts (attempts to parry, dodge, or the like)
resolve in a slightly different way than regular
actions. They occur immediately rather than
after their action time has elapsed. In this case
it helps to think of the action time as a recovery
period – Joe put a lot of effort into getting away
from being hit, so he’s going to need some time to
pull himself together.
The action time of a defensive interrupt is equal
to 5x the character’s reaction time for that combat
plus 10 Ticks. In Joe’s case that’s 5x4=20+10=30
Ticks. Successes in the defense are taken from
the successes of the attack. Even if a dodger can’t
get completely out of the way, he’ll probably get
marks for effort – and reducing the damage.
On Tick 49 Joe makes his Dodge and gets an
action total of 12. The guard’s attack receives a –5
modifier causing it to miss, showering Joe with
bits of scenery. Joe’s shooting action has been
pushed back by 30 Ticks – the action time for his
Dodge – so he’ll shoot on Tick 90 instead of Tick
60. Also, he can’t interrupt again for 30 Ticks
from now, i.e. before Tick 49+30=79. The guard
decides to try shooting Joe, again taking 42 Ticks
to resolve. That’ll happen on Tick 91. In the end,
the tick sheets look like this:
Joe [4] 4 32 (79) 90
Guard [7] 7 49 91
Interrupting doesn’t need to be a reaction like
it was in the above example. However, if the
character is not directly intervening in an action
in progress, the character’s original action is
stopped altogether and the new plan is treated as
beginning its countdown when the interrupt was
declared.
Changes in action can also be made immediately
following a Dodge action, successful or not. If Joe
were hacking into a computer system during the
previous example, his priorities could change
drastically after narrowly dodging a bullet.
Remember that you won’t be able to interrupt
again until the interrupt time’s recovery period
has ended.
Example: T-Rexocutioner, a costumed villain, is
planning on pulling the lever to an electric chair
containing the President of the United States.
In classic hero form, Joe tries to dive across the
room and catch the lever before it’s pulled. Since
Joe’s action wouldn’t make any sense if he tried
doing it after T-Rexocutioner’s action took place,
it’s an interrupt action handled in the same way
as a Dodge check. However, if instead he reacts
to the pulled lever by reloading his weapon, there
isn’t any direct intervention involved. He can still
announce the change in action, but it takes place
after the standard number of Ticks rather than
immediately. In most cases, attack actions don’t
count as interrupts. Otherwise combat would boil
down to the following exchange:
Director: He’s trying to hit you.
You: I interrupt and hit him first. Victory for You!
(The player in this example is named “You.”
The editors of Suzerain don’t honestly believe
that you, the gentle reader, would consent to the
monkeyshines of the above example.)
The director has to keep her wits about her when
players announce an interrupt – there’s a fine line
between an interrupt and a change of action, but
it’s an important one. We suggest that the director
temper her strictness to this rule with leniency
when a player only wants to slightly modify an
action. It would be harsh to make a charging
musketeer lose his action just because a spotty
noble got between him and his target. Let him
go for the spotty noble instead, the cad! If that is
causing problems, the director is encouraged to
add extra surprise modifiers or a small increase to
the original action time.
Held Actions
A character may hold his action if he wants to.
Sometimes it’s best to gather some information
before rushing in, both fists blazing. Other times,
someone will want to be on stand-by in case
the situation suddenly changes. When a player
normally announces his action, he instead declares
a hold. On the tick sheet, note this by drawing an
arrow (4) in place of a number. That player may
announce an action at any time after that, at which
point the current Tick becomes the base for the
action time. Joe fires on Tick 90 as expected,
critically wounding the guard. It looks like combat
is over, but Joe’s not letting his guard down yet.
There may be a surprise lurking in the shadows,
or the guard could decide to do something rash
and change his action, so Joe holds. The tick sheets
look as follows:
Joe [4] 4 32 (79) 90 4
Guard [7] 7 49 91
A character who is holding may still attempt to
interrupt another character’s action. On Tick 91,
despite his wounds the guard shoots wildly at Joe,
who is still standing above him. Joe is watching and
waiting, and knows the right time to react so this
is treated just like any other action rather than an
interrupt. Since his defensive roll takes 30 Ticks,
the tick sheets change like this following the guard’s
shot:
Joe [4] 4 32 (79) 90 121
Guard [7] 7 49 91
Note the lack of bracketed time. Joe’s interruption
was just like a regular action because he was holding,
and he still has the option to interrupt before his
next action arrives – although that will incur the
bracketed penalty because he isn’t holding his action
anymore. He interrupted an action, breaking the
hold. Phew! Glad we got all that out of the way.
Pauses In Slow-Mo
Combat is a terrible mess of bodies and sound, and
the best course of action isn’t always clear. If a player
takes too long to decide on an action, the character
is assumed to have paused (an automatic action
with a 20 Tick action time) to gather his thoughts
and scope out the scene. When the character gets
to act again, the director should provide a few
options to the character based on what’s happening.
Some groups may also allow other players to make
suggestions, despite being out of character.
In some groups where the breakneck pace of combat
is emphasized, this is heightened by the director
demanding that the player, “Gogogo!”. Other groups
prefer a more leisurely, tactical approach to combat.
It’s a good idea to make sure that everyone’s on the
same page regarding pauses before making them a
major portion of the game.
35
 Section Five:
Feats

36
 Feat Basics
Feats define a character mechanically by
representing his skills and important traits.
Negative feats also exist to describe a character’s
less-than-heroic traits and weaknesses. Unless
otherwise stated, feats have a standard Karma
cost as follows:
(Rank 1) costs 1K. Upgrading that to (Rank 2)
costs 2K. Upgrading that to (Rank 3) costs 3K.
And so on. A feat that only has ranks 4 and 5, for
instance, costs 4K for (Rank 4) and another 5K to
upgrade it to (Rank 5).
Feats may also have prerequisites. Two special
limitations are commonly found:
Starter Feat: This feat may only be taken during
character creation.
Restricted Feat: This feat many only be taken
during character creation. After that, it cannot
be bought with Karma. The director may award
it during play if the character’s circumstances
warrant it, awarding less Karma for the session
but giving the character this feat instead. If you
lobby her for that special reward, you might find
the game circumstances mysteriously warrant
it during the next session or two, but the final
decision always rests with the director.
Skill Feats
Skills tend to come in 5 ranks of proficiency, where
(Rank 1) is roughly equivalent to a novice, (Rank
2) is a keen amateur, (Rank 3) is a professional,
(Rank 4) is an expert in that field, and (Rank 5)
is a world authority in his field. Skill feats go a
long way in defining who the character is and his
response to the world.
Unless otherwise stated, the character may
add his rank in a skill as a modifier to any
related action check. Actions detailed within a
skill’s description are just fleshed out examples
of common actions associated with that feat.
Finding new ways to use old skills is one of the
reasons that player characters are out saving the
day instead of a bunch of lawfully appointed
extras. Some skill feats also allow characters to
38
perform actions that cannot be attempted by people
without the feat – such actions are marked with an
asterisk (*) in the feat description. People untrained
in lying do it every day, but unskilled surgeons are
considerably less common. Each skill has a primary
ability associated with it (the one with the highest
prerequisite requirement) and generally actions for
that skill are based on that ability. Thus, attacking
with Melee Combat is normally a Dexterity-based
action, and lying uses Charm because it falls under
the Bluff skill.
Acrobatics
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Str 0. (Rank 4) Dex +4,
Str +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Dex +4, Str +2, Wil +1.
Acrobatics allows your character to pull off remarkable feats of bodily
flexibility and control.
Contortion - The character attempts to make himself exceptionally supple
on demand. A successful Contortion check means that the character can
squeeze through a tight hole or slip out of restraints. The action time
tends to be between 30 seconds and 10 minutes respectively.
Break-fall* - A character with Acrobatics may try to soften a landing
from a fall, lowering the lethal damage he would otherwise take by
[1+1/3] (or he may negate 2 points of stun for each point of lethal he
chooses not to negate with this total). There is a -2 modifier to Break-fall
checks per 5m fallen after the first 5m. Break-fall checks are additional
to Endurance check for falling, which are made after applying the Break-
fall effects.
Administration
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Int +4,
Wil +1, Cha 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Cha +1.
Administration is the skill of understanding and manipulating
bureaucracy and running a business. A good bureaucrat knows the way
things work, and understands how to get things done using the path of
least resistance through the processes around them.
Manipulate Bureaucracy - The character attempts to get around
bureaucratic systems or to impose them on people who might try to
follow his trail. The action time tends to be measured in days; even
when using the system to help you, there’s going to be paperwork to file.
Manipulating Bureaucracy may be an opposed action check between two
administrators or a normal action check against a faceless bureaucracy.
Business Planning* - Administrative rather than military strategy, this is
the planning of who, what, where, when, how and why in a business or
public office. The more successes in the check, the better the organization
will perform.
Animal Empathy
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Pre 0. (Rank 3) Pre +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Pre +4,
Wil +1, Spi 0. (Rank 5) Pre +4, Wil +2, Spi +1.
Command Animal - This involves managing animals, but not riding
them (which is a form of the Drive feat in fact). Command Animal
actions normally take about one to two minutes, at the end of which
time a success would indicate that the animal follows a single simple
command. Modifiers depend on the intelligence of the animal and
how opposed the command is to the nature of the animal – to get
domesticated horses to run through a burning building requires a lot of
effort, even though they are more responsive to commands than most
wild animals.
Control Animal* - This is the ability to train animals. Getting an
animal to do something against its nature has a higher difficulty,
and training for life (rather than the basic which is a month, after
which time the training deteriorates and the animal reverts to the
wild) is at a -4 penalty. All Control Animal actions require a long
period of devoted time, usually days if training for a month or
weeks if training for life. However, smarter animals take less time
to train in general (such as training sheep dogs to bark at intruders
versus training sheep to bleat at intruders).
Bluff
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Cha 0. (Rank 3) Cha +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4)
Cha +4, Wit +1, Spi 0. (Rank 5) Cha +4, Wit +2, Spi +1.
Some characters are more skilled at not telling the truth than others.
This feat is used to hide one’s true motives, the opposing half of a
Read Intentions check (see the Empathy feat).
Lie - Bluff may be used to tell a convincing untruth as an opposed
action against the target’s Empathy check. Lie checks normally take
from a few seconds to a minute and can be used instead of a Wager
check to bluff a win at a gambling game like poker (see the Gambling
feat). Simply add any successes from the Bluff as a positive modifier
to your Wager check, but if your bluff is a disaster then you upset a
whole heap of people at the director’s discretion.
Taunt* - In a combat situation, the character takes a 75 Tick
action to find the perfect moment to make a cutting remark at an
opponent’s expense. If it’s successful, the character has located a sore
spot and made that enemy angry. This is an opposed action against
the target’s Resolve check. Success on the Taunt action imposes a
[1+1/3] negative modifier to all attack checks the opponent makes
until the end of combat. Each combatant may only be the target of
one Taunt attempt each combat.
Combat Mastery
Cost: Standard, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: Melee Combat or Ranged Combat (Rank 3). (Rank
4) Dex +4, Wit +1, Str 0. (Rank 5) Dex +4, Wit +2, Str +1.
After experiencing many forms of battle, warriors tend to obtain
trademark techniques. Up to (Rank 3) the character only needs to
develop his skill in Melee or Ranged Combat. Going beyond that
point requires a Combat Mastery feat and the choice of a weapon
group. Melee weapon groups include ‘swords’ or ‘axes’ while ranged
weapons have categories like ‘pistols’, ‘assault rifles’ or ‘bows’. When
attacking with weapons of this group, the character gets +4 to his
attack checks, but still gets +3 when attacking with other weapon
groups because he retains his (Rank 3) in Melee Combat or Ranged
Combat.
When upgrading to (Rank 5), the character needs to choose a
particular weapon within the weapon group he chose previously,
and he gets +5 when attacking with that weapon (still getting +4 for
other weapons in the group). Using the above groups as examples,
the scimitar might be a suitable weapon within the ‘swords’ group
and the AK-47 might be a suitable weapon within the ‘assault rifles’
group.
Attack - Action time is dependent on the weapon.
Diplomacy
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Cha 0. (Rank 3) Cha +2, Pre 0. (Rank 4)
Cha +4, Pre +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Cha +4, Pre +2, Int +1.
In many situations, a diplomatic word can get you a lot further than
an army of muscle. As a bonus, this is also the feat for seduction.
Diplomatic Conversation - This is the art of saying things in an
appropriate manner and avoiding world wars. While this isn’t
necessarily just saying what the other party wants to hear, such tactics
are always a valid option. However, if the conversation becomes too
wild, the Bluff feat becomes more appropriate. Diplomacy is used in
situations when a tactful response is necessary, although it’s equally
valid when dealing with a rough street gang or an ambassador’s
dinner party.
Seduce - One specific example of where a diplomatic approach is
best is in seduction attempts. Such delicate matters require an action
check, which may be actively resisted with the target’s Resolve. Each
situation will demand a different amount of time, so the action
time of the action is up to the director to decide. As a general rule
though, seduction is not to be rushed. Any attempts to “get to the
point” should result in substantial penalties.
Disguise
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wil +1, Wit 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Wit +1.
Change Identity – The ability of the character to change his
appearance and act the part. This is an opposed check against an
onlooker’s Notice. Negative modifiers apply if the character does
not have access to a varied wardrobe and proper makeup. Disguises
normally need to be reapplied each day and take 1 hour to put on.
Impersonate* - Pretending to be a specific person is a tougher
proposition that only skilled disguise artists can attempt.
Impersonate checks work in exactly the same way that Change
Identity checks do, although there are further negative modifiers if
the character does not know the subject of the impersonation well:
-2 for only having briefly met the subject or only having a set of
surveillance photos, –4 penalty for only having a single picture, –6
for only having a brief third-party description. Similar modifiers
apply to Notice checks depending on how well the onlooker knows
the subject.
Dodge
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Dex 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Dex +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Dex +2, Int +1.
Dodge – If a character doesn’t appreciate the action check total of
an incoming attack, he may make a Dodge check to try to get out of
the way. This turns the attack into an opposed action. Any successes
on the Dodge lower the action check total of the attack. However,
dodging inevitably interrupts the character’s own action and slows
him down. The exact repercussions depend on whether you’re
playing the basic rules or advanced rules – see the appropriate
section for details.
Take Evasive Action – The character is trained to get out of the
way of sudden non-combat changes in his environment such
as falling masonry or a trap. The difficulty depends on the exact
circumstances, but success generally lessens the effects or avoids the
danger altogether, while a disaster makes the effects twice as bad.
Drive – Various Vehicle Groups
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4)
Dex +4, Wit +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Dex +4, Wit +2, Wil +1.
Each vehicle group (examples being cars, trucks, boats, and aircraft)
counts as a separate feat, grouped here for convenience only.
Control Vehicle – While driving, riding, sailing or flying a
vehicle under normal circumstances doesn’t require a check,
fancy maneuvering and emergency activity are a wholly different
proposition. Modifiers depend on the trickiness of what the character
is trying to do and the suitability of his ride. Please note that even
though a Sunday driver won’t be too familiar with hovercrafts or
military choppers he may be able to start an unfamiliar vehicle or
get it moving, and maybe even steer vaguely in the right direction
(if the director is feeling particularly generous). Common sense, as
always, is your guide.
Empathy
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Wil +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Wil +2, Int +1.
39
 The character understands people and their lying ways (see the
Bluff feat). If the character is listening for a specific lie he imposes
double the negative modifier on the opponent’s Bluff attempt.
Read Intentions - This is an opposed action (against target’s Bluff)
taking at least two minutes of conversation. If successful, the
character may add [1+1/2] to any social action checks against that
person for the rest of the session. Empathy can only be used once
in this way against a given target per session. If disaster strikes,
the character was too obvious; he receives a –5 modifier to any
further social actions against that target for the rest of the session.
Following a successful check, the player may forgo the bonus to gain
a description of the target. Basic success gives a general idea about
the person in question (e.g. “She seems a decent enough person.”)
Further successes lead to more detailed information.
Read Movements* - The character takes a 50 Tick action to visually
assess one opponent in a combat situation. If the check succeeds, he
may then add a modifier of [1+1/3] to any attack or Dodge checks
against that opponent for the rest of combat. Each character may
only read the movements of one opponent at a time.
Explosives
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks. of people in important organizations. Each attempt takes two weeks
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wil +1, Spi 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Spi +1.
Practical knowledge of fireworks, as well as heavier materials. In
every use of this skill, the technology level of the setting provides
a baseline for what’s possible. Time, pressure, quality of tools, and
complexity of the explosive all conspire to provide modifiers.
Demolition* - The ability to handle explosives safely. This is the
action check required for setting charges, knowing where they
should be placed, and when to set them off.
Bomb Disposal* - Also known as “It’s always the blue wire and other
countermeasures.” A failure may not be fatal, but certainly means
that the team cannot try again. A disaster on the other hand…
Bomb Making* - The opposite of Bomb Disposal.
Manufacturing chemical, nuclear or biological weapons requires
skills beyond the Explosives feat.
Bomb Disposal and Bomb Making may be used in an opposed
action check if the bomb-maker and bomb disposal teams are both
key extras or characters. A bomb maker may spend double the time
and an extra -2 modifier to purposefully try and make any bomb
disposal team’s life tougher. This adds a [1+1] negative modifier to
any Bomb Disposal checks.
Eye For Detail
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wit +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wit +2, Wil +1.
Scrutinize – This is your basic art of examining an item for
identifying features. A character who makes a successful Scrutinize
check when examining an item may add a [1+1] modifier to any
Knowledge check he subsequently makes about the object, as long
as he has at least some level in the appropriate Knowledge feat.
Thus, a character who is examining a strange vase-thing tries a
Scrutinize check and gets a 10 as his total. This gives him a +3 to his
History Knowledge check to see whether he can identify the artifact
and its purpose. Scrutinize checks take five minutes for hand-held
items, plus five minutes per additional cubic meter of object for
larger items. Success at Scrutinize checks may instead be used to
reveal any hidden features (secret compartments, codes concealed
in the margins, etc) with modifiers depending on how hidden the
item’s secrets are.
Appraise* – The ability to value items accurately, from gemstones
to antiques, based on some background knowledge of the market in
question. A successful check (with a +2 to –6 modifier depending
on the obscurity of the object and the character’s familiarity with
its market) gives the character an estimate of average value, plus or
40
minus 50%. This goes to 40% with an extra success, 30% with two
extra successes, 20% with three, 10% with four, and pretty much
spot on at five or more extra successes. Appraise checks take five
minutes.
Fast Talk
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wit +1, Cha 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wit +2, Cha +1.
Fast Talk – This is a mental attack against an opponent. If your
character can Fast Talk their opponent’s willpower down, they’ll
generally allow your schemes for a few moments while they work
through what was just said. When the opponent figures out your
trick, he’s apt to become grumpy. This action takes about a minute to
inflict [1+1] mental stun damage and when they get to zero mental
Health they’ll normally agree to most things until they regain stun
damage through resting. You can’t Fast Talk someone to less than
zero mental Health.
Increase Influence* – The Fast Talk feat may be used by a character to
build Influence during downtime by blagging his way into the trust
of solid schmoozing, and if the attempt fails then the character may
not attempt to gain Influence from that potential contact again. The
director may apply modifiers to the check based on how well the
character and the potential contact interact. Getting to higher levels
of Influence obviously requires in-game access to more important
people. Alternatively, if the character is cold calling for potential
contacts, he may make a Gather Information check (see the Inquire
feat) with a negative modifier equal to the level of Influence he is
looking for. The dirt-digging takes a number of weeks equal to the
level of Influence in which he is interested. Then he gets to do an
Increase Influence check.
First Aid
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Spi 0, Wil 0.
Administer First Aid* - The character is skilled in patching wounds
in the field. For more debilitating injuries such as poison, disease,
and full-facial reconstruction, Knowledge or Surgery are more
appropriate. Access to a full field medic’s kit or hospital facilities
gives up to a +3 modifier depending on the available technology.
Anything less than a first aid kit will incur penalties.
The character must address the wound within half an hour
multiplied by his rank in First Aid or the patient will need to seek
a professional doctor. Furthermore, only one Administer First Aid
attempt may be made on each instance of a wound. Only lethal
damage outside the negative threshold may be healed this way.
There is a –1 modifier for every level of lethal damage the body
has taken (-1 for every two levels of lethal damage at Rank 3). If
the character is performing the action on himself, then there is
a further -4 modifier. Success heals [1+1] lethal damage, and the
action time for this check is 5 minutes.
Forgery
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Int 0. (Rank 4)
Dex +4, Int +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Dex +4, Int +2, Wil +1.
Forge* - The art of creating singular counterfeit documents. This
process may take many hours or days, depending on the documents
being forged and the available tools. The Forgery check has no
modifier for a simple signature, -2 for a signature on a company’s
forged letterhead paper, -4 for a driver’s license or other formal
governmental document, or -6 for a passport with appropriate visa
stamps. It also assumes that the character had a genuine document
to work from (-4 modifier if he had only got a facsimile when
making his forgery).
There is no action check with a Forge action until someone tries to
Scrutinize the item. At that point, the quality of the forgery is tested.
This is an opposed action for the person carrying out the Scrutinize
check. If someone is looking at the documents but not actively
looking for irregularities then they carry out a Notice check instead,
again opposed to the forger’s Forge check result – don’t forget the
–4 penalty for Notice! If the forger has a disaster, the character had
created something that looked perfect to him, but which has a fatal
flaw that will be immediately noticed by someone important.
Gambling
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Wil +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Wil +2, Int +1.
Wager - A few people are born gamblers. Most successful gamblers,
though, invariably study hard to become skilled at their craft. They
know their chances, and accept that they won’t win all the time.
However, an evening gambling should still be rewarding to a skilled
practitioner. To simulate an evening of sin, the character makes a
Wager check. A success means that he broke even, and every extra
success translates to 5% profit. However, if he fails his action check
then he loses 5% per point he was short. In a disaster, he loses the
lot.
Note, that if you are doing a one-off game of chance then this is
a Fate action, since no amount of skill (other than cheating) will
help.
Characters may attempt to cheat while gambling. This is an alternate
use of the Sleight Of Hand feat.
Bluffing is generally safer than outright cheating (see the Bluff feat).
This is the social version of cheating, and represents misdirection
and body language rather than palming cards and trick dice. It’s
less likely to get you lynched, but is still likely to make you some
enemies.
Heavy Weapons Training
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wil 0. (Rank 3) Wil+2, Wit 0. (Rank 4) Wil
+4, Wit +1, Dex 0. (Rank 5) Wil +4, Wit +2, Dex +1.
The character is trained to attack with support weapons from his
world - such as rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, heavy machine
guns and artillery in a modern setting (which might be catapults
and ballistae in a medieval setting for instance).
Attack - Action time is dependent on the weapon.
Infiltrator
Cost: Type 1, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: Security (Rank 3). (Rank 4) Int +4, Wit +1, Wil 0.
(Rank 5) Int +4, Wit +2, Wil +1.
This feat is identical to Security, but the character may add the
relevant modifier for the rank of this feat to Bypass Security and
Scout Security checks rather than +3. Scout Security checks only
take half the time they otherwise would, based on the size and
complexity of the installation being scouted. What’s more, at any
point during an infiltration, if the system was successfully scouted
beforehand, the character may automatically bypass one security
measure when he would have otherwise failed his check. If he does
this, then the party loses any bonus it had from the scouting for the
rest of the infiltration. Ninjas like this skill – it’s a good thing that
they don’t exist... or do they?
Inquire
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Cha 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Cha +1, Wit 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Cha +2, Wit +1.
To learn from other people, an inquisitive nature is best.
The character may add half the relevant modifier for his rank in this
feat to Intimidation or Negotiation checks if you roleplay individual
conversations rather than using the Ask Around check to simulate
the whole process of canvassing an area.
Ask Around – While the Research feat is the ability to learn from
a variety of reference sources such as the Internet or libraries, Ask
Around specializes in going out and hitting the streets, seeing
what people know. This skill is as much about knowing where to
ask questions as it is about how to ask and what to ask. This action
may either be used to simulate the whole process of information
gathering, or to see whether the character managed to find a
suitable person to interview further... at which point Intimidation
or Negotiation is required. It’s up to the style of play the director
chooses. The action time is normally eight hours. If the available
information is particularly easy or tough to come by there may be a
modifier to the check.
Intimidation
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Pre 0. (Rank 3) Pre +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Pre
+4, Wil +1, Spi 0. (Rank 5) Pre +4, Wil +2, Spi +1.
Terrify Opponent* - The character takes a 75 Tick action to
announce fearsome tidings against an opponent within 5 meters.
The opponent immediately makes a Bravery check opposed by
the Terrify Opponent check (which is slightly different to normal
opposed action checks). Failure results in a –[1+1/3] penalty to the
opponent’s attacks against the character until the end of combat.
Interrogation* - Interrogation is about creating an appropriate
atmosphere of fear or respect for a subject to the end of receiving
information.
Intimidation used for interrogation takes four hours, after which
the prisoner must be given at least four hours’ break to reflect
upon his plight. Each four-hour session of interrogation is an
opposed action check, with the character’s Interrogation opposed
by the victim’s Resolve check. Success results in [2+1] mental
stun damage. If the victim becomes incapacitated through mental
damage, he breaks down and is ready to tell what he knows. At that
point, the character makes an unopposed Interrogation check to
see how much useful information can be separated from the target’s
shattered state. If the victim makes it through 36 hours from the
start of the interrogation, he becomes immune to interrogation by
that team for the remainder of the story.
Knowledge - Various
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites for Knowledges gained after character creation:
(Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Int +4, Wil +1, Wit
0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Wit +1.
Each Knowledge counts as a separate feat, grouped here for
convenience only. Knowledge comes from three main sources:
academic study, career development, and world knowledge. There
are as many academic Knowledges as there are subjects for a
character to study. Just pick up any university prospectus and you’ll
find everything from theology to cryptography, forensics to physics.
A character’s career is often a fine source of learning with practical
application, and career skills make equally good Knowledges.
Examples might be Knowledge - Gunsmith, Knowledge - Law
Enforcement, or Knowledge - Accountant. Finally, characters
often have Knowledges just from being a part of society, covering a
geographic region, historical period, or social group. The broader a
Knowledge feat, the more general the information it provides. On
the other hand, more specialized Knowledge feats come into play
less frequently.
Recall Knowledge* – This is the act of dredging up information
on a topic, with difficulty levels relating to the obscurity of the
information and the narrowness of focus of the appropriate
Knowledge feat the character has. Such checks normally take 5
seconds while the character recalls the information. The more
successes made, the more relevant the information.
Lateral Thinking
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Int 0. (Rank 4) Wit
+4, Int +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Int +2, Wil +1.
41
 This feat is used in moments when players are frustrated at not
being able to figure out where they should go next despite having
all the necessary theories and clues.
Extrapolate - Maybe one vital piece of information eludes you, and
is all that stands between your team and solving the big mystery.
Extrapolation is the act of filling in the gaps in your information
to reach a likely conclusion. With a successful check the character
may figure things out that his player is too tired to put together.
Modifiers are dependent on the number of clues and how obvious
they really are. The director might give the player a tiny prod in
the right direction, or link the dots together for him, depending
on the results of the check. “Bingo, by jingo! After that good night’s
sleep I believe I’ve got it, chaps. I know we can’t prove it, but the
motive and dubious alibi all point to the Duke as being the villain.
Now, if we focus our investigation on him, perhaps we’ll have this
thing sorted.” Extrapolate checks take a character an hour of quiet
contemplation.
Leadership
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Pre 0. (Rank 3) Pre +2, Spi 0. (Rank 4) Pre
+4, Spi +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Pre +4, Spi +2, Int +1.
Encourage* - Leadership may be used to help those nearby pass
Bravery checks. A successful Encourage check adds [1+1] as a
modifier to any Bravery checks being done by teammates and
allies within a 10m radius for the next five minutes (till the end of
combat if within combat), and allows characters who have failed a
Bravery check to retest once if the Encourage check succeeds. If the
character using Leadership is not the designated team leader, he
gets a -2 modifier to his Encourage check. The action time for this
check ranges from 50 Ticks to the duration of a gripping speech.
The longer you spend, the better the modifiers up to a maximum
speech of 30 seconds’ duration. Each character may only attempt
one Encourage check per five minutes (per combat if within
combat).
Inspire* - As a form of complementary action, the character may
take one minute and make a check to add [1+1/2] as a modifier to
the actions of any other characters who are (and remain) within
a 10m radius of him, as long as he takes no actions himself - he’s
too busy being inspiring to participate himself. This has no effect
during combat, for which Strategy or Tactics are required. If the
character using this feat is not the designated team leader, then he
gets a -2 modifier to his check.
Logical Thinking
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wit +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wit +2, Wil +1.
The clues are all there, but somehow you can’t see how they fit
together. This is the skill of putting together all the data known
about a subject and correctly deducing what it all means.
Deduce - This is the partner action to Lateral Thinking’s Extrapolate.
It’s perfect for moments when the players have a good theory of
what’s going on, but they’ve actually joined the dots together wrong.
Their characters probably would have made the correct deductions
based on the information, but the players mis-remembered or
forgot to take notes.
Possible modifiers are dependent on how many and how obvious
the clues at the character’s disposal really are. On a success, the
director might give the player a tiny prod in the right direction.
“Wait one moment, guys, before we get the hangman’s rope out.
Surely, if the Duke were the villain then he wouldn’t have signed his
will over to his godson...” If the character gets a few successes then
the director might even offer a useful pointer in the right direction.
“...but didn’t his wife the Duchess have a suspicious meeting with
the same godson just before that?”.
Master Field Medic
Cost: Standard, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: First Aid (Rank 3). (Rank 4) Int +4, Spi +1, Dex 0.
(Rank 5) Int +4, Spi +2, Dex +1.
42
Administer First Aid* – As per First Aid feat, just adding a higher
modifier.
Emergency Surgery* – As per the Surgeon feat, but with no positive
modifier for this feat. Master Field Medic makes it possible that a
character could help heal critical wounds, but unlikely.
This feat is identical to First Aid, but Administer First Aid actions
may be made up to three hours after the injury (rather than an hour
and a half), which increases to six hours if this feat is upgraded
to (Rank 5). Also, at (Rank 4) the modifier for performing such
checks where the character is also the patient are now -3 rather than
-4, which drops to -2 if this feat is upgraded to (Rank 5). Also at
(Rank 5) the negative modifier for injuries becomes –1 for every
three levels of lethal damage the body has taken (rather than -1 for
every 2 levels).
Mechanical Aptitude
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Dex 0, Int 0.
Complex mechanical objects vary from setting to setting, and have
a complexity rating. Ancient and medieval technology ranges from
1-5, 18th and 19th century equivalents go from 6-10, devices from
the first half of the 20th century or post-apocalyptic worlds tend
to go from 11-15, contemporary items and near-future technology
ranges from 16-20, with more advanced futuristic tech at 21+. Every
setting will have its own variant on this feat where the complexity
gives a -1 to -5 penalty to mechanical checks.
Let’s take an example. You have a modern setting and call your
version Mechanical Understanding. Complexity 16 items give a -1
penalty, complexity 17 item give a -2 penalty, and so on. If your
characters leave this world they’ll find Mechanical Understanding
works with other technology too. If they encounter a toothbrush
with complexity 21, it’s -6 to mechanical checks. A complexity 14
radio? +1 instead.
The action time for mechanical checks is 10 minutes for each
point of complexity for items of lower tech than your setting (so
complexity 1-15 items to a person with Mechanical Understanding).
This becomes four hours for each point of complexity within your
setting (so four hours for complexity 16 items using Mechanical
Understanding, eight hours for complexity 17, and so on). This
becomes one week for each point of complexity for items of higher
tech than your setting (so complexity 21+ items for Mechanical
Understanding).
Disassemble* - This action is useful for telling what mechanical
items are, how they work, and picking mechanical locks. Each of
these uses assumes proper tools, with negative modifiers if this is
not the case.
Repair* - Works as Disassemble, but with the goal of fixing the
object.Repair checks have a -2 penalty because it’s tougher to put
something together than take it apart. Lack of suitable spare parts
may incur additional negative modifiers or make any attempt
impossible.
Mechanical Jury-Rigger
Cost: Standard, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: Mechanical Aptitude (Rank 3). (Rank 4) Wit +4,
Dex +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Dex +2, Int +1.
The character is a master with mechanical objects, specializing in
quick and dirty repairs on items where spare parts and equipment
are scarce. He adds his rank to mechanical checks rather than his
rank in Mechanical Aptitude, except if attempting a Tweak action
(see Mechanical Tinkerer feat).
Jury-Rig* - The character may attempt to patch up equipment and
get it running on duct tape and twine, which counts as a Repair
check done in half the time and halving negative penalties for lack
of spare parts and/or suitable repair equipment (round the negative
modifier down if there are any fractions). In this instance, a
successful check means the item works [1+1] times before needing
to be repaired again. An item may not have the same problem jury-
rigged twice.
Mechanical Tinkerer
Cost: Standard, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: Mechanical Aptitude (Rank 3). (Rank 4) Wit +4, Int
+1, Dex 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Int +2, Dex +1.
The character is a master with mechanical objects, specializing
in overclocking them past their normal efficiency levels. He adds
his rank to mechanical checks rather than his rank in Mechanical
Aptitude, except if attempting a Jury-Rig action (See Mechanical
Jury-Rigger feat).
Tweak * - The character may attempt to improve the performance of
any mechanical object by doing sequential Disassemble then Repair
checks on it and applying the results of the Disassemble check as
a modifier to the Repair check. If the action succeeds, then that
item gives a [1+1/3] bonus to its primary function if a tool, or a
simple [10%+5%] boost to performance if not. Thus, a mechanical
lock would give a [1+1/3] negative modifier to attempts to break
through it, while a crossbow might give a [10%+5%] boost to its
medium range. Note that any item may only be tweaked once, and
if either the Disassemble or Repair attempt is a disaster then the
item is destroyed.
Meditation
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wil 0. (Rank 3) Wil +2, Spi 0. (Rank 4) Wil
+4, Spi +1, Con 0. (Rank 5) Wil +4, Spi +2, Con +1.
Meditate* – The character can shut out the rest of the world to enter
a deep, restful state once per day. This is an action check taking five
minutes and requiring concentration (a Resolve check in distracting
environments). After that the character may Meditate for as long as
he chooses, up to a maximum of one hour. While meditating, the
character is treated as sleeping in terms of healing, but with three
benefits: he retains awareness of his circumstances, and can be fully
active by canceling the Meditation as an automatic action taking 5
seconds; he only needs five minutes of concentration to get into a
full sleep-like state, which can then continue even in relatively busy
environments where sleep would be impossible; he can Meditate
and get the full benefit of sleep in the same day, heightening his rate
of Pulse recovery.
Melee Combat
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Wit 0.
This is the skill of attacking with weapons designed for close
quarters fighting such as swords, knives and broken bottles.
Attack - Action time is dependent on the weapon.
Dodge – Melee Combat can be used to parry other Melee Combat
and Unarmed Combat attacks instead of using the Dodge feat. The
effect is the same as a Dodge against those attack types.
Navigation
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wit +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wit +2, Wil +1.
Find Way – This application of Navigation covers map use, finding
one’s bearings, and successfully traveling from point A to point B.
Without suitable equipment and waypoints this task is made much
harder.
Negotiation
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Cha 0. (Rank 3) Cha +2, Int 0. (Rank 4)
Cha +4, Int +1, Wit 0. (Rank 5) Cha +4, Int +2, Wit +1.
Barter – All matters of bargaining are treated as opposed actions
between the negotiator and the ‘seller’, each using their Negotiaton
feat. One success gives the negotiator a fair deal. Further successes
translate to an increasingly positive deal, whereas failure means an
unfairly high price.
Bribery - Sometimes the easiest way to get something illegal is to
pay for it, whether with goods or services.
When a character wants to bribe an undecided target, make an
opposed check where his Bribe action check total is lowered by the
bribee’s successes in a Resolve check.
If the initial offer is less than half the minimum the bribee would
accept, then the character gets a -4 penalty to his check. If the initial
offer is at least 1.5 times the minimum, the character receives a +4
bonus. A successful check results in a deal. On a failed attempt the
team cannot try to bribe the same person again during that story,
and the character trying the bribe gets -1 to any further social
interaction with that person for the remainder of the session per
point by which he failed his check.
Perception
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Wil +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Wil +2, Int +1.
Notice – When not actively looking for things out of the ordinary,
this action is used for general sensory perception (such as hearing
quiet assailants or smelling smoke on a person’s clothing). The
default modifier for noticing things that you aren’t specifically
looking for is -4 and, if the character is busy with anything that
requires action checks, there is another –4 modifier. Otherwise
Notice works exactly like the Spot action below.
Spot - Spot is the active counterpart to Notice. You might try to Spot
a cheat at cards, if you’re actively looking for cheats. Otherwise it’s a
Notice check. Spot avoids the -4 penalty for not specifically looking.
If you’re looking for an object or person that has been purposefully
hidden, the check becomes an opposed action between the Stealth/
Conceal Item action of the target and the character’s Spot.
Search - When looking for an escape route or hidden treasure, you
Search a place just as you might try to Spot a pickpocket at work.
Searching is an opposed check against the Stealth of the target
trying to conceal something, or a straight check if it’s not something
that’s been specifically hidden. Performing a Search action takes 10
minutes per 5mx5m area. Quicker searches may reveal something,
but with negative modifiers. Searches of large areas such as
warehouses may use the rules for group action checks. Willpower is
the normal ability for Search action checks, not Wits.
Ranged Combat
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Wit 0.
This is the skill of attacking with weapons designed for fighting at a
distance such as pistols, rifles and bows. Thrown weapons fall under
the Throw feat.
Attack - Action time is dependent on the weapon.
Research
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wil +1, Wit 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Wit +1.
A person with this feat specializes in retrieving archived information
such as in libraries or on the Internet, rather than going out and
hitting the streets, asking around, or seeing what people know (see
the Inquire feat). Each method is a useful skill in its own context,
but any particular mystery being investigated might only be solvable
using one or the other… or perhaps a bit of both. This is as much
about knowing where to look as it is about how.
Research Information - This is the act of gathering information
from a variety of sources. If looking for data in a complex computer
43
 system, this may require a computer-related feat, while general
research using computers and the Internet are covered by the
Research feat. The action time for such checks is normally eight
hours – a full day of investigation. If the information is particularly
easy or tough to come by, other modifiers may apply.
Security
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wit 0, Wil 0.
Set Security - A successful check is needed to maximize the benefits
of an anti-intrusion system. Successes or failures in Set Security
become modifiers to break-in attempts. The check is made when
someone first tries to bypass the security. That way the system’s flaws
aren’t known until they’re exploited. Once tested, the same modifiers
apply to all break-in attempts until the system is overhauled.
Bypass Security - Potential intruders may attempt a Bypass Security
check to break in. Depending on the sophistication of the set up,
there may be a modifier to break in (0 to –6). Other modifiers for
the break-in may also be appropriate, based on factors such as the
time of day and immediacy of the plan.
Scout Security - Note that Set Security / Bypass Security is an
abstraction of an entire break-in. In many situations, the director
will choose to roleplay the break-in process stage by stage. In these
cases, a successful check while scouting out the security (with a –2
modifier for the ‘arms length’ nature) gives a [1+1] modifier to any
subsequent attempt to bypass each system. This may be for feats of
acrobatics, picking locks, sneaking past guards, or similar actions.
Sleight Of Hand
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4)
Dex +4, Wit +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Dex +4, Wit +2, Wil +1.
Prestidigitation* - This skill is used for a number of ‘tricks’ from
making pennies appear behind children’s ears to picking pockets.
These are generally opposed actions against the target’s Notice
check, although someone may be looking for a Sleight Of Hand and
use a Spot check instead. Other modifiers should also be applied
depending on how tough the trick is to carry off. Stealing a fat
wallet from a back pocket may not be too tough, but filching the
same wallet from an inside pocket might have a –2 modifier. Trying
to steal someone’s watch while they’re wearing it might have a –8
modifier. Such actions rarely take more than a few seconds.
Stealth
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Dex 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Dex +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Dex +2, Wil +1.
Conceal Item - This is the skill for hiding objects and other people.
This is used as an opposed action against any observers’ Notice or
Search. The check is made when Notice/Search is used. Concealment
may take anywhere from a couple of seconds to a minute.
Items that are not easily concealed may have a negative modifier
while others are not concealable at all. Other negative modifiers
include trying to move with the concealed object on your person
and hasty concealment.
Sneak – The art of not being seen while moving. As long as the
character remains in the same conditions (in the shadows, in a
room with lots of cover, even on a crowded street) and does not
move faster than a walking pace, he may attempt to Sneak. This
is an opposed action against Notice (or Spot if a sentry is looking
for intruders). Modifiers of +2 to –6 may be applied to the sneaker
based on the conditions in which he is sneaking. The director may
also decide that Sneak actions are not possible at all, for instance in
the middle of an open field while being watched.
Strategy
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Int 0. (Rank 3) Int +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4) Int
+4, Wil +1, Wit 0. (Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Wit +1.
44
Battle Planning* - Strategy is the feat used for planning a military
engagement. If used before a battle, given at least one minute per
combatant on the commander’s side to assess the situation and
issue commands, a successful action check puts [1+1] enemies at a
significant combat disadvantage (-1 to attack and +1 to any attack
against them). If the character carrying out this action is not the
team’s combat leader then he gets –2 to his Battle Planning check.
It is up to the character to give succinct orders (i.e. “You two attack
from the left while I go up the middle and Tom tries to move round
to flank them from the right”) and the benefit is only valid while
everyone on the commander’s side is broadly following the orders.
In large-scale engagements with more than double the number of
combatants on the characters’ side as there are characters, successful
Battle Planning gives a –[1+1/3] modifier to the overall attacks of
the enemy forces instead (as long as the plan is being followed),
which is an approximation of Strategy rules for bigger battles.
Strong Body
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Str 0. (Rank 3) Str +2, Con 0. (Rank 4) Str
+4, Con +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Str +4, Con +2, Wil +1.
Strong Body is a measure of physical conditioning beyond core
strength. Strong Body also covers swimming ability; characters
without it can only dog paddle.
Climb - The duration of a Climb action is based on distance,
equipment, and climbing surface. Normally a check would need
to be made every 5m, with modifiers ranging from +2 in good
conditions on a craggy cliff, to –6 for the outside of a skyscraper in
heavy rain. Failure means the character cannot move for 5 minutes.
Two successive failures means the character cannot continue.
Hurl* - Normally, a character may throw a hand-sized object (let’s
assume a tennis ball sized rock) up to 15m plus 2m per point of
Strength or minus 2m per point of negative Strength. If he wishes
to throw something farther, a successful Hurl check is required,
adding [2+1]m to the maximum range. To throw with any degree
of accuracy, use the Throw skill feat. However, a Hurl check can be
used to extend the range of thrown weapons - add the additional
distance to the ‘extreme’ range bracket so this wouldn’t affect the
short, medium or long ranges.
Fast Travel* - There are standard distances a person can move in
a given period of time – 2m per second walking, 4m per second
running and 6m per second sprinting. If he wishes to travel faster, a
successful Fast Travel check is required. Each success adds a quarter
to the distance traveled in the time, up to double.
Surgeon
Cost: Standard, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: First Aid (Rank 3). (Rank 4) Int +4, Wil +1, Dex 0.
(Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Dex +1.
Emergency Surgery* – When a patient enters negative Health,
surgery is required. If a character has access to at least a field medic’s
kit and sterilizing agents, he may attempt to heal a patient in this
state – as long as the treatment begins within a day of the wound
being inflicted (2 days at Rank 5). The process takes one hour per
negative point of Health the patient has taken. The surgeon suffers a
–1 modifier for every Health level of damage below zero his patient
has suffered (every 2 Health levels of damage below zero at Rank
5).
Failure means that the surgeon is unable to do anything more for
the patient. Success means that the patient will heal [1+1/2] Health
after two days of rest, up to 0 Health. If he does not rest fully, then
he loses one point of potential benefits per action check attempted.
The surgeon may not try surgery on the same patient twice unless
the patient becomes rewounded.
For extras (who don’t go to negative Health), a surgeon can follow
the above Emergency Surgery routine as a form of super first aid,
but with a –1 modifier for every Health level of damage, and healing
2 points of damage for each success.
Survival
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Wil +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Wil +2, Int +1.
Wilderness Survival – This is the skill of getting by in the regions
of the world untouched by man. Surviving without proper supplies
requires a check at the end of each day. If failed, the character and
his colleagues each take one physical stun damage representing
exposure, hunger or thirst. This damage is only recovered when the
character returns to civilization and spends a full day recovering
for each point of damage. If the check succeeds then the character
has hunted food, found fresh water, etc for [1+1] people - he may
choose which members of the party get the benefit, and he does not
have to include himself.
This system approximates survival in general terms. More detailed
systems are also possible, calling for individual checks when the
character hunts, builds a shelter, etc. Bear in mind that other feats
might be equally used for some of these activities; for instance the
character might use Tracker to hunt rather than Survival.
System Rigger
Cost: Standard, ranks 4 and 5 only.
Prerequisites: Security (Rank 3). (Rank 4) Int +4, Wil +1, Wit 0.
(Rank 5) Int +4, Wil +2, Wit +1.
This feat is identical to Security, but the character may add the
relevant modifier for his rank in this feat to Set Security checks
(rather than +3), which only take him half the normal time to
perform, and which give a negative modifier of [2+1] to prospective
infiltrators (rather than [1+1]).
Tactics
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Wil 0. (Rank 4)
Wit +4, Wil +1, Int 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Wil +2, Int +1.
Formulate Tactics* – A successful 75 Tick action check allows [1+1]
combatants within hearing range a +1 bonus to attack and –1 to
enemy attacks against them for the rest of combat. At the time of the
action the character must bark out orders to his team members. For
example, “Kenton, push forward down the left. Johannes, down the
right. Everyone else, pick your targets and fire from your positions”.
If any of the team fails to broadly follow his instructions, then the
effect is immediately lost for that person. If the character using
Tactics is not the team’s combat leader, he gets –2 to his check. Only
one set of tactics can be in place at a time on a character.
Throw
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Dex 0. (Rank 3) Dex +2, Str 0. (Rank 4)
Dex +4, Str +1, Wit 0. (Rank 5) Dex +4, Str +2, Wit +1.
This is the skill of attacking with thrown weapons such as spears
and rocks. It is the skill of throwing accurately rather than for pure
distance, which is the Hurl action (see the Strong Body feat).
Attack - Action time is dependent on the weapon.
Tracker
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wit 0. (Rank 3) Wit +2, Int 0. (Rank 4) Wit
+4, Int +1, Wil 0. (Rank 5) Wit +4, Int +2, Wil +1.
Tail – Following a target at a discrete distance is a similar action to
Track (see below), but at a +2 modifier. The target is allowed a Notice
check as an opposed action versus the Tail every five minutes. If a
character has ample cause to suspect he is being tailed, he is allowed
an opposed Spot check instead.
Track* - Finding a person, animal or vehicle in the wilderness is
based on ground conditions, the target’s speed, size, and lead time.
Tracking checks should be made immediately after the tracking
starts, and then every four hours thereafter. If the character fails
a check, he may Search for the next four hours. If that fails, the trail
has been lost. Tracking in urban environments is impossible unless the
situation is exceptional (the opponent is bleeding noticably, etc).
Cover Tracks* - A person being tracked may try to avoid leaving traces.
While this prevents him or his team from moving faster than a walking
pace, it allows an opposed check against anyone following. Each non-
tracker in a group adds a –1 penalty to the Cover Tracks action.
Unarmed Combat
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Str 0. (Rank 3) Str +2, Wit 0. (Rank 4) Str +4, Wit
+1, Dex 0. (Rank 5) Str +4, Wit +2, Dex +1.
This is the skill of attacking without a weapon. Unarmed combat
encompasses a whole range of fighting styles. In general terms it includes
boxing and brawling/wrestling, and without additional training it is
assumed that the character is not a martial artist. Unarmed combat
generally deals only stun damage so is unlikely to be as deadly as weapon-
based combat. However, where weapons are forbidden or where the
character doesn’t wish to kill his opponent, pugilism and wrestling may
be ideal.
Attack - Action time is dependent on the type of attack.’ gets the following
text added: ‘Attacks against armed opponents are at -2 because the
unarmed attacker has less reach than someone with a weapon.
Dodge – Unarmed Combat can be used to deflect incoming Unarmed
Combat attacks instead of using the Dodge feat. The effect is the same as
a Dodge against those attacks.
General Feats
Alertness
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 1) Wit +1. (Rank 2) Wit +3. (Rank 3) Wit +5.
Alert characters are able to move before they realize there’s a need to get
out of the way. Sudden shifts to high action states don’t bother them at all.
Each rank provides a +3 bonus to a character’s reaction time check.
Awareness
Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 1) Wit +1. (Rank 2) Wit +2, Int +1. (Rank 3) Wit
+4, Int +3.
Here’s a feat for archeologists, scouts, and copy-editors who’re in tune
with easily overlooked details. At (Rank 1) the character may add +1 to
any Search check. At (Rank 2) this becomes a +2 modifier and now it
improves both his chance at Spot and Search checks. At (Rank 3) the
modifier is bumped up to +3 and affects Spot, Search, and Scrutinize
checks.
Beginner’s Luck
Cost: Free.
Prerequisites: Starter Feat.
Beginner’s Luck can be used to make a single action automatically
succeed as a basic success or to make a single action check against the
character fail. As an upper-level cosmic boon, Beginner’s Luck can even
be used if the action has already resolved as long as the results haven’t
been applied. It may be used to change the result of a disaster or an
extraordinary success. After use, this feat is removed and the character
may never have another Beginner’s Luck. If the feat isn’t used before the
character has a Karma value of 200, then the feat is lost. We have to grow
up eventually, right?
Endurance
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Con 0. (Rank 3) Con +2. (Rank 4) Con +4.
(Rank 5) Con +5.
45
 With this feat, hard labor becomes hard fun! Each rank provides +1
to all Stamina checks.
Extremely Fortunate
Cost: 6K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +3. Fate On Your Side,
Fortunate.
The character is blessed by good fortune. Twice per session the
character may use Karma to draw a card and remove that amount
from an action check that affects him, even if it’s an extraordinary
success. This counts as a use of Karma for that session, as normal.
Additionally, whenever an opponent draws a 1 in an action check
targeting the character, that opponent gets -2 to the second card
drawn for the purposes of determining disaster. This doesn’t tend
to be enough to turn one’s battles into a slapstick routine, but
nevertheless indicates a charmed life. This use of the feat doesn’t
cost Karma.
This feat replaces the Fate On Your Side and Fortunate feats.
Fate On Your Side
Cost: 3K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +1.
Characters with this feat were born under good stars, saved a
burning orphanage in an earlier life, or something. Whenever an
opponent draws a 1 in an action check targeting the character, that
opponent gets -1 to the second card drawn for the purposes of
figuring whether the action was a disaster or not. This feat doesn’t
guarantee that enemies will get disasters, but makes it more likely
that they will suffer them.
Favor
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat.
Someone owes the character a favor. The favor’s quality and ease
of use depends on the initial Karma cost. Regardless of any other
complications, each favor may only be called on once. The director
and player should work out in advance who owes the favor, and
the ways it could help the character. Generally, this favor should
be collectable whenever the character needs it, with as little fuss
as possible.
Example: Favor (1K) A corrupt policeman could help the character
see the files on a sensitive Internal Affairs case. Big Favor (3K)
The mayor of a significant town could get the characters jobs in
trusted roles or arrange a pardon for a serious crime. Really Big
Favor (5K) A famous ambassador could broker a ceasefire in a long-
standing war that will last a month and give the character time to go
adventuring in a former war zone.
Favored
Cost: 3K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +1.
The powers that be have taken a liking to the character. Beyond
the normal uses of Karma the character may, once per session, use
Karma to add a card to his action check total even if it’s a disaster.
This counts as a normal use of Karma for that session.
Fortunate
Cost: 3K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +1.
The character is blessed by good fortune. Once per session the
character may use Karma to draw a card and remove that amount
from an action check that affects him, even if it is an extraordinary
success.
Greatly Favored
Cost: 6K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +3. Favored, Lucky.
46
The powers that be have really taken a liking to the character. Twice
per session the character may use Karma to add a card to his action
check even if it’s a disaster. Additionally, whenever the character draws
a 1, he gets a +2 modifier to the second card drawn for the purpose of
preventing disaster. This doesn’t make the character immune to bad
luck, but it’s a start. This use of the feat doesn’t cost Karma. This feat
replaces the Favored and Lucky feats.
Income
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. (Rank 3) needs Social Standing (Rank
1). (Rank 4) needs Social Standing (Rank 2). (Rank 5) needs Social
Standing (Rank 3).
The character has access to regular funds. (Rank 1) represents the
equivalent of $500 per month. (Rank 2) pays $1,500 per month.
(Rank 3) pays $3,000 per month. (Rank 4) pays $5,000 per month.
(Rank 5) pays $7,500 per month. A character with Social Standing
(Rank 1) also tends to have Income (Rank 1), scaling up through the
ranks. However, that’s not a hard, fast rule. A character may take this
feat up to 3 times, representing three different income streams, but a
character may have no more than 3x his Social Standing in ranks of
Income (minimum 3). In this way, a character with Social Standing
(Rank 3) could have Income (Rank 3), Income (Rank 4) and Income
(Rank 2) simultaneously. The character starts the game with a year’s
worth of his Income in the bank or the equivalent in forward-paid
rent and board. This feat should be written up under the ‘Possessions’
heading of the character sheet, and as a result doesn’t count towards
the character’s feat limit.
Indomitable Spirit
Cost: 20K
Prerequisites: Spi +3. The character may not have Indomitable Will.
This character is the real deal, the shining example of the uplifting
strength of the human spirit. Motivational speakers tremble in envy,
wishing they had his reserves of never-say-die. The character may
choose to take 3 points of non-preventable spiritual stun damage
to redraw the card for any of his action checks, which replaces the
previous card drawn. This may be done multiple times for the same
action check, but the last card is always the one used for the action
check total. If a 1 or 10 is drawn at any point, the character may not
use Indomitable Spirit to redraw that card. Instead, a second card is
drawn (as usual with 1s and 10s).
Indomitable Will
Cost: 20K
Prerequisites: Wil +3. The character may not have Indomitable
Spirit.
By the sheer act of wanting something hard enough, characters with
this feat can make it so. The character may choose to take 3 points of
mental stun damage (non-preventable) to redraw the card for any of
his action checks, which replaces the previous card drawn. This may
be done multiple times for the same action check, but the last card is
always the one used for the action check total. If a 1 or 10 is drawn at
any point, the character may not use Indomitable Will to redraw that
card. Instead, a second card is drawn (as usual with 1s and 10s).
Influence - Various
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites for Influence gained after character creation: (Rank
2) Pre 0. (Rank 3) Pre +2, Int 0. (Rank 4) Pre +4, Int +1, Wil 0. (Rank
5) Pre +4, Int +2, Wil +1.
There is one influence for each combination of major backgrounds
and homelands in the world (e.g. for the modern world that might
be US military, Japanese organized crime, etc), and each represents
influence with one specific contact.
Beyond character creation, Influence feats may not be purchased with
Karma in the normal way. When a character makes a new, promising
contact during a story, the director may offer the chance for the
character to immediately spend the appropriate amount of Karma
to increase his Influence by one step in that area. Alternatively, the
director may decide that the character would have to work to develop
 the contact into Influence outside of the story, which requires a
downtime action as described in the Fast Talk feat.
Exert Influence* - Influences may be called upon once per
session to gather information that isn’t generally available or to
make special resources available (although the character will still
need to pay for the goods or accept heavy penalties). Negative
modifiers depend on how difficult and dangerous it is for the
contact to help. Normally, such requests take one or more days
to process.
makes a Fate check to determine if it’s any good. Extra successes
might indicate lots of tidbits of information, or a few of wider value
or of special relevance to the character. The character has no control
over what he gets each week, but providing appropriate leverage
may provide positive modifiers. It’s up to the director to provide
appropriate rumors and stories. However, the information should
be a mix of what the character can use and public interest stories.
The character did pay a chunk of Karma though, so some pieces
should distinctly aid the character in the story or help establish side
plots for personal gain.

Iron Will Nimble Fingers

Cost: Standard, 5 ranks. Cost: Standard, 3 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Wil 0. (Rank 3) Wil +2. (Rank 4) Wil Prerequisites: (Rank 1) Dex +1. (Rank 2) Dex +3. (Rank 3) Dex
+4. (Rank 5) Wil +5. +5.

Being tough as nails doesn’t mean too much without an The character is expert at actions that require manual dexterity
attitude to match. Iron Will provides an extra reserve of rather than the agility of the full body. This includes things like
mental fortitude. Each rank provides a +1 modifier to Resolve fixing vehicles, crafting fine statues, and picking locks. At (Rank 1)
checks. he gains a +1 modifier to such actions. At (Rank 2) this becomes
+2 and when doing sleight of hand (or cheating while gambling),
onlookers get -2 to checks to see the subterfuge. At (Rank 3)
Keen Sense the manual dexterity modifier becomes +3 and the penalty for
Cost: 1K to 3K onlookers spotting sleight of hand (or cheating while gambling)
Prerequisites: None. becomes -4.

The character must choose one sense, although this feat may
be taken multiple times for a different sense each time. The
feat costs 1K for smell, 2K for hearing, and 3K for sight. The
character may add +1 to any action check that would benefit
from that sense being acute. While the character may take
this feat for touch or taste at the cost of 1K, most stories
have relatively few uses for those senses. As a result the
character gets an additional +1 modifier to make up for the
infrequency of use.
Lucky
Cost: 3K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +1.
Whenever the character draws a 1, he gets +1 to the second
card drawn for the purposes of determining disaster. This
feat doesn’t make the character immune to disasters, but it
does make them easier to handle. Lucky!
Resources
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. (Rank 3) needs Social Standing
(Rank 1). (Rank 4) needs Social Standing (Rank 2). (Rank 5) needs
Social Standing (Rank 3).
This feat is to make sure that the story’s focus is on more exciting
matters than the characters balancing their checkbooks. Each time
a character with Resources wants to make a small purchase he
does a Fate check with a +2 modifier, to which he may also add
his rank in this feat. He can buy the item as long as it is worth up
to his rank in this feat multiplied by $[20+10]. If he fails, he’s left
his wallet at home and someone else will need to cover him on this
purchase, or he can use his permanent cash from his Income feat
or adventuring loot. On a disaster, he discovers he hasn’t balanced
his budget as well as he thought, and cannot use any Resources
for the rest of the story. Each time he uses this feat after the first

Lucky Beyond Measure

Cost: 9K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Spi +5. Extremely
Fortunate, Greatly Favored.

Luck beyond measure can be your greatest pleasure.

Up to three times per session the character may use
Karma to draw a card and remove that amount from
an action check that affects him, even when the action
was an extraordinary success. The character may also
use Karma up to three times per session to add a card
to his action check even if it’s a disaster. Additionally,
whenever an opponent draws a 1 in an action check
targeting the character, he gets -3 to the second card
drawn for the purposes of figuring whether the action
was a disaster or not. Finally, whenever the character
draws a 1, he gets +3 to the second card drawn for the
purposes of figuring whether the action was a disaster
or not. This feat replaces the Extremely Fortunate and
Greatly Favored feats.

Network Of Spies
Cost: 5K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Cha +1. Int 0.

The character has a series of unnamed contacts around

the city or region where he lives, which he could
replicate anywhere given a month. The information
they provide is reasonably reliable and timely, acting
as a personal rumor mill. Each week, the character
receives an update with basic news from the area - he

47
 time, there is an incremental -1 modifier to his Fate check total, so
it becomes tougher and tougher to keep spending. At the end of
each story (or five sessions if the story goes longer), the incremental
negative modifier resets. This feat should be written up under the
‘Possessions’ heading of the character sheet, and as a result doesn’t
count towards the character’s feat limit.
Sixth Sense
Cost: 10K
Prerequisites: Spi +2.
The character is attuned on some basic level with the universe, and
has a form of ‘danger radar’. Whenever he is in imminent danger,
the director makes a Fate Check for him. If it succeeds, then the
character feels uneasy, sensing the danger. More successes, and the
director may indicate some details – direction, distance or even
the vague nature of the threat. If the check is a disaster then the
character senses nothing, but also feels danger at an inappropriate
time during the session.
Social Standing
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat.
No matter the background of the character, some people are better
thought of in the community than their peers. That said, a hard-on-
his-luck noble is likely to have more Social Standing than a well-
respected farm hand, just because he’s a noble. While aristocrats and
high rollers can go through the game without this feat, they would
need to justify it in the same way as a character with the ‘peasant’
background would need to justify having it higher than (Rank 1).
In a social action, the character with higher Social Standing may
add a modifier to his check equal to the difference in ranks of Social
Standings. Thus, an army captain with Social Standing (Rank 3)
could add +1 to his social checks against a village priest with Social
Standing (Rank 2). If the priest were in disgrace (had no Social
Standing feat), this would be +3. This feat should be written up
under the ‘Brief Description’ heading of the character sheet, and as
a result doesn’t count towards the character’s feat limit.
Special Possession
Cost: 1K or more
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat.
The character possesses an item (or set of items) of value. The value
of the item dictates the cost of the feat, and the details of exactly
what the item is should be agreed with the director. Each Karma
point of Special Possession feat means that the character has an
item worth $1,500 or part thereof. This feat should be written up
as the item or assorted goods it represents under the ‘Possessions’
heading of the character sheet, and as a result doesn’t count towards
the character’s feat limit. Mark the value of the goods with the
item. If lost, the Karma value of the character needs to be adjusted
down by the appropriate amount, because he no longer has his
key possession. Examples of items might be a masterwork set of
electronic lockpicks, a motorbike, a pair of hand made gold-plated
pistols, or a one-of-a-kind drop-dead-gorgeous evening dress from
Milan’s hottest new designer (including matching shoes and bag).
This feat may be taken multiple times for different items, and is a
common one for the director to award as an additional bonus for
completing a story or sub-plot successfully.
Spiritual Fortitude
Cost: Standard, 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: (Rank 2) Spi 0. (Rank 3) Spi +2. (Rank 4) Spi +4.
(Rank 5) Spi +5.
Either this character has looked terror in the eye often enough to be
better prepared, or he has some reason not to be as worried as most
people. Each rank provides a +1 bonus to all Bravery checks.
Powers
Wondering where to get started with
designing supernatural feats for your
world? Check out Powers And Worlds,
a free download from www.talisman-
48 studios.com
Negative Feats
Here are three examples of negative feats: an extreme
physical one, a regular social one, and a serious
mental one. These are examples for you to build
upon. People have all sorts of problems, all of them
a source of inspiration for negative feats. Don’t go
overboard though. There’s a fine line between heroic
flaws, tragic flaws, and being flat-out unplayable.
If your character’s flaws are getting in the way of
your fun or turning routine chores into greased
pig-chasing ordeals, you’re better off without them.
Unless your group goes for that kind of thing.
Blind
Cost: -15K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat.
The character cannot see and automatically fails action checks involving
vision. In instances when other senses can give some clue to the blind
character’s location, he may be able to attempt most actions at a –5 penalty.
For other characters this would be a –8 modifier, but blind characters
have learned to hone their other senses to partially compensate, and are
only as inconvenienced as a sighted character acting on a dark night.
Personality Trait - Various
Cost: Slight (worth -2K). Pronounced (-4K). Extreme (-6K).
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. The director is advised to allow each
character to only have one Personality Trait feat so that they don’t
overwhelm the character.
There are three ranks of personality trait: Slight, Pronounced and
Extreme. Examples of suitable personality traits include: compulsive,
intolerant, loyal, phobic, overconfident, and thrill-seeker. Each condition
contains many permutations based on their source and focus. Any
time the character tries to act against his chosen personality, he must
make a Resolve check, with a -2 modifier if it is Pronounced and -4 if
Extreme. The director should apply additional modifiers depending on
how flagrant a violation of his personality it would be to avoid it. Thus
a character with Pronounced Claustrophobia may get a -6 modifier for
getting into a tiny closet adding to his initial –2 for a total modifier of
-8. People with Pronounced Claustrophobia don’t tend to get into many
tiny closets! Succeeding on the Resolve check means that the character
has briefly triumphed over himself. Failure, and the character takes 2
mental stun damage per point he failed the Resolve check, but may still
act against his personality trait as long as he hasn’t incapacitated himself
in the process. Characters who defy their personality trait more than
once in any session should be treated with suspicion by the director
unless they have excellent reasons for doing so.
Prone To Confusion
Cost: -10K
Prerequisites: Restricted Feat. Max Int +1. Max Wil 0.
Whether the character suffered a blow to the head as a child, has a
mental illness, or is simply uninterested in the common perception of
the surrounding world, he gets easily disoriented. When faced with a
situation where there are multiple important stimuli (such as several
people talking at the character at once) he must make a Resolve check.
Normally, there’s a +2 modifier if the situation isn’t especially tense, but
in situations where there are many stimuli in fast-moving or dangerous
circumstances, the modifier is not valid. If he fails his Resolve check, the
character cannot concentrate on any of the information around him and
begins to shut down. The more important effects should be roleplayed,
but the suffering character also takes two points of mental stun damage
for each point by which he fails the Resolve check and gets a –2 modifier
to Bravery checks until the end of the scene.