Avias

Avias look like humanoid frogs, with green skin and webbed feet, and are amphibious. They are rarely found living far from the coast, as they find it depressing to not see large expanses of water. Their fast reactions and reasonable muscle makes them good warriors and pilots.

Derived Attributes

These attributes are calculated from your character's basic attributes. Basic attributes can change with time, so these will as well - you can work them out each time you need them, or work them out now and adjust them whenever your basic attributes change. They're basically averages apart from the last three, so they are pretty easy to calculate.

All of these are rounded down when averaging!

Extra Attributes

These change during gameplay; the values given here are initial values.

Stamina (Maximum & Current): When the character is in full health, this is equal to Con+Wil+Mus, and may never increase beyond it. It represents the character's structural integrity as an object. When the character is harmed, their Stamina is reduced temporarily due to the damage taken (as described in the Rules section, and it can heal back to the maximum later. If something happens to reduce the character's maximum Stamina during play, then their current Stamina will be reduced if it would otherwise be above the new maximum; if something happens to increase the character's maximum Stamina during play then their current Stamina will be increased if it was at the maximum, but otherwise, they'll need to heal up to their new maximum.

NE (Natural Energy) Boost: Starts off at zero, but is increased by Wizard training.

NE (Natural Energy) (Maximum & Current): The maximum is (Aura*5)+NE Boost, and must be recalculated if Aura or NE Boost change. Current NE is normally at the maximum, and can never rise above it. It is reduced by casting spells, and returns when the caster rests. If the maximum NE is reduced during play, the current NE will only be reduced if it would otherwise exceed the maximum; increases to maximum NE during play never increase current NE, and merely allow current NE to rise to a new maximum upon resting.

Credits Available: Starts at 3D6+5. After completing a level, each character also earns 5 credits pay, plus any bonuses awarded as per the mission brief.

Poison Level: starts as 0.

Skills

Before starting their training as an Elite Unit, the characters will have taken some high school qualifications. The Skills chapter lists available skills, along with a "Cost"; during character generation, the player can pick whatever skills they desire for their character, as long as the total Cost does not exceed their Wisdom attribute. This limit does not prevent learning further skills later in life - it's just used when assigning their initial skills.

Levels

Before each mission, each character chooses one of the following areas to take a course in: eg, he may take Warrior first, becoming a level 1 warrior, then next level they may, for example, take Pilot, to become a level 1 warrior and a level 1 pilot. The next level they could choose to take Warrior again, whence he would become a level 2 Warrior and level 1 Pilot. The effect of levelling up in each area is listed below.

Wizard

Add 1D12 to NE Boost upon taking your first level as a Wizard, and 1D4 every level thereafter, due to increased mental strength gained through practice.

Then learn (up to) 1D4 spells from each level of spells they have access to (from the Spells chapter). Therefore, at level 1 (just created), choose 1D4 level 1 spells; at level 2, choose 1D4 level 1 and 1D4 level 2. When they have learnt all the spells in a level, they just stop rolling 1D4 for that level.

Warrior

No further Warrier levels can be taken once level 10 has been attained.

Divinity

Divinity training consists of pilgrimages and prayer in attempt to curry the favour of a particular god. In return for divine help, however, followers must follow strict moral codes; and having chosen a god, they cannot change their choice.

Here is a level table for Divinity:

A "Fluke" gives the player the ability to, after performing any dice roll in the game, declare that they are "using a fluke". Having declared that, they may perform the same dice roll two more times and pick whichever of the three outcomes they prefer. In game-world terms, the character has issued a plea to their god for assistance.

A "Magic Boost" gives the player the ability to, whenever they could cast a spell, choose any spell from any level, and the NE cost is halved. In game terms, the character has issued a plea to Rak to cast that spell on their behalf. Or gives a boost of 10 to any Essence Magic skill.

A "Vision" means that, at the GM's discretion, the character will receive a vision with important information. This might happen when the character has a difficult decision to make, where the vision might reveal some useful information; or it might draw the character's attention to something the player has neglected to ask about. For instance, the characters are locked in a room with rising water, the players are panicking and have told the GM that their characters should search the room for another way out so will soon die as they futilely attempt to break down the door; at the last moment, the GM might invoke a character's Vision to draw their attention to a ventilation grille.

The player may suggest to the GM that a Vision might be welcome right now (in game terms, the character prays for a vision), as the GM may not remember that a character has a Vision available; but if the GM feels the player is just nagging them for an easy solution to a riddle, which the god in question would not take kindly to, they are free to divinely punish them (and waste the Vision).

A "Save" means that, when the player is about use their character's Dodge attribute in a roll to avoid some kind of attack, they can declare that they will use their "Save" to automatically win the roll.

An "Auric Singularity" gives the player the ability to, at any point, invoke an Auric Singularity. This absorbs all the Natural Energy of any character within five metres of them, and half the Natural Energy of any character within ten metres of them. The natural energy is transferred to the character invoking the Auric Singularity, even if it brings them above their normal maximum.

A "Summoning" gives the player the ability to summon a Krakslaw to kill or destroy the target of their choice. However, this can only be invoked if doing so supports a mission given to them by their god in a vision, and only if the character seems otherwise likely to die imminently in pursuit of this mission. The target must be within line of sight of the character while they pray for this outcome.

An "Elemental Power", when invoked by the player at any time, gives their character the temporary ability to control one of the four elements (Earth, Air, Fire or Water) for a single "feat". Controlling Earth allows for moving up to ten cubic metres of earth or rock (about the volume of a small room), perhaps to create a tunnel or to raise a barrier. Controlling Air allows for summoning a strong wind for up to a minute, which can knock stuff over and make walking impossible, or depriving a volume of up to ten cubic metres of air for about a minute, which is sufficient to cause air-breathing characters within that volume (who can't escape it) to be unable to breathe for that time; unless they roll 1D20 beneath their Constitution, they will be lying down gasping for breath (but still conscious) for 1D4 minutes. Controlling Fire allows for, as long as the character has line of sight to some fire to begin with, either putting that fire out or being able to generate two fireballs from it per action for the next minute. Each fireball counts as an armed combat attack with line-of-sight range and does 3D6 damage, with an attack bonus of 1. Controlling Water allows the character to move up to ten cubic metres of water, and to convert between ice and water at will; for instance, they could freeze a substantial path across a river, freeze the propeller screws of a ship, raise a pool of water into a wall of ice, melt snow, etc.

A "Resurrection" allows the player, within one minute of the death of any character within their character's line of sight, to appeal to their God to save them. This results in them returning to life with a Stamina of 1D4 and all poison effects gone. However, the resurrected character must have been saved from any other cause of death by the characters - if they are burned to death, then their corpse must be pulled from the flames within a minute before the resurrection is attempted, or they would just burn again.

Once used, a divine boon is gone - they are single-use.

Any divine boon requested by a player may be refused by the god if deemed frivolous or lazy (at the GM's discretion), or if the activity the player is involved in goes against the inscrutable interests of that particular god, whatever they may be. Such a refusal will still "use" the boon. If the use of the boon is borderline frivolous, the GM may choose that the god provides a half-hearted response in whatever manner they see fit.

If a character reaches level 10 in Divinity, they attain a Holy Aura. This has the following effects:

Followers of Rak: Gain 6D6 NE Boost. For every further level of Divinity studied, gain 2D6 NE Boost. The character exudes a faint crackling purple glow, which they can suppress at will.

Followers of Thom: Gain one point each of Constitution, Reactions and Willpower. For every further level of Divinity studied, gain one point in whichever of those three attributes is their weakest. The character exudes a faint crackling red glow, which they can suppress at will.

Followers of Val: Gain one point each of Intellect, Wisdom and Willpower. For every further level of divinity studied, gain one point in whichever of those three attributes is their weakest. The character exudes a faint crackling green glow, which they can suppress at will.

Followers of Jop: Gain one point each of Constitution, Muscle and Beauty. For every further level of divinity studied, gain one point in whichever of those three attributes is their weakest. The character exudes a faint crackling black haze, which they can suppress at will.

Technician

Each level, technicians learn a skill.

They can learn any civilian skill from the Skills chapter, or these additional military skills:

Note that the Support Weapons course grants access to Grade 5 weapons only - not grades 4 and lower!

Those taking the Computer Hacking course are given a free cybernetic basic system and a Computer Port.

The Interrogation/Torture skill has a special rule to use it. Add 1D20 to your Persuasion, and the target adds 1D20 to their Willpower. If your total is higher than theirs, they break and talk.

Repair skills are really two skills: Diagnose and Fix. Diagnose must be successful to find the problem, and Fix must be successful to sort out a known problem. For instance, if a weapon is broken, a technician who has studied weapon repair must first save with Willpower to diagnose exactly what is wrong, and save with Willpower a second time to fix it. The appropriate tools will be needed for both actions!

Pilot

Pilots control vehicles and their attached weapons through the Control Port, a cybernetic addition that allows computers within vehicles to interface directly with the pilot's brain. They may drive a vehicle around, as well as fire the weapons etc. fixed to it. They may fire all the weapons at once, at one or many targets, as well as move, and any sensors on the vehicle (radar, cameras, etc.) are like their own eyes and ears. While controlling a vehicle, the Pilot must remain securely seated or lying down in the vehicle's control chair, strapped in, as they are paralyzed while controlling the vehicle; they can still listen and talk, but cannot see. They can still feel physical sensations, and can disconnect from the vehicle Control Port at will if they feel their physical body is in danger.

As they reach levels, the following bonuses apply:

When using a vehicle of a grade above the current licence held by the pilot, subtract 5 from their reactions in vehicle-related rolls concerning that vehicle. Pilots may not buy vehicles without suitable licenses. When a Pilot takes their level 1 course, they automatically receives a Nuclear Power Pack, Neural Tap, and Control Port, as part of the military training grant scheme.

Essence Mage

Essence Magic is a different approach to magic. Whenever a character takes a level in Essence Magic, they gain one point in one of the special Essence skill attribute listed in the Essence Magic section. Read it for details.