This page is intended as a collection of all information a new player will need to jump into the game, including information on the setting, rules, and character generation.
A copy of the original Numenera Player's Guide can be found here. If you enjoy this MUSH, we ask that you please buy your own copy to support the great people at Monte Cook Games.
The World of Eternal Morning
History*
The world has fallen to ruin, as the prophecies have foretold.
The Wyrm's power grew ever greater, despite the efforts of Gaia's Chosen, the Garou. Taint filled the world with more and more horror, until the earth could not contain it, and war began between the world's protectors and misshapen beasts from nightmares that crawled out of the ground. Even the crazed Corrupter, in its massive, pseudo-realistic form, emerged from the spirit world to fulfill its destiny of destroying all of Gaia's creation.
But the Garou fought back, and they brought allies. With the help of the humans and the Garou's own kinfolk, they fought back the Wyrm and its plan of total destruction was foiled. The Wyrm's corruption was cleansed, and the apocalypse was stopped.
Still, the Earth was shattered. Humanity had been decimated, and its works of grandeur and majesty reduced to ruin. The Garou and kinfolk did not fare much better. Their septs had been corrupted and ruined by the Wyrm's influence, the leylines they relied on for their mystical connection completely disrupted beyond understanding. The world fell into a century of darkness as its inhabitants struggled just to survive. Garou, kinfolk, and human worked together, and what began as a wary alliance grew into a friendship as individual groups found new homes in this cruel world.
Lapis Lazuli*
A century after the apocalypse was averted, Garou and kinfolk mystics found something they thought they'd never find again: a locus! A seed of power leaking back into the world, something that can be used to build a new home. The people of Lazuli have settled down in this place, creating a new caern around this power to protect and nurture it. Kinfolk and humans have began to rebuild their lives nearby. With the knowledge of pre-apocalypse civilization saved by wise scholars, they are doing well to rebuild, though not having infrastructures like working electrical grids or mass production facilities makes rebuilding society completely a difficult one.
(What is Lazuli good at? What resources can it provide to the outside world?)
(Add description of surrounding area here. Lazuli should be relatively isolated from other groups, making direct trade difficult, but not impossible for travelers or caravans to access)
Spirits*
The destruction of the Apocalypse left scars not just on the physical world and its inhabitants, but on the spirit world, as well. When the Wyrm burst out of the Umbra, it tore through the Gauntlet, leaving it torn and shredded. Though the Umbra and Realm are still separate, spirits travel more freely than ever in the physical realm, causing trouble per their natures, with Weaver and Wyld spirits being the most troublesome. Already driven insane in ages long forgotten, the Weaver's madness was riled up by the damage to its Gauntlet, and so it is creating an endless number of its own kin to swarm into the real world, for reasons none know for certain. The Wyld has spread like a cancer into its own pockets in the Realm as well, acting with the mindlessness of a force of pure creation.
Civilization in Eternal Morning*
Though the world has been shattered, we're not sent all the way back to a medieval era with grass huts and burning trash to keep warm. Humanity has kept its knowledge from the pre-apocalypse days, and with the help of kinfolk and Garou, civilization is being slowly rebuilt. However, pre-apocalypse civilization was heavily dependent on a global support system, and in this world of shattered and separated societies, as well as rampaging spirits, that global structure has not yet been rebuilt. Many smaller societies have set their home in the shattered husks of the old cities, doing their best to rebuild old power plants or restore farming equipment. Guns are easy to find, but bullets not so much. The metallurgic equipment needed to make the precisely designed casings, and the chemical processes needed to make the cordite are beyond any individual group. The standard of living of this post-apocalyptic world is, all things considered, pretty good!
A single society cannot flourish on its own, though, and most are reliant on explorers to go out and search through the ruins for old tech. Or, more commonly, going out and scavenging power and resources from the spirits themselves. Spirits can be used in multiple ways, often as allies or even just as sources of food for Garou, but also to make fetishes and talens.
A fetish is an object or device that a spirit has been bound to, either to power it or give it new abilities. A fetish may imbue its owner with increased speed or jumping abilities, or sharper claws. It may also provide an invisible shield against attacks or disguise the wearer from hostile spirits. All fetishes have one specific purpose, connected to the spirit that's bound within them, whether willingly or by force.
A talen is like a fetish, but often made not from a whole spirit, but from the scavenged parts of spirits that have been killed. As such, they can be used once before just becoming a piece of wood or a neat trinket. Because talens are containers of disorganized spirit essence, they can be dangerous when gathered together, as the energy may react with itself and have nasty, unpredictable effect. Most people can only manage to carry a few talens at a time.
Rules Overview
(This section should be able to mostly stay the same, but it should be edited for use in a MUSH instead of a tabletop setting. Also, references to pages should instead include appropriate wiki links.)
Eternal Morning uses a twenty-sided die (1d20) to determine the results of most actions. Whenever a roll of any kind is called for and no die is specified, the system will roll a d20.
The game master sets a difficulty for any given task. There are 10 degrees of difficulty. Thus, the difficulty of a task can be rated on a scale of 1 to 10.
Each difficulty has a target number associated with it. The target number is always three times the task's difficulty, so a difficulty 4 task has a target number of 12. To succeed at the task, you must roll the target number or higher.
Character skills, favorable circumstances, or excellent equipment can decrease the difficulty of a task. For example, if a character is trained in climbing, she turns a difficulty 6 climb into a difficulty 5 climb. This is called decreasing the difficulty by one step. If she is specialized in climbing, she turns a difficulty 6 climb into a difficulty 4 climb. This is called decreasing the difficulty by two steps.
A skill is a category of knowledge, ability, or activity relating to a task, such as climbing, geography, or persuasiveness. A character who has a skill is better at completing related tasks than a character who lacks the skill. A character's level of skill is either trained (reasonably skilled) or specialized (very skilled).
If you are trained in a skill relating to a task, you decrease the difficulty of that task by one step. If you are specialized, you decrease the difficulty by two steps. A skill can never decrease a task's difficulty by more than two steps.
Anything else that reduces difficulty (help from an ally, a particular piece of equipment, or some other advantage) is referred to as an asset. Assets can never decrease a task's difficulty by more than two steps.
You can also decrease the difficulty of a given task by applying Effort.
To sum up, three things can decrease a task's difficulty: skills, assets, and Effort.
If you can decrease a task's difficulty to 0, you automatically succeed and don't need to make a roll.
Difficulty | Description | Target # | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
0 | Routine | 0 | Anyone can do this basically every time. |
1 | Simple | 3 | Most people can do this most of the time. |
2 | Standard | 6 | Typical task requiring focus, but most people can usually do this. |
3 | Demanding | 9 | Requires full attention; most people have a 50/50 chance to succeed. |
4 | Difficult | 12 | Trained people have a 50/50 chance to succeed. |
5 | Challenging | 15 | Even trained people often fail. |
6 | Intimidating | 18 | Normal people almost never succeed. |
7 | Formidable | 21 | Impossible without skills or great effort. |
8 | Heroic | 24 | A task worthy of tales told for years afterward. |
9 | Immortal | 27 | A task worthy of legends that last lifetimes. |
10 | Impossible | 30 | A task that normal humans couldn’t consider (but one that doesn't break the laws of physics). |
When Do You Roll?
Any time your character attempts a task, the GM assigns a difficulty to that task, and you roll a d20 against the associated target number.
When you jump from a burning vehicle, swing a battleaxe at a fomor, swim across a raging river, identify a strange device, convince a merchant to give you a lower price, craft an object, use a power to control a foe's mind, or use a heat-beam emitter to carve a hole in a wall, you make a d20 roll.
However, if you attempt something that has a difficulty of 0, no roll is needed — you automatically succeed. Many actions have a difficulty of 0. Examples include walking across the room and opening a door, shapeshifting into Crinos, using an ability to protect your friend from a spirit's aura, or activating a device (that you already understand) to erect a force field. These are all routine actions and don't require rolls.
Using skill, assets, and Effort, you can decrease the difficulty of potentially any task to 0 and thus negate the need for a roll. Walking across a narrow wooden beam is tricky for most people, but for an experienced gymnast, it's routine. You can even decrease the difficulty of an attack on a foe to 0 and succeed without rolling.
If there's no roll, there's no chance for failure. However, there's also no chance for remarkable success (in Numenera, that usually means rolling a 19 or 20; see Special Rolls).
Combat
Making an attack in combat works the same way as any other roll: the GM assigns a difficulty to the task, and you roll a d20 against the associated target number.
The difficulty of your attack roll depends on how powerful your opponent is. Just as tasks have a difficulty from 1 to 10, creatures have a level from 1 to 10. Most of the time, the difficulty of your attack roll is the same as the creature's level. For example, if you attack a level 2 bandit, it's a level 2 task, so your target number is 6.
It's worth noting that players make all die rolls. If a character attacks a creature, the player makes an attack roll. If a creature attacks a character, the player makes a defense roll.
The damage dealt by an attack is not determined by a roll — it's a flat number based on the weapon or attack used. For example, a spear always does 4 points of damage.
Armor
Your Armor characteristic reduces the damage you take from attacks directed at you. You get Armor from wearing physical armor (such as a sturdy leather jerkin or chainmail) or from special abilities. Like weapon damage, Armor is a flat number, not a roll. If you're attacked, subtract your Armor from the damage you take. For example, a leather jerkin gives you 1 point of Armor, meaning that you take 1 less point of damage from attacks. If a bandit hits you with a knife for 2 points of damage while you're wearing a leather jerkin, you take only 1 point of damage. If your Armor reduces the damage from an attack to 0, you take no damage from that attack.
When you see the word "Armor" capitalized in the game rules (other than as the name of a special ability), it refers to your Armor characteristic — the number you subtract from incoming damage. When you see the word "armor" with a lowercase "a," it refers to any physical armor you might wear.
Using Armor
Anyone can wear any armor, but it can be taxing. Wearing armor increases the cost of using a level of Effort when attempting a Speed-based action. So if you’re wearing light armor and want to use two levels of Effort on a Speed-based roll to run across difficult terrain, it costs 7 points from your Speed Pool rather than 5 (3 for the first level of Effort, plus 2 for the second level of Effort, plus 1 per level for wearing light armor). Edge reduces the overall cost as normal. If you are not experienced with a certain type of armor but wear it anyway, this cost is further increased by 1. Having experience with a type of armor is called being practiced with the armor.Weapons
Typical physical weapons come in three categories: light, medium and heavy.
LIGHT WEAPONS inflict only 2 points of damage, but they reduce the difficulty of the attack roll by one step because they are fast and easy to use. Light weapons are punches, kicks, clubs, knives, handaxes, rapiers, and so on. Weapons that are particularly small are light weapons.
MEDIUM WEAPONS inflict 4 points of damage. Medium weapons include Crinos' bites and claws, swords, battleaxes, maces, crossbows, spears, and so on. Most weapons are medium. Anything that could be used in one hand (even if it's often used in two hands, such as a quarterstaff or spear) is a medium weapon.
HEAVY WEAPONS inflict 6 points of damage, and you must use two hands to attack with them. Heavy weapons are Crinos' all-out attacks, huge swords, great hammers, massive axes, halberds, heavy crossbows, and so on. Anything that must be used in two hands is a heavy weapon.
Bonuses
Rarely, an ability or piece of equipment does not decrease a task's difficulty but instead adds a bonus to the die roll. Bonuses always add together, so if you get a +1 bonus from two different sources, you have a +2 bonus. If you get enough bonuses to add up to a +3 bonus for a task, treat it as an asset: instead of adding the bonus to your roll, decrease the difficulty by one step. Therefore, you never add more than +1 or +2 to a die roll.
Special Rolls
When you roll a natural 19 (the d20 shows "19") and the roll is a success, you also have a minor effect. In combat, a minor effect inflicts 3 additional points of damage with your attack, or, if you'd prefer a special result, you could decide instead that you knock the foe back, distract him, or something similar. When not in combat, a minor effect could mean that you perform the action with particular grace. For example, when jumping down from a ledge, you land smoothly on your feet, or when trying to persuade someone, you convince her that you're smarter than you really are. In other words, you not only succeed but also go a bit further.
When you roll a natural 20 (the d20 shows "20") and the roll is a success, you also have a major effect. This is similar to a minor effect, but the results are more remarkable. In combat, a major effect inflicts 4 additional points of damage with your attack, but again, you can choose instead to introduce a dramatic event such as knocking down your foe, stunning him, or taking an extra action. Outside of combat, a major effect means that something beneficial happens based on the circumstance. For example, when climbing up a cliff wall, you make the ascent twice as fast. When a roll grants you a major effect, you can choose to use a minor effect instead if you prefer.
In combat (and only in combat), if you roll a natural 17 or 18 on your attack roll, you add 1 or 2 additional points of damage, respectively. Neither roll has any special effect options — just the extra damage.
Rolling a natural 1 is always bad. It means that a new complication is added to the encounter, either determined by your GM or by the players in the scene.
Range and Speed
Distance is simplified into three categories: immediate, short, and long.
IMMEDIATE DISTANCE from a character is within reach or within a few steps. If a character stands in a small room, everything in the room is within immediate distance. At most, immediate distance is 10 feet (3 m).
SHORT DISTANCE is anything greater than immediate distance but less than 50 feet (15 m) or so.
LONG DISTANCE is anything greater than short distance but less than 100 feet (30 m) or so. (Beyond that range, distances are always specified — 500 feet [152 m], a mile [1.6 km], and so on.)
The idea is that it's not necessary to measure precise distances. Immediate distance is right there, practically next to the character. Short distance is nearby. Long distance is farther off.
All weapons and special abilities use these terms for ranges. For example, all melee weapons have immediate range — they are close-combat weapons, and you can use them to attack anyone within immediate distance of you. A thrown knife (and most other thrown weapons) has short range. A bow has long range. A Shaman's Onslaught ability also has short range.
A character can move an immediate distance as part of another action. In other words, he can take a few steps over to the control panel and activate a switch. He can lunge across a small room to attack a foe. He can open a door and step through.
A character can move a short distance as his entire action for a turn. He can also try to move a long distance as his entire action, but the player might have to roll to see if the character slips, trips, or stumbles as the result of moving so far so quickly.
For example, if the PCs are fighting a group of spirits, any character can likely attack any spirit in the general melee — they're all within immediate range. Exact positions aren't important. Creatures in a fight are always moving, shifting, and jostling, anyway. However, if one spirit stayed back to fire mind bullets, a character might have to use his entire action to move the short distance required to attack that foe. It doesn't matter if the spirit is 20 feet (6 m) or 40 feet (12 m) away — it's simply considered short distance. It does matter if it's more than 50 feet (15 m) away because that distance would require a long move.
Experience Points*
Experience points (XP) are given to players for playing in scenes, but can also be rewards given to players when the GM intrudes on the story (this is called GM intrusion) with a new and unexpected challenge. For example, in the middle of combat, the GM might inform the player that he drops his weapon. However, to intrude in this manner, the GM must award the player 2 XP. The rewarded player, in turn, must immediately give one of those XP to another player and justify the gift (perhaps the other player had a good idea, told a funny joke, performed an action that saved a life, and so on).
Alternatively, the player can refuse the GM intrusion. If he does so, he doesn't get the 2 XP from the GM, and he must also spend 1 XP that he already has. If the player has no XP to spend, he can't refuse the intrusion.
The GM can also give players XP between sessions as a reward for recovering interesting artifacts or making discoveries during an adventure. You don't earn XP for killing foes or overcoming standard challenges in the course of play. Discovery is the soul of Numenera.
Experience points are used primarily for character advancement (for details, see Creating Your Character), but a player can also spend 1 XP to reroll any die roll and take the better of the two rolls.
For more information, see the Advancement page.
Fetishes and Talens
As explained in The World of Eternal Morning, talens are a type of spirit-imbued item that have a single minor use. A character can carry talens and use them during the game. You can't bear many talens at a time because a large number of these items together will react with each other in dangerous and unhealthy ways.
Characters will find new talens frequently in the course of play, so players shouldn't hesitate to use their talen abilities. Because talens are always different, the characters will always have new special powers to try. There are two kinds of talens: minor and major.
MINOR TALENS are simple to use: a potion to drink, an animal bone to break, or a bomb to throw.
MAJOR TALENS are more complex and more dangerous, but they often have better and more interesting effects. A major talen counts as two talens for the purpose of determining how many you can bear at the same time.
Creating Your Character
Character Stats
Every player character has three defining characteristics, which are typically called "statistics" or "stats." These stats are Might, Speed, and Intellect. They are broad categories that cover many different but related aspects of a character.
MIGHT: Might defines how strong and durable your character is. The concepts of strength, endurance, constitution, hardiness, and physical prowess are all folded into this one stat. Might isn't relative to size; instead, it's an absolute measurement. An elephant has more Might than the mightiest tiger, which has more Might than the mightiest rat, which has more Might than the mightiest spider.
Might governs actions from forcing doors open to walking for days without food to resisting disease. It's also the primary means of determining how much damage your character can sustain in a dangerous situation. Physical characters, tough characters, and characters interested in fighting should focus on Might.
SPEED: Speed describes how fast and physically coordinated your character is. The stat embodies quickness, movement, dexterity, and reflexes. Speed governs such divergent actions as dodging attacks, sneaking around quietly, and throwing a ball accurately. It helps determine whether you can move farther on your turn. Nimble, fast, or sneaky characters will want good Speed stats, as will those interested in ranged combat.
INTELLECT: This stat determines how smart, knowledgeable, and likable your character is. It includes intelligence, wisdom, charisma, education, reasoning, wit, willpower, and charm. Intellect governs solving puzzles, remembering facts, telling convincing lies, and using mental powers. Characters interested in communicating effectively, being learned scholars, and wielding the numenera should stress their Intellect stat.
Pool, Edge, and Effort
Each of these stats has two components: your Pool and your Edge. Your Pool represents your raw, innate ability, and your Edge represents knowing how to use what you have. A third element ties into this concept: Effort. When your character really needs to accomplish a task, you apply Effort.
POOL: Your Pool is the most basic measurement of a stat. Comparing the Pools of two creatures will give you a general sense of which creature is superior in that stat. For example, a character who has a Might Pool of 16 is stronger (in a basic sense) than a character who has a Might Pool of 12. Most characters start with a Pool of 9 to 12 in most stats — that's the average range.
When your character is injured, sickened, or attacked, you temporarily lose points from one of your stat Pools. The nature of the attack determines which Pool loses points. For example, physical damage from a sword reduces your Might Pool, a poison that makes you clumsy reduces your Speed Pool, and a psionic blast reduces your Intellect Pool. You can also spend points from one of your stat Pools to decrease a task's difficulty (see Effort). You can rest to regain lost points from a stat Pool (ask your GM for additional information), and some special abilities or numenera might allow you to recover lost points quickly.
EDGE: Although your Pool is the basic measurement of a stat, your Edge is also important. When something requires you to spend points from a stat Pool, your Edge for that stat reduces the cost. It also reduces the cost of applying Effort to a roll.
For example, let's say you have a mental blast ability, and activating it costs 1 point from your Intellect Pool. Subtract your Intellect Edge from the activation cost, and the result is how many points you must spend to use the mental blast. If using your Edge reduces the cost to 0, you can use the ability for free.
Your Edge can be different for each stat. For example, you could have a Might Edge of 1, a Speed Edge of 1, and an Intellect Edge of 0. You'll always have an Edge of at least 1 in one stat. Your Edge for a stat reduces the cost of spending points from that stat Pool, but not from other Pools. Your Might Edge reduces the cost of spending points from your Might Pool, but it doesn't affect your Speed Pool or Intellect Pool. Once a stat's Edge reaches 3, you can apply one level of Effort for free.
A character who has a low Might Pool but a high Might Edge has the potential to perform Might actions consistently better than a character who has a Might Edge of 0. The high Edge will let her reduce the cost of spending points from the Pool, which means she'll have more points available to spend on applying Effort.
EFFORT: When your character really needs to accomplish a task, you can apply Effort. For a beginning character, applying Effort requires spending 3 points from the stat Pool appropriate to the action. Thus, if your character tries to dodge an attack (a Speed roll) and wants to increase the chance for success, you can apply Effort by spending 3 points from your Speed Pool. Effort lowers the difficulty of the task by one step. This is called applying one level of Effort.
You don't have to apply Effort if you don't want to. If you choose to apply Effort to a task, you must do it before you attempt the roll — you can't roll first and then decide to apply Effort if you rolled poorly.
Applying more Effort can lower a task's difficulty further: each additional level of Effort reduces the difficulty by another step. Applying one level of Effort lowers the difficulty by one step, applying two levels lowers the difficulty by two steps, and so on. However, each level of Effort after the first costs only 2 points from the stat Pool instead of 3. So applying two levels of Effort costs 5 points (3 for the first level plus 2 for the second level), applying three levels costs 7 points (3 plus 2 plus 2), and so on.
Every character has an Effort score, which indicates the maximum number of levels of Effort that can be applied to a roll. A beginning (first-tier) character has an Effort of 1, meaning you can apply only one level of Effort to a roll. A more experienced character has a higher Effort score and can apply more levels of Effort to a roll. For example, a character who has an Effort of 3 can apply up to three levels of Effort to reduce a task's difficulty.
When you apply Effort, subtract your relevant Edge from the total cost of applying Effort. For example, let's say you need to make a Speed roll. To increase your chance for success, you decide to apply one level of Effort, which will reduce the difficulty of the task by one step. Normally, that would cost 3 points from your Speed Pool. However, you have a Speed Edge of 2, so you subtract that from the cost. Thus, applying Effort to the roll costs only 1 point from your Speed Pool.
What if you applied two levels of Effort to the Speed roll instead of just one? That would reduce the difficulty of the task by two steps. Normally, it would cost 5 points from your Speed Pool, but after subtracting your Speed Edge of 2, it costs only 3 points.
Once a stat's Edge reaches 3, you can apply one level of Effort for free. For example, if you have a Speed Edge of 3 and you apply one level of Effort to a Speed roll, it costs you 0 points from your Speed Pool. (Normally, applying one level of Effort would cost 3 points, but you subtract your Speed Edge from that cost, reducing it to 0.)
Skills and other advantages also decrease a task's difficulty, and you can use them in conjunction with Effort. In addition, your character might have special abilities or equipment that allow you to apply Effort to accomplish a special effect, such as knocking down a foe with an attack or affecting multiple targets with a power that normally affects only one.
Effort and Damage
Instead of applying Effort to reduce the difficulty of your attack, you can apply Effort to increase the amount of damage you inflict with an attack. For each level of Effort you apply in this way, you inflict 3 additional points of damage. This works for any kind of attack that inflicts damage, whether a sword, a crossbow, a mind blast, or something else.
When using Effort to increase the damage of an area attack, such as the explosion created by a Shaman's Flash ability, you inflict 2 additional points of damage instead of 3 points. However, the additional points are dealt to all targets in the area. Further, even if one or more of the targets in the area resist the attack, you still inflict 1 point of damage to them.
Multiple Uses of Effort and Edge
Stat Examples
Character Tiers and Benefits
Every character starts the game at the first tier. Tier is a measurement of power, toughness, and ability. Characters can advance up to the sixth tier. As your character advances to higher tiers, you gain more abilities, increase your Effort, and can improve a stat's Edge or increase a stat. Note that PCs are exceptional, even at first tier. It's safe to assume that they've already got some experience under their belt. This is not a "zero to hero" progression, but rather an instance of competent people refining and honing their capabilities and knowledge. Advancing to higher tiers is not really the "goal" of Numenera characters, but rather a representation of how characters progress in a story.
For more information, see the Advancement page.
Character Race, Type, Descriptor, and Focus
To create your character, you build a simple statement that describes him or her. The statement takes this form: "I am a [fill in an adjective here] [fill in a noun here] [fill in a noun here] who [fill in a verb here]."
Thus: "I am an adjective noun noun who verbs." For example, you might say, "I am a Rugged Garou Warrior who Controls Beasts" or "I am a Charming Kinfolk Shaman who Focuses Mind Over Matter."
In this sentence, the adjective is called your descriptor.
The nouns are your character race and type.
The verb is called your focus.
Even though character type is in the middle of the sentence, that's where we'll start this discussion. (Just as in a sentence, the noun provides the foundation.)
Character type is the core of your character. In some roleplaying games, it might be called your character class. Your type helps determine your character's place in the world and relationship with other people in the setting. It's the noun of the sentence "I am an adjective noun who verbs."
You can choose from three character types: Warrior, Shaman, and Jack.
Character race describes how your character fits into the setting of Eternal Morning. That is, it decides which race you are: Garou, Kinfolk, or Human.
Descriptor defines your character — it flavors everything you do. Your descriptor places your character in the situation (the first adventure, which starts the campaign) and helps provide motivation. It's the adjective of the sentence "I am an adjective noun noun who verbs."
You can choose from twelve character descriptors.
Focus is what your character does best. Focus gives your character specificity and provides interesting new abilities that might come in handy. Your focus also helps you understand how you relate with the other player characters in your group. It's the verb of the sentence "I am an adjective noun who verbs."
There are many character foci to choose from.
Special Abilities
Character types and foci grant PCs special abilities at each new tier. Using these abilities usually costs points from your stat Pools; the cost is listed in parentheses after the ability name. Your Edge in the appropriate stat can reduce the cost of the ability, but remember that you can apply Edge only once per action. For example, let's say a Shaman with an Intellect Edge of 2 wants to use his Onslaught ability to create a bolt of force, which costs 1 Intellect point. He also wants to increase the damage from the attack by using a level of Effort, which costs 3 Intellect points. The total cost for his action is 2 points from his Intellect Pool (1 point for the bolt of force plus 3 points for using Effort minus 2 points from his Edge).
Sometimes the point cost for an ability has a + sign after the number. For example, the cost might be given as "2+ Intellect points." That means you can spend more points or more levels of Effort to improve the ability further.
Many special abilities grant a character the option to perform an action that she couldn't normally do, such as projecting rays of cold or attacking multiple foes at once. Using one of these abilities is an action unto itself, and the end of the ability's description says "Action" to remind you. It also might provide more information about when or how you perform the action.
Some special abilities allow you to perform a familiar action — one that you can already do — in a different way. For example, an ability might let you wear heavy armor, reduce the difficulty of Speed defense rolls, or add 2 points of fire damage to your weapon damage. These abilities are called enablers. Using one of these abilities is not considered an action. Enablers either function constantly (such as being able to wear heavy armor, which isn't an action) or happen as part of another action (such as adding fire damage to your weapon damage, which happens as part of your attack action). If a special ability is an enabler, the end of the ability's description says "Enabler" to remind you.
Character Races
See Character Races
Character Type
See Character Types
Character Descriptor
Character Focus
See Character Foci
Equipment
See Equipment