Key Terms

There are a number of important terms that you’ll need to know as you create your first character or adventure. Some of the most important terms mentioned on previous pages are also included here for reference.

Alignment

Alignment represents a creature’s fundamental moral and ethical attitude.

Attack

When a creature tries to harm another creature, it makes a Strike or uses some other attack action. Most attacks are Strikes made with a weapon, but a character might Strike with their fist, grapple or shove with their hands, or attack with a spell.

Attribute

Each creature has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. These scores represent a creature’s raw potential and basic attributes. The higher the score, the greater the creature’s potential in that ability. Ability scores are described in full later in this section.

Background

A background represents what a character experienced before they took up the life of an adventurer. Each background grants a talent and training in one or more skills.

Class

A class represents the adventuring profession chosen by a character. A character’s class determines most of their proficiencies and the character stamina multiplier. It also gives access to a set of class talents.

Condition

An ongoing effect that changes how a character can act, or that alters some of their statistics, is called a condition.

Currency

The most common currencies in the game are gold pieces (gp) and silver pieces (sp). One gp is worth 10 sp. In addition, 1 sp is worth 10 copper pieces (cp), and 10 gp are worth 1 platinum piece (pp).

Defence

All creatures in the game have six defences, one for each attribute. These scores represents how hard it is to hit and damage a creature. They serve as the Difficulty Class for hitting a creature with an attack.

Game Master (GM)

The Game Master is the player who adjudicates the rules and narrates the various elements of the Stormchaser story and world that the other players explore.

Initiative

At the start of an encounter, all creatures involved roll for initiative to determine the order in which they act. The higher the result of its roll, the earlier a creature gets to act.

Non-Player Character (NPC)

A non-player character, controlled by the GM, interacts with players and helps advance the story.

Perception

Perception measures your character’s ability to notice hidden objects or unusual situations, and it usually determines how quickly the character springs into action in combat.

Player Character (PC)

This is a character created and controlled by a player.

Proficiency

Proficiency is a system that measures a character’s aptitude at a specific task or quality, and it has five ranks: untrained, trained, expert, master, and legendary. Proficiency gives you +1d that’s added when determining the following modifiers and statistics: attack rolls, defences, perception, skills and the effectiveness of spells. If you’re untrained, you gain no bonus. If you’re trained, expert, or a master your proficiency bonus equals +1d, +2d, or +3d, respectively.

Rarity

Some elements of the game have a rarity to denote how often they’re encountered in the game world. Rarity primarily applies to equipment and magic items, but spells, feats, and other rules elements also have a rarity. If no rarity appears in the traits of an item, spell, or other game element, it is of common rarity. Uncommon items are available only to those who have special training, grew up in a certain culture, or come from a particular part of the world. Rare items are almost impossible to find and are usually given out only by the GM, while unique ones are literally one-of-a-kind in the game. The GM might alter the way rarity works or change the rarity of individual items to suit the story they want to tell.

Roleplaying

Describing a character’s actions, often while acting from the perspective of the character, is called roleplaying. When a player speaks or describes action from the perspective of a character, they are “in character”.

Round

A round is a period of time during an encounter in which all participants get a chance to act. A round represents approximately 6 seconds in game time.

Skill

A skill represents a creature’s ability to perform certain tasks that require instruction or practice. Each skill includes ways anyone can use that skill even if untrained, as well as uses that require a character to be trained in the skill.

Species

A species is the broad family of people that a character belongs to. Ancestry determines a character’s starting senses and speed. It also grants access to species talents.

Speed

Speed is the distance a character can move using a single action, measured in feet.

Spell

Spells are magical effects created by performing mystical incantations and gestures known only to those with special training or inborn abilities. Casting a spell is an activity that usually uses two actions. Each spell specifies what it targets, the actions needed to cast it, its effects, and how it can be resisted. If a class grants spells, the basics of that ability are provided in the class description.

Stamina

Stamina represents the amount of punishment that a creature can take before it falls unconscious and begins dying. Damage decreases stamina on a 1-to-1 basis, while healing restores stamina at the same rate.

Talent

A feat is an ability you can select for your character due to their ancestry, background, class, general training, or skill training. Some talents grant the ability to use special actions.

Trait

A trait is a keyword that conveys additional information about a rules element, such as a school of magic or rarity. Often, a trait indicates how other rules interact with an ability, creature, item, or another rules element that has that trait.

Turn

During the course of a round, each creature takes a single turn according to initiative. A creature can typically use up to three actions during its turn.