Augury Rules

Augury is an homebrew system which is in a constant state of change and updating. The core rules have been modified for the purposes of the Tales of the Infinite Sea setting. It has a higher emphasis on non-combat skills and role-playing than most systems and a relatively simplistic character creation process.

Basic Stats
Strength (Str): Affects how fast you can run, how far you can jump, how much weight you can lift. Strength is absolutely vital for a character who plans on getting by through the use of direct force. Even though this is a low-combat campaign, strength is still useful for traversing dangerous or rough terrain, lifting heavy objects and intimidation.

Constitution (Con): How tough you are, how how much stamina you have, how long you can keep fighting, and most importantly of all, how long you can survive without food, water or sleep. Con is the main stat used to determine HP and Energy as well as the ability to simply refuse to give up.

Dexterity (Dex): Sleight of hand, flexible joints, visual and sonic acuity. Dexterity is highly important for remaining alert in respect to the world around you and be able to react to that world at all times. Although most useful to those who require acrobatics, swift fingers and a sharp eye are also crucial to the use of firearms.

Agility (Agi): How fast you move and react to physical changes. A must for anything requiring quick feet or good reflexes. This stat is most important for those who lack the constitution to hold up in a straight up fight.

Intelligence (Int): Cleverness, quickness of wit and sheer book knowledge, Int determines how much you know and your ability to quickly access that information. It is often paired with wisdom although it may stand on its own in purely academic pursuits.

Wisdom (Wis): If Int is knowing things, Wis is your ability to put those things to use. Most pieces of practical knowledge, street smarts and common sense are based in Wisdom, as are more practical applications of knowledge, like military tactics and navigation.

Willpower (Will): What Con is to the body, Will is to the mind, it determines your ability to stay awake, to stay alert, to resist torture and to stay cool in stressful situations, It is also of paramount importance when guarding against direct magical attacks to the mind. Those with high enough Will can even completely block out such mental assaults.

Social Standing (Soc): Normally, this stat would be worthless, in a campaign like this, Soc is absolutely crucial. Not only does it play a role in skills like Court Manners (more important than it sounds) it also determines the character's starting wealth, how NPCs treat them and whether or not they are able to cast magic.

Each player has a balance of ten points to distribute amongst these eight stats. Players can also take away stat points to allocate to other stats (no stat can be brought below -2 though). An average healthy adult human commoner has scores of 0 across the board. Scores of 2-3 are usually uncommon, though not exceptional. 4 is the realm of the gifted while 5 and above count as truly extraordinary. The number values for Soc also directly translate to the position of the character: 5+: High Court Nobility 3-4: Low Court Nobility 2: Gentry 1-0: Commoner -1 and below: Underclass. Note that only humans of Soc 2 and higher can use magic, and that those with higher social standing start out with more wealth, those in the underclass start out flat broke.

These basic stats also affect the character's Hitpoints (40+ (4xCon) + Str), Energy (60 + (10xWill) + (20xCon)) as well as Life Force (Will + (Soc-2)). Finally, these stats affect the base value of all character skills.

Skills
Skill rolls and progression are ridiculously important in Augury. Pretty much everything that cannot be decided by straight-up role-playing defaults to this. As a result, there's a really flexible system for dealing with skill rolls in place instead of having to refer to an improvise a long, universal list. Skills consist of several parts. Aside from the name, a skill also has base stats, a percentage and power.

Base Stats and Percentage
Each skill's base value is built by using the two basic stats that are most required to perform that skill. (For example, the skill "Dodge" might require both Agility and Dexterity.) This base value is decided at character creation using the formula 2[(stat1)+(stat2)] + 16. Eg. If one were to have 3 Will and 2 Wis, they would add the two together (5), multiply it by two (10) and add sixteen (26) for their Morale skill. The resulting number is called the Percentage. When the DM decides that the character is "under stress" (in combat or similar situations) the player must a D100 and may only proceed to a power roll if he rolls below the percentage. Percentage is also used to determine hits in combat.

Power Rolls
Power rolls are used for skill checks at any time when that skill can be performed at the PC's leisure. They are also used to partially determine damage in combat. The dice used for power rolls are determined by the skill's percentage score: Percentage/Power: 8-15/D4 16-23/D6 24-31/D8 32-39/D10 40-48/D12

Skill Points
At character creation, character age decides the amount of points the player can allocate into skill percentages in exchange for penalties to their stats and vice versa: Age 14-17: -2 to stat points, -2% to two skills. Age 18-29: No bonuses/penalties Age 30-44: -1 to stats, Bonuses to skill percentages totaling 5 points Age 45-54: -3 to stats, Bonuses to skill percentages totaling 15 points Age 55+: -5 to stats, Bonuses to skill percentages totaling 30 points

Custom Skills
Note that were are only nine skills printed on the character sheet. This is because the other twenty-odd slots are for the player to create their own skills. This is to allow players to fill their own niches and create their own roles within the party. These skills can be any profession or specialization that the character can be reasonably expected to be skilled at (tracking, court manners, bureaucracy, housework etc...) as well at least a few of the basic combat skills (weapon skills, magic, dodge, parry and block). The player is allowed to choose their own (within reasonable limits) base stats although where this skill might apply is up to DM discretion.

Examples: Firearms: Int/Dex (Decides firearm maintenance and reloading) Flintlock Rifle: Dex/Agi (Decides hit percentage and damage when using a Flintlock Rifle) Dodge: Agi/Dex (One of the three damage mitigation skills) Warmagic: Soc/Will (Decides effect and energy cost when using magic) Court Manners: Soc/Wis (Determines knowledge of how to behave like a noble, identify courtiers based on their clothing etc)

Magic
I am dispensing with Augury's normal magic system and replacing it with my own to fit the campaign setting more. In the Infiniverse, magic for humans is less of an innate talent which can be called on at all times, but a special last-resort ability which should only be used when the only thing capable of getting out of the fix your in is the quick and immense display/use of power that magic usually entails. As such, magic is very limited both in its use and its prevalence.

Calibre
Human mages are rated in "Calibres", rough levels of power which give a not of what a mage can do, but to the extent that a mage can do it. For example, a first calibre mage can manipulate fire, but it will take him the better part of a day to light a candle. A fourth or fifth calibre mage can start a campfire effortlessly, A eight calibre mages are capable of causing people to spontaneously combust. Mages capable of using their power for military applications are colloquially known as "magelords". The calibre of a player character is determined by a player's (Int + Will + 2x Soc) and directly affects the power of a magic skill roll.

Social Status
Since the fall of the Calligian Empire some eight hundred years ago, the ability to cast magic, once universal among humans has become rarer and rarer. By the time of the current campaign, only one in twenty humans possess the ability to feel the flow of magic, out of them, only a tenth can actively use magic. Other the centuries, those capable of using magic have assumed the position of the aristocracy in the Northern Kingdoms, referring to their arcane power as "The Mandate of the Ascension" and holding power over the "Mageless" masses. In game, this is reflected by only allowing those with +2 Soc or higher (effectively nobility) to use magic skills. Soc also plays a role in the player character's mage calibre, to represent the fact that the most powerful "warmages" often gain favour and fortune faster than their less-endowed fellow nobles.

The Magedead
Magedead are different from the Mageless in the distinction that Magedead are still officially aristocracy. While Mageless lost their ability to use magic before the current magocratic system solidified, Magedead families had once been part of the magical elite. Sometimes, a noble family gives birth to a child who has failed to inherit the ability to use magic. Usually this child is either disowned or treated not differently from a bastard child. When a noble family acknowledges a heir who was born without the ability to use magic, then that line is considered "Magedead" and is ostracized from society in different ways depending on the region. (In Tierra for example, a Magedead house will be barred from Parliament and refused all but the most basic privileges of nobility. When the magedead heir ascends to the fief, he is not allowed to pass the title down to his children. The house effectively dies with the first magedead patriarch.) Players who wish to play nobles without any magical powers are advised to play Magedead characters. Magedead may add an extra (0.5 x Soc rounded down) to any one of their other stats.

Life Force and The Bane
All magic is powered by Life Force, measured on the character sheet as "Life Force Points (Soc+Will)". This means that magic can only affect things that are alive (people, obviously) or had once been alive (the fibre in a candle wick, the wooden shaft of an arrow, but not the lead in a musket ball). This also means that mages only have a finite amount of magical power available to them at any time. The usual method for gaining this power is by drawing it from The Flows, the relatively fixed network of LF channels which give the world life. At certain places, the barrier between The Flows and the physical world weakens, allowing for appropriately capable individuals to draw raw life force into their bodies. This environmental life force is known as "The Bane". Holding Bane for a long period of time is detrimental, even fatal to humans. These ill effects are countered by the existence of Pure Life Force, the innate Life Force which all humans possess. PLF is far more focused than Bane and its effects are accordingly more impressive.

What does this mean in game terms?
It means that a Mage can draw Bane from a "Bane Well" (usually clearly marked as such), which requires a ritual lasting 2 hours per point of Life Force until their hit their LF Maximum. Every time a player character uses a Magic skill, he "uses" one LF point. If a PC is out of Bane (His LF points are at 0) then he may resort to tapping into his own Pure Life Force. When he does this, the player "burns" a LF point, lowering his maximum by one permanently. He may also use both at once, using up a LF point and then burning one as well. This doubles the effect of the skill (if combat) or doubles the magic skill bonus (if non-combat). Players should note that a PC with a Max LFP of 1 may still burn that last point. The effect/bonus is quadrupled instead of doubled, but the PC WILL die, his body withering into a lifeless husk over a period of (1d8 x Will) seconds.

Magic Skills
There are two ways to use magic. The most obvious way is offensively, to use it to cause harm to the person/thing of your choosing. Combat magic is different from normal combat in three different ways: The first is that magic ALWAYS hits as long as the target is in line of sight. The percentage (determined by your Calibre instead of your base stats) is your ability to cast quickly and effectively and is only used when the caster wants something extra done (casting silently, casting quickly etc). Secondly, combat casting takes up a full round unless the player specifically declares that they will be casting quickly AND succeed in rolling below the percentage. Lastly, the energy expenditure is quite large and scales up with the power of the mage, severely limiting the caster's ability to cast repeatedly or also participate in my conventional combat. The damage formula for Magic attacks is: (Power x 2Int)

Secondly, magic can also be used to aid in non-combat situations. A player may choose to cast magic to aid a skill check (within reason please). This allows them to add their Calibre to the power roll. It still uses up energy and LF normally.

Starting Combat
The rules for starting combat in Augury are pretty similar to the ones in D&D: the PCs make an observation or an intuition check (depending on the circumstance) to spot an enemy and circumstances depend on who attacks first, or if both sides start on an even footing. Surprise rounds work much like they do in D&D, if one side gets the drop on another, or catches the other side unprepared, then they have a full round to attack before the other side can respond. In addition, the surprised side cannot use any of its Damage Mitigation Skills for that round. Before the Player Character's side actually begins combat, they must roll initiative. Initiative is determined by adding Observation and Intuition power rolls. Aside from this, Initiative works exactly as in D&D, with the highest going first, then the second highest etc.

Combat Basics
Each character's combat round is divided into three Blocks. A player character may spend a combat block to: -Attack with a Melee Weapon -Attack with a firearm -Move up to 5 metres. (1 square = 1 metre) -Begin/Continue reloading a firearm -Perform a non-combat skill In addition, a player may send his entire round to use a magic skill.

Attacking with a Weapon
When a player character attacks another character with a particular weapon, they must first determine if they hit by rolling the associated weapon skill percentage. Rolling below the skill percent is a hit, rolling above is a miss. Rolling less than one fifth (rounded down) the skill percentage is a critical. A critical hit results in the attack doing maximum possible damage. Rolling over 95 is a fumble, which must be reported to your DM for whatever sadistic punishment the critfail table deems fit. The DM then rolls the target's DMS if applicable and announces the result. Weapon damage is determined with the following formula: (Skill Power + Weapon Damage + (Stat1+Stat2))

NOTE: Attacking with a melee weapon costs energy, the formula for calculating this cost is printed on the formula sheet.

Firearms
Guns in Tales of the Infinite Sea are a gigantic gamble. They are expensive and difficult to obtain, the ammunition is tightly controlled by the monarchy and the ducal houses and they take anywhere from thirty seconds to three minutes to reload. They do, however, do ridiculous amounts of damage, cost no energy to fire and most importantly, they completely ignore the effects of magic. Each type of firearm has an accuracy modifier (which is applied to the weapon skill) and a reload score. When a player with an unloaded firearm attempts a "combat reload", he must roll his Reload skill. A success means that the character rolls power and subtracts the result from the reload score. A critical means he subtracts maximum possible power from the reload score. A fumble? best not dwell on that. When the reload score reaches zero, it is reset and the weapon is now "loaded" and ready to fire again.

Damage Mitigation Skills
There are three DMS skills: Dodge, Parry and Block. Although they are based on different stats and are valid in different situations, they have roughly the same end effects. When a character is about to suffer damage, the relevant DMS comes into play. A percentage roll below the DMS results in damage reduction equal to the following power roll. A percentage roll below half the skill percentage results in the character taking no damage. A fumble however, results in the player taking maximum possible damage from the attack.

Non-Combat Skills in Combat
A player may choose to take one block to perform a non-combat skill. (Within reason, a request to use your Ship-in-a-Bottle Construction skill in the middle of a pitched battle will result in nothing but pity-filled stares from your fellow players and a smack to the back of the head from your DM.) If you are not directly locked in combat (within reach of an enemy melee attack), then you may do so with a -2 circumstantial penalty to power. If you are within melee range, you must also roll percentage to succeed and still take the power penalty. In addition, any enemies within melee range get a free unmitigated attack of opportunity.

Character Progression
Every time a skill is used in play, mark an "X" on the space under the "Used" column. At the beginning of the next session, roll a D100. If the roll is below the skill percentage, make no change. If it is anywhere from 1-25% above the current percentage, increase the skill percentage by 1, if it is from 26-50% above current skill percentage, then increase the skill percentage by 2 and so on. A roll of 100/0 counts as an automatic critical success, the skill percentage is increased by 5.