Core Rules

[Mindshred]

Rolling Dice

Honor's Edge uses ten-sided dice to determine whether characters succeed or fail at the actions they attempt. This section explains how the dice function and how to understand the dice terminology that is used elsewhere in the game.



Dice Notation and Type

When a character is called upon to resolve some sort of conflict, she rolls a number of ten-sided dice (often abbreviated as "d10s") based upon her Attributes and Skills. These dice are called her dice pool. The final total of the character's dice pool is then compared against a Target Number (or TN) that is determined by the GM.

If a character's total is equal to or higher than the required TN, she succeeds at the task. If her total is lower than the required TN, she fails.

It is rare that a character will end up counting every dice she rolls toward her final total. It is far more likely that she will only be allowed to keep a certain number of her rolled dice. For this reason, when discussing dice rolls, the notation of "XkY" is used, meaning "roll X ten-sided dice and choose Y of them to keep." Only the dice that the player chooses to keep count toward her final total.

• Example: Reiko is searching through a room to find clues to a murder. The GM informs him that he has to make a roll against TN 15 (Average Difficulty) to find it. Reiko's dice pool is 5k3, so her player rolls five ten-sided dice and gets 8, 6, 5, 3, and 1. She is allowed to keep three dice, so she chooses her three highest - 8, 6, and 5 - and adds them together to get a total of 19. The two dice she didn't keep - the 2 and the 1 - are discarded without effect. Since the total of her roll equaled or exceeded the TN given to her by the GM, Reiko finds a clue pointing her toward the identity of the murderer!

Dice Pool Modifiers

When a character adds dice to her dice pool, it is typically presented in the format of "+XkY," meaning "roll an additional X ten-sided dice and choose Y additional dice to keep." This value can be added directly to the character's normal dice pool total to get her final dice pool total.

For instance, if a rule says to add +2k0 to a dice pool of 4k3, it would bring the dice pool total up to 6k3.

If a character's dice pool suffers a penalty, it is typically presented in the format of "-XkY," meaning "remove X ten-sided dice from the pool and keep Y fewer dice." This value can be subtracted directly from the character's normal dice pool total to get her final dice pool total.

For instance, if a rule says to apply a -2k0 penalty to a dice pool of 6k3, it would bring the dice pool total down to 4k3.

A penalty to a dice pool can sometimes reduce the number of rolled dice to less than the number of kept dice. In this case, the character will not be able to keep the maximum number of allowed kept dice.

• Example: Reiko's dice pool is reduced to 2k4, so she rolls two dice and chooses four to keep. Since there are only two dice available to choose from, however, she can only choose those two dice to keep.

Exploding Dice

Sometimes, characters are capable of truly amazing feats. When a character rolls a "10" on a d10, that die is said to "explode." The character immediately rolls a second die and adds its result directly to the exploding 10. If the die shows a 10 on this second roll, it explodes as well, with the exploding dice adding together until the character rolls a value that does not explode.

No matter how many times a die explodes, it is still considered to be a single die for the purposes of determining how many dice the character may keep.

• Example: Reiko rolls 3k1 to swing her sword at a peasant warrior. She gets a 4, 5, and 10. The 10 explodes, so she immediately rolls another die and gets a 5, which she adds to the total of her exploding 10 to turn it into a 15. Since she can only keep one die, Reiko chooses to keep the 15.
  
  Example: Reiko decides to make another attack against the peasant warrior. She rolls 3k1 again and gets a 6, 7, and 10. The 10 explodes, so she immediately rolls another die and gets a 10, which explodes as well! A third die is rolled, and this one comes up as a 2. This means that the dice she rolled are effectively 6, 7, and 22. Since she can only keep one die, she chooses to keep the 22, surprising even herself with her smooth swordsmanship.

Skill Rolls

Skill Rolls are the most common form of dice rolls in Honor's Edge.

A Skill Roll involves one Attribute and one Skill and is presented as a Skill (Attribute) Roll. For instance, if the GM wanted a character to make a Skill Roll using the Strength Attribute and the Athletics Skill, she would ask the character to make an Athletics (Strength) Roll against a certain TN.

When a character makes a Skill Roll, she rolls a number of dice equal to her Attribute rank plus her Skill rank and then keeps a number of dice equal to her Attribute rank. Or, to put it in dice notation, she would roll (Attribute rank + Skill rank) k (Attribute rank).

• Example: Reiko has a Strength of 2 and her Athletics is 1. When she is asked to make an Athletics (Strength) Roll, she rolls three dice and keeps two of them. This is expressed as 3k2.

Damage Rolls

Damage Rolls are the second-most common form of dice rolls in Honor's Edge. Note that Damage Rolls are not Skill Rolls (and thus are unaffected by things that affect Skill Rolls).

When a character successfully hits an opponent with an attack, that character makes a Damage Roll. Damage Rolls typically have rolled and kept dice each equal to the character's Strength, plus a modifier based on the weapon being used in the attack.

Certain weapons or Techniques might change how a Damage Roll is calculated, perhaps allowing a character to use an Attribute other than Strength or even using a set value independent of a character's Attributes. In these situations, the weapon or Technique will list these changes in its description.

• Example: Reiko has a Strength of 2 and is fighting an opponent with her katana, which has a weapon modifier of +3k0. If she successfully slashes her opponent with her katana, she will deal 5k2 damage to them (2k2 from her base Strength, +3k0 from the katana).

Success Margins

When a character succeeds on a Skill Roll, she is generally considered to have done just well enough to have completed the challenge. Sometimes, however, characters are able to go above and beyond what is considered a standard success to accomplish something amazing.

For every five full points by which a character exceeds the TN of a Skill Roll, she is said to have generated one Success Margin. Success Margins allow a character to complete a task with increased competency.

• Example: Reiko is attempting to hide from a suspicious magistrate. She makes a Stealth (Agility) Skill Roll against a TN of 15 and some of her dice explode, giving her a total of 22!
  
  Since she exceeded the TN by a full 5 points, she succeeds with one Success Margin. Not only does she hide from the magistrate, she's able to circle around to the barn she had been sleeping in and retrieve her things without him noticing.

Failure Margins

When a character fails on a Skill Roll, it can sometimes be useful to measure just how badly she fails.

For every five points by which a character fails to meet the TN of a Skill Roll, she generates one Failure Margin. Failure Margins show just how badly a character has failed and often result in disadvantageous side effects.

• Example: Reiko meets with a local lord and attempts to impress him with few well-chosen words. The GM informs her that this is a Skill Roll with Average Difficulty (TN 15). Reiko rolls her dice but ends up getting a 12, which is a failure. Her words fail to impress the lord, who dismisses her without paying much attention to her.
  
  If she had rolled very poorly, she might have ended up with a 8, which would have given her a Failure Margin. This might have resulted in Reiko offering some unintended insult to the lord, resulting not only in her failing but also being barred from his court in the future.

Cooperative Rolls

Sometimes, multiple characters decide to work together to accomplish a single goal. When this happens, a Cooperative Roll is used.

When characters make a Cooperative Roll, they choose a single character to make the appropriate Skill Roll. That character gains a bonus to her final total equal to the Skill rank of every character that assists her on the Roll.

• Example: Reiko has 2 ranks in the Medicine Skill. If she assists a healer who is attempting to stop a wounded samurai from bleeding out, the healer adds +2 to the final total of his Medicine Skill Roll.

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Scenes

At times, various game mechanics might refer to a "scene." A scene is nothing more than whatever is happening at the current moment. For example, if the characters are speaking with a daimyo, then every character involved in those discussions (i.e., the characters speaking with the daimyo, the daimyo herself, and any retainers or spectators that are in the room) is considered to be present in that scene.

Generally speaking, a scene ends when the characters move on to a different location, or after a significant amount of time passes (which, in turn, causes a new scene to begin).



Zones

Areas in Honor's Edge are separated into different sections, which are collectively known as "Zones." Each Zone encompasses an abstract area defined by the terrain and the objects within that terrain. Zones that share a border with each other are said to be adjacent to each other.

• Example 1: A battle taking place around a small shrine encompass three Zones: the shrine's interior, the rocky area to the north of the shrine, and the grassy area to the south of the shrine. The shrine's entrance is on the south, so the "Rocky Zone" is adjacent to the "Grassy Zone" (since it's easy to walk from one to the other), and the "Grassy Zone" is adjacent to the "Temple Zone" because of the temple's doorway.

• Example 2: A dramatic scene is taking place in a daimyo's court that encompass only two Zones: the daimyo's dais and the receiving area in front of it, and the common area of the court where the daimyo's guests and retainers speak amongst themselves. Both Zones are adjacent to each other. If the daimyo's court had been particularly large, the common area might have been split into two different Zones.

When describing a scene, the GM should ensure that each of the various Zones in that scene is properly designated, as most weapons and magical effects are limited in what Zones they can affect.


The Sky Zone
When outdoors, it it assumed that there is a "Sky Zone" that is adjacent to all exterior Zones. A character in the "Sky Zone" is effectively hovering or flying a good distance above the ground, so in most cases, only characters capable of flight are able to move to this Zone.

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Attributes and Stats

Characters in Honor's Edge have eight Attributes that define their physical and mental capabilities. Each ranges from rank 1 (the weakest) to rank 5 (the strongest). A rank of 2 is considered to be the human average for each Attribute.

Characters have an effective minimum Attribute of 1; if an effect would reduce a character's Attribute below 1, it instead reduces the Attribute to 1. Even the weakest of characters can still interact with their environment in a somewhat limited manner.

Attributes are split into two general categories: Physical Attributes and Mental Attributes.



Physical Attributes

Physical Attributes govern the character's physical body.

• Strength is raw might and prowess.
• Coordination is accuracy and gracefulness.
• Reflexes is reaction time and speed.
• Stamina is toughness and resistance to pain.

Mental Attributes

Mental Attributes govern the character's mind and soul.

• Presence is charisma and force of personality.
• Spirit is spiritual harmony and supernatural attunement.
• Intellect is logical thought and memory.
• Willpower is confidence and self-control.

Derived Stats

In addition to their Attributes, each character also possesses a number of Derived Stats, which are mechanical values determined by a combination of a character's Attributes and Skills.

• Defense represents a character's ability to avoid physical attacks. It is calculated by multiplying her Reflexes by 5 and then adding +5 to the result.
• Conviction represents a character's ability to resist mental attacks and remain firm in her beliefs. It is calculated by multiplying her Willpower by 5 and adding +5 to the result.
• Notice represents a character's ability to see, hear, and sense things around her. It is calculated by multiplying her ranks in the Investigate Skill by 5 and adding +5 to the result.
• Ki Points are spent to cast spells, use magical sword techniques, and to activate other amazing effects. A character has Ki Points equal to twice her Spirit.

Health

Characters have Health Ranks that measure how much damage they can sustain before the pain begins imposing penalties to their TNs. Each of a character's Heath Ranks has Health equal to her Stamina multiplied by 5. When a character suffers damage, she loses Health from her uppermost Health Rank. If any damage remains after a character's Health Rank has been completely depleted, the remaining damage is applied to the character's next Health Rank, and so on. If all of a character's Health Ranks are depleted, the character is killed.

As a character suffers more damage, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to pay attention to other tasks. Each Health Rank has an associated Pain Penalty (often referred to simply as Pain). When a character makes a Skill Roll, the Pain Penalty of their uppermost Health Rank with remaining Health is applied as an increase to the TN of that Skill Roll.

The Health Ranks are as follows:

• Normal (+0 Pain)
• Grazed (+5 Pain)
• Hurt (+10 Pain)
• Injured (+15 Pain)
• Critical (+20 Pain)
• Out (Character is unconscious)

• Example: Reiko has Stamina 2, so each of her Health Ranks consists of 10 Health. While in battle, she is struck by an arrow that deals 14 damage to her. This is enough to make her lose all the Health in her "Normal" Health Rank, as well as 4 Health from her "Grazed" Health Rank. Because her uppermost Health Rank with remaining Health is "Grazed," Reiko suffers the +5 Pain Penalty and increases the TN of any Skill Rolls she makes by +5, due to the pain of her injury.
  
  After the battle, a healer tends to Reiko's wounds and heals 5 of her Health. This is enough to fully refill her "Grazed" Health Rank and to restore 1 Health to her "Normal" Health Rank, thus reducing her Pain from +5 to +0.

Ki Points

Ki Points represent a character's inner energy and their ability to harmonize with the world around them. Ki Points can be spent for various effects, as listed below.

After 8 hours of rest (including sleep and/or meditation), a character regains all of their Spent Ki Points.

Ki Points can be spent in the following manner:

• A character may spend 1 Ki Point to gain +Xk0 on a Skill Roll, where X is equal to her Spirit Attribute.
• A character may spend a Ki Point to use a Mystical Technique that she knows.
• A character may spend any number of Ki Points after suffering damage. For each Ki Point spent, the damage suffered is reduced by 5.
• A character in combat may spend any number of Ki Points at the start of her turn to increase their Defense by +5 per spent Ki Point (to a maximum of +25 Defense). This bonus lasts until the start of the character's next turn.
• A character in combat may spend a Ki Point to ignore her Pain Penalty until the start of her next turn.
• If a character would be reduced to "Out" Health Ranks, she may spend a Ki Point at the start of her turn to remain conscious (or barely alive, if she would be have been killed). Until the start of hers next turn, the character counts as being "Critical" (and thus suffers the associated +20 Pain Penalty) and cannot be killed, even if all of her Health is depleted. If the character chooses not to renew this effect, she returns to her normal Health Rank, possibly falling unconscious. If, at any point during this time, the character would have been killed, she dies when this effect ends (regardless of her current Health).

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Rounds, Turns, and Initiative

During intense moments when every second counts (such as combat), the game enters Dramatic Time. Dramatic Time is measured in rounds, with each round consists of roughly six seconds. During a round, characters take turns acting in Initiative Order, until every character present in the scene has taken a turn. Gameplay then proceeds to the next round, and so on, until the underlying cause of Dramatic Time has resolved itself (i.e., the combat has ended, the bomb has been defused, etc.).


Initiative
At the start of Dramatic Time, each character present in the scene makes an Initiative roll by rolling Athletics (Speed) and adding any relevant modifiers. The character with the highest Initiative takes her turn first, followed by the character with the next highest Initiative, and so on, with the character with the lowest Initiative taking her turn last. When there are no more characters left to act, the current round ends and a new round begins.

Delaying
At the start of a character's turn, instead of doing anything else, she may choose to Delay to a set point later in the round (typically just before or after another character takes their turn). The character's Initiative remains unchanged in future rounds.

A character may only Delay once per round.


Actions
On a character's turn, she may take one Standard Action, one Simple Action, and one Bonus Action. These Actions are optional; a character does not have to take a Standard Action if all she wants to do on her turn is Move, for example.

In addition, a character can perform any number of Free Actions, even when it is not her turn. If this would cause a conflict of timing (such as a character attempting to drop a held item as an opponent tries to steal it), the actions of the character currently taking their turn have priority.

The most common uses of the various Actions are as follows:


Standard Actions

• Attack - Make an attack with a held weapon.
• Invoke - Attempt to cast an Invocation
• Skill - Make a Skill Roll
• Adjust - Gain the effects of a Simple Action

Simple Actions

• Move - Move to an adjacent Zone.
• Stand Up - If Prone, stand up and end the Prone condition.

Bonus Actions

• Draw/Sheathe - Draw or sheathe a weapon.

Free Actions

• Drop - Drop a held item.
• Speak - Say something (typically no more than a sentence or two per round).

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Conditions

Bleeding: Bleeding characters are losing blood at a significant rate. At the end of their turn, a Bleeding character suffers Damage equal to their Stamina, ignoring Armor. A character with bandages in hand can attempt to end the Bleeding condition on a patient (which can be themselves) as a Standard Action. The character makes a TN 15 Medicine (Intellect) Skill Roll, and on a success, the patient's Bleeding condition ends.

Blinded: Blinded characters have hampered vision. A Blinded character's Notice is reduced by -15, and if she takes the Move Action, it is considered to be a Standard Action (instead of a Simple Action). If a Blinded character makes an attack, her first two kept dice must be the lowest dice in her dice pool. If she uses a Skill that relies upon vision, it automatically fails (and may gain up to two Failure Margins, at the GM's discretion).

Frightened: Frightened characters are terrified of something and find it difficult to focus. When a Frightened character makes a Skill Roll or a Damage Roll, her dice do not explode, and she cannot reroll any of the dice in her dice pool (for any reason).

Grappled: Grappled characters are wrestling around with one or more other characters, which limits their movement and the extent to which they can defend themselves. A Grappled character has -10 Defense, cannot move, cannot activate Mystic Techniques, and cannot make attacks with Skills other than Knife or Unarmed. As a Standard Action, a Grappled character can make an Athletics (Strength) Skill Roll with a TN equal to 10x the combined Strength Attributes of every character in the Grapple that wants to prevent her from leaving. On a success, the character breaks free and is no longer Grappled. On a failure, the character remains Grappled.

Paralyzed: Paralyzed characters cannot move, act, or speak. They cannot take any Actions and may or may not be aware of their surroundings, as determined by the GM. Unconscious characters are considered to be Paralyzed.

Prone: Prone characters have fallen to the ground. Prone characters have -10 Defense against attacks made by characters in their Zone. A Prone character cannot use ranged weapons or the Invoke Action, and any Melee attacks she makes suffer a -10 penalty to the final total of the relevant Skill Roll. A Prone character can use the Stand Up Action to stop being Prone.

Stunned: Stunned characters are disoriented. Stunned characters cannot take Simple Actions (though they can still use the Adjust Action - a Standard Action - to gain the effects of a Simple Action), and they cannot activate any of their Techniques (though they still gain any passive bonuses from those Techniques, such as Mystic Quirks or Style Bonuses).

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Honorable and Dishonorable

Characters in Honor's Edge are defined by their honor... or their lack thereof. There are plenty of ruthlessly efficient options available to dishonorable characters, but those who turn their backs on such behavior and attempt to lead honorable lives are able to draw strength from their convictions.

A character can be either Honorable or Dishonorable.

By default, a character is assumed to be Honorable when first created (unless they take the Dishonorable disadvantage). When an Honorable character makes a Skill Roll, they may reroll any dice results of "1" on their initial dice roll. If any of these rerolled dice are also 1s, they are not rerolled again.

If a character commits a dishonorable act, either willingly or unknowingly, they cease to become Honorable and instead become Dishonorable. There are no inherent mechanical penalties to being Dishonorable, save that the character no longer gains the "reroll 1s" bonus to their Skill Rolls for being Honorable.

Should a Dishonorable character commit an act of great honor, they regain their honor; the character ceases to be Dishonorable and instead becomes Honorable. The stain of dishonor cannot be quickly erased, however; a character cannot become Honorable during the same session in which they became Dishonorable. The GM may choose to waive this restriction if the character's act of redemption is particularly moving, but this should be the exception, rather than the rule.

Note that a character can become Dishonorable in the same session that they became Honorable; some characters find it difficult to walk an honorable path.


Dishonorable acts include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Accepting a bribe
• Being disloyal to your lord or superior
• Committing a significant breach of etiquette
• Employing cowardly tactics in combat (i.e., attacking unaware opponents, using poison, etc.)
• Engaging in violence in a shrine or other holy place
• Fleeing from battle
• Killing noncombatants
• Lying to others

Honorable acts include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Forsaking your own desires for the sake of your lord or superior.
• Standing up for what you believe is right and just.
• Facing overwhelming odds or a difficult situations with confidence and courage.
• Showing benevolence and mercy, especially to an enemy.
• Honoring an Obligation at personal cost
• Giving a truthful report at your own expense

If an act would qualify as both dishonorable and honorable (such as aiding a wounded enemy despite the command of your lord to kill them), it counts as a dishonorable act. The path of a samurai is never an easy one to walk.


Accepting Responsibility for Dishonorable Actions
Honorable characters may choose to publicly accept responsibility for another character's dishonorable actions. Doing so causes the character accepting responsibility to become Dishonorable, but if the other character is present, they become Honorable. This is typically only done by lords choosing to restore the honor of their retainers or samurai attempting to protect their lord's honor.