Player Quick Reference

The Six Dice

Symbol Pairs

Die Face Summary

Boon Die · Bane Die (d6)

Ability Die · Trial Die (d8)

Mastery Die · Crisis Die (d12)

Building a Dice Pool

Difficulty

Upgrading a Trial Die to a Crisis Die adds volatility (more Banes, Failures, and Calamity risk) without increasing the difficulty count.

Attack Difficulty

Damage Formula

Weapon Damage + net Successes beyond 1 − Resistance = Wounds (minimum 0)

Resistance = ½ Might (rounded up) + armor.

If Resistance equals or exceeds the damage, the hit causes 0 Wounds.

Range Bands

Moving between any two adjacent bands costs 1 Maneuver, except Medium→Long and Long→Extreme which cost 2.

Your Turn in Combat

Boon Spend Guide

Unused Boons: Spend 1 Boon to recover 1 Strain. Boons are never wasted; this is the floor.

Bane Spend Guide (GM applies)

Story Points

Only one Fortune Point may be spent per check. Both pools refresh at the start of every session.

Derived Values

End-of-Encounter Recovery

If incapacitated by Strain: recover only half Strain Points (rounded down) on full rest instead of full recovery.

Critical Injuries

Severity bands: Minor 01–30, Moderate 31–60, Severe 61–85, Deadly 86–100, Mortal 101+. A result of 141 or higher is Killed: instant death, no check applies. The GM Guide (Chapter Nine) holds the canonical table.

Ix Skill List — All 34 Skills

Talent Pyramid

Ranked talents may be purchased multiple times. Choose One talents may be purchased multiple times with a different choice each time.

Skill XP Costs

Ranks 3–5 cannot be purchased at character creation. No starting skill above rank 2.

Characteristic XP Costs (Creation Only)

Costs are paid one step at a time. After creation, characteristics only increase through Growth (Tier 3) or Greater Growth (Tier 4) talents.

Common Conditions

Fear check: a source with a Fear rating 1-4 forces one Readiness check (sudden shock) or Discipline check (sustained dread) per source per scene, difficulty equal to the rating (1 Easy, 2 Average, 3 Hard, 4 Severe). Failure = Strain equal to the rating and Frightened; success with two or more net = 1 Strain only; also Staggered; = immune to that source for the session. Full rule: Chapter Thirteen.

Faith Talent Summary

Prerequisite for all faith talents: Divine 1+ and an active patron deity.

Each deity also offers one signature Tier 1 talent available only to devoted characters.

Adventurer Tree Summary

Open to any character; no species, Background, or Career restriction. Ranks are bought in order for 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 XP (75 XP for a full tree). Rank 1 counts as a Tier 1 talent, ranks 2 to 5 as Tier 2 to Tier 5.

Planar Tree Summary

Same XP ladder and the same Tier mapping as the Adventurer trees. Full entries: Chapter Seven.

Tradition Talent Costs (Magic Access)

Combined tradition casting skill = floor of average of the two prerequisite skills. High Magic = lowest of all three.

Casting Quick Reference

Every value below is taken from Chapter Nine, Casting Rules. Spell entries and the full Spell Index live in that chapter.

Casting Workflow

1. Declare the spell. Choose the spell, confirm a legal target, and verify you meet all listed prerequisites.
2. Build the pool. Take the spell's listed Difficulty, then add characteristic dice, Mastery upgrades, and situational modifiers.
3. Choose Overload (optional). Before rolling, you may increase risk to increase output.
4. Pay strain. Suffer the listed strain cost, modified by talents or effects.
5. Roll the check. Resolve Success, Failure, Boon, Bane, Breakthrough, and Calamity.
6. Resolve the base effect. On at least one net success, the spell functions.
7. Spend Empower symbols. Spend matching symbols to trigger listed enhancements.
8. Resolve fallout. Banes and Calamity create cost, complication, or consequence. A Mishap entry, where the spell has one, is that working's specific Calamity outcome.

Spell Tiers Unlock by Skill Rank

Every spell at your current tier or below is available to you; there is no selection step and no daily spell limit. Rank 5 unlocks no new tier. Theomancy, Necromancy, and Shamanism spells also require the matching tradition talent, and High Magic requires Archmage.

Strain and Difficulty

Strain is what the spell costs you. Difficulty is what it costs the roll, and it rises when a spell exceeds what should be free at its tier: more damage, wider targeting, longer duration, stronger control, added utility, or effects that bend action economy or scene logic. A low-difficulty spell may still be exhausting, and a high-difficulty spell may be efficient but unstable.

Range and Duration Codes

Overload, Dispel, Resist, Concentration, Ritual

• Overload — chosen before the roll; adds the option's Trial Die on top of whatever difficulty the spell already has, so a Difficulty 2 spell with one Overload option selected is Difficulty 3 for that cast.
• Dispel — any spell with a duration longer than Instant can be ended from outside by any caster using any casting skill they possess, against the spell's listed Dispel difficulty plus the original caster's net successes; the attempt costs strain whether it lands or not, and the original caster may end their own spell as an out-of-turn Quick Action at no cost.
• Resist — a target bound, compelled, cursed, or controlled by an ongoing spell may attempt the spell's listed resist check as a Maneuver at the end of each of their turns after the round it was cast, at a difficulty equal to the caster's original net successes, minimum 1 and maximum 5.
• Concentration — only one Concentration spell may be active at a time and casting a second spell ends it; Wounds suffered force a check built from the linked casting characteristic alone at a difficulty equal to the Wounds suffered, minimum 1 Trial Die and maximum 5; any Calamity ends it outright, and an attacker may spend a Breakthrough to collapse it instead of triggering a Critical Injury.
• Ritual — a spell carrying a Ritual box may be worked slowly instead of cast, and that box is the rule: it states the extended casting time, any change to difficulty and Strain, the altered effect, and any requirements. A spell with no Ritual box cannot be ritualized.

Starting Character Summary