Fate Cards and Fate Dice
Fate Cards
Fate Cards can be awarded to a player, when they "Walk their fated path". This is typically when they roleplay their character faithfully. The DM can grant these Fate Cards, but players give one of their own to another player for good roleplaying. Fate cards give an incentive to make sacrifices and play in ways that are suboptimal but dramatic, such as throwing yourself in front of an innocent NPC to save them. Fate cards are specific to each player, and each player can have a maximum of three Fate Cards. Fate cards can be used to draw from the tarokka deck at any time (however some cards will resolve later. If you draw a card from the minor deck you can add its number to you next roll, if the card is from the major deck, consult the table below.
Fate Pool Fate Dice are communal among the party and they are awarded for shared roleplaying moments and at specific plot points. The pool can cointain a maximum of 6 fate dice that are each a d6. The pool starts with one die. These can be used for fated actions and neutral abilities.
Dark Pool The Dark Pool represents the way that the forces opposed to the party affect the weave of Fate. This pool starts with a single d6, but as things happen during the game, more may be added to represent the growing threat to body and mind. Whenever the players take actions that darken the tone of the game, the Dark Pool gets another d6. These events include murder of innocents, acts of selfishness or callousness, and so forth. Other things may add dice to the Dark Pool as well. When the party encounters a particularly strong, evil, or frightening creature, the Drak Pool might receive another die. Similarly, the Dark Pool can grow whenever the party witnesses something extremely horrifying or disturbing. Anything that would shake the resolve or threaten the psyches of the party qualifies. Actual fear effects associated with spells or abilities have no effect on the Dark Pool. As the Dark Pool grows, the GM gains access to Dark Abilities. These abilities are ways in which the GM may alter the balance of encounters at critical moments to hinder the party or bolster their enemies. Apart from Fated Actions and Dark Actions, there are a set of abilities that can be activated with dice drawn from either pool. Both the GM and the party have access to Neutral Abilities, which represent more general methods of shaping the whims of Fate in your favor. In addition to these abilities, the GM has the ability to propose Dark Bargains to the players. The GM chooses a number of Dark Dice in their pool and proposes a course of action to a player. Should the player accept the bargain, the Dark Pool is reduced by the chosen number of dice and the player then proceeds to follow the suggested course of action. This allows the GM to introduce story elements and complications that the players may otherwise avoid, through the medium of demonic whispers and alien influences on the characters. This is a particularly useful avenue because it lets the GM leverage a character’s bonds, ideals, or flaws. One example of a Dark Bargain would be a situation where a player discovers a cursed artifact while searching a mysterious assailant for clues. The GM offers the player a bargain: reduce the Dark Pool by two and the player will pocket the artifact for themselves without informing the other party members. The character has a greed-based flaw, so despite knowing that it’s a bad idea they accept, setting the stage for the artifact to come into play later.
Fate Pool Fate Dice are communal among the party and they are awarded for shared roleplaying moments and at specific plot points. The pool can cointain a maximum of 6 fate dice that are each a d6. The pool starts with one die. These can be used for fated actions and neutral abilities.
Dark Pool The Dark Pool represents the way that the forces opposed to the party affect the weave of Fate. This pool starts with a single d6, but as things happen during the game, more may be added to represent the growing threat to body and mind. Whenever the players take actions that darken the tone of the game, the Dark Pool gets another d6. These events include murder of innocents, acts of selfishness or callousness, and so forth. Other things may add dice to the Dark Pool as well. When the party encounters a particularly strong, evil, or frightening creature, the Drak Pool might receive another die. Similarly, the Dark Pool can grow whenever the party witnesses something extremely horrifying or disturbing. Anything that would shake the resolve or threaten the psyches of the party qualifies. Actual fear effects associated with spells or abilities have no effect on the Dark Pool. As the Dark Pool grows, the GM gains access to Dark Abilities. These abilities are ways in which the GM may alter the balance of encounters at critical moments to hinder the party or bolster their enemies. Apart from Fated Actions and Dark Actions, there are a set of abilities that can be activated with dice drawn from either pool. Both the GM and the party have access to Neutral Abilities, which represent more general methods of shaping the whims of Fate in your favor. In addition to these abilities, the GM has the ability to propose Dark Bargains to the players. The GM chooses a number of Dark Dice in their pool and proposes a course of action to a player. Should the player accept the bargain, the Dark Pool is reduced by the chosen number of dice and the player then proceeds to follow the suggested course of action. This allows the GM to introduce story elements and complications that the players may otherwise avoid, through the medium of demonic whispers and alien influences on the characters. This is a particularly useful avenue because it lets the GM leverage a character’s bonds, ideals, or flaws. One example of a Dark Bargain would be a situation where a player discovers a cursed artifact while searching a mysterious assailant for clues. The GM offers the player a bargain: reduce the Dark Pool by two and the player will pocket the artifact for themselves without informing the other party members. The character has a greed-based flaw, so despite knowing that it’s a bad idea they accept, setting the stage for the artifact to come into play later.
Hasty Recovery. Spending one Fate Die during a short or long rest allows a player to remove a condition or one level of exhaustion. If the player needs to make a saving throw during that rest, such as for a disease or poison, they may roll the Fate Die and add that number to their saving throw.
Inner Strength. A player may spend a Fate Die instead of a Hit Die to recover hp during a short rest or to activate any other ability that requires spending a Hit Die.
Final Push. Whenever a player fails a death save, they may spend two Fate Dice to reroll that save.
I’ve Just the Thing. A player may spend any number of Fate dice and roll them in order to immediately gain a single item with value equal to or less than twice the rolled total in gold pieces.
Blaze of Glory. The party may spend all six Fate Dice to grant themselves superhuman strength and resilience for a single round. During that round all party members have advantage on all rolls, resistance to all damage, and reroll any ones when rolling damage.
Dark Actions
Bitter Disposition. The GM may spend one Dark Die in order to decrease the starting disposition of an NPC from Friendly to Indifferent, or from Indifferent to Hostile.
Outnumbered. The GM may spend any number of Dark Dice at the start of an encounter to increase the number of creatures facing the party. For each die spent, the GM may add an additional creature with CR no greater than half the party’s average level, rounded down.
Affliction. By spending four Dark Dice, the forces of darkness cause a serious ailment to strike a party member. The GM chooses a Curse or Transformation that afflicts a character of their choice. If using a Transformation for this ability, the possibility should be raised at the start of the game to ensure that such an event is acceptable to everyone at the table.
The Darkness. Should the pool reach six, the GM may spend all six dice in order to have the Darkness manifest near the players’ location
Bitter Disposition. The GM may spend one Dark Die in order to decrease the starting disposition of an NPC from Friendly to Indifferent, or from Indifferent to Hostile.
Outnumbered. The GM may spend any number of Dark Dice at the start of an encounter to increase the number of creatures facing the party. For each die spent, the GM may add an additional creature with CR no greater than half the party’s average level, rounded down.
Affliction. By spending four Dark Dice, the forces of darkness cause a serious ailment to strike a party member. The GM chooses a Curse or Transformation that afflicts a character of their choice. If using a Transformation for this ability, the possibility should be raised at the start of the game to ensure that such an event is acceptable to everyone at the table.
The Darkness. Should the pool reach six, the GM may spend all six dice in order to have the Darkness manifest near the players’ location
Minor Fate. Roll one die and add the total to a single attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.
Bolster. Roll two dice and increase the maximum hit points of a creature by the total for eight hours.
Brutal Strike. Whenever a creature is hit by an attack roll, the attacker may spend two dice and inflict an additional condition on the target for one round. This condition may be bleeding, dazed, prone, or stunned.
Magical Flux. A creature may spend dice to mimic the effects of a spell. The level of the spell may be no greater than the creature’s proficiency bonus, and the creature must spend dice equal to one plus the level of the spell to be invoked. Cantrips count as 1st-level spells for the purposes of this ability.
Stroke of Luck. By spending two dice, the GM or a player may cause a minor alteration to the environment, such as adding a small item or feature, moving an existing object five feet, or slightly altering weather conditions or lighting. Examples would be a dropped weapon rolling out of reach or suggesting that phosphorescent fungi might bring a cave’s lighting up to dim light rather than total darkness.
Comments