Player's Manual

Every attack is one d20 roll. Your Aim is a single number from your class and level (warriors have the best Aim, and it improves as you level; monsters derive theirs from Hit Dice). To hit, your raw d20 must roll at least Aim − the target's AC. The chronicle prints the whole equation, e.g. "d20+6 → [3]+6 = 9 vs AC 8 (needs ≥ 3; aim 11 − AC 8) → HIT".

Bonuses and penalties — Might (melee), Agility (missiles), a magic weapon's +N, backstab's +4, two-weapon penalties — add to or subtract from the die. A natural 1 always threatens a fumble; big bonuses can still be beaten by bad dice.

Goldveil uses descending AC, like the classics. Unarmored is AC 10. Plate, a shield, and quick feet get you near AC 1; adult dragons sit at AC 1 or below. If your AC number went down, celebrate.

Your AC comes from your equipped armor and shield plus your Agility adjustment (table below). Only armor, shields, and natural hide ever change AC — swapping weapons never does.

Might — melee to-hit and melee damage (bows get no Might damage):

Agility — your AC adjustment (negative improves descending AC) and missile to-hit:

Stamina — HP per Hit Die: −2 (≤3), −1 (4–6), 0 (7–14), +1 (15), +2 (16–18). Warriors alone reach +3 at 17 and +4 at 18.

Race shapes more than attributes. Halflings and gnomes are Small; dwarves are Medium. Small heroes may wield only S weapons. Medium heroes may wield L weapons only in two hands and without a shield.

Elves and dwarves join rogues and rangers in the ambush spot check. Rogues also receive racial adjustments across their skills; see the table in The Rogue.

Great monsters multi-attack by Hit Dice — a 16+ HD dragon brings three natural attacks a round. Multiclass heroes use their effective warrior level.

Sweep attacks. Gold Box style, a fighter, paladin, or ranger in melee against creatures of 1 Hit Die or less swings once per experience level that round — a level 8 fighter can cut through eight kobolds. Each swing goes to an adjacent weak foe; leftover swings are lost when the rabble runs out, and a tougher foe never receives the extra blows. The chronicle marks them (sweep 3/8). When a monster sweeps, heroes count by their level, not their remaining hit points — only level-1 heroes can be swept.

Bows, crossbows, slings and thrown weapons lose accuracy with distance. A weapon's range is split into thirds: short range has no penalty, medium range is −2 to hit, and long range is −5. The aim line in the chronicle shows the band. Breath, gazes, webs, spells and abilities use their own ranges and take no penalty, and neither does a shot at a helpless target.

Example: a Long Bow shot at a target 30 tiles away is medium range, −2 to hit.

Anyone may fight with a small weapon (dagger, hand axe — size S) in the off-hand. It rides in the shield slot, so a second blade costs you the shield, and a two-handed weapon leaves no hand free for either.

The reward: one extra off-hand strike every round you actually fight, on top of your normal attacks. The price: −2 on main-hand swings and −4 on the off-hand, each reduced by your Agility missile bonus (never below a penalty of 0). At Agility 18 you fight at 0 / −1. Companions fight with an off-hand weapon by the same rules. Rangers in leather or lighter armor pay no penalty at all. Backstab works only with the main hand.

Rogues only (multiclass rogues too), with a blade, in leather or lighter armor and no shield on the arm, from the target's rear arc — any tile along its back plus the two rear corners — and the target must be unaware of you (you are unseen, it is fleeing or turned, or it is locked in melee with your ally). A backstab adds +4 to hit and multiplies the damage by your rogue level (a fighter 9 / rogue 1 backstabs at ×2):

Stealth is an exploration skill, not a combat action — a rogue scouts a room or leads the company past a wandering band (see The Rogue). A successful scout starts the battle with that rogue already behind the nearest enemy — and the company gets a free surprise round before initiative. Some creatures — oozes, constructs, the shapeless — have no anatomy to strike and are immune to the backstab.

Some creatures lie in wait — buried in rubble, or simply unseen. Their room shows nothing but rubble on the floor (or nothing at all), and they never react or parley. When the company comes within reach they spring with a free round: they act, the company doesn't, then initiative runs as normal.

Rogues, rangers, elves and dwarves get a spot check as the company approaches: d20 + Wisdom modifier against 8 + half the creature's Hit Dice. Success cancels the free round. A dwarf always spots rubble that isn't rubble. Scouting the room first also gives it away — and gives you the free round instead.

Phasing creatures flicker between faded and solid. Faded, they can't attack and only magic weapons (usually +1) or spells touch them; your party's AI saves its plain-weapon blows for the solid turns.

A saving throw is d20 + your attribute modifier + your class save bonus + any flat save bonus from gear, against the effect's DC. The chronicle shows each component, e.g. "d20 → [10]+1+6+1 vs DC 14: SAVE". Breath weapons and blasts usually deal half damage on a save; charms, holds, and fear are negated outright. A paladin in good standing gains +2 on every save, and allies standing beside them gain +1 (+2 from paladin level 9) — see The Paladin.

Friendly fire is real. A fireball rolls its damage once and applies it to every living creature in the burst — both sides — with each victim saving separately. Only the caster is spared their own blast. Position your party accordingly; the enemy mage will.

A held, sleeping, or stunned combatant is helpless: a melee attacker finishes them outright — the classic "hold them, then end it" rule. It cuts both ways, so break your allies out of a Hold Person quickly. Ranged attacks still roll normally.

Rank-and-file enemies are not fearless. When things go badly — an ally falls, half the warband is down, they're grievously wounded — they check morale: 2d6 rolled under their rating, with situational modifiers. Failures break for the exit and can escape the field. Undead, constructs, and other fearless kinds never check; a living commander steadies those around them — and their fall shakes everyone. Fleeing past a ready enemy provokes a free strike.

Wing buffets, force waves, and the like shove you across the grid. A successful save means you brace and hold ground. If you fail, you're moved — and if a wall or another body stops you short, you take collision damage on top (each ability's slam has its own dice — a dragon's buffet slams for 3d6+3). Being pinned against the wall when the blow lands still counts: the force crushes you against the stone even if you never moved a tile. Creatures your size or larger can't shove you physically; magic doesn't care how big you are.

Movement is 8-directional and diagonal steps cost the same as straight ones. Your movement points are 6 + your Might to-hit bonus, scaled by load: light ×1, medium ×¾, heavy ×½, overloaded ×¼. You can split movement around your attack, Gold Box style — step, shoot, step again.

Your Might sets an allowance: what you carry unhindered (40 lb at Might 10, 110 lb at 18, +15 lb a point above). Up to the allowance you are Light; up to 1½× it, Medium; up to 2×, Heavy; beyond that, Overloaded (never below 1 MP). The burden bar on the hero sheet runs to the Overloaded line, with a gold tick at the allowance.

Coin weighs 1 lb per 50 gp. The party keeps one purse and its weight is spread automatically — first into everyone's spare room under their allowance, so coin alone never slows anyone while someone else has room; past that, in proportion to each member's allowance. Humanoid companions with gear carry a share (and their own pay); pets and beasts carry none. Companions slow under load like heroes. If anyone is Overloaded, the party travels at half speed on the world map.

Gems and jewellery. Above the first 200 gp, half of any hoard comes as valuables: gems (weightless, worth known on sight) and jewellery (light, unappraised until a shop, a bard or Identify names it). Any shop buys gems and appraised jewellery at full value; unappraised jewellery sells as seen for a fifth. Appraising a piece costs 5% of its worth (at least 10 gp).

Casting follows Gold Box canon: you cast only what you memorized at rest. Clerics and druids prepare from their full prayer list; mages and bards are bound to the spells inscribed in their book — new spells come from scrolls, which can be cast once or inscribed forever. Potions are always self-buffs, never bottled attacks. Casting XP is split evenly across a multiclass caster's classes. Camp rituals such as Bless can be cast before you break camp and carry into the next fight.

Armor and spells.

Blocked spells are greyed out with the reason in battle and at camp, and the hero sheet warns you under Equipped. Spell scrolls follow the same rule.

Damage and healing spells add the caster's spellcasting-attribute modifier. Magic Missile fires up to five darts, reached at caster level 9. Charged items obey their own recharge rule: “daily” means the charge returns when the game clock crosses dawn at 06:00, whether or not the party rests; one-time items never recharge.

Cleric. Clerics wear any armour and shield, but their weapons must be blunt. Their prayers use Wisdom. They prepare from the full cleric list and may Turn Undead once each round, but only once per undead group per battle.

Clerics gain prayers through 7th level. Their conduct does not trigger a class-fall rule, so temple atonement does not restore cleric powers.

Mage. A single-class mage casts in robes, cloth, padded garments or bracers, never a shield, and uses mage weapons. The spellbook is the permanent library: a scroll may be cast once or copied into it. Magic Missile gains one dart every two caster levels, reaching five at level 9.

Druid. Druid spell lists and blunt-weapon/armour rules exist for authored spell and equipment data, but Druid is not a playable class yet; no class progression or falling rule is live.

Named NPCs at the Dragon Tavern can be recruited — talk to them and bargain. Each decides for themselves whether to join and for what share of the loot. Their agreed share of coin is paid automatically from every battle and chest.

Companions are full party members: they have their own sheet and gear (their equipped weapon sets their damage), fight with their own figure, receive camp spells, are healed and raised at the temple, and can always be spoken to with Talk. Treat them badly and their loyalty falls — they may leave.

The master of arms. Only a single-class fighter can specialize — never a paladin, a ranger or a multiclass fighter (a specialist who later takes a second class keeps it, dormant). Specialization covers a whole weapon group: swords (long, short, two-handed, bastard, scimitar, rapier…), axes, hammers, maces, flails, spears, polearms, daggers, staves, bows, crossbows, slings, thrown weapons or whips. Groups are separate — an axe specialist gets nothing with a hammer. Magic, silvered and cold-iron weapons count as their base weapon.

With a weapon from a specialized group in the main hand, a fighter also attacks faster (see Attacks per Round). The off-hand weapon gets no bonus; Haste and an off-hand swing still add their attacks on top. Bows and crossbows count, with the same bonuses and rate. Specialization is a class skill, not a spell, so it stacks with Bless, bard songs and magic weapons. The sheet marks specialized weapons with ★; the chronicle shows "+ spec +2" (or "+ mastery +3").

Rogue skills are rolled on d% — roll the number or lower. The chance comes from your rogue level (a multiclass rogue uses the rogue level, not the total), then your Agility, your race and the difficulty of the job. A natural 96–00 always fails (Climb Walls: only a 00). Every roll shows its full sum in the chronicle.

Agility (Pick Pockets / Open Locks / Traps / Stealth): 9 or less −15/−10/−10/−15; 10–11 −5 each; 12–15 none; 16 +5 locks; 17 +5/+10/0/+5; 18 +10/+15/+5/+10; 19+ +15/+20/+10/+15. Hear Noise and Climb Walls ignore Agility.

Stealth uses the Move Silently column. The hero and companion sheets show each rogue's chances with every adjustment already in.

Thieves' tools. Without thieves' tools in the pack, Open Locks and Remove Traps are −15%. The starting rogue kit includes a set.

Armor and shields. Thief skills and backstab need leather or lighter. A rogue may carry a shield, but with one on the arm no skill works except Hear Noise — the log says so ("Can't pick a lock with a shield on your arm") and the equip screen warns.

One roll everywhere. Doors, chests, pits, room traps and battle all use the same chance from the sheet, adjusted by how cunning the trap or sturdy the lock is (obvious +10, standard 0, cunning −15, diabolical −30; simple lock +10, sturdy −15, masterwork −30, arcane: no pick). A failed disarm always springs the trap on the thief.

Everyone else. Only a thief with free hands can disarm. Anyone may spot a trap: rangers at half their ranger level on the rogue table, any other hero at 15% + 5% per Intelligence bonus point. A found trap nobody can disarm can be sprung from a distance — traps that only bite whoever is on them (darts, blades, needles, pits) hurt no one; traps that fill an area (gas, glyphs, alarms, portcullises) still reach you. It takes a noisy turn.

Read Languages. From rogue level 4 a thief reads strange writing — inscriptions, old maps, coded letters, ancient tablets: 20% at level 4, +5% a level, up to 80%, adjusted by race (elf +10, dwarf −5, halfling −5, half-orc −10; Agility doesn't help). The best reader in the company tries. A failed reader can try again after their next level; others may try at once. A roll of 96+ is a misreading — a map or cache marks the wrong spot (struck off once someone reads it right). On the chart: ✍ writing, $ a cache, ☠ a lair. An Old Map or Coded Letter found in a chest is read out of battle from the hero sheet (hand it to a rogue first); what it reveals is marked on your chart the first time you reach that place — even another level.

Stealing in town. In a shop, a thief can Lift one item worth up to 25 gp × level, or dip into the till (1d10 × level gp) — at −10%, shopkeepers are watchful. In the street, Work the crowd once per hero per day for 2d6 × level gp. A bad miss gets you caught: the watch arrives and you choose — pay the fine (10 × the value, at least 25 gp), go quietly (a night in the cells, out at dawn), or resist (a fight with the guard; they subdue rather than kill, and losing means the cells). Every attempt offends a paladin's code; resisting the watch offends it far more.

Reading scrolls. From rogue level 10 a thief can read arcane (mage) scrolls up to 5th level; a bard from bard level 10 reads mage scrolls up to 6th. Divine scrolls are beyond them. Reading magic outside your own book can fail — the words twist and the scroll crumbles, used up but harmless. The battle button shows the chance before you commit.

A mage/rogue reading a mage scroll reads it as a mage — no risk. The party AI only attempts a risky read on a scroll you have marked Allow AI use on the hero or companion sheet.

The best rogue in the company acts — heroes and companions alike — preferring one without a shield. Bards climb, listen and pick pockets at half their bard level.

A bard fights in leather, casts arcane spells, and sings. Singing is the bard's action for the round. Songs are counted in charges per battle, and a new song from the same bard replaces the old one. A bard carrying an instrument (lute, harp, pipes…) in the pack sings every song +1 round longer.

Song of Valor lifts aim, saves and (from level 5) damage for every ally within the radius; from level 9 it ends fear as it starts (4-square radius), and from level 13 allies cannot be frightened at all while it lasts.

Countersong guards the mind. Its bonus applies only against charm, fear, sleep and hold — and against sonic attacks (a dragon's roar, a harpy's song, a banshee's wail). This is the one named exception to flat saving throws. From tier 3 (level 9) sonic attacks simply fail and the song frees an ally from charm as it begins.

Fascinate (from level 3) holds 1–3 foes within 6 squares spellbound for up to 3 rounds (2 targets at 9, 3 at 13). They save against 10 + half the bard's level + Presence bonus; any damage breaks the spell. Undead, constructs, oozes and mindless or deaf things cannot be fascinated.

Bard's tune. Every bard chooses a theme on their sheet — Lute & Tabor, Pipes of the Wild, Harp of Kings — and it plays in battle when they sing, even though battle music is otherwise silent. Valor plays the rousing cue; Countersong the steadying one; Fascinate the same, softer. A newer song crossfades over an older one, and the tune fades as the battle ends.

A holy warrior: fights as a warrior (multiple attacks from level 7, capped at 2 a round — paladins never specialize in weapons), and carries a grace that protects the whole company — as long as the paladin stays in good standing.

The code. A paladin keeps its own tally of deeds on top of the company's reputation. Before a grievous act the game asks first ("Sir Aldric will not abide this…"); going ahead costs every active paladin in the party:

Wealth. A paladin tithes 10% of its share of every gold award — battle loot, dungeon treasure and shop sales — rounded to the nearest gold piece, taken before the gold reaches the purse ("Sir Aldric tithes 3 gp to the temple"). A companion paladin tithes from its own cut. A paladin may carry at most 10 permanent magic items; potions, scrolls and ammunition don't count, and an 11th relic must go to someone else.

Falling from grace. When the company's deeds plus the paladin's own tally drift 60 points toward evil — or toward chaos — a paladin falls: every power above is lost (greyed on the sheet), paladin spell slots stop refilling, and the auras go dark. A temple can perform an atonement to restore them and wipe the paladin's own tally clean — but not while an evil companion travels with the party. Companions who are paladins follow the same rules.

At 0 HP a hero falls. Raise Dead—the spell and the temple's standard rite—makes a survival roll; success returns the hero at 1 HP with a permanent loss of 1 Stamina. Resurrection is safe and restores the dead whole, but never restores Stamina lost to an earlier raise.

These are the current beta fees. Module temples may offer only their authored services and set different prices. Healing draughts restore 2d4+2. Rest heals, time passes, and the world keeps its clock.

Shops appraise veiled treasure and repair corrosion — for heroes and companions alike. Ordinary gear: 10% of its price per step. Magic gear: its base price plus 1,000 gp (+1), 3,000 (+2) or 6,000 (+3), however many steps. Gear of +4 or better never corrodes. Every town keeps a vault for your party (Goldveil's is The Bank; elsewhere, a tab in the town's shop): gold is kept free, goods cost 1 gp a week each, paid when you take them out — and only in the town where you left them. Stored things weigh nothing and can't be stolen. Anything you buy in a town is paid from the purse first, then that town's vault. The money-changer sells gems for gold at 5% over their worth — the way to carry wealth from one town to the next. Temples provide the rites listed under Wounds, Death & Recovery. The Dragon Tavern is where named companions bargain to join.

Town theft raises heat; see The Rogue. Dawn is 06:00: daily items recharge then, the 28-day moon advances, and long years on the clock age the company.

Goldveil's gambling hall. A party standing in Goldveil may take a seat — any living hero plays; the party shares one purse. Stakes come from the carried purse first, then the Goldveil vault; winnings go to the carried purse, and a payout over 200 gp comes partly in gems. The house keeps a little of every game.

The house pays any party at most 2,000 gp of winnings a night; losses have no limit. Every ten bets cost an hour of game time. Rogues and bards may cheat (their Pick Pockets, at −15%): it wins the hand outright, but if they're caught the stake is lost, Goldveil's heat rises, and the bouncers offer a fine (twice the stake, at least 25 gp) or the door — banned for three days. A paladin counts every cheat as theft; honest play is fine.

Regulars: Maribel Quillon owns the hall and forgets no debt; Fennick Lisle keeps the Pit book; Old Hobb Tarrow, a one-eyed old pit-fighter, always backs the uglier beast — and after a big win he may share a rumour from the road.

Goldveil's fighting pit, open to everyone from the town map — no campaign needed, and nothing here touches your campaign heroes, gold or experience. Pick one bracket — Novice (level 5), Veteran (level 10) or Champion (level 15) — and up to six heroes from that bracket's roster.

Fame opens new arenas: the Pillared Colosseum (broken pillars and rubble — cover and line of sight) at 60 fame and the Torchlit Night at 150. The crowd rates every bout from one to five stars; quick wins with no one carried off please them most, and the stands roar at big hits and kills.

The purse is arena gold from each win (it grows with the bout and the bracket) and is spent only at the Quartermaster, between bouts. He sells healing potions, ammunition, and plain, +1 and +2 weapons, armour and shields, at arena prices — gear is worn at once and the next opponents are re-weighed. He also hires a replacement gladiator (40 gp a level, up to six in the field) and lets you rename the company.

The first bout of a new run offers a short guided tour (skip it any time). After a win, Share makes a picture card of the final moment with your company's name, the bout, fame and the crowd's stars — download it or copy it to post.

Magic loot comes out of the hoard veiled — "a fine longsword" that swings suspiciously well. Its enchantment works even unidentified, but its name and nature stay hidden until an Identify spell, a bard's legend lore, or a shop appraisal reveals it.