Game Reference

In each scene, the GM and players go back and forth describing what happens. If you make a move where the outcome is in question, and the success or failure of that move is interesting to the story, your move is an action and the GM calls for an action roll to determine the outcome. However, if an action is either easy to pull off without complication or impossible to perform, there's no need to roll; you already know the result!

For an adversary to use an action, they must have the spotlight. Passives and reactions typically don't require the spotlight. Some features require you to use additional resources, such as:

Sometimes you want to use an environment but it's at the wrong tier for your party. Or you might want to replace a feature or two, then present it as an entirely different environment. Whether planning your session or even improvising an environment mid-session, you can adjust an existing environment's stat block to fit the needs of your scene or improvise elements as needed. The environments framework is there to help organize ideas, not to stifle creativity.

Some abilities and spells in Daggerheart designate the use of particular assets and senses, including sight, sound, touch, and movement. Like players, characters can be blind, deaf, or mute, have disabilities or limb differences, or possess any number of unique qualities that occur among individuals.

You have a set list of options for upgrading your character. You can choose any two options with unmarked slots. Some options have multiple slots, meaning they can be chosen more than once. When you choose your advancement, mark the appropriate slot. Once all of an option's slots have been marked, you can't take that option again.

Some features let you roll with advantage or disadvantage on an action or reaction roll.

When an adversary you're controlling attacks a PC, you'll make a simplified version of the attack roll made by players. Every adversary can make normal attacks using the weapon in their stat block, and some adversaries can also use special moves to attack.

Adversaries tend to have fewer but broader Experiences than PCs. In situations where you think an adversary's capabilities would come into play, you can spend a Fear to apply an Experience modifier to their Difficulty, attack rolls, and reaction rolls as follows:

Some PC moves can force an adversary or other NPC to make a reaction roll. When this occurs, roll a d20 to determine whether they succeed or fail. If you meet or exceed the roll's Difficulty, the NPC succeeds and avoids the consequences. If they roll below the target number, the NPC fails and suffers the consequences.

Adversaries aren't limited to just the attacks and unique actions in their stat blocks; those represent their special abilities, but they can do most anything a PC would do, such as picking a lock or climbing a cliff. However, other than the attack rolls described in the next section, adversaries don't typically make action rolls.

Some adversaries require tokens to be placed on their stat blocks for certain features. These adversary tokens are used as counters similar to the players' character tokens.

An adversary's type represents the role they play in a conflict. When building encounters, utilizing a mix of types helps create a dynamic and engaging challenge. The adversary types are as follows:

A high Agility means you're fast on your feet, nimble on difficult terrain, and quick to react to danger. You'll make an Agility Roll to scurry up a rope, sprint to cover, or bound from rooftop to rooftop.

Ancestries represent your character's lineage, which affects their physical appearance. The following section describes each ancestry in Daggerheart and the physical characteristics shared by members of that ancestry. That said, you can decide that your character possesses characteristics that aren't "standard" or "average" for that ancestry. We encourage you to look to the art for inspiration and explore the diversity within individual ancestries as you craft your character's appearance.

Arcana is the domain of innate and instinctual magic. Those who choose this path tap into the raw, enigmatic forces of the realms to manipulate both their own energy and the elements. Arcana offers wielders a volatile power, but it is incredibly potent when correctly channeled.

Your Armor Score includes the armor's base value (shown in the "Base Score" column) plus any permanent bonuses your character has to their Armor Score from other abilities.

We assume that if your character has a bow, they're well supplied with standard arrows. If you have a gun, they're well supplied with standard bullets of the applicable type. But if they've picked up specialized ammunition at some point, be prepared to keep track of this limited arsenal.

Explore your character's background by answering the background questions in your character guide. Several prompts are provided to jumpstart inspiration, but you or the GM can modify or replace these questions to fit the character you're looking to play. The prompts are a jumping-off point if you don't know where to start, but they should never inhibit your creativity.

Gold is measured in handfuls, bags, and chests, with 10 handfuls to 1 bag, and 10 bags to 1 chest.

An armor's base score represents the short-term protection it provides and how many Armor Slots you can mark (before any bonuses from other features). For example, if an armor's base score is 4, you have 4 available Armor Slots you can mark. Your character's Armor Score, with all bonuses included, can never exceed 12. Once you add all other bonuses to an armor's base score, the final total is referred to as your character's Armor Score.