Mechanics¶
This system is rooted in Burning Wheel but streamlined for a specific table. The focus is on capable, impactful characters with room for growth, and minimal bookkeeping.
Core Resolution¶
Roll a pool of d6s equal to your skill or stat. Each die showing 4+ is a success. Compare successes to the obstacle (difficulty) set by the GM.
- Shade: Most abilities are black shade (4+ succeeds). Grey shade abilities are exceptional (3+ succeeds, open-ended). White shade is legendary (2+ succeeds, open-ended).
- Open-ended: When a die shows 6, it counts as a success and you roll an additional die.
Character Creation¶
Characters are built using lifepaths — stages of life that define where you've been and what you've learned. Each lifepath grants skills, resources, and stat bonuses.
Starting Characters¶
Player characters begin with 4 lifepaths, representing a character who has lived enough to be capable and interesting, but still has room to grow.
Four lifepaths provide:
- 16-30 skill points to distribute among skills
- 45-50 resource points for starting Resources, Circles, and gear
- Stat bonuses: +2 to Mental or Physical pool, OR +1 to both
Skill Points¶
Skill points are a single merged pool (combining what Burning Wheel separates into lifepath skills and general skills). Distribute points among skills as you see fit to represent your character's training and experience.
Guidelines:
- A skill at 3-4 represents solid competence
- A skill at 5-6 represents expertise
- A skill at 7+ represents elite mastery
The range (16-30 points) is intentionally broad. Pick the level that feels right for how you envision your character. The numbers exist to provide a framework, not a constraint.
Stats¶
Characters have two stat pools reflecting innate capability:
- Mental Pool (M): Perception, Will, and related mental attributes
- Physical Pool (P): Power, Speed, Forte, and related physical attributes
Stat values typically range from 3-8, with 4-5 being average human capability.
Your lifepaths provide either +2 to one pool or +1 to both pools.
Resources and Circles¶
Resource points (45-50 from lifepaths) are divided among:
- Resources: Your wealth and access to material goods
- Circles: Your social connections and ability to find people
- Gear: Starting equipment appropriate to your background
Traits¶
Traits are descriptive qualities that define your character beyond skills and stats. Some are purely descriptive; others have mechanical effects.
Prime¶
Requirement: Starting Talent rating of 4 or less
You are among the most powerful Talents known to exist. Your Talent attribute is grey shade, meaning Talent tests succeed on 3+ instead of 4+, and 6s are open-ended.
This trait represents extraordinary natural potential. Most documented Talents are operating well below their theoretical limits due to psychological barriers, incomplete training, or simple lack of need. Primes have begun to push past those limits.
Design Note
Prime is a custom trait for this campaign. All player characters are taking it.
Talent Attribute¶
Talent is rated separately from skills. It represents your raw psionic capability — the power ceiling you can reach, not your training or control.
Starting Talent¶
Player characters begin with a Talent rating of 2-4, representing manifested, functional Talent with room for growth.
| Rating | Description |
|---|---|
| 2 | Clearly manifested; useful but limited in scope |
| 3 | Solid, reliable capability; can operate professionally |
| 4 | Strong Talent; stands out among peers |
For reference, the in-world rating scale goes to 10 (see Talent), but ratings above 6-7 are rare and exceptional. Player characters with the Prime trait have the potential to reach those heights.
Talent Advancement¶
Talent does not advance like skills. It advances through use under pressure and crisis.
Pushing your limits — using Talent in high-stakes situations, risking burnout, or experiencing moments of breakthrough — can lead to advancement. This is not tracked mechanically the way skill tests are; the GM will call for advancement when it's narratively appropriate.
Talent and Skills¶
Your Talent rating determines your potential — the ceiling of what you can attempt in terms of range, scope, and intensity (see the rating table in Talent).
Your discipline skills determine your control — how reliably you use that potential.
The three discipline skills are:
- Empathy — sensing and influencing emotions
- Telepathy — sensing and sending thoughts
- Kinesis — moving objects with the mind
When you use a psionic ability, roll your discipline skill as the dice pool.
Operating Within Your Limits¶
When you attempt something within your Talent rating's scope (range, mass, number of targets, etc.), simply roll your discipline skill against the obstacle. Success and failure work as normal.
Exceeding Your Limits¶
You can attempt feats beyond your Talent rating — and in fact, you must to grow. But pushing past your limits carries risk.
When you attempt something beyond your Talent rating:
- Obstacle increases by +1 per level beyond your rating
- On failure, make a burnout check (see Burnout below)
On success, you've pushed past your ceiling without immediate consequences. Repeated success under pressure is how Talent grows (see Talent Advancement above).
Example: A Talent 3 kinetic attempts to lift 150kg (Talent 4 scope). The obstacle increases by +1. If they fail the roll, they must check for burnout.
This creates meaningful dramatic tension: pushing your limits is how you grow, but failure when overextended has real consequences.
Character Dynamics¶
The interplay between Talent and skill creates interesting characters:
- High Talent, low skill: Powerful but unreliable. Can attempt impressive feats but may fail when it counts.
- Low Talent, high skill: Precise and reliable within a limited scope. Consistent but must push limits to attempt anything dramatic.
- High Talent, high skill: Rare and formidable. The combination of potential and control that makes legends.
Exhaustion and Burnout¶
Using Talent takes a toll on the body. The Exhaustion system tracks this accumulating strain.
Exhaustion Tallies¶
Each use of Talent generates exhaustion tallies:
- 1 tally per Talent test
- +1 additional tally if exceeding your Talent rating
Track tallies during play. They represent the mounting physical and mental cost of psionic exertion.
Exhaustion Threshold¶
Your exhaustion threshold equals your Forte. This represents how much strain your body can absorb before risking harm.
| Tallies vs. Threshold | Status | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Below threshold | Fresh | No penalty |
| At threshold | Tired | Further Talent use requires a burnout check |
| Threshold +1-2 | Strained | Burnout checks at +1 Ob |
| Threshold +3+ | Critical | Burnout checks at +2 Ob; failure = severe burnout |
Example: A character with Forte 4 can accumulate 3 tallies without consequence. At 4 tallies, they're Tired and must make burnout checks. At 6+ tallies, they're Strained.
Burnout Checks¶
When required to make a burnout check, roll Steel against Ob 3 (modified by status as above).
This represents your mental resilience — your ability to hold yourself together when you've pushed too far. The threshold (Forte) determines how much your body can take; the check (Steel) determines whether you can keep it together when you hit that wall.
- Success: You push through without harm.
- Failure: You suffer burnout. Severity depends on margin of failure and current status.
| Margin of Failure | Fresh/Tired | Strained | Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mild burnout | Mild burnout | Moderate burnout |
| 2 | Mild burnout | Moderate burnout | Moderate burnout |
| 3+ | Moderate burnout | Moderate burnout | Severe burnout |
Burnout severity (see Talent for full descriptions):
- Mild: Days to weeks recovery. Temporary impairment.
- Moderate: Weeks to months recovery. Possible permanent reduction in power ceiling.
- Severe: Months to years recovery. Significant permanent impairment.
Burnout Recovery¶
Recovering from burnout requires time, rest, and — critically — not using Talent.
During Recovery¶
You can use Talent while recovering, but you are fragile. A recovering character starts each session at Tired status (at their exhaustion threshold), meaning any Talent use immediately requires burnout checks. This represents the precarious state of a damaged Talent pushing themselves before they're ready.
Using Talent during recovery does not extend recovery time, but suffering burnout again while recovering increases the severity by one step (Mild → Moderate → Severe → Catastrophic).
Recovery Time¶
Recovery time depends on severity:
| Severity | Recovery Time |
|---|---|
| Mild | Days to weeks |
| Moderate | Weeks to months |
| Severe | Months to years |
The GM determines when recovery is complete based on time passed and rest taken. There is no mechanical tracking — when it feels narratively appropriate, you're healed.
Rapid Recovery¶
A character may spend a Deeds point to recover from burnout overnight. This represents an extraordinary act of will, a moment of breakthrough, or sheer narrative significance.
Rapid recovery heals the acute burnout, but permanent reductions remain. The Deeds point heals the wound, not the scar.
Permanent Reduction¶
Moderate and Severe burnout can cause lasting damage to a Talent's power ceiling:
| Severity | Permanent Effect |
|---|---|
| Moderate | Possible reduction: Talent rating −1 |
| Severe | Talent rating −1 or −2 |
| Catastrophic | Complete and permanent loss of Talent |
The GM determines whether permanent reduction occurs based on circumstances. Repeated burnout, pushing through warnings, or particularly catastrophic failures make permanent damage more likely.
Permanent reductions can potentially be healed, but only through extraordinary means — breakthroughs in Talent research, rare treatments, or significant story moments. This is not a mechanical process; it's a narrative one.
Clearing Exhaustion¶
Exhaustion clears through rest, food, and time:
- Full rest (8 hours): Clear tallies equal to your Talent rating
- Partial rest: GM may award partial clearing for shorter rest periods
- Meals: Clear 1 tally per substantial meal
- Downtime: Clear 1 tally per scene in which you do not use Talent
Talents who want peak performance must take care of their bodies — proper rest, proper nutrition, and knowing when not to push.
Skills and Advancement¶
Skill Tests¶
When you test a skill, roll dice equal to your skill rating. Each 4+ (or 3+ for grey shade) is a success. Compare to the obstacle.
Advancement¶
Skills improve through practice. To advance a skill:
- Use the skill in a test where the obstacle is greater than your current skill rating
- Track qualifying tests (whether you succeed or fail — you learn from both)
- When you've accumulated tests equal to your current skill rating, the skill advances by 1
Example: At skill 4, you need 4 qualifying tests (against obstacle 5+) to reach skill 5.
This system rewards pushing yourself against meaningful challenges. Easy tests don't count toward advancement, but failure against hard obstacles does.
Design Note
This is simplified from Burning Wheel's routine/difficult/challenging division. We're trading granularity for reduced bookkeeping. If advancement feels too slow at high levels, consider allowing "challenging" tests (obstacle significantly above skill) to count double.
Artha¶
Artha represents narrative currency — rewards for good play that can be spent to improve your chances in critical moments.
Types of Artha¶
-
Fate: Awarded for playing your character's Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits — especially when it causes trouble or complicates your life. Spend to open-end 6s on a roll (if not already open-ended) or to avoid a minor consequence.
-
Persona: Awarded for significant character moments, achieving goals tied to Beliefs, or memorable roleplaying. Spend to add dice to a roll (typically +1D to +3D) or to shrug off a wound.
-
Deeds: Awarded rarely, for moments of genuine heroism or actions that change the course of the story. Spend to double your dice pool for a single roll or to survive something that should have killed you.
Earning Artha¶
Artha comes from engaging with your character's:
- Beliefs: Convictions that drive action. Pursuing, challenging, or changing Beliefs earns Artha.
- Instincts: Automatic behaviors. When an Instinct helps or (especially) hinders, earn Artha.
- Traits: Descriptive qualities. Playing up Traits, especially in ways that complicate things, earns Artha.
The exact awards are at GM discretion, but the principle is: make interesting choices, get rewarded.
Conflict Resolution¶
Conflicts are RP-driven first, mechanically supported second. The system provides tools to resolve uncertainty and add stakes, then gets out of the way.
Quick Resolution (Default)¶
Most conflicts resolve with a single opposed roll. Each side rolls the relevant skill; highest successes wins. Margin of success affects how cleanly the winner achieves their intent.
| Conflict Type | Attacker Rolls | Defender Rolls |
|---|---|---|
| Physical | Combat skill | Defense, combat skill, or Speed |
| Social | Persuasion, Intimidation, etc. | Will or opposing social skill |
| Psionic | Discipline skill | Steel, Will, or opposing discipline |
Margin of success guides narration:
- Tie: Stalemate; situation shifts but neither side achieves intent
- Win by 1: Success, but with complication or cost
- Win by 2-3: Clean success
- Win by 4+: Decisive success; additional advantage or lasting impact
Use Quick Resolution when:
- One side is clearly dominant
- The outcome is uncertain but a single moment decides it
- You want to keep the pace moving
Extended Conflict¶
When both sides have strong intent and won't back down, use a series of opposed rolls. First side to 3 successes wins. Each exchange is narrated, and failed rolls can mean consequences even if you eventually win.
Between each roll, briefly narrate what's happening. The back-and-forth creates tension and allows the situation to evolve — allies intervene, the environment changes, new information emerges.
Consequences during extended conflict:
Failed rolls aren't free. Even if you win the overall conflict, failed exchanges might mean:
- A wound or exhaustion
- A concession or complication
- Revealed information or lost advantage
- Bystander consequences
Use Extended Conflict when:
- The stakes are high and both sides are committed
- You want the outcome to feel earned
- There's dramatic value in the back-and-forth
Scripted Conflict (Rare)¶
For climactic moments where tactical choices matter — the final confrontation, the psionic duel that's been building for sessions — you can use full Burning Wheel-style scripted exchanges.
In scripted conflict, each side secretly selects actions for a series of volleys, then reveals simultaneously. Actions interact based on what both sides chose.
This is opt-in and rare. Most tables will use it a handful of times per campaign, if at all. Its purpose is to make those peak moments feel weighty and tactical.
Psionic Conflict¶
When Talents clash directly — telepath vs. telepath, empath vs. resisting target, kinetic vs. kinetic — use the same framework as any other conflict.
Quick Resolution: Discipline skill vs. Steel, Will, or opposing discipline skill.
Extended Conflict: Exchange of attempts, each narrated. The psychic back-and-forth might involve feints, defenses, attempts to find weakness.
Exhaustion: Psionic conflicts burn tallies. Each roll is a Talent test. An extended psionic duel can leave both sides dangerously depleted — which creates its own tension.
Physical Conflict and Talent¶
Kinesis applies to physical conflict naturally:
- Attack: Kinesis can substitute for or supplement a combat skill (throwing objects, direct force, manipulating the environment)
- Defense: Kinetic shields or deflection can substitute for defense rolls
- Environment: Kinetics can reshape the battlefield — creating cover, removing obstacles, disarming opponents
Empathy and Telepathy are less directly applicable to physical violence, but can support it — sensing intent, coordinating allies, or undermining an opponent's will to fight.
Remember that all Talent use generates exhaustion tallies. A kinetic who dominates a fight psionically may win the battle but be dangerously depleted afterward.