# Terhia: Heroes — Game Master's Guide

**v0.8 — 14 October 2026** (v0.7 11 October; v0.6 26 September; v0.1–v0.5 25 September). Companion to Terhia-Heroes-Players-Guide.md v0.9 (PG), Terhia-Heroes-Grand-Beasts.md v0.4 (GB), and Terhia-Heroes-Cultures-and-Factions.md v0.4 (CF). Built from Terhia-Heroes-GM-Guide-Handoff.md and Terhia-Canon.md v1.2. Mechanics only; no adventures. Every rule that touches canon is a G-row in §13 for Joe's ratification. Canon is not edited by this file. **A table can play from the working readings as written;** the register is the author's ratification queue, not a list of rulings the GM must make before a session.

**v0.2 revision pass.** The PG was loaded and its ten revisions (§13.2) are applied there (PG v0.2, H34–H41). The damage model (§12.1) is now read off the PG's class entries instead of reconstructed: the Novice Strike had been overstated and the Guru Strike understated, and every check in §12.3 is recomputed. The played round (§11.5) uses PG abilities by name. Still unverified: the three Chronicle ports and the Grand Beasts register, whose files were not loaded (§13.3). **Band note:** the system is tightest at levels 5–12. Novice is thin by design (D2 recommends starting at level 3); Guru is the least-tested band — §6.5 and §11.4 are arithmetic, not play.

**Sources loaded for this draft.** Handoff (whole). Canon v1.2: Part I (Transport, Moons, Substrate and Nodes), Parts II–IV (schools, ranks, costs), Part V (Money, Kind and Labor, Anchor Prices), Part VI (Institutions, Terminology, Force Types, Class Matrix), Part VIII (Ecological Engine), XI.2 (Document Exemplars), XI.3 (Beast Register), XI.6 (Do-not-re-raise), R.8. The PG level and talent tables were recovered from the PG session record. **Not available for v0.1:** the PG file itself (loaded for v0.2), Terhia-Game-Masters-Guide.md v0.3 (Chronicle), Terhia-Grand-Beasts.md v0.2 (both still unloaded). Where the handoff asked for a port from those files (Lines/Cohesion, relic §9, the End procedure, "what an emergence leaves"), this draft rebuilds from canon and the handoff's description; the ports should be checked against the originals in the revision session (§13.3).

**v0.3 ratification pass.** Rulings R1–R8 of the issue-by-issue pass (Terhia-Heroes-Rulings.md) are applied here and in the PG: the Guru Strike's second Rank Die against Cohesion only, with Cohesion 6 / 9 / 12 per member (R1); Tempo at the rank boundaries and the tier table without correction lines (R2); Guru relic alterations across schools only as a Push, and the never-cheaper rule (R3, R4); Readings free with the exploit priced (R5); entry to a block by ability only, and the Cohesion check against members lost (R6); *Time Debt*, the Boss Stun, and *Threshold* (R7); the moon rule ratified (R8). Ruled register rows are marked; G40–G46 are new. Issues 9–15 of the ledger, including the editorial cross-reference list, remain open.

**v0.4 calibration-closure pass.** Three findings from a read-through, each solved in place. (1) §12.3 was not a closed set: §7.3 promised a Guru-kit check the table did not contain, the handoff's risk 3 had no row, and the PC-side hit rates the incoming-damage row leans on were never tabulated. §12.3 is now checks (a)–(p) with the risk map stated, §4.7 has the opposition-attacks-PC table, and §12.2 carries the Boss model (Boss Guard, assumed kit) beside the class model. (2) The Guru burst window is computed (§12.3 f): under v0.3's text a coordinated first round put about 570 of the avatar's 800 down and a two-caster party could end a manifestation in 1.3 rounds with no Push, because an area counted each covered part as a target. Three bounds carry the fix — the Weakness exploit lands once per phase (§4.4), an area damages one pool of an avatar (§6.5), and the avatar carries the Boss role's +2 Guard like every other Boss line (§6.5; GB §2.1) — and the per-manifestation Master relic is tied to tether progress (§6.6). The window that remains is 2.3 rounds against a floor of 3.9, at a permanent Mark per PC and the Gate. **800 stays.** (3) Gear: the §7.3 summary line miscounted the Guru kit's Guard (+3 above armor from the table, not +4); the kit the tier table assumes is now stated at every tier (§4.2, §4.6, §7.3), the gloves' damage bonus has one scope at every tier, and the Guru chest's resistance is never Physical. §12.4's Gate figure is recomputed under the PG's per-turn cap. New rows G47–G52; the PG change is H60 (PG v0.5); the GB changes are GB23–GB25 (GB v0.2).

**v0.5 ability-pool pass.** The PG (v0.6) replaces each class's fixed list of nine abilities with pools of 21–28 from which a character still holds nine (PG §13.3). This file changes only where it named an ability by its old letter slot (§10.4, §11.5), where it tells the GM what an NPC practitioner holds (§4.5), and in one calibration note (§12.4) and one register row (G53). No number in §3–§12 moves: the pick count, Tempo, and Strain Capacity are unchanged, and the new entries are written to §12.1's rank-ability line. The entries themselves are not yet checked against §12.3; G53 lists the ones that bend a rule.

**v0.6 advancement pass.** The PG (v0.7) adds the mechanism between levels: a party tally of Proofs, 5 per level, from six sources each counted once per contract (PG §13.4), and a rank gate with the phase turn (PG §13.5). The institution records a rank; it does not grant it. This file adds the GM's side: §9.1 is rewritten around adjudicating Proofs, the gate, and what each recognition route does at the table; §8.5 gains an *Answered by* column; §8.1, §8.6, and §11.3 carry one line each; §12.3 gains check (q); D12 sets the pace. No number in §3–§7 or §10 moves. New register rows G54–G59.

**v0.7 weapons pass.** The PG (v0.8) adds a class weapon for every class (PG §4.1), two weapon slots — Main Hand and Off Hand — beside the eight (PG §15.1), and Cleave, a standard 0-Strain Action against two or more enemies, strong for Martial classes and weak for Magic and Alchemy, which hold two more ability picks to make up for it (PG §5.1, §13.3). This file changes §1, §4.3, §4.5, §5.4, §7.1, §7.3, §7.4, and §11.1, and adds check (r). No figure in the Boss checks moves: Cleave needs two enemies, the Main Hand's bonus is off the Strike and the Core, and a Mob's block is one target. New rows G60–G65; G11 is superseded.

**v0.8 review pass.** An external review of PG v0.8, this file, GB v0.3, and CF v0.3 was checked claim by claim (Terhia-Heroes-Review-Handoff.md, changes C7–C13); what survived changes text and no number. The PG (v0.9) now carries the improvised-Join procedure for the player, so §10.3 gains a pointer to it and §9.1's Join line counts a Join listed or improvised; §8.6 says which of its items are usually the poster's ignorance and which the poster's silence; §6.3's Novice cycle runs 2–4 turns and an Adept Dependency may be a moving site, with GB §2.2–2.3 carrying the detail (GB27, GB28); §13.3 names the playtest plan of record. New rows G66–G67; G25, G38, and G56 annotated. The handoff's four decisions for Joe — a noncombat route through the rank gate, a consequence for a failed Reversal step, a default-turn line per class, and the promise line — are not applied.

**Two additions beyond the handoff, on Joe's brief for this session:** a **Tempo** track (actions per turn grow with level; §3) and a **gear system** with eight slots, tiers, intrinsics, and sockets that seat relics with attributes (§7). Both change PG numbers; the PG revisions are listed in §13.2 and applied in PG v0.2.

---

## Contents

1. Fixed by the PG
2. Decisions taken for this draft (D1–D12)
3. Tempo: actions per turn
4. Opposition: stat blocks, tiers, roles, encounter budget
5. Mobs
6. Grand Beasts as bosses
7. Gear and relics
8. Contracts and the quest loop
9. Advancement, rank-up, rest, travel, and the moons
10. Adjudication
11. Exemplars (28 stat blocks, 3 Mobs, 4 beasts, 4 contracts, one played round)
12. Calibration pass
13. Register: G-rows, PG revisions, open decisions

---

## 1. Fixed by the PG

The GMG builds against these. Any change is a PG revision (§13.2), never a silent GMG override.

| Item | Value |
|:--|:--|
| Resolution | d20 + attribute modifier + Rank Bonus vs Guard / Ward / DC |
| Rank Bonus (RB) · Rank Die (RD) | +2 / +4 / +6 / +8 · d6 / d8 / d10 / d12 |
| Levels by rank | Novice 1–4 · Adept 5–8 · Master 9–12 · Guru 13–16 (PG §13.1) |
| Guard · Ward | 10 + Poise + armor + shield + RB (+1 martial) · 10 + Reserve + RB (+1 magic) |
| Vigor per level | Martial 12/+7 · Alchemy 10/+6 · Magic 8/+5 · + Reserve each level |
| Strain Capacity | 6 / 9 / 12 / 16 + Reserve, ±moon (§9.4); full refresh at a Breather (10 min); three Breathers a day; a Breather restores a quarter of maximum Vigor |
| Marks | Permanent; floors 0/1/2/3 by rank; Stages at 3/6/8/10; Overdraw = 1 Mark; Push = 1 Mark; the End at 10 |
| Turn | Move (6) + Actions (Tempo, PG §5) + Quick + Reaction; one Sustained effect at a time; one Ready a turn; "Strike" inside an ability is one attack |
| Tempo | 1 / 2 / 3 at levels 1–8 / 9–12 / 13–16 — steps at the rank boundaries (PG §5, R2) |
| Guru Strike | Two attacks at weapon + RD + Key; the second RD against a Mob's Cohesion only (PG §5, R1) |
| Class weapons | Every class has one (PG §4.1): Martial as before; staff d6 (Elementalist, Apothecarist), focus d4 range 6 (Sorcerer, Apostle), scythe d8 reach 2 (Necromancer), mace d6 (Artificer), dagger d4 (Warlock). Magic and Alchemy weapon attacks deal the weapon die only |
| Cleave | Action, 0 Strain, one roll vs each Guard, at least two enemies, nothing on a miss. Martial: count 2 / 3 / 4 / 5, weapon die (+ RD from Master), Key once. Magic and Alchemy: count 2 / 2 / 3 / 3, weapon die (PG §5.1) |
| Readings | Free, no action, once per round per reader; the exploit costs the Quick, or an Action when the Quick is spent (PG §11, R5) |
| Damage kinds | Physical, Fire, Frost, Storm, Stone, Force, Toxin, Necrotic, Sacred |
| DoT | Burning 3/stack (decays) · Bleeding 2/stack · Poisoned 1/stack and −stacks Ward · cap 5 |
| Crits | Chance 20 (max 17–20); Rate ×2 (×3 by talent/ability); a crit adds one hex stack |
| Areas | One roll compared to each defense; half damage on a miss — except Elites and Bosses, who take nothing (PG §2, v0.2) |
| Downed | Death Clock 3; stabilize DC 10; death permanent except *Refuse Death* and *Threshold* |
| Grid | 1 square = 1 pace; diagonals 1; Medium 1×1, Large 2×2, Huge 3×3, Grand Beast 4×4+; Mob = block |
| Advancement | Nine ability picks from rank pools (eleven for Magic and Alchemy classes: a fourth Novice, a third Adept) per PG §13.1 and §13.3; talents at 2/6/10/14; attribute +2 at 4/8/12/16 within caps 18/20/22/22; levels by Proofs, 5 per level from a party tally, and a rank gate at 5 / 9 / 13 (PG §13.4–13.5; §9.1) |
| Core forms | A Core keeps every form it has had; the Guru form is the one that costs Strain (PG §14, H38) |
| Elite / Boss shake-off | One Ward check a turn — d20 + (Ward − 10) vs the applier's attack roll — against any hex that denies a Move, Action, or Reaction or dictates a target (PG §8.2, H36) |

**Nominal key modifier** for calibration: +3 / +4 / +5 / +6 at levels 1 / 5 / 9 / 13 (handoff 4.10).

---

## 2. Decisions taken for this draft

Working readings of the handoff's D1–D9, plus two new decisions this session's brief required; D12 is new in v0.6. Each is a G-row; D1 and D10 are ruled (R8, R2); the rest stand until Joe rules.

| # | Decision | Reading used in this draft | Where it lands |
|:-:|:--|:--|:--|
| D1 | Moon-phase mechanic | **(a), one lever:** in your school's own phase, Strain Capacity +2; in the two far phases (two steps away in the cycle), Strain Capacity −1; adjacent phases no effect. Martial and Alchemy schools: no moon, no effect. **Ratified (R8)** | §9.4 |
| D2 | Starting level | **Level 3** recommended (full Novice kit; Vigor survives one bad round). Encounter tables are written from level 1 regardless | §4.6 |
| D3 | Apothecarist Adaptations | Not a GMG matter; unchanged | — |
| D4 | Relic bond cost | **(c) no Capacity cost.** Sockets are the cap (§7.4); the only bond rule is that an over-rank relic seated in the Trinket costs 1 Strain Capacity while seated | §7.5 |
| D5 | Death permanence | **As written.** An optional table rule, *Carried Back*, is written in §10.7 for Joe to accept or strike | §10.7 |
| D6 | Mob size unit | **Three units:** band 5 (1×5), squad 10 (2×5), platoon 40 (5×8). A sliding block is permitted for animals only | §5.1 |
| D7 | Guru scenario powers and the registries | **Yes, automatic:** a Ground-scale effect in registered territory files itself (§8.5) | §8.5 |
| D8 | Chronicle ↔ Heroes conversion | **Incompatible at the sheet level.** A character converts by rank, Marks count, and school only; abilities and gear are re-picked | §13.4 |
| D9 | "Err on the side of power" for the Sorcerer | **Yes**, applied to every GMG ruling that touches the Arcane school (Canon XI.6) | throughout |
| D10 | Tempo (new) | Actions per turn: 1 at levels 1–8, **2 at level 9, 3 at level 13** (R2; v0.2 had 6 / 12); no Strain-costing ability twice in one turn (§3) | §3, §13.2 |
| D11 | Gear slots (new) | **Eight:** Head, Chest, Legs, Gloves, Boots, Accessory ×2, Trinket. One socket per piece. Weapons and shields carry no tier and no socket in this draft (G-row for Joe) | §7 |
| D12 | Advancement pace (new, v0.6) | **5 Proofs per level** (PG §13.4). A typical contract yields 3–5, so a party levels about once per contract; from level 3 (D2) it reaches 16 in about 16–18 contracts (§12.3 q). A table that wants a slower campaign raises the cost to 6; it never adds or removes sources | §9.1; PG §13.4 |

---

## 3. Tempo: actions per turn

**Tempo** is the number of Actions a character takes on its turn. Move, Quick, and Reaction do not change.

| Level | Tempo | What it means at the table |
|:-:|:-:|:--|
| 1–8 | 1 | Move + one Action + Quick + Reaction (PG as written) |
| 9–12 | 2 | Two Actions a turn. A Master Elementalist casts and Cores; a Master Hexblade Strikes twice (four attacks, since the Master Strike Action already makes two — counted in §12.2) |
| 13–16 | 3 | Three Actions a turn. A Guru Sorcerer casts three spells; a Guru Berserker Strikes three times |

### 3.1 Rules

1. **No repeats.** A Strain-costing ability may be used once per turn. The Core (0 Strain) may be used with every Action. Three Actions means three *different* costed abilities, or Cores in the gaps.
2. **Strain is the governor.** Nothing here raises Strain Capacity. A level-13 Sorcerer with Capacity 19 spending 4 + 3 + 2 Strain a turn is at Overdraw on turn 3. Tempo gives the option of a burst; the Ledger sends the bill.
3. **One Sustained effect** at a time, as the PG. A second Action cannot start a second Sustain. **One Ready** a turn: a Readied Action fires as the Reaction, and there is one Reaction.
4. **Dash** and other Action-cost movement may be taken with any Action. Move itself stays one per turn.
5. **Quick** stays one per turn; **Reaction** one per round. Talents that grant a second Reaction are unchanged.
6. **Summons act on the summoner's turn** and share its Quick: a familiar, golem, turret, construct, or companion takes its own Move and one Action when its summoner takes a turn, regardless of the summoner's Tempo. (Handoff risk 8; PG §5, applied.)
7. **Readings** cost 0 Strain and no action, once per round per reader; the exploit costs the reader's Quick, or an Action when the Quick is spent (PG §11, R5). Tempo does not multiply them.

### 3.2 Opposition Tempo

| Block | Novice | Adept | Master | Guru |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Standard | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Elite | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Boss | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Boss **Interrupts** (§4.4) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Practitioner NPC | by level, as a PC | | | |

A standard enemy is meant to die to one PC turn at its tier; it does not need Tempo. Elites and Bosses need it, or a level-11 party of four takes eight Actions to a Boss's one.

---

## 4. Opposition

### 4.1 Stat block template

```
NAME · Tier · Role · Size · Speed · Tempo
Guard / Ward · Vigor · Attack bonus
Attacks: n per Action, damage per hit (kind)
Abilities: 2–4, PG format (cost in Strain where the block has it; range; effect)
Resist / Vulnerable: damage kinds (resist = half; vulnerable = +1 RD of the tier)
Reads as: one line per school that plausibly reads it (§10.3 gives the defaults)
Elite/Boss only: shake-off; Interrupts; Weakness (Boss)
Mob only: unit, block, drill, Cohesion, attack cap (§5)
```

### 4.2 Tier table (rescaled for Tempo)

Guard, Ward, and Attack keep the handoff's proposal: they set the 55–65% same-rank hit rate, and Tempo does not change hit rates. Vigor is scaled to the band's design Tempo — 1 / 1 / 2 / 3 under R2, so no level inside a band needs a correction; Novice keeps the handoff's figures (v0.1 raised the Novice Boss to 75 on a Novice Strike that carried a Rank Die it does not have — §12.1). Handoff figures in parentheses where they changed. **Kit.** The line is written for a party in the full kit of one tier below its own (§7.3): nothing at Novice and Adept, the Adept kit at Master, the Master kit at Guru. An own-tier kit is a budget step (§4.6); the arithmetic is §12.3 (i).

| Tier | Guard / Ward | Attack | Vigor: Standard / Elite / Boss | Damage per round: Standard / Elite / Boss | Design Tempo (party) |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Novice | 14 / 13 | +4 | 12 / 30 / 60 | 6 / 10 / 16 | 1 |
| Adept | 17 / 16 | +7 | 30 / **35** / **110** (handoff 140; v0.2 had 70 / 220 for a Tempo-2 Adept) | 12 / 20 / 32 | 1 |
| Master | 20 / 19 | +10 | 60 / 140 / **450** (280) | 20 / 34 / 55 | 2 |
| Guru | 24 / 23 | +14 | **100** (120) / 280 / **800** (560, avatar) | 34 / 55 / 90 | 3 |

**No Tempo adjustments.** Under R2 the design Tempo is the band's Tempo at every level in it: 1 for Novice and Adept, 2 for Master, 3 for Guru. The two correction lines v0.2 carried (a level-5 party halving Adept Vigor; a level-12 party multiplying Master's by 1.5) are gone with the mid-rank Tempo steps.

**Damage per round → attacks.** Split the per-round figure across the block's attacks: Novice standard 1 × 6 (1d6+3); Adept standard 1 × 12 (2d8+3) or 2 × 6; Master standard 2 × 10 (2d8+1 each); Guru standard 2 × 17 (2d12+4 each). Elites make two attacks per Action; Bosses make two per Action plus Interrupts, and the per-round figure includes the Interrupts (Interrupt strike: 4 / 8 / 8 / 8 by tier). Dice are optional; the flat figure is the calibration.

**Why these numbers.** A standard enemy dies to one PC turn of its tier (two hits at Novice; two Actions at Master). An Elite dies to one round of focused party fire. A Boss survives 3–4 rounds of a full party spending **every** Action on damage at the design Tempo — that is the floor. A party that also reverses the arena, boons, positions, and Reads spends about half its Actions on damage and takes 6–7 rounds, which is one to two rounds a phase (§11.5, §12.3 c). §12 shows the arithmetic.

### 4.3 Roles

Apply to the tier line. Standard-line Vigor unless the role says otherwise.

| Role | Vigor | Guard | Speed | Damage | Build note |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:--|
| Brute | ×1.5 | −1 | 6 | ×1.25 | Melee; may be Large; one *Hew*-type ability (a second attack on a kill) |
| Skirmisher | ×0.75 | +1 | 8 | ×1 | Ranged or hit-and-run; Disengage as a Quick |
| Caster | ×0.75 | −1 (Ward +2) | 6 | ×1 (one area per fight) | Strain 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 by tier; abilities cost 2; no Overdraw unless a named practitioner |
| Controller | ×1 | 0 | 6 | ×0.75 | Two hex abilities; one Stun-capable at most (§10.5) |
| Support | ×1 | 0 | 6 | ×0.5 | Heal = the tier's standard damage per round, one target; one boon |
| Elite | Elite line | +1 | 6–8 | Elite line | Any role above as its base; 3–4 abilities; shake-off (PG) |
| Boss | Boss line | +2 | 6–8 | Boss line | Interrupts; a listed Weakness; phases if a Grand Beast (§6) |

### 4.4 Elites and Bosses

- **Shake-off** as the PG (§8.2, v0.2): at the end of its turn an Elite or Boss makes one Ward check — **d20 + (Ward − 10)** vs the attack roll that applied the hex (or 10 + the applier's Key + RB where no roll was made) — against any one hex that denies it a Move, Action, or Reaction or dictates its target (Stunned, Rooted, Grabbed, Bound, Dazed, Frightened). Success ends that hex. A Master Boss (Ward 21, +11) shakes a Master Hexblade's *Bind* (attack roll ~26) on a 15+: it stays Bound about two rounds in three, and is never Bound for a fight.
- **Hex stack caps:** standard 5 (PG), **Elite 4, Boss 3.** A Boss's Ward at −3 from Poisoned is still a Boss's Ward; the Warlock snowball (handoff risk 7) stops at −3.
- **Interrupts.** At the end of any other creature's turn, a Boss may spend one Interrupt: a strike at the tier's Interrupt figure (4 / 8 / 8 / 8), a Move of 3, or a listed Interrupt ability. Interrupts refresh at the start of the Boss's turn; a turn lost to *Time Debt* refreshes nothing (§10.4). They cannot use phase abilities, Sustain, or Overdraw.
- **Weakness.** Every Boss lists one: a Reading that reveals it, and the mechanical effect of exploiting it (Guard −4 for a round; a resistance removed; an ability lost until the next phase). Grand Beast weaknesses come from the canon tier table (§6). **The exploit lands once per phase** (as the Boss Stun, §10.4): the Reading still returns the Weakness, and a second exploit in the same phase has no effect. A Grand Beast's tier procedure sets its own window and is not this rule — the Pattern's recover turn each cycle, the Reversal's two rounds a phase (§6.3). At Guru the manifestation is the phase (§6.5). The reason is arithmetic: a Guard −4 re-applied every round is a permanent ×1.3 on the party's damage and takes a Boss below the three-round floor (§12.3 f).
- **Bosses and Slow Field / mass hexes.** A Boss entering a Sorcerer's *Slow Field* or any Ground-scale or Battlefield hex makes the same Ward check on entry, and again with its end-of-turn shake-off; success ends the effect for it alone. The field stays (D9: the Sorcerer keeps the ability; the Boss keeps its check). Elites use the end-of-turn shake-off only.

### 4.5 Practitioner opposition

Enemy practitioners **use the PG classes at their listed level**; there are no separate "enemy caster" tables for named people. The GM runs the resource:

- Strain Capacity, Marks (start at the rank floor), Tempo by level, talents per PG (pick two that fit; skip the rest).
- **Abilities:** nine picks from the class's pools (eleven for a Magic or Alchemy class), as a PC (PG §13.3). **Weapon and Cleave** as a PC (PG §4.1, §5.1): a named practitioner carries its class weapon and may Cleave. Unnamed opposition and roles do not take the standard Cleave; a Brute's *Hew* is its version (§4.3). Pick to a build and say it in one line in your notes ("a Frost Elementalist", "a counter-practitioner Hexblade"); a rival party of four should not hold four copies of the Builds line's first example.
- **NPC Push and Overdraw: allowed.** Budget: **3 Marks per session across all NPCs**, and every NPC Mark is narrated in the school's register exactly as a PC's would be (§10.1). An NPC at Stage 3+ has the Stage penalties on the sheet.
- Unnamed practitioners (a garrison's Adept, a column's Apostle) use the Caster / Support / Controller roles above with a school label and one PG ability; they do not Push.
- A **rival practitioner party** is a listed encounter type: four PG characters at the party's level ±1, run with the same rules. §11.6 plays one round of it.

### 4.6 Encounter budget

**Threat Points (TP)** are counted in the tier of the party.

| Block | TP (own tier) |
|:--|:-:|
| Standard (any role) | 1 |
| Elite | 3 |
| Boss | 6 |
| Mob band 5 / squad 10 / platoon 40 (at its drill tier) | 2 / 4 / 10 |

**Cross-tier conversion.** One tier below the party: ÷3 (a Novice standard is ⅓ TP to an Adept party). One tier above: ×3. **Two tiers or more above: not a stand-up fight** (§4.7).

**Budget for four PCs, own-tier TP:** Easy 2 · Standard 4 · Hard 6 · Deadly 8. Five PCs ×1.25; three PCs ×0.75. Levels 1–2 use Easy and Standard only. A day of adventuring holds about 12 TP between night rests; three Breathers are the spacer.

**Within-tier level.** A block has a tier, not a level. A level-8 party against Adept blocks is at the top of the band and will find Standard fights easy; use Hard. A level-5 party is at the bottom of its band: treat Hard as Deadly.

**Kit.** Budgets assume the party is in the kit of one tier below its own (§4.2, §7.3). A party in its own tier's full kit, or carrying four or more seated relics, is run one step harder (Hard as Standard); a Master or Guru party with no kit, one step easier. The steps are the size of the kit's and the relic layer's output change (§12.3 i).

**The ±1 rank rule.** An encounter's enemies are within one rank of the party, or the scene is a chase, a puzzle, or a Boss with a listed Weakness — never a stand-up fight.

### 4.7 Rank mismatch: what a Novice party sees when it meets a Master

Hit chance of an attacker of one tier against the standard Guard of another (natural 1 always misses):

| Attacker → Guard of | Novice 14 | Adept 17 | Master 20 | Guru 24 |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Novice +4 | 55% | 40% | 25% | 5% |
| Adept +7 | 70% | 55% | 40% | 20% |
| Master +10 | 85% | 70% | 55% | 35% |
| Guru +14 | 95% | 90% | 75% | 55% |

A Master standard enemy against a level-3 party: 85% to hit, 20 damage a round, into martial Vigor around 35 and magic Vigor around 25. Two rounds. The party's expected damage against Guard 20 is 25% of 25 a round; the enemy's 60 Vigor lasts ten rounds. **Survivable only by leaving.**

**Leaving procedure.** The round the party decides to leave, run it as a chase: the enemy takes its full turn each round; a PC is safe at the end of a round in which it is out of the enemy's reach and line of sight, or behind a structure the enemy cannot break in one round (§10.8), or in a gap the enemy's size cannot enter. Downed PCs are the cost of deciding late. The GM should say the tier out loud when the first Reading lands — "this is above you" is a legitimate Reading result at every school (§10.3).

**What the opposition hits.** The table above is the opposition's Guard. A PC's Guard is the PG formula (§4), and it is not the tier's standard figure: a Hexblade in heavy armor with a trained shield and a Sorcerer in light armor are ten points apart at every level. Nominal builds — the calibration key modifier (+3 / +4 / +5 / +6), Poise +1 where it is not the key, Reserve +2, the class's own armor, the Hexblade's shield, no kit, no talents:

| Opposition attack → nominal PC Guard of | Hexblade (heavy, shield +2) | Vanguard (medium) · Warden (light) | Paladin (heavy) · Berserker (medium) | Apostle · Artificer (medium) | Magic classes · Warlock (light) |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Novice +4 vs level 1 | 21 → 20% | 18 → 35% · 17 → 40% | 17 → 40% · 16 → 45% | 15 → 50% | 14 → 55% |
| Adept +7 vs level 5 | 24 → 20% | 21 → 35% · 20 → 40% | 19 → 45% · 18 → 50% | 17 → 55% | 16 → 60% |
| Master +10 vs level 9 | 27 → 20% | 24 → 35% · 23 → 40% | 21 → 50% · 20 → 55% | 19 → 60% | 18 → 65% |
| Guru +14 vs level 13 | 30 → 25% | 27 → 40% · 26 → 45% | 23 → 60% · 22 → 65% | 21 → 70% | 20 → 75% |

Ward, against the same attack: Magic classes 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 (50 / 55 / 60 / 70%), everyone else 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 (55 / 60 / 65 / 75%). A Boss uses the tier's attack; its +2 is on its own defenses (§4.3). The spread widens with level because the opposition's attack grows +3 / +3 / +4 a tier while a PC's Guard grows +2 (the Rank Bonus) plus what the class's Poise and armor add. The party average — two martials, a caster, a support — is 43% at Novice, 46% at Adept, 50% at Master, 59% at Guru, and that is the "about 55%" the incoming-damage check uses (§12.3 g, o). **Kit** (§7.3) shifts these and nothing else: the assumed kit lowers every Master figure by 5 points and every Guru figure by 10; a full own-tier kit lowers them 5 more. A Guru Boss that cannot hit a Hexblade in named plate was not going to hit it in Master plate either; it hits the caster, which is what Support and Cover are for.

---

## 5. Mobs

The Chronicle's Lines / Cohesion model converted to figurines. A Mob is one block on the grid with one stat line. Individuals do not exist unless an ability says "a member."

### 5.1 Units, blocks, drill

| Unit | Members | Block | Typical use |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:--|
| Band | 5 | 1×5 (or 5 loose squares as a sliding block, animals only) | A patrol, a pack, a boarding party |
| Squad | 10 | 2×5 | A gate guard, a caravan escort, a hunting party |
| Platoon | 40 | 5×8 | The Steel Quorum standard (Canon, Force Types): forty foot under one officer |

**Drill** is the unit's discipline, not its members' rank. Members are Novice-tier bodies at every drill; Adept and Master drill are what an Accord garrison, a Paladin column, or a Quorum-doctrine line have that a levy does not. Guru drill does not exist: a Guru is a person.

### 5.2 Mob stat line

| Drill | Cohesion per member | Guard / Ward | Attack | Damage per hit | Speed | Attack cap per target | Cohesion bonus |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Novice | 6 | 14 / 11 | +4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | +2 |
| Adept | 9 | 15 / 12 | +5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | +4 |
| Master | 12 | 16 / 13 | +6 | 10 | 6 | 5 | +6 |

**Cohesion** = members × the drill's per-member figure (6 / 9 / 12, G39 taken under R1): a Novice platoon 240, an Adept platoon 360, a Master platoon 480; a Novice squad 60; a band 30. Cohesion is the Mob's Vigor. Tempo 1. No Reactions.

### 5.3 Attacks

- The Mob makes **one attack roll per edge square adjacent to a target**, against every adjacent target, up to the **attack cap per target**.
- **Engulfed:** a target adjacent to the block on two or more sides, or inside it, is attacked by every adjacent edge square with no cap. Corners and gaps are where Mobs kill. A Medium figure in front of a platoon's long face takes at most the cap; the same figure at a corner takes up to five.
- **Reach lines** (glaive drill): edge squares attack at 2 paces.
- **Volleys** (bow lines): instead of edge attacks, the Mob makes one ranged area attack per turn — Burst 1 at any point within 12, damage per hit × 2, one roll compared to each Guard in the area, half on a miss. Cohesion halves the number of volleys it can make when below half.

### 5.4 Damage to a Mob

- **Single-target** attacks and abilities deal their damage to Cohesion normally.
- **Cleave** (PG §5.1) is not an area: a block is one target however many of its squares are in reach, and takes single damage. Counted per square, a Guru Vanguard's glaive Cleave reached about 47 Cohesion an Action against the Strike's 29 and out-broke the casters' doubled areas; as one target it changes nothing in §5.9 or (d).
- **Area effects and DoTs deal double damage to Cohesion.** This is the whole reason casters exist at the platoon scale. Handoff 4.3: "PC area effects deal damage to Cohesion directly" — here, directly and doubled.
- **Hexes** apply to the block: Stunned, the Mob makes no attacks until its next turn ends; Slowed, Speed halves; Blinded, attacks at Disadvantage; Prone does not apply (a block cannot fall over).
- A crit against a Mob adds a hex stack as usual and kills a member if any ability cares.
- **Every PG ability that names Cohesion, a Mob, or a member works as written**, and those numbers are the ones this table was tuned to.

### 5.5 Cohesion check, rout, break

- **Check.** The first time a Mob is at or below half Cohesion, and at the end of every later round in which it took damage while at or below half: **d20 + Cohesion bonus vs 10 + members lost this round** (damage taken this round ÷ the drill's per-member figure, rounded down). Failure: the Mob **routs**. A Master platoon with its officer holds on 7+ after losing five members and on 13+ after losing eleven; a Novice squad holds on 8+ after losing two. (v0.2's DC of 10 + damage taken was unreachable above about 20 damage, so every forced check was an automatic rout — R6.) Abilities that force a check set their own DC (Warden *The First Ten Deaths*: 10 + Rank Bonus + kills, at Disadvantage).
- **Rout.** A routed Mob moves away from the nearest enemy at double Speed on its turns and makes no attacks. It **breaks** (is removed) if it takes any further damage, or when it leaves the map. A broken Mob's members are casualties, deserters, and prisoners at the GM's split; the number is a record, not a rule.
- **Rally.** An Elite officer adjacent to or inside a routed Mob may spend its Action: Cohesion check vs 15; success ends the rout at current Cohesion. One attempt per rout.
- **Broken outright** at Cohesion 0.

### 5.6 Members and officers

- A **member** exists only when an ability says so (Warden *First Ten Deaths*, and any ability that names one). A member is a Novice standard body with the drill's Guard; killing one reduces Cohesion by the per-member figure.
- Most Mobs have an **officer**: an Elite of the drill's tier occupying one square of the block. While the officer lives the Mob has +2 on Cohesion checks and can Rally. The officer can be targeted as a member by anything that names one, and by any attack that reaches its square (the block's squares in front of it give it cover: +2 Guard). Kill the corners, then the officer: that is the Sword/Shield Guru line in canon, expressed as a rule.

### 5.7 Movement and shape

A block moves as one piece at its Speed and cannot enter a gap narrower than its short side. **Reshaping** (5×8 to 4×10, a column to a line) costs the Mob's Action. Difficult ground halves Speed. A Mob cannot Dash; only a rout doubles its Speed. Sliding blocks (animals: a herd, a swarm) reshape freely and ignore the gap rule.

**Inside a block (R6).** A block's squares are enemies' squares (PG §6.1). A creature enters one only by an ability that says so — Vanguard *Break Formation*, Hexblade *Fold the Line*, Paladin *Bulwark Step* through Medium members, *Split the Door* on a shield wall — or by being pushed in. Inside, it occupies its square and the block keeps its footprint; it is engulfed (§5.3) unless the ability caps the attacks; the officer is adjacent from inside and has no cover; the block moves only by reshaping (its Action) and leaves the creature standing; a rout leaves it; a break empties the squares; leaving provokes nothing but the Doctrine line's *The circle*.

### 5.8 What a Mob reads as

| School | Reads |
|:--|:--|
| Sorcerer | The block's load: which corner carries the weight of its formation (attacks there count double against Cohesion this round, once per fight) |
| Elementalist | Ground and weather under it: whether it can be flooded, burned, or blown (the biome hazard, §9.3, applies if so) |
| Apostle | Its fear: the Cohesion check DC after the next round, before the round is played |
| Apothecarist | Its fatigue: whether it has marched (Speed −1 if so) |
| Necromancer | Its dead: how many it has lost today (Cohesion bonus −1 per 10 members lost, this fight) |
| Warden | Where it will go: the block's next Move, declared |
| Hexblade | Its officer's square |
| Vanguard | Its hinge: the square whose loss forces a reshape (kill a member there, the Mob loses its next Action) |
| Paladin | Its stored weight: where the shield wall's load sits (a Breach there deals double to Cohesion) |
| Berserker | Whether it will stand (a Mob that has already failed one check will not) |
| Artificer | Its kit: reach, volley, or neither |
| Warlock | What it drank: the dose that would drop its Guard by 2 for a round if delivered |

### 5.9 Calibration: the platoon standard

A Guru martial PC (level 13, Tempo 3) hits a Mob's Guard of 14–16 about 95% of the time, and against Cohesion its Strike carries the second Rank Die (PG §5, R1): two attacks at weapon + 2 RD + Key, 47 an Action, about 140 Cohesion a round with Strikes alone (single-target the same Strike is 34, §12.1). Against a Novice platoon (240): round 1 → 100, under half — an automatic rout (23 members lost is DC 33, §5.5). Adept platoon (360): round 1 → 220; round 2 → 80, under half — rout in round 2. Master platoon (480): round 1 → 340; round 2 → 200, under half — rout in round 2. **One round at Novice drill, two at Adept and Master drill,** Strikes alone; the Guru abilities that name Cohesion can only make it faster, and *The First Ten Deaths* routs from full on its own DC. The handoff asked for 2–4; the drilled figures are inside it, and a levy is not the platoon standard. A Master party of four routs a Novice platoon in one round (areas deal double to Cohesion, §5.4); a Novice party of four (~17 a round) cannot break a platoon and should not be shown one except as scenery or as the thing to hide from.

---

## 6. Grand Beasts as bosses

### 6.1 Constraints

- **Node ceiling.** Beast tier cannot exceed the local node's activity (Canon Part I; Part VIII). A dormant-node region hosts nothing above Adept. The GM checks the node reading before placing a fight, and the Sorcerer's Reading can report it.
- **Register discipline.** Emergences are entered per homeland and tier in the Grand Beasts module's register, built by the Generation Procedure (base animal × biome × moon × ethos). This file does not invent species. The four exemplars in §11.4 are treatments of existing register rows and are labelled as illustrations.
- **Tier table** (Canon Part VIII): power source → vulnerability origin → vulnerability logic is the fight's structure, not flavor.

### 6.2 Phase template

```
PHASE n — Trigger: [Vigor at ½ / ¼; a turn count; an event on the map]
Change: [map: what moves, floods, collapses, lights; the beast's position; resistances gained or lost]
New abilities: [1–2, PG format; one may be an Interrupt ability]
New Reading: [one line per school: what it can now see that it could not]
Interrupts this phase: [count]
```

A phase is announced when its trigger lands; the change is applied before the next turn. Damage carries over between phases; abilities do not stack across phases unless the entry says so.

### 6.3 Fight structure by tier

| Tier | Vigor (Boss line) | Phases | Vulnerability procedure |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:--|
| Novice | 60 | 2 | **Pattern.** The beast runs a fixed cycle of 2–4 turns (3 by default: stalk → charge → recover) with a **tell** the turn before its big attack. A PC who has read the pattern (any Reading, or two full cycles observed) gains the **exploit**: on the recover turn, attacks against it have Advantage and its Guard is −4. Phase 2 at half Vigor: the cycle changes — its order, or its length within 2–4 — and a new tell must be read. A hunt: the party's first job is to watch |
| Adept | 110 | 3 | **Dependency.** A food, a den, a moon-lit pool, a substrate reading at a site on the map, fixed or moving (GB §2.3). While intact: one resistance and one ability. **Denying it** removes both for the rest of the fight: two Actions at the site and a check vs DC 16 (any attribute the fiction supports), or breaking a 30-Vigor object there. Phase 2 at half Vigor: the beast moves to the dependency and fights at it. Phase 3 at a quarter: damage ×1.25, Speed +2, no more Interrupts (it has stopped thinking) |
| Master | 450 | 4, map change between each | **Reversal.** The arena is the beast's: an environmental condition (fog, flooded ground, heat, ice, dark) grants it +1 Interrupt, one resistance, and puts a hazard on the party. The party must **reverse the condition mid-fight**: a map task of 3 steps in Phase 1 (each an Action at a point plus a check vs DC 18, or a structure break, §10.8), 2 steps in Phase 2, 1 in Phase 3. Reversal opens a **vulnerability window** of 2 rounds: Guard −4, Vulnerable to one named kind, no Interrupts. Each phase the beast re-asserts the condition and changes the map (water rises, a ridge falls, the fog thickens). Phase 4 has no reversal: the beast is at a quarter Vigor and the window is permanent |
| Guru | 800 per manifestation | Repeats | **Tether.** The avatar is 4×4 or larger and built of parts (§6.5). It can be climbed, blinded, broken piece by piece, and its manifestation destroyed at 0 Vigor — and it **returns at the next phase of its moon** (or the next night, on the GM's clock) at full unless the tether is unseated. The tether is a node anchor: a basin, a range, a reef, an oasis. Unseating it is a **campaign objective**, not a fight: three **tether points** on a regional map, each unseated by a Guru-scale action (a Guru ability at Ground scale; a season's engineering work; a joint operation; a treaty that moves people). Each tether point unseated removes one part permanently from the next manifestation and one ability with it. All three unseated: the domain collapses with the avatar (Frostvatn, 1232). For every once-per-phase rule — the Boss Stun (§10.4), the Weakness exploit (§4.4) — the manifestation is the phase |

**Beast Tempo.** Novice 1 · Adept 2 · Master 2 · Guru 3, plus Interrupts by tier (§3.2). A beast's Interrupts are its own: a lash, a step, a call.

### 6.4 What each school's Reading reveals about a beast

One line per class per tier. Readings are 0 Strain and free of any action (the exploit is the reader's Quick, PG §11); the GM says the line and no more. A Reading that fails is still a result.

| Class | Novice | Adept | Master | Guru |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| Sorcerer | Mass and charge line | Where the enhancement sits (the load path) | The arena's held variable, as a quantity | The tether's coordinates |
| Elementalist | Which element it uses or fears | Which element its dependency needs | The condition, and what reverses it | Which moon it embodies; what sustained work would hold it |
| Apostle | Its agitation (when it will flee) | What it protects (the dependency as a want) | Whether it knows the inversion is coming | Returns "the Debtor" — a doctrinal problem, not a target |
| Apothecarist | Injury and the compensating limb | The biological dependency, named | Its channels, and which one the dominance drains | Fails: not a living system |
| Necromancer | What it has killed, how recently | What it feeds on, by its dead | Where the arena's deaths cluster (the reversal site) | The crossing count at the node |
| Warden | Its next square | Its den and route | Where the condition flows from | The domain's edge |
| Hexblade | The tell, one turn early | When it draws on the enhancement | The seam: the window's length | The phase in which it is thinnest (Interrupts −1) |
| Vanguard | Its charge lane | The ground it holds | The corridor to the reversal point | Which part has reach |
| Paladin | Its footing | The dependency structure's break threshold | The structure to break for reversal | The part carrying the load (break it first) |
| Berserker | Whether it registers wounds | What draws it off the dependency | The timing of its fear | Fails: the gate reads nothing above Master |
| Artificer | Speed and reach as numbers | A flask or gadget that disrupts the dependency | The mechanism of reversal (pins, levers, drains) | Which tether point is load-bearing |
| Warlock | What poisons it | Its diet, as a dose | What sickens it during the inversion | Fails: nothing to dose |

Failures are canon-consistent partial views (Design Thesis): the party assembles the beast from lines no single school could produce.

### 6.5 Avatar stat guidance (Guru tier)

- **Size** 4×4 minimum; 5×5 or 6×6 for a lake or range embodiment. Speed 6, or 0 if the manifestation is the terrain.
- **Parts and pools.** 3–5 parts, each with its own Guard: **26 for the body — the tier Guard 24 plus the Boss role's +2, as every Boss line (§4.3; GB §2.1)** — and ±2 by part: a limb 24, a core 28. (v0.3 gave the body the standard 24 while the Ward carried the +2; the avatar was the only Boss without it, and the floor check showed the cost — §12.3 c.) The avatar's 800 is divided into **parts + 1 equal pools** — four parts, five pools of 160 — one per part and one **last pool**, which is not a target until every part is destroyed and is then attacked at the body's Guard. Damage to a part is damage to the avatar. **One attack, one pool:** each attack, extra Strike, Punish, Riposte, and Interrupt-provoked strike damages the pool it targets; damage past a pool's 0 is lost; a destroyed part cannot be targeted again. A chain (*Momentum Kill*, the Gate) chooses a pool per attack. **An area, or any one-roll attack against several targets (*Cleave*, *Sweep*), damages one pool** — the attacker's choice among the parts it covers — and applies its hex or rider to every part it covers. (Counted per covered part, an area did five times its damage to a four-part avatar and two Guru casters ended a manifestation in 1.3 rounds — §12.3 b, f.) **Destroying a part** removes one listed ability, grants a Reading of the tether to whoever destroyed it, and carries nothing into any other pool. This replaces v0.3's "does not reduce the avatar's remaining Vigor below the parts still standing," which said the same thing less clearly (G48).
- **Climbing:** a PC on the avatar (a check vs DC 20 with a Move) attacks the part it stands on with Advantage and is attacked only by Interrupts.
- **Blinding, driving back:** hexes apply per part (Blinded on the head part removes its ranged ability); a Ground-scale Force or Storm effect moves the avatar 1 pace per 50 damage.
- **Regeneration between phases:** full Vigor and all parts, minus those permanently removed by unseated tether points.
- **Manifestation destroyed:** the avatar dissolves for the phase; the GM sets the return date; the campaign clock runs. The manifestation is one phase for every once-per-phase rule (§4.4, §10.4): one Stun and one Weakness exploit while it stands.

### 6.6 Outcome lines: what an emergence leaves

The beast's tier fixes the outcome line and the relic origin (§7.6):

| Tier | Outcome line | Leaves, if the vulnerability logic was executed | Leaves, if killed by attrition alone |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| Novice | **Trait** | 1 Novice relic (Rigidity governor) | Nothing usable; a hide |
| Adept | **Dependency** | 1 Adept relic (Dependency) + 1 Novice relic | 1 Novice relic |
| Master | **Dominance** | 1 Master relic (Inversion) + 1 Adept relic; the arena's condition ends for a season | 1 Adept relic; the condition persists |
| Guru | **Tether** | 1 named Guru relic (Tether) + 2 Master relics at domain collapse; the node reading falls one step | The first manifestation destroyed leaves 1 Master relic; a later one leaves a Master relic only if a tether point has been unseated since the last relic left; the avatar returns (§12.3 p) |

The canon-strict register in the Grand Beasts module records the emergence; the GMG records nothing about it except what the party carried away.

---

## 7. Gear and relics

Gear is what a character wears; a relic is what a socket in that gear seats. Gear has a **slot**, a **tier**, an **intrinsic** (a fixed bonus by slot and tier), and **one socket**. A relic has a **rank**, an **attribute** (any numeric or mechanical property the game names), from Master rank an **alteration** (a new action or a changed class mechanic), and a **governor** (the condition under which it works, inherited from the beast that left it). This section replaces the Chronicle's six-slot model for Heroes (D11).

### 7.1 The ten slots

| Slot | What the piece is | Intrinsic stat |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Head | Helm, coif, hood, circlet, veil | Ward (and Guard from Master) |
| Chest | The PG's armor (light / medium / heavy) | Guard, on top of the PG armor value |
| Legs | Greaves, leggings, skirts of plate or quilt | Vigor |
| Gloves | Gauntlets, gloves; **wraps** for the Necrotic school, which works bare-palmed (Canon Part II: gloves muffle attunement) | Attack rolls and damage |
| Boots | Boots, sandals, snow-shoes, climbing irons | Hazard checks; Speed from Master |
| Accessory ×2 | Ring, amulet, belt, bracer, sash, token on a cord | Strain Capacity |
| Trinket | A tooth, a charm, a keeper's token, a page | **No intrinsic. Its socket accepts a relic of any rank** |
| Main Hand | The class weapon (PG §4.1) | Cleave and Punish damage; Cleave count from Master |
| Off Hand | A shield, a focus, a light weapon, or nothing | Strain Capacity; a second Reaction at Guru |

Weapons and shields keep their PG §4.1 values at every tier; the tier adds the intrinsic and a socket. **A two-handed weapon is one piece in both weapon slots**, with both intrinsics and both sockets, so a maul and a sword-and-shield come to the same kit. The Warden's dagger is a sidearm in no slot. (v0.7, G60, superseding G11.) The Main Hand's intrinsic is deliberately off the Strike, the Core, the attack roll, and Guard: those carry every hit table and Boss floor in §12, and the weapon slot does not move them (check r).

### 7.2 Tiers and makers

A piece's tier is its maker's grade: Novice, Adept, Master, Guru. Trade grades are Ledger examination grades adopted by the trades (a Master smith is a board grade in Accord territory, a guild grade in Crown territory, a reputation in Chimera territory — G-row 12). Artificers make gadget-class pieces at their own rank. **Guru-grade gear is always named** and has a record: who made it, for whom, and where it has been.

| Tier | Source | Price band (§8.3) |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Novice | The PG starting kit; any market | Kit |
| Adept | Ledger-certified workshops; Chancel armories; a settlement's best maker | 8–20 seals a piece |
| Master | Master makers on the roll; commission, one phase to make | 60–150 seals a piece |
| Guru | Not sold. Commissioned by an institution, inherited, taken, or awarded (§8.3, access) | A lease-scale figure, if it is ever priced |

### 7.3 Intrinsics

| Slot | Novice | Adept | Master | Guru (named) |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| Head | — | Ward +1 | Ward +1, Guard +1 | Ward +2, Guard +1 |
| Chest | PG armor value | Guard +1 | Guard +1 | Guard +2; Resist one damage kind other than Physical, chosen at making |
| Legs | — | Vigor +5 | Vigor +10 | Vigor +20 |
| Gloves / wraps | — | Damage +1 on Strike and Core | Attack +1; damage +1 on Strike and Core | Attack +1; damage +2 on Strike and Core |
| Boots | — | +2 on checks against hazards | Speed +1 | Speed +1; difficult ground costs no extra Move |
| Accessory (each) | — | Strain Capacity +1 | Strain Capacity +1 | Strain Capacity +1 |
| Trinket | — | — | — | — |
| Main Hand | — | Cleave and Punish damage +1 (to each target hit) | Cleave and Punish damage +1; Cleave count +1 | Cleave and Punish damage +2; Cleave count +1; Cleave ignores half cover |
| Off Hand | — | Strain Capacity +1 | Strain Capacity +1 | Strain Capacity +1; once per encounter, a second Reaction in a round |

Intrinsics stack across slots and do not stack within one. The gloves' damage bonus is on the Strike and the Core at every tier and never on a costed ability (v0.3's Master and Guru lines did not say; the §12 model always read them so). **Kit totals, from the table.** Adept: Ward +1, Guard +1, Vigor +5, damage +1, Cleave and Punish +1, Capacity +3. Master: Ward +1, Guard +2, Vigor +10, attack +1, damage +1, Cleave and Punish +1, Cleave count +1, Speed +1, Capacity +3. Guru (named): Ward +2, **Guard +3** above PG armor (Head +1, Chest +2 — v0.3's summary said +4, which the table never gave), Vigor +20, attack +1, damage +2, Cleave and Punish +2, Cleave count +1, Speed +1, Capacity +3, one resistance, difficult ground free, a second Reaction once per encounter. (v0.7: the weapon slots add the Cleave and Punish lines and one Capacity; the Off Hand's Capacity moves no Overdraw turn in check h.) **The assumed kit.** The tier table, the encounter budget, and the calibration are written for a party in the full kit of one tier below its own — nothing at Novice and Adept, the Adept kit at Master, the Master kit at Guru (§4.2, §4.6). Measured against that, an own-tier kit adds: at Master, Guard +1, attack +1, Vigor +5, Speed +1; at Guru, Guard +1, Ward +1, Vigor +10, damage +1 a hit, the resistance, and the boots' ground rule — one budget step in each case. The resistance is the Guru kit's one large item and it is a commitment made at commissioning: it is never Physical, so it is chosen against a named threat — a moon's element, a poison, the boundary — and does nothing against the next one. §12.3 (i) is the check; §4.7 has what the kit does to the opposition's hit chance.

### 7.4 Sockets

- **One socket per piece.** A socket seats **one relic of rank equal to or below the piece's tier**: a Master helm seats a Master, Adept, or Novice relic; an Adept ring seats Adept or Novice.
- **The Trinket's socket seats any rank.** An over-rank relic there (a Novice carrying a Master relic) costs **1 Strain Capacity while seated** — the only bond cost in the game (D4).
- **Seating and unseating** take a Breather. A relic seated unread (§7.7) reveals its governor the first time it fails.
- **Maximum seated: ten**, one per slot (a two-handed weapon seats two), and **the same attribute in at most one socket** (v0.1 said two: a per-hit damage attribute multiplies with the Master Strike's two attacks and with Tempo, and two of them put a Master martial at +80% over the tier table's assumption — §12.3). No Capacity cost beyond the Trinket rule.

### 7.5 Relics

A relic is beast residue with a shape: a tooth, a stone from a den, a bead of reef-glass, a shard of lake ice that does not melt. It drops only from an emergence's outcome line (§6.6); it is never made, and the Ledger's workshops cannot copy one.

**Rank** = the tier of the emergence that left it. **Power is sorted by rank** in the catalogue below; a Novice relic is a small permanent bonus, a Guru relic is a named piece of a Guru ability.

**Attribute catalogue.** Open: any property the PG or GMG names can be a relic attribute at the magnitude of its column. Where a column is "—", a relic of that rank cannot carry the attribute.

| Attribute | Novice | Adept | Master | Guru |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Damage, Strike or Core, one kind | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 |
| Damage kind (Strike or Core deals a named kind) | — | yes | yes, +1 | yes, +2 |
| Attack rolls | — | +1 | +1 | +2 |
| Guard | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 |
| Ward | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 |
| Vigor | +5 | +10 | +20 | +30 |
| Strain Capacity | — | +1 | +1 | +2 |
| Speed | — | +1 | +1 | +2 |
| Healing dealt, per heal | +1 | +2 | +3 | +1 RD |
| Casting speed | — | 1/encounter: Core as a Quick | 1/Breather: a costed ability as a Quick | Every turn: the Core as a Quick |
| Crit Chance | — | — | +1 step (max 17–20) | +1 step |
| Crit Rate | — | — | — | ×3 on one named ability |
| DoT on hit (Burning, Bleeding, or Poisoned) | — | 1 stack on a crit | 1 stack on hit, once a turn | 1 stack on every hit |
| Resistance, one kind | — | — | half | half, and immune to its DoT |
| Death Clock | — | +1 | +1 | +2 |
| Breather | — | restores a third | restores a third | restores half |
| Reach or range | — | Strike reach +1 or Core range +4 | same | same, and areas +1 scale step 1/encounter |
| Reading | — | one line one tier up, own school | same | one word of a second school (the relic's moon) — R3 |
| Cohesion damage | — | ×1.5 | ×2 | ×2; areas ×3 |
| Summon (familiar, golem, companion, construct) | — | +1 Guard and attack | +2 | +2; one extra Action for the summon |
| Hex resistance, one named hex | — | +2 on checks against it | immune | immune |
| Tempo | — | — | — | 1/encounter: one extra Action |

**Alteration (Master and Guru only).** One new action or one changed class mechanic, written in PG format on the relic entry. A Master alteration is bounded to an encounter (a new Reaction; a movement mode; a once-per-Breather effect). **A Guru alteration is a bounded piece of the Guru ability of the relic's moon** — Sustained Works (Saelura / Elemental), Substrate Editing (Orrivane / Arcane), Morphic Borrowing (Threnis / Nature), Boundary Holding (Velquor / Necrotic), Lifespan Transference (Namaris / Divine) A practitioner of that school uses it at the cost the entry states. **Anyone else uses it only as a Push** (PG §9.3, *Use*): 1 Mark, once per round — the relic draws the school's cost from a body not trained to pay it. Where the alteration sets a sustained work, the Push sets it and the entry's holding cost falls on whoever holds it (R3). **A relic's alteration never costs less than the school's own ability for the same work** (R4). This is the handoff's "the GM can see the intended power": a Guru relic hands a Warden a sentence of a Guru's book, tethered, and the Warden pays in the Guru's coin.

**Governors** reuse the beast vocabulary. A relic's governor is the vulnerability logic of the tier that left it:

| Origin | Governor | What it means on the sheet |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Novice (Trait) | **Rigidity** | The attribute works only under one fixed condition, written on the entry: on a turn you did not Move; against a target that Moved this round; at night; below half Vigor |
| Adept (Dependency) | **Dependency** | The relic must be fed once a day — a Breather in contact with its dependency (water, fire, forest ground, the sky of its phase) — or it goes dormant until fed |
| Master (Dominance) | **Inversion** | In the beast's inversion condition (its dominance reversed: rain on a desert relic; clear dry air on a fog relic; daylight on a dark one), the attribute becomes a penalty of the same size for the scene, and the alteration is unavailable |
| Guru (Tether) | **Tether** | Works within the emergence's domain, or for seven days after a Breather taken there, or in the hands of its **bonded holder** (bond: a Breather at the tether site; one holder at a time; re-bonding takes a phase). Outside its tether: dormant. Always named for the emergence's register designation |

### 7.6 Where relics come from

Only from outcome lines (§6.6). The drop is a consequence of *how* the beast was beaten: a Master beast killed by attrition leaves an Adept relic and its arena's condition; the same beast beaten by reversal leaves the Master relic. The GM never rolls for relics; the outcome line is the roll. Rank of relic ≤ tier of emergence ≤ node reading: a dormant-node region has no Master relics that were not carried in.

### 7.7 Identifying a relic

- The school of the relic's moon reads it fully (attribute, magnitude, governor, tether) with one Reading. Any other school's Reading gives the attribute and magnitude only. A martial or alchemy Reading gives one word (Hexblade: the governor's condition; Artificer: the attribute; Warlock: whether it is safe to carry against skin; the others: "beast").
- The Cobalt Ledger's assessors identify any relic for a fee (2 seals, Adept; 10, Master; a Guru relic is not identified, it is filed) and the identification is a record: the relic now has a file, and so does whoever brought it.

### 7.8 Relics and the registries

- Accord: beast residue is declared cargo under the Manifest Rule; an undeclared relic on a portal manifest is smuggling. Velquor-line relics are registered but their Readings are inadmissible, like the school's.
- Crown: Velquor-line relics are contraband in Chancel territory since the Purge; Namaris-line relics are sacramental property and the Assay will ask for them.
- Chimera: a relic from a Threnis emergence belongs to the ground; the way's keeper decides who carries it, and nothing is written.
- Off-Ledger: priced in kind; a Guru relic buys a company.

(G-rows 14–16.)

### 7.9 Relic entry template

```
NAME (rank) · Origin: [emergence designation · homeland · tier · moon] · Line: Trait / Dependency / Dominance / Tether
Attribute: [catalogue row, magnitude]
Alteration (Master+): [one action or class-mechanic change, PG format, with cost]
Governor: Rigidity / Dependency / Inversion / Tether — [the specific condition]
Seats in: [any socket of tier ≥ rank; the Trinket]
Bond: none; 1 Capacity if over-rank in the Trinket
```

### 7.10 Ten sample relics

Origins marked *[register]* are emergences that exist in the Grand Beasts module's register or must be entered there; Canon XI.3 rows are cited where one exists. None of these is canon until its emergence has a row. Alterations are used at the stated cost by the relic's own school and as a Push by anyone else (§7.5).

**1. Watcher's tooth (Novice).** Origin: the Deep Watcher archetype at Novice tier (XI.3; otter, water, node-active). Line: Trait. *Attribute:* Damage +1 Frost on Strike. *Governor:* Rigidity — only against a target that Moved this round (the ambush from still water).

**2. Den-earth pouch (Adept).** Origin: an Adept pack emergence, Taiga × Threnis, pack coordination (the Canon Part VIII worked example, not entered). Line: Dependency. *Attribute:* Attack +1. *Governor:* Dependency — a Breather on forest ground each day, or dormant.

**3. Waterhole stone (Adept).** Origin: an Adept emergence, Savanna × Saelura, waterhole stabilization *[register]*. Line: Dependency. *Attribute:* Healing dealt +2. *Governor:* Dependency — submerged for one Breather a day.

**4. Shalei burrow-tooth (Master).** Origin: Shalei burrow-dominant, 1155 (XI.3; desert, Threnis, Master, oasis dependency read as energy inversion). Line: Dominance. *Attribute:* Resistance, Stone. *Alteration:* **Sink** — once per Breather, as an Action, move 6 through sand or loose earth, ignoring Reactions, and surface adjacent to a target: your next Strike this turn has Advantage. *Governor:* Inversion — on wet ground or in rain, Vulnerable to Stone instead, and no Sink.

**5. Mwamba apex-claw (Master).** Origin: Mwamba apex, 1186 (XI.3; forest with mountain overlay, Threnis, Master). Line: Dominance. *Attribute:* DoT — Bleeding 1 stack on hit, once a turn. *Alteration:* **Overwatch** — once per encounter, as a Reaction, a Strike or Core against a creature that ends its Move within your range. *Governor:* Inversion — in open ground with no cover within 6 paces, your hits deal no Bleeding and you take 1 Bleeding stack each time you hit.

**6. Frostvatn basin-shard (Guru, named).** Origin: Frostvatn manifestation, 1230–32 (XI.3; tundra with mountain overlay, Velquor, Guru, the lake basin). Line: Tether. *Attribute:* Death Clock +2. *Alteration:* **Boundary held** — once per day, when an ally within 6 is Downed, their Death Clock does not tick for three rounds and they may speak (Necrotic Guru: a delay measured in breaths, not resurrection). *Governor:* Tether — the Frostvatn basin under the Hrafnrygg, or its bonded holder; re-bond at the basin. What the Chancel says about a person carrying it is a scene, not a rule.

**7. Harbor-keeping ember (Guru, named).** Origin: a Saelura embodiment *[register]* — a harbor or oasis node. Line: Tether. *Attribute:* Resistance, Fire, and immune to Burning. *Alteration:* **Sustained work** — as an Action, set one environmental hold in a 12×12 area (ice-free water; a raised spring; a still wind; a cool shade) and walk away. It holds while you are within a mile. Each phase it holds costs 1 Strain Capacity, restored at one per phase after release; a work held a full year costs 1 Mark — the school's own rate (PG §14.1, R4; Elemental Guru: the body as an ongoing power source). *Governor:* Tether — the embodiment's harbor or oasis, or its bonded holder.

**8. Overlay lens (Guru, named).** Origin: an Orrivane embodiment *[register]* — a portal-station or coordinate node. Line: Tether. *Attribute:* for a Sorcerer, Crit Chance +1 step on the Core (D9); for anyone else, one word of the Sorcerer's Reading (R3). *Alteration:* **Gravity, bounded** — once per Breather, as an Action, set gravity in a Burst 2 for three rounds: *down* (creatures in it are Prone with Speed 1, Force 1 RD per round) or *up* (flying creatures fall; thrown and falling objects hang and drop when it ends). Ward check on entry for Elites and Bosses (§4.4). *Governor:* Tether — the station or node, or its bonded holder. Canon: edits hold only under attention; if the holder is Stunned the effect ends.

**9. Borrowed soma (Guru, named).** Origin: a Threnis embodiment *[register]* — a canopy or apex predator node. Line: Tether. *Attribute:* Speed +2. *Alteration:* **Morphic borrowing** — once per day, for ten rounds, take one animal trait: a climb Speed equal to your Speed; night eyes (no Blinded from darkness); or a bite, a Strike-kind attack at 1 RD + Key, Physical, that inflicts Bleeding 1 on a crit. The fifth use in a campaign, and every fifth after, is 1 Mark, narrated as species bleed. *Governor:* Tether — the emergence's forest, or its bonded holder.

**10. Lent-years token (Guru, named).** Origin: a Namaris embodiment *[register]* — a rite site or benefice ground. Line: Tether. *Attribute:* Healing dealt +1 RD. *Alteration:* **Transfer, bounded** — once per day, as an Action, move Vigor from yourself to a touched ally, one for one, up to five times your level; and once per phase, take one Mark from a touched ally onto yourself (the Assay reads it as a lent year; a Chancel Apostle reads it as their business). *Governor:* Tether — the rite site, or its bonded holder; re-bond at the site during Namaris.

---

## 8. Contracts and the quest loop

### 8.1 The loop

Contract → Travel → Discovery → Danger → Location → Fight → Revelation → Boss → Relic → Consequences → Next contract.

| Step | What the GM prepares |
|:--|:--|
| Contract | The posting in its institution's register (§8.2) and the one thing the poster is not saying (§8.6) |
| Travel | Mode, biome, phase, fare (§9.3); one ambient hazard from the grid |
| Discovery | A Reading opportunity: the ground tells one school one thing |
| Danger | A Standard or Hard encounter within one rank (§4.6) |
| Location | The map: the beast's dependency site, arena, or tether point; structures (§10.8) |
| Fight | The Boss or Grand Beast at its tier (§6.3) |
| Revelation | The phase change that shows what the contract was actually about |
| Boss | The final phase; the vulnerability procedure |
| Relic | The outcome line (§6.6, §7.6) |
| Consequences | The registries (§8.5); the reputation track (§8.4); the poster's reaction; tally Proofs (§9.1) |
| Next contract | Generated from the consequence, not from a board |

### 8.2 Contract templates, each in its institution's register

Forms follow Canon XI.2; bracketed values are filled per contract. Filled examples are in §11.5.

**Cobalt Ledger — posting** (a typeset notice at a registry or a portal station)

> COBALT LEDGER · CONTRACT POSTING · [registry, homeland] · [moon] [year]
> Matter: [emergence / cull / escort / survey], at [ground], node reading [tier] as of [phase].
> Tier rating: [Novice / Adept / Master]. Licensed practitioners of the rating or above; registration to be shown.
> Fee: [seals], half on posting, half on the assessor's confirmation of outcome. Residue to be declared under the Manifest Rule.
> Standing: completion is entered on the licensee's file as [contract of record / noted].
> Assessor of record: [seal]. Posting lapses at the phase turn.

**Gilt Chancel — commission** (benefice paper, denominated in gilts)

> GILT CHANCEL · COMMISSION · [parish, homeland] · [day] Namaris [year]
> The Chancel commissions [name(s)] to [matter] at [ground], for the relief of [parish / column / rite].
> Benefice clause: on completion certified by the Indigo Assay, a benefice of [gilts] is entered to the commissioned; on failure, nothing is entered and the commission is cancelled from this date.
> Sacramental property recovered is the Chancel's. Velquor-line residue is to be surrendered.
> Attribution: work of the commissioned alone; assistance by unregistered practitioners voids the benefice.
> Examiner of record: [seal, Orrivane]. Copy to the Scribe's room, Qasr-Al-Rimal.

**Sedge Circle — request** (no paper; spoken by a keeper, before whoever is there)

> [Keeper], of [way or ground], says it once: [the thing wanted], at [ground], before the turn.
> What is owed is [in kind: a share, a season's watch, a name kept, a way opened]. It is not written.
> What is not the party's: the ground, the beast's dead, anything the keeper names as the ground's.
> If the way closes while they are on it, it was closed to them.

**Off-Ledger — job, priced in kind** (an Unsworn or compact form, stripped of the clauses that would make it enforceable)

> Job: [matter] at [ground]. Principal: [not named]. Priced: [in kind — a relic, a passage, a debt cancelled, a name struck from a roll].
> Registration: not asked. Residue: the principal's, or the price is halved.
> Stand-down: none. Simultaneous contract: assumed.
> Witness: none. The word binds, or the next job does not come.

### 8.3 Reward table

| Tier of contract | Coin | Kind | Standing (§8.4) | Gear grade | Access |
|:--|:--|:--|:-:|:--|:--|
| Novice | 2–6 seals (a labor-day is an eighth; a head of cattle six seals) | A meal, a bed, passage on a cart | +1 with the poster | Novice kit; an Adept piece as a favor | A name at the registry; a way not closed |
| Adept | 10–30 seals; 8–25 gilts | A mount; a season's grain; a familiar frame | +1, sometimes +2 | An Adept piece | A board sitting; a parish letter; a keeper's word |
| Master | 60–150 seals (a Master warden's season is 60); 50–120 gilts | A house; a workshop lease; a company's contract | +2 | A Master piece, commissioned | A Master's roll entry; an Assay certification; a Circle's recognition; a portal manifest without inspection |
| Guru | Not paid; leased. Hundreds to thousands of seals a year (the Stenhavn lease is 5,200) | A homeland's budget line | +3; a treaty matter | A named piece, awarded | The Escrow roll; the Chancel's rite; the Concord's speakership for a phase |

### 8.4 Reputation tracks

One track per institution, 0–5, plus the Off-Ledger. Each step names what it unlocks; a step lost is a Register entry, an audit, or a closed way (§8.5).

| Step | Cobalt Ledger (file) | Gilt Chancel (favor) | Sedge Circles (recognition) | Off-Ledger (credit) |
|:-:|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| 0 | No file | Unknown | Strangers on the way | No jobs |
| 1 | Noted | Heard of | Named by a keeper | A job, priced high |
| 2 | Licensed for contracts of the tier | Parish letter | A way opened once | Jobs at market price |
| 3 | Preferred: postings sent before they are posted | Commissioned | A season's welcome | Jobs priced in relics |
| 4 | Of record: the file is cited as evidence | Benefice-bearing | A share of the ground | The principal's name |
| 5 | On the roll (Master+) | The Chancel's rite | A seat at the fire session | A company of your own |

Standing with one institution moves the others: +2 with the Chancel is −1 with the Circles; a Ledger file of record is what the Off-Ledger charges for.

### 8.5 Consequences of a contract done wrong

| Consequence | Trigger | Effect | Answered by |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| **Register entry** (Accord) | Unregistered practice at Adept or above in Accord territory; undeclared residue; a Ground-scale effect in registered territory (D7: automatic) | Ledger standing −1; the next posting requires a hearing; a Guru-scale effect files an Escrow audit within the phase (D7) | The hearing sat, and the file corrected at the next posting |
| **Assay audit** (Crown) | A benefice claimed on another's work; a Velquor-line relic carried into Chancel territory; a transfer made without an Apostle | Chancel favor −2; benefice voided; the party's names on the Scribe's copy | The audit met: the work's attribution corrected on the Scribe's copy, the relic surrendered or the transfer re-certified |
| **A closed way** (Chimera) | Taking what the keeper named as the ground's; a beast killed by attrition where the keeper asked for the dependency read; writing anything down | The way closes to the party until the next Threnis turn; Circle recognition −2 | The way reopened at the next Threnis turn, on the keeper's price, paid in kind |
| **A price** (Off-Ledger) | A job's word broken | The next job is the debt; credit 0 | The debt-job done |

A consequence answered is a Proof (PG §13.4), counted in the contract during which it is answered, whichever contract caused it. A consequence evaded stays on the file, the roll, or the way.

Guru consequences are treaty matters (Canon Part II): a party that carries a named relic or unseats a tether has done something three institutions will file three ways.

### 8.6 What the poster is not saying

Roll or choose one per contract; the Revelation step is where it lands. Not saying is not lying: 1, 2, 5, and 8 are usually things the poster does not know, and 3, 4, 6, and 7 are things the poster knows and left out. The Revelation lands the same way; the poster's reaction at the Consequences step does not. Each has a Reading that can find it early: the party's investigation is its Readings (PG §11), and a PC who Reads the right thing at the Discovery or Location step gets the line. The lie is discoverable, not fiat. Found before the Revelation step, it is a Proof (PG §13.4).

1. The tier rating is one step low, because the posting was written before the node reading rose. *Found by:* Sorcerer (the node reading, as a quantity); Elementalist (what the ground answers now).
2. The beast is the second one; the first was culled by attrition and left the arena's condition standing. *Found by:* Necromancer (the first beast's crossing, a phase old); Elementalist (the condition standing with nothing under it).
3. The residue is already promised to someone else. *Found by:* Apostle (what the poster wants, and that it is not the residue).
4. The poster's own practitioner failed the job last phase and is on the party's route. *Found by:* Warden (who is on the route); Necromancer (a crossing on the road).
5. The dependency site is a village's well, den, grove, or rite ground. *Found by:* Apothecarist (the dependency, named); Artificer (a well or works as a mechanism).
6. The contract exists so that the registry can file who took it. *Found by:* Hexblade (the assessor's posture: watching, not measuring); Apostle (what the registry wants).
7. The benefice, share, or price is denominated in something the party does not yet know it has (a Mark, a name, a way). *Found by:* Apostle (what the poster wants of the party itself).
8. The tether point the party is sent to is one of three, and the other two are someone else's contracts. *Found by:* Sorcerer (the tether's coordinates come back plural); Warden (the other roads into the domain).

---

## 9. Advancement, rank-up, rest, travel, and the moons

### 9.1 Advancement and rank-up in the world

Levels are earned by Proofs (PG §13.4); a rank level also needs the gate and the phase turn (PG §13.5). The institutions record what the party has become; they do not decide it. This section is the GM's side: adjudicating Proofs, running the gate, and what each recognition does at the table.

**Adjudicating Proofs.** Tally at the Consequences step (§8.1), source by source, each at most once per contract.

- **Contract closed.** The poster learns the outcome — the assessor confirms, the Assay certifies, the keeper is told, the principal is paid or refused. A contract abandoned without word does not close.
- **The unsaid, found early.** A player states the conclusion aloud, from a Reading, before the Revelation step. The §8.6 *Found by* lists are the likely schools, not the only ones.
- **Cross-reading.** Two Readings by different schools, put together, and acted on. The GM confirms it at the moment the party acts. Two Readings by one school do not count.
- **Join landed.** The Join's attack hits, or — for a Join with no attack roll — its effect resolves, in a fight against a Boss or Grand Beast; listed or improvised (PG §12).
- **Resolved through its structure.** A Grand Beast: the "vulnerability logic was executed" column of §6.6. A Boss that is not a beast: it falls in a phase in which its Weakness exploit landed (§4.4). Elites do not count. Attrition alone is worth 1, not 2.
- **Consequence answered.** The *Answered by* column of §8.5.
- **Contract-equivalent.** Work with no posting counts once it has someone who wants it done and a consequence if it goes wrong. Say so at the table when it starts.

**The gate.** A rank level needs a structural resolution of a Boss or Grand Beast of the party's current tier (§4.2, §6.3); one above the tier also counts. Until then the tally holds at 5. When the party is at the gate, the next contract's Boss step is of their tier — the loop supplies one per contract. A table that resolves every fight by attrition will not rank up; the Readings of §6.4 and §10.2 are how the structure is found, and the GM gives them.

**The phase turn.** The rank takes effect at the next phase turn, not on the night of the fight. Retraining (PG §13.3) happens in the same window. So does recognition: each character chooses a route below. The wait and fee are the route's.

| Recognition | What it looks like | What is recorded | Time and fee | At the table |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| **Ledger board** (Accord; any school) | An examination table; the cost read aloud; a waiver signed | A cost-file entry (Canon XI.2 form 1): rank, stage, examiner, phase | A phase's wait for a sitting; 2 / 8 / 30 seals by rank; Guru: the roll, by petition | Status *Registered* at the grade. Ledger postings of the grade's tier. Ledger file raised to at least 2 (§8.4). The cost file, from Adept, is readable by any assessor |
| **Chancel attunement** (Crown; Apostles by rite, others by the Assay's counters) | The Assay's reading; a rite in Namaris for Apostles | The Assay's roll; benefice-bearing certification (form 2) | Namaris only; tithe, not fee | Status *Attuned* at the grade. Chancel commissions of the grade's tier. Chancel favor raised to at least 2. Not open to a Reverie school (Proscribed) or an Ethosless one (Anathema) |
| **Circle recognition** (Chimera) | A keeper says it before whoever is there | Nothing | When the keeper says so | Status *Recognized*. Keepers' requests come at the character's rank, not below it. Circle recognition raised to at least 1. Nothing to file, so nothing to be filed for |
| **No recognition** | The party knows; the registries do not | Nothing, until a Reading by a registered practitioner or an inspection files it | — | Status unchanged. Off-Ledger jobs, keepers' requests, and Unsworn contracts at any tier; registered postings at the old grade. §8.5 applies when noticed |

- **Grade and rank.** A grade never exceeds rank. A grade below rank is legal: posting tier is set by grade (the Ledger posting asks for registration to be shown), and the gap between what the character can do and what is on file is what §8.5 prosecutes.
- **Unregistered rank-up in Accord territory is prosecutable** under the Second Register: any Reading of the character by a registered practitioner, any portal manifest, any assessor's confirmation files a Register entry (§8.5). The Ethosless schools have no registry to be late to; a Necromancer, Hexblade, or Warlock ranks up unregistered by default and is filed only when noticed.
- Talents with a trade, and Trade checks, use the same grades (§7.2).

### 9.2 Rest on the road

- A **Breather** needs ten minutes stationary: a caravan halt, a ship or airship under way, a portal station's waiting room, a camp. Not a mount in motion, not a march.
- Three Breathers a day, as the PG. A day of travel by caravan halts once at noon and once at dusk; the third Breather is the party's choice.
- **Night rest:** as the PG. In a Biome × Moon cell that names healing (Saelura on forest, taiga, rainforest, grassland), Breathers restore a third of maximum Vigor instead of a quarter.

### 9.3 Travel

Modes from Canon Part I, priced by phase (Phase Cascade, Part V). Figures are this file's (G-row 17).

| Mode | Pace | Fare or cost | Phase rule |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| Echo portal (Accord stations, seat to seat) | Instant; a phase-turn queue at busy stations | Passenger 4 seals base; declared light cargo 1 seal a load | ×1 in Orrivane; ×1.5 in Saelura and Namaris; ×2 in Velquor and Threnis. Manifest declared; relics are residue |
| Airship (guild) | 2–4 days between seats, by wind | Half the portal fare; freight by the ton | Wind-crew share ×1.25 outside Saelura; inspectors board first |
| Overland caravan | A biome stage a day: grassland and savanna 1; forest, taiga, chaparral 1.5; desert and tundra 2; mountain overlay +1; rainforest 3 | Way-tolls in Chimera territory, in the traveler's coin, recorded nowhere; caravan fare 1 eighth a day | Freight cost lags the sky; bread moves a little, and late |
| Harbor shipping | A coast a day; ice-law in Velquor where no harbor Guru keeps the water | Passage 1 seal a day | Ice: no sailing from a kept harbor's neighbors in Velquor |

**Ambient hazards.** The Biome × Moon grid as travel and encounter effects. One cell per scene; the extension rows follow the pattern (Velquor distorts, Namaris burns or blinds, Orrivane disorients, Saelura stabilizes or heals, Threnis produces fauna). Hazard damage is the party's tier standard damage ×2, one roll against each defense in the area.

| Cell (Canon Part VIII) | Effect at the table |
|:--|:--|
| Forest × Velquor — geometric growth | Paths change; navigation check DC 15 each stage or a day lost |
| Forest × Namaris — fire spread | Burning 2 stacks on entering a burning square; fire moves 2 a round downwind |
| Forest / Grassland × Orrivane — herd agitation | A Mob of animals (sliding block, Novice drill) crosses the party's ground |
| Forest × Saelura — rapid healing | Breathers restore a third (§9.2) |
| Forest × Threnis — apex emergence | Beast tier at the node ceiling; a Threnis Warden contract |
| Desert × Velquor — mirages | Warden and Sorcerer Readings return one false line per day; navigation DC 15 |
| Desert × Namaris — sandstorms | Blinded; Speed halved; ranged attacks at Disadvantage; hazard damage once an hour without shelter |
| Desert × Orrivane — heat delirium | Strain Capacity −2 for the day without water; Readings at Disadvantage |
| Desert × Saelura — oasis stabilization | A safe Breather site; Adept dependency beasts gather at it |
| Desert × Threnis — burrow dominance | Master-tier arena: the ground is the beast's (§6.3) |
| Coastal × Velquor — tidal distortion | Squares flood at the end of each round, 1 pace a round from the water's edge; deep water rules |
| Coastal × Namaris — storm surge | Line 12 of water: hazard damage and 3 paces of push; structures take double |
| Coastal × Orrivane — migratory disruption | Ships and airships lose a day; birds as a sliding Mob |
| Coastal × Saelura — coral recovery | Way law: a keeper's ground; nothing taken |
| Coastal × Threnis — reef intelligence | The reef closes a channel: a way with a keeper (Puketai); not a beast |
| Mountain × Velquor — fault shifts | Unstable footing across the stage; structures at half break threshold |
| Mountain × Namaris — avalanche | Line 12 crush: hazard damage ×2 and Prone; Stone |
| Mountain × Orrivane — echo hallucination | Apostle and Necromancer Readings return the wrong register once |
| Mountain × Saelura — monastic refuge | A guaranteed safe night rest |
| Mountain × Threnis — predator magnification | Beast damage ×1.25 for the phase |

### 9.4 The moons (D1)

Canon: casting cost varies by moon phase only. Heroes' rule, one lever (ratified, R8):

| Phase, relative to your school's moon | Strain Capacity |
|:--|:-:|
| Your own phase | +2 |
| The adjacent phases (one step either way in Velquor → Saelura → Orrivane → Namaris → Threnis) | — |
| The far phases (two steps either way) | −1 |

Martial and Alchemy schools: no moon, no effect. The Elementalist's moon is Saelura (Canon Part I). Fares and leases follow §9.3. Nothing else in the game changes by phase; this is the whole rule.

---

## 10. Adjudication

### 10.1 Overdraw and Push: narrating the Mark

Once per turn (Overdraw) and once per round (Push), as the PG. The GM narrates every Mark in the school's register, drawn from the canon cost progressions. Marks 1–2 are the first sign of the first item; Stage 1 (3 Marks) is the first item; Stage 2 (6) the second; Stage 3 (8) the third; the End (10) is the fourth, played (§10.7).

| School | Marks 1–2 | Stage 1 (3) | Stage 2 (6) | Stage 3 (8) | The End (10) |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| Elemental | A tremor in the hands after casting | Fatigue that a night does not clear | Muscle failure: help to stand | Organ strain: the skipped beat | Collapse |
| Arcane | A headache behind the eyes | Headache that stays | Tremor | Time-lag perception; memory dissonance | Identity-time fracture |
| Nature | A patch of tough skin | Scar tissue | Sensory narrowing: one sense gone | Partial morphic blending | Species bleed |
| Necrotic | A cold patch that does not warm | Skin pallor | Death-residue sensation | Touch erosion | Boundary thinning |
| Divine | A grey hair | Minor aging | Frailty | Organ degradation | Lifespan compression |
| Sword/Shield | A scar that aches in a phase | Scar accumulation | Residue mapping | Startle lock | The guard that will not drop |
| Glaive | A stiff shoulder | Joint wear | Conditioning debt | Spinal compression | The seizing |
| Longbow | A night's sleep lost | Draw-side deformation | Watch-broken sleep | Sensory tuning | The unclosing eye |
| Hammer | A knuckle that does not straighten | Micro-fracture conditioning | Bone remodeling | Deep-set brittleness | The settling |
| Ax | An hour not remembered | Post-gate collapse | Frenzy amnesia | Affect blunting | Heart-burn |
| Light Arts | An etched fingertip | Reagent-etched hands | Close-work sight | Fume-worn lungs | The divided attention |
| Dark Arts | A morning dose | Tolerance dosing | Organ staining | Taste-death | The venomous body |

Stage penalties are the PG's. An NPC's Marks are narrated the same way (§4.5). A Mark is never a number said aloud; it is the item in the column.

### 10.2 Readings: one sentence per school, and what it cannot see

The GM says one sentence. The table is the sentence's shape; the beast table (§6.4) and Mob table (§5.8) give the specifics for those targets.

| School | One sentence (people, constructs, places) | Cannot see |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Sorcerer | A quantity: mass, load, velocity, composition, coordinates | Why; anything that is not a quantity (the Ledger files it as anecdotal) |
| Elementalist | What the ground, water, air, or fire will do next | Anything living, as living |
| Apostle | What the person wants, and how badly | Anything without a will; the beast at Guru (§6.4) |
| Apothecarist | Where the body is injured and what it needs | Anything that is not a living system |
| Necromancer | What died here, when, and in what register | Anything that has not died; the killer's face |
| Warden | Where it will go and by which way | What it will do when it gets there |
| Hexblade | The posture before the act: casting, drawing, breaking | Intent without a body |
| Vanguard | The geometry: hinge, corridor, reach | Anything off the map |
| Paladin | The load path: where the weight is, what breaks | Anything without structure |
| Berserker | Whether it will stand, and whether it registers pain | Anything above Master; anything not a threat |
| Artificer | The mechanism: how it works, what it needs | Anything without parts |
| Warlock | The body's tolerances: what it drank, what would drop it | Anything without a body |

**Cost:** 0 Strain, no action, once per round per reader; a target can be Read by every school present; the exploit costs the reader's Quick, or an Action when the Quick is spent (PG §5, §11; R5). **Load:** the sentence is the whole result; a player who wants more spends the next round on the next Reading. "This is above you" is a valid result at every school.

### 10.3 Improvised Joins

Two schools, two abilities, one effect. Procedure:

1. Each contributor names the ability contributed (a Core is allowed) and pays **2 Strain** (in addition to nothing else: the Join replaces the abilities' own costs).
2. The GM sets the effect at the level of the **higher component, one scale step up**: target → Burst 2 → Line → Ground.
3. **Refused** if the result would be Ground scale below Guru, or if either contributor is Stunned.
4. Both contributors spend an Action; the Join resolves on the later turn. One roll, the higher contributor's, compared to each defense.
5. Damage kind and hexes are the higher component's; range is the shorter.
6. A Join is never narrated as a whole: each contributor is told what their part did (Design Thesis).
7. **Once per encounter** for each pair, as the PG's listed Joins (PG §12); "Strike" in a Join is one weapon attack.

PG §12 carries this procedure for the player (v0.9); this section is the rule of record. A listed Join (PG §12) costs an Action and a Reaction and takes +2; an improvised one costs two Actions and takes no +2.

### 10.4 Stunned: how many a fight can absorb

- Standard enemies: no limit.
- Elites: once per source per fight; then the shake-off applies immediately.
- **Bosses: once per phase.** A Stunned Boss loses its turn (PG §8.2) and its Interrupts until its next turn; a second Stun in the same phase becomes Slowed (R7 — v0.2's "loses its Interrupts, not its turn" contradicted the PG's Stunned and is struck).
- ***Time Debt*** (a Sorcerer Guru pick) is not a Stun and not a hex: a Boss loses its next turn with no shake-off and no Interrupt refresh, once per encounter (D9; R7).
- The 1-round cap is the PG's, and the general shake-off (PG §8.2) covers Rooted, Grabbed, Bound, Dazed, and Frightened the same way. *Slow Field* stays as written (D9); Elites and Bosses get the Ward check (§4.4).

### 10.5 Sustained effects

One per character, as the PG; Tempo does not add one. A Sustained effect ends if the character is Stunned or Downed. A Boss's Sustained effect (an arena condition) ends only by the phase procedure.

### 10.6 Summons at the table

A familiar, golem, turret, construct, or companion acts on its summoner's turn with one Move and one Action, and uses the summoner's Quick if it needs one (§3.1). Its stats are the summoner's tier standard block unless the PG ability says otherwise. A summoner with Tempo 3 has three Actions and one summon's Action, not six.

### 10.7 The End

At 10 Marks the character leaves play in a scene, not a death roll. Procedure (Chronicle port; check against the original in revision):

1. **Trigger.** The tenth Mark is taken. The GM says the fourth item of the school's column aloud (§10.1). Play continues to the end of the current round.
2. **The last act.** The character takes one final turn at full Tempo, any ability, no Strain cost, no Ward check against it (D9 applies to a Sorcerer's edit: the substrate gives). This turn is the legend.
3. **The recognition.** Each other player says one sentence about the character in their own school's register — what their Reading of them was.
4. **The record.** The GM names what the campaign keeps: a harbor kept, a pass held, a name on the roll, a way opened, a company with the character's name on its contract. It becomes a reputation step (§8.4) for the party, permanently.
5. **What is filed.** The registries file what they file (a cost-file closed; an Assay reading; nothing). The player may write the entry.

The character does not necessarily die on screen; they are done. A retired Guru is a person in the world with a Stage-3 sheet and no Strain.

**Optional: Carried Back (D5).** At the table's choice, a character who dies below Guru can be carried back to the Circles: the party takes 1 Mark each, spends a phase, and the character returns at the start of the next contract with Marks at the next Stage threshold. Off by default.

### 10.8 Structures

| Structure | Vigor | Break threshold (one hit at or above breaks it) |
|:--|:-:|:-:|
| Timber door, shutter, cart | 15 | 10 |
| Stone wall segment (1 square), pillar | 40 | 20 |
| Iron gate, portcullis | 60 | 30 |
| Bridge pin, keystone, lever | As read by the Paladin or Sorcerer (10–30) | half its Vigor |
| Airship gas cell | 20 | 10; Fire breaks it at 5 |

Abilities that target structures as written: Paladin *Breach* (double against structures); Sorcerer *Shatter Point* (ignores the break threshold: any hit breaks if the Reading found the point); Elementalist *Quake* (Ground scale, all structures in the area take its damage); Artificer *Lock* (a structure's break threshold +10 for a scene). Structures have no Guard: attacks hit; damage kinds Force and Stone deal full, Toxin and Necrotic deal none, Sacred none, Fire full to timber only.

### 10.9 Hazards

The PG's four (fire, deep water, drops, unstable footing) as written. Biome hazards are §9.3; hazard damage is the party's tier standard damage ×2. A hazard is never a Reaction's target; it is the map.

---

## 11. Exemplars

Not adventures. Blocks are built from §4; beasts are treatments of register rows; contracts fill the §8.2 forms. Damage figures are flat; roll the nearest dice if the table prefers. "Reads as" gives the most useful school only; §10.2 and §6.4 give the rest.

### 11.1 Twenty-eight stat blocks

**Novice tier** — Guard 14 / Ward 13 · Attack +4 · Tempo 1

| Role | Example | Vigor | Guard / Ward | Speed | Attacks | Abilities | Reads as |
|:--|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:--|:--|:--|
| Brute | A levy pikeman; a boar | 18 | 13 / 13 | 6 | 1 × 8 Physical | *Sweep* (1/fight): Burst 1 adjacent, 5 each, half on miss | Warden: charges the nearest figure |
| Skirmisher | A bandit archer; a jackal | 9 | 15 / 13 | 8 | 1 × 6, range 12 | *Aimed*: Advantage if it did not Move; Disengage as a Quick | Hexblade: the draw, one round early |
| Caster | A hedge-practitioner, any school | 9 | 13 / 15 | 6 | *Bolt* 1 × 6 (school's kind), range 12 | *Area* (1/fight): Burst 1, 6, half on miss; Strain 4 | Sorcerer: which school, by the shape of the cast |
| Controller | A net-thrower; a marsh snake | 12 | 14 / 13 | 6 | 1 × 4 | *Snare*: Ward check or Slowed; *Daze* (1/fight): on a hit, Stunned 1 round | Vanguard: its reach and the square it will take |
| Support | A drummer; a camp healer | 12 | 14 / 13 | 6 | 1 × 3 | *Mend*: 6 Vigor, range 6; *Steady*: an ally +2 Guard for a round | Apostle: whom it is trying to keep alive |
| Elite | A sergeant; a lead hound | 30 | 15 / 14 | 6 | 2 × 5 | *Rally* (§5.5); *Press*: an adjacent ally's next attack has Advantage; *Hold*: Guard +2 if it did not Move; shake-off | Necromancer: how many it has buried today |
| Boss | A bandit captain; a Novice beast (§11.4) | 60 | 16 / 15 | 6 | 2 × 6; Interrupt strike 4 | Two of the above, one Interrupt (a Strike); **Weakness:** a tell (§6.3) or a Reading-revealed fear: Guard −4 for a round when exploited | Any: "this is a captain" |

**Adept tier** — Guard 17 / Ward 16 · Attack +7 · Tempo 1 (Elite 1, Boss 2)

| Role | Example | Vigor | Guard / Ward | Speed | Attacks | Abilities | Reads as |
|:--|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:--|:--|:--|
| Brute | A column's breacher; a bear | 45 | 16 / 16 | 6 | 1 × 15 | *Hew*: on a kill, a second attack; *Shove*: 2 paces on a hit (1/turn) | Paladin: where its weight sits |
| Skirmisher | A compact scout; a hawk | 23 | 18 / 16 | 8 | 2 × 6, range 12 | *Mark*: a target it hit is Advantaged for allies until its next turn; Disengage as a Quick | Warden: its next square |
| Caster | A registered Adept, any school | 23 | 16 / 18 | 6 | *Bolt* 1 × 10, range 12 | *Area* (1/fight): Burst 2, 12, half on miss; *Ward* (Quick): Guard +2 for a round; Strain 6 | Elementalist: what it will do to the ground |
| Controller | A whip-line handler; a python | 30 | 17 / 16 | 6 | 1 × 9 | *Grasp*: Ward check or Slowed and Prone; *Hush*: Ward check or the target's next costed ability fails (1/fight) | Hexblade: the casting posture, one round early |
| Support | An Apostle's deacon; a den-mother | 30 | 17 / 16 | 6 | 1 × 6 | *Mend*: 12; *Boon*: an ally +1 RD damage for a round; *Cover*: a Reaction, +4 Guard to an adjacent ally | Apothecarist: whom it is bound to |
| Elite | A column lieutenant; a pack leader | 35 | 18 / 17 | 6 | 2 × 10 | *Rally*; *Press*; *Second Wind* (1/fight): 10 Vigor; *Shield Line*: adjacent allies +1 Guard; shake-off | Vanguard: its hinge |
| Boss | A rival Adept practitioner (§4.5) or an Adept beast (§11.4) | 110 | 19 / 18 | 6 | Tempo 2: 2 Actions × 2 × 6; Interrupt strike 8 | One Interrupt; a dependency (§6.3) or a **Weakness** a Reading reveals; two role abilities | Necromancer: what it feeds on |

**Master tier** — Guard 20 / Ward 19 · Attack +10 · Tempo 1 (Elite 2, Boss 2)

| Role | Example | Vigor | Guard / Ward | Speed | Attacks | Abilities | Reads as |
|:--|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:--|:--|:--|
| Brute | A Large war-beast (2×2); a siege-golem | 90 | 19 / 19 | 6 | 2 × 12 | *Trample*: Line 4 through, 12 each, Prone; *Grip*: on a hit, Restrained (Ward check ends) | Paladin: the load path |
| Skirmisher | A Master warden of the other side; a raptor | 45 | 21 / 19 | 8 | 2 × 10, range 16 | *Overwatch*: a Reaction attack against a creature ending its Move in range; *Vanish*: Disengage and Hidden as a Quick (1/fight) | Warden: where the shot will land |
| Caster | A Master practitioner in a role (the named ones use PG classes) | 45 | 19 / 21 | 6 | *Bolt* 1 × 17, range 16 | *Area* (1/fight): Burst 2 or Line 8, 20, half on miss; *Sustain*: one arena effect (§6.3); Strain 8 | Sorcerer: the quantity it is holding |
| Controller | A Master Warlock's golem-handler; a tar-pit swarm | 60 | 20 / 19 | 6 | 2 × 7 | *Hold*: Ward check or Stunned 1 round (the fight's one Stun); *Bind*: Speed 1, no Reactions, Ward check ends | Warlock: what it drank |
| Support | A Master Apostle's deacon; a node-echo | 60 | 20 / 19 | 6 | 1 × 10 | *Mend*: 20; *Extra*: an ally takes one extra Action (1/fight); *Shield of Word*: an ally immune to one hex for a round | Apostle: what it wants kept |
| Elite | A Master officer; a domain guardian | 140 | 21 / 20 | 6 | Tempo 2: 2 × 8 per Action | *Rally*; *Press*; *Second Wind* (40); *Lock Step*: allies within 2 cannot be Slowed; shake-off | Vanguard: its corridor |
| Boss | A Master beast (§11.4); a rival Master party's lead | 450 | 22 / 21 | 6 | Tempo 2: 2 Actions × 2 × 10; Interrupt strikes 8 | Two Interrupts; the arena condition; **Weakness:** the reversal window (§6.3) | Elementalist: what reverses the condition |

**Guru tier** — Guard 24 / Ward 23 · Attack +14 · Tempo 1 (Elite 2, Boss 3). Guru-tier opposition is the avatar and what a node produces around it; named Gurus use the PG.

| Role | Example | Vigor | Guard / Ward | Speed | Attacks | Abilities | Reads as |
|:--|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:--|:--|:--|
| Brute | A manifestation-limb detached (Huge 3×3) | 150 | 23 / 23 | 6 | 2 × 21 | *Crush*: Burst 1, 21, Prone; *Reform*: at 0 Vigor, returns next phase | Sorcerer: its mass |
| Skirmisher | A moving light of the domain (aurora, mirage, fire-drift) | 75 | 25 / 23 | 10, flying | 2 × 17, range 16 | *Disorient*: Ward check or Readings fail for a round; *Fade*: Hidden as a Quick | Warden: the domain's edge, where it turns back |
| Caster | A lesser embodiment | 75 | 23 / 25 | 6 | *Bolt* 1 × 28, range 16 | *Area* (2/fight): Line 12, 34, half on miss; *Sustain*: the domain condition in Burst 4; Strain 10 | Elementalist: which moon |
| Controller | A domain-weight (gravity, ice, rot) | 100 | 24 / 23 | 4 | 2 × 13 | *Pin*: Ward check or Speed 0 and Prone; *Drain*: Strain +2 to a target in Burst 2, Ward check halves | Sorcerer: the variable it holds |
| Support | A node-echo (heals the avatar) | 100 | 24 / 23 | 0 | 1 × 17 | *Restore*: the avatar or a manifestation regains 34; *Bind Part*: a destroyed part is not destroyed until the echo dies | Necromancer: the crossing count it feeds on |
| Elite | A domain guardian (a Master beast bound to the tether) | 280 | 25 / 24 | 6 | Tempo 2: 2 × 14 per Action | Its Master-tier kit; *Tethered*: cannot leave the domain; shake-off | Apothecarist: fails — not a living system |
| Boss | The avatar (§6.5) | 800 | by part (24–28) | 6 or 0 | Tempo 3: 3 Actions × 2 × 11; Interrupt strikes 8 | Three Interrupts; parts; the tether (§6.3) | Sorcerer: the tether's coordinates |

### 11.2 Three Mob blocks

**Garrison squad (Novice drill).** 10 · 2×5 · Cohesion 40 · Guard 14 / Ward 11 · Attack +4, 6 per hit, cap 3 · Speed 4 · Officer: a Novice Elite (sergeant) in the rear rank · *Shield step*: Guard +1 if it did not Move · Cohesion bonus +2 (+2 with the officer). Reads as (Sorcerer): the sergeant's square. TP 4 at Novice.

**Column line (Adept drill, Hammer).** 40 · 5×8 · Cohesion 240 · Guard 15 / Ward 12 · Attack +5, 8 per hit, cap 4 · Speed 5 · Officer: an Adept Elite (lieutenant) · *Hold flat*: on flat ground, Cohesion checks +2; in trees, −2 (Canon: holds anything flat) · *Breach front*: the front face deals double to structures. Reads as (Paladin): where the wall's weight sits. TP 10 at Adept.

**Doctrine line (Master drill, Glaive).** 40 · 5×8 · Cohesion 320 · Guard 16 / Ward 13 · Attack +6, 10 per hit, cap 5, reach 2 · Speed 6 · Officer: a Master Elite · *The circle*: a figure entering reach takes one attack as the Mob's Reaction (the only Mob Reaction in the game; Steel Quorum doctrine) · *Reshape as a Quick* (doctrine-certified). Reads as (Vanguard): the hinge square. TP 10 at Master.

### 11.3 Four contracts, filled

**Ledger posting, Novice.** *COBALT LEDGER · CONTRACT POSTING · Grimskov registry · Saelura 1245. Matter: emergence at the mill-pond below Ulvskov, node reading Novice as of Saelura. Tier rating: Novice. Fee: 4 seals, half on posting. Residue to be declared. Standing: noted. Assessor of record: [seal].* Not said (§8.6, 5): the pond is the mill's, and the miller's latent school is Nature. *Proofs available:* closed 1; the unsaid (an Apothecarist names the dependency, or an Artificer reads the mill as a works) 1; a cross-reading of the pond 1; a Join landed 1; the Novice beast resolved through its Pattern 2 — the gate to Adept. Up to 6.

**Chancel commission, Adept.** *GILT CHANCEL · COMMISSION · a Tepemitla parish · 12 Namaris 1245. Commissions the bearers to deny the den of the pack at the parish's north pasture, for the relief of the Namaris circuit. Benefice: 15 gilts on Assay certification. Sacramental property recovered is the Chancel's. Attribution: the commissioned alone.* Not said (2): the parish's own Apostle culled the first pack by attrition; the den-site reading stands. *Proofs available:* closed 1; the unsaid (a Necromancer reads the first beast's crossing) 1; cross-reading 1; Join 1; the dependency resolved 2 — the gate to Master; an Assay audit answered 1, if the attribution clause is broken by an unregistered party member. Up to 7.

**Circle request, Master.** *The keeper of the Shalei crossing says it once: the ground at the oasis is the beast's again; open the road before the Saelura turn. Owed: a way opened for the party's whole life on the crossing. Not the party's: the oasis water, and what the beast has killed.* Not said (8): the oasis is one of three sites the Threnis-phase claims name, and the other two have keepers who did not ask. *Proofs available:* closed 1; the unsaid (a Sorcerer's site coordinates come back plural, or a Warden finds the other roads in) 1; cross-reading 1; Join 1; the burrow-dominant reversed 2 — the gate to Guru; a closed way answered 1, if the party takes the water. Up to 7.

**Off-Ledger job, Master.** *Job: bring the Mwamba apex-claw out of the foothills before the Assay's inspector reaches Tinwara. Principal: not named. Priced: a portal manifest without inspection, once. Registration: not asked. Residue: the principal's, or the price is halved.* Not said (3): the claw is promised to a company that already holds it. *Proofs available:* closed 1; the unsaid (an Apostle reads that what the principal wants is not the claw) 1; cross-reading 1; a Join, if the company's holder is a Boss 1; a structural resolution 2 only if the job reaches a Boss; a price answered 1, if the word is broken and the debt-job done. Up to 7.

### 11.4 One Grand Beast per tier, with phases

Treatments of register rows (Canon XI.3; Canon Part VIII worked example). Illustrations, not canon beasts.

**Novice — the Deep Watcher at Novice tier** (otter; lake, node-active; Trait line). Boss line: Vigor 60, Guard 16 / Ward 15, Speed 6 (swim 8), Tempo 1, Interrupt 1 (a bite, 4). *Pattern:* submerge (Hidden, no attacks) → surface-drag (one attack, 12, and the target is pulled 2 paces toward water, Ward check) → recover (surfaced, Guard −4 if the pattern has been read). *Tell:* the water stills the turn before the drag. **Phase 2** (Vigor 30): trigger, half Vigor; change, the fight is at the water's edge — squares within 2 of the water are deep water at the end of each round; new ability, *Drag Under*: on a drag, the target starts drowning (PG deep water); new Reading, Warden: the bank it will surface at. Exploit executed: 1 Novice relic (the Watcher's tooth, §7.10).

**Adept — the Ulvskov pack** (wolf; taiga × Threnis, pack coordination; node Adept; Dependency on a den-site reading). Boss: the pack leader, Vigor 110, Guard 19 / Ward 18, Speed 8, Tempo 2, Interrupt 1 (a call: the band Moves). With it: a **band** of wolves (Mob, 5, sliding block, Novice drill, Cohesion 30). *Dependency:* the den site, a 30-Vigor structure of earth and root two squares across on the map; while intact, *Pack Coordination* (the band's attacks +2, and the leader's Interrupt) and Resist Frost. *Deny it:* two Actions at the site and a check vs DC 16 (any attribute the fiction supports), or break it. **Phase 2** (55): the leader Moves to the den and fights at it; the band engulfs whoever is adjacent to the site. **Phase 3** (27): damage ×1.25, Speed 10, no Interrupts; the band checks Cohesion at the leader's death. Dependency executed: 1 Adept relic (the den-earth pouch) and 1 Novice; the pack is wolves again.

**Master — Shalei burrow-dominant, 1155** (XI.3; desert × Threnis, burrow dominance; Master-active node; oasis dependency read as energy inversion). Boss: Vigor 450, Guard 22 / Ward 21, Speed 6 (burrow 8 through sand), Large 2×2, Tempo 2, Interrupts 2 (a surfacing strike, 8; a Move of 3 underground). *Arena condition — burrow dominance:* the sand is the beast's: it moves through it ignoring Reactions and Prone, has Resist Stone, and every round each PC on sand makes a check vs DC 15 or is Slowed by sinking (the hazard). *Reversal:* wet the sand from the oasis — three sluice-cuts on the dune lip, each an Action and a check vs DC 18 (or a break: 15 Vigor each); when all three are cut the water runs and the arena is wet sand for two rounds: **window** — Guard 18, Vulnerable Stone, no burrowing, no Interrupts. **Phase 2** (337): the beast collapses the first cut (map change: the north sluice is a 40-Vigor bank); two cuts remain. **Phase 3** (225): the pool drains a pace; one cut remains, at the pool's edge, and the beast holds it. **Phase 4** (112): no reversal; the window is permanent; the beast is above ground, damage ×1.25. Reversal executed: the Shalei burrow-tooth (Master) and 1 Adept relic; the Shakou road reopens for a season (the record: reopened 1156).

**Guru — the Frostvatn manifestation, 1230–32** (XI.3; tundra with mountain overlay; Velquor, 1 Velquor 1230; node off prior scale; geographic tether, the lake basin). The record does not settle what it was (a beast; the lake mother — R.5 #6, not settled here either). Treatment as the avatar: 6×6, Speed 0 (the manifestation is the lake's edge), Vigor 800 per manifestation, Tempo 3, Interrupts 3. **Parts** (4; five pools of 160, the fifth the last pool): the shelf (Guard 26, the body; *Heave*: Burst 2, 21 Frost, Prone); two reaches of ice (Guard 24 each; 2 × 11 Frost, reach 3; destroying one removes a reach); the eye (Guard 28; *Lake-ice anomaly*: Ground scale, all water squares freeze and all frozen squares are unstable footing; *Drain*: Strain +2 in Burst 3, Ward check halves). *Manifestation destroyed:* it returns at the next Velquor phase, or at the next Firstday, at full, minus parts unseated. **Tether points** (the record names two operations; the campaign may add a third and must enter it): (1) the Iselva headwaters — diverted by a season's works or an Elemental Guru's sustained work: removes the eye's *Drain*; (2) the basin's substrate anchor — unseated by a Sorcerer Guru's edit at Ground scale with the overlay reading the anchor, or a joint operation of three Gurus: removes the shelf's *Heave* and ends the domain when both are done (Velquor 1232). Tether executed: the Frostvatn basin-shard (Guru, named) and two Master relics; the node reading falls one step and does not return to baseline.

### 11.5 One round, played: a level-9 party against the Shalei burrow-dominant, Phase 1

*Phase:* Velquor, eleven days before the Saelura turn. *Map:* the oasis basin, 20×20; the pool (deep water) fills the centre 6×6; sand elsewhere; the dune lip on the north edge with three sluice-cuts marked at squares N4, N10, N16; a 40-Vigor bank of packed earth along the lip. *Party:* Hexblade (Guard 24 with a Master helm, Vigor 95, Tempo 2), Warden (Guard 22, Vigor 90, Tempo 2), Elementalist (Ward 21, Vigor 75, Strain Capacity 15 — Velquor is adjacent to Saelura, no effect — Tempo 2), Apostle (Ward 21, Vigor 72, Strain Capacity 14 — Velquor is a far phase for Namaris, −1 — Tempo 2). Key modifiers +5. *Beast:* Guard 22 / Ward 21, Vigor 450, burrowed under the pool's east shore.

**Readings (0 Strain, no action; no exploit claimed, so no Quick spent — R5).** Sorcerer absent. Elementalist: *the condition is dry sand; water reverses it.* Warden: *it will surface at the shore square nearest the Apostle.* Hexblade: *the seam is two rounds wide.* Apostle: *it knows the Saelura turn is eleven days off.*

**Hexblade, Tempo 2.** Move 6 to the shore square the Warden named. Action 1, *Strike* (Master form, two attacks): d20+11 vs 22 — 14+11 hits, 9+11 misses; damage d8 + d10 + 5 = 15. Action 2, *Ready*: "when it surfaces adjacent to me, Strike" — the Readied attack fires as his Reaction. Beast 435.

**Elementalist, Tempo 2.** Action 1, Core (*Elemental Sweep*, Master form, 0 Strain): Line 12 of Fire along the east shore, one roll compared to the beast's Guard 22: 12+11 hits; 3d10 + 5 = 21 Fire and the Master rider, Burning 2. Action 2, *Eruption* (a Master pick, 3 Strain): Burst 3 on the shore, delayed — it goes off at the start of her next turn: 4d10 + 5 Stone, Prone, half on a miss. Momentum 0 (Fire, then Stone). Strain 3 of 15 spent. Beast 414, Burning 2.

**Warden, Tempo 2.** Move 6 toward N4. Action 1, Dash to the cut. Action 2, the first sluice-cut: a check vs DC 18, d20 + 5 + 6 — 9+11 = 20, cut one. Two cuts remain.

**Apostle, Tempo 2.** Action 1, *Encouragement Lands* (an Adept pick, 2 Strain): Burst 3 around her — the Hexblade is in it, Bolstered 2 rounds; 1 Conviction. Action 2, Core (*Sanction*, Master form, 0 Strain): 3d10 + 5 Sacred at Ward 21 — 15+11 hits, 21; the beast is **Sanctioned** 3 rounds: every hit against it deals +RD Sacred, and an ally who hits it is Bolstered a round. Beast 393. Strain 2 of 14.

**Beast, Tempo 2, one Interrupt already spent** (after the Warden's turn it Moved 3 underground toward the Warden). Burning 2 ticks 6, then decays to 1: 387. Action 1, surface adjacent to the Warden — the Hexblade's Readied Strike is conditioned on *adjacent to me*, six paces off, and does not fire — Strike ×2 at +10 vs 22: 17+10 hits, 10; 6+10 misses. Warden 80. Action 2, *Sand-take* (arena ability): Burst 2 at the Warden's cut, each PC in it checks vs DC 15 or is Slowed; the Warden rolls 11+5+6, holds the cut. No shake-off: nothing on it denies an Action (Sanctioned and Burning are not lockdowns). Its two Interrupts refresh at the start of its turn; it holds them for the party's next turns (a surfacing strike, 8, or a Move of 3 underground, at the end of any PC's turn).

**Round tally.** Beast 387 of 450 after one round: 63 dealt (15 + 21 + 21 + 6 Burning) from three damaging Actions, against an expected 48 for three (19.5 + 14 + 14) — above par on the dice, with *Eruption* still to land. The other five Actions bought a Readied Strike, a Dash, a sluice-cut, a Bolster, and the delayed Burst: a real party spends about half its Actions on damage, so the 3–4 rounds of §4.2 is the full-damage floor and this fight runs six or seven — one or two rounds a phase, which is what four phases need. Cuts: one of three. The Warden took 10; the beast's 55-a-round budget is 40 in Action attacks and 16 in Interrupts, and it spent one Interrupt on a Move. Sanctioned, Bolstered, and Burning all roll into round two. The Elementalist's Capacity 15 buys about four costed casts across the fight before the Ledger arrives, which is the design.

---

## 12. Calibration pass

### 12.1 PG damage model (v0.2: read off the PG)

v0.1 reconstructed this table from the handoff and got two lines wrong: the Novice Strike carried a Rank Die it does not have (PG §5: Novice is weapon + Key), and the Guru Strike was assumed at weapon + RD when the PG gave weapon + 2 RD, two attacks. Both were corrected in v0.2; under R1 (v0.3) the second Guru Rank Die applies against Cohesion only, so the single-target Guru Strike is two attacks at weapon + RD + Key. The representative weapon is a d8; the two-handed classes (maul, great-ax d12) run about +2 a hit above these lines, the Vanguard's glaive +1. A Guru's 0-Strain turn uses the Master Core form (PG §14, H38).

| Rank (level) | Key | Attack bonus | Core (caster), 0 Strain | Rank ability, single target | Strike (martial), one Action |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:--|:--|:--|
| Novice (1) | +3 | +5 | 1d6 + 3 = 6.5 | 1 RD + Key = 6.5 (Novice abilities are control, not damage) | d8 + 3 = 7.5, one attack |
| Adept (5) | +4 | +8 | 2d8 + 4 = 13 | 3 RD + Key = 17.5 (*Timed Charge*) | d8 + d8 + 4 = 13, one attack |
| Master (9) | +5 | +11 | 3d10 + 5 = 21.5 | 4 RD + Key = 27 (*Eruption*) | 2 × (d8 + d10 + 5) = 30 |
| Guru (13) | +6 | +14 | Master form: 3d12 + 6 = 25.5 | 4 RD + Key = 32 (*Open Door*) | 2 × (d8 + d12 + 6) = 34 single-target; 2 × (d8 + 2d12 + 6) = 47 against Cohesion (R1) |

Hit chance against own-tier Guard / Ward: 60% at Novice, Adept, Master; 55% at Guru. Crits at 5%, ×2. Expected multiplier 0.65 / 0.65 / 0.65 / 0.60. Signature resources (Momentum, Flow, the Gate, Quarry, Impact) are not in the model; they add about a fifth at Novice and less as the dice grow.

Those are **class-model** figures — standard Guard, no kit — and the class comparisons (a), (d), (e) use them. A Boss is at the tier Guard +2 (§4.3), and the party is assumed in the kit of one tier below its own (§4.2); the Boss-fight checks (c), (f), (g) use that **Boss model**, tabulated at the end of §12.2.

### 12.2 Expected damage

Per Action, then per turn at the design Tempo (1 / 1 / 2 / 3 by rank, R2). Caster turn = one costed ability + Cores. Figures are expected (after the multiplier).

| Rank | Core | Rank ability | Strike | **Martial / turn** | **Caster / turn** | **Party of four / round** (2 martial, 1 caster, 1 support at 0.7 caster) |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| Novice (Tempo 1) | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 17 (about 21 with resources) |
| Adept (Tempo 1) | 8.5 | 11.4 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 11.4 | 36 |
| Master (Tempo 2) | 14.0 | 17.6 | 19.5 | 39 | 31.6 | 132 |
| Guru (Tempo 3) | 15.3 | 19.2 | 20.4 | 61 | 50 | 207 |

The party figure is the **full-damage floor**: every Action spent on damage. A party that also reverses the arena, boons, positions, and Reads spends about half its Actions on damage (§11.5) and does about half this.

**Against a Boss** (Boss Guard, assumed kit — the figures the Boss checks use). PC hit chance is 50% at Novice, Adept, and Master (+5 / +8 / +11 against Boss Guard 16 / 19 / 22), multiplier 0.55; at Guru, +15 with the Master gloves against the avatar's pools — a limb 24 at 60%, the body and the last pool 26 at 55%, the core 28 at 45% — averages 0.57 across the five pools. The Adept kit adds 1 to a Master's Strike and Core damage; the Master kit adds 1 to a Guru's. Per Action: Novice Strike 4.1; Adept Strike 7.2; Master Strike 17.6, Core 12.4, rank ability 14.9; Guru Strike 20.5, Core 15.1, rank ability 18.2. **Party of four per round: Novice 14 (17 with resources) · Adept 31 · Master 117 · Guru 205.** v0.3's class-model party figures (17 / 36 / 132 / 207) overstate every Boss fight by 10–15%, and at Guru they were computed at the v0.3 avatar Guards (22 / 24 / 26), where the party's pool average is 0.67 and the round is 242.

### 12.3 Checks

Eighteen checks, (a)–(r), against the PG's numbers. (a)–(e) are the handoff's five design targets; (f) and (i) are the checks §4.2 and §7.3 promise; the rest are the handoff's risks and the v0.2–v0.4 additions. **Risk map:** risk 1 → (b); 2 → (j); 4 → (a) and §12.4; 5 and 6 → §12.4; 7 → (k); 8 → (m); 9 → (h); 10 → (n). **Risk 3 has no row in any version of this file** — it is not named anywhere in the GMG and the handoff was not loaded for this pass; if it was the gear stack or the Guru burst, (i) or (f) covers it, and Joe should say which (G52). Rows say which model they use (§12.1): the class model (standard Guard, no kit) or the Boss model (Boss Guard, assumed kit).

| Check | Result | Finding |
|:--|:--|:--|
| (a) Casters vs martials within ~20% single-target | Class model. Novice: martial +17%. Adept: caster +34% (a Strain-bounded burst figure — the 3-Strain rank ability four times per Breather at Capacity ~12, then Cores at parity; the martial resources the model omits close about half of it). Master: **martial +23%**. **Guru: martial +23%** (61 vs 50, R1) | Master is the handoff's risk 4 and is the genre trade: areas hit several targets, and at two targets the Master caster is at parity, at three ahead. Guru matches Master under R1: two attacks at weapon + RD + Key single-target (34 an Action); the second Rank Die applies against Cohesion only, where the platoon standard lives (Canon Part III: "the curves cross at Master"). The Adept figure is R2's cost, accepted |
| (b) Area vs single-target ~60–70% per target | Master *Sweep* 14 vs Strike 19.5 per target = 72%. With half-on-miss against a Boss it was 94% | Risk 1 confirmed and closed: Elites and Bosses take nothing on a miss (PG §2, H19). Standard enemies still take half; that is what areas are for. **Against an avatar an area damages one pool** (§6.5): counted per covered part, a Guru caster's turn of areas was 242 against the avatar and two casters ended a manifestation in 1.3 rounds with no Push (f) |
| (c) Boss survives 3–4 rounds of a full party at full damage | Boss model (§12.2). Novice 60 / 14 = **4.2** (3.5 with resources); Adept 110 / 31 = **3.6**; Master 450 / 117 = **3.9**; Guru 800 / 205 = **3.9** at the avatar's pools with the Boss role's +2 (§6.5). v0.3's class-model figures (3.5 / 3.1 / 3.4 / 3.9) used standard Guard, which no Boss has, and no kit; at the v0.3 avatar Guards (22 / 24 / 26) the Guru floor was **3.3**, the lowest of the four bands, because the avatar was the only Boss line without the +2 and Tempo 3 multiplies what a soft target gives | ✓ at every band as a floor, and the bands are within 0.6 of each other. **At the table** a party spends about half its Actions on damage (§11.5): 6–8 rounds, one or two a phase, which is what a four-phase Master fight needs. Novice Boss Vigor stays at the handoff's 60. **800 stays** — 700 would put the Guru floor at 3.4 and the coordinated round (f) at 1.8 |
| (d) Guru martial breaks a platoon of 40 in 2–4 rounds | §5.9: about 140 Cohesion a round (the second Guru RD applies against Cohesion) at Cohesion 6 / 9 / 12 per member — Novice drill routs in one round, Adept and Master in two | Inside the handoff's 2–4 for drilled units; a levy is not the platoon standard. R1: the second Guru RD against Cohesion only, with G39 taken |
| (e) Support boons ≈ one extra member | Master support: 0.7 caster (22) + *Extra* (one martial Action, 19.5) + Mend 20 a round ≈ 1.2 members | ✓ |
| **(f) Guru burst window: a coordinated first round against the avatar** | Boss model. Every lever at once: the Weakness exploit (Guard −4 on every pool this round; the Sorcerer's Quick); the Berserker's Gate turn — nine attacks, four from two Strike Actions and the five extra Strikes the PG caps per turn, at 25 a hit with the Master kit, ×3 crits, Advantage from *Reckless*; one Push each (a permanent Mark apiece: Maximize on each PC's best Action); the Apostle's *Extra* on the Hexblade. **Round 1 ≈ 534** (Berserker 257, Hexblade 138, Sorcerer 91, Apostle 48). Round 2 — Gate closed, Berserker Prone and Dazed, no Pushes, no window — ≈ 202. The manifestation is destroyed in round 3 after about four Actions: **2.3 rounds against a floor of 3.9.** Under v0.3's text the same round was ≈ 567 and the avatar died at 2.0 rounds; with the Weakness re-exploited each round, inside round 2, and the floor itself — no Push, no Gate — fell to 2.6 rounds (pool average 0.87, 314 a round; 2.9 even at the v0.4 Guards); with areas counted per covered part, 1.3 rounds with no Push at all | **Bounded, and priced.** The window is a round and a half, once per manifestation, and it costs each PC a permanent Mark — a Guru starts at 3 with the End at 10 and has seven for every Push and Overdraw of the rest of a career — plus the Gate's once-per-encounter and its bill. Three rules carry the bound: the Weakness exploit lands once per phase (§4.4), an area damages one pool (§6.5), and the avatar has the Boss role's +2 Guard (§6.5). What the window buys is a phase with the manifestation off the board and, the first time, a Master relic (§6.6; p) — not the domain, which only the tether points end (§6.3). If Joe wants the coordinated round at three rounds or more: the smallest lever is the avatar's Weakness at Guard −2 (round 1 ≈ 490; 2.5 rounds); 1,000 Vigor gives 3.3 but lifts the floor to 4.9, out of the window. Working reading: 800, −4, and the three bounds |
| (g) Incoming damage per Boss fight vs party Vigor | Nominal per-round figures over the 3–4 round floor: Novice 48 of ~130 (level 4); Adept 102 of ~230; Master 187 of ~330; Guru 315 of ~560. Over the 6–8 realistic rounds at the party-average hit rate the expected total is about the same number | 30–55% of party Vigor a Boss fight. Three Breathers at a quarter each carry a 12-TP day. The Boss hits the party's Hexblade one time in four and its caster three times in four (§4.7, *what the opposition hits*; o); a Boss focusing one Master caster (75 Vigor) at 55 nominal a round downs it in two or three rounds, so Support and Cover are load-bearing. A Guru chest's resistance (§7.3) halves one kind for one PC — against an embodiment whose attacks are its element, up to a quarter of the party's incoming for that fight, which is what commissioning against a named emergence is for; it is never Physical, so a bite is a bite |
| (h) Tempo and Strain (risk 9) | A level-13 caster at 4 + 3 + 2 Strain a turn against Capacity 19 is at Overdraw on turn 3 | Intended. The no-repeat rule keeps the best spell to once a turn; the Ledger arrives on schedule |
| **(i) Gear and relics — the check §7.3 promises** | Kit totals from the §7.3 table: Adept Guard +1, damage +1; Master Guard +2, attack +1, damage +1, Vigor +10; Guru Guard +3, Ward +2, attack +1, damage +2, Vigor +20, a resistance (v0.3's summary line said Guard +4; the table never gave it). **Against the assumed kit** (§4.2: nothing / nothing / Adept / Master), an own-tier kit adds at Master attack +1 (60 → 65% on the class model, 50 → 55% on the Boss), Guard +1, Vigor +5 — about **+10%** output and 5 points off the opposition's hit chance; at Guru damage +1 a hit, Guard +1, Ward +1, Vigor +10, the resistance — about **+5%** output, 5 points, and one kind halved for one PC. Full kit against no kit, v0.3's measure: Master ≈ +15%, Guru ≈ +20% (damage +2 counts twice on the two-attack Strike; attack +1 is worth 8–9%). Relics at the one-per-attribute cap — damage +3 / +4, attack +1 / +2, a crit step, a DoT — ≈ **+55%** on top (v0.3's figure, unchanged); under v0.1's two-per-attribute cap it was ≈ +80% | **The kit does not move the hit tables.** The Guard ladder from intrinsics is 1 / 2 / 3 while the opposition's attack climbs 4 / 7 / 10 / 14, and the gloves' +1 lands inside the 55–65% band at both tiers that have it; the distortion v0.3's summary line implied was arithmetic. **The budget step is the tool:** own-tier kit, or four or more seated relics, is one step harder (§4.6); the relic layer is what the step is sized for, and the one-per-attribute cap (§7.4, G35) is what keeps it that size. What the kit does move is the opposition's hit chance on the party (5 points a tier, §4.7), which the incoming-damage figures in (g) absorb at the assumed kit |
| (j) Stun and lockdown (risk 2) | Bosses Stunned once per phase; Elites once per source; the general shake-off (PG §8.2) gives a Boss a check each turn against *Bound*, *Telekinetic Grip*, *Lockdown*, and any lockdown hex — none of which had an escape in v0.1 | Holds at a table of four. A Master Boss shakes a Master Hexblade's *Bind* on a 15+ (about 30% a turn): two rounds Bound is the norm, a whole fight is not. R7: a Stunned Boss loses its turn (the PG's Stunned), once per phase; *Time Debt* is neither a Stun nor a hex and is bounded by once per encounter |
| (k) Warlock snowball (risk 7) | Boss hex cap 3: Ward 21 − 3 = 18; caster +11 hits on 7+ = 70% | Absorbed |
| (l) Joins | *Hammerfall* at Master: one auto-hit critical attack (2d12 + 2d10 + 5 = 29) and the fight's one Boss Stun, for an Action, a Reaction, and 4 Strain | v0.1 read "Strike" as the whole Master Strike (two attacks, 58) and set no limit: the correct opener every turn. v0.2: one attack, once per encounter (PG §12, H37) |
| (m) Summons (risk 8) | One Move and one Action on the summoner's turn | Table actions bounded at Tempo + 1 per summoner |
| (n) Readings load (risk 10) | §10.2, §6.4, §5.8: one sentence each, free; the exploit is the Quick (R5) | Fast enough; the GM reads the row, not the beast |
| **(o) What the opposition hits** | Nominal PC Guard by class family against the tier's attack, no kit (§4.7, second table): the Hexblade is hit 20–25% at every tier, a Poise martial 35–45%, a Frame martial 40–65%, a caster in light armor 55–75%. The spread widens with level because the opposition's attack grows +3 / +3 / +4 a tier and a PC's Guard +2 plus what the class adds | The party average — 43% at Novice, 46% at Adept, 50% at Master, 59% at Guru — is what (g) uses. The consequence is already in the design: a Boss that focuses the caster downs it in two or three rounds; one that swings at the Hexblade wastes its turn. The assumed kit lowers every Master figure 5 points and every Guru figure 10 |
| **(p) The Guru relic farm** | v0.3's outcome line left a Master relic per manifestation destroyed, and the manifestation returns at the next phase or the next night on the GM's clock. A party that can end a manifestation in 2.3 rounds (f) could take a Master relic a night from an avatar it has no intention of unseating — more Master relics in a month than the Master tier's whole outcome line leaves in a campaign | Closed: the first manifestation destroyed leaves a Master relic; a later one only after a tether point has been unseated since the last relic left (§6.6; GB §2.7). Three tether points, three more relics at most, and the campaign objective is the schedule |
| **(q) Advancement pace (D12)** | Level 3 to 16 is 13 levels × 5 = 65 Proofs. At 4 a contract, about 16 contracts; at 3.5, about 19; at the 7 maximum, 10. A party that resolves every fight by attrition earns 2–3 a contract and never opens a gate | Inside the target of one level per contract. The attrition case is intended: the gate is what makes the tier's vulnerability logic worth finding. A table that wants a slower curve raises the cost to 6 (about 20 contracts), never the sources |
| **(r) Cleave and the extra picks (PG v0.8)** | Class model, d8 representative (staff d6 for Magic and Alchemy), per Action. **Martial Cleave vs Strike:** Novice, 2 targets 7.8 vs 4.9 (+59%); Adept, 2 targets 8.5 vs 8.5, 3 targets 11.4 (+34%); Master, 2 targets 16.3 vs 19.5 (−17%), 3 targets 22.8 (+17%), 4 targets 29.3 (+50%); Guru, 2 targets 16.8 vs 20.4 (−18%), 3 targets 23.4 (+15%), 5 targets 36.6 (+79%). **Against an area:** a Master *Sweep* over four targets is 56 against the four-target Cleave's 29; areas stay the caster's tool, and Cleave never takes the Mob's double (§5.4). **Magic and Alchemy Cleave vs Core:** Novice 4.6 vs 4.2 (+8%); Adept 4.6 vs 8.5 (54%); Master 6.8 vs 14.0 (49%); Guru 6.3 vs 15.3 (41%); the scythe runs about +30% on these. **The offset** is two picks — a fourth Novice from level 1 and a third Adept from level 6: options, not Actions or Strain, so §12.2's per-turn figures and the Strain schedule in (h) stand | **Strong for Martial, weak for Magic and Alchemy, as briefed.** Martial Cleave is a crowd tool from three enemies and never a Boss tool — the two-enemy floor keeps (c), (f), and §12.4's Gate figures where they were; with adds on the field it trades the Boss's damage for the adds', which is the choice the rule is for. The Novice line (+59% at two targets) is the outlier, accepted: Novice is thin by design and a d8 + Key Cleave is still under a Novice Boss's 60 by a long way. The offset's cost is in (j): a Magic class may hold four Novice control spells plus down-picks — check a Sorcerer at Master holding *Bind*-class Novice picks against a Boss's once-per-phase Stun before ratifying G63. Alternative offset: one extra pick only (the fourth Novice) |

### 12.4 Verified against the PG (v0.2)

- **Apostle *Miracle* rate (risk 6).** *Encouragement Lands* (2 Strain) gives up to 3 Conviction; *Miracle* costs 3 Strain + 3 Conviction. At Tempo 2 the Apostle can cast both every turn for 5 Strain against Capacity ~14: two turns, then Overdraw on turn 3 — the same schedule as the Sorcerer — for 21.5 Vigor a turn against a Boss's 55 nominal. Holds as written; no change.
- **Berserker post-gate bill (risk 5).** *The Gate Opens All the Way* at Tempo 3 with an unbounded hit-chain was about 500 expected in one round against a Guru Boss's 800. The chain is capped at Gate extra Strikes **a turn** (PG §14.10, H41): nine attacks — four from two Strike Actions and five extra — at 25 a hit with the Master kit and ×3 crits, about **210 expected with Advantage** (*Reckless*) against a limb, 230 with a Maximize Push, 257 inside a Weakness window (§12.3 f). v0.3's 290 reproduces only with the cap read per Strike Action (fourteen attacks) and does not stand. The bill (Prone, Dazed, Downed at clock 1 if Vigor ≤ 0) is unchanged. Intended as the battlefield event; bounded, and against an avatar it lands only as far as the pools it chooses (§6.5).
- **Master Strike vs Core (risk 4).** See (a).
- **Artificer *Gadget System*.** A 0-Strain turret per Action, uncapped, was two turrets a turn at Tempo 2 at 16 each — more than the 4-Strain *Construct*. Capped at one deployed (PG §14.11, H39).
- **Ability pools (PG v0.6).** Nine picks a career, as before, so the Strain schedules in (h) and the per-turn figures in §12.2 stand. The new entries follow §12.1's line (Novice ≤ 1 RD; Adept ≤ 3 RD single-target at 2–3 Strain; Master ≤ 4 RD at 3–4; Guru scenario-scale at 4–5). **Not yet checked** against §12.3, and to be checked first because each bends a rule: *Quickened Hour* (Sorcerer, extra 0-Strain Actions — check h, a); *The Order Given* (Apostle, a party-wide out-of-turn attack — check f); *Walking Arsenal* and *Overclock* (Artificer — check m); *Short Crossing* (Necromancer, execution of standard enemies — §4.2's standard-enemy line); *Pyre* (Elementalist, cashes Burning — check b at Master); down-picks (PG §13.3), which let a Guru hold a fifth cheap Novice control spell — check (j). G53.
- **Guru Core forms.** Every Guru Core form costs 4–5 Strain against a PG rule that Cores cost 0. The PG now says a Core keeps its earlier forms and the Guru form is the costed exception (H38); the Guru caster column in §12.1 uses the Master form.

---

## 13. Register

### 13.1 G-rows

Same columns as the PG's H-rows. **Status:** rows marked *Ruled* carry the ruling's number from Terhia-Heroes-Rulings.md (v0.3); the rest are open until Joe rules. The PG's H-rows are the other half of the register (§13.3); a G-row applied to the PG in v0.2 carries its H-number in the Where column.

| # | Rule | Touches canon | Where | Note / alternative |
|:-:|:--|:-:|:--|:--|
| G1 | Tempo: Actions 1 / 2 / 3 at levels 1 / 6 / 12; no costed ability twice a turn; one Ready a turn (D10) | No | §3; PG §5 (H34) | Alternative: Tempo at rank boundaries (9, 13) — loses "a Master Sorcerer casts three". **Ruled (R2): the alternative taken; 9 / 12 is a three-line delta if the line returns** |
| G2 | Opposition tier table, rescaled Vigor; two Tempo adjustments | No | §4.2 | Handoff figures kept for Guard / Ward / Attack. **R2:** the two adjustments removed; Adept Elite / Boss 35 / 110 (G41) |
| G3 | Threat Points, cross-tier ×3 / ÷3, budgets 2 / 4 / 6 / 8, 12 TP a day | No | §4.6 | — |
| G4 | Elite hex cap 4, Boss hex cap 3; Boss Interrupts 1 / 1 / 2 / 3; the shake-off generalized to every lockdown hex, one Ward check a turn (d20 + Ward − 10); Boss Ward check on entering Ground hexes | No | §4.4; PG §8.2 (H36) | D9 kept *Slow Field* whole. v0.1's Stunned-only shake-off left *Bound*, *Telekinetic Grip*, and *Lockdown* with no Boss escape. **R7:** a Stunned Boss loses its turn; see G46 |
| G5 | NPC Push and Overdraw, 3 Marks a session | Yes: cost is universal (Parts II–IV) | §4.5 | Alternative: NPCs never Push |
| G6 | Mob units band / squad / platoon (D6); Cohesion 4 / 6 / 8 per member; area and DoT double against Mobs; engulf; rout and break | Yes: the platoon standard (Part VI) | §5 | Alternative: sliding block only. v0.2: a Guru martial routs a Master-drill platoon in two rounds with Strikes alone (§5.9). **Ruled (R1, R6):** Cohesion 6 / 9 / 12 per member; the check against members lost (G45); interior rules (G44) |
| G7 | Beast fight structures by tier; phase template | Yes: tier table (Part VIII), used as written | §6.3 | — |
| G8 | Readings-by-school tables, including the lines that fail (Apostle, Apothecarist, Berserker, Warlock at Guru) | Yes: Design Thesis; Part VIII payload ("not a monster; a response") | §6.4, §10.2, §5.8 | The failures are the partial-view rule made mechanical |
| G9 | Avatar parts, part Vigor, tether points as campaign objectives; the avatar returns unless the tether is unseated | Yes: Frostvatn (Part I, Part IX, XI.3) | §6.5 | — |
| G10 | Outcome lines drop relics by how the beast was beaten; no relic is made or copied | Yes: "environmentally produced, not designed" (Part VIII); R.8 no species list | §6.6, §7.6 | — |
| G11 | Eight gear slots (D11); weapons and shields carry no tier or socket | No | §7.1; PG §15 (H35) | Alternative: one socket on the weapon. The PG's v0.1 six-slot interface is replaced |
| G12 | Trade grades Novice–Guru for makers | Yes: rank names are Ledger examination grades (Part VI, Terminology); extension to non-practitioner trades is new | §7.2 | Alternative: gear tier by Artificer rank only |
| G13 | Guru relic attribute "one line of a second school's Reading"; Guru alterations are bounded pieces of the five Guru abilities usable by any class | **Yes: one school per person (Premise; Part II D1)** | §7.5, §7.10 | The relic does the work, not the person; but a Warden holding a Necrotic line is a fragmentation question. **Recommended for ratification: the alternative** — a Guru alteration usable by the relic's own school only, and the second-school Reading attribute returning one word, as §7.7 gives a martial Reading of a relic one word. The Design Thesis is the reason: a relic that hands a Warden a Necromancer's sentence is the full picture arriving as loot. **Ruled (R3):** neither reading — own school at the entry's cost, anyone else only as a Push (1 Mark, once per round); the second-school Reading returns one word |
| G14 | Accord: relics are declared residue under the Manifest Rule | Yes: Manifest Rule (Part I) | §7.8 | — |
| G15 | Crown: Velquor-line relics contraband; Namaris-line relics sacramental property | Yes: Purge; Part VII sacramental apparatus | §7.8 | — |
| G16 | Chimera: a Threnis relic belongs to the ground; the keeper decides | Yes: way law, fire law (Part V) | §7.8 | — |
| G17 | Travel paces and fares; phase multipliers ×1 / ×1.5 / ×2 | Yes: Phase Cascade (Part V); numbers are records (Canon Discipline 5) — these are the game's, not the world's | §9.3 | Flag: if an episode ever states a fare, the episode's figure governs |
| G18 | Contract fee bands from the two anchor prices | Yes: Anchor Prices (Part V) | §8.3 | — |
| G19 | Reputation tracks per institution, 0–5 | Yes: institution mechanics (Part VI) | §8.4 | — |
| G20 | Consequences: Register entry, Assay audit, closed way, price; Ground-scale effects file automatically (D7) | Yes: Second Register; Assay; way law; Escrow | §8.5 | D7 alternative: filing is a scene, not a rule |
| G21 | Rank-up recognition table; unregistered practice filed on any Reading or inspection | Yes: Second Register (Part IX); Rank Distribution (Part II) | §9.1 | — |
| G22 | Biome × Moon cells as table mechanics; hazard damage = tier standard ×2 | Yes: grid (Part VIII), used as written; mechanics are new | §9.3 | Cells may be revised without touching the pattern (canon) |
| G23 | Moon rule: own phase Capacity +2, far phases −1 (D1 (a)) | Yes: cost varies by phase only (Part I, R.0) | §9.4 | Alternatives (b)–(d) in the handoff. **Ratified (R8) as written; (b)–(d) superseded unloaded** |
| G24 | Mark narration table by school and Stage | Yes: cost progressions (Parts II–IV), used verbatim | §10.1 | — |
| G25 | Improvised Joins: 2 Strain each, one scale step up, Ground refused below Guru, never narrated whole; once per encounter per pair; "Strike" is one attack | Yes: Design Thesis | §10.3; PG §12 (H37) | v0.2 limit: at Adept+ a listed Join was the correct opener every turn. v0.8: PG §12 carries the procedure for the player (H87); §10.3 stays the rule of record |
| G26 | The End procedure (Chronicle port, unverified); the campaign keeps a record as a reputation step | Yes: cost as the End of practice (Parts II–IV) | §10.7 | Check against Chronicle GMG v0.3 |
| G27 | Carried Back, optional (D5) | Yes: death permanence in the PG; Nature Master "cannot always cure" | §10.7 | Off by default |
| G28 | Structures table and which abilities target them | No | §10.8 | — |
| G29 | Stun budget: Bosses once per phase | No | §10.4 | **R7:** a Stunned Boss loses its turn, as the PG's Stunned says; v0.2's contrary sentence struck |
| G30 | Sample relics: five Guru relics tied to the five Guru abilities; the Frostvatn shard's Necrotic line | Yes: the five Guru abilities (Part II, ratified) | §7.10 | See G13 |
| G31 | Exemplar beasts: Deep Watcher at Novice; Ulvskov pack (illustration, not entered); Shalei 1155; Frostvatn 1230–32 treated without settling R.5 #6 | Yes: XI.3 rows; Part VIII worked example; XI.6 | §11.4 | None entered; none named beyond the register |
| G32 | Guru-tier "standard" opposition redefined as manifestations of the node | Yes: Rank Distribution (Gurus are a roll, not a rate) | §11.1 | — |
| G33 | Half damage on a miss: standard enemies only | No | §12.3 (b); PG §2 (H19) | Applied in PG v0.2 |
| G34 | Guru Strike as the PG writes it (two attacks at weapon + 2 RD + Key, 47 an Action): a Guru martial is about 70% ahead of a Guru caster single-target, level at two targets | No | §12.1, §12.3 (a) | v0.1 modelled 34 and did not see it. Alternative: Guru Strike at weapon + RD + Key (34), which puts the gap at Master's +23%. **Ruled (R1):** the trim single-target, the second RD against Cohesion only (G40) |
| G35 | Relic seating: the same attribute in at most one socket (v0.1: two) | No | §7.4; PG §15 (H35) | Per-hit damage relics multiply with the Master Strike and Tempo: two put a Master martial at +80% over the tier table's assumption, one at +55%, which the one-step budget rule absorbs |
| G36 | Novice Boss Vigor 60 (the handoff figure), not v0.1's 75 | No | §4.2, §6.3, §11.1, §11.4 | v0.1's Novice Strike carried a Rank Die it does not have (PG §5) |
| G37 | Boss Vigor is a 3–4 round floor at full damage; the fight at the table is 6–7 rounds, one or two a phase | No | §4.2, §11.5, §12.3 (c) | v0.1 stated the floor as the fight length; §11.5 shows a real round at about half of full damage |
| G38 | Each §8.6 lie is findable by a named school's Reading at the Discovery or Location step | Yes: Design Thesis; Three Readings (Part I) | §8.6 | The Revelation step was GM fiat with no player-side hook; the Readings are the investigation. v0.8: §8.6 says which items are usually the poster's ignorance (1, 2, 5, 8) and which the poster's silence (3, 4, 6, 7) |
| G39 | Platoon standard: a Guru martial routs a Novice or Adept drill in one round and a Master drill in two, Strikes alone | Yes: the platoon standard (Part VI) | §5.9 | Alternative for the handoff's 2–4: Cohesion 6 / 9 / 12 per member (G6). **Ruled (R1): taken** |
| G40 | Guru Strike: two attacks at weapon + RD + Key; the second Rank Die applies against a Mob's Cohesion only | Yes: Part III ("the ceiling is lower — a platoon, not a harbor"; "the curves cross at Master"; the Guru lines locate the platoon standard in the Guru technique) | §5.9, §12; PG §5 (H42) | Ruled (R1). *Unanswerable*'s upkeep Strikes are the turn's Strikes (PG H43) |
| G41 | Tempo 1 / 1 / 2 / 3 by rank; the tier table without correction lines; Adept Elite / Boss 35 / 110 | No | §3, §4.2, §6.3, §11.1, §11.4, §12; PG §5, §13.1 (H44) | Ruled (R2). D (9 / 12) is a three-line delta if the "Master casts three" line returns |
| G42 | A relic's alteration never costs less than the school's own ability for the same work; the ember on *Harbor Kept*'s schedule (Capacity −1 per phase held, 1 Mark per year) | Yes: Part II Elemental Guru; Part V (the Escrow lease and its waivers) | §7.5, §7.10 #7; PG §14.1 (H15) | Ruled (R4). v0.2's 1 Mark a day was the End in a week for a Guru leased by the year |
| G43 | Readings free, no action, once per round per reader; the exploit is the reader's Quick, or an Action when the Quick is spent | Yes: Design Thesis | §3.1, §6.4, §10.2; PG §5, §11 (H46) | Ruled (R5). v0.2's two files disagreed (Quick vs free); the sentence is free and the rider priced |
| G44 | Inside a block: entry by ability only; interior rules | No | §5.7; PG §6.1 (H50) | Ruled (R6) |
| G45 | Cohesion check vs 10 + members lost this round; forced checks set their own DC | Yes: the platoon standard (Part VI) | §5.5; PG §14.8 (H49) | Ruled (R6). v0.2's DC of 10 + damage was unreachable above about 20 damage |
| G46 | A Stunned Boss loses its turn (the PG's Stunned), once per phase; *Time Debt* is neither a Stun nor a hex — a lost turn with no shake-off, once per encounter | Yes: R.0 Sorcerer rule (D9) | §4.4, §10.4; PG §14.2 (H47) | Ruled (R7) |
| G47 | A Boss's listed Weakness is exploited once per phase; a beast's tier procedure keeps its own window (Pattern each cycle, Reversal two rounds a phase); at Guru the manifestation is the phase | No | §4.4, §6.3, §6.5; GB §2.5 (GB23) | New in v0.4. Without it a re-applied Guard −4 is a permanent ×1.3 and the Guru floor falls to 2.6–2.9 rounds (§12.3 f). Alternative: once per encounter |
| G48 | The avatar's 800 is parts + 1 equal pools, the last pool targetable only when every part is destroyed; one attack, one pool; overflow lost; an area or one-roll multi-target attack damages one pool and hexes every part it covers; replaces "not below the parts still standing" | Yes: Frostvatn "could not be killed" (Part I); Design Thesis (assembled from partial views) | §6.5, §11.4; GB §2.5, §3.4 (GB23) | New in v0.4. The per-part area reading ended a manifestation in 1.3 rounds with no Push (§12.3 b). Alternative: an area damages every part at half |
| G49 | The Guru avatar's Guard is the Boss line's: body 26 (tier 24 + the role's +2), limb 24, core 28; the exemplars updated (Waimotu crown 24 → 26, Frostvatn reaches 22 → 24, both cores → 28) | No | §6.5, §11.1, §11.4; GB §2.1, §3.4 (GB24) | New in v0.4. v0.3's GB §2.1 row gave the Guru Boss its +2 on Ward (25) and not on Guard (24), and the two exemplars disagreed on the body (24 / 26). Restoring it moves the Guru floor from 3.3 to 3.9 rounds (§12.3 c). Alternative: keep 24 / 22 / 26 and raise Vigor to 950 |
| G50 | The per-manifestation Master relic: the first manifestation destroyed leaves one; a later one only after a tether point has been unseated since the last relic left | Yes: XI.3 (relics as emergence residue); Part VIII (Tether line) | §6.6; GB §2.7, §3.4 (GB25) | New in v0.4. Closes the relic farm (§12.3 p). Alternative: one Master relic per manifestation per moon-cycle |
| G51 | Kit baseline: the tier table, budget, and calibration assume the kit of one tier below the party's; own-tier kit or four seated relics is one budget step; the gloves' damage bonus is on Strike and Core at every tier; the Guru chest's resistance is never Physical; the §7.3 summary corrected to Guard +3 | No | §4.2, §4.6, §4.7, §7.3, §12.3 (i); PG §15.1 (H60) | New in v0.4. The baseline was stated for Master only, in §12.3, where the GM would not look for it. Alternative: hold intrinsic Guard at +2 by making the Guru chest Guard +1 — not taken; the ladder 1 / 2 / 3 is already slower than the opposition's attack |
| G52 | §12.3 closed as checks (a)–(p) with the risk map; the Boss model (Boss Guard, assumed kit) beside the class model in §12.2; the Gate figure recomputed under the PG's per-turn cap (210–257, not 290) | No | §12.1–§12.4 | New in v0.4. **Open for Joe:** the handoff's risk 3 has no row in any GMG version and the handoff was not loaded; name it, and say whether (f) or (i) covers it |
| G53 | Ability pools: nine picks from pools of 21–28 per class; down-picks and one retraining per rank-up; Elementalist sub-discipline; the new entries written to §12.1's rank-ability line and not yet run through §12.3 | Yes: Parts II–IV rank lines (PG H61–H72) | §4.5, §10.4, §11.5, §12.4; PG §13.3, §14 (H61–H72) | New in v0.5. Check first: *Quickened Hour*, *The Order Given*, *Walking Arsenal*, *Overclock*, *Short Crossing*, *Pyre*, and down-picks (§12.4). Alternative: ship the pools with those six struck until checked |
| G54 | Advancement pace: 5 Proofs per level from a party tally (D12) | No | §2; PG §13.4 (H73) | Alternative: 6 for a slower campaign; the cost moves, the sources do not |
| G55 | §8.5 gains an *Answered by* column; a consequence answered is a Proof in the contract during which it is answered | No | §8.5; PG §13.4 (H74) | Each answer is one the consequence's own institution accepts; none is invented beyond the trigger's own register |
| G56 | §9.1 retitled and rewritten: adjudicating Proofs, the gate, the phase turn, and an *At the table* column for each recognition route; track floors on recognition (Ledger file 2, Chancel favor 2, Circle 1) | Yes — Part VI, Terminology; Part IX, Second Register | §9.1; PG §13.5 (H76, H77) | The route table's first four columns are unchanged from v0.5. Invention: the track floors and the Chancel's closure to Reverie and Ethosless schools (read off the standing table, PG §1.4). v0.8: the Join line counts listed or improvised (PG H74, H87) |
| G57 | The unsaid, found before the Revelation step, is a Proof | No | §8.6; PG §13.4 (H74) | — |
| G58 | Each §11.3 contract lists the Proofs it offers | No | §11.3 | Calibration exemplars for (q) |
| G59 | Check (q): advancement pace | No | §12.3 | Assumes 4 Proofs a contract as typical |
| G60 | Ten gear slots: Main Hand and Off Hand beside the eight; weapons and shields tiered and socketed; a two-handed weapon is one piece in both slots; ten relics seated at most | No | §7.1, §7.3, §7.4; PG §15.1 (H79, H86) | New in v0.7. **Supersedes G11** |
| G61 | Class weapons for Magic and Alchemy (focus, staff, scythe, mace, dagger); their weapon attacks deal the weapon die only | Yes: Part II (Necrotic bare-handed practice) | §1; PG §4.1 (H80, H83) | New in v0.7. The scythe is held by the haft so the palms stay bare |
| G62 | Cleave as PG §5.1; a Mob's block is one target and takes single damage | No | §1, §5.4; PG §5.1 (H81, H82) | New in v0.7. Alternative: each square a target, which out-breaks areas against Cohesion |
| G63 | Magic and Alchemy classes hold eleven picks | No | §1, §4.5; PG §13.3 (H84) | New in v0.7; check (r) and (j) |
| G64 | Named practitioner opposition carries a class weapon and may Cleave; unnamed roles do not; the Brute's *Cleave* renamed *Hew* | No | §4.3, §4.5, §11.1 | New in v0.7 |
| G65 | Check (r): Cleave and the extra picks | No | §12.3 | New in v0.7 |
| G66 | Novice Pattern cycle 2–4 turns, 3 by default; the Phase 2 change may be its order or its length | No | §6.3; GB §2.2 (GB27) | New in v0.8. 2 is the floor — the exploit lands on the recover turn, so a 2-turn cycle opens it every other round and a 1-turn cycle would be a permanent window; §12.3 (c) does not model the Pattern exploit and is unchanged. Alternative: keep 3 |
| G67 | An Adept Dependency may be a moving site — a herd, a tide-line, a dragged carcass, a shifting roost — denied by the same check route wherever it is | No | §6.3; GB §2.3 (GB28) | New in v0.8. The detail is GB §2.3: the object is the thing itself, and a party is never required to break a Mob to deny a Dependency. Alternative: sites are fixed |

### 13.2 PG revisions (applied in PG v0.2)

| # | PG section | Change | Reason | Status |
|:-:|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| 1 | §13.1 level table | Level 6: "Tempo 2". Level 12: "Tempo 3" | G1 | Applied (H34) |
| 2 | §5 turn structure | "Move + Actions (Tempo) + Quick + Reaction"; the no-repeat rule; one Ready; Sustained unchanged; "Strike" inside an ability defined as one attack | G1 | Applied (H34) |
| 3 | §5 summons | Act on the summoner's turn, one Move and one Action, sharing its Quick | Risk 8 | Applied (H34) |
| 4 | §15.1 Gear | Eight slots, tiers, intrinsics, one socket each, seating rules, Trinket over-rank bond; PG armor and weapon values unchanged | G11, D4 | Applied (H35) |
| 5 | §15.2 Relics | Rank, attribute catalogue (by reference), governors, seating cap; the same attribute in at most one socket | §7.5; G35 | Applied (H35) |
| 6 | §2 Areas | Half damage on a miss against standard enemies only | Risk 1 | Applied (H19) |
| 7 | §7.4, §8.2 Hexes | Elite cap 4, Boss cap 3; Boss once-per-phase Stun; the shake-off generalized; Boss Ward check on Ground hexes | G4, G29 | Applied (H36) |
| 8 | §9.1 Strain | Moon rule (D1) | G23 | Applied (H33) |
| 9 | §10.4 Death | A pointer to the optional *Carried Back*; the rule itself stays here, off by default | G27 | Applied as a pointer |
| 10 | Verify only | Apostle Conviction / *Miracle* rate; Berserker post-gate bill; Master Strike vs Core | Risks 4–6 | Verified (§12.4): *Miracle* holds; the Gate chain capped (H41); Strike vs Core is check (a) |
| 11 | §15.1 gear | The gloves' damage bonus on Strike and Core at every tier; the Guru chest's resistance never Physical; the assumed kit and the budget step stated for the player | G51 | Applied (H60, PG v0.5) |
| 12 | §4.1, §5.1, §13.1, §13.3, §14, §15.1, §16 | Class weapons for every class; Cleave; eleven picks for Magic and Alchemy; Main Hand and Off Hand; the Berserker's *Cleave* renamed *Full Swing* | Joe's brief; G60–G63 | Applied (H79–H86, PG v0.8) |

### 13.3 Revision session

**Done in v0.2:** the PG loaded whole; §13.2 applied (PG v0.2, H34–H41); §12 recomputed from the PG's class entries; §11.5 rewritten with PG abilities by name; Novice Boss Vigor returned to 60 (§4.2, §6.3, §11.1, §11.4); one socket per attribute (§7.4); the §8.6 Reading column.

**Done in v0.3 (the ratification pass):** R1–R8 applied here and in the PG (H42–H50); the two registers annotated; §5.9, §12.2, and §12.3 recomputed. The PG's *Fold the Line* rider is a working reading (PG H49). Open: Issues 9–15 of the ledger — the three Chronicle departures (H5, H28, H20), Adaptations at Adept (H10), the Guru-beast Reading failures (G8), the five table-rule rows (G5, G27, G20, G11, G12), the level-16 resource maxima, the Chronicle ports below, and the editorial cross-reference list (§4.5's §11.6; §4.1 and §4.7's §10.3; §8.2's §11.5; §4.3's §10.5; the Contents line for §13; Boss Ward +2; *Marked*).

**Done in v0.4 (the calibration-closure pass):** §12.3 closed as (a)–(p) with the risk map and the Boss model (G52); the Weakness exploit once per phase (G47); the avatar's pools, the one-attack-one-pool and one-pool-per-area rules (G48); the Boss role's +2 on the avatar's Guard, with §11.1, §11.4, and GB §3.4 updated (G49 — this also closes the "Boss Ward +2" item of the editorial list above: the +2 was on the Ward and missing from the Guard); the relic farm closed (G50); the kit baseline, the §7.3 arithmetic, and the gloves' scope (G51; PG H60); §4.7's second table; §12.4's Gate figure. Applied in PG v0.5 and GB v0.2. Open: risk 3 (G52), and Issues 9–15 as listed.

**Still to do, needing files not loaded:** verify the three Chronicle ports — §5 against Chronicle GMG v0.3 Lines / Cohesion, §7 against Chronicle §9, §10.7 against the Chronicle End procedure — and enter §11.4's Ulvskov pack (and any emergence a campaign adds) in the Grand Beasts v0.2 register. Load: this file, the PG, those two files, Canon Part VIII only.

**Playtest plan of record:** Terhia-Heroes-Review-Handoff.md §5; its metrics are keyed to the rows here and in the PG.

**Register layout:** H-rows stay in the PG and G-rows here; each file's register lists the rules that file states, and a rule applied to the PG on a G-row's account carries both numbers (G1 → H34). One consolidated table was the v0.1 plan; two registers that point at each other are shorter to read and do not drift.

**Context note.** v0.1 was written in one session at about 18,000 words after loading the handoff and roughly 15,000 tokens of Canon; v0.2 loaded the PG (15,000 words) and this file whole. The next pass should start fresh with the four files above and nothing else.

### 13.4 Chronicle ↔ Heroes (D8)

Declared incompatible at the sheet level. A Chronicle character enters Heroes at the level that opens its rank (1 / 5 / 9 / 13), keeps its school, its Marks count, and its Stage, and re-picks abilities, talents, and gear from the PG. Chronicle relics (bond model) become Heroes relics of the same rank with an attribute chosen from the catalogue and the governor of their origin tier. Nothing converts the other way.