LLCF: Character Options

This page contains lists of different options for character customization, including Aptitudes, Gifts, and Techniques.

Aptitudes

Below is a list of the aptitudes available to player characters and the actions they may effect.

Bravery: Remaining calm in the face of fear.
Brawling: Punching, kicking, grappling, etc.
Breath: Any wherein strong lungs may help.
Charisma: Influence by forceful personality.
Comprehension: Understand coded, incomplete, or garbled messages or speech.
Concentration: Maintaining focus despite distractions.
Constitution: Resist physical ailments or stave off death.
Coordination: Precise, whole-body movements.
Creativity: Improvised creation of artistic mediums, including music.
Dexterity: Fine motor movements.
Empathy: Understanding others’ true feelings.
Endurance: Pushing through exhaustion.
Faith: Trusting a higher power.
Flexibility: Contortion of the whole body.
Hearing: Discerning quiet or garbled noises.
Might: Physically brute forcing a problem.
Perception: Processing sensory information.
Reaction: Reacting (not moving) quickly.
Sanity: Avoiding the negative effects of stress.
Smell: Discerning faints smells or tastes.
Speech: Speaking soundly in stressful situations.
Speed: Moving (not reacting) quickly.
Steadiness: Keeping hand or body steady.
Vision: Discerning complex or distant objects.
Willpower: Mentally brute forcing a problem.

Gifts

The following are organized by general effect, listed with prerequisite Aptitudes in parentheses. Some refer to optional game rules; if your group is playing without those rules (or those rules haven’t been published yet), you should not take that gift for your character.

Combat Gifts

Momentum: If the character kills a target in melee with their first attack in a round, they may attack again in the same action.
Power Throw: +1 to hit when over-ranging a thrown or melee weapon.
Savage Resolve: +1 to Injury checks.
Specialization: May use special features of the chosen weapon type. Can be taken multiple times with different weapon types. Propelled types require Stead, all others require Coord.
Toughened Skin: +2 AD when wearing no armor (artifacts in wear slots do not count as armor).

Mobility Gifts

Aquarian: The character may swim as fast as they can walk.
Soft Fall: When taking fall damage, take one less injury.
Sprint: The character may walk an additional 15′ during their move action.
Uncanny Climb: The character may climb up to half their walking speed under duress without making a check.
Wall Run: As an action, the character may run 30′ across or 15′ up a wall.

Perception Gifts

Echolocation: The character can sense the shape of all objects within 15′, regardless of light or obscurity, provided there are no objects physically in the way.
ESP: The character’s vision cannot be obscured by smoke, fog, etc.
Low-Light Vision: The character sees in darkness as dim light and dim light as bright light.
Uncanny Smell: The character can taste and smell things generally flavorless or odorless.

Subsistence Gifts

Addiction Resistance: +1 to Addiction checks.
Heavy Sleep: The character loses 1 fatigue on their first watch of rest for the day.
Immunity: +1 to Drug Resistance checks.
Light Sleep: The character may make checks to perceive goings on around them while sleeping.
Slowed Metabolism: Drug resistance checks are made after twice the normal time.

Other Gifts

Bounty Hunter: Gain advantage on efforts to track, read, and manipulate intelligent creatures.
Champion/Menace: Choose a cause. Gain advantage on actions that directly contribute to (Champion) or hinder (Menace) that cause.
Huntsman: Gain advantage on efforts to track, avoid, and lure wild game and monsters.
Mastery: Choose a technique the character has, the character gains access to the mastery effect of that technique.
Pack Rat: The character gains an additional 2 Rucksack slots.
Stone Face: Targets cannot gain a bonus from Empathy when trying to read the character.
Wild Man: Gain advantage on efforts to navigate through the wilderness or forage for food.

Techniques

Characters gain access to the mastery effects of techniques via the “Mastery” gift, and advantage provided by weapons only occurs if the character is specialized in the weapon type. The bonus for combative techniques is as per the aptitudes of the related range type (melee, thrown, or propelled) and the threshold for techniques stated to be made against “Armored Defense” are made against the same threshold as a normal attack (Base Defense + Armor Defense); for those stated to be made against “Maneuver Defense”, the threshold is the target’s Base Defense (typically 3) plus either (a) their Body aspect or (b) the bonus they would gain from Might, Coordination, and Reaction, whichever applies.

Author’s Note: Many of the techniques listed below would ordinarily be extra combat actions that anyone could perform. However, this often results in individuals forgetting these are options. Making them unlockables instead results in them being written on the character sheet and therefore encourages their usage. The GM should feel free to allow all characters access to certain techniques, making the Mastery effects in themselves simple gifts instead.

Melee Techniques

The following techniques must be performed on targets within melee range.

Knockdown/Trip: The target becomes knocked down, changing their base defense against attacks within 5′ to 1 and halving their movement speed, until they spend a turn standing back up. Made against maneuver defense, with advantage from shields, polearms, and chains.
- Mastery: After tripping a target, make an additional attack against them immediately.
Shove: The target is moved up to 10′ away. Made against maneuver defense, with advantage from shields and polearms.
- Mastery: The target may be moved up to 20′ away or be knocked down (see below).
Disarm: The target drops their weapon within 5′ of where they’re standing. Made against maneuver defense, with advantage from swords, polearms, and chains.
- Mastery: The weapon may drop up to 10′ away or take the target’s weapon.
Attack of Opportunity: When a target leaves the character’s melee range, the character may use their next main action immediately to attack the target.
- Mastery: Attacks of Opportunity may be made without using a main action.
Stun/Hilt-Strike: When using a weapon without an FTM, you may replace the item’s ITM with +0 FTM.
- Mastery: On a successful stun attempt, the target loses their next main action and moves at half speed during their next turn.
Power Strike: Unarmed attacks have +1 FTM and cesti attacks’ FTM is increased by 1.
- Mastery: Unarmed and cesti attacks that do not already have an ITM gain +0 ITM or, on a successful hit, the target loses their next main action and moves at half speed during their next turn.
Fake Out: The character may sacrifice their move action to gain a hit bonus on their first attack of the round.
- Mastery: The character no longer needs to sacrifice a move action to fake out, or they may apply the hit bonus to all their attacks in a round.
Execute: At a penalty of 2, the character may attempt an execution on a target; if their total exceeds the threshold by 2, the die is considered to read 1 for any injury rolls made by the target—if the attack does not exceed the target’s armored defense by at least 2, injury rolls are made as usual. Made against armored defense, with advantage from axes.
- Mastery: The attack roll only takes a penalty of 1 instead of 2.

Ranged Techniques

The following techniques must be performed with either a thrown or propelled weapon; some require a specific weapon type.

Crippling Shot: As “Knockdown/Trip”. Made against armored defense, with advantage from bows and discs.
- Mastery: The target’s movement speed is halved until the end of the combat.
Triple Shot: When using a bow, the character may sacrifice their move action to fire three arrows in rapid succession as a single attack, making hit rolls for each; they need not all be aimed at the same target.
- Mastery: When firing all three arrows at the same target, make hit rolls for each, if any one roll hits, all arrows hit.
Headshot: As “Execute”. Made against armored defense, with advantage from bows, batons, and rifles.
- Mastery: As “Execute”.

Defensive Techniques

The following techniques increase a character’s defensive capabilities. The GM may decide to assign disadvantage to dodging and parrying certain attacks, such as from firearms.

Dodge: When defending against an attack or technique, before the result is revealed, the character may sacrifice their next move action to dodge the attack, replacing their armored or maneuver defense with the roll, potentially augmented by Coordination, Reaction, and/or Speed; the result replaces the defense they would otherwise have even if it would lower their defense (they dodged into the attack/maneuver). Ties with the attack roll result in knockdown rather than damage.
- Mastery: Dodges may be attempted without sacrificing the character’s next move action.
Parry: As “Dodge”, save that the augmenting aptitudes are Coordination, Might, and Reaction and ranged weapons cannot be parried. May gain advantage from swords, shields, polearms, and chains (only shields cancel disadvantage caused by weapons such as firearms). Ties with the attack roll result in being disarmed rather than damaged
- Mastery: Successfully parrying melee attacks or techniques allows the character to immediately counter-attack (attack or technique); ranged attacks may be parried, albeit without a counter-attack.
Switch: When an ally within 5′ is targeted by an attack, you may use your next move action to switch places with them, taking the blow for them; you may not use dodge against the resulting attack, even when dodge or switch are mastered.
- Mastery: The character may Switch without sacrificing their move action.
Shield Wall/Phalanx: Two characters that have Shield Wall and are equipped with shields may occupy the same 5′ area, gaining +1 AD each; their shield wall gains another 5′ in length for each odd person added (3 people = 10′, 5 people = 15′, etc); any attacks made with weapons other than spears by those in the shield wall are made with disadvantage.
- Mastery: Attacks are no longer made with disadvantage.

Other Techniques

Dual-Wield: The character may wield a light weapon in their off-hand if they have a medium or light weapon in their Main-Hand of the same range type; they may use both these weapons for the same attack to gain a hit bonus, taking the highest ITM and FTM between the two weapons. Additionally, parry may be performed without using the character’s main action when dual-wielding, and unarmed/cesti attacks gain a hit bonus.
- Mastery: When dual-wielding, unarmed, or wielding cesti, the character may make two separate attacks in the same action, one with each weapon.
First Aid: The character may take an exploration turn to treat the wounds of one ally. For each untreated injury the target possesses make a check (Concentration, Dexterity, Steadiness) against a threshold of 6; each success causes the injury to be mended, and it no longer effects injury checks or contributes to damage bonuses. Failure results in the injury being unmendable; injuries cannot be treated twice. When resting, mended injuries heal before all others.
- Mastery: Successful wound treatment removes injuries entirely instead of mending them.
Forage: The character may spend one watch foraging for food, gaining bonuses from Concentration, Perception, and Vision—on a success, the character gains an amount of vegetables determined by the environment being foraged in. Characters without the Forage technique cannot attempt foraging without risking poisonous vegetables (when the vegetables are consumed, make a roll—on a 1, the character suffers the effects of Poison for the next 24 hours).
- Mastery: The amount of vegetables gained by foraging is doubled, or the character may elect to forage for certain drugs (as determined by the environment).
Hunt: The character may spend one watch hunting for food, gaining bonuses from Concentration, Perception, and Vision—on a success, the character gains an amount of meat determined by the environment being hunted in; meat must be eaten or cured within 3 days or it spoils. Characters without the Hunt technique may attempt hunting at disadvantage.
- Mastery: The amount of meat gained by hunting is doubled.
Pick Lock: Provided the character has thieves’ tools, they may take an exploration turn to pick a lock, gaining bonuses from Concentration, Dexterity, and Steadiness. Characters with thieves’ tools but without the Pick Lock technique may attempt picking locks at disadvantage.
- Mastery: The character picks locks at advantage or may pick a lock in a single combat round at disadvantage.
Yaup: The character lets out a loud cry, making a check incorporating Bravery, Charisma, and Willpower against a threshold of 3 + their target’s Spirit (or Bravery, Charisma, and Willpower); on a success, their target is frozen in fear and cannot act on their next turn.
- Mastery: Rather than being frozen, the target must spend their next turn getting as far from the character as possible.

Magical Techniques

It is encouraged for game masters in LLCF to make setting-specific magic systems that align with the general themes of their world. Below is a list of techniques created for use within the default setting of Kythria that GMs may use as a baseline in developing their own magic systems. These will be moved to a page specific to Kythria at a later date.

If the effect description lists the caster as risking or taking damage before anything else, the damage roll must be made before making the hit check; if the caster is incapacitated as a result of their damage roll, the technique is ineffective.

Kotokilosis (Electromagnetism)

Unless otherwise noted, lightning attacks ignore armor defense from metal armor and cannot be parried, though they can be dodged; magnetic techniques generally target armored defense. All kotokilosis checks gain bonuses from Brawling and/or Concentration; lightning techniques also gain a bonus from Speed, while magnetic techniques gain a bonus from Coordination. Unless specified, all ranged attacks may be over-ranged (see Combat Options).

Call Lightning: The elementalist risks an injury (+1 ITM) and pivots their foot to send an electric arc through the ground (range 15′) to their target, before swinging their arm up to send a lightning bolt skyward and inflict an injury with +2 ITM (+4 if outdoors, +6 if it’s also storming).
- Mastery: The caster may take an injury instead of risking one to double the ITM on their attack.
Chain Lightning: The elementalist takes an injury (+2 ITM) and pivots their foot to gather electric energy into the body before thrusting their hand forward to send out an electric arc (range 10′) toward a target, then shift their hand to continue the electric arc through more targets (range 10′), inflicting injuries with +2 ITM; the check must be repeated for each additional target, but the caster only takes an injury on the initial casting, the chain ends when the check fails. The chain may cycle back through targets it has already hit.
- Mastery: The caster may choose to risk an injury (+3 ITM), rather than take an injury.
Static Shock: The elementalist uses their main to action to rub their hands together to build up static electricity, giving their next unarmed attack +2 ITM or allowing them to instantly kill a subdued (unconscious or bound) target.
- Mastery: While the caster must have both hands free to build the charge, they may send the shock through a metal melee weapon, increasing the weapons ITM by 1 or giving the weapon +1 ITM if it has no ITM.

Fotokinesis (Combustion)

Unless otherwise noted, fire attacks target armored defense and cannot be parried, though they can be dodged. All fotokinesis checks gain bonuses from Brawling, Concentration, and Coordination. Fire attacks may not be over-ranged.

Explosion: The elementalist throws their arms out to the side, combusting the surrounding area at a radius of 15′, inflicting an injury with +2 ITM to all creatures within range, including themselves, and potentially igniting any flammable objects.
- Mastery: The elementalist and potential targets of their choosing risk injuries rather than taking them.
Flaming Breath: The elementalist (or drak’kin) breathes in deeply, taking an injury (+2 ITM) as they combust the air inside their lungs, before breathing it out in a 15′ long cone, between 5′ and 15′ wide at its end, inflicting injuries with +2 ITM to all creatures in the cone.
- Mastery: The caster takes fatigue (+1 FTM) instead of an injury.
Spark: The elementalist snaps their fingers, sending out sparks as though striking flint that may catch fine flammables on fire.
- Mastery: After snapping their fingers, the elementalist may immediately open their hand to hold a small ball of fire that floats just off their palm and extinguishes when they close their hand back into a fist—the flame also goes out if anything comes between it and the casters hand or if it has no room to combust (i.e., the caster presses their hand against something).