Druids have a deep connection to nature, which can be expressed in both magical and nonmagical abilities. Healers, witches, shapeshifters, animal tamers, and scouts can all be made using this class.

 

 

 

Natural Connection

You have a special connection with nature that allows you to cast magic. This is your Natural Connection. When casting magic there are several forms that this Natural Connection can take, each with its own requirements. Choose one of the following four types of Natural Connection from the list below. You must fulfill the requirements of your particular type of Natural Connection in order to cast magic.

• Symbol of Nature: You connect to nature through a symbolic object. This object could be a special plant, a carved piece of driftwood, a sacred stone, a scale from a dragon, or any other meaningful natural object. Decide what your Symbol of Nature is. In order to cast spells, you must actively touch this symbolic object.
• Ritual Components: You connect to nature through the physical objects of ritual, such as magical plants, special water, the soil from an important place, food offerings, and ritual implements. It is up to you what these things are. You have a pouch containing all of the necessary ritual components. In order to cast spells, you must be able to use these ritual components.
• Ceremonial Gestures: You connect to nature through physical gestures that hold a special meaning. In order to cast spells, you must be able to use your body to make these ceremonial gestures.
• Words: You connect to nature through words, such as poetry, chanting, or singing. In order to cast spells, you must be able to express these words in a language you know. Verbal words must be audible and signed words must be visible.

There are different types of magic, such as Plant Magic and Shapeshifting Magic, that can be cast using your Natural Connection. However, each type of magic is a separate ability that needs to be studied individually before you can cast it. You will be choosing which types of magic you know in the Druidic Abilities section below. For this purpose, magic is any ability with the word “Magic” in its name.

 

 

Druidic Abilities

Standard druid characters get any four abilities from the following list.

 

Ability Summaries

Support Magic

• Healing Magic: You can create magical healing effects that alleviate harm and improve ongoing conditions.
• Affliction Magic: You can create magical effects that interfere with people’s physical, mental, and emotional balance and well-being.
• Protection Magic: You can create magical effects that protect against harm.

Elemental Magic

• Fire Magic: You can create magical effects with fire and light.
• Water Magic: You can create magical effects with water and cold.
• Air Magic: You can create magical effects with air, flight, and sound.
• Earth Magic: You can create magical effects with earth and stone.

Nature Magic

• Weather Magic: You can create magical effects with weather and lightning.
• Animal Magic: You can use magic to interact with animals or transform yourself and others into animals.
• Plant Magic: You can use magic to alter plants and fungi, connect with plants and fungi, and use plant and fungi traits.
• Shapeshifting Magic: You can use magic to temporarily alter the physical forms of yourself and others.
• Sensing Magic: You can create magical effects that aid or block perception.

Magical Talents

• In Tune with Nature: You are magically connected to the natural environment around you and you can perceive through it.
• Divination: When you take the time to focus on a question, fragments of the past, present, and future come to you.
•  Attunement: You have a special connection to one type of magic that is expressed as an immunity and two specific magical effects that you can do without risk of failure.
• Animal Abilities

• Pockets Full of Treats: Your pockets or pouches are full of treats for a wide range of animals.
• Mounted Expertise: You are an expert rider that is prepared to perform difficult maneuvers while riding.
• Animal Companion: You have formed a strong bond with an animal that performs useful roles.
• Familiar: You have formed a magical bond with a small creature that helps you.

Scouting Talents

• Alert: You are prepared to notice subtle things about the people and places around you.
• Natural Skill: You are prepared to understand, move through, and interact with familiar natural environments.
• Dynamic Camouflage: A thread of Illusion Magic has been woven into your body, causing your surface to match your surroundings for a short period of time.
• Trick Archery: You are a skilled archer who is practiced at doing improbable things.

• Trap Expertise: You are always prepared to spot, disable, and create traps.
• Knowledgeable: You are extremely knowledgeable and are prepared to use any Knowledge Skill to answer questions.

Flexible Enhancements

• Specialty: You are so good at doing one specific thing that you are always prepared to do it.
• Skill Expert: You are an expert in one skill and rarely fail.
• Physical Intuition: You have an intuitive, physical understanding of a mental skill that makes it possible for you to do it as if it was a physical skill.
• Special Technique: You know a special technique that makes it easier for you to do a physical skill as if it was a mental one.
• Balanced Expertise: You are especially good at one body and one mind skill and are prepared to do either of them.
• Beginner’s Luck: You are unusually successful when you try new things.
• Skillful: You know more skills than most people.
• Extra Species Trait: You have manifested an additional species trait.

 

 

Ability Descriptions

Support Magic

Healing Magic: You can create magical healing effects that alleviate harm and improve ongoing conditions. For example, you can mend wounds, cure poisons, dispel mind- and emotion-altering magic, reduce the intensity of symptoms, decrease pain, bring people to optimal medication levels, and heal those diseases that can be cured with magic. Healing Magic can also be used in rituals to remove curses and other long-term, harmful magic from people. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Affliction Magic: You can create magical effects that interfere with people’s physical, mental, and emotional balance and well-being. Affliction Magic can be used to cause direct harm with wounds and to cause magical conditions, like sleepiness, fatigue, discomfort, sensory overload, pain, hunger, hiccups, nausea, itchiness, irritability, dizziness, and disorientation. When made extreme, any of these magical conditions will interfere with a person’s ability to function. Most curses are Affliction Magic that has been performed as a ritual to create long-term effects. Affliction Magic can also be used to detect and protect from the Affliction Magic of others. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Protection Magic: You can create magical effects that protect against harm. Protection Magic allows you to put up barriers that block physical harm, such as stone walls or spheres of magical force, and barriers that block magical effects, such as shields that defend against mind and emotion control. In addition, you can create a protected sanctuary to sleep in and make people temporarily impervious to one type of harm, such as fire, cold, lightning, poison, or weapons slashes. Protection Magic also allows you to detect immediate hazards, like traps and poisons, and defend people from environmental hazards, such as extreme weather, quicksand, and sticky webs. Finally, you can use Protection Magic to reduce or remove others’ magical protections. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

 

Elemental Magic

Fire Magic: You can create magical effects with fire and light. Examples of effects that you can make are magical illumination, dazzling lights, walls of fire, fire breath, flaming weapons, and fireballs. You can also do things like resist harm from fire, sense fire, melt things, burn things up, put out fire, and create darkness. Fire Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Water Magic: You can create magical effects with water and cold. Examples of effects that you can make are jets of water, geysers, waves, walls of ice, frost weapons, and blasts of cold. You can also do things like create water, resist harm from cold, sense water, thaw ice, and dry up water. Water Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Air Magic: You can create magical effects with air, flight, and sound. Examples of effects that you can make are gusts of air, vortexes (mini-tornadoes), walls of wind, barriers that block sound, magical flight, blasts of noise, and areas of silence. You can also do things like amplify sound, detect airborne toxins, purify air, calm turbulent air, prevent creatures from flying, and cushion a fall. Air Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Earth Magic: You can create magical effects with earth and stone. Examples of effects that you can make are tremors, earthquakes, walls of stone, holes in the ground, blasts of gravel, and rock armor. You can also do things like animate a statue, stabilize a collapsing tunnel, still earth tremors, burrow through the earth, sense minerals in the ground, turn stone into mud, turn mud into stone, and reshape rock with your mind. Earth Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

 

Nature Magic

Weather Magic: You can create magical effects with weather and lightning. Examples of effects that you can make are sleet storms, rain, clouds of fog, moments of sunshine, blizzards, sandstorms, lightning bolts, and shock weapons (weapons that give an electrical shock to people they hit). You can also do things like resist harm from electricity, control the path of lightning strikes, predict the weather, return the weather to a normal pattern, help people endure hazardous weather, and protect an area from hazardous weather. Weather Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Animal Magic: You can use magic to interact with animals or transform yourself and others into animals. Examples of ways that you can interact with animals are speaking with animals, calming animals, sensing where animals are, and calling animals to your aid. Possibilities for transforming into animals include partial transformations to gain animal traits and shapeshifting into specific animals. For example, you could have eagle vision, bioluminescence, wings, gills, claws, poisonous fangs, a keen sense of smell, echolocation, the ability to climb like a gecko, or the capacity to create webs. Animal Magic can also be used to sense, alter, and disrupt the Animal Magic of others. It is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Plant Magic: You can use magic to alter plants and fungi, connect with plants and fungi, and use plant and fungi traits. Examples of effects that you can create are magically animated vines, blasts of sleep-inducing spores, slippery algae coatings, zones of entangling plants, and thorn walls. You can also do things like reshape plants, cause a plant to become bioluminescent, heal plants, speak with plants, command non-sapient plant creatures, resist harm from plant-based poisons, sense specific plants, wither plants, speed up plant growth, and temporarily give people plant-like traits, like bark skin. Plant Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Shapeshifting Magic: You can use magic to temporarily alter the physical forms of yourself and others. This means that you can partially or completely transform people into different sapient species, magical creatures, animals, plants, and even objects. However these transformations are never directly harmful. For example, a person who is transformed into an object will return to their normal form once the spell is over. This also means that people cannot be transformed into anything that would be immediately be harmed by its environment. For example, it is not be possible to turn someone into a fish on dry land.

For each transformation, the more significant and specific the change being made is, the harder it is to do. When magic is harder, the bigger the consequences of failed rolls will be. This means that it is easier to change someone’s appearance than it is to change what they are. So it is easier to make a person look like a statue than it is to turn them into a statue. This also means that mimicking the appearance of a specific person or thing is possible, but doing so is more risky. Shapeshifting magic can also be used to detect or undo others’ Shapeshifting Magic. This magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

Sensing Magic: You can create magical effects that aid or block perception. Examples of things that you can do are detect nearby magic, hide from magical detection, enhance a person’s senses, give someone echolocation, circumvent magical alarms, create a zone of silence, make someone invisible, prevent a group of people from leaving a scent trail, and craft magical alarms that will alert you when a specific event occurs (such as a creature entering an area).

You can also use Sensing Magic to locate a person, place, or thing. When doing this, you must specify what you are looking for. For example, you could aim to find a specific lost cat, detect the nearest person wearing armor, or identify all secret doors in an area.

Sensing Magic also allows you to use your senses to remotely observe people, objects, and places. This is known as scrying. While you are scrying, you are unaware of your physical surroundings. Sensing Magic is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it.

 

 

Magical Talents

In Tune with Nature: You are magically connected to the natural environment around you and you can perceive through it. When you are in a wild or semi-wild area, this connection makes you prepared on Perception skill rolls to perceive things that are immediately around you. In addition, when you focus on connecting with your environment, you can extend your perception out to any location within a five mile radius. When doing this, no roll is needed to locate anything that is obvious to the plants and animals near it, like a stream or a person that isn’t hiding. Finding nonobvious things requires a Perception skill roll, but you are considered prepared on it. This ability can be used to search for a type of thing, like seaking out water sources in a desert.

 

Divination: When you take the time to focus on a question, fragments of the past, present, and future come to you. If the game manager wants, fragments will come to you at plot relevant moments. In addition, once per day, you can focus this ability on a specific question by taking ten minutes to concentrate on what you want to know. The exact divination method you use is up to you. For example, you could sketch random images, meditate, pray, journal, search through a relevant book, do a tarot reading, use a set of rune stones, or gaze into a fire.

This ability is used by rolling mind and you are trained in it. The fragments that come to you may express themselves through your chosen divination method or through sensory experiences, such as visions. These fragments can be realistic, dreamlike, continuous, jumbled, long, or short. Sometimes they are clear and helpful, but other times they are confusing and upsetting.

Keep in mind that the more significant and far-reaching your question is, the more ambiguous the fragments are going to be. For example, the connection between the fragments and your question may not be immediately apparent. This is important because it prevents Divination from spoiling the game by instantly solving big mysteries.

 

Attunement: You have a special connection to one type of magic that is expressed as an immunity and two specific magical effects that you can do without risk of failure. Choose a type of magic that you can cast. You are attuned to this type of magic. Go to the Attunement List and choose one immunity and two minor magical effects from the section for your attuned magic.

The minor magical effects can be used without risk of failure, which means that no roll is needed to use them. However, if you incorporate a minor magical effect into a more complicated action, you will need to roll to accomplish that action.

In addition, some minor magical effects have a specified duration while others don’t. If no duration is specified, then the effect wears off at a story appropriate time, usually at the end of a scene. When the effect does wear off, non-magical outcomes, like healing and harm, remain. You may take this ability multiple times, but you must choose a different type of magic to be attuned to each time.

 

 

Animal Abilities

Pockets Full of Treats: Your pockets or pouches are full of treats for a wide range of animals. Any time that you are interacting with an animal, you may take out a treat and offer it to them. If the animal is calm enough to be interested in the treat (this is decided based on the situation), then you are considered prepared for using the Communicating with Animals and Riding skills with that animal.

You can choose between having these treats easily accessible, or having them wrapped up in packages and jars. If the treats are easily accessible, then you can get them out quickly, but you smell like animal food and are constantly attracting both domesticated and wild animals. If the treats are in packages and jars, it takes more time to get them out, but you don’t attract animals. It takes half an hour to swap between these two different ways of carrying the treats.

 

Mounted Expertise: You are an expert rider that is prepared to perform difficult maneuvers while riding. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Acrobatics, Athletics, Melee Combat, Mobility, Ranged Combat, Riding, or Stealth skills while riding a mount. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Animal Companion: You have formed a strong bond with an animal. This is your Animal Companion. As long as you treat them well, this animal is loyal to you, follows your instructions, and accompanies you on your adventures. You have experience communicating with them and can use any method they can perceive, such as touch, sound, and gesture.

Animal companions have limited independence and they look to you for guidance. Because of your special bond, this animal is as trainable as an average dog, and can follow the basic commands taught in dog obedience schools, such as sit, stay, and come. In addition, they are trained to perform two roles, such as guard, tracker, performer, or racer, which are chosen below.

When in doubt, treat your animal companion as having the same understanding and mental capabilities as an average dog. You can get your animal companion to take actions outside of the basic commands and trained roles they know, but you must make a Communicating with Animals skill roll to do so. Your bond with your companion makes you prepared on this roll.

Dice rolls for an animal companion’s actions are handled separately from the actions of player characters. Animal Companions make their own dice rolls using their body or mind numbers and any applicable training, preparation, or help that they have.

Design your animal companion by following these seven steps.

Step 1: Choose which animal your companion is. They can be small, medium, or large—up to the size of an elephant. For example, they could be a domesticated animal like a camel, cat, dog, donkey, goat, or horse. They could also be a wild animal like a badger, bear, crocodile, deer, dolphin, elephant, hawk, kangaroo, leopard, lion, otter, owl, porcupine, raccoon, raven, snake, shark, tiger, wolf, or zebra. You have all of the equipment to care for your companion’s needs, including saddle and tack, if applicable.

Step 2: Decide what their body and mind numbers are. Their highest number is the thing they are best at. The three options are Body 5 with Mind 3, Body 4 with Mind 4, and Body 3 with Mind 5.

Step 3: For their protection, select one type of physical defense and one type of mental defense. If logical for their species, these defenses can be part of their body, such as a porcupine’s quills acting as armor.

Step 4: Choose five skills that your animal companion is trained in. These skills represent their main capabilities. Your animal companion doesn’t need tools for any skills that are natural behaviors of their species. For example, cats, monkeys, and goats all have bodies designed for climbing, so they don’t need climbing gear.

Step 5: Select two roles off the following list that your animal companion is trained to do.

• Guard: When guarding, this animal watches alertly for signs of danger. Any time they are awake and guarding a person, vehicle, or location, they are prepared on Perception skill rolls to detect signs of danger, such as the sounds of a stealthily approaching creature or the unnatural chill caused by a magical entity.
• Defender: When defending, this animal protects one person or animal from physical harm. Any time the person they are defending would need to protect themselves by rolling their physical defense, roll this animal companion’s defense instead. Because this animal is directly engaging the danger, they will take the consequences of failures and partial successes, rather than the person they are defending. As a result, this animal may be injured or rendered unconscious. However they will not be killed without the permission of the player.
• Rescuer: When rescuing, this animal finds imperiled people and animals and moves them out of harm’s way. They are always prepared on Perception skill rolls to find trapped or injured people and animals. In addition, when imperiled people and animals are their size or smaller, this animal is prepared on all physical skill rolls to move their rescuee to safety. They can also move people and animals larger than themselves, but they don’t get the die for being prepared.
• Calming Presence: When acting as a calming presence, this animal companion helps calm upset people and animals. They are prepared on Insight skill rolls to calm people and Communicating with Animals skill rolls to calm animals, unless that person or animal is has a particular fear or anger toward them or their species. When the people or animals do have a particular fear or anger, this companion can still make a roll to calm them, but they don’t get the die for being prepared.
  • If this companion gets a full success (2 successes) on calming a person, your character is prepared on the first social roll they make to interact with that person.
  • If this companion gets a full success (2 successes) on calming an animal, the calmed animal will cooperate with your character. If your companion stays with the calmed animal, that animal will continue to cooperate with you through the first upsetting thing that happens, such as being startled by a loud noise, with no roll needed.
• Racer: When moving, this animal companion is unusually quick. Choose a form of movement that they are especially good at, such as running, climbing, hopping, flying, slithering, or swimming. This animal is always prepared on physical skill rolls that significantly benefit from moving quickly using this chosen form of movement.
• Action Mount: When you are riding this animal, your strong bond combined with a specially designed saddle, enhance your ability to work together. When you are riding this mount with your special saddle, you are prepared on Riding skill rolls to do difficult things, like stand up on their back and hang off the side of the saddle to grab something from the ground. At the same time, your mount is prepared on Strength skill (Athletics, Climbing, Flying, or Swimming) and Dexterity skill rolls (Acrobatics, or Mobility) to get past physical obstacles.
• Draft Animal: This animal can pull heavy loads. They are always prepared on Strength Skill rolls (Athletics, Climbing, Flying, or Swimming) to pull large or heavy objects. In addition, you have the harness, sturdy ropes, and other equipment needed to hitch them to a wide variety of objects.
• Forager: This animal can easily find food in any normal, wild or semi-wild environment. When you take the time to forage with your animal companion, they help you find food. Decide whether you find enough ordinary food to feed a small group or enough special food to make a good gift. As long as it is something they can eat, giving a food gift makes you prepared for the rest of the scene on all Social Skill rolls (Communicating with Animals, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Performance) that you make to interact with the recipient.
  • Depending on the season and location, predators could find wild honey, fish, shellfish, waterfowl, landfowl, deer, other large game, rabbits, and other small game. Meanwhile, herbivores could find seeds, nuts, berries, fruit, mushrooms, roots, leafy greens, herbs, and flowers. Omnivores could find either type of food.
• Tracker: When tracking, this animal uses their strong sense of smell to follow a trail. They are prepared on all Survival skill rolls to track and can track over a range of terrains, including stagnant and slow moving water.
• Detector: When detecting, this animal uses their strong sense of smell to figure out whether something is present or not. Decide what type of thing this animal is trained to detect and what signal they give when they find it. For example, they could detect animal predators, ghosts, poison, or a specific type of magic, and when they detect their thing they could go into a pointing stance, paw at it, whine, stamp their foot, or bark. Any time this animal is actively searching for their thing, no roll is needed for them to detect it if it is nearby. In addition, if you have a sample of a substance that isn’t their usual thing, they are prepared on Survival skill rolls made to detect that substance.
• Retriever: When retrieving, this animal brings a chosen object to you. To do this, you, your animal companion, and the object need to all be close enough that you can communicate to your companion what you want them to get. While retrieving, your companion is prepared on all rolls to get to and bring back unattended objects up to half their size and weight. You companion can also retrieve larger objects and objects that are held by others, but they aren’t prepared on these rolls.
• Herder: When herding, this animal uses posturing, swoops, lunges, and other forms of intimidation to move people and animals in the direction you want them to go. This animal is prepared on all Intimidation and Communicating with Animals skill rolls made to move non-aggressive people and animals in a direction that appears safe. Most animals, including predators, are non-aggressive unless they are trapped, protecting their young, or desperately hungry. This animal can also herd aggressive people and animals, but they don’t get the die for being prepared.
• Performer: When performing, this animal has a captivating stage presence. Your companion must be trained in the Performance skill in order to take on this role. Any time the two of you are performing together, your character can make a Performance skill roll to entertain your audience. Your companion adds the help die to this roll. If the roll results in a full or outstanding success, the two of you hold the complete attention of your audience, plus any onlookers that aren’t actively engaged in something important. Onlookers engaged in an important activity get distracted, taking a one die penalty to all actions, but continue their activity.
• Intimidator: When being intimidating, this animal knows how to frighten people and animals by making themselves physically imposing. This means that they can use their body number when using the Intimidation skill to frighten people or using the Communicating with Animals skill to frighten animals. In addition, they are prepared on rolls to intimidate any person or animal that doesn’t want to fight. Keep in mind that most animals, even predators, don’t want to fight unless they are protecting their young or desperately hungry.
• Nonlethal Fighter: When fighting, this animal knows how to nonlethally restrain or incapacitate people and animals. They are prepared on any Combat Skill roll (Unarmed Fighting, Melee Combat, or Ranged Combat), made to restrain or incapacitate a person or animal without causing harm.
• Skills Specialist: When learning skills, this animal was able to acquire two additional ones. Choose two additional skills that this animal is trained in.
• Skill Helper: When working with you, your animal companion can sometimes share their skill with you. Three times a day, when your animal companion is physically present with you, they can make a dice roll using one of their trained skills for both of you. This roll uses their body or mind number, training, and bonuses, and its results affect both of you.

Step 6: If this animal companion is an assistive animal for a disabled character, choose an additional support role the animal is trained to do. For example, they could guide, manipulate objects, increase mobility, alert deaf handlers to important sounds, help people with autism perform the activities of daily living, provide emotional support, interrupt problem behaviors, assist people with psychiatric disabilities, signal impending medical problems, and respond to medical emergencies.

Step 7: Give your animal companion the final touches by naming them and deciding what their personality is like. What is their usual mood? How is the majority of their time spent? What do they love and what do they hate? How do they react to new things? If they have a disability, what is it and how does it affect them?

Taking this Ability Multiple Times: Each additional time you take this ability, choose between getting an additional animal companion and adding two roles to an existing animal companion.

 

Familiar: You have formed a magical bond with a small animal that helps you. This is your familiar. The magic of your bond allows you to communicate telepathically with each other and enhances your familiar’s mental capabilities so that they are equivalent to those of a dolphin, including their ability to understand and problem-solve.

Your familiar acts independently from you. If you treat them well, they will be helpful and loyal. They can do anything that is physically possible for their body. In addition, they understand how doors and windows work, know how to use simple tools, have a rudimentary understanding of magic, and are able to make simple plans.

When you take a moment to mentally focus on your familiar, you can use your magical bond to communicate telepathically with them. This works any time your familiar is conscious, regardless of distance, but what they communicate to you is limited by their understanding of the world. You can ask them to carry out independent tasks for you, like scouting an area, stealing an object, or creating a distraction. However, because your familiar isn’t sapient, they can’t do things that require human-like comprehension. For example, they can follow someone to find out where they go, but they won’t understand most of what that person says or does.

Dice rolls for a familiar’s actions are handled separately from the actions of player characters. Familiars make their own dice rolls using their body or mind numbers and any applicable training, preparation, or help that they have.

Design your familiar by following these seven steps.

Step 1: Choose which small animal your familiar is. For example, they could be a bat, butterfly, cat, crab, small dog, dove, dragonfly, eel, frog, hawk, humming bird, koi, lemur, lizard, monkey, octopus, owl, parrot, rabbit, rat, raven, scorpion, seagull, tiny shark, snake, spider, toad, turtle, or weasel. You have all of the equipment needed to care for them. Characters with familiars that are also service animals may choose larger animals as needed.

Step 2: Decide what their body and mind numbers are. Their highest number is the thing they are best at. The three options are Body 5 with Mind 3, Body 4 with Mind 4, and Body 3 with Mind 5.

Step 3: For their protection, select one type of physical defense and one type of mental defense. If logical for their species, these defenses can be part of their body, such as a crab’s shell acting as armor.

Step 4: Choose five skills that your familiar is trained in. These skills represent their main capabilities. Your familiar doesn’t need tools for any skills that are natural behaviors of their species. For example, cats, monkeys, and geckos all have bodies designed for climbing, so they don’t need climbing gear.

Step 5: Select two strengths for your familiar from the following list. Strengths with limited uses per day can be taken twice to gain more uses.

• Magical Assistant: This familiar can help you control magic. Once per day, when your familiar is physically present with you and focusing on helping, you can turn a failed magic roll (zero successes) into a partial success (one success). This must be done before the consequences of failure are revealed.
• Shared Senses: When you take a moment to focus on your familiar, you can use your magical bond to perceive the world through their senses. This works at any distance, but your familiar needs to be conscious. In addition, any time you perceive through your familiar’s senses, you become unaware of your own surroundings.
• Language Transfer: Your familiar can speak any verbal or signed language you speak, communicating with others who knows one of these languages.
• Magic Transfer: You can transfer some of your magic to your familiar. Once per day, your familiar can cast one of the types of magic that you have. The dice roll for this uses the familiar’s mind number, however they are considered trained.
• Ability Transfer: You can temporarily transfer non-magical abilities to your familiar. Three times a day, your familiar gains the benefit of one of your non-magical abilities. When a dice roll is involved, your familiar still makes their own roll. If the chosen ability has limited uses per day, then your familiar uses up one use each time.
• Sapient: Your character’s familiar has a human-like mind capable of complex thought and understanding.
• Keen Senses: Your familiar has unusually keen senses that help them be aware of the things around them. Any time they get a full success (two successes) on Awareness Skill rolls (Insight, Perception, Survival), they gain additional information as if they had gotten and outstanding success.
• Smell Diagnostician: Your familiar has a keen sense of smell that they can use to diagnose disease, poisoning, and other medical conditions. This animal is always prepared on Survival skill rolls to determine what medical condition a person or animal has. They communicate their understanding of this condition to you through your magical bond.
• Large Form: Three times per day, your familiar can magically become large for five minutes. This large form is roughly the size of a grizzly bear, but may be taller, longer, or wider as needed to accommodate different body shapes.
• Permanent Defense: Your familiar has a physical or mental defense that is part of their body. Decide what this defense is and whether it offers physical or mental protection. For example, it could be armor-like scales, a crystal embedded in their forehead, or magical symbols in their fur. Once per day, your familiar can turn a failed defense roll (zero successes) that uses their permanent defense into a full success (two success).
• Regeneration: By eating and sleeping your familiar heals injuries at an incredibly fast rate. If your familiar is injured, they can eat a lot of food then sleep deeply to induce a state of magically accelerated healing. Once they awaken from this magical sleep, they are completely healed.
• Racer: When moving, this familiar is unusually quick. Choose a form of movement that they are especially good at, such as running, climbing, hopping, flying, slithering, or swimming. This animal is always prepared on physical skill rolls that significantly benefit from moving quickly using this chosen form of movement.
• Dynamic Camouflage: Your familiar has camouflage that changes color and texture to match their surrounds. Decide what form this camouflage takes. For example, it could be octopus skin, chameleon scales, color-changing feathers, fur imbued with illusions, or shapeshifting skin. Any time this animal holds still or moves slowly, they can use their magical camouflage to be prepared on Stealth skill rolls to avoid being seen, even if they are in plain sight.
• Enveloping Shadows: This familiar can briefly disappear by wrapping themselves in shadow. Three times per day, they can disappear into the shadows for a short period of time. No roll is needed for this, but there must be a large area of shadow for them to disappear into, such as a narrow alleyway or a dense cluster of trees.
• Soothing Aura: This familiar radiates a magical calm that can sooth even those people and animals that are difficult to calm by ordinary means. They are always prepared on Insight skill rolls to calm people and Communicating with Animals skill rolls to calm animals. Because this is a magical effect, it works on aggressive people and animals, and those with a strong fear of this familiar’s species.
• Distraction: Your familiar can be incredibly distracting. Whether they are cute, a charismatic performer, or a food thief, they are always prepared on physical or social skill rolls made to distract one or more people. They do need to be physically present to maintain the distraction.
• Compelling Performance: This familiar’s performance is magically compelling. When they get a full success (2 successes) on a Performance skill roll to entertain an audience, all audience members become so focused on the performance that they are unable to perceive anything around them that isn’t an immediate danger.
• Skills Specialist: This familiar is good at learning skills and acquired two additional ones. Choose two additional skills that this animal is trained in.
• Strong Skill: There is one skill your familiar is especially good at. Choose which skill this is. Three times a day, your familiar is prepared when using this skill.
• Skill Helper: Your familiar can help you do skills that they are good at. Three times a day, when your familiar is physically present with you, they can make a dice roll using one of their trained skills for both of you. This roll uses their body or mind number, training, and bonuses, and its results affect both of you.
• Unusual Nature: There is something about your character’s familiar that is unexpected, strange, or exceptional. For example, this familiar could be a ghost, an animated piece of furniture, or a magical creature. First, decide what is unusual about this familiar. Next, work with the game manager to create a benefit that your character’s familiar provides as a result of their unusual nature. For example, a ghost familiar could move through non-magical walls, an animated chest familiar could carry objects, and a firebird familiar could glow brightly and use dropped feathers as markers.

Step 6: Choose one weakness for your familiar off the following list. Consult with the game manager to ensure that the chosen weakness is something that will come up in the game, but won’t be a constant problem.

• Always Hungry: Your familiar loves food so much that any nearby food is difficult for them to ignore. Any time they are near a large quantity of food, they take a one die penalty to all mental skills. In addition, any failed roll (0 successes) made in the presence of a large quantity of food means that they stop what they are doing and go get food.
• Shy: Your familiar is easily overwhelmed by social interactions and avoids situations that focus attention on them. Any time they become the center of a group’s attention, they panic and react with a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. Your familiar stays in this mental emergency mode for the rest of the scene.
• Curious: There is a thing your familiar can’t resist investigating. Decide what this thing is. For example, your familiar could be particularly curious about closed containers, magic objects, beautiful sounds, or dark spaces. When they encounter one of these things, roll a six-sided die.
  • 5 or 6: They stop what they are doing to go investigate the thing. Depending on the circumstances, their investigation could cause further problems.
  • 3 or 4: They are distracted by the thing and take a one die penalty to all mental skills while they are near it.
  • 1 or 2: They are able to return their focus to what they are already doing and ignore the thing.
• Energetic: When awake, your familiar is a ball of energy and activity. Any time they are required to wait quietly, roll a six-sided die.
  • 5 or 6: They can’t contain their energy and start doing something majorly disruptive.
  • 3 or 4: They start doing something that is only slightly disruptive.
  • 1 or 2: They fall asleep from boredom and can’t take actions until woken.
• Sleepy: Your familiar falls asleep when they are inactive. Any time your familiar is waiting for something, roll a six-sided die.
  • 4, 5, or 6: They fall asleep and can’t take actions until woken.
  • 1, 2, or 3: They stay awake.
• Easily Distracted: Your familiar’s attention is easily attracted by random things. Any time that your familiar is carrying out a task for you, roll a six-sided die. On a one, they get distracted, causing a significant delay that will disrupt anything time-sensitive.
• Rash: Your familiar acts without thinking. In tense situations, they take a one die penalty to all mental skills. All actions scenes count as tense situations.
• Timid: Your familiar is easily frightened. Direct confrontation makes them panic and react with a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. Your familiar stays in this mental emergency mode for the rest of the scene.
• Overly Trusting: Your familiar loves people and trusts anyone that is nice to them. They perceive all friendly people as friends and will do seemingly-harmless favors for anyone that is nice to them. In addition, the outcomes of their Insight skill rolls are limited to partial successes. This means that you roll the usual number of dice, but full successes and outstanding successes are treated like partial successes.
• Afraid of Something: Your familiar has an intense fear of something. Decide what they are afraid of. For example, they could be afraid of a type of animal, flashing lights, or loud sounds. When this thing is present, your familiar will stay far away from it. If it is something they can’t get away from, like thunder, they will hide.

Step 7: Give your familiar the final touches by naming them and deciding what their personality is like. What is their typical mood? How do they like to spend their time? What is their favorite thing? What do they hate? How do they react to new things? If they have a disability, what is it and how does it affect them?

Taking this Ability Multiple Times: Each additional time you take this ability, choose between getting an additional familiar and adding two strengths to an existing familiar.

 

 

Scouting Talents

Alert: You are prepared to use Perception Skills to notice subtle things about the people and places around you. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Insight, Perception, or Survival skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Natural Skill: You are prepared to understand, move through, and interact with familiar natural environments. Three times a day, when in a familiar natural environment, you are considered prepared when you use the Strength (Athletics, Climbing, Flying, Riding, and Swimming) or Dexterity physical skills (Acrobatics, Manual Dexterity, Mobility, and Stealth), or the Communicating with Animals, Nature, Perception, and Survival mental skills to understand, move through, and interact with your environment. A familiar natural environment is one that you have previous experience with, or that you have been in for at lease one day. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

Dynamic Camouflage: A thread of Illusion Magic has been woven into your body, causing your surface to match your surroundings for a short period of time. Three times a day, you can activate your Dynamic Camouflage to create an illusion that covers the surface of your body, clothing, and gear. When you hold still or move slowly, this illusion matches your surroundings so well that you can’t be seen from a distance, even when you are in the open. It also makes you prepared on Stealth skill rolls to not be seen when moving quickly, or by people near you. Your Dynamic Camouflage does not alter how much noise you make or make you harder to locate with non-vision-senses. Each time it is activated, your Dynamic Camouflage lasts for five minutes.

 

Trick Archery: You are a skilled archer who is practiced at doing improbable things. Three times a day, you may reroll a Ranged Combat roll for a challenging archery task, like splitting an arrow in two, firing accurately while doing acrobatic stunts, and shooting projectiles out of the air. This reroll must happen before the results have been revealed and you must take the new result, even if it is lower.

 

Trap Expertise: You are always prepared to spot, disable, and create traps. You are always considered prepared when you use Perception to spot traps, Manual Dexterity to disable traps, and Technology to create traps.

 

Knowledgeable: You are extremely knowledgeable and are prepared to use any Knowledge Skill to answer questions. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use the Arcana, Culture, Nature, or Technology skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire.

 

 

Flexible Enhancements

Specialty: You are so good at doing one specific thing that you are always prepared to do it. Choose an area of focus for a skill or ability that you already have. This is your specialty. You are particularly good at this specialty and are always considered prepared when using it. This specialty needs to be significantly more specific than the skill or ability it is based on. For example, a character with the Acrobatics skill could have a specialty in leaping, or a character with the Transportation Magic ability could have a specialty in casting flying spells.

 

Skill Expert: You are an expert in one skill and rarely fail. Choose a skill. Three times per day, you may turn a failed dice roll (zero successes) for this skill into a partial success (one success). This ability must be used before the consequences of failure are revealed.

 

Physical Intuition: You have an intuitive, physical understanding of a mental skill that makes it possible for you to do it as if it was a physical skill. Choose one mind based skill or ability. You can now use this skill or ability by rolling body.

 

Special Technique: You know a special technique that makes it easier for you to do a physical skill as if it was a mental one. Choose one body based skill or ability. You can now use this skill or ability by rolling mind.

 

Balanced Expertise: You are especially good at one body and one mind skill and are prepared to do either of them. Choose one mind skill and one body skill. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when you use either of these two skills. You may take this ability twice if you desire, choosing either the same or different skills.

 

Beginner’s Luck: You are unusually successful when you try new things. Three times a day, you are considered prepared when using a skill that you are not trained in.

 

Skillful: You know more skills than most people. Choose two additional skills off the Skills List. You are trained in these skills. There is no limit on how many times you may choose this ability.

 

Extra Species Trait: You have manifested an additional species trait. Choose an additional species trait off the Species Trait List. There is no limit on how many times you may choose this ability.