Ability Modifiers: Each creature has 6 ability modifiers that represent a creature's most basic attributes: Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, Wisdom, Charisma, and Intelligence. The higher the modifier, the more raw potential and talent your character possesses.
Absolute: An infinite value, unless opposed by another Absolute value (such as an Absolute attack roll vs Absolute AC).
Absorb: This is an advanced form of damage immunity that instead allows a creature with this ability to be healed by the indicated damage type. Instead of losing HP, they regain HP equal to the damage they would have been dealt.
Action: An action is anything done during a round of combat. Using abilities, using an item, and making attacks all require actions to perform. A character has 3 actions and 1 reaction (an action that can be used on someone else’s turn) per turn.
Action, Free: A free action is an action that takes no significant time to take. You can take any number of these per turn (within reason).
Action, Additional: An action in excess of your normal 3 actions. Effects that grant additional actions do not stack. You may only ever have 1 additional action per turn.
Reaction: An action taken in response to another creature’s action, taken during their turn.
Action, Full Round: An action that consumes all actions on your turn (including additional actions) other than free actions.
Adventure: A plot that has a beginning, middle, and end. It is a story that the GM has involved the players in.
Area of Effect (AoE): Something that affects all or multiple creatures in an area, instead of targeting a single creature.
Armor Class (AC): A numeric representation of how well a creature avoids damage and how well they can take a hit. This is the number you must meet with an attack roll to damage a creature.
Attack: An attack is any hostile action that requires an attack roll.
Attack (Action): This is a special kind of action that allows a character to hurt their target with a weapon.
Attack of Opportunity: As a reaction a creature can make an attack during an opponent’s turn if their action provides an opening. Such actions are denoted as “provoking an attack of opportunity”.
At Will: Abilities described as usable “at will” can be used as many times as the user wishes without needing to rest to regain limited uses.
Base: Something that is described as being “base” means it is unmodified and permanent. It is how something natural is, by default. Your “base size category” would be your size category without changes from things like spells and your “base speed” would be your speed before it is modified temporarily.
Base Spell: The “base version of a spell” is a spell cast at its lowest level, that is to say it lacks any bonuses for being cast at a higher level. Variables dependent on level still scale.
Bonus: A bonus is a numerical modifier to a dice roll. Bonuses that apply to the same thing do not stack.
Boost: Any improvement to another ability, activated by spending a Hero Dice.
Campaign: A game consisting of several sessions wherein adventurers partake in various adventures.
Capacity: Your ability to actually do something. If you lack the capacity to do something, you cannot do it. A character who doesn’t have the capacity to use heavy armor can’t wear heavy armor, a prone character lacks the capacity to use a greatsword, etc.
Character Class (Primary): You select two character classes. The first is your “primary” class. You get an extra class feature from your primary class called a “signature class feature”.
Character Class (Secondary): Your second character class is just like your first one but you have the option to take a special kind of class called a “Support Class” as your secondary in addition to the option to take a normal class as your secondary class.
Support Class: These are classes that wouldn’t stand up on their own without a normal class and are very reliant on your primary class. For example: the rogue is a support class that allows you to bypass all sorts of traps and skill checks exceptionally well. On your average adventure you’d need more skills than JUST that so the system forces you to take another class, better suited to adventuring, as your primary class.
Check: A check is a d20 roll which may or may not be modified by another value. The most common types are attack rolls, skill checks, spellcasting checks, and saving throws.
Class: The term “class” is a catch-all term to describe an adventuring vocation a creature has.
Compulsion: A fundamental drive that a creature with the monster keyword cannot go against.
Corrupt: A keyword used to denote a creature who has shackled, subverted, or otherwise meddled with the free will of another creature.
Cover: A physical barrier protecting at least 50% of your body in a meaningful way.
Creature: A creature is an active participant in the story or world. This includes PCs, NPCs, and monsters. A creature is expressly not an “object” or the environment.
Critical Failure (Natural 1): The roll of a natural 1 on a d20 roll always results in a failure regardless of the overall result of the roll.
Critical Hit: On the roll of a natural 20 during an attack roll on a d20 you count as having “critically hit”. This multiplies the resulting damage from the attack by 2, unless otherwise indicated.
Culture: Your character’s societal upbringing.
D%: A dice size covering 1-100. Sometimes represented as 2 10-sided dice.
Damage: Wounds inflicted on a target. This comes in multiple damage types. This system uses the following damage types: Bludgeoning, Force, Piercing, Slashing, Acid, Bleed, Cold, Divine, Electricity, Life, Fire, Magic, Mental, Necrotic, Poison, and Sonic.
Minimum Damage: If something causes “minimum damage”, treat all dice results as their minimum value (typically 1).
Multiplying Damage: Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage normally and multiply the result.
No Negative Damage: Damage cannot be less than 0 (it cannot be a negative number) even if it would be reduced below 0.
Ability Damage: Certain creatures and magical effects can cause temporary or permanent ability damage. This is a reduction to an ability modifier.
Doubling Doubles: If something would multiply a multiplied value, they don’t stack- just use the higher multiplier.
Future Damage Types: Other damage types may be introduced in the future.
Dangerous Terrain: Any area that would deal damage to someone standing there (lava, spike-covered, etc) or that moving into would imperil the mover (such as being pushed off a high cliff). Terrain can be both difficult and dangerous if warranted.
Darkvision: You can see in the dark quite well. This lets you see in the dark up to 30 feet out (unless otherwise specified) as if it were normal lighting (though nothing beyond that).
Death Effect: A death effect is one that kills its target outright without dealing damage.
Dice Size Progression: Sometimes dice “increase by a step” or “decrease by a step”. This means you roll a larger dice. This progression is: 1, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. A dice cannot be made larger than a d12 unless specifically noted.
Difficulty Class (DC): This is the numerical value a check needs to meet or exceed to be successful. For an attack roll the DC of the attack is the creature’s AC.
Difficult Terrain: Any terrain that impedes your movement but does not cause damage (that would be “Dangerous Terrain”). Each square of movement on difficult terrain costs 2 squares of movement. Terrain can be both difficult and dangerous if warranted.
Enemy: An “enemy” is anything that opposes you with hostile intent. A GM is the final arbiter of what is considered an enemy to you.
Enchanting/Enchanted: “Enchanting” is the act of imbuing an item with magical power. A weapon that is “enchanted” has a magic power. The specific type of magic power it provides is referred to as an “enchantment”.
Enhancement: A type of spell that empowers, protects or otherwise improves the recipient. You can only have a single enhancement active at a time.
Feats: Supplemental abilities you gain not specific to your classes. You can select any feat you qualify for when your class chart indicates you get it.
Free Hero Dice: A hero dice that is simply added to a roll. It doesn’t come from any dice pool.
Game Master (GM): A GM is the narrator, world builder, rules arbiter, and the one who controls the NPCs. A GM's duty is to provide a fair, fun, and engaging game.
“GM’s Discretion”: Anything that falls under “GM’s discretion” means it is up to the GM to allow or disallow the choice in question. You must check with a GM on anything that requires GM’s discretion.
Gaze: A gaze is an action dependent on a creature meeting the eyes of another creature. A “gaze” is a modification to an action or effect. The target must be able to see to receive a gaze effect. Shutting your eyes renders you immune to gaze attacks but also renders you blind. A gaze effect requires line of sight.
GP: The abbreviation of gold piece, the most commonly used monetary unit. Smaller monetary units may exist (such as silver or copper pieces), but players are assumed to be dealing largely in GP.
Hero Dice: Dice you can use to add to a d20 roll or activate certain class features.
Hit Points (HP): Hit points are an abstraction that represent one’s ability to sustain wounds and continue to function.
Death & Dying: When a creature's hit points drop below 0, it becomes unconscious. If they remain below 0 HP for 3 rounds, they die.
Temporary Hit Points: Some abilities and items grant temporary hit points that disappear after a specific duration. These are subtracted before normal hit points. Temporary hit points do not stack, use the higher value.
Honors: Social honors or rewards bestowed on characters that you gain not specific to your class.You can select any honor you qualify for (both mechanically and in a narrative sense) when your class chart indicates you get it.
Hostile: A “hostile” creature or action is one that intends harm or ill-will towards its recipient.
Immune: A creature is unable to be affected by a particular damage type or effect type. A creature immune to a damage type has Absolute resistance to the damage type, and a creature immune to an effect type has Absolute saves against that type of effect.
Innate Spell: A spell cast through means other than spellcasting ability.
Initiative: A check that measures how quickly one reacts to combat beginning. The higher they roll, the sooner in a round a creature will act.
Keywords: These are things that describe your character. A dwarf fighter/wizard will have keywords like: “Humanoid, Dwarf, Fighter, Wizard, Spellcaster”. These are largely used for effects and qualifying for things like feats. For example: a magic staff might only work for Spellcasters (the capital signifying it is referring to a keyword) and a feat might require you to be a Dwarf. Keywords can be inferred rather than stated (a creature who is impaired could be said to have the impaired keyword for example) and a GM is the final arbiter of what constitutes a keyword.
Language: A form of communication. You can only communicate in languages your character knows.
Language-Dependant: Any effect that requires a shared language between you and the target to properly function.
Level: A creature’s level represents their general level of power and prowess. There are two terms related to level:
Class Level: The total number of levels the creature possesses in a given class.
Creature Level: The total number of levels a creature has. This is a generalized notion of how dangerous the creature is and what level player they are appropriate for.
Lineage: Your character's biological background.
Line of Effect: A term that indicates your ability to affect a target. Refers to a straight, uninterrupted line between you and your intended target. Things like solid objects and other targets (such as creatures) interrupt line of effect.
Line of Sight: The term “line of sight” refers to one's ability to clearly perceive a creature. Things like solid objects or obscuring elements (such as thick fog), and extreme distance interrupt line of sight.
Magic Effect: A “magic effect” is any effect created by a spell (innate or otherwise).
Martial: A keyword used to denote a creature with notable combat ability or physical prowess.
Martial Weapons: These are weapons of war that require some substantial degree of training for proper use on the battlefield.
Simple Weapons: These are more common weapons that require a limited degree of training to use properly. They are also “civilian weapons”
Exotic Weapons: These are strange, rare, or complex weapons that either someone is not going to encounter regularly or easily or that require some specialized set of knowledge or unique sort of training to properly use on the battlefield.
Mental Ability Modifier: Charisma, Intelligence, and Wisdom.
Minion: A creature under the direct command of another with limited or no ability to act on its own.
Monster: A type of unnatural creature that has a compulsive driving action.
Multiplying: When you are asked to apply more than one multiplier to a roll, the multipliers are not multiplied by one another. Instead, use the highest multiplier.
Mundane: Non-magical and non-supernatural; normal.
Nature: A guiding principle or concept that underlines the purpose of a creature with the outsider keyword.
Negate: A negated effect is prevented from working entirely.
Non-Player Character (NPC): A creature controlled by the GM.
Oath: The driving force behind your character’s sense of morality. A character's oaths are the rules they cannot bring themselves to break. A character who willingly and knowingly breaks an oath is debuffed (cannot spend Hero Dice) until they make things right.
Order: A linear chain of class features where one is gained after another at indicated levels.
Order of Operations: The order in which things happen. If two things occur simultaneously, such as “at the start of your turn”, the target decides what order those simultaneous things occur in. A GM may alter this if it interferes with gameplay or balance issues.
Penalty: Penalties are numerical values that are subtracted from a check or statistical score.
Physical Ability Modifier: Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength.
Player Character (PC): A creature controlled by a person playing the game.
Proficiency: How well trained you are in something. If you are “proficient” in something, that means you are at least Skilled in its use.
Unskilled: Add a relevant ability modifier.
Skilled: Add a relevant ability modifier + your level.
Professional: Add a relevant ability modifier + your level + 3.
Exceptional: Add a relevant ability modifier + your level + 6.
Regeneration: This is healing that automatically occurs at the start of your turn. Like other sorts of healing, it cannot bring you over your maximum HP unless otherwise noted.
Resistance (Resist): Resistance reduces the indicated damage type by an indicated amount.
Round: An encounter is measured in rounds. During an individual round, all creatures have a chance to take a turn to act. A round represents 5-10 seconds in the game world. When the rules refer to a “full round”, it means a span of time from the start of the first creature to go’s turn to the end of the last creature’s turn. A minute is 10 rounds.
Rounding: Occasionally the rules ask you to round a result or value. Unless otherwise stated, always round down. For example, if you are asked to take half of 7, the result would be 3.
Sacrifice: Hit points you sacrifice for something is damage that you willingly take on yourself. This damage cannot be mitigated or negated by any normal means. If it is, the triggering effect fails.A GM is the final arbiter of how sacrifices are resolved.
Saving Throw: A saving throw represents a creature’s resistance to specific kinds of special attacks; they are a creature’s natural, passive resistance to certain things and are made automatically. There are three kinds of saving throw:
Fortitude: Your resistance to biological effects (illnesses, poison, strong drink, exhaustion, etc).
Reflex: Your split second reactions (avoidance of area attacks).
Will: Your resistance to mental effects (fear, charm, illusions, etc).
Scatter Dice: If something calls for a “scatter dice”, you roll 1d8 with 1 being due north, 2 being NE, and so on clockwise. This is typically followed by a distance (“Roll a scatter dice and move the center of the effect 10 feet in that direction.”)
Scent: You can perceive creatures by scent up to a certain range (indicated by the ability).
Session: A single-sitting game where things occur (as opposed to a campaign).
Signature: An additional ability granted by your primary class.
Single Target Effect: This is an effect that only impacts a single target.
Skill: A skill represents a creature's ability to complete a task other than combat (or something directly related to it). A higher value is always better and the most relevant skill.
Speed / Movement: Your speed tells you how far you can move with a move action. Creatures must move in 5 foot increments known as “squares”.
Spellcaster: A keyword used to denote a creature able to cast spells.
Spellcasting Check: A check made to cast a spell, apply a metamagic feat, or attack with a Caster weapon.
Stacks/Stacking: Stacking refers to the act of adding together bonuses or penalties that apply to one particular check or statistic. Things normally do not stack in Gestalt, just use the highest value.
Step (Damage Dice): If you increase or decrease a damage dice by a “step” that means to increase or decrease to the next dice size. The size of dice in Gestalt are: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. A d12 cannot be increased beyond a d12 and a d4 cannot be reduced below a d4.
Sundries: A collection of unspecified and unlisted items on your person whose total worth does not exceed a given value.
Talented: A keyword used to denote a creature with a variety of skills.
Talent: A non-linear class feature where you select a new class feature from a list of options.
Target: The subject of an action.
Technological/Technological Item: This is anything that has a Technological Lore requirement to use. This is often abbreviated as “Tech. Lore”.
Threaten: You only threaten a foe if you could strike them with a melee weapon you are skilled in the use of (be it unarmed attacks or or manufactured weapons).
Threatened Squares: You “threaten” all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your turn. Generally, that means everything in all squares adjacent to your space (including diagonally). An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you. Characters Unskilled in unarmed attacks or those wielding a ranged weapon, and those who are unarmed or unable to attack do not threaten any squares.
Threshold: You are more resistant to damage, up to a point. If you take the listed damage or less, you take no damage. If you take more damage than your threshold, you take all of it.
Unaware AC: If you are unaware of an attacker or otherwise can’t meaningfully resist an attack against you. Unaware AC is your AC but is capped at 15 (if it is higher than 15, it is set to 15). If you have fortified armor this cap is raised to 20.
Vulnerability/Vulnerabile: A target that is “vulnerable” to something takes twice as much damage. If a creature has multiple vulnerabilities the effects do not stack (if a damage effect would be affected by 2 vulnerabilities, the damage is only doubled not tripled or quadrupled).
Weapon Proficiency: Your proficiency with attacks with a specific weapon or martial arts style (sometimes called “style attacks”). (Your “Longsword Proficiency” would be your proficiency with a longsword.) This excludes bonuses on “attack rolls” as it is just your proficiency bonus with the weapon.