Basic Rules

What Is Echoes of Ur?

Echoes of Ur is a tabletop roleplaying game built around choice, consequence, and the moments that refuse to fade. It uses a simple d10 system and a narrative pressure mechanic called Resonance, which tracks the weight of your actions as they reverberate across the strings of fate. Players create characters defined by a small set of core stats and a handful of qualities that reflect expertise, instincts, and hard-earned advantages.

One player takes on the role of the Guide, shaping the world, presenting challenges, and pushing the story forward. The rest make decisions for their characters, knowing the world will respond honestly to what they attempt, not just what they intend. During play, the Guide presents moments where failure is possible and success carries weight. Players choose how to approach those moments, then roll d10s to determine how many successes or failures they achieve. The Guide interprets the results and describes how the situation resolves.

The world does not wait politely while you succeed. Every roll carries two possibilities at once where the action either meets its mark or it does not, and the moment either tips into chaos or it does not. These two outcomes are independent of each other. A shot can connect and still send something spinning. A lock can open and still draw the wrong kind of attention. Some outcomes leave marks behind. Those marks are echo, individual units of Resonance that accumulate as characters pull on the strings of fate, rolling hot, pushing their luck, or bending situations in their favor. Resonance can also be shed through restraint, sacrifice, or special abilities. Managing it becomes a balancing act, as rising pressure increases the danger, complexity, and strangeness within the story. The greater the potential danger, the greater the reward.

When a player's Resonance surpasses their Resonance Threshold, it triggers an extreme narrative event known as a Resonance Cascade (a sudden escalation where tension breaks containment and the story erupts into chaos, danger, or strangeness). Both players and the Guide shape how a Cascade unfolds. Surviving its fallout rewards experience. This cycle of choice, uncertainty, consequence, and pressure forms the core loop of Echoes of Ur. Everything else in this rulebook exists to support it.

How Play Flows

Echoes of Ur is not a game about perfect plans or flawless execution. It is a game about moments. About pressure. About what happens when intention meets resistance. Play moves in a simple rhythm; you describe what your character does, the Guide describes how the world responds, and together you decide whether the moment is uncertain enough to risk a roll. Most actions resolve without dice. Conversation, movement, small choices, and obvious outcomes happen naturally. Dice appear only when the story warrants the possibility of failure.

You roll only when the outcome is uncertain. When something meaningful is at stake. When failure would matter, and success would change the shape of what comes next. If a character cannot reasonably fail, do not roll. If failure would stop the story cold, do not roll. Rolling the die is an admission that the moment could go either way.

The d10 and Possibility

Echoes of Ur uses a single ten-sided die for every roll. A d10 represents possibility, simple and honest. No stacking modifiers. No math puzzles. You roll, and the result tells you how the moment resolves. When the Guide calls for a roll, or when you attempt something that could meaningfully fail, you roll 1d10, plus any additional dice granted by qualities, abilities, or circumstances. You do not add numbers together. Instead, each die rolled is evaluated on its own.

Building the Roll

Every roll gives the player 1d10. This represents baseline effort, instinct, and presence in the moment. From there, additional dice are gained based on how the character approaches the situation. Dice are not added for what a character wants to accomplish, but for how they attempt it.

Qualities represent training, instincts, or specialized experience. When a quality directly applies to the action being taken, it grants additional dice as described by the quality. Some qualities may also interact with Resonance, allowing players to accept or shed echo in exchange for certainty, activations, or advantage. Preparation, positioning, tools, and timing can all affect a roll. The Guide may grant additional dice when circumstances strongly favor the character, or remove dice when conditions are actively hostile. These adjustments are situational and should reflect the fiction, not fine-tune the odds.

Automatic Results

Some qualities, conditions, and circumstances produce automatic successes or automatic failures. These are pre-resolved results that exist outside of your dice pool, they do not consume or replace dice. Instead, they are counted alongside your rolled results once all dice have been thrown.

An automatic failure adds one failure to your total.
An automatic success adds one clean success (equivalent to rolling an 8–10) to your total.

Automatic successes never generate echo.

If automatic results of both kinds are present, they cancel each other out first before anything else is applied. One automatic success and one automatic failure neutralize each other entirely. Any remainder after cancellation joins its respective pool.

Outcomes

Once all relevant dice are gathered, the player rolls them together. Each die is evaluated individually, producing one of the following results:

1–5: Failure. The die contributes one failure to your total.

6–7: Resonance Success. The die contributes one success to your total and adds 1 echo to your Resonance track. Echo always resolves immediately; it manifests in the fiction in the same breath as the success. A thief forcing a lock rolls a 6 and hears the pick snap. A shot connects but the gun jams immediately after. The success stands. The consequence stands with it. And somewhere in the background, your Resonance climbs closer to the threshold.

8–10: Clean Success. The die contributes one success to your total. Effective and controlled. No echo is generated.

If multiple dice are rolled, each result matters. Greater effort, preparation, or specialization does not make success guaranteed, it makes it stronger. It is also possible to generate multiple echo on a single roll.

Resolving the Roll

Once all dice are rolled and automatic results are applied, the roll is resolved with two checks that happen simultaneously and independently of each other.

Did the action succeed?

Count your total successes, every resonance success and every clean success combined. Compare that number against the difficulty the Guide set before the roll. If your successes meet or exceed the difficulty, the action succeeds. Failures play no part in this calculation. They cannot reduce your success count or prevent your action from landing.

Did chaos occur?

Compare your total successes against your total failures. If failures outnumber successes, a Moment of Chaos occurs. The Guide narrates a brief, immediate complication — a gun jams, a belt snaps, a voice carries too far. The world hiccups. Play continues. A Moment of Chaos is not a punishment and it is not a reward. It is simply the shape of a moment where things went slightly sideways, whether anyone noticed or not.

These two checks do not interact. A roll can succeed and still produce a Moment of Chaos. A roll can fail to meet its difficulty and produce no chaos at all. The action and the chaos are separate truths about the same moment.

Example: A character rolls 3 dice and has 1 automatic failure from a condition. The dice come up 9, 7, and 3 (one clean success, one resonance success, one failure). Adding the automatic failure brings the total to 2 successes and 2 failures. The Guide set a difficulty of 2 (the action succeeds). Successes and failures are equal, so failures do not outnumber successes and no Moment of Chaos occurs. 1 echo is added to the Resonance track from the resonance success.

Had the automatic failure been 2 instead of 1, the totals would be 2 successes and 3 failures. The action still succeeds at difficulty 2. But now failures outnumber successes and a Moment of Chaos fires. The Guide narrates what goes wrong in the same breath as the success. The echo still adds. Both things happened at once.

Moments of Chaos

When a roll produces more failures than successes, the world does not simply absorb it. Something goes wrong; small, immediate, and real. That is a Moment of Chaos. It is not a punishment and it is not a critical failure. It is the friction of a moment that did not go entirely as intended, whether or not the action itself succeeded.

The Guide narrates a Moment of Chaos in one breath and play continues. A gun jams. A strap snaps. A door swings shut at the wrong moment. A fart is poorly timed. The world hiccups and moves on. Moments of Chaos are not dramatic pauses, they are texture. The story does not stop for them. They are simply true.

A Moment of Chaos is not connected to the success or failure of the action that triggered it. The two are evaluated separately. A character can succeed brilliantly and still have something go sideways. A character can fail to meet the difficulty and produce no chaos at all. These are independent facts about the same roll.

Example: A character rolls 3 dice. The results are 9, 6, and 2 (one clean success, one resonance success, one failure). Total successes: 2. Total failures: 1. T

he Guide set a difficulty of 2, the action succeeds. Failures do not outnumber successes, so no Moment of Chaos occurs. 1 echo is added to the Resonance track.

Now imagine the same roll with an additional automatic failure from a condition. Total successes: 2. Total failures: 2. The action still succeeds. Still no chaos (failures must outnumber successes, and here they are equal).

Add one more automatic failure. Total successes: 2. Total failures: 3. The action succeeds. But now failures outnumber successes and a Moment of Chaos fires. The Guide narrates it immediately. Maybe the weapon overheats. Maybe a bystander flinches at the wrong moment. The character succeeded. Something went wrong anyway.

Resolution Has Consequences

In Echoes of Ur, outcomes are not clean. A success can still strain relationships, attract attention, or create new problems. A failure can open unexpected paths forward. The dice do not decide whether the story continues. They decide how it continues. Some successes leave echo behind. Some rolls tip into chaos. The strings of fate do not forget what was pulled, even when the pull worked.

Resonance

Every action that pulls on the strings of fate leaves a vibration behind. Echo is the unit of that vibration; a single mark left on the track each time the strings are pulled. Resonance is the accumulated total of all the echo you carry. The Resonance Threshold is the ceiling; the maximum pressure a character can hold before something gives way.

Resonance is not good or bad. It is pressure. It influences narrative stress, cascading consequences, certain abilities and qualities, and the thin line between survival and death. Managing echo is managing the distance between who you are now and what a Cascade will make you.

Gaining and Losing Echo

You gain echo when you roll a 6 or 7, when you force an outcome using an ability, when you activate alien technology, or when the Guide determines you have earned one. You may lose echo after a Resonance Cascade resolves, when you shed it with an ability, when a quality allows you to exchange it for effects, or when the Guide determines you have let one go.

The Resonance Threshold

Each character has a Resonance Threshold calculated as their current level plus their Flux stat. Flux is a character's innate attunement to the strings of fate and their natural capacity to absorb the echoes of their own actions. A higher Flux means a higher threshold, meaning the character can pull more strings before losing control. When a character's echo total exceeds their Threshold, a Resonance Cascade is triggered.

Why Resonance Exists

Resonance exists because stories are not clean. Heroes do not succeed without consequence. Mistakes are not erased by good intentions. Power leaves marks. Resonance ensures that choices matter even when you succeed. It rewards bold play while refusing to let recklessness pass unnoticed. It is how the world reacts to a player's actions in mechanical form.

The Guide

The Guide is not an opponent. The Guide is not a referee. The Guide is the pressure behind the story. Your role is to push the narrative forward, keep tension alive, and ensure that outcomes feel earned. You decide when the world resists, when it yields, and when it escalates beyond control. The story moves because you apply pressure honestly.

Moments of Chaos Are Yours to Tell

When a Moment of Chaos fires, you narrate it. Keep it short. Keep it grounded. A Moment of Chaos lives in the mundane, such as the jammed mechanism, the stumble, the noise that carries. It is not a scene-ending event and it does not require discussion. You decide what went wrong, say it plainly, and the table moves on. Save the dramatic pauses for Cascades. Chaos is just the world being its ordinary difficult self.

Using Resonance

As a player's echo total rises, it tells you that tension is building and that the situation is nearing a threshold. You may assign echo to players who attract strange attention, behave recklessly, or do something that bends the shape of the world. Resonance does not exist to constrain players; it exists to tell you when the story is ready to change shape. Equally, when players find a way to release some of that pressure, you may decide to remove echo from them.

Fairness and Authority

A good Guide keeps the game fair without making it predictable. Players should understand why something is dangerous, why a challenge is difficult, and why an outcome resolved the way it did. Even when events spiral out of control, the path that led there should feel clear in hindsight. Your authority comes from consistency, not control. If the world reacts honestly to player choices, trust follows naturally.

Setting the Stakes

Before a roll is made, you decide how many successes are required to resolve the action. This represents the narrative weight of the moment, not a simulation of reality.

You may never require more successes than the player has dice to roll. If success is genuinely not possible, and failure is inevitable, there is no need to roll.

Keep difficulty relative to the fiction. A panicked sprint through an empty corridor is not the same action as the same sprint through a collapsing tunnel. Let the situation set the number, not habit.

Difficulty can shift as circumstances change. Preparation, time pressure, positioning, and unexpected complications may all raise or lower the required number mid-scene. Communicate these shifts clearly before dice hit the table.

Reward and Momentum

Challenge without reward leads to exhaustion. Part of your role is to recognize when players earn moments of relief, discovery, or triumph. Rewards do not always take the form of items or experience. New information, narrative leverage, strange tools, or shifting alliances can be just as powerful. If players leave the table thinking about what comes next, you are doing it right.

Guiding Forward

Your responsibility does not end when the roll resolves. You interpret outcomes. You narrate chaos. You decide when pressure breaks containment. Sometimes that pressure erupts into something larger. When echo builds too loud, the story can no longer contain it. Tension spills outward, reality bends, and the moment escalates beyond what careful choices alone can manage. These events are known as Resonance Cascades. (See: Resonance Cascades)

Resonance Cascades

Resonance Cascades

Every action that pulls on the strings of fate leaves tension behind. Echo accumulates individually; generated by your own rolls, building toward your own threshold, yours alone to manage. But when that tension finally releases, the shockwave does not stay contained. A Cascade belongs to the player who triggered it, but everyone at the table feels it snap. That release is a Resonance Cascade, or simply a Cascade.

A Cascade is not just a mechanical consequence. It is a narrative event that reshapes the world. It can be subtle or catastrophic, immediate or delayed. Some vibrations across space and time are invisible until the moment they manifest (and those are the real shockers).

The Guide has full discretion over when a Cascade triggers. It can happen in the middle of a bout, at the end of a Scene, or five minutes after the roll that caused it. What matters is that when it arrives, it arrives with weight.

A Cascade is not a Moment of Chaos wearing a larger coat. Where a Moment of Chaos is a hiccup; a jammed gun, a stumble, a noise. A Cascade represents the strings of fate snapping back all at once.

It changes what the story is about. It leaves marks that do not fade. The table shapes it together and lives with what it becomes.

Triggering a Cascade

When a player's echo total surpasses their Resonance Threshold, a Cascade is triggered. Before it manifests, two numbers are noted: the total echo that built up, and the overage (how far beyond the Threshold it went). Both numbers matter. The total determines the severity of the Cascade. The overage determines how much the players get to shape it.

Once a Cascade resolves, the triggering player resets their echo to 0. Every other player at the table loses half their current echo, rounded down. This is cascade hardening; the shockwave passes through everyone. Those who did not trigger the Cascade are not unaffected. They are simply still standing.

Choosing a Domain

The Guide chooses a domain for the Cascade. The domain is contextual — it should reflect the events, tone, and theme of the current adventure. The available domains are:

Scientific. The laws of physics bend, break, or behave unexpectedly.
Horrific. Something deeply wrong enters the story. Fear, dread, and the uncanny.
Fantastic. The impossible becomes real. Wonder and danger in equal measure.
Chaotic. Order collapses. Events spiral beyond anyone's control.
Spiritualistic. Forces beyond the physical world make themselves known.
Cosmic. Something vast, ancient, or incomprehensible touches the story.

The domain is a lens, not a limitation. A dragon appearing in the middle of a space adventure makes no sense, unless the domain is Fantastic and the Cascade is severe enough to tear open the fabric of reality. Use the domain to keep the Cascade thematically coherent with the story being told.

Severity

The total echo that triggered the Cascade determines its severity on a scale of 1 to 10. Low severity Cascades are strange and disruptive. High severity Cascades are world-altering.

Outcomes are not inherently bad; they are themed. A Cascade is not a punishment. It is the strings of fate snapping back, and what comes out of that can be dangerous, strange, wondrous, or all three at once.

A severity 1 Cascade in a Chaotic domain might be an earth quake that rattles a wedged door loose at exactly the wrong moment. A severity 7 might release a caged monstrosity into the city. A severity 10 might tear open a portal to another world and an alien invasion begins.

Player Overage Rounds

Once the Guide has established the shape of the Cascade, the players get to add to it. The overage (the amount by which the echo total exceeded the Threshold) determines how many rounds of player input the Cascade receives. Each point of overage is one round. In each round, players collaborate to add a detail to the Cascade. Every addition must stay within the chosen domain, must escalate rather than contradict what has already been established, and must make the situation weirder, more dangerous, or more chaotic. Players either agree on the addition as a group, or each offers a suggestion and the Guide chooses the one that best serves the story. The Guide always has final say.

Example: The Threshold is 5 but the echo total reached 7 (an overage of 2). The Guide establishes a Cosmic domain Cascade of severity 7: a rift opens in the ceiling of the room.

The players have 2 overage rounds. In the first, they agree that something is visible on the other side of the rift; something large. In the second, one player suggests it reaches through.

The Guide approves. An arm the size of a support beam pushes through the tear in reality.

Cascade Fallout

Once a Cascade has fully manifested, the Guide applies a fallout. Fallout represents the permanent change the Cascade leaves on the world. It is not a temporary inconvenience, it is a new reality the players will have to contend with going forward. A creature pulled through a rift does not disappear when the scene ends. The fallout is that the creature is now loose in the world. Fallout should always feel like a consequence of the specific Cascade that caused it, rooted in its domain and severity. It is the echo that does not fade.

Surviving a Cascade

If the players overcome the Cascade by defeating it, evading it, dismantling it, or simply surviving its fallout then the triggering player is rewarded with experience equal to their total echo multiplied by their current level.

A level 4 character whose Cascade was triggered by 8 echo earns 32 XP. The greater the pressure allowed to build, the greater the reward for enduring what came next.

Once a Cascade resolves, the triggering player resets their echo to 0. Every other player at the table loses half their current echo, rounded down ; hardened by the shockwave that passed through them but not wiped clean.

The strings have snapped for one of you. The rest of you felt it. For now, the tension eases. But echo is already building again.

Scenes

Making a Scene

Most of the time in Echoes of Ur, play flows naturally. The Guide describes the world, players describe what their characters do, and the story moves forward through conversation and narration. Dice appear only when something meaningful is at stake. But some moments demand more than narration. A fight breaks out. A chase tears through a crowded market. A tense standoff stretches into something delicate and dangerous. These are the moments where the details matter and where every decision, every second, could change the shape of what comes next. Those moments are Scenes.

Starting a Scene

A Scene begins the moment the Guide or a player declares one. Either side can call it. The declaration is simply an announcement that the group is shifting from freeform play into something more granular; that the next few moments are worth examining closely. Scenes are not limited to combat.

Any situation where the sequence of events matters can become a Scene. A shootout, a chase through an alleyway, a negotiation on the edge of collapse, a frantic search before guards arrive, if the beat-by-beat details would change the outcome, start a Scene.

When in doubt, start a Scene. You can always zoom back out.

Group or Bouts

Once a Scene is declared, the Guide and players decide together how it will be resolved. There are two approaches.

Group Scenes

A Group Scene is the faster, more narrative of the two approaches. Rather than zooming in on individual decisions, it treats the moment as a single unified effort where everyone acts, everyone contributes, and the outcome is determined by the collective result.

It is best used when the situation is simultaneous or chaotic, when breaking things into individual turns would slow the story down without adding meaningful choice.

A brawl where everyone is swinging at once, a crew working in parallel to hack a system before a timer runs out, a group sprint through a collapsing tunnel; these are Group Scene moments.

Setting the Stakes

Before a Group roll is made, both sides need to understand what they are rolling for. The players discuss among themselves what success looks like and what outcome they are trying to achieve.

The Guide then explains what failure looks like. These do not need to be opposites. Success might mean escaping the building. Failure might mean getting cornered on the roof. Once both sides have agreed on the shape of the moment, the dice are rolled.

Reading the Result

After both sides roll, each side's dice are resolved independently using the standard resolution order. Count total successes and total failures for each side separately. If a side's failures outnumber their successes, a Moment of Chaos occurs for that side and the Guide narrates it immediately.

Then compare total successes. The side with more successes wins the exchange. The margin of victory determines how cleanly things go and a narrow win is messier than a dominant one, and the Guide should reflect that in how the outcome is described.

Echo always resolves immediately.

A resonance success adds 1 echo to that player's Resonance track and manifests in the fiction in the same moment. This means a Group roll can produce a win that still stings. The players achieve their goal, but something went sideways along the way. A tool is broken, a noise was made, someone was seen.

The success stands. The consequence stands with it. And somewhere in the background, the threshold creeps closer.

Example: The players are fleeing through a crowded market while two guards chase them.

The Guide calls a Group Scene. Success means losing the guards in the crowd. Failure means getting cornered at the market's edge. The players roll — two clean successes and one resonance success.

Total successes: 3. Total failures: 0. No Moment of Chaos. The guards roll two successes and one failure. Total successes: 2. Total failures: 1.

Failures do not outnumber successes, so no chaos on their side either. The players win on net successes. 1 echo is added to the track from the resonance success and resolves immediately: they shoved an elderly vendor into the guards' path to buy time. They escaped. The vendor is furious. Someone saw their face.

Bout Scenes

A Bouts Scene resolves turn by turn, with each participant taking actions in sequence. This approach is used when the individual decisions of each character matter and when the order of events, positioning, and specific choices could change everything.

Each turn represents approximately six seconds of in-world time. Within that window, a character can do anything that could reasonably be accomplished in six seconds. The Guide is the final authority on what fits within the window.

Turn Order

At the start of a Bouts Scene, turn order is determined. There are two methods, the Guide and players choose whichever fits the moment.

Roll Off. Every participant rolls a d10. Highest roll goes first. Ties are broken with re-rolls.

Body First. Turn order is determined by Body stat, highest to lowest. Ties are broken by a d10 roll.

Bouts

A bout is the basic unit of action in a Bouts Scene. Each bout consists of an action and, when relevant, a reaction. The active participant declares and performs their action, such as an attack, a sprint, an attempt to interact with the environment. If there is a valid target who can reasonably respond, they declare their reaction;a dodge, a block, a counter.

Both sides roll and the results are compared. If the action's total successes meet or exceed the reaction's total successes, the action succeeds. If the reaction's total successes exceed the action's, the action fails.

Not every action has a reaction.

A player sliding under a closing door, flipping a switch, or grabbing something off a shelf has no target to push back. In these cases the roll stands on its own and the result speaks for itself. A clean uncontested action is its own reward and the Guide does not need to fill the silence. That said, when it serves the story, the Guide may use an unreacted moment to add texture through narration or have something in the environment respond naturally to what just happened. This is a narrative tool, not a requirement.

Once an action and its reaction (if any) have resolved, the bout is complete and play moves to the next participant in turn order.

Resonance in Bouts

Echo always resolves immediately, even in a Bouts Scene. When a player rolls a 6 or 7 during a bout, the success stands but the world responds in the same moment and 1 echo is added to the Resonance track, which manifests in the fiction before the next bout begins.

A punch lands but the attacker twists their wrist on impact. A dodge succeeds but the character stumbles into a worse position. A shot connects but the recoil throws off their footing.

The standard resolution order applies within every bout. Count successes and failures independently. If failures outnumber successes on any roll, the Guide narrates a Moment of Chaos before play moves to the next participant.

The immediate narrative consequence and the growing echo are not separate things, they are the same moment playing out on two levels at once. Something goes wrong right now, and the strings of fate pull a little tighter.

Actions

An action can be anything a character could reasonably attempt in six seconds. Attacking is the most obvious choice in a fight, but it is far from the only one. The following are all valid actions in a bout:

Attack. Strike, shoot, or otherwise attempt to injure another participant.
Move. Sprint to cover, cross the room, climb a surface, or reposition.
Use an Ability. Activate a quality or ability that requires a moment of focus or effort.
Aid an Ally. Help another character with their next action, granting them an additional d10 on their next roll.
Antagonize an Enemy. Taunt, intimidate, or distract an opponent. If successful, the target suffers a disadvantage on their next action as determined by the Guide.
Interact with the Environment. Flip a switch, kick over a table, slam a door, grab an object — anything that involves the world around you.
Use an Item. Drink a substance, apply a tool, retrieve something from your bag. The Guide determines whether the full use of the item fits within the six second window or spills into the next bout.
Delay. Hold your action and wait for a specific condition to be met before acting. If the condition is met, you act immediately. If the round cycles back to you without the condition being triggered, your action did not happen; but you gain 1 additional d10 on your next turn for your preparation and patience.

NPCs in Scenes

NPCs follow the same rules as players in a Scene; they roll dice, take actions, react to threats, and track injuries just like any other participant. For a full breakdown of NPC types and stat blocks, see the NPCs chapter.

Injuries

Every hit that lands in a Scene causes at least a minor injury. There is no such thing as an inconsequential strike. If the action succeeds, the target takes damage. The Guide determines severity based on the fiction: the weapon used, the circumstances, and the nature of the hit.

Types of Injuries

There are two injury tracks; physical and mental. Both use the same box system and the same severity tiers, but they are filled by different kinds of harm and represent different kinds of breaking down.

Physical injuries are caused by violence, falls, exhaustion, and bodily harm. A character's physical injury track is equal to their Body stat plus their current level.

Mental injuries are caused by witnessing something horrific, experiencing psychological trauma, being targeted by psychic attacks, failing saving checks under extreme stress, or failing to rest when the body and mind demand it. Characters in Echoes of Ur are subject to more trauma than ordinary people, and their mental resilience reflects that. A character's mental injury track is equal to their Mind stat plus their Will stat plus their current level (typically larger than the physical track).

Severity of Injuries

Both physical and mental injuries come in three tiers.

Minor Injury — 1 box. A glancing blow, a graze, a bruise, a moment of fear. Painful but manageable.

Major Injury — 2 boxes. A solid hit, a rattling experience. Something that slows you down or limits what you can do.

Serious Injury — 3 boxes. Reserved for extreme situations. A devastating strike, a catastrophic failure of circumstance, a trauma that cuts deep.

Mental injuries do not impose fixed mechanical penalties as they accumulate. Their weight is narrative. A good player will let their injuries show through hesitation, paranoia, emotional flatness, irrational fear.

The Guide should honor that by reflecting it in the world, and when a player does not, the Guide has the authority to impose natural limitations on actions that a person carrying that much damage could not reasonably perform.

Incapacitation

When all boxes on either track are filled, the character is incapacitated. Physically, this might mean unconsciousness, collapse, or being too broken to move. Mentally, it means ego death, the self goes quiet. Not a loud shattering but a terrible stillness. The character can no longer act in either case, and what recovery looks like is left to the Guide and the fiction.

Death

Death is not a punishment for bad rolls. It is a narrative event, one of the most significant a character can experience, and it should be treated as such.

Death is a form of incapacitation that only happens when it narratively makes sense and both the player and the Guide are in agreement. When death is on the table, the Guide and player should discuss whether it is the right outcome for the moment, what it means, and how it happens. A death that feels earned, even a sudden or random one, can carry enormous weight. A death that feels arbitrary leaves the table cold.

The Guide holds final authority over who dies and when. Not every player is a skilled roleplayer, and sometimes the Guide needs to add finality to reckless actions to maintain the integrity of the world. But honorable players and a thoughtful Guide will work these moments out together.

The character dies, and maybe that is not the end. A backup consciousness, a 3D printed body, a resurrection with a cost. Death in Echoes of Ur is important, meaningful, and always a door rather than a wall.

Plot Armor

Plot Armor is a soak pool that sits between a character and their injury track. When a hit lands, the target may choose to absorb it with Plot Armor rather than filling injury boxes.

Plot Armor is depleted as it absorbs damage and must be recovered through narrative action or abilities before it can be used again. It is tied directly to the fiction, like a metal breastplate that absorbs hits is a breastplate that is getting damaged.

Telling the Guide you are taking time to repair it is how you get that protection back. Plot Armor does not refresh automatically. It reflects the real condition of whatever is protecting you. Taking damage directly and preserving Plot Armor for later is always an option, and sometimes the right call.

Ending a Scene

A Scene ends when the situation that created it has resolved; the tension breaks, the chase ends, the fight concludes. The Guide or players can call the end of a Scene the same way they called the start, by simply declaring it. When a Scene ends, play returns to freeform narration and the story continues from wherever the Scene left off.

Example: A Bouts Scene

The players have tracked a courier to a back-alley safehouse. When they kick the door in, they find two minions and one full NPC (a fixer named Cressa, who absolutely does not want to be taken alive).

The Guide declares a Bouts Scene.

Turn order is determined by Roll Off: Cressa rolls an 8, player Dav rolls a 7, the two minions roll a 4 and a 3, and player Ysel rolls a 2.

Round 1. Cressa goes first.

She draws a pistol and shoots at Dav. Dav reacts by diving behind a crate. Cressa rolls one Resonance success and one clean success; Dav rolls two clean successes. The reaction matches the action, and the shot is deflected.

Cressa's Resonance success cannot be canceled, so 1 echo is added to her track. The Guide describes it: the shot sparks off the crate at a bad angle and punches through a gas line in the wall behind Dav. Nobody has noticed yet.

Dav is next.

He charges one of the minions and throws a punch. The minion tries to dodge. Dav rolls two clean successes; the minion rolls one clean success. One failure cancels one of Dav's clean successes, leaving 1 net success. The punch lands; the Guide calls it a major injury. The minion is incapacitated.

The second minion lunges at Dav with a knife.

Dav reacts by blocking with his forearm. The minion rolls one Resonance success and one clean success; Dav rolls one clean success. Dav's clean success cancels the minion's clean success.

The Resonance success cannot be canceled, so the knife connects. A minor injury. The Guide adds 1 echo to the minion's track and describes the echo immediately: the minion's wild lunge carries too much momentum and they stumble forward into Dav's space, off balance. Dav chooses to absorb the minor injury with Plot Armor rather than take the box.

Finally, Ysel delays her action, waiting for Cressa to move toward the back exit. The condition is not met this round. Ysel gains 1 additional d10 on her next turn.

Round 2. Cressa moves toward the back exit; the condition Ysel was waiting for.

Ysel's delayed action triggers immediately. She tackles Cressa, rolling one Resonance success and two clean successes with her bonus d10. Cressa reacts by twisting away, rolling one clean success and one failure.

The failure cancels Cressa's clean success, leaving her with no net successes. Ysel's two clean successes and one Resonance success all stand. The tackle lands hard; a major injury, two boxes filled on Cressa's track. Ysel gains 1 echo for the Resonance success.

The Guide describes it: Ysel's shoulder drives into Cressa's ribs but the impact sends them both skidding toward the wall with the damaged gas line. The smell hits them both. The spark from Cressa's earlier shot is still live.

The scene continues with one minion standing, a wounded and cornered Cressa, a gas leak nobody has addressed, and a spark that has not gone out yet.

The players are managing injuries, Plot Armor, and echo simultaneously. Every decision matters. Every bout changes the shape of what comes next.

Character Creation

Character Creation

A character in Echoes of Ur is not a blank slate. When play begins, your character already exists in the world. They have a history, a body shaped by experience, habits of thought, regrets, fears, and attachments. You are not discovering who they are. You are discovering what happens when their life reaches a breaking point. Character creation defines what you bring into that moment.

Who Can You Be?

There are no fixed archetypes or classes in Echoes of Ur. Characters may begin as members of a caste within the city of Genesis, enslaved pawns bound to alien systems, escapees from alien control, surface-born survivors raised in tribes or ruins, or anything else that fits the story the Guide is telling. The Guide sets the tone and starting circumstances. The rules that follow define the structure shared by all characters, regardless of origin.

Qualities, Not Classes

Characters are defined by qualities, not roles. Rather than choosing a class or profession, you build your character through qualities; each one representing a different aspect of who your character is and how they interact with the world. A character may be fast but fragile, brilliant but addicted, resilient but visibly altered by what they have survived. There is no requirement for symmetry or perfection.

Core Stats

Every character has four core stats: Body, Mind, Will, and Flux. These stats define capacity, how much mechanical weight a character can support before something gives way. They are not just measures of talent; talent, training, mutation, and instinct are all expressed through qualities.

Body governs physical endurance, strength, and resilience.
Mind governs perception, reasoning, and knowledge.
Will governs conviction, emotional control, and social authority.
Flux governs a character's innate attunement to the strings of fate, their natural capacity to absorb echo before it breaks resonance containment.

Derived Stats

From your four core stats and your current level, three additional values are calculated automatically.

Physical Injury Boxes = Body + Level. These represent how much physical punishment a character can absorb before being incapacitated.

Mental Injury Boxes = Mind + Will + Level. These represent psychological and emotional resilience; how much a character can endure before ego death sets in.

Resonance Threshold = Flux + Level. This is the ceiling of echo a character can carry before a Cascade triggers. A higher Flux means a higher threshold, more capacity to absorb the cost of bold, reckless, or fate-bending action.

Quality Categories

Qualities are organized into six categories, each with its own capacity value derived from your core stats. The capacity of each category determines the combined numerical value of qualities it can hold. Both positive and negative qualities occupy slots and count toward capacity. Negative qualities create depth, complication, and pressure; they are not flaws to be optimized away.

Body — physical traits, endurance, deformities, addictions. Capacity equals your Body stat.

Mind — perception, reasoning, habits of thought. Capacity equals your Mind stat.

Will — conviction, authority, emotional control, trauma. Capacity equals your Will stat.

Abilities — exceptional traits that bend or override normal limits. Capacity equals Body + Flux.

Expertise — learned skills and practiced techniques. Capacity equals Mind + Flux.

Background — origin, caste, affiliation, and social positioning. Capacity equals Will + Flux.

Starting Stats

At character creation you have 10 points to distribute across your four core stats.

Each point in a stat costs more than the last: the first point costs 1, the second costs 2, the third costs 4, the fourth costs 8, and the fifth costs 16.

This doubling cost encourages a broad spread at level 1. Specialization happens through play. Most characters will begin with no single stat above 3, leaving points for a spread across multiple areas. This is intentional — you are not yet the person you will become.

Character Sheet (Subject to Change)

Step by Step Character Creation Guide

Step 1: Generate Stats

Distribute 10 points across your four core stats: Body, Mind, Will, and Flux. Each point in the same stat costs more than the last. The first point costs 1, the second costs 2, the third costs 4, the fourth costs 8, and the fifth costs 16. No stat may exceed 5 at character creation. Points not spent are lost.

This doubling cost means most characters will begin with no single stat above 3. A character who puts 3 points into Body spends 7 of their 10 points, leaving only 3 for everything else. That is a deliberate constraint. You are building a starting point, not an endpoint. Specialization happens through leveling.

Example: A player spends 3 points on Mind (cost: 1+2+4 = 7), 1 point on Will (cost: 1), and 1 point on Flux (cost: 1), spending all 10 points. Body remains at 0. That character is sharp, perceptive, and fate-attuned but physically unremarkable.

Step 2: Calculate Derived Stats

Once your core stats are assigned, calculate your three derived stats. These values update automatically each time you gain a level.

Physical Injury Boxes = Body + Level. At character creation all characters begin at Level 1, so a character with Body 1 starts with 2 physical injury boxes.

Mental Injury Boxes = Mind + Will + Level. A character with Mind 3 and Will 1 starts with 5 mental injury boxes.

Resonance Threshold = Flux + Level. A character with Flux 1 starts with a threshold of 2. Resonance that exceeds this value triggers a Cascade.

Record all three values on your character sheet. They define how much punishment your character can absorb — physically, psychologically, and cosmically — before something breaks.

Step 3: Calculate Quality Capacity

Each quality category has a capacity value that limits the combined numerical value of qualities it can hold. Calculate each category now using your assigned core stats.

Body capacity = Body. Mind capacity = Mind. Will capacity = Will. Abilities capacity = Body + Flux. Expertise capacity = Mind + Flux. Background capacity = Will + Flux.

Example: A character with Body 1, Mind 3, Will 1, Flux 2 has the following capacities — Body: 1, Mind: 3, Will: 1, Abilities: 3, Expertise: 5, Background: 3.

Each category may contain up to five qualities regardless of capacity. Capacity limits the combined value of those qualities, not the number. A category at capacity can still gain a negative quality — it simply adds complexity rather than value.

Step 4: Choose Qualities

Fill each category with qualities, staying within the capacity and slot limits established in Step 3. Qualities must fit the fiction and the Guide's setting. If a quality does not make sense for the campaign, it cannot be taken.

Positive qualities improve your character's capabilities. Negative qualities complicate them. Both occupy slots and both count toward capacity. Negative qualities do not increase capacity — they add depth, not numbers. Choose them because they make your character more interesting, not because you are trying to optimize the math.

You do not need to fill every slot. Leaving room in a category means room to grow. Qualities can be added between sessions with the Guide's approval as your character develops through play.

Step 5: Starting Equipment and Resources

Determine your starting equipment based on your Background qualities, Expertise, and the Guide's established setting limits. Equipment is not an abstraction — it reflects who your character is and where they come from. A Genesian caste worker starts with different tools than a surface-born survivor. A character with medical Expertise might carry a field kit. A character with a criminal Background might carry things they would rather not explain.

Starting equipment may include tools and gear, currency or trade goods, contacts or access points, and minor technology or alien artifacts. The Guide has final say over what is available at the start of a given campaign.

Step 6: Review and Begin

Before play begins, confirm the following. Each quality category is within its capacity value. No category exceeds five qualities. Resonance starts at 0. All three derived stats are calculated correctly. Equipment and access reflect your Background and the Guide's setting. Any remaining questions are resolved with the Guide before pressure is applied.

This is the last moment to adjust before the story begins. Once the first roll hits the table, your character is no longer a sheet of numbers. They are a person in a world that does not care about their intentions — only their choices.

Character Advancement

Leveling Up

Characters in Echoes of Ur grow through survival. Not through grinding enemies or completing quests, but through enduring the moments where the strings of fate snap back the hardest.

Experience is not given for showing up. It is earned by living through what a Cascade leaves behind.

Earning Experience

When a player survives a Resonance Cascade they triggered, they earn experience equal to your Resonance multiplied by your current level. A level 3 character whose a Cascade triggered by a Resonance total of 7 earns 21 XP. The greater the pressure allowed to build before it broke, the greater the reward for enduring what came next. Experience is individual. Each player tracks their own XP separately. There are no shared pools and no group rewards. What you survive is yours.

Leveling Up

The amount of experience required to reach the next level is calculated as follows: add your current level to itself, then multiply the result by your current level. A character at level 3 needs (3+3)*3 = 18 XP to reach level 4.

The curve climbs steeply, early levels pass quickly, mid game levels require sustained play, and late game levels demand endurance across many sessions.

When a character reaches the required XP total they level up on their next downtime. There is no overflow, and any experience earned beyond the threshold is lost.

A character who needs 3 more XP to level and survives a Cascade worth 20 XP gains exactly 3 and loses the rest. Awareness of your own XP total is part of playing the game well.

Upon leveling up, the character gains 1 point to assign to any core stat of their choice. Body, Mind, Will, or Flux; the choice reflects how the character has grown through what they have survived. No stat may exceed 10. Recalculate all derived stats immediately after assigning the point.

What Changes When You Level

Each level increases the character's derived stats automatically.

Physical injury boxes increase by 1 since they are calculated as Body + Level.

Mental injury boxes increase by 1 since they are calculated as Mind + Will + Level.

Resonance Threshold increases by 1 since it is calculated as Flux + Level.

These increases happen every level regardless of which stat you assign your point to, meaning every level makes a character meaningfully more resilient and harder to cascade.

Advanced Starting Levels

Not every campaign begins at level 1. The Guide may establish a starting level that better fits the tone and scope of the story being told.

A street-level survival campaign might begin at level 1. A story about seasoned operatives might begin at level 4. An endgame campaign about legends pushing against the edges of reality might begin at level 7.

When starting at an advanced level, characters generate stats and qualities as normal during character creation, then apply the following for each level above 1.

Assign 1 point to any core stat per level gained, respecting the stat cap of 10. Recalculate all derived stats after all points have been assigned. XP starts at 0 regardless of starting level; the character arrives at the table already forged by experience the players do not need to replay.

The Guide should communicate the starting level before character creation begins, as stat point distribution across multiple levels is a meaningful part of building an advanced character.

A level 4 character has 3 additional stat points beyond creation to assign, and where those points went tells a story about who that character became between then and now.

To clarify, points cost different amounts for lv 1 creation and are equal to 1:1 beyond that.

The Shape of Progression

Early levels move fast by design. A level 1 character needs only 2 XP to reach level 2, and even a small Cascade gets them there.

This is intentional, the first few levels are an on-ramp, a chance for players to experience the full loop of Resonance building, Cascade triggering, and leveling up before the curve steepens.

By level 4 the requirements become meaningful. By level 7 they demand real investment. Level 10 is a landmark, not a guarantee.

There is no hard ceiling. The math does not stop at level 10. But the XP requirements grow steep enough that progression beyond level 10 is measured in campaigns rather than sessions.

Characters at that level are already legends. What they become after that is a question the story will have to answer.

Qualities

Body Qualities

1 Cost

|+| Night Owl

You only need 4 hours of sleep each night. You may shrug off your sleep requirement by another 24 hours by gaining 1 Echo.

|+| Gills

You can breath oxygen while in or out of water. The water type does not matter (salt, freshwater, brackish, etc).

|+| Muscled

You may push your body to the limit once a day to gain 2d10s to a Body check to lift, push, pull, drag, swim, run, and jump. (This does not apply to attacks).

|+| Cute

You're too cute and may add 1d10 to any flatter, persuade, or performance check.

Positive.

|+| Night Vision - Cybernetic

You may see in the dark up to 300 ft without the need of a light source.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional. Cybernetic Qualities may be swapped out at any time.

|–| Pizza Face

Your face is covered in unsightly pimples. You receive 1 failure on persuasion, diplomacy, or flattery checks.

|–| Albino

You are an albino. You sunburn easily, and your eyes are sensitive to light. Additionally, you automatically gain 1 fail on perception checks while light is moderately bright. You Auto-fail all perception checks while you are looking into a light source.,

|–| Damaged Implant - Cybernetic

You have a visible implant that is damaged beyond repair. You may have this quality removed and replaced with an equal cost cybernetic.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional. Cybernetic Qualities may be swapped out at any time.

|–| Obvious Limp

You have a noticible limp. Take 10% additional fall damage.

|–| IBS

You experience intestinal discomfort after each meal and while experiencing distress. You gain 1 automatic failure on stealth checks.

2 Cost

|+| Tough

You gain 1d10 on checks to endure physical stress such as exhaustion, fatigue, soreness, pain, and feinting.

Gain 1 additional bodily injury box.

|+| Hot-Blooded

You run hot all the time. You do not experience the effects of being chilled. This does not prevent freezing, but you are capble of enduring cold weather and temperatures that normal people could not.

|+| Robot Legs - Cybernetic

Add 2d10s to any run, jump, swim, or kick check. Reduce all fall damage by 50%.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional. Cybernetic Qualities may be swapped out at any time.

|+| Chameleonic Skin - Cybernetic

Your skin is plated with tiny mirrors and crystals, allowing you to blend in with your surroundings.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional. Cybernetic Qualities may be swapped out at any time.

|+| Smooth Walker

You aren't just surefooted, you glide. You are able to remain silent while wearing any footwear. This quality negates difficulty walking on slippery or sticky surfaces.

|–| Gimpy

You may not run. Movement uphill takes twice as long.

|–| Huge

You do not fit through small spaces such as vents, manholes, crawlspaces, small vehicles, and areas smaller than 5 cubic feet.

In addition to enemies, allies cannot pass through your space.

|–| Nocturnal

You may add 1d10 to every check you may while in darkness (such as at nighttime or while underground).

You gain 1 automatic failures to every check you make while in low-light, daylight, and while targeted by light sources.

|–| Photosensitive Skin

You may only get sustencence from sunlight or light sources such as candles, flashlights, overhead lights, or ultraviolet light.

You take an additional 100% fire damage.

|–| Cyclopsian

You have either lost an eye or were born with only one. Gain 1 automatic failure on perception, driving, and piloting checks involving sight and attacks involving your aim.

3 Cost

|+| Super Strength

Gain 2d10 on any raw strength check for actions involving pushing, pulling, dragging, lifting, throwing, jumping, running, or swimming. (This does not include attacking)

Add a 2d10 to any melee attack, gain 2 echo. (Repeatable)

|+| Flashy

You and your reflexes are faster than normal, and you always put on a show. Gain 2d10 on evade, dodge, react and run checks as long as you embellish them.

|+| Spider Claws

You have 2 additional robotic arms with detachable claws. They may function exactly as your normal arms.

You may take this quality additional times and add 2 arms each time.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional.

|+| Natural Armour

You are armoured whether you wear armor or not. This can be a sheel, plating, scales, feathers, fur, or hair.

Condition: Armoured. You may ignore 1 minor body injury per attack.

|+| Hair Printer - Cybernetic

You have a small 3d printer installed in your head that 3d prints small, functional objects out of your hair. You may spend 1 hour printing a lockpick, twine, wigs, or anything 12 cubic inches or smaller.

Also, you have alopecia.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional. Cybernetic Qualities may be swapped out at any time.

|+| Mithridatism

You've built up a resistence to illness, disease, fatigue, and poison through the gradual ingestion of toxins and chemicals.

You gain 3 automatic successes to resist disease, illness, fatigue, or poison.

|–| Fugly

You are distractingly ugly. Gain 2 auto failures on any diplomacy, bluff, hypnotize, flattery, bribe, or intimidate checks.

Anyone who looks at you while performing a check of any kind gains 1 auto failure.

|–| Chairbound

Your legs do not function or are not strong enough to support your weight. You require other methods of locomotion such as a wheelchair or scooter, to get around.

You gain 1d10 on any checks you perform while stationary and seated.

Example: being pushed while in a wheelchair, is seated but not stationary.

|–| Blind

You cannot see. You fail any visual check.

If you use cybenetic implants involving vision they do not function.

You gain 2d10 on any perception checks involving hearing and smelling.

|–| Auto-Immune Disorder

You gain 3 automatic failures to resist disease, illness, fatigue, or poison. You must take medication every 24 hours to reduce this effect by 1.

|–| Amputee

You are missing at least 1 limb and you auto fail any checks involving those limbs. You may use a cybernetics to negate these effects.

You may take this only once, but change the number of limbs removed if you lose more limbs after the first.

Mind Qualities

1 Cost

Common Sense

You may pass any general knowledge test without rolling, gain 1 echo.

2 Cost

|+| Studied

Choose one domain:

Gain 2d10 regarding knowledge checks involving that domain.

This may be taken multiple times, choosing a different domain at the same time.

|+| Savant

Choose two domains:

You may add 3d10s to any knowledge checks involving those domains. Any knowledge checks of domains you have not chosen result in as 2 automatic failures.

You may only take this quality once.

|+| Jacked-in - Cybernetic

You are constantly connected to a network of computers. Gain 1 auto success on checks to identify a person, human technology, or customs. You know everybody's name unless a quality prevents this.

Cybernetic. This is a cybernetic implant. These effects require the implant to be functional. Cybernetic Qualities may be swapped out at any time.

|–| On the Spectrum

You use cold, cruel logic to determine your actions. Add 1d10 to any Mind related check.

This causes you to make poor social decisions. You gain 2 auto failures on any check regarding social situations such as persuade, flattery, bribe, intimidate, or perform.

3 Cost

|+| Big Brain

You are immune to mind-control and confusion. You gain 1d10 when rolling any mind related checks to remember something, resist mind effects, and be hypnotized.

Add 1d10 to any knowledge check, gain 2 resonance.

|+| Super Genius

You gain 1 auto success on any knowledge check, gain 1 resonance.

You may add 1d10 to any Knowledge, Mind, or Expertise check.

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|+| Perfect Recall

You can perfectly recall any experience you saw, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled.

You cannot be confused or lose memories. You may also gain 1d10 on seeing through illusions and deceptions.

Will Qualities

1 Cost

|+| Self-Medicating

So long as you are under the effects of drugs, you may remove 1 minor mental damage every 4 hours.

|+| Intuition

You can read people's vibe. You may determine a human's intent by observing them.

You can detect when someone you can observe is hostile, angry, neutral, friendly, happy, sad, depressed, enchanted, or frightened.

|+| Sober

So long are you are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol you may add 1d10 to any will or mind based checks.

If you consume any drugs or alcohol you lose the benefits of this quality until you have been sober for 24 hours.

|+| Fun Drunk

So long as you are under the influence of drugs or alocohol, or while you are drunk, you gain 1 additional d10 to any flattery, bribe, intimidate, coerce, diplomacy, persuade, or seduce check.

|–| Pet Peeve

Your character has a pet peeve. Determine your pet peeve on character creation. The guide is the judge of what seems relevant and realistic for your character.

Witnessing or being in the presence(30 ft) of your pet peeve gives you 1 auto failure on will based checks that involve the pet peeve.

2 Cost

|+| Smooth Talker

Exert your will over others. Gain 2d10 when trying to persuade, intimidate, bribe, or flatter a non-player.

Social Alignment

|+| Sleep Walk

|–| Phobia

You have one of the following phobias.

You gain 2 auto failures on any activity related to the chosen phobia:

Acrophobia – Fear of heights
Agoraphobia – Fear of open spaces or situations where escape feels difficult
Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) – Fear of social situations or being judged
Success Anxitty - Fear of Success, or fallout of success.
Claustrophobia – Fear of enclosed spaces
Trypanophobia – Fear of needles or injections
Thanatophobia – Fear of death or dying
Zoophobia – Fear of the chosen animal (choose an animal).
Aviophobia (Aerophobia) – Fear of flying

3 Cost

|+| Iron Willed

You may auto-succeed a persuasion, bribe, intimidate, deception, diplomacy, or similar checks, gain 2 echo.

You are immune to charm and fear.

|+| Spittin' Game

Your words and inflections have a profetic impact to those who can hear. Gain 2d10s and 1 auto-success while trying to persuade, intimidate, bribe, or flatter a non-player.

Social Alignment

Ability Qualities

1 Cost

|+| Sonic Boom

You may create a concussive, sonic wave of force in a 15 ft cone in front of you using your body, implants, weapons, or tools.

Organic creatures are knocked back 10ft from the source of the boom and take 1 minor injury if they are knocked down.

All constructs or crystalline creatures take 1 major injury and are knocked down.

|+| Grapeshot

You may empower a handful of items with psychic energy that hurts those you throw them at.

Add 1d10 to attacks involving the empowered items. If you damage the target, you apply 1 minor injury for every injury already on the target.

|+| Technologica

You have a tendency to find hidden things or activate hidden doors/consoles/buttons.

Add 1d10 to attempts to find hidden objects, doors, mechanisms, furniture, or concealed passages.

|+| Spark

You may use your body or cybernetics to generate a moderate, but short-lived flame spurt that burns and lights a small area.

Creates a flash of light that can temporarily blinds anyone sensitive to light. Burns a target, gain 1d10 on rolls to use Spark as an attack. This attack adds no damage to the attack, but will ignite any hit enemy to promote a minor injury into a major injury.

2 Cost

|+| Liquor is Quicker

While you are drunk, you gain 1d10 to attack, evade, dodge, tumble, and flattery checks; and you gain 1 plot armor.

If you also have the Drunk Quality you may also add an additional 1d10 to the mentioned checks.

|+| Candy is Dandy

While you are High, you gain 1d10 to checks to resist mind, will, or flux related saves; and you gain 1 plot armor.

If you also have the Junkie Quality you may also add an additional 1d10 to the mentioned checks.

|+| Sleep Walking

You may intrude other human's dreams and perform one diplomacy, bluff, flattery, bribe, or intimidate check.

If successful on this check you may speak with the other human as tho you were both awake and in the same room. The subject does not remember this dream. You may add 1d10 to any other diplomacy, bluff, hypnotize, flattery, bribe, or intimidate checks while in this dream.

They may not wake up, until you choose to as well.

3 Cost

Expertise Qualities

1 Cost

|+| Hacker

You may gain 1d10 to hacking any human technology. You may auto-succeed a hacking attempt for 1 echo.

|+| Surgeon

You may gain 1d10 to checking the medical condition of a human. You may heal 1 minor injury on yourself or others for 1 echo.

|+| Driver/Pilot

You may gain 1d10 to any checking driving or piloting any vehicle (includes makeshift/primitive items such as hang-gliders or sleds).

|+| Tradesman

You may gain 1d10 on checks involving using tools such as jackhammers, shovels, welding jig, pickaxes, wrenches, crowbars, and other hand-tools.

|+| Physician

You gain 1d10 to diagnose and prescribe treatment for any human injury or illness. You may create makeshift drugs to treat any human injury or illness. (Makeshift drugs are 1/2 as potent as regular drugs)

|+| Musician

Choose an instrument. You may gain 2d10 on any performance check involving that instrument. You may gain 1d10 on any performance check involving any instrument, gain 1 echo.

Background Qualities

1 Cost

|+| Genesian

You know your way around Genesis, gain 1d10 on any check regarding the location of any business, residence, or landmark within Genesis.

|+| Wild Pawn

You know the territories of the tribe, gain 1d10 on any check regarding the location of any business, residence, or landmark within 30 miles of your territory.

|+| Alien Pawn

You are familiar with your alien habitat, gain 1d10 on any check regarding the location of any business, residence, or landmark within your alien habitat.

2 Cost

|+| High Profile

You are well known by your home city, tribe, caste, and community.

You may add 2d10 on diplomacy, bluff, flattery, bribe, or intimidate checks involving people who know you.

|+| Outcast

You learned to be alone and depend on yourself while spending time in the wilderness or places with very few people.

You may add 1d10 to survival checks or checks to find or create shelter, food, water, or cover.

You may also add 1d0 to stealth checks in familiar territory.

|–| Drunk

You cannot go more than 2 hours without taking a drink of alcohol. You cannot go more than 24 hours without being drunk.

You automatically gain 1 failure on all mind and will related checks.

Condition: Drunk. While drunk the player always starts last in combat and automatically gain 1 auto-failure on dodge, evade, run, swim, jump, and climb checks.

|–| Junkie

You cannot go more than 2 hours without taking drugs (does not include alcohol). You cannot go more than 24 hours without being high.

You automatically gain 1 failure on all body and ability related checks.

Condition: High. While high the player always starts last in combat and automatically gain 1 autp-failure on dodge, evade, run, swim, jump, and climb checks.