Fate

Shared Fate

Characters are always able to use their Fate Die to assist an Ally by giving one of their own Fate Dice to their Ally. This is treated exactly as if the Ally had used a Fate Die.

This even allows characters to support the Party even if they are elsewhere or Out of Action.

Fated Action

Characters may declare that they are making a Fated Action before they roll or attempt to do something. If they do so, they spend a Fate Die to gain a1 on the roll.

Twist of Fate

Characters may also spend a Fate Die to claim a Twist of Fate after rolling. This allows them to re-roll any die. The result of this re-roll may be lower, however. Such is the Twist of Fate. A die may be re-rolled multiple times if the player has other abilities or wishes to spend more Fate Dice. This is the only exception to the rule that dice may only be re-rolled once.

This re-roll may cause a Dice Multiple.

Heroic Action

Sometimes, with the GM’s permission, a character may spend a Fate Die to perform a Heroic Action. This may be done as a reaction to another character, or simply as part of their turn. On their own turn, a Heroic Action lets the character take an additional Action. This may give them the extra burst of speed to reach something, or let them perform an extra Quick Attack against a wounded foe. Whatever it is, the player should ask the GM for permission before spending the Fate die and taking the extra action.

A Heroic Action on another character’s turn, also called a Heroic Reaction, is similar in that it requires GM permission, but this is more like taking part of a turn early. The character gets a single action to do with as they wish, but on their next turn, they lose one of their actions as they have already used it on the enemy’s turn. Any actions performed as part of a Heroic Reaction take effect at the end of that turn, and will therefore be in effect at the start of the next turn, which may be the Players’ turn.

If a player wishes to make a Heroic Action on their own turn, but after they have already acted, it is up to the GM to decide whether this counts as a Heroic Reaction, which would mean they lose an action on their next turn.

"Here's one I prepared earlier..."

Sometimes there's a situation where a particular item is needed. This can range from needing something small right now to needing an important item to assist in completing Goals. In these situations, Players can spend a Fate Die to "remember" that they have the item or where they can find it.

Crossroads RPG doesn't use rules for money, so this might be your main method of obtaining items if you don't have a relevant Ally. See Relationships — Using Relationships for more information.

Connected By Fate

Players can spend a Fate Die to try to add new Relationships. and spend a Fate Die to "remember". If they want to add an Ally, they might need to roll to, but adding Rivals and Enemies is much easier. This can be done to add a story link or other method to advance the plot.

The Fates Align

If a character claims The Fates Align, it means a certain event has already happened, such as within their backstory, provided they can give sufficient details of this event.

Altered Fate

A character may "rewind" or "undo" an action using a Fate Point. In the blink of an eye, everything is as it was before.

This should only be used to undo an action that all players agree was a bad idea, such as a large mistake by one character. This change should be made right after, or very shortly after the action, so that it does not cause a host of other issues. If too much time has passed, the characters must simply live with their decisions.

Though it's often more fun to simply live with one's mistakes, sometimes certain actions or misunderstandings upset hte whole campaign and it's better for everyone involved if the action is undone.

Once spent, Fate Dice must be Refreshed. This is usually decided by the GM but typically happens in certain situations.

Fate Dice should also be refreshed when a party leaves a Settlement or starts an adventure.

Story Progression

When characters further their efforts towards their Goal, they should be rewarded by Refreshing a Fate Die. These "milestones" should be set by the GM to match story beats.

For example, if the players are searching for an evil book, they might be rewarded for finding the location of the book, even if they haven't completed their goal yet.

Character Beliefs

When Characters act towards their Beliefs, they may Refresh a Fate Die. See Character Beliefs for more information on Beliefs.

This should only happen once per Scene, and requires Characters to follow their Beliefs through great effort or at a cost to themselves or their party.

Places of Power

If characters enter a certain place of power, or find an object of power, they might be rewarded with Refreshed Fate Points.

— Temporary Fate Dice

Pending GM permission, Temporary Fate Dice might be used to Refresh spent Fate Dice instead.

Some players may earn Temporary Fate Dice. These are treated the same as other Fate Dice, but only last for a set duration and afterwards are discarded whether they are used or not. These dice do not refresh if used, but may exceed your usual limit. They cannot act as Fate Points.

Dice Multiples

Players may earn Temporary Fate Dice when they roll a Triple.

For more information see Crossroads System — Dice Multiples.

Legendary Artefacts

Some Legendary Artefacts may grant wielders a Temporary Fate Dice to use. More information will be found in the Artefact description.

Balance of Fate

Certain powerful individuals might also be caught in the strings of Fate and able to take the same advantages that the players can, as seen above. If a powerful Character uses one of the Fate Dice abilties above, the Player most affected receives a Temporary Fate Die.

Master of Fate

In certain rare situations, the GM might ask to intervene in the story to limit character actions. This might be done to prevent an unexpected roll or other action from completely dismantling the GM's plans. This should be done in moderation, but if a Player's actions are affected, they are compensated with a Temporary Fate Die.

Saved by Fate

A Character may be able to avoid a death by burning a Fate Point. This point is gone forever. Instead of dying, fate intervened to save the character’s life, though it may do so at great cost. A comparatively small price to pay for their life, however.

When a character dies, they may ask the GM to prevent their death at a cost. Sometimes, however, death cannot be avoided. It’s possible that this was your fated death, to die as all things must. Any death that would not allow resurrection would also prevent a character from using Saved by Fate, though Fate may instead have them avoid the cause of death entirely.

When being Saved by Fate, the character avoids their death, and may awake much later, injured but alive. This usually requires a friendly character to be able to save them, though they may be taken prisoner by their enemies and now they have a chance to escape or be rescued by others. They may have permanent scars or lose an important limb or item. Characters Saved by Fate cannot be killed before they awake. Enemies will ignore them, as they believe them to be dead, or something unexpected prevents them from eating or desecrating the body if they would do so otherwise.

Another possibility is for Fate to prevent the fatal damage entirely. A character may get a strange feeling or a burst of energy and avoid something at the last second. Leaping clear of a collapsing floor, dropping a dangerous item, or barely spotting falling rocks may allow the character to escape with minimal injuries. These characters may lose something valuable in the escape, requiring effort to recover or be lost forever, or take a smaller amount of damage. In extreme cases, they may even collapse from exhaustion, from the effort exerted in their escape.

Prices paid for survival vary greatly and depend upon Higher Powers (ie. The GM).

Examples:

• Loss of a limb
  • While the character leapt clear of the falling boulder, a stray rock landed on their hand, crushing it beyond repair.
  • The damage to the foot was too great and it had to be amputated.
  • The enemy took the character prisoner instead of killing them, but also took their eye as a reward.
• Permanent reduction to an ability score from a debilitating injury or trauma
  • The character survived, but the wound never fully healed, reducing [A].
  • The body healed fully but the mind did not, the trauma reducing [W].
  • A heavy blow to the head seems to have done permanent damage, reducing [K].
• Damage, destruction, or loss of an item.
  • The floor fell away, and while the character leapt clear, their bow was dropped and it tumbled into the depths.
  • At the last moment, the character used their sword to turn away the attack, but the force of the blow shattered the blade.
  • Though they survived the fight, the character later found that their amulet was lost; stolen while they were unconscious.

Swansong

A final act before death. A Swansong can be initiated by any player pending GM approval. A Swansong is a final act that the character can perform before they die. The characters very soul is burned in order to bend fate to their will and ensure that the act succeeds. This act will always succeed, but the success is at the cost of the character's life and soul.

A Swansong requires the character to be able to use Fate Points, and they may perform an additional act for each Fate point they burn. A Swansong may be performed with no available Fate Dice, but any character unable to use Fate Points for any reason is also unable to perform a Swansong. Any character killed as part of a Swansong cannot be revived or recovered in any way. Their soul has been spent in order to perform the action.

The actual act performed is up to GM discretion, but its intention is to be a single action. The act should not be otherwise impossible, but this is for the GM to decide. An acceptable Swansong is to reach a lever and pull it, to free another that is trapped under rubble, or to deliver a final blow to an opponent. Defeating a healthy opponent, completing a series of challenges, or reaching a distant goal, are not intended to be Swansongs, though the GM may still allow them if they wish. The character will likely die from an external source completing a Swansong, though in other less dangerous circumstances the character will still die upon the completion of the Swansong. If the fates do not kill them as retaliation, they will simply drop dead as a soulless shell.

Though some fragments of Swansong souls may be found by Great Powers or other deities, and are quite valuable to any that would collect souls for any reason, these are but fragments of the original soul and usually contain nothing more than their final memories or wishes. It’s not uncommon for those that try to communicate with these fragments to hear only a single sentence, often believed to be the last thought before their demise.