Fate

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 but gain Advantage on the roll.

Quirk of Fate

Characters may also spend a Fate Die to claim a Quirk 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 Quirk of Fate. A die may be re-rolled multiple times if the player has other abilities or wishes to spend more Fate Dice.

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 to 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 the Players’ 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 you get to a situation where you really need something small and simple, but you don’t have it. This can be range from something useful like a mirror or a tinderbox, to something seemingly insignificant like a piece of string or a toothpick.

If this item is small enough for a character to have believably placed this item in their pack or on their person, that character may spend a Fate Die to be able to produce this item, pending GM permission.

Friend of Fate

Characters may be able to use their Fate Die to assist an Ally, pending GM permission. This may also allow characters to support the Party even if they are not present or are Out of Action.

This is treated exactly as if the Ally had used a 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 inexplicable 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 rocks, a 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 their death. 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 points, 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 allow them. 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 body.

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.

The Fates Align

Sometimes, there’s a situation where a certain item is really required, or a certain action that had to be performed. In these situations, while it may be too late when the players and characters realise this, Fate may be able to intervene on their behalf once more.

A character may claim The Fates Align and burn a Fate Point to perform a “flashback”, where they attempt to perform a certain action, ranging from preparing a certain item, performing a certain action, or befriending a certain individual. Other characters may be a part of this "flashback", though only one character burns a Fate Point. Alternatively, they might claim that a certain event has already happened, such as within their backstory, provided they can give sufficient details of this event.

Example:
A group of badly wounded adventurers try to escape from town guards after a plan goes disastrously wrong, but they come across a single guard blocking their escape route. Given the extent of their injuries and the level of alarm, they fear they will be unable to resolve this conflict by any means without significant risk.

The Dwarf character chooses to permanently burn a Fate Point to claim that this guard is a casual acquaintance.
The Dwarf claims that the guard is somebody they helped before and might let them pass.

While the situation is still tense, the Dwarf is now trying to appeal to a familiar face rather than trying to deal with a random guard, so the situation is less hopeless.

Although the Fates may have aligned naturally, certain actions or changes to reality may have been a warping or twisting of the Fates and may cause issues down the line. The changes from this event may cause a ripple that affects other events. They might also create recurring characters for the campaign. Whatever the result, there should be ripples.

As this action has the potential to seriously affect a number of situations, this may only done with GM permission, and should be done with great care.