FATE’S EDGE · SYSTEM REFERENCE DOCUMENT

Character creation and advancement

Build a character before browsing every possible ability. Read Character Creation in order, use Attributes and Skills to understand your choices, then consult the linked talent and equipment references when the creation procedure calls for them. Advancement explains what happens after play begins.

Character Creation

Starting Build Points

Characters begin with 32 XP to allocate during initial creation. This represents a balanced baseline for competent starting characters.

Enhanced Starting Builds

Players may exceed the standard 32 XP build through narrative engagement:

Bonds: Up to two player-defined mutual bonds may be taken for +2 XP total. (See the coordination rules for bond-driven Boon rules.)
Complications: Up to two initial complications may be accepted for +4 XP total. Scenes start with +1 banked SB per character with a complication until their complications have been resolved in play.

This allows a maximum starting build of 36 XP. Players are encouraged to aim for 32 XP and use bonds and complications to enhance characterization rather than pure mechanical optimization.

The starting caps — attribute 3, skill 2 — are not raised by any of this. The one exception is the Prodigy talent, which buys a single attribute at 4 and charges for it in breadth, permanence and attention.

Step-by-Step Creation

Step 1: Concept and Culture

Describe your character in a sentence. Choose a cultural background (e.g., Aeler, Ykrul, Vilikari, Lethai). Cultural affinities provide narrative edges described in the full cultural guides.

Step 2: Attributes

Distribute 1, 2, 2, 3 among the four attributes (minimum 1, maximum 3 at start). Cost to raise attributes later is new rating × 3 XP.

Attribute	Description
Body	Strength, endurance, physical resilience.
Wits	Perception, speed, quick thinking.
Spirit	Willpower, focus, connection to the intangible.
Presence	Charisma, command, force of personality.

Step 3: Skills

Distribute 6 points among skills (maximum 2 in any skill at start). Cost to raise skills later is new level × 2 XP.

Core skills include:

Melee
Ranged
Athletics
Stealth
Endurance
Craft

Sway
Deception
Performance
Insight
Lore
Arcana

Step 4: Talents

Spend XP on talents. Recommended starting talents for common archetypes:

Archetype	Recommended Talents
Warrior	Weapon Master (5 XP), Effortless Charge (4 XP), Conditioning (4 XP)
Rogue	Keen Senses (2 XP), Trackless Step (2 XP), Backstab (6 XP)
Caster (Freeform)	Spellcraft (6 XP)
Runekeeper	Familiar (2 XP) + Codex (4 XP)
Invoker	Patron’s Symbol (4 XP)
Summoner	Pact-Whisperer (2 XP) + Lesser Pactwright (2 XP)
Support	Field Dressing (2 XP), Medic’s Hand (3 XP), Inspire (3 XP)

Step 5: Equipment

Choose starting equipment based on concept. See the equipment rules for weapon, armor, and gear tables.

Step 6: Bonds

Define 1–2 mutual bonds with other player characters. Each bond gives:

Once per session, when you act meaningfully on the bond and provide an Intricate Description, gain 1 Boon.
Bonded allies may gift 2 Boons per scene to each other (instead of the normal 1).

A bond should include:

A shared history or obligation.
What each character gains from the bond.
A potential source of tension.

Step 7: Complications (Optional)

Choose 0–2 complications. Each gives +2 XP at start. Complications should be narrative hooks, not purely mechanical penalties. Examples:

Debt to a Patron: You owe Obligation segments to a Patron before play begins.
Hunted: A faction or individual seeks you.
Forbidden Knowledge: You carry a secret that could destroy you if revealed.
Cursed Lineage: Ancestral curse manifests at dramatic moments.
Oath-Bound: A geas compels certain actions; breaking it has steep costs.

For each complication taken, at the start of each scene the GM gains +1 SB until the complication is resolved in play.

Step 8: Finalize

Record starting Fatigue (0), Harm (0), Boons (0). Note any starting Assets or Followers.

Quick Build Templates

Fighter 32 XP

Body 3, Wits 2, Spirit 2, Presence 2

Skills: Melee 2, Athletics 2, Endurance 1, Sway 1

Talents: Weapon Master (5 XP), Conditioning (4 XP), Effortless Charge (4 XP)

Equipment: Medium weapon, medium armor

Bond: One mutual bond

Complication: None

Rogue 32 XP

Body 2, Wits 4, Spirit 2, Presence 2

Skills: Stealth 2, Deception 2, Sway 2, Insight 1

Talents: Keen Senses (2 XP), Silk Palms (2 XP), Backstab (6 XP)

Equipment: Light weapons, light armor, lockpicks

Bond: One mutual bond

Complication: None

Caster 32 XP

Body 2, Wits 4, Spirit 3, Presence 1

Skills: Arcana 2, Lore 2, Insight 1, Insight 1

Talents: Spellcraft (6 XP)

Equipment: Staff, robes, focus (crystal, runestone, or inkpot)

Bond: One mutual bond

Complication: None

Learning Through Examples

See how core mechanics apply to the QuickBuild Templates:

Lockpick Under Pressure (Lyra the Rogue):

“Controlled, DV 3. On a miss, the guard hears you.”— GM

Lyra rolls [9, 6, 4, 2, 1] (Wits 4 + Deception 2 = 6 dice) → 2 successes (DV 3 Partial) → Gains 1 Boon.

“The lock clicks open, but the last pin squeals. I spend the SB: the guard stops and turns his head. You have one beat to hide.”— GM

The 1 gives GM 1 SB.

Teaches: Partial success = progress + Boon; 1s = GM currency for complications.

Arcane Backlash (Sera the Caster):

Sera casts [FIRE][STRIKE] (DV 3) vs. a fire elemental → rolls [10, 1, 1] (Wits 4 + Arcana 2 = 6 dice) → 3 successes (10=2, 1s=2 SB) → Success with SB (GM spends 1 SB for complication).

Backlash: Dominant element is Fire → GM describes:

“The bolt hits, but the flash blinds you—your next action is Desperate. Smoke triggers a hanging lantern; the room starts catching fire (Clock: Fire Spread [4]).”— GM

Teaches: 1s generate SB even on success; elemental backlash coloring; SB spent on visible consequences.

Tip for New GMs: Run these examples at your table. Ask: “What would you do with Lyra’s Boon?” or “How does Sera’s backlash change the scene?”

Advanced Start: Tier II (80 XP)

For campaigns beginning at higher power, characters may start with 80 XP. In addition to the 32 XP baseline, add:

+2 attribute points (raise any attributes; maximum 4).
+8 skill points (maximum skill 3 at start; raise to 4 later).
Additional talents worth approximately 48 XP.
One Minor Asset (4 XP) or one Follower (Cap 2).
One additional bond or complication (narrative only; no extra XP).

Session Zero Tips

Establish the table’s tone and stakes; tie character goals to campaign fronts.
Map Bonds among PCs; mark possible bond-driven Boon triggers.
Seed 1–2 personal Complications per PC for early spotlight.
Discuss Patron choices (if any) and what their omens look like.
Review Safety Tools (Lines, Veils, X-Card) before play begins.

Build Point Summary

Element	Cost (XP)	Starting Max
Attribute (per point)	3 × new rating	3
Skill (per point)	2 × new level	2
Talent	varies	—
Bond (mutual)	+1 XP each (2 total)	2
Complication	+2 XP each (2 total)	2
Minor Asset	4 XP	1
Follower (Cap 2)	2 XP	1

Attributes and Skills

Attributes

Every character has four attributes rated from 1 (weak) to 5 (exceptional). Attribute ratings determine the base number of dice for any action roll.

Attribute	Description
Body	Strength, endurance, and physical resilience. Used for melee combat, athletics, and resisting fatigue.
Wits	Perception, speed, and quick thinking. Used for ranged combat, stealth, and noticing details.
Spirit	Willpower, focus, and resolve. Used for magic, resisting fear, and maintaining composure.
Presence	Charisma, command, and social influence. Used for persuasion, leadership, and deception.

Skills

There are twelve skills. Each is rated 0 (untrained) to 5 (master), and the rating is added to an attribute to form the dice pool. Twelve is deliberate: a shorter list means fewer arguments about which skill applies, and every one of these is broad enough that the interesting question at the table is which attribute you are bringing to it, not which skill you are allowed to use.

Combat

Skill	Covers
Melee	Close-quarters fighting, armed or unarmed — swords, axes, spears, fists, grapples, improvised weapons.
Ranged	Bows, crossbows, slings, thrown weapons, and firearms.

Physical

Skill	Covers
Athletics	Running, climbing, leaping, swimming, and sudden physical exertion.
Stealth	Moving unseen, hiding, camouflage, and going unremarked.
Endurance	Lasting. Resisting fatigue, poison, cold, hunger, fear and pressure — anything that asks how long you can hold. Spirit + Endurance is the standard test for holding yourself together.

Practical

Skill	Covers
Craft	Lay knowledge. Making, mending, and tending: smithing, carpentry, masonry, cooking, brewing, locks and mechanisms — and medicine, which is the same skill pointed at a body. Craft is what a person knows by having done it.

Craft is slow magic. A rite disturbs the Weave; a craft does not. That is the only real difference, and it is a difference of speed rather than of kind. The smith who has kept one fire for forty years and the witch who calls something up in an evening are reaching for the same thing by different roads — and the smith's road, being slower, leaves no wake for anything to notice.

This is why dedication and mastery in a craft can produce results the world will call miraculous without a single tag being spent: a blade that will not dull, a hearth that will not go out, a splint that sets a bone straighter than it began. Mechanically these are Wonders, and they cost XP and Obligation like any other. Narratively, nobody involved would agree they were doing magic. The line between Craft and Witchcraft is genuinely blurred, and it is meant to stay that way — a Game Master should never have to rule on which side of it a village blacksmith's best work falls.

Skill	Covers
Sway	Moving people openly: persuasion, negotiation, charm, leadership, orders, and intimidation. Whether it reads as a plea, a command or a threat is a matter of attribute and fiction, not of skill.
Deception	Moving people covertly: lying, bluffing, disguise, forgery, talking past a checkpoint, casing a routine, knowing who fences what.
Performance	Singing, acting, oration, musical display, public speaking — and the Cantor's path, which is sung.

Mental

Skill	Covers
Insight	Reading what is in front of you — people, ground, evidence. Detecting a lie, picking the ambush lane, reconstructing a scene, interviewing a witness, tracking, reading weather. Deduction, from whatever the world has left lying about.
Lore	Knowing what is not in front of you. History, custom, religion, law, legend, local knowledge — and the performance of rites, which is knowledge applied aloud. Spirit + Lore is the standard roll for ritual work.

Magic

Skill	Covers
Arcana	Magic theory, identifying spells and wards, counterspelling, and free casting. The Weave as an object of study rather than of practice.

Skills an expansion may add

Twelve is the core list, not a closed one. An expansion may introduce a thirteenth skill, and there is standing precedent for it — but the bar is deliberately high, because every added skill is a new argument at every table about which one applies.

A new skill has to clear one test: it must not be expressible as an existing skill under a different attribute. "Resolve" failed that test — it was Spirit + Endurance wearing a hat. "Command" failed it — Presence + Sway. If your idea reduces to one of the twelve with the right attribute in front of it, you have found a good use of a skill, not a new skill.

Skill	Source	Why it earns a slot
Psionics	Psionics expansion	The worked example. It is not Arcana under a different attribute — Arcana studies the Weave, and psionics deliberately does not touch the Weave at all. Making it a separate skill is how the setting says so mechanically rather than only in prose. Trained only at tables using psionics.

Note the shape of that justification, because it is the one to copy: a new skill is warranted when it marks a genuine metaphysical or structural distinction the twelve cannot express. Craft and Arcana are already separated that way — see Craft is slow magic above — and Psionics is separated from both on the same grounds.

Insight and Lore are the pair to get right. Insight reads the room; Lore knows what the room is for. A character who has never left their valley can have Insight 4. A character who has read everything and understands nobody can have Lore 4. Most investigations want both, in that order.

Skill Uses (Common Examples)

Skill	Common Actions	Typical Difficulty
Melee	Attack with sword or axe	DV 3 (Controlled)
Ranged	Shoot a bow at Near range	DV 3
Athletics	Climb a wall, leap a gap	DV 3–4
Stealth	Hide from guards	Opposed by Insight
Insight	Track a creature, find water	DV 3–4
Sway	Persuade a guard to look away	DV 3 (varies by leverage)
Insight	Detect a lie	DV 3 (opposed by Deception)
Lore	Recall historical or cultural knowledge	DV 2–4
Insight	Search a room for clues	DV 3–4
Craft	Stabilize a dying ally	DV 3–5 (by severity)
Arcana	Identify a magical effect	DV 4–5
Lore	Perform a consecration or exorcism	DV 4–6

Default Skill for Common Actions

If an action does not clearly match a listed skill, the GM may default to the most appropriate attribute alone (e.g., a raw Strength check uses Body with no skill). However, encourage players to justify skill use through their approach.

Assistance and Skill Synergy

One character may assist the primary actor using the same or a complementary skill, granting +1 die. Relevant talents may improve that contribution, up to the assist cap of +3 dice. The GM may require the helper to succeed on a small roll (DV 2) to provide meaningful help.

Advancement & XP

Advancement in Fate's Edge reflects meaningful growth in capability and standing. XP is awarded for table-facing accomplishments, hard choices, and the dramatic friction that defines your story. Boons can be converted sparingly to accelerate growth.

Awarding XP

Choose a session pacing dial and stick to it for a campaign arc.

Gritty: 4–6 XP per session (slow burn).
Standard: 6–10 XP per session (default pace).
Heroic: 10–14 XP per session (fast growth).

Session Awards (Guidelines)

Award	XP
Table attendance	+2
Major objective reached	+2–4
Discovery or lore unlocked	+1–2
Hard choice embraced	+1–2
Complication spotlight	+1–3
Bond or flag driven play	+1–2
GM curveball award	+0–3

Milestones

At the conclusion of a major story arc, award +8–12 XP to all players.
Grant +2 XP to one player for a signature moment of the arc.

Boon Conversion

Once per session, during downtime, a character may convert 2 Boons → 1 XP (max 2 XP via conversion per session). All normal Boon limits apply (hold 5; trim to 2 at scene end).

Design Note: Boon conversion is a trickle, not a primary advancement path. The real value of Boons is in the moment—re-rolling a failure, activating an Asset, or improving Position. Hoarding Boons for conversion starves the table of drama. Spend them freely; the XP will come from your adventures. This is a trap.

Spending XP

Improvement	Cost	Downtime
Attribute increase	new rating × 3 XP	new rating (days)
Skill increase	new level × 2 XP	new level (days)
On-screen Follower	Cap2 XP	1–3 days (recruit and brief)
Minor Asset	4 XP	1 day
Standard Asset	8 XP	1 week
Major Asset	12 XP	1 month
Talent	as listed (2–12+ XP)	as listed

Upkeep

Upkeep is paid once per Downtime period per asset or follower.

Efficient (Higher XP, Less Time): Upkeep XP = max(1, ⌈Acquisition XP ÷ 3⌉). Minimal effort.
Intensive (Lower XP, More Time): Cost = 1 XP. Requires a dedicated Downtime action with significant personal involvement.

Failure to pay: The resource degrades.

Follower: Loyalty worsens one step (Faithful → Strained → Broken).
Asset: Status worsens one step (Flourishing → Stable → Strained → Collapsed).

Rush Rule

When you buy or upgrade an ability during downtime, you may skip the normal training time by accepting a risk.

Rush Rule Procedure

Declare: The player states they are rushing their training.
Set Timer: The GM creates a Haste Timer [4].
Push Forward: Each downtime action during the rush, the player rolls Spirit + Endurance (DV 3) to represent pushing through fatigue and distraction.
- Clean Success: No tick. Progress continues smoothly.
- Partial: The timer ticks +1. The training is harder than expected.
- Miss: The timer ticks +2. Something goes wrong—a pulled muscle, a broken tool, a moment of doubt.
Complete: If the timer reaches 4 before training completes, the ability or asset is flawed.
- Attribute/Skill: The new rating is gained, but the character suffers a temporary -1 die penalty until they spend a full downtime session retraining (removing the flaw).
- Asset: The asset is acquired but has a hidden complication (GM chooses: a rival knows about it, it requires unusual upkeep, or it's in a bad location).
- Talent: The talent works, but the GM gains 2 SB to spend on a complication tied to its rushed nature (e.g., the technique is flashy but draws attention, or it leaves an opening).
Clean Success: If the timer never ticks (0 ticks after all required downtime actions), the ability is learned without flaw.

Tiers of Reputation

Reputation tiers reflect how the world responds to you and what your character can accomplish.

Tier	XP Range	Standing	Mechanical Effect
I — Rookie	0–40	Local	Max dice pool 8d10; max 2 Followers; Prestige talents locked
II — Seasoned	41–90	Regional	Max dice pool 9d10; max 3 Followers; Prestige talents (7–10 XP) unlocked
III — Veteran	91–150	National	Max dice pool 10d10; max 4 Followers; Epic talents (11+ XP) unlocked
IV — Paragon	151–220	Continental	+1 max Boon hold (6); Factions respond to your requests
V — Mythic	221+	Legendary	+1 max Boon hold (7); World-shaping narrative permissions

Note: the Mechanical Effect column for Tiers II and III was truncated mid-word in the source PDF's column layout ("un", "unloc"); reconstructed here as "unlocked."

High-Tier Play and Boons

As characters advance, the role of Boons shifts.

At early tiers, Boons primarily buy reliability — negating Fatigue, stabilizing risky actions, or nudging Position.
At higher tiers, Boons increasingly buy authority. A single Boon may force a truth, seal a pact, redirect consequences, or resolve a phase of a conflict outright.

High-tier characters typically have fewer Boons to rely on, but each spend carries greater narrative weight. This is intentional. Power at high tier comes from preparation, Bonds, oaths, and hard choices — not from inflating Difficulty Values. The world does not become harder to roll against simply because characters are stronger; instead, success and failure both reshape the story in larger ways.

High-Tier Example: The Archmage's Choice

A Tier IV archmage attempts to counterspell a world-ending ritual. She has 0 Boons left. She rolls 8 dice (Wits 5 + Arcana 3) vs DV 4. Result: 3 successes — a Partial.

Without Boons: She cannot re-roll. The GM rules: "The ritual slows, but a backlash rips through the ley lines. A nearby village is consumed by wild magic. You save the world, but at a cost."

With a Boon: She could re-roll a failure and possibly achieve a Clean Success, avoiding the backlash.

The scarcity of Boons made the Partial outcome feel meaningful, not like a failure. At high tiers, every Boon is precious—spend them wisely.

Advancement Notes

Attribute cost scaling encourages diversification over single-stat spikes.
Skill mastery yields tangible, fiction-first benefits.
Prestige abilities (6+ XP) should be gated by narrative milestones or patron bargains.

Continue: Equipment, combat, and recovery

Character creation and advancement