Character creation Details

Beast Hunters are an elite group among the Chel'qhuri. All Chel'qhuri are trained warriors, and Beast Hunters receive special training and knowledge from their elders. They travel across the territory of various nadans in search of their prey, and sometimes their hunts lead them to the farthest corners of the Berengad. In the end, however, they always return to their tribe.

The following is an overview of the character details you will figure out when you create your Beast Hunter character. Naturally, a character should be defined by more details than are listed on the character sheet, such as looks, background, history, and family. But they have no mechanical relevance to the game unless you incorporate them into traits and resources, so you can keep additional information in mind or write it out on different sheets of paper. You probably won't need to reference that information during the game too often, but you'll need the traits and resources all the time.

Name: Chel'qhuri names often include harsh consonant sounds. CH and QH are also common.

Hunter: The player who owns this character.

Initiative: Initiative determines the order of action during a conflict.

Traits: Every Beast Hunter has traits to help her overcome the challenges in her path. There are three types of traits, according to the personality aspects that matter most in Chel’qhuri culture: Brutality, Cunning, and Spirituality. Traits have a numerical value associated with them. That value is the bonus to the 2D10 roll that the trait gives during Conflict Resolution if it has been activated (see the Conflict Resolution chapter for details). In addition, each trait can be tagged for a special purpose once during an adventure, with the effect depending on the specialty and the rating. This is also further explained in the Conflict Resolution chapter.

When you create traits for your Beast Hunter, they can be virtually anything you can think of that's appropriate to their purpose. They can be attributes, talents, events of character history, relationships, beliefs, and so on. For example, a Beast Hunter could have "Spear and Axe Training" as a Brutality Trait. But that would be boring; a more interesting description would be "My Mother Taught Me To Fight", "Hulking Brute,” "Fear My Wrath", or even just "I Am A Beast Hunter". All of those could be Brutality Traits; some could be Cunning or Spirituality Traits as well, and the specialty you pick for each trait will give it a certain flavor that says something about your character.

Each trait should have something interesting about it, something that makes your character more unique, allows you to use more interesting solutions and actions for challenges, and hints to the Challenger about ways to make adventures and challenges matter to your character. It's a good idea to use traits that give Challengers an idea of what kind of adventures and challenges you'd like to face. Resources: Hunters and their opposition have resources that help them during conflicts. Resources either add to the damage that a character inflicts or subtract from the damage that a character takes. The first kind is called an offensive resource, the second a defensive resource. The numerical value of the resource shows how many points it adds to or subtracts from strike rolls. For example, a Beast Hunter's spear that she has won in combat and that was decorated by members of her tribe would be an offensive resource, while her shield and her armor could be separate defensive resources. Unlike traits, resources can be taken from the Hunter during a conflict and possibly even used against them. Note that you can only use one of each type of resource (one offensive and one defensive) at a time, but that additional resources are backups in case the main resource is lost.

Wound Circles: During a conflict, characters deal and receive damage. This damage is tracked with wound circles. There are two kinds of wound circles: outer circles and core circles. Outer circles are marked off first, and they heal up after a conflict. They represent bruises, surface cuts, exhaustion, and so on. Having a core circle marked, on the other hand, means that the character is incapacitated and out of the current conflict, and core circles do not heal during an adventure. Once all of a character’s core circles are marked, the character is seriously wounded and barely up on their feet (this condition is called crippled). When all Hunters have all of their core circles marked, they might lose the adventure.

Tattoos: Beast Hunters stalk fiendish magical creatures that ravage Chel’qhur and the surrounding areas. A Beast Hunter who brings down a specific beast will receive a tattoo from an elder, with ink made with the blood of the beast. Each tattoo imbues the Beast Hunter with some of the creature's power. These tattoos grant special abilities that can be activated with actions or in tandem with tagging a trait, depending on the tattoo. They can never be taken away from the Hunter. Creating a Beast Hunter

In order to play this game as a Hunter, you need to create a character. This section outlines how you create the character and fill out the character sheet. The character's history and personality can and should be written into the traits and resources. The following steps ensure that that happens while keeping all starting Beast Hunters balanced. If you come up with more information and neat tidbits that don't fit into the traits and resources, feel free to write them down elsewhere, such as on the back of your sheet.

Before you start, enter the following things on your character sheet: the character's name in the Name field, your name in the Hunter field, and an initiative rating of 1. You also have two outer wound circles and two core wound circles, which are already shown on the character sheet.

When I refer to "you" in the following paragraphs, I am talking about you the player, as these are your resources to use, but I am also talking about the Beast Hunter character, just for ease of reference. You will go through six steps: four steps that follow your character from birth to Beast Hunter training, one step to assign numbers to traits and resources, and one step to pick a special boon for your character.

You'll find a running example for each step in the character creation process in these boxes.

I don't have a strong idea about who my character is going to be. I'll just let the steps influence me. I'll be her Hunter, obviously, and for a name I'll pick Yaqhara. Next, I'm writing down the basic initiative of 1 and two outer and two core wound circles.

Step 1: Your Parents

Think about the way in which your character's parents influenced his or her life. Write down one trait that your character has received from his or her parents. You need to mark the trait with its specialty (Brutality, Cunning, or Spirituality), but don't give it a rating yet. Any trait can fit into any category, depending on how you interpret the influence on the character. Belonging to a well-known warrior bloodline can grant your character physical abilities, social aptitude, or mental agility. Traits can be abilities, experiences, beliefs that drive your character, or anything else that empowers the Hunter to face tough challenges.

Examples of traits you could gain from your parents are:

 My Mother Taught Me How to Ignore Pain

 I Take Risks to Prove Myself

 Resilient

 I Will Make My Mother Proud

 Trust No Elders

 The Beatings Only Made Me Stronger

 My Mother Is the Nadan’s Chief

In addition, you gain one resource from your parents. Name it and note the category (offensive or defensive), but don't assign a rating yet. Remember that resources can be taken from you and wielded by other characters, so if your resource is something internal (like pride or wit), there must be a way for your opponents to turn it against you. This makes internal resources tricky to deal with, but they’re still a valid choice (and I strongly suggest personalizing internal resources; see Gaining and Improving Resources, below).

I'm thinking Yaqhara's mother is a great warrior who lost a leg in battle and is handicapped. Yaqhara's father takes care of her mother, which her mother resents. Yaqhara's mother is pushing her to gain the glory that she no longer can. I'm going to make up the Brutality Ttrait "I Will Make My Mother Proud" to express this. As you can see, Yaqhara will use a path of violence as opposed to one of wits or spiritual attunement. As a resource, I'll gain the axe my mother used: "Mother's Old Axe" is my resource name, and it’s obviously offensive.

Step 2: Your Tribe

You gain one trait from growing up in your particular nadan. Give the tribe a name (most nadans are named after their current leader, as in Nioqhe-nadan or Kuchek-nadan), think about what it was like growing up there, and connect your character to it. Determine how males are treated in your tribe, since the tribes are matriarchal ranging from mostly-egalitarian (where males are treated well but cannot become leaders because they lack the special blessing of the spirits) to cruel and abusive (where males are culled, mistreated, and ostracized from birth). This is especially important if your character is male, but it also matters if she’s female.

Examples of traits you could gain from your tribe are:

 My Tribemates Were Stronger, but I Never Quit

 Commanding Presence

 I Can Hear the Spirits Whisper

 Outsider’s Perspective

 Spiritual Leader

 Beloved and Feared

Traits from your tribe could include training that the group bestowed upon the character, experiences that the character had within the tribe, or beliefs and religious attitudes that the tribe as a whole holds and reinforces.

I'll say that my tribe, while matriarchal like all of them, is benevolent toward men. However, there is a lot of maneuvering going on between different family groups over who is in charge. In this tribe, a leader has to expect to be challenged once or twice a year by someone ambitious. I've learned to play the social game well; if I'm going to make my mother really proud, I have to avoid bringing shame on my family. I'm going to create the trait "Keen Insight" as a Cunning trait.

Step 3: Your Enemies

You gain one trait and one resource from your experience with your enemies. This is a wide open field; it can include the bully you fought against as a child ("I Stand Up For Myself"), the rival tribe or family that you fought with in the past (physically, mentally, or socially), enemies of the Chel’qhuri (such as the Jos, Tarrag, or Saula Miur), or any personal nemeses you might have.

Examples of traits you could gain from your enemies are:

 I Will Have Revenge on Jiala

 Cunning Keeps Me Alive

 I Hate Borok with a Passion

 Known to Take Their Ears

 Kerak Will Suffer for What He Did

 Noqha’s Spirit Still Haunts Me

We highly recommend that your trait-related enemies are still alive, so that the Challenger can include them in your adventures.

I've fought a lot already, to gain glory and make my mother proud. While there is a lot of social strife in our tribe, we don't usually attack each other. So my enemies were from a rival tribe. Say, the Joshek-nadan. I had personal run-ins with Joshek's daughter, Maiqhar. I'll pick "Maiqhar Is My Nemesis" as my trait, with a specialty of Cunning. I can use that trait in fights as motivation or due to the skills I honed trying to be better than Maiqhar. My defensive resource, "Maiqhar's Shield", is something I took from her.

Step 4: Beast Hunter Training

Sometime during your adolescence, the dreams started. Visions of the hunt, filled with blood and claws and glory. Soon thereafter, one of the Beast Hunter Elders came to your tribe to proclaim that you were chosen by the spirits to serve as one of them. Every nadan has to respect this choice, and so you were taken to the Spirit Rock to be trained among the other Beast Hunters. After your training, you return to your tribe, but they all know that you will have to leave whenever the spirits talk to you in your dreams and send you on the tracks of one of the vicious beasts. Whether your tribe loved or hated you before, their feelings toward you now include grudging or cheerful respect, often with a tinge of fear.

Create one trait that you gained during your Beast Hunter training. The trait can include your individual training as a Beast Hunter, your interests and personal motivations, your quirks and talents, and everything else that comes to the foreground during your teenage years.

Examples of traits you could gain from your Beast Hunter training are:

 Knowledge of Anatomy  Chel’qhuri Lore

 My Mentor Died for Me

 Swift as a Panther

 Humility

 I Am Destined to Slay the Qhurym

The elder Beast Hunter who came to my tribe had seen me in a vision. While my tribe was proud of my calling, several breathed a sigh of relief: I would have to attend to Beast Hunter duties all across the tribal lands and beyond, and therefore wouldn't be able to aspire to be tribe leader. I'll pick "Beast Hunter Lore" as a Spirituality Trait.

Step 5: Assign Ratings

You now have four traits. Distribute the following bonuses among them: +4, +3, +2, +2.

You also have two resources. Distribute 6 rating points between them (either +5/+1, +4/+2, or +3/+3).

You start without any tattoos. However, the very first adventure you play should be a low-level Beast Hunt. That will serve as your initiation rite. After you have slain your first beast and gained your first tattoo, you can wander the Berengad as you are called to, bound only by duty to your people and the lure of the hunt.

I distribute +4, +3, +2 and +2 to my traits as follows:

 I Will Make My Mother Proud (Brutality) +4

 Keen Insight (Cunning) +3

 Maiqhar Is My Nemesis (Cunning) +2

 Beast Hunter Lore (Spirituality) +2

Then I distribute 6 rating points among my resources (notice that resources, unlike traits, are determined to be offensive or defensive):

 Mother's Old Axe (Offensive) +4

 Maiqhar's Shield (Defensive) +2 Step 6: Special Boon

Chel’qhuri believe that every tribe member’s soul is guided into this world by an animal spirit. If the tribe and the parents are in good standing with the spirits, the companion will bless the child with a special gift, a boon related to the animal’s attributes that could be immediately obvious or express itself over time.

You can pick one of the following boons. All of these benefits can be acquired later as well, but your character starts with one of them. Whether the boon is a gift from the spirits or a result of your character’s life experiences is up to you.

 Toughness

Your character is more resilient than most. You gain a third outer wound circle.

 Quickness

Your character is used to acting fast and decisively. Your initiative rises to 2.

 Versatility

Your character is more versatile than others. You gain two additional traits rated +2.

 Talent

Your character is more specialized than others. Raise your +4 trait to +8.

 Treasure

Your character has acquired a very special piece of armor or weapon, or a powerful internal force that protects her or lends her weapon arm immense strength. You gain a third resource, which is rated +8, and this resource is personalized (see Gaining and Improving Resources, below).

Finally, look over your character and make any final changes, such as rewriting any trait or resource descriptions or reshuffling the ratings. Now you have a Beast Hunter character ready. Good hunting!

Looking over the list, I decide that Yaqhara’s special boon is her unyielding pride, which drives her ever forward. I pick the Treasure boon and write down Pride as a personalized +8 offensive resource. This turns Yaqhara into a deadly striker from the get go, and being personalized ensures that her Pride can’t be turned against her, even though it might be temporarily disabled. I change my ratings for resources because of this boon, seeing that Pride will serve as my main offensive resource, and after everything, this is my complete character: Name: Yaqhara

Hunter: Christian

Initiative: 1

Traits:

 I Will Make My Mother Proud (Brutality) +4

 Keen Insight (Cunning) +3

 Maiqhar Is My Nemesis (Cunning) +2

 Beast Hunter Lore (Spirituality) +2

Resources:

 Pride (Offensive, Personalized) +8

 Mother's Old Axe (Offensive) +1

 Maiqhar's Shield (Defensive) +5

Character Development

Throughout adventures you will earn reward points, which you can spend on improving your character. Reward points can be spent at any time outside of a challenge, except to gain or improve resources, which happens at the end of a conflict (see below). You can spend them during an adventure, but not after a negotiation has started.

Spending reward points is very straightforward. You can improve your character's traits, initiative, wound circles, and resources. The following table lists the costs for those improvements:

Change Cost Create New Trait at +1 10 Raise Trait Currently Rated +1 to +9 by 1 10 Raise Trait Currently Rated +10 to +14 by 1 25 Change Trait Specialty 10 Change Trait Description Free Buy Additional Outer Circle (Maximum 6 Total) 50 Buy Third Core Circle 150 Raise Initiative by 1 (Maximum 5) 50 Claim a Defeated Adversity’s Resource Rating Upgrade a Resource Rating +2 Personalize a Resource 15

You can only have a maximum of 8 traits, and they cannot be rated higher than +15. However, you can rewrite their descriptions at any time between challenges, based on how your character is changing through the course of your story.

Gaining and Improving Resources

Contrary to traits, initiative, and wound circles, you cannot improve your resources or gain new ones simply by spending reward points between challenges. Chel’qhuri do not buy or make weapons or armor; they take them from their enemies’ cold, dead hands.

After the Hunters win a conflict, they can claim any of the resources of the defeated adversity for themselves (except for personalized resources). They have to pay a number of reward points in the amount of the resource’s rating to do so. For example, claiming a +6 resource would cost 6 reward points.

If the player has grown fond of a resource that her character owns and doesn’t want to trade it in, she can decide instead to upgrade it to the level of a defeated adversity’s resource (again, excluding personalized resources). This uses up the adversity’s resource (meaning that it is destroyed and no other Hunter can claim it), costs 2 reward points in addition to the new rating, and brings the Hunter’s resource to the rating of the adversity’s. For example, upgrading a resource to +7 uses up a +7 adversity resource and costs 9 reward points. This is one way of improving a personalized resource without losing its benefit. In your story, this represents the character’s growing specialization with a particular resource, rather than switching to bigger and better weapons or armor.

Personalized resources are attuned to the character. This attunement is achieved through a spiritual ritual that characters can perform between challenges. If the resource is taken from the character, she receives a +5 bonus to any rolls for recovering it, and no other character can wield the resource.

If two characters disagree over who gets which resource as their prize, they can have a conflict about it, with the stake being possession of the resource. It’s not unusual for Chel’qhuri to fight over spoils, especially when two or more warriors contributed to defeating the enemy who wielded the resource. Any adversity resources that are not claimed or used up for upgrades at the end of a conflict are lost.

A character can never carry more than four resources with her. If she claims additional resources, she has to discard enough to lower the number of resources she has to four. Hunters can trade resources between their characters, if both players agree to it (or fight it out). Summary

Creating a character:

 Make up a name.  Set Initiative at 1.  Write down one trait and one resource from your parents.  Write down one trait from your tribe.  Write down one trait and one resource from your enemies.  Write down one trait from your Beast Hunter training.  Distribute +4, +3, +2, +2 among your traits.  Distribute 6 rating points among your resources.  Pick a boon.

Character advancement:

 Spend reward points for improvements according to the cost table.  Improve traits, wound circles, or initiative any time between challenges.  Claim adversity resources or upgrade your own at the conclusion of a conflict  You can never have more than 4 resources. How to play The Structure of Play

This is a roleplaying game for two or more players. One or more will play Chel'qhuri Beast Hunters created with the rules in the previous chapter (those players are called the "Hunters"), while one player creates and controls the opposition to the Hunters (and is called the "Challenger"). Overall, the game has the following structure:

1. Adventure Setup 2. Salute 3. Free Play 4. Challenges 1. Negotiation 2. Conflict Resolution 3. Aftermath 5. End of Adventure

First, the players set up the adventure. After saluting in, they roleplay freely until the Challenger presents a challenge to the Hunters. This starts the negotiation process, which either resolves the challenge or leads to Conflict Resolution. Once the challenge is resolved, the Hunters receive their reward and the Challenger determines the consequences. Then the players return to free play until they enter a new challenge or end the adventure. Setup

As you set up the adventure, you need to figure out what's at stake for it. The adventure as a whole has a purpose, something that the Hunter wants to achieve, and individual challenges represent certain obstacles that the Hunter needs to overcome on his path toward this goal. Beast Hunts are an obvious example: the Hunter needs to complete the adventure to kill the beast and gain a new tattoo. However, other adventures also need to have a large-scale goal. For example, the stake of an adventure could be establishing peace between two tribes of Chel’qhuri, bringing down a group of brigands, retrieving an important spiritual artifact from old ruins, establishing a trade agreement with another people, or whatever else interests you. If the Hunter loses the adventure, that goal is not fulfilled. The chapter on Adventures has more details on this subject.

The Hunters and Challenger have to select a few things before starting an adventure:

Character: Each Hunter plays one character, a Beast Hunter, through the adventure. Rules for creating and advancing characters are provided in the Character Creation and Development chapter.

Goal: You need to decide whether the group is hunting a Beast or pursuing a different kind of adventure. While most Beasts can only be fought by one Hunter in the end, multiple Hunters can pursue the Beast together until that point and then decide which one of them deserves the glory of facing it. If the adventure is not about a Beast, the Hunters need to select a different goal (or have the Challenger establish one).

Pool: The Pool provides the Challenger with the currency to "buy" elements of challenges, such as enemies that the Hunter must face. If the Hunters are hunting a Beast, the Pool is determined by multiplying the particular Beast's Pool requirement by the number of Hunters who participate in the adventure (see the chapter on Beast Hunts for more details). If they aren’t, the Hunters can select how many points there are in the Pool for the whole adventure. When the Pool is empty (and the Beast, if they are hunting one, is defeated), the adventure concludes and the Hunters receive a chance to refresh their characters. The more points you put in the Pool, the longer the adventure will take to play out (and the more challenging it will be). At the same time, each point in the Pool represents a reward point that the Hunters can earn during this adventure to improve their characters’ abilities.

Limit: The Limit is the maximum amount of Pool points that the Challenger can put forward during the negotiation phase of any single challenge involving one Hunter. If the Hunters are pursuing a Beast, the Limit is set by the Beast listing. Otherwise, the Hunters determine it during the setup of the adventure. The higher you set the Limit, the more difficult each challenge can be. When more than one Hunter is involved in a particular challenge, the Limit is multiplied by the number of Hunters. For example, if the Limit is 10 and 3 Hunters are involved in the negotiation, the Challenger can put up to 30 tokens from the Pool on the table.

You will need the following things on hand to start your adventure:  A pile of tokens (such as coins) to keep track of the Pool for the duration of the adventure.  Two ten-sided dice.  Pencils and erasers.  Sheets for characters and adversity.  Scratch paper or index cards. Opening Salute

Before play begins, the Hunters and the Challenger salute each other in Chel'qhuri fashion by grabbing each other's lower right arm with their right hand (think of it as reaching too far into a hand shake and taking hold of the lower arm instead). This salute expresses the intention of the players to respect each other, play for fun, and separate in-game activities from their outside relationship. That separation goes both ways: connections outside of the game, such as animosity or romantic interest, stay outside and don't interfere with the purpose of the game. Healthy competition and in-game events stay within the game and should not be taken personally. That doesn't mean you should not talk about what you liked or disliked about the game afterwards; you should definitely do that. It means that you recognize that part of the Challenger's job, for example, is to make things tough for the Hunter, and you don't carry any bad feelings about that outside of the game just because you lost an adventure. You respect and accept each other's role in playing this game together.

This gesture is similar to saluting in at a martial arts class. You acknowledge mutual respect and the fact that for the duration of the event, you will push each other hard, maybe enough to cause a little pain, but you both know that you do it to help the other person grow. It expands the boundaries of your interactions for the sake of the activity you'll be doing together.

Be sure to discuss any optional rules or modifications that you are going to use before you salute in, because once you’ve saluted in, discussion is over and it’s on. Free Play

Like most roleplaying games, this one should have a good amount of free play time. That is, the Hunters and the Challenger simply play out events, with the Hunters describing what their characters do and the Challenger acting for all other characters, beasts, and the environment. However, the Challenger cannot throw challenges at the Hunters without invoking the negotiation rules (see below).

While the Challenger controls all characters other than the Hunters’, the Hunters retain veto rights over characters that are named in their traits and over actions that concern their original tribe as a whole, for example “Your mother commits suicide” or “Your tribe casts you out.” They can negate anything that the Challenger decides about the actions of these characters and the tribe, but should only do so if the actions ruin the players’ enjoyment of the game. If you need to discuss these issues, take a break and resolve them before continuing the game. Challenges

Once the Hunters encounter obstacles that prevent their characters from reaching a goal, whether it's the adventure's goal or a smaller goal that the Hunters have determined, a challenge is declared. This process begins with negotiation. The Challenger explains to the Hunters exactly what the problem is, whether it's a group of bandits blocking the way, fire raining from the sky, or a sudden onslaught of doubt in the characters’ minds possibly planted by evil spirits haunting the area.

The Challenger, when freely roleplaying, should allow the Hunters to get their way unless there's an interesting challenge at hand. Stick to that and you will enjoy playing and focusing on the interesting challenges that much more. Remember, the Challenger's budget is limited, and any introduced challenge will cost her, so spend it wisely. Once the Hunters encounter an interesting challenge, use the negotiation rules and/or Conflict Resolution to play through it.

The first thing to be established in a challenge is: what is it about? What’s the outcome that the Hunters are fighting for? What's the goal, what's at stake? If the Hunters don't care, they can always give up at any point during the challenge, so you need to make sure that the stakes are worthwhile. However, if the Hunters give up during Conflict Resolution, the Challenger regains any Pool points that she spent on it.

Challenges can either be presented by the Challenger or asked for by a Hunter. For example, during a Beast Hunt, the Challenger can state that a pack of hungry wolves stands between the character and the entrance to the cave leading to the beast. Or, the Hunter's character is in Norrogaan, and he states: "I want my character to impress the councilor.” The Challenger can then start the negotiation by asking: "How are you going to do that?" The game works best when Hunter and Challenger work together to a certain degree in agreeing on appropriate challenges. A goal like "I want to steal this Chel'qhuri artifact out of the Jos villa” might lead to several challenges, as in: "First you need to sneak into the villa at night, then there are guards, and finally there are traps surrounding the artifact.” Each part could be played as an individual challenge, or it could all be one big challenge, but the Challenger should be explicit about exactly what the challenge is, when it is initiated, and what the goal and possible outcomes are.

Stakes for a challenge cannot be something that would make the character lose or win the whole adventure, unless it’s the very last challenge in the adventure. "Will we be captured?" is a perfectly legitimate stake, because "Will we escape?" can be the next challenge that allows the Hunters to continue the adventure. However, in an adventure where the overall goal is "Make peace between these two tribes", the stakes of a challenge cannot be "Will I establish peace?" because that would solve the larger adventure goal. Also, stakes cannot be effects that are mechanically represented in the game ("Will I gain a +3 trait?" is not an acceptable stake).

Sometimes the Hunters will decide to avoid a particular challenge. They may not care about the stakes involved, or they may just not find the challenge too interesting. The Challenger should take that hint and just move along in the story until a more interesting or less avoidable challenge comes along instead of forcing the Hunters to go through negotiation. The negotiation process is described in detail in the next chapter, and Conflict Resolution in the chapter after that. Conclusion

At some point, the adventure will come to a close. This happens when the Challenger runs out of tokens in the Pool. This has different effects, depending on whether the Hunters are pursuing a Beast or a different goal.

If this is a Beast Hunt, the Hunters finally track down the Beast (or if it’s shown up in the story before, this is when they corner it for a final confrontation). The Beast does not need to be bought with tokens, since it only appears when the tokens are all used up. Most Beasts can only be confronted by one Hunter, so if you have more than one Hunter playing, they need to figure out which one gets to try and kill the Beast and claim its blood for a new tattoo. The Chel’qhuri’s sense of honor would not allow them to gang up on most Beasts, and the Elders, informed by the spirits, would refuse to grant a tattoo for such dishonorable behavior. If the Beast can be confronted by multiple Hunters, however, all of them get to fight it and reap the reward.

If the adventure has a different goal, that goal is achieved when the Hunters win the final challenge. The Challenger should keep an eye on her Pool to make sure that this fits with the way the story is going. In other words, she needs to keep the pace of the story in a way that the last tokens are spent on a challenge that, within the story, has the power to resolve the goal. For adventures that are not Beast Hunts, the Limit is doubled for this final challenge (see Showdown in the Conflict Resolution chapter). Closing Salute and Breaks When you end your session, you salute out the same way that you saluted in (see Opening Salute, above). Only after that, you can (and should) discuss what happened in the game, what you liked and disliked, and what could be better.

If at any point during your session you feel that things are going downhill and you are not enjoying the game, you should announce that you need a break. Discuss the problem and make sure everyone’s on board before you continue to play. Taking a break is also advised when you feel that the in-game events are getting too far out of your comfort zone. For example, if the Challenger decides to offer a challenge by having a character rape another, and the Hunter doesn't want to go there, salute out and talk about it. Don't get pushed where you really don't want to go. Remember that the game is based on mutual respect and entertainment. Summary

Before play starts:

 Each Hunter creates or selects one character to play.  The Hunters determine whether to hunt a particular beast or, alternatively, what the adventure goal is.  The Hunters agree on the Pool, which is the total number of tokens that the Challenger gets for buying obstacles and enemies in the Hunters’ way during this adventure.  The Hunters agree on the Limit, which is the maximum number of tokens that the Challenger can spend during any one challenge.  If the Hunters are pursuing a Beast, the Pool and Limit are listed with that Beast.  The Hunters and the Challenger salute in to start the game.

During play:

 The Hunters play their characters and the Challenger plays all other characters and the environment.  When an interesting challenge comes up during free play, and the Hunters confront it, determine what the goal or stake associated with it is.  The Challenger invokes the negotiation rules from the next chapter to start resolving the challenge.  For long breaks or at the end of the game, or if anything comes up in the fiction that makes a player uncomfortable, the Challenger and Hunters salute out and, if necessary, discuss and address any concerns or feedback.

The conclusion of the adventure:

 For Beast Hunts, the Hunters find the Beast when all Pool tokens are spent.  For other adventures, the adventure goal is successfully achieved when the Hunters win the challenge that uses up the last Pool tokens.  Most Beasts can only be faced by one Hunter. See the Beast Hunts chapter for details.  When the final fight against the Beast or the last challenge in other adventures is concluded, salute out to finish the game. Challenge negotiation Setting Up a Challenge

Whenever a challenge comes up during free play—that is, an interesting and important obstacle in the characters’ path toward the goal of their adventure—the Challenger begins negotiation by placing at least one token (or coin, bead, or whatever else you are using) from her Pool on the table. This represents the value of the challenge at this moment. I suggest starting with one token in most cases, but if you want to make the challenge immediately threatening (and tempting), you can start with more.

The Challenger determines which Hunters are involved in the challenge. For example, if the Hunters split up their character group to explore different parts of the area, not all of them might face this particular obstacle. Sometimes one or more Hunters might want to sit out a challenge as well. For example, one of the Hunters asks them to be able to duel the warrior who insulted him, and even though the other Hunters’ characters are present, they sit out the challenge to honor that request. Once you know how many Hunters are in the challenge, you figure out the effective Limit for it. This is simply done by multiplying the Limit that the Hunters have set for this adventure by the number of Hunters involved in the challenge. For example, if you have two Hunters in a challenge and the Limit is 10, the Challenger can spend up to 20 points on this challenge during negotiation. If the challenge goes to conflict resolution, those tokens are doubled, so you can end up with a number of tokens up to twice the effective Limit to buy adversity.

Next, the Challenger spells out the exact challenge. This includes any characters who stand in the Hunters’ way, the physical surroundings, and anything else that could be useful and that the Hunters’ characters can perceive at that moment. The Hunters can ask clarifying questions (and can make suggestions) that will help them figure out how to deal with the challenge.

Challenges come in a variety of flavors: they could be fights, negotiations, puzzles, chases, illusions, or anything else that puts significant (and interesting) obstacles in the Hunters’ way. In Beast Hunters: Bloodcarved Edition, all of these challenges use the exact same rules, and there are no different domains or types of challenges to worry about.

After the Challenger and the Hunters are satisfied with laying out the initial situation, you start playing through it.

Here’s an example of a negotiation, shown as a dialogue between the Challenger (C) and a Hunter (H).

C: As you walk over the ridge, following the trail of the Hektratan, you see a camp straight ahead. It’s a collection of tents, hastily put up around a campfire. Two people are sitting by the fire. One of them is a female Chel’qhuri while the other looks like a male Tarrag. They have someone tied by the hands and feet lying next to them. The trail leads straight through where they are. [Places two tokens on the table.]

H: I assume they’re brigands. No honorable Chel’qhuri would make camp with a Tarrag. Can I see whether the one who’s tied up is one of ours?

C: Not from this distance.

H: Anyone else around? How many tents are there?

C: There might be people in the tents, but again, you can’t really see. There are five tents, one bigger one and four smaller ones.

H: What are they doing at the fire?

C: Uhm, they are boiling something in a pot.

H: A small pot or a big pot? C: It’s pretty big.

H: So I’ll assume there’s more than two of them, especially with all the tents around. Since it’s almost time to eat that stew, I figure they’re probably around.

C: Probably. [The Challenger hadn’t decided beforehand whether there were more enemies around, but since the Hunter’s observations make sense, the Challenger goes with that.]

H: Could I go around and pick up the trail on the other side?

C: Sure. [Reaches for the two tokens to take them back if the Hunter will avoid the challenge; then decides to raise the stakes a bit.] As you ponder that, the tied-up prisoner starts yelling curses at the other two in the Chel’qhuri tongue, and the Tarrag kicks her in the stomach to shut her up.

H: Grr. I’m going in, mother’s sword and Maiqhar’s shield at the ready.

C: [Smiles and pulls her hand back.]

Playing It Through

The Hunters begin by describing how their characters deal with the situation that the Challenger has presented to them. In the example above, maybe the Hunter will try to intimidate the bandits, sneak up on them, or just attack them outright.

As the Hunters describe how their characters are addressing the challenge, the Challenger determines how the opposition reacts. This might lead to expanding or changing the location and introducing new characters, dangers, and complications.

Each time the Challenger describes something that makes the challenge harder or more prolonged, she puts at least one additional token from the Pool on the table. This raises the stakes for the challenge in two ways: it gives her a higher budget to spend on adversity should she go to Conflict Resolution, and it raises the number of reward points that the Hunters can earn by winning the challenge.

The Challenger can only place up to the effective Limit of the challenge on the table. For example, if the Limit of the adventure is four and there are three Hunters involved in the challenge, the effective Limit is 12, so the Challenger can put up to 12 tokens from the Pool on the table during negotiation.

The Challenger can give or go to Conflict Resolution at any time (see below) instead of continuing negotiation. However, once she has placed all of the tokens on the table that she is allowed to and the Hunters have answered her latest complication, she has to do one or the other and can’t continue negotiation. C: So you’re marching toward the brigands?

H: Yes. Like I said, I have sword and shield at the ready. I’m looking as intimidating as I can, my eyes narrowed, my steps firm and unwavering.

C: The brigands see you and jump up, drawing their own weapons. [Places another token on the table.] They don’t seem to be too impressed.

H: Hmm, I guess they do outnumber me. I start yelling at them, cursing in Chel’qhuri, telling them how I’m going to rip their bodies to shreds and feed their flesh to the dirtiest worms in the mud pits.

C: Wow, well, they do seem a little taken aback. They exchange glances, probably wondering if this is really worth it. But just in that moment, a large man comes out of one of the tents, drawn by your yelling. He is heavy and round, with a large belly, fleshy arms, and a large bald head. He has a worn-looking sword in his right hand and a cleaver in his left. [Places two more tokens on the table.]

H: Oh, great. They brought a butcher.

Giving or Conflict Resolution

If at any time during the negotiation the Challenger believes that the Hunters have covered all bases and provided a fitting solution to the challenge, the Challenger can give. That means the Hunters win the challenge and achieve the associated goal. The Hunters receive all of the Pool tokens on the table as reward points, which they can use to develop traits, resources, and other aspects of their characters. The Hunters who were involved in the negotiation are responsible for distributing the points amongst themselves.

Alternatively, the Challenger can decide to use dice, traits, and actions to resolve the challenge. This is called Conflict Resolution, which is a way of zooming in on the conflict and playing it out in more detail. If the Challenger chooses this path, she immediately doubles the number of tokens of the table and uses those to buy adversity, as described in the following chapter.

Notice that the Challenger can’t make the Hunters lose the challenge during negotiation. She can only let them win or go to the dice to settle it.

C: Hah, alright, let’s call him that. The Butcher stares you down, and the other two brigands regain their confidence.

H: I can take them. I’m going to approach them slowly, then duck under the first swing, kick the brigand’s leg, and push him against the others. C: Alright, I’ve got five tokens on the table, and the Limit is five, so I can’t place any more. Since what you describe won’t solve this obstacle completely, let’s go to Conflict Resolution. You can use that move as your first maneuver.

H: Bring ‘em on.

Partial Giving

If the Hunters manage to overcome part of the adversity during negotiation, but they don’t completely solve the problem, the Challenger can give them one or more of the tokens on the table and use the remainder for Conflict Resolution. This can be used in situations where the Challenger feels that the Hunters’ cool actions during negotiation should be rewarded even though they did not completely address the situation.

In the running example, the Hunter could have shoved one of the brigands into the fire during negotiation. Instead of resolving that action during Conflict Resolution as the Hunter’s first maneuver, the Challenger could accept the move and give the Hunter one or two of the tokens on the table before going to Conflict Resolution to represent the fact that one of the brigands has been dealt with. Summary

When an interesting challenge arises in your story:

 The Challenger places a token on the table and presents the situation.  The Hunters ask questions and describe their initial solution.  Take turns with the Challenger adding complications, each time placing one or more additional tokens on the table, and the Hunters reacting and trying to overcome the obstacle.  The Challenger can only place half the effective Limit (base Limit times Hunters in the conflict) in tokens on the table.  At any time, but definitely once the effective Limit is reached and the Hunters answered the Challenger’s latest complication, the Challenger can either give or go to Conflict Resolution.  Giving means acknowledging that the Hunters overcame the challenge and handing them the tokens on the table as reward points, then returning to free play.  Going to Conflict Resolution means doubling the tokens on the table and using the rules from the next chapter to zoom in on the conflict.  The Challenger can give one or more of the tokens to the Hunters before going to Conflict Resolution to represent a partial success in overcoming the challenge.

Conflict resolution Buying Adversity

Once the Challenger decides to play through the challenge using the Conflict Resolution rules, the first thing she needs to do is to buy adversity, which is the opposition to the Hunter. When moving from negotiation to conflict resolution, she doubles the number of tokens on the table (using more tokens from the Pool), and then she uses this pile of tokens to buy the opposition.

There are different types of adversity you can buy, for two reasons. First, there are more tactical options that a player can deal with when the opposition varies. For example, bringing in adversity with high defensive resources will require different tactical play than adversity with high offensive resources. Second, it allows the Hunters to face adversity that correlates to the fictional events. For example, if you want to introduce a fast animal that that attacks the Hunters’ characters, you can give it high traits assigned to defense but a low-rated armor resource (if any). Similarly, you could have a slow yet tough bear with lots of wound circles but low traits.

We’ll continue the example from the last chapter. The Challenger had five tokens on the table representing the brigands, so now she doubles that to 10. She will use these 10 tokens to buy adversity representing the brigands.

Basic Stats

Each enemy bought for one token starts with no traits, one outer wound circle, one core wound circle, and an initiative of 1. Any additional or higher traits, wound circles, and initiative ratings have to be purchased as outlined below. The Challenger can buy up to twice as many adversity characters as there are Hunters involved in the conflict. An adversity character can represent one or more actual people, creatures, or other threats (in other words, you can represent groups of people as one adversity character).

Each adversity character will have a separate adversity rating, which is the number of tokens you spent on that particular adversity. The adversity rating makes a difference for some actions within conflict resolution, so make a note of it. Beasts, which of course were not bought with tokens, have adversity ratings equal to the sum of their two highest traits.

The total number of tokens used to buy all adversity characters represents the challenge rating of this particular challenge (which cannot be higher than twice the effective Limit, given that only up to the effective Limit was placed during negotiation and then doubled). The challenge rating is the number of reward points that the Hunter will earn for winning the conflict.

C: I’ve got 10 points to spend. I could split them up to make several opponents, but I think I’ll just count them all together as one adversity. That’ll be easiest to handle. H: That works for me.

C: So one adversity called “Brigands,” starting with initiative 1, one outer wound circle, and one core wound circle. [Writes it down on an index card.] If you beat these guys, you’ll get 10 reward points. And now I can flesh them out with the remaining nine points.

Initiative

Each adversity starts with an initiative of 1. You can raise this rating by 1 point for each 2 tokens you spend, up to a maximum initiative of 5.

C: You’re starting this fight, so I don’t see a reason for them to be the first ones to act. I’ll leave their initiative at 1.

Traits

Pay 1 token per +2 of each trait, up to +10. After that, pay 1 token per additional +1 to a limit of +15 (which has a total cost of 10). You can buy as many traits as you want, but as with the Hunters’ characters, only three of them can be assigned to each offense and defense during the conflict.

Adversity traits do not have a specialty associated with them when you first buy them. That means most adversity won’t be able to use the tagging options associated with trait specialties (more on that later in this chapter). But you can pay 2 tokens per trait to give it a specialty (Brutality, Cunning, or Spirituality). This cost is independent of the rating of the trait.

C: I’m going to buy “Flanking” as their first trait. It’s not going to have a specialty. I’ll rate it at +2, so that costs me one token. Let’s see, I have eight tokens left. I’m going to buy “Butcher’s Strength” as a second trait at +4, also without specialty. So that costs two tokens, leaving me with six. I’ll also take “Brigand Tactics” as a +4 trait for another two tokens, with leaves four.

Wound Circles

Every adversity starts out with one outer and one core wound circle. Each additional outer circle costs 2 tokens, up to a maximum of 4 additional outer circles at a cost of 8 tokens. The only time you can buy core circles, on the other hand, is for showdowns (that is, the last challenge in an adventure that uses up all remaining adversity tokens), in which case each additional core circle costs 5 tokens.

C: With my remaining four tokens, I’m buying two additional outer circles. That means they have three outer wound circles and one core wound circle. That way, the circles can represent the different brigands you have to take out, to a certain degree. Resources

After you’ve finished spending your tokens, the adversity characters get item resources for free. Simply split up their adversity rating as the bonus to one or more offensive and defensive resources. For example, if you spent 6 tokens on traits and 4 tokens on two additional outer wound circles for a total adversity rating of 10, you can create resources whose bonuses add up to +10. It’s up to you whether that’s one resource worth +10, two worth +5, three worth +2, +2 and +6, or any other combination of up to four resources. You can use less than the allowance, which makes it easier on the Hunters, but their spoils will be less as well (since the only way for Hunters to gain new items is by taking them from defeated enemies).

C: Since I paid 10 points for the brigands, I get to make resources whose ratings add up to +10. First, the Butcher’s weapons are going to be “Sword and Cleaver,” an offensive resource at +6.

H: That’s pretty substantial.

C: Yup, but it leaves me only with +4 for other resources. I’ll give them “Light Armor” at +2 for defense and “Small Blades” at +2 for offense in case you disarm the Butcher.

Playing Out the Challenge

Once the Challenger has bought the adversity for this challenge, it’s time to play through it. Players take turns taking actions, and assuming neither side gives during the challenge (which they can do at any time), the player who first defeats everyone on the other side (by marking their core circles) wins the challenge.

Initial Assignments

Every character in the conflict gets to assign one of their traits to either offense or defense before they begin taking turns. These assignments can later be changed with the Assign Trait action.

C: The brigands are going to assign “Brigand Tactics” to offense. That’ll give them +4 to maneuver rolls against you.

H: I’m going to assign “Keen Insight” to offense, which is +3.

Initiative

The initiative rating of the characters involved determines in which order everyone takes actions during a round. This fixed rating depends on the characters of the Hunters and the adversity bought by the Challenger. The characters with the highest initiative go first, followed by the next lower ones, and so on. In case of a tie, the Hunter in question decides who goes first—and if the Hunter lets the adversity go first, the Hunter immediately earns two bonus reward points. The Hunter can also do this is she has the higher initiative. C: Alright, so you're facing the group of three bandits that are planning to cut you to pieces. They’re all counted as one adversity, as a squad of enemies rather than each one individually. What’s your initiative again?

H: I've got an initiative of 1.

C: Their initiative is 1 as well, so you can decide who goes first.

H: I do. They’re too dangerous to let them go first, even if that would earn me bonus reward points.

Taking Turns

Each player gets to take two actions during her or his turn. However, they have to be two different kinds of actions. For example, a player could take a maneuver and a strike action, but not two strike actions The available actions are:

 Select Target  Assign Trait  Maneuver  Strike  Achievement  Claim Resource  Transfer Resource  Transfer Advantage

The first thing you will need to do in any conflict is to select your target, even if you’re only facing one opponent. If there are several targets, you’ll have to select a new target at some point.

Next, you will use maneuvers to accumulate advantage against your selected target. Traits are used to gain bonuses on maneuver rolls, either your offensive ones against your target or your defensive ones against other characters’ maneuvers, depending on where you assign them.

After you’ve built up some advantage, you use Strikes to trade that advantage for damage. Your resources add to or subtract from damage during strikes and can be taken away or even used by the opposition with Claim Resource actions.

Achievements are aimed at smaller story goals during a conflict, such as keeping someone save or capturing a particular item in the heat of battle.

And finally, if you have more than one Hunter involved in the conflict, they can transfer their resources and advantage points between them to help each other against tougher adversity. Actions Select Target

This action allows you to pick your target from the enemy side. You can do maneuvers, strikes, and other actions only against your target, and if you have not selected one, your options are limited to assigning traits. Therefore, your first action in any conflict will usually be selecting a target. You must do this even if there is only one enemy (this provides some pacing for the first round).

If you want to act against another target at any time during the battle, including after disposing of your current enemy, you need to take this action again to be able to do that. If the new target has an equal or lower adversity rating than your current target, you get to keep all of your advantage points and use them against the new target. However, if the new target has a higher adversity rating, you have to cut your advantage points in half (rounded up as usual). When the Challenger uses this action to select a different Hunter character as the target of an adversity character, the advantage points are always halved.

H: As my very first action, I’m going to select my target. Do I have to pick out one of these guys?

C: Oh, no. They are one adversity, like I said. So you target them as a whole. Then you can maneuver against and strike them.

H: Great. That’s what I’ll do.

Assign Trait

When taking this action, you can do one of the following:

1. Assign a previously unassigned trait to your offense or defense. This trait’s rating will count as a bonus to maneuver, achievement, and claim resource actions. 2. Change any or all of your already-assigned traits’ assignments from offense to defense or vice versa, in any combination. You can use this to shift your stance from offensive to balanced to defensive and back again in the middle of a conflict.

While there is no limit to how many traits you can assign to offense or defense, your actions only use your three highest traits assigned to each purpose.

When you assign a trait, you have to explain how it plays into the current situation in your story.

H: As my second action in the first round, I'm going to assign "I Will Make My Mother Proud" as an offensive trait. It's rated +4. [Writes "O" for offensive after the trait.]

C: So what does that mean in the fiction? H: Well, as the brigands advance toward Yaqhara, she scowls and moves her axe back and forth, very slowly and deliberately. She eyes them up and judges them worth her while; defeating three enemies at once will surely be worth some glory in her mother's eyes, even if two of them are only men.

C: Hah, very nice. Alright, it’s my turn. [Her first action is to select Yaqhara as the brigands’ target.] Now to my second action. The bandits assign "Flanking +2" as a defensive trait. [Writes "D" for defensive after the trait.] They fan out a little so that you can't keep them all at the center of your vision at the same time, and they try to surround you.

Maneuver

A character can make maneuvers to try and gain advantage over the opposition. You can only make maneuvers against your currently selected target.

There are two steps to making a maneuver: proposal and execution.

First, the Hunter proposes a maneuver that improves the character's situation. In combat, that could be charging with a flurry of hits, pushing the enemy into the wall, or taking one enemy into a lock and using him as a shield against the others. In social conflicts, this could be calling in favors, proposing alliances against the other side, making a charming statement, or decrying the opposition’s blasphemous activities. In any case, the Hunter describes what the character is trying to do, both in terms of the action and the character’s intent.

The Challenger now offers the Hunter a number of advantage points for that move, depending on how well the Challenger thinks the move would work and how cool it is. The minimum offer is 2 advantage points. The Hunter can accept the points and conclude the action, or roll to execute it with dice instead. Choosing the dice is riskier and can lead to no advantage points at all, but it can also garner more points than the Challenger was willing to offer.

If the Hunter rejects the offer, he executes the action by rolling two ten-sided dice (2D10) and adding all bonuses from traits assigned to offense. For example, a Hunter with the traits "Hunter’s Lineage +2" and "My Spear Is My Life +3" both assigned to offense rolls the dice (for a sum between 2 and 20) and adds 5 points for a total range of 6 to 24.

The opposing player makes a defensive roll with 2D10 and adds all traits assigned to defense. In this example, the Hunter's opponent, a brigand with only one active defense trait, "Coward +2", rolls 2D10 and only adds 2 points for a total range of 4 to 22.

If the player performing the maneuver achieves a higher result than the defender, he gains advantage points in the amount of the difference between the two outcomes. For example, if the Hunter's roll of 2D10+5 resulted in a sum of 16 and the defender's roll of 2D10+2 only resulted in a 5, the Hunter would gain 11 advantage points. If the maneuvering player’s outcome is lower, however, he gains nothing. The Challenger always rolls for her advantage points when she’s performing a maneuver. That is, the Hunter never makes an advantage point offer to the Challenger. But the Challenger should still try to come up with captivating descriptions of the actions of the opposition to represent those rolls.

Once you’ve determined how many (if any) advantage points are earned, whether from accepting the offer or rolling the dice, the defender gets to describe the effect of the action. The defender should take the amount of earned advantage points into account in the description. For example, if the attacker risked going to the dice and did not earn any advantage points, the defender can describe completely blocking or dodging the maneuver or otherwise not being impacted at all. If the earnings were high, however (10 and above), the defender should describe how their opposition gains the upper hand on them.

Keep in mind that the Challenger always has the option to give (to determine that the Hunters instantly win the whole challenge), which should only be exercised if the Hunter’s described action blows the Challenger’s mind and seems both doable and overwhelmingly effective, and in that case, the Challenger definitely should give. Other very cool but not conflict-ending actions can just be rewarded with high offers. 15 or 20 guaranteed advantage points are worth a lot.

Note: Resources are not used in maneuvers.

H: Okay, my turn again. [Activates “Miaqhar Is My Nemesis” as a defensive trait for the first action this turn.]

C: So what's Yaqhara's next move?

H: Okay, let's see. I'll do a maneuver. Yaqhara approaches them slowly as they come at her, but suddenly she jumps forward, ducking under the slash of one of the guys. She grabs him by the throat, kicks him in the back of the knee, then throws him against the second guy to keep them both busy while she whirls and swings at the Butcher with her axe.

C: That's a pretty cool move! Let's see, you've got +4 from "I Will Make My Mother Proud" and +3 from "Keen Insight," so your total offensive bonus is +7. They have +2 defense, so you're up 5 there. Let's add another 5 because I liked your description, so that I'm going to offer you a total of 10 advantage points for the maneuver. Do you take it or do you want to risk a roll?

H: Hmm. I could get more points in a roll, but I could also get none, and this is a good step above average. I'll take it. [Writes down 10 advantage points on the character sheet--this means the Hunter and Challenger won't have to roll dice for this maneuver.]

C: The two you pushed fall to the ground. You lunge at the Butcher, who tries to bring up his weapons, but you give him a nice gash on the shoulder. [The description of the maneuver effect ends the action.]

H: Your turn again. C: [For her first action this turn, she activates “Butcher’s Strength” and assigns it to offense.] Alright, for my second action they do a maneuver. They have +4 from the “Butcher’s Strength” trait I just activated for offense and +4 from Brigand Tactics for a total of +8.

H: I only have “Miaqhar Is My Nemesis” on defense for +2.

C: Okay. The two you pushed together fell to the ground. However, they get up while you trade blows with the Butcher, and one of them tries to bullrush you from behind. [Grabs her 2D10 to roll, as the Challenger never gets offered advantage points and always rolls dice instead.]

H: Let him try. [Grabs 2D10.]

C: [Rolls 2D10 for a total of 12, +8 makes 20.]

H: [Rolls 2D10 for a total of 11, +2 makes 13.]

C: 20 minus 13 makes 7. [Writes down 7 advantage points for the brigands.]

H: Eh, that's not too great. The guy manages to ram into me and momentarily gets me off balance, but he also takes me out of the range of the Butcher. [The description of the maneuver effect ends the action.]

Strike

A player can perform a strike using accumulated advantage points. While minor cuts and bruises can be inflicted during maneuvers (or even individual members of a large group be killed if they’re all part of one adversity), strikes are the only way that a character can deal actual damage to another character or group that will eventually defeat them. That means that you could have two characters facing off, maneuvering for a while without ever attacking, until finally one of them lunges forward to use the weakness he spotted. Or a Hunter could be cutting down minor soldiers of an army left and right, but the real damage to their coherence and morale is only done once she strikes at the Lieutenant in the middle of all this. Similarly, in a social challenge, a character could make alliances but not have them be exposed until the most opportune moment. In a mental duel of willpower, one character could deliver powerful statements that sow internal doubt or even shatter the other character's resolve.

When performing a strike, the attacker needs to describe what they are aiming to do. However, they need to be aware that they don’t know how effective their strike is until the dice are rolled. In many cases, it’s better if the attacker waits to narrate what their strike looks like until after damage has been determined. Then the attacker describes the strike and the defender describes the damage in the fiction.

In order to make a strike, you can take any number of six-sided dice (“D6”) you choose. You can only make a strike against your current target, and you have to have at least one advantage point. Roll the dice and add them all together. This dice result is the number of advantage points you spend on this strike. Subtract it from your current advantage point total before moving on to determining the effect. If the dice result is higher than the number of advantage points you had, your attack was too risky and you receive backlash damage (see below). For this reason, you should choose the number of D6 to roll very carefully. Obviously, the safe thing to do is to roll one die for each full six advantage points you have.

To determine the damage you are doing to your opponent with the strike, take the dice result, add your highest offensive resource, and subtract the target’s highest defensive resource to determine the damage total. Multiple resources of the same type do not apply; they act as backup in case someone claims one of your resources (see below).

For every 10 full points of the damage total, mark off one of the target’s outer wound circles. When all of the outer circles are marked, you can mark core circles with each full 20 points of (remaining) damage total. If your damage total is 9 or less (or 19 or less if your opponent only has core circles left), you do not inflict any damage.

If you mark a core circle and this is not the very last conflict of your adventure (a Showdown or Beast Fight, depending on your adventure type), the target is defeated and out of this conflict. Defeated characters no longer participate in the battle, and their resources are available to be claimed by others. If this is a Showdown or a Beast Fight, characters are only defeated when all of their core circles are marked.

Note: Traits are not used in Strikes.

H: Time to hit them where it hurts. I strike at the brigands.

C: You’ve got 10 advantage points. How many D6 are you going to roll?

H: I’ll take a little risk and roll 2D6. Chances are I won’t get backlash damage.

C: Alright, if you want to take that risk.

H: [Rolls 2D6 for a total of 9.] I’ve got a nine, so that leaves me with one advantage point after this strike. No backlash for me. I’m using Yaqhara’s “Pride” resource to strike, which adds +8 to the dice rating, for a total of 17.

C: The brigands have their “Light Armor” defensive resource with a +2 to subtract from your result, so your end result is +15. That means you damage one of their outer circles.

H: Sounds good. So Yaqhara kicks the Chel’qhuri brigand against the Butcher, whirls around, and swings her mother’s axe against the Tarrag. C: The kick buys you enough time, and your axe surprises the Tarrag. You hit him straight in the temple, cracking his skull. He goes down and stays down, twitching. [The effect description ends the strike action.]

H: Whoa, he’s dead?

C: As good as. But you’ve still got the other two to worry about, and they have two outer circles and a core circle left.

Backlash

If your dice total for any strike roll is higher than your pool of advantage points, you set your advantage points to zero and you take backlash damage. Mark one of your wound circles, plus one for every full 10 points that the dice total was higher than your advantage point pool. The initial wound and the 10-point iterative backlash damage apply first to your outer circles and then, once those are all marked, to your core circles.

Backlash damage is inflicted before the damage on the opponent. This means that you could be defeated by the backlash before your strike lands. In this case, your opponent does not take any damage from your strike.

Both players involved can work together to figure out how the backlash damage is inflicted in the fiction. In physical fights, the attacker was usually too rash and left himself open to an attack. But the damage could be part of the action as well; for example, if the attacker performed a strike by ramming into an enemy and driving her over the edge of a roof, they both might get injured in the fall. Or, during a social debate, the striker may stoop low to insult her opponent, but this action lowers her credibility in the eyes of the audience as well.

C: They do a strike on you. They only have 7 advantage points, but they’ll roll 3D6.

H: That’s almost sure to give them backlash damage.

C: Well, right now, the Butcher is enraged and doesn’t care. [Rolls 3D6 for a total of 16.] That used up all seven of their advantage points and goes nine points beyond. That means they suffer one circle worth of backlash damage; one more point and it would have been two. They still had two outer circles, so this damages one of them and leaves them with one outer and one core circle. Now we just have to figure out how it happened.

H: What if I used the other brigand as a shield?

C: Great idea. You grab the Chel’qhuri brigand in a chokehold as the Butcher comes swinging for you. You turn to bring her in between you and the blow. Her eyes widen as the huge cleaver comes down. It slices straight through her, cutting her in half along her neck and chest, but it hits you too. H: I’ve got Miaqhar’s Shield. Does that help me even in this situation?

C: Well, you always get its benefit, so we have to make it fit. Let’s say you brought the shield up, so the Butcher had to attack from a less than perfect angle, but the cleaver still hit you both. The Butcher gets +6 from “Sword and Cleaver” for a total of 22, minus 5 from your shield makes 17. So that’s one outer circle’s worth.

H: Ouch. The massive cleaver slices through the Chel’qhuri brigand and cuts across my chest. Not deeply, but blood starts running down my front. I stumble backwards, breathing heavily, and drop both halves of the brigand to the ground. This is going to be tougher than I thought. [The effect description ends the strike.]

Achievement

Sometimes one of the players will want to achieve something in the midst of a challenge that can't be expressed simply as damage. For example, the Hunter might want to leave a scar on an enemy, make sure that the innocent tribespeople get to safety before the brigands get to them, or impress a love interest during a heated debate with the tribal chief. These special effects are normally too small to be considered challenges in themselves, but they are still significant to the players and can make a great tool for branching your story into different directions. Also, any serious damage to characters other than the Beast Hunter or his direct opposition must be achieved through a goal.

When a player wants to establish a goal, she explains to the opposing player what the desired effect is. The players then assign the goal a difficulty rating together. The default rating is 1. The Challenger and each Hunter in the conflict can add 1 to this difficulty (if there are three Hunters, for example, two of them could add to the difficulty while one does not). This difficulty represents the head start that the Challenger gets for rolling dice to resolve the goal in her favor.

Achievements allow the players to add dice to their side of the outcome roll for a goal. The player who chooses this action first describes how she works toward tipping the goal in her side's favor, then spends advantage points. The cost for this is 4 advantage points per D6 added to her side. However, unlike strikes, these dice are not rolled immediately.

Goals are resolved when both sides agree to roll the outcome dice. This can happen at any time during a conflict (and without either side spending an action). The Challenger rolls the difficulty rating in D6 plus any D6 that the adversity added with Achievements, and the Hunters roll any D6 they bought with Achievements, with the higher sum determining the outcome of the goal. Ties go to the Hunters.

Any leftover goals are resolved at the end of a conflict. If the Hunter won the conflict and has AP remaining, she can use them to buy more dice for the leftover goals before they are resolved; however, the cost goes up to 6 advantage points per outcome die.

Whenever a goal is resolved in the Hunters’ favor, they earn reward points in the amount of twice the difficulty (for example, 4 reward points for difficulty 2). These are bonus reward points that do not come out of the adversity pool. The Hunters can divide these up amongst all of the Hunters that were involved in the conflict.

Both players have a responsibility not to bring up goals that are unrelated to the challenge at hand. If you think the other player’s proposal is unrelated, say so. Prolonged discussions about it need to be conducted after saluting out.

H: It's not enough for me just to beat these guys anymore. I want tales of my battle to spread in the nearby villages, letting my enemies know that I'm coming for them.

C: Very cool. That sounds like an achievement to me. Let's just call it "Spreading Yaqhara's Name", because that works even if the opposition win the challenge. The basic difficulty is 1. It shouldn't be that hard, so I won't add to that. [Writes the goal on a slip of paper]

H: I won't add to it either; 1 is fine with me. So was that my action then?

C: Oh, no. Making a goal is free. You need to use an achievement action to get dice for its outcome, though.

H: Ah right, I'll do that. I have 12 advantage points by now. [She has taken more maneuver actions since the last example part.] I'll spend 8 of them to buy 2 outcome dice for my side of the goal. [Changes advantage points from 12 to 4]

C: Sure. Since the difficulty is 1, that means I'll roll 1D6 for the adversity's side and you'll now roll 2D6 for your side. Do you want to resolve it right away, or do you want more chances to add dice throughout the conflict? Either way is fine with me.

H: Let's do it now. [Rolls 2D6 for a total of 4]

C: Alright. [Rolls 1D6 for a result of 4]

H: It's a tie! Luckily, Hunters win ties. So when the conflict is over, any survivors, or maybe the prisoner, will run around spreading tales about my combat prowess.

C: Yep, even if by some crazy turn of events the bandits end up winning, they’ll be impressed by how hard you fought. And you get 2 bonus reward points for achieving a goal of difficulty 1.

H: Sweet. That'll go toward raising one of my traits later, due to my increased reputation.

Claim Resource

At the beginning of a conflict, all of the items are in the possession of characters. However, if an enemy is defeated, their resources count as being “on the playing field.” This means that no one is actually holding on to them. To take a resource from the playing field, make a 2D10 roll and add your two highest traits assigned to either offense or defense (this could be two traits assigned to offense, two assigned to defense, or one from each). Your opposition gets to roll against you with 2D10, adding the two highest assigned traits of any enemies that have selected you as their target (so the two traits could come from two different enemies). If you beat the other side, you get possession of the resource.

To take a resource from another character, make an opposed 2D10 roll. Both characters add their highest two assigned traits. If you beat the other side’s result by a difference of 1 to 9 points, the resource is put on the playing field, claimed by no one. If you beat them by 10 points or more, you get possession of the resource.

Any character can only hold 4 resources at a time. Whether you are trying to claim the resource from the field or from another character, you can decide to drop one of your resources onto the playing field to free up space for the new resource when you succeed at your roll. If you decide not to do this, the claimed resource is placed on the playing field instead.

Transfer Resource

If you’ve got more than one character on your side, you can use this action to transfer a resource to another character. The benefiting character does not have to spend an action to receive it. There’s no roll required, the transfer always succeeds. The players simply describe how the transfer occurs in the story.

Transfer Advantage

A player can use this action to transfer advantage points from one character to another. This action automatically succeeds. If the recipient’s current target has a higher adversity rating than the giving character’s current target, the transferred points are halved (rounded up). When the Challenger is transferring advantage points from one adversity character to another, the points are always halved. In either case, the player describes how their character assists the benefitting character and gives them such an advantage. Tagging Traits

Each trait can be tagged once per adventure to achieve a special effect, with the effect depending on the specialty of the trait and its rating. There are three basic tagging options, one for each trait specialty. Some tattoos that the Hunters can earn add additional options to this list while others modify the effects of the basic tag options.

The trait needs to be assigned to be tagged (although it doesn’t matter whether it’s assigned to offense or defense). Tagging a trait does not cost an action.

For beginning characters, tagging has relatively small effects and will be a minor part of the game. This lets new players focus on the main conflict resolution system without juggling too many choices. But as the Hunters raise their traits and acquire tattoos, it will become a central part of their tactical repertoire.

Vicious Strike (Brutality)

When a character performs a strike, its player can tag a Brutality trait to make the blow particularly vicious. This tagging is done after the player makes their roll. It adds half of the rating (rounded up) of the trait as a bonus to the roll. However, it also raises the number of advantage points used up and counts for backlash purposes.

H: Time to chip away at the Butcher. I’m striking with 2D6 again. [Rolls for a sum of 3.] Wow, what a horrible roll. At least it only uses up 3 of my advantage points. Adding my Pride still gets me up to 11.

C: Yeah, but his Light Armor defensive resource gets it down to 9. So no damage.

H: I want to get him, though. I’ll tag my “I Will Make My Mother Proud +4” trait to use Vicious Strike and get +2 to the roll. That gets me back to doing an outer circle worth of damage.

C: Alright, but you also use up 5 advantage points instead of 3.

H: Totally worth it. I use a move my mother taught me: I duck underneath one of the Butcher’s swings and swing my axe full force at his leg even as I dive forward to roll past him.

C: I totally see this happening in slow motion, with his cleaver going over your head as you twist in the air. Your axe slices through his thigh and he yells out. It’s a deep cut, his flesh gaping open, and blood starts pouring down his leg. But he’s still coming for you.

Backup Plan (Cunning)

Whenever a player makes a maneuver roll and doesn’t like the outcome, the player can tag a Cunning trait to ignore the roll completely and gain half of the trait’s rating (rounded up) in advantage points instead. The tagging player has to describe how their character changes their maneuver once it’s obvious that their initial plan isn’t working.

H: I’m doing a maneuver for my next action. I’m going to wait for the Butcher to attack me, then I’m dodging to the left and tripping him to make him fall into the camp fire.

C: Hmm, for that I’ll offer you 4 advantage points.

H: Only 4 points? I’ll roll the dice instead. [Rolls 2D10 and adds +4 for one assigned offensive trait.] Eh, I’ve got a total of 10. C: [Rolls 2D10 and adds +2 from an assigned defensive trait.] I’ve got 12. So you get no points for this maneuver. Should have taken those 4 points I offered!

H: Hold on, I’m going to use Backup Plan. I’ve got Keen Insight +3 active, which is a Cunning trait. I can still use it even though I switched its assignment to defense earlier, right?

C: Yeah, it doesn’t matter what it’s assigned to, as long as it’s not unassigned.

H: Cool. Half of its rating is 2 points. That’s better than nothing.

C: Alright, so after the tripping didn’t work, what did?

H: Right. Well, I tried tripping him, but he was too heavy and pushed me to the ground. From there I grabbed a handful of dirt and threw them into his eyes, then jumped back to my feet.

Spirits’ Blessing (Spirituality)

Whenever this character is the target of a strike, after the roll is made, the player can tag an assigned Spirituality trait to subtract half of its rating from the strike roll. This might prevent the target from taking damage, but it also lowers the number of advantage points that the attacker spends (and might prevent backlash damage).

H: [In the middle of a social conflict later in the adventure.] I’m going to strike at Maiqhar by pointing out to everyone how she failed to keep the soldiers from our territory. “It’s time for someone else to lead our ranging teams, someone who will stand up to the softlings and make sure they never set foot on our lands again!”

C: You’ve got 25 advantage points. How many dice do you roll?

H: I’ll be careful and just roll 4D6. No risk of backlash that way. [Rolls 4D6 for a sum of 17.] So my advantage points go down by 17 to 8. I’m adding my Pride to the roll for a strike total of 25.

C: She has a defensive resource, “Worn Chain Armor,” at +4. Clearly, it shows that she’s been fighting hard, thereby softening your argument. That leaves you with 21.

H: And that’s enough for two outer circles! So she only has her core circle left.

C: Hold on. Most of her traits are general and don’t have a specialty, but her “Leader of the Pack +6” is a Spirituality trait. She’s going to tag it to use Spirits’ Blessing. That reduces your strike roll by 3 points and gets it down to 18. So she only loses one outer circle.

H: But then I’m also spending 3 fewer advantage points on this, leaving me with 11 instead of 8. C: True. Still enough for another strike next round. So, while several tribespeople around you nod their heads at your stinging words, and some even cheer, she’s incurred favor with the tribe and the spirits through her hard work as a leader, which counteracts some of your thrust.

Ending a Conflict

As mentioned in the section on strikes, above, a character is defeated when one of their core circles is marked (unless you are in a Showdown or Beast Fight, in which case they are defeated when all core circles are marked). Once all of the characters on one side of the conflict are defeated, the other side wins the conflict.

A second option for ending a conflict is for either side to give and let the other side win. This can happen at any time, even after an action has been announced. However, if you have rolled dice for the action, it is completely resolved before the conflict ends. For example, a Hunter could give if the adversity announced that they would strike in order to avoid taking damage, even after they have declared how many dice they will use, but if the strike dice have hit the table already, it’s too late.

Reward Points

If the Hunters win the conflict, whether by defeating all of the adversity or because the Challenger gives, they gain reward points in the amount of the challenge rating (that is, the number of tokens used to buy all of the adversity in this challenge). They can distribute these amongst each other in any way they can all agree on.

If the Challenger wins the conflict, the Hunters get reward points for any adversity that they have defeated according to their adversity rating, but they do not get reward points for the adversity that was left standing. Tokens from undefeated adversity are returned to the Adversity Pool instead.

If the Hunters give, they gain no reward points (not even for defeated enemies) and all of the tokens are returned to the Adversity Pool. This does not affect any bonus reward points that the Hunters may have received (from achieving goals, for example).

Resources

If the Hunters won the conflict—and only then—they can acquire any or all of the adversity’s resources for themselves or upgrade their existing resources. This is explained in detail in the Character Creation chapter under Character Development – Gaining and Improving Resources.

Wounds and Healing

At the end of a conflict, all of the Hunters’ outer circles are cleared. However, any core circles that are marked remain so. Hunters whose core circles are all marked are considered to be crippled. This is a condition that lasts throughout the rest of the adventure, unless the Hunter can somehow heal one or more core circles (which is only possible with certain beast tattoos).

Crippled Hunters can continue to participate in the adventure, but they can only take 1 action each turn in battles instead of 2. They also are very vulnerable, given that they have no core circles left to be marked. Therefore, they are considered defeated in future conflicts whenever all of their outer circles are marked. After a conflict, their outer circles are cleared as usual.

This can lead to a situation in which all Hunters are crippled. Usually, the Hunters will choose to abandon the adventure at that time, losing the adventure goal, so that they can start a new adventure all rested and healed. However, they might still want to press on despite being crippled. That’s fine, too; it’ll lead down a hard road and make their Showdown or Beast Fight incredibly difficult, but they may just pull it off.

Death

Beast Hunter characters do not usually die when they are defeated. They are simply knocked out, locked up, chased away, or otherwise inconvenienced (at the leisure of the Challenger), but they can continue the adventure from that position onwards. However, if all Hunters are defeated during the Showdown or Beast Fight, they have two choices: 1) the characters lose the adventure as a whole, but get away with their lives; or 2) one of the characters sacrifices himself and the Hunters win the conflict as well as the adventure.

A Hunter who decides to win the adventure narrates how the character dies or permanently retires, depending on what kind of damage it was. In the case of physical damage, the character is mortally wounded and dies after the adventure concludes in his favor. Fatal social damage leads to the character forever leaving the tribal society behind, maybe to live in the wilderness on his own or to take his life. Fatal mental damage burns out the character's mind or will in a way that makes him unplayable.

If a Hunter decides to sacrifice himself during a Beast Fight, none of the other Hunters (if there are any) can gain a tattoo from this victory. Also, the sacrifice option is off the table when fighting the Qhurym.

Beasts

Most Beasts have two tattoo powers listed. When you slay the Beast, you have to pick which one your character acquires. You can only have one of those two, even if you kill the same Beast multiple times.

Contents

 1 Hektratan (3/20)  2 Pifnir (3/25)  3 Aramantos (4/30)  4 Vharkatas (5/35)  5 Ispalar (6/35)  6 Hazuma (7/45)  7 Thistra (8/45)  8 Subrak (9/50)  9 Khephast (10/60)  10 Myaqhit (10/60)  11 Bhakra (11/65)  12 Origar (12/75)  13 Azanit (13/75)  14 Reghwor (15/85)  15 Vebluss (15/85)  16 Hoch’qhar (10/100)  17 Charn (16/90)  18 Laithura (18/100)  19 Utheqha (20/125)  20 Qhurym (15/250)

Hektratan (3/20)

The hektratan is a cat-sized, agile reptile covered in dark green scales that seem to absorb light, making it hard to detect when it stands still. It has an elongated triangular head with shiny little eyes sunk into deep sockets. Its neck is long and thin, and in stressful situations the hektratan constantly whips its head around to survey its surroundings. This beast does not pose a severe threat to warriors, but as a highly aggressive carnivore, it has been known to attack small children with its thin claws and pointed teeth. The hektratan can cause enough bleeding to severely injure or even kill a child and often goes for the neck. It kills other animals and frequently takes over tunnel systems of animals its own size on the plains of Chel’qhur. Hektratans are the most common magical beasts and are often selected as the first trophy for Beast Hunters.

Initiative: 2 Traits:

 Swift and Mean (Cunning) +2

 Faster Than the Eye (Cunning) +6

Resources:

 Claws and Fangs (Offensive) +2

 Scales (Defensive) +4

Outer Circles: O

Core Circles: O

Special Abilities:

 Quick Thinking: When tagging a Cunning trait to use Backup Plan, you gain the trait’s full rating rather than half as advantage points.

Tattoo Powers:

 Quick Thinking: When tagging a Cunning trait to use Backup Plan, you gain the trait’s full rating rather than half as advantage points.  Prodigy: At the conclusion of an adventure or Beast Hunt, you can tag one trait to immediately gain its rating as bonus reward points.

Pifnir (3/25)

Rodents the size of wolves, pifnir hunt in packs of three or four. They form such close bonds that the entire pack must be killed in order to reap the benefit of their power. It’s also a mercy to kill all of them, as the pack will mourn their losses so deeply that they stop hunting and starve to death. Some believe that a pifnir pack is connected in spirit and can communicate mind to mind. They have bushy tails, unlike many other rodents. Powerful haunches help them leap onto their prey. Pifnir prefer to hunt deer or smaller animals but have been known to attack human children. They live in shallow burrows in wooded areas. Their habitat can be recognized by gnawed tree roots and low branches, as pifnir must wear down their sharp incisors to keep them from growing too long. Their active times are dawn and dusk, when their prey are most likely to be feeding. They hunt so voraciously that they must be thinned out to avoid starvation for the tribes.

Initiative: 2 Traits:

 Pack Mentality (Spirituality) +6

 Leaping Strike (Brutality) +4

Resources:

 Sharp Teeth (Offensive) +4

 Nimble (Defensive) +2

Outer Circles: OO

Core Circles: O

Special Abilities:

 Strength in Numbers: You can tag any trait at the conclusion of a maneuver to gain the trait’s rating in bonus advantage points.

Tattoo Powers:

 Pack Tactics: When you transfer advantage points to another Hunter, you can tag a Spirituality trait to grant half of its rating as bonus advantage points to the other Hunter.  Play Weak: You can tag a Cunning trait to change an opponent’s target from yourself to another Hunter. You can propose a specific Hunter; if the Challenger selects your choice, the adversity keeps all their advantage points. Otherwise, they lose half. You cannot use this power against Beasts whose listed Limit is higher than your tagged trait's rating or other enemies with an adversity rating higher than twice the rating of your tagged trait.

Aramantos (4/30)

The aramantos is a thick-skinned magical mutation of a wild boar. It has massive, sharp tusks, small black eyes, and shaggy gray fur. It can mate with non-magical boars and has a small chance of producing another aramantos in a litter of regular boars. Aramanti are much more aggressive than regular boars. They not only defend their territory, but sometimes roam surrounding areas, attacking anything that doesn’t flee from them.

Initiative: 1

Traits:  Furious Charge (Brutality) +6

 Feel No Pain (Spirituality) +4

 To the Bitter End (Brutality) +4

Resources:

 Big Tusks (Offensive) +3

 Thick Hide (Defensive) +5

Outer Circles: OO

Core Circles: O

Special Abilities:

 Overwhelm: When you inflict damage on an opponent, you can tag a Brutality trait to subtract its rating from the opponent’s accumulated adversity points.

Tattoo Powers:

 Overwhelm: When you inflict damage on an opponent, you can tag a Brutality trait to subtract half of its rating from the opponent’s accumulated adversity points.  Underdog: When you are facing adversity whose sum of their two highest trait ratings is higher than the sum of the two highest trait ratings on your side, you can tag a Cunning trait to gain its rating as starting advantage points in this conflict. If you are facing a Beast, you only gain half of its rating.

Vharkatas (5/35)

The vharkatas is a huge bird that lives in the Tarragat mountains. Its wingspan is twice as wide as a human is tall, and it posesses a sharp crooked beak as well as crescent-shaped talons. The vharkatas is carnivorous, and while it often feeds on animals, it also snatches up small children and carries them back to its nest. Hunting a vharkatas always involves climbing up steep rock walls to reach the nest, which the creature will defend to its death. The vharkatas dives at intruders, snapping and clawing to make them fall down the mountainside. It has a magical ability to conjure up wind, which it uses in combination with its strong claws to pull weapons and armor off any attackers.

Initiative: 2

Traits:  Talons from Above (Brutality) +6

 Fierce (Cunning) +4

 Evasive Flight (Spirituality) +6

Resources:

 Beak and Talons (Offensive) +5

 Evasive (Defensive) +3

Outer Circles: OO

Core Circles: O

Special Abilities:

 Disarm: You can tag any trait to gain a bonus to a Claim Resource roll when the resource is being held by someone else (rather than lying on the battlefield). If you would end up with the resource in your possession, it is placed on the battlefield instead. You can activate this power after making the roll.

Tattoo Powers:

 Disarm: You can tag a Cunning trait to gain a bonus to a Claim Resource roll when the resource is being held by someone else (rather than lying on the battlefield). You gain the trait’s rating as a bonus against regular resources or half its rating against personalized resources. If you would end up with the resource in your possession, it is placed on the battlefield instead. You can activate this power after making the roll.  Heroic Purpose: You can tag a Spirituality trait to gain half its rating as a bonus to an Achievement roll. You can activate this power after making the roll.

Ispalar (6/35)

This airborne monster’s translucent, circular body is six to ten feet across. It has a gas bladder on top to keep it floating, while the flexible lower part of the body contracts into a bell shape and expands to let it “swim” through the air at surprising speeds, trailing its long, fibrous tentacles. The tentacles have venomous stingers that kill small animals or paralyze larger ones, while the ispalar uses its grip on its victim to draw itself down to earth. With the mouth on the underside of its body, it envelops its meal and remains on the ground to digest it. After feeding, the ispalar is buoyant enough to float up into the wind currents and rest, but as that gas is used up, the ispalar drifts lower and lower to the ground until it actively searches for prey. Ispalari often gather in groups and their translucent bodies are quite lovely with sunlight shining through them. When they are within range, they are not hard for humans to kill with an arrow or a well-thrown spear, but the reach of their tentacles can be unexpected and their tendency to group together makes them more formidable. It would be easy for flying predators to attack ispalari from above, but they don’t make an appetizing meal, so humans are their only enemy. The best time to kill them is when they’re on the ground digesting prey. They are most dangerous at night, when they can approach silently and their fine tentacles are nearly invisible. Lacking a brain, they rely on their sense of heat to find their next meal. Ispalar stings are incredibly painful and can leave a distinctive round scar.

Initiative: 2

Traits:

 Lashing Tentacles (Brutality) +4

 Close in for the Kill (Cunning) +4

 Body out of Reach (Cunning) +4

 Floating Maneuvers (Spirituality) +6

Resources:

 Stinger Tentacles (Offensive, Personalized) +6

 No Vitals (Defensive, Personalized) +6

Outer Circles: OOO

Core Circles: O

Special Abilities:

 Entangle and Poison: As a special action, the Ispalar tries to entangle its victim with its stringers and apply contact poison. If the Ispalar’s offensive roll is higher than the victim’s defensive roll, the victim is poisoned and must use 2D6 instead of 2D10 for all rolls for the remainder of the fight.

Tattoo Powers:

 Taunt: You can tag a Cunning trait to change an adversity’s target from another Hunter to yourself. The adversity gets to keep all of its accumulated advantage points. You cannot use this power against Beasts whose listed Limit is higher than your tagged trait's rating or other enemies with an adversity rating higher than twice the rating of your tagged trait.  Poison Immunity: You are immune to the poison effects of ispalari and other Beasts (including azanit and utheqa).

Hazuma (7/45)

The hazuma is a highly dangerous predator. Built like an oversized panther, with long claws and an appetite for blood, hazumi pose a threat to the Chel’qhuri wherever they appear. They have jet black fur, and a row of triangular spikes protrude from their skin, starting on the head and running down the line of the spine. Luckily, they always hunt alone and are very rare. Little is known about their origins or how they produce young, as they usually dwell in Rosvaya west of Chel’qhur. The residents of the Berengad view this area as cursed. Some hazumi have migrated to the Tarragat mountains, where they hunt Tarrag and Chel’qhuri alike. Hazumi have unnatural healing powers and are very hard to kill.

Initiative: 3

Traits:

 Grace and Power (Brutality) +6  Sense Vulnerability (Cunning) +6  Superior Agility(Spirituality) +6  Avoid the Humans’ Sharp Ends (Spirituality) +6

Resources:

 Powerful Bite (Offensive, personalized) +10  Retractable Claws (Offensive, Personalized) +8  Tough (Defensive, Personalized, Special) +10

Outer Circles: OOO

Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:

 Fast Healing: You can spend an action and tag a trait to heal one of your outer circles. In addition, the hazuma’s Tough resource cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected.  Blood Rage: When your first core circle is damaged, you gain 10 advantage points.

Tattoo Powers:  Regenerate: Once per conflict, you can spend an action and tag a Spirituality trait to heal an outer circle of your own per full +5 rating of the trait you are tagging (for example, traits rated +10 to +14 heal two of your outer circles).  Blood Rage: When you are hit by a Strike that damages one of your core circles (during a Beast Fight or Showdown), you gain as many advantage points as your highest-rated Brutality trait (you don’t need to tag it).

Thistra (8/45)

This six-legged parasite only inhabits human hosts. Thistrai are rare but may show up anywhere in the southern Berengad. Young thistrai look like tiny spiders. They enter the host through the ear canal and grow to embrace the brain. At full size they look like leggy crabs with small bodies positioned at the back of the host’s skull. If the host is a child at the time of joining, the skull may have a telltale bump at the back caused by the growing thistra. Eventually the parasite will lay its eggs behind the brain and the developing egg sac will pressure the brain to the point that the human runs mad. When the host is killed, the parasite dies. It is not easy to kill a human inhabited by a thistra, because the parasite lends its host the power to see two or three seconds into the future, and thus avoid most dangers. It also makes the host stronger and faster than normal humans. Thistrai must be handled very carefully, as their long, delicate legs make them extremely fragile when they are full-grown. They are easily broken or crushed and they don’t contain much blood to start with. After killing the host body, a Beast Hunter carefully conveys the head containing the thistra’s corpse to an elder so that the elder can extract the juices to make a tattoo.

Initiative: 5

Traits:

 Anticipate Every Step (Cunning) +14  Supernatural Strength (Brutality) +7  I Know Where You Will Strike (Spirituality) +14  Supernatural Agility (Spirituality) +7

Resources:

 Powerful Blows (Offensive, Personalized) +7  Painless Host (Defensive, Personalized) +7

Outer Circles: OOO

Core Circles: O

Special Abilities:  The Sight. The thistra enables its host to see a few seconds into the most likely future. This allows the host to predict attacks and act accordingly. The thistra can reroll every nondamage roll once. If the reroll turns out worse than the first roll, the vision was off and the reroll still counts.

Tattoo Powers:

 Sure Hands: You sometimes get flashes of where an opponent is moving, though sometimes they turn out wrong. After you make a strike roll, you can tag a Brutality trait rated at least +5 to reroll all of the dice. If you do, you have to keep the second result, even if you like it less than the first.  Anticipate: At the onset of a conflict, when it is time to determine turn order, you can tag a Spirituality trait to anticipate the confrontation. Your initiative counts as one point higher for every full +5 rating of the trait.

Subrak (9/50)

The subrak is a kind of bear that lives in caves deep in the woods of Chel’qhur. Unlike most bears, it never hibernates and is always on the lookout for food. When it stands up on its hind legs, it towers high over any human, and its powerful build is surpassed by few creatures on the Berengad. The Chel’qhuri consider the killing of a subrak an occasion for a feast, as the carcass can often feed a whole nadan at once. Their fangs and claws make for popular adornments. However, bringing down a subrak is a difficult feat, given the bear’s strength, toughness, and aggressive nature. Subrak fall into a rage during combat that makes them even more dangerous.

Initiative: 2

Traits:

 Hulking Brute (Brutality) +10  Furious (Brutality) +10  Sense Fear (Cunning) +5  Large Target (Spirituality) +5  Intimidating (Brutality) +5

Resources:

 Massive Claws (Offensive, Personalized) +12  Jaws (Offensive, Personalized) +8  Furry Hide (Defensive, Personalized) +8  Strong Build (Defensive, Personalized) +4

Outer Circles: OOOO Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:

 Rend: You always roll 3D10 rather than 2D10 for any rolls involving your traits assigned to offense.  Berserker: At the beginning of your turn, you can tag a Brutality trait to go berserk for this round. If you do, both of your actions this turn will be Strikes, and you gain the tagged trait’s rating as a bonus to each roll. This bonus does not raise the number of advantage points spent and does not count for backlash purposes.

Tattoo Powers:

 Berserker: At the beginning of your turn, you can tag a Brutality trait to go berserk for this round. If you do, both of your actions this turn will be Strikes, and you gain half of the tagged trait’s rating as a bonus to each roll. This bonus does not raise the number of advantage points spent and does not count for backlash purposes. If the first Strike defeats an opponent, you can aim at a different target for the second Strike. In either case, at the end of your turn, when you are disoriented from recovering from your rage, your target will be set to no one.  Backstab: You can tag a Cunning trait (and use an action, as usual) to make a Strike against opponent other than your current target. If the victim’s adversity rating is equal to or lower than your current target’s, you get half of the trait’s rating as a bonus to the Strike roll. This bonus does not raise the number of advantage points spent and does not count for backlash purposes.

Khephast (10/60)

Armed with a long and extremely sharp tail as well as two oversized talons, this winged reptilian monster is a fearsome enemy. It dwells in dark caves and abandoned tunnels, venturing out at night to find its prey with eerie precision despite the darkness. Thick gray skin covers its elongated body. The khephast can carry away full-grown humans, and the spike at the end of its long tail is powerful enough to impale its victim in mid-air (though it usually prefers to eat its prey alive once it returns to its nest). The khephast can give an ear-piercing shriek that confuses or even paralyzes its victims, especially in close quarters. Most khephasti live in Rosvaya and the Tarragat mountains.

Initiative: 3

Traits:

 Flyby Attack (Brutality) +13  Killer Instinct (Cunning) +12  Aerial Maneuvering (Spirituality) +12  Shriek (Cunning) +3

Resources:

 Talons and Spiked Tail (Offensive, special) +13  Scales (Defensive, Personalized) +10  Leathery Skin (Defensive, Personalized) +5

Outer Circles: OOOO

Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:

 Confuse: You can tag any trait at any time during your turn to confuse your current target. The victim can only take 1 action during their next turn instead of 2.  Natural Killer: The khephast’s Talons and Spiked Tail resource cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected by others.

Tattoo Powers:

 Confuse: You can tag a Cunning trait on your turn to confuse your current target. The victim can only take 1 action during their next turn instead of 2. You cannot use this power against enemies with an adversity rating higher than twice the rating of the trait you are tagging.  Living Weapon: Your body counts as an offensive resource with a rating that is always equal to your currently highest Brutality trait. This resource does not count against your limit of 4 resources and cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action, transferred, or otherwise be affected.

Myaqhit (10/60)

This mosquito-like insect the size of a human’s head stuns its victims by projecting feelings of doom and apathy. The victim becomes convinced that there is no escape because all his efforts are pointless, and just gives up. The myaqhit has heat-sensing vision to detect areas of greatest bloodflow and stabs its feeding tube into the human to draw out the lifeblood. Found in the Devoran Marsh between Chel’qhur and Illiaz, this is not a common creature but is very dangerous for its size. The Beast Hunter must be careful that she is getting the myaqhit’s blood, rather than the blood of its most recent victim.

Initiative: 3

Traits:  Force of Mind (Brutality) +10  I Know Your Fears (Cunning) +12  Hidden Behind Hallucinations (Spirituality) +15  Adaptive (Spirituality) +8

Resources:

 Sting of Doubt (Offensive, Personalized) +10  Your Worries (Offensive, Personalized) +5  Impenetrable Mind (Defensive, special) +15

Outer Circles: OOOO

Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:

 Mind Over Matter: The myaqhit’s Impenetrable Mind resource cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected by others.  Blurred: The myaqhit can tag any trait to use Spirits’ Blessing and gains the benefit of the trait’s full rating (rather than half).

Tattoo Powers:

 Higher Blessing: When you tag a Spirituality trait to use Spirits’ Blessing or Pack Tactics, you gain the benefit of the trait’s full rating (rather than half).  Blessed Destiny: Your soul counts as a defensive resource with a rating that is always equal to your currently highest Spirituality trait. This resource does not count against your limit of 4 resources and cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action, transferred, or otherwise be affected.

Bhakra (11/65)

Living on the plains where Rosvaya borders Jossud, these carnivorous winged equines often feed on the Jos herds of lessyth. Their drab dun coats are thick and soft to give them warmth at altitude, and they are sometimes hunted for their hides. They have short, brushlike manes and their heads resemble horses’ heads except that the jaw and snout are more like a dog’s, with teeth sharp enough to tear flesh. Their wingspan lends them grace, and they take flight by springing upward with their strong legs. Unlike horses, they have four toes with sharp gripping claws, allowing them to attack from the air, though lessyth horns can be a strong deterrent. The bhakrai live in small groups with a stallion and several mares. Both sexes hunt, singly or in groups, and they are known to prey on humans.

Initiative: 3 Traits:

 Fierce and Strong (Brutality) +12  Flight (Brutality) +10  Swift (Spirituality) +10  Leaping and Flying (Spirituality) +8  Out of Reach (Cunning) +6  Hoof Block (Cunning) +4

Resources:

 Hooves (Offensive, Personalized) +15  Jaws (Offensive, Personalized) +12  Charge (Offensive, Personalized) +8  Powerful Build (Defensive, Personalized) +10  Strong Bones (Defensive, Personalized) +5

Outer Circles: OOOOO

Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:

 Riposte: At the conclusion of a Strike against you, after damage has been determined and advantage points are subtracted, you can tag any trait to launch an immediate counterattack that automatically damages one of the attacker’s outer circles. You can only use this power if the trait rating is higher than the enemy’s remaining advantage point total.

Tattoo Powers:

 Riposte: At the conclusion of a Strike against you, after damage has been determined and advantage points are subtracted, you can tag a Cunning trait to launch an immediate counterattack that automatically damages one of the attacker’s outer circles. You can only use this power if the trait rating is higher than the enemy’s remaining advantage point total.  Fatality: When you defeat an enemy with a Strike, which should be narrated with glorious gore and stunning viciousness, you can tag a Brutality trait to switch targets without spending an action. You gain the tagged trait’s rating in bonus advantage points (before halving your advantage point pool, if applicable). If this was the last enemy in this conflict, you gain half of the trait’s rating in bonus reward points instead.

Origar (12/75) Hundreds of years ago, before the Karakaan invaded the Berengad, the people of Rosvaya were rich and powerful. They harnessed the streams of magic and built beautiful cities full of precious things. In order to protect their cities from Chel’qhuri raids and other invasions, they created guardians. One of these guardian creatures is the origar. It is a giant with four arms, ten times as strong as any human and loyal to a fault. Many of them were tough enough to survive the Karakaan’s onslaught that destroyed most of Rosvaya. To this day, origari guard the ruins of their home, roaming among the debris and killing any intruders, their centuries-old weapons and armor rusted and dirty but still working. Some believe that the presence of the origari is a sign that deep inside Rosvaya, maybe far beneath the surface, a group of Rosvayans survives to this day, hidden from the rest of the Berengad.

Initiative: 2

Traits:

 Powerful Arms (Brutality) +12  More Powerful Arms (Brutality) +12  Humans Are Like Flies (Brutality) +10  Ancient Battle Training (Brutality) +8  Hard to Reach (Spirituality) +8  Block (Spirituality) +5

Resources:

 Upper Arms (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Lower Arms (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Stomping Legs (Offensive, Personalized) +10  Ancient Armor (Defensive, Personalized) +15  Massive Build (Defensive, Personalized) +5

Outer Circles: OOOOO

Core Circles: OOO

Special Abilities:

 Overwhelm: When you inflict damage on an opponent, you can tag a Brutality trait to subtract its rating from the opponent’s accumulated advantage points.  Powerful: When you tag a Brutality trait to use Vicious Strike or Overwhelm, you gain the benefit of the trait’s full rating (rather than half).

Tattoo Powers:

 Intimidating: At the beginning of any conflict against anything but a beast, your adversity can only take one action during their first turn.  Powerful: When you tag a Brutality trait to use Vicious Strike or Overwhelm, you gain the benefit of the trait’s full rating (rather than half).

Azanit (13/75)

Standing as tall at the shoulder as a horse, this reptile looks like a throwback to primeval times. An azanit can run up to thirty miles per hour on its splayed, clawed feet. Its forelegs are slightly longer than its hind legs, so it always appears to be on the verge of rearing up. When angered or threatened, the azanit stiffens its mane of fleshy tendrils into spikes that make it look even more menacing. The creature spits venom from glands at either side of its throat. This poison is acidic and very painful. Some older Beast Hunters have a spattered pattern of scars on their faces from an encounter with an azanit. These reptiles will eat carrion but they prefer live prey, including livestock, wild creatures such as pifnir, and humans. Their jaws are lined with vicious teeth but the worst danger is from their saliva. It is so full of bacteria that even shallow bites fester and cause death. Azani can be found throughout Rosvaya in dry, rocky terrain, where they lay their eggs twice a year in sandy depressions. Many generations ago, when the Chel’qhuri first crossed the mountains into the Berengad, they tried to tame these terrible lizards to use in war, but the experiment was a disaster. Azani were impossible to control and would attack their handlers as readily as the enemy.

Initiative: 4

Traits:

 Unstoppable Charge (Brutality) +15  I’m Quicker Than I Look (Cunning) +15  Always Cover Weak Spots (Spirituality) +15  Never Stand Still (Spirituality) +10

Resources:

 Poisonous Bite (Offensive, Personalized) +15  Raking Claws (Offensive, Personalized) +10  Tail (Offensive, Personalized) +5  Scaly Hide (Defensive, Personalized) +22  Skin Beneath (Defensive, Personalized) +10

Outer Circles: OOOO

Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:  Spit Venom: Once during the conflict, you can spend two actions to spit a burst of poison that burns through skin. First, you gain 3D10 advantage points. Then you make a Strike using a special resource: Venom Burst (Offensive, Personalized) +20. If the Hunter has Poison Immunity, you only gain 1D10 advantage points and use your regular resources.

Tattoo Powers:

 Fast Reflexes: When an opponent makes a maneuver roll against you, you can tag a Cunning trait to lower the roll by half the trait’s rating. You can activate this power after the result of the roll is determined.  Protector Spirit: You can use Spirit’s Blessing to affect a Strike against a fellow Hunter.

Reghwor (15/85)

Few creatures are as vile as the reghwor. An unintended creation of the magical inferno in the Berengad’s south, the reghwor is a monster of pure destructive power. Its massive body, which dwarfs even that of a subrak, shows random patches of black fur on pale white skin. It is hunched over so much that when it walks, its head, which consists mainly of a huge jaw with hundreds of teeth as well as four glowering eyes, sways back and forth only inches above the ground. It can rise up on its hind legs to impress a victim, yet barely bothers to do so. The reghwor’s arms are unnaturally long, allowing it to reach far ahead and tear any creature caught between the dozen foot-long claws to pieces. The reghwor is unable to climb, but it can bring down all but the sturdiest of trees. Its two stunted legs struggle to gain much speed, and on level ground a victim might have a chance to escape. However, in its natural habitat, which consists of thick forests, the reghwor has the advantage. Luckily, very few of these creatures still exist, and it is believed that they are unable to procreate.

Initiative: 3

Traits:

 Destroy Everything in Its Path (Brutality) +20  Rend, Bite, Grab, Smash (Brutality) +15  Unapproachable (Spirituality) +15  No Vulnerable Spots (Spirituality) +10

Resources:

 Jaws of Terror (Offensive, Personalized) +25  Rending Claws (Offensive, Personalized, Special) +20  Skin of Rock (Defensive, Personalized) +20  Thick Flesh Beneath (Defensive, Personalized, Special) +15

Outer Circles: OOOOO Core Circles: OOO

Special Abilities:

 Massive: When you tag a Brutality trait to use Vicious Strike, you gain the benefit of the trait’s full rating (rather than half). The Rending Claws resource cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected.  No Weakness: When you tag a Spirituality trait to use Spirits’ Blessing, you gain the benefit of the trait’s full rating (rather than half). The Thick Flesh Beneath resource cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected.

Tattoo Powers:

 Recall: You can tag a Spirituality trait to automatically reclaim a Personalized resource from the battlefield. You do not need to spend an action to do so.  Shatter: You can take an action and tag a Brutality trait to permanently destroy a non- Personalized enemy resource rated up to twice the tagged trait’s rating.

Vebluss (15/85)

A few of these deadly creatures dwell in the deepest pools of the Devoran Marsh. Their tentacles lash out to trap any prey that ventures close enough. No one now alive has seen their whole shape, but there is a generations-old legend that Kelrik One-Eye tricked a vebluss into grabbing a cart pulled by a team of eight lessyth, then lashed the beasts so furiously that they dragged the vebluss from the depths. According to Beast Hunter lore, the creature has a bulbous body and ten suckered arms, but no one has been able to count the tentacles accurately before being dragged under the stinking surface of the swamp. The suckers at the ends of the tentacles are the diameter of a human hand and lined with razor-sharp teeth. No living Beast Hunter can claim to have killed a vebluss but several have hacked off a tentacle or two. They bear the tattoo to back up their claim.

Initiative: 5

Traits:

 Surprise from the Deep (Cunning) +15  Tentacle Swipe (Brutality) +15  Grab and Drown (Brutality) +10  Multiple Tentacles (Cunning) +10  Hidden Beneath (Spirituality) +15

Resources:

 Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tentacle (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Rubbery Flesh (Defensive, Personalized, Special) +20

Outer Circles: OOOOO

Core Circles: OOO

Special Abilities:

 Slippery: The Rubbery Flesh resource cannot be denied.

Tattoo Power:

 Glorious Name: At the start of any conflict against Chel’qhuri, you can tag one Spirituality trait to gain its rating in starting advantage points.

Hoch’qhar (10/100)

There are many legends surrounding Hoch’qhar, the immortal spirit who guides all Beast Hunters through prophetic visions and dreams. Elders are those who have a special connection with the great spirit because they sought it out and gained its favor in an unusual Beast Hunt. Seeking Hoch’qhar is a pilgrimage for Beast Hunters. Only when they are ready to make a long journey and face their own fears and weaknesses can they embark on it. They will never see Hoch’qhar, nor find any trace of its existence, yet they will know when they have reached it. At the pinnacle of the pilgrimage, which can lead Beast Hunters into faraway lands and through many perils that test their resolve, they will step into a vision. They might find their surroundings slowly changing as they walk, or they might slip into it from a dream, or they may turn a corner and suddenly find themselves in a different place. Here, Hoch’qhar confronts the Beast Hunter with intimate doubts, mistakes and flaws. Enemies of the past might appear, or lost loved ones. No matter what the vision shows, in order to overcome the trial, the Beast Hunter must not only be mentally strong, but also compassionate. He must explore his own fears, forgive his enemies, and show appreciation for everything that his family and his tribe have done for him. Only if the Beast Hunter can fulfill these difficult tests does he gain the favor of Hoch’qhar. After the vision fades or disappears, the Beast Hunter will find that he already possesses a new tattoo. Hoch’qhar is the founder of the Beast Hunters, and only through it can a Beast Hunter become an elder who can inscribe tattoos on other Beast Hunters. Initiative: 4

Traits:

 Your Soul Laid Bare +15  No Secrets +15  Vivid Visions +15  Trials +15

Resources:

 Fears (Offensive) +10  Doubts (Offensive) +10  Past Mistakes (Offensive) +10  Your Pride (Defensive) +10  Your Hubris (Defensive) +10  Your Hesitation (Defensive) +10

Outer Circles: OOOO

Core Circles: OO

Special Abilities:

 True Test of the Self: The Hunter’s resources all count as +0, and the Hunter can only tag Spirituality traits during this test. The Hoch’qhar starts the conflict with two of its traits assigned to offense and two to defense and never reassigns them. The Hoch’qhar only takes one action each turn, and as its traits have no specialties, it never tags them.

Tattoo Power:

 Elder: You can now tag each trait twice per adventure.

Charn (16/90)

The charn is one of the most volatile monsters on the face of the Berengad. It is a constantly shifting and changing beast. The magic that warped many creatures is so powerful within the Charn that it cannot keep one form for more than a few moments. As such, the creature cannot hold a thought aside from the one driving instinct that all creatures have in common: hunger. It eats anything in its path, constantly developing different mouths, snouts, and other orifices that suck in and consume living matter. Fighting a charn is intensely difficult, but stopping these monsters is one of the Beast Hunters’ most pressing duties.

Initiative: 3 Traits:

 Grow Weapons as Needed (Brutality) +20  Ravenous (Brutality) +20  Shifting Target (Spirituality) +20  Absorb Blows (Spirituality) +15

Resources:

 A Hundred Teeth and Claws (Offensive, Personalized, Special) +30  Uncountable Parts (Defensive, Personalized, Special) +25

Outer Circles: O

Core Circles: OOOOO

Special Abilities:

 Shapeshifting: The charn’s resources cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected.

Tattoo Power:

 Shifting Bones: Once per adventure, at will, you can heal one of your Core Circles.

Laithura (18/100)

This slinky tunnel-dweller is native to the catacombs beneath Rosvayan ruins but since the magical fury that destroyed that realm, laithura have spread into cave systems elsewhere in the Berengad. The laithura has a segmented, muscular body that allows it to run on its many pincered legs, or to rear upright and lunge like a snake to attack a human. Its head has no features other than a round mouth ringed by rows of teeth. The laithura feeds by latching onto its victim’s face and sucking out his vitality. The creature prefers cold clammy places, and some Beast Hunters claim that it exudes cold that reveals it is nearby. The soft clicking of its pincers over stone is another clue. Laithura are incredibly resistant to damage and tough to kill, and they use the vitality that they suck out of their victims to heal themselves.

Initiative: 5

Traits:

 Flurry of Pincers (Brutality) +20  Grab for the Bite (Cunning) +20  Incredibly Fast (Brutality) +20  Shifting Stances (Spirituality) +20

Resources:

 Mouth of Horror (Offensive, Personalized, Special) +30  First Row of Pincers (Offensive, Personalized) +25  Second Row of Pincers (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Third Row of Pincers (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Tough Hull (Defensive, Personalized) +30  Resilient (Defensive, Personalized) +20

Outer Circles: OOOOOO

Core Circles: OOO

Special Abilities:

 Life Leech. As long as the Mouth of Horror resource is not denied, any damage that the laithura inflicts heals an equal number of circles of damage on itself. The Mouth of Horror cannot be wielded by the Hunter.

Tattoo Powers:

 Avatar of Fate: Same benefit as Blessed Destiny. However, if a Hunter has both tattoos, add up the two highest Spirituality traits together to determine the resource value.  Walking Death: Same benefit as Living Weapon. However, if a Hunter has both tattoos, add up the two highest Brutality traits together to determine the resource value.

Utheqha (20/125)

The utheqhi are among the most terrible beasts that Beast Hunters will come across. They have an elongated body with a spiked tail, wings that can carry them over short distances, and a reptilian head with long rows of teeth. They have two powerful legs but no arms. Very few utheqhi are still said to exist, and they can only be found deep in the Tarragat mountains or hidden among the ruins of Rosvaya. Utheqhi live in solitude for long periods of time, almost in hibernation. Every now and then, they go on a rampage and collect dozens of victims, including large animals and humans, and bring them back to their lair for future meals. Once the utheqha’s appetite is satisfied, it returns to solitude. The utheqha is the most dangerous foe that a Hunter must face on her own, and earning an utheqha tattoo is a rare event that triggers a week-long ritual of celebration among the Beast Hunters. A hallucinogenic liquor brewed from the venom in the utheqha’s tail helps the celebration along.

Initiative: 5 Traits:

 Earth-Shattering Strength (Brutality) +15  Experienced Killer (Brutality) +15  Ravenous Appetite (Brutality) +15  Huge and Tough (Spirituality) +15  Limited Flight (Spirituality) +15  Surprisingly Quick (Cunning) +15

Resources:

 Massive Tail (Offensive, Personalized) +25  Foot-Long Teeth (Offensive, Personalized) +20  Large Scales (Defensive, Personalized) +20  Strong Stature (Defensive, Personalized) +15

Outer Circles: OOOOOO

Core Circles: OOO

Special Abilities:

 Fatal Poison: After the utheqha inflicts damage once, the Beast Hunter is poisoned. Roll a D6 at the beginning of the Beast Hunter’s turn and write down the number. Each turn, another D6 roll is added to it. When the number is high enough to inflict a wound (10+ if the Hunter has outer circles left, 20+ if she only has core circles left), the Hunter suffers that wound and the number is reset to zero (but will start accumulating again next turn). Beast Hunters with the Poison Immunity power from the ispalar tattoo are immune to this effect.

Tattoo Power:

 Inner Fire: You gain an additional core wound circle that does not count for character development cost or limit purposes. Beast Hunters with this tattoo tend to develop contempt for non-Beast Hunters and become increasingly solitary.

Qhurym (15/250)

Not a single living Chel’qhuri has seen a qhurym with her own eyes, but tales of the gigantic monster are among the oldest stories told. Nobody knows how many qhurym have lived, but it is said that only three of them have been killed since the dawning of the world. Some say that it’s the same monster, coming back from death after it was slain. Qhurym live underground, farther down than any Chel’qhuri could ever go, where the darkness melts with the earth and all life ends. According to legends, a qhurym surfaces to feast on the souls of the creatures that walk the earth. It swallows them down and sends their spirits through its body into the darkness below, where they are held captive in numb horror for as long as the qhurym lives. Slaying a qhurym, therefore, is more than a gift to the living: it liberates all of the monster’s prior victims and sets the world right again. Some elders say that Hoch’qhar is the nemesis of the qhurym and guides the Beast Hunters to their power for the sole purpose of preparing them to face this enemy. The qhurym is the only beast that is hunted by a group of Beast Hunters instead of just one. All of the optional rules for multiple Hunters apply, including the multiplication of the Limit. If successful, all Hunters who at least made it to the final battle with the qhurym itself gain the tattoo. Hunters who suffer fatal damage in this battle cannot sacrifice themselves to kill the qhurym.

Initiative: 8

Traits:

 I Swallow the World (Brutality) +40  Strength Beyond Anything (Brutality) +35  Long Reach (Brutality) +25  Large as a Mountain (Spirituality) +40  Indomitable (Spirituality) +35  Hard to Reach (Spirituality) +25

Resources:

 Gaping Maw (Offensive, Personalized) +50  Twisted Horns (Offensive, Personalized) +35  Wyrm Body (Offensive, Personalized, Special) +30  Massive Scales (Defensive, Personalized) +50  Impenetrable Skin (Defensive, Personalized, Special) +35

Outer Circles: OOOOOOOOOO

Core Circles: OOOOOOOOOO

Special Abilities:

 This Is Destiny: The qhurym as well as all Hunters can assign three traits each to offense and defense at the start of the conflict.  Aura of Death: Every round, at the beginning of the qhurym’s turn, make a free damage roll against each Hunter (it does not cost an action or affect the qhurym’s advantage point total). Roll 2D10 and add 5 to determine the damage done. Do not apply any resources.  Indomitable: The Wyrm Body and Impenetrable Skin resources cannot be the target of a Claim Resource action or otherwise be affected.

Tattoo Power:  More Than Human: This ultimate tattoo imbues the Beast Hunter with a power unknown to any other mortal. The Beast Hunter’s abilities expand exponentially. Any and all rolls that the Hunter makes receive a +10 bonus; in case of damage rolls, this bonus is not counted for purposes of advantage point cost or backlash.