Playing the Game

FateTide is a tabletop roleplaying game of collaborative storytelling, heroic adventure, and high-stakes decisions. One player is the Game Master (GM), who portrays the world and adjudicates the rules; the other players each run a Player Character (PC) who explores that world. Play happens in the shared imagination of the group—at a table or online—guided by these rules, dice, and your creativity.

Quick links on FateTide:

Game rules hub — browse rules sections alongside this chapter.
Rules Glossary — alphabetical term list.
Create Player Character — start a new PC.
Content and Library — books and publications.
Spells, Feats, Equipment, Creatures — reference while building or running the game.
Adventures and Random tables — find play material and generators.
Worlds — preset adventures and ecosystems of linked Locations and Encounters.
Create Campaign — set up a table when you are ready to play online on FateTide.

Player or Game Master?

Story is co-authored. Players bring intentions, backstory, and bold choices; the GM frames scenes, plays the world, and keeps consequences fair. Dice and structured rolls settle many uncertain beats so everyone shares the same surprise—but some Roll Results still need the GM to interpret what they mean in the moment (“you barely convince them” vs “they love the idea”) when fiction outruns what any rulebook can spell out.

Being a player

Make a character. Your character is your alter ego in the world of the game. After this overview, use Character Creation rules on FateTide (or go straight to Create Player Character) to build your Player Character.

Team up. Your character joins the other players’ characters as an adventuring party—NPCs and challenges are run by the GM, but the GM is not your “opponent”; they set the stage and keep rulings fair.

Venture forth. You describe what your character attempts. When the outcome is uncertain or opposed, the GM calls for rolls—usually a Skill roll using the Main Roll pattern (see Skill rolls and DCs).

Being the Game Master

Build and run adventures. You prepare Locations, NPCs, and challenges—published, homebrew, or mixed. When you are ready to host online, start with Create campaign to stand up a new table (you can refine details later in campaign settings).

Guide the story. You narrate situations and consequences; players declare intentions for their Player Characters.

Adjudicate the rules. You set Difficulty Class (DC) values, decide when rolls are Hidden Rolls, and apply GM Discretion so the table has fun while staying consistent.

Rhythm of play

The three pillars—social interaction, exploration, and combat—still follow the same basic loop:

The GM describes the situation. Where you are, what stands out, who is present, and what is at stake.
The players declare intentions. What each Player Character tries to do. Outside combat, conversation order can be flexible; in combat, use structured Turns (see Combat).
The GM resolves outcomes. Easy tasks need no roll. Risky, uncertain, or opposed actions use Skill rolls, Attack Rolls, or other rules, then you narrate what happens next.

For short vignettes mapped to exploration, social play, and combat, see Examples of the same loop under The three pillars in FateTide.

The three pillars in FateTide

Social. Influence, pressure, and reading others often use Soul-side skills; opposed social resolution commonly uses contested rolls, and the GM may use Hidden Rolls. Long persuasion arcs may be a Contesting Skill Challenge.
Exploration. Investigation, travel, traps, and environments call for appropriate Skills (including Knowledge-style recall and gathering-style work in the field). Fixed DC checks may not be repeatable if failure has a cost.
Combat. Structured time in Rounds, Alternating Initiative, Action Points (AP), attacks, and defenses—see Combat and Damage and healing.

Examples of the same loop

Each vignette follows describe → declare → resolve, but highlights how FateTide’s sheets and encounter tools keep everyone aligned.

Exploration (manual search). GM: “The archive is a warren of ledgers and crates—finding anything useful will take real time.” Player: “I want to comb the northwest corner for a hidden ledger.” GM: “Open your character sheet, go to Abilities, choose Search for the area you are clearing, and run it—that pass is about ten minutes of in-world work. Should I advance the clock ten minutes while you search, or does anyone else want to do something in parallel?”
Social (Influence in play). GM: “When you are ready to press your case, select every Target you are trying to sway, then press Influence. I will read the margin in the log, weigh how you actually plead in voice, and tell you whether the room buys it—numbers set the baseline, but the story you sell still matters.”
Combat (turn widget). GM: “I am firing initiative from the combat turn order widget so everyone lands in the tracker together.” (Uses the widget’s roll control.) “Kai, you are up—I have started the turn timer from campaign settings, so let me know when your Turn is done or if you need a rules pause.”

General rules and exceptions

Default rules describe what is usually true. Feats, Classes, Spells, Equipment, and monster abilities can create exceptions. When a specific rule and a general rule conflict, the specific rule wins (see RAW discussions in your group if needed).

Janus tries to automate most mechanics the digital table touches—math, targeting, timing, and common modifiers—so play stays fast and consistent. It cannot encode every nuance: an ability’s long description may carry situational logic, story permissions, or table contracts that never made it into executable rules. In those gaps, players and the GM step in to apply the spirit of the text.

Clarity and freedom together. Concrete rules create shared expectations—everyone knows what “DC 18 Influence” means and can rely on similar outcomes next week. Creative freedom still matters: the GM should make room for cool ideas that fit the tone of the campaign, and players should meet that generosity with respect for the table’s time and tone.

An ongoing game

A single session can be a complete story (one-shot) or part of a longer adventure spanning multiple sessions. Adventures chain into a campaign—like episodes in a series—with recurring NPCs, themes, and rising stakes. Browse published arcs on Adventures, pick up a curated ecosystem on Worlds, or pitch your own in Create Campaign.

Adventures

An adventure delivers a setting, cast, and problems: battles, Traps, negotiations, mysteries, and a climax. Length varies from one session to many. FateTide hosts large libraries of both free adventures and paid adventures to drop into your campaign or remix.

Campaigns

In plain TTRPG terms, a campaign is often any ongoing table with recurring Player Characters—whether the story fits in a handful of sessions or runs for years. On FateTide, campaign type is the explicit length band you set in campaign settings when you create or edit the table. It labels expected commitment for your group and for public listings; the platform does not lock you out of a shorter or longer run if the fiction goes another way.

One-shot (1–2 sessions). A self-contained arc—con games, trials of the system, or a tight adventure meant to finish in one or two nights. Pacing favors a clear hook, climax, and payoff; advancement and Downtime matter less than hitting a satisfying ending before people scatter.
Series (3–10 sessions). A season or mini-campaign: enough room for subplots and PC growth, but still a defined scope. Good when the table wants recurring cast and stakes without promising a multi-year epic.
Campaign (10+ sessions). Long-form play with the same Player Characters across many adventures—episodic chapters or one slow-burn arc. FateTide is built for this scale: long-term advancement across Tiers and levels, recurring NPCs, and settings like Downtime that keep the timeline coherent between sessions.

Downtime

Downtime is an optional campaign setting the GM can enable so the timeline keeps advancing between scheduled live sessions. While active, the campaign clock advances in one-hour increments—matching normal play—so crafting, spell durations, light sources, disease progression, and other time-based effects stay consistent. The GM toggles Downtime for precise control over how much time passes. It does not replace session play: the clock advances this way only outside active scheduled sessions, and the GM sets how Downtime interacts with other campaign options and remains the final authority on outcomes.

Easier bookkeeping, same mechanical time. Hunger, thirst, waking weariness, and hyper-real resting rules are paused so the table is not tracking every meal or nap. Downtime behaves like a relaxed “idler” stretch at the campsite or stronghold: players can drop in between games, and the group assumes safety and support there unless the fiction says otherwise. The GM may pause or simplify other ongoing conditions or timers when that keeps between-session play smooth.

Typical activities. Craft items and long-term projects, buy and sell with merchants or NPCs, gather resources, pursue short solo or small-group scenes at the GM’s discretion (exploration puzzles, minor encounters), study or train, take Long Rests for full benefits, and customize or improve the stronghold. Campsites and strongholds are safe refuges by default: the GM should not run surprise attacks there except when the story clearly calls for it and the group gets advance warning. The tone borrows lightly from Baldur’s Gate 3–style camps, but FateTide emphasizes flexible, player-led base play between sessions.

How FateTide structures play

Beyond rules reference, FateTide’s online tools model where adventures live in a campaign. The ideas below connect Locations, Encounters, and the platform’s rules layer.

Janus and automated rules

Janus is how FateTide encodes large parts of the rules so the site can automate much of what would otherwise be manual lookup and arithmetic: bonuses, valid options, item and spell references, and other repeatable adjudication become structured data the engine can run. That supports faster, more consistent online play—it does not replace the GM, who still sets stakes, narration, and table-specific rulings.

Theatre of the mind vs encounters

In a full Encounter, FateTide tracks player inventory and items alongside creatures, positions, and the action economy so gear and abilities stay aligned with the rules without extra spreadsheets.

When a battle map is unnecessary, the GM can run scenes in Theater of the Mind—narrative positioning first—while still using a generalized encounter when you want a lighter mechanical shell (turns, conditions, rollers) without committing to grid play.

Locations and nesting

Locations are containers for play: each one groups the Encounters you run from it (a street, a dungeon level, a single room, and so on), can carry maps and GM notes, and can hold other Locations in a parent and child tree so fiction matches how players explore—region → settlement → inn → cellar vault—instead of flattening everything into one long list.

Worlds (preset adventures)

Worlds collects preset adventures and larger ecosystems: many Locations and Encounters already authored and wired together, ready to run as packaged campaigns or to mine for homebrew.

Dice

FateTide uses the common polyhedral dice—d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20—and rules text will spell those sizes the same way a print book would. On the site you can roll either by notation (for example typing 3d6 + 2 in the sidelog Quick roller) or by shape: the Quick roller tab includes a row of die-face icons from d4 through d20—each icon fires a single raw roll for that die, the same controls you would use at the table when you reach for one die from the bag. The d20 is still the usual die for uncertain outcomes on the Main Roll.

Quick roller faces (same art as site icons):d4d6d8d10d12d20

Dice notation

Expressions like 3d6 + 2 mean: roll three six-sided dice, add them, then add 2. If a rule tells you to divide or multiply and you get a fraction, follow that rule’s rounding; otherwise use your group’s default for edge cases.

On FateTide, opening the quick roller from the header opens the sidelog and jumps to the Quick roller tab, so you can enter those expressions beside the encounter without leaving the page.

Percentile (d100)

Some tables use d100. The usual method is two d10s: one tens digit, one ones digit (two 0s can mean 100). Specialty d100 dice also exist.

Simulating 1d3

Rare expressions use 1d3. Roll 1d6 and divide by 2, rounding up, unless a rule gives a different method.

What dice are for

Skill resolution. The core pattern is the Main Roll plus modifiers (see Skill rolls and DCs).
Attack Rolls and damage. After a hit, weapon or Spell entries tell you which damage dice to roll.
Random tables and chances. Tables list die ranges; percentage chances can use percentile dice. FateTide’s Random tables hub collects many roll tables in one place.

Part of the fun is letting unexpected Roll Results drive the story—the GM and players narrate surprises together.

Primary essences

Creatures have three primary Essences—the core trio most skills and defenses key off:

Body — physical power, agility, and endurance.
Mind — reasoning and memory.
Soul — intuition, willpower, perception, and social presence.

Stat blocks often derive each primary Essence modifier from linked legacy scores (averaging where the game lists multiple). Default Essence for a skill is set by its Skill Type and Class rules—see Game rules for the full character-building path.

Other essences

Beyond the primary trio, characters also track Spirit and Fortune—secondary essences used for supernatural stamina, luck-driven effects, and other systems that sit alongside Body, Mind, and Soul. Exact formulas vary by Class and feature text; consult your sheet and the rules chapters for when they modify rolls or resources.

Mana and spellcasting. Spells are cast from your Mana pool: each spell lists its cost, the platform deducts Mana when the cast resolves, and you recover it through rests or class features the same way other long-term resources work. Browse Spells for wording; encounter play surfaces current Mana on the caster so the table knows what is still available.

Caster types and Mana. Your Class assigns a caster type from this trio: Full Caster classes get the broadest Spell progression and the deepest Mana curve; Half Caster classes mix martial or specialist training with a slimmer spell package and smaller Mana growth; No Bending Powers marks classes built without that spell progression—even if a feature later borrows a spell-like rider. Your sheet and class chapter spell out the numbers; the hub page above lists the labels FateTide uses everywhere else.

Spell spheres. Every Spell is tagged with one or more spheres—Arcane, Divine, and Primal—so players can sort the library by magical tradition and so automated tools know which lists you are allowed to pull from. Many Classes cap or steer preparation toward certain spheres; read your class block when a filter says “restricted spell sphere.” For the authoritative sphere catalog, see Spheres of magic.

Prepared spells, spells known, and castable spells. Casters juggle three layers on FateTide. Prepared spells are the Spells (and Cantrips) you explicitly ready for play: your Class sets how many leveled spells versus cantrips you may prepare at once, and the preparation picker only offers options that pass sphere, subclass, level, and feat gates. Multiclass characters store preparations per Class slot and choose which list is active on the encounter record—usually when you swap after a Long Rest. The site blocks brand-new preparations while an Encounter is marked in combat unless a feature such as Quick Study explicitly allows it, and stretching your preparation past arcane-fatigue thresholds still needs a Long Rest reset. Spells known is the merged library the engine actually attaches to your character: prepared spells sit beside entries your Class, subclass, or passives award automatically at given levels, and feats, items, or other features can still append more rows to the same stack. Castable spells, finally, is the leveled, searchable panel on the sheet or encounter creature sheet—the UI that groups that known set by spell level, tags concentration and ritual casting, and wires direct cast buttons—so in play you work from a short list instead of the entire Spells compendium.

Ritual spells. Entries flagged for Ritual Spells can be cast in the slower ritual mode: Janus places the caster in a dedicated casting ritual spell beat, shows “Begins Casting a Ritual Spell” in the log, and resolves the effect when the ritual completes rather than as a single snap cast. That path reserves Concentrating for the working time; if you are already concentrating on something else, the engine stops you until you break that prior effect using your Reaction, same as other double-concentration cases. Critically, ritual starts and ritual finishes are implemented so they do not spend Mana the way a normal leveled cast does—ordinary casts subtract spell level (and upcast bumps) from your pool, but the ritual pipeline skips that debit while still enforcing every other price on the card (components, the printed casting time and Action Types when a scene is using combat timing, special choices such as summon targets, and similar riders). Use the ritual pill on the castable-spells navigator to isolate ritual-tagged rows when you are planning downtime work.

Skill rolls and DCs

When an action is uncertain, you typically roll d20 + Essence modifier + Skill Point / training modifiers for the named Skill, plus other bonuses the rules grant. In play, you can also use the Skill button beside each trained entry on your character’s Skills tab to fire the correct roll without re-typing bonuses.

How to phrase a DC (FateTide style)

Put the DC before the skill name: DC 15 Attention, DC 18 Influence. Do not append the word “check” after the skill when phrasing the task.

Innate skills, unskilled rolls, and stacks

Innate Skills tied to an Essence begin at Minor training and do not start with a Disadvantage Stack from being “untrained.” Other skills follow Unskilled Roll expectations per your table. If you use a skill without any training and it is not one of your Innate Skills, you typically roll with Disadvantage (DIS) on the Main Roll—see Advantage, disadvantage, and stacks.

Contested rolls and challenges

When creatures oppose each other, both roll and compare totals. Extended contests can be run as a Contesting Skill Challenge. The GM may resolve some steps with a Challenge Roll framework where the rules call for it.

In the sidelog, FateTide often prints a contesting skill roll summary card for paired rolls: aggressor on the left, defender on the right, and a bottom line showing the margin as a positive or negative number (some DC-style contests instead show plain Success / Fail text). A negative margin usually means the aggressor came up short against the obstacle—yet even a tie or a narrow win might not sell a far-fetched lie; the GM can still raise the effective DC afterward (for example +5 or +10 for an outrageous story) so the fiction stays believable.

Keep the game moving. The GM is the final authority on how a contested beat lands, but that power is best used to reward creativity, default toward “yes, and…” or “yes, but roll for it,” and only clamp down when a stunt would spoil another player’s spotlight or break the table’s social contract.

Hidden rolls

The GM may roll privately—commonly for perception-like, stealth-like, or social-reading tasks—using Hidden Rolls so players know a roll happened without seeing the number. That cuts down metagaming (acting on information your character would not have yet). When the fiction catches up, the GM can reveal the result to the table.

Secret rolls

Secret rolls go further: the site can record an outcome the players are not meant to infer yet—even the fact that a specific check happened may stay with the GM. Use them when knowing that a die was rolled would spoil a twist. In the sidelog dice controls, roll visibility modes (public, hidden, secret) line up with how much the log shows to the group.

Skills

On a Player Character sheet, skill growth is tracked in a few parallel columns that all feed Janus when you roll:

Allocated skill points. The portion of your Skill Points you have already committed to named skills on the sheet—this is the budget that raises modifiers once training is in place.
Skill Point Training. The tiered investment that unlocks what allocated points “mean” in play, tracked per skill alongside Skill Tiers and your class rules.
Ascension skill points (ASP). A long-term mastery currency earned from standout skill checks as your edition defines (often with a confirmation roll after a high natural result); spend or bank them through Character Creation and advancement chapters. General SP pools still cover broader character progression as defined there.

Creatures and monsters usually ship with fixed skill tiers baked into the stat block—no player-style point shuffle—so when you import a foe from Creatures, the numbers you see are what you run until the adventure tells you otherwise.

For how Advantage and Disadvantage resolve on the table, see Advantage, disadvantage, and stacks; for books, retraining, and the longer training write-up, see Skill points, training, and tiers.

Advantage, disadvantage, and stacks

Advantage (ADV) means roll two d20s on the Main Roll and keep the higher. Disadvantage (DIS) means keep the lower. Multiple sources of the same kind still use only two dice. Advantage Stack and Disadvantage Stack rules apply where the glossary and class features say so.

Defensive skills and resisting effects

Many harmful effects call for a Defense Skill roll (Fortitude-, Balance-, Psyche-, or Willpower-style defenses keyed to Essences as your full rules specify). Use the same d20 + Essence + training pattern unless the effect says otherwise, against a DC from the effect or GM.

Attack rolls and defenses

A weapon Attack Roll is the usual d20 + modifiers pattern built from the printed Weapon Skill plus whatever Attack Ability riders the weapon or class entry grants. Compare that total to the line the defender is using right now—most often Armor Class (AC) or Evasion Class, but some powers call out a different defense row on the sheet or stat block—follow what that attack’s text names. Armor Skills and worn kit still modify how those defenses behave; see Equipment and the combat rules for layer order and exceptions. For ready-to-run numbers, open the creature on Creatures and read the defenses FateTide already calculated.

Skill points, training, and tiers

Training is expressed through Skill Points, Skill Point Training, and Skill Tiers. Characters also gain SP / ASP style advancement currencies as defined in Character Creation. Reading skill books in play is another common way to earn Skill Points—browse book items on Books. Overlapping Skill Point rules apply where the glossary says so.

Actions and the action economy

FateTide organizes what you can do on a Turn using Action Types—including Passive Abilities, Abilities, Full Abilities, Quick Abilities, Attack Abilities, Free Abilities, Attacks, Reactions, and Opportunity Attack Abilities—and spends Action Points (AP) on the schedule below unless a feature says otherwise. You also Move up to your speed when you pay the AP for movement. For the live Action Types catalog and short reference list, see Action types.

Combat only. Action Points (AP) are tracked and spent only in combat—when the table is using Rounds, Turns, and Turn Order (see Combat). Exploration, social scenes, and other play without that combat structure do not use an AP budget.

Longer casts. Most combat-paced Spells and abilities resolve in about six seconds of in-fiction time—the same scale as a normal Action Type spend. When the printed casting time is longer (minutes to hours, or a ritual working), Janus usually applies a Casting or Casting Ritual Spell status effect for the working duration so the table can see the character is occupied, open to interruption, and may be juggling Concentration or other riders the card names. That clock runs off the campaign timeline even when no scene is spending AP; see Conditions and status effects for the catalog.

Action points each turn

In combat, each creature begins its Turn with three AP. The pool clears and returns to 3 at the start of that creature’s Turn (after any rollover planning for Reactions). You may spend AP in any order the rules allow. When your AP drops to zero, your Turn ends and play advances in Turn Order unless something—GM ruling, RAW features such as extra AP, or platform automation—explicitly keeps you active.

Reactions and reserving AP

You can take one Reaction per Round unless a feature grants more. The reaction slot refreshes at the start of your Turn. Reactions still cost 1 AP when you use them, so plan to leave at least 1 AP unspent on your Turn if you want that Reaction later in the Round (for example to shut down an incoming Spell). Rules text tags that cost as [rap] (“reaction AP”) are the same idea: they need both an available Reaction and 1 AP from the pool you carried into that moment. Opportunity Attack Abilities use your Reaction for the Round and the same AP rule unless the ability says otherwise.

Action types and AP costs

Default costs line up with the engine’s Action Types and the rules hub pages for each category:

0 AP. Passive Abilities are always available but can be toggled when a condition allows. Free Abilities cost no AP; you can chain as many as you like on a Turn when triggers permit, and some fire off-turn.
Half actions (special). The first “half” interactive beat on a Turn—often drawing a weapon or similar light setup—does not subtract AP. A second half action on the same Turn rounds up to 1 AP total for the pair. When a glossary entry (such as Object Interaction) already assigns a full 1 AP to a simple interact, use that cost instead of the half-action carve-out. Heavier object work still uses whatever Action Type the GM assigns.
1 AP. A Move up to your speed. A normal Attack with an equipped weapon. Quick Abilities. Attack Abilities, which still need a successful weapon Attack Roll and count against your “hindered attack” throttle the same way other extra swings do. Each extra weapon Attack in the same Turn after a class feature or passive has already offset the baseline usually takes −5 to the Attack Roll, then −10 on a third, unless the text grants a cleaner path.
2 AP. Abilities and casting Spells (including Cantrips) on the normal action schedule.
3 AP. Full Abilities—the biggest single beat you can buy on a normal Turn.
Reaction timing. Abilities that resolve on Reaction timing—including Opportunity Attack Abilities and anything tagged [rap]—cost 1 AP when they fire, consume your once-per-Round Reaction, and usually need a printed trigger. For lists and triggers, open Reaction abilities and Opportunity attack abilities.

Specific cards, items, or class features can rename the timing but rarely ignore the economy entirely—when in doubt, trust the Action Type printed on the ability and the platform tooltip.

One focused beat at a time. If two different spends of your Turn each need full attention in the same moment, pick one unless a feature explicitly lets you combine them.

Social interaction

Roleplay drives scenes; dice break ties when outcomes are uncertain. Attitudes and leverage matter as much as bonuses. When the rules need a die result, use the relevant Skills and respect Hidden Rolls or Contesting Skill Challenges for extended persuasion or interrogation.

In an active Encounter, players typically select the Target or targets they are trying to sway, then resolve Influence through the correct Action Type so the engine applies the right opposed bonuses and visibility settings.

Exploration

When exploration turns tactical on FateTide, the live Encounter view brings creatures, party inventory, and status effects together on a semi-abstract encounter widget (a scrollable 2D plane) so everyone shares the same spatial and equipment context while the GM narrates between beats.

Adventuring gear and tools

Equipment expands what you can attempt: rope, Light Sources, kits, and Tools change what is plausible. See packaged kits on Adventuring gear and the broader object catalog on Objects, alongside Equipment. Activating gear may use an Action Type or Object Interaction as the GM rules.

Equipment slots

Worn and wielded gear is placed in equipment slots on the sheet—hands, armor and accessory layers, rings, worn containers, and the rest—so the table always knows what is actively in play versus stowed loose or nested in a bag. Each slot type can cap how many compatible items may occupy it at once.

When you move an item into an equip action in FateTide, the engine checks that combination in a sensible order: you cannot treat a quantity stack as a single worn piece, wear vehicles in an equipment slot, or mix two-handed layouts with separate main- and off-hand weapons until something is cleared. Heavy weapons, oversized arms and armor for small or medium creatures, and size-tuned gear for very large or very small creatures all hard-fail if the creature does not meet the printed requirements. Unidentified items still move, but they resolve as carried, not equipped, until you know what they are.

Armor and similar kit may require donning or doffing time; those steps are only scheduled after the equip rules say the item could legally be worn, so you are not asked to spend in-fiction time strapping on something that could never fit. Nested storage respects each container’s carrying capacity; containers, vehicles, and books behave as discrete objects rather than anonymous quantity piles.

For the live list of slot definitions, see Equipment slots.

Vision, light, and hiding

What you can perceive depends on lighting, senses, and Line of Sight (LOS). Sneak attempts, Partial Cover / Full Cover, and the Sneaking / Hidden states on the encounter widget all feed back into who can see whom. Ambushes often pair Sneak versus Attention with Hidden Rolls so the table does not metagame the result.

Attention and Inspection on the sheet. See Innate Skills for the full write-ups. In short: Attention is the broad “what do I notice?” sense; Inspection is the deliberate read of objects, wounds, architecture, and other clues.

Passive sensing while you move

Passive checks while you move. On FateTide, a creature’s passive Attention can be exercised automatically out to a modest radius (about thirty feet) when they Move on the encounter widget—once per Turn—to contest Hidden foes who must keep re-earning stealth. Passive Inspection instead keys off Reach around the token edge toward hidden inventory (secret doors, buried contraband, invisible packs): the engine treats that as a single secret pulse tied to movement logic so smuggled or concealed items stay consistent with the same move pipeline that updates positions and stacks. Deliberate searches still use an active Inspection roll against a DC when you describe what you are examining.

When the fiction outruns automation. If someone suspects a Hidden creature or tucked-away gear, they can still invoke Passive Abilities, Full Abilities, Quick Abilities, or other features that grant extra sensing—such as Spot Hidden Creatures—when the table agrees it fits the moment. The GM decides whether that spends an Action Type, piggybacks on an existing Search, or becomes a Hidden Roll so players are not tipped off.

Objects, traps, and hazards

During combat, simple Object Interaction costs 1 AP—the same wording FateTide surfaces from the official glossary scrape—so it is never “free.” Heavier object work spends AP through whatever Action Types the printed ability or the GM assigns to the beat. Outside combat, you do not spend AP on these interactions; the GM sets pacing instead.

Traps use Trap DC and discovery rules in the traps chapter. Environmental harm may reference Falling Damage and similar entries.

Travel and pacing

The GM can summarize long journeys or zoom in when Movement per step matters. Marching order still matters for who triggers encounters first.

Combat

Combat is structured: positions are established, Alternating Initiative builds Turn Order, then each creature takes a Turn each Round until the Encounter ends. Build or tweak fights in Modify Encounter when you prep digitally. For when to lean on theatre of the mind versus a mapped encounter on FateTide, see Theatre of the mind vs encounters in this chapter.

Combat step by step

Establish positions. Tokens start on the encounter widget; the GM can nudge placements before the first Round if ambushes, doors, or narrative framing need a tweak.
Roll initiative. Build Turn Order with Alternating Initiative (see glossary for ties and surprises). The GM usually fires those rolls from the turn order widget controls so monsters and players enter the tracker together.
Take turns. Play proceeds in Turn Order with occasional exceptions for Reactions or readied actions. On your Turn, Move and spend AP on allowed Action Types. The GM can enable a turn timer from campaign settings to keep combats snappy at the table.

Movement and position

On the encounter map, each token remembers a preferred speed type (walking, swimming, flying, and so on). FateTide uses that choice when you drag the token so the right movement budget, climb rules, and encounter log labels apply—defaulting to Walking Speed when nothing else is set. During combat, off-turn moves are blocked for other people’s characters unless someone with table-wide control is helping, drops stay inside the visible play area, and overlapping pieces get a gentle nudge so larger creatures do not fully cover smaller ones. Climbing without Spider Climb (status) still expects both hands free. See Speed types for the full catalog.

Speed types on FateTide

Walking Speed
Jumping Speed
Swimming Speed
Climbing Speed
Flying Speed
Burrowing Speed
Teleport (ft)
Hovering Speed

Making attacks

Choose a Target in range, account for Advantage / Disadvantage, then roll the Attack Roll. On a hit, roll damage from the weapon or Spell. Range, cover, and obscurement modify outcomes as defined in combat rules.

Janus tracks how many weapon attacks you have spent this Turn while you are in combat. Most weapon and spell attacks increment that counter so the sheet, encounter tools, and log stay aligned. Abilities flagged as Unhindered Attack are the usual exception—they still cost AP and actions where required, but they do not consume one of those counted attacks, which is how off-hand strikes, certain rider actions, or rider-style powers stay legal when the rules say so.

Sources of Hindered Attack apply Disadvantage to your Attack Roll instead of quietly cancelling swings—the automation shows the layer in the roll trace so everyone sees why the dice pool changed.

Head attacks. Bites, gores, and other natural weapons tied to the head slot can normally be used only once per turn while combat tracking is active. Creatures with a multiple head attacks style feature ignore that cap; everyone else should plan horn-and-fang routines around other actions if the stat block does not grant an exception.

Opportunity attacks and reactions

Leaving an enemy’s threatened space or other triggers may allow an Opportunity Attack Ability using a Reaction. You get one Reaction per Round unless features say otherwise.

Mounted and underwater combat

Mounting uses the dedicated mount a creature flow from the combat chapter: riders pick up statuses such as Riding while mounts carry Mounted / Ridden pairings, and piloted vehicles lean on Piloting / Piloted when the fiction calls for it. Browse ready-made mounts on Mounts, then return to the combat rules for attack angles, cover while elevated, and what happens when a mount drops.

Underwater. The same combat chapter covers slowed swings, thrown-weapon limits, and how fire behaves underwater. When a creature’s preferred speed is swimming in an underwater encounter, FateTide treats it like a native swimmer—those profiles usually avoid the extra Hindered Attack penalties that land-dwellers suffer while fighting in three dimensions down there.

Taming wild creatures. Turning a monster into an ally is still a story beat first: the GM sets stakes, players use the social and exploration pillars (calming checks, feeding, binding wounds, earning trust), and long-term companionship is recorded on the sheet or in campaign notes once the table agrees the beast is staying. Link the creature from Creatures when you promote it from encounter token to recurring cast member.

Weather. When you want storms, heat waves, or blizzards to matter mechanically, pull options from Weather and attach them to encounters or overland travel the same way you would any other environmental pressure.

Damage and healing

Vitality and temporary vitality

Vitality measures how much punishment a creature can take. Temporary Vitality (Temp V) absorbs hits first. Vitality Dice / Vitality Die come from class and monster entries.

Damage rolls

When a hit deals variable damage, roll the dice given by the weapon or Spell and add modifiers the rules specify. Some builds add dedicated extra damage or extra weapon damage rolls after the main swing; those lines follow their own item text for whether they double on a critical (see Critical hit damage).

Evasion, armor, and chip damage. FateTide resolves weapon and spell attacks against both Evasion Class (EC) and Armor Class (AC) so hits are not strictly all-or-nothing. If the attack roll is below the target’s EC, the attack is a clean miss—the target dodged or turned the blow entirely. If the roll meets or beats the target’s full AC, the hit deals full rolled damage (before resistances and other layers), the same “beat AC” outcome players already expect. When the roll is at least EC but still below AC, the attack still lands as a glancing or armor-absorbed hit: roll damage as usual, then subtract a flat armor absorption equal to AC − 10 from that packet (to a minimum of zero). That middle band is how the site implements chip damage—small rolls may wash out against heavy plating, while meaty rolls still punch through—so evasive characters and heavily armored ones feel different without changing the basic roll procedure.

Hindered Attack and Unhindered Attack still matter: hindrance changes the attack roll, while unhindered attacks change how many counted swings you have left, not whether the damage dice max out once a crit is confirmed.

Critical hit damage

Critical hits ride on the attack roll. A strike counts as a critical when the natural d20 is a 20 unless a feature explicitly lowers that threshold. Attacks against a Paralyzed or Unconscious target can be upgraded to a critical for damage even when the d20 would not normally qualify. Abilities that automatically hit never become critical hits just because the roller shows a 20—the engine keeps those hits separate so riders and guaranteed strikes do not accidentally double dice.

What changes on a crit. Instead of leaving low damage dice on the table, Janus adds a critical damage bundle equal to the maximum each weapon or spell die could have rolled (for example, 2d6 adds twelve). That is the “treat every damage die as having rolled its highest face” moment players feel at the table—no fishing for rerolls on ones. Separate extra damage rolls that are tagged as pure riders usually keep their own behavior, so read the ability text before assuming they double. Campaign-level remarkable or world-shaking critical house rules can stack even more max-face bundles when your table opts in.

Damage types and mitigation

Every packet of harm references a damage type so Resistance, Vulnerability, and Immunity can react predictably. Damage Reduction (DR) and Damage Mitigation still apply after typing, exactly as their glossary entries describe. For sortable tables and filters, open Damage types.

Core damage types

Acid
Bludgeoning
Cold
Fire
Force
Lightning
Necrotic
Piercing
Poison
Psychic
Radiant
Slashing
Thunder

Healing and rest

Healing restores Vitality up to your maximum. Potions and similar options may use a Drink Potion-style timing if the item says so (check the exact item text). Long Rest and Full Rest reset many resources—see those glossary entries and the rest chapter.

Dropping to 0 vitality

At 0 Vitality, creatures follow the dying and death rules for this edition—often involving the Dying Stratum and stabilization options in combat / GM guidance.

Conditions and status effects

Effects impose ongoing states (blinded, frightened, prone, and so on). Each condition’s mechanical package lives under Status Effects in the Rules Glossary, the dedicated status effects listing, and the broader rules reference. Conditions generally do not stack duplicate names; follow each entry’s text for exceptions.

Magic and powers (overview)

Spells, Cantrips, Ritual Spells, Curses, Mentas, Casters, and components (Material Spell Component, Somatic Spell Component, Verbal Spell Component) are the building blocks this publication summarizes alongside the rest of the Player’s Guide. Use the live Spells list for authoritative wording, mana costs, and targeting. AOE / Area of Effect templates matter for many entries. For how preparation, spells known, and the castable-spells panel line up on the sheet, see Prepared spells, spells known, and castable spells under Other essences. For ritual timing, concentration, and why ritual completion does not debit Mana, see Ritual spells there as well.

Upcasting. When a spell is flagged as upcastable, spending additional Mana (or otherwise meeting its printed scaling gates) applies the extra targets, damage dice, duration, area, or riders defined on that spell’s card—Janus reads those tables so the log matches the book.

Overcasting. “Overcasting” is the strain play where a caster pushes beyond what the spell’s text explicitly allows. That territory is never fully automated: the GM negotiates the cost, risk, and effect footprint using GM Discretion. Campaigns that want a shared toggle for everyone can enable the Magic: Overcasting house rule in Custom house rules / campaign settings, but even then the narrative beat still belongs to the table.

Playing the role

Ask “what would this character do?”—then check that your choices respect other players’ fun. Lean into hooks the GM provides, and use Bonds, Ideals, and Traits from Character Creation to keep decisions legible to the table.

For concrete prompts, pull from the Flaws and Traits catalogs, layer in hundred-question style interview exercises with your group, and capture the answers in Character Creation backstory fields so the rest of the party knows what makes your Player Character tick.

Character creation beyond the sheet

Once ancestry, Classes, gear, Essences (Body, Mind, Soul), Skills, and Feats are chosen on Create Player Character, the numbers are only half the job. The sections below help you turn the sheet into someone the table remembers—aligned with FateTide’s essence-driven, Skill-focused play and long Tiers of advancement. For step-by-step rules, still start from Character Creation on the rules hub.

How rare adventures are

The GM decides how rare dangerous quests and people who chase them are compared with ordinary folk in their setting. Very loosely: perhaps about one in a thousand in typical fantasy (Adventures in Zin), nearer one in a hundred in high fantasy where wonders pile up, and one in a million or rarer in grittier or lower-fantasy worlds (Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian) where ordinary survival crowds out romance. Treat those ratios as tonal guides, not rolled-at-the-table math; whatever baseline fits everyone else, player characters stay exceptional—the cast at the heart of the story.

Ancestry

During creation you choose your ancestry (or ancestries). Every ancestry written for players carries three passives—implemented as Passive Abilities—that unlock at levels 1, 5, and 10. You can mix and match ancestries freely when building your character. If you take a mixed ancestry, the ancestry you assign at level 1 fixes your main creature type and creature subtypes—those tags follow your character through play for the most part.

Tiers of play by level

Power and threat scale across broad level bands: 1–9, 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, and 40+. Expect stakes, opponents, treasures, and story scope to widen as you cross each band—the idea pairs with Tiers in the rules and with Campaigns earlier in this chapter. Use the bands as pacing cues when you pitch arcs or prep encounters.

Start with a high concept

Write one punchy line that states who they are and why they push into danger with the party.

“Exiled courtier who learned Influence in back alleys instead of throne rooms.”
“Mind-scarred academic chasing forbidden Magic lore—and the price it exacts.”
“Frontier scout who trusts Navigation and Fortitude more than any crown.”

That line is shorthand for you and the GM when scenes need a fast read on your default angle.

Tie your backstory to the mechanics

Let history explain the stats you actually roll:

Body-leaning? What labor, war, or wilderness forged Fortitude, Balance, or Sneak?
Mind-leaning? What obsession or institution raised Magic, Inspection, or History?
Soul-leaning? Which relationships, vows, or wounds sharpened Influence, Empathy, or Willpower?

Name two or three formative beats that justify where you spent Skill Points and Skill Point Training. Remember that Innate Skills tied to an Essence begin at Minor Skill Tiers—call out when fiction explains higher training elsewhere.

Give the GM usable hooks (“knives”)

Short, specific pressures you want the story to lean on are sometimes called knives: the GM can bring them back when stakes need a personal edge. Aim for roughly seven to twelve, each one or two sentences, across different categories so you are not repeating the same beat.

Obligations: “My sibling still tends the family forge in the capital—and writes every month asking when I am coming home.”
Rivals: “The investigator who cleared my name still thinks I owe a favor that could cost the party.”
Mysteries: “A sigil on my ribs flares when certain Spells are cast nearby, and I have no memory of who carved it.”
Trauma: “The smell of ozone after a botched ritual still rattles my Willpower saves.”
Secrets: “Only I know which vault door still opens—and who paid me to forget.”
Heirlooms: “The mentor’s compass always points toward trouble, not north.”
Broken vows: “I swore to deliver a relic to a dying order; I kept it instead.”
Social friction: “My lineage marks me visibly in places that pretend it does not matter—until it does.”

Share them before play or during session zero so they can seed NPCs, twists, and Contesting Skill Challenges without blindsiding you.

Want versus need

Want is the conscious, external prize your Player Character chases today. Need is the internal shift that would actually make them whole—often the thing they resist. Long campaigns tend to test the Need more than the Want.

Want: “Win back the contract house that stole our fleet.” Need: “Stop treating allies as leverage.”
Want: “Find the working that promises endless life.” Need: “Admit I am already changing into something I fear.”
Want: “Be named the realm’s greatest tracker.” Need: “Forgive myself for the village I could not save.”

Revisit both every handful of levels; when the fiction tugs on one, update your notes in Character Creation so the table stays aligned.

Personality, bonds, and party connections

Pair broad strokes with the structured fields the sheet already supports:

Traits: two small habits the table can spot in play (the catalog is a fast prompt if you are stuck).
Ideals: a belief that can cost you something when it collides with the mission.
Bonds: a living tether to a place, faction, or fellow Player Character.
Flaws: something that creates friction, not a free quirk—mine the catalog for wording that matches your tone.

During session zero, try to establish at least one two-way link between every pair of characters (shared debt, rival handler, cover story, family tie). Parties that start with overlap have fewer awkward “why would I care?” moments when the GM lights a fuse.

Strong habits at the FateTide table

Be a fan of other Player Characters. Ask in-fiction questions that pass focus.
Share the spotlight. Notice who has been quiet and invite them in.
Know your sheet. Especially contested pairs such as Sneak versus Attention or Influence versus Empathy, so your Turn moves quickly.
Build on offers. Creative Skill use is welcome when the table agrees it fits the scene.
Embrace failure. A lost contest or bad defense roll is story fuel, not a dead end.
Keep light notes. NPC names, open hooks, and your own knives are easy to forget between sessions.
Talk off-channel when needed. Quick calibration beats simmering confusion; respect whatever safety tools the campaign uses.
Show up prepared. Read the recap, glance at the next Location or Encounter teaser, and bring one idea for how you might engage.

Optional session-zero exercises

Some groups run a short questionnaire privately to the GM (wants, needs, knives, lines/veils). Others do a round-robin where each player adds one fact to another character’s past. Both approaches pair well with the Traits / Flaws pickers when you need inspiration.

With hooks, motivations, and table habits in place, your Player Character can carry long arcs across many Tiers—not because the math demanded it, but because the table invested in the story you promised on day one.

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