Your character's health represents his or her ability to withstand damage through a combination of physical fortitude, willpower, and ability to "roll with the punches." It is a rolling total that gets reduced every time you take damage and increased every time you receive a Heal effect. If it drops to zero, your character falls unconscious and begins dying (see Death for more details).
Note that your character's health can never go lower than zero or higher than his or her maximum health total. Your maximum health total is determined primarily by your level and class(es). Every character begins with 10 health and gains an additional amount of health every level. The amount varies by class. For example, wizards gain 4 health per level and warriors gain 6, so a 10th-level warrior/4th-level wizard has 86 health (10 base, plus 60 for 10 levels of warrior, plus 16 for four levels of wizard). Note that the Fortitude skill can increase your maximum health total further.
Certain characters, particularly those of monstrous races, are more susceptible to certain kinds of damage. This is represented by thresholds. A threshold is composed of three parts: An amount of damage (generally three or five times the character's level), a damage type, and an effect. If the character ever receives damage of the indicated type that is equal to or greater than the indicated amount, he or she also suffers the threshold effect.
For example, undead are vulnerable to blessed damage. An undead character who receives blessed damage equal to or greater than three times his or her level also receives a fear effect. Likewise, an undead character who receives blessed damage equal to or greater than five times his or her level receives a slay effect. Thus, a level 15 undead has the thresholds "45 Blessed - Fear" and "75 Blessed - Slay."
Note that only single damage taglines can trigger threshold effects. For example, if the same undead in the example above takes two separate attacks that inflict 40 blessed damage, neither of the character's thresholds are triggered even though the combined damage would trigger them both. Note also that threshold effects can be countered just like any other effect. Even if a threshold effect is countered, however, the damage is not. Thus, if the example undead receives 50 blessed damage, he or she can counter the fear effect, but takes the damage regardless.
The Living Action system provides many different ways for you to customize your character. These are generally referred to as "character options," and come in five varieties: Races, Classes, Skills, Actions, and Items.
Your character's race determines his or her general creature type, such as human, elf, or angori. Different races have affinities for different classes and skills, as well as distinct personalities, physical traits, and relations with other races that will drastically affect your game experience. Because every character has only one race, which must be chosen at character creation and cannot thereafter be changed, your choice of race is very important.
Whereas races determine your character's hereditary traits, classes determine his or her learned abilities. Like races, classes have affinities for different skills. More importantly, however, classes determine what kind of special actions your character can use in play. Unlike races, your character can potentially have more than one class, although most characters begin with only one.
Although race and class have a strong effect on the sort of abilities your character is likely to have, skills are where you really begin to define those abilities. Skills encompass a variety of different abilities, including things like weapon proficiency, racial actions, and professional training.
Strictly speaking, anything your character can do in play is an action of one sort or another. Common actions like walking, speaking, or swinging a sword can be performed by almost any character at will, and may be enhanced by certain skills. Special actions, on the other hand, are restricted to certain races or classes and can only be used with limited frequency. These include things like hurling balls of fire, shouting terrifying battle cries, and mending wounds.
The longer you play your character, the more skill points you acquire. This represents the effects of ongoing training and experience. Skill points are used to purchase various kinds of skills.
By default, skills are very costly. However, every race and class in the game has one or more skill affinities, which allow a character of that type to purchase the skill at a reduced cost. For example, warriors have an affinity for combat-related skills, so characters with levels in warrior pay less for those skills. Skill affinities come in three varieties: Weak (20% reduction), Moderate (40% reduction), and Strong (60% reduction).
It's important to note that skill affinities from your race and class stack, but skill affinities from multiple classes do not. When stacking occurs, two weak affinities result in a moderate affinity, and anything else results in a strong affinity. For example, an elf has a weak affinity for ranged combat and a ranger has a moderate affinity for it, so an elven ranger has a strong affinity for it. In the case of multiple classes with affinities for the same skill, however, only the strongest affinity applies. For example, warriors have a weak affinity for ranged combat, so a multiclass ranger/warrior has only a moderate affinity.
Note also that skill affinities are applied retroactively. For example, a wizard who later gains levels in warrior pays a reduced cost for Armed Combat, even if it was purchased before he or she ever gained levels in warrior.
Many skills can be purchased more than once for greater effect. The number of times a character has purchased a skill is known as his or her rank in that skill. Some skills will have a predetermined limit to the number of ranks a character can possess, while others can be bought an unlimited number of times. If a skill has an unlimited number of ranks, it will often be level-limited, which means that a character cannot buy more ranks than his or her current level. All of these factors are clarified in the individual skill descriptions.
Skills come in four varieties: Combat Skills, Knowledge Skills, Racial Skills, and Trade Skills.
Combat skills enhance your character's combat effectiveness by granting proficiency with armor and weapons, granting access to new attacks, or increasing the damage of attacks under different circumstances.
As the name implies, a racial skill is a skill that can only be acquired by characters of a particular race. Racial skills grant access to specific, predefined actions common to members of the race in question. For example, elves are noted for their keen senses, so elven characters can purchase the Elven Perception skill.
Unlike actions gained through classes, racial actions are automatically prepared in addition to all of a character's normal actions. The frequency of use is determined by character level rather than class level. For example, an elf with 14 levels in wizard and 3 levels in rogue counts as level 17 for determining the frequency of elven racial actions.
In addition to race, racial skills require a minimum character level equal to the highest component rating of the action granted. The cost of a racial skill is equal to the rating of the granted action divided by three, rounded up.
Most knowledge skills improve your character's special actions or grant access to special game information, such as treasure values, monster licenses, or lore articles. This game information can generally be accessed online and then used in play. Other knowledge skills grant your character additional common actions or enhance his or her selection of treasure after adventures.
Trade skills enable your character to perform special actions during downtime between events, such as earning money, harvesting components, or creating equipment. The more ranks your character has in a particular trade skill, the more worthwhile these actions are likely to be.
Different trade skills allow you to produce different things. Gathering skills like herbalism, hunting, and mining allow you to harvest random components of different kinds. Production skills like blacksmithing, leatherworking, and tailoring allow you to generate production, which can be exchanged along with the proper components for manufactured equipment. In addition to these uses, any trade skill can be used to earn in-play currency.
Note that special world events can affect your trade skills from month to month. For example, there may be a plague of locusts ravaging farmlands and vegetation, reducing the effectiveness of Farming and Herbalism. At the same time, an annual festival may drive up the production of Brewing and Cooking. Often, world events will have causes and remedies that can be explored in play.
A character without a trade skill is assumed to earn just enough to get by through odd jobs and menial labor. As such, characters without trade skills can only acquire money and items in play.
When a character of a particular type is good at learning a class or skill, that is referred to as an "affinity." Affinities tie different character options together and come in two varieties: Class Affinities and Skill Affinities.
Generally, a character can only prepare one class action at a time for each level he or she possesses in that class. All non-human races, however, have one or more class affinities. A class affinity allows a character of that race to prepare one additional action of that class. The character must possess at least one level in the class to qualify.
Note that some races possess multiple class affinities. A character with levels in more than one such class, however, can prepare only one additional action, although that action may be from any one of those classes.
By default, skills are very costly. However, every race and class in the game has one or more skill affinities, which allow a character of that type to purchase the skill at a reduced cost. For example, warriors have an affinity for combat-related skills, so characters with levels in warrior pay less for those skills. Skill affinities come in three varieties: Weak (20% reduction), Moderate (40% reduction), and Strong (60% reduction).
It's important to note that skill affinities from your race and class stack, but skill affinities from multiple classes do not. When stacking occurs, two weak affinities result in a moderate affinity, and anything else results in a strong affinity. For example, an elf has a weak affinity for ranged combat and a ranger has a moderate affinity for it, so an elven ranger has a strong affinity for it. In the case of multiple classes with affinities for the same skill, however, only the strongest affinity applies. For example, warriors have a weak affinity for ranged combat, so a multiclass ranger/warrior has only a moderate affinity.
Note also that skill affinities are applied retroactively. For example, a wizard who later gains levels in warrior pays a reduced cost for Armed Combat, even if it was purchased before he or she ever gained levels in warrior.
As in most fantasy games, your character's abilities grow and develop gradually over time. This is measured in skill points, character levels, and class levels.
Most characters begin play with 20 skill points, with more being awarded for every event in which the character is played. Skill points can be used to purchase various skills to customize your character's abilities.
The number of skill points awarded to your character depends upon his or her level during the event.
| Character Level | Skill Points Awarded |
| 2nd | 8 |
| 3rd | 6 |
| 4th | 5 |
| 5th - 6th | 4 |
| 7th - 10th | 3 |
| 11th - 13th | 2 |
| 14th+ | 1 |
Characters also have levels. A character's level is equal to his or her total (spent and unspent) skill points divided by 10, rounded down. As a character gains skill points, his or her level increases to match. Thus, a character with 27 skill points is 2nd level. If the character is then awarded four skill points (bringing the total to 31), he or she becomes 3rd level.
As with skill points, levels are also used to customize your character's abilities. Every time your character gains a level, you can assign that level to a particular class. Classes are general character types that gain useful and distinctive in-play abilities called actions.
A character can devote all of his or her levels to a single class or divide them between different classes. Thus, a 7th-level character may be a 7th-level wizard, a 6th-level disciple and 1st-level rogue, a 4th-level warrior and 3rd-level savage, or any combination of class levels that adds up to seven.
Boon points, or just "boon," are awarded to players for contributing to the operation of the game and can be redeemed for in-play rewards. Ways to earn boon and the number of boon earned are detailed below.
| Contribution | Boon Awarded |
| Serve as a full-time monster during a weekend event.* | 15 |
| Serve as a full-time plot member during a weekend event.** | 10 |
| As a present for your real-life birthday. | 5 |
| Qualify and serve as a game medic during an event. | 2 |
| Refer a new player to the game using the referral system. | 2 |
| Help clean up after an event. | 1 - 4 |
| Contribute $5 worth of goods for game use (e.g., boffer weapons, props, spell packets, in-game food for everyone, cash, etc.). | 1 |
| Serve an extra hour of monster duty during an event. | 1 |
| * - Full-time monsters do not pay to attend, but may not play a PC or receive skill points. | |
| ** - Plot members do not pay to attend, are allowed to play their PCs for one adventure per event, and receive skill points normally. | |
Note that all players are expected to monster a minimum of two hours per event and to clean up their own cabin at the event's conclusion. Boon are only awarded to players who help out above and beyond these minimum requirements.
Boon may in turn be traded for the following in-play benefits.
| Benefit | Boon Cost |
| One additional skill point for a 2nd- or 3rd-level PC* | 2 |
| One additional skill point for a 4th- to 6th-level PC* | 3 |
| One additional skill point for a 7th- to 9th-level PC* | 4 |
| One additional skill point for a 10th- to 12th-level PC* | 5 |
| One additional skill point for a PC of 13th level or higher* | 6 |
| 10 gold pieces | 1 |
| Instantly advance your PC's downtime queue by one day | 1 |
| Guarantee success when developing a new action | Varies |
| * - Players may purchase any number of skill points for a new PC prior to the first event in which that PC is played. Thereafter, only two skill points may be purchased for a PC between events. Note also that no new PC may be created with more skill points than the highest-level PC already in the game. | |
Treasure includes any physical resource that can be used to augment your character's abilities. In many cases, such as with equipment and resources, your character can use treasure to perform actions. In others, such as with gold or trade skill production, treasure is not useful in and of itself but can be used to acquire more useful items.
Gold and silver coins (often just referred to as "gold") are basic units of monetary value, with 10 silver coins being worth one gold coin. They can be used to purchase treasure from other characters.
Valuables are analogous to coins in that they represent a preset monetary value. You can directly exchange valuables for an amount of gold equal to their value without the added hassle of selling or trading them. A silver nugget, for example, can be exchanged for 10 gold coins. Because of this, valuables are much like larger denominations of gold.
Consumables are small pieces of carried treasure, such as potions, poisons, and charms, that produce a specific action when used. As their name suggests, they can only be used once before they are expended, leaving nothing behind. A Minor Healing Potion, for example, can be used to perform a single Touch, "Heal 10", and is destroyed immediately after it is used.
Resources are pieces of carried treasure that are used to craft or enchant other treasure. They come in three varieties: Crafting Materials, Reagents, and Trade Skill Production.
Equipment refers to any type of worn or wielded treasure. In contrast to consumables and resources, equipment is always permanent, although the enchantments placed on equipment can be expended or expire over time. Although it comes in many varieties, three types of equipment bear special mention: Armor, Weapons, and Shields.
Other types of equipment, such as clothing, jewelry, or wands, are not useful in and of themselves beyond any special properties or enchantments they may possess.
Every piece of treasure, other than gold and silver coins, is represented in play by a treasure tag. Much like a miniature character sheet, this tag explains what the treasure is and what it can be used to do. The information found on these tags varies from one treasure type to the next, but generally includes the treasure's Name, Quality & Type, Usage, and Properties.
Many properties, such as Armor or Damage, are passive and require nothing more than using the treasure normally. Likewise, many beneficial status effects are ongoing and affect the character so long as the treasure is in use. A breastplate with a Guard effect or a sword with a Hone effect, for example, confer their benefits on the user without needing to be activated.
Properties on charged or consumable treasure, however, imposes certain performance requirements. In order to use a consumable, you must perform a three-count that accurately describes how you're using the item. For example, to drink a potion, you might say, "Drinking 1, drinking 2, drinking 3." To use a charged piece of equipment (e.g., an emblem or wand), you must say a valid verbal. These activities can be interrupted as normal.
Treasure with properties marked as Single Use or with a number of Charges can only be used to perform that action the indicated number of times. When you use a single-use consumable, you should rip up and throw away the treasure tag at your next opportunity. When you use a charge from a piece of equipment, you should put a hash mark next to the property so the correct number of charges are removed when the treasure is checked back in after the event.
During events, your character acquires treasure by defeating random monsters and going on adventures. Treasure acquired during an event comes in three varieties: Common loot, uncommon loot, and adventure rewards.
Common loot can be found by searching random monsters. It includes stray coinage, low-level consumables, simple reagents, and everyday crafting materials. Many, but not all, monsters will have common loot, and some may not have it every time they appear.
Occasionally, random monsters may also have uncommon loot. Uncommon loot includes slightly better treasure, including high-level consumables and uncommon reagents. Monsters carrying this loot will often be tougher than others.
Finally, monsters encountered during an adventure will not have loot. Instead, at the end of every adventure, those who participated are given adventure rewards. These are drawn at random from a bag and feature the most expensive and sought-after treasure, including magic items, rare reagents, superior crafting materials, and valuables. The number of adventure rewards you draw depends upon your level; you receive one draw from the bag for every four character levels, rounded up (i.e., one for levels 2 through 4, two for levels 5 through 8, three for levels 9 through 12, etc.).
If your character knows a trade skill, he or she can practice it during downtime to earn money, produce resources, or manufacture equipment.
Exactly what a trade skill is good for varies. Harvesting skills like Herbalism or Mining generate production that can be exchanged for reagents or crafting materials. Manufacturing skills like Blacksmithing or Leatherworking generate production that can be used along with crafting materials to craft equipment, such as armor or weapons. Some skills, like Tailoring or Woodworking, can do both. Individual trade skill entries have more information on what they can be used to produce.
Between events, you can spend your character's hard-earned gold in the bazaar, where merchant NPCs and your fellow PCs put their goods up for sale. If you want to haggle or barter a better deal, you can also contact the character's player directly and attempt to roleplay with them.
Note that you can also attempt to steal treasure from other characters. However, because this is a PvP activity, you cannot do so if either you or your victim are good characters. See the rules on alignment for more details.
If your character has the necessary resources and/or downtime actions, you can create treasure from scratch. To do so, locate the treasure you'd like to create in the Treasure Trove.
For a piece of simple treasure such as a consumable, crafting material, or reagent, the treasure detail page will list out the resources and/or actions necessary to create the item. If your character has all of the necessary resources and knows all of the necessary downtime actions, you can click on the create link on this page. The treasure will be added to your character's inventory and any resources needed to make it will be removed.
For a piece of equipment, the process is a bit more complex. Locate the base treasure type in the treasure trove as above, click the Build tab at the top of the page, and complete the resulting form. You will be asked to choose the equipment's name, quality, material, and enchantments. Once you submit the form, you will be given a chance to preview the treasure before creating it in the same manner as above.
Treasure in your character's inventory is printed out in advance of any event for which you have RSVPed with a "Yes" or "Maybe". For this reason, it is very important to RSVP in advance of an event to ensure that your treasure is available when you check in.
Before you leave the event, you are also expected to check your treasure back in by depositing your character sheet along with any treasure tags and coins in a plastic bag and leaving it with a Marshal. Your treasure will then be checked in and made available online for you to manage in downtime.
If your character knows the correct downtime actions, you can enchant equipment that you own during downtime. To do so, go to your character's inventory and click the Enchant link next to the treasure you'd like to enchant. If your character knows any downtime actions that can be used on equipment of that type, you'll be presented with a form that allows you to select the downtime action you'd like to use. Once you confirm this selection, the treasure will be enchanted and the reagents for the downtime action will be removed from your inventory. If the downtime action cannot be performed for some reason (e.g., you don't have the right reagents, you can't perform the downtime action alone, the item cannot hold any more enchantments, etc.), the treasure will not be enchanted and the reason will be shown.
As mentioned under Reading Treasure Tags above, every piece of equipment has a quality level. This is set at the time of creation and represents the amount of work that went into crafting the item. The higher an item's quality, the more trade skill production is required to create it and the higher its capacity for enchantment, as shown below.
Note that the same enchantment can stack up to 10 times. For example, a high quality ring can be enchanted with Lay on Hands up to 10 times because all 10 uses count as a single enchantment. The same high quality ring could not also be enchanted with Clear Thought, since that counts as a separate enchantment, or additional Lay on Hands, since anything more than 10 counts as a new enchantment.
Occasionally, you may acquire a piece of equipment that you'd like to rename. To do so, go to your character's inventory, click the Rename link next to the equipment you'd like to name, and fill out the resulting form. Treasure names can be whatever you like, but must conform to Content Guidelines just like character names. Note that you can only rename pieces of equipment; simple treasure such as consumables, resources, and valuables cannot be named.
Just as you can buy treasure from the bazaar, you can also put your own treasure up for sale in the bazaar. To do so, go to your character's inventory and click the Sell link next to the treasure you'd like to put up for sale. On the following form, enter the sell price in gold pieces (you can indicate amounts in silver by using decimals). For simple treasure, you'll also be given the option to indicate the number you'd like to sell. Once you submit the form, your treasure will immediately appear in the bazaar for other PCs to view and purchase. If you ever change your mind, you can remove your treasure from the bazaar by repeating the process and setting the sell price to zero.
In some cases, you may have difficulty selling treasure or you may be unwilling to wait for it to sell in its own time. If your character knows the Merchantry skill, you can choose to vend such treasure, selling it immediately at half its market value. To do so, go to your character's inventory and click the Vend link next to the treasure you'd like to vend. On the following form, you can review the vend price and specify the amount you'd like to vend. Once you submit the form, the treasure will be removed from your inventory and half its market value in gold will be awarded in its place. Treasure disposed of in this way goes up for sale on the open market the following day.
Treasure such as valuables or trade skill production can be converted directly into gold without needing to be sold. In addition, certain types of trade skill production can be converted into random resources of the appropriate type (e.g., Herbalism Production can be converted into random herbs). To use either of these functions, locate the treasure in your character's inventor, click the appropriate link next to it, and indicate the amount you'd like to convert on the following page.
It is possible for your character to store treasure somewhere for safe keeping. This is known as stashing. Stashed treasure is not checked out for your character's use at the game. It is kept in a separate inventory known as your character's stash and may only be used during downtime. To stash an item, go to your character's inventory, click the Stash link next to the treasure you'd like to stash, and indicate the amount you would like to keep stashed on the following page. That amount of treasure will then be moved to your character's stash. If at any time you would like to take treasure out of your stash, simply reverse the process by going to your character's stash (beneath your normal inventory) and clicking the Retrieve link next to the treasure you'd like to retrieve.
If, for whatever reason, you decide you'd like to get rid of a piece of treasure, you can destroy it by clicking the Discard link next to it in your character's inventory. Note that the choice to do this is permanent; discarded treasure is lost forever, so think carefully before you decide to throw it away.
If your character knows the Armored Combat skill, you can wear armor, which increases your ability to withstand damage.
Unlike other items in the game, which, for safety reasons, cannot be real, in-play armor must be represented by the real thing out of play. Thus, if you want your character to wear a set of full plate, you must own and wear a real set of full plate. As with boffer weapons and shields, armor must be inspected by a prop marshal before it can be worn in play.
The amount of protection you gain from wearing armor is measured in armor points. Armor points act as bonus health and are deducted first as you take damage. Unlike health, armor points cannot be healed, but are automatically replenished after one minute of rest.
The number of armor points granted by a piece of armor is determined by its type and location, as shown on the chart below. Torso values apply to armor worn on the chest and back. Appendage values apply to armor worn on the arms, legs, feet, hands, and head.
| Armor Type | Torso Value | Appendage Value |
| Tier I - Padded or Light Leather | 20 | 2 |
| Tier II - Heavy (Boiled, Studded, etc.) Leather or Chainmail | 30 | 4 |
| Tier III - Brigandine or Partial Plate | 40 | 6 |
| Tier IV - Full Plate | 50 | 8 |
Note that it is not possible to stack multiple pieces of armor on the same location for cumulative benefit. However, additional layers of protection may qualify armor as higher tier, as determined by the prop marshal who checks the armor in. A partial plate chest piece on top of a hardened leather jerkin, for example, may qualify as Tier IV rather than Tier III.
Armor crafted from special in-play materials may grant additional protection in the form of material points. Material points are identical to armor points in every way; they act as bonus health, cannot be healed, and return after one minute of rest. The only difference is that material points do not count against the character's maximum armor point total.
The Armored Combat skill indicates a maximum number of armor points at each rank. A character wearing more than this maximum does not benefit from armor points above the maximum. Thus, a character with one rank in Armored Combat who wears 24 points of armor can only benefit from 20, since that's the maximum at rank one. Note that a character with no ranks in Armored Combat cannot benefit from armor at all, but suffers no ill effect from wearing it.
Weapons include any form of equipment used to attack another character in combat.
In-play melee weapons are represented by replica props constructed of PVC and pipe or latex foam. These can be purchased from specialty vendors or constructed at home. Recommended construction materials include 0.5" or 0.75" PVC pipe and 5/8"-thick pipe foam. The PVC should be 400 psi/schedule 40, especially on large weapons. Other construction materials may be considered but are not highly recommended.
Note that projectile weapons such as bows and crossbows are not permitted by park regulations. Players who wish to use these must use prop versions and packets attached to streamers instead.
All weapons, regardless of their construction type, must be approved by a prop marshal at every event before they are allowed to be used in play.
The primary use of an in-play weapon is to inflict damage. The amount of damage inflicted, as well as skill and construction requirements, depends on the weapon's type, as detailed on the chart below. Measurements listed are for the total length of the weapon.
| Weapon Type | Skill to Use | Construction Requirements | Damage |
| Unarmed Attack | Unarmed Combat | 20" maximum | 2 |
| Light Weapon* | Armed Combat (Rank 1) | 30" maximum | 3 |
| Medium Weapon | Armed Combat (Rank 2) | 30.5" minimum, 45" maximum | 5 |
| Heavy Weapon* | Armed Combat (Rank 3) | 45" minimum | 10 |
| Thrown Weapon | Ranged Combat (Rank 1) | All open cell foam. No PVC. | 4 |
| Bow or Crossbow | Ranged Combat (Rank 2) | Special. See above. | 10 |
| * - Spears and staves are treated as light weapons and may be up to 72" in length, but require two hands to wield. | |||
By default, weapon attacks use either the blunt or sharp damage taglines, depending on the type of injury the weapon would inflict in real life. If it would pierce or slash, like a spear, dagger, or sword, it inflicts sharp damage. If it would bludgeon, like a club, staff, or mace, it inflicts blunt damage. Ambiguous cases are decided by the prop marshal who inspects the prop.
The chart above indicates the skill and rank required to use a weapon of a particular type. A character who attempts to use a weapon without the requisite skill calls half damage (rounded down, to a minimum of one), cannot use the weapon to deliver actions, and treats the weapon as his or her body for the purposes of blocking. Thus, a character with one rank in Armed Combat who tries to wield a long sword calls two sharp and cannot use the sword to deliver actions or effectively block.
A character without the requisite rank in Two-Weapon Combat who attempts to simultaneously wield two weapons suffers the same penalty for the off-hand weapon as if he or she were non-proficient.
Shields are special props used exclusively for blocking.
In-play shields are constructed using pipe foam in a manner similar to boffer weapons. Even though they cannot be used to attack (see "Shield Bashing" under Prohibited Fighting Styles), shields must still be constructed of pipe foam or have all of their edges wrapped in 5/8"-thick pipe foam. Beyond that, there are no size limitations for shield construction.
As mentioned above, the primary use for a shield is blocking. Shields can be used to block attacks delivered through weapon strikes. Note, however, that they cannot be used to block attacks delivered through packets or areas.
A character without two or more ranks in Armored Combat who attempts to use a shield treats the shield as his or her body for the purposes of taking damage and effects. Thus, a non-proficient character cannot use a shield to block. The character otherwise suffers no ill effect from carrying or using a shield.
The time between events is referred to as downtime. During this time, your character still exists in the game world, even though you yourself are not playing. Downtime is most often used to develop your character's abilities and practice your character's trade skills, which are collectively referred to as downtime activities.
The downtime queue is a character's sequence of prioritized downtime activities. Between events, you can log onto the website and define the activities you'd like your character to take during downtime. These activities are then completed in order of priority.
Each downtime activity requires a number of days to complete. At any point, you can return to the website and create, reorder, or abandon your downtime activities. If this causes another downtime activity to take precedence over one that has already started, the unfinished activity remains partially completed until it returns to the top of the queue or is abandoned.
Note that some downtime activities, such as learning skills and actions from a tutor or developing new actions collaboratively, require the involvement of other characters. Such downtime activities do not start until they reach first priority in each character's downtime queue.
If you choose to learn from a tutor, you must indicate another character who knows the skill you'd like to learn at the appropriate rank. Once that character agrees to teach the skill, the instruction will begin as soon as the downtime activity reaches first priority in both of your queues. If the character does not know the skill or refuses to teach it, the downtime activity will be removed from your queue once the character indicates as such. Learning a skill from a tutor takes two days of both the teacher and student's downtime for every three skill point expended, rounded to the closest full day.
If you choose to learn the skill independently, you only need to indicate the skill you'd like to learn. Learning a skill independently takes two days of downtime for each skill point expended.
If you choose to learn from a tutor, you must indicate another character who knows the action you'd like to learn. Once that character agrees to teach the action, the instruction will begin as soon as the downtime activity reaches first priority in both of your queues. If the character does not know the action or refuses to teach it, the downtime activity will be removed from your queue once the character indicates as such. Learning an action from a tutor takes a number of days equal to the action's rating divided by your combined class levels times two thirds, rounded to the closest full day. Thus, it takes a 15th-level wizard two days to teach a 7th-level wizard an action with a rating of 80 (80 / (15 + 7) * 2/3 = 2.42).
If you choose to develop the action independently, you only need to indicate the action you'd like to develop. Developing an action independently takes a number of days of downtime equal to the action's rating divided by the character's class level times two thirds, rounded to the closest full day. Thus, it would take the same 7th-level wizard four days to develop an action with a rating of 40 (40 / 7 * 2/3 = 3.81).
Unlike learning a skill, your success at developing an action independently is not guaranteed. Your base chance of success is equal to your class level divided by the action's rating (rounded up, to a maximum of 100%). Thus, the 7th-level wizard in our example would have an 18% chance of success (7 / 40 = 0.175).
There is also the possibility of a failure or botch. A botch indicates that something troublesome or harmful happens to your character during the course of developing the action, the severity and nature of which varies with the action in question.
The chance for a botch is equal to 100% minus three times the chance of success (to a minimum of 0%). Thus, the 7th-level wizard in our example would have a 46% chance to botch (100% - (3 * 18%) = 46%). Anything other than a success or a botch, of course, is simply a failure, so he would also have a 36% chance of failure (100% - 18% - 46% = 36%).
To increase your chances of success, it is possible to develop an action in collaboration with other characters. To do this, you must indicate one or more other characters who are able to learn the action you'd like to develop. Once those characters agree to develop the action along with you, the development will begin as soon as the downtime activity reaches first priority in all of your queues. If the character cannot learn the action or refuses to help, the downtime activity will be removed from your queue once the character indicates as such.
Developing an action collaboratively in this way takes a number of days of downtime equal to the action's rating divided by your combined class levels times two thirds, rounded to the closest full day. Thus, it would take three 14th-level disciples three days to develop an action with a rating of 200 (200 / (14 + 14 + 14) * 2/3 = 3.17).
As with developing an action independently, success is not guaranteed. The group's chance of success is equal to the combined class levels of each character divided by the action's rating (rounded up, to a maximum of 100%). Thus, the same group of 14th-level disciples would have a 21% chance of success ((14 + 14 + 14) / 200 = 0.21). The probability of a failure or botch is calculated as above. Whether the action development succeeds, fails, or botches, the outcome applies equally to everyone in the group.
If your character possesses one or more trade skills, you can practice them during downtime to earn currency, harvest components, or generate production. See individual trade skill entries for details.
A "respend" is an administrative adjustment to your character's race, classes, skills, or actions. You are permitted to respend your character up to one time between each of your first four events. This requires the help of an administrator. If you only want to change one or two aspects of your character (e.g., your race, a skill, etc.), an email is fine. If you want a more global respend, the best way is to build an NPC with the same number of skill points as your original character, then request that an admin make the change.
Starting on your fourth event, you will only be allowed to respend under the following circumstances:
The focus of the Shards of Orn game experience is on having fun and being part of a fantastic story. Of course, all stories have an end, and the character you play is no different. There are one of several ways that your character can meet his or her end.
Even if you lose your character, the story (and the fun) go on. However your character meets his or her end, you will be permitted to create a brand new character at exactly half your old character's skill point total (rounded up, to a minimum of 20). Depending on your roleplaying ability and the amount of time you've played, this character may even be permitted to use restricted character options.