100867_RAA_Quill & Codex_R1_PROOF

Quill & Codex

CULLEN ALSO SAYS – Some of these beasties have multiple arms or multiple heads. Some have spell–casting ability. Some wear fearsome armor or have thick hides. These things are all taken into account in the statistics. So, when a Greater Demon with numerous arms attacks with her Barrage of Bladed Weapons, that means she is lashing out with multiple strikes. Hence the higher At tack and Damage Dice. But you don’t roll for each individual swing of the sword.

CULLEN ALSO SAYS – Fu ture supplements for this game may provide more detailed and varied statistics for monsters, but we will always keep simplic ity and speed of play in mind.

ChAllENGE ThrEShOlD

S ome villains and monsters, and dungeon levels simply radiate danger, fell energy, madness, and fear. Encountering such a malevolent creature, an Ad venturer feels their blood run cold. These types of creatures and vil lains have Challenge Thresholds. ThE WOrST OF ThE WOrST b efore you enter combat with an NPC, you must first make sure you can match its Challenge Threshold. MOST NPCs an Adven turer meets will have a Threshold of Zero, so get straight to hacking and slashing, but some especially fear some foes are so terrible that the ad venturing party must pay a number of Adventure Points JUST TO FACE the enemy in combat. Failure to do so has steep consequences. When an Adventure Party wants to battle an NPC or Monster with a Challenge Threshold: • The Game Master will tell them that the creature/NPC has a Chal lenge Threshold. The GM will not, however, tell the players what that rating might be.

◦The GM might offer some hints… saying things like “the lich radiates a dark power greater than anything you have encountered before.” • Together, the players decide how many Adventure Points (if any) they will put into the pool. No one is required to contribute, nor is there a minimum or maximum number of Adventure Points to contribute. ◦ Foolhardy Adventurers might simply run headlong into the encounter anyway! • If the party collectively contrib utes Adventure Points equal to or exceeding the Challenge Thresh old, the battle may commence. Ex cess Adventure Points in the pool are lost. • If the party does not contribute enough Adventure Points to meet the Challenge Rating, the points in the pool are lost. The party may try to contribute points again if they wish. • If the party cannot meet the Chal lenge Threshold, they are over whelmed with dread or intimidat ed or just plain frightened. They can still face the enemy, but…

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