The Unseen Craft
Casting and Strain · Step by Step
The casting attribute is the Path’s — Toughness, Mind or Charm. Every roll also adds its situation.
One actionfocus, speak, shape. Nothing else until you finish.
InterruptedEngaged, damaged or Restrained before you finish: it fails, and you take its Strain anyway.
Only the Omen-Born cast, and only the Workings of their own Path. A combat Working takes two consecutive actions, and between them the caster is exposed.
TorvaldA shieldman presses through the doorway. Torvald, Mind +2 and Skilled in Unseen Craft, begins Ember Lance.
Cast2d6 + Unseen Craft + casting attribute
Defense2d6 + attribute (+ Unseen Craft)
Marked · Set Workingagainst the GM’s mark instead.
Higherit takes. Tie or lower, it fails.
A Contested Working meets the target’s Magic Defense, with their Unseen Craft only if they are Omen-Born. Any other is rolled against a mark.
Torvald2d6 (7) +1 +2 = 10 against the shieldman’s 2d6 (6) +3 Toughness = 9. It takes.
Every cast adds its tier, hit or miss.
Thresholdcasting attribute + Unseen Craft.
Strain builds through the scene. Up to your Threshold you work within the ordered Nine; beyond it, something deeper notices.
TorvaldEmber Lance is Skilled: Strain 2, against a Threshold of 3. Two more casts would put him at 6.
Takes effectas the Working is written.
Direct damage
DamageRaw margin + Lethality + casting attr.
ResilienceToughness + Armor Value
Higherlose the difference; +1 Fatigue either way.
TorvaldRaw 7 − 6 = 1, +3 Lethality +2 Mind = 6 against Resilience 5: 1 Health and a point of Fatigue.
MarginDefense or mark − your total
Missed widemargin at or above your Strain: no cost.
Missed narrowmargin below your Strain: +1 Fatigue.
Backlashnarrow, with Strain over Threshold: +1 Fatigue and Health equal to the margin, past Resilience.
HeightenedBacklash during a Set Working: add how far your Strain stands over the Threshold to the Health lost.
TorvaldStrain 6, a miss by 1: Backlash, 1 Health. In a Set Working, 6 stands 3 over his Threshold: 1 + 3 = 4 Health.
Rest Turndown to 3, or your Threshold if higher.
Rest Segmentall of it.
Set WorkingLingering Strain, until a full night’s sleep.
A Set Working, a ritual, is cast out of danger, in the time its entry gives, against a mark unless it says otherwise. It costs Lingering Strain: only a full night’s sleep clears it.