For an overview of the project, see here
Skills
Each Skill has a default Stat, representing the most common pairing. However if the fictional situation suggests that a different Stat pairing is more suitable, use that instead.
Athletics
Default → Courage
Used for all manner of physical pursuits – climbing, swimming, flying on a broomstick, etc.
Wizard sports are pretty bruising – in combat you might use Athletics to dodge, tackle, throw, etc.
Charms
Default → Wisdom
A Charm is a general catch-all category for magical spells. If it isn't changing one object into another or primarily used to hurt or humiliate someone, it's probably a Charm.
Examples: summoning an object, conjuring fire or water, lumos, the Shield Charm, or making an object fly.
Creatures
Default → Courage
Representing comprehensive knowledge of magical and muggle animals, Creatures is used for everything from hunting and riding to knowing the proper way to approach a brooding dragon.
Courtesy
Default → depends on approach
In the stratified and honor-bound wizarding world, knowing the right social graces for the right situation can be invaluable.
Curses
Default → Cunning + Shadow
Spells designed specifically to hurt, impede, or humiliate.
Examples: the Jelly-Legs jinx, the Stunning spell (Stupefy), the blasting hex (Reducto), the body-bind spell (Petrificus Totalus)
The Unforgivable Curses:
The three Unforgivable Curses are distressingly easy to cast. Rolls to cast them are always Safe. However, when you attempt an Unforgivable Curse, you must explain the following:
Crucio: why it will make you happy to see the subject suffer
Imperio: why you deserve to be obeyed
Avada Kedavra: why you don’t care whether the subject lives or dies
The Referee will then assign you a target number of 6+, 9+, or 12+, depending on how convincing your explanation is. Keep in mind that good intentions (such as righteous anger, or the desire to defend a friend) are less potent fuel for these dark curses and should result in higher target numbers.
Roll Shadow + Curses to determine how well you succeed. You then gain 1 point of Shadow.
When a player character performs an Unforgivable Curse within the bounds of Castle Hogwarts, roll for the Presence of the Dark Lord immediately.
Crucio: causes 1 Non-Lethal damage per round, and the subject is Sickened with pain for as long as you maintain the spell. A target who fails a Strength test against this curse gives up (whatever that means in context). A target reduced to 0 Strength is psychologically broken.
A mixed success with the Cruciatus Curse causes the subject to take 1 Non-Lethal damage and be Sickened for 1 round.
Imperio: the subject falls under your mental control. If the subject is strong-willed, takes damage, or if your command violates a strongly held principle then you must roll again to maintain command (you don’t gain an additional point of Shadow when you do this).
A mixed success with the Imperius Curse causes the subject to partly perform a single command before regaining control.
Avada Kedavra: instant death. There is no countercurse. The avada kedavra can only be dodged, blocked by some large and solid object, or Luck.
A mixed success with the Killing Curse causes the subject to take 1 damage.
Devices
Default → Cunning
Used for discovering the properties of complicated magical objects, mechanisms, and muggle artifacts. Devices can also be used when attempting to repair an object, craft one, or alter the charms on simple enchanted items.
Divination
Default → Wisdom
Used to uncover the past, reveal the present, or foretell the future. Divination requires a medium and [1d6 - Divination Rank] turns in which to study it (minimum 1 turn).
First, select your medium:
Tarot Cards: +0
Palmistry: +0. Can only ask questions relating to the person whose palm you are reading.
Crystal Gazing: -1. The crystal ball is a more challenging medium, but it provides clearer and more detailed visions when successful.
Omen Reading: -2. Includes everything from interpreting tea leaves, gazing into a fire, or watching the stars. Nearly anything can be used by a trained seer so long as it has some degree of both pattern and randomness.
Then frame your question in one of the following ways. The Referee will assign you a target number between 7 and 12, based on the obscurity of your question. Then roll.
Past: ask a question about the past of a person, object, or location you are currently touching.
Present: ask a question about the current state of a person, object, or location.
Future: ask the Referee “if X happens, what will happen?”
If you succeed, the Referee will provide you with a relevant and accurate answer. On a mixed success, the Referee will provide you with an accurate answer framed in symbolic terms. The Referee is free to be as vague, obtuse, or mystical as they like on a mixed success, and can even attempt to mislead you with the truth, but they cannot tell you anything that is outright false.
Example:
Player: if I go through this door, what will happen?
GM, success: you see a man covering the door with his pistol, ready to shoot at the first person to come through that door. He looks grim and determined.
GM, partial success: the flame of enmity strikes sparks from a heart of steel! A flash of fire, the leaden arrow descending!
There are some risks to divination, however:
If your question touches on something within the bounds of Castle Hogwarts, roll for the Presence of the Dark Lord.
Questions that concern the Dark Lord directly automatically fail the Presence roll.
If the question would reveal a method of destroying him, you have an X-in-6 chance of success, where X is your character’s Rank. Whether or not you succeed, you must retire your character immediately after such a terrible revelation.
Telling Fortunes
As one of your actions during the Town Phase you can draw up a star chart for a single course of action to be undertaken by a specific person whose birth date you know. Roll 2d6 a number of times equal to your Wisdom + your rank in Divination and record the numbers in order. Substitute those values for the subject’s next rolls in the pursuit of that course of action (you are essentially rolling for them in advance.
A star chart and its associated numbers expire after one expedition. If the stars do not favor a particular course of action you can always avoid it for an adventure and try again when the signs are more propitious.
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