touch each other, so are within a few feet of one
CHARACTER CREATION
Question:
I love the fexibility in Genesys' character creation so I
pondered to go a step further and have my players
decide on the class skills themselves and then let them
define the "class" or "role" depending on the choice of
skills. Would it be appropriate to have the players
choose 8 "class" skills freely instead of building classes
in advance with a pre defined set of class skills?
Answer:
Sure, I think that would be totally reasonable! As long
as you sit down with your players beforehand and talk
about what kind of game you’re going to run, I can’t see
any problem with it.
Question:
On page 15 of the Genesys Core Rulebook, the sidebar
mentions that characteristics have a "softcap" of 5.
What is the hardcap?
Answer:
There is no hard cap, just very few ways to increase a
characteristic beyond 5 (and it’s something we strongly
discourage you do except in some rare cases). For
example, some cybernetics in the science fiction setting
allow you to increase a characteristic to 6, but they do
not stack (you can’t use two cybernetics to increase the
same characteristic twice) and they come with
drawbacks (decreased strain threshold).
COMBAT
Question:
Can I only engage one single opponent at a time even
if both stant next to each other in front of me or could I
engage multiple opponents with one maneuver if they
stand next to each other? How does blast work in that
regard? Are opponents standing next to each other so
that they could touch each other count as engaged?
Answer:
A lot of that is left up to common sense. If two opponents
are standing right next to each other, then they are both
at engaged range from each other. If you engage one,
you would engage them both.
(There could be some exceptions to this, such as if your
GM has one opponent protecting the other, and that
opponent interposes themself between your character
and the second opponent. In that case, your GM may
rule you cannot engage the second character without
dealing with the first one. In these cases, common
sense and the ongoing narrative would dictate the
relative positioning of the characters).
In the case of Blast, it is up to your GM as to whether
opponents are standing close enough together to count
as engaged with each other.
As described on page 106, engaged characters are
roughly close enough that they could reach out and
another.
Question:
Is it one maneuver to disengaged from all enemies or
just one enemy? The Tumble talent (RoT page 88)
specifies that you disengaged from all engaged
enemies while the engaged/disengage description
(CRB100) says you engage/disengage from AN
opponent. I've been running it as one maneuver for all
engaged enemies, but the new talent in RoT has me
second guessing myself.
Answer:
You can disengage from everyone you’re currently
engaged with as a maneuver. There are exceptions, of
course, especially if your GM decides that you’re
surrounded or hemmed in by your foes and can’t
physically break free from them. But in general,
disengaging gets your character away from everyone
they’re currently engaged with.
The Tumble talent is useful because it allows you to
disengage as an incidental.
Question:
If a character is Grappled using the Grapple talent it
would usually require them to spend two manoeuvres to
disengage. If that character has the Tumble talent what
options do they have?
1. Disengage as an Incidental, Tumble takes precedent.
2. Disengage as a Single Manoeuvre, the two talents
nullify each other
3. It will always require two Manoeuvres, Grapple takes
precedent.
Answer:
In this case, Grapple would take priority. While both
talents create an exception to the normal rules for
leaving a hostile engagement, Tumble does so by
making an option available to the character, while
Grapple dictates what that character “must” do.
Of course, as always, a GM might handle this situation
differently if that is best for their game. I’m sure a player
could convince me that their nimble character was able
to tumble out of the way before the enemy could grab
them, particularly if they used a Story Point to influence
the narrative!
Question:
I have a follow up questions about this reply: "An item
can only be of one type of craftsmanship, so the effects
would not stack. With the Improved effect of Signature
Weapon, if you choose to “reveal” the weapon’s Ancient
craftsmanship, the effects of Ancient craftsmanship
replace the effects of the original craftsmanship." What
happens if there is no hard point available for the
Ancient Craftsmanship when they purchase Improved?
Answer:
In this case, the weapon would still reduce its number of
hard points by one. Since attachments must occupy
hard points, this could cause the weapon to lose an
attachment, if there are no longer enough hard points to
support it. (This is one reason a player might want to
take the alternative for this upgrade and just add the
Reinforced quality.)
Then again, Heroic Abilities are meant to reflect a
character’s personal abilities and story, and each
signature weapon should be as unique as its wielder! As
a GM, I might discuss alternatives with the player in the
context of the ongoing story.
Question:
In GENESYS, during structured time the Heal action is
used "in place of a medicine check in order to remove
damage and heal critical injuries." -- pg. 217. However,
"any one character can only make one attempt to heal
a particular critical injury per week of game time." -- pg.
61. But, when using Heal narratively "Healing magic can
also affect targets multiple times per encounter." -- pg.
214 Does the Heal skill allow multiple checks to heal
from critical injuries per week?
Answer:
I can understand your confusion, and I apologize for any
lack of clarity there. Due to the innate limitations of
healing magic (mainly, suffering 2 strain every time your
character casts a spell), we intended for Heal to be cast
multiple times per encounter (and thus, per week as
well). This includes attempts to heal Critical Injuries.
Generally, you should find that the lesser Critical
Injuries are better healed through the use of the
Medicine skill (it doesn’t cost strain to use, and the
difficulty is usually less). However, some truly horrific
injuries are better handled through the magical healing
arts. Likewise, a good doctor with some ranks in
Surgeon is going to be able to heal a lot of wounds, but
if the target is badly injured, a magic user may have an
easier time healing them.
In the end, hopefully you find that your group can get by
with either a magic user that can heal or a character with
Medicine; but that both skills are handy to have around.
You may even find that a priest character may want to
invest in both!
Question:
Can a character drink a stamina elixir during a "complex
social encounter" to replenish their strain threshold and
thus stave off compromise or capitulation?
Answer:
They certainly can! How the other characters in the
scene respond is another matter. (I imagine it’s
considered poor form in some company.)
Question:
When spending advantages on a roll, can we only use
each option once? Specifically the "Recover 1 strain"
option. In SWRPG the table made it clear you could
choose that option more than once, but that verbiage is
missing from the table in Genesys.
Answer:
We removed that qualifier because we felt that by
specifying that strain loss and gain was the only thing
that could be activated multiple times with Advantage,
we were limiting some other options that could also be
reasonably activated multiple times. Disarming an
opponent, for example, could happen twice if your
character has enough Advantage and/or Triumphs and
your opponent has two weapons. So could gaining free
maneuvers; provided your character didn’t exceed the
two maneuver limitation.
By removing that qualifier, we give more flexibility to the
GM to determine what is reasonable and what isn’t. A
player may well want to heal four strain using four
Advantage, and the GM is fine with that. However, if that
same player wants to add four Boost dice to their ally’s
next check, the GM is perfectly within their rights to say
“that’s excessive. Come up with something else.”
(On the other hand, if the GM is running a horror-themed
game where strain is a more precious commodity,
maybe they don’t want their players able to heal more
than one strain at a time!)
Question:
Dangerous Driving maneuver. Rule as written, if a
character want to make this maneuver with a big
spaceship or air carrier, with silhouette 8, the difficulty
will be 8 purple dices. Is this correct? It's not too hard?
For a standard crew it will be impossible to steering the
vehicle. Or maybe it's, like Star Wars, HALF the
silhouette rounded up?
Answer:
As written, difficulties can’t go above Formidable (five
Difficulty dice) so that’s where this difficulty would top
out. (Technically, it could be considered Impossible, in
which case you’d need to spend a Story Point to attempt
it).
Formidable doesn’t seem too unreasonable if you’re
talking about piloting a very large ship through incredibly
tight coursework. After all, this check is only called for if
you’re steering said ship into very dangerous terrain or
trying to preform a very reckless maneuver with it!
However, if in the course of playing your game you find
this to be a continuing problem, please don’t hesitate to
let us know and we’ll take another look at the issue.
Question:
Why did you choose the different mechanic for „Overide
Security Program“? The system is usually very clean
and uses the standard difficulty/opposition mechanic in
most situation. Therefore, my expectation was that the
rating of a Security Program is the difficulty to overcome
it. However, it is not. Instead, the rating is the number of
successes needed, which derivates from all other
actions in Genesys. I‘d like to understand why, so that I
better know the implications if I copy one or the other
dice mechanic for my own usage.
Answer:
That’s a good question. We chose to design the
Override Security program the way that we did for
several reasons. One is that scaling successes (the
more successes you get, the more effective your action
is) is already a part in Genesys (most notably whenever
you make a combat check). Although the structure here
is slightly different, the core conceit is the same.
The second reason is that it creates additional design
space for the future. Talents already exist that allow you
to modify the difficulty of checks. By taking this
approach, it allows us to open up new avenues for
affecting your character’s ability to hack. It also means
we can create Firewalls that are hard to get through
(large numbers of successes required to ‘break’) but
don’t have severe risks of complications if you fail.
System defenders can take talents such Defensive
Sysops that can increase the difficulty, and this way
these talents don’t compound with an increased
difficulty to create an impossible task.
Question:
Hello! I was hoping you could clarify how buying and
selling are supposed to work in both Star Wars and
Genesys. If a PC wants to sell something he looted from
a foe, and the sale is not a plot-critical moment, does
this require one check or two? More specifically, does
the PC need to make one Negotiation or Streetwise
check versus the item's Rarity to find a buyer, and a
second Negotiation or Streetwise check to haggle over
the price with the merchant? Or is the first roll the only
one required?
The rules on pp. 82–83 of the Genesys rulebook and
pp. 157–58 of the Force and Destiny rulebook seem to
imply that it's one roll versus a difficulty set by the item's
Rarity, with uncanceled Successes increasing the sale
price. But should it be two rolls? Roll 1, to find the buyer,
Roll 2 to haggle over the price?
For one more level to this question, does the answer
depend on the plot-critical-ness of the encounter?
Haggling against a merchant makes selling into an
opposed check, almost always opening the door to
Despair. Is this an indicator that these sorts of opposed
haggling sessions should be reserved for important plot
moments, and not for simple looting and selling of
enemy gear? Thanks for any clarification!
Answer:
The rules roll the “find a buyer” and the “sell the item”
into a single check, which is why it becomes more
difficult to sell rarer items (it’s harder to find a buyer with
the kind of money/interest to afford the item in the first
place).
However, you do have a good point. If the negotiations
are plot critical, you can expand the encounter out into
two parts. One to find a buyer (which can rely on
Knowledge or Streetwise checks, or even social skill
checks as your characters talk to their friends and find
someone interested in making the purchase). The
second would be to negotiate a price, at which point you
could make an opposed Negotiation check instead of a
set difficulty. Simply use the same resolution for
successes!
Question:
Can a single threat, used to cancel a maneuver, be used
to end a spell that has had the concentration maneuver
used to sustain it? For example, if a PC has a barrier
spell up can a single threat on that PC be used to end
the barrier he/she cast 3 rounds prior but was sustaining
via concentration maneuver?
Answer:
A single threat seems a bit low for that effect; however
the final arbitrator of whether that is possible is the GM.
If your GM decides that’s what happens, then that’s their
prerogative.
GEAR
Question:
On pg 144, for the Fantasy weapons table, I was able
to mentally work through the creation of the Shield listed
in Table II. 1-1.
However, my question is, how did you create the Sword
in the same table? Since it has +3 damage, with a crit
rating of 2, and the Defensive 1 seems like it would be
much higher than 200. I realize costs are variable and
there is a discount applied to items in Table II.1-1, but
no matter what I seem to craft, I can't get the sword's
cost to come close to what's listed.
Answer:
You’ll probably notice a similar problem with spears,
maces, and other melee weapons. We accidentally
omitted one line from our weapons pricing table, which
is that melee and brawl weapon costs should be halved
after all other calculations. This compensates them for
the major limitation of not being able to be used at
range.
This is something we have fixed in future printings, and
will be addressing in our errata.
Question:
I noticed in the Steampunk Setting Specific Gear that
the Hand Cannon has no listed rarity. What would the
official rarity of this weapon be?
Answer:
The Hand Cannon should have Rarity 5.
MAGIC
Question:
In the new Genesys RPG, do magic casters pay an
Advantage cost to activate additional effects they’ve
already purchased for a spell with a difficulty increase to
the spell? (e.g. If a character purchases the Blast, Fire,
and Range upgrades for an attack spell, making the
spell Daunting difficulty, must they then also pay
Advantages to activate Burn and Blast?)
Answer:
That is correct.
Question:
How can mind affecting spells like D&Ds Charm Person
(makes target feeling friendly towards caster) or
Suggestion (makes target feel the proposal of the caster
sounds perfectly reasonable) or illusions (making target
believe something to be real) be created? They do not
seem to fit to any of the base spells.
Answer:
Unless you want to invent your own spells (which you,
of course, are more than welcome to do!) I would
recommend that you repurpose Curse and Conjure.
Between pages 212 and 214 we discuss more narrative
ways to use the various spells, and you may find some
advice there on how to use Curse to create mind-
effecting spells, and use Conjure to create illusions.

Both Charm Person and Suggestion are going to be
used in a more narrative sense, as the way the NPC
interprets these interactions is up to the GM.
For a spell like Suggestion, I would recommend making
it Easy for minions and unimportant rivals, and Average
for moderately important rivals. Nemeses should be
Hard, and if I was the GM, I would certainly upgrade the
check with a Story Point. Upgrades such as range or
affecting multiple targets can be applied normally. You
yourself have already described the effect!
Charm Person is a bit harder (since it governs an entire
state of mind), so I would increase the difficulty by one
from all the difficulties I just described for Suggestion. In
both cases, I would recommend that in a narrative
encounter, the effects last for five minutes or so, and in
a structured encounter, they last for one round. The
caster can maintain them with Concentration, of course.
For Illusions, I would just treat it as if you were
summoning a creature. However, since it’s just an
illusion, you could forgo the Summon Ally upgrade, and
still have the illusions do whatever you want them to.
After all, they wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone. Again,
you can apply any other upgrades as normal.
Question:
Does the empowered effect of the magic attack also
influence the damage burn quality dealt? I was told that
knowledge 5 provided,the burn damage is doubled up
to 10 instead the usual 5 in this case. Is this true or does
empower only apply to the initial damage?
Answer:
Empowered effectively increase’s the attack’s base
damage, and the Burn quality deals the attack’s base
damage again over subsequent rounds. So yes, it would
affect the Burn quality’s damage.
Question:
Genesys question: When using a staff to cast an attack
spell with the Blast effect added on, does the +4 to base
damage increase the damage from the blast effect. In
other words, If the mage has a Knowledge of 3, would
the blast do just the 3 damage or 7 (3 + 4 from the staff)?
Answer:
As written, the Blast damage would only be Successes
plus ranks in the Blast quality. However, if you feel that
Blast damage is a bit low, then it would be perfectly
reasonable to apply the implement’s base damage as
well. You could also change the Blast effect so that the
Blast rating is equal to twice your character’s ranks in
Knowledge (giving you a rating of 2-10). However, I
would not do both!
Question:
When using the concentrate manoeuvre, does that
sustain one spell, or can one manoeuvre sustain
multiple spells?
Answer:
The concentrate maneuver sustains one spell. You can
perform multiple concentrate maneuvers to sustain
multiple spells, within the maneuver limit.
Question:
In Genesys magic systems. Does taking damage
beyond soak break concentration?
Answer:
Not as the rules are written, no. If you want to implement
some sort of rule like that in your own setting, I might
recommend only have concentration be broken if the
character suffers a critical injury (since taking damage
happens fairly often).
Question:
In Genesys magic systems. Does spell-casting (ie.
taking a magic action) break concentration?
Answer:
No. Not concentrating anymore break
concentration. It's just a maneuver you choose to
perform or not in order to sustain a spell that allows it.
Question:
In a previous question about whether or not Ranged
Defense was applicable against Magic Attacks it was
stated that Magic Attacks were like Ranged attacks in
that regard and that Ranged Defense does apply to the
roll. Can you please explain what things effect a magic
attack, is it all things that would affect ranged attacks,
such as the penalties for 'Making Ranged Attacks At
Engaged Targets' or 'Making Ranged Attacks While
Engaged'? Does the Close Combat effect change the
attack to a melee attack or just allow the ability to target
an engaged opponent? How do talents affect the dice
pool of a Magic Attack, such as Side Step, Defensive
Stance, Dodge, etc..?
Answer:
In short, yes. A magic attack can be treated like any
other ranged attack in most respects, which includes
ranged defense and talents that defend against ranged
attacks. As for the “close combat” upgrade, you can
think of that more as the same difficulty increase you
would see from using a Ranged (Light) weapon to target
an engaged foe.
(Of course, if you want to narratively describe your
attack as a flaming sword or ice spear, I’m sure your GM
would be fine with the embellishment. They may even
let you ignore Side Step or Ranged Defense as a reward
for your creativity, but that’s-as always-something to
resolve with your GM and up to their discretion, since it
changes the rules as they are written.)
Question:
For the augment and curse spells, do you actually just
add/remove an ability die or do you upgrade/downgrade
your ability dice pool? The way it's worded makes it
seem like you just add/remove a green proficiency die.
But adding/subtracting ability dice aren't found
anywhere else in the rulebook, and thus I assume it's
supposed to be upgrade/downgrade. Thank you for
your time!
Answer:
You are supposed to increase or decrease the ability of
the check, which is essentially adding or removing a die,
which is covered in the adding/removing dice step.
However, in the case of Cursing specifically, if you only
have Proficiency dice in your pool, you should replace a
Proficiency die with an Ability die (effectively
downgrading the check).
Question:
Can the Primal skill be used for a Heal (Resurrection)
spell? Page 70 of the core rulebook says that Primal
cannot be used to "raise or reanimate the dead," but in
page 218, Resurrection is open to Primal. Which page
is correct?
Answer:
“Raising or reanimating the dead” in this case refers to
the necromantic practice of animating dead bodies in a
grotesque parody of life, not restoring one’s comrades
to full health from the cold embrace of the grave.
So yes, you can use Resurrection with Primal.
Question:
Hi! I got three questions about RoT rules.
1. First one is concerning a Curse Doom spell effect. It
is written that you cannot touch dice showing Triumph
or Dispair symbols. But can you change Proficiency or
Challenge dice faces to show such symbols? For
example, on Proficiency die I rolled two advantage
symbols. Can I change it to the Triumph?
2. Second question is about Conjure spells. I got some
trouble understanding the scope of this spell action.
What type of creatures my players can summon? Using
this spell can they summon everything that exists in
Terrinoth? Even dwarf soldiers or human mages? Or
can a two-handed weapon they Conjure be magical?
3. Last but not least, this question is connected with a
previous one. Summoned creatures got statistics as
described in the RoT books? Or should stats depend on
Mages ranks in Knowledge (Lore)? Thanks in advance!
Answer:
Hi! In order…
1. Yes, you could change the facing on a die from an
Advantage to a Triumph, or a Threat to a Despair.
2. You can only summon minions (or rivals with the
additional effect), but the GM has the final say on
what would be allowed here. Iin general any NPC
listed as a minion (or rival with the additional effect)
would usually be ok. Weapons would be mundane
types, so no magic weapons (though a weapon
appearing out of thin air would certainly appear
magical to others!). You and your GM can create
new versions of Conjure or new additional effects to
summon more powerful allies or magical items too.
3. Summoned creatures would use their appropriate
profile, yes. So a summoned Reanimate would use
the profile from Realms of Terrinoth. Remember
though that these aren’t the real thing—they are
magically created simulacrum of that creature/item.
Question:
With the magic spell heal, can you target yourself? The
heal spell is missing the verbiage that other self-
targetable spells have. Wondering if that's intentional or
an oversight. Thanks!
Answer:
You can target any engaged character, including
yourself.
Question:
I have a question regarding the Barrier Magic Attribute
"Reflection" on page 219 of the Genesys Core
Rulebook.
Reflection reads: If an opponent makes a magic attack
against and effected target and generates 3 threat or 1
despair on the check, after the check is resolved, they
suffer a hit dealing damage equal to the total damage of
the attack.
However, on page 211, under 'Spending threat and
despair on magic skill checks', the options for 3 threat
read 'The spell is slightly more powerful than expected,
one character of the GMs choice is targeted or
otherwise affected by the spell as well'
So, isn't the default effect of 3 threat already more
powerful than the benefit of the barrier reflection? If the
GM were to select the 'caster' as the additional target,
the effects seem identical. Alternatively the GM could
select another target, making the default 3 threat option
less restricted than the benefit afforded by Barrier
Reflect. Is this correct? Should barrier reflect be
applying to non-magic attacks instead? Note: On page
166 of the Realms of Terrinoth book, the Necromancer
'Wall of Bones' spell has a Reflect component that
applies to both magic and non-magic attacks.
Answer:
The Reflection attribute as listed in the Genesys core
rulebook is correct. It is true that Threat can be spent to
cause additional targets to be affected by a spell, which
does mean that the one can end up with the same
result. This is also correct.
The two really shouldn’t be compared side by side
because one (the Reflection option) is under the control
of the player, while the other (the option in Table III.2—
4) is under the control of the GM. The second option
also applies to any spell cast (including healing,
augmentations, etc), and can target any other character
in the encounter (not just the caster or their target). But
the player isn’t going to be able to be the one who
selects who the second target is going to be under the
spending Threat option in Table III.2—4, so it’s not an
ability they can count on or control.
The Reflection attribute does not work against ranged
attacks. The Necromancer’s spell in the Realms of
Terrinoth does, but that is a specific spell for a specific
NPC, and thus does not necessarily follow the same
rules.

SKILLS
Question:
Does the Arcana skill cover general knowledge of all
magic and its function, or only general knowledge of
arcane magic and its function? How does this apply in
Terrinoth, given the introduction of Knowledge
(adventuring), Knowledge (forbidden), Knowledge
(geography), and Knowledge (lore)?
Answer:
That really all depends on the specific setting and how
the GM has decided magic works in their world,
including what additional magic and knowledge skills
are in use. Assuming just the three magic skills in the
core rulebook, I would probably restrict Arcana to
general knowledge of arcane magic, and primarily
practical matters (after all, magic-using characters need
ranks in Knowledge to get the most out of their spell
effects!).
In the case of a game using Realms of Terrinoth, I would
use Arcana primarily for the actual practice of arcane
magic and the fundamentals required for it. For most
checks involving knowledge about arcane magic, I
would use Lore or Forbidden (depending on whether the
matter in question is, well, forbidden).
SPECIES
Question:
The species is not to be changed after creation
according to the CRB. How is Lycanthropy and
Vampirism in Genesys (or other similar changes) to be
handled if chars start not afflicted, but gain those status
in the course of the adventure? Is there something like
a template to apply or should it be handled differently?
Answer:
Gaining lycanthropy and/or vampirism is an interesting,
though tricky, story point to introduce, and you can
approach it several different ways.
For lycanthropy, you could use the Mongrel rules for
becoming a monster in the Steampunk section, but
without the secondary ability that gives them some
control over when and where they change into a
monster. You could rule that when bit by a lycanthrope,
a character has a to pass a Hard Resilience check or
contract the disease themselves.
Vampirism is very different, of course, and depends on
your setting and source. One idea might be to apply a
rule that vampires do not heal strain through natural rest
or at the end of encounters, but only do so when they
drink someone’s blood. You could then give them
benefits such as faster wound regeneration, greater
Brawn, and other benefits that match the vampires of
lore. A sunlight allergy would also be appropriate.
Perhaps, like lycanthropy, vampirism could be passed
through bites and failing Resilience checks.
In any case, hopefully this is helpful enough to get you
started! Whatever you come up with, I encourage you to
test it out, and not be afraid to adjust it slightly
depending on your feedback.
Question:
How would you manage vulnerabilities of adversaries to
certain elements like for example the vulnerability of
Trolls to fire? Would a magic attack spell have to have
the Fire effect? Or would it suffice to mention the spell
being a fire spell without utilising the fire effect? And
what about other elements of attack like acid for
example, which isn't mentioned as an effect?
Answer:
That depends entirely on you and your preferences.
Both options work well (although if you want to do the
former, you may need to design an “acid” effect.
Honestly, Burn could describe acid just as well as fire).
However, my only suggestion is to be consistent. If you
want effects to counter regeneration be narrative, then
let them all be narrative. If you want them to be
upgrades that increase a spell’s difficulty, then make
sure all of the counters require an increase to the
difficulty of the spell.
Question:
Page 73, under the Knack for It talent, questions: First,
it says the first purchase you select one skill, and
subsequent purchases you select 2 skills; this seems
unusual, so is it correct? Second question, when buying
the talent for the first time, are combat and magic skills
still restricted?
Answer:
To your first question; it is correct that the first purchase
only applies to one skill. Due to the way ranked skills
move “up” the talent pyramid, we found subsequent
purchases of Knack for It rapidly dropped off in value.
This serves to compensate for the increased XP costs.
To your second question, yes, combat and magic skills
are restricted when purchasing the talent for the first
time.
Question:
The rules are not clear on this, but would it be a good
idea to have careers and talents specific to a species?
For example: Human>Knight>knight specific talents
(almost like a specialisation tree). The setting I have has
4 very different species that each have a specific role in
society, (mining, fishing, farming eg) and I thought
having to a talents specific to careers or species might
differentiate them further. Any guidelines for this?
Answer:
I’m afraid I don’t have any published guidelines for this
idea. That being said, there’s nothing stopping you from
limiting talents and careers to certain species in your
own setting. I would recommend spelling this out very
clearly for your players, then adding a bolded or
italicized sentence at the beginning of the career
description or talent description explaining that only
species A, B, or C can purchase this.
Also, if you want to do this, I would recommend making
sure that all of your species-specific options feel
balanced with each other. This doesn’t just mean that
each gets the same number of choices (although that is
very important), but also that all of the choices feel
equally interesting. They don’t have to all do the same
thing, but they should all get players excited to try them.
For that, you’re probably going to have to rely on
playtesting with your group!
Question:
Hi again guys, I was looking through the list of
suggested talents in the RoT supplement and noticed
Toughened missed the list, I assume its a mistake but I
thought I had better ask anyway.
Answer:
Hi Richard! Yes, Toughened was missing; in general,
any of the “use in any setting” talents from Genesys
should be ok to use in Terrinoth.
TALENTS
Question:
The Grenadier talent, core rule book page 78, is listed
as ranked. However, there is nothing in the description
that says what having more than one rank means. Is it
a typo? Thanks!
Answer:
That is a typo and we’ll correct that in a future printing.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
Question:
The "Master" Tier 5 talent says: Once per round, your
character may suffer 2 strain to use this talent to reduce
the difficulty of the next check they make using that skill
by two, to a minimum of Easy. You should use this talent
in all settings. If upgraded dice are used to determine
the difficulty, how is the difficulty reduced by two? Are
upgraded dice downgraded which counts as one
reduction itself?
Answer: Reducing the difficulty of the check is not the
same as “removing dice” (even though the effect is
similar). So you actually reduce the difficulty of the
check before you upgrade or downgrade the check, so
upgraded dice shouldn’t matter.
So this is how it would work:
1. The GM sets the difficulty.
2. You use your Mastery talent to reduce the difficulty.
3. You and the GM add dice based on abilities and
environmental effects. (this is usually adding Boost
and Setback dice).
4. You and the GM upgrade the dice pool based on
skills, the Adversary talent, other talents, story
points, etc.
5. You and the GM downgrade the dice pool (if there’s
anything calling for that).
6. Finally, you and the GM remove dice based on
talents and abilities (this is usually removing Boost
and Setback dice).
Obviously this is a very long-form version of what can
be a pretty fast process at the table. In a practical
setting, what’s actually going to happen is your GM will
say “you need to make a Hard check” and you respond
with “well, I’m going to use Mastery to make it Easy
instead.” Then your GM will shake their fist and glare at
you, and you’ll do the rest of what you need to do to form
your dice pool.
VEHICLES
Question:
These are questions a about a "forced move" in
structured vehicle encounters described on page 221.
The only explanation I see is in the pair of paragraphs
(and the table) on that page. Does the pilot have to
move X range bands away from their target? Or,
because "a vehicle generally goes where the pilot wants
it to" can, at two speed, a pilot move one range band
away and one range band back? At speed 3-4, does the
pilot need to spend one maneuver to, essentially, stay
put? Should this be narratively described as either going
so fast you can get right where you want (Speed 5) or
going so slow that you're able to stay on top of your
target (Speed 1-2). In the planetary scale, is there no
difference in the amount of time it takes to move from
strategic into medium range and from extreme into short
range? At speed 5, for example, the ship is "forced" to
move 4 range bands. Or, should the range bands for
purposes of forced movement be considered without
regard to relative positioning, somehow?
Answer:
Generally, the forced movement should be used
narratively. Thus, if your character can present a good
explanation for why their forced movement keeps them
in one place (and your GM approves) then you can do
so. An example might be a helicopter circling around a
fixed point, or a race car driving in circles around an
opponent. However, if it doesn’t make sense (“every
turn I have my giant robot run around in a quick circle
before returning to the fight!”) then you should either
decelerate to stay in one place, or have your vehicle
travel past the target due to speed and momentum.
As for planetary scale, planetary scale doesn’t change
the scale of the range bands out to extreme; it just adds
the “strategic” range band at the end.
Question:
If I can follow up, to refine my second question, if forced
to move X range bands, does it matter which range
bands those are? Strategic to extreme is a really long
way, but medium to short isn't quite so far. Does that
make a difference to how many range bands the pilot is
forced to move? Or does the pilot just count the number
of bands regardless of which bands those happen to
be?
Answer:
Rules as written, you would just move the bands no
matter what. However, I agree that strategic to extreme
is really far, as is extreme to long. Also, when dealing
with range bands like extreme or strategic, they can
encompass a sizable distance “within” the band. Simply
put, although two things may be at strategic range to
you, one might still be a bit closer than the other.
So if you want to count a move from strategic to extreme GM rules the vehicles are still in the badlands, swamp,
or extreme to long as moving “2” of your 4 range bands what have you.
(and your GM agrees!) that would be very reasonable.
Answer:
Question: The forced movement would also be affected by difficult
Should vehicles have multiple Defense zones like they terrain.
do in the Star Wars line? Page 229, Additional Vehicle
Actions has the Boost Defense action that "…increases
the defense of one defense zone by one until the
beginning of the character’s next turn." But all the
TERRINOTH
sample vehicles have only Defense and not separate
Question:
zones. Was this a holdover from a prior draft of the
Hi guys, I was wondering how you pronounce
game, or should the sample vehicles have 2 (or 4, for
Ynfernael?
the big ones) defense zones?
Answer:
Answer:
Hi Richard! This is a great question and we had fun
That was a mistake, sorry about that! All vehicles have
asking around the office on it. We generally pronounce
a single defense value now.
it just as “Infernal” here but I’ve also heard some groups
using “Yin-fernal” too.
Question:
Are the Pilot-Only Actions the only way to make a
Question:
vehicle move?
This question is about the Improved upgrade of the
Heroic Ability, Signature Weapon. If the Improved effect
Answer:
is cumulative for abilities, and the weapon starts off with
They are (save for the forced movement of travelling at
a craftsmanship like Elven or Dwarven, if the player
a certain speed).
chooses Ancient, does it still retain the previously
chosen craftsmanship? Thus becoming an Ancient
Question:
Dwarven/Elven/Steel One Handed Weapon?
The addition to the Reposition Pilot-Only maneuver in
the latest Errata says, “The pilot may move the vehicle
Answer:
up to one range band”. Does this include moving into
An item can only be of one type of craftsmanship, so the
Engaged range and moving within a range band (i.e.
effects would not stack. With the Improved effect of
Short to Short)?
Signature Weapon, if you choose to “reveal” the
weapon’s Ancient craftsmanship, the effects of Ancient
Answer:
craftsmanship replace the effects of the original
Yes.
craftsmanship.
Question:
Question:
Can the range bands from Forced Movement be used
Hello! Just wanted to know, why Druidic Circlets and
to enter Engaged ranged?
Magic Rings implements didn't make it to Realms of
Terrinoth book (Table 2-8)? Thanks in advance!
Answer:
Yes.
Answer:
Hi! Basically, we viewed these as not really part of the
Question:
Terrinoth setting and we wanted to devote the space
With regard to vehicle rules, I’ve been wondering about
they would have taken in the book to other subjects.
the effect of difficult terrain on the forced move a vehicle
You’re free to adopt these into your games if desired, of
must make each turn in structured encounters,
course. You could even incorporate runebound shard
according to its speed (CRB pg 221, Table III.2-14). We
magic into them as well to make some really unique
know that difficult terrain requires twice as man
items!
maneuvers to cross (unless a talent like All-Terrain
Driver is implemented), and also adds Setback dice to
Question:
skill checks made while traversing it. I’m just curious as
Hello, There are several beautiful maps in the Realms
to whether the terrain could affect the velocity
of Terrinoth book - however there is nothing by which to
(represented by the forced move) by perhaps halving
judge scale. Is there any sort of scale available so that
the number of range bands (rounded up) that must be
rough distances can be determined?
covered? Because from experience, covering broken
terrain in a vehicle - be it in a Humvee, truck, or main
Answer:
battle tank - you can’t just go full out unless you know
We imagine Terrinoth (page 139) around 250 leagues
what you’re doing (having a specific talent) or you’re
across at its widest point (roughly 900 miles). Travel
skillful enough to maneuver that beast (driving/piloting
time in days is likely more an issue, and our benchmark
skill). I’m thinking that, if a PC doesn’t have a talent such
is 5 leagues per day on foot on average. It probably
as All-Terrain Driver, a Dangerous Driving action, if
would take 7 or so weeks to cross it on foot (3-4 on
successful, should allow the driver/pilot to mitigate the
horseback), and several days to travel from Tamalir to
effects of terrain for that turn only, with subsequent
Greyhaven that way. This is something the GM can
checks being required each following turn as long as the
change, though, to best fit the game and the plot. One
GM might have Terrinoth as big as the US, another the
size of Europe, a third eh size of France. And all are
perfectly fine.
We’re discussing this here and may add some guidance
along these lines either in a reprint or online. It’s a great
question and thanks for bringing it up Josh!
Question:
Realms of Terrinoth, page 91, the Conduit talent. Am I
reading this right, that it's a manoeuvre to activate the
talent than another manoeuvre to cast the spell? Or is it
supposed to be 'Activation: Passive' and I can just
spend that Story Point to cast as a manoeuvre and still
do something else with my second manoeuvre?
Answer:
Hi Christopher! It should actually be Active (Incidental);
you don’t need to spend a maneuver just to utilize
Conduit, just a maneuver to do the magic action.
We’ll get this corrected in the next reprint. Thanks for
emailing us about it and thanks also for playing!
Answer:
You are correct that those items don’t appear in Realms
of Terrinoth! We can assume those are Ulma’s personal
creations, so a player who wants to make use of those
or similar items might create them using the crafting
rules beginning on page 112, or the GM might make
them available for purchase from certain NPC
alchemists and other merchants.
I would give both encumbrance 1 by default, but of
course allow a character to spend Advantage on the
crafting check to reduce the encumbrance as normal.
Since the cost of ingredients and difficulty of the crafting
check are based on the cost and rarity of the item, the
GM would need to assign those values, whether or not
they decided to make these items available for
purchase. Personally, I would probably go with 75
silver/rarity 6 for bottled lightning and 200 silver/rarity 8
for dwarven firebombs.

Question:
ANDROID
Page 108 gives two different Hard Point requirements
Question:
for the Spikes armor attachment. The table says 2 but
Several weapons in Shadow of the Beanstalk have an
the description says 1. Which is correct?
item quality of limited amo, but there is not spare clip
item available in the book. Is it assumed to be simply be
Answer:
using the spare clip item from core? Also missile
“1” is correct.
launchers are all limited ammunition, but do not have a
price listed to restock them. Please advise.
Question:
When a character is mounted as laid out in Realms of
Answer:
Terrinoth, does the character's and/or mount's
You absolutely should use the spare clip item in the core
silhouette change?
rules in Shadow of the Beanstalk. In addition, when
buying a reload for a missile launchers, you should
Answer: The silhouette is the same as the mount’s
assume that a new missile for the Guided Missile
value. A person on a horse is pretty much the size of a
Launcher costs 1,000, and the micro-missile launcher’s
horse, and so on.
missiles cost 100 each.
Questions:
In Realms of Terrinoth for Genesys, are "Encouraging
Song" and "Dissonance" talents considered spells? If
using Verse, does the PC have to spend 2 strain like
other spells, and would the harsher threat/Despair
results apply? For a character using a willow instrument,
could they gain the extra advantage, or is that only for
Augment, Curse, Heal, Dispel and Utility?
Also, is "Second Wind" meant to have been left out of
Realms of Terrinoth for balance reasons?

Answers:
Neither of those are spells, so you don’t need to spend
strain to use them, don’t get benefits from implement
materials, etc.
Second Wind isn’t in the talents list, but that shouldn’t
stop your group from adding it in if everyone is cool with
it!

Question:
One of the pregenerated heroes for Realms of
Terrinoth, Ulma Grimstone, begins play with 2 Dwarven
Firebombs and Bottled Lightning. However I've yet to
find an entry for these items in Chapter 2 - Call to
Adventure. What should the Encumbrance Rating,
Price, and Rarity of Dwarven Firebombs and Bottled
Lightning be?