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Character Creation for DangerousDelves

Choosing Abilities

There are three rows of Abilities: You get 3 Ability Points to spend for one row of Abilities, 6 Ability Points for another row of Abilities and 9 Ability Points for a third row.

Choose which row of Abilities gets which number of Ability Points, then split the points as you wish among the Abilities on that row.
You can place up to 5 points in any one Ability. You can leave some Abilities as ZERO, but won't be able to use them to gain a dice in a Challenge.

What the Numbers Mean

If you choose to have zero in an Ability, then you can't gain dice for using that Ability, but you can still benefit from using relevant Gear if you are forced to select that Ability for a Challenge.

Having a high score in a specific Ability doesn't actually make you better at it, but it ensures you will be able to continue using that Ability for longer as it will take more Fatigue to exhaust the Ability.

Setting your Maximum Fatigue Values

With the Online Character Sheet, the Maximum Fatigue will fill in automatically when you choose your Ability Ratings.

How Fatigue "Exhausts" your Abilities

With the Online Character Sheet, when an Ability is ZERO or is EXHAUSTED the Ability will go red.

COMBAT FATIGUE represents bruising and wounds and becoming tired. If you have taken more Combat Fatigue than you have in a Combat Ability, you can no longer gain a dice for using that Ability.

EXAMPLE - if your Melee is 5 and your Ranged is 1, as soon as you have taken 2 or more Combat Fatigue, you can no longer gain a dice for using your Ranged Ability.

SPIRITUAL FATIGUE represents loss of confidence, guilt, shame and corruption. If you have taken more Spiritual Fatigue than you have in a Spiritual Ability, you can no longer gain a dice for using that Ability.

EXAMPLE - if your Mobility is 3, your Knowledge is 2, and your Social is 1 as soon as you have taken 2 Spiritual Fatigue, you can no longer gain a dice for using your Social Ability and if you have taken 3 Spiritual Fatigue, you can't use your Knowledge either.

MAGICAL FATIGUE represents the draining of the energy you use to cast spells. If you have taken more Magical Fatigue than you have in a Magical Ability, you can no longer gain a dice for using that Ability.

EXAMPLE - if your Magic Ranged is 5, your Magic Knowledge is 2, and your Magic Social is 2 as soon as you have taken 3 Magical Fatigue, you can only gain a dice for using your Magic Ranged Ability.

Buying Starting Gear

Before starting your first Delve, you get 9 Gold ( + 1 Gold for every point of your Social Ability )

After that you only get what you have looted from Delves. If you are very unlucky, you could find yourself with nothing!

What to Buy for your First Delve

I recommend buying Light Armour (2 Gear Slots and costs 3 Gold) because COMBAT Fatigue can KILL you and is one of the most frequent Costs.

I recommend buying a Sword (2 Slots and 2 Gold) or a Wizard Staff (2 Slots and 3 Gold). Both can be used for MELEE Challenges. The Wizard Staff can also be used for RANGED Challenges, but only if you are also using MAGIC RANGED, so isn't so worthwhile if you have a low or zero rating in Magic Ranged.

If you want to be able to use your Ranged Ability, even when your Magic Ranged Ability is exhausted, you will need a Bow (1 Slot and 1 Gold) and Arrows (1 Slot and 1 Gold).

I recommend buying at least two Torches if you can afford it, because the penalty for having no Light Source is pretty harsh.

If you can afford it, buy a Hireling (a Porter is fairly cheap) to carry a Torch so you can carry away more loot and maybe use a Shield and a Weapon for Melee and Ranged Challenges (the most common type of challenges).

If you are particularly weak in one of the Abilities, you should buy something (or get a Hireling) that helps with that Ability (particularly if you are weak in Mobility as there are some surprise traps that need Mobility or Mobility Magic to avoid or bypass).

If you can afford it, a Holy Symbol may be useful, particularly if you know you are going to face Undead or Demons. Every Delve has at least two Demons. You may know more about the enemies ahead if there are "named" enemies in the description of the Delve.

I don't want to give further hints as there are things you will learn during your Delvings about how best to deal with specific monsters.

Gear     Hirelings     Town Features

DangerousDelves by Mick Hand is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0