For each Health you have, place one Health token on the health section of the mat in front of you. When you take damage, flip the token over to the gray side.
You regain all Health upon resting at the end of the day.
When starting combat, set aside any non combat cards and shuffle your remaining combat cards into a single deck, placing it at the draw section of your mat. Draw cards from the top until your hand is equal to your max hand size. Your order in combat is determined by your equipped weapon, starting from one and going up. Daggers are quick and are able to attack quickly, while hammers take a while to wind up. If you change your weapon mid-combat, the new turn position starts at the beginning of the next round. If you are using two weapons, the higher speed takes precedence.
If the GM determines one side of combat surprises the other, then the side with surprise will get to pick their opening hand of card before shuffling the remaining cards into their draw deck.
On your turn, you do two things: Draw a number of cards until you reach your hand limit, then play cards until you use all your stamina points or pass your turn.
Once you have played a card, place it in the active card row, as many cards continue to affect you until your next turn, move active cards into your discard pile at the beginning of your next turn unless a card explicitly says it lasts for more rounds.
In addition, there are actions that you can do at any time without using a card: You can spend three SP to discard your whole hand and draw a new one, and you can spend one SP to swap an equipped weapon or shield. In addition, using small objects such as pulling a lever or dropping an item, or other minor actions such as speaking do not cost SP, but larger actions such as disrupting a ritual or tying a complex knot may be assigned an SP value by your GM.
Once you have no cards in your draw deck, reshuffle your discard pile and add it to your draw deck.
Physical Damage:
BASH:
Associated with smashing weapons and blunt force. Most often applies STUN
PIERCE:
Stabbing damage such as from spears, thorns, and daggers. Most often applies WOUND
SLICE:
The type of damage from cutting weapons like swords and axes. Most often applies BLEED
Elemental Damage:
ARC:
The power of lightning and electricity. Most often applies SHOCK
BLAZE:
The fury of the flame. Most often applies BURN
TERRA:
The stability of the earth. Most often applies STUN
GALE:
The chaos of the wind. Most often applies DEAFEN
TIDE:
The overwhelming flow of the water. Most often applies PRONE
RIME:
The chill of the ice. Most often applies FREEZE
TOX:
The decay of toxin and acid. Most often applies POISON
BOOM:
The concussive force of thunder and explosions. Most often applies CONFUSE
Arcane Damage:
SHADE:
The depth of the darkest shadows. Most often applies BLIND
BRIGHT:
The glory of the sun. Most often applies BURN
PSY:
The muddling of the mind. Most often applies CONFUSE
STUN: Each level of stun makes the target draw one less action card on its turn
WOUND: Each level of wound is 1 Health that cannot be healed
BLEED: Each level of bleed makes the target take one damage at the beginning of each of its turns
SHOCK: Each level of shock will make one piece of equipment unusable, chosen at random
BURN: Each level of bleed makes the target take one damage at the end of each of its turns
FREEZE: Each level of freeze reduces the targets SP by one
POISON: For each level of poison, the target draws one less card when making a check
CONFUSE: For each level of confuse on a target, it must use an attack action on one of its allies if it can
BLIND: A blinded creature cannot see, automatically fails pulls that rely on sight, and must target Hexes at random
RESTRAIN: A restrained creature cannot move or take actions
PRONE: A prone creature takes double damage from any source, and must use a MOVE card to stand up (A creature can only be knocked prone by another creature of its size or larger)
CHARM: A charmed creature considers the charmer a friend and will not act hostile towards them
FRIGHTEN: A frightened creature cannot move closer to the source of its fear or target it with an attack
DEAFEN: A deafened creature cannot hear, and automatically fails pulls to hear.
SURPRISED: See above
HIDDEN: A creature becomes HIDDEN when they are obscured from another creature's senses, such as in darkness, behind cover, or invisible. A creature attacked by a HIDDEN creature is SURPRISED if combat has not yet begun.
Certain gear and skills will give you armor against specific damage sources or categories of damage, e.g. 3 BLAZE armor, 4 ARCANE armor, in which case it will reduce that specific damage type by the amount listed. For each point of armor you have, you take one less damage from the specified damage type.
If a piece of gear or a skill provides resistance to a damage type, you take half damage of that type. Immunity to a damage type fully negates all damage of that type, and Vulnerability doubles the damage taken from that damage type.
Upon reaching 0 Health, you are knocked unconscious. While unconscious, you are unable to take actions, and are Prone. Any allies can spend SP equal to your current maximum while adjacent to you to revive you. This SP amount can be split between multiple allies, but must be spent within one round. Upon being revived, you gain 1 Health.
If at any point you take damage equal to or greater than half your maximum HP, draw a card from the wound deck and add it to your skill deck. Wound cards have negative effects, and are always played when drawn. Some of the cards in the wound deck are Knells of Fate. Upon drawing a third Knell of Fate, your character will die.