House Rules: Fate System

Modified from Fate Points and Aspects for d20 from 4th Dimension Games.

Character Aspects

Your character generally has 5 character aspects. Character aspects describe who a character is defining the core his or her personality. Character Aspects represent a character’s history, relations, values, personality quirks, general descriptors, important objects and character flaws. Aspects are the sum of the character’s personality describing who he is rather than what he can do (abilities better covered by class, feats and skills.)

Character Aspects generally fall into one of following categories: phrase, person or prop. Note these three categories of Aspect are not set in stone and often blur together. An Aspect such as “Lord Commander of the Souldamned Sentinels” has features of both a phrase Aspect “Lord Commander” and a person Aspect “Souldamned Sentinels.”

Phrase

A phrase Aspect defines the character with a short descriptor such as “Silent as a Mouse” or a literal quote “I Will Avenge My Father’s Death.” Phrase Aspects come into play when the situation of the story matches or applies to the Aspect. The more interesting and descriptive the phrase Aspect the more often it will come into play, making phrase Aspects some of the most flexible and useful in the game.

Person

A person Aspect is someone important to a character. This could be a friend, enemy, family member, rival, mentor, etc. so long as the person is important to the character in some way. Additionally a person Aspect could represent an organization the character belongs to. Person Aspects generally become relevant when the person in question is present in a scene, however they can be more versatile. A person Aspect may be Compelled when a mentor asks his student to go on a quests or Invoked when the person in question taught the character something pertinent to the current situation.

Props

A prop Aspect is a thing be it an item, a place or an idea representing an important external element of a character (i.e. not a part of his physical or mental person.) A Prop Aspect represents the character’s relationship to the prop not the prop’s abilities or powers (which must be acquired separately.) Prop Aspects come into play when they are useful to a given situation, when their absence would be missed or when they are the crux of a conflict.

Beneficial and Detrimental Aspects

When creating Character Aspects a character desires a mix of beneficial and detrimental Aspects. Why would a character want detrimental Aspects? The short answer is detrimental Aspects gain Fate Points.

A purely beneficial Aspect such as “The World’s Greatest Swordsman” can only be Invoked. A character with purely beneficial Aspects will quickly run out of Fate Points and options. “Dueling Master of the Bezantini School,” is a much more interesting Aspect combining most of the benefits of “The World’s Greatest Swordsman” with some detrimental connotations. First as a Dueling Master it can be Invoked whenever engaged in swordplay to show off the character’s mastery. The Bezantini School adds a lot of interesting possibilities. It’s an organization, which may call upon the character for service. Additionally the Bezantini School of swordsmanship may have a rival fencing school that occasionally interferes with the character. Lastly as a Dueling Master it may be hard or nigh impossible for the character to refuse a duel less he lose his title.

Players should not fear the detrimental Aspect because in addition to earning Fate Points they also put the spotlight on the Compelled character. Detrimental Aspects often create some of the most entertaining and memorable story moments for characters as they struggle not against an ogre or dragon but their own personal flaws.

The best Aspects are double-edged mixing beneficial uses a character can Invoke with detrimental uses a GM can Compel. When evaluating a Character Aspect ask these three questions.

• How could the character Invoke this Aspect?
• How could the GM Compel this Aspect to limit the character’s actions?
• How could the GM Compel this Aspect to add a complication to the character’s life?
• Each question should have at least one good answer and multiple answers being preferred. Writing this out and giving a copy to the GM will make sure the both player and GM are on the same page about a character’s Aspects.

Here’s an example of the three questions with the Character Aspect “One Eyed Orc on a Mission from God.”

• How could the character Invoke this Aspect? This Aspect could be Invoked whenever the success or failure of a check would affect the “mission” negatively. Additionally it could be Invoked whenever the character uses any of his divine abilities and whenever being an orc would be beneficial such as making an Intimidation check against someone afraid of orcs.
• How could the GM Compel this Aspect to limit the character’s actions? This Aspect could be Compelled to limit when attempting any type of perception based check or ranged attack due to the character’s lack of depth perception. Additionally it could be Compelled when the character’s actions might be dictated by the teachings of his god.
• How could the GM Compel this Aspect to add a complication to the character’s life? This Aspect could be Compelled to add a complication whenever being an orc or a follower of the character’s faith would be a hindrance.

Fate Points

You start a new 1st-level character with 5 Fate points. For characters starting at higher levels, your starting Fate point pool is equal to 5 + 1/2 your character level.

Things you'll be able to do with Fate Points:

• Reroll a d20 taking the new result.
• Keep a d20 roll and add +1d6 to the result, or add +1d6 to a defense such as DV, CMD, damage reduction, or Spell/Psionic Resistance.
  • The number of bonus d6s increases with higher levels.
    • 1st-7th: +1d6
    • 8th-14th: +2d6
    • 15th-21st: +3d6
• Increase your caster/manifester/initiator level by one for one action.
• Roll a new save vs. an ongoing effect at the beginning of your turn.
• Ignore one of the following debilitating conditions for one round: blinded, confused, dazzled, deafened, fascinated, frightened, nauseated, panicked, paralyzed, shaken, sickened or stunned.
• Activate a class ability with a limited number of uses per day.
• Cast a spell whose spell level or actual spell is on recharge. Other abilities that are subject to recharge times can be reused in the same way. When this is done, the recharge time for the new casting is added on top of the remaining original recharge time.
• Recover a spent maneuver as a free action.
• Automatically stabilize.
• Create a story effect.
• Refusing/avoiding a Compel.
• Invoke a Flashback to a time up to one week ago where you automatically succeed at an action (1 Fate point per action). You must have been available to be present and have the time to do the flashback action, and you must be theoretically able to succeed at it.

Gaining Fate Points

You gain Fate Points when:

• You gain a level (you gain a number of Fate Points equal to half of your new level (minimum 1)).
• Being Compelled.
• Successfully completing a quest.
• GM fiat.

Table: Examples of Character Aspects

OK	Better	Awesome!
Fire Wizard	Expelled Apprentice of Fire Magic	Burn Scarred Reject from the Order of the Emerald Flame
Former Soldier	Wartorn Hero	Grizzled Veteran of the Great Crusade
Perceptive	Eagle Eyed	“Nothing Escapes My Eye, Especially a Pretty Face”
Stealthy	Shadow’s Friend	Trained in the Arts of the Shadow Weavers