CH 1 Core Mechanic
Roll a single twenty-sided die, add the relevant attribute, beat the
target. Everything else in this book is decoration on that sentence.
Every meaningful action in EnGarde resolves with a d20 check.
Take a d20, roll it, add your attribute modifier, compare to a
Difficulty set by the GM (or printed on a card / monster). Meet
or beat the Difficulty: success. Beat it by 10 or more:
great success (extra effect). Miss by 10 or more:
complication (something else goes wrong).
Difficulty table
Trivial · 6 · Easy · 10 · Standard · 14
· Hard · 18 · Heroic · 22
· Legendary · 26
Advantage & Disadvantage
When the fiction tips a check, roll two d20s and keep the
higher (advantage) or lower (disadvantage). Multiple sources don't
stack — you have it, or you don't.
Critical Rolls
A natural 20 is always a hit and always inflicts a
great success. A natural 1 is always a miss; if the
action could harm, you take a complication.
CH 2 Character
A character in EnGarde is a name, six numbers, a faith, an oath, and
a debt. Everything else is in your head.
Build your character in this order:
- Pick a Realm (one of the six). It sets your starting language and one free skill.
- Pick a Calling (Knight, Scholar, Hunter, Magus, Faithful, Rogue). It sets your starting weapon and one trait.
- Distribute +3 / +2 / +2 / +1 / +1 / 0 among the six attributes.
- Pick a Faith (or none — heresy is permitted in three Realms).
- Swear one Oath. It rewards you when kept and punishes you when broken.
- Choose a starting Debt. House Vey is always hiring.
Starting Gear
Your Calling gives you a primary weapon and three pieces of useful
kit. Take 2d6 silver coins. If you rolled a 12, take a free favour
from your guild instead. Don't argue with the dice.
CH 3 Attributes
Six numbers describe the body, the mind, and what survives between
them. Each can be raised, lost, or — under the Tide — borrowed.
| Attribute | Governs | Typical check |
|---|
| Brawn | Physical force, carrying, melee weight | Force a door, hold a line |
| Edge | Speed, precision, ranged attacks | Sword strike, bow shot, lockpick |
| Endure | Stamina, pain, resistance | Resist poison, march through cold |
| Wit | Reasoning, recall, perception | Spot the lie, recognise the rune |
| Aether | Magical sensitivity, tithe pool | Cast a spell, sense the Tide |
| Resolve | Will, social pressure, oath-keeping | Stare down a god-spoken priest |
CH 4 Actions & Checks
Most of a session is people talking and three checks an hour. Treat
each check like a coin: spend it when the outcome is meaningfully
uncertain.
Four action types
- Stance — a posture you take (Defensive, Aggressive, Watchful, Cunning). Lasts until you switch.
- Strike — one attack, one cast, one declared damaging move per round.
- Move — reposition up to your Edge in metres × 2 per round.
- Free — speak, drop something, glance at the door. Costs no roll.
Opposed Checks
Both sides roll d20 + attribute. Higher total wins. Tie: the
defender wins; if there is no defender, the GM narrates the wash.
CH 5 Combat
Combat in EnGarde is fast on purpose. Most fights end inside three
rounds. Most characters end inside five.
Initiative
Each side rolls one d20 + the highest Edge in the group.
Higher acts first. On subsequent rounds the order persists until
someone takes a Watchful stance — they may re-roll for control.
Round Structure
- Highest Initiative resolves a Stance (free), one Strike, one Move.
- Next character. Continue until both sides have acted.
- End of round: tick down spell durations, ongoing damage, advantage tokens.
Damage & Wounds
Weapons deal a die (d4 dagger, d6 sword, d8 spear, d10 great-weapon,
d12 polearm). Damage reduces Vitality. At 0 you fall.
Three great hits (rolls beating Defence by 10+) inflict a
Wound: a named injury that costs a free Downtime to heal.
Defence
Defence = 10 + Edge (light armour) or 8 + Endure
(heavy armour). Shields add +2 to one declared side per round.
CH 6 Magic & Tithe
Magic in Aetheria is a bargain. The Tide gives; the Tide takes.
Every spell pays a tithe, and the bigger the bargain, the
stranger the price.
To cast: roll d20 + Aether against the spell's Difficulty.
Pay the printed tithe regardless of result. On a miss, the spell
misfires and the GM names a complication.
| Tier | Difficulty | Tithe |
|---|
| Cantrip | 10 | None |
| Lesser | 14 | 1 Vitality OR 1 hour memory |
| Greater | 18 | 1 Wound OR 1 day memory OR 1 attribute -1 (recovers in 24 h) |
| Mythic | 22 | GM names it. It is permanent. |
The Five Disciplines
School
Resonance
Bell-singing, oath-binding, sound that shapes will.
School
Verdancy
Life-shaping, plants and bodies. Kept under Greenhand law.
School
Tideturn
Water, weight, and the redirection of moving things.
School
Pyrotelos
Fire and edge. Spectacular. Wasteful. Always crowd-pleasers.
Restricted
Hollowing
Cold work. Names, memory, what survives between. Taught nowhere officially.
CH 7 Downtime
The hours between adventures matter. Coin spent here saves you in
the field. Coin not spent here will be remembered.
Each Downtime turn (a week of fictional time) you may pick
one action:
- Heal — clear one Wound or restore full Vitality.
- Train — gain 2 XP toward a single attribute or skill.
- Craft — make one item your Calling allows. Pay materials.
- Network — call in a favour, gather rumour, secure a contact in one faction.
- Repay — make a payment toward your Debt. House Vey notices.
- Pursue — work on a personal arc (revenge, lost lover, secret name).
CH 8 Advancement
EnGarde awards XP for finishing arcs, not killing things. Murder is
a means; the story is the rate of pay.
| Trigger | XP |
|---|
| Session attended | 1 |
| Oath kept under pressure | +1 |
| Oath broken (player choice) | +2 (and a complication) |
| Arc closed | +3 |
| Wake performed | +1 (Ashen Vow members only) |
Spend XP between sessions. Raising an attribute from N to N+1 costs
3 × (N+1) XP. Learning a new spell or trait costs
2 XP. Maximum attribute: +5.
CH 9 The GM
You are not running the world against the players. You are running
the world with them. The bell rings either way.
Three small rules for the seat behind the screen:
- Say yes, or roll. Never simply say no.
- One secret per session. Reveal it. Replace it next week.
- The dice are loud. Once they fall, the table hears them.
The rest of the GM craft — pacing, NPC voices, when to skip
downtime, when to call a session — is in the GM Companion booklet.
Buy it when you're ready. The rulebook can wait there.