Celestus Rules Overview
A Note on Rules and Automation
This system was designed to be primarily played over a virtual tabletop, such as Foundry Virtual Tabletop. Many rules, especially those related to combat, may seem somewhat convoluted in execution or memorization because they were designed with automation in mind. This document is meant less as instructions for play and more as a reference to allow you to make more informed decisions when running or playing in a game of Celestus.
While reading through the rules, you may (properly) assess that this system can be quite rules-dense at times, especially for combat. The system is intentionally rules light in terms of non-combat encounters and mechanics regarding role-play are meant as guidelines rather than highly enforced rules. The rules are meant to encourage and remind that you have the ability to do things, but are not meant as the full limits of a character's capabilities. Get creative with it!
Rules pertaining to combat are more complex and many of them are intended to be handled by the platform you are playing the game on. It is intended to feel closer to that of a tactical role-playing-game that illustrates physical conflicts within the game. This isn't to say that characters should never attempt to bend the rules in creative ways, rather it is meant as a reminder that the combat rules are intentionally designed and to some degree a numbers game. Feel free to experiment with new rules, but keep in mind it may lead to less balanced play.
Resources
There are many resources in Celestus and they cover a variety of aspects of gameplay, from surviving to acting in combat. Resources can be split into two categories, Vital and Action resources.
Vital Resources
Health (HP)
Health, often referred to as hit points or hp, is the primary resource that represents a character's vitality. Health is meant as a direct representation of a character's current well-being. A character at full health is presumed to be uninjured and a character with no health is on death's door.
Max Hit Points are based off character level and a character's constitution score. To calculate a character's HP, use the base max HP for their level and then multiply it by 1 + (0.07 × each point they have in constitution beyond 10). For example a level 9 character with 13 in constitution would have 235×(1+0.07×3)=284 max health.
When a character is reduced to 0 hp: If a player character is reduced to 0 hp, they begin to die. A player character at 0 hp is incapacitated and considered dying. A dying character still takes damage and their hp value goes into the negatives. When a character reaches a hp value less than or equal to a negative of their max hp they die. A dying creature remains incapacitated until their current hp goes above 0 at which point they are no longer dying. Whenever a dying creature is healed in a way that stops them from dying, they gain one level of exhaustion.
If a non-player character (NPC) is reduced to 0 hp, they die. The GM can choose to allow one or more NPCs to enter a dying state similar to players rather than outright die.
Armor
Armor is what stands between a character's health and damage being dealt to them. There are two types of armor in Celestus, physical and magic. Physical damage is blocked by physical armor and Magic damage types are blocked by magic armor. For a full list of damage types and the armor they are blocked by see the damage types table. When a character would take damage, that damage is first subtracted from their armor values, and then any excess is applied to their health.
The second function of armor is to protect against statuses. Many skills can apply statuses to characters and many statuses are resisted by either physical or magic armor. For example, if a skill would try to set bleeding but the target still has physical armor, they won't begin bleeding. Statuses are attempted to be applied after a target takes any damage from a skill, which may lead to a status applying that wouldn't have without the damage. A statuses description will say what type(s) of armor resist it. If none is specified, it can't be resisted by armor. The full list of statuses can be found in the rules glossary.
Action Resources
Action Points (AP)
Action points (represented as green circles) are the primary resource needed for using skills in initiative. Many skills require a certain amount of action points to use. While in initiative, a character must spend that many action points to use the skill, outside of initiative you can ignore these costs.
Characters have a starting AP and max AP value. At the start of each character's turn they receive a number of action points equal to their starting value. A character can never have more action points than their max.
Focus Points (FP)
Focus points (represented as yellow diamonds) represent a character pulling on strength beyond their normal capacity. Focus points are spent in the same way action points are as some skills will require them as a cost. The main difference between action points and focus points is that they don't refresh every round, instead they refresh at the beginning of each scene.
Maximum Focus Points are determined by character level and are granted at levels 9, 11, and 13.
Skills
Skills are the basic building block of actions a character can take. From slinging fireballs to crippling blows, skills are used for all aspects of combat, and some aspects of role-play. Where some systems may have special features, spell-casting, or any other rules-driven approaches to granting abilities, Celestus uses a system called skills.
Parts of a Skill
Above is an example of a skill description, this subsection will break down each individual component.
Skill Type
The type of a skill describes broadly how the skill functions and what contexts it is meant for. There are three types of skills, split into two main categories, Civil and Combat. Civil skills are designed for use outside of combat and cannot be used in the heat of battle as they require too much time to execute. Combat skills are designed for combat and designed to be used in quick succession to fell foes and protect allies.
Skill School
All skills belong to a "Skill School." These schools all correspond to different combat abilities and place skills into general categories.
Skill Tier
A skill's tier represents the prowess required to perform it and determines the level required to use it.
Action / Focus Points Cost
Skills may have an Action Point and/or Focus Point cost. If a skill has an action point cost, you must use that many action points in order to use the skill. The same goes for Focus Point costs. Action Point costs are meant for combat encounters primarily, but can be used in other scenarios if the GM chooses to.
Components
Components are the physical requirements for using a skill.
- A skill with a Verbal component requires the character to be able to speak in order to incant the skill.
- A skill with a Somatic component requires the character to have a free hand or a free weapon in order to perform physical motions for the skill.
- A skill with a Material component requires one or more objects in order for a character to perform the skill. One example of this is many Shroudstalker skills require a dagger as a material component.
Cooldown
A skill's cooldown is what determines how often you can use it. For a combat skill, its cooldown is measured in rounds and after using it you must wait an amount of rounds equal to its cooldown to use it again. For civil skills, any nonzero cooldown means that once it is used, you must complete a rest before using it again.
Memory
A skill's memory value is the number of memory slots required to memorize the skill (This value is usually one).
Targets / Range
The target value of a skill describes what shape it targets (sphere, cone, creatures, self, etc.) and what size of that shape or how many creatures it targets. The range of a skill describes how far away your target can be.
Scaling Attribute
A damage dealing skill will specify if it scales with a certain attribute. If it does, you will use that attribute modifier when calculating your damage roll.
Attacks & Damage
Attack rolls and damage rolls are the gears that allow the machines that are skills to run combat. When playing through Foundry or another VTT, you will not be required to perform any of these calculations. This section is meant as a description and reference rather than a guide.
Attacks
Some skills, especially weapon skills, will instruct you to make a weapon attack or "Strike" a target.
There are three factors that affect an attack: the attacker's accuracy, the
attacker's
critical hit chance and the target's evasion.
To perform an attack,
the
attacking character makes a d100 test, the attack is a hit if the roll's result surpasses the attack's hit
threshold (100 - [target's accuracy] + [target's evasion]).
If the attack hits, it becomes a critical hit if the roll's result surpasses the attacks' critical threshold
(100 - [target's critical hit chance]). It doesn't
matter if an attack surpasses the critical threshold if it doesn't pass the hit threshold.
Damage
There are two types of damage rolls in Celestus, weapon and magic. All damage in Celestus is displayed as a percentage rather than a number or dice formula. This is because all damage dealt is rolled as a formula based on character level and then multiplied based on some final damage scalar.
Weapon Damage
Weapon damage uses a formula that corresponds to the handedness of the weapon. A weapon's damage roll scalar is based off the weapon's efficiency and the strength/dexterity (depending on weapon) of the attacker. The weapon damage scalar formula is: [weapon efficiency]×(1+[elemental bonus])×(1+[character damage bonus]+[fighting style bonus])
Magic Damage
Magic damage uses a formula that scales purely off of level. A skill will describe the base damage multiplier and the overall scalar can be calculated with the skill damage scalar formula: [base multiplier]×(1+[elemental bonus])×(1+[character damage bonus])
Critical Hits
When rolling damage for a critical hit, multiply the final value by the attacker's critical hit multiplier.
Attributes
Attributes, sometimes referred to as Primary Attributes, are six different scores that represent a character's physical and mental characteristics.
Attribute points are a character building currency that are invested into different primary attributes. Attributes all start with a base value of 10 and you cannot spend more than 30 points in an attribute (for a base total of 40).
Abilities
Combat and Civil abilities determine your character's proficiency in different aspects of combat and civil encounters. Both types of abilities function as prerequisites for learning skills and provide bonuses to Ability Checks.
Civil Abilities are used solely to determine modifiers for Ability Checks and
skill prerequisites.
Combat Abilities provide unique bonuses to different aspects of combat
based on your total ability score.
Civil Abilities
Ability |
Bonus |
|
Scoundrel |
Hiding, lock picking, and other sleight of hand. |
|
Lore |
Recalling relevant information and finding meaning in passages. |
|
Nature |
Finding your way through the wilds, tracking creatures, knowledge of wildlife. |
|
Influence |
Changing the opinions of those around you, deceiving others, and performing. |
|
Religion |
Knowledge of religious practices and attuning yourself to spiritual processes. |
Combat Abilities
Ability |
Bonus |
|
Dueling |
When using a single one-handed weapon: +5% weapon damage , +5% accuracy |
|
Dual Wielding |
When using two one-handed weapons: +5% weapon damage, +1% evasion |
|
Heavy-Handed |
When using a two-handed melee weapon: +5% weapon damage, +5% critical hit damage |
|
Marksman |
When using a two-handed ranged weapon: +5% weapon damage, +1% critical hit chance |
|
Retributive |
Reflect 5% of incoming damage back to your attacker |
|
Flamespeaker |
+5% Fire damage |
|
Tidecaller |
+5% Water damage, Healing, and Magic Armor healing |
|
Stormseeker |
+5% Air damage |
|
Duneshaper |
+5% Earth damage, Poison damage, and Physical Armor healing |
|
Voidcantor |
+5% Psychic damage |
|
Deathbringer |
Heal for 10% of damage dealt |
|
Shroudstalker |
+5% Critical hit damage, +5% movement speed |
|
Formshifter |
You gain 1 unspent attribute points |
|
Huntmaster |
+5% damage to marked targets |
|
Warlord |
+5% Physical damage |
Origins
Character origins represent who characters are before and as they begin their adventure. There are three main components to an origin: Ancestries, Backgrounds, and Professions.
Ancestries
Ancestries represent a character's heritage and their ties to their blood kin. Some examples include Human, Elf, and Dwarf. Ancestries may grant skills, ability bonuses, or other features.
Mixed Ancestries. You may have a character who's parents of different ancestries. If this is the case, choose a single ancestry of the two to gain benefits from, you can choose to flavor your character however you want beyond those mechanical benefits.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds represent who your character was before they became an adventurer. These often have very little quantitative benefits, merely granting a +1 bonus to one civil ability. The heart of backgrounds is in the "You can always..." section.
You Can Always...
Some features (mainly backgrounds and professions) have a section titled "You can always..." This is a list of actions your character is considered capable of without needing to roll any dice. In order to push the limits of these or use them under extraneous circumstances your GM may require you to make an ability check.
These are invitations, not instructions. If your character "can always tell which direction is north," how can they do that? Do they have a handy compass they always carry with them? Or maybe they look towards the sun and stars for guidance. What if you're underground without your tools though? Maybe there's something about on the walls of the ruins that allows you to identify which direction they were facing. Get creative with it.
Professions
Professions represent the skills your character maintains as they begin their adventure. These are the closest thing this system has to tradition "character classes". Are you a powerful Warrior who strikes down foes with their martial prowess? Or perhaps you are Pactbound, owing your magic to a powerful entity. Professions are meant as an essential building block for your character's mechanical direction. Professions also have "You can always..." RP tools that follow the same rules as those in Backgrounds.
Once You're Done Here
Now that you know the basics of playing, you're ready to get started with character creation. If you have any further questions on specific rules, you can search for them in the rules glossary.