Chapter 7. Playing the Game

Game Structure

A scene is the basic unit of Polyhedral’s game structure. Scenes in Polyhedral are classified as either narrative scenes or action scenes. The way time and movement is handled for each scene is different.

Narrative scenes typically advance the story, while action scenes are commonly used to handle combat. However, any scenario that would benefit from tracking the actions of actors in a more granular way can be handled as an action scene, for example a chase through a city’s back alleyways or the elaborately planned heist that requires precision and coordination between all members of the team.

During the course of a game you will switch between narrative and action scenes as the story progresses and the adventure unfolds.

Initiative Order

In an action scene it is important to understand the order in which characters and creatures will act. When the characters enter into an action scene, the storyteller will ask them to roll their Initiative. The initiative order, or initiative, is what determines the order of action in the scene. Actors with a higher initiative go sooner than those with lower initiatives.

Every participant in an action scene rolls 3D + their Agility modifier. The result of this roll determines when an actor will take their turn during the action scene. If two or more actors have the same initiative roll, the one with the higher Agility rank goes first. If there is still a tie, the tied actors can roll their Initiative again to determine who goes first among them.

Time

A large part of the game is spent in narrative scenes. In a narrative scene, time tracking will often be rough. Typically only important or noteworthy events will be described during narrative time. For example, if a character wants to go to the market to purchase some tools and equipment for an upcoming adventure the storyteller may say: “After an hour or two you acquire the equipment you were looking for without any trouble and return to the group.”

During an action scene, time is tracked more carefully. Action scenes are divided into rounds and turns. Each round is 6 seconds long, or one-tenth of a minute. During a round every actor gets a turn and acts in the Initiative order determined at the start of the action scene. Once everyone has acted the round ends and a new one begins.

Movement

Like time, movement is tracked differently in the context of a narrative scene as compared to an action scene.

Narrative movement can be summarized by the storyteller without necessarily providing precise distances or calculating the amount of time that has passed while traveling. Sometimes it is important to know how long it will take to get from one location to another or how far the characters have travelled. In these cases, the storyteller considers the speed of the creatures traveling and the terrain that they are traversing.

In action scenes movement is often more precise, sometimes measuring the distance a character can travel in 5 feet increments.

Speed

Every creature, including characters, has a speed in Polyhedral. A creature’s speed is measured in feet and represents the number of feet that the creature can walk in 1 round.

Travel Speed

Used in narrative scenes, a creature’s travel speed is a rough calculation of how much distance it can travel in 10 minutes, an hour, or over the course of a normal day. The pace at which characters move has an impact on how aware they are of their surroundings as well as what they can do while traveling.

The approximate distances that a character can travel overland on foot, based on their pace, is shown in the table below:

Riding mounts, driving vehicles, or other special modes of transportation allow characters to travel more quickly. The rules for these alternative methods of travel contain more information on the distance that they can cover in a given period of time.

Hindered Movement

The distance you can travel in both narrative and action scenes assumes that the terrain is easily navigable: flatlands, roads, open plains, unobstructed passages, etc. Unfortunately not every landscape is so friendly. Difficult terrain such as thick forests, obstacle-ridden paths, steep and hard to navigate mountains often impede a creature’s movement. Injury or disease can also slow you down. When your speed is interfered with by these or similar situations, you are hindered (see Appendix A: Conditions.

When hindered you move at half your speed. In an action scene, 1 foot of movement while hindered costs 2 feet of your speed. For narrative scenes where travel is involved, you are only able to cover half the normal distance in a given period of time.

Actions

Whether they are in or out of combat characters and other creatures can take actions to interact with the world. In a narrative scene, these actions usually take the form of ability checks using skills, in combat the most common action is the attack action. This section presents the most common actions that are taken by characters and creatures.

You can always use your turn to perform an action that uses an ability such as using one of your skills, tools, or applying your knowledge. In addition as you advance in a job, gain talents, or acquire special items you will gain additional actions that can be taken.

Free Interactions

As part of your movement or any action you take, you can freely interact with your equipment and the environment around you. For example, at the start of combat when a character moves and makes an attack with their sword they draw it from its sheath first before swinging it. The act of drawing the sword happens as part of the character’s movemnet or the Attack action they take, they do not need to declare a separate action to draw the weapon.

Generally speaking, characters can interact freely with their surroundings once each turn assuming the interaction does not require concerted effort. Opening an unlocked door as you move, severing a rope securing a chandalier, and knocking over random objects as you run through a crowded bazaar are all examples of free interactions. If you wish to interact with more than one object or the object in the environment requires more effort, you must take the Use an Object action. The storyteller has final say on whether or not you can freely interact with an object.

Attack

In combat, the most common action taken is the Attack action. When you take the Attack action you make one melee or ranged attack. See “Making an Attack” in Chapter: Combat for the rules around making an attack.

Some features allow you to make more than one attack when you take the Attack action, such as the Extra Attack feature.

Cast a Spell

You use your action to cast a spell. Every spell has a casting time associated with it, you can use your action to cast any spell with a casting time of 1 action. If a spell has a casting time of 1 bonus action you must use your bonus action to cast the spell.

On your turn you can cast two spells if one of those spells has a casting time of 1 action and the other has a casting time of 1 bonus action, if and only if, one of the spells being cast is a cantrip; these spells can be cast in any order.

For more details on using magic and casting spells, see Chapter: Magic.

Dash

When you take the Dash action you use your action to double your movement speed for the turn.

Defend

When you take the Defend action, you spend your turn focusing on blocking and evading attacks. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made against you has disadvantage provided that you can see the attacker. In addition, you make Agility saving throws with advantage. If you are slowed, incapacitated, or your speed is reduced to 0, you lose this benefit.

Disengage

By taking the Disengage action, until the end of your turn, your movement no longer provokes attacks of opportunity from other creatures.

Grapple

You can use your action to attempt to grapple, pin, or hold another creature preventing them from moving on their turn. When you attempt to grapple a target, make a Strength (Athletics) check opposed by a target’s Agility (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check. If you succeed, the target is grappled (see: Appendix A: Conditions).

Help

When you use your action to aid another creature, you can do one of the following:

Assist on an ability check. Choose a skill that you are proficient in and a creature who can see or hear you. That creature has advantage on the next ability check it makes with the chosen skill. To give this assistance, you must be near enough to the creature to provide verbal or physical aid when the creature makes the check. The storyteller decides whether or not it is possible for you to assist another creature.

Assist on an attack roll. By momentarily distracting a target within 5 feet of you, you grant advantage to the next creature that attacks the target before the start of your next turn.

Hide

When you take the hide action you conceal yourself from other creatures. While you are in a lightly or heavily obscured environment, behind three-quarters cover, or behind total cover you can use your action to hide. You cannot hide from a creature if you are visible to it, or its allies; if the creature you are trying to hide from is in your line of sight, then you are visible to it. To hide, make a difficulty 15 Agility (Stealth) check. On a success, you are hidden and the result of your check becomes the difficulty for a creature to find you with a Mind (Awareness) check.

You give away your position and cease being hidden if you make a sound louder than a whisper, you are discovered, you use your action to make an attack or cast a spell, when you are no longer heavily obscured, or when you are no longer behind cover.

Push, Pull, or Shove

When you take the push, pull, or shove action you are attempting to move another creature or object that is resisting that movement. The resistance may be intentional, as with an adversary trying to keep his or her balance or it may be involuntary, such as when an ally is stuck and you are attempting to pull them through a space that is too small for them. In some cases, the resistance is simply the weight of the object, as with a large statue or wagon which you are trying to use as a barricade.

Pushing, Pulling, or Shoving a Creature. If you attempt to push, pull, or shove a creature you must make a Strength (Athletics) check opposed by the creature’s Strength (Athletics) or Agility (Acrobatics). If you win the opposed check, you are successful at moving the other creature. You are able to push or pull a creature up to 10 feet when you take this action. If you used the shove action the creature falls prone (see Appendix A: Conditions).

Pushing, Pulling, or Shoving Objects. If you attempt to push, pull, or shove a particularly large or heavy object the storyteller determines the difficulty of the task and you make a Strength (Athletics) check against that difficulty. If you succeed you are able to push, pull or knock over the object with a shove. Pushing or pulling an object in this manner allows you to move it as part of your move, however when doing so your movement speed is halved just as it would be if you were navigating difficult terrain. If you took the shove action the object falls over, possibly breaking as a result.

Ready

By taking the ready action you choose not to act on your turn and instead declare what action you will take when a triggering event occurs. If the triggering event occurs, you use your reaction to respond to it.

As part of readying an action, you can also reserve any speed you have not already used to move as part of executing your readied action.

Search

If you cannot see a creature because it is hidden, invisible, or for any other reason you can spend your action attempting to search for it. When you search for a creature make a Mind (Awareness) check by against the creature’s Stealth. If you equal or exceed the creature’s Stealth you find it and it is no longer hidden.

Use an Object

When an object requires more effort to use and you can’t use your free interaction to perform the task, such as winding a heavy rope around a counterweight, you can take the Use and Object action. You can also use this action when you want to interact with more than one object in an environment on your turn.

Resolve

Resolve is your character’s mastery over themselves, their environment, and their own destiny. It is the manifestation of a character’s force of will, either through effort or sheer luck. Your character begins play at 1st level with a Resolve equal to your Spirit modifier (minimum of 1).

You gain an additional point of Resolve every 10 levels, e.g. at 10th level, 20th level, 30th level, etc.

You can use your character’s resolve to modify ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and any other roll of the dice. You can also use your resolve to gain an extra turn during combat or to influence the events of the story by invoking one of your character’s aspects.

Spending Resolve

You can spend resolve to affect any check you make or to use it to assert a modicum of control over the story. When you spend a resolve, you can do one of the following:

• You gain +1D an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw you make. You can roll this additional die even after you’ve made the roll and know the result.
• You can nudge the result of any check, including those made by others, by +/−2
• At any point during combat you can immediately take an extra turn.
• When you fail a death saving throw you can spend a resolve to instead turn the failure into two successes.
• Whenever you’re in a situation where one of your character’s aspects or relationships might be applicable, you can influence the story in some way by declaring a story element, such as: introducing an NPC, acquiring a clue, or defining a relationship between your character and an NPC. There are a number of ways to invoke your character’s aspects, described in more detail below (see: Declaring a Story Detail).

Whenever you choose to invoke one of your aspects you should explain or justify how it is helpful in the situation in order to get the benefit of invoking it. Usually this is self-evident, sometimes it might require creativity on your part.

You cannot invoke an aspect more than once on a single roll.

The storyteller might apply additional restrictions or allow for other creative ways of spending resolve during a scene. Sometimes it may be necessary to spend 2 or more points of resolve to achieve a desired outcome. For example a storyteller might allow you to spend two resolve to turn a normal hit into a critical hit, or to turn an enemy’s critical hit into a normal one.

Declaring a Story Detail

A character’s defined aspects can be used to add a detail to the story that works in their character’s favor. By spending resolve and selecting one of your aspects, you can alter the story by introducing an element to it. For example, you might use an aspect to declare that you previously met the tomboy princess in a crowded market while she was disguised as a commoner and that before you and your companions are sentenced to imprisonment after being falsely accused she recognizes you and intervenes on your behalf.

To do this, you inform the storyteller that you would like to invoke one of your aspects by spending your resolve. You should justify your story details with the storyteller. A storyteller can decline the proposed invocation of your aspect if it doesn’t seem to fit with your character or fit with the current circumstance in the scene. Sometimes, the storyteller might ask you to revise the story detail before accepting it. A resolve is only spent if the storyteller accepts your proposed story detail.

Regaining Resolve

Between adventures, you can regain any previously spent spent resolve. A storyteller can also choose to restore your resolve depending on your actions during a session or at the end of a chapter in a story.

In addition to the above, the storyteller can compel your character to act according to their personality trait, bond, flaw, ideal, disposition or other aspects. A storyteller might do this to make the world respond to your character, complicate a situation for them, or create unexpected drama.

When one of your aspects is compelled, you must either agree to accept the compulsion, regaining a resolve for your trouble, or to spend a resolve to ignore the compulsion. If you have all of your resolve, you may prevent a compulsion from happening without spending and losing any resolve. If you have no resolve remaining, you must agree to the compulsion.

A compulsion might result in:

• An automatic failure.
• Your choices in how to respond to a situation becoming restricted.
• Unintended consequences result from whatever your character does.

You may negotiate with your storyteller about the details and result of accepting the compel, to arrive at an appropriate and dramatic moment. Ultimately, the storyteller has final say on whether or not to compel a character and how the compulsion manifests.

Players and Compelling Aspects

Normally, storytellers decide when to call for compulsions. Players might suggest a character, either theirs or another, be compelled but the decision lies with the storyteller.

As a storyteller however, you can decide to give your players slightly more influence in the game by allowing them to compel each other’s characters. This can create a fun dynamic in some groups, but it is not for everyone. Before giving this power to your players, it is recommended that you discuss it with the group first.

Explation

Vision and Light

In exploration and when characters find themselves in precarious situations, like combat, it becomes important to notice signs of danger. Many actions rely on your ability to see and darkness or other effects that obscure your vision can be a hinderance.

Most creatures can see normally in areas of bright light, such as outside during the daylight. Illumination from torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources cast bright light within a defined radius.

Shadows and other areas of dim light, create a lightly obscured area. The boundary between bright light and darkness is usually an area of dim light. The threshold of light at the dawn and twilight of the day also counts as dim light. A brightly lit night sky might also provide enough light to be considered dim light.

Darkness is the absence of any significant light sources. An area covered in darkness is heavily obscured. The dark of night typically casts an area in darkness, as do the corridors of an unlit dungeon or an underground cave. Magical and non-natural sources can also cover an area in darkness.

Visibility

A given area might be either lightly obscured or heavily obscured.

Lightly Obscured. In areas that are lightly obscured, creatures have disadvantage on Mind (Awareness) checks that involve sight. Examples of lightly obscured areas are: dimly light rooms, a light fog, or light-to-moderate foliage.

Heavily Obscured. In an area that is heavily obscured, creatures are considered blinded (see appendix A). Darkness, a thick fog, or dense foliage are examples of environments that block vision completely.

Resting

During the course of a day characters, as well as other creatures, periodically take a rest. A rest is a period of time where the character or creature limits its activity. Characters can take any number of short rests throughout the day, ending their day with a long rest.

Short Rest

When you spend at least 1 hour resting, you gain the following benefits at the end of the rest:

Recover Health. You can spend one or more Stamina Die, up to your maximum number of Stamina Dice, to recover health. For each Stamina Die spent, roll a D6 and add your Vitality modifier to it. You regain health equal to the total (minimum of 1). After each Stamina Die is rolled, you can decide whether or not to spend additional Stamina Dice.

Treat Wounds. You can dress a creature’s wounds, including your own. Choose one creature, you reduce the number of wounds on that creature by 1.

Long Rest

You end your day by taking a long rest, requiring at least 8 hours of nothing more than light activity. You can’t benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period. A character that is dead or dying cannot benefit from a long rest, it must be stabilized first (i.e. it must have at least 1 health).

During a long rest, characters usually sleep for at leasy 6 hours. If the long rest is interrupted by strenuous activity such as one or more hours of walking, fighting, casting magic, or similar activities the long rest must be restarted from the beginning to gain any benefit from it. At the end of a long rest, you gain the following benefits:

Recover Health. You regain all lost health.

Regain Stamina Dice. You regain spent Stamina Dice, up to a a number of dice equal to half your character’s level (minimum 1).

Downtime

In addition to short and long rests that are taken throughout an adventure, characters can take downtime between adventures. This extended period of rest can be used to recuperate and prepare for the next adventure, but it can also be used to spend time performing other tasks such as: running a business, crafting items, performing research, training, or simply relaxing.

At the end of an adventure, the storyteller may award characters with a number of days of downtime. Alternatively a storyteller may start the next adventure by stating that a certain amount of time has passed. In either case, the storyteller should allow characters the opportunity to declare how they spent their downtime before the start of the next adventure.

Downtime Activities

Crafting

Practicing a Profession

Recovery

Researching

Training