Description: When casting spells, a magician takes an amount of non-magical damage based on the level or intensity of the Spell. Excessive use of Magic can cause the spellcasters penalties or fainting. Characters may be allowed to save to resist some of the damage. It is often used in conjunction with Spell Rolls.
Find it in: Shadowrun
Keywords: Fast-paced, Tactical, Weird
Genres: Dark Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Superhero,
Description: When a character spends an action to watch an ally perform a skill that they do not possess, they may make a test to learn it at the lowest possible level of ability. (5% in a percentile system like Warhammer Fantasy, 1 rank in D&D3e or Pathfinder) Characters must improve the skill further using standard character advancement.
Find it in: Delve 2e
Keywords: Cinematic, Exploration, Pulpy, Survival
Genres: Crime, Dark Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Military, Pulp, Science Fiction, Survival Horror, Western
Description: When a PC or important NPC dies, there is a chance that they can be resurrected.This entails rolls to check on which magic or technology was used to bring them back. Each method has drawbacks and a chance or rejection, which leads to permanent pentirs.
Find it in: Alpha Blue (NSFW)
Keywords: Fantastical, Light-Hearted, Pulpy, Weird
Genres: Cyberpunk, High Fantasy, Pulp, Science Fiction, Superhero
Description: Rather than having armor make a PC harder to damage or letting them take more, armor reduces the amount of damage taken on each attack, or allows characters t soak more damage if resistance rolls are used.
Find it in: the Black Hack, Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Into the Odd
Keywords: Heroic, Epic, Pulpy
Genres: High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superhero, Pulp
Description: Used in games that use hot points, wound levels, or damage tracks, Armor adds additional damage to the total the character can take that cannot heal unless the armor is repaired.
Find it in: Blades in the Dark, Tiny Dungeon 2e, Pacts and Blades
Keywords: Fast-paced, Tactical, Cinematic
Genres: Crime, Military, Sword and Sorcery, Low Fantasy, Science Fiction
Description: Once knocked out of commission in combat, a character has a chance of suffering lingering or permanent injuries that create penalties to the character or stat reductions.
Find it in: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, the Black Hack, GLOG
Keywords: Dark, Gritty, Pulpy
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Pulp, Military, Post-apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Description: During Combat characters may declare special effects of a combat attack, like disarming, knock back, tripping, blinding, etc., and on a successful attack, a die roll may resolve this effect. More severe or permanent effects may require special Luck checks or limited resources. Missed exploits prevent further exploits against a target until players gain new tactical advantage.
Find it in: Low Fantasy Gaming
Keywords: Tactical, Swashbuckling, Heroic, Pulpy
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Post-apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Pulp, Superhero, Western
Description: Combat-oriented characters may declare special effects of a combat attack, like disarming, knock back, tripping, blinding, etc., and get variable success based on a roll of a die.
Find it in: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
Keywords: Weird, Fantastical, Dark, Tactical, Swashbuckling
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Post-apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Pulp, Superhero
Description: Sacrifice Armor effectiveness to reduce damage.
Find it in: Right Here
Keywords: Fantastical, Tactical, Heroic, Cinematic, Swashbuckling
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Science Fiction, Post-apocalyptic, Pulp
