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May 7, 2024
This section summarizes the significant changes since the previous playtest update (version 1.3). Some of these changes may be permanent, while others allow the design team to compare playtest reception to various approaches.
GM PLAY GUIDE added to Download Materials
QUICKSTART ADVENTURE Updated for v1.4
General: Reorganized and clarified rules.
Advantage: Reverted to previous d6 advantage/ disadvantage die.
Action Rolls: Added further guidance on when an action roll should be made.
Introduction
Rulings Over Rules: Clarified text.
Flavoring Your Game: Clarified text.
Ancestries: Adjusted flavor and mechanics. Ancestries now have two features. Mixed ancestries allow you to mix and match these features.
Minor Thresholds: Guardian now has a minor threshold of 3, Warrior and Seraph have minor threshold of 2, and minor threshold can be raised as a leveling up option.
Bard: Changed Rally feature.
Druid: Added guidance for Beastform, modified Beastform feature and sheet.
Guardian: Modified background questions, increased Damage Threshold, rebalanced Evasion, modified Unstoppable.
Ranger: Modified Companion sheet.
Rogue: Rebalanced Evasion.
Seraph: Increased Minor Threshold.
Warrior: Modified Attack of Opportunity, increased Minor Threshold.
Gold: Coins are now an optional rule instead of part of the standard denominations.
General Rules: Added End of the Scene guidance, added Ongoing Effects guidance.
Domain Cards: Rules moved from chapter 1 to 2.
Downtime: Clarified that you can use the same downtime move twice during a rest.
Action Tracker: Added section clarifying what counts as an action.
Leveling Up: Changed level-up options for all classes. Highlights include proficiency now increasing with tier (Levels 2, 5, and 7) and a minor threshold increase returning as an option for all classes.
Unarmored: Clarified rules for unarmored characters.
Equipment: Rebalanced all armor, reorganized and squashed bugs in weapons and armor. Significant individual changes include:
- Gambeson Armor has replaced Leather Armor
- Leather Armor has replaced Breastplate Armor
- Brutal feature corrected on weapons
- Bladed Whip Quick correction
- Legendary Returning Blade omission corrected
- Primary Shortsword changed to Broadsword.
- Secondary Saber changed to Shortsword.
- Round Shield and Tower Shield adjusted.
- Knuckle Claws adjusted.
- Hammer of Exota adjusted.
- Urok Shortsword changed to Urok Broadsword.
- Miser’s Bulwark adjusted.
Loot: Recategorized loot, corrected typo in Gem of Insight.
The GM’s Die: Added optional rule that allows GMs to roll a critical success on attacks.
Example GM Moves: Added option for GM to gain a Fear when a PC rolls with Fear. Clarified that you can end a temporary condition or effect as a GM move or by spending an action token on the action tracker.
Running GM NPCs: Added this section.
Falling Damage: Adjusted guidance.
Character Death: Added guidance on TPKs.
Tier 0 Adversaries: Adjusted all.
Tier 1 Adversaries: Adjusted the Apprentice Assassin, Battle Box, Chaos Skull, Giant Beastmaster, Giant Brawler, Giant Eagle, Giant Recruit, Juvenile Flickerfly, Katari Burglar, Minotaur, Mortal Hunter.
Tier 2 Adversaries: Adjusted the Adult Flickerfly, Dire Bat, Elemental Spark, Greater Earth Elemental, Greater Water Elemental, Head Vampire, Huge Green Ooze, Vampire, Young Ice Dragon.
Tier 3 Adversaries: Adjusted the Kraken, Oracle of Doom, Outer Realms Abomination, Outer Realms Corruptor, Outer Realms Thrall, Volcanic Dragon x3.
Note: Some adversaries are not available in this version, as their mechanics are still being tweaked.
Environments: Added new environments. Added guidance on using and scaling Environments. Adjusted the Abandoned Grove, Baronial Court, Bustling Marketplace, Mountain Pass, Raging River, Ruined Tower, The Burning Heart of the Wood, Underground Cave.
No current changes.
No current changes.
No current changes.
Ancestry: Adjusted the following cards: Daemon, Drakona, Dwarf, Elf, Faerie, Firbolg, Fungril, Galapa, Giant, Goblin, Halfling, Human, Katari, Orc
Community: Adjusted the following cards: Seaborne, Wanderborne, Ridgeborne
Subclass: Adjusted the following cards:
-Bard: Wordsmith Mastery
-Guardian: Stalwart Foundation, Specialization, and Mastery
-Seraph: Winged Sentinel Foundation and Mastery
-Sorcerer: Primal Origin Specialization
-Rogue: Syndicate Foundation
Domains: Adjusted the following cards:
- Bone Touched (Bone, Level 7)
-Book of Exota (Codex, Level 4)
- Counterspell (Arcana, Level 3)
- Dark Whispers (Midnight, Level 6)
-Death Grip (Sage, Level 4)
- Enrapture (Grace, Level 1)
- Ferocity (Bone, Level 2)
- Force of Nature is now Wild Surge (Sage, Level 7) and has been modified
- Fountain of Life has been renamed to Healing Strike (Splendor, Level 7)
- Gifted Tracker (Sage, Level 1)
- Grace-Touched (Grace, Level 7)
- Inspirational Words (Grace, Level 1)
- I See It Coming (Bone, Level 1)
- Master of the Craft (Grace, Level 9)
- On The Brink (Bone, Level 9)
- Reassurance (Splendor, Level 1)
- Redirect (Bone, Level 4)
- Rift Walker (Arcana, Level 6)
- Sage Touched (Sage, Level 7)
- Shadowhunter (Midnight, Level 8)
- Tempest (Sage, Level 10)
- Troublemaker (Grace, Level 2)
- Vicious Entangle (Sage, Level 1)
- Wild Fortress (Sage, Level 5)
- Words of Discord (Grace, Level 5)
April 16, 2024
The 1.3 Quickstart Adventure can be downloaded on its own here, or by downloading the full Playtest Materials.
April 9, 2024
Note: The Quick Start Adventure has been temporarily removed from the Playtest Materials. It will be added back in once the Adventure has been updates to v1.3.
Damage Thresholds: Adjusted Damage Thresholds across all classes. Stress Points are no longer marked when you take damage below your Minor threshold. This simplifies the armor/threshold/HP decision process during combat.
GM Moves and Fear: Changed GM roll structure so you can now choose to make a move or take Fear on rolls with Fear, not both. This reduces the Fear economy and impacts the balance of if/how much Fear is spent on adversary moves. Also streamlined what you can spend Fear on, taking weight off the GM’s side of play.
Stress Points: The starting number of Stress Point slots for all players is now 6. Stress Points are no longer marked when you take damage below your Minor threshold.
Use an Action: Added “use an action” phrase to moves that require a token to be added to the action tracker during combat, even if they don’t require an action roll to use.
Chapters: Renamed book divisions to “chapters” instead of “parts.” Split some content from chapters 3 and 4 into a new chapter 5, and the former chapter 5 (with currently unwritten content) has become chapter 6. INTRODUCTION
Heart of the Game: Added section “Rulings over Rules” about focusing on narrative rulings instead of the letter of the law.
Safety Tools: Moved Lines and Veils, X-Card, and Open Door Policy from “A Table for All” to chapter 3’s “Session Zero and Safety Tools” section.
Chapter 1: Preparing for Adventure
Classes, Ancestry, and Community features: Reworded many features for clarity; the only changes itemized below are those that changed not only in wording, but also in intended effect.
Bard Class: Modified the Rally class feature.
Guardian Class: Modified the Unstoppable class feature.
Ranger Class: Modified the Companion Sheet and Ranger’s Focus class feature.
Rogue Class: Modified the Hide class feature, along with the Nightwalker Specialization and Mastery.
Seraph Class: Modified the Prayer Dice class feature.
Sorcerer Class: Modified the Channel Raw Power class feature.
Warrior Class: Modified the Battle Strategist and Combat Training class features, and added the Attack of Opportunity class feature.
Domain Cards: Swapping cards in combat now uses an action.
Loadout and Vault: Clarified that the recall cost is paid for the card in your vault, not your loadout.
Ancestry: Modified the Daemon, Drakona, Faerie, Faun, Fungril, Galapa, Human, Katari, Orc, and Ribbet ancestry features. Updated all ancestry descriptions with lifespans and other minor adjustments.
Community: Modified the Highborne, Wildborne, Ridgeborne, Wanderborne, and Seaborne community features. Updated all community descriptions.
Experiences: Expanded list of suggestions for player character experiences.
Chapter 2: Playing an Adventure
On Your Turn: Moves are now considered actions if they require an action roll or state they are actions, and they require placing a token on the action tracker. (This mirrors the updated adversary rules, which distinguish some features as actions.)
Advantage/Disadvantage: Changed advantage system to make crits and rolls with Hope more likely. Advantage now gives the PC an additional Hope die (not a d6) they roll, then choose which to use. Disadvantage now has them roll an additional Hope die (not a d6) and take the lowest option.
Help an Ally: Updated to mirror the new advantage rule, allowing the PC who helps to roll their Hope die. The player who is being helped can choose between either of the Hope dice rolled.
Stress: Added rule that if a PC or adversary’s stress is ever full, they are Vulnerable until they clear a Stress.
Action Rolls: Clarified that roll bonuses must be added before the roll.
Group Action Rolls: Added group roll rule to help parties sneak through the castle together.
Tag Team Rolls: Added rule that Tag Team rolls only cost one action token. Clarified that on a roll with Hope, the person whose roll was chosen gains that Hope.
Damage Rolls: Clarified that roll bonuses must be added before the roll. Clarified text on moves that use your Damage Proficiency to determine number of damage dice to roll; the move text for these now says “using your Damage Proficiency” (or “using your Proficiency” when space is limited). This has also been reflected across all cards. - Damage Types and Resistance: Added rule that resistance and immunity apply before other damage reductions do. Added rule that multiple sources of resistance only count as one. Added rule that resistance can only be applied once, it doesn’t stack.
Reaction Rolls: Clarified that roll bonuses must be added before the roll.
Damage Thresholds: Renamed the optional rule to take additional hit points on double your Severe threshold—it is now “Massive Damage.”
Hidden Condition: While out of sight, you must now spend a Stress to become Hidden, and you clear that condition if you enter line of sight. Attacks can now target Hidden creatures, but they’re still made with disadvantage. Being Hidden no longer gives you advantage on attacks (unless you’re a Rogue).
Movement: Clarified that when you move as part of an action roll, you can move before or after (not both).
Downtime: Downtime actions are now known as downtime moves.
Death Move: Revised the Avoid Death move for clarity.
Gold: Gold is now expressed in Coins, Handfuls, Bags, and Chests (no more Fortunes). Each is now in multiples of ten.
Downtime: Revised for clarity. Downtime actions are now known as downtime moves. Some long-rest downtime moves have name changes. Short rest “Prepare” move now has a similar benefit to the long rest counterpart.
Action Tracker: Added optional rule for turn-based initiative; moved GM-facing action tracker rules to chapter 3, replacing them with player-facing summaries.
General Rules: New section clarifies how to round numbers (up), how to handle simultaneous and stacking effects, and how to spend a resource.
Multiclassing: When you multiclass, you now gain access to the standard class feature.
Equipment: Rebalanced all equipment. Changed damage scaling. Changed a number of features. Saber has been replaced with Cutlass as a Starting Weapon option. Armor is now reduced in value (because of the increase in Armor Slots).
Weapons: You can equip/switch weapons as an action. Your two Inventory Weapon slots can now contain any combination of primary and secondary weapons.
Armor: Everybody now starts with six armor slots. You can’t switch armor in danger or under pressure and you cannot carry additional armor in your inventory.
Damage Proficiency: Proficiency is now known as Damage Proficiency (but it remains shortened to Proficiency on cards and character sheet).
Throwing Weapons: Removed damage penalty for throwing weapons.
Loot: Changed the Ring of Unbreakable Resolve.
Chapter 3: Running an Adventure
Overall: Reorganized and revised everything for clarity, especially within “Core GM Mechanics.”
Making Moves/Fear: Added rules for using environments (see chapter 4).
Using the Action Tracker: Moved GM-facing instructions from chapter 2 to here, and clarified/expanded the guidance on how to activate adversaries. Added rules for using environments (see chapter 4).
Adversary Action Rolls: Added guidance on handling non-attack adversary moves with a chance of failure.
Adversaries: Moved adversary rules to chapter 4 (see change log in that section).
Social Conflict: Added guidance.
Chapter 4: Adversaries and Environments
Overall: All rules and stat blocks involving adversaries and environments have been moved to this chapter (except for optional information on adversary balance, which is now in chapter 6).
Using Adversaries: Significantly revised and expanded adversary guidance.
Adversary Features: Divided adversary features into actions (which require spending a token from the action tracker), reactions (which happen in response to a move), and passives (which always apply).
Adversary Types: Skulker has been renamed Skulk.
Improvising Adversaries: Streamlined guidance on improvising adversaries. Added new table for easily adjusting statistics.
Adversary Stat Blocks: Stat blocks now list their tier next to the title and adversary type. Rebalanced all adversaries for the updated mechanics and streamlined to make GMing easier. Some higher-tier adversaries are temporarily omitted while rebalancing continues. Minor Thresholds now start at 1, and damage is scaled for the new armor and threshold rules.
Environments: Added new rules for environments, including environmental stat blocks!
Chapter 5: Creating Your World
Overall: New chapter, but familiar content! Moved locations, factions, one-shot worldbuilding, and similar content to this chapter.
Locations: Rebalanced equipment and adversaries in this chapter for the updated mechanics.
Chapter 6: Customizing Your Game
Overall: This was formerly chapter 5, and has been bumped to chapter 6.
Balance: Moved in-depth information about adversary math and balance considerations into this chapter.
Appendix
No current changes.
Ancestry: Adjusted the following cards: Clank, Daemon, Drakona, Dwarf, Elf, Faerie, Faun, Galapa, Goblin, Human, Katari, Orc, Ribbet.
Community: Adjusted the following cards: Highborne, Ridgeborne, Seaborne, Wanderborne, Wildborne.
Subclass: Adjusted all subclass cards.
Domains: Adjusted the following cards:
March 15, 2024
Added a new PDF: ‘Universal Sidecar’ - A version of the Sidecar from the Daggerheart Quickstart Adventure that can be used with any character. This quick reference guide is a tool you can place underneath your character sheet. Sliding the top page right or left will reveal arrows pointing to sections with helpful explanations and tips for navigating the character sheet! This document is now included in the 1.2 Playtest Materials, accessible on our PLAY page. We have also made the individual PDF available for download over in our BLOG.
March 12, 2024
Open Beta Playtest v 1.2 Materials have been released.
