Environments

Any place in the game world that a player might want to make a skill check is an environment, of which there are three tiers: adventurer, champion, and epic.

Adventurer environments are for level 1-3 characters: city streets, wilderness areas, shallow dungeons, regular old ruins, and that sort of thing.

Champion environments are for level 4-6 characters: deeper dungeons, danker swamps, guarded gates of the big cities, and those sorts of places.

Epic environments are for level 7+ characters. They are typically related to icons, unique villains, deep underworld locations, the most forbidding peaks, the upper reaches of the world, and so on.

The GM determines the environs where the adventure takes place.

Environment Chart by Level

Level

Type of Environment

1–3

Always adventurer

4

Mostly adventurer, some champion

5

Half adventurer, half champion

6

Mostly champion, some adventurer

7

Mostly champion, some epic

8

Half champion, half epic

9

Mostly epic, some champion

10

Always epic

Environment DCs for Skill Checks

The environment the PCs are in determines the DC of skill checks and other challenges they may face.

Adventurer-tier Skill Check DCs

Task

DC

Normal task

DC 15

Hard task

DC 20

Ridiculously hard task

DC 25

Champion-tier Skill Check DCs

Task

DC

Normal task

DC 20

Hard task

DC 25

Ridiculously hard task

DC 30

Epic-tier Skill Check DCs

Task

DC

Normal task

DC 25

Hard task

DC 30

Ridiculously hard task

DC 35

Impromptu Damage

When you need to determine how much damage some effect deals, use the chart below, basing the damage on two things: the environment, and whether the damage affects one character or many.

Traps & Obstacles

As shown in the chart below, attack rolls for traps and other features of the environment follow the same mathematical model as DCs for skill checks.

Use the skill check DC on the table to give you a general guideline for PCs attempting to disarm a trap (once they notice that there is a trap). Failure means the trap will trigger.

Skill Check DCs, Trap/Obstacle Attacks & Impromptu Damage by Environment

Tier

Degree of Challenge

Skill Check DC

Trap or Obstacle Attack Roll vs. AC/PD/MD

Impromptu Damage (Single Target)

Impromptu Damage (Multiple Targets)

Adventurer

Normal

15

+5

2d6 or 3d6

1d10 or 1d12

Adventurer

Hard

20

+10

3d6

1d12

Adventurer

Ridiculously hard

25

+15

3d6 or 4d6

1d12 or 2d8

Champion

Normal

20

+10

4d6 or 4d8

2d10 or 2d12

Champion

Hard

25

+15

4d8

2d12

Champion

Ridiculously hard

30

+20

4d8 or 2d20

2d12 or 3d10

Epic

Normal

25

+15

2d20 or 3d20

3d12 or 4d10

Epic

Hard

30

+20

3d20

4d10

Epic

Ridiculously hard

35

+25

3d20 or 4d20

4d10 or 4d12