# Pales ## *the soul of the battlefield* A Pale is a state bound to the battlefield. An Affliction sits on a creature, an Effect sits on a creature, and a Pale sits on the ground. It is the LoreMaster's tool for making a place do something: fire, fog, a chasm, hallowed ground, a circle where no spell will answer. No two battlefields are alike. One fight may unfold over a burning field. Another may sink into a mire that drags the living down. Same fight. Different ground. ## Anatomy Every Pale is four things. - **Footprint.** The spaces it covers, from a single tile to a wide field. The LoreMaster marks them. - **Trigger.** When it acts: on entering it, at the start of a turn spent inside, at the end of a turn spent inside, or continuously while inside. - **Payload.** What it does, drawn from the vocabulary the game already has. Deal damage, apply an Affliction, apply an Effect, force movement, or reshape the space itself by blocking line of sight, becoming difficult or impassable, or granting cover. A payload may be a boon as easily as a threat, since the LoreMaster makes hallowed ground the same way they make cursed. - **Duration.** Instant, where it springs once like a trap, a set number of rounds, or persistent terrain that holds for the scene. ## Placing a Pale There are two ways a Pale enters play, and they cost differently. **Set Pales** are part of the scene. The cave already has its chasm, the ritual hall already has its hallowed ground, the field is already aflame when the fight begins. A LoreMaster places these freely while building the encounter. They cost nothing. **Conjured Pales** are raised in the middle of battle as a Disruption, the moment a LoreMaster decides the ground itself should turn. This costs Discord Points. ## The Disruption cost Conjuring a Pale mid-battle draws from the LoreMaster's Discord Points, the same pool used for every other Disruption. A Pale uses the two costs already on that menu, by its nature. - An **Environmental** Pale, a physical or natural hazard, costs **8 Discord Points**, the Environmental Effect cost. - A **Magical** Pale, a curse, a ward, a boon, or anything supernatural, costs **15 Discord Points**, the Magical Effect cost. A LoreMaster's pool of Discord Points for a session scales with player level and the number of players at the table. The richer the table, the more often the ground can turn against them. The pool itself is set by the Discord Points rules. This is only what a Pale draws from it. ## How Pales fit the rest of the game - **They are the terrain ruleset.** A Pale that reshapes a space is your difficult or impassable terrain, defined on demand instead of as a fixed subsystem. - **Armor Stances still apply.** A Pale that deals damage is reduced by the active stance's reduction. Vestments T3 does not stop a Pale, by design, since it already says area effects, runes, and hazards still reach you. A Pale is exactly that. - **Augmentations interact cleanly.** Treadlight ignores a Pale's movement and damage payloads. Hexward prevents the first Affliction a Pale would apply each round. Ironroot stops a Pale from being conjured on the wearer's space, though not one they walk into. - **Creature-bound versus space-bound.** A Pale that applies an Affliction leaves that Affliction on the creature by the normal rules, Breakout and all, even after they leave. A condition that holds only while inside, such as the concealment in fog, ends the moment they step out. - **Pales can overlap.** A space may hold more than one Pale, a burning mire being the obvious one. Each resolves on its own. ## Running a Pale The LoreMaster runs the Pale, so any roll it calls for sits on the LoreMaster's side of the table. A Pale is not balanced against a player budget the way infusions and augmentations are. Its restraint is the Discord Point cost when conjured, and the LoreMaster's pacing when set. That is what lets a Pale be as brutal or as merciful as the story needs. LoreMasters are encouraged to build their own. The options table is a starting shelf, not a closed list.