# Building Crucibles ## *what the Fell have to get through* > *"Give the thing one reason to be remembered and one way to make the Fell bleed for passing it. The rest is arithmetic."* > > The LoreMaster A Crucible is a problem with teeth. Most of the time the teeth are Foes and it comes to blows, but the Crucible is the whole scene the Fell have to get through, and a sharp party might end one without a single strike. The work is deciding what the scene costs them, then handing yourself a card you can run without playing five characters at once. There are two ways to put a Foe on the table. Summon one from the Pentifax, the tome of Foes already shaped and armed, voted into the canon. You name it, set its tier, and the table you brought fills in the math. Or forge your own from a handful of choices, the numbers handed to you instead of bought. Both end in the same place, a single Foe Card you read in one glance. ## What every Foe needs A Foe needs only as much definition as the Crucible will use. You are deciding what it does to the Fell and how hard it is to put down, nothing more. > [!note] The working parts > > - **Vitality.** How much punishment it soaks before it drops. > - **A build.** Two attributes from the table, set by the scaling. Every other attribute is 0. > - **A Standard Attack.** The same basic strike a Fell makes, and the thing that charges its tiers. > - **Its Acts.** The tiered abilities it unlocks as it charges, as high as its rating has revealed. > - **One Affliction.** Its signature, tied to the Foe itself, landing on its Fellmark. > - **One stance.** Shrouded, Stalwart, or Vestments, the way it holds. > - **Its loot.** The infusions and augmentations it carries, woven into its nature, taken off the corpse. A pack of lesser Foes shares one line. A named threat earns its own card. ## The build A Foe leans on two attributes and nothing else. Every other attribute is 0, which is its weakness as much as the two are its strength. Pick a row or roll your own, and the scaling sets them. One rule holds it together. Give the Foe a way to land, Precision for weapon strikes or Magic for Spell Attacks, or its hits find air unless its Acts carry them. **Two attacks, no guard.** Glass cannons, all teeth. | Build | Attributes | What it is | | --- | --- | --- | | Reaver | Precision, Power | Lands true and hits hard. Stays up only on Vitality and its stance. | | Adept | Precision, Magic | Blade and spell, both land clean. Nothing keeps it alive but Vitality. | | Scourge | Power, Magic | Overwhelming by hand and by spell, but slow to land a blade with Precision at 0. | **An attack and a wall.** The workhorses, one lane to threaten and one to survive. | Build | Attributes | What it is | | --- | --- | --- | | Stalker | Precision, Evasion | Always lands, never caught. Its blows are light. | | Duelist | Precision, Durability | Accurate and grounded, weathers steel. Easy enough to dodge. | | Inquisitor | Precision, Resistance | Accurate and warded against magic. A blade still gets through. | | Berserker | Power, Evasion | Devastating on a connect and hard to pin. It rarely connects. | | Juggernaut | Power, Durability | Slow and unstoppable, soaks everything. Easy to dodge, slow to land. | | Golem | Power, Resistance | Strong and spell-proof. Lumbering, and a blade finds it. | | Wisp | Magic, Evasion | An elusive spell-thing. It crumbles once cornered. | | Idol | Magic, Durability | Casts from behind stone and shrugs off blades. Spells still bite. | | Maleficar | Magic, Resistance | A warded sorcerer, hard to out-magic. Soft to steel up close. | **Two walls, almost no attack.** Spoilers that barely fight. | Build | Attributes | What it is | | --- | --- | --- | | Shade | Evasion, Durability | Slips every blow and endures the rest. Gives almost nothing back. | | Mirage | Evasion, Resistance | Untouchable by blade or spell. A problem the Fell cannot simply kill. | | Bulwark | Durability, Resistance | A wall to steel and to magic. There to hold a line, not to win. | Those last three are the pacifist that wrecks a fight another way. They are not built to deal damage. They block a door, shield the Foe that does the killing, sit on the thing the Fell need, or stall until the world turns. A Mirage that cannot be hit or blasted never has to swing to ruin a plan. When you want a Crucible the Fell cannot punch through, reach here. Epic and Forsaken may take a third attribute as a standout, so the worst threats are not capped at two. Wit and Vigor stay out unless a Foe's concept calls for one, a sage with Lore or a zealot with Resolve. ## The Standard Attack and the Acts Every Foe has a Standard Attack, the same strike a Fell makes. Roll 1d6 plus Precision against the target's Evasion, and on a hit deal 1 plus Power as Base Damage with its Bonus Damage on top, reduced by the target's Durability. A Magic Foe makes it as a Spell Attack instead, rolling Magic against the difficulty. The Standard Attack is always there, and landing it charges the Foe's first tier. Above it sit the tiered Acts, built in the ability creator and unlocked by charge, Tier 1 at the first charge, Tier 2 at the second, Tier 3 at the third. Each is built on the same point budget the Fell use, Tier 1 spending 1 to 2 points, Tier 2 spending 3 to 4, Tier 3 spending 5 to 6. A Foe climbs only as high as its rating has revealed. The Acts carry the damage and the effects. The Affliction is the Foe's own, handled on its Fellmark. ## The tiers of threat A Foe sits on a ladder from fodder to nightmare, and the tier is the whole shape of it in one word. It sets how far above or below the Fell its attributes sit, how much it soaks, how high its Acts climb, and whether the battlefield itself turns when it stands. | Tier | Attribute offset | Vitality weight | Lore Points | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Minion | -2 | 1 | 1 | | Elite | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Champion | +1 | 3 | 3 | | Epic | +2 | 5 | 4 | | Forsaken | +3 | 8 | 5 | | Tier | Acts | React | Infusions | Augmentations | Discordant | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Minion | Standard only | no | 0 | 0 | no | | Elite | up to Tier 1 | no | 1 | 0 | no | | Champion | up to Tier 2 | yes | 2 | 1 | no | | Epic | up to Tier 3 | yes | 3 | 1 | yes | | Forsaken | up to Tier 3 | yes | 3 | 2 | yes | The more of a kind you field, the less each one shows. A Minion brings only its Standard Attack, so it never charges and a swarm of them runs off one shared line. A Forsaken shows everything, and there is only ever one. The work per Foe climbs as the count drops, so the load on you stays flat. Every Foe is built to its full Forsaken kit, and the rating reveals a slice of it. A Minion shows only its Standard Attack with the rest grayed. Each rung up reveals more, until a Forsaken shows all of it. The kit table is that reveal schedule, not a cap. What is grayed is still there, waiting. Each rung adds at least one part, with the last augmentation held back to Forsaken, so no escalation is ever wasted. This is what escalation reaches for. Spending Discord Points to escalate a Foe ungrays its next rung, its Acts, an infusion, an augmentation, the Discordant, and because the kit is already built it can climb past the rating all the way to Forsaken. The body does not change. Its attributes and its Vitality stay where the Crucible set them, so an escalated Champion turns terrifying without turning unkillable. Charge still climbs within whatever has been revealed. Epic and Forsaken carry a Discordant. When one stands on the field, every Fell takes its signature Affliction the moment the fight begins, before the first blow, no roll and no Fellmark. The Foe's presence is the delivery, and the Affliction it lays is the same one it carries into every strike. ## Scaling to the table The Crucible tests the table the Fell brought, which comes down to two numbers, the average level of the party and how many of them there are. > [!note] The math > > - **Build attributes** = average party level + the tier offset from the table, minimum 0, on the two the build names. Every other attribute = 0. > - **Vitality** = average party level × number of Fell × tier weight. No dice. > - **Ability points** by tier: Tier 1 is 1 to 2, Tier 2 is 3 to 4, Tier 3 is 5 to 6. > - **Standard Attack** = 1d6 + Precision against 1d6 + Evasion. On a hit, Base Damage = 1 + Power straight to Vitality, plus Bonus Damage reduced by Durability. A Magic Foe rolls 1d6 + Magic against the difficulty. > - **Lore Points** = the sum of each distinct tier present, counted once. Ten Minions pay 1. Ten Minions and an Epic pay 1 and 4, which is 5. > - **Discord Points** = average party level × number of Fell, the pool for the whole Crucible. Full rules on Discord Points and Disruptions. Keep a Foe's two attributes near the party's level on purpose. The die is a d6, so once two attributes sit more than about three apart the higher one wins every exchange and the dice stop deciding anything. A Forsaken edges ahead, it does not tower. Its danger is in acting more often, hitting harder when it lands, opening with a Discordant, and refusing to fall. Difficulty and strategy stay in the same place that way. ## Forge your own Build the Charnel with me, a Champion for a party of four around level four. Each step is one choice, and the tier and the table fill in the rest. **1. Set the tier.** Champion. That hands you the offset of plus one, the Vitality weight of three, a React, two infusions, one augmentation, Acts up to Tier 2, and a charge track. You will not spend a point. Its Vitality is the only sum you run, average level four times four Fell times the weight of three, which is 48. **2. Name it and give it a tell.** Where many died together the dead do not lie quiet. They pull into one body, and a mouth opens in the middle of it that eats its way back through the battle that made it. The longer it feeds, the more of that old fight it becomes. **3. Choose its build.** Juggernaut, Power and Durability. With the Champion offset of plus one, Power and Durability are each 4 + 1 = 5, every other attribute 0. Read the trade you just made. Its Precision is 0, so it rarely lands a clean blow, and its Evasion is 0, so the Fell strike it at will. It lives anyway, on Durability, its stance, and a deep Vitality pool, and the round its bite does land it takes half a Fell with it. **4. Set its Standard Attack and its Acts.** The Standard Attack is the same strike a Fell makes. 1d6 plus Precision, which is 0, against the target's Evasion, and on a hit its Base Damage of 1 plus Power, 6, straight to Vitality. It has no Bonus Damage of its own. Landing it charges the first tier. Above it sit two Acts pulled from the ability creator and built on the component budget. Gravemouth is a Tier 1 Act. Two Targets for 1 and Standard Damage for 0, which is 1 point, inside the Tier 1 budget of 1 to 2. The bite hits one Fell and clips a second beside them, each taking its 6. The Weight of the Dead is a Tier 2 Act. One Target for 0, Double Standard Damage for 2, and Increased Bonus Damage for 1, which is 3 points, inside the Tier 2 budget of 3 to 4. The body comes down on one Fell for 12 Base Damage and a further 1d6 of Bonus Damage, and Powerful means that bonus ignores 5 of their Durability. It unlocks at the second charge. **5. Choose its Affliction.** Crippled, tied to the Charnel itself rather than anything it holds. On its Fellmark it eats the strength out of a Fell, every attribute dropping to the lowest. The mouth takes what you were. **6. Set its stance.** Stalwart. It plants and weathers force, shrugging off damage equal to its Durability as the charge climbs into the stance. **7. Infuse and augment.** Two infusions and one augmentation, woven into its nature, every one of them loot. Powerful, its blows ignore Durability equal to its Power. Barbed, strike it and the old wounds answer, the attacker taking its Base Damage. Emberhold, the first killing blow each fight leaves it standing at 1, because it has already died once. **8. If it were Epic or Forsaken, its Discordant.** A Champion carries none. Raised to Epic, its Crippled would open the fight laid across the whole table, the Fell feeling their strength go before a blow is struck. That is the build. Smaller than a Fell, no Lorebound, no weapon to assemble, the attributes set rather than bought, the rest capped by the tier. Here is the card it makes. > [!note] The Charnel, Champion > > Where many died together, the dead pulled into one body, and a mouth opened in it that eats its way back through the battle that made it. > > - **Vitality** 48. > - **Juggernaut.** Power 5, Durability 5. Every other attribute 0. > - **Standard Attack.** 1d6 plus Precision, which is 0, so it lands only on a high roll. On a hit, 6 Base Damage straight to Vitality, no Bonus Damage of its own. Landing it charges the first tier. > - **Crippled** on its Fellmark. The Fell it catches loses its strength, every attribute dropping to the lowest. > - **Stalwart.** As the charge climbs, it shrugs off damage equal to its Durability. > - **Powerful.** Its blows ignore Durability equal to its Power. > - **Barbed.** Strike it and the old wounds answer. The attacker takes its Base Damage. > - **Emberhold.** The first killing blow each fight leaves it standing at 1. > > **Acts** > - **Gravemouth** (Tier 1, 1 point). Two Targets, Standard Damage. The bite hits one Fell and clips a second beside them, 6 each. > - **The Weight of the Dead** (Tier 2, 3 points). One Target, Double Standard Damage, Increased Bonus Damage. 12 Base Damage to one Fell and a further 1d6, ignoring 5 Durability through Powerful. > > **React** > - When a Fell breaks from its reach, it bites once as they go. > > **Loot:** Powerful, Barbed, Emberhold. ## Charge, triggers, and the spend You run a Foe plain. It takes its Act at whatever tier its charge has reached and lands its Affliction on a Fellmark. It holds its stance. Everything past that comes off one resource. A Foe charges the way a Fell does, by landing attacks, one integer from 0 to 3 climbing its tiers and deepening its stance. Only Foes with tiered Acts carry the track, so your fodder never charges and a swarm stays a single line. This is the same charge the Fell already know, which is the point. Every tool the Fell spend against enemy charge, stances, infusions, augmentations, and triggers has something real to bite. Drained costs it a step, Reapt stops it climbing, Unraveled ignores an infusion, Shattered ignores an augmentation. The Foe Card carries its triggers as plain lines with a box to tick the once-a-round ones, so you read the Foe instead of holding it in your head. > [!note] One pool, two demands > > The points that turn the battlefield and the points that push a Foe are the same points. Discord Points fund both, so raising a Pale and escalating the boss draw from one reserve, and every spend is a choice against the others. The pool lives on the Discord Points and Disruptions page, sized to the table. > > Disruptions, the battlefield: > > | Disruption | What it is | Cost | > | --- | --- | --- | > | Environmental | fire, flood, collapse, a clinging mire | 8 | > | Magical | a curse, a ward, a boon, anything supernatural | 15 | > > Pales are the most common Disruption and draw from this same pool. Set pieces already in the scene are free. You pay only to conjure mid-fight. > > Foe pushes, the menace: > > | Push | What it does | Cost | > | --- | --- | --- | > | Fuel a React | hand a Foe a React it has spent or never had | 3 | > | Escalate a Foe | reveal its next rung of kit, up to Forsaken | 5 | > | Loose a Discordant again | re-lay an Epic or Forsaken's Affliction across the table | 12 | > > All five costs are fixed. A React is the cheap tap at 3, an escalation is 5 because it lasts the rest of the fight, and a second Discordant is 12, just under a Magical Disruption, because it floods the whole table at once. The pool is spent, not tracked. You set it once at the start of the Crucible and draw it down at the moments that matter. There is no upkeep round to round, no per-Foe state. A Charnel climbs its own charge as it feeds, so most fights you spend nothing on it. Hold your points for the round it reaches its third tier, or the round a Pale would break the Fell open, and decide which one the Crucible needs more. ## Strategy and tactics The Crucible is yours to shape, not only to resolve. - **Aim at the hole.** Every build leaves attributes at 0, and that is where it turns. A Juggernaut is dodged and chipped down. A Maleficar is rushed and cut. Teach the Fell to read the gap and the Crucible becomes a puzzle. - **Stack the tiers.** Put a Champion behind a screen of Minions and let the fodder cost the Fell their Reacts before the real threat lands. - **Hold the pool.** Spend early and you set the tone fast. Hold it and you break a round open when it counts. With one reserve behind both Pales and escalations, the restraint is the strategy. - **Lead with control.** An Epic's Discordant locks Reacts or movement across the table before the first blow, so you open already a step ahead. - **Spoil, do not slay.** A Shade or a Mirage does not need to deal a wound. Park it on the objective, the door, or the ally that matters, and the Fell have to solve the room instead of killing their way out. - **Let them fight the pool.** Reapt and Drained bite a Foe's charge, and a sharp party can stall a boss below its full height. Spending Discord Points to force the escalation is how you answer, at the cost of the Pale you wanted to raise instead. ## When it falls Loot is what the Foe brought to bear, the kit it had revealed when it fell. The Charnel drops Powerful, Barbed, and Emberhold, the same parts that punished the Fell while it stood, and a Foe escalated into its grayed rungs gives those up too, so pushing it harder makes it drop richer. A Fell imprints one onto their own arsenal, and the thing that nearly killed them becomes the reason they live through the next fight. The grave gives up its weapon, and the weapon remembers. > *"Everything you bury comes back armed. Build the thing that buried it well."* > > The LoreMaster