Starting Valor
Valor is a representation of your character's heroic potential, personal willpower, and bravery. It is a resource only available to player characters: NPCs of any type never have a reserve of Valor.

All player characters have a maximum Valor equal to their level. Right handed players have +1 to their maximum Valor.

Using Valor

Points of Valor can be spent to help your character survive the various challenges of their adventures. Some classes, such as thieves and dragoons, can spend Valor for special purposes. The following uses of Valor are shared among all classes:

- Automatically succeed at one Dodge or Health saving throw. You can choose to spend the point of Valor after you attempt (and fail) the save, turning a failed saving throw into a success.
- Reroll an Aura save. You must use the second result.
- If reduced to 0 hitpoints, you can spend a point of Valor to regain 1d12 hitpoints. For example, if a gunshot reduced your character to 0 hitpoints or lower, you could spend a point of Valor and roll 1d12. If the die comes up 5, your character survives with 5 hitpoints, no matter the incoming amount of damage. The GM is final arbiter of the exact circumstances of your survival, but the character always survives.

Relying on your inner Valor to carry you through otherwise-mortal wounds grows more and more difficult over time. The first time a player uses Valor for this purpose, they regain 1d12 hitpoints, but on the second time, they regain only 1d10. The third time reduces the die to 1d8, the fourth to 1d6, and all subsequent uses of Valor only restore 1d4 hitpoints. The hitpoints regained can even exceed your normal maximum for hitpoints, though any overflow hitpoints are lost once the danger is over.

For example, if a level 1 thief is reduced to 0 hitpoints by a bandit's dagger and uses Valor to survive, they would roll a 1d12. If the result came up 11, they would have 11 hitpoints for the remainder of the battle, even though that exceeds his maximum hitpoints. As soon as the last bandit lay dead at the thief's feet, however, any hitpoints remaining above their normal maximum would be lost.

In a counter-example, let's say a level 1 fighter used their sole point of Valor to survive a trap they'd fallen into. The deadly trap reduced them to 0 hitpoints, but they rolled a 9 on the 1d12, so they survive with 9 hitpoints. This is above their normal maximum of 8, and since the danger is effectively over with the trap discharged, they extra hitpoint is "lost."

Using Valor in this way (and this way only) requires that you succeed in a Health save, or else roll on the Maiming table. Gaining a level resets the hitpoints regained to 1d12.

Regaining Valor
Valor is not easily regained, being a measure of the deepest reserves of a character's determination and grit. A single point of Valor is gained when:

- The player character spends at least a week in some non-violent setting: carousing at ale-houses, studying (non-occult) subjects in a library, or taking leisurely rides around one's hometown or estate. Any violence, danger, or generally anything that would require a saving throw, skill check or attack roll will "reset" the one week timer.
- The character slays an enemy with more HD than they have levels. The character landing the killing blow is the only one that regains the point of Valor.
- If you witness a comrade-in-arms (read: another player character) die, you immediately regain 1 point of Valor, representing your extreme emotion and desire for vengeance (or, at least, survival).

Finally, when you gain a new level, your Valor is refreshed and returned to its new maximum, representing the surge of confidence you experience with your new level of skill.

Maiming
When using Valor to survive an otherwise-fatal wound, there is a chance that your character will be Maimed. Other uses of Valor do not risk Maiming.

Sometimes, in the course of miraculously surviving wounds that would easily slay lesser men, heroes sometimes lose a limb or two. Every time you spend a point of Valor to regain hitpoints after being reduced to 0, you must make a Health save with a penalty equal to the difference between your current and maximum Valor. For example, a left-handed, level 1 character using her sole point of Valor to stave off death would take a -1 penalty to the saving throw. On a failure, your character must roll on the Maiming table.

1: Fortune Smiles. You somehow miraculously survive unscathed.
2: Sprain. Your character takes a -1 penalty to attack rolls. This Maiming can be removed with a week of bed rest.
3: Internal Injury. You permanently lose 1d4 from your maximum hitpoints. Internal injury cannot reduce your maximum hitpoints to lower than 1. This Maiming can be removed with a week of bed rest.
4: Hideous Scars. Lose your choice of either one point of Constitution or one point of Charisma, permanently. Only the spells Wish or an empowered Regeneration can restore this attribute loss.
5: Concussion. Lose your choice of either one point of Intelligence or one point of Wisdom, permanently. Only the spells Wish or an empowered Regeneration can restore this attribute loss.
6: Back Injury. Lose your choice of either one point of Strength or one point of Dexterity, permanently. Only the spells Wish or an empowered Regeneration can restore this attribute loss.
7: Lost an Eye. Your character loses one of their eyes. A character with one eye takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls, and -1 penalty to vision-based skill checks. A prosthetic eyepatch can be purchased for 1 SP, which reduces the attack roll penalty to -1. If a character gets the Lost an Eye maiming twice, they become blind, having lost both. Blind characters take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls, and generally cannot make vision-based skill checks. The spells Wish and Regeneration can restore one or both eyes. If an already-blind character gets this Maiming, reroll.
8: Lose Left Hand. Your character loses their left hand. If they have already lost their left hand, reroll.
9: Lose Right Hand. Your character loses their right hand. If they have already lost their right hand, reroll.
10: Bloodied but Unbowed. Roll twice and combine, but retain the Valor spent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:02, Mon 01 July 2019.