If you have rule questions, ask here so everyone can refer to them.

== Typical Bonuses and Penalties ==

Easy task: +2, climbing a rope ladder under pressure, carrying an unconscious barmaid from a burning inn, reading a dusty parchment

Normal task: +0, picking a lock, climbing a tall tree, hunting in a verdant forest

Hard task: -2, picking a rusted lock, sneaking across a creaking floor, recalling an obscure bit of knowledge

Very Difficult task: -5, deciphering a forgotten manuscript, swimming in storm-tossed seas, charming an angry king

Almost Impossible task: -10, climbing a smooth wall, jumping safely from the back of a flying dragon, prospecting for mithril

In general, any character can attempt any task. Having a relevant skill simply gives a bonus to the check.

If a character has an applicable skill, they can help a friend with a task, giving them their skill bonus.

When any in the Group must Succeed, the most skilled can roll for the group.
When any in the Group must not Fail, the least skilled must make the roll for the group.

Saving Throws/Combat are ROLL HIGH and Attribute/Skill Checks are ROLL LOW.

Any character may spend a Fortune Point for the following:
Help a Friend
Second Chance
Cheat Death

== Healing and Recovery ==

Characters recover 1 hit point every night that they receive a full night’s rest.
This means not taking a watch, but instead sleeping selfishly through the night.

Being tended to by a character with an appropriate skill can increase this recovery to 2 hit points per night.
Full bed-rest means that the character recovers an additional hit point during the day.

A character who is at 0 hit points or lower needs immediate medical attention.
Such characters continue to lose 1 hit point per round and are dead if they reach -10 hit points (death).

Another character may make a Wisdom check (helped by a skill such as Healing or Herbalism if
available) to patch up the dying character.
If successful, the character stabilizes and will no longer lose further hit points every round.

== Fortune Points ==

Characters only recover their Fortune Points between adventures and begin each new adventure with their full allotment of Fortune Points.

== Experience and Levels ==

Every monster has an experience value, which characters gain should they overcome that monster.
Note that characters do not necessarily have to kill a monster in order to overcome it; in fact, it is often a better idea to deal with it in a non-combat way.

Characters also gain experience points by finishing stories and accomplishing their goals.

Solving a mystery, saving a village from a marauding monster, or gaining possession of a magical artifact which they were hunting should give all participating characters 500 experience points.

Clever ideas which help the characters along, or particularly impressive roleplaying can gain a reward of 50-100 experience.

== The Sorcerous Arts ==

Save: Magic which affects people directly often allows the target to make a saving throw to resist the spell.
The spell/ritual tells you whether the target gets a save or not.
Unless otherwise noted, the target should make a saving throw versus spell.

Cantrips
Cantrips are simultaneously the weakest, most flexible, and most dangerous type of magic.
Each cantrip covers a wide range of related minor effects which are possible.
A mage casts these lesser magicks “on the fly,” making up the particulars of the casting on the spot.

In general, cantrips produce only minor effects.
They cannot damage a target, they only work at ‘Near’ range, and they do not produce any permanent effect.

When a mage fails a cantrip roll, one of two things can happen at the player’s discretion: either the mage finds himself robbed of his magical energy until she has rested, or the magic spins out of control.

Spells
The simplest and most reliable sort of magic comes in the form of spells, codified effects taught to mages by their masters or studied from books.

A mage may cast a number of spells per day equal to their level.
After that, they are considered to be exhausted and may cast no more, though they may still attempt to cast cantrips or rituals.

Rituals
Rituals are the most powerful form of magic detailed in Beyond the Wall, and also the most time consuming.

Every ritual has a level associated with it, and a mage must be of that level or higher in order to attempt to cast it.

Casting a ritual requires a number of hours equal to the level of the ritual, as well as special ingredients detailed in the ritual’s description.
The mage requires complete concentration during this time, and things may go disastrously wrong if they are interrupted.

Mages may attempt to cast rituals which they do not know if they have an appropriate source, such as a book or scroll detailing the ritual.
This is quite dangerous, however, and the test at the end of the ritual suffers a -10 penalty.

== Non-Human Saves ==

In reply to Oracle (msg # 7):

You specify that a player needs a full nights sleep to regain 1 hit point, how about if he must take a shift on watch he can get 1/2 point back, as watching is not very strenuous.

In reply to Jeffrey Smith (msg # 8):

Watching is not Sleeping. Sleeping on Watch is also a bad idea.