The good hunter loves nothing.
Taking Action
The action roll, difficulty, talismans, risk, and category.
Action rolls are performed by rolling a dice pool of up to 3d6 for the relevant skill, plus up to 3d6 for advantages, plus up to 3d6 for divine agony. The admin will tell you if difficulty and/or risk are a factor before you roll.
If a final dice pool has 0 or fewer dice, instead roll 2d6 and take the lower result.
Difficulty can make a roll harder than normal.
Most tasks take only one success, unless they're complex enough to have a talisman.
Talismans represent a complex task or ongoing event. Each success deals a slash on the task's talisman. The task or event is complete when the talisman's capacity (usually ~2–6 slashes) is filled.
Risk can make a roll have negative consequences. After a risky action, the admin makes a risk roll. The admin imposes a consequence based on the result — the lower, the more dire. On a high roll, the negative consequence may be waived, or even a boon granted.
CAT is the measure of a creature's relative power. An exorcist's mundane abilities are usually CAT 0, but their supernatural ones are at their CAT score.
At the admin's discretion, a superior CAT may confer bonuses to the roll — or even automatic success if the difference is 3 categories or greater.
Improving a Roll
Advantages, setup, teamwork, divine agony, and bargaining.
Advantages are the most common way to improve rolls. A limit of +3D (+3d6) of advantages may apply to a roll. Sources of advantage:
Setup is a special action roll, which can be hard or risky like any other. On a success, an exorcist chooses one character (including themselves) and an action roll they will perform, granting that roll:
An action roll may benefit only once from setup.
Teamwork is a special action taken when performing a group task. Any number of exorcists take the teamwork action, choosing one ally to be the leader. The leader then makes an action roll with the highest of the team's skills, advantages, kit, and abilities. Any consequences are applied to the whole team.
Divine agony is a special method to improve a roll, requiring pathos. An exorcist gains one pathos when they fail a roll, take an injury or affliction, fill a hook, or witness an ally die or suffer sin overflow.
Once per session, they may spend divine agony to add a number of d6 equal to their pathos to the roll (max 3). This does not count against the +3D advantage limit. Only one exorcist may use divine agony per scene. All pathos is lost at the end of a session.
Any player can bargain with the admin whenever they make a roll. They offer to take a hook, and if the admin accepts, their exorcist is granted:
The Exorcist
Exorcists are not human for any purpose.
Execution talismans represent the task of killing a creature. Exorcist execution talismans (capacity: 6) are filled like any other, but the slashes are called stress. Upon taking stress that would fill or exceed their talisman, an exorcist takes an injury, clears all stress, and takes any excess stress as new stress. Each current injury reduces the maximum stress capacity of the execution talisman by 1.
If an exorcist has 3 injuries, they are on the brink of death. Their stress is cleared, and the next time they would take stress they instead suffer instant death. An exorcist who takes 7+ stress in a single move also suffers instant death.
Instant death can be avoided by defying fate. Doing so heals one injury and immediately forces the exorcist into sin overflow.
Psyche bursts are an exorcist's psychic reserves, and sin represents its overtaxing. An exorcist begins a hunt with 3 bursts but may substitute for one by gaining 1d3 sin, to a sin cap of 10.
Reaching sin cap inflicts sin overflow at the end of the scene, whereupon they make a resistance check by rolling 1d6 + their number of sin marks:
Hooks are talismans (capacity: 3) that represent an impending consequence. An exorcist slashes a hook whenever pressure increases, or the exorcist takes a risky action that rolls a 1 on the risk die, or the exorcist would gain that hook again. When the hook fills, its effect activates and the hook is removed.
Afflictions are ongoing negative effects that last until the end of the hunt unless stated otherwise.
Rests are taken as a party. When resting, pressure increases by 1, then each exorcist rolls 2d3. Each die can be spent separately to regain psyche bursts, heal stress, or clear hook slashes equal to the result.
Exorcists begin hunts with 5 kit points to pull out items. The most common is a service weapon, for 2 KP. Exorcists may pick up items during a hunt, but cannot keep items between hunts.
An exorcist has one active agenda item from their agenda, plus any number of bolded agenda items from current and previous agendas. At the end of each session, an exorcist gains 1 xp per objective category:
The Hunt
Pressure, tension, the host, the palace, and trauma questions.
The objective of each hunt is to defeat the Sin before the pressure talisman (capacity: 6) fills completely. Pressure is not increased directly — instead it's slashed once each time the tension talisman (capacity: 3) is filled. Tension is slashed once whenever a non-combat scene passes, or the first time a 1 is rolled on a risk die in each non-combat scene.
Each time pressure increases, the Sin makes a dangerous tension move, and the Sin's execution talisman gains +1 capacity.
The host is the human whose trauma birthed the Sin. Hosts may be aware or unaware of their Sins, may fuse with their Sins, or even already be dead. Though connected, the Sin and host are separate entities.
The palace is the seat of a Sin's power. A Sin fought outside its palace retreats there after taking 4 slashes on its talisman. Inside, it heals 1d3 slashes each time pressure increases. Only inside its palace can a Sin be defeated.
Exorcists inside the palace may employ the Nail of Abel ritual to force the Sin to return there — this requires the physical presence of the Sin's host, an object or person precious to the host, or a part of the host's body (deceased or not).
Trauma questions are the fundamental questions related to the tragedy behind a Sin's formation. At the beginning of a hunt, the admin reveals 3 questions. Exorcists may discover their answers and use them against the Sin during the final confrontation.
When the admin reveals the result of a risk die but before declaring the reaction, the party may counter the Sin by expending an answer: one exorcist reduces the stress they take by 1d3, and the Sin takes an equal number of slashes (though this amount may not fill the final slash on its talisman).
A Sin's execution talisman has a capacity of 8 + CAT + pressure. When it is filled, the exorcists may choose to execute or, if they've answered all 3 trauma questions, spare the Sin.
Either way, exorcists clear half their sin and remove all stress, injuries, and hooks.
Conflict Scenes
Actions, reactions, and the round structure of a fight.
Each round of conflict consists of one action from each player, taken in any order. Action rolls during conflict are always risky by default, except Defend and Teamwork, which don't invoke risk rolls. Action rolls using mundane methods to harm supernatural entities (such as Sins) are always hard.
Act or Setup.
Defend (safe). Choose an ally. The next time they take stress, roll 1d6:
Multiple defends on one ally don't stack.
Teamwork (safe).
Analyze. Deduce or create an advantageous state that's more permanent than a setup.
Flee.
The admin never acts during conflict. Instead, each time a risky action is taken, the admin makes one reaction — usually having an enemy make a move. Enemy moves never miss: they're only ever more or less severe.
Until the stain has been wiped away.