Adding Species, Gifts and Feats

Player options turn the setting into choices at the table. A species, Gift, Training, feat or piece of gear should be understandable on its own and should create a clear expectation for the person choosing it.

Start with the promise

Write the option's central promise in one sentence first. For a species, its distinctive identity and the powers that matter in play. For a Gift, what sets the character apart. For a Training, how it feels to play. For a feat, the problem it solves or the moment it creates.

Build to the budget

Every species is built to the same budget: +2 in stats (or +1 and +5 Health) plus its powers. Every Gift is built to one budget. A Brooding feat belongs to one Direction and one tier, and its Call Difficulty comes from the tier and the Direction. A feat states its Action cost, its pool cost, its range and its effect in wounds, conditions and lengths. Check the existing feats before adding a new one.

Make the fiction and mechanics agree

A player should be able to read the description and understand the play effect without guessing. State the applicable detail in the mechanical text: the stat, the cost, the target, the duration. Do not let a flavor sentence carry rules weight that is absent from the effect.