Advanced Play
You've mastered the basics. You know how to roll, how to fight, how to cast. Now it's time to push the boundaries — to command armies of the dead, walk the Veil between worlds, and forge pacts with spirits that can reshape reality.
Undead Army Command
At Soul Attunement +3, you gain the ability to animate the dead. At +7, you can bind them to your will. At +9, you can forge them from nothing.
Your control limit equals your Soul Density. A Lich with Soul Density 22 can command 22 points of undead. A single Zombie costs 1 point. A Specter costs 10. A Revenant costs 18. Push beyond your limit, and the excess become uncontrolled — chaotic, hostile, and hungry.
Army composition matters. Mindless undead (Zombies, Skeletons) fight in swarms. Tactical undead (Specters, Wights) use formations: screens, reserves, combined arms. Advanced undead (Revenants, Liches) execute hammer-and-anvil tactics, feigned retreats, and sieges.
Targeting the commander breaks the army. Destroy the Lich, and every controlled undead becomes uncontrolled immediately. The Phylactery is the true target — destroy it, and the Lich's Density drops to 8–12 for 1d10 rounds before the soul dissipates.
Creating armies has a price. Every act of undead creation is Entropic: −3 Grace, +3 Entropic Burden. Command a massive army, and the spiritual corruption accumulates. Your Grace drops. Your EB rises. The world itself begins to push back against you.
Veil Walking
At Soul Attunement +7, you can cross the Veil. This is not a casual trip. The ritual takes an hour of preparation, requires a focus object and a warded space, and leaves your physical body unconscious and vulnerable.
The Veil Walk Roll uses your Soul Expression: PSY_MOD + Soul Attunement + Mind attunement + PROF + Grace. The difficulty scales with your destination:
- Spectral Plane (Tier 3): The realm of the recently dead. Echoes of the physical world, distorted and dreamlike. Time moves faster — 1 hour physical equals 1d4 hours in the Spectral Plane.
- Ancestral Realm (Tier 4): Ancient spirits and ancestor guardians. 1 hour equals 1d6 hours. Memory loss is common.
- Nether Void (Tier 5): Alien. Hostile. 1 hour equals 1d10 hours. Almost no one returns unchanged.
- Divine Throne (Heroic): The realm of gods. Only with divine invitation or extreme power.
While you're gone, your body is helpless. If it's destroyed, your consciousness is trapped in the spiritual plane permanently. If it takes damage, you feel it — 1d4 Spiritual Damage per round. Ward your body before you leave. Trust no one.
Time is limited. You can remain in the spiritual plane for hours equal to your Soul Attunement skill. Beyond that, you must save each hour or become Lost — your consciousness drifts, and only another Veil Walker can find you.
Spirit Pacts
At Soul Attunement +3, you can form binding agreements with spirits. The spirit grants you abilities. You pay the price.
The Pact Roll uses your Soul Expression: PSY_MOD + Soul Attunement + Mind attunement + PROF + Grace. The difficulty scales with the spirit's density — from Easy (Minor) to Heroic (Dense and above).
Pact abilities are always active. A Benevolent pact might grant Healing Touch (1d6 once per scene). A Dark pact might grant Shadow Step (teleport 30 ft through shadows). A Malicious pact might grant Lich's Gift — immortality, but you must consume life force weekly.
The CE weight is severe. A Dark pact costs −3 Grace and +3 EB each time you use its ability. A Malicious pact costs −5 Grace and +5 EB. Use the ability twice, and you've dropped two full points of Grace. Three times, and you're approaching Shadow.
You can hold 3 pacts maximum. Beyond that, the energies conflict, and you gain Spirit-Torn: −2 to all Soul Attunement checks, −1 to all saves. Pacts from opposing CE alignments conflict immediately — a Benevolent pact plus a Malicious pact triggers Spirit-Torn on the spot.
The Creation-Entropy Scale in Play
At high Grace (+10, Radiance), you radiate Creation energy. Healing is more effective. Spirits are drawn to you. The Veil thickens around you. You glow with inner light.
At low Grace (−10, Shadow), you radiate Entropy. Spiritual corruption accumulates faster. Spirits are repelled — or attracted, if they're Malicious. The Veil thins. The dead stir.
Managing your Grace is the meta-game of high-level play. Every exorcism of a Benevolent spirit gains +1 Grace. Every act of undead creation loses −3 Grace. Every Dark pact ability costs −3 Grace. The scale pushes you toward extremes, and the extremes have consequences.
What You Need to Know
Advanced play is about choices with consequences:
- Undead armies are powerful but expensive. Every zombie costs Grace. Every victory drains you.
- Veil Walking is dangerous but rewarding. The spiritual plane holds knowledge no physical book contains.
- Spirit pacts are tempting but corrupting. The abilities are always on. The cost is always accumulating.
- Grace is your moral compass. Push toward +10, and you're a beacon of Creation. Push toward −10, and you're a conduit of Entropy. Both have power. Both have price.
The game doesn't judge you for your choices. It just makes sure you pay for them.