Wounds

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Text: Psych (pronounced ‘Sigh-k’) attacks target the Target’s mind and emotions — which means they are only useful on Characters (even if those Characters may be Intelligent Descendants or Extras). All Wounds are targeted on the Personality Annex (or Master Annex for an Intelligent Descendant / Extra). Psych Attacks typically have an emotional or Psychosocial outcome.

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Text: Focus is a Psych Parry. The defender focuses on one aspect of the attack, and thereby turns it around on the attacker. They might retort to the attack, with a biting insult, or just refute one point so well that the attack is ruined, then again they might just react so badly to the attack that they effect the attacker back. The problem with Focus as a defence is that it requires specific cards to work at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Text: When you play cards to Prepare a Defence you might be strapping on your armour, diving for cover, building a sandbag wall, raising a force-field, or just adjusting your already worn armour for maximum effectiveness.

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Text: When someone yells an insult at you, it might sting, or it might not. If you see someone killed in front of you, it might scare you, or may not. You can decide which with a Passive Psych Soak.

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: 💦

Name: Splash

Text: The Attack affects multiple targets, but a bit less than what it says on the Card.

Rules: Splash Damage affects multiple targets as well as the first. The Splash Damage is -1 Wound Level from the Limit (so a Flesh will splash Distracts). The Splash radius is equal to the Pips of the Limit Card as a Range in the Action Space. Additional Pips may still pay for additional targets +3 for each full target, +1 for each Splash target.

) — Duck attacks force the defender to duck and dive for cover. Duck Attacks are Psych, Splash, Festering Attacks.

Mode: ☠

Name: Festering

Text: Some Wounds are more difficult to heal and regenerate than others. Maybe it’s a poison, or venom on the attack, magic, or a practically guaranteed infection from bacteria, sometimes its just that insult that gets under your skin…

Rules: All Wounds Fester Automatically (restricting how the Wound can be treated and healed).

Pound(

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Text: The simplest forms of wounding are nothing but bashing and cutting physical wounds. Physical attacks are usually performed with weapons (Prop Descendants) or Martial Arts Annexes, which means they can be blocked, parried and so on by another weapon or Martial Art.

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Text: Deflecting the incoming blade with your own, also works with spears, hammers, maces, vibro-halberd, or magic spells and counter-magics, whatever really, except energy, you can’t Parry lasers or electricity with a sword (blaster bolts on the other hand).

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Text: T13 is an odd game and odd characters exist who bend the laws of physics for all sorts of reasons. The passive dodge (or it can be a Parry) is an example. Sometimes the Ref may even allow a character to build an active defence that triggers in Passive mode.

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Text: Soaking is when you rely on layers of armour or natural toughness (Annex or Rook Facet) to cope with incoming Wounds. Characters can have varying numbers of Soak-Layers based on the Stakes (and their Descendants of course), and different Soak-Layers may have different Min Soak and Max Soak Pips.

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Soak-Layers can only Soak cards that are between their Minimum and Maximum Soak Pips (ignoring Penetration and Range modifiers, but not Trumps). If a card cannot be Soaked, it automatically passes through unaltered. This table governs standard Min and Max Soaks, although you can create them during item creation Ordeals, by assigning two Cards from your Ordeal Pool to set the Min and Max Soak.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Text: Damage is intended to be paid by a specific Facet Sway. The damage may be soaked or dodged by appropriate defences, but are rare for Characters not focused on the Resource. Wounds are usually taken in a specific targeted Facet Sway (often Wealth, Health, or Support) or Yarn as Pips, with any excess taken as Yarn, so a 23 Pip Economic attack will cost the Target 23 Wealth or Yarn if they had no Wealth, if they had 13 Wealth, it would cost them that and 10 Yarn. It should be noted that Yarn is taken as Chi from the total that a Character has (e.g. a Character with 66 Chi losing 10 Yarn would have only 8 Chi left, but a Character with 45 Chi would lose everything). Resource Attacks may also Maim, Cripple or “Destroy” suitable Descendants and can create Hitches, (such as Lacking, Binding, etc.) if the target does not have enough of the targeted Facet Sway / Chi.

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Pound attacks are crushing and pulverising, they rarely break the skin, instead they break bones. They are Physical (or occasionally Economic) Normal Attacks and as such are probably the most common attack type in the Omniverse, favoured by building / tree collapses and rock falls everywhere. When used as an Economic attack the Pound usually represents a direct attack such as a buy-out.

Mode: 🔫

Name: Normal

Text: The Standard against which other Attacks are measured. Everything is standard, no weird rules.

Rules: No Special Rules. Normal Attacks obey the normal rules for Reach and Range additional Targets cost +3 Pips per Target.

Crash(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Text: Energy attacks are blasts of radiation that are not entirely physical in nature. They might still have a physical impact, but the damage is usually radiation, or electrical burns and sensory overloads.

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Crash attacks affect vehicles and equipment, but extreme tiredness can have a Psyche effect on Characters. Crash Attacks can be Psyche, Energy, Physical, or Economic and are especially Destructive to Vehicles and Technology.

Mode: 🔥

Name: Destructive

Text: Destructive Attacks have some thing they are just better at affecting, this reflects how hacks can really mess up computers and data, crashes can really destroy vehicles as well as computers and delicate things generally, and nothing flammable likes burning.

Rules: All attacks against a suitable target (Referee decides) increase each cards Wound Limit Level +1. The new Wound Limit may require additional Pips to actually raise the Wound to that higher Limit in the current Stakes.

Explode(

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Text: Magic may just be technology we don’t understand, or it can be a mysterious force unknowable and frightening to the common man. Magic can parry magic, and so sometimes can silver or cold iron, it depends on the magic. Magic attacks are rarely dodgeable (and the few that are are usually actually spells that perform energy attacks), and usually ignore Range, but instead must pierce the target’s Liberty or Wyrd Score (-4 Pips as standard).

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Explode attacks do exactly that. They cause the target to partially or completely explode. Explode attacks can be Energy, Physical, or Magic, and always Splash.

Mode: 💦

Name: Splash

Text: The Attack affects multiple targets, but a bit less than what it says on the Card.

Ambush(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Ambushes (or blind-sides) are attacks designed to surprise and shock the enemy. They may be any Type of attack (from Psych to Economic), but are always Shocking.

Mode: 😱

Name: Shocking

Text: Shocking Attacks cause the Defender to pause for some reason (fright, laughter, stunning damage, or whatever) if any Wound actually makes it to the Character

Rules: Each attack that Wounds automatically causes Stress equal to the Wound Pips to the Target. If the Wound is greater than a Flesh Wound this also automatically creates 1 Shock on the Defender (see Rules for Stress, Strain and Shock) which will usually result in a GRT penalty, but can create Traumas in extreme cases.

Bedlam(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 😱

Name: Shocking

Text: Shocking Attacks cause the Defender to pause for some reason (fright, laughter, stunning damage, or whatever) if any Wound actually makes it to the Character

🌙

Mode: 🌙

Name: Waning

Text: Waning attacks are diminished, and fading, but like the moon, they never really go away.

Rules: All Waning Wounds are one Level lower than the card Limit suggests, however they can never be below the Distract Level. Waning Wounds will always remain at least a Distract, even after Soak-Levels or Chi expenditure. The Waning Wound can never be completely cancelled by a Defence and a Distract will be passed in to the Target.

) — Bedlam attacks are usually Psych Attacks, they can be used to represent terror/horror attacks, shell shock and direct mental blasts as well as prolonged contact with Madness. However, they can also represent Sonic Energy attacks and Magic attacks that invoke noise or madness in other ways. Bedlam Attacks may Wane but are always Shocking and Splash.

Mode: 💦

Name: Splash

Text: The Attack affects multiple targets, but a bit less than what it says on the Card.

Rip(

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Rip attacks are the types of attacks made by strong powerful forces, like a bear’s claws. They are normally Physical, but can be Economic (then called a “Rip-Off”) and do Normal Damage. Rip attacks can become Grip attacks that Restrain their targets with a Restrain critical on any Critical.

Mode: 🔫

Name: Normal

Text: The Standard against which other Attacks are measured. Everything is standard, no weird rules.

Rules: No Special Rules. Normal Attacks obey the normal rules for Reach and Range additional Targets cost +3 Pips per Target.

Malign(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — Malign attacks are never physical in nature, as Psych attacks they destroy the perceived character of the target, as Magic they represent Harmful spells that aren’t specifically Curses. Malign attacks do Waning Damage.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🌙

Mode: 🌙

Name: Waning

Text: Waning attacks are diminished, and fading, but like the moon, they never really go away.

Slash(

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Slash attacks are usually physical, claws, swords and knives often cause them, but they can be Magical and even Economic in nature. Slash Wounds Splash as the sword or claws sweep through multiple Targets, or long cuts count as two Wounds.

Mode: 💦

Name: Splash

Text: The Attack affects multiple targets, but a bit less than what it says on the Card.

Freeze(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Freeze attacks can consist of any Attack Type, they can be Psych attacks (“Freeze!” or a good punchline), Energy (Cold Rays, Hypothermia), Physical (Tickling), magical or Economic. The Damage caused is usually Shocking.

Mode: 😱

Name: Shocking

Text: Shocking Attacks cause the Defender to pause for some reason (fright, laughter, stunning damage, or whatever) if any Wound actually makes it to the Character

Jab(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — Jab attacks are a standard of punches and quick stabs. Most bayonet wounds are Jab type; bullets also generally leave a Jab wound behind, but so do pointed conversational barbs and magic missiles. Jabs can be any attack mode except Economic, and always Penetrate.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🗡

Mode: 🗡

Name: Penetrates

Text: Some attacks cut deeper than others. They penetrate, making the attack harder to block, soak and be stopped by armour.

Rules: Penetration adds the Cards Pips Reduced as Penetration Pips.

Penetration Pips add directly to card Pips of the card whenever the Attacker wants during the Soak process, but are each usable only once.
Against Prepared Defences 🔲 Penetration Pips can be used to bypass the Pip wall, by add.
Against Parry ⚔🔍 defences the Pips may be added to stop cards matching (The Defending weapon may also have Penetration Pips, and Refs may allow them to spend theirs too).
Dodges 👣🦋👟 that have to beat the Pips also have to beat the points of Penetration.
When Soaked ☔💭 or Blocked 🛡, Penetration allows Pips to leak from the original Attack Card to the Wound inside the Soak-Layer, whenever the Attacker wants to use them.

Overload(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Overload attacks can be Psychological (Overwhelming emotions), Energy (Blinding Lights, Deafening Sounds), Magical or Economic, and Splash.

Mode: 💦

Name: Splash

Text: The Attack affects multiple targets, but a bit less than what it says on the Card.

Toxin(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 😱

Name: Shocking

Text: Shocking Attacks cause the Defender to pause for some reason (fright, laughter, stunning damage, or whatever) if any Wound actually makes it to the Character

) — Toxin attacks are any attack where the body is poisoned, rather than a direct physical assault being the major factor. They might be Psych (Toxic emotions), Energy (Radiation Poisoning), Physical (A bee sting), or Magical, but are Shocking and Fester.

Mode: ☠

Name: Festering

Rules: All Wounds Fester Automatically (restricting how the Wound can be treated and healed).

Gouge(

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 🔫

Name: Normal

Text: The Standard against which other Attacks are measured. Everything is standard, no weird rules.

Rules: No Special Rules. Normal Attacks obey the normal rules for Reach and Range additional Targets cost +3 Pips per Target.

) — Gouge attacks represent removing a scoop of the target, the standard gouge attack is a bite or an eye gouge. Gouging can only be Physical or Economic, and is normal, but festering Damage.

Mode: ☠

Name: Festering

Rules: All Wounds Fester Automatically (restricting how the Wound can be treated and healed).

Lecture(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — A Lecture attack represents a stern talking to or a magical attack to bind another’s actions or knowledge. Lectures are Psych or Magic attacks and Waning.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🌙

Mode: 🌙

Name: Waning

Text: Waning attacks are diminished, and fading, but like the moon, they never really go away.

Burn(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Burn attacks are the attack type used when things are hit by fire (like a fireball spell), or massive electrical bursts (like lightning), plasma weapons are another good source of Burn attacks, but burns can also be friction or chemical based, or describe the sensation of immune responses like allergies that blister the skin. Burns can also be psychological in nature, such as an insult, or agreeing with another’s insult by asking if they’d like some ointment for that burn. Burn attacks usually leave behind “Burns” rather than other “Scars”, and can alter a target’s Incarna to Phoenix as they create “Burning” rather than “Dying” Hitches. Burn attacks are particularly Destructive to flammable things.

Mode: 🔥

Name: Destructive

Erode(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — Erode attacks can take millions of years to affect a mountain or rock, but a sandstorm can have the same effect on a person or vehicle in a few minutes. Accelerated time, like a Never-Time, Paradox or Chronoclysm Bomb can also have Erode effects. As a Psych attack an Erode wears down the Target with a cycle of abuse or corrosive language. Erode attacks Penetrate.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🗡

Mode: 🗡

Name: Penetrates

Text: Some attacks cut deeper than others. They penetrate, making the attack harder to block, soak and be stopped by armour.

Rules: Penetration adds the Cards Pips Reduced as Penetration Pips.

Penetration Pips add directly to card Pips of the card whenever the Attacker wants during the Soak process, but are each usable only once.
Against Prepared Defences 🔲 Penetration Pips can be used to bypass the Pip wall, by add.
Against Parry ⚔🔍 defences the Pips may be added to stop cards matching (The Defending weapon may also have Penetration Pips, and Refs may allow them to spend theirs too).
Dodges 👣🦋👟 that have to beat the Pips also have to beat the points of Penetration.
When Soaked ☔💭 or Blocked 🛡, Penetration allows Pips to leak from the original Attack Card to the Wound inside the Soak-Layer, whenever the Attacker wants to use them.

Quash(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Quash attacks are designed to destroy Descendants (especially weapons and defences), rendering a victim open to other forms of attack. They have a tendency to destroy weapons, shields and armour props before affecting the Character’s own abilities. Quash attacks can be any type, but are especially Destructive to Descendants.

Mode: 🔥

Name: Destructive

Curse(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Sin attacks range from Distracting offensive language to turning someone into a demonic lawn chair with Carnage level magic, and may have a variety of final effects. It is not uncommon for the Curse attack to create Binding, Confined, Corrupted, Doomed, Lack-Of-Sense or Odd Hitches, that might turn the target into a frog, kill, blind and even change a Character’s Persona or Core too). Curses Penetrate and Fester.

Mode: ☠

Name: Festering

Rules: All Wounds Fester Automatically (restricting how the Wound can be treated and healed).

🗡

Mode: 🗡

Name: Penetrates

Text: Some attacks cut deeper than others. They penetrate, making the attack harder to block, soak and be stopped by armour.

Rules: Penetration adds the Cards Pips Reduced as Penetration Pips.

Penetration Pips add directly to card Pips of the card whenever the Attacker wants during the Soak process, but are each usable only once.
Against Prepared Defences 🔲 Penetration Pips can be used to bypass the Pip wall, by add.
Against Parry ⚔🔍 defences the Pips may be added to stop cards matching (The Defending weapon may also have Penetration Pips, and Refs may allow them to spend theirs too).
Dodges 👣🦋👟 that have to beat the Pips also have to beat the points of Penetration.
When Soaked ☔💭 or Blocked 🛡, Penetration allows Pips to leak from the original Attack Card to the Wound inside the Soak-Layer, whenever the Attacker wants to use them.

Hack(

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Hacks are an attempt to cut sections of the target off or, in the case of Computer systems, Hack wounds can allow the hacker to control the system. Assuming the wounds created produced a “Hacked” Hitch. Hack scars can include malformed Hitches for the loss of limbs etc that can occur. Hacks are particularly Destructive attacks to Computers, wood, and Limbs.

Mode: 🔥

Name: Destructive

Convert(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

) — Convert attacks are Non-Physical Normal Damage attacks. Conversion wounds often create new Hitches in the targets, these can be religious Duty Hitches or similar, or the Wounds may alter Core, Persona or Incarna for the active Personality Annex.

Mode: 🔫

Name: Normal

Text: The Standard against which other Attacks are measured. Everything is standard, no weird rules.

Rules: No Special Rules. Normal Attacks obey the normal rules for Reach and Range additional Targets cost +3 Pips per Target.

Snare(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 💰

Name: Resource

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — Wyrd attacks can be of any Type or Mode, and modify the Stage creating a Trap Obstacle.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🎭

Mode: 🎭

Name: Stage

Text: Affects the Stage, Location, or the Target’s position in it.

Rules: The Rules depend on the attack being used. A Snare Attack creates a Trap in the the Stage of the Ordeal, or in the Location of the Scene. The Trap may be avoided, by playing a higher card, but it remains as an Obstacle in the Stage. The Snare may be disabled (by beating Twice the Pips + any additional modifiers the Snare may have), or it may injure everyone that enters the Stage. Throw and Leap Attacks move the Target or Attacker in the Stage, or Location, by differing amounts depending upon the game.

Throw(

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — Yonder attacks can be energy, psychological, physical or magic. They usually affect the Target’s position in the Stage. Motion is determined by Pips of the attack being spent on motion. In a Bold game this will be as flight and all Pips are used, in an Intrepid game this would be as marching and only the Pips of the Highest card are used, in a Banal game only Crawling and the Pips of the Highest card are used.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🎭

Mode: 🎭

Name: Stage

Text: Affects the Stage, Location, or the Target’s position in it.

Leap(

Mode: 👤

Name: Psych

Active-Defences:

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Mode: ⚡

Name: Energy

Active-Defences:

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⚒

Name: Physical

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Mode: ⭐

Name: Magic

Active-Defences:

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Passive-Defences:

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

) — Leap attacks can be any Type but Resource. Regardless of type they have the same effect. Leap attacks move the attacker at the same time as they make an attack. The Pips of the attack are also used to move the attacker. In a Banal game they move as though Walking. In an Intrepid game they move as though Marching and in a Bold Game they move as though flying.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

🎭

Mode: 🎭

Name: Stage

Text: Affects the Stage, Location, or the Target’s position in it.

Damage is intended to be paid by a specific Facet Sway. The damage may be soaked or dodged by appropriate defences, but are rare for Characters not focused on the Resource. Wounds are usually taken in a specific targeted Facet Sway (often Wealth, Health, or Support) or Yarn as Pips, with any excess taken as Yarn, so a 23 Pip Economic attack will cost the Target 23 Wealth or Yarn if they had no Wealth, if they had 13 Wealth, it would cost them that and 10 Yarn. It should be noted that Yarn is taken as Chi from the total that a Character has (e.g. a Character with 66 Chi losing 10 Yarn would have only 8 Chi left, but a Character with 45 Chi would lose everything). Resource Attacks may also Maim, Cripple or “Destroy” suitable Descendants and can create Hitches, (such as Lacking, Binding, etc.) if the target does not have enough of the targeted Facet Sway / Chi.

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Energy attacks are blasts of radiation that are not entirely physical in nature. They might still have a physical impact, but the damage is usually radiation, or electrical burns and sensory overloads.

Energy

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Magic may just be technology we don’t understand, or it can be a mysterious force unknowable and frightening to the common man. Magic can parry magic, and so sometimes can silver or cold iron, it depends on the magic. Magic attacks are rarely dodgeable (and the few that are are usually actually spells that perform energy attacks), and usually ignore Range, but instead must pierce the target’s Liberty or Wyrd Score (-4 Pips as standard).

Magic

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

The simplest forms of wounding are nothing but bashing and cutting physical wounds. Physical attacks are usually performed with weapons (Prop Descendants) or Martial Arts Annexes, which means they can be blocked, parried and so on by another weapon or Martial Art.

Physical

Mode: ⚔

Type: Active

Name: Parry

Rule:

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Mode: 👣

Type: Active

Name: Dodge

Text: Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

Rule:

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Mode: 🛡

Type: Active

Name: Blocking

Text: Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Rule:

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

Mode: 👟

Type: Passive

Name: Passive Dodge

Rule: Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

Mode: ☔

Type: Passive

Name: Soak

Rule:

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

Psych (pronounced ‘Sigh-k’) attacks target the Target’s mind and emotions — which means they are only useful on Characters (even if those Characters may be Intelligent Descendants or Extras). All Wounds are targeted on the Personality Annex (or Master Annex for an Intelligent Descendant / Extra). Psych Attacks typically have an emotional or Psychosocial outcome.

Psych

Mode: 🔍

Type: Active Psych

Name: Focus

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.

Mode: 🦋

Type: Active Psych

Name: Ignore

Text: Ignoring a Psych attack is a great choice, if you can. However ignoring is an all or nothing defence, fail to ignore the whole attack and you will have ignored nothing at all.

Rule:

Draw a number of cards equal to the total number of Hitches Reduced and add them to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool.
Play Hitches Reduced number of cards to try and Ignore the Psych Attack.
Ignore cards must beat the total Pips of the Attack. Beat the Pips and the Attack is Discarded. Otherwise the Defender takes all the Psych Damage and since they used their Personality Annex to Ignore, they cannot use it to Psych Soak.

Mode: 🔲

Type: Passive

Name: Prepared Defence

Rule: Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

The Damage Type may also alter the Wound Level:

Mode: 💭

Type: Passive Psych

Name: Passive Psych Soak

Rule:

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.


Mode	Name	Text	Rules
🔫	Normal	The Standard against which other Attacks are measured. Everything is standard, no weird rules.	No Special Rules. Normal Attacks obey the normal rules for Reach and Range additional Targets cost +3 Pips per Target.
💦	Splash	The Attack affects multiple targets, but a bit less than what it says on the Card.	Splash Damage affects multiple targets as well as the first. The Splash Damage is -1 Wound Level from the Limit (so a Flesh will splash Distracts). The Splash radius is equal to the Pips of the Limit Card as a Range in the Action Space. Additional Pips may still pay for additional targets +3 for each full target, +1 for each Splash target.
🔥	Destructive	Destructive Attacks have some thing they are just better at affecting, this reflects how hacks can really mess up computers and data, crashes can really destroy vehicles as well as computers and delicate things generally, and nothing flammable likes burning.	All attacks against a suitable target (Referee decides) increase each cards Wound Limit Level +1. The new Wound Limit may require additional Pips to actually raise the Wound to that higher Limit in the current Stakes.
🌙	Waning	Waning attacks are diminished, and fading, but like the moon, they never really go away.	All Waning Wounds are one Level lower than the card Limit suggests, however they can never be below the Distract Level. Waning Wounds will always remain at least a Distract, even after Soak-Levels or Chi expenditure. The Waning Wound can never be completely cancelled by a Defence and a Distract will be passed in to the Target.
🗡	Penetrates	Some attacks cut deeper than others. They penetrate, making the attack harder to block, soak and be stopped by armour.	Penetration adds the Cards Pips Reduced as Penetration Pips. Penetration Pips add directly to card Pips of the card whenever the Attacker wants during the Soak process, but are each usable only once. Against Prepared Defences 🔲 Penetration Pips can be used to bypass the Pip wall, by add. Against Parry ⚔🔍 defences the Pips may be added to stop cards matching (The Defending weapon may also have Penetration Pips, and Refs may allow them to spend theirs too). Dodges 👣🦋👟 that have to beat the Pips also have to beat the points of Penetration. When Soaked ☔💭 or Blocked 🛡, Penetration allows Pips to leak from the original Attack Card to the Wound inside the Soak-Layer, whenever the Attacker wants to use them.
🎭	Stage	Affects the Stage, Location, or the Target’s position in it.	The Rules depend on the attack being used. A Snare Attack creates a Trap in the the Stage of the Ordeal, or in the Location of the Scene. The Trap may be avoided, by playing a higher card, but it remains as an Obstacle in the Stage. The Snare may be disabled (by beating Twice the Pips + any additional modifiers the Snare may have), or it may injure everyone that enters the Stage. Throw and Leap Attacks move the Target or Attacker in the Stage, or Location, by differing amounts depending upon the game.
😱	Shocking	Shocking Attacks cause the Defender to pause for some reason (fright, laughter, stunning damage, or whatever) if any Wound actually makes it to the Character	Each attack that Wounds automatically causes Stress equal to the Wound Pips to the Target. If the Wound is greater than a Flesh Wound this also automatically creates 1 Shock on the Defender (see Rules for Stress, Strain and Shock) which will usually result in a GRT penalty, but can create Traumas in extreme cases.
☠	Festering	Some Wounds are more difficult to heal and regenerate than others. Maybe it’s a poison, or venom on the attack, magic, or a practically guaranteed infection from bacteria, sometimes its just that insult that gets under your skin…	All Wounds Fester Automatically (restricting how the Wound can be treated and healed).
Mode	Name	Text	Rules

Soaking Wounds and Reducing Damage

When a Character or Descendant potentially takes damage from an attack, the Wounds may be reduced by the Characters various Soak-Layers of armour and other protection (such as dodges, parries, Chi expenditure, and so on).

In T13 we talk about Soak-Layers implying that these are layers that must be penetrated to cause a Wound. You might begin with an outer layer such as a Power-Field, or Force-Shroud, then perhaps a cloak made from Advanced-Kevlar, over an Advanced Polymer Plate and steel chain-mail shirt, over a padded vest, before you finally get down to a “Tough” Annex. Depending upon the Stakes, you will get to use some, or all, of these Soak-Layers to reduce and absorb the damage. In general, we start at the outer-most layer and work in, although Players should choose which layers are used first.

Armour and Shields tend to accumulate damage as they protect you, and can quickly end up destroyed if you don’t take time to repair, and replace it, as it fails.

Dodging is bending, running, or leaping out of the way of the attack, maybe you just dodge the blow, maybe you dive behind cover, it doesn’t really matter.

All Physical and Energy Attacks that do not Splash can be dodged fully.
Dodging Splash Damage is possible with suitable cover, but Dodging Splash Damage only reduces it to a Distract at best.
To Dodge the attack beat the total Pips (including all cards, Range, Penetration, etc) dodged non-splash attacks are immediately discarded.
If you cannot dodge the whole attack, you may beat Dodge and Discard individual cards from the attack if you can beat them. E.g. An Attack of 3♠,J♦ has 5 Pips of Penetration, an A♣ cannot quite dodge the whole attack, but it can (just) Discard the Jack leaving a 3♠ with +5 Pips of Penetration

Deflecting the incoming blade with your own, also works with spears, hammers, maces, vibro-halberd, or magic spells and counter-magics, whatever really, except energy, you can’t Parry lasers or electricity with a sword (blaster bolts on the other hand).

Active

Parry

The Descendant or Annex draws Cards as normal, then plays One (1) card from their Pool.
If they can match any attack card in Suit (or Clubs ♣ as Defence Trump) and Pips (including Additional Style and Penetration Pips, or additional Wound / Success Levels, or +2 Pips for Trumps) then the attack has been Parried (Wildcards automatically Parry).
What happens next depends upon the suit of the Defending card (see the Suit Parry details)

Blocking is turning to put your best armour under an attack, or getting your shield in the way of a blow.

Active

Blocking

The Annex / Descendant draws as normal then Play the Defence’s normal number of cards to attempt to block the Attack. E.g. When defending with a 3d6 Talent Armour Descendant the Character may Draw 3 and Play 2.
Compare the Block cards to the Attack cards. E.g. When attacked by 5,6,7 and 8 of Spades… Compare to Block cards of 7♣ and 4♦.
If any Block Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or is a Club ♣) any Attack card then a special Block takes place, based on the Suit of the Blocking card (see card suits Block details). If you can exactly match the Highest card in the Attack (including any extra Pips of Penetration, Style Reserve, etc) then the entire Attack may be Discarded. Wildcards automatically discard the whole attack, but draw another card as an attack. E.g. The 7♣ matches the 7♠ (because it is a Club and the Trumps cancel). This causes a special Block based on a Club. This causes the 7 and one other random card to be discarded (by chance the 6).
If any Block card is higher in Pips than an Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and Discarded. However, the blocking Descendant immediately takes the Block card as damage. E.g. The 7 clubs; is higher in Pips than the 5 (and the 6 if it was still there) and so they are Blocked and Discarded. The Armour will take the 7♣ as damage however.
If any Block card is lower in Pips than any remaining Attack card then the Attack card is Blocked and taken by the Armour Descendant (or whatever). In the case of a Blocking Annex or Rook Facet Block the Attack card is Discarded. The lower Block cards however now become Attack cards as the Attack passes through. E.g. The 4♦ is lower in Pips than all the cards in the attack. Therefore, everything that was left (the 8♠) is Blocked and taken by the Armour. The 4♦ now moves in a Soak-Layer as a potentially Soakable attack card. This results in the armour taking a 7 and an 8, and a 4 moving into the next layer of soak.
The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips (if they have any) to increase the remaining Attack cards Pips at this point.

Soaking is when you rely on layers of armour or natural toughness (Annex or Rook Facet) to cope with incoming Wounds. Characters can have varying numbers of Soak-Layers based on the Stakes (and their Descendants of course), and different Soak-Layers may have different Min Soak and Max Soak Pips.

Passive

Soak

The Character may Play a number of Soak cards from their Ordeal Pool equal to the normal Passive Play number of the Annex (normally 1 less than the Annex’s normal Play, but Passive Nimbeds can increase that value) to attempt to Soak an incoming Attack.

Type	Minimum Soak	Maximum Soak
Facet / “Saving Throw”	5	10
Skill	5	11
Talent	5	13 (K)
Power	5	15
Super-Annex	2	16+ (any)
Mud / Clay / Foam	8	10
Cloth/Wool/Fur Descendant	3	7
Silk / Padding Descendant	2	8
Leather Descendant	4	9
Foam Plastic Descendant	3	8
Hard Plastic Descendant	7	11 (J)
Advanced Polymer Descendant	3	14
Chainmail Descendant	9	13 (K)
Thin Wood Descendant	4	7
Thick Wood Descendant	3	11 (J)
Laminated Wood Descendant	3	12
Turtle Shell Armour	7	11 (J)
Stone Armour	9	12 (Q)
Bronze plate Descendant	8	12 (Q)
Steel plate Descendant	6	14 (A)
Orichalcum plate Descendant	5	15 (Joker)
Vibro-field Descendant	4	10
Power field Descendant	12 (Q)	15 (Joker)
Force-field Descendant	8	15 (Joker)
Toon/Femite Descendant	6	16 (suited Ace)
Nullite Descendant	4	16 (suited Ace)
Magickal/Alchemical Enhancement	-2 compared to normal	+2 compared to normal

If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit any attacking card (including any Stalled cards on that Soak-Layer) then a special Soak takes place, based on the Suit of the Soaked cards. Special Soaks do not always automatically discard the whole attack.
If any Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card (+2 Pips for Clubs), then the Attack cards are Stalled (turned sideways and automatically prepared as part of the next attack to that Soak-Layer unless a Defence Glow moves those Stalled cards to a Prepared Defence). The Soak card however, is Discarded.
If any Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card then that Attack card is Soaked, and the Attack card is taken by the Descendant. A copy of the Soak card passes through the Soak-Layer, becoming an Attack card for the next Soak-Layer. So when attacked by a J♠ and a 6♥ if you play a 2♦ then both cards are Soaked and 2 × 2♦ pass through to the next Layer. A Character Annex, or Rook Facet used to Soak will instead Discard all cards, and take one Distract Wound for each Soaked Attack card.
Note it is possible for a card to both pass in and be Discarded. If an attack of 4♣ 6♦ 10♦ and J♠ is soaked by a 7♥ then you will see the Soak Layer take the J♠, 10♦, Stalls the 6♥ and the 4♣ on the Soak-Layer, which Discards the 7♥, then two copies of the 7♥ also pass on into the next layer of Soak.

The Attacker may add some (or all) of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point as they move to the Next Layer.
If a Soak-Layer is Crippled or Destroyed then all Stalled cards immediately move to attacking the next Soak-Layer in.
The Annex/Descendant that formed that Passive Soak-Layer now typically Draws as many cards as it Played (or its own normal Draw, which ever is lower) and adds them to the Character’ Ordeal Pool before you move to the next Soak-Layer.

When you play cards to Prepare a Defence you might be strapping on your armour, diving for cover, building a sandbag wall, raising a force-field, or just adjusting your already worn armour for maximum effectiveness.

Passive

Prepared Defence

Prepared defences must be prepared with Diamonds (♦) or Clubs (♣) as a Suitable Style Reserve and create a Pip Wall that must be worked through.

The Pip Wall has a Score and a minimum and a maximum wound created by the largest and smallest cards used in the preparation e.g. Prepare an Ace of Diamonds (A♦) with 16 Pips (+2 Preparation Trump) and a Ten of Clubs (♣) with 12 Pips (+2 Defence Trump) and you are good against Crippling, Mortal and Carnage wounds for 28 Pips of Attacks.
The defence stops all Cards within this range, as long as there are still any Pips left.
Each attacking Card removes those Pips from the remaining Pip Score — e.g. If the defence prepared with a A♦ amd 10♠ is attacked with a J♥ that will remove 11 Pips from the Defence (leaving it with 17 Pips). If that attack was doubled somehow then there would only be 6 Pips left in the Defence.
Once all Pips are spent, the Prepared Defence fails. A third attacking Jack would destroy the Defence.
You can shore up defences that are not empty by Preparing more cards of Defence. These new cards add to the Pip total of the Prepared Defence, and may also expand the Maximum and Minimum Limits. E.g. Adding a 5♦ (+7), 7♣(+9) and K♦ (+15) to the defence before it collapses creates a Defence good against Flesh to Carnage+ with 37 Pips of defence (it was on 6 remember).

T13 is an odd game and odd characters exist who bend the laws of physics for all sorts of reasons. The passive dodge (or it can be a Parry) is an example. Sometimes the Ref may even allow a character to build an active defence that triggers in Passive mode.

Passive

Passive Dodge

Handle mostly as the Active version, only Draw cards at the end not the beginning.

When someone yells an insult at you, it might sting, or it might not. If you see someone killed in front of you, it might scare you, or may not. You can decide which with a Passive Psych Soak.

Passive Psych

Passive Psych Soak

Personality Annex Plays a number of Soak cards equal to number of Hitches Reduced (½ to 4 Cards) from their Ordeal Pool.
If any Soak Card exactly matches in Pips and Suit (or Clubs ♣ with +2 Trump bonus) any Attack Card then the Attack Card is discarded and the Defender may Pull and Play a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Ordeal card. If a Soak card exactly matches the Highest Card of the Attack then the whole Attack is Discarded.
If any Psych Soak card is higher in Pips than an Attack card, then those Attack cards are Blocked and Discarded immediately. The Soak card is then kept, but is turned sideways, Stalled. It will be added to the next Psych Attack automatically unless moved by a Defence Glow to a Prepared Defence. A card in this state is considered Stalled.
If any Psych Soak card has less Pips than an Attack card (or a Stalled card) then the Attack card is Soaked and immediately Discarded. The Defender takes a copy of the Soak card for each card Blocked. The Attacker may add some of the Penetration Pips to increase the Attack cards Pips at this point.
Psych Attacks that begin with more than 3 cards (such as most Tricks) always cause Extreme Emotional responses, rather than Normal emotional responses. All Psych Attacks must affect the Target’s Active Personality Annex (or its Profs). Psych Wounds automatically stack together whenever they can (2 Psych Distracts Wounds automatically become a Psych Flesh Wound).
Once the incoming attacks have been dealt with (or not) the Character may now Draw as many cards as they Played earlier to their Ordeal Pool.

Focus is a Psych Parry. The defender focuses on one aspect of the attack, and thereby turns it around on the attacker. They might retort to the attack, with a biting insult, or just refute one point so well that the attack is ruined, then again they might just react so badly to the attack that they effect the attacker back. The problem with Focus as a defence is that it requires specific cards to work at all.

Active Psych

Focus

Draw a number of cards equal to the number of Hitches Reduced, and add the cards to your Ordeal Pool. Then Play One Card.
The card must match exactly one Attack card’s Pips and Suit — Jokers may be Wild. Clubs will Trump with +2 Pips, which means an 8♥ can be matched by a 6♣,7♣, or 8♣).
If they can match an Attack card, then the Attack has been stopped. Discard the matched Attack card and all Attack cards Higher than the Focus card.
Attack cards lower than the Focus card are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool as “Fight-or-Flight” cards that may be immediately played or prepared without RT or GRT penalties.
If no match can be made then Focus has failed. The Defender takes the full effect of the Attack as Focus has been used the Personality Annex cannot now Soak.