Initia is an independent product published under the DRAW STEEL Creator License and is not affiliated with MCDM Productions, LLC. DRAW STEEL © 2024 MCDM Productions, LLC.
RULE ONE: "If you forget your dice, Flyternus dies"
*The chapter on religion has been omitted, see The Deities instead
*The chapter for directors has been omitted, no spoilers
Right here! If you've never played Draw Steel before, you're encouraged to read "What is Draw Steel?" and THIS ENTIRE PAGE. Otherwise you may end up lost, later.
Once you're done, come back here and read on for some important basics.
When you're ready to move on to making your hero, read more in "Making your Hero"
Each creature in the game has five characteristics that represent their physical and mental prowess.
Might (represented by M in abilities and other features) represents strength and brawn. A creature's capability to break down doors, swing an axe, stand up during an earthquake, or hurl an ally across a chasm is determined by Might.
Agility (A) represents coordination and nimbleness. A creature's capacity to backflip out of danger, shoot a crossbow, dodge an explosion, or pluck keys from a guard's belt is determined by Agility.
Reason (R) represents a logical mind and education. A creature's capacity to solve a puzzle that unlocks a door, recall lore about necromancy, decipher a coded message, or blast a foe with psionic power is determined by Reason.
Intuition (I) represents instincts and experience. A creature's capability to recognize a faint sound as the approach of a distant rider, quickly read the tell of a bluffing gambler, calm a rearing horse, or track a monster across the tundra is determined by Intuition.
Presence (P) represents force of personality. A creature's capacity to lie to a judge, convince a crowd to join a revolution, impress a queen at a royal banquet, or cast a magic spell by singing a song is determined by Presence.
Each characteristic has a score that runs from −5 to +5. The higher a score, the more impact a creature has with that characteristic. A baby bunny rabbit would have a Might score of −5, while an ancient dragon would have a Might score of 5. The average human has a score of 0 in all their characteristics. Characteristic scores are added to power rolls—the dice rolls you make whenever your character attempts a task with an uncertain outcome (see Power Rolls below).
This game uses ten-sided dice (also called d10s). Each player (including the Director) should have two of these. Some ten-sided dice are numbered 0 to 9 while others are numbered 1 to 10. In the case of the former, a 0 counts as 10.
The game also makes occasional use of six-sided dice (called d6s), so it's helpful if each player has one or two of those as well.
On rare occasions, the rules ask a player to roll one or more three-sided dice (also called d3s). If you don't have a d3, you can roll a six-sided die instead, treating a roll of 1-2 as a 1, a roll of 3-4 as a 2, and a roll of 5-6 as a 3.
Some tables in the game call for a d100 roll. To roll a d100, grab two ten-sided dice. Decide which die represents the tens digit, with the other die representing the ones digit. For instance, if you roll a 5 for the tens digit and a 3 for the ones digit, the number rolled is 53.
Some ten-sided dice are numbered 0 to 9, while others are numbered 1 to 10. For the latter type of dice, a 10 counts as a 0 for the purpose of rolling a d100. For instance, if a 10 is rolled for the tens digit and a 9 is rolled for the ones digit, the number rolled is 09, or 9.
If both dice rolled show a 0 or 10, then the number rolled is 100!
Whenever a hero or other creature in the game attempts a task with an uncertain outcome, such as attacking a foe, sneaking by a guard patrol without being seen, or persuading a queen to provide military aid, the creature makes a power roll to determine the outcome of their actions.
The game uses two types of power rolls. An ability roll is used when you use certain abilities to determine their impact. For instance, if a fury uses their Brutal Slam ability to strike an enemy, their ability roll determines how much damage the enemy takes and how far back the enemy is pushed. See Abilities for more information.
A test is a power roll you make outside of using your abilities to affect or interact with the world around you. A tactician might not have an ability that lets them climb up the face of a cliff, so climbing is an activity they can attempt with a test. An elementalist doesn't have an ability that lets them automatically intimidate a cultist into backing down from a fight, but they can make a test if they want to try. See Tests for more information.
Sapient Creatures
All creatures in the game are sentient, capable of sensing and reacting to the world around them. But only some creatures are sapient, possessed of advanced intellect and consciousness. Being sapient has nothing to do with a creature's Reason score, but is determined solely by whether a creature is capable of human-like levels of thought and emotion. The Director decides whether creatures are sapient for the purpose of being affected by abilities and features that affect only sapient or nonsapient creatures.
When you make a power roll, you roll two ten-sided dice (usually noted as 2d10 in the rules) and add one of your characteristics. The characteristic you add depends on the kind of roll you're making, as outlined in Abilities and Tests.
The total of a power roll determines your outcome tier—three levels that determine how successful your power roll is.
Tier 1: If your power roll total is 11 or lower, it is a tier 1 outcome. This is the worst outcome a power roll can have. If you're using an ability, a tier 1 outcome means you still do something, but the impact of what you do is minimal. With this outcome, a strike ability might deal a little bit of damage and not do much else. For a test, a tier 1 outcome might mean you fail at what you set out to do, and you might also incur a negative consequence.
Tier 2: If your power roll total is 12 to 16, it is a tier 2 outcome. This is the average outcome of many power rolls, especially for heroes who are 1st level. When using an ability, a tier 2 outcome means that what you do has a moderate impact. With this outcome, a strike ability deals a decent amount of damage and has an effect that briefly helps allies or hinders enemies. For a test, a tier 2 outcome means you might succeed at what you set out to do—though depending on the difficulty, success might have a cost.
Tier 3: If your power roll total is 17 or higher, it is a tier 3 outcome. This is the best outcome a power roll can have. When using an ability, a tier 3 outcome means you deliver the maximum impact possible. With this outcome, a strike ability deals a lot of damage and has a powerful or lasting effect on enemies or allies. For a test, a tier 3 outcome means you succeed at what you set out to do. If the test has an easy difficulty, you also get a little something extra in addition to your success.
The specific outcome of any power roll is determined by the effect or ability that requires the roll (see Abilities) or the rules for tests (see Tests).
Whenever you make a power roll, you can downgrade it to select the outcome of a lower tier. For instance, if an ability has a tier 3 outcome that lets you impose the restrained condition on a creature, but the tier 2 outcome for that ability lets you impose the slowed condition, you can use the tier 2 outcome if you would rather have the creature slowed than restrained.
If you downgrade a critical hit, you still get the extra action benefit of the critical hit (see Critical Hit in Classes).
The total of your power roll before your characteristic or any other modifiers are added is called the natural roll. The rules often refer to this as "rolling a natural X," where X is the total of the roll. For example, if you get a 20 on a power roll before adding your characteristic, this is called rolling a natural 20.
When you roll a natural 19 or 20 on a power roll, it is always a tier 3 result regardless of any modifiers, and on certain types of power rolls, this is a critical hit (see Critical Hit in Classes).
An archer standing on a castle wall fires down into a throng of enemies, hitting the mark each time thanks to their high ground. A drunken bandit struggles to land blows on sober opponents as alcohol clouds their senses. Under certain circumstances, you need more than just a characteristic to represent the advantages and disadvantages that heroes, their enemies, and their allies might have.
An edge represents a situational advantage a hero or an enemy has when making a power roll. For example, a standing hero who makes a melee strike against a prone creature gains an edge on the power roll for their strike. A pair of magic gloves that makes your hands sticky might grant you an edge when making a power roll to climb walls!
When you make a power roll with an edge, you gain a +2 bonus to the roll. If you make a power roll with two or more edges, you have a double edge. With a double edge, you don't add anything to the power roll, but the outcome of the roll automatically improves one tier (to a maximum of tier 3).
A bane represents a situational disadvantage a hero or an enemy has when making a power roll. For example, if you make a strike while prone, the power roll for the strike takes a bane. A rainstorm might give you a bane on a power roll made to climb an outdoor wall because the weather makes the stone surface extra slick.
When you make a power roll with a bane, you take a −2 penalty to the roll. If you make a power roll with two or more banes, you have a double bane. With a double bane, you don't subtract anything from the power roll, but the outcome of the roll automatically decreases one tier (to a minimum of tier 1).
Under certain circumstances, you might have one or more edges and banes on the same roll. For instance, you might take a bane when weakened by poison, even as you gain an edge for striking a prone creature. In general, edges and banes cancel each other out, resolving as follows:
If you have an edge and a bane, or if you have a double edge and a double bane, the roll is made as usual without any edges or banes.
If you have a double edge and just one bane, the roll is made with one edge, regardless of how many individual edges contribute to the double edge.
If you have a double bane and just one edge, the roll is made with one bane, regardless of how many individual banes contribute to the double bane.
The rules tell you when to modify a roll with an edge or a bane. The Director can also modify rolls with edges and banes as a response to narrative or environmental circumstances. For instance, no rule specifically says that rain imposes a bane on power rolls made to climb a stone wall. But it makes sense that rainy conditions should make climbing that wall harder, so a Director should absolutely do so!
Why Cap?
We capped edges and banes at a maximum of two each for several reasons, including thinking about the narrative of those penalties. Every little advantage or disadvantage in a heroic story has diminishing returns, acknowledging that a creature can benefit or be hindered by short-term circumstances only so much. For example, a character who is prone and weakened by poison already finds it difficult to attack—so that becoming restrained by a net can't really make it harder.
We also liked capping edges and banes at two because it keeps play quick. It's nice to not need to count beyond two positive or negative circumstances in a battle with a lot of effects flying around.
While edges and banes cover most circumstantial effects that can have an impact on a power roll, a few rules add numeric bonuses or penalties to power rolls. Bonus and penalty values are specified in the rules that impose them, and are calculated independently of edges and banes, and before edges and banes are factored into a power roll. There is no limit to the number of bonuses or penalties that can apply to a power roll, and bonuses and penalties always add together.
Though it might sound as if the math with bonuses and penalties can get confusing, fear not! Bonuses and penalties are rare except in the case of skills, which appear on your character sheet (see Skills for more information).
Effects in the game sometimes allow a creature to obtain an automatic tier 1, 2, or 3 outcome on a power roll. Such effects supersede any edges, banes, bonuses, or penalties that might affect the roll. If you obtain an automatic tier outcome and the power roll would have an additional effect if you get a specific roll, such as scoring a critical hit in combat, you can still make the roll to determine if you obtain the additional effect in addition to the automatic outcome.
If you are under multiple effects that each grant you a different automatic outcome, those effects cancel each other out and all automatic outcomes are ignored. If multiple effects grant you the same automatic outcome, you obtain that outcome.
In all great heroic stories, luck favors the protagonists, giving them that little bit of extra fortune they need to win the day. In these stories, fate is often on the side of the righteous. To represent that tiny bit of karma, players have access to hero tokens, a special resource that they can rely on when all else fails.
Hero tokens are a group resource that is tracked by the players and kept in a pool accessible to all their characters. Hero tokens can be tracked using poker chips, stones, or other markers, or can be tallied numerically on a piece of paper or written off to the side in a virtual tabletop.
At the start of a new game session, the heroes have a number of hero tokens equal to the number of heroes in the party.
Heroes can earn more tokens through play by taking big risks to save others. A hero who leaps off a cliff to reach the bottom and aid a friend, who crosses a burning bridge to save a stray cat, or who wagers their most prized treasure as part of a negotiation to get shelter for a group of refugees might earn a hero token for the group. The Director has the final say regarding which heroic acts earn hero tokens.
Players can also be awarded hero tokens as part of a test's outcome when they succeed on the test with a reward (see Tests).
Whenever hero tokens are available, you can spend them in the following ways:
You can spend a hero token to gain 2 surges, allowing you to increase the damage or potency of an ability. (See Surges in Classes.)
You can spend a hero token when you fail a saving throw, letting you succeed on the save instead.
You can spend a hero token to reroll a test. You must use the new roll.
You can spend 2 hero tokens on your turn or when you take damage (no action required) to regain Stamina equal to your recovery value before taking the damage.
You can use only one hero token benefit per turn or per test. Unless the Director decides otherwise, unused hero tokens disappear at the end of a session.
Optional Rule: Hero Tokens Don't Reset
A Director can decide that hero tokens don't refresh at the start of each session and don't disappear at the end of one. This style of play serves many groups who play short sessions consisting of only 2 or 3 hours of play, since it makes hero tokens less abundant and reliable. To use this option, one of the players must note the number of hero tokens available at the end of each session so everyone remembers how many are available the next time you play. The Director should take particular care to remember to award hero tokens for heroic behavior, since the heroes won't get any automatically.
This game has a fair number of rules. But it also has plenty of character options, specialized equipment, and other game elements that let you break those rules. This is on purpose! Breaking the rules allows heroes to feel special and makes their foes feel extra dangerous.
If you're not sure what to do when two rules come into conflict with each other, remember that a specific exception always beats a more general rule. The Director has the final say in how rules are adjudicated.
Sometimes the rules tell you to divide a number in half. Whenever you divide an odd number in half and it results in a decimal, round the result down to the nearest whole number. For instance, if a tactician takes 7 damage and uses the Parry ability in response—a triggered action that halves the damage—then the damage is reduced to 3.
Draw Steel uses the terms "creature" and "object" when referring to the targets of abilities and other effects. Creatures are living or unliving beings such as animals, elves, humans, dragons, giants, zombies, and valok. Objects are inanimate matter such as walls, carriages, cups, swords, ropes, coins, paintings, columns, and buildings.
When a creature dies, their body becomes an object, and is affected by abilities and other effects as an object, not a creature. For example, an elementalist can't use their Return to Formlessness ability to set an enemy cult leader on fire. But if that leader dies, the elementalist can immolate their body to prevent them from being raised as a powerful undead by the temple's magic.
The game sometimes refers to "unattended objects," which are objects that aren't held, worn, or controlled by a creature. Whenever an ability or other effect targets objects, it affects only unattended objects unless the Director determines otherwise. Among other things, this prevents abilities from being used to damage a foe's armor, weapons, clothing, treasures, and so forth while those objects are worn or held.
The word supernatural is used to describe abilities, creatures, objects, and effects that are magic or psionic in nature. The word mundane is used to describe abilities, creatures, objects, and effects that aren't magic or psionic.
Two types of characters inhabit the world of the game—the player characters (also called PCs or heroes) who are created and controlled by the players, and nonplayer characters (NPCs) created and controlled by the Director. NPCs can include any of the game's monsters, but when the rules refer to NPCs, they generally do so in the context of interacting with them outside of combat.
Bags of Rats Ain't Heroic
Some players might think that quickly starting a fight with some bar patrons or carrying around a bag of rats is a good way to gather up those sweet, sweet Victories and Heroic Resources. Those strategies don't work! The rules of the game exist to help you tell a cool heroic fantasy story, not so you can try to be clever and exploit them by harming innocent rats to "win." In order to generate Victories and Heroic Resources, you must face and overcome challenges worthy of a hero!
The game takes place in a series of scenes with the heroes as the main characters. An adventure is a collection of scenes that make up a story, with a beginning, middle, and end, and a campaign is a collection of adventures that tell the entire epic tale of a group of heroes. You can think of each adventure as a movie in a saga of films, a book in a series of novels, or a season of a television show. While many heroes have their stories told over the course of a campaign, some wrap up their careers in a single adventure that takes place in one game session, called a one-shot. You can think of a one-shot as a great stand-alone novella or movie.
This game is built so that each adventure you play and each battle you fight gets more exciting as it goes on. In fantastic tales, the heroes and their foes both grow in power over the course of an adventure. But it isn't time alone that grows a hero's capabilities. Rather, it's the adrenaline that comes from battle, the danger of the hero's profession, and the pressure to save the world—or at least some small part of it that pushes a character to do the impossible. Each small act of heroism gives a hero the confidence and bravery to perform legendary feats against all odds.
The things a hero can achieve at the end of the story are far more daring and impactful than what they do at the start, and the final showdown against a villain's forces is more deadly and desperate than the first. The rules of the game help build a heroic narrative in this same fashion, making use of the four most important mechanics for building heroic narratives: Victories, Experience, Heroic Resources, and Recoveries.
Victories measure your hero's increasing power over the course of an adventure, as they overcome battles and other challenges. At the start of an adventure, your hero has 0 Victories.
Each time your hero survives a combat encounter in which the party's objectives are achieved, you earn 1 Victory. The Director can decide that a trivially easy encounter doesn't earn the heroes a Victory, and can award additional Victories for particularly challenging encounters.
When your hero successfully overcomes a big challenge that doesn't involve combat, the Director can award you 1 Victory. Such challenges can include things such as a particularly complicated and deadly trap, a negotiation, a montage test, a complicated puzzle, or the execution of a clever idea that avoids a battle. Especially difficult challenges might earn you more than 1 Victory.
Whenever you finish a respite (see Respite below), your Victories are converted into Experience.
Victories temporarily increase a hero's power during an adventure, but Experience (abbreviated "XP") permanently improves their capabilities. Each time you finish a respite (see below), you gain XP equal to your Victories, then your Victories reset to 0. In other words, your Victories are converted to XP when you finish a respite.
For more information on how XP increases your hero's power, see Heroic Advancement in Making a Hero.
Your hero has a Heroic Resource determined by your class, and which you manage during play. Earning your Heroic Resources can increase your hero's power, and you spend your Heroic Resources to activate your most powerful abilities.
Your hero's class description has more information about how to use your Heroic Resource.
Recoveries represent the number of times your hero can take a breather and keep fighting. Spending Recoveries lets you regain Stamina—the measure of any creature's physical vitality and capacity to shrug off or avoid damage (see Stamina in Combat). Running out of Recoveries means your hero has reached their uttermost limit.
When you spend a Recovery, you regain Stamina equal to your recovery value, which is one-third your Stamina maximum. You can spend your Recoveries with a special maneuver (see below), or you might do so with a little supernatural help from a conduit, a boost of adrenaline from an allied tactician, or inspiration from your party's troubadour.
During combat encounters and similarly dangerous situations when time is tracked in rounds (see Combat), you can use the Catch Breath maneuver to regain Stamina. (See Catch Breath in Maneuvers for more information.) Some heroes have abilities that allow them or their allies to spend more Recoveries without using the Catch Breath maneuver.
Outside of combat and other dangerous situations, you can spend Recoveries freely.
You regain all lost Recoveries when you finish a respite (see below).
A respite is a focused period of rest and recuperation that allows heroes to regain Stamina and Recoveries. During a respite, you must spend 24 hours uninterrupted and doing nothing but sleeping, eating, dressing your wounds, and recuperating. You can also undertake one respite activity, such as making a project roll (see Downtime Projects) or changing your kit (see Kits).
After 24 hours, your respite ends. When you finish a respite, you regain all your Recoveries and Stamina, and your Victories convert to Experience. You can take as many respites as you like in a row to keep accomplishing respite activities. Just keep in mind that while you're resting, your enemies are still scheming and carrying out their dastardly plans.
It is best to take a respite in a safe place where you aren't in a hostile environment or at risk of being attacked. If your respite is interrupted by enemies attacking, an earth tremor, swarms of biting insects, and similar serious distractions, the respite ends early and you don't gain the benefits for finishing it.
The standard 8-or-so hours of sleep one gets at night doesn't count as a respite. The rules assume that all heroes take the time to sleep, eat, and take care of all the other functions necessary for life even if they aren't engaged in a respite.
The core gameplay experience of Draw Steel takes place over ten levels of play. At 1st level, player characters are already known as heroes and have the power to save their local village. By the time the characters are 10th level, people all over the world—maybe even across all worlds know the names of their saviors!
Since this game encompasses power levels from hometown heroes to demigods, the core experience has been divided into four different echelons. Each echelon determines the types of threats the heroes can take on, the stakes of their stories, and the rewards they receive at the various levels of play.
The 1st echelon of play details the stories of characters of 1st to 3rd level. At this echelon, the characters are local heroes. They save lost caravans, besieged villages, and overlooked neighborhoods within cities. Characters battle bands of mortal humanoids—dwarves, elves, goblins, humans, kobolds, orcs, and more. They can also face off against the occasional larger monstrous threat, such as a bredbeddle, ogre, or chimera. Such creatures can threaten a small community but rarely have plans for world domination or the destruction of the timescape. However, any of these adversaries might work for or be manipulated by stronger threats as a foreshadowing of what awaits the heroes at higher echelons.
The 2nd echelon of play covers 4th to 6th level. At this echelon, the heroes are now known throughout the wider region they serve. In Vasloria, this means the characters might save and be celebrated by an entire country. In Capital, their reputation and work could encompass several different neighborhoods of the enormous city. Heroes of the timescape might be known for saving a planet!
Heroes in this echelon battle humanoids of great supernatural power, such as draconians, devils, and hobgoblins. They face bosses possessed of cunning and ambition as great as their terrible influence, such as medusas and overminds. Heroes at this level also face the humanoid threats of earlier levels, but those foes are villainous counterparts of equal power rather than bands of ruffians or marauding armies.
The 3rd echelon of play covers 7th to 9th level. At this echelon, the heroes are saving and are known throughout the setting where they serve. Most folks in Vasloria, Capital, or across the larger timescape know of the heroes and are grateful for their efforts saving the continent, the entire city, or multiple worlds, respectively. Foes at this echelon include beings of great power such as giants, vampires, and valok.
The 4th echelon of play explores the stories of characters of 10th level (and might even go beyond in future products). At this echelon, heroes are saving the entire timescape from threats such as liches, powerful dragons, and overlords like Ajax the Invincible.
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If you read nothing else, read Respite and Power Rolls.