The Seeker — Stonetop playbook

Damage die: d6 · Base HP: 16

Assign these modifiers to STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA as you like

+2

+1

+1

+0

+0

-1

Backgrounds

Patriot

These people are family. Chaos grows all around, but you’ll be damned if you’ll let your family come to harm. Damned indeed.

You have sought out and embraced dark power to protect that which you hold dear. Or perhaps that power fell upon you, and you took it up for the greater good. Either way, you seek more.

You start with the Let’s Make a Deal move and are Well Versed in the Things Below (go mark them now). You’ve also acquired 1 major arcanum:

• The Hec’tumel Codex
• The Red Scepter
• The Staff of the Lidless Orb

Antiquarian

The past has buried many secrets, and you are determined to dig them up. Years of study across the land have led you here, and you are convinced that this town holds the key to your greatest discoveries. What is it you hope to find? What is it that keeps you here?

In any case, your travels and studies mean that you start with the Polyglot move and that you are Well Versed in the Makers and their arts (go mark them now). You’ve also acquired 1 major arcanum:

• Noruba’s Ice Sphere
• The Azure Hand
• The Mindgem

Witch Hunter

You’ve dedicated your life to rooting out and destroying horrors and their servants. What set you down this path? What did you sacrifice to walk it? What led you to call Stonetop home?

Regardless, you start with the Everything Bleeds move and are Well Versed in (pick 1) the Fae, the Things Below, or the Last Door and what lies beyond (go mark them now). You’ve also acquired 1 major arcanum:

• The Demonhide Cloak
• The Redwood Effigy
• The Twisted Spear

Instincts

• Cunning. To scheme, manipulate, and plot.
• Curiosity. To seek answers that maybe you oughtn’t.
• Hubris. To assume you know best, that you can’t fail.
• Mystery. To avoid straight answers; to keep secrets.
• Vision. To think big and pursue grandiose goals.

Special possessions

Choose two at the start of play.

Scribe’s tools

Parchment, ink, pigments, vials, quills, a notebook (1 load), etc.

Books & scrolls

Expend a use to consult your collection and turn a Know Things roll you just made into a 10+.

Distillery

Skins of fine whisky (uses, grants advantage to Persuade), copper tubes, malt, firkins (2 load), stills, barrels, etc.

Engineer’s tools

Rulers, tapes, rods, plumb-bobs, tripods (1 load), block & tackles (1 load), wheelbarrow, etc.

Laboratory

Chemics, reagents, vials, measures, scales (1 load), decanters (1 load), etc. Every season, produce d4-1 uses of naphtha (1 load; thrown, area, dangerous, ignores armor).

Paraphernalia

Crystals, incense, talismans, blood, bone, horn, eye of newt, braziers (1 load), a cauldron (2 load), etc.

Trade contacts

Small amounts of salt, glass, silk, spice, medicinal herbs, pigments, ivory, etc.

Moves

You start with Well Versed, Work With What You’ve Got, plus 1 from your Background.

Attuned

When you Seek Insight, you can always ask, “What here is infused with magic?” for free, even on a 6-.

Conduit of Power

When you would mark a Consequence from a major arcanum, you can mark 1 box here instead, with no negative effect. (These marks never clear.)

Countermeasures

When you witness a magical effect, you may ask the GM, “how can this be countered or interrupted?” and get an honest answer. You or an ally gain advantage on your next roll to act on the answer.

Everything Bleeds

When you exploit an unnatural foe’s specific weakness or vulnerability, deal +1d6 damage.

Everything Burns

When you inspect a work of artifice or magic for a fatal flaw, roll +INT:

• 7+: the GM will reveal the best way to destroy/sabotage it
• 10+: you or an ally also gain advantage to act on the info.

Improved Stat

Each time you take this move, increase one of your stats by 1 (to a max of +2).

Initiate of the Secret Arts

Requires level 2+.

You have a “Sacred Pouch” (3 Stock, magical), as per the Blessed, but with no remarkable traits. Each time you take this move, choose a Blessed move for which you otherwise qualify. (You can’t take Improved Stat or Superior Stat.)

Let’s Make a Deal

When you Seek Insight, add “What do they really want or need?” to the list of questions. When you Persuade by offering them something that you know they want or need, treat a 7-9 as a 10+.

Logbook

You have a logbook (2 uses, slow) that doesn’t take up space in your inventory. When you (and only you) consult your logbook and expend a use, you can ignore a Know Things roll you just made and treat the result as a 10+. When the Seasons Change, reset your logbook to 2 uses.

Magpie

When you Have What You Need, you can produce something strange, specific, maybe even valuable or a little bit magical, but if you do, tell us where you got it and 2 of the following:

• How it’s not quite right, but maybe it’ll do?
• The trouble you caused back home by getting it
• Why using it will draw unwanted attention
• That it’s the only thing like this that you’ve got, and why it’ll only work the one time

Never at a Loss

When you Know Things and roll a 6-, you may choose to not mark XP. If you don’t mark XP, the worst that happens is that the GM tells you nothing interesting or useful about the subject, but instead tells you how you could learn more.

Polyglot

When you first encounter a living language in play, describe your proficiency with it (if any) and how you came to acquire it.

When you Know Things about any script, text, runes or symbols that you encounter, you have advantage.

Cryptologist

When you study encoded, forgotten, or arcane marks or writing, roll +INT:

• 10+: you can fully decipher them in just a few minutes
• 7-9: you get the gist in a few minutes, but fully deciphering them will take you an hour or so.

Quick Study

When you study something magical that should take months to understand, it instead takes mere weeks. If it should take weeks, it takes days. If it should take days, it takes only a few hours.

Safety First

When you spend an hour or so preparing your mystical defenses, hold 2 Protection. When you are affected by harmful magic, spend 1 Protection either to gain advantage on any roll to resist it or to halve its damage/effects.

Sage Advice

When another PC asks you for guidance, they get advantage on their next roll to follow your advice.

Well Versed

Mark 1 topic, in addition to the one noted in your Background. Each additional time you take this move, mark 2 more topics.

• The Last Door, death, and the undead
• The civilizations of humanity
• The Fae and their strange ways
• The Makers and their arts
• The primordial powers
• The Things Below
• The wild world and its spirits

When you Know Things about one of your topics, you can ask the GM a follow-up question of your choice (even on a 6-).

Work With What You’ve Got

When you cleverly use your environment to harm or impede your foe(s), roll +INT:

• 10+: pick 2
• 7-9: pick 1

Picks:

• Interrupt or thwart their action(s)
• Create an opportunity that grants you or an ally advantage on the next roll to exploit it
• Deal damage appropriate to the source (d4 for bruises/scrapes, d6 for bloodshed, d8 if it’d break bones, d10 if it’d kill a common person)

Arcane Adept

Requires level 6+.

When you wish to invent a spell or magical effect, detail its workings with the GM and Make a Plan to invent it. If you like, pick one requirement and ask the GM to provide an alternative (for example “first you must ____” could become “first you must ____, or it will take months”).

Deep Insight

Requires level 6+.

When you Seek Insight about something magical, you may ask one additional question, not limited to the list. Even on a 6-, you get to ask this question.

Improvise

Requires level 6+.

When you wish to use an arcanum’s move or option without having unlocked it, ask the GM what fool risk(s) it requires and/or what consequence(s) you’ll incur. If you go for it, roll +INT:

• 7+: you get it to work this once—trigger the move or use the option as if you’d unlocked it
• 10+: also mark one step towards unlocking the arcanum’s mysteries.

Superior Stat

Requires level 6+.

Increase one of your stats by +1 (to a max of +3).

Mind Over Magic

Requires level 6+.

When you roll to study or use an arcanum, you can roll +INT instead of the stat you’d normally roll.

Overchannel

Requires level 6+.

When you would mark a Consequence from a major arcanum, you may mark a debility instead.

Proof Against Detection

Requires level 6+.

When you hold Protection, you can’t be scried upon or sensed by magical means, and have advantage to Defy Danger by being stealthy.

See also

The basic moves every character uses, the tags glossary for gear keywords, and the other playbooks.