The Elder Scrolls: Dragonbreak

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This game uses the Fate Core Rules, with the following changes:

House Rules

Magic

Magic is available to anybody who has time, money, mental fortitude and access to a teacher. Its use is fairly common in that most decent-sized villages will have one or maybe two practitioners, usually temple healers or court wizards. Magic is commonly used as a weapon alongside traditional arms, and as a source of healing especially in temples. Necromancy is common outside of civilised society, and anything goes behind locked doors in magical academies. Magic users tend to occupy official positions or be social outcasts, with not much in between. Different societies view magic users differently. While the Altmer and Dumner have a proud history of mighty mages, the Cyrodiils and Nords are highly suspicious of magic users because of their role in historical calamities.

Physically casting a spell requires spoken words and precise gestures.

Characters will require a permission-granting aspect to cast spells, which is handled as a normal skill roll. Many skills can be used to express magical effects, not only the three magic specific skills. Without a magical aspect, characters can use the magic skills only for theoretical knowledge of magic.

Aspects

High Concept and Trouble are no longer formal aspects. You aspects should cover the following:

• Race
• Profession/Function in the world
• Reputation (will change to reflect criminal bounty)
• Something for the GM to compel

Playable Races

• Altmer (High Elves) Altmer are the light-skinned and tall Elves of the Summerset Isles, part of the Aldmeri Dominion ruled by the Elven-supremacist group known as the Thalmor.
• Argonians A reptilian race from Black Marsh who have a spiritual connection to the Hist trees.
• Bosmer (Wood Elves) Bosmer are the elven people of Valenwood. They prefer a simple existence, living in harmony with the land and wild animals, but in the Fourth Era were absorbed into the Aldmeri Dominion.
• Bretons Of mixed elven and human descent, the Bretons of High Rock excel at both magical abilities and political intrigue.
• Dunmer (Dark Elves) The Dumner of Morrowind have suffered the loss of their living gods, and the destruction of much of their homeland since the closing years of the Third Era.
• Imperials (Cyrodiils) Hailing from the cosmopolitan region of Cyrodiil, seat of the Mede Empire, these shrewd diplomats and disciplined soldiers were the dominant race in Tamriel until the Aldmeri Dominion challenged them in the Great War.
• Khajiit A cat-like race hailing from Elsweyr, their natural affinity for stealth has earned them the distrust of many other races. Though they come in all shapes and sizes, only the more humanoid ones tend to travel far from their homeland.
• Nords The tall, fair-skinned warriors of the snowy land of Skyrim.
• Orsimer (Orcs) The Orsimer, are the native people of the Wrothgarian and Dragontail Mountains. Following in the footsteps of the god Trinimac, who became Malacath, Orcs are regarded as some of Tamriel’s greatest warriors and smiths.
• Redguards Redguards hail from the great desert province of Hammerfell. They are descended from a long line of warriors and mystic seers. Legend has it that Redguards are innately more proficient with the use of weaponry than any other race, especially regarding blades and shields.

More Detailed Skill List

The skill list is somewhat home-brew and not rigorously tested for balance and enjoyment. Take this as a rough starting point, because in Session 0 we will fine tune it.

Athletics

The Athletics skill represents your character’s general level of physical fitness, whether through training or natural gifts. It’s how good you are at moving your body.

Fight

The Fight skill covers all forms of close-quarters combat (in other words, within the same zone), both unarmed and using weapons.

Marksman

Marksman covers the use of ranged weaponry, either in a conflict or on targets that don’t actively resist your attempts to hit them (like a bull’s-eye or the broad side of a barn). It covers projectile and thrown weapons.

Physique

The Physique skill is a counterpart to Athletics, representing the character’s natural physical aptitudes, such as raw strength and endurance. If Athletics is your ability to move your own body, Physique is how you move someone else’s.

Ride

This skill covers riding & controlling horses, as well as simple vehicles like wagons. It can even cover staying on top of something large that is trying to buck you off.

Conjuration

Conjuration involves applying your knowledge of the realm of Oblivion to summon/commune with Daedra and raise the dead to serve you.

Destruction

This school of magic is about manipulating the elements fire, ice & lighting, and tends to keep healers in business. This is literal elemental energy, you can’t use ice magic to cool some’s temper, but you could always hurl an icicle at their head.

Restoration

The favoured skill of priests and healers, restoration is about healing injuries and curing disease, poison, and all manner of bodily maladies.

Deceive

Deceive is about lying, disguises, and misdirection generally.

Legerdemain

In short; trickery or stunts via manual dexterity. Things like picking pockets, forging documents, palming or concealing small objects, and picking locks all fall under this skill.

Stealth

The Stealth skill allows you to avoid detection, both when hiding in place and trying to move about unseen.

Education

Your academic knowledge of subjects like history, religion, creatures, & politics. This skill doesn’t represent experience, only knowledge, and it doesn’t cover current affairs or rumours.

Investigate

Investigate is the skill you use to find things out. It’s a counterpart to Notice — whereas Notice revolves around situational alertness and surface observation, Investigate revolves around concentrated effort and in-depth scrutiny. Use this skill to examine a crime scene, research information in a library, canvass everyone in an area and so on.

Mechanics

This is the skill of interacting with mechanisms, with a focus on Dwarven technology. Use this skill to de/activate a Dwarven mechanism or construct, create custom mechanical devices like a self-loading crossbow, as well as dis/arm traps and pick locks.

Notice

Notice is a character’s overall perception, ability to pick out details at a glance, and situational awareness. It also serves to measure how quick your reflexes are, and tends to be in-the-moment. If you’re taking your time to uncover some piece of information, you’re probably using the Investigate skill instead.

Will

The Will skill represents your character’s general level of mental fortitude, and is generally used to defend against mental attacks, including magic which messes with your mind.