Rules Changes 2025 (Season 13)

Here follows the changes made as of this year’s rules day. This list includes rulings discussed during rules day, a few that I have simplified or overruled from those discussions, and a few that were not brought to rules day and have been worked on independently. Please not that what is written below is not the official wording as it will be in the rulebook, but a summary of the rulings made. Official wording will come with the next rulebook draft.

Many thanks to the players who spent a long day discussing and weighing rules – the game system would not be as clean or thorough as it is without your collective thoughts, discussion, and advice. 🙂

Broad Game Changes & Clarifications

• Activity Tags: Any skills labeled “IC” (In Combat) can be used or not used at will; any skills labeled “PA” (Passive) happen regardless of intent. Activity tags for abilities will be updated with this rule.
• Bard: Will see some shifting around of abilities in their class tree, pending.
• Called Skills: Category will be removed from the game, replaced with more useful categories pending.
• Charm: Charm, Command, Allure and other charm-likes will be broken into separate defined skills and effects. Adding “Sticky” as a modifier.
• Deflection: Is called from the point of contact, not subsequent slide; cannot deflect off armor or any equipment worn on the body rather than wielded.
• Negative Mana: Ending an encounter at negative mana now places a -1 Counter on your mana rather than taking fatigue.
• Sacrifices: Sacrificing to deities or other entities on the field is assumed not to happen until the GM acknowledges and approves it; if no acknowledgement and approval is given, the sacrifices does not “go”.
• Spending Mana: Mana cannot be spent into thin air and must be spent on something.
• Tradecraft Masteries: We will be adding standard tradecraft masteries along the lines of class masteries for adult league. These will be standard options that players can pick from, or use as a placeholder while waiting for the approval of a created mastery. Baddies are not expected to pick a tradecraft mastery unless directed to do so.

General Rules & Interaction Changes

• Adept & Stitch Ray: Stitch Ray does not prevent Adept creatures from using skills that functionally cost them 0 mana.
• Enduring UB: UB damage taken on a piece of gear can be endured if that gear is on a limb – a held sword or shield, etc.
• Equipment-Based Skills: All skills and spells that reference a piece of equipment – such as Impenetrability for armor or Spellturning for shields – are being used by you, not the equipment; and any resistances or vulnerabilities are based on you, not the gear.
• Interrupt: Can interrupt without a weapon/with your hand; may tag any entity or object involved in the count being interrupted.
• Manifesting: For ethereal travel of all kinds; must be outside of striking distance to manifest or demanifest. For counted ethereal travel of all kinds, can only be interrupted on the ‘scape you are traveling from (not to).
• Mastery: Mastery in a class cannot be skill shared or rogued into.
• Ruined vs. Destroyed: Clarified the difference between your body being ruined or destroyed.
  • Ruined: Not Forced From Your Body; Items Not Unglued; Does Not End Bury; Requires a Summons Before Healing; Cannot Regenerate; Can Spirit Bury and Animate Dead.
  • Destroyed: Are Forced From Your Body; Items Automatically Unglue; Ends Bury; Requires a Summons Before Healing. Cannot be Buried or Animated because there is no body.
• Standard Sorceries: Now require a full incant as any other sorcery. The upcoming rulebook update will include incants for all standard sorceries.
• Thrown Magelore: You cannot throw skills/spells through magelore.
• Warding: Warding now requires a physical object to interact with to ward – a sword, shield, hand, invoking objects, etc. One cannot use the Ward ability to ward voice-range abilities, rituals, etc.

Specific Ability Rule Changes

• Aggressive: Now reads that, if you are aggressive, you must finish the fight you are currently engaged in (whether by dropping the opponent or by being dropped) before you can move on.
• Bardic Rogue: Cost is now Cumulative per Encounter [Cu. Cost (Enc)]
• Darkvision: Does not see Hiding.
• Empathic Ray: Standardized between FalAL and JL. It costs 1HP to cast; if the caster drops from this, they take a single charge of improved healing factor.
• Ethereal Shift: Is now a 5-count rather than a 20-count.
• Explode Ball: Deads Deadly damage and ruins your body; does not set your body on fire.
• Medicine Pulse: Voice range and delivery (and can thus be used to target players with missile magic resistance); requires line of sight to the player targeted.
• Outsider Regeneration: Continue to regenerate even if body is ruined (but not destroyed).
• Spirit Drain: You cannot modify the amount of drain on spirit drain through other abilities – spirit drain always does a base of 1 mana drain – but can modify the delivery (ie, AV=0 or UB).
• Stitch Ray: Now stops mana drain.
• Tumble: Can now Tumble damage on any part of the body, not just torso.

Discussed But Not Changed

• 2-Year Seasons for FalAL
• Alchemist
• Equipment Tags, Small
• Fear (pending)
• Priest
• Rods
• Runic